Episode 183: “Have US and EU Blunders Led to Putin’s War?” with J. Michael Waller
Release Date: 04/26/2022
The Bill Walton Show
As we can all recall, when Donald Trump took office in January 2017, he didn’t exactly come equipped with the detailed plans and the 1,000s of people necessary to bring about his agenda. Essentially, he had to start from scratch. That was part of his appeal. That he did accomplish so much was a testament to the strength of his mission - Make America Great Again - and the power of his personal leadership. Still, there were a lot of missed opportunities. With Republicans likely to get another chance when America elects a Republican President in 2024, we need to get it right. We need to be...
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We've all been appalled by yet another school shooting, this time in Uvalde, Texas. We want these tragedies to stop. We want to do something. Of course the cries to “do something” almost always means doing something about guns. Yet, the gun bill just signed into law by President Biden is unlikely to prevent future school shootings. There's a lot of evidence to show why it won't work, especially when existing gun laws appear to cost more lives than they save. So says Dr. John Lott, my guest on this episode, and the nation’s leading expert on guns and gun laws. Dr. Lott, with a PhD...
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From the moment President Joe Biden’s administration took office, the world has grown a more dangerous place, and the pace is accelerating. There’s a long list of national security worries that didn’t used to be of concern to everyday Americans, but now are, or should be. Russia, Ukraine and the prospects of a nuclear war. China’s mounting threat to envelop Taiwan, a world leader and supplier of semiconductors and information technology. Collapsing political stability in the Middle East thanks to the administration’s blunders that have helped Iran's quest to obtain...
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In this episode, my friend John Tamny interviews me about legendary Wall Street leader and Blackstone founder Stephen Schwarzman’s book What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence. There are many fascinating insights and lessons in Steve’s book which we can all benefit from. A few highlights: Steve Schwarzman started Blackstone with a unique strategic plan. There’s a tremendous lesson in how he approached building his firm. For any young man or woman who wants to build a business, or any type of organization, Steve Schwarzman’s book would be a great place...
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Have you ever thought about what your life would be like if you were denied access to a bank account or a credit card or access to any kind of digital payment system? Well, it's happening and it's happening to an increasing number of people and organizations. Cancel culture has come to banking. PayPal, major credit card networks and banks have already stopped processing payments for organizations they deem “hate groups.” Remember “Operation Chokepoint”? Well, it’s evolved and gotten even more draconian. And cryptocurrencies, which some thought might be a safe haven, well, maybe not...
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Russian’s war on Ukraine, and China’s aim to take over Taiwan. Joining me is one the wisest national security experts around, Dr Stephen Bryen. With 50 years of experience in foreign relations and national security, he’s seen it all. Called the Yoda of the arms trade, he was the Pentagon's top cop, the man whose job it was to ensure that sensitive technology would be kept from enemies, potential enemies and questionable allies. Stephen is the driving force behind the Center for Security Policy’s just published Stopping a Taiwan Invasion. It’s proposals, if adopted, will discourage...
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The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board is once again planning to allow federal employees’ to invest their retirement savings into companies controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. The FRTIB has decided to ignore directives by both President Trump - and President Biden - as well as strong opposition on Capitol Hill, to open a ‘Mutual Fund Window’ in June which would make available to Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) participants the opportunity to invest up to 25% of their savings in some 5,000 mutual funds. The problem? These funds would include businesses involved in the...
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Is this right and lawful? Well, we now have a test case to find out. In a first-of-its-kind First Amendment lawsuit against the federal government, attorneys Jenin Younes and John Vecchione of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, argue that the government acted wrongfully when it “directed social media platforms, including Twitter, to censor alleged “misinformation” about COVID-19.” Both Jenin and John join me on this episode to explain the suit and what’s at stake for free speech. To recollect, in May 2021, the White House began a coordinated and escalating public campaign to...
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Author John Tamny joins me on this episode for a freewheeling back and forth about some of today’s big concerns. John, a free market fundamentalist and original thinker, almost always has a contrarian take on things. John’s books include Who Needs the Fed, When Politicians Panicked, Popular Economics and The End of Work. Some of the questions we get into: Elon Musk’s plans for Twitter Why credit's never there when you need it What it means when Jeff Bezos says your margin is my opportunity Has social media censorship been overstated Have social media companies created a market...
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Listen in to a behind the scenes story meeting as the Bill Walton Show team speculates on what’s going on in the world. Starlink satellites and all the junk flying around in space, Elon Musk vs Jeff Bezos, Ukraine, the domino theory, Biden’s open borders, Alyona’s Kazakhstan take on Russia, media’s monolithic coverage of Ukraine, inflation, cooking oil and fertilizer prices, the insane (perhaps) Shanghai covid lockdown, the fragmenting world order and the dollar’s reserve currency status, what’s going on with China and Russia, corporate profits at all time highs … and more. Send...
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Is the war in Ukraine a product of Putin’s aggression or US/EU fecklessness, or both?Why did President Bush 41’s Administration fear the collapse of the Soviet Union? and even urged countries, such as Ukraine, to temper their hopes for a popularly elected government?After the USSR collapsed, the U.S. had a real opportunity to shape post-Soviet Russia. Why did we leave it to an unholy alliance of criminal cartels, oligarchs and KGB officers?Was Vladimir Putin’s rise inevitable?Has he become unstable, or a master chess-player? Or something else?How good is US spy craft in understanding Putin’s mindset?Who is Claus von Stauffenberg and what did he do? Hint: he’s why Putin has a blast barrier under his 50’ conference table.Has weak US national security leadership e.g. our catastrophic Afghanistan withdrawal, been provocative?Did Putin decide that with America’s national security leaders obsessed with climate change and “white rage”, not war fighting, there’s been no better time to invade Ukraine?How did our main central European NATO ally - Germany - become completely dependent on Putin's good graces in order for its economy to continue?