Asked in a Dec. 23 interview on Judge Napolitano’s “Judging Freedom” show about the draconian sanctions which the EU has slapped on retired Swiss Col. Jacques Baud, former U.S. weapons inspector and outspoken peace activist Scott Ritter denounced Europe as having become a “dictatorship… a police state in every way, shape, or form,” whose actions threaten everyone’s freedom.
Baud is accused of the “outright lie” that he is a Russian asset, but he has distinguished himself as someone who only uses Western research to make the points that he makes. He did not travel to Russia, or appear on Russian media outlets, or meet with Russian officials to get the Russian perspective. “He simply delved into Western data to point out the vacuous nature and reality of Western policy. which made him in many ways more dangerous than people like me who extensively draw upon Russian expertise and the Russian perspective. He draws upon the West exclusively and the conclusions he reached are unimpeachable.” Therefore they have tried to silence him by delegitimizing him and destroying him economically. The only other thing that the EU could have done “is actually imprisoning him and killing him,”
Ritter reported that he has just published a book, and since it has been printed in Spanish, German and some other European languages as well, he had planned a book tour to Spain and Germany, and maybe some other places in Europe next March.
But after the EU’s actions against Baud, “I received sound legal advice not to go anywhere near Europe right now,” he reported. “I definitely will never go to the United Kingdom. I would be arrested on the spot,” he added.
“I used to go to a Swiss conference every year. Wonderful group of people. I’m not going to Switzerland now. Because they’re doing nothing about Jacques Baud. And if they’re going to treat one of their own, a national resource, a national hero like this, what would they do to an American who has been singled out by the European Union, by the Ukrainians? The Ukrainians have singled me out for death.”
Ritter reported he already “got a bomb threat in the mail the other day” which the post service has not taken seriously. Ritter, rightly!, said he is taking it seriously. “Freedom of speech is absolute and universal. And when you start silencing people anywhere in the world, it resonates globally. Especially when you silence a voice of reason, an intelligent voice … that has been proven factually correct across the board, it means you’re silencing the truth. And when you silence the truth, what’s that say about the quality of the life and existence that we collectively lead?”
