I'm John Batcher. Bill Rajo, Senior Fellow Foundation for Defense of Democracy, is here with me, and we're

going to the Ukraine War, ongoing and dangerous. At the same time, there is news. For example,

the front page of the Financial Times features an operation by the French Special Forces to take command of a Soviet,

excuse me, Russian registered oil tanker that is part of the shadow fleet,

significant to me only because we also had video,

what looks to be night cameras, of the entry into the vessel by the French, I guess,

equivalent of commandos or Navy SEALs, something quite fantastic.

And this is a striking development given the attempt by Mr. Macron over these years to be a Putin whisper.

The second piece of news that is striking to me is the front page news in Europe of the Ukrainian drones and or missiles, I think in drones at this point, to strike a Russian energy node,

800 miles or 800 kilometers behind the front lines.

John Hardy for the Foundation for Defense of Democracy is watching the Ukraine conflict.

John, a very good evening to you.

I'm presuming that the deep strikes has happened before,

hence the anxiety about the great parade that did not feature tanks this year for fear of being

struck by the Ukrainians. But it strikes me that the French getting involved in some way

inhibiting or limiting Russia's ability to gain money is fresh information.

Is it, John? I can't tell. Good evening to you.

Hey, John. Hey, Bill. Thanks for having me back on your show.

So European countries have seized Russian tankers in the past.

It's not entirely new.

A key distinction is, do you kind of seize a tanker briefly impose maybe a fine that's usually pales in comparison to the revenue from the sale?

Or do you actually seize it permanently and, you know, prevent the Russians from kind of getting the oil right back?

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