Confronting Russia, Iran and China as Global Threats Intensify

0:00 Speaker 1 Sunday morning. Well, what’s going on in the world? There’s nobody better than General Jack Keane, and he’s, well, he’s been running the world for a few years, and now he’s quasi-retired, and he’s still involved in certain ways that I’m not even going to ask where. Well, General Keane, where do we begin this Sunday morning? We begin with Putin,

0:26 and I did not call Putin for his birthday the other day. I think the president did call him. And Putin and the Ukraine, is that a good place to start?

0:37 Speaker 2 Sure. I mean, where we are, we’re in a fifth year of war. Russia, who invaded Ukraine, thinking it would take two to three weeks. The reality is that they’re not going to take control of Ukraine anymore. Not today, not tomorrow, not a year or two years from now.

0:55 It is not going to happen. The Ukrainians are more than adequately defending. They have stopped Putin’s army, which is considerably larger than theirs, cold, and they are now taking back territory from Putin’s occupied area. All that said, though, Ukraine doesn’t have the capability to drive Putin completely out of the country. So the war continues as something of

1:25 a stalemate. While Putin cannot make progress on the ground at the tactical level, strategically he is targeting the Ukrainian people and firing ballistic missiles into the city, specifically the capital city in Kiev, trying to break the will of the Ukrainian people. And he knows full well that Ukraine doesn’t have the number of intercepts to adequately defend against

1:51 these ballistic missiles as well as the drones. So the reality is the war drags on, John. Putin is not ready to make a deal. Zelensky is. He has been ready to go to a ceasefire for more than two years.

2:07 Putin is not ready to go to a ceasefire. What should be done? More pressure on Putin. Get really tough with the Graham sanctions bill that was passed and shut down the oil from Russia that’s going to China and to India. That would be a step one in taking some of the revenue away from Putin and obviously do

2:33 everything we can with the Europeans to assist with the Ukrainians being able to defend better against the ballistic missiles and anything else that they need. That’s the best that we can do under the circumstances dealing with Russia and Ukraine, John.

2:51 Speaker 1 Now, the additional thing on Russia, the plague. You know, you’ve been around for a while like I have. What do you think? What is your gut feeling?

3:05 Speaker 2 Well, my gut feeling is it’s real and Putin is being deceptive about it as opposed to coming forward with it. And we saw the same behavior when COVID started in China. in the vicinity of Wuhan City, likely leaked out of the lab and never fully disclosed where it came from.

3:25 And not only that, if you remember what President Xi did, he shut down all domestic flights coming out of Wuhan City, but he permitted all international flights to go. And because he wanted not only China to be dealing with COVID-19, he wanted the world to be dealing with it. And I thought that was a criminal act. They’re both authoritarian rulers.

3:48 They’re both bona fide dictators, and they both have committed international crimes. And these are our adversaries, and we certainly have to face up to that reality.

4:03 Speaker 1 Well, I’m going to ask you another question. Any possibility of this trying to affect the midterms in the next three weeks?

4:14 Speaker 2 Well, I think the one thing that could affect the midterms... is the war in Iran. And obviously it has already had some impact in terms of oil and gas prices. I think gas prices in the United States are over $ 4.

4:31 And that has had some impact, and the president certainly acknowledges that. And he and his team are doing everything they can to deal with that reality. But Iran has a hand to play here, and they could easily escalate and conduct some operation close to the election. to demonstrate to the American people that the war is being poorly managed.

4:53 I don’t think it is, but that would be their intent, John. And what they have in mind is to achieve a political objective where President Trump’s opponents take control of the U.S. Congress and then do what the Iranians would want, and that is shut the war down. So that, in the mind’s of the Iranian leadership is an achievable political objective.

5:21 And the means would be military escalation for the reasons I stated. So that is a possibility in front of us. The president also has actions that he can take. If he wants to return to kinetic combat operations prior to the elections, I think he definitely will do it post the election for sure.

5:44 Speaker 1 Understood. Um, the IRGC, let’s go to Iran. IRGC, my recommendations to the president is you don’t, uh, you know, don’t bomb the rest of the world in Iran. Bomb the IRGC themselves because they’re the evil part of the empire.

6:05 Speaker 2 Well, you’re absolutely right about that. I, I spent 11 days in Israel. Uh, uh, I went into Gaza to take a look at it for myself. Uh, with the IDF, I went into, uh, uh... lebanon uh... up to the latina river to make uh... my own assessment and and uh...

6:23 also to talk to all the top leaders the massage chief the prime minister the president uh... head of the israeli military their direct reports on their staff and obviously the commanders who are in the field and my assessment is this is that the blockade is working a secretary besant’s economic uh... squeeze so to speak uh... is working

6:46 But it will not, in of itself, topple the regime. And that’s because the regime, one purpose that they have now is to survive. And they believe they can outlast us. They will not make a deal of any consequence. I think the president and his team understands that. What needs to be done, in addition to the economic pressure, which

7:07 is significant, I’m not trying to downplay it at all. It is very sufficient and effective, but it’s not enough. We will likely have to return to combine operations with the United States and Israelis. The targets, we could go down that list, but right at the top of the list, John, I totally agree with you, is IRGC leadership, period. That’s it.

7:31 And other targets would be on that list. And the other thing that needs to be done is covert operations by the CIA, by the Mossad, to undermine the regime and help to fracture it. And that work is ongoing.

7:44 And you hear talks about... people wanting to go into exile, etc. And then the second part of the covert operation needs to be providing the numbers of groups that are in Iran as we speak who do want assistance to put pressure on the means, on the regime, on the IRGC, using armed force to do it. Not stand in the

8:09 streets without arms and being mowed down by machine guns. These are Iranian citizens willing to take up arms and put pressure on the regime. Covert operations, to be sure, and things like that can be done. Those are some of the things I think we will be seeing.

8:27 Speaker 1 Understood. Well, the only thing we haven’t hit yet is, I guess, China. What’s the pulse of the situation in Canada? They met with the president, and I know the Chinese have a long-term... attitude, and I’ve said to all my friends, and I’ve said on the radio, and I’ve said on television, that they can wait two and a half years till

8:51 President Trump leaves before they become active.

8:56 Speaker 2 Yeah. Well, we’re in a strategic competition with China. I believe they are an adversary, and And the reason I say that is because of the goals that they have stated under President Xi’s leadership just about every year of the 13 years he’s been in power, and that is to dominate and control the Indo-Pacific region and replace the

9:17 United States as the world’s global leader. That sounds like the words of an adversary. And I think what President Xi and President Trump both want to do is maintain stability in this relationship, avoid a confrontation, if at all possible.

9:38 And I think they have both gone out of their way to kind of make that accommodation with each other. And at least on the surface of it, they give the appearance that the relationship is solid and there’s also something of a friendship, even though their goals are completely different than ours. I mean, obviously, for President Xi to

10:02 achieve the goals he has stated, all of that would be done at the expense of the United States and our allies and partners. I don’t see conflict operations in the near term by President Xi, of course. I could be wrong and he could surprise all of us. But we have to work very hard, John.

10:24 Speaker 1 He doesn’t want to challenge President Trump. And if you ask me who Putin and Xi is afraid of, it’s President Trump.

10:39 Speaker 2 Yeah, but the... But he knows he has a military advantage in the Indo-Pacific region. More guns, more offensive capability, more aircraft, more surface ships. And he knows that. And he also knows that we have our stockpile having challenges replenishing it. So he knows he has a military advantage.

11:00 I don’t believe he’s going to take action, but we cannot completely discount the possibility of him doing it. That is why... It is critically important for the Congress of the United States to pass the authorizations and the appropriations bill to meet President Trump’s objectives of a $ 1. 5 trillion defense budget, which is in desperate need to be able

11:25 to meet the challenges we have around the world today. And rebuilding the military is absolutely critical to stabilizing ourselves in this much troubled world out there. Understood.

11:39 Speaker 1 Well, General Keene, thank you for your wisdom, and you served our country for an entire life, and you’re still serving our country, and you’re doing whatever you can do to help, and we want our country to be a great country for our kids and our grandkids. That’s why at our age, both our age, we’re still working.

11:59 Speaker 2 Yeah, always great talking to you, John, and your audience. Thank you very much.

12:03 Speaker 1 Thank you so much.