8/28/25: Graham Platner Vs Susan Collins, Ana Kasparian Stuns CNN, Alleged Israeli P3DO Skips Court, Jeff Sachs Dire Warning

24:59I'm Emily Oster. I'm an economist and data expert. And I'm Perry Wilson. I'm a medical doctor. And this is our new podcast, Wellness Actually. Because you're getting a staggering amount of health and wellness information nowadays, and some of it is awesome. And some of it is, well, actually bullshit. Fortunately, we're both people who know how to read studies, parse data, and can tell you what's worth trying out and what you can safely ignore. Each episode, we tackle the health news of the week and then take a deeper dive into a misunderstood health and wellness topic like... What's the deal with peptides?

25:33What's the deal with GLP-1s? What's the deal with creatine? What's the deal with cupping? What's the deal with sleep? So join us for a weekly dose of sanity. It might actually be just what the doctor... Or the economist... Ordered. Listen to Wellness Actually on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

26:14Special guests like Dave Grohl, Leve, Mavis Staples, Remy Wolfe, Jeff Tweedy, really too many to name. And this season I've sat down with Joshua Homme, Sarah McLachlan, John Legend, and more. Check out my new episode with Phineas. So I went home and I asked Billie if she wanted to sing it. She immediately made it her own thing. No fair.

26:43You really know how to make me cry When you give me those oceans So come hang out with us in the studio and listen to Playing Along on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. CNN recently had Anna Kasparian of TYT on a panel, wide-ranging discussions, but in particular on Israel. She just absolutely cooked them. And there was a moment that really stood out, Sagar, where she brings up this situation that we've been covering, and we're going to continue to cover actually in the next block, of this Israeli alleged pedophile caught up in an FBI sting in Las Vegas, who was allowed to post bail and flee the country, who happens to not just be any old Israeli, by the way, top aide to Netanyahu.

27:29She brings this up on the panel, and there's just basically like silence. and then they change the subject. Let's take a look at that. The problem with Trump, though, is I think crime is the cover story. I think this is a power grab. And the reason why I say that is because look at the specific examples of crime that he allegedly wants to go after. I mean, just recently, his FBI did a sting operation in Las Vegas, and they managed to catch through the sting operation eight separate pedophiles that were trying to have sex with minors. OK, one of those pedophiles is an Israeli government official who his government allowed to fly back to Israel after he had been charged in that sting operation for using technology to lure a minor for sex.

28:17And when it comes to the immigration issue, he loves to go after the undocumented immigrants, but not the employers employing the undocumented. You mentioned that Trump, you described it as a cover story, but I think it's also worth. Oh, and then Abby Phillips just picks up on the immigration point and moves on. And Sagar, I don't know how much you've watched the show. I haven't watched it a lot. But these panels are famous for like, you know, they're meant to be kind of a melee, the crosstalk and they're jumping on each other or whatever. I love how she says this and everyone's just completely silent.

28:48Scott Jennings is just sitting there stone faced. I'm quite sure it is the first time it has ever been mentioned on CNN. I know that it has. And, you know, I mean, you know, when you're in this job, one of the fun things is, is that I talked to some of these people behind the scenes. They all know that it's messed up. They want to cover it. In fact, many of them congratulated me and us on all of our reporting around the subject. And I was like, thanks. But, you know, when are you going to cover it? I was like, I'm just, you know, a YouTube guy. Silence. Nothing. They know. All right. I mean, I don't know if the order has come from the top or whatever, but this is, like you said, the very first mention of it on their air, I believe.

29:28It's clear Jennings and, you know, what's the guy's name, Kevin O 'Leary and all that, they either had heard about it and they're totally shutting up or they'd never heard about it before. Both are indictments, actually, if you ask me. Same with the overall news panel. And it's one of those where, guys, I mean, this is a genuine story. It's actually a scandal, the fact that he hasn't been returned. We'll get to it in a little bit and give everybody an update. But I thought that broadly – I mean, look, props to her for it going on because this – that is like the only way that their viewers would ever even be exposed to this type of information.

30:01Because one thing you can say at the very – look, the internet. We've spent a lot, almost an hour now on the show about all the problems with that. But one thing I generally appreciate, at the very least, people who watch the show or others, you're going to get exposed to a lot of information. You are going to get exposed to information from not just both sides, but even in general, if you're on Twitter, Blue Sky, whatever, wherever you are, your information diet is such that you probably had heard about this or you had some sort of inkling. But that's just so not the case with the Fox News, the CNN, or the MSNBC viewer.

30:32And that's why having people like Anon, or at least in this particular case, that view just never gets represented. Otherwise, you're just going to get these shibboleth mantras and be like, but what about the hostages? What about the hostages? Or, you know, Israel has a right to defend itself and a right to exist. And you're like, bro, what are we doing here? Like, it's not October 28th, 2023. Yeah. Well, I love when they have her on. She's really excellent on these panels. They've had her on a few times. And she's just so effective in the way she communicates. And she's so fierce when it comes to Israel and just does not pull any punches.

31:07And to your point about, you know, the Internet, which is both, you know, incredible promise and incredible peril, I guess is sort of the theme of this show today. This story would never have seen the light of day in a pre-online media environment. This is a purely like internet, independent media, or like non-traditional media, I guess we'll say, story that got picked up on and all the reporting that has been, I shouldn't say all, there's been some local news reporting, but you know, the most of the reporting has It's been like you and Village Crazy Lady, the Twitter account online, you know.

31:43And otherwise, this would have been just completely vanished and disappeared. Instead, it really is an international scandal. I mean, Netanyahu's had to address it. You've had Trump administration officials who have had to address it. And CNN, there's now enough sort of, there's enough problems with the mainstream press and they can see their ratings decline and they see the writing on the wall that they have to, They feel like they have to bring on some figures like Anna onto their panels just to remain any sort, you know, maintain any sort of relevance and competitive ability in the marketplace.

32:19And so these things start to seep in to the conversation there in a way that they never would have in a different era. So there's another moment here that I want to play for you where Anna's going back and forth with Scott Jennings about the, you know, man-made, the Israeli-imposed famine in the Gaza Strip. Let's go ahead and take a listen to that. Why are they holding the hostage? What is your view about this? Because this is a talking point that comes up a lot. It's not a talking point. There are 50 lives down there. Hold on a second, Scott. It is definitely a talking point. When you block humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip for three months straight, it not only impacts the Palestinians, which I know you couldn't care less about, but it also obviously is going to impact the hostages.

32:55They're going to starve to death as well. You're saying Israel is starving the hostages? I'm saying, yes, yeah. When you block humanitarian aid for three months, where do you think they're going to get the food from? Max, Israel? What a joke. And Hamas have been. Why is Israel annexing the West Bank right now? Why is Israel annexing the West Bank? Which, of course, is not governed by Hamas at all. Why are Israeli settlers allowed to just run Palestinians out of their legal homes, build thousands of illegal settlements? West Bank has nothing to do with Hamas. Why is Israel annexing it? Why did Netanyahu say that his stated goal in an interview with I-24 News, an Israeli publication, say that he has a religious need to pursue the greater Israel project?

33:38I'm going to let Scott answer quickly and then we've got to go. Go ahead. Go ahead, Scott. My view is this. The hostages have been there for almost 700 days. There's a reason that Hamas has not released them. Are you going to answer her question, though? I don't know. I don't work for the Israeli government. All I really care about is that the hostages come home. And I have no belief that Hamas, that took the hostages, that murdered all these people, are ever going to let them go unless they're totally erratic. Except they have let them go during this fire. Man, Anna just cooked his ass in both those exchanges.

34:04I don't work for the Israeli government, brother. You got a lot of connections there, though. You remember during the Iran war, whenever you were down there in an Israeli bunker? You can ask them if you want to. You got your little pin on. You're in the system. You could call them up. Are you sure you're not working for the Israeli government? Because if you're not, then maybe you should be collecting a check because you're certainly doing the dirty work for them. But again, having her there, those are points that very few other CNN guests would be. I'm not going to say none, but very few would be willing to make.

34:34And, you know, he just tries to laugh off this idea. Oh, what? You think Israel starving the hostages? LOL. It's like, of course they are. Of course. It's been so clear. It's really been clear from the beginning, but it's been undeniably clear for months at this point that Netanyahu and his government, they don't care at all about the hostages. In fact, the hostages are a problem for them because, you know, when they come back and, you know, when they are brought back alive, then they're able to speak about how they were terrified that they were going to be bombed and murdered by their own government.

35:09So no, they don't give a shit about the hostages. They know they're starving the hostages. Of course they are. When you blockade the whole Gaza Strip, that includes the hostages that are being held there. So it's amazing to watch him have to even grapple with that point, not to mention the point about the West Bank. It's like, OK, well, if this is all about Hamas, and I think this is a really important point that needs to be made more often. If this is just all about Hamas being bad guys, tell me about the West Bank. Tell me about why they are going forward with this aggressive illegal settlement plan.

35:41Tell me why all of these violent settlers are attacking and murdering Palestinians in the West Bank with the backing of the IDF, with the backing of the government. Tell me about that. Tell me how that has anything to do with Hamas. Because when you put all of those pieces together, not to mention the whole greater Israel and the attacks on all of their surrounding neighbors by and large, then you start to see the bigger picture and the broader plan. and you can no longer stick to your dumb ass talking points about like Hamas and the hostages because we are so far beyond that holding any water if you actually have the facts at your disposal.

36:23I'm Munga Shatikular and I'm back with a new season of the podcast Skyline Drive. This time I'm diving into a rabbit hole of peptides, organoids, blood boys, blue zones, and brain replacement to try to understand what this longevity obsession is all about and what it really means to live forever for all of us. I learned about some rad science. I can make a brain for you, and then we can test what draw is the best for your brain, as opposed to his brain. Here are some hard truths. I would expect Indians to age faster, but I did not expect it to be almost a four to five year acceleration. And get myself into a world of trouble.

37:08I'd say probably start bone smashing. That doesn't work. Make it look more defined. They say it works. I don't know. Listen to Skyline Drive, How to Live Forever on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

37:25I'm Emily Oster. I'm an economist and data expert. And I'm Perry Wilson. I'm a medical doctor. And this is our new podcast, Wellness Actually. Because you're getting a staggering amount of health and wellness information nowadays, and some of it is awesome. And some of it is, well, actually, bullsh**. Fortunately, we're both people who know how to read studies, parse data, and can tell you what's worth trying out and what you can safely ignore. Each episode, we tackle the health news of the week and then take a deeper dive into a misunderstood health and wellness topic, like... What's the deal with peptides?

37:59What's the deal with GLP-1s? What's the deal with creatine? What's the deal with cupping? What's the deal with sleep? So join us for a weekly dose of sanity. It might actually be just what the doctor. Or the economist. Ordered. Listen to Wellness Actually on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

38:22Graham Platner:Hi, it's Alec Baldwin. This season on my podcast, here's the thing I'm speaking with more artists, policymakers, and performers, like composer Mark Shaman. Once you've established that you have the talent, it's about the hang. It's the pleasure of hanging out with the people that you're with. You know, Rob and I was always a great hang. We would sit in kibitz for hours and then eventually get around to the music. That's what I mostly think of when I think of him, the time together laughing. Lawyer Robbie Kaplan. The great gift of being a lawyer is the ability to actually change things in our society in a way that very few people can.

38:59You can really make a difference to causes in the United States if you bring the right case at the right time. Marriage equality. Yeah, Windsor's the perfect example. Director Morgan Neville. Film school teaches you all the wrong things about making documentary. What do you want to say? Documentary's all about your ear. What do you hear? I feel like my job is listening really, really hard.

39:19Graham Platner:Listen to Here's the Thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's go to the next part here because I do want to give everybody an update on Tom Alexandrovich's case. Can we go ahead and put this up there, please, on the screen? Media was allowed in the courtroom yesterday where some extraordinary stuff happened. So basically, as I'd said before, yesterday, Alexandrovich had a court appearance basically to respond about the criminal complaint that was just recently filed against him regarding this case where he effectively got caught in an FBI joint operation with the local police department where they posed as a 15-year-old girl online in which he showed up basically to meet with her with the intent to have sex with her.

40:07Basically admitted it. He waived his Miranda rights during questioning, as you can all see in the arrest reports, which I exclusively reported over here. Well, since then, after he fled the country some 20 days ago after being caught up in this thing, he has hired the literally the most powerful lawyer in the state of Nevada. And there was a showdown between that lawyer and the judge. So yesterday, his lawyer, David Chesnoff, quote, told the court that on Wednesday, he told his client not to attend the meeting. Quote, he was instructed by me that he did not have to be there. The judge very quickly shuts down David Chesnoff, says that suspects released on bond have to, quote, make every court appearance.

40:49I am looking at his bond documents to indicate court appearance that he was ordered to appear was today. So your oral request without anything before the court to waive his appearance today is hereby denied. What eventually came after some back and forth with the judge is that Alexandrovich will be due for a virtual appearance next week in court. Apparently that's the compromise. But remember, all of this is about the showdown between whether he is ever going to return to the United States. Because one of the things that Chesnoff actually said is that the state attorney and him had, quote, come to some sort of an agreement.

41:26That's what he alluded to from the reporting here in the story. And the judge was like, I don't care what kind of agreement you have going on with the state. I'm the judge overseeing this case. This guy has got to appear in my courtroom. So that's the only update that we have so far. But already we're seeing the signs of like some sort, basically a corrupt bargain, okay? Most powerful lawyer in the state of Nevada who donated to the state's attorney. This is a verifiable fact. You can go and look. It was actually a scandal in Vegas back in 2021. They called it pay to play justice where they had somebody like this, the high powered lawyer who, by the way, went and quote, volunteered at a hospital in Israel after October 7th, got an award for being a friend to the Jewish people, by his own account in the Las Vegas Review Journal, which is owned by Miriam Adelson, the most powerful pro-Israel donor in the United States, who's written pro-Israel puff pieces about this lawyer.

42:24So let's start with that. He's hired by this guy, Tom Alexandrovich. By the way, I'd love to know who's paying his bills. And I have sent those questions over to the Chestnut's office, and they have not returned any of my calls or my request for comment, just so people understand. But in the courtroom, it's clear that the judge wants Alexandrovich to appear. He has now agreed to appear virtually. But the question around this is about the conditions of release. Because previously the cope from the pro-Alexandrovich side was he was bailed out, which he had allowed to after 2020 bail reform laws in Nevada, without ever appearing before a judge.

43:03That's why there was the open question, why was he allowed to leave? It's like, because you can just post bail and get out of there. Well, what's now clear is with the filing of the criminal complaint and now having to appear before the judge, this is when the type of restrictions that could typically be imposed on an individual for potentially leaving the country, that is when. But the complicating factor is he's not here in the United States of America. He's in Israel. And so it very much opens the question as to whether the state's attorney and the lawyer have reached some sort of agreement and plea, which will very likely, in my opinion, lead to probation.

43:41The reason why I'm saying that is that an interview that the state attorney actually gave to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, he floated that, yes, well, technically it's punishable by one to 10 years in prison. Probation is also an option. And he said something like, well, I don't really know anything about extradition. I presume that we have extradition treaties. So I dug into that. The extradition treaty that we have with Israel is one of the most insane things I've ever seen. Prior to 1999, they just didn't, they did not extradite anybody, anybody. What happened is that a 17-year-old murdered another kid, actually nearby from here in Maryland.

44:20His father was Israeli. They flew to Israel, flee, they fled to Israel. This guy butchered this other person. the Israelis, because they wouldn't extradite him, came up with some novel solution after crazy diplomatic pressure from the Clinton administration, where they would try him for the crime and he would serve out his sentence there. But after that, they were like, look, this is done. We have to have something done and dusted. In the interim period, there's been a number of cases where high-profile pedophiles here in the United States flee to Israel. And because they're Jewish, they can claim the right of return in Israeli citizenship and they can fight extradition in Israeli court.

44:54Crystal, the most recent example I found of a prolific pedophile charged here in America was it took 11 years to go through the Israeli justice system before he was returned to the United States to face trial, 11 years. Even that sham extradition treaty that we have with Israel basically gives defendants in Israel the right to drag this out out in Israeli court for as long as humanly possible. And that's in the case of somebody who was an American citizen. In this case, we have somebody who is an Israeli government official. So it is a major question where without massive diplomatic pressure from the United States, I don't think we will ever see this guy again on U.S.

45:37territory. That's my own personal speculation, but all of the facts currently indicate that with the sham extradition treaty that we have with Israel, it's effectively not one. It might as well not exist because 11 years of dragging through justice, especially in a case like this, one to 10, what's the prosecutor going to say? Is it really worth the millions of dollars to try and fight all this case? Or should we just give him a slap on the wrist in probation? That's most likely affected what's going to happen. And what everyone needs to pay attention to is let's compare his sentence or his eventual outcome to what happens to the seven other individuals who were all caught up in this.

46:11One of them was a pastor, by the way, just so we're aware. Yeah, disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. I mean, there's not even words for that. But the point just broadly about the justice is that all of those people had criminal complaints filed against them almost immediately after the case was made public. Alexandrovich's criminal complaint was not fired up until a couple of days ago, almost a week-long delay. There's still a major—I haven't gotten my hands on that yet. It's still inside of the court. If anybody has access to it, please send it to me. But my point just broadly is that the special treatment that this guy has gotten already is crazy.

46:46fled to Israel. Now his lawyer is saying, well, I told him he didn't have to show up. You know, I've got some deal with the state's attorney. So everything here stinks. It stinks to high heaven. And, you know, all of the, just the, the fact that he's gone, it almost ties the hands of our justice system at this point. Yeah. Well, and it's crazy too, because in those, you know, interview notes that you were able to obtain, he's in there like, I got to catch my flight. I mean, it's not like he hit it. He's like, I've got a flight. I'm going to get out here in just a few days and still he's allowed to um allowed to leave i think last note on this and then i know soccer you've you've got to run so we'll let you go we have another piece on epstein that we'll we'll kick to the friday show that's also very interesting um they released a bunch of emails between him and a former israeli prime minister ehu barack so yeah you definitely want to just you definitely want to uh be there friday to take a listen to that but just as a reminder to everyone when this all unfolded, Netanyahu and his government just utterly and completely lied, like provably lied about it.

47:46Now, they were like, oh, there was some some issue. And then he returned. They did not admit that he was arrested. They certainly didn't admit that this was in the context of an FBI sting to to catch pedophiles who are pursuing what they thought to be young girls for sex online. So just one more indication of how they will lie about absolutely anything, even when they know that the information is going to come out and going to be made public. So to me, that's also just an extraordinary piece of this. And this guy's position in Israel, he's in charge of like cybersecurity kind of stuff. And he's out there serving the Internet, allegedly, for young girls to exploit.

48:29He created their cyber iron dome. He is the head of the, was the head of the cyber division. I mean, remember in the notes I released, he was like, hey, by the way, I'm meeting with the NSA tomorrow. You know, he's like, oh, okay, got it. I'm here for a black hat hacking conference. The information that he likely has access to on. Can you even imagine? The number of people, probably you at this point, Sagar. I mean, you know, that's part of what makes this story. I think that's the other reason why mainstream media has no interest in touching this one. Hey, Tom, bring it on, brother. All right.

49:09OK, don't say that. I don't know. I mean, at a certain point, it's like people need to stand up and to speak out. It's the worst type of crime that you could commit, in my opinion. And yeah, I mean, the fact that he's currently he's on the glide path to a slap on the wrist and everybody in Nevada just wants this case to go away. Props to the judge at the very least for saying, no, no, no, no, no, that's not how this works over here. So, you know, who knows? She has to get reelected. Wouldn't want to be her because I'm sure some anonymous donation is going to come in for some election that like 600 people vote in and miraculously, you know, something, a nice big check will hit for the opponent.

49:50But that's the way that our system works. All right, we've got Jeffrey Stack standing by. Let's get to it. Thanks, guys. I'm sorry that I, you know, things are a bit disjointed today. Just as I said, a personal matter came up. I got to head out a little bit early. But thank you, Crystal, as well, for holding down the fort. Yeah, of course. And guys, we are going to take Labor Day off. So we'll be back, Sarkar and I will be back on Tuesday. And with that, we'll get to Jeffrey Sachs. I'm Munga Shatikula, and I'm back with a new season of the podcast Skyline Drive. This time I'm diving into a rabbit hole of peptides, organoids, blood boys, blue zones, and brain replacement to try to understand what this longevity obsession is all about and what it really means to live forever for all of us.

50:32I learned about some rad science. I can make a brain for you and then we can test what draw is the best for your brain as opposed to his brain. Here's some hard truths. I would expect Indians to age faster but I did not expect to be almost a four to five year acceleration. And get myself into a world of trouble. I'd say probably start bone smashing. That doesn't work. Make it look more defined. They say it works. I don't know. Listen to Skyline Drive, how to live forever on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

51:15I'm Emily Oster. I'm an economist and data expert. And I'm Perry Wilson. I'm a medical doctor. And this is our new podcast, Wellness Actually. Because you're getting a staggering amount of health and wellness information nowadays, and some of it is awesome. And some of it is, well, actually, bullshit. Fortunately, we're both people who know how to read studies, parse data, and can tell you what's worth trying out and what you can safely ignore. Each episode, we tackle the health news of the week and then take a deeper dive into a misunderstood health and wellness topic, like... What's the deal with peptides?

51:49What's the deal with GLP-1s? What's the deal with creatine? What's the deal with cupping? What's the deal with sleep? So join us for a weekly dose of sanity. It might actually be just what the doctor. Or the economist. Ordered. Listen to Wellness Actually on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

52:12It's everybody's favorite time of year. Girls all over America are spending thousands of dollars at Love Shack Fancy, Kendra Scott, Lululemon, and going crazy on Revolve. Is your hair perfect? Is your makeup just right? Even if your feet are killing you, it doesn't matter. Your shoes have to look good. No seriously guys, it is time for Sorority Rush. Join Daisy Kent, Gia Judice, and Jennifer Fessler and the Sorority Girls with the Inside Dirt. This is the only place you get the truth about sorority life because we are telling it like it really is. Before you hit the game day and frat parties, you better listen up.

52:48Don't miss Dirty Rush every Saturday. You'll learn about the sex lives of sorority girls, confidential bid day rituals, the secrets of initiation, and we'll be live from Sorority Rush all over the country. Plus, we'll reveal what frat boys really think about sorority girls. Dirty Rush is back and better than ever. Let's get dirty. Download the free iHeartRadio app, search Dirty Rush, and listen now. To talk about the very latest with regard to Israel and Gaza, we are very fortunate to be joined this morning by economist and professor at Columbia University, Jeffrey Sachs. Great to have you again, sir.

53:23Thank you. Wonderful to be with you. Of course. So let's go ahead, guys, and put this first element up on the screen. Axios got this scoop that apparently now we've got Tony Blair and Jared Kushner involved in some sort of Trump-Gaza, quote unquote, post-war plans. There is a meeting which is set to occur with regard to this as well. What did you make of this? Well, who knows what to make of anything when Blair, Kushner and Trump get together. That is really an unholy alliance. But this is not the way to any solution right now. The way to a solution lies in immediately ending the genocide that's underway, the mass starvation that's underway, which the U.S.

54:17again denied yesterday in the U.N. Security Council, which Israel has denied, but which the whole world sees before our eyes, that at least half a million people are being starved to death right now before our eyes. And so this has nothing to do with Kushner and Blair. This has to do with ending a genocide. It has to do with creating a state of Palestine immediately. And it has to do with this absolutely fascist government in Israel being stopped by the United Nations. as somebody who follows global south politics pretty closely um including you know russia and china uh india as well now india is a separate case here um when is the world going to do anything about what's happening in gaza i think the un obviously has the united states sitting on the Security Council and will veto it.

55:26But it feels like there's been very little pressure brought to bear from the global South. And South Africa obviously took Israel to the ICC and was joined at some significant risk by a number of other countries from the global South. But that's about it. Is there no countervailing force that exists on a kind of just moral and ethical level willing to push back against this genocide in other words if the chinese and the russians don't see it in their specific national interest are they okay to just set sit back and allow a genocide to unfold is that the is that the realist politics that we live in am i too naive to expect that i'm like there's got to be somebody that's going to do something about this but there isn't?

56:17What have you seen from? I think that there are probably three arenas that we should consider. First is the battlefield itself, where Israel is mass murdering the Palestinian people. I don't expect any of the regional powers to land troops or to be in a direct war over this issue. So I don't expect Russia or China or any of the Arab countries to land troops and open a war with Israel. The second area is on the diplomatic front. Every single day, there is a worldwide condemnation of Israel, some of which gets reported in the U.S., most of which does not. The Security Council meeting yesterday was an overwhelming condemnation of Israel's genocide and starvation, but it doesn't get even mentioned.

57:24The Organization of Islamic Cooperation had a meeting in Jeddah on August 25th condemning this. That's 57 Muslim-majority countries. The BRICS condemned this routinely. China, Russia, Brazil, India condemned this routinely. It doesn't get picked up. So they don't intervene on the battlefield, but they are not sitting back or complacent or winking at Israel, but they don't do more, let's say, than condemnation. The third would be an increasing set of measures that I think should be taken. I think Israel is hoarding suspension from the UN General Assembly. I would recommend it because I believe that this is a completely lawless, murderous, genocidal regime.

58:24I don't think there's any other country in the world remotely doing what Israel is doing in terms of the violence and the mass murder and the mass starvation. So there could be Israel's suspension from the UN. This was at least raised at the OIC meeting. There could be a break of diplomatic relations, which I think should be in the cards. There could be a suspension or end of the so-called Abraham Accords. Remember, of course, I think everyone knows the U.S. military is all over the Middle East. In a way, the Middle Eastern countries often feel more like occupied countries than they do with sovereigns.

59:12They worry that if they are too vocal, the United States will do something, overthrow their regimes, foment unrest, do the things that the United States' covert operations do for a living. So I think that there is some trepidation there. But the fact of the matter is both the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and most other groups in the world, and I would say the UN General Assembly, more than 180 of the 193 countries are openly aghast. But I think stronger measures are needed right now. And these are measures that might be blocked if it's through the UN, but could be taken by dozens or well over 100 countries on their own, breaking diplomatic relations, putting on boycotts and sanctions.

1:00:07Israel is completely out of control. Mass starvation is not an acceptable policy for the world. It should not be tolerated one moment longer. And what do you make of the American politics? There's just a poll that came out yesterday. I want to have an element for it, but I don't know, and I don't know if you saw it or not, but 77 % of Democratic voters say this is a genocide. You know, I mean, it's an overwhelming consensus among the Democratic base. And yet you only have a handful of Democrats who are willing to say it. The leadership of the Democratic Party, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer and the like, are still very much, you know, anything for Israel and whatever AIPAC wants us to do.

1:00:48And look, I don't expect these people to be moral actors, but you would think at some point there would be a political calculation, like a cynical political calculation that occurs. And it's genuinely perplexing to me at this point that that hasn't happened. Obviously, I understand, you know, the money of AIPAC and their affiliates, Democratic majority for Israel, et cetera. But it still doesn't seem like that would be sufficient to keep them from seizing what is a genuine, wide open, obvious political imperative and political opening in the landscape. What is your assessment of what keeps these politicians so tied to the status quo with regard to Israel and their commitment to allowing Israel and facilitating Israel's commitment to this genocide?

1:01:34This is an excellent and very important question. And it starts with the fact that in foreign policy, public opinion plays almost no role in the United States in general. That's true across wars. That's true across almost all of the issues that we have of foreign policy. This is an executive branch, largely covert. It's very heavily CIA and national security driven rather than any publicly driven decision making. Congress is pretty much useless across the board in foreign policy and has been for a long time. Of course, the Congress is suborned by the military industrial complex to begin with, by the military contractors.

1:02:33And then there are the specific issues of Israel. So you mentioned, of course, the biggest one, which is the Zionist lobby, AIPAC and others. There's just tremendous amount of buying of votes and corruption and threats against individual congressmen. I'm sure that the Epstein files play some role in this. Epstein was a Mossad agent, and there's no doubt that there's blackmail involved in this in some way or another that we don't fully know. The CIA-Mossad relationship dates back many, many decades. Mossad does murders on behalf of the CIA. They deeply share intelligence. The CIA is the single most powerful agent of our foreign policy.

1:03:34And so this is not only the Israel lobby, because after all, by the way, the Jewish community is profoundly unhappy with what's happening. Of course, there are Jews that support Israel, but there's a vast community of Jews that is completely aghast and disgusted and also reviled at what Israel is doing because Israel claims to do it in the name of world Jewry. That is an obscenity, I would say. Israel is doing it in the face of opposition of world Jewry. So this is another element, the CIA-Mossad linkings that go quite strongly. They are very powerful in Silicon Valley right now. Palantir is the AI Murder, Inc.

1:04:31company of the world. It does the targeting. We know that Microsoft and many other companies are deeply involved with Israel. There's a lot of money in all of this. The Israeli stock market has been up during this war. So there's a lot of corruption, blackmail, campaign finance, deep state CIA Mossad relations. But I have to tell you, saying all of that, it's still shocking. It's still shocking because we don't have genocides before our eyes this way, all recorded day by day, all with the thank you of the Israeli ministers, Smotrich and Ben-Gavir, every day explaining that it's a genocide, making no bones about it, being very explicit about it.

1:05:24So your question hangs there, even after all of the explanations. It is a puzzle. How corrupt can America be? We're plumbing new depths, basically. Truly. Yeah. And while we have you, I wanted to ask you about the newest piece from you that I read that may not be the most recent piece that you wrote, but called A New Foreign Policy for Europe in Horizons magazine, taking a look at the historical relationship between Europe and Russia and envisioning a new kind of path out that doesn't involve Europe constantly invading Russia and then at the same time having this fear that Russia is going to invade them.

1:06:07Can you talk a Do you lay out this vision that you presented here and what's been the reaction to it? Basically, Russia for more than 200 years, going back to Napoleon, certainly including Hitler, including the remilitarization of Germany by the United States after World War II, in the years immediately following Nazism, and by the way, bringing a lot of Nazis to leadership of West Germany, including the new intelligence agencies led by the chief Nazi intelligence official for Hitler for Eastern Europe, Galen, the Russians said, what are you doing? Again, we just lost 27 million people. But the Western idea going back absolutely to Napoleon in his invasion in 1812, going to Palmerston and Napoleon III in their invasion of Russia in 1853, going to Germany's attack and war on Russia in August 1914, going to Hitler's invasion in 1941 and then going to the creation of this military machine of Germany after World War II, there's never been an honest moment of discussion about what a real security arrangement in Europe would be that respects Russia's security as well as Europe's, Western Europe's Russia is, to an important extent, Europe.

1:07:53But I'm talking about the non-Russian western part of Europe. And that's what has been needed all along. But the United States has refused. The British, which ran the world up until basically World War II, were completely russophobic from the 1840s onward. And then the United States took over in 1945. And our goal from 1945 onward was first to defeat the Soviet Union. And then I watched with my own eyes in shock, by the way, after 1991, that our goal continued to be, even after the Soviet Union was over, communism was over, and so forth, our goal continued to be, now we defeat and divide Russia.

1:08:40Well, eventually, after so much provocation with the U.S. being the major impetus to a coup in Ukraine in 2014, expanding NATO, dissing a peace agreement called the Minsk II agreement in 2015 and so forth, eventually it came to full-scale war. And then when it did in February 22 after, maybe you could say 180 years of provocation, or maybe you could just say 30 years of provocation, or maybe you could say eight years of provocation from the Maidan coup. Then we said, you see, Russia, unprovoked expansionism. It's unbelievable how primitive this discussion is. I once counted in between February 2022 and February 2023, I had an assistant count the number of times that the New York Times used the word unprovoked to characterize the Ukraine war.

1:09:47And it was 26 times that we were able to count that in the opinion pages of the New York Times. So basically, there's a propaganda war. Now Europe is so devoid of sense and diplomacy. Trump, this is not exactly Mr. Diplomat, there's just confusion. And the war will continue until the confusion is sorted out. So what I've been saying to the Europeans who don't like my saying it, but I'm going to keep saying it, is they need diplomacy with Russia. not through the White House. They don't have to meet Zelensky, who rules by martial law in a complete contradiction to the real interests of Ukraine and to the public opinion in Ukraine, which wants this war to end because they're suffering in Ukraine.

1:10:46The Europeans meet with Zelensky a thousand times, but they don't meet with Putin once. And this is what passes in this pathetic way for foreign policy right now. So my article is do something different. Talk directly with your counterparts. Understand that there are real security issues that need to be solved. One other thing I might add, which is almost never mentioned, but absolutely at the top of mind for Russia for more than 20 years, is that in 2002, the United States unilaterally abandoned the anti-ballistic missile treaty. From Russia's point of view, that was a threat of a decapitation strike by the United States because the idea of the anti-ballistic missile treaty was to prevent a decapitation strike by making it plain that there would be a credible deterrent, a second strike.

1:11:48But with the anti-ballistic missiles, a decapitation strike becomes a possibility. So the Russians said after 2002, you have completely destabilized the nuclear arms control framework. It's in that context that the United States was pushing missile systems in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, these Aegis anti-ballistic missile systems, overthrew the government in Ukraine, built a one million person or man army in Ukraine under Trump, by the way, who calls himself the man of peace. He armed Ukraine in the first term to a million man army, the biggest army in Europe. And then in 2019, Trump walked out of the Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty, basically destroying the nuclear arms control framework while also pushing missile systems and U.S.

1:12:52military bases up to Russia's nose. This is why we're in such a dangerous, unstable mode. And there's such lack of clarity and honesty for one moment in any of this. Trump, by the way, one of his many, many weaknesses, but one of his great weaknesses is the confusion of speaking truthfully to the American people in a speech, for example, which he never gives versus a truth social post with eight exclamation points and capital letters, which is not the same thing as trying to explain what is happening and how we get out of this. He probably doesn't have the capacity to do what needs to be done just at an individual level.

1:13:44But we lack any clear understanding. And that's why there is so much instability. and Washington is completely incoherent because there is no clarity of policy from one moment to the next. Professor, last question for me. Let's say, going back to Israel and Gaza, let's say the world does nothing and this final solution is allowed to just unfold. What does that mean for the future of the world? The world is in the most dangerous state since the end of World War II. And the doomsday clock, which portrays how close we are to Armageddon, puts the clock at 89 seconds to midnight, the closest that it's been since the clock was unveiled in 1947.

1:14:48We have no rules of the road right now. We have no clarity. We have no consistency of policy. And Western values has been exposed to mean open genocide. So I would say that we're in an extraordinarily dangerous world. And Trump, who in his delusion calls himself a president of peace, is complicit in an open genocide that the world sees. And I travel all over the world all the time. Everybody knows. Everybody knows what's happening right now. And this is a tremendous, tremendous risk to global security and to any place of the United States in the international system, which is being squandered.

1:15:48I think it's also a fundamental risk to Israel's survival. Israel banks entirely on the United States for its survival because virtually every other country in the world is aghast at the crimes that Israel is committing. And because, as you pointed out, the American people are also aghast, It's a pretty slender and fragile thing to depend on the United States when public opinion is against you as your sole source for survival. So I think Israel has put itself at absolutely mortal risk. Of course, it's mass murdering the Palestinians, so I'm not expressing that in sympathy. I'm just stating a fact that this is wildly against Israel's security interests.

1:16:42Well, Professor Sachs, it's always a privilege to get to speak with you. Thank you so much for spending some time with us. Pleasure to be with you. Likewise. Thank you. All right, guys. Thank you so much for watching today. Ryan, thank you for jumping in last minute, hanging out with me for a few of these blocks. Yeah, my pleasure. Always happy to hop on for a saga crisis moment. did he say anything crazy that we need to that we need to clean up by the way in the first hour need to talk shit about while he's not here yeah yes I don't think so I think we kept it on the rails more or less for today we can fix it tomorrow yeah yeah exactly Friday show tomorrow and then long weekend we are going to take Monday off so everybody enjoy that and then Sagar and I will be back here Tuesday everybody have a great day and we'll see you soon

1:17:58We'll see you next time.

1:18:12Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song. Well, I thought you were all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia, AAO Rewatch, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y 'all? It's your girl, Sam Jay. And we're the hosts of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from Together and iHeart Women's Sports. We're breaking down the biggest headlines. Naomi Osaka showing out. Shout out to you, Naomi. The viral moments. I've been obsessed with Kershawn Rock's boxing journey.

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