The Duran Podcast - EU in pre-war with Russia w/ Alexandre Guerreiro (Live)

Episode Date: April 11, 2024

EU in pre-war with Russia w/ Alexandre Guerreiro (Live)

Okay, we are live with Alexander Mercuris, and we are very, very happy to have with us. Alexandre Guerrero, Alexander, how are you doing today? Good morning, everyone. I'm pretty good today, and I'm keen to meet all this crowd and all the people who are watching us now. Fantastic. It is great to finally get you on a show. Your work is fantastic. A link to Alexandre's YouTube channel, which I recommend everyone follows. It's in the description box down below. And when the show is over, I will add it as a pinned comment as well.

So let's say hello to everybody. That is watching us on Rockfin. That is watching us on Odyssey. Hello to everyone on Rumble. Please join us on Rumble. if you haven't signed up to the channel on Rumble. And of course, the amazing community on the Durand, the locals.com. How is everyone doing on locals?

And a big shout out to everyone that is watching us on YouTube. Spartan Warrior Queen. How are you doing today? Peter. How goes it, Peter? And let's see, any other moderators today? I think we have just Spartan Warrior Queen and Peter on Gap. GAB, formerly known as GEC812, how are you doing?

All right. Let's talk about what is happening in the world. Alexander, Alexandre. Alex, Alexander, Alexandra. I love it. I thought of that. It's going to be a good show. It's going to be a good show.

Let's get it to it, Alexander. So it's going to be an especially good show because we have Alexander with us, and Alexandre is a person with a living. legal background, lawyer in fact, but he's also somebody who's very involved in international affairs, comments about them extensively, comments about them incredibly intelligently, if I can also say, and insightfully, which is something that we need at this time. And as I was saying to him just before the programme, somebody with a very great range, somebody with knowledge, very, very deep knowledge about many areas from Portugal, but also southern Europe, Latin America,

EU matters, Portugal being a very important part of the EU, but also, of course, Russian-EU relations. And I think today, because this is our first time, and because Russian relations, relations with Russia, are so important. I think that will be our starting point for our program today. and then we might move on to other things and in future programs with Alessandra. We will, we will proceed and discuss other things too. So let us start. Relations between Russia and the EU, worse than I have ever known them in my lifetime. I mean, in absolutely deplorable state, the EU militarising, or at least saying that it wants to militarise,

frightening us all with the prospect of the Russian army marching on Europe, threatening everybody. You're at the very other end of Europe from Russia. But by the way, Portugal has a strong history of interconnections with Russia in many ways. Are you frightened of Russia there in Portugal at the moment? Oh my God. Oh, my God. absolutely not first let me once again salute and congratulate all for you you guys for your

show and for the channel it's quite a successful project even here in portugal many people speak with me about it so let me thank you for the work you've been developing with this now concerning your question i'm not afraid of russia first because as you said even for decades or even centuries, there were quite good connections between the Portuguese crown, the kings and queens of Portugal and the royal families from Russia as well. Even after the Bolshevik revolution, ties were only cut after the 1920s, beginning of 1930s. So we didn't quite close any kind of window of contact or relationship with Russia. So the walls and the doors were never absolutely closed. Anyway, there has been a kind of

principle or vision defended not only in Europe as a whole, but also in Portugal in particular, with that old dream that Charlotte the goal spoke about, which was to have finally a Europe from Lisbon to the Europe, which was tried to get and to create some kind of friendship zone that would connect the Western world to the Eastern world, which was called, like I said, from Europe, from Lisbon to the Urales.

In more recent decades, what they have been supporting, and Portugal was quite a big actor defending this kind of idea, was to create a comfortable and friendship and economic area between Lisbon to Vladivostok. This had absolutely nothing to do with imperialism, with interventionism whatsoever.

It was to establish a bridge between West and East. Of course, the United States never liked this idea, because that would put in jeopardy the close relationships that we in Europe as a whole or in the European Union have with Washington and would get us closer to the Russian power and the Russian geopolitics. Anyway, I'm just reminding this because, was one year ago, more or less, Mityri Miedvić,

he spoke again of his dream of an area from Lisbon to Vladivostok. And you know how it was treated here in Portugal as an ambitious plan from Russia to conquer the entire Europe and reach Lisbon and create some kind of a domination in Lisbon. I'm not uncomfortable with the idea

of getting closer ties to Russia. Actually, it's the brightest idea that we could have. We should have good relations with the US, but also with Russia, because they are a strategic partner to connect us to the world. We should not close our relations with Russia because Russia has absolutely no intentions or ambitions to conquer Europe or a part of Europe. Do you feel, as I sometimes do, that there is a major division here between Southern Europe, between people like us who are from, you know, the southern European world, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, we have a very different feeling about Russia than some northern European countries do.

And we don't seem to have this rivalry, this sense of rivalry and antagonism and fear of them, that you find in northern Europe, in Germany, in parts of Scandinavia, in, dare I say, you know, the Netherlands, Belgium, and not to mention Britain, which is just off the scale. And that in fact, because Northern Europe has tended to dominate affairs for a very long time, they essentially succeeded imposing upon us this antagonism and hostility upon our southern Europeans, which we've never really felt. And I have contacts, many, many contacts in Italy. And they all tell me the same thing. They did in Italy, not only does this not exist, but the media there, unlike the media pretty much everywhere else in Europe, is actually much more understanding and much more

realistic about Russian affairs than you will find certainly in Britain and certainly in Germany nowadays. I don't know what the situation in Portugal is like, but do you feel that there is this vision. There is, actually, I agree with you concerning the Spain, Italy and Greece. However, in Portugal, the situation is quite different. Why? Because I remember growing up with an environment where everyone was speaking bad things about the USSR. Everything in the Soviet, I'm not supporting the communist ideology, of course, but everything, any idea, any image that came from USSR, all those ideas were always negative, bad people, people in pain, totalitarian ship, people are dying. So it was always this idea in order, I understand to a certain extent, they want to

thus not to embrace any kind of communist ideologies. But at the same time, you create some kind of bigoted idea about the people who belong and who are part of USSR. And you grow up with this idea. After the dissolution of the USSR, the idea kept exactly the same. And it was the same especially against Ukrainians. All of them coming from that region, they were bad people, they should not belong to the Western civilization, so on and so forth. And that's why here in Portugal, now according to some recent surveys, what we have is that the Portuguese people are actually the second biggest country where you can find more people with, hateful ideas against Russia.

First is Poland and then you have Portugal. And this is quite strange because when you check on our neighbors from Spain, you can't find exactly the same rate. But why? Because of this development of negative ideas towards not against an ideology, a political ideology, but against the people. And that's why we have here in Portugal. Me as a lawyer, I've been representing many Russian citizens.

citizens. First, because people don't, my colleagues don't want to represent them because they're Russians, and then because they face discrimination from judicial authorities and even from political authorities of the country. And the institutions, the sovereign and political institutions, they have been punished by the court, which has been recognized that there's bigotry against Russian citizens. They don't need to have anything to do with the power and politics. in Russia, but just because of their natural, their origin or their nationality, they are facing actually discrimination here. So in Portugal, it's quite the opposite of what we have in Southern Europe because of all

this atmosphere for decades, creating a sphere even of speaking with Russians. Interesting. By the way, the discriminatory policies in the legal world against Russians have now become very pronounced in Britain as well. wasn't the case, say, five, ten years ago, but it is now very difficult for Russians to get legal representation in a reason. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Since such two years it happened. And media campaigns against law firms, by the way, that do represent Russians, which I find a particularly sinister development. It is easier to get legal representation in Britain if you're a serial killer than it is to get legal representation if you are a Russian. And that is not an overstatement, by the way. That is exactly how it is. Let us talk about the politics.

Let's move towards the affairs because I also have to say that I feel that Europe coming together within the EU system, what it has done, one of the consequences of it is that it has also made hostility to Russia more use. uniform across Europe. Previously, we had different countries in Europe, which would take different stances. So Greece tended to be barely sympathetic towards Russia. Italy the same. France, sometimes one, sometimes the other. But there was always a balance and there was always a dialogue between EU states, not EU states, European nations about this.

today, because we have a centre in Brussels, which takes a stance and which insists that every single member state must loyally follow, I'm sorry going to say the party line, but the line from Brussels. We have this very narrow view of relations with Russia being imposed on us, which is both unhealthy and dangerous. and actually contrary to our general European historical experience. That is also my sense. It is. Let me first clarify one point for all those who still have some kind of illusion about Brussels. First, there is no politics, diplomacy or strategy independent created by Brussels. There's only Brussels presently is like those representatives of the Pope,

on each country where the Catholic Church has a representation, because Brussels has and performs exactly in the same way concerning Washington. So there's no independent policy whatsoever created by Brussels, which is kind of terrifies me because I remember some politicians, you could or not agree with them, but for example, when you think of Shagl de Gaulle, Winston Churchill, even Margaret Thatcher, many others, in Europe that you had.

At least they had the personality, they had an idea, they had a vision. You might agree with them or not. But now what you have, actually, to me, it frightens me a lot because we don't have a strategy. Our main strategy is we should follow what Washington says. And all this is kind of inspiring. I know that she's a politician that faced a lot of criticism. I'm not quite a big fan of Angela Merkel. But actually, she was making.

one of the last examples of all these kind of politicians, because at least she had her idea. And if you take a look at what happened in Euro-Maidan, she was trying to invest all she had in order to get someone to the presidency of Ukraine, which was actually Vitalik Lichko, everyone knows him. He's the mayor of Kiev. She was trying to invest everything she could to get him into power. And of course we remember that famous phone call from Victoria Nuland saying the fact you because of this, because they wanted Arsenia Zinouk, who would support and prefer more the interests of the United States. But now presently, what's more frightening is that the only person I can see with this kind of profile, but with less impact, is Victor Urban.

I'm quite an admiring of a fan of Victor Urban for this reason, because at least he is fearless, concerning all kind of criticism he faces, not only in Brussels, but also coming from each EU member state in an independent way. He has his own idea of what he wants from Hungary. And we should recognize that you need to have courage to challenge all the European Union powers in order just to impose your national interests. Like him or not, you have to recognize this. Now, for example, countries like Portugal, even like Spain, maybe Greece and Italy, here they have a kind of the same image in the European Union, which is we are not going to create any kind of trouble. We don't want any kind of noise created because of us. We are just going to abide with all kinds of instructions and orders coming from Brussels, which then in the end come always from the United States. That's why you see this kind of unconditional support and the binding from these countries. Then you have others, like for example, but this was all over history.

France and Germany, since centuries, they always opposed. Why do we have a country called Netherlands and another one called Belgium? Because of this, frictions between these two major powers. Why do we have Poland? Why do we have Belarus? Because of the same, but concerning Russia. People should look at this, not from a personal perspective. It's us against them.

But people should first think that in the last case, what we have is that countries have to support and to defend, protect their own interests concerning all others. I've heard stories, by the way, which, well, they're more than stories because they've been confirmed to me, that the Council of Ambassadors, EU ambassadors that meets in Brussels, these are the ambassadors of the member states to the community, which actually is where a lot of the legislation, about most of the legislation actually gets ratified and passed, that there is a US representative always present in those meetings of that council.

And bear in mind that the United States is not, of course, technically, a member of the European Union, but they are directly involved in the legislative process because this is where a lot of the legislation actually gets made in this Council of Ambassadors. And apparently they have presence in every single part of the EU institutional structure. You will find American representatives,

people who speak and explain things to the United States, in all of these places. And I think this is absolutely correct. I know people know this. I can tell you about most people do not know this. And it is, it shapes EU policy in exactly the way that you say. It means that ultimately it comes from Washington and gets transmitted through Brussels and then gets imposed on people.

I'm also just going to mention this is, again, going back to your point. Now, I didn't ever have any connections with the series of party or with Cyprus. In fact, I was opposed to them, just to say. But I did have some few contacts, vestigial contacts at that time. And I remember that just after they were elected, in I think it was 2015, they were informed that they had voted in the EU for a sanctions package against Russia, except that they said, well, actually, we don't know anything about this. We didn't, in fact, vote for that sanctions package.

And they then discovered that there were attacks on them in the European media. And they learned that they were under investigation. Some of the people learned that they were under investigation by some of the intelligence agencies of some of the EU countries to find out, you know, whether these people were loyal or not. I mean, that was, you know, people within Ceresa came under that kind of investigation. So countries can find themselves voting for things they haven't actually voted for. And they can find that if they then complain about it, then all the kind of pressures that we've, you know, have been talking about, they can start to be applied.

And the second, I know about for an absolute fact, I mean, that is. absolutely known to me. Anyway, we are now in a crisis with Russia, a profound crisis with Russia. You've been to Russia, I believe, several times. You've met with Russians. What is their perspective on this?

Because we start from what you were saying, the relationship, Lisbon to Vladivostok, a lot of talk about this. Are the Russians, would the Russians still be interested? in that. They're now looking eastwards. They've developed relations with China, with India as well. Are they still at all interested in developing the kind of relationship that you've been saying?

Sure they are. First, let me tell you that another institution where the United States are an observer state is the International Criminal Court, which they are not apart to, but they always show up and they are always present on each meeting of the Assembly of State's parties. just to let also people know about this. But what I saw, and I can tell you that one month ago, I came from Moscow, and even one week before the start of the special military operation, I had a pleasure to participate and to attend a conference where we were discussing what's happening now, presently, basically.

So we were discussing those kind of issues at not only institutional, but at academic level as well. But what I see from the Russian people of speaking with them of feeling the Russian people's atmosphere there. What I can tell is that they miss, of course, being close to the West because they have absolutely no problem. You don't see any kind of hateful speech from the Russians towards Europeans. I'm not even going to speak about the Portuguese, but for example, the Germans, the Polish or even the French, they don't have this kind of speech demonstrating hate, attention.

whatsoever, but they miss, of course, being close to us. They feel that this is just politics, and that's politics inspired by the collective West, not coming from the people. They know this. At the same time, I think it's quite important to tell everyone that everyone was expecting that Russia would be suffering by now with the sanctions. We all are in the European Union member states. We know how the markets are working.

We know how tough it is for our own companies to continue to export and to continue to sustain trade with Russia. And we all know the opportunities lost with all our own sanctions against Russia. Well, what we see in Russia is that not only the economic indicators, what they say, the numbers, not only the numbers speak a lot for itself, but at the same time, what we find out is that Russia has a tremendous quality of life. There's nothing missing in Russia. Yes, they are not self-sufficient on some matters, but they have been becoming self-sufficient and independent on the production of some not only food, but only some other particular aspects.

When they until 2022, they relied on the West or in Asia as well. And what's curious is that I have to suggest and ask everyone, Please go and visit Russia. Me as a Portuguese, I never faced whatsoever any kind of position of despise, of discrimination. Nothing happens. They are quite curious because they know the importance of the alliance and the relationships that have been developed over the centuries between Portugal and Russia. Yet at the same time, what I have to tell is that the Russians, they always say, we don't want war.

we don't want war but we need to protect our own interests I find this from the average Joe in Russia I listen this from common people because I like to do that I like for example each time I go to Russia I like to speak with the people to people I don't know from any place whatever and I like to know what the person thinks about the present situation and each time I hear that oh the election presidential

elections are rigged in Russia, it's quite funny because most of the people I know, many of them even say, I never voted for Putin, but now we need to stand together. So this is the major opportunity we have to at least support our country. Therefore, I have to support what the Kremlin says. And I listen to this from the average Russian. So when people hear saying the West that this isn't true that the Russian people are overwhelmed by its political institutions, please go there. What I witnessed the most is that most of the media, they don't want to go to the field to see for themselves how things were. Even, for example, the coverage, we've been witnessing over the last two years. And how many Western reporters did you have in Donbass? How many

in Russian health positions. How many? So they don't want to face the truth. And that's why they also block and censored in this so-called Europe of values and principles of ethics. They are closing our access to any kind of content produced by Russia,

even from independent media that comes from that country. So what kind of garden is this, that Bohel spoke. some months ago because we have censorship, we have bad economic situation, we have migration problems, we have all this. And when you go to Russia, see for yourself, you see that they don't have any kind of problems with energy, with spending, quality of life. You have all that, and it's not only in Moscow, you have in all other cities around the country. So please go there, see for yourselves and forget what the media tells you that things are, but

they've never been to there. Absolutely. And of course our government's discourage us from going. I will never forget how during the World Cup in 2018, the British government campaigned to prevent British football fans from traveling to Russia. They were telling them that, you know, it will be dangerous for you if you go. Never clear what the danger would be. But anyway, they said that. And they then found that the sports journal,

who did go and the fans, sports journalists being less political, actually were thrilled by what they found there. And they were apparently very, very angry about it. And there were complaints to the media outlets that the sports journalists had gone off and started saying things that the authorities in London didn't want people to say. But I completely endorse what you said. Go to Russia, see for yourself. It's not easy to do.

It's been made more difficult for us all. time and going back to the discrimination issues that you were talking about at the beginning of the program it's being made very very difficult for russians to come and i'm hearing reports now that there's even an idea being floated to ban russians from traveling in european airspace in other words not allowing them to travel on aircraft in european airspace i mean have you heard anything about this because that seems to me such an extreme and astonishing thing that it just I mean it just amazes me that people could even be thinking about something like that. I hear from time to time that kind of idea and what scares me even more is to listen to some

ideas. They some from time to time they send this kind of ideas just to see if the community, if the people gets the idea and then create some kind of ideas. kind of sound bite and spreads the idea in order for them to say, well, we have no option, is the popular choice. But also what I've been hearing from listening from the last two years is the idea of freezing all assets belonging to Russian citizens, regardless if they face or not sanctions from the EU. So the common Russian in an European Union member state can or might have in the future his own

assets frozen. They are not oligarchs. By the way, in the West, we don't have oligarchs. We have entrepreneurs. We only have oligarchs in Russia and until 2022, also in Ukraine. Now they're all entrepreneurs. So, but anyway, what scares me is to witness this kind of movements and campaigns supporting the idea of discrimination only based on nationality on the origin. I know a lot of people who, like I told you before, my client said, I've never voted for Putin. I just wanted to have my life away from Russia. And now I'm here and I'm being persecuted by the people

and the authorities of these member states. So what do they do? They know that this is discrimination. So they are not going to publish any kind of decree or any kind of law, any kind of legal instruments saying from now on, Russian citizens should be denied access to visa just for flying over the European airspace, so on and so forth. What they do is they send informal orders to the superiors of all services from that country.

And then when you ask like I did in one of my processes, well, if they are obeying orders, show us who gave that order and where is that order? And do you know what the border control police said to the court? Well, we don't remember who gave that order, and we don't have it written anywhere. So basically, we are just complying with something that it's not official. It's supposed to be an official. But they leave everything related to directions to open bank accounts, to stay here with normal residence permits.

All that is frozen. But they never tell the person that the processes are frozen. So the person stands just waiting, waiting, waiting. And I had clients who have waited until now for four years until they get a residence permit to open a bank account. The banking system, even if they have Portuguese citizenship or any other citizenship besides the Russian one, if you put just on the system origin, a Russian city, whatever, the system automatically, open and activates the compliance to block that opening of account and then to keep the

account opening just stalled for years. So this is what we are witnessing here. And on my opinion, this is pure bigotry and I always, I have already asked the court and I'm going to ask the court, where are those, what kind of European values do we have that we are accepting the discrimination of these citizens based on their origin. But some years ago, I remember hearing Ursula von der Leyen and many other EU officials criticizing Donald Trump for blocking the issuance of visas for Tunisian, Syrian, Iranian citizens. So what's the difference now?

Why Donald Trump was a bigoted person and now here in the EU, everything is accepted? And of course, he did it publicly and openly. and of course we're doing it, we're doing it secretly. Can I ask you what do you make of this new decision by the European Court of Justice in the Friedman Avon case? I mean, I have to say, I was a little surprised given how completely, you know, contrary to the political currency was. But nonetheless, that decision was made. And it was, I mean, it seems to me from the media reports that I'm, see, a correct decision. Do you think that's going to have any effect at all on the overall climate that is going to affect the kind of things that you're talking about, the difficulties to get visas, to get passports, to get open bank accounts, to do all of those kinds of things? Because the European court here said sanctions against these two people, oligoths, is they're often called?

Do you know what happened last year? Last year, no, in 2022, late 2022, we had Yevgeny Prigojin's mother, who went to the European Union Court of Justice to contest the sanctions that were applied against her, and she won. She won, even though she had a share in the companies of her son, the court considered that even if that's true, and it was demonstrated that it was true.

In the end, it was never demonstrated that she could be discriminated just because she was his mother and just because she had a share in his company. Because in the end, no one could demonstrate that she could have any kind of influence over the Kremlin or over Kremlin's strategy

towards Ukraine or any other kind of country. And she won. It was the Afghani Pryghajan's mother who won. What happens now with Mikhail Fried. For all those who don't know, he's the owner of a fund who controls the group Dia, which controls and runs a lot of supermarkets all over Europe. For example, here in Portugal, he has his own chain of supermarkets called MiniPresso. They have 77% of that.

He controls directly that chain of markets, of grocery stores. Anyway, what they decided is that he has, he has 7% of that he controls. He doesn't have any kind of direct influence with the Kremlin just because he is a person, an entrepreneur from Europe. What this means is that if each time the European Union wants to adopt any kind of restrictive measure or sanction towards any kind of citizen, the European Union will have to demonstrate that that person not only has control over several companies, but that person has direct influence on the strategy of the Kremlin for the international affairs, which means that

it's not just because the person pays taxes in a country that automatically the person is supporting a military operation. What does this mean? Just for people to know, there are over 1,300 people, Russian citizens targeted by EU sanctions. In the end, each of this person, they need to go to the European Union, the of justice and complain against these restrictive measures. How many of them are they going to do? I don't know, I don't know, but at first it was a tricky aspect and you know why,

because he, Mikhail Friedman, he had a very strong influence in the European Union member states' economics because of these grocery stores. That's why they accept to remove him. I mean, that's the point because not everybody, not every Russian has the resources that Friedman and Aven have. And if things are being done to people privately, secretly, like preventing them opening bank accounts, firstly, you have to prove that that is so. And secondly, it might not be easy to construct a case around it, because a single decision involving a very rich, wealthy businessman doesn't necessarily change practice. you know, against somebody from Russia who wants to open an account in Lisbon.

I mean, I think that is a point which people don't understand. It reflects, it demonstrates, the case demonstrates how legally wrong these practices are, but it doesn't mean that they're going to end simply because of decision like this has been made. That's right, that's right, actually. And I can also give you the example that I need to bring each. of my Russian clients support and each of them we have to repeat always the same thing that we have alleged previously for other cases just to get things done for each person. Now I ask you, wouldn't it be better? For example, we were condemned once, twice, several times,

okay, let's change these politics. No, they say each one is an individual case and this is exactly the same that's happening with sanctions. So now we don't have two more, but we have 1,340 people under sanctions again. What will happen next? All these people need to go to the European Union Court of Justice, and they know this. The tactics here in the EU is simple, is we want to beat them by making them feel tired. We are exhausting them, and they will get got sick of all the situation and they just think I want to go away and I want to go back to my country. Now, you made a very important point. Russia is economically doing very well. I mean, I was reading yesterday Prime Minister Mushustein's latest report, 13% increase in manufacturing output over what

happened last year. We've had very, very strong GDP figures coming out of Russia this year. In the EU, it's different. We are in a sense of deep economic malaise. The two are connected, but no one makes that connection. Nobody really comes out and says, the reason we are in this period of deep economic malaise, is that we are waging and losing an economic war. And the things that you also talked about, the difficulties individual Russians have, opening bank accounts, having the assets frozen, taken off aeroplanes, all of that kind of thing.

People around the world see it. They don't see it just in Russia. They see it in China. They say, you know, one day this might also happen to us. And that is affecting investment flows. And it's affecting sanctions are affecting trade flows. and all of these things, why do not business people, political parties, who presumably have some connection with the people, the economies of their countries in Europe, push back against this?

This is a question I get constantly asked. I never have a good answer myself. But why do we never see a real pushback against these terrible policies, which are, are lawfully and ethically wrong and are proving so counterproductive? Well, basically, I believe that we are indoctrinated to think in a certain way. First, not only the media, they try to monopolize the speech concerning this Russian problem that we have here, at least that's what they say, and they want to inspire people and force people to think only in a specific way.

are enemies, and we should have absolutely nothing with Russia. But then it also comes the economic aspect, which is many companies and many businessmen here in European Union, they think if we demonstrate that we are against Russia, maybe some kind of opportunity will open for us, not only in politics, in order to be able to influence domestic politics, but EU politics, and even to reach to other markets. like, for example, not only the American market, but others, because we want to use this image of being against Russia as a positive aspect in an atmosphere where most of the people are publicly and loudly expressing their own views against Russia. I also have to say one other important aspect that I think it should be highlighted. It was that.

In December, it came out to the news from Russia that for the first time in many decades, the budget, the state budget, most of it was not depending on natural resources. So now they have been collecting a lot of taxes deriving from income taxes of companies dedicated to IT, to the industry and to many other services. This was the first time that happened in a lot of decades. What does this demonstrate is that those ideas that Russia relied exclusively of natural resources, Russia has absolutely no ability to improve and develop their economic capability. Those are totally lies that makes zero sense. If you speak with the Russian, if you go to Russia, you see that his dream is not to depend on the state to pay him a monthly wage for being poor.

the dream of the average Russian is to have his own business. Of course there are many Russians struggling. There are people struggling worldwide. But his intention, if he has the opportunity, is to depend only of himself. So this is, for me, through entrepreneurship. This is at least an intention to become independent, to give something to the society and also to get to improve his own economic conditions. When I look in Portugal, for example, what I see the most is,

is people expecting the government to do something for them. And that's also one of the reasons why many people here don't want to take the risk of creating their own business. They don't contribute to the development of the society. And that's also one of the reasons why we rely so much of the relations with United States of America and what the Brussels dictates to all of us. Because we know that, okay, if we follow their orders, at least we get some funds, we get some money.

and everything will be like always, like business as usual. But what I see the most is that these businessmen have expectations, expectations to reach different markets, expectations to use this kind of sick policy from the European Union against Russia in order to get more benefit, get more profit. And in the end, the average Joe from each European Union member state, he is struggling, struggling to survive. Look at housing, for example. People want to rent a house, want to buy house, they can't.

Lisbon is in a dire condition because of that. We can't have that. We have people here in Lisbon who rent their own bed for a certain period of time. I will sleep on that bed from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. and then another person will sleep on my bed during that time. This is the bottom situation I have always seen in Portugal since ever. How can this be useful and fruitful for countries from the European Union? Why don't we see Russia as a land of opportunities?

Why don't we make peace with Russia and at least we want to improve our relations and our economy? I honestly only see this because the European Union is controlled by the oligarchs who follow the UNRU and that sits of America's owners. Now, what about the settlement of the crisis? Because, of course, at the heart of all of this, I don't think it is the cause of the collapse in Russian-European relations.

It is a product of the collapse of European-Russian relations, but at the heart of it is this problem of Ukraine. And, of course, we're told all the time that the West must win in Ukraine and it must help Ukraine to win, and that we have to achieve a defeat of Russia. Russia in Ukraine. That isn't happening. Anybody who follows the war closely knows that the direction of events is in the absolute opposite direction. The Russians are actually winning the war. But how do we get out of this mess that we've got ourselves into in Ukraine? Do we double down? I mean, there's talk now from President Macron, France, that we send troops to Ukraine. Is there any support for that in Portugal?

Would Portuguese people be willing to go and fight the Russians in Ukraine? Do people understand what that means if they do that? Or do we try and find some kind of negotiation, some kind of process, which perhaps can save what's left of Ukraine, badly broken and damaged as it is, and finally starts to acknowledge that the Russians do have interests. You mentioned that every single Russian you speak to in Moscow, they talk about the fact that we have our security and legitimate interests, and that's why we're supporting our government over this.

I mean, is there anybody in Portugal, or indeed in other European countries that you know about, trying to articulate this, explain that we have to have some kind of serious attempt to solve this problem because I can tell you in Britain there is no one. No one in the political class talks in this way. This is kind of tricky to speak about this for one particular reason because people support, yes, let's fight the Russians, but when you ask the people, but do you want your children to go and fight against the Russians?

Oh, no, no, I'm totally against that kind of solution. So everyone in Europe wants Ukrainians to beat the Russians. They don't want to fight the Russians. And when they finally realize that the danger of war and the nuclear war could be just on the verge of happening right around the corner, then the person retreats and stands, no, let's look for a peaceful solution. So this is the way the average Portuguese thinks. And from what I know, this is what the end.

average European Union citizens also think they want to defeat Russia, they just don't know how. And that's why, because presently, I don't see how they can at the NATO countries, NATO countries, as well as European Union powers from the European Union, I don't see how they will be able to get a clean exit from this. Because they have been pursuing a tactic, which I call is the lemming strategy. They are on the verge of the abyss, and instead of retreating, they are going forward.

That's what they want to go. Okay, we can lose, but at least we would lose with some kind of quality and we will create harm to the Russians. There's no way, if all conditions stand like they are now, there's no way European Union or NATO countries are going to defeat Russia.

Ukraine is on the verge of collapse for many, many times. They are connected to ventilation, machines just to stand to keep breathing. That's how Ukraine is. And what's curious about all this is that the plans, the goals from the Russian political power, they are actually being expanded indirectly because they are not only the militarizing Ukraine, they are the militarizing NATO. Recently, Denmark some weeks ago, Denmark just said that they were going to send all the

artillery equipment that they had to Ukraine, they are going to be destroyed, they are going to be vanished. And in case of need, how will Denmark protect itself? How? The industry, there are some statistics also from Western bodies who say that Russia itself can produce a lot more tanks and artillery equipment rather than the United States and European Union countries combined. Can someone finally understand what's happening here is that they can keep doing this and stand in this position as long as they want to? It's a different country. This is not, for example, any African country who depends on agriculture and have no means. Russia has 11 different time zones.

It's a continent. It's not even a country. It's a continent. They have all resources they need to pursue their goals, not only in a military perspective. but also on economic perspective. And we are getting more and more tired of fighting, at least in the shadow, and at the same time, in not so courageous way. Because each time we speak about NATO presence in Ukraine, come on, NATO is in Ukraine for years.

From time to time, we'll listen to the news and we read news, where several commanders from NATO, several soldiers from NATO countries, they were there providing support, technical support, military training, so on and so forth. And they have been dying there. The problem is that now it's official. Now we are going there, and I want to see Russia daring to attack us. Well, maybe Napoleon and Hitler can have a word about that and how it ended. Just two quick observations, and then I'm finished.

The first is I know that you keep your right out on what people are saying, many other countries as a Portuguese person. I'm guessing now that you're probably fairly familiar with debating Brazil, which is today a major power in the world. President Lula, I was reading somewhere in one of the British media places that he's now seen around much of the world as the leader of the non-aligned grouping within the global majorities. So just just say the Brazilian people, Brazilian government, even people from, you know, across the spectrum, they do not see things in the way that we are obliged to see them in Europe. So we are, Europe is isolating itself by taking this line or so it seems to me.

And the second is that by following American policy so closely, we run major. risks that if the Americans, for their own reasons, decide to change their policies, we are going to be left hanging out to dry, as we say in Britain. We are not, we're going to find ourselves in a very, very difficult position. If suddenly, as is quite possible, the Americans say to themselves, Ukraine is a lost course, we need to come to some kind of arrangement of our own with the Russians in order to be able to be better positioned to manage our affairs in other places. So can you just speak about that? Again, I don't know to what extent European leaders are aware of this.

I think they're starting to worry a bit about the United States. Perhaps they're over-concentrating on the personality of Donald Trump because it's clear to me that it's a wider thing in America. actually a debate about policy playing out in America, which there isn't in Europe. But also, could you say something about the global majority and briefly touch on places like Brazil, which I know, as I said, you keep a track on. That's interesting to speak about, because each time we listen here that the international community is against Russia, the international community is against something.

We realize that the notion of international community is really, reduced to a universe of 48, 49 countries. And if we just think, for example, of the number of member states of United Nations, we find out they are 193. So what's the notion of international community? This expresses an old vision of Eurocentriism, that the main values, that the development of the human being is only in Europe and all other people should follow us. These were what, for example, not only the Portuguese, but all this idea started with Francisco de Vittoria in the 15th century.

When the Spanish started to go to the Latin America, they wanted to spread the gospel to convert people to the new religion. Why? Because our values are the better. And this actually creates a risk and the tension, increases the tension between the notion of universal cultural relativism. and universal ethics. Because the idea from Collective West is that only our idea of ethics and human dignity is valid for the world. But in the end, you have several other cultures,

several other ideas and notions of what human dignity is. And that's what basically President Lula de Silva is now trying to represent in the South hemisphere. Not only because of the language, because he speaks of his speaking Portuguese, he has a direct connection with several African countries, not only from the perspective that, for example,

he can isolate Portugal in the group, the community that we have, which is called CPLP, like a Commonwealth of Portuguese-speaking countries. And Portugal has absolutely no power on that organization. And does it happen in the British Commonwealth? I don't think so. Although we have listened to several speeches from the British Commonwealth where several African and Caribbean countries, they want to stand apart some kind of strategies and policies. But Portugal is isolated.

Portugal is a minor country. And not only because of its size, but because of its Eurocentric vision towards the world. But President Tula de Silva, because he represents a continental power and Brazil represents a major power in the continent. He also has, and he's part of the bricks. All this gives authority, not only to Lula the Siva, but for example, I believe that President China Bolsonaro should have taken advantage of this too. He is one of the five countries that belong to an elite that can dictate and can influence the 75% of the world powers worldwide. So, but he never do it. What Bolsonaro wanted to do was to get closer relations with Donald Trump,

not only with Donald Trump, but especially against the left. And he forgot that it's possible to have a connection with Donald Trump. Actually, I think that Donald Trump was an eye-opener for many people who were suspicious about what could the United States do for the future, but at the same time, Jerry Bolsonaro wasted this opportunity, which is being grabbed by Lula de Silva, because of their stance against the United States,

against capitalism. That's why it is being used. And I truly believe that Lula de Silva will try to push for some spheres of influence, for some decisions to be taken in several spheres of influence, not only in Latin America, but also in Asia, where Indonesia has been standing out as well, and also in the African continent.

Brazil has great relations with the major politics, from all these continents. Yet we see and we witness the Europe becoming, like you said, more and more isolated because of itself, not because others isolate her. Russia is not isolated. Who is isolated? Is this collective West? Alexander Guerrero, thank you very much. We're going to definitely have you again on our programs. That has been a wonderful program. I get a hand over to Alex, and I'm sure. sure he's got a few questions to put to you. But as I say, for my part, thank you very much for coming on our program and answering our questions, my questions, so clearly and so thoroughly

and so well. My pleasure. It was my pleasure, Alexander, and I'm keen to visit you guys again, as well as all this crowd and the amazing crowd and very dynamic and interactive crowd. Fantastic. Alexander, do you have five, ten minutes to answer a few questions? Sure, sure I have. Of course. Of course. Fantastic. From Game of Chairs, will we see World War I scenario in Ukraine regarding Ferdinand Fokch prediction, who predicted World War II?

I believe Ferdinand Fachfav predicted World War II. Will we see something like this happening in Ukraine and Russia? Will we get a World War III? Let me tell you that many people here are trying to push for provocations against the Russians. Just to then tell everyone in their own countries, listen, it was the Russians who started to attack us. We did absolutely nothing. Okay, we have been providing several weaponry and more and more long-range weaponry. but and we are present in the territory confronting the Russians just with our positions but in the end who gave the first shot were the Russians

I believe that European Union institutions and NATO countries at least the major powers are trying to push for something like this they don't want to give the first shot they just expect that then the Russians attack and from there it happens all that that a person told but no one is brave enough to go to the front and to challenge the Russians. Actually, that's, come on, suicide. We shouldn't do this. We should put pressure on people, on the politicians, not to do that. Don't tease the Russians.

Don't tease the Russian there. Elena Diaz says, Ecuador assaulting the embassy of Mexico and Israel bombing the Iranian consulate in Syria. Is international law being overturned intentionally? Well, Donald Trump had an advisor who once said the international law is not law, is not science.

It's something exotic, exotic ideas about how the world should work, and in the end, the major powers prevail and create their own rules. Of course, I'm an international law expert. I know I have been struggling with this, but in the end what we see is that the so, called rules-based order has no rules. It has only the rules that each state decides that should be respected by its own interests. This is the most basics of international and diplomatic law, which is to respect the delegations,

international representations, diplomatic representations in foreign countries. If you don't respect this, you don't respect sovereignty of any other countries. So I believe that not only international law, but international legal order is currently in jeopardy because what rules do we have? We don't have the garden that Bohrell used to speak about. What we have is a jungle. We have a jungle, worldwide jungle.

From J.S. Gannar, being a U.S. expat here in Portugal, I've noticed a dislike and lack of trust. for Russia and China. Portugal seems to be influenced heavily by the West, specifically the United States. Your thoughts? I totally endorse. I need no words for that. That's actually true because what we have is an influence of decades

of the United States of America, politicians and policies over Portugal. And after the revolution of 1974, The United States had a strong man making pressure here in the country. You know, Kissinger, like him or not, he was a brilliant man in the way that he knew what he should do, how he should do. He could see in advance what would happen if he takes some kind of decisions. And he influenced strongly the events and the future. He shaped the politics in Portugal.

So that's why it does not surprise me that behavior against China and against Russia because we've been having here a lot of politicians and a lot of contents in the media as well, all pro-United States of America. So it's with no surprise. We bite all that's given to us by the United States unfairly. And each time you have a different voice, a different perspective, that perspective is totally silent because we don't want nothing, no one to blow the strategy of the indoctrination that you've been pursuing. From law of attraction, why does the majority of Europeans still believe what Brussels says,

what should happen so people would open their eyes? Thank you. Well, I believe that to a certain extent some people have their eyes open, what they've, miss is to have an alternative. They don't know what the alternative could be. Why? Because the people, the electorate, they are not combined. They are not together. They do not cross intentions, thoughts, wherever. Each person acts on her, his own. So this means that if they are not, the people is not organized and each person is on his own, then what we have is that the elites can gather and can get to the power

and can impose these specific rules. For example, take a look at Portuguese politics. Finally, it came out a different alternative for Chega Party. Chega Party actually got third in the most recent elections. And why did this happen? Because people finally understood that they have an alternative to the socialists and the social democrats.

And it has been happening the same in many other countries. Even for example, if you take a look at Ceres in Greece, which you have already spoken, what was the main perspective of the people? Finally, we have an alternative. Like it or not, it was seen like that. So what people need in the European Union is to organize themselves, to keep participating and attending all kinds of events and movements that oppose this kind of Ursula von der Leyen and the other oligarchs policies

which are only based on the instructions given by the United States. States of America. If this happens, trust me, Ursula von der Leyen and all these interests will fall, for sure. Like, for example, allow me just to end with this quote. One author inspired the French revolution. He was Joseph Emanuel Joseph C.A.S. He was a priest and he wrote some manifesto saying, we are the third state. You have the clerics, you have the monarchs and the nobles, and then which are the 1% composed 1% of the total population. And then we have the third state. The third state is the other 99%.

It's us, the people. We can actually make the revolution and bring a new era for our country. This is what needs to happen in the European Union zone. The book Nukh asks, Will Lula form a stronger relationship with Russia via Brick's If Trump is elected. Absolutely. I think that Lula already has good relations with Vladimir Putin and also with Russia.

Even on the commercial aspect, Lula has been importing more and more products not only from Russia, but also from China and has been cutting ties with the United States of America dependency. If Donald Trump goes to power, I believe that this, will be a major boost for him to increase even more the relations with Russia and at the same time with China. So leaving the United States of America apart, I believe so. And from Tsunami bomb. This at Margarita question to all three Alexanders, I am seeing Elon Musk say the U.S. House of Representatives are discussing Brazilian law. No joke.

Can this be elaborated on? You want to do something like you. I'm actually trying to follow this story, but I don't know. It's a complicated. Alexander, you might know better than me. I am not in it. I haven't followed it. Very, very.

So, basically, Elon Musk, what he did, he rejected to comply with the decision from the Brazilian Supreme Court of Justice. He rejected. He denied because he said, well, we support freedom of speech. and therefore we are not going to censor and to ban certain Twitter accounts or X accounts that we have here active because according to the Brazilian judiciary, these accounts were providing not only fake news, but also spreading hateful speech. Because Elon Musk rejected, then the judge, Alexandre de Morais, who was involved in a corruption case in Brazil, the judge decided to block the access to Twitter in Brazil.

And then Elon Musk answered back by suggesting and trying to inspire the Brazilians to riot against their own government, saying that they are corrupt, that they want to silent. And to a certain extent, yes, this is true. Because from the moment that a court decides to block the access to a complete network or social media like Twitter, he's also trying to put silence into censor all others who have absolutely nothing to do with this. And what's being suggested from the part of Lula's side is that Elon Musk did not like that much to know that Brazil celebrated an agreement, Lula de Silva celebrated an agreement with Xi Jinping concerning the exploration or the exploitation of lithium in the country. He did not like that.

And since then, that Elon Musk has been targeting Brazilian authorities for that. So this is a tension presently happening. And that in the end, I defend that even though this judge was involved in corruption, the law is the law, and you have to respect the sovereign powers of other countries. But at the same time, not to this extent. So now, should Elon Musk be active and insistent? trying to demonstrate

that the freedom of speech and free speech is in jeopardy. Yes, of course he shouldn't be inspiring a riot against the Brazilian government. And I can tell you that the way he is doing it, in case he thinks

to go to Brazil, I think it's highly likely that he get arrested there because of this, because he's inspiring not only for civil unrest, he's inspiring for a revolution, saying for resilience to rebel against their own powers. This is astonishing just to realize. And what do the United States have to do with this?

Well, they shouldn't be doing nothing because this is a problem of sovereignty of Brazil. Sovereign powers decide what they want and what they don't want to have in their country. Regardless if it's fair or not, let the people speak. Let the people elect their representatives. And this is not happening. Interesting. One more. You have time for one more? Sure.

Sure. From Elena, Europe always talks about European values. What exactly do we have in common? I can say with certainty, I have nothing in common with our leaders. Exactly what are these European values? Well, European values presently is what Washington dictates. What Washington needs, the national interests of the United States of America, those are the so-called European values.

I have to put things this way because what should be the support for the prohibition of interventionism in other countries' affairs? This should be an European value. It is an European value if other countries try to have interference in our own countries and institutions. But when we want to interfere in other's domestic affairs, then this is not interventionism. Then this is just trying to promote democracy, so on and so forth. So in the end, what we have is a modern gospel of which makes people becoming confused between moral values and personal economic and political values deriving and coming from the United States of America. Just like that, we are Stooges. Ursula von der Leyen and many other EU officials and many EU member states.

representatives, they are stooges. They just voice out what Washington dictates. And one final question, which you kind of answered from Darren, does Alexandre have insight on what is happening with Brazil and Elon Musk? You want to add anything more to that story? There's so much interest in this story. I think that to a certain extent, of course, Elon Musk has a reason to complain about because all the, his network,

He's being silented and it's a project. It's an economic project. He has, this is just the economies, nothing more than that. But at the same time, he needs to know that there cannot be companies more sovereign than states. States are the ones who have and to have the last word on each country. And now you tell me, okay, but what about the people? People are the states. That's why people have the opportunity to vote and to choose.

for who they want to be their leaders. So therefore, I don't see how Elon Musk wants to keep pursuing this strategy about trying to inspire people to write against their own government. This is one of the gravest crimes that someone could do in a country, regardless of he is having some kind of reason. He's right. He's got a point to a certain extent, but then he lost absolutely all control he could have, just like that.

Alexandre Guerrero, thank you very much for joining us on the Duran. I have your YouTube channel in the description box down below, and I will add it as a pin comment as well. Fantastic show, Alexandre. Thank you very much. It was my pleasure. I want to say hello, everyone, and see you next time. All the best.

It was an honor to me to be here along with you to discuss all these issues. Alexander, the honor is also ours, and thank you very much for coming in our program and be such a wonderful guest. We will certainly be meeting again. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Take care. All right, Alexander. From three, Alexanders to two. This is Alexander's. Let's answer the remaining comments questions. From High Marshall, Helbrecht, people are waiting for the Iranian response. Patients won't last forever. True enough, we will see whether it comes.

I think it's, I think people should be prepared. prepared for the fact that this is going to be a more measured response than some of the headlines and articles and commentaries that we're seeing might suggest. I think the Iranians know perfectly well that a trap has been set for them and they're going to dodge it. Yeah, everyone sees the trap. I just worry about false flags. That's what worries me most.

Chris Shipley, thank you for that super chat. Mariola, welcome to the drag community. Lover of the Russian team says, all this blind hatred to Russia makes me sick. It makes me, it astonishes and horrifies me. And I mean, I can confirm everything that Alejandro said, and he's absolutely right. It's just horrifying and the active discrimination against people who are Russians,

which we see even in places like the Olympics now. It's just, I mean, it's just extraordinary. for people who, you know, always stand up and proclaim themselves as be the anti-discrimination people. You know, we can discriminate again. We mustn't discriminate against any body except Russians, of course. They're absolute fair game, though. Pitkin Diablo, welcome to the drag community. Ricardo Afonzo, thank you for a super sticker.

Elena asks, can the Northern Sea route become a probable zone of conflict in the future? Well, it is already becoming a zone of conflict in the future. I mean, we've just heard stories about how some North European powers are coming together to defend and protect the Arctic against whom precisely. Well, of course, they mean Russia. But what are they going to do? Are they going to start intercepting ships that travel through the Northern Sea route? Or, alternatively, are they going to start doing to ships that travel through the Northern Sea route?

are they going to start saying, well, if they do use that route, they can't dock in European ports. After all, they're prepared to stop the Russians flying in European airspace, even on European airlines. Then, you know, they might want to do that eventually. But of course, the Northern Sea route is also about Russia itself. Never forget that. Russia has a burgeoning trade now with East Asia. and I mean it is going to develop one way or the other even if it is only developed initially in that way

over time once we get past this extraordinary time that we're living through over time we will probably see it open up to Europe as well but they're trying to close it of that there is no doubt William says antipathy in the abstract is one thing

but as the Russian threat is made up the elite in the UK, for example, won't get enough popular support to tolerate daily funerals in Wuton Bessett. Well, absolutely. This is a very good point you did. I mean, in my opinion, people in Britain, who deep down many, many people have their doubts. I mean, one should not underestimate, you know, the degree of shrewdness and cynicism and tough-minded. that exists amongst people in Britain. I mean, a lot of people in Britain can see through this.

And if you go down the demographics, the same people that, you know, you heard about in the program in Russia, who Alejandro speaks to, the same kind of people in Britain are the most skeptical about this anti-Russian enterprise. But they will go along with it because it's easier to, up to that moment in my opinion, when Britain starts finding itself at war and British soldiers are sent to die. At that point, I think you will see a dramatic change. I remember how it happened during the fighting in Afghanistan, in the fighting in Iraq.

People always remember the huge protests that were over the Iraq war. But in some ways, even more impressive and more painful was when British soldiers, dead soldiers arrived in coffins from Afghanistan, you used to see people lining the roads in absolute silence as these things passed by. And that had a massive effect eventually on the politics here. It eventually meant that the British had to pull out. Law of attraction says the EU should have taken another tactic towards the Russian people, open, welcoming business and Russian money, easy visas, etc., not the Russophobia one. This would be more successful in trying to persuade Russian people that the EU is good and the Putin is bad

and moving on with the regime change. All true, but then it wouldn't have been the EU. I mean, it's asking the tiger to lose its stripes. I mean, you know, I think we have to always be clear about this. I mean, the EU is what it is. It could not be otherwise. If it had taken the kind of approach that you're talking about, then it would be a completely different organization,

operating in a completely different way. It would not exist as it does. Elza says the West tells a lot about the Russian government going after businessmen. Is there any real case that can, can be named. I hear from people doing business in Russia that they have much less regulations. I think that is true. Now, once upon a time when Putin became a time when Putin became president, it was absolutely true. If you try to open a business in Russia in the 1990s, and I've spoken to people to whom this happened, then of course you were quite likely to find yourself. One day,

you go to your office or to your factory. You find yourself locked out. And it's been taken over by some business, some, you know, oligarch or gangster, and you might find armed men outside. That kind of thing happened in Russia. I mean, it was absolutely standard business practice. I mean, it was brutal, and it was violent, and it was terrible. But that was the Russia of then. The Russia today is quite a different place, a completely different place. William says, assuming the world survives, will this not sense?

carry over to future generations of the EU-UK elites who don't yet have a personal dog in the fight? My own view is that this is the last big expression of this. When it fails, it will leave behind it, you know, a stagnant puzzle. In other words, it will be discredited and it will be broken. But in the process, a huge amount of damage is being done to the fabric of European society. And that may never be repaired. From Darren Alebi, Mr. Mercuris, any chance we can persuade you to run for Parliament, he would make a fantastic MP.

We'd never be elected. They'd make absolutely sure that it didn't happen. I mean, Galloway can do it. I mean, frankly, I'm not Galloway, and I prefer doing what I'm doing today on the Duran. I think I would have a much, I have a much, this is what I do, and I have a bigger role here, and that's where you will find me.

And can I say thank you for your very kind and generous words? But anyway, you know, one has to be realistic about oneself. And is Ivan Varroeder? says thank you gentlemen for all the work that you do thank you step thank you that's one second Alexander your final thoughts is I just do a final check this is a wonderful program I was very interested in what he was he said about Russia because by the way he's what he said about meeting with Russians everyday Russians and their lives to my knowledge it's not what most Westerners who go to

Russia do. They spend their time talking to each other mostly. It's extraordinary to what extent Western expats spend all their time with each other in Russia, or at least a certain type of expat, not all of them, but the kind that influenced the sort of commentary. And if you watch the programme that Glenn Dyson and I did with Ian Proud, who was a British diplomat in Russia, it's exactly the same. he went out, he was unusual, he actually went out of the embassy and met people. Most diplomats don't do that. And the result is they have a completely false understanding of the country and of the attitudes and moves and feelings of the people. Alejandro does it differently.

He actually goes out, he talks to people. And can I just say everything that he described is in conformity. with my own impressions. I'm also somebody who likes to go out and talk to taxi drivers, waiters, people like that. They like to practice their broken English. But you learn an awful lot more about a country by doing that than you do by turning up at the embassy and talking to other diplomats and meeting with each other and sharing opinions about Putin's health, which is apparently, again, going back to in proud, a topic that they incessantly talk about.

very true. Steve Rosenberg doesn't see the irony that he is allowed to freely roam around Moscow, dissing Russia for being a totalitarian dictatorship. Well said. Yeah, it's pretty so true. It's true. From the BBC, Rosenberg, who's the correspondent in, he's been there for decades, I think. Absolutely.

I mean, he's been there for decades, and he says he's never changed these views. But he's only one. I mean, I can remember during the Sochi Olympics. They had a correspondent from the BBC. And whenever there were British sports people there, one thing to be asked about what their experiences in. Sochi weren't. They say, well, everything's fine.

Oh, but have you noticed that the toilets in your place are broken and things of the sky? He was constantly trying to get them, insisting on getting them, to talk about negative things. And you saw these young animals. athletes looking absolutely bewildered as they, you know, had this almost like a commissar, interrogating them all the time. And I'm afraid this is what too many journalists from Britain, and I'm sure from other countries are like now. All right. That is everything. Thank you once again to Alexandre Guerrero.

I will have his information as a pinned comment down below. You can find his YouTube channel in the description box as well. Thank you to everyone that joined us for this live stream, watching from Rockfin, Odyssey, Rumble, theurand.locals.com. Thank you very much to our locals community and everyone watching on YouTube and thank you to our moderators on YouTube. Peter, thank you very much. Spartan Warrior Queen. Thank you as well. Gab, thank you for helping us moderate. and I think that is everyone that was moderating, I believe so. And we have from Ricardo Afonzo

Alecandre, F-YI, Alessandre. Thank you, Ricardo, for that. All right, fantastic show. Let's get some more videos about it. Absolutely. So it's going on. That's right. A lot going out of the world.

All right. Take care, everybody.