Scott Ritter and Garland Nixon on How Ukraine’s War Will End
31 March 2026, posted by Eric Zuesse. (All of my recent articles can be seen here.)
30 March 2026
00:00
INTERVIEWER: Uh the western mainstream media has been
00:02
very much up in arms about these massive
00:04
attacks that the Russian military has
00:07
been undertaking on Ukraine and they’ve
00:10
also been panicking about the Sumi and
00:12
the Dniepetrovsk front. What exactly is
00:15
happening on the battlefield now and
00:17
what can we expect? SCOTT RITTER: Well, I mean, Russia
00:19
has said that um it’s I mean, Vladimir
00:22
Putin apparently had a conversation with
00:24
Emanuel Macron and he said that um you
00:28
know, while Russia is not opposed to a
00:30
negotiated outcome, it will have to deal
00:32
with realities including territorial
00:34
reality and the territorial reality is
00:36
as such as things stand Russia’s
00:40
requirements are that all four of the
00:43
Nova Russia territories Kherson, Zaphorisia,
00:46
Dnipropetrovsk and Lugansk in their totality
00:48
belong to Russia. and Russia will occupy
00:50
all of them, including the right bank of
00:51
Kherson. Um, and because of the
00:55
nefarious actions of the Ukrainians,
00:57
Russia will create an appropriately
00:59
sized u buffer zone. Um, and what we see
01:04
happening in Sumi and in Dnipropetrovsk is
01:07
Russia acting on that, meaning that they
01:09
will advance until which time they have
01:11
created a buffer between what will be
01:12
left of you of sovereign Ukraine um and
01:16
mother Russia. that Ukraine will not be
01:18
allowed to have a a common border with
01:21
Russia because Ukraine has attacked
01:24
Russia and Russia is not going to allow
01:25
that to happen again. Um I mean this is
01:29
the reality and this is what Russia is
01:31
moving forward in his conversation with
01:34
President Trump. Putin said the same
01:35
thing. We will address the root causes
01:38
of this conflict and one of the root
01:40
causes is of course Ukraine’s behavior,
01:43
their their de facto status as a NATO
01:45
member. um and you know that will be
01:48
reversed. And so I I think what we’re
01:50
going to see is progress um along those
01:54
lines. But Russia is not going to throw
01:58
away human life needlessly. They don’t
02:00
need to. They just This is a war of
02:02
attrition. Um Garland and I have had
02:04
this conversation repeatedly and I’ll
02:06
just say it again. At some point in
02:08
time, there will be a culminating moment
02:11
where Ukraine’s ability to maintain
02:13
cohesive defense along the totality of
02:15
the front will diminish to the point of
02:18
zero and you will see collapse and that
02:21
collapse will be dramatic. Um I continue
02:24
to believe that Russia has the potential
02:26
of achieving that collapse this summer.
02:28
Um, Ukraine has shown a tremendous
02:30
amount of resilience over the over the
02:33
years and you know if Russia isn’t
02:35
willing to put the you know the remember
02:37
the more aggressive you are the more
02:39
casualties you take right now Russia has
02:41
a winning formula that minimizes Russian
02:43
losses maximizes Ukrainian losses and
02:46
Russia’s not hasn’t shown a proclivity
02:48
to change that but if um if Russia
02:51
decides to put their pedal to the metal
02:53
they can accelerate the collapse because
02:55
you you will you know create a
02:59
mathematical equation which has the
03:01
Ukrainians losing resources at a far
03:03
greater rate than they can be
03:04
replenished and at some point in time
03:06
you achieve collapse. Um but that’s a
03:09
political decision has to be made
03:11
because to do that to put the pedal to
03:14
the metal you’re going to increase
03:15
Russian casualties at a time when I
03:18
think um the Russian government doesn’t
03:20
want to um alter the um the support of
03:25
the Russian people. Right now, the
03:27
Russian people have stealed themselves
03:29
to um the reality of this conflict to
03:32
include Ukrainian drones striking uh
03:35
deep inside Russia. Uh but they’ve also,
03:38
you know, they’ve they’ve reached a uh
03:41
an equilibrium of what kind of
03:43
battlefield losses can be accepted.
03:45
Understand that the Russian losses are
03:47
um greater than the losses we suffered
03:50
in Vietnam. Vietnam broke the back of
03:53
America. um the Russian losses are uh
03:57
are greater than that. They are hurt,
03:58
you know, occurring at a at a larger
04:00
frequency than Vietnam. So the Russian
04:02
people have to absorb real losses, real
04:05
battlefield losses. And I don’t think
04:07
that Vladimir Putin wants to change that
04:09
um you know this equilibrium by you know
04:12
making the Russian people absorb even
04:14
more losses. Um especially when you have
04:17
a winning strategy, you have an a
04:20
constituency that’s be supporting you on
04:22
this war. I think the Russians will just
04:24
continue as business as usual, threes
04:26
and sixes until the Ukrainians collapse.
04:28
And that could happen this year, that
04:29
could happen next year, could happen
04:31
whenever it happens, but it’s going to
04:33
happen.
04:33
INTERVIEWER: We just had an audience member say that
04:35
we’ve been wrong about Ukraine, that uh
04:37
they’ve been far harder to defeat than
04:40
we’ve been saying, and Russia is taking
04:42
massive hits. What is your answer to
04:44
this?
04:44
GARLAND NIXON: Well, I think here’s the thing thing. I
04:46
mean, you know, this is not again, this
04:49
is not Yemen. This is the most powerful
04:51
NATO army proxy that’s ever been
04:54
created. And in my opinion, Russia has
04:56
destroyed it two to three times over. At
04:58
the same time, Russia has demilitarized
05:01
NATO in that Russia in I don’t know if
05:04
it’s intentionally, but in the method
05:05
that they fight, which is a very slow
05:08
method of fighting. It’s a very uh
05:10
cautious and uh continuous way of
05:13
fighting. [snorts] I think that they
05:14
have demilitarized NATO. They have been
05:17
in it very effective. I mean, it’s been
05:19
it was a million man army and they’ve
05:20
been adding people the whole time. So,
05:22
let’s not pretend [clears throat] that
05:24
this was ever going to be a cakewalk
05:26
walk for anyone um for for Russia, etc.
05:29
It was it was the combined might of all
05:33
of NATO focused and concentrated on
05:36
Russia. At the same time, there was a
05:38
full spectrum attack there add terrorist
05:40
attacks. You have to add economic
05:44
attacks, diplomatic trying to make
05:45
people stop buying things from Russia.
05:47
So this was a full spectrum war on
05:49
Russia and I would argue that given the
05:52
um size of this attack on Russia that
05:55
they have um you know done quite well
05:57
and the way Russia fights means that
06:00
sooner or later the eventuality was that
06:02
they were always going to win. I don’t
06:04
think Russia was in ever had a calendar
06:07
here saying we have to win by this day
06:09
or that way. It was we’re going to do
06:10
things the way we do them and in the end
06:12
this is existential and we will win. I
06:14
also think that, you know, as an
06:16
example, supposedly Presidents Putin and
06:19
Trump talked today and Trump did the
06:21
old, hey, you know, like Macron, when
06:23
can we get some kind of a ceasefire? And
06:24
apparently, President Putin just
06:26
reiterated what he’s always reiterated.
06:27
Look, we got to address the underlying
06:30
issues because the underlying issues are
06:32
what make it existential to Russia. And
06:34
the true underlying issue is that NATO
06:37
was always a mechanism to destroy Russia
06:39
so that the NATO countries could go in,
06:42
take Russia, break it into pieces, and
06:44
split it amongst each others and take
06:46
all of its natural resources. Russia
06:47
knows that, I know that, you guys know
06:49
that, and Russia knows that just ain’t
06:51
going to happen. So, I think that um
06:54
ultimately what we’re looking at here is
06:57
uh I got to add this. I also think that
07:00
if Russia didn’t already know what they
07:02
were up against, watching what happened
07:03
in Iran, seeing the complicity of seeing
07:06
the, you know, the things that was done
07:09
utilizing various like the IAEA using
07:13
utilizing international organizations as
07:15
tools of imperialism by the US, uh,
07:18
sneaking attacks from other countries
07:20
inside the countries, lying and saying
07:22
that we were, uh, we were negotiating a
07:25
deal at the same time we’re hiding a
07:26
knife behind our back so we can, you
07:28
know, get you to look the other way
07:29
during negotiations and attack you. All
07:31
of these things, I think, have even more
07:33
convinced Russia, we have to hold firm.
07:35
We’ve got to do what we know we need to
07:37
do. And I think the fact is keep an eye
07:40
on Russia constantly saying we must
07:43
address the underlying issues because
07:44
the underlying issues are not just
07:47
Ukraine. The underlying issue is a
07:49
comprehensive security agreement with uh
07:53
um Europe. That includes getting uh as
07:57
they said at the very beginning, getting
08:00
um NATO’s military infrastructure off of
08:02
their border. And I think as this
08:04
continues, they’re going to at some time
08:06
bring up the things that they’ve said
08:08
that they said back in December of 2022,
08:10
which was or 2022. Yeah. Which was we
08:14
have to address NATO on our border and
08:16
NATO expansion. And they’re going to
08:18
want to talk about that. And Ukraine is
08:20
not the only thing that’s existential to
08:23
Russia. And the discussion will come up.
08:24
I I I also think this I wouldn’t be
08:27
surprised if at some point we don’t see
08:29
a Russia, China, Iran, some kind of a
08:32
military alliance come up. And now I
08:34
thought a while back probably no. But
08:36
some things that I’m hearing leads me to
08:38
believe that I think not only will we, I
08:41
think in order to shut down the crazies,
08:44
the hot-heads as they refer to them in
08:46
Washington, they’re going to have to do
08:48
that. So I my guess could be wrong is
08:50
that that may come at some point also.
08:52
RITTER: Well, I mean, could you read the
08:53
question in its totality, so I
08:55
understand?
08:56
INTERVIEWER: Sure, sure, sure.
08:58
Um, so right here it says, uh, I come in [got a]
09:01
key piece [saying] that you guys have been wrong
09:02
about Ukraine non-stop. They [Ukraine] seem way
09:04
harder to defeat than expected. Russia
09:06
took massive hits as well.
09:08
RITTER: It’s an absurd question. I mean, I don’t
09:10
mean to pick on the guy. He gave you
09:12
five pounds, 99 p. Um, so I hope he
09:16
continues to support your cause. Um,
09:20
you clearly are somebody who hasn’t
09:22
listened to anything I’ve said, anything
09:23
Garland has said. If, uh, at any time
09:26
you thought that we said that, uh,
09:28
Ukraine was going to fold over like a
09:30
house of cards. Um, especially after the
09:33
initial phases of the war, I think
09:35
everybody believed that Russia was going
09:36
to come in and declare war on Ukraine.
09:38
Had Russia declared war on Ukraine, this
09:40
war would be over. But again, you know,
09:42
that’s something that your question
09:43
doesn’t uh address the difference
09:46
between a special military operation and
09:48
the war. I don’t mean to be insulting,
09:50
but don’t throw a question out there
09:51
unless you do your goddamn research.
09:53
Nobody thought this was going to be a
09:55
special military operation. That term
09:56
didn’t exist when this conflict began.
09:58
Everybody thought that this was a war,
10:00
including the chairman of the Joint
10:01
Chiefs of Staff, the director of the
10:02
CIA, except the people that knew what
10:04
was going on, the special military
10:06
operation people. They understood that
10:07
this wasn’t a war. This was something
10:09
different. And it took people in the
10:11
west a while to adjust to that, you
10:13
know. So you have to adjust your
10:14
analytical framework, which I did. And
10:17
once that happened, you realize now that
10:19
Russia’s not in the business of the
10:21
physical destruction of Ukraine. If this
10:23
was a war, Ukraine would no longer
10:25
exist. What did I get wrong exactly?
10:27
Maybe the pace of operations. I already
10:29
told you, I’m a very aggressive analyst
10:31
who believes in uh, you know, putting
10:33
the pedal to the metal, but the Russians
10:35
don’t. So when I use my analytical
10:38
framework to to you know project things
10:40
that happen yeah every time I get
10:42
attached to a calendar I’m wrong but you
10:44
know what I’ve not been wrong on the
10:46
results. Russia’s winning this war. I’ve
10:48
not been wrong on the math. Russia’s the
10:51
math is you know lends itself totally to
10:53
a Russian victory. So where have I been
10:54
wrong? Russia has taken massive hits.
10:57
That’s a curious term. What what is the
10:59
quantifiable there? What defines a
11:01
massive hit? Russia’s taking casualties,
11:04
but you do know that we’re Russia’s
11:05
fighting a NATO proxy, an army of 700 to
11:09
900,000 men trained to NATO standards,
11:10
equipped with the best equipment NATO
11:13
has put in air defense system that is
11:15
better than anything NATO has installed.
11:17
And Russia’s beating this hands down. I
11:20
mean, nobody talks about the Russian
11:21
suppression of enemy air defense
11:23
campaign that started to operate in the
11:25
fall of 2022 to get to where we are here
11:27
today, where Russia has literally
11:29
suppressed the totality of NATO’s air
11:31
defense capacity. Stripped NATO bare.
11:34
And now they’re just pounding Ukraine.
11:37
Well, massive hits, right? Yeah. A
11:39
couple drone strikes, that’s a massive
11:41
hit. Where’s the massive hit you’re
11:43
talking about? This is war. just because
11:45
the Ukrainians are able to take this
11:47
technology and apply it on the
11:48
battlefield and inflict casualties on
11:50
Russia. That’s what’s going to happen in
11:51
a highintensity conflict zone. But don’t
11:54
talk about massive hits unless you can
11:55
document it and you can’t. The bottom
11:57
line is Ukraine is being used as a
11:59
proxy. I’ve not been wrong on that. From
12:02
the very beginning, I said this is a
12:03
proxy war between NATO and Ukraine. I
12:05
said that in March of 2022. Put on
12:08
Ukrainian death list for saying that.
12:10
How dare you say that? Well, it’s the
12:11
truth. It’s so true that the Ukrainian
12:14
defense minister had to come out and
12:15
admit it and now the United States
12:16
admits it. Hadn’t been wrong on that.
12:18
So, we’re talking about a war here. It’s
12:20
not a conflict between Ukraine and
12:22
Russia. It’s now transformed into a
12:25
conflict between Russia and the
12:26
collective west. Does your question
12:28
reflect that? Understand that the
12:31
Russians in their defense industrial
12:33
base is out producing the totality of
12:35
the NATO defense base. That’s not me
12:37
saying it. It’s Route the NATO secretary
12:39
general saying that. Have I been wrong
12:41
on that? No, this is a war. Understand
12:43
that when you defend Ukraine, you are
12:45
defending literal Nazis. Literal Nazis.
12:49
Not hypothetical Nazis, but literal
12:52
Nazis. The worst people in the world.
12:55
Ukrainian nationalists. You view anybody
12:57
who’s not a Ukrainian nationalist as
12:59
subhuman. Subhuman. You’re subhuman. The
13:02
person who sent that question in. These
13:03
are horrible human beings. Horrible
13:06
human beings. And the Ukrainian
13:08
government embraces their ideology
13:10
without question, without embarrassment.
13:12
And we in the West support this, which
13:14
means we are complicit in the crimes
13:16
committed by the Ukrainians.
13:17
NIXON: And I have something that I really
13:19
believe, and the time is coming. And
13:20
remember, I’ve been saying this over and
13:22
over since the beginning. The time is
13:24
going to come when the Ukrainians are
13:27
not going to be pissed at the Russians.
13:29
They’re going to be pissed at the US. I
13:31
know how this game works. At some point,
13:33
they’re not going to say the Russians
13:34
did it. They’re going to say, “You sons
13:36
of you let us down here. You
13:39
knew we were going to get crushed. You
13:41
stuck us out here. You threw us in a in
13:43
a in a bin with a with a dog on grizzly
13:46
bear and told us you’d help us and then
13:48
you walked away and you left us for the
13:49
bear to maul us. They will be furious
13:52
and they will be armed to the teeth and
13:55
they will be refugees in Europe and all
13:58
over Europe armed to the teeth. They’re
14:00
going to want revenge. when this is
14:02
over, they’re going to blame NATO.
14:05
They’re going to blame the West. They’re
14:06
going to blame the US. And here’s the
14:09
problem. They’ll be right. So, there’s a
14:13
good possibility that there will be an
14:15
internal civil war with various factions
14:18
fighting in Ukraine. But at least some
14:20
of those, and I predict the Nazi faction
14:22
is going to come after people in Europe,
14:25
furious at the people in Europe. you
14:27
know, they’re planning on, well, after
14:29
this is over, we’ll have some we’ll have
14:32
these CIA and MI6 operatives that to
14:35
continue a dirty war on Russia. I think
14:37
that dirty war is going to be on the
14:38
West, and I think they’re going to be
14:40
pissed and they’re going to figure out
14:42
who it was that threw him in the in in
14:44
this cage with a bear. That’s my
14:46
opinion. I felt I could be wrong, but
14:48
I’ve always felt that that’s the way it is.
14:49
INTERVIEWER: The significance of Lugansk uh you
14:52
know we haven’t talked about this yet on
14:53
the program but given that given that
14:56
you know Putin talks a lot about root
14:58
causes of Lugansk Donetsk I mean these
15:02
were huge in the proliferation and the
15:04
the sparking of this uh conflict to
15:07
begin with.
15:07
RITTER: Well I mean the Donbass was the um you
15:10
know the the center of this conflict. Um
15:14
the Donbass is the collective term used
15:16
for Donetsk and Lugansk. um both very
15:20
heavily populated by uh Russian-speaking
15:23
people, people who um even though they
15:26
were technically Ukrainian citizens
15:28
identified more with Russia than
15:29
Ukraine. Um and these are the people
15:32
that um you know when the CIA backed
15:36
coup that empowered these Ukrainian
15:38
nationalists who immediately declared
15:40
war on Russian Russian ethnicity, they
15:42
called them orcs. Uh declared war on the
15:45
Russian Orthodox Church. uh declared
15:47
Russ war on the Russian language,
15:50
Russian history, Russian culture. Uh
15:52
seeking basically ethnic genocide and
15:55
then acted on it. Uh you know they uh
15:57
they they made a move to seize Crimea.
15:59
They were stopped dead in their tracks.
16:01
Then they they made a move. They took
16:03
over Mariupol. When you speak of the rape
16:05
of Mariupol, it’s the literal physical
16:07
rape of Mariupol by these Nazis. Um you
16:10
know what they call the AZOV battalion.
16:13
Um they have at the core of their
16:16
membership not western Ukrainians but
16:18
people from uh soccer hooligans
16:21
who bought into this Nazi um you know
16:24
ideology but they came into Mariupol
16:27
physically occupied this city and then
16:30
raped the women of Mariupol drove the
16:32
Russian[-speakers]s out imprisoned the Russians
16:35
terrorized the Russians while building
16:37
this literal Nazi edifice this literal
16:40
Nazi edifice. Um you know this is the
16:44
reality and this is what the people of
16:45
Donetsk and Lugansk rose up against. They
16:47
said no. Now when you when you look at
16:50
the the map understand that uh when this
16:53
conflict began the majority of Lugansk
16:56
was held by the Ukrainian government uh
16:58
basically Lugansk city and uh some
17:00
territory to its uh immediate uh west
17:03
and north uh were under the control of
17:07
Lugansk People’s Republic. But when this
17:10
war began actually um the special
17:12
military operation began
17:15
the vast majority of Lugansk was um was
17:18
taken over uh rapidly. I mean there was
17:20
heavy fighting. Um Wagner played a very
17:23
important role in this
17:25
but uh you know but there was a a corner
17:28
of uh of Lugansk that um was heavily
17:31
fortified by the Ukrainians. Heavily it
17:33
was part of this huge defensive line
17:35
that the Ukrainians had built over the
17:37
course of 14 years. 14. Is my math
17:40
wrong? Huh? 14. Not 14. Eight.
17:44
Marine math. Eight years. Um, and they,
17:48
this was heavily dug in the Russian, it
17:50
was never captured. And, um, it was
17:53
there this this corner of Lugansk was
17:55
being held on to. And so symbolically
17:58
this was very important for uh for
18:00
Russia and in Lugansk but also for Donetsk
18:03
and Zaphorisia uh for them to you know
18:06
evict the Ukrainian government from
18:10
Lugansk from mother Russia because
18:12
Lugansk is now mother Russia. Um but to
18:15
show you how you know that this the
18:17
reality they’re dealing with just today
18:19
I believe the mayor of Lugansk city was
18:21
assassinated by Ukrainian nationalists.
18:24
um they they they they killed him. Uh
18:26
the Ukrainians now um because they’re so
18:29
angry at the Russians, you know,
18:31
capturing the totality of the Luganska
18:34
Republic, they’ve they’ve they attack
18:36
they use HIMARS missiles and other
18:38
missiles to attack uh Ukrainian
18:41
Russian civilians um to carry out
18:44
continue their terrorism. the
18:46
anti-terrorist operation that was
18:48
initiated in April of um 2014
18:52
um continues to this day with the
18:54
Ukrainian government viewing uh the
18:56
citizens of Lugansk and Donetsk as
18:58
terrorists and therefore from their
19:00
perspective there are no civilians. They
19:02
continue to rain death down on innocent
19:04
civilians. And this is why Russia speaks
19:08
about a um a um the need for a um buffer
19:12
zone to protect the citizens of Russia
19:15
from um you know these criminal actions.
19:18
Um but you know it’s also you know
19:21
heartening because now the citizens of
19:23
Donetsk know that they’re next and then
19:25
after Dniepropetrovsk you’ll see the the
19:27
citizens of Zaphorisia know and then
19:29
Kherson knows. Um and the other thing is
19:32
it represents an inevitability for the
19:34
people of Dniepropetrosk because the Russians
19:37
will build their buffer zones. Sumi
19:39
will have a buffer zone. Um and if this
19:43
continues, I can guarantee you that the
19:45
Russians will probably extend a buffer
19:47
zone into Nikolaev and even into Odessa uh
19:50
by the time this is done. Uh this is a
19:52
reality. This is the kind of reality
19:54
that Putin is talking about. But now
19:56
it’s more than just um words. We now
19:58
have action. We’ve seen the Russians
20:00
actually, you know, physically liberate
20:04
the totality of one of the four new
20:06
territories. And um I think it’s just
20:08
part of the inevitable um you know,
20:11
advance um that that Russia’s engaged in.
20:14
INTERVIEWER: Do we see this as when it’s all said and
20:16
done, one of the biggest blunders uh in
20:19
the foreign policy of I guess we call
20:21
the combined collective west as our
20:23
friend Andrei Martyanov would would see it.
20:26
RITTER: I do. I I I see it as a massive blunder.
20:28
Um, you know, let’s look at the uh
20:32
regime change strategy used by the
20:35
United States. Um, with great success
20:38
against Iraq, great success against
20:41
Syria. Um,
20:45
success against Libya. Um, they’re
20:49
trying to apply it in Iran today. But,
20:52
um, I think Iran and Russia have
20:56
something different. um about them. What
20:59
are the weaknesses of Russia? What what
21:01
lent what made Russia vulnerable to
21:05
western regime change? First of all is
21:07
the decade of the ‘9s. Uh the decade of
21:09
the ‘9s broke the Russian spirit and had
21:12
many Russians flee the concept of mother
21:14
Russia. Um you know they fell out of
21:17
love with Russia and fell in love with
21:19
the west. So they were already attracted
21:21
to this alternative uh in the west. Um
21:24
the
21:28
they almost the west almost succeeded.
21:30
Had Yeltsin not yielded power to Putin
21:33
when he did. Had Yeltsin tried to hold
21:35
on to power for another 6 months, you
21:37
would have seen a total collapse of
21:38
Russia and Western goals and objectives
21:40
would have been achieved. Russia would
21:41
have broken up into constituent parts.
21:44
Um and uh functionally the Russian
21:47
Federation would not exist the way it
21:49
does today. Uh but Putin reversed that
21:51
and there’s been resentment ever since
21:53
then. But Putin even though he reversed
21:56
it, you know, from the very beginning
21:57
Putin was fighting an uphill battle. Uh
22:00
first of all, he’s fighting against
22:02
Western oligarchs that controlled the
22:03
Russian economy in totality. Uh and
22:06
Putin had to make deals with the devil.
22:07
He’s acknowledged this. I mean the the
22:09
the deal he made with um
22:13
Khordakovski, I think it was the you know
22:15
big oil magnate. Um, you know, he said,
22:19
“You can keep your money, but you got to
22:21
invest it back in Russia. You can’t take
22:22
it all out, but you got to stay out of
22:24
politics. I can’t allow your money to
22:26
get involved in Russian politics.” And
22:27
Garroski disobeyed, thought he could uh
22:31
beat Putin at his game, and Putin had
22:32
him arrested, had his uh empire broken
22:35
up and taken over by the the Russian
22:37
state. Um but this was a constant
22:40
balancing act with the oligarchs and it
22:42
was always a problematic because the
22:44
with the oligarchs comes corruption and
22:46
um there was corruption throughout
22:49
Russia and there still is corruption
22:50
throughout Russia. Many of the political
22:52
structures that exist in the provinces
22:55
um are a byproduct of the of the ‘90s.
22:57
They’re legacy of the ‘90s. Putin hasn’t
23:00
weeded them out yet uh because it’s
23:02
almost mission impossible to do under
23:04
normal circumstances. The other thing
23:07
that Putin had to do is um try and build
23:11
um a Russian
23:16
democratic
23:18
potential. But this was almost
23:19
impossible. We know this because in 1994
23:22
the chargé d’affaires of the US embassy in
23:25
Moscow, Mr. Mary, I think his last name
23:27
was. He wrote uh what is currently
23:29
referred to as the modern long telegram,
23:31
the modern day equivalent of uh George
23:34
Kennan’s long telegram of 1946 that set
23:37
in motion what became containment in the
23:39
cold war. Um he wrote a long telegram
23:42
that was condemning the United States
23:44
for what it was doing uh by blindly
23:46
supporting Boris Yeltsin. You know,
23:48
Yeltsin in October of 1993 puts tanks in
23:50
the streets to uh shell declared war on
23:53
the Russian parliament. that’s not
23:55
democratic and yet we doubled down on
23:57
Yeltsin he said we’re destroying
23:58
Russia’s ability to build democratic
24:00
institutions and this will come back to
24:02
haunt us and sure enough by the time
24:04
Yeltsin left there were no meaningful
24:06
democratic institutions what happened is
24:08
that you had a number of NGOs uh funded
24:11
by you know I used to be called paranoid
24:14
because I say well that’s a USAID
24:16
national endowment for democracy funded
24:18
system it can’t be you’re just buying
24:21
into Russian propaganda well now we know
24:22
that literally it’s regime change run by
24:24
the state department. Um
24:26
…
—————
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse’s latest book, AMERICA’S EMPIRE OF EVIL: Hitler’s Posthumous Victory, and Why the Social Sciences Need to Change, is about how America took over the world after World War II in order to enslave it to U.S.-and-allied billionaires. Their cartels extract the world’s wealth by control of not only their ‘news’ media but the social ‘sciences’ — duping the public.
Feedback regarding format: I appreciate the excellent selection of content but quite frankly the transcripts are easier and less tedious to read directly on YouTube. Also, I can increase the speed and just listen. Or occasionally go back and forth between video and text. Or just click the video to clarify who is talking at a particular time. I'd prefer just a link to the video with some comments by Eric. A few key quotes from the transcript would be useful - just not endless scrolling.