Jeffrey Sachs: The Inevitable War With Iran, and Biden’s Attempts to Sabotage Trump

Well, first of all, thank you. So many things have happened in. the last two weeks. I keep thinking, where's Jeff Sachs? I want to go. I wonder what this. means. So the most dramatic. and from my perspective, unexpected. thing that happened was all of a. sudden the government in Syria. changed. There was regime change in. Syria. Who did that? Why? And what does it mean? Well, it's part of a 30 year effort. This is Netanyahu's. war to remake the Middle. East. It's been a disaster. It continues to be a disaster.

But as Netanyahu himself. said, after. Assad left, we have remade the Middle East. And so it has to be understood as. something that didn't just happen. in a week, but has been an ongoing. War. Throughout the Middle East.

And maybe the right way to. understand what's happened with. Syria is to think. back to a really remarkable. occasion when Wesley. Clark, the general who headed. Naito. Yes. Went to the Pentagon just after 911. And famously he was. shown a piece of paper.

that said, we're going to have seven. wars in five years. And he was completely dumbfounded, said, What does this have to do with. anything? And he was told. that the neocons and. the Israelis are going to remake the. Middle East. And the seven countries on. the list are very telling. They would Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran. and then in Africa, Libya, Somalia.

and Sudan and. seven countries. We've been at war in six. of them now. And I mean, we the United States. on behalf of Israel, including. in Syria. And so what happened in Syria. last week was the culmination. of a long term. effort by Israel to. reshape the Middle East in its. image. That started with Netanyahu. and his American advisers in 1996.

in something called Clean Break, which was a political. document that the Americans and. Netanyahu made when Netanyahu became. prime minister. After 911, it went into. full gear with the Iraq. war as being the first of. those wars. Clean break. What does that refer. to? Clean break is we're going to make. a clean break of the Middle East. A break with the past. We're going to break with the past. We're not going to have land. for peace, which is. the idea that Israel would.

have a Palestinian state next door. No, we're going to have greater. Israel and we're just going to bash. anybody that doesn't like it. And we're going to do that by. bringing down any government. that supports the Palestinians. It's a rather shocking. amount of hubris. It has been, in my view, a complete disaster for the United. States and for the Middle East. It has been Netanyahu's.

M.O. since 1996, actually, and he's been prime. minister more than half the time. since then. And the United States goes to war. on his behalf. And what happened in Syria is the. culmination of. that effort. So seven wars. in five years. Netanyahu came to the U.S. in 19. In 2000, two excuse. me, after I. 911, actually, he came.

in September 20th, 2001, if I remember correctly, and gave a speech that said. there's terrorism, but you don't. fight the terrorists. You fight the governments that. backed the terrorists. That's the idea. So you go to war. You don't just have a kind of an. anti-terrorism effort. You go to war. And the first of those wars was. Iraq. But Syria was supposed to be exactly. the next war. And the timeline was this.

remarkable idea of seven wars. in five years, according to all of the. understanding that we now have from. lots of insiders, from. documents, from the archives. What happened was the US got bogged. down in Iraq. There was the insurgency. We didn't move onward. to the next war, which. was to be Syria, which was to happen. already 20 years ago. But in 2011,

what really brought Assad. down last week started under. Obama. And yes, and this. is also interesting. It doesn't really matter who's. president. This is long term, deep state policy. Obama ordered the CIA. to overthrow Assad. So that started in 2011. But why would Obama want to. overthrow Assad? Because.

Israel has run American foreign. policy in the Middle East for. 30 years. That's how it works. Now we have the Israel lobby. We have this. clean break strategy. We have a plan for. seven wars in five. years. And what's interesting is they. actually kind of carry. out this madness. They don't explain any of it to the. American people. They don't tell. anybody. But you can watch step. by step.

We've had six of those. seven wars. The only one that hasn't. happened is Iran. And if you watched every. Day. Now, the. MSM, the mainstream media's. is pushing for a U.S. war with Iran. Netanyahu's pushing for war with. Iran. They're really trying to get. this started to make seven out of. seven. But Obama, you know, for no. particular reason, by the way. But he launched.

two of these wars on the. list of seven. He launched the war to bring down. the Libyan government, Moammar. Gadhafi, in the fall. of or the war started. in March. 2011. And he and Hillary. Clinton, his secretary. of state, said Assad must. go in the spring. of 2011. I remember scratching my head.

at the time saying, that's. interesting. How are they going to do that? Syria was a normal, functioning country at the time, despite whatever. You read whatever propaganda. is said Syria was a normal, functioning country. I recently dredged out a report. by the International Monetary. Fund on Syria in 2009. that praised the Syrian government. for its reforms in its rapid. economic growth and look forward.

to continued years. of economic development. In other words, it was not this. wasteland or. this. battlefield. It was an actual. normal country. Was it a threat to the United. States? It was no threat to the United. States whatsoever, but it was deemed. to be by Netanyahu, a threat. to Israel because. of the simple reason, which. is that. Netanyahu wants to control.

all of Palestine, wants to rule. over the Palestinian people, does. not want a Palestinian state. And that has led to militant. opposition. That's led to Hamas, that's led to Hezbollah, that's led. to other groups. Netanyahu's theory is, well, we're never going to allow a. Palestinian state. So we have to bring down any. government that supports. those militant groups against us. because our core aim is. greater Israel.

That's not much of a worthy. cause, by the way. Having a Palestinian state next door. and having peace could have saved. probably a million lives by. now over the last 30 years. But that's not. Netanyahu's crazy ambition, which is what. Is greater Israel? Greater Israel means. depending on how. crazy the people are, either that. Israel controls.

not only its geographic. territory, but that. it essentially controls or. annexes the. West Bank. I do Golan Heights, which they've just enlarged, the Gaza. Golan Heights being part of Syria. Historically, it was part of Syria. It's claimed. by Israel and now. with an expanded territory. and East Jerusalem. So everything that was captured in. 1967,

Netanyahu explicitly said, we're never giving that back. Now, there are two motivations. for that. One, Netanyahu. says it's not safe to give it back. because he doesn't want to negotiate. any kind of peace. or any state of Palestine. Then there are. religious zealots. I would use even stronger. terms who use. I. The Book of Joshua, which is.

2700 years ago, that said, well, God gave us. everything from. from the river in. Egypt, meaning the Nile to the. Euphrates. And there are zealots in. Israel and there are in the. government who believe, yes, this is God's ordinance. We're going to take whatever we want. to The. Nile, to the Euphrates would include. what? Well, if you take the. if you take the greater. view of this, it would include.

Lebanon. It would include Syria, it would include part of Iraq. It would include part of Egypt. And some of these people. actually quote the. Bible and say, we're. going to do this. And it's. it's a little sad and absolutely. terribly frightening. But I'd say the more narrow. vision is what they call from. the river to the sea, from the. Jordan River to the Mediterranean.

That's taken as. a pro-Palestinian. chant. But it's exactly the opposite. It is the greater Israel. literal vision. of the government. of Israel. It's the literal idea. There happened to be 7 million. Palestinians there. That's a, you know, a minor. problem. I maybe. they can be ethnically cleansed. Maybe they can be thrown out. Maybe they can just be ruled.

in in a. military dominant way, of course. So probably. well over 100,000 have been killed. in the most recent. war by Israel. Official count, 45,000. bodies claim from. the rubble. But we know that there. are a lot more that have died. since this war. in Gaza began. But all of this is to say.

this greater Israel idea. says we can't. make peace with the. Palestinians. So anyone that supports the. Palestinians is. by definition a mortal threat. to us. And when you have a mortal. threat, you must destroy it. And so this is the opposite of. diplomacy. It's war. And as Netanyahu crowed last. week, it's war to remake. the Middle East.

It's all spelled out, by. the way, in very. clear ways. But you have to dig for them. You have to find them. You have to understand. that this is long standing. You have to understand that each. president has played. Part of that role. So when we come back to Obama, he started the war. with Syria in. 2011. I can remember. actually vividly the.

call that Assad. must go. And yeah, I. did scratch my head. I was actually I think it. was on Morning Joe when it was. said and I was asked by Joe. Scarborough, what do you think? And I said, well, that's pretty odd. How is he going to do that? Turned out it was going to be 13. years of mass. war, 300,000 dead. and destroying a country. That's what it turned out to be. But Obama signed an order.

called Operation Timber. Sycamore. People should look it up. You can find it online, but you. can't find it in the mainstream. media. And because it's not. discussed. But it was a so called. presidential finding that. the CIA should work. with Turkey, with Saudi Arabia, with others to overthrow. the government of Syria. So that was the plan. We went to war.

We had this. Is what led to Benghazi, correct? Benghazi is Libya. So Libya, I understand. Yes. But it was the same time. in 2000. Descending was the reason there were. so many American Intel assets. There was also removing. arms from Libya to. Sorry. Yes, if you say it, that was. one of the first things was. to establish. a ratline, so-called from. Libya to Syria. Absolutely. And Seymour Hersh wrote.

a terrific piece explaining. all of. That that was never explained. I mean, I worked at a news. organization at the time that made a. lot of the Benghazi and the death of. a U.S. ambassador. And, you know, what was the Obama. administration, you know, thinking They were so negligent, but. there was never any discussion about. what they were doing there in the. first place. No, none of this is explained. Of course, this is it's none. of the public's business. This is our business. We're the war machine. You stay out of this. So none of this is explained.

Interestingly, the whole. Syrian operation. I. I think I counted right. that The New York Times mentioned. Operation Kimber Sycamore, I think. three times in the 20 tens. So a war that caused billions. of dollars, hundreds of thousands. of lives. CIA operation, covert action. links with Libya never. explained, never discussed. And even when. the government falls last week,

no background given. You know, we're supposed to have. amnesia. We're not supposed to. understand that what happens. is the result of long term. plans that have been pretty. disastrous. I and. by the way, as I've said, Israel has driven so many. American wars. And we say. Absolutely. Yes, that's our greatest. ally. These have been at huge cost. to the United States, cost.

of trillions of dollars, cost. geopolitically. But somehow. we gave away our foreign policy. to Israel years and years ago, and it's been absolutely. devastating. And it's interesting to go. back and watch Netanyahu. speak to the American people. Go look at a video clip of 2000, one, 2002 in 2000, two in October. He comes and testifies in the. Senate. And there's a nice clip of him.

promising how wonderful. the war in Iraq is going to be. because a, Saddam. Hussein has weapons of mass. destruction. He says, I'm 100%. certain complete lies, by the way. And they knew that they. were lies at the time. And it's going to be wonderful. We're going to topple that dictator. and then dictators are going to be. toppled everywhere. And the young people of Iran are. going to rise up. This is his idea. Together with his US political.

consultants, together with. neocons in the US. government for the last 25 years, they have never apologized for. dragging the United States into. countless wars in the Middle East, spending trillions of dollars. running up U.S. debt and doing. what? Creating chaos. So just to go back to the. seven countries, because. it's worth remembering. Lebanon, it barely.

exists as a functioning country. right now. Syria, it's going to be. pick to pieces. Don't believe it. Well, it's obvious in what. we're seeing every day. Territorial integrity. Yeah. Israel has just invaded. from the southwest. into a deeper Syria, Turkey from the north. The Russia has its area. The United States and the Kurds. have their area. This this place is. just going to be a battlefield for. years to come.

Iraq, we know what happened with. Iraq, trillions of dollars, a complete. destabilization of the country. Look at the other three wars. The United States broke apart. Sudan. Why? Well, Sudan was. an enemy of Israel. So we have to break apart Sudan. So we supported the South Sudanese. Now we have the the real. trade factor, massive. civil war in Sudan. and massive civil war in South.

Sudan and which we broke apart. the country. And now there's civil war in both. halves of the country. Somalia basically. doesn't exist as a country. Libya, it doesn't exist. It's a battlefield. It's a war zone. So that's six out of six. And Netanyahu's crowing. Now we go on to Iran. You're a feel like you can't trust. the things you hear or read, like. every news source. is hollow, distorted or clearly. just propaganda lying to you.

Well, you're not imagining it. If the last few years have proven. anything, it's that legacy. media exists. to distort the truth and to control. you, to keep information from the. public instead of letting you know. what's actually going on. They don't want you to know. But there is so, however, a. publication that fights this. that is not propaganda. One that we read every month and. have for many years is call him. Primus. It's from Hillsdale College in. Michigan. And Primus is a free. speech digest that features. some of the best minds in the. country addressing the questions.

that actually matter, the ones that. are not addressed in the Washington. Post or on NBC News. The best part of it, it is free. No cost whatsoever, no strings. attached. They just send it to you. Hillsdale will send in Primus right. to your house, no charge. All you got to do is ask. Go to Tucker for hillsdale.com. and subscribe for free today. that's Tucker for hillsdale.com. The only way this stays a democracy. is if the citizenry is informed. You can't fight tyranny if you don't. know what's going on in Primus.

helps. It's free. Don't we sign up now? Who's paid? For all this. You have? I have. Of course. This is where does. $28 trillion of debt come. from? We've paid probably $7. trillion. If you add it up, according to. Brown University studies, for. example, something like $7. trillion has gone into this. Israel couldn't do this for one. day. Israel, You know, Netanyahu, We.

are lions. Yeah, right. You are liars. But we are the ones. funding you, arming you, paying. for all of this. That's the United States. And this is weird. to me because. we say yes to defend our ally. No, no, no. We're doing their. foreign policy, which makes no. sense. Which doesn't lead to any peace, which leads to. basically a war zone. across the Middle East.

And we say this is good for us. Why is this good for us? What what what's the United States. getting out of any of this? We haven't gotten anything out of. any of this except. massive geopolitical. isolation. The most recent votes in the. U.N., for example, put. the United States alone, alone with Israel. And I shouldn't exaggerate. We have Micronesia on our side. We have Nauru on our side with its. 12,000 people, maybe.

a couple of other countries. The whole rest of the world is. saying what is going on? Endless war in the. Middle East. Well, this is because. we're defending someone with some. seventh century B.C. vision of what. they want their country to be. We're Americans involved in the. overthrow of Assad last week. Of course they were, because this. has been an ongoing operation, whether they were involved in the. final days. I don't know.

They were involved in the in the. 13 years nonstop. I don't understand how. Actually, let me tell you an. interesting story, by the way. The war started in. 2011. It was called the it was. It was portrayed as. always, as the CIA does. as a a local. uprising and the freedom fighters. And it was said. this was Syrians protesting.

against Syria. That's always how. any CIA regime. change operation works. There may also be local opposition, but the CIA is the. did provides the armaments. It provides the flow of heavy. weapons. It provides the financing. It provides the training, it. provides the camps. It provides the political. organization. So this started in 2011. In 2012, there was. already a bloodbath underway.

and a lot of people dying and a lot. of civilians dying and a lot of. ancient historic. sites because this is the Fertile. Crescent. This is the birthplace. of humanity itself, of civilization. being destroyed. And so a. very senior global diplomat. that I knew very, very well. was tasked with trying to. Find peace. Peace. Nice idea.

Maybe we don't need the blood. bath. And I met. him in the spring of 2012, and he said. it failed. And said, why did fail? He said, well, we had a full peace. agreement, but it was. blocked by one party. alone. We had the different forces. in Syria, we had the regional. But it was blocked by one. who was a block by block by. the United States government. Why? Well, because their condition.

was that Assad must. go. On the first day of the agreement, rather than a political process, everyone else agreed on a political. process. But the United States said, no, no, this is regime change. Assad must go on the first day. And that was not possible. So that was the end of the attempt. at peace. So we should understand. this was an American. operation. But I never understood What I didn't.

understand and still don't. understand is why we're all required. to hate Assad. I'm not speaking for myself. I don't have strong feelings about. Assad one way or the other. Apparently he's protected the. Christians, so I'm grateful for that. as a Christian. But I. I don't know why am I required. to hate Assad? Tulsi Gabbard went and met with. Assad. She's been attacked ever since. Is anyone ever explained why. Americans should hate. Assad? Because every regime change. operation we ever do, we have to make sure.

that the opponent. is the worst villain. since Hitler or Hitler reincarnate. Some ophthalmologist from London, as. in, is a bloodthirsty. I never I didn't really. We have to say this and. this is part of the PsyOps. or the info war that goes. along with regime change operations. This is completely typical. And we're told if we don't stop. him now, it's only going to spread. And I. He'll be in Des Moines.

Exactly. Did this is. the Nicaraguans. We're going to be in Harlingen, Texas. Remember you know, this. is this is standard. fare. It's so pedestrian, such bad script writing. that you can't believe it's still. there. Why did some of The New York Times. just ask the obvious question, which. is, why am I supposed to hate Assad? Exactly. Why is it somehow. a test of my loyalty to the United. States? What I think of Bashar. al-Assad? Like, who cares?

Like what? That's such an that's such a core. question. I never heard anyone ask. that. Can I can I laugh when you. mention New York Times because. they won't cover. any historical background. of any conflict at. all, because. all of this is. aimed at a. free hand for. the security state, a free hand for the military. But why would The New York Times be.

parroting the security state? Well, I think that's. that that's a question that. goes back decades, partly. because it's staffed in. part by probably. people from the intelligence. agencies. We've known that for. years and know The. New York Times. Who we know in the past, the CIA just had reporters. on the payroll. I mean, whether they do or not now, I have no idea. So I'm not making a current claim. But we know that that's a historic.

fact. We know historically. that the with. very rare exceptions, The New York Times has just followed. the. the unnamed official sources. that this is the whole M.O. This a patriotic. newspaper. It follows what it's told. to do. And it doesn't ask. questions. It has not asked. any questions about any of these. wars in recent memory, not about Ukraine, not about. the wars raging.

throughout the Middle East. As I said, I think. there was one full page actually. about Operation Timber Sycamore. in 2016. You would think that something that. got us into a. war of 13 years. where we spent billions of dollars. were hundreds of thousands of people. died. Even at this stage there would be a. kind of page or. a box explaining the historical. background to this, but it didn't. exist.

I, I actually wrote, I have to. say, I wrote to one of the reporters. saying, Couldn't you mention a. little background? So. Very interesting idea, Mr. Saxe. So I'm waiting. You wrote to a New York Times. reporter. Well, I know these people for. decades. Yeah. And by the way, not only. do I know them and some. I like very much, by the way, and. some have been classmates of mine. a long time ago. And they they know.

things that they don't report. And that's also important to. understand that. what they will say in private is. the opposite of what their. newspaper says. And I mean literally the opposite. So that's. very worrying to. me because we operate. foreign policy in secrecy. I we do not have. any kind of democratic oversight. of foreign policy. There is no explanation of it. There's no accountability for it.

It's in a very few hands. It's not in good or. reliable hands. It's not explained. We gave over the Middle East foreign. policy to Israel a long time ago, not to U.S. interests, but to Israel's. interests. That is the Israel lobby. And we. we don't hear questioning. of this at all. Of course, not from the government, not from the Congress, not. from oversight by. any democratic institutions.

Nor does. the mainstream media, which fewer. and fewer people are interested in. because they don't. get any facts from it. Look into these issues. What happens next in Syria? Well, there will be continued war. And now the drumbeat is. for war with Iran. Anything is possible. Netanyahu dearly. wants the U.S. to go in and bomb Iran.

Probably some. of President Trump's advisers. will feel the same. The incoming administration. is a mix of old. school hard liners and. people with a very different. perspective. So there will be. an internal battle for the. heart and soul of the new. administration. But there will be some who say, yeah, now's time to carry on. The war has. blown and Hamas have. been weakened. Syria has fallen, the air defenses.

are gone. Now we can fly. and do in. Iran. Of course, all of this is. a profound delusion. And that's, I think, really important to understand. We've had six wars. so far Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and. Libya. Six out of the seven that were on. the list shown to Wesley Clark,

not one of them. has led to stability. to peace, even much. less to geopolitical. interests being solved. So I. it's not like we're. finding solutions to anything. Yes, it has allowed. at unbelievable. cost Israel to. hold on to the. West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and Gaza,

as if that's some kind. of grand strategic. aim of the United States. or justifiable in the face. of international law. and nearly global. opposition to such thinking. But it doesn't lead to any. answers. And there's no way. To, quote, defeat Iran. even if we went in and bombed. Iran. Iran has strong.

allies. Iran has Russia. and China as allies. Iran is part of the BRICs. Iran has a. military relationship with. Russia. Of course, we have even crazier. people who think we're going. to defeat Russia. But Russia has 6000. nuclear warheads, of. which 1600. are deployed. It has its new.

hypersonic. Arash. Nick, I. can't go ballistic. missile which travels. that Mach 11. It has other hypersonic. weapons. So, yes, we have people. in the U.S. who, in their. mental blindness, I. think about continued. escalation all the way to. nuclear Armageddon.

They really do. They're very ignorant people. and they're around in high. positions. And so when you ask what comes next? What comes next is. whether. President Trump can change. course. This is the most important. question facing the United. States. And there are. several different. Factions in Washington.

right now that are fighting. for. Ultimate say I. There's a piece by Mitch. McConnell, our octogenarian, who. is completely. living in a delusional. past, who has a lead. article in Foreign Affairs. magazine calling for America. to commit to. primacy. And he calls for a massive.

military build up to get ready. for. every kind of eventuality with. Russia and China. That's the old school. And it remains very powerful. And it's got very powerful. interests because it's. the biggest business in Washington, about $1.5 trillion. of annual spending for. the military machine. And Mitch McConnell absolutely. represents that. Then there are groups that say.

You know, we don't. really have. any fundamental. conflict with Russia and Russia's. no real threat to us. But China's the real threat. So we should end the war in Ukraine, something I completely agree. with. But we should do it so that. we build up and get ready for. the war with China. And this is kind of. the the middle ground.

Which is war with China. Well. Our country that manufactures all of. our antibiotics everywhere. Everyone is talking. about war with China. in Washington by 2027. And it's. so weird is. if we just are trying to. rush headlong into. complete destruction. But we have official documents. of a Navy strategy saying. we must prepare for war with China.

by 2027. We had a major article. in The New York Times, which I actually once. upon a time read with interest. But in any event, it was a story. about the Pentagon preparing for. war with China. And I, I wrote the. reporter actually, this is another. guy. I know these people for. decades. So I wrote the reporter. and I said, thank. you for writing that story. I was happy to read it now because.

there'll be no time to read it after. the war will be dead. So I'm glad that we. have the story now. And the reporter wrote back to me. right away said, Jeff, the. editor. I had put in three times. that the Pentagon doesn't want this. war, but the editor. took it out three times. and I don't really know why. And I didn't notice that in the. hurrying to finish the piece.

Yeah. Do you understand that? You're. You're one of our world's great. journalists. A person writing a front. page story about war. And she's written three times. The Pentagon doesn't want it. And the editor takes that out all. the time. And she didn't recognize. that. That's The New York Times. I don't I don't know even what that. means, but. Well, that's when you quit. I mean, you can't allow that. This is so amazing. But yes, there are. So there is a group gearing.

up for war with China. It's unbelievable. Nuclear superpower. with the much larger army. in their eye. on their shores. And the whole thing is is. beyond belief. Then there is a group. There actually is a group. That says, hey, we don't need war with anybody. We're not threatened. The United States is more. secure than at any. time in history and any time.

that a country could be secure. We had two big oceans. No one can attack us. We have every amount. of deterrence. China does not threaten. us and could not threaten us. And so what are we talking about? War. This way. Why are we in war. with Russia, in Ukraine? And that is a U.S. Russia war, as everybody should. understand. Why are we at war all over the. Middle East? And that is a U.S. war. We've got.

absolutely no. troops on the ground, in the. air, and we have troops on the. ground, of course, but we have. forces on the ground there, often. CIA or. covert. But yes, this is our wars. We're paying for them. We're financing them more, arming. them. We're the intelligence, if you can use that word. Why do we need a war in. with China? And so there are people who say, hey, why don't we make business.

advanced technology? I actually have. some attention to our economic. needs, not go bankrupt. in the process. And that group is also. part of of the Trump. incoming team. And this is. probably the most consequential. question that a country could face. is which of these different. voices will prevail in this. new administration? This time of year, we are focused.

on our families because we're apt to. be with our families celebrating. together. And it's the time of year where you. might ask yourself, what happens. when you're gone? What's left behind will. protect your family's future and. peace of mind with a product called. Policy genius. Policy genius has one goal to make. it easy to find and buy. life insurance so your. loved ones have something when. you're not here, something. they use to cover debts and. expenses. If something unexpected. happens because unexpected things.

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inauguration. And it does what doesn't seem. like it is a fact that the outgoing. administration is trying to. accelerate conflict to leave the. incoming administration. in charge of a bunch of different. wars, especially with Russia. I have to say, you know, my. I think the Biden administration has. been the worst of. our governments in modern history. And that's saying a lot because I am. a complainer. So I don't go generally. I don't generally praise.

administrations. I like to think of myself. as a responsible, tough grader. And I haven't given high. marks to any administration. from Clinton onward. I think they've all been failures. But Biden's administration. has been a complete. shocking disaster, which has brought us closer to. nuclear war, brought us. into more conflict,

didn't have one iota. of diplomacy. I don't count diplomacy, meaning you go talk to. a junior ally. I mean, diplomacy, meaning you talk. to someone on the other side to. figure out. How to appear to. Escalate. And. we know you. know very well and you heard. it recently from both. the Russian foreign minister. that our secretary of state. and the Russian foreign minister.

have not spoken at. all for years. This is the most mind. bogglingly stupid. approach to our security. and survival imaginable. And as far as we know. and this is what what, what. Lavrov said in his interview. with you. Biden and Putin have not spoken. once since. February 2022. It's just unbelievable.

to not even speak, to not try to understand each. other's position, to not discuss, to not try to find a way out. when Now the most accurate. assessment is that there are. at least a million Ukrainians. dead or severely wounded. since February 2022, and the United States hasn't lifted. a finger, not even one. time, to try to talk. to the other side.

So, yes, this has been a. shockingly terrible. government. Biden We don't know. really. You may know. I don't know whether. he's compos mentis. I don't know whether the. guy thinks I'm told till. four in the afternoon. He can still function to. some extent. I don't know if it's. true, but I know Jake. Sullivan, Anthony. Blinken. I regard as. complete failures.

Sullivan's job is our. security. He's not made us any more secure. He's made us profoundly insecure. And we're getting closer and closer. to nuclear war. And the only way we. avoid that realization. is to laugh away. Every statement. in President Putin said it again. today, by the way, that we are absolutely. mocking Russia's serious.

red lines. Is that really. for our security? That we don't have. a discussion about them even. And we're not. And everything. Yes. Is escalating. We see little. fires being set. all over the neighborhoods. of these war zones. And it's not only throughout the. Middle East and the drumbeat for war. with Iran. It's not only Biden.

authorizing the use. of long distance. strikes into. Russia, which as. President Putin has accurately. said and has not been. denied by the United States, are. actually U.S. strikes. And, of course, Russia. But this is incredible. How would we feel if. Russia were. attacking the United States? Would we say. And trying to kill the president? Yes, we are trying to kill Putin. What would we say? That's just fine.

Don't worry if Americans. are getting a little upset about. that. But that's literally. what Biden has approved. And then we see hotspots. around. You have to be, you. know, really into this to. be following them. But I in. the country of Georgia, in. the South Caucasus region, there is a little typical. regime change maneuver that's. been underway in recent weeks.

It will not succeed, but. it the aim was to destabilize. that region. The hand of the U.S. is absolutely clear. in that we see in Romania. another bizarre episode. where a presidential. election was in its second round. and the lead candidate was saying. we should end the war with Ukraine. And the Supreme Court. of Romania annulled. the election, claiming Russian.

interference. And so that candidate that was. calling for peace, I. could not win. election. We're seeing those kinds. of events all over. What are we seeing in South Korea. In South Korea? Of course, we saw something. that we don't understand that's also. mind boggling, which. was an attempted coup. by the president of. Korea, President Jung, who called out the military.

to surround and arrest. the the parliament. And ultimately the coup failed. and the president was thrown out of. office. But why he made that. coup is not. absolutely clear. And the US reaction was. bizarre. The US said were watching. with concern. That was all. It didn't say anything about restore. the constitutional order or. we're against the coup or anything.

else. And there was a. a a glimmer. of possible reason. I don't want to overstate. any certainty on this, because. this is, of course, also not. analyzed properly or made public. So we don't have the information. But the week before the. military action, the coup attempt, there. was a visit by.

the Ukrainian defense minister. for armaments from. South Korea, something that the. United States has been pushing. very hard for. The United States has been trying to. get South Korea to ship. arms to Ukraine because. the U.S. inventories are depleted. And you South. Korea, under its law, cannot. do so because it cannot ship. arms to belligerents that. are engaged in war. And the.

Parliament opposed it. The parliament president. does not have a majority in the. parliament or the former president. and the opposition. opposed the armaments. So there's some. possible relate. a relationship with this that. when young declared. martial law he said that. that the opposition was siding. with the North Koreans. That was his statement.

And some read that as. a way to clear the way. for South Korea to enter. the Ukraine war with massive. arms shipments. I don't know whether that's the. case, but it wouldn't surprise me. if that's the case. I maybe will find out. It happens that the acting. president was my first Ph.D. student at Harvard now. So I go back with him for. 44 years, which is nice.

Amazing. Yeah. Just a coincidence. That's amazing. I want to ask you, why. did Russia. stand aside as Assad. fell? I think that it. was a, first of all, a military choice. because Russia is. in the midst of a. very tough war. along a 1200. kilometer front. in Ukraine.

And it did not want. to divert any major. military effort. in in that direction. Second, the the. proximate reason why Assad. fell was that. the main military. backing of Assad was. Hezbollah forces and the. Iranian eye, the Iranian guard. And they had both been. Especially Hezbollah, had been.

very badly. mauled by Israel in. the last month and a half and had. pulled its reinforcements from Syria. to reinforce. Lebanese positions. And so Assad was left. without the backing of. Hezbollah forces, several thousand, which was the bulwark of his. military. I think a third reason. is that Russia doesn't think it's. leaving Syria, that this isn't.

the end of the story. And immediately. the supposed new force. in Syria, the. Egypt's said that. it wants Russia to stay. and to keep its bases in Syria. Russia has a naval base. and a small one and a. and an airfield. And Russia has re. deployed its forces. from within Syria to both. of those bases, but is probably not.

leaving. So I think from a. probably a strategic calculus. for Russia just regards this as a. a temporary. step on a. on a path to continued. conflict and that there was this. was not the time to get. into another major front. Yes. And that that would be my. my assessment. So we've got a little over a month. between now. and the inauguration. Clearly, as noted, the Biden.

administration is trying to make. decisions that are revokable and. deepen the war between the United. States and Russia and then all these. other things. If you were the Trump people right. now before the inauguration, what would you be doing? Well, I would. first be clear. under under the Constitution, Biden. is president till January. 20th. I think it's right to say. that Biden should not.

put America into. further insecurity. He's done enough damage. And so I think it's. right for every. political figure to say. to Biden, you're at the end of your. term and the. world is very dangerous. You do not have a mandate to. increase the danger. You should never. have authorized. the use of attack arms.

and other U.S. missiles in deep strikes. into Russia. Stop further. provocations now. So I hope that politicians. of both parties and. I think President Trump can. also make this clear, it's. not to take over the government. until January 20th. But Biden. Absolutely, in my view. is. without the.

Legitimacy to. further endanger us. And they should prevent. any actions. From abroad that threaten American. security, of course. But I don't see those happening. I think the biggest risk. right now is continued US. provocations of the kind that. we've been discussing in. Ukraine, in the Middle East, in the periphery. of Russia, in the. Far East.

Stop any further provocations. The idea of. somehow tying. Trump's hands is completely. illegitimate, constitutionally. and politically, and. it's a disastrous approach. We're not playing a game of two. people or a game of two. administrations. We're trying to survive. at a time of. perhaps maximum global.

peril right now. So just to say. most. Experts that look at this think. we're closer to nuclear war than. we have ever been. And I refer. often to the doomsday clock of. the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which is the graphic. to demonstrate how close or how. far we are from nuclear war. And that doomsday clock. puts the clock at 90s. to midnight, which is the closest.

to nuclear. Armageddon that it has ever been. since the clock was first. rolled out in 1947. So I think it behooves. those. people who are making the decisions. in the Biden administration. to stop imperiling. Americans at this point. and to understand that. their job right now is to keep. things stable, to give.

power over to President Trump. on January 20th, 2025. One of the promises. of the new administration is massive. declassification. of pardons for these. If it could only be. This would change so. much. One of the things that I'm. interested in learning about is 911, because I think it's important to. understand why that happened.

And I think my guess is that. one of the reasons so many documents. from 911 are still classified 23. years later, It's hard to imagine. why is because they tell. a more detailed story about. why al Qaeda struck the United. States. And it seems clear it was a response. to that. And I'm not defending it, of course, obviously, but it was still cause. and effect. And the cause was American foreign. policy was response to that. Hey, do you think that's true?

And B, if it is. true, then. How afraid should we be about future. terror attacks given what. we've been doing? Well, let me say something about. declassification. We had one and. only one close. look at the CIA. in its entire history. of the last 77, 74. And that was actually. 74, 75. It'll be the 50th anniversary.

this coming year of the. Church committee. It was the only time. that there was even a partial. look inside what. the CIA had been doing. What they uncovered was. a viper's nest of. stupidity, evil. disaster, and. of course, the unbelievable. unaccountability. they uncovered, of course, say,

numerous assassination plots. They uncovered an absolutely. shocking and awful. program called MK-Ultra, which was a. look. at a massive. warped program to, you know, for trying. for mind control where they took. innocent people, vagrants. off the streets of Times. Square and shot them.

up with drugs or drove. them to suicide. through sleep deprivation, every kind of shocking. thing you can't even make up. And that made for great movie. series like the Bourne series, which. is about MKUltra, in fact. Now, that was 1975. We've gone 50 years. Of further. secretive operations.

I mentioned one of them. by the timber. Sycamore. But that's one of many. I've seen many. Myself by accident because. I'm not in the security field. I'm an economist, but. I'm around lots of governments. I'm all over the world. I've seen coups with my own eyes. I've seen the U.S. role in these. coups. I've seen things that are absolutely. disgusting. Not because people are showing me.

the secret documents. I don't even want to see those, by. the way I see them. because I happen to be told. or shown. No. Walked around the Maidan soon. after a coup. overthrew Yanukovich, and people explained things to me, which I found completely. awful about American complicity. in all of this. I had a president. in. In the Western Hemisphere.

say to me, Jeff, they're going to. take me out. And I said, No, no, no, no. We're going to. Everything's going. to be fine. And they see, I. took them out in broad daylight. And so. we have no. Review of any of this. We have gone to war. repeatedly on false. pretenses. We have gone to war repeatedly. in so-called covert operations. that are not covert to.

the people being affected. Well, that's right. But we. just hear denials. We hear stupidity from. from The New York Times, a. complete imbecility. childishness that they don't want. to ask any single question. What about the maiden? What was the U.S. government doing there? Well, it's easy. enough to find out. what were the decisions. taken in. overthrowing various.

regimes. What about a number. of the assassinations that we have? Every forensic. reason to know were. Conspiracies that the US. never allowed to be understood. Whether any of this is ever found. I don't know. But if it is, it. would change the course of America. back to a true. republic. Because what happened in this. country is that we. were overtaken by.

the security state. and we became a system. of confidentiality. and unaccountability. And it's a big, massive machine. And a lot of people are paid. to keep quiet or to. salute whatever. the military industrial complex. or the intelligence agencies. are doing without asking questions. Because when you have $1.5. trillion a year spent on.

that, they're pretty big business. And it has affected. the universities. Think tanks, of course, the Congress, which asked no. questions of any serious kind. And so major, major events of. fundamental significance. for our insecurity. take place without any truth. telling at all. So all of this is to say. it may be the most important.

thing that President Trump could do. would be to open up. the historical record so that we. understand. What has really happened because. we are 90s. to midnight. We are closer to. nuclear war than ever. We have a military machine. in the service of the Israel lobby. or in the service of the. military contractors or in the. service of the Deep State. on its own or for whatever. other crazy.

idea. And we just don't have. Democratic deliberation. or accountability about. this, But we could. If we did. We would change the direction of. this country. For 35 years. Liberty Save has been the number. one manufacturer of safes. made in this country, American. made from start to finish. They make high quality gun safes. I've got one vault doors, home. safes, handgun vaults, whatever.

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to be making certain that the. intelligence community, the ICI, is operating in accordance with the. Constitution of the United States. That's their job. They don't they obviously. don't do their job. But what they do is very. interesting. Our system of government is. is actually rather ingenious. It's ingenious because you can buy. a piece of government at very low. cost If the military. industrial contractor is just.

buy off a couple committees, that's enough because they're the. only ones that have responsibility. Yes. If the health insurers just. buy off the health. committees in the House and the. Senate, that's enough. If the Israel lobby just gets its. hold on a. couple of committees, they run. American foreign policy in the. Middle East. So what I have found to be ingenious. about our completely corrupted. political system is how. inexpensive it is to buy.

your corner of the story. You don't control everything. No one controls everything. But if you want to control health. care, it's a couple committees. If you want to control. the military industrial machinery, that's just a couple of committees. And so there is. no oversight and there won't. be oversight until there is public. oversight. Nobody oversees themselves. And the idea that a few. congressmen and I know some of them,

that they're really constraining. anything that the. CIA or the intelligence. community does. No way. Let me let me we've talked about it. before, but. Well, there but that's they're. puppets of it. They're completely and they're. they're funded. They need. Some scrutiny. They're funded by it. They're puppets of it. There are almost no independent. members of our Congress. Everyone almost everyone.

is on the take. Rand Paul is my one exception. I think he's the most principled. member of our Congress. in both houses. He really believes. in honesty and small government. and wants to know the truth. and give. I'll give an example of the complete. lack of oversight in something we. may know, something we talked about. Okay, where did that pandemic come. from? The evidence is now overwhelming,

though still not definitive. that it was made in a U.S. lab. This is overwhelming. Even the report of the House. committee that. issued a report. a couple of weeks ago says, yes, there was obviously a lot of. cover up and and a lot. of unanswered questions and. a lot of engagement of us scientists. in this. And we know that the US. government lied up the. wazoo on all.

of the question. of the origin of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that made the pandemic. and has lied until today. We know that the intelligence. agencies know a lot that. they haven't said So. this is another area. Could we actually have. some some honesty? Could we actually have some. transparency? Could we actually look at. something where a pandemic. took perhaps 20 million. lives worldwide?

Where'd that come from? Especially since the evidence. is now overwhelming. that it was a laboratory creation. with U.S. scientists and US funding. playing a huge. For one this. Do you think the new president. will pardon Edward. Snowden and Julian Assange? No. Snowden is a remarkable person. I don't know Julian Assange. I do know Edward Snowden. And he is an. absolutely remarkable.

person. And. yes, he is a hero. because he told us what the. government was actually doing. towards us. And of course, the security state which. really runs America. Therefore, I. immediately branded him as the worst. villain. But we found out. more from Snowden about. the risk to our freedom. than from just about anybody else.

And Julian Assange, you know, I know almost. every day I. Invoke a memorandum. that he enabled. me to see and you. to see and all of us to see. That explains. The Ukraine war. better than anything. else. And Julian Assange. Deserves all of the credit for. this. And it's also an interesting.

story, if I may just say, in one. minute. I our current CIA. director, William Burns, in 2008 was the. US ambassador to Russia. And when he was U.S. ambassador to Russia, he understood. completely perfectly. that the U.S. push to expand NATO's to. Ukraine was disastrous. Pure provocation, crossing Russia's red lines, likely to create a civil.

war inside Ukraine. and a possible war between the. United States and Russia. And he wrote a memo. back to Condoleezza Rice, who. I our secretary. of state. And the memo said. that the entire Russian. political class. opposes NATO's. enlargement and for real reasons. And that memo famously.

became known as nyet. Means yet no means. no. Don't play games with this. This is real. This is a red line. Okay? Something like this. should be understood by the American. people. We've just spent. around $200 billion. We've just caused deaths. of perhaps 6 or. 700,000 Ukrainians. and completely false. pretenses and false. pretenses. That, as The New York Times has.

wrongly stated unendingly. that the war in Ukraine was, quote, unprovoked. Not only was it provoked, the US provoked it. And not only that, our senior. diplomats knew that. knew that at the time and wrote. about it. Now, this memo. makes this perfectly clear. Anyone can go online and type. William Burns. Nyet means nyet cable. and you will come up with this cable. and then you can read why.

in 2008, we knew. that the deep state push for NATO. enlargement was. mind bendingly stupid, dangerous, provocative. and likely to get us into disaster, which it did. How do we even see that memo? Do you think that a congressional. committee called Condoleezza. Rice and said, Could we have the. documentary evidence to understand. the choices you're making? Of course not.

There's no oversight. when it comes to security issues. We are already. in a security state that has. no resemblance to democracy. whatsoever. But Julian Assange. Enabled us to see it. So we have to express. gratitude for that. This is the truth. If you don't want leaks, don't have a world run. Where every consequential. fact is hidden from the American.

people. And it enables one. disaster after another. And just to make clear. how disastrous this is. Bill Clinton, who was, in. my view, a completely ineffectual. president in the long list of. ineffectual presidents, came. to office in 1993. when the Doomsday Clock. was at 17 minutes. from midnight, meaning. that it was the farthest away. from nuclear war in.

the whole history of the nuclear. age. Every single president, starting with Clinton, brought. the Doomsday Clock closer. to Armageddon. So we went from 17 minutes. to midnight to 90s. to midnight with no accountability. or explanation at all. Do you think it's fair to say that. anyone who opposes pardons. for Edward Snowden and Julian. Assange. should be looked at with suspicion.

or is actually an enemy of the. country? Well, I think that they may. just be ignorant or don't understand. or maybe they're New York Times. readers. You know, in other words, there are. there are a lot of people who. really don't understand. the situation right now, don't. understand how dangerous it is, don't understand how lawless. it is, don't understand how. we're driven by. these long term aims. that are absolutely disastrous.

I thank Mitch McConnell, by. the way, for writing his essay. that the goal is primacy. Too late. If if our goal is primacy. and we pursue that like. this octogenarian who. can barely function anymore. says we should will all get. blown up. We'll move from 90s to midnight. to 60s to midnight to 30s. to midnight and goodbye. Because we can't have a. world where the United States says.

we're in charge of everything. If you aim that way, we will end up with. World War three. That will not go well. Well, we're we're begging South. Korea for munitions. So the truth is, we don't have the. power to affect that anyway. But, you know, this is. the interesting thing. Already. You could know back in. 2014, don't overthrow the Ukrainian.

government. You could know in. 2015, honor. the Minsk agreement that would. end the war. You could know in 2021, negotiate with Russia. because actually. Ukraine. Okay. I won't even say Ukraine. The United States cannot win a war. in Ukraine against. Russia. We knew that. But these are not. clever people. Jake Sullivan is not a clever. person. They don't understand.

They're like terrible poker. players that somehow. are sitting at, you know, the. grand slam of poker. They don't know what they're doing. and they're bluffing and they're. betting and they're doubling down. with our money, by the way. You know, and so, yes, you could know this. primacy thing. Come on. This is what does it even. mean in a world of multiple. nuclear superpowers? What does it even mean? It means we just ignore all of that.

till we're all blown. to smithereens. No, but you know, Mitch McConnell's. barely functions anymore. But he's got the big story. in foreign affairs about how we need. to preserve primacy. So there are there's. a lot of momentum. and ignorance and. deep state arrogance. Who the hell are you to tell us you. don't even read the secret files? You know this. This is so really where.

we have been for a very long. time. Since 1991. The Deep state, the CIA. and others have been trying to. defeat Russia. Since 1991. Netanyahu has been with. American military. remaking the Middle East. It's been a disaster on. both fronts. It's made America. drastically less. secure. But they continue this. group in power and there.

is a chance. That President Trump could change. this. This is the most promising. single reality. of his government if. he chooses. Rightly, he has to understand he's. got a completely divided. team and he's got a completely. divided landscape in Washington. And I think he knows. the deep state is not. going out with a whimper. It's so it's going to fight.

for its prerogatives. Are people, you know, worried about. a terror attack in the US? I don't know. They don't tell me. And I and I'm. I'm frankly, myself. more worried about World War. Three. Yes. So you said the president has. assembled a divided team. One person who I think is pretty. close to his stated. objectives on foreign policy is. Tulsi Gabbard. Yes. Who he's nominated to be. director of national intelligence.

The entire Senate Intel Committee. appears to be against her. I think every member. And that shows that she. is completely underrated. That's exactly right. Do you think she'll make it? How important is it that she make. it? She's probably and I don't want to. jinx anything. She's probably the most important. appointment of of the Trump. administration. Does seem that way. She is incredibly intelligent, incredibly honest, incredibly. committed to U.S.

security and. would do a superb job. So that's why. she's being opposed, because. she. The the forces that be. that are worse than mediocre, that are right now on. top of the $1.5. trillion a year machine. that have been running disastrous. wars, that have been. bringing us closer and closer. to doom.

Don't want any. accountability. And what Tulsi Gabbard would. represent is. competence, honesty, forthrightness and. not having been a party to all. these failures. So if you're the incoming. administration, how hard do you. fight for her nomination? Well, she's critical because. this is the most important question. facing the United States today. We have many important questions.

We have major. financial, social, political, economic, institutional. questions. But the most important question. facing us is, is a. country that potentially is. more secure than any country. in the history of the world going. to do itself in by. itself provoked World. War three, and we're on. that course. And five presidents have been on. that course through their. incompetence and their obedience.

to an unaccountable. deep state. And President Trump. is coming in saying that he's going. to change direction. He says every day. that he wants to be. president for peace. By the way, I think the greatest. thing that could happen is for Nobel. Peace Prize is for President Trump. He could end the war in Ukraine. He could end the war in the Middle. East, not by bombing Iran. That would do the opposite, but by. enabling a.

two state solution in. the Middle East. And the wars would. all end. He could end the. talk of the war in. East Asia, which would be the utter. disaster and folly. by recognizing that. we shouldn't be meddling in China's. internal affairs. And Taiwan is an internal. affair of China. And he should be. restoring a framework.

of nuclear arms control. I give him four Nobel Peace. Prize just for that. If he chooses that direction, he'll. be the most consequential president. in our modern history, perhaps. in our history, because he will. reestablish security for the. American people. If he follows the hardliners, we're just he's just going to. add yet another. eight years of bringing us closer. to doom. How how is the Ukraine more settled? The Ukraine war is settled literally.

in one call, just as he says, because all he has. to do. Really all he has to do. is pick up the phone and. call President Putin and say, you. know, that 30. year effort. to expand Naito. to Ukraine and to Georgia. was ridiculous, unacceptable, unnecessary provocation. and it's led us to. this juncture.

I'm against it. I'm going to say it publicly. We're going to end this adventurism. And you stop fighting today. and the fighting will stop that. moment, actually. Then there will be the. there will be details. And the details are where. the borders will be drawn. Exactly. But the war will end. The war will not end, by the. way. By saying let's. have a cease fire. That's a meaningless statement.

As you heard repeatedly from. Foreign Minister Lavrov. And as I know, when is that anyone. thinking about this knows. this isn't about a cease fire. This is about a cause of this. war. And the cause of this war is. that Russia does not want. the U.S. and its missile systems. on its 1200. kilometer border. with Ukraine right now. And Biden was so.

stupid. And I'm using the term, of course, it sounds I don't know. how it sounds, but it's true. that he couldn't say that. And avoid the war, though, was. obvious how to avoid this. war. Obvious how to avoid. this war. But Biden couldn't do it. He was. That's why I say he's been such. a terrible president. And. I think that President Trump. wants to do it this way. Now, again, he's. got people around him of.

many different views. Some say promise. him. Just ask for a cease fire. Freeze the conflict Armistice. Korean solution, 1953. This is completely. beside the point. Russia is going to freeze the. conflict. It's actually winning on. the ground. But why is it fighting? It's fighting because it does not. want this regime. which was installed by the United. States in 2014.

to have U.S.. Bases, NATO's U.S. weapons and. missile systems on its border. And the fact that Biden just proved. the point by saying, yeah, we'll. fire the missiles into Russia, make. it all the more clear why they're. concerned about this. This isn't an idle threat. This isn't some dumb thing. This is they're being hit right. now by US missile. systems, by us, by U.S. personnel firing.

these missile systems. So it's not an idle threat. So people who say freeze. the conflict, they don't get it. People say and there was. an initial statement I. naito will not. enlarge for at least. x years. Somebody said ten years. Somebody said 20 years. This is also completely. ridiculous. Then another idea. Well we'll give Russia. this territory, Donetsk.

and Lugansk and maybe Hirshon. and zap Russia and. Crimea, but all the rest. of Ukraine will be part of Naito. Of course not. It's the same deal. This is ridiculous. So if you understand what. this is about, where it came. from, why it continues. to this moment. There is one phone call. that ends it, which is get. to the underlying cause. of the war, the underlying. cause of the war, going back to a.

decision that Bill Clinton made. in 1994. is the decision to expand. NATO's to Ukraine. And by the way, they want to expand. it to the South Caucasus, to. Georgia, which is also in turmoil. right now. It's very interesting, Tucker, that I, Zbigniew Brzezinski, spelled this out. to the letter in. 1997, and it's fascinating to read.

his account. All wrong. He got it completely wrong. But he spelled it out. And what he said was. in his book. The Grand Chessboard in 1997. We should expand. Naito eastward. We should expand Europe. eastward and we should ask. the question what will Russia. do? Russia won't like it. So Brzezinski spends a whole.

chapter. What will Russia. do? And he asks the question, Well, could Russia ever align. with China? Nope. That's not going to happen. Could Russia ever align with. Iran? No, that's not going to. happen. Russia's only choice. is to accede. to the US action. So in 1997. it was perfectly clearly. understood. What is the strategy?

What are we going to do and. what will happen? The only problem is it was wrong. This is the only problem. He got it completely wrong. And you can go back. To his credit, he wrote his. prediction. It's wrong. But why are we still playing that. game until today? Why did Biden exactly. continue on that failed. course? Because he's a failure, that's why. Because he didn't. understand. Because he's surrounded by.

mediocrities at best. The Biden administration has tried. to kill Vladimir Putin. That's a fact, I think. And they funded separatist groups. within Russia, probably going. back before Biden. Well, this has been, by the way, CIA. ops to. to have separatist groups. everywhere. And fascinating, just if. I could mention, because it's it's. almost humorous, except that it's so tragic. There was a I.

don't remember the exact name, but. something around 1998. called the Chechnya Friendship. Committee. Chechnya. Okay. Burning issue for the United States. I dare 1 in 1,000,000 of your. listeners to know exactly. where Chechnya has in its history, because who knows? Who cares? But if you look at the Chechnya. Friendship Committee, it was. the blue ribbon committee. of American neocons. Just big Brzezinski right there. Everyone wants.

the hard line. Why they couldn't. care for one iota. of a moment. about Chechnya. Of course not. They wanted to break up Russia. Everything is antagonism. So they fund Islamic extremism. So they funded the jihadists. everywhere. And by the way, it's not even. it's we made al. Qaeda I think everyone understands. this. We made Osama bin Laden. We made this.

the overthrow in. Syria, where they're saying, my God, it's it's. why do you think this was. what Obama tasked. in 2000, 11, 12. jihadists? So what would happen if. they succeeded in killing Putin? I mean, what I. don't understand why that would be. in America's interest to. have 6000. nuclear warheads unsecured.

floating around in a country that's. 20% Muslim and very complicated. and like that seems like the last. thing that you would ever want to do. when he's the most pro-Western. leader in Russia. Let let let me address it in a. in a little bit different way. In the last year, the leaders of. Hamas wanted. to make peace with Israel. and their political. negotiator was a. man named Haniya.

What did Israel do when the peace. feelers came out? They assassinated. him to make sure. that there would be no attempt. by Hamas to make peace. Nasrallah of Hezbollah. For real? For real. They that he's the one. that they killed at the. inauguration. Yes. I remember he was. He was the political negotiator. for Hamas. And they wanted to try.

to find a peace. Israel. Hates the idea. that there would be negotiations. with Hamas. The idea is to. remake the Middle East through war, not through a peaceful negotiation. Then Nasrallah in. a in Hezbollah. wanted to make peace. with with. Israel. What did they do? They killed him. Of course, this is.

this is a basic point. Kill the peacemakers. This is very important to. understand. You assassinate the people. that might want to negotiate. And we this. Is this was something that JFK. learned, I think, the hard way. Well, this is. the modus operandi of. the CIA and it's the modus. operandi of Mossad. and it's the modus operandi of. this deep state,

which is you're not. aiming for peace. You're aiming for primacy. You're aiming for dominance. You're aiming to remake the. region in your image. You're resisting any. call for. compromise. Yitzhak Rabin, when he wanted to. make peace, he was assassinated. I killed the. peacemakers. But what we know. is that this is state. action.

We know this in the United States. killed the peacemakers. We know it. Of Mossad. Rise and kill. And they've done it repeatedly. in front of our eyes. So it's not the harshest. enemy you try to kill. It's the one that. threatens you. Not with war, but with diplomacy. That's what they dislike. They don't want peace. They want primacy. This is really a different thing. Where is it getting us? Since the whole thing is completely.

delusional, it's getting us. closer and closer to nuclear. annihilation. How could anyone think he'd. killed the president of a nuclear. superpower? Of course, it's. It's the most mind boggling, wrongheaded idea. I have no information about. that. What I do have information. about is the ones that they actually. kill. By the way, I also. know through lots of. Lots of discussions and.

I can't go into all of them. because I just have been. lucky to have. I mean, fascinating. discussions. Iran has been asking. for peace and for. reaching out to the Biden. administration for the last. two years. How do we take that? They must be vulnerable now. We must kill them. That's the idea. It's so weird.

Iran is reaching out for peace now. Iran has been for two years. There have been peace. I talked to an intermediary. recently. I've talked to many. diplomats in the last. in in most recent months. By the way, there's a astoundingly. my God, an astoundingly. insightful. episode that was reposted. of PBS NewsHour. I with. Robert MacNeil interviewing.

Henry Kissinger and. Jack Matlock in 1994. So this is the 30th anniversary. of this show. And the show was on NATO's. enlargement. And Matlock, who was the. U.S. ambassador to the Soviet. Union, a wonderful diplomat. and a very, very smart, fine man, was saying. in 1994, don't provoke. We have peace now. Don't expand.

Naito We've said we won't. We shouldn't. And if Russia. ever becomes belligerent again, of course we would reconsider. and take action. But right now there's no. belligerency. There's there's no reason. to provoke Kissinger. It is incoherent, actually, which is unusual. But Robert. McNeil kind of can't. even fathom what Kissinger.

saying until Kissinger finally. stumbles out with. the statement. And I won't get it exactly right. But he says something to the effect. if you can't provoke Russia. when they're weak, how are we. going to provoke them when they're. strong? And it's just such a weird. idea that there's no. moment when you could actually. try to make peace, because if. they're weak, definitely don't make. peace. Because if you try not. to provoke them, then, well, then. you won't be credible when they're.

strong. And so the idea is you always. must be aggressive. So Kissinger was saying in 1994, of course we need to expand Naito. And yes, Russia won't like it, but they're weak now, so they can't. resist later on, by the. way. He came to understand. that expanding NATO's to Ukraine was. just too far. He actually did reach that. understanding in 2015. But watching him in 2004. is very interesting because. 2004 was.

the year that the decision was. made. And this is also something very. important to understand about our. foreign policy. It's not that a president. comes in and then we have a new. foreign policy and then another. president. We have a new foreign. policy. These things are very. deeply set courses. These wars in the Middle East go. back 30 years, this. war against Russia. Actually goes back to 1945. at the end of World War Two, but in.

the current version goes back to. 1991 and by. plan to 1994. when Clinton laid out the. NATO enlargement and then Brzezinski. spelled it out for the. public in 1997. But it was decisions already taken. So we can watch Kissinger. in 1994 explaining, yeah, Russia's weak, take advantage. of them. It's this is the time. to take advantage of them. This is what gets us into such.

unbelievable insecurity. We could be the safest people. in the world, in history. No one could conceivably attack. us. And yet we're 90s. to midnight. Do you have any expectation that. will change? I'm counting on President. Trump to change this. I think his his. instinct is right. I think his sense is right. I think he doesn't like war. I really do.

You know you know. He doesn't he. He displayed that in the first term. And he said that repeatedly. Now, this is the best. thing we have going for us. Now, in his first term, he. hired a lot of. very irresponsible people. that like war or. that like. duplicity or that like. the Deep State or that like, accountability. Unaccountability like John Bolton. I want to make least favorites.

among all of these. Fair And and. and Trump hired them. So the question now, is it. probably not his deep sense, which I think is absolutely right, but now his tactical sense. inside the U.S. government. Please don't let. the Deep state continue on a path. that it's been on. And don't let the normal.

hard liners, because Washington. is filled with people who have. been on the payroll. of the military industrial complex. Their whole careers don't. let them dominate. Policy. And the incoming administration. is such a. A mix right now. And we see that the. clarity of those who. want to control this, how. hard they're being,

you know, how harshly they're being. opposed like Tulsi. Gabbard. Or let me say Bobby Kennedy, though. his department. is. Health. But he understands. this peace side as well very. clearly. These are the ones that they're. fighting because we. have been for, I'd say again, 30 years. at least, and arguably. basically 80 years since. the end of World War Two.

On a particular jab, which. at least Mitch McConnell. does a disservice of naming by. its name, which is primacy. And if we continue on that course, the Trump will fail. and the United States will be. gravely endangered. And if he reverses that course, say, he stands to be. a great an historic president. Because there's so much at stake. You sort of wonder what. The people who oppose that kind of. reform would do. And the national security state has. been willing, eager to use.

violence abroad again and again. and again, murdering people, as I said, trying to murder Putin. Would they? Or are you concerned that they would. be willing to use that domestically? I think there's no doubt that. they've used assassinations. at home. I'm of the view. that JFK was the first. clear case of that at home. I this is a long, long story. And some people roll. their eyes at it.

But I've spent too. much of my life reading, studying, examining this. I think it's quite. arguable for. Bobby Kennedy the same way. And I don't think that there have. been scruples inside. About keeping prerogatives. At the same time, the situation is. better now in one regard. 30 years of failure.

So it's not as if the. course that we're on. is giving us. these great benefits. The United States needs. to change course for our. own security. We need to change course for our. own finances. Were not in good shape. in this country. Yes. When. 75% or so. of Americans repeatedly say. America's on the wrong track,

they're correct at that. And they say that. Now, that's the latest Gallup. Findings and they're. completely right. So this is not. the exuberance. and I would say the hubris. of 1991. And I was there then. I. As an. economic specialist and an. adviser. Unpaid and informal, but an. adviser to President Gorbachev.

and an adviser to President Yeltsin. and an adviser to Ukraine's. President Kuchma on how. to stabilize their. desperately destabilized. economies and how to move. to market systems. And the United States. was not interested in. peace. We had this hubris. that history had ended. We had won, and now. America would run the show.

The difference today is that. we're 33 years. after the end of the. Soviet Union. We tried the neocon approach. for 30 years. Now we have engaged in all. of Netanyahu's wars. We went to war in Ukraine. Everything that was predicted. has been proved wrong. The neocons failed time. and again. They didn't remake.

Afghanistan. They didn't remake Iraq. They did not remake the Middle. East. They did not. call Putin's bluff. and enter. a Ukraine with Naito. They did not enter. Georgia with Naito. They completely. misjudged how we. would push the rest of the world. into unity, as I mentioned, with Big Brzezinski saying. Russia will never side with China.

on this, while of course, he got. wrong. The most fundamental. diplomatic change of our. age, the rise of China, and. the creation of. a group that does not want. US hegemony and. a group that is increasingly. integrated in production. and military and security and. diplomacy. So we are. at a time where the failures. are self-evident.

If people open their eyes and the. American people know it, in fact. So it's not even convincing the. American people. It's it's worse than you think. No, they know. They want they want. their own. Problem solved. Yeah. How about jobs? Some housing, reduced crime. in my neighborhood. Keep the inflation down. Could you keep the debt from. destroying American public finances? They're not interested in. Mitch McConnell's primacy. continuing. He's an octogenarian.

Go, Don, you're. You're done. It's time for something different. So in this sense, it's. really possible for. this administration, this incoming. administration, to change course. because it doesn't require. a massive public education. It requires honesty. It requires seeing down. the deep state internally. It requires making sure. that the key appointments that want.

competence, honesty and security. for America actually get. the job. And of course, it requires. President Trump. following through on his. profound main insight, which is that there is no reason. for war with Russia. There's no reason for war. with China. And I want him really. to know, really to know. there's no reason for war with Iran. None. But every week,

every day, Fox. News tells me that there's some, you know, assassination attempt by. Iran. They're sending drones from. their ships offshore over. our country to scope it out. for future attacks. I mean, Iran is presented. in the US media as the aggressor, trying to kill Trump, for example. I don't know if those Fox reporters. have the chance to speak with the. Iranian senior officials or. All that stuff to our. Middle East officials.

I do. I do all the time. I am able to. ask questions, to check facts, to understand. circumstances. I speak to lots of people. engaged all over. the Middle East on these questions. And it's simply not true. So the first thing. one should do, period. in this world is talk to. the other side. And if.

If Donald Trump. has that, I. this would be the farthest reach. But if he has that impulse with. Iran, too, he. will be perhaps. amazed, perhaps gratified, but he would do a huge service. for the American people, huge. service for the American people. My sense is that. You know, a war with Iran feels. inevitable. I'm obviously opposed to it. But tell us how you think that would.

go if it happens. There's nothing inevitable. till it happens. So thank. You. This is extremely important. A war with Iran will be. World War three. So that's the point. Iran is not alone. and it will not remain. alone. And so if we go. to war with Iran, we are expanding. the war with Russia. With Russia, we are. at a possibility.

of peace, but we're also at a. possibility of nuclear war. They're both very close. And if we go to war with Iran, we make the war, nuclear. war all the more likely. Do you think that. the people pushing us toward war. with Iran understand that? No. No, I think that they're following. a plan. Clean break. 1996 and.

a plan. 1991. Seven wars in. five years. That has been deep set. And that has been Netanyahu's. baby all the time. Netanyahu I regard as. one of the most delusional. and dangerous people on the planet, and he has engaged the United. States so far in six. disastrous wars, and. he's aiming to engage us in. yet one more. But Netanyahu's track.

record is just. about the worst of. any person on the planet right. now in terms of damage. done. And we should be able. to understand that. And we have a lot of rhetoric in. this country standing up for Israel. We're not standing up for Israel. We are engaging. in war on Israel's. behalf all over. the Middle East. That's a completely different thing. I believe in Israel,

Israel's security alongside. a state of Palestine, which I know. completely to be possible. and achievable and peaceful. and ending this risk. of World War three and. could have prevented the million. or so deaths that have come from. Netanyahu's wars up until. now. And the Arab states have been. saying this repeatedly since. 2002. It's called the Arab Peace. Initiative. Anybody can look it. up. They repeated.

they repeated basically. nonstop in the last two years. The Iranians want peace. I know that as well. And so the whole. game is to make. claims about the other side. and to say, if you talk to the other. side, you're a traitor. That's what they say about Tulsi. Gabbard. She talked to Assad. Well, what about that? Isn't that amazing? But I just again, just to refer back. to the core of it, I don't.

understand when Assad became our. enemy and why and why should. I go along with that? It was almost a flip. because there were nice words said. about him by Hillary Clinton one. year and then the next year exactly. the opposite, because these are. mind games that. are played for reasons. that are not said. directly. And that have no bearing on American. national security or aren't. motivated by a desire to protect the. United States. There's nothing to do. with that. Of course not. Nothing that has happened.

in the Middle East has been for. American national security. None of it not one of these. wars. These have been Netanyahu's. wars. Watch him cheer. Why does I mean, it's. just amazing how few. Americans and many. Americans love their country and are. willing to lay down their lives for. it in half. But how few are willing to say what. you've just said. Because. they're told repeatedly. the opposite and you can be. told anything can be.

sold, even Not that people. believe it, by the way, but. they don't hear. The correct story anywhere. in the mainstream. They hear things that don't quite. make sense to them. And by the way, this is one of the. points of info war. The public didn't believe the. official narrative about. JFK's assassination. The public didn't believe the. official narrative about RFK. assassination. The public didn't believe the.

official narrative about Covid. The public didn't believe the. official narrative about. Iraq. The public doesn't believe. these things, but it doesn't hear. the coherent explanation. from the New York Times or. MSNBC or CNN or. anybody else. No one actually. tries to explain. And so what hangs out there is. something completely unsatisfactory, but it doesn't have an.

alternative explanation. And if you don't have. the clarity of the alternative, then this miserable phony. in four approach, it fills the space. And they're not interested in. convincing us because. we don't have any say in any of. these issues. They're interested in doing what. they want to do without. being stopped. That's the difference. When was the last time you appeared. or wrote for a mainstream.

publication or television channel. here? It was the day. that I was on Bloomberg. and I said the U.S. blew up Nord Stream. That would I remember that. And they cut you off. And they cut me off. And then and then they. berated me for several minutes. while I was watching on the screen, but cut off. And that was the last. Moment with the US to blow up Nord. Stream. For. Me. You were telling the truth, of. course. And exactly who did it When. is something that would be easy.

to find out in five minutes. So that's not even hard to find out. But you haven't appeared on any. Not once. Because. Yeah, it's not quite true. You know, if it has nothing to do. with foreign policy issues, it's just an economics question once. in a while. But. But basically. The mainstream. Follows the security state. line. The two, I mean, and they're acting. in their own interest. This is not flattery, but it's just.

true. Whenever we do an interview. with you, it gets millions of views. and people love it and we make. revenue off it. And it's like it's good business to. have you on. I happen to agree with. you and think you're wise, but it's. not like people don't want to hear. what you're saying. Lots of people. do. We've proven. That people want to hear. some explanation of it. Specifically. So you were a fixture. on in different channels, NBC, for example. And so when they ban. you from those channels, they're. hurting themselves because. viewers want to watch you. Well, it's just I know that because. I have you on. So.

how exactly does that order go out? Do you think Do you know the. mechanics of keeping you off? Like one day there's just a. bulletin, you know, no more. Jeffrey Sachs or how does that work? I know. I need to ask you. because the. the phrasing, the official. lines, kind of. this stupidities and silliness. is on almost any. story of the kind that we're talking. about get repeated across. the mainstream space very,

very quickly, and. not only on the US side, but generally in the British. media as well. And so there's certainly. some there's an official. narrative, of course. So this is part of the story that. senior White House briefing, Jake or somebody else briefs. And that becomes the meme. That becomes what you have to. defend. You have to defend your. continued access.

You have to be good, loyal. citizen of this. By the way, I. there are lots of contracts that go. out with the military industrial. complex. This is a. trillion and a half dollar a year. business, not a small business, by. the way. It's it's real business. It's lots of think tanks. It's lots of academic. centers. It it's lots of people on hire. It's lots of contracts. It's lots of that. All you don't get any. I mean, I don't want any of that but.

you don't get any of that if you're. standing outside. that. None of it. So, you know, people make decisions. I think one of the best. lines of modern history is the. line of of Sinclair. Lewis, that you can't convince. a person to believe something when. their salary. depends on believing the opposite. Yes. And that's. a real thing. People have jobs. They don't they just don't want to. get out of line.

They don't necessarily. believe, but they don't want to get. out of line. And it's very. worrisome. And we thought. that checks and balances. of the US government. would be a stabilizer, and especially that. we would have voices in Congress. that would be able to. Ask real questions. And we have in the past,

we had Frank Church, we had J. William Fulbright, who was not. only brilliant and a. critic of American foreign policy, was chairman of the Senate Foreign. Relations Committee. Who do we have now? We have Rand Paul, Bob, and we had Tulsi. in Congress, but basically almost. nobody. Now they're scared. They don't want to talk or they're. paid for by, who knows, RSX or Northrop. Grumman or or or.

General Dynamics or Boeing. or somebody. So they don't even ask questions. This is the reality. Jeffrey Sachs, thank you very much. Great to be with you. Great to be with you. Thank you.