Hey, guys, it's Jack. I just wanted to talk to you today
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out at patreon dot com slash the Teamhouse. Hello everyone, Welcome to another
episode of Iizon. I'm Andy Bilbin with me is Jay, some Lions and
Deed Tacos, and we're going to jump right into it today because, much
to your relief, we have a limited amount of time, and there's there's
a couple of really big news stories. Do you what do you want us
to start off on here? The Moscow shooting. Yeah, I mean that's
so I got some fresh gouge on that, and you want to hear it
please, yeah, because that's dominating. Okay, So this is quite literally
breaking. I hate to use that term, but this is from Russian telegram
accounts in Moscow. I would argue, and I would venture if we release
this today, that no one else has all of the information that I'm about
to give. That's it sounds a dreadful boast. So let's go ahead,
all right, So the the death holl Hey, anyway, back backtrack for
a moment. Okay, there was an attack on a Russian on the Russian
Croquers City Hall in Moscow. It's it's this massive, it's a large kind
of emporium, include some auditorium. There's a train station there. I mean,
it's a it's a showpiece location within Moscow for the young. And so
evidently what happened four suspects walked into the foyer of the auditorium and they started
shooting. Interestingly enough, they wish there was a concert, and they walked
in about just as the concert was beginning, and they started shooting at late
comers in the lobby, and they walked into the auditorium itself. As I
said, death toll around one point nine. Russians expect that to rise.
Several hundred wounded. Russian special forces were involved, despite though footage shown at
the site, no gunmen were killed or arrested at the site. And now
get this, this is where it gets crazy. The Russians are reporting that
they've arrested four terrorists in the Bryansk region of Russia. Okay, I'm going
to help you guys out here because I had to look it up. That
is on the Russian Ukrainian border. So what they're claiming think about this,
all right, They're claiming that terrorists were flying back towards Ukraine, right,
and that they captured Okay, one of them is saying that he was paid
half a million rubles to carry out the attack, not saying by whom,
but you see what I'm you know, I mean, the Russians clearly are
are kind of doing the Dora a piece here, of laying out the breadcrumbs
saying, well, look, you know, we don't know who did this,
but they're trying to escape to Ukraine. At the same time, the
Islamic State is saying, no, wait a second, we did it,
we did it. US intelligence estimate. US intelligence is saying they don't know
for sure. Islamic States seems like a safe bet, but there are several
other potential groups, you know. I mean, remember, Russia has ongoing
counterinsurgencies, and not just in Chechhna, but Dagistan too, both places in
which they you know, Putin has pissed off a lot of people, and
and of course Syria, you know, and which is the reason why the
Islamic State would be would be hitting them. So I will pause there for
a moment in case you have any questions. Oh hey, the last thing
is the Russians just announced that this is on telegram and it's a Russian telegram
channel, I should be more specific, it's a Russian backed telegram channel.
And that's claiming that it was the Russian Volunteer Corps. All right, Remember
we talked about the Russian Volunteer Corps. That's who they're saying. They that
that that's who it is, and that they conducted a purge or rather,
they arrested a bunch of them before the incident, and this was a this
was a revenge. Anyway, back back to you guys. Yeah, so
the questions you have, what I'm being told and what I'm reading is that
as little as three days ago US the Embassy warned Moscow that hey, there
is something coming. They didn't have specifics, but it was dismissed by Putin
as a divisive propaganda, you know, just trying to divide the country up,
which is the exact same mistake that the Iranians made not long ago.
We tried to warn them about an imminent attack, they dismissed it and it
happened. So, you know, I think that's a part of the at
least the intel community that the most citizens don't know about that we do,
despite our differences with Russia and Iran, we do share intelligence with them on
that level, as you know, if there's an imminent attack coming. Because
despite what some people think, while we disagree and we have issue with the
Russian and Iranian governments, we don't hate their people. So we don't want
to see innocence killed. So well, it's a policy of reprice. It's
a prosody too, right, It's like, okay, so even if you
guys don't agree to this, we are going to do this, which leaves
the door open for collaboration. Absolutely absolutely, And that's a yeah, that's
a great point. Hey, Jason, I just want to say what Putin
actually said when when he was warned on March the nineteenth. All this resembles
outright blackmail and and an intention to intimidate and destabilize our society. That's from
the US warning. I mean once again, you know, how what more
example do you need? Yeah, I'm curious to see how it gets walked
back that statement now that it's happening. Putin was just talking. He just
like addressed the Russia like probably thirty forty minutes ago. It was oh he
has made an official statement. Yeah, yeah, in the the METHODIV.
Who's the deputy head of a you know, Derek colaner of the Russian Security
Council has has is already blaming Ukraine. I mean him specifically, So this
isn't just on telegram, he says. Well, he says, I if
it is established that these terrorists are connected with the Kiev regime, and he
goes on to issue dire threats, you know, I mean, how much
more die can it get than you've already invaded that country? Right, So,
like the they're getting ready, they're getting ready to put the blame on
on Kiev's doorstep, because it certainly serves Russians better to do so than to
blame the Islamic state and bring up their whole sorry venture in Syria. Can
we touch on the transformation that Medvedev's gone through when he was the Russian president,
like boys with Obama and like, oh, this could be maybe a
glimmer of hope, and then he's gone full like black trench coat. No,
I don't. I don't think there was any transformation there. I think
they were just always playing us all what I mean, you know, and
and and this is this is where we mix our kind of our own culture
with our attempts at real politic. You know, we want to always always
inject the personal level, in in personal relation in these geopolitical relationships. And
these are you know, whether you're you're a head of state, I mean,
regardless regardless of where you're a head of state, your country, your
national interests come first. And but we in the US, we recognize that
in ourselves, but we demand kind of friendship and loyalty from from foreign diplomat
I mean foreign state heads of state, which of course doesn't make sense,
and especially when we're talking about adversaries. So you get things like, you
know, George Bush saying about Putin, he seems like a man I can
deal with. Yeah, his eyes. And then all the crap that other
presidents have talked about both Putin and your members of Rush of the Kremlin.
I mean, it's absurd. No, these guys are all very I mean
they ship that, you know, former Soviets and if they're not, and
they're steeped in that culture. And we never understood that culture anyway, but
we kind of understood it during the Cold War. And what kept us on
the good side is we we never got sucked in even at the end to
oh hey, listen, Crushet's being nice to us today, so you know,
let's start making concessions. Yep. Yeah, it's our it's our own
mirror imaging, and it's our own weakness. Geopolitics is a hard game,
and and very few US statesmen realized that Kissinger, like him or hate them,
did understand that absolutely anything. So all that on Moscow. So watch
this space, guys. Very interesting and we will you know, continue to
track what Russia, what's being said in in Russia on this Well, what's
interesting was like, especially right after the attack, probably like an hour or
two after attack, they had that picture of that white van with all Ukrainian
plates on it, and it's like, hey, guys, if you can
really did this obvious, what are we doing? Like are they really doing
that? Like let's let's be serious here, like let's we's running up the
Ukraine. Slow the Ukraine stickers on the enemy. An early story I saw
too said that during the attack that a Ukrainian flag was raised above the UH.
I saw that building and then it disappeared. Then I never saw anything
about it again. So I mean they also said they were wearing fake bears,
Like guys, what are we doing? Like can we just find out
who did this? And you know, and like I mean the Russians,
the Russians won't be honest anyway, So yeah, but I mean, you
know how these things are. I mean remember the well most recently seven October,
and then you remember the UH the attacks in Paris in twenty fifteen,
and the initial reports are always low ball unfortunately on the extent of the casualties
and how bad the event was. So I think, sadly we're going to
see that the casualty numbers rise because you know, reading behind the lines,
Russian special forces did not get there on time. And so yes, I
don't think this is going to be a story that covers the Russian security services
and glory. But that doesn't you know, I mean, we've all made
these mistakes, so that isn't me being smug. It's a tragedy regardless,
d yes, before So I really, I mean, you've got two marines
here and I really okay three, Richie, stop reminding me, So I
really, you know, today saw another not a tragedy, but a milestone
event in a general Gray form of com down the Marine Corps. More importantly,
oh, in general Gray, by the way, easily the most easily
the most influential commandant of the last I don't know since leu June John A
lu June probably and some pop would argue the most period. Why was he
so influential because he don't worry I'll get rid of him in a moment,
not in a bad way, but he's he's got things to say about General
Gray obviously, you know General Gray bottom line is he brought the Marine Corps
from this kind of woe is Me Vietnam fixated culture, which was very you
know, despite what we may say, very hierarchical, very zero tolerance,
and it was a very bad time not just in the Marine Corps but in
every service in the seventies post Vietnam, drugs, racial tension, you name
it. And Craig came in and did two things. He cleaned house,
you know, from top down. The Institute for implemented things like drug testing
and all this stuff, you know, But it was it was a concerned,
compassionate leadership. He was loved by the rank and five in a way
that no other commandant has been. And why it wasn't just because he could
talk to the Marines and drop the F bomb. It was because he genuinely
cared about them and showed it in his policies and proving barracks like blah blah
blah. But he you know, at the same time, he raised he
raised the standards of Marine Corps. That was internally externally he oh and also
internally he emphasized mission command in a way that has not been emphasized by any
other command. Uh you know, for or sense, possibly the current one
will be. And so he brought us so all these things about initiative driven
command. He brought in uh uh yeah, right to to change our whole
doctrine war fighting, right, the war which is not about moving pieces on
the map. It's about mentality, which is always always putting your enemy in
the horns of a dilemma, on the horns of a dilemma, thinking,
deciding in a manner that makes your tempo faster than that of the adversary.
It was all about the mental game, the three dimensional chess board, as
he described it. Gray was also very interestingly a self made man in every
sense. He he was a I mean, he was a construction worker,
right. He enlisted in the Marine Corps at the age of twenty two,
went to Korea, fought for two years in Korea as a rifleman, made
sergeant like in a battlefield promotions, and then subsequently was a commissioned as an
officer in Vietnam. Interestingly, when he got a Silver Star, he was
on a he was His official title was he was an artillery observer with an
artillery unit, but he was also at the time he's working and intelligence communications
and signals intelligence. He had a communications background. I won a silver Star
for bringing Marines out of a minefield. Minefields, So I'm gonna tne over
to you because I get to take care of this dog. Yeah, General
Gray. I had the pleasure and honor of meeting him. It was long
after his retirement. I was at an event and he was there and we
got to talking a little bit and mentioned where I was from in New Jersey.
And he grew up right next door at a Point Pleasant, New Jersey,
from originally from Rahway, New Jersey, and his family moved to Point
Pleasant and he played football. I think we played three sports, football,
baseball, and basketball, I believe. And you know, great athlete,
really really easy to talk to. And you know, like Andy said,
he was a Marines marine, especially enlisted. He is noted for when he
would have new officers, he would tell him that your sole reason for raising
your hand, Yes, it's to defend the Constitution, Yes it is to
defend you know, the nation, but it's also to be first and foremost
there for your enlisted and subordinate Marines. That was his most important his credo.
Mike Andy said, maneuver warfare was a big thing with him, and
it was pretty timely because of Desert Storm and you know and all of that.
But he truly believed in every marine being a rifleman, so much so
that he was the first and I don't know if only, but the first
commandant to have his official portrait done in his utilities. His camis. Every
other one were in dress uniforms, dress blues, and he was the first
to do that to show that every marine is a rifleman. And that really
stood out to me. So he will surely be missed. I mean,
ninety five years old. He lived a hell of a life, so,
you know, great, it was active right up to the end too.
He was you know, he ran the or instrumental and running the Potomac Institute,
which is a think tank. And but you know, one really interesting
point. I think this will come out. I hope it comes out,
and you know, presumably there'll be books about a book about him, But
he took over the Marine Corps at a very at a you know, the
Marine Corps is in crisis back in the late eighties. People forget about this
or in the eighties, and it was part of it. Was post Vietnam.
You know, the the Army, the Navy can absorb some of the
moral the morale problems and all the other things that were going on. But
the Marine Corps as a small organization now facing it's just you know, justifying
its existence yet again not doing well across the border in none of the services
were in particular, the Marine Corps had a hard time in the eighties.
Remember in eighty three was Marine Corps bombing that killed two hundred and forty.
There was you know, there were all kinds of operational and tactical and it
died a strategic level. Decisions that were made that that frankly led to that
tragedy, and they weren't all political decisions. A lot of them were made
by people in uniform and they were very poor decisions and not a lot of
people really were held responsible. But Gray came in no, you know,
in the aftermath of that, realizing that yes, Marine Corps had to be
seen to hold its own accountable. And then you know, the same year
he came in, we had I know, if you remember Clayton lone Tree,
he was he was the primary player in a scandal in Moscow. Barrett
in Moscow at embassy US Embassy Moscow in nineteen eighty seven, he and one
of his cohorts, I think two of his cohorts, definitely one another one
went to jail sold secrets they were called in a Russian honey trap, honeypot
trap, and continued to give secrets to the Russians for a period of time
before they were caught. And then finally, remember Oliver North facing criminal charges
for his involvement in the Iran Contra affair. And within the Marine Corps,
Oliver North was not regarded as being the hero that the US public was.
You know, there were people who had you know, I'll just say this.
Let me put it this way. I don't mean to defame Oliver North.
I just mean to say, yes, he was a very brave man,
he was a but and yes he was a hero in Vietnam. But
my point is that there were people within the Marine Corps who were concerned about
the way he was acting, concerned that he was violating integrity while wearing uniform.
I didn't say he did. I said they were concerned, and Gray
was one of them. So he felt like the Marine Corps had a black
eye, and indeed it did, and it. You know, part of
what he was doing and people didn't realize this perhaps at the time, was
setting the Marine Corps complete on a new course. Remember he's the one who
coined special operations capable for their news. He's like, Okay, we are
going to be a lighter, more agile force. We're going to be closer
to special operations. And indeed, look we're doing this again. Now we
went through this whole period of going being sucked into as we had to,
you know, the counterinsurgencies, the land wars. But now again we're looking
at getting kind of moving towards soft in how we operate. Ye. So,
and you mentioned books about him. There is one that had been recommended
to me. I still haven't read it. It's called Gratisms and Other Thoughts
on Leadership from General Al Gray USMC retired twenty ninth the Marine Corps. It's
by Paul ott Otte and yeah, yeah, Potomac Institute. Yeah, ye,
photoste yep. So that looks like a really interesting one. So if
anyone's interested, I definitely pick that up. I plan to. Yeah.
That's actually it's a great book. I mean I I've just flicked through it
because I'm too cheap to report it, but it's a it's got a lot
of his quotes, and he has some great quotes. Hey, you know,
everyone everyone has this image of him as being and he was like this
rough, ready marine, tough guy. And he was all of those,
yes, truly. But but what makes him, what gives him such a
legacy as his intellect, really, you know, a brilliant guy, and
and and also his I mean they his intellect, what he's done for the
Marine Corp, blah blah blah, but but also his compassion, you know,
and that's why he was popular. He really you know, we talk
about tough love, tough leadership, but he really exemplified that it wasn't a
false boone in his body. And you know, one of the things we
laughed about when he, uh, when he and I briefly spoke, was
again he went to Point Pleasant Beach High School and I went to Manasquan High
School. And we weren't big rivals, uh with sports. We did play
each other in certain sports, but Point Pleasant Borough, which was the town
connected in between his and mine, Uh, they were a big rival and
we used to it was a huge, nasty rival. And football especially,
and so one of the things he asked me is, uh, so what's
the secret? You know? So what what secrets was? He was like,
how did you guys cheat every year and beat you know Borough? And
I just looked at him like, shit is you weren't serious? But he's
still holding that crutch from eighty exactly. Yeah. So the other thing,
you know, the the other legacy that he has among junior marines is U
is a memory of or a habit of a physical assaulting marines. Right,
you know what I mean what would be called physically assaulting? Now? You
know he would when if you were standing and I know this from personal experience
because I was aying PFC and reached the dizzy heights of lance corporal as a
security guard in sink Lant Fleet Headquarters, Norfolk, Virginia, nineteen eighty eight
through blah blah. But in nineteen ninety anyway, so junior you know PSC
Melbourne are sending outside the opcohon to you know, control headquarters, and he'd
go in and out every time he would punch the marine in the stomach,
right, the guy standing guard at para first. And so it didn't matter
who he was with, you know, cno whatever, you're going to get
punched. Can you imagine that happening today? And then? And so yeah,
of course you know, and I promise you this is true. There
were guys who even put like the log books in under their Charlie shirts,
so he would kind up funding I mean, or and and somebody's he'd walked
by you and then just elbow you and the kidneys and it was hot,
you know, I mean, it really was. It's love. Yeah.
But but now can you imagine that someone would complain and enough it would be
on It would be on security camera, general assaults, you know, Corporal
Snutgross would be appearing on my ribs. Oh stand there at a press conference
with his family. Yeah. Oh man, heyde, we're pushing the time.
Then, is there anything you want to wrap up with? No?
Just uh that putin in his speech. Uh. He also like echoed saying
all the terrorists that were apprehended in route to Ukraine trying to cross the border.
He said that in his speech. Okay, and I don't think we
said it, but Ukraine hashemantly denied any kind of uh anything to do with
any of this. Whether or not it's true, I can't say but they
immediately he said, it has nothing to do with us. There's there would
be absolutely nothing nothing nothing again, Yeah, a lot to be a lot
to be lost, although you know, driving up to the building in a
van with Ukrainian flags might be, you know the best, a really good
method of doing this, you know, height and playing sign. Yeah.
Anyway, all right on that note, everyone, great, great, great
talking at you, and we look forward to your comments as usual. In
fact, we're going to start reading out some some of our questions and comments.
Yeah, d why do you close this out with any any any commercial
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dot com slash the table. Great, great comments from the descriptions people.
Great comments on the On the Friends episode from people in France. Yeah,
and I mean a great some some of the times reposted. Some of it
was, uh was abusive. Thank you for that. Someone said, uh,
you know, how come you don't know that? You know? The
nest fund is not called the National I'm sorry, i am not he missed
their last meeting. I'm not as steeped in French politics and there is a
reason for that. We try and sorry, I know you guys, You
guys don't have to state of the unuperpowers, you know. Anyway, all
right, hey see you in a few days. Guys, all the best.
Thanks everyone,