2:12:03 Yes, to some degree it does. That's a good word. No it does! So he goes on and he says the same stuff that everybody else said kind of complaining moaning and groaning but curiously at the Center for Strategic International Studies CSIS Romney Was on there, you know being the blowhard that he is pretty much saying the same thing but kind of condemning Trump. I don't know how he manages to do this. What is his organization? CSIS It's run...I don't know
2:12:40 It's it's one of those think tanks that is probably a front for something. Yeah, I didn't look into it any extreme you might want to if he shows up again We probably will and has Bob Schaefer running a video operation He wasn't available for this one. Yeah, he runs a video operational There's a bunch of clips on this place well Thomas Thomas J Pritzker Is the chairman of the board? I think enough said. Yeah, well definitely. Definitely definitely so let's listen to a couple of Romney things because this is okay seems to be on board with Trump but he's not really that i have the one extra clip by sense called Romney 1 yes got it that's the one before we came on air right you call China issue about era and also said were all fast asleep at the wheel basically about this what did you mean by
2:13:33 Well, I do believe that China represents an enormous threat to liberal democracy generally. To the economic vitality of the world. To freedoms not only for its own people but for people in the world. China has a very different model that they're operating from They've expressed their ambition to dominate the world to become the geopolitical leader of the world, replacing the United States and the West. To become the military power of the world and also the economic power of the world. And they believe that's their rightful place They had that kind of hegemony once upon a time, a long long time ago. And they believe that was taken away from them by colonial powers and they intend to reassert their global leadership
2:14:26 And were they able to do so? I think we would find ourselves being impoverished relatively. We would find ourselves in an authoritarian type state, being monitored by government officials. We would not have the freedoms which we have long enjoyed and the American experiment would've come to an end." It's a big drinking club this place, the CSIS everyone is in it including Kissinger Well, Robney I don't think he's in it. He might be but they just interview all these different people so i'm sure there is some good stuff. Oh yeah Not at the institute itself but in these interviews
2:15:07 Let's go to clip two, it was short. And this isn't something we would hide from China but it's saying for instance you cannot continue to massively subsidize industries selling products massively below their cost such that you drive Western businesses out of business laying people off weakening us economically and hollowing out our economic capabilities And that is just something that has to happen. I think you make a good point, what we've seen China doing both in the South China Sea and Hong Kong with the Uighurs, with their social scoring where by virtue of cameras on every corner
2:15:50 and facial recognition technology, repressing individuals who want to express their independent point of view. All these things are waking up I think other nations and this all presents an opportunity for the leadership of America to stand up and coalesce international effort. You know what really bothers me when people bring up the Uyghurs That drone footage, that's bothersome. Where did it come from? It just shows up and there is no explanation as to why... you know it was two years old I disregard the drone footage. I think I've seen it once and didn't think much about it Okay Yeah, I don't care Okay! Oh but thats what really made this story catch legs as far as I'm concerned with the drone footage. Look at that! It surprised me Right I thought that Weager should have caught legs before if the media was doing its job
2:16:43 But they weren't because China runs them, so what are you going to do? Nothing. And by the way we're not the only country that kind of gets hoodwinked and of all things...and I think clip three is actually kind of an eye-opener! Yeah and speaking of the Uyghur population, the BBC just showed drone footage on July 19th as you know blindfolded Uighur Muslims, seemed to be like moving them onto trains. And there's some sense that there is a public backlash both in the UK and Australia about that. Do you have any sense of that? Yeah I find it astonishing that China by virtue of their repression of free speech and media is able to keep the story what they're doing in their own nation as quiet as it is
2:17:34 And perhaps some countries are used to the money they're getting from China for investment, and as a result they're not willing to say anything. I mean how do you take a nation like Iran? An Islamic nation that doesn't speak out about the repression of Muslims in China – the Uighurs! But virtual silence, how can that be? And then you understand that there's a proposal to provide some $500 billion in projects in Iran by China. I mean look at us here in this country we're not willing to spend that kind of money on our own infrastructure. China is willing to spend it on infrastructure in Iran so now surprisingly Iran gets very quiet
2:18:16 But isn't he the Iran shill? Isn't that what Romney does, doesn't he have like his daughter's married to someone over there or some crazy stuff like that. Well from the sounds of it he is not anymore! Yeah, that's very odd I'm not sure why he is doing that Well, it was a very good point though I have to say. And hilarious! You interested in any more of this? He goes on with some work material... you can stop me. I have some China stuff. Okay well let's play clip 4 he outlines the procedure that is kind of interesting
2:18:53 I love how you say, do you want to go on? You want to take more? No. I got some China stuff. Okay let's play clip four good. So lets talk about- Hold on a second! I thought you said you liked the China stuff. I didn't know you have China stuff Yeah, I don't dislike is. I just thought you were giving up on your clips and so I said okay? I got some China stuff Oh, I see I miss it. No we're good for we'll go to four hell yeah So let's talk about technology minute as we move into the 5g world There's a lot of concern about Huawei of course and again another country that seems to be stepping away from China the UK and
2:19:29 announced that from next year on it'll be illegal for telecom operators to buy 5G equipment from Huawei. How do you see that playing out? Well, I think Huawei is a good example of what's happening in numerous areas as China focuses upon Huawei is one which has such enormous national security implications that it really opened a lot of eyes and made people more aware of the threat. But here's a circumstance where China has basically said, look one of the technologies for the future is 5G we as a government are going to invest massively in 5G technology and then we're gonna price our products well below cost so that no Western company could possibly compete
2:20:15 And by virtue of that strategy, they've kept Western companies from making the investments in new technology and innovation that would allow the Western enterprises to compete. And so the telecoms that need equipment are obviously going to buy the equipment at this low cost and it has been developed by China. This is an approach they have rolled out industry after industry. They did first at steel A decade or so ago, they had 5% of the world's steel market. Today they have 53% of the world's steel market. They didn't happen to do that just by skill force on industry. They subsidized industry They priced their products massively below cost and drove the Western companies out of business. They have done that with regards to 5G, but my own view is this and I can't impose this view on our nation let alone other nations but my own view is that on technologies that are key to our national defense we ought to insist that free nations only buy those products from other free nations
2:21:16 and that nations that are not free, that are authoritarian and have military designs against the West they cannot be the source of key products that become part of our national defense infrastructure. Donald Trump don't trust China! China is asshole! Now the UK is trying to persuade all of the European Union to get rid of Huawei No, they probably should Yeah? But let's play this last clip and then I'll be done, you can take over. Well you recall the comments of Deng Xiaoping a long time ago where he said that China should abide its time, that it should build its strength quietly and not if you will wake up the sleeping giant in the West
2:22:03 And they have pursued that strategy for the last decade or so, but in the last few years they obviously have recalculated and said you know what we've already established the kind of strength we need and we no longer need to hide our ambition. So they speak openly about their ambitions to dominate the world economically militarily geopolitically and they're exerting there influence and exerting their military might and economic might in part by saying there's nothing the West can do about it And they look at us, I think it's less a matter of COVID and seeing us distracted from COVID and more a matter of seeing the absence of American leadership in bringing together the nations of the world to confront the unfair practices that China is pursuing. Oh man! I can't believe I didn't vote for you Romney. It would have been the guy... The part that I didn't clip because it's so boring he talks about how to resolve this
2:22:58 And he didn't get voted in because I didn't realize it until I listened to this. He's basically John Kerry that doesn't get quite as wound up in his own words, he wants to set up a bunch of committees and let us do some meetings and we'll take care of this China thing by getting the other people to cooperate, we won't be doing things unilaterally now there was do nothing But you know at least he makes the right points. So I believe now that after five clips of John Kerry violating the no John Kerry clip rule, I think we remember why? This is not John Kerry this is Mitt Romney He sounds just like John Kerry Wasn't there a Mitt Romney rule too
2:23:47 I think, well we could make it a rule but it wasn't a rule at the time of this show. He needs to talk a little slower. Yeah that'll help! Well he's not wrong of course. K-ball Sagar which is my name for them now Crystal Ball and What's his name? Sammy, Sammy Hagar? Sagar? Just Sagar. They had on the authors of Hidden Hands exposing how the Chinese Communist Party is reshaping the world And have a quick three clips here from that interview. I think it's enlightening as we start off with the influence on the bushes one area in particular that I saw which was cited in Axios was about influence operations here in the United States namely former