Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh, it's a pleasure to talk to Mike Lyons, who
is a cn IN military analyst extraordinaire and on a
lot of different radio shows and podcasts, and appreciate your time. Mike,
thanks so much, Major.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Thank good morning, Tony. Great to be with you.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
It's great to be with you. Since last we talked,
there's been a lot of things that have been going on,
including in your neck of the woods with drones. But
I'll talk about that in a little bit, but I
wanted to ask you first of all, President Trump sending
fifteen hundred troops to the border. Your thoughts about that.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yeah, the Trump administrations off to an incredible start. It
looks like their Secretary of Defense will be likely confirmed today,
but it's out gotten in front of things like the border.
Fifteen hundred active duty troops to go support that mission there.
I think engineering assets will be part of those as
they try to help with the building of the wall
(00:54):
as well as setting up administration centers and sites. As
we see now on you know from news reports that
they mean business when it comes to securing that that
part of the country. So they're well out in front
of it. Doesn't feel like it's only been three or
four days. I guess five days here the fifth day,
but the military will continue to help that process down south.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah, and they're in a support role as I understand it, correct.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, that's right there. Active duty forces were never going
to go house to house and drag people out of
their homes, as someone led you to with you to
believe that was going to be the case. The military
has got the kind of assets that some of the
states down there just don't have in their national guard units,
and there they'll be used to reinforce that very important
logistical mission.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
You know, it's interesting there's a lot of debate about
the cartels and you can see the influence that they've had,
not only with fentanyl and drugs across our border, but
they've actually helped design, understand it, other foreign entities that
don't have our support obviously to pass through our borders.
Is that is that correct information?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah? I think that there's so much confusion and a
lot of it has to do with the legal aspects
of it and how people declare asylum and with what
our laws say. The one thing about restoring they were
made in Mexico policy, for example, we'll create challenges in
Mexico on that side. But again, that's the way asylum
laws are set up. You have to declare asylum in
(02:25):
the first country you get to, and in most cases
some of those immigrants are coming from multiple other countries.
And that's what the Trump administration is saying as to
why they can do that. Do it that way?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
You think Pete Hegseat will be become the Defense secretary
as possible today? There's been a lot of blowback over this.
What are your thoughts?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
I do I think so. I think he's got the vote,
He'll just squeak by. It won't matter because it doesn't
make a difference what the vote is. He'll get confirmed,
I said a Donton cask ahead of him. I'm looking
at the deputies that have been assigned at the Department
of Defense already. I could tell you that I could
see tremendous pivot away from Europe and that that theater
(03:09):
uh from the from the the ideology of some of
the people that that have been already assigned in some
of the under secretary positions. I said, You're going to
see a lot more focus in the Pacific, a lot
more focused on China, restoration of deterrence. I believe we've
already seen that with the release of the hostages and
what's happened in the Middle East and Hamas. And you
(03:29):
saw the President yesterday talked to the to the world
the Economic Forum and basically tell them that America's back.
So the I do think he's got a tough job
ahead of him, and he'll he'll implement the President's mission
to the letter. What I mean by that is this
issue about meritocracy has been restored. DEI is out, there'll
be they'll be assigned in every every conference room in
(03:51):
the Pentagon that says the primary mission of the military
to fight and win the nation's wars. And if this
meeting has nothing to do with that, we're not having it.
So I think he's he's the right for sending the
President of the message.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Is NATO effectively done?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
No, but NATO does need somewhat of another transformation. You
saw the President yesterday say five percent for NATO countries.
That's a serious number that should have been We've got
long standing NATO countries that can't even make the two
percent number, and that's France, Germany and some of these
longtime NATO allies that we have. It's very difficult with
(04:28):
an alliance of over thirty countries to get everybody on
the same page. You see, Vilenski wants NATO admission. That's
going to be his issue there. That's likely not going
to happen with that war to end, but it's not done,
but it can be transformed, and maybe President Trump is
the right guy to try to move it in that direction.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
With Ukraine, do you think that the days of the
six hundred million or however much money in weaponry going
over there, is that going to be sumed in.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Well Tony? I think that that is they don't get
something in the next ninety days, they're on the road
to losing, which I don't think that the President wants
to see. This administration has been put in a very
bad position because that couldn't go That could go tragically
wrong here if they're not forced to do something. And
so much of the money that was given to Ukraine
(05:21):
really wasn't given to Ukraine. It's just that they had
an open checkbook to buy from UNS to fedis contract.
So it's not like we shifted money to oligarchs that's
out in Ukraine and took this money. Did something else
with it that you know, they can't win without the
help of the United States and the support that we've
been giving them. So I think this administration hasn't dealt
with it yet, but in the next ninety days it's
going to be at a crossroads just to what they're
(05:42):
going to do, which is why the President wants to
try to end it as quickly as possible, because he
knows that it could really be very tragic.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Okay, so you think it's not that support's gonna wander
away from Ukraine, but it better get taken care of.
That's what I'm kind of hearing.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, it has to Yeah, it has to stay the
same as a minimum. More European countries have got appony
out more the level of support that they need. They
just continue to run out of ammunition, They continue to
run out of artillery weapons. The Biden administration, all they
did was just manage their decline. They never allowed the
Ukrainian military to go on the offensive. They've never given
those kind of weapons. Only in the last six months
(06:21):
of that administration, where they allowed to use a tackles,
for example, to attack inside of Russia. And they just
manage the destruction of the country as opposed to letting
them do something. So we need to see what this
administration is going to do. I know that they don't
want the war to continue. The question is what will
Ukraine agree to and what will Russia agree to to
stop the fighting?
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah, all right, more if you don't mind. Mike, got
a lot of other questions you've mentioned in the South Pacific.
There's a lot there as well. We'll discuss next on
News Radio eight forty whas all was great to talk
to Mike Lyons, Military analyst extraordinaire on CNN and this
station in mini other Mike, let's continue our discussion China.
(07:03):
I just put laid out there. What are we looking at?
I mean, they have built a pretty strong navy and
what in the last twenty or thirty years, and there's
some real concerns about this.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yeah, yeah, so they have and you know, they haven't fought. Okay,
So the United States has got a lot more experienced
when it comes down to actual combat. But they've can
continue to build up mass in terms of their capability,
their ships, recent reports showing amphibious landing vehicles that they've
now come up with and they're practicing and so they're
sending all the signals out there that they would like
(07:37):
to do something to Taiwan and to move that forward
as things go. My concern, frankly, is that as the
Chinese sit back and look at things strategically and the
fact that the United States has now a strong president
that wants to project power, that the Chinese could be
concerned that the United States could become more powerful. And
(07:57):
these are the kind of things that at the terms perspective,
we think we'll keep the Chinese from doing something, but
perhaps it might encourage them to do something sooner. So
I do think you're see this administration pivot to the
Pacific actually do that. We'll build more ships. We have
three hundred and twenty five current ships right now. I
think that number will increase significantly over the next four years.
(08:18):
You know, the last administration, all they focused on was
naming future ships. They didn't build any And I think
this administration will go ahead and do the things that
the last administration didn't do when it comes to rebuilding
our naval power.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Will these ships be manned or not?
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, you no, great question. Then Eighty's got us a
whole division that does focus on that. But they can't.
Some of them won't be for example, let's say, and
they'll be different in size, But in order to project power,
you still have to have aircraft carriers, and you still
have to have the story's cruisers and the like that
carry missiles that get close to cities and things like that.
(08:55):
But some of the young manned as we've taken that
drone technology into the water, UH will will likely use
be used for under under sea operations, under sea UH
surveillance and perhaps as as things its close, but you'll
see a whole new side of the navy that we
hadn't seen before that that that that technology will increase significantly.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Let's say flipped to the Middle East, I mean obviously
as Syria, we haven't had a chance to talk since.
I don't know if it's a vacuum right now there
of winners or losers, but Russia doesn't have near the
efforts that they had before because of their own war
with Ukraine. What are your thoughts about what's going to
happen there?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Well, things are going okay in Syrius so far. Maybe
you'll see a situation like Northern Ireland where the terrorist
organizations decided to really make this more political and and
to have a peacekeeping operation. Russia is completely out. The
Tartist lease was shut down. I saw that report just recently,
so the Russia does not have that warm more report
(09:57):
any longer. On the Mediterranean, it looks like Syria wants
to make a go of it and become somewhat of
a member of the international community. Now they still have this,
they still have a lot of ungoverned space. There's places
where terrorist organizations could still operate freely. It would be wise,
I think. I think this administration is going to see
(10:18):
what happens over the next few months, but it'll be
wise for them to start talking to them, start figuring
out some level of diplomacy. We know that their military
capability has been taken out. The Israelis at a tremendous
job with that, so they're not as as a threat anymore.
And we'll have to see. But so far, so good.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Inside of Syria, there's like I can't remember the name
of of the congressmend Er Senatory in Tennessee, but basically
said that the Taliban is receiving forty million dollars a
month or a week, whatever the case may be. But
either way and they're not necessarily combining their forces or
(10:56):
anything with other Al Qaeda or others, but they're certainly
let letting things go run free, as I understand it.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
What are your thoughts, Yeah, we don't. We have a
dysfunctional relationship with the Taliban. I think it's another one
of the challenges that was put in the lap of
this administration that wasn't solved last time. I saw something
where the President is insisting that the Taliban gives some
of the equipment back. We left billions of dollars worth
of equipment there. That's the President reminds us continually that
it's one of the mistakes that Mark Milly made when
(11:28):
they left Afghanistan. The Taliban is different than what we
saw in Syria, though again very challenging relationship here. I
do think you'll see a lot more pressure trying to
be put on the Taliban to either become let's say,
much more of an ally to the United States. And
(11:50):
if that's not the case, I think you'll see the disadministry,
miss administration shut them down, not give them any kindibate
at all.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
And Iran Trump has to be their worst nightmare.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Right, Yeah, what you know, Iran continues to be very
weak though. Right now, I think it's just a matter
of time until there's a military attack inside of Iran
to take out their nuclear capability. I think you might
see the administration try to negotiate, maybe give it some
out of a shot, but they're gonna put a lot
of pressure on Iran, and things look like they're crumbling
(12:23):
inside of Iran as well, So you know, time is
on the side of Israel the United States when it
comes to the uraniums, they still don't have that military
capability yet and even if they if they had it,
they can't deliver it. But the Israelis have weakened their
allies tremendously, hamas has the lah. We declared the whu
Thi's now a terrorist organization. So let's see what happens
(12:44):
when they decide to shoot at the United States again
suit the destroyer. See what happens this time, to see
the response I think immediate and much more tremendous than
it was last time.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Mike Lyons always appreciates you. It's been too long. Thanks
for joining us today and have a great day and
make sure folks that you keep up with Mike Lions
l Y o. N s on X because he has
a lot of great reporting on that as well. And hockey, Mike,
take care of you, take care of yourself, all right,
Good talk with you, Mike. Mike Lions here, military analyst
(13:15):
on news radio A forty w h A S. We're
coming back. If we have time for sports, we'll get some.
We've got news at the top of the hour here
on Kentucky. Anda's Warning News
Oh, it's a pleasure to talk to Mike Lyons, who
is a cn IN military analyst extraordinaire and on a
lot of different radio shows and podcasts, and appreciate your time. Mike,
thanks so much, Major.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Thank good morning, Tony. Great to be with you.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
It's great to be with you. Since last we talked,
there's been a lot of things that have been going on,
including in your neck of the woods with drones. But
I'll talk about that in a little bit, but I
wanted to ask you first of all, President Trump sending
fifteen hundred troops to the border. Your thoughts about that.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yeah, the Trump administrations off to an incredible start. It
looks like their Secretary of Defense will be likely confirmed today,
but it's out gotten in front of things like the border.
Fifteen hundred active duty troops to go support that mission there.
I think engineering assets will be part of those as
they try to help with the building of the wall
(00:54):
as well as setting up administration centers and sites. As
we see now on you know from news reports that
they mean business when it comes to securing that that
part of the country. So they're well out in front
of it. Doesn't feel like it's only been three or
four days. I guess five days here the fifth day,
but the military will continue to help that process down south.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah, and they're in a support role as I understand it, correct.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, that's right there. Active duty forces were never going
to go house to house and drag people out of
their homes, as someone led you to with you to
believe that was going to be the case. The military
has got the kind of assets that some of the
states down there just don't have in their national guard units,
and there they'll be used to reinforce that very important
logistical mission.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
You know, it's interesting there's a lot of debate about
the cartels and you can see the influence that they've had,
not only with fentanyl and drugs across our border, but
they've actually helped design, understand it, other foreign entities that
don't have our support obviously to pass through our borders.
Is that is that correct information?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah? I think that there's so much confusion and a
lot of it has to do with the legal aspects
of it and how people declare asylum and with what
our laws say. The one thing about restoring they were
made in Mexico policy, for example, we'll create challenges in
Mexico on that side. But again, that's the way asylum
laws are set up. You have to declare asylum in
(02:25):
the first country you get to, and in most cases
some of those immigrants are coming from multiple other countries.
And that's what the Trump administration is saying as to
why they can do that. Do it that way?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
You think Pete Hegseat will be become the Defense secretary
as possible today? There's been a lot of blowback over this.
What are your thoughts?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
I do I think so. I think he's got the vote,
He'll just squeak by. It won't matter because it doesn't
make a difference what the vote is. He'll get confirmed,
I said a Donton cask ahead of him. I'm looking
at the deputies that have been assigned at the Department
of Defense already. I could tell you that I could
see tremendous pivot away from Europe and that that theater
(03:09):
uh from the from the the ideology of some of
the people that that have been already assigned in some
of the under secretary positions. I said, You're going to
see a lot more focus in the Pacific, a lot
more focused on China, restoration of deterrence. I believe we've
already seen that with the release of the hostages and
what's happened in the Middle East and Hamas. And you
(03:29):
saw the President yesterday talked to the to the world
the Economic Forum and basically tell them that America's back.
So the I do think he's got a tough job
ahead of him, and he'll he'll implement the President's mission
to the letter. What I mean by that is this
issue about meritocracy has been restored. DEI is out, there'll
be they'll be assigned in every every conference room in
(03:51):
the Pentagon that says the primary mission of the military
to fight and win the nation's wars. And if this
meeting has nothing to do with that, we're not having it.
So I think he's he's the right for sending the
President of the message.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Is NATO effectively done?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
No, but NATO does need somewhat of another transformation. You
saw the President yesterday say five percent for NATO countries.
That's a serious number that should have been We've got
long standing NATO countries that can't even make the two
percent number, and that's France, Germany and some of these
longtime NATO allies that we have. It's very difficult with
(04:28):
an alliance of over thirty countries to get everybody on
the same page. You see, Vilenski wants NATO admission. That's
going to be his issue there. That's likely not going
to happen with that war to end, but it's not done,
but it can be transformed, and maybe President Trump is
the right guy to try to move it in that direction.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
With Ukraine, do you think that the days of the
six hundred million or however much money in weaponry going
over there, is that going to be sumed in.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Well Tony? I think that that is they don't get
something in the next ninety days, they're on the road
to losing, which I don't think that the President wants
to see. This administration has been put in a very
bad position because that couldn't go That could go tragically
wrong here if they're not forced to do something. And
so much of the money that was given to Ukraine
(05:21):
really wasn't given to Ukraine. It's just that they had
an open checkbook to buy from UNS to fedis contract.
So it's not like we shifted money to oligarchs that's
out in Ukraine and took this money. Did something else
with it that you know, they can't win without the
help of the United States and the support that we've
been giving them. So I think this administration hasn't dealt
with it yet, but in the next ninety days it's
going to be at a crossroads just to what they're
(05:42):
going to do, which is why the President wants to
try to end it as quickly as possible, because he
knows that it could really be very tragic.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Okay, so you think it's not that support's gonna wander
away from Ukraine, but it better get taken care of.
That's what I'm kind of hearing.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, it has to Yeah, it has to stay the
same as a minimum. More European countries have got appony
out more the level of support that they need. They
just continue to run out of ammunition, They continue to
run out of artillery weapons. The Biden administration, all they
did was just manage their decline. They never allowed the
Ukrainian military to go on the offensive. They've never given
those kind of weapons. Only in the last six months
(06:21):
of that administration, where they allowed to use a tackles,
for example, to attack inside of Russia. And they just
manage the destruction of the country as opposed to letting
them do something. So we need to see what this
administration is going to do. I know that they don't
want the war to continue. The question is what will
Ukraine agree to and what will Russia agree to to
stop the fighting?
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah, all right, more if you don't mind. Mike, got
a lot of other questions you've mentioned in the South Pacific.
There's a lot there as well. We'll discuss next on
News Radio eight forty whas all was great to talk
to Mike Lyons, Military analyst extraordinaire on CNN and this
station in mini other Mike, let's continue our discussion China.
(07:03):
I just put laid out there. What are we looking at?
I mean, they have built a pretty strong navy and
what in the last twenty or thirty years, and there's
some real concerns about this.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yeah, yeah, so they have and you know, they haven't fought. Okay,
So the United States has got a lot more experienced
when it comes down to actual combat. But they've can
continue to build up mass in terms of their capability,
their ships, recent reports showing amphibious landing vehicles that they've
now come up with and they're practicing and so they're
sending all the signals out there that they would like
(07:37):
to do something to Taiwan and to move that forward
as things go. My concern, frankly, is that as the
Chinese sit back and look at things strategically and the
fact that the United States has now a strong president
that wants to project power, that the Chinese could be
concerned that the United States could become more powerful. And
(07:57):
these are the kind of things that at the terms perspective,
we think we'll keep the Chinese from doing something, but
perhaps it might encourage them to do something sooner. So
I do think you're see this administration pivot to the
Pacific actually do that. We'll build more ships. We have
three hundred and twenty five current ships right now. I
think that number will increase significantly over the next four years.
(08:18):
You know, the last administration, all they focused on was
naming future ships. They didn't build any And I think
this administration will go ahead and do the things that
the last administration didn't do when it comes to rebuilding
our naval power.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Will these ships be manned or not?
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, you no, great question. Then Eighty's got us a
whole division that does focus on that. But they can't.
Some of them won't be for example, let's say, and
they'll be different in size, But in order to project power,
you still have to have aircraft carriers, and you still
have to have the story's cruisers and the like that
carry missiles that get close to cities and things like that.
(08:55):
But some of the young manned as we've taken that
drone technology into the water, UH will will likely use
be used for under under sea operations, under sea UH
surveillance and perhaps as as things its close, but you'll
see a whole new side of the navy that we
hadn't seen before that that that that technology will increase significantly.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Let's say flipped to the Middle East, I mean obviously
as Syria, we haven't had a chance to talk since.
I don't know if it's a vacuum right now there
of winners or losers, but Russia doesn't have near the
efforts that they had before because of their own war
with Ukraine. What are your thoughts about what's going to
happen there?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Well, things are going okay in Syrius so far. Maybe
you'll see a situation like Northern Ireland where the terrorist
organizations decided to really make this more political and and
to have a peacekeeping operation. Russia is completely out. The
Tartist lease was shut down. I saw that report just recently,
so the Russia does not have that warm more report
(09:57):
any longer. On the Mediterranean, it looks like Syria wants
to make a go of it and become somewhat of
a member of the international community. Now they still have this,
they still have a lot of ungoverned space. There's places
where terrorist organizations could still operate freely. It would be wise,
I think. I think this administration is going to see
(10:18):
what happens over the next few months, but it'll be
wise for them to start talking to them, start figuring
out some level of diplomacy. We know that their military
capability has been taken out. The Israelis at a tremendous
job with that, so they're not as as a threat anymore.
And we'll have to see. But so far, so good.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Inside of Syria, there's like I can't remember the name
of of the congressmend Er Senatory in Tennessee, but basically
said that the Taliban is receiving forty million dollars a
month or a week, whatever the case may be. But
either way and they're not necessarily combining their forces or
(10:56):
anything with other Al Qaeda or others, but they're certainly
let letting things go run free, as I understand it.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
What are your thoughts, Yeah, we don't. We have a
dysfunctional relationship with the Taliban. I think it's another one
of the challenges that was put in the lap of
this administration that wasn't solved last time. I saw something
where the President is insisting that the Taliban gives some
of the equipment back. We left billions of dollars worth
of equipment there. That's the President reminds us continually that
it's one of the mistakes that Mark Milly made when
(11:28):
they left Afghanistan. The Taliban is different than what we
saw in Syria, though again very challenging relationship here. I
do think you'll see a lot more pressure trying to
be put on the Taliban to either become let's say,
much more of an ally to the United States. And
(11:50):
if that's not the case, I think you'll see the disadministry,
miss administration shut them down, not give them any kindibate
at all.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
And Iran Trump has to be their worst nightmare.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Right, Yeah, what you know, Iran continues to be very
weak though. Right now, I think it's just a matter
of time until there's a military attack inside of Iran
to take out their nuclear capability. I think you might
see the administration try to negotiate, maybe give it some
out of a shot, but they're gonna put a lot
of pressure on Iran, and things look like they're crumbling
(12:23):
inside of Iran as well, So you know, time is
on the side of Israel the United States when it
comes to the uraniums, they still don't have that military
capability yet and even if they if they had it,
they can't deliver it. But the Israelis have weakened their
allies tremendously, hamas has the lah. We declared the whu
Thi's now a terrorist organization. So let's see what happens
(12:44):
when they decide to shoot at the United States again
suit the destroyer. See what happens this time, to see
the response I think immediate and much more tremendous than
it was last time.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Mike Lyons always appreciates you. It's been too long. Thanks
for joining us today and have a great day and
make sure folks that you keep up with Mike Lions
l Y o. N s on X because he has
a lot of great reporting on that as well. And hockey, Mike,
take care of you, take care of yourself, all right,
Good talk with you, Mike. Mike Lions here, military analyst
(13:15):
on news radio A forty w h A S. We're
coming back. If we have time for sports, we'll get some.
We've got news at the top of the hour here
on Kentucky. Anda's Warning News
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Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
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