🌍 Can Europe embrace peace — or is it too deep in the game?
In this thought-provoking conversation, Judge Andrew Napolitano speaks with renowned geopolitical analyst Prof. Glenn Diesen on the future of peace in Europe amidst the Ukraine-Russia conflict ⚖️🌐
Topics covered:
🧠 Why peace might threaten Western interests
🇪🇺 Can European nations step back from the brink?
📉 What will it take to end this war diplomatically?
🔍 The deeper power dynamics at play behind the scenes
🕊️ Peace isn’t impossible. But is Europe truly ready to accept it?
👉 Be sure to LIKE 👍, SUBSCRIBE 🔔, and COMMENT 💬 to support independent voices and real analysis.
#GlennDiesen
#JudgeNapolitano
#UkraineWar
#EuropeAndPeace
#GeopoliticalAnalysis
#PeaceTalks
#RussiaUkraine
#WesternInterests
#EuropeanUnion
#UkraineCrisis
#AlternativeMedia
#RealPolitics
#NATOPolitics
#GlobalTensions
#TruthInMedia
#IndependentVoices
#InternationalRelations
#PoliticalStrategy
#EndTheWar
#DiplomacyMatters
In this thought-provoking conversation, Judge Andrew Napolitano speaks with renowned geopolitical analyst Prof. Glenn Diesen on the future of peace in Europe amidst the Ukraine-Russia conflict ⚖️🌐
Topics covered:
🧠 Why peace might threaten Western interests
🇪🇺 Can European nations step back from the brink?
📉 What will it take to end this war diplomatically?
🔍 The deeper power dynamics at play behind the scenes
🕊️ Peace isn’t impossible. But is Europe truly ready to accept it?
👉 Be sure to LIKE 👍, SUBSCRIBE 🔔, and COMMENT 💬 to support independent voices and real analysis.
#GlennDiesen
#JudgeNapolitano
#UkraineWar
#EuropeAndPeace
#GeopoliticalAnalysis
#PeaceTalks
#RussiaUkraine
#WesternInterests
#EuropeanUnion
#UkraineCrisis
#AlternativeMedia
#RealPolitics
#NATOPolitics
#GlobalTensions
#TruthInMedia
#IndependentVoices
#InternationalRelations
#PoliticalStrategy
#EndTheWar
#DiplomacyMatters
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Transcription by CastingWords
00:30Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Thursday, April 24th,
00:392025. Professor Glenn Deason joins us now. Professor, a pleasure, my friend, and thank
00:45you very much for your time today and for accommodating my schedule. Before we get into
00:51the nitty-gritty about peace talks in Ukraine or with Ukraine and Russia and the attitude of the
00:59Europeans, I've been asking all of our guests this week about the Pope and sort of getting
01:04surprising or not always anticipated answers. In your view, is there any geopolitical significance
01:11to the death of Pope Francis? That's a hard question. It's too early to say. I guess it depends who will take over.
01:23But, no, I'm sorry. I don't have anything to cover. No, that's all right. I mean, is the Pope viewed in Europe,
01:30which, of course, at one point was all Catholic and another point was all Christian. It's hard to say what it is today.
01:36But is the Pope viewed as a secular leader who can bring about peace?
01:43Well, I guess less so now than before. But he still has an important voice. But it's worth noting that he did call
01:54during the Ukraine war for talks and recognition that the Russians and the Ukrainians, you know,
02:03they had a lot of common history. And this was immediately attacked effectively. So he didn't enjoy the same authority as he would have had in the past.
02:13He apparently telephoned the pastor of the one remaining standing Catholic church in Gaza, which was built in the ninth century,
02:26every day for the past month or so of the last month or so of his life.
02:32And when it was announced that he died, I didn't know about this until one of our guests, Max Blumenthal, told me.
02:38When he died, the Israeli embassy in the Vatican immediately posted standard condolences.
02:47And then Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered it removed.
02:51I mean, I wasn't aware, but yeah, I don't know. Is there anything to say about that?
02:57That seems to me highly inappropriate. The guy's dead.
03:02Yeah, no. Well, in my opinion, I think it's the interaction.
03:07And I guess you can call diplomacy between religious leaders can be very helpful and positive.
03:13I'm not sure what the background was for Netanyahu. Was this also part of the, I guess,
03:18growing intolerance involved in some Peronist activity before he was a priest going back to Argentina in the 50s.
03:27And I guess they were upset that he may have used the word genocide.
03:32I don't even know. I know Netanyahu is not going to be at the funeral.
03:35I don't know if they're going to send anyone.
03:37Moving on, the Whitcoff-Rubio boycott of the London negotiations.
03:46How do you read that, Professor Diesen?
03:50Well, it shouldn't become as too big of a surprise.
03:54I think the main thing that triggered this was Zelensky, who argued that there was nothing to talk about
04:00because he rejected some of the key issues in this peace agreement.
04:05So I think primarily the recognition of Crimea as being a Russian peninsula was where the main opposition was.
04:14So, again, I think they reacted quite negatively to the idea that he not just rejected the peace agreement,
04:22but he also did it very publicly and, again, just saying that there's nothing to even talk about.
04:29Well, then, where are they going to go?
04:31Because that is the sine qua non, without which there is nothing for the Russians.
04:39If Zelensky agrees to it, he might very well be assassinated by the political forces around him.
04:50Is this insoluble, or is this only soluble by the force of arms?
04:56That's a great question, because it has to be pointed out that Zelensky himself is in a very difficult position.
05:01If he would accept this concession, then he could be strung up by the nationalists.
05:10This is after he was elected as well.
05:15Keep in mind that Zelensky was actually elected on a peace platform back in 2019.
05:20He got 73% of the votes because he was pushing for peace with Donbass,
05:25implementing the Minsk agreement, making peace with Russia.
05:28And the nationalist groups, they openly threatened his life.
05:32Even Boris Johnson recognized this recently.
05:36So there's not much, in this sense, he can do unless he wants to have the nationalists come after him.
05:42On the other hand, if he doesn't accept this peace agreement, Ukraine will be destroyed.
05:48And I don't think that's an understatement.
05:51I think the Americans have also put themselves in a difficult spot now,
05:55because, again, Trump said this war would be over in 100 days.
05:59If he can't get the war to be over, then what else can he do?
06:05He can continue to say this is not his war, it was Biden's war.
06:10But the United States continues now to fight against Russia.
06:14Every day its weapons and intelligence and targeting results in the killing of Russians.
06:18So if this just continues, then this is a continuation of Biden's policy.
06:24It is Trump's war as well.
06:26So either now he has to either make a peace or begin to move away.
06:30And I think this is what Marco Rubio, J.D. Vance has indicated, that if there is no possibility for peaceful settlement, then America's done.
06:39So I think this is why it's very dangerous not to accept the peace agreement as well, as this will lead to the collapse of the Ukrainian army.
06:50Is it likely that the United States will turn off the spigot of arms?
06:57Like always, it's a bit hard to say with Trump.
07:00He seems to be very impulsive and he changes his mind from day to day.
07:06But I think if this war just keeps getting from going from bad to worse, I don't think he wants to have ownership over this.
07:16If he can walk away and you have them just to do some.
07:21This will be the time for this huge mess before it all falls apart.
07:27It would be a bit like handing over Afghanistan before it collapsed to the Europeans.
07:32So essentially they can take over the mess.
07:36Go ahead.
07:39I think it's too much about Zelenskyy, because there are other political forces within Ukraine who are very willing to make a deal.
07:48That is, the majority of Ukrainians want negotiations.
07:51And again, the former advisor of Zelenskyy, Alexei Arstovich, he recently made this comment that the alternative, that Ukraine should accept the loss of these four oblasts.
08:03Because the alternative isn't to restore everything.
08:06The alternative is to lose eight oblasts.
08:08And I think this is common sense.
08:10Everyone knows that the war is being lost.
08:12Nothing can be won.
08:14But the hardliners around Zelenskyy are not rational.
08:17They'll never accept this.
08:19They believe, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, you have a better finger on this pulse than I do.
08:25They would prefer to fight to the death, wouldn't they?
08:30Well, there's many different groups within Ukraine, but definitely some of the more radical nationalists, you know, they definitely do prefer just to continue the war and continue fighting.
08:41Even if the outcome is obvious and not to their liking, presumably when Vice President Vance says something, he's running past the president.
08:52Tell me if you think he did here.
08:54Cut number two.
08:55We've issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it's time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process.
09:04But it's now time, I think, to take if not the final step, one of the final steps, which is at a broad level, the party saying we're going to stop the killing.
09:13We're going to freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today.
09:18And we're going to actually put in place the kind of long term diplomatic settlement that hopefully will lead to long term peace.
09:25We'll walk away.
09:26That courtesy of CBS News.
09:29I don't know.
09:30Do you actually see Trump turning off the spigot?
09:35Yeah, it remains to be seen what, again, what's in this concept of walking away, because will they still supply weapons, intelligence, again, continue the Biden policies?
09:45It's hard to say, because if they do everything, they will have a say over what happens in Ukraine.
09:55So I guess it fits into the wider strategic reorientation of the United States.
10:01Is it readjusting effectively to a multipolarity in which the US recognizes it doesn't have the same strategic interests everywhere?
10:10So it's just willing to accept, well, this is not our part of the world.
10:14This is none of our interest.
10:15Or will the more neocons win over who suggest that, well, every corner of the planet is our interest.
10:21So I think that's still...
10:23What about the European elites?
10:25A, will they even accept a peace agreement?
10:32Or B, will they dispatch someone to play the role Boris Johnson played three years ago to talk Zelensky out of the peace agreement that had been negotiated?
10:45Or C, will they try to replace the United States as the financier of the war?
10:52Well, the Europeans actually, they echoed what Zelensky said.
10:57They argued that they also will not accept Crimea becoming Russian.
11:03So they reject the peace and also they continue to send the weapons for the explicit purpose that Ukraine shouldn't have to make any compromises or settlement.
11:16So I think, again, when they talk about sending peacekeepers to help any peace agreement, this is to sabotage it.
11:24Because they know very well that the Russians would never accept a peace deal where the Europeans or soldiers from NATO countries would be stationed in Ukraine.
11:33So I see this as being an effort to sabotage it.
11:37But again, I can understand why they see this as a bad deal, because it is a humiliating peace.
11:43That is, Russia gets what it wants.
11:46It gets no NATO and it gets the territorial concessions.
11:50Again, my main problem is similar to what Orestovic said, that the alternative is much, much worse.
11:57I think this is the best of all terrible deals.
12:00But the Europeans, they don't have an alternative plan, but they are very strict that they do not want this peace agreement.
12:11Do they have the wherewithal to replace the flow of American arms and intel?
12:21I guess they have intel because they have MI6, which is apparently superb.
12:25I would imagine the Germans have good intel as well.
12:28You would know better.
12:29But do they have the wherewithal and the political will to supply the wherewithal, if they have it?
12:35Sorry, this is such a long-winded question, to replace what the Biden and Trump administrations have been sending.
12:44Well, I think the problem is twofold.
12:48One, they don't have the same capabilities as the United States in terms of the weapons, the logistics, as well as the intelligence.
12:56Now, obviously, they do have some, but nowhere near what the United States have.
13:01The other problem, as you alluded to, is the solidarity.
13:05The Europe is not one entity.
13:07It's easier for Europe to act as one entity under U.S. leadership.
13:12But the Europeans aren't united on this.
13:16The EU works very hard to marginalize dissenters such as Hungary or Slovakia.
13:23But there's more countries now who are growing very, very critical, be it Italy, for example.
13:28So it's going to be very hard to form this coalition of the willing, which is a very unfortunate term.
13:37It's really a terrible term crafted by people either ignorant or willing to ignore recent history.
13:46That was the George Bush term as if Afghanistan or Iraq were successful from the American point of view.
13:53I don't know why they picked that terminology.
13:55But who's in the coalition of the willing besides von der Leyen, Starmer, and Macron?
14:01Well, the whole thing is very weak already.
14:05They can't really agree on anything.
14:10And I think even the ones who are most pushing hardest for this, the British, I don't think it's realistic.
14:19I think they realize this because even within Britain, there's a huge pushback against Starmer.
14:25Because what exactly would be the idea?
14:27You send in British troops that would be annihilated by the Russians.
14:31And then what?
14:32Without an American backstop, it doesn't really make any sense.
14:38They don't have the troops.
14:40So, no, I think this is a lot of bluster.
14:44Essentially, they don't know exactly what to do.
14:47And this is, I guess, the main frustration within Europe, because there's a lot of contradictions here.
14:53If you, for example, look at the French under Macron, he has been arguing for years that at some point we have to recognize that constructing a Europe without Russia would lead to security problems.
15:06We need to reconsider the European security architecture.
15:09At the same time, it's arguing that NATO is not part of the problem.
15:14You know, after 2022, when the Russians invaded, he tried to have some diplomatic efforts with Putin.
15:20And when other Europeans put pressure on him to instead go for boycotting diplomacy, he argued that the main threat would be that non-European powers would then be the ones who would negotiate peace in Europe.
15:33And, of course, he was correct on this.
15:35But now he doesn't want to talk to Putin, at least not yet.
15:39So there's a lot of contradictions among the Europeans where they say one thing one day and then something different on the next.
15:48Putin has made a rather sweet statement about his desire for peace. Cut number four.
15:59As we have always said, we look positively at any peace initiatives.
16:03We hope that the representatives of the Kiev regime will also feel the same way.
16:08However, we have seen the initial reaction. I think everyone has noticed it.
16:13There was a statement published according to which our proposal was seen as a game with fates with people's lives and so on.
16:20But apparently there was someone smarter there who suggested, most likely from foreign overseers, that rejecting such initiatives is a losing position for the Kiev regime.
16:31And they quickly agreed.
16:32That's an understatement, isn't it?
16:36Yeah.
16:37But I wanted to add there, though, that even in the Western media, also American media, there's been recognized that as Washington pushed this peace proposal forward, that the Russians were willing to accept huge concessions.
16:52That is, you know, the next is for territories, but they don't control all parts of these four oblasts.
16:59So, you know, the fact that they would be willing, at least according to Financial Times, to freeze the front lines where they are in return for a political agreement, of course, this would effectively, well, de facto means to change the administrative borders of the territories.
17:18Now, I think this will be quite big.
17:21I think this will be quite big.
17:22Again, these are things that they want to negotiate.
17:24They want to lead to a neutral Ukraine.
17:27This is seen as a necessity for the world to avoid this existential threat.
17:34And the second is these territorial concessions.
17:36But the fact that they're willing to negotiate over where the borders go, you know, this is recognized also by the media to be a huge concession.
17:45So this goes back to the idea that it was a very bad idea by Zelensky to just blow off the whole proposal altogether.
17:56Because the day after, of course, he rejected this deal that the Russians saw, well, we would give this great concessions.
18:03If he doesn't want this, well, then we'll just bomb them heavily and show them the alternative.
18:08And this is why they had this very powerful strike against Kyiv last night, that is.
18:16Right, right.
18:18Let's move on to Israel.
18:20What is the view of EU leaders on the genocide in Gaza?
18:28Well, again, the Europeans are hardly an entity.
18:34They're very divided.
18:35But within the European Union, they tend to take the position of Israel as well as the Germans.
18:44I think this forms the EU, Germany, Britain.
18:49I think they form the real heart of Israeli support, where it's not that different from what you see coming out of Washington.
18:59But there's also some dissent in other corners.
19:04Hasn't the Prime Minister of Spain, I think a socialist, his name is now escaping me, Professor, condemned the genocide?
19:14And hasn't he begun the process for stopping arms from going to Israel?
19:20Yeah, so you have Spain, but you also have a fierce criticism coming out of Ireland, some of the Scandinavian countries.
19:28So there is there is opposition to this.
19:31And I think it's frustrating because it's frustrating when you have solidarity around some very dangerous policies.
19:40But for the EU, this is also quite a dramatic point in time, because in the 1990s and the 2000s, the EU worked very hard to position itself as a very different kind of power.
19:51So anyone who studied the EU in those days had to learn these concepts like a normative power, a civilian power, a moral power.
19:58It was seen as having this divisional labor with the United States, where the US would have the military, so it would make the dinner and the Europeans would do the dishes afterwards, which would be peacekeeping.
20:14And again, it would be a non geopolitical entity, something different from the past.
20:20And now, of course, you have the European Union backing Jolani in Syria, even as they committed this atrocities killing all the Alawites.
20:31You see them giving support Netanyahu, even as it carries out the genocide.
20:36So this is a very different EU than what we saw only a few years ago.
20:41And of course, this is the same EU now that is with the foreign policy chief Kaya Kalas arguing in favor of defeating Russia so it can be broken into smaller countries, stating, you know, she doesn't believe in talking to Putin because he's a war criminal.
20:56This is, again, the key diplomat not believing in diplomacy.
21:00It's a very, very different EU than what we saw only a few years ago.
21:05And I think this almost silent support of the genocide in Gaza, I think, is only making it much, much worse.
21:13Here's President Macron very recently on what he plans to do about recognizing the state of Palestine.
21:23We need to move towards a recognition of a Palestinian state.
21:28And so in the coming months, we will, and I won't do it for unity or to please this or that person.
21:35I will do it because I believe that at some point it will be right.
21:40And because I also want to participate in a collective dynamic.
21:46That is, one must also allow all those who defend Palestine to recognize Israel in turn, something many of them are not doing.
21:56Being clear about how to fight against those who deny Israel's right to exist, which is the case with Iran, and to commit ourselves to collective security in the region.
22:06We aim to chair this conference with Saudi Arabia sometime in June, where we could finalize the movement toward mutual recognition.
22:14Is he whistling in the wind, or is he going to start an avalanche towards the recognition of a Palestinian state?
22:23I mean, the UN has called for a Palestinian state for generations, and there's only a half dozen votes denying it, principal among them the US.
22:33Well, it's hard to say.
22:35I mean, Macron, he goes, he changes his mind a bit from one day to the other.
22:42Again, this is the same Macron who argued that it was a necessity to change the European security architecture unless we wanted conflicts with the Russians.
22:51Then he turned around going against it.
22:54And yeah, so he tends to flip on a lot of these things.
22:58But he is correct, though, I think, on this, because the main problem we have now in Palestine is that if you don't have a Palestinian state, if you just have a greater Israel, how do you have an ethno-nation state if you're only 50% of the population?
23:12So if you're 7.5 million Jews out of 15 million, what happens to the other half?
23:18It doesn't work.
23:19So either you need an apartheid system, like you have in the West Bank, where they become secondary citizens, second rates citizens, or you have it like in Gaza, where you have now a genocide in order to induce ethnic cleansing to, as Trump said, move the whole population out and send them to other countries.
23:38There's no other way.
23:39There's no other way.
23:40How can you have, again, a Jewish nation state when you only have the population and the birth rates of the other side is much higher?
23:49Right.
23:50You can only try to...
23:51What's not a democracy that can't even claim to be a democracy?
23:55No.
23:56It's not sustainable.
23:58Only options is either apartheid, genocide, or ethnic cleansing.
24:03I'm not sure what another alternative would be.
24:06So I do think that a Palestinian state is a necessity.
24:09But, of course, if they can make a grand bargain and get the Iranians to recognize the right of Israel to exist, wonderful.
24:16Then, you know, you can have a platform there.
24:19But Macron is, again, he's not...
24:22What he says this week, he might change it next week.
24:26Yeah.
24:27I mean, last week, Avigdor Lieberman, who's a member of the Knesset and a former defense minister under Netanyahu, posted on X that American sources tell him Trump is getting sick and tired of Netanyahu.
24:43Yair Lapid, who's the opposition leader in the Knesset, said he fully expects Jews to be killing Jews.
24:55And Abu Abbas, who is the head of the PLO, cut number 11, Chris, said the following.
25:01It's necessary for Hamas to end its control over the Gaza Strip and also hand over the weapons to the Palestinian National Authority.
25:13Since October 7, we have said one thing, to stop the fighting. Stop the fighting.
25:19Of course, no one responded to us because they disregard us because Hamas is happy and Netanyahu remains in power as long as there is war.
25:30I mean, he's a tool of the Israelis, is he not? I can't imagine anybody in Gaza paying attention to him.
25:38No, they don't. So, but on the topic of Netanyahu, I think he's correct on that aspect of that.
25:50Yeah, that if the war ends, he will also, his citizenship as prime minister will also come to an end.
25:58So, I think people don't appreciate how deeply divided Israel has become now.
26:04It's becoming common to talk about the civil war.
26:08You're having top officials from IDF calling, essentially IDF leaders as well, calling Netanyahu effectively a traitor, someone who should be removed.
26:21So, the divisions are very deep and growing.
26:24So, I know that it seems that it makes sense to keep the war going in order to stay in power.
26:31But I think the war will only continue to intensify some of these divisions by masking them temporarily.
26:38Professor Deason, thank you very much.
26:40Thanks for letting me go all around on all of this, from the Pope to Ukraine to Gaza.
26:47Much appreciated. We look forward to seeing you again next week.
26:50Thanks for having me on, Judge. It's always a pleasure.
26:52Of course. Coming up at 2 o'clock this afternoon, Colonel Douglas McGregor.
26:57And at 3 o'clock, Professor John Mearsheimer, Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom.