Name: Former CIA Officer Mike Baker's Outlook on the Ukraine War
Uploaded: 2023-01-11T18:21:33.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Former CIA Officer Mike Baker's Outlook on the Ukraine War' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2023-01-11. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Former CIA Officer Mike Baker's Outlook on the Ukraine War' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2023-01-11. Transcript available.

The Joe Rogan experience.
We're all occupied with Russia and Ukraine right now,
but China's the bigger issue, right, in the long term.
And we just need to be able to multitask and, yeah,
we've got to worry about Russia-Ukraine conflict,
and does that get out of control or just, you know,
where is it going? I guess that's a bigger question.
Where do you think it's going?
Yeah. I don't think anybody's got a plan in Washington right now,
or NATO. I don't think anybody knows.
I think they're all being basically reactive as opposed to, you know,
what's the end game here?
What is the final way that we wrap this up?
And, I mean, look, we've spent, the U.S. has spent, I don't know,
as of the end of 2022, and that's almost a full year
because it started in February, so almost in a full year,
the U.S. spent about $50 billion in assistance,
and about half of that is military aid, right, in a variety of forms.
Right? The high motor systems all the way to protective body armor.
Right? So it's all over the map in training.
If you compare that, $50 billion in aid to, and so what's that,
about $25 billion in military aid.
If you compare that to the previous year or the year before,
we were probably spending, on the Ukraine, we were probably spending $250, $270
million in military assistance.
That's it. Right? So that ramp up is incredible.
And then that doesn't include what the EU's put into it, what the UK's put into
it, and everything else.
So how do you back out of that? Right? How do you say, okay, now we're putting
a Patriot missile battery in there?
And, you know, France and we have agreed, I think we're looking towards, you
know, more advanced armored technology.
We're going to give them tanks that they've been hankering for, hankering.
I said hankering.
And so that might be a Ukrainian word.
I don't know when you, I don't, I have no idea where it's going to wrap up.
Putin's not going to give up Crimea.
So what does that mean?
Well, you've got to create some middle ground then where it's not going to be a
complete victory for the Ukraine.
And that's going to make a lot of people unhappy who are just standing around
waving Ukraine flags.
Right?
And so where do you go from there?
I don't know.
You know, hopefully there's some serious negotiations happening off the radar
screen,
but there doesn't seem to be a lot of evidence to that effect.
And Putin doesn't seem to show any interest in it.
And he's been able so far to tamp down on the dissidents at home.
And really, much like with China, the only thing Putin would really fear is
losing power.
And he loses power if he loses the population.
And so far that really hasn't happened.
There's been protests and people unhappy with the, sorry, that was my...
I think that's your phone.
That was my sports alert.
I guess.
Yeah, exactly.
Whenever there's something big happening in the world of sports.
And so anyway, to answer your question in a very lengthy rambling way, who
knows where it goes?
But it would be nice if we had more open discussion about it, at least in
Washington, and open with our NATO allies about what's going to happen.
We can't keep up, I don't think, the same pace of support.
You know, it seems unreasonable to think that we can.
But...
Has there been any discussion as to, like, how long we do this for?
Not really.
Not really.
I think there's a...
Oh, thanks.
I think there's a...
There's a general sense, because everybody's got ADD, there's a general sense
of fatigue to some degree in some circles.
But saying you want to know where it's going isn't saying that you're in
support of Putin.
And that's part of the problem.
In today's world, if you say, well, so where is this all going?
People say, well, fuck you.
Right.
You're a Putin puppet.
Well, no.
Fuck you.
I just want to know what's happening.
So...
Yeah, it's weird like that, isn't it?
I mean, it's so strange that you're either with them or against them.
And you can't just be going, what are we doing?
What...
Is it not working?
Hmm.
Lift the top.
Uh-oh.
Gotta lift the top.
Fucking hell.
Do you not know how to work a cigar lighter?
Uh...
It's...
Don't they teach you that in the CIA?
It's technical nowadays.
It's really fucking easy.
I look like a fucking monkey fucking a football here with your lighter.
Do you know how to do it?
No!
No, look at this.
Lift the top.
I'm trying to lift the top, but it's like a...
Give me that fucking thing.
Oh, no.
I'm going to figure this out.
You're not going to figure it out.
I'm going to spend the next two hours trying to figure this out.
I think you're on the wrong side.
Flip it over.
Oh, for fuck's sake.
Jesus Christ.
There you go.
Look at that.
I'm trying to open the bottom.
It's just...
Calibri cigar lighter.
I'm not paying any attention.
I understand.
And besides the fact, I use a Zippo.
Oh.
The ones that leave that nice smell.
Yes.
That gasoline smell.
And I got a couple of Bic lighters too.
And you know the nice thing about them?
I don't have to fuck with the top.
That's true.
Right.
But anyway.
That was...
There you go.
That was mildly embarrassing, but I'm too old to be embarrassed about anything
anymore.
So, I mean, worst case scenario is this breaks out into a nuclear war.
Right?
The top lifts up.
Yeah.
I heard.
That's the worst case scenario, right?
Yeah.
If you look at...
I mean, maybe this is a good time to say, okay, 2023, here we are.
What should we pay attention to?
What are we going to look at?
With Russia, Ukraine, you're right.
If suddenly Russia decides, I'm going with an unconventional weapon, right?
It's time to break out the nuke and let's see what that does to the community
of nations.
So, there's that potential in terms of how does this escalate.
Something happens in terms of NATO and it drags NATO into it.
That's a way this thing escalates.
A cyber security attack in the region, maybe initially targeted at Ukraine, but
then somehow
it goes off into NATO allies, creates a major issue, shuts down power systems
in Poland and
the surrounding region.
So, there's ways that this thing could escalate, get a little bit out of
control.
Maybe, as we talked about, maybe there's increasing protest movement in Russia,
maybe, and that
threatens Putin's regime and that makes him decide to do something a little bit
more drastic.
What is the general consensus from the Russian people?
Do they have a lockdown on the media in Russia, right?
They do.
And even on the internet, right?
Yeah, they do.
So, they've got, and they've been very successful.
And, you know, it's not like the old days.
And during the Cold War, you know, you could put a complete blanket over it,
right?
And that was it.
There was no way for them to get news.
They're not completely shut off, right?
So, they know what the hell's going on.
Russian people are, you know, the population in general.
You know, they're very switched on pragmatic.
They suffer well.
And that's part of the problem.
They suffer well.
But my friends from Russia have always told me that nobody believes the media.
That, you know, it's kind of like a nod and a wink as to what the media tells
you.
And the people kind of know that they bullshit you.
Right.
It's much more open.
The reaction to the media is much more open.
And in the United States, like, if you're one of those people that listens to
MSNBC, you're all in.
You know, you're all in with Rachel Maddow.
She's gone now, right?
Whoever the fuck is over there now.
You're all in with those people.
If you're on Fox News, you're all in with those people.
Right.
Right.
Now, the Russian general population's always had kind of a dry, very sarcastic
sense of humor towards information in general.
Right.
And what they're being told by the authorities.
And that includes the media.
So, you know, he can't control the population the way they used to.
But they still, you know, it's still a dictatorship.
And so, he's still got a significant state control.
And the state media is still very good, as is the security apparatus, at
controlling the message.
So, they're very good at that.
Right.
And so, that's kind of balanced against, and they're constantly in this battle
against, you know, increasing technology and its ability to spread information
that's outside the bubble.
And so, yeah, I mean, there's dissent.
There's a feeling of dissatisfaction, but, you know, Putin's been, he's been
very good in the past at finding the bogeyman.
Right.
Whenever he's threatened of pointing to some outside force, you know, usually
us, and saying, look what they're doing to us.
And kind of rallying the troops, getting everyone to, yeah, you know, the
motherland.
And so, you know, I wouldn't, it's like hoping that the, the, the Mullahs, it's
like hoping the Iranian regime topples under the weight of this current protest.
I wouldn't, you know, hold out a lot of hope.
I wouldn't put a lot of money on it.
I wouldn't put a lot of money on it.
I wouldn't put a lot of money on it.
I wouldn't put a lot of money on it.
I wouldn't put a lot of money on it.
I wouldn't put a lot of money on it.