1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,160 All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio. 2 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:22,680 And now your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry. 3 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:24,400 And welcome to Veterans Radio. 4 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:30,480 My name is Dale Throneberry, CW2 helicopter pilot in Vietnam 1969. 5 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:35,200 Welcome to our program and happy New Year everybody out there. 6 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:36,840 2024. 7 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:39,440 Just let that number sink in. 8 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:40,440 2024. 9 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:43,840 That sounds impossible. 10 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:47,440 Hey, we're really excited to have you here. 11 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:52,800 Our guest has become kind of a tradition with us is Dr. Rebecca Grant. 12 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:58,640 He's going to be here to talk about what happened in 2023 and a few projections into what may 13 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:00,520 happen in 2024. 14 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:05,360 So I want to make sure that you have the phone number if you'd like to ask her a question. 15 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:08,360 The number is 734-822-1600. 16 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:09,920 734-822-1600. 17 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:16,760 We have a lot of things that we're going to be talking about in just a little bit. 18 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:21,200 So I want to make sure that you are ready with your questions. 19 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:27,680 I was looking back at in our archives of veteransradio.org and I think the first time that Dr. Grant 20 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:32,000 was on our program was in 2012. 21 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:35,760 So you know, sort of like the Saturday Night Live thing where she's been the guest the 22 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:38,400 most times on our program. 23 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:42,560 So as I said, we're excited to have her back on again. 24 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:46,320 And we're going to be talking, as I mentioned, about all kinds of different things that are 25 00:01:46,320 --> 00:01:47,960 going on out there. 26 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:52,760 But before we get along too far, I want to make sure that we thank our loyal sponsors. 27 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:57,880 I know Veterans Radio, we can't do this at all without our sponsors and without you 28 00:01:57,880 --> 00:01:58,880 with our listeners. 29 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:04,040 You know, making donations throughout the year that keeps us on the air. 30 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:08,440 So first of all, we've got legal help for veterans, legal help for veterans specializes 31 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:10,720 in veterans disability claims. 32 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:16,840 You can give legal help for veterans a call at 800-6934-800. 33 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:20,640 Or you can go to their website, legalhelpforveterans.com. 34 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:25,240 I'm reminded to tell you that you may want to give them a call because there are some 35 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:31,200 changes going on with the VA as far as disability claims are concerned and some more benefits 36 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:35,160 that you may be eligible for. 37 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:38,200 So I want to make sure that you tune into our last program of the month because we're 38 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:43,040 going to be talking all about the changes, not only in the disability rates that are 39 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:47,760 out there and the increase, you know, the COLA increase in the disability payouts, but 40 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:54,800 also some of the change in what am I thinking over here, some of the conditions. 41 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:55,800 That's what I'm thinking. 42 00:02:55,800 --> 00:03:02,320 The conditions that have been added to the list of potential claims that you can make 43 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:03,320 with that. 44 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:07,720 So make sure you tune in on that last Sunday of the month or our last program of the month 45 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:10,720 wherever you are listening to Veterans Radio. 46 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:15,920 So the National Veterans Business Development Council, better known as NVBDC, is the nation's 47 00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:20,280 leading third party authority for certification of veteran-owned businesses. 48 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:25,400 For more information, you can go to their website, that's NVBDC.org, or give them a 49 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:30,240 call at 888-237-8433. 50 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:33,480 That's 888-237-8433. 51 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:38,240 And I just want to remind those of you out there listening that are a veteran-owned 52 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:43,080 business, if you want to do business with the federal government and with many corporations, 53 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:47,920 you need to become certified as a true, real-life veteran-owned business. 54 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:51,920 There are some companies out there that have a couple of veterans on their work staff and 55 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:54,680 they claim to be veteran-owned, but they're not. 56 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:58,720 So if you are a veteran-owned business, you really should get yourself certified because 57 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:04,000 it gets moving up to the top of the list as far as some contracts with the federal government. 58 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:09,200 And as I mentioned, some corporations are looking for veteran-owned businesses to do business 59 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:10,200 with. 60 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:13,040 So check out that NVBDC.org. 61 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:17,760 They're the top organization in the country that does the certification. 62 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:22,640 The Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center here in Ann Arbor, Michigan, we think is one of 63 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:28,080 the finest medical centers in the VA hospital program out there. 64 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:30,600 For more information, you can go to va.gov. 65 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:38,400 We'd also like to thank our local veterans organizations for their longtime support. 66 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:43,320 Those of you that are just tuning in for the first time, Veterans Radio has been broadcasting 67 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:45,720 for over 20 years now. 68 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:51,080 And we got started with the help of these organizations and a lot of friends better 69 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:55,520 known as Buddy Money that got us on the air and we're still on because of them. 70 00:04:55,520 --> 00:05:02,000 But number one is the Erwin Prescor and American Legion post number 46 and the Charles S. Kettles 71 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:07,160 Vietnam Veterans of America chapter 310, both of Ann Arbor, Michigan. 72 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,640 As I mentioned, you know, we cannot do this program without their support and without 73 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:12,160 your support too. 74 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:15,920 So if you'd like to support Veterans Radio, we would love to have you go to our website. 75 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:21,320 That's veteransradio.org and click on the donate button and your donation to Veterans 76 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:23,880 Radio is tax deductible. 77 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:25,920 Very cool, right? 78 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:27,400 So please do that. 79 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:31,760 The other thing I need to point out on our website is that we do have some new clothing 80 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:37,440 and things that are available through our VX there. 81 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:43,400 So you can just click on merchandise and you'll see the new shirts and hats and cups and mugs 82 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:48,840 and all kinds of things that are available there for your purchase. 83 00:05:48,840 --> 00:05:52,600 Since we're doing radio, you can't see the new sweatshirt I have on, but it's really 84 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:53,600 neat. 85 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:56,680 So you can get this on our website. 86 00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:58,440 All right. 87 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:04,120 So again, remember the phone number is 734-822-1600. 88 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:11,520 All right, we're coming up here with our guest and let me read her incredible credentials 89 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:12,520 here. 90 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:17,040 So this is Dr. Rebecca Grant is a national security analyst and the president of Iris 91 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:18,760 Independent Research. 92 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:24,840 Iris is a woman-owned business that specializes in defense and aerospace research and consulting. 93 00:06:24,840 --> 00:06:30,600 Dr. Grant has been the president of Iris for over 18 years now. 94 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:36,240 Iris Research is involved in different projects, including the analysis of the autonomy of 95 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:43,000 the future battlefields and tier one suppliers in the defense industrial base for the U.S. 96 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:44,000 Air Force. 97 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:49,840 On top of that, Iris has worked on the assessment of long range strikes, evaluation of surveillance 98 00:06:49,840 --> 00:06:54,960 and reconnaissance, recapitalization for industry clients and evaluation of intelligence 99 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:55,960 for clients. 100 00:06:55,960 --> 00:07:02,800 Dr. Grant began her professional career with the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, California. 101 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:09,600 Likewise, she has worked at the Pentagon as the Air Force, on the Air Force, chief of 102 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:14,760 staff and on the chief of staff of the Air Force, getting my words mixed up here. 103 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:20,040 Apart from that, she's a guest speaker on air power and technology at different venues 104 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:23,040 from active duty Air Force units to Wall Street investors. 105 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:27,680 She's also lectured at the United States Air Force Air University and to the Air Forces 106 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:31,160 of the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, Australia. 107 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:36,400 I'm doing all this to make it know that this woman knows what she's talking about. 108 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:42,440 And not only has she been on Veterans Radio many, many times, she's also been on Fox News, 109 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:45,600 CNN, MSNBC, Fox Business. 110 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:50,000 She has written also written over 100 articles for Air Force Magazine. 111 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:56,320 So welcoming back our expert in foreign policy and all things military, Dr. Rebecca Grant. 112 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:57,320 Welcome back. 113 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:03,040 Dale, I'm so glad to be back and speaking with you on Veterans Radio. 114 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaking at 2024, there are just flash points at every point on the compass. 115 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:14,280 And I know we're going to talk through a lot of the big topics from China, Ukraine, technology, 116 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:15,280 all that. 117 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:16,880 I'm delighted to be back with you. 118 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:23,400 Well, we are always delighted to have you on the program because you are our expert source 119 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:26,880 of what really is going on out there. 120 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:33,000 So let's take a look back in time just a little bit to see where we stand at the end of the 121 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:34,000 year. 122 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:36,000 So we're going to talk about the 2020-23. 123 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:37,000 2023. 124 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,160 These numbers are astronomical to me. 125 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:44,920 You can think about 2020-21st century. 126 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:51,840 So what do you think was the biggest news story or story as far as our foreign policy 127 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:53,480 was in 2023? 128 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:58,360 Was it China, Korea, Ukraine, Israel? 129 00:08:58,360 --> 00:08:59,840 Where would you like to start? 130 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:03,640 I'll deal all of those are good contenders. 131 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:08,440 I'm tempted, of course, to start with Israel. 132 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:16,040 But if I had to say what's the number one ongoing story and driver of instability, and 133 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:20,480 that is China. 134 00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:27,200 Talking about the year 2023 going into 2024, we are well into the 21st century. 135 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:33,960 And I think in Washington, DC now there's no question, but that the driving global issue 136 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:36,240 is the role of China in the world. 137 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:41,360 They've formed this alliance with Russia that started back in 2022. 138 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:47,680 China buys oil from Iran and gives them free reign to conduct a lot of mischief. 139 00:09:47,680 --> 00:09:53,880 And then China's own military has just advanced so far in a short time. 140 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:59,960 So luckily, China doesn't have any recent combat experience, and we sure want to keep 141 00:09:59,960 --> 00:10:01,280 it that way. 142 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:06,360 But there's no question that China is really the source of so much of the instability in 143 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:07,360 the world. 144 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:11,560 Not the only one, but it's the one that's on the rise. 145 00:10:11,560 --> 00:10:15,080 And it's funny you mentioned Wall Street, I actually just got back from New York a few 146 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:19,760 days ago and speaking with at an investor conference on Wall Street. 147 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:24,800 And there again, no question about what they're really looking to see what the confrontation 148 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:27,960 with China holds for the defense sector. 149 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:37,320 And may I also say that 2023 was the year that China took back its pandas from the national 150 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:39,320 zoo in DC. 151 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:42,960 Everyone was sorry to see them leave. 152 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:51,240 But China has built a big panda reserve in China where pandas will live in the wild. 153 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:57,200 But if you think back to the 1970s, the reason that China gave us pandas was to be friends 154 00:10:57,200 --> 00:10:59,320 with the United States. 155 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:01,240 And they don't care anymore. 156 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:07,600 There are still a couple pandas at the Atlanta Zoo, but the era of panda diplomacy is over 157 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:11,880 and it just shows you that China is in a completely different place. 158 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:13,520 They are not our friends. 159 00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:15,800 They don't care to be our friends. 160 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:17,320 And we've really got to keep an eye on them. 161 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:22,760 There are a couple glimmers of hope in China that we can talk about later on, but no question. 162 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:29,320 I'd say the number one story remains the rise of China and China, of course, enabling Russia 163 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:34,160 to carry on its illegal invasion and horrible operations in Ukraine. 164 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:35,160 Right. 165 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:40,360 But the Chinese economy is not doing too well, is it? 166 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:47,480 The Chinese economy is not doing as well as it was a few years ago. 167 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:59,080 A couple of factors there, their COVID recovery, their overheated property market, some demographic 168 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:01,440 factors that are catching up with them. 169 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:08,520 But when we say not doing as well, what we mean is that they're not seeing the double 170 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:10,440 digit yearly growth. 171 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:15,640 Now their economy, the numbers they report to us are a little bit smoke and mirrors, 172 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:18,120 but their rate of growth has slowed. 173 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:23,320 Another interesting trend is that there has been a decline in foreign direct investment 174 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:24,320 in China. 175 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:29,880 There's still a lot of US dollars and other Western currencies flowing into China for 176 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:32,960 investment, but some of that has stopped. 177 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:38,080 But you wouldn't know it to look at their political destabilization. 178 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:42,120 Real big things they did in 2023. 179 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:48,120 They added more countries to what they call the BRICS Initiative, which used to stand 180 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:50,480 for Brazil, Russia, blah, blah, blah. 181 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:57,320 It's sort of an alternate economic form where China is attempting to use their own currency 182 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:02,200 as a reserve currency for payment of certain transactions. 183 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:08,040 And this is real technical Wall Street stuff, but it's a direct challenge to the primacy 184 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:12,160 of the American dollar, which is something that Dale, in the years that you and I have 185 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:16,200 been alive, we've never lived in a world where the dollar wasn't king. 186 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:19,080 China is attempting to make some dents on that. 187 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:24,240 And they've also continued to work hard with their own Belt and Road Initiative, which 188 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:29,280 is the investments that China makes in a big range of other countries. 189 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:33,800 They like to buy up infrastructure and fund infrastructure development projects. 190 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:41,520 China has an ownership share in about 90% of Europe's port facilities. 191 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:43,760 So that's one example of their Belt and Road Initiative. 192 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:50,840 So although their own economy is cooling, their global reach and their global economic 193 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:53,920 activity is still very much on the rise. 194 00:13:53,920 --> 00:14:02,720 Well, I know here locally in the state of Michigan, there was a conductor, some sort 195 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:06,960 of conductor plant that they wanted to build here in Michigan. 196 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:11,120 And that's been toned down quite a bit. 197 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:16,280 The people in the area where they wanted to build their plant kind of got riled up about 198 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:17,280 it. 199 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:20,880 And I'm not sure if they completely pulled out or not, but I know that the whole thing 200 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:23,360 was scaled back dramatically. 201 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:26,240 Yes, that's a great example. 202 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:32,320 And we're only just beginning to look around and say, wow, look, there's some Chinese ownership 203 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:33,320 in that. 204 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:37,560 As an open capitalist society, we transact business. 205 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:41,160 If you got the money, you can meet the regulations, you can do business here. 206 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:46,600 We do have a group in Washington that screens the top level investments. 207 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:51,600 If you tried to sell a major defense contractor to the Chinese, the government would say, 208 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:52,600 no, stop. 209 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:55,560 It's called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US. 210 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:58,560 But they have typically only screened for a certain range of products. 211 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:06,120 No one's been looking at manufacturing facilities, farmland purchases, and other things that 212 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:08,200 seem innocuous. 213 00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:13,600 And in the era of a few years ago, where we were still trying to be friendly with China, 214 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:14,600 that was no big deal. 215 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:16,720 Now, it's a great concern. 216 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:23,240 And of course, there was a big controversy over Chinese investment in North Dakota. 217 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:29,000 They wanted to build a wet corn milling facility in a really odd place. 218 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:35,080 And it happened to be near an Air Force Base, where the government is intending to set up, 219 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:38,040 among other things, a hypersonic vehicle test range. 220 00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:39,040 So you know what? 221 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:40,040 Chinese wanted to buy that. 222 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:45,400 They bought up land around another Air Force Base on the West Coast. 223 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:51,240 So it's really time for everybody at the local level to look for that second layer of Chinese 224 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:52,480 ownership. 225 00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:54,640 And question, is this really what we need to do? 226 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:59,320 You know, of course, China already owns Smithfield, the major pork producer. 227 00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:04,600 And in fact, they control about 30% of worldwide hogs and hog production. 228 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:10,480 So that just shows you that the economy may be cooling, but their economic power and their 229 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:16,920 march to be what Xi Jinping, their leader wants, which is for China to be the number 230 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:18,400 one world power. 231 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:24,920 He hates the United States and doesn't like our way of life and wants to defeat us on every 232 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:27,560 level, including local investment. 233 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:33,640 Which is kind of interesting when you think about what they're doing is kind of a capitalistic 234 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:40,800 type of thing to do, is to purchase it all and raise prices depending on supply and demand 235 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:43,800 and so on and so forth. 236 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:48,800 Lots of the Southeast Asia was something I was just thinking about while you were talking 237 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:55,080 is, you know, when Vietnam fell and became, quote, a communist country, if you go over 238 00:16:55,080 --> 00:17:02,080 there now, which I have not, but what my reading is, is that it's kind of this mix of, I don't 239 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:06,840 know how you can do it, but it's kind of a mix of communism and capitalism because there 240 00:17:06,840 --> 00:17:10,400 are condos all along the South China Sea now. 241 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:13,040 There's manufacturing going on. 242 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:18,680 And even the hats that we get for the Vietnam veterans of America are made in Vietnam, a 243 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:21,320 little ironic, I think. 244 00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:23,400 It has changed so much. 245 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:28,960 And the way that China does it is they do use capitalist business practices, but they 246 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:36,040 have a lot of laws that state that there has to be communist Chinese party ownership of 247 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:38,120 all the business ventures. 248 00:17:38,120 --> 00:17:43,960 And they don't have the same kind of privacy and intellectual property protection laws 249 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:44,960 that we have. 250 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:46,400 As you know, it's a one-party state. 251 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:51,160 It's run by the Chinese communists ever since they won the war back in 1949. 252 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:54,160 It's the same outfit that is run in the place. 253 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:57,840 And Xi Jinping, his dad was in that. 254 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:04,040 So they mix the capitalist tools and use their very favorable exchange rates and their foreign 255 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:05,560 investment leverage. 256 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:11,280 So they do well with it, but it doesn't go back down through society. 257 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:14,240 It stays very much within that communist party elite. 258 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:17,480 Of course, for a long time, they also had a one-child policy. 259 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:19,360 So families can only have one child. 260 00:18:19,360 --> 00:18:22,960 Makes them actually largely a nation of only children. 261 00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:28,560 So there's been a real trend to pass and to keep that elite within the elite. 262 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:33,640 And honestly, to a great extent, a lot of the students that we see in Western countries 263 00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:38,160 there are about 295,000 Chinese students here in America. 264 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:42,200 I'm telling you, these are not the kids off the street of Guangzhou, right? 265 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,120 These are the elite of the Communist Party. 266 00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:46,120 Right. 267 00:18:46,120 --> 00:18:47,120 Oh, absolutely. 268 00:18:47,120 --> 00:18:48,120 Absolutely. 269 00:18:48,120 --> 00:18:56,600 It's just frightening to think about what China is up to and that we allow them. 270 00:18:56,600 --> 00:19:00,080 It seems like we're allowing them to get away with some of this stuff when they do make 271 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:04,280 their purchases of land or equipment or factories or whatever it is here. 272 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:10,560 I think we need to be a little bit more cognizant and aware of what is really going on. 273 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:12,120 I think we have to be more careful. 274 00:19:12,120 --> 00:19:19,400 Yes, my single favorite example is, don't forget, President Xi Jinping, his daughter 275 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:21,720 went to Harvard under a different name. 276 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:24,120 So we look at that as, oh, great. 277 00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:25,680 Maybe they'll be more friendly to us. 278 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:26,680 No, no, no, no. 279 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:28,200 That's not really, that's not really how it works. 280 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:31,480 So we have to be much more aware that China is our number one rival. 281 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:36,920 The Biden administration has done a good job in some ways with that. 282 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:38,760 They kept a lot of the tariffs. 283 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:45,000 They've been very supportive of changing semiconductor manufacturing, the CHIPS Act 284 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:46,480 and all of that. 285 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:49,920 On the other hand, they've really said, oh, you know, we're going to keep the national 286 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:56,280 security stuff under careful watch, but they've been very solicitous of China. 287 00:19:56,280 --> 00:20:00,920 All the major cabinet officials traveled to China this year, or most of them anyway. 288 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:05,920 So we're waiting to see, and I think we just need to have a little bit of a tougher policy. 289 00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:09,120 Again, talking about what I was hearing in New York, I mean, the question is really how 290 00:20:09,120 --> 00:20:15,320 much do you decouple from China's economy or de-risk? 291 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:18,440 And China itself has been very aggressive. 292 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:21,720 They've rated a couple of U.S. firms that do business. 293 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:27,360 They're 1,100 U.S. firms in China, and they've had their records rated under some weird laws. 294 00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:30,320 So, you know, there's a risk ultimately to shareholders, too. 295 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:33,920 So the American business community has a lot to think about going forward. 296 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:34,920 Right. 297 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:38,920 I just think it's another one of those examples of we got to make, we got to pay closer attention 298 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:43,720 to really what's going on around not only the world, but especially in our local areas. 299 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:44,720 All right. 300 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:49,960 So moving off from China from last year, we'll come back to them a little bit later on. 301 00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:57,880 I guess the big news item, of course, is the Hamas and Israel war that's going on currently. 302 00:20:57,880 --> 00:20:59,840 So where do we see that going? 303 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:02,720 Or where do you see that maybe going? 304 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:11,360 Well, Israel has announced just in the last day or two a plan for the governance of Gaza. 305 00:21:11,360 --> 00:21:17,160 You know, as you know, Israel has conducted its operations in the northern part of Gaza 306 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:20,240 and is, I think, completed a lot of their objectives there. 307 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:23,240 They've swung their attention now down south. 308 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:27,920 Their goal is to eliminate Hamas military capability. 309 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:32,280 The plan that they've talked about would have Israel control a lot of the access in 310 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:40,000 Gaza, have a multinational group, you know, quote unquote, led by the U.S. but with a lot 311 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:44,240 of other participation and particularly Arab state participation that would deal with 312 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:50,200 the day to day in Gaza, Egypt would monitor and control the Ra'f-a-Gate, which frankly 313 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:52,720 they already do. 314 00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:58,720 And so, you know, what we see here is Israel, I think, way more than halfway to completing 315 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:03,080 their military objectives. 316 00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:07,200 Of course, the conflict itself was, it took everybody by surprise. 317 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:11,440 You know, our national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, had stated a week before the attack 318 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:17,000 that the Middle East had never been so quiet as it was. 319 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:24,520 And of course, Israel's forces were surprised by the scope and the tactics of the attack. 320 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:28,520 And what's followed since has been a tragedy on so many levels. 321 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:36,480 U.S. policy has been very clear, though, from the beginning to support Israel's military 322 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,280 efforts to restore their security. 323 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:45,960 You know, previously the Israeli-Hamas conflicts had largely been missile exchanges back in 324 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:46,960 2021. 325 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:50,360 In the spring, there was about a two and a half week missile war. 326 00:22:50,360 --> 00:22:55,120 We saw shots of iron dome picking off a lot of the Hamas missiles. 327 00:22:55,120 --> 00:22:59,920 And that came to an end when Egypt negotiated a ceasefire. 328 00:22:59,920 --> 00:23:04,040 And while there was considerable loss of life, it was nothing like on the scale that we've 329 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:05,040 seen this time. 330 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:12,760 So this attack and then Israel's massive response has been just in a whole other order. 331 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:18,840 I think if there is any good coming out of this, it is that behind the scenes, a lot 332 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:21,760 of the Arab states don't like this either. 333 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:28,280 You know, Hamas is not super popular in that region. 334 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:32,480 A number of the Arab states have, you know, funded Hamas off and on. 335 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:40,800 But I think they've all been privately horrified at the chaos this has created. 336 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:46,960 And so that's why you've really seen the nation of Qatar in particular stepping in as a very 337 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:53,960 active intermediary, helping to secure the initial hostage releases that we saw several 338 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:59,360 weeks ago and still negotiating there under, you know, really very tough circumstances. 339 00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:03,960 Anyway, the officials in Qatar said something I thought was pretty significant, that they 340 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:10,920 want to see this set of ceasefire negotiations be the basis for a more lasting peace. 341 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:15,800 And it also, there was a little incident that really caught my eye when in the middle of 342 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:20,600 the hostage releases, some negotiations had broken down and emissaries from Qatar actually 343 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:25,000 flew into Tel Aviv, which has never happened before. 344 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:26,000 They had to apply. 345 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:31,120 It was so odd that the plane had to go out to Cyprus and come then back to Tel Aviv 346 00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:33,840 to get the diplomatic clearance. 347 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:37,920 So at least there you had Qatar and Israel talking. 348 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:43,440 So there is, I think, at least a chance that we may see a more solid framework come out 349 00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:44,440 of this. 350 00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:48,400 There had been, of course, the encouraging progress on the Abraham Accords with several 351 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:52,760 countries normalizing their relations with Israel and Saudi Arabia and Israel getting 352 00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:57,960 closer to taking a step towards being in a better relationship. 353 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:00,280 The Hamas attack derailed all that. 354 00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:05,400 But the one glimmer of hope is that this may, you know, this is really, this has gone way 355 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:07,800 too far in so many ways. 356 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:11,400 And there could be a stronger ceasefire basis. 357 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:15,960 The U.S. policy, of course, is still very firm on a two-state solution. 358 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:21,760 And it's been interesting to watch how closely the Biden administration has worked with the 359 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:24,360 Israeli government and Israeli defense forces. 360 00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:27,360 It's clear they're talking on a regular basis. 361 00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:33,080 And the Biden administration insisting on Israel sticking with the rules of war, but 362 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:41,480 also giving Israel extensive support, everything from intelligence down to small arms ammunition. 363 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:46,480 We're talking with Dr. Rebecca Grant here on Veterans Radio and while we're in the Middle 364 00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:52,040 East, we might as well continue on, what is going on with Iran? 365 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:54,920 Iran, do we have three or four hours? 366 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,320 No, we've only got about 20 minutes. 367 00:25:57,320 --> 00:25:58,960 20 minutes. 368 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:03,920 So think of it, it's not just one Iran problem. 369 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:05,000 There's a bunch of layers. 370 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:11,280 You know that Iran, of course, supports numerous terrorist organizations throughout the Middle 371 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:17,840 East, including the Houthis, including Hamas, all the missiles that Hamas likes to fire, 372 00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:19,640 they get from Iran. 373 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:22,680 Of course, Iran supports Hezbollah up in Lebanon. 374 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:27,560 Luckily, they are pretty much staying on the sidelines. 375 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:29,920 But there's another layer to this as well. 376 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:31,640 It's not just about Israel. 377 00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:38,560 Iran has a longstanding ambition to push the U.S. out of the Middle East. 378 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:45,120 And the way that they carry this out is the attacks on our U.S. forces. 379 00:26:45,120 --> 00:26:50,240 Remember, we still have U.S. forces working in multinational coalitions. 380 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:56,440 We have them in Syria, where they are guarding a couple key points and the oil fields to 381 00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:58,520 make sure ISIS can't come back. 382 00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:05,840 We have forces in Iraq under Operation Inherent Resolve and in various other places throughout 383 00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:10,720 the region, of course, a huge airbase at Al-Udid and Gutter. 384 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:21,040 So with Iraq and Syria, Iran has sponsored a range of groups that target U.S. forces 385 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:22,040 there. 386 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:31,280 And so just last week, we saw that the – actually, a drone strike carried out against a terrorist 387 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:37,400 figure, he was a leader of an Iranian-sponsored militia in Iraq. 388 00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:38,720 There are about 80 of these. 389 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:40,080 They've been there a long time. 390 00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:45,960 Any of the veterans who are veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan and Syria, they – you all 391 00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:48,280 know this really, really well, right? 392 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:54,040 I mean, you've had that incoming fire, a lot of it from these groups. 393 00:27:54,040 --> 00:28:02,160 So this drone strike was a little bit unusual in that it was a very targeted taking out 394 00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:05,720 of this Iraqi militia terrorist target. 395 00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:07,880 And this is not government of Iraq, right? 396 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:12,240 These are the roving bands that are supported by Iran. 397 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:18,200 So – and then, of course, there's the peace in the Red Sea, which is – honestly, really, 398 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:20,240 it's a whole other discussion. 399 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:25,600 But you have the Houthi rebels who have a very fragile ceasefire down in Yemen. 400 00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:31,920 They took over Yemen years and years ago now and took over the capital. 401 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:33,800 UN doesn't recognize them. 402 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:40,040 But Iran has sponsored and enabled a lot of the attacks on our Red Sea shipping. 403 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:47,800 We had, I think, a total now of 33 attacks against international shipping in the Red 404 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:48,800 Sea. 405 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:53,920 Most of it has been countered by our U.S. Navy forces there. 406 00:28:53,920 --> 00:29:02,080 So the destroyer USS Carney has, I think, probably taken out the most – drones, missiles, you 407 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:08,400 name it – a number of other destroyers have moved into the Red Sea to continue doing this. 408 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:12,560 So the rules of engagement say if something gets within 10 miles of one of our destroyers 409 00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:17,720 at the wrong heading, well, it's fair game and it can be taken out. 410 00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:23,320 But what Iran wants to do with this overall, they have managed to shut down most of the 411 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:25,640 shipping in the Red Sea. 412 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:31,680 And this is somewhere between 15 and 25 percent of global shipping. 413 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:36,080 So you've got your major companies, Maersk – heck, even the Chinese won't go up in 414 00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:37,080 there. 415 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:42,480 There's too much risk of the attacks from – that Iran has trained and sponsored the 416 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:45,560 Houthi rebels of Yemen to attack global shipping. 417 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:49,920 And Iran even said, oh, next we're going to go up in the Mediterranean and close the 418 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:51,120 straits of Gibraltar. 419 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:52,880 Well, good luck with that. 420 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:55,720 They're not the best naval warfare tacticians. 421 00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:58,680 But they are having an impact. 422 00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:05,440 And so this is part of Iran's multilayered policy not only to combat Israel's presence 423 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:09,000 but to push U.S. forces out. 424 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:14,280 And I think, certainly in Washington, I hear a lot of speculation about the need for the 425 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:17,880 U.S. with our allies to strike a bit harder. 426 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:24,120 And we actually have not struck back at any of the land-based Houthi missile sites and 427 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:25,840 things where they're launching this stuff. 428 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:31,560 So I wouldn't be surprised to see that type of attack place take place in 2024. 429 00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:36,800 There was a new coalition called Operation Prosperity Guardian that is – was put together 430 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:42,240 by our fifth fleet out there in Bahrain to combat some of this. 431 00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:45,480 And there's some allied destroyers and other ships up in that area. 432 00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:50,920 Oh, and of course, a Chinese, quote-unquote, anti-piracy task force that sits right down 433 00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:55,280 at the entrance to the Red Sea off Djibouti, where China has a big base, and watches all 434 00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:56,360 this going on. 435 00:30:56,360 --> 00:31:04,720 So Iran is – has not managed to widen the Gaza war, but they are carrying out through 436 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:09,600 proxies a pretty heavy campaign against international shipping up in the Red Sea. 437 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:13,480 Well, you never really think about those things. 438 00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:18,720 You read the news, oh, the Middle East is exploding here and exploding there. 439 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:21,080 And as we mentioned before, we went on the air. 440 00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:25,280 They've been exploding for over thousands of years, it seems. 441 00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:31,920 And they just can't get along for whatever reason. 442 00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:37,000 But the interesting thing was, was it last week when somebody dropped a missile or a drone 443 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:38,880 in on Iran? 444 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:39,880 Yes. 445 00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:47,320 So, add one more layer, which is actually these were two IEDs that exploded in Karan 446 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:49,920 city near a shrine in Iran. 447 00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:53,920 The death toll was unfortunately of civilians, it was pretty high, somewhere between 80 and 448 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:55,440 90 people. 449 00:31:55,440 --> 00:32:01,840 They blew up a shrine, and they, in this case, was a group that your listeners will recognize, 450 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:04,840 none other than the Islamic State. 451 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:10,320 None of the Islamic State factions that has been able to infiltrate into Iran, either through 452 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:14,760 the Afghanistan border, Iran and Afghanistan have a long border, and that we think that's 453 00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:16,400 probably how it happened. 454 00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:22,280 They had carried out, IS had carried out some attacks in Iran back in 2018, and they actually 455 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:26,080 did a small one back in late in August of 2023. 456 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:30,000 But this one was much bigger. 457 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:34,920 The issue here is these are Sunni groups, and of course Iran is Shia, and that's why 458 00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:40,640 they're attacking Iran's shrine, so ugly, ugly all the way around. 459 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:48,760 But I think in a sense Iran sort of holds a losing hand here because they aren't able 460 00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:51,120 to counter US military forces. 461 00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:55,400 When we sent the two carrier strike groups back in October, ambassadors all around the 462 00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:59,240 region registered, wow, that's a really strong signal. 463 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:02,720 Turkey was very impressed, others were very impressed. 464 00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:06,480 And Iran, talk about economy, Iran's economy is terrible. 465 00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:11,440 If it were not for China buying their oil, they would just be nowhere at all. 466 00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:15,800 Yet, China is very reluctant to invest, you know, China likes to do all these infrastructure 467 00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:19,800 investments, but they really hold back on Iran because it's a mess. 468 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:25,800 Very unfortunate Iran, you know, incredible culture, but I think they hold a losing hand 469 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:26,800 in the long run. 470 00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:30,400 And I think that's one reason that they're so desperate to get the hoodies and Hamas 471 00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:35,520 going because really the trend was toward more Arab reconciliation with the state of 472 00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:38,320 Israel and Iran doesn't like that one little bit. 473 00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:42,720 Well, we're talking with Dr. Rebecca Grant here. 474 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:47,360 We've kind of dissected what's going on in the Middle East and we're going to take a 475 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:50,680 quick break here for our Medal of Honor segment. 476 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:54,760 And when we come back, we're going to be going to take a look at Korea and what's happening 477 00:33:54,760 --> 00:34:01,000 there and in Taiwan and all the elections that are going to be occurring in 2024 all 478 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:02,000 around the world. 479 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:06,480 And I did not forget Ukraine will be coming back to that. 480 00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:08,040 So you're listening to Veterans Radio. 481 00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:10,400 We'll be right back after this short message. 482 00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:15,120 The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in combat, given a member of the Armed 483 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:16,880 Forces of the United States. 484 00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:21,360 There have been over 3400 recipients of the nation's highest award. 485 00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:22,840 This is one of them. 486 00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:27,240 Lieutenant J.G. William Hall pressed the attack, although seriously wounded during the Battle 487 00:34:27,240 --> 00:34:28,880 of the Coral Sea. 488 00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:33,320 Details after this. 489 00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:37,200 If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of Veterans Appeals, contact legal help for 490 00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:41,440 veterans at 1-800-693-4800. 491 00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:45,440 They're experts in handling cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. 492 00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:49,560 Their number again, 1-800-693-4800. 493 00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:53,520 Hall was the pilot of a scouting plane in action against enemy Japanese forces in the 494 00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:55,160 Coral Sea. 495 00:34:55,160 --> 00:35:02,440 In a determined attack on 7th of May, 1942, Hall dove his plane at an enemy Japanese aircraft 496 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:07,040 carrier contributing materially to the destruction of that vessel. 497 00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:12,080 On the 8th of May, facing heavy and fierce fighter opposition, he again displayed extraordinary 498 00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:17,160 skill as an airman and the aggressive spirit of a fighter in a repeated and effective counter 499 00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:22,200 attacks against the superior number of enemy planes in which three enemy aircraft were 500 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:23,480 destroyed. 501 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:28,560 Those seriously wounded in this engagement, Hall succeeded in landing his plane safe. 502 00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:33,320 The Medal of Honor series is a production of Veterans Radio. 503 00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:35,240 Military veterans touch everyone's life. 504 00:35:35,240 --> 00:35:40,520 I'm guessing right now you're thinking of a veteran, a close friend, relative, maybe 505 00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:41,640 it's you. 506 00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:46,400 Even the toughest of us sometimes need help, but don't know where to turn for support. 507 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:48,960 We don't need special training to help a veteran in your life. 508 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:51,840 We can all help someone going through a difficult time. 509 00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:54,200 Learn how you can be there for veterans. 510 00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:56,880 Visit veteranscrisisline.net. 511 00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:58,880 Veteranscrisisline.net. 512 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:10,480 A message from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 513 00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:14,560 We are back here on Veterans Radio with Dr. Rebecca Grant, National Security Analyst 514 00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:18,000 and President of Iris Independent Research. 515 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:24,400 We just got done dissecting the Middle East and now we're going to kind of, let's go north 516 00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:29,120 toward Ukraine and see what is happening there. 517 00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:36,840 Ukraine, in February, we're coming up on two years of war. 518 00:36:36,840 --> 00:36:43,200 I was just privileged to hear Ukraine's defense at Deshae, who is a major general based here 519 00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:46,840 in the United States to hear him talk. 520 00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:52,120 It was at a time when there had been a number of Russian airstrikes and there had been, 521 00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:59,040 in fact, 10 Russian hypersonic missiles launched against Kiev and other targets. 522 00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:04,120 Fortunately, the air defenses of run by Ukraine had taken all of them out, which is quite 523 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:05,120 amazing. 524 00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:09,280 Now, those air defenses include U.S. defenses and a lot of things contributed from Europe. 525 00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:15,080 Sort of all clued together, Patriot and Hawk, everything, attempting to intercept these 526 00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:16,080 missiles. 527 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:21,480 But what's unfortunate here is Ukraine is still really fighting for their very existence. 528 00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:26,480 Their front is 800 miles long. 529 00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:30,080 And that's, then of course, without the airstrikes that are going on. 530 00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:39,400 I think we were disappointed in 2023 not to see a follow-up success in the south with 531 00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:42,440 the offensive done by Ukraine. 532 00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:47,760 And you know, what I think what really happened here is that Russia had gone in and placed 533 00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:51,600 a lot of landmines in late 2022. 534 00:37:51,600 --> 00:37:57,640 And it was just more really than Ukraine could do with the weapons at hand. 535 00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:05,680 So remember, this is like a World War I battlefield, but with drones and much better surveillance 536 00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:08,320 and much better connectivity. 537 00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:13,720 But Ukraine, we have not given them any significant enhanced aircraft. 538 00:38:13,720 --> 00:38:19,160 So this is a war being fought without air power for the first time really in 100 years. 539 00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:23,760 And we've been rather slow, although we've given a lot of good systems. 540 00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:29,480 It's been slow and in probably smaller numbers than what they really need. 541 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:34,840 Ukraine is still in a position where if they can break through the minefields around Kherson, 542 00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:39,960 which is down in the south, I think they still have a good opportunity to wrap up and move 543 00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:43,440 around and envelop some of the Russian forces there. 544 00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:46,280 The other key is they've been able to do two things. 545 00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:49,880 One they've really disabled the Russian Black Sea fleet. 546 00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:54,200 It just doesn't move anywhere anymore and could a bit of it's on the bottom of the 547 00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:57,360 Black Sea, thanks to Ukraine. 548 00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:02,480 Also just in the last few days, we've seen an increase in strikes on Crimea, which of 549 00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:09,720 course is the area that Russia took over in 2014, stuffed with military bases, big airfield, 550 00:39:09,720 --> 00:39:10,720 all of that. 551 00:39:10,720 --> 00:39:12,960 Putin really wants to keep it by law. 552 00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:14,600 It belongs to Ukraine. 553 00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:17,360 And we've seen attacks on Crimea. 554 00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:21,800 I think if those step up, those could possibly influence Putin as well. 555 00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:27,880 But we're still waiting to see the one, the ability of Ukraine to hold in the east around 556 00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:32,480 the Donbas, which is what they really spent most of 2023 doing, and then whether they 557 00:39:32,480 --> 00:39:36,280 can take back more of their territory. 558 00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:40,680 On the good news side, they have been able to maintain transit out from Odessa, although 559 00:39:40,680 --> 00:39:41,680 Odessa's been attacked. 560 00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:44,600 It's one of their major Black Sea ports. 561 00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:49,640 It is still in Ukraine's hands, and that gives them somewhat of a potentially viable economy. 562 00:39:49,640 --> 00:39:54,760 But Ukraine's attaché to the United States has made so very clear that Ukraine, they 563 00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:55,920 will never give up. 564 00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:59,360 They do not want American ground forces. 565 00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:00,720 They don't want Europe's ground forces. 566 00:40:00,720 --> 00:40:04,120 They want to do what he said with our own hands. 567 00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:09,760 And if they lose and don't run out of weapons, they will fight with sticks. 568 00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:13,240 And if they lose that, well, Putin will come for the West. 569 00:40:13,240 --> 00:40:17,200 And I think it's a fair assessment. 570 00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:19,000 Question now about the aid packages. 571 00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:22,440 There is still an amount of the aid that's already been appropriated and not yet drawn 572 00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:28,160 down, but Congress is wrestling with aid for Ukraine, along with a couple other big national 573 00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:34,400 security issues, including military assistance to Israel and the status of the southern border. 574 00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:39,720 It will be at least February 2nd before that gets resolved, and it could go a bit later. 575 00:40:39,720 --> 00:40:43,640 So it could get a little bit darker before it gets lighter with Ukraine. 576 00:40:43,640 --> 00:40:46,400 But Ukraine still, I think, has a very good chance. 577 00:40:46,400 --> 00:40:53,680 Nothing will happen until after the Russian elections in March, I reckon. 578 00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:58,240 But I think there is a chance after that for Ukraine to retake some more territory of their 579 00:40:58,240 --> 00:41:04,200 own territory, take it back, and end up with a more viable position and economy and a more 580 00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:06,200 long-term viability. 581 00:41:06,200 --> 00:41:14,040 Well, when you're fighting for your own house, you would just fight to the end, and you would 582 00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:17,200 end up fighting with sticks, if need be. 583 00:41:17,200 --> 00:41:21,400 And I think it's really important that we continue to support the Ukrainian people and 584 00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:22,400 their military. 585 00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:28,480 And I do like the idea that they don't want our troops on the ground or anything. 586 00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:33,800 And it's almost like a lend-lease type of thing. 587 00:41:33,800 --> 00:41:41,800 If we have the weaponry that we can lend them or give them, why not? 588 00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:50,360 We're still, America is still the premier, I think, country in the world. 589 00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:56,880 People keep looking at us for help, because we still are the only ones that have, not 590 00:41:56,880 --> 00:42:02,560 the only ones, but we're the ones that have an assemblance of freedom in our own land and 591 00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:07,280 that we have the abundance of our economy being able to help other people. 592 00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:10,920 And that's what we've done for 75 years. 593 00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:13,640 And I don't know. 594 00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:16,680 There are people around that don't want to do it anymore, and there are people that say, 595 00:42:16,680 --> 00:42:21,240 we know we have to continue this, because if we don't help them, as you mentioned earlier 596 00:42:21,240 --> 00:42:29,040 on, if he takes over the Ukraine, he's going to continue moving into all those satellite 597 00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:32,800 countries that used to be part of the USSR. 598 00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:37,600 Yes, and lend-lease is the perfect example. 599 00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:43,760 And some of the good points, we have a group of 50 other countries, including Colombia, 600 00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:49,040 Ireland, South Korea, of course, all the NATO allies, that's the Defense Contact Group, 601 00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:52,720 and that's the group that aids Ukraine. 602 00:42:52,720 --> 00:42:56,840 We've seen some really, really positive things with that. 603 00:42:56,840 --> 00:43:02,880 I understand here, as Americans discuss, hey, what's really going on in Ukraine? 604 00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:04,080 Should we still be doing this? 605 00:43:04,080 --> 00:43:08,840 I think we should always ask questions, because we are such a powerful nation, but we are 606 00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:11,200 the only ones that can coordinate this. 607 00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:15,160 That said, we've seen some amazing contributions from others in the world. 608 00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:23,760 I want to single out South Korea, which lent about 500,000 artillery shells to Ukraine. 609 00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:28,920 When the Israel-Hemos conflict started, it turned out that Israel had supplied a lot 610 00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:33,320 of 155 ammo to Ukraine as well. 611 00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:40,240 So there's been enormous effort to do that, yet we've only given a ranged, really, it's 612 00:43:40,240 --> 00:43:42,920 the Dutch that are giving F-16s to Ukraine. 613 00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:48,520 We are training the pilots, but it's just eight F-16s, and they won't even be in combat 614 00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:51,560 until later on in 2024. 615 00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:54,240 So we have to do it. 616 00:43:54,240 --> 00:43:56,960 They more than deserve our support. 617 00:43:56,960 --> 00:44:01,440 Ukraine is supposed to have elections in March, and ironically, President Zelensky was elected 618 00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:07,560 all the way back in 2019 on a pro-peace platform to try to negotiate with Russia. 619 00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:11,880 In fact, Ukraine is under martial law, and I doubt they'll be able to hold elections. 620 00:44:11,880 --> 00:44:16,440 Remember, about 3 million Ukraine citizens are actually out living in Poland and other 621 00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:17,440 parts of Europe. 622 00:44:17,440 --> 00:44:18,440 But there's no question. 623 00:44:18,440 --> 00:44:25,160 The former Eastern Bloc countries, anybody who borders Russia or Belarus, they feel that 624 00:44:25,160 --> 00:44:26,520 their security is very threatened. 625 00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:31,720 And I think the real bellwether response here, in a way, has been Germany, which has sent 626 00:44:31,720 --> 00:44:32,720 quite a bit of aid. 627 00:44:32,720 --> 00:44:39,120 I think half the Polish tag force is already in Ukraine, and Poland is restocking. 628 00:44:39,120 --> 00:44:41,200 The Russian threat is here to stay. 629 00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:44,120 That's why you saw Finland and now Sweden joining NATO. 630 00:44:44,120 --> 00:44:51,360 So we really need to not let this drift, and Ukraine does deserve another round of aid. 631 00:44:51,360 --> 00:44:55,280 And then hopefully the weapons that will enable them to take back more of their territory. 632 00:44:55,280 --> 00:44:56,280 Right, certainly helps. 633 00:44:56,280 --> 00:44:57,280 I really hope so. 634 00:44:57,280 --> 00:45:00,120 Well, let's kind of move around to the other side of the world. 635 00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:04,880 You just mentioned South Korea providing a lot of ammunition to the Ukraine. 636 00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:09,840 Their northern border with the North Korea is still pretty perilous, isn't it? 637 00:45:09,840 --> 00:45:11,960 Oh, things are bad over there. 638 00:45:11,960 --> 00:45:17,360 In fact, North Korea just did a series of live fire drills a few days ago. 639 00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:22,800 They do those periodically every so many years, but it's a very bad sign. 640 00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:27,160 2023 was a terrible year with North Korea. 641 00:45:27,160 --> 00:45:31,480 There were multiple missile tests, including a longer range missile. 642 00:45:31,480 --> 00:45:39,280 They did tests of solid fuel missile motors, and that's real bad because the liquid ones 643 00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:42,400 take longer to fuel up and they're easier to track. 644 00:45:42,400 --> 00:45:46,000 They did three attempts at a satellite launch and actually have one up. 645 00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:55,160 And possibly worst of all was the new alliance between North Korea and Russia. 646 00:45:55,160 --> 00:45:58,440 Russia's defense minister visited North Korea. 647 00:45:58,440 --> 00:45:59,840 North Koreans went to Moscow. 648 00:45:59,840 --> 00:46:00,840 Oh my goodness. 649 00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:09,240 And what's come out of that is North Korea supplying ammunition back to Russia to use 650 00:46:09,240 --> 00:46:11,040 in Ukraine. 651 00:46:11,040 --> 00:46:13,400 And you know, North Korea is getting something out of that deal. 652 00:46:13,400 --> 00:46:18,360 And I'm afraid that it is advice on nuclear weapons development. 653 00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:25,960 North Korea wants to have a full nuclear triad like we have with submarine launch missiles, 654 00:46:25,960 --> 00:46:29,480 intercontinental missiles, and possibly aircraft as well. 655 00:46:29,480 --> 00:46:31,600 And they've made tremendous strides. 656 00:46:31,600 --> 00:46:36,920 Back in 2018, the Singapore summit, North Korea actually stopped testing all their missile 657 00:46:36,920 --> 00:46:39,360 testing for over a year. 658 00:46:39,360 --> 00:46:41,840 But now that has resumed faster than ever. 659 00:46:41,840 --> 00:46:47,200 And worst of all, the North Koreans are not talking to us again. 660 00:46:47,200 --> 00:46:48,200 Okay. 661 00:46:48,200 --> 00:46:49,680 This has happened in the past. 662 00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:54,160 You remember the diplomacy with Trump and all the personal diplomacy and cards and all 663 00:46:54,160 --> 00:46:55,160 this. 664 00:46:55,160 --> 00:46:56,720 Well, now it's just complete silence over there. 665 00:46:56,720 --> 00:47:03,240 The good news is this has shifted the Japan-South Korea-US alliance into overdrive. 666 00:47:03,240 --> 00:47:06,760 Remember, Japan and South Korea have some lingering animosity. 667 00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:10,000 Actually, a lot of lingering animosity from World War II. 668 00:47:10,000 --> 00:47:12,520 They have patched it up. 669 00:47:12,520 --> 00:47:18,120 And now we see Japan, South Korea, and the US collaborating on a missile warning system, 670 00:47:18,120 --> 00:47:19,800 an integrated missile warning system. 671 00:47:19,800 --> 00:47:24,880 And that is directly to handle potential threats coming out of North Korea. 672 00:47:24,880 --> 00:47:32,120 Here again, we see China happy to let this go on because it bedevils the South Koreans, 673 00:47:32,120 --> 00:47:33,360 the Japanese, and us. 674 00:47:33,360 --> 00:47:37,400 So they're just as content to let North Korea play its mischief. 675 00:47:37,400 --> 00:47:39,000 Very, very bad year with North Korea. 676 00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:47,400 And can I add, Japan is going through really terrible times from earthquakes and everything 677 00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:49,040 else that's going on over there. 678 00:47:49,040 --> 00:47:57,560 And to have to worry about North Korea with their weapons and so forth. 679 00:47:57,560 --> 00:48:00,880 How armed up is Japan? 680 00:48:00,880 --> 00:48:06,400 How are they planning to prevent all this occurring? 681 00:48:06,400 --> 00:48:08,000 Japan is pretty armed up. 682 00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:14,440 And they still have, in fact, it's called the Japanese Self Defense Force, but they have 683 00:48:14,440 --> 00:48:22,120 a Navy that has the Aegis warning and fire control system that's an anti-missile system. 684 00:48:22,120 --> 00:48:26,040 They're constantly on the picket line along with us up there in the Pacific. 685 00:48:26,040 --> 00:48:28,320 They have a highly capable air force. 686 00:48:28,320 --> 00:48:32,800 They are building a new aircraft carrier, interestingly named the Kaga, which we sunk 687 00:48:32,800 --> 00:48:37,480 one of those by that name at Midway, but that's fine. 688 00:48:37,480 --> 00:48:41,040 They are now a really close, very, very capable military. 689 00:48:41,040 --> 00:48:44,480 But the issue there with everyone is, do you have enough munitions? 690 00:48:44,480 --> 00:48:46,360 Do you have the depth to counter this? 691 00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:51,400 And so the thing I like about the trilaterals, remember in the summer, leaders of Japan and 692 00:48:51,400 --> 00:48:56,280 South Korea and President Biden all met at Camp David to cement this trilateral alliance. 693 00:48:56,280 --> 00:49:01,760 And that's going to be a very effective military counter to North Korea and also PS, by the 694 00:49:01,760 --> 00:49:04,720 way, also to China. 695 00:49:04,720 --> 00:49:10,120 Japan and South Korea very much supporting Taiwan's, the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. 696 00:49:10,120 --> 00:49:14,320 So that's the positive side of it is the reinvigoration of this alliance. 697 00:49:14,320 --> 00:49:18,840 I mean, I think that's the U.S. and the Republic of Korea known as South Korea are just in 698 00:49:18,840 --> 00:49:21,120 about the best place that they've ever been. 699 00:49:21,120 --> 00:49:22,280 Oh, fine. 700 00:49:22,280 --> 00:49:28,240 There's so many things going on and so little time to talk about them. 701 00:49:28,240 --> 00:49:30,200 We've got a couple of minutes left. 702 00:49:30,200 --> 00:49:37,680 And one of your suggested topics was to talk about the C5M reverse air refueling test. 703 00:49:37,680 --> 00:49:39,680 Oh, I'm so glad. 704 00:49:39,680 --> 00:49:40,680 I, yes. 705 00:49:40,680 --> 00:49:47,680 So you know the C5M is our biggest cargo plane based out of Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. 706 00:49:47,680 --> 00:49:48,920 And you see one in flight. 707 00:49:48,920 --> 00:49:52,000 And it looks like some strange otherworldly animal. 708 00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:56,160 This is a massive, massive cargo plane. 709 00:49:56,160 --> 00:50:04,800 So on December 21st, a C5M plugged into a KC-10, which is an air refueling aircraft, 710 00:50:04,800 --> 00:50:07,720 but they reversed the fuel flow. 711 00:50:07,720 --> 00:50:12,120 So the tanker up in the air here, right? 712 00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:15,120 So fuel from the C5. 713 00:50:15,120 --> 00:50:19,920 And there's a picture and it's just stunning because these are two enormous aircraft they 714 00:50:19,920 --> 00:50:24,040 had to stay joined on the boom for 30 minutes. 715 00:50:24,040 --> 00:50:27,360 And the tanker was able to pick up about 20,000 pounds of fuel. 716 00:50:27,360 --> 00:50:31,240 Now if you're a little fighter and you're refueling up at the tanker, you can get fuel 717 00:50:31,240 --> 00:50:35,520 flow at about 6,000 pounds a minute. 718 00:50:35,520 --> 00:50:37,640 So you're not up there a real long time. 719 00:50:37,640 --> 00:50:41,920 These guys had to fly together for 30 minutes, which is incredible station keeping. 720 00:50:41,920 --> 00:50:46,120 My point here though, Dale, is we got through the entire Cold War without having to have 721 00:50:46,120 --> 00:50:49,680 a C5M reverse fuel a tanker. 722 00:50:49,680 --> 00:50:53,600 The reason they tried this was to see if they can do it because of combat in the Pacific. 723 00:50:53,600 --> 00:50:58,280 So if things really go badly with China, we need to have all this flexibility to continue 724 00:50:58,280 --> 00:50:59,280 to fly in. 725 00:50:59,280 --> 00:51:05,720 Blood, missiles, the logistics, and our air mobility command at near force is preparing 726 00:51:05,720 --> 00:51:09,240 the crews for this type of operation. 727 00:51:09,240 --> 00:51:13,600 But to see them do this, wow, that really told me how serious the threat is from China. 728 00:51:13,600 --> 00:51:19,080 Well, we have a lot of things and we covered a lot of topics today. 729 00:51:19,080 --> 00:51:23,440 We've been talking with Dr. Rebecca Grant here on Veterans Radio and Dr. Grant will 730 00:51:23,440 --> 00:51:27,960 be back in the spring because we like to do this every quarter to see what is going on 731 00:51:27,960 --> 00:51:29,240 in the world. 732 00:51:29,240 --> 00:51:34,800 So Dr. Rand, I want to thank you very, very much for being on Veterans Radio. 733 00:51:34,800 --> 00:51:39,520 As usual, I know we never solve all the problems, but we become a lot more aware of what's going 734 00:51:39,520 --> 00:51:40,520 on in the world. 735 00:51:40,520 --> 00:51:44,600 Thank you, Dale, and thanks, of course, to all our veterans for your service. 736 00:51:44,600 --> 00:51:45,600 Thank you. 737 00:51:45,600 --> 00:51:46,600 Okay. 738 00:51:46,600 --> 00:51:55,000 For those of you out there that were listening, this program will be up on our website probably 739 00:51:55,000 --> 00:52:02,840 a couple of hours and you can review the things that we talked about here on Veterans Radio. 740 00:52:02,840 --> 00:52:08,120 I'm always amazed by the information that we get from Dr. Grant because you know, you 741 00:52:08,120 --> 00:52:12,200 try to watch the news and see what's going on, but they seem to be very much more involved 742 00:52:12,200 --> 00:52:16,080 in politics and who says this and who said what and so forth. 743 00:52:16,080 --> 00:52:18,360 So we really don't get the complete story. 744 00:52:18,360 --> 00:52:21,640 So it's just great that Dr. Grant was available to us. 745 00:52:21,640 --> 00:52:26,760 As you mentioned, there's elections coming up in the rest of the world, but we've got 746 00:52:26,760 --> 00:52:30,040 some pretty important elections coming up here, too. 747 00:52:30,040 --> 00:52:38,160 And I just wanted to make sure that our audience, one of the things our founders said is that 748 00:52:38,160 --> 00:52:44,920 the individual elections are so important to our democracy and how we maintain our form 749 00:52:44,920 --> 00:52:48,640 of government, which is really kind of fragile when you think about it. 750 00:52:48,640 --> 00:52:51,320 So I want to make sure that you all get out there and vote. 751 00:52:51,320 --> 00:52:53,160 And I don't care who you vote for. 752 00:52:53,160 --> 00:52:57,880 Well, I do, but that's for another program. 753 00:52:57,880 --> 00:53:01,520 So I wanted to make sure that you do vote because if you don't vote, you really can't 754 00:53:01,520 --> 00:53:03,280 complain about anything. 755 00:53:03,280 --> 00:53:07,880 And there are many examples out there of elections being decided by only one vote. 756 00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:12,720 And kind of the most famous one, I guess you could say, was Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr, 757 00:53:12,720 --> 00:53:18,880 where Jefferson picked up one vote in the electoral college that beat Aaron Burr. 758 00:53:18,880 --> 00:53:20,880 And that was kind of a big deal. 759 00:53:20,880 --> 00:53:22,600 So make sure that you do that. 760 00:53:22,600 --> 00:53:25,600 And so when candidates, you start thinking about the candidates that you're going to 761 00:53:25,600 --> 00:53:31,200 be looking at this year to put back into the government, I want you to look at the Boy Scout 762 00:53:31,200 --> 00:53:32,400 law. 763 00:53:32,400 --> 00:53:34,440 This is very important to me. 764 00:53:34,440 --> 00:53:38,080 So whoever the candidate is, are they trustworthy? 765 00:53:38,080 --> 00:53:39,080 Are they loyal? 766 00:53:39,080 --> 00:53:40,080 Are they helpful? 767 00:53:40,080 --> 00:53:41,240 Are they friendly? 768 00:53:41,240 --> 00:53:42,240 Are they courteous? 769 00:53:42,240 --> 00:53:43,240 Are they kind? 770 00:53:43,240 --> 00:53:45,360 Are they obedient to the Constitution? 771 00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:46,360 Are they cheerful? 772 00:53:46,360 --> 00:53:47,360 Are they thrifty? 773 00:53:47,360 --> 00:53:48,360 Are they brave? 774 00:53:48,360 --> 00:53:49,360 Are they clean? 775 00:53:49,360 --> 00:53:50,880 And are they reverent? 776 00:53:50,880 --> 00:53:56,080 So just remember, though, that little list of words there and whatever candidate that 777 00:53:56,080 --> 00:54:02,480 you decide to support, make sure that they fit those categories as many of those as possible 778 00:54:02,480 --> 00:54:09,720 because we need to really start getting some really great candidates into our government. 779 00:54:09,720 --> 00:54:11,440 We got to get rid of chaos. 780 00:54:11,440 --> 00:54:14,560 So anyway, that's just my little blurb for the day. 781 00:54:14,560 --> 00:54:16,880 Make sure that you register to make sure that you do vote. 782 00:54:16,880 --> 00:54:21,120 Today's song that we're going out on is Woody Guthrie and he's going to be doing This Land 783 00:54:21,120 --> 00:54:29,080 is My Land. 784 00:54:29,080 --> 00:54:33,640 This land is your land and this land is my land. 785 00:54:33,640 --> 00:54:44,640 From the California to the New York Island and the Redwood Forest to the Gulfstream waters. 786 00:54:44,640 --> 00:54:49,600 This land was made for you and me. 787 00:54:49,600 --> 00:54:59,480 As I went a walk in that ribbon of highway, I saw above me that endless skyway. 788 00:54:59,480 --> 00:55:17,520 I saw below me that golden valley, this land was made for you and me. 789 00:55:17,520 --> 00:55:27,400 I roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps to the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts, 790 00:55:27,400 --> 00:55:32,640 all around me a voice was sounding. 791 00:55:32,640 --> 00:55:38,440 This land was made for you and me. 792 00:55:38,440 --> 00:55:46,600 When the sun comes shining, then I was strolling and the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds 793 00:55:46,600 --> 00:55:47,600 rolling. 794 00:55:47,600 --> 00:55:54,200 The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting. 795 00:55:54,200 --> 00:56:00,000 This land was made for you and me. 796 00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:04,440 This land is your land and this land is 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