Is Russia Really a Threat?

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_01]: You're listening to the Waypoint TV Podcast Network, brought to you by Academy Sports and Outdoors.

[00:00:06] [SPEAKER_02]: What's your favorite hunting tradition? Is it going out on the family land? Maybe the woods

[00:00:12] [SPEAKER_02]: where you used to build forts when you were a kid, you know? You just get outdoors and do you

[00:00:18] [SPEAKER_02]: go out with your buddies? Maybe that first time hunting with your grandfather. I mean, those

[00:00:23] [SPEAKER_02]: are the memories that last a lifetime. Well, hunting season is finally here and Academy Sports

[00:00:30] [SPEAKER_02]: and Outdoors stores has everything to gear up for the field for less. And when you go to Academy,

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_02]: you get to shop a wide selection of ammo, shotguns, rifles, feeders, game cameras, camo,

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_02]: deer corn, and more from the brands that you trust. I mean, to me, nothing sounds better than

[00:00:50] [SPEAKER_02]: that. I got you guys a good deal if you text HUNT24 to 22369, you can take $20 off when you

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_02]: spend $100 when you shop hunting supplies at academy.com. Maybe you need a hunting license?

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Pick it up while you're at the store shopping. Or better yet, get started now at academy.com.

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_02]: All right, welcome back to the Survival in Basic Badass Podcast, Kevin and Chuck.

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, today I wanted to talk about Russia. Now, the thing with Russia is in my mind,

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_02]: they have so much going on with Ukraine. And if Ukraine is putting up a good fight to them,

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_02]: are they really a threat to anybody? And I think basically, we wanted to do a deep dive into

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_02]: does Putin have the testicular fortitude to mess with the US? Is that something he really wants?

[00:02:01] [SPEAKER_02]: Is that just a crazy idea? And two, do they have the capabilities? Now, one of the things

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_02]: for me that I've noticed is Russia has spent all their efforts in my mind. I mean, I'm not a

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_02]: military strategist, but it turns out I do pay attention a little bit. Russia has put a lot of

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_02]: effort into seeing us as a threat. And when it comes to war, it's the US that they're

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_02]: looking to do battle with. And with that, he was planning on being a big dog. So all his weapons

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_02]: are geared towards like, I'm going to shut you down. And if you're going to shut down the United

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_02]: States, you're talking nuclear weapons. You're talking EMPs. You're talking big dog adult toys.

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_02]: And so when he's trying to fight this small scale little skirmish, I would almost call it

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_02]: Ukraine. It's a whole different game, but I think they've put all their money into the big

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_02]: boy toys. And that's how it is in my mind. But maybe they just don't have any money. I will say

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_02]: when I was in the Navy, we actually did this, they called it a ball tops, but a Baltic

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_02]: operation that we ended up being on the same pier as a Russian ship. And sailors are sailors,

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_02]: we're all hanging out and trading things and whatever. And we got to go on the Russian ship

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_02]: and some of them came on our ship and different things like that. I don't even remember if any

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_02]: of them came on our ship, but I know I went on their ship. I don't know if it went the other

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_02]: way. I just know we hung out with them. I don't know if it went the other way, but they were all

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_02]: like, none of this stuff works. It looked scary, but there was no meat within the nut.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_02]: Now mind you, we're talking like 1998. We're not talking-

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: But I think we saw the same kind of thing play out in the first two weeks of the war

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_00]: in Ukraine. All their equipment just fucking fell apart and they had to fucking go refit

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_02]: everything to start over again. Well, also we've been doing conflicts lately. Has Russia

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_02]: really been involved in... I mean, I feel like it's all been like rebel stuff.

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_02]: But we always see those videos of where they're overtaking a bus on the highway. Have you

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_02]: seen these? Where they're showing their tactical command and their guys are like

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_01]: parkour kind of thing all over a bus or whatever and kicking in windows and you're like, oh,

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_01]: those guys. I don't know. The Russian parkour team.

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. Well, I mean, I don't think anyone would argue that the Spetsnaz is one of the best

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_00]: special forces in the world. They're not incompetent as far as military special forces go,

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_00]: but I think it's more of the broad range of the Russian military that has some issues.

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a large amount of alcohol consumption well on active duty. When I was in the military,

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_00]: that was pretty fucking rare to actually encounter somebody drunk while working, but

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_00]: maybe hung over from the day before, but never actually drunk while working.

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: But that seems to be the impression I get at least watching these soldiers moving in and out.

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_00]: It's like they have to stop and raid every place they go past to find some extra vodka,

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_00]: but whatever. I guess that doesn't really mean a whole lot. I've been in more drunk fights

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_00]: than sober fights, so maybe that's something to that. Yeah, they always say train like

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_00]: a fight. Right. There you go. So there's a big issue going on right now in the United States,

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_00]: not like a shocker, but the US is right now responding to interference by the Kremlin.

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a big article on the New York Times today about it. US has seized web domains

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_00]: that US officials say the Kremlin uses to spread propaganda and disinformation.

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_02]: Is it preppingbadass.com? Does it mention that one? Not yet.

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_00]: The Justice Department announced they addicted two Russian employees of RT.

[00:07:05] [SPEAKER_00]: This is a quote from Attorney General Merrick Garland. The American people are entitled to

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_00]: know when a foreign power engages in political activities or seeks to influence public discourse.

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_02]: Wait, wait, stop right there. Is that what the American people have a right to know?

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Because I feel like anything else they're like, that's none of your business.

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, they don't have a right to know anything else, but they do have a right to know.

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_01]: You have a right to know about that. Okay. I just wanted to be clear.

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. So the Russian influence campaign is known as doppelganger. That's what they're

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_00]: calling it. I don't know what that means. I know what a doppelganger is. I don't know

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_00]: if that just means that they're mimicking Americans and pretending that they believe

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_00]: one thing or another. But doppelganger intends to target voters in swing states,

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_00]: voters in conservative states, Hispanic voters, and Jewish voters.

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_02]: I wonder if they could influence me to vote for Kamala.

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe. Maybe. It seems like they're trying to influence people to vote against Kamala,

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_00]: but I think that's not necessarily- Because Russia and Trump are bloodies. We've heard that.

[00:08:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I think that Russia has a less favorable stance on NATO. So I think that's the real goal

[00:08:26] [SPEAKER_02]: is weakening NATO. I have a less favorable stance in NATO. Do you really feel like though,

[00:08:32] [SPEAKER_02]: seriously, do you feel like if everybody came after the US, all the NATO countries,

[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_02]: if they weren't being targeted, they would be like, don't worry US, we got your back.

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Do you think that would happen? No. No, I don't think that.

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't see the upside for the US with NATO.

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't see a lot of support for the United States from Turkey and Poland.

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Do you know what I mean? But whatever. The State Department- Now here's big news here,

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_00]: offering $10 million reward for information pertaining to foreign interference in American

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_00]: elections. Now, remember though, they never pay that $10 million out. You know what I mean?

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_00]: They'll offer the $10 million. It's the carrot, but they're not going to give it to you.

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll eat my words. If they pay anybody $10 million for information between now and the

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_01]: election, I'll apologize to everybody. Well, I think what's even better is I could be like,

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_01]: well, look at this article right here. They're doing it and they're going to be like,

[00:09:42] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah, but we don't care. Wait, what if we find that Russia hacks all the Democrat party

[00:09:53] [SPEAKER_02]: servers and has them on file? If we bring that forward, would that get us $10 million?

[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes. No, it won't. But yes. No. Okay. I just wanted to be sure.

[00:10:09] [SPEAKER_00]: That is evidence pertaining to foreign interference in American elections because

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_01]: that did happen. Okay. I just wanted to be sure.

[00:10:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Mm hmm. Russian planning documents stated that the aim of the campaign is securing

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Russians preferred outcome in the election. Obviously that, you know, that Russian's

[00:10:29] [SPEAKER_00]: internal information, what specifically they're targeting and who they're targeting

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_00]: is vague. But does it seem very weird to me that they would be targeting Jewish voters.

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_00]: There's so much bullshit out there that it's hard to like actually track down

[00:10:43] [SPEAKER_00]: information that's accurate and has sources and shit like that. Because there's just,

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, but it's that's fucking Russia's game too. You know what I mean? It is making so much

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_00]: bullshit out there that you don't know what the fuck is real. I mean, I saw yesterday,

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_00]: I saw a picture of Elon Musk and Donald Trump in Nazi uniforms making out,

[00:11:04] [SPEAKER_00]: which God, I could have fucking not, I could have stood to not see that.

[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, that would have been great. Why is that Kevin, why are you targeted

[00:11:13] [SPEAKER_00]: for that information? They were like, well, it was first there was the picture of Kamala

[00:11:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Harris in the communist uniform and you were like, all right. And then I was like, yeah,

[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_00]: she could have worn that. That doesn't shock me. And then I saw Donald Trump,

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_00]: then I saw another picture in response that was AI generated of, you know,

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_00]: and Elon Musk making out, which is, you know, honestly, nobody wants to see either of them

[00:11:41] [SPEAKER_00]: doing anything sexual. It's gross. Settle down guys.

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_02]: But do they, but do you think that maybe the way they view the crazy right wing nut jobs

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_02]: that they would think you would actually be like, yup, there it is Kamala, the

[00:11:59] [SPEAKER_02]: communist. And then on the same token, you would see Elon and Trump going, yeah,

[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_02]: Nazi party. Cause you know, all Trump supporters are not.

[00:12:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Yes. Everybody knows that.

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, that makes sense.

[00:12:17] [SPEAKER_00]: So I mean, there's obviously a lot of AI pictures going around that some of which

[00:12:23] [SPEAKER_00]: you definitely don't want to see. And some of which that are, you know,

[00:12:28] [SPEAKER_00]: are just on the edge of being believable. You know what I mean?

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_00]: You're not sure if you're looking at something real or not.

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, I mean, one of the Biden fall down the stairs on the plane.

[00:12:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Is that right? One of those.

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, he's just a spaz. That's normal shit going on there.

[00:12:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Fucking decrepit old men. I mean, Jesus Christ.

[00:12:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Whatever. All right.

[00:12:55] [SPEAKER_02]: So that's what I feel like though, is that Russia has invested their money both in nuclear weapons,

[00:13:03] [SPEAKER_02]: or at least the appearance of nuclear weapons.

[00:13:05] [SPEAKER_02]: Right.

[00:13:06] [SPEAKER_02]: And they've invested their money in the hacking programs.

[00:13:09] [SPEAKER_02]: And I think these hacking programs aren't just limited to political interference,

[00:13:17] [SPEAKER_02]: but also would be things like taking out the power grid, things like that.

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Shutting down our services would be something that they've put effort into.

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know how capable they are, but I feel like, I don't know.

[00:13:32] [SPEAKER_02]: I feel like that's something they could do, but you know, maybe I don't know things.

[00:13:38] [SPEAKER_02]: So one thing that I do notice, like so another thing I touched on

[00:13:45] [SPEAKER_02]: is, is Russia willing to do these kinds of things?

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_02]: And we want to get into that or do you want to dig into more their capability?

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_00]: No, that's all I had on the interference stuff. Let's talk about this. Does Russia

[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_00]: have the big hairy balls necessary? You know what I mean? You want the fucking title.

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_02]: It is the Russian bear, right? They are a bear. They do deal with some cold weather.

[00:14:11] [SPEAKER_02]: It's funny. I was just looking at some job interviews and they were like,

[00:14:16] [SPEAKER_02]: how about Wisconsin? And I'm like, I don't know if I'm man enough for Wisconsin.

[00:14:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Russians actually live in Russia. I'm just saying.

[00:14:26] [SPEAKER_00]: There's not a whole lot of warm weather areas in Russia.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_01]: But I don't even think I could go to Wisconsin, let alone Russia.

[00:14:37] [SPEAKER_02]: Wisconsin's pretty cold. It might compete with Russia. I don't really know.

[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe not Siberia, but you know the rest of it. Anyway,

[00:14:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Russia said they will start production of mid-range nukes if the US lets Ukraine

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_02]: use US weapons against Russia inside Russia. Okay. Now that's what they said first.

[00:15:03] [SPEAKER_02]: And then we did that. We were like, go ahead. Then Putin was like, wait a minute. This is

[00:15:13] [SPEAKER_02]: kind of bullshit. I told you don't poke the bear. Right? Where else does that term fit,

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER_02]: except for with Russia? Don't poke the bear. Right? All right. So then

[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_02]: the US said, well, I'll tell you what. We meant we weren't going to let them use US weapons deep

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_02]: inside Russia. We didn't say anything about the outer part. Not the borders areas.

[00:15:44] [SPEAKER_02]: We meant like deep. And so we weren't going to let them use that. I'm sure we'll change

[00:15:49] [SPEAKER_02]: our mind on that if we have the capability, if Ukraine moves forward in. But yeah. Well,

[00:15:55] [SPEAKER_00]: there's been a lot of red lines drawn. Like just supplying weapons initially was a red line.

[00:16:00] [SPEAKER_00]: And then we're like, yeah, we're still going to do that. And then they're like, well now

[00:16:04] [SPEAKER_00]: cross this line back here and they just keep backing up and drawing another line in the

[00:16:09] [SPEAKER_00]: sand. But you know, you can't do that shit with the United States because it's fucking,

[00:16:14] [SPEAKER_00]: this is a whole goddamn country of habitual line steppers. Like don't tell me I can't do

[00:16:20] [SPEAKER_00]: something. Don't don't tell Americans they can't do something because that's the first

[00:16:24] [SPEAKER_02]: thing they're going to try and do. Imagine if we had Trump in office though,

[00:16:29] [SPEAKER_02]: and people kept drawing lines going, no, don't do this. Trump would be like,

[00:16:35] [SPEAKER_00]: what you gonna do? I'm not touching you. I'm not touching you. He'd be reaching out.

[00:16:41] [SPEAKER_01]: I guess that didn't work on the podcast so well, but I was just like kind of poking my

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_02]: face. You get the idea. It's like, oh, oh. All right. So then Putin says he insists

[00:16:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Washington and its partners are wrong to assume that he would never use nukes.

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_02]: Okay. It's kind of a scary statement there. So Biden, obviously the tough, you know,

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_02]: intellectual that he is. That's like dribbling, putting out his mouth.

[00:17:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Right, right. So he heard that and he's like, well, you're a dictator.

[00:17:16] [SPEAKER_02]: And that was it. That was the US response to that problem solved. I don't think any,

[00:17:22] [SPEAKER_00]: any, I don't feel like that's an insult to him. You know what I mean? I don't think that.

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I know. It's like, I nailed it. Yes. Yeah, exactly. You know? All right. So I have this

[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_02]: long quote from Putin. Now it's not in Russian. So you'll have to like imagine that

[00:17:41] [SPEAKER_02]: saying it in a scary deep voice, but it'll just be me. But you know, you get the idea. So

[00:17:48] [SPEAKER_02]: all right. If someone considers it possible to supply such weapons to a combat zone,

[00:17:55] [SPEAKER_02]: to strike our territory and create problems for us, then why do we not have the right to supply

[00:18:02] [SPEAKER_02]: our weapons of the same class to the regions of the world from which the strikes will be

[00:18:09] [SPEAKER_02]: on sensitive objects to those countries that do this in retaliation to Russia?

[00:18:17] [SPEAKER_02]: I know that kind of didn't flow as well as it should have. Something about Russian,

[00:18:21] [SPEAKER_02]: English or that, or I don't know how to read. But the idea is if we're giving weapons to

[00:18:29] [SPEAKER_02]: Ukraine and helping them, Russia's kind of got the attitude of, well then are we wrong

[00:18:36] [SPEAKER_02]: if we give weapons to Iran or we give weapons to terrorist groups in Saudi Arabia anywhere?

[00:18:46] [SPEAKER_02]: I know we're allies with Saudi Arabia and everything. But yeah, there's weird stuff

[00:18:51] [SPEAKER_00]: going on there. They might have that old guy. Yeah. I feel like that's already happening. I

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_00]: would not be surprised. I mean, right now it's going the other way. Iran is sending Russian

[00:19:02] [SPEAKER_00]: weapons to Russia because Russia is running out of the basic weapons. But I don't know,

[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_00]: if they send them nukes, I don't know if that's crossing the line or not.

[00:19:16] [SPEAKER_02]: That's, I guess, why I wanted to dig into this is really where is that line?

[00:19:23] [SPEAKER_02]: I feel like Russia's not going to do it haphazardly. I don't think it's all

[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_02]: right on the corner. But I think that we're right on the edge of these things happening.

[00:19:37] [SPEAKER_02]: But I think they definitely are preparing for it. And I think that if push, I think if Putin

[00:19:47] [SPEAKER_02]: gets pushed in a corner where he feels he has nothing to lose and he just may even lose his

[00:19:54] [SPEAKER_02]: dignity and pride for it all and whatever, I don't think it's that hard of a sell

[00:20:00] [SPEAKER_02]: to get that guy to go over the edge and mess with the US in a hardcore way. Be that going

[00:20:07] [SPEAKER_02]: after our satellites, be that going after our power grid. I mean, do I think he's going to

[00:20:13] [SPEAKER_02]: drop a nuclear bomb in New York City? Probably not. I don't see that. I mean, that to me is

[00:20:19] [SPEAKER_02]: on the 1% of possible futures in the next 20 years. That's not one that I see happening.

[00:20:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Be honest with you, I've been in New York City. It's already pretty fucked up. You know what

[00:20:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean? Like, I don't even know if anyone would notice. The word sewer comes to mind.

[00:20:39] [SPEAKER_02]: They do allow public urination in New York City. But I guess- Is that legal?

[00:20:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, in New York City, yes. Because Kevin, it's not fair to the homeless if you make them

[00:20:53] [SPEAKER_02]: go find a bathroom. Bathrooms aren't just open to the public anywhere.

[00:20:58] [SPEAKER_00]: No, it's only for customers. Everyone knows that.

[00:21:01] [SPEAKER_02]: In your stores. Right. Customers only. So then what are they going to do? Right. But

[00:21:08] [SPEAKER_02]: that's different than San Diego or whatever or San Francisco, wherever they poop in the street.

[00:21:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Wherever the race people live. Yeah, San Francisco is where you're talking about.

[00:21:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. Yeah. They make the poos right in the street.

[00:21:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, if we're talking about places where people shit and piss in public, you gotta add

[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_00]: France to the list. India. China. It's rampant in this world.

[00:21:38] [SPEAKER_02]: I will say I was in Poughkeepsie one time doing a service call and I was driving down

[00:21:43] [SPEAKER_02]: the road and there was a lady who just was dropping a deuce right in the sidewalk.

[00:21:48] [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm like, I almost kind of crashed the work van driving that awkward lean over a stair.

[00:21:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Is that lady just taking a crap right here? It's funny because that used to be really

[00:22:03] [SPEAKER_01]: abnormal whereas now I guess that's kind of a more normal thing.

[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I saw a lady up in Woodstock not too long ago. She was wearing a dress. She was an old

[00:22:13] [SPEAKER_00]: lady with a beard and she was just walking down the street and the dress was dragging

[00:22:17] [SPEAKER_01]: on the street. And they were just falling out.

[00:22:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. Yeah, behind her. And I don't know. I feel like I couldn't even do that. I couldn't

[00:22:23] [SPEAKER_00]: walk and poop at the same time but I mean- No, no, I couldn't. You just squeeze that

[00:22:28] [SPEAKER_01]: out, right? I don't even know how you do it. I guess this whole episode took a turn for

[00:22:32] [SPEAKER_02]: the worst right there but I don't know what to tell you. Bunch of disgusting stat people.

[00:22:37] [SPEAKER_02]: To me, Woodstock, I was like, oh, that's normal. That's like if you told me, oh,

[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_02]: I saw somebody poop on the street in San Francisco, they'd be like, yeah.

[00:22:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. That's not news. Yeah.

[00:22:48] [SPEAKER_02]: But that's not news. You're not telling me anything. I don't know. So all right.

[00:22:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Little off task there. I'm sorry about that. So the next thing. All right. So

[00:22:58] [SPEAKER_02]: I think Putin would step up. I think that he could be pushed and I think I had said

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_02]: maybe a 1% chance he would actually send a nuke to a US city and really do damage. But I think

[00:23:16] [SPEAKER_02]: we have a 20% chance that in the next 15 years, somebody uses some kind of EMP or major hack

[00:23:26] [SPEAKER_02]: against the United States. I really put it as that high and that might be China and North

[00:23:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Korea. But I think these countries are kind of talking to each other. I have a feeling

[00:23:36] [SPEAKER_02]: in my gut that they would kind of like know about it or have discussed it prior to

[00:23:43] [SPEAKER_02]: between all three countries. If something like that was going to happen. Like maybe somebody

[00:23:49] [SPEAKER_02]: would be like, well, that's it. I'm doing it. And they wouldn't call North Korea or China

[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_02]: first. They'd just do their thing. Like that could happen. But these plans could have

[00:23:58] [SPEAKER_00]: kind of like, we might do this. Work out and how it might. Yeah. You know, I feel like.

[00:24:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I mean, after war game everything, right? I mean, so if you're war gaming it,

[00:24:09] [SPEAKER_00]: you might talk to your allies about what your war games say. Right. Right. That's reasonable.

[00:24:15] [SPEAKER_02]: I know that sounds ridiculously high compared to what the US media says. But I feel like

[00:24:23] [SPEAKER_02]: 20% in the next 15 years, something like that could happen. A major attack. Now does that mean

[00:24:30] [SPEAKER_02]: that cripples the US? I mean, I'm talking about where maybe our grid goes down even nationwide or

[00:24:37] [SPEAKER_02]: half the nation for two, three days. I'm saying like something like that sounds very probable to

[00:24:43] [SPEAKER_02]: me. Like 20%. And I mean, because they keep talking more. These are the capabilities and

[00:24:51] [SPEAKER_02]: that's what war looks like in the future, in my mind. Right. And I don't necessarily believe

[00:24:58] [SPEAKER_00]: that we would know who did it. You know what I mean? If you're not going to launch a nuclear

[00:25:07] [SPEAKER_00]: warhead at the United States from your country and like risk, you know, a response.

[00:25:15] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I don't want to get nuked. And you know, probably whoever's in the White House

[00:25:22] [SPEAKER_00]: is thinking the same thing. You know, probably Putin's thinking the same thing. I'm sure he's

[00:25:26] [SPEAKER_00]: got a great bunker and I'm sure he's, you know, he's all well protected, but you don't

[00:25:31] [SPEAKER_00]: want to be an asshole that destroyed your entire country. You know? Right. Are you going

[00:25:35] [SPEAKER_02]: to be like the guy? Yeah, but it's better than losing. Kevin, do you want to be a loser?

[00:25:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Nobody wants to be a loser. I'm just saying, putting that out there.

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_00]: All right. So today, this is actually, this is a quote I'm reading. This is not today,

[00:25:54] [SPEAKER_00]: but this is the quote from three days ago. Today, the House Permanent Select Committee on

[00:25:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Intelligence has made available to all members of Congress information concerning a serious

[00:26:04] [SPEAKER_00]: national security threat. I am requesting that President Biden declassify the all

[00:26:12] [SPEAKER_00]: information relating to this threat so that Congress, the administration and our allies

[00:26:17] [SPEAKER_00]: can openly discuss the actions necessary to respond to that threat. That's Chairman

[00:26:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Mike Turner from the Committee on Intelligence. What's the threat? What is, needs to be

[00:26:29] [SPEAKER_00]: declassified that we can all talk about it and discuss possible mitigation? The threat is

[00:26:37] [SPEAKER_00]: this nuclear powered satellite that was launched by Russia on May 16th, according to

[00:26:46] [SPEAKER_00]: General Pat Ryder. He's the U.S. General Pat Ryder? U.S. General Pat Ryder, right.

[00:26:55] [SPEAKER_00]: It was launched on May 16th, like I said. And what is this nuclear powered satellite?

[00:27:04] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know, but I can make some guesses. Yeah. So, oh, there's some scary things. I was just

[00:27:13] [SPEAKER_02]: reading an article and I have a direct quote here. This is, it says, in addition to these

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER_02]: kinetic space weapons, Russia is developing a nuclear space-based anti-satellite weapon

[00:27:26] [SPEAKER_02]: that would be capable of disabling hundreds of satellites through radiation effects,

[00:27:33] [SPEAKER_02]: or the resulting electromagnetic pulse. That's from the Center for Strategic and

[00:27:40] [SPEAKER_02]: International Studies. And I don't know, that's, I think, where they're going. And the big thing

[00:27:46] [SPEAKER_02]: is, I think Russia is willing to take out large chunks of space and satellites and just kind of

[00:28:03] [SPEAKER_02]: because you probably don't realize this. I mean, you probably do because we've been researching

[00:28:08] [SPEAKER_02]: this, but a lot of people, you wouldn't think, but Russia has really fallen behind in the space

[00:28:14] [SPEAKER_02]: race. In the 80s, they were putting up three times as many satellites as we were. Like,

[00:28:21] [SPEAKER_02]: they were kicking butt. Now, we're like 10 times what Russia's doing. And ever since

[00:28:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Ukraine War, they've run out of money for their space program. They're not capable at this point

[00:28:37] [SPEAKER_02]: of doing a lot of things. We were paying them to run the people up to the space station and

[00:28:43] [SPEAKER_02]: stuff like that. Not anymore. It's not happening. And we're kind of shutting them down

[00:28:48] [SPEAKER_02]: and they don't have a lot to lose. Now, they have a GPS system like we do. What was it

[00:28:58] [SPEAKER_00]: called? Exactly. That's what I was getting right on the tip of my tongue.

[00:29:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to try and pronounce seven Russian words in a row and try and not sound like niddies.

[00:29:16] [SPEAKER_02]: There you go. They don't actually have a program. Like, a lot of stuff I was reading,

[00:29:24] [SPEAKER_02]: a lot of their guys for communications are using Starlink to connect for that Ukraine War.

[00:29:32] [SPEAKER_02]: They're not exactly cutting edge when it comes to space and they're not afraid to shut it down.

[00:29:43] [SPEAKER_02]: We've seen plans in the US that have been shared with North Korea, that have been

[00:29:56] [SPEAKER_02]: shared with China. I don't know if they have the ability to actually implement it,

[00:30:07] [SPEAKER_02]: but China and Russia absolutely to have nukes that could be launched from satellites.

[00:30:16] [SPEAKER_02]: That's a real threat, especially as an EMP. It would only take one EMP

[00:30:24] [SPEAKER_02]: to take out. It would take an altitude of like 300 miles, but you could take out the whole

[00:30:32] [SPEAKER_02]: United States with one. A lot of the models you see, you typically see three separate EMPs

[00:30:40] [SPEAKER_02]: spread out across the United States and that's how we think the redundancy would be,

[00:30:46] [SPEAKER_02]: but it's possible with just one high enough, you can take out the entire United States. Now,

[00:30:54] [SPEAKER_02]: again, that pulse is going to be a lot less effective than three closer ones. However,

[00:31:02] [SPEAKER_02]: once things start cascading, you can really shut down the bigger stuff. You might not

[00:31:08] [SPEAKER_02]: wipe out all the electronics, but you could probably wipe out the power grid and that's

[00:31:13] [SPEAKER_00]: a big thing. Turn everything off. These satellites are, this satellite specifically is above the

[00:31:26] [SPEAKER_00]: magnetosphere, meaning that the magnetosphere would protect us from the blast from the EMP,

[00:31:33] [SPEAKER_00]: but it would damage everything else above that level. Hypothetically, if it is an EMP,

[00:31:39] [SPEAKER_00]: it could take out all the satellites in a specific area and then cascading down,

[00:31:49] [SPEAKER_00]: shutting down satellites all over the world. Kevin, we don't use things in space, do we?

[00:31:54] [SPEAKER_00]: No. Well, I mean there is some things like communications, cell phones, internet definitely

[00:32:01] [SPEAKER_00]: would go down in most places. Navigation, your GPS, but your GPS in your car getting to places

[00:32:11] [SPEAKER_00]: is one thing for sure, but your GPS is attached to a whole lot of other things,

[00:32:15] [SPEAKER_00]: a whole lot of apps on your phone. Turn off your GPS and see what apps all of a sudden

[00:32:19] [SPEAKER_02]: don't fucking work right. I'm not sure I can find my way to work without GPS.

[00:32:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Seriously. A lot of scientific research is going to be set down.

[00:32:32] [SPEAKER_00]: National security issues, obviously, because the military uses GPS, but they also use

[00:32:36] [SPEAKER_00]: imaging satellites and all sorts of other things for tactical deployment.

[00:32:41] [SPEAKER_02]: You guys don't realize maybe, I mean maybe you do, maybe everybody realizes, but me,

[00:32:47] [SPEAKER_02]: how many satellites there are around the earth. It's crazy. I think we read that the US has

[00:32:56] [SPEAKER_02]: already launched like 1,222 satellites was the last number I saw this year.

[00:33:02] [SPEAKER_02]: There are so many satellites going around the earth. It is so intricate to our lives.

[00:33:10] [SPEAKER_02]: It's not just Starlink. I know you're like, well, it's Elon. He's the one ruining it for

[00:33:15] [SPEAKER_02]: everybody. I understand actually he is a big part of cluttering up space, which is concerning

[00:33:22] [SPEAKER_02]: for people. There is a lot of stuff out there and it's kind of a mess up there.

[00:33:31] [SPEAKER_02]: You don't want a bunch of things. The thing is if it's not quality technology,

[00:33:38] [SPEAKER_02]: you do run into the risk of things colliding with each other and taking out-

[00:33:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Right. Or launching a fucking spacecraft and hitting something that shouldn't be there.

[00:33:50] [SPEAKER_00]: There's all sorts of stuff, all sorts of problems that this is causing.

[00:33:55] [SPEAKER_02]: When I was a kid, so I went to space camp when I was a kid. Now that's hardcore. That's

[00:34:00] [SPEAKER_02]: a commitment right there. But we were watching all the space debris that we were tracking and

[00:34:07] [SPEAKER_02]: we're talking about like, oh, I dropped a wrench when I was up doing something once there.

[00:34:12] [SPEAKER_02]: Now we're tracking that wrench like where it is because it sucks when things are flying,

[00:34:18] [SPEAKER_02]: rotating around the earth at 300 miles an hour and they hit a wrench. You're like, oh, there goes

[00:34:24] [SPEAKER_00]: that solar array. Yeah, it's not that big of a deal but when it's traveling 60,000 miles an hour,

[00:34:31] [SPEAKER_02]: anything is a big deal. Big deal. You're like, well, that's bigger than a bullet

[00:34:36] [SPEAKER_02]: and they might be going faster than a bullet. We might have a problem.

[00:34:43] [SPEAKER_02]: That's where you start to run into stuff. Then you get all these novice countries that may or

[00:34:49] [SPEAKER_02]: may not have the cutting edge technology in North Korea. Anybody could be doing things like that

[00:34:57] [SPEAKER_02]: and they might just have jumped up there. It's one of those things I feel like you don't know

[00:35:02] [SPEAKER_02]: what you don't know. Sometimes they don't know that they're idiots and they just hope for

[00:35:10] [SPEAKER_02]: the best. That can end badly. Bottom line, it comes down to Russia has capability.

[00:35:21] [SPEAKER_02]: As we just pointed out, even if their technology isn't quite 100%, that might make things even

[00:35:29] [SPEAKER_02]: worse than if they really know what they're doing up there. Either scenario is not good.

[00:35:36] [SPEAKER_02]: I gotta say we are poking the bear. Maybe that should be the cover. Maybe I'll change

[00:35:43] [SPEAKER_02]: the cover for the episode and it'll just be like Uncle Sam poking the bear.

[00:35:53] [SPEAKER_00]: This isn't new guesswork as far as that stuff goes because this is something that the United

[00:36:02] [SPEAKER_00]: States actually did in 1962. It was called Starfish Prime or Project K. It was top secret

[00:36:12] [SPEAKER_00]: at the time but they definitely sent a nuke up and detonated it in outer space just to see

[00:36:20] [SPEAKER_00]: what would happen because why not? It wasn't all good, was it Kevin? No, it didn't work out

[00:36:29] [SPEAKER_00]: and they basically began doing that after that happened. Now this was 1962 so there weren't a

[00:36:36] [SPEAKER_00]: whole lot of space, there weren't a whole lot of satellites up there but it did take out at

[00:36:43] [SPEAKER_00]: least according to them six disabled satellites with the initial EMP blast and then it caused

[00:36:52] [SPEAKER_00]: a radiation belt around the world that lasted for six or eight days and the radiation as it

[00:37:02] [SPEAKER_00]: traveled around the planet in the magnetosphere was basically buying every satellite that crossed

[00:37:11] [SPEAKER_02]: through the path there. Isn't that crazy that it could just carry all the way around and still be

[00:37:16] [SPEAKER_00]: that you know? Right and I wouldn't think the radiation itself would do that much damage to

[00:37:20] [SPEAKER_02]: satellites but it absolutely did. Yeah so that's one of the things I've been kind of getting

[00:37:26] [SPEAKER_02]: ready, you guys know I'm going to Prepper Camp a couple weeks here and talking about EMPs.

[00:37:33] [SPEAKER_02]: I've been stepping up my research and doing kind of a deep dive but basically when you get

[00:37:40] [SPEAKER_02]: a nuclear explosion it rips all the atoms kind of apart and in with that pressure

[00:37:47] [SPEAKER_02]: and then things kind of reformulate but that whole disruption in the magnetic fields and everything

[00:37:54] [SPEAKER_02]: really creates a lot of chaos and it really can you know carry and do some serious damage to

[00:38:02] [SPEAKER_02]: things when you just because it creates a void right like that giant you know explosion

[00:38:08] [SPEAKER_02]: and it just rips things apart and it's crazy so a lot of damage and you don't realize but

[00:38:16] [SPEAKER_02]: can really wreck some stuff and it's funny because we're so much more dependent on technology.

[00:38:23] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't think people realize how much of a part of your everyday life that it really is.

[00:38:29] [SPEAKER_02]: It really can you know throw us into a world, I'm not just saying EMPs and stuff,

[00:38:35] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm saying you know if Russia starts messing with satellites, if we take out the power grid

[00:38:40] [SPEAKER_02]: or you know even just disrupt our GPS, what if somebody you know threw our GPS stuff off

[00:38:46] [SPEAKER_02]: you know where it wasn't you know in alignment you know if you were able to manipulate these

[00:38:53] [SPEAKER_02]: things it could have dire effects that and that's the thing they always say like if there's an

[00:39:00] [SPEAKER_02]: EMP the third world countries are going to be thriving you know compared relative to the rest.

[00:39:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah they're already able right they're already there right so I mean I think that

[00:39:17] [SPEAKER_00]: widespread power outages would be in the United States would be catastrophic you know

[00:39:24] [SPEAKER_00]: most people aren't able to function without basic electronics.

[00:39:30] [SPEAKER_00]: We're good for about two days. Your microwave doesn't come on, your electric stove doesn't

[00:39:35] [SPEAKER_00]: come on like you know you're kind of shit out of luck. You know live in an apartment building

[00:39:43] [SPEAKER_00]: in New York City and figure out how to boil some water you know what I mean like what

[00:39:48] [SPEAKER_02]: are you gonna do? You're right you're stuck. So I'm just saying you guys may want to step

[00:39:54] [SPEAKER_02]: up a little bit of that long term think about how you're going to heat your house,

[00:39:59] [SPEAKER_02]: think about how you're going to stay warm, think about how you're going to be protected

[00:40:03] [SPEAKER_02]: from the sun and the elements if that's you know if you're in Phoenix Arizona right?

[00:40:08] [SPEAKER_02]: You know these are the things you need to be aware of how am I going to get water?

[00:40:11] [SPEAKER_02]: How are you going to do it? I don't know I just I know we dismiss Russia because

[00:40:18] [SPEAKER_02]: they have a hard time doing anything really productive but right it doesn't take a whole

[00:40:24] [SPEAKER_02]: lot with today's technology to really disrupt somebody else. I guess that's what it comes down

[00:40:30] [SPEAKER_02]: to. I'm just saying that's something to be aware of and they have a lot of nukes and Russia

[00:40:37] [SPEAKER_02]: we've been slacking off Russia has been doubling up their game every time we we're like

[00:40:43] [SPEAKER_02]: eh we don't need those nukes. Their Russian nukes are faster we've seen tests that they

[00:40:50] [SPEAKER_02]: are faster than we are right and they can lay it down they can really do some damage.

[00:40:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I remember when I was a kid they used to say like the time you would have would only be like

[00:41:02] [SPEAKER_00]: three hours you know what I mean? The nukes launching and you don't only have three hours.

[00:41:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Three it's like closer to three minutes now with subs that they have you know subs that are

[00:41:12] [SPEAKER_02]: right with a sub it's like three minutes even coming from Russia or China you're talking

[00:41:18] [SPEAKER_02]: about less than 20 minutes. You know I don't know there are ICBMs that you can be around

[00:41:25] [SPEAKER_02]: the world in seven minutes but I guess we kind of notice the preparation and whatever. I think

[00:41:30] [SPEAKER_02]: the general rule they go with is coming out of Russia you're looking at like 20 minutes that

[00:41:36] [SPEAKER_02]: kind of thing Russia or China yeah but I think like you said with the nukes they can be a whole

[00:41:41] [SPEAKER_02]: lot or sorry with the submarines they can be a whole lot closer and you know it's just

[00:41:49] [SPEAKER_02]: there are so many things they could do and there's so many threats out there and I'm not

[00:41:53] [SPEAKER_02]: saying run around be afraid be afraid go buy prepper gear. I'm not saying that at all I mean one

[00:41:59] [SPEAKER_02]: I just want you to have food and be able to take care of yourself you know learn some skills

[00:42:04] [SPEAKER_02]: that's all I'm not saying anybody needs to spend any money but I would say you know be

[00:42:11] [SPEAKER_02]: aware that these threats are real and there's a lot of crazy in the world and you know Russia

[00:42:18] [SPEAKER_02]: China North Korea I feel like there's a lot of crazy there now I feel like there's a lot of

[00:42:24] [SPEAKER_02]: deceit and lying in the United States we have our own issues and I think you could make an

[00:42:31] [SPEAKER_02]: argument for some crazy especially if uh if Trump wins you might be like well there's a lot of

[00:42:38] [SPEAKER_01]: crazy over here too yeah I can see that right I'm not saying we're excluded excluded from

[00:42:45] [SPEAKER_01]: this I'm just saying there's some wackadoos out there that's all and somehow the wackadoos rise

[00:42:52] [SPEAKER_02]: to the top that's all I'm saying so anyway you should check out preppingbadass.com we got a

[00:42:58] [SPEAKER_02]: great site there and a lot of information and you know you can find all the videos and the

[00:43:03] [SPEAKER_02]: episodes that you've been looking for um you'd either I don't know we have an email

[00:43:10] [SPEAKER_02]: list you could sign up there a lot of cool things um we are going I'm going to Prepper Camp in a

[00:43:16] [SPEAKER_02]: couple weeks uh September 27 28 29 something like that and that's gonna be awesome I'll

[00:43:23] [SPEAKER_02]: put a link in the show notes so you guys can uh check it out maybe still get some tickets

[00:43:28] [SPEAKER_02]: and uh there's gonna be just tons of lectures about how you can get prepared

[00:43:33] [SPEAKER_02]: um I think lectures are a good thing maybe that intimidates yeah I don't know

[00:43:37] [SPEAKER_02]: but anyway it's gonna be awesome uh you have show ideas things you want to hear about

[00:43:42] [SPEAKER_02]: questions thoughts ideas um you know just maybe put it in the comments but also send us an email

[00:43:50] [SPEAKER_02]: at preppingbadass.gmail.com as always don't forget to like and subscribe every time you

[00:43:56] [SPEAKER_02]: guys hit that like button it really helps us out and you know spreads things along um anytime

[00:44:02] [SPEAKER_02]: you leave a review we really appreciate it so with that I would say stay safe and

[00:44:08] [SPEAKER_02]: we'll talk to you guys next week