The Duran Podcast - FT, Zelensky bizarre decisions. F-16 dangerous scheme

Episode Date: June 12, 2024

FT, Zelensky bizarre decisions. F-16 dangerous scheme

All right, Alexander, let's do an update on what is going on in Ukraine. And let's start things off with the F-16 saga. We have an update on the F-16 plan. Is it a plan or is it a scheme or a trick? Because that's the way I'm looking at it. This seems like a very bad idea, and it involves Romania and Poland. Anyway, what is going on with the F-16s? Well, it's an incredibly bad scheme, and it's an attempted trick.

So the idea is that you don't actually base most of the F-16s. I understand they're talking about most of the F-16s in Ukraine itself. The runways really haven't been brought to the level where they can operate F-16s. you don't the infrastructure is apparently nowhere near ready the Russians are able to attack these runways at will and they've been wreaking massive destruction upon them so the idea is that you keep them in Poland and Romania and the way it's been presented is that they will be stored there whatever that means so that they're beyond outside the reach of the Russian In practice, I think that this is another scheme to try to base F-16s in Polish and Romanian air bases,

pretend that that isn't really what's going to happen. And the Russians have previously said that if the F-16s take off from these Polish and Romanian air bases and engage the Russians, then the Russians will counter-strike the F-16s in those bases. And again, I've no reason to doubt that this is what the Russians will indeed do. I suspect this was the plan all along, because realistically, there was never any way that the F-16s could operate from the air bases in Poland. Sorry, in Ukraine. It only made sense if they were indeed going to be operated from the bases in Romania and Poland. So you tell people, well, you know, don't worry.

we're only storing them there. They're not actually going to be based there. But if you unpick this story, based in Poland and Romania is absolutely what this is all about. I'm having a hard time understanding this story, to be quite honest. From what I understand, they're going to be based in Romania. From what I gather, most of the activity is going to take place from Romania. Yeah.

They're saying they're just going to be stored there, but that's where the airfield is. Yes. Are they going to be taking off from Romania? I've read some reports saying that they're going to take off from Romania and be armed in Ukraine and then run their mission from Ukraine and then go back to Romania. I don't understand. Are they going to, they're going to land in Ukraine and then take and then take off and get from Ukraine? or that that that that that that's just explain this is so that's the yeah yeah that's the that's the that's the that's the that's the that's the fairy tale we've been spun that they're going to take over rumania

fly into ukraine presumably to the big air base at staro constantinov uh they'll be armed with all their weapons there then they'll take off from the air base in uh stara constantino and the others in ukraine and engage the russians i mean that makes absolutely no military sense whatsoever. Even I who am not a military person can see that that is absolute nonsense. I mean, there are so many possibilities for things to go wrong that one can't even begin to count. So clearly, the real objective is to operate the S-16s from the bases in Romania. And that's been what they've been planning all along. I think they've been spinning this story because, of course, the Russians have said that they will strike at the bases in Romania.

They don't want people in Romania in particular to get too nervous and worried about this. So they're selling us this story that they'll be taking off from the bases in Romania, landing in Ukraine, being armed in Ukraine, and then we'll fight the Russians. So what happens when the Russians hit the base where they land in Ukraine? What happens when they destroy that on day one? On day one, that base is God. then what's the story? Well, then what is indeed the story? And what does the West do?

I mean, this is the problem. I don't understand this. I'm trying to understand this. Yeah, exactly. I mean, what happens when the Russian strike the base in Romania? Does Article 5 then start? No, no, the base in Ukraine. Oh, when the base is in Ukraine, when they destroyed the base in Ukraine.

They land in Ukraine, they arm, and then they run their combat mission. Okay, so day one, Russia destroys that base in Ukraine. Yeah, which is. which it has repeatedly done. Well, then, as I said, either if the project is as they're pretending, if that is the case, then, of course, the F-16s can't operate. They're stranded in Romania. They can't fly because they have to be armed in Ukraine.

I mean, we can't have F-16s flying into Ukrainian airspace unarmed because that would make no sense. But, of course, as I said, that is not the plan. The plan is to operate the F-16s from the bases in Romania. I mean, that is the only thing that makes any kind of sense here, and that clearly is the plan. It's another massive escalation. But they're lying, exactly. What a surprise.

But, I mean, they're lying. I mean, it's another massive escalation. They're, again, doing something which is incredibly dangerous. They're trying to tell everybody, Don't worry, the Russians won't attack the bases in Romania because in fact the F-16s won't be armed there. They'll be armed in Ukraine when they fly into Ukraine and land on the air bases in Ukraine. They're just stored in Romania. They're just stored there.

They're just stored there. Okay. Okay. Yeah, we're not a party to this war. Okay. We're not a party to this war. Yeah. So let's talk about Zeletsky.

a bit and he he's in germany yeah you you would you would think that after the EU elections Germany would cancel this recovery event that they're having maybe they would tell Zelensky stay away it's not a good time let's postpone this event and let's postpone your trip but no no come to Germany's Alenski let's have a big event Ursula's there Schultz is there. They're applauding Zelensky. They're talking about Ukraine and the European Union. Meanwhile, Zelensky is facing a lot of trouble. A lot of trouble back home. He obviously doesn't want to go back to Kiev. The Financial Times is hinting at the fact that Zelensky might very well be on the way out. What is going on here? Well, let's just talk about his visit to Germany, which is, of course,

partly all about, you know, Ukraine making its EU membership application. This, as you said, directly after European Parliament elections in which anti-Ukraine in EU parties, the I of Dehr, Sarawagan-X party, they've surged. But of course, you know, we don't pay any attention to that. We don't concern ourselves with what the German people. are trying to communicate to us. We ignore completely the words of the head of the German stock market, the German bus, who has been saying that the economic policy of the Schultz government has been catastrophic.

We pay their attention to any of this. Our priority remains, Project Ukraine, clearly in Germany, we're far more comfortable dealing with him than we are with our own people and addressing the. their concerns. I mean, the wooden-headedness of the European leadership in this is absolutely astonishing. And their arrogance is incredible. I mean, they're now going to be all moving on to their conference in Lucerne, where only they will be present. Even the Americans, I mean, the Americans are sending Kamala Harris, which tells you what the Americans actually think of this conference.

So, I mean, it's going to be the European political class talking to itself, applauding Zelensky, even as it becomes increasingly clear, that the European public is cooling and turning against him. And not just the European public, because it's now increasingly obvious to me that within Ukraine, the government, people within the elite, are now turning against him, and they are being encouraged to do so by powerful people within the United States. And that's where we come back to the Financial Times article, because this is the second article that the Financial Times has published in, I think, just over two weeks, about Zelensky, and which is deeply critical of him. If you remember, there was an article about two weeks ago, which said that Zelensky was becoming paranoid, that he was becoming increasingly out of touch, that his relationships with Biden and the US administration had become awful, that he was constantly demanding the impossible from the Americans that officials within his own government were becoming increasingly exasperated with him. Well, what's happened now is that there has been the resignation from the Ukrainian government of the infrastructure minister. This is not unusual. It happens a lot in Ukraine. And by the way, and just for the record, the infrastructure system in Ukraine has been plagued with corruption issues.

The infrastructure ministry was charged with creating all the great fortified lines in Kharkiv and elsewhere. which never existed. I mean, there might be good reasons why this particular minister has been asked to resign or has resigned, which have no connection to what we're being told by the Financial Times. That the Financial Times is spinning this story as another example of the chaos and dysfunction within the Ukrainian government. We're told that Zelensky and his officials have been freezing out this official. official for some time. He's not been invited to intend key meetings, including meetings in which

he interacts with Western officials. The Western officials supposedly have liked him and have worked well with him, that they're angry with his dismissal. And there is a comment by a Ukrainian official who chooses, obviously, to remain anonymous, that this is another one of those inexplicable, supposedly inexplicable personnel decisions that Zelensky is making, that is causing concern and alarm amongst Ukraine's supporters in the West. So it's another article appearing in the Financial Times telling us that Zelensky's government is collapsing, that is becoming dysfunctional, that Zelensky is becoming dysfunctional, that Zelensky is making inexplicable and bizarre decisions,

and that obviously he is antagonizing the Western powers and that it looks increasingly as if he's not the right person to go on leading Ukraine. I cannot help but think that articles like this planted in the Financial Times, strongly near-liberal, neocom newspaper, are fervidly supportive of the, in Project Ukraine, very, very close to the Biden administration, extremely close to the Biden administration.

The fact that these articles are appearing, one after the other, is a clear sign that the Americans are losing confidence in Zelensky. And that exactly, as Putin said, they're preparing to move him out. Yeah, but the Europeans, the EU, or at least a part of the EU faction, Ursula, Schultz, Annalina, these guys, they want to keep Zelensky in. So I think that's basically the only thing that's holding Zelensky in power at the moment is this EU group of people that for some reason, Maybe they're completely invested in Zelensky, whatever it is. They don't want to see Zelensky go. And they're showing him as much support as they possibly can. Absolutely. That's exactly correct.

Of course, they're doing that. They're going to all turn up to his conference in Lucerne. It's absolutely clear now, by the way, that Zelensky was the major organizer of the conference in Lucerne. Apparently, he's the person, not the Swiss, who's been sending out all the invitations and doing all of that, which confirms your analysis that it was all about getting the global community to legitimise him as president.

But all right, most countries are either going to send very low-ranking delegations or are going to boycott this thing completely. Only the Europeans are there. But notice, again, that the Americans are sending, they're only sending Kamala Harris. Biden himself is not going, which is, to my mind, a significant vote of no confidence in Zelensky. The Europeans are backing Zelensky, but the reality is, as everybody knows, that it is the United States that runs the show in Kiev.

So, if the Americans decide that Zelensky must go, go he will. And all of these people, Annalina, Ursula, Olaf, and the others, who are crowding around Zelensky, Telling him, you know, you're a great man, you're the hero of the hour, you're the person. We completely in holy support. Again, they're quite likely, if they're not careful. Well, of course, they're never careful. But they're very likely to find that the rug has been pulled underneath them again by the Americans when the Americans decide that Zelensky must go, which I think is starting to come.

By the way, I'm also getting the sense that the British, who are obviously joined to the Americans at the hip, that they're cooling on Zelensky as well. So just saying, so, you know, the Anglo-Americans are the people who make the decisions in Kiev, not the Germans, not the French, not the Italians, not the Dutch or the Belgians, and certainly not Ursula. And as I said, they're, you know, embracing Zelensky. But if he's out, he's out. And they will look incredibly foolish when that happens. And will the Americans care? Of course not. Does Sunnet going to the peace conference?

Does that signal that the UK is supporting Zelensky or it's meaningless? It's meaningless. It's completely meaningless because he's going to be out in a few weeks anyway. I mean, nobody takes Sunak at all seriously any longer. So I think that it is meaningless. And the rumors in Britain is that when the election is over and the conservatives crash, Sunac will lead British politics and Britain completely. And he and his wife will go to the United States.

To work for Obama. That's my prediction. To work for Obama. Yeah, absolutely. That's my prediction. That's why Obama was a TEDx treat. Anyway, that's just a guess. Let's talk about another front possibly opening up. That's Sumi, a fifth front. What are you hearing? What are you? This is a very, very strange business. So there's a village in Sumi region. Sumi region is a big region, lying west of Kharkaf region. There's been lots of speculation over the last couple of weeks that the Russians are about. to advance in force into Sumi region. Now the key thing to understand is that Sumi region lies quite close to Kiev itself. If the Russians were to deploy hundreds of thousands of troops in Sumi region, as some people in Kiev have been saying, that would bring those troops very

close to Kiev. In fact, we might start getting the siege of Kiev too, only with a much more powerful army than the one we saw in 2022. I mean, that would be a real crisis for Ukraine. So the Ukrainians are very, very nervous and very, very worried and frightened about this. And Zelensky, in particular, it seems, is in a state of panic that this might happen. So yesterday, we got these reports that a village in Sumi region had been occupied by the Russians. And indeed, the Russians are there. And when I say the Russians, it turns out that these are what you might call irregular troops of the Russian military. I mean, they are part of the Russian military system.

But they seem to be made up of Chechen forces, of the Chechen forces, and ex-people from the Wagner organization. Anyway, they've crossed the border. They've occupied this village. there's an awful lot of shelling and bombing by the Russian military going on in the area, but it's not clear for the moment that there's a real plan by the Russians or that this is a real plan by the Russians to advance beyond this village. So what exactly is going on? Maybe the Russians are testing the Ukrainian defences.

Maybe this is just a reconnaissance in force. maybe it's the first stage of an offensive or maybe they want to spook Zelensky even more. They know how scared Zelensky is. And so they occupy a village in Sumi region. That's going to cause Zelensky to get hysterical with his generals, which he apparently is most of the time now. Call them, say, we've got a crisis in Sumi region. We've got to divert even more troops to Sumi region. and to try to stabilize the situation there,

because the Russians are coming. They're about to march on Kiev. I can't afford to leave Sumi region. We can't afford to leave Sumi region. Ungarded, that will strip other Ukrainian forces along the front lines of even more troops. It will draw off even more Ukrainian reserves. It will thin out the lines even further,

and that will enable the Russians to attack even more strong. in other places. It's very difficult at this moment in time to know what the Russians are planning. And they want it that way. They want to keep all of us guessing. And of course, the person they want to keep guessing most of all is Zelensky himself. And they're doing it with great skill. But anyway, they've occupied this village. We'll see what they do next. All right. Let's wrap up the video with other news from the front line. What else is going on? Well, it's, yeah, I mean, it is more of the same, only it's in some ways getting faster. So over the last two weeks, lots of talk that the Ukrainians were going to organize some kind of counterattack in Kharkov region,

that they were going to push the Russians back across the border. I suspect that is what Zelensky and maybe Sirsky promised the Americans. They said that you give us the permission to launch strikes deep. inside Russia. If we get it, we will launch these strikes deep inside Russia. That will enable us to go back on the counterattack in the Kharkov area. We'll push the Russians back, push them back across the border, even occupy maybe some parts of Russia, some of the border villages, which we've been trying to capture for a long time, and that will may might force Putin into negotiations. I suspect this is one of the discussions that has been going on. Anyway,

there have been sporadic Ukrainian attempts to counterattack in Kharkov region. Every one of them has failed. And the information that we're getting, and it's now confirmed by pictures of film and all that, is that it's the Russians in Kharkov region who are still advancing. They seem to be capturing more and more at this town of Volchansk. And they seem to be outflanking the Ukrainians in the other place that has been fought over. which is a place called Leipsey. But in a sense, this remains still a sideshow.

The main fighting is in Dombas, as it has always been. Now, the Russians have apparently come very close now to capturing a district of Chassevjar, which is at the very eastern end of Chazovyaar, west or east of an aqueduct that cuts through chassevya the russians are very close to capturing that district fairly heavily fortified they've got troops to the north and south of chassev yar it looks like there's going to be a major russian attack on chassevya at some point over the next few weeks almost certainly chasovya is going to fall that will create another massive hole in ukrainian defense lines. They've accepted, the Ukrainians themselves admit, if they lose Chasafia, the way is open

for the Russians, to capture all kinds of other towns and to reach Kramatosk, the big city in Dombas still under Ukrainian control, and to advance even further towards the NEPA, if that's what they choose to do. So this is a very important battle, and the Ukrainians are losing it. And elsewhere, Another, we had more news this morning that in the Avdevka-Ocheretino area, where the Russians have punched a huge hole in Ukrainian defences, they're making that hole bigger. They apparently, allegedly, the reports are saying they've captured another important strategic village there called Novo Alexandrovka, that they did it this morning.

And it looks as if not only is that hole getting bigger, but now the Russians are reaching the main supply lines that the Ukrainians use to keep their troops in Donbass equipped. And they're becoming very, very close to Ukraine's main supply bases in Donbass as well. So, you know, it's a crisis that gets worse by the day. and which the Ukrainians show no ability to reverse. They're desperately short of men. I mean, I think you've seen the pictures of the old men, you know, weighed down with their helmets.

That apparently is, so I'm told, pretty commonplace size amongst Ukrainian soldiers now. There's more reports that Ukrainian soldiers in many places are fleeing rather than standing up to fight, which is a change from what we saw earlier in the wall. There's fewer and fewer signs of Ukrainian tanks. Ukrainian tanks are becoming few in number. The only infantry fighting vehicles, you know, the vehicles that the Ukrainians actually use to transport infantry in.

The only ones that I see anymore are the ones the Americans are supplied. The Bradleys and the strikers and they are relatively few in number. And the Russians have been systematically annihilating Ukraine's artillery systems. I mean, there are fewer and fewer guns, firing fewer and fewer shells. So the situation on the front lines right across Ukraine is getting weaker. And, you know, there's also confirmation that the energy system is now in deep crisis, the economy.

the fact that they're trying to enlist more and more men means there's fewer men working in the economy now. It's apparently now having a major impact on the economy together with a collapse in the electricity system. The grivnia, the Ukrainian currency, has gradually started to slip, apparently at the rate of about 2% a month. That may not sound big, but in a situation, where the economy is effectively contracting and is no longer supplying goods. It's perhaps a warning sign that a really severe inflation crisis is around the corner, despite all the Western help. From every conceivable point of view, from every perspective, the situation is grim.

and in any rational universe, a responsible Ukrainian leadership at this point would understand that the war is lost and would be tried to open negotiations with the Russians. Zelensky won't do that. There doesn't seem to be anyone else in Kiev who's prepared to do that either. They're quarreling and fighting and intriguing with each other. The Americans want to keep the war going. And so do the Europeans because they have their own particular political investment that they're worried about. And so the war goes on, even as Ukraine itself, is being destroyed. Yeah, just a final thought, listening to everything that's happening. Big picture of you, it looks like the Russians are waiting for the right moment to crash the whole thing down.

Absolutely. That's how it looks. Yeah, I agree. They may be timing it to crash it all down. Harkov direction, Chasofyar, Sumi, the economy, the Grivna, the Zelensky's troubles. If they time this thing right, the whole thing is just going to collapse. You know, slowly, slowly, and then all at once. That may be what could be happening.

They should negotiate this thing right away. Absolutely. You really should. Absolutely. I agree with that. I think, by the way, a lot of people speculate about, you know, Russian timing and why the Russians are doing this in, you know, this kind of way, kind of way and are wondering, I think what the Russians are doing always is that they want to make sure that they have all their pieces in place. I mean, they've been training large numbers of troops over the last year and a half, and I think that not all of those troops are ready. and it was very interesting

but at the St. Petersburg conference which has just ended in St. Petersburg in Russia Putin actually said, you know, we've been taking it very slow, but we might suddenly decide to move fast

to hurry. And I think that's a thing that people ought to remember. Attrition wars, we were saying this, by the way, in the opening weeks of this war, attrition was when they end they end suddenly that everything falls apart at once it's happened in the first world war it happened in the american civil war it happened by the way in vietnam and

the front lines for a long time seem stable but they become thinner and more fragile and then suddenly everything collapses in on itself very dramatically taking a lot of people by surprise all right

we will end it there the durand.orgas.com we are on rumble odyssey, bitchchute, telegram, rock fin and Twitter X and go to the Duran shop use the code Football 24 and pick up some football merch take care