Steve Bannon's podcast blames Greta Thunberg, Sen. Chris Murphy, and the West for Putin's invasion of Ukraine
Published
Citation From the February 22, 2022, edition of War Room: Pandemic
STEPHEN K. BANNON (HOST): Let's tee up Poso. Let's play the — can we play the Ukraine, our Ukraine setup?
(CLIP BEGINS)
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Are you having a hard time following what's going on in Ukraine? Then this video is for you. If you watch the news these days, it can feel like Vladimir Putin is holding all the cards, holding Ukraine and the West hostage. That couldn't be further from the truth. Putin is actually operating from a position of severe weakness, with a potentially disastrous invasion as his last resort. Let me tell you why.
First, let's do some quick background. Ukraine used to be a Soviet republic, and for most of its post-Soviet independence, its leaders operated in close association with Russia. But then in 2013, something happened. The Ukrainian people realized that a political and economic dependence on Russia was a road to nowhere. So they rose up and they demanded closer ties with the European Union. Putin and his cronies in Ukraine, they panicked and they gunned down the protesters. Now that back backfired big time. Putin's allies were run out of the country and the nation elected ardent pro-Europe and pro-U.S. leadership. In response, Putin invaded Crimea and he invaded eastern Ukraine. But frankly, that just hardened the Ukrainian people's ant- Russia sentiments. Still, Putin's desire to control Ukraine — it didn't go away. So now, he's moved 150,000 troops to Ukraine's border, and he's threatened a full-on invasion. Putin hoped that this threatened invasion, all of these troops on Ukraine's border, would upend Ukraine's government, collapse it; or maybe create tensions and fissures within NATO, weakening the alliance; or result in the West folding and agreeing to his demands.
But none of that happened. In fact, the opposite happened. The Zelensky government didn't fall. The United States and the West rallied to support Ukraine's government. NATO and Europe came together, rallied to support Ukraine's sovereignty. And Putin's list of demands went nowhere. The west did not give in. Now, faced with this reality, Putin has only two ways out. Back down or proceed with an expensive, costly, and potentially disastrous invasion of the largest country in Europe. It's hard to fathom what the biggest land war in Europe since 1945 will look like, but it will likely be long and deadly. The Ukrainian people are not going to submit — they are going to fight back. And the sanctions from the United States and the rest of the world, they're going to be devastating, nothing like the relatively mild sanctions Russia has endured so far. The combination of the cost of the war and the cost of the sanctions, they're going to threaten Putin's hold on power. And all for what? To force Ukraine back into Russia's orbit against Ukraine wishes, a nation that used to rely on Russia willingly? All of this just to achieve pre-2013 status quo but with thousands dead and a Russian economy in ruins? When you think of it that way, how is Putin holding all the cards?
(CLIP ENDS)
BANNON: You know, I think this guy, the senator from Connecticut, was like a town councilman.
This guy knows zero about the world. This is gas-lit lies and spin. And Jack Posobiec, I love and it's so great that you're Polish and you know the history over there so deeply that the history starts with the breakup of the Soviet Union. Right? That's when history starts. That's when it starts. Posobiec, if that's the best they got to pitch the — and MSNBC played this whole thing in its entirety, they're playing it nonstop. If this is the best pitch they've got for why people should be interested, they've got a long way to go, Jack Posobiec.
JACK POSOBIEC (GUEST): Look, Steve, you know, you're the one who brought back the famous quote and so we're going to have to say it again to make sure that people hear it. There are decades where nothing happens and there are weeks where decades happen. That's what's going on right here.
If people want I can give you two recommendations. Number one, stop reading Fukuyama because Fukuyama is down hard. Start reading Sam Huntington, the clash of the seven civilizations.
That's what we're seeing right now. This is a civilizational fight. That's the way the Russians look at this, that's the way the Orthodox world looks at this, and I remember, there once was a man who told us — he went around the country, and he said that if we make the United States strong, if we renegotiate our security deals, if we rebuild and strengthen NATO and build our own energy pipelines here in the United States, that the American people will be safe and prosperous.
And so Chris Murphy, I have a question for you. Why is it that you never once in that entire video mention pipeline politics? You never talk about the energy costs to Europe, you don't mention Nord Stream 2, and you certainly don't mention Nord Stream 1. You don't mention the fact that Europe gets a third of their energy from Russia. Please explain to me how it is that you're going to replace that when you people are the very ones that have been denying are our ability to advance and progress technologically into nuclear power. You've been preventing the construction of coal. You've been —you've been preventing pipelines. They are the reason, and people like Greta Thunberg, are the reason that Germany and France and everyone else are in the place that they're in right now.
But at the same time, they're trying to turn around and say — and act as if they don't need the energy to heat their homes in the middle of winter.
Well, guess what genius? Energy does matter and Putin clearly understands that. You don't.
BANNON: OK. We're going to take a short break when we would come back to add to the drama over at the illegitimate regime's hang out, which is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.