Ralph welcomes back Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson to share his view of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense and to get his take on the military and political situation in the Middle East.
Col. Wilkerson has become the best contemporary political and military observer. His estimate of Palestinian deaths from the Gaza war is probably as close to fact as possible. I’m a little skeptical of how effective Palestinian fighters can remain against the IDF. Netanyahu is itching for the chance to continue the genocide in Gaza along with his other wars in the Middle East. A completely unhinged entity!
Alon-Lee Green has lots of guts and a comparable intellect. Standing up and speaking out for what is right in Israel takes lots of courage. I’m uncertain if there will ever be either a one-state or two-state conclusion for the Palestinian people. Tragically, the most powerful nation in the world is in support of ethnic cleansing. A complete loss of any notion of a moral compass!
Back to the US Defense Department. The recruitment of women will not go far in the military if the banner of while male supremacy reigns supreme there.
In terms of the Defense Department budget... I often walk through US cities and cannot believe that the nation allows the levels of poverty and segregation that exist along side failing and segregated schools. This is the observable reality of the guns v. butter argument. Please read “The Duopoly Out of Central Casting” at Howie’s Substack.
I have the same thoughts about the overloaded Defense Budget when I see the state of roads, transit, schools in Philadelphia. About half of intercity schools do not have air conditioning. The roads are old and full of pot holes......and transit is always underfunded. Homelessness is a growing problem. It's a disgrace. The US always has money for more wars and weapons.....
How does Hamas get weapons? Jon Elmer's reports on The Electronic Intifada might prove of interest to the curious. EI has a YouTube channel & a website. Elmer also posts on "x". None of those will ever appear on American mainstream media.
Thank you for for podcast Ralph & Company. I always learn something. Mr Green is so impressive. Wilkerson is pretty darn scary. I hope he will be able to make more of an impact in the USA. He certainly has the military-speak down pat. Imagine 200,000 dead in Gaza - his LOW number. Horrific.
Thank you, Ralph, as always. And also for having Col.Wilkerson on this week's program.....I always appreciate his observations.....given his experience.
Within MINUTES of being informed (via email) about the new Capitol Hill Citizen, I ordered my copy. I will be VERY active getting the word out on the key articles -- especially Bruce Fein's. (Not to sell anyone else's short -- I ALWAYS discover tremendous material in those 40-odd pages.)
Regarding number of slain Gazans: We were told by media at the beginning of Israel's current ethnic cleansing project, that the population of Gaza was 2.2–2.3 million; and when Trump announced how many would need to be removed before he took possession, he cited 1.8 million. So, Trump is known for saying the quiet part out loud, and it sounds like a half-million Gazans are dead or missing. Col. Wilkerson's figure of 200,000 x2 sounds reasonable.
Regarding the tackiest, poor-taste gift ever presented to a US president–the gold-plated pager: I have heard there were two, but heard no one mention that the one I saw pictures of, was mounted on an unmistakeable slab of a Cedar tree, appearing to have been taken from near the root. As the Cedar is the very symbol of Lebanon, and featured on their flag, I read it stood for "eternity, steadiness, happiness and prosperity." Never underestimate Netanyahu's determination to go as low as possible to hurt, humiliate and insult those he would dispose of. His cruelty knows no bounds.
Also, how can anyone doubt that the Hamas attack was known about in advance, and instead of representing an Israeli intelligence failure, it was allowed to happen to enable acceptance of the ongoing ethnic cleansing?
The pack of lies Israel had at the ready should be proof enough, and the absurdity of some of them insult the intelligence of most people. Most especially: baking babies in ovens. I asked one FaceBook poster how that happened, exactly. "Did Hamas bring ovens with them? If so, how were they powered? Or did they knock on some Israeli's door and ask to borrow their oven?"
Sometimes it's hard to put something up for sales when it doesn't want to be sold , take Gaza for example,,, people lived their in semi-squalar for years until the Jews - Arabs - Humas -Palesteins got into it ...and now that strong man Trump wants to change all that .
Trump figures half the job is done ..
It's been leveled.
Get some cheap Labor and bulldozers ,, and get to work ,,
But the world does not see it that way , let's get everyone and their Uncles in on the game ,,, let's take it to the next level..
To be fair to all the 50,000 + people who should be telling everyone what they want done are not going to be able to voice their option.. because
They are dead ,
Trump it's ours, World it's ours , let it be said ,, and remember us , we will always be part of this land ,,,
Good luck friends of Gaza ,, have a great day my friends
The last two shows have shown to me that the only way is to hope for some people to die and for others to find the courage to change things. Popular movements, yes. Protests, yes. But with every single republican in Congress either enjoying the massacre or afraid of the Orange man and the fascist billionaire, and the courts either too weak to do anything or enjoying the fascism, I guess the suffering will be wide spread and irreversible. The rest of the world is also afraid or inspired by the new fascism. Welcome to the end?
It is getting really hard to listen to the podcast, not because of the quality but because it is so real and I feel powerless.
I am bouncing from anger to depression in the stages of grief. At the same time I feel like most people are still in the denial phase, maybe anger but still trying to live life as it has been. Nothing is, or will even be, the same. I feel really hopeless and grasping to the little things I can do, trying to see if hope comes back to me.
Thanks for the invaluable information I always find here
Thanks for the program. Worldwide events are moving so quickly, and they can hardly be covered on a weekly program like this.
Apparently the US is withdrawing from NATO; who will fill the vacuum and what will be the consequences of all the withdrawals from world conflicts by the US?
However the US/Israel connections seem to be stronger than ever with ominous warnings from Netanyahu and the US State Department of making Iran denuclearize...or else!
The layoffs in DC are looking a lot like the early 80s under Reagan. David Stockman has been writing about that time; most of the federal workers were rehired by the government within years and the workforce exploded.
THANK YOU for adding the episode number to the podcast download title !!!!!!
Col. Wilkerson has become the best contemporary political and military observer. His estimate of Palestinian deaths from the Gaza war is probably as close to fact as possible. I’m a little skeptical of how effective Palestinian fighters can remain against the IDF. Netanyahu is itching for the chance to continue the genocide in Gaza along with his other wars in the Middle East. A completely unhinged entity!
Alon-Lee Green has lots of guts and a comparable intellect. Standing up and speaking out for what is right in Israel takes lots of courage. I’m uncertain if there will ever be either a one-state or two-state conclusion for the Palestinian people. Tragically, the most powerful nation in the world is in support of ethnic cleansing. A complete loss of any notion of a moral compass!
Back to the US Defense Department. The recruitment of women will not go far in the military if the banner of while male supremacy reigns supreme there.
In terms of the Defense Department budget... I often walk through US cities and cannot believe that the nation allows the levels of poverty and segregation that exist along side failing and segregated schools. This is the observable reality of the guns v. butter argument. Please read “The Duopoly Out of Central Casting” at Howie’s Substack.
I have the same thoughts about the overloaded Defense Budget when I see the state of roads, transit, schools in Philadelphia. About half of intercity schools do not have air conditioning. The roads are old and full of pot holes......and transit is always underfunded. Homelessness is a growing problem. It's a disgrace. The US always has money for more wars and weapons.....
How does Hamas get weapons? Jon Elmer's reports on The Electronic Intifada might prove of interest to the curious. EI has a YouTube channel & a website. Elmer also posts on "x". None of those will ever appear on American mainstream media.
Thank you for for podcast Ralph & Company. I always learn something. Mr Green is so impressive. Wilkerson is pretty darn scary. I hope he will be able to make more of an impact in the USA. He certainly has the military-speak down pat. Imagine 200,000 dead in Gaza - his LOW number. Horrific.
Thank you, Ralph, as always. And also for having Col.Wilkerson on this week's program.....I always appreciate his observations.....given his experience.
Within MINUTES of being informed (via email) about the new Capitol Hill Citizen, I ordered my copy. I will be VERY active getting the word out on the key articles -- especially Bruce Fein's. (Not to sell anyone else's short -- I ALWAYS discover tremendous material in those 40-odd pages.)
thank you.
Regarding number of slain Gazans: We were told by media at the beginning of Israel's current ethnic cleansing project, that the population of Gaza was 2.2–2.3 million; and when Trump announced how many would need to be removed before he took possession, he cited 1.8 million. So, Trump is known for saying the quiet part out loud, and it sounds like a half-million Gazans are dead or missing. Col. Wilkerson's figure of 200,000 x2 sounds reasonable.
Regarding the tackiest, poor-taste gift ever presented to a US president–the gold-plated pager: I have heard there were two, but heard no one mention that the one I saw pictures of, was mounted on an unmistakeable slab of a Cedar tree, appearing to have been taken from near the root. As the Cedar is the very symbol of Lebanon, and featured on their flag, I read it stood for "eternity, steadiness, happiness and prosperity." Never underestimate Netanyahu's determination to go as low as possible to hurt, humiliate and insult those he would dispose of. His cruelty knows no bounds.
Also, how can anyone doubt that the Hamas attack was known about in advance, and instead of representing an Israeli intelligence failure, it was allowed to happen to enable acceptance of the ongoing ethnic cleansing?
The pack of lies Israel had at the ready should be proof enough, and the absurdity of some of them insult the intelligence of most people. Most especially: baking babies in ovens. I asked one FaceBook poster how that happened, exactly. "Did Hamas bring ovens with them? If so, how were they powered? Or did they knock on some Israeli's door and ask to borrow their oven?"
It's not Pete Hegseth. It's Peter Hegseth. Seriously, he does NOT deserve to be called Pete.
Sometimes it's hard to put something up for sales when it doesn't want to be sold , take Gaza for example,,, people lived their in semi-squalar for years until the Jews - Arabs - Humas -Palesteins got into it ...and now that strong man Trump wants to change all that .
Trump figures half the job is done ..
It's been leveled.
Get some cheap Labor and bulldozers ,, and get to work ,,
But the world does not see it that way , let's get everyone and their Uncles in on the game ,,, let's take it to the next level..
To be fair to all the 50,000 + people who should be telling everyone what they want done are not going to be able to voice their option.. because
They are dead ,
Trump it's ours, World it's ours , let it be said ,, and remember us , we will always be part of this land ,,,
Good luck friends of Gaza ,, have a great day my friends
The last two shows have shown to me that the only way is to hope for some people to die and for others to find the courage to change things. Popular movements, yes. Protests, yes. But with every single republican in Congress either enjoying the massacre or afraid of the Orange man and the fascist billionaire, and the courts either too weak to do anything or enjoying the fascism, I guess the suffering will be wide spread and irreversible. The rest of the world is also afraid or inspired by the new fascism. Welcome to the end?
Have you listened to Chris Hedges' recent substack, "The Empire Self Destructs"? Chilling!! Is there any way to salvage this? I'm worried sick!
It is getting really hard to listen to the podcast, not because of the quality but because it is so real and I feel powerless.
I am bouncing from anger to depression in the stages of grief. At the same time I feel like most people are still in the denial phase, maybe anger but still trying to live life as it has been. Nothing is, or will even be, the same. I feel really hopeless and grasping to the little things I can do, trying to see if hope comes back to me.
Thanks for the invaluable information I always find here
Thanks for the program. Worldwide events are moving so quickly, and they can hardly be covered on a weekly program like this.
Apparently the US is withdrawing from NATO; who will fill the vacuum and what will be the consequences of all the withdrawals from world conflicts by the US?
However the US/Israel connections seem to be stronger than ever with ominous warnings from Netanyahu and the US State Department of making Iran denuclearize...or else!
The layoffs in DC are looking a lot like the early 80s under Reagan. David Stockman has been writing about that time; most of the federal workers were rehired by the government within years and the workforce exploded.