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A daily brief about the world's most dangerous places from international war correspondent Chuck Holton
Episodes
Friday Mar 15, 2019
Friday Mar 15, 2019
Today I'm road tripping across part of northern Colombia, following the path of hundreds of thousands of "Mochileros" - Venezuelans who walk 500 kilometers to get to Bogota, mostly with just the clothes on their backs. Many have only flip flops. And I saw one guy who was on crutches and only had one leg!
Plus, you get to help more people.
Don't forget http://patreon.com/hotzone or Paypal if you'd like to contribute.
Thursday Mar 14, 2019
Thursday Mar 14, 2019
An attempted kidnapping at the border. This is one episode you do not want to miss!
Tuesday Mar 12, 2019
Tuesday Mar 12, 2019
US Intelligence agencies expressing concerns about Chinese tech companies dominating 5G, US Embassy staff leaving Venezuela on day 5 of a nationwide blackout and Guess where I’m headed? All that coming up on today’s hot zone.
Hello everyone. I’m traveling again a little sooner than I expected to be, because I’ve been asked to return to the Venezuelan border to continue my reporting on the unfolding crisis there, and to help arrange for some shipments of aid from CBN’s philanthropic arm, Operation Blessing. OB is a fantastic aid organization that helps millions of people each year - and is one of the largest aid organizations of it’s kind in the United States.
I’ve actually worked with or alongside OB for more than a decade, as they tend to respond to the same disasters I get sent to cover. One of the things I really like about them is the way they use the aid money they are entrusted with - they have a unique ability to magnify the funds people send by applying it in strategic ways. For example, I was reporting on the aftermath of a hurricane in Mexico one time and OB sent like a million dollars to help, but did so by renting big trucks, which it then drove around to big box stores outside the affected area and said “hey, we’ve got trucks here to deliver any aid you want to donate to the disaster recovery.” Many companies like Sams Club in Playa del Carmen donated tons of supplies - and in that way I was told later that OB was able to turn that one million into five million dollars in help for those who had lost their homes.
Anyway, I’m back in Cucuta this week and so if you want to send some funds to help people directly, I’ll do what we did last time and find people in need, tell their stories and then let you see right where your funds are being applied to solve their issues. I’ll also be reporting on OB’s efforts here, and I’d encourage you to give generously to them as well.
The news today is reporting that US Intel agencies are warning Germany against signing a contract with the Chinese company Huawei for implementation of a nationwide 5G network in that country next year. The US has been sounding the alarm since 2016 about Huawei and another State-owned Chinese company, ZTE because there is tangible proof that both companies build their products - we’re talking everything from cell phones to routers and electric scooters, household appliances and more - with secret data collection features that send massive amounts of data to the Chinese government. Now you might wonder why the Chinese would care about your cellular conversations or want to know when you are watching cat videos on youtube, but here’s why: they are perfecting artificial intelligence algorithms which will let them sift through unbelievable amounts of data and pull out everything from trade secrets of US companies to actual actionable intelligence against US government assets. I’ve been reading books about this for the past few months and let me assure you, the things they can do with that data is absolutely terrifying. In the case of Germany, if Huawei installs their 5G networks, we will have to assume that every single megabyte of information we share with our German allies will be sent straight to Beijing. Because Germany is part of NATO, we have intelligence sharing agreements with them, and that intel will have to be curtailed.
On another note, if you haven’t read about the amazing changes that are coming when 5G networks are installed around the US, you should go read a few articles about it. The exponential increase in bandwidth 5G brings will be as revolutionary for our lives as the internet was in 1994. That’s one reason the Chinese are seeking to dominate that space.
Okay, on to Venezuela again, which is now on day five of an almost total nationwide blackout. I reported yesterday that Maduro is blaming the problem on US Cyberattacks, though there is no indication that’s actually what’s happening. See, over 80% of Venezuela’s electrical power comes from just one hydroelectric plant in the center of the country. And that plant has been falling into a state of disrepair for some time. Mike Pompeo made a sarcastic and slightly awesome speech yesterday in which he laughed off the claim that the US had anything to do with the outage - he called it a testament to Cuban engineering.” Haha. And he’s right. Even Venezuelan employees who work at that plant have been saying for a long time that the thing was practically being held together with duct tape and bailing wire. Apparently those employees are now being told to stay home because they have been unable to restart the turbines at that plant, having tried four times and each time apparently more stuff breaks or blows up, and the problem is only getting worse. So it looks like the power outage is going to last for some time, and in the meantime people are literally dying because of it. Looting is reportedly on the rise in Caracas and elsewhere…so it’s looking like the refugee situation in Cucuta, which was at crisis levels when I was there two weeks ago, is only going to get worse. So that’s one reason Operation Blessing is heading in.
Tuesday Mar 12, 2019
Tuesday Mar 12, 2019
Today's episode is an interview with former Israeli Defense Forces Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner. He explains a lot about how the IDF keeps their country safe and counters the negative narratives being promoted in the mainstream media. If you care about Israel, you want to hear this episode!
Sunday Mar 10, 2019
Sunday Mar 10, 2019
Coming up on today’s Hot Zone: A Bitter Anniversary in Spain, How to Take a Taxi, and A Blackout in Venezuela.
It’s Monday, the 10th of March, and this is the Hot Zone.
Hi Folks, happy Monday. I spent all last week in Virginia Beach doing various tv show appearances for the Christian Broadcasting Network. I have some really exciting travel planned in the near future, but today let’s look at what happened over the weekend.
By the way, if you haven’t done so already, go check out Patreon.com/hotzone. There, you can support the podcast for as little as three bucks a month, and watch as I put that money to good use around the globe by helping the people I’m reporting on. It’s a new idea in journalism. Now you don’t have to just be depressed when you hear about what’s happening in the world’s hot spots, you can join me in doing something about it. So you are getting a real-time, boots-on-the-ground perspective of what’s happening, and meeting the people it’s happening to, and then you are able to reach through the news and touch those people’s lives in tangible ways. I’m having a lot of fun with it and so will you. So check out Patreon.com/hotzone. Please?
In Cancun over the weekend a family of tourists narrowly avoided being injured or killed when the taxi they were riding in was shot by unknown assailants. The driver was injured and fortunately that’s all. But I thought I’d share the way I choose taxis when I’m traveling. See, getting a taxi is fraught with risk, because kidnappers often pose as taxi drivers to capture someone for ransom, and even if that doesn’t happen, many taxi drivers see your gringo face and automatically triple the price on you. We call that the Gringo Tax and it really bugs me.
So when I go to take a taxi, first of all, I check to see if I can get an uber instead. Uber isn’t perfect, but I’ve used it all over the globe and that killer app solves most of the problems a traveler would have with a taxi - the prices are preset, you don’t have to speak English to tell the guy where to go, and you have a record of who he is in case there’s a problem. If uber isn’t an option for whatever reason I follow this one simple rule: NEVER take a taxi that is offered to you. I mean, when the guy walks up and asks you if you want a taxi - always say no and walk on by. Then go find the guy who is napping, or just pulled up and jump in with him. Make sure you negotiate the rate before you open the door, and you should be okay. I want the driver to be surprised he got my fare, because if he’s surprised, he probably won’t have time to arrange a kidnapping.
Now, let’s look at Spain. Sunday was the 15 year anniversary of the Madrid train bombings - a coordinated terror attack on Madrid’s train system that resulted in about 2000 casualties, and nearly 200 deaths. It was Spain’s 9/11, and a few years ago I made a frontlines episode for NRATV about it. Here’s an excerpt.
[Frontlines Transit Terror]
So you should really go check out the full episode of that piece on NRAtv. IT’s called Transit terror and it’s pretty compelling if I do say so myself.
Okay, So they had this big blackout all across Venezuela. And that's not Actually that uncommon... the people I was talking to at the border, were saying that they haven't had electricity in months... especially on the outside of the cities. They said people are taking down the power lines and pulling the wire out of the walls of their houses and carrying it across into Columbia to sell because it's that basically they're dismantling Venezuela in order to eat.
so I talked to the wife of a military officer in Venezuela and she said, Look, the military is not behind him. But nobody wants to be the first guy to stand up to him because he is surrounded by Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group and they have The generals kind of by the short hairs and are telling them the minute one of you guys looks sideways or acts like you're going to defect then your whole family's going to get tortured to death before we kill you and so they're just threatening them from the top down and that even extends to Maduro emptying the prisons, arming the prisoners and telling them if you see any soldiers that are crossing the line, you have my permission to shoot them and kill them.
So he he's ruling by fear- which is exactly what Noriega did as a matter of fact right before the invasion of Panama. And so it's not out of the ordinary really, for dictators to do that. This power outage. However, it's funny, because Maduro is saying, Oh, this is sabotage by the United States... they're sabotaging our power grid with cyber warfare... as if a there's any kind of internet in the power stations in Venezuela which I doubt very highly. Back in October they were having a lot of power outages and and at that point Maduro and his people were saying oh it's because an iguana has got into the power station and shorted out the power station and that's causing the problems. Ha.
I mean, I don't I don't believe the US is sabotaging the power grid in Venezuela, because the power grid was already in such bad shape it didn't need our help to collapse, but there is a precedent for it. before the invasion of Iraq. The CIA dropped strips of metal from airplanes over Baghdad that were long and would hang over the power lines in short them out and caused a big blackout across Baghdad by doing that just before the US troops went in on the so-called "thunder runs." I never confirmed that story, but read it in a book about the invasion, and it makes a lot of sense. It's a cheap, easy way to put the enemy at a disadvantage - that's one of the reasons I've been saying for years that the US is vulnerable to an attack on it's power grid. Ours isn't anywhere near as decrepit as Venezuelas, but it still has it's weaknesses.
So it is a possible though if they did that in Venezuela most likely you'd be seeing on TV a bunch of these strips that cause the power outage but if there was a way to hack it...well I wouldn't put it past the US Cyber Command. Why not?
We know they're trying to put the screws to Venezuela every way they can except for militarily and and if they can create a power outage and cause a nationwide blackout and make it that much more likely that people are going to get so tired of Maduro that they're going to switch sides, I say more power to them. I think that's great.
I think the likelihood of US military intervention in any way, shape or form other than cyber is extremely, extremely low for various reasons. First of all, Americans are really tired of sending out boys and girls off to war and they don't even want to hear about the wars that we are actually fighting in much less any new ones. Number two, a lot of Latin America would love to see Maduro go. But at the same time every country in Latin America is very sensitive to having US military do anything in this region because of the various invasions and stuff that we've we've done in the past.
yeah, the Monroe Doctrine is still on the books. - The Monroe doctrine was a policy put in place in 1823 that stated the US would not allow any further European colonization in the Western Hemisphere. Some within the Trump administration and even the president himself have said they believe the fact that there are Russian and Cuban troops protecting Maduro gives the US a duty under the Monroe doctrine to intervene. However, I think that it would kind of work against our long term interests for the US military to invade Venezuela because we would be getting rid of one dictator, but we would turn a lot of Latin American countries that are kind of on the fence about the US against us. Not only that, but I said this to a Venezuelan guy who asked me why the US wasn't invading to depose Maduro. I said, "Look, I understand why you'd like to see that happen, but I promise you there will be lots of people in the United States asking "why should I send my son to put his life at risk for Venezuela when Venezuelan men aren't willing to do that." I mean, I realize the Venezuelans gave up their weapons in 2012 - and that was probably the worst move they ever made, but if the vast majority of Venezuelans united against Maduro, he would fall. I think this is what the US is trying to engender through sanctions, aid and other foreign policy diplomatic solutions.
Juan Guaido is very popular. They say at least 60% of Venezuelans admit to being in his favor, and probably another 38% are in his favor, but are afraid to admit it.
So I don't know... it's going to be interesting. One of the reasons the United States sent a couple hundred tons of aid to Cucuta but did not give it out in Colombia was because because they want to use it as a lever to get Maduro out of there and the only way they can do that is by saying we want to bring this aid into Venezuela to give to Venezuelan people knowing that Maduro cannot accept that and so it shows him for who he is.
There's a difference between what I should do as a as a person, like when I see another human being suffering, I should help them, right? That's showing them the love of Christ. But there's a difference between that and what the government should do. According to Romans 13, the government is God's agent of wrath against the evil doers and so that the government should not take over my responsibility of helping the poor and the aged and the sick, but neither should I try to take over the government's responsibility of being an agent of wrath. That's vigilantism.
I faced the same issue in Syria when I was over there a few weeks ago, we have these ISIS fighters that were surrendering and coming out to us, and they were injured and they were dehydrated and exhausted and sick. And you know what they have been engaging in, you know what they've been doing. They've been lopping people's heads off and gang raping Yezidi girls and selling them as slaves and all this horrible stuff. And so here they are sitting in front of you, and they're saying, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I'm sick and the only thing you really want to do is kick them in the teeth but the Christlike thing to do is to say look I was Christ's enemy and he went a whole lot further than giving me a drink of water so the least I can do is show some humanity these guys and maybe in so doing I'll change some hearts. Maybe they'll realize that that there is a better way. But that doesn't mean the government should show them mercy. They should pay for their crimes against humanity. I guess my point is you don't have to give up your own humanity to hold these monsters accountable for their actions. They can be punished by the state, and at the same time, I can show them what Jesus looks like.
anyway, when we were in Syria, you know, it really kind of struck home that that divide between the government and what the government should do with these people and what I should do with these people.
So many these days seem to be so worried about Americans expressing their faith anywhere outside their own homes as if we're encroaching on government property by putting up a cross on public land or something. Look, we don't need to be worried about the people encroaching on government land. We need to be worried about the government encroaching on our responsibilities, which is, you know, feeding the hungry, taking care of the aged, the sick, the widows and orphans and that sort of thing. And when the government starts to say, No, we're going to institute a program to take care of the widows and orphans and the sick and the aged. Then what comes along for the ride is a perversion of charity, because there are strings attached like, oh, the democrats are the ones voting for this. So you know, we're going to vote for the Democrats. So they're essentially using public funds, which is money that the government took from some people to try to buy the votes of other people and THAT is NOT charity, it's a perversion of charity.
End Notes: http://www.english.almanar.com.lb/693684
Friday Mar 08, 2019
Friday Mar 08, 2019
John Correia is the host of the Active Self Protection youtube channel, and a great friend. He has a lot to teach about how to stay safe in dangerous places. Make sure you listen to the end where he talks about the five rules of stupid!
Thursday Mar 07, 2019
Thursday Mar 07, 2019
Dr. Anne Speckhard is a psychologist who interviews violent extremists for a living. Her organization is the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE). Check out this fascinating interview.
Wednesday Mar 06, 2019
Wednesday Mar 06, 2019
On today's podcast, I'm going to bring you a special interview with a good friend of mine who happens to have grown up in Venezuela. She's going to tell us what it was like before socialism, and she has a warning for America.
[Open]
I'm on the road as you can see, doing my podcast kind of like Matt Walsh, you know, he always does his in his car.
So anyway, On this episode, I want to bring you an interview I did the other day, I went out to eat with my good friend Laila Proenza. She grew up in Venezuela, and she just is so sad about what's happened to her country. And I wanted to get her to tell us a little bit about what Venezuela was like before Hugo Chavez turned it to socialism and I think she has some very poignant things - and a very good warning for our country as well. Take a listen.
Tuesday Mar 05, 2019
Tuesday Mar 05, 2019
Dr. Sean McFate is a former paratrooper, now an author, novelist and foreign policy expert. He is a professor of strategy at the National Defense University and Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Washington, DC. Additionally, he is an Advisor to Oxford University's Centre for Technology and Global Affairs.
His new book is called "The New Rules of War," and our interview is a fascinating look at the future of war and how contractors will play an increasingly large role in it.
https://www.seanmcfate.com/the-new-rules-of-war
Monday Mar 04, 2019
Monday Mar 04, 2019
A catastrophe in Cairo, Killings in Kashmir and more provocations in Palestine. All that coming up on today's Hot Zone.
Hi Folks! several people have asked me what's happening between India and Pakistan. The media acts like there's about to be a huge war between the two, and the news is always quick to point out that both India and Pakistan have nuclear missiles. As if they are about to unleash them on each other.
Listen, that's not going to happen. No state actor is going to employ nuclear missiles in a regional dispute. That'd be like using an M1 Abram's tank to make traffic stops. Pakistan and India have been enemies for a long time over the disputed region of Kashmir, which is a very sparsely populated district claimed by both countries AND China since 1947. The bigger issue right now is that terrorists based in Pakistan have made a habit of crossing over into India and killing people - which tends to annoy one's neighbors. The 2008 Mumbai terror attack which killed 166 people in a massive multicell coordinated operation, was planned and executed from Pakistan by the terror group Lashkar-e-taiba.
This latest incident involves a suicide attack on Indian paramilitaries which happened on february 14th and killed 20 people, again planned and executed from inside Pakistan. India responded by sending warplanes to hit targets inside Pakistan for the first time since the 1970's. Now the two countries are trading mortar fire across the disputed region. Which is bad.
But they are NOT going to start a nuclear war over this. It just won't happen. Pakistan shot down one indian Mig fighter the other day and captured it's pilot. They got some airtime by parading the bloodied guy around, but have now agreed to release him as a show of good will. So things will likely soon go back to throwing shade at each other but not bombs before long. At least I hope so.
A horrible tragedy in the train station in Cairo, Egypt happened on Wednesday, when a fight between two conductors caused a train to slam into the station and explode, killing at least 25 people and wounding many more. Graphic footage from the incident shows people running around on fire, obviously in shock after what just happened. I only included this today as a lesson to any of you who travel internationally. The most dangerous thing you can do in many parts of the world is use public transportation. Actually local buses are the worst, but suffice it to say that safety standards are all but non existent in many places. So if you have a choice between flying or taking the bus, it's better to spend a little more and fly. Also, if you for whatever reason ever find yourself on fire. Remember what we all learned as kids - stop, drop and roll. Unfortunately these poor souls never learned that lesson.
Okay, just a quick note on Venezuela: There have now been over 400 defections by members of the armed forces to the side of interim president Juan Guaido. That's a good start, but at this point even if thousands defect, Russia and Cuba are in charge of the military's top brass there now, and their Wagner group mercenaries are known for their brutality. They probably have Venezuela's generals by the jewels, so to speak, and so this crisis will likely go on much longer than it needs to because of that. The US is continuing to put pressure on the country by ramping up sanctions and even flying reconnaissance aircraft off the coast of venezuela, but Juan Guaido assured his people after meeting with Vice President Pence earlier this week that there are no military options on the table at this time. And I believe that. Right now it's all about the media battlespace. And so far Juan Guaido is winning.
Now let's go to Israel. There have been three wars between Hamas and Israel since 2008, and it's probably only a matter of time until the next one. Violent protests have been going on for months along the Israel/Gaza border, as Palestinians have tried again and again to breach the fence and enter into Israeli territory. When that failed, they began launching incendiary balloons to cross the border and set crops on fire, causing millions in damages. the IDF has steadfastly defended their frontier, firing on protesters who posed a threat. So far almost 170 palestinians and one Israeli have been killed and thousands wounded.
There was a lull for a few weeks as UN negotiators tried to broker a peace deal. But that fell apart this week and the protesters are back at it, this time with a new tactic - something they call "night confusion units." They come to the border and bang pots and pans, sing chants and set off sound bombs and flaming balloons. I guess since they have failed to breach the fence and murder the Jews living on the other side, they've decided to try and annoy them to death.
The IDF is taking it seriously though, as they must. They've uncovered lots of terror tunnels over the past year, and by some estimates eighty percent of the building materials in Gaza are being used to try and construct more.
The last time I was in Israel I visited the Gaza border with Oliver North. Here's a little of the footage we shot while there.
[OLN Stand ups]
Looking at the 30 foot concrete barricade erected by Israel to protect their border, and seeing the double layer barbed wire fence in front of that, I realized they've had a nearly 100% success rate at keeping unwanted people from crossing thier borders illegally. And these aren't economic migrants looking for jobs, they are hardened terrorists wanting to kill Jews. So it got me wondering why we don't see more about the Gaza wall in the news, since it is the perfect example of how walls work.
Elliot Chodoff is a political and military analyst specializing in the Middle East conflict and the global war on terrorists. I talked with him while I was there and asked him about the comparison between the US southern border and their frontier with Gaza. Here's some never-before-seen footage of what he had to say.
Well that's all for today. If you are enjoying the news we're putting out, please consider supporting the podcast at patreon.com/hotzone. It's the new way people are getting their news, and with your support I'll be able to keep bringing you the ground truth from the world's hot zones.
I appreciate all of you. And I'll see you back again monday with a great interview about the crisis in Haiti. Right here on the Hot Zone.
End notes: