Will Putin Go Nuclear?

Today on Sekulow, will Putin go nuclear? 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, Jordan Sekulow. Two different ways, literally, because he put his nuclear forces on alert. And I think this is an interesting point to make right off the bat. The practical meaning of this order is kind of unclear because Russia and the U.S. typically have both their land and submarine-based nuclear weapons ready to go at all time, combat ready. The question is nuclear-capable bombers, the planes, is he putting those, loading them up with nuclear weapons? That's what this could potentially mean because we already have our submarines ready to go and our massive ICBMs ready to go at all times. They're combat ready, so are Russia's. So that's nothing new.

The question is, does he have the bombers ready? Now, I also use nuclear in a non-literal sense because the walk-in, the Putin peacekeepers, as he called them, has failed. The Ukrainian people rose up in mass resistance.

It didn't matter if they were Russian-speaking or majority or they're Ukrainian-speaking. They have risen up. They said, we don't want to live under this authoritarian. We don't want to live under Russia, a Russian control.

So significant opposition. But those were Russian troops that were basically rolling into town, hoping to play that soft role of, you know, we're here to take back and we're here being welcomed. Now, what happens next? This is not the end of the Russian military because they had a few trucks blown up and a thousand soldiers or maybe 3,000 soldiers killed. They could go nuclear on Ukraine without using nuclear weapons.

You understand what I mean. They could flatten Kiev. In fact, right now there's massive bombing in Kiev going on that we have not seen yet. That is potentially that part two and what is so deadly and what could be so troubling about this conflict is the next phase, because the Ukrainians fought back so valiantly, could be one that brings the world closer and closer into world war. We've worked in this region, so we know what this is like and I think the miscalculation by the media, although there is a huge attack going on right now and that's in Kiev, which of course is their main city, but what happened was there was an expectation and our intelligence thought this too, that you had about 50% of the population that was pro-Russian in Ukraine. That is apparently not the case and that's why you've seen such a strong response from the Ukraine military as well as Ukrainian citizens. However, they do not have the military capability to stop an onslaught from Moscow, from Russia. Putin, by heightening that alert of his military, which I don't know if it really means that there's no prohibition under the various treaties of using nuclear weapons. The prohibition here was Putin engaged in an unprovoked war, which is a violation of international law and customary and international law usage. But the problem that you have right now in Ukraine is, you had this large convoy coming in, if they start this kind of attack, which is apparently what's going on right now, while they're having these supposed peace conferences, which I also think was just a total farce but I think Zelensky did the right thing and admirable what he's done.

The reality is I think that this is going to escalate quickly. Germany passed a 1 billion plus defense bill over the weekend because all of a sudden it's looking like they need to be prepared. This is Europe's problem too. So now you've got all these countries saying we're going to send more weapons, including the US, except for you don't have a no-fly zone. And by the way, a no-fly zone is like a war. So you've got to find a corridor to get those weapons into Ukraine, and that leads to the more likelihood that your own people could be getting shot at by Russians and leading to war.

So there's all these careful calculations. That's the first time Germany has authorized sending its own weapons since World War II. They've been so cautious about being a country that supports any kind of violence and military action that they don't usually deliver their weapons to other countries. They are. They've authorized it.

How does it get there without leading to world war? We want to take your calls and questions too. 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110. If you're watching on Rumble, share it. Facebook, share it.

YouTube, share it. We'll be right back on Secula. While 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. Top concern right now, which would lead to a bigger humanitarian crisis, is that Putin, because his troops were not welcomed in, even in areas of Ukraine where it was supposedly more pro-Russian, Russian speaking, and they thought they could kind of roll in with not major force, I mean obviously they were doing some bad things, but roll into town, I mean they were sending their troops in with trucks without any kind of aerial protection. Those troops did not fare well. Many were killed, they were running out of gas, they were running out of food, so it didn't work.

The nice takeover, the bloodless coup if you will, failed and it got less and less bloodless days into this. Now the top concern from everyone around the world is that Putin will go in and start leveling these cities in a way that Ukraine, it doesn't matter if you've got people that are willing to take up arms, they can't stop it. It might be occurring as we speak, there is significantly more, when they go to the live feed in Kiev, which it's hard for them to even get right now, it seems like there are explosions going on everywhere, that would be, in a sense, why we titled the show today, Going Nuclear, flattening cities, and then threatening the world that if you try to respond, I've got my nuclear weapons, bombers, my nuclear bombers on high alert. We're joined right now by Patrick Reiko, who is a lawyer that we work with in Slovakia and has worked with us on the International Criminal Court in The Hague. And also, Slovakia of course, I'm putting up on a mat right now, borders Ukraine. So Patrick, your concern is that we should not, the United States should not underestimate Vladimir Putin and he put his nuclear forces on this heightened alert.

Hello Jay, nice to meet you, good to hear you, I'm glad I'm on air. Well, yes, absolutely, absolutely, we cannot underestimate his any efforts or any intention, it doesn't make any sense to make that great mistake. Do you sense, Patrick, and because you're close to the region, you're in the region, what is the sense of your, the citizens of Slovakia, but also just what are you hearing about this move by Putin? Well, it was a pretty surprising move, everybody's talking about that he's trying to escalate and maybe then will de-escalate the situation, but it's not completely true. As far as I already check up the news, he ordered to Mr. Shoigu to reinforce the forces of the nuclear army in Moscow, so it doesn't look like he's going to de-escalate, but it looks like he's going to move forward. Our security analysts and military analysts here in Slovakia are saying, well, it's a pretty unusual move, but we cannot underestimate it just because he already fulfilled all his words, what he said, even in 2008, even in 2014, and right now. You know, it's interesting, Andy, because when you look at this situation, and Patrick, we've worked with on international legal matters for a long time, there is no prohibition against nuclear weapons as part of your arsenal. So when Putin did that, you know, the United States' initial reaction was, well, he's doing this just to kind of ratchet it up and it's more show than anything else, but you can't take anything off the table here.

No, absolutely not. According to a 1996 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, while the use of nuclear weapons is usually a violation of international humanitarian law, there is no comprehensive ban in customary international law, nor in any international law treaty. And I was reading the Swiss regulations on the legal basis for conducting nuclear engagement, and it says very clearly in paragraph 232, international law does not explicitly prohibit recourse to nuclear weapons, but legitimate recourse to nuclear weapons is restricted because of the rule of proportionality, Jay, which means that you could use them in a fashion that is unnecessary given what your military goal may be. Patrick, you also reported to us, and appreciate you joining us, that NATO is, and Eastern NATO specifically, is practically, in your words, demilitarized.

Will you explain that to people? Yes, I sent you like some sort of figures, and when you see the World Bank investment chart into the military in the region, it looks like it's from 1990 until now it's completely almost vanished, which means like Slovakia, Czech Republic, even Poland or Hungary. These numbers are not similar when the Velvet Revolution comes back in 90 or after the fall of the Berlin Wall, so right now we are practically without any sort of military presence, which can significantly resist. And the problem with this, of course, is when you don't have a military presence that can resist, then it goes, the return goes on NATO, and what we found- So what is NATO, really? Is it just the US operating with a few countries, small militaries? Yeah, so a NATO force, which is usually a readiness force, is around 40,000. The problem is, and I don't know how this will play, Andy, we were looking at this last night, it has to be, when they say consensus, which sounds nice, it's unanimous.

It is unanimous. If you look at the NATO website, they say consensus and consultation, but if you look at the NATO website directly, it says meaning unanimity, and usually they have this unanimity in going forward very clearly, but it is through consensus and deliberation, and each country according to its means, and its means supplies the armaments or the personnel necessary, Jay, in connection with what they are going to supply. When a determination to enervate and energize NATO is put into place. So Slovakia, Patrick, has secured its eastern border the best it can, and has promised solidarity with Ukrainians. What's the sense if this took a more military conflict for even Slovakia as a NATO country? What's the view of the populace in your country? Well, look, two weeks ago, before the war in Ukraine launched, there was a split between the population, and there was a huge fight to agree or conclude the DCA agreement between the United States and Slovakia, but it finally happens, and it was a huge achievement for the government to do that.

And it looks like in the present terms, it was a very wise move. So right now the public is 60 to 40, according to our last poll, like 62 or something to the others, and there is some undecided part of the population. So right now the presence of the public, it's for the presence, and as far as I know, I checked our Secretary of State already sent regards to Germany and to the Netherlands that they are going to send troops and patriots to Slovakia, which is pretty good right now. Yeah. There's a refugee crisis too, and we know that that's just piling up, people piling up at different borders, and because of Slovakia being one of those borders, you talked about that there's 50,000 refugees in freezing cold weather, and that the country estimated that it could probably only handle about 25,000, but it's going to do what it can. That crisis, it appears, Patrick, will only increase if the fighting gets worse.

Absolutely, absolutely. As far as I checked, our trains are going there to pick up them further to Czech Republic and move them into the wider Europe. However, our government already asked a European border protection context to help on the borders, and Czech Republic is already sending 50 policemen to help on the border as well, because it's like almost 50,000 people, but we are expecting more. But I have to say, the people here are wonderful. They send everything what they can.

That's right. We appreciate you joining us, Patrick, and I'm sure we'll be hearing from you again. Andy, the point of this is, and what Jordan was just saying is, this is impacting real people.

Well, it is impacting. Our producer, Will Haines, sent me something last night that's very heart-rending. It talked about a family that was in Afghanistan and was being persecuted by the Taliban, and they sought refuge in where? Of all places, the Ukraine. And now the Russians have invaded the Ukraine, and they have had, this is just a family, has had to flee to Poland, so there's no respite for these people. And we see these children on the buses crying about their fathers having been left behind to fight valiantly against the Russian invasion, and this is impacting the children of the world, and this is a horrible situation that they have been put into, Jay.

I want to hear from you folks. Give us a call, 1-800-684-3110, because you have to be more concerned now than you were five days ago about this leading towards a more expanded military conflict. And while our leaders have been very clear about no U.S. troops in Ukraine, we're now talking about this expanding potentially outside of Ukraine, but if Belarus sends troops in of their own, not just allowing Russian troops to go in, that's a second country involved, so you have three countries involved. If you've authorized all these arms that you want to get to the Ukrainians, but to get them in, you've got to have some kind of safe passage corridors, which means putting some kind of troops, whether it's NATO or someone, at risk of Russian attack, which is how you lead to the next step in a war. So it's kind of like, it doesn't really matter what you thought from the beginning, things have changed drastically on the ground in Ukraine, and we want to hear from you at 1-800-684-3110. Yeah, a lot of you are starting to call in, 1-800-684-3110. What would you do as far as military support? Would it be ammunition?

Would it be troops? What do you think? 1-800-684-3110, next segment we're joined by our office in Washington, D.C. We're going to talk about what Washington is doing on this, but also an update on some pro-life issues. A lot more ahead, if you're listening to us or watching us, share this on your social media platforms. We encourage you to do it.

Back with more in a moment. 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, the Planned 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're going to get back to Ukraine and Russia, too. We're still talking about that. There's some news, too, in Washington, D.C. on a vote in the Senate that we've been very vocal on at the ACLJ, a pro-life vote.

But I know Adelie wanted to get it before we get to that. Some of how Washington's been reacting to Ukraine. Yeah, they're just coming back in town. What's your sense on the Ukraine situation and Russia? What is the consensus of the House and Senate right now?

What are you hearing? Then we'll get to this issue on this vote today. Yeah, Jay, both the chambers returning as we speak. And honestly, both sides of the aisle are really saying the same thing. I think they're going to ready a new set of sanctions that likely will clear the Congress very quick.

Although, Jay, I actually think the two issues that you just teased kind of work together here. I mean, you've got war breaking out on the other side of the world, and both the House and the Senate say they need to pass additional sanctions. I'm not actually sure the White House needs additional authority.

I think they could probably use a lot more authority without the new statutory authority. But either way, Jay, they say they want to move these new sanctions. And yet when they return to town, is that the first order of business that they're taking up in the United States Senate?

It's not. That's what's so interesting. The first order of business, though, is? First order of business, Jay, is the altar of abortion.

And we call it on this show a lot. And really, they're demonstrating today that that's what it is. Leader Schumer has fought. I just want to cite for one second. There is a crisis with a potential global war impact here. And rather than dealing with that right away, they want to codify Roe versus Wade because they're afraid the Supreme Court's going to overturn it.

Go ahead, fan. At five thirty tonight in the United States Senate, Jay, they're going to take a vote on exactly that. They call it the Women's Health Protection Act. I think opponents of the bill probably have a better title for it. They're calling it the Abortion on Demand Until Birth Act.

But let me distill it down to this, Jay. This would make Roe versus Wade permanent, not just on a federal level, but on a state level, going forward and reaching back, Jay. So think about this. Think about all of those states that we already work with to protect life and also to make the abortion procedures that do occur safer. All of those restrictions already in place, they would be eviscerated if this bill were to become law.

And I'll just give you two quick data points. Number one, this bill has already passed the United States Senate two hundred and eighteen to two hundred and eleven. And here's the other one, Jay.

Maybe this is going to be the most interesting for our listeners. I think every single Republican, Jay, is going to vote against this bill. That's how extreme it is. There are two Senate Republicans, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, who very often vote with Democrats on this issue. Both have indicated, Jay, that this is just too extreme for them. They are likely to oppose this bill tonight. Any Democrats? Joe Manchin and Bob Casey are the only two who are not cosponsors of the bill. So your entire universe that you could actually hope for is two Democrat senators. Jay, Bob Casey has already said he is going to vote for it.

So look, I think Jordan's actually said this before. You need to consider Bob Casey a pro-abortion Democrat. He's no longer a pro-life Democrat. He's taken that vote tonight. We don't know yet, Jay, about Joe Manchin. Jordan, you sent a letter to the leadership, both to Leader Schumer and to Leader McConnell. Yeah, about the opposition to this that is growing and, of course, the ACLJ's work. Do we have it on the screen now?

Show it on the screen if we can. So, again, I don't know if we got it from the screen, but this is the kind of engagement we do because, again, you'll see, as Dan pointed out, with everything going on in the world, this is what Schumer has decided. And Democrats have decided to make their priority when they return to Washington, D.C. They could have had this vote next week, later this week, first dealt with Ukraine, spoken to that.

Like Dan said, if they feel like they need to authorize, give them authority for the White House to issue more stations, do that. But no, it's a radical abortion bill that every Democrat but one has sponsored, has signed on to. Just think about that.

I mean, the entire Democrat Party. And it's so extreme that even some Republicans who would not be considered pro-life won't sign on to it because it's so extreme. We'll get into that in a second. If you want to take action, and if you're watching us on Rumble right now, you'll see right below our video, it'll see sign our petition now. And it's a link. It just says aclj.org forward slash rumble. That will take you to our petition for life. Over 400,000 people have already signed this petition, but I know a lot of you are new on Rumble. If you want to get active with the ACLJ, the link is right there, right under our video.

Sign our petition now. Than, I wanted to go back to you because you said some of it is so radical. Give people examples about why this is so even outside the norm of where the pro-abortion centers have been before. Yeah, well, let's start with what Susan Collins has said, Jordan. She's somebody I don't agree with on this issue very often, but she has said her main concern with this bill. She's actually okay with the sort of the baseline, Jordan, which is codifying Roe, which we can talk about how terrible of an idea that would be on its own. But she has said her concerns on this are how much further than that it goes, specifically eviscerating any religious freedom rights that go along with this. So if you are an organization that provides healthcare services to women and you have a religious-based objection to performing abortions, Jordan, this legislation would say a state cannot protect your right to refrain from offering services.

So think about that, Jordan. It would not just impact who has to supply abortions. It would actually push those entities out of business. So if you talk about trying to be pro-women, a party that is going to push facilities that provide services to women out of business simply because they don't provide abortion, that is anything but pro-women, and it has pushed people like Susan Collins off this bill, Jordan.

You know what is so unbelievable to me, Thanh, is you've got Vladimir Putin, you know, putting his nuclear systems and the military on a heightened alert because you've got a war in Eastern Europe. And they come back from their breaks, and the only thing they want to talk about initially is about a case that hasn't even been decided yet that might overturn Roe versus Wade. Do you want to talk about a big lobby? You think the military lobby is a big lobby? Obviously not as big as the abortion lobby, Thanh. Well, it shows their priorities, Jay, and we've known this all along.

We've told our listeners, but this demonstrates in black and white really what it is. And the other thing that it does, Jay, is it gives cover to the work that the pro-abortion industry is doing across the country at the state level. And we have been warning about this for months now. They are afraid, Jay, the pro-abortion lobby is afraid that the Dobbs case is going to go against them and the battleground is going to shift to the states. So they're really taking this vote tonight, I think, Jay, as a federal cover for the work that they're going to do in the states.

But here's the thing, we beat them there. Jay, we're already working on the state level to make sure that states are prepared for this, and you're going to have to fight this on two fronts. You're going to have to fight it in states that are going to be inclined to put into law something similar to what is being attempted on the federal level right now. And then you're also going to have to arm the states that would want to protect life. We were in the state of Maryland just last week preparing for that, hopefully able to beat back some bad law and maybe put some good law into place.

But, Jay, my point is this. There are dual tracks here, and all of us who are in this game for the sanctity of life, we cannot afford, Jay, to ignore either of those tracks. We were in New Jersey last week, too, in federal court defending life. We were in Maryland filing documents, and then there'll be a hearing, I think, next month defending life.

I mean, very active. We're at the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals right now representing South Dakota, so we are fully engaged. Yeah, and one of the issues that they had talked about that states are going to face is that many of these state supreme courts have also dealt with the issue of abortion at some point since Roe vs. Wade, and they read into their state constitutions the right to abortion. So even if the federal government and the Supreme Court changes the way that this right to privacy or this extreme open-ended right to abortion that they decide is not guaranteed by our Constitution, there was a wrong decision. You have to then take that battle to the states. They will have to relitigate that as well before you can even legislate. So there'll be state litigation, state legislation in some states. You'll have the extreme pro-abortion states, pro-life states, and then states that are going to be in the middle that it's going to be up to us to influence. So, again, so much work on that effort. We're going to get back into Ukraine and Russia in our second half hour, but we wanted to update you and remind you where the Democrats' priority is when there is war in Europe.

Their priority is enshrining abortion rights that can kill more children in America. We'll be right back on set. Where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today.

Where you can learn more about our life-changing work. increased his nuclear forces on a heightened state of alert. And how the U.S. has interpreted that likely means is that the U.S. and Russia have always got their submarines and their large nuclear weapons ready to go. The ones that would fire from the U.S. and go ICBMs. Those are already combat ready all the time, 24-7. What we're talking about here is likely bombers. So arming aircraft with nuclear weapons.

That's the next step. Not that you don't have already your nuclear forces kind of ready to go, but these would be the deliverables in a more tighter combat zone, like if you are a border country invading the country that you border. The second part we use that term nuclear because the efforts of Russia's initial stage of the invasion has failed.

It's fair to say it has failed. But this is a huge military with a lot of firepower. If they make the decision that they must take Ukraine at all cost, that would mean going nuclear on these cities. Massive loss of life.

Totally destroyed cities and towns. And really, even though we see this unbelievable Ukrainian resistance by the people, Molotov cocktails and AK-47s and RPGs can't prevent this. Now at the same time, you have Europe and the U.S. authorizing more weapons to go into Ukraine, more lethal force into Ukraine. Here's the issue there.

How do you get it there? And if you do figure out a way to get it there, who are you going to put in harm's way to deliver those weapons to the Ukrainians? And then if it's NATO, has NATO now engaged in the war? So of course, the standing force with NATO is about 40,000 troops.

It includes Americans and the other countries, 30 countries and NATO. But what we learned was to implement Article 5. Article 4 has already been put in place, or at least been requested. Article 5 is where you have defense. Defense of an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all. And then it's called they take a consensus to determine whether there will be military action.

And consensus, by the way, has to be unanimous. Which raises the question I want to ask our audience. We're going to get into what these sanctions are meaning for Russia and how it impacts the world economy in a moment with Professor Harry Hutchinson. But I want to know what you feel about U.S. troops being engaged in this. Or what do you think the appropriate approach would be at 800-684-3110, 1-800-684-3110.

It's really important that we hear from you on this. Things have changed a little bit over the weekend, I think, sentiment, as people have seen what's going on there. But how do you feel about American troops getting engaged in this 1-800-684-3110? Yeah, I mean I think overall people are still very opposed to that idea because you've got Putin talking nuclear. You've got the next phase of this if Russia decides that they have got to take more extreme actions to make progress. Those extreme actions are massive air campaigns, flattening of cities.

That means the destruction of these cities. And they've done it before under Putin. Not at this scale, but they did it to Grozny, Chechnya, parts of Georgia, where they just went in and said, you know what, we're not going to get involved in a shooting match here.

We're just going to flatten, flatten the entire city. And that again, Ukrainians don't have the defensives. It doesn't matter how brave they are and how great they have been, there's nothing they can do to prevent that if Putin decides to go there.

And then the question will be is how does the world respond to that kind of aggression. And if you don't support military troops here, what about military aid? Significant military aid going to Ukraine from the United States, including armaments.

1-800-684-3110, 800-684-3110. The talks that they had between Russia and Ukraine have concluded. I'm getting some reports on that we need to take a look at. We'll update that during the break.

If you're watching on our social media platforms, we encourage you to share it with your friends. And what have these sanctions meant? The rubable has fallen almost 60%. Interest rates in Russia went up from 9% to 20%. Swift banking has been canceled. What does this mean for Russia?

What does it mean for your price, the price of fuel at the gas tank? We'll be back with more at 800-684-3110 and share this feed with your friends right now. 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, the 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 Sekio. Something else changed over the weekend since we last talked to you on Friday about this. We've been kind of breaking this down for you in different segments. That's how the world has responded through economic punishments for Russia. There's a better way to say it now because sanctions are more preventative. They still use the term sanctions, but this is done because they are punishing Russia now.

Sanctions didn't prevent the conflict, unfortunately, because as we talked about, they were so weak. But now, the world, they saw this resistance in Ukraine, and suddenly everybody's jumping on board with pretty massive sanctions on Russia, including the SWIFT banking sanctions, which I did report. Just to clarify to everybody, especially when you're driving your car, you're listening on radio, SWIFT doesn't mean like SWIFT the word. SWIFT is an acronym, and it's the way you wire money, international from bank to bank. There's a non-profit we support in India. If I send the money that we send monthly to them, I use their SWIFT code to wire the money. It goes from a U.S. bank to a bank in India. That's how the system works, so the international banking. When you're cut off from that, it gets very difficult to move money around quickly.

You can't. That was a big increase. Professor Harry Hutchinson is in with us. He's the director of policy. Harry, as George has said, the sanctions have changed from over the weekend. They have, and I think the sanctions that have been introduced over the weekend basically confirm what we knew last week, that the initial tranche of sanctions that Biden put on the Russian banks were largely ineffective. But he claimed that they were the equivalent of SWIFT banking sanctions. But guess what?

Once you put them on, you get virtually an immediate response. The ruble has fallen in value. Interest rates have risen. They've doubled from 9.5% in Russia to 20%. Ruble's down, what, 60% or 46%? It's significant. It's significant.

I think it's around 20%. And so Russia is now left with trying to create an alternative system, some might say an alternative reality with China with respect to selling its oil. Now, I understand why President Biden was initially reluctant. Part of it, the reluctance, comes from the Europeans, who have now changed their tune quite dramatically. They're now willing to send weapons. They're now willing to comply with their NATO obligations.

And I would add, lastly, that this is largely a European war, largely a European effort, and I think it's good to see that the Europeans are finally stepping up to the plate. It's interesting to me, Jordan, that the Germans over the weekend passed a $1,382,000,000 defense package when they had been very resistant to do this previously. And it's like, all of a sudden, the reality, because Vladimir Putin puts out there that he's activated his nuclear units, that now the Europeans, the Germans in particular, which is the largest economy there, starts taking, hey, we've got to take this seriously.

This is getting really dangerous real quick. Yes, they're doing two things. They're going to start spending more on their own military, which, again, that's going to take time. But the second thing is, we're starting to see from even nations like Germany, who, since World War II, have never sent lethal weapons to another country to utilize because of their history, have authorized sending those weapons. Now, this is where I think it gets very complicated for everybody listening. It's great that everybody wants to send these weapons out of Ukraine.

That's wonderful. They think that you can trust this Ukrainian military. Remember, there's a lot of issues before that. Could you trust them to even fight back? Would they just fold to Russia? Zelensky has not been a perfect leader in the past, but certainly he's got a lot of world support right now.

They've done a great job in the news media. I don't want to call it propaganda, because that's what Russia's doing. What Ukraine has done an excellent job of is showing how its people are fighting back, which has encouraged these countries to say, okay, let's send them weapons, except for you've got to get the weapons there.

And the weapons have to then be delivered inside a war zone, which is very difficult, right? So 30% is what the ruble's down according to the Financial Times. What kind of impact does that have on a typical Russian citizen?

Well, I think to the extent that they purchase goods and services overseas, then that means that those goods and services are much more expensive. Also, it means that Russian oligarchs, who basically are business individuals who took advantage of the market liberalization under Mikhail Gorbachev in the 80s and early 90s, then the value of their Russian assets in other currencies has fallen very significantly. How big of a role do you think that if an oligarch is economically hit, how does that play into Vladimir Putin, who relies on these oligarchs? Well, I think it puts pressure on the oligarchs, who will then put pressure on Putin, and to the extent that the oligarchs have the ear of some members of the Russian military, they may be less reluctant to follow through on Putin's orders. Now that could, in fact, be quite a deadly exercise, but I also think that this may ultimately mean that Putin loses his grip on the Russian military and on the country, in part because the oligarchs are seeing their wealth melt before their own eyes, and to the extent that they have wealth in Switzerland and Italy, they can't access it. So they may have boats, they may have bank accounts in Switzerland. All of these things, to some extent, are locked up.

There's a Russian oligarch who owns a huge football team in England, the Chelsea football team. All of those things, at some level, I think will begin to hurt, but the question becomes, how long can Putin hold out? This, to me, I want to hear from you folks, 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110. It's not going away. This conflict is now, it was not quick. People thought that this would probably be most experts' opinions on the Russian side, on the U.S. side, on the western side, eastern side. By the time we were talking to you today on our broadcast, the government of Zelensky would have fallen, there would already be a puppet government in place, there might still be some skirmishes on the ground, but this would basically be over. Now we're seeing cluster bombs being used by the Russians, and massive air campaigns just starting to begin. And I think even there, when we say that Putin may have changed strategies to go to the scorched earth strategy, which was not part one, they wanted to walk in as peacekeepers and liberators.

Ukrainians didn't buy that en masse. So now, you have to question, what does this look like if this continues for days and days of real shock and awe. We never saw shock and awe in Ukraine.

No. That was not shock and awe. Shock and awe is flattening cities, flattening the enemy, your enemy. Taking out all the infrastructure. All infrastructure. None of that's happened.

There would be no internet, I mean there might be the satellite internet being provided by Elon Musk, but it wouldn't even matter because you wouldn't be able to charge your phone to use it. Right. That's shock and awe. That hasn't occurred. No.

And it may be that they can't. But there's an interesting thing though, and that is the situation with oil and gas. Russia's still producing, is the United States still buying? As of Friday of last week, the United States was still purchasing Russian oil and gas, according to a petroleum expert who appeared on Fox News. And Joe Biden came in, Harry, and shut down the XL pipeline.

Absolutely. And it's very important to keep in mind that if you have allowed the XL pipeline to be fully completed, which is the fourth phase of the Keystone pipeline, that that alone would provide up to 20% of US oil demand on a per diem basis. So I think all along, President Biden has basically assisted, inadvertently perhaps, Mr. Putin.

Why? Because President Biden has been overly focused on climate change and satisfying his left wing base who want to move us away from fossil fuels. Meantime, President Biden is saying to Iran, to Russia, please send us your oil. And if you think about it, how does that reduce the consumption of fossil fuels? It doesn't. It simply increases American dependency on Russia and Iran, and those are two highly erratic countries. Yeah, I mean, you're not kidding. And you got Iran on one side, Russia on the other. We talked about that in a book we wrote called On Holy Alliance.

And Joe Biden shuts down the XL pipeline, which would have given us, continued our independence and energy, which we had. All right, well, last thing with the broadcast. We've got comments coming in on Rumble.

We've got comments coming in on Facebook and YouTube. We also want to take some calls at 1-800-684-3110. Very simple yes or no. Do you support troops going in? Do you support military assistance?

Or do you want to stay out of it? 1-800-684-3110, 800-684-3110. As we mentioned in that earlier segment on the life issue, the ACLJ front and center, in federal court on Thursday and Friday. In Maryland, two days before that. And in South Dakota, representing the governor there at the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. And of course, fighting in Washington, Jordan sent out a letter just this past Friday about Roe vs. Wade to the leaders of the Senate. So support the work of the ACLJ at ACLJ.org.

Back with more. Music 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 vs. Wade 40 years later.

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. Our senior advisor for foreign policy and national security gave a major speech, and it was pretty cool. So he gave the speech at CPAC last week, Rick Renell, and he immediately got the text of the speech to us so that we could post it after he was done. And people would be directed to ACLJ's website to read the speech. And it was a powerful speech. It was a substantive speech about really a restructuring of our diplomacy and of the State Department to better deal with these situations like we see right now in Ukraine. Rick is actually on his way to Europe as we speak.

He'll be on from Europe tomorrow on the broadcast. But I want to play some from his speech at CPAC. He talks about how to use diplomacy the right way, bite one. We all know that diplomacy without the credible threat of force invites contempt. However, diplomacy that sees military force as the first option rather than a last resort will result in war. Diplomacy done right, however, is the opposite of war.

This week, we've witnessed a total collapse of diplomacy. And we've seen the reports now, these negotiations that were occurring in Belarus amounted to nothing. Right, which is what was expected. Which was expected. But what Rick is really talking about there is, remember, whatever the world is now saying, oh, rah, rah, rah, Ukraine, they were not willing to do a week ago. Correct.

Before all this started. Even though we had our President, our intel community, every other European intel community telling us every day that there was about to be a massive invasion of Ukraine, they were not willing to put the swift bank sanctions on. You're right.

It's all been posted. So what Rick's talking about there is that diplomacy you do use to prevent war, it's not a punishing tool. When you start using sanctions to punish, that's very different than sanctions to prevent. So it was interesting, we had a comment on Rumble that said, will the swift sanctions cut off the sales of Russian gas?

And the answer is no, it does not. And the reason is, China becomes the purchaser. Or Pakistan. And this is where you have the difficulty of these sanctions being put in place. We've got a question from Earl on Facebook who said, could sending weaponry actually escalate the situation and cause even more loss of life? Obviously if you start entering war zones as foreign parties to that war zone, you can escalate the situation.

So here's my situation. Instead of, and I get there was some concern about whether or not the Ukrainians should be trusted with this massive load of weapons because they have not been a real stable government. It's been back and forth over years. They've wanted to move towards the West, but NATO said you're not ready, you're not Western enough, your democracy is too young. You don't really have total human rights there, you have more human rights than Russia, more freedom of speech than in Russia, but you're not. They arrest their enemies. They arrest their enemies, they shut down the political dissent in the media, but you could have done all that before.

You didn't do it because of all these different reasons. Now you're at a point where people say, well I want to help these Ukrainians, they're fighting back. So the countries are authorizing it, but then you've got to get it into a war zone. Now to get it into a war zone, you've got to go through a country like Poland or Slovakia where we were talking to one of our attorneys earlier. And whoever is delivering those weapons, now maybe the Ukrainians pick it up at the border, they take it from there.

I don't know how that all would work, and they then suffer, they're the ones who are potentially at risk. But if you're talking about air dropping in weapons, there's not a no-fly zone right now over Ukraine. To implement a no-fly zone would be top gun style fighter jet fighting between Russian fighter jets and likely either NATO or U.S. fighter jets. So to keep the skies clean, you would have to engage U.S. military in a way we have not seen since the Cold War. And the other problem when you're engaging in moving armaments in, as you mentioned, is things can go wrong. You also have a situation where there's questions about whether Putin has direct control over what's happening, and are his military leaders going to react to what he's saying?

Or, as was a concern over the weekend, are some of these military leaders themselves, because they're failing as it is right now, going to do something rogue? And that's where I am telling you why you've got to be cautious about the whole NATO alignment here, is if you look at the map where we have the NATO countries, I think it's very important for the audience that's watching the broadcast to see what we're talking about. You have countries that border Russia, that border Ukraine. I look at, and the easy ones, Estonia borders Russia. Then you have Latvia borders Russia. Then you go down to Lithuania, which does not border Russia, but borders Russia's satellite Belarus. If something were to go wrong, not even intentionally, and you had engagement there because of military transports, a lot of things could happen, because those countries might be the way in which armaments are brought into Ukraine. Yeah, so you've got to, again, the complications that come with that are serious, and I think we just have not seen yet whether the Russian military is willing to carry out the orders of Putin. There's always that question when you come to these authoritarians, is, does their mil- They don't even know why they're there.

There's been questions about that. Well, some of these young soldiers who they first sit in, who were obviously not the highly trained soldiers, were basically acting like they were lost. It did appear as though they were lost oftentimes.

They were getting lost in cities. It was, again, I think the second thing is, if Putin was to order a massive bombardment, which would lead to the loss of life to the thousands, would his military go forward with that? Because they know, ultimately, if they do something like that, especially in a war that is not provoked, that they will be hunted down for the rest of their life as war criminals.

So they're all making these calculations too, not the 18-year-olds. I'm talking about the military generals, the guys who actually have to make the order and put it into place. And we had on earlier the broadcast an ACLJ lawyer that works with us on our International Criminal Court matters, who actually worked for the ICC, Patrick Raico. And Patrick said, and I think it was important to point out, these Eastern NATO countries are practically demilitarized as it is. And this is where Rick Grenell, in his speech, our senior foreign policy analyst, to CPAC, talked about a strong diplomacy. Let's listen to number 12.

There's no other way to say it. We have witnessed an appalling waste of diplomatic capital these past four weeks. As the Biden team hyped a bloody war, shifting U.S. troops around Europe, stoking paranoia in the West, destroying the Ukrainian economy, and utterly failing to deter Vladimir Putin. Because when you have diplomacy with nothing behind it, it's meaningless. And when Joe Biden said the sanctions aren't going to deter him, and the one thing we did learn this weekend is those real tough sanctions, if we would have done initially, may have deterred him. Because the oligarchs control a lot of what Putin does.

Yeah, they have to at least green-line him. He can't have a mass opposition. One or two leaving is one thing, but if he's got all of the wealthiest, most powerful people in this country, leave, saying, I'm gone, I'm out of here. They have the resources to do that, and they start defecting, effectively. One of those, Harry was talking about, he's actually Ukrainian, but he's considered a Russian oligarch, he's done so much business in Russia. Which again, talks to that complication there. He, again, is having to leave his business interest because of what Putin's doing, and he's a Ukrainian oligarch.

But he's considered part of that larger oligarch world. So yeah, you start effecting their daily life, these guys are interested in money and business, not war. And the peaceful invasion, if you will, that they were sold, that the whole world was sold on, that the Russians were just going to walk in and everything would be kind of like, goodbye Ukraine.

That didn't happen. So now we're dealing with a real war. That means real potential loss of life, very deadly, and totally unpredictable.

And economic consequences that can have a real impact. We'll follow all of this tomorrow on the broadcast. Again, thanks for listening, and support the work of the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. Where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today. ACLJ.org.