Kash’s Corner: China Getting a Free Pass for Genocide; Is Putin Using Ukraine as a Diversion?

“For some reason, we have given China … almost a free pass to commit these atrocities.”

In this episode of Kash’s Corner, we discuss the Chinese Communist Party’s genocide of the Uyghurs and the Falun Gong, and the recent announcement of a U.S. diplomatic boycott of the Olympics. Is it enough?

And we also take a look at Russia’s troop movements to the Ukrainian border. Could this be a diversion?

“While you and I and the media and the world are all talking about the possibility of war, Putin is taking advantage of that situation, saying they’re focused on X, I’m going down Y,” says Kash Patel.

For those interested in taking the #NotFromChina pledge against China’s forced organ harvesting industry that is mentioned in the episode, you can find more information here.    

 

Kash Patel: Hey everybody and welcome back to Kash’s Corner.

Jan Jekielek: Kash, this week we’re seeing a lot on the international scene that’s happening. I’ve been thinking a lot about this, ostensibly, what looks like is going to be a diplomatic boycott of the Olympic games upcoming in China. I have a lot of thoughts about this. What are your thoughts?

Mr. Patel: Well, what do I think about China? I don’t think we have enough time in the world to get all my thoughts across on China, but for a diplomatic boycott, what is that? Let’s start with the basics. We, the United States as a government will not be sending any officials as a government over to China for the Winter Olympics in 2022, which is just a couple of months away.

So what? What’s the big deal? I think it’s a very half measure, quarter measure by the administration that’s currently in power to deal with and we’ll get to this, what everything that China’s doing to the United States. But all it means is that no congressmen, no senators, no cabinet officers, no deputies, no ambassadors, certainly not the president or vice president will go to  Beijing, it’s not Beijing, but the Winter Olympics in China.

Mr. Jekielek: What does this say?

Mr. Patel: I think it doesn’t say much at all, which is why I called it a half measure and I believe that’s being too generous. In my opinion, it doesn’t have any real consequences for China. The Winter Olympics are still going on. Every country is still going there. China is still causing harm to America, Americans and American interests.

China still has modern concentration camps in China. American companies still produce products made either in some of these and around these areas or at the behest of the same government that sanctions this type of behavior. And I just think, why are we putting up with this as America, if we’re supposed to be the leaders of the free world. And it’s a very, very weak attempt to address China and Xi Jinping.

Mr. Jekielek: Well, I’m going to build on this a little bit. On American Thought Leaders, I just had a guest Robert Destro that was the passed head of DRL. In the Trump administration we were talking about… ostensibly, there’s three genocides happening in China right now, right? The genocide against the Uyghurs of course–that’s the one that most people know about.

But the same as essentially a very similar thing has been happening against the Tibetan people for a long time, and same with the Falun Gong spiritual group.  One genocide is enough to realize that there’s a serious issue that you’re dealing with. It’s hard to treat a country or a government that’s basically committing genocide in good faith.

Mr. Patel: I think this is the heart of the matter, because there, we could talk about many other grievances and many other problems from a national security perspective that China does, but we’re talking about human lives. We’re talking human capital and I’m not sure when it became okay for government to sanction one area of genocide, let alone the three that you’ve outlined: the Uyghurs, the Falun Gong and the people in Tibet. And it’s not like this started happening yesterday. This has been going on for years and years and years, and almost no one has called them out for their genocide.

I remember at the end of the Trump administration, when we were still in, we finally sanctioned the Chinese government and called them out officially for the modern day genocide of the Uyghurs in the Northwest China territory and also the modern day concentration camps and other problems associated with it, like the forced marriages between the Uyghur populations in Chinese and other Chinese officials in an attempt effectively to breed out what the Chinese government thinks is a population that basically shouldn’t exist.

I don’t know where else in the world we would accept such a regime. Certainly not in Africa, Europe,  the Middle East and Southeast Asia or anywhere else that I can think of. But for some reason we have given China, I believe, almost a free pass to commit these atrocities against these people.

And we’re going to say, okay, thanks for hosting the Olympics. We’re going to send us… the U.S. is going to send our athletes to Beijing. I think there’s just a complete disconnect between this administration and our policy towards China. The genocide is just one component of it. In my opinion, I think it’s the most severe [thing] that needs to be addressed, but it’s not far behind the national security problems that China’s cause in the U.S.

Mr. Jekielek: Sure. One of the things that strikes me here is, I keep thinking about this, okay? I keep thinking about the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, in Nazi Germany. It was a massive propaganda coup for Hitler. My great, great uncle was actually part of the IOC for those Olympics.

Mr. Patel: Wow.

Mr. Jekielek: So it hits close to home, right? And this was a time when we didn’t know, where the West didn’t really know, they knew that Germany was racist. They knew what their position on the Jewish people was. They didn’t know what was going to happen subsequent in 1936, but it enabled it. Basically, we’re going to give him a free pass here, right? Now, something that did… here we actually know that there are one, if not three genocides happening in China–we know that.

Mr. Patel: Yes

Mr. Jekielek: Right. And we’re still going. Now, another thing I’m thinking of, there were people, right? There were athletes during those Olympics that took a stand, right?

Mr. Patel: I don’t think people remember that. I don’t think many people, if any, remember that. And I think that’s a great comparison to what’s going on now, because the only people that I have read about taking a stand against these Olympics are the Women’s Tennis Association in the United States, and this guy named Enes Kanter Freedom in the NBA. He’s a pretty major star in the National Basketball Association league, and he’s originally Turkish.

He took a stand recently, and he said, I think we should boycott the Chinese Olympics because of the activities you and I have just discussed amongst other things. I think the NBA as an institution is representative of the problems the U.S. government is creating by putting on a weak diplomatic boycott of the Chinese games. The NBA makes millions and millions of dollars in China through the Chinese basketball league that they have affiliations with in China.

That’s just not even to bring in the endorsements from products that are made in China, i.e. Nike and LeBron James, and how much money they make off the backs of these genocides that we’re talking about. I’m glad I don’t even know much about this guy Enes Kanter Freedom, because I don’t really follow the NBA, but I was excited to see a prominent star who has wide reach internationally to take a stand.

And I thought more athletes would do that, but I haven’t seen any. And I firmly believe it’s because money is the only thing that matters to some of these professional sports leagues. It matters so much to the NBA that, and I think rightfully so, took a stand against racism when that was a heightened issue in America of the last couple years, right? And a lot of athletes came out against racism.

That’s great. That’s awesome. If you’re coming out that strongly by wearing uniforms against racism and talking about equality and having your basketball games advertise rightly anti-racist behavior, why did that pattern of behavior stop when we went to China for the Olympics and we’re talking about genocide.

The Olympics are going to be stocked with NBA athletes, not just from the U.S., from Europe, for their respective countries, from Africa, from Southeast Asia, and from China. And the only thing that happens to the NBA is they get richer off the backs of these atrocities, and I think it’s one of the most disgusting things I’ve seen and the biggest point of hypocrisy I’ve seen amongst so many athletes like LeBron James and like Nike.

Mr. Jekielek: So something really interesting happened, talking about athletes in 1936. Jesse Owens, who was unmistakably black, was the most successful athlete in the 1936 Olympics. And just by virtue of that fact that he was at the top of the podium, I think four times, that naturally repudiated Hitler’s, essentially Aryan policy in a massive way.

But at the same time, for Americans watching this, they could be proud of this, right? On the other hand, what we had is, was a situation where Hitler’s propaganda machine, which was using these Olympics to of course justify Hitler’s existence, the whole suite of Nazi policies, this very similar thing that the CCP is doing today. You can bet that they didn’t focus very much on Jesse Owens winning those medals.

Mr. Patel: No.

Mr. Jekielek: They were able to manufacture their narrative.

Mr. Patel: And that’s what China wants to do. China getting the Olympics is a propaganda machine. China having the Olympics in the face of genocide and in the face of hurting American security interest be in the South China sea or through their intelligence apparatus or through their interference in our election process or by interfering with American capabilities overseas period, i.e. any U.S. embassy around the world.

The Chinese and Xi Jinping who just got a mandate essentially for life, I believe, has made it a priority to take on the United States, especially during the advent of this administration. And for better or for worse, whether you like sports or dislike sports, I know people across every political spectrum and walk of life that watch the Olympics–they just do. It’s an event where people spend their whole lives trying to represent their country like Jesse Owens did on a world stage.

And it can’t be anything, but one of the most high honors you can achieve in sports at the same time you get to represent your country and it’s also international news the second it happens. And I don’t know if we’re going to have a Jesse Owens type moment in China, but I agree with you, it would be nice if our athletes, U.S. athletes would go there and call out the Chinese for the genocide that we talked about in China.

Certainly, the policies of Xi Jinping would not come down on them and arrest some of our U.S. athletes should they take a position against the Chinese in China. And maybe it’s our best way of doing it, because diplomatically, this administration is unwilling to do it.

This administration won’t go there. That’s why I’ve said, I think a diplomatic boycott is a soft, weak move that shows how tepid the United States is currently towards China. And I’m with you, I hope our athletes, if they go, should they go, and it sounds currently they will, we’ll take on anti-Chinese measures and maybe they’ll wear ribbons or pins, like so many people do. Maybe they’ll call out American companies like Nike, who profit off the backs of these Chinese measures that are so anti-American and anti-democratic.

Mr. Jekielek: I’m going to mention something, so I see this actually, you said anti-Chinese and I think of it as anti-Chinese Communist Party, but actually pro Chinese.

Mr. Patel: You’re right.

Mr. Jekielek: Right. But it’s interesting, it’s very easy, and this is one of the biggest, you can call it propaganda because in my mind that the CCP has achieved. They keep conflating to the Chinese people and to the world the CCP is China. The CCP is your mother.

Mr. Patel: Absolutely.

Mr. Jekielek: And if you do something against the government, you’re hurting the feelings of the Chinese people. You’re doing something against the communist party, which is literally above the government, you’re hurting the feelings of the Chinese people. Diplomats hear this sort of thing all the time and are actually deathly afraid of it.

Mr. Patel: No, you’re right. I’ve served with a lot of Chinese Americans who… you’re 100 percent right, who have said, I love China, I just dislike the CCP. And that’s the distinction that I think you’re right that China has conflated on the world stage to just make it one cohesive unit, when it in fact is not. If we went to China and we talked to the people, I’m sure there are many, many Chinese individuals that would say we disagree with the CCP, if we’re able to talk to them quietly, because you can’t publicly attack the CCP in China without some serious consequences.

Mr. Jekielek: I believe about 380 million plus have quit the Chinese communist party or it’s related organization. So it’s of course it’s not everybody, but it’s the sizeable portion of people over the years-

Mr. Patel: It’s the population of the United States.

Mr. Jekielek: … have at least internally, because they haven’t needed to do this. This is the quit the CCP movement I’m talking about. They haven’t needed to do it publicly, but they did it at least internally. But so let’s talk about this menu. And I’ve actually been talking… I talked to a congressional member today who said, no, I think we should go to the Olympics, I think it’s a great idea. Except just like you said, I think the athletes have an opportunity to actually call out the regime when they are center stage.

That’s interesting. That’s interesting, there’s a whole menu. In my opinion, I think a diplomatic boycott is better than nothing. In fact, I think it’s a lot better than nothing, but it still gives the CCP this propaganda victory. And the thing with China is we already know from 2008, what the result of giving an Olympics to China is which of course was given to China with the promise, right? That things would change, that it would become better for all the basically minorities, the different groups that were effectively dissident because the regime was pressuring them or acting against them. Or actually I would argue even then committing genocide against them. That didn’t happen.

Mr. Patel: No.

Mr. Jekielek: Right. So why would it suddenly happen in 2022?

Mr. Patel: I agree with you. I don’t think it will and I think the menu of options as we’re talking about not just diplomatically, I don’t think that’s strong enough by any means. I think there are other menu of options and look, we could do a full-on boycott of the Olympics and not send athletes. That’s the harshest option that we have and I get it. That’s a very difficult decision to make and especially harsh on the athletes who have worked basically their entire lives to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team and a dream of their life to go over there and represent our country.

I’m not saying we should necessarily do that, I think we should keep it on the table because it may end up being the option we need to take, but Congress and the White House can take separate actions against China. And so the White House is just on the diplomatic chess move here to say, no officials coming, but like we did in the Trump administration, we can exact a high number of tariffs on the Chinese government.

And what does that do? It affects their economy monetarily and we can get into all their intentional devaluation of their currency and whatnot, and they can always do that, but China’s biggest market to the world is the goods they export from China all over the world. And what President Trump did and I think rightfully so is enact tariffs on them until the Chinese government started treating the United States better.

So that’s an option that has been tried in the past and worked, but this administration has not employed that option. We could also ask Congress to do something legislatively. I don’t know in this environment of the day that we’re in now that we could get members of Congress from both sides of the aisle to agree on anything, but I think China might be the one thing.

Mr. Jekielek: I think China is the one thing that there seems to be some bipartisanship around at the moment.

Mr. Patel: And so they could, as the elected representatives get together to issue legislation that calls for harsher sanctions, not just tariffs, but sanctions against the Chinese Communist Party. And we could also talk to our allies and say, we, the United States are providing you with capabilities and defense and intelligence and national security, but we see that you also have relationships with the Chinese Communist Party. We need you to stop those relationships otherwise we are going to cut off our assistance to you and you are one of our allies.

And I think our allies would act with us because I think our allies see the CCP the way we see the CCP and they see the genocide the way we see it–which is genocide. I think if you ask the CCP and I’m sure we can’t, but they basically deny that there’s any genocide in China. That there aren’t any concentration camps. There is no force breeding.

Mr. Jekielek: In fact, they’re talking about the great democracy China has actually, right? I mean, that’s what we’re hearing as this democracy summit is coming into play here.

Mr. Patel: Yes. And I just think that’s the propaganda that we were talking about earlier and the ways we can confront it are through the White House and Congress. And there’s other ways we can do it, but those are two biggest sticks. And I don’t see the White House acting any further, and I haven’t heard anything from Capitol Hill that they’re going to take this on, so I think that you’re right. It’s left to our athletes when they get there. Will the men’s basketball team who are inevitably sponsored by Nike take a stand? Will LeBron James finally call out China for the concentration camps?

Mr. Jekielek: Well, and Enes Kanter Freedom be on the team?

Mr. Patel: Well, he would probably be representing Turkey, I believe as a Turkish national, but I think he has other problems which we can get into. His government views him as a Fethulla Gulen supporter. So Erdogan and Turkey are not a fan of Enes Kanter Freedom. But I think you’re right, Enes Kanter Freedom could be on the U.S. men’s basketball team because he is now also a U.S. citizen. He just took his oath of citizenship and changed his last name to Freedom, which I thought was pretty cool.

So will he be on the U.S. men’s basketball team? I don’t know. Will they allow that? But I think that’s a great point. What we haven’t talked about is the social media campaign these stars have. They have more reach than most governments in the world, individuals in the NBA, individuals in pro sports like tennis or ice hockey or skiing.

These are massive worldwide corporate sports and millions and millions and millions and millions, if not, billions of people follow these things and they could do that. They could get on social media right now and say, I want to do more than just boycott the Chinese Olympics. I want to call them out for the actions that you and I have talked about. I have not seen an athlete do that. I have not seen an American company take that position against China, but I would love to see that. I think that would be a strong message.

Mr. Jekielek: Okay. So you just made me think of this. One of the pieces of the puzzle that fits into these genocides in China is the murder for organs industry. And this is something we’ve discussed a number of times on the show. It’s state sanctioned. This type of thing happens in other places in the world, but never under the auspices of the state or of the communist party as it does in China. So there’s this coalition to end transplant abuse in China that has actually launched this initiative, which they asked me to participate in and which I gladly did. And it’s simply to make a pledge and say, I will never get an organ from China.

Mr. Patel: That’s amazing.

Mr. Jekielek: And this is actually running, this is in social media. So I decided I want to promote it right here. This is something everybody can do as something very simple. And I think, frankly, it actually does play into thinking about the Olympics because why would I have to make a pledge like this? Right now we’re going to a country which actually does this thing.

Mr. Patel: Well, we should publicly float and offer every U.S. athlete that’s going to represent America, and maybe not just America, Canada, European countries that are our allies, take this pledge. I’ll take it with you. I think that’s something that our viewers would support. I can’t speak for them, but I’m pretty sure they would get behind that and I didn’t know that was happening.

Now while we were… we’ve spent this entire time talking about things in China. I just want to raise one point that we could also do to call out the Chinese for their actions. China and the CCP, when they take on these big construction projects overseas, where I’ve been on the ground investigating on behalf of the U.S. government, the CCP leaves these Chinese workers there without their passports, when the projects are complete.

Why isn’t anyone talking about a government who takes their own citizens, exports them to a foreign country to develop and construct roads, bridges, tunnels, ports, and then leaves them there. Why should we celebrate a government, a regime that treats its own citizens overseas, almost as bad as it treats a portion of the citizens within their borders. And I think that’s something that people just don’t talk about.

Mr. Jekielek: Well, and keep their passports as a form of control.

Mr. Patel: They never get them back, that’s why they can’t leave. These Chinese workers have no ability to go to the embassy of the Chinese government in country X, in Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, where I’ve been and seen it firsthand. They don’t have an ability to get, that’s where you and I would go, is to our foreign embassies overseas if we got stranded. And they would let us in and provide us documentation and a way to get home. Their government shuts them out. And I just don’t think that’s something that should be celebrated. And the Olympics are a global celebration by definition, almost every country on planet earth, it’s the only place outside of the United Nations that has something of that magnitude.

And like your pledge, which I will definitely take, I think athletes can call out the Chinese government for that. How are all the stadiums built that are going to host the Winter Olympics in China? Why don’t we hear about the labor pool and the treatment by the CCP of their labor pool in the country to build these huge projects they’re going to house the world’s Olympic games. I think they, I believe and know from my investigations in government, that they treat those workers within China almost as poorly as they treat the workers they export overseas.

Mr. Jekielek: Quickly back to the menu idea. So what specifically with respect to the Olympics, what do you think Congress could do? Because there is a bipartisan opportunity here, right?

Mr. Patel: They could send legislation to President Biden’s desk, which issues a wide range of sanctions against the government, against the CCP, individually against companies that do business with these individuals and their companies. We already know as a government, which companies are arms of the CCP. We can start issuing sanctions against them immediately, we can raise that call. And we did a lot of sanctions work under President Trump and it’s doable.

Sometimes you don’t even need an act of Congress to do it, you just need the inter-agency to move with that guidance from the administration, that signal can come from Capitol Hill in a form of a new sanctions program that they legislate, or just calling for the administration to implement those sanctions against these companies. And they should also look to implement them against American companies that do business with these individuals and in these companies overseas in China. We do that with other countries. Why we’re not doing this with China is beyond me.

That’s just one example of what Congress can do. Congress can up and pass the law and take it to President Biden’s desk that says, every athlete going to the Chinese Winter games has to do X, Y, or Z when representing America. They could, I don’t think that’s going to happen, but what more powerful statement can you have than your government and your private citizens getting together, calling out China in China. We can do that as a government. That would be, I think, a great message. And I think most of our athletes, maybe not LeBron James, but most of our athlete would sign up for that because it seems like a unifying campaign against genocide and the treatment by the CCP of its citizenry.

Mr. Jekielek: And even thinking about individual athletes. I can imagine, you’re an athlete you’re thinking about, okay, I’m going to do something that’s going to cause a stir, right? Maybe I’m going to have trouble basically being in these international organizations. I can’t imagine why that would have to be the case, but I can imagine you thinking that to yourself, but I mean, gosh, wouldn’t you be remembered.

Mr. Patel: Yes.

Mr. Jekielek: As someone with a really stiff spine to stand up to this, it’s interesting.

Mr. Patel: What the world of sports organizations in Europe and some across the U.S. are taking a knee to combat racism. Now, whether you agree with that or disagree with that, what if these star athletes did that in China, not to combat racism, but to combat the CCP. And I’m sure you can come out with a memorable band or wrist paraphernalia to wear, to show them, and once you put it on social media, the world’s going to know about it instantaneously.

The news will be talking about it, politicians will be talking about it, we’ll be talking about it. It’s almost something that doesn’t cost anyone anything and as long as you don’t commit an actual crime. The Chinese government is not going to arrest and detain United States athletes representing the U.S., that is one measure they won’t take. And that is why those athletes have that big sounding board that you are talking about.

Mr. Jekielek: And there are even organizations that have actually taken a stand—the WTA.

Mr. Patel: Yes.

Mr. Jekielek: Right. Recently, and it’s incredible to think, to say how remarkable… I’m sitting here saying, how remarkable is it that what the WTA did? It is remarkable because nobody else is willing to do-

Mr. Patel: But everybody else should do.

Mr. Jekielek: … but it’s the obvious right thing to do, right?

Mr. Patel: Right. Yeah. I think so. And we’re what, three months, two months, three months out from the Winter Olympics, I’m sure we will revisit this matter and see what happens.

Mr. Jekielek: Yes. I’m very, very curious to see what happens. Let’s talk a little bit about… there’s been this whole buzz, the president had a meeting with Putin, recently discussing Ukraine. You would almost think from looking at the coverage that war is imminent. I don’t think that’s quite correct, but it is a big question. There are Russian troops I’ve seen on the Ukrainian border, what’s going on there?

Mr. Patel: Look, this reminds me of when I was in the Trump administration and in senior national security roles, we had to deal with the annexation of Crimea by the Russian government. So it’s not too dissimilar and it’s not something that the United States as a country hasn’t taken on before. I think that situation was handled a little differently than this administration is currently handling the troop movements to the Ukraine.

So what Russia has done for people that are following is basically, Putin has sent in upwards of 100,000 plus soldiers to certain geographic locations along the Russia Ukraine border to basically say, that’s mine–in short Putin speak, right? And what the United States has done or not done actually is much of anything. And I’m not saying that we need to go over there and drop in the 101st  Airborne and start a war.

That’s not what I’m saying at all. But having a video conference with Putin that doesn’t resolve anything. The only thing that I took away from that conference was President Biden said he was going to be harsher than President Obama. And I don’t even know exactly what he meant by that. And I also wholly disagree with these news outlets when they’re saying war is imminent.

I have a different take on all this, and I haven’t actually discussed this with anyone. I think Putin is smart enough to realize he can gain a lot of publicity and shame America and put Russia in a position of superiority through his propaganda machine by saying, “Look where we are, look where the U.S. isn’t.” And while the United States, in our current administration, is so occupied with what’s going on in the Ukraine, Putin is going to continue to attack us on the cyber front on other global fronts in space and underwater.

And I think he’s smart enough to take advantage of this situation and do just those things, because he knows we’re not going to war with Russia over the Ukraine. The Americans are not going to send troops there for that. And I don’t think he, Putin, I don’t believe he’s going to instigate an actual war because he knows the real consequences of that.

If the United States military were forced to act, I firmly believe and I think Putin knows we would win. And so at that stage it’s more than just a chess game. And I think he’s using it like he did circa the elections of 2016 where Putin utilized the propaganda that was created, the optic that was created of his massive infiltration into the United States electoral process, which multiple investigations found in the United States that they couldn’t find evidence that a vote was changed.

But Putin was smart enough to say what’s the most disruptive thing I can do to the United States– interfere with their elections and it’s not going to cost me a lot of money. Now, Putin is similar to Ukraine, he was going to move these troops there anyway. And he’s probably thinking, how can I damage the United States the most, make them focus on this issue that I’m not really going to do anything on. Nobody’s going to start a war, and how else can I attack them if the Department of Defense, the intelligence community and the administration are focused on Ukraine. What are they not focused on: everything we’re doing in space, everything we’re doing underwater with submarines, and everything we’re doing with intelligence collection against hard targets like Russia?

Mr. Jekielek: Well, Putin did basically annex Crimea without pretty much any response whatsoever. So why would we expect that he really would do nothing? Explain this to me.

Mr. Patel: I expect that, do nothing in the sense of war. He’s not going to start an actual war. Does Putin want more land? Of course, that’s what he does for Russia is expand Russian interests and Russian geography. So I think he will try to get more land, but I don’t think he will do it in a fashion that will instigate a war. And I don’t believe we are going to… we the United States should take any bait from him that causes him to do so.

But what I’m saying is while you and I and the media and the world are all talking about the possibility of war, Putin is taking advantage of that situation, saying they’re focused on X, I’m going down y, and he’s done that in the past. Putin is an intelligence officer by trade and he has infinite sums of money. And also he doesn’t abide by the laws that we abide by in the U.S. and Western democracies. He just doesn’t have to.

Mr. Jekielek: So your expectation is just a lot more misdirection, but no direct challenges?

Mr. Patel: Not from President Biden’s administration and I don’t believe Putin is going to cause any military conflict in the region–actual fighting. And in order for the United States to even contemplate, coming out of my time at DOD, a troop movement to take on whatever Putin is doing in the Ukraine region requires massive amounts of planning.

You have to move ships and aircraft carriers and submarines and thousands of troops. You have to provide logistics for these troops to eat and sleep and change and be clothed. And you have to provide a security posture for the region. This requires massive, massive, massive amounts of planning, and from the indication we got from the Putin Biden video chat, I don’t see any reason to believe that we’ve undertaken any of those efforts.

Mr. Jekielek: One of the things I’ve seen and a number of commentators talk about is, Putin might be testing what he perceives is a U.S. that’s simply not willing to respond strongly to a strong move of his.

Mr. Patel: That’s a great point. And I think that’s something that Putin and Xi Jinping have in common. I’ve always said and maintained that two of America’s biggest rivals, enemies are China and Russia or Russia and China, depending on the specific subject you’re talking about. The thing that Putin and Xi Jinping have in common is, they have been and have always looked for ways to flex their superiority over America.

And Putin specifically in this instance is choosing the Ukraine to show his dominance over what he believes America should or shouldn’t be doing. And I think Xi Jinping is doing the same with the Chinese Olympics, with the Winter Olympics in China.

Mr. Jekielek: Right. And as a small gesture, but as I mentioned, one that can speak volumes, people could sign this pledge to never ever get an organ in China.

Mr. Patel: Well, I think we should put that pledge out to our audience 100 percent. I will sign it and I will ask those that watch Kash’s Corner to sign it as well.

Mr. Jekielek: And so I guess it’s time for our shout out.

Mr. Patel: Well, yeah. So for our shoutout this week, thanks so much to Diane Hamilton. I appreciated your lovely comments, your kind comments to Jan and myself. And we appreciate that you watched the show so regularly and we’ll see you next time on Kash’s Corner.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

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