The Duran Podcast - Macron takes CHARGE. France will protect Europe from Russia

Episode Date: March 6, 2025

Macron takes CHARGE. France will protect Europe from Russia

All right, Alexander, let's talk about what is going on in France with Project Ukraine. Or is it about Project Ukraine? Is this really about more Europe, war bonds, Eurobonds, EU armies, stuff like that? The fear that Trump is going to abandon Europe. And so Macron needs to step up. Let's start with Macron's speech. We'll also talk about the reports that the U.S. has cut off the sharing of India. Intel, as well as the revelation, that there are collective West spies, I guess, and

intel officials, not mercenaries, but officials from the collective West that are operating in Ukraine, an interesting admission. But now let's begin with Macron's speech. Russia needs to be pacified. Alexander. France is going to provide a nuclear umbrella, and the European armies will be heading into Ukraine. What are your thoughts? Well, we have had a steady descent into lunacy ever since the special military operation began. In fact, you could say for much longer than that, going all the

way back to 2014 and even before, at least in Europe, but this is really, I think we've not reached that point where all sense of reality or connection to reality has gone. gone out of the window. Now, there is a massive climate of hysteria at the moment across Europe. The underlying cause of that hysteria is, I think, twofold. Firstly, Project Ukraine has failed. The attempt to defeat Russia has been a failure. We'll come to that in a moment when we discuss the intel and all of that, because it's really very interesting, that has come up with all kinds of very interesting revelations. The Americans look like they're going to leave. Macron has never been very keen on the Americans being in Europe anyway, for his own

particular reasons. So what he is trying to do is he's trying to surf this wave of hysteria and panic and lunacy that there is across Europe to move forward with his own long-term project, which is France, and ultimately, of course, himself at the centre of Europe, leading Europe, defending Europe. So a European army commanded, of course, by France. France, at the core of Europe's defence, its nuclear weapons strategy, and all of that kind of thing. France possibly playing the key role in organizing some kind of no-fly zone over

Western Ukraine. It's all over the media here in Britain, by the way, that this is now again being discussed and talked about. All absurd. All ridiculous. All, by the way, incredibly dangerous. But

what Macron is trying to do is he's trying to take forward that project. More Europe, but a Europe led by France, converting Europe into some kind of big French empire, and doing that as quickly as possible before, as he fears, the Germans rearm. So this is what this is all about. I mean, he talks about Russia being subdued. He's, obviously, he's, again, waving the Russian scarecrow people. But beneath

it all, beneath the surface, its fears of Germany, term and rearmament and all of that. I mean, German rearmament is a nonsense, but of course, it reawakens ancestral fears in France. So do it first. Get there first. Get France to establish its leading position in Europe. France, as the defender of Europe against the Russian horde, centralize everything around France, focus on France's nuclear deterrent, get France to impose its no-fly zone on Russia in Ukraine. We now understand, by the way, what that whole business about the one month ceasefire that he was floating, what that was really all about. And, you know, Macron at the center of it, you know, Emperor Macron defending Europe, all of that. And of course, he's not going to be president for much longer,

But given the enormous, tremendous role that France is going to have, who must be the new leader of Europe going forward? Well, it must be Macron. We must create a new position for him. President of the European Council, obviously, is not going to be enough. He's going to have to be, you know, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, because, after all, it'll be the French who will form the core of this great defence force. And Macron will obviously, is already, I think, is. imagining himself in some way into that role. So this is what Macron is about.

This is what this absolutely lunatic speech was that he gave to the French people yesterday. It's trying to scare Europe and the French people with Russia. As I said at the end of the day, it's the Germans he's probably really worried about. He's never liked the Germans, by the way. This has always been a pattern of his presidency in France. So, rest leadership from the Germans before they rearm, consolidate Europe with Macron emperor over the entire time. There was an article in Politico, which, no, actually Bloomberg, sorry, Bloomberg, which talked about a Europe without NATO and creating a European treaty organization. Maybe that's the new organization that Macron will be.

will be heading up. But it's interesting that you say he's doing this because he fears Germany. There was also an interesting article in the Telegraph, which actually promoted the idea of a strong German army in order to protect Europe. Crazy. Upside down world, but the UK is promoting a strong German military to protect Europe. That's what the telegraph posted the other day. You don't believe that this is, that this has a connection to, to Trump, to pulling the U.S. money, it's funding out of Europe. Trump has not said that he's going to pull out of NATO. At least I don't think he said anything like that.

I know that Elon Musk hinted at something like that. He reposted a tweet, an ex post where someone said the U.S. should leave NATO and then Elon Musk said, good idea, or something like that. He was hinting at it, but Trump has not mentioned the U.S. pulling out of NATO. So why the hysteria? I mean, you don't see Macron is freaking out because of Trump and what might possibly happen with the U.S. leaving Europe or abandoning Europe or pulling its money and its resources out of Europe.

You think it's more Germany, or could there be some sort of connection there as well? Maybe the U.S. AID freak them out. Maybe they got freaked down. They said, oh, my God, if they cut off money to USAID, what if they cut off our money? Then what do we do? It is all about the U.S. and about the fear that the U.S. will leave. Now, I should say something. Trump didn't say anything about NATO in the speech.

Or at least he said very, very little. Or any time. Has he made any statement? No, I think he's supported NATO. Absolutely. He's certainly not said anything since he became president of pulling the United States. States out of NATO. But if you actually go through his actually very interesting speech, the one that he gave to the U.S. Congress the day before yesterday, I mean, the thing about it was that it was overwhelmingly

centered on domestic policies. He's got very ambitious and, if you like, even visionary plans for the United States itself. But he said very little really about foreign policy at all. He barely mentioned China, he said nothing about Iran, but that's discussions for another day. What he said about Europe was not very complimentary. It was again about the Europeans, basically skiving off the Americans, the Europeans giving less aid to Ukraine than they pay the Russians for energy, which is true, by the way. Just to say it was in the British, the Americans got that from the British media because the British media has been writing about this over the last week or so. So the Europeans, all of them, are now suddenly facing that nightmare prospect that the Americans might go.

So each country is now panicking and is looking to try and find some way forward. in case that nightmare prospect happens. Trump has said nothing about that. He's not saying that he's leaving, but he's taking steps which the Europeans are putting two and two together, and they're not making five. They're making 505. They're looking far ahead. They've convinced themselves, or at least they're telling each other that this is a real prospect. It's a real possibility that the Americans might go. And that is the underlying cause of the hysteria in Europe. Because if the Americans go, they're not just afraid of Russia. They are nervous of each other. So Britain has longstanding historic and animus against Russia. So it makes sense logically,

for the British at this point of time, their military is in a mess. They're in no position to fight the Russians, as Trump pointed out to them, if the Americans go, who's going to protect Britain from Russia? We'll get the Germans to do it. They were a powerful army once upon a time. You know, this is for the moment. I mean, you know, in 10 years' time, the attitude to this German army, if it ever appears, might become very different. But for the moment, it's Russia that we're scared about.

With France, it's different. And here, one must understand something. It's not that the French worry that if the Germans rearm, they're going to march on Paris. That's not the concern. It's about who leads Europe. Now, Germany pushed France aside from about the 1970s when it became established, especially in the 1980s, when it became established as the main biggest European economy. So the French, who up till then had assumed that, you know, the European Union would be,

a project led by themselves, discovered that in fact they were playing a secondary role to Germany and they resented that bitterly. But they were able to say to themselves, look, the Germans may be strong economically, but within the EU, we have the most powerful military. So we are going to lead, at least, on foreign policy and security issues. I mean, I've had lots of people in France talking like that. When it's economics, people go to Germany, when it's, you know, security and foreign policy, they come to France. Never really true, but that was what the French told themselves. And now the Germans are re-arming. So maybe, possibly, going down the line in 10 years time, Germany will not only be the most powerful economy to Europe, but it will also be the

most powerful military in Europe as well. And France will then be completely marginalized, and God help it, it could find itself relegated to the same level as Italy or Spain. So this is intolerable, not just for Macron, but for the French political class. So they are freaking out about this. So they say, you know, let's build the whole European security architecture, not around Germany, but around France. Now, to say clearly, if the United States leaves Europe and the Europeans are left, to their own devices. In theory, they can create European treaties and alliances. They can do that to confront the Russians. Much more likely will start to see the cracks that already exist between

them start to grow. None of the European countries have ever fully resolved all these ancestral quarrels that go back, you know, centuries in some cases. There's still all kinds of resentments between them. And much, much more likely, given the reality of Russian power, you start to see individual European states coming and making deals with the Russians, which is the other thing that some countries in Europe are afraid of. So that is what ultimately explains a lot of the panic and the hysteria we see at the moment. The Europeans are definitely scared of the Russians because they've gone out of their way to attack it and answer. They're definitely scared about their own role in the world because, as you pointed out, recently,

in various programs they've been able to strut around the world and pose as great and important powers pretending that they're world leaders because they've got the might of the United States behind them. But they're also very, very frightened and wary of being left to sort out their relations with each other without the Americans being there to hold the ring between them. How does Germany rearm after Pistorius, the defense minister announced that Germany's arsenal is depleted and there are no more weapons to send to Ukraine? How does Germany rearm with their energy situation and the fact that factories are either closing down or are leaving Germany completely.

And I have to ask this, if Germany does get its act together, and they do start to build up a large military, wouldn't this be a concern? A major concern, perhaps the number one concern, not only for Russia, but also for the United States. And a final question, if you forget anything, as you answer these questions, just let me know. Do you believe that France or the Europeans will actually,

follow through and put boots on the ground in Ukraine without the U.S. backstop? Right. Let's start with Germany. Will it rearm? Can it rearm? The short answer is no. Anybody who looks at the situation in Germany today knows that they can't. They're short of energy. The problems, the energy problems are going to get worse. Nobody's talking about this, which is incredible. But European gas reserves are at crucial. critical levels, they're now down to 38%, desperately low for this time of year. We're now on the brink of a trade war with the United States. There's a possibility that as a result of that trade war, if things escalate, US LNG supplies

might be in question. Just saying, tariffs are coming. So, Germany, which is a major exporter, if America starts to impose tariffs on the EU, on EU exports, it's already lost its primary market, which is Russia, China, and now, of course, it's going to lose its other big primary market, which is the US as well, at least not to the same extent. If Germany starts to convert its factories into arms factories, which is what articles, especially in the British and German media have been talking about, put aside the fact that that is a ridiculous idea anyway, the idea that you could take a car factory and get it to make tanks and that this can be done tomorrow or the day after tomorrow or in a year's time or in 10 years time, that is absolutely ridiculous.

But let's say Germany started to do that. Let's say it refocused its entire industrial base towards arms production. Well, first of all, you're absolutely correct. That would create a huge wave of alarm across Europe. I mean, European states, Poland, France, smaller states, would begin to get very, very unnerved about it. as they did before and for obvious historic reasons. But the other thing that would happen is the Germany, which is already planning to run very high budget deficits in order to conduct this rearmament, it's going to lose its exports. Because those factories are no longer producing consumer goods for the German domestic market.

and they're no longer producing consumer goods, which Germany is exporting overseas. So Germany's big trade surplus will disappear. Germany will become a net importer of goods. And Germany will go from having a current account surplus, as it has consistently had for many, many years, to having a big current account deficit. Now, that was the pattern. before the Second World War. The reason the German economy in the interwar period was so fragile, and by the way, not just

in the interwar period, but before the First World War was so fragile, was precisely because German factories were so committed to making weapons that they weren't making consumer goods, and Germany, which has to import raw materials, was finding it extremely difficult to do so, and was running constantly into exchange rate problems. So, I mean, this whole project of rearmament in Germany makes absolutely no economic sense. It would destabilise the German economy and it would destabilize Europe as well. So it would be a reckless and absurd thing to do, though at the moment in the current hysteria, that's what the Germans are saying they will do.

France, Europe going into Ukraine, any possibility of that? Right. Well, without a backstop, without a backstop. No, I cannot believe it. I simply don't believe it. I mean, British public opinion would oppose it. French public opinion would massively oppose it. I don't think the Germans were supported either.

Trying to do that would simply exacerbate already the tensions in Europe. And it would probably cause a massive pendulum swing back away from supporting Ukraine to being suddenly much more critical about Ukraine. I can't imagine that they will do it. The British have said it can't be done without the Americans, and that is the reality. So, again, Macron talks a big game, but he just doesn't have the weight,

the military power to achieve it. And, well, they were saying, you know, the Russians rarely send their air forces into Western Ukraine, which is true because they don't have to. But the point is, what that article didn't mention is that Russian air to air missiles and Russian surface to air missiles now have incredibly long ranges so the Russians could shoot down French, British fighter jets over Western Ukraine from enormous distances, 300 kilometers.

It happened many times and that's what they would start doing. The British and the French do not have missiles with that kind of range. So let's move on to the U.S. Let's talk about the intel sharing. And also, can you talk about the statement from Rubio? I don't know if you saw that interview. But Rubio said something very interesting. I thought actually it was very good that he said this, in my opinion.

As Secretary of State of the U.S., he said that the United States is in a proxy war with Russia. The U.S., he said, backs Ukraine, and it's in a proxy war with Russia. I don't think this was a slip-up. No. I think this was intended to be said. And I do believe that the Trump administration is,

I don't want to say, coming clean, I guess is, I don't know, I don't have a better word, but they're starting to admit what has been happening over the past three years and beyond with the Biden administration, that the Biden administration did bog down the United States, did commit the U.S. into a proxy war with Russia. And perhaps the narrative now is going to be, yes, this is dangerous. We have this situation, but we're going to try to get out of this situation.

As the Trump administration, we're going to try to get out of the situation that the Biden White House and Blinken and Sullivan committed us, That's what I believe might be going on, but I thought it was an interesting comment from Rubio. And then you have the Financial Times article talking about the cutting off of intelligence sharing, admitting that there are collective West officials in Ukraine, operating in Ukraine. And we're not talking about mercenaries. We're talking about officials, government, military, intel agency officials. in Ukraine, helping Ukraine, Kiev wage war against Russia.

So this is a huge omission from the Financial Times. Absolutely. Now, you know, when there was the cutoff of aid from USAID, you know, all over the world, I mean, you made a really interesting point, a really good point, actually, that we knew an awful lot about what was getting. going on what USAID had been up to around the world, but actually seeing it all there in black and white, with all the facts and figures being provided, even though it confirmed what we already knew, it still was, you know, a big moment. And for me, over the last 48 hours,

I think it's been the same moment, because I've known, you've known, we've discussed many times that there's no narrative of heroic Ukraine standing up to the Russian imperialist aggressor and being assisted in doing so by the Western powers, that that narrative was completely wrong, that what we were really looking at was a proxy war. And over the last 48 hours, we've seen all of the facts come through. Now, you know, we always get all these people who come along and say, well, how can you say that Russia is doing well in the war? They're only taking, they're only advancing one step at a time.

It shows that the Russian army isn't that good, that the Ukrainians are heroic fighters and all of that. What we now know is this, that the intel has entirely come from the United States. The communications through Stalin have been provided by the United States. The weaponry has been entirely provided for a long time. now by the Western powers. Even the old Soviet weaponry that we see has come from arsenals and depots in Eastern Europe. But, I mean, increasingly the United States has been supplying weapons to Ukraine, on a much, much bigger scale, by the way, than those Pentagon releases implied. The flooded weapons has been enormous. The U.S. has effectively exercised command and control

we now know that the Americans and the British play the key role in planning and directing Ukraine's 2023 offensive and probably every other battle since then and before. The only thing the Ukrainians have actually been doing throughout this war, and it's important and it should not be discounted, is they've been providing the people who've been fighting and dying on the battlefields. But in all other respects, the Russians have been fighting, the collective West. It's in terms of weapons, intelligence, communications, command and control, everything. The assistance, the West has provided. It's not assistance. The commitment the West has made to this war has been far greater than, say, that of the Soviet Union to North Vietnam,

during the Vietnam War. I mean, I know all about that because I'm I know a lot about what assistance the Soviets did actually provide to Vietnam at that time. So when Rubio comes along and says that this was a proxy war between the United States and Russia, a proxy war, waged by the United States against Russia, he's absolutely telling the truth. And it is momentous that he has said it. Now, Rubio is very interesting because he is the person who has come forward over the last incredible six weeks and has made in some ways the biggest and most important statements. It's he who said to Megan Kelly, unipolar moment is over, that was only an aberration.

We're back, we're now in a situation of multipolarity. It's a case of great powers pursuing their own interests. And we must understand that we are one of those great powers, not the hype of power that people were talking about 20 years ago. So that was, that was Rubio. It was a tremendous statement that he made there. And he's just done the same again. He has finally admitted to the truth about Project Ukraine, about what it really was that,

all right, there's Ukraine the country, there's the Ukraine the people, there's the conflict that Ukraine has it had internally. There's the conflict that Ukraine has had against Russia. But on top of that, above all of that, there has been the proxy war, waged mostly by the United States against Russia, but with all the others, the vassals in Europe doing their own thing. Now, what he is in effect saying is that that has to stop. We can't continue like this. We need to find some way back out of this war with the Russians. It has not worked. It's failed. He isn't going out of the way and saying the truth that the United States is on brink of being defeated. He's not saying that. I mean, I think that's still a bridge too far in narrative terms in the United States. So, you know, wait a little, maybe in six months. or even sooner, we will get there.

But what do you say is, we have to get out of this. We have to find a way. That means we have to talk with the Russians. That means we have to see some way of bringing this war, this terrible war, to a stop. And that takes us back to the cutoff of Intel and all of that. Because at the moment, it's only being paused or so we're told. This is all about trying to get the Ukrainians to come. commit to negotiations. But if you start pausing something that is this important, you are making

it very, very clear that you are no longer committed to this enterprise. And one way or the other, the United States at some point over the next six months, gear at most, is going to extricate itself from this war, which has gone so badly wrong. So that is what I think this is. Yeah, and Zelensky's message yesterday, his video message, not the letter X post, which was the same thing, the letter that Trump mentioned in his speech to Congress and what he posted on X was the same thing where Zelensky doesn't apologize. Everyone says he apologized. No, no, he didn't apologize. He actually was talking again about security guarantees and he was pushing Macron's no-fly truce in that ex-post letter. So there was no apology there, but the video that he put out the other day.

was much more defiant towards Trump and the United States. Basically, he said, you know what, I'm okay with Europe. I don't need you. You're dropping me? No, no, I'm dropping you. That was the message that Zelensky wanted to put out there. And it just feels that Stammer and Makron are telling him stuff that is going to lead him towards a terrible defeat.

That's how it feels. they're really pumping up his head with ridiculous stuff. And that takes us as well to the news that the United States is interviewing possible replacements. And not solutionally. I think that's important. Yes. Not solutiony.

Because I have the sense that solutionie is a UK guy. He's not a US guy. Anyway, your thoughts on this and we'll wrap up the video. No, you're completely correct. It was an incredibly defiant statement that he made. That letter, which is identical to the tweet, the ex post that he made, it's exactly the same. The wording is clearly identical. Not only does it not apologize and talk about security guarantees, but to the extent that the language is a bit more, is a bit softer, it's because it was written for him.

I mean, that letter has been massively negotiated with the French and the British. Now, what the French and the British are trying to do is because they know perfectly well that Europe cannot continue this by themselves. They're trying to get Zelensky back in line. They're terrified, again, that the Americans and the Russians are going to leverage Zelensky out, put a new leader in place in Kiev, and he will then do the deal with Russia. That's their latest. I mean, that's what this is all about. So they're trying to stop that because that would be a terrible admission of defeat if that happened and all of those things.

And it would make it easier for the Americans to start packing their bags and leave Europe, which Trump certainly is disgusted with. And it would leave the European leaders high and dry. Anyway, they're trying to stop that. So they're trying to stop that by keeping Zelensky in place. So they're trying to tell Zelensky, for heaven's sake, man, go along with what the Americans are saying. We understand that you really, while holding up for security guarantees, we understand that you want all of these things. But the Americans are not going to give them to you. Not now. Trust us. We'll get them for you. But in the meantime, do your deal with the Americans. Sign that mineral rights deal. Do all of those kind of things.

because you need the Americans, we can only do so much that this is the thing. Zelensky is absolutely full of nonsense, as we've seen. I mean, his head is full of absurdities. But behind it all, beneath it all, there is also a logic, because what Zelensky most wants is not a continued flow of weapons. The Europeans obviously can't supply weapons

to Ukraine at anything like the same level that the Americans can and he knows it and that the war is going to end soon in some form. He knows that too. What he wants

is what the Europeans are in a position to give him. He wants money. That's what he's all about ultimately. I mean, you said it's so many times for him and for so many people in Ukraine. It's a grift. So he wants money. He wants to pay off

the various oligarchs there. He wants to keep the civil service and other salaries being paid at least for the while. He needs the people of the security police to be paid to in order to protect him for whatever regime change operation, the Americans and perhaps the Russians have in mind. he wants to keep this money flowing and he wants it flowing for at least the next couple of months so that everybody in Kiev or his friends and his team and all the really important people can you know sort it away in their numbered accounts in all kinds of places in the Caribbean in the Seychelles or wherever before the curtain is finally pulled down so he doesn't need Or so he thinks the Americans for that, the Europeans, they can do it for him.

And if the Europeans are short of cash, well, there's a nice tidy sum of $300 billion in Russian assets. Why don't we plunder that now? And it's not a coincidence, by the way, that over the last couple of days, there's been article after article plugging away this story about confiscating the Russian assets. It's again being talked about relentlessly. You could see actually where Zelensky is coming from. And that's what his priority is. The Americans have sussed it out.

The Europeans probably understand it too. But they don't feel able to put a stop because from their point of view, Zelensky at the moment is their man. He's their man in Kiev. They want him to remain there, but they want him to remain there for a different purpose from his purpose. They want him to remain there so that there isn't a deal done with the Russians by the Americans and the Russians.

And Project Ukraine, for the moment at least, can keep going and the Americans can be tied in. Yeah. I got that sense too that, listening to his statement that Stamer and Macron probably told him, don't freak out. about the money. We got you covered with the 200 or 300 billion in frozen assets. That was my sense of his statement. Just finally, the interesting thing about the 300 billion is that France is saying that they'll take the money. There's some debate going on in France as well, but there are parts

of the French government which are saying, we'll take the money, but we'll use it as a guarantee and then loan it to Ukraine, which I found to be just an amazing statement from some officials in in France, anonymous officials that were speaking to various media outlets. They'll take the 200 billion or 300 billion and then they'll use it as a guarantee and a loan to Ukraine. It just shows you where all their heads are at. Well, absolutely, a loan which will never be repaid, because I mean, which they know, I mean, they know that it will never be repaid. But, you know, that's, as you absolutely say, that's, they want to come up. with some kind of legal device that will justify doing something, which their own finance

minister, the French finance minister, admitted the other day, is completely illegal. Now, any lawyer will tell you that when people come up with complicated devices and plans of this kind, what they're actually doing is admitting guilt. If you're doing something perfectly legal, you do it straightforwardly. If you're coming up with all of these complex projects and things like that, you're just telegraphing to the world. And, well, in the case of legal cases, to the court, then, you know, perfectly well, what you're doing is wrong.

But, you know, that's the kind of place that Europe is in today. And those are the kind of people we have. Those are our rulers. I don't think anybody who watches our programs is at all surprised about. that, but, you know, that is the kind of people who lead Europe today. I mean, the old days, I mean, you know, Napoleon, Talley, de Gaulle, Louis X, Colbert, they would have just, they would have just, I mean, they must be spitting in their graves at the thought of what's become of France. And that France of all countries, you know, the great nation, as it calls itself,

should be reduced to this. Yeah. All right. All right, we will end the video there. The durand. Dotlogles.com. We are on Rumble Odyssey, Pitch, Telegram, Rockfin, and X. Go to the Duran Shop, pick up some merch like what we are wearing in this video update. The link is in the description box down below.

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