Matt Connarton Unleashed 6-26-23

Hello everybody, Hello and welcome. It's Matt Connerton Unleashed and we are live

from the studios of w m n H ninety five point three FM and Glorious

Downtown Manchester, New Hampshire also on Comcast ninety seven. Are in Manchester,

and hello to all of our online listeners across the nation and around on the

globe. You can go to my website Matt Connerton dot com for all of

your live streaming options, social media links, contact in folk show archives,

etc. Etc. Today is a Monday, June twenty six, twenty twenty

three, so nice to have y'all with me. By the way, a

quick point of a note of explanation if you're wondering why that was an unusually

long intro with the music, you know, I always opened usually I opened

with a song or two. That was a bunch of songs. So we're

starting the actual show part a little bit late. I blame the weather.

That was quite a storm that we just had. Now, if you're listening

live and you're listening in the Manchester, New Hampshire area, you probably realize

and I don't know how you could not realize it because and I no joke,

no exaggeration. That had to be the loudest thunder I've ever heard in

my life. Earlier, we just had quite a storm roll through here.

Didn't last too too long, although little bit longer than I would have liked.

But uh so when I when I arrived here at the when I arrived

here at the station, uh we had a little bit of technical issues to

figure out, and I believe it was because of the storm. I think

the storm probably caused a surgeon electricity and a couple of the computers were down

and had to get everything uh back up to speed up to spec if you

will. So starting starting this part of the show a little bit late,

so I apologize, but well, the weather caused me more trouble than that,

though, but we'll get to that. We have a call. Hi,

Welcome to Matt Connerton Unleashed. Is this hello, Matts? So right?

So did Jerry Robinson. Oh my goodness, Jerry Robinson from Jerry Robinson's

video Chronicles and and the the leader of the Rock and Roll Army and so

forth. This is It's wonderful to hear from you again, sir, Yes,

Matt, so listen. I don't want to take up much of your

time today. I understand you're a very busy man and you have many things

to talk about on your radio show. Yeah, I just I just need

to talk really quickly about just how wonderful of a great guide that you want.

You stayed on the phone with me for four hours streak helping me send

a file over email. You said you dropped everything that you were doing,

wife, kids, nothing else, Matt, and I just really appreciate you,

and people need to know that wmnh's is very own matso Ratzo Covington will

do anything in the world for his listeners. Well, Jerry Robinson, I

appreciate you, and that's why I was so willing to help you figure out

how to attach a file to an email and send that email. I mean,

I appreciate you so much. If I were a network news anchor in

the middle of covering the news over the weekend, and and you had texted

me or emailed me and said, Matt, can you get on the phone

I need technical help with something, I would drop everything, Jerry. I

would drop everything. I would drive to wherever you were just to help you

in person. In fact, if I couldn't dispatch a technician, of course,

Uh, you know you're worth it, my friend, You, sir,

are worth it. I really appreciate that, Matt. So another thing,

obviously, I can't see his name because we were over that of course.

Yeah, yeah, there's a coup. I'm taking over. I command

the rock and roll Army. Yeah. I would just like to know if

you would like to be my first Uh my, I guess we'll say,

commander to the Supreme Leader of rock and Roll. Oh my god, uh,

Jerry, I have to tell you, I've I've dreamt of this moment.

I can't believe it's happening. You're actually offering me that the loot.

I'm sorry, what was it again, the lieutenant assistant Supreme something, the

commander to the Supreme Leader of rock and roll. Yeah, yes, the

Commander to the Supreme Leader of rock and Roll. I'll tell you it's a

mouthful, it's it's a little wordy, but I I've dreamt of this moment,

sir. This is truly an incredible honor. Thank you, thank you

so much, and count man, you are officially first member of Jerry's rock

and Roll on me. Thank you very much. Matt. I really appreciate

it. I feel like applauding for that, and then and then I'm applauding

on my end, but I'm holding my jitabug telephone. That's that's one of

the reasons I had issue sending the email because I have the extra lodge buttons,

and you know, because I'm old. Uh but yeah, that's that's

basically what happened. Yeah, i'd pope believe me. I understand. We

all get older. Jerry. It's okay, Yeah, it's it's it's all

right. It's okay to be old, just not old and crazy, apparently

from what we know from sudden people. Lets I just I really appreciate everything

you've done for me. I'm gonna hop off you and I hope you have

a great rest of your day. All the best, Jerry. All right,

bye, Jerry, thank you. Wow, Wow, the great Jerry

Robinson. You can check him out on YouTube and seriously, he's on YouTube

and you do need to check him out. I'm not kidding. Jerry Robinson's

video chronicles I've shared out a few things of him is and uh, yes,

there has been a coup, not that kind of a coup. There

was an almost coup over the weekend, which we will certainly talk about today,

but there can be more than one kind of coup. And I'm just

so excited that he has invited me to be the oh god, what was

it, the deputy assistant colonel in the battalion for Rock and Roll or something,

whatever it is. I mean, it sounds very prestigious, but even

more importantly, it sounds like something where I will have a tremendous amount of

power. And by the way, you can trust me. You know,

they say with great power comes great responsibility. And one thing I would just

assure all of you is you can, in fact trust me with great power.

And anyone who says you can't, boy, they've got something coming to

them. I'm kidding. No, you can trust me with great power.

Very nice, always nice here from our friend Jerry Robinson. That does open

up the line for you. Six three two five six seven six zo three

two five six seven on the studio line, and uh, we do have

another call. Let's see. I think this might be our friend easyg Eric

Gagnet on the line. Hello, Easy, is that you? Yes it

is. Hey. That was quite a storm over here too, Wow,

torrential rain in Nashua. Yeah, yeah, it was. It was pouring

here. I well, I didn't even talk about, you know, like

getting here. Honestly, I was concerned because driving here, the roads were

flooding. Uh quickly, I put off. I actually put literally eric,

I'm standing on the porch where I live, waiting for it to let up,

because you know, I don't mind getting wet, but I also have

my my own computer that I bring in with me, and I have a

bag that I carry it in, but I don't want this to get wet,

and uh so, so I kept I kept waiting and waiting, and

I'm like waiting it, waiting for it to let up, and waiting for

it to let up. And then finally I was like, I can't wait

anymore. I gotta go. I can't be late. It's a live radio

show. But then as I'm driving here, I'm like, oh no,

I shouldn't have waited at all. I should have left immediately. I should

have left on time, because the roads were starting to flood here, um

in spots wherever it doesn't usually flood. And I was genuinely like, coming

over the bridge, I was really kind of worried. I mean, it

was it was happening quickly. I was very relieved once I safely got to

the parking garage. Yeah, I figured, you guys every trouble with the

radio station, said, well, that's a twenty minute opening, doesn't really

that's a long opening. Well yeah, I mean we were on the air

and everything. But um, but in order to start start the show,

you know, I liked to get the Facebook feed going and and of course,

um uh you get everything set to record the show, and uh,

we were just having some trouble with those computers. But those computers were off.

But I think what I assume what happened is because literally, I mean

the thunder was so loud, there was probably a surge of power surge somewhere

in the building that shut those computers off. And then and then it was

different one of them. It was difficult to get it started again. So

you know, it happens. But you know, we're here, we're we're

on the air. We go we go forth. Um, so it's all

good. I had to call Peter White and uh, because I couldn't I

wasn't sure which. Yeah, I just I didn't want to push the wrong

button on the wrong computer and accidentally take us off the air completely. Because

we were we were on the air the entire time, but so Peter had

to had to help me out, but we got through it. Hey that

lost calls familiar, Yeah, he does, he does. He reminds me

of somebody too. I can't quite I can't quite place him, but Jerry

Robinson, I have to say Salt of the Earth, and I'm I'm very

I'm very excited to have been offered the position of oh god, what was

it like the deputy assistant manager of the Rock and Roll Lieutenant major or something.

Anyway, it's it's a very prestigious position, easyg And I'm excited.

Perhaps he'll offer you a position in the Rock and Roll Army as well.

Oh yeah, yeah, this one it was almost gone, almost two hour

review of the four through the through the they formed the the Forbidden Door,

and that was it was quite a quite a spectacle. We should clarify for

people who don't know that's a wrestling pay per view. When you say forbidden

Door, Uh, some people might think you're talking about something that would be

more suited to Matt Connor, to Daniel Daniel the yes man got hurt.

I guess he's out six to eight weeks. He heard, Uh, is

I figured what he heard, but he got injured. I did. I

did see something about that, Yes, yes, yes, uh the great

Brian Danielson. Yes, I'm thinking it was true. But Kenny Omega match

what din't match? That was? I guess. I don't forget the other

guy he was rustling, but it was all They were all all bloody.

I don't like. Uh yeah, I don't like a lot of blood either.

I do want to see uh mjf W likes to be edgy, though,

you know they do. I would like to see. Uh. I

know one of the matches was MJF versus Tana Hashi. I would very much

like to see that. I would like to find that online and watch it.

Yeah, I will tell you what happens. Uh okay, yeah,

we'll tell you a story's storyline. Though he said he won the Russell first,

so that way you get the hell out of that Canada I was a

storyline. Of course, probably didn't get the hell out of They probably just

stayed on back. Who knows. M J said, you know that guy

likes to be edgy. Yes he does, Yes he does. He plays

his character very well well. Before I let you go, what is that

thing? That Bobby Heenen said about the cheating. I always forgot that statement.

He said, uh oh u when it I remember, okay, when

if you can lose, if you must, but always cheat and never get

caught. That's what Bobby the brain, and so I want to remember us.

Yeah, I like the old statement, the it's okay to cheese as

long as you don't get caught, right, right. But by the way,

easy g though, these are these are villains in wrestling who say these

things. We are not. These are not our we are men of honor.

These are not our philosophies in life. Yes, I'll leave it this

crazy. I don't know who is rustling up again now, but I believe

this, but the referee store in front of the wrestlers who won the acaman

on the corner there, and uh, can you believe that the referee in

the in the in the match, and I can't believe enjoy it though,

you know, I can't believe when they hit the chair or something, the

refeluc the other way, Frankly, all into the game. It's they're all

part of the storyline. Frankly, I'm shocked. Yes, but yeah,

so sometimes that review of oh yeah, the two almost two hours m review

of The Foreign Door. Sometimes it um somehow evaporates. I found that out.

If you don't watch it, like early in the morning, for some

reason, it gets a race. What does what? What? What do

you want to see? The review? You know, on to YouTube for

some reasons. If you don't watch it like early in the morning, it

disappears. Oh, Fredo is in the chat room, says, remember when

Hulkogen went bad? Oh vividly it was a great moment, joined the n

w O. But do you think that's true? Though? When they put

it on YouTube for a while and then they take then they get written,

then it goes on race. Well, so if someone who is not authorized,

uh put something on YouTube, what can happen? Is and Warner Brothers

Discovery is pretty aggressive about this. Uh they of course, uh you know,

do the television for a wh they will, they will have it taken

down. WWE does the same thing. They'll have things removed. Yeah.

So if I watch it early in the morning, sometimes I've transferred all my

Facebook page and later number one lay it's not there. It's not there.

You know what I do? Actually, if I if something is on the

YouTube that I really want to see and I'm concerned that it might not still

be there when I get around actually watching it. I'll download it and then

I have it. Oh, he's say in the future, now WW gets

it's um it's got together with the other company there, you seef whatever that

place there. You told me that they won't have any other matches on YouTube

anymore. You'll just be able to find it out online and won't it won't

be any video anymore. Huh, I said that. I don't know.

You would tell me when you know the WW is getting together with a new

company there. Yeah, UFC tell me when that happens. He's not gonna

have any of your matches on YouTube. You won't be able to see it

there. I think you told me that. I don't remember saying that.

Um, well, maybe Eric Pipplin is did from and the Uh yeah,

Iowa, maybe he told me that. I don't know. I mean,

you'll always be able to find things on YouTube, just not everything, all

right, So that makes sense in them. Yeah, they think it off

them the YouTube because the somebody's using on authours. Yeah that makes sense.

Thank you. Good, all right, I'll let you go and I'll be

careful to crazy weather. Yes, absolutely, all right, thanks EASYG.

All right, that was our friend, EASYG. How you should have known

by now, easy dovy. That opens up the line for you six zo

three two five zero six zero seven six three two five zero six zero seven.

Of course you can also text me at six one seven nine one seven

four four seven six. I'm on social media at Matt Connerton. You can

email me Matt at Matt Connerton dot com, and of course you can interact

endopine and the Facebook live chat. We will say hello to everybody in there

in a moment. But the best thing to do so that we can hear

and enjoy your dulcet tones is to give us a call at six zo three

two five zero six z seven six zo three two five zero six z seven.

But yeah, I just kinda finish my story and put a button on

that so um, yeah, it started pouring out. I was still at

home, see I do um. I do the bulk of my show prep

in the office at home, and then I come to the station, so

I you know, I have I have it ready. So then I come

to the station and I like to get here no later than three thirty.

I like to I like to be here at minimum a half hour before I

have to go live on the air and get settled in and set up and

everything. But um, it was pouring so hard. I'm standing out on

the porch waiting, Okay, well, it's got to let up at some

point. And like I said, while I was outside, that was the

loudest thunder I've ever heard in my life. And then finally I said,

I can't wait anymore. I gotta go. So I go. Um,

I throw my computer into the you know, because I bring my my computer.

I'm not worried about getting wet, but I don't want to get the

computer wet, throw it into the car. I'm driving here and the and

the water is coming up on the roads really fast, and I'm like,

oh my god, I hope I'm not gonna get caught in a flash flood

here. Um. I'd never that was, you know, I wouldn't have

been a big deal if I still had the jeep. But the car I

drive now, it's lower to the ground, and it was it was a

little hairy getting here. So anyway, I hope, I hope nobody got

caught in that in a really bad way. And of course it's stopped raining,

and I'm sure the waters receded on the streets and everything. But although

I remember a couple of years ago, had to be two maybe three years

ago, there was a summer storm where I think it was in the summer

at least, where there were parts of Manchester that actually had like real significant

flooding in the roads and it was and people got stuck, and it was

it was pretty bad. I remember seeing images online of a parking lot somewhere

in the city where it must have been, you know, kind of below

street level and in the parking lot where they had just like cars were you

know, the water was up past their tires. Really not good. So

it can happen anywhere. We're pretty fortunate here though. We rarely have any

kind of flooding or anything like that, or really any kind of extreme weather

events. So we're fortunate in that sense, you know. And then I

got here and we just like I said, we had a little bit of

tech issues, which I'm sure we're related to the storm. That cannot possibly

be a coincidence. So but here we are, so on this beautiful day.

I mean, it's rainy and dreary outside, but it's beautiful. Otherwise

we'll say he loot everybody in the Facebook live chat and then we'll get into

some stuff because I don't know if you all notice, but kind of a

big day, while a big weekend, I should say, in the news,

and that story is not over yet. There's still a lot we don't

know. We'll get to it, though, we will get to it.

It is certainly top of mind for me and I'm sure for many of you

as well. Hello to Miriam Bannish, who joins us in the Facebook live

chat. Good afternoon. Jenny is in the Facebook live chat and says shalom

from DC. Yes, Jenny is in Washington, DC right now as we

speak. She'll be returning tomorrow. But she had to give a speech yesterday

and another one today which she said was I think the I think she told

me a messenger was the largest crowd she'd ever spoken in front of. So

very proud of her. She's doing great things, Miriam says. Jerry Robinson

sounded a little like Gilbert Godfried and Bernie Sanders combined, which is impossible unless

Gilbert is speaking from the grave. No, that's that's a good insight though.

That is kind of how Jerry Robinson sounds actually although the somebody else he

reminds me of. Fredo also said in the chat room, good to know

EASYG is on the right side of things. Yes, EASYG. He doesn't.

He doesn't like it, you know, when these wrestlers they do you

dirty. He likes sportsmanship and honor. Alex Whiley, one of our friends

from the UK, is in the chat and says, good evening. Pheasant

pluckers. I'd be careful how I said that on the air, and may

make sure to enunciate the words correctly so I don't get myself in trouble.

Uh. Pheasant pluckers? Is that like a term for Americans? I don't

know. I can honestly say I never in my life have plucked a pheasant,

but I don't. I don't like to go near birds. They frightened

me. Charles Richardson from the state of Florida joins us in the Chireman says,

hey people, your nightmare is here. Oh my goodness. Alex Whiteley

says hard to drive through a storm in the aston Martin amatt ha, Oh

my goodness. Well, I'll tell you what I f only I knew,

Although I wonder how those are on gas. Let me give the studio line

again and then we'll get into the news of the weekend. Six three two

five six seven six three two five six seven. By the way, we're

supposed to have a guest joined us today too, and I'd mentioned on Friday,

but I have not heard from her and she's not here, so I

don't know if she caught in the rain or something came up. It is

not a big deal, but she is. Uh, let's just coming in

in the second hour. It's possible I may have misunderstood something. We'll see,

we'll play it by here. But yeah, so on Friday night,

you know, I'm here, of course for Retro Spectrum Radio on Friday nights

from eight to eleven PM. So Friday is my long day here. I

do double duty. I do this show and that show and one of Paul

C's co hosts on that show, and we have a fantastic time. Actually,

this past Friday was cool because so it was the usual crew of Paul

C and myself and DJ Steve and Mike from Queen City Cabinetry, but we

were also joined by Kyle Heavey, very important part of the WMH family.

The host of Off the Mark Sports, which you can hear on Sunday mornings

here on WMNH. So I was cool to have Kyle here as well.

So he's a great guy. I actually was on his show once. I'm

not a sports fan, but when back when Vince McMahon had initially stepped down

as chairman of WWE, I was invited to. I was invited to go

on the show and talk about it. So I had a good time.

But oh, Scott Robinson joins us in the chat and says, uh,

it's a little inside but if you know, you know, Scott said,

is it the state rep elect who is scheduled to come in today, Matt

to clear their name? Uh no, No, mister Crabs is uh,

we'll not be joining us on the premises. No, never again anyway.

Uh so, Uh so I was here Friday night and then the show's over,

we wrap up the show, you know, and then of course we're

here for a few minutes because Paul has to to save the file and upload

the show to uh the website WMH radio dot org, where of course all

the shows are archived. And I'm looking at the news and I see that

something is going on in Russia. And actually the first thing I saw was

somebody on Twitter had said made a comment about there might be a coup going

on right now in Russia, and that sure got my attention. And so

I'm looking and uh, and I see what's happening, And uh, how

do you say his name? Is it? I'm not sure I'm saying it

because you know, you hear you hear his name on the news and it's

uh, you hear it pronounced a couple of different ways. But VEGNI,

uh, you know what, I need to see it. I want to

make sure I'm getting his last name somewhat because I've never until today. Today

will be the first time I've ever spoken this individual's name on the show,

or actually probably the first time i've ever spoken is it. No, I'm

not going to say it correctly. I know I'm not. Let me just

look up here if I see it in front of me. Um. Yeah,

I've never said his name before ever. Pregosion yev Denny. Ye see

it looks like I feel like the why is silent, like it's Evgenny.

That's how I'm going to say it anyway, Evgeny Progosian, I keep wanting

to go dyslexic, dyslexic with it. See I can't even say dyslexic without

jumbling the letters. But uh, Progosian, I just seem to have his

last name correctly, really correct, progosion. Um. I see on the

news, in the news Friday night that progosion Is has formed a column,

a military column, marching towards Moscow, and all hell seems to have broken

loose. And I'm just in awe. I didn't see this coming. Apparently

some people thought it was this might happen, but not as quickly as it

did. But uh, but I was quite I was quite surprised to see

this happening. And then on Saturday, of course, the story continued.

And I'll tell you what I did. Look, I will be completely honest

with you. I did wake up Saturday morning with kind of a fantasy of

Vladimir Putin being dragged through the street. There was a part of me that

really wanted to see Progosion get all the way to Moscow and to see something

happened to Vladimir Putin. Because if you're a regular listener, you know how

I feel about Vladimir Putin. And I say that with apologies to any Tucker

Carlson fans who might be pro Russia, but I am anti Vladimir Putin,

nothing against the Russian people, but obviously I am anti Vladimir Putin, and

I want something terrible to happen to him. But there's the reality I've see.

There's so many different layers to this, which is part of what makes

it so fascinating with what happened over the weekend and what is happening now the

fallout from it, because maybe fallout's not the best word to use, because

we are talking about the potential destabilization of the world's largest nuclear power in terms

of you know, I mean, Russia has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons

of any country in the world, even beyond that of the United States,

and has almost fifty percent of all of the world's nuclear weapons. So Russia

is a very powerful nuclear state. That's why whenever I hear people, whenever

I have heard people over the years kind of take Russia lightly, even Rhn

de Santis, I think at one point recently I heard him say something about

he called Russia just a glorified gas station with nuclear weapons, and it's like,

okay, Governor but the key is the key words in that phrase,

that you're using nuclear weapons, and they've got a lot of them. I

always like to remind people when when people get a little bit uh, sort

of cavalier about how we deal with Russia and don't seem to be taking Russia

seriously. I like to remind people. I mean, well, I shouldn't

say like, I really take no joy in it, but he should confront

the reality of it, I suppose, and the reality being that Russia has

the capability with long range ICBMs, they have the capability to destroy destroy the

United States and approximately the amount of time it takes a pizza delivered. So

just some food for thought, to continue the food analogy, because I like

pizza, but I don't like nuclear war, so I'd rather avoid that if

we could. So these are things that we need to keep in mind when

we talk about Russia. On the one hand, yes, of course,

I woke up Saturday morning within a mental picture in my mind which gave me

quite a chuckle of Vladimir Putin because I hate him and think he's evil being

dragged through the streets. But the reality is, of course, if that

were to happen, who takes his place, and Progosion is no hero.

He seems to be a hero to some people in Russia. I know that

there were some people who were taking selfies with him and were cheering him as

he was moving closer to Moscow. They had taken over with apparently without firing

a single shot, a city the name of which escapes me, but it

starts with an R. On their way to Moscow, and they got about

one hundred twenty miles close to Moscow when they decided to or Moscow. I

pronounce at Moscow. I know in broadcasting school they tell you there's no mosque,

there's no cow in Moscow. So I say Moscow, but say John

Hopwood yelled at me about that once. But whatever I'm gonna say out how

I like um. So they got about one hundred and twenty miles out and

then that was it. They turned around. Now Progosion again though he's he's

no hero. So while it's interesting to indulge, as I did in my

own mind, the ideas of Putin being deposed and something terrible happening to him

in the process, and by the way, if Putin ever is deposed as

the leader of Russia, it, you know, something it will be because

something terrible is happening to him, because it will probably whatever occurs will probably

occur in a very violent fashion. He's uh, you know, he's not

just going to go quietly certainly. Um. But but we don't know what

or who or how bad they might be would replace him. So so on

on one hand, yes, it's it's I mean, I I had a

mix of emotions just watching this all play out on Saturday. You know,

there's there's the excitement of oh, look, it's it's really coming apart in

Russia for Vladimir Putin. That's great. But then there's the also you have

to think about but wait again, Russia, being the world's most powerful country

from a standpoint of having nuclear weapons, is coming apart. Maybe that's actually

not so great. Um. And then if if progosion does get all the

way to Moscow and is who replaces Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin, ultimately he

might be worse, and he might be willing to use strategic nuclear weapons,

whereas Putin has restrained himself from doing and so forth. So we don't know

the potential consequences. Then, of course, if things really come apart.

I mean, who knows, you know, maybe a balkanization similar to what

happened when the Soviet Union dissolved the first time, when the Soviet Union came

apart. And but but we don't know. But but but then again,

who knows. Maybe Progosian would be better because maybe you know, Progosian and

I think this is part of why people some people might have been cheering for

him. Progosian did say, you know, he started pointing out that look,

you know, this war, Russia going into Ukraine and invading Ukraine,

it's based on lies. They're lying to you. Now, he was very

careful though, like he takes umbridge with Shogu the or shoigu Shogu or sho

I think is shoigu Ministry of Defense. I think is a title minister of

defense, kind of like a secretary of defense or secretary of state. Here

he took issue with him and one of the big generals, I forget his

name starts with an M. I think, but avoided directly attacking Vladimir Putin.

But what he did say, is what he started saying, was,

look, they lied to you, and this war is based on lies.

This invasion is based on lies and they shouldn't have done it, and we

want the truth, and that's why we're going to Moscow. So would Progosion

have if the coup had been successful, which he denies that the coup was

ever even in the offing to begin with, But who knows? So if

a coup had been successful and he had taken over installed himself, because there's

no it's not like this some sort of succession plan in Russia. You know,

Putin's been in power for twenty three years in some form or fashion.

And I say it that way because sometimes he's president, sometimes he's prime minister.

You know, there was one point where he'd been president for a while,

but then there were term limits, so then he made himself prime minister

to let Medvedev be president. But Putin was obviously really in control, or

maybe it's even the other way around. It gets confusing, but Putin makes

sure that he's always the guy at the top, and has for more than

two decades now. But would Progosian have gotten in there and said that's it,

We're ending this war. Maybe who knows, but we should be very

clear about who Avegni Progosian is, of course ahead of the Wagner group,

a criminal and a butcher, not a good guy, and nobody should be

cheering for him, and I suppose nobody should be cheering him on. So

maybe I was wrong to even ever have those fantasies about something terrible happening of

Ladimir Putin under these circumstances. But you know, um, but who could

blame me? I mean, you know that the man is responsible for so

much death and misery, and uh, you know, if if there is

a hell, I would hope that there's a special corner there for him.

But um, but but we don't know. We don't know what what the

result of that would have been. By the way, it is probably very

unlikely, and this may have a lot to do with why Progosion turned around

when he did. Probably very unlikely that they would have been successful when they

had gotten to Moscow anyway, I mean, I think, uh, you

know, they had something like, I mean, tens of thousands of troops

in that column, I think, but it wouldn't have been enough to overcome

the army in Moscow. So Putin would have put down that rebellion. Probably

he would have been successful but at what cost? Meanwhile, at what cost

was making that deal with progosion? Put appears to be weakened in terms of

his power and his grip on power in Russia. How weaken dizzy? I

don't know. I'm a little bit concerned that some people in the media people,

as they're analyzing this, I'm a little bit concerned that some people might

be over overestimating the degree to which Putin has been weakened and humiliated and so

forth, because at the end of the day, he is still in power,

and he was able to stop this coup before it really got going.

So I don't know. I mean, one would hope that you would see

and hear more and more people within Russia really kind of rebelling against Putin and

you would hope that what has happened now damages the way people view Putin on

the global stage. So for example, China, does Ji jing Ping start

to look at Vladimir Putin and say, ah, he's not in as strong

a position as I thought he was, So maybe I want to back off

a little bit. You know, they have that they have a relationship where

they said they were remember when they got together. It I forget what some

of it was, and they said, this no limits to the degree to

which they will cooperate with each other and work together and have this alliance.

And by the way, it turned out, thankfully that there have been limits

to that, because Putin did at one point or probably more than once,

went to Jijingping hat in hand and said, will you please start providing us

with weapons because we're running out and China thus far has not granted that particular

request. So that turns out there are some limitations. There might be more

limitations now going forward. So does Jijing Ping start to reava evaluate how cozy

he's gotten with Russia? Um? Modi was here from India. Modi,

by the way, also not a good guy. Uh, And it's it's

wild to see people in the United States cheering for him. Um. I

mean, there are worse leaders than Modi, like Vladimir Putin and ji Jingping.

But Modi's record on human rights isn't great either, and we should not

forget that when we when you know, when we're discussing him, I mean

to you know, he goes to speak before Congress, and the way they're

cheering for him, I understand the pragmatism involved in that you know, we

need India and they need us, and just like with China, we need

China and they need us. I get it to a degree, but jeez,

tone it down a little bit, huh. Anyway, I don't want

to get sidetracked. But the point is, does what happened this weekend begin

to weaken Putin's position on the world stage. I'm not sure that it does

as much as a lot of people think that it does. But I hope

that it does as much as people think that it does. But again,

there are the unknowns. If something happens to Putin, what happens then you

know, honestly, if Russia didn't have an enormous armament of nuclear weapons,

wouldn't care nearly as much. But he does, so we have to worry.

Miriam Banish in the chat Room says, weakening him can make him more

dangerous. He might start making panicked decisions that would suck for all of us.

That is an excellent point, am, Absolutely, that is an excellent

point. Alex Whiteley says, Russia are getting served on toast by Ukraine right

now. Putin bit off more than he could chew. And yes, this

war needs to end right now, well, of course, unfortunately, I

don't think that's going to happen. But but it's about to get a lot

tougher for Vladimir Putin. Oh, easy, Jesus sent me something. Oh

yes, Putin did. Uh, let's see now Putin did. Finally,

by the way, last I knew. Now I don't know if this is

still the case at this moment, but last I knew. No one was

exactly sure where Vladimir Putin was or is. I mean he he did make

an address to the nation, and we will look at this. Easyg sent

this, Thank you Eric. He did make an address, but that doesn't

mean he's necessarily at the Kremlin. And that was the other thing too.

Over the way, so and by the way, where is um where is

progosion? I think he kind of uh put his hand up today and said,

oh, I'm in Minsk. I'm fine, I'm in Minsk, Belarus.

I'm gonna make sure I don't go to the second floor of any buildings,

you know, because apparently that's how Putin likes to kill people. He

likes to have them shoved out of windows. I mean he also likes to

poison them. Alexei Alexey navalni can tell you that. But but apparently there's

one of his favorite modus operendi is to have his opponents pushed out of windows.

But but we don't know that, We don't know who is actually where.

They can tell us where they are, but are they really there?

So let's actually let's look at this. So Eric sent us this from euronews

dot com and is addressed to the nation. Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned what

he called the criminal actions of those who staged an armed mutiny. Russian President

Vladimir Putin thanked the nation today for unity after an armed I'm laughing because as

I read that, when I hear him thanking the nation for unity, the

first thing that pops into my mind, and this is probably true for some

of you as well. The first thing that pops into my mind is the

mental image of Progosion being cheered and people taking selfies with him, and people

applauding him as he was about to be whisked away to Minsk, Belarus.

I like saying that Minsk. So I don't know about the unity. I

think he's I think that's some wishful thinking. I understand he's gonna he's gonna

put on a brave face and try to put a put a positive spin on

things. But anyway, I'm sorry, I just I couldn't get out of

that. I couldn't even get through that sentence without laughing and thinking of you

know, people treating progosion like he's some sort of hero. And Putin's talking

about unity anyway, all right back to it. Russian President of Vladimir Putin

thanct the nation for unity after an armed rebellion over the weekend was aboarded less

than twenty four hours after it began. Earlier in the day, the mercenary

chief defended his short lived insurrection in a boastful statement in his first appearance since

the rebellion ended. Putin also thanked most of the mercenaries for not letting the

situation deteriorate into bloodshed. He said, all the necessary measures have been taken

to protect the country and the people from the rebellion. Wait, am I

understanding this correctly? He thanked most of the mercenaries for not letting the situation

deteriorate in the bloodshed. This is not typical Putin usually, you know vintage

Putin is you crossed me? Or you dared to almost cross me, or

you dared threatened across me, or you dared even allowed the faintest thought or

idea enter your mind to cross me. So now you must die. That's

you know, you won't know it's coming, you won't see it's coming.

But now I'm going to kill you. That's what Putin usually does. He

doesn't usually thank people for not taking things too far. That's very conciliatory on

Vladimir Putin's part, which makes me suspect that either he's terrified that those same

mercenaries will rise again, whether progosions around or not, which is probably unlikely,

or he's trying to sweet talk them into signing up with the Russian military,

because that was apparently part of the deal. The Wagner group mercenaries who

were in that column marching toward Moscow. They will not be prosecuted, they

will not be charged if they simply agree to sign contracts with the Russian military

and go fight with those clowns and go back in the Ukraine and walk into

the meat grinder that the Russian military walks you into. So I don't know,

or or he's just trying to lull them into a false sense of security

where they will think, oh, we're safe. He's thanking us, he

appreciates us. We didn't let things get too out of control. That's wonderful.

And then he, you know, will kill them. I don't know

anyway, so he thanked them. He blamed quote Russia's enemies and said they

miscalculated. Now this is um, Yeah, this is part of the spin

and by the way, completely predictable. So he wants to spin it as

the United States and the rest of NATO they did this, which obviously he

knows his bs and obviously everyone else knows his BS. But that's what he's

going to try to spin this as. Because from the beginning he's tried to

you know, from the moment that the United States and others began supporting the

rest of NATO began supporting Ukraine in this war, Putin has tried to spin

it as we're not at war with Ukraine, where at war with NATO.

Where at war with the West, and Ukraine is a part of that now,

or they're trying to be that's who we're really at war with. The

Kremlin also tried to project stability today when authorities released a video of Russia's defense

minister reviewing troops in Ukraine. Okay, Yuvegni Progosian, the head of the

Mercenary Group, said he wasn't seeking to stage a coup, but was acting

to p event the destruction of Wagner, his private military company. He said

in an eleven minute statement, giving no details about where he was or what

his plans were. Quote, we started our march because of an injustice unquote.

Okay, what does that mean? Actually, he had said, even

when this began on Friday night, he said, this isn't a coup where

on some sort of we're seeking truth or justice or something. And it seemed

to be in regard to him blaming the Russian military for killing some of his

guys and an airstrike and you know, fog of war type stuff. I

guess, I don't know. I don't know. There's so much of this,

it is so bizarre. Hello to Mike from Queen City Cabinetry, who

joins us in the Facebook live chat. Also Archer Flight, who says we

are watching you from Greensboro, North Carolina. The feud between the Wagner Group

leader in Russia's military brass is festered throughout the war, erupting into a mutiny

over the weekend when mercenaries left Ukraine to see a military headquarters in a southern

Russian city. They rolled seemingly unopposed for hundreds of miles toward Moscow before turning

around after less than twenty four hours. On Saturday, the Kremlin said it

had made a deal for Progosion to move to Belarus and receive amnesty along with

his soldiers. There was no confirmation of his whereabouts today, although a popular

Russian news channel on telegram reported that he was at a hotel in the Belarusian

capital of Minsk. By the way, funny thing about that, apparently the

hotel that he's alleged to be at, So I guess we do know where

he is, assuming that that's true, the hotel that he's at has no

windows, or at least a part of the hotel that he's in, and

that's not a coincidence. Again, Putin likes having people pushed out of windows

if you cross him, so smart, and that guy should not Progosian should

not leave the bottom floor of any building. He should always remain on the

ground floor. Progosian taunted Russia's military today, calling his march a master class

on how it should have carried out February twenty twenty two invasion of Ukraine.

He also mocked the military for failing to protect Russia, pointing out security breachers

that allowed Wagner to march seven hundred eighty kilometers towards Moscow without facing resistance.

The bullish statement made no clearer what would ultimately happen to Progosian and his forces

under the deal purportedly brokered by Belarusan President Alexander Lukashenka. Progosian said only that

Lukashenko quote proposed finding solutions for the Wagner private military company to continue its work

in a lawful jurisdiction unquote that suggested Progosian might keep his military force, although

it wasn't immediately clear which jurisdiction he was referring to. And by the way,

that might be what keeps Progosian alive. See, if it were anybody

else, you would know their days were probably numbered. Because again, what

Putin does to his political enemies, to anyone who daris cross him as he

kills them. In the case of progosion, though you're talking about somebody who

has this very large private military who might just come and kill you if you

kill their leader. So it's not quite as simple. In other words,

trying to get Progosian is not as quite as simple as say, poisoning Alexey.

I can never say his name navalni Okay, the independent Russian news outlet.

Let me rephrase, because I have no idea how to pronounce that.

A an independent a Russian news outlet claimed, so I don't have to say

the name. Claimed the construction of a field camp for up to eight thousand

Wagner troops was underway in an area of Belarus about two hundred kilometers north of

the border with Ukraine. The report could not be independently verified the Belarusian military

or Belarussian I hear, I hear it pronounced both ways. Yeah, we'll

go with Belarussian military. It's easier to say monitoring group, A money monitoring

group. I have no idea how to say that said today on telegram that

it had seen no activity in that district consistent with construction of a facility,

and had no indications of Wagner convoys in or moving toward Belarus. Though the

mutiny was brief, it was not bloodless. Russia media reported that several military

helicopters and a communications plane were shot down by Wagner forces, killing at least

fifteen I didn't realize that. Actually Progosian expressed regret for attacking the aircraft,

but said they were bombing his convoys. Ah, yes, okay, that

goes back to he was he claimed that they were Yeah, that they were

bombing his convoys. Russian media reported that a criminal case against Progosian has not

been closed despite earlier Kremlin's statements, and some Russian lawmakers called for his head.

Andre Gerulev, a retired general and current lawmaker who has had roused with

the mercenary leader, said Progosian and his right hand manned Dmitri Utkin deserve quote

a bullet in the head unquote. That is very um blunt. And Nikita

your Refev, a city council member in Saint Petersburg, said he filed an

official request with Russia's Prosecutor General's office and the Federal Security Service or FSB,

asking who would be punished for the rebellion, given that Russian President Vladimir Putin

vowed in a Saturday morning address to punish those behind it. It was unclear

what resources Progosian can drawn and how much of his substantial wealth he can access.

Police searching the Saint Petersburg office and the rebellion found four billion rubles in

trucks outside the building, according to Russian media reports confirmed by the Wagner boss.

He said the money was intended to pay his soldiers families. Russian media

reported that Wagner offices and several cities had reopened on Monday, and the company

had resumed enlisting recruits. See I have to remember Wagner. You know they

operated in other parts of the world, like in Africa. They have a

large operation there. Part of how Progosian makes his money is, you know,

they steal. They steal from these countries in Africa, they mining operations

and so forth. In a return to at least superficial normality, Moscow's mayor

announce an end to the counter terrorism regime imposed on the capitol Saturday, when

troops and armored vehicles set up checkpoints on the outskirts and authorities tore up roads

leading into the city. The Defense Minister published a video of a defense chief

Sergei Shoigu in a helicopter and then meeting with officers at a military headquarters in

Ukraine. It was unclear when the video was shot. It came as Russian

media speculated that Shoigu and other military leaders have lost Putin's confidence and could be

replaced. Before the uprising, Progosian had blasted Shoigu and General Staff Chief General

Valerie garassimof with expletive written insults for months, accusing them of failing to provide

his troops with enough ammunition during the fight for the Ukrainian town of Bachmut,

the war's long and bloodiest battle. Progosian statement appeared to confirm analysts view that

the revolt was a desperate move to save Wagner from being dismantled after an order

that all private military companies signed contracts with the Defense Ministry by July one.

That part of it I did not realize. Interesting, because I've been trying

to understand why, why would Progosian do this to begin with, He's essentially

now as a price on his head, you know, presumably he's got to

be in terrible danger. Progosian said, most of his fighters refused to come

under the Defense Ministry's command and the force plan to hand over the military equipment

was using in Ukraine. On June thirtieth, after pulling out of Ukraine and

gathering in the southern city of oh This is the name of the city I

was trying to remember earlier, Rostov, Rostov on Don, Rostov on Don.

That's the city that they took over without they claim, Progosian claims,

without firing a single shot. He accused the Defense Ministry of attacking Wagner's camp,

prompting them to move sooner. Russian political A Russian political analyst said on

Twitter, Actually, I might be able to say this. Tatiana stanta Vaya

said on Twitter the Progosian's mutiny quote wasn't a bid for power or an attempt

to overtake the Kremlin unquote, but a desperate move amid his escalating rift with

the military leadership. While Progosian could get out of the crisis alive, he

doesn't have a political future in Russia under Putin. It was unclear what the

fissures opened by the twenty four hour rebellion would mean for the war in Ukraine,

where Western officials say Russia's troops suffer low morale. Wogner's forces were key

to Russia's only land victory in months in bach Mute. The UK Ministry of

Defense said today and Ukraine had that Ukraine had gained impetus in its push around

bak Moot making progress North. Okay, we're getting into the little bit into

the weeds here. But but but there is more. There is more to

dig into here. Like I said, there's quite a few layers. But

we are we are well past the top of the hour. So let's do

this. Let's take a break. Welcome back, everybody is we proceed into

our final set today on Matt Connerton Unleashed. We are live from the studios

of w m n H ninety five point three FM and Glorious Downtown Manchester,

New Hampshire, also on Comcast ninety seven if you're in Manchester and hello to

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is Monday, June twenty six, two thousand twenty three and the studio line

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give us a call at six o three two five six seven six two five

six seven. UM. Of course we've been talking about today the big big

news over the weekend, UH, the UH the coup attempt, although Progosian

says it was not a coup, not a coup and it certainly didn't didn't

get very far, but quite the news coming out of Russia over the weekend,

and it will be fascinating to see what happens from here. UM.

Obviously, you know, the Ukrainians were We're very happy to see this,

and I think that they would have been happiest if there had in fact been

fighting on the streets of Moscow. The Wagner Group versus UH the Russian military

there, but they would have been happy to see that. But the truth

is, um, you know, if you take the Wagner group, if

the Wagner Group is no longer in the fight than the Ukrainians already, I

mean, this is a big victory for them, because going forward, if

the Ukrainians are having to fight trying to fend off the largely incompetent, undertrained,

inexperienced Russian military, I mean, they've really underperformed people. I remember,

very early in this conflict, when Russia first went in and began to

invade Ukraine, people were pretty surprised at the apparent and competence of the Russian

military. They did not seem to be performing up to the standard that one

would have expected, which is a good thing, right and you know,

and it helps that the Ukrainians were willing to put up a hell of a

fight and that we were helping them, aiding them with weapons and so forth.

But now what happens now that you take the Wagner group out because you

had a the reason that Putin wanted the Wagner Group in there helping to fight

is that not only are they ruthless, you know, the Wagner group.

These are mercenaries who I think most of them, if if I understand correctly,

are criminals there that you know they were in prison and you know someone

comes along and says, hey, you can get out of prison, but

you know you can. You can go with us and fight and you might

very well die in battle. But if you're lucky enough to live your record,

your criminal record will be expunged and you can have a life again.

And so people take that deal and they go and uh Progosion as a commander

seems to know what he's doing because they had a lot of success m but

the gains that the Usan military was able to make, however, in most

cases temporary. They might be like taking bach Moot for example, that was

the Wagner group. That wasn't the Russian military. That was a Wagner group

who was able to do that. So now you take them out of the

equation and what do you have. You just have an incompetent Russian military to

deal with. So it's definitely a win for Ukraine. I mean again,

I'm sure if you're sitting in Ukraine and you see what's happening in Russia and

you see the Wagner group marching towards Moscow. You know, you're you're pulling

out the popcorn and you're having a good time watching this. There was somebody

who actually I think somebody in Zelenski's administration who even posted a picture of himself

eating popcorn and watching what was happening or something like that. But but you

take the Wagner Group out of it, and you know this. I mean,

I'm not saying that now Ukraine will be able to successfully kick Russia out.

I think this war is going to grind on no matter what. But

it just got a lot tougher for Vladimir Putin. But the other thing is

too. Not only has the Russian military been shown to be largely incompetent,

but morale. How much lower is morale going to get? See? I

wonder, I wonder how much of this filters down, how much of what's

going on Because we live in a world where, you know, you have

the Internet, and I realize that in some places the Internet is restricted somewhat,

so you can't necessarily access all the same information and data in Russia,

or in China or in a run or many other places that you can in

the United states and in NATO countries and so forth. Right, you know,

government's control as best they can what information filters down to their citizens,

but you can't control all of it. You can't block all of it.

And there are apps that are used, like I guess telegram is very popular

in Russia, the telegram app, because you can communicate with that and they

can't. They can't keep you from communicating with it. So how much of

this is filtering down? Two? These conscripts. Remember many of these people,

maybe most, I don't know the numbers of these individuals that are fighting

in the Russian military. They were drafted, they're not even volunteer army.

And of course we know many of them who even were volunteer army. They

were told, you know, before the conscription started, before the invasion of

Ukraine started, they were told, yeah, we're just going on a training

exercise. Oh yeah, we're gonna go We're gonna go to the border.

We're gonna go to the border of Russia and Ukraine. But it's just a

it's an exercise. It's a training exercise, that's all. And then next

thing you know, they're going in and they're invading. It's no secret that

they were lied to. So what does it do to the morale? Because

if you want to have your military be successful in any kind of an operation,

you want them to feel good about what they're doing in some way,

right. I mean, it's probably impossible for most people, unless you know,

you're a total psychopath, to actually feel good about going and killing people

people who, in this case, people who aren't much different from you,

people who look like you, who speak the same language, you know,

people who you might even know. But you want them to be motivated,

right, Well, what is what is something like this to if morale is

already low? Because first they were told what's just a trading exercise, and

then it turned out to be a full scale invasion, and then I'm sure

they were old by their commanders well okay, yeah, whoops, Yeah,

it's a full scale invasion. But don't worry, we're just taking Ukraine.

We're much more powerful, we'll overrun them. It's gonna be great. Then

it turns out not to be so great because Ukrainians fight back. They're not

just going to roll over and die for you. And you know, over

the course of this season, what has it been now it's been, has

it been a year and a half. No, not quite right, I

think it's been. Has it been a I'm not good at math. That's

been almost it's approaching a year and a half. So we've all heard the

stories and seeing the stories about supply line issues in terms of getting ammunition to

the troops, getting food to the troops, getting military equipment that works properly,

functions correctly, all of this. So all of that us to take

a take a terrible toll on morale. And then and then on top of

all of that, here you are fighting in the Russian military for a cause

that you're probably not too enthusiastic about to begin with, or maybe even feel

terribly about. You're just trying to get through it. And then you start

hearing about the Wagner Group marching towards Moscow, and you start hearing about how

how Progosian has been saying, you know, the guy running the Wagner group

from the beginning that well, and then recently saying it pretty loudly that you

know, you've all been lied to, and this is just those in control

of the military and Russia trying to line their own pockets. They're just doing

it for themselves and their own enrichment. They don't actually even care that much

about Ukraine. It's all a scam boy, that's all got a way on

you, right. So so this is all very good for Ukraine because you've

got an incompetent Russian military to begin with. It couldn't get it done on

their own, so they needed the Wagner Group. And now the Wagner Group

is going away. And oh and bonus. Now if you're in the Russian

military, some of your new fellow soldiers will actually be from the Wagner Group

because they either have to agree to sign up to be part of the actual

Russian military or they might get sent back to prison. I say back to

prison because a lot of these people are convicts to begin with, and they

got out of prison by a green to fight for the Wagner Group. Well,

now these people are going to be fighting alongside you, and they are

vicious. The Wagner Group is known for being quite vicious butchers. You don't

know if you can trust them. You don't know what is there going to

be another mutiny? Now you're going to be caught in the middle of it.

Ah, what a miserable time to be a Russian soldier fighting this war.

It's all got away on you. And how are they going to keep

these Hou's Putin going to keep these people motivated? Meanwhile, Putin is in

the weakest position that he's been in in twenty three years. What happened over

the weekend. Again, just because it was over quickly doesn't mean that the

damage is not long term. Now, I said earlier in the show,

and for those of you just joining us, you didn't hear me say it,

but I did say earlier in the show, I'm a little bit concerned

that there might be some degree of a rational exuberance when people are talking about

Putin's weekend position. Time will tell if his position has been weakened as much

as some of us would like to believe that it has. Time will tell

hopefully it has. Hopefully it's been weakened even more than any of us think.

But I'm not so sure we should be racing to that conclusion, much

as we want to believe that. But um, in all of his time,

I mean, he's never he's never faced anything like this, and we

know, you know, historically when there's a coup attempt, sometimes it works

out, sometimes it doesn't um. I mean, there was a coup attempt

in nineteen ninety one, Hardliners attempted to take over and that didn't work out.

But then by nineteen ninety three Gorbachev was out anyway, So again there's

lasting damage that is done even if even if there is no coup. And

again I get it. Progosian said, well it wasn't it was never meant

to be a coup, Okay, But regardless, there's there's damage done and

Putin does seem to be in somewhat of a weakened position. Alex Whiteley says

in the chat room, I think all this does is give the Ukrainians a

bit of respite at best. Well, yeah, I would say, though

I don't think. I don't think there's any respite in that they're going to

They're not going to let up at all. That's the thing. The Ukrainians

just continue, you know. They they every opportunity they have to fight back,

they take it and they push it as far as they can. So

I think they're just going to keep fighting harder and harder and really take advantage

of this. Alex Whiteley says, I could all be smoke and mirrors.

Propaganda designed to throw Ukraine off its guard. I doubt it. I doubt

that, Alex, because that's a hell of a risk for Putin to take

the damage to his own reputation in the process of this. Um, yeah,

that'd be I mean, it's an interesting theory and I had thought of

that too, but it seems unlikely to me. Ron is on the line,

high Ron, Yeah, Matt, jeez, I wish he had another

two hours. You you got such a great show going on here. Oh,

thank you so much. In forward, this is the kind of stuff

that I collect. Tell me about winter, Um, it's come and gone

just once. It affected Ukraine more than Russia. What did what did once

they have to do with the war as far as uh, getting people,

recollecting, resupplying, I don't know. And I'll thank your answer off.

Yeah, okay, thanks Ron, appreciate it all right. That was our

friend, Ron, And um, yeah, I don't know. I think,

Um, I think this past winter, Um, there was a lot

of worry about how Ukraine was going to survive. Although, to be honest

with you, see when I think of Winter and it's effect on the war,

I don't think so much of I mean, look, the Ukrainians have

shown themselves to be very tough, tougher than anyone imagined, especially Vladimir Putin.

I think, right, you know, so they dig in and they

get through it. I don't know if I think in some ways winter might

be might actually help the Russians because something that went wrong for the Russians if

you think back to the start of the invasion, because I was in February

of last year when Putin rolled the tanks. It was still winter, so

the ground was still frozen, and we operate under the assumption that Putin thought

that it would be easy, that this whole thing would be over quick and

easy a couple of days. Maybe he thought, you know, they'd be

greeted as liberators quote unquote, remember that phrase from American history. But what

happened was, you know, they got bogged down because the Ukrainians fought back

again more so than Putner or anyone probably expected. And then so it's winter

turns to spring, and the ground is beginning to thaw and everything's turning to

mud, and these big Russian tanks are getting stuck in the mud. So

I think as far as rolling the tanks, it was an advantage during winter.

It is an advantage during winter, but in the but then when the

thaw comes, you know you got you got tanks getting stuck. But honestly,

when I think of winter, the first thing that I think of in

terms of this war is not Ukraine or Russia or the fighting. The first

thing I think of is Germany. Because I like to give credit where where

credit is due. So for example, very early in the war, I

said, hey, shout outs to Poland, because Poland really stepped up huge

in terms of taking taking in refugees, refugees spilling over the borders, and

they didn't complain about it. They were glad to do it. I mean,

I'm sure it caused a lot of internal strife within the country, but

they really stepped up and did it. But I also, whenever I think

of winter, I always want to give props to Germany. Germany had always

been has been very heavily dependent on Russian energy, and Germany said, this

winter, we are not going to use Russian energy to keep warm. We're

going to be self sufficient. And nobody thought they could do it. And

I think everyone understood, Okay, Germany is going to do the best that

they can here to cut off Russia. But Germany cannot allow itself to freeze

to death either, so you know, there might have to be some compromise

there. There might have to be some give Germany didn't give in. They

got through it, they figured it out and they got through the winter.

And much respect to Germany for that, um. But also I know,

I mean in terms of Ukraine, I know the winters there are brutal,

and uh so, I'm sure it's it's very difficult. Fighting there is probably

more difficult than the winter in that sense. But other than that, I

don't know. I hope that somewhat answers your question. Ron, I'm not.

I'm not sure I know enough about the fighting in the different seasons to

really really answer that effectively. But but it's a good question, and you

know, unfortunately, there may be more winters to come as this war drags

on. There might be more winters to come where we yet to observe that

if this war does drag on for years, which it very well may.

But then again again, you take the Varner group out of the equation,

maybe it doesn't, maybe it doesn't. It's possible that Putin's going to have

to come to the negotiating table, because again, the Russian military in itself

just isn't enough to do this without the Wagner group. You know, they're

they're gonna, they're gonna continue to be decimated. Um and but there's no

clear off ramp for Putin either. Um. What was the It was something

else. Oh, Adam Kinzinger, who I think he's an analyst now for

CNN. You know he didn't he left Congress. He uh, he was

part of the part of the committee, the January sixth committee, of course,

one of the two Republicans along with Liz Chenney on the committee. And

since then he's been I think he's I think he works as an analyst for

CNN primarily. But um, interestingly enough, now you've seen in the Republican

Party in recent years some Republicans who are seem to have somewhat of an affinity

for Russia and for Putin, UM hopefully less so. I think some of

them have found that not tenable to maintain that. But you know Tucker Carlson,

who is kind of a almost a spokesperson for the Republican Party in a

sense with his show. I remember when the when the war started, Carlson

openly said that he was he was rooting for Putin. His exact words,

he said, I'm rooting for Putin. Um, so there is certainly a

pro there seems to be a pro again, hopefully it's shrinking, but a

pro Russia wing of the Republican Party. And uh, this is from Newsweek.

Adam Kinsinger mock's Republican Russia lovers as Putin faces mutiny, says your former

representative. Adam Kinsinger took aim at high profile Republicans who he called Russia lovers

on Twitter, as Russian President Vladimir Putin is currently facing a rebellion within his

own country from the Wagner Group. Wagner Group founder Vegni Pregoshin, who was

once a Putin ally, revolted against the Russian military defense and accused the Russian

military of attack and his group's positions in Ukraine. He also targeted Putin.

Okay, we know all that. I'm going to skip down here. In

a tweet on Friday, Kinsinger, an Illinois Republican, took a shot at

former President Donald Trump, GOP Representative Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia, and Republican

Senators Ted Cruz of Texas in Josh Holly of Missouri, as well as former

Fox News host Tucker Carlson and former Representative Tulsey Gabbard of Hawaii. Notably,

Gabbard previously served in Congress as a Democrat, but left the political party last

year and has aligned herself with conservatives on a number of issues. All of

the individuals mentioned by Kinsinger of criticized US military support for Ukraine and in some

cases spoken highly of Russia. Um. This is what t's Kinsinger tweeted.

It appears the dream of at Tucker Carlson, at Ted Cruz, at Hollymo,

at Tulsei Gabbard, at Rep. MTG and so many more of a

strong Russia are evaporating even faster. Tag your favorite Russia lover. Um.

In another tweet on Saturday morning, Kinsinger said this good morning to everyone except

those who thought Russia was a stable, strong country with which to model ourselves

after I'm thinking like hashtag Holly m O and at I'm sorry at Hollymo,

not hashtag sorry. The Greensboro, North Carolina contingent has me confused. I'm

thinking like at Hollymo, Josh Holley of Missouri and at Tucker, Carlson and

of course Trump. Many of us knew it would fall apart, just a

bit earlier than most expected. Unquote. In a Friday afternoon tweet, the

former congressman mocked Carlson and Gabbard, saying sorry at Tucker Carlson, at Tulsea

Gabbard, and all the Trumps and their toadies. In addition, Kinsinger slammed

Carlson last year over his support of the invasion of Ukraine after new evidence of

atrocities committed by Russian troops surfaced. Carlson has been regularly featured on Russian state

television and has been utilized as propaganda by the Kremlin due to comments he has

made about the war. By the way, that's something to keep in mind

for those of you who maybe you oppose Russia, but you somehow find a

way to rationalize in your own mind all these pro Russia people saying they're pro

Russia stuff. You find ways to kind of overlook that. Just be aware

everything these people say gets used on Russia state television as a means of saying,

oh, look, here's some honest Americans who know we're right. You

got to understand, you know, we can say that everyone has a right

to their opinion, everyone can express themselves. If you have these people in

our government and in media who are pro Russia and they want to say it,

they have a right to say it. But if they happen to be

someone you like, I'm not saying just because you disagree with them on that

one thing, you should now condemn them. But just be aware of how

that is used on Russia state television. You know, every time Tucker Carlson

publicly praises Putin, praises Russia, talks about how he can't can't wait until

Russia is finally done of viscerating Ukraine. Every time Tulsi Gabbard spews her pro

Russia nonsense, you know, any of them, Marjorie Taylor maybe maybe maybe

they have enough sense to realize Marjorie Taylor Green is just backcrap crazy, and

they don't bother using her stuff. But you know, just be aware.

If you like these people and you agree with them on most things, fine,

but don't be afraid to speak up and say, hmm, I don't

like when they do that, because it's the enemy. Literally, the enemy

takes that and uses it for their own propaganda and Russian State TV as the

name as an implies, we call it Russian State TV because it's run by

the state. It's run by Russia. The message that Vladimir Putin himself wants

Russians to see him here comes from Russian state controlled media. That's why it's

state controlled. And they love seeing Tucker Carlson talking about how pro Russia he

is. So just be aware of what these people are doing. And by

the way, not for nothing. But you know, we're talking about some

pretty big media names here, but there's also people in the online media world,

some high profile podcasters who you're not going to see them on cable news,

right They're they're operating more just strictly online media. But there's some pretty

big people like Jackson Hinkel, for example. You may have heard of him

if you're interested in podcasts and so forth, although he has appeared on cable

news. Oh and guess who interviewed him on his show, of course,

Tucker Carlson. So Jackson Hinkle has appeared on Fox. But Jackson Hinkle is

very anti Ukraine, pro Russia. But here's the thing you look at,

who's funding some of these people who spread this nonsense. You know they're not

they're not independently wealthy. Somebody's paying them. Somebody like Jackson Hinkel. You

know he gets he gets paid. In other words, they're they're not so

much. They're not journalists, they're they're influencers, and they're paid to push

a specific agenda. Not really unlike how if you're in cable news, you're

also paid to pay a paid to push a certain agenda. Right, you

know if you're I mean simple as easiest examples. If you're on Fox,

you're paid to push a conservative agenda. If you're on MSNBC, you're paid

to push a liberal agenda. It's no different in the world of podcasting,

except they're more brazen and more shameless about it. And you'll see these podcasts.

Jimmy Dora is another example. Gee, I'd like to know who's paying

Jimmy dore Right. He used to be with the Young Turks, super progressive,

liberal guy, but somehow he's anti vax he's uh and he loves Putin.

I guess his pro Russia. Um. Gee, I wonder where he

gets his money. Um. And by the way, I can say this

because I know that these we're talking about people who are who are big enough

that they they're they're like legitimately famous or at least Internet famous. They don't

they don't even know I exist. So it's not like they're gonna, oh,

do you hear about what that guy in Manchester, New Hampshire said about

you? That's that's not going to be an issue. Um, let's see.

Just to finish up on this, And by the way, I'm sorry

for going off on a tangent, but I just I want people to understand

when you look, if you agree with them, fine, if you're pro

Russia, so you agree with other people who are pro Russia, fine,

you can all be pro Russia, and that's too bad. I'm sorry to

hear that you're pro Russia if you are, but you have a right to

do that. But I'm just saying, just be aware. If you're not

pro Russia, but you hear people spreading this pro Russia rhetoric, it's not

it. This isn't something that just happens in an echo chamber. There's a

larger purpose for what they're doing. And I just I'm worried that people don't

realize that and they're naive to it, and then they act as enablers without

meaning to for that kind of thing. Okay, just to finish this off.

In twenty twenty one, cruise ted Cruz was accused of promoting Russia propaganda.

While Green has repeatedly ripped the Biden administration for sending military and humanitarian aid

to Ukraine and as obviously criticized Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski, Trump has described Putin

as quote very smart, unquote and repeatedly touted his positive relationship with the Russian

leader while criticizing the administration of Joe Biden's response to the war in Ukraine.

During an appearance on CNN on Friday, Kinsinger called Progosian's stands toward the Russian

military a massive blow to Carlson, who he accused of quote parroting Putin talking

points and lies. Kinsinger also said, quote I think, on the other

hand, too, this is extremely good for the war in Ukraine because even

if even if as Progosian is marching on Moscow, even if that fails,

Wagner is out of the fight, and they were a significant part of the

effort against Ukraine. Not to mention that all around the world, Wagner protects

Russian interests, whether it's in Africa, Libya and other places right right exactly.

By the way, that is part though, of what what Kinsinger points

out there about Wagner, about Progosion and the Wagner Group specifically in their operations

around the world. It almost in a way to me, makes it even

that much more puzzling Progosian's behavior, because it seems to me he's got quite

a business going, He's got quite this international business going, and he put

it all in jeopardy. He rolled the dice and risked throwing it all away

over the weekend with his march towards Moscow, and for what for something that

he knew, He had to have known couldn't possibly work anyway, or he

wouldn't have blinked. Now you could argue that he blinked, or the Putin

blinked, or they both blinked by making the steal, which neither of them

comes out. Nobody comes out of this situation looking good. But anyway,

we are about out of time, my friends. I think I'm gonna play

one more track from Heels Throne, Hales Throne, how do you say it?

Heels hails from Germany, this song Faded that I really love. We

do have let's see, I wanted to mention to just quickly. Tomorrow we

have Alex Cormier, who I think is coming in studio with us. He

will be our musical guest Alex Cormier on Wednesday, we have the Jaritones.

Thursday, Kevin Hammer, who is not a musician but a New York Republican

who will be skyping in. Enjoy talking with him. And Hue the Gecko

will be our musical guest on Friday. So Hue, he's fascinating. He

was on recently with Aaron Bildo. But so we've got a big week ahead

today. Today was just just me, but just as well in a way

because it gave us a chance to kind of dig in on what happened over

the weekend, so with Russia and Ukraine and the Wagner Group and all of

it. So anyway, if you miss any part of today's show up,

we'll be up in just a little bit at wm H radio dot org and

on my website Matt Connerton dot com. And uh, we gotta go.

I'm gonna play, Yeah, I'm gonna play one more track from Hale's Throne

faded. This is my favorite to close out today's Matt Connerton Unleashed

Game Plan