Leighton Smith Podcast #258 - October 2nd 2024 - Ashley Rindsberg - The Leighton Smith Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks B. Follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
It's time for all the attitude, all the opinion, all
the information, all the debates of theists, now the Leighton
Smith podcast Coward by news talks it B.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Welcome to podcasts two hundred and fifty eight for October second,
twenty twenty four. The Gray Lady Winked by Ashley Rinsburg
is a critique of the New York Times. The Times
did not farewell under his inspection, and quite rightly. We
talked with Rinsburg in podcast one five to one April
of twenty twenty two. He was in Israel at the

(00:49):
time we talked the book as missiles fell nearby. Two
days ago Monday, September thirty, we interviewed again on the
current crisis in the Middle East, and I have no
doubt that it's worthy of your attention. His feel for
the moment is pronounced, and following the mail room, some
referrals that you will or may find worthy of your attention,

(01:14):
and an article from Jeffrey Tucker that I decided to include,
and I'll explain why now. While we discussed the situation
in Lebanon to some degree, it hadn't advanced as far
as it now has and undoubtedly will. But there was
a short discussion with Ashley Rinsburg with regard to the
state that Lebanon was in before this event developed. We

(01:38):
spoke two days ago on Monday. Today is Wednesday, of course,
and I want to include something that was published only
this morning that covers this off and is worthy, is
worthy of a little attention inside Lebanon's currency crisis, how
hyperinflation feels. And I'll pick out one or two little
bits from it and tell you where to find it later.

(02:00):
Lebanon a country on the brink before its economic collapse.
Lebanon was a vibrant, cosmopolitan country, often called the Paris
of the Middle East. Is economy thrived on banking, tourism
and services, positioning it as a bridge between East and West.
For Tony, who happens to be a friend of the author,
this prosperity was not an illusion. It was his daily life.

(02:24):
He said. My life in Lebanon was extraordinary. I ran
three thriving businesses and lived a luxurious lifestyle, whether it
was the latest cars, the best restaurants, or the hottest
clubs be rout had at all. Yet beneath the surface,
cracks were forming. Lebanon's banking sector, once a source of pride,
was built on unsustainable practices and the country was drowning

(02:47):
in debt. For years, Lebanon's Central Bank had pegged the
Lebanese pound to the US dollar at an artificially high rate,
creating a false sense of stability. This currency peg required
constant inflows of dollars to maintain. When those inflows dried up,
the house of cards collapsed. And if your interests lie

(03:07):
in the direction of mens coin at all, you'll find
some interesting, well opinion and information now in a moment.
Ashley Rinsburg. Leverrix is an antihistamine made in Switzerland to

(03:34):
the highest quality. Leverrix relieves hay fever in skin, allergies,
or itchy skin. It's a dual action antihistamine and has
a unique nasal decongestent action. It's fast acting for fast relief,
and it works in under an hour and lasts for
over twenty four hours. Leverrix is a tiny tablet that

(03:55):
unblocks the nose, deals with itchy eyes, and stops sneezing.
Leverrix is an antihistamine made in Switzerland to the highest quantity.
So next time you're in need of an effective antihistamine,
call into the pharmacy and ask for Leveris l e
v Rix Leverix and always read the label, take us directed,

(04:17):
and if symptoms persist, see your health professional. Farmer Broker
Auckland Leighton Smith. We last spoke to Ashley Rinsburg in Well,
it was two years ago, in twenty two, and we
discussed essentially the Gray Lady winked his book on the
New York Times, which was a huge success as far

(04:37):
as I'm concerned, and I hope it is. Hope it
is or was, well, still is as far as you're concerned. Ashley,
Welcome back. It's great to have you on the Lake
the Smith podcast.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Thank you so much. Leadon glad to be here.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
And last time we spoke, you were in Tel Aviv
and there were rockets falling at that particular time, and
here we are today. I want to quote something that
you wrote on October fourteen, last year, last Saturday, the
world changed. Most of us didn't know it at the time,

(05:09):
and what we did know about the situation unfolding in
the southern Israel seemed beyond belief. Thirty five Israelis abducted
into Gaza, young party goers massacred within Israeli territory. Question
Marks follow all of these comments, children babies taken by
Hamas terrorists, and scores of people murdered in their homes.

(05:33):
None of these things, let alone all of them, was
in the realm of the possible. You wrote that and
published it a week after October seventh, How would you
rate things today compared with what you as you saw
it then one week after? Did you have any thought

(05:54):
about where this could go?

Speaker 3 (05:56):
Not entirely.

Speaker 4 (05:57):
My only thought at the time was that Israel, in
order to respond properly to what had happened, what Hamas
and its allies had done, was that it would have
to challenge the imagination of its enemies, and its enemies
being Hamas, his Ballah and he Iran primarily. And what

(06:19):
we've seen is that Israel has challenged the imagination of
him us. It did us never thought it would or
could do, And in the last week or so it's
done the exact same with his Ballah.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
How much planning do you think would have gone into
this and.

Speaker 4 (06:33):
In the case of his Balla, I would think almost
two decades since the two thousand and six war in Lebanon.
My guess is that there was intensive and long range
intelligence and war planning on behalf of Israel which allowed
Israel to pull off the kind of absolute strategic coup

(06:57):
that it has done in the last week or so
through the pager attacks the Beepers, through eliminating the entire
command structure of his including recently its leader Hassan Nasralla.
With Hamas, the planning I think was probably more ad

(07:18):
hoc because I don't think Israel had any expectation that
it was going to be attacked the way it was
attacked on October seven, and I think in order to
make up for Israeli surprise, there was probably a lot
of scrambling going on in terms of how how does
the country pull off a ground invasion and essentially an

(07:39):
occupation of Gaza military occupation of Gaza in order to
root out Hamas. I'm guessing a lot of that was
done very much on the fly and very much as
the situation was unpholding.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Do you think that Israeli security, in whichever and all
its forms, would have been surprised at the success of
what they've had in the last week.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
I don't think they're surprised.

Speaker 4 (08:03):
I think this is something they've been planning for many,
many years. They've had this option, this sort of it's
been called the red button option, with the pagers and
also with being able to locate and destroy the entire
command structure of Isabella. I think they would have known
they had this capability for many, many years, but they

(08:26):
probably were avoiding using it because they didn't want to
unnecessarily ignite a regional war. When Hamas committed the Atrucity
atrocity is on October seventh, and on October eighth, or
even on October seventh has Ballap again firing rockets and
missiles into Israel, that regional war was already present for

(08:47):
Israel and for Israelis. And this is something I think
people in the West are missing, where we hear a
lot of talk about Israeli escalation. For Israel, the war
had already begun, and talk of escalation or de escalation
is sort of irrelevant when you have one hundred thousand
Israelis displaced from their homes in the north near the

(09:07):
northern border with Lebanon. Yeah, you're already in the kind
of regional war that everyone else is talking about avoiding.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
Well, let me turn the tables and ask us the
same question from the other side. Do you think that
firstly her Maass, secondly Isbella, and thirdly Iran would have
expected anything like the payback that they've now got.

Speaker 4 (09:29):
No, definitely, not, definitely not. I think this is one
of the things that Hamas. You know, there's this old
old thing of course in war, which is to know
your enemy. And Hamas in a way did know its enemy.
It knew that Israel had grown a bit complacent. It
had thought that Israel was a little bit over interested

(09:50):
in peace and stability with Gaza, because Hamas had played
that card very handily, where they had kept quiet, deliberately
in order to fool Israel into thinking that there's had
taken sort of a get along to go along strategy
where you know, a sort of a practical piece, a

(10:11):
pragmatic piece, if not a formal one, where in reality
what they had been doing was planning and this invasion
for many years. But what they didn't take into account
was their own failing. Hamas was so zealous and so
savage and barbaric in its attack, that it actually had

(10:33):
an effect of changing its enemy, changing the Israeli posture,
changing the Israeli mindset from one of containment and try
to limit these kinds of interactions with Hamas into something
that looked at the situation, said we have no choice
except to wage a war that ends in Hamas's complete

(10:53):
military destruction, if not political destruction. So Hamas overplayed its
hand drastically, and it never could have seen. I think
what twenty to thirty years of Israeli engagement had shown
them was that Israel was really really disincentivized from having
an aggressive ground invasion and occupation. It really did not

(11:15):
want to go there. It was after the Gaza pull
out in two thousand and five. It did not Israel
did not want to be back in Gaza's the last
thing every Israeli wanted in the country.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
But in this case, it left no choice.

Speaker 4 (11:28):
When you slaughter fifteen hundred civilians and take over two
hundred people hostage into Gaza, you're only asking for the
military power next door to you to come in and
do something that neither party had really imagined possible. And
I think with Hisbella the same as largely true. I
think Isbela was thinking about this sort of tit for tat,

(11:50):
limited engagement, very contained kind of interaction with Israel, and
that's what they thought would go on, and that's what
they needed to go on because the moment that they
risked all out full confrontation with Israel, what they really
risked was a Ran losing its key strategic weapon, which
is his Bollah, and once that would happen, once that

(12:11):
risk factor was in play, that meant that Iran would
become completely exposed to Israel, which is now the case.
Iran has is virtually defenseless, Its force projection is very limited,
aside from its proxies, which is Hamas, Isballa, the Hutis
and some Iraqi militias which are less effective than Hisbola

(12:32):
and Homas. I don't think any of these groups saw
this kind of route that we've seen that we've seen
play on the last weeks and months coming, and I
think they have been left in complete disarray.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
I'm looking at an article from The Australian which was
published a couple of days ago. Has Israel absorbed all
the lessons of the two thousand and six his Bela war. Now,
you mentioned two thousand and six a moment ago. Do
you think that, well, I would guess by what you
said that. Do you think not only have they absorbed
all the lessons of two thousand and six, they then

(13:07):
embellished them.

Speaker 4 (13:09):
Definitely, Definitely they have. What they understood from two thousand
and six was a they were in two thousand and six,
they were relatively Israelis were relatively unprepared for that kind
of war.

Speaker 3 (13:22):
In Israel.

Speaker 4 (13:22):
There there was a lot of talk among rank and
file soldiers as well as officers, that it was an
aimless war, that there was no direction. They weren't trying
to destroy Habella, they weren't trying to push Hasbella away
from the border. They really didn't know what they were
doing or why they were there, aside from the fact
that they were responding to a very brazen Hisbolla action,

(13:47):
which was killing and taking captive Israeli soldiers relatively unprovoked.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
Again, there was sort of.

Speaker 4 (13:54):
A calm, pragmatic it's not exactly a piece, but it's
sort of a non aggression along the border until that
was violated by Hisbella. After that, Israel staged a ground
in which was a very very punishing mostly for his Balla.
There were Israeli losses, But I think what Israel learned

(14:15):
from this is that A you need to be absolutely
prepared and B you need to be driven by clear
cut strategy, and in this case, the strategy we're seeing
emerge is the incapacitation of Hisbolla as a fighting force.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
Turning to the political front in Israel, there's been there's
been any amount of aggravation with regard to netn Yahoo
and the way he has been conducting himself the country,
et cetera from the opposition, and my observation is it
was it was fairly widespread and in fact, in fact growing,

(14:51):
tell me if I'm wrong. But the response to October sixth,
as it is now revealing itself, has had what effect politically.

Speaker 4 (15:05):
Netanya, who's been in the last few weeks, actually very
much strengthened. I would even say in the last week
that his position has strengthened drastically. His polling has gone
up very markedly.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
And you know, this is.

Speaker 4 (15:20):
A case of nothing succeeds quite like success where there
you know, the opposition to him is still there, it's
still very much present, especially since Israel still has something
like one hundred hostages being held in Gaza with no
notion how they're going to be returned, and at the
end of the day, the opposition has a very valid point,

(15:42):
which is that the government was responsible for securing our
safety as israelis in the country, and it failed utterly
in the worst possible way, and the person who bears
responsibility for that is the person.

Speaker 3 (15:56):
At the top.

Speaker 4 (15:57):
The bucks should stop somewhere and should stop with nt
Nyahu in this case, because he's actually pulled off such
an incredible strategic feat. I think he's been given a
massive political lifeline. We'll see in the next few weeks
and months, especially coming up to the election in America
in November. Which way that goes, this could lead to

(16:22):
much greater pressure on Hamas and on Iran to put
pressure on Hamas to cut a deal with Israel, a
realistic deal, not a deal that it knows Israel cannot
possibly agree to, that would have a ceasefire in Gaza
and the return of the hostages and perhaps some other
kinds of conditions. But is Natanyahu's hand is massively, massively

(16:48):
strengthened by what's gone on just in the last week, so.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
Many tangents to proceed with. Yeah. In twenty eighteen, Henry
Kissinger observed that Donald Trump was one of those historical
characters who appears from time to time to mark the
end of an era, they to force it to give
up its old tenses. Close quote. The same could be

(17:12):
said about last year's October seventh attacks, the full impact
of which we are only now beginning to comprehend. The
introduction of Donald Trump into this is is for a
reason as a continuation of the position that Nettna, who
now finds himself in, as you've just described there, there's

(17:32):
been quite a bit from some quarters, in particular in
America describing the situation that Netanya, who found himself in
with the opposition and the media, was very similar to
the one that the Trump has experienced. And I wonder
if there's not a parallel from which one could one

(17:52):
can learn from the other. But more importantly, as you
were alluding, the outcome of November five will have some
considerable input into what happens to let Nyaho and too
Israel in general.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
Definitely, definitely the absolutely decisive.

Speaker 4 (18:14):
I mean, I don't think Kamala Harris as president will
have much patience for giving Israel, to giving Israel too
much strategic leeway. I mean, she's shown that. Biden has
also shown a certain degree of impatience with You know,
at the end of the day, they have a very

(18:35):
specific kind of political voter base that they need to
appeal to, and they are not looking to anger a
lot of their progressive voters who are anti Israel.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
Just call it what it is.

Speaker 4 (18:49):
So there imperative will be to reign and to the
extent that they can, It's not clear that they can
at this point because Biden has been trying and he's
been failing.

Speaker 3 (19:00):
For most of the war.

Speaker 4 (19:01):
He has been there for Israel, he has provided weapons,
he did show up, but as the war went on,
he was attempting to bring it to a close, mostly
for political reasons, and he's not been able to do that.
Whereas Trump, as we've seen, really has a sore spot.

Speaker 3 (19:18):
When it comes to Iran.

Speaker 4 (19:19):
He remembers the Iranian hostage crisis, where the same revolutionary
Islamist revolutionaries that run the country today took the US
embassy hostage just after the revolution and humiliated America, humiliated
a superpower, and at the time Jimmy Carter was unable
to respond. He was unable to muster a commensurate response

(19:43):
to pressure Iran to release the hostages. It was only
until Ronald Reagan took the office that that happened. And
I think Trump looks back on that and says, says
to himself, there is no way that a global superpower
should be cow towing to a regional power at best,
which is why during his presidency he took a remarkably

(20:06):
bold step of killing assassinating Solomoni, who is their most
important military figure to the Islamic regime in Iran. And
that's because you know, I think he has very little
patience with Iran. Just it's sort of a mirror image
between Kamala Harris's impatience with Israel and Trump's impatients with Iran.

(20:32):
So they both have chosen sides, and that election outcome
will be very important for what goes what happens next.
But I think Israel is also looking at this very
narrow gap in time that we have right now from
the beginning of October until the election, until we know
who is going to be the president elect, And in
this sort of gray area, it's got the most freedom

(20:54):
to operate that it will have until we know the
outcome of that election.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
It's really quite extraordinary because you described it almost perfectly,
if not more so. There's been some considerable discussion about
the uncertainties of the scenario, the world situation at the moment,
with the American president being not ineffective and a state

(21:19):
of some considerable confusion. I'd suggest that exists in the
American governance and what alien powers might do, and I'm
talking China and even North Korea and Iran, etc. While
they've got this opportunity. But instead of that, at this point,
we're talking about Israel being, if you're going to be

(21:43):
realistic about it and innocent in this, defending itself rather
than rather than asserting its strength to gain whatever. It's
a reversal of what most people sought. Let me ask
you to extend your experience and knowledge with regard to
those other countries that I just mentioned, and you might

(22:05):
want to include a couple more. Are you of any
opinion they could extend the stress that we're experiencing at
the moment.

Speaker 4 (22:17):
I think there's certainly an incentive for some of them.
I mean, Russia and Iran have been more closely cooperating
over the last few months. I mean, this is a
long standing relationship, but we have now Iran supplying missiles
and other weaponry to Russia and vice versa. Russia has
supplied some air defense to Iran, and this is sort

(22:41):
of that the larger you know, the Iranians talk about
the axis of resistance, which is sort of an Islamic
resistance to Israel, which spans Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen.
But there's a bigger axis, which is the one you've
sort of alluded to, which is China, Russia, Iran, and

(23:05):
Venezuela sort of circling the globe from Far East Asia
to the Americas. So they are trying to maintain that
power structure visa vi the West, where Israel, of course,
is very closely aligned to the United States. It's one
of its closest allies, and for China Russia to be

(23:27):
able to disrupt that alliance would be a major strategic
win for them, which is why they've opposed Israel. That said,
no one wants to back a loser, especially not China.
I mean, Russia might have some sort of ideological sympathies
with the Iran that dig back to the Soviet Union,
which we know Putin is still very much nostalgic about.

(23:49):
But I don't think China has any such qualms and
any such ideological hang ups. I think they're looking to
who is most effective in boosting Chinese power and Chinese interests.
Right now, the equation is still pretty simple because Israel
is so tightly aligned with the US and allied with
the US. But I would think that China's got its

(24:10):
antenna up in the air waiting to see who is
the smarter power to back, especially as we see a
weakened US on the world stage, where the United States
has not asserted itself the way that it had in
the past decades, and China is looking to step into
that role, and it wants strong allies. It doesn't want

(24:32):
weak allies, and if it looks at Iran and looks
at a weak ally, it would rather trade I would
think for a strong, bold, technologically sophisticated Israel rather than
a sort of backward Islamist fundamentalist regime that we have
in Iran.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
If I can refer to the situation in the Middle
East as essentially a religion issue, is what's going on
at the moment. Do you think driven by what has
existed in the past, or is there a broadening of
should we say skul for the situation that well that exists.

Speaker 4 (25:12):
Now we're seeing something that's really I think unfolding and
emerging in a very different way than we had seen
in the past. You know, under the Trump administration, we
had the Abraham Accords, which forged actual peace between Israel
and a number of Gulf Arab states, which was truly,

(25:35):
truly remarkable, and right up until October seventh, Israel and
Saudi Arabia were on track to normalize relations, so they
would have diplomatic relations and sort of over time unfold
economic relations, trade relations, all all those kinds of things,
just as we have done with UAE with Dubai, where
you now have Israelis living in Dubai, buying property there,

(26:01):
working there, you have synagogues there, you have kosher food.
You have really a vibrant interchange between these two peoples
that was really unimaginable just a few years ago. So
this dynamic between the Gulf States is something that's totally new,
and I think in the background of what we're seeing

(26:21):
is Iran doing its best to disrupt not just Israel's
role in this, but it's other arch enemy, which is
Saudi Arabia. So it's sort of two sects of Islam
vying for pre eminence and for power in the region,
and Israel in some regards becomes a wedge issue for

(26:42):
that even though the Iranians, I think the Iranian Islamist
regime that's controlling the country do actually authentically hate Israel
and they hate the existence of the Jewish state in
the Middle East. But it is I think an emerging
dynamic just because we're still seeing so much possibility for
change among relations between Israel and other Arab states, and

(27:05):
I do think that Saudi Arabia normalization is very much
still on the table. Incredibly, even through a war in Gaza,
it has not gone away, primarily because it's an Iran
back to war on the other side of Hamas is
back by Iran. Kasballa of course is backed and sponsored
by Iran. So in a way, the studies are looking

(27:26):
on and seeing Israel doing their dirty work for them
and doing it very effectively. And again this is all
about trying to back a winner in the region. That's
what everybody wants and at the moment at least anything
can change. But at the moment Israel is obviously winning.

Speaker 2 (27:43):
Very well. Put can Lebanon be saved? Do you sink?

Speaker 4 (27:54):
I have some extreme reservations about whether or not it
can be. Lebanon has been in a spiral long before
the events of the last week or two, been in
an economic spiral. We had the Beirut port blast, where
the government had allowed explosives in the order of quantity

(28:18):
of tons and tons of explosives to be kept in
port conditions in the port that was ignited somehow through
some kind of fault and literally blew up the entire
city of Beirut. It destroyed I think unbelievably high.

Speaker 3 (28:34):
Number of structures in the city.

Speaker 4 (28:37):
There's rampant inflation, there's the currency that's spiraling downward. There
is just crisis after crisis after crisis. That's in part
due to political dysfunction and mismanagement and corruption in the country.
It's largely to do with Hizbollah sort of upsetting the

(28:59):
balance of power, the very delicate balance of sectarian and
ethnic relations within Lebanon and using that that destabilization to
its own benefit, to empower itself and.

Speaker 3 (29:13):
Now where you have.

Speaker 4 (29:16):
Borderline war in Lebanon again, it's hard to see how
it recovers. It's hard to see how it re establishes
that very very careful balance and that to establish an
equilibrium within Lebanon. I don't know how that gets done
this day and age. I think the one thing that
Lebanon could do, and I'm not sure it will or

(29:39):
it's truly able to, but is to sever tize from Iran.
That would be the first truly healthy step that it
could take to align itself with it with the Gulf
States and to try to try to receive economic support
from them, try to boost trade among Golf States and
Lebanon and open its borders, open its open trade relations

(30:01):
with Israel. I don't know that any of those things
are actually going to happen. So in the meantime, it
looks pretty grim.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
And if the grimness uh self fulfills what what they am, well,
who would fill who and what would fill the void?

Speaker 3 (30:22):
That's a great question.

Speaker 4 (30:24):
I mean, Hybola has been so overwhelmingly dominant inside of
Lebanon for so long, politically, socially, economically, of course, militarily,
it's not clear which of the many sects that are
involved in the governing of Lebanon could actually step in

(30:45):
if it's not clear if any one of them could
would be able to forge some kind of truce with
the others or some kind of coalition to govern. It's
it's really a big question mark for for that state
to understand, for them to understand what kind of state,
what kind of country they want to be, and they're
able to be this day and age. I mean, the

(31:07):
potential there is really remarkable. It's an amazing country. Of course,
I've not been able to go there. I'm Israelian. It's
illegal for it's actually illegal for a Lebanese person to
even speak to in Israeli.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
That's how deep the animosity is.

Speaker 4 (31:22):
But from what I understand, a beautiful country obviously is
an incredibly rich tradition, rich cultural tradition, intellectual tradition, and
if it's able to find its way back to that tradition,
then it's got a bright future head But at first
and foremost, you have to just uproot the Islamism that
has taken hold of the country, that's got a stranglehold

(31:46):
on that country. I don't see how anything else can
happen without that happening.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
First, I never made it to I've been to Israel,
I never made it to Libanon, but it is a
place that I wanted to. I was very keen to
go to for a variety of reasons. But it's now very,
very disappointing, and I can't see any way that I
will liver get to Lebanon because it's going to take

(32:12):
some considerable time for it to be first of all,
to solve its problems, and secondly to be in any
sort of state for tourism.

Speaker 4 (32:18):
I would have thought, yeah, I think you're right about that,
which again it's a shame because it's a beautiful, beautiful country.

Speaker 3 (32:26):
You can see it on photos if you look.

Speaker 4 (32:28):
You can read about its history, you know, and Lebanon
was was sort of created as a Christian haven in
the Middle East for Maronite Christians and other Christians, Arab Christians,
and that original vision of Lebanon has been completely wrecked,
completely wrecked by Islamism, who obviously, you know, the Muslims

(32:53):
have a place in that vision as well, but not
as the dominant force that has sucked the whole country
down into a vortex, and Iranian vortex. So it doesn't
look great, unfortunately. I mean, look at Syria. It's neighbor
where you had a very similar effect.

Speaker 3 (33:11):
And for a long time, of course, Syria occupied Lebanon.

Speaker 4 (33:14):
Syria was an occupying force within Lebanon until fairly recently
it governed Lebanon, and it was sort of a proxy
within a proxy. And again this is all tied back
to Iran, and this is all part of Iran's strategy
that it's been building and implementing relentlessly since the early
nineteen eighties.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
So let me challenge you on how good you are,
because so far you're proving to be brilliant. But the
question is how did Israel kill hessem Estralla sixty feet underground?
How did they get to him?

Speaker 4 (33:52):
My understanding is that they used obviously bunker bustering bombs.
Where they got the bunker busting bombs from unclear? It's
probably they're probably American bombs. They're able to penetrate that
deep into the earth.

Speaker 3 (34:09):
It may not be. I think that the more remarkable.

Speaker 4 (34:15):
Feat here is one of intelligence, which is how did
they How did the Israeli military intelligence and the Mosad
know that Nostralla is going to be at that location?

Speaker 3 (34:24):
At that particular time.

Speaker 4 (34:26):
This is a man who's been in hiding since two
thousand and six. He has not shown his face except
on videos. He's not been above ground as far as
we know. So somehow Israel has managed to track his
movements and whereabouts without him knowing that, without any of
his Ballah's counter intelligence operations, figuring that out and doing

(34:52):
this to the effect that they were able to kill
him and a number of his senior deputies and a
senior officer from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard at the same time,
within days after decimating the entire top ranks of his BALLA.
Part of this had to do with the beepers, the

(35:15):
pagers that Israel had sort of infiltrated and put placed
explosives inside of. This took place about a week and
a half ago, where they at the same time, at
three point thirty in the afternoon, detonated them. These were
being used by his Balla operatives to communicate because prior
to that, Israel had infiltrated their cell phones, and his

(35:38):
Ballad learned about this and told told their operatives told
their officers to get rid of the cell phones, and
Nocerella famously told them to bury them underground or put
them in an iron box, and instead his bala distributed
these pages because they believed that they could not be infiltrated.
It turns out that Israel had probably engineered this entire

(36:01):
sequence of events, beginning with the cell phones right through
to the pagers, and what it meant for Nostralla and
his top leadership was that because they no longer had
reliable communications, they had to meet in person, and having
met in person, that brought them to the same place
at the same time, and boom, that's where Israel delivers

(36:22):
its coup de grass and kills basically the entire leadership.

Speaker 3 (36:28):
So how Israel pulled this off?

Speaker 4 (36:30):
I mean, if this story ever gets told, and I'm
not sure it ever will, but if it does, it
will be one of the most remarkable achievements of intelligence
of any intelligence agency in the history of modern intelligence.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
There's just nothing. There's nothing like it. There's nothing that
can compare to it that we know of.

Speaker 4 (36:49):
So this is something that's obviously been planned for many,
many years, and it's the benefit of Israel having all
this time since two thousand and six to really plan, deliberate, plot,
prepare for this kind of eventuality.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
Really quite extraordinary. Let's turn our attention to the resolving
of the shall we say, the political situation as far
as Israel's concerned. The Caroline click, I don't know your
thoughts on her. You may care to share them, you
may not. A one state plan for peace in the
Middle East is the Israeli solution? What do you say,

(37:32):
not the any one? Of course, there's plenty of people
who are arguing the same thing, and plenty of people
who are arguing for a two state solution your sorts.

Speaker 4 (37:41):
Yeah, yeah, I guess what Caroline means by that is
that there is not going She does not want there
to be a Palestinian state alongside in Israeli state, so
that the two state solution obviously refers to an Israeli
state and next to it a separate Palestinian state that

(38:01):
is somehow formed from Gaza and parts with the West Bank.
The two state solution, even though it's sort of been
taken as a sort of geopolitical gospel over the last
twenty to thirty years, looks increasingly unlikely.

Speaker 3 (38:21):
It's hard to see any.

Speaker 4 (38:23):
Israeli government or any Israeli population at this point getting
behind that and saying, yes, we want to have a
state next to us of Palestinians who have an ability
at least to create an armed force or to bring
in arms the way Hamas has been doing for the
last fifteen to twenty years, especially because something that gets

(38:45):
sort of left out a lot about this conversation is
that that was the state that was offered to the
Palestinians in two thousand at Camp David Broker by Clinton
with edhud Barak as the Israeli representative the Prime Minister
at the time, and yes Ir Arafat for the Palestinians.
The deal was to give the Palestinians Gaza I think

(39:07):
ninety percent of the West Bank and East Jerusalem as
the capital.

Speaker 3 (39:11):
Is exactly what they've been.

Speaker 4 (39:12):
Asking for, demanding for the last since the nineteen sixty
seven war. And in response, Arafat walked away and started
a terror war in the form of the Second Intifada
that lasted for two three years and resulted in the
death of thousands of Israelis through suicide bombings. So even
after that, I think the majority of Israelis were willing

(39:35):
to still make a peace deal with the Palestinians. I
would say, even the majority of Israelis wanted a peace
deal and were willing to make painful concessions like the
withdrawal from Gaza in two thousand and five, where Israeli
unilaterally left Gaza and gave it to the Palestinians to govern.
And what we have seen, even after the years and

(39:57):
decades of rockets being fired at Israel by Hamas from Gaza,
the Israelis I think we're still more optimistic about a
two state solution after October. I think that Tuesday solution
is practically dead. I cannot imagine any Israeli government even
daring to raise it as an issue at this point.

(40:18):
Public sentiment, it's not just it's that, it's it's antagonistic
toward the pastings. It's more just that when you have
made peace of matures to a people and in response
you've had your arm cut off, there's just no way
you would extend your other arm. It's it's human nature
at this point. So where this goes in the meantime,

(40:40):
I think that's the that's the main question.

Speaker 3 (40:42):
What happens in Gaza.

Speaker 4 (40:44):
After Israel pulls it out, pulls its military out, Who governs,
who establishes law and order, who provides services there. I
don't think anybody has an answer to that question. Well,
that is such a difficult question.

Speaker 2 (40:57):
Whether israel leist talking at one stage at least about
keeping a force in Gaza.

Speaker 4 (41:04):
I think there might even talk of that. I don't
think that's really going to happen. I think the memory
of occupation, of the Israeli occupation in Israel is not
a good one. It's not something that most Israelis look
back on and think we should do that again. I
think Israelis were genuinely against the occupation of Gaza. After
a certain amount of time, most Israelis wanted Israeli forces

(41:27):
out of Gaza. Not because they were concerned about Gaza,
so some of them obviously were more because this is
a civilian army, this is a this is an army
of the nation's sons and daughters, and people didn't want
their sons and daughters hanging around Gaza for unclear reasons.

Speaker 3 (41:46):
It wasn't really clear.

Speaker 4 (41:47):
I think we look back and strategically we can see why,
the strategic why those reasons were in place, what what
kind of security actually did provide. But I don't think
in reality that the population would would stomach that.

Speaker 3 (42:01):
I don't think we'd be able to handle.

Speaker 4 (42:02):
Whatever kind of losses would result from that, and I
don't think the world community would would allow it either.
So I don't think that's necessarily going to be the
way forward. But that said, I don't know what the
way forward is, and I'm not sure anybody else does either.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
What about you yourself. When we spoke last time, as
I mentioned, you were in Tel Aviv and you were
living there. You were born in South Africa, you grew
up in America, settled family, settled in San Diego, and
you have had what I would call the most interesting,
intriguing life so far with you, maybe at a rough

(42:40):
guess halfway through it. You are now resident in London.
I'm wondering why why did you? Why did you leave
tel Aviv on this occasion?

Speaker 4 (42:52):
We left because we left in twenty twenty two. I
think it was more just, you know, sort of as
you as your kind of reference. I've always moved around,
and it's just kind of the way that I've I
was raised. I was raised moving around, and I like
to explore. I like to explore different ways of living life.

(43:16):
I like to see the world differently, which is something
that you really do get from living in a different place.
I mean, you can get it from visiting places, and
that's why we travel is such an amazing thing. But
when you go and you live a different place and
you're exposed to a whole different kind of culture, to
new people, to friends, colleagues, and after let's say twenty

(43:41):
years in Israel, where Israel is a tough place to
live for so many reasons. It's a challenging culture to
live in. It's a very fast pace in daily life.
And you know, there was something appealing about about the UK.
It always has been to me. It's an amazing Anglo

(44:02):
history and tradition, political tradition, and literary tradition.

Speaker 3 (44:06):
All these great things.

Speaker 4 (44:08):
Though you know, the UK is in a very difficult
situation as well. I would say right now, I wouldn't
say the outlook is very, very rosy in most regards.
I think this is going to be a bumpy few
years for the UK, and you know where they're not

(44:29):
we sed to hear. I don't know, but I think
people are kind of looking around us here in London
and throughout the country and thinking where are we headed
as a country? What are we doing and how are
we going to face these massive issues that this country
is facing, such as immigration, the health system that is
really failing, economic stagnation, things on this level where you

(44:52):
really have massive problems and people who don't really at
least at a political level, are not providing solutions.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
Is there a political party in written at the moment
that is capable of addressing those.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
Things at the moment, I don't see that there is one.

Speaker 4 (45:12):
I think we looked at the Conservatives, who created quite
a lot of issues in this country. I mean, their
stance on COVID was in my view a failure. The
severe lockdowns that obviously they were not alone in that,
the spending that's gone on here, the unchecked illegal immigration

(45:34):
across the Channel, and other forms of immigration, net immigration
here going up and up every year, inability to even
address the NHS issue, the health system which is failing
and where you will wait literally years for procedures, important procedures.
And these are people who are especially older people, who
have been paying into this system for their entire lives.

(45:57):
They've been paying their taxes, they've been paying into it,
and they get to a point where they need some
sort of very important surgery or procedure, and they're being
told to wait two years for a.

Speaker 3 (46:07):
Hip or placement for example. These are the kinds of
things where.

Speaker 4 (46:13):
You know that this has been I think precipitated by
both parties.

Speaker 3 (46:17):
I don't think there's one or the other to blame.

Speaker 4 (46:19):
But at the same time, there's not a party that
I can say is that has the ideological fortitude and.

Speaker 3 (46:26):
Is robust enough.

Speaker 4 (46:27):
You know, We've got the Reform Party sort of rising
and with Nigel Farage, and it's coming in from the wings,
and it might be exerting some kind of pressure on
the right, but I don't think it's there yet. I
don't think it's at a point where it can like
step into power and really make those kinds of heart changes.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
So, in in concluding or wrapping up anyway, hitting in
that direction, a couple of a couple of random questions.
You are writing still for for more than more than
one outlet. What's your what's your preferred?

Speaker 3 (47:05):
What?

Speaker 2 (47:05):
I really asking, where's the where's the best place for
my together?

Speaker 3 (47:10):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (47:10):
So I've been writing more on my substack, which is
actually Rinsberg dot substack dot com. I've also been writing
more for a tech culture and politics outlet called Pirate Wires.

Speaker 3 (47:26):
It's based in.

Speaker 4 (47:27):
Silicon Valley and sort of is started by a guy
named Mike silmana who was worked for Peter Thiel, by
the co founder of PayPal, and they're doing we're doing
really great cultural stuff. I've been doing a lot of
reporting on Wikipedia and how Wikipedia has sort of institutionalized

(47:51):
bias into its both the way that it structures its foundation,
the foundation that owns the website that has been making
alliances with radically progressive foundations in the United States that
are pushing all sorts of weird defund the police type stuff,
shut down bridges and whatever else, and.

Speaker 3 (48:09):
They're really funding that.

Speaker 4 (48:10):
So Wikipedia money is going to sort of passing through
to these radical organizations. And on the other hand, on
Wikipedia itself, you're seeing a lot a lot of political
bias on the articles about political topics. And this is
sort of even though it's an open encyclopedia, in reality
it's being controlled by a very very small subset of

(48:31):
editors that have a clear political affiliation.

Speaker 3 (48:35):
And we look at Wikipedia as the world's source of.

Speaker 4 (48:37):
Knowledge, whereas in reality it's.

Speaker 3 (48:42):
Not neutral, it's not objective. It is sort of a
media property.

Speaker 4 (48:45):
So I've been doing that at pirate Pirate Wires, that's
piratewires dot com. Got some more Wikipedia stuff coming soon.
Also been talking a lot about writing a lot about
censorship and the rising censorship industry in the US and abroad,
and I imagine that might also include New Zealand.

Speaker 3 (49:05):
So these are the kinds of.

Speaker 4 (49:06):
Things where we're seeing, like a lot of a lot
of focus about information, the way information is controlled, the
way it's shaped, the way that things that we believe
are facts are not facts, but they are the products
of someone's ideological agenda. So that's the kind of stuff
that the guys at pirate Wires are really focused on.

(49:27):
I'm still writing at the substack, my substack on media
and media bias and that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (49:34):
So there's a couple of things that I just want
to garner your opinion on. The UN has been meeting
in New York, of course, and they have signed the
first I'm not even maybe they'll shigne more now, I
don't know, but they signed the first of three treaties
that they're trying to disguise for the Americans in wordage,

(49:55):
but the Pact for the Future, I read it. I
didn't read it. I read commentary on it yesterday. Yeah,
and it scares the heck out of me. Yeah, am
I right?

Speaker 4 (50:10):
Yeah? And again this goes a lot back to a
lot back to information. I mean, they're talking about global
governance and this is the stuff that we've been hearing.
The term governance, it's really something that's associated with the
World Economic Forum in Davas. And governance is about top

(50:32):
down control where you're sort of abstracting the sovereign sovereign
power of states to this sort of meta entity. And
of course that meta entity is the United Nations. We
saw how this work worked with so called ESG and DEI,
the environment, social and governance, these policies about how businesses

(50:55):
should run. And that's something that came out of the
UN in the nineteen nineties and slowly trickled up through
the system to the point where now every big company
in the US and the UK, and I'm sure New
Zealand and Australia has to hire and fire and conduct

(51:16):
itself by these processes that have to do with the
environment and with diversity and inclusion that I really don't
have much to do with business, but it's all just
sort of been just sort of gerrymandered into our lives.
And what we're seeing now is a similar kind of focus,

(51:37):
but on the information sphere, because we live lives in
this landscape of digital information and the question of who
gets to control that information, who gets to control what's
considered true and false, disinformation, misinformation. We've heard all these
new fancy terms, and this is where I think governments,

(51:57):
but more than governments, these global bodies are trying to
grab power, and they're doing it through things like the
Pact for the Future. And again it's always under this
really soaring rhetoric about brotherhood and all the lovely stuff
that it's going to bring. But at the end of
the day, it's I think pretty clearly an attempt to

(52:20):
gain control.

Speaker 2 (52:22):
Indeed, I don't disagree with the word you said. And
I discovered something earlier this morning that shocked me. I
saw a headline that made reference to a prominent medical journal,
and I wanted to know which it was, and it
stunned me when I found out it was The Lancet.

(52:43):
How an anti Israel propaganda platform was turned around. Prominent
medical journal published pseudo scientific attacks on Israel for years
until it took the demonization one step too far? What
accounts for its unprecedented turnaround? And then the follows nine
pages are very closely typed print out. But the reason

(53:04):
that I found that was because it came from from
The Tower, which no longer exists. A very quick brief
on the Tower, because you you contributed to that.

Speaker 4 (53:18):
Yeah, The Tower was a really great long form magazine
primarily about Israel Israel related issues, and it was edited
by a friend of mine named David Hazoni, a great
editor is also now an author and a book editor.
And the Lancet, the Lancet is is It's got a

(53:41):
very interesting history. I mean, the Lancet is now today
the most influential medical journal in the English language are
probably in the world. Its roots are in activism and
sort of socialist minded activism. This is not something that
anyone at the Lancet has ever hidden. This is known
as part of its history. I wrote a big piece

(54:02):
about this for Unheard. If you if you google Unheard
the Lancet my name, it'll come up. The history of
the Lancet is a history of making waves, making controversy,
and each time it creates a new controversy, it gets
more and more attention, and sometimes they'll do a little
bit of a retraction or an apology if they don't
do a retraction. They had a number of big COVID retractions,

(54:26):
including regarding I think one or two of the medications
that they considered to be unhealthy. I have to do
refresh my memory. But they also were the publication that
printed the lie of a million deaths as a result
of the Iraq War that was just never true. It

(54:50):
was something that is sort of one of these fanciful
Lancet things. Richard Horton, who's the editor of the Lancet,
really revels in this kind of scandal making. And again
this is very much true to its own history and
its origin as a publication that was a tempting to
establish the London medical to challenge the London medical establishment

(55:15):
by sort of making false claims, claiming in one of
its early cases that a surgeon had deliberately tortured a
patient when they knew that there was not the case.
This is back to its earliest days, So this is
sort of the Lancet's mo o. What's really scandalous about it, though,
is that it gets away with it and that with

(55:37):
every next new lie that it promulgates, it only becomes
more and more influential within that world. That's that to
me is the most amazing part of it.

Speaker 2 (55:46):
Indeed, I'm witnessing the same as everybody else's I think,
and that is the increase in online articles material, which
just seems to be exploding and exploding in a very
satisfactory way. Otherwise I wouldn't have found that that particular
place on the landst But there's some very good stuff

(56:07):
out there and contributing to it in a in a
handsome way. And I conclude with saying thank you so much.
It's been an even greater pleasure. I think that it
was the first time. I don't know why, but just
maybe because it's in the present, in the present.

Speaker 4 (56:24):
But thank you, thanks heaps, thank you for having me.

Speaker 3 (56:28):
I appreciate it very much.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
As a producer. We're here for podcast number two hundred
and fifty eight and the mail room and the postman
has arrived. How are you latey? I very well, very
early in the morning, but.

Speaker 5 (56:58):
Let me start because I'm onto it. Peter says, I
really enjoyed your talk with Dr Paul Merrick last and
would have liked to have heard his opinion on dimenthal
sulfox side or DMSO. I have a friend who is
a veterinarian, and he says, if every household had ivermecton, hydroxychloroquine,

(57:23):
medical cannabis and DMSO in their medicine cabinet, nearly every
pharmaceutical company in the world would go broke. When I
asked him what DMSO does, he said, you would never
believe me, and gave me this lenk And I guess
if you go DMSO, the real miracle solution, search sot net,

(57:46):
s ott dot net and DMSO. Of course, if you
search just DMSO or dimentthal sulfoxide, the ses give it
the same treatment that ivermectin received during the pandemic.

Speaker 2 (58:00):
Love your podcast, says Peter. Peter, thank you. I did
have a look at that. By the way, the dmt
O side, I can't remember because it was late last
night and I can't remember what I saw. I'm sorry, terrible,
I'm sorry, but it seemed it seemed to be worthy
of a second look. Let's put it that way now

(58:22):
for your information. You got to wonder why what a
gender they want sixty to seventeen year olds specifically to
respond to a climate change survey. Plus, there is a
special Marie section of the survey. Horizon Pole sounds like
a woke polling booth and it says, this is the

(58:44):
actual letter, that is email that he's referring to climate change.
We want to speak to sixteen to seventeen year olds.
This survey covers how younger people in New Zealand feel
about climate change and if they identify mainly as Mary.
It also has a section with a list of blah
blah blah blah. Yeah, Okay, get them while they're young.

(59:05):
That's the that's the motto.

Speaker 5 (59:07):
Leadon James, he sends you a link which is extremely complicated,
but I guess if anybody's interested, they could google Professor
Jeffrey Sachs. And he says once again, Professor Jeffrey Sachs
with a clear exposition of the current state of the world,
together with some very relevant and relatively recent economic history.

(59:28):
We hope you can find the time to listen because
it helps to understand the dangerous debacles and progress it
seems almost everywhere. We can also only hope that in
the not too distant future, the US realizes the mess
it's made of the last eighty years and has a
sea change in its policy outlook. For one thing, the
US dollar will soon no longer be capable of being weaponized.

(59:51):
And for another, the US, if it's going to survive
as the same democratic society that it has been, it
must put all its energies into paying down its colossal
debt and drastically overhauling its governance so that it is
once more governed by elected officials instead of the faithless,
unelected suits currently heading the country towards economic and nuclear armageddon.

(01:00:18):
The world will be a very different place, peaceful and
prosperous instead of featuring constant belligerents and ongoing financial crises.
Once again, with all best wishes from us in El Retiro, Columbia.
That's Jim and Jean, Jim and Gene. Yes, they're very regular.

Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
That's nice with regard to the US and and the
state of the nation. Just hold your horses for another
few weeks. We'll see what happens. But you're correct in
your suggestions pretty much anyway. From Jeff, I can't wait
to listen to your podcast featuring doctor Paul Merrick. I
know a bit about him, primarily because I read a

(01:00:57):
book written by a doctor with a CV at least
as impressive as doctor Merrix, i e. Doctor per Cory
and erstwhile director of the CDC in the USA. The
latter mentions the former in his book a number of times,
including how he was pilloried for having the temerity to

(01:01:18):
express his own opinions during COVID, especially around the dwindling
efficacy of mRNA vaccines and their side effects. It's disturbing
reading the book I refer to was written by Pierre Cory.
It's called The War On over Megden. It's hard to
obtain for what I believe to be quite sinister reasons.

(01:01:40):
I highly recommend the book, especially through one such as you,
an open minded, intelligent man who's he writing about. I
can assure you of two things. One, I am not
a conspiracy theorist and pro science. Two. I've been on
the periphery of an attempted vaccine development in a past

(01:02:01):
life in New Zealand the veterinary field, and have been
involved in agriculture and agribusiness all my life. I have
and continue to be pro vaccines in general, but like
doctors Merrick and Corey, I will not take a fourth
COVID vaccine. My faith in big farmer universities and certain
government establishments has been eroded. I can tell you that

(01:02:24):
both my eldest son and I suffered side effects from
the vaccine, which I had initially been highly in favor
of until after our third shots. I cannot understand why
the new and improved New Zealand government is still advocating
for and recommending these mRNA vaccines. Well, they're not vaccines
for a start, so let's get that right. And the

(01:02:47):
answer to you last question was because maybe just take
some longer to wake up. I don't know. These brave
doctors need to be listened to intently as always, Bess regards, Jeff.

Speaker 5 (01:02:58):
Layton Gordon says, love your good work and bringing valuable
issues to the attention for those of us hungry for
the use of common sense and enlightenment on your recommendations,
I purchased a copy of Climate Actually Nothing to Fear.
What a fabulous, simple and easy to understand assembly of
questions and answers to such an important issue for all

(01:03:21):
of mankind. It confirmed a lot of the idiotic foibles
showered onto a submissive global audience of politicians who digest
the science offered to them that seems to be so
willingly accepted without question, the distinct odor of money and
corruption permeates the corridors of power. There was one paragraph

(01:03:43):
in the last chapter that caught my attention quote it's
also worth mentioning that China ducked out of the Paris
Accord by claiming that they were a developing country and
were going to make use of that exception, but still
produce as much omissions as their original plan to twenty sixty.
I raise a thought, says Gordon, that crossed my mind

(01:04:06):
about New Zealand being a relatively young and developing country.
Wouldn't that be a perfect point for farmers and haughty
culturalists to lobby our politicians for exemption from this overwhelmingly
dangerous and costly piece of global agreement. Just to thought latent,
and maybe you have already fielded comments relating to this
best regards Gordon.

Speaker 2 (01:04:28):
Got to say. I agree with what Gordon said about
China dipping out because it's a developing country. Is the
stupidity of it. This was granted to them. The status
was granted to them and hasn't had been removed. It's
just idiotic, and I think we'd be almost It would
be almost fair enough to say that we are more

(01:04:50):
a developing country than China is. In fact, I'll go
that far and say we are more developing than China,
as in they're ahead of us. I mean, show me
where our electric car factory is go on. So that
was well said, I continue, writes Chris, to be annoyed
and disturbed at the continued use of the term vaccine.

(01:05:12):
Oh here we are echoing his thoughts, so let me
start again. I continue to be annoyed and disturbed at
the continued use of the term vaccine for the COVID
shot to bastardize a biblical phrase. It never was, isn't now,
and never shall be a vaccine in what we doctors
know as a vaccine. A traditional vaccine confers long lasting

(01:05:36):
immunity against the disease and prevents disease transmission. This thing
was at best a temporary immune booster, which brings me
to the thought I wish to raise with you the
COVID shot. Somebody else, I think mentioned that somewhere to me,
that you should be calling it a shot, and I
agree with that. But every time I come to the

(01:05:57):
word vaccine in a letter or something. I can't think
of the word I want to replace it with, so
I go with it, or something along those lines. The
COVID shot was mandated, which was dumb as it didn't
really help. Suppose that at times it was the best
we had unless we talk the Swedish model. You have
consistently regaled against the mandates. But where do you sit

(01:06:18):
when you pit this against a proper vaccine such as polio,
smallpox no longer needed as eradicated by vaccination, measles and tetanus.
These vaccines do work and save lives, despite what some say,
especially with regard to measles, and in my view, should
be mandated. If you ever get a chance to talk

(01:06:40):
to someone who has had polio and suffered as a consequence,
they feel it is criminal not to mandate a polio shot.
You are probably just old enough to recall the polio
epidemic and the harm it caused. Not mandating these vaccinations
will lead to a drop in herd immunity and the
population will suffer not only deaths, but significant illness with

(01:07:03):
long lasting effects. As an aside, epidemiologists have probably saved
more lives than anyone think clean water, sewage, mass vaccination.
Michael Baker is still a knob though I know where
I stand, but this does pose an interesting philosophical tension.
This is where free will i e. Anti vaxers, especially

(01:07:26):
when it means parents placing their free will views on
their children, butts heads against population medicine. Have a great week,
Chris with a surname surgeon, So I'm very interested in
your attitude. Anytime you want to drop me a line
with an opinion, do so because we can debate it. Layton.

Speaker 5 (01:07:48):
Leon says, thank you again for this week's podcast featuring
doctor Paul Marrek. It confirms to me again that the
world's medical profession is dominated by the pharmaceutical sector. As
a diabetic I was very impressed by dtor Merrick's statement
that he cured his own diabetes with vitamin C. Would
it be possible to find out how it was administered

(01:08:09):
into him as I and my diabetic friends would love
to give it a go. Thank you, and may God
continue to bless your ministry. This is from Leon, and
he says, ps. Mary and I met you and Carolyn
at a mutual friends party when you kindly signed two
of your books for us.

Speaker 3 (01:08:27):
Leon.

Speaker 5 (01:08:27):
I remember you and Mary well, having met you on
several occasions, and I hope you're both well.

Speaker 2 (01:08:34):
It's lovely to hear from you, Yes, and it was
a pleasure to sign your book and thank you. Let's
be blunt most by far of the correspondence this week.
It's been about the interview with Paul Merrick, and I
get why. There's one letter here though, that goes in
a different direction. Here we are, let me read this one.

(01:08:57):
My immediate reaction when I first listened to your podcast
with doctor Paul Merrick was one of nonchalance, as I
wondered why we're still talking about COVID in twenty twenty four,
And then I immediately caught myself pauling prey to the
public short memory, and corrected myself. We must never forget
how quickly we surrendered our rights to the damned, corrupt,

(01:09:19):
unscrupulous elites who are always waiting to capitalize on the
next crisis and usurp absolute power. I was chilled when
doctor Paul Merrick said that the healthcare system is not
a healthcare system. It's a disease system that's designed to
keep you as sick or as long as you can
for them to make as much money as they can

(01:09:42):
can I just insert here he was talking specifically, of course,
about the US system. I don't I don't think we're
as bad here. Having had recent experiences with the local system,
I'm pretty obligated to saying that they do. They do
their best, even if they make the wrong decisions at times,

(01:10:03):
which I also experienced. He goes on. He goes on,
have you heard of New Zealand to Speaking Out with
Science n z DSS is made up of courageous and
principal doctors, dentists, pharmacists and vets who were formed around
an open letter to the New Zealand government that expressed
their concerns about the phiser COVID nineteen injection, as well

(01:10:25):
as the implication from New Zealand regulatory bodies that branded
medical practitioners incompetent if they provided fully informed consent about
the injection. They state that quote, the authorities have only
one narrative, be scared, get the JAB and vilify anyone
who does not. We may be vilified by our colleagues,
those we once respected, inflicting the greatest wounds the authorities

(01:10:50):
they are supposed to service remember and those in the
public that are fearful and asleep. But we have looked
into our hearts and we cannot stand by while atrocities
are being committed. We no longer trust that the regulators,
including Bedsafe, the Medical Council, the Dental Council, of Pharmaceutical Council,
and specialist colleges such as the Royal New Zealand College

(01:11:11):
of General Practitioners are guided by the best interests of
New Zealanders. We are concerned that these organizations have become
unduly influenced by politics rather than sticking to health principles.
Close quote, and then the author concludes, we the public
should fully support brave medical practitioners like doctor Paul Merrick

(01:11:32):
and the New Zealand doctors speaking out with science lest
we forget. Thanks for helping us remember later and Carolyn
as just a very very quick word. I suffered an
oversight last week. I did not mention that doctor Merrick
was with us on the podcast courtesy of NZD SOS

(01:11:54):
New Zealand Doctors speaking Out with Science. I didn't mention them.
That was my discredit.

Speaker 5 (01:12:01):
Leighton Alistair says, thanks Layton for another great podcast. Have
followed Dr Merrick since the start of this COVID scam,
and was privileged to hear him in person last Saturday
in christ Church along with Professor Angerstell Gleish, a man
of similar credentials and reputation in the cancer field. They
were riveting to listen to and have been prepared to

(01:12:23):
stand against the big farmer globalist attack on our democracy
and freedoms. The other speakers at the conference were exceptional. Also,
that's from Alistair.

Speaker 2 (01:12:33):
Thank you Alistair, appreciate it, missus producer. I'm looking at
the clock and we've sort of everything has its limit.
I think I might keep the rest. Maybe next week
or the next couple of weeks, or a slow week,
which happens occasionally. But let me say again this week
the number of emails was and the quality of them

(01:12:55):
was extremely good. I want to slip in one more.
Though it was a matter of interest from Paul. He says,
I'm not sure, but I'm pretty convinced that I could
hear God speaking through your conversation with doctor Paul merrickferences
to vitamin C brought back memories of the time my
father was afflicted with a case of chicken pox. He
caught from me. His reaction to the disease was severe,

(01:13:19):
and the doctors overseeing his care had indicated to my
mother that things were looking a bit grim as they
thought the pox may have affected his brain, if memory
serves me correctly, My family advice and the local health
store suggested vitamin C is a supplement to the good
medical care he was receiving. By all accounts, the supplementary

(01:13:40):
vitamin C that my mother provided Dad at his hospital
bedside had startlingly positive results. It all was well, that
ended well. Vitamin C has been part of my health
outlook ever since. Doctor Paul Merrick is doing God's work
and must be supported at all costs. He seeks truth
and will in time find it, and he has already

(01:14:02):
pointed at bucket loads of it. Thank you Layton and
missus producers for the great podcast PS. The new part
of the podcast providing source material is a winner. Paul,
Thank you. I think you're the only person who has
commented on that, but we'll see shortly. This is producer.
Thank you.

Speaker 5 (01:14:19):
Thank you Layton.

Speaker 2 (01:14:20):
I believe you've got a very busy day, but again
very busy day, which is why we're doing it so early.
Thanks so much, not that anyone would know.

Speaker 3 (01:14:37):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:14:37):
I began this last week based on the fact that
there is so much going on it simply cannot be
covered in its entirety. And I've been asked so many
times recently for books and information sources. I thought this
was an appropriate contribution to the podcast in that I
will refer each week to some articles that I think

(01:15:00):
well may interest you, and you can decide for yourself
and give you the best direction to find them that
I can. So let's start with and the Kamala Harris
is a third world hellhole, crime, chaos, devastation of an
order of magnitude that will never recover unless Donald Trump
becomes president again. Authored by paul Ingrassia I N G

(01:15:24):
R A S I A. Paul Ingrassia spelled the way
that it sounds. There is one hope to get us
out of this rut, and that hope is called Donald Trump. Now,
you may or may not agree. You may change your
mind after reading it, but you'll find it at paul
Ingrassia dot substack dot com. Number two What city planners

(01:15:46):
are really planning and how to challenge it? Now, this
is written from an American perspective, but it has global
as well. You'll find it, written by Selwyn Duke in
The New American dot Com The New American dot Com
first paragraph. In nearly every community of the nation, the

(01:16:08):
policy called sustainable is the catch all term for local
planning programs, from water and energy controls to building codes
and traffic planning. The term sustainable was first used in
the nineteen eighty seven report called Our Common Future, issued
by the United Nations Commission on Environment and Development. The

(01:16:31):
term appeared in full force in nineteen ninety two in
a United Nations initiative called You Ready Agenda twenty one.
Now I've got your interest, as I say. That is
from the New American dot Com, Selwyn Duke, the author.
How about the Hamas Broadcasting Corporation Melanie Phillips. I know

(01:16:51):
that a number of people read her columns and they're
often very worthy. We interviewed her once. She was also
in Jerusalem at the time. It was a terrible connection.
There was nothing I could do about it, So the
Hamas Broadcasting Corporation Melanie Phillips dot substack dot com. Another
report lays out the BBC's malevolence toward Israel. Will it

(01:17:16):
ever listen, then this, The UN just adopted the Packed
for the Future, which lays the foundation for a new
global order. Now this has already had mentioned here or there,
but it's worthy of chasing down. While everyone was distracted,
the global elite got exactly what they wanted. The un
adopted the Packed for the Future on September twenty second,

(01:17:39):
and the mainstream media in the Western world almost entirely
ignored what was happening. Instead, the headlines urged us to
just keep focusing on Commala Harrison Donald Trump. Sadly, the
vast majority of the population has never heard about the
Pact for the Future, and so there was very little
public debate about whether or not we should be adopting

(01:18:01):
a document which lays the foundation for a new global order.
They've been added for years this lot, and it looks
like they might be making progress. Zero hedge dot com
is where it came from. The UN just adopted the
Pact for the Future, which lays the foundation for a

(01:18:23):
new global order. And so to the article by Jeffrey
Tucker that I mentioned at the top of the podcast,
and there is a reason why I wanted to include it.
It caught my attension also just this morning. And the
reason is this. There is a picture of me in
the book beyond the microphone, picture of me sitting with

(01:18:46):
two things. One is I was cradling between my knees
a cello, because I was learning cello at the time.
This was when I was about thirteen maybe fourteen, and
played in the school orchestra, and I couldn't wait to
get rid of it, and the piano came second, much
to my regret. The other thing in the photo is

(01:19:08):
the haircut. At the time was when my father got
agitated about beyond belief until one day took me down
of the barbers and said cut it. But it all
turned out well in the end, so Jeffrey Tucker writing,
Find Your Oasis. The Metro North train was packed as
it pulled into Grand Central Station, the iconic landmark that
opens New York City to commuters and travelers. Leaving the

(01:19:30):
train for the platform plunges you into a strange world
of seeming chaos, of people on the move to somewhere.
The United Nations was meeting there this week, with diplomats
from all nations crowding the high end hotels at one
thousand dollars a night minimum Every major institutional player in banking, finance,

(01:19:52):
and global corporate power was there too, because no one
who is anyone wants to miss the chance to be
near the action. I was there for a humble dinner
with a friend, and the rest was a distraction, something
to endure. The sights and sounds were already cacophonous as
I climbed the stairs to the main level of the station.
One sound was different. However. It was a cello, and

(01:20:16):
I thought I could make out the sounds of the
suites of J. S. Bark. As I finally rounded the corner,
it gradually emerged that this was not a recording, but
a single cellist in a white tie, playing the full
cello suites without music. His talent was stunning, and it
is such a rare treat to sit close by and
watch it on display, close enough to see the resin

(01:20:38):
from the bow float around the vibrating strings. The contrast
between the ethereal virtuosity of the cellist and the bustling
madness of the train station was psychologically and emotionally overwhelming.
Though I was anxious to get to the appointed restaurant
ten blocks away, I simply could not pass up the

(01:20:58):
chance to listen. There I stood in people's way for
the meta part of twenty minutes, transported by that middle
voice between time and eternity. Bach did not write these
pieces for public performance. They were a private study. They
contain a variety of moods and deploy extremely difficult techniques.

(01:21:19):
The most flausible theory is that the composer wrote them
studies and exercises for his son to practice. So far
as we knew, they were never heard outside his home
in his lifetime. They were discovered one hundred years later
during the Victorian period, where tastes were not compatible with
a single instrument playing so elaborately, too lonely, too introspective,

(01:21:41):
too ominous. So when they were first heard it was
with an invented piano accompaniment. It wasn't until the turn
of the century when a Spanish cellis Publo Casals rediscovered
them in a bookstore at the age of thirteen and
worked them up into a public performance. Part of the
mystery of these pieces is how they play with the

(01:22:03):
audible imagination of the listener. They're constructed nilly as quartets,
with the other three parts left to the imagination, while
the notes heard serve as cues, signs, and symbols to
the formation of an inaudible voice out there somewhere. It
seems like magic that anyone could write such things or

(01:22:24):
perform them at all. If you're only listening to the recording,
it helps to remind yourself that there is only one
person playing, because otherwise it seems not quite believable. But
watching a live performance makes one a believer. This is
why these pieces just stop you in your tracks, transport
you to a different place, somewhere connected to but set

(01:22:45):
apart from the world around us. The music performed right
in front of our eyes takes us to this place
and feeds our soul. Without such music, we might forget
there is a soul, that we are purely biological creatures
with physical senses. Bark Cello suites deploy the senses in
order to compel the rediscovery of our deepest and highest

(01:23:08):
spiritual longings, elevating the mind and heart to experience a
place without the passage of time. In today's world of violence, despair,
and non stop disorientation, hearing them is startling in the
best possible way. These twenty minutes for me conjured up
an image of an oasis in the desert, a source

(01:23:28):
of growth and life in the midst of nothingness. There
I rested, however, briefly on my way back to the cacophony,
but carrying the music in my mind and heart. Years ago,
as a long time trained musician with a focus on
brass instruments, I took up singing. I flattered myself in
the mastering a huge range, and performed both as a

(01:23:48):
conductor and singer, and arranged a repertoire from Palestrina, Pergolisi
and Monteverdi to Viveldi, Handle and Mozart. One day, I
picked up the musical score to one of Mark's hundreds
of cantatas. I tried to sing a single aria i'd heard.
I simply could not. It was impossible for me. I

(01:24:09):
realized at that moment that I was not a real singer,
at least not one for which this composer wrote. Bach
is truly next level. Bark did not live an easy life.
He had twenty children over two marriages and supported them
all with playing, conducting and compositions. He played for a
Lutheran parish in a humble role with a meager salary,

(01:24:32):
and faced down unreletting pressure from the rector to write
new works for every Sunday service while preserving traditional hymnody.
He often applied for new jobs, but kept being turned down.
He often complained about the poor quality of his musicians,
a point I cannot even fathom, since truly only specialists

(01:24:53):
today can perform his harder works. Bark signed all of
his works, whether religious or secular, to the glory of God.
It was clearly his conviction that all of his skills
were from God and owed back to God, and the
object of his works were to point to ideals outside
the rough and tumble of the stream of life. However,

(01:25:14):
some consider his b Minor Mass to be his greatest achievement,
but it was never performed in his life. It sat
in his draw as a private meditation. It's remarkable to
imagine Bark being told in his time that three hundred
years later, a single cellist would perform his suites in

(01:25:35):
a grand central station, with crowds rushing by, an audience
of thousands of people doing other things, and only one
person stopping to listen carefully. Somehow, these pieces transcend all
things contemporary and must sound today exactly as they did
hundreds of years ago and will sound hundreds of years Hence,

(01:25:57):
I think two of the player who sat there casting
blessing on the crowds with his stunning talents what made
him take up cello? He shortly faced down warnings from
family and friends that he will would never make much
of a living from doing this. He studied decades, with
thousands of hours alone in practice, cultivating a level of

(01:26:17):
skill not one in a million corporate functionaries have, and
yet here he is. Artists on this level often report
that they could do no other They simply had to
follow their passions and dream, despite inevitable stuttering and possible poverty.
Such beauty and talent often runs headlong into the buzzsaw

(01:26:37):
of real life. A New York City chalist once told
me that there are two kinds of challists who cannot
find work in the city, the worst and the best.
The part about the worst is easy to explain. The
part about the best gets us into gritty reflections on
envy and how ubiquitously it crushes excellence. There is never
a good rational reason to go into art as a profession,

(01:27:00):
but there is every idealistic reason. This is the reason
that I cannot fathom why any artist would want to
participate in any project that makes the world uglier, as
we see in so many government funded art venues in
large cities today and have for a century. Art that
fails to transcend is not worthy of the name in

(01:27:22):
my view. In all times and all places, there are
surely settings and moments that we can find that provide sanctuary, oasis, refuge,
and safe haven for the soul. What form mistakes is
different for everyone regardless, This space and the soul must
be fed for our own sake, but also to beautify

(01:27:44):
the world and keep it together and livable for another day.
Those who do the hard work deserve our gratitude, even
if the worldly games will never be there. I would
trade the tens of thousands of United Nations hangers on
gathered in the city that day for this one cellist,
who sitting on that platform at the train station, playing

(01:28:06):
alone to no one in particular, revealed more truth than
all the combined speeches that week given to the multitude.
I think that last paragraph summarizes it perfectly. It was
a bit long, I know, but I thought it was
worthy of from sharing for those of you who sat
with it. Thank you, and thank you Jeffrey Tucker, and

(01:28:28):
that ladies and gentlemen takes us out to podcasts two
hundred and fifty eight. We shall return shortly with a
number nine on the end. Until then, if you would
care to comment on anything from today, or anything else
for that better Layton at newstalksb dot co dot nz
or Carolyn at newstalksb dot co dot nz, I invite

(01:28:48):
you to write on all and sundry. We love getting
it so that takes us away. The only thing left
to say is once again, thank you for listening and
we'll talk soon.

Speaker 1 (01:29:07):
Thank you for more from newstalkset B. Listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio

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Leighton Smith Podcast #258 - October 2nd 2024 - Ashley Rindsberg

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Leighton Smith Podcast #258 - October 2nd 2024 - Ashley Rindsberg