Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Trump & Putin in Alaska: What it Means & What's Next plus Standing up to the CCP in Africa

Transcript

Trump & Putin in Alaska: What it Means & What's Next plus Standing up to the CCP in Africa · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:02
Speaker 1: Welcome in his verdict with Center. Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson
0:05
Speaker 1: with you in today's show. We've got a lot of
0:07
Speaker 1: big news. It all revolves around Russia, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump,
0:12
Speaker 1: and the big meeting in Alaska Centater. What's even more
0:15
Speaker 1: amazing about this story is how Democrats are obsessed with
0:19
Speaker 1: hating Trump almost as much as they hate Vladimir Putin
0:21
Speaker 1: and hoping that this conversation is a failure. Even Hillary
0:26
Speaker 1: Clinton saying well, if you can get a deal done,
0:28
Speaker 1: I'll nominate him for Noel Peace Prize, but saying it
0:31
Speaker 1: away that was pretty clear she thinks this is never
0:33
Speaker 1: gonna happen.
0:34
Speaker 2: Well, this was a major meeting that happened in Alaska.
0:39
Speaker 2: It was a one on one meeting between President Trump
0:41
Speaker 2: and Vladimir Putin. The proof will be in the pudding.
0:45
Speaker 2: We will see what results. But my hope and my
0:49
Speaker 2: belief is this is going to result in a peace
0:52
Speaker 2: agreement in ending the war in Ukraine, and then that's
0:55
Speaker 2: an outcome that needs to happen. Well, we're going to
0:57
Speaker 2: do on this podcast is we're going to break down
0:59
Speaker 2: what exactly happened in Alaska. What we know what President
1:02
Speaker 2: Trump said, what Vladimir Putin said, and what's likely to
1:05
Speaker 2: happen next. What are the consequences for ending.
1:08
Speaker 3: The war in Ukraine. We're going to give you all
1:10
Speaker 3: the details on today's pod.
1:12
Speaker 2: We're also going to talk about a story that you
1:14
Speaker 2: may not have seen, but it is consequential, which is
1:17
Speaker 2: that I've been calling for the recognition of a new
1:20
Speaker 2: nation in Africa, Somaliland, and I'm the chairman of the
1:26
Speaker 2: Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa, and the Chinese Communist
1:31
Speaker 2: Party is very very unhappy with me for doing so,
1:34
Speaker 2: and so they have been blasting me this week for
1:37
Speaker 2: daring to stand up to China and Africa.
1:39
Speaker 3: Well, here's a spoiler alert. I'm going to keep standing
1:42
Speaker 3: up to them.
1:42
Speaker 2: But we're gonna explain that issue to you because it's
1:44
Speaker 2: important and it's another arena in which we are contesting
1:48
Speaker 2: Communist China.
1:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, it really is an important story that no one's
1:52
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Speaker 3: All right, So.
3:44
Speaker 4: Let's start at the beginning of this meeting.
3:46
Speaker 1: The first thing that made people lose their minds was
3:48
Speaker 1: the fact that Donald Trump shook hands with Vladimir Putin
3:51
Speaker 1: and they smiled at one another. And that was when,
3:54
Speaker 1: like the entire media just erupted with I can't even
3:56
Speaker 1: believe that they're touching each other and shaking hands. It
3:59
Speaker 1: is true, incredible to watch the meltdown.
4:02
Speaker 2: You know, it is astonishing how the corporate media and
4:04
Speaker 2: the Democrats are rooting for America to fail.
4:07
Speaker 3: They want the president to fail.
4:09
Speaker 2: They hate President Trump so much that actually seeing him
4:14
Speaker 2: succeed in ending this war would be intolerable to the
4:20
Speaker 2: left that hates him so much. And listen, I don't
4:23
Speaker 2: know if he will succeed. This is not easy. This
4:25
Speaker 2: was courageous to go and do this meeting. There is
4:28
Speaker 2: a risk of failure. But if we know anything about
4:31
Speaker 2: President Trump is that he is afraid of very little
4:35
Speaker 2: unplanet Earth, and and he's not afraid of Vladimir Putin.
4:40
Speaker 2: And so he went, He invited him to come to Alaska.
4:43
Speaker 2: He went and met one on one. He looked him
4:45
Speaker 2: in the eyes, and he made very clear of this
4:48
Speaker 2: war needs to come to an end. I want you
4:50
Speaker 2: to give a listen to what President Trump said about
4:53
Speaker 2: his meeting with Putin.
4:55
Speaker 5: We were together almost three hours and it was very
4:58
Speaker 5: extensive and we agreed her a lot of points. I
5:00
Speaker 5: mean a lot of points we're agreeing on, but there's
5:03
Speaker 5: not that much is you know, one or two pretty
5:05
Speaker 5: significant items, but I think they can be reached. Now
5:09
Speaker 5: it's really up to Presidents Olynsky to get it done.
5:12
Speaker 5: And I would also say the European nations they have
5:16
Speaker 5: to get involved a little bit, but it's up to
5:18
Speaker 5: Presidents Olynsky. I think we are and if they'd like,
5:21
Speaker 5: I'll be at that next meeting. They're going to set
5:23
Speaker 5: up a meeting now between Presidents Olynsky and President Putin
5:27
Speaker 5: and myself. I guess you know, I didn't even I
5:29
Speaker 5: didn't ask about it. Not that I want to be there,
5:31
Speaker 5: but I want to make sure it gets done, and
5:33
Speaker 5: we have a pretty good chance of getting it done.
5:36
Speaker 1: If he described as a pretty good chance of getting
5:39
Speaker 1: it done. Part of this is the economics, and that's
5:43
Speaker 1: something centered that a lot of people have not been
5:45
Speaker 1: talking about. This war is costing Russia a lot of money,
5:49
Speaker 1: and they are a country that is very poor at
5:53
Speaker 1: this point, they're teetering somewhat safe economically, and so there
5:57
Speaker 1: is a real chance that Vladimir who needs to get
6:01
Speaker 1: out of this from a financial standpoint. That's part of
6:04
Speaker 1: what I think the President clearly was talking to him
6:06
Speaker 1: about as well.
6:08
Speaker 2: I think that's right, and I believe the Ukraine War
6:11
Speaker 2: will end, and it will end this year. That was
6:14
Speaker 2: clearly something President Trump campaigned on. He was explicit to
6:18
Speaker 2: the American people that he intended to end this war.
6:22
Speaker 2: And listen, President Zelensky has been reluctant to reach a
6:26
Speaker 2: piece deal because he wants to recover every square inch
6:31
Speaker 2: of Ukraine.
6:31
Speaker 3: Now now I understand why he does.
6:34
Speaker 2: You and I, if we were president of Ukraine, we
6:36
Speaker 2: probably want the same thing. But President Trump has been
6:40
Speaker 2: cleared the United States is out of the business of
6:43
Speaker 2: funding the war. That we have sent billions and billions
6:47
Speaker 2: of dollars to Ukraine and the cash spigot has stopped,
6:52
Speaker 2: and I think that is a powerful incentive to President
6:56
Speaker 2: Zelensky to reach an agreement. You were right that the
6:58
Speaker 2: war has been incredibly costly on Russia. They have poured
7:02
Speaker 2: in enormous money and material and manpower and soldiers who've
7:08
Speaker 2: been lost.
7:09
Speaker 3: And what I've.
7:12
Speaker 2: Verged, the president is number one in the war, but
7:15
Speaker 2: number two end it in a way that is a
7:17
Speaker 2: clear and discernible loss for Putin. Putin is not our friend.
7:21
Speaker 2: Putin is our enemy. And we do not want our
7:25
Speaker 2: enemy getting stronger. We want our enemies getting weaker. And
7:29
Speaker 2: so my hope is the resolution, there's going to be
7:32
Speaker 2: some kind of negotiated settlement.
7:33
Speaker 3: I think it will be reached later this year.
7:37
Speaker 2: The follow up on Monday today, President Zelenski is scheduled
7:42
Speaker 2: to be in Washington and meet with President Trump.
7:45
Speaker 3: That that'll be the next step.
7:46
Speaker 2: And then the objective is to get Zelenski and Putin
7:49
Speaker 2: together with President Trump and see if we can make
7:53
Speaker 2: real progress to a resolution. That is not going to
7:56
Speaker 2: be easy because Zelenski has no wanted to give anything up,
8:01
Speaker 2: and Putin generally doesn't want to give anything up either,
8:05
Speaker 2: And so you've got two people that are pretty dug
8:08
Speaker 2: in in their positions. But I think President Trump is
8:12
Speaker 2: trying to move heaven and earth to stop the war,
8:16
Speaker 2: to stop the shooting and stop the bloodshed.
8:19
Speaker 1: You talk about the next steps, and let's just go
8:21
Speaker 1: to that meeting with Zelensky.
8:23
Speaker 4: I think it's pretty clear.
8:24
Speaker 1: And a lot of people criticize in the media also
8:26
Speaker 1: Democrats that Zelensky quote wasn't invited to this meeting, and
8:30
Speaker 1: they wanted to hit the president on that. Look, Donald
8:33
Speaker 1: Trump clearly need to get in the room with Vladimir Putin,
8:36
Speaker 1: talk to Putin and probably be able to say some
8:38
Speaker 1: things of Vladimir Putin without Zelensky in the room. Yeah,
8:42
Speaker 1: there was no indication by the way that Vladimir Putin
8:44
Speaker 1: wanted to meet with Zolensky, And if you look historically
8:47
Speaker 1: at these deals, usually the person the country that brokers
8:51
Speaker 1: the deal has a meeting with one side, first, has
8:54
Speaker 1: a meeting with the other side, then they have that
8:57
Speaker 1: follow up meeting that the President talked about that has
8:59
Speaker 1: been standing entered practice for decades and decades and decades,
9:03
Speaker 1: maybe even centuries around the world. And yet people wanted
9:07
Speaker 1: to criticize the President for using this strategy, which has
9:10
Speaker 1: been proven to work. Well, I think the President was
9:14
Speaker 1: smart here. You go to this meeting with Zolensky, I'm
9:17
Speaker 1: assuming he's going to treat it very much the same
9:19
Speaker 1: way he treated this meeting with Vladimir Putin, except there
9:22
Speaker 1: is a difference. One's going to be at the White
9:24
Speaker 1: House and one's in Alaska. So I think that also
9:27
Speaker 1: plays out well in the President's favor, with Zelenski saying, hey,
9:30
Speaker 1: I'm showing your respect. I want to get this deal done.
9:33
Speaker 1: You need to stop the killing for your people that's
9:36
Speaker 1: coming in. I think with a smart idea and strategy,
9:38
Speaker 1: your reaction.
9:39
Speaker 2: Well, look, President Trump, before the meeting in Alaska, he
9:42
Speaker 2: was explicit. He said he wanted to see if Putin
9:45
Speaker 2: is willing to make a deal to reach a resolution.
9:48
Speaker 2: And he was also explicit and he said if if
9:50
Speaker 2: Putin is not, Trump was perfectly prepared to get up
9:54
Speaker 2: and leave. And and remember that that's what President Reagan
9:58
Speaker 2: did when he met with Mickel Gorbachev in Raykevic, and Gorbachev.
10:03
Speaker 3: Was not willing to reach a deal.
10:04
Speaker 2: In particular, Gorbachev wanted Reagan to give up SDI, the
10:09
Speaker 2: Strategic Defense Initiative, which was Star Wars, it was missile defense,
10:13
Speaker 2: and Reagan was not willing to give it up. And
10:15
Speaker 2: Reagan got up from the table and left and walked out.
10:18
Speaker 2: And I'll tell you his leaving that negotiation was a
10:22
Speaker 2: critical element of winning the Cold War because the Soviet
10:27
Speaker 2: Union they did not have the economy to support the
10:30
Speaker 2: military build up. They needed to keep up with SDI
10:33
Speaker 2: to keep up with our military, and we ultimately won
10:36
Speaker 2: the Cold War without firing a shot. I think President
10:39
Speaker 2: Trump did a good job of setting expectations. And I
10:43
Speaker 2: wasn't in the room with with Trump and and Putin,
10:45
Speaker 2: but I assume he looked at him flat out and said, listen,
10:48
Speaker 2: are you willing to reach a deal or not? And
10:51
Speaker 2: the answer was satisfactory enough that Trump stayed and continued
10:56
Speaker 2: the meeting. I think that's a step forward. It's a
10:58
Speaker 2: positive step forward. And you know the left is contemptuous.
11:03
Speaker 2: But I want you to listen to this exchange with
11:06
Speaker 2: Brett Baar.
11:06
Speaker 3: We asked her, asked Trump about Hillary Clinton, give a listen.
11:10
Speaker 6: In fact, did you see that Hillary Clinton yesterday said
11:15
Speaker 6: that if you got this deal done and not capitulate
11:19
Speaker 6: to Putin, that she would nominate you for the Nobel
11:22
Speaker 6: Peace Price.
11:23
Speaker 1: If President Trump were the architect of that, I'd nominate
11:26
Speaker 1: him for a Nobel Peace Prize.
11:28
Speaker 4: Well, that was very nice.
11:31
Speaker 3: I may have to start liking her again.
11:34
Speaker 1: That one just made me laugh like when I watched it,
11:37
Speaker 1: because I think he was even like really like Hillary
11:39
Speaker 1: Clinton noticed she had a caveat in there. If it's
11:42
Speaker 1: without capitulating, right, if there's always a caveat with Dems.
11:46
Speaker 2: Well, and that's their wiggle language, she said, and not
11:49
Speaker 2: capitulate to Putin. So whatever the deal is, if Putin
11:52
Speaker 2: gets anything at all, Hillary will say nope, nope, that
11:55
Speaker 2: was capitulating.
11:55
Speaker 3: So I didn't mean it. I'm not nominating him.
11:58
Speaker 2: But that may be quote that that that she and
12:01
Speaker 2: the other Democrats come back to regret because I think
12:04
Speaker 2: there's going to be a deal.
12:06
Speaker 3: Uh.
12:06
Speaker 2: And if there is a deal, uh, you can be
12:08
Speaker 2: assured that quote is going to be played multiple times
12:11
Speaker 2: and and and and if if the President negotiates the deal,
12:16
Speaker 2: she'll try to walk away from it. One hundred percent.
12:18
Speaker 2: She tries to walk away from it. But but but
12:20
Speaker 2: it shows you know, she's rooting for failure, and and
12:25
Speaker 2: and the other Democrats are are rooting for failure. But
12:29
Speaker 2: in a significant part of the reason, understand, this war
12:32
Speaker 2: in Ukraine should never have happened. It was unnecessary. This
12:39
Speaker 2: war in Ukraine was caused by two things. It was
12:41
Speaker 2: caused by number one, Joe Biden's disastrous withdraw in Afghanistan.
12:46
Speaker 2: The incompetence, the debacle that unfolded every enemy of America
12:50
Speaker 2: took a measure of President Biden and determined that the
12:53
Speaker 2: commander in chief was weak and ineffective. That was a
12:56
Speaker 2: major reason Putin invaded Ukraine. And it was caused second
13:01
Speaker 2: by Joe Biden waiving sanctions on Nordstream two. Nordstream two
13:05
Speaker 2: is the undersea pipeline that Putin built from Russia to Germany,
13:09
Speaker 2: and the reason he built that pipeline to carry natural
13:12
Speaker 2: gas was to circumvent Ukraine, because right now Russia's natural
13:17
Speaker 2: gas goes through Ukraine on pipelines, and the purpose of
13:21
Speaker 2: Nordstream two was so that he didn't need to go
13:23
Speaker 2: through Ukraine and he could invade Ukraine. In the first term,
13:27
Speaker 2: I authored sanctions legislation, crushing sanctioned legislation to shut down
13:32
Speaker 2: Nordstream two. It passed the Senate with bipartisan support, It
13:36
Speaker 2: passed the House with bipartisan support. President Trump signed my
13:40
Speaker 2: sanctions legislation into law, and Ben Putin stopped construction of
13:46
Speaker 2: Nordstream two literally the day President Trump signed my sanctioned
13:51
Speaker 2: legislation into law. That legislation stopped the invasion, prevented the invasion,
13:58
Speaker 2: and had the same actions remained in place, we would
14:01
Speaker 2: not have a war in Ukraine. But Joe Biden came
14:04
Speaker 2: in and waived the sanctions. He gave a multi billion
14:08
Speaker 2: dollar gift to Putin finished Northstream two, and almost immediately
14:13
Speaker 2: thereafter invaded. And by the way, it's not just me
14:15
Speaker 2: saying this, give a listen to to Putin saying the
14:19
Speaker 2: same point, which is that the war in Ukraine would
14:22
Speaker 2: never have happened if Trump had been president in twenty
14:26
Speaker 2: twenty one, give a listen.
14:27
Speaker 7: I'd like to remind you that in twenty twenty two,
14:30
Speaker 7: during the last contact with the previous administration, I tried
14:34
Speaker 7: to convince my previous American colleague we should not the
14:40
Speaker 7: situation should not be brought to the point of no
14:46
Speaker 7: return when it would come to hostilities. And I said
14:49
Speaker 7: it quite directly back then. That is a big mistake
14:53
Speaker 7: President Trump today. When President Trump saying that if he
14:57
Speaker 7: was the president back then, there will be no war,
15:00
Speaker 7: I'm quite sure that it would indeed be so, and
15:03
Speaker 7: I can't confirm that. I think that overall, me and
15:07
Speaker 7: President Trump have built very good, business like and trustworthy
15:12
Speaker 7: contact and have every reason to believe that moving down
15:18
Speaker 7: this path, we can come and suited better to the
15:23
Speaker 7: end of the conflict in Ukraine.
15:27
Speaker 4: I mean he said it there.
15:28
Speaker 1: I also think you said it because he's probably messing
15:30
Speaker 1: with our media a little bit, which I love. It's like,
15:33
Speaker 1: you guys are idiots, and you're wrong, and if you
15:35
Speaker 1: knew what was actually going on, you tell the truth.
15:38
Speaker 1: It's pretty bad when even Putin knows how to just
15:41
Speaker 1: call out the media.
15:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, look and and and.
15:45
Speaker 2: The media actually behaves like Prova, behaves like the Soviet media,
15:49
Speaker 2: except they they pitched the hard left pullet Burrow line,
15:55
Speaker 2: and and so as a result, they blame everything on
15:58
Speaker 2: President Trump. But I'm understand Joe Biden. The Democrats caused wars.
16:04
Speaker 2: They caused the war in Ukraine, and I believe Biden's
16:06
Speaker 2: weakness caused the war in Gaza caused October seventh. And
16:12
Speaker 2: the world is safer. We have fewer wars when we
16:15
Speaker 2: have a strong commander in chief and President Trump is working,
16:20
Speaker 2: I think, very hard to end this war. Now, one
16:24
Speaker 2: big question is is Zelenski willing to make a deal.
16:28
Speaker 2: And President Trump had some very straightforward advice to President Zelensky.
16:34
Speaker 3: Give a listen, what's your advice is to make a deal.
16:38
Speaker 3: Make the deal.
16:38
Speaker 5: Got to make a deal.
16:39
Speaker 3: Yeah.
16:40
Speaker 5: Look, Russia is a very big power, and they're not
16:43
Speaker 5: They're great soldiers that they have, great but you know
16:46
Speaker 5: they also had the best equipment. You know, they had
16:48
Speaker 5: our equipment, and I gave them javelins. If you remember
16:51
Speaker 5: my first term, in fact, it was a statement I
16:53
Speaker 5: gave javelins. You remember the statement I gave javelins and
16:58
Speaker 5: Obama gave because it was Obama at that time. Obama
17:00
Speaker 5: gave them sheets, and that's true. I gave javelins, and
17:04
Speaker 5: a lot of tanks were knocked out because of the
17:06
Speaker 5: javelins and javelins incredible weapon.
17:09
Speaker 3: That said tank.
17:10
Speaker 5: You know, you look at this big, powerful tank, it
17:13
Speaker 5: ends up being a ball of metal lying on the
17:15
Speaker 5: ground and burn it.
17:16
Speaker 3: I'd never say anything like it.
17:18
Speaker 5: We have the greatest military equipment in the world, but
17:21
Speaker 5: they did have courage in fighting, and you know, they're
17:23
Speaker 5: fighting a big war machine. And we I think are
17:27
Speaker 5: close to a deal, but I won't. I don't like
17:30
Speaker 5: saying it. I always say, if I'm really close, I
17:33
Speaker 5: say fifty to.
17:33
Speaker 4: Fifty, fifty to fifty, right. I love how he says that.
17:38
Speaker 2: Yep, yeah, Look, and this was President Trump also made
17:43
Speaker 2: clear that that Biden is the one who screwed this up,
17:46
Speaker 2: and he's coming in now and he's trying to fix
17:50
Speaker 2: the mess that Joe Biden, the Democrats weakness caused.
17:54
Speaker 3: Here's how the President put it.
17:57
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19:52
Speaker 1: All right, take a listen to Donald Trump in Anchorage,
19:55
Speaker 1: vladimirpruiting right next to him and talking about how Joe
19:58
Speaker 1: Biden screwed all this up and he inherited this mess.
20:02
Speaker 6: Nineteen eighty six, Reagan walks away from Raykevic with Gorbachev,
20:06
Speaker 6: and it was his strong moment. I mean, you could
20:09
Speaker 6: foresee if it goes down a bad path. You get
20:12
Speaker 6: up and walk away.
20:13
Speaker 5: I'm not doing it based on history, based on anything else.
20:16
Speaker 4: I'm doing it based on a deal. If we make
20:18
Speaker 4: a deal, great.
20:19
Speaker 5: If I see that there's no hope of making a deal,
20:24
Speaker 5: I'm out of there.
20:25
Speaker 4: It's over.
20:26
Speaker 3: I'm out of there.
20:26
Speaker 4: This isn't my war, this is Biden's war.
20:29
Speaker 5: This is Biden screwed this up, just like he did
20:32
Speaker 5: with Afghanistan, with that horrible retreat and the way he
20:36
Speaker 5: did it.
20:37
Speaker 4: I'll never forget it. He'll never forget it.
20:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, and neither will the soldiers and sailors and airmen
20:47
Speaker 2: and marines who fought in Afghanistan, who bled, who lost
20:51
Speaker 2: brothers and sisters there, Every veteran of that war. Biden's
20:56
Speaker 2: disastrous with retreat is in del marked under their conscious.
21:02
Speaker 1: Final question for you on this, if you were meeting
21:05
Speaker 1: with Zolensky about getting this deal done, what would you
21:09
Speaker 1: say to him?
21:09
Speaker 4: What would your advice be?
21:11
Speaker 1: And and and how would you see this thing ending
21:14
Speaker 1: if you could do it your way?
21:16
Speaker 2: Well, look, my advice would be the same as as
21:19
Speaker 2: what President Trump's was, which is make a deal. It's
21:22
Speaker 2: got to be a negotiated settlement. So Lincy's not going
21:24
Speaker 2: to get everything he wants UH, but it is important
21:28
Speaker 2: that that Ukraine have an outcome where their security is
21:32
Speaker 2: is protected. And and and that's one thing that that
21:36
Speaker 2: that's one thing that is striking. Putin acknowledged that that
21:39
Speaker 2: was a real concession that Putin said there needs to
21:42
Speaker 2: be an outcome where Ukraine's security is protected. I also
21:47
Speaker 2: think it is important that that that the resolution of
21:50
Speaker 2: this UH continues to leave nord Stream to shut down.
21:54
Speaker 2: When I'm meeting with with our European allies, and I
21:57
Speaker 2: do so frequently, a question I posed to them over
22:01
Speaker 2: and over again, as I say, listen, when the war
22:03
Speaker 2: in Ukraine ends, who are you going to buy your
22:06
Speaker 2: energy from? Are you going to buy your energy from
22:08
Speaker 2: Russia or are you going to buy it from the
22:11
Speaker 2: United States? Because I would like to see a resolution
22:13
Speaker 2: to this war that is America first, that puts America first.
22:17
Speaker 2: I'd like to see Europe buying their energy from US
22:20
Speaker 2: and not enriching Putin. And so that's an outcome that
22:23
Speaker 2: I think is very much in America's view. But I
22:25
Speaker 2: want you to listen to Putin. I want you to
22:26
Speaker 2: listen to Putin acknowledging the importance of an outcome that
22:32
Speaker 2: protects the security of Ukraine. Give a listen, and I agree.
22:37
Speaker 7: With President Trump as he has said today. Naturally, the
22:41
Speaker 7: security of Ukraine should be insured as well. Naturally we're
22:46
Speaker 7: prepared to welcome that. I like to hope that the
22:50
Speaker 7: agreement that we've reached together will help us bring close
22:53
Speaker 7: to that goal and will pay the path towards peace
22:56
Speaker 7: from Ukraine. We expect that Kiev and European capitals perceive
23:00
Speaker 7: that constructively and that they won't throw a wrench in
23:03
Speaker 7: the words.
23:06
Speaker 1: Two things there. One, he says it clearly, the security
23:08
Speaker 1: of Ukraine should be ensure. Now I think this goes
23:11
Speaker 1: back to trust but verify, right, But at least he's
23:14
Speaker 1: saying that.
23:15
Speaker 2: Absolutely, we should not take Putin at his word for that.
23:18
Speaker 2: But it's better that he says it then than he doesn't.
23:22
Speaker 4: And then you hear him at the end.
23:24
Speaker 1: It does seem to be that he's is talking in
23:27
Speaker 1: a way you would talk if you're winding things down.
23:31
Speaker 1: I think you have to read into that a little
23:33
Speaker 1: bit and say, okay, this is not a bad thing either.
23:36
Speaker 3: Yeah.
23:36
Speaker 2: Look, if he was hell bent on continuing the war,
23:41
Speaker 2: and trying to conquer all of Ukraine. He wouldn't say
23:44
Speaker 2: we need to ensure that the security of Ukraine is
23:47
Speaker 2: protected now. He also said and that the European shouldn't
23:51
Speaker 2: throw a wrench into it. And one of the real
23:55
Speaker 2: questions is is there have been some in Europe, and
23:58
Speaker 2: there have been a number of Democrats who've advocated that
24:02
Speaker 2: Ukraine be a member of NATO. I think that would
24:04
Speaker 2: be a real mistake. I've been vocal opposing that. President
24:08
Speaker 2: Trump has been explicit he opposes that. And the reason
24:11
Speaker 2: is NATO. Under Article five of NATO, when a country
24:15
Speaker 2: becomes a member of NATO, the other members take an
24:18
Speaker 2: obligation to defend it in the case of war. And
24:21
Speaker 2: I have zero interest in putting American troops in harm's
24:24
Speaker 2: way defending Ukraine. And so I think inviting Ukraine to
24:31
Speaker 2: NATO would be a bad mistake. President Trump has made
24:34
Speaker 2: that clear, and I think that's what Putin was saying
24:36
Speaker 2: there as well, is that that would do real damage
24:40
Speaker 2: to the prospects of peace. And so I'm glad that
24:44
Speaker 2: President Trump has taken that off the table.
24:46
Speaker 4: I want to move to.
24:47
Speaker 1: This other story, and it's one realistically that probably ninety
24:51
Speaker 1: nine percent of this audience doesn't even know about this
24:55
Speaker 1: because no one's covering it. It doesn't mean that it's
24:58
Speaker 1: not an extreme important story. It is you calling out China.
25:03
Speaker 1: It's an epic fight over creating a new country in Africa.
25:08
Speaker 1: This reminds me of that story we were talking about
25:11
Speaker 1: not that long ago, about China creating an island in
25:15
Speaker 1: the middle of the ocean based of nowhere that we
25:17
Speaker 1: helped give them air superiority. If there was a massive
25:20
Speaker 1: world event that took place, another World war, it would
25:24
Speaker 1: give them the ability to reach places they currently cannot reach.
25:27
Speaker 1: And now we're hearing that they're looking at creating a
25:31
Speaker 1: new country in Africa. You're trying to bring that to
25:33
Speaker 1: light and also stop it. Well, that's exactly right.
25:37
Speaker 2: So I am the chairman of the Africa Subcommittee of
25:41
Speaker 2: the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and so I've been sharing
25:44
Speaker 2: a number of hearings, in particular focusing on the growing
25:47
Speaker 2: influence of communist China and Africa. Africa has become a
25:51
Speaker 2: major battleground where China is trying to gain influence, trying
25:55
Speaker 2: to gain power and do so at the expense of America.
25:59
Speaker 2: And so what this last week, I wrote a letter
26:02
Speaker 2: to President Trump urging the President to recognize a new
26:06
Speaker 2: country in Africa. I'm going to read you the letter.
26:08
Speaker 2: Dear President Trump, I write to urge your administration to
26:12
Speaker 2: formally recognize the Republic of Somaliland as an independent state
26:17
Speaker 2: with sovereignty within its nineteen sixty borders. Somaliland first gained
26:22
Speaker 2: independence and international recognition in nineteen sixty before voluntarily uniting
26:28
Speaker 2: with Somalia later that year. Since moving to reclaim its
26:32
Speaker 2: independence in nineteen ninety one, it has functioned as a stable,
26:37
Speaker 2: self governing, democratic nation. It has held several peaceful elections
26:42
Speaker 2: since two thousand and three, marked by strong voter turnout
26:46
Speaker 2: and peaceful transitions of power. Somaliland has emerged as a
26:51
Speaker 2: critical security and diplomatic partner for the United States, helping
26:57
Speaker 2: America advance our national security interest in the whole born
27:00
Speaker 2: of Africa and beyond. It is strategically located on the
27:04
Speaker 2: Gulf of Aden, putting it near one of the world's
27:08
Speaker 2: busiest maritime corridors. It possesses capable armed forces and contributes
27:14
Speaker 2: to regional counter terrorism and piracy operations. It has enabled
27:19
Speaker 2: the opening of a Taiwanese Representative Office in the capital
27:24
Speaker 2: of Hargisa sought to strengthen ties with Israel and voice
27:29
Speaker 2: support for the Abraham Accords. It has proposed hosting a
27:35
Speaker 2: US military presence near the Red Sea along the Gulf
27:40
Speaker 2: of Aden, and is open to critical minerals agreements that
27:45
Speaker 2: would support our supply chain resilience. The US Somaliland partnership
27:51
Speaker 2: is robust and it is deepening. Somaliland faces mounting pressure
27:57
Speaker 2: from adversaries, so small part to its role as a
28:02
Speaker 2: partner for the United States and our allies. The Chinese
28:06
Speaker 2: Communist Party is using economic and diplomatic coercion to punish
28:10
Speaker 2: Somaliland for its support for Taiwan, as well as to
28:15
Speaker 2: undermine that support. The Government of Somalia has played an
28:20
Speaker 2: unfortunate role in these efforts. In April twenty twenty five,
28:24
Speaker 2: the CCP arranged for Somalia to bar Taiwanese passport holders
28:30
Speaker 2: from transiting into Somaliland, and Chinese support to Somalia is
28:35
Speaker 2: benefiting anti Somaliland groups working to erode its sovereignty. Despite
28:42
Speaker 2: these threats, Somaliland remains committed to forging closer ties with
28:46
Speaker 2: the US and is actively engaged in enhancing military cooperation,
28:51
Speaker 2: counter terrorism efforts, and economy and trade partnerships. To do
28:56
Speaker 2: so to the greatest effect and the greatest benefit to
28:59
Speaker 2: American national security interest, it requires the status of a state.
29:04
Speaker 2: I urge you to grant it that recognition. This is
29:08
Speaker 2: obviously significant. What are the chances that this could move
29:11
Speaker 2: forward this way?
29:13
Speaker 3: Look, I'm optimistic.
29:14
Speaker 2: I think there's a real chance the President will recognize Somaliland.
29:17
Speaker 2: As I said, they've been an ally to US. UH,
29:20
Speaker 2: they've been an ally. This is a Muslim country and
29:23
Speaker 2: in a very dangerous part of Africa. And they've shown
29:26
Speaker 2: real courage. They've shown real courage standing with the United States.
29:29
Speaker 2: They've shown real courage standing up to China. They've they've
29:32
Speaker 2: shown real courage siding with Taiwan, which infuriates communist China.
29:38
Speaker 3: UH.
29:38
Speaker 2: They they've shown real courage embracing Israel and the Abraham Accords.
29:44
Speaker 2: I think Somaliland would would eagerly join the Abraham Accords,
29:49
Speaker 2: and and and so it is in America's national security interest.
29:53
Speaker 2: I believe to recognize Somaliland, and and and and probably
29:59
Speaker 2: the best comp information of that is this week China
30:04
Speaker 2: put out a public release blasting me absolutely furious that
30:11
Speaker 2: I made this public call to recognize Somaliland. And here's
30:16
Speaker 2: what China put out as their statement. They said, quote
30:20
Speaker 2: a US senator in a letter boasting of so called
30:24
Speaker 2: US recognition of Somaliland region launched baseless attacks against China
30:30
Speaker 2: and China Somalia relations. The Chinese Embassy in Somalia firmly
30:35
Speaker 2: opposes this misconduct. This coursive letter constitutes serious interference in
30:42
Speaker 2: the internal affairs of Somalia and further exposes the hegemonic
30:47
Speaker 2: and bullying attitude of certain US politicians to the Somali people.
30:52
Speaker 2: Respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and non interference in
30:56
Speaker 2: each other's internal affairs are enshrined in the UN chart
31:00
Speaker 2: as basic norms governing international relations for safeguarding world peace
31:05
Speaker 2: and stability. China never interferes in other countries' internal affairs
31:11
Speaker 2: and absolutely does not accept meddling in its own internal
31:15
Speaker 2: affairs by any countries. Taiwan is an inalienable part of
31:21
Speaker 2: China's territory. This is history and this is reality. China
31:27
Speaker 2: firmly opposes taiwan independent separatism and external interference, and possesses
31:34
Speaker 2: the legitimate right to take measures to defend national sovereignty
31:39
Speaker 2: and territorial integrity. The fact that China is freaking out,
31:43
Speaker 2: the fact that they are this pissed off from my perspective,
31:48
Speaker 2: confirms that that I was exactly right and as yet
31:52
Speaker 2: another argument why President Trump should should recognize Somaliland as
31:58
Speaker 2: an ally to America and as a country in Africa
32:01
Speaker 2: willing to stand up to communist China.
32:04
Speaker 3: Yeah.
32:04
Speaker 4: Great point.
32:04
Speaker 1: We're going to keep you updated on this story because
32:07
Speaker 1: it's an important one and we will have movement on it,
32:09
Speaker 1: I have no doubt. So make sure you download this
32:11
Speaker 1: show Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hitt that subscriber auto download
32:15
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32:17
Speaker 1: a single episode, and the senter and I will see
32:20
Speaker 1: you back here on Wednesday morning.