Amb. Chas Freeman: Inside Israel’s Crumbling Multi-Front War

0:00Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system. A missed call doesn't feel like anything. No red flag, no notification screaming at you, it just disappears into your call log. And nine times out of ten, that was someone ready to hand you money. That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q-U-O. The business phone system built so you never miss a call. Here's what I like about it. All your calls, texts, and voice mails live in one place, so anyone on your team can pick up a conversation, see the full history, and respond fast. No more, wait, who talked to this customer last? And if you're worried about after hours lead slipping through, Quo's optional built-in AI agent can answer questions and even book appointments while your team's offline. It's the number one rated business phone system on G2, and over 90,000 businesses already trust it to stay reachable. Money is on the line. Always say hello with Quo. Try Quo for free, plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to Quo.com-tek.

1:01That's Q-U-O.com-tek. This message is brought to you by today's sponsor, Walden University, set a course for change. Now is the time to make a real change, in your life, career, and community. At Walden University, we give you the support and flexibility to get the W. Walden's online programs are designed for working professionals like you. You'll gain hands-on skills to take on real-world challenges and succeed. Your future is waiting and Walden is here to help you achieve it. Take the first step to make your impact. Visit waldenu.edu. Walden University, set a course for change, certified to operate by chef. Losing weight can feel like a roller coaster, full of ups, downs, and being thrown for loops, like when someone brings donuts into the office, or your kids' dyno nuggets start giving you that look again. That's why there's noom. They combine GLP ones to quiet the food noise, with healthy habits that help you keep it quiet, even if you get off the meds. Their program is designed to make weight loss a smooth ride, helping you understand what drives you,

2:06so you can build better habits to not just lose weight, but keep it off. Noom. Lose for keeps. Get started at noom.com. Not all customers will clinically qualify for medications. Individual results may vary. I already did this Friday, September 4th, 2026, and I would be your friend and best of chess for him and his here with us. Welcome, I can best. Thank you. Glad to make it. It was a little bit dicey for a while, but good to see you. Yeah, so nice to have you back in basketball. Let me start with the SEO Summit in Bishkick, Kirkizistan. Finally, they came out condemning the US Israeli attack on Iran for the first time India was part of that, India science. And the other point was the sanctions on SEO members.

3:06We know that Russia and Iran under tremendous sanctions from Washington and the new war between Iran and the United States. And Scott Bessens said that operation, economic outcasts based on sanctions and strangling Iranian and collapse in Iran and economy. How did you find the SEO Summit, which was totally silent? The mainstream media was so silent about the SEO. Yeah, and this was an important meeting because clearly you pointed to the inclusion of India in signing the statement which condemned the United States and American policy, both the war in Iran and Iran, of course, is a member of the SEO and also a condemned operation outcast, which is the sanctions program by the United States. Since the United States doesn't have any trade or financial dealings with Iran, we have chosen to sanction other people who do business with Iran.

4:13And it's very clear that the members of the China Cooperation Organization meeting in Bishkick are not prepared to cooperate with that. And so I would say the major significance of the meeting is that the SEO is emerging as a significant constraint on American power. This is part of the process by of the collapse of American global hegemony that is going on a transition. And the SEO, which is basically a forum, not really an organization, it is like the United Nations of place where people can meet to concert action or make statements or adjust policies to coordinate them. This is emerging as a significant significant organization as the global order managed by the United States falls apart.

5:23The formation of this organization, if I say what in 2001 and June 2001 before 9-11 happening in the United States. And the significance of those days is that both China and Russia were dealing with radical Islam, radical Wahabi, SAC, Russia in with the case of Cheshna and Dagestan in Russia and China with the case of Xinjiang, if I'm not mistaken, the name of the state of Uyghurs. Xinjiang means new territory or new domain, new dominion. It's actually not that new, the Chinese have controlled it off and on for two millennia. And the Uyghurs who arrived there from Mongolia were Buddhist when they arrived, but they have converted to Islam. And as I once pointed out to the organization in the Chinese Communist Party that deals with minorities and

6:31religious matters, Islam like Christianity and Judaism is very, very good at organizing resistance to oppression. And therefore I said to them, you know, you're trying to deal with Xinjiang by raising the standard of living and assuming that will cause people, Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Tajiks, Kyrias, Mongols who are actually 52 different minorities in Xinjiang to cause these people to love the Chinese state and this will not work. And I've been in Xinjiang many times. In the past, the Muslim leadership in Xinjiang was very and not comfortable, but they were cooperating with the Chinese Communist Party.

7:35There was an Islamic university in Xinjiang and it was graduating Yimams who were comfortable with the Communist Party rule. And I remember, if I may, a few thoughts about this because not many people have been there and I used to tell jokes about not sort of Dean Hurtzha, you know, to the, and they have the same jokes, but they call him Afanty, which is based on the Turkish Defendi meaning in general, I mean, Sir. Dirty jokes, a lot of them, very photographic. Anyway, the good jokes everywhere in the most of the world, you're out these same jokes, attributed to either Joha in the Arab world or Anastasia Dean Hurtzha in the Turkish world or whatever. So anyway, I remember asking a

8:35Wigar couple where their kids were going to school because there's a choice. You can go to school and learn in Wigar medium school or you could go to Han in Chinese medium school. And they said, oh, they're in the Han, Han kindergarten, they're going there. So why do you do, why do you, why do you, why do you put them there? And they said, well, if they go to the Wigar medium school, they will start Chinese in the third grade and English in the fifth grade. If they go to the Han medium school, they'll start English in the third grade. And the question is, you know, what will happen to them? If they go to the Wigar medium school, they will end up selling pots in the Bazaar to foreigners maybe. If they are going to the Han medium school, maybe they can become an engineer and become successful. So there was a natural process of assimilation going on.

9:37But there was also the new independence of Central Asian states adjacent to Xinjiang, like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, these five. And some Wigar said, you know, it's too bad we weren't part of the Soviet Union because if we were, we would be independent now. But in part of China, we're not independent or not going to be. And this caused a lot of tension. And the Wigar independence movement combined the defensive Islam with the idea of independence in the begin to be a wave of terrorism. Actually, initially it broke out with Wigar workers, not in Xinjiang, but in South China, who went, went among, killed a lot of

10:40hand worker co-workers. And the Chinese clamped down. And it clamped down, of course, and the resulting re-education campaign has changed Chinese policy on minorities fundamentally. Previously, as the example I gave illustrated, they relied on voluntary assimilation. Now they are forcing assimilation. So you have to learn to speak and read and write Chinese. And I just end and say that one of the political problems in China involving minority groups has been that minorities like the Wigars were exempted from the one child policy. They could have more children. And they get extra points on the examination as part of an affirmative action program. And the same kind of resentment of that that we see in the United States now also exists in China.

11:48So this is not a particularly happy picture now. But I think the Chinese have mishandled it. And there we are. More broadly, going back to the meeting of the SCO and the lack of or the diminished attention to Islamist extremism. As we've discussed before, you know, people in West Asia, whether they're Iranian or they're Saudi or Syrian or whoever they are, are much less theological and more practical, nationalistic now than they were. I don't think the Sunni Shia divide, which has been used by the United States and Israel to divide the region, has the same significance as it once did. And anyway, the SCO is not a grouping of Muslim countries. There is something called the organization

12:51for Islamic cooperation, which is headquartered in Jeddah and I think headed by a Turk, which has 57 numbers. And this is the Islamic Korra. SCO has principal members of China, Russia, now India, Pakistan, Iran. It has dialogue partners, including Mongolia, Myanmar, and others. So it is not, it is a secondary organization, it is not religious in any respect. But it is now very supportive of Iran for the simple reason that it opposes the American abuse of the international system to exercise unipolar of the country. We had Turkey being there and talking with other countries.

13:54Where do you see Turkey today, Ambassador? Turkey wanted to be part of the European Union. I think they're getting to the point that they're not, that's not going to happen anytime soon. I think they've given up after a long effort. And basically, Turkey and Russia have something in common. For the last 300 years, they have tried to Europeanize themselves, become part of the European of the West, if you will. And both have failed. Russia now is a result of the Ukraine war and the expansion of NATO that provoked it, have turned to China, India, West Asia, Africa, away from Europe. Turkey is doing the same thing. Turkey has found a new self-definition as a Muslim country. Previously, it was officially atheist.

14:56Camelism was opposed to Islamism. It is now very much in a clifst in Turkey, which is a firmly, a firmly met Muslim in its character. And which looks now to West Asia, and the Horn of Africa, the Red Sea area, North Africa. In other words, the ancient Ottoman empire for its sphere of influence. And Turkey is still a NATO member, but I would say its commitment to NATO is now less, as weakened, it is more conditional. It is, of course, exercising a degree of influence in the Turkey, speaking areas of Central Asia, all of the newly independent

15:58and reliant countries except Tajikistan, which speaks of Dari basically. Tajik is essentially Dari, a Persian dialect. All the others speak Turkish languages. And I'm told that Turks from Turkey can understand 70-80% of what they say. I know from my time in Xinjiang that Turks can communicate with Wagers and with Kazakhs, both whom speak Turkish languages. So, Turkish's turkeys turn to the south, to the Central Asia, away from Europe. And it has concluded, I think, correctly, that countries like France, which are different, you know, very devoutly committed to the concept of Christendom, meaning, I guess,

17:05the realm of Christianity, the opposite of the Dada of Islam. And Dada means masihia, maybe, or something. Anyway, we'll not accept a major, most in power, like Turkey in the European Union. And while the adherence process has been very reformative in Turkey, Turkey has changed greatly as it saw to meet European standards. That process is now in a bayonet. Turkey is striking out on its own. And this is part again of the general evolution away from the American-led, the Unipolar Moment. Turkey is a middle-ranking power of considerable force and influence, and it is striking out on its own. The transition is empowering middle and smaller countries to act independently to gain agency,

18:09to pursue their own interests without regard to foreign patrons or their membership in organizations like NATO. They had Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. They had the first meeting of the defense. They have the new name for it. They call it the Mecca Defense Alliance. They call it in Istanbul. They had the first meeting in August 31st, in which after that meeting we had the foreign minister of Turkey saying that this criminal NetNia who takes pleasure in shedding Palestinian blood and Muslim blood must now be stopped. The path he is pursuing is causing immense harm to Israel, to Palestine, and to the entire region. When you look at his statements, it's striking out, Benjamin NetNia's statements, it's clear that he does not want to establish a Palestinian state. He doesn't want to relinquish the ongoing occupation of, in countries across the

19:17region. He wants this genocidal and occupying approach to continue. This is no longer a threat to us. It's a major threat to the entire region and to the international community. The international system must fight against the threat posed by Benjamin NetNia. It's a very direct or strong statement on the part of Turkey after the meeting they had in Istanbul, the Mecca Defense Bank. What does that mean Ambassador for what's going on? Because we know Israel right now is in Lebanon. They were fighting in the last three days. They were fighting in southern Lebanon. They say we're not going to withdraw from Lebanon. In the case of Syria is the same. In Gaza, in the West Bank, in Jerusalem is the same. Actually, this validates my initial interpretation of

20:23this tripod type, Anton. Take all of it in alliance. It doesn't really rise to that level. An alliance is unconditional, mutual support, compact. Anton is conditional. It is limited for limited purposes. What are those purposes? In this case, I've always argued that they were mainly to balance Israel and secondarily to balance Iran. Iran might even become a member of the alliance. There's been discussion of this. I'll see him here, the Pakistani military leader. As apparently discussed that in Tehran in his most recent visit. What is we, you and I have discussed, one of the key questions for the region is what is the relationship between this new three-party defense on time and Iran? It's very clear from the beginning that

21:24this organization of this alliance is not really an organizational, although they have appointed a Secretary-General from Pakistan. Now, it is a group, a conservative group, a cooperative group. They're looking to cooperative security more than collective security. They're not talking about militarily going after Israel, but they will cooperate to check Israeli ambitions and Israeli-ealed behavior. They will presumably act together on the international stage to do that. As well as in the region. It is a grouping, which is intended to supplement, or perhaps replace the American role in the region in managing stability in West Asia, the Persian Gulf region in particular. It is yet another example of what I've been talking about, that is the

22:28ebb of American power in the region and globally, being met by a locally organized initiative. In this case involving Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Some very interestingly, and I think what the Tehran Minister just completely refuted and killed, in the region, the Middle East, West Asia. Conspiracy's theories about why, because people don't tell the truth about very much. So everybody makes up theories about why they're doing what they're doing. The initial reaction in the region everywhere, but Israel was, this is an American and Israeli conspiracy to counter Iran and do various things. That was completely wrong. The Israelis from the beginning were correctly

23:30concerned that this was directed in large measure at stopping them and their greater Israel project. And I think the Turkish Foreign Minister has just confirmed that irrefutably. And so I presume if there's intelligent life in Washington, which is a question, whether there is intelligent life in the US government at the moment, if there is, I think people should be thinking about how to deal with this new reality in which the United States no longer controls the Persian Gulf, and in which a new force is being formed to manage the security architecture of the region. Just a final note, this comes as the Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting Egypt. And he too is proposing a new security architecture for West Asia,

24:35based on the countries in the region. And he is therefore embracing this and this Mecca Defense Alliance. And the United States has to figure out what we're going to do about it. And I hope we understand that history has marched on and we need to deal with the new realities rather than nostalgia about the past. It was reported in New York Times that Israel as Israel cats, the foreign defense minister of Israel said that Israel will not withdraw from the security zone in Lebanon until Hezbollah is this form throughout Lebanon and the threat to the residents of the Galilee are removed. Do you think that ambassador, there is a lot going on with the, we had the envoy, the Trump's envoy

25:39to Turkey, Tom Brock talking about this. And Israelis were not happy about Tom Brock supporting Israel. He's a Zionist and supporting Israel. But after because of his statements, Israel said they're not considering him as a friend because he said that Israel has to find some sort of solution for what's going on. Yes, no, I mean, I think the Israelis are in the last stages of self-destruction. They are now applying to Lebanon the same foolish counterproductive strategy that they have applied to Hamas. That is, they won't, you know, they will be of no quarter to Hamas. They will persist in, now they're saying openly Netanyahu went to, as I said, we're never going to withdraw, we're going to expand. Israel cats, the foreign the defense minister has said openly and repeatedly all of the Palestinians must be expelled.

26:40And so, as in cleansing genocide is Israeli policy, not just in Gaza now, but in the West Bank and in Southern Lebanon. And this is almost certainly an example of overreach and a fatal mistake for the state of Israel. There's an election in Israel. They're not discussing this strategy. But all the candidates are promoting hard-line Zionist, expansionist agendas. And while they're doing this, they're losing the support of the West, which has been the basis for their survival and prosperity. They're losing support in their main backer, which is the United States. But they're also losing support in Western Europe. And even the Germans who can tort themselves unimaginably in order to demonstrate that they're not anti-Semitic anymore,

27:47are having difficulty. So, yes, Israel has adopted a posture that absolutely no one can support. And other than its tie-hards supporters, among Zionists in the West, but Zionists in the West are diminishing in numbers and ineffectiveness. We had a new interview of Ben Gaviere. He's basically talking about the only solution for Gaza is to send all of them somewhere. I don't know if it's going to be in Egypt, it's going to be in Jordan or some other place. It's going to be Brazil. You're going to get all the Palestinians, because no one else will welcome them. And Brazil has a very intelligent policy toward immigration.

28:48So, you may think this is a joke, it is not a joke. I think if indeed the Palestinians are allowed to leave, and many of them at this point are desperate to leave, there and there and in Brazil, it's where a lot of them are going to be headed. There is a video of Ben Gaviere. I don't know if you saw the video that is, if you hear his what he posted. Race Intelligent Order fulfillment with Shipstation. The only platform combining order management, warehouse workflows, inventory, returns and analytics in one place. What used to take five

29:49separate tools Shipstation does in one. Automate fulfillment and rate shopping to ship up to 15 times more with up to 90% savings. Go to shipstation.com and use code audio to try Shipstation free for 60 days. Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system. A missed call doesn't feel like anything. No red flag, no notification screaming at you. It just disappears into your call log. And nine times out of ten, that was someone ready to hand you money. That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q-U-O. The business phone system built so you never miss a call. Here's what I like about it. All your calls, texts and voice mails live in one place. So anyone on your team can pick up a conversation, see the full history and respond fast. No more, wait, who talked to this customer last? And if you're worried about after hours leads slipping through, Quo's optional built-in AI agent can answer questions and even book appointments while your team's offline. It's the number one rated business phone system

30:50on G2 and over 90,000 businesses already trust it to stay reachable. Money is on the line. Always say hello with Quo. Try Quo for free. Plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to Quo.com slash tech. That's q-u-o.com slash tech. He's basically sending Palestinian into... This is he has basically reinvented the Holocaust. Well this is exactly what the Germans did to Jews, Slavs, Liberals, Communists, the Roma, the Gypsies in Europe. He's proposing to do the same thing to the Count Ballastinians. Let's remember Ben Giver is a convert to Zionism. He is of Kurdish and Arab origin. He is not a European.

31:54He's not Ashkenazi. He is taking the Ashkenazi myth, I mean the organizing principle for the Israeli state, which is fleeing the Holocaust and showing how much he hasn't internalized it. He's also showing that he believes probably correctly, that Israeli voters agree with him that Palestinians should be exterminated. That there should be a final solution for the Palestine problem. Exactly the same as the Germans proposed for the so-called Jewish problem. This is almost unbelievable. It is certainly reprehensible. In terms of international opinion, I can hardly imagine anything he might have done

32:55that would cost Israel as much as this was. This did. Any sympathy for Israel there has been and not survived this image? I think they've reached the point that they don't care anymore about any country around them, any country in the region. The partner is Greece and they have to go somewhere else to find some sort of friend. Do they care about the countries, the neighboring countries? Do they care about what the region is thinking of them? Or they're basically the only thing that matters to Israel is the American support to what they're doing? No, they have become demonstrably psychotic and sociopathic. They don't care what anybody thinks about them. They are heavily committed now to Jewish supremacy. They regard people like you and me as subhuman. Only Israeli Jews are human.

34:05Jews abroad can become human if they move to Israel. They're not very important either. This is a gross miscalculation of what Israel needs to do to survive and prosper in West Asia as a predominant of the Jewish state. It would be a predominant of the Jewish even if it were one state, including a democratic state, including the Palestinians. It would be led by the Jews. Jewish Israelis. But they're not going to do that. What they're going to do is go down much as the Maccabees did, the revolt against the Romans resulted in mass murder about the Romans of Jews in Palestine. This is going to happen again. They are coping their own ghosts as we say in English.

35:08Do you think that the situation between Turkey and Syria, between Turkey and Israel in Syria could be resolved by what's going on in Washington, is trying to bring the two sides together. But on one hand, you see Turkey wants to send more weapons, defensive, I would say some sort of defensive weapons to Syria. On the other hand, Israel totally against that. They don't want a government, a viable or somehow a powerful government in Syria. That would be hugely problematic for them, for the concept they have in the southern part of Syria. I think there are two issues here. One is the United States is not a credible mediator anymore on any matter involving Israel. The Turks may for their own reasons wish to appear to cooperate

36:10with the United States, but they have no confidence in American conciliation. The second point is that Israel offers no diplomatic or political solution short of complete subjugation by the Syrians. In other words, if they completely bow down to and take orders from Israel and they become the prisoners of Israel much like the Palestinian authority is in the West Bank, then that's okay. Anything short of that won't work. This is essentially saying that Israel's answer to everything is military. Anybody who is confronted with that knows that the only way they can deal with it is militarily. The Turks have a point. The only way Syria can be safe from Israeli depredations is if it has effective air defenses. That has been the case all along with Israel's

37:13neighbors. I think countries like Turkey are coming to the point where having refrained in the past from crossing that Israeli red line by the widening defensive weaponry that could actually counter Israeli control of the skies in the region. I think now they are there forced to contemplate that because there's no alternative diplomacy does not work with the Israelis. All it does is feed their appetite. We've seen that in Gaza. We've seen that in repeated efforts to create and sustain a peace process with the Palestinians, all of which were managed deceptively and instantarily by the Israelis. They produce the longest running diplomatic deception in history. Nobody has any confidence in Israeli work. The Israeli work.

38:18Because they give it and break it with the same ease that Donald Trump does. Again, I don't think this effort at conciliation about the United States can produce anything. When Nathalie Pena is so much, whenever he talks about the region, he mentions Qatar as the main enemy of Israel. In their perception in Israel, Qatar is responsible for what's going on in the United States. This anti-Israeli sentiment that is growing against Israel occupation in Palestine. The way that they have been attacking Gaza, they say it's all because of what Qatar is doing. The investment, the way that they're spanning their money in the United States to manipulate the public opinion, is that the case? No, it's a joke. It is really a complete joke. It's

39:21typical of the Israelis. They can't ever accept that it's they who are at fault in anything. They don't make mistakes. They are always the victims of some side force. I'm a level of force. I think for some years, not because I particularly wanted to, but I was drafted to manage something called the Middle East Policy Council. The purpose of which was to educate Americans about realities in West Asia and North Africa, that the Islamic world essentially. We had a very good program in my school teaching people about Islamic civilization, history and culture. This was fiercely opposed by the Zionist lobby because they see everything as a zero-sum game. They depend on blackening the reputation of Muslims and dehumanizing Arabs here on the ins and

40:29others. Now Turks as well. They blame Qatar. Qatar is a mighty little country in terms of its wealth. It is an extremely wealthy society. It does, indeed, conduct a program of education in the United States, which reads very few people. Qatar does not have a APEC type organization, a minder in the office of every Congress person, except one, I guess, the Congressman from the House of Representatives. I'm sorry, I forgot his name. The Mayor of Egypt. How much is it? How much is it? Thank you very much. You can talk to him. Yeah, you can talk to him exactly. He's the only one who doesn't have a minder in his office.

41:30This is an effort funded at the $750 million level by Israel. Qatar doesn't do anything. So this is a complete nonsense. It may make sense in Israeli politics because Benjamin Netanyahu is charged with having a close relationship with Qatar and using Qatarimani to fund Hamas and divide Palestinians. That seems to have been Israeli policy for quite a while. And it was actually one of the issues between Qatar and Saudi Arabia when they had a rupture. The Saudis are not happy with Hamas. Hamas is an off-dute of the Muslim brotherhood, which means it's a democratic Islamist movement. It believes, and I know from having talked to senior members of Hamas, it believes that it can take power at the ballot box.

42:30In elections, that it can derive its authority from popular approval, that it does not need that Arab societies do not need dogs, generals, princes, kings, religious fanatics, or anyone else to validate their politics. And as such, it's a threat to the monarchies in the Gulf. The do not want elections, do not want leaders to be elected, they want them to be hereditary, and operate on a different principle. So Qatar is a non-place. Yet the Qatar leadership has believed in that Islam requires a renaissance. And has tried to provide the basis for that. I remember on one of my last visits to Qatar,

43:37which was some time ago, a gutteries staging of an opera about even worse. And this was sponsored by the wife of the Dan Amir, the father of the current Amir. The Qatar is, I would argue, mainly a force for enlightenment in the Islamic world. And it sponsors Al Jazeera, which is a principle source of objective news about everywhere, but Qatar typically doesn't report on what goes on in Qatar accurately, everybody does everything else. And this is a powerful counter to Israeli propaganda. So, but to say that Qatar is, behind the Israel's laws of support abroad about responsible for the decay in Israel's reputation,

44:42is frankly completely ludicrous. And it is a statement that is completely unenched, mentally, mentally disordered. Ambassador, in the recent days, four days, three days, we had a new round of attacks from the United States and response from Iran. And then the reason that they started attacking Iran was that Iran is putting back the minds in the straight-off almost. That was the main reason. And in the first day of Iran in retaliation, you see the interceptors going off to intercept the missiles. In the second day, that Iran retaliates again, you see no interceptors happening, you know, going to hit the missiles, Iranian missiles. Then last night, we had, again, Iranian going on preemptive attack on Kuwait. Right. And here we have a point in common. I mean,

45:54the Senkhan attack on the Iranian installations that were allegedly dispersing minds in the Persian Gulf and the straight-off armours was preemptive. It was a preemptive attack. Iran has now said, okay, you do preemptive attacks, we can do them too. And I don't know what the U.S. forces in Kuwait were preparing, but whatever it was, Iran has preempted. I think it's very hard to judge what is going on. It looks to me as though the United States has concluded that preemptive attacks are not a good idea. Because it was retaliation is not a good idea, because all it does is create a cycle of escalation. But maybe I'm overestimating the intelligence of the American leadership.

46:59I mean, fundamentally, where we are is there is a state of war between Iran and the United States and between Iran and Israel. And it has spillover effects on any country that backs the United States by allowing U.S. forces to be stationed on its territory. And so this is a state of war and it is evidenced by intermittent exchanges of fire. Preemptive attacks, attacks that are intended to create headlines in the press. In the case of Iran, Iran wants the news. Once the stock market and the oil and gas trading institutions to understand this war is not over, the state of war most is blocked. And in fact, as we speak, we're finally seeing the crunch in

48:02prices as storage, store oil is depleted. The refineries can't get the feed stock they need to produce diesel and now gasoline and jet fuel, all being rationed in effect. And the United States alone among countries refuses to adopt electrification and electric vehicles and prefers to remain dependent on the internal combustion engine, which is exactly where Iran wants the United States to be. So that's where we are. We're in an economic war of attrition, which is also an intermittent kinetic war and each side does damage to the other and each side judges that it cannot last the other.

49:02And I think Iran holds the cards in this contest. That is to say, I think Iran has demonstrated over 47 years that it can take a lot of punishment and survive. The United States has no really suffered anything in this war. Nonetheless, we see Vice President J.D. Bantz claiming this is not a war but a special military operation. He did not use those words, but that was what he meant. This is exactly what Putin said about Ukraine. From the Ukrainian point of view, this is a war. From the Russian point of view, it's just a special military operation. Now the United States is saying, no, there's no war. I wouldn't call it a war if it says J.D. events. What does he call it? I guess he calls it a special military operation in private. This is

50:04not sustainable. A missed call doesn't feel like anything. No red flag, no notification screaming at you. It just disappears into your call log. And nine times out of ten, that was someone ready to hand you money. That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q-U-O. The business phone system built so you never miss a call. Here's what I like about it. All your calls, texts, and voicemails live in one place. So anyone on your team can pick up a conversation, see the full history, and respond fast. No more, wait, who talked to this customer last? And if you're worried about after hours leads slipping through, Quo's optional built-in AI agent can answer questions and even book appointments while your team's offline. It's the number one rated business phone system on G2 and over 90,000 businesses already trusted to stay reachable. Money is on the line. Always say hello with Quo. Try Quo for free. Plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to

51:08Quo.com slash tech. That's Q-U-O.com slash tech. Who says Halloween only last one day? With Wayfair, one night of Halloween becomes a whole season at home. From larger than life yard decor and moody lighting to festive accents for every room in the house, Wayfair has what you need to make Halloween feel like magic all in one place. Because the best Halloween memories aren't made in just one night. They're made all season long. Shop Halloween decor now at Wayfair.com. The other part of the picture that we mentioned in the initial, in the beginning of this talk, it was the SEO and how SEO is supporting Russia and Iran in their ongoing fight. But the other part of the picture is what the US Treasury Secretary Scott Basant said yesterday. He said that the European Union has officially joined Operation

52:10Economic Outcast and we appreciate the strong and early stance. The United States stands firm with our allies in ensuring the murderous Iranian regime cannot exploit the global financial system to fund its nuclear ambitions. Weapon programs and terror prox. The world is sent a clear message to Iranian regime. We will not stop until every remaining financial lifeline has been subvert. Where do you see Europe Ambassador? Because Europe was part of the JCPOA. You remember that and Donald Trump withdrew from JCPOA. So I had to put pressure. Europe didn't cooperate with Donald Trump in his first term. Today it seems that they're coming together with the United States. Well, it may seem that way, but let's see concrete evidence. I mean, I regard Basant's statement

53:14as provado. I don't see any factual basis for it. Is Europe suddenly going to overlook the American blockade of the state of Armas? I mean, after all, Iran was greatly concerned when it began the blockade that it would be blamed by the world for cutting off global oil supplies and gas supplies. Then the United States, helpfully, said no, no, no, we'll take responsibility for cutting off the world with our own blockade. And so we have a cooperative blockade. US and Iran have finally found something to cooperate about, stopping the transitive ships in the straight of almost. And so no, I don't believe this. I think this is a state. Whether it's more than that, we will find out. But I think Europeans are now in a condition where they're way

54:22of dealing with Donald Trump and his administration, is to tell Donald Trump what he wants to hear because he doesn't listen to anything else. Oh, we're with you. We're with you. Yes, we're behind you. We'll stay behind you. We'll, you know, we may not do anything at all, but please believe we are with you psychologically, at least. This is the great problem we face in all military situations now is that information warfare, completely, overweld its reality. No, you were talking, we were talking about the exchange of fire in West Asia, Jordan, UAE, Kuwait, all hit by Northern Iraq, Kurdistan region, hit by Iran. We don't know what the damage is because there's a complete cover-up. Iran claims it killed a lot of military,

55:27American military people, but we don't know whether that's true or not. But we've come to the point where people are really more inclined to believe Iran than they are to believe the United States. So the information war we're losing, finally. But it continues and the sense statements are a major part of it. This is an effort to manipulate markets, to alleviate pain at the gasoline pump and so on. And this applies also completely to the war in Ukraine, where the mainstream media and the government, the European governments, continue to claim the Ukrainian and the war, which in manifesto is not. And Zelensky is just done the most active desperation that you could imagine. Threatening blow-up of Iraners over Russian air, in Russian airspace, whether they're Russian or pottery or Emirati or Iranian or Chinese or whatever they are. This is a proposal

56:36to conduct an aerial terrorism. It is a proposal to follow the United States into piracy, because piracy is what the United States now does. That's the Venezuelans. This is not working anymore. I mean, even the markets are incredibly gullible. Trump made billions of dollars apparently or his family did, but manipulating the stock market, by on Friday announcing huge attacks on Iran. Monday saying, oh, it's all Iran's back with the negotiating table and everything's fine. So you can still shorten, make a pile of money. Anyway, this isn't working anymore. Reality is overtaking the information war. I don't think Mr. Bessent has any credibility at all.

57:41There were drone attacks in Germany. And the German government says it's Russia behind these drone attacks. Russia says it wasn't us. We didn't need to attack Germany. But after all, the German chancellor, he's going to talk with Donald Trump. He believes that Russia was behind it. And Germany, you see the behavior of the German government under the Chancellor Merz, it's all about militarization of Germany, preparing Germany for the big fight. They're talking in 2029, 2030. They're going to have a fight with Russia. What do you see the conflict in Ukraine going? I think Ukraine is finally on the ropes. And that's why you see this desperate escalation by Zalensky. Several things are happening. First, of course, Ukrainians are on out of menta,

58:44they're trying to now recruit women to go hide in the battlefield. Ukraine can't cover the battlefield adequately to stop Russian advances, which are occurring. The Russians are advancing slowly and carefully and trying to minimize their own casualties. And in flip pulling major damage on Ukrainian military facilities. Ukraine's politics are devolving also. Zalensky, if there were an election now, apparently he would lose to anyone of three candidates who ran against him. And there, basically, you see Fedoro, the former defense minister, the former commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, Zalensky, you see others saying, well, he's got to go. And I think probably the Kremlin believes that a different

59:54leadership would be willing to negotiate. Zalensky is not. He's basically cornered. So the Ukraine's politics are unstable. This leadership is in question. And it's not a landlock now. It can't export or import. Rain can't import military equipment. Have the equipment through it, yes, as it once did. And it is, it's in terrible condition. And nothing that people in the Western media say can cure that. This is not to say that Ukraine is about to give up. The Ukrainians are tough. They are valiant. They are resilient. They've shown that on the battlefield, but time the clock is clearly running out on Ukraine. And you have to ask yourself, what will be left of Ukraine when this war is over? It is the most corrupt, poorest country in Europe. It has lost something like 20% of its territory. It may end up landlock.

1:01:03It's a failed state. Do you think the European Union is going to rescue it? I suspect French farmers will have something to say about it. So I don't see much future for Ukraine. And I think that's terrible because Ukraine has been used by the West to weaken a nice late Russia. It's failed at that. But Ukraine has paid, Ukrainians have paid a terrible price for NATO and Western policy. And so that is the situation in Ukraine. And the major thing that Ukraine and the Ukraine war and the Iran war have been common is there's no exit strategy. There is no war termination strategy. There's not even any diplomacy aimed at them. We're told that Whitkopf and Kushner are about to go back to Moscow. It may be key. As I said before,

1:02:08when I talked to you, I think an intelligent point for Radcliffe, the CIA director who was in Moscow, he should have said to the Narschenik his counterpart. It looks like Zelensky may be in trouble in leaving one way or another either through an election or a coup or something. And if he did leave in a more flexible government, it came into being in Kiev. Would you be willing to make peace? Could we help you do that? Would you give us an assurance that if Zelensky retreats to one of the villas he owns abroad, you would not go after him? It would even belong. Can we arrange a graceful exit for him? Would that produce peace? These are not noble questions, but they're important. And I don't

1:03:12think Radcliffe did certainly Kushner and Whitkopf are not capable of that. They have no credibility in Moscow at all. There's no negotiation going on. When asked, how does the war with Iran, not it's not a war, it's a special military operation, I guess. But how does the special military operation against Iran and JD events, as well as the last-ass via Iranians? Which means there's no strategy at all on the part of the United States. And the notion that somehow or other wars and in the unconditional surrender of the other side is preposterous, especially when they're not been beaten or, in fact, have essentially gained ground as a result of the war, which Iran has done. It's been battered. It has been impoverished. It has been united against

1:04:17a foreign enemy. Every effort at regime change in June last year in February this year has resulted in a hyper-agloing by the new Iranian leadership. And every effort to destroy the nuclear program has increased the probability that Iran will build the nuclear war. And every effort to reduce the Iranian military arsenal of missiles and drones has been countered by underground production, while apparently very impressive rates. Replanishment of these weapons by Iran, efforts to persuade Iran to ignore the Israeli onslaught on the Palestinians, in Gaza and West Bank, and the Lebanese, in southern Lebanon, and the Syrians have killed. And instead, we have had a new organization, not an organization, conservative grouping.

1:05:23Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey come together to manage the security architecture, a new security architecture in West Asia. And the United States will not be part of that. I don't think China and Russia will be part of it either, although they will have a cordial relationship with the parties to it. And Iran, as I said earlier, will probably have at least a consolidated relationship with this group and maybe even be included in it. So what has this war been about? Nobody can tell you. How will it end? Nobody can tell you. What will the region look like after it? We're beginning to see that. Unlike in Ukraine, where we can see that what emerges from the war in Ukraine is a disaster for Europe, generally, and for Ukraine. And if Germany really wants to fight Russia, it's making a big mistake, because of Russians who have learned how to fight in a new way, and very effectively in Ukraine.

1:06:29So I'll stop here. I think we're out of time, Neema. Thank you. Thank you so much, Ambassador, for being with us today. Great pleasure, as always. Well, it's always cathartic to speak to you, even if it's not joyful. Who says Halloween only lasts one day? With Wayfair, one night of Halloween becomes a whole season at home. From larger than life yard decor and moody lighting to festive accents for every room in the house, Wayfair has what you need to make Halloween feel like magic all in one place. Because the best Halloween memories aren't made in just one night. They're made all season long. Shop Halloween decor now at Wayfair.com. Business is booming. Is your fulfillment ready for peak season? Switch to ship station now and

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