Was 79 other regions in russia just like elections held in almost every country around the world. Border integrity quickly came into question. As the United Russia Party was over whelming, we elected this was not hard to predict as the election was condemned by most of the west, even before the 1st ballot was cast. Accusations of intimidation, forced voting and rid the elections, couldve just been copy and pasted from previous articles about western elections. All i came specifics and full of anonymous tips and sources. Unable to prevent this, the russian government did what most foreign governments do. And invited election observers from other countries to watch the balloting for transparency, legality, and offer confidence in the outcome. To one observer, steve gal who has travelled at the request of the United StatesDepartment Defense multiple times and has told the truth about military operations when they felt like the Mainstream Media was misleading. The American People and the belief that the troops on the ground for doing more harm than good from baghdad and pollution in 2005 to Guantanamo Bay detention facilities and took away United States military clearly has confidence in steve gills. Ability as an independent observer of the action on the ground and the ability to tell the truth. Now steve was just asked to do the same when observing the elections held in the recently annexed areas and ukraine. Guilt was formerly the director of inter governmental affairs, the us trade representatives under both president bush and clinton. And steve go also has the popular conservative talk radio show and Practice International law. Steve gill joins us today. Thank you for joining us. Youve just got back value. Yes. Well, i got back about 48 hours ago. Wow. So youre, youre still trying to get over the jet lag. Lets start off with what was your role as an election observer, and what were you told to look out for you know, i really wasnt given instruction on what to look for. Basically, we were told we could look at anything we wanted to talk to anybody. We wanted to and thats exactly what i did. I went through about 7 different uh, election sites uh, in the dog bass region. What scenario ball was in dont ask was in uh, a couple of the smaller towns and villages. But we were given the opportunity to ask anybody anything to observe the process, which we did take pictures. And we didnt just do this at the polling site. Again as we kind of travel in and out of the, the restricted zone. We stopped the Convenience Stores in Grocery Stores and talked to people there. I talked to people in moscow as well. Unfortunately, i had a, a colleague of mine who has been on several of these observations. I visit the russia and other countries to speech russia and hes an american, hes a lawyer, hes actually a lawyer that i do work with on a regular basis. They didnt include the speak russian. So i didnt just have to depend on the translators. They provided to us, i can provide on my own guy. So i wasnt being given any kind of, you know, information that wasnt accurate. And ill tell you got it. Ive been involved in american politics for over 4 decades. Ive worked in campaign run as a candidate, ive consulted formerly and informally, and i was looking at this process of pulling station to Police Station try to figure out how would i cheap. Not because i wanted to, but how would i cheap the system. I got to tell you i couldnt figure out a way well steve, it before we get to kind of what just so i have to wonder what you want to do this. Why was it important to you to travel across the world to observe these elections . I gotta tell you, scott, as you mentioned uh, i went to a rack a couple of times and then took away and interact after we liberated those people. They had the opportunity to vote. They had opportunity to turn out facing danger or the very active casting their vote. And they did their fingers and purple ink that clearly designated them as somebody who had had utilized that right to vote. Marching them, possibly for death and certainly for, for danger and risk. And they did that. And i felt like giving the opportunity to go see these areas where American Media western media has ignored whats going on there for, for over a decade, where the voters, there were having the 1st opportunity to cast their votes without the oppression or the restrictions being placed on them, they were radically dipping their fingers and purple and, and i felt like having the opportunity i would go get my fingers and purple ink with them. Was interesting because already youre saying some backlash. And so when you saw the elections and everything of your observations, youre obviously not afraid to talk about it. Are you worried about being called a russian propagandist as ukrainians have already done . Or that you might actually have backlash here in the United States . In fact, i think theyre actually calling for some sort of punishment on your head from United States government. Yeah, you have this transgender spokesperson for the ukrainians at american france. Gender, whos gone over there to express the, i guess, whatever propaganda the ukrainians want to put out who was present punishment for those of us who went to see and tell the truth. I got to tell you, i didnt see cnn or fox news or the new york times, or the Washington Post or any other western media outlets. Theyre actually seeing for themselves, hearing for themselves whats going on. And yet theyre quick to carry out the, the, the ukranian propagandist from this uh, this american transgender man or woman who is now over there, you know, spewing out the propaganda. So yeah, yeah, weve already been being attacked and criticized. Its been said that we gorged on the bodies of dead ukrainians while we were there. Ill tell you, i had some forced. I had some beef stroganoff. I didnt need any dead babies while i was there. Well, lets get to the election itself. What did you observe . You know, it was a lot like election sites here in the United States. You know, people came in there were not the bus loads being brought in. They were not being brought in by armed guards. This idea that they were being forced to vote is the furthest thing from the truth. And again, i was it 7 different, the appalling stations throughout the region. Others in our group are a different ones. I can just tell you what i saw. And people were enthusiastically loading, they were getting the opportunity to express themselves. And as i talked to them, they were excited. They werent coming in sad and depressed. It again was, was a joyous occasion. There are many times they were playing music at the site at one of the sites they had a, a, a russian, a group of a full seniors singing and performing for us to kind of share their russian history. And people, i think in the west on, i understand that this part of the brain speaks russian. They identified as russian. And for the last 9 years theyve been attacked and, and brutalized by the ukrainians. Trying to force them to be brain in with a identify as russians. So what we saw is people coming in, being able to cast their vote. The voting boxes are, are completely transparent. You slide your written ballast to a little slide so you cant stuff in more than one. When youre going through the process, you have to show your, your passport or a government issued photo id. You then sign in to vote in, in which one you want to sign in to. And most people are forced for voting and both the local provincial elections for their basically their mayers, their, their governor, as well as for those that were being sent to russia and some of the areas to represent them in the do my, their, their house of representatives so to speak, and they would pick, you know, they would sign in to, to get to balance, to vote in those they would fill out the valid in the curtains where they were again covered from view just like in the United States. And then they would cast their vote in that open box. It was transparent for everybody to see what the interesting things that they do in russia that we should do here in the United States is they have video cameras Live Streaming. Whats going on in those following stations throughout the whole course of the election day or multiple days if the case may be. So anybody, anywhere in the soviet union or former soviet union, now russia and go online and actually watch it officially, were following station. Whats going on in real time and the mosque allergy election, central. They had Party Representatives from the various parties sitting in a large room with the computer screens in front of them with 15 or 20 different opening sites that they were observing at any given time. Shifting to whatever they wanted to watch, youre talking about transparency. It was Live Streaming real voting so anybody can see what was going on. And they also record it. So somebody raises an issue and wants to go back and say, hey, i suspected something, its 1245. Lets see if somebody came in and voted here a 2nd time. That is other than another free say. Its on the record, its fair to say. And then at the end of the day, they do the count in the same way visible, transparent. They didnt hold up the boat down after the party, people there who watched them count the vote, they hold up the number so everybody can see. And then that number is transmitted to mosque out, where the central election numbers are taken into place. I will tell you, scott, is if we had had this an effect and United States, joe biden would not be president. Wow, that is a pretty strong statement. There were, like you said, as transparency from the beginning to the end, theres also the conflict itself going on. Tell us a little bit about the cities themselves. I dont know how much you are able to see the worst of going on now for almost 18 months. What did you observe at both of the streets of mosque, out as well as the territories a while in, in the territories the conflicts actually been going on, the don bass region for more like 9 years, really . Theyve been seeking independence from your brain and the premium militia. Many of these are battalions have been coming in brutalizing murdering raping people. Its no surprise that the people in this area want to be separate from your brain, but they experience the shelling and the brutality for, for almost a decade and then have the opportunity to pursue another course. So there were the bonded out buildings we were in parts of areas where the shelling was obvious, where the destruction was obvious. We did not get within about 50 kilometers of the actual front lines because thats about the length of the missile range. And they didnt put us in that danger, but in parts of done that, youre still having drone strides. One of the polling stations that one of our team was visiting later in the. Busy was hit by Ukrainian Drone stripe just before the voting took place. So they had threats. The intimidation that were hearing about was there, but it was coming from your brain. It wasnt coming from that, from the russians. And in that side. And in moscow, i think most americans have a perception of, of mosque out as this kind of soviet era. Me, you know, concrete buildings. Nothing could be further from the truth. I had not been in moscow for about 25 years. And i was shocked at how much it has changed me me called skyscrapers at a dinner one night at the 84th floor, i think is the tallest building in europe in moscow city. That would challenge the beauty and, and the glass and steel of any American City that you would want to find and in mosque out, people are going about their business. You know, there was a 7 story mall next loads though i stayed in 7 stories. Each 4 was bigger than the biggest malls in nashville, so im not seeing the sanctions bring the russians to their needs based on what i saw. Okay, so then lets talk about the people. Did you get a chance to interact with any of the locals and how did they actually feel about you being an american you know, they were actually excited about the fact that somebody in america could maybe tell the truth about what they are experiencing. A couple of good stories and one of the following places. There was a dad with his young daughter that was there and, and it struck me that you know, if youre being oppressed, if youre in, in danger, youre not bringing your young child to boat with you and show the future to her that youre casting your vote for there was another lady who is an election commissioner and one of the smaller villages that we went to. She said she had lived there her entire life. And for 40 years there was a bridge next to her house. It had been a block and it said, do not cross the danger. You know that it was a, a broken down bridge. The soviet era, they didnt repair it. You premium era, they havent repaired it. But in one year, since they had been liberated from the military fighting there, they have a brand new bridge. Its all the same thing. And in maryville, where you have the bombed out of the apartment buildings and then across the street you have 4 or 5 brand new 1000 unit apartments that have just been constructed in just the last year with chinese contractors doing most of that work. So American Contractors can be doing a lot of work to sort of rebuild whats been broken, but instead others in the world are going to be doing that and making those profits. One other lady at that one of the following stations was talking to me about the, the new schools, the new construction, the roadways that have been built in just the last year since. Uh uh, the premiums have been moved out and, and the new construction has, has taken place. That the americans are placing bombs and missiles and weapons at the disposal of the premiums that are being shot into their neighborhoods. Chinese are bringing construction and cement and tractors and trucks too. Are we going to have more affinity for in 10 years . She asked the americans of the chinese. Wow, thank you steve. Hold on. Because after the break, were going to continue our conversation with steve gill on the trip observing and what to moscow in the annex regions of ukraine and how those alterations compare to visits to other countries. On behalf of the United States, the difference, it says that theres a line you cross at some point in the way you perceive the view of your window of sex, your jewelry lives no longer personal, but rather detached obstructive laser. Well know when we live on the 6th, so we feel like were actually involved in everything that happens in the neighborhood, right . Whether it wants to or not reading this, a sense of engagement of the longer. So as soon as we go up and say to the troll floor us thing in front of you from the windows becomes more like a picture of an image on a tv screen tv. These are the the, the welcome back to the show. Youre watching. The 360 view and im just kind of now hughes, we want to bring back in steve gil conservative radio show host. Steve, as i mentioned in your introduction, youve traveled the globe at the request of the United States department if its multiple trips to observe. Balloting and word to an area. So how does this trip compare to your visit to a rack with the various military branches and post Operation Iraqi freedom driven in 2005 and baghdad. And felicia, you also went to a detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. Right . Before the courts were opening up and what was that like comparison, you know, there was a lot more military presence in, in those experiences. And then i had in, in moscow and certainly even going into the dumbass regions on ask and, and some of the other areas, you know, theres some of the ukrainian propaganda. Theres claiming that people are being forced to go about the soldiers or driving them to the polling places. I think itd be further from the truth, but again, there were soldiers, one or 2 at each polling place, guarding and protecting the people who were coming to exercise their right to vote. There were teachers that were voting, there were city officials who were coming and boating, they were just regular citizens. People who work in that one of the areas in the coal mines a lot of it was very agricultural, one of the areas that we went into, you drove miles and miles and miles through sunflower, seed fields with both sides of the road, being miles and miles of sunflower seeds, it looked like parts of rural tennessee, frankly, before you got to the following station. Some of them were these old classic buildings. Others were in the, in brand new schools that have just been rebuilt in the last year. So it was very much a um, a peaceful setting. It was not like, you know, for lose a, it was not like a pre or baghdad or, or, or the military security that you saw in the, in Guantanamo Bay. And again, ive been in places where theyre essentially occupied territories like in interact with their soldiers on every corner in moscow, in, in, in these areas of your brain. You did not see a military presence. Now they may be on the front lines where they are still engaged in combat. But in these areas where i was, youre not seeing a big military presence thats being oppressive or repressing the people. And more importantly, youre not seeing us in western media there to see whats there to be saying do share which there to be heard. They dont care to report the truth in these areas. And thats been the case from the, from the outset of this, this conflict. You get the propaganda that is issued to the western media by you praying that they just report whether its the ghost of g, a, of, or, or these are for stories. And youre not having anybody on the other side reporting whats going on to the people who are suffering in, in don bass, the in the husband and in the asking these other areas. The absence of media was more glaring than the presence of military. Whats interesting you bring this up, steve, because when you look at what your saying, youre in the minority over here in the west. In fact, probably several will dismiss this whole interview saying its ju