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So many critical things going on around the globe. I mean, you could always dig stuff out and say this is critical, but you don't have to read Foreign Policy Magazine to see it. I mean, just walk by the headlines anywhere. See what happened in Taiwan with we pledge $11 billion and China basically has war exercises over that island and pledges to take it in 27. Then in Venezuela, Maduro does what I think is car karaoke, carpool karaoke in a car.
Does an interview where he says America could have what they wanted. They want oil. If they want to stop the drug problem, I want to work with you. You want political prisoners out? You can do it.
And then we see Russia and Ukraine. We see a delegate from the Russian side and the Ukrainian President come in as well as the Prime Minister of Israel over in Mari Lago. Please don't tell me that this President is losing steam. Not going to work. Let's bring in Cliff Bay, founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Cliff, thanks so much for joining us. First off, when it comes to Iran, six straight days of protest, we've seen this movie before. I give these people so much credit because they don't have guns, they don't have weapons, but they have numbers now. Is this going to be different this time than the last times when the Iranian regime just cracks down? All those are good points, Brian.
Look, when we saw this in 1979, and I was there as a young reporter in 1979, the Shah was not going to kill like 10,000 of his people in order to stay in power.
Now, the present regime in Iran, will they kill 10,000 people to stay in power? I think that's perfectly conceivable that they might. The numbers of people in the streets are huge and it's mounting. At some point, if this is to succeed, I think. What you have to have are some of those who have the guns, the military, the IRGC, which is separate from the military, the besiege, kind of like brown shirts.
They have to do two things, which they've started to do the first. One is say, we're not going to fire on our brothers. We're not going to do it. Two, they have to say, we're going to support our brothers. In other words, they have to switch sides and stand with people.
If they don't, Look, usually those with the guns are the ones who end up in power. Tell me if this is different. They're running out of water. When it comes to inflation, one dollar equals 1.4 million reals.
So inflation is through the roof. I mean, it's up 46%.
So now they find out that $1 to $2 billion is going to Hezbollah since the ceasefire, and what is it, $25 million to $50 million going to Hamas since the fighting stopped there? I mean all this stuff. Adds up to maybe putting this the whole population over the top. The population is over the top, very likely for good reason. They have been ruled since 1979 by Islamists who are incompetent, who are oppressive, who have made the country poorer and less free.
That's not what they hoped for back in 1979. Again, I remember they hoped for a free country back then. It didn't happen.
So that's very important. But again, Brian, I would just say. Guns are consequential. True.
So the President put out in Truth Social: if Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. Wow. We're locked and loaded, ready to go. Ali Larajani, the former Parliament Speaker, said this: Trump should know that intervention by the U.S. is the U.S.
and the domestic problem correspondence to chaos. Corresponds to chaos in the entire region. And the destruction of the U.S. interests. Largiani wrote that on X.
He said the people of the United States should know that Trump began the adventurism. They should take care of their own soldiers. Trump didn't begin the adventurism, and we now know that those people, Laranjani, or frankly people like Tucker Carlson, who said, if we do anything to the Iranians, it's going to mean a world war. No, it didn't. What happened was a 12-day war.
Israel, for 11 days, fought it successfully, cleared the way for B-2 bombers. Fordo was taken out. Nuclear weapons facilities were set back, if not obliterated. All that worked out very well. Could you have something like that again?
You bet you could. Israeli intelligence in Iran is very good. If you wanted to destroy this leadership, I think it's actually very possible to do.
Now, what President Trump will do, I don't know. No president has ever been on the side of the Iranian people during protests before, like President Trump is now. You remember in 2009, during the Green Movement, Obama did nothing. The people in the streets were yelling, Obama, are you with us or with the dictators? And he said nothing because he was with the dictators because he wanted his Iran deal.
Remember that, the JCPO? Away.
So, who knows what this unpredictable president will do, but he has a lot of cards he could play.
So, I asked that to General Jack Keen on Fox and Friends, and a few hours ago, here's what he said: cut 17. The backdrop for this is when the Twelve Day War ended, And the Iranians were really shook by that, particularly by the fact that the first shots that were fired killed all their senior military generals. I'm not talking about some of them. I'm talking about all of them. As we know, the senior nuclear scientists as well.
They did not kill any of the civilian leaders. Let's make the assumption they knew where the civilian leaders were as well as they knew where the military leaders were. That rocked this regime. After the war ended, and they were weakened militarily for sure, and certainly more economically, they knew full well they were weakened politically inside of Iran as well as outside of Iran. And what did they do?
They arrested 21,000 Iranians on the desperate hope that they were trying to put away in jail the informants. I think they were also trying to intimidate the population. And they feared reprisals because they're so weakened. Your thoughts. Jack is exactly right as he usually is.
He's saying what I'm saying, that Trump has these cards to play. He has the Israelis he can utilize who have a lot of knowledge and a lot of abilities as well. What Jack's saying is right, he's saying it better than I did, and he's extending it further. This regime has to know that it's in danger if Trump decides he's not going to let them kill protesters. About four protesters have probably been killed by now.
I think that's the best estimate I've seen. And a 37-year-old last night, and they arrested two dozen women who are standing up for having some type of semblance of life. The thing about the Iranian population, I understand, is they're so well educated. This is a well-educated population and they know what their life could be. Uh, they know what it should be.
And can I just bring you back to 79 for a second? Yeah, sure. Is it true? That they thought the Ayatollah Khomeini was going to be a moderate leader and bring freedom? Did they was he really mischaracterized that thoroughly?
Brian, he was mischaracterized that thoroughly, not only in Iran, but in the New York Times. He was mischaracterized by American diplomats. I can show you things that Andrew Young said. I can show you things that others said. They all thought that he was going to be a spiritual leader who would retire to the holy city of Chom and provide guidance.
I remember there were people in the Communist Party. There were liberals and social democrats, some of which who had gone to the University of Texas at Austin, who said, You don't understand, Cliff. He values all of us. He values the students, the Bazaris, the secularists, all of us. This is a revolution for all of us.
He turned on them and killed thousands afterwards. All that happened after the revolution in the months that came. Women had to cover up in chadors. I remember going skiing outside Tehran and seeing women skiing in shadors. And people got frustrated.
And that's why, in the fall, the American embassy was taken. The idea was to revive. The spirit of the revolution, which was in a malaise at that point. But yes, everybody thought that way, and the American press thought that way too. Yeah, and by the way, France, where Khomeini was, and then he was allowed to come back, they said positive things about him, though he was going to be a great guy, a great leader, right?
100%. That's 100%. They thought they'd have great relations with him. They had treated him so well when he was in France. That's exactly how it was seen, yes.
And by the way, there was no need to think that because Khomeini had been writing exactly what he wanted to do for years. All you had to do was read what he had been writing. And a few people, Bernard Lewis, the great historian of Islam and the Middle East, he read it, but it appears our diplomats were not reading it. This is Ainslie Earhart. Thank you for joining me for the 52-episode podcast series, The Life of Jesus.
A listening experience that will provide hope, comfort, and understanding of the greatest story ever told. Listen and follow now at FoxnewsPodcasts.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. No, this is intriguing because I know you guys write about this all the time. Imagine if we had a leader get aggressive in this area and see what could happen. Understand that some people say, hey, we were burned in Iraq.
We should keep our hands off everything, like some people you mentioned already. Let's talk about Venezuela, which must be really killing the podcasters. Because the president said, I've had it with our hemisphere being infiltrated by China, Russia, Hezbollah, everybody, Iran. And he's taking action, steady action against Venezuela, turning the screws. It looks like Nicholas Maduro, who you got to picture this, he's in a car doing an interview.
I think he's driving. And here's what he said through a translator, Cut 10. And this is a very good question. The U.S. government knows, because we've told many of their spokespeople, that if they want to seriously discuss an agreement to combat drug trafficking, we're ready.
If they want oil, Venezuela is ready for U.S. investment. Like with Chevron, whenever they want it, wherever they want it, and however they want it. Read between the lines. Maduro is trying to preserve his position there, and he should understand the only thing he can do while he can do it is go shopping for a cul-de-sac on the block of Assad and Eric Snowden.
Go to Moscow, go to Turkey might be an option. What do you think is the likely scenario here?
Well, if the pressure keeps up, maybe Maduro does leave. He's being advised not to leave by the Cubans who are there, by the Iranians, by the Chinese, by the Russians. One of his generals, maybe the CIA has their cell phone number and is saying, look, Will be good with you if you want to take over. Do so. I don't know that Maduro has made up his mind what he's going to do.
He's an illegitimate leader. He lost an election. About 8 million of his people have had to flee the country, which has been a burden elsewhere. And as you know, the national security strategy that Trump published last, I guess, in November, December came out, said very clearly: we're going to focus on Latin America in a way that we have not, that no administration has done in the past. And we're sick, as you said, of Chinese influence, Iranian influence, Hezbollah running roughshod over the continent.
This is a priority for the president, and we'll see how hard he pushes. Maduro is trying to figure out: can I make a deal? This president likes to make deals. I'm not sure the president wants to make a deal with this. But, Cliff, the danger is.
is that if uh he withstands American pressure, he comes out stronger. And you're never going to dislodge him. I think if he look, if he withstands American pressure, I think he wins and President Trump loses. I don't think I can't see how to argue against that. And I don't think he wants to lose.
By the way, Russia is asking the U. S. to stop pursuing the third oil tanker. Uh because they they reflagged they might have reflagged it overnight. Should we honor that request?
I don't think so, no. And I think not only should we be putting pressure on Maduro, we should be putting pressure on Putin. Putin just lied to Trump's face. He said, you know, President Trump, Zelensky sent drones to try to kill me in my residence. Not only is there no evidence that's the case, but the CIA has said it's not the case.
Everybody has said that's not the case. Jack Keene's think tank has said, we've looked at it, it's not the case. This was a lie. It's one thing for Putin to tag the president along. It's another thing to lie to his face.
By the way, Putin has tried to assassinate Zelensky. Putin every day kills civilians on purpose. The Ukrainians do not kill civilians. They only target, they target military, they use military targets thereafter. They're trying to survive.
And I think they deserve to survive.
So, China, over the last few days, In response to us selling $11 billion worth of military equipment, missile systems, naval platforms, radar upgrades, they have basically had severe war games over Taiwan.
So maybe like we not have seen before, they display the they also have been aggressively going back at Japan. Who's had a new prime minister that's been aggressive with China, and we've shown support by s by for Japan by flying B two's over their country. Your thoughts about what China's up to? Because in the New Year's address, President Xi said by twenty seven, we're going to take Taiwan back. Yeah, we know exactly what Xi Jinping is up to because he's written what he's up to.
He's said what he's up to in Mandarin, and that's been read and published by people like Matt Pottinger, who was the China specialist in the National Security Council under H.R. McMaster. He's now affiliated with my think tank. First of all, he wants to swallow Taiwan, which is free, independent, prosperous, democratic. He can't stand any of that.
After that, he wants to begin to intimidate Japan, the Philippines, become the hegemon of Asia. But beyond that, he wants to displace America as the As the world's preeminent power, as the great global power. He wants a new international system where he makes the rules. in association with Putin and with Tehran and with North Korea, by the way, and lessers like Maduro. That's his goal.
It's a grand ambition. Does he do it while Trump's in office? And I love that Trump's made this sale. $11 billion really got their attention. Yes, what's the idea behind that?
Well, it's to make Taiwan into what's called an iron porcupine, very hard for a predator to swallow. Although there are other ways China can do it. And we've seen that in this testing phase. Blockades keep energy supplies out of the country, cyber warfare, all kinds of other things. But when you talk, you mentioned 2027.
Well, you know, President Trump is still in office.
Now, there's a possibility that he could say, okay, I'm young enough, I'm healthy enough, I'll wait till President Trump's out of office. Similarly, Putin could say, I'll take a deal that allows me to jab real hard, and I'll wait against Ukraine. I'll wait for the right hook after Trump's out of office. All these guys are thinking about that. They all want to challenge American power, American greatness, American primacy.
All right, Cliff, we covered the world. I don't know if we can solve all the problems, but at least we can present them. Any other options? Cliff May, thanks so much. much.
Great to be with you, Brian. Thanks.
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