# Trump, Orbán, and the Ridiculous Venezuela Vote | EYES ON GEOPOLITICS

An episode of [The Team House](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1492797340), 10 Nov 2025, 54 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/clrtpod.com/m/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/68487092/eyes_on_orban_and_trump_audio.mp3

Dee, Mick Mulroy, and Andy Milburn break down the week’s biggest geopolitical flashpoints — from Trump’s meeting with Viktor Orbán and Hungary’s deepening ties to Russia, to the U.S. Senate’s shocking Venezuela war vote. The trio also examines Israel’s Gaza ceasefire dilemma, global intelligence maneuvers, and the moral cost of modern warfare. A sharp, unfiltered conversation on power, policy, and principle. Support the show on Patreon:⬇️ https://www.patreon.com/TheTeamHouse Subscribe to our new newsletter!!!! https://teamhousepodcast.kit.com/join New merch, patches, and stickers! ⬇️ https://theteamhouse-shop.fourthwall.com Check out Mick's new podcast here:⬇️ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/at/podcast/pub-and-porch-applied-stoicism/id1836955475 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1k3QPmkAMwnGJxMLDwUSSd?si=n6piIu8XRcag1Z0K43A3bQ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCd0Hq6QFk8CoTu5j-VU0Ong Find Mick Mulroy here: Fogbow ⬇️ https://fogbow.com/ Lobo Institute ⬇️ https://www.loboinstitute.org/ Twitter ⬇️ https://x.com/mickmulroy?s=21&t=-Ze3F_Ix2vlJ18KFvORTCA LinkedIn ⬇️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-patrick-mulroy-31198b52/ Bluesky ⬇️ https://bsky.app/profile/mickmulroy.bsky.social Mick’s publications ⬇️ https://www.loboinstitute.org/publications/publications-of-michael-mick-patrick-mulroy/ Find Andy Milburn here: Twitter ⬇️ https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2Fandymilburn8 LinkedIn ⬇️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewmilburn2023 Substack ⬇️ https://amilburn.substack.com/ Andy’s book ⬇️ https://www.amazon.com/When-Tempest-Gathers-Mogadishu-Operations Bluesky ⬇️ https://bsky.app/profile/andy-milburn.bsky.social Find Jason Lyons here: LinkedIn ⬇️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-lyons-666873316?u Bluesky ⬇️ https://bsky.app/profile/bgsilverback73.bsky.social "Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio" 00:00 — Start 01:58 — Hungary waiver fallout 05:00 — Orbán’s authoritarian drift 08:49 — EU & NATO response options 16:17 — Venezuela strike watch 19:45 — Senate authorization fight 30:48 — Gaza ceasefire & ISF plan 43:00 — Dehumanization, history & U.S. identity Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-team-house--5960890/support.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, Welcome to another episode of Eyes on Jill
[0:13] Speaker 1: Politics and joined today with Andy Milburn, Mick Mulroy, myself,
[0:18] Speaker 1: Dimitri Contakos. Uh, A lot happening. I'm gonna be honest, Obviously,
[0:23] Speaker 1: A lot's happening in the world. Always it's not. This
[0:26] Speaker 1: week has kind of been a little bit quiet, more quiet.
[0:28] Speaker 2: We did that.
[0:29] Speaker 1: We had a show last week talking about what seemed
[0:32] Speaker 1: to be uh, the US military spinning up to hit Venezuela.
[0:36] Speaker 2: Nothing has happened since.
[0:37] Speaker 1: I think we have hit a couple of Narco boats
[0:40] Speaker 1: in the interim, So that's not nothing. But uh, some
[0:45] Speaker 1: people would argue it's breaking international law, but you know,
[0:48] Speaker 1: so it's not nothing for sure.
[0:50] Speaker 2: Uh.
[0:51] Speaker 1: What we're gonna hit on today to start with is
[0:54] Speaker 1: Victor Orbon's meeting with Donald Trump in the uh White
[0:57] Speaker 1: House this past week. A couple of key points from there.
[1:00] Speaker 1: I mean, obviously it's a hot punt issue because Orbon
[1:03] Speaker 1: is hungry, is obviously in the authoritarian has become an
[1:07] Speaker 1: authoritarian country. The big I guess the big note from
[1:12] Speaker 1: there was the energy stuff, because Hungary does get about
[1:17] Speaker 1: eighty six percent of its oil from Russia and the
[1:23] Speaker 1: US has been kind of putting the screws to Europe
[1:26] Speaker 1: to stop their you know, their dependence on Russian oil.
[1:30] Speaker 1: And Hungary got a one year moratorium on that, which
[1:36] Speaker 1: I'm sure will cause some issues with the rest of
[1:39] Speaker 1: the EU and NATO countries in terms of like they're
[1:41] Speaker 1: busting our balls to get rid of the Russian oil.
[1:43] Speaker 1: But we you know, but Hungary gets the one year
[1:46] Speaker 1: you know freeze on it. Essentially, Hungary also committed to
[1:50] Speaker 1: buying US like a financial gas on their contract value
[1:53] Speaker 1: around six hundred million dollars, and Trump praised Orbon's stance
[1:57] Speaker 1: on immigration, called Hungary well led and signaled strong personal rapport.
[2:03] Speaker 1: That's all the notes I have, so make you tell
[2:04] Speaker 1: me what's going on with this.
[2:08] Speaker 3: Well, first of all, I have to say happy almost
[2:11] Speaker 3: marine core birthday to brother Andy over there, because you know,
[2:15] Speaker 3: there's going to be marines around the world starting to
[2:18] Speaker 3: lose it, I think today probably, So if you don't
[2:22] Speaker 3: like that stuff, you probably shouldn't watch social media. It's
[2:26] Speaker 3: about to be there's about there's a storm of common
[2:29] Speaker 3: and they're hilarious at all serious. This that's you know,
[2:34] Speaker 3: the birthday of our beloved Corus tomorrow and then Veterans
[2:37] Speaker 3: Day is the day after which I hope everybody takes
[2:40] Speaker 3: the time to remember all those that gave this ultimate
[2:43] Speaker 3: sacrifice or bought so it is inconsistent with the strategy,
[2:52] Speaker 3: the policy of trying to cut off Russian's ability to
[2:56] Speaker 3: fund its war and the comments, as you rightfully said,
[3:02] Speaker 3: of the US pushing Europe many countries in Europe, which
[3:07] Speaker 3: there are several that's still use Russian oil and gas.
[3:12] Speaker 3: To cut it right, and then have Orbond come over,
[3:15] Speaker 3: who is sympathetic to Russia, who is, as you said,
[3:19] Speaker 3: sliding further and further into autocracy, lesson to the belief
[3:24] Speaker 3: in civil rights for its own people, and then give
[3:27] Speaker 3: them a pass. They should be included in all the
[3:32] Speaker 3: other countries that need to figure out new ways and
[3:35] Speaker 3: any US could help them. There's all sorts of discussions
[3:37] Speaker 3: on you know, coming out of Croatia from this new pipeline.
[3:42] Speaker 3: I know it's going to take a while, but coming
[3:44] Speaker 3: out of Guitar that's going to go through Syria and
[3:46] Speaker 3: go into Europe, we need to be doing everything we
[3:49] Speaker 3: can to get off of any dependence at all on
[3:53] Speaker 3: Russian oil and gas. They are, as Senator McCain the light.
[3:57] Speaker 3: Senator McCain said, the army for the gas station. So
[4:01] Speaker 3: we need to make that is we need to make
[4:06] Speaker 3: our allies in Europe do the right thing and get
[4:09] Speaker 3: off any dependence on them. So Orbon came out of
[4:13] Speaker 3: that saying he got an indefinite waiver. I don't know
[4:15] Speaker 3: if he saw that part. The media is reporting what
[4:18] Speaker 3: the White House said, which I assume is accurate, that
[4:21] Speaker 3: it's a one year waiver, but that one year, can
[4:26] Speaker 3: you know it's going to be substantial to the war
[4:28] Speaker 3: in Ukraine. So I think the too lay now, I suppose,
[4:32] Speaker 3: but we need not to be giving waivers to friends
[4:36] Speaker 3: because other countries in Europe are now going to say,
[4:40] Speaker 3: you just gave that guy waiver, so now we need
[4:42] Speaker 3: a waverer and it's going to be a domino effect.
[4:45] Speaker 3: So I think it was a mistake to do. Unfortunately,
[4:48] Speaker 3: it looked like it was just a personal friendship that
[4:52] Speaker 3: led the way there. It's not only not helping Ukraine,
[4:57] Speaker 3: but it's not helping what you stayed. US policy is
[5:01] Speaker 3: on supporting Ukraine and kind of cut off Russian oil
[5:06] Speaker 3: to front the horn.
[5:09] Speaker 2: Andy.
[5:10] Speaker 4: Yeah, of more people to give a waiver to all, Dan,
[5:14] Speaker 4: it's pretty the last choice that I would make, you know,
[5:19] Speaker 4: I mean, you know, I will say, yeah, Hungry allegedly,
[5:24] Speaker 4: it's the economy suffered probably more than most other European
[5:28] Speaker 4: countries from the from the sanctions, because I think, as
[5:32] Speaker 4: you mentioned, d Sorry it wasn't that I forgot your name.
[5:37] Speaker 3: It's just encroaching old age.
[5:40] Speaker 4: As you mentioned, the Hungary is landlocked and reliant on
[5:45] Speaker 4: you know, oil, pipelined oil. But you know, nevertheless, there's
[5:50] Speaker 4: the timing of this particular announcement. First of all, I mean,
[5:54] Speaker 4: as I said, the person himself or Barn, you just
[5:56] Speaker 4: have to read what he's been doing within Hungary, you know.
[6:00] Speaker 4: Let alone the fact that he's opened and open support
[6:05] Speaker 4: with Putin, an apologist, a close friend Tody is sick,
[6:09] Speaker 4: a fan of Putin's. I mean, these are all they're
[6:13] Speaker 4: objective phrases to use. You just have to look at
[6:16] Speaker 4: what he has been saying about Putin from the outset
[6:19] Speaker 4: of the war. Let alone that the fact that the
[6:28] Speaker 4: way that he has been controlling immigration in the country. Yes,
[6:32] Speaker 4: you can say absolutely he has a right to control
[6:34] Speaker 4: his own borders, but he's been violating Poland's sovereignty in
[6:38] Speaker 4: many ways by pushing refugees into Poland, encouraging them to
[6:44] Speaker 4: get in, enabling them to get in illegally. This is
[6:48] Speaker 4: all you know, This is all open source stuff, and
[6:50] Speaker 4: it's one of the causes, among several for that being
[6:54] Speaker 4: a breakdown of relations between Poland and Hungary. But it's
[6:58] Speaker 4: what he's doing with in his own count undermining the judiciary,
[7:02] Speaker 4: demining the independence of his judiciary, using strong arm tactics
[7:06] Speaker 4: against opposing political parties, hiring thugs to break up demonstrations,
[7:13] Speaker 4: I mean, all of these things. But the timing is
[7:16] Speaker 4: bad too, because Hungary is on the eve of an election.
[7:20] Speaker 4: I forget what date it is, but all about.
[7:22] Speaker 2: On twenty twenty six.
[7:24] Speaker 3: What's that twenty six?
[7:26] Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's early twenty twenty six though right now,
[7:29] Speaker 4: and the opposition to him is growing. He's it's going
[7:32] Speaker 4: to be a challenging election. And now, I mean he's
[7:35] Speaker 4: all over social media saying that he came to the
[7:37] Speaker 4: United States and secured a deal with the United States
[7:41] Speaker 4: and which directly affects the economy of Hungary and is
[7:45] Speaker 4: going to stand him in good stead with the electorates.
[7:47] Speaker 4: So there's political ramifications are plenty, not just geopolitical but
[7:54] Speaker 4: domestic political ramifications that are not positive. And for those
[7:58] Speaker 4: who say, so what I mean, we we should definitely
[8:01] Speaker 4: I think you know this isn't a naive view. Again,
[8:04] Speaker 4: going back to US stance and Europe since the Marshall Plan,
[8:08] Speaker 4: we should back countries that represent democracies and democratic values,
[8:13] Speaker 4: and we should oppose those countries that threaten those values.
[8:16] Speaker 4: I mean, that's that to me, it just seems such
[8:19] Speaker 4: a Yeah, it's you know, it's a it's a foundation
[8:23] Speaker 4: of what we stand for. Right since both of this
[8:25] Speaker 4: nation and people seem to overlook that so overall incomprehensible decision,
[8:34] Speaker 4: you know, it's a and I are and and not
[8:39] Speaker 4: a good one frankly, you know. And and as McK
[8:42] Speaker 4: pointed out, those countries against whom we are imposing sanctions
[8:46] Speaker 4: and whom we are rightfully hectoring to get away from
[8:51] Speaker 4: dependence on Russian oil can now point to this anomaly
[8:55] Speaker 4: and say WTF what's going on?
[8:59] Speaker 3: Well, and Hungary is of course an EU member and
[9:03] Speaker 3: a NATO member, So I you know, when I had
[9:05] Speaker 3: to talk about this this week, I look it up.
[9:08] Speaker 3: Apparently you can't kick the country out of either of those,
[9:12] Speaker 3: but there are ways to minimize their potential negativity inside it.
[9:18] Speaker 3: So in the EU, if this continues, they can essentially
[9:24] Speaker 3: take all voting rights away from something to be considered.
[9:29] Speaker 3: Hopefully they would just leave them they Hopefully they don't leave,
[9:34] Speaker 3: Hopefully they throw or bon out and turn back towards
[9:37] Speaker 3: the West. The other thing on NATO, which we've seen,
[9:42] Speaker 3: they can't necessarily kick anybody out of NATO either. But
[9:44] Speaker 3: there's the one argument that I saw is under the
[9:47] Speaker 3: Vienna Convention Article sixty for people who care, there is
[9:51] Speaker 3: a way to essentially remove somebody from NATO based on
[9:58] Speaker 3: their inconsistency with the overall purpose and values of the organization. Right,
[10:07] Speaker 3: so if you're, for example, if you're pro Russia, you're
[10:11] Speaker 3: inconsistent with the purpose of NATO at least to defend
[10:15] Speaker 3: themselves against an obviously aggression nation of Russia. So I'll
[10:21] Speaker 3: know that any of that's going to happen, but I
[10:23] Speaker 3: think the discussion should start in earnest. If they continue
[10:27] Speaker 3: down this road and Orbonne stays in power.
[10:32] Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I forget the name of the previous
[10:39] Speaker 4: leader in Poland, but when he started varying towards undermining
[10:45] Speaker 4: the judiciary in Poland. I don't know if you remember,
[10:47] Speaker 4: but there was talk of downgrading Poland and even the
[10:53] Speaker 4: victim Poland from the EU based on that, and fortunately
[10:57] Speaker 4: it didn't happen, and Poland has made it remarkable research
[11:01] Speaker 4: and now Poland is the country that we should be
[11:05] Speaker 4: rewarding of them all. Poland is a it is a
[11:12] Speaker 4: mainstay of NATO, has up to its GDP expenditure to
[11:15] Speaker 4: above on defense to above four percent, has undertaken a
[11:21] Speaker 4: massive modernization of its military, has been overt in its
[11:25] Speaker 4: opposition to Russia, and actually covert too. If that who's
[11:34] Speaker 4: that reprehensible human being who runs the team house the
[11:39] Speaker 4: Murphy if Jack and Sean Naylor's high side, that's a
[11:44] Speaker 4: great By the way, that was a great article too.
[11:48] Speaker 3: I do encourage that.
[11:49] Speaker 4: Was that released on the high Side in the end
[11:50] Speaker 4: or a substack about Poland's covert operation.
[11:54] Speaker 1: Initially it was released in on Jack's regular website and
[11:58] Speaker 1: then a high Side later.
[12:00] Speaker 4: In any case, you know, Poland has been doing much
[12:04] Speaker 4: both in support of Ukraine and against Russia and to
[12:06] Speaker 4: uphold everything that we have asked member nations to do.
[12:10] Speaker 4: In NATO and written Poland has done more than that
[12:12] Speaker 4: and should be rewarded in some way about the United
[12:15] Speaker 4: States rather than Hungary.
[12:19] Speaker 3: Great example. Hopefully Hungary views it as an example the
[12:22] Speaker 3: people Hungary that is.
[12:23] Speaker 1: Yeah, and so the Hungary Hungarian elections are in April
[12:28] Speaker 1: of twenty twenty six. No exact data set yet, just
[12:32] Speaker 1: FYI for everybody.
[12:34] Speaker 4: Yeah, I think we're going to see a repetition of
[12:36] Speaker 4: what happened in Georgia right where you know, the Russians
[12:41] Speaker 4: are definitely backing all on, and you're going to see
[12:45] Speaker 4: a massive disinformation campaign. You already have strong arm tactics
[12:51] Speaker 4: by r Bonn and you know his his supportive thuggery.
[12:56] Speaker 4: There's you know, echoes of Watcher and indeed of Ukraine
[13:01] Speaker 4: back in twenty fourteen. In this upcoming election.
[13:06] Speaker 2: Yeah, I saw the Georgian elections.
[13:09] Speaker 1: I mean it's I read that Russia spent about one
[13:12] Speaker 1: hundred million dollars on like advertising just not forget like
[13:16] Speaker 1: that's over, like forget the covert stuff, Like they're just
[13:19] Speaker 1: taken out ads and they're on like Georgian super PACs
[13:22] Speaker 1: basically to try and swear that election.
[13:25] Speaker 4: Yeah, same thing in Moldova. Now this is and we've
[13:30] Speaker 4: talked here on this show about Russia, what Russia is doing,
[13:33] Speaker 4: The active measures that are being conducted by GIU throughout
[13:43] Speaker 4: Europe are increasingly active, and we have the United States
[13:48] Speaker 4: that appear to be ignoring the Mick knows more than
[13:51] Speaker 4: I do about the focus of the intelligence community having
[13:56] Speaker 4: been forcibly taken a focused away from Russia in the
[13:59] Speaker 4: Laws zero two, which I think.
[14:01] Speaker 3: Is a great mistake. It is they're clearly the most
[14:05] Speaker 3: dangerous adversary we have. They've proven it right, not only
[14:08] Speaker 3: in their capacity to wage or nuclear specifically, but their
[14:13] Speaker 3: willingness to how many other countries have just invaded their
[14:17] Speaker 3: neighbors and their neighbor and last right. And if they're
[14:20] Speaker 3: successful there, does anybody really think they'll stop what they
[14:25] Speaker 3: try to gobble up every country that's not NATO.
[14:28] Speaker 4: I mean, why wouldn't you believe that, you know, when
[14:30] Speaker 4: it comes to intent. And I'm not saying we should
[14:32] Speaker 4: take our eyes off China, but Russia is arguably a
[14:37] Speaker 4: more immediate threat to US national interests because of it
[14:41] Speaker 4: its intented, because it's you know, Putin is a wild
[14:45] Speaker 4: cont Yeah, and.
[14:49] Speaker 3: You're right, we shouldn't take our eye off. There's a
[14:51] Speaker 3: new book out going. I just bought it. It's The
[14:57] Speaker 3: American Edge talks of out and one. This this kind
[15:03] Speaker 3: of argument in Washington always happens like it's either or man,
[15:07] Speaker 3: it's I mean that the defense budgets one point one
[15:09] Speaker 3: trillion dollars. We can do both Russia and China, right,
[15:12] Speaker 3: so just knock off the you know, the policy won't
[15:19] Speaker 3: right in Venezuela. Right if we have said we'll get well,
[15:22] Speaker 3: I think that's the next perfect segue there.
[15:24] Speaker 4: And it doesn't even count.
[15:26] Speaker 3: So it's like that, yeah, but yeah, we could do both.
[15:30] Speaker 3: But American head is about how we are or not
[15:34] Speaker 3: even doing that. I mean a lot of people China
[15:36] Speaker 3: hawks came in, including people in this administration, talking about
[15:40] Speaker 3: how we need to focus on solely on China. Well,
[15:43] Speaker 3: now we got ten percent of a course in the Caribbean, right,
[15:45] Speaker 3: And and part of the interview, I think Seth Jones
[15:49] Speaker 3: is one of the others, said he was just out
[15:52] Speaker 3: there and everybody told him it's like everywhere you see
[15:55] Speaker 3: is you China military presence everywhere? Like it's it's substantially
[16:01] Speaker 3: changed in the last few years. And we're sending our
[16:05] Speaker 3: assets elsewhere, not not. The topic for discussion is this episode,
[16:11] Speaker 3: but I think that I haven't read it, so can't
[16:15] Speaker 3: endorse it. But certainly the people that wrote it know
[16:18] Speaker 3: what they're talking about, and it sounds very impressing.
[16:20] Speaker 1: Yeah, so yeah, talking about shuffling our assets around uh Venezuela.
[16:26] Speaker 1: I mean, we were all pretty sure that it was
[16:27] Speaker 1: going to happen this week on an attack, US attacking
[16:32] Speaker 1: inside of Venezuela, maybe going for Maduro himself. I thought
[16:38] Speaker 1: it was gonna happen later in the week, like after
[16:40] Speaker 1: after election day. But you still haven't seen anything. There
[16:43] Speaker 1: have been, like I mentioned before, there have been some
[16:47] Speaker 1: kinetic strikes on Narco, you know, traffickers and stuff like that,
[16:52] Speaker 1: like the smugglers, and uh, we're just waiting and seeing.
[16:56] Speaker 1: I haven't really seen any more build up in terms
[16:59] Speaker 1: of like, you know, assets into the Caribbean. I know
[17:03] Speaker 1: the general off Ford is like steaming in now and
[17:06] Speaker 1: it should be there probably within like a month. Where
[17:10] Speaker 1: you guys at with this, what are you hearing? What's
[17:13] Speaker 1: what's the deal?
[17:16] Speaker 3: I think it was reasonable for not just us, but
[17:19] Speaker 3: just about everybody to think that something was going to happen, right,
[17:22] Speaker 3: they were issuing notice to airmen blocking off airspaces doing
[17:26] Speaker 3: B one flybys. Either that that they were heading toward
[17:33] Speaker 3: doing something and the President decided not to, which could happen,
[17:38] Speaker 3: or they were wanting to look like they were heading
[17:40] Speaker 3: towards something, hoping that Madureau would flee the country. I
[17:46] Speaker 3: don't know which is true, but I don't think you
[17:48] Speaker 3: could say like, oh, there's nothing to see here, and
[17:51] Speaker 3: I mean it's it was just way more action that
[17:53] Speaker 3: it was necessary there. Obviously, there's going to be more
[17:56] Speaker 3: forces in this area than any time that I can remember.
[18:01] Speaker 3: I think this the stat is about ten percent of
[18:04] Speaker 3: the naval force will be there once General Ford is
[18:08] Speaker 3: there with its accompanying ships. It's it's clearly about and
[18:13] Speaker 3: you know this has been repeated so many times. What
[18:15] Speaker 3: I'll say at another time. It's clearly beyond just drug
[18:19] Speaker 3: in addiction. You don't need this for drug inderdiction. The
[18:23] Speaker 3: drug interdiction is I think important. Most people are going
[18:27] Speaker 3: to stick up for, you know, drug smugglers. So there's
[18:31] Speaker 3: not a lot being talked about there. But important to
[18:34] Speaker 3: note that the Senate voted not to require the Trump
[18:40] Speaker 3: administration get authority to do something against Venezuela, which is odd.
[18:47] Speaker 3: It's kind of like it's not usually done that way.
[18:49] Speaker 3: So I think it was fifty one forty nine, correct
[18:52] Speaker 3: my if I'm wrong, But so that the way I
[18:56] Speaker 3: see it is basically authorizing the president to do so.
[19:00] Speaker 3: If you're not going to require and to get authorization, right,
[19:04] Speaker 3: so I think you might as well just view that
[19:06] Speaker 3: as a president just authorized action against Venezuela, which is
[19:10] Speaker 3: beyond interdicting lethally drug votes, so that would be land
[19:17] Speaker 3: based attacks, which is a sovereign country. What we don't like,
[19:22] Speaker 3: but or at least the government, but it's still a
[19:24] Speaker 3: sovereign country. So the way I view it is they
[19:26] Speaker 3: essentially authorize it. So perhaps now they're just waiting for
[19:30] Speaker 3: the the USS Journal Authororg to get there, because that's
[19:34] Speaker 3: that's the big the big club in this in this
[19:38] Speaker 3: array of capacity that the US has, and we'll just
[19:42] Speaker 3: have to see what happens when it gets there.
[19:45] Speaker 1: Yeah, So a little info, andy before you go on
[19:47] Speaker 1: that vote in the Senate. The Senate voted on November sixth,
[19:51] Speaker 1: fifty one to forty nine to reject the resolution that
[19:53] Speaker 1: we have to require Donald Trump and the Donald Trump
[19:56] Speaker 1: administration to obtain congressional authorization before launching military strikes against
[20:01] Speaker 1: Venezuela or in Venezuelan territory. Uh, I mean that's.
[20:10] Speaker 4: Yes, most that's the most extraordinary vote. And I just
[20:15] Speaker 4: cannot see how that is a good thing, you know,
[20:19] Speaker 4: I mean, the the strength of the process for checks
[20:26] Speaker 4: and balances, I say the strength, but it's been diminished
[20:29] Speaker 4: over the years. But the whole point of the system
[20:33] Speaker 4: of checks and balances that we have is that Congress
[20:36] Speaker 4: is supposed to provide oversight over the executive's ability to
[20:42] Speaker 4: execute foreign policies, specifically to commit military force overseas. Right,
[20:48] Speaker 4: And so it's it's okay if there is a vote
[20:53] Speaker 4: you know, for you know, in support of military action.
[20:57] Speaker 4: You know, that's that's in line with the Constitution. But
[21:01] Speaker 4: but for the Senate to vote, hey, we don't even
[21:03] Speaker 4: want to look at this one. We don't. We just
[21:06] Speaker 4: we just want to sidelines. Yeah, that's abdicating their responsibility
[21:13] Speaker 4: under the Constitution. And we've seen frighteningly a lot of
[21:17] Speaker 4: that from I mean all through Afghanistan and Iraq, where
[21:20] Speaker 4: there was I mean, look, you know, I mean, I'm
[21:23] Speaker 4: I'm a former member of the military. I'm not from
[21:27] Speaker 4: you know, the traditional left of the the you know,
[21:33] Speaker 4: the source of of alternate.
[21:36] Speaker 2: Views, blue hair.
[21:38] Speaker 4: And you know, my point is this that it's healthy
[21:42] Speaker 4: for Congress to provide oversight and the check on the
[21:46] Speaker 4: executive's ability power to UH to deploy military force overseas.
[21:55] Speaker 4: And and we and we saw Congress essentially abdicate that
[22:00] Speaker 4: under a continuing au m F in the aftermath of
[22:03] Speaker 4: ninety eleven. You know, that was kind of a continue
[22:05] Speaker 4: in AUMF that was never challenged and went on and
[22:08] Speaker 4: on and on for what I think, it's still in effect, right,
[22:13] Speaker 4: and and that's how we.
[22:15] Speaker 3: Get get it removed in the next NDA.
[22:17] Speaker 4: You have to, yeah, but I mean right around. We
[22:22] Speaker 4: flailed around in Afghanistan forever, even even when, as everyone knows,
[22:29] Speaker 4: the reality on the ground didn't match our lofty objectives.
[22:33] Speaker 4: And no one really questioned that, right, and it just
[22:36] Speaker 4: went on and on because it was unpatriotic right to
[22:40] Speaker 4: challenge the use of American force in the aftermath of
[22:44] Speaker 4: ninety eleven, even two decades after ninety eleven eleven, even
[22:47] Speaker 4: though we were wasting blood and treasure in a war
[22:52] Speaker 4: that we could not win. And then many on the
[22:54] Speaker 4: ground knew that we could not win it, you know,
[22:56] Speaker 4: so just a few years later for us to say
[23:01] Speaker 4: or send it to say, hey, we don't want to
[23:04] Speaker 4: look at this. You know, it doesn't matter what you
[23:06] Speaker 4: think about whether or not we should go to war
[23:09] Speaker 4: with Venezuela. You should probably want the US political system
[23:14] Speaker 4: of checks and balances to work in the way that
[23:17] Speaker 4: the founding fathers intended it for it to work, right,
[23:20] Speaker 4: And someone's going to have to know you go to war.
[23:24] Speaker 4: I mean, you know, think about think about the aftermath
[23:29] Speaker 4: of Iraq and how that became such afterwards became from
[23:36] Speaker 4: a good idea too in most people's perspective, not such
[23:40] Speaker 4: a good idea, right, but in any case had had
[23:44] Speaker 4: traumatic consequences, not just for Iraq but the US foreign
[23:48] Speaker 4: policy in the region. And the only country that really
[23:52] Speaker 4: ended up profiting from that was arguably arguably was Iran,
[23:57] Speaker 4: you know, I know, and Iraq and Iraq. Actually it's
[24:00] Speaker 4: not our probably not our worst mistake. I think our
[24:03] Speaker 4: worst mistake was continue in Afghanistan as we did. The
[24:07] Speaker 4: right may in the long term turn out to be okay.
[24:11] Speaker 4: But anyway, my point is simply this that to to
[24:14] Speaker 4: step back and say, hey, we're not even going to
[24:16] Speaker 4: look at this, so I guess you can do what
[24:18] Speaker 4: you want. Is just it's it's abdicating your responsibility. It
[24:24] Speaker 4: is advocated.
[24:25] Speaker 3: But I think you could also say they just authorized it, right,
[24:28] Speaker 3: you just say, well, whether you want to own it
[24:30] Speaker 3: or not. When you say that he does that, the
[24:32] Speaker 3: president doesn't have to come to Congress. You an authorization.
[24:35] Speaker 3: You're saying, has authorization.
[24:37] Speaker 4: Or authorize it without any rigorous debate at all. That's
[24:40] Speaker 4: what we may be saying is why, what are the
[24:43] Speaker 4: why where's your intelligence? What are the wise? How does
[24:46] Speaker 4: this undermine us national interest? If we don't you know,
[24:49] Speaker 4: if we don't do this, why why is this a
[24:51] Speaker 4: compulsion to do this now? Because you know, I don't
[24:56] Speaker 4: want to stud lyrical about this, but people are going
[24:59] Speaker 4: to die and the people who you know, you may
[25:02] Speaker 4: not care that. There may be elements of the US
[25:05] Speaker 4: population that don't care about foreigners dying, but it won't
[25:07] Speaker 4: all be foreigners. I guarantee that.
[25:12] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[25:12] Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's kind of incredible to me, like witnessing,
[25:15] Speaker 1: like media and even podcasts like this are doing more
[25:21] Speaker 1: of a more rigorous debate than the people who are
[25:25] Speaker 1: supposed to make the decision. There's only one hundred of
[25:28] Speaker 1: them in the Senate, right, that's out of three hundred
[25:30] Speaker 1: and forty million people. Frankly, to me, if you ask me,
[25:35] Speaker 1: it's like an impeachable offense for senators to like not
[25:39] Speaker 1: take the subject, the issue and to even debate. I'm
[25:44] Speaker 1: going to be honest, like it's a fucking joke.
[25:48] Speaker 3: And honestly we would be better offers. Certainly, Venezuela would
[25:52] Speaker 3: did oh dryl Digslee. He's a autocrat, he's tyrannical. He's
[25:59] Speaker 3: taking a cut that should be one of the wealthiest
[26:02] Speaker 3: countries in the Western hemisphere, not I mean southern Western
[26:06] Speaker 3: hemisphere and turn it into a basket case where seven
[26:09] Speaker 3: million people I had to leave because they couldn't find food, right,
[26:12] Speaker 3: fourteen trillion dollars improven oil reserves. But the question is
[26:17] Speaker 3: do we need to do it by force? I think
[26:19] Speaker 3: that's definitely needs to be debated. To Andy's point, even
[26:23] Speaker 3: if it's almost a flawless execution, we're going to see
[26:27] Speaker 3: a lot of American die. This is that this is
[26:29] Speaker 3: the administration that wants to get out of the lomer Wars,
[26:31] Speaker 3: That's why I really hope I don't know what they're doing,
[26:33] Speaker 3: but President Trump was announced it. I hope those the
[26:37] Speaker 3: agency can figure out a way to do this that
[26:39] Speaker 3: avoids the need for military action, whether it's convincing his
[26:44] Speaker 3: pilot to go buy him or El Paso, which would
[26:47] Speaker 3: be awesome, or you know, take them out. Man. I
[26:50] Speaker 3: mean we should not. We should all hope even if
[26:55] Speaker 3: you're four a regime change scenario, we should all hope
[27:00] Speaker 3: that it doesn't end up with the US military having
[27:03] Speaker 3: to be directly involved, because that's we're going to lose.
[27:08] Speaker 3: And we're on the precipice and veterans there. And to
[27:13] Speaker 3: your both of your points, this is if Congress isn't
[27:17] Speaker 3: going to do its job. Ah, however they come out,
[27:22] Speaker 3: then I think the American people are going to start wondering.
[27:27] Speaker 4: Yeah, you expect the Senate to be kind of the
[27:31] Speaker 4: adults in the House, right, I mean that's always been
[27:36] Speaker 4: and uh, to be more bipartisan, to be a little
[27:39] Speaker 4: more mature in that decision making and to understand the
[27:42] Speaker 4: constitutional foundations of their responsibilities. That's why this is concerning.
[27:47] Speaker 4: And by the way, I announcing that you're authorizing COVID
[27:51] Speaker 4: actions a new one.
[27:54] Speaker 2: They got a dad and like.
[27:56] Speaker 3: It's like, I'm sure that, I'm sure there's a lot
[27:59] Speaker 3: of covert clandestine employees that are like and make it
[28:04] Speaker 3: more difficult. But well, we'll still figure it out. Let's
[28:08] Speaker 3: still figure it out. I'm sure, I'm sure. I don't
[28:10] Speaker 3: know what they're doing, but I'm sure they'll figure it out.
[28:12] Speaker 3: I hope they do. But see the other point on
[28:17] Speaker 3: the on the Senate. I mean, if you if you're
[28:18] Speaker 3: supportive of the military takeover of Venezuela, to say you
[28:22] Speaker 3: are in the Senate, then get on the floor and
[28:24] Speaker 3: make it the argument. Get on the floor and make
[28:27] Speaker 3: the argument. Argument. Yeah, make an argument. And if you're
[28:30] Speaker 3: not same thing. But just to go, we're not even
[28:34] Speaker 3: gonna happen. So we have a potential. It's based based
[28:38] Speaker 3: on the size of the force. Right, this could be
[28:41] Speaker 3: an actual invasion of Venezuela. I don't know if it is.
[28:43] Speaker 3: I don't know if it's a bluff, but the size
[28:45] Speaker 3: of the force is getting close now. I think there
[28:47] Speaker 3: may be a lot more ground forces if they're going
[28:50] Speaker 3: to do that. But maybe it's a Noriega type apprehension.
[28:54] Speaker 3: So we're seeing that happen, and then the Senate says,
[28:58] Speaker 3: you don't have to come to us for off reag So.
[29:03] Speaker 2: Yeah, what's their job? What do they do? The Senate?
[29:06] Speaker 3: So clearly in Article one, they get to declare war
[29:11] Speaker 3: and they are in charge of raising the armies and
[29:13] Speaker 3: the navyes of course the air force. So if the
[29:19] Speaker 3: if I think the administration can say okay, then that's authorization.
[29:22] Speaker 3: So they could launch this as soon as the board
[29:24] Speaker 3: gets there, whenever they think they're ready. And we don't
[29:28] Speaker 3: know how to go right, even with the most elite units,
[29:31] Speaker 3: which I think exists in the US, Uh, still could
[29:35] Speaker 3: go bad, Still could go bad. We could see a
[29:38] Speaker 3: lot of Americans get killed, We could see helicopters shut downs.
[29:43] Speaker 3: And then then yeah yeah, so uh we should at
[29:49] Speaker 3: least be having a debate, an open debate, not on podcasts,
[29:53] Speaker 3: but in the Senate.
[29:54] Speaker 1: Right where it really matters, you know, actually matters where
[29:57] Speaker 1: decisions can be actually made.
[29:58] Speaker 2: It's like a fucking joe in the House.
[30:01] Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, in Congress yeah yeah, I mean it's just
[30:06] Speaker 1: they're like they're just not working. It's like it's it's
[30:09] Speaker 1: nuts to me. Even with the shutdown going on, it's like,
[30:12] Speaker 1: can we do Can you guys do your jobs like
[30:16] Speaker 1: you're the leaders of the land. They take it fucking seriously.
[30:20] Speaker 3: That's just me and angry tomorrow.
[30:24] Speaker 2: Let them know that. The idiots. Yeah, anything else while
[30:32] Speaker 2: we wrap up, Uh, Venezuela.
[30:35] Speaker 3: Through bacon tap.
[30:37] Speaker 2: This is looks like, well, obviously keep an eye on it.
[30:43] Speaker 2: See what I did there? His eyes on anyway. Uh.
[30:48] Speaker 1: Last bit was, uh it seems like Hamas is being
[30:52] Speaker 1: allowed to leave Gaza through the Rafa crossing. Uh, which
[30:58] Speaker 1: you know what's going on there? And make you get
[31:01] Speaker 1: you know, enlightened musk please.
[31:03] Speaker 3: So the issue really is from the unis perspective, there's
[31:09] Speaker 3: a bunch of Hamas folks of stone tunnels in the
[31:13] Speaker 3: rough area right it can't get out, so I'm sure
[31:17] Speaker 3: they want to get out, but the US is looking
[31:20] Speaker 3: at as a test case for the disarming of AMAS,
[31:24] Speaker 3: so I don't think they know actually where they'd go.
[31:26] Speaker 3: It's either inside Rafa, I mean inside Gaza or potentially
[31:30] Speaker 3: to another country. But Israel is pushing back, not wanting
[31:34] Speaker 3: him to be given amnesty because it's basically amnesty. They
[31:38] Speaker 3: come out of the funnels, they put down their weapons
[31:39] Speaker 3: to get moved to another place and then they're they're
[31:42] Speaker 3: like out of bounds, right, So I understand how that
[31:45] Speaker 3: would have issues for Israel, But if you believe in
[31:49] Speaker 3: the ceasefire process and a twenty point plan, this is
[31:52] Speaker 3: going to have to happen. If it can't happen with
[31:55] Speaker 3: these three hundred, it's not going to happen with you know,
[31:57] Speaker 3: the thousands that still remain. So the US has dispatched
[32:02] Speaker 3: mister Kushner and mister Whitcop over there to really put
[32:05] Speaker 3: pressure on Israel. So I think the US is right
[32:08] Speaker 3: in this. Then like, look, if this can't happen, then
[32:13] Speaker 3: we're not going forward to the stabilization force coming in.
[32:17] Speaker 3: They're not going to be doing reconstruction of us all
[32:20] Speaker 3: the things that's really beneficial for the people of God
[32:23] Speaker 3: and Israel in my opinion, So I think the US
[32:26] Speaker 3: is right and pushing pushing this to happen. Again. I
[32:29] Speaker 3: understand why they have issues with it, but let's they
[32:34] Speaker 3: just want to leave the current state as is in perpetuity,
[32:37] Speaker 3: which is not acceptable.
[32:41] Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the Israelis need to look at recent
[32:43] Speaker 4: history and you know, they were all no matter no
[32:48] Speaker 4: matter how violent the conflict and bit of the conflict.
[32:53] Speaker 4: The ones that have evolved into successful peace plans have
[32:57] Speaker 4: all been based on a DD pro UH. And that
[33:02] Speaker 4: involves that involves understanding that your enemy is no longer
[33:07] Speaker 4: your enemy and integrating him into the new security force opparatus.
[33:12] Speaker 4: That may be anathma to the Israelis, but it's a reality.
[33:15] Speaker 4: It's a fact on the ground. You know, you you
[33:18] Speaker 4: can't have a totally independent security force unfortunately. UH. And
[33:24] Speaker 4: then have all these guys who have been brought up
[33:26] Speaker 4: and to understand you in a culture of violence and
[33:30] Speaker 4: anger and resentment, just hanging around without a job. That's
[33:33] Speaker 4: not going to work. You have to understand that they're
[33:36] Speaker 4: probably going to have to be integrated into whatever it is.
[33:39] Speaker 4: The whatever whatever comes after the ISF, the International Security Force,
[33:45] Speaker 4: or whatever the International Security Force mentors into existence, is
[33:49] Speaker 4: going to involve former Hamask guys, look what happened in
[33:53] Speaker 4: as Rudisha became Zimbabwe. You think that war wasn't a
[33:57] Speaker 4: violent bit of war, you know, you think that terrorist
[34:00] Speaker 4: acts didn't occur, that white settlers weren't weren't murdered in
[34:04] Speaker 4: their farmhouses along with their kids and everything. But it
[34:07] Speaker 4: evolved into you know, I'm not I'm not praising mcgarby
[34:10] Speaker 4: or what happened afterwards it, but it was successful DDR process.
[34:14] Speaker 4: Same thing in South Africa, right, you know, where there
[34:17] Speaker 4: was even the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. But but the
[34:23] Speaker 4: but the a n C, even though they were the victors,
[34:25] Speaker 4: went through a DDR process and were integrated into the
[34:28] Speaker 4: security forces along with former members of the South African
[34:33] Speaker 4: security forces who happened to be white. And and it worked,
[34:36] Speaker 4: you know, So again the Israelis need to look at that.
[34:39] Speaker 4: And and Shelf, I know we're going to get attacked
[34:43] Speaker 4: with this, but Shelf a lot of this animosity and
[34:46] Speaker 4: bitterness and understand that the long term demands that they
[34:49] Speaker 4: make concessions like.
[34:51] Speaker 2: This, Andy, what's d DR just for everybody?
[34:55] Speaker 4: Oh, it's disarmament. What's the same can d and reintegration?
[35:02] Speaker 2: Right, disengagement?
[35:03] Speaker 3: Look at how much you start forgetting where?
[35:10] Speaker 4: Yeah, disarmed, demobilization, demobilation.
[35:14] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[35:15] Speaker 4: But I mean, you know, so on the on the
[35:17] Speaker 4: International Security Force, which by the way is still kind
[35:21] Speaker 4: of a vague entity, right, it looks I mean, Turkey's
[35:24] Speaker 4: offering forces it's at least have nixed that because of
[35:28] Speaker 4: Urduwan's pro Hamas stance. So it looks as those security
[35:32] Speaker 4: forces are going to be provided by azerby Jean. I
[35:35] Speaker 4: believe in Indonesia, neither of which countries has any real
[35:41] Speaker 4: background or cultural understanding of the beliefs, and Indonesians may
[35:44] Speaker 4: be Muslim, but that's as far as it goes. You know,
[35:47] Speaker 4: the Egyptians are going to play, and they're going to
[35:50] Speaker 4: have to play a prominent role in training, but I'm
[35:53] Speaker 4: not sure if they're going to provide forces themselves to
[35:55] Speaker 4: the is SF. But my point is that again this
[35:58] Speaker 4: gets gets back to the fact that you can't have
[36:02] Speaker 4: especially outsiders, outsiders from the milie coming in and thinking
[36:06] Speaker 4: that they're going to enforce peace unless you have some
[36:11] Speaker 4: process for taking this sting out of the militants. The
[36:17] Speaker 4: you know, the the guys who have been fighting there
[36:20] Speaker 4: in a in a in a any dreadsden like environment
[36:26] Speaker 4: for the last two years. They're not just going to
[36:28] Speaker 4: go away quietly and become shopkeepers should I mean, we
[36:33] Speaker 4: learned that in a rack, right.
[36:37] Speaker 3: And so the US is pushing for the mandate for
[36:40] Speaker 3: this is L They were last week, so I don't
[36:44] Speaker 3: maybe this week it will get proved which is necessary.
[36:48] Speaker 3: So it's a good thing. But then everything Andy said
[36:51] Speaker 3: is going to be now you get to now you
[36:52] Speaker 3: got to put it together. Right, So Egypt is acceptable,
[36:56] Speaker 3: I believe to Israel it's not. They might be the
[37:01] Speaker 3: core of it, and the US has his coordination center
[37:04] Speaker 3: out there to help organize it not to go in.
[37:09] Speaker 3: But I don't think any country in Egypt or Individia
[37:12] Speaker 3: is willing to go out and fight a moss right.
[37:14] Speaker 3: They're not. They're not willing to replace the ideas and
[37:17] Speaker 3: then fight their war. So it's really going to come
[37:21] Speaker 3: down to Hamatha's willingness to you know, disarm and demobilize
[37:28] Speaker 3: or Unfortunately, we could see this kickoff again in earnest
[37:32] Speaker 3: because Israel simply not going to leave them in the
[37:34] Speaker 3: most sizeable position.
[37:36] Speaker 4: That's uni incentive you can offer the rank and file.
[37:41] Speaker 4: The only incentive is to give them jobs. Should I mean,
[37:45] Speaker 4: that's think about the Sons of the Rock, right, who
[37:49] Speaker 4: do you think they were fighting us?
[37:52] Speaker 3: Right?
[37:53] Speaker 4: And we paid them one hundred and fifty bucks a
[37:55] Speaker 4: month not to do that and God checkpoints instead, and
[37:59] Speaker 4: it was a great program and it worked. You just
[38:03] Speaker 4: can't get over Yeah, you have to.
[38:07] Speaker 1: Like wouldn't that be like a bit like counterinsurgency strategy,
[38:11] Speaker 1: And like you've mentioned before, Dy that the IDF doesn't
[38:14] Speaker 1: doesn't fuck with that.
[38:15] Speaker 4: They don't they don't have a counter insurgency doctrine basically,
[38:19] Speaker 4: I mean, they not not a not a doctrine. They've
[38:23] Speaker 4: had various papers written about counterinsurgency, but they don't follow
[38:27] Speaker 4: counterinsurgency doctrine.
[38:28] Speaker 2: Yikes.
[38:29] Speaker 1: Anyway, do you think Israel will really be okay with
[38:33] Speaker 1: like Egypt taking out bigger role in this is and
[38:36] Speaker 1: the is F, like the international force, like peacekeeping force, whatever.
[38:42] Speaker 4: Well, they're not there. They don't undred percent trust the
[38:46] Speaker 4: Egypt of course not they they're worried about the growth
[38:48] Speaker 4: of the Muslim Brotherhood back in the military. Even though
[38:51] Speaker 4: CC is vehemently opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood. The Israelis
[38:56] Speaker 4: will tell you that nevertheless, the Muslim Brotherhood has a
[38:59] Speaker 4: firm hoole within the Egyptian military. But nevertheless they don't
[39:03] Speaker 4: have a lot of choice, right, which is was trying
[39:06] Speaker 4: to say when I stepped over in.
[39:07] Speaker 3: There, I wonder, I don't. I guess if both sides
[39:11] Speaker 3: degree it's not an issue. But there's the treaty if
[39:13] Speaker 3: they would allow Egypt to move in. I don't know
[39:18] Speaker 3: if there's some legal international legal scholar can answer that,
[39:21] Speaker 3: but I guess if they're both for it, then there
[39:24] Speaker 3: won't be an issue. I who's going to be contesting it,
[39:29] Speaker 3: but some some force does. And to Andy's other point
[39:31] Speaker 3: is a lot of these other countries, great for them
[39:33] Speaker 3: for stepping up, but they don't have a cultural awareness
[39:36] Speaker 3: of a gaza, whereas Egypt obviously would be much more
[39:41] Speaker 3: culturally aware.
[39:44] Speaker 4: Yeah, Egypt don't gossip until nineteen sixty seven, that's right.
[39:49] Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
[39:50] Speaker 1: Like, well, Israel and like the hard right of the
[39:54] Speaker 1: Likud or you know of betting at Yahu's government be
[39:57] Speaker 1: down for that.
[40:00] Speaker 4: They won the wall. They want the war to continue.
[40:03] Speaker 4: You know, when the when when this incident occurred last
[40:07] Speaker 4: week with uh Israeli two, it's Raeli soldiers being killed
[40:12] Speaker 4: in small riches yelling this is war. You know, I
[40:15] Speaker 4: mean he was, he was absolutely euphoric, ecstatic at the
[40:21] Speaker 4: prospect of having a reason to go back to war.
[40:27] Speaker 3: Did any of those guys serve By the way, it
[40:29] Speaker 3: was just like a classic chicken hawks an area where
[40:32] Speaker 3: the most pewhammer for war have never actually been in one.
[40:37] Speaker 3: I guess I should love you.
[40:38] Speaker 4: I don't know, I don't know. I think probably they
[40:42] Speaker 4: I don't know if either of them had religious exemption,
[40:46] Speaker 4: but their ages are such that they wouldn't have been
[40:49] Speaker 4: involved in, uh, you know, the invasion of leban And
[40:52] Speaker 4: I don't know if they're involved in the two thousand
[40:54] Speaker 4: and six war, but actually it was only But no,
[41:00] Speaker 4: I suspect that they have not.
[41:03] Speaker 2: I mean that's even crazier, Like.
[41:07] Speaker 4: Well, yeah, I mean you've got you know, I mean,
[41:10] Speaker 4: the the only uh Benny Gantz who is a career
[41:16] Speaker 4: soldier and has served in multiple conflicts, is is a
[41:20] Speaker 4: moderate and the voice of reason and that cannesset and
[41:25] Speaker 4: and has been throughout this freely standards right.
[41:32] Speaker 1: So Gavier he was exempted from service due to his
[41:35] Speaker 1: extreme right political background.
[41:38] Speaker 3: Wow wow, So it literally created the chicken hawk.
[41:44] Speaker 4: You can you can have religious exemption, you can have
[41:48] Speaker 4: physical exemption, or you can just be such a political
[41:52] Speaker 4: numher that like we don't want believable.
[41:55] Speaker 3: So you can make decisions to send the military to war,
[41:57] Speaker 3: but you can't be too crazy an assumption that Wow wow,
[42:03] Speaker 3: I'm gonna use that.
[42:06] Speaker 4: I thought it would be just because he's such an overweight,
[42:08] Speaker 4: fat pig, but.
[42:10] Speaker 1: So, Yeah, Smoltrich served in the I d F in
[42:13] Speaker 1: a non combat role. He served as a secretary in
[42:15] Speaker 1: the Operations division for the General Staff.
[42:18] Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, that's that's that's the privilege to get to
[42:24] Speaker 3: be what the staff.
[42:26] Speaker 4: Classic.
[42:28] Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, it's like.
[42:32] Speaker 4: You know, a a senator now who was a jag
[42:35] Speaker 4: in the Air Force, uh, publicly saying this week, we're
[42:40] Speaker 4: killing all the right people. You know, it's the guys
[42:44] Speaker 4: who've actually had to do that les enthusiastic.
[42:47] Speaker 1: You'd also think a jag would be a little bit
[42:50] Speaker 1: more reasonable and logical in your thought process too.
[42:53] Speaker 3: Yeah, not this particular one, right, speaking of that, Uh,
[43:00] Speaker 3: not to digress, but I know I mentioned this yesterday.
[43:03] Speaker 3: If you're looking for a good movie Nurnberg speaking of jags,
[43:08] Speaker 3: that is freaking exception.
[43:10] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[43:11] Speaker 3: It looks like I haven't been I haven't been to
[43:13] Speaker 3: the movie theaters in a long time, and I really
[43:17] Speaker 3: was lamenting the fact that we haven't been making any
[43:20] Speaker 3: good movies or like collectively, and I want to see
[43:23] Speaker 3: that and it should win them. It should definitely win
[43:25] Speaker 3: the Oscar Russell Crowe and Ronnie Mallik two already won
[43:32] Speaker 3: the Academy, should win it again. And it's very it's
[43:35] Speaker 3: very it's it's not just something in history that everybody
[43:39] Speaker 3: should remember. It's really relevant because see it's based on
[43:44] Speaker 3: a book by the psychiatrists that interviewed them and he's
[43:48] Speaker 3: he's played by Ronnie Mallick and this doctor Kelly, and
[43:52] Speaker 3: his whole point of his book was this isn't just
[43:55] Speaker 3: a unique time in space. This could happen again. It
[43:58] Speaker 3: can happen again if you don't, if you don't look
[44:01] Speaker 3: for it, if you don't fight against it. This time
[44:04] Speaker 3: up depravity, taranny is not unique to you know, Germany's
[44:08] Speaker 3: Germany nineteen three.
[44:10] Speaker 4: And that's that I couldn't agree more Meg, And that's
[44:13] Speaker 4: why it's so concerning when you hear political leaders start
[44:16] Speaker 4: to say, hey, rules of engagement of bullshit, and we
[44:20] Speaker 4: don't want to tie the hands of our war fighters
[44:22] Speaker 4: by you know, getting them not to you know, trying
[44:25] Speaker 4: to persuade them not to kill civilians, et cetera, et cetera.
[44:28] Speaker 4: It's say that that's exactly right.
[44:30] Speaker 3: It's it's ignoring history, right, And I mean, we could
[44:34] Speaker 3: have just drug them out and shot them right that
[44:36] Speaker 3: we actually had a trial, exposed what they did, uh,
[44:41] Speaker 3: and and had a process and that really set the
[44:43] Speaker 3: standard I think went ahead. So there's there's a lot
[44:47] Speaker 3: of reasons to watch that in addition to just being
[44:50] Speaker 3: just exceptionally well done.
[44:51] Speaker 2: Yeah, check it out.
[44:52] Speaker 4: Also, you went to the theater there in DC.
[44:57] Speaker 3: Yeah, the Draft House.
[45:01] Speaker 2: Yeah it's great.
[45:04] Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just as the plus because you know, like
[45:08] Speaker 3: drinking beer when I watched movies a minus. But you know,
[45:11] Speaker 3: it's a long movie. You know, guys are rich. We're
[45:13] Speaker 3: gonna have to get up and miss a little part,
[45:15] Speaker 3: so I'll have to watch it again.
[45:16] Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a little bit.
[45:20] Speaker 3: It was good. It was really good.
[45:22] Speaker 2: I gotta check it out too. What's it called?
[45:28] Speaker 1: I was gonna say so, I totally forgot oh to
[45:31] Speaker 1: talk about what you were saying, Andy, like where you know, Uh,
[45:35] Speaker 1: we're like dehumanizing the enemy or the other, you know,
[45:39] Speaker 1: whoever it's is. We're dehumanizing so much. It's like when
[45:43] Speaker 1: I was growing up and learning history and stuff, we
[45:46] Speaker 1: were and it's obviously biased towards us. We were always
[45:48] Speaker 1: the good guys, right, like World War two and stuff
[45:51] Speaker 1: like that, and it's like more and more we seem
[45:53] Speaker 1: to not we're trying not to be the good guys,
[45:56] Speaker 1: Like it doesn't matter what happens, we can wipe out,
[45:59] Speaker 1: you know, does It's like, I don't know, America used
[46:03] Speaker 1: to mean something.
[46:03] Speaker 2: I think, yeah, you know, slightly.
[46:07] Speaker 4: Let me tell you something I always think about in
[46:11] Speaker 4: the height of the Second World War, all right, when
[46:13] Speaker 4: and that was an existential fight for European countries. There's
[46:17] Speaker 4: no doubt about that. So we're talking before Barbarossa even began. No,
[46:25] Speaker 4: actually it was right as Barbarosa began, so no one
[46:27] Speaker 4: knew how that would turn out. But it really, you know,
[46:29] Speaker 4: this whole thing about Britain standing alone. Britain was standing alone,
[46:33] Speaker 4: at least, you know, within Western Europe, the only country
[46:37] Speaker 4: and its cities were getting pummel, you know, from from
[46:41] Speaker 4: nineteen forty onwards, you know, the mass raids on London,
[46:45] Speaker 4: Corpentry and Midlands cities. Thirty thousand civilian dead, I believe
[46:50] Speaker 4: in that one year alone, right, which is a huge amount.
[46:54] Speaker 4: And so the British started to bomb, at first very
[46:58] Speaker 4: ineffective raid into German cities, you know, beginning with Berlin,
[47:04] Speaker 4: and then focusing of course on the Ruhar and Hamburg
[47:08] Speaker 4: and a lot of you know, and then it became
[47:11] Speaker 4: a bombing campaign, which, by the way, the British Bomber
[47:14] Speaker 4: Command suffered the highest casualties of the war, fifty five
[47:17] Speaker 4: thousand killed and only one hundred thousands ever served in
[47:20] Speaker 4: Bomber Command, right, and I'm talking fifty five thousand killed,
[47:24] Speaker 4: so over fifty percent of those who served in Bomber
[47:27] Speaker 4: Command were killed dead. But anyway, so while so existential war,
[47:34] Speaker 4: the Germans, you know, Britain's Britain was still inferior of invasion,
[47:38] Speaker 4: and it became a controversy the fact that the British
[47:43] Speaker 4: were bombing German cities, and it was contested in parliament.
[47:46] Speaker 4: It was contested by the Labor Party, a prominent MP
[47:51] Speaker 4: who was the First World War hero by the way,
[47:52] Speaker 4: I can't remember his name, but he's like one that
[47:55] Speaker 4: distinguished DSc In in the First World War. But they
[48:03] Speaker 4: but the point was, hey, this is against our values.
[48:06] Speaker 4: We've become like our enemies, and we were killing civilians
[48:09] Speaker 4: for the sake of killing civilians. And that was an
[48:12] Speaker 4: actual parliamentary debate, you know.
[48:15] Speaker 2: During during the height of World War two, the.
[48:18] Speaker 4: Height of the war, existential war.
[48:20] Speaker 2: Francis always about that.
[48:22] Speaker 4: When I hear about people going, you know, we shouldn't
[48:24] Speaker 4: have to hands tied behind our back. We should be
[48:26] Speaker 4: able to do this. It's like you don't get it,
[48:29] Speaker 4: do you. You don't get why we're fighting in the first place,
[48:33] Speaker 4: and we sacrificed. We lose that, we lose that, then
[48:36] Speaker 4: we've lost everything.
[48:38] Speaker 3: I do think it's the core of America to not
[48:40] Speaker 3: only be the leader of the free world, but to
[48:42] Speaker 3: fight for breader right. I mean it this to be
[48:45] Speaker 3: standing on pedestal as an American, but from our inception right,
[48:49] Speaker 3: we thought to free ourselves monarchy and tyranny. We thought
[48:54] Speaker 3: a war to free all of our citizens, not just
[48:56] Speaker 3: part of them. Beat Nazi Nazism, fascism in Europe. We
[49:03] Speaker 3: breath imperial Japan, which was dominating Asia and brutal. That
[49:08] Speaker 3: doesn't get near as much attention as a probably they
[49:11] Speaker 3: should have. We won the Cold War by leading, and
[49:15] Speaker 3: we've been a force for good for a vast majority
[49:18] Speaker 3: of our history. I think we can prove that empirically,
[49:22] Speaker 3: not just as an American talking. I think Americans should
[49:26] Speaker 3: view that proudly and should do everything they can to
[49:29] Speaker 3: continue that if we're not, I don't know who would
[49:32] Speaker 3: replace us if we're not the you know this leader.
[49:36] Speaker 3: I don't see another country replaceing us, and I can't
[49:38] Speaker 3: understand why any American would want to be replaced in
[49:42] Speaker 3: this regard, even if there was one. Tomorrow's Marie Corps
[49:49] Speaker 3: birthday and the day it's a better day. So yeah,
[49:53] Speaker 3: waxing philosophical.
[49:55] Speaker 2: Yeah, so.
[49:58] Speaker 1: Happy birthday of the Marine, uh, you know, and happy
[50:02] Speaker 1: veterans at everybody. I want you guys to do me
[50:05] Speaker 1: a favor. Not you guys here, but the people listening
[50:08] Speaker 1: and watching. I want you to go and check out
[50:10] Speaker 1: mixed new podcast called The Pup in the Porch Applied Stoicism,
[50:14] Speaker 1: out now on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, everywhere you can consume podcasts.
[50:18] Speaker 2: The links will be in the description. Andy Milburn incredible writer,
[50:22] Speaker 2: incredible memoir, When the Tempest Gathers. That link is in
[50:25] Speaker 2: the description. It's one of the three books I've ever read,
[50:30] Speaker 2: and it's actually it's at least top three of those.
[50:33] Speaker 1: It's really good. That link is in the description as well.
[50:36] Speaker 1: Check out Andy Substack. He's got a ton of links
[50:38] Speaker 1: if you want to find Andy and the best place
[50:41] Speaker 1: you can go to help support the show is Patreon
[50:43] Speaker 1: dot com slash the Teamhouse. You get both Eyes on
[50:46] Speaker 1: Geopolitics and the Teamhouse episodes ad free and early, and
[50:50] Speaker 1: if you guys want, you can ask us questions for
[50:52] Speaker 1: the guys to answer. You know both Mick, Mick, Andy
[50:57] Speaker 1: and Jason. I have no tears to any questions. So
[51:01] Speaker 1: check it out, guys, A pleasure as always, any final
[51:05] Speaker 1: thoughts before I don't want to cut you guys off.
[51:08] Speaker 4: I haven't been reading the comments on our YouTube recently.
[51:12] Speaker 4: Are we still getting the usual one? There's always a
[51:14] Speaker 4: small group of hate mail and it's the same.
[51:18] Speaker 2: You have some cuns and stuff.
[51:20] Speaker 3: It's terrible.
[51:21] Speaker 4: I hate you guys and keep watching. Yeah, I just
[51:28] Speaker 4: came back because I wanted to confirm how much.
[51:30] Speaker 1: It will occasionally get like, oh, this is like a
[51:32] Speaker 1: c I A. This is a c I A uh
[51:36] Speaker 1: sigh up and stuff like that, and like I wish
[51:38] Speaker 1: it was because that means that we're paying us.
[51:40] Speaker 3: Uh, we're actually we're in the CIA.
[51:44] Speaker 2: Bingo. Yeah, that's step one. Is that what they teach
[51:49] Speaker 2: at the farm, don't start.
[51:54] Speaker 1: Less than one at the farm Day one, guys, don't
[51:57] Speaker 1: tell anybody. You're in the CIA first and foremost first rule.
[52:00] Speaker 3: It is.
[52:02] Speaker 2: All right, guys, A pleasure as always. Thank you all.
[52:08] Speaker 1: Hey guys, how's it going. It's d I want to
[52:11] Speaker 1: thank you for watching the show. I really appreciate it,
[52:13] Speaker 1: and I love for you guys to check out our Patreon.
[52:16] Speaker 1: It's at patreon dot com slash the Teamhouse. The link
[52:20] Speaker 1: is in the description, super easy to find if you're listening,
[52:23] Speaker 1: It's in the show notes as well. You can find
[52:24] Speaker 1: it right there.
[52:25] Speaker 2: What do you get?
[52:27] Speaker 1: You get AD free audio, AD free video for both
[52:30] Speaker 1: Eyes on Geopolitics and the Team House podcast, so two
[52:33] Speaker 1: podcasts AD free for the price of one. You also
[52:36] Speaker 1: get the shows a couple of days early on both
[52:40] Speaker 1: video and audio, and you have the opportunity to shoot
[52:43] Speaker 1: us some message, ask questions whether it's Teamhouse or as on.
[52:47] Speaker 1: We could cover topics and stuff like that. It really
[52:50] Speaker 1: really helps support the show. We really appreciate the patrens
[52:55] Speaker 1: that are there now. We couldn't do it without you guys,
[52:59] Speaker 1: so consider the supporting the show. It's at Patreon dot
[53:02] Speaker 1: com slash the Teamhouse. The link is in the description
[53:05] Speaker 1: and in.
[53:05] Speaker 2: The show notes. If you're listening, to us on audio.
[53:07] Speaker 2: Really appreciate it, guys, thank you.

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