Peter Kuznick
Appearances
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
almost nobody else. So what Kennedy says is so relevant to today, he says, to put a nuclear adversary in a position of either suffering a humiliating defeat or using nuclear weapons is either a colossal failure of statesmanship or a collective death wish for humanity, which is exactly what Biden is doing at this point.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
But that gets back to 1990, NATO expansion. And then in 1997, Brzezinski lays it out in his book, The Grand Chessboard, which... Feith and Libby and Hadley were also writing about just at the same time. And what Brzezinski says in the Grand Chessboard is that if you can separate Ukraine from Russia, then Russia will never be a Eurasian superpower again.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
They had a strategy for doing exactly what they did for quite some time before that. This is not something that they've just thought up in 2014.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
We had 185 ICBMs, and the Russians had four. Yeah, but I'm talking about in 1960 when Kennedy comes into office. Then we increase it by 1,000. And the Joint Chiefs, the Air Force wanted 10,000. Joint Chiefs wanted 3,000, I think it was. And McNamara said the lowest number we can get away with is 1,000.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
But from the Soviet perspective, the United States was already ahead between 10 to 1 and 100 to 1 in every category. And now they see us adding 1,000 more ICBMs. So the Kremlin interpreted it that the U.S. was preparing for a first strike against the Soviet Union, which is part of the reason why they put the missiles into Cuba, to try to offset that, at least to some degree.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
But again, you know, and Kennedy got a briefing on July 20th, 1961, about a secret advanced preemptive strike, nuclear strike to wipe out the Soviet Union.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And Kennedy walked out of that midway through the briefing. And he's turned to Dean Ruskin and said, and we call ourselves the human race.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Lemnitzer gave it, and one of the people there said, I think it was Roswell Gilpatrick, says he gave it as if he was talking to kindergartners, and Kennedy was so disgusted with it and his thinking behind the idea that we were going to have a preemptive surprise nuclear strike, unprovoked, against the Soviet Union. But there are military people who were thinking that way, as there are today.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
I mean, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists had an article on August 20th. There were two interesting articles. Sanger had one in the New York Times that day saying that the United States is preparing to fight a three-front nuclear war against Russia, China, and North Korea and win that.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And the same day, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists came out with an article saying that there are still planners in the Pentagon who believe that we can win a nuclear war. and should plan for that, what would that mean to win a nuclear war? It's insanity. It doesn't mean anything. Well, that's why you should read this book.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
They're gone. The Pentagon has been trying to war game limited nuclear war for decades, and it never ends up at a limited nuclear war. I mean, at what point does it stop? It always keeps going till everything's gone.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Well, Sagan came up with the idea in the early 80s. Early 80s. But if anything, and then he got attacked by the Wall Street Journal and others for bad science, which is bullshit. But the latest scientific findings are that Sagan and company actually downplayed the effects of nuclear winter.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Nuclear winter, for example, now, the latest studies show that a limited nuclear war between India and Pakistan, in which 100 Hiroshima-sized nuclear weapons would be used, would push... 5 million tons of smoke, soot, and debris into the atmosphere. It would encircle the stratosphere within two weeks, block the sun's rays from getting to the Earth.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Temperatures would plummet to freezing on the Earth. Much of the agriculture would be destroyed. And a limited nuclear warp of 100 Hiroshima-sized weapons could kill up to 2 billion people. Two billion. If there was a, we don't have 100, we've got 12,000. And they're not Hiroshima size. Many of them are seven to 70 times the size of the Hiroshima bomb.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And so if there was a large scale use, it would, the cities would burn and would send up so much soot that would block the sun's rays for years. And we might not survive as a species. The likelihood is that all large life forms would probably die off. Some people might be able to get under the ground, you know, would have a mine shaft capped like a Strangelove.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
yes this is very realistic yeah it could happen but now our weapons are even much bigger much bigger much worse yeah but he was he said yeah this is real although back in the 60s we're actually building bigger nuclear weapons than we are today the russians tested their 50 million megaton weapon the tsar bomba and it could have been 100 megatons if they'd wanted to underground
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
I'm not sure if it was an underground test.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Tucker, let me take it back just a little bit. Of course. Because in 2008... That's when the United States called for Ukraine and Georgia to enter NATO. Right. And that was clearly crossing Russia's red line. In fact, our then U.S. ambassador to Russia was William Burns, now the head of the CIA. Burns writes a secret memo back to the White House titled, Nyet Means Nyet.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
don't cross Russia's red lines about Ukraine in NATO. And that's where things begin to change. Putin was furious. He actually went to the NATO meeting and had been reaching out to the US since 9-11. I mean, he was the first foreign leader to actually contact the White House and to offer assistance. And he did help us in Afghanistan originally. And then what do we do in 2002?
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
We abandoned the ABM Treaty. That was a horrible blow to them. Then we invade Iraq, which they were totally opposed to. And so then the relations begin to deteriorate. I was saying before about Krauthammer, in 2002, he revisits his idea of the unipolar moment. He says, I was wrong in 1990. It's not the unipolar moment. It's the unipolar era. and the U.S.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
is going to dominate the world for the foreseeable future. It could be 100 years, not 30 or 40 years. And that's when the neocons started coming out of the frame. They started appearing everywhere and saying the importance of American empire, that we're going to change the chessboard. When Wesley Clark went to the Pentagon,
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
They told them we had plans to have regime change in seven different countries. Yes. And what was on that list? Iraq, Iran, Syria. Libya, Syria. Libya, yeah. I mean, you go through... Iran, yeah. And so that was the game plan, what's happening now in Syria was part of a game plan. And Iran was the last. That they were explicit about. Iran is certainly crucial there.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
The biggest prize of all was Iran. Sudan, Somalia, they had a lot of different countries we were going to overturn. And they had this vision that we could do it. On January 5th, 2003, the New York Times Sunday Magazine section, big headline, American Empire, get used to it. I mean, they weren't even hiding it.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
They were proud about it at that point until things started to go haywire in Afghanistan and Iraq. And then finally- And Libya. And Libya's a little later. And also include Serbia, go back to 99. Well, yeah, the Russians were furious about what happened in Serbia.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Did we? Not much, no. But in Russia, you would have heard very, very different. Something like 96% of the Russians thought that what was going on there was a war crime. Yes. I mean, the Russians were a totally opposite view. And the U.S.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
was establishing the rules-based international order, which meant instead of going through the United Nations, which they couldn't have gotten it through, they did it on their own. Militarily. Yes, militarily.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
We swallowed it. Let me give a different timeline on Oliver's history that I see. I mean, Oliver was walking on water in Hollywood with Platoon, Wall Street, Born on the Fourth of July, and then he made JFK. And then everything changed. And they started attacking JFK seven, eight months before the film was produced. I remember.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Based on a stolen first draft of the script at the New York Times, Los Angeles Times. Watching a post, all that. They were all going after him. And a conspiracy theorist. And it's a very controversial movie, which takes a lot of risks. And Oliver admitted at the time, he didn't have all the answers, but he wanted to get the questions out there and make people think about some of these issues.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
But at that point, he went from being Hollywood's golden boy to being the conspiracy monger.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Because Americans had already disagreed with the Warren Commission. Yes. And even before Oliver's movie came out, the overwhelming majority of Americans thought, didn't think that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. They didn't from the very beginning find that credible at all. In fact, four of the seven members of the Warren Commission didn't think that or thought that there was likely a second gun.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Yeah.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Oliver's stressing the economic roots of all this. I do, yes. I wanted to go back, because in 1948, George Kennan lays it out in a secret memo. George Kennan, who was the architect of the Cold War, writes a memo that says, we have 6.3% of the world's population, yet we control 50% of the world's wealth. He said, the challenge before us today is to maintain this position of disparity.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And we're not going to do it with idealistic slogans. We're going to do with pure power concepts. He later regretted that. He later regretted the Mr. X article. And he becomes really very, very worried about the threat of nuclear war in his later life. And he lived to over 100 years old. But In 97, he condemned Clinton.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Economics, it's geopolitics, it's military ideological domination. I don't think it's an either or. Some people make that mistake and say it's this or it's that. I mean, there are a lot of different people involved in planning this, and they're motivated by different things.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
So the Cold War comes out of economics, too. It's very much so. The labor movement was huge in the United States in the 30s. The formation of the CIO, the organizing of steel, auto. I mean, all of the big industries were organizing. And who were the leaders of the organizing? The communists.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
You know, there was a reason why they had to shut down the Communist Party during the quote-unquote McCarthy period. And McCarthy's a latecomer to McCarthyism. But it starts in 1947. And Truman, according to Clark Clifford, his main domestic policy advisor, they said Truman knew that this was baloney, all this stuff about communist infiltration. But the Republicans started to attack in 1946.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
The chair of the Republican party in 46 says the choice between republicanism and communism. And so we're beginning this anti-communist hysteria very, very early after the war. And then Truman takes the bait and has the loyalty hearings which leads gradually into McCarthyism.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
So first in 47, first they say that the real threat is the atomic scientists, but they quickly decide that the one they're going to investigate first is Hollywood, right? So then they have the Hollywood 10 and then all those other hearings that were taking place because they were very concerned even then about people who might influence American thinking. And Hollywood was a hotbed of leftists.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
He says, from two weeks after the time I was appointed to head the Manhattan Project, I treated it as if the Soviets were the enemy. The project was directed in that way.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
That's the most warm and fuzzy Leslie Groves you're ever going to see.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Yeah, but he said that when he testified, he said, we didn't know beans about the military situation. We didn't know that Japan could have been made to surrender without using the bomb. You know, so Oppenheimer later effectively apologized for supporting the use of the bomb.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And then he opposed the development of hydrogen bomb.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
But you're making an important point, though, that we are in many ways dependent on Putin's restraint at this point.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Because today he just made a statement that the U.S. keeps crossing all of Russia's red lines. And if they keep doing this, this is going to explode. I mean, Biden for a long time refused to give permission to Ukraine to use the attack on missiles. And he said that it would be too provocative and could possibly lead to a much broader war between the United States and Russia.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And he refused to do it. But like he did with every other weapon system, he finally caved in. And so Ukraine has struck Russia several times now with these ATAK-M missiles inside of Russia, the long-range army missiles. And then you got the British stormtrooper, storm shadow missiles. You got the French missiles, the scout missiles. The German ones haven't been used yet.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And in response to that, Russia changed this nuclear doctrine and said that they lowered it and said that if Russia is attacked by a country with the support of a nuclear power, then they're going to consider that an attack by both countries meaning the United States and Ukraine, and both countries become legitimate targets for all of Russia's weapons, meaning nuclear weapons.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And so far, then how did Russia respond? With the Ureshnik missile, this brand new hypersonic medium range missile. And it was devastating because it goes at 10 times the speed of sound, and it's a hypersonic missile, and they can't be shot down. And they've used it once so far, but there's some warnings that they could take out Kyiv, or at least the leadership there.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
They could hit the base in Poland, wherever they want.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
They are so much more advanced. In fact, Obama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his speech in Prague- For existing, yeah. In 2009, calling for nuclear abolition, he's the one who put into process the policy of modernizing America's nuclear arsenal. It was a trade-off with the Senator Kyle from Arizona in order to get them to support the New START Treaty.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And so what is modernizing the delivery systems and the weapons mean? Making them more efficient and more lethal. And then Trump doubled down on that in his nuclear posture review in 2018. And so Obama said, we're going to spend a trillion dollars over 30 years to modernize. Now it's closer to 2 trillion and we're doing it. But not only is the United States modernizing,
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
All nine nuclear powers are modernizing their arsenals. And for the first time, you know, at the peak of the Cold War, in 1986, we had about 70,000 nuclear weapons in the world. We got it down to now 12,000, but for the first time, we're increasing the arsenals. You know, we've been trying to get rid of these hellish weapons since they were first started. And initially...
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Even Eisenhower supported giving them to the UN and letting the UN destroy them. And Eisenhower also was the only president who's openly critical of the US dropping the atomic bombs in 1945. What did he say?
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
He said, when Stimson briefed him at Potsdam that the United States was about to use the atomic bomb, Eisenhower wrote on a couple of occasions, he said, I got more and more depressed just listening to him, but I didn't volunteer anything because my war in Europe was over. Then he asked me what I thought. And I told them I was against it for two reasons.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Number one, the Japanese were already defeated and trying to surrender and we didn't need to use it. And number two, I hated to see our country be the first to use such a weapon. The U.S. had eight five-star admirals and generals in 1945. Seven of the eight are officially on the record saying the atomic bombs were either militarily unnecessary, morally reprehensible, or both.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And the eighth was Marshall, who said that the Soviet invasion alone would likely leverage the Japanese into surrender by itself. So they all knew that the atomic bombs were necessary. Truman knew it as well as anybody. When he had lunch with Stalin at Potsdam on July 17th, he goes back and writes in his journal, said Stalin will be in the Jap War by August 15th. Finny Japs when that occurs.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
He writes home to his wife Bess the next day, saying the Russians are coming in, we'll end the war a year sooner now. Think of all the kids who won't be killed. He knew it. He refers to the intercepted telegram on July 18th as the telegram from the Jap emperor asking for peace. They knew that the Japanese were defeated. And if there had been an invasion, what was the estimate of casualties?
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
The original one from Marshall. With the original one, they were talking only like 20,000. And then the highest one for the original that Nola gave that we could find was 46,000 Americans would be lost. But in his memoir, Truman says, I was told by Marshall that we could lose a half million American boys in an invasion. That's a myth. But that's just what kids are taught in schools.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And then Bush brought it up too. H.W. Bush said millions. We could lose millions. Yes. It's hard to calculate.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
That's going to be increasing now.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
I don't have any evidence that they weren't. Okay. So, but I mean, I've heard speculation about that. Yes. But I don't know that there are any out there.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
But everybody I know in Russia, everybody I talk to there says they wanted, they wish we could have friendlier relations with the United States and Russia. They all feel that way. You know who fears nuclear weapons, nuclear bombs? Trump. Trump said recently- I read, he says, we have never been closer to World War III than we are today under Joe Biden.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
A global conflict between nuclear armed powers would mean death and destruction on a scale unmatched in human history. That's what Donald Trump said recently. You know, so he thinks that giving the Ukrainians permission to use the attack M's the way we are is crazy.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
What else is new? We've been going after Russia since 1917. We're mad at them. Well, in World War I, Lenin and Trotsky pulled Russia out of the alliance and had the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, where they gave away a massive amount of Russia to Germany in order to get peace at that point. And what does the United States do with the Brits and the Japanese and others?
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
I've got a lot of friends who are Russian historians and Russian experts. And my friends in Russia, when we talk about religion, they say after the collapse of the Soviet Union, everybody got baptized, but nobody actually goes to church. So, I mean, they're religious in a different sense and it's part of their national identity and heritage, but I'm not sure that they're believers in that way.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And as you were saying, Unlike the United States, where we've got Catholics and all kinds of Protestants and Jews and Muslims and Hindus. I mean, they've got much more of an identity that revolves around their religious heritage.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Yeah.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
We send troops into the Soviet Union in 1918. There were 15,000 American troops there. And Churchill wanted to overthrow the new Soviet government. He said, we should strangle Bolshevism in the cradle. So this goes way back to then. We didn't even recognize the Soviet Union until Roosevelt was in power in 1933. And then during the war, they became our ally.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
I don't know how- But this administration, much like the Biden administration, we were talking about Biden earlier, and Oliver was talking, surprised by how hawkish Biden is. Biden's always been a cold warrior and very much of a hawk. And he came to office with 18 top advisors from the Center for New American Security. Now, these are the people like Sullivan, who are the China hawks.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Many of them were the people behind the Asia pivot under Hillary Clinton and Obama. But Ukraine got in the way because there was... China, who they wanted to go after. And even Rand has a proposal, a report saying, titled, Avoiding a Long War in Ukraine, because they wanted to get after China. Now, the Trump people are also much more hawkish toward China and Iran than they are toward Ukraine.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
So I think that... Economically. My fear is... that they'll successfully end Ukraine and then turn their fire elsewhere. Except that Trump did invite Xi Jinping to come to the inauguration. And I think it is showing some signs of moderating.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Well, and transactional.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Right. Make a deal with Iran. What would that look like?
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
That's what that, the whole foreign policy establishment is saying that. And I agree with Oliver, it's nuts. Do they believe it, do you think? They can't even defeat Ukraine. They want to take on NATO? I mean, this makes no logical sense at all. And for Putin, Ukraine has a special meaning and special history for Russia. Yes. You know, and he doesn't want Poland or Romania. No.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
This idea that he wants to recreate the Soviet empire, he said anyone who doesn't miss the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who wants to recreate it has no brain. It's a good line.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
But they are hurting their own economy again by this massive expansion of arms production. That's what brought them down in the 80s, really. They're spending 25 to 40% of their budget on arms. And now they're doing that again. So even though in the long and short run, they're thriving economically, unlike Europe, in the long run, it's going to hurt them.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
So it's very much in their interest to end this war. It's in everybody's interest. If you're pro-Ukrainian, what is the point of it? For example, after the attackams were given permission, everybody gave permission, I was watching CNN and they had Bolton and they had Stavridis and Clark, and they all said,
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
too little, too late, using the attack M's, that it's great that we're doing it, but it's too little, too late. What these people are saying is they're willing to risk nuclear war over something that they know is not going to make any difference for the Ukrainians anyway. The Ukraine is losing. That's the reality. They can't keep up with Russia. They're outmanned. They're outgunned.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And in fact, they were the ones who won the war in Europe. But I asked my students, who won the war in Europe? You know, people grew up believing that the Americans won the war in Europe. It's not true. It's not even close to the truth. We certainly contributed a lot during World War II,
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
They're outstrategized at this point.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
No. No. Putin wants a little bit more than that right now.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
He's going to keep, he's got four provinces that they said are incorporated into Russia. So Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. And he's going to want at least as much of them as his army controls. He's going to want more.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
But their bargaining position might be they might give up the parts that they don't control for no arms, no foreign arms and soldiers in Ukraine, no NATO in Ukraine, and a lasting peace. I don't think they want it. The West says, oh, it's going to be temporary and then they're going to just start it up again when they're ready. This has been a terrible war for Russia as well as for Ukraine.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And if you're sympathetic to Ukraine, the last thing you want is going to see this continue because they're only losing more. They're only in a weaker position and their young men are getting, not so young men are getting killed at incredible numbers. So if we stop it a year from now, What's going to be different? Russia's going to have more of Ukraine.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
There'll be more Ukrainians dead, more economy destroyed on both sides, more Russians dead. This is a horrible war for everybody.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Yes. The big five, the military contractors are doing great.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Yes.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
1934. Gerald Nye. Yeah, it was a great committee. The Nye Committee hearings in the Senate were an extraordinary moment, and it was a reaction to World War I. Because what Wilson said, we want a million volunteers. Well, they got 73,000 because Americans had been watching the World War I in Europe go on for three years. They saw the trench warfare. They saw the poison gas. It was a horrible war.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
But the Soviets, throughout most of World War II, the US and the Britain were confronting 10 German divisions between the two of us, while the Soviets were confronting more than 200 German divisions on their own. That's why...
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And so very few Americans wanted to volunteer. So we had a draft instead. But afterwards, in the 1920s, going back to Hollywood, they had a lot of fabulous movies about World War I that were passionately anti-war. Movies like The Big Parade, Wings, All Quiet on the Western Front. And the novels, almost all the American writers were opposed to the war.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And so the American attitude was very negative about World War I. So in 1934, Gerald Nye proposes these hearings and a new legislation to eliminate all profit from war. Now these bastards are making enormous amounts of profit.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Well, then they started to go after Wilson because it was a bipartisan effort on the committee. It had front page headlines. Who was Gerald Nye? Gerald Nye was a senator from... Midwest. Yeah, Midwest. Midwest Republican. Yeah. Progressive. There were a lot of progressive anti-war Republicans during World War I and then afterwards in the 20s and 30s. They've been libeled ever since.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Robert La Follette is one of the greats, but there were a lot of them then. And they weren't strictly isolationist. William Borough was one of the leaders from Idaho.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Right. Henry Wallace from Iowa. And so, but when they started to go after Truman, the Democrats got very defensive. And after Wilson, the Democrats got very defensive and they blew up the hearings. Even Roosevelt was supportive of what they were calling for in 1934. So what were they calling for? Well, there are various variants on this. One was to either tax everything above $10,000.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Once war began, anything that people earned over $10,000 would be taxed at either 98% or 100%. because the DuPonts and the Morgans and Mellons made huge profits out of World War I, astronomical profits.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And part of the reason why we got involved in the war at all, even though American people did not want to, was because we had lent, Morgan banks had lent $2.5 billion to the allies and 100 million to the other side. And so it was clear which side we were going to get involved in.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
What Wilson said when he was criticized, because he ran in 1916 as a peace candidate, the slogan was, we kept America out of the war. And then in 1917, they changed the slogan to, it's the war to end all wars or the war to make the world safe for democracy. But Wilson entered it in large part because he knew that if we didn't, then the US would have no hand in the post-war settlement.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
That's why everybody understood what Kennedy says in his great 1963 American University commencement address, what the Soviets suffered in World War II is the equivalent of the entire United States east of Chicago having been wiped out. You know, so you would think that we would be friendly with them afterwards, and Roosevelt had a vision for that.
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Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And he said, we have to be in it so that we can shape the post-war world. And he came up with the League of Nations, which could have been a good idea under certain circumstances. But his 14 points were very progressive, but the British and French colonialists were not going to accept it. And as Oliver said before, when the Soviet...
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
revolution occurred, one of the first thing they did is they broke in and found all the diplomatic papers which showed the secret treaties between Russia, France, and Britain to divide up the Middle East. You know, the problems we're talking about now trace back to then, to the colonialists who controlled the Middle East. But this was going on all over the world. They had this plan.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
The Germans wanted to get involved in the war in part because they were latecomers to the empire in Africa. They felt they'd been frozen out of the empires that the British and French and Dutch and Portuguese all were controlling.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Another play that Oliver knows that also is critical of war profiteering was Waiting for Lefty by Clifford Odets. You know, he's also got various episodes about condemning the war profiteering.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
They came close, and it was overwhelmingly popular at the time. And then the Democrats reacted to those allegations against Wilson getting us into the war.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
You know, the kids don't even know about World War I. Right. That's really ancient history. They hardly know about Vietnam. Yeah. You know, Oliver fought in Vietnam. Oliver volunteered for combat in Vietnam. Probably the only person to drop out of Yale and volunteer for combat in Vietnam in history. No. No? I think there are others. Oh, maybe, I doubt it.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And I was an anti-war activist during that period. But I was in Hanoi in January. And it's interesting to me because I had Robert McNamara come into my class some years ago. And McNamara said to my students that he accepts that 3.8 million Vietnamese died in the war. And I've always used that figure because it's mind boggling.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
In fact, Roosevelt promised Stalin in May of 1942 that we would open up the second front before the end of 1942. He asked Stalin to send over Molotov and a trusted general for that meeting in the White House in 1942. And we made that promise. We don't open up the second front till June of 44. And by that point, we had lost all the diplomatic initiative.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
But when I was in Hanoi, the Vietnamese leaders told me that now the figure that they use is 5 million Vietnamese. Vietnamese. So the one place that all my students have been is the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., which you've been there. And it's got two walls with 492 feet long with the names of 58,280 Americans who died.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And the message is the tragedy of Vietnam is that 58,280 Americans died, which is part of it. But if you included the 5 million Vietnamese, the million Cambodians and Laotians, the Americans, the Brits, the Aussies, the Thais, everybody who died, that wall would be more than 10 miles long. And that would be a fitting tribute to the Vietnam, but it would send a whole different message.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Ava and I are invited to Okinawa in February by the prefectural government to support the anti-base movement in Okinawa. Another story we could get into. But the Okinawa War Memorial has the names of all the Okinawans, the Japanese, the Americans, the Brits, the Aussies, everybody who died there. And that would be an anti-war memorial. But the Vietnam Memorial, sadly, as powerful as it is,
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
is giving the wrong message. And America is always giving the wrong message when it comes to war.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Well, the United States, foreign policy has been bipartisan throughout the Cold War, really. And so both parties have been war parties. Correct. But there was a strong element within the Democratic Party of progressive Democrats who were much more anti-war, anti-defense spending, and wanted to use that money instead for health care and education and education.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
infrastructure and the things that people need that actually help people's lives. But it's become this group think now. And even progressive Democrats who are my friends sound so hawkish these days that I don't recognize them. And the odd thing, so we've had this reversal. Trump ran as the anti-war candidate. Trump ran as the pro-labor candidate.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
You know, it makes no sense to those of us who grew up, I was never a Democrat, but I usually voted for the Democrats because they were more progressive than the Republicans. But at this point, you've got two war parties, although there's a stronger faction in the Republican Party at this moment. who are at least making sense about the nuclear threat and about Ukraine.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And it backfired and it was stupid. And you know, what really hurt Kamala with the young people was the unquestioning support for Israel. I saw with my students, They despise the Democrats. Gaza is the big issue for this generation. And they see it every day, or they were seeing it at least for a while on television.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And the stories, you know, every day they were digging out babies from under the rubble. It was horrible to watch. And it was worse if you traveled in other parts of the world. They were even more graphic and explicit than they were in the United States.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
This is what my kids were watching, my students were watching, and they were so disgusted with the Democrats for keep on feeding this Israeli war. I mean, I would say that most of my students were pretty horrified by the October 7th attack that Hamas made. And I know I felt very strongly too. Me too.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
The Soviets were defeating Germany largely on their own with the support of US materiel. And so they were pushing back the Germans over Central Europe and Eastern Europe. And so the idea that Roosevelt gave away anything at Yalta that the Soviets didn't already have is nonsense. The Soviets had that area. And that's 44, 45. Then unfortunately, Roosevelt died.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
I mean, I know that they've been badly treated for a long time, the Palestinians, but what happened on October 7th is unacceptable, unforgivable. Fair. And I can understand why there was a strong reaction, but the Israeli response, we're talking like for 9-11, people being ready to do something. They had already been brutalizing the people in the West Bank
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Gaza had been an open air prison for years already. And so the Israeli response is so disproportionate, it's so horrific. For those of us who have different history and experience with Israel to see what Israel has turned into now, without any, almost no protest against this brutalization of an entire people, whether you consider it genocide or just a slaughter, it sickens one.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And that's what I found in my students. And the young people did not vote. I mean, for the first time, Trump got a majority of young voters. And it wasn't just young men, young women also.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
But change is good. Change is good. And, you know, I see with my students, you know what they lack now? They're very critical. They're very smart and analytical. There's no utopianism. So many of the young people think that the world that they've inherited is all there is gonna be.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And they don't have any, the 60s generation, Oliver and I were part of the 60s generation when you were too young, or not even born. But the 60s generation had a vision of making a better world.
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Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And that informed everything we did. And we would jokingly refer to what we're gonna do after the revolution. You know, but we did have a utopian vision for how human beings could live differently. Young people now are even much more ready to critique the system at its roots than we were back then.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
We were just learning about what it meant to critique the system, but we had a hope and a belief that the future could be that much better. And I don't, you know, I think kids now see it, maybe it could be different, but they don't have this kind of vision burning vision that we can make a better world.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And even more unfortunately, Truman became president instead of Henry Wallace, which is another story I hope we can get into, because Oliver and I do a lot about that in Untold History. And we argue that had Wallace become president on April 12th, 1945, instead of Truman, there would have not only been no atomic bombings in World War II, there would have likely been no Cold War.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
50 years from now, well, they should start with Oliver, my book. This is the earlier edition, The Untold History of the United States. You know, this one, the 2012 edition, was about 750 pages. We put out an updated edition in 2019, and now it's over 900 pages. People really should read it and watch it because it's got so much history that people don't know.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
I was talking about the ignorance about World War II Well, I did an anonymous survey with college students, all of whom were A students in high school. And I asked them, how many Americans died in World War II? And the median answer I got was 90,000. 90,000? by 300,000. So they were in the ballpark. I asked them how many Soviets died in World War II. The median answer I got was 100,000.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
So they were only 27 million off, right? These are smart kids and they know nothing. They couldn't understand World War II. They couldn't understand the Cold War. They couldn't understand what's going on in Ukraine unless they know the history. And so that's why Oliver and I did the Untold History of the United States to begin filling in those blanks.
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Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Tulsi Gabbard was interviewed by the New York Times in 2019. And they asked her, what is the big article? What podcast do you watch? She says, I don't want to talk about podcasts, but I just finished watching the Untold History of the United States. And everybody should watch it because it fills in those blanks in the history that nobody knows, that we never learn about in this country.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And so 50 years from now, it depends really, because it's going on in Japan. Oliver and I wrote an article after one of our trips in Japan called Partners in Historical Falsification, the United States and Japan. It's going on in Russia. I mean, everywhere people try to sanitize, whitewash their history,
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Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
on the assumption that if people know true history, then they're going to rebel and want something different and something better. Because if anything, history teaches you that what is this now is not what has to exist or what should exist, that human beings can create a much different world. And that's the lesson of it.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
So it's not just to learn the past for the sake of the past, it's to learn the past so you can shape a better future.
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Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
The public loved that movie.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And it led to the Assassination Records Review Board. A three-hour, six-minute movie. It led to the Assassination Records Review Board, which is why so many documents have been released.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
History could have been so, so different. But instead, we developed this enmity toward the Soviet Union. Instead of seeing our allies who suffered so greatly and showing some largesse and generosity, we begin to vilify them after that. And the crackdown that happens in Eastern Europe doesn't happen immediately. That takes place over the next couple of years. It's a much gradual process.
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Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Massive classification. We need more transparency.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Which is part of the reason why we're hoping that Trump will pardon Ed Snowden and Julian Assange. Yeah, good point. Oliver made a great movie about Snowden. You've met with Snowden.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
what he did was a great service to America. And he exposed the mass surveillance that was going on of all of us. It was a wake up call. He should be lionized. Dan Ellsberg was one of my closest friends and Oliver knows Dan also.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And Dan was facing 115 years in prison for releasing the Pentagon Papers, but he said it was worth doing it, even though he thought there was only a little chance it could end the war or affect the end of the war. He wanted to get out this history. And for that, he was vilified and gone after by Nixon.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
I mean, that was really the best thing they had on Nixon was the break into Dan's psychiatrist's office and the plans to try to effectively kill him. compromise him. But Dan ended up, by the end of his life, and what he spent most of his life warning about was the nuclear threat.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And the end of his life, he was getting, even the New York Times and everybody else was treating him much like what he deserved to be treated like, which is a hero. And I'm hoping that Trump will understand that and pardon Ed Snowden as quickly as possible. And Julian Assange. And Julian Assange, yeah. Well, he has been. Assange is at least, you know, got some measure of freedom at this point.
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Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Yeah.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
They allowed a good degree of democracy in most of Eastern Europe till really the the Truman Doctrine in 1947, really. And then after that, then the Cold War is on. But Kennedy was the one who saw it differently. And we can go into that too. Anyway, I'm giving you a lot of history very, very quickly.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
But it actually starts earlier because when the Soviet Union collapsed 1989, 1990, 1991, during that period, we had a chance to actually reach out in a more positive way. But it's in 1990 that Charles Krauthammer, the neocon theorist, says the Soviet Union has collapsed, says this is America's unipolar moment. He says, we're the only force in the world that can dictate world events.
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Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And he said, the unipolar moment is likely the last 30 or 40 years. It was in 1992 that we've come out with the defense planning guidance, which is a much more elaborate plan of how we're going to dominate the world. And then in 1997, the Project for a New American Century takes shape, and that really fleshes it out much greater.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And they say in that 2000 report that we're not going to be able to rebuild our defenses as quickly as we want unless we have a new Pearl Harbor. And they got that in 2001 with 9-11. And so then we invade Afghanistan. Then Krauthammer revisits. Let me ask you the question.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
I think they saw it as a tragedy and an opportunity. You know, I think they... So you're not suggesting they knew about it? No, I'm not suggesting that.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
He caved in during the Cuban Missile Crisis. So his hawks wanted to get rid of him for being too weak. But let me go back to what Oliver's saying, because in October of 1962, right after the Missile Crisis, two weeks later, Khrushchev writes an incredible letter to Kennedy. in which he says, from evil, some good must come. Our people have both felt the burning flames of thermonuclear war.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
We have to use this now to eliminate every conflict between us that could lead to a new crisis. And Kennedy and Khrushchev, slowly on Kennedy's part, more rapidly on Khrushchev's, they began working together in 63. Norman Cousins was the intermediary, and he met with Khrushchev twice and made it clear that the United States really did want to have a peaceful reconciliation.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And had Kennedy lived, I mean, his AU commencement address that I mentioned is, I think, the most important presidential address of the 20th century.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
Well, and Norman Cousins came back from Russia and said, Khrushchev needs some obvious signal that you're serious. And Norman Cousins actually wrote the first draft. And then Kennedy took it, and they didn't let the CIA, the State Department, or the Pentagon even see it beforehand. which is why Kennedy was able to, it was called the strategy for peace speech.
The Tucker Carlson Show
Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick: War Profiteering, Nuclear Tech, NATO v. Russia, & War With Iran
And what he says there, among other things, is that the relation between the US and Soviets is tragic. Why should we be enemies? Why should we see them as enemies? What Kennedy could do, and he doesn't have speech, is see the world through the eyes of America's adversaries. When was the last time we had a leader who could do that? I mean, Carter maybe for a minute, Obama maybe for a minute, but...