February 26, 2023 • 45 mins
We check in on the end of the world as we look at the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In a seemingly rose colored glasses view we ask, is it the war before THE WAR? Do leaders in other countries think it’s going to lead to Nuclear war? Or from China’s point of view is World War Three already here? We also discuss sending Billions of dollars, tanks, weapon systems and Americans into the fray.
Featured Articles:
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3870308-is-ukraine-the-war-before-the-war/
https://www.novinite.com/articles/218971/
https://asiatimes.com/2023/02/world-war-iii-is-already-here/
https://www.state.gov/new-start/https://www.state.gov/new-start/
***Credits***
Featured Articles:
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3870308-is-ukraine-the-war-before-the-war/
https://www.novinite.com/articles/218971/
https://asiatimes.com/2023/02/world-war-iii-is-already-here/
https://www.state.gov/new-start/https://www.state.gov/new-start/
***Credits***
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:25):
In the dark shadows, in thewhite cold. Fearlessly we search for knowledge
new and old. We drink thestrong spirits and read the ancient tones.
The order of the Ebroecast. Weare the brave and the board a court
(00:57):
history conspiracy. Hey, everybody,welcome to the end of the world.
(01:42):
This is John Towers and well I'mJohn Towers and this is the Overcast.
So you know, we've been talkingabout what's going on in Ukraine and Russia,
uh and here at home quite abit. Um. So this is
um an update onto that. I'vedug up some interesting articles we're gonna go
(02:02):
over and before we get started,I just want to well, I want
to give this party started, right, is what I want to do.
So here we go. I gotmy vissule of the art check out the
storefront and newcast dot com, andI have an alternate weapon of mass distraction
in here. Today. I'm strugglingto get on schedule and to get consistent
(02:27):
for you guys after my little nervousbreakdown or whatever the folk happened to me
for the last few months. AndI want to thanks again for those of
you guys who reached out to checkon me. I really appreciate that I
got the best best listeners out there. So here we go. Here's you,
here's the whatever. Let's not burnup in a thermonuclear exchange, mutually
(02:58):
assured destruction. So we just reachedthe We're just over the year anniversary of
this particular innovasion of Ukraine. SoI want to talk a little bit.
(03:21):
Get into this. Uh this articlehere, look at me getting right into
it. This is from the Hilldot com. Is Ukraine the war before
the war? This is by Michaelsaying, um, this was this is
not that old. February twenty third, when Russia began its effort to conquer
(03:42):
Ukraine one year ago, there wasevery reason to believe the end result would
be a disastrous for the West.Moscow had Kiev outgunned and vastly outmanned.
The West had done little in responseto the previous Russian land grabs in Georgia
two thousand and eight in Ukraine andtwenty fourteen thanks Obama, and the European
(04:03):
economy was in thrall to the Russianto Russian energy. If somehow we did
muster the courage to push back,surely the result would be a NATO Russian
war perhaps a nuclear war, orso the thinking went at that time.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is aheineous crime which the whole world would have
(04:29):
been better off without. Yet ithas gone far better for Ukraine than any
could have hoped at this time lastyear, thanks to both the Ukrainian bravery
on the battlefield and on the homefront, and perhaps surprising level of Western
resolve and material assistance. And thanksfor the billions of dollars your tax dollars
(04:51):
are shipped over to Ukraine to belaundered to politicians. This is back.
What's more, war, the war, for all its miseries, could prove
to hold unexpected benefit for the USnational security. It was revealed it has
revealed much about the what West strengthsand vulnerabilities. These lessons can help prepare
(05:15):
us for or better yet, preventthe next great power conflict. We should
choose to heed them. The mostimportant of these lessons is that the West
will totally ignore Chinese spy balloons floatingover their nuclear nuclear sites. The most
(05:35):
important of these lessons is that ourpoliticians will send break the law and blow
up pipelines guy full expounding metric tonsof natural gas into the end of the
environment. The most important of theselessons is that the West has both the
(05:56):
will and the capacity to stand upto nuclear armed power are bent on territorial
aggrandizement, something that was not atall obvious at the war's beginning. To
be sure, the tasks in Ukraineis far from finished, and it's vital
that the West help Kiev bring thewar to a victorious conclusion. But just
(06:17):
as important as is that we considerhow we could replicate the relative success of
the past year and other scenarios mostcrucial, most crucially, China if it
were to attempt to seize Taiwan.Now, ironically, I don't I'm not
trying to make this any more confusingthan it already has to be. But
(06:40):
Washington Free Beacon has a report USsending hundreds of troops to Taiwan as China
threatens invasion. The US military isspending sending up to two hundred troops of
Taiwan. Is that number right?We're sending two hundred troops to Taiwan as
the country faces a political Chinese invasion, a move that comes amid heightened tensions
between Washington and Beijing. Officials saythat the military is preparing to send between
(07:05):
one hundred and two hundred troops toTaiwan, building on the thirty troops deployed
their last year. According to TheWall Street Journal, decision is part of
a training program intended to reinforce Taiwanesedefense against China, making the largest deployment
of forces in decades by the USon Taiwan. The Journal reported, we
(07:29):
don't have a comment on the specificoperations, engagements, or training, but
I would highlight that our support forin the defense of the relationship with Taiwan
remains aligned against the current threat posedby the People's Republic of China. Lieutenant
Colonel Marty Miners, Defense Departments spokesmantold Fox News the Michigan National Guard is
(07:50):
also helping to train part of theTaiwanese military. So there we go.
There we go back to our originalThe Hill article. This means not simply
ensuring that Taiwan has the means todefend itself and that the US is positioned
to come meaningfully to its aid,but that taiwan supporters in the West have
(08:13):
prepared for the economic conquests consequences ofa conflict in Asia, which would dwarf
those of the Ukraine War. TheUS and its partners must plan not only
to oppose economic pressure on China,but to protect themselves from Beijing's own economic
(08:33):
leverage. We should focus first oninputs such as mining of rare earth materials,
which are vital to the high techdefense industries and depend almost entirely on
Chinese supply chains that would be impossibleto quickly replace in times a conflict.
Taken together, such steps not onlywould enhance Western readiness to respond to Chinese
(08:58):
to Chinese move to a Chinese moveon Taiwan, but identically or ideally deter
Beijing from making the attempt. Solet's talk a little bit about what this
guy's saying here. When we leftAfghanistan in the total clown show circus way
that we did, one of thefirst things that Taliban did is send sell
(09:22):
their mineral rights to China, China, China, China. So this person
talking about how that we're even preparedto deal with this in any kind of
way is ridiculous. Let's also talkabout the fact that we are currently selling
(09:43):
and not replenishing our strategic oil reserve. Um, you know, the strategic
oil reserve is there, you know, for um, when we send troops
places, when we need to sendthe people that need to blow things up
and kill people overseas to do that. That's what the strategic oil reserve is
for. We're currently selling it.That's why our gas prices are relatively low
(10:07):
for the time being. But they'renot too low. They're not too low
because we're not replenishing it because thegas prices are too high circular logic.
During the Ukrainian conflict, the Westefforts to isolate Russia have been hampered by
a lack of support from partners outsideNorth America and Europe. These states have
(10:28):
largely accepted Russia's framing of the conflictas pitting Moscow against NATO, when in
reality it is a war of nakedaggression against Ukraine. They also reject efforts
by the West to cast the warin moral terms instead of prioritizing their own
national interest, which in many caseshave been well served by buying up Russian
(10:52):
oil made cheaper by Western sanctions.The problem of recruiting such states to our
side, including vital power such asTurkey, India, and Saudi Arabia,
and a conflict involving China, wouldbe even more acute given Beijing's dominant role
in global trade. Persuading them willrequire casting a side talk of with US
(11:16):
or against US, or value basedcoalitions, and instead identifying narrow or actions
they can take which serve rather thanundermine their interests. Making clear to them
the economic consequences of a conflict inAsia may lead them to urge Beijing to
(11:37):
forcewear a move on Taiwan. Andwhile a wealthy state such as the United
Arab Emirates may be reluctant to broadlycondemned Beijing, it is far likelier to
finance rare earth minds, chip fabricationfacilities and other ventures outside of China ahead
(11:58):
of any conflict, steps that willmean far more than any vote in the
United Nations General Assembly. The secondkey lesson of the Ukraine War is that
the West militaries were not ready forit. For all the attention paid to
Germany's decision about sending its Leopard twotanks to Ukraine, the Lions share a
(12:20):
military aid in Ukraine is provided bywho US. The perception that this assistance
has undercut America's readiness for conflicts elsewhereis a key factor in waning support the
war effort among some Republicans, whichmay prove to be a significant factor in
determining the conflict's course this year andnext. The harsh reality, however,
(12:43):
is that the US defense industry wouldnot be ready for a conflict in Asia
even without the diversion of material toUkraine. Recent war games suggests the US
would run out of precision guided munitionswithin a few weeks of such a war.
It's also not fail to mention thatwe are modifying and sending a bunch
(13:05):
of our M one Abraham's battle tanksto Ukraine. UM that is the main
battle tank of the United States Army. This thing is one of the reasons
that we are dominant. It isable to move a large amount of firepower
very quickly because it has a fuckingjet engine in it. I've been around
(13:31):
these things, and they are theyare They're just awesome. They're they're fantastic,
And I believe what they're doing isthey're taking the jet engine out and
they're putting a diesel engine in themand sending them over to Ukraine. So
(13:54):
another problem is is that the classthere's a classified aspect of its armor has
something to do with depleted uranium Ibelieve. So I think they're taking they're
taking off the depleted uranium armor aswell. So they're getting like they're I
(14:15):
got it, they're getting like agobots version of our of our tanks,
not the Transformers version, they're gettingthe Gobots version. So where does that
leave us as far as writiness isconcerned? You know, I don't.
(14:37):
Let's see, are we even trainingour military people on how to kill things
and blow shit up anymore? Youknow, whenever I read about them,
they're like, they're all talking aboutpronouns and now they're not allowed to call
their drill sergeants sirs anymore or whatever. It's a silly state of affairs.
(14:58):
We've find ourselves in here um inthe Western world. And this is the
stuff. This is the sort ofstuff that Putin railed against recently, where
he's like, look, we don'twant we can't, we can't, we
can't do shit like the Americans aredoing. They're all pedophiles, and they're
(15:20):
all gender confused, and they're allthey're all Satanists. Even a reinvigorated US
defense industrial base will not be sufficientto supply the West in the event of
more than one major conflict. Nevertheless, the need for vigilance against Russian and
(15:41):
aggression will not diminish even as thechance conflict in Asia increases. The upshot
of these realities is that it isvital that Europe be ready to assume a
greater role in its own security.This means not simply sending more on the
defense and parallel with the United States, but invigorating in its defense industry so
(16:04):
that sort of systems that only Washingtoncould provide today, which is most of
them, meet and be shipped acrossthe Atlantic. Some worry that a stronger
European defense industry and capability will threatenNATO. In fact, it may be
vital to NATO's continued credibility, whichI don't think it has. A whole
(16:27):
lot should be should the United Statesbe need to more seriously turn its attention
to Asia. Looking back at decades, hence, it may be that the
Ukrainian conflict is remembered as the warbefore the war, the conflict that prefigured
(16:47):
other sharper conflagrations amid the turbulent twentyfirst century. If so, the course
of those subsequent wars may depend onwhether the West heads the lessons from this
one. So here we go.This is uh, this has been sort
of kind of like a Rose Lensuh sort of view at what what's going
(17:10):
what's going on? And I'm notsure if it UM, even though it
is kind of an opinion piece,I'm not sure if UM it's intellectually honest
with its with its readers. Yoube the judge as far as like this
chip stuff is concerned. You know, I bug out because of you know,
(17:33):
India and China is making a lotof our medicine and I'm like,
that's bad news for me. Um, not me, not necessarily for me
personally, but you know, UM, if certain mental health drugs are become
harder and harder to get, thisis a problem that we had in microcosm
(17:57):
during COVID, the covide, theCOVID supply chain issues. You know,
if those become harder and harder toget, like we're in trouble. A
whole lot of people in this countryare on these drugs to keep them even
and you know, I'm like,try to figure out like a way to
(18:19):
address this right. And it's likea few years ago, probably ten years
ago by now, Marvel Comics hadthis storyline and it was the initiative.
And what they did is United Statesgovernment put a superhero team in every state
as a QRF Quick Response Force.So they had like like a superhero of
(18:44):
like the Texas Avengers and the GreatLikes Avengers and the whatever. But maybe
like maybe it's something like that thatwe need. Like every state has its
own sort of respectable level pharmaceutical company, you know, uh, kind of
like how each state has their ownyou know, National Guard, right,
(19:10):
and then each stake can have liketheir own little chip processing thing. So
if we lose a state, wecan push the load off to surround surrounding
states or something like that. It'slike an initiative, like a Marvel initiative
model. I think. I thinkthat might. I mean, with all
this talk about a national divorce whereall the red states and blue states are
(19:37):
kind of separated, you know,that might that might help to if you
know, California could build their chipswith unicorns and dreams or however they're gonna
they're gonna do it, and um, then you know, Ohio can do
run their chip manufact sharing and stufftheir way. It's sort of the the
(20:06):
way. So it's the federalist model, right, Okay, I've never heard
of this website before. No Vintidot com. I think that's how you
pronounce it. But it has areal short, interesting little piece here.
Um the Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbonthe title of the pieces Orbon Russia cannot
(20:30):
win, but it can start anuclear war. Victor Orbon believes the europe
has a weakened in the last yearbecause of the administration of US President Joe
Biden quote protects its interests in Brusselsto the detriment of European interests. According
(20:56):
to him, the consequence of EUsanctions against Russia have begun to weaken the
European economy, but have not affectedthe USA, which is rich in cheap
gas. Orbon, quoted by MegaRNamazette, said that during the conflict,
Europe lost its independence and its economicand military strength began to weaken because quote
(21:21):
no one took care unquote to restorethe reserves of the European army. Victor
or Bond specifically, Victor Orbon specifiedthat the Hungarian government discussed Hungary's attitude to
the Ukrainian conflict. As a resultof the talks, the government has decided
to be guided solely by the interestsof its own security. Quote. We
(21:45):
will not supply weapons. We willnot join any military coalition unquote. He
explained. According to Orbon, therewill be no winners in the conflict in
Ukraine. Russia cannot win because theentire Western world supports train. But Russia
is a nuclear power, and anuclear power cannot be backed into a corner
because a nuclear war can start,concluded the Prime Minister Hungary. Remember the
(22:11):
episode for a few episodes back theescalate to de escalate. This is Alexander
Dugan's one of Alexander Dugan and Putin'ssort of doctrine to escalated to de escalate.
I believe that's what Orbands talking abouthere. Hungary it takes a neutral
(22:34):
position regarding the Russian Ukrainian conflict.Last summer it blocked, it blocked for
several weeks the adoption of the embargoon Russian oil and the European Union.
The country managed to secure an exemptionfor itself and will buy Russian oil until
twenty twenty four. This country's foreignminister, Peter Schlazero, also called on
(22:56):
the West to keep communication channels openedwith Russia. He stated that the sanctions
against Russia quote have failed because themilitary actions in Ukraine continued and the economic
situation in Europe is deteriorating. Allright, we're gonna jump over to the
(23:23):
Asian Times dot com. World Warthree is already here, so um so
the way that I've selected to readthese articles today, Ukraine is Ukraine the
war before the war. Russia can'twin, but it can start a nuclear
(23:45):
war. And then here's the WorldWar three is already here. Historians will
look back with confusion as to howidiotic the leaders of this time wear.
This was published February twenty third,and it's got this picture of Biden.
(24:11):
It looks like he's sleeping and Putin'sjust looking at him, smiling. He's
he's just like this fucking guy.This is gonna be so easy. And
the caption I didn't read this before. The caption says US President Joe Biden
and Russian President Vladimir Putin have fumbledinto a new World war. It literally
(24:37):
they got a picture with his eyesclosed. It looks it's so funny.
Hit the link, and if youdon't hit the link in the show notes,
just to look at this picture Putin. It looks like Putin should have
like a bib on and a knifeand a fork in his hand, you
know, like an old cartoons,like sharpening up to the knife. This
(25:02):
past week will be remembered by mosthistorians if anyone is lucky enough to live
through this age of self destruction.As the point of no return for the
Russia Ukrainian War, the world hastreated more like tormented. The world was
treated more like tormented by dueling presidentialspeeches, one from a sclerotic US President
(25:25):
Joe Biden, who journeyed to Kievto reassert his undying support for Ukraine,
and the other by surly Russian PresidentVladimir Putin. Neither speech was partially reassuring,
Biden promise his Ukrainian wards and additionalfive hundred million in US taxpayer support
(25:47):
for the besieged Ukrainians. Shortly afterhis speech, the Pentagon hinted that it
might stop slow walking It's promised butas yet to be delivered M one A
two Abram's main battle tank to thewaiting arms of the desperate Ukrainian defenders and
simply hand over the MBTs that arealready in America's warehouses, something that the
(26:11):
Pentagon had resisted doing when the Bidenadministration made its initial announcement that it would
in fact be sending the vaunted MBTs. Remember these are the Gobot versions,
though they're stripping away the depleted uraniumarmor, and I believe they're replacing the
jet the fucking jet engines that arein these things. Understanding Putin's speech,
(26:34):
The other speech came from Putin,who spoke for a whopping two hours on
Tuesday evening in which he reiterated hiscommitment to total victory over Ukraine and how
the United States was ruled by Satanistsand pedophiles. Unsurprisingly, most Western media
outlets simply refused to cover the speech. Those few that did were openly derisive.
(26:59):
The speech was castro esque in itsloquaciousness, and was tinged with quasi
religious accusations against the Wests that wouldmake the most Iranian, that would make
most Iranian Mullah's blush. But therewas substance to Putin's words. He not
only signaled that his commitment to theconflict was as strong as ever, but
(27:22):
that he was escalating it. Rememberescalating di de escalate in response to what
he viewed as American escalation. Infact, Putin ensured that the first significant
threat towards the North Atlantic Treaty OrganizationNATO. He told his American rivals that
they were to remove their offensive longrange weapons systems in Ukraine, otherwise Russian
(27:47):
forces it would begin directly targeting thosesystems. Here is a red line that
NATO and the Americans should think twiceabout crossing. You see, these systems
will be used by Ukraine to strikedeep inside Russia. And while Ukraine certainly
has a right to defend itself,the fact that it is doing so with
(28:08):
these capabilities that it only has tothink to the Americans means the United States
and NATO are now in the eyesof putin direct combatants. And I kind
of see his point. We're sendingtanks, we're sending weapons systems, and
we're sending money. He said asmuch in his speech when he said the
(28:32):
Americans will bear the responsibility for theseactions should Russia be attacked by such systems.
What more, should these weapons systemsbe targeted by the Russians, one
can anticipate that Americans will die.After all, Just as with the Russian
S four hundred emplacements in Syria,the American long range systems are undoubtedly staffed
(28:55):
or maintained at least partially by Americans. Plus, there are likely American forces
operating covertly in and around these longrange weapon systems, so we can expect
the Russian target the Russian targeting ofthese systems and they're surrounding environs will result
in multiple American casualties. A keytakeaway from these two speeches that were delivered
(29:19):
hours apart from each other, isthat there is now no hope for a
peace deal. All right, SoI'm gonna take a quick detour here to
talk about this. Remember, rememberthe kind of stuff that we talked about
(29:41):
before the escalation to de escalate himtalking about like, hey, you put
these fucking weapon systems in Ukraine atleast partially maintained by Americans in theory,
and if one of these things reachesout and touches someone in Europe, the
United States is going to be responsible. This is the state. And I
(30:03):
don't believe Putin is like our presidentthat just gets up there and just says
shit and doesn't know what he's talkingabout. So I want to talk about
this thing called a New Start Treaty. This is a treaty that was enacted
in Obama era. This is anObama era treaty with Russia. Now listen
(30:26):
the treaty structure. The Treaty betweenthe United States of America and Russian and
the Russian Federation on Measures for theFurther Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms,
is also known as the New StartTreaty, enhances US national security by
placing the verifiable limits on all Russiandeployed intercontinental range nuclear weapons. The United
(30:48):
States and Russian Federation have agreed toextend the treaty through February fourth, twenty
six This all sounds good, right, This all sounds like good news.
Strategic offensive limits. The New StartTreaty entered into force on February fifth,
twenty eleven. Under the treaty,the United States and Russia Federation had seven
(31:10):
years to meet the treaty's central limitson strategic offensive arms by February fifth,
twenty eighteen, and are then obligedto maintain those limits for as long as
the treaty remains in force. Theagreed limits include both the United States and
Russian Federation met central limits of theNew Start Treaty by February fifth, twenty
(31:30):
eighteen. And have stayed at orbelow them ever since. Those limits are
seven hundred deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles,deployed submarine launched ballistic missiles, and deployed
heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments.Just seven hundred, one thousand, five
(31:52):
hundred fifty nuclear warheads on deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs, and deployed heavy bombers
equipped from nuclear armaments such as heavybombers is counted as one warhead towards this
limit. Eight hundred deployed and nondeployed IICBM launchers, SLBM launchers, and
(32:12):
heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments.The New START limits all Russian deployed intercontinental
range nuclear weapons, including every Russiannuclear warhead that is loaded onto an intercontinental
range ballistic missile that can reach theUnited States in approximately thirty minutes. It
(32:35):
also limits the deployed Avant Garde andthe under deployed Sarah MATT, the two
most operationally available to the Russian Federation'snew long range nuclear weapon that can reach
the United States. Extending New Startensures that we will have verifiable limits on
the mainstay of Russian nuclear weapons thatcan reach the US home for the next
(33:00):
five years. As the most recentdata exchange on September first, twenty twenty,
New Russian in Federation declared one thousand, four hundred and forty seven deployed
strategic warheads. The Russian Federation hasa capacity to deploy many more than one
thousand, five hundred fifty warheads onits modernized i CBMs and SLBMs, as
(33:21):
well as the heavy bombers but inUM, but is constrained from doing so
by New Start the force structure.Each party has the flexibility to determine for
itself the structure of its force,subject to the central limits. The New
Start Treaty gives the United States theflexibility to deploy and maintain US strategic nuclear
forces in a way that best servedthe US national security interests. Okay,
(33:45):
this thing, This is actually fromthe US Department of State. They have
a little right up here. I'llthrow this link in in case you wanted
to read it. But going backto the Asian time the Asian Times,
Putin made the shocking announcement that theRussia is withdrawing from the Obama era New
(34:07):
Start Treaty, which limits the numberof tactical nuclear weapons that both the United
States and the Russia. And Russiacould have. Of course, the New
Start Treaty did confer several decisive advantageson the Russian side when the deal was
signed by former President Barrock. Who'sseen Obama and former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev
(34:27):
with Putin's blessing. Remember these twoguys. When Obama is running for reelection
for a second term, he wassitting down with meg med Medvedev and they
were talking. And this is oneof Obama's often unreported hot mic moments where
they're getting up in his mic isstill on and he he's talking to a
(34:51):
Dmitri and he goes, Hey,tell Vlad, I'll have I'll be I
could be a little bit more flexibleonce the once the election's over. So,
I mean, who's talking about collusion? Collusion? Huh? Still Russians.
Russia has a long history of supportinga coterie of arms controls agreements with
the Americans, going back to theheavy Cold War days. For Putin to
(35:15):
pull Russia out of the agreement ofwhich he was a vociferous defender, should
raise hairs on the backs of necksof Washington policymakers. Yet all these statements
have done as to harden Washington's zealand blindly supporting its Ukrainian proxy. Putin's
decision to withdraw from the treaty speaksto the depths that he's willing to go
(35:37):
to ensure that he wins this war. Thus, compromise is not possible at
this rate. The only thing thatwould make the piece deal tenable for Russia
would be if it's military were decisivelydefeated. While the Russians have certainly taken
heavy losses, Ukraine has also takensignificant losses lately. Unlike the Ukrainians,
(36:00):
the Russians can't afford to keep sendinghundreds of thousands of their people into the
meat grinder until they simply at treatthe Ukrainians, until Russia's larger forces bleed
Ukrainians forces dry in the field,and then surge over their corpses. This
at least appears to be the generalRussian plan. If necessary, Putin will
(36:23):
to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to ensurethat his forces can accomplish this herculean task.
The uk the Ukrainians have made theirintentions clear since before the conflict erupted
a year ago. Kiev wants tocomplete restoration of Crimea and eventually Eastern Ukraine.
(36:44):
That too is a red line thathave crossed will trigger Moscow into risking
nuclear war. Russia cannot lose itsnaval base in Sevestopol. If it does,
it ceases being a major power andis isolated away from the vital Black
Sea region. The West is livingin a pure fantasy. If it's so
(37:08):
called leadership, it's so called leadership, thanks Putin will simply sit back and
watch this unfold. That was thepoint of Putin's long winded speech. The
war isn't ending. There will beno negotiated settlement, at least not one
anytime soon, or one that favorsthe Western side. For his part,
(37:28):
Biden has made clear that he wasnot only going to continue his support for
President of Vladimir Zelinsky's government of Kiev, but further tweeted upon his departure from
Kiev that he had left a partof his heart there. How Nice,
Biden also committed to the Ukrainian causethat he has thus far refused to respond
(37:50):
adequately to a major chemical spill inEast Palestine, Ohio, which has been
dubbed by many critics as of Bidenas America's chernobyl. There's gonna I believe
we're gonna do a whole thing onthis chemical spill business, because my style
is like a chemical spiel. Bidenhas instead lavishly dolled out US tax dollars
(38:16):
to a foreign country, Ukraine,instead of fellow Americans suffering in a disaster
zone and what is likely the runup to his reelection campaign for president.
If that doesn't show you how farBiden is willing to go for Ukraine,
I don't know what will no peacein our time. Beijinging is now getting
(38:37):
involved more directly on the side ofMoscow, meaning that Russia will have a
greater maneuvering room at a time whenthe West desperately needs the Russians to be
isolated. When would Russia seek peaceif the war is turning in its favor
as it is, rather than adeal being hatched, Another World war is
(39:00):
at hand made possible by the combinedarrogance and ignorance of both Western and Russian
leaders who've miscalculated from the very beginningto the ultimate end of the conflict.
Just as with the First World War. Of course, there will be no
victors here if it plays its strategiccards right, the Communist Party of China
(39:20):
will benefit greatly from seeing its too, great As strategic competitors, Russia and
America devour each other over senseless borderdispute in Southern Europe, which is why
Beijing is likely supporting Russia and itsfight in Ukraine. Gog and Magogue historians
will look back with confusion as tohow idiotic the leaders of this time were.
(39:45):
They will note that the two speechesof the Russian and American presidents on
the one year anniversary of the startof the Russia the Russo Ukrainian War was
the moment in which the conflict trulybecame a world war. What's more is
they will wonder how people blessed withso much could have been so irresponsible as
(40:06):
to throw it all the way overa petty dispute. Face it. There
will be no peace in our time. The recent speech is made by Biden
and Putin, as well as theincreasing involvement of China in the Ukraine conflict,
mean that war is our lot.In this war is not the one
that the West can easily win.So I'm not sure. I don't really
(40:31):
feel like I have to defending myviews or my thoughts on this. But
I'm gonna a little bit anyways,going through some of the things that I've
said during this episode, it mightsound like I'm I'm down with Russia or
(40:52):
Putin, and it's not supposed tosound like that. I don't. I'm
not down with Russia or or Putin. UM. I do believe that some
of the things he says is true. I believe that UM America's run by
pedophiles and Satanists UM. But Iam self aware enough to also know that
(41:15):
I don't think that we're the goodguys in this. We the royal we,
the that US, the the UnitedStates, is necessarily being a good
being a good guy in this either. And on top of not necessarily thinking
that we're the good guys in this, I believe that we're being very stupid.
(41:37):
I believe that we're being very dumb. And how we how we deal
with this. And I look atour leaders and some of the things that
they say and some of the thingsthat they do with it, and you
know, it seems like we're onthis march like um momentum. We're being
carried by the momentum of stupidity.And I don't. I agree with a
(42:01):
lot of the stuff, especially inthis last article about um, it's inevitable.
Whatever is going to happen, it'sinevitable. You know. I'm I'm
almost fifty years old, and Igrew up in the eighties before the Wall
fell, you know, before misterGorbachov tear down this wall, which you
(42:23):
know, if you listen to theshow enough, I believe that that was
the stone cold stunner of the ColdWar when We're went to Berlin and said
that, Um, you know,I grew up being terrified of nuclear war.
I there was a percentage out thereof people in America who it was
(42:45):
like, it was staggering. Itwas something like sixty percent or something like
that of people who don't know whata nuclear winner is. And UM,
that's scary to me. We dothis shows struggle to put these things in
contact sometimes and I feel like,uh, people like me have led our
(43:08):
hands off the off the wheel.Um, and maybe we're gonna pay the
price. Maybe we're gonna wind uppaying the price for that. Uh.
You know that's the kind of that'sthe kind of shit I'm talking about.
Um. Uh, unearned swagger.You know, you if you haven't.
(43:32):
I remember I was in middle schooland I was terrified about this stuff,
and um, you know, sleeplessnights laying there being like is this gonna
is this gonna be it? Youknow? Um? Yeah. On the
rare occasion where I go back andI look at like my sketch books and
stuff from high school, or thinkabout some of the art I did in
(43:52):
high school, like nuclear power,nuclear mushroom clouds everywhere. And it's funny
because now that I said that,I'm like, oh shit. Like in
my tarot card deck, one ofthe expansion cards, the last card isn't
there's a nuclear explosion going on inthe background. And then as I'm thinking
about that, I'm like, ohshit. My second to last graphic novel
(44:14):
I did, the Jinjiha. There'sa fucking mushroom cloud on the cover of
that too. Like it's ingrained,bro, it's ingrained. Anyhow, I'm
John Towers. This has been theAbercast. I am struggling to get back
on schedule and also to get somecontinuity going. So this is the second
(44:35):
episode in a row. I'm feelinga lot better, and so I will
talk to you next week at thelatest. Thank you for listening and we
hope that you enjoyed the show.Please send an email or find us on
social media and let us know whatyou think about the show. We would
(44:55):
appreciate it if you would give usa five star rate and review. Wherever
you find your favorite podcasts, youcan find stigmatas studios, graphic novels and
comic books as apercast dot com.Welcome to the Red Archive. Get access
(45:16):
to over fifty hours of archived episodes, more bonus audio, additional exclusive content,
all this for only one dollar amonth. Find the link to the
Red Archive at apercast dot com
In the dark shadows, in thewhite cold. Fearlessly we search for knowledge
new and old. We drink thestrong spirits and read the ancient tones.
The order of the Ebroecast. Weare the brave and the board a court
(00:57):
history conspiracy. Hey, everybody,welcome to the end of the world.
(01:42):
This is John Towers and well I'mJohn Towers and this is the Overcast.
So you know, we've been talkingabout what's going on in Ukraine and Russia,
uh and here at home quite abit. Um. So this is
um an update onto that. I'vedug up some interesting articles we're gonna go
(02:02):
over and before we get started,I just want to well, I want
to give this party started, right, is what I want to do.
So here we go. I gotmy vissule of the art check out the
storefront and newcast dot com, andI have an alternate weapon of mass distraction
in here. Today. I'm strugglingto get on schedule and to get consistent
(02:27):
for you guys after my little nervousbreakdown or whatever the folk happened to me
for the last few months. AndI want to thanks again for those of
you guys who reached out to checkon me. I really appreciate that I
got the best best listeners out there. So here we go. Here's you,
here's the whatever. Let's not burnup in a thermonuclear exchange, mutually
(02:58):
assured destruction. So we just reachedthe We're just over the year anniversary of
this particular innovasion of Ukraine. SoI want to talk a little bit.
(03:21):
Get into this. Uh this articlehere, look at me getting right into
it. This is from the Hilldot com. Is Ukraine the war before
the war? This is by Michaelsaying, um, this was this is
not that old. February twenty third, when Russia began its effort to conquer
(03:42):
Ukraine one year ago, there wasevery reason to believe the end result would
be a disastrous for the West.Moscow had Kiev outgunned and vastly outmanned.
The West had done little in responseto the previous Russian land grabs in Georgia
two thousand and eight in Ukraine andtwenty fourteen thanks Obama, and the European
(04:03):
economy was in thrall to the Russianto Russian energy. If somehow we did
muster the courage to push back,surely the result would be a NATO Russian
war perhaps a nuclear war, orso the thinking went at that time.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is aheineous crime which the whole world would have
(04:29):
been better off without. Yet ithas gone far better for Ukraine than any
could have hoped at this time lastyear, thanks to both the Ukrainian bravery
on the battlefield and on the homefront, and perhaps surprising level of Western
resolve and material assistance. And thanksfor the billions of dollars your tax dollars
(04:51):
are shipped over to Ukraine to belaundered to politicians. This is back.
What's more, war, the war, for all its miseries, could prove
to hold unexpected benefit for the USnational security. It was revealed it has
revealed much about the what West strengthsand vulnerabilities. These lessons can help prepare
(05:15):
us for or better yet, preventthe next great power conflict. We should
choose to heed them. The mostimportant of these lessons is that the West
will totally ignore Chinese spy balloons floatingover their nuclear nuclear sites. The most
(05:35):
important of these lessons is that ourpoliticians will send break the law and blow
up pipelines guy full expounding metric tonsof natural gas into the end of the
environment. The most important of theselessons is that the West has both the
(05:56):
will and the capacity to stand upto nuclear armed power are bent on territorial
aggrandizement, something that was not atall obvious at the war's beginning. To
be sure, the tasks in Ukraineis far from finished, and it's vital
that the West help Kiev bring thewar to a victorious conclusion. But just
(06:17):
as important as is that we considerhow we could replicate the relative success of
the past year and other scenarios mostcrucial, most crucially, China if it
were to attempt to seize Taiwan.Now, ironically, I don't I'm not
trying to make this any more confusingthan it already has to be. But
(06:40):
Washington Free Beacon has a report USsending hundreds of troops to Taiwan as China
threatens invasion. The US military isspending sending up to two hundred troops of
Taiwan. Is that number right?We're sending two hundred troops to Taiwan as
the country faces a political Chinese invasion, a move that comes amid heightened tensions
between Washington and Beijing. Officials saythat the military is preparing to send between
(07:05):
one hundred and two hundred troops toTaiwan, building on the thirty troops deployed
their last year. According to TheWall Street Journal, decision is part of
a training program intended to reinforce Taiwanesedefense against China, making the largest deployment
of forces in decades by the USon Taiwan. The Journal reported, we
(07:29):
don't have a comment on the specificoperations, engagements, or training, but
I would highlight that our support forin the defense of the relationship with Taiwan
remains aligned against the current threat posedby the People's Republic of China. Lieutenant
Colonel Marty Miners, Defense Departments spokesmantold Fox News the Michigan National Guard is
(07:50):
also helping to train part of theTaiwanese military. So there we go.
There we go back to our originalThe Hill article. This means not simply
ensuring that Taiwan has the means todefend itself and that the US is positioned
to come meaningfully to its aid,but that taiwan supporters in the West have
(08:13):
prepared for the economic conquests consequences ofa conflict in Asia, which would dwarf
those of the Ukraine War. TheUS and its partners must plan not only
to oppose economic pressure on China,but to protect themselves from Beijing's own economic
(08:33):
leverage. We should focus first oninputs such as mining of rare earth materials,
which are vital to the high techdefense industries and depend almost entirely on
Chinese supply chains that would be impossibleto quickly replace in times a conflict.
Taken together, such steps not onlywould enhance Western readiness to respond to Chinese
(08:58):
to Chinese move to a Chinese moveon Taiwan, but identically or ideally deter
Beijing from making the attempt. Solet's talk a little bit about what this
guy's saying here. When we leftAfghanistan in the total clown show circus way
that we did, one of thefirst things that Taliban did is send sell
(09:22):
their mineral rights to China, China, China, China. So this person
talking about how that we're even preparedto deal with this in any kind of
way is ridiculous. Let's also talkabout the fact that we are currently selling
(09:43):
and not replenishing our strategic oil reserve. Um, you know, the strategic
oil reserve is there, you know, for um, when we send troops
places, when we need to sendthe people that need to blow things up
and kill people overseas to do that. That's what the strategic oil reserve is
for. We're currently selling it.That's why our gas prices are relatively low
(10:07):
for the time being. But they'renot too low. They're not too low
because we're not replenishing it because thegas prices are too high circular logic.
During the Ukrainian conflict, the Westefforts to isolate Russia have been hampered by
a lack of support from partners outsideNorth America and Europe. These states have
(10:28):
largely accepted Russia's framing of the conflictas pitting Moscow against NATO, when in
reality it is a war of nakedaggression against Ukraine. They also reject efforts
by the West to cast the warin moral terms instead of prioritizing their own
national interest, which in many caseshave been well served by buying up Russian
(10:52):
oil made cheaper by Western sanctions.The problem of recruiting such states to our
side, including vital power such asTurkey, India, and Saudi Arabia,
and a conflict involving China, wouldbe even more acute given Beijing's dominant role
in global trade. Persuading them willrequire casting a side talk of with US
(11:16):
or against US, or value basedcoalitions, and instead identifying narrow or actions
they can take which serve rather thanundermine their interests. Making clear to them
the economic consequences of a conflict inAsia may lead them to urge Beijing to
(11:37):
forcewear a move on Taiwan. Andwhile a wealthy state such as the United
Arab Emirates may be reluctant to broadlycondemned Beijing, it is far likelier to
finance rare earth minds, chip fabricationfacilities and other ventures outside of China ahead
(11:58):
of any conflict, steps that willmean far more than any vote in the
United Nations General Assembly. The secondkey lesson of the Ukraine War is that
the West militaries were not ready forit. For all the attention paid to
Germany's decision about sending its Leopard twotanks to Ukraine, the Lions share a
(12:20):
military aid in Ukraine is provided bywho US. The perception that this assistance
has undercut America's readiness for conflicts elsewhereis a key factor in waning support the
war effort among some Republicans, whichmay prove to be a significant factor in
determining the conflict's course this year andnext. The harsh reality, however,
(12:43):
is that the US defense industry wouldnot be ready for a conflict in Asia
even without the diversion of material toUkraine. Recent war games suggests the US
would run out of precision guided munitionswithin a few weeks of such a war.
It's also not fail to mention thatwe are modifying and sending a bunch
(13:05):
of our M one Abraham's battle tanksto Ukraine. UM that is the main
battle tank of the United States Army. This thing is one of the reasons
that we are dominant. It isable to move a large amount of firepower
very quickly because it has a fuckingjet engine in it. I've been around
(13:31):
these things, and they are theyare They're just awesome. They're they're fantastic,
And I believe what they're doing isthey're taking the jet engine out and
they're putting a diesel engine in themand sending them over to Ukraine. So
(13:54):
another problem is is that the classthere's a classified aspect of its armor has
something to do with depleted uranium Ibelieve. So I think they're taking they're
taking off the depleted uranium armor aswell. So they're getting like they're I
(14:15):
got it, they're getting like agobots version of our of our tanks,
not the Transformers version, they're gettingthe Gobots version. So where does that
leave us as far as writiness isconcerned? You know, I don't.
(14:37):
Let's see, are we even trainingour military people on how to kill things
and blow shit up anymore? Youknow, whenever I read about them,
they're like, they're all talking aboutpronouns and now they're not allowed to call
their drill sergeants sirs anymore or whatever. It's a silly state of affairs.
(14:58):
We've find ourselves in here um inthe Western world. And this is the
stuff. This is the sort ofstuff that Putin railed against recently, where
he's like, look, we don'twant we can't, we can't, we
can't do shit like the Americans aredoing. They're all pedophiles, and they're
(15:20):
all gender confused, and they're allthey're all Satanists. Even a reinvigorated US
defense industrial base will not be sufficientto supply the West in the event of
more than one major conflict. Nevertheless, the need for vigilance against Russian and
(15:41):
aggression will not diminish even as thechance conflict in Asia increases. The upshot
of these realities is that it isvital that Europe be ready to assume a
greater role in its own security.This means not simply sending more on the
defense and parallel with the United States, but invigorating in its defense industry so
(16:04):
that sort of systems that only Washingtoncould provide today, which is most of
them, meet and be shipped acrossthe Atlantic. Some worry that a stronger
European defense industry and capability will threatenNATO. In fact, it may be
vital to NATO's continued credibility, whichI don't think it has. A whole
(16:27):
lot should be should the United Statesbe need to more seriously turn its attention
to Asia. Looking back at decades, hence, it may be that the
Ukrainian conflict is remembered as the warbefore the war, the conflict that prefigured
(16:47):
other sharper conflagrations amid the turbulent twentyfirst century. If so, the course
of those subsequent wars may depend onwhether the West heads the lessons from this
one. So here we go.This is uh, this has been sort
of kind of like a Rose Lensuh sort of view at what what's going
(17:10):
what's going on? And I'm notsure if it UM, even though it
is kind of an opinion piece,I'm not sure if UM it's intellectually honest
with its with its readers. Yoube the judge as far as like this
chip stuff is concerned. You know, I bug out because of you know,
(17:33):
India and China is making a lotof our medicine and I'm like,
that's bad news for me. Um, not me, not necessarily for me
personally, but you know, UM, if certain mental health drugs are become
harder and harder to get, thisis a problem that we had in microcosm
(17:57):
during COVID, the covide, theCOVID supply chain issues. You know,
if those become harder and harder toget, like we're in trouble. A
whole lot of people in this countryare on these drugs to keep them even
and you know, I'm like,try to figure out like a way to
(18:19):
address this right. And it's likea few years ago, probably ten years
ago by now, Marvel Comics hadthis storyline and it was the initiative.
And what they did is United Statesgovernment put a superhero team in every state
as a QRF Quick Response Force.So they had like like a superhero of
(18:44):
like the Texas Avengers and the GreatLikes Avengers and the whatever. But maybe
like maybe it's something like that thatwe need. Like every state has its
own sort of respectable level pharmaceutical company, you know, uh, kind of
like how each state has their ownyou know, National Guard, right,
(19:10):
and then each stake can have liketheir own little chip processing thing. So
if we lose a state, wecan push the load off to surround surrounding
states or something like that. It'slike an initiative, like a Marvel initiative
model. I think. I thinkthat might. I mean, with all
this talk about a national divorce whereall the red states and blue states are
(19:37):
kind of separated, you know,that might that might help to if you
know, California could build their chipswith unicorns and dreams or however they're gonna
they're gonna do it, and um, then you know, Ohio can do
run their chip manufact sharing and stufftheir way. It's sort of the the
(20:06):
way. So it's the federalist model, right, Okay, I've never heard
of this website before. No Vintidot com. I think that's how you
pronounce it. But it has areal short, interesting little piece here.
Um the Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbonthe title of the pieces Orbon Russia cannot
(20:30):
win, but it can start anuclear war. Victor Orbon believes the europe
has a weakened in the last yearbecause of the administration of US President Joe
Biden quote protects its interests in Brusselsto the detriment of European interests. According
(20:56):
to him, the consequence of EUsanctions against Russia have begun to weaken the
European economy, but have not affectedthe USA, which is rich in cheap
gas. Orbon, quoted by MegaRNamazette, said that during the conflict,
Europe lost its independence and its economicand military strength began to weaken because quote
(21:21):
no one took care unquote to restorethe reserves of the European army. Victor
or Bond specifically, Victor Orbon specifiedthat the Hungarian government discussed Hungary's attitude to
the Ukrainian conflict. As a resultof the talks, the government has decided
to be guided solely by the interestsof its own security. Quote. We
(21:45):
will not supply weapons. We willnot join any military coalition unquote. He
explained. According to Orbon, therewill be no winners in the conflict in
Ukraine. Russia cannot win because theentire Western world supports train. But Russia
is a nuclear power, and anuclear power cannot be backed into a corner
because a nuclear war can start,concluded the Prime Minister Hungary. Remember the
(22:11):
episode for a few episodes back theescalate to de escalate. This is Alexander
Dugan's one of Alexander Dugan and Putin'ssort of doctrine to escalated to de escalate.
I believe that's what Orbands talking abouthere. Hungary it takes a neutral
(22:34):
position regarding the Russian Ukrainian conflict.Last summer it blocked, it blocked for
several weeks the adoption of the embargoon Russian oil and the European Union.
The country managed to secure an exemptionfor itself and will buy Russian oil until
twenty twenty four. This country's foreignminister, Peter Schlazero, also called on
(22:56):
the West to keep communication channels openedwith Russia. He stated that the sanctions
against Russia quote have failed because themilitary actions in Ukraine continued and the economic
situation in Europe is deteriorating. Allright, we're gonna jump over to the
(23:23):
Asian Times dot com. World Warthree is already here, so um so
the way that I've selected to readthese articles today, Ukraine is Ukraine the
war before the war. Russia can'twin, but it can start a nuclear
(23:45):
war. And then here's the WorldWar three is already here. Historians will
look back with confusion as to howidiotic the leaders of this time wear.
This was published February twenty third,and it's got this picture of Biden.
(24:11):
It looks like he's sleeping and Putin'sjust looking at him, smiling. He's
he's just like this fucking guy.This is gonna be so easy. And
the caption I didn't read this before. The caption says US President Joe Biden
and Russian President Vladimir Putin have fumbledinto a new World war. It literally
(24:37):
they got a picture with his eyesclosed. It looks it's so funny.
Hit the link, and if youdon't hit the link in the show notes,
just to look at this picture Putin. It looks like Putin should have
like a bib on and a knifeand a fork in his hand, you
know, like an old cartoons,like sharpening up to the knife. This
(25:02):
past week will be remembered by mosthistorians if anyone is lucky enough to live
through this age of self destruction.As the point of no return for the
Russia Ukrainian War, the world hastreated more like tormented. The world was
treated more like tormented by dueling presidentialspeeches, one from a sclerotic US President
(25:25):
Joe Biden, who journeyed to Kievto reassert his undying support for Ukraine,
and the other by surly Russian PresidentVladimir Putin. Neither speech was partially reassuring,
Biden promise his Ukrainian wards and additionalfive hundred million in US taxpayer support
(25:47):
for the besieged Ukrainians. Shortly afterhis speech, the Pentagon hinted that it
might stop slow walking It's promised butas yet to be delivered M one A
two Abram's main battle tank to thewaiting arms of the desperate Ukrainian defenders and
simply hand over the MBTs that arealready in America's warehouses, something that the
(26:11):
Pentagon had resisted doing when the Bidenadministration made its initial announcement that it would
in fact be sending the vaunted MBTs. Remember these are the Gobot versions,
though they're stripping away the depleted uraniumarmor, and I believe they're replacing the
jet the fucking jet engines that arein these things. Understanding Putin's speech,
(26:34):
The other speech came from Putin,who spoke for a whopping two hours on
Tuesday evening in which he reiterated hiscommitment to total victory over Ukraine and how
the United States was ruled by Satanistsand pedophiles. Unsurprisingly, most Western media
outlets simply refused to cover the speech. Those few that did were openly derisive.
(26:59):
The speech was castro esque in itsloquaciousness, and was tinged with quasi
religious accusations against the Wests that wouldmake the most Iranian, that would make
most Iranian Mullah's blush. But therewas substance to Putin's words. He not
only signaled that his commitment to theconflict was as strong as ever, but
(27:22):
that he was escalating it. Rememberescalating di de escalate in response to what
he viewed as American escalation. Infact, Putin ensured that the first significant
threat towards the North Atlantic Treaty OrganizationNATO. He told his American rivals that
they were to remove their offensive longrange weapons systems in Ukraine, otherwise Russian
(27:47):
forces it would begin directly targeting thosesystems. Here is a red line that
NATO and the Americans should think twiceabout crossing. You see, these systems
will be used by Ukraine to strikedeep inside Russia. And while Ukraine certainly
has a right to defend itself,the fact that it is doing so with
(28:08):
these capabilities that it only has tothink to the Americans means the United States
and NATO are now in the eyesof putin direct combatants. And I kind
of see his point. We're sendingtanks, we're sending weapons systems, and
we're sending money. He said asmuch in his speech when he said the
(28:32):
Americans will bear the responsibility for theseactions should Russia be attacked by such systems.
What more, should these weapons systemsbe targeted by the Russians, one
can anticipate that Americans will die.After all, Just as with the Russian
S four hundred emplacements in Syria,the American long range systems are undoubtedly staffed
(28:55):
or maintained at least partially by Americans. Plus, there are likely American forces
operating covertly in and around these longrange weapon systems, so we can expect
the Russian target the Russian targeting ofthese systems and they're surrounding environs will result
in multiple American casualties. A keytakeaway from these two speeches that were delivered
(29:19):
hours apart from each other, isthat there is now no hope for a
peace deal. All right, SoI'm gonna take a quick detour here to
talk about this. Remember, rememberthe kind of stuff that we talked about
(29:41):
before the escalation to de escalate himtalking about like, hey, you put
these fucking weapon systems in Ukraine atleast partially maintained by Americans in theory,
and if one of these things reachesout and touches someone in Europe, the
United States is going to be responsible. This is the state. And I
(30:03):
don't believe Putin is like our presidentthat just gets up there and just says
shit and doesn't know what he's talkingabout. So I want to talk about
this thing called a New Start Treaty. This is a treaty that was enacted
in Obama era. This is anObama era treaty with Russia. Now listen
(30:26):
the treaty structure. The Treaty betweenthe United States of America and Russian and
the Russian Federation on Measures for theFurther Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms,
is also known as the New StartTreaty, enhances US national security by
placing the verifiable limits on all Russiandeployed intercontinental range nuclear weapons. The United
(30:48):
States and Russian Federation have agreed toextend the treaty through February fourth, twenty
six This all sounds good, right, This all sounds like good news.
Strategic offensive limits. The New StartTreaty entered into force on February fifth,
twenty eleven. Under the treaty,the United States and Russia Federation had seven
(31:10):
years to meet the treaty's central limitson strategic offensive arms by February fifth,
twenty eighteen, and are then obligedto maintain those limits for as long as
the treaty remains in force. Theagreed limits include both the United States and
Russian Federation met central limits of theNew Start Treaty by February fifth, twenty
(31:30):
eighteen. And have stayed at orbelow them ever since. Those limits are
seven hundred deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles,deployed submarine launched ballistic missiles, and deployed
heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments.Just seven hundred, one thousand, five
(31:52):
hundred fifty nuclear warheads on deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs, and deployed heavy bombers
equipped from nuclear armaments such as heavybombers is counted as one warhead towards this
limit. Eight hundred deployed and nondeployed IICBM launchers, SLBM launchers, and
(32:12):
heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments.The New START limits all Russian deployed intercontinental
range nuclear weapons, including every Russiannuclear warhead that is loaded onto an intercontinental
range ballistic missile that can reach theUnited States in approximately thirty minutes. It
(32:35):
also limits the deployed Avant Garde andthe under deployed Sarah MATT, the two
most operationally available to the Russian Federation'snew long range nuclear weapon that can reach
the United States. Extending New Startensures that we will have verifiable limits on
the mainstay of Russian nuclear weapons thatcan reach the US home for the next
(33:00):
five years. As the most recentdata exchange on September first, twenty twenty,
New Russian in Federation declared one thousand, four hundred and forty seven deployed
strategic warheads. The Russian Federation hasa capacity to deploy many more than one
thousand, five hundred fifty warheads onits modernized i CBMs and SLBMs, as
(33:21):
well as the heavy bombers but inUM, but is constrained from doing so
by New Start the force structure.Each party has the flexibility to determine for
itself the structure of its force,subject to the central limits. The New
Start Treaty gives the United States theflexibility to deploy and maintain US strategic nuclear
forces in a way that best servedthe US national security interests. Okay,
(33:45):
this thing, This is actually fromthe US Department of State. They have
a little right up here. I'llthrow this link in in case you wanted
to read it. But going backto the Asian time the Asian Times,
Putin made the shocking announcement that theRussia is withdrawing from the Obama era New
(34:07):
Start Treaty, which limits the numberof tactical nuclear weapons that both the United
States and the Russia. And Russiacould have. Of course, the New
Start Treaty did confer several decisive advantageson the Russian side when the deal was
signed by former President Barrock. Who'sseen Obama and former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev
(34:27):
with Putin's blessing. Remember these twoguys. When Obama is running for reelection
for a second term, he wassitting down with meg med Medvedev and they
were talking. And this is oneof Obama's often unreported hot mic moments where
they're getting up in his mic isstill on and he he's talking to a
(34:51):
Dmitri and he goes, Hey,tell Vlad, I'll have I'll be I
could be a little bit more flexibleonce the once the election's over. So,
I mean, who's talking about collusion? Collusion? Huh? Still Russians.
Russia has a long history of supportinga coterie of arms controls agreements with
the Americans, going back to theheavy Cold War days. For Putin to
(35:15):
pull Russia out of the agreement ofwhich he was a vociferous defender, should
raise hairs on the backs of necksof Washington policymakers. Yet all these statements
have done as to harden Washington's zealand blindly supporting its Ukrainian proxy. Putin's
decision to withdraw from the treaty speaksto the depths that he's willing to go
(35:37):
to ensure that he wins this war. Thus, compromise is not possible at
this rate. The only thing thatwould make the piece deal tenable for Russia
would be if it's military were decisivelydefeated. While the Russians have certainly taken
heavy losses, Ukraine has also takensignificant losses lately. Unlike the Ukrainians,
(36:00):
the Russians can't afford to keep sendinghundreds of thousands of their people into the
meat grinder until they simply at treatthe Ukrainians, until Russia's larger forces bleed
Ukrainians forces dry in the field,and then surge over their corpses. This
at least appears to be the generalRussian plan. If necessary, Putin will
(36:23):
to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to ensurethat his forces can accomplish this herculean task.
The uk the Ukrainians have made theirintentions clear since before the conflict erupted
a year ago. Kiev wants tocomplete restoration of Crimea and eventually Eastern Ukraine.
(36:44):
That too is a red line thathave crossed will trigger Moscow into risking
nuclear war. Russia cannot lose itsnaval base in Sevestopol. If it does,
it ceases being a major power andis isolated away from the vital Black
Sea region. The West is livingin a pure fantasy. If it's so
(37:08):
called leadership, it's so called leadership, thanks Putin will simply sit back and
watch this unfold. That was thepoint of Putin's long winded speech. The
war isn't ending. There will beno negotiated settlement, at least not one
anytime soon, or one that favorsthe Western side. For his part,
(37:28):
Biden has made clear that he wasnot only going to continue his support for
President of Vladimir Zelinsky's government of Kiev, but further tweeted upon his departure from
Kiev that he had left a partof his heart there. How Nice,
Biden also committed to the Ukrainian causethat he has thus far refused to respond
(37:50):
adequately to a major chemical spill inEast Palestine, Ohio, which has been
dubbed by many critics as of Bidenas America's chernobyl. There's gonna I believe
we're gonna do a whole thing onthis chemical spill business, because my style
is like a chemical spiel. Bidenhas instead lavishly dolled out US tax dollars
(38:16):
to a foreign country, Ukraine,instead of fellow Americans suffering in a disaster
zone and what is likely the runup to his reelection campaign for president.
If that doesn't show you how farBiden is willing to go for Ukraine,
I don't know what will no peacein our time. Beijinging is now getting
(38:37):
involved more directly on the side ofMoscow, meaning that Russia will have a
greater maneuvering room at a time whenthe West desperately needs the Russians to be
isolated. When would Russia seek peaceif the war is turning in its favor
as it is, rather than adeal being hatched, Another World war is
(39:00):
at hand made possible by the combinedarrogance and ignorance of both Western and Russian
leaders who've miscalculated from the very beginningto the ultimate end of the conflict.
Just as with the First World War. Of course, there will be no
victors here if it plays its strategiccards right, the Communist Party of China
(39:20):
will benefit greatly from seeing its too, great As strategic competitors, Russia and
America devour each other over senseless borderdispute in Southern Europe, which is why
Beijing is likely supporting Russia and itsfight in Ukraine. Gog and Magogue historians
will look back with confusion as tohow idiotic the leaders of this time were.
(39:45):
They will note that the two speechesof the Russian and American presidents on
the one year anniversary of the startof the Russia the Russo Ukrainian War was
the moment in which the conflict trulybecame a world war. What's more is
they will wonder how people blessed withso much could have been so irresponsible as
(40:06):
to throw it all the way overa petty dispute. Face it. There
will be no peace in our time. The recent speech is made by Biden
and Putin, as well as theincreasing involvement of China in the Ukraine conflict,
mean that war is our lot.In this war is not the one
that the West can easily win.So I'm not sure. I don't really
(40:31):
feel like I have to defending myviews or my thoughts on this. But
I'm gonna a little bit anyways,going through some of the things that I've
said during this episode, it mightsound like I'm I'm down with Russia or
(40:52):
Putin, and it's not supposed tosound like that. I don't. I'm
not down with Russia or or Putin. UM. I do believe that some
of the things he says is true. I believe that UM America's run by
pedophiles and Satanists UM. But Iam self aware enough to also know that
(41:15):
I don't think that we're the goodguys in this. We the royal we,
the that US, the the UnitedStates, is necessarily being a good
being a good guy in this either. And on top of not necessarily thinking
that we're the good guys in this, I believe that we're being very stupid.
(41:37):
I believe that we're being very dumb. And how we how we deal
with this. And I look atour leaders and some of the things that
they say and some of the thingsthat they do with it, and you
know, it seems like we're onthis march like um momentum. We're being
carried by the momentum of stupidity.And I don't. I agree with a
(42:01):
lot of the stuff, especially inthis last article about um, it's inevitable.
Whatever is going to happen, it'sinevitable. You know. I'm I'm
almost fifty years old, and Igrew up in the eighties before the Wall
fell, you know, before misterGorbachov tear down this wall, which you
(42:23):
know, if you listen to theshow enough, I believe that that was
the stone cold stunner of the ColdWar when We're went to Berlin and said
that, Um, you know,I grew up being terrified of nuclear war.
I there was a percentage out thereof people in America who it was
(42:45):
like, it was staggering. Itwas something like sixty percent or something like
that of people who don't know whata nuclear winner is. And UM,
that's scary to me. We dothis shows struggle to put these things in
contact sometimes and I feel like,uh, people like me have led our
(43:08):
hands off the off the wheel.Um, and maybe we're gonna pay the
price. Maybe we're gonna wind uppaying the price for that. Uh.
You know that's the kind of that'sthe kind of shit I'm talking about.
Um. Uh, unearned swagger.You know, you if you haven't.
(43:32):
I remember I was in middle schooland I was terrified about this stuff,
and um, you know, sleeplessnights laying there being like is this gonna
is this gonna be it? Youknow? Um? Yeah. On the
rare occasion where I go back andI look at like my sketch books and
stuff from high school, or thinkabout some of the art I did in
(43:52):
high school, like nuclear power,nuclear mushroom clouds everywhere. And it's funny
because now that I said that,I'm like, oh shit. Like in
my tarot card deck, one ofthe expansion cards, the last card isn't
there's a nuclear explosion going on inthe background. And then as I'm thinking
about that, I'm like, ohshit. My second to last graphic novel
(44:14):
I did, the Jinjiha. There'sa fucking mushroom cloud on the cover of
that too. Like it's ingrained,bro, it's ingrained. Anyhow, I'm
John Towers. This has been theAbercast. I am struggling to get back
on schedule and also to get somecontinuity going. So this is the second
(44:35):
episode in a row. I'm feelinga lot better, and so I will
talk to you next week at thelatest. Thank you for listening and we
hope that you enjoyed the show.Please send an email or find us on
social media and let us know whatyou think about the show. We would
(44:55):
appreciate it if you would give usa five star rate and review. Wherever
you find your favorite podcasts, youcan find stigmatas studios, graphic novels and
comic books as apercast dot com.Welcome to the Red Archive. Get access
(45:16):
to over fifty hours of archived episodes, more bonus audio, additional exclusive content,
all this for only one dollar amonth. Find the link to the
Red Archive at apercast dot com
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