The Duran Podcast - EU/UK Russia obsession, driving towards the abyss

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

EU/UK Russia obsession, driving towards the abyss

All right, Alexander, let's talk about Europe and Europe with regards to Project Ukraine and not only Project Ukraine, but also the United States with the Trump administration because it does look like Europe is very upset with the Trump administration. And they're also very committed to escalating in Ukraine, taking it all the way to some sort of a hot war with Russia. That's the rhetoric that they're going with, especially the two big EU, two big European leaders, Macron and Stammer. France and the UK seem very committed to Project Ukraine, and they also seem very angered with the Trump administration, which does look like it is walking away,

disengaging from Project Ukraine. So what are your thoughts on Europe, on on France, Macron, Stamer, and the position that they're taking with Project Ukraine, but also with the Trump administration. You can also throw in there the European Union, the commission with Ursula Levantr-Leyne as well, who recently said that to the collective list is pretty much over. And she's now the leader of the free world, by the way. Anyway, what are your thoughts? Absolutely.

What is happening? and it is extremely concerning. There is a sort of absurd quality to it as well, but put aside the absurdity, which can at times come across as, I have to say this, somewhat comical and grandiose. But what is happening is actually really very worrying because as every assumption

that the EU leadership has had over the last 30 years basically disintegrates, the idea of the European Union converting itself into some great big economic superpower. I mean, way back in the 90s, I remember they were confidently saying that they would take over from the United States as the world economic leader and driver. That was the belief then. As all of that fails, as Project Ukraine, increasingly fails as American policy shifts in response to the failure of Project Ukraine. What do the EU leaders do?

What does the British government do? What do Macron, Stama, Ursula, Kallas, Mouths do? They dig in and they reject all evidence that is all going wrong. and they, in fact, intensify and make their rhetoric even more extreme. Ursula not only spoke of herself as now the leader of the free world, which is absurd, making it appear that the United States is no longer free. There's now articles after articles and commentaries talking about the United States is no longer free and having gone over to the side of autocracy.

as opposed to the EU, which is there guarding the flame of Western liberal democracy again. I mean, ludicrous things. But not only are they saying that, but Ursula still talks about putting Ukraine in a strong position in negotiations, which can only be achieved according to her by enabling a Ukrainian victory. I mean, who any longer seriously believes that Ukraine is capable of achieving a victory? And Macron and Stama, they still want to send troops to Ukraine. They are obsessed with this, even though other European leaders are also starting to have doubts, but Stama and Macron won't change course on this.

they refuse to relax sanctions, even against Russia, even in the slightest way, even though increasingly now we see business leaders in Germany at last coming forward and saying, look, we have got to start getting gas from Russia again, pipeline gas from Russia again. The German chemical industry is now in profound crisis. It is the third biggest industrial sector in the German economy after machine building and motor vehicles. And it is now on the brink of collapse. But no, we must have no relaxation on sanctions at all. We must press on with sanctions until the Russians capitulate, which everybody can see isn't going to happen.

And the rhetoric against Russia is increasing that to extreme levels. The rhetoric, as I said, against the United States is now increasing to extreme levels. Donald Trump, I mean, the things they're saying about Donald Trump go way beyond even what they said about him during his first term. We see an increase in drive to suppress all dissent within the European Union itself. We have threats made against leaders of countries that attend the European Union. Victory Day Parade in Moscow on the 9th of May. These are sovereign leaders of sovereign states. We have threats against leaders whose countries are outside the European Union. So Vouchich,

who's the president of Serbia, is being told that he must not attend the Victory Day parade in Moscow on the 9th of May. Disregarding the fact that putting aside the partisan struggle, the heroic partisan struggle that was fought in the former Yugoslavia during the Second World War against the Germans. The country that ultimately liberated what was then Yugoslavia from the Germans was actually the red army was Russia. I mean, so you mustn't go to Moscow. You will suffer severe punishment if you go to Moscow. This is becoming fact. fanaticism. It's not becoming policy. And Ian Proud, British diplomat, somebody who's appeared on our programmes, somebody who I think is completely reliable and who understands these things and

knows how to look at the figures. He's saying that the Stama government, Kirste Starma, in the middle of a massive budgetary crisis where disabled people in Britain are having their benefits withdrawn and some of them are being pushed into extreme conditions, that nonetheless, London, the British government is apparently planning to send £4.5 billion, four and a half billion pounds of British taxpayers' money to Ukraine indefinitely every year. This is, as I said, this is fanaticism taken to the point of madness, but there doesn't seem to be any ability to change or to shift. And I've noticed now recently that even people who have been up to now willing to give the Europeans some, cut them some slack, are beginning

to see through this. And I'm beginning to ask, what is going on? Who are these? What, you know, what animates and drives these people that they are acting in this kind of way? And, well, we're You've discussed this many times, but definitely now, you can see the EU, the European leaders. I mean, they're on a runaway car driving towards the abyss, and they're putting on the accelerator. Yeah, Stomer. You know, he's completely committed to Zeletsky. Yes. The project Ukraine, and that dare say the man, Zeletskyy, for the.

some reason, he's completely committed to this guy. As is Macron, it seems. Politico, they read an article more focused on Trump, painting Trump as the evil orange man that is tearing apart the Euro-Atlantic world order, if you want to call it that, the collective West, and how the Europeans, the UK and the EU are fighting for. for a free and a free and a free and liberal world that we've all become accustomed to over the many decades, and they're the ones that are fighting for democracy and human rights, and it's Trump that's tearing everything apart. Anyway, the political article, they actually say in that article that when the fight in the White

House happened with Zelensky. that afterwards he ran to Stommer for a hug pretty much. I mean, he ran into Stommer's arms so that he could get some support from the UK. And the French then jumped in and they actually wrote the apology letter to Trump. It wasn't from Zelensky. It was from France. It's incredible. the commitment that Macron and Stammer have, not only towards Ukraine, it seems, but towards Zelensky.

I can't explain it. I don't know what it is, but they're willing to put it all on the line for this one man that the world, it seems the world, has seen through. The entire world is seen through this guy, but Stammer and Macron, nope, they're putting everything they have into Zeletsky. and keeping him afloat. It is beyond baffling. By the way, the other thing that Politico article said, and it completely vindicates our reporting of the time, was that all these greetings and hugs of Zelensky

that took place after the Oval Office meeting infuriated Trump himself and annoyed other members of his staff. team, which of course it was going to do. So this attitude, this embrace of Zelensky by European leaders is deepening the divide with the United States. It's weird. It's as if they wanted, there's some kind of obsession with Zelensky.

What is it? I don't know what it is. I don't know what it is. I'll say it again, the whole world has seen through this guy. He's not popular anymore either. He's not popular anywhere. If it was maybe three years ago when it was cool to be seen with him, okay, I understand that. It boosts up your PR, right?

But now the entire world can't stand this guy. Absolutely. Modi apparently had developed a massive dislike to him. Lula slammed the door in the face of Zelensky's envoy, who was ex-Italian prime minister. The African states want to have nothing to do with him. The Arab states want to have nothing to do with him. Notice the only places he's able to go to now are Europe and, well, to some extent, the United States.

But even the Americans have got fed up with him. They've had as much as they can take with him. Well, I can just say, I think that beyond the fact that they have some kind of particular thing about Zelensky himself, what drives this is. is a maniacal, and I'm sorry to use that word, a maniacal loathing of Putin and of Russia, which, because Zelensky is opposing Putin and Russia, is, you know, making them rally around and support him and pretend that this man is Churchill or, I don't know what. And also, and I have to say this, also, ages like of Donald Trump, the fact that Zelensky,

that Donald Trump clearly doesn't like. Zelensky, makes them embrace him even more. It's bizarre, but it's having consequences, because what you see over the last couple of weeks is that Zelensky, even as his forces on the battlefronts crumble, and even as his economy is going down the tubes, he's regaining his confidence. He's now called off any idea of elections. There was a few, there's a certain discussion a few weeks ago by having elections in Ukraine in May. But all that's now been called off. He's just extended martial law. He's basically walked back all the concessions that the Americans rung out of his negotiators in Jeddah. He's completely disregarded the energy truce. He's launched the tax on

every, you know, parts of the Russian energy system. This isn't even denied. No, Nobody is even pretending that Ukraine has made any effort to abide. Finland Stubb is denying it. Finland Stubb said that Zelensky is committed to all of all the energy seas right now. That's what I'm saying. This is crazy. Reporting in the media doesn't deny it. Yeah, no.

But even the guardian of this. Why does Stoop stand up for this guy? Well, I know. Well, quite, yes. But all of them are, I mean, they are fixated on this individual and on this individual and on this conflict with Russia, even though, as, you know, Fidias, the, you know, Cypriot, YouTube, who is our Euro MP, said on our live stream, the live stream that we did with him, you can't win in Ukraine with the United States. How do you believe you can win without it? I mean, to talk about

helping Ukraine to achieve a victory, it is so completely delusional. It's off, it's off, you know, I mean, they're living on another planet. But anyway, it's now become obsessive. Some European leaders, it must be said, are seeing through this. I'm not talking here about Orban and Fizzo, who were never part of this. But even people like Maloney now, I think, are beginning to distance themselves. They can see that this is a train wreck. But the big three, Britain, France, and Jews.

Germany, for the moment remain solid. And, well, I said that they were driving the car off the cliff. Perhaps the reality is that they're already off the cliff and, you know, like that cartoon character, they're still running, even though the abyss is below them. Because that's what it increasingly looks like to me. Meanwhile, the economic crisis in Europe is deepening and is deepening all the time. You see manifestations of this everywhere. I spoke about how the German chemical industry is now an absolute crisis, and they're pleading for Russian gas to start to be pikes to them again. But of course, Merth's, the great, you know, rebuilder of Germany, isn't interested in any of that.

And, well, we see the same in France, in Britain. They've completely lost all connection with their own people and their people's needs. And when there are manifestations of dissidents from their people, what we see what happens, Marine Repents gets convicted, Giorgescu gets banned. The media in Germany is already starting a campaign to get the Iof-Dib ban. as well. You mentioned Stubb, apparently he's having some issues in Finland because some parts of Finland are now in a deep economic crisis because they relied on trade with Russia, but apparently anybody there who complains is another Putin and Agra or whatever the rhetoric is. And we see how this

is continuing to gain traction. Across Europe, we are no longer in the world of rational politics anymore. Well, what do you do then to bring Europe back to reality? The Europeans there, they hate Trump. They want nothing to do with the United States under Trump. I say that. If it was under Biden, they, oh yeah, they would be loving the United States. Under Trump, the EU, the Europeans want nothing to do with this America.

They've made that clear, right? Obviously, they've cut off Russia. 17 sanctions package. They want to escalate with Russia. They want to go into a war with Russia. You have reports coming out of France saying that Macron and did his military advisors. They're in Romania working up a plan to enter Odessa or to get to the Black Sea and secure the Black Sea. You have all of this stuff taking place.

You had a Black Sea meeting in Turkey with Ukraine, Ukraine, France, France. the UK and Turkey. Yeah. France, the UK and Turkey talking about the Black Sea. I mean, history's repeating itself. Crimean war and all that, yeah. Right. They need to be very careful because Erdogan will just, will betray them as he betrays everybody

in the end. That's what he always does. But anyway, carry on. Yeah, no. So if you're, okay, Russia's already moved on from the Europeans. If you're the United States, if you're the Trump administration, what do you do? To bring them back to reality, you walk away. I mean, Trump walks away, but shouldn't you make it clear to the Europeans?

Look, we're out of project Ukraine. Yes, we know that the US was in a proxy war at a minimum with Russia. We understand that. Me and you, we understand that. But the US has the ability to walk away from this to say we're out of the project Ukraine. game, but they can make it clear to the Europeans, do whatever you want, but let me make it clear. Whatever happens, we are not going to get involved, period, no matter what happens in Europe. We're not getting involved.

I mean, isn't that the most rational decision that the Trump administration can make? I don't know. What are your thoughts? Well, absolutely. And I'm going to go, I'm going to say something. I was going back to your original question, what can be done? to bring these people to their senses, I think nothing can be done. When people have already departed so far from reality, there is no way that you can bring

them back to reality because they've created an entire mental universe that is outside reality. The only thing that's going to change things in Europe is reality itself when it crashes through, which sooner or later it will. And then I'm going to say it again. And I think that at some level, inevitably, in time, the only way to bring Europe fully to reality is to dismantle the European Union. I think that is the reality in the end that has to be faced because the European Union has become a absolutely nightmare project and it is distorting everything around it. So anyway, that is what I think has to happen in Europe. We unfortunately have to go through this madness in order to come through onto the other side.

The fact that things have become so bizarre at the moment shows how extreme these people have become, and as I said, nothing is going to make them change or adjust or think in a different way from the way that they do. So they have to go, basically. Now, what does the United States have to do? It has to recognize this, that the people who it regards as its allies are out of their senses, and it has to put as much distance between itself and them as possible. And obviously they have to do what you said, which is they need to make it absolutely clear

to the Europeans that the United States is not going to be involved in this in any way whatsoever. But I'm going to suggest that it needs to do something else to reinforce that message, which is it needs to start drawing down troops from Europe. Because if American troops are there in Europe, in their present numbers, the Europeans will still say to each other, well, if we get into a really serious crisis, we can get the Americans to help. So you need to signal that you are distancing yourself from Europe by drawing down US troops. And there are reports that that is exactly what the United States is now starting to do, that they're actually going to start reducing their troop levels in Europe over the next few months

and years. And hopefully that signal will be picked up in Europe and people will understand that in fact the Americans are not there and that might be a bit of a restraining force. I don't know. I have to tell you this as we close out the video. I read the interview with Ursula Anzait online, the German publication. And she really does believe that she is doing a great job in Europe and that she is the leader of the free world. I mean, she really does believe this, that the European Union is doing an amazing job. Oh, I have no doubt about it. I mean, that is the nature of fanaticism.

Fanatics believe, absolutely, truly believe in what they're doing. Of course, there is always cynicism there as well, because fanaticism is the suppression of doubt. I mean, that is another feature of fanaticism. You probably will find if you really bring in, you know, do a deep dive into the psychology of these people, that there is much more nervousness and uncertainty and worry and fear than they're letting on. But that's not going to affect their behavior, and it's not going to visibly detract from their self-belief.

They absolutely believe, or at least are sincere, in what they're saying and what they're doing. And as I said, we just have to wait it out. We have to live through it, and it'll be very disruptive and terrible for the people of Europe. Because when I said that they're going to drive off the cliff, it's important to say that we are passengers in this car. We of us who live in Europe are unwilling passengers in this car. but we have to see it through and hope that there's enough left when we come through the other end to be able to pick things together. I believe we will have enough left, more than enough, because, well, Europe is a complex, sophisticated place after all and a big place. But, I mean, the damage that's going to be done is going to be enormous.

All right, we will end the video there. The durand.com. We are on Rumble, Odyssey, Bitcher, Telegram, Rockfin. Next, go to the Durant shop, pick up some merch, like what we will. are wearing in this video update the link is in the description box down below take care