80 – Enduring World Peace

In this episode, Peter and Sonny delve into the current conflict in the Middle East. They delve into what the endgame is and how the world must make a small sacrifice, like with gas prices, to achieve a bigger, longer-lasting result that will benefit the entire world.

Part 2 of Episode 79 was preempted to next week due to the fluidity of the current situation and will premiere next Friday.

The full audiovisual version of this episode is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_MhLLE5CXg8 

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Transcript

Sonny Maken 0:09

Welcome to the Obvious Podcast. This is episode number 80. My name is Sonny Maken. I'm the COO at ABC Florida East Coast.

Peter Dyga 0:17

And I'm Peter Dyga, president and CEO at ABC Florida East Coast.

Sonny Maken 0:21

You are listening to the Obvious Podcast or watching, where all opinions expressed are our own unless we say otherwise.

Peter Dyga 0:28

Love the show. We ask you to subscribe on any major podcast platform or watch us in action on YouTube. Follow the Obvious Podcast on TikTok, Instagram, X, and Truth Social. All the links you need are in the show notes. And you can reach reach out to us anytime at theOvvious at abc eastflorida.com. And if you're enjoying the ride, help others find us by leaving a review wherever you listen.

Sonny Maken 0:54

So before we get into it, if you're tuning in right now expecting part two from last week's episode, you're going to have to wait another week. Obviously the whole Iran thing has happened, so we wanted to kind of talk about that, share our opinions, and next Friday you will hear episode uh sorry, part two of the episode from last week.

Peter Dyga 1:13

Aaron Powell All right. So we're going to talk about the Middle East conflict. The Middle East conflict. It's not really even just an Iranian conflict at this point since they've lobbed pixels.

Sonny Maken 1:22

But it does feel like the nineties again, right? We were talking about the Middle East conflict. Bill Clinton's in the news, like, you know, smiling at the uh at the women uh report, right?

Peter Dyga 1:33

From well, if you're old enough, you can remember Carter and talking about Middle East news and hostages and every president ever since.

Sonny Maken 1:39

That's before my time, Peter. I don't know what you're talking about.

Peter Dyga 1:41

So well, I can I can tell you, for those of us who have been here on the Assur 47 years or longer, you know, this one regime, much less the Middle East, has certainly been a thorn in uh the the world's side. Yep, I think for almost half a century.

Sonny Maken 1:57

That was 1979, right? When they took over the embassy? Right. So if you by the way, a great movie about that whole issue uh called Argo, ARGO with uh Ben Affleck. If you haven't seen it, check it out. My favorite line from that movie is um their whole concept is to get some of these Americans out of the embassy. And so he poses as a Hollywood producer to go to Iran and get them out, and he suggests this idea to his boss at the CIA, and the boss goes, Well, this is a terrible idea. And he goes, Well, this is the best bad idea we have.

Peter Dyga 2:27

It was a true story, right? It's a true story. Which by the way, so let me do this. Right.

Sonny Maken 2:35

What's that bell for?

Peter Dyga 2:36

I don't know, but people who know know.

Sonny Maken 2:38

People who know know.

Peter Dyga 2:39

So by the way, we um some people might be questioning really the bell on this subject?

Sonny Maken 2:44

Yeah.

Peter Dyga 2:44

You know, really? Uh there's I don't think there's an aspect of our life that uh isn't impacted by that. That's 100%.

Sonny Maken 2:50

We should we should point out that from the first time we did the bell, we did have a winner who answered um uh correctly.

Peter Dyga 2:56

He was a member of our um student chapter. Student chapter, yep. And he was so concise in exactly what this bell meant, it was unbelievable.

Sonny Maken 3:06

So we obviously won't tell you the answer because we're still playing the game. So but you know, he is gonna get his um the obvious Tumblr? You got it already? Oh, Mr. Producer saw me he got it already.

Peter Dyga 3:18

I mean, it's kind of ongoing, right? I mean, whoever the first email is of each of each podcast, which if we get one for that particular podcast, we'll send you a gift too. Absolutely. Keep guessing. So except except for if you've won once already, you can't keep guessing. So sorry. I don't know. What was the I say kids, you know, not not in any pejorative term.

Sonny Maken 3:36

Yeah, yeah. Everybody's a kid to me. Yeah. What practically. Practically. Any event. All right. So let's uh let's talk about Iran. Sure. Well, where do you stand on that issue? Where do I stand? Yeah, where do you stand? And you know, you've been watching this whole Ayatollah Khomeini Khomeini Khomeini nonsense since the 70s. Sure. Uh well, where to start?

Peter Dyga 3:58

So um well, I'm I'm um A, I pray for the swift and complete success of our military forces. Amen. Uh, and for the long-term peace that I hope and pray will come out of this uh when you remove uh a regime that again for 47, 49, whatever however many years it is, um, you know, has kind of been terrorizing the world and funding terrorism around the world and holding the world hostage to, you know, uh maritime trap anyway, it could go on and on and on. So that that's kind of where I fall.

Sonny Maken 4:28

Right.

Peter Dyga 4:28

You know, and I unfortunately I wish it's where we all fell, and it used to be that way. I remember in America where uh you know, I think we all uh at least initially would be uh praying for and hoping for a swift and uh successful um you know effort and campaign. And you know, we can debate later, you know, um, you know, the results and uh and how to build, you know, coming out of it or whatnot. But unfortunately that's not where we're at today. So and that's unfortunate. So um and any we I'm sure we'll get into more details. Yeah. So um there's a lot of uh picking around the edges about, you know, what's the mission? Well, the mission's pretty damn clear to me. I don't understand uh people who uh don't seem to uh or at least are pretending that they don't understand the mission. I think the administration has been very clear, which is to totally annihilate the ability for this regime to camp or to wage proxy or direct wars, uh either nuclear or uh conventional missiles, or through their proxies in the Middle East, uh, you know, is is Islamic um you know, proxy guerrilla warfares, uh, and their ability to produce that machine and build that machine. I mean, that's that's it. It's plain and simple. And if that gets done, you know, okay. You know, I think we're we're we're out of there. Yeah. It will be a plus if there is some kind of a change in the Iranian people actually, you know, um can can um take advantage of the situation and but but uh we'll see.

Sonny Maken 5:56

So the goal the goal is not regime change per se. Now if it happens as a result of the bombings, it does. But the goal is really to destroy their capacity to launch missiles at American bases and American allies in the Middle East.

Peter Dyga 6:11

Plain and simple, or to threaten or to um you know blackmail, you know, through through violence and their proxies as well over the years, right? Oh yeah.

Sonny Maken 6:20

I mean, they've taken out assassination attempts on American officials, you know, they try to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Georgetown. Yeah, you know.

Peter Dyga 6:29

And let's face it, right now, they're uh you know they're they're uh lobbying to the to the best they can uh some of their conventional um armament, you know, on on neighbors in the middle of the year. The Gulf States, yeah. On top of that, they're using warfare like cluster bombs and things like that that strike indiscriminately. You know, so if you needed any proof, and I don't think you really did, if you looked hard enough, there's been 47 years of proof, but if you needed any proof today, um well, there you have it.

Sonny Maken 6:58

Yeah. You know, so what do you what do you say to that whole argument about you know, a lot of people are burnt out from Iraq and Afghanistan and how you know nation building has failed spectacularly.

Peter Dyga 7:10

Yeah, I I completely agree. Right. I'm kind of find myself amongst that kind of wing, if you will, in the uh Republican Party or right of center. Right. I think if we were to get to that point where all of a sudden the mission were to be, well, we're gonna start rebuilding, you know, uh schools and you know, and trying to do you know no, that's you know, that's not what we're there for. Right. Um, you know, if we can successfully destroy today, you know, and that's another part of this this uh conversation is just because you've done it today, if there is no regime change, doesn't mean you're not gonna have to do it again a year or two years from now if they start rebuilding the same program. Yep. You know, and unfortunately, you know, if this country elects someone else, we probably won't have that consistency, which is again what's been the problem. We've had we've had we've had tremendous consistency for the past 47 years, Democrat and Republican, to talk about it, but to do nothing about it. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Sonny Maken 7:59

Well, I I mean you could argue the fact that that consistency really was decimated by Obama when he sent all that cash, right?

Peter Dyga 8:08

Yeah.

Sonny Maken 8:09

Pallets of cash and that alleged nuclear deal that was negotiated.

Peter Dyga 8:14

As this president has characterized one of the worst friggin' deals ever negotiated ever. So which he got us out of, thank God. But yeah, the pallet who can forget the pallets of cash. Um, you know, it's by the way, nobody sued back then to say that the did the president really have the authority to do that? Yeah. To take millions of dollars out of the I think every central bank in like a hundred-mile or a two hundred mile radius of Washington, D.C., and actually put the cash on pallets on C 130 cargo planes and send it to send it to Iran. I mean, but it's funny, isn't it, how nobody sued the president back then. Because we don't play the same way, unfortunately. We better learn, though, right of center. We better learn because you know we've seen nothing but in this past year a lawfare, you know, if you will, against suing this president. And it unfortunately the system well, actually, I I think in in most cases we can have good confidence that in the end, uh, I think probably uh rationality will prevail and the rule of law will prevail. But but getting there, you will find somebody to rule insanely, some judge to rule insanely. We have judges, many, many thousands of judges. You're going to find some that are motivated by politics.

Sonny Maken 9:23

Well, a lot of people. And that's a lot.

Peter Dyga 9:25

And that's that's this game that's being played, is let's just sue. And eventually, it's like rolling the dice. Eventually you're gonna roll the right number and you're gonna find that judge that's gonna just rule politically. Now, fortunately, our system is such that you can now appeal that and you can keep appealing it to a higher level until you get to the ultimate court, which is which is pretty consistent, right? It doesn't change. You've got the same nine you know, judges there and which about it for life. You kind of know where they're at. Um by the way, we had three of them rule in a very important case recently that the government basically was the ultimate authority in raising your children. Three judges on the Supreme Court ruled that.

unknown 10:02

I know.

Peter Dyga 10:02

Not you, as a parent, but the government. The government is the ultimate authority in raising your children. It's unbelievable.

Sonny Maken 10:10

So Yeah, that's another episode. We'll have to come back to that.

Peter Dyga 10:17

But I think the I think the war certainly in the Middle East right now is. So you know, because I believe and I I pray and I hope that uh a lasting peace can come out of this. Because when you remove one of the world's most prominent purveyor, if you will, of terrorism and whatnot, it's it's it's going to result in uh some of the most substantive and lasting peace I think we've ever seen. Yeah. And will that be good for business? Absolutely. You're damn right, absolutely. I mean, and you know, and um unfortunately I think one of the things amongst many, maybe we could uh you know spend a little time talking about that, are the things that make decisions like this and and and leadership like this difficult is because we are a society uh that has finds making sacrifice very difficult, even if it's a short-term sacrifice. Yeah. We are a society that just finds that difficult.

Sonny Maken 11:12

When you know instant gratification, that's part of your culture, right?

Peter Dyga 11:14

That's right. It's it's built into social media, it's built into pretty much everything in our society right now. So we've we've become we've become a society that just cannot see the value in even a short-term sacrifice for long-term uh you know success or peace or prosperity. Um and that makes that makes these challenges difficult.

Sonny Maken 11:34

Yeah.

Peter Dyga 11:34

And why you can say every president for 50 years, both Republican and Democrat, have refused to actually do something about this problem.

Sonny Maken 11:42

Yeah. I think what's interesting about this this time around is the the media narrative just never changes, right? It's never it's never can't hate him enough. It's always I can't hate him enough. It's always one version under one type of administration and it's a different version under a different type of administration. And the sense of sort of moral superiority that they have on this issue, it's it's mind-boggling to me. And like, look, look, if you want to be sort of the ever-present skeptic with every administration, fine. Uh you know, which really I would appreciate that as a role of the media, but they they they turn on blinders for one side, and then they somehow become this oh, we're journalists, this is our calling. Like, come on, nobody takes you seriously because you've destroyed your credibility. But what I uh find I guess I don't think I don't know if troubling is the word, but for me personally on this Iran issue, I I can see both sides. I can see I had friends who served in Iraq, I had friends who served in Afghanistan whose lives were changed by what the what we did there, the horrible decision making of the American government, the horrible decision making of uh you know, when they fired I re I'll you know, I've I've done a lot of sort of deep dive into Iraq and and how that sort of deteriorated. Um Paul Bremer was the guy's name, and he was sort of the administrator for the country. And he was told by some people, like, do not fire the Iraqi army, do not fire the and and he did, and I think within three days of that, the first roadside bomb went off. Yeah, right. And there's there's you know, and of course, Trump's taking a lot of heat for leaving that lady behind in Venezuela. Venezuela is off the news. Like you don't hear anything happening in Venezuela that would be sort of negative, right?

Peter Dyga 13:33

Not negative, and in a war sense, like you don't hear anything negative happening because I read an article, and this is a little off uh subject, but uh since you brought it up, recently, uh I think this administration for the first time, not this administration, but the United States under this administration for the first time held a um a conference of the Americas Oh yeah in Durell for countries in Durrell, you know, for for countries that are uh aligned in terms of security and freedom against the uh terrorists in this hemisphere, which are the cartels. Um anyway, it was a it was a great meeting, and to see the Americ to see the American government leading in that regard is just so I mean, I'm so proud, you know, that for once, you know, we're not just so and isn't it funny that you know for a lot of people initially.

Sonny Maken 14:18

But before you move on, I do want to say that our assistant government affairs director was out of that conference. He was? Yep. All right, I didn't know that. So that's pretty cool.

Peter Dyga 14:25

So yeah, one of the uh things that uh you know, I don't know, game came out of that was uh I had talked in previous podcasts about the election that I was, I think, down in Costa Rica when both the uh president-elect and the current president were were at that conference. So, but um I saw an article about Cuba in their um American language newspapers in Costa Rica. That again, I see sometimes stories there that I don't see in the US papers. But the article um was about how close apparently the United States is to an economic deal with Cuba.

Sonny Maken 15:00

I just heard that today for the first time. I had no idea.

Peter Dyga 15:02

So I mean I'm sure we're not gonna just agree to an economic deal. The part of the deal is gonna be reform in the government. And I mean, can you imagine a silent victory? It didn't even wouldn't even take without any you know, arresting somebody or you know, any which would be just spectacular. Anyway, how many times have I said leadership matters? You know, having a leadership just in in this particular case has changed the outlook in this whole hemisphere. Uh we've in a matter of a year, and again, it's not getting much press. And part of the reason is because this administration moves so fast, the media is incapable of actually keeping up or or providing the yeah. Even understanding the long-term implications. Right. And they don't don't really get into detail and anything. It's always a matter of what can we exploit, you know, for the you know, the explosive headline at the moment. So then and once that's gone, you know, they have to move on. So it's not in their nature to like actually cover the detail once that headline's gone. And for example, um, you know, the the the gold deal that came out of Venezuela and the gold that we're buying from Venezuela and the economic uh benefit of uh in the mining industry and the oil industry there and how the people are gonna benefit um Cuba and you know and the deal that we're potentially negotiating. So in any event, it's um it's exciting stuff. So leadership matters.

Sonny Maken 16:22

Do you think um so back to the Well, let's talk about Iran. Do you think we're gonna have an issue with our uh missiles running out of missiles and all that armament stuff that we keep hearing about? Or is it just another red herring? Yeah, I think it's just another red herring. Another herring. Yeah.

Peter Dyga 16:36

So you know, especially now that we're um you know able to use more conventional um gravity bombs as opposed to the more uh expensive.

Sonny Maken 16:45

Yeah. By the way, I do want to make this point about Iran, right? So you and I have talked about lower gas prices for like a year. Not a single and you and I or recognition anyway. You and I consume a lot of media. I haven't seen a single story on gas prices going down in a year. Yep. And as soon as gas prices go up because of this, everywhere. Yeah. Everywhere I see gas price stories. Yeah.

Peter Dyga 17:08

Right? Oh no, look what the But by the way, you know, from what I understand, it's this this is all reactionary, even at this moment. Now it could be more substantive toward the point where the actual supply is affected, but this really has nothing to do with the supply, at least from what the experts are saying.

Sonny Maken 17:23

Short term, yeah, but long term, I think.

Peter Dyga 17:25

Mostly uh a reaction. Yeah.

Sonny Maken 17:26

Mostly and and it's just I mean, look.

Peter Dyga 17:29

Because production has been kicked up and there's no nobody's short, you know, of uh the distributors the these are two two-week contracts.

Sonny Maken 17:36

Yeah. Right? So the price you pay the pump was determined two weeks ago. Yeah. And it's determined for the next two weeks.

Peter Dyga 17:41

And I looked it up, by the way. So at the height of the Biden administration gas was at five dollars and ninety-four cents. I mean four dollars and ninety-four cents, so almost five dollars a gallon on average. That was the average price performance. So imagine what it was in California. Right. California was, I think that's when you were exceeding about seven or eight bucks a gallon. So, you know, so you know the the the price with a war in the Middle East and the Strait of Hormuz being temporarily shut down is actually lower than it was at the height of the Biden. The Biden administration. But to your point, we we never, of course, heard of the remote.

Sonny Maken 18:12

Yeah. I didn't see a single story on how energy prices are dropping and all of a sudden everybody loses their mind.

Peter Dyga 18:17

Aaron Powell By the way, did you know there also was a vote in the Congress uh very recently about declaring uh Iran, I don't know the exact language, but uh, you know, the the lead or the top terrorist state you know in the world. I didn't know it did. And fifty-three Democrats voted against it. Oh wow, I believe that. And it c it came out that the State Department in the United States, every year since 1984, every year since 1984, what's that, 42 years? Has declared Iran the largest sponsor of terrorism in the world. Yeah, yeah. So our for for many, many years, it was no problem under a Democrat administration and Secretary of State Republican, but now it's controversial, and 53 Democrats, all of which should be thrown out by their party. They should. I mean, they can't just because it's this president and it's especially problematic because we are at war. And and you can't you can't agree to what something the State Department has said for 42 years. Yeah. Well, I mean, and you can And that the world knows and recognizes.

Sonny Maken 19:23

They're support of the Houthis, they're support of Hezbollah, they're a support of um like literally like assassination, you know, they had um things out for uh the guy with a mustache who hates Trump now. He was uh Bolton. Bolton. Yeah, right. Yeah, Bolton. Um they had an assassination attempt on him. They I mean, I was every time I'm in Georgetown, I go to Cafe Milano and they were trying to take out the ambassador of Saudi Arabia at Cafe Milano. Like it's insane.

Peter Dyga 19:51

It's insane.

Sonny Maken 19:51

Um how awful this administr this uh regime has been.

Peter Dyga 19:56

Anyway, I think we all should be praying. And I, you know, I call on every American to pray and wish, if you're not the praying type, uh do your yoga, chant, or whatever you gotta do to wish or to wish for success in this campaign. Switch success and long-term peace.

Sonny Maken 20:16

And I hope you know uh Iran has a very young population that's very uh tech savvy. I hope that they're able to kind of step up and fill this leadership vacuum and and really take it into a different direction because it's a beautiful country, it's a beautiful people, right? They they have a great.

Peter Dyga 20:33

I love it. It's so it's you know what I love about it, it's so aligned with the left in this country and the world. What what does the Iranians call there the the panel of experts or the uh you know the council that it's like the the council of experts, you know?

unknown 20:50

Right?

Sonny Maken 20:50

Have I getting the name right? Yeah, we're gonna be we're gonna be talking about the election.

Peter Dyga 20:53

So they announced uh you know the new supreme leader. Um yeah, the son of the guy who's videos of um somebody who just took a video outside their their window in Tehran. Yeah and you could hear people shouting death to that person, the new supreme leader. Wow. So there's there is pro-democracy movement.

Sonny Maken 21:15

So there was a huge story, and this barely made it on on uh American media of Iranian women revolting of a few months ago. And there's this incredible picture of this Iranian woman who has taken her uh hijab off, she's smoking a cigarette, and she's lighting it on her cigarette with the flyer with the picture of the wow. So we're gonna we're gonna I'm gonna make sure Mr. Producer puts it up on this episode. Picture of the year, right? You know, award or something. Absolutely. Yeah. All right. So we are out of time. And anyway, in case you were wondering.

Peter Dyga 21:49

There you have it. There you have it. So um shoot us in the email if you have any questions. Whatever yoga chance you're doing. Do whatever it is. Let's pray for swift, complete, uh Victory and uh lasting peace. Lasting peace. So all right. We pray for the Iranian people as well. All right. Thanks for listening and honoring us with your time. We're gonna switch roles. Yeah, that's good. Forward to sharing another episode with you next Friday.

Sonny Maken 22:13

For comments, uh send us an email, or for if you want to participate in the Bell contest, send us an email at the obvious at abceflor.com. Till next Friday. Ciao. Take care.