Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ China floats its third aircraft carrier. Who do you think it’s designed to attack？

00:00:00.000 Hello, my rebels. A change of pace today. China rolled out its latest aircraft carrier called

00:00:06.680 the Fujian. We'll have some footage. It's a tremendous vessel, 80,000 tons. For contrast,

00:00:14.120 it's almost as big as the biggest U.S. aircraft carriers. We'll take a look at it, look at the

00:00:18.500 pictures, look at the video, compare it to the U.S. craft, and we'll talk to our friend Gordon

00:00:23.500 Chang about it. It's one of those shows where you absolutely have to see the video version of it.

00:00:29.380 I want to show you what this thing looks like. I know you can't get that on the podcast,

00:00:33.780 but you can get the video version of this podcast by going to rebelnewsplus.com and clicking subscribe.

00:00:40.140 It's eight bucks a month. You get my daily show. You get four weekly shows that we put together.

00:00:46.440 So 36 shows a week, sorry, pardon me, a month, all for eight bucks. And you know what? The eight bucks

00:00:51.980 goes to keep our lights on here because we don't take any of that money from Trudeau. So A, it's half

00:00:57.740 the price of Netflix. B, you get great content. And C, you help us stay independent. That's

00:01:05.520 rebelnewsplus.com. Okay, here's today's podcast.

00:01:07.400 Tonight, China floats its third aircraft carrier. Who do you think it's designed to attack?

00:01:28.360 It's June 17th, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.

00:01:34.580 Shame on you, you censorious bug.

00:01:46.720 Hey, it's Pride Month out there. I don't know if you know. Here's a tweet by a four-star 0.53

00:01:52.520 admiral in the United States. When the first openly gay press secretary and the first openly

00:01:59.040 trans HHSASH and four-star general meet at the White House during Pride, proud to be a part of

00:02:08.980 an administration where everyone can see themselves reflected in leadership. We've come so far.

00:02:15.040 Here's to shattering more ceilings. Well, the rainbow fireworks and streamers were very evident

00:02:21.680 in China's military today, too, including what they call the People's Liberation Army Navy, the PLA

00:02:29.360 Navy. Here they are today rolling out their third aircraft carrier called the Fujian. This is in

00:02:38.100 Chinese, but pride is pride. Look at the rainbow fireworks. 0.99

00:02:42.600 así Leben

00:02:45.820 los

00:02:50.280 van

00:02:52.240 van

00:02:53.480 van

00:02:55.280 van

00:02:56.080 van

00:02:56.480 van

00:02:59.120 van

00:02:59.640 van

00:02:59.760 ¶¶

00:03:29.760 So both militaries are proud in their own way.

00:03:56.760 By the way, this new Chinese aircraft carrier has electromagnetic catapults.

00:04:03.400 They're called that.

00:04:04.900 That's what gets the jets going very fast so they can take off on such a short runway.

00:04:10.000 So most aircraft carriers floating today, if they have a catapult, they're steam-powered catapults.

00:04:16.340 Just here's a video.

00:04:18.520 Looks like it's about 20 years old.

00:04:20.340 Explaining what those are.

00:04:21.500 Just watch for a couple minutes if you don't know what I'm talking about.

00:04:23.620 Plane. They use a steam cannon that actually fires the plane off the end of the aircraft carrier.

00:04:29.620 And that really is sort of taking the idea into its final and most modern form.

00:04:34.180 It gives us the capability to accelerate aircraft weighing 55,000 pounds from zero to 165 knots over a 300-foot distance in less than two and a half seconds.

00:04:48.820 The principles explored by Tesibius save military lives every day.

00:04:53.680 This is the front of the catapult.

00:04:55.420 It's called the battery position.

00:04:57.120 This is where the aircraft gets secured to the shuttle, which is attached to the rest of the catapult.

00:05:02.160 Within the launching engine are power cylinders that run the full length of the catapult.

00:05:06.480 Within the cylinders are pistons that are linked to the shuttle, which are next to the aircraft.

00:05:11.660 When you're ready to fire the catapult, it's a programmed opening of the launch valve, which emits steam into the cylinders, pushes the pistons forward.

00:05:21.360 When it gets to the end of the power stroke, the aircraft is permitted to continue flying.

00:05:25.200 So that's the old technology.

00:05:36.420 The new technology is electromagnetic catapults.

00:05:40.580 Only the newest American aircraft carrier has them.

00:05:44.220 Oh, and so does this new Chinese aircraft carrier.

00:05:47.200 You might have noticed the electromagnetic catapults were covered by a sort of building with Chinese lettering on it.

00:05:54.640 And I'm not sure why.

00:05:55.580 I'm guessing so it's to stop American spy satellites from seeing what they look like.

00:06:01.340 Here's a drone image flying over the Fujian.

00:06:04.780 And you can see they're covered from this view also.

00:06:07.700 Here are some more pictures of the Fujian.

00:06:26.680 Again, you can see their catapults covered.

00:06:30.460 That is a gorgeous vessel.

00:06:33.160 It's enormous.

00:06:33.820 As they say, it's 80,000 tons.

00:06:37.020 The largest American aircraft carriers are about 100,000 tons.

00:06:41.960 This is an interesting picture.

00:06:44.120 Sorry, this is a video montage, pardon me, that shows what they call the island.

00:06:50.260 That's the control tower of the ship.

00:06:53.680 Very interesting view.

00:06:54.740 And here's an image of what the ship will look like when it's fully deployed and has its fighter aircraft aborted.

00:07:02.200 I have a couple thoughts on this.

00:07:03.880 This is the first homegrown aircraft carrier made in China.

00:07:06.980 The idea that they have to buy old ones from Russia or another decrepit navy is long gone.

00:07:12.840 China's first aircraft carrier is called the Liaoning, which you can see here.

00:07:20.280 This is a propaganda video, but still, aircraft carrier is smaller.

00:07:25.840 It has a ramp, not a catapult system.

00:07:27.840 It's more a let's figure out how to run the most complex military system in the world kind of thing.

00:07:33.900 I don't know if you could even call it operational.

00:07:35.280 I don't know if you know, but they bought it from Russia.

00:08:03.560 And they literally towed it to China.

00:08:08.100 And they've had it for 10 years, puttering, training, testing.

00:08:12.000 They say it's ready for action, but it's clear they're way, way past that old hulk,

00:08:16.820 even though they do use it for shock and awe videos and I think some training.

00:08:21.340 Let me ask you an obvious question.

00:08:23.020 What is an aircraft carrier for?

00:08:26.720 Well, it's for projecting force far away from your homeland.

00:08:30.920 That's what America has its aircraft carriers for. 1.00

00:08:32.920 For winning the Second World War, for conducting wars from Vietnam to Iraq. 0.63

00:08:38.960 It's a floating air base, of course.

00:08:41.640 It's how the Brits managed to free the Falkland Islands.

00:08:45.620 The U.S. has air bases around the world, but you can literally put an aircraft carrier air base

00:08:51.080 anywhere, like between two things, like the Falklands and Argentina, or, I don't know,

00:08:57.300 say between China and Taiwan.

00:08:59.600 Why would China need an aircraft carrier, though?

00:09:02.800 Why would they need what is sometimes called a blue water navy, as in far out in the ocean open,

00:09:09.980 to patrol their rivers and lakes, to patrol their shoreline, to be a coast guard, to defend China

00:09:15.780 against attack wherever that might come from in their mind?

00:09:18.640 That's one thing.

00:09:19.180 But that's not what an aircraft carrier is for.

00:09:22.540 You wouldn't need an aircraft carrier, for example, to defend, say, Beijing.

00:09:27.540 It's in the middle of the country.

00:09:28.960 You would just have normal air bases on the ground.

00:09:31.920 An aircraft carrier is to put your air base right in your enemy's turf.

00:09:36.520 You know, once upon a time, Canada had aircraft carriers.

00:09:38.540 We actually had three of them.

00:09:39.520 And now we have none, of course.

00:09:41.940 Russia has one.

00:09:43.980 France has one.

00:09:46.160 The United Kingdom has two.

00:09:50.140 Here's the Queen Elizabeth.

00:09:51.920 It doesn't have catapults, but its jets can take off on a short runway, and they can actually

00:09:56.460 land vertically.

00:09:59.100 India has one.

00:10:00.320 America is the boss, of course, with 11 of them. 0.95

00:10:04.320 But now China has three, if you include the Liaoning.

00:10:08.580 And it's fair to point out that the new one, the Fujian, has a couple more years of sea

00:10:12.660 trials before it's going to be ready to fight.

00:10:15.380 They've got to test out the systems, and they've got to train the crews, et cetera.

00:10:19.600 It's still two years out, analysts say.

00:10:21.820 But they're not done, are they?

00:10:24.420 But back to my point, why, why, why are they doing this?

00:10:26.680 Well, to project force around the world, outside of their zone.

00:10:30.940 Fujian, by the way, is the name of the Chinese province right across from Taiwan.

00:10:34.780 Maybe it's a premonition of one of its missions, to attack and conquer Taiwan. 0.99

00:10:39.380 In the past, the U.S. Navy would just sail a mighty aircraft carrier in there and tamp 0.98

00:10:44.520 down any Chinese ambitions.

00:10:46.240 The carrier would probably stop any Chinese adventure, and in a terrible way, it would

00:10:51.020 even be a tripwire to a larger war.

00:10:52.920 But what if China had their own aircraft carrier in there?

00:10:56.520 And what if, I'm not suggesting this, I'm just wondering out loud, what if one day that

00:11:01.640 Chinese aircraft carrier is better than an American aircraft carrier?

00:11:07.780 China's catching up quickly to American technology in all regards, often by just plain old industrial

00:11:12.900 espionage.

00:11:13.600 So, I don't know, many Chinese missile systems, aircraft systems just look like the American 0.56

00:11:20.560 counterpart, obviously stolen blueprints, especially their aircraft.

00:11:24.240 But in some ways, China is ahead of America.

00:11:27.520 Drone technology, for example, AI, artificial intelligence, that's the next kind of war,

00:11:33.540 isn't it?

00:11:34.080 In 10 years, if China had two or three more aircraft carriers and a new generation of fighter

00:11:39.320 jets, I don't know, maybe 1,000 naval drones with the purpose of sinking American capital

00:11:44.060 ships, who would you bet on if war broke out over Taiwan?

00:11:48.620 But why be so modest?

00:11:49.820 I mean, China is expanding its sphere of influence throughout the Pacific.

00:11:53.340 Have you ever heard of the little country of Kiribati?

00:11:57.460 It's almost like an answer to a Jeopardy question.

00:11:59.780 It's one of the world's smallest countries, barely 100,000 people there.

00:12:03.040 It's right in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, south of Hawaii.

00:12:06.740 Really far away from China, isn't it, though?

00:12:10.200 Well, look at this story.

00:12:11.720 China has been visiting it, wooing it.

00:12:14.440 This news article is titled Kiribati Runway Project in Focus as China's Wang Yi Tours Region.

00:12:22.180 You bet.

00:12:22.920 That was an American runway. 0.92

00:12:24.800 There were battles there in the Second World War.

00:12:27.340 Well, now China wants it, and you doubt they'll get it.

00:12:32.420 China has major colonization projects throughout Africa, in particular.

00:12:36.300 Chinese workers, Chinese property, Chinese infrastructure, Chinese mines, Chinese dams, Chinese ports, Chinese police patrolling these, Chinese profits.

00:12:47.940 China has interests around the world.

00:12:49.280 It wants a navy to protect those interests and project force there. 0.95

00:12:53.060 It already has the largest navy in the world numerically.

00:12:55.660 Now it's working to grow its qualitative advantage.

00:12:58.120 And look, even if the Fujian aircraft carrier isn't quite ready to tackle the USS Gerald Ford, that's the new U.S. aircraft carrier class that's just entering service.

00:13:10.840 These are images of the USS Gerald Ford undergoing sea trials, practicing, practicing.

00:13:16.760 But look, even if the Fujian can't quite take on the Yanks, you can bet they can take on, I don't know, any African country that doesn't like to be recolonized and is pushing back on China, or any little island in the Pacific, or even tackle Korea or Japan in a significant way. 0.99

00:13:35.200 I wouldn't bet against those countries just yet.

00:13:37.300 But China is their rival now, bigger than them, richer than them, and soon enough, stronger than them. 0.99

00:13:42.860 I laugh at the demonization of Russia in wired society, the virtue signaling, the empty gestures, not because I support Russia's invasion of Ukraine, I don't, but because it's so obviously ineffective, all this virtue signaling.

00:13:56.220 Russia is selling more oil than ever at a higher price than ever.

00:13:59.300 The ruble is more valuable than when the war started.

00:14:01.560 It was supposed to be destroyed.

00:14:03.140 Western countries refused to actually sanction Russian oil and gas because they needed it so badly.

00:14:07.700 It's all BS virtue signaling.

00:14:09.440 Russian soldiers have died, and I don't think it's going how Putin planned, but they haven't really been stopped, have they?

00:14:17.080 And I don't think they will be until they decide to stop.

00:14:20.180 And if that's what Russia can do, Russia, well, what could China do with literally 10 times the population and 10 times the GDP?

00:14:28.660 I mean, for all the photo ops and everyone putting a Ukraine flag as their Facebook photo, we haven't actually put true sanctions on Russia because that would hurt the West and just drive Russia into the arms of China and India and others.

00:14:41.840 And they would get the oil and the West wouldn't.

00:14:45.120 Now, imagine China.

00:14:47.680 Effectively, the world's factory for everything, everything important from high tech to medicine to rare earth minerals.

00:14:53.360 If you can't take Russia out of your economy, imagine trying to take China out of your economy.

00:14:59.460 I can't even think of a single thing that I buy from Russia, but I can't think of a single thing that I don't buy from China.

00:15:06.520 My point is, do you think we could win a war against China? 0.76

00:15:11.600 Economically?

00:15:12.540 I don't know.

00:15:14.060 And how about militarily?

00:15:15.360 Do you not want to think about it?

00:15:17.120 It's tough to think about.

00:15:18.200 All right.

00:15:19.420 Well, they seem to be thinking about it a lot on their side, even if we don't like to think about it.

00:15:22.920 Trump started to take on the challenge of China.

00:15:25.260 He put big tariffs and import barriers on them.

00:15:27.960 He challenged them rhetorically.

00:15:29.740 He put them on notice.

00:15:31.100 He tried to reshore American industries, but it didn't really get going.

00:15:36.100 And under Joe Biden, all of those trade battles have been abandoned, surrendered.

00:15:40.360 Hunter Biden, the son, is on the take from both Russia and China.

00:15:44.680 Who knows what that means?

00:15:45.680 But the world has seen Biden's reaction to threats, to Afghanistan, to Ukraine.

00:15:53.520 Lots of talk, not a lot of action.

00:15:56.380 China's taking his measure. 0.78

00:15:58.700 I'm worried about this new aircraft carrier in China.

00:16:01.420 I mean, I'm not worried today, but maybe in two years, for sure in five years, when it's likely joined by a sister ship.

00:16:07.600 And when China has decided that it can take out Taiwan faster than the U.S. can send help and that the U.S. really wouldn't have the moral stamina to cut itself off from China, its goods and services, TikTok, Apple computers, everything made there. 0.92

00:16:27.820 Oh, well, I don't know.

00:16:30.220 That Chinese aircraft carrier had rainbow fireworks.

00:16:33.860 So what?

00:16:35.120 Look at the U.S. Navy's Twitter page today.

00:16:37.840 It changed its emblem to the pride colors.

00:16:40.860 I mean, look, if you're going to lose a war, you might as well look fabulous while you do so.

00:16:48.340 Stay with us for more on this.

00:16:50.280 Stay with us for more on this.

00:17:20.280 Aircraft carrier today, but the People's Liberation Army Navy of China, and although it is two years away from being operational, it is a mighty aircraft carrier, 80,000 tons, almost as big as the newest American class.

00:17:34.680 It has that electromagnetic catapult, which is the latest technology that even, say, the U.K. aircraft carriers don't have.

00:17:43.280 What does this mean?

00:17:44.220 What are the Chinese plans?

00:17:45.520 How will they use this against America, against Taiwan, to project force around the world? 0.75

00:17:50.840 Joining us now to talk about that is the man who probably knows better than most.

00:17:54.220 His name is Gordon G. Chang.

00:17:55.860 I follow him on Twitter.

00:17:57.020 I know you do, too.

00:17:58.420 And he joins us now via Skype.

00:18:00.120 Gordon, this is a mighty warship.

00:18:02.840 They're not playing around anymore.

00:18:04.520 This, I'm not sure if they're really an aircraft carrier force yet, but they certainly intend to be.

00:18:10.260 They've been working on this project for a decade.

00:18:13.920 I think that this is a major milestone.

00:18:16.000 What do you think?

00:18:17.760 Oh, it certainly is.

00:18:19.320 The Fujian, and that's the name of the new carrier, which, by the way, is the province across from Taiwan, and I think that's significant.

00:18:27.600 The Fujian looks like the Ford class.

00:18:30.400 It's about the same size.

00:18:31.740 Some people speculate it's a little bit bigger than what they announced, so it could be in the 100,000 ton class.

00:18:38.800 And as you point out, it's got some pretty modern things, features to it, including that electromagnetic catapult system, which is now appearing on the Ford class and which, you know, we have yet to get to work well.

00:18:52.580 So, you know, China is catching up.

00:18:54.980 The question is, where did they get that?

00:18:57.020 They probably stole it, and this is up to the shame of the U.S. Navy for not protecting its technology.

00:19:04.860 But clearly, Beijing is going to use this for nefarious purposes because it does not believe that it is bound by the rules of the international system.

00:19:14.740 It takes a while for an aircraft carrier to work.

00:19:16.640 I mean, imagine how complex it is running a capital ship like that is complex enough than running the air wing on it and having them integrate that.

00:19:25.960 The U.S. has decades, really almost a century of experience in that.

00:19:31.640 I think China has to learn that from scratch, but I don't see why they wouldn't.

00:19:36.080 I mean, they've been practicing on their previous aircraft carriers, the one they bought from Russia called the Leoniang, if I'm pronouncing that right.

00:19:45.680 Pardon me if I'm not, and then the Shandong. 0.97

00:19:47.600 So I think they're taking the long view.

00:19:50.260 They know they've got to learn these things and practice.

00:19:53.180 But even if this thing isn't ready for a couple more years, I think it's obvious they're willing to make the long-term, multi-billion-dollar investments to get there.

00:20:04.260 Like, this is as serious as the space program in terms of a high-cost, long-term investment.

00:20:10.900 You can't just snap your fingers and get an aircraft carrier.

00:20:13.940 You've got to plan that 10, 20 years out.

00:20:16.000 It looks like China's willing to do that.

00:20:18.380 Well, it certainly is.

00:20:19.380 And you point out the most important thing about this news, and that is the trajectory of China's Navy.

00:20:26.400 They're building capital ships, submarines, and others at a very fast clip.

00:20:31.260 Their Navy is bigger than ours, if you count bottoms. 0.85

00:20:35.560 We're still, the United States still has more tonnage.

00:20:38.140 But nonetheless, this is getting to a point where the Chinese have a formidable force. 0.98

00:20:44.600 And when it comes to, for instance, a war over Taiwan, China will have more assets in the region than we can actually muster.

00:20:52.100 So this shows that China has that determination to take Taiwan by force and also to move against other neighbors, especially Japan and the Philippines.

00:21:02.720 You know, I don't know if China would try to invade Japan or Korea.

00:21:07.780 I find that hard to fathom.

00:21:09.660 But I certainly, they have expressly stated they wish to reabsorb Taiwan. 0.95

00:21:15.420 It's much smaller population-wise.

00:21:18.700 It's just across the straits.

00:21:21.620 I think if you plunked a couple of Chinese aircraft carriers between mainland China and Taiwan, I think the Chinese amphibious – I mean, I don't want to get too technical.

00:21:33.500 I don't want to pretend that I have a military background.

00:21:35.300 But it just strikes me as sort of obvious if you deployed the bulk of the Chinese navy between mainland China and Taiwan, China would pretty much have its way.

00:21:46.620 And how – I mean, I'm just terrified that the qualitative and quantitative advantages are being lost.

00:21:53.500 Yeah, well, certainly, they're being lost.

00:21:57.640 And by the way, for an invasion of Taiwan to be successful, China's got to establish a blockade.

00:22:04.260 That blockade to be successful has got to include sovereign Japanese territory, specifically Yonagumi, an island which is actually south of Taipei, 58 nautical miles from the main island of Taiwan.

00:22:17.040 On a clear day, actually, you can see the Taiwan mountains from Yonagumi.

00:22:20.580 And so there's that issue.

00:22:23.040 But also there's the islets in the East China Sea that the Japanese call the Senkakus, the Chinese call the Daoyus.

00:22:30.600 The Chinese have a very weak claim to them, but they've made it very clear that they're going to take those from Japan. 0.99

00:22:36.700 So this carrier plus the other ones plus the rest of its navy would be very helpful in taking the Senkakus, the Daoyus, from Japan.

00:22:46.180 You know, I was saying earlier, I look at the West reaction to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and I was checking in Russia's GDP is almost exactly one tenth that of China's and the population is almost exactly one tenth that of China's.

00:23:02.900 And Russia has oil and natural gas and other minerals.

00:23:05.760 It's true.

00:23:06.760 But most of the stuff we love to buy doesn't come from Russia.

00:23:10.440 I can't think of anything I buy that comes from Russia, whereas it's very few things that we don't buy from China, whether it's medicine or high tech, anything high tech.

00:23:22.140 And so I look at how difficult it's been to punish Russia economically.

00:23:28.980 The ruble is strong.

00:23:30.520 They are not having trouble selling their oil at record prices.

00:23:34.500 I mean, yes, they have had military losses, but I think that the West, especially Europe, has been unwilling to pay an economic price for disentangling with Russia.

00:23:44.680 I think of that, and I think that is one tenth of China's integration with the world.

00:23:52.620 And forget about the military hardware.

00:23:55.300 I don't know if the West has the stomach, the moral conviction to get into a showdown with China.

00:24:02.200 I think the West would blink in a second.

00:24:04.060 I'm really afraid that you're right, because as we've seen, the sanctions that have been imposed on Russia have been less than inspiring.

00:24:15.340 They've been somewhat effective, but China has been able to help Russia to evade them.

00:24:22.140 And the Russians have been very good at being able to sell oil and gas around the world to a number of countries, including the United States and the European Union.

00:24:31.900 So, you know, China looks at this, and there's two big lessons that China takes away from all of this.

00:24:38.600 You know, there's a lot of wishful thinking, and, you know, people say, oh, you know, China's seen the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people and worry that Taiwanese would be heroic.

00:24:48.580 Well, yes, the Taiwanese would be heroic, but that's not the lesson that I think Beijing takes away.

00:24:53.420 They take away two of them.

00:24:54.880 One of them is about the sanctions not being effective, and I think you're right.

00:24:59.380 They believe that no one's going to impose sanctions on China.

00:25:02.020 And the second lesson goes to your first point, and that is that the United States, the European Union, 27 nations, and Great Britain, those 29 nations had an economy that it was 25.1 times larger than Russia's in 2021, and yet we failed to deter that invasion, which most people thought was unthinkable.

00:25:24.060 The Chinese look at that and say, well, if the much stronger West couldn't stop Russia, how are they going to stop us?

00:25:31.820 And so, therefore, there's been a breakdown in deterrence.

00:25:34.920 Now, I've had people say China will get old before it gets rich, a reference to their aging demographics and their low fertility rate, partly because of the historic one-child policy.

00:25:49.600 Well, they seem to be getting rich pretty fast.

00:25:51.720 Are there any structural weaknesses?

00:25:56.160 Is there, you know, sometimes when people get some wealth, they start to demand more rights and freedoms, whereas if they're absolutely in abject poverty, they're just thinking, how do I eat today?

00:26:08.040 Is there anything in China?

00:26:09.840 Is there an ethnic identity movement?

00:26:12.980 Is there some political, I mean, there was the Falun Gong movement more than a decade ago that was snuffed out.

00:26:20.460 Is there any countervailing force that Xi Jinping is worried about other than just regular political rivalry?

00:26:27.360 Is there something internally in China that perhaps makes them not as strong as they appear on the outside?

00:26:33.420 That's a great question, because the answer is yes.

00:26:37.020 We know that the Chinese regime these days is extremely casualty averse.

00:26:41.780 We know this because China launched a surprise attack against India on June 2020.

00:26:49.020 They did not announce their casualties until the following February, when they said they had four.

00:26:55.700 But both Russian and Indian sources publicly have said that China undercounted its casualties by a factor of 11.

00:27:05.560 That shows you the regime in Beijing is very worried about military misadventure abroad because they realize that Chinese people, for various reasons right now, are just in no mood for aggression against anybody.

00:27:20.600 And that, I think, is largely because they've got an economy right now that is, if it's not collapsing, it's certainly plunging, it's contracting.

00:27:29.980 It's a property market that is falling down with no bottom in sight.

00:27:35.540 And that's important because property, basically new apartments, are like currency in China, store of value.

00:27:41.980 So you have a lot of problems going on.

00:27:44.940 And the one that you mentioned, demography.

00:27:47.100 China's demography is projected to fall faster than any other country in history in the absence of war or disease.

00:27:55.000 So Chinese leaders see this and they believe that they've got some real problems.

00:27:59.660 But it also means they may believe they've got a closing window of opportunity.

00:28:03.700 In other words, act fast or don't act at all.

00:28:06.020 Well, and that's the thing.

00:28:07.220 I mean, Vladimir Putin, he may be unpopular outside his country, but there's some indication that within Russia, the war has caused people to rally to him out of patriotism or who knows.

00:28:20.700 Maybe they've bought their propaganda.

00:28:22.100 But I don't think it's bringing him down internally.

00:28:26.820 I remember a few decades ago, there was a book in Japan, if I recall, called The Japan That Can Say No.

00:28:32.380 And it was sort of, you know, let's stop being second banana of the United States.

00:28:36.320 Let's have some pride.

00:28:37.680 Part of it was sort of ethnic pride, national pride.

00:28:41.320 How I don't know if it's possible to read Chinese public opinion.

00:28:45.620 I don't know if that thing exists in the same way we think of it in the West.

00:28:48.520 But an average person in China, do they love America or do they want to go to America or do they hate America as a new imperialist force, a bully? 0.92

00:28:58.480 Do they have an affection for the place where Hollywood and Disney and sports comes from?

00:29:03.540 What do they think of the average American?

00:29:06.080 Well, there's 1.41 billion Chinese, according to the last census.

00:29:09.920 So there's probably 1.41 billion answers to that.

00:29:13.620 I think that, first of all, you can't measure public opinion on sensitive issues in China.

00:29:19.660 So we really don't know.

00:29:21.820 So all of this is anecdotal.

00:29:23.980 But I think most Chinese admire the U.S.

00:29:27.880 The problems with the U.S. have been magnified by Communist Party and central government propaganda.

00:29:34.800 So there's been a diminution in support.

00:29:37.720 And, of course, there always is national pride.

00:29:40.020 But I think the Chinese people aren't so focused on the outside world these days as they're focused on their own government.

00:29:48.160 Because the problems in China, COVID-19 lockdowns, economy, all the rest of it, really have focused them on the issues that affect them on an immediate basis.

00:29:59.860 Well, I tell you, it sure was a wake-up call to see that mighty aircraft carrier.

00:30:03.260 It looks like it could be an American ship.

00:30:05.960 It's so mighty, and it's got that flat top, but not that ski jump top like some of the smaller aircraft carriers.

00:30:13.180 Gordon, it's great to catch up with you folks.

00:30:14.680 I say again, you really have to follow Gordon on Twitter.

00:30:17.440 If you care about China and China-America relations and the whole region, go to Gordon G. Chang on Twitter.

00:30:25.580 It's a great follow.

00:30:26.380 It's nice to see you, my friend.

00:30:27.320 Thanks for jamming us in your busy schedule.

00:30:30.440 Thank you so much, Ezra.

00:30:31.540 It was a blast.

00:30:32.560 Right on.

00:30:33.040 There you have it.

00:30:33.480 Gordon Chang, stay with us.

00:30:34.840 More ahead.

00:30:35.960 Hey, welcome back.

00:30:48.280 Your feedback.

00:30:48.860 Dave Reed says, perhaps we should start a petition for Tamara after her ward.

00:30:54.700 Perhaps a statue or plaque in Ottawa.

00:30:57.780 No one represented freedom-loving Canadians more than her.

00:31:00.960 You're talking about Tamara Litch.

00:31:02.060 I had the pleasure of being at the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedom, JCCF, gala dinner last night here in Toronto.

00:31:11.000 John Carpe, their boss, was there.

00:31:12.580 A lot of their lawyers were there.

00:31:13.660 I went out of support.

00:31:15.660 I went out of support.

00:31:15.680 I really like those guys.

00:31:16.920 As you know, I've been supporting them even since back in my time at Sun News Network.

00:31:21.040 And the Democracy Fund does some great civil liberties lawyering, which obviously I totally support.

00:31:26.720 But that's my favorite group.

00:31:28.140 But the JCCF is like the granddaddy of it all.

00:31:31.100 They do so much work.

00:31:32.680 And as I said to John last night, if the JCCF were not there, it would be a wasteland of civil liberties in this country.

00:31:40.920 I mean, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association has done nothing over the last two years.

00:31:46.020 The JCCF has done so much.

00:31:47.480 So Tamara was their guest of honor and received their Freedom Award.

00:31:52.180 So it was really fun.

00:31:53.060 I got a bit of a photo.

00:31:54.820 You know, I don't take a lot of selfies with people.

00:31:57.000 I mean, people take them with me, and that's great.

00:31:58.700 But I don't go up to people and say, hey, give me a selfie very often at all.

00:32:02.100 But I did that with Tamara because I was sort of proud, and I wanted a picture with her.

00:32:06.240 So here's a letter referring to William Diaz Bertiom's street interview with Pablo Rodriguez, the censor.

00:32:16.980 One hour escape.

00:32:18.540 I saw that.

00:32:19.440 Great work, William.

00:32:20.740 It was like watching a 1970s show when journalism used to be journalists running after people who were supposed to have answers.

00:32:28.280 You know what?

00:32:28.880 That's a great point.

00:32:29.900 And, I mean, I've been around politics for really 30 years.

00:32:35.420 I even worked on Parliament Hill for a couple years for Preston Manning way back in the day.

00:32:40.560 And it was absolutely standard practice for journalists to chase people, especially up and down Parliament Hill, and to make sort of a dramatic scene about it.

00:32:48.940 And the CBC was a master of it.

00:32:50.720 And, you know, that was sort of their job.

00:32:52.900 But no journalists do that anymore because they're obedient and they've been domesticated because they're on the payroll.

00:32:59.060 I mean, you can take a wolf and domesticate him.

00:33:03.520 I mean, chihuahuas and little poodles did descend from mighty wolves, and it was because they were corrupted in a friendly way.

00:33:13.760 I mean, the species of a dog is Canis familiaris, family dog.

00:33:18.440 And you can do that to a dog.

00:33:21.080 You can turn it into a cuddly little puppy.

00:33:23.700 You can do that with journalists, too.

00:33:27.040 Speaking of dogs, Dr. Dirty Dog 995 says, liberals refusing to answer questions on Bill C-11 shows you exactly what this bill is meant to do.

00:33:36.080 You're exactly right.

00:33:37.200 And like I say, a lot of journalists used to run and ask questions.

00:33:42.080 I remember when Stephen Harper had a bump in the road and Nigel Wright, his chief of staff, he used to get up and go jogging at like 4 a.m.

00:33:51.460 A CTV reporter got up that early and sort of jogged alongside him asking questions.

00:33:55.880 That's great journalism on their part.

00:33:57.720 It's unthinkable that journalists would do that to Trudeau or his cabinet ministers these days because they're all on the tape.

00:34:04.160 That's our show for today and for this week.

00:34:06.280 Until Monday, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home, good night and keep fighting for freedom.

00:34:12.580 Astute viewers of Rebel News might recall our video last week exposing how Brampton Mayor Sneaky Patrick Brown had a secret campaign office running out of the city of Vaughan.

00:34:25.340 What's more, he was allegedly using senior city of Brampton staff to help sell Conservative Party of Canada memberships.

00:34:33.100 That's against the rules, of course, unless those staffers took an unpaid leave of absence, and none of the Brampton employees we reached out to would provide proof of this.

00:34:44.440 In any event, on the day Lincoln Jay and I visited the secret sneaky Patrick campaign HQ, who should show up but the sneaky one himself?

00:34:54.260 As soon as he saw us, he scrammed like a frightened weasel.

00:34:59.340 Naturally, we followed Brown down the highway.

00:35:02.500 We wanted to query him.

00:35:04.220 Where, oh, where was Paddy running to, though?

00:35:06.820 City Hall?

00:35:07.960 His home?

00:35:09.180 Nope.

00:35:09.860 Turns out that his final destination was a police station?

00:35:13.840 Check out the surreal video evidence.

00:35:18.800 Patrick Brown drove straight to the Brampton Police Headquarters.

00:35:25.640 Okay, go, get out.

00:35:26.940 Okay, then.

00:35:28.320 You get out right now.

00:35:29.340 Go, go, please, go, please.

00:35:33.260 Mr. Brown.

00:35:34.280 Mr. Brown.

00:35:34.860 Mr. Brown, why are senior City of Brampton staff working out of your secret campaign headquarters in Vaughan?

00:35:46.000 Mr. Brown, is that on the taxpayer dollar?

00:35:49.140 Have they taken a leave of absence?

00:35:51.940 Mr. Brown, why are City of Brampton employees working at your campaign headquarters in Vaughan?

00:36:00.900 Is this on the taxpayer dollar?

00:36:03.760 Mr. Brown.

00:36:04.860 Mr. Brown, is this right?

00:36:07.640 Oh, okay, then.

00:36:08.680 I'm all right, then.

00:36:10.080 Okay.

00:36:11.460 Mr. I just jumped out of your car so fast.

00:36:12.940 I'm trying to conduct a traffic stop on you.

00:36:14.780 Oh, really?

00:36:15.420 Yeah.

00:36:15.760 Oh, why is that, sir?

00:36:16.460 Mr. Let's go back outside.

00:36:17.260 Okay, sure.

00:36:24.040 Why would you want to conduct a traffic stop on this?

00:36:26.460 Mr. You came in, going a little faster in our parking lots.

00:36:28.180 We want to see what's going on.

00:36:29.260 Oh, is that right?

00:36:29.920 I'm just following Patrick Brown's vehicle, officer.

00:36:34.360 Okay.

00:36:35.020 He has a secret campaign headquarters.

00:36:37.680 No, that's fine.

00:36:38.260 In one.

00:36:38.520 Regardless of that point, we know who he is.

00:36:40.420 Okay.

00:36:40.760 And we're going to find out who you are.

00:36:41.660 Oh, my name is David Menzies.

00:36:43.220 I'm a reporter.

00:36:44.300 Okay, you've got your driver's license for me.

00:36:45.480 Absolutely.

00:36:45.920 Do you know who he is, uh, who you are?

00:36:53.640 Sorry?

00:36:55.240 Sorry, sir?

00:36:56.600 Hey.

00:36:58.080 What's your problem?

00:36:59.540 He's my cameraman, officer.

00:37:01.080 Awesome.

00:37:01.900 Hang out over here.

00:37:02.800 Sorry, my name is Lincoln Jay.

00:37:04.020 Perfect.

00:37:04.620 What's your name?

00:37:04.960 My name is Sergeant Crawford.

00:37:06.020 Nice to meet you.

00:37:06.360 I have no idea what he said on his phone call to Brampton Police.

00:37:11.260 Well, folks, that investigation regarding criminal harassment began that very evening, if you can believe it.

00:37:17.760 A detective called Lincoln and I sometime after 10 p.m.

00:37:22.500 Yes, with all the crime occurring in Peel region, ranging from violent carjackings to homicide,

00:37:30.440 apparently the number one hot button issue in Peel that night was Lincoln and I asking Patrick Brown impolite questions.

00:37:39.660 In any event, we deferred the detective's queries to our lawyer.

00:37:43.920 And get this, that investigation wrapped up just a few days later.

00:37:49.680 Here's the letter our lawyer, David Elmala, received recently.

00:37:54.600 Hello, Mr. Elmala.

00:37:56.140 I am writing to follow up on our previous conversation regarding your clients, Mr. Menzies and Mr. Jay.

00:38:02.940 We have completed our investigation and determined that there are no grounds to charge your clients with any criminal or provincial offenses.

00:38:12.900 In our opinion, your clients exercise their freedom of the press charter right in a lawful manner.

00:38:21.580 Should you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out.

00:38:25.540 Kind regards.

00:38:26.820 Now, folks, that's my kind of detective, someone who respects freedom of the press.

00:38:32.760 Now, for those of you keeping score at home, this is yet another embarrassing defeat for the sneaky one, yet another victory for Rebel News when it comes to exposing Patrick Brown.

00:38:44.280 But really, the cops had no other choice to deep six this investigation.

00:38:49.020 If Lincoln and yours truly were criminals hellbent on doing Brown harm, why in the world would we follow him into a police station?

00:39:00.040 Me thinks that would be a really bad move if we were a couple of actual gangbangers.

00:39:06.800 Which makes me wonder, what the hell did Patrick Brown say when he phoned 911?

00:39:12.320 Or did he call one of his cop buddies?

00:39:15.600 Because if he claimed he was being followed by strangers looking to harm him, well, his own driver kindly provided us with evidence that he knew exactly who we were.

00:39:27.600 Check it out.

00:39:29.820 Sorry.

00:39:31.380 Sorry, sir.

00:39:33.100 Oh, how sad.

00:39:34.700 But here's a hunch.

00:39:37.020 Brown saw our video, heard the incriminating words of his own driver, and maybe even begged the cops to call off the investigation.

00:39:46.380 Who knows?

00:39:47.840 And perhaps we'll never know.

00:39:49.980 Wonder if he's looking for a new driver right now, one that subscribes to the old saying, loose lips sink ships.

00:39:57.660 But you know, folks, it's getting a little tired watching Brown use the Peel Regional Police as though they were his private security guards.

00:40:08.220 Brown used the police to shut down the practice of journalism some two years ago when the cops arrested me for trespassing.

00:40:15.840 Saying, yeah, I was standing on the parking lot of a taxpayer-funded community center hoping to ask questions.

00:40:23.980 But, oh, King Brown, he's not to be disturbed when he's playing hockey.

00:40:28.940 Check it out.

00:40:29.760 Are you ready to leave now?

00:40:30.700 I am not, sir.

00:40:31.400 I am here to...

00:40:31.940 I'm going to help you off the property.

00:40:33.060 Let's go.

00:40:33.600 He's under arrest.

00:40:34.380 He's not under arrest.

00:40:35.040 I swear to you that we will go through such a disclosure procedure, and we will have every one of the officers there, and we will answer the question, who made the order to arrest a journalist doing public interest journalism on a public sidewalk?

00:40:52.820 I'm not under arrest, so you can't touch me.

00:40:54.580 Are you wanting to leave then?

00:40:56.360 I am not.

00:40:57.020 What they have given to us is an opening to give that rotten city hall an enema.

00:41:11.100 There is a very important constitutional principle at stake.

00:41:14.100 Look at this.

00:41:14.700 Four cars, and all you cops pulled off the shooting file.

00:41:17.960 You must be proud.

00:41:19.800 You're not listening to it.

00:41:21.380 You're not listening to it.

00:41:22.620 Not three, but four police cars came to arrest a journalist?

00:41:30.000 Oh, and by the way, we beat that bogus charge in court, too.

00:41:35.200 Despite his lying, despite his misuse of city staff, and despite his manipulation of the police, Patrick Brown can't catch a break. 0.87

00:41:46.800 Indeed, I almost feel sorry for this rascally weasel.

00:41:50.640 Because really, when it comes to Patrick Brown, I think his character is best summed up by three words. 1.00

00:42:00.140 What a loser. 0.98

00:42:01.540 For Rebel News, I'm David the Menzoid Menzies. 0.99

Rebel News Podcast - June 18, 2022

EZRA LEVANT ｜ China floats its third aircraft carrier. Who do you think it’s designed to attack？

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript