The Duran Podcast - US puts the squeeze on Zelensky

Episode Date: January 30, 2025

US puts the squeeze on Zelensky

All right, Alexander, let's talk about what is going on in Ukraine. And perhaps we are seeing some sort of diplomacy taking place between the United States and Russia. Whether it's Trump and Putin, I don't think so, but there's definitely some sort of song and dance. I guess you could say that's happening. We had some interesting statements from Trump over the weekend. We had some interesting statements. Flattery is what the collective West media is calling it from Putin. And we had some very panicky statements from Zelensky.

Actually, he's walking back his whole, I can't negotiate with Putin, decree or law or whatever that was passed in parliament during the Constitution. All of that was just a joke, man. It was just, you know, I was just joking around. Anyway, what's going on here? Can I just advise people to go to your program? Your program when you do this on is actually extremely funny. I mean, it was one of your best, if I may say.

Well, a lot is happening at the moment, but it's very difficult to get a clear picture of where all the strands are and where all the dots connect. We do know one thing, and there was a huge amount of model and confusion. confusion about this over the course of last week, but we now have clarity on one essential issue, which is that the United States has stopped all civilian aid to Ukraine. Now, apparently this does not cover military aid as supplied by the Department of Defense. There was an article in Politico.

We suggested that it did, but that appears to be wrong. But in all other respects, civilian aid to Ukraine is now stop. There have been stop orders made by the Secretary of State, Marker Rubio. They've been communicated right across the entire NGO world, the State Department, the people of the State Department, who are, by the way, neocons or just to say, you know, the actual center of neoconism in the U.S. government is the state department. Department. So they are apparently in an absolute state of shock. Several people apparently are coming back and trying to push back and say, well, can we revisit this? We understand that aid to all sorts of other countries has also been stopped as well. But Egypt and Israel are the exceptions. Can we please, please, please make Ukraine an exception as well? It looks as if

Trump is standing absolutely firm on this. Still no. aid to Ukraine, civilian aid to Ukraine. Now, this puts a decrease in extremely tight squeeze on Ukraine because the Ukrainians rely almost completely now for the functioning of their government, their civil society, their economy on Western aid funds. And a very large proportion of those come from Washington and are covered by this stop order. So this is putting a squeeze on Zelensky. And it's what Zelensky seems to be panicking about. Now, he had this meeting with Maria Sandu, the Moldovan president. We needn't get into what they discussed, which is all about coal and air electricity swaps and all of that. He starts to walk back the meaning of his own decree

in a way that is completely ridiculous. He said, of course, I'm able to negotiate. It's just that nobody else can negotiate. That is not what the decree says. The decree straightforwardly says that Ukraine will not negotiate with Russia whilst Vladimir Putin remains Russia's president. The point is, Zelensky is trying to gloss it.

He's trying to explain the decree, the meaning of the decree, But of course, what he's not doing is saying, look, I understand there's going to be negotiations. The decree looks like it being a problem. The Russians are making it a problem. Therefore, I'm going to rescind it. He's instead trying to reword what it says without actually changing it. So on the one hand, he doesn't want to revoke his decision.

decree. On the other hand, he's clearly under an awful lot of pressure concerning the decree. Now, we've had a very mysterious article. I call it mysterious because I'm not quite sure what to make of it in the dissident Ukrainian website, which is called Stranah. Straner is based outside Ukraine. Zelensky has tried to shut it down many times. The people who run it are not his friends. But it is a Ukrainian website and it does take an absolutely, you know, patriotic Ukrainian position about the war. They're claiming that at some point over the last couple of weeks, the Ukrainians were handed a document by the Europeans in which the Trump administration sets out its 100-day timetable towards securing peace for Ukraine by the 9th of May.

an interesting date, by the way. I am not placing a huge amount of weight on this document because I think if it had really existed in this form, by now we would have heard about it either from the US itself or from European sources or there would have been something about it in the Western media. But the thing that stood out for me right at the start of this document

is that it said that you, Zelen, has been told, presumably, by the Americans, to rescind this decree. And here we have, you know, the squeeze is on, and at the same time, Zelensky trying to gaslight everybody about what his decree actually means. And I suspect that is part of the story. The Americans are now putting the squeeze on Zelensky. They're saying you've got to rescind this decree unless you do. We're not going to be able to get past, you know, stage phase one.

We're not going to be able to get past first base. And of course, in his comments over the weekend, Putin honed in on this decree again, as he has been repeatedly doing so over the last year or so, whenever the topic of negotiations with Ukraine get brought up. He said that for negotiations to happen, this decree must be rescinded by the Ukrainians. It must be cancelled. So my guess is that the Americans are putting the squeeze on Zelensky. And Zelensky is being told, at some level, by someone with contacts in Washington,

You've got to rescind this decree, and he's not able to do that for the moment, and he's gaslighting us about what it means instead. What happens when he rescinds that decree? Well, there's a very good question. I'm going to make a suggestion at that point. He's on the rocks. He's positioned slides, because at that moment, negotiations become possible. The Russians say, well, you know, that's fine.

He's now rescinded the decree, but we still got the unresolved issue that he's not really the president of Ukraine because he's staying beyond his constitutional term, and there should be elections. And do the Americans really want him? Is he really the person they want to conduct the negotiations? So when the decree is rescinded, we move forward to a negotiation process. And Zelensky probably sees that as poison for himself. So this is probably what will happen.

At the moment, the decree has rescinded, the question of Zelensky's own position as president of Ukraine comes under question. The Russians are questioning it. The Americans will probably question it. And many people in Ukraine will question it also. Yeah, absolutely. I think the bandwrites will be furious. Absolutely, yeah. Absolutely. So, I mean, we could be heading towards a scenario where, and this is Zelensky and the Europeans and the UK's worst nightmare. This is their worst nightmare. We could be heading towards a scenario, which actually we've discussed many times in many videos, where it's Trump speaking with Putin. Zelensky's not needed or Zelensky's not even legitimate. Who even knows what Zelensky is at this point because the decree has been

And no one even knows what he is anymore. And the Europeans in the UK, the EU and the UK, they're not even at the table. And there is an article in the New York Times, coincidentally, that is warning that that is precisely what is going to happen. Which we have reported many, many times as this is their worst nightmare. I mean, we've said it, this is their worst. We said maybe six months ago, that's their worst nightmare. That the Americans and the Russians will come together, they'll sort out Ukraine between them, but they'll also start to revisit the whole topic of the security arrangements in Europe. And that is absolutely their worst nightmare. And there are alarm bells ringing that that might indeed start to happen. And I think one of the

proximate causes of that, by the way, was this extremely guileful, and clever interview that Putin gave over the weekend to his favourite journalist. list, Pavel Zarubin. Now, we spoke about how godfatherish in some respects. Trump's true social message to the Russians was, you know, I love you, I love Russia, I want to be your friend, but unless you do what I want, I'm going to have to impose sanctions on you. There was something of that quality, I have to say, about Putin's response. I mean, he clearly has Trump's measure in some ways because he was saying, oh, yeah, of course, I hear you. You know, you're my friend. You know, we trust you. We work together so well. So let's put this piddling question. You crank to one side.

Let's get together and talk about things and look, look at all the wonderful things we can talk about and discuss with each other. We can talk about nuclear weapons, of course we can. And we can discuss that which interests you and concerns you, which is oil and energy prices. And we've got so much in common with each other. You're a big oil producer. We're a big oil producer. You're a continentally sized country. We're a continentally sized country.

You're a big consumer of energy because you've got a big manufacturing industry. We're a big oil and energy consuming country because we do have got a big manufacturing industry. So let's talk with each other. Let's sort it all out between us. Let's come to agreements in our mutual interest. And as I said, let's not let ourselves get distracted or tied down too much by these other. things. It was a very, very clever interview. And whether it's been noticed by Trump, whether it's been noticed by the Trump people, I don't know, but it has certainly sent shivers,

the shivers, down people in Europe and in Ukraine as well. And about that, I have absolutely no doubt at all. This is just off topic, just real quick. Denmark, Panama, Canada, with all of Trump's talk about what he wants to have happen in all of these countries or with the canal or with Kremlin, anything like that, all of these leaders should look at how Putin deals with what Trump posts or what he says and maybe they can learn something. Just the thought that I had. I mean, you're right, the way Putin engages with Trump, it's this song and dance, but you realize that Putin understands how to play this game. He understands how to play the game.

And the other leaders, they just, I mean, I don't want to say about Panama. I'm not so familiar about what the president's saying. The president seems to be a little more with it, the president of Panama. But Denmark and Trudeau, I mean, they don't seem to know how to play. the game. No. Just your thoughts. It's just off topic. You're completely right about that. I mean, they're because, I mean, these are just globalist apparatchiks in these places. Trudeau absolutely is. The Danish prime minister is also. I mean, confronted by someone like Trump, this person is so completely outside their concept of understanding. They're just having a clue what to do.

And in Denmark, apparently they're panicking and financial times says that the government is in meltdown there and it's in crisis mode and they're, you know, telling each other what to do and they're talking about reinforcing dog patrols in Greenland. And the result is Trump. you know, the way that he does immediately pounced on that, that they're having a clue how to handle Trump. They don't have what to say, how to respond to him. They get involved into pointless confrontations with him, which go back, conversations with him, which go incredibly badly. Because they're not real politicians. Putin is a real politician. He's also an immensely experienced politician. And of course, he'd worked with Trump before. He understands Trump very well and has a

much clearer idea of where Trump is coming from. So yes, absolutely, they could learn from Putin, but they won't. Because the idea of learning from Putin is even more shocking to them than learning from Trump. Yeah, well said. So if we get to a point where there is a negotiation, a talk between Trump and Putin. I have no doubt that we'll get there. Do you think we're looking at an Istanbul plus or an Istanbul plus type of settlement? You know, Lukashenko, who's also a very good troll, by the way, he knows how to troll people very well, Lukashenko. He says some very clever things of Lukashiko, who has won the election in Belarus.

he said, you know, why are we talking about European peacekeepers? The best peacekeepers in Ukraine would be Belarusian peacekeepers. Anyway, what are your thoughts about? Absolutely. I mean, by the way, that's not wrong. I mean, they speak languages. I mean, Belarusians speak both a language which is essentially identical to Ukrainian. And they speak Russian.

So why not? But just saying. And as the Belarusians have pointed out, you know, they previously had pretty good relations with your train too. So, oh, yeah, anyway, put all of that side. I, I, the way to, I think, answer that question is to actually frame it as a question. Why would Trump say no to Istanbul Plus? What is it about the June 24 proposals that Putin made that are so unacceptable to Trump and to the United States? Trump has already said Ukraine can't be in NATO.

So that issue is already conceded. And he tells the Russians, I get you about, I get you on that. There's the various internal arrangements for Ukraine itself. Why is that really of importance to Trump? What does it matter to Trump, whether people in Odessa are allowed to speak Russian and have Russian taught in schools? Why does it matter to Trump whether the four regions are Russian or Ukrainian at the end of the day? I mean, you know, I ask this, I'm looking at this from a purely, you know, pragmatic,

transaction point of view. The Ukrainians are concerned about this. It's important for the Ukrainians. It's important for the Russians. The Europeans have their own agendas. But if you come to the problem of Ukraine from the perspective of the United States and say, what exactly are our core interests here. Why is it in American core interests that Zaporosges city should be Ukrainian instead of Russia? What is the concern about Odessa, people in Odessa,

being able to talk Russian or not? So I think that ultimately, probably, we will get to a point where Putin and Trump, in order to get the issue of Ukraine, sort it out, come to a position very close to, if not identical to Istanbul Plus, because the Russians, for them it's an existential issue, as I've said many times, they absolutely need to get there. For the Americans, it's not. And if they concede Istanbul Plus, it's not their skin they're conceding.

Well, just to end the video on this, the neocons will probably give some pushback and say, you can't allow this because you're jeopardizing the United States' place as the world leader, as the unipolar hegemon. You can't allow this type of aggression to happen in Europe. It hasn't happened in Europe, whatever many, years, you can't allow Putin to win, you can't allow Putin to dictate whether NATO expands or not. I mean, that would be the type of pushback that you would get from the deal cons. What would you say to that real quick?

Well, first of all, I mean, they've been saying all of that for the last three years, and the alternative that they now are offering us is a continuation of a war that is being lost. So, I mean, what would follow from the logic of that? is that instead of coming to a negotiated out of solution, which would preserve a Ukraine, we end up instead with a situation where the Russians win and dictate terms. I mean, that is the substance of what the neocons are offering. I mean, they're offering a rhetorical position, not a substantive one. Now, up to now, up to fairly recently, up to say a year ago, you could argue that there would have been political damage to the Trump administration, to Donald Trump, if they had rejected outright the near composition.

But I think by now it's become increasingly clear that most people in the United States want to get this problem of Ukraine off their hands. They want their president and the new administration to concentrate on questions closer to home. Trump himself doesn't seem to be fundamentally interested in Ukraine. We've already discussed how he's increasingly moving towards ideas about spheres of influence. And by the way, exactly as we predicted, people are increasingly coming up and using those exact words to describe what is happening. So we are in effect in a situation where these people, the neocons, are talking from an out-to-date song script. Moreover, and this is the killer point, which comes from what the Russians are saying. This is where, as I said, Putin's interview was so clever.

Because what are you saying to Trump? Look, it's not just Ukraine. Let's not just talk about Ukraine. We've got so many other things we could talk about. We could talk about nuclear disarmament. We could talk about moving towards even in nuclear-free world, apparently. Some Russian commentators are now floating that possibility. We'll never get that, by the way.

But anyway, that's apparently being thrown out there. We can have discussions about nuclear weapons with you and the Chinese and all three of us together. We can talk about oil and energy and all of those things. This is the perfect opportunity for the grand bargain. And Ukraine is only a part of it. But it will help you in the United States to work forward with your agenda, which we don't agree with completely. by the way, because we're in competing great power too. But, you know, why don't we, the three big boys get together and sort it out between us

and move on and you can be strong and we can be strong in our regions and we can have peace and you can have security as well. And the Europeans will be secure as well because we've got no real plan to take them over. You know that. We know that. And if the Europeans aren't happy, well, that's down to them. Is he wrong?

Is Putin wrong? No, it doesn't sound like he's wrong. No, I do you think he's wrong at all? I think he's very bright. I think he's understood this situation, this game, as I said, much better than the European. Because bear in mind, Putin is not a globalist. Putin is not a neocon, obviously. He is a foreign policy realist who has no problem with spheres of influence ultimately

and grand bargains and that kind of thing. And I think he senses in Trump a potential kindred spirit, just say. I like that foreign policy realist. It's true. Very true. Okay. We will end the video there. The durand.

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