"This is not a Nintendo Game" with Dr. Stephen Bryen - The Bill Walton Show
Dr. Stephen Bryen, Senior Fellow at the Center for Security Policy in Yorktown Institute, joins Bill Walton. Bryen has over 50 years of experience in national security including his time as Senior Staff Director of U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and is known as the “Yoda” of the arms trade for his knowledge and wisdom on the topic.
In the episode, Bryen examines the status of the Russia-Ukraine war and finds that Russia is on the cusp of changing strategy. They just welcomed to the war ‘General Armageddon’, Sergey Surovikin. Now, they plan to target civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Nonetheless, Russian ground strategy is looking dismal and ineffective. Bryen observes that, up to this point, their generals have largely been incompetent and they’ve lost a great deal of equipment. As a result, the Russians are changing their strategy to target civilians while resorting to threats of nuclear war.
Bryen places the blame for the war squarely on the Biden administration. He accuses the Biden administration of botching negotiations on a Russia-Ukraine settlement. The Americans’ lack of action in the negotiation emboldened Russia to move on Ukraine. Bryen comments, “The Biden administration, who are really responsible for this war. They caused this war. We didn’t have to have a war.”
Bryen believes the conflict is a proxy war of sorts between the U.S. and Russia. After all, the Ukrainians are using American equipment and military expertise to fight the conflict. The United States has been unable to make the equipment Ukraine needs fast enough so instead, we are taking military equipment from our own supply to send to Eastern Europe. We are depleting our own military for the war, leaving it vulnerable and undersupplied especially in the Pacific, where China is making hostile moves.
The war is also taking a toll on Europe. Bryen expects the Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, and President of France, Emmanuel Macron, to face violent backlash as Europe heads toward a very cold winter with a low supply of energy. He predicts Europe to fall into violent political revolt.
Bryen is convinced that Europe and America are taking all the wrong approaches to the war: “Dealing with a nuclear power requires a level of maturity, especially, on our part that I don’t see. It greatly concerns me. This is not a Nintendo game. This is a deadly, serious, dangerous, globally dangerous situation, and we’re not handling it responsibly. I think these people are juveniles. They’re just not capable of clear thought. They don’t have a strategy.”
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