The StoneZONE with Roger Stone

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00:00:30.000 This is the Stone Zone.

00:00:42.780 Now, give him his own. It's the Stone Zone.

00:00:46.580 A man who's gone through hell, but he's kept going, and he's smart, and he's strong,

00:00:52.260 and people love him. Not everybody, but people love him and respect him.

00:00:55.780 Roger Stone. Where's Roger Stone?

00:00:58.120 Here's Roger Stone.

00:01:00.000 You are now diving headfirst into the deep end of the Stone Zone.

00:01:06.840 You've got President Donald Trump practicing the peace through strength

00:01:12.380 doctrine of Dwight Eisenhower and, after him, Ronald Reagan,

00:01:17.220 where Trump was essentially elected as an anti-war president,

00:01:21.260 certainly an anti-interventionist president,

00:01:24.820 but that does not mean that he won't use lethal U.S. power in a limited way to achieve his objectives.

00:01:32.720 And the way he has used a combination of military might, economic suasion and pressure,

00:01:42.200 and very wisely cutting off oil to the communist Chinese as well as the Russians,

00:01:52.820 shows an extraordinarily complicated and brilliant foreign policy.

00:01:58.420 And now we get stunning new details emerging about how close Iran may have been to building nuclear weapons.

00:02:08.800 It's not clear how close they may yet be and how defiant its regime has been in negotiations with the United States.

00:02:18.700 Steve Whitcoff, who's a very good guy, was with the president and Whitcoff Saturday night at Mar-a-Lago.

00:02:25.740 We had dinner, and the president correctly said that Whitcoff is the only man in the history of Manhattan real estate

00:02:32.780 who was uniformly liked, that the Manhattan world of real estate, particularly big real estate,

00:02:42.860 is a dog-eat-dog business.

00:02:46.380 As President Trump once joked that dealing with all the world leaders like Putin and Chairman Xi

00:02:54.300 was a child's play compared to negotiating with the big players in Manhattan real estate,

00:03:01.980 but that Whitcoff's man was universally liked and has served his country as a special envoy on assignment

00:03:09.300 for the president to try to negotiate peace in some of the world's hotspots, including in Iran.

00:03:18.060 He revealed Monday that Iranian officials openly admitted during their recent talks

00:03:24.120 that they possess enough highly enriched uranium to build 11 nuclear bombs.

00:03:31.140 According to Whitcoff, Iranian negotiators stated without hesitation

00:03:35.740 that they control roughly 460 milligrams of uranium enriched to 60% purity.

00:03:44.120 Now, experts say that material could be refined to 90% relatively quickly,

00:03:50.260 weapons-grade level in about a week to 10 days.

00:03:53.500 So Iran also holds thousands of additional kilograms enriched at lower levels,

00:03:59.240 which could be weaponized within weeks.

00:04:02.380 As the regime teeters, who has control of these and where they are become central questions.

00:04:09.460 Steve Whitcoff, who's a fine, fine gentleman.

00:04:13.660 And Jared Kushner, the president's highly effective son-in-law,

00:04:18.320 who brought us the Abraham Accords, for which he deserves accolades,

00:04:24.100 engaged in three rounds of indirect talks with Iran in Oman and Geneva, Switzerland,

00:04:31.220 earlier this year in what was a last-ditch attempt by Whitcoff and Kushner to avoid a military conflict.

00:04:39.840 From the start, Iran took a hard line, insisting that it had an inalienable right to enrich uranium.

00:04:48.480 The U.S. response was clear that they had to stop and limit their nuclear development

00:04:57.980 to the generation of electricity-only, peaceful purposes,

00:05:02.600 and that U.S. monitors had to be able to guarantee that,

00:05:07.140 but that any path to nuclear weapons was off the table.

00:05:11.900 America has a right to stop them.

00:05:13.700 As Whitcoff said, the U.S. even offered to supply the Iranians with civilian nuclear fuel for a decade

00:05:21.440 if Tehran would agree to halt enrichment tied to weapons, which is quite an olive branch.

00:05:28.600 Iran rejected that proposal outright.

00:05:31.880 Whitcoff, who is a very shrewd negotiator, said the Iranians were proud of their nuclear enrichment capability 0.99

00:05:39.460 and their ability to evade the oversight to which they had previously agreed in the charade Iranian weapons deal.

00:05:48.920 That's the one where there were off the books $47 million on pallets

00:05:55.120 being used for essentially political payoffs that the American taxpayers are never told about.

00:06:02.400 That's outside the signed agreement in which they agreed to stop their nuclear weapons developments

00:06:10.140 while continuing to vote ahead.

00:06:12.840 And the Obama administration, followed by Joe Biden, are kind of dumb enough to believe them.

00:06:20.440 Whitcoff has pointed out that with the U.S.'s really conflict against Iran now intensifying,

00:06:28.420 it became clear that Iran really had no intention of ever abandoning its nuclear weapons.

00:06:34.140 What Whitcoff is saying is that he and Trump finally figured out that the Iranians were just playing for time,

00:06:41.460 time to re-fortify their position and try to do everything they could to expedite their danger in the nuclear space.

00:06:53.440 One of the things that is, of course, interesting to me with the decapitation of the supreme leader,

00:06:59.720 Khomeini, who was reduced to a ring, I guess they found his ring, that'd be a grisly trophy,

00:07:06.460 and 40 of his top henchmen.

00:07:08.340 But we also know that Iran continues to fire both rockets and launch drone attacks on its various Arab neighbors.

00:07:17.940 So the regime is not dead.

00:07:20.620 How crippled, how wounded this incredibly brutal Mullah-led regime is,

00:07:29.840 and the contingencies they had planned for just this moment is one thing we're going to talk to our next guest about.

00:07:37.040 That's Senator Robert Torricelli of New Jersey,

00:07:39.920 a former member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,

00:07:44.960 also serving on the Rules Committee, the Judiciary Committee,

00:07:50.740 a leader against the communist regime and narco-Marxism in this hemisphere, joins us.

00:08:01.140 He has always been an active in Middle Eastern affairs particularly,

00:08:05.240 and has a unique perspective on the situation in Iran and how wounded the regime is.

00:08:14.060 The key to this fight, of course, with Trump is, once again, limited action.

00:08:21.020 He goes into Iran, he goes into Venezuela, he goes into Iran again.

00:08:28.060 And, again, no boots on the ground, no mass American casualties.

00:08:33.820 I think two or three Americans died, and I think five Israelis died because of an incoming drone

00:08:44.440 that evaded Israeli airspace.

00:08:47.720 That's the last I had read.

00:08:50.000 So Trump is, I think, bridging a gap between the neocons in his party,

00:08:56.460 like Lindsey Graham, who would really, you know, jump into any war, 0.99

00:09:01.460 kind of shoot first to ask questions later.

00:09:04.860 He must have really woken up excited with the news of the war.

00:09:11.100 But Trump, I think, understands this kind of projection of American power,

00:09:16.060 which, let's give Pete Hegseth and his reforms credit,

00:09:21.480 Trump has restored the lethality and the skill of the U.S. military.

00:09:26.840 The operation backing law enforcement in Venezuela was a textbook.

00:09:32.180 It was the thing of James Bond in terms of the daring nature of that.

00:09:38.100 It was not a regime change effort, but more precisely,

00:09:42.280 an effort to arrest a man who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands,

00:09:48.780 if not millions, of Americans who died of fentanyl and other drug poisoning

00:09:53.960 because of drugs that he forced into the country.

00:09:59.340 So the president ultimately, I think, moved to this position once he figured out

00:10:04.380 that the mullers were just playing him for time.

00:10:10.360 But just to be clear, this is a regime that brutally murdered Americans,

00:10:16.080 has a long history of doing so, all the way back to the attack on the marine barracks in Beirut.

00:10:22.900 Thousands more of a time they kept and continued to threaten to close the Strait of Hormuz, 0.63

00:10:29.760 which would have a very, very deleterious impact on oil prices.

00:10:35.220 Oil prices would skyrocket with that kind of a blockade.

00:10:42.480 On the other hand, General Michael Flynn was with us last weekend

00:10:47.300 and pointed out, given his assessment of the Iranian Navy

00:10:51.580 and the fitness for combat of the U.S. Navy,

00:10:56.620 said we could reopen it within hours, that we have that capability.

00:11:00.220 Now, is there anyone out there who thinks that Donald Trump would fail to do that?

00:11:07.780 On day four of Operation Epic Fury,

00:11:10.080 President Trump declared the United States will crush the Iranian threat

00:11:14.020 and easily prevail.

00:11:15.560 Speaking at the White House,

00:11:17.240 Trump projected what he thought would be a four- to five-week campaign,

00:11:21.260 but emphasized the U.S. will do whatever it takes

00:11:23.980 to neutralize Tehran's missile, Navy, and proxy capabilities.

00:11:29.620 The president has always said,

00:11:32.640 you never telegraph to the enemy what your plan is.

00:11:36.320 You can understand why he doesn't want to be pinned down on the fact that

00:11:39.800 he surely understands that even the American people

00:11:43.180 don't have the patience for more endless foreign war,

00:11:46.580 no boots on the ground, no mass casualties,

00:11:49.160 and not millions and millions more of defense spending

00:11:53.560 and other contracting connected to an endless foreign war.

00:11:58.180 That's not what Trump got elected on.

00:12:01.320 On the other hand, he's not going to announce his hand.

00:12:05.320 The Pentagon reports more than 1,250 U.S. strikes on Iranian targets,

00:12:09.900 dismantling key military infrastructure,

00:12:12.820 and, of course, eliminating the senior figures,

00:12:16.640 including, of course, the supreme leader,

00:12:19.460 that is the Ayatollah Khomeini,

00:12:22.140 not to be confused with the Ayatollah Khomeini,

00:12:25.660 who was at the helm of the 1979 revolution,

00:12:29.840 in which I believe 64 Americans were arrested

00:12:33.300 and kept hostages for something like 455 days,

00:12:37.040 until their fear of Ronald Reagan

00:12:39.240 over the weak-kneed response of Jimmy Carter,

00:12:43.080 persuaded them to release those Americans.

00:12:46.240 And they continued to butcher people in their own streets.

00:12:50.860 The leading resistance group,

00:12:54.900 the most public of them, the MEK,

00:12:57.460 had literally thousands of their members

00:13:00.580 who favor, you know, a democratic election

00:13:04.000 and the overturn of this autocratic regime.

00:13:06.620 Thousands of them publicly executed in the streets

00:13:09.680 to serve as a warning.

00:13:11.500 This is a brutal regime,

00:13:14.600 which makes the uprising of the Iranian people

00:13:18.380 against it at the very beginning

00:13:21.020 all the more courageous,

00:13:22.660 because these people are capable

00:13:25.480 and have done these mass executions

00:13:28.180 as a part of their operating style.

00:13:32.240 It's also important to recognize

00:13:34.640 that, to a great extent,

00:13:36.560 the regime uses the specter

00:13:38.700 of the return of the Shah's son, 0.91

00:13:41.100 the Shah being almost as deeply unpopular

00:13:43.360 as the Malas themselves,

00:13:44.860 because of his human rights abuses,

00:13:47.620 even though it was a more cosmopolitan society.

00:13:50.800 I agree with those, like Rudy Giuliani,

00:13:53.320 who say that the replacement for a theocracy,

00:13:56.720 this theocracy particularly,

00:13:57.820 should not be a new monarchy.

00:14:00.140 I'll get a lot of bots who will attack me about that

00:14:04.400 and talk about the House of Pahlavi.

00:14:07.920 Look, I think what Carter did to the Shah

00:14:10.360 was disgraceful.

00:14:11.180 Trump predicted this would be,

00:14:12.920 this time would come.

00:14:14.060 He predicted the rise of the Malas 1.00

00:14:16.320 because of our abandonment of the Shah, 0.98

00:14:18.280 and I agree with that.

00:14:19.140 But the Shah was no paragon of human rights. 0.94

00:14:22.180 The viciousness of his sabak, 1.00

00:14:26.760 the secret police, was famous.

00:14:29.700 So it's time for them to move

00:14:32.020 into the world of democracy

00:14:34.440 as soon as that is humanly possible.

00:14:36.680 But again, we don't know

00:14:38.160 how decimated the regime is.

00:14:39.880 They're still in control of many

00:14:41.120 of the institutions

00:14:42.920 and a lot of the land,

00:14:44.720 and they continue to fire their rockets

00:14:46.900 at their Arab neighbors around them, 0.72

00:14:50.360 the UAE, Saudi, and so on.

00:14:52.920 So it is, it is,

00:14:55.560 it's not over by a long shot.

00:14:58.180 That's why I'm very anxious

00:14:59.520 to get Senator Torricelli,

00:15:01.280 a former member of the Foreign Relations Committee,

00:15:03.180 on to lay this out for us.

00:15:04.940 We'll be doing that for you shortly.

00:15:06.860 I'm Roger Stone.

00:15:07.860 You're listening to The Stone Zone,

00:15:09.180 and well, we'll be right back.

00:15:11.800 Rural Americans deserve access

00:15:13.980 to the best of what our country has to offer,

00:15:16.060 especially health care.

00:15:17.920 Across every state, every community,

00:15:20.620 America's rural hospitals

00:15:22.160 are the first line of defense,

00:15:23.700 protecting our families,

00:15:25.180 neighbors, and loved ones.

00:15:26.660 No matter where you live,

00:15:28.080 hospital care doesn't clock out.

00:15:30.180 They're there 24 hours a day,

00:15:31.840 seven days a week,

00:15:32.720 365 days a year.

00:15:35.000 Each year, America's over 5,000 hospitals

00:15:37.400 care for millions of patients,

00:15:39.460 providing 24-7 emergency care,

00:15:41.880 delivering babies,

00:15:43.160 cancer treatments,

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00:15:45.420 that patients rely on.

00:15:46.920 Behind every one of those patients

00:15:48.500 are doctors, nurses,

00:15:50.100 and caregivers working tirelessly

00:15:51.720 to keep people healthy and safe.

00:15:54.360 Hospitals are our community's lifelines.

00:15:57.160 They employ our neighbors

00:15:58.200 and keep our families healthy.

00:16:00.720 But now, some in Congress

00:16:01.920 are threatening access to care.

00:16:03.840 Tell Congress,

00:16:04.840 protect patient care

00:16:06.340 to keep America strong.

00:16:08.280 Don't cut rural health care.

00:16:11.020 This is the Stone Zone

00:16:24.360 with Roger Stone.

00:16:26.100 Roger Stone,

00:16:27.000 who's a very, very,

00:16:27.960 one of the smartest political minds.

00:16:30.040 Roger Stone was persecuted.

00:16:31.260 People forget he's actually

00:16:32.260 a brilliant, brilliant political analyst.

00:16:34.320 Now, get in the zone. 0.94

00:16:36.160 It's the Stone Zone.

00:16:37.680 Here's Roger Stone.

00:16:41.700 You know, I flew back from Washington.

00:16:43.740 Friday, I went to bed early.

00:16:45.260 I got in late.

00:16:46.340 I went right to bed.

00:16:47.240 The next morning, I woke up.

00:16:48.280 My wife told us

00:16:49.060 that we were at war.

00:16:50.560 And the U.S. forces

00:16:53.080 have very quickly achieved

00:16:54.820 total local air superiority.

00:16:57.700 CENTCOM confirms

00:16:58.740 that Iran's naval presence

00:17:00.500 in the Gulf of Oman

00:17:01.760 has been reduced

00:17:02.500 to zero operational ships,

00:17:05.800 so much for their blocking 0.97

00:17:07.020 the state of Hormuz

00:17:08.360 as some predicted

00:17:09.480 they would try to do.

00:17:10.680 Defense Secretary Pete Heggs

00:17:12.400 has to trust the campaign

00:17:13.380 is not an endless war.

00:17:15.320 Again, underscoring strikes

00:17:16.660 are precise and focused

00:17:18.060 really on degrading Iran's 0.96

00:17:20.120 war-making capacity.

00:17:21.560 Vice President J.D. Vance

00:17:22.780 echoed those sentiments,

00:17:24.960 making it clear

00:17:25.480 the president has clearly defined

00:17:27.480 what he wants to accomplish

00:17:28.640 and he will accomplish

00:17:29.500 those goals quickly, efficiently,

00:17:31.620 and then get out.

00:17:33.000 See, this is,

00:17:34.020 it is not a violation

00:17:35.660 of the interventionist wing

00:17:37.640 of the party

00:17:39.940 that Trump very much

00:17:43.340 has part of his base.

00:17:46.040 Iran has retaliated

00:17:47.960 with missile and drone attacks

00:17:50.120 across the regions

00:17:51.220 targeting U.S. bases

00:17:53.000 and Gulf infrastructure.

00:17:54.280 Six American services

00:17:55.280 now updating that

00:17:57.100 have been killed in action

00:17:58.100 with additional troops wounded.

00:18:00.560 There was one friendly fire incident

00:18:02.940 over Kuwait

00:18:03.840 downing three U.S. F-15s,

00:18:06.960 although I guess

00:18:07.940 all of those aircraft,

00:18:09.480 I'm told, survived.

00:18:11.520 The administration maintains

00:18:12.760 that early action

00:18:13.740 prevented larger American casualties.

00:18:15.560 He's now arguing

00:18:16.460 that intelligence shows

00:18:18.400 that Iran planned 0.94

00:18:19.420 to strike U.S. forces

00:18:20.640 if Israel moved first.

00:18:23.360 Energy markets reacting sharply

00:18:25.360 after the Iranians' threats 0.99

00:18:26.720 to close the Strait of Hormuz,

00:18:29.000 which sent oil prices

00:18:30.660 initially higher.

00:18:31.700 President Trump has committed

00:18:33.400 significant resources

00:18:35.040 that assure us

00:18:36.960 that the Strait will be kept open

00:18:39.060 and will repel

00:18:40.580 any Iranian treachery,

00:18:41.980 while Treasury and energy officials

00:18:44.060 are preparing measures

00:18:44.960 to blunt the fuel impacts.

00:18:48.180 NATO will not join operations,

00:18:51.600 but Israel continues 0.98

00:18:53.840 to coordinate strikes

00:18:55.520 against Hezbollah

00:18:57.060 and the Iranian-linked assets.

00:18:59.200 The White House

00:18:59.840 projects confidence.

00:19:01.520 I saw it myself

00:19:02.240 in the president Saturday night.

00:19:03.740 He looked fit.

00:19:05.620 It was somber,

00:19:06.860 but he was in a talkative mood,

00:19:08.560 and frankly,

00:19:09.780 he never looked healthier

00:19:11.360 given the week

00:19:14.140 he had put in particularly.

00:19:16.320 So it is,

00:19:18.320 without any question,

00:19:21.880 has to be the toughest job

00:19:23.660 in the world.

00:19:25.420 I'm Roger Stone.

00:19:26.660 You're listening to Stone's Zone.

00:19:27.880 Whatever you do,

00:19:28.460 don't touch that dial

00:19:29.480 or leave us online.

00:19:30.740 We'll be right back.

00:19:31.960 This is the Stone Zone.

00:19:46.660 Now,

00:19:47.420 get in the zone.

00:19:48.560 It's the Stone Zone.

00:19:50.540 A man who's gone through hell,

00:19:52.480 but he's kept going

00:19:54.200 and he's smart

00:19:55.160 and he's strong

00:19:56.140 and people love him.

00:19:57.500 Not everybody,

00:19:58.320 but people love him

00:19:59.160 and respect him.

00:19:59.820 Roger Stone.

00:20:00.820 Where's Roger Stone?

00:20:02.160 Here's Roger Stone.

00:20:05.180 Joining me now

00:20:06.620 in the Stone Zone

00:20:07.840 is a former U.S. Senator

00:20:09.800 Robert Bob Torricelli

00:20:11.900 of New Jersey,

00:20:12.680 former member

00:20:13.180 of the Senate

00:20:14.420 Foreign Relations Committee

00:20:16.400 as well as

00:20:17.240 the Senate Finance Committee,

00:20:19.600 the Judiciary Committee,

00:20:21.720 the Rules Committee,

00:20:23.220 and the Government Affairs Committee.

00:20:26.440 He is of a brand

00:20:30.220 hard-line anti-communist

00:20:32.780 Democrat,

00:20:33.620 particularly in this hemisphere.

00:20:35.140 He wrote,

00:20:36.320 essentially,

00:20:37.340 the Cuban Embargo Act

00:20:39.000 as an outspoken critic

00:20:40.420 of the brutal regime.

00:20:42.500 He's also an expert

00:20:44.040 on Middle Eastern affairs

00:20:45.400 and has long relations

00:20:47.000 with many of the

00:20:48.900 pro-democratic voices

00:20:50.440 in that country.

00:20:51.520 and that's why

00:20:53.820 I was anxious

00:20:54.600 to get his views

00:20:55.580 on what has transpired.

00:20:57.680 So, Senator Torricelli,

00:20:58.780 welcome

00:20:59.060 to the Stone Zone.

00:21:00.600 Thank you, Roger.

00:21:01.220 Thanks for having me.

00:21:04.120 You have been

00:21:05.780 a longtime critic

00:21:06.860 of the regime.

00:21:07.900 You have said

00:21:08.820 early on

00:21:09.780 that you thought

00:21:10.240 they were teetering

00:21:10.940 and that they would

00:21:12.760 fall over.

00:21:13.460 How do you,

00:21:14.160 what is your action

00:21:15.040 to these presidents'

00:21:16.580 use of American strength?

00:21:17.940 Well, a conflict

00:21:21.480 with Iran

00:21:22.160 was inevitable

00:21:23.020 and people may disagree

00:21:24.400 with whether

00:21:25.580 it should have been now

00:21:26.540 or next month

00:21:27.580 or six months ago,

00:21:29.000 but the conduct

00:21:31.260 of the Iranian regime

00:21:32.520 simply begged

00:21:34.100 some response.

00:21:35.780 Remembering,

00:21:36.420 as President Trump

00:21:37.220 said just the other day,

00:21:39.480 this goes back

00:21:40.340 47 years

00:21:41.440 from the seizing

00:21:42.080 of our hostages

00:21:43.020 to the killing

00:21:44.480 of the 300 Marines

00:21:45.720 in Lebanon

00:21:46.220 to the attack

00:21:46.940 on the USS Cole,

00:21:48.880 Cobar Towers,

00:21:50.120 there's a list

00:21:50.680 as long as your arm.

00:21:52.300 What has stunned me

00:21:53.260 more than anything

00:21:53.920 is just how long

00:21:55.360 the United States

00:21:56.060 has been tolerant

00:21:56.920 of this aggressive behavior

00:21:58.880 and the loss

00:21:59.500 of American life.

00:22:01.180 I think, Roger,

00:22:02.340 we all grew up

00:22:03.040 in a time

00:22:03.520 where if you attacked

00:22:04.220 an American ship,

00:22:05.880 you were attacked.

00:22:08.020 If you shot down

00:22:08.780 an American plane,

00:22:10.240 you were attacked.

00:22:11.740 We have tolerated

00:22:12.880 a great deal

00:22:13.520 from the Iranian regime

00:22:14.300 for a long time

00:22:15.180 and it was time

00:22:16.180 to bring it to an end.

00:22:17.640 Well,

00:22:17.900 and the ongoing

00:22:19.800 mass brutality

00:22:20.940 of the regimes,

00:22:22.000 like they didn't even

00:22:22.740 hide it,

00:22:23.420 the oppression

00:22:23.920 of their people,

00:22:24.840 the mass executions

00:22:26.460 of those

00:22:27.720 in the MEK,

00:22:29.920 the dangerousness

00:22:32.360 of it,

00:22:33.280 and the collapse

00:22:34.080 of the economy.

00:22:35.540 I mean,

00:22:36.400 when people are hungry,

00:22:37.360 they get angry.

00:22:37.980 the courage

00:22:39.060 of the Iranian people

00:22:40.780 cannot be understated

00:22:41.860 given the brutality

00:22:42.900 of this regime

00:22:43.920 when it comes to dissent.

00:22:45.500 I think it's probably

00:22:46.340 going to take

00:22:47.000 a long time

00:22:48.320 before we fully

00:22:49.260 understand the scale

00:22:50.640 of what has happened

00:22:51.980 in Iran.

00:22:53.880 I have an unfortunate

00:22:54.900 belief about

00:22:55.720 the United States

00:22:56.900 that if the New York Times

00:22:58.120 doesn't have a reporter there,

00:22:59.740 it didn't happen.

00:23:01.440 That's just not the way,

00:23:02.840 that's not the reality

00:23:03.880 of the world.

00:23:05.460 Their events

00:23:06.100 have been unfolding

00:23:06.720 for decades

00:23:07.600 of a mass brutality

00:23:09.020 that we simply

00:23:10.640 don't know

00:23:11.020 the dimensions.

00:23:12.360 We do know

00:23:12.840 in the late 80s

00:23:13.820 perhaps 100,000

00:23:15.720 political dissidents

00:23:16.740 were murdered

00:23:17.740 by the regime,

00:23:18.940 many of them,

00:23:19.580 as you suggested,

00:23:20.300 members of the MEK,

00:23:21.680 the organized

00:23:22.900 democratic opposition.

00:23:25.060 In these last few weeks,

00:23:26.380 the number

00:23:26.720 could well be

00:23:27.380 10,000

00:23:28.180 of protesters

00:23:29.420 were killed

00:23:29.940 on the streets.

00:23:31.160 This is the fourth wave

00:23:32.460 of protests

00:23:33.000 in the last 15 years.

00:23:35.120 The scale

00:23:35.840 of the repression

00:23:37.740 has been enormous.

00:23:39.180 And imagine life

00:23:40.260 in a country

00:23:41.700 where your currency

00:23:42.600 may have been devalued

00:23:44.180 by 70 or 80%,

00:23:45.760 where prices

00:23:46.820 may have gone up

00:23:47.660 80 or 90%,

00:23:49.180 where you can't afford

00:23:50.560 basic necessities,

00:23:52.280 where two generations

00:23:53.460 have lacked

00:23:54.020 any kind

00:23:54.740 of basic freedom.

00:23:56.280 The oppression

00:23:56.860 of the Iranian people

00:23:58.220 is actually unique

00:24:01.200 in our time.

00:24:02.980 It is a blessing

00:24:04.620 if it's going

00:24:05.180 to come to an end.

00:24:07.400 So,

00:24:08.020 but the question,

00:24:08.740 of course,

00:24:08.940 is having decapitated

00:24:10.500 the Supreme Leader

00:24:11.760 and 40 of his henchmen,

00:24:13.840 although it doesn't

00:24:14.380 really tell us

00:24:14.900 who they are,

00:24:17.160 how crippled,

00:24:18.940 how wounded,

00:24:19.520 how crippled,

00:24:20.320 or how decimated

00:24:21.020 is the regime?

00:24:21.780 They continue

00:24:22.380 to shoot drones

00:24:25.140 and rockets

00:24:26.560 outside,

00:24:28.460 you know,

00:24:28.760 at their Arab neighbors. 0.88

00:24:29.920 they boasted

00:24:32.320 about having

00:24:33.300 enriched nuclear material.

00:24:35.920 Where is that material?

00:24:37.160 I'd certainly

00:24:37.860 like to know that.

00:24:39.960 Steve Whitcoff

00:24:40.840 reported that today.

00:24:42.940 I mean,

00:24:43.460 I understand

00:24:45.320 that they're celebrating

00:24:46.280 in the streets

00:24:47.040 over the Supreme Leader's

00:24:49.980 incarceration.

00:24:50.960 He's one of the evil figures

00:24:52.860 of all time,

00:24:54.400 but how hurt

00:24:57.060 is the regime

00:24:57.820 in your view?

00:24:59.920 I think, Roger,

00:25:00.840 it's important

00:25:01.760 that to not

00:25:03.640 fool ourselves

00:25:05.140 into believing

00:25:05.880 that this regime

00:25:07.520 will fall like

00:25:08.380 Qaddafi in Libya

00:25:10.080 or be militarily destroyed

00:25:12.420 like ISIS 0.93

00:25:13.620 or Hamas.

00:25:15.280 This is a real country.

00:25:17.540 92 million people

00:25:19.660 with massive

00:25:21.600 natural resources

00:25:22.980 of oil

00:25:24.060 and strong institutions

00:25:26.360 and a very educated

00:25:28.060 elite in the country.

00:25:30.020 It will not be

00:25:31.000 easily toppled.

00:25:32.900 The plainclothes police,

00:25:36.720 the Bahti,

00:25:37.220 who support

00:25:37.880 the IRGC,

00:25:39.320 may have a million members.

00:25:41.720 So,

00:25:42.160 decapitating regime

00:25:43.720 is the right thing to do.

00:25:45.300 Now,

00:25:45.600 apparently,

00:25:46.020 we have struck

00:25:46.480 the next level.

00:25:47.640 That's the right thing

00:25:48.540 to do.

00:25:49.100 But we can't fool

00:25:50.040 ourselves into thinking

00:25:51.140 the regime

00:25:51.960 will then easily

00:25:52.680 collapse.

00:25:53.300 It has a real reservoir

00:25:56.980 of people.

00:25:58.760 Nevertheless,

00:25:59.680 it's the imponderable

00:26:00.880 of human history.

00:26:02.180 How much punishment

00:26:03.680 can a population take?

00:26:05.480 We talked about

00:26:06.220 the loss of freedom,

00:26:07.220 the economic deprivation,

00:26:08.940 now the loss

00:26:09.780 of life

00:26:10.700 in the streets

00:26:11.380 at the regime's own hands.

00:26:13.680 At what point

00:26:14.800 do people

00:26:15.800 have nothing to lose

00:26:17.300 and simply

00:26:18.280 take the regime?

00:26:19.620 And I think

00:26:20.760 that's obviously

00:26:21.620 what President Trump

00:26:22.360 is trying to tempt,

00:26:23.500 saying to them,

00:26:24.460 all right,

00:26:24.820 we took out

00:26:25.280 your leadership,

00:26:26.380 we've isolated them,

00:26:28.060 now it's up to you.

00:26:29.640 And that's just a fact.

00:26:30.840 It's now up to them.

00:26:32.640 Do they rise?

00:26:34.320 There's no one alive

00:26:35.520 who can answer

00:26:35.980 that question.

00:26:38.640 Yeah,

00:26:39.240 it is continuing.

00:26:41.120 You have

00:26:41.620 Pete Hegseth

00:26:42.500 seeing,

00:26:43.040 you know,

00:26:43.460 a four or five week

00:26:44.640 cleanup period.

00:26:46.540 I don't really know

00:26:47.420 what that means.

00:26:48.300 I'm not sure,

00:26:50.120 only because

00:26:50.760 they continue,

00:26:51.720 of course,

00:26:52.100 to launch

00:26:52.740 these attacks,

00:26:55.000 at least now

00:26:56.200 the death toll

00:26:57.320 of six.

00:26:57.840 This is a different

00:26:58.680 type of foreign policy,

00:26:59.840 though.

00:26:59.980 This is not

00:27:00.620 endless foreign war,

00:27:02.820 boots on the ground,

00:27:03.840 mass casualties,

00:27:04.980 giant increases

00:27:05.860 in very lucrative

00:27:06.980 defense contracts

00:27:08.420 for connected

00:27:09.700 special interests.

00:27:12.100 It's a different,

00:27:13.200 but it is

00:27:13.800 the very focused

00:27:14.680 and limited use

00:27:15.680 of American power,

00:27:17.300 which is what I think

00:27:17.920 Trump's.

00:27:18.620 His decisiveness

00:27:19.540 is impressive.

00:27:22.980 Yeah,

00:27:23.200 and I think

00:27:24.000 it's important

00:27:24.500 that the administration

00:27:25.140 have the discipline

00:27:25.860 to keep it that way.

00:27:27.440 It is,

00:27:28.280 for those of us

00:27:29.020 who are older,

00:27:29.880 the Vietnam

00:27:31.040 mission creep,

00:27:32.840 for those

00:27:33.540 of more recent times,

00:27:34.760 what happened

00:27:35.320 in Iraq,

00:27:36.960 which unfortunately

00:27:37.540 I was witness to

00:27:38.400 in the Senate,

00:27:40.300 this is a different

00:27:41.200 foreign policy.

00:27:41.980 it is decapitation,

00:27:43.940 it is isolation,

00:27:45.560 it is the narrow

00:27:46.440 protection of

00:27:47.320 American interests.

00:27:48.840 But many Americans

00:27:49.980 tend to paint

00:27:51.300 all those

00:27:51.780 with the same brush.

00:27:53.480 They are not.

00:27:55.160 There was not a reason

00:27:56.760 to invade Iraq,

00:27:58.600 spend a trillion dollars

00:28:00.080 and thousands

00:28:00.760 of American lives.

00:28:02.660 here it can

00:28:04.040 be said

00:28:05.820 that the

00:28:07.240 killing of

00:28:07.840 American personnel,

00:28:09.620 the economic

00:28:10.520 dislocations

00:28:11.360 of Iran,

00:28:12.940 the threat

00:28:13.520 of nuclear weapons

00:28:14.420 was real enough

00:28:15.520 to decapitate

00:28:16.780 the regime.

00:28:17.800 But even here,

00:28:19.140 our enthusiasm

00:28:20.000 for change

00:28:21.280 and for

00:28:21.900 dealing with

00:28:22.920 these despotic

00:28:23.580 people

00:28:24.040 cannot lead us

00:28:25.420 into creeping

00:28:26.500 the mission forward

00:28:27.480 to invading

00:28:28.760 Iran,

00:28:29.960 trying to occupy

00:28:31.300 a country

00:28:31.780 of 90 million people.

00:28:33.680 If the mission

00:28:34.340 ended today

00:28:35.260 and unfortunately

00:28:36.920 we didn't change

00:28:37.980 the regime,

00:28:39.180 we didn't remove

00:28:40.380 the remaining

00:28:41.480 clerics

00:28:42.120 and we did not

00:28:42.780 remove the IRGC

00:28:44.160 and we did not

00:28:45.240 get a democratic

00:28:45.760 government,

00:28:46.440 that would all

00:28:47.220 be a shame.

00:28:48.360 I'd be disappointed.

00:28:49.520 But that doesn't

00:28:50.780 mean what we've

00:28:51.540 done to date

00:28:52.100 was not worth doing.

00:28:54.120 Their nuclear

00:28:54.720 program now

00:28:55.460 must be set back

00:28:56.480 years.

00:28:57.480 Their ballistic

00:28:58.440 missile production

00:28:59.340 capability has

00:29:00.840 at least for the

00:29:01.480 moment been

00:29:02.240 destroyed.

00:29:03.840 We have

00:29:04.760 certainly kept

00:29:06.040 them off balance

00:29:07.020 in their political

00:29:07.740 leadership.

00:29:08.920 So we have

00:29:10.320 lost six lives.

00:29:11.880 It has obviously

00:29:13.020 cost us a considerable

00:29:14.060 amount of resources.

00:29:15.580 But at the moment,

00:29:16.780 we have to conclude

00:29:17.980 it was the right

00:29:19.100 thing to do.

00:29:20.500 What do you say

00:29:21.480 to those,

00:29:22.000 I'm not one of them,

00:29:22.960 by the way,

00:29:23.280 what do you say

00:29:24.340 to those who say

00:29:25.160 that really this

00:29:26.200 action

00:29:26.720 in Iran

00:29:28.140 is at the

00:29:28.660 behest of Israel

00:29:29.600 because of

00:29:30.440 disproportionate

00:29:31.860 influence on

00:29:32.660 U.S.

00:29:33.100 foreign policy

00:29:33.800 by Israel?

00:29:34.780 How do you

00:29:35.320 answer that?

00:29:36.940 I think

00:29:37.480 even with

00:29:39.260 the closest

00:29:39.800 of allies,

00:29:40.960 interests are

00:29:42.040 not always

00:29:42.660 the same.

00:29:44.580 We are

00:29:45.320 close to

00:29:46.140 the British

00:29:46.640 for a long

00:29:47.820 time.

00:29:48.680 We didn't

00:29:49.420 go to war 0.60

00:29:49.960 at the same

00:29:50.480 time in World

00:29:51.200 War I

00:29:51.840 one or two.

00:29:54.000 They did

00:29:54.720 go to Korea.

00:29:55.500 They did

00:29:55.740 not go to

00:29:56.300 Vietnam.

00:29:57.380 We

00:29:57.640 separated

00:29:58.200 on Suez.

00:29:59.360 The closest

00:30:00.000 of nations

00:30:00.700 can see

00:30:01.320 their interests

00:30:02.620 differently.

00:30:04.060 I think

00:30:04.520 with Israel

00:30:05.100 at the moment,

00:30:06.280 there was

00:30:07.000 a synergy.

00:30:08.940 They were

00:30:09.740 immediately

00:30:10.240 threatened

00:30:10.880 with nuclear

00:30:12.320 weapons,

00:30:12.800 their existence.

00:30:14.040 We were

00:30:14.480 not threatened

00:30:15.040 as severely,

00:30:15.940 but we have

00:30:16.360 paid a very

00:30:16.960 high price

00:30:17.720 for Iranian

00:30:18.720 aggression.

00:30:19.860 So at the

00:30:20.360 moment,

00:30:20.780 our interests

00:30:21.420 were the

00:30:21.980 same.

00:30:22.840 They may

00:30:23.220 not remain

00:30:23.740 that way,

00:30:25.140 and Israel

00:30:25.920 undoubtedly

00:30:26.440 has a

00:30:26.800 stronger

00:30:27.140 interest

00:30:27.640 in pursuing

00:30:28.700 this further

00:30:29.540 to the

00:30:30.460 complete removal

00:30:31.420 of the

00:30:31.860 regime

00:30:32.280 and changing

00:30:33.780 the society.

00:30:35.060 We would

00:30:35.480 like that

00:30:36.080 too,

00:30:36.840 but we're

00:30:37.740 not willing

00:30:38.160 to pay

00:30:38.480 the same

00:30:38.920 price.

00:30:39.840 I think

00:30:40.300 it's enough

00:30:40.880 that at the

00:30:41.340 moment,

00:30:42.060 Israel and

00:30:42.440 the United

00:30:42.640 States

00:30:42.900 saw it

00:30:43.340 the same

00:30:43.680 way,

00:30:44.980 acted

00:30:45.340 in concert,

00:30:46.600 and seized

00:30:47.280 the moment.

00:30:48.820 That's

00:30:49.260 enough.

00:30:50.200 And for

00:30:51.240 two allies,

00:30:52.640 it gave us

00:30:56.700 a moment

00:30:57.260 that was

00:30:58.200 special,

00:30:59.880 and I

00:31:00.220 think we

00:31:00.520 maximized

00:31:01.160 the opportunity.

00:31:02.680 What is

00:31:03.800 amazing to me

00:31:04.600 is that

00:31:04.860 Trump really

00:31:05.380 seems to

00:31:05.780 have a

00:31:06.080 very coordinated

00:31:07.220 foreign policy

00:31:08.260 in which he

00:31:08.780 uses America's

00:31:10.640 military strength,

00:31:11.500 but he also

00:31:12.020 uses the

00:31:12.580 country's

00:31:13.060 economic

00:31:13.600 might and

00:31:14.280 leverage

00:31:14.820 to get

00:31:16.880 what he

00:31:17.040 wants,

00:31:17.320 not just

00:31:18.100 through

00:31:19.240 tariffs,

00:31:20.820 but I

00:31:22.540 think that

00:31:23.060 has been

00:31:23.520 particularly

00:31:24.260 effective as

00:31:26.000 well.

00:31:27.280 I think

00:31:27.540 it has.

00:31:28.180 You know,

00:31:28.440 I watched

00:31:29.080 him this

00:31:29.400 afternoon,

00:31:29.860 his frustration,

00:31:30.660 for example,

00:31:31.740 with Spain.

00:31:33.120 Spain is a 0.97

00:31:33.760 member of

00:31:34.160 NATO.

00:31:34.800 It has

00:31:35.120 benefited from

00:31:35.840 its economic

00:31:36.620 and political

00:31:37.400 and military

00:31:37.800 relationship

00:31:38.200 with the

00:31:38.380 United States,

00:31:39.500 and now

00:31:40.260 is quick

00:31:40.780 to condemn

00:31:41.420 our actions.

00:31:43.140 Norway did

00:31:44.120 the same.

00:31:45.460 The British

00:31:46.420 hesitating at

00:31:47.320 first to

00:31:47.840 allow American

00:31:48.780 military to

00:31:50.160 use bases

00:31:51.020 and not

00:31:51.900 cooperating on

00:31:52.600 Diego Garcia.

00:31:54.100 Were I the

00:31:54.860 president,

00:31:55.720 having used

00:31:56.560 military power,

00:31:58.000 I would take

00:31:58.660 that in

00:31:59.080 consideration

00:31:59.720 with future

00:32:00.560 economic and

00:32:02.180 trade relations.

00:32:03.560 We have a

00:32:04.240 right to expect

00:32:04.980 better of our

00:32:05.940 allies.

00:32:08.400 And I know

00:32:10.760 he will keep it

00:32:11.340 in mind,

00:32:12.240 and he should.

00:32:14.720 I'm thinking

00:32:15.620 specifically

00:32:16.500 that Trump's

00:32:18.260 very deft

00:32:19.660 and incredible

00:32:20.880 actions in

00:32:22.080 Venezuela,

00:32:22.740 including the

00:32:23.220 precision military

00:32:24.880 operation,

00:32:25.640 as you yourself

00:32:26.280 have said,

00:32:26.920 flawless,

00:32:28.300 but essentially

00:32:29.480 getting control

00:32:30.240 of the

00:32:30.400 Venezuelan

00:32:30.960 and being

00:32:31.560 able for it

00:32:32.120 to deny it

00:32:32.880 to the

00:32:33.300 Chinese,

00:32:34.660 who were

00:32:35.000 getting about

00:32:35.520 80% of it,

00:32:36.400 as well as

00:32:37.020 the brutal

00:32:37.480 Cuban regime,

00:32:38.600 who were

00:32:39.700 getting about

00:32:40.680 20% of the

00:32:41.660 rest of it.

00:32:42.300 And no,

00:32:42.680 he understands

00:32:43.420 the soft

00:32:44.000 points economically,

00:32:45.260 without a doubt,

00:32:46.360 and knows where

00:32:47.460 to apply pressure.

00:32:48.800 And history

00:32:50.460 will go down

00:32:51.140 that the

00:32:51.500 Venezuelan

00:32:52.240 movement

00:32:52.660 action was

00:32:55.160 of historic

00:32:56.100 proportions.

00:32:57.240 It's not just

00:32:58.100 a matter of

00:32:58.640 Trump,

00:32:59.040 it's the

00:32:59.500 incredible

00:33:00.660 skill of the

00:33:01.480 United States

00:33:01.920 military in

00:33:02.840 executing

00:33:03.360 that move.

00:33:05.920 And listen,

00:33:06.460 I understand

00:33:07.180 people who

00:33:08.240 will argue

00:33:08.660 that international

00:33:09.820 law and

00:33:10.560 whether it

00:33:11.040 was properly

00:33:11.840 consulted,

00:33:13.080 international

00:33:13.480 bodies were

00:33:14.060 probably done.

00:33:14.840 The fact of

00:33:15.360 the matter

00:33:15.580 is the

00:33:16.480 United States

00:33:17.000 had tolerated

00:33:17.960 the Maduro

00:33:19.320 and then

00:33:19.920 Chavez

00:33:20.240 regime before

00:33:21.360 it,

00:33:22.040 contradicting

00:33:22.460 American

00:33:22.940 policy,

00:33:25.000 the

00:33:25.340 transportion

00:33:26.060 of drugs

00:33:27.300 and terrorism,

00:33:28.620 and then

00:33:29.020 exporting

00:33:29.940 citizens

00:33:32.300 to the

00:33:32.600 United States

00:33:33.160 more than

00:33:34.380 we ever

00:33:34.800 should have

00:33:35.120 tolerated it.

00:33:35.860 It was

00:33:36.240 time to

00:33:36.760 bring it

00:33:37.120 to an end.

00:33:37.640 But you

00:33:38.460 were right.

00:33:39.040 The public

00:33:39.880 focused on

00:33:40.480 the military

00:33:40.920 aspects to

00:33:41.580 it,

00:33:41.900 but the

00:33:42.460 economic

00:33:43.020 were just

00:33:43.700 as important

00:33:44.360 and now

00:33:45.260 continuing.

00:33:47.380 When we

00:33:48.160 come back,

00:33:48.740 I want to

00:33:49.100 ask Senator

00:33:50.020 Bob

00:33:50.340 Troselli,

00:33:51.180 who is

00:33:51.460 an expert

00:33:52.660 on Latin

00:33:53.480 American

00:33:53.880 affairs,

00:33:54.520 particularly

00:33:54.860 on Cuba,

00:33:56.380 essentially

00:33:56.960 the father

00:33:57.620 of the

00:33:58.160 Cuban

00:33:58.660 embargo

00:33:59.140 legislatively,

00:34:00.680 outspoken

00:34:01.400 critic of

00:34:02.380 that brutal

00:34:02.840 regime.

00:34:03.300 how sees

00:34:04.060 the impact

00:34:05.260 of Venezuela's

00:34:06.180 fall on

00:34:07.340 Cuba and

00:34:08.160 what may

00:34:09.120 be next

00:34:09.640 for Cuba,

00:34:11.320 just a mere

00:34:11.900 90 miles

00:34:13.320 from their

00:34:14.720 shores.

00:34:16.140 We are,

00:34:17.260 you're listening

00:34:18.180 to The Stone

00:34:18.660 Zone,

00:34:19.020 I'm here

00:34:19.440 with former

00:34:20.400 New Jersey

00:34:21.080 senator,

00:34:21.740 a member

00:34:22.020 of the

00:34:22.300 Senate

00:34:22.560 Foreign

00:34:23.180 Relations

00:34:23.820 Committee,

00:34:25.060 and a

00:34:25.720 Latin

00:34:25.940 American

00:34:26.440 expert,

00:34:27.000 anti-communist

00:34:27.860 Democrat,

00:34:28.940 Bob

00:34:29.560 Troselli,

00:34:30.420 and we'll

00:34:31.040 be right

00:34:31.760 back.

00:34:33.300 This is

00:34:45.460 The Stone

00:34:46.140 Zone.

00:34:47.000 Now,

00:34:47.780 get in the

00:34:48.280 zone.

00:34:48.940 It's The Stone

00:34:49.980 Zone.

00:34:50.900 A man who's 0.89

00:34:51.580 gone through

00:34:52.160 hell,

00:34:52.920 but he's

00:34:53.860 kept going,

00:34:54.860 and he's

00:34:55.240 smart,

00:34:55.820 and he's

00:34:56.120 strong,

00:34:56.780 and people

00:34:57.200 love him.

00:34:58.020 Not everybody,

00:34:58.860 but people

00:34:59.280 love him and

00:34:59.820 respect him.

00:35:00.460 Roger Stone.

00:35:01.520 Where's Roger Stone?

00:35:02.560 Here's

00:35:03.280 Roger Stone.

00:35:05.400 Very few in

00:35:06.860 the history of

00:35:07.740 the U.S.

00:35:08.640 Congress have

00:35:09.240 been a more

00:35:09.800 effective opponent

00:35:11.440 of the brutal

00:35:12.360 communist regime

00:35:14.260 in Cuba than

00:35:15.320 Senator Bob

00:35:16.720 Troselli,

00:35:18.280 essentially,

00:35:19.100 as I say,

00:35:20.040 the author of

00:35:21.900 the Cuban

00:35:22.760 embargo,

00:35:23.740 which helped

00:35:25.040 weaken them.

00:35:26.520 Of course,

00:35:26.900 once their

00:35:27.540 Russian subsidies

00:35:29.060 fell away,

00:35:30.320 they started

00:35:31.880 being essentially

00:35:34.100 paid by the

00:35:35.780 Chinese,

00:35:36.380 and therefore,

00:35:36.800 I think,

00:35:37.360 still pose a

00:35:38.540 greater danger

00:35:39.580 to us.

00:35:40.400 But the fall

00:35:41.780 of Venezuela

00:35:42.560 cuts off their

00:35:43.440 oil,

00:35:43.760 puts them in a

00:35:44.320 very deleterious

00:35:46.180 position.

00:35:46.680 So,

00:35:47.100 Senator,

00:35:47.300 where do you

00:35:47.700 think the

00:35:47.980 situation is

00:35:48.800 today in

00:35:49.280 Cuba?

00:35:50.080 Where do you

00:35:50.420 think America

00:35:51.040 is going or

00:35:52.340 should go?

00:35:53.960 Roger,

00:35:54.900 if you were to

00:35:55.200 go back 25,

00:35:57.540 30 years ago,

00:35:58.360 when we

00:35:58.780 modernized the

00:36:00.100 American embargo

00:36:01.020 on Cuba,

00:36:02.580 we believed

00:36:03.240 Castro would not

00:36:04.140 last more than a

00:36:05.080 few years.

00:36:05.740 He had lost

00:36:06.300 Soviet military

00:36:08.480 and economic

00:36:09.200 aid and was

00:36:10.020 isolated in the

00:36:10.920 world.

00:36:11.200 under his

00:36:12.940 communist regime,

00:36:13.860 the economy is

00:36:14.540 basically non-functioning.

00:36:17.040 At one point,

00:36:18.200 the average

00:36:19.160 income of a

00:36:20.060 Cuban was

00:36:20.500 $400 a year.

00:36:23.120 It didn't

00:36:23.640 happen,

00:36:24.080 and it didn't

00:36:24.480 happen for a

00:36:25.140 simple reason.

00:36:25.760 Hugo Chavez

00:36:26.380 and then

00:36:26.880 Maduro gave

00:36:29.000 oil to Cuba.

00:36:30.420 Of course,

00:36:30.820 they didn't use

00:36:31.300 all that oil to

00:36:32.320 help their

00:36:33.340 economy or their

00:36:34.200 people.

00:36:34.580 They resold

00:36:35.180 much of it on

00:36:35.900 the world market

00:36:36.640 for cash.

00:36:37.860 It kept them

00:36:38.640 afloat these

00:36:39.320 25 years.

00:36:40.420 It's now

00:36:40.940 gone.

00:36:42.480 No more

00:36:42.840 Venezuela.

00:36:43.040 And they

00:36:43.600 were getting

00:36:44.040 it extraordinarily

00:36:44.800 cheaply.

00:36:46.640 They were

00:36:48.060 getting it

00:36:48.520 cheaply or

00:36:49.380 for nothing.

00:36:50.840 There is,

00:36:51.740 I'm told,

00:36:52.780 a Russian

00:36:53.220 tanker en route

00:36:54.380 to Cuba

00:36:54.840 with 200,000

00:36:56.480 barrels on

00:36:57.500 board.

00:36:58.480 Whether the

00:36:58.920 Russians follow 1.00

00:36:59.780 that with

00:37:00.240 another one or

00:37:01.040 not, I

00:37:01.620 don't know.

00:37:03.380 Russia's got 0.98

00:37:03.920 its own issues

00:37:04.580 to be donating

00:37:05.360 oil to Cuba,

00:37:07.320 its own

00:37:07.540 economic issues.

00:37:08.960 But I think

00:37:09.620 it is fair to

00:37:10.280 say,

00:37:10.940 at long

00:37:11.960 last,

00:37:13.240 the Cuban

00:37:13.700 regime may

00:37:14.840 have run

00:37:15.200 out of

00:37:15.540 options.

00:37:16.160 Now,

00:37:16.720 this isn't

00:37:17.320 vengeance for

00:37:17.980 vengeance sake.

00:37:19.040 This isn't,

00:37:20.000 for my generation,

00:37:21.020 remembering the

00:37:21.580 Cuban Missile

00:37:22.060 Crisis or the

00:37:22.980 Cuban Revolution

00:37:23.920 and finally

00:37:24.500 wanting to win

00:37:25.320 some outsized

00:37:26.940 game.

00:37:27.980 This is a

00:37:28.760 regime that,

00:37:29.580 I will remind

00:37:30.100 you,

00:37:30.760 has allowed

00:37:31.160 drugs to be

00:37:31.860 transported through

00:37:32.580 to the United

00:37:32.980 States,

00:37:33.980 sent hundreds

00:37:35.000 of thousands

00:37:35.600 of desperate

00:37:36.240 refugees into

00:37:37.180 the Florida

00:37:37.680 Straits to

00:37:38.860 our shores,

00:37:39.860 and fomented

00:37:40.760 revolution from

00:37:41.920 Salvador to 1.00

00:37:43.440 Nicaragua to

00:37:44.620 Peru and

00:37:45.160 Ecuador through

00:37:46.740 the last 40

00:37:48.040 years.

00:37:49.240 Thousands have

00:37:49.920 died at the

00:37:50.580 hands of Cuban

00:37:51.880 arms and

00:37:52.520 advisors,

00:37:54.160 destabilizing the

00:37:55.800 Western Hemisphere.

00:37:57.200 There is a reason

00:37:58.340 to celebrate the

00:37:59.340 decline and

00:38:00.640 collapse of this

00:38:01.400 regime.

00:38:01.780 I think it's

00:38:02.860 imminent.

00:38:03.760 I would be

00:38:04.180 surprised if it

00:38:05.060 lasts more than

00:38:05.860 another year or

00:38:06.620 two, and it's

00:38:08.780 only good news

00:38:09.660 for the United

00:38:10.060 States, and

00:38:10.940 more importantly,

00:38:11.860 frankly, for the

00:38:12.600 Cuban people who

00:38:13.760 have suffered under

00:38:14.680 this communist

00:38:15.860 yoke for so

00:38:17.520 many decades.

00:38:19.140 Generations of

00:38:19.980 Cubans lost any

00:38:21.020 chance at a

00:38:22.240 productive and

00:38:23.100 happy life.

00:38:24.860 They've lived in 0.94

00:38:25.400 economic desperation

00:38:26.640 under the boot

00:38:28.020 of the Castro

00:38:29.880 regime.

00:38:30.520 it is a

00:38:32.440 blessing if

00:38:33.440 they can finally

00:38:34.140 find some

00:38:34.840 happiness and

00:38:35.500 prosperity.

00:38:37.260 Well, you

00:38:38.280 would deserve

00:38:38.780 much of the

00:38:40.000 credit to

00:38:41.120 foreseeing that

00:38:42.260 the regime

00:38:44.800 would founder

00:38:45.420 once they

00:38:45.940 lost the

00:38:46.520 subsidies from

00:38:47.660 the Russians.

00:38:48.480 They are still

00:38:49.000 in danger because

00:38:49.880 of the very

00:38:50.600 sophisticated

00:38:51.140 spying apparatus

00:38:54.300 that exists,

00:38:55.320 I think,

00:38:56.040 funded by the

00:38:56.720 Chinese.

00:38:57.220 We don't know

00:38:57.620 what the

00:38:57.880 Chinese... 0.67

00:38:58.420 Actually,

00:38:59.160 remarkably,

00:38:59.820 they have one

00:39:00.280 of the best

00:39:00.680 intelligence

00:39:01.220 operations in

00:39:02.000 the world.

00:39:02.700 It's one of

00:39:03.180 the remarkable

00:39:03.840 things about

00:39:04.660 the U.S.

00:39:05.100 Special Forces

00:39:05.860 killing the

00:39:07.500 23 Cuban

00:39:08.520 guards who

00:39:09.160 were guarding

00:39:10.000 Maduro.

00:39:11.260 The Cubans 0.89

00:39:12.320 have well-trained

00:39:14.280 security forces.

00:39:16.100 It's notable

00:39:16.600 at the end of

00:39:17.180 the Cold War

00:39:17.940 when the

00:39:19.040 Russian files

00:39:19.960 were opened

00:39:20.540 up on

00:39:21.180 surveillance,

00:39:22.720 the United

00:39:23.680 States believed

00:39:24.400 we had 23

00:39:25.280 spies operating

00:39:26.580 inside the

00:39:27.100 Cuban government.

00:39:27.700 every one

00:39:28.780 of them

00:39:28.960 was a

00:39:29.240 double

00:39:29.480 agent.

00:39:30.300 Every

00:39:30.620 single one.

00:39:32.360 They may

00:39:33.040 be evil,

00:39:34.280 they may

00:39:34.880 be barbaric

00:39:36.120 in the

00:39:36.320 treatment of

00:39:36.700 their people,

00:39:37.360 but they

00:39:38.160 have been

00:39:38.560 effective.

00:39:39.020 There is

00:39:43.140 no question.

00:39:43.760 I don't

00:39:43.960 know what

00:39:44.120 to make

00:39:44.380 of these

00:39:44.600 stories about

00:39:45.260 the fact

00:39:46.080 that Marco

00:39:46.500 Rubio may

00:39:47.320 be in

00:39:47.680 back-channel

00:39:48.300 conversations

00:39:49.040 with Raul

00:39:49.700 Castro's

00:39:50.400 grandson.

00:39:51.080 I don't

00:39:51.260 know if

00:39:51.520 that's

00:39:52.240 disinformation

00:39:53.000 or government

00:39:54.220 purposely

00:39:55.580 putting that

00:39:56.640 out there.

00:39:57.320 I don't

00:39:57.460 know.

00:39:58.160 I haven't

00:39:58.760 seen those

00:39:59.180 reports

00:39:59.740 confirm.

00:40:02.480 The president

00:40:02.780 says they

00:40:03.220 may just

00:40:03.660 surrender.

00:40:04.120 I'd love

00:40:05.280 to see

00:40:05.600 that,

00:40:05.900 but I

00:40:06.120 don't

00:40:06.300 think

00:40:06.660 this

00:40:06.920 brutal

00:40:07.200 regime

00:40:07.480 will

00:40:07.640 do

00:40:07.780 that

00:40:08.000 quite

00:40:08.280 yet.

00:40:08.780 Thanks for

00:40:11.740 joining us

00:40:12.260 today in

00:40:12.880 the Stone

00:40:13.320 Zone.

00:40:13.560 Until

00:40:14.020 tomorrow,

00:40:15.180 God

00:40:15.420 bless you.

00:40:15.840 At

00:40:16.700 Manhattan

00:40:17.060 University,

00:40:17.940 a graduate

00:40:18.460 degree is

00:40:19.180 not out

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00:40:20.300 You'll

00:40:20.420 gain real

00:40:20.920 world skills,

00:40:21.960 credentials,

00:40:22.560 employers'

00:40:23.080 value,

00:40:23.540 and connections

00:40:24.120 to New York

00:40:24.760 City's top

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00:40:26.220 Choose from

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00:40:27.080 Master of

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00:40:34.880 built around

00:40:35.520 hands-on learning

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00:40:38.260 Graduate ready

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00:40:40.740 Take the next

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00:40:45.840 lead the

00:40:46.620 future.

The Stone Zone ｜ 03-03-26

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