In short
A news roundup arguing the Iran conflict is escalating (hostile drones/missiles in Kuwait; threats tied to Hezbollah-held Lebanon; U.S. “declare victory” talk), while U.S./NATO financial and military posture is weakening (Dutch and French gold repatriation from the U.S.; Germany power-plant sabotage; SCO condemning U.S.-Israel strikes). It also discusses a reported Russia-to-Iran missile technology transfer and a civilian-casualty U.S. strike on a wedding.
Guest backgrounds
No episode guests are named in the transcript; it appears to be hosted by Sagar and Crystal (Breaking Points) with no specific guest interviewees.
Key claims
Iran is taking more initiative than “tit-for-tat”; blockade is treated as an act of war; sanctions haven’t caused regime collapse; allies are hedging against U.S. asset seizure; U.S. is relying on long-range, less precise munitions leading to civilian tragedies; Russia is helping Iran build supersonic cruise missiles.
Notable examples
Kuwait drone/missile attacks; Iran warning against Israeli action in Lebanon; Dutch Central Bank moving 78 tons of gold to London; SCO “Bishkek Declaration” condemning U.S.-Israel strikes; NYT analysis of a U.S. wedding bombing; Financial Times report on Russia’s C430L supersonic cruise missile program.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOHosts Introduction and Overview
0:45 to 2:12
Krystal and Sagar introduce themselves and outline the topics for the show.
“Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced.”
Iran's Recent Military Actions
2:12 to 4:10
Discussion on Iran's recent attacks and strategic military movements.
“I have an amazing show for everybody today.”
U.S. Response and Strategy
4:10 to 7:40
Examination of the U.S. response to Iran's actions and its military strategy.
“I'm just going to do the same nonchalance as Ryan Grimm.”
Economic Pressures on Iran
7:40 to 9:30
Analysis of the economic situation in Iran and its implications for the regime.
“That was a strategy that I think is relatively confusing, given their assessment and what it appears to be the case.”
Sanctions and International Relations
9:30 to 12:00
Overview of sanctions on Iran and their impact on international relations.
“Let's start with A1 also, just to show you, in the clearest sign yet, Trump is almost certain to, quote, declare victory.”
Military Leadership Changes in the U.S.
12:00 to 14:00
Discussion on changes in U.S. military leadership and implications for strategy.
“It's why during the Cuban Missile Crisis, they were like, it's a quarantine of Cuba.”
Military Strategies and Civilian Costs
14:00 to 16:53
Discussing the U.S. military strategy in Iran and its implications for civilian casualties.
“He's been one of the most like vociferous tack dogs for Pete Hegseth.”
The Consequence of Military Actions
16:53 to 20:42
Analyzing the impact of U.S. military strikes on civilian populations and the ethical considerations involved.
“Yeah, ally moment, as some people like to say.”
Holland's Geopolitical Gold Transfer
24:18 to 28:00
Exploring the Dutch Central Bank's decision to move gold bars amid geopolitical tensions.
“We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook on the Big Money Players Network.”
Gold Reserves and Geopolitical Tensions
28:00 to 31:20
Explore the implications of European nations moving their gold reserves amid geopolitical shifts.
“and transacting more than$900 billion in gold each week.”
Show all 14 chapters
SCO Declaration on Iran and Global Relations
35:10 to 42:00
Analysis of the SCO's declaration regarding Iran and its potential impact on global politics.
“And let's fit it with the SEO declaration because this was a huge deal.”
U.S. Foreign Policy and Gray Zone Wars
42:00 to 45:05
Explore the evolution of U.S. foreign policy and its reliance on assassination and sanctions.
“and the intersection between those two things as well.”
Sabotage Attacks in Germany
48:59 to 56:01
Discussing recent sabotage attempts on power plants in Germany and their implications.
“Let's start with this video and we'll put it up here.”
Tensions Escalate: Ukraine and Russia's Military Strategies
56:01 to 1:01:46
Explore the ongoing military strategies and tensions between Ukraine and Russia, including drone raids and threats to civilian aviation.
“But then don't be crying whenever a bunch of cruise missiles are going to take out a bunch of your power plants if you're going to play the exact same game.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. I'm Mange Shachikular and I'm back with a new season of my podcast, Skyline Drive. This time I talk to scientists, biopunks, curmudgeons, blues owners, super seniors, and Goa's top cryotherapy lab to try to understand this obsession with living forever and what it means for all of us. And I get into a bit of trouble along the way. 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.
0:36I survived nine months in captivity, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:10Hey, this is Hayes Davenport. And Sean Clements. We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook. Each week, we talk to someone in show business and try to help them with their careers and see what they have to offer us. Everyone has a good time and no one gets mad at their publicist for letting them do our show. We've had a lot of great guests like Sarah Sherman, Adam Scott, Danny McBride, Ben Stiller, and a lot of other big shots that wouldn't be where they are without us. Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, Sagar and Crystal here.
1:39Independent media just played a truly massive role in this election, and we are so excited about what that means for the future of this show. This is the only place where you can find honest perspectives from the left and the right that simply does not exist anywhere else. So if that is something that's important to you, please go to BreakingPoints.com, become a member today, and you'll get access to our full shows, unedited, ad-free, and all put together for you every morning in your inbox. We need your help to build the future of independent news media, and we hope to see you at BreakingPoints.com.
2:11Good morning, everybody. Happy Thursday. I have an amazing show for everybody today. What do we have, Crystal? Indeed we do. New Iran attacks overnight. Will the U.S. respond? We are waiting to see. The Dutch have decided they cannot trust us any longer with their gold, and they are pulling that gold out of the New York Federal Reserve. So that's kind of interesting. Is Russia conducting a gray war in Europe of sabotage and chaos? This comes as two German electricity generating facilities were compromised. Fame prognosticator Charlie Cook says Republicans are facing a true nightmare scenario. How bad could it get?
2:44And also Trump has decided to jump into the midterms. He's doing his whole convention. Other Republicans don't want to come. He's also up on the airwaves with an ad just about himself, thinking that that is going to be good for Republicans. Yeah, at a time when he has like a 32 percent approval rating. That ought to do it. Meanwhile, on the AI front, we've got a lot to cover here. An open AI executive and former Trump admin official is admitting that he has been downplaying some of the risks of AI and pledges now to come clean amidst some very concerning warnings. and Tucker low-key backs Abdul El-Sayed over Mike Rogers in his new interview with our own Sagar and Jetty and right-wing Republican world is completely melting down over it.
3:24Yeah, that's right. We'll play it before you for the clip and we'll show you some of the reaction. I think the full episode is out on Tucker's show. It'll probably be available on our platform soon when they send us the collaboration link. Thank you to everybody who has been subscribing to the show, breakingpoints.com and taking advantage of their free trial. Now I'm personally having a bit of a crisis. I've been doing this pitch here, Crystal. We've been trying very hard. We've been trying to get all these people to sign up. Ryan gives the most half-assed pitch of all time and shatters the all-time record.
3:53So I don't know what to do with that. I'm just going to say, go ahead and sign up, I guess, or just go listen to Ryan's pitch and listen to that. But yeah, you know, I'm just going to start borrowing from him. I'll be like, I guess we'll ramble less or whatever. So breakingpoints.com. There you go. Ryan loves to use like the low-key threat. He's like, I'll do a Calciad. I'll do him. Don't make me. We'll do it unless you sign up. Maybe that's what we should do. I don't know. Yeah, breakingpoints.com. I'm just going to do the same nonchalance as Ryan Grimm. Breakingpoints.com. Take advantage, I guess.
4:28YouTube, by the way, if you're watching this on YouTube, please hit subscribe to our YouTube channel or don't, whatever. borrowing from Ryan. If you're listening to this podcast, share an episode with a friend or don't. As Crystal said, we're going to go ahead and start with the situation in Iran. So first, we're going to start with some of the major overnight activity. A9, please, we'll put it up here on the screen. Kuwait reporting that there were some hostile drones and missiles that actually attacked them last night. This is extremely noteworthy because it did not come in direct response to any new round of U.S.
4:59strikes in the Strait of Hormuz. You also had a new declaration from Iran. Let's put A8 on the screen. Iran has warned the United States against an Israeli attack on the South Lebanese Ridge, which is currently held by Hezbollah. We'll remember in the early days of all the discussion around the ceasefire, the number one sticking point was Israeli aggression and continued occupation of Lebanon. And so Iran is returning to many of the red lines that it had set in that original ceasefire and Memorandum of Understanding, say that there needs to be a complete stop to any Israeli occupation and continued moving forward in Lebanon.
5:37So Iran's dual threat here of attacking the bases, issuing warnings against Israeli potential aggression here in Lebanon, put those two together, and you actually see a much more, I would say, strategically offensive Iran than you would have previously. This definitely also comes on the heels of, what, 30 days of no strikes between the United, or at least from the United States side, there have been a few attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. Those attacks have skyrocketed now in the last 24 to 48 hours. The continued attacks on the bases, many of these attacks included much more sophisticated missiles that were used to hit U.S.
6:15bases, not just in Kuwait, but also in Jordan. We know at least from some of the satellite imagery that some damage was made despite U.S. claims on the base in Jordan. Not a surprise considering that U.S. soldiers had been killed there previously. But I think you could put all this together. We're entering not a new phase of the war, but a more heightened return to where things previously had been. And the United States finding itself in a vice with Trump apparently this morning musing to his advisors saying, hey, maybe we'll just declare victory and move on. You're like, well, you could try, but as long as you're going to keep that blockade on, we're all in this together and Iran gets a vote in this war too.
6:50Yeah, Yeah, they're saying they may declare that the Iran war is over, even as, you know, I mean, even just a blockade is an act of war. So it is ridiculous to imagine that this thing is anywhere close to over. Unfortunately, Iran is claiming they struck not only Kuwait but UAE yesterday. They are saying that they targeted communications, aircraft hangars, troop areas and radar systems. They say they cause damage to communications equipment and hangars. You know, the U.S. hasn't said anything about these attacks. So we have no official confirmation and still too early to have gathered satellite data and have any sort of confirmation just based on the visuals.
7:24So still waiting on that. However, it is noteworthy that you had the U.S. engaging in this tit for tat approach. Iran seems to be going beyond that. Previously, it appeared that maybe they would just respond in kind and try to keep things limited as well. That was a strategy that I think is relatively confusing, given their assessment and what it appears to be the case. is that the Trump administration wants to continue to squeeze Iran, but to be able to put this conflict on the back burner going into the midterm elections. And then the expectation is that the U.S. may go back to a more forthright war footing after the midterm elections.
8:01If you're Iran, why would you just sit back and allow the U.S. to dictate the pace? Why would you play into their hands and let Trump and his administration move things forward at the pace that is convenient for them? So it would not be surprising at all if Iran is taking more initiative here. Like I said, still early indications, but we will see. I was listening to Professor John Mearsheimer this morning, and he says, yes, of course, the Iranian economy is hurting. Yes, there's gas lines. You see these sorts of things. He was speaking to a friend in Iran who was a relatively moderate individual who said, I'm kind of surprised how much damage they were able in the short term to do to the civilian economy.
8:42However, the Iranians have been able to stockpile because of the early days of the war when they were selling oil like gangbusters at our behest. They were able to stockpile enough revenue to last them through March. That's a long time from now. So the idea that the Iranian regime is close to collapse, there's really no signs of that. Is there economic stress? Yes. Can you always predict the future? No, of course not. But we've been trying to squeeze Iran economically out of existence and cause this regime to crumble for decades. And in the past several years, of course, we have upped the ante on that front.
9:17It hasn't worked yet. And yet we're supposed to believe this fiction that, oh, they're just about to crumble. This time it will be different. This time the whole thing is going to collapse. And it presumes that Iran stands alone, which it doesn't. We're going to cover in our next block the SCO, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, statement specifically condemning the United States was signed on to by India, by China and by Russia. So you have three, at least two global quasi superpowers or large powers in their own rights with very strong economies that would be able to back Iran and Russia, which militarily is already giving significant technology to the Iranians, which they are putting to great effect on the battlefield.
9:54Let's start with A1 also, just to show you, in the clearest sign yet, Trump is almost certain to, quote, declare victory. He said yesterday, now that we have it under USA control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to the Trump Strait? Like America itself, it would be, quote, hotter than ever before. It'll certainly be hot because of the bombs that are going off in it. And perhaps we should call it the Trump Strait as a symbol to catastrophic failure. In fact, I don't even know if the Iranians would object. They're like, yeah, we should call it the Trump Strait. They're like, this shows if they control the Trump straight or can disrupt things in the Trump straight for all time, that's potentially one of the best strategic victories that you could ever have.
10:33Adds another layer of humiliation onto the whole thing. And so it becomes a symbol of his defeat basically at his own hands versus the proud symbol of his ego that he would want it to be. You also have Secretary Rubio, who has been totally MIA on this conversation. He's too focused on Cuba and on Latin America. He waded into the conversation recently, again, threatening secondary sanctions on China, on India, and all of these other countries, which just stood up to the United States on the Iran question. Here's what he had to say about sanctions. Well, I don't think there's a trade deal between India and Iran.
11:07Obviously, countries all develop their own foreign policy, and many countries around the world talk to the Iranian regime. I mean, we've met with elements of the Iranian regime as well in terms of some of these discussions that have occurred, and there's been contact with them. I think what ultimately happens, though, is and the president's been very clear is no country should be helping Iran evade sanctions. No country should be out there helping them create mechanisms by which they can generate revenue that they will then use to sponsor terrorism and try to build a nuclear weapon. And if countries decide to do that, then we're going to have to sanction them, too.
11:38We're going to have to sanction them, too. Again, that is a threat directly at China as Xi Jinping is currently on a world tour and is making his way to the United States. So this is where they're at. They want to declare victory. They want to call it the Trump Strait. They want to try and sanction and crush their economy at the same time. As you very aptly pointed out, blockade is literally an act of war. It's called, it is under all definitions. It's why during the Cuban Missile Crisis, they were like, it's a quarantine of Cuba. And they refused to call it blockade for this exact reason, famously.
12:10Also, if you want to know where Trump's head is at, let's put A4 on the screen. This is from that Atlantic story. We talked about this somewhat in our Tuesday show about the Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who's decided to step down. He met with Trump, basically telling him not only about how the Iran war was a failure, but how Pete Hegseth was trying to personally take over the U.S. Army and was setting back a lot of their forward progress at attempting to move the force towards a more technological drone advanced fighting force like any fighting force would want to be after we just witnessed in Ukraine and also in the Iran war.
12:46And Trump apparently, quote, talked exclusively about his ballroom in response, causing Driscoll to resign, believing that the administration was doomed. Not great. And look, for the inevitable. Oh, he was elite. This guy was like J.D. Vance's best friend in law school, U.S. Army veteran. He's not some deep state lib. Like this is a direct Trump appointed Army secretary. Now, who's going to replace him? The current frontrunner is Sean Parnell, who is the boneheaded spokesperson for Pete Hegseth and who is really honestly the only thing that has really like come with Sean. all Sean has been able to do under Hegseth's tenure is endorse and amplify the dumbest stuff that the Pentagon has done.
13:40Parnell was reportedly one of those people behind the Pentagon crackdown, right? In terms of kicking all the journalists out and inviting all these like MAGA morons who are willing to sign away their right to even do journalism to be able to enter the building. He's one of those people who's been defending them hiring all of these MAGA influencers who in some cases were the same journalists that had served in that press corps. He's been one of the most like vociferous tack dogs for Pete Hegseth. So to have him, I mean, again, like this is somebody who Driscoll, you could make an argument at the, you know, maybe he was unqualified or whatever.
14:13This is literally the spokesperson for Pete Hegseth who they want to install as a new secretary of the United States Army. That's a serious job. One of the other alternatives is Representative Brian Mast, who literally served in the IDF. So that's where we're at, people, in terms of moving forward with the army. I mean, they want, look, the military is in, the top brass of the military appears to be in somewhat approaching active revolt from their perspective, issuing the non-concur in terms of the strategy with regard to Iran, the way that they are leaking to the press, some of the problems with the munitions stockpiles.
14:51You can see all of this as them attempting to make the case publicly. These are the tactics that they use. As Sagar pointed out last time we talked, usually these are the tactics they deploy in the press in order to try to get us into some new conflict. It is really something to see them saying, this is such a disaster, and our forces and our stockpiles are so overstretched we cannot go forward that they are now using those tactics to try to get us out of what has been a disastrous conflict. That carrier that we had talked so much about where the sailors and the Marines were suffering so greatly and that you had a number who tried to jump overboard.
15:25The food, the rash, all that was under incredible stress. They did finally make it to shore. So they are getting so much needed and a long overdue rest and relaxation. I don't know what genius sent them to Pattaya, Thailand, but that's going to be the hangover part times one million. Hoping they forget about everything that they've been through. So I, you know, preemptively, I would leave Pattaya if I were you, because that is going to be Hurricane Lincoln coming through that place. Let's put A5 on the screen if you're wondering what our Israeli allies are up to. This is an op-ed over at the Jerusalem Post.
16:03They say the war with Iran will not be won through airstrikes. So what's left? They list a number of things that they recommend for our country. Congressional recognition of minority independence, debt relief for indebted young Americans, A Beijing deal on Iranian oil are three options. But if you look a little bit in there, they also say not draft but enlistment through a debt forgiveness program. It says the average American age 13 to 34 carries more than$40 ,000 in debt. They say this is a cohort the Pentagon needs, a federally administered debt forgiveness enlistment program that fully discharges all of your loan balances after 24 to 36 years of service.
16:41And so they basically endorse, again, in the Jerusalem Post, trying to turn literal debt slaves in the United States into fodder for the wars that they want us to fight. Yeah, ally moment, as some people like to say. And I think this guy who wrote this op-ed is actually, like, Canadian. You know, he's being published in the Jerusalem Post. I don't know. There's a lot going on there. I mean, the truth of the matter is we use the precarious economic situation of Americans to sort of coerce them, financially coerce them into the military. There is why it's mostly poor and working class Americans who do end up being sent in as fodder.
17:14But to state it this explicitly of like, you know, these people are a lot of debt. You could use that to be able to. And he doesn't lay out. But the reason you would need what effectively are sort of like financially coerced conscripts is if you were going to do some sort of ground invasion. And then he begins his case by saying that, oh, we should recognize these minority break off republics in Iran again to try to collapse the state, which has long been the Israeli goal. So it makes perfect sense that this is running in the Jerusalem Post and that this is how they're thinking about things. Put A7 up on the screen.
17:46You know, in one of the last rounds of attacks, there was a wedding that we bombed with significant loss of life. There was a some sort of military post that was, I think, 150 yards or something away that we also struck. But separately, we bombed this wedding. We had denied it. New York Times did the full analysis with several partners and found bomb fragments consistent with the U.S. You know, they were able to look at the videos and all of the visual evidence. So this is case closed. This was a U.S. strike on a wedding. Of course, this adds to some of the latest civilian casualties. I also saw that we're using some new type of missile that sprays fragments everywhere, which military experts say should never be used in dense civilian areas.
18:29Of course, we did use it in dead civilian areas. This is, I guess, part of the administration's new, quote unquote, mowing the lawn strategy. So again, Israelification of the U.S. government and the U.S. military, every way that you could possibly look. Well, and even bigger picture, it is a sign of immense weakness because these, many of these missiles, we don't know the exact munition which was used in this case. But what we do know is that many of the missiles that were launched on Iran for these Hormuz attacks were Tomahawk missiles. So they were fired from hundreds of miles away. Well, why?
19:04Because remember the reason why this attack happened in the first place, first place, because an F-35 was clipped by, or potentially almost clipped by an Iranian munition. So they can't use the most advanced laser guided munitions, which are used with manned aircraft. So they have to use standoff munitions from hundreds of miles away. You can also see exactly how this all happen because unlike the Minob case where it's pretty clear like the target hit, it's just that the target hit because of what we hope is outdated targeting data, this was only 150 yards away from a communications tower which previously had been struck by the United States.
19:41150 yards is nothing whenever we're talking about hundreds of miles away missile which is being launched. So it's actually not that difficult to see how with even a minuscule error in targeting with these missiles from far away that you are able, and obviously catastrophically, you hit this tiny wedding and turn it into a horrific tragedy. So it's a sign of weakness that we have to use this type of munition in the first place that we have to fire from hundreds of miles away. And it shows how on the back foot we actually remain in terms of our logistics and our ability. And this is exactly why you don't rely on them for sustained bombing campaigns.
20:18If you actually want to do real targeted strikes, either they need manned or aircraft munition, or you would have a ground troop that was there who could distinguish between a wedding party and somebody who's manning a communication tower. So it's actually not only an immense disaster, civilian disaster that we've inflicted, but it is evidence further of how on the back foot we are that we still have to use all of these Tomahawk missiles, which we've expended almost 50 % already. God only knows where we are today. So according to the New York Times analysis, they say there were remnants of a U.S.
20:54glide bomb, a joint standoff weapon. And I was asking Claude, they said the reason to use this, they're generally cheaper than powered cruise missiles. They skip the engine. It's attractive for converting existing unguided bomb stockpiles into precision guided standoff weapons. So it fits with what you're saying. We have all of these dumb bombs. This is a way to convert this into a longer range munition. The downside of that is that you end up bombing a wedding and murdering children. So there you go. Yeah. I mean, it's really, we just glaze over these things now. You know, during Iraq, again, say what you want.
21:29Iraq, we killed a lot of people responsible for a million deaths over there. Abu Ghraib was a big story. And every time we killed civilians in this manner, it was a story. Remember WikiLeaks, the original helicopter, that was a real scandal. Nobody blinks an eye. Nobody even in Congress even says, how does this happen? I mean, they didn't even vote for this war. They're happy for this war. And we just move on from Minab, from this. We bomb these people under the guise of negotiation. Like, what are we doing here? Well, and let's keep in mind, too, that under Hegseth's leadership, he dismantled the office that was supposed to oversee avoiding civilian strikes because he thought it was like woke and Gay over the objections of a lot of senior military brass because, you know, he and so this is the I'm not saying that this is the direct result of that.
22:18It's hard to say whether this would have happened if that office was still in place. But it speaks to an attitude of we don't really care. We're not really trying to avoid collateral damage. You know, we'll we're going to casually and we now know a lot about the school strike where they triple tapped. By the way, this was not one errant bomb. They triple tapped that school. and, you know, it came out of a rush of, oh, we don't feel like double checking. We don't have time. Just grab whatever target sets we've got. It had an indication that these targets needed to be rechecked. And there's, you know, also a theory that I think is relatively plausible that this was intentional also to try to cause deep pain for the military commanders, many of whom's children were attending that school and were murdered on that day.
23:03So in any case, you know, whether it was errant or not, certainly the Iranians, it doesn't matter to them when they're, you know, picking up the pieces of their broken lives and burying their family members. Yeah. Imagine if your wedding was bombed. How would that go down? All right. Let's move on to the SEO. I'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.
23:38I 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. 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. Hey, this is Hayes Davenport. And Sean Clements.
Read the full transcript
24:21We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook on the Big Money Players Network. Our show is extremely accessible to first-time listeners. Each week, we talk to someone in show business, a.k.a. the biz, and try to help them with their careers and see what they have to offer us. Everyone has a good time and no one gets mad at their publicist for letting them do our show. We've had a lot of great guests like Sarah Sherman. Not that great. Actually, can you help me shape this? How about we flip it on his head? How about we flip the script? What if the surprise woman who actually you think is the straight man is actually the one who's acting weird?
24:57Adam Scott. This entire time, you've been expecting Adam Sandler to come to visit the show. I would never let go of that. I would never set expectations for something like that to happen. If the universe allows for something like that to happen, I'm open to it. I'm always going to accept. You know, Danny McBride, fine. Yeah, it's all this fragile masculinity exuding. I could smell it walking down the hallway, to be honest with you. I was like, is that weed? Nope. It's fragile masculinity. Ben Stiller, no. Because a lot of times, out of context, people don't get it or even know what a circle is.
25:39You know what I mean? Like, they're like, oh, what's a state? Everyone's so dumb except for you. And fake. Right, fake and also not interested or just like, oh, I've got my life. I don't care about your life. And a lot of other big shots that wouldn't be where they are without us. Oh, and by the way, Will Ferrell told us personally he loves the show and he wants to be a guest on every episode, but he's just so busy. Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If your bookshelf and your For You page are equally important to your personality, welcome home.
26:12This is Prose Society, the weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for thought daughters, pop culture obsessives, and anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island deserve the same level of discourse. I'm Eli Rallo, and every week we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and the conversations everyone can't stop having. I'm going to have to look up this story. I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. From bestselling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest pop culture moments, nothing is off the table. It's like if you can hide some real messages inside compelling characters, then that is a Trojan horse.
26:49Whether you're looking for literary deep dives, smart pop culture conversations, or a community of readers who love to think a little too much, you're in the right place. Listen to Pro Society on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you between the pages. Moving now to the SEO and just to the general reaction to the United States in the middle of this war, we're going to start with an extraordinary story coming out of Holland. Let's put this up here on the screen. The Dutch Central Bank has decided to move gold bars out of New York over, quote, geopolitical unrest.
27:30So what they say, the Dutch Central Bank has shifted 78 tons of gold from New York to London in a politically sensitive move calling increasing geopolitical unrest. The transfer follows calls from European politicians and taxpayer lobbyists to repatriate gold reserves from the United States, warning that an unreliable government under Donald Trump would otherwise seize them amid growing transatlantic tensions. The Dutch central bank known as DNB said the goal of the move was, quote, strengthen its crisis preparedness by distributing its gold more evenly across jurisdictions, moving now all of their physical bullion over to London and transacting more than$900 billion in gold each week.
28:13With this relocation, we have improved the tradability of our reserves. This also happens on the heels of France, which also removed all of its gold. I didn't even know this from the New York Federal Reserve. How do we miss that? Between July 2025 and January 2026, the governor of the French Central Bank said that the move, quote, was not politically motivated. This is all really calling back to some crazy gold situations and things that I've read about in terms of us ditching the gold standard and calls for the real physical gold. But the big picture thing is here, you have somebody who is in NATO, who is one of the, they say, the second largest gold reserve globally, which they hold, who are obviously worried about political blowback and, quote, tension with the U.S.
29:00and their own gold being seized. It is almost certain, considering the Dutch and the node that they serve in the global banking system, that this is a reaction potentially to the secondary sanctions bill that we're trying to pass with Iran and or with Russia and that they are looking at the – and again, if you watch the show, we warned about this five years ago when we were seizing all of these Russian assets that are held in U.S. courts. is we were like, look, if you seize this stuff here, which you have no right to, same with the Iranians, remember, we literally hold their money. It's their money.
29:34There's no question at all about it. How can you backstop our financial system and say that it is fair in any way if you can just steal it at whatever time that you choose? The response always was, well, we're the world's greatest economy. We can do whatever we want. And as we saw, that was true for a period of decades. But now there are alternative options, or always have been, to the point where you have two NATO allies here at this point who are like, yeah, you know what? We're done with Trump and with geopolitical. I mean, I don't have to tell you all what that means for our reserve status if we're not going to be a safe haven for gold or any assets from around the world.
30:11Literally, you can pick up a book about the end of the gold standard or even World War II and World War I, the way that we were managing the gold reserve at that time. Anytime something like this happens, it's an actual shock, a genuine shock to the financial system. And I think the truth of the matter is Western Europe was perfectly comfortable with us doing crazy and, you know, illegal things like seizing assets. They did the same thing. Well, as long as it was our official bad guy enemies. Trump is so unpredictable, though. I mean, he's, you know, doing like going to war with Canada right now and doing all kinds of crazy stuff with Greenland.
30:45And so they and constantly yelling at Europe over this thing or that thing. So they're like, OK, well, what is going to keep us safe? So now they feel like we could turn into one of those official bad guy nations to be treated the way that Russia is treated. And we can't have that. And so how has Russia been treated? Yes, we have frozen their assets and Congress literally passed a law that said we could confiscate their assets and give them to Ukraine. OK, that's that's the situation that we're talking about here. So is it crazy for the Dutch to look at that and go, you know, maybe we don't really want our gold reserves being held by you right now?
31:19No, that's a perfectly reasonable and logical response to the landscape that Trump himself has created here. 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. 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.
32:09And 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. Hey, this is Hayes Davenport. And Sean Clements. We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook on the Big Money Players Network. Our show is extremely accessible to first-time listeners. Each week, we talk to someone in show business, a.k.a. the biz, and try to help them with their careers and see what they have to offer us. Everyone has a good time and no one gets mad at their publicist for letting them do our show.
32:48We've had a lot of great guests like Sarah Sherman. Not that great. Actually, can you help me shape this? How about we flip it on his head? How about we flip the script? What if the surprise woman, who actually you think is the straight man, is actually the one who's acting weird? Adam Scott. This entire time, you've been expecting Adam Sandler to come to visit the show. I would never expect. Let go of that. I would never set expectations for something like that to happen. It seems like you did. If the universe allows for something like that to happen, I'm open to it. I'm always going to accept.
33:27You know, Danny McBride, fine. Yeah. It's all this fragile masculinity exuding. I could smell it walking down the hallway, to be honest with you. I was like, is that weed? Nope. It's fragile masculinity. Ben Stiller, no. Because a lot of times, out of context, people don't get it or even know what a circle is. You know what I mean? Like, they're like, oh, what's a state? Everyone's so dumb except for you. And fake. Right, fake and also not interested or just like, oh, I've got my pipe. I don't care about your life. And a lot of other big shots that wouldn't be where they are without us. Oh, and by the way, Will Ferrell told us personally he loves the show and he wants to be a guest on every episode, but he's just so busy.
34:10Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If your bookshelf and your For You page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. This is Prose Society, the weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for thought daughters, pop culture obsessives, and anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island deserve the same level of discourse. I'm Eli Rallo, and every week we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and the conversations everyone can't stop having. I'm going to have to look up this story. I'm obsessed.
34:43I'm obsessed. From bestselling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest pop culture moments, nothing is off the table. It's like if you can hide some real messages inside compelling characters, then that is a Trojan horse. Whether you're looking for literary deep dives, smart pop culture conversations, or a community of readers who love to think a little too much, you're in the right place. Listen to Pro Society on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you between the pages. Yeah, exactly. And let's fit it with the SEO declaration because this was a huge deal.
35:22We covered it previously on Tuesday, but we officially got the joint communique. Very similar. Usually these are very anodyne. You know, they're like, we believe in world peace and negotiations between countries. This one, not so much. Let's put it up here. So if you read the full declaration, I encourage you all to do it, the Bishkek Declaration. It's all written in English. You can go and read any of it for yourself. Let me read you directly what they say about Iran. The SCO condemned military strikes on the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which resulted in numerous civilian casualties and significant damage to the country's economy.
35:59They said U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran violate the principles and norms of international law, the U.N. charter, and create serious risk to international peace, security, and stability. Member states expressed their sincere condolences to the people and the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the tragic death of the Supreme Leader Saeed Khalid Khomeini and to the families of the victims. SCO members reaffirmed their support for sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran and advocate a resolution to the conflict solely through political and diplomatic means. Member states note that the only possible way to ensure peace and stability in the Middle East is a comprehensive and just settlement of the Palestinian question.
36:41These alone are insane statements. Not insane in the way, not insane for China to make or Russia to make. And of course, I'll point out the hypocrisy of Russia invading Ukraine. That goes without saying. It goes without saying also to say it's not a surprise that the Kyrg president is signing this. It's not a surprise that the Belarusian or the Uzbek president, but the single most important signatory to this document is Prime Minister Modi of India. Prime Minister Modi maintains very strong relations with Israel, also maintains moderately strong relations with the United States. So you just had leaders of the two most populous countries on earth could combine or one third of the global population just affirm Iranian sovereignty, condemn the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, and come out and say that this is an illegal war which is being waged on them and affirming their right to sovereignty, all while standing next to the president of Islamic Republic of Iran.
37:41So that picture is, I mean, again, zero coverage in the Western press. Shout out to Al Jazeera and a few others who picked up on this. This is a global geopolitical shifting event on the Iran question because most of the time, Iran, you know, China, even China and Russia, they'll issue a few statements. They don't really do anything about it. Well, we already know that that's not true. Russia is giving them advanced military technology. China is giving them their access to their banking system, propping up wand transactions, crypto pathways for them to fund. India is coming out and being like, we're going to keep buying Iranian oil as long as we're able to on the market and joint smiling handshake photos with the president.
38:22I mean, what this demonstrates is how much Iran has actually shaken the understanding, especially in Asia and with the world powers of U.S., not just security commitment, but to their general action abroad. And it makes them question everything to the bedrock of their own alliance structure with the United States and how they're going to pursue the future. We predicted this with South Korea. Trump is like, screw you, South Korea. I'm not going to do joint military exercises. They're like, okay, maybe we'll get a nuclear weapon now. Or the Japanese are like, I don't know. Maybe we'll go in a different direction.
38:58Maybe we'll look to the Australians. The Indians, I mean, India's number one foreign policy goal under Modi has been, we're in it for us. Cheap oil is cheap oil. We don't give a shit where it comes from. So Iran and Russia, sure, we'll keep buying it. And he calls Putin his friend. And these are all major signals being sent to us. It's worth remembering that in the early days of the Russia-Ukraine war, we really didn't want India buying Russian oil. And they're like, too bad. Yeah, they literally said, we're going to do it. It's cheap. It's good for us. We're doing it. Sorry. And what did we do in response?
39:29Really nothing. So they look at that. They look at how inept we've proven to be and how weak we've proven to be vis-a-vis Iran. And they can see they can see the way the world is shifting, the way that the world is is understanding the inherent weakness of the U.S. empire at this point. And so this is yet another sign of the times. It is noteworthy, though. I mean, they really didn't hold anything back in this statement. All the things including the, you know, we need a resolution of the Palestinian question. That's the only way we're going to have peace in the Middle East. They signed on to the whole thing.
40:01To Sagar's point, let's put this next piece up on the screen. This is highly significant. We just learned this from the Financial Times. Russia has been secretly helping Iran to develop highly advanced supersonic cruise missiles. Now, this is apparently not a brand new thing. This has been a multi-year covert program, codename C430L. It's enlisted some of Russia's most experienced missile specialists to help Iran develop a new class of weapons capable of threatening U.S. aircraft carriers and other warships in the Middle East. The main purpose, they say, is to help Iran develop a ramjet propulsion system.
40:37That's an engine that allows a cruise missile to sustain flight at several times the speed of sound. Missile and military experts said the technology was almost certainly intended for anti-ship and land attack cruise missiles. Quote, this is the transfer of a highly strategically sensitive military technology from Russia that the Iranians have wanted to acquire for decades. A program like this would require political clearance from the very top in Russia. So this isn't just, you know, sending over some blueprints. They have actually sent top scientists from Russia to Iran, according to this report, to help Iranian scientists be able to achieve this level of technological advancement.
41:15Now, we don't know whether they have succeeded yet. We haven't seen any indication that these missiles have been deployed during this current war with the U.S. and with Israel. But it is extremely noteworthy that this level of high tech knowledge sharing has been occurring from Russia to Iran. And Iran has also been very beneficial to Russia in the war in Ukraine by providing Shahid drones. So it's not that Iran hasn't had anything to offer in terms of weapons technology as well. So you could see how this is very mutually beneficial and logical relationship for the two countries. Right, and so we've covered the bond market here extensively.
41:51I know Ryan and Emily did yesterday as well. You're already seeing the global sell-off continue. And we're going to talk a little bit about data centers and AI and the intersection between those two things as well. But overall, you see a broad weakening in the U.S. financial system and architecture, which enables it to do these kind of gray zone wars that we have been doing since the end of post-World War II era. And, you know, Stephen Walt, I highly recommend. He did. He was a co-author with Mearsheimer on the Israel Lobby book. He's a longtime realist and scholar. He did a great episode with Tucker.
42:25And he talked specifically about how the post-World War II era really evolved into the United States being a nation of assassination and of like small, quote, small warfare. Like because the United States population didn't want to pay the price or actually engage in conventional war and that the CIA and the U.S. government, as evidenced by Maduro and the decapitation strike on Khomeini, we find it easier to just kill leaders and try to compel their behavior through financial sanctions. All of that kind of worked during this Cold War. There was a hell of a lot of blowback, obviously, and also even in the lead up to Libya, to Syria or any of these places.
43:03Not a ton of Americans died, but we dramatically immiserated and destroyed those states. Well, in this case, we're watching the downfall of that strategy where we kill Khomeini and the regime tightens up. We try to economically sanction Russia. Same thing. Putin is stronger today than he was before the war launch. You know, we've talked extensively amount of casualties they're willing to suffer. We try to sanction and do a trade war on China. China learns from the Russia sanctions, the Iran sanctions, and more about how to sanction proof its entire financial system from the United States and to pilot program all of these different ways they can work around us.
43:39The Indians, same thing. We try to sanction them. They're obviously still buying Russian oil or finding different pathways. Same with Iran. They're definitely not willing to buckle. And then the SEO statement, the Dutch situation, what you're watching is if we don't even have that ability to do that type of stuff anymore, then we're going to have to fall back on either no war or real war. And that's actually a good choice to be. Part of the reason why I think this inherently is a disastrous situation, which I think will be to our detriment, but will force us ultimately, hopefully, to act better in the future.
44:08But the downside to what I'm saying is it also means that after the midterms, which Trump is now openly kind of acknowledging behind the scenes or a lot of advisors, they may escalate to a ground war. in Iran just after November because then they no longer have to pay any political price. So it leaves things in a much more binary situation. And the forever war strategy can't work as well whenever you have all that architecture just starts to dissolve. Which exposes also that he's lying when he says he doesn't care at all about the midterms. Right. Because if he didn't care at all about the midterms, why would you wait for the midterms to do your next move and escalate?
44:39Yeah. The thinking at least that has been reported in the press is that they're like, oh, after November, then we've got this window between November and January before the new members get sworn in where we can just go ham and do whatever we want without any really political pushback. So if that's the thinking, then it exposes the fact that Trump does in fact care about the midterm results and how bad they're going to be for Republicans, which we'll get to in a later second. Yeah, exactly. That's right. All right, let's get to Germany. Speaking of interesting things. I'm Munga Shatikula and I'm back with a new season of the podcast Skyline Drive.
45:12This 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's 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. I'd say probably start bone smashing. That doesn't work.
45:56Make 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. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months. I survived, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files. I just remember this low, taunting voice next to my ear saying, Shut up. Don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going to hurt me.
46:41I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed, and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. They're stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
47:29lot of great guests like sarah sherman not that great actually can you help me can you help me shape this yeah how about we flip it on his head okay how about we flip the script okay what is the surprise woman who actually you think is the straight man is actually the one who's acting weird adam scott this entire time you've been expecting adam sandler to come to visit the show i i would never let go of that i have i would never set expectations for something like that seems like if the universe allows for something like that to happen i'm open to it i'm always going to accept you know danny mcbride fine yeah it's all this fragile masculinity exuding i could smell it walking down the hallway to be honest with you i was like is that weed nope it's fragile masculinity yeah ben stiller no because a lot of times in out of context people don't get it or even know what a circle is you know what i mean like they're like oh what's a state everyone's so dumb except for you fake right fake and and also not interested or just like oh i've got my life i don't care about your life and a lot of other big shots that wouldn't be where they are without us oh and by the way will ferrell told us personally he loves the show and he wants to be a guest on every episode but he's just so busy Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
48:58Turning out of Germany, we've got to keep an eye on this situation because something very sketchy is going on. Let's start with this video and we'll put it up here. Many of you might have seen it. There were multiple power plants in Germany which have now come under attempted sabotage attacks. So this is one which happened at a substation. There were bright flashes that were filmed by people who were walking nearby. The grid operator said, quote, external interference might have been likely, but this was the second such either potential attack or disruption that happened at a power plant in Germany.
49:35Let's put C2 up here on the screen. The German police have confirmed that there are two incidents which have disrupted power distribution systems in East and West were being investigated as potential acts of sabotage, with one also being examined for possible links to terrorism. They said multiple explosive devices were found Tuesday morning at a substation near a coal-fired power plant in Brandenburg. Hours later, a short circuit knocked power lines out of service at the one that we just showed you. Neither incident affected the power supply in their areas, but authorities are investigating the incidents, have not yet named any suspects.
50:14So obviously, all of us are immediately kind of flashing back to Nord Stream and to what happened with the blowing up of that pipeline. where immediately the Biden administration, the Western government, everybody just blamed Russia. It obviously turns out it was Ukraine the entire time trying to force the Europeans' hands, make sure that they could never restore natural gas ties, and create more of a situation where they do a false flag attack and kind of invite and use that as preemption for why they should get more involved in Ukraine. Now, this also comes, many people in the West did not notice this at all, but over in Europe, they're calling for Article 5 declaration over this.
50:52Let's put this one up here on the screen. Is that last month, the Germans are now saying that Russia had an attempted drone attack at Leipzig Airport. So let me read from a lot of this. The German government is blaming Russia for an attempted attack at the Leipzig Airport last month using a drone laden with explosives and announced that it would shut down a Russian consulate, among other measures. Now listen to this. The drone was found near a Ukrainian plane on August 4th, and the device was diffused. German officials said that the incident had posed a new level of danger. Moscow has widely accused by Western officials here of running a campaign of sabotage and disruption with the aim of undermining support for Ukraine and destabilizing European nations.
51:40Now, the destabilizing European nations, I will give them that. But undermining support for Ukraine? I mean, if the Russians are going to bomb surreptitiously in airport in Germany, I'm pretty sure that would have the exact opposite effect. So I'm just saying if you point to all of this and it's got all of the hallmarks of a Nord Stream operation, I'll use their language. The German interior minister claimed that the drone figuration components and explosives and detonator are known to us from other Russian hybrid operations and its war against Ukraine. and that the device pointed to a high degree of technical expertise, painstaking planning, but carrying out the plan appears to have been left to, quote, low-level agents.
52:20They have not currently specified who any of the people who did this or can prove their Russian connection. So it, of course, also invited the shutdown of a Russian consulate, which is not any small thing, right, to kick a bunch of diplomats out of the country and to stop their ability to have diplomatic services. I'm only pointing to all this because the situation in Ukraine is getting completely out of control. The West is not paying any attention. Ukraine is taking off huge diesel plants, refineries, shutting down the ability for the Russians to refine oil and even so much having to export it.
52:56It's putting massive pressure on global diesel markets. We are about 10 days off the all-time high. Within about 10 days, if nothing changes in the diesel market, we will hit the all-time diesel price high here in the United States, which is massively detrimental to inflation in the industrial sector. But also, this comes on the heels of some crazy warnings from the Ukrainians, Crystal, whenever it comes to their airspace and what they're doing over there. So we need to pay very close attention because this entire thing could erupt into a major situation. Yes, and they're alleging, put C3B up on the screen.
53:28This is from the Wall Street Journal. I took note of this. They're alleging that Russia is waging a full wave of what they call gray zone attacks. So the alleged drone operation, the sabotaging of these power plants would be part of this broader wave. They say NATO countries see Moscow's appetite for conflict increasing as it flounders against Ukraine. Russia has turned up the heat on Kiev's allies in Europe with a string of so-called gray zone activities aimed at sowing fear as it struggles to advance on the ground in Ukraine faces increasingly damaging Ukrainian drone and missile attacks at home.
54:03European authorities have linked Russia to a spate of drone incursion, acts of sabotage, cyber attacks, and other hostile actions across the continent over recent months. Worth noting that, look, I'm not saying that this isn't happening. It may be happening. It might be Russia. I mean, there is an incentive. There's also a lot of chatter in Russia right now about expanding directly into NATO countries and basically daring us to do something about it and exposing the weakness of NATO. Because do we actually think that the U.S. I mean, NATO is basically fake at this point. Is the U.S. really going to go to war with Russia if Russia actively commits some sort of active war that is undeniable in a NATO country?
54:43Very, very hard to see that we would do that. Now, Ukraine would love to have Article 5 invoked, would love and has always been pushing to get us more and more involved in this war, especially at this point, given how diminished our stockpiles are. We can't even effectively wage this war against Iran. And we're going to go and actively go to war with Russia. I mean, it's just it's complete and utter preposterous fantasy. But in any case, this is the view from Europe. They believe that Russia is engaged in this campaign of gray wave kind of like sabotage and chaos stoking within European countries, whether or not that is true.
55:19And also, even in the article, they say things that may not, even if this is a real thing, things that are not connected to it, then get chalked up to, oh, this must be Russia as well. So it becomes kind of a catch-all for their view of what is going on. So it is extremely significant here that this is the perception, at least, of what is happening here. And it might be the reality. I'm not going to put it out of bounds. Well, but that's my frustration with the Western media, as we were pointing out when we were trying to do this segment. It's not like They're the only ones who do this stuff. Zelensky and the Ukrainians blew up the Nord Stream pipeline.
55:49They assassinate generals on the streets of Moscow. They have bombed civilians. They have routinely, you know, surreptitiously infiltrated Russian terror. You can defend all of that if you want. They invaded them, right? They have the right to do whatever they want. I don't even disagree. That's fine. But then don't be crying whenever a bunch of cruise missiles are going to take out a bunch of your power plants if you're going to play the exact same game. By the way, we helped them originally to target long range missiles at Russian oil refining capacity. And now we're like, oh, shit, the oil market.
56:21By the way, Brent crude is up to almost$100 a barrel again this morning. So there's been a significant surge because of everything that's going on. But in any case, now we're like, no, no, no, no, no. Maybe we don't want you to do that. Well, too late. Now we've provided them with the assistance. We gave them the green light. They're going to continue because it's in their interest. Of course they are. And in fact, we know that we have the power to tell the Ukrainians what to do because ahead of the CIA director's flight to Moscow, we apparently called the Ukrainians, didn't tell them why. We're like, hey, no Moscow strikes today.
56:50Just in case you, oh, I don't know, blow the CIA director out of the sky. Let's put the C-4B up on the screen just to show you all what the Ukrainians are doing. This is a number of the drone raids in the Russian capital of Moscow. Multiple Russian flights were disrupted. This came on the heels of a crazy announcement, actually from Zelensky himself. Puts C4 on the screen. He writes this in English, by the way. So it's not exactly just for the Russian population. It was from Russia that the first missiles and the first drones came. They crossed our border country from Russian airsprays. This escalation cannot and will not remain confined to Ukrainian territory.
57:29Today, we want to warn every airline that uses Russian airspace, every insurer, and everyone who still uses Russian airports. Russian airspace is becoming completely unsafe. Ukraine does not threaten civilian aviation, not a single civilian aircraft. This will simply be drones in Russia's skies on a scale that's not been taken into account. Although the Russian authorities are not properly informing people about this, Russian airspace will be effectively closing. The war started by Russia is closing its skies. We in Ukraine do not want innocent lives to be lost. That is why we are warning our partners.
57:59The safe days in Russia's skies are over. It is important that this be heard by ambassadors of countries represented here in Ukraine, as well as ambassadors working in Moscow. Every one of them knows exactly what Russia's war means for our country and our people. They must convey this information to our capitals. I mean, this is basically a blackmail threat, saying we're going to put a bunch of drones in the sky, and we may shut down a civilian airliner. And if you happen to be on one of those planes and you're a civilian, it's your fault for flying anyways. To be fair, Russia shot two civilian jets out of the sky.
58:28Remember? The MH, I forget the exact, 170, I think That's what it was. So I'm not sitting here saying that they're the good guys and they haven't shot civilians literally out of the sky or killed a bunch of civilians in Kiev. But you're watching Ukraine adopt the same territory. And what we know from this is that one party in this has a nuclear weapon and one doesn't. And one party increasingly has a bunch of calls in their own security establishment saying that they want to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine or attack a bunch of NATO countries and test the bounds of their response. So all of that just combines for a very, very unstable geopolitical situation and actually unleashes even more because the Ukrainians have to be watching the Iranians, even though they're condemning them, with some awe in the ability that they're able to bring the U .S.
59:17empire to its knees. They're like, why don't we do the exact same thing here, which is fair up to a point until they actually have a population which is much more willing than ours to destroy your entire country. Well, in Russia, is this going back to the technological sharing, the tech sharing that they're doing with the Iranians, helping them to develop more sophisticated weapons and missiles? They're looking at that as a strategic opportunity for them. It's great for them if the U.S. is more and more engaged in Iran and more and more distracted and less and less capable in our weaknesses and our strategy and our tactics more and more exposed.
59:51That's great for them. So they have every interest in aiding Iran and drawing us further in and keeping us occupied there. So it should be no surprise that they are aiding Iran. Same way it should be no surprise that China behind the scenes, even though they don't want to be directly seen as being involved, appears to have been involved in as well in aiding Iran. So these are countries that are acting in their self-interest. You know, I still think the the trip from the CIA director to Russia is an extraordinary event. And we don't know what exactly was said. We don't know what intelligence they were looking at that caused that trip to be made.
1:00:27But that should be seen as an extremely significant event. And it comes amidst all of this chatter that I was discussing before that Russia is considering striking in NATO country, that there's even some discussion of Russia deploying a quote unquote tactical nuclear weapon in the context of this war with Ukraine, perhaps in Ukraine or perhaps in NATO country. So is that the intelligence that caused the CIA director to fly to Moscow and have this extraordinary meeting? We don't know, but it is something to pay very, very close attention to. I agree. And look, we'll continue to see, like you said, we do know at least of the CIA director meeting.
1:01:03Trump dispatched him on such a secret mission that even senior members of the NSC had no idea that the CIA director was in Moscow and that they found out on social media whenever somebody spotted a C-47 going over the Baltic. They were like, what the hell is going on? Look up in the sky. There's no way in the world. What did Trump say? He was, quote, semi-routine. No, it's not. It's the first flight of a CIA director to Moscow before the Russian invasion. So there's something. There's certainly something that's going on behind the scenes. And then Putin immediately going to the SCO and condemning the Iran actions, not changing his behavior, using a bunch of ballistic missiles to murder a bunch of civilians in downtown Kiev.
1:01:43Not exactly a change in any of his behavior either. So with all that, let's get to the midterms. I'm Mange Shatikular, and I'm back with a new season of my podcast, Skyline Drive. This time I talk to scientists, biopunks, curmudgeons, blues owners, super seniors, and Goa's top cryotherapy lab to try to understand this obsession with living forever and what it means for all of us. And I get into a bit of trouble along the way. 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.
1:02:23Hey, this is Hayes Davenport. And Sean Clements. We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook. Each week, we talk to someone in show business and try to help them with their careers and see what they have to offer us. Everyone has a good time and no one gets mad at their publicist for letting them do our show. We've had a lot of great guests like Sarah Sherman, Adam Scott, Danny McBride, Ben Stiller, and a lot of other big shots that wouldn't be where they are without us. Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I survived nine months in captivity, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them.
1:02:58I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.
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