Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're tuned into the all New Freedom Formal 6.5. Formal 6.5.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: The topic this morning we're going to be discussing is international relations and its effect on Trinidad and Tobago. But before we get into that conversation, I want to say good morning to you and welcome to Freedom 106.5.
[00:00:19] Speaker C: Very good morning to you and all the listeners and viewers on 6.5 this year. Very distinguished gentlemen have to get accustomed to live radio, streaming radio.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: You know, gone are the days when you just hear that voice and you're imagining a face to the voice. Well, those days are far behind us. This is not the year 1963.
So with that being said, let's first identify what does a High commissioner, the office of the High Commissioner. What is the role and function of that office when someone is appointed a
[00:00:52] Speaker C: High Commissioner or any.
Well, first of all, let me let you know the difference between a High Commissioner and an ambassador.
A High Commissioner is the head of the diplomatic mission in a Commonwealth nation.
It serves the same purpose as an ambassador being the head of mission in a non Commonwealth nation.
It's just that the title is different.
So as High Commissioner, you're in charge.
You're the head of mission.
Your duty is to liaise with the government in which country you are posted as the representative of the head of state and the head of government.
So you are the liaison between the government that you are posted in and your own government.
There are many initiatives that a High Commissioner or ambassador is charged with.
Not only are you responsible for diplomatic relations, you are there sometimes to build trade, to let people become more culturally aware of your nation.
You would have diaspora issues to deal with.
In the case of the large postings like Washington, the uk, you also have multilateral issues to deal with because as High Commissioner, you are the representative on the Commonwealth Board.
So you represent Trinidad and Tobago in the Commonwealth. There are a number of other organizations, such as the Maritime Organization, Sugar and other institutions that I also represented Trinidad on.
In addition to being High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, I served as Ambassador to Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:02:49] Speaker C: I wasn't posted in these countries. I did so from the uk, so. But I lazed with those governments again on behalf of Trinidad and Tobago and the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
[00:02:59] Speaker B: Interesting. And I want to thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to hang with me for a few minutes here on Freedom this morning. Now, the fact that this responsibility falls solely on the office of the High Commissioner or the ambassador.
When you get to these larger countries, you mentioned something about the cultural awareness of your country. How does an ambassador High Commissioner gets persons of a nation as large as England, Washington, I mean these people familiar with the Caribbean. But if you're posted somewhere where, what sort of initiative undertaken do you all go through in order to bring that awareness to that community and that nation?
[00:03:43] Speaker C: Certainly. So, for example, when I got to the United Kingdom as High Commissioner, I mean I had already served, I already knew the UK because I did my legal studies in the uk. I was called to the bar in the UK before I was called to the bar in Trinidad. And I have a nice little network in the United Kingdom.
So you become aware of people's awareness of Trinidad and Tobago and you realize very early on that whilst you might think that everybody knows Trinidad and Tobago, they do not even in the diplomatic community.
And I did a lot of outreach both at the diplomatic level and the diaspora level.
So immediately on getting there, I sought to have, for example, receptions for the diaspora at Christmas time, at Easter, at Eid, at Diwali, at our independence.
In doing so I invited the diaspora, but I also invited the diplomatic community.
So we were able to show the diplomatic community our various cultural expressions.
I got involved in reaching out across the UK and throughout Europe where I also was responsible for.
And we engaged in other cultural activities. So we did, we did outreach in Ipswich, we did outreach in Birmingham, we did outreach on Regent street in London.
I also in 2012 hosted the largest out of Trinidad cultural village. And I see it reminded me of flavour but at a smaller level. And I ran, we ran that during our 50th anniversary of independence in 2012. It was also coincided with the London Olympics.
And over a six week period I showcased basically all of our major talent in the uk, bringing people up from Trinidad and having different concerts every day. We had the food expressions, we had exposure to the airlines, exposure to art, exposure to, I mean just about every aspect of our culture over a six week period.
And again, people got to know Trinidad and Tobago a lot more as a result of this, those kinds of initiatives.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: Now persons may ask, why is Devi asking the former High Commissioner this? And there's a reason, I was wondering myself, there was a reason, because when we get to the position of dealing with what is taking place diplomatically on the scene or on the war front with Iran, I wanted persons to understand what the office does. You know, we hear ambassadorial ship and we hear High Commissioner and we think, okay, this is just some high paid job, this person is just there. But I want them to Understand that outside of bringing cultural awareness, you all have handled bilateral talks, trade talks. We prevent wars.
[00:07:01] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:07:01] Speaker B: And all these things, we mitigate those things. So if there's a conflict between two prime ministers, for example, the ambassador or the High Commissioner will sort of bring some kind of balance and speak on behalf of both and quell the hostility. So I wanted persons to understand this, what you were responsible for.
[00:07:19] Speaker C: The other point I want to make is that, of course, the ambassador or the High Commissioner doesn't operate unilaterally. The High Commissioner lasers with the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Foreign affairs, the Minister of Foreign affairs lasers with the Office of the Prime Minister, and in some cases with the Office of the President, because, of course, you have head of State duties as well.
[00:07:41] Speaker B: I just wanted persons to be clear for the first time that this is not just a position where somebody receives a salary and they're on a good vacation at the expense of the state. All right, so let's talk about what is taking place on the international front and how it affects Trinidad and Tobago. Do we deal, as far as, you know, directly with Kuwait or any oil companies in those in the Middle Eastern part of the world?
[00:08:08] Speaker C: Do we deal directly with. Well, I imagine. And even when I was Attorney General, I went to Qatar on a UN crime conference. And before I left Qatar, I sought an audience with the Prime Minister.
Excuse me. And I actually sat with the Prime Minister of Qatar for quite a while, and we had a very long conversation about all sorts of issues, including crime, including tourism, to the extent where I almost ran over my time for leaving Qatar, because I was leaving on that same day.
So as High Commissioner and Ambassador, I dealt with all the major corporate stakeholders in Trinidad and Tobago across Europe and the UK and certainly from the Ministry of Trade perspective, I certainly believe that there is outreach from the Ministry of Trade, or at least there should be outreach from the Ministry of Trade dealing with all major stakeholders that affect Trinidad and Tobago.
[00:09:18] Speaker B: Beautiful. This attack that is taking place, how should Trinidad and Tobago look at it?
How would we be affected by these US And Iran attacks with Kuwait and this war that is supposedly happening in the Middle East?
[00:09:34] Speaker C: Okay, so let me first say that everything I say this morning is going to be based on what is in the best interest of Trinidad and Tobago, both short, medium and long term.
Our foreign policy, certainly when I was serving in the diplomatic community was one of non intervention.
That is because we recognize Trinidad and Tobago is a small country with a small population of 1.3 to 1.5 million people.
We understood that Trinidad And Tobago needed to have alliances throughout the world without alienating anyone.
Now, at our present position in 2026, when we look at our economy and our need to diversify our economy away from oil and gas because of all the issues that we've had over the years with oil and gas, we must understand that tourism is still one of the main areas of growth potential for Trinidad and Tobago as well as the small and medium sized business sector.
Having said that, in order to have a proper tourism industry, we need to ensure that people are prepared to come to Trinidad, that we have alliances, friendships. Well, I say friendships, but you don't really have friendships with countries. What you have are alliances.
And once you are able to ensure that there is good relations with just about everyone, then you would find more likelihood that people will come from all different countries into Trinidad and Tobago. Same goes for trade.
As such, it is important to maintain those kinds of relations.
When we watch what is happening with Iran at the moment, you want to, I suspect you wanted to. The real question is how should we approach the situation?
Having said what I just said, the most appropriate way to approach the situation would have been to sit back and to recognize that this is not our fight.
We, of course, I mean from my personal point of view, I don't want to see the people of Iran murdered. I don't want to see the people of the Middle east murdered. In fact, I don't want to see anybody murdered.
That is just me.
I don't like war because I think wars are useless and they only serve a small group of people who benefit from the war machinery.
So my position would have been that, similar to, I suppose what CARICOM has said, similar to what I see, Holland have said, what Spain have said, even the uk, Denmark have said, even the UK have said that this is not. Well, the UK has, has been changing and waffling its position. So I'm not going to quote the uk, but certainly our position has to be that we abhor the war situation.
We wish, we pray for the, the people involved, but this is not our fight and we are not going to get involved.
That is the only position we can take.
When you align yourself with the US as we have in this situation, what we have done is actually chosen a side and we have chosen a side unnecessarily because there is no benefit to choosing a side in this war.
The only thing that could happen as a result of choosing a side is that we are perceived by those who support the Iranian position as enemies to that. And of course we see ourselves being drawn in to the US fight which again puts our citizens at risk.
Now, when we were looking at the Venezuelan situation, I didn't make too many comments, but I made some comments and what I said then was that again taking the US side and positioning ourselves as a possible base to attack Venezuela put our citizens and put our infrastructure at risk.
Now, luckily we did not go down the road of war with Venezuela, so there was no need to attack Trinidad and Tobago. However, we are seeing in the Middle east what is happening.
Iran is responding to all the American bases.
So Qatar and Saudi and all of those other countries that have bases, even Cyprus that have bases from where the US would launch attacks, they are being targeted. And in the same way we could have been targeted in the Venezuelan situation, but now also if we have Trinidad and Tobago citizens in the area, they can now be targeted. Because of course, if, if you remain neutral, you'd say, listen, I'm a Trinidad and Tobago citizen, I am not for this war, I sympathize with your situation, but I am out of here.
But when you draw Trinidad and Tobago citizens into it, they too become targets.
[00:15:43] Speaker B: Would this be a far fetched notion to think that in this sort of unrelenting geopolitical atmosphere happening now that you mentioned Trinidad and Tobago nationals could be targeted, would it be perceived by the enemy that these are sleeper cells?
[00:16:00] Speaker C: Well, the thing is, and I hope we don't go down that road, I hope so. But I have to ask, the reality is that if a country is perceived to be fighting against you or supporting your enemy, then you look at all angles of their involvement.
[00:16:23] Speaker B: Let's take a, a phone call. Respectfully, please state your position quickly and
[00:16:27] Speaker D: ask pleasant Good morning to Mr. Nicholas.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: Right now we got to remember very
[00:16:32] Speaker D: quickly please, these, these people there, they have a kind of element of radicalism and it doesn't have to be a group. One person can take it on himself and say hey, we're going on now. You know, they make trainers make this statement and that is where we put ourselves in harm danger unnecessarily because that is their culture and they have a way to if they don't get treaty father and get through the son or do these son of the grandson will carry out that is there. That is how their philosophy certain parts of they have little pockets of that do it in the whole system of how they operate. So that is my concern just now. That is my concern that where we open up ourselves unnecessary danger. All right, thank you Mr.
[00:17:09] Speaker B: Okay, thank you.
[00:17:09] Speaker C: Nicola is correct and that's what I say. When you make decisions, you have to look at the decisions and the results of those decisions, short, medium and long term.
Now, quite frankly, Donald Trump's reign could effectively come to an end at the end of this year. If the Democrats take the House and the Senate.
[00:17:32] Speaker B: Right.
[00:17:33] Speaker C: That will then change the whole foreign policy or.
Well, probably not drastically because a lot of the Democrats also believe that Iran should have been attacked. But certainly a lot of the foreign policy could still change.
That means you as a country, having positioned yourself and attached yourself to one leader, if that leader goes, then they look at Trinidad again in a different way.
Right. So that is why in making these decisions, in attaching and aligning yourself to personalities as opposed to policies, we risk short term, we risk medium term, and we certainly risk long term.
[00:18:20] Speaker B: Let's take another call quickly and respectfully. Good morning to you.
[00:18:23] Speaker E: Good morning, Mr. Nicholas.
[00:18:24] Speaker C: Good morning.
[00:18:25] Speaker E: Mr. Nicholas, I am very much concerned about foreign policy being off the cuff.
Another foreign policy.
We have come into office and we have attacked our caricom brothers. We have told to Donald Trump now notice I said Donald Trump under the usa and anything that he does, we say, yes, yes, yes. Like it's almost yes. Mata, I do not know what we hope to gain from this because it really and truly is driving a wedge between us and carry common everything else. Now the foreign minister stands up just like that. And I do not know he spoke to his cabinet colleagues or he just issued a statement, then he had to pull it back and issue another one.
It doesn't make sense. It is almost as though we are infants rehearsing on stage. I think the prime minister of this country needs to sit down and decide exactly what our foreign policy is and then enunciate it to us because other than that, we really and truly not looking good.
[00:19:27] Speaker B: Thank you very much, Eric. And as he mentioned that just before you respond, Mr. Nicholas, I want to reiterate and stretch on one point you mentioned about the landscape shifting politically if Donald Trump, the Mids Office or the House takes it takes him out, which is very likely as he's very unpopular right now with some of the very harsh decisions.
Is it not paranormal to have shifting foreign policies based on the geopolitical atmosphere in various nations? The reason for foreign policy, because we're dealing with foreigners, persons, not local. Right. That's in layman's term. So if there's a shift in politics in another country. But we had one sort of foreign policy in terms of trade and bilateral conversations with this country.
But this Particular leader is no longer there, there's another leader there. Would that not shift our foreign policy focus or agenda to suit the narrative of this new person? Whether we're trying to please them, whether we support or don't support, but to also maintain that open relationship?
[00:20:28] Speaker C: Now you can have, you can adopt that position, but that is not the position we've adopted since independence to about a year ago.
Our position since independence was that of neutrality.
Okay, and why neutrality? Because neutrality is one of the main, are one of the easiest positions to hold in our circumstances.
That means you can trade with everybody, you can have relations with everybody. And Trinidad and Tobago needs to have relations with everybody.
If you look at, if you drive up along Circular Route in Maraval, on one side you have one of the largest Chinese embassies in the region and on the other side you have under construction one of the largest US embassies in the region, right?
That means that we have relations and we've had relations with two of the major players on the global stage for a very long time.
We have managed that relationship very well because of our neutrality position where when we negotiate with the us, when we negotiate with China, when we negotiate with the European Union, when we negotiate with the African Union or anybody else, we are able to do so from a position where, listen, we are not enemies. We are looking at trade. We are what is in the best interest of Trinidad and Tobago. We cannot take your side to fight any wars. And that is the basis of the carry composition with regards to a zone of peace.
It has nothing to do with criminality.
That is an international geopolitical position where you don't get involved with wars.
Now, yes, people say that Venezuela challenged Trinidad, but they didn't really.
There was a lot of old talk, quite honestly, and I never felt that Venezuela was going to drop a bomb on Trinidad and Tobago.
So to say that you were going to align yourself with the US to protect yourselves from Venezuela, I don't see that at all.
And certainly our relationship with Venezuela is not a short term relationship. It is a permanent relationship where we are just a matter of miles off the coast of Venezuela, we respect will always be there unless you have some major earthquake that shifts the landmass. The other thing is this. Our relationship with Caricom is of extreme importance to us. And I'll tell you why. People speak about the relation, the economic relationship with the US and they speak about $6 billion in annual trade, but the reality is that we have a trade deficit with the US so that we import more from the US Than the US imports from us.
So we actually use lose foreign exchange in that relationship. Our relationship with CARICOM is actually a trade surplus and has always been a trade surplus so that our foreign exchange earning is actually in a positive note with caricom as opposed to the US the people who benefit from the trade with Caricom are mostly our small and medium traders who are able and they are the people who employ the larger numbers of people, the revenue is able to circulate through, through the economy in a much easier way with small and medium sized businesses. And therefore the CARICOM relationship and the Caricom trade relationship is extremely important not only to our economy but to our manufacturers and to the employees that they employ.
[00:24:32] Speaker B: You know, I'm very happy that you mentioned that. With so much commitments on my docket this morning, I don't know how much time you have, but I would love to keep you at least past the 8am hour.
[00:24:43] Speaker C: Well, they told me I was going to be here after eight, so I.
[00:24:45] Speaker B: Beautiful. So we'll catch you. We'll keep you after the 8 o' clock hour briefly and wrap the conversation.
I want to focus very quickly our attention back to that ongoing situation taking place in the Middle East. I want Trinidad and Tobago to get a clear understanding from your position, your learned position in terms of the offices that you would have held in the past and your position and now. How should we, I mean, outside of maintaining neutrality, how does this affect us business wise? How does this affect our energy sectors?
[00:25:18] Speaker C: Well, of course, because our energy sector is not at its healthiest at the moment.
We don't have, we are not in a position to really take advantage of any oil and gas increases in any significant way. I mean, of course there will be some gains. But you know, I find it unconscionable to celebrate oil and gas prices rising because people are dying.
I'm really serious about that. And yes, there is a lot of global turmoil now caused by basically two men, the Prime Minister of Israel and the President of the United States of America who are destroying the economies, the safety of the world because of their behavior.
[00:26:24] Speaker B: And I want to put a pin right there.
You know, I didn't want to say it, but you did.
Two persons. I was looking at Donald Trump this morning in a short video on my way to work. And I'm saying this man is talking about boots on the ground, possibly boots on the ground. So the drones help to mitigate aircraft in the air and rob the drone ain't really kill nobody. Right? It blew up a drone.
But boots, boots on the ground and people have to go to war. And he's sitting down in the comfort of his palatial residence and having a peeve against another person, another nation and don't like what's going on there and the mothers and daughters. And he says it, he said it. He said, you know, condolences to the lost but probably will have more. Yeah, but that's the way it is.
[00:27:12] Speaker C: You're talking about the four or five American soldiers.
[00:27:15] Speaker B: That's just four.
[00:27:16] Speaker C: I am talking about the 106.
[00:27:18] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:27:19] Speaker C: Girls.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:27:20] Speaker C: Who were buried today in Iran.
[00:27:22] Speaker B: That's the point. So he talking about that. And then on the other side, look at this. We take that break. We have traditions. Our History of the Masjid in Trinidad and Tobago feature that's coming up now. We'll continue with our guest in the next hour. Stay with us.
[00:27:39] Speaker A: You're tuned into the all new freedom 106.5
[00:27:46] Speaker B: and we are chatting with the former high commissioner to the United Kingdom, former attorney general.
And we're talking on international relations and its effects on on TNT. Mr. Gavin Nicholas, good morning again to you, sir.
[00:27:57] Speaker C: Good morning again. And good morning to your listeners once again.
[00:28:01] Speaker B: All right, so we want to continue with our conversations as we we had been doing in the previous hour, relating to the international really situation unfolding in the Middle east and how it affects us here in Trinidad and Tobago. Now a lot of persons are paying attention to the social media. They're watching this unfolding debacle that's on, that's happening and we liken it to back home and we look at the situation or you made mention that it's a good thing this situation between Venezuela and the US Ended the way it did and not in war.
[00:28:32] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:28:33] Speaker B: What do you perceive could have possibly happened if we had got, if it had gone down a different way?
[00:28:38] Speaker C: Well, we are actually seeing it on CNN and Al Jazeera and BBC.
Exactly what you are seeing there would have transpired in Trinidad and Tobago had war broken out between the US And Venezuela, with Trinidad right here acting as a semi base for the US With US Troops based here, with the radar based here, we would have been an obvious target.
It is that concern that I had very early on when I saw these things developing. And again, I always think about what is in the best interest of Trinidad and Tobago because if you get involved in war unnecessarily and the collateral damage could have been the destruction of Port of Spain, could have been destruction of some of our oil and Gas assets could have been the destruction of hotels or airport infrastructure in Tobago.
And what would have happened in that scenario?
The President of the United States would have said, oh, sorry, you know, and
[00:29:54] Speaker B: quite likely you probably would have. It would have just been like that, you know, yeah, tough luck there, boy.
[00:29:59] Speaker C: You know, because of course, Trinidadians are not Americans and we don't, we don't have the same value.
Even there we are seeing how he's responding to American citizens dying, you know, and it's like, yeah, be prepared to lose a couple Americans because, you know, we're in this war for Israel, you know, so we have to always be minded of consequences.
And we must look at medium, short, short, medium and long term in any kind of policy making, especially when we're dealing with foreign policy, even local policy.
I mean, we've had some good strategic thinking on some things in the past. The creation of our, of the Children's Life Fund was a good thing. For example, the creation of the Fund for our oil and gas as a.
What is the name of it again?
[00:31:04] Speaker B: Which one?
[00:31:05] Speaker C: The oil and gas fund, the hsf, the stabilization.
[00:31:08] Speaker B: Stabilization fund.
[00:31:09] Speaker C: You know, that's a good thing because again, we used that and we planned down the road. We want policies that make sense for us. We want policies that would ensure that we continue trade with the Caricom. We want policies that ensure that Cuba is protected. We want policies that ensure, I mean, that we have good relations with Venezuela. Because remember, Venezuelan politics is a different kind of politics.
It is generational. It is, it is more philosophical.
And therefore, when you create an enemy unnecessarily, they have long memories, you understand? So, and we are always going to be next to Venezuela and we would always want to have good relations with Venezuela for our oil and gas, for our economy, for our citizens, for our development.
[00:32:02] Speaker B: We have always enjoyed relations with the US on many fronts. They are our largest trading partner.
And when we look at the military support we would have received over the years, it's not the first time US troops are on our soil.
Could it not have been seen where we would have been advancing as it was put out into the public by the current administration, that the boots on the ground, the USS gravely visiting, it's just part of the ongoing military assistance that the transliguous defense force receives from time to time from the U.S. we, we send troops there, they train, they come back. Could it not. That's how the Prime Minister put it. Could it not have been seen that.
[00:32:40] Speaker C: You see, the problem is that I don't think Any citizen believe that because of the utterances leading up to it, because of the fact that the US Were obviously preparing for military action in Venezuela because of our stated support for that action, there was no need. You see, look at how good Grenada played this thing.
Grenada said, listen, Grenada is just up the road. Grenada said, this isn't our fight. We don't want any radar here so that we would not be any target.
Right. We have good relations with the US they depend on a lot of Americans for their tourism industry. They trade with the US but they didn't get in bed with them on this issue because it was inconsistent with their foreign policy and they understood what would be the long term repercussions of it.
[00:33:39] Speaker B: And I'm glad you mentioned something. You mentioned something. I don't want it to slip under the rug. You talk about generational politics and what we do to Venezuela today.
It's almost as if the political realms in Venezuela is hereditary. So we inherit this and we also inherit the bad blood.
[00:33:58] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:33:58] Speaker B: That happened between that prime minister. Them don't care whether it was our prime minister who probably would have passed on or is no longer in office.
Their concern is the government of the Republic. The people in Trinidad, they were worrying us.
So we, and, and you know, it's funny that you mention it because when you look at the movies, you see it, it passes down and not sidetracking but digressing a bit to hone in on what you mentioned. And I want persons to understand how serious Mr. Nicholas statements are and how we must look at it. You remember Christmas list? Yes, Christmas list walked into a particular area, I think it was in Belmont, if memory serves me correct. And he interviewed some young men who born and inherit a fight.
[00:34:47] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:34:47] Speaker B: They don't. They warring against the block just across the road and they don't even know why. They don't have the history as to where it started. My father, my uncle and them, and we just know we can't go on that side.
[00:34:59] Speaker C: Why do you feel people vote PNM and UNC hereditary? Because their father did, their grandfather did.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: So we, we almost are bordering on the same kind of hereditary politics in this country, even though it's bordered, they say racial lines. So I want persons to understand when we look at the situation that almost unfolded with us in Venezuela, is it over?
Or could we down the road, two, three generations down, see some kind of tension again rearing its ugly head because somebody didn't forget what our prime minister did.
[00:35:34] Speaker C: But at the very moment President Trump recognizes the president of Venezuela as President Del C Rodriguez.
[00:35:44] Speaker B: Mm.
[00:35:45] Speaker C: And President Del C Rodriguez has not been in any kind of cordial talks or any kind of talks, as far as I am aware, with the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago or the Energy Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
[00:36:00] Speaker B: Absolutely nothing. Let's get finally on the calm. I don't know if you want to weigh in on Marco Rubio Secretary of State's comments. I don't know if you want to talk touch on it a bit explaining the position. So persons it's all over. It's on these socials. I'm seeing it popping up.
[00:36:16] Speaker C: So yesterday, Marco Rubio actually stated the reason why they bombed Iran and he stated very clearly that he was aware one that Israel were taken unilateral decision to bomb Iran.
From all accounts, from all the un, from even the uk Attorney General advising the Prime Minister of the UK stated that that is illegal, but Israel were planning a unilateral attack on Iran.
Iran has stated that if Israel attacked Iran and they said so with the assistance of the us, they were going to bomb, to obviously retaliate, bomb Israel and bomb the American bases across the Middle East.
Rubio, understanding that Israel was about to do something illegal and bomb Iran, decided that Iran would be an imminent threat to the US because they would retaliate against an attack and therefore that was their justification for bombing Iran.
[00:37:40] Speaker B: But didn't. But didn't Iran says with the assistance if Israeli Prime Minister attacks me, if Netanyahu come at me and the US assist him.
[00:37:50] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:37:51] Speaker B: So there was no assistance by the US to support Israel. So you taking a position. Well, you now a threat to me. If you don't assist the Israelis, how are you a threat?
[00:38:02] Speaker C: So. So in. In local position, I say that you are a threat to me right now. You and do me anything.
[00:38:10] Speaker B: I do nothing as yet.
[00:38:12] Speaker C: But I say that you're a threat to me right now.
I know that if I take you out, your brother might come at me.
[00:38:21] Speaker B: Right.
[00:38:22] Speaker C: And my friend knows that if I take you out, your brother might come at me.
[00:38:28] Speaker B: So he decided to attack my brother
[00:38:29] Speaker C: instead of my friend saying, well, don't attack the man.
What your friend then decides is that he will attack you and your brother first. First because I intend to attack you.
[00:38:42] Speaker B: Nonsense.
[00:38:43] Speaker C: And we supporting that nonsense.
[00:38:45] Speaker B: And I wanted to close off at that point and leave it fresh into the minds of persons. I do have another interview on the docke on the cards right now, but I wanted that position because I love what you said offie and I wanted that position to close up so folks understand what is taking place geopolitical here. I'm going repeat very quickly for the man in the middle of the taxi who didn't catch it.
Israeli plans attack on Iran.
The US get word of it they realize okay, nothing Yahoo. He don't play.
[00:39:13] Speaker C: He, he.
[00:39:13] Speaker B: He's one of the most wanted men on the planet right now. And very I mean Israeli had technology second to none. Them technology rail dread remember the beepers whether it's sending and men had it and next thing you know men blow up. So them have technology different. But the thing is they made a perceived threat against the Iranians and what happened is that Iran has responded saying if all you're coming we're ready you know but if the US assists earlier we are attacking everything US together with all you so we attack. We're coming back to strike if all you come at us but we attacking them. The US took that to be a threat. What they never said that. They said if you all have because you feel Iran not stripping they recognize Israeli's reach, you know the Prime Minister's reach, his arms his tentacles along and he has probably spoken to Trump many times. I don't know. We just many times, many times he would have met with so them know that. So they're saying listen if the military might of the US is coming at
[00:40:06] Speaker C: us as well we have to defend ourselves.
[00:40:09] Speaker B: That's it. That's all.
[00:40:11] Speaker C: That is all.
[00:40:12] Speaker B: How could Marco Rubio, Secretary of State missed that? Gavin Nicholas, I want to thank you very much, very much for coming in studios and staying back with us a little after the 8 o'.
[00:40:22] Speaker C: Clock.
[00:40:22] Speaker B: Really wanted to solidify that point. I have a good some good info here but I must wrap the interview and say thank you. Maybe a part two in the not too distant future as we're tuned into
[00:40:32] Speaker A: the all new freedom 106.5 106.5.
