BREAKING: Russia Plans War Drills off Irish Coast

This is Jay Sekulow breaking news Russia planning war drills off the coast of Ireland. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Jay Sekulow.

Thanks for listening. And if you saw the news at all this morning, you saw that the United States President Biden is considering deploying troops, military troops, to some of our allies in the NATO countries in the vicinity of Ukraine. This comes as Russia is holding what the Irish government has said is an unwelcome live fire naval drills off the coast of Ireland. Russia is planning to hold war games about 150 miles off of Ireland's southwest coast. Next month, that is in their economic zone, Ireland's economic zone. Live drills will be staged in an area that are considered international waters.

But, as you see from this map that we have up on the screen right now, but it is still within Ireland's exclusive economic zone. Ireland's foreign minister says the drills are not welcome. This isn't a time to increase military activity and tension in the context of what's happening with Ukraine, which of course is precisely why the Russian government is doing this. And now, the failure of the diplomatic initiatives that were undertaken this last two weeks, but even last week, the failure of those initiatives has resulted now in an escalating situation requiring that we are going to have to put, it looks like, troops in the Balkans and in that area.

You're shaking your head no, Jordan. Well, I think that the American people don't support this and there's a big reason why. No one has sold it to us. No one has told us why we need to put our men and women, young men and women, in harm's way of Vladimir Putin's Russian military to protect Ukraine. No one has, Joe Biden would need to be outgoing for weeks to explain something because they talk about 1,000 to 5,000, but then they say it could be increased tenfold. That's 50,000 potential U.S. troops entering into this potential engagement. Now, if it's one thing to try and scare Russia off, that's one thing, but you got to start explaining this to the American people, massive U.S. troop movements. I don't believe there is support for this military action. There's not support for Russia. I'm not saying that you're pro-Russia. I'm saying there's not support to put U.S. troops in harm's way. Why not instead get NATO ready, but he couldn't get them on board, and why not heavily arm the Ukrainians?

Maybe because you don't trust them. Yeah. So, you mentioned the NATO situation. So, Andy, you looked at this and you said, you're right off the coast of England, too, with the United Kingdom.

You are. I mean, you're 150 to 300 miles off the coast of Cornwall in the United Kingdom. Our greatest ally, believe me, in the world, perhaps next to Israel, is the United Kingdom.

And here we are. I feel like I'm in Europe in 1938, Jay, if you really want to think about it, with a massive troop buildup and the audacity of Putin to have these war games off the coast of Great Britain is very scary. Yeah, and Harry, when they talk about it being within Ireland's economic zone that these war games are going on, what does that mean for Ireland's economy?

Well, it threatens Ireland's economy and indirectly it threatens the European community. And this is precisely as Putin designed it. In effect, Putin has accepted President Biden's audacious invitation to engage in a minor incursion in Ukraine. So, in other words, this is President Biden's translation of Neville Chamberlain's acceptance of peace in our time. The fact is, this is also evidence of a catastrophic failure of diplomacy. And remember what was said by the Secretary of State last week, Blinken, this wasn't negotiations. These were discussions. There is no fear.

There is no power being shown. I mean, putting troops there I think is probably the wrong direction, but I'm not the expert on that. Rick Grenell's going to be coming up. He'll talk about that.

But it does show you the nature of how this has escalated as we're about to go into the Olympics. Folks, we want to take your calls as well and your questions about this. Again, a potential massive U.S. troop buildup in the Ukraine region and certainly the surrounding area. 1-800-684-3110 to talk to us on air.

Why is it the Democrats always getting us into war? Answer that question, of course. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms. That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org where you can learn more about our life-changing work.

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Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. Joining us right now is our senior advisor for international and who could be a better expert than this is Rick Grenell. Of course, the former director of national intelligence served as ambassador to Germany. Rick, we've got Russia now doing live munition war games, war practice off the coast of Ireland. We have Joe Biden talking about sending troops to our NATO allies.

We have, again, when I say the Russia holding, very unwelcome by the government of Ireland, as you can imagine, because it's in their economic zone. NATO members are talking about sending frigates. You've got Spain is sending ships to join NATO naval forces.

France has expressed, quote, its readiness to send troops to Romania. The Netherlands is sending F-35 aircraft to Bulgaria. I mean, you talk about a failure of diplomacy on a grand scale. In five days, this is what's happened. Yeah, I mean, look what's happening in the UAE. We've got another crisis going on where Houthi rebels overnight were bombing, trying to launch missiles at Abu Dhabi. Look, the Biden administration in the last year has really taken stable regions and really created instability and chaos. I'll add to your Ukraine analysis, Jay, the fact that the Germans, who got a pipeline from Russia and who probably are part of the problem here because they've been encouraging Russia and been too close with Russia over the last several years, are now undermining NATO allies like Estonia and telling them that they cannot send hardware, military hardware, into Ukraine.

Think about that. The Germans, who aren't in pain, are in trouble with Rick's feet. Yeah, and that was astonishing. And I've seen Rick hosting Newsmax. He did a great job this morning there talking about these issues.

The fact that you've got Western European countries preventing other Western European countries because, oh, that was our hardware that we sold to you, so don't sell that hardware, don't give that to the Ukrainians. And at the same time, when we reconnect with Rick, have we reconnected with Rick? Rick, this idea, too, we were just talking about the first part of the show, that we could be looking at 1,000 to 5,000 U.S. troops and then maybe up ten times that, tenfold, so up to 50,000. I mean, to justify that kind of U.S. troop movement, you would think the President and his entire team would be out there selling this to the American people about why are we putting our men and women potentially in harm's way when we haven't armed the Ukrainians the way we could have. Looks like he's frozen out.

Yeah, okay, we'll check with it. Well, that is the point. So the point is, we had this week of non-diplomacy, which is what it was, Andy, non-diplomacy, they tried these discussions, they said it was not negotiations, so Putin is flexing his muscles in an incredible way, and NATO is now totally helpless, it sounds like, I mean, or totally disorganized. It's exactly what, unfortunately, President Biden said last week. NATO was conflicted, Rick, that's what it sounds like. Yeah, and look, I think that's the goal of Putin all along. What he really wanted was to really separate NATO, to send a strong message that NATO should not be growing, right, there was discussion about adding Ukraine to NATO, and now Putin is sending a very clear message that NATO should not become stronger, NATO should be weaker. That is the goal of Russia, and I have to say, I believe that Putin has won here. Putin has successfully made NATO weaker, they certainly have propped up the German position that nobody should be supplying weapons to Ukraine, that it's okay to not pay your NATO bill and your obligations of 2% of your GDP.

This is exactly what Putin wants, is to weaken NATO, and he is successfully doing it, sadly. By the way, there's also a report, and this is troubling also, Rick, that Open Doors, which is a mission organization, has said that Afghanistan is now the number one danger spot in the world for Christians. The number one, according to Open Doors, Afghanistan, which we had pretty significant control of six months ago, and now it's, for Christians in Afghanistan, rated the worst in the world. And I look at these pullouts, and you wonder, what is going to happen bad next? Because Afghanistan's a disaster, we've got ships and military activity going off the coast of Ireland.

Okay, let's think about this for a moment. NATO conflicted on what to do, a President's inviting Russia in for at least some incursion, and the world is sitting there thinking, what's going to happen next in the United States? Sure doesn't seem to be a reliable partner in any of this. Well, look, I don't think that you can underestimate Joe Biden's announcement that getting 90% of the Americans out in Afghanistan was good enough. What he really messaged for the world was that America isn't able to get 100% of their people out, we're going to leave 10% behind, but 90% is enough. That debacle sent such a strong message of weakness around the world, that it's going to be a very long time before we recover.

Now look, I have to bring this up again, Jay. Abu Dhabi is being bombed by the Houthis. There have been multiple missile rocket attacks overnight, and now the UAE is responding back with F-16 strikes. This is a region where we were just a year ago touting the fact that we were moving toward peace, the Abraham Accords, and now we have total chaos in this region, yet another region. I don't see how anyone can say that the Joe Biden administration on their foreign policy knows what they're doing.

Well, the Houthis, Rick, under the administration you served in, under the Trump administration, they were listed as a foreign terrorist organization. The Biden administration lifted that designation, which then allows their allies to provide them resources without fear of the U.S. sanctions. Our Arab allies see this as a total disaster. They see this unraveling because of Biden's weakness. I think that when you look at our allies in Europe, they wanted Joe Biden to win, and now they're very nervous about his policies.

You know, I think about all of this in this context. Afghanistan, a disaster. The Houthis now in the UAE.

Okay, being able to even pull this off should be scaring everybody, the fact that they're doing it. You have Russian live military exercises going on, Andy, off the coast of Ireland and Great Britain, inside Ireland's economic zone, and we had a week of not negotiations. This is exactly what Joe Biden's, this is what Antony Blinken said, Secretary Blinken said. He said it was discussions.

Obviously not very fruitful. No, it's obviously the failure of diplomacy. And where have we heard that term before? The failure of diplomacy. Again, I come back to what Professor Hudson alluded to, Chamberlain.

I can't, as a historian, forget 1938. This is the kind of appeasement, this is the kind of unstable, this is the kind of pusillanimous, weekless, feckless action that results in invasions and wars and rumors of wars. All right, Rick, you have served at the UN for 10 years. You have been our ambassador to Germany, a G7 country. You have served as Director of National Intelligence. You are now our Senior Advisor on Global Affairs.

Let me ask you this question. What kind of point are we at right now? What's the danger point right now? The danger point is that powers like China and Russia are smelling weakness that they're going to move on other areas, and that our friends and allies are going to have to face the music of tilting towards Russia or China and away from the United States.

This is going to be economically disastrous as well as national security chaos and concern. And Jordan, that's exactly what you said, the situation with NATO fighting with each other on ammunition. Yeah, like Rick was saying, Rick, when you were kind of, I wonder, just having the opportunity to say one time, Germany sold weapons to Estonia. They told Estonia, those weapons that we've sold you or provided you, you cannot provide to Ukraine.

Now think about that. This is a NATO ally who doesn't pay their own NATO obligations, Germany, now undercutting the NATO concern that Russia is on the march through Europe. A possible land war in Europe and a NATO member, the largest economy in Europe, is undercutting NATO in multiple ways.

They're not paying their obligations. Now they're telling other countries, don't arm Ukraine as Russia is on their border. Look, I don't think it's too much to say that we need to reevaluate whether or not the German actions are good for NATO and whether or not we need to call them out for it.

Alright, Rick Grinnell, Senior Advisor to the ACLJ, where we're hearing a lot from you over the days ahead. Very, very tenuous, very dangerous situation right now in Europe. I mean, unbelievably so, over the weekend. And then of course you add UAE to it, as Rick mentioned. Ireland, facing Russian military action, was considered a military exercise, but in their economic zone, as Professor Hutchinson said, that causes economic concern for Ireland. All this is taking place simultaneously, it's unbelievable. Catastrophic failure of negotiations and diplomacy. And of this administration, I mean, whether it's domestic failures at home or foreign policy failures abroad, they just keep adding up. And it's like, how much more can the world take? How much more can Americans take?

I mean, think about those young troops who are being deployed right now, not even sure what they're being deployed for. Be right back on Secular. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected, is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, a play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. The challenges facing Americans are substantial. At a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack, it's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights, in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. And we have an exceptional track record of success.

But here's the bottom line. We could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today. ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Secular. We are taking your phone calls as well, your comments on Facebook too.

1-800-684-3110. You've got time now to get your phone calls in. I mean, so we were talking on Friday on the broadcast. We were not talking about U.S. troop deployment. I mean, we were talking about the potential of this military action between Ukraine and Russia and how NATO should be involved in U.S. sanctions. Now we're talking about U.S. troops. But this is a total – I mean, we were talking about this in our meeting. It's a classic Democrat. Yeah, it is. I hate to say that, but it's true. More bloodshed, more troops killed, more uncertainty.

But here's the giant concern that I have. You had Antony Blinken's emergency deployed over to the region, right? You had the President the week before had conversations with Vladimir Putin.

You got Wendy Sherman, who I can't even believe she's the one that's doing these negotiations, which you see what you're getting. And then you had Blinken, the secretary of state, say, well, actually these weren't negotiations. It wasn't really diplomacy. It was discussions. And the response to the discussions is we may have to deploy 50,000 troops to Europe to get ready for what?

I mean, think about this for a moment. Let's take a phone call. Robert's calling from Maryland. Hey, Robert. Welcome to Secular. You're on the air. Yeah. Hello, Jordan.

Hello, Jay. I wanted to ask both of you and the other members of the ACLJ team, if Russia decides to invade the Ukraine, what would be the United States' response to that? And what are the implications if they were to invade the Ukraine for the national security implications of America? In other words, does this directly affect our national security with Russia if they were to invade the Ukraine? Well, it weakens our standing in the world because we've said to the Russians, don't do this or else. So if they do it, then certainly it weakens our standing. Now, what's the direct impact to Ukraine and the U.S.? I don't know if it's that direct, which is why I'm concerned, Robert, about 50,000 potential young men and women, Americans, being deployed over there because we haven't been explained.

And no one can explain why is this in our interest to actually lose blood over this. There's one thing to say, hey, we're going to pressure, we're going to use NATO troops to an alliance to try and pressure Putin not to take this move. I will say this. What is Russia looking for? Rick has said this.

Mike Pompeo said this. They're really looking for one area specifically first, and that's Odessa. Odessa is a port on the Black Sea. They've already got Crimea.

They didn't take that up. And then Ukraine has very or no access anymore to international – to get into water. Which isolates them. Yeah, it's also, I think, this is in a sense the re-establishment of the former Soviet Union. They are looking to build block here, Harry. This is more property, more land mass. That's what they're doing here. I think that is precisely correct, certainly with respect to Russia.

But I would add another factor. Russia, China, Iran and the Taliban are equipped with something that apparently the Biden State Department is not equipped with. And that is the ability to look two, three, four steps ahead. And so the Biden administration is always playing catch-up. So basically what we are witnessing right now is something that I would call Joe Biden's ball of confusion. Which is grounded in equal parts incompetence and spinelessness as the Biden State Department careens out of control, sending the U.S. stock market all the way down. Afghanistan is a disaster. U.S. energy is now more dependent than ever on Russia. China is on the march.

Ethnic genocide is rising. Taiwan is in the crosshairs of China. And what is Biden prepared to do? He's prepared to offer a diplomatic boycott of China. I can imagine the Chinese government, they are just shaking in their boots as they join the dance floor. Yeah, you know what they are looking at? China is looking at does Russia do something in the middle of the Olympics.

What a distraction that is from China's otherwise disaster called the coronavirus pandemic that they have unleashed on the world. Wes Smith is joining us, Lieutenant Colonel, excuse me, full colonel, Colonel Wes Smith is joining us. And Wes, this talk about American troops being deployed, which has Jordan and me, everybody very nervous in Europe.

These are the trigger things and you're thinking what in the world is that going to end up looking like? It's not like we don't have thousands of troops in West Germany, in Germany. Right, we have troops stationed there, but any time you put troops in a position like this, especially if it's done very quickly, it's not well thought out, it's your third or fourth resort of how you're dealing with this crisis, there's always the potential for an accidental shooting war starting. But here's the thing, President Biden has gone from doing too little and not standing up to Putin and the bullying there to doing too much. Think about what happened in Afghanistan when we had 13 service members killed. He went from a total debacle of withdrawing troops and then in order to try to appear strong, they do an airstrike and end up killing nine or ten innocent civilians in a van.

You know, he sort of waffles all over the place. Putin is calling the shots here. This is very complicated. It is very dicey and I'm with you all. I do not understand why there's the potential of sending 50,000 troops to Europe. The only time you really deploy troops is if you're willing to start a shooting war, to go there and to fight. Those 50,000 troops are not going to be a deterrent to Putin's aggression if he thinks that Joe Biden ultimately is not serious and is not going to do anything. And I don't think President Biden is serious about taking any strong action. He can even get Germany to get on board to help us do sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Well, here's, first of all, I don't see how, we're not going to get, getting into a military shooting war with Russia would be catastrophic, okay?

I mean, catastrophic. But here's when Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State said, this is what Antony Blinken said yesterday. If a single additional Russian force goes into Ukraine in an aggressive way, as I said, that would trigger a swift, a severe and a united response from us and from Europe across the board. We're prepared with Europe for a swift and calibrated and great united response.

We're looking at every single scenario, preparing for every single one. Yeah, except that's not true. We already know that there's not going to be a united response, even within NATO, from Europe in this. George has been talking about that.

That's the problem with this. It's like history repeating itself. It is history repeating itself and it's history repeating itself in a devastating way. Look, the United States is on the run.

That is a terrible statement for me to have to make in the year 2022. The United States of America is scared and on the run because of a feckless, gutless, incompetent dotard as commander in chief who makes a statement, okay, a minor incursion, and then tries to walk it back unsuccessfully. And Putin, who is the new czar of Russia, says, I know exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to have war games near England. I'm going to amass my troops all around the border of the Ukraine. And what are the Americans going to do? They're going to send troops to the neighboring countries. Do you think they'll ever get in a war? Public opinion, as Jordan said, in the United States is not going to permit that to happen. So we're going to have another nuclear, we're going to have another shooting war like Afghanistan. I thought Jay got us out of Afghanistan.

Didn't he say that that's what he wanted to do? Of course, he left a few people in there like 10%. Yeah, the number one most dangerous country in the world for Christians. And by the way, all this is happening, of course, in the stock market is only down over a thousand points. Why? Instability. Instability brings insecurity within the stock markets. This is what elections' consequences are. And like Jordan said, we don't even know the beginning of this yet. No, I mean, Tony on YouTube wrote in, how do you think the servicemen and women are feeling being deployed, especially after how Biden handled the Afghanistan debacle? You know, I mean, listen, you've got to, if you're going to start deploying mass amounts of US troops, that's even in your mind, 50,000 troops to Europe. You've got to explain it to the American people. You've got to explain it to those troops. They haven't, as of Friday, it was economic sanctions and minor incursions. Now it's up to 50,000 US troops in harm's way. Why are we shedding our blood for the Ukrainians? Why is that not being explained?

I don't think there's a good answer. Be right back. Where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today.

Keep you informed and engaged. Now, more than ever, this is Sekulow. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow. We are taking your phone calls to 1-800-684-3110. Do you have a daughter or son who serves in the US military?

Do you serve in the US military? You know, you're hearing this news about, there's one thing about 1,000 troops being deployed to a region. I don't think that's even necessarily news.

But when you talk about 5,000 and then tenfold gets utilized, well, that's 50,000 potentially. And how would they be utilized if they are surrounding Ukraine? Would they be in harm's way? Or is this just trying to be a deterrent? The administration not explaining this. All we've been told by the administration is that talks are failing, diplomacy is failing, NATO is in shattered pieces, so they are not unified. Because as Rick said, Russia, I mean, Germany is not allowing Estonia to provide Ukraine with weapons that were German-made and given to Estonia, so they're breaking. That, again, shows a major problem inside not just the EU, but NATO as well.

But I want to hear from you. If you are in the US Armed Forces or a family in the US Armed Forces, you're probably still, like we are, upset about Afghanistan. This is even tougher to explain because at no time throughout the talks about Ukraine, even going back to the days when Crimea was annexed by Putin during the Obama years, there was never discussion, I don't recall any discussion, about amassing US troops to potentially engage the Russian military.

I mean, think about that for a moment. Is that where Joe Biden has taken us? Where we are literally talking about this not as a joke, but as a potential that they have led out into the media about US troops engaging with Russian forces? I mean, has the world fallen that far under this kind of leadership that quickly? Because they are so unimpressed and not scared, not threatened, by the United States. So all of you said, oh, Donald Trump, his rhetoric was too tough, too scary.

Yeah, it worked. Those guys, people like Putin, couldn't predict him. And those are FSB guys, also communist type guys.

They need people they can predict. And most people are pretty predictable. But he wasn't Trump. One day he could be your friend, the next day he could cut you off in the US economy.

But he did that in Turkey to get Pastor Bunsen back. If you messed with the US, he was very clear about that, and our allies. People have been talking about the potential of World War III, the American people don't support it. No one wants to see Russia going into Ukraine a sovereign country. We should have NATO allied, we should have sanctions ready, but we don't want to see US troops battling Russian troops.

There should be in 2022? No, there should be, Harry, economic sanctions that are significant enough that Russia would be afraid to do what they are apparently getting ready to do. Including, by the way, not having them do live munition training military exercises off the coast of Ireland. I think your analysis is spot on, but before you can have economic sanctions, you need to have leadership, and you need to have strong leadership. And the Biden administration, in my judgment, is incapable of delivering a strong leadership. So essentially, the Biden administration has fallen like Humpty Dumpty, and it cannot get up. It cannot right itself, and President Biden is unwilling to get rid of the incompetence in the State Department and in the military who are continuing to give him bad advice. He doubles down on it, Harry.

He promotes them. I think that is correct, but it would be very helpful in the next 24 hours if Joe Biden could do something for himself, which is to grow a spine. One disastrous move here, one wrong move again, Andy, could have devastating consequences.

It could be a powder keg, and I'm very serious. I'm not meaning this to be an alarmist, but when you're sending United States troops to Eastern Europe, and you've got Russia on one side and the United States and troops on the other and the Ukraine in the middle, it reminds me of a very bad thing that happened in the Middle East, and that is war. Again, there's a lot to talk about. We want to take your calls too. Officially, if you've got family in the military, your thoughts on this latest news about deployment of U.S. troops to this region? 1-800-684-3110 to talk to us in the air.

That's 1-800-684-3110. The challenges facing Americans are substantial. At a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack, it's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights, in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena.

And we have an exceptional track record of success, but here's the bottom line. We could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life-changing work.

Become a member today. ACLJ.org. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, a play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. Welcome back to Secula. We're going to get to your calls.

I know a lot of people are calling in right now, 1-800-684-3110, especially if you have family members or you are active military. Again, and you're hearing this news today that was never part of the news until this weekend and really this morning. That they're considering sending a massive amount of U.S. troops, up to 50,000 potentially, initially maybe 1 to 5,000, along the Ukrainian border. And would that put them in directly harm's way with engagement with Russia?

I mean, think about the Belarus and these other countries that are assisting Russia. But I want to take you back to February 2020. This is what Joe Biden tweeted.

Think about this for a moment. Vladimir Putin doesn't want me to be President. He doesn't want me to be our nominee.

If you're wondering why, it's because I'm the only person in this field who's ever gone toe-to-toe with him. The last time he was in an administration, vice President, that they went toe-to-toe with Putin, Crimea was annexed. The world was on fire. I mean, remember the Arab Spring they supported that just turned into the ISIS and radical spring? And all of the, again, the surge in terrorism?

So this idea, Rick's talked about it, Mike's talked about it, we've all talked about it. Was it, oh, he was the stabilizer that's going to really scare Putin? No, it's the people like Trump that scare Putin. It's not the guys who ultimately end up getting more Americans killed like they did in Afghanistan. No, so I wanted to go to Colonel Smith on this because the sending over the troops west does what here?

It doesn't really do anything. You know, Putin is very clear-eyed, he's aggressive, he knows what he wants, and his tactics match his strategy. And that is to fragment and divide NATO and Europe and increase the Russian sphere of influence and their borders. President Biden doesn't seem to have a clear strategy and therefore his tactics are also all over the board.

And Jay, as you and I have said before, weakness or even perceived weakness on the part of an adversary, it invites them to push you and to be aggressive. You know, I use this quote often about Benjamin Disraeli when he was the prime minister of Great Britain and he said we're dealing with Russia, you've got diplomacy, but it better be with power. Diplomacy is war is what he talked about. And here, and we talked about this again in our prep meetings for today, this has been a total diplomatic failure. If you can even call it diplomacy, and I'm not sure you can call any of this diplomacy, Harry, it was like they were just talking.

I think your analysis is spot on. Essentially what we are witnessing with respect to the Biden administration and their so-called diplomacy is choreographed confusion. They don't know what the first step is with respect to proper diplomacy. That requires having some principles. It requires having some guts. It requires having leadership. And Biden doesn't know what he believes in from this day to the next.

Yeah, but you also have to have buy-in by your partners and your allies. And they leaked out yesterday, last week rather, on purpose, they put out there on, think about this folks, they put out on purpose in the statements from President Biden in that ridiculous two-hour press conference that there was disagreement within NATO. So now the whole world gets to hear that, including the Russians.

He put that out. Intentionally said there is disagreement within NATO on how to respond to this. So what do you think that does for our allies? So it's more confusion and emboldens Putin. Yeah, I mean this, again, I think that what we all have to understand here is that we have an administration that has gotten us, and they're like the administration like the Obama years.

There was a lot of war, a lot of bloodshed, and a lot of new violence. And I think we're seeing that yet again right here with this potential in Europe. I mean who would have thought, again, no one likes the Russian aggression. But I guess the sanctions that they talked about don't exist. There's not enough that the U.S. can do unilaterally, they believe, that would prevent the Russians from actually going into Ukraine. So they can't get NATO on board.

So what is their plan? Well, instead of saying Europe, deal with it, which is kind of how I feel about it at this point, because if the Europeans won't get on board because of Nord Stream 2, and by the way, the Democrats who failed to sanction the Nord Stream 2 pipeline vote, they filibustered that in the U.S. Senate. You've got the Germans dictating to other countries how to use their weaponry because it happened to be German-made, and they don't want to be involved. You know what, how would the Germans like it if the U.S. just said, let's get out of Germany.

We don't need Ramstein anymore. Let them deal with Putin themselves. Because guess what, he'd be right on their back door like he is.

Own them economically, which he already does. And suddenly, let the world burn, without us in the middle of it, for once. Why do we have to be in the middle of it? These Europeans don't really want us there.

Let's be honest. Make them beg until we show up. Europe is rearming, folks. Europe is rearming Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary. But Andy, look what they're sending.

This is a scary, scary signal. Netherlands are sending two F-35 fighters, okay? Denmark is sending a frigate, an entire frigate. Spain says they're going to send ships to join NATO naval forces, and sending a fighter jet.

That's very helpful. Okay, so what Jordan's saying is NATO doesn't – and Fine let this out, which was, I think, ridiculous. But unfortunately, Wes, probably true. NATO's lack of togetherness, unity here, is a big sign of weakness.

It is. And here's the thing about NATO, though. Our strongest partners in NATO are the countries in Eastern Europe, four of them that used to be part of the Soviet bloc. Those allies are aggressive, they're pro-American, they're ready to follow our lead. That's why I think – it sounds a bit radical – we should take the 35,000 troops that we have in Germany and move them to Poland, because Poland has our back, they have NATO's back. It's time to quit playing softball with Germany. If they've asked us to, I'd say, you know, invite us in.

Because right now I feel like we're staying up, we're going to show up, we're going to put 1,000 here and 1,000 here, 1,000 there, 1,000 there. I would like the Germans begging us right now. I would like the UK begging us to send troops. Or else, no troops. Zero US troops should be involved in Ukraine and Russia.

Zero. Because the deeper part of Ukraine and Russia is all about Nordstrom. It's all about gas and economics.

And here's the problem. Joe Biden let this happen. He let it happen when he shut down our energy independence here, Harry, and made us dependent upon the world again.

We were energy independent under the previous administration. And you can rant and say Donald Trump was too aggressive and he sent out too many tweets and all this. We were not facing a World War III.

I think your analysis is spot on. And listen, I know there's – sorry – I know there's people saying, oh, I can't believe he's saying that because, you know, all these horrible things that had happened under Donald Trump. And here's the truth. We were not in a world war. The things that happened under Donald Trump happened in other administrations too. What happened in a speech on January 6th was horrific.

But this is at a whole different level. We're talking about 50,000 US troops to Europe. That does never end well for the United States, Harry.

I think that is correct. And I think it's important to put on the table the fact that the adoption of a so-called climate change agenda amounts to a program for deliberately weakening the United States militarily and in terms of energy independence. And so President Biden essentially welcomed Russia to increase their imports of oil to the United States.

And what did that do? It gave Russia additional leverage and additional dollars so that Putin can now spend that money on building up his military in northern Europe. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said today that invading Ukraine would be a painful, violent, and bloody business for Russia.

Why doesn't Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, turn around and say, Prime Minister of Great Britain, and say, you know what? Get Russia, do something right here. Get your ships and your live ammunition tests off the coast of Ireland inside their economic zone.

How about that as a start? Or we're going to, right. I mean, it's not like the UK does have the weaponry to take out every one of those vessels pretty quickly. I mean, the truth is we're letting Russia act like the superpower. Have you looked at their weapons when they amassed them on the border?

They're a Cold War era. So we've provided the weaponry to Europe to take them out. Let them do it.

Let them do it. They've got the weaponry, and if they don't have the ability to do it because they're weak and they become these anti-military, anti-action countries, well then so be it. Because no one has come on TV to explain to the American people from the Biden White House why it would be worth risking a single US life to protect Odessa. I can give you reasons why Russians want Odessa, but what is it worth to the US? Is it just because Ukraine is not part of NATO.

Nope. They had a pretty rough government there before the latest government there, which is led by a comedian. Let's not forget that. And the former government was led by a Putin ally. So it's not like we have some longstanding relationship that things have been great between the US and Ukraine. So explain that, but you can't just do it. I mean, just sending over troops and talking, when you start talking about 50,000 troops going to Ukraine, the stock market crashes. And that's what's happening as we speak. Because no one can figure out this administration. They know, it's like they don't have a guiding light. That is the problem with Biden.

He has no guiding light, no guiding philosophy whatsoever. We'll take your calls. We come back on Sekulow. Go to ACLJ.org for all of our latest commentary. That's ACLJ.org and to support our work.

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ACLJ.org. Now let's go to the phones. 1-800-684-3110. If you want to talk to us on air, that's 1-800-684-3110. Susan calling from Maryland on Line 3. Hey Susan, welcome to Sekulow. You're on the air.

Hey Susan. Thank you. I really appreciate the representation from the military families. God bless you.

Thank you. My question to you both, I'm the Forrest Gump in military strategy, but knowing that Biden had a fiasco in Afghanistan, and knowing that the Soviet Union has had six months, if not more than that, a year to bank all the military operation that he could bank on the front of the Ukraine, then is Biden deliberately putting these military lives as kind of a sacrificial lamb? I don't think it's... Go ahead. Well, and the second question would be, could he go up with war crimes if he can't prove his innocence on subjecting this military to these odds?

No, the President's the Commander in Chief, so he can deploy the military under the Constitution. That's one thing. The danger of all this is, and I know you told our screener that you have two children serving in the military, which we appreciate their services. Wes, it's putting men and women in harm's way with no clear direction.

That is always dangerous. And like Jordan said, we're not even clear where NATO is on this. They're at least divided at a minimum. Yeah, absolutely, Jay. That's the problem with this. He is the Commander in Chief. There is a time and place to deploy troops, either to fight a war or to deter war, but he is not clear in all of this.

And I'll tell you one other quick thing, Jay, that sounds counterintuitive. The time to bring massive sanctions against Russia is not after he invades Ukraine. It should have been done weeks ago. Once a country occupies another country, it's hard to get them out. Look at Crimea. We put sanctions after Putin took Crimea, and guess what?

He is still there. If you look at this historically, Andy, we've talked about this, but I think it's important for our audience to understand. You start throwing troops at things. You've got a disorganized NATO that's not unified. You've got countries not really welcoming us in.

You've got a relation with Germany and Russia that you can't even figure out because the economic ties are so deep. What is this vote for? It bodes ill for the United States.

That's the thing. It bodes ill for our troops. As Jordan said, we're sending troops over there, maybe as many as 50,000. I want to know to do what? To do what?

To protect whom? A far-off country of which we know very little? Weren't I hear that before?

That sounds like Czechoslovakia, and American troops are then committed to bloodshed because of a foolish move of a person who Jordan said that Ukraine was led by a comedian at one time. Now, guess what, folks? We got one too.

Well, yeah, but the consequences of all this are quite serious. Let's take another phone call. Yeah, let's go to Barbara in Utah on Live 5. Hey, Barbara, welcome to Sekulow.

Thank you so much for taking my call. My question is, what is our agreement with the Ukraine anyway to begin with? We have a strategic partnership agreement, which, again, is importance of relationships. Nothing. To be honest with you, nothing that commits us to... President Trump gave them a lot of ammunition. Yes, but there's not an agreement with this current administration like to send in troops. No, they're not part of NATO. One thing that the Biden administration could do without sending troops is massively arm the Ukrainians, but think about that for a minute.

That means you're going to be killing a lot of Russians, and it's because of U.S. military equipment. So those are strategic decisions that need to be made, and what I think is nerve-wracking to me is that this discussion is being had so publicly. I mean, why are we the ones having this discussion? Because they are literally going to say, maybe we do this, maybe we do that, maybe we do that, maybe this, that. Instead of selling, and I don't mean selling in a bad way, I mean explaining to the American people, getting their buy-in on what we're going to do. If we're going to send in a massive amount of lethal weaponry, tell us why.

If we're going to send U.S. troops, tell us why. No, it's the exact opposite. And yet they don't.

No, it's actually the exact opposite. Not only is there no buy-in from the American people, there's no buy-in from our European allies. Because last week, the President of the United States said, well, if Russia incurs, you know, does a small incursion into Ukraine, that's not such a big deal, we'll deal with it that way. And then he said, and by the way, you know, NATO's not unified on how to respond, which tells you volumes here, folks. Don't put Americans in harm's way if NATO is not united. Let me tell you, I don't think you should put Americans in harm's way again anyways. But if NATO is not united, Harry, you put America, you say I'm going to deploy 50,000 troops?

Well, I think your analysis is spot on. It certainly makes no sense to put 50,000 American troops at risk, given the Biden administration's chaotic international policies. They don't know what they are doing. Essentially, their foreign policy approach consists of throwing mud at the wall and seeing what sticks. And so with that type of an approach, we could easily sleepwalk into a conflict. So it's very, very important for the American people to get engaged with their representatives and try to put pressure on the Biden administration to come up with a coherent policy.

I know that's a real challenge. Coherency has always been a challenge for President Biden. But we need a coherent policy.

And my fear is it's too late. You know, this is a global mess, is what we have on our hands right now. A global mess. It is a global mess.

And it's difficult to explain. I think it's, again, I'm not taking some pro-Russia stance. And I think that's absurd. I think what the Russians are doing is horrible.

Yeah. I'm just saying, you know, what are we doing about it? I thought our sanctions were going to be so devastating that it would scare them off.

Obviously, they could put that together. Because now they're talking about sending U.S. troops there. But that's where Wes is right. I mean, having sanctions after they invade Ukraine, Wes, does nothing. No. That is not deterrence.

That is trying to close the door after the horses are out of the barn. This should have been weeks ago. There's still time, actually, right now to punish Putin before he goes in, to get his attention, to send a clear message. Sending 50,000 troops is a confusing message, not a clear one.

You know what? I mean, I think that folks understand. I mean, we've, again, where this situation stands. I want to see, for the U.S. to be involved in anything, I want these countries begging us.

And I don't say that to be a jerk. I want them basically on their knees, though. Say, we need you in the United States. Let's, for the first time in maybe decades, let them be honest. They don't survive without us. One of these bad guys wants to act and we don't come to their defense.

They go. That could be the same for Germany next. Putin maybe doesn't like their economic deals.

He cuts off their gas and pipeline because of economic disaster, which, you know, throws the country into severe chaos. Do we need to rush to their defense? Do they beg us to come? I mean, when are we going to stop?

Say, you know what? There are countries that ask us, Israel, they want our support. They want to be an ally with the U.S. They're proud of being an ally with the U.S. The UAE may need help. Yes, but they are also proud to be an ally with the U.S. Is the U.K. really anymore? Let Russia put their boats off their coast and then, you know, what are they going to do about it? Well, they have a strong military.

Have an argument in Parliament? Yeah, they have a strong military. I guess. I mean, we haven't seen much of their military lately. Supposedly, they've got a strong military where they could take action. But this cannot be just the United States problem. It can't be the United States problem when NATO doesn't know what they want.

No, exactly. So, again, there's a lot to follow here because adding in this level of, you know, whatever sanctions you want to try, that's fine with that. Start talking about U.S. troops being involved? You can have a massive uprising against you, the American people, saying this is not right.

This hasn't even been explained to us. So we'll continue to follow this very closely on Sekulow. Go to ACLJ.org, support our work. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Become a member today. ACLJ.org.