The Duran Podcast - Russia and China diplomacy for war off-ramp. Isolated Biden goes to Israel

Episode Date: October 17, 2023

Russia and China diplomacy for war off-ramp. Isolated Biden goes to Israel

All right, Alexander, let's talk about what's happening in the Middle East with the war, with Israel, Hamas, and Gaza, and the delayed ground operation. Joe Biden, I think, arrived in Israel today, maybe like a couple of hours ago. What's going on? Putin spoke with an ad-in-Yahu as well. and we also had a UN resolution from Russia, which was rejected, as expected. As expected. So what's going on?

Intense diplomatic activity from one side. Russians, the Chinese are now becoming very active in their diplomacy too. Iran always, also. And Biden goes to Israel, not clear what he's coming to do there. Blinken is having what looks to be an increasingly disastrous trip. He went to Jordan and then he went to Egypt and there's now video circulating in which you see him being absolutely taken to pieces by Al-Sisi who is the Egyptian president. And then he went to Riyadh and MBS kept him waiting for a whole night before he actually condescended to meet with him. So anyway, so military build-up, a huge military build-up now, by the United States.

Two aircraft carrier groups, large numbers of aircraft, fighter jets and ground attack aircraft, being just deployed to the Middle East by the United States. F-35 is being sent there. Ground troops also being sent there. A lot of people are now saying this build-up by the United States. States is increasingly looking less like a deterrence mission and more like an operating, you know, setting up the forces necessary to attack someone. We just don't know exactly what is being planned and what is being thought through. But what we do know, and we're now to sit with military preparations for the moment, is that the word last week was that Israel was going to launch its

ground operation into Gaza on Friday or Saturday, and it still hasn't happened. And there's lots of debate and lots of discussion as to why that is. Now, the initial explanation was because the weather was not particularly good. I don't buy that one. I mean, we're talking about the Mediterranean. It's not, as I said, you know, Ukraine where there's mud and all that. they can certainly could carry out a military operation in, you know, cooler weather that we get in the eastern Mediterranean.

So I don't buy that explanation. There's another explanation which is doing the rounds, which is that Israel is worried about what Hezbollah, this Shia militia in Lebanon might do. They've allegedly got 150,000 rockets that they could launch at Israel. They've allegedly got up to 60,000 trained fighters. They got military experience from fighting in the Syrian war. They held back the Israeli army in the fighting in 2006.

So they're said to be a formidable military force. They're backed by Syria and Iran. It's conceivable that Israel is being deterred by Hezbollah. What I would say is, Hezbollah has always struck me as being, more effective in terms of fighting Israel when it is fighting on its own ground and on the defence, as opposed to when it is fighting on the attack. And I suspect that is what the Israelis themselves think about Hezbollah.

So I'm not completely convinced that that is the full explanation. There's said to be divisions within the Israeli cabinet about the ground operation in Gaza. But I think the overall explanation, the thing that is creating the problems is that the Israeli military are reporting back to the Israeli cabinet. And they're saying that this ground operation in Gaza, that the politicians, that Netanyahu in particular, want to see happen, that it is incredibly difficult and that Israel isn't ready for it, at least not ready for it at the moment.

And getting ready for it might be a business of, several weeks, perhaps even longer, more time in fact than the politicians in Israel can wait for and that there is some degree of dissension about this. And

the latest word is that Biden is coming to or perhaps already is in Israel. The Americans are trying to discuss options with the Israelis and if anything does start, if any

ground operation does start. It will certainly not happen whilst he is in Israel and that it will be deferred until after he's gone. So we'll see what happens. Now, I'm just going to quickly say that there's been a number of extraordinary plans which have been floated around. The most dramatic one

is that Israel puts this Gaza under tight siege, stops fuel and food and water going into Gaza bombs Gaza heavily the Egyptians are prevailed upon to open

the crossing points to allow the entire population of Gaza to flee into Egypt there's stories that the Israelis have suggested that a big tent city be created for the refugees and the Gaza in the Sinai Desert and that

Qatar, which has been Hamas, his big financial backer, pay for all of this. I have to say this is, to my mind, I mean, first of all, what is being discussed here is displacement of an entire population. The UN has made it quite clear that they would regard that as a war crime, and I think that is the universal consensus amongst legal scholars who discuss these things.

But put all that to one side, it can only be done if Egypt and Qatar and the other Arab states agree. And Egypt is not agreeing. That's probably the reason for that very difficult conversation between Blinken and Al-Sisi that we've just seen all those, that film of and all these reports of. And beyond that, I can't imagine Qatar

being prepared to foot the bill for something like this. So I think if that was the original plan and that might have been the plan last week, I think it's probably not being implemented. And I think that this is perhaps the reason why the Israelis have had to backtrack and pause and think about what to do.

do and why we haven't had this offensive happen at the moment. The offensive itself is going to be very difficult moving into a densely populated area, densely built up area. There's all these tunnels and bunkers and all of these things that Hamas is supposed to have created. So it's a difficult military operation for Israel to carry out. There's articles now in the Jerusalem Post and other newspapers which are basically saying all of this. And I think the fact that Plan A, which might have been displacement of Gaza's population, and all of that hasn't happened, means that they're now having to look at this Plan B,

and the military are reporting back, we're just not ready. This is going to need a lot more thought and a lot more time if it is even practical at all. So that's probably, that's my guess, as to why we haven't had this military offensive yet into Gaza. And what it is doing in the meantime is that it is opening time and space for negotiations. The Americans are not doing it in any effective way, but the other side,

the Chinese and the Russians, are now very busy. Right. So why so much U.S. military hardware? Well, this is, of course, Is the U.S., well, is the U.S. going to go to war with alongside Israel, or is this meant for Iran? Do you think there could be planning an attack against Iran? Well, I have to say, the sheer scale of it looks to me like it's directed at Iran. Now, the aircraft carrier groups are located in the eastern Mediterranean, but, you know, aircraft have significant range.

they could presumably attack Iran from the eastern Mediterranean. And I have to say that's what it looks like to me. Now the big question is, is this to deter or is this actually to attack

and increasing numbers of people are saying that the sheer scale of the forces which are being deployed and they won't all be there by the way before several weeks have passed.

But the sheer scale of the forces that have been deployed the two carrier groups, the ground forces, and the fighter jets and ground attack aircraft, the F-35s, and the A-10s, they look like they're intended for some big military operation. It could be against Iran. It could also perhaps, in case there's some kind of war involving Hezbollah, be intended to support Hezbollah, an Israeli, battle against Hezbollah, or to perhaps deter Hezbollah, or perhaps to cover the Israelis, whilst

the Israelis are launching their ground offensive in Gaza, by having the Americans cover them in the north so that they can concentrate all their forces in the South in Gaza, whilst the Americans deal with Hezbollah. Hezbollah is

almost certainly an extremely difficult not to crack. And of course, it's withstood numerous attacks by the Israeli Air Force. And I wonder whether even these forces that the United States is deploying would be enough to break Hezbollah. And of course, the risk the U.S. runs is that they could start to lose aircraft and lose

men. And I do wonder how the U.S. public would respond to that. So China and Russia, are they making any headway in their diplomacy? Well, I think... resolution. Yes, okay. I expect to be rejected. But the next move, I imagine, is the General Assembly.

Yes. Well, actually, I think we are probably working eventually towards that point. But I don't think we are there yet. What normally happens in these crises is that one side, one of the five permanent members, and typically it is the Russians, starts proposing resolutions. and they proposed their first draft resolution yesterday, which called for an unconditional ceasefire, opening of humanitarian aid, release of hostages by Hamas.

And for the moment, there isn't the solid support across the entire global community that it would need, I think, for the Russians to take to the General Assembly. So Brazil, which historically has had good relations with Israel, for example, abstained in the Security Council. Other countries were uncertain. Global South countries, including global South countries that have historically been friendly to the United States, like Gamon, they supported the resolution. So you can see that the Russians are making headway. But I think what will now happen is that the people,

put that resolution, they've given an indication of where they think this conflict should go. They will now bide their time. They will work with their various friends. We'll discuss that in a moment. And then if the fighting continues and if there's a ground operation, then they will propose another resolution. And if that doesn't work, then again, they might bite their time. But eventually, if they're still blocked at the Security Council, they will take it to the General Assembly. So they're gradually methodically building up to that point. That is what the Russians do. And when that happens, when we get the really serious resolution, it won't just be a Russian resolution.

It will be one that will be jointly sponsored by the Russians. and various other countries, some of which historically have had good relations with the United States. And that will make it extremely difficult for the US to veto that resolution. And that's the point when, as I said, it will be taken to the General Assembly. But you have to see this, if you like, as the first move. It's like, you know, you move the Porn to King III. It's the beginning of the chess game at the UN. there will be more moves in future

and the Russians are extremely skilled at this sort of thing. Now, let's look at the Russians what they've been doing. Now, yesterday was a day of frantic diplomatic activity not just by the Russians, but by Putin, President Putin.

Now, he spoke over the telephone in quick succession to Assad, Al-Sisi, the Egyptian president, Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, and he also spoke later that evening to Prime Minister Netanyahu. Now, no other leader in the world is in a position to call on the telephone and speak on the phone to the leaders of Iran and Israel on the same day. So that already begins to tell you the kind of poll.

position that the Russians have in the situation in the Middle East. They're prepared to talk to both sides and both sides are prepared to listen to them. Now, what we understand is that the other conversations, the ones with the Arab leaders and with Iranians with Araizi, there was generally a broad consensus. There has to be a ceasefire, humanitarian release supplies need to be a land. out into Gaza, hostages have to be released, and the Russian readout says that all the various players basically agreed that the fundamental reason that there is a crisis at the moment is because of what the Russians call the stagnation of the attempts to broker a peace, to agree a

sustainable long-term peace in the Middle East. Now, that is, that these are easy, in other words, relatively easy discussions with the Russians. Putin is talking to people who essentially agree with him. And bear in mind, Egypt and Iran are both shortly going to become members of the BRICS, so there's that added advantage as well. The meeting with Net, the core with Netanyahu, by definition, will have been a lot more difficult. And the Israelis say that Netanyahu made it absolutely clear.

As far as the Israelis are concerned, the destruction of Hamas, the complete taking of part of Hamas, is for Israel now a priority. And that is something which again Putin will have expected Netanyahu to say. But the thing that the Russians tell us is that Putin also breeds. Netanyahu on the results of all his cause with the Arab leaders and with the Iranians. So you can see that what Putin is actually doing is he's telling Netanyahu, look, this is what all of these people think. The Iranians think it, the Arab states think it, the Egyptians think it, we think this. We understand your position.

But this is what we all want to do. We want to contain this crisis. Nobody wants an outright expanding war across the Middle East. And we have to look for a way forward. We understand that you have your views about the long-term resolution of this problem in the Middle East. But in the meantime, there is a gathering consensus across the Middle East and before long in the world in general. that there has to be a ceasefire

and humanitarian relief efforts to Gaza and of course the release of the hostages and then there have to be negotiations. We are not asking you to negotiate with Hamas. We are not talking to Hamas. Putin made it very clear over the course of his court with Netanyahu that the Russians unequivocally condemned what Hamas has done.

But they're trying again, the Russians are trying again to build up the Palestinian authority, Mahmoud Abbas's institution, as the one that the Israelis need to talk to in order to achieve a settlement. So this is what the Russians are doing. So they're playing their game of chess, if you like, at the UN.

And, you know, it's not just the Russians. Behind them, there's China, other states. So that's what they're doing at the UN Security Council. And at the same time, They're starting the first steps towards getting some kind of, or trying to start the first steps, towards getting some sort of dialogue going in order to find for all sides some means towards an off-ramp.

That's the Russians. The Chinese are also busy. So Wang Yi had a really tough call, apparently, with Blinken. Blinken called him from Riyadh. And apparently Wang Yi took the call, but he made it absolutely clear that again, as far as the Chinese are concerned, it's the American diplomatic failures in the Middle East, which are behind the crisis. The Chinese Foreign Ministry called together a conference of all the Arab states in Beijing,

all the ambassadors of the Arab states attended the foreign ministry. This happened some days ago, but we've only now learnt about it. It's about three, four days ago it happened. and the Chinese obviously took soundings there. And of course, very conveniently for the Chinese, lots of the big players are now going to be in Beijing because the Chinese called together this big belt and road conference.

Putin is now in Beijing. He's met already with Orban and with the president of Vietnam in Beijing. But the Saudis will also be there. Wang Yi has spoken with the foreign minister, or I think it's the deputy foreign minister of Saudi Arabia. I understand that NBS himself is thinking of going. I'm not absolutely sure that that is the case, but I believe he is.

And it's likely that Raizi will be there also. So you're going to have all of the people, all of these big people, Putin, Xi Jinping, lots of them now in Beijing, able to talk and speak together. And we could very easily see the diplomatic initiative pass of them. And agreements start to get reached over the course of the discussions that happened in Beijing over the next couple of days. it seems to me that given the treatment of Blinken with Al-Sisi

with MBS Biden kind of showing up in Israel and no one really knows exactly what he's he's going to do there okay he's there to show support but outside of that no one no one actually is is understanding his role in all of this

I mean you know it's Biden God knows that he's not all together, you know, up there. But you look at what the U.S. is doing and then you look at everything that Russia and China is doing. It just seems to me that the entire international community is rallying behind China and Russia, including the Arab states, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia and UAE, even Qatar, who's, I mean, they're behind Hamas, pretty much. I don't think that's an exaggeration to say.

That's not a secret to say that. Iran, they all see the momentum once again seems to be with Russia and China. And the one thing that they're trying to do is they're trying to get Netanyahu to move over to their viewpoint. If I were to take a guess, I would say that Blinken and Biden and Austin and all these guys are trying to keep Netanyahu on the war footing path. And the EU seems to be just, you know, the confused kid in the room. I mean, the EU seems like they're completely lost. I mean, is that a correct assessment to look at things? I mean, I know he's the president of the United States.

I was going to say, oh, well, he's the president of the United States. has to go to Israel. I understand all that, but you know, it's Biden. Biden's not going to really add anything to the conversation. I mean, and everyone knows he's not really the person that's calling the shots anyway. It's, it seems like this is

our picture right now and everything is hinging on whether the international community can somehow get Netanyahu to move in their direction. Yeah, I think this is exactly correct. Now, let's us talk about the EU.

The EU is completely irrelevant in this affair. I mean, it is utterly humiliated. I mean, we've had Yosef Borrell go to China and say, you know, he doesn't understand why the Chinese don't take the EU seriously, given that it is a geopolitical colossus. We discussed that in a recent video. I mean, the Chinese must have been laughing at themselves about this.

And then we had Ursula Fontalayan coming to... Israel announcing, you know, complete support for Israel, but again, finding that nobody's listening or has shown any interest in what the EU is saying, because so far as the world is concerned, outside the EU, the EU is just now, you know, America's monkey. I mean, you know, what do I always say, you know, if you can talk to the organ grinder, which is the United States, why waste time with his monkey? I mean, nobody takes the EU seriously.

And the EU officials are perhaps very upset and annoyed about this, but that's the reality. The Israelis don't listen to them. The Russians don't even want to talk to them. The Chinese just treat them with indifference and patience. And the rest of the world just goes about its business. So the EU is a complete irrelevance. The United States remains a superpower.

It's deployed all these huge forces. It is Israel's big supporter. It has to be taken seriously, even when it is led by Joseph Biden. So obviously, people have to talk to the United States. So we see that Biden will be traveling to Jordan. Again, that's apparently where the US wants to send many of these troops that are being sent to the Middle East. They want to send them to Jordan. But note that the other Arabian,

of leaders don't seem to be particularly keen on speaking to Biden himself. And if we're talking about the Egyptians and the Saudis, their response to Blinken, it's straight, has been straightforwardly rude. I mean, the president of Egypt, scolding publicly on video, on film, Blinken, is astonishing and even more astonishing. the Saudis keeping blinking waiting for hours during the night before they come to send to meet with him. I mean, this is unprecedented in the history of the Middle East. And once upon a time, and I remember when Henry Kissinger used to get on his shuttle planes,

everybody wanted to speak to him, the Egyptians, the Syrians, the Saudis, everybody did. Now they're so fed up with the US and it's failure to conduct. sensible diplomacy that they're not making any effort to conceal their complete disrespect for the US and that's I think something Americans people in the United States

ought to be aware of and understand where US policy has rather US failure to conduct a realistic and coherent policy in the Middle East where it has brought the position of the United States to so there

are. The Americans are absolutely nowhere. The Russians and the Chinese are doing old-fashioned classical diplomacy. They're talking to absolutely everyone. You see Putin talking to both Raizi of Iran and Netanyahu of Israel on one of the same day. The Chinese meeting as many people as they can, bringing everybody together to Beijing, holding meetings, having discussions, trying to look for a way forward. And about Netanyahu and about Israel, you are absolutely correct. What the Russians and the Chinese want to do is they want to stop

this war from getting out of control. They want a ceasefire. They want obviously humanitarian relief supplies to Gaza. They want the hostages. They absolutely want the hostages released because whilst the hostages

are held, that is a single, that is in itself a factor that can lead to further violence and further war. So they were the hostages released. They want to freeze this particular situation where it is now. They want to provide Netanyahu with an off-ramp.

They understand very well the enormous political pressures on him. They understand also the fragile position that he is in within Israel itself, the fact that he is under considerable. criticism for allowing this to happen at all. The fact that there has been a long-standing political crisis in Israel. The Chinese and the Russians know about that, but they also note that they have to work with Netanyahu, and in the case of Putin, he's had a long-standing, warm relationship with Netanyahu. So they want to find a possible off-ramp for him, which avoids humiliating him

and which he can take back to people in Israel after the initial anger has subsided a little and so look we're making some kind of progress we're doing things with the help with the international community

which will finally bring this impossible situation that we have in Gaza under control and which will spare the lives of Israeli soldiers so the Russian and the Chinese do want to do that. Importantly, they've been very careful not to blame him or Israel for this situation. The Americans and the Chinese have been blaming the Americans.

They say it's American diplomacy or lack of it that has led to this crisis. The Russians and the Chinese. The Russians and the Chinese. No, the Russians and the Chinese, they've been very careful not to blame Israel. They've been blaming the United States for what has happened. They're not saying the Israelis brought it on themselves. They're saying it's because the Americans have failed to move forward with a peace process in the Middle East. Their diplomacy over the last decades has been a failure.

This is what has put Israel in the position that it is in. So that's the message they want to convey. and they want to convey it to Israel. They've successfully conveyed it, by the way, to the Arab states, which is why Al-Sisi and MBS are being so rude towards Blinken. They want to convey it to the Israelis so that eventually, and this is the long-term objective, apart from avoiding this crisis, spiraling out of control,

what the Russians and the Chinese want to do is to rest control of the Middle East process from the Americans, to bring it under ultimately their control. But the vehicle they will use is the UN, because they're talking a lot about the UN, they always talk about the UN, and they're talking again about a peace conference, which is a proposal that was last floated, way back in the mid-1970s when there was supposed to be a peace conference to resolve this long-standing problem, which was supposed to happen in Geneva. It had one meeting and then it broke up and it never came together again.

So that is what the ultimate long-term objective of the Chinese and the Russians is. And they're trying to use this crisis to achieve it. Now, it's far from certain that they will, and one shouldn't underestimate the enormous challenges they face in Israel. Israeli opinion is, of course, incredibly distressed and angry about what has happened. And, of course, the challenges they face with the Palestinians, with the Palestinians also. I mean, Hamas might not welcome this kind of a process in which it could easily be sidelined and might in fact be displaced entirely with the Palestinians.

authority led by Mahmoud Abbas taking the having the leading place so Amas might might not be happy and they might want to do things in order to block it so I mean you know there are lots of problems it might not work

but that I think is what the Chinese and the Russians want to do yeah well I mean if if anyone's going to get this done it's going to be the Russians and the Chinese because they have excellent relations with all the parties involved. And, you know, getting the hostages released, if this is possible, that that would

relieve a lot of pressure from, from Netanyahu in his position. Yes. In Israel, because he is coming under a lot of criticism. And he also has a lot of domestic issues and legal cases, which are directed at him. So I think the Russians and the Chinese understand all of this. And I imagine they're working very hard with, with the Arab states, with Iran, with Qatar, with Saudi Arabia to try and find a way to get those hostages released and to convince Hamas to release those hostages. That would be a big deal towards some sort of off-ramp or de-escalation. But, you know, at the end of the day, it's all about people. Yes. And the U.S., people in policy, and the U.S., they've done this to themselves. They've sanctioned everybody. They've pissed off the

entire world. Their team of diplomats, if you can even call them that, the one person is worse than the other. These are not qualified professionals. And no one likes these people. You know, Americans, you can say this, and I bet you're going to probably be a lot of Americans who are listening to this, maybe. They'll be listening to this.

And they'll be like, no, everyone loves Blinking and Biden. Sorry, they do not. The world actually likes Putin. They actually like Xi Jinping. They actually like to deal with these people. There was a point of time when the world, outside of the collective West, liked to talk to Trump. This is just a fact. This is reality.

They enjoyed negotiating with Trump. Whether you like Trump or hate Trump, that's not the issue. World leaders, they enjoyed dealing with him. Biden, they don't like Biden. They don't like Blinken. They don't like Sullivan. They don't like any of these people. No.

They don't like Ursula. They don't like Bear Biden. No. They don't like Borell. No. And this is, to me, this is one of the key factors. Netanyahu doesn't like Biden. Netanyahu does like Putin.

Netanyahu does like Xi Jinping. This is key in order to understand who actually can mediate and broker a ceasefire and even a potential peace plan or the beginnings of a peace plan. the Middle East. After all, it was the Chinese who brought Iran and Saudi Arabia to the table. Yes. It wasn't the Biden administration. It wasn't the Biden White House. They're just not capable of doing it. And just one final thought, and we'll wrap up the video with your thoughts. When I see Berbach and Ursula and Biden and Blinken traveling to the Middle East, I understand one thing.

they're not going to be able to diplomatically negotiate some sort of peace ramp or mediate some sort of peace. These people are going to come to the Middle East and they're just going to mess things up even more. Absolutely, because of course they do all the wrong things. They virtue signal. And no one has any patience for virtue signaling. None of the countries that we're talking about like to be treated or addressed to in that kind of way. So that's one thing that's wrong. And then they lecture. They tell people, look, this is what you should do. They're not prepared to listen and understand the problems and concerns that each one of these countries and each one of these leaders have.

As I said previously, Russians of the Chinese, be very careful not to blame Israel for this problem. Not in any way. Read their statements carefully. They've been extremely careful to say nothing critical of Israel. Putin has talked about settlement activity, but the people he's blamed for that are the Americans because of the way in which they've mishandled the diplomacy. And so they've been very careful to do that.

And as I also said, they do not want to humiliate Netanyahu. They want to put Netanyahu in a position, where instead of saying no, he's going to be able to feel able to say yes, and we'll see that it is in his personal interests and in Israel's interests. A lot of people have all kinds of feelings about Netanyahu and I understand why. But I do believe that at some fundamental level he cares about the interests of Israel. I have no doubt about that. And I just wanted to say that. I mean, you know, he may be all the things that people say,

but I don't think he's anything else other than an Israeli nationalist and patriot and whatever. So, you know, I think, again, the Russians and the Chinese understand that. So they will have to persuade him. Look, coming along, doing what we are proposing is in your personal interests, it will help you out of your political problems, out of this fix. that you are in at the moment when you'll be pressed to launch a ground

offensive into Gaza and your military is probably telling you it's not a good idea we're not really up to do this thing so we're getting you out of you out of this fix we're helping you personally what we're also trying to do

is in the benefit for the benefit of your people and your country. What you want, what you say you want, is a secure and lasting peace so that people in Israel feel safe, completely safe. So we don't have these horrors

that we've just seen happen this week. And that is what we want to try and help you to achieve. That is what they're going to be saying to him. And just a final note, you know, the, the differences that Putin can speak to Netanyahu and Saudi Arabia and Iran and Egypt on the same day. I mean, that's a key difference.

Biden can't do that. Just the other day, just the other day, he said, we need to put down Putin. It's all of these things that make it impossible for the U.S. to conduct diplomacy. Absolutely. Because they've labeled and branded everyone. dictator, a thug, an authoritarian. Xi Jinping is this, Putin is that, MBS is this. It's impossible to have dialogue with the Biden White House.

Impossible. Correct. And so they're in zero position. They've removed themselves from diplomacy because they're so emotional and they label everyone something horrible and awful. And the rest of the world does not see it like that. No, exactly. He's not a dictator to the rest of the world.

Putin is not a thug or a dictator. They never say we're going to put him down or put them down. And so they have the ability to talk to each other. Well, absolutely. The Biden White House, they did this to themselves. They isolated themselves. Absolutely. Let's just explore that because it's a very, very important point.

So all this talk over the last few year and a half, how marginalised Putin is, how, you know, he's a rogue leader that nobody wants to talk to around the world, that he can't travel. Pariah. A pariah, all of those things. Well, this is the pariah who's able, in one day, to speak to four Arab leaders, the three Arab leaders, the president of Iran, and the Prime Minister of Israel. at a moment of huge crisis

and is now travelling to China where he's met again almost one after the other the president of Vietnam and the Prime Minister of Hungary and he's going to meet the Chinese president and probably before long he's going to be meeting

representatives of the Saudi Arabia as well maybe even if he is there he is no kind of pariah and he's obviously exactly as you said far more pivotal in the world of international diplomacy than the President of the United States is and he's Secretary of State is.

The Secretary of State gets lectured by the Egyptian President and stood up for the whole night by the Saudis. Who is the pariah in this situation? But coming back to the US, the US can't conduct diplomacy in this way because they've cut off, their own options. Biden can't call and talk to Putin

and Biden can't call and talk to Rezi. He can't do that. He's not able to do these things. Now that's because of things that the United States has done. Now, way back, you know, 200 years ago, Bismarck, in my opinion,

the greatest diplomat, map that modern European history has produced. He once said, when I conduct diplomacy, I conducted like chess, I play with every square, all 64 squares on the chess board. I don't restrict myself. I don't say, I'm not going to move my pieces onto this square, or I'm not going to move it into that square. I deal with all of them.

That is what diplomacy is about. And of course, America doesn't do that. America limits itself. It restricts itself by doing exactly what you said. They demonise and label people. They don't take them seriously. You read the things that they say about Russia. They read some of the things they say about Iran.

People in the United States themselves, many or many people. people are worked up to think like this and it works against the United States. So they can't talk to the Iranians. They can't talk to the Russians. Yes, the Russians and the Iranians are adversaries. That makes it even more important that you talk to them and that you talk to them. Not through, you know, sort of underground, undercover methods, you know, you know, an American spy meets an Iranian spy and Dubai

and, you know, they exchange conversations and it goes up to the state of Dubai. That's not how diplomacy is conducted. Diplomacy has to be conducted at a proper level between presidents and foreign ministers and senior diplomats if it is to be successful and if it is to achieve results. Okay, we'll end it there. the durand.locals.com. We are on Rumble Odyssey, Bitchute, Telegram, Rockfin, and TwitterX,

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