00:00Crossing live now to a former senior analyst from the Pentagon. There he is, Michael Mulev.
00:03Mike, thanks for coming on so quickly. What a story this is, my friend. It certainly seems like
00:08Germany is getting more involved in the Ukraine conflict than ever before. Maybe your thoughts
00:13on this. What do you think about Friedrich Merz's latest statement? Well, Merz has never been
00:18friendly toward Russia. In fact, in the past, he has shown a hostility toward Russia, especially
00:25when he was dealing with Merkel, the previous chancellor, who was more friendly toward
00:32Russia. I think he is soloing it. I think he's basically announcing a unilateral policy.
00:38I have not heard this enunciated by the British, the French, nor the Russians, nor the Americans
00:48about expansion to unlimited ranges on their missiles. Also, neither Germany nor Russia nor
00:57UK nor France can really afford to up the logistical support to Ukraine. They don't have the industrial
01:11infrastructure. And consequently, I don't see how they could even carry this out. And if they want
01:16to put factories into Ukraine, they become targets. Yeah, I mean, this is exactly what I wanted to ask
01:21you about, Michael. I'm so glad you led me to it yourself, because, you know, the German chancellor
01:24is saying they're going to help to finance the production of long-range missiles inside Ukraine.
01:30It's interesting that it's not Germany saying, we're going to make them in Germany and just sell
01:34them to Kiev. He's saying, we're going to help them make them in Ukraine and we'll help to fund this.
01:40So, as you say, I mean, talk about targets, right, Michael?
01:44Oh, absolutely. They become fair game. And I think that Ukraine knows it. Germany certainly knows
01:53it. So, they're throwing away their money. And frankly, in this case, the German people do not
01:59support this. They are not backing this initiative. And already, Germany is in dire economic straits.
02:08They are in recession. And they do not have that economic infrastructure, industrial infrastructure
02:16to even do domestic production. And I would add that none of the NATO countries together
02:23could stand up to the Russians right now, except with the help of the United States.
02:27Yeah, I think it's fair to say, as many have already said, that Russia right now has the most
02:31prepared active military in the world. As Putin was also saying that a lot of other countries are
02:35watching how the Russian military is performing these days in Ukraine.
02:41And you're seeing the advances. And you're seeing the advances in drone technologies
02:46and other technologies. And frankly, I think what Germany is doing for Ukraine is trying to give them
02:54some kind of an offensive capability, because heretofore, they've been defensive in nature.
03:00Yeah, yeah. And by the way, you talk about technology in this ongoing conflict. You know,
03:05Russia has now officially surpassed China in the production of drones. Russia is now producing
03:10at least 300 drones a day. They say they're going to push it up to 500 a day in production.
03:16Meantime, here we have the German Chancellor talking about the co-production of long-range missiles
03:20in Ukraine with the help of Germany. When it comes to, I mean, let's just say, for example,
03:24let's say Germany's tourist missiles get into Ukraine. In order for Kiev to use them,
03:29does Kiev need German advisors, boots on the ground, satellite connections? Can you help me
03:34understand that? Oh, yeah. Schultz made, when he was chancellor, made that very clear that
03:39it would require German technical experts to manage them. Now, will they get, will the Ukrainians
03:47get the training and what have you? Yeah. Before long, they'll be obsolete. And then it's a question
03:53of quantity. And already Russia has the capability to intercept. So I think that this is throwing away
04:02money. And they need, as pointed out earlier, the only way to deal with this entire mess is to have
04:09a negotiated settlement. And I would add that what the presidential advisor had to say about Trump not
04:16being fully informed, that is damn serious. Yeah. And I think that's due to the intelligence
04:22community and also the Western media. You did not hear Peskov's comments on why there was retaliation
04:30until about three or four days later. Right. In the Western media. I mean, it's not being covered
04:37purposely. Yeah. And the intelligence community is not giving the president the information he needs.
04:44And I would blame Tulsi Gabbard for that. Interesting, Mike. I mean, a lot of people
04:49online, a lot of people out there are saying that Trump, he's only got essentially one side of
04:54advisors. They're telling him, they're only telling him one side of the story. So he's missing fruit.
04:59So all he knows about is Moscow retaliation. It reminds me of the Cuban missiles crisis. You know,
05:03for years in my school growing up, they said, oh, the Soviets put nuclear weapons on Cuba. Oh,
05:07what an active aggression. Well, that was a response to the West putting these weapons in
05:12Eastern Europe. But you never hear both sides of the story. Yeah, they're putting the Jupiters in
05:16Turkey. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Exactly. They were putting the Japanese in Turkey. Yeah. I remember
05:20that. Yeah, exactly, Mike. I was just going to ask you, I've been checking all these different
05:26outlets for the real stats here. And I think I've got it right. But the Taurus missile flies at a
05:31maximum speed of about Mach 1. It goes about 500 kilometers. The Russian S-400 air defense system
05:37reportedly flies at Mach 14 with an altitude of 10 to 30 kilometers. So Mach 1 versus Mach 14.
05:46You do the math, Michael. Oh, yeah. That's why I say the Germans are throwing away their money.
05:52They're trying to make Ukraine into an autonomous offensive force. They don't have the wherewithal.
06:01They don't have the know-how. They don't have the training and the experience. And that's not what
06:06they want to be doing. And if they're going to create problems even greater for themselves if
06:13they continue along this track. And the Europeans are not helping the problem. And that's why I think
06:19what's happening with Trump is that everything is getting out of control for him. And now you have
06:26the neocons and the others who are very anti-Russian who are now ganging up on him. And I think he's
06:33becoming overwhelmed. And you can see that also in the response from Netanyahu, who is thumbing his
06:39nose at Trump with regard to Iran. And this develops an acceleration, a snowball in effect throughout the
06:52administration here in which they are able then to, as advisors to the president, basically to
06:59shortstop him or to impede him and throw obstacles in the way. And that's what they're doing. And I
07:04think he's, I think Trump personally is becoming overwhelmed. Yeah, I think, I think that's exactly
07:09the right word. Overwhelmed. You know, there was Trump saying, we're going to solve Ukraine in one
07:13day. We've got the big new beautiful tariff bill. We've got the tariff war. And yet a lot of different
07:18countries around the world, not just diversifying, but they're standing up and they're saying no. And I
07:22think you calling Trump overwhelmed is absolutely on point. Michael Malouf, former senior security
07:29policy analyst from the Pentagon. Thank you so much. Thank you, Rory.
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