The Duran Podcast - They Have No Reverse Gear (Live)

Episode Date: June 26, 2026

They Have No Reverse Gear (Live)

All right, we are live with Alexander McCurice in London. Alexander, how you doing? I'm doing very well as well as anybody can in this extremely stifling heat. Now, 33 degrees, which is, I believe, what we have at the moment. In some places, would not be considered much, but in London, houses are built to retain heat. So it's all very uncomfortable. But anyway, there it is. It will be a good opportunity to do this live stream,

because I can stop thinking about that. All right, 30 degrees, you said? 33, I believe. 33, 33. In Cyprus, you would know. Spring day in Cyprus. But as I said, come to London and experience it here and you see the difference. All right.

Before we get started, Alexander, let's just say a quick hello to everyone that's watching us on Rumble, on Odyssey, on YouTube, and on locals, the Duran. dot locals.com and thank you to our moderators as well in the YouTube chat. Let me just see if we have any moderators so far.

No one's come in yet, but I'll be moderating. Oh, Harry, Harry is with us. How you doing? Harry, good to have you with us. All right, Alexander. Let's talk about what's happening in the news.

Ukraine, Iran, NATO meeting on the 7th and 8th, I believe is when the big NATO-anchor conference takes place. We have the big plan from Zelensky and Co to isolate Crimea, a 40-day, a 40-day, what did Zelensky call it? a 40-day operation to force Russia to the negotiating table. Which makes a question of what happened. Yeah, what happens after the 40 days? It's quite interesting, but anyway. The 40-day terror campaign, right? I mean, the SBU, it's 40 days of terror, I guess, is basically what they're agreeing on.

But for me, the single most important thing is the rise and rise of the otherwise invisible Mr. Rubio, who is now obviously an overall charge of U.S. foreign policy. He said that which we all of us knew, which is Anchorage is dead. He's pretended that there was no agreement in Anchorage, which is clearly wrong, but it means that, you know, whatever it was that they did agree is finished. And he's now the person who's clearly making the big statements from now on. I mean, maybe you could give Rubio a little bit of kind of slack. Maybe there wasn't an agreement, like a written agreement.

Yeah. Your lawyer speak, like Rubio is using some lawyer speak. Yeah, that's exactly. Right. Yes. Yes. Something was agreed to, a framework, a structure, a proposal, but maybe there was no, like, official document, which is probably correct, would you say?

So I don't know, maybe Ruby is being a bit clever, a bit squirmy in the use of his words. As he always is, he's very skilled at this. but it was clearly more than just an understanding. I remember going through all the texts and trying to get what each of them were saying, but clearly there was some kind of agreement between Putin and Trump. It was never reduced to writing.

And Rubio says it was only an offer. It clearly went well beyond an offer. I mean, that's the thing to say. Trump and Putin, they did this press conference, and it was quite obvious that they both came away thinking that they'd at least reach some kind of basic agreement about something. And bear in mind, I mean, Anchorage is now almost a year in the past.

The Russians have been repeatedly saying that an agreement was reached and understandings were reached in Anchorage. And up to now, the Americans have never come out and said that that is wrong. wrong. Clearly, they now saying it, or at least Rubio is now saying it. Yeah. So the whole strategy of ICE, of separating the United States from Europe was just a bad idea. It was a non, it was a no-go, a non-starter. I mean, I understand the Kremlin's thinking on it. But the problem

with that thinking is that you're never going to separate the vassals from the master, right? It was a failed policy. And Putin went along with it and we did a video on this, which will go up. Maybe today, if I have the energy, maybe tomorrow. But, you know, Putin built an entire architecture and infrastructure in order to accommodate Whitkoff and Kushner, to accommodate these talks and to try to separate or to create division between Europe and the United States. It was not. Well, well, to some extent he has succeeded. I mean, there is considerable dissonance now between the Europeans and the Americans. And the Americans are continuing to pull

forces out of Europe. And I think that's going to continue. And the Americans also have got themselves bogged down with Iran, which we will, which we will discuss also. About Anchorage and the anchorage process, that died in December when there was the drone strike on Valdi. I don't think even Putin has really taken it seriously since then. He's kept a sort of lingering thing out there about having contacts with Trump and all of that. But the Americans have been trying to send Witkoff and Kushner to Moscow. The Russians say, you know, they're welcome to come, but they never agree with the date. Yeah. Okay, so one more big news story, and then we'll get to the questions.

And, of course, we'll talk more about what's happening in the news off of people's questions. But the IRGC, let's look at Iran and Hormuz, the IRGC, they hit a tanker because that that tanker was using the southern route, the Oman route. Now, the IRGC has said that this is unacceptable. There's only one route out of Hormuz, according to Iran, and that is their route. It's clear to see what's happening here, very clear to see what's going on. The Trump administration with coordination with the go-ahead from Oman in conjunction with Oman, they're trying to use this southern Oman route so that they can make that the default safe route. for Hormuz.

Therefore, you remove Iran's leverage over the Strait of Hormuz, or at least you believe that you remove the leverage from Iran on Hormuz. Of course, Iran can obviously hit any ships and go passing through the Strait of Hormuz or threaten to strike the ships through Hormuz. You're not looking at a huge distance, and then you have all of the insurance and those costs as well, the fear that Iran might actually go after ships if they decide to use the southern route. But it's clear to see the game that the Trump administration is trying to play,

which is to try in and add more legitimacy or to make the exclusive route to be that southern Oman route. And then you tell Iran to just buzz off. That's going to be the route out of purpose. That's exactly right. Can I say all of this confirms two things. Firstly, that this is a Minsk agreement that we've had. The MOU is a Minsk agreement. It was entered into a total bad faith.

The Americans never had any intention of complying with any part of it. They're never going to pay back to the Iranians' frozen assets. They're never going to lift sanctions. They needed to get the Strait of Hormuz in some form reopened, and they thought they could trick the Iranians into reopening the Strait of Hormuz by getting the signatures to the MOU. And the Russians, I mean, I'm not talking from opinion. I know this.

I mean, I've seen actually some of the messages that went backwards and balls. The Russians warned the Iranians that this was going to happen. Iran itself, there are divisions within it. There are some groups that still want to try to come to some kind of understanding with the Americans. There is the IRGC, which takes a much harder line and is much more skeptical of the Americans. And there's also China as well, which, by the way, from what I understand, supports those who want to come to Iran who want to come to a deal with the Americans as well. So there are tensions on the Iranian side. The IRGC took the decision, and I think they did it probably by

themselves, are they going to hit this tanker? And if that means the collapse of the MOU, so be you. Can I just ask a question about the Oman route, the southern route? If the IRGC did not hit that tanker, to send that message, to not take the southern route, would this plan actually work? Can you separate, can you separate Hormuz? Can you divide Hormuz and then say, you know what? Iran, you can say or do whatever you want with Hormuz, close it, open it. We don't care because we now have this southern Oman route that's open and maybe under the protection of the United States and Oman. I mean, was that something that was actually, I mean, is that an actual viable plan? Well, as a plan, it's not viable. I mean, we're talking about a very narrow passage,

27 kilometers wide and apparently the pathways through which ships can pass through the Straits of Hormuz is very, very narrow indeed. So there is no Amman route and Iran route or anything of that guy. Not really.

But what the American intention was, I think, to get shipping moving through the Strait of Hormuz. You can say it's the Oman route or you can say something else, but get the Iranians to accept the tankers are going through the Strait of Hormuz.

And the American calculation was that the longer that continues and the longer the Iranians let it happen, the more likely it is that what has become temporary will become permanent. In other words, that if you establish traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, it will be much more difficult for the Iranians to close it. The IRGC saw the risk, the danger of that, and they took the decision to strike the tanker. So this obviously changes the calculus completely and shifts the balance of advantage back to Iran. But bear in mind, it is increasingly looking as if the Iranians themselves are not fully united in.

All right. Minsk agreement. Minsk agreement. But I mean, you know, we said this from the first moment. The moment I saw the text of the MOU, I said this simply can't be true. I think it is inconceivable that the United States would sign in good faith an agreement like that and set out to implement it. Now, there may be some people in the US who see it as I do as ultimately a good deal for the United States

because it extracts the United States from the Middle East. I'm prepared to believe, for example, the JD Vance, and brother and mother, those sort of things. He might have signed it in good faith. But Trump, Rubio, all of those sort of people, absolutely not. And I have to say that after what's been happening, I also don't take particularly seriously these arguments between Netanyahu and Trump

that we've been hearing so much about. That too has been part of this dissatisfaction. to create the impression that there is a real movement in the US towards implementing the MOU, where it clearly hasn't been. It's all WrestleMania, Alexandria. I'm just coming to that conclusion. Trump Maloney, Trump Netanyahu.

It's all WrestleMania. It's all it is, yeah. It's theater. It's deception. You said it months ago, this is a very, very, very, duplicitous administration. It goes in for an awful lot of trickery and deception,

and that's what they've just tried with the Iranians. All right. Let's get to the questions. Haroko, thank you for that membership. Gifted five memberships to the Duran. Thank you for that. Nikos, one second, Nikos, let me see. Yeah, Nikos says,

I want Alex to answer my question, because, Alexander, with all due respect, I'm sorry, but you are coping and making it conclude excuses and it's getting tires. Okay, but let's see here. Nico says, yes, I am back because Scott Ritter came back from Russia and said that their losses, including the Wagner and the Dombas militias are a million men. He is the biggest Russian cheerleader, and yet he admits that there are whole villages

that have no men and that there are graveyards as big as Ukraine's. Turns out all the Western propaganda is true. the Kremlin is BSing us. Why the hell has the West lost when they've killed a million Russians? I'm not familiar with Scott saying that. I'm not saying he didn't, Miko. I'm not saying he did or he didn't. But that's the first time I've heard this.

I don't know how else to answer your question. I mean, I've seen the media Zona numbers. I think I have a pretty good idea as Alexander does as to what the casualties are on both sides but I can't confirm this. I don't think anyone can, including Scott. I don't think anyone can confirm the casualties.

No one's saying they're not high for Russia. I mean, I was in Russia and people said that Russia is taking losses. And these are not small, but it's not, I'll say right now, I don't, the numbers that I have, it's not in, it's not a million. I'll say that right now. And the Ukraine casualties are, are much higher.

Yeah. So I will say that as well, according to the sources and the information that I have. And I'll continue to go by the one metric, Nikos and Alexander, that is confirmed. And you may want to talk about this as well, Alexander. The metric that is 100% confirmed is the exchange of fallen soldiers. Exactly. 100% confirmed. Yes.

And those numbers over the past 20 months now have been pretty much the same, almost exactly the same, actually. 1,000 to about 30 or 40. Exactly. Every single month. And the argument is made, Russia is advancing. That's why there are more Ukrainian soldiers that are being returned. Okay, but say that is the case, and I'm not arguing that it isn't the case, how much would it bring those numbers down? If you have a 10 to 1 or an 11 to 1 ratio, then it would be what, an 8 to 1 or 7 to 1?

And isn't that admission that over the past 20 months Russia is advancing? Yes. Which goes against the entire narrative that we're hearing from the collective West, which is that this is a stalemate. So which one is it? Anyway, that's my thoughts on that, Nikos. Once again, I haven't seen or heard those statements from Scott, so I'm not going to comment on them. Nor have I heard those statements.

And Nikos, I would suggest that the best way to get a sense of what is going on in Russia is for you to go there. I don't know how practical an option it is. But I think if you did go to Russia, a lot of your assumptions and worries would be reassured, just a second. Yeah, it's not hard. You get the electronic visa actually and you can fly over it. I get to say straight away.

I mean, I haven't listened to what Scott has been saying. But I don't know where he's got these figures from. But certainly they bear no relation to anything that I don't. I don't think he said that. I would be shocked if he said that, but maybe he did. Well, Scott has said many things many times and sometimes

I mean he's a very emotional man if I may say I don't believe these figures but he's kidding. West Wolf Esquire says Nikos that is complete lies. Scott said that close, okay here we go, Scott said that close to 800,000 Russians had been injured since the coup

since 2014 vast majority are civilians. Well, there you go. So then there you go. All right. Thank you, West Wolf. Elza says, are there voices in the U.S. government that demand Rubio be replaced as the national security advisor? What is needed to make it happen?

I haven't heard any such voices at all. Perhaps there are. Perhaps that's what should happen. But at the moment, he seems to be firmly in control, despite the fact that as Secretary of State, he's not doing his job. He's not traveling. He's not meeting world leaders. He, well, I see, he's not traveling. travel from time to time but the people he always meets are his friends just to say

west wolf says Alexander can you can you speak to the Crimea issue in some detail how the russian military doesn't use this highway and ukraine are murdering civilian truck drivers and attacking tourist resorts yeah i mean to repeat again and i said this already um russian military logistics go by train they don't go they don't use highways this is by the way, very much the style of military logistics in this part of the world. The Ukrainians also use trains for their military logistics. At the very front lines, of course they have to use trucks, because that's closer to the front lines.

And trains can only obviously go where railway tracks are, whereas trucks inherently are more flexible. But there is no evidence whatsoever that the Russian military in Zaporosia or Herson regions are significantly affected by the attacks on the Noborosia Highway. For what it's worth, I understand that those problems, the problems with the drone attacks on the highway itself, have abated what Ukraine is now doing is conducting strikes directly against infrastructure within Crimea itself.

I've always felt I've felt that the attacks on the highway, just as the attacks on Crimea now were always intended to disrupt civilian life in Crimea to create fuel shortages and those sort of things in Crimea. Crimea is relatively close to the launch point of Ukrainian drones. Ukrainian drones are therefore abhorst, able to carry much heavier explosive charges when they hit Crimea. The warning times are shorter. Crimea has had to absorb many Ukrainian attacks over the course, not just of this war, but of the

conflict going all the way back to 2014. That does not excuse the fact that the Russians have not sorted out a proper system of defense, as they apparently have in Donbass to protect Crimea from drones. My M2X says they have no reverse gear. The nature of empire is such. West Wolf says that the Crimea drones are having no effect on the front line and won't save Liman, won't save Sumi, won't save Zaporoja. That's absolutely right. You've answered the question. Mr. Jabalak says, I feel that Israel will force the West to hit rock bottom. It is a gift to Iran because Israel will be blamed for Iran not opening the strait. Yes.

Zareil says Europe is bat as crazy and provoking more war. Yes, absolutely. I mean, to a degree that I have to say I find extremely disturbing. And Gordon Hahn wrote a very fine piece about this, that there is an element of the European leadership that is irrational and at the same time very powerful. Nico says, is this what victory looks like to you for Iran and Russia? Iran lost so many civilians, including 170 schoolgirls,

while the U.S. sat comfortably afar. You think that Iran, by making some Lego video, swayed the American hatred towards it, has it changed anything in Europe or like sheep we marched on? Did anyone do anything to stop the U.S. from committing these atrocities? Has the big bad China done something or did they sell them rare earths? Well, I mean, by the way, on that, on that, the Chinese are apparently increasingly restricting sales of rare earths and they've just sanctioned to American companies that produce rare earths.

But anyway, let's put China to one side. If you're talking about Iran, we have always said on that Iran that this agreement that Iran signed it may look like a victory for Iran and Iran did succeed in stopping militarily the United States in its tracks but it is not a final victory at all it is simply a truce before the next round

so again I mean you know please report what we say discuss what we say in an accurate way because this isn't this isn't this is what we have always been saying right from the start And what we just said at the start of this program too, by the way. Now on civilian casualties, Iran says that over the course of the fighting, in other words,

from the 28th of February, right up until the end of the fighting, the total number of civilian casualties who were killed in Iran was around 3,000. Now that is a lot of people, and it does include 170 school girls, as you say. But in terms of losses in a war, well, for a country of 93 million. Well, you can do the mass. West Wolf says, A&A, could you both please speak to the condition of Moscow compared to London and Cyprus, cleanliness, homelessness, criminality, functioning of government services, general happiness of the population? Well, I'm going to leave it to Alex to speak about Cyprus.

Coming to London from Moscow was a very depressing experience. Moscow is much richer, far better run, immeasurably cleaner. I mean, when I say cleaner, I mean, it's the cleanest capital city I have ever seen. It's cleaner that Shanghai, where I was some years ago. It's immeasurably cleaner. There's hardly any graffiti.

Well, in Moscow itself, I didn't see any graffiti anywhere. living standards have significantly improved since I was previously there, which was in 2019, and the electronic infrastructure has reached, achieved levels that I could not have imagined. So, I mean, we are comparing a city, London, which is in decline, with a city, Moscow,

which is on a very, very big upswing. As far as, well, as far as comparing Cyprus to Moscow, I don't think you can compare because, I mean, it's better to compare London to Moscow because you're talking about cities of similar size. Yes. I mean, Cyprus is a population of what, 800,000? It's like a neighborhood in Moscow or even in London as well, so it's hard to compare. And Cyprus is an island.

It's very, very different. vibe here but but i will say this you you see my videos yes you can see you know my videos from walking around moscow you can see my videos from walking around athens and it's cyprus and i think you could see the the differences and i document it all it's all there in the videos and the walk it talks a british people who went to moscow would be shocked and in fact if you spent some time on YouTube and go to various YouTube's, YouTube programs that have been made by British visitors and sometimes American visitors to Moscow. You will see what they say. I mean, they are sure. I am not sure, by the way, that British people would be very happy living in Moscow

because the style of life is very different. I mean, Russians live in apartments and apartment blocks. That isn't the British way. So the pattern of life is very different. But there is absolutely no doubt at all as to which city at the moment is doing better. And by the way, you asked about the people. Again, people in Moscow look much more relaxed now

than I have ever seen. them to be. And you don't get the sense, I mean, to an almost disturbing degree, you do not get the sense of the capital of a country at war. It's very strange, almost unsettling. Yeah, that's a good point. Look, the reason that Ursula closed off the travel in the airspace, the first thing that she did, that was the first thing that the EU did. The very, first thing when the SMO started was to cancel, to cut off travel. There's a reason that they did that because they don't want people to go and see what it's like. That's why they do stuff like that. They want to separate the people separate the communication. They want to cut off the travel

because they don't want people to go to Moscow and see that for a big city. It's very well run. It doesn't mean it doesn't have problems. It's a big city. It has a big city. It has a lot of problems, problems that we probably have no idea about because we don't live there. No. And so I'm sure if you're a resident of Moscow, you probably have a whole bunch of issues that you would like to see sorted out. But as far as a big mega city, Moscow, London, New York, these types of cities, Moscow is very well run and very well maintained. Absolutely. Absolutely. And by the way, the traffic problems have abated, and I can't speak about the crime situation.

But I didn't get the sense that there was much, it was out of control or anything like that. Anyway, big, big, white man. Thank you for that super sticker. From Matthew, will Europe strike Russia from its own territory? Well, Putin has said that if they do, the Russians will strike back at their launch points. and that the Europeans understand that and that they don't, for that reason, they're avoiding doing it. That was what Putin said.

For the moment, they're not doing it. I think it's only a matter of time, by the way, before they do. From Nikos, as for Russia, like I said before, what was the point of the SMO to not have nukes and missiles near them? They had nukes near them in Turkey. Now, a million Russians are gone, and the demographics will collapse. Nothing was achieved. except delaying an inevitable nuclear war the West will cause.

I'm going to repeat again. Nikos, I think you will revise your views very substantially if you do go to Russia and go to Moscow and see the situation there for yourself. And by the way, if you can, try and go outside Moscow as well. I mean, one of the places I went to was Skolf, very much a military town. There is a major barracks there of an airborne division. vision, by the way. And you do not get the sense of the overwhelming losses that you were talking about. And as I said, we saw what Westbrook had to say about this. Now, about the missiles, the nuclear

weapons in Turkey, Russia, of course, is very good relations with Turkey. At least I mean, they're very complicated and very strange relations. But I don't think they would have the same fear about nuclear weapons in Turkey, which have been there for, well, since the fear. as they do about nuclear weapons in Ukraine, which of course is not only much closer to Moscow, but which has a government that is extremely hostile to the one in Russia. Denis says, hi guys, what do you think is the possibility of Turkey-Israel conflict? And if it were to happen and the US backs Israel, would that be definitive proof that Israel controls US foreign policy?

Well, the answer is none. The idea that Erdogan is going to get into a battle with Israel. He might talk in that way, but it's not happening. And I think people do need to understand that. Erdogan is very good at, you know, talking up these things. And he can be very aggressive when the moment of opportunity comes. But he's never going to take on an anniversary like Israel. Nor does he want to.

Nor does he want to. Yeah, keep in mind that it was, yeah, exactly. And who carved up Syria? No. It was a cooperation between Turkey, Israel, and the United States, yeah. Yeah. No, theater, it's all theater. The whole Turkey-Israel thing is complete theater.

Absolutely. That's it. And Erdogan uses it for political, for domestic political reasons. Yes, yes. Zizi Karayanis, thank you for that super sticker. Matthew says, this 2030 war plan is utter nonsense. Europe has nothing, just all a wealth transfer scam for the MIC. We agree with you.

We absolutely agree with you. Yes, but I do know people who say, who tell me that in Europe, there are people in very high positions that actually do believe they can take on Russia in a war and win. And it's not acting. It's not theater, they tell me. No, no. They absolutely believe it. Yes.

Not everybody. Not everybody. There are people that do believe it in high positions. In the militaries, they don't believe it. I know that in the German military, they don't. And at least the middle ranking officers know that this is impossible and that it's BS. And I understand that it's the same in the British military also. Ladochka gifted the Duran 10 Duran memberships to the community.

Thank you for that. Ladoshka Razor YU says, Imagine if Russia gave America's neighbor as FPV drones to launch at the USA. What would be American response? Why is Russia tolerating this behavior and not responding to Western war crimes? Well, many, many people are asking that question, and many people are asking that question within Russia itself. Overall, as I said, I think that in Putin's policy, from Putin's point of view, maintaining

normalcy inside Russia and winning the war in Ukraine is the priority. And normalcy in Russia depends on avoiding an extreme escalation of tensions, which might spiral into an outright war with the West. So his policy is to keep things at the level they are at the moment. There are some people in Russia, a lot of people in Russia, who are not happy with that. Kalin Kalinau says, how far the U.S. has fallen in terms of honor, credibility, moral, high ground. We are increasingly disgraceful since the 2001 WTC inside job. Yeah.

Yes. I mean, this, sorry, can I just say, this game of Dubai, duplicity, which by the way, I mean, the Trump administration had, but the Biden administration had it too. The Clinton administration also had it, and the Obama administration took it to Baroque lengths. This is not a good thing for a government of a superpower to do. Ultimately, it has consequences. Nico says, I am with you, Alex. Russia should strike in Europe. I thought three years ago that it would scare people.

Instead, people are more than willing sheep. Keep referencing the Hungarian election because they chanted. Russians go home. What does that have to do with Hungary other than hatred for Russia? In the end, the people of Europe are willing to go to war with Russia because they hate them. They prove they like to serve rather than think. That's a question. That's a question.

Well, I don't think anybody, either of us, advocated strikes by Russia against Europe, but it's not at the moment. So just to say, again, I can only speak of two countries, which I know reasonably well. One is Germany, one is Britain. There is no mass of young men running to join the armies in either country in order to go and fight Russia. In fact, both in Germany and in Britain, the young are opting out of the armies. Recruitment is falling. It is not growing, despite the fact that here in Britain at least, there is a major recruitment campaign underway and it is not succeeding. Yeah. And as far as the striking of Europe, none of us have said that Russia should strike

Europe and get us into a World War III or a nuclear war. That's not what, that's not what I'm saying. What I say is that Russia needs to get a handle on the drone situation. Yes. They need to figure out asymmetric ways to send the message that they will reestablish or hold their deterrence. I think their deterrence has been pretty much degraded. But there are asymmetric ways that they can reestablish deterrence just today. They expelled the Romanian Council in Petersburg, right? Yes. Finally. After a month, after a month of what Romania did and the whole nonsense of a drone falling and they blamed Russia was a Ukrainian drone, but they blamed Russia. Finally, a month later, Russia said, okay, well, we'll expel, because you guys expelled our council in Constanta, we'll expel the Romanian.

Yes. Right? These are things that for some reason Putin delays in doing and get. done these asymmetric responses like like you know the the app store issue that also happened Alexander yes I don't know if you heard about that to that apple banned the vk apps in the russian apple app store yes yes right I mean you know there's there's asymmetric things that russia could do absolutely in order to respond to that absolutely and I just want to say one thing which is the if you're looking for advocates of Russian strikes on European target the place where you will find them is actually in Russia.

There are some people in Russia who do advocate those things. So we have not advocated it, but some people in Russia have, just as they. But yes, I think that at some point the Russians are going to need to do something, as some people in Russia say, to restore the sense of fear. Yeah. You know, it could be as simple as Putin telling Trump. Yeah. Stop it.

Yeah. Stop it or else, just like he did with May 9th. Exactly. And it worked. It worked. Yeah. Yeah. They backed off.

Even though they spun it in a different way, right? They spun it as Putin backing off with the May 9th. What actually happened and you talked about it in detail? was that Putin called up Trump where they had a telephone conversation and Putin told him if you guys go ahead with this, this is exactly what we're going to do and Trump got freaked out.

Yes. And then the Russians completely botched themselves. This is again their media operations which are so awful. And they announced that they were agreeing to Trump's proposal for the ceasefire. I don't understand their information.

It's it's It's as if they want to lose the information war. It's very strange. Yeah, Photon 812 says, How is regime change in Ukraine even possible if Russia annexes the pro-Russian areas? Won't it become a quagmire needing long-term military control? Well, Medvedev is talking about this, and he was coming up with all kinds of scenarios about how regime change would be achieved.

I think you actually identify a serious problem. for the Russians. I think the Russians understand, at least some Russians, understand, that regime change in Kiev is only possible if you capture Kiev. Medvedev thinks this. You can see this quite clearly from him. But we'll just have to see what the Russians are thinking. Onion Bro says, as a Russian who lost loved ones, hearing Alexander minimize, the impact of drone strikes is delusional. Well, I mean, you're not minimizing it. You're not, no, that's an accurate.

I'm contextualizing it. Nikos says, oh, no, wait, I read that, Nikos. Westwolf says, Alexander, you spent significant time in a Russian military town, spoke to tens of people from many walks of life. And if it didn't come across any who had lost family, close friends, I think it puts to bed the absurd casualties. I think so. Of course, maybe people wouldn't want to talk about those things.

But again, I was very surprised in a military town, which is the place where, as I said, one of the Air Paratroop divisions is located. How calm the whole situation was and how normal it was. I mean, eerily so. Monty says Even if the Ukraine war started to spill into Europe itself What guarantees do we have that the Europeans won't just start believing even more intensely

That the spaceship will come to save them? Good question I can't answer that one really Axel 007 says Many people say Ukraine should not give up land Because Russia never got there Never got there I always wonder what they think about World War I, Germany, Hungary

Your Ideas Well, I think that the point is not whether the Russians have got there, but whether they will get there. And this is where I think the big mistake was with Donbass. I mean, to say that Ukraine should not withdraw from parts of Donbass, which the Russians haven't yet captured, simply sets Ukraine up for a situation where it is going to lose those places in Donbass, because the Russians are going to capture them. And the result is that Ukraine itself will lose leverage. Mr. Jabowak says the West is strategically weak because the leaders can't let go of grudges,

whereas Russia has learned its mistake in treating China as little bro. Well, I don't think Russia – oh, I see what you mean. Yes, but this is in the past when the Russians did treat China as little bro, which they did. I mean, this is exactly what happened in the 50s of Russia. this is the formal language. Russia was the big brother, China was the small brother. The Chinese resented that massively. So, yes, I agree. I think the Russians learned from that mistake very well. In Europe, we have never got through our issues of superiority, and now we've been prancefully.

Alex says Zelensky was taught a lesson by Lukashenko. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Sometimes that's all it takes. Yes. just go to these guys, these EU elites and even Trump or Zelensky and just tell them.

Don't do it or else. And they back off. So Zelensky backed off. They still might start something in Belarus. I'm not saying we're out of the woods there. They still might start something. But there's no doubt that Zelensky got freaked out. And he started to make the excuse about, well, my intelligence says that they've dismantled their radars.

Yes. I mean, you know. Yeah. You know, Alexander, there are people, though, when you go on X and you listen to Zelensky's, you read Zelensky's statements, there are people in the comments that actually believe that Zelensky won that. Hasn't really? Lucasenko is taking down his radars. The Guardian has a whole piece about this. The Guardian today has a whole piece. They just reproduce, they take what Zelensky says as true. It astonishes me. But people. do this. Vincenzo, thank you for that super sticker.

Jamila says, hi gentlemen, I love to see you both. My question for Alexander, those UK leaders, not engaging for the country, but why are they crying when they resign? Very good question. Well, if you're talking about Starmor, why do they resign?

Because, of course, Starmat has a very high opinion of himself and thinks that he should remain Prime Minister. And nobody likes to leave it. job with everybody telling you that you have completely failed, which is absolutely true of Starm. But Stama won't be crying for very long because before very long, he will be offered a nice job. I think that one very likely job is that when Mark Rutter moves on, we can very easily seek here, Stama, the Secretary General of NATO. I think it's a real possibility, by the way,

not a joke. Yeah, the, the defense minister of the Netherlands, I forgot her name. She got appointed to a high position in charge of like the European security. It's just a revolving door. Exactly. So it helps them. The more they go on about Russia and Project Ukraine, money to Ukraine, going to war with Russia. It's good for their resume. Absolutely.

It's the test of loyalty. If you talk in this way and if you inflict great, pain on your people in the process, then that definitely proves that you're one of us. Yeah, and you've got to remember, all these people are on a career path. Exactly. From when they're plucked out of high school and put into the university, to Yale or Harvard or wherever, Oxford, they're on a career path. Absolutely. Absolutely.

We've had six prime ministers, one after the other in Britain, one after the other. They all went to Oxford University. There you go. Nico says when I speak about Will, I'm talking about the people, not politicians. The biggest mistake Russians made was not preparing for strikes in Russia. Ukraine has lost so much and they haven't even flinched. We see Russians whining constantly even though they signed up for the SMO. That's a problem.

It makes it easier to throw away Putin and install a moron like Medvedev who isn't afraid of nuclear war and will accommodate the West in this. Again, I don't know where you get this information about people winding Nikos. I was in Russia. I was in Moscow and I was in Scorff. And I didn't see that from anyone. Now, about, you know, understating drones.

I spoke to people who have seen drones. There was one person who was out riding. and they saw a drone over the sky and saw it being shot down and was finding extremely frightening. So it does frighten people. But talking about a collapse of morale, a breakdown of the economy, a mass fear, demands for the government to fall.

Some of the things that I think you do sometimes get and perhaps provide the background, you know, the background. to your statements. Of those things, I saw nothing. Matthew says, isn't Europe hitting Russia World War III? Well, it is something that has never happened before. And an attack on another country is absolutely an act of war. Sending an armed man, an armed man across a country's border has always been understood to be an act of war. Sending a drone or a missile into another country is an act of war.

The Russians, Putin, has held back from treating it fully in that way. Seizing ships is an act of war too. Zareel says, Alex, sorry to repudiate you, but you are, but there are even high-ranking officers in Germany who are pushing for war, and they have a word to say, I know this as I still listen to what is happening, and it is freaking me out. High ranking, I agree.

I've heard the same. I understand at the very high level. There is now enormous unanimity of it. The people I've been speaking to, the people I haven't been speaking to a person I know who speaks to people who are middle and lower rank officers, they themselves say that it simply isn't viable, that the politicians talk about war,

but there aren't the men and there aren't the weapons to fight him. Which way says, given the hysteria regarding Oreznik strikes, where is the aftermath footage? That's a very good question. Nobody's providing it, which is interesting fact in itself. Rexha says,

should Putin expel Beryl Lazar or Shabad Lubavich? He hasn't said anything about, it but he is pro-Ukraine since Jews got kicked out of Ukraine. I'm not sure who these people are. I have here by Mesa. I said. I don't get the question either. Adrian gifted Duran 10 memberships. Sticky Mark says thanks lads. Can I shout out to Larry Johnson and Peppa Escobar's new channel transition protocols. Looking forward to their insight. Thanks again.

LNPs from this crazy old Nana in Yorkshire. Thank you for that. Sticky marks. Tip Gibson, thank you for that super sticker. Grote, Grote Smurf, Grot to Smurf 790 says, Hey, guys, locals water, Walter Water here. I am still convinced Putin will go for Odessa. Putin gave a speech years ago about Odessa being built by Katerina.

Putin is still looking for. for an excuse to go in there. Well, the journalist, the Russian journalist Marath Haidulin, who has provided a very, very interesting summary of the war, which is on you, which is a video. You can find it on his substact blog. Anyway, he also pretty much said that eventually the Russians are going to Adessa.

He said this about two days ago. And I think he's extremely well informed, by the one. Nico says, make no mistake, I support Russia and President Putin. I understand him. He has figured out that the West is willing to use, to use nukes to preserve primacy. He doesn't want to lose what he has built, and that's understandable. He has given up because there's no choice but to delay the inevitable. The inevitable is a leader in Russia will come and he'll strike Europe.

then Europe retaliates or invades Russia and they have more meat to do so. All of that will lead to nuclear war and the elites don't care. Alex, why should they? Europe is a dump. I don't want Russia to strike Europe because I don't want to see it destroyed. Well, I'm going to answer that question. And that is an argument of despair, if I can say so. It treats nuclear war as inevitable.

as I have said many times, councils of despair are bad councils. The risk of war is very real. It has never been more real than it is now. Putin himself told the military just a few days ago, Europe is preparing for war and we must be ready for it. Not just Europe, actually. He said the collective West, which of course includes the United States, is preparing for war against Russia,

and we must be ready for it. And he said that to the military. But until war comes, let's not assume that it will. From Philip, welcome to the Dramm community, Philip, and from Klaus, the Cuban missile crisis was also an example of asymmetric warfare. The missiles in Turkey were taken down when the Russians were about to do the same in Cuba. Yeah, absolutely.

There was a reciprocal deal done. And the Cuban missile crisis, actually the two leaders, Khrushchev and Kennedy, handled it extremely well. The person who handled it, the person who really handled it best was Kennedy, actually.

It was, without any question, his finest hour. Yeah, that's a good point, close. from pathetic Albion I see Trump is now threatening to cut gas supplies to the EU I trust they have a plan C I didn't see that they're they're they're

threatening I'll tell you the story it's an interesting story there the US is threatening to cut off LNG because the EU has this methane regulation that they put in place they're trying to pass this legislation about methane regulation and the the companies in the US are saying saying this is BS, we're not going to go through this regulation and this process is going

to add to cost. It's going to complicate things. And they're now saying, okay, either remove this, walk back, this proposed legislation and this methane regulation. And if you don't, then we're just not going to take the LNG to Europe. We're going to direct it elsewhere. Interesting. Well, of course, they will walk you back.

We'll walk it back. Just to answer your question, there is no plan. B, C, D. There's one game in town when it comes to LNG for Europe, and that is the United States. But, you know, I thought Alexander Ursula told us that Europe is diversifying when they cut off Russian gas. Yeah. That's what she said. It's part of Europe's diversification was cutting off Russian gas was part of Europe's diversification

process. Yes. That's exactly what she said. And of course, because Oscella says it, it must be true. Yeah. They diversified to only U.S. gas. the U.S. is going to use that. Absolutely. Nico says there aren't any asymmetrical ways for Russia.

Even if they cut off the gas, the loyal India and China will sell that oil and drone parts to the EU. My point, Alex, as much as I agree with you, Russia can't achieve deterrence when the other side is ready and willing to go to nuclear war. Well, first of all, again, I repeat what I say. that is a council of despair. I don't think any of the leaders in Europe, by the way, seriously believe that there's going to be a nuclear war, even Kayakales and Ursula. They think they can win without one.

That is what is so dangerous about the situation at the moment. As to asymmetrical things that the Russians can do, they can do many of them. I actually believe they've done some, but they never talk about it. And they can do a lot more. And they can do it. But they never do.

Yes. Yeah. I mean, there's still all the Western, most of the Western media is still operating in Russia. Absolutely. The West has cut off all of the Russian media. Yeah. Yes. But in Russia, they cut off much of the Western media.

Absolutely. Matthew says, how does this play out then in Europe? Well, I'm not sure. quite what you mean? Yeah. How does what play out in Europe? I mean, the growing economic crisis in Europe? Isn't Europe, his previous question, Matthew's previous question was,

isn't Europe hitting Russia World War III? So then... Oh, I see. I see. Well, can I say, again, this is one of the things that returning to Britain, after being in Russia was the contrast. I mean, we are getting poorer,

they are getting richer, we are getting weaker, they are getting stronger, we are becoming more and more hysterical. They are remaining very, very calm. Now, perhaps they are too calm. But if we push it all the way towards an actual situation

where there is a war, whatever it does to Russia, it will be even worse for us. Principle of uncertainty says, sorry, your surgery has been delayed. We have to fight Russia now. What? Absolutely, yes. West Wolf Esquire says, number one, I have found the comparisons Alexander has made between Ukraine drone strikes and the IRA bombings. Fascinating.

But we had the shock and revulsion of Warrington bombings all by all. by all Irish. Absolutely. Can I say something about it? Number two. And number two, sorry, part two. This put pressure on the IRA to come to the table. Sadly, I can't see a comparable event that would shock,

horrify and discussed Ukrainian society enough. That is absolutely true. By the way, I lost friends in the IRA bombings, just to say. Somebody spoke about, you know, not understanding the drones. But this is in the 1970s. I mean, they weren't close friends, but I did lose people I knew in the IRA bombings. The point is that despite that and despite the nervousness and fear, it was never enough to change the pattern of normal life in Britain.

And for the record, the person who made that point to me first, the comparison with the IRA bombings, it didn't come from me, came from Eve Smith, who was also in London at that time. Spock 2306 says, is the era of cheap money in the US over? New Fed Chair will not cut rates in 2026. Well, we'll see. I think probably not, actually. The great advantage the United States has over every other country

is the exceptional liquidity of its financial system. And I still think that has some way to go. Klaus says Russia has near monopoly on uranium enrichment. They could threaten to stop sales to France and the UK. I think that overstates it, actually. I don't think they have a near monopoly. They have a very strong position. But I'm sure both the U.S. and China undertake uranium enrichment as well.

The point is that Russia can once again do a lot. Oh, yeah. Of course he can, yes. Asymmetric a lot. Yes. Nico says, you want my advice. Russia has three choices. Strike Europe.

Use a nuke near Brussels ocean. Delete Zelensky. The first two options have a 50-50 chance, the nuclear war. But if Zelensky and his people or even Kiev goes, then this situation ends. I'll be proven correct, Alexander. I am sorry. Well, I mean, when it comes to Zelensky, Putin has already said that as far as he's concerned, this is the optimal leader for Russia in Ukraine.

He keeps Ukraine in the war whilst making every single possible decision even worse. You can argue with that and eventually maybe we will find that the Russians do catch up with Zelensky. But for the moment at least, I can see why they keep him there. One thing I disagree with you, by the way, if the Russians eliminated Zelensky now, it would not in itself result in any change in Kiev, because the political system in Kiev is wired to be anti-Russian. At any way, the decisions are not made in Kiev. They're making London, Brussels, Paris, and Berlin.

In Washington. And Washington, of course, in Washington. That's where they begin. Ruby Appel says Ursula is all about diversity. And as Alexander says, if Ursula says it, it must be true. Absolutely. From West Wolf, if I may give a brief shout out to Dolores O'Rearden, miss you beautiful voice and unending voice for peace, rest in peace.

Yes. Matthew says, will this end without destruction across Europe? It depends on us in Europe. It depends not just on our leaders, but on our... us as a people. We've been incredibly passive in these matters. Certainly in Britain we have. In Germany, people are a bit more active. In France, they're a lot more active. In Poland, they're starting to be active. In Britain, they are not. We are being incredibly passive in the face of this crisis. And it is a very, very dangerous one.

Alexander, that's everything. Excellent. Is there anything else you want to add? Let me just do a final check on all the questions. Make sure we got everything. Yes. I think to understand the wall, go to somebody who's been involved in it. He was actually fought in it, which is Karoolin.

As I said, on his substack side. As I said, he's written, he's provided this very interesting summary. It is limited to the situation in Domba. but it explains it very well and it explains some of the politics that led to the end to the SMO, the fact that the economic bloc of the government opposed it, but also some regional governments in Russia opposed it too. Kailulin didn't say which ones, but he said he knew this for a fact and he had inside information about it at the time. I'm guessing that it was the regional government's

in the Arctic and Western Siberia where they supply the oil and the gas. It was clearly a very, very contentious and very difficult decision to make at the time, something we all knew. But he's also discussed as the state of the war, the situation in Dombas and what is going to happen next. West Wolf says, speaking of asymmetric options, Russia could withdraw its diplomatic missions from the Baltics, no threats, no comments. I agree. That's actually a very good. That is a very, very good idea. That would spook the Baltics, by the way. What would that do? Why? It would spook them because it would certainly be seen, not just as a diplomatic messaging, but a threat.

The Baltics, I've been talking to people who know about the Baltics. I met somebody who is, by the way, married to a Greek diplomat. just a second. And she tells me that in the Baltics, they really do believe that the Russians are coming. If the diplomats are removed, that will trigger even more alarm. And it will lead to people in the Baltics looking to help from Europe, which realistically cannot come,

not beyond what already is. So that would create a sense of fear and of crisis. Just a same. And it's just one asymmetric move, but I think it's a shrewd one. Principled uncertainty says it's very odd to have to explain why Germany, why Germany squaring up to Russia is a bad idea. The lack of common historical knowledge is costing us dearly. Military Kenzianism will save us.

Yeah, which is, I mean, if you know anything about military Keynesianism, you will know that it was something that Keynes himself said is wrong. doesn't work it's based on a misunderstanding of what happened during the Second World War from Valeria when famine strikes Africa and India in fall and millions of refugees flee into Western Europe that new war the collective West can instigate what new war can the collective West instigate well that's a good question I hope that there isn't going to be famine in Africa and India this year I know there are some people who think it's possible. I hope it doesn't happen.

Okay. That is everything. Marika says another fantastic live stream. Good weekend to all. Thank you. Thank you for that. Thank you to everyone that joined us on Odyssey and Rumble, YouTube, and the durand.com. Thank you to Zareel and Harry as well for moderating. I think that was everyone that was moderating for today. Yeah. Thank you to all the questions. Thank you to all the comments. And I wait.

Info Live X says Russia operates within a different paradigm framework on numerous issues. Have you observed the distinction during your time in Russia? Absolutely. And they also have a different time. I mean, they operate within a much longer time range than we do. They are not driven by 24-hour news in the same way.

I mean, they tend to think in years when we think in days. But having said that, that can be a disadvantage too, because as somebody once said, tactics is more important than strategy. You can have a brilliant strategy, but if you fail at your tactics, you still lose. Pathetic Albihan says, great show.

Alex and Oxander, thanks to everyone in the live stream. Puppet Mastard. Soe says thank you, Chettleman. And Elsa says, best Fridays are with the Duran Live. Thanks. And that is now everything. All right. Thank you, everybody for a great live stream.

And we will have videos on our channel up very soon. Absolutely. Take care. Take care.