Speaker 1: It's night Side with Dan Ray.
Speaker 2: I'm going easy Boston News Radio.
Speaker 1: Well, my thanks again to US Attorney Lea Foley, uh
Speaker 1: if having spent that hour with us. And again, one
Speaker 1: of the things that I think is important about Nightside
Speaker 1: is to have folks in her position come in and
Speaker 1: explain the office. A lot of people really don't understand
Speaker 1: how important the Office of United States Attorney is. I
Speaker 1: think again it's the most important office prosecutions prosecuted, prosecutorial
Speaker 1: office in the come off, whether it's a state, local,
Speaker 1: or federal, and by virtue of the fact that it
Speaker 1: is federal, it is most important. We now want to
Speaker 1: open up a different conversation. We try to follow all
Speaker 1: of the developments, not only locally but nationally, and there's
Speaker 1: been some developments this afternoon dealing with the United States
Speaker 1: relationship with Ukraine. Now, I think all of us know
Speaker 1: that in the last few weeks, the US position visa
Speaker 1: the Ukraine has changed. The Trump administration has taken a
Speaker 1: very different posture. Donald Trump has called the president of
Speaker 1: Ukraine a dictator because he has not held elections. Well,
Speaker 1: his country is at war with Russia and also under
Speaker 1: attack from Russia. So it's very difficult to hold elections
Speaker 1: under those circumstances. We've never been in a position where
Speaker 1: while we're our homeland was under attack. We certainly held
Speaker 1: elections in nineteen forty four during World War Two, and
Speaker 1: we've held elections when other wars were ongoing, including the
Speaker 1: Vietnam War in nineteen sixty eight and then again in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two, and the wars in the Middle East
Speaker 1: after nine to eleven. But today there has been all reports,
Speaker 1: and I'm reading from the New York Times an agreement
Speaker 1: between the United States and the Trump administration, which is
Speaker 1: now the United States government. US and Ukraine agreed to
Speaker 1: minerals deal. Officials say. This is in the New York Times,
Speaker 1: declared tonight about seven seventeen PM. And let me try
Speaker 1: to give you some idea about what this deal reportedly
Speaker 1: is and what it might suggest is going to happen
Speaker 1: in the not too distant future. Apparently a final draft
Speaker 1: of this agreement still has to be worked out between
Speaker 1: the US and Ukraine. But what this agreement does. The
Speaker 1: draft agreement says that Ukraine, now, after all of this
Speaker 1: problem with the Trump administration, including the comments that the
Speaker 1: President has made about Zolensky, which shocked a lot of people.
Speaker 1: The draft agreement said Ukraine would contribute to a fund
Speaker 1: half of his revenues from the future monetization of natural resources,
Speaker 1: including critical minerals, oil and gas. The United States would
Speaker 1: own the maximum financial interest in the fund allowed under
Speaker 1: American law, which I think is fifty percent, though not
Speaker 1: necessarily all, and the fund would be designed to reinvest
Speaker 1: some revenues into Ukraine. The US would also commit to
Speaker 1: supporting Ukraine's future economic development. The discussions about mineral rights,
Speaker 1: which are very important, by the way, have occurred as
Speaker 1: Russia has seized the advantage on the battlefield. Mister Trump
Speaker 1: has also aligned himself with this Accordings in The New
Speaker 1: York Times with President Putin while excoriating mister Zelensky Trump,
Speaker 1: mister Trump has called Ukrainian the Ukrainian president a dictator
Speaker 1: and falseley said that Ukraine had started the war, though
Speaker 1: the conflict began with Russia's full scale invasion actually three
Speaker 1: years ago yesterday, February twenty fourth of twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: The President has prodded, according to The Times, miss Ski
Speaker 1: designed the deal, saying he better move fast. He's not
Speaker 1: going to have a country left. In response, mister Zelensky
Speaker 1: said that mister Trump was trapped in a Russian disinformation bubble.
Speaker 1: So what's interesting to me and what it might portend
Speaker 1: for the future, is that this deal has, I think,
Speaker 1: tied our economic success to an independent Ukraine. And that
Speaker 1: might be not only the payback that this administration, meaning
Speaker 1: the Trump administration, was looking for for the support that
Speaker 1: our country has given Ukraine for the last three years
Speaker 1: to these minerals. He must also, I assume, I assume
Speaker 1: that President Trump must have some sort of a of
Speaker 1: an agreement with Putin to have at least a cease fire,
Speaker 1: if not a more permanent cessation of hostilities. Now, I
Speaker 1: know that there are some of you who listen to
Speaker 1: this program who worship the ground that Donald Trump walks on.
Speaker 1: I know some of you see him as the worst
Speaker 1: thing since Hitler. But I'd like to see if I
Speaker 1: could get a wide cross section of my audience tonight
Speaker 1: to participate in this conversation. I think this is an
Speaker 1: amazing breakthrough. Now I may rue the day that I
Speaker 1: say that, but if this is true, and it appears
Speaker 1: the President has said that he expects or he would
Speaker 1: be more than happy to have Zelensky join him at
Speaker 1: the White House to finalize this agreement by Friday. I
Speaker 1: mean that's less than seventy two hours from now. This
Speaker 1: is moving at a very very fast speed, and I
Speaker 1: think that it's good news for a lot of people.
Speaker 1: It's good news for the Ukrainian population, which might for
Speaker 1: the first time in three years wake up in the
Speaker 1: morning without Russian drones attacking their cities and towns. It
Speaker 1: might be good news for the United States that we
Speaker 1: now have a financial and an economic relieflationship with Ukraine,
Speaker 1: which will force us to stand up for their continued
Speaker 1: right to exist independently of Russia. And it might give
Speaker 1: putin a way to basically end this war in which
Speaker 1: he can claim somehow that he has some territorial advantage.
Speaker 1: I don't know how it's all going to find out.
Speaker 1: This was a day or so ago. This is the
Speaker 1: French President Emmanuel McCrone in the Oval Office, sitting next
Speaker 1: to President Trump, making firm a statement, making a firm
Speaker 1: statement about who is the aggressor in the Russia Ukraine war.
Speaker 1: This is cut number nine. Please, Brett Tran's going.
Speaker 3: To lift the block on the three hundred billion in
Speaker 3: frozen Russian assets in Belgium.
Speaker 1: France has opposed on freezing it to pay Ukraine and
Speaker 1: compensate the US for its work.
Speaker 4: Is friends going to lift its opposition to that.
Speaker 5: This is from I mean we speak about frozen assets,
Speaker 5: we already use them to back precisely is the loans
Speaker 5: negotiated at the G seven and it's part of the sanctions.
Speaker 5: So it will depend on the follow up of the discussions.
Speaker 1: But clearly, with.
Speaker 5: Respect international law, it's just frozen assets. Now you can
Speaker 5: take the proceeds of the frozen assets, but you cannot
Speaker 5: take the assets themselves because it's not respecting international law
Speaker 5: and we want to respect in.
Speaker 4: Terms that is one different than the other. You can
Speaker 4: take the proceeds from it.
Speaker 5: How can you not because it's very different. You keep
Speaker 5: the assets, you take the proceeds because they are parave
Speaker 5: in a certain way, you think the proceeds during the wartime,
Speaker 5: But you keep the assets. And it's part of the
Speaker 5: negotiation at the end of the war, because I mean,
Speaker 5: this war costed offers a lot of money, and this
Speaker 5: is the responsibility of Russia because the aggressor is Russia
Speaker 5: should be so at the end of the day. This
Speaker 5: frozen asset should be part of the negotiation.
Speaker 1: It's interesting that that exchange with the reporter. It is
Speaker 1: very clear from that back and forth that there are
Speaker 1: now negotiations underway, and I assume the negotiations have to
Speaker 1: include both Russia and Ukraine to conclude the hostilities. Now,
Speaker 1: there was a meeting in Ukraine of world leaders early
Speaker 1: this week. Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, made
Speaker 1: it very clear that Russia was the aggressor. I don't
Speaker 1: think anyone disagrees with that. The President was asked. President
Speaker 1: Trump was asked that, and he sort of danced around
Speaker 1: the question yesterday. But this is Justin Trudeau, Canadian Prime minister,
Speaker 1: speaking at a summit of world leaders in Ukraine. This
Speaker 1: is cut number ten, Please, Brent.
Speaker 6: Regardless of the great distance separating our two countries, Canada
Speaker 6: knows this is a war that we cannot afford to ignore.
Speaker 6: I know the stakes. Canadians know the stakes. All of
Speaker 6: you around this table know the stakes, and most of
Speaker 6: all Ukrainians know the stakes. This is a war of
Speaker 6: aggression on Ukraine's people, culture, identity, and very existence. But
Speaker 6: it's also a war on our way of life. It's
Speaker 6: a war on democracy, on the rule of law, on
Speaker 6: self determination, a war on justice, a war on truth.
Speaker 1: I would agree with Justin Trudeau, I don't necessarily agree
Speaker 1: with him on a lot. So what I want to
Speaker 1: do is open up the conversation and has President Trump,
Speaker 1: in the matter of a few weeks five weeks, maneuvered
Speaker 1: Putin and Zelensky in some form of a delicate vallet,
Speaker 1: if you will, where somehow they're like fighters who have
Speaker 1: gone to fifteen rounds and they can throw more punches,
Speaker 1: but the punches are not going to have an impact. Uh.
Speaker 1: And and that it's and it is time to call
Speaker 1: this thing off. Uh And if Donald Trump can do that,
Speaker 1: should what credit should he receive? I think he should
Speaker 1: deserve a lot of credit. But he's still it's not
Speaker 1: yet a done deal. Six one seven, two ten thirty
Speaker 1: six one seven, nine three one ten thirty. Let's light
Speaker 1: the lines up. I want to talk some real significant
Speaker 1: politics here that involves Zelensky, Putin and Trump back on
Speaker 1: Night's side. After this, we're talking about what might be
Speaker 1: a breakthrough in the now three year war of aggression
Speaker 1: by Russia on Ukraine. UH in Ukraine with US help
Speaker 1: has has stood up for three years when this war
Speaker 1: first started. To remember many people, including myself, I thought,
Speaker 1: you know, if this is going to be over more
Speaker 1: like in three days or three weeks as opposed to
Speaker 1: three years, let's get to phones. Gonna go first, up too,
Speaker 1: Bernie up in New Hampshire. Hey, Bernie, welcome back. How
Speaker 1: are you, sir?
Speaker 7: I'm doing well, Daniel so doing great.
Speaker 1: So what's your thought on these developments out of Washington
Speaker 1: Lake today?
Speaker 7: Well, I read the article a little bit ago, and
Speaker 7: I at first I had a jaded point of view
Speaker 7: when I says, oh, here we go. You know, you
Speaker 7: always hear war's over business, not over morality. And then
Speaker 7: I heard what you said, and I took and I
Speaker 7: took it in. And this was Trump's way to tie
Speaker 7: it in that we have a vested interest in ending
Speaker 7: this war and being a partner with Ukraine. But he
Speaker 7: had also worked out a deal with Putin so that
Speaker 7: it all comes together. You know, Putin will get what
Speaker 7: he wants, we'll be a we'll be able to be
Speaker 7: a partner with Ukraine and see this through because they
Speaker 7: had to be some type of end to this war, because,
Speaker 7: like you said, I remember me and my wife watching
Speaker 7: this the like the news before, right before the invasion,
Speaker 7: and they're showing like citizens with with wooden guns just practicing.
Speaker 7: And my wife says, they're not going to use wooden
Speaker 7: like guns against the Russians ave and I said no,
Speaker 7: they just they were mobilizing the whole population. And and
Speaker 7: and it's been a horrible war and there's been a
Speaker 7: lot of a lot of death and destruction. And Trump's
Speaker 7: Biden did nothing, not not nothing that's the wrong with he.
Speaker 7: He gave them support, but there was no end to it.
Speaker 7: Now there seems to be some type of end to
Speaker 7: it that the US is gonna partner up with them
Speaker 7: in some way so that there's a way out for
Speaker 7: every Well.
Speaker 1: The other the other thing too is that Putin would
Speaker 1: never allow Ukraine to join NATO, and uh and Zelensky
Speaker 1: was essentially saying that one of the conditions for him
Speaker 1: to agree to end the war would be the security
Speaker 1: of a membership in NATO. So if this deal is true,
Speaker 1: this economic deal of US owning mineral and oil and
Speaker 1: gas rights in Ukraine, that should give some security to
Speaker 1: the Ukrainian people to know that we're not going to
Speaker 1: sit around a year from now, or five years from
Speaker 1: now or ten years from now, and watch Russia attempt
Speaker 1: to take over Ukraine again because they would now be
Speaker 1: going after minerals and oil and gas that the United
Speaker 1: States owns.
Speaker 7: Correct, And Trump's sent in a precarious position because He's
Speaker 7: just trying to find a way out. He's just trying
Speaker 7: to find a way out for everybody, and as we
Speaker 7: all well know, there's no easy way out in this conflict.
Speaker 1: Well, it will be interesting this is I mean, if
Speaker 1: President Zelensky shows at the White House as it appears
Speaker 1: he might on Friday to sign this deal. And obviously
Speaker 1: the deal could go south at any point. But this
Speaker 1: is this is quite a coupe for Donald Trump. And
Speaker 1: it's funny, you know, you talk about the quote unquote
Speaker 1: art of the deal. Uh, maybe this is the way
Speaker 1: in which everybody saves face. Putin saves face, Zelensky saves face,
Speaker 1: and and and Donald Trump gets nominated for the Pilpies Prize.
Speaker 1: I know it sounds crazy, but I could see that scenario.
Speaker 7: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, And thank you for taking my opinion.
Speaker 1: You bet you. You're always welcome here, Bertie, Thank you
Speaker 1: so much, appreciate it.
Speaker 7: You have a good night.
Speaker 1: Let me go next to Bill is in Danvers. Bill,
Speaker 1: you were next to Night Sag.
Speaker 8: Go right ahead, yes, then, I I mean I.
Speaker 4: Say they're about halfway there. It's definitely positive, you know.
Speaker 4: And I don't think they'll give Trump the Nobel Peace Prize,
Speaker 4: no matter. He could end all the wars and the
Speaker 4: and the whole planet and they wouldn't give it to him.
Speaker 1: But uh, by the way, you might be right on that. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Donald Trump is not seen by European leaders as as
Speaker 1: part of their community. Uh and uh, and they are
Speaker 1: the people who in large part decide the Peace Prize.
Speaker 4: But go right ahead, Yeah, and uh, you know, I'm
Speaker 4: I'm I'm I'm so far you know, happy, I'm reserved.
Speaker 4: You know, I like to and and the main thing is,
Speaker 4: Dan you look back and I think on previous calls
Speaker 4: over the last year, I called that when tensions were
Speaker 4: real high and the and the doomsday clock was moving close.
Speaker 4: I mean, there was really a feeling that, you know,
Speaker 4: if something went the wrong way, it could really escalate
Speaker 4: the wrong way and be a big problem. And you know,
Speaker 4: I get the feeling that, you know, maybe that's being
Speaker 4: pushed back now you know what I mean that ten.
Speaker 1: Well, I think also I think in fairness, you've got
Speaker 1: to give a little credit to the Biden administration. I'm
Speaker 1: not a fan of the Biden administration, as you know. However,
Speaker 1: they gave the Ukrainians enough weaponry that held the Russians
Speaker 1: at bay without bringing us into a confrontation with the Russians.
Speaker 1: So that was a bit of a type wrote that
Speaker 1: the Biden administration had to walk, and it really does
Speaker 1: set the stage maybe putin fields somehow that he can
Speaker 1: that he can trust Trump. I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know what goes through his mind, but his
Speaker 1: his country is tired of this war. They've lost. I
Speaker 1: guess they're talking about a million soldiers. I mean, some
Speaker 1: crazy number they have North Korean troops who have gone
Speaker 1: in there to basically be Russian Hessians if you will,
Speaker 1: like you know, soldiers of fortune from North Korea. They
Speaker 1: don't make any fortune. But I'm sure that the head
Speaker 1: of North Korea got some payoff for for that.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1: It had It had the potential to get out of control,
Speaker 1: and the Biden administration kept it under control. That's one
Speaker 1: of the things that you know that that that they did.
Speaker 1: If can you imagine if we had a plane that
Speaker 1: got shot down by Russia or something like that, it
Speaker 1: could get it could have got pretty hot pretty quickly.
Speaker 7: Oh I know.
Speaker 4: And I was very I was, you know, I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, watch it and with a while, you're here crazy.
Speaker 4: A missile went off. It was by the Polish border.
Speaker 4: I'm like, oh, this is the stot. You know, something's going.
Speaker 1: To happen, you know, Yeah, yeah, there was. There was
Speaker 1: a couple of those that there. You know, there were
Speaker 1: some anti aircraft missiles that went awry, and I think
Speaker 1: one of them landed in Poland. So the question was
Speaker 1: as a Russian anti aircraft missiles struck territory. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that everyone kept their heads about them. I hope this
Speaker 1: is the end of it. I maybe there are some
Speaker 1: people out there who are going to be disappointed. I
Speaker 1: have never on this program heard a lot of people
Speaker 1: who wanted this water go on, because in reality, the
Speaker 1: people who were paying the price were you know, Russian
Speaker 1: soldiers and Ukrainian civilians.
Speaker 4: And in the country Ukram. You look at some of
Speaker 4: the buildings, the structures that they had and stuff. There
Speaker 4: were beautiful places there in the cities and they seem
Speaker 4: turned in the rubble was terrible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he doesn't look as bad as Gaza, but it's
Speaker 1: pretty close.
Speaker 4: No, no, yeah, it's pretty quel. Gaza is that's basically
Speaker 4: level and you know, just clean up and start over that.
Speaker 1: I agree. Hey, Bill, appreciate you call much. Thank you
Speaker 1: an thank you very much. Taught to you soon. Okay,
Speaker 1: we've got the ten thirty news coming up. Now it
Speaker 1: is time for you to join the conversation. Six point
Speaker 1: seven two four ten thirty or we got two lines
Speaker 1: at six one seven nine thirty. Is this are we
Speaker 1: now in the final hours of the Ukraine Russian War.
Speaker 1: I'm beginning to think we might be. I don't want
Speaker 1: to be overly optimistic. Uh, if you think I'm wrong,
Speaker 1: let me know. I just look at this, as you know.
Speaker 1: A week ago, Donald Trump was calling Zolensky a dictator
Speaker 1: who refused to have elections. Certainly understandable under the circumstances.
Speaker 1: But Donald Trump used that terminology, and it appears now
Speaker 1: he may. President Trump may welcome President Zelensky to the
Speaker 1: White House as early as Friday to sign an agreement
Speaker 1: between Ukraine and the US in which the US would
Speaker 1: take ownership of minerals, certain minerals and percentage of minerals,
Speaker 1: oil and gas in Ukraine. Things are moving quickly. Feel
Speaker 1: free to join the conversation back after the news at
Speaker 1: the bottom of the hour. We're talking about it's possible
Speaker 1: that we are seeing the first steps in the end
Speaker 1: of the Russian Ukraine War. I'm assurprised as you, Bob
Speaker 1: and Rain and Bob you were next door nightside. Welcome
Speaker 1: Hey Dan, Hey Bob, welcome back.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Thanks, Hey.
Speaker 9: I guess I have to say that did President Biden
Speaker 9: ever send a team to either location to try to
Speaker 9: negotiate any kind of peace in his whole term? And
Speaker 9: that that you can remember, because I don't.
Speaker 1: No, there wasn't remember Joe Biden actually took a trip
Speaker 1: to Ukraine. Remember he took a train I think from
Speaker 1: Poland into you crane and spent a half a day there.
Speaker 1: Uh so he was there, Zolensky had visited the White House.
Speaker 1: I don't know what conversations they had, Uh there was.
Speaker 1: There were no conversations to the best of my knowledge,
Speaker 1: between Putin and President Biden.
Speaker 9: So no, but I mean put a put a team
Speaker 9: together to try to negotiate a peace with.
Speaker 1: These I have no idea, because I don't know if
Speaker 1: at some point Jake Sullivan or the other members of UH,
Speaker 1: the you know, the Biden foreign policy team UH met
Speaker 1: with Zelensky and said, hey, look, you're going up against UH,
Speaker 1: a country that's ten times your size, and UH has
Speaker 1: a population that is significantly, you know, bigger than yours.
Speaker 1: UH and UH, and you can't win. What what can
Speaker 1: we do? I don't know. I don't know, but it
Speaker 1: looks as if Trump has tried to play both Putin,
Speaker 1: tried to work both with Putin and and Zelensky to
Speaker 1: some extent, I don't know. I mean, it could be
Speaker 1: that that Trump realizes that Putin is in a position
Speaker 1: where he can't win this war, and the best he
Speaker 1: can do is UH, you know, come across as someone
Speaker 1: who's willing to end the war. I just think that
Speaker 1: my sense is, and that's my only sentence. People can
Speaker 1: disagree with me. The fact that that Zelensky has, apparently,
Speaker 1: according to the New York Times, is going to sign
Speaker 1: this agreement with President Trump now a week after Trump
Speaker 1: called him a dictator. He must have some some pressure
Speaker 1: points or some leverage points on Zelensky.
Speaker 9: Well, well, I think that's another point is that both
Speaker 9: Zolensky and Putin respect President Trump as a leader as
Speaker 9: opposed to Biden. Biden, you know, Biden. I don't believe
Speaker 9: Putin had any respect for Biden. And I think Zolensky
Speaker 9: just saw Biden as a cash cow and uh, he
Speaker 9: just you know, Zolensky just wanted to keep the cash flowing.
Speaker 9: And again, Biden had.
Speaker 1: No I think that's a I think that's a little harsh.
Speaker 1: I mean, his country was under attack from Russia for
Speaker 1: three years. Uh heck of a way to make a buck.
Speaker 9: You know, well, you well you want, well, you watch
Speaker 9: what happens, because Zolensky will ride off into the sunset,
Speaker 9: just as Biden has with all the cash, and we'll
Speaker 9: never hear from him again at some point, and Putin
Speaker 9: will remain in power. And and in fact, Biden actually
Speaker 9: instigated He's as much responsible as Putin or Zolensky for
Speaker 9: the war that happened there, for trying to tell uh
Speaker 9: Zolensky that he was going to be a pot of
Speaker 9: NATO and stuff on that in Putin's face, which he
Speaker 9: never was going to allow to happen.
Speaker 1: So that's I disagree with your analysis. But again I
Speaker 1: gave you, I give you, you know, credit for you know,
Speaker 1: making an effort. You know. I don't know what histories
Speaker 1: go to show here, but I do think that the
Speaker 1: one thing I would fall Biden on was I think
Speaker 1: he was asleep at the switch when all of us
Speaker 1: saw those Russian troops massing on the eastern border of
Speaker 1: Ukraine in December, well January of twenty twenty two, in
Speaker 1: advance of the invasion in February. I think that at
Speaker 1: that point the President Biden kind of missed an opportunity
Speaker 1: and said to should have said to Putin, look, you're
Speaker 1: making a huge mistake, and if you make this mistake,
Speaker 1: you're going to have to deal with us directly.
Speaker 9: But Putin had no respect for Biden's Maybe Biden is
Speaker 9: as much responsible for the deaths in Ukraine in Russia
Speaker 9: as pultn Lensky is.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to prevent you from expressing your opinion.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to tell you I disagree with it,
Speaker 1: fair enough, sure, okay, take doctor soon. Let me go
Speaker 1: next to Gary and Wouber and Gary, you were next
Speaker 1: on Nightside. Your thoughts on what may be a big
Speaker 1: breakthrough here. That's that's what I am thinking. Left to
Speaker 1: know what you think?
Speaker 8: Well, shake, rattle and roll, as Jerry Lee Lewis would say, Uh, Trump, Uh,
Speaker 8: he is getting things moving on. One thing about you,
Speaker 8: Dan Ray, there's something that you have said the last
Speaker 8: couple of years, and I've heard intent like that. You said.
Speaker 8: It was a famous quote for you. It was about
Speaker 8: nuclear war. Do you know what that expression was?
Speaker 1: No, I'm dying to here what I said.
Speaker 8: You said, we had it's a nuclear war. So now
Speaker 8: I asked you, Yeah, I asked you, Dan Ray, combination
Speaker 8: of christ What do you think of Trump now being
Speaker 8: negotiator where everybody us in the world is just saying, wow,
Speaker 8: we can go a little bit at ease right now
Speaker 8: because we've got the two superpowers getting along.
Speaker 1: Well, I don't think that there's anything wrong with the
Speaker 1: two superpowers getting along. When I was talking about stumbling
Speaker 1: into nuclear war, that was a moment in time where
Speaker 1: we had US troops in Poland armed and ready just
Speaker 1: in case, and not knowing how rational Putin might be
Speaker 1: on any given day. You know, there was some if
Speaker 1: you might remember during the last three years, there was
Speaker 1: a period of time where our intelligence services suspected that
Speaker 1: Putin was terminally ill. Do you remember that a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago.
Speaker 8: Yes, And my.
Speaker 1: Concern at that time, and I remembered pretty clearly, was
Speaker 1: that desperate people, desperate men, do desperate things. And when
Speaker 1: he moved some of his nukes down to Belarus, which
Speaker 1: is his most loyal stepchild, that bothered me too. And
Speaker 1: you know, I just think that sometimes people who are crazy,
Speaker 1: when all of a sudden the doctor tells him you
Speaker 1: don't have too much time left, they you know, political
Speaker 1: leaders might do something crazy. That's what I was concerned about.
Speaker 1: But guess what we could have stumbled in the nuclear war.
Speaker 1: It looks as if things are going in the last
Speaker 1: twenty four to forty eight hours remarkably in the right direction.
Speaker 1: I would not have expected this a week ago, when
Speaker 1: President Trump was calling Zelensky a dictator. I don't think
Speaker 1: that's fair of what he said, But I guess what.
Speaker 1: It must have caught Zelinski's attention, because Lyinski now says
Speaker 1: he's ready to go to Washington and sign this deal.
Speaker 8: I have two more things for you, and I want
Speaker 8: your comments. One is the real reason Russia? When is
Speaker 8: the Ukraine is about these minerals, because I had no
Speaker 8: idea about this.
Speaker 1: I had heard that there were minerals there. I don't
Speaker 1: know how rare the minerals are. I don't know exactly
Speaker 1: what the minerals are, and I don't know if in
Speaker 1: that part of the world Russia owns an immense amount
Speaker 1: of territory, if they have, if Ukraine has an inordinate
Speaker 1: amount of the minerals that we're talking about, I don't
Speaker 1: know the answer to that. I think that Russia wanted
Speaker 1: to go into the eastern part of the country because
Speaker 1: that was predominantly a Russian based area. People there almost
Speaker 1: felt more Russian than they did Ukrainian. Although the world
Speaker 1: Map said that they lived in Ukraine. It's apparently everybody
Speaker 1: in that part of the so called Dombas region their
Speaker 1: primary language is Russian, not Ukraine. I assume those languages
Speaker 1: have some similarities. But I think that I think this
Speaker 1: is looking to looking to be putin get whatever territory
Speaker 1: he can. He's probably gonna get some territory here. He's
Speaker 1: probably gonna walk away and his prize he will have
Speaker 1: excised again. He took Crimea in twenty fourteen without a
Speaker 1: fight and he's going to take this. He will probably
Speaker 1: get part of the territory that he invaded, although he
Speaker 1: had to lose a lot of soldiers as a result.
Speaker 1: And also Ukraine still occupies part of Russia, believe it
Speaker 1: or not, Little Leary called the Kursk Region, which is
Speaker 1: only I think about one hundred and fifty square miles.
Speaker 1: But right Nowine there are Ukrainian troops inside Russia.
Speaker 8: Right, one last comma and I'll take it off the
Speaker 8: air and I'll go back to my chocolate sip ice cream.
Speaker 1: Good for you?
Speaker 8: Yes?
Speaker 2: Is this?
Speaker 7: You know me?
Speaker 8: I always tell you the same thing. I hate political talk.
Speaker 8: You're doing political talk right now, but it's with issues
Speaker 8: and which makes it interesting and so forth.
Speaker 1: I'll take that as a compliment. Yes, thank you.
Speaker 8: I let me tell you well, because when you have
Speaker 8: ed Flynn on, I mean, he's he's great this stat
Speaker 8: You guys are talking about issues different people.
Speaker 1: You know. You know what I found out in my audience, Gary,
Speaker 1: I found out that there's that different issues interests different people.
Speaker 1: And I try to h I really do try to
Speaker 1: appeal to as broad an audience as possible. That's kind
Speaker 1: of what my view is to be honest with you.
Speaker 1: It's like a baseball team. If you had the greatest
Speaker 1: pitching staff in the world, you've got twenty great pitchers,
Speaker 1: but you don't have any hitters. You're not going to
Speaker 1: win many games. So I'm just trying to try to
Speaker 1: do the best the best job I can after all
Speaker 1: these years. So give me a break.
Speaker 8: Okay, since you said that and so forth, and I
Speaker 8: made my point. I have one last thing, and I'm
Speaker 8: going to go back to the old Dean Mountain comedy
Speaker 8: how when he was at the Dom Deloise when he
Speaker 8: was a pet shop owner, and Dean Mountain went in
Speaker 8: with a tuxedo. And I'll end on this note as
Speaker 8: they go back to thank you. Do animals have happy marriages?
Speaker 7: Thank you?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a that's our thoughts of the day. Some
Speaker 1: people will wake up tomorrow morning or at five o'clock
Speaker 1: in the morning and you've implanted that in their mind.
Speaker 1: Quick quick break six one, seven, two, four, ten thirty.
Speaker 1: I got one line open at six one, seven, nine three,
Speaker 1: one ten thirty. I think this is an important development.
Speaker 1: I'd like to talk about this into the next hour.
Speaker 1: Let's go next to John, who is in Boston. John,
Speaker 1: your thoughts on what's going on and what might be
Speaker 1: going on now between Trump and Zilinski.
Speaker 2: John Well, I'm wondering if you could have somebody come on,
Speaker 2: like a professor and outsider who knows the situation, because
Speaker 2: what this really is. The media has told us this
Speaker 2: is a war between Russia and Ukraine. Not really. I
Speaker 2: don't believe that it's really a war between the United
Speaker 2: States and Russia because from what I understand I was reading,
Speaker 2: Ukrainian soldiers were brought into the United States, they were
Speaker 2: trained hard to fly and fight, fight a jetsy, how
Speaker 2: to use fighter jets. Then they were sent back with
Speaker 2: those fighter jets into Ukraine to use them, and so
Speaker 2: and hundreds of billions of dollars have been given to Ukraine. Biden,
Speaker 2: the President, and the administration should have told the American
Speaker 2: taxpayer in public, why it's not about freedom. It has
Speaker 2: to be about money. It has to be about rarer minerals,
Speaker 2: it has to be about control. It's not about the
Speaker 2: freedom of those people. It's just like Biden did say
Speaker 2: he would send you or sold as to Taiwan. Hey,
Speaker 2: we don't want them, we don't want trying to get
Speaker 2: control of the computer chips and the chip industry over there.
Speaker 2: So I wish you would have somebody come on one
Speaker 2: of these days and really tell the American people why
Speaker 2: why you know, America has given hundreds of billions of dollars,
Speaker 2: which is really Biden really threw wood into the fire
Speaker 2: by keeping this golling for three years because without the help,
Speaker 2: Ukraine would have been crushed almost immediately. So if you
Speaker 2: could do that, I would really appreciate that, and I
Speaker 2: think the audience would appreciate hearing from a professor or
Speaker 2: somebody like that who could explain why.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and again, you know I have a pretty audience. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm always willing, we you know, to take suggestions from people.
Speaker 1: And sometimes there are great professors at Tufts or Harvard
Speaker 1: or Boston College who would have a perspective of this. Sometimes,
Speaker 1: as you know, there are different perspectives that different professors have.
Speaker 1: It's like almost you can have the sports experts. So
Speaker 1: football experts tell you who's going to be the next
Speaker 1: Super Bowl champion, and more often than not they're wrong
Speaker 1: because there's thirty two teams competing for the one spot.
Speaker 1: But yeah, anybody out there who might have a suggestion,
Speaker 1: who has some specific.
Speaker 2: I don't believe it's about the freedom. We'll get a
Speaker 2: free those most poor people poor. Russia's taken over. It's
Speaker 2: all about money and power and control. And you know,
Speaker 2: you don't see Switzerland getting involved, you know, in the
Speaker 2: countries and your you.
Speaker 1: Know, in the native The only thing that Switzerland gets
Speaker 1: the banking Switzerland.
Speaker 2: But I mean, you don't see the European country. America
Speaker 2: is the ring leader and all this and getting you know,
Speaker 2: giving them hundreds of billions of dollars. And you know, Biden,
Speaker 2: the President, should have been telling telling the American people why, well,
Speaker 2: I don't understand really why. I hope you can get
Speaker 2: something like that.
Speaker 1: You put me in the position to defend the Biden administration,
Speaker 1: and I'll be happy to do that on this point.
Speaker 1: If if by fighting Russia to a standstill, we have
Speaker 1: taught Russia a lesson that they this sphere of influence
Speaker 1: will never in our lifetimes extend beyond the borders that
Speaker 1: it currently has. I mean, if you know, putin on
Speaker 1: we said the dissolution of the Soviet Union was the
Speaker 1: greatest christ greatest tragedy of the twentieth century. I don't
Speaker 1: see it that way. And that way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, America really pushed Putin into a corner because when
Speaker 2: the fall of the Soviet Ewan came, you know, the
Speaker 2: promise was, We're not going to go east any further
Speaker 2: than Germany. And then they kept pushing east and east
Speaker 2: and further and frost. How we you.
Speaker 1: Know, hold on, hold on, how have we pushed east?
Speaker 1: I mean we those countries now wait a.
Speaker 2: Second, in this country. That wasn't the original plan. Those
Speaker 2: these countries have become NATO members. It was only Germany
Speaker 2: at that time.
Speaker 1: Those countries are all democratic countries. Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Latfia, Estonia, Finland.
Speaker 1: All of those countries that are that border Russia in
Speaker 1: any way, shape or form are democratic countries. And they
Speaker 1: have elected you know, democratic not democratic and the Democratic Party,
Speaker 1: but they've elected people who have run for that office.
Speaker 1: And if they asked NATO to become a member of
Speaker 1: the North Atlantic Treaty Organization because they were fearful that
Speaker 1: Russia ten years, twenty years from now, I might decide
Speaker 1: to invade them. What's what's wrong with that? I mean
Speaker 1: from our perspective.
Speaker 2: Well, well, well, the original promise, starting with Bush, the
Speaker 2: old Man was that we're not going east. And then
Speaker 2: finally in the corner, when did a NATO country right
Speaker 2: next to his borner? What US troops there?
Speaker 1: Point? It's not a NATO country at this point.
Speaker 2: Oh, I know it. But that that's what you know.
Speaker 2: That's what you know. The units has been pushing forward.
Speaker 2: They'd love to have.
Speaker 1: Hear you. I hear your point. I disagree with that.
Speaker 2: I don't agree with what the United Stys has done.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't agree with its policy at all,
Speaker 2: and some should explain to the America hundreds of billions
Speaker 2: of dollars.
Speaker 1: Guess what. I'm glad that you called and express that
Speaker 1: point of view. But I also got out the callers
Speaker 1: who I got to grab here. Okay, I told you.
Speaker 2: Get somebody on that will give us an explanation of
Speaker 2: why hundreds of billions of dollars that.
Speaker 1: I will make that John, John, thank you. Listen to
Speaker 1: me just for one second. I will make that effort.
Speaker 1: But as someone who has a staff of like one person, Marita, Okay,
Speaker 1: anyone out there who would like to suggest someone who
Speaker 1: could fulfill what you've suggested, They're welcome to contact me
Speaker 1: and and we will reach out to that person.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, let's not forget the wall between United States.
Speaker 1: You make the speech, you make speech. I don't need you.
Speaker 1: I'm just I was trying to assure you that we'll
Speaker 1: make every effort to do what you what you requested. Okay,
Speaker 1: thanks buddy, talk to you later. Bye. Bye. Let me
Speaker 1: get Terry in Boston. Terry, you're next on nights. I
Speaker 1: go right ahead.
Speaker 3: Hide. Can you hear me?
Speaker 1: Okay, I can hear you perfectly, Go right ahead, Terry.
Speaker 3: Great. I went to I guess you'd call it a
Speaker 3: lecture tonight. It was a speaker Faeries, yes, and it
Speaker 3: was Admiral James to Ritas, and he's always I guess
Speaker 3: pretty much almost in charge your NATO. But he was excellent.
Speaker 3: He just first he said, what's so hot about saying
Speaker 3: Russia invaded Ukraine? And then he went on to say,
Speaker 3: it's very similar to what you said that you know,
Speaker 3: Donald Trump has come in and the United States will
Speaker 3: get minerals and some of mice, different things, but also
Speaker 3: that most likely Russia will get twenty percent of Ukraine,
Speaker 3: the area that they actually destroyed, and they'll be able
Speaker 3: to build it up again.
Speaker 1: So it's you know where was that lecturetarian I'm curious.
Speaker 3: Symphony Hall. It's called the lecture series. That's the speaker
Speaker 3: Boston Speaker Series.
Speaker 1: Okay, great? And is he is he active duty or retired?
Speaker 3: He just retired, but he was active to like something
Speaker 3: like it says he was the sixteenth NATO Supreme Allied
Speaker 3: Commanda and he was in. Yeah, so it was he
Speaker 3: gave it far.
Speaker 1: Do me a favor when we finished the call, which
Speaker 1: I got to finish fairly quickly, do me the favor
Speaker 1: of taking my email. Brett will give you my email. Uh,
Speaker 1: send me the name and I'll see if we can
Speaker 1: track him down.
Speaker 3: Okay, Yeah, he's really he was excellent and I think
Speaker 3: he came to everyone's level that you can understand. But
Speaker 3: he really gave a lot.
Speaker 2: Of good points.
Speaker 8: So I'll do that. You think