Host Gene Valaitis and guest Jon Liedtke dive into the sudden escalation of conflict in the Middle East, specifically focusing on the aftermath of Iranian missile strikes against Israel and neighboring nations like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. They discuss the significant blow to the Iranian regime’s leadership and the surprising lack of internal defense against external responses, comparing the regime’s tactics to an “abuser syndrome” intended to force international intervention.
The conversation takes an unexpected turn as they explore the reactions of the Iranian diaspora, specifically highlighting demonstrations in Toronto where protestors celebrated the shift in power. Most notably, they discuss the surreal emergence of the song “YMCA” as a new anthem for a free Iran, symbolizing a potential turning point for the nation’s future and its people’s hope for liberation.
Transcript (Gemini Generated):
Gene Valaitis: Speaking of what is happening in the Middle East over the weekend, another great voice here on the show is joining us and he advocates for Jewish groups all over Canada. He is a former newspaper publisher and a broadcaster, a good friend, Jon Liedtke joins us here on a Monday morning. Good morning.
Jon Liedtke: Good morning.
Gene Valaitis: Okay, so it has started. Iran, you know, they, when the bombs started to fall, they started bombing Israel. Then all of a sudden, it is Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, you name it, Qatar. What a mess in the Middle East. What’s, what’s your initial take?
Jon Liedtke: Well, that’s where you lived, right?
Gene Valaitis: Yeah, I spent months in Dubai doing a contract, yeah.
Jon Liedtke: Yeah, I mean, I can only imagine. Dubai spent what, three decades building up an image that they were a safe enclave in the middle of a, you know, a pretty dangerous place, I suppose.
Gene Valaitis: Yes. Yes.
Jon Liedtke: And that was all destroyed. You are not able to, did you ever fly in, Gene, to Terminal A, One, I guess?
Gene Valaitis: Yeah, yes, absolutely. And now, the, the pictures, the videos of, you know, smoke billowing throughout that terminal.
Jon Liedtke: Mhm.
Gene Valaitis: And I had lunch in the, in the Fairmont Hotel where the Iranians managed to get a missile there.
Jon Liedtke: The Burj Al Arab, right, was struck.
Gene Valaitis: Um, yes, it was, just briefly. It wasn’t too seriously.
Jon Liedtke: But I mean, the point being is like, I don’t understand, the only thing that I thought when the regime in Iran decided to strike the external parties was essentially the, you know, this was the, this is like the abuser syndrome. We’re going to hit you so much you’re going to ask us to stop.
Gene Valaitis: Mhm.
Jon Liedtke: And in this case it was we’re going to ask you to ask the US and Israel to stop. But that’s a crazy situation because obviously they have to defend themselves.
Gene Valaitis: Yeah. I don’t think anybody saw that coming and although the US flotilla had been there for a while, there was still a bit of an element of surprise based on the CIA collecting all that knowledge. And the Ayatollah, the leader, and all of his cabinet and senior military officials were taken out just like that. You know, Iran keeps talking, you know, that they’re going to be hitting back bigger and better and Trump is now saying that this is probably going to last for five or six weeks. As a, as a Jewish man, how do you see the whole conflict?
Jon Liedtke: Well, it’s a good thing. Anytime that a genocidal leader is destroyed is a very positive thing, one, just like straight off the, straight off the bat. Two, I love the fact that when it comes to Israel combating its offenses that it has, they always do monumental biblical bookends. This is the weekend. This was entering into Purim. Purim is a very minor Jewish holiday if you will, but it talks about how a genocidal Persian leader tried to kill all the Jews. Persian leader, of course, being Iranian. And the Jews won 3,000 years ago and the Jews won again today. And that’s a positive thing. I mean, nobody expected that to be the way that it was. No one expected it to unfold the way it did.
Gene Valaitis: Yeah. You know I was watching video online of a, an Iranian Canadian demonstration outside the US embassy in Toronto on University Avenue. Now normally when you see people protesting outside of the US embassy, it’s the usual suspects and it’s death to the USA and…
Jon Liedtke: Yes.
Gene Valaitis: Well, you know what? Over the weekend Iranian Canadians were chanting “US Army thank you,” “Trump thank you” outside the US consulate in Toronto and placing flowers on the building. So Iranians outside of Iran are very, very happy this is happening.
Jon Liedtke: You know, it’s all, it’s interesting, right? Because we know for a fact that the vast majority of the pro, I don’t want to, I don’t want to venture into this, Gene, but I guess I will, I’m on the radio right now. The vast majority of the pro-Palestinian protests that we’ve seen on campuses, in our streets, going into residential neighborhoods, have been largely funded and organized by Iranian, if not Iranian proxies that have, you know, created these things. We know that for a fact. We know that Hezbollah, the Houthis, we know that the vast majority of the terror proxies are funded by Iran. And so it’s not surprising that there weren’t the same level of protests that we’ve seen over the past two years. But it was, it feels like a high water mark maybe, Gene? Do you agree with that? That we’ve reached a point that, oh, maybe we’re on the other side of this. I hope so, maybe I’m just being, you know, euphemistically optimistic.
Gene Valaitis: I think the big question is, Trump said this is to the Iranian people, this is your chance to take your country back and it may be the only chance you have in a long, long time or maybe the only chance period. So the, the top leadership is gone and dead, but they’re still firing missiles. I don’t like, how, how do Iranians who haven’t been executed because they were protesting, how, how do they form a government? How do, how do they take over?
Jon Liedtke: Oh, Gene, that’s a hard question. I’d imagine violence.
Gene Valaitis: Mhm.
Jon Liedtke: I’d imagine violence. You just, you take control. You, you go and overthrow the government through physical means and the idea is that the security forces decide to lay down their arms.
Gene Valaitis: Now you, you always throw me a curve and the curve this morning was you, the last couple of times you’ve been on, you’ve presented some propositions which I thought were like, what? And then they complete, they completely make sense. And today you were talking about the YMCA song?
Jon Liedtke: Yeah, you know, that’s a funny one. I always, I hated it. I can’t stand Trump putting on the YMCA song. I think it’s the silliest thing. It’s just what a joke. It didn’t make any sense, like I wasn’t quite sure like what he was trying to achieve other than maybe he just really likes the song. But when I’ve seen images and videos of people dancing in the streets of Los Angeles with the YMCA being streamed loudly, or in New York, man, that guy did it. He did it well. That is now the anthem of a free Iran. People were dancing and singing and doing his really stupid and silly gyrations that he does with his hands going up and down in front of him. But I mean, like God, God bless them. These people are now looking at being freed and I don’t think that the historical record is going to be one of you and me, you know, just chiding because that’s what we get paid to do and it’s very fun and we enjoy ourselves. But I don’t think it’s going to be that way. I think it’s going to be YMCA. That’s the anthem of free Iran.
Gene Valaitis: Who would have thought? Well, there’s a lot more work to go and thanks for popping on and chiming in for us on this Monday morning.
Jon Liedtke: Any time.
Gene Valaitis: There he goes, another voice on the show, Jon Liedtke. He always has a thought and he always throws me a curve. And yeah, maybe YMCA is going to be the song of freedom for a brand new Iran.
This aired on 610 CKTB
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