openpolitics.com

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matt lee is uh an associated press
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foreign policy correspondent or state
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department uh journalist and
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he
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really questioned this guy ned price the
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state department spokesperson very
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aggressively over this new claim that’s
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emerged
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that
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we now know russia is planning a false
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flag attack uh to invade ukraine and
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you know therefore it’s like
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basically whatever the us wants to do in
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response is justified because we we
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didn’t start it we didn’t do anything we
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didn’t do anything wrong here and so if
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we want to deploy troops to the border
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tens of thousands of them if we want to
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have the tanks ready to go
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if we want to do sanctions not just of
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the oligarchs but even russian civilians
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hey don’t question us we’re telling you
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we we know we have the smoking gun
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evidence that they’re gonna do a false
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flag attack and we need to be prepared
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for that so this journalist has been
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around the block
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and he’s going to do a very simple thing
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he’s going to ask for evidence and look
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at how comical this back and forth is uh
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we told you a few weeks ago that we have
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information indicating russia also has
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already pre-positioned a group of
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operatives to conduct a false flag
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operation in eastern ukraine so that map
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to your question is an action that
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russia has already taken it’s an action
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that you say that they have taken but
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you have shown no evidence to
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to to confirm that and i’m going to get
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to the next question here which is what
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is the evidence that they i mean this is
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like crisis actors really this is like
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alex jones territory you’re getting it
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too now
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um what evidence do you have to support
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the idea that there is some propaganda
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film in the in in the making
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now this is derived uh from information
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known to the us government intelligence
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information that we have declassified i
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think okay well where is it where is
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this information it is intelligence
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information that we have declassified
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well where is it where is the
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declassified information i just
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delivered it
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look no you made a series of allegations
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would you like us to print out the
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topper because you will see a transcript
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of this briefing that you can print out
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for yourself it’s not evidence ned
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that’s you saying it that’s not evidence
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i’m sorry
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what would you like matt
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i i would like to see some proof that
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you that that
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that you can show
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that
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that matt
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that shows that that that shows that the
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russians are doing this ned i’ve been
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doing this i know that was my passion
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you have been doing this for quite a
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while you know that when we declassify
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intelligence information we do so in a
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means
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where is the declassified information
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other than you coming out here and
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saying
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matt i’m sorry you don’t like the format
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uh but we have
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format it’s the content i’m sorry you
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don’t like the content i’m sorry you i’m
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sorry you are doubting the information
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that is in the possession of the us
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government
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what i’m telling you is that this is
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information that’s available to us we
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are making it available to you uh in
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order uh for a couple reasons one is to
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attempt to deter the russians from going
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ahead with this activity two in the
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event we’re not able to do that in the
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event the russians do go ahead with us
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to make it clear as day to lay bear the
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fact that this has always been an
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attempt on the part of the russian
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federation to fabricate a pretext
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yeah but you don’t have any
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any evidence to back it up other than
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what you’re saying
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it’s like you’re saying
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we think we we have
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information the russians may do this
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but you won’t tell us what the
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information is and then when when you’re
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that is the idea behind deterrence that
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is
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moving forward with this type of
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activity that is why we’re making it
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public today if the russians don’t go
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forward with this that is not uh ipso
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facto an indication that they never had
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plans to do so uh but then it’s
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unprovable
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my god what is the evidence that you
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have that suggests that that the
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russians are even planning this i mean
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i’m not saying that they’re not but you
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just come out and say this and expect us
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just to to believe it without you
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showing a shred of evidence that it’s
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actually true other than
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when i ask or what anyone else asks
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what’s the information you said well i
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just gave it to you which was just you
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making a statement matt you said
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yourself you’ve been in this business
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for quite a long time you know that when
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we make information uh intelligence
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information public we do so uh in a way
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that protects sensitive sources and
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methods you also know that we do so we
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declassify information only when we’re
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confident in that information if you
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doubt if you doubt the the credibility
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of the us government of the british
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government uh of other governments and
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want to uh
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you know find uh solace and information
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that uh the russians are putting out uh
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that is that is for you to do so in
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other words you are a russian
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propagandist or a russian stooge or a
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dupe
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um
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or a foreign asset
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because you’re trusting them over us
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when all he’s doing is saying i’m
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agnostic i just want to see your
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evidence if you’re gonna make a claim
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the burden is on you to provide the
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evidence that’s how it works that’s how
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it’s supposed to work but usually the
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rest of the media when they’re state
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department sources or their cia sources
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uh tell them something they’re
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stenographers they take it at face value
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because they’re suckers who are putting
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these positions specifically for that
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reason i’m surprised this ap guy hasn’t
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been fired already because there’s a
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number of times he’s held this slimy
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weasel
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ned price accountable
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and he’s so bad at the job he’s so
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terrible at this he’s like we know that
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the russians are are now doing this
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what’s your evidence i just told you
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that we know that that they’re gonna be
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doing this that’s not evidence that’s
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not evidence now understand something
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just like ned says i’ll say the same
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thing
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i don’t know is it possible that they’re
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going to do that sure
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but this is not an agency that has a
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track record of truth telling in fact
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quite the opposite they have a long
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record of lying about everything
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these are the same people that got us
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into the iraq war now i’m sure some
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people involved in the stuff behind the
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scenes maybe really believe the [ __ ]
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really believe the line of argument and
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so they were acting in good faith even
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though they were wrong but there’s also
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people who might not be who might not be
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acting in good faith who are lying and
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know that they’re lying
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but at the end of the day all that
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matters is whether or not what they’re
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saying is true and what that means we
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should do about it now look i’m on
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record are there certain things that are
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on the table in a negotiation with
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russia that are more like hardline
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approaches absolutely absolutely so for
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one thing
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um the nordstrom 2 pipeline should the
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u.s use that as leverage sure absolutely
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in other words look if we find some sort
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of peace agreement and a way out of this
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then you can have the north stream two
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pipeline if you don’t we’re gonna
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undercut it not let you have it and the
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u.s will sell our natural gas to germany
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and we’ll sell the same price as you
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guys even if it’s at a loss
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that’s one thing you could put on the
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table another thing is uh like it or not
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these nations are sovereign nations that
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were the post-soviet states so
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having them armed so they could defend
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themselves yeah that’s absolutely on the
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table that makes perfect sense they’re
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sovereign nations they get to do that if
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they want to do that now these are
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things that all these things russia
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views as red lines that you can’t do
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no
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don’t agree and that’s the whole point
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of a negotiation now are there other
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parts of the deal that would be
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concessions to russia well yes because
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again that’s part of a negotiation as
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well
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and so
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uh i want peace i want to avoid world
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war iii
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so
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um does that mean we’re not gonna do war
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games on russia’s border anymore with
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nato yes does that mean we’re not gonna
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have missiles pointed directly at russia
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in in an ally state of ours yes
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does that mean that you know uh nato
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should not move an inch closer to
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russia’s border absolutely all those
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things are true but it’s also true that
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other things are on the table but
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what the us government is trying to do
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is lay the groundwork and set the
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preconditions to allow us to do anything
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and play the victim and
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play like we’re acting defensive every
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step of the way but it is the same
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organization that led us into the iraq
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war you know the state department the
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cia if these are the same outlets that
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lied about russiagate relentlessly for
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years straight and they are
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well then you shouldn’t take their word
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for it they need to actually show
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evidence if they have such evidence
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they’re not showing the evidence which
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means they don’t have such evidence
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again that’s not to say it’s impossible
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that russia would do this but you need
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to prove it you need to show it you
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absolutely need to show it and so this
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is a rare instance of a journalist doing
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their job doing their job right
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doing their job effectively and really
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unmasking
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the the little weasel state department
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spokesperson here
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so
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there you have it i really hope that the
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negotiation works and we can find a way
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to back out of this feud because
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in the nuclear age with two
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nuclear-armed states you don’t even want
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to be this close
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to some sort of
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fight
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you don’t
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it’s for the future of humanity it’s a
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necessity that you find a way
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out of this situation
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and you need to use all the negotiation
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skills all the diplomacy in the world
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and you need to be fair-minded and
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reasonable and unfortunately i do not
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trust the us at all to do that i don’t
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really trust russia either
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but i also
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know
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that our government has lied
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relentlessly
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about this stuff and
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finally somebody’s holding them
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accountable if you want to see me and
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