EZRA LEVANT ｜ Is it a good idea for the Mounties to drive Teslas？
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Summary
Ezra talks about the Mounties switching their police cars for Teslas, and we have a powerful interview with my friend Gordon Chang about what's going on in Taiwan. You're not going to want to miss this!
Transcript
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Hello, my friends. I want to talk to you about the RCMP switching in their police cars for
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Teslas. They're serious about it. I'll show you how serious. And we also have a very powerful
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interview with my friend Gordon Chang about what's going on in Taiwan. Boy, I learned a lot from him.
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You're not going to want to miss this. So please consider getting the video version of it. We call
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Tonight, do you think it's a good idea for the Mounties to drive Teslas? It's May 24th and this
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is the Ezra LeVant Show. Shame on you, you censorious bug. One of the craziest things I ever saw,
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I had to watch it several times to believe it, was a former high-ranking Obama official saying
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that one of the reasons that Barack Obama, at the time of the U.S. president, did not attack the
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terrorist group called the Islamic State when it was smuggling oil in tanker trucks to raise money
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for their terrorism. Remember, they had an actual terrorist country back then called the Islamic
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State with big cities like Mosul and Raqqa. Anyways, Obama said he wouldn't attack these oil tanker
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convoys that were bringing in tens or maybe hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen oil money
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because it would impact global warming. To attack an oil tanker truck would cause carbon emissions.
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Take a look. Here's his former deputy CIA director. How many times does he say the word
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environment here? We've seen attacks on that oil transfer taking place now after Paris that didn't
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take place before Paris, which is your original question, which it would be doing now.
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So this is one of the collateral damage questions, right? So prior to Paris, there seemed to be a
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judgment, right? I don't sit in the sitting room anymore, but there seems to have been a judgment
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that, look, we don't want to destroy these oil tankers because that's infrastructure that's going
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to be necessary to support the people when ISIS isn't there anymore. And it's going to create
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environmental damage. And we didn't go after oil wells, actually hitting oil wells that ISIS
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controls because we didn't want to do environmental damage and we didn't want to destroy that
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infrastructure, right? So we hit oil on trucks. So now we're hitting oil on trucks, right? And
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maybe you get to the point where you say we have to also hit oil wells. So those are the kind of tough
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decisions you have to make. Can you imagine fighting a terrorist war and deciding not to attack
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something because of environmental concerns? By the way, all bombs blow up and emit carbon dioxide.
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That's the thing about war. It's terrible. What a joke. Greenwashing is a joke when big corporations do
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it. Greenwashing, but it's absolutely nuts when a military does it. Not just greenwashing, but any
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other political priority other than the central mission of the military, which is to blow up
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other militaries. There's no other purpose for a military. It's insane when companies focus on
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political projects other than making money. Think of, you know, Bud Light. When a company focuses on
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DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion, as it's misdescribed, as opposed to actual work, there's
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always trouble. It reminds me of what the company Twitter was like when Elon Musk took it over. You know,
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he fired 80% of the staff who weren't actually doing anything other than making TikTok videos
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Hey guys, come to work with me at Twitter in Atlanta. This was my first time going into the
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office in such a long time, but it was nice to have a change of scenery from my apartment.
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Look at my coworker, Bree. She's so cute. For lunch, we decided to go downstairs to Bar Vegan. If you
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haven't tried it before, it's a black owned restaurant inside of Ponce Market. We ordered the
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quesadillas with tots and then also got a fancy pants cocktail and they were all really good. So I'll
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definitely be back. After lunch, we came back upstairs to an extremely empty office,
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but honestly, we were just so proud of our productivity. After work, we went back downstairs
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to Monero's to reward ourselves with some after work margaritas. We stated happy hour until around
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7 p.m. and then I finally headed home to enjoy a well-deserved bubble bath. Bye guys.
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Twitter has rolled out more innovations in the past year than in the previous five years,
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with one-fifth of the staff. That's a fact. In a way, though, who cares if a private company
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wastes money and loses its direction? It's just a company, their shareholders and the stock market
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and competitors will eventually take care of the problem. But when a military does so,
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there's no ability to say whoopsies. There's no competitor American military, Canadian military.
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If you're putting any collateral purpose ahead of being the most lethal fighting force you can be,
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your people are going to die and wars will be lost. Now, Canada doesn't have much of a military
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anymore, I hate to say. Trudeau's pushing wokeism in the military pretty hard. Soldiers are literally
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using food banks now. He's given away many of our weapons to Ukraine, if he's even delivered them.
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He's spending money putting tampon dispensers in military bases men's bathrooms. That in itself
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is not going to cost us the next war, but it shows you what's important in the Canadian Armed Forces
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these days. Let's talk about something that's almost as important as the military, something that touches
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on us much more in real life, sometimes even on a daily basis, something that could make a difference
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between life and death. And by that, I mean the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada's largest
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police force. There's 30,000 employees total at the RCMP. Not all of them, of course, are uniformed
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officers. The Mounties were once the pride of Canada. In fact, Mounties are an international symbol
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of Canada. Upstanding, honest, fair, adventurous, outdoorsy. That's the old RCMP. The new RCMP,
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of course, is one of political corruption at the hands of Trudeau's hand-picked commissioners. Remember
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the disgraceful Brenda Lucky? And the new, even more atrocious RCMP commissioner, Mike Duhem,
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who made his big debut by calling for new laws to stop citizens from being mean to politicians online.
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So they're being politicized, and policing has become corroded more and more by these collateral purposes.
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Affirmative action, DEI, diversity, equity, inclusion, or someone more accurately suggested, DEI stands for
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didn't earn it. But if didn't earn it applies to people, maybe it applies to other parts of policing too.
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Especially if we're being critical Marxists about it, if we're being woke about it, if we're trying to
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decolonize policing, how about getting rid of cars that burn fossil fuels and replace them with
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fashionable political cars? How about replacing police vehicles, which are strong, sturdy, reliable?
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How about replacing them with electric vehicles? Oh yes, look at this press release by the RCMP just a
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couple months ago. This was published by them. As you can see, I'll read most of it to you.
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RCMP shifts to zero emission vehicles. That's the headline. And here's the photo caption.
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The RCMP showcased the zero emission Tesla at the 2023 Glengarry Highland Games last summer.
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Of course, it's not zero emissions. A lot of Canadian electricity comes from burning fossil fuels,
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and you can't make steel without burning coal. It's a bit of a shell game. It feels like this is a
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novelty item, that photo. I mean, I get it. Though Teslas aren't really a novelty like they were 10 years
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ago. I guess that's things moving at the speed of government. But let me read the story. Here,
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judge for yourself. The RCMP is driving change by shifting its on-road light-duty fleet
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to zero emission vehicles where operationally feasible by 2035. Oh, driving change. I thought
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their job was arresting bad guys, upholding the law. Yeah, no, hasn't been for a while. I'll read
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some more. Officers at two RCMP detachments took to the road early in 2023 to start using the Tesla
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Model Y, one of several different models to be tested. British Columbia's West Shore Detachment
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and Ontario's Rideau Hall Response Unit were the first to test the new vehicles in daily operations.
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The up-fit mid-size SUVs have been on the road since January 23, and officers are getting a feel
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for how they perform as police vehicles in the field for their day-to-day operations.
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Yeah, did you just call the Tesla Model Y an SUV? Yeah, I'm not sure. Not sure about that. I mean,
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there's a picture of it. Now, it's true. Tesla has released a true novelty item, their Tesla truck
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called the Cybertruck. Those start at about 150 grand Canadian a pop. But the RCMP is still testing
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the Model Y from years ago. Let me read some more.
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However, the Tesla seems to be very well liked by the officers, says Corporal Didier Thibault,
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team lead of the Rideau Hall Response Team in Ottawa. It's always the first car selected when
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members sign in. They even come in earlier to get the car. That's a touching anecdote. So they think
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the car is fun. I'm not sure that's the most important thing when selecting police cars, but
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that's what the RCMP have led with in this press release. Officers on the response team patrol the
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Rideau Hall grounds, spending much of the day in the vehicle at various posts on the property.
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Even though there isn't extensive driving involved, ergonomics is a key consideration
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due to the long hours spent in idling vehicles. The ergonomics are better compared to our standard
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police vehicle, but for taller and larger members, there's still not as much room as a larger SUV,
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says Thibault. All right, so it's not a real police car in terms of its use. It's for puttering
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around the grounds of Rideau Hall in Ottawa, but just for the shorter officers. So it's like a golf
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cart, almost. You know, you're driving around short distances, no chases, no races, no bad guys put in
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the back. Like I say, it's a novelty item. I'm not going to read the whole thing, but here's a bit more.
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Speeding up availability. The field testing has brought attention to several factors that will
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help the RCMP move forward with greening its fleet. One challenge the RCMP has faced in testing
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is equipping or upfitting retail vehicles with policing equipment that were not designed for
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police operations. Quote, zero emission purpose-built police vehicles are only now becoming available
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to the Canadian market, says Andres Casimiri, manager of the RCMP's National Fleet Program.
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That means we had to buy retail vehicles and contract the upfitting to a vendor.
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Translation, a Tesla really isn't built to do police work, from the sirens to the lights to,
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you know, putting a handcuffed criminal in the back when half the roof is a window that could be
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kicked out, I'm guessing. I'll keep reading. The Teslas were the first vehicles delivered for
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testing and were upfitted with policing equipment by a vendor. They were ready for the road within
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nine months. Oh, that fast, eh? Working at the speed of government. The National Fleet Program is
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waiting for the two other testing vehicles, the Ford Mach-E and the Ford 150 Lightning. The RCMP has
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also ordered the Chevy Blazer EVPPV, a purpose-built policing vehicle. The new vehicles are expected to be
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equipped and ready for testing in 2024. Have you ever met anyone who has bought one of those other
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vehicles? Have you ever heard of a Ford F-150 Lightning? That's the electric version of the F-150,
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very, very popular truck. Now, a few people have bought them. I Googled, I don't know anyone who has
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a F-150 Lightning. Here are some headlines that I saw when I Googled F-150 Lightning. Here's the
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story that came up. Family ditches electric truck on drive from Winnipeg to Chicago after charging
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troubles. That's not a very long drive, by the way. Road trip completely with rented gas-powered
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vehicle, while Ford says charging infrastructure is improving. Okay, I'll tell the RCMP, and I'll tell
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the criminals. I wonder if that little story there is why I saw this headline, too. I just Googled
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F-150 Lightning because I really didn't know much about it. I saw this headline, Ford F-150 Lightning
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sales tanked, forcing Ford to lay off workers at Rouge EV Center. You know, Ford is losing $30,000
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per vehicle when they sell these F-150 Lightings, but the RCMP think it's a winner. They're very
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interesting. I'll read some more. Facing challenges head-on. While the team leading the zero emission
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vehicle migration is confident the market will be able to produce purpose-built policing vehicles
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well-suited for urban areas, there are potential challenges for remote detachments given the vast
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areas officers cover. Oh, you think. You think, eh? The team is still exploring charging systems to ensure
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proper infrastructures in place to support detachments and collecting data on vehicles
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operating in northern and remote locations to evaluate the challenges those areas encounter and
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ensure zero emission vehicle suitability. They keep saying team. How big is this team at the RCMP
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that instead of fighting crime is working on the question of electric cars? If you can call what
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they're doing work. I'll keep reading. As the RCMP moves forward, guided by its Vision 150 and beyond
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priorities and the Treasury Board Secretary's greening government strategy, there's still a lot to
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consider. A technology shift of this magnitude can redefine how we approach patrol operations, says Yves
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Mador, project lead for the fleet modernization project. That's why we're talking to every facet of
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RCMP operations to identify areas of improvement that are fundamental to advanced technology, zero emission
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vehicles. Okay, so hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on. Okay, how many team members are we at so far,
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by the way? But, but they're going to transform, they're going to change how they patrol to fit electric
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vehicles. They're not going to buy a vehicle that fits them, they're going to change policing
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to fit the Teslas. Yeah, don't you get it? That's what that Vision 150 is all about. Non-policing
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priorities. Don't even think about the letter P in the RCMP. That's not the emphasis anymore. If police
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patrols have to change so that electric vehicle team can report a great success to the Liberal Party, that's
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that's what they're going to do. You know, it's so bad that even the CBC has written about how stupid this all
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is. Just a few months after that foolish press release, here's what the CBC published. Actually, this was just
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yesterday. CBC said, RCMP warns push to switch to electric vehicles faces significant challenges.
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Range is one problem. Another is the kind of work police vehicles perform. Someone in the RCMP is still
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thinking about policing. Otherwise, the RCMP wouldn't, wouldn't be critical. Here, let me read a
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little bit. Can the RCMP turn North America's largest law enforcement vehicle fleet green? They're about to
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find out. So the CBC is still pretty excited about this, but obviously at least one cop is worried.
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As Canada's National Police Service, the RCMP falls under Ottawa's greening government strategy,
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a commitment to lower the environmental footprint of the federal government and get it to net zero
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emissions by 2050. The strategy calls on the RCMP to replace as many of their approximately 12,000
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cars and trucks with zero emission vehicles as operationally possible by 2035.
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So if you were to believe this, you'd think that they're just going to do it. I mean, damn the
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torpedoes, just do it. Just buy the electric vehicle. That's more important than them working
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or being able to do the policing part of their job. Imagine having an electric vehicle in say rural
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Saskatchewan in the winter when it's like minus 40. What a joke. Let me keep reading. But those tasked with
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meeting that goal are predicting speed bumps along the way. We do fully anticipate that there are
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significant challenges with electric vehicle range for a lot of our units, said Sergeant Sean
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Vickery, who works in the RCMP's National Traffic Programs and Operational Technologies unit.
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We don't want to put them into a situation where they will fail and put a member at risk or the
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public at risk because of a piece of equipment didn't do what it was supposed to do.
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Oh, watch out. You'll get fired if you keep talking sense like that. Don't let Stephen Gilbeau hear you.
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I mean, Gilbeau said, remember, that he doesn't want to fund any more roads at all. So why would
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he care about funding cars on roads, especially for the hated police part of the RCMP? I'm surprised
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he's not pushing police bicycles in our far north. Let me read some more. As the boots on the ground
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police in eight provinces, all three territories and 150 municipalities, the RCMP covers vast portions of
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the country, including many remote and rural areas with limited charging infrastructure and strained
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power grids. Quote, I think it poses significant challenges to our organization in terms of
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operations and being able to respond, said Vickery. I do think that there are a lot of locations where
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we can fit these vehicles into operations and they will do quite well. However, when you head out into
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the prairies and the northern part of Canada, we cover a lot of ground and our detachment area is quite
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large. Imagine driving a Tesla in Canada's part north. I just got to read some more. Just give
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me a little more. The early field testing is also assessing how electric vehicles can handle a police
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officer behind the wheel. Responding to a call may require driving at a higher speed, which is going
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to consume more battery and decrease your range, said Vickery. Oh, but that's not important. We have to
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help Stephen Gilboa virtue signal at the UN. And while the two Teslas with their panoramic glass
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sunroofs are popular with some of the Mounties testing them out, Vickery said they likely won't
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be used in general duty. It's probably not for widespread general duty usage where we're going to
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be putting prisoners and such in the back because the glass roof and stuff like that pose a bit of a
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challenge, he said. A bit of a challenge. I like that wording. Well, look, a bit of a challenge.
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That's a price public safety has to pay. So be it. We have new priorities at the RCMP under their new
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commissioner, didn't you know? Too early to talk gas savings. Outfitting the vehicles with policing
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equipment has also turned up to be a challenge. Andres Casamiri, manager of the Mounties National Fleet
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Program, said the force basically had to gut the insides of the Teslas to make them into usable
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police cars. And there's a picture of them there. I don't know. I bet there's no fewer than a dozen
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cops working full time on this electric vehicles thing. No, no time to fight real crime. We have to
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fight climate criminals. That's what Stephen Gilboa would say. Quote, you basically have to tear the
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interior of the car apart so that you can run the wiring. You're talking the light siren, light
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controller, the light bar, the radio. Casamiri said it's still too early in the electric vehicle
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field testing phase to get a sense of how much the RCMP could save on gas. He said they'll have
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more data as the field testing ramps up. Oh, you're pretending this is going to be cheaper?
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You're pretending you're doing taxpayers a favor? That's precious. That's so cute. I'm going to make
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a prediction. They're going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on this. They'll probably get
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some friends to make an app for 60 million dollars. They'll probably hire those arrive can guys.
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And in the end, of course, it's not going to work other than that little golf cart thing at Rideau Hall.
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It'll be like those electric buses in Edmonton that didn't work because they forgot that Edmonton
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gets down to minus 40 in the winter. Quote, a spokesman for the Treasury Board of Canada, which is
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implementing the government's greening strategy, said the department will work with the RCMP
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where necessary, if an all-electric fleet is not feasible. Okay, got it. Got it. The only thing
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that's surprising here is that Trudeau hasn't yet insisted on electric vehicles in the army,
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like electric tanks or electric fighter jets. But I think that's only because we really don't
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Well, the world of foreign affairs and military aggression, well, it's rarely been as violent
00:22:34.760
as it is now. We see Israel entering Rafa, the last holdout of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This has
00:22:42.580
elicited condemnation from the International Criminal Court. At the same time, Vladimir Putin
00:22:47.880
continues his advances in Ukraine. Today, Reuters reports that Putin says he's open to a ceasefire
00:22:56.300
negotiation along current battlefront lines. While the West looks at these two places, China makes a
00:23:05.380
move. It has encircled Taiwan in a military exercise that is terrifying in that it shows pretty much
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precisely how they would invade Taiwan if and when that moment comes. Take a look at this video,
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a simulation published by Chinese state TV. This is not actual footage. This is their simulation of
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what an invasion would look like. Absolutely terrifying. Designed to terrify Taiwan. Designed to
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whip up anti-Taiwan sentiment in China. Of course, they regard Taiwan as a separatist part of China
00:23:48.460
proper. How do we make sense of all this? Well, there's only one man I trust to help us figure
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out what's going on and America and Canada's place in that if there is a place for us. You know who I'm
00:23:59.020
talking about, Gordon Chang. You can follow him on Twitter at Gordon G Chang. He joins us now via
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Skype. Gordon, great to see you again. Thank you for making time for us. While the world is looking at
00:24:09.500
Gaza and Ukraine, China has encircled Taiwan. Tell us what's going on.
00:24:14.220
Yeah, this is a two-day exercise, Joint Sword 2024-A. And really what they're doing is they're
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practicing a blockade. Now, they did this in 2022 after Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House,
00:24:30.200
visited Taiwan. But this time, they're blockading or they are surrounding not only the main island of
00:24:36.220
Taiwan, but also Taiwan's outlying islands, which are very close to the Chinese mainland.
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So this is more comprehensive than what we've seen before. I'm sure we're going to see more
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provocative Chinese exercises in the coming months. And they're doing this, they say, because of the
00:24:54.160
inauguration of William Lai on Monday as Taiwan's new president. In his inaugural address, he was more
00:25:01.180
explicit about sovereignty, but the substance was the same as his predecessors. And he did say he would
00:25:07.760
keep the status quo. I haven't been to Taiwan in more than 15 years. And there's a lot of push and
00:25:14.800
pull. There's some ethnic harmony between Taiwan and China. There's linguistic harmony. Many people
00:25:21.340
from Taiwan evacuated the mainland during the Communist Revolution. There are now great commercial
00:25:27.980
ties. There are family ties. So there are natural reasons to pull these two countries together.
00:25:33.360
On the other hand, Taiwan has become a truly liberal democracy. And it's proved that freedom
00:25:40.160
can work. And I think they look at what's happening in Hong Kong and realize that China
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is not going liberal. How does this tension play out? Because I can only imagine, just like North
00:25:50.940
and South Korea, there's family ties. There's cultural ties. What part of Taiwan wants to have a
00:25:58.520
homecoming? And what part thinks that's just impossible as long as the communists are in
00:26:02.720
charge? Well, as Taiwan is democratized, people in Taiwan say, well, look, you know, we want good
00:26:10.820
relations with Beijing, but we're not Chinese. And in self-identification surveys, no less than two
00:26:17.200
thirds and usually about 85 percent or so say they're Taiwanese only. Now, the people who say they're
00:26:23.440
Chinese only is never more than seven percent in these surveys. And usually it's about three or
00:26:28.740
four. And this has actually, I think, been the main dynamic because, you know, China says, well,
00:26:35.560
Taiwan's China. And Taiwan says, no, we're not.
00:26:39.740
Isn't that interesting? So they have I mean, even though there may may and they have may have
00:26:45.080
originally come from mainland China, of course, there are indigenous Taiwanese people as well,
00:26:51.740
so to speak. Isn't that interesting? Well, what are the ties commercially between the mainland and
00:26:57.520
Taiwan? Because I think in so many cases, money can be a corrupting force on political independence.
00:27:04.760
I think of what's happened in Europe. Germany, for economic reasons, decided to make a deal with
00:27:12.740
Russia for natural gas. And that has hampered its ability to push back on Vladimir Putin.
00:27:18.700
When you have massive trade ties, it's tougher to take principled stands because your prosperity
00:27:25.380
depends on it. How dependent is Taiwan on mainland China compared to its economic trade with Korea,
00:27:36.700
There's a lot of trade between China and Taiwan, but Taiwan is now reorienting its trade toward the
00:27:43.580
United States. And so those trade ties are becoming less important, at least on a relative basis.
00:27:51.080
And also it's because China has been threatening Taiwan. So we have seen, especially in presidents
00:27:57.660
of the Democratic Progressive Party and William Lai, the current president, is DPP, as is his predecessor.
00:28:03.900
You know, we're seeing very much a move to try to move away. And by the way, this election that took place
00:28:11.480
in January of this year, this was historic because this is the first time that the people of Taiwan
00:28:17.940
chose a person from the same party in three straight presidential elections. Tsai Ing-wen for two
00:28:28.240
and William Lai for one. And that shows you the drift away from China.
00:28:34.200
That's right, because there was a party, help me out if I'm getting my facts wrong,
00:28:38.640
the Kuomintang, which wanted closer relations. And they actually were sort of a mirror image of the
00:28:46.120
language on the Chinese mainland side, weren't they? Each one was regarding the other as a rogue
00:28:53.660
province, let's say. They both believed in an eventual reunification. Is that an accurate
00:28:58.460
description of the Kuomintang Party? Yeah, that is accurate. Both the Communist Party of China and
00:29:04.360
the Kuomintang both basically have the same Leninist roots. And they both competed for influence and power
00:29:11.500
on the mainland. 1949, Chiang Kai-shek, he fled to Taiwan and he imposed Chinese rule. And that was
00:29:21.900
extremely unpopular, especially because it was brutal and murderous. And so today in a democratic
00:29:27.880
Taiwan, people remember that. It's called the white terror. And that's why the Chinese, ethnic
00:29:35.980
Chinese are losing political power. You know, it's just sort of natural that as time progresses,
00:29:41.620
the political parties start to indigenize. And that's what's happened to the Kuomintang a little
00:29:48.280
bit. It's still very pro-China, but it is losing influence. And so therefore, it is a significant
00:29:56.980
shift in the political landscape of Taiwan. You know, one of the greatest natural defenses
00:30:03.680
the United Kingdom has had for centuries, of course, has been the English Channel. It has likely saved that
00:30:10.680
country from invasion many times. And it's, for centuries, it compelled the British to be the,
00:30:16.380
you know, the masters of the sea. They were the greatest Navy all around the world. That's no
00:30:22.100
longer the case. And I think the era of American naval dominance, if it's not over, it's at least
00:30:29.140
hit its apogee. China now has the world's largest Navy in terms of the number of ships. And although
00:30:36.640
they are not practiced with their aircraft carriers, they have them. They're developing fifth
00:30:42.500
generation fighters. They are experts in drones. They haven't actually fought a hot war in decades,
00:30:51.520
but I think they've narrowed the qualitative gap with America and certainly the quantitative gap.
00:31:00.980
And so I wonder, God forbid, if this weren't just a drill, if this was for real,
00:31:07.160
how would Taiwan fare in a battle over the Taiwan Strait?
00:31:14.800
Great question. It's not just the United States. It's also would be Japan, Australia,
00:31:21.420
and perhaps others. But yeah, the Chinese military is engaged in the most rapid and fast and largest
00:31:29.900
buildup, military buildup since the Second World War. As you point out, the Chinese Navy has more
00:31:35.620
ships. The Chinese Air Force is moving towards the point where it'll have more planes than the US Air
00:31:41.520
Force. Now, there are qualitative problems. The biggest problem for the Chinese military, though,
00:31:48.000
is political in the sense that it is, it reports to the Communist Party of China. It's not a state army,
00:31:53.900
it's a party army. And because of that, it has been riven by politics. And last year, especially the
00:32:00.280
last half of the year, there were some very disturbing developments in terms of political purges and
00:32:07.020
whatnot with the Chinese military. Tell me a little bit more about that. Does that suggest
00:32:14.380
that they may have a different ambition than the leader? I mean, Xi Jinping strikes terror, I think,
00:32:23.540
around the world because he's, he has moved China towards militarism and authoritarianism. He has
00:32:29.200
basically stopped liberalization. He's undone Hong Kong's freedoms. If he's not the boss of the
00:32:38.280
People's Liberation Army in de facto terms, who is and what are the differences between him and the
00:32:47.280
military? Is it just an internal difference? Is it a difference in terms of how bellicose they are
00:32:53.000
towards the West? What's, what's the daylight, so to speak, between the People's Liberation Army
00:32:59.720
and the communist and the government? Help me out here. I don't know anything about this,
00:33:06.160
but I'm terrified about what you've just said. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff that we learned at
00:33:12.820
the last part of last year. And we're not exactly sure what it means, but you know, I can run through
00:33:17.700
some of it. So for instance, the rocket force, which controls almost all the country's nuclear
00:33:22.840
weapons. The top two officers, the commander and the political commissar were sacked and replaced by
00:33:30.200
officers from other branches, the Navy and the Air Force. There are reports unconfirmed that some 70
00:33:36.920
rocket force personnel were purged last year. And then we have the really interesting case of China's
00:33:43.800
defense minister. The defense minister is not as important as the secretary of defense in my country
00:33:49.360
and your minister of defense, but it shows you what happened. General Li Xiangfu, who was appointed
00:33:55.540
in March of last year, he, his last day, what he was seeing in public was August 29th. He was not
00:34:03.940
formally relieved of his position until August, until October 24. And his successor was not named until
00:34:12.020
December 29th. We don't know what happened during those large intervals, Ezra. But the point is,
00:34:19.180
something's not right there, because that is so unusual. So this is extraordinary.
00:34:24.760
Wow. You know, I remember the term during the Cold War, Kremlinology, where people would try and read
00:34:31.200
the tea leaves of who is standing next to whom at the military parades at the Kremlin. And it feels like
00:34:38.180
that same sort of thing, again, trying to understand who's up, who's down in a very opaque
00:34:43.160
system. I find it scary. And I guess my last question to you would be, Canada will really have
00:34:51.680
very little to do with this. We don't have much of a Navy to speak of. I think we have had a ship
00:34:59.500
sail through the Taiwan Strait. And I'm glad that happened. But I don't think we'll be a deciding
00:35:04.160
factor. The other countries you mentioned, Australia, Japan, perhaps Korea, I don't know.
00:35:09.140
But it really comes down to the United States. They're fairly occupied by both the other conflicts
00:35:17.620
right now, Ukraine, Russia, and Israel and its neighboring countries. Is America paying attention
00:35:28.780
to Taiwan? Does it have the resources to be a credible deterrent in Taiwan? Has Joe Biden maintained
00:35:42.300
Great questions. And I don't think we have two hours to answer them. But just to look at it in brief terms.
00:35:51.360
The thing is, is not so much the United States. I think it's the problems inside China and what
00:35:59.800
Xi Jinping has decided to do. We know that he's made the decision to risk war in East Asia. And we
00:36:05.580
can see this in the South China Sea in his attempts to grab islands and shoals from the Philippines.
00:36:12.300
But whether he has actually made the decision to go to war, we don't know. And, you know,
00:36:17.780
it very well may be that it has nothing to do with the United States. It may have everything to do with
00:36:23.200
internal strife inside the Communist Party. Now, the United States is a credible deterrent if you look
00:36:29.180
at it sort of military to military and in objective terms. But we just don't know what is happening
00:36:36.240
inside Beijing. And that is the determining factor.
00:36:41.080
I think to some degree, we don't quite know what's going on in the White House either. And I don't say that
00:36:46.060
to be flippant. I think the true decision makers may not just be the president. I think there are
00:36:53.460
likely other forces who have a more senior role, given I think what we can fairly say are the
00:37:01.500
limitations of the president. I'm not casting aspersions. I'm just saying it's not just Joe
00:37:06.320
Biden making these decisions. I think it's fair to say.
00:37:11.600
Well, listen, it's always great to talk to you. And folks, if you're not already doing so,
00:37:17.100
may I invite you to follow Gordon on Twitter at Gordon G. Chang. As you can see, you will get a
00:37:24.340
briefing just by following him on Twitter that you will get nowhere else. Gordon, we're so grateful
00:37:29.000
for your time that you spend with us. We always learn a lot. I sure do. And frankly, you're making
00:37:33.860
me want to go to Taiwan. I haven't been there in more than 15 years. I want to see what it's like.
00:37:38.360
I want to see the spirit of the people. When I was there before, I found it a very pro,
00:37:43.180
the most pro-Western country in the region by far. It was wonderful. It was enthusiastic. It was
00:37:51.600
hopeful. It was freedom loving. I want to see what it's like again. Maybe it's time that the rebel
00:37:56.240
went and did a little mission to Taiwan just to see what it's like.
00:38:00.620
Hey, Ezra, just a few hours ago, there were about 100,000 people in Taipei in a pro-democracy
00:38:08.120
demonstration because the Kuomintang, the pro-China party, wants to change legislative rules.
00:38:15.360
And it just brought people out spontaneously. 100,000 people in the streets on Friday night.
00:38:20.980
Wow. I'm so glad you told me that. I wish 100,000 Canadians would come out to support freedom.
00:38:26.900
And it sounds like maybe we should go and check it out because they're a wonderful country. And I have
00:38:31.860
a tremendous sympathy for a small democracy trying to stand firm next to a big dictatorship. So you've
00:38:38.160
encouraged me and you're telling me about this large rally. I'm very glad you did. Gordon,
00:38:43.060
take care of yourself, my friend. And thank you, as always, for spending time with us.
00:38:49.620
Right on. There you have it, Gordon G. Chang. Stay with us. More ahead.
00:39:01.860
Hey, welcome back. Your letters to me, Shane Woolsey, has a letter about my chat with Mark
00:39:10.500
Milkey. He says, utopia, from the Greek meaning no place or nowhere, utopia is an unattainable
00:39:17.400
fantasy. You're talking about the utopian dreams of young revolutionaries. You are so right. And
00:39:24.560
that's the whole point of so many of these communist revolutions, just to smash everything.
00:39:31.860
But as we talked about Chesterton's fence, you better know what something is for before you
00:39:39.160
destroy it. Before you destroy a fence, understand why it was built and what it's protecting you from.
00:39:45.220
And that goes a million fold in life. What are the rules that we've built up over hundreds,
00:39:52.360
thousands, even tens of thousands of years of experience? And before we tear down civilization,
00:39:57.580
understand why we do certain things certain ways. And don't just tear it down for the sake of tearing
00:40:03.720
down. Our fast cat says, what about the slavery that still exists in some parts of the world?
00:40:09.520
When she finished lecturing Canadians, she should go to some of those nations and lecture them.
00:40:14.700
You are right. There is still slavery in China, in India, in Africa, in the Middle East.
00:40:22.120
Those places have millions of slaves. I've never heard anyone speak out against it.
00:40:28.660
And never a world leader. Yeah, you have some UN conferences about traffic people. I'm not saying
00:40:34.520
no one cares at all. But the amount of talk at these slavery studies programs about existing slavery
00:40:42.360
compared to historic slavery, well, they don't really actually care. Because there's no money in it.
00:40:47.800
You make a lot of money by condemning John A. MacDonald as a slaver, even though he wasn't.
00:40:54.860
You won't make a lot of money condemning China, India, Africa, or the Middle East, now, will you?
00:41:00.060
That's our show for today. Until tomorrow, or actually until Monday, on behalf of all of us here
00:41:05.440
at Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home, good night, and keep fighting for freedom.