October 17, 2025 • 8 mins
National Security Institute Senior Fellow Lester Munson previews President Trump’s upcoming meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky amid heightened global tensions. Plus, the U.S. military sends B-52 bombers flying off the coast of Venezuela in a show of strength as diplomatic pressure builds in the region.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now let's go to the highline and bring in National
Security Institute Senior fellow Lester Munson. You can follow him
on x at Lester Munson, and you can listen to
him on the fault Lines podcast, which you can find
on iHeartRadio. Lester, thanks so much for joining us, and
I want to start with the president's big meeting today
with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski. That follows Trump's call with
(00:21):
Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday, and it sounds like the
main issue is going to be whether or not the
US gives Ukraine any Tomahawk missiles now, based on Trump's
comments after his call with Putin and the announcement of
another meeting between the two next month, I don't see
that happening. What's your take and how would Ukraine getting
those weapons impact the war?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Right? Good morning, Brian. Great questions and your summary is
very good. I tend to agree with you. I don't
think we're looking at these cruise missiles going to Ukraine
anytime soon. If that were to happen, and that would
change the ability of Ukraine in particular to strike inside
(01:06):
deep inside Russian supply lines for its forces in Ukraine,
which which could really change the situation on the battlefield
right now, Ukraine's ability to hit targets, specific targets in
Russia is somewhat limited. They have this drone capability, but
that's not quite as impactful, if you will, as a
(01:27):
as a tomahawk would be. So the you know, Trump
mentioning that he might provide these weapons clear to Ukraine
clearly set off Putin. He's now reached out to Trump.
There may be this meeting in a couple of weeks
in Hungary, so that you know that that does seem
to have changed the diplomacy a little bit. Remember they
(01:49):
had this meeting two months ago and out in Alaska.
Things we're kind of dragon since then, and this seems
to have at least reinvigorated the conversations.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Has there been any change on the grounds in Ukraine recently?
Is it basically more of the same, essentially a stalemate
along the front lines with Russia maybe making incremental gains
here and there.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, there's been a little bit of movement, but they're
getting ready for winter and and so I think we're
we're seeing what we're what we're kind of in the
window now is what is what's spring going to look like,
what's next year going to look like, Who's going to
have the advantage and there and the two sides are
trying to position themselves to be more, you know, in
(02:28):
the better strategic position, both on the battlefield and internationally
with with diplomacy, particularly involving President Trump.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
There was a big push by the Trump administration and
a lot of talk that Europe would step up and
really start to support Ukraine on the battlefield. Have we
seen any of that's unfold Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
And let's you know, one of one of the things
that kind of gets lost in the headlines, I think
is that the West NATO, including the United States, remains
a pretty strong supporter of Ukraine. We might not be
providing these tens of billions of dollars in aid packages
from directly from the US, but Europe is stepping up
a little bit. The US continues to provide a lot
(03:12):
of assistance to the Ukrainian military. We do play a
role there and so we share intel with them, we
share advice with them, we share strategy with them. A
lot of stuff is very significant. We should not kit
ourselves here. We are on the side of the Ukrainians.
While we're trying to broker a piece with Russians.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
We're joined by National Security Institute senior fellow Lester Monthson.
Another issue, I want to get to military operations in
the Caribbean and off the coast of Venezuela. We've seen
the images of US forces taken out boats in the
waters near Venezuela, and now we have a report the
strike has taken place in the Caribbean, and we learned
yesterday the head of US Southern Command, the Mayvy Admiral
(03:55):
overseeing all of this, was stepping down. What do you
make of these developments.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Well, there's a lot going on here. The US has
a military build up in the region, a lot more
pressure on Venezuela. It appears that the US, you know
that the Trump administration may be using the issue of
narco terrorism of drug dealers coming out of Venezuela as
a way to put pressure directly on Maduro. And it
(04:22):
looks to me a lot like what we saw thirty
five years ago in Panama when the US eventually went
into Panama to replace the leadership in that country based
on FuG trafficking. Manuel Noriega, who I believe is still
in a supermax prison in Colorado. We went in and
changed the government in Panama. This looks a little bit
(04:44):
like the build up to that. We've got an increase
in forces where we're talking about drug interdiction, and there's
a whole slew of legal issues and kind of diplomatic
issues here. Congresses starting to get concerned about whether this
is appropriate under the law, and a lot of our
or fronds and allies in the region are paying very
close attention to what's going on. So this is heating
(05:05):
up almost hour by hour.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
There was also a report that the military had flown
B fifty two's off the Venezuela coast, so you know,
clearly sending a strong message. And there was a report
in the Miami Herald that there have been some back
channels with the Trump administration from those in powerful positions
in Venezuela to try to maybe sort out some kind
of a diplomatic deal. So it does appear that, especially
(05:32):
I think with Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, there's
been a renewed focus on some of the issues that
we're dealing with here in our hemisphere.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah, totally true, and it could be and we told
them there was some news about special forces helicopters being
off the coast of Venezuela, like ninety miles off the coast.
This is very provocative. Could it be that we're trying
to inspire someone in the military to push Maduro out
and take and kind of have an window on a
relationship with Venezuela. Maybe Marina Karina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader,
(06:08):
received the Nobel Peace Prize a couple of weeks ago.
She gave she gave a lot of credit to President
Trump and that because he's been a he's been a
pretty good supporter through Marco Rubiu. As you point out,
of the Venezuelan opposition, the leadership there, those are let's
be clear, those guys are bad news. Bears. Maduro is
a drug dealer, He's corrupt, He's destroyed democracy in that country.
(06:30):
He's impoverished them. The other amazing thing, Ryan, when people
forget this, Venezuela is potentially the largest energy supplier in
the world. They have huge reserves of natural gas. In
particular that it is utterly that industry has been utterly
destroyed by this government there, this corrupt socialist government. So
a change there and you don't you don't want to
(06:51):
go around talking flippantly about regime change, but a change
in Venezuela could really lead to a lot of improvements
around the world on a number of issues, particularly the
energy front.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
We're joined by National Security in Toot senior fellow Lester
Months and one last question Israel and Gaza. Any thoughts
on the developments over the past few days since we
last talked on Tuesday morning.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, we've seen Hamas not be willing to return. This
is a terrible thing to even contemplate return the bodies
of prisoners that they of hostages that they killed over
the last two years. There's I think somewhere around fifteen
or sixteen bodies that they're supposed to return to their
families in Israel. They haven't done. So they say they
(07:34):
don't know where they are, or that they're buried under rubble.
That's probably bogus. So this is this is really an
attempt by Hamas to kind of kind of get some
kind of leverage in in the negotiations with Israel over
the rest of these points that have to be implemented
from Trump's plan. It's very morbid, it's very awful. But
that's you know, that's the situation we're looking at in
(07:56):
Gaza right now now.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Our National Security Institute senior fellow Lester Months and you
can follow him on x for more at Lester Munson
and you can check him out on the fault Lines podcast,
which you can listen to on iHeartRadio. Lester, always appreciate
the time and insight.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Thanks friend, The Ryan Gorman Show on NewsRadio WFLA. Follow
us on Facebook and Instagram at Ryan Gorman Show, and
find us online at Ryangormanshow dot com
Now let's go to the highline and bring in National
Security Institute Senior fellow Lester Munson. You can follow him
on x at Lester Munson, and you can listen to
him on the fault Lines podcast, which you can find
on iHeartRadio. Lester, thanks so much for joining us, and
I want to start with the president's big meeting today
with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski. That follows Trump's call with
(00:21):
Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday, and it sounds like the
main issue is going to be whether or not the
US gives Ukraine any Tomahawk missiles now, based on Trump's
comments after his call with Putin and the announcement of
another meeting between the two next month, I don't see
that happening. What's your take and how would Ukraine getting
those weapons impact the war?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Right? Good morning, Brian. Great questions and your summary is
very good. I tend to agree with you. I don't
think we're looking at these cruise missiles going to Ukraine
anytime soon. If that were to happen, and that would
change the ability of Ukraine in particular to strike inside
(01:06):
deep inside Russian supply lines for its forces in Ukraine,
which which could really change the situation on the battlefield
right now, Ukraine's ability to hit targets, specific targets in
Russia is somewhat limited. They have this drone capability, but
that's not quite as impactful, if you will, as a
(01:27):
as a tomahawk would be. So the you know, Trump
mentioning that he might provide these weapons clear to Ukraine
clearly set off Putin. He's now reached out to Trump.
There may be this meeting in a couple of weeks
in Hungary, so that you know that that does seem
to have changed the diplomacy a little bit. Remember they
(01:49):
had this meeting two months ago and out in Alaska.
Things we're kind of dragon since then, and this seems
to have at least reinvigorated the conversations.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Has there been any change on the grounds in Ukraine recently?
Is it basically more of the same, essentially a stalemate
along the front lines with Russia maybe making incremental gains
here and there.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, there's been a little bit of movement, but they're
getting ready for winter and and so I think we're
we're seeing what we're what we're kind of in the
window now is what is what's spring going to look like,
what's next year going to look like, Who's going to
have the advantage and there and the two sides are
trying to position themselves to be more, you know, in
(02:28):
the better strategic position, both on the battlefield and internationally
with with diplomacy, particularly involving President Trump.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
There was a big push by the Trump administration and
a lot of talk that Europe would step up and
really start to support Ukraine on the battlefield. Have we
seen any of that's unfold Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
And let's you know, one of one of the things
that kind of gets lost in the headlines, I think
is that the West NATO, including the United States, remains
a pretty strong supporter of Ukraine. We might not be
providing these tens of billions of dollars in aid packages
from directly from the US, but Europe is stepping up
a little bit. The US continues to provide a lot
(03:12):
of assistance to the Ukrainian military. We do play a
role there and so we share intel with them, we
share advice with them, we share strategy with them. A
lot of stuff is very significant. We should not kit
ourselves here. We are on the side of the Ukrainians.
While we're trying to broker a piece with Russians.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
We're joined by National Security Institute senior fellow Lester Monthson.
Another issue, I want to get to military operations in
the Caribbean and off the coast of Venezuela. We've seen
the images of US forces taken out boats in the
waters near Venezuela, and now we have a report the
strike has taken place in the Caribbean, and we learned
yesterday the head of US Southern Command, the Mayvy Admiral
(03:55):
overseeing all of this, was stepping down. What do you
make of these developments.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Well, there's a lot going on here. The US has
a military build up in the region, a lot more
pressure on Venezuela. It appears that the US, you know
that the Trump administration may be using the issue of
narco terrorism of drug dealers coming out of Venezuela as
a way to put pressure directly on Maduro. And it
(04:22):
looks to me a lot like what we saw thirty
five years ago in Panama when the US eventually went
into Panama to replace the leadership in that country based
on FuG trafficking. Manuel Noriega, who I believe is still
in a supermax prison in Colorado. We went in and
changed the government in Panama. This looks a little bit
(04:44):
like the build up to that. We've got an increase
in forces where we're talking about drug interdiction, and there's
a whole slew of legal issues and kind of diplomatic
issues here. Congresses starting to get concerned about whether this
is appropriate under the law, and a lot of our
or fronds and allies in the region are paying very
close attention to what's going on. So this is heating
(05:05):
up almost hour by hour.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
There was also a report that the military had flown
B fifty two's off the Venezuela coast, so you know,
clearly sending a strong message. And there was a report
in the Miami Herald that there have been some back
channels with the Trump administration from those in powerful positions
in Venezuela to try to maybe sort out some kind
of a diplomatic deal. So it does appear that, especially
(05:32):
I think with Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, there's
been a renewed focus on some of the issues that
we're dealing with here in our hemisphere.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah, totally true, and it could be and we told
them there was some news about special forces helicopters being
off the coast of Venezuela, like ninety miles off the coast.
This is very provocative. Could it be that we're trying
to inspire someone in the military to push Maduro out
and take and kind of have an window on a
relationship with Venezuela. Maybe Marina Karina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader,
(06:08):
received the Nobel Peace Prize a couple of weeks ago.
She gave she gave a lot of credit to President
Trump and that because he's been a he's been a
pretty good supporter through Marco Rubiu. As you point out,
of the Venezuelan opposition, the leadership there, those are let's
be clear, those guys are bad news. Bears. Maduro is
a drug dealer, He's corrupt, He's destroyed democracy in that country.
(06:30):
He's impoverished them. The other amazing thing, Ryan, when people
forget this, Venezuela is potentially the largest energy supplier in
the world. They have huge reserves of natural gas. In
particular that it is utterly that industry has been utterly
destroyed by this government there, this corrupt socialist government. So
a change there and you don't you don't want to
(06:51):
go around talking flippantly about regime change, but a change
in Venezuela could really lead to a lot of improvements
around the world on a number of issues, particularly the
energy front.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
We're joined by National Security in Toot senior fellow Lester
Months and one last question Israel and Gaza. Any thoughts
on the developments over the past few days since we
last talked on Tuesday morning.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, we've seen Hamas not be willing to return. This
is a terrible thing to even contemplate return the bodies
of prisoners that they of hostages that they killed over
the last two years. There's I think somewhere around fifteen
or sixteen bodies that they're supposed to return to their
families in Israel. They haven't done. So they say they
(07:34):
don't know where they are, or that they're buried under rubble.
That's probably bogus. So this is this is really an
attempt by Hamas to kind of kind of get some
kind of leverage in in the negotiations with Israel over
the rest of these points that have to be implemented
from Trump's plan. It's very morbid, it's very awful. But
that's you know, that's the situation we're looking at in
(07:56):
Gaza right now now.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Our National Security Institute senior fellow Lester Months and you
can follow him on x for more at Lester Munson
and you can check him out on the fault Lines podcast,
which you can listen to on iHeartRadio. Lester, always appreciate
the time and insight.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Thanks friend, The Ryan Gorman Show on NewsRadio WFLA. Follow
us on Facebook and Instagram at Ryan Gorman Show, and
find us online at Ryangormanshow dot com
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