The Duran Podcast - UK Starmer military spending, war with Russia, reverse BREXIT

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

UK Starmer military spending, war with Russia, reverse BREXITThe Duran: Episode 2243

All right, Alexander, let's talk about what is happening in the UK and in Germany with Project Ukraine, actually. And the UK's military buildup from John Healy, he announced that as the UK prepares their defense budget. That's what he's doing. Okay, as they prepare their defense budget and their defense spending, the UK is going to ramp up. big time, their defense spending.

We're talking $8 billion, $10 billion. The numbers are pretty big for the UK. They're going to build submarines. They're going to build military factories. They're going to manufacture long-range missiles. And all of this is being done, according to Healy, the defense secretary. In order for the UK to go to war with Russia, that's pretty much what he said. The UK is going to go to war with Russia.

And that's why we're going to build up our military presence. And then we can talk about Germany, and perhaps we can touch on Mertz's trip to D.C., where he's going to meet with Trump. And I imagine much of the conversation is going to be about the Taurus long-range missiles. So let's start with the UK, I guess. Yeah. I mean, you're absolutely correct. I mean, a grandiose rearmament plan launched by Stama and the British government to fight Russia. And they're talking openly now about war with Russia, and that being an imminent possibility.

The Royal United Services Institute has been holding conferences about this. They're saying that the Russians will be ready to launch attacks against individual NATO countries within six months. And it might be that they will start something even more ambitious within three, five years, ten at most, that Putin is going to be ready to advance and attack Europe in some mysterious. way that nobody can explain. And by the way, it's come alongside a major reassessment of the capabilities of the Russian armed forces. It turns out that they're not incompetent or mismanaged after all. In fact, at one Royal United Services Institute format, a journalist from Bloomberg, who was actually there, said that it was the participants were finding it difficult

to conceal their admiration for the way in which the Russian army had adapted to the conditions of the war in Ukraine. So, anyway, we've had all this rhetoric about, you know, war with Russia, it's round the corner. It's also, and this is an other aspect of this whole story, that isn't getting the attention outside Britain that it should do. There, it's very, very widespread here in Britain. We cannot count on the United States any longer. The United States is leaving. Donald Trump is erratic and irresponsible. He's ultimately on Putin's side in some way. Even if Trump goes, however, the United States is no longer the guarantor of Western security that it once was. So that's the rhetoric. That's the foundational story upon which this whole thing

is based. And then they come up with plans, which on the paper look extraordinarily ambitious. The monetary targets that are allocated are colossal, plans to build 12 nuclear submarines, to rebuild factories, to relaunch industrial production of long-range missiles. And I don't think anybody believes it. I don't think any single person does. And what has crystallized this is that they talked about, the Starma people talked about raising defense, spending to 3% of GDP. But they've not given a date when it's supposed to happen by. So it could be next year, five years time, 20 years time, in 100 years time.

Nobody clearly knows. So it's all rhetoric again. It's all show. And the actual reality, as people who are close to the military, are saying, is that the military's condition in Britain on a day-to-day basis continues to deteriorate. And that a lot of this extra funding that Stama is talking about, even if it materializes, is going to be needed to close the gaps, to plug the gaps that exist in the existing military,

long before any real addition over and above that is ever provided. And of course, it's not going to happen. anyway, because we are on the brink of a major budgetary crisis in Britain, it's quite likely that we're going to have problems before long in the bond markets. It's been actively discussed in the media. Even the notional funding that people are talking about is never going to be provided because it cannot be, because Stama has found that cutting spending on welfare is impossible. He can't cut spending on health because that's also politically impossible. He is now talking about raising taxes. Tax rates in Britain are already the highest they've been

since the Second World War. I think most people accept that if tax rates are increased still further, it will deepen the economic crisis in Britain. I think we've probably reached We've gone beyond the point where taxes, increasing taxes further is sustainable economically. It's going to start pushing the economy downward. So all of this is smoke and mirrors, as you always get with Kirstama. None of it is really true. He's come up with a rhetorical response to a problem that really doesn't even exist because I don't think anybody generally believes, at least in Britain,

A pop, perhaps from a few people, a few fanatical people, most of whom either read or write for the Daily Telegraph. He seriously believes that Britain is going to go to war with Russia anytime soon. So what's this all about? I mean, Stammer is saying in a speech, we are moving to warfighting readiness. He's saying that he will make the UK a battle-ready nation. No. Is this a distraction away from his arson? Is this meant to distract from something else or to lead the British people into something else that the globalists, that the establishment have in mind?

You say they don't have the money in the budget. Can they borrow the money? It's a lot of money. Can they borrow it? Is this money going to be used to try and plug up some holes from all the money that they gave to these alleged? key regime because I imagine there are a lot of holes in the British budget and those holes are a direct consequence of all the money that they gave to Ukraine. They don't want to say that, but we know that's what's going on.

So are they going to use the money if they can get it to plug up those holes? I'm just trying to figure out, what is the angle all of this? I mean, it could be theater, but why would they go to such great lengths just so they could just fool some people or fool the public into thinking that something's going on? I mean, there must be something else that they're looking to do. It might be connected at some level with the arson tax. And of course, the whole point about the arson tax is that they're now being blamed on Russia, incredible as it sounds.

I mean, there's been an old article, big leading article in the Financial Times basically saying, well, you know, I've got no evidence. It's the Russians. But, you know, we all know it's the Russians. That was basically what it was doing. So, I mean, there may be some elements of this, but I think the underlying reason that this is being done in the way that it is, it goes beyond Starma himself, actually. Britain is in a deep hole. The economy is in a very, very bad way.

Again, I've been talking about this. We've been talking about this, a program after program, but the economy is in a very, very bad way. There is massive disaffection across the country with the state of the political class. The Labour Party is deeply unpopular. Stom is the most unpopular prime minister, I think, in British polling history. The Conservative Party, the main opposition party, is still falling. It continues to lose support in Britain. It's now polling below 20% according to most opinion polls.

So the political class is losing its hold over the British public. The economy is not going to provide any solution because there's not going to be a period of prosperity. Things are just going from bad to worse. So what do you do? Well, you integrate, you legitimize the political class in the time-tested way by saying, look, bad things, bad as things are, you have to stick with us because we have this terrible enemy, this wolf or prophalpher bear at the door. and we need to build up our armed forces and we need to police even harder and take even stronger lines against dissident voices because our entire country, our independence is threatened. And absolutely you cannot possibly trust people like Nigel Farage or indeed Dominic Cummings.

It's now also starting to reassert himself increasingly in politics because these people are not reliable on Russia. So this is what this is all about ultimately. It's about legitimizing the British political class, giving them some purpose, uniting them, because the one thing that they are all united about, I mean, they all hate Russia. Enabling the process, and this is not to be underestimated, by the way, enabling the process of bringing Britain back into the EU system, giving that legitimacy as well, even though it's deeply unpopular, because there's the specter or the bear at the door. And as I said, you've got to support the, you've got to support Stama and you've got to support the conservatives, whoever they

eventually choose to have as their leader. Because as I said, you can't trust, you can't trust the, you know, the Brexiteers, Farage and Cummings. And you can't trust the left of the Labour Party. People like John McDonald and people like, well, Jeremy Corbyn, it's not technically in the Labour Party. It's not in the Labour Party anymore. But people like that, because they're soft on Russia to. Remember, I said to you recently that there's been the first indications within the Labour Party that there are moves against, against, Stama, that they're coming from the left. And by the way, that is now being talked about much, that's been talked about in the media here. I mean, we were the first people to say it, but now there's articles starting to appear that there are indeed moves from within the left

of the Labour Party to challenge Stama as well. So I think this is what ultimately this is all about legitimising the political class, labour and conservative, not labour, or conservative, because, to be frank, they're no different. And at the same time, seeing off potential challenges from the Brexiteer right, Farage and Cummings, and conceivably, difficult to see how this will eventually crystallize from the Corbynite left, seeing them off and getting Britain deeper back into Europe, which is obviously the underlying. fixation and obsession. Yeah.

Makes sense. Staying in power, keep us in power because we are the only ones, labor and conservative. We are the only ones that can fight Russia and there is going to be a war with Russia. So you have to keep us in power because we can fight them. And we're going to fight them united. I think that's the key to all of this. United with the European Union. Together with Europe, the UK, with the European Union, together.

United, we are stronger. We're stronger together and we're going to be able to fight the Russians together. And by the way, we're also going to be able to participate in the 150 billion euro slush fund, the safe slush fund that Ursula has put together for defense spending. She has invited the UK to participate in the slush fund. So that's that's opening up another pathway for the UK to integrate further, deeper with the European Union. That's what this is. I mean, that's basically what Stamer. That was his mandate, wasn't it? Exactly.

That's it. You're absolutely right. That is what Stama is for. He's not there for any other purpose. He's for getting Britain back into Europe. That was why the political establishment, the political class, the deep state in Britain, backed him from prime minister in the first place. It does make sense. It's pretty devious. I mean, okay, you use Russia.

You use Russia. Okay. Britain is a very devious country. I mean, I think this is a thing that people never quite understand about Britain. You know, on the surface, it appears to be, you know, straightforward, democratic and all of these things. You know, it really is. I mean, it just isn't like that at all. It's the most complicated and labyrinthine country with the most complicated political class. And as for a deep state, probably the oldest deep state in Europe, bar the Vatican. So, I mean, it's not a straightforward place at all. And deviousness and intrigue and all of that is very, very much part of the political, the way politics functions in the UK. I mean, all of this, by the way, can I just say something? All of which, every part of

what we just been talking about, has been discussed. And it's not just people doing these things, you know, of their own. You know, John Healy comes along and says, you know, how are we going to keep a care in the office, you know, and saying, let's increase defense spending. They have been all talking about this. There are, these discussions actually do take place in London where people say, look, this is a real.

We're in a real mess. How do we get out of it? What we talk about Russia. Because that's the one thing, that's the one thing where people listen to us. Using Russia to reverse Brexit. That's pretty much the simplest way to summarize what's going on. Exactly, yeah. Okay, let's wrap up the video and talk about Mertz to D.C.

He wants to send the tourist missiles to Ukraine. We've said it that many times that tourist missiles are most likely already. in Ukraine. But anyway, let's just go along with this theater that the tourist missiles have not been delivered to Ukraine. Mertz wants to send tourist missiles to Ukraine. There are reports of the finance ministers against this because of a cost that Germany will incur, which just sounds absolutely ridiculous. Anyway, and Murch is going to D.C. is going to meet with Trump. They're going to talk about the tourist missiles. What's going on here? Well, right. First of all, what is going on is that I suspect that Mertz sent the tourist missiles

to Ukraine without clearing it first with the SBD. And I suspect that there are already tensions between the CDU and the SPD. This has never been a happy coalition from the start. The SPD doesn't like Mertz. Mertz doesn't like the SPD. So this quarrel about the Taurus missiles is not really about the tourist missiles at all

because even the SPD ultimate who wants to send the Taurus missiles to Ukraine. The German defense minister Boris Mistorius, who is absolutely SPD, he definitely wants to send the tourist missiles to Ukraine. It's not really about the tourist missiles. It's about maneuvering within what is already looking and extremely unhappy and unsatisfactory coalition. So this is really all that's about. And it suggests, again, that this isn't going to be a coalition that's going to hold together for very long. But in the meantime, Matt's is going to Washington. He needs to meet with Trump and he needs to get Trump to agree to a number of things. Firstly, he cannot use the

terrorist missiles at all against Russia unless the Americans are involved because they have the proprietary software. They provide the satellite data. They do all of those things. Without the or without the Americans, these missiles are just going to collect dust in Ukraine. Now, I'm pretty sure that Mats has had assurances from all sorts of American officials that you'll be able to get Donald Trump to sign off on this. And probably they're right. And I'm guessing that already some great spiel has been put together that they're going to present to Trump.

You know, you need to prove this because Putin is proving really intransigent and he's not giving ground and he's not agreed to your ceasefire. So we've got to increase pressure on him and you're all about getting us, the Europeans, to take on more of the burden. And we're keen to do that. And we're even providing Ukraine with these missiles. But, you know, we have this problem that we can't help the Ukrainians to launch these missiles without your help because you've got this software and you've got the data. So let us do it and we'll take this burden off. and at the same time, we'll give you the leverage over Putin that you want. So I suspect that's what Mance is going to say to Trump.

And I suspect that Trump will agree because he tends to. No, I have to say this. The second thing that Mats want to talk about is North Street, because Nord Street is potentially a very divisive issue within Germany. German industries now basically openly saying that they want Nord Stream reopened. There is strong factions within the SPD which was the party which went in government

supported Nord Stream most that say look this is turning into a disaster we've got to get Nord Stream back. There are German politicians who belong to the CDU including the Minister of President of Saxony in Eastern Germany, who walked North Stream, reopened. And in the case of the Minister President of Saxony, he is a deputy leader of the CDU, which I suspect makes him a potential challenger to maths himself. and I have to say maybe I'm one of these people who's given too much to thinking about these things.

But I wonder whether this person, who's no matter forgotten, by the way, isn't perhaps pitching eventually to take over from Mertz at some point in the future. So Mertz doesn't want that to happen. He doesn't want Nortstream reactivated. He doesn't want all of these people taking credit for getting Nord Stream back online. And he's probably worried that these stories about the Americans doing some kind of a deal with the Russians to restart North Stream have some reality about that. So he's going to want to talk Trump out of that. And he's probably also going to try, to some extent at least, to try to persuade Trump to take a harder line with Putin.

because from Mertz's point of view, a harder line with Putin helps him politically in that if the Americans are taking a hard line with the Russians, then Mertz, who's seen as a hardliner against the Russians, is more secure as opposed to other political leaders in the CDU and the SPD, who might be saying, well, if the Americans are making up with, the Russians. It's time for us to do the same and let's get someone else other than, you know, comodgingly anti-Russian mouths into the chancellorship to take that process with the Russians further. So I think all of this is going to happen. So a complicated situation in Germany as well, complicated in a different way from the one in Britain. But Mautz is going to Washington as much in order to consolidate his domestic political position in Germany

by trying to get Trump to take a hard line on tourists and on Ukraine and on North Stream as anything else. because, as I said, the fissures within the coalition are already starting to show. Yeah, Trump is, just to wrap up with the video, Trump is obsessed with getting leverage over Russia. Yeah. He's absolutely obsessed with it. So if Merck can package it in a way that he says, this wonder weapon will finally give you leverage over Putin, then Trump will sign off on it. And he doesn't realize that because he has that obsession, what is happening, what is happening, is that the Europeans are actually getting real leverage over him.

Because they, and the hard line is in Washington, are constantly able to tell Trump, well, trust us, we are the people who will provide you with that leverage, the leverage you want over Putin. And it's a very complex game in a kind of a way, but not a difficult one to understand if you see it clearly. No, it goes back to the narrative that you have to, we want peace for Ukraine, but we have to put Ukraine in a stronger negotiation. We've been hearing that for, since the beginning of the special military operation. Exactly.

They're going to throw the same line at Trump. And he's going to bite. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Okay. We'll end the video there at the durand.orgas.com. We are on Rumblelada seat but shoot telegram right for next.

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