The Culture War - Tim Pool - August 26, 2026


US Prepares MILITARY DRAFT Amid WW3 Fears, CIA Secretly Meets With Russians


Episode Stats


Length

25 minutes

Words per minute

150.21

Word count

3,905

Sentence count

357


Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 Over the past couple of days, we've gotten some troubling news.
00:00:03.640 Today, we learned that a massive hacking network, China, targeting the U.S., has been uncovered
00:00:10.360 and dismantled.
00:00:12.180 Just the other day, we learned an unprecedented flight took place.
00:00:16.820 A U.S. C-17 secretly flew to Moscow.
00:00:20.820 And now we've learned this was CIA Director Ratcliffe meeting with the Russians.
00:00:26.240 Now, the official story is that he was warning them not to escalate in Ukraine.
00:00:32.180 But I'm not sure that makes a whole lot of sense.
00:00:35.880 That's a phone call or a press conference.
00:00:39.020 The big news in front of all of this conscription ages being expanded in Western nations and the U.S. Selective Service is preparing to war game out a draft.
00:00:52.540 concerned that the archaic system would not work, particularly with our lack of young people.
00:00:59.260 They're going to run a simulation to see just what happens. Now, of course, I know, guys,
00:01:05.020 everybody says, Tim, you put World War Three in the title. It's rage bait. It's fear mongering.
00:01:10.980 I want to make sure you hear me. I agree completely. But you see several major publications,
00:01:19.620 including the New York Times, are running op eds titled Has World War Three Begun?
00:01:28.620 And as I have always done, this channel is analysis of news and information to break
00:01:34.440 through those narratives. But this question is not one that I am asking. The question of civil
00:01:41.560 war in the United States is not one I am asking. It's one that I am commenting on based on the
00:01:47.780 perceptions we have seen in this country and around the world. And right now, the pieces
00:01:53.400 appear to be lining up on the chessboard at the very least as the media entertains it.
00:02:01.020 So you tell me in the comments below if you believe we are entering a third world war,
00:02:07.420 the expansion of the Ukrainian conflict into the Caspian Sea, Ukrainians targeting Iranian
00:02:13.500 weapons transport heading to Russia. The U.S. now sanctioning nations that even accept Iranian
00:02:21.600 commercial jets. Can this be sustained? The U.S. SPR now drained to its lowest level
00:02:29.540 in 40 plus years. And then we learn just a month ago, the Selective Service
00:02:36.980 is going to run a simulation to see if the draft can still work.
00:02:43.040 Why would they need that information?
00:02:45.840 Why are NATO countries ramping up, let's just say cleaning up their draft rolls?
00:02:53.520 Could this be that our governments are prepared for something the likes of which we've not seen
00:02:59.060 in several generations?
00:03:00.640 And it all comes down to the question about Ratcliffe's meeting in Moscow and if
00:03:05.760 he actually spoke to Vladimir Putin. Now, some say it was just to warn the Russians not to
00:03:11.500 escalate. But rumors are that Ratcliffe met with Russia, begging them to assist with the reopening
00:03:19.080 of the Strait of Hormuz. I don't believe it, but I don't know for sure. Now, many people are saying
00:03:25.340 this is not correct. But in the East, news reports are suggesting that the U.S. is begging for help
00:03:31.420 to stop Iran, perhaps offering the Russians a concession on Ukraine if Russia cuts off Iran
00:03:38.900 and allows the strait to open up. We'll see, my friends. We're going to break down this news to
00:03:45.460 figure out exactly what is going on. Before we get started, head over to TimCast.com and click
00:03:50.560 join now to be the change you want to see in this world. Cancel culture is rearing its ugly head
00:03:58.820 once again. Censorship is once again on the rise. And the only thing that keeps us safe
00:04:06.180 when these tyrannical powers rise is community. That's why we have focused our efforts on
00:04:14.180 building the discord community at Timcast dot com. Because when things got bad, what kept people
00:04:21.400 going was each other support. And right now, I think it's plain as day. They want us divided
00:04:28.560 and conquered. If you support these videos and the work that I do, join us and be that change.
00:04:35.900 Make the friends be a part of a community that's making a difference. Support the work we do,
00:04:42.100 and we help run that discord. But it really comes down to all of the members who make it possible.
00:04:48.160 Don't forget to also subscribe to this channel.
00:04:51.380 Share this video right now, everywhere you can with everyone you know.
00:04:56.240 Let's talk about what's currently going on.
00:04:59.160 Why they would need to war game out the draft.
00:05:03.320 The first news of the day, of course, from the Wall Street Journal.
00:05:05.960 FBI shuts down sprawling China-linked hacking network.
00:05:10.480 Spy operation hid within normal Internet traffic,
00:05:13.380 as well as technology designed to circumvent China's great firewall.
00:05:19.280 The Wall Street Journal reports,
00:05:21.440 U.S. officials say they have disrupted a China-linked hacking operation
00:05:25.060 that broke into U.S. government networks and critical infrastructure
00:05:28.780 while hiding its tracks on a global network of hacked devices,
00:05:32.740 cloud computing, infrastructure, and even clandestine networks.
00:05:36.920 The goal was to blend in with legitimate networking traffic,
00:05:40.280 making the hacking activity hard to trace, federal officials said.
00:05:45.460 The group exploited software vulnerabilities to launch cyber attacks against U.S. government agencies,
00:05:51.460 power companies, and hospital systems, and operated a worldwide network of hacked devices
00:05:56.900 known as a botnet to conduct its hacking campaigns, according to Brett Leatherman,
00:06:02.200 the Federal Bureau of Investigation's top cyber official.
00:06:05.240 We've seen through this botnet the targeting of entities and devices in more than 130 countries.
00:06:11.120 On Wednesday, the FBI and the National Security Agency said they had seized several domains that the operation used for core functions.
00:06:20.220 Without those domains, the platforms as a result of the operation were rendered inoperable.
00:06:26.340 U.S. officials also released technical details of how the hacking operation worked to help organizations identify and stop the group's hacking activity.
00:06:34.440 The hacking operation, dubbed QTFY by U.S. officials, has been run since 2018 by a private
00:06:42.160 company based in China called Nanjing Xinjuei Network Technology, which sells access to hacked
00:06:49.580 networks and stolen information to China's foreign and military intelligence services,
00:06:54.120 the FBI said. Nanjing Xinjuei couldn't immediately be reached for comment,
00:06:59.720 but China has previously denied that it engages in hacking. Of course it does.
00:07:03.180 This is the modern era, my friends, of mark and reprisal.
00:07:08.400 For those that are not familiar how this works, let me explain.
00:07:12.200 So back in the day, in the colonial era, there would be a private ship on the high seas
00:07:18.060 flying a black flag or a no flag at all.
00:07:22.720 It would then attack, say, French trade routes.
00:07:27.200 If they were captured, these were just pirates.
00:07:30.660 pirates, pirates, criminals of the high seas. But the truth is, the crown, the British crown,
00:07:38.020 or any one of these countries would go to privateers and say, we grant you a letter of
00:07:43.720 mark, meaning we want you to attack our enemy's supply lines and disrupt their trade.
00:07:50.960 But if you are captured, we will disavow. And so when the French government captures these
00:07:56.180 Englishmen, pirates, they would go to the crown, they would go to the British officials and say,
00:08:02.320 you are engaged in piracy against us. And the crown would say, how dare you? We do not condone
00:08:08.760 piracy. Huh. Hey, I'm Ruby Carr, the host of the podcast Encore. Check out our brand new episodes
00:08:16.100 featuring music from the show that everyone is reheating as we speak, Heated Rivalry. Join me
00:08:22.240 as I go behind the songs that brought Shane and Ilya together. I'll tell you the stories of Feist,
00:08:27.260 My Moon, My Man, Wolf Parades, I'll Believe in Anything, and Tattoos, All the Things She Said,
00:08:32.320 and how they all became a part of this global phenomenon. Stream encore on iHeartRadio,
00:08:37.440 Crave, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:08:52.240 our country. We'll go and arrest them. But we all know what's really going on. They say nation-state
00:08:58.460 hacking campaigns have taken steps to hide their tracks for years, but recently they've been
00:09:02.420 increasingly hidden by blending in with legitimate internet traffic. Earlier this year, Comcast
00:09:06.920 described how a Russian-linked hack of Microsoft had allowed it to uncover a sprawling network of
00:09:12.180 compromised devices that were being used by state-backed hackers. In Nanjing, Xinjuei,
00:09:18.080 I'm probably not saying wrong, the company built its network by using cloud services and thousands
00:09:22.080 of hack devices. And then it provided access to the network to government hackers. We have the
00:09:27.740 official release from Justice.gov about their seizure of platforms operated and used by China's
00:09:34.540 state-sponsored hackers to target U.S. critical infrastructure. The bigger question, though,
00:09:40.020 my friends, the CIA director's secretive visit to Moscow. What was the real reason?
00:09:47.680 Why was he doing it? Now, this has many people questioning exactly what was happening with this
00:09:56.000 meeting. Some have speculated it was just a warning to Russia saying, let me see if I want
00:10:05.140 to see if we get some information on Putin saying, don't you dare invade. But that doesn't seem to
00:10:10.140 make a whole lot of a whole lot of sense. If you were to ask me, this is a phone call that could
00:10:14.540 be made. We've got this video that I want to pull up here. This appears to show US, this is,
00:10:21.040 we actually have a ton of video here. I think we've got just a little bit we can play. I want
00:10:26.640 to play these two videos for you. And we'll read through these posts. Let me zoom in on this one
00:10:33.020 video. Reportedly, this is, I believe, this may be video, they're saying, let me read this.
00:10:39.020 they say uh u.s air force c-17 landed at nikovo airport tuesday morning and was gone by the
00:10:47.760 afternoon to get there washington asked ukraine to stop striking moscow in st petersburg for
00:10:51.340 three days because it did not believe the strength of putin's air defenses we have this video take a
00:10:55.680 look at this. The foes that are just listening, it appears to be several vehicles,
00:11:12.820 possibly the CIA director meeting at the Kremlin. I'm not entirely sure.
00:11:17.780 Very, very interesting.
00:11:20.860 Three days of quiet over Moscow.
00:11:23.760 Bought from the country Russia is invading.
00:11:27.780 So one American plane could land and leave.
00:11:30.500 And we have this video that they say is the C-17.
00:11:42.840 That's right, my friends.
00:11:44.020 It appears to show an American C-17.
00:11:47.460 And I think we have, I don't know what this video is.
00:11:51.040 This is a video of C-17s.
00:11:52.720 I don't think it's anything else other than them flying around.
00:11:54.600 But I believe we, I thought we have, here we go.
00:11:56.700 Here's the flight plan.
00:11:58.480 CIA Director Ratcliffe returning from Moscow after an eight-hour visit.
00:12:02.600 What was this trip about?
00:12:05.200 This individual, Mench Osint, says, this is odd.
00:12:09.940 In four years, I've never seen a U.S. C-17 fly to Moscow.
00:12:16.100 The Washington Post reports.
00:12:18.420 CIA Director John Ratcliffe was in Moscow on Tuesday.
00:12:22.020 U.S. officials had not announced his trip, but publicly available flight tracking data
00:12:26.140 captured the movement of a U.S. government transport plane from Joint Base Andrews on
00:12:31.140 the outskirts of Washington to the Russian capital.
00:12:33.720 The aircraft departed Moscow about eight and a half hours later, tracking data from Flight
00:12:37.340 Radar 24 shows.
00:12:39.140 Spokespeople for the CIA, the Pentagon, and the U.S. Air Force declined to comment.
00:12:43.640 The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
00:12:46.140 Those familiar with Ratcliffe's trip to Russia spoke on the condition of anonymity because
00:12:50.280 they were not authorized to discuss the visit.
00:12:53.180 Ratcliffe's visit to Moscow coincided with a fraught period in U.S.-Russian relations,
00:12:56.860 this we understand.
00:12:58.060 Okay, okay, give me the, what's going on?
00:13:01.400 Global Strategy tweeted out, CA Director's secret Moscow dash, no peace talks.
00:13:08.420 CA Director Ratcliffe made an unexpected, completely unannounced visit to Moscow.
00:13:12.060 The most likely reason?
00:13:13.640 The CIA has picked up information about a potential escalation possibly involving
00:13:17.100 mobilization plans with Russia, Iran, and China. These kinds of sudden trips are rarely good news
00:13:22.060 and strongly suggest the U.S. admin has received troubling signals of something bigger brewing.
00:13:27.580 Now, there's another theory. Well, let's entertain the first one. Considering they
00:13:32.820 want a war game out of draft, it's entirely possible. So we have three questions,
00:13:37.940 And I ask you guys to comment what you think.
00:13:42.540 Is this the BRICS nations gearing up for a world war?
00:13:46.720 Ratcliffe meets with Putin saying, we know what you're doing.
00:13:49.600 Whispering in his ear, you realize what this means.
00:13:53.280 And Putin says, we do.
00:13:56.100 So be it.
00:13:57.140 And Ratcliffe says, the game is on and leaves.
00:13:59.960 I don't know.
00:14:01.300 I don't know that you need to meet face to face for such a simple meeting.
00:14:04.580 Now, some have suggested this is a request from the CIA to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
00:14:14.680 They need Russia's help.
00:14:16.600 The Hormuz letter says, breaking, Russian officials have been have briefed Iran that
00:14:21.600 the CIA director Ratcliffe's mission in Moscow delivered a message with the US asking Moscow
00:14:27.540 to press Iran into reopening the Strait of Hormuz, warning that Russian entities would
00:14:32.580 otherwise face designations under Operation Economic Outcast. Russia declined and told Iran
00:14:38.400 the threatened measures were of limited consequence, according to two senior Iranian sources with
00:14:43.440 knowledge of the briefing. The message also warned that Russian banks, traders and shipping entities
00:14:48.120 tied to Iranian oil, golden aviation will be sanctioned under the operation unless Moscow
00:14:53.480 moves to close those channels. Now, there is a proposed community note. Top comment says
00:14:57.840 think has to do with U.S. warning Russia of the use of tactical nukes in Iran.
00:15:02.580 It may be. There's a lot going on. With one guy commenting, just one guy.
00:15:10.160 Russia. The U.S. is going to use nuclear weapons in Iran. We're going to destroy them.
00:15:17.180 Do not retaliate. You've been warned. This will be limited. Could it be?
00:15:23.660 Lord, help me. I hope not. But I'm going to tell you right now.
00:15:27.800 ratcliffe meeting with with the russians in person is very strange whatever it is he needed to say
00:15:37.800 they could not risk being intercepted a phone call would not suffice they don't know
00:15:45.560 now according to the potential community note the wall street journal reports his mission was tied
00:15:53.320 U.S. intelligence showing Russia had begun early prep for potential military mobilization in Ukraine
00:15:57.900 alongside plans to test NATO's resolve. The argument is that Russia has launched incursions
00:16:05.360 into NATO territory, either accidentally or intentionally, but under the guise of an
00:16:10.960 accident. That's a phone call. That's a phone call. You don't need to protect warning Russia.
00:16:18.680 Now, just think about it. Ratcliffe gets on the phone with the Russian counterpart and says,
00:16:22.600 Listen, we have seen your missiles land in Poland.
00:16:26.180 We do not want an Article 5, World War III, to be ignited.
00:16:30.720 Stop. It's a phone call.
00:16:32.500 China hears it. What do they care?
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00:17:04.040 The U.S. is warning Russia, don't do it.
00:17:05.720 Okay, so what?
00:17:07.120 So Iran spies. So what?
00:17:08.800 Who cares?
00:17:10.160 In fact, if that were the message, Ratcliffe could get at a podium and go on TV and say,
00:17:15.260 we are here to have a press conference and send a message to the Russians.
00:17:19.300 Do not press us.
00:17:21.580 We have seen these incursions into NATO territory, and we do not want a world war.
00:17:28.320 But God help us.
00:17:29.800 If you press us, that is what you will get.
00:17:33.340 It's a phone call.
00:17:34.700 No.
00:17:35.900 This was something else entirely.
00:17:38.660 But we don't know.
00:17:40.360 We just don't know.
00:17:42.600 Now I say unto you, when the World War III is in the title of my videos, it's because
00:17:46.040 the New York Times, what do we have, express.co.uk?
00:17:51.580 conscription age range for men in UK is World War Three fears explode. August 26, the New York
00:17:59.660 Times, August 25. This is, I don't know what this website is. Global Tensions is World War Three
00:18:06.660 underway. But I always got to include the blogs too. The New York Times, not the end all be all
00:18:11.700 of news. Brett Stevens for the New York Times. Guys, I don't say it lightly. He says, my argument
00:18:20.560 is based on the origins of World War II, which did not start, would not simply start with
00:18:26.000 Germany's invasion of Poland. Instead, the war was an accumulation of regional wars and crises
00:18:30.060 beginning with Japan's invasions of Manchuria in 1931, which gradually gathered to a single
00:18:35.280 global conflict. He's right. There is not a single war that was, oh, the assassination of
00:18:42.860 Archduke Franz Ferdinand kicked off World War I. No, it didn't. The point is, we view that as
00:18:50.000 the catalyst. That was the moment we knew. But the point is the tensions existed. Arms were being
00:18:57.320 mass produced. War on an industrial scale. And armies built, trained, prepared. They were ready
00:19:05.520 for war before the war began. The tensions that ultimately sparked off this war was not so simple
00:19:13.620 as a guy got killed. The alliances, the anger. Same thing with World War II. Some say,
00:19:21.940 as the quote goes, there is no World War II, just one great war with a 20-year armistice.
00:19:29.760 And it escalated. And then you got your next conflict. The American Civil War was not just
00:19:36.420 a single moment at Fort Sumter, though we claim. In fact, we historically say the Civil War began
00:19:42.820 at Fort Sumter. But back then they didn't. After the conflict, people still did not believe a civil
00:19:49.560 war was even possible. And we say it already started. The American Revolution. It did not
00:19:57.400 start with the signing of a Declaration of Independence. That was a year after the conflict
00:20:01.460 had already begun at Lexington and Concord, when the British regulars, we just said the regulars
00:20:07.180 because everybody was technically British, attempted to seize the weapons. We don't know
00:20:10.840 who fired first, but it was the shot heard around the world, they say. And thus, a revolutionary
00:20:17.360 period with conflict and riots and death and killings and protest. You could argue the war
00:20:23.580 was going on for 20 years. That's the American revolutionary period. Right now, I hear this
00:20:29.820 argument and I say, yes, I agree. I don't know that it has begun, but the world is at war from
00:20:38.260 Cuba to Venezuela, South Sudan to Israel and Iran, the U.S. in Iran, China. They've got their
00:20:46.040 Western border conflicts, but they're also involved in the South China Sea and running
00:20:50.580 sorties over Taiwan. Russia's invaded Ukraine and now Ukraine is bombing Iranians in the Caspian.
00:20:57.300 It is escalating. Israel bombing targets in Syria that Turkey was seeking to deploy troops to.
00:21:05.740 Turkey says it's an attack on our military plans.
00:21:08.680 Israel bombing Syria while the U.S. is trying to negotiate with Syria.
00:21:12.660 We are at the precipice.
00:21:15.800 I don't know what happens, and it's hard to believe this really does become World War III.
00:21:21.440 But the question is being asked, and the U.S. is not taking it lightly.
00:21:26.700 Selective service system wants to war game the draft from Military Times.
00:21:31.180 Fearing that its new plans for the U.S. military draft pool won't work,
00:21:34.380 The Selective Service System wants to create a computer simulation to test scenarios
00:21:38.460 for its national mobilization. The readiness simulation project comes to the U.S. government
00:21:43.140 is about to change its draft registration system. That's right.
00:21:46.640 In December, you will automatically be drafted. Registered for the draft, sorry.
00:21:52.960 Since 1940, men within a designated age range have been required to register with a Selective
00:21:58.520 service. But under a proposed rule, men aged 18 to 26 will automatically be registered starting
00:22:06.200 December 19th, 2026. The selective service system will work off data contained in other federal
00:22:11.640 databases. Probably why they wanted Real ID. It was a national ID databasing system. Before Real
00:22:18.820 ID, the states had their own database. But if the federal government wants a draft and want it to
00:22:23.620 be automatic, they need a federal database of 18-year-olds. The deadline for vendors to propose
00:22:29.400 their simulation models is August 14th. Computer simulation will explore multiple areas. These
00:22:34.460 include evaluating staffing and resource requirements, comparing mobilization and
00:22:38.200 police scenarios, and assessing the operational impact of surge conditions. In addition, the system
00:22:43.360 will identify through risks, delays, and bottlenecks, and support executive planning and reporting
00:22:47.880 obligations. The goal is a simulation system that models the full end-to-end SSS mobilization
00:22:54.280 pipeline, supports configurable scenarios, and provides decision support and analytics
00:23:00.220 necessary for leadership planners and operators. You get the point. My friends,
00:23:07.140 are we looking at something disastrous? I think so. Trump has drained the SPR to its lowest point
00:23:14.820 in 40 plus years. It is not going well. They have not come to us and given us a real reason for this
00:23:23.700 war. And for that, we're in trouble. There was a time when young men volunteered, did not need to
00:23:36.280 be drafted, and they said, I have to fight for my country. It was because we believed in the mission
00:23:42.260 our country had. But when your country's culture is fragmented and split, I fear if a draft were
00:23:49.900 to happen right now, our system of government would collapse. And what does that mean? No system
00:23:57.080 simply ends overnight. But with the DSA as powerful as they are, I guarantee you if they announce a
00:24:02.800 draft, all of these DSA leftists will break. All moderate libertarian types will break. And there
00:24:09.700 will be massive resistance because there is no casus belli. Why are we at war? Now, I have my
00:24:21.180 theories, of course, and the official statement is, oh, we can't let them have nuclear weapons.
00:24:24.960 But now it's over the strait. The American people do not feel that there is a noble cause in this
00:24:31.620 war. If you try to draft them now, they're going to say it's your fault and no. But alas, my friends,
00:24:40.360 All this is speculation.
00:24:42.340 The real question, why did Ratcliffe meet the Russians?
00:24:45.340 And can this, will this stop?
00:24:47.180 I certainly hope so.
00:24:48.620 But comment below and let me know what you think.
00:24:50.920 Smash the like button, share the show, stick around.
00:24:53.620 We've got more coming up for you.
00:24:54.660 Timcast IRL at 8 p.m.
00:24:56.080 Thanks for hanging out, and we'll see you all then.
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