Talking Iran with The Judge
On 24 February 2026, I was on “Judging Freedom” talking with the Judge about the various misadventures the US is involved in around the globe. Of course, we focused mainly on Iran, where one can only hope President Trump has the good sense not to pull the trigger.
Hi John, this is Peter. I’ve been looking for you because I’d like to discuss some of my recent findings.
I was previously a Ph.D. student in Political Science and Economics; we actually studied one of your books in a class I took regarding the correlation between economics and international conflict. During my senior year of undergraduate studies, I wrote a thesis titled The Economics of Warfare, Terrorism, and Foreign Policy.
My current understanding has evolved significantly: I now see that the entire structure is essentially a Ponzi scheme. Specifically, I view 9/11 through this lens. There are credible voices suggesting the involvement of Saudi, Israeli (Mossad), and British intelligence—with British intelligence (MI6) arguably running the entire operation, even maintaining moles within the CIA.
I’ve been reflecting on a specific historical reinterpretation. Have you ever considered that our traditional understanding of American wars is inverted?
The War for Independence was effectively World War I.
The Civil War was World War II—a conflict in which America truly "lost" because its power structure was forcibly transitioned from horizontal to vertical.
With that shift, the economic system changed fundamentally. We no longer live in a democracy; capital dictates policy, and we are trapped within a "Matrix of Hell" defined by scarcity. As an economics major, I have discovered the reality of abundance and have visual evidence to support this shift in perception. I’d like to send these materials to you.
If Russia loses, it will not be the end of Russia.
It may be the end of Putinism.
The word existential has been stretched beyond recognition in this war.
We are told that Russia faces annihilation. That NATO wants to destroy the country. That defeat in Ukraine would mean the end of Russian civilization.
Russia has survived collapse before. It survived the fall of the Soviet Union. The economic implosion of the 1990s. Chechnya. Sanctions. Oligarch wars. Demographic shocks. It will survive the era after Vladimir Putin as well.
What may not survive is Putinism — the system built on centralized power, elite loyalty networks, managed elections, and a narrative of restored great-power status.
Russia will not disintegrate overnight. Nuclear deterrence remains. The bureaucracy functions. The state continues.
Russia without Putin is entirely conceivable.
Putinism without victory is not.