Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ The Fog of War： Decoding Zelensky's Washington Post interview

00:00:00.040 Hello, my rebels. Today, I'm going to have a great interview for you, but I'm also going to take you through someone else's interview, the Washington Post interview, Vladimir Zelensky, a very long interview, some predictable answers, but some shocking answers to some surprise questions.

00:00:18.060 I'm going to take you through the transcript. There's no video of it that I know of, so I'm going to read you the transcript and give you my thoughts interspersed. I think you'll, if you're interested in the Ukraine war, I think you might find it an interesting transcript.

00:00:32.620 That's ahead, but first let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus. That's the video version of this show. Just go to rebelnewsplus.com, click subscribe, eight bucks a month, and besides the video content, you'll get the satisfaction of knowing that you're helping keep Rebel News afloat.

00:00:47.180 But as you know, we get no money from the government, and we like it that way. All right, here's today's show.

00:01:06.900 Tonight, a Washington Post interview with Ukraine's president goes off the rails when they ask a tough question, and he accuses them of treason.

00:01:16.000 It's May 16th, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.

00:01:22.140 Shame on you, you censorious bug.

00:01:25.400 I find it very hard to follow the war in Ukraine because both sides are such prolific publishers of propaganda.

00:01:41.620 My social media feeds are full of video from the front lines, I think, often taken from drones.

00:01:48.040 This really is a drone war, drones used for reconnaissance, drones used to attack.

00:01:53.360 Here's a video of a drone going right over the top of an armored vehicle and dropping a small bomb, a grenade, right into an open hatch.

00:02:02.300 Is that a real video? Is it a Ukrainian video of a Russian tank? I think it is.

00:02:07.140 Or is that a Russian video of a Ukrainian tank? The other way around. It's hard to tell.

00:02:12.480 I've seen sometimes the same video ascribed to each country.

00:02:17.020 And no kidding, today's video games are so sophisticated in their graphics,

00:02:21.240 I've seen some pretty realistic footage of a video game uploaded as if it were a video taken in the actual war.

00:02:29.420 And a lot of people are convinced, and really, how would most people know?

00:02:33.900 Obviously, propaganda is an essential element in war, not just in authoritarian countries like Russia and Ukraine,

00:02:40.380 but in more liberal democracies like ours, Canada, U.S., Western Europe.

00:02:45.300 And I mention that because that's where most of Ukraine's weapons and ammunition and money is coming from.

00:02:51.540 And that's where Ukraine's soldiers are training in those new weapons.

00:02:55.320 And that's where the huge infusions, I think, close to $200 billion now,

00:03:01.960 with about $10 billion of that coming from Canada.

00:03:04.980 The information warfare is necessary to keep public support for the continued delivery of money and ammunition.

00:03:12.240 That's the thing.

00:03:13.540 NATO ammunition stocks have been deeply depleted.

00:03:18.480 Russia is running out of tanks and shells, of course, but so is Ukraine.

00:03:22.800 And they're being supplied by NATO.

00:03:24.680 It really is a kind of World War III.

00:03:29.020 I saw this explosion on social media.

00:03:31.660 This is from the Ukrainian city of Khmelnytsky.

00:03:35.640 It's such a huge explosion.

00:03:37.280 It's almost as big as a small nuclear detonation.

00:03:40.560 It reminded me of the enormous explosion in Beirut a few years ago, but this was no industrial accident.

00:03:46.600 This was a Russian military attack on a Ukrainian NATO weapons dump.

00:03:52.900 Take a look.

00:04:01.660 Take a look.

00:04:31.640 Take a look.

00:05:01.620 Take a look.

00:05:31.600 I'm talking about war propaganda and the fog of war and how there's propaganda on all sides.

00:05:36.380 My unhappy conclusion is that the only time I really feel like I can trust something to be authentic is if one of the sides in the war reports bad news about themselves.

00:05:46.560 As in, I wouldn't believe a Russian report saying that that was a quarter billion dollars worth of NATO missiles and other ammunition that was just blown up by Russian drones.

00:05:56.480 I wouldn't believe it if the Russians said it.

00:05:58.040 Same thing when the Russians released footage of a drone attack on the Kremlin itself in Moscow.

00:06:12.260 I suppose you could say that, yeah, I suppose you could say something like this is a false flag attack, as in theoretically Russia attacked itself to blame Ukraine.

00:06:21.260 You could say that.

00:06:22.780 Certainly, Vladimir Zelensky's response to it was it wasn't him.

00:06:25.340 But there have been a number of attacks on Russia, not just in Crimea, like the massive attack against the key strategic Russian bridge, but also attacks on oil depots, air bases and cities in Russia proper, not just those parts of Ukraine they annexed a few years ago.

00:06:41.580 Then there's the attack on Russia's natural gas pipeline, an underwater pipeline to Europe, the Nord Stream 2, some months ago.

00:06:49.120 My point is, so many conflicting stories, the only ones I feel confident believing are the ones where one side or the other admits something embarrassing, admits a setback.

00:06:58.260 I don't believe it when they trumpet a victory.

00:07:00.760 I don't know.

00:07:01.160 Maybe you have a better way of figuring out the truth than that.

00:07:04.320 Which is why I read the Washington Post interview with Vladimir Zelensky this week with great interest.

00:07:08.460 The Washington Post, as a newspaper, is the ultimate deep state asset.

00:07:12.280 It is the establishment newspaper in the city of the White House and the Pentagon.

00:07:17.900 It is literally owned by Jeffrey Bezos, who just happens to have a massive data contract for the CIA.

00:07:24.400 So when the Bezos Washington Post goes to Ukraine to interview Vladimir Zelensky, that's as official as it gets.

00:07:31.860 There really weren't many surprise questions in the interview, but there were a few, not many.

00:07:36.420 But Zelensky's answers were very revealing, not for what he boasts about, but for what he admits.

00:07:43.940 Here's the story as it appears in the Washington Post.

00:07:46.400 I don't believe there's video or audio, so I will read it to you.

00:07:49.860 I'm sorry to read so many words.

00:07:51.860 They call it Zelensky interview transcript.

00:07:53.720 Ukraine must win.

00:07:55.980 That's his job to say that.

00:07:57.220 But what is a win?

00:07:58.520 How do you define a victory?

00:08:01.000 I think that's a pretty important question that actually has not been answered by anyone important, at least in the West.

00:08:09.140 Here's an interesting note.

00:08:10.320 They say this transcript has been updated to restore passages that were initially published on May 13th, but then removed from a subsequent version.

00:08:19.440 The passages were removed for several hours on May 14th to allow the Washington Post to conduct additional reporting about them.

00:08:25.960 The Post should have included a note indicating that parts of the transcript were temporarily removed.

00:08:32.400 This updated version is identical to the one published on May 13th.

00:08:36.560 It includes a full transcript of the May 1 interview, translated and lightly edited for clarity.

00:08:42.940 So they originally deleted key passages of that interview and didn't explain it or mention it, which was extremely curious.

00:08:49.740 And the kind of thing maybe a CIA owned newspaper might do.

00:08:54.760 I'm going to read some of the Q&A, not all of it.

00:08:56.660 It is many times longer than what I'm going to read for you.

00:08:59.260 But some is repetitive and some is a little bit obscure.

00:09:02.140 I'm going to read what I think are interesting parts.

00:09:05.720 Question.

00:09:07.100 Ukraine has been planning a counteroffensive for many months.

00:09:10.280 Can you tell us about any specifics?

00:09:12.440 What do you need to succeed?

00:09:14.700 Answer.

00:09:15.380 Thank you very much for your question.

00:09:16.620 First of all, we don't plan a counteroffensive for months.

00:09:19.760 This is a priority issue for us.

00:09:21.260 So we had to be prepared in advance with our plans.

00:09:24.420 And this is the truth.

00:09:25.380 Our partners understand this as well.

00:09:26.880 There are issues in a number of areas.

00:09:28.540 The first issue, of course, is ammunition.

00:09:31.100 I say this is a priority, not because I want to complain, but because it's a resource without which a counteroffensive is impossible.

00:09:38.260 But I want to clearly say that without this resource, the defense of the state is impossible.

00:09:43.220 It's not just an issue with regards to the counteroffensive.

00:09:46.640 It's very interesting.

00:09:47.880 And I think that was just a day or so before that huge explosion in Chmiel Mitzki.

00:09:53.200 I'm not sure the exact dates, but I think a lot of those weapons were blown up there.

00:10:00.940 You can see he's downplaying expectations.

00:10:03.520 For months, we've heard about this counteroffensive.

00:10:06.080 Here, take a look at the next part.

00:10:09.180 This is Zelensky talking about Russia.

00:10:11.680 They came to the tactics that they used at the beginning of the war in some small villages.

00:10:18.280 Now, they don't care whether it's a small village or a big one.

00:10:21.440 That tactic is the complete destruction of everything, of all infrastructure, buildings, civilians, etc.

00:10:27.580 What we see in Bakhmut, if you look at it from the sky, if you have some kind of satellite capabilities to look at these images, you will see that absolutely everything is destroyed.

00:10:38.420 It's true.

00:10:39.060 They're talking about a city called Bakhmut.

00:10:40.620 I'd never heard of it before.

00:10:42.440 Both sides have lost thousands of men on this town.

00:10:47.500 And they're fighting building to building.

00:10:50.680 The entire town is demolished.

00:10:53.360 Again, I see some video footage of the town, whether it's from the Russians and Ukrainians.

00:10:57.820 It almost doesn't matter.

00:10:59.040 It's misery everywhere.

00:11:00.060 And visually, it reminds me of the shocking scenes in that movie a few years back called Enemy at the Gates, which was about the Battle of Stalingrad, which I think cost a million lives, destroyed the town.

00:11:18.600 Anyhow, Zelensky comes back to what he really wants from the West, new weapon systems he hasn't been given before, including long range weapons, which raises a bit of an eyebrow.

00:11:27.620 Let me read it some more.

00:11:30.060 By the way, we don't understand what the problem is here with long range systems, long distance missiles.

00:11:35.600 The issue with our partners is that I think they're afraid that we might use them on the territory of Russia.

00:11:40.960 But I would always tell our partners, listen, our task is to deoccupy our territory.

00:11:46.460 We don't have any disposable shells.

00:11:48.200 We don't have any targets like that.

00:11:49.880 We have a priority target for which we are spending the ammunition package we have.

00:11:53.600 We spend it on the deoccupation of purely Ukrainian territories. 0.99

00:11:56.740 But we would need to do that with long range missiles and systems.

00:12:01.220 So now I don't quite understand.

00:12:03.100 I'll tell you, frankly, why we can't get long range artillery, because the objective of long range artillery is definitely not to use it on Russian territory.

00:12:13.180 Could be true.

00:12:14.880 He wants F-16 jets also.

00:12:16.760 Let me read.

00:12:17.200 And our partners as well.

00:12:19.300 We would like to get their support to provide us with Western standard fighter jets, certainly the F-16.

00:12:26.260 I'm sure.

00:12:27.500 But again, he downplays what they can expect from Ukraine.

00:12:31.300 In terms of a counter-offensive, the Washington Post asks, do you have any specific expectations of what you need to accomplish?

00:12:39.920 And what does your military have to show to keep the support you have now and future support?

00:12:44.400 Okay, that's a good question.

00:12:46.880 Zelensky says, look, we're in an independent state.

00:12:49.920 And even though we have partners, we are the ones making the decisions no matter what.

00:12:54.400 That's a good answer.

00:12:55.100 About where we are going, in what direction we're moving, and of course, our actions.

00:13:01.900 It's true.

00:13:02.940 It's true.

00:13:03.580 But it's being paid for by the West, including here in Canada.

00:13:07.280 I'll read more.

00:13:08.780 Look, nobody expects as much from this counter-offensive as we do.

00:13:11.560 I'll tell you frankly, I'm not sure that absolutely all of our partners believe that we're able to break the Russian Federation.

00:13:18.260 Again, I think he's true.

00:13:19.640 I mean, Ukraine, however bravely they fight, they're outmanned, outgunned, outnumbered.

00:13:25.800 But if winning is extremely difficult or even impossible, what's the alternative?

00:13:32.400 Well, diplomacy, of course, negotiation.

00:13:36.100 And here's the question from the Washington Post.

00:13:39.500 And you now maintain your position not to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin?

00:13:44.360 Zelensky says, look, we have dealt with different Putins.

00:13:48.080 It's a completely different set of traits in different periods.

00:13:51.940 Putin is not alone.

00:13:53.700 Putin has an entourage.

00:13:55.480 They made their respective decisions.

00:13:56.780 In 2019, their collective organism, the Kremlin, headed by Putin, said that, yes, we will probably find a diplomatic solution.

00:14:03.600 I very much wanted this in 2020 and 2021.

00:14:06.180 This whole collective mind made up something else in their heads, but did not enter into a dialogue with us and did not do everything we had agreed with them in 2019.

00:14:14.640 I think that's an interesting answer because the West has demonized Vladimir Putin personally.

00:14:22.500 But this answer by Zelensky hints that there's a larger philosophy shared by other Russian leaders, too.

00:14:27.920 Sure, Putin is the boss, but he's suggesting, no, this isn't just one guy.

00:14:31.640 You know, knocking out the top man might not solve this.

00:14:36.060 By the way, moving NATO right to Russia's border, something not even done during the Cold War that just might be inflaming things in the Kremlin, too.

00:14:46.060 Arming neighboring states.

00:14:47.300 I mean, from the American point of view, when Russia put weapons, long-range weapons, in Cuba, that led to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

00:14:54.720 America has a policy, the Monroe Doctrine, that no foreign power can set up shop in the Americas.

00:15:00.940 They just will be driven out.

00:15:03.060 But Russia, when it expresses the same concern, is called a warmonger.

00:15:08.280 Maybe they are warmongers and maybe it's unreasonable of them.

00:15:10.840 But from an American point of view, we know the reaction when Russia tried to put weapons near America.

00:15:18.380 That, I think, is something that Zelensky understands.

00:15:21.320 Whether or not it's a legitimate concern from Putin, I'll leave to you to think.

00:15:25.380 But that is the concern of Putin.

00:15:26.980 I think Zelensky knows it.

00:15:29.320 Here's what Zelensky says.

00:15:30.820 We cannot say that Putin alone started a full-scale war in 2022.

00:15:34.900 And it would be, to be honest, just insulting to all those people who have died.

00:15:38.640 They have a large collective responsibility for this, and that's why I'm just not ready to talk to them.

00:15:43.720 I'm not ready to talk to this collective, not because someone is stubborn, but because they have chosen the path of destruction of Ukraine, a full-scale path. 0.72

00:15:51.700 That's why we can't absolve anyone of responsibility.

00:15:56.820 I don't know if you have to absolve someone of responsibility to enter into some negotiations.

00:16:01.680 It's been a terrible war, devastating to both sides, huge loss of life on both sides,

00:16:07.640 but obviously more loss of life in Ukraine, because that's where the cities and towns are blown up.

00:16:12.440 That's where the civilians are.

00:16:13.700 That's where the explosions happen.

00:16:16.860 You don't have to absolve.

00:16:18.240 I don't think you have to absolve your enemy of a sin before you negotiate with them.

00:16:23.420 If that was the case, I don't think you would ever negotiate with an enemy.

00:16:27.000 But, you know, as we learn in Northern Ireland and as we learn in Israel,

00:16:31.840 you make peace with your enemies, not your friends.

00:16:34.820 Here's a question from the Post.

00:16:37.320 So, it sounds like a counter-offensive is many months away?

00:16:40.700 Answer.

00:16:41.840 No.

00:16:43.480 Question.

00:16:44.340 You've said that no one has greater expectations for this counter-offensive than you.

00:16:47.660 What specifically needs to happen for you to consider a success?

00:16:50.740 Answer.

00:16:52.440 Any deoccupied territories, I believe, is a success. 0.98

00:16:56.160 All right.

00:16:56.540 Now, there's a reference to various documents that were leaked, including documents a few months ago

00:17:04.100 showing six or seven to one ratio of military losses, Ukraine losing up to 100,000 troops

00:17:10.480 compared to a fraction of Russian losses.

00:17:14.540 Those documents also show that there are U.S. boots on the ground in Ukraine,

00:17:18.080 which came as a surprise as well.

00:17:19.780 So, here's how the Washington Post starts to talk about those facts.

00:17:26.400 On a different topic, can you tell us about your reaction to the leaked Pentagon documents

00:17:30.300 on the Discord server?

00:17:31.920 Did Washington give you a heads up or did you find out yourself through news reports

00:17:35.700 the extent of the leaks?

00:17:38.120 Solansky said, if we were talking about me personally, and I would like to talk about

00:17:41.220 myself personally, I learned everything from the newspapers, from the Internet.

00:17:44.480 I read it.

00:17:45.060 I read that some information was leaked.

00:17:47.840 So, that's sort of interesting that the U.S. didn't give him a heads up.

00:17:51.200 But here's the surprise.

00:17:52.400 Here's the question, which I think surprised Solansky.

00:17:55.320 And it's why the Washington Post claims to have deleted, then republished parts of this

00:18:00.520 interview.

00:18:00.840 And that makes sense.

00:18:01.520 If they had some scoop, they probably wanted to write it up separately, besides just bringing

00:18:06.980 it out as a by-the-way in this interview.

00:18:08.940 So, here's the scoop that would have caught Solansky by surprise.

00:18:12.800 So far, everything asked is pretty predictable.

00:18:15.660 Well, here's the news.

00:18:18.360 The Washington Post has obtained documents that we have not published details about yet.

00:18:22.840 We would like to ask you about some information there and also to give you the opportunity

00:18:27.140 to respond to what is in there.

00:18:30.400 One of them says that on January 31st, you suggested occupying parts of Russia along the

00:18:38.780 border for future leverage in the negotiations.

00:18:40.600 Is that true?

00:18:43.380 Solansky.

00:18:44.880 Hardly.

00:18:45.740 And he laughs.

00:18:48.020 Question.

00:18:48.580 Do you think Ukraine has a right to occupy parts of Russia?

00:18:53.500 It's a good question.

00:18:54.660 Solansky.

00:18:55.420 Let's not get into fantasies.

00:18:56.960 Ukraine has every right to protect itself.

00:18:59.100 We are doing it.

00:18:59.940 Ukraine did not occupy anyone.

00:19:01.860 But vice versa.

00:19:03.100 The war is about the occupation of Ukraine.

00:19:05.220 Ukraine must win.

00:19:06.460 What steps to take in order to win?

00:19:08.040 That's another question.

00:19:09.260 And don't be offended here.

00:19:10.300 I'm not ready to share.

00:19:12.320 I'll tell you honestly.

00:19:13.220 Well, when so many people have died and there have been mass graves and our people have been

00:19:17.060 tortured, I'm sure that we have to use any tricks.

00:19:19.880 Any absolutely different methods of response?

00:19:23.520 Sounds like maybe he's saying yes without saying yes.

00:19:27.700 It's a bit of a confusing answer.

00:19:29.200 There have been attacks in Russia, including assassinations, including explosions.

00:19:39.740 Recent cafe was blown up.

00:19:42.940 Now, there's some lengthy back and forth here, but I want to read it because this is what

00:19:48.680 made Vladimir Zelensky, I think, lose his cool.

00:19:52.240 Question from the Washington Post.

00:19:54.140 The documents also say that you spoke with Valery Zeluzny, head of the Ukrainian Armed Forces

00:20:00.160 on February 28th, about striking troops in Russia's Rostov regions.

00:20:04.280 That's in Russia.

00:20:05.140 We know that there have been several strikes on Russian territory.

00:20:09.160 Is that something you personally ordered?

00:20:12.320 Huh.

00:20:13.500 Zelensky says, first of all, I can repeat it again.

00:20:15.580 We are fighting a war for our territory, fighting on our territory and deoccupying our territory.

00:20:20.920 That's it.

00:20:21.500 All my conversations with Zeluzny, Oleksandr Siersky, and Oleksandr Tarnovsky, I have a lot of generals

00:20:31.000 with whom I work, with whom I talk, and I talk directly to them.

00:20:34.700 I know all their needs.

00:20:36.180 And these are my personal conversations.

00:20:37.840 And no one in our country has given orders for offenses or strikes on Russian territory.

00:20:42.380 It's a very legalistic answer.

00:20:44.120 That's not saying we didn't talk about it.

00:20:45.460 He says no one's given the order for it.

00:20:47.420 I think it's pretty clear that they've talked about it.

00:20:51.500 The Washington Post starts to talk about the documents again, and Zelensky answers this

00:20:55.540 time in English.

00:20:56.460 Until now, it's been in Ukrainian translated, but he says in English, will we speak about

00:21:01.700 these documents?

00:21:03.620 Washington Post says, a couple more questions.

00:21:06.080 Zelensky in English, just a couple more documents.

00:21:09.740 Washington Post, the documents indicate that HUR, your intelligence directorate, has back

00:21:15.040 channel contact with the Evgeny Prigozhin that you were aware of, including meeting with

00:21:19.420 the Evgeny Prigozhin and HUR officers.

00:21:22.220 Is that true?

00:21:22.920 Well, that's a Russian military man.

00:21:26.180 And Zelensky says, this is a matter of military intelligence.

00:21:32.000 Do you want me to be convicted of state treason?

00:21:35.260 And so it's very interesting if someone is saying that you have documents or someone from

00:21:39.260 our government is speaking about the activities of our intelligence.

00:21:41.740 I would also like to ask you a question.

00:21:44.260 With which sources from Ukraine do you have contact?

00:21:46.800 Who is talking about the activities of our intelligence?

00:21:49.260 Because this is the most severe felony in our country.

00:21:52.500 Which Ukrainians are you talking to?

00:21:58.240 That's a little prickly, and it's a little dangerous.

00:22:02.340 You know, these are Washington Post journalists.

00:22:04.120 I don't think anyone would dare to touch them.

00:22:06.540 Jeffrey Bezos could hurt Ukraine in a lot of ways.

00:22:09.560 Washington Post is the favorite newspaper of Capitol Hill, but it is a fact that Vladimir 0.65

00:22:15.480 Zelensky has shut down independent journalists in Ukraine, shut down rival political parties

00:22:22.300 in Ukraine, arrested people, gone to war against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for not being

00:22:28.140 supportive enough of him.

00:22:31.140 If Vladimir Zelensky is upset with you and calls you a traitor, you'd better get out of Ukraine.

00:22:36.700 Washington Post says, I talk to officials in government, but these documents are not from

00:22:40.940 Ukraine.

00:22:41.980 They are from, and then Zelensky interrupts, it doesn't matter where the documents are

00:22:45.260 from.

00:22:45.820 The question is, with which Ukrainian official did you talk?

00:22:49.440 Because if they say something about our intelligence, that's treason.

00:22:53.000 If they say something about a specific offensive plan of one general or another, this is also

00:22:57.880 treason.

00:22:58.540 That's why I asked you, which Ukrainians are you talking to?

00:23:02.400 Washington Post, about these specific documents, you're the first person I'm talking to about

00:23:07.920 them.

00:23:08.800 Zelensky, okay.

00:23:11.160 Washington Post.

00:23:12.020 And I can read you what information exactly there is about Purgosian and the GUR.

00:23:16.140 On February 13th, Kirill Obudinov, chief of Ukraine's main directorate of intelligence,

00:23:21.300 informed you about a Russian plan to destabilize Moldova with two former Wagner associates.

00:23:27.020 That's a mercenary group in Russia.

00:23:33.900 What comes next is interesting.

00:23:37.360 Zelensky says, what's your goal?

00:23:41.380 Why aren't you more supportive?

00:23:44.780 He's used to reporters, especially in the Washington Post, being very obedient.

00:23:49.060 Take a listen.

00:23:49.480 You are releasing some sort of information that does not help our state to attack and

00:23:57.720 does not help us to defend our state.

00:24:00.040 So I don't quite understand what you are talking about.

00:24:02.920 I don't quite understand your goal is your goal to help Russia.

00:24:07.000 I mean, that means we have different goals.

00:24:09.080 I'm not sitting at the same table with them.

00:24:11.680 I don't quite understand what we're talking about.

00:24:13.880 Well, each of these inquiries simply demotivates Ukraine, demotivates certain partners to help Ukraine.

00:24:20.800 Well, one way or another, I just don't understand your goal.

00:24:24.760 To which the Washington Post says, our goal is not to help Russia.

00:24:30.200 Zelensky says, well, it looks different.

00:24:33.740 The center of the conversation is this news, don't you think?

00:24:37.660 And Zelensky's furious reaction to it.

00:24:40.760 Aren't you on our side?

00:24:42.200 How dare you?

00:24:43.000 Who are you talking to?

00:24:44.320 Tell me their name.

00:24:45.460 This is treason.

00:24:48.600 Washington Post says, no one gave us this information personally.

00:24:51.760 These were in the leaked documents, which do indicate, as I said earlier, that the United

00:24:55.820 States is listening in on you.

00:25:00.080 Zelensky said, and if you have classified documents, it means someone gave them to you.

00:25:03.820 If you have access to documents, someone gave them to you.

00:25:06.400 Today in the world of modern technology, when you have access, it's not necessarily someone

00:25:10.360 gave it to you.

00:25:11.040 You have access.

00:25:12.420 You are now quoting some documents as originals without understanding the responsibility for

00:25:16.560 this.

00:25:16.720 You were just talking about some information.

00:25:18.900 For me, this is incomprehensible information.

00:25:21.500 But in this, in our dialogue, I want to understand why you are doing this.

00:25:24.700 I told you at the beginning of our conversation that I believe that the TV show that was launched,

00:25:29.480 launched in the information field, helps.

00:25:32.500 I don't know who, but it helps Russia.

00:25:34.500 It definitely doesn't help Ukraine.

00:25:36.500 You are engaged in continuing this story.

00:25:38.600 And so I ask you if it's your choice and if you think the Russian Federation needs to be

00:25:43.340 helped in a variety of spheres.

00:25:45.880 That they were expecting Ukrainian counteroffensive in whichever direction, so they don't know when

00:25:50.920 we are coming, so they know our powerful forces and what we are planning, what our intelligence

00:25:56.320 is doing.

00:25:57.900 Well, if that's the case, then he's furious.

00:26:01.160 He can't let it go.

00:26:02.100 How dare you ask me this?

00:26:03.240 Where did you get this information?

00:26:04.340 Surely he knew he would be asked about leaked documents, if not these new ones.

00:26:09.280 He's not used to a free press.

00:26:10.900 He's arrested the independent journalist, hasn't he?

00:26:15.540 Washington Post says, we came to talk to you about this.

00:26:18.580 It is clearly sensitive for you and your country.

00:26:21.980 Zelensky says in English, it is not sensitive.

00:26:24.960 If I answer you that it's sensitive, it means that these are real documents.

00:26:28.980 Please stop playing games with me.

00:26:30.840 I'm the president of a war country, a country in war.

00:26:35.140 I said about my reaction to these documents, I said that it's not good for our people.

00:26:39.140 You know I'm not playing counter-strike.

00:26:41.900 We are preparing a counter-offensive.

00:26:43.680 You know these are different things.

00:26:45.720 That's why I said all the details from me, you will hear.

00:26:48.940 And of course, we are thankful for your work, your help when you support Ukraine in this

00:26:52.500 war.

00:26:52.700 You did a big job.

00:26:53.960 Now I'm saying about these documents, I don't recognize it as documents.

00:26:57.240 I didn't see that.

00:26:58.480 This is the first thing.

00:26:59.400 I don't know how you got it.

00:27:01.040 My question was to you, why are you continue doing that?

00:27:05.080 Okay, you are free.

00:27:06.240 I mean, you will do what you want, but I don't want to speak about it with details because

00:27:12.360 I don't know about what I'm speaking.

00:27:15.200 It's something with some information.

00:27:16.900 And I said that I didn't have any contact with the White House about these documents

00:27:20.340 or not documents, about these papers or not papers, about this platform or a fake platform.

00:27:25.700 I didn't have before now.

00:27:28.300 And I don't know.

00:27:29.700 Maybe in the future.

00:27:31.320 I just say the same message very publicly and very open.

00:27:33.580 I said it to you with some journalists and to a lot of leaders.

00:27:36.740 When they asked me about this, I said, it's not good for us.

00:27:39.100 What can I say?

00:27:39.700 It's not good.

00:27:41.200 I don't know if it was faker.

00:27:42.600 What a percent.

00:27:43.940 I don't know what it is.

00:27:45.720 And I don't know who needs it and what is the game.

00:27:48.440 I don't know for what.

00:27:49.180 That's it.

00:27:49.520 For me, it's not serious.

00:27:50.320 It sounds like somebody said something, heard something.

00:27:56.120 I think he's stunned there.

00:27:57.720 I think he's incomprehensible.

00:28:00.840 I think he's showing too much emotion.

00:28:02.940 I'm sure he's under extreme stress.

00:28:05.740 I think he's embarrassed by these documents.

00:28:07.680 How could he not be?

00:28:08.560 I think he's startled that the secrets he was keeping are no longer secrets.

00:28:14.740 Oh, and then there's a chance we'll just start World War III.

00:28:17.720 Let me read a little more.

00:28:20.320 Washington Post.

00:28:20.920 Is it fair for the United States to impose restrictions on strikes inside Russian territory

00:28:27.220 when Russia strikes civilian infrastructure in Ukraine?

00:28:32.180 Zelensky says, we do not have such capabilities.

00:28:34.360 We don't have the capabilities to strike in the Russian Federation.

00:28:37.180 We do not have long-range weapons to this day.

00:28:40.940 Washington Post.

00:28:41.700 But there are regular drone strikes within Russia.

00:28:45.840 Zelensky in English.

00:28:46.880 What Russia?

00:28:47.640 On Crimea?

00:28:48.360 Crimea is a territory of Ukraine.

00:28:50.980 We use sea drones, as you know.

00:28:52.960 We set about it openly or with a ship, Moskva.

00:28:56.060 That's the mighty Russian ship that the Ukrainians sank early in the war.

00:29:01.780 Here's a tough question.

00:29:04.560 Mr. President, Ukraine has not published its military casualties count over the course of the war.

00:29:09.400 What do you gain from hiding this number?

00:29:11.920 Should the world not know the cost of this war to Ukraine by knowing the numbers?

00:29:16.220 That's a tough one.

00:29:19.220 Do you not think it would help because of scaling up the ammunition you're saving, you're saying you need,

00:29:25.040 if people understood the extent to which Ukrainians are dying on the battlefield?

00:29:27.920 Zelensky said, listen, our intelligence agencies are working.

00:29:32.800 Ukrainian with the United States, with Britain, with other partners, everyone is working.

00:29:36.980 Everyone understands each other's respective steps, and everyone understands approximately how many people we have lost.

00:29:42.640 That's why everyone knows everything that is available, what is needed to get the required weapons.

00:29:48.800 Everyone knows it.

00:29:50.940 I don't think that's true.

00:29:52.040 I think it was not known until these leaks, and it's been a horrendous death toll for Ukraine.

00:29:58.280 Washington Post said, the fighting is obviously continuing in Bakhmut.

00:30:02.120 Has it been worth the number of soldiers who died and got wounded there to continue fighting?

00:30:06.480 Zelensky said, it's an unequivocal decision in the entire military and the political leadership.

00:30:11.260 Everybody understands that Bakhmut is the only thing that the Russian president and Prigozhin can sell to their dismantled army and to their society. 0.93

00:30:18.200 They need Bakhmut only to say, here, the operation is ours.

00:30:21.820 You see, we're doing everything right.

00:30:23.800 Let's continue.

00:30:24.520 You see that this is a great victory.

00:30:28.620 It sounds like Zelensky has the identical point of view.

00:30:31.560 It sounds like what happened in that mighty battle over Stalin, right?

00:30:35.540 It no longer became about the mission, but really stubbornness and the feud and the vendetta.

00:30:40.980 Stalin versus Hitler. 0.68

00:30:42.200 Who would cry uncle first from that movie?

00:30:47.460 Enemy of the Gates, here's a quick clip of that.

00:30:55.480 Stop it! 0.99

00:30:56.360 Stop it! 0.99

00:31:05.540 Stop it! 0.99

00:31:14.700 Stop it! 0.99

00:31:31.720 Stop it! 0.99

00:31:33.300 Let's go.

00:32:03.300 That's a Hollywood fiction, but it really feels like what's going on in Bakhmut.

00:32:17.960 Last question, the scariest in some ways.

00:32:22.140 Will there be parliamentary elections in the fall?

00:32:25.300 Zelensky.

00:32:26.700 If we have martial law, we cannot have elections.

00:32:30.080 The Constitution prohibits any elections during martial law.

00:32:33.500 If there is no martial law, then there will be.

00:32:36.300 The law says that according to the Constitution of Ukraine, after martial law ends, I think in 90 days, elections are held.

00:32:42.080 It's something like that.

00:32:43.380 I don't remember, actually.

00:32:44.680 So as long as there's a war, there won't be any elections.

00:32:49.100 You know, there were elections in Canada and the United States and the UK during World War II.

00:32:54.540 It's sort of odd that the longer the war goes on, the longer Vladimir Zelensky does not have to go to an election.

00:32:59.860 Not that they would be effective in that he has banned many of his political and media rivals.

00:33:06.220 I want to show you maybe the scariest thing.

00:33:10.460 Not Zelensky, but a U.S. administration spokesman asked about Chinese and Hungarian and other calls for a ceasefire.

00:33:20.920 And the American answer was, no. Take a look.

00:33:26.780 Today, I think you, as you all know, President Xi's visiting Russia to meet with President Putin.

00:33:31.980 Now, you also probably know that China's already issued a 12-point plan for the conflict in Ukraine,

00:33:37.300 which includes an essential point, and that's respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries.

00:33:44.980 We encouraged President Xi to advocate for this exact essential key point,

00:33:51.620 which must include the withdrawal of Russian forces from sovereign Ukrainian territory consistent with the U.N. charter.

00:33:58.940 The entire world would like to see this war end, especially the Ukrainians themselves, 0.99

00:34:03.720 who have put forward their own plan for a just peace, which draws again on these same U.N. principles.

00:34:09.940 And let's remember, this war could actually end right now if Russia would withdraw its troops from the country.

00:34:18.560 We hope that President Xi will press President Putin to cease bombing Ukrainian cities, hospitals, and schools

00:34:24.400 to halt the war crimes and atrocities and to withdraw all its troops.

00:34:29.780 But we are concerned that, instead, China will reiterate calls for a ceasefire

00:34:34.700 that leaves Russian forces inside Ukraine's sovereign territory.

00:34:38.640 Any ceasefire that does not address the removal of Russian forces from Ukraine

00:34:43.680 would effectively ratify Russia's illegal conquests, 0.93

00:34:48.800 enabling Russia to entrench its positions and then to restart the war

00:34:53.600 at a more advantageous time for them.

00:34:57.840 This would – the world should not be fooled by any tactical move by Russia, 0.79

00:35:03.160 aided by China, or any other country to freeze the war on its terms

00:35:07.200 without any viable pathway to restore Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

00:35:11.680 Any such attempt – any such attempt would violate the U.N. charter

00:35:15.780 and defy the will of the 141 countries that demanded just weeks ago

00:35:20.520 at the U.N. General Assembly that Russia immediately, completely,

00:35:24.740 and unconditionally withdraw from Ukraine.

00:35:28.720 Efforts to end this conflict must take Ukraine's position into account.

00:35:31.820 And so we encourage President Xi to play a constructive role

00:35:35.060 by speaking with President Zelensky, which he has not done since Russia launched this invasion.

00:35:40.740 Because China, quite frankly, we believe, should hear directly from the Ukrainians 1.00

00:35:45.040 and not just from the Russians.

00:35:46.760 And we encourage President Xi to press President Putin directly

00:35:50.220 on the need to respect Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

00:35:53.240 The world and China's neighbors will certainly be watching closely.

00:35:57.100 I think this is a terrible war.

00:35:59.980 I think it's turning Ukraine into a horrific loss of life, 1.00

00:36:05.980 both for the military and civilians, destroying infrastructure.

00:36:09.780 Of course, Russians are dying, but the Ukrainians are paying the highest price. 0.99

00:36:13.840 And I think that the West has bet and bet again and upped the ante

00:36:18.080 that it does not want even to talk about a ceasefire.

00:36:21.460 You saw the administration.

00:36:22.640 Zelensky himself is talking about winning the war.

00:36:26.660 And it's clear that he means to attack Russia.

00:36:29.140 He says no such order is given, but he didn't deny that they're talking about it.

00:36:32.860 And he actually more or less said that attacks on Crimea don't count

00:36:36.220 because that is still Ukrainian territory, he says.

00:36:40.340 I think this was a very interesting story.

00:36:42.620 And it's one of the few things I believe in the war.

00:36:45.320 Because when Zelensky says what he says to the deep state newspaper of record,

00:36:49.780 when he says things that show that he's stressed

00:36:52.760 and lowering expectations of a counter-offensive,

00:36:57.020 and that he can't control leaks,

00:36:59.260 I think that information is something that's, well, in this case,

00:37:03.120 it's true and it's sad.

00:37:06.480 Stay with us for more.

00:37:07.780 Well, I like talking to Loren Gunter of the Edmonton Sun.

00:37:22.600 He's been around a while.

00:37:23.640 You know, Loren, I don't know if you know this,

00:37:25.100 he actually started off as a Liberal Party staffer.

00:37:28.560 I think that's one reason why he's more moderate.

00:37:31.600 He's not quite as excitable, perhaps, as I am,

00:37:34.400 because he's a little more to the center,

00:37:36.100 but he's also, I think he makes an effort to see things from both sides.

00:37:39.680 But Loren Gunter shared my view, shared my worry,

00:37:43.220 that in the latest polls,

00:37:44.700 the United Conservative Party is looking very vulnerable.

00:37:48.800 There's still just under two weeks to go.

00:37:51.680 But there was an interesting turn of events

00:37:55.040 at a Rachel Notley press conference yesterday.

00:37:58.860 A Rebel News alumnus, you might remember him,

00:38:01.740 Kian Bexty, who now has his own online media company

00:38:05.220 called The Counter Signal.

00:38:07.180 He did a lot of reporting on Rachel Notley

00:38:09.520 when he was a rebel.

00:38:12.080 And Kian has that edge to him 1.00

00:38:14.800 that makes fans love him and foes hate him.

00:38:17.780 He's a, in that way, I guess you could call him

00:38:20.280 a divisive character.

00:38:22.120 And then everyone has an opinion on him,

00:38:23.620 they love him or hate him.

00:38:24.380 I just want to remind you of when Kian Bexty 1.00

00:38:28.880 came upon Anne McGrath,

00:38:32.060 an NDP candidate in the 2019 election,

00:38:37.620 if I got it right.

00:38:39.320 And she called the cops on him.

00:38:42.040 Here, just a quick flashback of that,

00:38:44.240 because it's a bit of foreshadowing.

00:38:46.840 Take a look.

00:38:47.540 Please go away.

00:38:48.720 I just want to know the answer.

00:38:50.280 It's simple questions.

00:38:51.080 Do you think that the media has given you

00:38:52.640 reasonable scrutiny for your past?

00:38:53.940 Go away.

00:38:54.500 Go away.

00:38:56.400 I'm not talking to the rebel.

00:38:59.520 Has any other media organization asked?

00:39:01.580 I'm going to call the police.

00:39:02.660 Okay, we're in public,

00:39:03.580 so I'm allowed to ask you these questions.

00:39:04.800 No, you're not.

00:39:05.420 I'm not allowed to ask you questions.

00:39:06.860 Not on a public, not on a sidewalk

00:39:09.000 when I've told you I'm not talking to you.

00:39:10.680 This is harassment.

00:39:11.700 It's not harassment.

00:39:12.320 You're a public figure and a communist

00:39:14.280 who wants to represent Albertans.

00:39:17.380 This is harassment.

00:39:18.740 It's not harassment.

00:39:19.780 It's reasonable questions.

00:39:20.760 I just want to know why you're a communist.

00:39:21.760 No, I'm just going to call the police.

00:39:24.940 You're calling the police

00:39:25.740 because I'm asking you why you're a communist.

00:39:27.340 Because you're harassing me on the sidewalk.

00:39:29.400 You can go to your car.

00:39:31.100 You can leave.

00:39:34.360 Police, please.

00:39:40.480 Hello.

00:39:41.060 Hey there.

00:39:41.640 Are you Kieran?

00:39:42.400 I'm Kian.

00:39:43.140 Kian, sorry.

00:39:44.040 How are you doing today?

00:39:44.740 Good, how are you?

00:39:45.440 My hands are a little bit cold.

00:39:46.760 That's all right.

00:39:47.540 So we got a call.

00:39:50.460 Yeah.

00:39:50.900 From Anne McGrath.

00:39:52.380 Yeah.

00:39:52.640 Just one.

00:39:53.260 We got her side story.

00:39:54.180 Just trying to get your side story.

00:39:55.280 Yeah.

00:39:55.580 So I got in my car.

00:39:57.500 I came on to the sidewalk.

00:39:59.000 It's all on tape.

00:39:59.880 And I started asking her questions.

00:40:01.240 She was actually a communist candidate back in the 1900s during the Cold War.

00:40:05.080 And I thought that I could ask her some questions about her candidacy.

00:40:08.960 She's running in the election, as you know. 0.80

00:40:10.680 And then she said, I was harassing her and called you.

00:40:13.060 It was an interaction that was less than five minutes, I would imagine.

00:40:16.820 I didn't follow her anywhere.

00:40:18.180 I didn't leave this place.

00:40:20.340 So is it a crime to ask politicians questions?

00:40:24.220 Oh, no.

00:40:24.400 No, we just said we come talk to you.

00:40:26.040 Yeah.

00:40:26.280 No, I appreciate you guys following up.

00:40:28.700 Based on even the information that she's told us, there's nothing criminal.

00:40:31.080 He literally saw her on the street, asked her questions in a calm voice.

00:40:37.540 No swearing, no threatening, no blocking, just asking.

00:40:41.260 And she called the police on him.

00:40:44.480 It was a scandalous embarrassment, or so I thought.

00:40:47.360 But no, that is now standard operating procedure for the NDP when they see journalists they don't like.

00:40:53.960 And they do not like Kian Bexty.

00:40:56.580 They do not like our Adam Sose.

00:40:59.180 What a likable guy.

00:41:00.100 One of the most likable rebels, if I do say so myself, and they do not allow Jonathan Bradley, from the Western Standard, again, one of the most mild-mannered guys you'll ever meet.

00:41:12.280 Here's a quick clip of Bradley being told to go away, being called a hate criminal or something.

00:41:20.460 Pick a look at this.

00:41:21.560 Jonathan Bradley, Western Standard.

00:41:22.540 I got a question about the military.

00:41:24.720 Hey, don't yell your questions out, okay?

00:41:27.080 You know that we have a policy with your particular outlet, where you have operated in hate speech against our candidates.

00:41:33.580 How we validate a criminal or a candidate?

00:41:34.520 We'll be taking questions from you.

00:41:35.680 I've gone over this, Jonathan, several times.

00:41:38.140 Happy to continue talking about it.

00:41:39.600 Happy to have that discussion with your editors.

00:41:41.260 Thank you for coming.

00:41:42.240 Appreciate it.

00:41:42.860 I have to say, Jonathan Bradley is so nice, it's obsequious.

00:41:47.040 He calls me Mr. Levan.

00:41:48.460 I said, stop doing that.

00:41:50.620 He's so polite.

00:41:52.080 To call him a hate criminal shows that the word is nothing but an excuse for people that the NDP hates.

00:41:59.300 Well, yesterday at a press conference, our friend Rachel Emanuel was in attendance, and she caught the NDP kicking out Keenan Bextie.

00:42:11.160 Without further ado, I will invite Rachel on the show, and we will show her videos in a moment.

00:42:15.860 Rachel, great to see you.

00:42:17.200 For some reason, you have avoided being demonized by the NDP, even though I know you've worked for this and that outlet.

00:42:24.480 You've worked for a variety of outlets.

00:42:25.800 They still let you in, but they don't let in others.

00:42:29.880 I don't know why.

00:42:30.660 Maybe it's because you're friendly also, but so is Jonathan Bradley.

00:42:35.180 So is Adam Sose.

00:42:37.180 I don't know why they don't let those guys in.

00:42:39.060 Is there any rhyme or reason who they let in at press conferences or not?

00:42:43.920 Yeah, so we've been talking about this back at my workplace.

00:42:47.180 We've been kind of bouncing around a couple theories because it is very interesting, and we're not 100% sure what's going on either.

00:42:53.800 Interestingly, the Alberta NDP actually don't take my media requests.

00:42:58.360 So up until the election campaign, if I was to shoot them an email saying, hey, can you respond to this?

00:43:02.300 I wouldn't get a response back.

00:43:04.060 Once I joined True North, they said to me, we actually don't have dealings with True North, and that is a policy of the provincial party here in Alberta.

00:43:10.640 So now they're in a situation where I'm showing up at all these press conferences along with a host of other independent journalists, and they have to decide what it is they're going to do with me.

00:43:20.020 So at my very first press conference I went to with them last week, they just simply decided that once they got to the end of the mainstream media reporters in the room, they were going to take questions from the phone.

00:43:30.180 And I didn't like that very much. I had driven all the way to the press conference, and I hadn't gone any questions in in a very long time.

00:43:36.040 So I did what any good reporter would do, and I just kind of yelled my question out.

00:43:40.320 It was a pretty small room. They were, of course, broadcasting the press conference.

00:43:43.860 They couldn't really avoid it.

00:43:45.780 And to her credit, Rachel Notley did answer my question, and then I proceeded with a follow-up.

00:43:49.400 And so at that point, maybe they decided it was just going to be easier for them to let me ask questions.

00:43:54.380 I'm not sure what the thinking was there.

00:43:55.900 One of my colleagues, Andrew Lawton, suggested that perhaps they want to allow True North to ask questions because then they can't be seen as, well, they're just completely barring all conservative media outlets.

00:44:06.380 It's just simply maybe they are barring some that they consider too fringe, and they can kind of argue with that by allowing us to ask questions.

00:44:13.600 So there's a couple working theories there. We don't have an exact answer.

00:44:16.740 And even now, when I go to the press conferences, I'm always kind of like, am I going to get a question in today?

00:44:21.080 But the last two I've been to, they've actually handed me the mic to ask my question.

00:44:24.340 So it certainly seems like kind of an up-in-the-air policy. It seems like they're making it up as they go.

00:44:29.840 Yeah, it's unusual. Now, you asked a good question, if I recall, because I think we showed the clip the other day.

00:44:35.320 You asked if they had any culpability for the fact that Rachel Notley tweeted out the location of Danielle Smith's press conference that was stormed by two NDP activists.

00:44:45.000 And I thought it was a good question. The answer was absurd and comical.

00:44:49.860 Oh, we do that all the time. Here, take a look at that exchange that Rachel was just talking about.

00:44:54.560 Rachel Emanuel with True North. I wanted to ask you about the protesters that interrupted Danielle Smith's press conference today.

00:45:01.240 I know that after it happened, the Alberta NDP issued a tweet saying they condemned the protests.

00:45:05.640 Elections is about time of reading voters.

00:45:07.240 However, prior to that, the Alberta NDP had also tweeted the location of Danielle Smith's, they had also tweeted Danielle Smith's location and where her event would be.

00:45:16.180 Do you have any regrets about doing that? Do you think that was a mistake that actually might have led to the protests occurring?

00:45:20.200 No, because my understanding is that the UCP had also tweeted the location of the press conference, and that's actually where we got the information from.

00:45:31.340 So it's quite common for press events to be described publicly about where they are.

00:45:38.920 But let me say that, once again, I don't support that kind of intervention in a public event that's designed to deliver a message to voters.

00:45:50.080 Whether you agree or don't agree, our elections and our democratic process is sacred, and people need to be able to speak to voters without fear of intimidation or any kinds of threats like that.

00:46:05.040 So I definitely do not support or endorse what happened.

00:46:10.440 Well, let's come to yesterday, because it was an event that Kian Bextie says was an open invitation to all journalists.

00:46:19.740 Now, they didn't let Rebel News in, or maybe Adam didn't try and get him.

00:46:23.640 Kian went in, and you caught this exchange between Kian and an NDP organizer.

00:46:29.300 And I'll give Kian credit. He kept his energy low. He wasn't rude. He didn't swear.

00:46:35.840 And he actually told the NDP organizer what his question was in advance, which, frankly, you know, I don't recommend that.

00:46:44.520 You want to have the element of surprise.

00:46:46.460 You want to get it. But but that just shows how compliant he was.

00:46:50.400 He was proving it wasn't a gotcha question or an attack question.

00:46:53.760 It was a legit question about police funding.

00:46:57.860 Why don't you set the scene for us and we'll play the video of the interaction between Kian Bextie and this NDP organizer before he got the bombs rushed.

00:47:06.180 Tell us, set it up, the clip.

00:47:08.240 Sure. So yesterday was a very exciting, a very busy day on the Alberta election campaign trail.

00:47:13.300 A bunch of us were at Danielle Smith's announcement, which was a big one for the province.

00:47:17.440 And then we quickly rushed over to the NDP one, which was about 10 minutes away.

00:47:21.100 I knew Kian was coming. 1.00

00:47:22.060 They were actually they were manning the door at the small private business in Calgary called Madam Premier.

00:47:27.460 They were unlocking the door and letting people in as they showed up, probably to avoid people that they didn't want coming in.

00:47:33.780 So when there was maybe a break in them, they had left the door unlocked key and kind of slipped in just moments before the press conference was supposed to start.

00:47:40.500 And I was actually talking to Jonathan Bradley at the time and the room just went dead silent.

00:47:45.040 It was so awkward.

00:47:46.160 And he walks in and he kind of slips into the back and he's just standing there behind the cameras, not making a noise, not causing a disturbance in any way.

00:47:52.540 And sure enough, a couple of minutes later, an NDP staffer approaches him and then their hired security approaches him.

00:47:57.880 And that's sort of when the dispute began and they were like, we're asking you to leave.

00:48:01.180 And he's like, well, I'm here for the press conference.

00:48:02.760 I would like to ask Notley a question, the former premier a question.

00:48:06.900 And as you mentioned, he even went as far as to say, this is what my question is going to be.

00:48:10.640 It's a very reasonable question and I want an answer on it.

00:48:14.540 And then the business owner came up to him and said, you know, will you leave?

00:48:17.940 And he wouldn't leave.

00:48:19.120 He stood his ground.

00:48:19.880 Good for him.

00:48:20.400 And eventually they actually called the police to get him out of there.

00:48:23.100 Here, let's watch.

00:48:24.280 And the reason I want to show this is to show the demeanor.

00:48:27.700 What a contrast with the storming of Danielle Smith's campaign announcement, shouting, blocking, disrupting, grabbing the mic, physically shoving police, physically shoving security. 0.99

00:48:41.840 Here's key in low energy.

00:48:44.060 Just say, no, I'm just here for the press conference.

00:48:45.740 Take a look at this.

00:48:46.260 I won't play the whole thing, but I'll play enough that you'll get a feeling for it.

00:48:49.780 Take a look.

00:49:19.780 And now that the new Janet Brown poll has come out, saying that over 50% of Albertans are supporting Danielle Smith, that's a leaked poll that just came out, does she think it's time to either discipline those candidates or re-twerk the anti-please message?

00:49:33.820 Okay.

00:49:34.160 You've got that as well, Mike.

00:49:35.740 Yeah, appreciate that.

00:49:36.620 Have a chance.

00:49:37.240 Just look at all.

00:49:37.840 I'll be curious to hear the response to that.

00:49:40.260 Okay, we'll get the response back in the second.

00:49:41.980 Well, I'll be right here.

00:49:42.840 No, we're going to ask you.

00:49:44.300 No, I'm just going to wait here.

00:49:46.200 The press conference will not start.

00:49:47.600 I guess it's not happening.

00:49:49.680 It may not happen if you're going to stay here, sir.

00:49:51.700 I'm not going to pull you out of here.

00:49:52.980 I'm not going to put hands on you, sir.

00:49:54.280 I'm not going to do any of that.

00:49:55.260 I'm just going to ask you quietly again, as per Mike, to leave the press conference.

00:49:58.300 Don't you think that it's embarrassing that the ex-premier can't answer?

00:50:00.940 It's like, that question was reasonable, was it not?

00:50:02.700 That could be your opinion.

00:50:03.940 I'm not going to share your opinion right now.

00:50:05.240 Okay, that's fine.

00:50:05.920 Now, I want to say that our rule of thumb is that we stand our ground.

00:50:23.920 But if we are on private property, we respect private property enough that if the landlord

00:50:31.760 or owner says, get off of my property, we comply.

00:50:36.660 Now, we don't race to comply.

00:50:38.560 We comply at a reasonable pace.

00:50:40.440 But if it's someone's private place, we leave.

00:50:42.900 That's the Rebel News way.

00:50:45.560 It's a little bit different when it's in a public place, like a city hall, when the rules

00:50:50.400 are different.

00:50:51.420 But in a sense, if it's a private business owner saying to Kian Bextie, get out, however

00:50:58.080 unfair that is, that's the moment where a Rebel News journalist would get out.

00:51:02.100 But I think Kian, and perhaps he was right on this one, wanted to see, would the NDP call

00:51:07.700 the cops on him like they did with Anne McGrath?

00:51:11.400 And the answer is, you bet they would.

00:51:14.180 These are socialist tyrants.

00:51:15.980 These are authoritarians.

00:51:17.380 They have no compunction calling the police.

00:51:19.400 They would call the police every day if they could.

00:51:22.460 Here's how that went.

00:51:23.180 Now, Kian Bextie says he's been charged.

00:51:50.740 I haven't heard any details of that.

00:51:52.700 I haven't seen the charge.

00:51:54.020 I'm not sure if he has been.

00:51:55.660 He says he has been.

00:51:56.920 I don't know what the charge is.

00:51:58.700 It would most likely be under the Trespass Act.

00:52:01.500 And that's really tantamount to a ticket.

00:52:03.780 It would probably even be dropped.

00:52:05.660 But I don't have the details on that.

00:52:08.060 I look forward to hearing that.

00:52:09.200 In a sense, all of this is who cares?

00:52:13.940 Journalists whining.

00:52:15.160 There's nothing more grating than the sounds of journalists complaining about how unfair the world is.

00:52:21.020 But on the other hand, what if the shoe was on the other foot?

00:52:25.800 What if it were Stephen Harper who would have the police arrest someone at his press conference or Jason Kenney or, well, frankly, Doug Ford does now that I think about it?

00:52:36.100 I think the CBC would go into DEFCON 1.

00:52:39.740 Remember when Donald Trump took Jim Acosta of CNN out of the White House press gallery for one day?

00:52:46.500 It was like a five alarm fire in the media party down there.

00:52:49.900 I don't think there was any resistance other than your questions on the subject.

00:52:57.400 Let me ask you, Rachel.

00:52:58.580 Did anyone from the media party, did anyone from the big newspapers, radio or TV stations, did anyone from the CBC, I ask laughing to myself, did anyone object at all to a campaigning politician kicking out a reporter she didn't like just on spec?

00:53:18.040 Certainly no one objected while this was all going down.

00:53:22.040 It was actually super, super quiet in the room for about an hour.

00:53:25.500 Like you could hear a pin drop in there.

00:53:27.140 It was so tense.

00:53:28.180 It was so awkward.

00:53:29.700 And then once he left, one of the CTV reporters, maybe to his credit, asked Rachel Notley, you know, this press conference has now been delayed by about an hour and this isn't the first time a situation like this has resulted.

00:53:42.820 Do you think maybe there is a better way of dealing with this?

00:53:45.880 And that's actually when Rachel Notley responded by calling he and someone who associates with white supremacist views.

00:53:53.520 Yeah, let's take a look at that.

00:53:55.260 Well, you know, it really depends.

00:53:56.760 So I'm happy to take and to present myself to everybody in the media, even those that have a very conservative background and have a very pointed perspective in terms of the questions that they ask.

00:54:09.880 There is one media outlet that fits that description that I've been very clear we will not take questions from until they retract the hate speech that they published with respect to one of our caucus members.

00:54:25.520 The protester today does not fit that description.

00:54:29.320 The protester today is a protester, has a record of acting like a protester, regardless of what the way they think about and has a clear association with white supremacist views.

00:54:39.800 And so the answer is no.

00:54:41.700 No.

00:54:42.060 I have no idea what that means.

00:54:44.940 I don't know how you can associate with white supremacist views.

00:54:49.340 I don't know what that means.

00:54:51.120 Is she saying he's a white supremacist?

00:54:53.620 I happen to know about his personal life, and I know he is most certainly not a white supremacist.

00:55:00.600 Has he said white supremacist things?

00:55:02.860 I have never seen such a quote, and he worked for me for years, and I scrutinized him before he came aboard.

00:55:12.180 He associates with white supremacist.

00:55:14.340 How do you associate with the view?

00:55:15.860 I do not know.

00:55:17.020 But it's like calling Jonathan Bradley, you know, the gentlest man around, calling him a hate monger.

00:55:23.460 It's just a thing to say.

00:55:25.340 It doesn't have to be true.

00:55:28.600 So it sounds like CTV was upset about the delay.

00:55:31.180 Did anyone ask a substantive question, say, is there a better way to do this?

00:55:36.220 That's a pretty meek defense of freedom of the press.

00:55:38.820 Did anyone ask, like, you know, in the olden days, Rachel, before the government colonized the media,

00:55:47.220 before wokeism infected every journalism school, I think either other journalists would have left in solidarity,

00:55:55.180 had some sort of a strike, or would have only asked about Key and being ejected,

00:56:00.740 or would have asked his question for him.

00:56:04.500 Did any of that happen?

00:56:05.800 Did anyone ask Key and his question for him?

00:56:07.860 No, and I think, like, for me, this is the age that I grew up in.

00:56:13.500 I know, as you were saying, you grew up in a time where freedom of the press was actually still respected and really important.

00:56:19.080 That has not been the case for the entire five years that I've been in this industry.

00:56:23.200 And for these legacy media reporters, for these mainstream media journalists, they don't view us as reporters.

00:56:28.460 They don't view us on the same level as them.

00:56:30.360 They don't view us as worthy of respect.

00:56:31.860 So they have no issue when we get thrown at a press conference or barred from asking questions.

00:56:35.920 They don't want us to be there.

00:56:37.140 They don't like us.

00:56:38.140 They don't like the competition.

00:56:39.220 Probably they don't like the fact that we're able to survive and pay for ourselves without relying on government subsidies.

00:56:44.900 All these things really rub them the wrong way.

00:56:47.400 They don't like that we're right about pointing out their bias and that Canadians are leaving them for us because they can see right through the bias and they're also tired of paying for it.

00:56:55.960 And so we're not going to see a peep from these legacy media journalists.

00:56:58.940 We have it in years, and I don't suspect we're going to anytime soon.

00:57:01.780 Yeah, and, you know, the old saying, if a tree falls in the forest and no one's around it here, it doesn't make a sound.

00:57:10.460 That's the challenge here is the mainstream media, the regime media, the legacy media, the incumbent media, whatever you want to call them.

00:57:19.400 If they don't talk about what happened yesterday, no one will know.

00:57:23.320 But the only people who are tuned in to True North Counter Signal, Rebel News, Western Standard are sort of contrarians to begin with.

00:57:29.200 I'm worried that we have a limited reach.

00:57:32.540 We have a large reach, but it is limited.

00:57:34.700 Not everyone who watches the CBC or reads the Toronto Star also gets Rebel News.

00:57:39.400 I want to show you what I think is the last known instance of Canadian journalists standing with an independent colleague to stare down a politician who was trying to blacklist them.

00:57:54.860 And this happened about three years ago, three or four years ago, in London, England, when my colleague Sheila Gunn-Reed was at the Media Freedom Conference.

00:58:05.780 I was there, too.

00:58:07.080 But Chrystia Freeland was speaking at, I'm just going to say that again, the Media Freedom Conference.

00:58:13.260 Sheila and I were there.

00:58:15.240 There was a gaggle of Canadian journalists, but many of them were European-based.

00:58:20.100 So they didn't fly in from Toronto or Ottawa or Montreal.

00:58:23.740 They were in London or whatever.

00:58:26.420 And so they weren't in the same sort of culture as the Media Party in Canada.

00:58:32.360 I would say they were probably the most independent people in their organizations.

00:58:36.580 So Sheila Gunn-Reed presented, asked real questions.

00:58:41.440 Chrystia Freeland said, you, you, you, you, and you come to my press conference, but there's no room for you. 0.96

00:58:48.260 Like it's, it was an enormous building and apparently it only did not have room for Sheila.

00:58:54.600 And this was so brazen about it.

00:58:56.920 And Rachel, I have to tell you, in the shock of my life, the other journalists refused.

00:59:03.680 They refused to accept the excuse or the, the marginalization of Sheila Gunn-Reed, even though she was a rebel news independent journalist.

00:59:12.900 I just want to show that to you.

00:59:14.140 So that's four years ago now.

00:59:16.100 That was the last known instance of Canadian journalists actually standing up to a liberal politician, no less.

00:59:22.960 Deputy Prime Minister, no less.

00:59:24.860 Over freedom of the press.

00:59:25.800 Take a look at this from London.

00:59:27.760 Global Mail, Global, CTV, Al Jazeera, CBC, and the National Economic Association.

00:59:37.720 What about the rest?

00:59:38.600 The rest of us?

00:59:39.580 The rest of us have to stay back.

00:59:40.840 No, I think we all go.

00:59:42.120 No, no, no.

00:59:43.500 That is no one.

00:59:43.900 We all go.

00:59:45.120 That's, let's take us to the room and we can see if we can.

00:59:47.860 No, we're not going, Brittany.

00:59:48.860 We're just not.

00:59:49.340 We're all going.

00:59:49.820 This is a media freedom conference. 0.98

00:59:51.180 Yeah, this is ridiculous. 0.75

00:59:52.000 We just don't do that.

00:59:52.780 Yeah, we're not going then.

00:59:53.800 Yeah, those days are gone.

00:59:55.660 Those days are gone.

00:59:57.020 And I'm worried that if Rachel Notley can get away with this as opposition leader on the campaign trail, imagine what she's going to do when she has the power of the state behind her, Rachel. 1.00

01:00:08.980 What do you think?

01:00:10.540 Well, that's exactly what's so concerning about this all is that she's currently campaigning for votes. 0.97

01:00:16.000 And she's even at one point held a press conference appealing to conservative voters.

01:00:19.980 And yet she doesn't seem to realize that the best vehicle to reach those voters is through the independent media outlets, which they have turned to and trust.

01:00:28.200 So the fact that she's already willing to blacklist us and to not take our questions while she's campaigning for votes makes me that much more frightened of what she would do when she's no longer needing to appeal to voters to vote for her for the next four years. 0.56

01:00:41.320 And she has the power of the state behind her, the highest land, the highest power in Alberta. 0.99

01:00:45.800 She'll have that.

01:00:46.500 So I think we can expect to see our voices completely blacklisted for media at that point.

01:00:51.060 And I don't think, like I said before, I don't think our colleagues in the Alberta Press Gallery are going to make a peep about it.

01:00:57.060 Yeah.

01:00:57.660 Well, I remind our viewers that the Alberta Legislature Press Gallery banned Rebel News from attending the legislature.

01:01:05.220 We went around them at the time.

01:01:06.580 It was a conservative speaker of the legislature who let us in.

01:01:10.280 And there's a there's a censorship streak in that free province.

01:01:13.380 And so I remind you that back in the 1930s, Bible Bill Eberhardt did not like the media at all.

01:01:21.600 And so he brought in a group of laws collectively called the Press Act.

01:01:25.520 I don't know if you know this, Rachel.

01:01:26.580 And one of the rules was that if they did not like an article in a newspaper, they had the legal power to force that newspaper to run a government rebuttal right next to it.

01:01:38.900 It was an astonishing commandeering and nationalization of the press.

01:01:42.840 This went all the way up to the Supreme Court of Canada and it was ruled unconstitutional.

01:01:48.280 And for their fight against Bill Eberhardt's censorship bill, the Press Act, the Edmonton Journal won a special corporate Pulitzer Prize, not for writing, but for fighting for journalistic freedom.

01:02:01.520 And at least until recent years in the entryway of the Edmonton Journal building, there was this special Pulitzer Prize.

01:02:10.360 I don't know if that's even considered valuable or something to be proud of by the Edmonton Journal in 2023.

01:02:17.340 They are part of Post Media, which is the number one recipient of Trudeau's bailout money.

01:02:21.900 And I think they're just fine with the NDP.

01:02:24.280 These are dark days.

01:02:25.120 But, Rachel, you, like me, do not curse the dark.

01:02:30.160 You light a candle.

01:02:32.740 And that's what we're going to do in independent journalism.

01:02:35.000 Good luck out there.

01:02:35.740 And thanks for joining us today.

01:02:37.560 Yeah, thanks for having me again.

01:02:39.100 Right on.

01:02:39.440 There you have it.

01:02:39.920 Rachel Emanuel, one of the few independent journalists left out there.

01:02:44.260 Stay with us more ahead.

01:02:55.120 Hey, welcome back.

01:02:58.080 Your viewer feedback.

01:02:58.980 The first one is from Peter Kent, but I don't know if that's the former journalist and cabinet minister, Peter Kent.

01:03:03.960 It could be someone with the same name, but hello either way.

01:03:06.820 He says, surely this is, talking about George Chahal, surely this is not the same, the ethical MP that went around stealing other parties' election flyers from householders' letterboxes.

01:03:17.160 Found guilty, too, after video evidence was shown and had to pay a fine of $500.

01:03:21.420 Some may want to ask why he did this while he rants on about emails.

01:03:25.120 Yeah, I mentioned that in my monologue, that George Chahal is certainly not coming to the story with clean hands. 0.99

01:03:31.460 He himself stole things out of his own constituents' mailboxes.

01:03:35.480 That's pretty gross.

01:03:36.880 But, of course, in the Trudeau government, they really don't have ethical standards.

01:03:40.800 I am not for the kind of rudeness and leaving nasty voice messages that happened to him.

01:03:46.360 But there were no death threats there.

01:03:47.760 And the fact that he first went to Twitter, rather than the police, says he truly wasn't worried about it.

01:03:53.680 N-N-N says, gotta vote for the lesser of two evils, UCP.

01:04:00.480 The ideal party would be Pastor Art's independent party, but people have chosen not to get involved.

01:04:05.420 Too bad.

01:04:06.260 Reap your just reward.

01:04:07.820 Communism is in your face now.

01:04:09.460 I saw Pastor Arthur a few weeks ago at his hearing in Lethbridge, where the verdict was read out against him.

01:04:17.200 And I understand he has started a new political party, not the Independence Party.

01:04:20.820 But I don't think that that has a likelihood of getting even more than a few hundred votes in any given riding.

01:04:26.960 And I frankly wish that Pastor Arthur would focus on his strengths, which are fighting for civil liberties, especially for Christians, and as opposed to getting into the partisan system, where I really don't think he has a realistic chance.

01:04:43.440 And it's a grubby business.

01:04:45.260 Stay in the civil liberties lane.

01:04:46.860 And that's my personal view, which I would share with him if he asked, which he did not ask.

01:04:51.580 But I would tell him if I see him.

01:04:53.760 And he's talking about that again.

01:04:55.700 I like Pastor Arthur a lot.

01:04:56.960 He fought for freedom, where 99.9% of people collapsed.

01:05:01.020 But it was the fight for freedom that counted, not just a political game.

01:05:05.620 That's our show for today.

01:05:06.640 Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home, good night, and keep fighting for freedom.

01:05:13.600 We'll be right back.

Rebel News Podcast - May 16, 2023

EZRA LEVANT ｜ The Fog of War： Decoding Zelensky's Washington Post interview

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