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Sunday morning. Well, what's going on in the world? There's
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nobody better than General Jack Keane, and he's, well, he's
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been running the world for a few years, and now
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he's quasi-retired, and he's still involved in certain ways that
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I'm not even going to ask where. Well, General Keane,
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where do we begin this Sunday morning? We begin with Putin,
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and I did not call Putin for his birthday the
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other day. I think the president did call him. And
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Putin and the Ukraine, is that a good place to start?
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Sure. I mean, where we are, we're in a fifth
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year of war. Russia, who invaded Ukraine, thinking it would
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take two to three weeks. The reality is that they're
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not going to take control of Ukraine anymore. Not today,
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not tomorrow, not a year or two years from now.
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It is not going to happen. The Ukrainians are more
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than adequately defending. They have stopped Putin's army, which is
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considerably larger than theirs, cold, and they are now taking
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back territory from Putin's occupied area. All that said, though,
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Ukraine doesn't have the capability to drive Putin completely out
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of the country. So the war continues as something of
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a stalemate. While Putin cannot make progress on the ground
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at the tactical level, strategically he is targeting the Ukrainian
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people and firing ballistic missiles into the city, specifically the
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capital city in Kiev, trying to break the will of
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the Ukrainian people. And he knows full well that Ukraine
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doesn't have the number of intercepts to adequately defend against
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these ballistic missiles as well as the drones. So the
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reality is the war drags on, John. Putin is not
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ready to make a deal. Zelensky is. He has been
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ready to go to a ceasefire for more than two years.
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Putin is not ready to go to a ceasefire. What
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should be done? More pressure on Putin. Get really tough
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with the Graham sanctions bill that was passed and shut
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down the oil from Russia that's going to China and
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to India. That would be a step one in taking
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some of the revenue away from Putin and obviously do
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everything we can with the Europeans to assist with the
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Ukrainians being able to defend better against the ballistic missiles
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and anything else that they need. That's the best that
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we can do under the circumstances dealing with Russia and Ukraine, John.
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Now, the additional thing on Russia, the plague. You know,
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you've been around for a while like I have. What
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do you think? What is your gut feeling?
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Well, my gut feeling is it's real and Putin is
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being deceptive about it as opposed to coming forward with it.
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And we saw the same behavior when COVID started in China.
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in the vicinity of Wuhan City, likely leaked out of
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the lab and never fully disclosed where it came from.
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And not only that, if you remember what President Xi did,
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he shut down all domestic flights coming out of Wuhan City,
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but he permitted all international flights to go. And because
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he wanted not only China to be dealing with COVID-19,
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he wanted the world to be dealing with it. And
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I thought that was a criminal act. They're both authoritarian rulers.
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They're both bona fide dictators, and they both have committed
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international crimes. And these are our adversaries, and we certainly
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have to face up to that reality.
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Well, I'm going to ask you another question. Any possibility
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of this trying to affect the midterms in the next
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three weeks?
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Well, I think the one thing that could affect the midterms...
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is the war in Iran. And obviously it has already
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had some impact in terms of oil and gas prices.
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I think gas prices in the United States are over $ 4.
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And that has had some impact, and the president certainly
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acknowledges that. And he and his team are doing everything
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they can to deal with that reality. But Iran has
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a hand to play here, and they could easily escalate
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and conduct some operation close to the election. to demonstrate
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to the American people that the war is being poorly managed.
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I don't think it is, but that would be their intent, John.
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And what they have in mind is to achieve a
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political objective where President Trump's opponents take control of the U.S.
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Congress and then do what the Iranians would want, and
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that is shut the war down. So that, in the
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mind's of the Iranian leadership is an achievable political objective.
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And the means would be military escalation for the reasons
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I stated. So that is a possibility in front of us.
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The president also has actions that he can take. If
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he wants to return to kinetic combat operations prior to
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the elections, I think he definitely will do it post
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the election for sure.
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Understood. Um, the IRGC, let's go to Iran. IRGC, my
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recommendations to the president is you don't, uh, you know,
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don't bomb the rest of the world in Iran. Bomb
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the IRGC themselves because they're the evil part of the empire.
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Well, you're absolutely right about that. I, I spent 11
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days in Israel. Uh, uh, I went into Gaza to
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take a look at it for myself. Uh, with the IDF,
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I went into, uh, uh... lebanon uh... up to the
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latina river to make uh... my own assessment and and uh...
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also to talk to all the top leaders the massage
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chief the prime minister the president uh... head of the
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israeli military their direct reports on their staff and obviously
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the commanders who are in the field and my assessment
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is this is that the blockade is working a secretary
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besant's economic uh... squeeze so to speak uh... is working
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But it will not, in of itself, topple the regime.
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And that's because the regime, one purpose that they have
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now is to survive. And they believe they can outlast us.
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They will not make a deal of any consequence. I
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think the president and his team understands that. What needs
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to be done, in addition to the economic pressure, which
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is significant, I'm not trying to downplay it at all.
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It is very sufficient and effective, but it's not enough.
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We will likely have to return to combine operations with
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the United States and Israelis. The targets, we could go
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down that list, but right at the top of the list, John,
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I totally agree with you, is IRGC leadership, period. That's it.
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And other targets would be on that list. And the
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other thing that needs to be done is covert operations
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by the CIA, by the Mossad, to undermine the regime
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and help to fracture it. And that work is ongoing.
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And you hear talks about... people wanting to go into exile, etc.
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And then the second part of the covert operation needs
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to be providing the numbers of groups that are in
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Iran as we speak who do want assistance to put
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pressure on the means, on the regime, on the IRGC,
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using armed force to do it. Not stand in the
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streets without arms and being mowed down by machine guns.
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These are Iranian citizens willing to take up arms and
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put pressure on the regime. Covert operations, to be sure,
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and things like that can be done. Those are some
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of the things I think we will be seeing.
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Understood. Well, the only thing we haven't hit yet is,
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I guess, China. What's the pulse of the situation in Canada?
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They met with the president, and I know the Chinese
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have a long-term... attitude, and I've said to all my friends,
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and I've said on the radio, and I've said on television,
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that they can wait two and a half years till
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President Trump leaves before they become active.
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Yeah. Well, we're in a strategic competition with China. I
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believe they are an adversary, and And the reason I
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say that is because of the goals that they have
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stated under President Xi's leadership just about every year of
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the 13 years he's been in power, and that is
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to dominate and control the Indo-Pacific region and replace the
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United States as the world's global leader. That sounds like
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the words of an adversary. And I think what President
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Xi and President Trump both want to do is maintain
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stability in this relationship, avoid a confrontation, if at all possible.
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And I think they have both gone out of their
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way to kind of make that accommodation with each other.
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And at least on the surface of it, they give
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the appearance that the relationship is solid and there's also
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something of a friendship, even though their goals are completely
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different than ours. I mean, obviously, for President Xi to
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achieve the goals he has stated, all of that would
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be done at the expense of the United States and
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our allies and partners. I don't see conflict operations in
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the near term by President Xi, of course. I could
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be wrong and he could surprise all of us. But
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we have to work very hard, John.
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He doesn't want to challenge President Trump. And if you
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ask me who Putin and Xi is afraid of, it's
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President Trump.
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Yeah, but the... But he knows he has a military
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advantage in the Indo-Pacific region. More guns, more offensive capability,
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more aircraft, more surface ships. And he knows that. And
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he also knows that we have our stockpile having challenges
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replenishing it. So he knows he has a military advantage.
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I don't believe he's going to take action, but we
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cannot completely discount the possibility of him doing it. That
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is why... It is critically important for the Congress of
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the United States to pass the authorizations and the appropriations
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bill to meet President Trump's objectives of a $ 1. 5 trillion
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defense budget, which is in desperate need to be able
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to meet the challenges we have around the world today.
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And rebuilding the military is absolutely critical to stabilizing ourselves
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in this much troubled world out there. Understood.
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Well, General Keene, thank you for your wisdom, and you
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served our country for an entire life, and you're still
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serving our country, and you're doing whatever you can do
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to help, and we want our country to be a
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great country for our kids and our grandkids. That's why
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at our age, both our age, we're still working.
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Yeah, always great talking to you, John, and your audience.
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Thank you very much.
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Thank you so much.
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Sunday morning. Well, what's going on in the world? There's
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nobody better than General Jack Keane, and he's, well, he's
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been running the world for a few years, and now
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he's quasi-retired, and he's still involved in certain ways that
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I'm not even going to ask where. Well, General Keane,
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where do we begin this Sunday morning? We begin with Putin,
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and I did not call Putin for his birthday the
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other day. I think the president did call him. And
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Putin and the Ukraine, is that a good place to start?
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Sure. I mean, where we are, we're in a fifth
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year of war. Russia, who invaded Ukraine, thinking it would
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take two to three weeks. The reality is that they're
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not going to take control of Ukraine anymore. Not today,
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not tomorrow, not a year or two years from now.
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It is not going to happen. The Ukrainians are more
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than adequately defending. They have stopped Putin's army, which is
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considerably larger than theirs, cold, and they are now taking
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back territory from Putin's occupied area. All that said, though,
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Ukraine doesn't have the capability to drive Putin completely out
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of the country. So the war continues as something of
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a stalemate. While Putin cannot make progress on the ground
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at the tactical level, strategically he is targeting the Ukrainian
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people and firing ballistic missiles into the city, specifically the
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capital city in Kiev, trying to break the will of
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the Ukrainian people. And he knows full well that Ukraine
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doesn't have the number of intercepts to adequately defend against
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these ballistic missiles as well as the drones. So the
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reality is the war drags on, John. Putin is not
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ready to make a deal. Zelensky is. He has been
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ready to go to a ceasefire for more than two years.
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Putin is not ready to go to a ceasefire. What
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should be done? More pressure on Putin. Get really tough
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with the Graham sanctions bill that was passed and shut
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down the oil from Russia that's going to China and
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to India. That would be a step one in taking
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some of the revenue away from Putin and obviously do
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everything we can with the Europeans to assist with the
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Ukrainians being able to defend better against the ballistic missiles
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and anything else that they need. That's the best that
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we can do under the circumstances dealing with Russia and Ukraine, John.
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Now, the additional thing on Russia, the plague. You know,
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you've been around for a while like I have. What
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do you think? What is your gut feeling?
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Well, my gut feeling is it's real and Putin is
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being deceptive about it as opposed to coming forward with it.
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And we saw the same behavior when COVID started in China.
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in the vicinity of Wuhan City, likely leaked out of
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the lab and never fully disclosed where it came from.
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And not only that, if you remember what President Xi did,
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he shut down all domestic flights coming out of Wuhan City,
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but he permitted all international flights to go. And because
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he wanted not only China to be dealing with COVID-19,
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he wanted the world to be dealing with it. And
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I thought that was a criminal act. They're both authoritarian rulers.
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They're both bona fide dictators, and they both have committed
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international crimes. And these are our adversaries, and we certainly
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have to face up to that reality.
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Well, I'm going to ask you another question. Any possibility
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of this trying to affect the midterms in the next
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three weeks?
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Well, I think the one thing that could affect the midterms...
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is the war in Iran. And obviously it has already
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had some impact in terms of oil and gas prices.
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I think gas prices in the United States are over $ 4.
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And that has had some impact, and the president certainly
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acknowledges that. And he and his team are doing everything
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they can to deal with that reality. But Iran has
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a hand to play here, and they could easily escalate
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and conduct some operation close to the election. to demonstrate
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to the American people that the war is being poorly managed.
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I don't think it is, but that would be their intent, John.
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And what they have in mind is to achieve a
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political objective where President Trump's opponents take control of the U.S.
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Congress and then do what the Iranians would want, and
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that is shut the war down. So that, in the
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mind's of the Iranian leadership is an achievable political objective.
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And the means would be military escalation for the reasons
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I stated. So that is a possibility in front of us.
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The president also has actions that he can take. If
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he wants to return to kinetic combat operations prior to
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the elections, I think he definitely will do it post
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the election for sure.
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Understood. Um, the IRGC, let's go to Iran. IRGC, my
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recommendations to the president is you don't, uh, you know,
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don't bomb the rest of the world in Iran. Bomb
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the IRGC themselves because they're the evil part of the empire.
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Well, you're absolutely right about that. I, I spent 11
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days in Israel. Uh, uh, I went into Gaza to
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take a look at it for myself. Uh, with the IDF,
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I went into, uh, uh... lebanon uh... up to the
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latina river to make uh... my own assessment and and uh...
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also to talk to all the top leaders the massage
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chief the prime minister the president uh... head of the
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israeli military their direct reports on their staff and obviously
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the commanders who are in the field and my assessment
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is this is that the blockade is working a secretary
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besant's economic uh... squeeze so to speak uh... is working
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But it will not, in of itself, topple the regime.
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And that's because the regime, one purpose that they have
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now is to survive. And they believe they can outlast us.
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They will not make a deal of any consequence. I
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think the president and his team understands that. What needs
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to be done, in addition to the economic pressure, which
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is significant, I'm not trying to downplay it at all.
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It is very sufficient and effective, but it's not enough.
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We will likely have to return to combine operations with
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the United States and Israelis. The targets, we could go
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down that list, but right at the top of the list, John,
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I totally agree with you, is IRGC leadership, period. That's it.
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And other targets would be on that list. And the
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other thing that needs to be done is covert operations
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by the CIA, by the Mossad, to undermine the regime
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and help to fracture it. And that work is ongoing.
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And you hear talks about... people wanting to go into exile, etc.
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And then the second part of the covert operation needs
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to be providing the numbers of groups that are in
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Iran as we speak who do want assistance to put
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pressure on the means, on the regime, on the IRGC,
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using armed force to do it. Not stand in the
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streets without arms and being mowed down by machine guns.
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These are Iranian citizens willing to take up arms and
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put pressure on the regime. Covert operations, to be sure,
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and things like that can be done. Those are some
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of the things I think we will be seeing.
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Understood. Well, the only thing we haven't hit yet is,
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I guess, China. What's the pulse of the situation in Canada?
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They met with the president, and I know the Chinese
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have a long-term... attitude, and I've said to all my friends,
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and I've said on the radio, and I've said on television,
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that they can wait two and a half years till
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President Trump leaves before they become active.
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Yeah. Well, we're in a strategic competition with China. I
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believe they are an adversary, and And the reason I
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say that is because of the goals that they have
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stated under President Xi's leadership just about every year of
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the 13 years he's been in power, and that is
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to dominate and control the Indo-Pacific region and replace the
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United States as the world's global leader. That sounds like
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the words of an adversary. And I think what President
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Xi and President Trump both want to do is maintain
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stability in this relationship, avoid a confrontation, if at all possible.
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And I think they have both gone out of their
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way to kind of make that accommodation with each other.
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And at least on the surface of it, they give
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the appearance that the relationship is solid and there's also
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something of a friendship, even though their goals are completely
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different than ours. I mean, obviously, for President Xi to
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achieve the goals he has stated, all of that would
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be done at the expense of the United States and
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our allies and partners. I don't see conflict operations in
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the near term by President Xi, of course. I could
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be wrong and he could surprise all of us. But
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we have to work very hard, John.
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He doesn't want to challenge President Trump. And if you
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ask me who Putin and Xi is afraid of, it's
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President Trump.
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Yeah, but the... But he knows he has a military
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advantage in the Indo-Pacific region. More guns, more offensive capability,
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more aircraft, more surface ships. And he knows that. And
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he also knows that we have our stockpile having challenges
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replenishing it. So he knows he has a military advantage.
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I don't believe he's going to take action, but we
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cannot completely discount the possibility of him doing it. That
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is why... It is critically important for the Congress of
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the United States to pass the authorizations and the appropriations
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bill to meet President Trump's objectives of a $ 1. 5 trillion
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defense budget, which is in desperate need to be able
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to meet the challenges we have around the world today.
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And rebuilding the military is absolutely critical to stabilizing ourselves
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in this much troubled world out there. Understood.
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Well, General Keene, thank you for your wisdom, and you
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served our country for an entire life, and you're still
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serving our country, and you're doing whatever you can do
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to help, and we want our country to be a
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great country for our kids and our grandkids. That's why
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at our age, both our age, we're still working.
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Yeah, always great talking to you, John, and your audience.
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Thank you very much.
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Thank you so much.
