The Duran Podcast - Germany Merz obsessed with defeating Russia

Episode Date: June 7, 2025

Germany Merz obsessed with defeating Russia

All right, Alexander, let's talk about the trip from the German Chancellor Merz to the United States to meet with Trump and to lobby Trump to Greenlight, the tourist missiles. That's one of the reasons he was there. Another reason is for the sanctions. Basically, his entire reason to go to the U.S. is to get the Trump administration of the United States to escalate into a war with Russia. The German chancellor goes to the United States in order to escalate a war with Russia. That was Mertz. It is purpose for the trip to D.C. There were rumors that he was going to travel with Zelensky. And it looks like that did not happen. But there were rumors say that Zelensky is going to hitch a ride with Mertz to D.C.

It looks like that fell through. We did have Yermak in D.C. meeting with Kellogg. So the reception at the airport for Mertz, not good. No one was really there to greet him from the Trump administration. The meeting in the Oval Office, it didn't look like it went too well. I looked like Trump was mocking, making fun of Mertz. Germany has this, Mertz has this idea that if he brings up World War II, for some reason it will win over the United States.

He likes to talk about the Russian war and compare it, liken it to World War II, completely oblivious of the fact of Germany's role in World War II, and Trump called him out on that. He basically said that World War II, yeah, that didn't work out for you so well, because Mertz was saying that we're going to have the anniversary of D-Day. and for this reason, we want you to escalate with Ukraine. And then Trump was basically telling Mertz, yeah, World War II, I think you guys were on the losing side. And Mertz understood that Trump was mocking him. Anyway, you know, Trump obviously is not so fond of Mertz.

I think that came through. He did talk about rearming Germany, though. And Trump said it's a good thing to rearm Germany, but only to a point. Because as MacArthur said, you don't want to rearm Germany. That's the biggest mistake you can make. So she also brought that up as well. Anyway, your thoughts on the dynamic and the vibe of the meeting between Mertz and Trump. I thought it was hilarious.

And I have to say, it reminded me a little of those visits by Macron and Stama back in February, the ones that culminated in Zelensky's visit, which as we remember blew up. I mean, they went in, they went to Washington trying to sort of softly win over Trump. and manipulate him into giving guarantees so that they could deploy European troops to Ukraine. And Trump sort threw it right away and rings around them. And if you remember, he started to tease Stama especially at one point asking Stama. And, you know, how long can you fight the Russians without us? Stammer's sort of pretending to laugh at least.

long, and you can see that he must have been inwardly seething about this. It had something of that quality as well. Obviously, Merz is a different personality. He's rather more flat-footed, if I have to be honest. But anyway, of you went to Washington, and you're absolutely right. He was going to go with Zelensky about that. I have absolutely no doubt at all. There were lots of rumors about this. It was going to be an attempt to work on Trump to get him to authorise the launch of the missiles. the tourist missiles. We've had this absurd story that Germany is helping Ukraine to develop long-range missiles, long weapons with long-range capabilities. We had then told that, you know, no, no, these are not tourist missiles that are going to be launched. They're actually going to be

Ukrainian missiles that are going to be launched. So you said, this is the most revolutionary industrial partnership that there has been. I mean, it's developed cruise missiles within a couple of days, apparently. It's just silly. It's the kind of nonsense that insults the intelligence at the end of the day. But anyway, they can't launch the tourist missiles at Russia without American consent. These missiles use American components. They are dependent for American guns. They are dependent for American guidance data, it cannot be done without the agreement of the United States. And that was really one of the reasons why Mats went to Washington to get Trump to sign off on that. And he also obviously wanted to get the Americans to back the big sanctions. You remember when Mertz and Stammer and

Macron and Tusk went off to Kiev, there was going to be the ultimatum that was, well, they did present an ultimatum to Putin. And they said to Putin, unless you agree to a unconditional 30-day ceasefire within two days, we would impose these massive sanctions on you. Then instead, Putin said, well, I'm not accepting ultimatum, so I am prepared to sit down with the Ukrainians. Trump came out and said, that's great. So why are we even talking about sanctions? So, they... Mertz wants to reel back to that. He wants to get back to that position where the Americans this time are going to impose the enormous sanctions on Russia, which are really 500% tariffs on China. It's a strange fact. Lindsay Graham admitted this. He actually admitted these are tariffs on China.

They're not even sanctions on Russia at the end of the day. But anyway, that was partly what Mets was going to do. That was what Mats was going to do. Was he there to lobby for German national interests? Was he really, did he bring lots of industrialists with him to try to persuade Trump to ease off on the tariffs that are being imposed on the European Union, to try and persuade Trump that industrial partnerships could be built between Germany and the United States to try to persuade the Americans to take a more cooperative view of economic policy or industrial policy or any of those kind of things? No, he didn't. All of that he's going to leave to the commission to Ursula and to those people to negotiate for him. So he's not interested. It's, again, very much like Stama at the end of the day. His ultimate priority is not German national interests. It is defeating Russia in Ukraine. This is Mertz's obsession, to almost the same degree as it is Stalmers' obsession.

And Trump was having none of it. He teased Mertz relentlessly throughout the meeting in the Oval Office. It doesn't seem as if they came away with any kind of agreements at all. Trump all but said, look, this is a war between Ukraine and Russia. There's only so much we can do. Sometimes you just have to let people fight it out between themselves. He clearly doesn't accept the big narrative that. If the Russians win in Ukraine, they're going to march on Berlin or any of that.

And as you're absolutely widely say, Mertz was completely wrong. I mean, it's incredibly stupid to bring up the whole issue of the Second World War. Heaven's notes what he thought he was doing. It just opened the way for Trump to tease Mitz, which he did relentlessly, and which he always does very well. He doesn't like the Europeans. He doesn't like Stama. He has a kind of respect from Macron. Macron is, yeah.

There's something there. He gets on well with Maloney. He didn't like Merkel at all, a fact that he no longer makes any secrets of. I think he likes Merz very much either. Yeah, he does not like Merz. I think that came through. Why does the Europeans, especially Germany, Why do they keep on going down the argument of comparing Russia to World War II Germany?

It's such a losing argument. Well, it's a losing argument if you have any knowledge of history. It's a crazy argument. It's a crazy. I mean, if you have any knowledge of history, if you have any understanding of events, if you have any understanding of current events, it's absurd. But of course, these people are absurd. And it is that way of justifying to their own.

people, the reckless policies that they're undertaking. The fact that instead of working to achieve peace in Europe so that they can work on the betterment of their people and of their societies, they're keeping Europe in a kind of war psychosis and talking about cutting spending and raising taxes so that they can rearm. So, I mean, you know, it's the only real way. It's the only real way. I think that they can persuade people in Europe, that there's some kind of analogous threat to Europe and that it justifies these kind of extreme measures. There's a great article, by the way, about this by Adam Too's, an economic historian in the Financial Times, which makes the point that Europe already spends huge amounts on

defense more than the United States does in aggregate. They're getting absolutely nothing in return that their ability to produce. weapons declines the more money they spend. And he's absolutely right. He says it very well. And he's, by the way, the person who's written the best single book about the German war economy. But of course, it's not really about producing weapons. It's not really about making Europe stronger militarily. Nobody really believes that's possible. A point, by the way, the two sort of concedes. It's all about pursuing different agendas.

So that's why they bring it up all the time. They bring this up so that they can scare people across Europe with this idea that the threat from the east is coming. You know, we've got to keep them at bay. It's the Second World War all over again. So we can all pretend we're Churchill and we're all resisting the tide from the east. and of course it's all nonsense. I wonder if there's a bit of projection or a type of admission from the leaders of Europe

that they're on the losing side. I wonder if a lot of the anger in and around this war to a certain extent is coming from the fact that this conflict in Ukraine, a part of it, is Russia holding up a mirror to some of the forces of World War II that never really went away. And perhaps this bothers a lot of the European elite. I don't know. I'm just throwing stuff out there because you know World War II. You know these things much better than I do.

But we are dealing with people at the end of the day. And I think a lot of these people are not the most stable in the head. And perhaps they're very bothered at the fact that the dynamics of this conflict, the part of the dynamics of this conflict is a reminder of things in the past. There is absolutely... Uncomfortable things in the past. Absolutely. There is absolutely no doubt about that at all.

I mean, in a profound way, they are betraying the legacy of the Second World War. The Second World War was fought in order to defeat forces that they're either strengthening within their own societies or which they're supporting in Ukraine. I'm being careful by what I say, because we all know why. There's no doubt about that. And they do have a sense of anger with themselves and guilt about that too. And there is no question at all that they're furious with themselves for the fact that they're losing. They never expected that they would lose. The assumption that they all had, I remember I've said this many times, I was watching them at the time of the February 2020 Munich Security Conference. They were not just confident of success. They took it for granted. They were in a state of, as I said,

intoxication and euphoria over it, because they thought it would be easy. They believed that within three months, they would have a government in Moscow that would do whatever they wanted. I mean, they were that sure. And, of course, it's turned out otherwise. And with every day that the conflict continues, they lose more. They lose more ground. They're now frightened that the Americans are becoming disillusioned and they walk away, which makes the situation even worse.

And, of course, they're becoming more and more angry in consequence. And they're taking out a lot of that anger against the Russians. Does Trump green light the tourist missiles? I have to say, judging both from the conversation he had with Putin, which significantly took place just before he met with maths. And what passed during the meeting with maths, it seems very unlikely. In which case, these missiles are there and they're going to collect dust. I don't think though we're going to hear the end of this story. I suspect that over the next couple of days, all the usual people, not just in Germany,

but in Washington will be back and they'll be working at Trump and they'll be saying, look, for heaven's said, you've got to allow this. We'll look weak if we don't approve this. The Russians are advancing. We've got to find leverage. The tourist missiles are the way that you get your leverage. You must support it. You must support the Germans.

and I suspect that at some point, quite likely, Trump will approve this. This is what he always does. But I think that as of the time of meeting maths, probably he said no. And the Americans also apparently made it very, very clear that Zelensky himself was not welcome. And we even had an article. I think it was in Axios that Trump doesn't like Zelensky. What a surprise. And thinks he's a bad person.

New York Times. New York Times. Yeah, exactly. And thinks he's a bad person and all that. Yeah. Just a final thought. I don't know if you know this. Maybe military experts can let us know in the comments down below.

Can these missiles be fired without the United States? To an effect, a successful buy. I mean, can these be launched without the U.S.? I think they can be launched. Targeting and satellite and, yeah. They can be launched, as I understand it, within the area, within Ukrainian territory, within the territory of the special military operation, because they could use GPS guidance. Right.

They cannot reach targets inside Russia, pre-2014 Russia, because GPS doesn't work there. So they need to use a completely different guidance systems based on satellite data, which only the United States. and terrain guidance data, which are the United States. Yeah, true, terrain. That's true. That's the way these missiles operate. Okay, we'll end the video there. At the durand.locals.com.

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