🎓 In this powerful reflection, Professor Gilbert Doctorow explores Germany’s complex relationship with May 9th – Victory Day in Russia.
Why is this day controversial in Berlin?
🕯️ Historical memory vs. modern political pressures
🇩🇪 Germany’s struggle to reconcile its past with NATO alignment
🌍 How May 9th reflects deeper tensions in European identity
💬 What the silence around this day says about freedom and truth in the West
🧠 A must-watch for anyone questioning how history is reshaped in real-time.
✅ Like, comment & subscribe for more deep-dive geopolitical insights.
#GilbertDoctorow
#GermanyMay9
#VictoryDay
#HistoricalTruth
#WWIICommemoration
#EuropeanIdentity
#GermanyRussia
#NATOInfluence
#Geopolitics2025
#EUHistoryWars
#TruthAndMemory
#WesternNarratives
#BerlinPolitics
#RussiaGermanyRelations
#May9thDebate
#AlternativeVoices
#AcademicPerspective
#HiddenHistory
#RTNews
#RewritingHistory
Why is this day controversial in Berlin?
🕯️ Historical memory vs. modern political pressures
🇩🇪 Germany’s struggle to reconcile its past with NATO alignment
🌍 How May 9th reflects deeper tensions in European identity
💬 What the silence around this day says about freedom and truth in the West
🧠 A must-watch for anyone questioning how history is reshaped in real-time.
✅ Like, comment & subscribe for more deep-dive geopolitical insights.
#GilbertDoctorow
#GermanyMay9
#VictoryDay
#HistoricalTruth
#WWIICommemoration
#EuropeanIdentity
#GermanyRussia
#NATOInfluence
#Geopolitics2025
#EUHistoryWars
#TruthAndMemory
#WesternNarratives
#BerlinPolitics
#RussiaGermanyRelations
#May9thDebate
#AlternativeVoices
#AcademicPerspective
#HiddenHistory
#RTNews
#RewritingHistory
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Transcribed by —
00:30Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom.
00:37Today is Thursday, April 17, 2025. Professor Gilbert Doctorow joins us now.
00:44Professor Doctorow, welcome here.
00:46You have a fascinating piece out about Germany and May 9th and the significance of all of it.
00:53But before we get there, and we will, a couple of other questions.
00:58Do you have a feeling from your position in Brussels that the neocons around President Trump are ascendant?
01:11We have a feeling here in Brussels that the neocons, domestic neocons in Europe, are ascendant also.
01:20So the problem is not just the Washington issue, but if you meant by the neocons, the hardliner people within Trump's circle, that is Rubio and Kellogg.
01:36And yes, the Russians are certainly aware of that. I'm aware of that.
01:41But to say their ascendant, I think, is an exaggeration.
01:45The problems that we see that the Russians have identified very clearly in the last few days is Trump's ability and willingness to do what is necessary to put through his agenda.
01:59I think a lot of people here, I think a lot of people here were struck by his wobbling and by his backtracking on his chaotically introduced tariffs that put in question his ability to negotiate.
02:15Well, back to the neocons, and maybe ascendant is too strong a word.
02:22The Wall Street Journal reports that they have his ear.
02:29They were reluctant to have his ear in their promoting their neocon ways until recently.
02:38Max Blumenthal, who will be on shortly after you, reports that the dismissals at the Pentagon, which have shaken it up mightily, were caused by a leak to the New York Times of the neocons being ascendant and breaking with the America Firsters.
03:01And that, shockingly, Secretary Hegseth was not among the neocons, that he was urging the president to tell Prime Minister Netanyahu not to attack Iran.
03:15I don't want to get too into the weeds, but is Donald Trump perceived in Europe as being on both sides of these issues, a man of peace and a man of war at the same time?
03:31Oh, very definitely.
03:33There's a lot of confusion, and there's reason for the confusion.
03:37As I mentioned a moment ago, his wobbling has caused a lot of uncertainty about where he really stands and how tough he's going to fight for the initiatives that he rolled out in the first days of his presidency.
03:54That remains the case.
03:56That is true in Europe, for sure.
03:58Look, he was saying there are all indications that he's backing away from NATO, and then, what is it, yesterday or the day before, there's the announcement that, after all, America is sending 5,000 troops to the new forthcoming NATO exercises.
04:14So, whether it is neocons who are influencing him or other factors, he is not pursuing a clearly defined policy, and he reverses himself, which is not good for him and not good for his eventual success.
04:31As you read the American neocons, do they want the war in Ukraine to end, or do they want it to continue?
04:39Oh, they want it to continue, and this, they are definitely the natural allies of the Europeans, who have their own reasons for wanting the war to continue, because they are in the ascendant, they have staked their careers on this, and they are looking for the hostile Russia as a unifying factor in an otherwise crumbling European Union.
05:07You, and almost everyone on this show, have been very critical of Sir Keir Stormer and French President Macron in their efforts to cobble together, this is a totally discredited Bush-Cheney phrase, but why they're using it, I don't know, Coalition of the Willing.
05:35Is a new partner about to join that effort coming from Berlin?
05:45Join the effort?
05:47Join the effort?
05:48I'm not sure that is the proper way to look at it.
05:51They, these two, they also have their own competition, who is going to be the top dog, who is the one who is going to be the most important defense authority in Europe.
06:02That is Sir Starmer and Macron, they are vying, they are competing for that title.
06:08At the same time, the German incoming chancellor is not making common cause with them.
06:16He is in the same competitive situation, trying to position Germany and himself as the leaders, the dominant force in Europe's coming defense.
06:27And he's doing it by, by building on very aggressive, belligerent statements towards Russia that he used as part of his electoral campaign.
06:38You have referred to Frederick Mertz, and I quote, as the most dangerous German leader since Adolf Hitler, a very, very serious statement.
06:48What did you mean by that, and why did you say it?
06:52Well, first of all, I don't think he had too much competition for that role.
06:55Okay.
06:57Look at who he's replacing.
07:00Look at who he's succeeding.
07:02A person who can barely get words out of his mouth.
07:05Go ahead.
07:06Yes, he had mealy-mouthed people who have put Germany in a, in risky positions.
07:13Uh, and here he is, uh, by his, um, belligerence towards Russia and by his obvious willingness to take on risks that his, uh, his, uh, predecessor or soon to be predecessor, uh, Schultz refused to take on.
07:31Uh, namely giving the Russian, giving the Ukrainians, uh, the, um, cruise missiles that they have longed for.
07:40Um, this is the Taurus, which, um, is an air air launched missile that the Russians have little or no experience, uh, combating.
07:50And so at the outset, should it be in the hands of the Ukrainians, it could indeed do some damage where the, uh, the previous long range missiles, either coming from the States or mostly from Britain and France, the scalp, um, and the storm shadow.
08:07The Russians mastered those found ways of neutralizing them, but the Taurus could be dangerous.
08:14And just speaking about sending towers to Ukraine, the numbers, let's go to the numbers.
08:21Uh, Germany has 600 of these in stock was being discussed as shipping 160 to, uh, to Ukraine.
08:28The shipping them, uh, is not the, is the only beginning of the task.
08:34The reason why, as we all know, the reason why, uh, Schultz refused to give the, the, um, the Taurus to Ukraine was his, his knowledge from senior, from leaked conversations between senior, uh, German air force, um, uh, officers.
08:53That this, this product was usable only if it were programmed and controlled by the German manufacturer and German personnel.
09:03And that would expose Germany to the charges of being a co-belligerent.
09:07So who refused?
09:08Mr. Metz is ignoring this completely.
09:11I mean, does he, does he want a war with Russia?
09:15Can Germany afford the consequences of becoming a co-belligerent?
09:22I mean, the United States is already a co-belligerent and, and the Russians have been extremely restrained.
09:29Under international law, I hate to say this, the Russians could attack Miami if they wanted.
09:34Uh, but, but doesn't Mertz fear the consequence of becoming a co-belligerent?
09:41Well, the, the, the, the risks have changed over time.
09:46The, um, the, um, the coming to power of Donald Trump and the, the new doubts about, uh, the United States willingness to defend its NATO allies.
09:57That changes the equation.
09:59Um, and frankly, it is stunning that, uh, Mertz doesn't recognize this.
10:06The, as you've just mentioned, the Russians had the legal basis for attacking the United States, um, in response to its co-belligerent status, its direct intervention in the Ukraine war by the intelligence and by the programming of its missiles that it has done, uh, for Kiev.
10:28Now, the situation presently is that Germany, by supplying such equipment and necessarily providing the hands-on control of this equipment of its own officers and manufacturers, would be taking the risk of a Russian counter-strike on Germany itself.
10:48Hmm.
10:49And the notion that the article five would be invoked and would be responded to positively is a very risky proposition today.
10:58Somehow Mertz has not seen that.
11:01And so he is waving a red flag.
11:03It gets worse.
11:04It gets worse.
11:05Not just would they supply these 160 towers to, to, uh, Ukraine, but they are recommending that Ukraine use this to talk to, uh, target the Kerch bridge.
11:19That is the bridge that's, that links, uh, mainland Russia with the peninsula of Crimea.
11:27That's a billion dollar range.
11:30Yes.
11:31And other vital, uh, infrastructure that supports the Russian logistics.
11:36So, uh, for the war saying this could change the dynamics of the war in Ukraine's favor.
11:43That he says this publicly is remarkable that his father fought, fought within the, the German armies, uh, and was a Nazi supporter has been called up by the Russians in response to what they see as provocative and totally irresponsible statements coming from the incoming chancellor.
12:07Hmm.
12:08Back to, uh, Stormer and, uh, Macron.
12:13Hmm.
12:14Do they have the financial resources to, uh, achieve what they're trying to put together?
12:21The coalition of the willing would only make sense from their perspective if there were, uh, military assets involved.
12:29Do they have them?
12:30Uh, it would make sense if they had willing.
12:33Apparently they don't have any willing other than the two of them.
12:37The British have no military of which to speak.
12:39I'm not familiar with what the French have.
12:41You can educate us, but where are they going with this?
12:45I, I suppose we have to add, uh, the princess von der Leyen to all of this.
12:51If she doesn't have a military either, but she'd love nothing more than to be, correct me if I'm wrong, professor, the commander in chief of the European armies, wouldn't she?
13:02Well, she's a, she's a cheerleader, but they, the two of them are not completely alone.
13:07They have three other, uh, European member states that have joined the coalition of the willing.
13:13Regrettably for military value, they, when you add all three together, you come up with zero.
13:19I'm speaking about the three Baltic states.
13:21They're, uh, the total population of all three of them is probably under 4 million, uh, or closer to 5 million.
13:28Um, but their armies are negligible.
13:30We're speaking about the equivalent of police forces.
13:33They have nothing to contribute.
13:35Um, where is it going to go then?
13:41Nowhere.
13:42The, the effort to, to assemble the coalition of the willing, it's gonna, they're gonna fall flat on their faces.
13:49Maybe that's why president, uh, Macron is talking about, uh, recognizing a Palestinian state, getting the public's mind, uh, off of whatever he's trying to accomplish in Ukraine.
14:03Well, he has his own ambitions still in Ukraine and the ambitions of, of Macron to assert, to a lesser extent, those of, uh, Starmer are focused on one city.
14:14The city is Odessa.
14:15And, uh, as for the French, it is a certain nostalgia.
14:21Uh, let's remember that the first mayor of the city of Odessa in the late 18th century was a certain Duke de Richelieu.
14:31Uh, a French Duke.
14:33Uh, and there's a monument to him in downtown Odessa.
14:37So there is a certain, uh, claim that the French have for being, um, uh, protectors, shall we say, of Odessa.
14:46For the British, it's much more practical.
14:48Odessa is a staging ground for their activities in the Black Sea.
14:54And it is close, if you look at the map, in direct line to the Crimean Peninsula.
15:00So for their military purposes to cause, um, havoc in Russian-owned, uh, Ukraine, uh, Odessa has great importance.
15:13Of course, it's also the principal, uh, port or commercial activities of, of Ukraine.
15:20So this is the city in Ukraine, which they have focused their attention on.
15:25Uh, as to the, uh, coalition of the willing, that is largely posturing.
15:31And it would be to cover up, uh, any, uh, any, uh, operation that they would take, um, focused on Odessa.
15:40Odessa is also closely, uh, conveniently close to the Romanian border.
15:45So it is conceivable that without talking about peacekeepers over the whole thousand kilometer long, uh, line of engagement, uh, these two powers of France and Britain could concentrate their efforts on one city for which they probably have sufficient, uh, manpower and equipment.
16:06That is city being Odessa.
16:08Let me ask you about Germany.
16:10Has the Nord Stream pipeline been repaired?
16:13No, well, there are two pipelines, uh, the one that is still almost usable.
16:21That is the pipeline two, uh, which was ready to be put into service, uh, uh, and then was, um, uh, refused acceptance by the Germans.
16:35Um, it has some, uh, problems.
16:38You can't keep a pipeline like this inactive for two, three years with, uh, no maintenance, but to restart it is probably an easy matter.
16:49The first, uh, pipeline, uh, the one that was blown up also was salvageable, but it will take considerably bigger investment and time to restore it.
17:01Uh, the, uh, the, the issue of course is that the Germans are remain and under met are likely to remain, um, vehemently opposed to taking, uh, Russian gas, even if it's essential for their economy to recover.
17:19Very interesting.
17:20Very interesting.
17:21And I have that image in my mind of, uh, Chancellor Scholz standing blithely, meekly next to President Biden, uh, as, uh, Biden says, you know, we'll, we'll take care of the Nord Stream pipeline.
17:37He obviously knew what was going on switching gears, the Kellogg plan, the plan put forth by, uh, General Kellogg.
17:45It's hard to imagine this was not run past Donald Trump.
17:48It's harder to imagine that Trump approved of it.
17:50Nevertheless, the plan would divide Ukraine sort of the way Germany was, uh, divided, uh, at the end of World War II among the allies, uh, into three or four protectorates.
18:04How was this viewed in Europe?
18:07In Europe, I can't say.
18:10I don't think they've given too much attention to General Kellogg.
18:13And, um, still, it's something that's hanging in the air.
18:17It doesn't have the backing of Donald Trump, so it's not clear where it's headed.
18:21Uh, I will say something about how the Russians feel, um, probably more positively than you would anticipate.
18:28The thing about, uh, in fact, when I've written about this Kellogg, uh, plan, uh, versus the position of Steve Witkoff, I got a comment saying, well, what's the difference between them after all?
18:40Because both parties are recognizing, uh, Russian possession of the four obelists that is now occupying largely, uh, in Eastern Ukraine plus Crimea.
18:53In that sense, both Kellogg and, uh, and Witkoff are saying the same thing.
18:58Yeah, but Putin would never agree to American troops in, uh, in Western Ukraine, would he?
19:04No, no, um, the, the issue of the troops and the division, the, the, the real, um, difference between Witkoff and Kellogg is over what about the rest of Ukraine?
19:16Um, that Kellogg, as we know, is speaking about, uh, Western troops in, uh, in the, uh, Western most part of Ukraine.
19:26Uh, the center of Ukraine being a kind of rump state, uh, neutral state of, presumably neutral state of, uh, Ukraine.
19:34And the Russians owning the Eastern part.
19:36Nonetheless, I'd want to look at this from, uh, take a step back.
19:40They are talking, Witkoff and, uh, and Kellogg are talking about the end game.
19:47Let's remember that when, when Trump rolled out his initiative, it was only about a ceasefire and the Russians were complaining, wait a minute, this doesn't count.
19:57Where is the end game?
19:58Where is the end game?
19:59So the Americans have taken on board, whether it's Kellogg is the hardliner together with Rubio, or it is, uh, Steve Witkoff as the soft guy who is, uh, taking on board and accepting Russia's basic demands.
20:12They all are dealing with the end game, not with the, um, the ceasefire.
20:19Now we're approaching the deadline that, that Donald Trump gave for acceptance of the ceasefire, and that is the 20th of April.
20:28Uh, the, um, the point I want to make here is that the, um, the, the Russians are being blamed for the delays.
20:39I think this is dead wrong.
20:40I think the blame for the delays is, uh, is on the desk of Donald Trump.
20:45He doesn't have the guts so far to do what's necessary for the, the, uh, agreements to be reached.
20:52Namely, he has not, um, taken on Europe.
20:57Without Europe being challenged and put in its place, without their understanding who's who, if the boss is the United States, I don't have any mistake about it.
21:06Without that happening, there will be neither a ceasefire nor a peace treaty that is brokered by, by, by Trump.
21:13And so far, he shows no sign of taking on Europe.
21:18Does, uh, the Kellogg plan mention NATO?
21:22Uh, NATO, no.
21:24Uh, NATO member states, yes.
21:27I don't think he would in any way challenge the remarks that, uh, that Donald Trump made, uh, soon after taking office.
21:34That the United States will not, uh, will not provide Article 5 coverage for any, uh, Western European, uh, military that is put into Ukraine.
21:46Observe the name of, of, uh, peacekeepers or whatever.
21:50So, uh, no, he wouldn't overrule that.
21:52But what kind of an administration listens to Steve Witkoff in one ear and Lindsey Graham in the other?
22:01Uh, Donald Trump is, uh, is a Catholic in more than one sense.
22:06And he's listening to all sides and he's leaving everybody guessing.
22:11Uh, this, this can only carry you so far.
22:15And I think he's running at the outer limits of where this, um, negotiating tactic works and coming up to the point where it stops working.
22:24Um, if he is so, if he cannot make a decision and take the consequences, then he's going to lose on all fronts.
22:33Professor Doctorow, a pleasure, uh, my dear friend.
22:36Thank you for your, uh, analysis.
22:39Safe travels.
22:40Uh, happy Easter.
22:42And we'll look forward to seeing you next week.
22:44Happy Easter to all of you.
22:48And coming up later today at 11 o'clock this morning with some explosive, uh, information.
22:53About an American being kicked out of the United States.
22:59Oops.
23:00Could I have made a mistake on this one?
23:02Max Blumenthal at 11.
23:04Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson at two.
23:06And the always worth waiting for Professor John Mearsheimer at three.
23:11Judge Napolitano for judging freedom.
23:23...
23:37...
23:39...
23:43You