The Duran Podcast - UK/EU VETO on Trump-Putin talks. Part 1.

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

UK/EU VETO on Trump-Putin talks. Part 1.

All right, Alexander, let's talk about what is happening in Ukraine. And Stammer, the Sir Kirstammer, excuse me, the prime minister of the UK, he was in Kiev. He made a trip to Kiev, not a surprise trip. This was announced weeks in advance that he would go to Kiev, though the date was not announced. Everyone knew that Stammer would make his first. This is his first trip to Kiev, and he signed some sort of hundred, year or a thousand year or 10,000 year agreement with Ukraine, which from what I understand encompasses everything. Military, economic, social, you name it. The UK and Ukraine are

attached at the hip. Anyway, let's start with Stammer going to Kiev. And what I feel is Stammer trying to get out of town, trying to leave London because things are. going very bad for him in London. So maybe he sees this as a winning proposition to sign a deal with Olensky. I don't think it's going to turn out the way he thinks it's going to turn out. He's also giving money to Ukraine. I don't think UK citizens are going to be too happy about that either. And then let's talk about what is happening with Ukraine. Bloomberg is running an article, ran an article where they're talking about what Putin could possibly want in some sort of a deal with Russia's. It's unbelievable. Putin has said it 10,000 times. Lavrov has said it 10,000 times.

We've said it. We've outlined it a million times what Russia is looking for it. But Bloomberg all of a sudden is running an article wondering what could Putin possibly want? We know he doesn't want Ukraine and NATO, but what else could Putin possibly ask of Trump in future negotiations? By the way, Stommer is also Stommer, France. They're once again, Macron, they're once again pitching the idea of peacekeepers in Ukraine, as did Donald Tusk when he was meeting with Zeletsky a couple of days ago. He also talked about Polish troops in Ukraine as peacekeepers. Anyway, your thoughts on everything that is going down in Kiev?

Well, straightforwardly, let's start with Stammer. going to Kiev signing off on a 100-year, 100-year treaty with Ukraine. Firstly, it demonstrates the complete disconnect from reality in London about Ukraine and about where Ukraine is going and about what the war in Ukraine, how the war in Ukraine is going. Ukraine is losing the war. It is losing the wall very, very badly. We've had a senior Russian official now, Nikolai Patruchev, who questions whether Ukraine will see out the year. I mean, you know, that's what Paparoshev is saying. We've had another article in Bloomberg, by the way,

which says that Donald Trump is basically uninterested in Ukraine. He doesn't see the war there as being important for the United States. Basically, he wants to walk away. And yet here we have Kyr Starma coming along to Kiev, coming to a 100-year agreement with the Ukrainians, promising them all sorts of things, even as Ukraine collapses, and even as Starmes's own political position, in Britain is starting to show signs of collapse. There's more reports now, growing reports, that the British economy is moving into recession.

We had a small downward blip in the inflation numbers last month, which some people are hailing as good news. It's bad news. It means that people are spending less. So in shops and things like that over the Christmas period, the retailers are being forced. to cut prices in order to find buyers. We have a situation where energy prices are set to increase. We've been told officially that that is what's going to happen in Britain. And we have a major

budget crisis in Britain where the bond markets are worrying about the sustainability of Britain's financial position. So what does Kirstama do? He gets on the plane. Mr. Zelensky, he signs a 100-year agreement. I mean, to most people in Britain, all of this looks completely unreal. Now, why has he done it? Well, firstly, let's be clear, Stama himself probably isn't that well connected to reality anyway. But my own guess is that he senses that things in his domestic position are going wrong. So he once again wants to reaffirm to the British political class, which is united in its intent hostility to Russia and its obsession with Project Ukraine that he personally is fully committed to Project Ukraine and should, for that

that reason, remain crime minister. So the whole British position is being sacrificed now to this obsession, and ultimately the government is going to be sacrificed to this obsession. We've had a whole succession of British prime ministers, Johnson, Truss, Sunak, who have all been victims of the Olensky curse. It looks as if Stammer is going to be the next one to embrace it. Yeah. Yeah. What do you make of the Bloomberg articles? Article and many mainstream media articles talking about the possible negotiations between Trump and Putin and they're trying to navigate Russia's position. when Russia's position has been out there. It's crystal clear what it is.

Absolutely. Well, what they're trying to do is that they're trying to shape the negotiations. Let's not call them negotiations because I don't think that Trump and Putin are going to negotiate with each other about Ukraine when they meet. I think Trump understands that by now understands that that is a tricky thing. And as I said, we've had that other piece in bloom, which says that Trump basically isn't interested in Ukraine. And he's already made comments about the fact that he's up to Putin to decide how the war ends. And he seems willing, I mean, that's how I read his words, to leave the war to Putin. It's up to him.

That was what Trump said. But what people in the United States in Europe are trying to do. Go on. No, I was just going to ask you, could that be seen as a threat from Trump? Well, it's up to Putin to decide how this ends. Do you understand what I mean? Yeah, absolutely. Could have that be construed as Trump saying,

I'm going to put all this pressure on Russia and I'm going to get an end to the war, but it's up to you to make up your mind, I guess. Absolutely. But then he did sort of say that, you know, Putin is already not in a good position. So maybe he wants to speak and it's he who wants to speak. Now, I don't think Putin feels that he's not in a good position. I think Putin feels he's in a very strong position. But my sense of Trump's words were not that he was looking to put more pressure on Putin

than was already there. I think he was basically saying, look, Putin's got this war on, wars are bad things, Russians are dying. The Russians have not got access to the American European markets anymore. That's already reason enough for Putin to come to a deal, but if he doesn't want to, it's up to him. That was how I read what Trump was saying. And I think that probably chimes more closely with Trump's views as he has expressed them in repeated comments over the last couple of weeks. weeks. Just say. So I don't think Trump really wants to negotiate, get into the weeds with Putin about Ukraine. I think he understands perfectly well that the Russians will never accept NATO entry

and any of that. But I think that he probably also by now understands that the Russians won't accept European peacekeepers or frozen conflicts or any of those things. The Russians have expressed their views about this. As you rightly say, absolutely clearly in statement after statement, comment after comment, many from Putin himself now, others from Lavrov, others from other senior Russian officials. I do think he wants to get bogged down in Ukraine, but the neocons, the Europeans are trying to shape the outcome of the negotiations. They're trying to lure Trump into the European negotiations. these dangerous ideas about European peacekeepers and that kind of thing.

And I do think Trump himself is going to go there. I mean, he's been warned by all sorts of people, not just us, but Anato Levin, recently in an article somewhere, other people as well. Samuel Charrup of Rand Corporation and of the Council for Foreign Relations, under no circumstances, sign off on any suggestion for sending you. European peace gave us to Ukraine. All that's going to do is what we have warned about right from the start. It's going to mean that the United States is going to be involved because the Europeans, as soon as they get into trouble, will turn to the United States.

And that's what they're trying to do. Yeah, that's what Kirstama is trying to do. That's what Kirstam is trying to do. That's what Maloney is trying to do because in that same Bloomberg article that you mentioned, where where it said that Trump is not very interested in Ukraine. It also mentioned that Maloney was in Italian Prime Minister, Georgia Maloney, was in Mara Lago about a week and a half ago. And she was in Mara Lago to convince Trump to stay committed to the conflict in Ukraine. That was why Maloney was there.

So you have all of these European officials trying to convince Trump to stay engaged in Ukraine, which is really just them saying stay engaged in Europe. Whenever they use the word Ukraine, just swap it out with Europe. Their real goal is to keep the U.S. invested in Europe and invested in NATO and to keep the money flowing into NATO and into Europe. Have you seen any – have you read any article in the mainstream media, the big publications, the New York Times, Washington Post, the CNNs, where they actually – talk about Russia's

position when it comes to negotiation outside of Ukraine can't enter NATO? They mentioned that. But have you read an article where they talk about a European a new European architecture, security

architecture that takes Russia's considerations, Russia's national interest into consideration, which talk about anything that Putin and Lavrov have outlined? I mean, Does the mainstream media in the West or in the UK actually document Russia's position in full? No, they don't.

They sometimes allude to what Putin has been saying. But the way they always do is they say that Putin back in June set out Russia's maximalist demands, which in effect call for Ukraine's total capitulation. These are not maximalist demands, at least not from Putin's perspective, certainly not from a Russian perspective, from a Russian perspective, they are minimal demands. Just to say, I mean, you know, Putin is being an awful lot more moderate than many people in Russia would like him to be. I mean, but Vedev is completely on the other scale when in terms of what he would like to see in Ukraine. But they absolutely refuse to address what the Russians are saying.

I mean, basically, they ignore it. They ignore all that the Russians have said about peacekeepers. They ignore all that the Russians have said about the fact that they won't tolerate freezes. They ignore what the Russians are saying about the full regions. They ignore all of those things. And, of course, they still want, ultimately, to bring Ukraine into NATO. I mean, there is no willingness or ability to address these issues or to analyze them or to think about them. I haven't seen a single big analytical article in any of the big inspectors that actually go through Putin's proposals, look at them piece by piece, take them apart, perhaps criticize them, you know, say why they might not work or what's wrong with them.

I've never seen it done. And I do think we are ever going to see it because the risk for the mainstream media and for Ukraine's backers. if that happens, is that, of course, the public's in America, in Europe and elsewhere will look at Putin's proposals and will say, well, what's the problem with them? Because there isn't one. Yeah, at least they could talk about the document from Putin, the ask from Putin, which is dealing with a European security architecture. They could maybe critique it or examine it and say, look, the United States will never be able to do. grant this to Russia, rolling back NATO to, say, Germany's borders and moving the missiles out

of Poland and Romania and stuff like that. I mean, they could present Putin's position, but then they can, you know, come out with an argument as to why the United States would never be able to accept Putin's position. So at least dialogue can occur. But the fact they don't even report it. No. Because I do believe that the security architecture in Europe is the one thing that Trump could discuss with Putin, which Russia is genuinely interested in. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think we could quite plausibly have negotiations and discussions with the Russians about that. But this is where it becomes very interesting, because Parteshev, in that same interview, in which he said that it's far from clear that Ukraine will survive to the end of this year.

He also said that at the moment, talks between Russia and America, between Trump and Putin, and their governments should be limited to just them. He's basically saying, don't involve the Europeans, don't involve the Ukrainians, because if they do, they will wreck the whole negotiations, they will, try to divert them into alternative parts. Now, again, I think that's going to be very, very difficult for Trump to deliver on, but he might do. I mean, he can perhaps validly argue that the United States has its own interests, which are not identical to those of its allies. It needs to speak to the Russians about the situation in Europe. Maybe it cannot come to a full agreement with the

Russians about a new security architecture in Europe, but he can certainly discuss issues of security in Europe with the Russians. And the Europeans have no right to have a veto over that. What the Europeans want is a veto over any discussion that the Americans and the Russians have with each other. And that is actually an unreasoned. reasonable position. No, I think Trump should absolutely go for a one-on-one discussion with Putin. Yes. He doesn't need the Europeans there. He doesn't need the UK there, not at all. No. Not at all. You know, they maneuvered themselves into a vassal position, the Europeans and the UK. They're the ones that accepted this position. Correct. So why not have the two adults in the room

actually sitting down and figuring out a way forward? Correct. With all of Europe. Yes. In consideration, Yeah, correct. Absolutely. Do you think the demands from Russia, the position, negotiating position of Russia, has made its way to Trump? I say this. Well, I say this because I listen to Rubio's confirmation hearing. And Rubio accepted that the war has to end. I mean, he told everyone there, everyone at the confirmation. The war is going to end. It's going to end. It's going to end. he basically said, let's get real. Ukraine's not going to win. That's what he basically admitted. Ukraine is not winning this thing, so we all have to be realistic about this. But once again, he talked about his goal as Secretary of State as far as the conflict in Ukraine is concerned for a first step to be a ceasefire, which to me was, you know, Lavrov just a week ago, not even two, three days ago, said, we will not accept the ceasefire. And he said this now for the hundredth time.

Yeah. We are not interested in a ceasefire. We want a solution. But here you have Rubio saying our first step is to get a ceasefire and then work from there. So I'm just asking you because, you know, if they're listening to what the Russians say, you know, why is the soon-to-be Secretary of State talking about ceasefires? Well, I think, first of all, he has to get himself confirmed. No, he's got to get past the McConnell's and the Lindsay Graham's and people of that kind. Don't overlook that.

I mean, that isn't a simple and straightforward problem. So they will not want a situation. They won't want to hear Marker Rubia, of all people coming along and telling them, well, look, we've got to accept what Putin is proposing because he's going to win the war one way or the other. And it's better that we capitulate to him now. I mean, I'm putting it more strongly than he would ever do. But so he's got to get confirmed. He's got to get the other people who form his team confirmed.

He's got to get, say, the State Department under control. He's got lots of things to do. But besides that, I mean, Rubio himself is a hawk. He's got a near-com background. I think the most interesting fact is that he basically accepts that the war is lost. If you accept that the war is lost, then, That leads you ultimately to a completely different conclusion, because from the one that he set out, because how can you impose a ceasefire? I'll decide that's winning. They will come back and say,

why should we ceasefire? What's in it for us? And if you're then going to say, well, you know, you're going to make all kinds of other concessions on all kinds of other things, the Russians will inevitably say why. Now, even Rubio, I think, when he meets the Russians, when he meets Lavrov, and at some point he is going to meet Lavrov, when he says that he's going to work towards a ceasefire by definition, that means he's going to have to meet Lavrov. He's going to be confronted with all of this, and that inevitably is going to affect the way he takes this thing forward.

So that's, I think, the point people need to understand. Now, I think Trump does understand this. I think he gets this. I think, as is often the case, Trump is ahead of some of the others within his own administration. What Trump is doing is that just as the Europeans are trying to shape the conversation in one way, one which ultimately leads to the US recommitting to Ukraine, recommitting to Europe, continuing with this failed Biden plan. project. What Trump is doing is he's telling everybody, look, this isn't America's great interest. America has more important things to think about. It's got China to think about. It's got its homeland issues to think about. It's got to consider the areas that are adjoining to it, Greenland, Mexico, all of that. He is shaping the dialogue as well. And I think he's the president of the United States, once he's got his team confirmed, once he's spoken with Putin,

then we will see where it goes. But I get the sense that that's the direction he wants to take it. He's going to do, and I really want to repeat, we said this before in our previous program, what he's going to do, he's going to make an effort for the first 100 days, the first six months, try to come to some kind of deal with the Russians on Ukraine. You're going to let Kellogg and Rubio and all of those people do what they. can at the end of it, if because Zelensky won't compromise and the Europeans weren't compromise and they still come forward with impossible ideas about peacekeeping forces and that kind of thing, he's already preparing his position so that he can simply walk away.

Yeah, Rubio better bring his A-game when he meets Lavrov, that's for sure. Yeah. Just a final question real quick. What is going on with these limited talks between Ukraine and Russia in, I believe, in Qatar, or is it the UAE? Have you heard about this, these limited discussions that I believe Bloomberg is also reporting on this? They say it's just about hostages, but is there anything more to it? No, no. There have been repeated attempts to try to build up these discussions to be something more than they actually are. Back in the summer, if you remember, there was a story spread, again through Bloomberg,

and the financial times, that there had been negotiations to cease strikes on each other's energy systems. Yeah, they mentioned that again in these talks. Exactly. Well, the Ukrainians and the Russians said that wasn't true. Okay. But, you know, we float off these ideas again. We completely disregard the fact that both the Russians and the Ukrainians.

Ukrainians say that there is no truth to these stories. Again, I see all of these articles as more attempts to try to squirrel through the idea that there's more flexibility in the Russian position than there really is. A final question, if Biden sends off more attackums before he leaves in three, three days or whatever, three, four days, whatever, if he gets one more attackam strike into pre-2014 Russia, does Russia take out? the gas storage in Leviv because they're already trying. Yeah, because this is, I think this is, this is a big deal. If the Europeans are looking at this, they should be terrified at what could happen, shouldn't they? I mean, if I understand, this gas storage is very much connected to the European Union.

Of course it is, but, of course it is, but this is the extraordinary thing. They don't seem to be. Do you remember when the Ukrainians switched off the transit of gas across their country? They said it's not going to have any effect from gas prices. Sure enough, it's had effect on gas prices. Even Mitsubakis in Greece is now complaining about this. But they just carry on because they are obsessional about this whole conflict. And they won't stop. And it will just continue.

And they just continue the same way that they are. that like they showed absolutely no concern about the fact that Ukraine launched an attack on one of the facilities of the Turkstream project. I mean, it is very strange, actually. When people act like this, I'm talking about the Europeans now, not the Ukrainians, when they act in the way that they're doing, I think the word fanaticism is not wrong. in describing how they feel about Russia. And if you want to talk about fanaticism, I discussed it in my program yesterday on my own channel.

Well, one of my programs on my channel. Extraordinary article in The Daily Telegraph by Ben Wallace talking about putting Russia in prison and building the walls high and about how the entire Russian people must be imprisoned in that kind of a way. Now, if that's not an example of fanaticism, Tell me what is.

Yeah, it seems like they want to destroy themselves, the Europeans. Well, it's Captain Ahab, you know, going after Moby Dick, get the white whale. I mean, what is it, you know, in death do I spit on thee or whatever is? One of our viewers will find the words. I mean, you know, wreck everything in this mad pursuit, you know, Russia and a Putin, which in the meantime, of course, continues to get stronger. I've already started to see articles cropping up in all sorts of places, not in the mainstream media, which say that the latest oil sanctions that the Biden administration is going to inflict on the Russians, actually is going

to end up helping the Russians. So there you go. Even Biden said as much, pretty much. Well, he says it's going to hurt the United States. He did say it's going to help the Russians. These sanctions are going to hurt us. Okay. Well done. Well done, Joe Biden. All right. We will end it there. The durand.orgals.com. on Rumble Odyssey Picture, Telegram, Rock, 10X. Go to the Durant Shop, pick up some merch like what we are wearing in this video. Update. The link is in the description box down below. Take care.