Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Is it a good idea for the Mounties to drive Teslas？

00:00:00.000 Hello, my friends. I want to talk to you about the RCMP switching in their police cars for

00:00:06.120 Teslas. They're serious about it. I'll show you how serious. And we also have a very powerful

00:00:11.180 interview with my friend Gordon Chang about what's going on in Taiwan. Boy, I learned a lot from him.

00:00:16.140 You're not going to want to miss this. So please consider getting the video version of it. We call

00:00:20.360 it Rebel News Plus. It's a video version. It's eight bucks a month. You get new content every

00:00:25.560 day from me. And importantly, you support Rebel News because we don't take any government money

00:00:30.280 and it shows. Just go to rebelnewsplus.com. Eight bucks a month. All right. Here's today's free podcast.

00:00:37.320 Tonight, do you think it's a good idea for the Mounties to drive Teslas? It's May 24th and this

00:00:59.220 is the Ezra LeVant Show. Shame on you, you censorious bug. One of the craziest things I ever saw,

00:01:17.560 I had to watch it several times to believe it, was a former high-ranking Obama official saying

00:01:23.200 that one of the reasons that Barack Obama, at the time of the U.S. president, did not attack the

00:01:28.460 terrorist group called the Islamic State when it was smuggling oil in tanker trucks to raise money

00:01:34.060 for their terrorism. Remember, they had an actual terrorist country back then called the Islamic 0.99

00:01:39.260 State with big cities like Mosul and Raqqa. Anyways, Obama said he wouldn't attack these oil tanker 0.99

00:01:47.020 convoys that were bringing in tens or maybe hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen oil money

00:01:53.800 because it would impact global warming. To attack an oil tanker truck would cause carbon emissions.

00:02:04.400 Take a look. Here's his former deputy CIA director. How many times does he say the word

00:02:09.060 environment here? We've seen attacks on that oil transfer taking place now after Paris that didn't

00:02:15.920 take place before Paris, which is your original question, which it would be doing now.

00:02:20.560 So this is one of the collateral damage questions, right? So prior to Paris, there seemed to be a

00:02:28.780 judgment, right? I don't sit in the sitting room anymore, but there seems to have been a judgment

00:02:33.480 that, look, we don't want to destroy these oil tankers because that's infrastructure that's going

00:02:42.280 to be necessary to support the people when ISIS isn't there anymore. And it's going to create

00:02:48.760 environmental damage. And we didn't go after oil wells, actually hitting oil wells that ISIS 0.91

00:02:53.800 controls because we didn't want to do environmental damage and we didn't want to destroy that

00:02:57.280 infrastructure, right? So we hit oil on trucks. So now we're hitting oil on trucks, right? And

00:03:02.540 maybe you get to the point where you say we have to also hit oil wells. So those are the kind of tough

00:03:08.040 decisions you have to make. Can you imagine fighting a terrorist war and deciding not to attack

00:03:13.860 something because of environmental concerns? By the way, all bombs blow up and emit carbon dioxide.

00:03:20.640 That's the thing about war. It's terrible. What a joke. Greenwashing is a joke when big corporations do

00:03:28.480 it. Greenwashing, but it's absolutely nuts when a military does it. Not just greenwashing, but any

00:03:34.920 other political priority other than the central mission of the military, which is to blow up

00:03:40.400 other militaries. There's no other purpose for a military. It's insane when companies focus on

00:03:47.200 political projects other than making money. Think of, you know, Bud Light. When a company focuses on

00:03:53.160 DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion, as it's misdescribed, as opposed to actual work, there's

00:04:00.180 always trouble. It reminds me of what the company Twitter was like when Elon Musk took it over. You know,

00:04:07.000 he fired 80% of the staff who weren't actually doing anything other than making TikTok videos

00:04:13.800 about how they weren't doing anything.

00:04:16.600 Hey guys, come to work with me at Twitter in Atlanta. This was my first time going into the

00:04:20.820 office in such a long time, but it was nice to have a change of scenery from my apartment.

00:04:25.240 Look at my coworker, Bree. She's so cute. For lunch, we decided to go downstairs to Bar Vegan. If you

00:04:29.800 haven't tried it before, it's a black owned restaurant inside of Ponce Market. We ordered the

00:04:34.100 quesadillas with tots and then also got a fancy pants cocktail and they were all really good. So I'll

00:04:38.820 definitely be back. After lunch, we came back upstairs to an extremely empty office,

00:04:44.000 but honestly, we were just so proud of our productivity. After work, we went back downstairs

00:04:49.060 to Monero's to reward ourselves with some after work margaritas. We stated happy hour until around

00:04:54.940 7 p.m. and then I finally headed home to enjoy a well-deserved bubble bath. Bye guys.

00:05:01.160 Twitter has rolled out more innovations in the past year than in the previous five years,

00:05:06.940 with one-fifth of the staff. That's a fact. In a way, though, who cares if a private company

00:05:14.240 wastes money and loses its direction? It's just a company, their shareholders and the stock market

00:05:20.880 and competitors will eventually take care of the problem. But when a military does so,

00:05:26.580 there's no ability to say whoopsies. There's no competitor American military, Canadian military.

00:05:31.880 If you're putting any collateral purpose ahead of being the most lethal fighting force you can be,

00:05:38.720 your people are going to die and wars will be lost. Now, Canada doesn't have much of a military

00:05:44.540 anymore, I hate to say. Trudeau's pushing wokeism in the military pretty hard. Soldiers are literally

00:05:51.260 using food banks now. He's given away many of our weapons to Ukraine, if he's even delivered them.

00:05:57.440 He's spending money putting tampon dispensers in military bases men's bathrooms. That in itself

00:06:04.380 is not going to cost us the next war, but it shows you what's important in the Canadian Armed Forces

00:06:10.520 these days. Let's talk about something that's almost as important as the military, something that touches

00:06:17.160 on us much more in real life, sometimes even on a daily basis, something that could make a difference

00:06:23.120 between life and death. And by that, I mean the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada's largest

00:06:28.740 police force. There's 30,000 employees total at the RCMP. Not all of them, of course, are uniformed

00:06:34.800 officers. The Mounties were once the pride of Canada. In fact, Mounties are an international symbol

00:06:41.520 of Canada. Upstanding, honest, fair, adventurous, outdoorsy. That's the old RCMP. The new RCMP,

00:06:48.940 of course, is one of political corruption at the hands of Trudeau's hand-picked commissioners. Remember

00:06:54.860 the disgraceful Brenda Lucky? And the new, even more atrocious RCMP commissioner, Mike Duhem,

00:07:01.620 who made his big debut by calling for new laws to stop citizens from being mean to politicians online.

00:07:08.880 So they're being politicized, and policing has become corroded more and more by these collateral purposes.

00:07:17.500 Affirmative action, DEI, diversity, equity, inclusion, or someone more accurately suggested, DEI stands for

00:07:24.640 didn't earn it. But if didn't earn it applies to people, maybe it applies to other parts of policing too.

00:07:33.840 Especially if we're being critical Marxists about it, if we're being woke about it, if we're trying to

00:07:39.760 decolonize policing, how about getting rid of cars that burn fossil fuels and replace them with

00:07:46.680 fashionable political cars? How about replacing police vehicles, which are strong, sturdy, reliable?

00:07:55.100 How about replacing them with electric vehicles? Oh yes, look at this press release by the RCMP just a

00:08:02.320 couple months ago. This was published by them. As you can see, I'll read most of it to you.

00:08:07.200 RCMP shifts to zero emission vehicles. That's the headline. And here's the photo caption.

00:08:15.240 The RCMP showcased the zero emission Tesla at the 2023 Glengarry Highland Games last summer.

00:08:22.900 Of course, it's not zero emissions. A lot of Canadian electricity comes from burning fossil fuels,

00:08:29.140 and you can't make steel without burning coal. It's a bit of a shell game. It feels like this is a

00:08:36.320 novelty item, that photo. I mean, I get it. Though Teslas aren't really a novelty like they were 10 years

00:08:43.460 ago. I guess that's things moving at the speed of government. But let me read the story. Here,

00:08:48.400 judge for yourself. The RCMP is driving change by shifting its on-road light-duty fleet

00:08:55.500 to zero emission vehicles where operationally feasible by 2035. Oh, driving change. I thought

00:09:05.360 their job was arresting bad guys, upholding the law. Yeah, no, hasn't been for a while. I'll read

00:09:11.700 some more. Officers at two RCMP detachments took to the road early in 2023 to start using the Tesla

00:09:18.060 Model Y, one of several different models to be tested. British Columbia's West Shore Detachment

00:09:24.640 and Ontario's Rideau Hall Response Unit were the first to test the new vehicles in daily operations.

00:09:31.640 The up-fit mid-size SUVs have been on the road since January 23, and officers are getting a feel

00:09:39.140 for how they perform as police vehicles in the field for their day-to-day operations.

00:09:44.860 Yeah, did you just call the Tesla Model Y an SUV? Yeah, I'm not sure. Not sure about that. I mean,

00:09:52.900 there's a picture of it. Now, it's true. Tesla has released a true novelty item, their Tesla truck

00:10:01.660 called the Cybertruck. Those start at about 150 grand Canadian a pop. But the RCMP is still testing

00:10:10.700 the Model Y from years ago. Let me read some more.

00:10:13.440 However, the Tesla seems to be very well liked by the officers, says Corporal Didier Thibault,

00:10:21.900 team lead of the Rideau Hall Response Team in Ottawa. It's always the first car selected when

00:10:27.660 members sign in. They even come in earlier to get the car. That's a touching anecdote. So they think

00:10:32.820 the car is fun. I'm not sure that's the most important thing when selecting police cars, but

00:10:38.060 that's what the RCMP have led with in this press release. Officers on the response team patrol the

00:10:44.480 Rideau Hall grounds, spending much of the day in the vehicle at various posts on the property.

00:10:49.040 Even though there isn't extensive driving involved, ergonomics is a key consideration

00:10:53.420 due to the long hours spent in idling vehicles. The ergonomics are better compared to our standard

00:11:00.400 police vehicle, but for taller and larger members, there's still not as much room as a larger SUV,

00:11:06.140 says Thibault. All right, so it's not a real police car in terms of its use. It's for puttering

00:11:12.500 around the grounds of Rideau Hall in Ottawa, but just for the shorter officers. So it's like a golf

00:11:18.060 cart, almost. You know, you're driving around short distances, no chases, no races, no bad guys put in

00:11:25.420 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.

00:11:31.020 Speeding up availability. The field testing has brought attention to several factors that will

00:11:37.340 help the RCMP move forward with greening its fleet. One challenge the RCMP has faced in testing

00:11:43.480 is equipping or upfitting retail vehicles with policing equipment that were not designed for

00:11:49.080 police operations. Quote, zero emission purpose-built police vehicles are only now becoming available

00:11:54.780 to the Canadian market, says Andres Casimiri, manager of the RCMP's National Fleet Program.

00:12:02.140 That means we had to buy retail vehicles and contract the upfitting to a vendor.

00:12:08.100 Translation, a Tesla really isn't built to do police work, from the sirens to the lights to,

00:12:14.580 you know, putting a handcuffed criminal in the back when half the roof is a window that could be

00:12:19.240 kicked out, I'm guessing. I'll keep reading. The Teslas were the first vehicles delivered for

00:12:24.660 testing and were upfitted with policing equipment by a vendor. They were ready for the road within

00:12:29.740 nine months. Oh, that fast, eh? Working at the speed of government. The National Fleet Program is

00:12:34.940 waiting for the two other testing vehicles, the Ford Mach-E and the Ford 150 Lightning. The RCMP has

00:12:42.700 also ordered the Chevy Blazer EVPPV, a purpose-built policing vehicle. The new vehicles are expected to be

00:12:51.820 equipped and ready for testing in 2024. Have you ever met anyone who has bought one of those other

00:12:59.320 vehicles? Have you ever heard of a Ford F-150 Lightning? That's the electric version of the F-150,

00:13:06.540 very, very popular truck. Now, a few people have bought them. I Googled, I don't know anyone who has

00:13:13.600 a F-150 Lightning. Here are some headlines that I saw when I Googled F-150 Lightning. Here's the

00:13:19.760 story that came up. Family ditches electric truck on drive from Winnipeg to Chicago after charging

00:13:25.100 troubles. That's not a very long drive, by the way. Road trip completely with rented gas-powered

00:13:29.700 vehicle, while Ford says charging infrastructure is improving. Okay, I'll tell the RCMP, and I'll tell

00:13:35.700 the criminals. I wonder if that little story there is why I saw this headline, too. I just Googled

00:13:42.020 F-150 Lightning because I really didn't know much about it. I saw this headline, Ford F-150 Lightning

00:13:47.280 sales tanked, forcing Ford to lay off workers at Rouge EV Center. You know, Ford is losing $30,000

00:13:57.240 per vehicle when they sell these F-150 Lightings, but the RCMP think it's a winner. They're very

00:14:06.100 interesting. I'll read some more. Facing challenges head-on. While the team leading the zero emission

00:14:13.140 vehicle migration is confident the market will be able to produce purpose-built policing vehicles

00:14:18.740 well-suited for urban areas, there are potential challenges for remote detachments given the vast

00:14:24.240 areas officers cover. Oh, you think. You think, eh? The team is still exploring charging systems to ensure

00:14:33.760 proper infrastructures in place to support detachments and collecting data on vehicles

00:14:38.920 operating in northern and remote locations to evaluate the challenges those areas encounter and

00:14:44.720 ensure zero emission vehicle suitability. They keep saying team. How big is this team at the RCMP

00:14:53.540 that instead of fighting crime is working on the question of electric cars? If you can call what

00:15:00.080 they're doing work. I'll keep reading. As the RCMP moves forward, guided by its Vision 150 and beyond

00:15:10.100 priorities and the Treasury Board Secretary's greening government strategy, there's still a lot to

00:15:16.320 consider. A technology shift of this magnitude can redefine how we approach patrol operations, says Yves

00:15:23.520 Mador, project lead for the fleet modernization project. That's why we're talking to every facet of

00:15:30.700 RCMP operations to identify areas of improvement that are fundamental to advanced technology, zero emission

00:15:36.940 vehicles. Okay, so hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on. Okay, how many team members are we at so far,

00:15:42.020 by the way? But, but they're going to transform, they're going to change how they patrol to fit electric

00:15:50.200 vehicles. They're not going to buy a vehicle that fits them, they're going to change policing

00:15:55.500 to fit the Teslas. Yeah, don't you get it? That's what that Vision 150 is all about. Non-policing

00:16:05.800 priorities. Don't even think about the letter P in the RCMP. That's not the emphasis anymore. If police

00:16:14.180 patrols have to change so that electric vehicle team can report a great success to the Liberal Party, that's

00:16:21.520 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

00:16:28.140 is. Just a few months after that foolish press release, here's what the CBC published. Actually, this was just

00:16:33.400 yesterday. CBC said, RCMP warns push to switch to electric vehicles faces significant challenges.

00:16:43.000 Range is one problem. Another is the kind of work police vehicles perform. Someone in the RCMP is still

00:16:48.820 thinking about policing. Otherwise, the RCMP wouldn't, wouldn't be critical. Here, let me read a

00:16:53.780 little bit. Can the RCMP turn North America's largest law enforcement vehicle fleet green? They're about to

00:17:01.300 find out. So the CBC is still pretty excited about this, but obviously at least one cop is worried.

00:17:07.060 As Canada's National Police Service, the RCMP falls under Ottawa's greening government strategy,

00:17:13.900 a commitment to lower the environmental footprint of the federal government and get it to net zero

00:17:18.080 emissions by 2050. The strategy calls on the RCMP to replace as many of their approximately 12,000

00:17:24.880 cars and trucks with zero emission vehicles as operationally possible by 2035.

00:17:31.300 So if you were to believe this, you'd think that they're just going to do it. I mean, damn the

00:17:35.720 torpedoes, just do it. Just buy the electric vehicle. That's more important than them working

00:17:42.040 or being able to do the policing part of their job. Imagine having an electric vehicle in say rural

00:17:47.820 Saskatchewan in the winter when it's like minus 40. What a joke. Let me keep reading. But those tasked with

00:17:54.820 meeting that goal are predicting speed bumps along the way. We do fully anticipate that there are

00:18:00.440 significant challenges with electric vehicle range for a lot of our units, said Sergeant Sean

00:18:05.300 Vickery, who works in the RCMP's National Traffic Programs and Operational Technologies unit.

00:18:11.040 We don't want to put them into a situation where they will fail and put a member at risk or the

00:18:15.440 public at risk because of a piece of equipment didn't do what it was supposed to do.

00:18:19.360 Oh, watch out. You'll get fired if you keep talking sense like that. Don't let Stephen Gilbeau hear you.

00:18:24.880 I mean, Gilbeau said, remember, that he doesn't want to fund any more roads at all. So why would

00:18:31.720 he care about funding cars on roads, especially for the hated police part of the RCMP? I'm surprised

00:18:38.200 he's not pushing police bicycles in our far north. Let me read some more. As the boots on the ground

00:18:43.980 police in eight provinces, all three territories and 150 municipalities, the RCMP covers vast portions of

00:18:50.420 the country, including many remote and rural areas with limited charging infrastructure and strained

00:18:55.880 power grids. Quote, I think it poses significant challenges to our organization in terms of

00:19:01.380 operations and being able to respond, said Vickery. I do think that there are a lot of locations where

00:19:07.020 we can fit these vehicles into operations and they will do quite well. However, when you head out into

00:19:12.340 the prairies and the northern part of Canada, we cover a lot of ground and our detachment area is quite

00:19:16.900 large. Imagine driving a Tesla in Canada's part north. I just got to read some more. Just give

00:19:23.880 me a little more. The early field testing is also assessing how electric vehicles can handle a police

00:19:29.120 officer behind the wheel. Responding to a call may require driving at a higher speed, which is going

00:19:34.940 to consume more battery and decrease your range, said Vickery. Oh, but that's not important. We have to

00:19:40.200 help Stephen Gilboa virtue signal at the UN. And while the two Teslas with their panoramic glass

00:19:47.760 sunroofs are popular with some of the Mounties testing them out, Vickery said they likely won't

00:19:52.740 be used in general duty. It's probably not for widespread general duty usage where we're going to

00:19:58.940 be putting prisoners and such in the back because the glass roof and stuff like that pose a bit of a

00:20:03.860 challenge, he said. A bit of a challenge. I like that wording. Well, look, a bit of a challenge.

00:20:09.480 That's a price public safety has to pay. So be it. We have new priorities at the RCMP under their new

00:20:17.180 commissioner, didn't you know? Too early to talk gas savings. Outfitting the vehicles with policing

00:20:23.400 equipment has also turned up to be a challenge. Andres Casamiri, manager of the Mounties National Fleet

00:20:29.900 Program, said the force basically had to gut the insides of the Teslas to make them into usable

00:20:35.340 police cars. And there's a picture of them there. I don't know. I bet there's no fewer than a dozen

00:20:39.640 cops working full time on this electric vehicles thing. No, no time to fight real crime. We have to

00:20:45.540 fight climate criminals. That's what Stephen Gilboa would say. Quote, you basically have to tear the

00:20:51.240 interior of the car apart so that you can run the wiring. You're talking the light siren, light

00:20:56.340 controller, the light bar, the radio. Casamiri said it's still too early in the electric vehicle

00:21:00.860 field testing phase to get a sense of how much the RCMP could save on gas. He said they'll have

00:21:06.460 more data as the field testing ramps up. Oh, you're pretending this is going to be cheaper?

00:21:10.660 You're pretending you're doing taxpayers a favor? That's precious. That's so cute. I'm going to make

00:21:16.040 a prediction. They're going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on this. They'll probably get

00:21:22.840 some friends to make an app for 60 million dollars. They'll probably hire those arrive can guys. 1.00

00:21:29.600 And in the end, of course, it's not going to work other than that little golf cart thing at Rideau Hall.

00:21:34.620 It'll be like those electric buses in Edmonton that didn't work because they forgot that Edmonton

00:21:39.780 gets down to minus 40 in the winter. Quote, a spokesman for the Treasury Board of Canada, which is

00:21:47.460 implementing the government's greening strategy, said the department will work with the RCMP

00:21:51.220 where necessary, if an all-electric fleet is not feasible. Okay, got it. Got it. The only thing

00:21:57.620 that's surprising here is that Trudeau hasn't yet insisted on electric vehicles in the army,

00:22:04.720 like electric tanks or electric fighter jets. But I think that's only because we really don't

00:22:11.940 have an army anymore. Stay with us.

00:22:27.900 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 0.96

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 0.78

00:23:05.380 move. It has encircled Taiwan in a military exercise that is terrifying in that it shows pretty much

00:23:15.360 precisely how they would invade Taiwan if and when that moment comes. Take a look at this video,

00:23:23.320 a simulation published by Chinese state TV. This is not actual footage. This is their simulation of

00:23:31.740 what an invasion would look like. Absolutely terrifying. Designed to terrify Taiwan. Designed to 1.00

00:23:38.780 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

00:23:53.140 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

00:24:04.420 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

00:24:23.020 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.

00:24:41.620 So this is more comprehensive than what we've seen before. I'm sure we're going to see more

00:24:47.600 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

00:25:44.700 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,

00:27:33.400 Japan and the United States?

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 0.99

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 1.00

00:29:35.980 Chinese are losing political power. You know, it's just sort of natural that as time progresses, 1.00

00:29:41.620 the political parties start to indigenize. And that's what's happened to the Kuomintang a little 0.81

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, 0.69

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

00:35:36.860 the rhetorical support for Taiwan?

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.

00:37:09.500 Yeah, I think that that is correct assessment.

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.

00:38:47.780 Well, thank you, Ezra. I really appreciate it.

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.

00:41:09.020 Go on.

00:41:22.160 Go on.

00:41:22.820 Go on.

00:41:27.580 Go on.

00:41:31.540 Go on.

00:41:32.960 Go on.

00:41:33.780 Go on.

00:41:35.160 Go on.

Rebel News Podcast - May 25, 2024

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Is it a good idea for the Mounties to drive Teslas？

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