The Duran Podcast - The Show Must Go On (Live)

Episode Date: April 30, 2026

The Show Must Go On (Live)

Okay, we are live with Alexander Bacchurs in London. If you hear some work in the background, they're doing something here at these apartments that I'm staying at. So don't mind the noise. Anyway, Alexander, how you doing? I'm doing well. I'm very delighted to be here again, doing a live stream with the community. Lots going on. Or alternatively, you could say that everything is going exactly as it was before.

and it's remarkable how little has changed in some ways because this is also true. So a lot of activity, but perhaps not a huge amount of action, but that's something we do need to perhaps unpeel a little because there is considerable confusion and muddle about things in the international media at the moment and I think an awful lot of misunderstandings about events, recent events. All right, so before we get started, a quick hello to everyone that's watching us on The Rumble and on Odyssey and on YouTube and our Duran community on locals, the durand.locals.com. How is everyone doing on locals? Great to have you with us on this chat. And shout out to our moderators, Alexander.

One sec. I see Zareel is with us. and Harry Sariel and Harry are moderating in the YouTube chat. So thank you for helping us out on YT. And Alexander,

where should we get going? By the way, like this video, guys, or like this live stream, subscribe to this channel. And if you're watching this on a mobile device, you can hype it. You get three hypes, three hypes a week.

I'm not sure what the hypes do. I think for the Duran chat, The hypes don't do anything, just like the likes and the subscribers don't really do anything for the Duran Network. But, you know, YouTube has it there for us anyway. Yeah. Where should we? There are two events which have taken place over the last 48 or so hours. And if you actually take a step back and think about them carefully, each, well, actually there's three events, each of which is important, each in its own,

each one misunderstood, in my opinion. The first is that it is now looking increasingly likely as if the US has reached its limit in terms of the war with Iran. Trump is now talking about an indefinite blockade. Of course, the blockade that exists at the moment is hardly working. and you could say that this is a final abandonment by the US of some of its grand strategies, the plans, the projects that were discussed with Netanyahu back in February, and which led to the attack on Iran on the 28th of February.

Now, if this is a correct assessment, and for various reasons I think it is, then this is a very important event. It's a big moment. It's a moment when the neocons drove the United States into a war, and that will fail almost immediately. Usually neocon wars start successful and then go wrong. This one, it seems, has been different. The second, which I know we're going to get

an awful lot of discussion about, is the conversation which Putin and Trump had with each other yesterday. There's a number of things to be said about this call, and I want to start with those before we start getting questions. The first is that the Russians initiated this call. And the Russians initiated this call directly after a meeting between Putin and Arakshi in St Petersburg.

And the main topic of discussion, according to Ushikov, was the situation, in the Persian Gulf, the conflict between the United States and Iran, and it was a call which the Russians initiated in order to give the Americans a warning. They did discuss Ukraine, but they didn't say very much about it. But we'll come to that, I'm sure there'll be lots of questions. And the last event, which I also think is important, is the decision of the UAE to quit OPEC.

And I've expressed certain opinions about this, which have been controversial with some people. I'm not saying that the UAE is in a financial crisis, but it is, I am sure, under a great deal of financial stress, and I think other Gulf states are, and I think we will be seeing more manifestations of this in the next few weeks and months. There's all sorts of other interesting things going on in the background.

There's Kirstama, if you really want to waste on with that psychodrama that's been endlessly going on in London. There's what's happening with maths in Germany, which is in some ways more important and more interesting. And we can talk about all of those topics. All right, what was Putin's warning to Trump? What was his warning? Well, very straightforwardly. Don't restart the war against Iran again. You stopped.

You're going to stick to that. You should actually rethink your business about a blockade, but under no circumstances make any more attacks on Iran. If you read Ushikov's statement, it is there. Or else what? Well, we don't know. But the point was that he had a meeting with Arakshi. He had at Kostyakov, his intelligence chief, with him.

There's been a huge amount of speculation, discussion about the Russians providing military assistance to Iran. I suspect the warning is that Russia has Iran's back and will continue to supply and support Iran through this crisis. And if the United States, it escalates the crisis again, then it is in for a very, very, very long duration. wall, which you can't win. All right. Are my mic levels good now? I just fix them. Let me know in the chat if my mic levels are better.

Anyway, I think the mic levels have been sorted, no. Just lowered it. One sec. How about now? Now it should be better. Let me lower it a bit more. One sec, Alexander. Now it might be too.

though. Is it right, everyone? Okay. Yeah. All right. Alexander, can you say something? Yes, I can say something if you want me to read out. How's Alexander? Okay, Alexander is good. Yeah, exactly. Okay. All right. Sorry about that. Everything got sorted out. Okay. Okay. Anything else to talk about with the Trump of Putin phone call? Well, I think I will read out. I think the stuff about Ukraine was pretty much a nothing burger. It was an absolute nothing burger. I mean, it was floundering on Ukraine, isn't he?

He's floundering on Ukraine. I don't. I think you're being provocative. No, I don't think he is. Being a little provocative. I don't think he's floundering on Ukraine, but we'll talk about that later. But why is he asking for Trump's permission for or Trump's blessing for some sort of a ceasefire on May 9th or something like that.

I mean, it came off as if he was asking for Trump to sign off on a May 9th ceasefire. No, no, I think. And then before you give your opinion. And then the whole nonsense about how they both agree that that Zelensky is the obstacle. I mean, that's just ridiculous. Well, it is ridiculous. Where Uschikov says that Putin and Trump both agree that the obstacle to peace is Zelensky. I mean, come on.

Yeah, okay. You tell me that Trump, that Trump can't exert any leverage on Zeletsky if he wants to. Let's first of all start with the warning. And this is the warning he gave. He said, and the president of Russia pointed out that if the United States and Israel resume in military action, this will inevitably lead to an extremely adverse consequences, not only for Iran and for its neighbors, but for the entire international. community. A ground operation on Iranian territory would be particularly unacceptable and dangerous.

And that said straightforwardly to Trump by the country that is backing Iran. So I think that is a very clear warning under no circumstances do either of these things. Now Trump then veered off onto the topic of Ukraine, as he always does. He said again that he talked about a ceasefire. He said that he was very happy about the ceasefire that Putin announced for the Easter truce. Putin said, well, last year, I suggested a truce for the Victory Day celebrations. Trump came back and said, what a good idea that would be. Both parties know, everybody knows that there are not going to be any ceasefires on the Christmas or the Easter Day celebrations. But what Putin also said, and this was about Ukraine, Russia continues that it will achieve the objectives of the special military operation, no matter what.

And that was what he said. Yeah, but the whole trying to put it on Zelensky, the whole obstacle. I mean, isn't that, I mean, okay, okay, whatever. I mean, I don't really see the importance of this. It basically says, look, we made certain agreements in Anchorage. Zelensky hasn't agreed to them. You haven't seen them through. There's no point, therefore, in continuing further negotiations.

That's all it means. Oh, okay. Should we move on to something else then? We can get questions. Should we go? I mean, you wanted to say something about OPEC, Oh, yeah, OPEC. OPEC. I mean, again, I think that people are not talking about this business with Qatar properly.

Yes, there have been tensions between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. There have been many times with, sorry, not Qatar, sorry, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. This has happened on many previous occasions. There is nothing new or unusual in this. The fact is that the UAE, has decided to pull out of OPEC at a time when the Strait of Hormuz is closed. These two events are clearly connected to each other

and they are obviously, the one is obviously the explanation of the other. And it points to financial stress within the UAE, of which there is also other evidence. Financial stress does not equal a financial crisis. I'm not saying that the UAE is about to go bankrupt or anything like that. What I am simply saying is that at the moment

it is under financial stress and it is having to take steps in order to prevent a financial crisis from developing. Okay. Let's get to some questions. Yeah. Harvico, thank you for the five membership gifts. Mr. Jabalak, if Russia defends its people abroad, the EU will say they are vindicated about their claims about Putin wanting to rebuild the Soviet Union.

Yes, they will say that. I mean, that's inevitable. But at the present time, I don't think the Russians very much care because the Russians have have already made it very clear what they think about the Europeans. They've all said that the Europeans are behaving as if they're already at war with Russia. Blip-Bzup, what do we know about the meeting between Arachi and Putin? Also, tankers, trackers says most of the all tankers were turned back in the Indian Ocean. Well, at this present moment in time, what we know about the meeting between Arachi and Putin is that apart from giving Arachi verbal support, the chief of Russian military intelligence sat in on that meeting.

That's Admiral Kostukov, who is the head of the organization that's called in the West, the GRU. Now, he would have been there for a purpose, and that's clearly to discuss military cooperation. There is no other reason to have someone like that present in on a conversation at that time. Zizi Karayani, thank you for that super sticker. Adrienne Petralu, gifted five memberships.

Sir Muzgame says, unusual travel plans for a podist during midterms. Chatter coming from Attica region, end of June or July, Trump will land in Tehran. Would you land in Tehran? I hardly think so. I'm from Nikos. I loved Alex's frustration.

about Bricks. After King Charles's speech, I hope you can see the West's unity that Bricks doesn't have. Bricks is a failure. In truth, Lula's 100 years old. Modi betrayed bricks. Khamenei is pushing up daisies. Maduro is looking for the soap. Putin bet it all on Trump and lost and Xi doing the backstroke near Taiwan. I don't agree any of that. I mean, first of all, if we're talking about Taiwan, it seems to me that here it is the Chinese who have the initiative. As Richard's the third speech, that was an appalling speech. And it is more symptomatic of the crisis now that is developing in Britain as the British sense that the ground is breaking underneath them.

Because for the first time, there's the Second World War, their alliance with the United States is facing question marks, which is something that they are extremely nervous about. So they sent the king to Congress, and the King made the speech that he did. But, well, as far as I could see, what he did was actually it highlighted the differences at the end of the day between the Americans

of the British at this time, rather than papered them over. Now, as to the bricks themselves, the point I've made many times, the key alliance is the one between Russia and China. That seems to be working well. What's up with Modi and India though? Well, I think the Indians have ramped up imports of Russian oil and they're buying more S-400s from Russia.

I don't think that this is India leaving or quitting the Briggs or anything like that. Bricks is not a military alliance. I've said this many times. It is a grouping of countries that agree with each other on certain things. things. At the moment, the priority is to get these payment systems up and running. And apparently, there is going to be some action on this summer. But as I said, he's not a military alliance. They've never sought to have absolute agreement with each other on all sorts of things, on everything, rather. The Chinese and the Russians, however, are de facto allies. And you can see how that alliance is working. Can I just say it does puzzle me, it really does puzzle me a little,

that people are talking in this way at precisely the moment when even the Chancellor of Germany is talking about the United States having experienced a humiliation. Yet people are talking about bricks, about the failure of bricks, the unity of the Western alliance. Is this really the situation that we're seeing? Well, I mean, you know, we explained why Mertz made those comments. It was more about the eye of day than anything else. Well, maybe so. Maybe so. But again, it does not suggest a happy and cohesive situation in Europe. And of course, to the extent, that the point rings home and is going to infuriate the Americans and Donald Trump especially, and he's now again talking about pulling troops out of Germany,

is precisely because it is true. The United States has been humiliated over the last few weeks. It attacked Iran. It had very high expectations as to what it would achieve. It believed it would achieve certain things. and it has failed. Yeah, I think there's a general humiliation all around. And I think that's why you're getting these comments.

I don't think everything is so rosy for for Bricks, China, or for Russia, especially for Putin. Especially for Putin. I think when it comes to Putin, there are many analysts. And there's a lot of analysis, which is highlighting the fact that Russia's deterrence has been. degraded. It doesn't seem to have a deterrence. I mean, I think these are valid arguments. My opinion is that, for example, I find it very difficult to believe that the same facility is hit by drones three times in one week, three times. And the third time causes an environmental catastrophe. And I read Putin's statement about that. And it was.

I don't even know what he was saying. I mean, honestly, he wasn't even addressing it. So, I mean, look, my opinion, I know we differ on this. My opinion is, I think there are, maybe it's not so extreme. It's definitely not extreme to the point where there's a coup or there's, or his powers in jeopardy or anything like that or Russia's losing the conflict. I don't think it's at that level. But I do believe that there are valid arguments to be made that Putin is off.

he's been off since the Val Dai, since that time period, I get the sense that he's off. That's just my opinion. And I know you'll disagree. I'm sure many people in the chair. We'll agree with me as well. I mean, but since the Valdei incident and the Alaska does seem that things are a bit strange. I think they're very strange because we have a very strange individual in the White House who is extremely difficult. to work with at any particular point in time.

But to repeat again, the call yesterday, which I think has precipitated some of this discussion, had a particular purpose, and I've discussed what it was. For the rest, the situation in Ukraine, the conflict there continues much as it always has. That, it seems to me, continues to be the case. As Putin told Trump, Russia continues advancing. But Putin has disengaged from Ukraine.

Yeah, he has disengaged. He has disengaged, and there are reasons for that, and we will talk about those, no doubt, over the course of his life story. All right. Sparky says, undoubtedly wealthy elites shorting financial instruments from Bessent, crashing the world economy, will give their proceeds to the poor to make America great again, since they already have enough. I love the irony. Soberano Brazil says, will Europe be the next Ukraine? I think not in the end. I think the survival instinct is too strong. But certainly we're in a more dangerous moment in Europe

than we've been at any point since the Second World War. In the Ovid Film says, what do you think of the more pessimistic predictions that the war in Ukraine could last for many more years? No, I don't think these pessimistic predictions are true. But again, the question is this, pessimistic for whom? This is again the thing that people aren't, I think, addressing. Because, yes, the war in Ukraine has been very difficult for Russia.

For Europe, for the position of the United States and the world, and for the collective West, it has been a disaster. I think at some level at least, here I think Trump has understood this, even though he's not been able to do very much about it. So from the West's point of view, prolonging this war, makes absolutely no sense at all. And by the way, more and more people, as I happen to know, even in London, are now making that point. Zoran Marinovich says one of two parts. I live in Hungary and it's not realistic that Fidesh went from 65 to 35% in four years. The living standards are not that much worse.

The same people that loved, hated them before. Do so now as well. That did it change. It seems much more like a deal arrangement than an actual vote. You're quite likely true. I mean, I'm not in Hungary. and I'm not able to track what's going on in Hungary on a day-to-day basis. But I hear what you say, and I'm not pushing back because I think there's quite likely true as well.

How I just don't understand with deal arrangements? Well, I mean, there's some kind of, I mean, there would have been, I mean, the European Union has wanted to get all done out in some form and in some way. And they always the question in elections now that take place anywhere in Europe is, are they being conducted, properly. And I think this is what the question, the point the question is making. Sir Mug's game says Russia, China and Iran are not three little pigs and Trump's not going to huff and puff and blow their houses down. Well, thank you for saying so, because that's the point I've been trying to make across this program. I mean, this last two months has been very bad,

very difficult for the United States. It made it. an attempt to blow down the political system in Iran. And not only has it failed, but it's now got a global economic crisis, which affects the West specifically to cope with. And it doesn't seem to have at this time an answer to how to deal with that. Blip-Blob soup says Iranian F-5 jets bombed U.S. camp bushring in Kuwait. Well, I've heard about that, but I mean, again, this is operational information, which I simply don't have. Mr. Jablock says, I feel like I'm losing my mind every five minutes. I swear I hear a cow mooing in this stream. We've had all kinds of action noise from my background. There's some noise that's some construction taking place, but I think it's stopped now. It's on my end.

So Barano, Brazil gifted 20 to ran memberships. Cool. Thank for that. Sir Muzgames says, Wirtz thought re-arming Germany would draw voters from the AFD because they seem as not socialists wrong. They're not cannon fodder. Absolutely. This is, again, an excellent point, by the way. Firstly, Matt and many people across Europe have completely misjudged the mood in Germany. They imagined that because the IFDA is a sovereign-ist nationalist party, and because they say all the time that it is connected in some ways to the radical ideologies in Germany of the 1920s and 30s and 40s, which isn't true, that somehow the IFDA is like that and that the people who support it are like that too.

So they talk about German. They say they think German rearmament and rebuilding the German military is somehow going to make. the IFDLS popular and the CDU more popular. It has done the diametric opposite. People in Germany are voting against the CDU precisely because they do not like these things, as I know very well from the many people in Germany, both on the left and the right whom I am talking to. Game of chair says, as Russia and Iran have shared technical developments on drones, would it not be reasonable to assume that Iran has their own Orrashnik? Well, I don't know.

And what I will say is that the Iranians, rather, have indeed had some very effective missiles, which have gone through and have done significant damage across the Middle East and in Israel too. And I think that's all I'm able to say. Whether they have the Orashnik, which is based on a mix of Russian technologies, extending back apparently to the 1960s. In other words, these are specific types of Russian technologies. Whether the Iranians can reproduce something like that, I don't know. I haven't seen any sign of it yet,

but it seems to me that the missiles that Iran has already got and has used are doing the job well enough. Pablo Disco Barre 1984 says in Green Goblin voice, a Padoiac that is Duran Duran. No, Mr. President, that is the Duran. Yes, Padoliac. I said, Duran, Duran, girls on film, very good music. Yes, Mr. President. Thank you for that. Pablo Disco Bar. Christopher Dobie says Russia obviously has a compromised problem like us. Well, I think I've already made my views about this very clear.

I think people, again, overstayed the significance, even of the significance, even of events like Tuatso. I mean, the Ukrainians launched some drones, difficult to protect Duwapsi, I suspect, because it's on the sea. And you can't establish a full ring of air defenses around it, but they will find a solution to it.

What is going on in Ukraine itself, the situation on the front lines, that seems for some reason always to attract less attention. David Boderosa says, Obviously, we're living in the Truman Show world. This is the time for Russia and China to step up and say,

enough is enough and challenge the U.S. straight on. While they are playing the U.S. game, people are dying en masse. Well, haven't the Russians and the Chinese in effect exactly done that? I mean, again, go back to Putin's statement to Trump, that Israel and the United States must not resume military action. If they do, it will result in adverse consequences. And a ground operation in Iranian territory is particularly unacceptable and dangerous. The word unacceptable is there in the Russian weed out.

Aya Dahlwek says, Alexander says that the Gulf rulers are duplicitous, as if that is a defining trait. Looking at Stammer, Murch, Trump, and other Western leaders, who do you think is more duplicitous? Oh, the Western leaders, some question. The Middle East has a long history of duplicity and treachery, but at least they do it intelligently. The European leaders do it, and they do it even more, and they do it even more compulsively, and they do it with a huge amount of hypocrisy, and they do it stupidly. O.G. Wall says, sending best wishes for speedy recovery. Thank you.

G-Dog 2K2 says two countries have check more to emboldened the U.S. than Russia and China. No two countries have check more to emboldened the U.S. than Russia. in China. Well, if the Russians and the Chinese weren't there, we would be living in a completely different world. But it is always a mistake, I think, to dwell too much on alternative realities. I mean, the reality is that the Russians and the Chinese are there and that is acting as a constraint on American actions, just as was the case, by the way, in the 1960s.

Belt Grindr two-part question. Part one, I understand Russian restraint as they have exaltzing. losted the entire NATO bloc, but Russia is now suffering serious attacks and losses. Part two, there is more and more drone production in the EU. If the Russians do not finish this soon, we will have a big problem. I hear this kind of thing all the time. I've heard this since 2022, that the Russians must be faster, that they must achieve things more quickly, and if they don't, somehow things will turn out very badly for them, and

it will all go wrong. And it's turned out exactly otherwise with every year they've grown stronger and the West has grown weaker. And that, I don't see why people should expect that to change. Now, about the drones, yes, there'd been lots of Ukrainian drone strikes on Ukraine, on Russia, sorry. What have these achieved? They've caused huge fires in Tuwapse. Has that changed the military balance on the actual war? ground in Ukraine, has that affected the overall performance of the Russian economy? No, it hasn't.

It is theatre and, you know, all of that. It gets a lot of headlines. It gets a lot of attention. It requires comments from Putin, which Alex didn't like. But if you're looking at the fundamentals, it changes nothing. If the Russians continue advancing, if they continue hammering away Ukraine, it changes a great deal. It's not that I didn't, it's not me liking.

I mean, who am I? I'm nobody to say I like or I don't like. I'm giving an opinion. That's it, which I rarely do. I mean, I rarely get by my opinion.

Every now and then, I think I'm entitled to. No, I accept it. The fundamentals have not changed. Just as, if you go back, to Putin's and Trump's discussion on the negotiations, the fundamentals have never changed.

Putin has never made any concession that we know about to the Americans or to the Ukrainians at all. And that's the most important thing. We don't know Alaska. We don't know Alaska. There's something in Alaska that there was some something worked out. But what we do know about Alaska is. And no one wants to talk about it. What we do know about Alaska is that whatever it was, the Europeans and the Ukrainians hate it.

So that's perhaps the best guide as to what it was. They hate it so much that Trump has not been able to move forward with it. Look, on the drone strikes, the argument can be made. and you're correct to make the argument that in the big picture, the grand scheme of things, these are pinprick attacks. But one strike did cause an environmental issue, which is serious, right? I mean, it's not a good thing. The fact that the facility was hit three times also shows that there's some sort of lack of coordination

or they're not moving quick enough or perhaps it's too difficult. perhaps it's too difficult for them to figure out a way to protect it. There is the fact, which we all know, that these strikes are coordinated with the United States. So as Putin is speaking with Trump, the United States and the Trump administration is also providing the targeting data to hit inside the Russian Federation. And with the drone facilities, I understand the fear because while Europe is sinking and the European economies are sinking, we know that it is. easy to manufacture drones. It doesn't cost much. It doesn't take much. And eventually

Europe is going to get on top of it and they are going to start to manufacture lots of drones. I think that's inevitable. I think all kinds of countries around the world inevitably will start to manufacture a lot of drones. Well indeed. And the fear, the fear of what I see is that

because Russia has failed to establish a deterrent against Europe where the drones are flying through Eastern Europe and they cross over into St. Petersburg and Moscow. Now, Russia has issued warnings. Medvedev has issued warnings. Labrov has issued many warnings. Shoygu issued a very strong warning. The Russian Ministry of Defense published a list of facilities, but Russia has still not established a deterrent to Europe to say, knock it off. Yes. Stop doing it. And I think this is going to be

a big problem because we're the first, we are the first channel to say they have no reverse gear. Yes. And so if you don't, if you don't put a stop to something, they're not going to back off. So that's that, I think that's my argument. That's the argument that some people have with the drone facilities. Right. Because we are entering a world where many, many countries are now just going to start to churn out these drones. I mean, it's big business.

It's good business. And it seems pretty cheap and easy. to do. It's very cheap and very easy to do. Well, let me just first of all explain what I think has happened in Tuatat. And I, you know, I want to be very careful here because I don't, I don't know. So I, to some extent, I am guessing. I think the reason Tuatse was not particularly well defended is because the Russians believed and maybe had been led to believe that it wouldn't be attacked. And the reason they thought it wouldn't be attacked is because Tuatse is a port through which oil from Central Asia flows. And some of that oil and some of the tankers

collect oil from there. And some of the facilities at Tuatze have American ownership and American connections. So I think that at some point, at some level, maybe there was an understanding reach, some kind of discussion made that the United States would not attack or would not countenance attacks on Tuapso because in effect doing so would affect American economic interests. That that left Tuatso wide open and made the attack the attacks. that we have seen against Tuapse possible. So that is my personal view about this. I know that these deals, these very sordid deals, do get made.

And of course, because they happen in wartime, it's impossible to enforce them. And people who rely on them too much, and in this case probably the Russians did, tend to find that they get caught flat-footed when the other side goes back on whatever. agreement or understanding maybe is the better word was reached. Now as to the question of deterrence, Russian deterrence overall, I've changed my views about this and I changed my views about this in connection with the conflict with Iran. Until the conflict with Iran began, I did think that after the American-European-Ukrainian missile strikes on Russia, the Russians had failed to act on their warnings.

It now seems to me as if the Russians did have provided a significant amount of technical assistance to Iran, and I think they did that in light of those warnings that they gave and which were not acted upon. Whether this is understood in Europe, whether it is even understood in the United States, is another matter. One of the big problems is that the Russians conduct their diplomacy and give their warnings in their own way, which is not always understood clearly in Washington and Brussels and London. All right. From Rusin, I believe we are waiting for certain events that will trigger global war.

fingers around the triggers who will fire first is Putin anticipating a major war using patience as his primary weapon well i think that the russians now have said quite clearly that they are worried about a major war in europe i mean i don't think there's any doubt about that anymore Putin medvedev lavrov choyev they've all spoken in this way and they've all said as well that it is the europeans who are driving this rather than the americans and the reason they say that it is not the Americans. It's not because they think the Americans are not bullies and are not being aggressive. Loveroff, one has said that that's exactly what the Americans are. They say that the Americans are not the people who are driving this confrontation at the present

time is because the Americans have other interests and other concerns in other places, which override the need for a war in Europe. There is the Russian calculation. So the Russians see at this time Europe as a greater danger to them than they see the Americans as. Flip-blop Zub says U.S. pressured India and Sri Lanka to delay response to Iranian ship Dena. They complied, they complied allowing a U.S. submarine to torpedo it, cowardice all around. It infuriated Iran. It read to strong Iranian protests in India. A lot of people in India were very upset and ashamed about this.

There was criticism of Modi. And though Modi has not publicly made any comment about this, at least not as I'm aware of, I understand that there has been a shift in the Indian position and that the Indians have been in touch with the Iranians and have given them assurances and that this is one of the reasons why the Iranians have allowed ships with oil for India to pass through the strait of almost. But your point about Cowderick is actually quite correct. As Pataville says, we need a dedicated live stream on the Mindich tapes with a suitable guest. We certainly do. Very complicated story.

One person who perhaps would be perfect for this is the man who writes at the blog events in Ukraine. But he seems to be very keen to keep his identity private, just as a second. Sir, Mosgame says, not buying the Trump's dementia BS, just like I didn't buy the Putin's dying. Putin's dead. Putin's got hemorrhoids BS. Well, I don't know that he's BS. I'm not in a position to make a die. diagnosis of Trump because I've never had encounters with him.

Thirdly, his behavior over the last year has been very strange. But I wonder, I also wonder, whether what happened in Anchorage might have played some role in it, in the sense that he met Putin in Anchorage, appears to have made promises to Putin that he has been unable to keep. and I think that has made him extremely angry and very embarrassed. And when Trump gets angry and embarrassed, he behaves, as we see in all sorts of strange ways. Because this is a three part. I told you that Iran was allowed to win because it's a vanity project of BB.

The globalists hate and want to destroy Russia and they succeeded. I understand the frustration about the Ukrainian strikes, but they show a lack of will from the Russian people. Look at what Ukraine has been through. If they wind now after four years of strikes in Ukraine, then how will they match the Ukrainian will, or when will Europe, come to make Moscow into Dresden? Well, again, Nikos, this is again, the sort of thing I hear about,

you know, the sort of flagging weakness on the United States. the part of Russian society as compared with the strength of will amongst the people in Ukraine. In Ukraine, we have these violent incidents where people are rounded up off the streets. There's been killings of people. That's apparently been escalating recently. There's all of these signs of stress and crisis. And there's reports of more people now trying to cross the NEPA to escape Ukraine. In Russia, apparently, they're still turning people away who want to join up in the military. Again, there's a lot of this narrative out there which gains traction.

And I, by the way, should say that one of the reasons it gains traction is because the Russians are useless at pushing back against it. But when you actually unpack the facts, is this really so? No way says, I've been watching this show for about a year. I have never heard Alex or Alexander say anything good about Trump. You both have TDS bad. You really have not been watching this show if you actually believe. You should look at our Russia-Gate analysis. You should look into our election coverage.

You should look at all that stuff. And you'll see that we've been extremely balanced, I would say, very accommodating and positive towards Trump. But he made a bold decision with this Iran war. And his second term has been a complete bust. I totally agree with what Alex has just said here. After Butler, we said that his conduct had been heroic. I mean, that's what we said. We did an old program in which we said it.

I mean, I hear these kind of comments, and they leave me incredulous. Look at where the United States is today. I mean, we now have oil at over $120 a barrel, and that's not the price of oil that he's sold today. That's much higher. That's the price of oil contracts in a month's time. This from a president who said that he was going to be. to cut the cost of living. It is impossible for me to see that there has been any kind of success

in this term. He hasn't ended the war in Ukraine. He's got the United States involved in this conflict with Iran. His tariff policy has been a complete mess. And we've discussed failure that tariff policy was a lot of failure. And we were supportive of it. We thought that protection of American industries might be a good thing. So, I mean, impossible for me to accept that criticism. You know what? We called it. We called it way in the beginning of Trump's term.

We said it in many programs. We were the first channel. We were the only channel to say yet there's some channels followed on after us after we said it. But we said actually months before Trump was inaugurated, the first thing Trump has to do, foreign policy-wise so he can focus on domestic policy and on America first and all that stuff. The first and easiest thing he needs to do is just walk away from freaking Ukraine. So easy, so simple. Biden's war.

Biden's a knucklehead for getting us into this. No more weapons, no more satellite imagery, no more targeting, no more Starlink. I'm out of this thing. If he had said that on February 1st, the United States would be in a moment. much better position. Absolutely. He didn't do any of that stuff. He went down a completely different path and then he started bringing in Cushner and

Whitcalfe and Netanyahu's 10 trips to D.C. And anyway. And Lindsay Graham. Lindsay Graham and all of that. Laura Louvre. I mean, give me a break. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Absolutely. And stop with the whole TDS thing. That's also just getting old. Yes. Yes. Iran says, two-part question. I mean, deal between Orban and Magyar. Governments can always manipulate elections. Never underestimate that. Orban didn't do much this time around. It's symptomatic that Vance talked to Orban a week before elections, the same Vance who told the EU to pick up

the pace at Ukraine. The very thing Orban was blocking in many ways. Well, I have to say, it's the first time I've heard about a possible deal between Orban and Mahler. But look, I am not expert in what happened in Hungary. I have to say, I said this already, that some of the reasons for Orban's failure in this election, I'm sorry to come back to this, relates to the way in which he did not receive

consistent and loyal support from his American friends. I think that his American friends could have done an awful lot more to help him, and I think he was damaged. was damaged by the mess up with the Budapest summit, which is another of the litany of things that Trump has got wrong over the course of the last year. But Orban and Maguire working together, well, when Alex and I were in Hungary in November 2024, that was absolutely not what we were hearing from people who were quite close to Orban then. I mean, I must say that.

Yeah. I've heard some social media accounts talk about a deal where Magyad becomes prime minister and Orban goes to the commission, becomes commissioned president, and they kind of split the assignment, the work, and because Magyad was part of Orban's Fidesh, once upon the time. But the problem with that thing. is that I believe Ursula is in office till 2029. So I mean, there's no, even if Orban could become president,

which I seriously doubt they would let him, I seriously doubt they would let him become commissioned president. But even if that was a possibility, I mean, we're talking about two, three years away. Yeah, absolutely. Orban commissioned president is a fantasy. It is not happening.

No chance of no chance at all. A lot would have to change. Absolutely. In the European Parliament, a lot would have to change. I mean, as I say, I mean, at the moment, that is in the wildest realms of the fantastical. I mean, you know, extraordinary things can happen, but that would have to be very, very extraordinary. It would be great. Absolutely.

I mean, I would be delighted. Many people in Europe would be delighted. they would actually have the president of the commission who's actually both capable and intelligent and realistic. But as I said, I mean, for all those reasons, that makes it most unlikely that it will happen. The last thing that people in Brussels want is a president of the commission

who is intelligent and capable and realistic. I think Annalina Berbock has a better chance of... And much better. Vastly better chance. Don't put ideas in there. mind, Alice. I'm sure they've already got it. Kind of, kind of there.

Sir Bugscape said, Bertot-Brette, unhappy is the nation that needs a hero, but I think Tina Turner nailed it better with her song. We don't need another hero. Well, yes, I agree with that. But, I mean, when we spoke about Trump being heroic, we were careful to explain it in Greek terms. Heroism is a Greek concept.

And his behavior on that day, after the bullet had grazed him, well, was heroic. I mean, he stood up, he waved his arm in the air, he was surrounded by people, there was the flag there. None of that was staged. It was real. I've no doubt about that. And it was extraordinary.

And it takes an unusual personality, very extraordinary personality, to be able to respond to a situation like that in that way. Yeah, they mucked it all up, though, with the recent. Oh, let's call it a mess. Let's call it a mess. All right. Salamulia says, can Trump really finesse an exit from Iran?

Enormously difficult. You should never have got into this mess in the first place. It was incredibly wrong and unwise thing for him to have done. We said so. Before this war began, again, if you want to see the best analysis of what would happen, if there was, I'm sorry, I'm sounding like a greener blowing our own trouble, but why not?

We said exactly what would happen. Unless there was regime change quickly, unless the regime in Iran collapsed within days, it would all start to go badly wrong. Yeah. And that's exactly what took place. If Alex and I could see it, Are you seriously telling me that the President of the United States and his officials,

that it would have been impossible for them? If they were doing their job properly, they should have seen it too. But of course, they weren't. You said it many, many months, many months ago about regime change. A long, long time ago, we were talking about regime. But actually, Alexander, I would say that, you know, Trump could probably, I mean, if he had the strength, Yeah. He could just walk away from the Holy Round thing.

Like get rid of the blockade and just say, see you later. If he had that kind of strength and independence, and he would be blamed by a lot of people. And there would be a lot of angry people, a lot of angry people. But for the most part, I think his base and many Americans would be like, whatever. Okay, great. Better. I think they would actually say better, good.

At the end of the day, what would happen if he did that? Firstly, it would be a lot better than the situation he's in today. Secondly, the Iranians would have to reopen the strait of foremost in some form. They would still exact a toll, and oil prices would be higher than they might otherwise have been. But is that bad for the United States, which is itself an oil exporter? Probably not, actually. if you look at it in purely economic terms. Not good for the Europeans,

not good for some of America's Asian competitors. But you could say that if Trump simply walked away from the situation now, the Americans in some respects would come out, well, fairly well. Sanjay have a two-part question. Alexander, I respectfully disagree with you about Russian central bank and inflation. Inflation affects the poorest members of society, and in Russia, inflation disproportionately affects the middle class. Sacrifice of economic growth is a reasonable sacrifice to safeguard the middle class, especially if growth fuels inflation, which means

there are bottlenecks, 90s, Russia, a case in point. Oh, you're absolutely, I mean, on the fundamental points that you are making, I completely agree. My disagreement with the central bank, which goes back many years, by the way, I mean, there was a time when I was involved in all kinds of discussions about this, is not about its anti-inflation policies overall. It is that I think it has set its inflation target too low. And not just by one percent. 4% target, I think, is extremely difficult to achieve and sustain over long periods. And it reduces liquidity of the economy too far. And results in these jagged periods of high growth and then no growth and then high growth again.

And you see the inflation target repeatedly overshort. so that instead of getting 4% inflation, you end up getting 2% inflation. 5% inflation would result in higher growth and it would be much smoother and it would not create the disruptions in the economy that we are seeing. I don't think that 5% target would punish the Russian middle class. And by the way, even more the people on fixed income, the pensioners and people like that who are an important part of Putin's electoral constituency. I don't think it would punish them excessively.

I think they would be able to absorb it because of the higher economic growth that would result. But certainly going back to the pre-2010 policies when the central bank basically didn't care about inflation. And you got in Putin's first term, 7% growth, but 12% inflation. I don't think that would be good for Russia at this time. Christopher Duby says, how many French nationals are fighting in Mali? Very good question. By the way, we need to talk about Mali. It's an interesting situation there, and we should do a program about this.

To me, this is clearly a regime change operation again. And no question about that, none at all. Alex has talked about it. It's just hard to get a feel what is happening on the ground. I mean, my sense, I could be wrong about this, but my sense is that the government and Russia is on top of it now, but I could be wrong. That's my sense.

I agree. I agree. But something did go wrong, undoubtedly. I mean, the fact that there was the successful or initially successful offensive right across the country. I mean, how did it happen? And again, one has to wonder, was there somebody asleep at the wheel, was discipline in the army less strong that it might have been?

There's many questions that can be asked. But I agree. I agree with Alex. I think that they have got on top of it now. MK telephone man says the current government of Germany is more worrisome than Avede. Nationalism is more acceptable than expansion. WW2 Mertz is the next mustache man. Well, I wouldn't go that fast to call him the next moustache man.

The last moustache man was an extraordinary individual. I mean, I don't want to say more because I don't want to sound like I'm praising him, But he had abilities that Friedrich Merz. I mean, Friedrich Merz is a clown, a very destructive clown, but ultimately a clown. But if you're asking which party at the moment has the more impressive people in Germany today, well, just look at Ali's of Heidel and compare it,

compare her with Friedrich Merz. And as far as I'm concerned, it's no contrast. Certainly, she looks far more competent to be Chancellor of Germany today. Sanjava says, Alexander, I concede your point. I can see you the point. 5% inflation target is a good compromise. Cheers. Thanks.

Thank you, Sanjay. Always, always interesting to talk to you, by the way. Danielle says, why do you think that there has been no real investigation on Butler, Charlie Kirk, or Epstein? If someone shot me, I would not just dismiss it. Well, I absolutely agree. I absolutely agree. And again, it does point to something very rotten in the political system in America.

I mean, there is no other explanation for it. M.K. Telephone Band says, as long as the EU keeps paying people to be parasites, the more they will suffer. Yeah. Yeah. A feature, not a bug. from Jeffrey Brown regarding the gentlemanly disagreement tonight I find myself safely balanced on the fence between you I rock from side to side a little but never fall either way

a bit like reading Plato keep it up makes me think Well it's wonderful to be compared to Plato I think that's the best compliment that Alex and I have had since we started as a person who loves Plato and used to read him in the original which was, by the way, not so difficult.

He wrote beautiful, clear Greek. Well, all I can say is, I'm on it. Vanti 1054 says, will the U.S. managed to find the reverse gear in time and leave the Iranian quagmire before the world economy is plunged into a depression? I see absolutely no sign of it. I mean, obviously it should, but would it?

Don't call it a quagmire. Pete Higgsett gets very upset. Absolutely. when you call it a quag buyer sir mugs game says i learned the truth about the middle east geopolitics from the video and lyrics to rock the casbah by the clash revelation of the method indeed very good song thank you sir muskane i agree that does teach you a lot about the middle east rock the casbah uh san jeva says uh alexander late 90s and early 2000s new zealand also sacrificed growth to reduce inflation and New Zealanders generally felt richer. Later on, Jacinda Arden and labor squandered it with

COVID idiocy, but that's another matter. That is an excellent point, by the way. I mean, the trade-off, when countries go for broke, when they prioritize growth over everything, when they sacrifice economic stability to achieve a high rate of growth, the result is always bad. And any central bank, any finance ministry, any government that doesn't get control of inflation is not doing its job properly. One of the biggest mistakes we've made in the West, I said this many, many times, is that for decades, we have treated recessions as the worst possible thing that can happen to an economy and to a society. And we've done everything we can to reshape our economic system in the West, to prevent recessions.

Recessions are necessary. Obviously, they are difficult for those people who are caught up in them, but there's a lot that can be done during recessions to help people. You must never try to do away with the economic cycle. That has been a huge mistake, and it has contributed to many of the problems we see today. Apathetic Albeyan says tasks were saying Mali is still firmly under government, control, some 2,500 hedgehoppers eliminated.

Well, yes. My one slight concern here, and I get to say straight away, is that I remember TAS and other people reporting the same thing about Syria in 2024. So it looked as if Assad had the whole situation under control, and then it all imploded. So that makes me a little cautious. We're not little. That makes me cautious about jumping to conclusions about the situation in Mali.

Don't underestimate these al-Qaeda guys and when France and the U.S. and the collective west are behind them. Exactly. It can be very dangerous. Nico says, Alex, when the enemy is willing to go to war with you and even nuclear war, there's no deterrence. The only way to stop it is conflict with the West. What does that lead to other than Russia being turned into Dresden? Putin's mistake was starting the SMO, not knowing the lengths the West would go. I disagree.

I think there could be deterrence. Oh, sorry, there's a part three. There's a part three. Now he's given up because he can't do anything. I don't care any more about the whining in Russia. Let some insane guy take charge, but that guy responding to Europe won't bring any deterrence. Well, I absolutely think there is such a thing as deterrence. And, well, Alex, you're going to say some...

I think there's many ways to establish the turts without having to go to nuclear war, anything like that, or even war. Even war, absolutely. Yes. The reason there was an SMO in the first place was because deterrence ultimately failed. The Russians failed to convey properly to the West in 2000. and even before, that they would enforce the red line over Ukraine. So you could argue that that was a failure of deterrence. But yes, there are ways to establish deterrence.

And if you listen to the rhetoric in the West at the moment, it's not that they are discounting Russian military power today. It's that they're afraid of it. That is the explanation that the current rearmament. that we're seeing. We're talking now about re-establishing our own deterrence. Deuterrence does exist and it is in place. And if it did not exist, we would be in a far worse, or more dangerous, or at least Russia would be, in a far worse and more dangerous situation than the one we're in. Nichols, I just want to say this again. What you are sitting out there,

to me, it sounds very like a council of despair. And as I always say, counsels of despair or bad counsels. From G-Dog 2K2. I've never seen a victim stop a bully or a cancer with kind words. Well, true. Nico says, I feel sorry for Russia and President Putin, but they made their choices and they have to live in forever hell. Let's see if another guy can do better.

Well, if I'd say so, I mean, if you, I mean, I mean, I, I, I, when I went to Russia last year, that was in June. So, you know, some time is past. But it certainly didn't feel like hell. In Britain today, well, I'm not saying that we are in hell, but the situation is, it not only is not good, it is getting worse, far worse, at very, very great speed. So, again, I haven't been to Germany,

for a while. But when I was last there as well, it also seemed to me that this was a place that was going down. And all of the statistics and figures suggest this. So again, you make these points, Nikos, but are they really factually based? Just so. Sticky marks says, quoting Captain Blackadder. I think the phrase rhymes with clicking bell. in peace from this crazy old Nana'irdo in Yorkshire, UK. Thank you for that. Thank you for that one. Zabinator 5567 says, wonder if Iran will say the end of the war.

One condition is Israel must surrender their nukes and Iran will give up their uranium. That would be a radical demand. They've not made it up to now. And I actually don't think they will make it. You know, the whole thing, about Iran's uranium enrichment program is, in my opinion, a mirage. The Iranians came to a deal about it in 2015. It was a deal that was working. It could have been built on. There were weaknesses and flaws in it, but it could have been strengthened. And the Iranians last year, and by the way, during the Biden era, showed that they were prepared to do a deal at about it again as well, and all of the surrounding countries which have supported the deal too.

So this is not the major problem. I don't think the Iranians are refusing to negotiate or have up to now refused to negotiate about their enrichment program. What the Iranians want is security. They want to be left alone. And I think if that can be negotiated, then I think we can find a way back. But there doesn't seem to be any desire to do that because of course the objective on the Israeli and American side has not been Iranian security. It has been regime change.

Amash 796 says, say it with me, Alex Alexander, cry me a much much much much much Khadabha, Khmeri, Moshaba, Hamenei, thank you for your attention to this matter. Very, very difficult for me to get pronounced this properly. I will get there in the end, but I'm working hard at it. It's the same. Nico says, I don't even study the news anymore. I skim Twitter, Mali is collapsing like Syria. I don't care.

I'm just so depressed. We are zombies marching to World War III. Yes, as I say, again, another council of despair. I'm not going to, I'm not going to predict the outcome in Mali. I worry that what you say might come to pass, but it doesn't follow if Mali collapses, that everything else will follow. Sparky said, I've heard the Mali army with help of Russians

have gotten control of the situation. Mali is supposedly more vulnerable than Nijer or Burkina Faso. The West sent their terrorist stooge is there. Yes, it is more vulnerable. It is a huge and very, very complex country. It borders, it's enormous, by the way, and it borders on many places, and there's many different regions in Mali that have different cultures and different attitudes, and there's lots of regional resentments as well.

So it is a difficult place for a government that feels threatened to control. So yes, it is more vulnerable, but I've also heard, And this is what Alex, Alex has followed this more closely than I have done, by the way. Alex's sense is that the Malian army and the Russians are on top of this. And on balance, I think that is right. I could be wrong. No, absolutely. I learned from Syria as well.

We're not making hard and fast predictions here. Yeah. Jungle Jin says invite an African analyst on the discussion, Mali and the AES example. the host of Africa today. There are some good English language African analysts in Africa. You're absolutely right. We should do. And by the way, Mali's a fascinating country with an extraordinary history going back before colonialism. And I mean, it's where Timbuktu is, for example, which is indeed an extraordinary city by all accounts. Sir Mug's game says Putin went quiet after the US rescued Venezuela so quickly

caused much talk in the Kremlin and put the Ukraine operation into a whole new perspective. Putin went quiet after the attack on Valdai. I think that was a huge shock, not just for Putin, which I think it was a shock for Putin, by the way, but for the entire Russian political system. I think it was one thing that the Russians, most unwisely, never could imagine would happen. And I think that there's been a definite policy

of keeping him in the background as far as possible ever since then. I think Putin himself, obviously, but I think others too. Nico says, did you see my list, Duran? Your thoughts? No. Which telegram is it on, Nicos? Is it on the Duran Telegram or Alex telegram? If you post on the Duran Telegram, then please someone forward it to me. so I can also spot it.

But we definitely want to see that list. It goes no doubt about it. Your last list was really good. The last lists on Russia were really good. Absolutely. Nerdustra says, as the military option fails, the narrative matters more.

That's why independent media is crucial for a better world to be born. I absolutely agree. Narratives can get you very far. I mean, this is an important thing to say. Narratives can actually shape events People accept them and follow them, and they make decisions based on them, and in time they can shape events too. But ultimately, it is events that matter and it's facts that matter.

The Iranians, whatever else you may say about them, do understand why it is important to manage narrative. The Russians remain far too focused on facts and ignore narratives almost entirely. And it has not worked for them at all. But people have been saying this for years and the Russians pay no attention. And, well, I doubt it's ever going to change. Well, you know, I've been giving it some thought. The Russians make this excuse. And Putin has said it himself that, you know, we're never going to win the information

war against the United States and they're so big and they have such huge capabilities when it comes to the information war. Once again, look at how Iran did it with the Lago stuff. Well, absolutely, yes. I mean, you know, again, what the Russians said, and I've heard, Putin himself has said it. I mean, he said it attack the country. It's a council of despair. Just give up. Just don't, don't even try in that case. Let the other side frame the narrative around you all the time. And if narratives about you go unchallenged, well, you already lost the game before it's even started. It is a council of despair. And the Russians are beyond negligent in falling for it.

Sparky 6086 says best deterrent is hazelnuts launching to the new Naitobes in Naitobes in Naito. Base in Romania. Wow. Thank you for that. Sir Musca says, now and now Ursula has given birth to seven children and she needs to place them in cushy jobs for life in Brussels. Ivan S. Markov says Trump pulled the biggest con in American history.

Job market is terrible, inflation, housing crisis, insane vehicle prices, surveillance state. Well, you. Lots of people are saying this. We did a program with Robert Bauer, back in August, in which he was saying that the real situation in the U.S. economy is not good. Then what is Trump to? He makes it worse.

Zoran says, I'm not talking about the nonsensical Orbán Commissioner. Please don't insult me. That is ridiculous. What is your email? Explain more because there is a lot you do not know or understand about Hungary. We weren't saying that that's what you said, Zardan. No. I specifically said there is talk on social media.

Media, exactly. Which says that there was a deal. I wasn't referencing you. But if you do want to send us an email, to explain what's going on. Editor at the Duran. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

The more information we have about the situation in Hungary, a country we both greatly liked, by the way, and Budapest, the city we both greatly like. The more interested we are. Dimitrio says, since, as you say, drones are cheap to produce, does Greece make its own drones? And if not, why not?

Well, I don't know if they make. I don't know. I don't make drones. My point is that a lot of countries are making drones or we'll start in the future to start to make drones. I think that's going to happen. Yeah. I'm going to make here a little prediction.

I think that the Europeans of the West are behind the carbon drones. They are where the Ukrainians and the Russians were in 2024. It's now 2026. in the world of drones, that is a very long time. And I think that, as I said this already, I think we're going to start to see this year, drones begin to lose their effectiveness. Apparently that's already been noticed

on some of the front lines. That's the first thing. The other thing is yes, yes, the Europeans will make lots of drones and the Americans will make lots of drones. But it would always cost an awful lot more than it should do. Because remember,

That is the nature of military production in the West. You have to make it expensive. Because if you don't, well, there is no big profit in it. There might be a small profit in it, but nobody in this game is looking for a small profit. CS 10882828. What can you tell us about the situation in Mali? Well, we discussed it.

Sir Mug's game says Trump will use the rescue of Cuba as cover for resolving the Iran dust up? It's not impossible. And again, a lot depends both on Cuba itself and how Russia responds. I said that I thought the Russians would act to help Cuba. I also said that the Russians care, have emotional feelings about Cuba. I've been surprised, actually, quite how far the Russians have gone. on up to now. But if it comes to a situation where the United States is prepared to go for an

outright military intervention in Cuba, I can't imagine the Russians interfering, just a same. Ivan S. Markov says regarding Russia's central bank, Gremang Gref is a globalist. He hates Russia, and he will create a lot of problems. Russia has a lot of internal enemies. He is not, he's not the chairman of the central bank. The chairman of the central bank is Elvira Nabilina. German Gref is the head of Spare Bank, which is the Russian Savings Bank,

which is the bank in which the vast majority of people keep their accounts. Spare Bank is fully owned by the central bank. So Gref answers to Nebulae, and from every account that I've heard, they don't like each other, just saying. Fuzzy Ball says it really doesn't matter how much money they give Ukraine because the collective West cannot produce weapons any quicker and will run out of Ukrainians.

Well, they will produce drones. That's what they're producing now because it's the only thing they can. I mean, they can't produce tanks. They can't produce missiles. They can't produce armored vehicles in the quantities that Ukraine needs. And their shell production plans have been a total. and fighter jets. Yeah, the fighter jets that debacle.

But the artillery shells thing has also been a failure, apparently. So now all the focus is on drones. And you have this narrative and it is not entirely a narrative. There is a lot of truth to it. But the thing is about the enormous decisive effect of drones. But the iron rule of war is that any weapon that is introduced into a wall, eventually finds its counter. And I think we're close to that point with drones as well, just saying.

Zareal says failure of communication, not deterrence. I think there is something in that. The Russians, it comes back to that point about not pushing back on narrative. The Russians don't communicate strongly enough either. Sir Mazgames says, if good King Charles thinks he's schmoozing Trump, I would remind him of a quaint U.S. saying, just when you think you're effing them, they're effing you. Can I just say something?

I am absolutely furious with King Charles' speech in Congress. As far as I am concerned, it borders not just, on the improper, but on the outright unconstitutional. It is a desperate throw by a desperate political class, and I think it's going to impress no one in Washington. Just a set. G-Dog, 2K2 says, how do you negotiate with a thing that has no honor? Yes.

Harry C. Smith says, what about the Mali Niger-Berkino-Faso mutual defense pact? Anyone know if that's been invoked yet? No, it hasn't, which is a big, it's a good question why it hasn't. Sparky says, I thought for a moment Iran would end the Zionist outpost, but I guess it's not up to them to solve America's problems. Sure enough. I don't think Iran has that ability.

And bear in mind that you're talking about, a situation in which nuclear weapons can be used. You shouldn't expect Iran to invite nuclear retaliation against itself. Sir Mug's game says, No way Uncle Vlad crapped himself over boomer removal attempt. G-G-Dog, T2 says Russia needs to hire explosive media, Lego videos, to manage their image.

Well, yes. You know, they should. It's not a joke. Absolutely, they should. It's extraordinary that they have. There are plenty of people in Russia who can do it. It's bizarre that they don't. You know, once upon a time, they were brilliant at it.

They were brilliant at it during the Second World War, for example. No, they accepted the narrative. They actually accepted the belief that they can't do anything in the information war. It's hopeless. It's useless anyway. So they didn't even try. And then Iran comes along and they come up with this very creative, very effective

and very cheap cheap exactly way to do it yeah exactly sparky says had an old globe when I was a kid instead of separate countries the whole region was called French West Africa yeah sure enough

I used to have a globe like that myself that was when I was a child in Greece in the 60s I can remember it was my bedroom hmm Jabila says hello our great Duran gentleman, I love to see you. My question, does America's, do America's leaders drama if truth, why should we care about them and they're killing around the world? I think

no one accepts it. I'm afraid we have to care about it because America is still very, very powerful and what it decides to do does matter and does change things. So we can't just ignore what goes on in the United States. It remains a pivotal country in many ways. And besides, again, people will push back on me. I don't want to give up on the United States. I mean, there's an awful lot about that country, which I still feel great sympathy and liking for.

I don't want to give up on the United States. I hope they will find their way back. In fact, I want to believe that they will. Gen's 79B says Napoleon's failure with the continental system very much parallels the current NATO sanctions on Russia, China, Iran. In my opinion, the effects hit the sanctioneer

more than the sanctions. Yes, I agree completely. And it ought to be an object lesson. I mean, how it came about that the West, the collective West, with the president of France who always invokes Napoleon in postures and pretends,

that he is the new Napoleon. How they failed to realize this disastrous mistake that Napoleon made and that they were repeating it. It's going to be an excellent question, which one day maybe historians will answer. Sir Muggeam says Greece has focused on mobile laser defense. Well, interesting. I'm not saying that will fail. Maybe that's wise.

The hockey goalie says, given the dominance of Ukraine, Russia, and Iran, Israel as issues, Is there anything you think we're not talking about enough, keeping you up at night? Well, keeping me up at night. Well, Taiwan, we don't talk enough about, but I suppose you could say that China, that's part of China too. Africa and we have been, we have failed to talk anywhere near enough about this absolute disaster, which has been the war in Sudan, and we should say an awful lot more about it. And, well, Mexico country that Alex knows very well, my wife recently visited, by the way, an awful lot going there, and an awful lot apparently going wrong there, too.

A lot going right there as well. It's an interesting country. but things were what my wife saw, which are not good. Zoran says, can you please spell the email correctly, concisely? I'll write it in the chat right now. So I'll write it in the chat.

Nico says, I sent it to the Duran telegram on the comments of this video, this video. Besides Russia, I've sent you for Iran and Greece, but those are the worst people's lists. the worst people's lists we've seen this one I haven't I don't know if I've

No I've posted this on Oh no I did post this on telegram Okay Nicocia yeah I'll get it right now Elza says Elenski isn't winning on the battlefield But he's winning on the begging field Sparky says Alexander Very well for you've given them

Too much credit The West isn't nearly as far along With drones or other weapons For the matter If not the Chinese components They'd be even worse off You may be right. Look, I'm not, I don't want to,

what I don't want to do is to say that they will never get their act together over drones. I mean, Alex made that point. This is in some respects a relatively straightforward technology. Just as that you would have thought that they would be able to find their way back. But there are some of these industrial problems. And one example is that the Americans produced their own equivalent of the Shah-head Girand drones, which they used against Iran. They proved to be far more expensive and over-engineered and over-complicated,

and there were never as many of them used as the should have been. Americans do have a tendency to over-engineer things. And in Europe, we take that a whole stage further as well. All right, I got Nikos's list. FYI one sec. Okay, saved it. All right. Thank you, Nikos.

Daniela says drones have just hit Perm oil refinery. Yeah. The game of drones and energy wars continue. Yes, all refineries, and I said this many times, are actually not easy facilities to destroy. The attack on Tuace, I may not have actually done a huge amount of underlying damage to the refiner. I know all about refineries because I studied this intensively years ago when I was looking at the campaigns against German refineries during the Second World War, just a same. They might not have done a huge amount of damage to the underlying facilities, but they can produce. use, these terrible smoke sooths and the environmental disasters that come with them.

Refinaries are relatively straightforward things to repair, actually. The Germans perfected getting their refineries off and running, and they were able to do it within weeks, and I doubt that the Russians are going to have any particular challenges there. from fuzzy balls. Greece used to rule worlds and fathered in philosophy. Now they make drones for Zelensky. That's a massive drop in stature. Is there any hope for Greece?

There's lots of hope for Greece. We've been around for longer than anyone else in Europe. Don't give up on us. But we all going through difficult times. Of that, there is no doubt. Yeah, Greece is trying to remove anonymity on social media now. Yeah, yeah. Zaryel says, and can't produce a coherent thought thanks to Kokhead.

Thank you for that. K.K.N. K.N. K. K.N. Kareen says, I see these positive posts in my feeds on Russia. The narrative convos is confusing to me because I see the Russian doing it in my timeline. I was pro-Ukraine before, then started to see more info and change views to pro-Russia or more nuanced. Well, I think that there has been a lot of pushback on independent media, which has had an effect, and clearly that's been good. But if you're talking about the dominant narrative on, well, it's overwhelmingly in the West, at least, shaped around, well, if you like, the Western Ukrainian interpretation of the war. I mean, back in October, I went to Oxford and I addressed all sorts of people there above the war. Everybody, everybody who was there pretty much came in, except in the Ukrainian narrative.

And then, you know, we suddenly started talking about things like the Istanbul Agreement, 2022. None of them had heard of it. I mean, I remember their astonishment when I told them about this. And then I read it out, or those parts of it as I had to hand, I read it out of them. And you could see sort of see jaws drop. So, I mean, you know, that is, and that's Oxford, by the way. I mean, you know, we're talking about the intellectual center of Britain along with Cambridge. So, I mean, if people there are so ill-informed, well, you can imagine.

Yeah. No, I mean, our channels have been slammed for our positions. not only Ukraine positions, but the Russia gate position, the elections position. I mean, we've been at this for a while. And we were the first talking about all this stuff. I mean, now, if you put out a channel now and you talk about what's happening in Ukraine from a more objective or more balanced position and you actually talk about the Russian side of things, you'll be fine.

But when you go back two, three, four years, five years into this, I mean. Taking the positions that we took was just absolutely crazy. Very, very crazy. And, and, you know, risky and had consequences, which we still have to suffer from. I mean, you know, we're still, you know, in the algorithm jail, so to speak. Yeah. For the positions that we took three, four years ago. Sparky says, original the King's speech was much better than the remake.

that is very good actually that is very very good George the 6th was a who was the king in the second World War was a shy, nervous apparently not especially bright but fundamentally decent man today well I'm not going to say

he is he is my king after all Fuzzy Ball says most of those drones don't do much damage Stanislav said that 90% of damage is repaired within a few days you need missiles to do real damage. Yes, absolutely correct. Drones can do damage.

I mean, you know, if you have a drone and it falls into an oil tank and it catches fire, the oil will catch fire and, you know, it's a heavy crude, it will produce huge amounts of smoke and soot and that will cause enormous environmental damage and it will look very spectacular as well. absolutely the actual facilities themselves can be repaired very fast. If you bomb them with heavy bombs, that's the best way to really damage refineries, which is of course what they were doing during the Second World War. But even then the Germans could repair them. With drone attacks, it's much more difficult to do damage that can't be repaired very quickly.

Mugs game says, but Alexander, good King Charles, his whole life has been one media and public relations disaster after another. There's always blowback. Yeah, I agree. Flying Boar says Putin is lost and naive. You've got to be like China, how they stood up to Trump last year. I don't think that Putin is a naive man. I think he's many, many things, but certainly he's not naive. Had he been naive, he wouldn't have been leading Russia for as long as he has been. I mean, Bear in mind, he became leader of Russia in 2000. And we're now in 2026. This is not a country where naivety gets you very far.

Sparky says, Alexander and I both had old globes. Hope people don't think we're old globalists. We were not globalists at all in those days. The borders that you saw on maps actually meant some. Nico says I've done extensive research on these people. I even asked my godmother, who is Serbian about Bilyana, Plovich, my number nine choice, who I consider the true architect of the Bosnia War instead of Karadich.

Interesting. Look, Alex has it. We will read the list and we will comment on it properly in our next live stream. So you have our promise, we have our promise, Azaran says, sorry to disappoint you, but Greeks aren't the oldest in Europe. The Vintza civilization in Serbia is dated to, is dated at 4,500 before Christ and it even had metology. Yes, but but where are they now? That's my boy. We, we are the oldest nation with a continuous written history in Europe.

We extend way back to the Mycenaean era of around 1500 BC. I think in European terms, that does make us the oldest. Just saying. Fuzzy Ball says at the current pace of authoritarianism in the EU, how long before Ursula achieves her dream of George Orwell's 1984 for all Europeans? Well, I don't think she will ever achieve it. it's going to be one of those things that's always a work in progress.

And the longer the work goes on in progress, the more damage it does. Yeah, she's trying, though. It's trying very hard. Alexander, I think that's everything. You want to do a final roundup and let me just do a quick check. Well, I is. Actually, the fact that it was a contentious life stream

in some places, I think made it more interesting. but we should not overlook the importance of what has just happened. I mean, a conflict in the Middle East, which has gone seriously wrong. We have major problems in the global economy. And talk of war in Europe, I mean, actual talk of war being spoken about on both sides of the potential battlefields. I mean, this is an extraordinary moment and a very, very, very concerning moment. It's got hope, but it's also got huge, huge risks. And I would say that never, never have we been needed more, not just Alex and myself,

but the entire community and people like us to talk about these things than now. Elsa says the media reported about the common relatives Charles and Trump have they have many more common friends on the upsteen list just saying Oh interesting but it doesn't surprise Zorhan says they are now in Serbia and Balkans Same genetics run through our veins and that is proven that the skin might have changed But the people are the same Yes but the culture the culture the language

The the the literature, the recorded history, the buildings. I mean, I will be here, I'm obviously a Greek patriot, but I think I have facts on my sign. Sir Muzgames says, Alex, on the Duran t-shirts, sub the Union Jack with a dumpster fire, and flag with a train wreck, and they sell faster than cold beer in a dust storm. It's an idea.

Thank you for that. It is an idea. It could sell well. We'll end it there. Thank you to everybody. For your questions. Thank you to our moderators in the chat. Zareel and Harry and I think that was it

moderating in the YouTube chat. So thank you very much for that. and to everyone that watched us on Odyssey and Rumble, YouTube, and the Duran.orgals.com. Thank you very much. Marika says an excellent live stream. Thank you and have a good day. Thank you and have a good day as well.

One seconds. Yes, we got that question. Okay. Excellent. That's everything, Alexander. So we'll end it there. On your way out, do us a favor and hit that. that like

hit that like Serbugs game says Serbians built the Parthenon did they indeed and here was I thinking it was Pericles come on

we know it was it was it was Ukrainian absolutely quite true all right we'll let it there take care everybody