Watch the full episode here:
Good evening. It's Wednesday, May 15.
Tonight: Professor Jeffrey Sachs is a renowned economist and policy analyst, who has held many positions at Columbia University, where he is currently a professor. He has served as Special Advisor to the U.N. Secretary General, is credited with guiding several countries out of major debt crises, and has become one of the nation's most influential scholars on international relations. He has been on System Update several times before – he is, for good reason, one of our audience's most popular guests, and we are always delighted to talk to him.
We spend significant time in our discussion on what has now become the obvious fact that Ukraine is now losing this war to Russia—exactly as many, including Professor Sachs, have long predicted, only to be accused of being a Russian agent for doing so. We also examine what U.S. motives are still driving the Biden administration to continue to fund a futile war, as well as the increasingly unhinged panic in many NATO states over what appears to be the inevitability of a Ukraine and NATO defeat—including French President Emmanuel Macron recently musing that NATO may need to deploy combat troops to fight along the Ukrainians against the Russian Army.
We also delve deeply into the ongoing support, financing and arming of Israel's war in Gaza by the Biden administration, and where this war is headed. We talk about whether Biden's temporary suspension of the transfer of some weapons constitutes a genuine restriction on the Israelis, or whether it's just an empty, theatrical gesture. He offers a lot of insightful analysis about where the war goes from here and offers a particularly concise and illuminating explanation about all the incentive schemes in Washington that ensure the U.S. will always be heavily involved in various wars. Given that he is at Columbia, one of the campuses most affected by student protests against the war in Gaza, we discuss whether the crackdown on those protests is a threat to free speech. We conclude the interview by talking about China and its relationship with the U.S. As we reported last night, earlier this week, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met with Chinese President Xi and emphasized how central that partnership is for Hungary's future growth and prosperity – something we are seeing in more and more countries around the world, in regions the U.S. once dominated. Professor Sachs analyzes why this is, and how the U.S.'s foreign policy is unwittingly fueling and strengthening China's standing in the world.
Two important notes:
I need to correct an inaccurate statement I made last night as part of our report on this new bill pending in the House that would cut off funds for the U.S. Defense Department, U.S. State Department, and other agencies of the government unless and until President Biden reversers his temporary suspension of the transfer of some weapons transfer to Israel.
We said that this bill, introduced by GOP House member Ken Calvert of California, was also supported by Democratic House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. That was inaccurate: Jeffries opposes the bill – primarily because it denounces Biden – and is concerned that many House Democrats will vote for it and enable it to pass.
Secondly, The Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, was targeted by an assassination earlier today, having been shot 5 times and is in critical condition. Prime Minister Fico is one of the most interesting figures in EU politics. Formerly a conventional left-liberal in his two prior stints as Prime Minister, last year, he ran on a campaign based on ceasing all further aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia, as well as opposing core EU dogma on immigration and health policy. For that reason, we covered his victory last year. No information is yet known about who the assassin was or what motivated the attack, so we will cover this tomorrow night once more is known.
For now, welcome to a new episode of System Update and our interview with Professor Sacks starting right now.
