The Duran Podcast - Globalist worm of doubt causing Ukraine panic

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

Globalist worm of doubt causing Ukraine panic

All right, Alexander, let's talk about the diplomacy that is taking place in and around Project Ukraine. We have the EU officials meeting to discuss the 20th sanctions package, which will most likely be postponed because they cannot agree on a sanctions package. What to sanction or what else is their left to sanction? Or if they go ahead with these sanctions, how much it's going to hurt to their own economies. not that they have cared about that in the past, but you do have some resistance, even from countries outside of the EU. You're going to get into that. And then we had an interesting interview from Zelensky to the BBC, as well as to, I believe,

a local Ukrainian outlets. As well, he gave a couple of interviews over the weekend. He once again talked about Russian casualties of $30,000 to $35,000 every month. He talked about the success of the United States. counteroffensive, which no one really, really knows if this is even going on. Many people say this is a counteroffensive that is taking place on social media, but Zelensky said it's real. It is very real, and they have gained 300 kilometers. And then he told the BBC that Putin has started World War 3, a loaded question. It was a setup from the BBC, obviously scripted. No doubt about it. The BBC reporter

asks him, has Putin started World War III? And so... So Lensky said, or are we in World War III? And Zelensky said, yes, Putin has started World War III. And it's all scripted. And I'll tell you why it is scripted, Alexander. The entire thing is scripted because the BBC interview asked Zelensky about World War three, the journalists. Zelensky says Putin has started World War III.

We just don't know how far he is going to go. Ukraine is defending all of Europe against Putin's expansion and going, expanding the conflict into Europe. So he talks about World War III. And what do you see at the at the EU meeting today? You see all of the EU officials where most of the EU officials wearing a Ukraine flag-colored, a poppy, like a pin, a poppy pin that they, that usually the British wear to commemorate the casualties in World War II.

Correct me if I'm wrong about any of this. World War I. World War I. And now you see them wearing the same pin. same ornament, but it has the colors of the Ukraine flag. So that's why the whole thing, the BBC interview, the question about World War III, Ukraine defending Europe against Putin's expansionism, more money, more weapons. Ukraine needs to keep fighting for two, three more years.

The whole thing, scripted, performative. That's my opinion. I think the giveaway is the pin that they're wearing. Anyway, get into all of this, Alexander. I don't know where you want to start. Do you want to start with the EU meeting? Do you want to talk about the BBC interview? The UK is pushing very, very hard to keep this conflict going.

By the way, we saw Boris Johnson also give an interview. And the BBC article, Alexander. One more quick point. The BBC article revealed that Jonathan Powell, is that his name? That Jonathan Powell, if you go into the article and read further down in the article, the BBC where they're talking about the interview with Zelensky, they mentioned that Jonathan Powell has been. coaching Zelensky since Trump got a topist. So I think that's an interesting admission about the UK's involvement.

I think we'll start with Zelensky and all of the various things that he's been saying, which is that Zelensky, as you rightly say, he's an actor. He reads his lines. He also introduces his own embellishments to the lines. his comments about the war and about the need to keep the war going and about the fact that he's not prepared to give up a millimeter of territory not to withdraw one inch from Donbass basically his demands remain the same as always

when I say the same as always the same as they have been since March which is that he agrees to a ceasefire but only on the existing conflict lines He's not prepared to budge on NATO entry, on EU entry, not that that's ever been in contention, at least not up to now, on the size of the Ukrainian armed forces, on its ability to receive weapons, on security guarantees equal to or equivalent to those the United States provides to all of the other NATO countries. He's never shown any willingness to make any.

concession on any of these points at all. And the purpose of his interview to the BBC was to reiterate all of that. And it was all there and the talk about World War III was there. And of course, you're quite right, the business about the Red Poppy, which is very much a British thing, going around, you know, commemorating the dead of the First World War. This is all all about the coaching by Jonathan Powell, the coaching of Jonathan Powell and of the British to try to keep Zelensky in line and to just fall short of making direct criticisms of Trump, which you get the sense sometimes that Zelensky's aching to do. It's all intended to keep the wall going.

And he also spoke the other day, just two days ago, to the Ukrainian government, to the Ukrainian cabinet. He said that he now wants a plan to keep the war going for three years. Three years, by the way, is when the next presidential election takes place in the United States. He wants to keep the war going that long because he's still gambling and the British is still gambling, that at that point a new president will come in, probably a Democrat, and he will want to recommit to the war and give Zelenskyy. everything that he needs to win. And all of this is happening, even as Ukraine itself is being shattered. The missiles are launched against Ukraine every night. The ground shakes in Ukrainian cities. The lights go

out. People are cold. A fact which, by the way, the media in Britain, which is, as you rightly say, the center of much of this. I mean, they do report it, but they tend to downplay it when they talk about, when they report about these events. It is purely about Ukrainian courage, Ukrainian resilience, Ukrainian ability to keep fighting, the determination of the Ukrainian people to continue to keep fighting. Anyway, Zelensky talks about this in this way. He ignores the reality of the Ukrainian economy and the devastated state it's in. Julia Mendel, his former press officer, said that the majority of people who still live in Ukraine now are pensioners

who can't basically go. And either the young men are on the battlefronts or some of them are still in Kiev and in the cities where they're at university or at school. But increasingly, there are a few of them. Millions of people have fled the country. despite all the boasts, all the bragging, all the claims about great victories on the front lines, we've seen the truth about Zelensky's victories.

You remember Kupiansk just a few weeks ago, months ago? The great Ukrainian counter-offensive in Kupiansk, Ukraine had recaptured Kupiansk, Ukraine was clearing Kupiansk. We've had a whole cascade of information about what the real situation in Kupiansk is, actual drone footage and film footage, all of that kind of thing. And the reality is that that counteroffensive failed as this counteroffensive in Zaporosia, if it is even real at all, because again, there's been an incredible lack of drone and film footage from the area. And some of the footage that we have seen apparently has been taken by remote-controlled vehicles, robots.

People like to call them, though they're not really robots, but anyway, never mind. So the point is, I don't myself think there's any great reality in this offensive in Zaporosia. I don't think that the situation, Ukraine is really in a position to keep fighting for three years. I don't get the sense of people in Ukraine want to keep fighting for three years. But the British and Zelensky himself and the people who are close to him want to keep the war going. even as the war is turning into a disaster. Now, I have to say this. I discussed this in my recent program.

I think most recent program, when people talk like this, when they speak in this kind of way, especially in Ukraine, you start to wonder how much longer things can continue. Even in Kiev, the money flows from the West are starting to reduce,

They're very far from drying up completely. But Britain, which, as you rightly said, is the ultra hardliner. It cannot continue to fund Ukraine. We have a major budgetary crisis. There's already articles in the media saying that Britain cannot sustain spending altogether, even increased spending on its armed forces in the way that it has committed itself to do. So funding is. is starting to reduce. It's no longer coming from the United States. Germany keeps up the funding, but one does, again, still wonder for how long. And there are reports, there are rumors that some people in Ukraine, completely unhappy about,

completely unwilling to concede on anything substantive to the Russians, nonetheless are becoming dismayed by this rhetoric that is coming from Zelensky and from some members of his entourage. And I mentioned this meeting with the cabinet. Apparently they came out absolutely shocked when they heard Zelensky talking about the three-year war.

And this is exactly the kind of situation where coups tend to happen. And we had an extraordinary article, an interview that Zaluzni gave. We've touched on this, I think, a previous program, in which Zalusini appeared to reference an earlier moment when there was almost a shootout in Kiev between forces loyal to him and forces loyal to Zelensky and Yermak.

Perhaps possibly we're in that precoose type of situation again. I noticed that Gordon Hahn, who has a commentator who we know well, who has his finger on the pulse, has now written a piece saying, same thing. So anyway, this is what the British want to do. They want to keep the war going. Zelensky wants to keep the war going. Zolensky was obviously very upset, very angry by the meeting in Geneva. The British tried to get crashed the meeting in Geneva. Jonathan Powell again. He was there. You saw him talking to Wickoff. The British absolutely invested in this. But knowing that they cannot continue the war all by themselves without the assistance of the United States.

It's all about getting the United States back in the picture, back, fully engaged and involved again, even beyond what the CIA is itself already doing. And, well, that's the situation in Ukraine. And in the meantime, we'll come to the sanctions. We'll talk about the sanctions in a moment. But that is the situation with the British powers. I mean, all of a sudden, his name's coming up. I mean, obviously people in the UK are familiar with him,

but for me, someone who's not in the UK, in the past couple of weeks, all of a sudden, his name is popping up everywhere in relation with Ukraine. He was at the Intercontinental, hanging around in the lobby, trying to gate crash the meeting. The BBC is now saying he's the guy

that's pretty much taking care of Zelensky. He's the guy that's babysitting Zelensky. Who is, pal? He's a national security advisor for Stommer, right? Yes, yes. He is a former British diplomat. He had a very senior position in the foreign office. Then when Tony Blair became prime minister, he basically plucked him out of the foreign office and he became eventually Blair's chief of staff. This is while Blair was prime minister. And of course he was very, very much connected with Blair. And he's still. And he's still. very closely connected to Blair. So he is in effect Blair's voice, maybe that's putting it a bit too strongly because Powell has his own ideas, but he's still very close to Blair and he is in effect Blair's man directly inside the government, the British government itself, which again

tells you an awful lot about who is really driving this in Ukraine at the moment, who is really in Britain at the moment. It's the same group of people who, going all the way back to the 1990s and early 2000s, were driving policy again. And you remember we've had a whole series of programs with Dr. Parvini about British politics, which we absolutely need to have another one with him. Again, he spoke about Blair's enormous influence in British life, British political life, behind the scenes.

Jonathan Powell, if you like, is the living embodiment. Blair's entire ideology, it seems, is very much entrenched still to this day in the British government, in the British establishment. Yeah. Interesting. So the UK is trying to keep this war going for another three years. Zelensky is desperate to keep this conflict going for another three years. Medvedev said that the other day in a state.

that Zelensky needs to keep this conflict going because that's that's his that's his power, that's his money, money supply, that that keeps everything moving. So that's why he. And perhaps he, perhaps he listens to us. True. True. Because we've been saying this for a long, long time. Absolutely true. The EU, the globalists in Europe in the European Union, are desperately trying to keep this going. the United States is desperately trying to keep this going. Zelensky said something to the Ukrainian journalist, not the BBC,

where he said that, yeah, American Intel absolutely is working with us. There was, as you talk about the EU, the meeting that they're having right now, about the sanctions, the fact that they want to keep this going, the United States wants to keep this going, even though they pretend to be negotiating. Maybe there's a part of the U.S. government that wants to. to negotiate, but for the most part, the U.S. wants to keep this going. Also talk about the intelligence sharing that's still going on, and the role it played with this missile strike deep into Russia. Zelensky claims it was a Flamingo missile. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. The point is that

we did have a missile strike that reached a thousand plus kilometers into Russia. Russia is very quiet about this. Hear your thoughts. Yes. Well, let's start with that missile strike, first of all. I'm sure it was a flamingo because this is the missile that has the range. And the factory that was attacked is a gigantic factory. It's a place called Vortikinsk.

And it's one of the major factories that makes strategic missiles. I mean, you know, it makes the big intercontinental ballistic missiles. part of Russia's strategic arsenal. Now, there's been much discussion about the Flamingo missile. It is basically a lash up from various different technologies, some of them going back to the 1950s. It's very big. It's very slow.

I have heard that because the Russians destroyed the production line in Ukraine, it is now actually being built in debt. Denmark, just to say. And I've also understood that the British played a significant role in designing it. Now, again, I don't know that these last two things are true, but I have seen them discussed in a number of places. And by the way, just to say, Britain and Denmark are very close political allies. The royal families of the two countries have intermarried and are very close friends. But of course, the political class in Denmark and the British political class, are very united with each other. So it's entirely possible. Now, the way with, what works with these missiles, the way, what happens with these missiles initially is that they start being launched. This is, I should say, a subsonic missile, as I understand it. It's not supersonic. They're launched. The Russian air defense system has to take some weeks to figure out how they work, then after about six weeks, two months, they do, and then the effectiveness drastically

drops. So what you try and do is you try and use it against the most provocative target that you can, which is the target in Votkinsk, and you hope that that will presumably trigger some kind of big Russian reaction. Now, at the moment, the Russians are very, very quiet about it. We've had satellite photos. We see a big hole in one of the workshops of the factory. The factory is enormous. It will have undoubtedly underground shelters. It is one of those gigantic Soviet factories, like the Yuzmash plant in Nyevro, which the Russians attacked with the Ehrznik back in November for 2024. It is built with colossal redundancy. So I don't think it will have had any significant effect on production. But it is again an extremely aggressive move. Now, the British may be helping

with the making of the missile. The Danes might be helping as well. The guidance can only be provided by the United States. It is only the United States that is able to provide the data packages that enable missiles to operate at such enormous distances from Ukrainian territory deep inside Russia. And this has been discussed, confirmed many times. Remember, GPS doesn't work inside Russia. So you have to get special equipment to put inside the missile, to the upload into the missile guidance system, and only the Americans really have that technology. So someone in the United States, someone very senior in the United States, probably presumably the CIA, presumably some members of the US military, are undoubtedly

involved in this program. And this cannot be happening without Donald Trump's say so. And if you remember way back in the late spring, early summer of 2025, even as the negotiations were going on, there was a discussion between Trump and Zelensky, a telephone call, and the story went around, which I have no doubt is true, that Trump asked him, why aren't your missiles striking inside Russia? And Zelensky said yes, and I want to do that. And then Trump came up that we had to all the discussion back in the autumn of using Tomahawk missiles. That was eventually called off. But we see the attempt to achieve something like the same thing, this time with the Flamingo missile,

which can be passed off as a Ukrainian design. It does use an Ukrainian aircraft engine, developed by the way in the 1950s. But ultimately, the British perhaps are involved, the Danes perhaps are involved, ultimately the Americans are involved. The Russians, as we discussed many times, sold the pass on this year, sold the pass on this back in 2024. They sat back when the Biden administration launched attackers and storm shadow missiles against Russia, breaching Russian red lines. I think what the Russians are simply going to do is that they're going to update their air defense system. And within about two months' time, we will see that the Flamingo missile isn't effective anymore. Before you get to the EU and the sanctions meeting and all of that, isn't this a red line?

isn't this the red line that has been crossed once again? I mean, oh, yes, it is. The difference between the Tomahawk and the Flamingo is basically that there's some parts which are Ukrainian. But the guidance, the targeting, everything is coming from the west, from NATO, from the United States, from the UK, whatever, from the United States. It's coming from the United States, right?

So what's the difference between the guidance of the Tomahawk and the targeting of the tomahawks and the guidance and the targets and the targeting of whatever missile. If it's coming from the United States, it's coming from the United States. Yes, it is. The Tomahawk missile is a much more advanced, more modern missile. I mean, this one, the one that we have now, has been designed very, very quickly using different technologies,

as I said, some of which go back to the 1950s. So it is much easier for the Russians to shoot down than the Tomahawk would be. though the Russians have the ability to shoot down the Tomahawk missile as well and would have done so. So it is less of a challenge for them. But I now wonder actually whether the whole Tomahawk story wasn't a piece of misdirection and whether the real intention all along was to conduct this aerial offensive using the flamingo missile. Exactly. Why won't this escalate to a more deadly missile as well?

doesn't this open the door to a missile that's better than the Flamingo? I mean, you cross the red line over and over again. Russia's red line. I mean, this is what Russia said. This opens the door to

more aggressive, provocative actions from the United States towards Russia. Once again, something's been crossed. And Russia's just saying, okay, well, you know, we'll get a handle on the Flamingo as well. well, which they will.

The more advanced missile is the Tomahawk itself. Developing, designing a more advanced missile than the Flamingo and putting it in production is a job that would take years. And that's the problem. So I think they're going to stick with the Flamingo for the time being. And I think the calculation in Moscow, as I said, is that they'll get a handle on it within a couple of weeks, probably. and obviously there will always be a risk that some will get through,

but sooner or later the effectiveness will decline. So that, I think, is the thing. But the breach of the red line, the Russians let themselves, they let that happen. I think there's probably a lot of anger about this and recrimination about this in Moscow. Putin let himself be talked in, accepted, what Donald Trump said before Trump was inaugurated. It's another example of the duplicity of the Trump administration. But I think the Russian calculation at the moment is that since they're winning the war

and winning it conclusively, the breaches of the red line would create an escalation which would not be to Russia's advantage. So in terms of this war itself. As we saw in Geneva, however, with Medinsky turning up, the Russians are in no mood to compromise. And that became very clear in Geneva. And I don't think that's going to change at all. Now, let's turn to the Europeans because, of course, the Europeans are busy talking about sanctions. And this is actually becoming quite an interesting story, because what the Europeans are saying is that

they want to stop any servicing, any assistance provided to Russian energy exports. So ships, for example, that carry Russian oil, cannot dock in European ports, irrespective of what flag they fly with Russian or any other flag, they're not going to get insurance, they're not going to get servicing. this goes beyond. If you remember, there was the price cap. The price cap has now been abandoned. It's gone.

The idea is no insurance at all for ships carrying Russian oil from European insurers, which basically, by the way, means British insurers. And that again tells you, who is really behind this sanctions package. The Russians quite straightforwardly are saying that they believe that what this is really all about is not about denying Russian ships or ships the trade with Russian oil, insurance and things of that kind. It is about trying to impose some kind of sea blockade, seizing Russian tankers on the high seas. The Russians have also said that this time no question their navy will be there and will be protecting their tankers. And Patrushchev said, not only is this a red line, but it will be a red line

that is enforced immediately, that the Russians will not tolerate any interference like this in their overseas trade and that they're in discussions with their BRICS partners to protect their overseas trade. Now, it is clear that some European countries are getting cold feet about this. Hungary is opposed to it. Slovakia is opposed to it. Slovakia is opposed to it. to it, but they're the usual people. Greece and Malta and Cyprus are said to be unhappy. Italy apparently is unsure. These are, of course, the big shipping countries. And I suspect it's not just about shipping, carrying shipping from Russia. This would be a massive violation of international maritime law. countries that involve themselves in shipping

are going to be extremely nervous about this because if this sort of thing starts to happen, other ships could be seized and counter-seased, and indeed the whole maritime trade could start to collapse. But it turns out that the Japanese and the Americans are not keen on this idea either. Japan still imports quite a lot of fuel oil, gas, I believe, LNG from Russia.

And I think the Americans have two reasons to be nervous about this. Firstly, if there is indeed going to be a naval blockade of Russia, again, that can only work if the US Navy itself participates. The US Navy is very tied up with lots of things to do in the Asia-Pacific region, in the Gulf, in the Sea of Arabia. in all of those places, in the Caribbean. The U.S. Navy is huge, but it is not unlimited in size. And besides, they may be nervous.

In fact, they've shown that they are nervous of a direct conflict with the Russian Navy. The Marinera incident, which has been completely misreported, in my opinion. To mind, I actually showed that. They were very nervous about seizing that Russian ship. There was a lot of dithering uncertainty whether they would do it. It was only a Russian ship because it became one whilst the chase was already underway. And they immediately, well, didn't immediately, but they did release the two Russian crew members. So I think the US is nervous about taking on the Russians.

But there is another factor as well. And that is, of course, that the United States, is potentially involved in a major conflict with Iran. There's a possibility that the Straits of Hormuz might be closed. If all that happens, the very last thing the United States would want is further interference in the global oil trade, because that will push up oil prices, which, by the way, I believe some energy costs in the United States

are already rising because so much LNG is now being exported to Europe at very high prices that this is starting to cause prices of natural gas in the east coast of the United States to rise also. Just a... Okay. Just a final question. The Europeans, if they see that Russia does not enforce this red line, given that Russia has failed to enforce pretty much all of their red lines.

it seems, or most of their red lines. I mean, we probably disagree on this. But psychologically, at least in the mindset of the EU bureaucrats, the globalists, if there is no enforcement, then the goal is a complete blockade of Russian ships. So Russia, when they try, when they try this. And I believe the sanctions will get past Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Hungary, Slovakia. I think they'll get over all of the resistance, the globalists, Ursula. We've got tools.

When they do, go to seize the Russian ships, if Russia does not react, then we are going to get a blockade. And things are going to go crazy. You just, you laid it all out there, a conflict with Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, Japan needs the ships to get oil to them. I mean, we could be looking at a massive energy crisis. And we could be getting to a massive conflict as well. But Russia's going to have to enforce. This red line they're going to have to enforce.

I'm just thinking the fact that now you have long-range missiles hitting Russia and Russia not doing anything, probably the Europeans are probably sitting back and saying, well, you know, we've crossed that red line and Russia didn't do anything. Mr. Mitsotakis, Mr. Mitsodakis, Mr. Raban, whatever, all of you people providing resistance. Look, we've crossed all these red lines. Russia's done nothing. Don't worry about it. We'll be able to seize the Russian ships. We know that's what they're saying because we have statements of theirs in the past where they say this. They explicitly say people like Sikorsky, all these people, callous, they say, don't worry about the Russian red lines. Don't worry when Russia talks about red lines. They never enforce them. They do say that.

So, I mean, I'm just throwing this out there to you. So you can end the video on these points. Yeah. Well, this is where I think it becomes. interesting, important. First of all, there's only been one Russian red line that has been crossed, which is the one about missile strikes inside Russia. Now, they're disguising it now by having it done with the Flamingo missile, even though, as I said, it's a lash-up and it's clear that the Americans are involved, the British are involved, the Danish are, the Danes are also involved, allegedly. So, but that is the red line that was crossed. All of the other red lines that you hear about supplying tanks, fighter jets, all of those things.

The Russians have never made those red lines. The Russians do have another red line, which they've spoken about many times, which is about the deployment of European troops to Ukraine. They said that if they do enter Ukraine, they're indeed going to be a target. And the Russians now have absolutely said that seizure of their ships, seizure of ships flying the Russian flag, that is a red line too. And Patrushchev's comments, and he's the official, the Russian official, who's in charge both of the merchant navy, the Russian merchant navy, and of the actual navy itself. He's not a military officer, but he is Putin's aid. he was the former Putin's national security adviser.

He is a very important and powerful man in Russia itself. He has made it clear this is a red line and that the Russians will enforce that red line and that they will do so with their fleet. And he made exactly the same point that you've made. He said if they start seizing even one of our tankers and we sit idly by, then that will escalate into an all-out naval blockade.

Now, I cannot imagine. that Patrushchev would have said that if there has not already been a discussion about this in Moscow for almost certainly at the level of the Security Council, and Patrushchev is a member of Russia's Security Council, which is the top policymaking body. And if a decision to react strongly against seizure of Russian ships had not already, been made. And in fact, the Russian Navy has already been providing naval escorts for some merchant ships. And the Russians are already working, apparently, on creating a convoy system. In other words, not having one merchant ship settling by itself, but having a whole group of them together escorted by Russian warships. And Pathruchev says that the Russians are in touch with other

Briggs countries to see what they will participate as well. And of course, the other country, the other Bricks country, the only one that has the kind of navy that could play a role here is China. And China has one of the most powerful navies of the world. And now comparable in some respects to that of the US. Now, a sea blockade of Russia can never be complete. Even if the United States is involved. Russia is of them thought about as a landlocked country, but in fact it has the world's biggest coastline, it's the biggest country in the world. Russia also has a border with China, a naval border with China. So Russian ships, tankers could collect fuel, oil and gas in the Arctic. In fact, most Russian gas tunnels, LNG,

terminals are located in the Arctic and they could sail to China and they could sail along the northern coastline and the Russians now have the technology to keep the northern sea route open even in winter now apparently with their nuclear icebreakers and that kind of thing they could do that and they could sail all the way to China crossing uh staying inside Russian territory waters and entering Chinese territorial waters. And they wouldn't just need to do it in the Arctic. They could do it in Vladivostov as well and things of that sort. Now, the problem is, though the oil terminals are mostly located, apparently mostly in the Baltic.

And building oil terminals takes time. And the other thing to say is, of course, remember that there are now oil pipelines that travel from Russia to China as well. And apparently half of the oil that China receives from Russia goes by pipeline now, not by sea. And there's also Russian oil and gas supplied to Turkey. and I can't imagine that the Europeans would want to start tangling with Erdogan and seizing Turkish flag ships or ships collecting oil from Turkey. So there can never be a complete blockade. But obviously, I mean, this would be a massive international crisis.

And they're talking about World War III. And BBC brings up the topic of World War III with Zelensky. Zelensky talks about World War III. We've had the attacks on Wotkinsk, the missile station. We have the people going around with the red poppies. We've also had the Russians claiming that the British were involved in the assassination attempt on General Alexaeff. Some people in the West are going, I have to say this, they're going bonkers. and one almost senses that they want World War III to begin.

It is incredible that we've got to that point, but the rhetoric is getting completely out of control. And where the rhetoric is going, the actions up to now have followed. I agree, by the way, that the European Union will pass these sanctions. Greece, Malta and Cyprus are not going to stand in the way. Hungary has always folded in the past in when presented with sanctions demands. But the point is that even if all of these countries stick to their positions, we've seen what the European Union does.

It changes the rules. It says this is a state of economic emergency, or this is a trade issue, all this is a financial services issue. We only need to change, we only need majority voting on the EU Council. We don't need unanimity anymore. And they will pass it that way. Yeah, no doubt. You're right about the red lines, and we've said this many times.

But, you know, you're looking at it from a factual viewpoint. It's fact. Russia has stated it's red lines. And those are the ones there that you spelled out. But the collective West, the Europeans, the UK, the Americans, they don't see it like that. They see 20 or 30 different red lines that they have crossed. This is what's in their minds. And then the media tells them, cross the red lines.

Don't worry about it. So they get emboldened, which is why I worry that they are going to move forward with all of these things. more long-range missile strikes, sea blockades, all of this, because in their mind, Russia is losing, Ukraine is winning, keep on pushing Russia, keep on pressuring Russia. This is what they're saying. Keep on pressuring Russia. And don't worry about the red lines, everybody. That's what they're telling each other.

Don't worry about those red lines. See, we've crossed this red line and that red line. Leopards, F-16s, long-range strike, da-da-da-da-da. And they just go through a list. And they say, what has Russia done? nothing even even boots on the ground in ukraine they found a workaround they found a workaround to get collective west military into ukraine to fight the conflict as was revealed just the just the other day with the f-16 story where they said it's u.s and dutch pilots not ukrainean pilots well

Retired, Retired, US and Dutch pilots. Yes, yes. I mean, I mean, we've always suspected this. But I mean, to stress this again, when it comes to red lines,

when it comes to red lines, the West draws them up. It's the West that said, it was the West that said they would not provide heavy tanks and armored vehicles. It was the West that said, we won't provide F-16s.

The Pentagon opposed it. They, cross their own red lines. They are their own red lines and then they attribute those red lines to the Russians. And of course, when we talk about sending pilots to fly the F-16s, what the Russians have said is that any Western personnel operating in the war are targets. And sure enough, the F-16s are targets. I was reading somewhere, there's only 10 of them left because so many of them have either been destroyed on the ground or shot down. And some of them are in maintenance shops. So probably Western personnel are already been killed. But of course, they are contractors,

so we don't talk about them. We've had contractors, mercenaries from Poland, from all sorts of places going to Ukraine and fighting there. And some of them are ex-soldiers. Some of them undoubtedly are people who just changed their cap and their flag. Macron undoubtedly sent the Foreign Legion into Ukraine. I remember the Russians found out where some of them were in a hotel building in Kharkiv. The Russians launched a missile strike. Many of them were killed. But it doesn't stop them doing it.

Now John Healy, the British Defense Secretary, is talking about actually sending Ukrainian troops. British, sorry. He is, he is, he, British, sorry, the British one. And he's talking about how he wants to do it. The one difference I have, the way, one point where I push back is I don't get the sense that these people are, you know, telling each other the Russians won't cross the red lines. I get the sense that they're big, that what is driving this is panic, hysteria. and fear. Yes, they are getting all of these reports about how well the Ukrainian army is doing. They do hear all the stories about Ukraine's successful offensive in Zaporosia.

They do hear all the stories about the enormous Russian losses, the millions of men that Russia is supposed to have lost. They all hear and repeat to each other the stories about how the Russian economy is, as the economies. put it just the other day, another British magazine, by the way, how the Russian economy is now in the dead zone. But, of course, they've been saying these things to each other for four years now.

And what they actually see is that Russia keeps going and keeps advancing. And that the Americans are no longer single-minded about this as they once were, that there are some people in the Pentagon who say, our arsenals are now dangerous, critically depleted. Our air defence missile cupboard is bare. We can't keep this going. This is becoming a massive drain.

So what we call in Britain the worm of doubt is there. Inevitably it is. But that isn't making them want to change their strategy. What they do is they want to suppress this doubt. And when people do that, and I have seen this many, many times in my working life, what that makes them do is that they become more hysterical, more fanatical, more dogmatic, and more aggressive. Which is what's happening. Exactly.

Which is leading us to a major smash. Exactly. All right. We will end the video there. The durand.com. We're on X. We're on Romp. We are on Telegram.

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