The Duran Podcast - NATO humiliation, Macron escalation w/ Ray McGovern (Live)

Episode Date: April 9, 2024

NATO humiliation, Macron escalation w/ Ray McGovern (Live)

Okay, we are live with Alexander Mercutis, and we are very happy and very honored to have with us, the great Ray McGovern. Mr. McGovern, how are you doing today? I'm doing fine, even though it's a little early where I sleep. We have your information. Ray McGovern's information, his site is in the description box down below. I will also add it as a in comment as well. And let's just say a quick hello to everyone that is watching us on Rockfin, Odyssey, Rumble, the durand.orgals.com and on YouTube.

And a big hello to our amazing, awesome moderators. I hope everyone is doing well. Alexander, Ray, we have a lot of stuff to get to, a lot of news to talk about. So, Alexander, let's get started. Indeed, let's start. Let's start with Crocus City Hall because an awful lot of things there. And Ray, you've been following this story very closely. The Russians increasingly talking about Ukraine and Ukraine having a connection. And I think that, Ray, if I understand you, you'd be looking specifically at this warning that the Americans gave. and it seems to be focusing very much on this concert

which took place at Croker City Hall on the, I said, the 9th or 10th of March and of course this is your world. You know what about warnings and things and this kind of information the CIA gives. I'm just going to just throw in my own observation here. That concert, the man who was at the center of it is a man called Yaroslav Dronov, known to most people in Russia as shaman.

He's a nationalist Russian rock singer. He falls precisely into the category of people like Zahar Prilipin, Alexander Dugin, the man called, you know, we know as Vladlian Tatarski, the kind of cultural figures in Russia who would be. interest of the Ukrainians, but perhaps not so obviously interesting to ISIS. That's just the thought. What do you make of this? Well, it's a suggestive thought. Isis, Cuy Bono for ISIS,

Isis construct of the CIA in NY6. What strikes me most is what I think is the most obvious Alexander, And that is simply that the U.S. immediately, after the incident, without a day going, without many hours going by, said, wasn't Ukraine, wasn't Ukraine? It was ISIS, ISIS K, to be precise. Huh? I mean, it doesn't make any sense. Why would they offer this instant denial?

I mean, it don't have to be very imaginative to come up with some reasons for that. Now, Putin and his colleagues in Moscow, they adopted a different approach. It's rather consistent with their modus operandi. They wanted to find out some evidence, right? Well, the first thing came to light is, hey, these guys were headed for the Ukrainian border. Whoa, that's interesting. Oh, wait a second, there was a window open on the Ukrainian border ready to accept. I'll win.

Do you think Ukraine might be involved? Well, let's look at the cell phones that we have now. Oh, a lot of victorious parading by Ukrainian forces. So looking more and more suspicious. Do we say it was Ukraine? Not yet. We're still amassing things. We're going to bring it to the UN.

We're going to show people what we have before we go off at the mouth, as the US has already done. And then with respect to the Shaman concert, you know, if you look at that recording of the one on the 10th, you could see what a patriotic fervor he installs in people and how they react to him and how he, you know, Yeah, Ruski, you know, and they're going, yeah, me too, you know. And then the Irish National Anthem, always to end his performances.

Well, his premiere of those three days in Moscow was the ninth, the ninth, seventh, and eleventh. You could see it on the placards that I finally found on the lampposts in Moscow, okay? The ninth was the first. When was the warning given to American and British citizens? The seventh. What did they say? 48 hours. Oh, 48 hours.

Okay. The math works, okay? Was this the big premiere, which all of the first. a muckety mucks would appear it was. This is the big deal, the initiation of this wonderful series concerts. So what little I can piece together is that something was known about the intention to do this within 48 hours, and I would remind people that the Russian presidential election was just one week away, okay? The 15th, 16th, 17th, so if this, the idea of this thing was to embarrass the Russia to show that,

well, Putin may have this fake vote, but look how vulnerable he is, for God say. Then after the 14th, and more precisely, after the election, well, the reason d'etre for this attack seemed to have been, seemed to have disappeared. So everyone's surprised. I don't know if everyone, but most people, I was, that this thing still happened. And it seems that Putin was as well. So that's all can be said. But there are people that criticize the U.S. for not reissuing the warning.

I don't know how, you know, I don't know if they had more information or whether they thought it was called off or whether Ukrainians proceeded on their own. In any case, let's face it, what I just said is bonkers, okay? The Ukrainians don't proceed on their own. So we even have the New York Times drawing chapter and verse as to how the CIA set up all these things, including murder regimes, and that sometimes they get out of hand and they do things that the CIA really doesn't want it to train to be sure, but they don't want them to do. So this whole business about whether you could do this independently.

Of course they could not on the 9th. Whether they could have on the 22nd? I don't know. Who do you blame? Who is it? Botenikov? The KGB successor organization internally in Russia said in the corridor to some press representatives

that, yeah, of course it was the U.S. It was UK. It was Ukraine. Of course it was, though. He doesn't usually go off at the mouth. And yeah, that's another thing to crank into the calculation. Whatever happens here, and I just conclude this long-winded answer with this, you know, there's an old tried and trusted strategy that the U.S. has learned to use ever since the K-A-L-O-O-7 shootdown, the Korean Airlines back in 1983 with 267 passengers, right, killed. The U.S. at the U.N., the Russians did this, and they did it deliberately. They shot it down deliberately, okay?

Now, was that true? Of course it was. Did the Russians know it was a passenger plane? Not true. Later, from the guy who fixed the video to be shown at the UN, that cut out the part, that demonstrated the Russians were in a quandary. They didn't know what kind of plain this was. There hadn't been an intelligence plane in there just hours before.

They had no way of finding out what kind of plane it was. And the guy got the order to shoot and he shot. But they didn't know it was a passenger plane. So what do you do? You're black and the Russians, and you suppress any evidence that is expulsory. Now, the guy in question, Alvin Snyder, wrote a book about this. Nobody knows about it. But his final conclusion, the moral he drew from this was, look, all countries lie,

even my country, the United States of America. I learned that during this episode. The key is, whoever lies first wins. Okay, so I offer that to maybe explain this instant. It wasn't Ukraine. It was ISIS. Whoever lies first wins. And the setup in the UN is such the matter of how much demonstrative proof,

Putin and associates may be able to adduce. There's going to be trouble at the Security Council because people are predisposed not to believe. the Russians and to believe whatever Kakamami explanation comes up out of the US and great Britain. Indeed. I'm going to just say two things. I mean, I remember the K-HEL's double-07 affair very, very well. And, of course, the thing then is that, of course, the Russians were not particularly good at explaining themselves in those days.

I mean, they waited for days, I think, before they got the chief. of the general staff, I'm sure you remember him, or Garkov, to come along and give a press conference. I mean, they allowed the Americans to run away with the narrative very, very quickly. The problem, I think, with this kind of strategy now is that the Russians have got much wider to it, and they counter it much more quickly than they used to. Anyway, but, you know, I overall, I accept what you say. In the West, at least, the American version of events is going to going to prevail. We'll just have to wait to see what the investigation says. Can I just a little footnote to that, Alexander? They were in an inter-eranium. They had these

old guys in power after Bershenov left. They were under the gun. I mean, I'm not making excuses for their lack of PR ability. You're quite right about that. But Reagan had just called them the evil empire. There were all kinds of really really unnecessary demonstrative attacks on the Soviet regime in those days. And one reason this is so important is that during that year, 1983, we came very close to nuclear war when in November, so September, September is the KAL. Two months later, the U.S. mounted this incredible strategic exercise that the Russians took as the real thing. Now, I know about that. I was an active duty. One of my colleagues, Mel Goodman,

whom I think you know, tried to get Bobby Gates as superior to get them to tone that exercise down because the rest of you take it a serious. It's not on top of my wish list to make the oceans happy, typical attitude. They went around Gates to Casey and said, Mr. Casey, look, please tell the NSA to knock it off, at least delete the vice president of participation in this. Casey did when things calmed down. And we know from, what was the name? Go to Gill. There was a Russian spy.

MI6 was running that reported to the British Prime Minister. Yeah, this was the real thing. You guys called it off just in time. So what am I saying all this stuff? It's not just to hear my government speak. It's to say we're in exactly the same situation. Now, relations are even worse. I mean, that was Cold War.

This is a worst Cold War. Worse of all, we don't have any way of communicating with these people, at least none that I know of. And so to think about how things could go down really quickly is to think about what might happen, and we should all, as we do, try to warn people about that. Now, we're getting, and we say things are even more, dangerous the russians are hearing all this talk in europe about sending troops to ukraine

mccrins continues to talk about this we've had articles in the wall street journal in which he's giving assurances to the americans and the germans also we're told that if french troops and ukraine get into trouble america nato doesn't need to be involved now i'm assuming the russians are reading all these articles in the war street journal they must be listening to what mackron always saying they've had a very tough and rather unpleasant conversation between their defence minister and the French defence minister. What must the Russians be making all of this? I mean, again, to me, I mean, you talked about Able Archer, dangerous as that was, this sounds to be more dangerous still. And do people in Washington understand the, the,

enormous risks of this? No. In answer to your last question. And there's the fly in the ointment. None of these people have any real experience in strategic matters. None of them even wore a uniform, even as a, well, maybe a Coup Scout, okay? Biden himself. How many deferments during Vietnam?

Five, count them, five. Same as Dick Cheney, by the way. Blinken, Sullivan never put a uniform on. They think, they have this idea that they really are exceptional. They're indispensable, and they have never been held to account for any of their mistakes. They come from a very well-polished shoe factory called the Ivy Leagues. So, you know, it's the same as the best and the brightest in Vietnam, for God's sake. And I remember that to a tee.

Same schools, same people, same kind of not only exceptionalism, a sort of racism, which says, oh, those naked feet pattering around those naked brown feet and the jungles of Vietnam, they can never defeat the United States. Matthew Ho, very high State Department official in Kabul tells me it was the same attitude. when he raised the fact that this is a fool's ever in Vietnam, for God's sake, we try to tell people, the attitude was that. You think we could lose to those people?

Those people are what, that's the attitude of Blake and Sullivan. So I think I'm answering your question and around about what, you are. You are, because, I mean, this is my own view. I mean, what Macron may be saying to the Americans that if I get into trouble in Ukraine, you don't need to worry because, you know, I'm on my own, is not, I think, what Macron is going to say if he does get into trouble in Ukraine,

he's going to be phoning Washington and he's going to say, America saved me. I mean, that is where, that is what he's really going to do in that situation. He's not just going to sit back and let France be humiliated in that kind of way in Ukraine. And I don't think this ought to be difficult for people to understand, but it doesn't seem as if people in America do understand.

Well, Alexander, are you suggesting that we should not trust the French? Yes. You know, veteran intelligence professionals for sanity, just four weeks ago now, wrote our last memo to the president saying, look, this is what's going to happen. He's going to get involved, and he's going to say, hey, worded Ato. So he's going to invoke help from you. He's going to ask you at least get your nuclear carriers prepared.

And what you need to do, Mr. President, is say, no, no, no, now before he does this stuff. Now, there were certain noises out of Washington about three weeks ago saying, no, the president made it clear that this would not be a NATO operation. Well, this is going to prevent Macron from doing that kind of thing? It's called a mousetrap. The first such mousetrap I saw was when Alan Dulles, headed the CIA, mousstrap John Kennedy, into approving the Bay of Pigs on the condition, conditions set by Kennedy. we will not commit any active military forces. If you get bogged down on the beach, shall not be a pig.

Just don't count on any U.S. military support. Well, they knew better. And in coffee stay notes found on Alan Dulles' desk after he died, so, well, John Kennedy, he will be in a position, though. He cannot let this enterprise overthrowing Castro. not succeed. So when push comes to show there will be no alternative for him giving us the armed forces support that he thought he could deny us. So Mousetrap, yeah, that's the way very clever

people like Alan Dulles and Emmanuel Macron operate. So yeah, you're right to blow the whistle on that and to raise the alarm still higher, Alexei. Now, you bring me, you bring actually a good point up because, of course, Kennedy was a very clever man, very clever man. And he was surrounded by very, very clever people. And I remember you telling me once that analysis, the quality of analysis in the CIA was pretty much at its peak at that time. I think I remember you saying that. That was pretty much at its peak and around the time of the Kennedy era. And, you know, I've got a book somewhere back there. It's a famous book by former CIA person, and vast piles of it

didacted out from the 1970s, talking about the conflict, I don't know whether this is true, but that's what that book says, the conflict between people who do operations within the CIA and the people who do analysis within the CIA. And that this was a healthy conflict

and very important to preserve. And it looks to me as if everybody who runs CIA now comes from operations. And I get the sense that the analysis, the advice to the president isn't being provided as it ought to be,

because surely it is the job of the intelligence people first and foremost to alert the president of the United States to the fact that a trap is being laid for him by Macron and people like that. This is a mass trap type of state. situation. Yeah, Alexander, you put your finger on it again. It's their job, if they know about it.

Now, just one final word of the Bay of Pigs. I was just reading an Arthur Schlesinger, the historian, working for Kennedy on contract, I guess, back in those days. He wrote a memo, and he found out that the analysis division of the CI was not informed about the Bay of Pigs operation, nor was it asked, is it true? As these operatives say, that if we land on the beach, there'll be an uprising, and people will overthrow Castro because he's hated so much. Is that true? Never asked, never asked.

So this structural fault, you know, has been, existence to the very existing beginning of the CIA, we used to be able to, at least on Soviet foreign policy, we used to be able to tell it like it was because it was so damn important. You know, we had to get that one right. And we did witness the fact that we were able to negotiate a strategic arms limitation treaty, the ABM Treaty in 1972. It happened to be in Moscow then. I've worked on all that, okay? But now, Lacey's a lot. more recently, the analysis division, which always got about 1.100th

amount of money and the operation, they've been splished together. They're working intertwined. The analysts are doing targets. And if they do any substantive intelligence, as you say, well, let's see how that smells. Whoa, July 7th of last year, our president getting up and saying,

Putin has already lost in Ukraine. The head of the CIA, William Burns saying six days before, Putin has found as many strategic defeat in Ukraine. His armed forces have been shown up for worthless for the whole world to see. So that was July last year. Whoa, they should have won hands down by now, right? Russia thing? Why is it that they need 60 billion more to prolong this thing to November and get it past the election? It's just so cynical. And if this is what the analysts are telling their leaders of Bill Burns and April Haynes and the president himself, we're in trouble deep because it's not true. And if people don't know that's not true, that can end up, as the Chinese used to say, That could be a very sad end indeed.

No good end is with the thing. Absolutely. And I mean, more things. I was reading yesterday a long article by somebody called Matthew Blackburn in the national interest. Never, I read one article by him previously, by the way, but I don't know much about him. I don't know who he is or anything about him. But it was an interesting article. It talked about the looming debacle.

in Ukraine. It talked about the fact that an awful lot of people had got Russia profoundly wrong. Well, you brought up veterans intelligence professionals for sanity, everything of which they write, by the way I read. I think it is indispensable. It shows that the powers of analysis for which the United States was famous and which, by the way, they invented, the whole concept of analysis really starts from the United States. It's still there. There are people in the United States and VIPS who still do that sort of work.

They didn't get it wrong. Vips didn't get it wrong. Someone may be in the United States government's got it wrong. But incredibly, that fact is still not acknowledged even now. We're still getting people making the identical mistakes, pressing on repeating the same errors. Putin is at the end of his rope. The Russians are at the end of their rope.

We need to tighten up sanctions even more. Jeffrey Paiat talking yesterday, we must stop Russian LNG imports. That will get the whole thing crashing down. I mean, at Vips, I mean, you must be concerned about this. I mean, well, I know you are, but I mean, Babi can enlarge on this. I mean, the fact that this kind of incorrect information is being passed on to policy makers all the time.

And I personally am very concerned when I see the Director of National Intelligence turning up in Congress as a lobbyist for the administration. I don't understand why she is doing that. I would have thought that is not what the Director of National Intelligence. and the director of the CIA ought to be doing. Their job surely is to brief the president and to provide impartial and objective advice. That's exactly right. Averill Haynes, the Director of National Intelligence,

has no intelligence experience. She's got a lot of political experience. She was handpicked by John Brennan. Why? Well, because they needed somebody that would do what John Brennan wanted. And then when John Brenner got into really deep trouble by hacking Senate Intelligence Committee computers, then they needed somebody to bail them out. And so, April Haynes was drawn over to the National Security Council where her first job was to investigate,

whether John Brennan was misled or how he came to approve the hacking and she exonerated everybody, okay? And then she was picked to run the national study about COVID, okay? And then she came up with this thing, well, you know, these animals, they can catch this stuff and all this business. And it turns out now that it was a leak from the lab for sure, height of function. or accelerated function, Fouchi, it's all pretty clear now from documentary evidence. So what's the latest job she had? Well, they put her in charge of intelligence.

So what's the first thing she says? Right after the special military option begins, she's interviewed. Well, it's December the 3rd, 2002. And she's asked, So how's a look? And she's, oh, it looks really good. The spring offensive, the Ukrainians are going to, that's going to really carry the day.

You know why? Because the Russians are running out of ammunition. And worse than that, they don't have any indigenous capability to replace the ammunition and the weaponry that they need. So things are looking pretty good. Huh? And then she's asked, well, what about China? Oh, you know, China and Russia, they sort of play it both ways, you know.

They have meetings. They have a lot of meetings. But we don't see that the Chinese are really helping the Russians in any material way. So we watch this closely, but mostly they just have meetings. Well, yeah, they have meetings like the 4th of February, two or three weeks before the invasion of Ukraine. meeting Beijing Putin Xi

Comrade Shi looks like we're going to have to invade Ukraine just wanted to let you know that at a time I know this goes against your bedrock must fail your policy but Xi's response in my view

you mean not until after the Winter Olympics in Beijing are over right right? Right The 20th, they're over, the 21st. The treaties are signed with the Nieszvon, the 24th, the Russians could win. You can't tell me that Xi Jin didn't give at least his nihil Lopstadt. You know, you got to do what you got to do.

And the change in Chinese public statements, I'm going to say propaganda, but it's more than that, it's public statements, went away from Westphalia, and it went directly to every situation. has to be judged by its own merits. And when existential threats come to a major power, this is what happens. It was amazing. I was surprised. All my Chinese friends were surprised, but that's what happened.

Now, that was a meeting, right? The fourth, there's going to be another meeting. I don't know if this has been announced yet. Lavarovus, you know, as Beijing as we speak. But I fully expect that Putin will find his first visit abroad. to Beijing, I would guess maybe as early as next month. And that will be a meeting just as crucial as the one in February 2002, because Ukraine will have it to de novo just around that.

And the Russians to the Chinese got to figure out how they're going to react if the U.S. and NATO escalating still further. I think I'm right in saying that Chinese-Russian relations was an area that you were particularly expert on. It was something that you were working especially hard on whilst you were there at the centre of everything, giving the advice and analysing things in a way that doesn't seem to happen anymore.

By the way, the Chinese media, but they're quoting Reuters, but they're not contradicting Reuters. They're saying that he's coming, Putin is coming to Beijing in May. How good? A few weeks gone. Yeah.

So, I mean, you know, the, Chinese media was saying that. They say something else and it's very interesting and now I've seen I think three articles in the Chinese media saying all of this which is that you know we're in a very strong position with the Americans now we can start to lay out red lines over Taiwan and all kinds of things we can start to take very tough line with Biden about our issues because the United States is trapped in Ukraine. I've actually seen that. The Chinese are actually saying this. I mean, articles are saying this, that the United States is so tied down now in Ukraine and it's so tied down in the Middle East that we are actually in a strong position with respect to the Americans.

You know, they may be threatening us with sanctions, but we know how to deal with that. We've dealt with that before. We got that under control. We're a strong position with the because the Americans are trapped in Ukraine. That was actually the word that was used. And that is starting to appear in the Chinese media. I don't know whether anybody in Washington is aware of this, but this is something I've started to see over the last couple of days. Well, Alexander, you and I came up on Kremlinology and media analysis,

a very lucrative subset of political analysis. political analysis, you can glean a hell of a lot from the media even now, okay? But in response to, let's put Xi and Vladimir Vladimir, together now in Beijing a couple of weeks from now. My God, what's going on? The Americans are taking it on the chin in Ukraine in supporting genocide and Gaza. We got Marines about nine miles offshore, the Chinese mainland. They're still threatening things on Taiwan. I mean, don't they realize what a weak position they're coming from all the more so since we're joined at the hip.

Don't they know that? And the answer, disquieting as it is, is they don't appear to. Biden says the same thing in private as he says in public. Look, he quotes Melan Albright with great honor and respect. We are the so indispensable country in the world we can do what the hell we want. And this never became clearer than at the end of a 60 Minutes interview about five weeks ago, where the interviewer says, aren't you afraid of like a two-front war in Ukraine and the Middle East now? and Biden does it, this is exactly Biden, he said,

we're the United States of America. The most powerful country in the history of the world, in the history of the world. Now, I mean to make fun of him, this is deadly serious. He still thinks that he can't be disabused of this notion. So, when Putin says, I prefer Biden over Trump because he's more predictable.

My God. What's that? You really have a predictable person like Biden, but how can you predict what Biden will do if Ukraine starts to go down in such a way that it means he loses the election ipso facto? He's got personal stake in this. He's got Sun Hunter. He's got Blinkett.

and Andrew Sullivan, not Andrew Sullivan, Jacob Sullivan, in court documents, guilty as sin in many of the respect. They have to be afraid that if that other fellow comes in, they go to jail. So there's a personal stake in this thing too. So what's the outcome? Do we give up? No, they're not going to give up. What do we do?

F-16, that's not going to be enough. So, as I've said before, what scares the hell out of me is that these, neophytes will say, well, Mr. President, we do have these low-yield nuclear weapons. And we could maybe stage a little, oh, a little false flag attack and blame it on the Russians, but the Russians will know that it was we, and that should hold them for, well, until November, and that's all we need. Is that beyond them? I don't think it's beyond them, but it doesn't matter all I think. It matters what Vladimir and Xi Jinping think. Absolutely. I mean, I think this is absolutely the case if you look at Russian commentaries.

And of course, the Russian media isn't as controlled as it used to be. But nonetheless, you can still get an awful lot of sense of what people are talking about. They nonetheless, they are concerned about these things. They are worried about possible American escalations in exactly that way. But they've also, I think, come to the view. And I think that this is clear to me. that whatever it is the Americans have in mind, the Russians have no choice for the moment,

but to continue what they, to continue to do, what they are doing, unless and until the Americans come to their senses, they have no reason, as they see it, to do anything else. So they will continue. Yeah, as Putin himself has archfully put it, we don't think we have to negotiate

just because you're running out of them. ammunition. So you're right. I see the, I see Putin, even under this provocation on 22 March, the name of the game is attrition. You're a trip, you're a trip, you're a trit. And anyone wants to know about that just needs to tune into your programs, both of you, to, on a daily basis, see how that attrition is coming. Now, will Putin be underpunuchin? Be under pressure to do a big arrow offensive and go all the way to the Zinnepa River? Yeah, he'll be under pressure no matter what comes out of that investigation of the Seris, the Tech in Moscow. Will he succumb to that pressure? I don't think so. Putin has never been riding as high

as he is now after that election. And there's no sign, as we used to be highly alert for, of substantial opposition within the leadership there. They're all behind them full square. Each time there may be some doubts for the U.S., well, the U.S. or the Ukrainians or the British do something so heinous. They're going to be all together on us. It's an old Russian thing, togetherness.

They learned it in spades during World War II. And now when Putin says, we are, quote, one step away from World War III, They know what that means. The Jacob Sullivan's of this world do not. Do not. Let me just go quickly back to China. I mean, if they do think that America is dangerously out of control,

but they also think, as they're saying, that it's trapped in Ukraine, coming back to your point about Russian-Chinese cooperation, isn't that a reason for the Chinese to continue their cooperation with the Russians? I mean, to continue to provide the machine tools and the microprocessors and all of those things that the Russians probably do need and probably are accessing from China at this particular time. Of course. There's a very mutual beneficial relationship there, the Chinese drinking all of the Russian oil that they possibly can and the Indians as well. So, yeah, the Chinese will continue to do what they have been doing. I noticed that when Janet Lellen started Lillen at the Chinese this past week, telling them, look, you're overproducing. You're making too much stuff.

That's hurting us. You've got to stop that. And her intellectual said, no, actually, we're trying to follow the rules of the market economy. So, you know, this whole business is about... all of a sudden blaming the Chinese for making it possible for the Russians to win in Ukraine. Well, they have to blame someone. And they get two birds with one stone if they blame China, because they want to blame China anyway. But the notion that all of a sudden China is responsible for enhancing the Russian economy after two years

and making a possible from the win, well, you can believe that, I suppose. You can also believe that the Russians are using chemical. weapons on the front. There's stories about that now. You can believe all kinds of stuff in the Western media. Of course, that's the nub here. I go back to the media. And let me just adduce one short story that's so illustrative. Robert Perry was my mentor as a journalist. And when Fred Hyatt of the Washington Post, who ran their editorial, their op-ed section since before, before the war in 2003 and reported 85% of the time weapons of mass destruction as flat fact in Ukraine but in Iraq, okay? The Columbia journalism review had them up there. And some of these bright

students, naive as they were, they said, now, Mr. Hyatt, you kept reporting weapons of mass destruction as flat fact in Iraq and there weren't any. What do you say to that? And he said, well, if the weapons of mass destruction were not there, we probably should have not said that they were. Bob Perry puts an elbow in my solar plexus. This is Ray. I think that's a cardinal precept of honest journalism.

If something is not there, they're not supposed to say it is, right? Well, what happened to Fred Hyatt? Here's the teaching point. Well, he was immediately fired, right? No, no. He stayed up and ended in the Washington Post for 20 more years until he died, for God's sake. So that's it. Nobody's ever held accountable, whether they're in the media, whether in the deep state,

there isn't the power or any president even to hold people accountable. The media and the deep state is synonymous now. Rule the roost. Absolutely. It wasn't true, despite what people say, it wasn't true in the 60s and the early 70s. I mean, I can remember that in those days, there was a much more critical media than there is today. And it was a much more critical media in which CIA government used to have to function. I mean, they knew that, you know, if they did things and that they were leaked to the media,

the American people would find out about them. Congress would find out about them. There would be people in Congress who would be concerned about them. And that, I say this all the time, made for a much better information environment. You know, people often say, you know, the CIA in the 70s and 80s failed. They didn't predict the fall of the Soviet. I can remember that time. I can remember the kind of data we were getting from the U.S.

US intelligence community at that time. And I'm going to say it. I think it overall was Stan stood up pretty well looking back at what happened. You know, the US was pretty well informed. The US government at least was pretty well informed about the state of things in the Soviet Union in many places. And that isn't true any longer. And the media in those days was a part of that.

Yes, now the media is the fulcrum. You know, I use this acronym, the Mickey Matt, military, industrial, congressional, intelligence, media, academia, think tank complex, the evolving of the Mick, the military industrial complex. Eisenhower warned us about 62 years ago. So, okay, so what is the, why do we say media, as if in all, tax. Well, because the media is really the fulcrum, the lynchman here. Without the media,

if you don't dominate the media, you can't make any of this stuff happen. And, you know, it's so, it's so obvious that none of us do justice to reminding our audience that people profiteer on all this stuff and people make a hell of a lot of money. And that's what's called the military industrial complex today. And the media is the key. And the media is the And I mean, you guys know that better than I do, but the struggle is always to get out. And of course, the challenge that Julian Assange created and the ability to get stuff up into the ether and down into computers like mine right here, well, that was such a danger. But they had made an object lesson of Julian, poor fellow, friend of mine, a friend of yours as well. And so that's why he languishes still in prison, God help him.

Absolutely. And I think that's an important thing to say. Ray McGovern, I'm going to just finish with one thing. We seem to me we have three major information disasters. We've got an admission now, national interests. It's one, a small place, but at least it's one admission, that, you know, people didn't get Russia right. They didn't understand its political, it's political unity on the question of Ukraine.

They underestimated this industrial, economic resources, something which is extraordinary, actually. I mean, I still find it unfathomable that they got that so completely wrong, that they also underestimated this military resilience. And we have Kurt Campbell, that's the State Department, essentially admitting that,

though he does it in a very roundabout way. They've got the Russian Chinese rapprochement wrong too. I mean, this is where you started. You were telling people in the United States. the 60s actually the Chinese and the Russians are getting on very well then and people didn't believe you now I think you'd be telling us Chinese and Russia's getting it all getting on quite well actually and again people don't believe you but I mean it's a fact that people have got all all that wrong and we've had a spectacular failure in the Middle East as well the whole response to what happened in in on the 7th of October I think everybody can now see everybody who wants to be, you know, honest with themselves,

that this has been a terrible moral, political disaster from every side. I mean, it's been awful what's happened in Gaza. It's been awful what's happened in geopolitical terms as well, to national relations terms, in terms of how things are happening, shaping out in the Middle East. Now, all of these things have happened all at the same time, you know, Russia, China, Russian resolve and power situation in the Middle East. This suggests a deeply dysfunctional system in Washington.

I mean, we might have an election which might actually result in some change in November. Maybe that's hoping altogether for too much. But surely, in the face of all of this, a major reform of, of the intelligence system, the way processes and provides information, is now becoming extremely urgent indeed. And when we talk about the intelligence system, that must include the media landscape also. Or am I wrong?

You absolutely right. The CIA as such should be abolished. If they want to keep covert action and be able to overthrow governments, put that in the Pentagon where it belongs. The CIA director should no longer be authorized under law to perform such other functions and duties as the president shall from time to time direct. that enables a corrupt president or a disengaged president to act like the head of a Gestapo. So that said, the CIA should be abolished. That's not going to be abolished. And my horizon here is November.

And I dare say, if I read Vladimir Putin correctly, his horizon is also November. He has said more than once, and he's seen this from personal experience. The foreign and military policy of the United States is crafted mostly under the dictates of the domestic political situation. So here I'm poaching, and I'm saying, my God, these guys are going downhill, held in the handbasket. What are you going to do? What are you going to do? Well, the first imperative, if I'm poaching, is to not do anything that they can seize as a problem. to do something even worse, okay?

Mini-nukes, for example. Now, that's not completely within my Vladimir Putin's power because they can do a false flag. So let's be on the alert for that, okay? Let's warn the French, if they call Shogu again, make sure Shoygo you tell them, forget about it. You guys are dead as soon as you cross the border. Don't you understand that, okay?

And we won't make believe that you're a NATO country. Well, you are, of course, but we don't believe that's NATO troops. And White House has pretty much said that. And by the way, we know where those bases will be that the F-16s fly out of some of them. If they're in France while, you know, it's too bad about that. You're belligerent now. Now, what else? Well, these next several months are really key.

If $60 billion more is appropriated, to help Ukraine is not going to make one bit of difference on the battlefield. I can explain that, but you guys have already explained that quite well. So what does that mean? That simply means that Congress is even more committed, even more committed to making sure that we support Ukraine for either as long as it takes or for as long as we can. So the danger period is between now and November.

I think it's very fortuitous that Putin and Xi Jinping will be meeting next month. They'll be figuring out how much alert they need to put their forces on and how much they'll be prepared to dust up a lot of stuff better or more violent than saber rattling, let's say along those islands off the South China Sea

or elsewhere in Syria. or whatever, you know. The Chinese, some Chinese ships are in the Red Sea now. And so Russia's ships are, so things that reach are kind of a deemont. It all depends on what happens in Ukraine. And what I hear Putin and Lavrov saying is, look, you've got a deal at some point. We all feature a deal. Your sat traps, your puppets agreed, and then you put the kibosh on it.

Now, it's not going to be as good a deal, but it can be a deal. And I still think, I'm probably wrong on this, that Adyessa could become an international city. That could be jointly ruled by Russia and some other entity, perhaps even a new Ukraine, okay, so that Ukraine can exist as a viable nation and not just become a farm for the rest of Europe. In other words, they'd have access to the Black Sea. I think that kind of thing is still possible. It was suggested by Poochee himself a year and a half ago. Nobody noticed, except you guys and me, that this was part of that lengthy Q&A,

which lasted three and a half hours. Okay, so you have to read this stuff. You have to stay awake and you have to figure out what this sort of, he called it either a yablita, a zora, either an apple of discord. You know the Trojan War Or a means of conciliating differences in coming to a mutually acceptable agreement,

namely on the status of Adyessa. That was October a year and a half ago. I still think that if the U.S. wanted to tamp down things, they could go back and say, well, okay, could we talk about Adessa first and see if we could salvage some sort of outlet to the sea? In other words, there is flexibility there. The Russians don't want to go all the way to the...

In my view, why should they? They've got what they want now, as long as they can create a hordons sanitaire between them and these long-range missiles on the other side. Sorry to take on so long here, but it's such good. That's a joy to be with you guys and be able to speak with you rather than just watch your wisdom come oozing out of my cathode ray tube. Ray never apologize. Thank you very much for those insights. I'm going to hand over to Alex. I'm sure if there's some questions,

and if you've got time to answer a few questions, that will be read. That one for that. Fantastic. Ray, we do have some questions for you. Ryan says finally catch our live stream, and it's Ray McGovern. Fantastic.

From Ignat, is this with regards to France, possibly entering Ukraine? Is this Dien Bienfou, 0.0. The end what? The end, the end, the end, the end, the end, the end, the end, yeah, oh, jambu foe. Yeah. No, well, there's a difference in magnitude there, of course. The general principle would be right, you have 2,000 murdered rather than whatever it was, 50,000 in jim biu-fou. You know, what's interesting is, they call the French super, you know, the French super,

tank, Le Clack. Now, who is Le Clack? He was one of the most famous French generals there in World War II. He did a terrific job. Okay, so what happens? A year after the war, they send them out to Indo-China, ruled by France, of course, and they say, General LeClaac, you tell us how many troops it's going to take to subdue and get Indochina back in under our orbit. And he goes out there and he writes this message, it will take 500,000 troops and even then we cannot do it. So that's 1946. Fast forward ahead to U.S. involvement of Vietnam.

We put in 550,000 troops, and we still can. may not do it. A mark of the arrogance that U.S. policymakers like the best and the brightest then, like Sullivan and Blinken now, think they can do this and they can't do it. The French couldn't do it. They can't do it. And they can't do it now in these other areas. As soon as they come to realize that, the better for mankind, I could say. libertarian by default asks is there anything russia can do proactively the effect of which would significantly change the west's appetite to keep interfering the appetite will always be there i was thinking the question i was going to say is there is there some artful diplomatic move I think there is.

I would not exclude routine saying, all right, look, there's an immediate ceasefire as far as we're concerned. But it's only of a duration of two or three weeks. We want to start negotiations at that point in time. And if there's no flexibility or there's no wish to even talk to us, well, you draw the necessary conclusions. we will continue a tritting, a tritting, a tritting. I don't know, I haven't thought that through, but there's something that would catch the eye of the world. People would poo-poo it and say this is Russian propaganda.

But why not try it because the world is divided now in a way. It's never been divided before. And the Liliwaite West, in person by NATO, is no longer ruling the Rus. it would have quite a quite a risalance, I think, in the rest of the world. From Sir Mug's game,

Ray, have a little pity for Macron. He's got from sipping Chateau Lafitte, 1952, the gludging Chateau Defeet. Chateau Defeet, 2004 from the bottle. Compliments to Monsieur Putin, of course. Well, let him eat bread, together with that wine. Thank you for that, comment.

From curious enthusiasts, if NATO and Eurasia were enemies, then maybe Ray can explain this. Why has America helped build up China's infrastructure since the 1990s, if not earlier, Ray doesn't seem American thinking that a communist nation is a savior? Is a savior?

Yes, is a savior. Well, all I can say is that the money speaks, It's filthy looser. Clinton and the rest of them saw the offshoring of our major industries as a lucrative thing. And all of a sudden, two decades later they wake up and say, oh, my God, you're producing too much. Cut back your production. It's hurting us, for God's sake. Yellen at the Chinese.

It was a most ludicrous episode. and indeed on the very eve of when Lavrov comes to talk seriously to Xi Jinping. Who met him, by the way? I just learned that Xi Jinping did receive Lavrov. That's unusual. Foreign ministers almost never get to see the Chinese president. So, yeah, it's not so complicated. From Elsa, Mr. McGovern, the memes on your telegram channel are very good.

The what? The memes. The memes. The photos, the comments on your telegram channel are very good. Someone that's following your telegraph. And from, oh, this is from John Ski, I'll try to ask this in the diplomatic way, because I don't really like these questions. For Mr. McGovern, will the deep state try to take care of Trump before the election after or how will Russia-China react?

Gosh, that's a tough one. According earlier, I would have said, oh, come on. But when you look at the Kennedy assassination, when you look at the extraordinary attempts made before the election in 2016, not to assassinate Trump, bodily, but politically, and make sure he didn't win. And then after he did win,

trying to emasculate him from doing anything constructive toward Russia, well, that did happen. So who knows? Trump had no experience in Washington. He was even greener than Jimmy Carter. Those were their tragic flaws. They thought they could rule without that kind of experience and savvy, savvy advisors. They couldn't. And God knows what happened.

to Trump, if he is elected, I'm still thinking that the American people are, by and large, most of them, smarter enough to pick something different. And hopefully Joe Biden will have decided to spend more time with his family. After all, Hunter needs him right now. And that would be the charitable thing to do. And somebody else would rise to the fore. hope springs eternal, but it's there. And it's sort of what has two daughters, anger and courage. Just enough anger and the courage to make it different in the way it has been. Great, great answer.

Let's do one more. We have one more for Ray McGovern. From Andres, ask how are the Paris Olympics tied to the war in Israel and or the special military operation in Ukraine. Do you see any connection between the Olympic Games and Paris and the conflicts that are taking place now? I've seen that speculation rise before. I have to say that I think everything could be judged sui Janus on its own merits. I don't really perceive any such connection, but it wouldn't be the first time that I was wrong. Ray McGovern, thank you. Thank you very much for joining us on this live stream.

I have Ray's site in the description box down below, the link to the website. I will also add as a pinned comment. Thank you very much, Ray. That's a fantastic show. Keep up to good work. And can I also say thank you, Ray, for coming on, and it was indeed a tremendous show. And by the way, just as we've been speaking, just a few moments ago, Tass confirms that Putin is indeed heading to Beijing.

It hasn't given us the date, but it's been confirmed just now by TAS. As Ray predicted. On this show. All right. Take care, Ray. Thanks so much. Thank you.

Bye-bye. All right. Fantastic show, huh? Fantastic show, absolutely. And, of course, from somebody who was there throughout the Cold War. You know, who's been through all of these things. I mean, it goes back to the 1960s of Vietnam, Cuba,

all of that. And he's been there. He's done that. He knows how the system used to work. And you can see how the system works now, which is... Things are getting worse is my conclusion. They are getting worse. They are getting worse.

They are getting worse. They are getting worse. I mean, you know, we had a time when, you know, Kennedy and Nixon had clever people around them, a situation today where they have Jake Sullivan. I mean, that tells you that things are definitely. getting worse. And you had analysts like Ray and now, I don't know. I don't know who's analyzing the situations. Who's breaking things down? Well, they're not. I mean, that's clearly

what's happening. I mean, the national interest article is an actual eye-opener. I mean, it's the first one that really finally gets around to say, we've got this whole thing completely wrong. It's time that we went back to the drawing board and stuff. answers again. I almost felt like he was listening to us. I was reading that article. Might even have been. Anyway, there we are. Yeah. What was the name of the article for people? I think it was the looming debacle. The looming debacle in the, exactly. Okay, the looming debacle in national interest. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Okay. If anyone is interested in that article. All right, let's answer the remaining questions, Alexander.

from Christos Ella. I keep on missing the live. Christos is good to have you here if you caught this live. Only is a new member to the drag community. Ryan, welcome to the drag community. Verde, thank you for that. Super sticker. Agu says Western globalist policy led to the rise of al-Qaeda and ISIS. Now the same policy is supporting the rise of neo-Nazis in Ukraine.

blindness, self-delusion, or something else. Why do they easily dismiss morality? Why do they? Why do they indeed? And I mean, that's a very good point. Because actually, moral policies, and I want to say this, actually, moral policies tend to be the correct ones and the realistic ones at the end of the day. It's when you get loose touch with reality that you start getting involved with really

dangerous people, you think you can control, but ultimately never can. And I think that's an important thing to say and get yourself also in all kinds of terrible situations, like the ones that we're seeing now. Anyway, that is my own view. Is there some great plan behind it all? I don't see it, actually. I mean, is the plan to get us all killed? I mean, that doesn't seem to me to be a good plan because, I mean, you know, if you do that, then you're going to end up being yourself killed. So I think that what we have are people who think they're the masters of the universe,

who think that they're extremely clever, who think that they can control everything. And of course, the reality is they can't. And that's why we're talking about a looming debacle. Elsa says, has Russia learned to control the narrative? No. I mean, they're still massively outmatched by the West in these things. And Putin said as much when he was asked his question, by Tucker Carlson. He says it's all but impossible to win a narrative argument against the United States,

given the extent the lockhold that the US has over the international media. I think, having said that, the Russians could do a lot more for themselves, but they'll, I mean, I accept that, you know, winning a clear-cut victory against the US on this issue, very, very difficult, all but impossible. having said that remember narratives are fictions wars are facts as i say all the time i made this point many many many occasions through katherine i have a german family some of them lived through the second world war those who did pass away now they've talked about this to me many times they tell me how completely they believed the narratives that they were being spun by their leader

and his propaganda minister, up to the point, of course, when the Russians arrived in Berlin. And eventually, the Russians got to Berlin. It can't stop facts crashing through. Trevor says everyone's got a plan till we stab them in the back, Victoria Newland. Yeah. Mark in Texas says, thoughts on Tucker Carlson's claim that Mike Johnson is compromised. Well, I think it wasn't actually Tucker Carlson, so I think it was Marjorie Tellerick. From watching that interview. Well, I don't know. I mean, I'm going to say this. I mean, he's somebody who's come up very quickly, very fast.

I mean, a couple of months ago, I'd never even heard of him. I'm going to say that straight away. Maybe I've, you know, people in the Republican Party, you know, an awful lot more about it. It's just, I think, more likely that he's under colossal pressure for have all. sorts of sides, from the administration, from the deep state, from the rhinos, the McConnell wing of the party, and they are pining on the pressure on him. And I find it entirely understandable why somebody like that who probably isn't bad experienced in foreign policy questions and all sorts of other big questions, why in light of that he's buckling. So maybe he's being blackmailed, something I don't know. Marjorie Taylor Green thinks he perhaps is, but I think you can find

rather more innocent explanations from his side. Maybe he's just not that strong as a human being. Just saying. Zeshawn, thank you for that super sticker. Libertarian by defaults is proud for being a part of the direct community. Thank you. Proud to have you with us. Emile is a new member to the drag community. Eric, actually, thank you for that super chat. Ricardo Afonzo, thank you for that super sticker. The Haki Goli says, Lieutenant General, Sir Simon Mayal claims that Russian armaments are of low quality, downplaying their capabilities. The level of hubris on display is criminal. This isn't a game. Lives are at stake. Absolutely. Well, another

British officer, another British general. I have to say, I am very disdain. I am very disdain. illusioned by the state of the British officer call. I used to give an advice, I'll do an advice clinic for British soldiers. This is a long time ago in the 90s. These were privates and NCOs and I was hugely impressed by them. I greatly liked them. What I'm seeing about British officers at the moment, I say, God help me. I mean, it really is a case of lines led by donkeys, which is what a famous book about the British Army in the First World War says. And by the way, I spoke to one person who is a British, former British NCO, and he told me exactly the same thing.

Pabernak says, can't win a chess match, but can break the chess board. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Paul, welcome to the drag community. Pamela, thank you for that. Super sticker. Nikki Ball says, whoever likes. first wins, a memorable adamant from your first. I'm going to remember that one. I think it's a very, very strong one.

I think I'm right in saying that Ray wasn't saying that that is necessarily true. The point he was making is that that is what these people think. And I think that is absolutely right. Fractured Zero One says Macron is no sun king. but maybe he will inspire more Bastille. Possibly. Possibly. Well, I mean, somebody brought up Dien Béin Fu.

Dienbein Fu ended in a disastrous defeat for France. It's set in train a whole series of events, which ended in the collapse of the French Fourth Republic and the rise of General de Gaulle. So, don't bear that in mind. You know, military disasters can lead to enormous political change in France. And that has happened in recent history. Larka Perka says, any parallel with the attack on Crocus City Hall falling on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Pesach?

None. I'm sure not. I'm sure that this is the timing, in my opinion, of the original plan, exactly as Ray says, was the Russian presidential election. And the target was this concept by Shaman, otherwise Yaroslav Dronov. immensely popular Russian rock singer, strong patriot, very patriotic concerts, an obvious target just before an election, seeking to cause the greatest destabilization possible. Andresen says, please discuss the lack of French involvement with manpower in Africa, but the decision to want full manpower in Ukraine, two wars with the Russians, but not both. You know, it's so crazy. I mean, you know, the French in the end backed off a military intervention in Niger because there was too risky and too dangerous. And they're not talking about an military intervention against Russia in Ukraine. I mean, it just shows how catastrophically bad decision-making in Paris has become.

But there we go. I mean, you know, it's difficult sometimes to explain this in rational terms. I got an long email from someone explaining to me why France is so aggrieved about the loss in West Africa, the enormous benefits, financial benefits that some people in France were making from all of this. But, you know, as a response, this is an utterly stupid one from a country which always prides itself on the, you know, having a people who are particularly clever. Maybe that we should need to rethink that. Yeah, Andres says Alex and Alexander, and now the real media love it.

Thank you, Andres for those questions. Let's see here. Let's go back to YT. Libertarian by default says the EU runs the risk of becoming irrelevant and in decline when the dust settles, the U.S. will eventually course correct with Russia plus they have resources to spend, the EU can do neither. Yeah, no letter person, Vladimir Putin, made exactly that point. He said that one day, the U.S. and Russia will find a way forward together, but Russia and the EU never will.

Brad Arnold says a lot of snowflakes will melt when the Russian army crosses the Dnieper River. That's true, no. Tired looking for name says, if French society forces macon tobacco, doubt, is there a graceful way to exit? I hope so. The trouble is Macrole will never exit. He's far too conceited to ever do that. He's going to try and find some other equally disastrous and crazy way of reestablishing himself as Napoleon or Caesar, the Caesar of the Sen, or Louis Catoz or something like that. Yeah. From Salust, if the

press is the fourth power. It is the least democratic of the four. True enough now. Absolutely. Yeah. Once upon a time, it was different. As Robert Barnes has correctly said, in the United States and by the way in Britain, it was a working class, you know, medium. Most of the people who went and worked in the media in the old days, the really great people, He looked at them. They came from working class demographics. They went, joined the newspapers. They didn't go to university, usually.

They worked their way up. They became investigative reporters. And they were hard-bitten and tough and wily and clever. And they were not easily manipulated. Today, it's not people like that at all. And it's an entirely elite operation run by the same kind of elite people who run government. Yeah. Paul Wooten says, I get the impression NATO perceives Russia is still the Soviet Union.

How to best discuss this important detail with my U.S. Congressman? Thank you. It's true. How to best discuss this with my U.S. Congressman. Oh, how to best discuss this? How, how, yeah. Well, why not confront him straight out? Say to him, you know, why are you so obsessed with Russia? It's no longer communist anymore.

Do you think it is? because if you do, you've got it completely wrong. It's a conservative Christian country now. Commander Crossfire says, just want to put this out there. Russia sent the first satellite into space, the first man, the first woman,

the first black, Asian, Arab, and Latino. True enough. Absolutely, yeah. Thank you for that. Commander Crossfire. Alex Glads, thank you for that super sticker. Jeff Pickford, thank you for that super sticker. Saluste says,

we will not support Ukraine as long as we can as well as it takes, but as long as we can take. That's true enough. Well said. Well said. Let's see here. Amanda Crossbar says the U.S. did not build up China. The notion is an insult to IQ. It absolutely is.

I mean, anybody who knows anything about China, the country's history, the scale of the place, knows that, you know, the China, and, you know, has experience of Chinese people. people. And China is a country that will find its own way and do extraordinary things by itself. It has repeatedly done so. I mean, I don't want to go on about the Great Wall and gunpowder and the compass and all of that. But that is the civilization that we're talking about. And remember, it is the world's oldest state. It's a continuous history going back something like 3,000 years. Alexander Pundiachep says thank you and Alexander also says

Do you think that the West would become authoritarian if the Western elites start to realize that they are losing power in their own countries? Will become or is becoming? Because it is the second. It's becoming more authoritarian every day. Just look at the new law that's passing through the Scottish Parliament about controlling some hate speech, for example.

That is very authoritarian indeed. Go to Belmarsh prison, see what is going on there with Julian Assange. Simon Enifer says, is the veneer of democracy now too expensive a luxury for the deep state, setting the stage for Khazerism in the US? It is what Spengler would expect. Yes, I think you're quite right. I think there is an element of this. I think that there is a very, very deep commitment to democracy amongst the American people. But I think that there is an element within the political and deep state elite that has a completely cynical and manipulative view of it. They talk democracy and freedom and all that.

But for them, it's simply a mechanism whereby they stay in power and they expand that power. Commander Crossfire says, congrats on 400,000 subs. Thank you. Thank you, Commander Crossfire. Thank you. Sparky says great work.

Thank you. Sparky. Elsa says, hearing people like Ray McGovern speak shows how much things have changed, degradation of the West and Russia becoming a truly free country. Yes, completely correct. I mean, it is the world turned upside down for me.

I've said this many times. I remember the old Soviet Union, which was not without its strengths, by the way, despite what people said. But, I mean, it's, it was never really a convincing alternative to the United States, at least not for people, you know, for people, educated people in Europe and indeed around the world. Today, it's so different. Things have changed so completely.

It is astonishing. Death dealer 1341 says, Let's hope we get a new president in the USA before they go to war with Russia. I hope so too. I mean, I actually agree with this. I think that the November election is going to be a key, a decisive turning point. I mean, even if we avoid a war, even if, you know, all that will happen is if the current lot are still there afterwards, is that the decline is going to accelerate. Look at, look at the situation.

As I said, three crises, all happening. at once rapprochement between China and Russia intensifying. Total underestimation. Debarkle, looming debacle in Ukraine, looming debacle in the Middle East, all under the watch of the same people that, you know, we risk having re-elected in November. I mean, it doesn't bear thinking about. Sir Mug's game says in 1648, in 1648, they negotiated the people. peace of Westphalia. In 2024, 2025, the Russians will negotiate the peace of West failure. I love it. Absolutely love it. I'm going to pass that on to a number of people. Glenn Deason will adore that one. Thank you for that. Black in the Empire says, great show. Thank you for that.

John Ski says, what world does the W.EF's 2030 agenda have on the West's policies, if any? The W.E.F. has lots and lots of policies. If you want to see their vision of the world, they've provided it and explained it in massive, prodigious, extraordinary detail. All of these plans that they've come up with are completely crazy and they're all falling apart. globalization, which is the big thing that they were plugging, is falling apart around them. Even they are now starting to admit that. And of course, all the control systems that they're also talking about are also coming apart. The one thing that is still working for them and which they are pushing now even more relentlessly than they have ever done. And it was the thing that they started with is EU integration.

And that's what their main focus is going to be over the next few years. From Andres, what is the possible resolution of the Yemen conflict of the shipping lanes? The US pulls back, peace in Gaza. It's the only one. I mean, there is no conceivable way that this thing can work militarily. And I think everybody now understands that. Simon Hennifer says, will Western leaders ever learn that it isn't money that wins wars? it's a combination of industrial power, the realistic doctrine, and the will to win.

Well, they used to know it. There was a time when Western leaders did understand that. Whether they will ever rediscover that, we'll just have to see. Again, going back to that national interest article, it actually says at one point that far from the West teaching a lesson to Russia. It is Russia that is teaching a lesson to the West. It's actually quite extraordinary, honestly. Bob says grow, grow.

carrots. They are good for you. Yeah, true enough. Sparky says, I hope Trump begins to watch the Duran. He seems to get most of his information from the legacy media so he doesn't know what's actually going on. I hope so too. We'd love to think that, but whether he does or not,

is up to him. Latimeros says, thank you gentlemen very much for inviting Ray McGovern. Still clear and strong minded at his age, unlike Bidenopoulos. True enough. Thank you for that, Latamoreau. Jeff Bigford says, change is essential at this point. in world history, we will escape total chaos, will we escape total chaos and destruction somehow?

Oh, yes, I think so. I mean, I believe so. Despite all the things that we have been saying, there was a Russian official today, says, you know, that NATO will avoid the ultimate crisis, because at some point, you know, self-preservation, concern for self-preservation will get in. And I think he's right. I mean, by the way, it's in TAS. It's there today. It's quite interesting statement. But I think that we will back off.

And I also still believe that, you know, this is a particularly dark period that we're going through. But once we get through it, things will start to get better. So I keep that hope. And, you know, I'm not giving up. As I so often say, despair is a bad counsellor. Zahriel says stupid people think they're smart is equal to dangerous It's true

Yeah Zarael as always you hit the nail on the head Zahir thank you for that super chat OMG puppy says a YouTuber Real Life lore has a recent video about France's economic entanglement with West Africa Playing games with currency Extracting wealth and how they are losing their empire there The person who sent me that email that I mentioned actually provided links to, I think, the article you're referring to.

Zareel says 400,000, Woot, finally great to Jens. Thank you, Zareel for that. Thank you for everybody for that, 400,000. Simon Edwards says, what if the French army refuses Macron's orders? Remember there are letters about the threats of mass migration to France? I'm hearing a lot of rumbles. I'm hearing lots of stories that there are actually lots of disaffection and anger about this within the French military. And, you know, I don't want to make any predictions.

I mean, the French military is very disciplined. And I think French officers are, to be straightforward about it, both grainer and in some ways more disciplined than British officers are. But, you know, there is a history. There has been a history of the military in France. asserting itself so don't discount it entirely summer of 1970 says 400,000 subs. Thank you for that and a couple of more Alexander one sec. they go to Rumble andres says how does one put in a bid for Alexander's book collection when it passes in 60 years. How do they put a bit for how do they put a bit for that book collection

I'll give some thoughts of that. I'll work out something. But you know, you will have to wait 60 years. Do you remember that? And we have a super chat from last live stream. When the live stream ended, the super chat came in as a live stream. And so let me read that one out as well. Random name says, we have a saying here in Russia about a university education. An educated person knows something about everything,

and he knows everything about one thing. Well, that's not bad. It's true. Of course, you know, we had a great philosopher in Greece, Socrates. He said something, which is that I'm the greatest of the philosophers, not because I know everything, but because I know only one thing. And that is that I know nothing. Just think of that. All right. That is everything, Alexander. Wait, sir, Muggs game says, I go to buy the Duran's t-shirt with Mosaic double eagle. Just when I think I'm out, the Duran pulls me back in. Thank you. Godfather three line, yeah. They pull me back in.

All right, that is the live stream. Thank you to Ray McGovern for joining us once again. Ray's website link is in the description box down below, and I will let it as a pin comment. Thank you to everyone that watched us on Rockfin Odyssey. Rumble, YouTube, and the duran.orgals.com. Thank you to our locals community. And thank you to our moderators, Zareel, Valies, Peter, Reckless Abandon. And who else?

I think that is everybody, I think Tisham. I think there's on Tisham, moderating as well. Thank you to our moderators. I hope I didn't miss anybody in the moderation, Alexander. for some final thoughts and we'll wrap it up as I do a final check. It is a fantastic program. As I said, listen to Ray. I mean, it's also just brings you history back, you know, the recent history, which we are forgetting, actually,

or at least not we, not people like us on the Durant, but people in Washington, I mean, they don't think, they don't go back and look at how previous leaders like Kennedy and indeed Nixon and Eisenhower and others handle things. And if they did, they would understand that they handled things differently and a lot better. Reagan as well, by the way. They would understand an awful lot more about how the world really works than they do. And, you know, the thing about that Ray was talking about, the arrogance, the belief in unlimited American power. I can remember a time when America was much more powerful relative to other countries than it is today, back in the 70s and 80s.

They didn't think like that then. They understood the limits of their power much better, and that so improved their decision-making. And, of course, their democracy at that time was so much more vibrant and healthy than it is today. And that improved the quality of their decision-making also, and, of course, it also made their economy and a society much more attractive.

One question came in from Darren Alevi. any chance you guys could do vids on the recent Turkish and Polish local elections and the impact it has on Erdogan and to Donald Tusk? We've touched on the Erdogan election in one of our programs, and we can come back to that about the Polish election, regional elections. I haven't really followed them, to be honest. I need to follow up on that. Yeah.

Yeah. We'll try to do a video on the Polish local, or at least touch upon the Polish. Absolutely, because it's clearly an important topic. Thank you for that. And Harry C. Smith says, has Macron been fighting with his wife, Jukasta? Goodness knows. He was asking. And D. Love, 3679.

Thank you for that. Super chat. All right. That's it. Alexander. Let's wrap this up. Take care, everybody. Thank you very much.

Thank you.