All across America and around the world, this
is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio. And
now, your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry.
Welcome to Veterans Radio. My name is Dale Throneberry,
and I'm really excited for today's program. We're
going to have our foreign policy expert extraordinaire
Dr. Rebecca Grant on in just a moment. But before
we talk with her, I want to thank our sponsors.
can't do the program without them, so our major
donors are Legal Help for Veterans, Specializing
in Veterans Disability Claims. Call Legal Help
for Veterans at 800 -693 -4800 or go to their
website LegalHelpForVeterans .com. The National
Veterans Business Development Council, better
known as NVBDC, is the nation's leading third
-party authority for certification of veteran
-owned businesses. For more information, go to
their website, nvbdc .org, or give them a call
at 888 -237 - The Irwin Press Corps and American
Legion Post 46 and the Charles S. Kettles Vietnam
Veterans of America Chapter 310, both of Ann
Arbor, Michigan. If you'd like to support Veterans
Radio, please go to our website veteransradio
.org and click on the donate button. Okay, so
let's get into this program today. As I mentioned,
we're going to be talking with Dr. Rebecca Grant,
who is a Veterans Radio favorite. I think she's
been on the program at least 20 times, probably.
Let me tell you a little bit about this amazing
woman. So Dr. Rebecca Grant is a national security
analyst based in Washington, DC, specializing
in defense and aerospace research and national
security consulting. She is the vice president
of the Lexington Institute. The Lexington Institute
is a center -right think tank headquartered in
Arlington, Virginia. It focuses mainly on defense
and security policy. Dr. Grant has over 20 years'
experience working with the United States Air
Force, Navy, and top aerospace clients. In addition,
Dr. Grant has often appeared on television as
an expert on national security for Fox News,
Fox Business, CNN, MSNBC. and as a series regular
on the Smithsonian's Air Warriors. She also writes
on China, Russia, and other technology and national
security topics for Fox News Opinion. Her military
books include 75 Great Airmen that she wrote
with General Chris Miller. The B2 goes to war
and battle -tested aircraft carriers in Afghanistan
and Iraq. Dr. Grant graduated from Wellesley
College and earned a PhD in International Relations
from the London School of Economics in the University
of London. And as I said, she is one of our favorite
guests. She tells it like it is, and you really
need to stick around and listen to this. We'll
be back with Dr. Grant right after our Medal
of Honor segment. The Medal of Honor is the highest
award for valor in combat given a member of the
Armed Forces of the United States. There have
been over 3 ,400 recipients of the nation's highest
award. This is one of them. Master Sergeant Gary
Gordon requested permission three times to be
inserted into a hot fire zone to protect downed
helicopter crews before he got it. Details after
this. If you have a VA claim denied by the Board
of Veterans' Appeals, contact Legal Help for
Veterans at 1 -800 -693 -4800. They're experts
in handling cases before the U .S. Court of Appeals
for Veterans' claims. Their number again, 1 -800
-693 -4800. Gordon, while serving as sniper team
leader in Mogadishu, provided precision fire
from the lead helicopter during an assault and
at two helicopter crash sites. When Gordon learned
that ground forces were not immediately available
to secure the second crash site, he and another
sniper unhesitatingly volunteered to be inserted
to protect the four critically wounded personnel.
When debris and enemy ground fire at the site
caused them to abort the first attempt, Gordon
was inserted 100 meters south of the crash site.
Gordon and his fellow sniper fought their way
to reach the critically injured crew members.
Gordon immediately pulled the pilot and the other
crew members from the aircraft. Gordon used his
long -range rifle and sidearm to kill an undetermined
number of attackers until he ran out of ammunition.
He then went back to the wreckage, recovering
some of the crew's weapons and ammunition. Even
though he was critically low on ammunition, he
provided some of it to the dazed pilot and then
radioed for help. After his team member was fatally
wounded and his own rifle ammunition exhausted,
He returned to the wreckage, recovering a rifle
with the last five rounds of ammunition, and
gave it to the pilot with the words, good luck.
Then, armed only with his pistol, Gordon continued
to fight until he was fatally wounded. His actions
saved the pilot's life. He was posthumously awarded
the Medal of Honor on May 23, 1994 by President
Clinton. The Medal of Honor series is a production
of Veterans Radio. You know you don't have to
wear your PT gear anymore, right? It's comfortable.
So how's civilian life treating you? It's fine.
When I got out, I didn't want to admit that there
was anything wrong because I felt like a failure.
And then I realized, like, there's nothing to
be ashamed of. So I started talking to someone.
Maybe you are fine. But if you're not, it's OK.
Thank you. If you or a veteran you know needs
support, don't wait. Reach out. Find resources
at va .gov slash reach. All right. Welcome back
to Veterans Radio. And as promised, we've got
our foreign affairs military expert joining us,
Dr. Rebecca Grant. Dr. Grant, welcome back to
Veterans Radio. Great to be back on Veterans
Radio. Thank you. You know, I was thinking about
that the other day. If this was Saturday Night
Live, you know, they always give a jacket to
somebody who's been on there five times or something.
I was thinking I'd have to give you a whole trousseau
just because that you have been on our program.
I think we counted it up one time a little over
20 times over the last 20 years. Oh, a trousseau.
You know, you did give me a lovely veterans radio
polo shirt and I believe I have a veterans radio
mug. But most of all, I get the pleasure of talking
to you and your listeners. So we're good. OK,
we are good. OK, so let's start this right off.
You know, you sent me a nice list of potential
topics and kind of things that are going on in
the world. The first thing I wanted to talk about
what is going on in the Caribbean. You know,
I mean, we're shooting fishing trawlers up there
and I'm not, you know, we're not getting a whole
lot of information about, you know. Why? Well,
I can tell you this. No fish or fishing trawlers
were harmed in these operations. No, I agree.
It's quite a surprise when you and I last talked,
which was over the summer. I think the last thing
we expected was to see the USS Gerald R. Ford
aircraft carrier and the Iwo Jima amphibious
ready group. down in the Southern Command region
in the Caribbean and going after the drug growth.
So let's start with how this got going. You know,
I think President Trump was elected thinking
that he had a mandate to go after the drug cartels.
They not only run drugs like fentanyl into the
U .S., but they also are purveyors of illegal
immigration, migrant crime, as the British like
to call it. and other terrible things, including
human trafficking. So what we have here is Secretary
Rubio, who has been very watchful over Venezuela
for a long time, has designated several of the
cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. That's
basically like saying they are like ISIS in the
Middle East, or the Al Qaeda, or ISIS West Africa
that's causing so much violence in Nigeria. So
you have that foreign terrorist designation.
And then for cartels like Trinidad, that cartel
was specifically designated as an imminent threat
to the United States. Now, there's been a lot
of debate about this, understandably. You know,
we Americans are not used to seeing our military
forces in live fire operations in the Caribbean.
So I'm just laying out what the basis here is.
And then we saw beginning in September, the targeting
of known drug boats. And I think that's kind
of what's really gotten everybody's attention.
Don't you agree? Oh, absolutely. You know, I
don't think we've, you know, we've seen our military
in action with, you know, the rockets and everything
going down. It's like watching the rockets go
into the buildings in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's
exactly like that. And it's really an important
analogy because, first of all, Our intelligence
and surveillance is very, very good. We have
exquisite maritime surveillance. Now, the Department
of War or the Pentagon is not giving us much
in the way of detail because this is still a
very active military and intelligence operation.
But you get the big picture. The Navy has a plane
called the P -8. It is a modified commercial
airliner and it carries a gigantic radar. Radars
that are tuned to look at maritime surveillance.
You actually have to set them up a little different
to do that, but they know that and they do. We
have satellites, we have special forces, we have
drones. Basically, Our US military forces can
see when the crew comes to the dock to get on
the drug boat. They can see the cargo being loaded
These boats then take known routes say from the
coast of Venezuela or off the coast of Colombia
up into the Caribbean It's not different from
watching, you know, just a daily traffic pattern
and we have assets that can do this maritime
moving target indicator so Again, they're not
giving us the details, but there is no doubt
that these are drug trafficking boats. These
are not just randomly selected or someone out
there with his or her binoculars looking over
across the hazy horizon. And again, not a lot
of detail on the sources and methods. And even
when they release the videos, you can tell that
they've kind of scrubbed off all the uh instrumentation
that you typically see around the frame of a
of a targeting pod video that gives you like
you know azimuth and altitude and speed and all
this but what you're seeing is a lot of what
looks like to me a white hot flier either from
a pod uh or something else and that's showing
you some some really really precise strikes so
there's no doubt in my mind that they are hitting
um drug boats that are known and these are not
random at all. And you really see this whenever
Secretary of State Rubio talks about the subject.
And Treasury Secretary Scott Besant has been
pretty clear about this as well. And Treasury
has all sorts of financial designations on the
top cartels. And then President Trump actually
just put a designation on another one of the
cartels that will go into effect in late November.
So that's sort of the big picture of what's going
on. But it is amazing to see the USS Gerald R.
Ford, our newest and biggest aircraft carrier.
She was rushed from the Mediterranean, where
she'd been doing exercises, down to the Caribbean
to add to potential striking power for U .S.
Southern Command. And you mentioned, though,
does this have any sort of ramification as far
as China or Russia are concerned? Well, there's
a lot of strategic pieces in this puzzle. Remember
Venezuela run by the illegal dictator, Nicolas
Maduro, basically the entire world agrees that
he has stolen the election a couple times in
Venezuela. But Venezuela has more proven oil
reserves than Saudi Arabia. Really? So yeah,
it's astonishing. They sell this oil. to China,
of course, okay? So there is a Chinese relationship.
And the Chinese are all over the Western Hemisphere,
whether it is their fishing fleets, their building
of ports in places like Peru, their ownership
of key infrastructure in the Panama Canal, which...
was one of Secretary Rubio's first priorities
was getting Panama to back away from China. So
part of this is asserting American leadership
in this region under, you know, the old Monroe
doctrine from back in the founding father days.
And then, of course, Russia, Venezuela and Russia
have been buddies for a long time. They have
a lot of Russian military equipment. You occasionally
used to see Russian long range bombers making
publicity stops in Venezuela. So this, again,
is closing the door on Chinese influence in particular
in this region. But I think the administration's
real priority here is they are just balanced
and determined to do something about the flow
of drugs and about the illegal immigration. Well,
I would say so. I think it's kind of interesting.
I guess, you know, It's not a bad idea. And I
mean, you want to send a message that, OK, you
know, this is this is the end of, you know, your
freedom of the seas to bring your, you know,
the fentanyl and all the other things that people
are smuggling into the country. So I'm hoping
that they get the message. It would be nice to
not have to worry about our, you know, our population,
especially our young people getting more and
more involved with those god awful drugs that
some of them are using. Oh, yes. And I think
all of us know people whose lives have been scarred
by fentanyl. And you know, part of the U .S.
Navy's mission is to prevent piracy on the high
seas. And I think these drug cartels really fit
that definition. It is startling, though, to
see our military forces there. There was a CBS
news reporter doing a piece on the reaction in
the region. And behind him at the airport in
St. Croix, were two US Air Force refueling tankers.
You don't see that every day, right? So just
the number of assets that are concentrated there.
I think the idea is, again, just put the squeeze
on the cartels for sure. And then the ties between
Maduro and Venezuela and these cartels are very,
very clear. And in fact, the Venezuelan military
is through Maduro involved in some of this as
well. So the rest of the intent here is to put
the squeeze on Maduro himself. We shall see.
Hopefully it works out. I think so. You know,
kind of going to the other side of the world.
I want to talk a little bit about about Ukraine,
mainly because on today's news, I believe it
was that they were talking about that they are.
Well, Russia and the United States had come up
with a 28 point plan that they haven't really,
you know, given to Ukraine yet. Can you address
that? I know you were talking about the UN as
well. Yes, the Ukraine peace plan. This one's
interesting. I think two things stand out. First
of all, we don't know how solidified this plan
is. And then most of all, we don't know if Putin
will agree to it. He hasn't agreed to anything
so far. But what's going on is and the news appears
to emanate from a possible social media slip
up by one of the negotiators that where something
was posted rather than direct messaged and there
was reference to this plan. But what we do know
is that Ambassador Steve Witkoff, you know, he's
a New York real estate developer, long time friend
of President Trump who was very key in the Gaza
peace plan. He has all year been working on negotiations
with Russia. He's been to Moscow four or five
times. there's a Russian named Kirill Dmitriev.
Kirill Dmitriev is a man about 50 years old.
He is a finance bro. You know, he worked at Goldman
Sachs. He worked at McKinsey, speaks great English,
and he runs a lot of Russia's sovereign wealth
investments. So he has been a frequent interlocutor.
You know, what Trump would like to see is incentives
for Putin, and these would be finance and business
deals with a release of some sanctions probably.
So some incentives to get Putin to agree. I think
if you roll it back a couple months, this is
why Trump was optimistic about getting a settlement.
He thought, well, if I just go in and construct
a deal that Russia will agree to, you know, their
sanction, their economy is terrible, they're
dependent on China. Well, then we can get a deal
and have peace in Ukraine, right? Obviously,
we know that didn't work. What's happened is
that Putin has intensified his strikes on Ukraine.
So back to the current update, it looks like
Secretary Rubio and Ambassador Woodcoff have
been working through the back channels trying
to put together this 28 -point peace plan, kind
of reminiscent of the Gaza plan. And then, of
course, the details in that are of great interest.
And maybe you've heard they're talking about
putting some limits on Ukraine's military forces,
too. I heard about that and also the idea of
Ukraine giving up some of its territory. Yeah,
the territory is the big one. And you know what
hurts about this? Well, first of all, my personal
view is I'd like to see every last Russian out
of Ukraine. That illegal invasion is absolutely
terrible. But the battle line right now, Putin
He's moving forward inch by inch, but he still
has not taken all of the Donbass region particularly
the last bits of territory in the provinces of
Donetsk and Luhansk and that's partly because
there is a long -standing fortified defensive
line that Ukraine holds and as terrible as the
war is Ukraine is Pretty much holding Russia
on the ground that Russia really is not going
to get much further than they are now, which
is why Putin has turned to these terrible drone
and missile attacks. But back to the territory
for a moment. The big question is, will Ukraine
be asked to give up the Donbass, including in
Crimea as well, which would be horrible and painful.
But I think there are some in the Trump administration
who feel like, look, This is the Ukraine we're
going to end up with. It's still going to have
the Port of Odessa. It's going to have most of
the territory. And from here, we can go forward
with the redevelopment and have an economically
viable Ukraine. So that's sort of where the decisions
are. Trump has many times said, let's just freeze
the line where it is right now. But again, Putin
hasn't agreed to anything. He just continues
every couple of days, another big missile attack.
a big missile attack, and then you've got the
members of NATO that are trying to, I guess,
trying to, you know, trying to do their part
in helping Ukraine. And then again, we've got
some, you know, other countries that are, you
know, drones are flying over, and that's not
a good thing to have going on over there either.
Well, whatever happens, you know, at some point
there will be a ceasefire in Ukraine. You know,
it may not be for a while, truly, but at some
point, but the problem of European security against
Putin's Russia is going to remain. Look, you
know, Ukraine, if they had a ceasefire today,
Ukraine would need about a thousand tanks to...
put together a defensive perimeter, and it's
going to have to be more than that as well. It
would be, they could use a thousand of our M1A1
Abrams tanks because they need a defensive strategy.
They also need, and as they have, our tremendous
air defenses, Patriot missiles, and many other
types that have been put together into really
a stunningly capable air defense. all of Europe
is concerned about a potential Russian invasion
at some point. It's not just Ukraine. If that
stopped right now, you know, the Germans are
concerned. A Danish intelligence estimate said
that Putin could be ready to invade someplace
like the Baltics within another couple years.
And so this is now a generational problem to
defend that NATO border that runs now, of course,
from Finland and Helsinki right down through
Istanbul and Turkey. So, we are going to need
to have a strong NATO -led defense in Europe
for the foreseeable future. Russia continues
to build tanks, missiles. They already have a
huge stock of missiles. They buy and build Iranian
drones. China, sadly, is supporting all of this,
helping out with microelectronics and of course
with oil purchases. There's been some backing
away since two of the big Russian oil companies
were sanctioned, but basically China is the one
that's that's paid the bill for this war for
these whole four years. You know, the problem
is, you know, can anybody ever trust Putin? Well,
that's exactly it. And you know, I understand
here Trump's frustration because a reasonable
head of state. would look at the military pressure
and look at the economic deals and make a decision
on behalf of the people of the country. Putin
loves the war. He has a taste for war. He wants
imperial Russia. And there's just no telling
what will get to him. You know, my personal view
here is that he will have to feel he's going
to lose something of military significance. How
might that happen? Well, you know, perhaps strikes
on legitimate Russian military targets in Crimea.
Ukraine has done a pretty good job mounting drone
attacks. They've done about 60 in the last couple
of months, targeting either Russian air bases
or targeting Russian energy infrastructure. You
know, pipeline interchanges out in rural areas
that are blown up by drones, that kind of thing.
That is the type of pressure that Putin needs
to feel. But remember, this war is helping keep
Putin in power. He has no regard. He's had over
a million casualties. That's if you count killed
and wounded together. It's the number is a million
and it's just inconceivable. It's astronomical.
And you know, you've got to wonder what the Russian
population feels about this whole thing of, you
know, again, wiping out another generation. And,
you know, Putin came to power a long time ago
now at a time when oil wealth helped to bring
prosperity to Russia. And he's still, that is
still, I think, the source of his political power.
That and the complete and utter control of society
and of the flow of information. But you would
think that at some point, yes, these casualties
would begin to... It's just devastating for the
Russian people. But we have very little insight
into that and Putin remains the absolute dictator
and Xi Jinping of China continues to back him
up. And that combination enables Putin to continue
this terrible war in Ukraine. Well, the war that
they're just keep breaking out everywhere or
continuing or hopefully ending. Moving a little
bit further, I guess, to the southwest, if my
map reading is ability, is what about what's
going to happen next in Gaza? Gaza, you know,
here I think we have good news, actually. It
was tremendous to see the ceasefire go into place.
And just this week, the United Nations actually
passed a resolution in support of the Gaza peace
plan. This is the 20 -point peace plan that was
agreed several weeks ago. And you know, let's
just take a step back for a moment and say that
this was a remarkable act in itself. President
Trump had called together in Egypt numerous world
leaders. There were so many you could hardly
put them all on the stage together. Georgia,
Maloney of Italy, Keir Starmer of the UK, Erdogan
from Turkey was there. Of course, the local Arab
states were very much in support as well. You
had the president of Indonesia there. Just the
world came together and that's what put the pressure
on Hamas to finally agree to the ceasefire. There
have been some tensions. Of course, there have
been a few attacks by Hamas on Israeli forces.
There's been retaliation by Israel for those
attacks. But several weeks have now passed, and
the ceasefire in Gaza is holding. This is tremendous.
This is enabling food aid to get into Gaza. And
of course, most of all, the shooting has pretty
much stopped, which is as it needs to be. So
what the UN did was kind of remarkable because
the UN had not done anything to help Gaza during
the whole two years of the war, but they did
pass the resolution with Russia and China abstaining
from the Security Council resolution, which is
kind of how things go. Great credit to new UN
Ambassador Mike Walz for pulling that off. He
really did a good job to get that vote initiated.
This will give the peace plan even more legs
because the next step will be to form an international
stabilization force. And to go into Gaza, its
mission will be to stabilize and then begin to
train or retain a Gaza Palestinian -focused police
force to keep peace in the Gaza Strip. Do you
think that there'll ever be any sort of two -state
or two -state solution to this? Well, the diplomacy
this fall has put a two -state solution back
on the table for sure. You know, you'd almost
say about this agreement that no one was entirely
happy with it, which probably means it was about
the best agreement you could get. One of the
key points in the peace plan is admittedly a
rather vague endorsement of a future path towards
a two -state solution. Having that language was
really key for people like the Crown Prince of
Saudi Arabia to agree to this whole framework.
Whether it actually happens, I think, is a much,
much, much bigger question, because you know,
Dale, it's not like ... You have all the Palestinians
living on one side of the strip and Israelis
living on the other. The communities are very
intermixed and intermingled. It's not like you
can just draw a line and say, okay, all the Palestinians,
but once you can live here and everybody else
can live somewhere else and you have a clear
two -state solution like the border between France
and Germany. It's just not like that. And you
know what the region needs overall, and I think
Trump has been right to sense this, is it needs
economic redevelopment, it needs to get back
to business, it needs to focus on tech, it needs
to keep China out of the mix, and it needs to
keep Iran contained so that they can't go back
to funding Hamas and Hezbollah and the other
terror groups. I think a few years of peace and
prosperity would do a lot more even than a formal
Palestinian state towards giving that region
a chance and a better future that we all want
to see. I hope that all the other countries in
the Middle East are probably going to have to
be honing up some cash to rebuild the Gaza. Oh,
lots of cash, exactly. I mean, the devastation
there is so hard to see. And, you know, with
the key Arab allies in that region, I think,
you know, two things were obvious. One, they
were very frustrated with Iran and very tired
of Hamas's intransigence and of the war itself.
But secondly, they like to keep a low profile.
But they're certainly willing and when prodded
by President Trump to go and invest in that region.
And what we've seen, of course, is a lot of US
trade deals, bilateral trade deals with countries
like Saudi Arabia, like the United Arab Emirates,
like Qatar, where they will invest, my goodness,
the United Arab Emirates is going to invest 1
.5 trillion. Yes, that's trillion with a T. in
the US doing everything from an aluminum smelting
plant to data centers, et cetera. You talk to
the folks from the UAE and they say, and we're
good for it too, we're really gonna do it. So
those strong bilateral trade relationships center
around technology and a future that goes beyond
just oil. But they also really bind the U .S.
and countries of the region together in this
prosperity path, right, in keeping Iran down
and in not having the funding for terrorism and
the dreadful conditions on the ground that really
spawn terrorism. So I think it's a positive start.
You know, as we see with the new government in
Syria, led by a man who was once in a U .S. jail,
but is now recognized and that they're giving
him a chance to really lead Syria and see if
it'll turn out better. So I think that, you know,
the situation in that region is much, much, much
more hopeful than it was. And you've got a credit,
Operation Midnight Hammer, those B -2 bombers
and all the other U .S. aircraft that took down
Iran's nascent nuclear weapons capability. and
made this new era possible. I was just going
to ask you about what what you think is going
on with Iran because now they got to kind of
rebuild or what are they doing? Well, as usual,
they're off, you know, running their mouths and
talking about this and that. But the fact is,
their primary nuclear weapons enterprise was
obliterated by the careful and precise targeting.
of the B -2 bombers and the Tomahawk land attack
missiles that attacked the other side as well.
And then, of course, the work done by Israel
and then by the US too to take down the air defenses.
So they are not in a position to be a resurgent
breakout nuclear power. They've also seen their
terror proxies really taken apart, whether that's
Hamas or Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Houthis are
still there, but not as active as they were,
though they bear close watching. So, you know,
Iran is not the terror mastermind that they once
were. The regime is still there. They still hate
Americans. They still hate Israelis. They still
want bloody revolution across the region. They're
still dangerous, but they are contained, and
that is key. And that is why also we see the
strengthening U .S. and Saudi diplomatic, economic,
and military partnership. that is also a rebuke
to and a containment of Iran. Well, we can only
hope, right? We continue to hope. That's the
idea here. We're talking with Dr. Rebecca Grant
here, as I mentioned earlier on, who is our resident
expert on foreign policy. And, you know, we got
to get the real idea of what's happening around
the world. I don't know anybody who's more in
tune to what's happening than you are, Dr. Grant.
Let's take a look at, let's see, where are we?
Oh, China, bringing Japan and South Korea closer
to the US. Yes, you know, President Trump was
just in Japan and South Korea a few weeks ago.
was on the aircraft carrier USS George Washington,
which is home ported in Japan. And Japan has
a new prime minister, Prime Minister Takachi.
She's the first female prime minister, and she's
conservative. And she is in favor of Japan having
a stronger military, which has been going on
for a while. You know, Japan really participates
in missile defense against North Korea and against
China. and is a tremendous ally. So, you know,
China's global rise and their machinations have
brought Japan and South Korea closer to each
other. Although they have a lot of historical
animosity stemming from World War II, they've
managed to patch a lot of that up. And here the
Biden administration did a good job in getting
that trilateral Japan -South Korea -U .S. relationship
going diplomatically. Then in comes the Trump
administration and you know, the signature of
the year is using tariff threats and trade deals
to shore up alliances. And I think Japan and
South Korea was just a classic case. South Korea,
Trump threatens 35 % tariffs or 50 % tariffs,
and then backs off. They settle at about what
everybody gets, because you know, everybody has
a tariff. And so we put ours at about 15%. And
that's similar to everybody else around the world.
Everyone's happy. We have, of course, about 28
,000 U .S. forces in South Korea. South Korea
may be getting access to a nuclear -powered submarine
technology. We're already sharing that with Great
Britain. We have for decades. And we'll now share
it with Australia. South Korea may be included
in that as well. So this threat of China has
really brought both Japan and South Korea closer
to the U .S. And this is good in so many ways.
You know, South Korea obviously is an economic
powerhouse, so is Japan. Japan has some niche
but significant rare earth metals processing
capability that we want to have. And then of
course in both cases, you know, kind of the new
currency of global power is AI. and the AI tech
stack. And the contest is between us and China.
We want the world, whether that's Saudi Arabia,
South Korea, Finland, you name it. We want the
world to adopt the US AI tech stack. That's chips,
software. cloud, everything that makes AI run.
And so these deals have generally also included
closer cooperation in technology. That closes
the door on China. And it's very, very important
for the next decade. AI is way beyond my understanding.
It's still I think people my age are going what?
Now what? What about you mentioned before that
the you know, South Korea and Japan and the US
are getting closer and closer But North Korea
still hanging out out there North Korea so after
the the good news on Gaza the good news on Japan
and South Korea, you know North Korea things
have gone downhill back in 2018 when In the first
Trump administration, Trump was talking with
Kim Jong Un. They were meeting. They were sending
letters. And there was a one -year test moratorium
that Kim put in place. Well, now things are worse
than ever. North Korea has tested some long -range
intercontinental ballistic missiles that, in
theory, Have the range nearly the range to hit
the west coast of the US They still have a lot
of problems with warhead integration and reentry
But there's no question their technology has
moved on in some key areas long -range missiles
solid fuel missile technology which enables a
missile to be Brought out and launched more quickly
if it's liquid fueled like most of their arsenal
You got to bring it out and put the gas in and
it's easy to see and it takes a long time But
South but North Korea has made some progress
there North Korea is working on a submarine launched
missile and here's the worst thing North Korea
and Russia as you know Several thousand North
Korean troops have gone to fight in Ukraine on
the Russian side North Korea has sent ammunition,
and we think that what North Korea is getting
in return is assistance with nuclear technology.
And that could include nuclear warhead design.
They already have nuclear weapons. The question
is the design of the warheads and integration
onto, for example, submarine -launched missiles,
or really completing their intercontinental missiles.
So it is just bad, bad, bad. And every time You
see, you know, one of the Russian defense officials
in North Korea or someone from North Korea going
to Russia, you just you just got to shake your
head. How did the world come to this that we
have North Koreans fighting in Ukraine and the
payback is in nuclear technology? Really, really
bad. Well, I don't know if you know anything
about this. What about the North Korean that
are fighting in the Ukraine? Are they getting
losing as many percentage wise as the Russians
are? Yes, the initial reports were that it was
very, very ugly that they were not well trained.
You know, Russia has started taking volunteers
and pretty much rushing them to the front. So
a lot of poorly trained soldiers, the sort of
thing that we would never ever see in the US
or in Western militaries. And the reports were
that the North Koreans, several units were really
wiped out and hit very hard initially. which
is tragic. I mean, you just have to think that
these North Koreans living in a society where
they have no contact with the outside world and
fighting themselves suddenly in the midst of
the Russian army and fighting in Ukraine. You
got to wonder how they ended up there. It's just
the terrible decades of repression by Kim Jong
-un and his father and his grandfather. That's
what it's led to. So sad. Well, I can't imagine
just, you know, as you say, you know, being picked
up and put down in Ukraine around so many other
different cultures that you've never even heard
of before, probably. Right, and then to have
the Ukrainians who are a pretty battle -tested
force, you're right in there fighting. It's been
a long time since the Korean War, but when one
forgets about a lot of the prison camp atrocities
that were carried out by North Koreans on Americans
and on other allies, but there is an element
of a vicious, repressive society there, and it
is a shame to see Russia's Vladimir Putin coddling
them and cooperating with them and China's Xi
Jinping just letting it go because it's useful
for China to have North Korea agitate the United
States. I'm really sorry that Trump's diplomacy
back in the 2017 and 2018 timeframe with Kim
didn't work out. It was worth a try to see if
he could get Kim interested in becoming a real
estate developer for North Korea. and sadly now
really all that has atrophied including the closer
ties between South Korea and North Korea that
were in place for a few years that's pretty much
closed down as well. I'm just very interested
in this whole thing because you know you were
mentioning how Japan and South Korea were trying
to work through the you know the terrible things
that Japan you know forced upon South Korea during
World War II and I can only imagine what the
government of North Korea is telling their citizens
about what's going on in the outside world. You
just can't even imagine it. You talk about Japan
and South Korea. I know this was imperial Japan.
There were military that ravaged Asia. There
was sex trafficking. There were atrocities. And
this is not that many generations ago, so very
painful on both sides, but especially I think
for South Korea. But nonetheless, the successive
Japanese and South Korean governments have managed
to set that aside because of the imminent danger
of North Korea with nuclear weapons. and of China.
You know, we talk about how the newest long -range
missile in North Korea, but North Korea's had
the ability to hit Japan or South Korea for a
long time now, which is why we have tremendous
both land and sea -based missile defense there
in FAD and other systems. And we, the Space Force,
is launching a new satellite architecture that
will help track hypersonic and ballistic missiles
from space. Believe me, I'm no physicist, but
that's the answer. If you can track those from
space, it's very, very helpful. And it's because
of these threats, mainly emanating out of that
region. You mentioned in your email to me to
ask about the Space Force and some of the revelations
that are coming out regarding, again, our good
friends in China trying to I don't know what
they're trying to do. They're trying to take
control of the whole area, I'm thinking. Of the
world and also of space, they have... plans to
go back to the moon. But what the Space Force,
you know, our Space Force is coming up on its
sixth birthday in December. It's a small force.
It's the toughest one to get into. They have
more recruits than they can deal with. And they're
tremendous under the command of General Chance
Saltzman, who was originally in the Air Force
and is now Chief of Staff of the United States
Space Force. So Space Force has revealed to us
what we kind of knew, which is that China has
the capability to attack our satellites on orbit.
They do that in different ways. They have some
ground -based laser weapons. They also have satellites
that can extend a robot arm and go bully other
satellites and do things like throw them into
an orbit where they'll go into a graveyard orbit.
So all kinds of problems up there. And then we
also know that China has positioned a geosynchronous
satellite. That's one of the highest altitudes
that looks at the Pacific and tries to see what's
going on. The good news is Space Force has known
about this for a long time and they've been at
work on countermeasures and they have a new countermeasures.
system called Netherlands that helps to counter
and break up space -based communications links.
So it is a battle royale up there to make sure
that we can deter China from wiping out our satellites
in space. And this is much, much more important.
We expect to see about 50 ,000 small satellites
launched in the next few years to provide internet
and broadband to areas around the world. American
companies to do this. We've got Elon Musk, Starlink
is the leader. Amazon has a group called LEO,
a little bit of a play on low Earth orbit. They
are launching a proliferated LEO constellation
to provide broadband. And of course, China wants
to get in there too. But we need to keep our
dominance in the space domain and in the approaches
to and around the Earth and the Moon as well.
So the next generations, we're going to be looking
to defend all of that. and the United States
Space Force will be in the lead. There's a lot
of things going on in the world, Dr. Grant. They
just keep going on. You mentioned also that one
last little item here is about the naval aviation
having a little difficulty with a carrier plane.
Oh, the secret Navy carrier plane. That's right.
It has a name. It's kind of a quiet name. It's
called F -A -X -X. It stands for fighter attack
experimental. Two companies, Boeing and Northrop
Grumman, have flown prototypes of this plane.
And the Navy really wants it because it's longer
range, it's stealthy, it flies off the carrier
decks. And when you put it together with an unmanned
refueling drone called a Stingray, and some long
-range missiles. This means aircraft carriers
could launch attacks 1 ,000 or even 1 ,500 miles
from the target. But they've got to have this
plane, and it's caught up in the Pentagon bureaucracy.
I've seen this before. It's all ready to go.
They thought they would get the green light back
in April, but here we are just waiting to see,
waiting to see. So the Pentagon bureaucracy is
trying to mess around and delay this plane. The
Navy really needs it. They've planned for 15
years. They knew what was coming with China,
and they've developed the ability to keep the
carriers relevant with this new plane. And I'm
hoping we'll see the green light on it soon.
I guess for our audience to understand that many
of these weapons systems that we've been talking
about for the last 30 minutes or so, it takes
years for them to come to fruition. You just
can't say, OK, I need a new jet next week. And,
you know, that's going to happen. And as you
mentioned, if you got to go through the bureaucracy
of what's happening, you know, what's going on
at the Pentagon. And I'm sure that there are
other different lobbying groups out there that
say yes and another group says no. And they got
to work that out. It's amazing they get anything
done. It is, and this is a little bit of a casualty
of the new administration kind of trying to figure
out what they're up to. But take the Ford, which
is down in the Caribbean, for example. Very capable
air wing, but it's based around the Super Hornets.
And those first flew, they first went to the
Navy in 1999. And the helicopters that she flies
are nicely updated, MH -60S, MH -60 Romeos. But
they're Blackhawks, right? And you know, that's
a 1970s design. Even their airborne early warning
aircraft, their E2, which carries the little
radar dome on top and is really tremendous. The
E2Ds are from about the 2005 -2007 timeframe,
but the design, again, goes back into the 1960s.
So every plane on the deck of the USS Gerald
R. Ford has a design that is decades old. They're
very capable, but they weren't designed to do
the long -range mission against China in the
Pacific. But the secret carrier plane, FA -XX,
the stingray drone and the long -range missiles
they were designed for that so they just need
to get that carrier plane piece and it's ready
it's flown it's very very secret no one will
tell you anything about it but it's flown it's
ready to go it's ready to start into its next
phase they could have it within a couple years
if they would give it the green light and i hope
they do well i hope so i hope so so uh are there
any one last comment that you would like to make
or anything you would like to mention Well, I
just have to say thank you again to all the veterans
out there. You know, Dale, you and I just marvel
at the exponential increase in crises around
the world, and we just wouldn't be able to do
anything at all if it weren't for our armed forces
from the Army right through to the Space Force
guardians, Air Force, Navy, Marines. Coast Guard
everyone involved in this they are really working
hard and things are more critical now than ever
China is a true menace with their allies Russia
and Iran and so many others and it is our US
military that is keeping the world safe and Giving
us and our children and our next generations
a great chance at the American way of life. I
Couldn't have said it better. So thank you very
much. Dr. Grant and we'll have you back at the
beginning of next year is Hopefully we can figure
out what's going to happen during 2020. I'm going
to be 2026 already. Oh, goodness. Anyway, thank
you so much, Dr. Grant. It's always a pleasure
to talk to you. And it's so informative, not
only for me, but also for our audience. And we'll
be talking and being in touch with you sometime
in the near future. I love Veterans Radio. Thank
you. How about that? She loves us. Well, we love
Dr. Grant, too. She explains everything so clearly.
Maybe we can convince her to run for president
someday. Veterans Radio is now into its 23rd
year, and I have to think that we are one of
the longest -running radio programs dedicated
to the telling the stories of America's military.
So go to our website, veteransradio .org, and
check out our over 1 ,100 programs archive there.
You can also listen to Veterans Radio anytime
you want on your favorite podcast platform. Follow
us on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, X, whatever
else is out there, we're on it. If you like what
you hear, please make a donation. Go to our website
again, veteransradio .org, and click on the donate
button. Veterans Radio is a production of Veterans
Radio America, a 501C3 non -profit corporation.
If you have a story idea, let me know. Send me
an email that's to me, dale, at veteransradio
.org. Finally, today we are going to go out on
our favorite song, God Bless America. This version
today is by the Brothers of the Heart. Until
next time, this is Dale Thromberry for all of
us here at Veterans Radio, wishing you and yours
a very happy Thanksgiving. You are dismissed.
God bless America Land that I love Stand beside
her and guide her Through the night with the
light from above To the oceans white with foam
God bless America, my home sweet Home, God bless
America, my home sweet more space. Grace on thee.
White with no