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The Castle Report

De: Darrell Castle
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Defending Western CivilizationDarrell Castle Ciencia Política Política y Gobierno
Episodios
  • The End of NATO
    Apr 10 2026
    Darrell Castle talks about whether or not the United States should leave NATO and whether that decision would bring about a new U.S./Iran order in the Middle East. Transcription / Notes: THE END OF NATO Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 10th day of April in the year of our Lord 2026. My beat today is once again war but I am so tired of war each week that I have decided to carve a niche out of the unexpected results of our current war and that is NATO and its possible end for the United States. I’m sure you all know what NATO is but as a refresher it is a treaty (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in which the U.S. along with the other members agreed to come to each other’s aid if attacked. The purpose was to prevent and protect against a Soviet attack in Europe like the NAZI’s had done. Everything worked fine when there was a Soviet Union to fight and to protect against. The cold war justified the massive defense spending by the U.S. which allowed Europe to rebuild from the war’s devastation and to provide generous welfare benefits to its citizens. The fall of the old enemy, the Soviet Union, triggered a crises in NATO because there was no longer a justifiable reason for its existence. The collapse of Russia and with it, communism, put the alliance under tremendous strain especially when rising debt levels in the U.S, caused economic hardship. People would ask why are American forces still deployed in Europe. Why can’t Europe protect itself from perceived threats. Why do our families have to bear the brunt of Europe’s defense. NATO continued to exist although the reason for its formation no longer existed. The reason smells like the Military Industrial, Intelligence, Security Complex and I am sure that was a lot of it, but some vehicle of justification had to be found for NATO’s continuation and so found it was. NATO still exists today, and American troops are still deployed in Europe today although the reason is now obsolete. Moving the alliance to the borders of Russia along with a coup that replaced Ukraine’s government of pro-Russia elected officials with anti-Russia officials might justify its existence. Who knows, maybe a new war could be started that would require hundreds of billions in new spending. That is exactly what happened and the Obama, Biden, and Trump administrations have handled it the same way. Pour money and weapons into Ukraine to fuel its war against Russia. Make the war last longer and be much worse than it otherwise would be. Perhaps if Ukraine were allowed to use American weapons to attack deep inside Russia then Russia would be provoked enough to attack outside Ukraine but so far that has not happened. Meanwhile back to present day and we find that although the U.S. poured hundreds of billions into Ukraine ostensibly for the defense of Europe, when President Trump decided to launch a stupid, pointless, unprovoked attack against Iran Europe seemed to want no part of it. Trump seemed to think that Europe should have been willing to support the U.S. out of gratitude for all the money and all the graves of America’s sons scattered across Europe. NATO was much weaker than when the U.S. and Europe saw Russia as an existential threat. The Ukraine war, despite all the bluster and propaganda, proved that Russia could not even conquer that small corner of Ukraine on the border of Russia. My theory, then, is that Europe no longer feels threatened by Russia despite all the rhetoric to that effect but it does feel threatened by the millions of Muslims it has invited into its countries and who now live among European populations. So, Europe offers no help in Trump/Israel’s war against Iran. Shockingly, even with our long special relationship with the UK, Prime Minister Starmer would not allow the U.S. to use bases in England, which the U.S. at least partially paid for, to refuel and rearm aircraft used against Iran. Many U.S. administrations, including the Trump Administration, have criticized Europe for not bearing more of the expense and sacrifice for its own defense, Trump has said that this is not 1949 which was the year NATO was founded and Europe is perfectly capable of defending itself. This hostile rhetoric back and forth along with the changing political climate in Europe in which the European general outlook was fast becoming one of subservience to the new global world run or at least managed by the bureaucrats in Brussels. Trump, J.D. Vance, and Marco Rubio have all made it clear that the U.S. would not follow that path so Europe says no help in Iran. Even the European effort to keep the Strait open is virtually nonexistent. There is nothing in the NATO charter that requires member states to support the U.S. efforts in Iran. The U.S. was not attacked which would have triggered the article 5 common defense clause so there is no Charter obligation in their eyes. How about just friendship and gratitude as Trump would...
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    12 m
  • The Restoration of Liberty
    Apr 3 2026
    Darrell Castle turns his attention away from the pressing issue of war and looks at Christians and Christianity as we near the end of Holy Week. Transcription / Notes: THE RESTORATION OF LIBERTY Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 3rd day of April in the year of our Lord 2026. I’m very happy that I have something to talk about besides war today. This is in fact Good Friday and in honor of that date and with Easter Sunday just a couple of days away I turn my attention away from the pressing issue of war and look at Christians and Christianity as we near the end of holy week. First, I want to say a few words about the title of this Castle Report and where that title comes from especially since we are currently in the 250th anniversary year of America. My argument is that the founders rather than trying to build a utopian perfect world were seeking the restoration of liberties they once had. The Declaration, written by Thomas Jefferson but inspired by the thinking and writing of John Locke and by the life and words of Jesus Christ as expressed by Jefferson as nature’s God reflect that desire for the return of liberty. They had witnessed the excesses of the French Revolution and the results of mob rule or what we today might call democracy and they sought to build something based on the rights of the individual rather than the collective and that is what for individuals is called liberty. They sought a way to protect the lives they had built in their world and the lives they fought for from the reach of foreign imperial rule. That is one reason why I cringe when America today goes abroad to impose its will on others especially when there seems to be no provocation. Speaking of foreign imperial rule an incident occurred this past Palm Sunday in the ancient city of Jerusalem in modern day Israel. There is a church located in the Christian quarter of the city known as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. That church was built in the 4th century on the site where Jesus’ empty tomb was believed to be located. In other words, it is about 1800 years old and it is one of the holiest sites in all of Christendom. It is simultaneously the seat of the Armenian, Greek Orthodox, and Catholic Patriarchates of Jerusalem. Last Sunday, Palm Sunday, those gentlemen wanted to go inside the church to do a live simulcast to their congregations on that Palm Sunday but they were barred from doing so by the Israeli police. The announcement was made that it was for “security reasons” but no synagogues were closed that day. The church has a long history of remaining open even during two World Wars so the explanation was doubtful. Denial of the Church to the people was so outrageous that even U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee was critical. Huckabee is usually a spokesperson for the Israeli government and so his words stung a little. My understanding is that when Israeli authorities heard his mild rebuke they rescinded the order. I don’t know if that is true or not but in any event the Palm Sunday opportunity to minister to their worldwide congregations was lost. Meanwhile back in America a couple of incidents happened this Holy Week that are worthy of note. A young professional basketball player named Jaden Ivey lost his job because of his refusal to remain silent in the face of what he considered intimidation by his team regarding its affiliation with the LGBTQ community of activists and especially Pride Month celebrated in America in June. Jaden was raised in a basketball family and I guess it is in his DNA because his mother is currently the head coach of the Notre Dame women’s basketball team. He had a stellar college career and was drafted by the Detroit Pistons where he spent several seasons. He also was selected to play on the U.S. national junior team. In February of this year, he was traded to the Bulls where he played in 4 games before suffering a season ending knee injury. He started to speak out against what he considered to be forced imposition of the LGBTQ agenda within the NBA. He said as a committed Christian he considered it “unrighteous.” He said a few other things such as he thought Catholicism to be a false religion. He made all these comments on his private twitter account but if you are an NBA player nothing you say is private so the Bulls quickly released him. To their credit they didn’t try to lie and say it was because of injury, etc. They announced the reason as conduct detrimental to the team which triggers a clause in his contract that permits them not to pay him his contract balance. So, they are, in effect, saying that expressing one’s Christian faith is conduct detrimental to the team. The problem for Jaden is that with a knee injury no one will sign him until they see proof of complete recovery so he should consider filing suit for religious discrimination and recovery of the balance of his contract. My guess is that on the contract ...
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    9 m
  • The War Has Been Won
    Mar 27 2026
    Darrell Castle talks about war and the President’s statement that it is basically over and we won. Is that statement true and what are the most recent developments in Iran. Transcription / Notes THE WAR HAS BEEN WON Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 27th day of March in the year of our Lord 2026. I will be talking about war today and the President’s statement that it is basically over and we won. Is that statement true and what are the most recent developments in Iran. What is war but the most horrific thing in which a country, a people, can engage. It is killing on an industrialized scale and from the carpet-bombing campaigns of WWll to the guided munitions of today it is about killing. It is the young men of a country being ordered by the old men of that country to kill the young men of another country but they kill everybody, men, women, little schoolgirls, everybody. Unless done for purely defensive purposes it is immoral and unconscionable. Was Iran an imminent threat to the U.S. No case for that has been made as far as I know. Joe Kent, Counterterrorism Director said there was no imminent threat and his boss, Tulsi Gabbard, refused to state under oath that she knew of such a threat. Well, last weekend the President said he had quite enough of the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz and its impact of the world’s economies, it’s rapid increase in the price of fuel and the price of everything here in the U.S., and its downward effect on his poll numbers. He gave the Iranians 48 hours to open the Strait or he would destroy their power system by attacking power plants. Apparently, the new Supreme Leader of Iran was not amused nor was he in a mood to accept the threats. It appears to me that President Trump is desperate to end America’s part of this war with some kind of deal, any kind of deal that would free up the flow of oil. The new leader, Mr. Khamenei, has suffered enough he most likely thought, so why should he voluntarily end the President’s suffering. His father, his mother, his sister, his nephew and his brother-in-law were all killed by the U.S./Israeli military. His father was not only the Supreme Leader of Iran, but he was also the spiritual leader of his faith that being Shia Islam. So, let bygones be bygones the Americans said to him just move on there’s nothing to see here so let’s move on. He was not going to submit meekly to the threats and he said that if the U.S. attacks his energy, he would attack energy infrastructure all around the gulf. Once again the bible speaks to us and says, you reap what you sow. I am not sure right now who is in charge in Iran, of the speaking to diplomats or of the Iranian military because supposed leadership and armed forces leadership are often different. Americans play similar games because Trump is saying the war is over and we won and at the same time diplomats are begging to negotiate while the Israelis are still attacking. That, I suppose, is just psychological gamesmanship. Here’s a quote from Iran’s armed forces spokesman. “We are watching your cowardly officials and commanders, pilots and wicked soldiers. From now on, based on the information we have on you, the promenades, resorts and tourist and entertainment centers in the world will not be safe.” The U.S. warned Americans across the world to exercise increased caution. So, was this a threat to the start of another worldwide terrorism campaign against Americans amusing themselves. Well, perhaps because that’s the sound of it to me. Did he mean only the resorts in the Middle East such as those in Dubai or did he mean worldwide such as those in the U.S. Time will tell I guess but it was an ominous threat. Americans residing in Iraq were warned to leave immediately as well. Then we heard that Mr. Trump had decided to postpone the attacks for five days while negotiations were ongoing. It gets really confusing at this point because we are told that chief negotiator, Steve Wittkoff and Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law, were at a point where a partial deal was in place pending further negotiating. The Iranians said that no deal was in place and further they would not speak to Wittkoff and Kushner anymore. If any further talking which had not occurred were to be done only J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio would be acceptable. I understand why they prefer Vance because for one thing he is Vice-President and for another he has been sidelined through all this and my guess is that he was opposed to the attacks in the first place. Trump has made many statements about offered solutions to the Strait including joint U.S. and Iranian control of it but recently he offered a 15-point peace plan to end the war. He once again said he would unleash hell if the plan was not accepted. The plan went something like this; without giving you all 15 points, the Strait would be opened immediately and remain open. Iran would reject nuclear ...
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    13 m
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