🚨 LIVE: Scott Ritter - Iran and Russia Wars Now Entering Most Dangerous Phase

Welcome to a very important episode of Let's Talk Geopolitics.I am one of your hosts, Cyrus Jansen, and we have an amazing show for you this evening or this afternoon, wherever you are joining us from.Now, we have breaking news on the Iran war.Of course, once again, it seems to be taco Sundays, as Donald Trump has just announced.that he is, of course, potentially making another deal with Iran and that the United States is going to hold off on the bombing campaign.Now, what we're looking at in the Middle East, everyone, is we're looking at a major escalation trap.

Here we are on August 2nd, and the Strait of Hormuz is still under Iranian control.There is absolutely nothing the United States can do.Iran has come out.They have rejected what Donald Trump has said.He has said, no, we have not reached out to Team Trump.We are not asking for a deal.

Meanwhile, we're actually preparing for this United States invasion.We are stuck in the middle of this escalation trap.And to break it all down, In tonight's stream, we've got an amazing guest on the show.But first, let me bring in my colleague, Alex from Reportify Media.Buckle in, guys.We've got an important show tonight.

Well, thanks for that, Cyrus.And judging by what's going on in the chatter off to my left here, wow, everyone's wondering what is going on here.You know, they're spending trillions buying weapons for wars abroad while you, the viewer, are using a layaway plan to buy groceries at home.Well, welcome to the era of catastrophic stupidity.From Iran to Ukraine, the mainstream narrative is dead.As you know, I'm a co -host Alex from Reportify and alongside with Cyrus Jansen here tonight.

The US, NATO and Collective West claimed their proxy wars would break their rivals.The reality, they've detonated their own economies.Look around, you're aboutfactories are shutting down because they can't pay energy bills.Regular working people across America and Europe are getting crushed by sky -high utility costs, crippling grocery inflation, and an exploding national debt, all to fund multiple front endless wars.Tonight, one of the world's most skilled geopolitical analysts joins us to lay out the brutal unfiltered truth about what's coming next.

Let's bring him in.This is Scott Ritter.Welcome to Let's Talk Geopolitics, Scott.Thank you.

Thanks for having me.Thanks for the introduction.

All right.Absolutely.Mr. Ritter, always a pleasure to see you.And I want to get your first thoughts on this Iran war as we are looking at Sunday, August 2nd.You know, all of us have been looking at a major escalation here, right?We saw this huge ramping up in the United States side.

You know, all Signs were pointing to a major escalation in the United States, potentially carrying out a massive air campaign.And then once again, here we are, I guess we're too close to the markets opening on Monday.Magically, Donald Trump says that, oh, Iran has reached out.We're trying to get a deal.Iran has now come out and said, no, we never reached out to you.We reject what you've just said on social media.

Mr. Ritter, break it down for us.What is really going on right now?And let us know your thoughts on the current phase of this Iran war and what the United States is doing.

I'm just curious, how much more massive can Donald Trump get?I mean, we had a 39 -day war, which was massive many times.I mean, we brought to bear the full capacity of America's conventional military power.And we lost.Donald Trump admits as much.We ran out of ammunition.

The world ran out of oil.We negotiated a memorandum of understanding and bad faith and then broke it once we felt we had a case.enough ammunition and the world's energy markets had stabilized We launched another massive attack.I mean, how else do you describe?quantities of American aircraft dropping munitions on Iran And we failed we lost we ran out of ammunition in the world ran out of oil and Donald Trump unilaterally called a halt Somehow he believes that if you do the same thing over and over again, you'll get a different result.So now he's promising a massive attack.

With what?With what?More bombers?How many more do we have?We've used them all.More weapons?

We ran out of long -range strike weapons.So now these bombers would have to come in close, putting them at risk.And then what happens when the Iranians retaliate?Because we've acknowledged that the Iranians are actually getting stronger, not weaker, as the bombing goes on.They're building missiles.We're running out of missiles.

And we've run out of the missiles needed to defend ourselves.So as we attack Iran, Iran will lay waste to American military infrastructure in the region, above and beyond what they have already done.And more importantly, because this massive attack that Trump was ordering was going to strike Iranian energy infrastructure, Iran would eradicate the totality of the Persian Gulf's oil production and gas production capabilities, bringing to a screaming halt of the global economy and with it the American economy.And the last time I checked, James Carville reminded us in 1992, it's the economy, stupid.So if you're an American politician, understand this, and I think Donald Trump just saw the light, that the American people aren't going to vote for you because you carried out a massive military strike against Iran.They're going to vote against you, however, if gas prices keep going up, if cost of living keeps going up, if quality of life keeps going down.

It's the economy, stupid.And finally, the dumbest man who ever occupied the White House is woken up to this reality.There was never going to be a massive attack.It was always brinksmanship.You can't be more massive at the end of your military capacity chain than you were at the beginning of your military capacity chain.We lost the war against Iran the first time around.

We're not going to win it the third time around.

You know, we heard this earlier clip at the start of the program.It was a senator or a congressman interrogating, I would say, the Department of War, Pete Hexeth, and he continued to deny that Iran still has a military.This pussyfooting around this topic here is very sensitive for the Department of War, Scott.Is there ever a point where they will admit defeat here, or is this just going to be another one of these never -ending wars?

Again, we have to come back to the fact that this conflict is tied up in domestic American politics.And what I'm speaking about, of course, is the midterm elections coming up in November.These are critical for the future of Donald Trump.And that's all Donald Trump cares about.He doesn't care about the future of America.He doesn't care about the future of American alliances, regionally or globally.

He only cares about Donald J. Trump.This is the ultimate narcissist.This is a man who has created a cult of personality.And the key thing about a cult of personality is the infallibility of the person around which the cult is built.Donald Trump can do no wrong.He can make no mistakes.

He is perfect.And so what will happen, I believe, is first of all, we've lost this war and the Pentagon has all but admitted.What happened last night,I don't know if any people picked up on this, but it appears that the United States has abandoned Kuwait and Bahrain militarily.The reporting is that the American military resources are being withdrawn.Kuwait, of course, was the anchor to American military commitment in Iraq and beyond.

To lose Kuwait is to lose everything.Bahrain was the home of the Fifth Fleet.To give up on Bahrain means you're giving up on the Persian Gulf.So these decisions are already being made, just not being openly acknowledged.Pete Hegseth probably isn't long for his tenure as Secretary of War because heads will fall.people would be brought to bear, you know, responsibility brought to bear, not on the president because he's infallible, but on those who have advised him.

And Hegseth, of course, has been the number one cheerleader for this conflict.And I think what's going to happen is the president's going to be compelled.He has no other choice than to admit failure.But it wasn't his failure.He was lied to.all the way down.

And I think Israel will pay a price.This war will suddenly become Israel's war.And Hegseth will probably be compelled to resign.And there might be some heads rolling.Admiral Cooper in CENTCOM and other people who've been promulgating this conflict will likely be shown the door.Because there has to be an accounting to the American people as to why we started and lost a war of choice that has only harmed the interest of the United States.

So I think this is the direction we're going.We're in a pause.Well, excuse me.We've been doing renovations in the house and there's some sawdust in the air.Every once in a while, a piece goes up the nose.What can you do?

Welcome to real life.people.I think this is the reality we're looking at, is that there will be accountability.They've lost us.There's nothing we can do to recover from this error.We have lost our allies.

NATO is not rallying to our support.The Gulf Arab nations are abandoning us as we speak.You know, when Trump floated the concept of a massive retaliation, my understanding is that the Saudi Arabians said not just no, but hell no.That isn't going to happen because they understand what's about to happen to them.Let's make this very clear.These Gulf Arab principalities and kingdoms, they have no real support amongst their population.

These are people who rule by terror.by fear and by bribery.They take oil wealth and they, you know, hand it out as largesse.These aren't good people.They don't have a, you know, a linkage with their populations.These perfume princes who understand that the only reason they stay in power is because of their ability to pump oil and gas out of the ground.

Iran is about to take that power away.And when they do that, heads will roll, literally, because These are people who have been taking the heads off of the people who oppose them, especially in Saudi Arabia.And I think, you know, revenge is a dish best served cold.And the Saudi heads will be rolling if they continue down this path.I don't think they can reverse the path that they're on, but they can try and slow the acceleration to their ultimate demise.allowing the United States to use their soil or, you know, having had used their soil to link them to any future action against Iran that strikes Iran's energy infrastructure would be literally a suicide pill.

And so you see the Gulf region abandoning the United States.and this is the other reality that Donald Trump has to face There is no support anywhere in the Gulf for a continuation of this conflict The United States has no allies and we have no capacity and as a result Donald Trump has no choice But to acknowledge reality, he'll just seek to push the blame for this debacle on the shoulders of others Scott I want to jump in here I'm starting to see this Caspian Sea all over my YouTube feed.

Maps are popping up all over the place.Zelensky's dodging questions.I mean, Ukraine to the Caspian Sea, 800 miles apart.Boy, are these conflicts going to melt into one?

No, not at all.The conflicts are ending.I mean, you know, they're not going to melt into one.That is the wishful thinking of people like Zelensky who are trying to, you know, create something out of nothing.On June 25th, Zelensky authorized a 40 -day drone war against Russia.I mean, this was expanding the conflict to bring the pain to the Russian people.

He literally said that.We're going to bring the war, the reality of war, home to the Russian people so they understand what they've gotten into.And once they feel the pain, the Russian people will rally against their president, toss him out of office and bring him into this war because Ukraine is a just cause.And the Russian people will wake up only if we bomb the sensibilities back into their skulls.That's what he wanted.What he got is the death of Ukraine.

Ukraine is a dead nation right now.The Caspian Sea was an adventure and an accident.An adventure in that the creative minds of the Ukrainian drone force said, hey, why don't we take some of these drones that the West has provided us and fly them?far into the Russian depth as we can.We've denied them, according to them, Azov, Sea of Azov.They've struck ships there.

We've kicked the Russians out of the Black Sea.So why not kick them out of the Caspian as well?And some of these drones made it through and they attacked a ship.There's no doubt in my mind that when they attacked a ship, they thought they were striking a Russian ship.The idea that Zelensky conceived the insane notion of attacking Iran to bring the United States into a war with Russia.is fantasy.

What happened is after they struck the ship and became aware it was an Iranian, Zelensky panicked.And then his handlers around him said, hey, we can make lemonade out of lemonade here.You're going to Washington, D .C.The president's already promised you the moon in Ankara, even though he didn't.And why don't you just ask the president politely if he'll join you in the crusade against Iran, which means expanding the war.

Or you'll join him in the crusade against Iran.But he has to join you in the crusade against Russia.Let's do this together.And Zelensky did.He went to the White House and actually broached this with the president.And then, according to everybody and according to the reality, said, hell no, that just isn't going to happen.

Meanwhile, the Iranians took great umbrage.One of their ships being struck and one of the sailors being started moving intermediate range missiles of great how northern Iran and they were going to strike Ukraine.Ukraine went around, said, help us, help us, help us.Sky is falling.We need missile defense.We, you have to stop this.

You can't let this happen.And there was deafening silence because everybody said, you're the one who attacked an Iranian ship.Payback's a bitch.And, um, you know what happened after all, all this blunder about expanding the war, the Iranian foreign ministry quietly came out and sent a letter to the, uh, the Ukrainian foreign ministry sent a letter to the, uh, Iranian foreign ministry.Hey, we're sorry.This was an accident, a horrible accident.

It will never happen again.And we're going to pay reparations to the families of the dead sailor.And we just promise you this just won't happen again.How do you expand a war with that added point is there is no war expansion except the war that now has been brought down on Ukraine.As we speak, this drone war that Zelensky authorized has caused the Black Sea to be closed to Ukraine.The port of Odessa and all other ports no longer function.

The totality of the shipping being brought in is being sunk and destroyed by the Russians.There is no black sea access, which means there is no Ukrainian economy.This is the end of Ukraine.It's something Russia should have done a long time ago except they actually believe in the rule of law and they had an agreement in place that said that they will allow a grain corridor so that Ukraine could get the grain to the global market.Understanding full well that the Ukrainian ships that would go back would be full of weapons, but the Russians had made a deal so they lived up to the deal.But when Iran or when Ukraine expanded the strikes in the Sea of Azov and then expanded into the Caspian Sea, that's it.

There is no more black sea commerce coming out of Ukraine, it's the end of Ukraine.But it's not just that, because the Ukrainians also struck a wild berry, so an online retailer.And hit them because they're bringing the pain to the Russian people, you know, and it's amazing how the Western media came out, you know 1 .3 billion dollars in damage and it's the end of the Russian economy Well, the head of wild berries came out and said it's cost us tens of millions of dollars and it's inconvenient But we're we're gonna get through this, you know, who's not gonna get through this.I Ukrainian economy because the Russians now have opened up and they're striking all of the online retail distributors in Ukraine, including the national postal system, which has been used to transport military goods from the very beginning.Everybody's seen the white trucks when you pull away the side, they got the armored vehicles inside, not postal stuff.And the Russians

have just taken the gloves off.And what's happening now is you're seeing the total destruction of Ukraine's economic capabilities, not just factories, but the distribution centers, energy production.There's no more gas stations along the front line.As you pull back, you're seeing that all the gas stations are being destroyed.By the time the Russians are done, all gas stations will be destroyed.The Ukrainian civilians will have no ability to pump gas, which means no ability to drive.

The crops that Ukraine depends upon are in the field right now, needing to be harvested soon.There's no diesel for them, none whatsoever.These crops will go to waste.They're all This is the end of Ukraine.Zelensky's 40 day drone war, which is supposed to, you know, create the opportunity for a broader conflict in the Caspian, melding the two wars.All he's done is put a bullet to his head, pull the trigger and blow his brains out.

The body just has yet to hit the ground, but it's done.

Scott, I want to bring up a slide here where, you know, you were talking about the Ukraine economy.I want to bring up a slide.This will, This is, I think, one of the most telling stories.These are price hikes on mobile phones, and these are some of the largest companies in the world that have leverage in price negotiations with suppliers.We are seeing Samsung, huge company, Oppo, Xiaomi, Redmi, all raising prices on smartphones in August.The memory crisis is getting worse.

We can expect more price hikes in August from Samsung, Oppo, Realme, and Xiaomi.And they're planning to raise prices on multiple devices.We saw it with Apple.We've seen it with American Airlines.So is this what you're describing here, where the pain will definitely crumble the Ukrainian economy, but it's going to have, you know, vibrations throughout this planet?Is that what you're saying?

Well, I mean the Ukrainian economy is collapsing because the it's to cease to function It's cease to function because Russia's shutting it down What you're describing is more linked.I think to the stupidity of Donald Trump You know when we speak of energy security most people, you know, we speak of of course the the the flow of oil and gas primarily.Of course, there's nuclear, there's wind, there's green, but the big driver, coal, but the big drivers are oil and gas because, you know, it costs a lot of money to get out of the ground and there has to be massive infrastructure to distribute it and people are overly reliant upon it.It's not just about the price of gasoline and diesel at the pump, though.It's about everything.Look around your desk or look around my desk.

Everything, everything we see is a byproduct of petroleum.I mean, you know, oil is used.Plastics it's used to produce chemicals.It's a gas produces chemicals that they'd go into everything even the food I just had a wonderful breakfast cooked by my wife Included, you know, some green beans those green beans are grown in a farm that requires fertilizer that fertilizer requires, you know Ammonia that comes from the gas production in Qatar one of the largest producers of ammonia the Russian and Ukrainian gas produce ammonia that's used to create fertilizer sulfur out of oil crack is, is, is, you know, a key driver.You speak of chips.Again, I'm not a, I'm just a marine.

I'm not too smart about much.But I learned about helium.And I always thought helium was that thing that I sucked into my mouth to make my voice sound funny.But apparently, helium is actually a key component in chip manufacturing.And when you remove 25 % of the global helium supply.I think it's even more than that.

Qatari actually leverages more than that.That means that none of these chips are getting produced.And when they do get produced, they're getting produced at extraordinarily high prices, which gets passed on to the consumer.And so global electronics, which are dependent upon helium to produce these chips that are used in the electronics, we're seeing a collapse, because there's no alternative.It's not like, oh, we're out of helium, we'll use xenon, or we'll use, you know, nitrogen.Nope, you don't have helium, the production process shuts down.

There's no replacement for it.These are the kind of things that the narrow -minded morons that run U .S.policy apparently didn't think of.Scott Besson was singularly focused on the flow of oil to China and shutting down the flow of oil out of Russia.Again, he doesn't understand how China works, he doesn't understand how Russia works, he doesn't understand how Iran works, but he's singularly focused on oil as a producer of fuel for combustion engines.

What he forgot is that oil is the driver of the global economy in terms of manufacturing, both in terms of the direct products, but also the byproducts of breaking down crude.And when you lose 25 % of the world's energy production capacity, it's a lot.It collapses the global economy.It doesn't shrink it.It collapses the global economy.And this is the direction that we're headed in right now.

The prices you see, I mean, man, I don't think...We talk about midterm elections being a big driver for the United States, but you know what else is a huge driver politically?Christmas.Nobody likes to talk about Christmas.But Christmas is when every American family with children has to put stuff under the tree that pleases their children.And because we've become a nation, I call it a lotus eaters.

The lotus, of course, helps us forget the sins of our forefathers, the sins that we're committing today.We just consume it.which is wrapping ourselves in a cocoon of consumer -driven comfort.And as long as we can fool ourselves, I mean, I got my phone.I can go.Oh, I'm lost in the narcotic of scrolling.

Oh, baby, the world is good.Everything's wonderful in the world.Beautiful women.Look at the vacations.I'll never go on, but I can see right here.Music.

Oh, it's all great.No, it's not.That's not reality.Reality is outdoors.Reality is interacting with people.But the Americans have fallen to this narcotic, this lotus eating of consumerism, which is fine as long as the government can continue to feed them the lotus leaves.

The lotus is going to run out at Christmas.All that stuff ain't going to be under the shelf.And when it is under the shelf, it's going to be at prices nobody can afford.And that's when People wake up and say, oh my God, what has happened?What have we done?Who is to blame?

And we go back to what I said at the beginning.It's the economy stupid.And apparently the dumbest politician ever populated Washington, D .C.have forgotten that point because they have built a cult of personality around a billionaire who couldn't give a rat's ass about any of the American people and what they're going through on a daily basis.

Yeah, Scott, you know, first of all, I want to say we just love your insights and love having you on the show.Everybody, I'm just going to put a link up here at ScottRitter .com if you guys are more interested in following him.We're not done with Scott.We just wanted to, you know, help plug his website.That way you can get more information.

Yeah.But, you know, Scott, you know, what's interesting is, is, you know, I'm actually in California right now.And I was walking around the streets yesterday and I was noticing the diesel gas prices here in the city of San Diego, $7 .99 a gallon for diesel here.And, you know, when we look at, it's amazing because like you said, we look at the economy and it is the economy.That is the number one factor.You know, it doesn't matter if you're Republican or Democrat.

We're all connected.We need a good economy.And you're right.You know, Christmas is coming.You know, we look at the cost of living in the United States.It's just continues to skyrocket.

Inflation out of control.Just things like going to a restaurant, you know, taking a family, you know, your kids out.This is what is driving up.And I think it's interesting here, Scott, is I talk to so many Americans who are kind of have this opinion, like, I don't understand, you know, why, why can't we just finish this war in iran like we're so much more powerful we have the world's biggest military we're bigger for better iran has nothing and you know they live in this fantasy world where you know they believe that the united states is invincible and ironically you know i i was walking around san diego you've got all these huge navy ships over here everyone's like wow they were amazing look at these big navy ships sitting in the harbor over here in san diego and i'm i'm just thinking to myself Yeah, these massive machines are pretty useless now because of the drone technology, right?I mean, even Iran, they have a couple of speed boats can come right up, put some dynamite on the side of them, blow them out of the water.I want you to talk a little bit about this conflict still with Iran, because I think this is the more pressing one that is really, like you said, you look at helium, you look at agriculture, petroleum, everything is connected here.

Are we really looking on the brink of just an economic fallout if this thing does not get resolved anytime soon?

I believe so.Again, I'm not an economist, and I didn't stay at a Motel 6, and therefore, I haven't absorbed data automatically.But I'm smart enough to know that things are more expensive right now.I'm smart enough to know that while my salary doesn't go up, cost of living goes up, and that this requires difficult decisions to be made about what your priorities are.You know, my wife and I enjoyinto our golden years and one of the things we like to do is go to movies and we like to go out for dinner.

But when you get to the middle of the month and your dinner budget for the month is gone, shot, because you can't even You can't even go out for Chinese without paying almost twice as much as you paid six months ago for the food.Just going shopping, if you have visitors, your children coming in to visit you, we go out to fill up the refrigerator, we blow through for a week's worth of supplies what we budgeted for a month a year ago.And as I said, the salary is not going up.The cost of everything is going up.And, you know, fortunately, you know, when we tighten our belt, that doesn't mean that, you know, we have to make decisions about, you know, moving out of our house yet.But the other Americans are.

I mean, there's Americans that live paycheck to paycheck.I live paycheck to paycheck.If I lose a paycheck, it's going to be very hard to make ends meet because nobody has a savings anymore.Nobody has a savings account.401k accounts are just shot because of Donald Trump's greed.And so we have a society that's living on the edge.

This is the reality.And it's a society that's placed false hope in the American dream.And I'm not just talking about the American economic dream, which has always been sort of a fantasy fueled by economic bubbles.And then they burst.And then people keep saying, oh, but I want that shiny house on the hill.And then the bubble bursts up.

They approach it.But at the last minute, they pop it and you slide back down again.Nobody, 1 % of the people reach the dream.Everybody else spends a lifetime climbing.scrambling trying to get there in the vest remember it's a pyramid so the vast majority of the people were on the bottom holding the whole thing up meaning everybody who's climbing is climbing on the backs of those on the bottom.Welcome to America.

That's the reality ladies and gentlemen and if you're honest enough to reflect on it you'llyou'll see that it's right.But we lull ourselves into false senses of security.You know, we spend so much money on defense.I mean, right now they're talking about, you know, there was a time when, you know, $500 billion defense was like, what the heck?Doing and then it was 800 billion like wait a minute.

Where'd we get that extra 300 billion?What what's being put then it became a trillion what and now it's 1 .5 trillion, but it's really 1 .8 because oh my gosh They had to get an extra 300 billion for the war that nobody wants to talk about 1 .8 trillion Dollars is what defense spending is going to be in the coming year.And what do we get for it?Nothing?Nothing.Let me explain it to everybody.

You know that Navy that's parked out there that Cyrus saw those big ships.They're worthless Absolutely worthless.You get one of those big ships near the shores of a nation that has adequate anti -shipping missiles, we can't defend them over what we just saw the proof of that.All the American military capacity is being withdrawn from the vicinity of Iran because the Iranians are pounding them to death.We ran out of the ability to defend ourselves.The Navy ships are defended by destroyers that have, you know, SM -3, SM -6 anti -missile capabilities.

But it's not as though they're attached straight to a factory.So as they use them, the factory says, here's some replacements.They have a magazine.That magazine has a finite quantity of missiles.And if you fire sufficient quantity of drones and missiles at the ship, they use up all their missiles.The enemy doesn't run out of ammunition.

You run out of ammunition.When you run out of ammunition, you either have to flee or die.This is the reality.And so that's where we're at today.We have ships, giant ships that cost a lot of money and we can't use them.properly, you know, again, people haven't picked this picked up on this, but the commander of the US Navy in the Mediterranean has said, Hey, I got to I got to withdraw the destroyers that were used to

protect israel, uh from around israel Because we ran out of missiles and we need these missiles now to protect the united states our own interests So even israel, which is literally an extension of america is now being denied protection because we don't have the capacity Let me give the american people an idea of what's going to happen here because our military is broken.It's fundamentally broken We've been living on a lie for so long we back when I was in We were pretty good back then.We could fight and win two and a half wars.We were ready to do that.We trained nonstop.We had the capacity to do that.

When we went to war against Iraq in 1990 -1991, we deployed 750 ,000 troops.Where did they come from?Quarter of a million in Germany, all ready to fight, fully equipped, trained, ready to go.So we took some of them.And then we had been training to send 300 ,000 troops to Germany to marry up with equipment in 10 days and go straight to war.Reforger, we called it.

Well, we redirected Reforger, flew those troops into Kuwait, brought in ships of equipment on boats, married it up, and we were ready to go.750 ,000 troops.We can't do that today.We don't have the capacity to do that.It takes five months.to ship a heavy brigade from Fort Kit Carson in Colorado to Poland.

Five months.One brigade, 5 ,000 troops.And that exists.We don't have other brigades that are ready to go because this is a peacetime military.We have built the best, what we call the best technology.But it's not the best technology.

The best technology is the technology that works over time in conflict.What we've done is created the concept that we can win quick wars.We come in with an aircraft carrier, we take our fancy airplanes off, and everybody's supposed to go, oh my god, the Americans here with their aircraft carrier and airplanes.We surrender, we quit, we're done, we're fighting.It doesn't work.The Taliban proved that.

20 years they've pulled us down.The Hootie proved it.They caused an aircraft carrier to maneuver so fast,that it threw an F -18 overboard, and the carrier had to flee for its life after begging that the Hootie stop shooting.This is the reality of the American military.We lack the capacity to sustain conflict against a peer or near -peer opponent.

In Iran, to the contrary, the beliefs of all the American people who say they're just ragheads, they're just savages.They're Muslims.My God, they're Muslims.They can't have any intellectual capacity, not understanding that in the Shia faith, to be an ayatollah means that you spend 30 years plus studying every aspect of not just religion, but how religion intersects with society, that you're an expert, not just on the text, but how the society feels about it.You are an expert on the people you seek to project your faith into.I'm not saying that I agree with everything some of these ayatollahs do, but I respect the process that produces them, and I respect the nation that embraces intellectualism.

There is an Islamic library in Iran that nobody talks about.It is the foundation of knowledge for the world.And this is in Iran.It's better than any damn library that exists in the United States.One, because A, it exists.Two, because people use it.

A book on a shelf is no good unless the people pull the book off and read it.And the American people are too busy scrolling porn on their phones.They're not enlightening their minds.The Iranians have built a military capability that isn't based on bluff.It's based upon reality.hard reality.

Ballistic missiles that hit their targets, and they know what targets they want to hit.We thought we could roll in there and kill, assassinate the Supreme Leader of Iran.And that was our strategy.Everything collapses after that.We didn't study what the Supreme Leader is.We didn't even study what the Shia faith is.

Again, I would just put the entire Trump administration up in front of this audience here and ask, you know, just simple questions.Who is Ali?Who is Hussein?Who is Hassan?What is Karbala?And if you don't know the answers, get the hell out of here.

Why are you even bothering talking to me about Iran?Because if you don't understand the importance of the Shia faith, the foundations of the Shia faith, what it stands for, the resistance it stands for, the martyrdom it stands for.Do you know that by killing somebody you don't demoralize people?You actually raise that person to martyr status and people rally around them, not because they're suicidal, but because that is their faith, the faith of martyrdom and a cause.These aren't suicide bombers.These are people who fight.

Karbala wasn't an act of self -immolation.Karbala was a battle against, you know, unconquerable odds.by people who didn't quit.And therefore, now you understand Hezbollah, you understand the Houthi Ansarallah, you understand Iran.They will never quit, especially when you're trying to kill them.And so we have triggered something that we can't stop.

They've rallied around, they have the military.What do we have?We have a military that doesn't work.General Berger, the commandant of the Marine Corps, I guess two cycles ago, or three cycles, when he became commandant, he reviewed the National Security Strategy and the Defense Department guidance.And he said, we can't do this.We've been lying to the American people.

They expect us to be able to project power from the sea.And we can't because all our Marines are on one ship.And we bring that ship close to shore, ship gets sunk, we lose all our Marines.We can't do this anymore.We have to be honest about this.And I guess I was too honest because now the commandants, they're like, no, we can do this.

We can do this.We can do this.Let's look at Germany.Germany had a military that functioned quite well during the Cold War when America's military is at its peak.And then the Cold War ended and Germany moved into the peacetime and their military became broken.Just a just an empty shell, sort of like the American military.

a lot of huff, a lot of puff, a lot of money, no substance.When the Russiansthe Ukrainians went to war in 2022, the Germans realized that, oh my God, we don't have a military.Olaf Scholz, the chancellor, went to the parliament and said, I need 100 billion euros in emergency spending to get my military up to speed.The parliament gave it to him.I was curious because when they gave it to him, they gave it to him on returns and he had to immediately start repaying.

So the total cost of the loan from Parliament was almost $120 billion.It's like watching Sopranos.I'm going to tack two points on the principal if you don't pay by the end of the month.Well, that's what happened.Last year, the report came to the Parliament.What happened to this $100 billion?

Nothing.You know how efficient the German military became because of this?No, they actually became worse.Because the problem with the German military is so systemic that no amount of money will fix it.It's literally a problem.It's like buying a house.

My daughter was going house shopping, and she found a house.Great deal.It's on the lake.Yeah, but there's mold.And how do you begin to deal with the mold?Well, you can't.

So the bottom line is you have to buy the house, burn the house down, start all over.And then you might as well go build a house from scratch.That's what is the problem with the German military.To fix a German military, you literally have to burn it down to nothing.Start all over and they can't and so they're gonna be pouring they talking about 800 billion euro to build the German army up to the fourth Reich I can promise you that that will never happen because the problems that exist in the German military are Manifest and the money will never fix anything now we come to America 1 .8 trillion dollars, you know what we're gonna get out of that ladies and gentlemen nothing zero We are so fundamentally broken that that money will fix nothing.How do you fix for instance the Patriot?

Buy new pictures.You guys do understand that the Patriot It comes from the Mike Hercules moment of the 1970s to shoot down missiles.And when we canceled that program, all the defense contractors went, well, you screwed us.And the Army went, well, you know, we need a new service -to -air missile.Why don't you take some of that technology you had and just adapt it?So they took technology from the 70s and started adapting it.

The Patriot never worked.The Patriot never worked.The Patriot never worked.especially in an anti -missile configuration.We saw that during Desert Storm when it shot down nothing.We've seen it ever since then, but we keep lying to ourselves saying, well, if we just modify this, we just modify that.

The defense contractor rakes in billions, hundreds of billions of dollars to build a missile that never worked and will never work.The Patriot will never work against model missile threats because at the end of the day, it is a 1970s technology that is being modified.to present terms.But the Russians are building technology from today.And when the two meet, the Patriot technology doesn't work.That is the truth about everything we do in the American military, everything we do, from the F -35 on down.

It's technology that doesn't work, especially over time in combat conditions.The American military cannot fight and sustain and win and prevail in a modern war against a peer opponent.This is the reality of the situation, and no amount of money is going to fix it.So maybe it's time the American people stop thinking that we're the biggest and baddest in the world.Instead of walking down on San Diego and looking at the fleet going, wow, what great ships.Really, it's time for us to look at them and say, that could make a lot of razorblades.

Because you know what?America would be better off making razorblades out of those ships than continuing to pour money into things that if they actually float up against a determined enemy, will sink with the sailors on board.

Yeah, Scott, you know, you had great, great dialogue right there.A couple of things I wanted to highlight there.You know, I was speaking to Colonel Danny Davis, you know, a few months ago, and he said exactly what you did, you know, going back to the 1990s.And when you're looking at that war, you know, Colonel Danny Davis was part of that.You know, he was stationed in Germany.He said, you know, he was working on the logistics of bringing those amount of men over.

And he said, you know, you can't bring, you know, hundreds of thousands of troops you know, rapidly.I mean, this is the five, six, seven month operation.I mean, there's a lot of logistical planning that comes on.So, you know, what we're looking at today is completely different from you know, the Gulf Wars that were fought back in the 90s.And it's also a different, different time.Right.

You know, back then there was no such thing as drones.Largely, you didn't need combat soldiers.You needed boots on the ground.It was a total different style war.And like you said, again, I'm here in San Diego looking at those naval ships and thinking, yeah, these things are useless now.I mean, you know, we can't.

Yeah, great.We have this amazing ship.It's awesome.But we can't we can't steer that ship anywhere close to the Strait of Hormuz.You know, things are going to get absolutely taken out.And I think this is this is the perception that a lot of Americans really need to know.

I love that you also tapped into the Iranians, you know, civilization, the culture, the history.But this is a common thing that we see from the United States, just not understanding your opponent.We make the same mistakes with China.You look at China and Iran, two of the longest civilizations in the world, you know, tremendous history.And we just make these errors.And I think what's really interesting right now is we're looking at the United States reputation across the world has sunken to the newest lobes, right?

China is now a much more popular country on the world stage than the United States.We look at Xi Jinping, for example, latest research from Pew polls.Now, you know, more people trust Xi Jinping than Donald Trump on the world stage.They trust him to handle world affairs in a better manner.But my question to you, Scott, is, you know, what is this going to do to the United States?reputation specifically in the Middle East?

Because our whole promise has been, look, let us build our military bases in, you know, Dubai and, you know, you know, Bahrain and Qatar and all of these countries.But now the Iranians have they have hit every single United States military base.Wall Street Journal actually broke a story a couple of months ago where it got so bad that they had to relocate U .S.soldiers to hotels in the region.because they couldn't stay on base anymore.

Their barracks were destroyed.And I think a lot of these Middle Eastern countries, like, if you guys can't even keep your own bases and your own men safe, What point, you know, what is the point of having you in our country?You can't keep your own self safe.You certainly are not going to keep us safe.And kind of our whole deal with you is security.So I really think this has created a golden opportunity for a country like China to come in and really have a lot more leverage in the future.

Do you agree with that?Do you think that China has a golden opportunity to really take a lot of leverage and a lot of potential power and influence in the region moving forward?

I believe that there is a golden opportunity.It doesn't mean that China is actually going to exploit it.I mean, I agree with you, China, I have yet to go to China, although there seems to be a window of opportunity emerging that if it does open, I will, I will take advantage of it.Because these are things you have to see firsthand, you can read about, you know, the advances and you can read about, you know, high speed trains, you can read about, you know, the amazing cities and the amazing infrastructure and flying drone taxis.And until you experience it, you know, it's just theoretical.But The one thing I have learned about the Chinese over time is that they are slow to react to developments.

I think that's a reflection of the fact that you're dealing with a country with a massive population where you can't afford to make errors of a strategic nature, that everything has to be done slowly, everything has to be done to make sure that all theI's are dotted, the T's are crossed, that there is no loophole, and you move forward.Because they can't afford to make mistakes.If they make a mistake, it's measured in the cost of millions of lives.And so now we take a look at foreign policy.First of all, we know that the Chinese have created a foundation of peace in the Middle East because they brokered a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

This didn't happen out of the blue.And that's where China can make its strength.Anybody who thinks that China is going to move into the Persian Gulf with military forces doesn't understand China and doesn't understand their foreign policy.And it needs to take a look at the map, because China would fall victim to the same long lines of communications that we fall victim to.It's hard to project power that far away from your shore on a sustainable basis.But China doesn't need to go in.

I think it's time that the Persian Gulf redefined itself, not as a region of conflict, which has been the American -driven narrative since the 1970s and now is a region of economic prosperity and harmony among nations.I think the reality is coming out that all nations need to work together, all these energy producing nations need to work together, because if one fails, all fail.If one succeeds, all can succeed.I think this is what China, with its global supply chains, and it's, you know, it's a driver in the global, you know, energy, you know, world markets, a giant consumer of energy.This is where China can come in.But it, you know, we're looking at a If the United States is compelled to continue its precipitous withdrawal from the Persian Gulf, a giant vacuum is going to emerge, and that vacuum could produce catastrophic societal change.

It could be the Arab Spring on steroids if all of these Gulf Arab states collapse, which they very well could.And again, while I'm not a fan of this neocolonial remnants of British imperialism, which is what most of these families are, I'm also not a fan of chaos and anarchy.And I do think, you know, there needs to be a very measured approach to engendering stability in the Middle East that's economically driven, which the United States can't do.We've proven that.We exist to fight wars, and that's it.It's a shame.

But China exists to have functioning global economies, and this is where China could come in.But they're going to have to move quicker than maybe they normally do, because I do think that the the devolution of the Persian Gulf could get ahead of China's ability to reign in chaos.I'm hoping the Chinese are being more proactively engaged right now.As the United States loses face in the Middle East, there should be a Chinese face right there right now saying, here we are, we're ready, here's a plan.Because In order to, the United States is literally, we're burning down the house in the Middle East.We're burning it down.

We don't want that.We don't want the house to burn down.We want a foundation.We want a framework.You know, maybe we change the decor away from, you know, American, you know, Hollywood culture to, you know, something that has sort of a, you know, a Manchurian flair.But, um, but we still need that foundation to exist in order for the world.

We don't have the time to start from scratch.The global economy is dependent upon 100 % of the global energy that the world economy is so finely tuned.We don't have a large amount of slop here.So if you lose 25%, there's going to becatastrophic.You've got to get that 25 % back up in a sustainable fashion.

This is the goal.War isn't the solution.War isn't the answer.People need to understand that war is what created this problem.The only solution is peace, prosperity, co -prosperity, nations learning to live together in harmony.China can bring proven that, but we, we really need the Chinese, the Russians, are capable, but frankly speaking, Russia's got some major problems.

I'm not talking about domestic problems, I'm talking about its problems with Europe and NATO.Very dangerous situation there.Russia is managing this problem, but Russia doesn't have the latitude to divert significant economic and military resources to the Persian Gulf.Russia is fully committed to winning this war against the collective West and then preventing the war from expanding in the Baltics, in the Arctic, and directly against Central Europe.The Russians aren't able to bring their more experienced diplomacy to bear.Sergei Lavrov has built one of the finest diplomatic machines the world has ever seen.

And maybe the Russians can help the Chinese, but the Chinese are going to have to not only lead with diplomacy, but back it up with the economic acumen that they have.Because it's the economy, stupid.If we focus on the economy, we can actually solve a lot of the world's problems.

Scott, I have a question here.And I believe hearing this on one of your recent podcasts, you were talking about the Ukrainian intelligence units operating in places like Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, and around Iran.I mean, is Ukraine acting independent?Or is this the Americans now, with their special operationsAre they getting involved maybe?training some of these officers to go out and Spread their prosperity through the region.

Well, we know thanks to some very good reporting and horrible operational security on the part of Americans involved.Again, I don't support what the United States is doing in Ukraine, but having been in that world, I understand that you just don't talk about it.If you don't talk about it, people won't know about it.But apparently some people want to make some political points about how we've been helping Ukraine.And so we've opened up about the role played by U .S.

Special Operations Forces and the CIA, especially the paramilitary branch of the CIA, in building up Ukraine's own Special Operations Forces so that it becomes literally a direct analog of the American capabilities.We trained them to do, you know, we trained them on skill sets that they were applying inside Russia.I mean, if you look at some of the things the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces have done, infiltrating Russian territory hundreds of miles on foot.I mean, guys, that's tip of the hat.I mean, I don't support their cause at all, but from an operational standpoint, tip of the hat.Some of the things they do operationally is mind boggling.

These are very capable special operators.They should be.They've been trained by some of the best special operators in the world.But now what we see is they're applying their skill set elsewhere as part of a global campaign to destabilize Russia.And this, I believe, isn't just a Ukrainian vision.For instance, a lot of what's going on right now in the Sahel, you have, you know, the Tarek nationalists, and then you have the the Al -Qaeda affiliated jihadists coming together.

operating out of bases in Algeria, where Ukrainian trainers are training them on drone technologies, and French intelligence is involved in helping facilitate, because France, of course, is trying to make a comeback in the Sahel after being kicked out.And they resent the fact that Russia has deployed the Africa Corps in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.So there's a war going on there.And we see the Ukrainians also involved in Chad, we see them involved in Sudan.You know, it doesn't take a lot.You know, it's not a heavy commitment of resources, especially when you're backed by the foreign intelligence services of other nations.

We see Ukrainians working hand in glove with the United Arab Emirates, both in Sudan and Chad.We see the French helping the Ukrainians infiltrate into the Sahel.And in Iraq, I would feel that there's probably a heavy American and Israeli presence as well.Yeah, I see this as an effort by Ukraine's ostensible allies to bring pain to Russia, but they use it, you know.It's one thing for France.If France actually sent some of their covert operatives up against the African Corps and the Russians you know, uncovered this, there would be hell to pay.

So France uses the Ukrainian proxy and the Russians have captured, people talk about the Ukrainian involvement, they captured intelligence information that links to Ukraine.And from the French perspective, that's okay, because why should they care about the Ukrainians in Africa when they don't care about the Ukrainians in Ukraine?I mean, France is part of an overall Western policy that sacrifices Ukrainian manpower for the greater, you know, goals and objectives of the collective West.And it's the same thing happening abroad.Ukraine is a tool that's being used right now.It's a very effective tool.

But someday that tool is going to get dull.Instead of fixing the tool, we're just going to throw the tool away.And that's what's happening right now.This isn't having ameaningful impact on what Russia is doing.It's harassment, but it's not, you know, existential in nature.

Russia's actually recovered in Mali and, you know, the African core is carrying out, you know, very effective counterattacks and are eviscerating these French and Ukrainian backed rebels.And the same thing's happening, you know, everywhere.So, Yeah, it's just another example of Ukraine being used by the collective West for purposes that have nothing to do with furthering Ukrainian interests and everything to do with furthering Western interests, which are geared solely on weakening Russia.

Scott, I'm going to play this clip and I want your assessment of it.I watched it just before we came on the show today.Hopefully you can hear it.We're going to play it now and then I'll come right back to you on this.Okay, let's have a look at this.

And to some breaking news for you now, US President Donald Trump has announced that he is holding off from further attacks on Iran after being asked to do so.Writing on True Social a short time ago, he says the USA is locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran at levels of military terror, strength and power not seen since World War II.Despite this, we have just been asked by Iran and other Middle Eastern countries to hold off.any attack in that the parameters of a deal has been agreed to.This would include the immediate, complete and total opening of the Hormuz Strait and an end to Iran's nuclear threat.Based on this request, I have agreed for the future benefit of the world and likewise the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran to cancel the attack subject to being able to rapidly make a deal.

The country of Israel joins me in this commitment.get to work, everybody, and get it done.

Well, back to you on that one, Scott.

Well, I mean, the Iranians have said for some time now that the president negotiates with himself.And this is sort of the sign of a schizophrenic man, a man who's not mentally well, a man who creates his own reality and populates it with imaginary events and people.The Iranians have straight up said, no, we the only people we're talking to are the Omanis, and we haven't authorized the Omanis to represent us on anything.When the president says, and other nations of the Gulf, what he's talking about is the Saudis saying no, the Kuwaitis saying get out, Bahrain saying get out.The Khalifa family in Bahrain, they're in a lot of trouble.They're a minority, the Sunni ruling family is a minority in a nation that has a significant Shia population, significant majority Shia population.

And he understands what happens if he gets caught in his palace by a Shia crowd.And so he is begging Iran, don't attack us, don't attack us, don't attack us.And the Iranians are like, wait a minute, you allowed your nation to host the Fifth Fleet and you continue to allow the United States to launch HIMARS and ATACMS missiles from your shores.Not anymore.The Americans have been withdrawn.This is part of the reality in Kuwait.

The Kuwaitis are literally one more Iranian airstrike away or drone strike away from dying as a nation.Desalinization plants, power generation facilities have been hit and their energy production facilities are on notice.They understand that if Donald Trump were even to try and do an attack of the scope and scale that he's talked about, that Kuwait will be erased as a modern nation state.Saudi Arabia sees the same thing.The United Arab Emirates see the same thing.And so basically the entire Persian Gulf region

told the United States no, the Jordanians said no, because they're tired of getting hit and there is no defense.And so this is just bluster on the part of Donald Trump.It's just, you know, as an American, it's sad to see.You know, American presidents always have to put a good face on everything.That's what they do when they get elected to be the leaders of the most ego -driven nations.I mean, we are, after all, in America, the We're the exceptional nation.

The world can't live without us.Everything revolves around us, USA number one.And so, you know, American presidents, of course, are trying to sustain that philosophy, but never at the level of delusion that's taking place today.This president is totally detached from reality.And the problem is, it's not just embarrassing to him, embarrassing to the U .S.

military.It's destroying the world.Destroying the world.This kind of ego -driven, narcissistic behavior.I don't know what he hoped to achieve with this posting because nobody believes him.The Iranians aren't scared of a social media posting.

My favorite Iranians today have become the Lego guys.They produce movies.for major warfare acts of genius.And they get into the mind of Trump.They get into the mind of Trump supporters.They get in the mind of the American people.

But this is the reality.The Iranians view America as a joke, a tragic joke, because even though we can't deliver on the annihilation of Iran that we've been threatening, we do inflict harm.A 2 ,000 pound bomb struck a family's residence in Keshem Island.Max Blumenthal has reported on this.A father, mother, and children are dead.because of this, because of the insanity of Donald Trump.

Tens of thousands of Iranians have lost their lives because of the insanity of Donald Trump.So this isn't just a joke.It's a tragic joke.It's a horrific joke.It's a stain.on all of humanity and it's a bigger stain on the American people.

We enabled this madman to get into office and we continue to sustain his lunacy by turning a blind eye to social media posts such as this.A post like this where a president threatens terror against a sovereign state is grounds for dismissal because that is a war crime.That is a war crime.He is basically labeling the United States as a terrorist entity, which we are, but rarely is an American president so honest about this.Now he has said straight up, we are going to commit acts of terror.We have committed acts of terror against the Iranian people.

And the American people are silent in the face of this.There should be demonstrations in the street.We should surround the White House with millions of Americans saying, hell no, you must go.But we've been eating the lotus leaves, I told you.And as long as they keep promising a better economic future, don't worry.Things will just get better.

We go back to that cocoon of comfort, and we stay oblivious to everything that's happening around.By the time the cocoon opens up, it'll be too late.It'll be too late.We can't reverse the fall.But the fall is triggered by these flights of fantasy.I mean, these social media posts have no relevance, no relationship to reality.

But they are a clear indicator of the diseased status of the president's brain and thinking.the disease status of the civic responsibilities of those who surround him.There is a duty and responsibility for your cabinet member to step on the president who lost the mental capacity to govern.And that social media post is proof positive that this president has long ago lost the mental capacity to govern and he needs to be removed if America is to be saved.

You know, Scott, I couldn't agree more.And I think the problem with thisis it reminds me a lot of the little boy who cried wolf.You know, Donald Trump, you know, every couple of days is, you know, posting, you know, we have the greatest capacity.We're the you know, we've got the biggest we're the biggest, the best.America's number one.

But you just keep you know, we just kind of see this seesawing back and forth, back and forth.And I think there's even a lot of frustration with the MAGA crowd.I mean, I've seen a lot of these, you know, very prominent and a And I just appreciate you and your knowledge and really sharing your insights here.Scott, it's been an absolute pleasure to have you on the show, but we want to give a little promotion to your website, scottritter .com.Let us know a little bit more about what information we can find at your website.

And also, more importantly, how can we continue to support you?

Thank you very much for having me on and allowing me to talk, because this is actually very important to me right now.If you go to ScottRitter .com, it takes you to my Substack page.It's a free subscription.I've never hidden behind a paywall for information like this.Let me just ask you, how much money did you guys pay me to come on your show again?

Nothing.I do this for free because it's the right thing to do.I bring that up because a lot of people are saying, oh, you make millions of dollars going on these YouTube podcasts.I make no money going on YouTube podcasts.I do it because it's a duty and responsibility when people say, would you come on and talk about these important issues?I feel that if people feel that I can add something to the dialogue, that it's my duty as a citizen, a global citizen, an American citizen.

So I do it.But it's a lot of work.And so the Substack page has a paid subscription.option.As I said, you don't have to subscribe, but the subscription pays my salary.So people go there.

If you like this work, please subscribe if you want to.If you don't, the information is there.That's what it's there for.What kind of information are you going to get?I'm getting ready to write a piece on Section 214 of the National Defense Authorization Act, which I think is one of the greatest threats to America.today, but these are occasional pieces, but I do have thematics.

For instance, I have a podcast I call The Russia House.It's one of the most important works that I do.It's about going to Russia, capturing the Russian voice, and bringing it back to the American people.Face -to -face interviews with some of the greatest thinkers, political thinkers, military thinkers, economic thinkers in Russia.And people say, well, we don't understand what's going on.You can if you go to The Russia House.

Just to pitch The Russia House in November, I had lined up around a dozen interviews.with the Russia House, and I was going to Russia to do this.It's very expensive, by the way, I'll get to that in a minute.But being an independent journalist ain't cheap.But I went there, but the Russian government intervened.I was like, whoa, what's going on?

They said, yeah, we've reviewed all of these interviews that you want to do, and who came up with this idea?I said, well, I did, and my producer.They said, yeah, but who's driving this?Is somebody from the US government telling you who to interview?I said, no, nobody's.They said, well, The thing is, when we put all these interviews together, individually, it's okay.

But collectively, whoever put these interviews together, you're getting a deep insight into the reality of Russia across a broad spectrum, a very deep insight.And so we ask you again, who do you work for?I said, I only work for myself.I work for the American people.I work for the audience.This is what I do.

And I thank you for the vote of confidence.But that's what I do with the Russia House.I provide deep insight.And we were able to do all of the interviews.And if people actually watch the interviews, you would get a PhD level insight into the reality of Russia.which means that you get to make your own decision about what's going on.

That's the whole purpose.I'm not here to tell you what decisions to make.I'm just providing information to inform you, to empower you, and then you can make a determination.Do you support American policy?Do you not?Do you have a deeper understanding of Russia?

Maybe you understand why Russia is doing things that can help you either say, I oppose Russia even more vehemently today, or maybe I'm sympathetic to the Russian cause and we might want to change policy.That's a decision the viewer gets to make.I don't make that decision for you.data on the table to empower you with knowledge and information.The Russia House is doing that.To go to the Russia House, though, I have to travel to Russia.

I pay for everything.That's what being an independent journalist is. I pay for my airfare, my hotels, my food.I pay for the studio.I pay for the lighting.I pay for the interpreters.I pay for the cameraman.

I pay for the sound engineers, the video engineers, the whole thing.I pay for it.And when I say I pay for it, you pay for it.Because I can't do it unless people go to skywriter .com and hit the donate button.The donate button pays for my trips, pays for my work.

The subscription puts a roof over my head and food on the table.So the Russia house is a very important thing.But there's other things going on, too.I just did in March.I went to Russia.I visited Chechnya and I am.

filmed a documentary that's in the process of being produced right now, The Chechen Miracle.It explains, you know, the reality of Chechnya, how Russia and Chechnya made peace and how that peace, that model of peaceful cooperation can be used to settle a conflict.It also describes Islam.We live in a day and age where Islamophobia is rampant in America.We have people like Laura Luhrmann and Sarah Adams out there just spreading hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.this documentary is a chance to get a realistic appraisal of the role that Islam plays in Chechnya and in the Russian Federation as a whole.

So that's that.In June, I just did a big trip to Russia.I spent 10 days in the Donbass in Zaporozhye.I was supposed to go to Kherson covering the drone war.The focus of this was the drone war.It was just eye -opening, and I'm in the process of writing a six -chapter online publication called A Trail of Tears, and it basically tracks my journey.

I've published three iterations right now.The first one describes the mission.The second chapter talked about Starobelsk and the attack on Starobelsk, the role played by Elon Musk in facilitating that attack.The third one I just published is about the scumbags.That's the name that Russian drone operators give themselves.And it goes into a deep dive about drone warfare.

Cyrus, you mentioned about the new reality of drone warfare.If you want to understand drone warfare, what's going on in Russia, read this article.But it also talks about the moral responsibility that comes with drones.It also talks about Eric Schmidt's involvement in creating a new weapon that's being used to terrorize the Russian people, the Hornet drone.And then, you know, I'm writing something on Gorlovka.I'm going to write something on Mariupol, Melitopol.

All of these journeys I've made a trail of tears because it's heartbreaking what's happening what the west is doing deliberately targeting These people facilitating acts of terrorism people and what the russians are doing to respond.You have people like doctor Who are saying that these drone attacks are breaking the will of the russian people to continue?Well gilbert.I was in the donbass I was in You're not breaking anything except uh the ability to say because the russian people are strong.They're resilient.They're rallying.

So that's um That's an important work.And if you go there and read it, you basically see what you paid for.This trip was paid for by donations.And then I recently published something on the future project that's very important.You remember a little while ago, Chris Donahue, American general and commander of US forces, bragged about how NATO could take out Kaliningrad.It's just 49 miles, 47 miles wide, we can take it out.

I'm like, wait a minute, you're talking about nuclear war.Baltic security is a huge issue.Even after Ukraine is resolved, there's going to be the issue of Baltic security and what happens there.Arctic security, you have the President of the United States threatening to take Greenland and all that because he wants to oppose Russia's dominance or Russian presence in the Arctic.These are two major issues that are going to be on our front burner, front and center going forward that could lead to war, catastrophic war.Baltic security, Arctic security.

I have been given an opportunity to travel to Russia.unprecedented access to locations and people dealing with Baltic security and Arctic security.I can't say exactly when and I can't say where because as you're aware, I have three Ukrainian hit lists out on me that they've actively tried to act on and so I'm not going to make it easier for them.But when I told people the same thing about June, I said, I can't tell you where I'm going.I can't tell you what I'm doing for obvious reasons.But now you see where I went.

I went to the Donbas.I went to Zaporozhye, I went to the front lines, and I put it all on the line to capture information, to get it back to you, and I'm actively getting it back to you.I'm asking for your help to get me to where I need to be to cover these Baltic and Arctic security issues.This is going to be in affiliation with the Russia House, which means that there's a lot of expenses entailed in this, but it's an important thing, and I can promise you that the products that will be produced from this trip will empower you to be so much more informed about these issues.It's the goal of every citizen to be as informed about the decisions that they're going to make.making so they can hold the government to account.

Right now, you're getting nothing from the mainstream media about Baltic and Arctic security.I'm going to do my best to bring it to you.So that would be my appeal.If people can go read the article that I wrote about it, and if you feel that's something you want, hit the donate button, because that's what I need right now.I need donations to make this trip happen.

Absolutely.Well, Scott, you know, we're certainly going to be making a donation to your, you know, journalism because it is so important.And I think what's important, everybody, you know, why we host Let's Talk Geopolitics as well as we believe in more information is out there.I think I think this quest for knowledge is what powers all of us.We want the world to be more informed.We're concerned about the world.

Scott, you and I are U .S.citizens.We love our country, but it's very frustrating to see the current decisions that are happening in the White House, the current leader of the United States who is continuing to quite frankly only make decisions that benefit him and his family.We see the unbelievable amount of corruption.You know we're at a historic level of corruption when Donald Trump is now asking agencies you can pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to get earlier access to my posts on truth social and you know monetizing every single thing that he's doing.

We know he's made billions of dollars off of crypto schemes.Probably the only thing that's really benefiting is Donald Trump's sons who are getting positions in drone manufacturing companies and government contracts.I mean, the level of corruption is something that we've never seen in world history.And it's remarkable.And I think this is why many Americans are fed up.To quote you, you know, it's all about the economy, stupid, right?

Like it goes back to the main thing that we have to focus on.And that's the one thing that unites all Americans.We want to we want a stronger economy.We want to, you know, a country where we can take care of our families, take care of our children, things like that.So, Scott, thank you again for coming on the show today.And we're going to put

those links down in our YouTube descriptions.We're gonna be making a donation to you, of course, you know, to thank you for your time here on Let's Talk Geopolitics.So once again, thank you for your outstanding journalism and your time.

Just let me make the point that donation was not a condition of me appearing on this program.just so people understand.I'm not a bought resource.I come on this program because I have a long relationship with Alex, who I respect, and I have a developing relationship with you.I respect both of you tremendously.I think what you guys do is very important, and I'm honored that you think that I can contribute to your work.

So that's why I come on.Of course, we'll never say no to a donation that helps me do my work.But I just want your audience to understand that we don't have a quid pro quo relationship here that says, I command you.Yeah.

Yeah.And it's extremely important.And Scott, when you are thinking about coming to China, I hope My email will be added to that list because I look forward to helping you in any capacity here.And again, everybody, bringing Scott on the show is just a power hour, I have to say.And I have to be honest with you, Scott, like, That's some pretty carbonated drink going there because you were just ripping for about 50 minutes straight there So I don't know what you're drinking.Maybe maybe scott needs a an energy drink guys.

What do you think in the comments?

I need my sponsor.Yeah, I need a sponsor.Everybody wants to sponsor me and diet coke or uh, Like you said an energy drink that's healthy.My wife won't let me drink, uh the off -the -shelf energy drinks anymore because she says it's killing me.She's probably right.

Well, we'll come up with a name for that.Anyway, Scott, we'll let you go.Is there a program that you're going to be on today that you just want to plug on another show?

You're it.Now, the program I'm going to be on is called Home Improvement.

All right, Mr. Ritter.we really appreciate your time.Thanks again.

Thank you.Thank you.Thank you, Scott.

Well, gotta tell you, Ritter pilot was just ripping tonight.And that was amazing.I mean, you know, a lot of people all week, they just sit there and they try to gather all this information bits and bytes.But I tell you, you know, 45 minutes into the, the live stream.And I was just like, okay, I I've got, now I know what's going on in this region.Now I know what's going on in the Ukraine.

I got Iran understand.And Scott just, you know, he just breaks it down and everybody, once again, you know, scottritter .com.Uh, I really think that, you know, as a community, we have to get, uh, supporting these guests.If you see them on other shows as well, uh, in the comment boxes, uh, go out there and support them.You know, the Patrick Lancasters, the Duran's the, you know, the Danny high phones, uh, over, over to you, uh, um, Cyrus, just before I forget though, I have a couple of clips I want to play before you wind up the show for us.

Okay.Yeah, sounds good.So everybody, what I really hinted at there, you know, asking Scott about China and the future of the Middle East is, I really want people to understand something really important here.This is one quote that you can really remember, is that in times of chaos, the side that can restore order is going to win.So let me just say that again.In times of chaos, the side that restores order is going to win long term.

If you're looking at the United States right now, we are certainly not restoring order.We are creating more chaos.Whereas we look at something that Scott mentioned, 2023, it was China, it was not the United States that brokered a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran.This was a major, major moment in the future of the UnitedAnd US dollar was no longer accepted.They didn't go to British pounds.

They didn't go to the euro.They didn't go to the Swiss franc.They went to the Chinese renminbi.There's a lot of leverage.There's a lot of things changing.I've got a new video that's coming out tomorrow.

It's going to be about how a new world order is emerging in the Middle East.And interesting enough, we have kind of the Middle East is separating into two camps.Right.You've got the United Arab Emirates are moving actually closer to United States and Israel, which is an interesting move considering what is happening in the region.But you have a much larger group with Saudi Arabia, you know, working with Iran, working with Turkey, working with Oman, working with a lot of countries really wanting to bring China into the fold.And I think that this has provided a golden opportunity for China.

I'm going to be breaking that all down in a very extensive YouTube video that launches tomorrow on my channel.So make sure that you stay tuned for that.But Alex, we continue to do our best every single Sunday.We're so honored for this incredible support that we're seeing on Let's Talk Geopolitics.You know, we're building something very powerful here, but obviously none of it would be possible without the amazing people that tune in every Sunday.They come ready.

They want to have these amazing guests.They want to have the access to this information.And we're just very honored to be here with you guys every Sunday night, making sure that we can bring you the best geopolitical insights.That's what fuels us.I think Scott, Alex, myself, all of us are independent journalists.And this is what's exciting about social media is the rise of the independent voice.

I know that our viewers out there, including Alex and I, we are not trustworthy of the Western media anymore because we've just been lied to for so long.And yeah, Donald Trump can send out a tweet, you know, we have the most powerful military in the world.We're ready to go.Alex, you're the market guy.You know, we know Donald Trump futures are opening, what, eight hours from now?

Yeah, I mean, they open in the late evening in New York and on Sundays.Most people think that these stock trades are Monday morning.But another interesting thing, they added 55 companies to 23 -hour trading.Keep an eye on that.I've been watching the futures market throughout the weekend.Yes, it did respond to what we'll call the grey futures market until the If you are seeing me for the first time from Cyrus Jansen's channel, subscribe to me, vice versa.

I've never heard of of about 34 million people.Now here's what's going on in China before we head out today.12 kilometer Chongqing Yangtze River Railway Tunnel connected Chongqing's railway station with Chongqing East Railway Station has been fully completed as China's first high -speed railway tunnel to cross beneath the Yangtze River.It marks a major milestone for Chongqing's Xiamen high -speed railway.The next clip we got coming up here is Japan.Japan has passed a bill establishing a national intelligence agency.

Since Sanae Takachi took office, her administration has expanded military spending, arms exports, and constitutional rights.efforts and intelligent capabilities Leaving neighboring countries deeply concerned about Japan's increasingly assertive security posture.I wonder who is Actually getting involved with that and I think that's it.Is that it for my clips?That's it for my clips guys I'm gonna give it up to my good buddy Cyrus Jansen wherever you are in this world my friend It's an honor to share share screens Sunday nights here in Beijing, nine o 'clock time, and from the desk here of mine in Chongqing, over to you to shut down the show, my friend.Thanks again.

Absolutely.Well, Alex, always a pleasure to share the screen with you.A huge thank you to our team on the back end who is running the logistics of the show.A lot of effort goes in every single week, guys, to bring you guys the best geopolitical insights, the best guests, And we just love the amazing comments, thousands and thousands of comments in the live stream.We're watching those, we're interacting with our guests.And again, we're just so honored that we get to do the work that we get to do here on YouTube.

So once again, I want to say thank you to everyone for giving us your time.Time is the most valuable asset in the world.You could have been anywhere in the world today, but you chose to be here on YouTube with us.And we really want to say thank you so much for the amazing amount of energy that you brought in the comment section.And the fact that we can just bring thousands of people together on YouTube to learn more.Knowledge is power.

We're going to give you that best knowledge that you can to keep yourselves really ready for this very chaotic world that we're living in right now.A lot of uncertainty for the future, but you can count every Sunday night.Let's talk geopolitics to bring you guys the best insights.That's all that we have for this week.Thank you all.We're going to bring another high profile guest to you guys next week to continue talking about Iran war, Ukraine war, anything else that comes up.

But let's go ahead and run that outro, and we'll see you all in next week's show.