Former CIA analyst Larry C. Johnson joins Dialogue Works to unpack the explosive rise in Russia-NATO tensions. 🧠 Are we approaching a point of no return? With rising military escalations, intelligence games, and diplomatic breakdowns, the global balance is hanging by a thread. Johnson offers expert insight into what's really happening behind the headlines and what may come next. Don’t miss this critical analysis! 🎯🕵️♂️
#LarryCJohnson #RussiaNATO #Geopolitics #DialogueWorks #GlobalTensions #UkraineWar #NATOMoves #RussiaUpdate #CIAAnalysis #MilitaryEscalation #WorldWarRisk #NATOStrategy #Putin #WesternPolicy #USForeignPolicy #WarGames #ConflictAnalysis #DefenseTalk #GlobalCrisis #TruthBehindTheNews #ExpertInsight
#LarryCJohnson #RussiaNATO #Geopolitics #DialogueWorks #GlobalTensions #UkraineWar #NATOMoves #RussiaUpdate #CIAAnalysis #MilitaryEscalation #WorldWarRisk #NATOStrategy #Putin #WesternPolicy #USForeignPolicy #WarGames #ConflictAnalysis #DefenseTalk #GlobalCrisis #TruthBehindTheNews #ExpertInsight
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00:00Hi, everybody. Today is Friday, June 6th, 2025, and our friend Larry Johnson is back
00:00:11with us. Welcome back, Larry.
00:00:12I'm glad to be here.
00:00:14Larry, let's get started with the outcome of the Ukrainian attack on Russia and the way
00:00:24that many people are arguing in the United States that there's so much concern about
00:00:30what has happened. Here is what General Blaine Holt said about what has happened in Russia
00:00:39and how he perceives that, considering that he is supporting Donald Trump and his administration.
00:00:48Here is what they said.
00:00:50I've learned about global or national security in my life than I am right now.
00:00:57And yes, I understand it's a tactical win. The Ukrainians have a tactical win. They hit
00:01:05a third of a strategic bomber force that is covered by a START treaty that goes back to
00:01:102010. There is no Russian in the military there that believes that Ukraine was able
00:01:16to achieve this without Western intelligence help, including our country. General Konakaya,
00:01:21the leader of rocket forces for Russia, has now openly said they are now locking in the
00:01:26coordinates for Paris, London, and Washington, D.C. This is an escalation path now without
00:01:33a reverse gear. I pray there's a reverse gear that President Trump can find by calling President
00:01:39Putin. But as a military officer with 27 years of service at the flag level and NATO service,
00:01:45I can tell you we are in a big dangerous place that we weren't in three days ago. And I pray
00:01:52that something good happens in those talks today.
00:01:55Larry, here is what the Russian ambassador to the United Kingdom said, just to have the two
00:02:03pictures together to understand the gravity that they are bringing the conflict to a different
00:02:13level of escalation. Which would mean what? Which would mean better not to and better to realize
00:02:22and to remember what we are doing. We have a limited conflict right now, which of course has a
00:02:30wider projection on the European security. But limited conflict should stay a limited conflict
00:02:37and not to escalate it and not to try to engulf World War III. That's the worst case scenario
00:02:44that we can imagine.
00:02:46Go ahead, Larry.
00:02:48Larry, this incident has really created quite a wide variety of opinions and reactions. You
00:03:01know, I watched your exchange with John Helmer and Ray McGovern the other night. Let's start
00:03:13with the Ukrainians grossly exaggerated the effect of their attack while it was, let's
00:03:22call it, brilliant, operationally brilliant, being able to infiltrate these trucks into
00:03:30Russia and then at some depth, and then be able to launch those drones ostensibly against
00:03:40these targets with the intent of attacking and destroying, you know, as the general said,
00:03:48a third of Russia's strategic bomber capability, audacious, but that didn't happen.
00:03:57Apparently, the drone attacks at three of the airports failed, completely failed, whether
00:04:04it was electronic warfare, air defense system, you know, operational failure on the Ukrainian,
00:04:10I don't know, but they failed.
00:04:14The other two airports that were hit, it turned out, only destroyed about five to seven aircraft.
00:04:21It's not entirely clear, but what is clear is that some of those aircraft were actually
00:04:26decommissioned, they were not, you know, active in the strategic doctrine of Russia.
00:04:39That said, this was still, despite it not being consequential in terms of physical damage,
00:04:49it was extremely damaging psychologically for the Russians, that this, they reacted to this
00:04:58with great anger.
00:04:59Now, you know, Ray and I have had a, we've got a difference of opinion on this, and I always
00:05:04value Ray's opinions and judgment.
00:05:07But, you know, Ray was arguing that this is, that the reaction is, the Russians is to the
00:05:15quote, terrorism that took place on Friday and Saturday, the attack on the two bridges.
00:05:22The attack in Kursk, which didn't kill anybody to my knowledge, but destroyed a bridge.
00:05:28And then the attack in Bryonsk, where the bridge was down so that it would collide with an
00:05:33oncoming passenger train, and killed at least seven people, wounded maybe upwards of a hundred
00:05:41people.
00:05:43Well, yeah, those are terrorist attacks, and the Russians are rightly outraged about it.
00:05:50But I forget, these are not the first terrorist attacks over the course of this last three
00:05:57years.
00:05:57You know, you had the attack on the Kerch Bridge in October 2022.
00:06:03I forget how many, you know, it killed one or two people, but it blew a hole in the bridge,
00:06:08and they had to close the bridge down and repair it.
00:06:11That was significant.
00:06:13And then March 2024, the attack on Crocus City Hall.
00:06:18My God, they killed over 135 people, wounded over 341.
00:06:23One, that was enormous.
00:06:26I mean, you know, that's on a completely different scale compared to what happened in Bryonsk, dropping
00:06:33a bridge on a train.
00:06:36And yet Russia's reaction to that has been far, you know, it's now saying that we're moving
00:06:45into, this is no longer a special military operation.
00:06:49This is a counterterrorism operation.
00:06:54And that is not just a word chosen because it's convenient or it sounds cool.
00:07:00This goes back to how Russia carried out the war in Chechnya from 1999 through 2009-2010
00:07:09through the Second Chechen War.
00:07:11The counterterrorism operation means an escalation in the violence by the Russian military.
00:07:20It means certain targets that previously were considered off limits or to be avoided are now
00:07:29on the table.
00:07:30And I think that includes Vladimir Zelensky, who can be now targeted and taken out.
00:07:37Well, we're going to see, you know, because, you know, Russia suffered assassinations at
00:07:45the hands of Ukrainian terrorist plots, you know, through at least two, if not three generals.
00:07:53So you got to ask, why is Russia reacting now so strongly to this?
00:07:58And this is where Ray and I, you know, respectfully disagree with each other.
00:08:05Ray thinks that it's the terror that Russia's ignoring the attack on the strategic component.
00:08:14And I think this colonel, American colonel, was, he was correct in recognizing the gravity
00:08:20of it, that although Ukraine did not succeed in inflicting the kind of damage that they
00:08:28claimed, nonetheless, they demonstrated a willingness to hit those targets without regard to the
00:08:36consequences.
00:08:37And the outrage, you know, while, you know, Putin and company, you know, I think Ray's position
00:08:47is, well, Putin, if this is such a big deal, Putin and company would have said something about
00:08:51it.
00:08:52The fact that they're not specifically commenting on it, I think there's another explanation.
00:08:58They're embarrassed, embarrassed as hell.
00:09:00Well, and why, you know, why rub their face in it?
00:09:05They're going to, but they're going to, they're going to take corrective action.
00:09:10And it's not going to be, it's, there was a, you know, missile strikes and drone strikes
00:09:16over the last 24 hours.
00:09:18That's not the retaliation.
00:09:20The retaliation that's coming is going to be quite severe.
00:09:24And we know that thanks to Donald Trump.
00:09:26Because we've seen what a difference more than a week makes with Trump and Putin, you know,
00:09:33on May 26th, you know, Trump was derisive of Putin, you know, he's crazy, you know, remember
00:09:42that?
00:09:43And he just, I don't know why he's doing what he's doing.
00:09:48Well, they had a conversation on Wednesday of this week.
00:09:52Now Trump's singing a different tune.
00:09:54You know, President Putin, didn't call him Putin, called him President Putin, strongly
00:10:02emphasized that he's going to have to respond to this.
00:10:07And, okay, you know, Trump didn't say, I told him, hell no, you're not going to do that.
00:10:13Trump didn't say any of that.
00:10:16And you got to then look at what the U.S. State Department did within hours of the end
00:10:21of that conversation.
00:10:22They came out with a physical warning to Americans in Ukraine, basically, get the hell
00:10:28out, take cover, something bad's going to happen.
00:10:33So, you know, this attack on these, the attack on two of the airfields, the attempted attack
00:10:44on three of the others, has marked a shift.
00:10:48We'll call it a watershed moment in this war between Ukraine and Russia.
00:10:55And it's going up.
00:10:57It's now escalating.
00:11:00You know, you mentioned the phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
00:11:05Donald Trump said that he didn't know about what was going on with the case of Ukrainian
00:11:12attack, but how, what kind of argument is that?
00:11:17Is that going to put him in a better position, in your opinion?
00:11:22Oh, no.
00:11:22Let's call him Butterfly McQueen.
00:11:24Do you know who Butterfly McQueen is?
00:11:27Butterfly McQueen was this black, she was a path-breaking black actress in Hollywood.
00:11:33And she appeared in the movie Gone with the Wind.
00:11:36And in that movie, her most iconic, memorable line was, oh, Miss Scarlet, I don't know nothing
00:11:45about birth and no babies.
00:11:47You know, she had pretended to be a midwife and then admitted, I don't know anything about
00:11:52birth and babies.
00:11:54That's Donald Trump.
00:11:56Attack on Russia?
00:11:58I don't know nothing.
00:12:00Or we call him Sergeant Schultz.
00:12:03You know, we can come up with all sorts of television characters.
00:12:07Remember Sergeant Schultz from Hulligan's Hero?
00:12:10I know nothing.
00:12:12I see nothing.
00:12:13I hear nothing.
00:12:16You know, please, Trump.
00:12:18What you're admitting is you're completely out of the loop.
00:12:21I think it's highly, highly unlikely that Ukraine planned this for 18 months.
00:12:32I mean, this is a story we're being given and people are repeating it.
00:12:35You know, I think it's nonsense.
00:12:38But they planned it for 18 months and didn't leak a word to the CIA, their buddies, who they've
00:12:46been planning other operations with?
00:12:48Yeah, that makes sense.
00:12:52More likely is there are CIA officers who know about it and maybe they had received guidance.
00:13:00Don't get directly involved, but, you know, keep us up to date on what they're doing.
00:13:06So the CIA knew, which means at least Trump would have had it in a briefing, special access
00:13:13program briefing.
00:13:14Did the CIA actually involved, was it involved with the planning and execution?
00:13:21That's possible.
00:13:23I can't rule that out.
00:13:25But what's interesting is to look at the sequence of events that started on Sunday in the aftermath
00:13:34of the attacks on those airfields.
00:13:36Lawroth calls Marco Rubio.
00:13:42Now, I had heard, I haven't been able to get a confirmation of this, that Marco Rubio got
00:13:49called at 8 p.m. at night, East Coast time.
00:13:53Well, that's 3 a.m. in the morning, Russia time.
00:14:01Lavros, he's older than I am, so he's an old man.
00:14:05He's got to be in bed at that time.
00:14:07So, you know, some suggested that, oh, it was just a normal phone call.
00:14:12He just wanted to call up Marco and say, hey, how about those talks, peace talks we're having
00:14:17tomorrow, maybe we can, you know, have a, have a great, you know, have a great outcome, you
00:14:23know.
00:14:23No.
00:14:25Lavrov was calling Rubio because basically Putin wanted to know what did the damn Americans
00:14:31know about this and what are they saying?
00:14:35And let them know that we're going to hold anybody that was even peripherally involved
00:14:42with this, responsible, and the responsible means we're going, there'll be targets of
00:14:49counterattacks.
00:14:52So, they had a conversation at what was an ungodly hour from Lavrov, and then Rubio apparently
00:15:02got off the phone and called Donald Trump like, Mr. President, we got a problem.
00:15:07And notice what happened then on Monday and Tuesday with Trump's social media.
00:15:15It was quiet.
00:15:18Keeping Trump off of social, are you kidding me?
00:15:21Man, he's like, he's like a crack addict, learning to get a fix when it comes to social
00:15:25media.
00:15:28And I maintain that what they were, they're trying to figure out how the hell do we defuse
00:15:34this, how do we keep this from escalating?
00:15:38And at the same time, they're trying to figure that out.
00:15:41The Russians showed up in Istanbul for the talks with Ukraine, but it wasn't talks.
00:15:49Medinsky, the lead negotiator, spent two hours, 15 minutes before that meeting with Umarov,
00:15:57who was the ostensible head of that Ukrainian delegation.
00:16:02And it was not, I would say, a pleasant meeting, at least for Ukraine.
00:16:10And Medinsky was letting him know in no uncertain terms what the approach was going to be going
00:16:15forward.
00:16:17And that they take this deal or, you know, something worse is coming.
00:16:23Umarov scoots off to Washington to brief the Trump team, and he's not carrying good news
00:16:33in that.
00:16:34Then on Tuesday, again, remember, Trump is like sort of mute, silent with respect to social
00:16:41media, not saying a word about any of the attacks, no apologies yet, nothing.
00:16:46And, um, Pete Hegseth comes out and announces, yeah, that Ukrainian, you know, contact group
00:16:54that we've had, that we meet like every month, I'm not attending, and I'm not only not going
00:17:01to show up in person, I'm not even going to attend from Zoom.
00:17:05I'm saying to Matt Whitaker.
00:17:07So this marks the first time Secretary of Defense, whether it was Austin or Hegseth, has not attended
00:17:14that meeting.
00:17:16Do you think that was just a coincidence?
00:17:19I maintain it was one of Trump's ways of signaling to Russia, okay, we're backing away from this
00:17:26Ukraine project.
00:17:27We recognize that this is too dangerous.
00:17:33And then came the phone call on Wednesday.
00:17:35I don't know who initiated it.
00:17:37I suspect it was Trump, but, you know, we'll see.
00:17:41But in any event, Putin, if you watch Putin's speech that day, and I don't know if the phone
00:17:51call with Trump took place before or after that speech, Putin was angry.
00:17:59He was very stern.
00:18:02His body language was such that he was, let's call it aggressive.
00:18:10And they, you know, even in that speech, it was a discussion with his national security team,
00:18:20but they televised it live for all of Russia.
00:18:22I don't even know if there's any sense in continuing these talks with these terrorists.
00:18:30So they, you know, they moved it into that new realm as a counterterrorism operation.
00:18:35So when you put all that together, the Russians put the United States on notice,
00:18:44and they're going to retaliate, and there's going to be, you know, a significant retaliation,
00:18:52so significant that Trump felt compelled to tell Marco Rubio,
00:18:58get your people out of there, something bad's coming.
00:19:06Larry, Putin said that the main reason of this attack was to somehow sabotage the talks
00:19:13between Ukrainians and Russians, or maybe trying to convince the Russians that there is nothing
00:19:20coming out of the talks.
00:19:21Let's not go to Istanbul to talk with Ukrainians, which I would assume that would be
00:19:27the best outcome of what has happened for the British government.
00:19:32They're doing everything to get something like that from the talks, because I, in my opinion,
00:19:37they're not happy with what is happening right now in terms of the direct talks between Russians
00:19:43and Ukrainians.
00:19:44And with the talk that, with what the Russian ambassador said to the British media,
00:19:50he said that this escalation is so dangerous.
00:19:53I assume that the objective of this sort of argument on his part is the British government,
00:20:00it's not the United States specifically.
00:20:05How do you see the way that the British government is trying to manipulate everything?
00:20:09We had Stormer coming out that we are under, we are, we have been threatened by Russia,
00:20:15we have to build up our military, while nobody's threatened in the United Kingdom.
00:20:20I haven't seen anything in the media pointing out that direction.
00:20:26How can we understand this sort of activity, this sort of complications,
00:20:34this sort of communication, interactions that are happening right now between Russia
00:20:40and the United Kingdom?
00:20:40Well, actually, I think Russia is, I understand Russia is pressuring the Brits to shutter their
00:20:51embassy in Moscow, they'll break off diplomatic relations.
00:20:56You know, I think it's important to understand Russia's approach to these so-called negotiations
00:21:04with Ukraine.
00:21:06I think it is wrong to believe that Russia thinks there is a way to achieve a peaceful negotiated
00:21:17settlement with Ukraine.
00:21:20Russia absolutely does not believe that.
00:21:22Putin doesn't believe that.
00:21:24But, they need, from the standpoint of dealing with the Global South and the other BRICS members,
00:21:34Russia needs to be perceived as trying to obtain a negotiated settlement.
00:21:40That way, these other countries feel under less pressure from the West to, you know, push Russia.
00:21:50This terrorist attack, as Russia is portraying it, has now given Russia an out.
00:21:59Because they've been negotiating in good faith, and look what it got them.
00:22:04It got them a terrorist attack, an attack on Russia's strategic bombers, which is also part
00:22:10of that terrorist attack.
00:22:12That's how Russia is defining it.
00:22:13Even though I would argue that that's a military attack, but still, Russia is perceiving that
00:22:19and lumping that as a terrorist attack.
00:22:24The talks and what Russia delivered to the Ukrainian delegation, a memorandum, was basically a document
00:22:32of surrender.
00:22:34And, you know, Ukraine's rejected it.
00:22:39And, you know, in fact, Zelensky even said, oh, he doesn't see any value in any more meetings.
00:22:45So, you know, Russia has achieved what it wanted to achieve of making Ukraine the culprit
00:22:56for the breakdown of negotiations.
00:22:58Now, within that, then, this gets back to the question of Great Britain.
00:23:05Great Britain remains the biggest bad actor in this entire drama.
00:23:10And yet, you know, I don't see Russia wanting to do much to him because, you know, it's like having
00:23:23a mosquito buzzing around your head.
00:23:26Annoying, but not a deadly threat.
00:23:31Just annoying.
00:23:33And that's what the Brits are.
00:23:34They're just, they're absolutely annoying, but they're impotent.
00:23:41Larry, do you feel that they're somehow capable of manipulating Germany with the new chancellor?
00:23:48How much, how do you see any sort of leverage on their part in Germany right now?
00:23:54Well, between, what, the UK?
00:23:57Yeah, the United Kingdom and Germany.
00:23:59No, no, no.
00:24:01Right now, they're sending, right after the call between the two presidents,
00:24:06Merz is in the United States talking with, anytime, anytime that Vladimir Putin is talking with Donald Trump,
00:24:13they're trying to do something.
00:24:14Europeans are trying to do something to maybe talk with Vladimir Putin on phone
00:24:19or maybe a new visit from the Europeans.
00:24:24They're somehow, I don't know, they're trying to manage Donald Trump
00:24:28in the direction that they want Donald Trump to be.
00:24:32Manage Donald Trump?
00:24:33Are you crazy?
00:24:35You know, he's uncontrollable.
00:24:38I mean, look at, look at his, his girl fight with Elon Musk yesterday.
00:24:47You're ugly.
00:24:49You're stupid.
00:24:50You know, oh my God.
00:24:52You know, a billionaire bitch club.
00:24:56Okay.
00:24:57It was just, so nobody controls Trump.
00:25:02Trump, you know, he decides sort of what he's going to do and he does it.
00:25:09Whether he actually consults with people and gets good advice, usually not.
00:25:14You know, he's shown that over and over and over.
00:25:20He's, you know, he's trying to salvage, you know, maintain a relationship with Putin.
00:25:25But I got, I got to believe that the, that the Russians don't see Trump as a reliable negotiation, negotiating partner.
00:25:36I think they see him as unreliable and volatile and, you know, somewhat unpredictable.
00:25:45So they got to figure out how to try to manage that.
00:25:48And that gets into managing expectations as well.
00:25:52Yeah.
00:25:53You mean managing the situation, not Donald Trump because he's, because he's, yeah.
00:25:58Yeah.
00:25:58Just, well, you know, they know that Trump is susceptible to flatter, flattery.
00:26:05So they do that.
00:26:08Um, that, uh, they, they, they, they go out of their way not to overtly disrespect him.
00:26:15Well, they may be laughing about him behind their backs or behind his back.
00:26:21They, they make sure that they do everything in a respectful manner, knowing that with his fragile narcissistic ego, he could, you know, he would take umbrage and, you know, start punching back.
00:26:34Just like he did with Elon, you know, completely unnecessary, but, uh, that's been Trump's, you know, that's been his hallmark in particular as he gets older, you know, because more brittle that way.
00:26:53Here is what Larry Donald Trump said during the meeting that he had with MERS about Russia and Ukraine.
00:27:00And speaking of ending wars in this group, you were very critical of Vladimir Putin a couple of days ago.
00:27:07What kind of play does he play from your perspective?
00:27:10Well, look, he's, he, he got hit.
00:27:13He's been doing hitting, so I understand it.
00:27:16But he got hit hard.
00:27:18And I don't think he's playing games.
00:27:21I think he, I've always said he wanted the whole thing.
00:27:24I thought he wanted the entire, uh, everything having to do with Ukraine.
00:27:30What, what sort of argument is that, that he wants all of Ukraine?
00:27:35I don't know if he somehow is playing a game because if we assume that he's playing a game that says Russia wanted all of Ukraine, I saved Ukraine from that.
00:27:47And let's go and find some sort of solution.
00:27:50Other than that, I don't any, I don't find any sort of reason behind it.
00:27:55Yeah, no, it's, it's, it's, Trump's just making that up.
00:27:59Uh, from the outset, Putin's goal was not to take all of Ukraine at all.
00:28:05Uh, and that, that's been a Western lie fed into the system to, you know, try to, you know, rally public support in the West against, uh, Putin.
00:28:14Um, you know, what is concerning is when Trump says things like that, it just reflects a fundamental ignorance about the, what's going on between Russia and Ukraine.
00:28:30Because in Trump's world, as he said yesterday, this is like two kids fighting.
00:28:37Well, you got to let them fight it out.
00:28:39Well, um, I think there's another more apt metaphor.
00:28:45Um, the Ukrainians and Russians are in a burning building and Donald Trump is out standing outside of the side as the arsonist who helped set the building on fire.
00:29:01He's responsible.
00:29:05Biden's responsible.
00:29:06Obama's responsible.
00:29:07George W. Bush is responsible.
00:29:09This has been a project underway since Bill Clinton was president to go to war with Russia, destroy Russia and take control of its assets.
00:29:19And Donald Trump is certainly proud of the fact that he gave javelins to Ukraine.
00:29:25So he hasn't been about peace.
00:29:27He's been aiding and abetting this whole disaster.
00:29:32And, you know, he's in, he's in the unique position that he can put an end to it today.
00:29:37But, uh, he, he, he hasn't done that.
00:29:45Not only javelins, here is what he said about Nord Stream.
00:29:50Russia, are you, are you willing to put more pressure on Putin to end the war by imposing new sanctions on Russia and also on China?
00:29:59Well, remember, I'm the one that ended Nord Stream 2.
00:30:02Going to a place called Germany, come to think.
00:30:04I'm sorry I did that.
00:30:05But, uh, I ended Nord Stream 2.
00:30:08Nobody else did.
00:30:10And then when Biden came in, he immediately approved it.
00:30:12That's the largest, essentially the largest pipeline in the world.
00:30:15Going to Germany and other countries.
00:30:18And by the way, we have so much oil and gas.
00:30:20You, you will not be able to buy it all.
00:30:23I mean, you, you literally, we have so much.
00:30:25And I hope we're going to make that a part of our trade deal because we have more than anybody else.
00:30:31We have actually the most, by far in the world, probably double what anyone else has.
00:30:35So we'll work on that.
00:30:36I'm sure that's something we'll discuss today.
00:30:39He's taking responsibility for the sabotage of Nord Stream Pipeline.
00:30:44It's so somehow amazing that he tries to play both sides that he says to Vladimir Putin, I am with you.
00:30:52I want to put an end to the conflict.
00:30:53On the other hand, he somehow shows Europeans how aggressive, how radical he's toward Russia, has been toward Russia.
00:31:01And while he denies his role in what's going on in Ukraine.
00:31:07Yeah, it is, Trump's in just a delusional state.
00:31:16He tried, he tried to hold up the Nord Stream Pipeline, but the Nord Stream Pipeline was ready to go into operation.
00:31:25So it was completed despite Trump's attempts to interfere.
00:31:31And it was under Biden that it was destroyed.
00:31:37And it was with Biden's orders to the CIA that it was destroyed.
00:31:42But again, this is Trump.
00:31:43He takes, again, he's so insecure.
00:31:48And, you know, this is what's sort of crazy about people like Trump.
00:31:52They're extremely wealthy.
00:31:55He's been very successful in his world of real estate development.
00:31:59He's, and as a television entertainer.
00:32:04So he's had some real accomplishments.
00:32:07But, you know, he got to keep telling you how great he is.
00:32:13Because, you know, he's not secure in himself.
00:32:17And, you know, when you have somebody and, you know, the narcissism, the insecurity, boy, that's a dangerous mix.
00:32:28And, you know, what he should have been talking about was it is unfortunate that with the destruction of the Nord Stream Pipeline, that Germany was deprived of cheap natural gas so it could fund, you know, keep its industries intact and be in a position to actually produce weapons that we need in NATO.
00:32:55I mean, if he's thinking about this sensibly, but he's not.
00:33:00You know, he's, it's all about, oh, look what I've done.
00:33:04And he takes credit for things that he didn't do.
00:33:06I think that's a key issue when it comes to Russia, China, and Iran.
00:33:13But they're not going to say, Donald Trump, you are big and beautiful.
00:33:17Yeah.
00:33:18He's not going to get some sort of compliment from these countries.
00:33:24That's why he's going to get a lot from Europeans.
00:33:27And how, Larry, with the case of Germany, do you think that Donald Trump, with this visit of the German chancellor, does he really believe that they can provide energy to Germany at the level and with the price being reasonable for Germany?
00:33:51No, man, Germany's got to take it up the backside.
00:33:57United States, we're happy to supply natural gas, but it's going to come at a price.
00:34:03I mean, there's, there's no way it can be cheaper than the Nord Stream is simply because it's going to be loaded on ships and carted across the ocean.
00:34:10You know, with the Nord Stream pipeline, man, it just, it came straight in and the Russians, the Russians were able to offer a much better price.
00:34:22And, you know, again, there is, you get to watch the Germans wallow in their own mess.
00:34:36You know, they helped create this.
00:34:39They didn't stand up for themselves.
00:34:42They didn't protest it.
00:34:43They didn't accuse the United States of an act of war.
00:34:47You've destroyed one of our natural resources.
00:34:49And, and the fact, and the reality is it's hurting German people.
00:34:57But, you know, Trump doesn't care.
00:35:01Yeah.
00:35:01And when it comes, Larry, because one part of this situation with energy in Europe and specifically in Germany is what's going on.
00:35:13One aspect would be what's going on with the 500% secondary sanctions on Russia that they're talking right now in the United States about.
00:35:22They want to put it on China, India, and me, and eventually on Europe.
00:35:28Do you think that Mertz was talking about this with Donald Trump?
00:35:32Is he concerned about it?
00:35:34I don't, I don't, I don't think so.
00:35:38But I don't know if that actually came up.
00:35:40I don't see why, if anything, you know, Mertz, he did talk to members of Congress.
00:35:51And in that conjunction, that may have come up.
00:35:54And I suspect he would have been very enthusiastic about it, wanting to impose greater sanctions necessarily on Russia.
00:36:00Except that what Lindsey Graham is proposing is basically sanctions on China and India that will hurt them and hurt the United States.
00:36:12It's just, you know, none of this is being thought through.
00:36:17Here is what Donald Trump said in terms of sanctions.
00:36:19Mr. President, so would you consider to put more sanctions on Russia because this discussion is going on now for weeks and months and you tweeted about it once, but then nothing happens.
00:36:33Yeah, when I see, when I see the moment when we're not going to make a deal, when this thing won't stop, uh, at that moment, yeah, it's in my, my brain, the deadline.
00:36:43When I see the moment where, uh, it's not going to stop, and I'm sure you're going to do the same thing, uh, will be very, very, very tough.
00:36:53And it could be on both countries, to be honest, you know, it takes two to tango, but there'll be, we're going to be very tough, uh, whether it's Russia or anybody else, we're going to be very tough.
00:37:02That, that deadline is in his brain.
00:37:06I don't know if he has it.
00:37:08Yeah.
00:37:09Nobody's home in that brain.
00:37:10That's the problem.
00:37:11You know, uh, this is another, uh, idle threat by Trump.
00:37:17Trump has, Russia would like to have normal relations with the United States.
00:37:26And despite the history of the last 30 years, where the United States through NATO has been basically constantly at war with Russia.
00:37:41And instead of, um, the United States, you know, stopping the attacks, we've, we've continued to attack and attack and attack and attack and facilitate, uh, efforts to destroy Russia.
00:37:58You know, uh, you know, uh, at some point, uh, I've described it before with you is it's, it's like being in an abusive relationship with somebody.
00:38:08And, uh, and there comes a moment where you just got to walk away and say, I'm not having contact with this person anymore.
00:38:15We're, we're, I'm not dealing with them.
00:38:18You just walk away.
00:38:19Uh, that's what I think Russia ultimately needs to do.
00:38:22Uh, this, you know, tell the United States, have a nice day and go about your own way.
00:38:28And we're going to go about ours.
00:38:31But, uh, you know, Trump, this, this is more Trump bombast.
00:38:36Because the fact of the matter is that there's nothing the United States can do to Russia.
00:38:42It's going to alter Russia's courses, courses of action right now.
00:38:46Now, do you feel that if Donald Trump doesn't get a Ukrainian settlement in a long run, that would cause some sort of problem between NATO and Russia?
00:39:01Because considering the behavior on the part of European leaders, it's somehow if they do something radical as they did with the Russian nuclear bombers.
00:39:13And it is something with the Kursk region, we have, we were somehow surprised.
00:39:19And right now, nuclear bombers is something.
00:39:22The limits, the, this red line is moving toward Russia.
00:39:26And Russia, it comes to a moment as it happened with the conflict in Ukraine says enough is enough.
00:39:32Let's go and attack them.
00:39:33Let's teach them a lesson.
00:39:37Do you feel that we're going to get into that moment?
00:39:40Or if, if we, if we, if we don't get anything in as a, somehow a Ukrainian settlement, considering negotiations?
00:39:50Well, if, if rhetoric, if words equated into action, then yes, there'd be a, there'd be a war between Russia and England, Germany, and France.
00:40:05In a heartbeat, no doubt about it, but the, fortunately, the, the reality intrudes.
00:40:16And the fact is that none of these countries have the military strength, either in manpower or in weapons.
00:40:24If they could even last a week going up against Russia.
00:40:30And then there's the issue that Russia is not going to invade them.
00:40:36So they, they would have to somehow go to Russia.
00:40:38Good luck with that.
00:40:40Just ask Napoleon how that turned out.
00:40:42So the, I, I don't know what it's going to take to bring an end to this kind of rhetorical excess on the part of Starmer and Macron and Meretz.
00:40:59But at some point, Russia is going to deal a death blow to Ukraine.
00:41:06And at that point, these countries will be faced with, do we jump into this war or do we walk away?
00:41:16And if they jump into it, it'll be at their peril of their own destruction.
00:41:19I think as these terrorist acts on the part of Ukraine are increasing, the doubt on the situation of Odessa in the future is much more, they're much more visible in the mind of Russians right now.
00:41:38Now, shall we let Odessa and Nikolaev in their hand?
00:41:42What would that cause in terms of these terrorist acts in the future?
00:41:47Because we know that how much important Odessa is in, in terms of the attacks in the Kurds region, in terms of how they can attack Russia.
00:41:58Do you feel that Russia is somehow, they're somehow internally discussing the situation with Odessa and Nikolaev going off to Tarkov?
00:42:09Oh, no.
00:42:09Well, look, I believe one of the messages that was delivered on Monday when Medensky sat down with Umarov was,
00:42:20this is, this is, this is the last best offer you're going to get because the next offer means we're taking Odessa, we're taking Nikolaev and you will no longer have access to the Black Sea.
00:42:33We'll control all access to the Black Sea.
00:42:36You're going to be cut off from, from the sea.
00:42:40And that was the message that Umarov carried back to Zelensky and carried back to Washington, D.C.
00:42:47So, you know, yeah, no, Russia, look, before this is all over, I don't know whether it will be this year or into the early next year.
00:42:59I frankly don't see how Ukraine can sustain its army, the military effort, without continued support from the United States, which is, looks to be drying up.
00:43:11But Russia is going to ultimately take significant portions, if not all, of the territory east of the Dnieper.
00:43:23But for no other reason as a buffer zone.
00:43:26Just keep the Ukrainians behind that wall of water that represents the Dnieper River.
00:43:32Keep them on the west side and Russia will then proceed to rebuild, rebuild eastern Ukraine.
00:43:47Larry, those people who are arguing that supporting Ukraine and sending more weapons to Ukraine, as General Jack Keane, Jack Keane on Fox News was arguing.
00:43:59And here is what he said. Let me play it for you.
00:44:02The peace process exhibited by the United States to leverage someone to change their behavior.
00:44:09We've got to do the same thing with Russia.
00:44:12It is part of the process. It's not outside the process.
00:44:16And that means we've got to leverage him.
00:44:18And we don't know if that will actually work.
00:44:21Let's be honest about it.
00:44:22But we do know what is not working.
00:44:25And just the diplomatic talking is not working.
00:44:27So the leverage has got to be, I think, number one, military assistance.
00:44:32And give them the robust air defense systems and the other things they desperately need.
00:44:36Let's leverage Putin just as we did Zelensky.
00:44:40We don't know, let's be frank, if it's going to work.
00:44:44But it certainly is worth a try at this point.
00:44:46Because diplomatic talks are not getting us there.
00:44:50Larry, it's somehow amazing that he tries to picture the situation totally the opposite way.
00:44:57We haven't seen any sort of diplomacy, any sort of talks happening between the two parties, meaning the United States and Russia.
00:45:06And while we had the experience with the military operation, with the support to Ukraine, more than three years and a half, we are in this conflict.
00:45:19Go ahead.
00:45:20Well, listening to Keen, his strategy is let's throw jello at the wall and see what sticks.
00:45:29Well, you know, that's not how military plans are supposed to operate.
00:45:37You know, the military planning process is supposed to come up with courses of action.
00:45:44And with respect to each of those courses of action, identify what resources do we need?
00:45:51What are our chances of a successful outcome?
00:45:54What are the risks that what can we expect the enemy to do in response to if we take this course of action?
00:46:04You know, this shows why he was a failed general.
00:46:07Number one, it is the we do have negotiations from the standpoint that once Trump and Putin were talking and then Whitkoff could go to Russia and meet with Putin.
00:46:24Yeah, that was, you know, that was progress, something that hadn't happened.
00:46:29And just the fact that over this last, you know, on Sunday, that Lavrov felt free to call up Marco Rubio and say, you know, we got a problem with you.
00:46:40And, you know, at least the communication is going back and forth.
00:46:46But, you know, what you're seeing Jack Keene do in that clip, just acknowledge that he's acknowledging the fact that Ukraine is losing the war and that there's no clear path forward for giving Ukraine a chance for victory.
00:47:04I would wonder where is Steve Whitkoff right now and how you mentioned the talks, but we don't see a Steve Whitkoff anymore.
00:47:16Yeah, he's sort of fallen out of the limelight for now.
00:47:19I don't know what that means.
00:47:20Maybe he is just still quietly meeting with the Israelis and Hamas.
00:47:29I would hope so.
00:47:31But also the talks with Iran are sort of on hold right now.
00:47:40Donald Trump wanted to talk about the Iranian talks with Vladimir Putin, and Putin said he's willing to participate, he's willing to help the process of negotiations.
00:47:55What does Donald Trump want from Vladimir Putin, in your opinion?
00:47:59Well, I think he'd like to get Putin to persuade the Iranians to give up all nuclear enrichment or uranium enrichment.
00:48:07And Putin is not going to do that.
00:48:10Well, it was, you know, the language that Trump used was very careful in terms of to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
00:48:22And Russia, yeah, we can do that because we know it's already true.
00:48:27We've got a security agreement in place with Iran that we've pledged to work with them on their peaceful nuclear exchange,
00:48:36and we wouldn't do that if they had an active nuke.
00:48:38So, yeah, no, we'll help.
00:48:40Sure, Mr. President, we can help you get the assurances and proof you need that Iran doesn't have it.
00:48:46I hope Trump takes the deal.
00:48:51But I've seen some disturbing signs that Trump's getting ready to launch the military strike against Iran.
00:48:59It may just be, again, posturing for negotiation's sake, or it may be genuine.
00:49:06I don't know.
00:49:09Larry, do you believe that the way that Donald Trump says no enrichment to Iran,
00:49:19does he really believe that Iran would go in that direction?
00:49:22I don't see that coming to the leader, the supreme leader of Iran just said.
00:49:28He's hopeful that Iran would go in that direction.
00:49:32But as you and I both know, Iran's not going in that direction.
00:49:36It's sort of a fool's hope.
00:49:39So Trump is, you know, he's faced with his promise that he'd bring peace to stop the war between Ukraine and Russia.
00:49:49Russia, well, that's now dead.
00:49:52He's basically conceding the war is going to go on and there's not a lot he can do about it.
00:50:00He's in a position that he can get this deal with Iran, but it's going to be at a cost to his relationship with the pro-Zionist crowd.
00:50:13Now, I would note, we just got word yesterday, day before yesterday, that three of the most ardent supporters of Israel
00:50:25that were in Trump's National Security Council, this one woman who'd actually been in the IDF herself,
00:50:34that they've been booted out of the NSC.
00:50:36So Trump is like house cleaning, getting rid of some of these uber-Zionists.
00:50:42That may be an indicator that, you know, Trump's trying to come to a more sensible position with respect to Iran.
00:50:52Larry, how's the situation between Hamas and Israel right now?
00:50:56And you've mentioned Steve Witkoff maybe talking, trying to cut the deal between the two.
00:51:03But the situation in Gaza is, everybody knows what's going on.
00:51:10It's a nightmare and starvation, killing the people.
00:51:14And do you see any sort of future for the talks or what's going on between Hamas and the United States?
00:51:23I'm not considering Israel because I don't see Netanyahu as Zelensky in Ukraine.
00:51:29I somehow, they hope Zelensky wants some sort of Ukrainian settlement.
00:51:34Everybody knows the outcome of that settlement would be the removal of Zelensky and his administration.
00:51:39The same goes to Netanyahu and his administration.
00:51:46The, you know, the key there is, if the United States decides that the peace talks should go forward, they'll go forward.
00:52:00Because we're in a position to dictate to Israel.
00:52:03Israel won't like it.
00:52:04You know, I got confirmed yesterday, I can't reveal the source, but that there's still a lot of CIA files that the CIA has not released regarding the assassination of JFK.
00:52:23And the reason is because Israel is so strongly implicated in that assassination.
00:52:29That's why they're covering it up.
00:52:30So, you know, one of these days I could, you know, one way to get for Trump to buy some protection for himself would actually be to release those files and make it clear how destructive Israel has been, how unfriendly it has been, how, you know, murderous it has been in its relationship with the United States.
00:52:57And that would really further isolate it because, you know, right now, apart from the United States, there's not another major country that's backing Israel uncritically, not one.
00:53:12Yeah.
00:53:13I don't know if you saw the interview with Matt Miller and the way that he right now sees the conflict in Gaza.
00:53:23Here is what he said, Larry.
00:53:24Everyone in Gaza now is a genocide?
00:53:28I don't, I don't think it's a genocide, but I think the, I think it is without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes.
00:53:38You wouldn't have said that at the podium.
00:53:39Yeah, look, because when you're at the podium, you're not expressing your personal opinion.
00:53:42You're expressing the conclusions of the United States government.
00:53:44The United States government has, had not concluded they've committed war crimes, still have not concluded that.
00:53:50But your personal view is they have.
00:53:52Well, so.
00:53:53And they were while you were there.
00:53:54But here's, yes, but here, let me, let me qualify that.
00:53:58There are two ways to think about the commission of war crimes.
00:54:00One is if the state has pursued a policy to deliberately committing war crimes or is acting reckless in a way that aids and abets war crimes.
00:54:08And that, I think, is an open question.
00:54:10I think what is hard is almost certainly not an open question is that there have been individual incidents that have been, that have been war crimes where members of the Israeli military have committed war crimes.
00:54:21So ultimately, in almost every major conflict, including conflicts prosecuted by democracies, you will see individual members of the military, of militaries commit war crimes.
00:54:33And the way you judge a democracy is whether they hold those people accountable.
00:54:37But Israel has, that's my point, is we have not yet seen them hold sufficient numbers of the military accountable.
00:54:44And I think it's an open question whether they're going to.
00:54:46I'm really struck that you think.
00:54:48I don't know how can they believe that Netanyahu would go after some sort of investigation in what's going on in Gaza.
00:54:59Yeah, no, no, he's not.
00:55:01This is, the situation is worsening domestically for Netanyahu.
00:55:10Netanyahu, now that you've had both Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak, both former prime ministers, come out and say, hey, Israel's engaged in committing war crimes.
00:55:24Now, they're being dismissed as, you know, political opponents of Netanyahu, et cetera, and doing this for politics.
00:55:32But the fact of the matter is, their voice carries some authority.
00:55:37And even more importantly, you know, you're in trouble when Piers Morgan turns against you after he's been, you know, celebrating everything that Israel had been doing to defeat Hamas.
00:55:48That's a sign that the mainstream media or maybe British media is going against Israel or somehow they're changing their mind because they cannot get whatever they're asking.
00:56:04Well, again, with Britain, the number of Muslim migrants that now live in that country and are now part of the voting public.
00:56:18It's significant.
00:56:20So, naturally, they're going to start lining up against, there's a real split in the UK that it's going to sharpen.
00:56:31And it's going to sharpen in a way that those who are pro-Palestinian will overwhelm those who are pro-Israeli.
00:56:40So far, it didn't, it wasn't interpreted in a foreign policy of the United Kingdom.
00:56:45I mean, I don't know if in the future that would be the case.
00:56:49And Starmer is not in a good position right now.
00:56:52He's just so weak, I would argue, weaker than Macron in France.
00:56:58Well, he spent so much time in Ukraine, he should probably consider running for office in Ukraine.
00:57:07He'd probably actually get more support.
00:57:09He'd probably line up more votes for himself in Ukraine because he is now extremely unpopular.
00:57:15And, you know, the opposition that's coming from his own party and within his own party is significant.
00:57:22It's not to be discounted.
00:57:22Yeah.
00:57:25Larry, before wrapping up, you mentioned the fight between Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
00:57:31One of the very interesting points that during this fight has happened was the Elon Musk just saying, declaring that we need a third party in the United States.
00:57:44This doesn't work.
00:57:45I think many people want that.
00:57:48Many people want some sort of solution for what's going on in the United States.
00:57:52Do you feel that if Elon Musk considers that as a real issue for the U.S. policy, for the political system of the United States,
00:58:04the help coming from Elon Musk, which we know that would be crucial and important,
00:58:10could help to create a third party in the United States?
00:58:14Well, yeah, he'd add the financial resources to do it.
00:58:20You know, there's there are already you know, we've already got third parties, but none of them are really viable or have any kind of broad appeal.
00:58:28The Libertarian Party, there's this new group out called No Labels.
00:58:32But the entrenched bureaucratic interests that the two political parties, dominant political parties currently serve are destroying America.
00:58:48And frankly, I don't know if it's correctable without massive economic upheaval and possibly even a war.
00:58:55You know, Russia, you look at the transformation of Russia from what it was under the Soviet Union in 1991 to what it is today.
00:59:10And it is a night and day difference.
00:59:13Dramatic transformation.
00:59:14Well, that came about in part because of the utter collapse of the Soviet system in the 1990s.
00:59:24And, you know, the fact that the middle class in Russia almost disappeared in the 1990s,
00:59:31only 7% of the population was classified as middle class and the lifespan, life expectancy was declining from 63 to 56.
00:59:44And, you know, to get that kind of, you know, you're a scientist, you know,
00:59:48what that kind of decline mathematically signifies in terms of actually human beings.
00:59:53It's a horrendous number.
00:59:56So, it's going to take something like that to bring about change in the United States.
01:00:03And it's out of that kind of chaos that you could potentially get a third party.
01:00:08But, you know, right now there's so much pressure to protect the status quo that they actually create barriers for entry for the third parties.
01:00:20I think the case that you've mentioned is, can be considered about China as well.
01:00:27Look at what China is today and compare it to 20 years ago, 10 years ago.
01:00:31Yeah, yeah.
01:00:32It's unbelievable.
01:00:33Yeah.
01:00:34And it's, on the other hand, it's so much mind-boggling, so much unbelievable the way that the United States is just destroying itself.
01:00:44Right.
01:00:45And Russia is, Larry, after all, Russia is a very important player when it comes to Ukraine, Middle East, and Taiwan.
01:00:56I don't know when that reality can hit the decision makers in the United States.
01:01:05Donald Trump talking with Vladimir Putin, talking about Iran, one of the issues, Iran.
01:01:10China, Taiwan, everything, everything.
01:01:15But do you see any sort of future to the reality coming to the mind or somehow hitting the mindset of the people in Washington?
01:01:25Well, you know, look, that's the thing that's unfolding before us.
01:01:29You know, so you're living through a time that, you know, when you're my age, looking back, this period we're going through will be seen as the birth of a new economic and political order.
01:01:43One in which the U.S. leadership will have been basically stripped away, and the U.S. through a combination of its own actions, as well as its failure to respond appropriately to external actions, will have frittered away its status as the world's leading economic and military power.
01:02:08It's already no longer the world's leading military power, and its question from an economic standpoint is certainly up in the air.
01:02:19So, and that's where, you know, the United States is having a real difficult time coming to grips with the fact that it's no longer in control of the process.
01:02:33Thank you so much, Larry, for being with us today.
01:02:36All right, my friend.
01:02:37Always a pleasure.
01:02:39See you on Monday.
01:02:40I don't know what time that would be, but we're going to talk.
01:02:44We'll make it work.
01:02:45See you then.
01:02:46See you.
01:02:46Okay.
01:02:47Bye-bye.
01:02:48Bye-bye.