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Ritter’s Rant 045:
Liberty and Security
https://open.substack.com/pub/scottritte
Ritter’s Rant 045: Liberty and Security
(https://scottritter.substack.com/p/ritters-rant-045-liberty-and-security?triedRedirect=true)
President Trump is breathing life into Benjamin Franklin’s warning about trading our Liberty for Security.
Aug 26, 2025
Transkripzioa:
Hello and welcome to this edition of Ritter’s Rant. Today we’re gonna talk about freedom, liberty, security. Benjamin Franklin famously said, those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. This quote comes in the context of ongoing actions on the part of the Trump
administration to deploy not only significant national level law enforcement into select cities across the United States, but also to federalize the National Guard, send armed soldiers into the streets of American cities, and to discuss the potential of deploying active duty troops, Marines, soldiers, into American cities. Now, let there be no doubt,
America’s urban environment is becoming increasingly unlawful, chaotic, unruly, unlivable. My daughter lives in Washington, D.C., and I am not happy about the fact that she is literally putting her life at risk every time she steps out of her apartment onto the streets because you don’t know
when the latest drug deal gone bad is going to go south and gunfire is going to break out. You don’t know when the next drug addict in desperate need of money to buy substances that will alleviate his or her suffering. We’ll pick my daughter or her husband or their friends to be the victim.
It’s an epidemic of crime. There’s no doubt about this and something needs to be done. But we live in a constitutional republic that has rejected the idea of soldiers patrolling our streets. There are laws prohibiting this. There is precedent. Why do you think we have a Third Amendment?
The Third Amendment exists to prevent soldiers from being billeted in our quarters. Why? Because we don’t want soldiers in our lives. We don’t want to be occupied. That’s not what America is about. There’s got to be a better way to solve the epidemic of crime other than sacrificing the very values, the standards,
the norms that define who we are collectively as a people. Are we willing to sacrifice liberty for security, a temporary whiff of security? Because this is not sustainable. This is not sustainable at all. Unless, of course, we want America to become a nation occupied by its own military.
I grew up in a time and age where we viewed governments that had to put soldiers in the streets to maintain law and order as dictatorships, the antithesis of democracy. We opposed these kinds of governments, and yet here we are becoming one ourselves. Is this truly the America that we want to live in? Maybe if we spent
less money funding Ukrainian Nazis and more money funding domestic law enforcement, increasing the quality of the officers were put in the streets, the numbers of the officers. We give them the tools necessary to deal with these epidemics, not just the tools of force, but I’m talking about surveillance tools within the framework of law. I’m talking about
analytical tools. I’m talking about the backup they need. How do we deal with the root causes of much of the crime that’s being confronted? We declare war on crime, but we’re not winning that war. So war probably isn’t the answer. Maybe it’s time we delve deeper into why crime
and then dedicate the resources that would be needed to solve these issues. So we didn’t need to have military vehicles patrolling the streets. And now there’s another aspect of this too that’s quite disturbing. I know that President Trump and his supporters, when confronted by the fact that the cities that are being targeted tend to be
bastions of democratic political power, he says, well, That’s because the Democrats don’t know how to control crime? Maybe. Maybe. But, you know, this looks an awful lot like Republican militarized occupation of Democratic political strongholds for political purposes. This looks an awful lot like President Trump is federalizing the military,
sending them into the strongholds of his political opposition in order to diminish the political power of his opposition. That’s not how we work, guys. That’s not what this country is about. This is not what the men and women who serve in our armed forces raised their hand and swore an oath to.
They swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. They are there to protect the American people from enemies, foreign and domestic. But domestic enemies, you know, aren’t common criminals. That’s not what the military was created to confront. We have law enforcement to do this.
We need to do a better job of enforcing the laws we have and not take shortcuts, no matter how much we can justify them based upon crime statistics. Don’t take shortcuts that cause us to basically rip up the very document that these soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines swore an oath to uphold defend with their lives.
We need to do better. Liberty is everything. Security is everything. It’s nice, but if we’re willing to sacrifice liberty to have security, we no longer are the United States of America. As an American, that’s a country I simply don’t want to live in. Anyways, that’s my rant.
Next time a thought crosses my mind, I’ll be sure to let you know. Thanks.
oooooo
@tobararbulu # mmt@tobararbulu
A Man of War, a Warrior for Justice
https://open.substack.com/pub/scottritte
A Man of War, a Warrior for Justice
(https://scottritter.substack.com/p/a-man-of-war-a-warrior-for-justice?r=1vhv3f&triedRedirect=true)
Aug 26, 2025
In this episode of the Russia House I interview Eduard Basurin, a former Soviet/Russian military officer who came out of retirement to defend the people of the Donbas from the aggression of Ukrainian nationalists.
Transkripzioa:
Welcome to this special edition of the Russia House. This is our people’s diplomacy version. It’s being done here in downtown Moscow in the headquarters of the TASS News Agency. I want to thank the National Unity Club for helping organize this. And I want to thank our guest today, Edward Basurin.
It’s an honor and a pleasure to meet with you. When I read your biography, I see a military man involved in the conflict in and the Donbas. And the thing about soldiers, when you meet soldiers, you meet military men, you’re getting a snapshot of who they are. But you’re not just a soldier. You’re a human being.
You’re a man. Could you tell us who you are before you became a soldier, before you became a fighter for the cause of Donetsk and the Donbas? What’s your background? Who were you before the war?
I was a patriot of my country. I was living in different epochs, different times, independent Ukraine, USSR at that moment. And right now, this is Russia. My parents are regular people. Mom was in trading. My dad was at mining. My brother was an example. He was the first one to become military in our family.
We have eight years difference, and I decided to go his way, follow him. He was my star, the guiding star. He would direct what I want to do. He went through Afghanistan. He went through all those places like that, hotspots, and we were in the same school, attended the same school. And the number was the same.
He was the head of the department. And I was also a commander of different units. So it was a lot of alikes. And I was taught there that in my life, I have to dedicate to my motherland. And so these events that took place from 2014,
how they taught me to love and give myself out to the greatness of the country, dedicate myself to that, sacrifice myself to that.
What was it like when, I mean, in America we had a civil war back in the 19th century, and there’s stories about how American officers served together in the war against Mexico, served with honor jointly, and then a little more than 10 years later, they had to pick a side.
One went to the north, one went to the south, and then they fought a horrible civil war. What was it like for you to make the decision that you were going to serve the Donbas in 2014? What decisions, what was the thinking in your head?
Probably it was easier, probably than your ancestors, for you to choose this or that side, right? North or south. Because the history of my family, just like hundreds and millions were connected with that territory. My grandfather died during World War II. I didn’t even see him. I didn’t get to know him in 1941.
The second one got heavy wounding. And, you know, I didn’t catch him to see him alive, to talk to him. A lot of relatives that participated in the war took part. And for me to choose Ukraine or Russia, I didn’t have a point. I chose my motherland. I went after my motherland.
In the end, the politicians divided the country. But for me, it was not a choice or an easy choice, a light choice, because my grandmother buried there. My relatives lived there, if we speak about Donbas. And I knew that for a long time, that I’m not going to leave Donbas ever.
In 2014, when it was very difficult, and my mother was thinking with the tears in her eyes, that I could not ever imagine that thinking of that war, I would see another war. So she told me that I’m not going to leave, I’m going to stay here, and I’m going to continue to live here.
I couldn’t choose between Russia and Ukraine, though in nationality my mother is Ukrainian and my father is Russian. But the choice was for the empire, for the history that was in our country. So my choice is light, easy. The choice of your ancestors between north and south was a lot more complicated, I think.
I think you didn’t have an easy job. I mean, I understand your decisions, but it’s never easy to pick a side in war because you’re talking about violence and taking lives, people maybe you knew. I understand your choice, and it The choice was easy, but the consequences of the choices are somewhat more difficult because it involves war.
You mentioned your grandfathers. One died in 1941. The other one was wounded. And I imagine the fact that you mentioned it, it resonates with you. It’s part of who you are, the sacrifice they made. I had the privilege of visiting Victory Park north of Moscow. And, of course, there’s the beautiful cathedral, but around it,
is a museum, 1,418. 1,418 days of a war. And every step that you take in the museum is a day. And on the walls are photographs that if you look into the photograph, you see the lives of people who died in this conflict. In the West, we dismiss that as propaganda.
You have a big parade on the 80th anniversary. It’s propaganda. Of course, you didn’t win the war. We won the war. But in listening to your life story, you made it a point to speak about your two grandfathers and the sacrifice that they made in this war.
What does the Great Patriotic War mean to you as a citizen of Russia, as a citizen of the Donbas? Is it just propaganda? Is it a story being told by the government? Or is it something that gets into your soul?
You know, it’s probably under my skin, just like you said. Propaganda exists all the time, but it’s from the childhood. I was taught to respect the elderly people, love the history, love the motherland, and I was taught to die for it. So that’s why I became a soldier. For me, the choice is easy.
I made my choice then because the main thing is that that what do you leave after yourself? You ask me. The choice Ukraine or Russia I think that Russia – I mean, I think that Ukraine has no choice. It has no future. Because coming out of that, you can understand why you choose Russia.
Russia has a historical memory, thousands of generations. Ukraine doesn’t have that. Sometimes, citizens of the United States, they cannot understand. In the other part of the planet, they say that our culture counts thousands of years. And we think and do coming out of the experience of those thousands of years.
For America, life is a snapshot. I heard you say that. For us, it’s a movie. You see, you’ve noticed it. It’s a bullseye on what you said. It’s a movie for us. And for me, it’s an easy thing. I was taught to love my country. Yes, it was in USSR. Of course, you were in the US.
You were probably also taught to love United States of America. If you chose the way of a military, you will learn to make the choice. They taught me to die for my country. We’re the same. We’re not different in this case. So the choice was easy for me. Not I and my life.
Point is what will be after I leave. What am I going to give to my kids and grandkids? You lived with the same mentality in the United States. If the moment would come, you would probably give your life for your country, for your grandkids, for your kids. We are liking this issue.
This is why we’re sitting right across from each other and having this discussion. It’s easier for us to understand each other. It’s more complicated, for example, for a regular civilian who you’re trying to carry that information to about what’s taking place and why we do that. I think it would be this way.
Thank you for that. You’ve been involved in the Donetsk People’s Republic from the very beginning, from its birth. You’re a fighter for that cause. And today it’s part of Russia. But there’s that period of time from 2014 until 2022 when Donetsk and Lugansk were independent. They had declared their independence from Ukraine,
but they had not yet been incorporated into Russia. This makes them somewhat unique in terms of the composition of the Russian Federation. How did the conflict define Russia? the Donetsk People’s Republic. What’s unique about it? Is there a special breed of people that comes out of Donetsk because of this war?
They’re Russian, but they’re also Russians from Donetsk. Do you see yourself as something different than the average Russian?
You know, you’ve noticed well, because there’s Donbas character. It’s unique, 100% unique. There’s a core of people that’s inside the backbone that we speak. People, you know, people were living not because they were at Donbas, because they have not seen the future with Ukraine. That’s the point why Donbas said no.
to the power and policy that Ukraine took. And then I participated in that. Yes, I did. I was there from the very beginning. And you know, I am blessed about that, that I was the militant then. I graduated from the political school. For me, it’s easier to look into some political aspects in the society.
And to see who’s lying, who’s telling the truth, who’s manipulating people into different direction, the choice for me is easy. It’s more difficult to explain to others. But you’ve probably seen the shots or in 2014 of videos honestly expressing their thoughts about what they do. For me, I still have two things that I remember.
One was the referendum, the voting in 2014 that took place where I saw the lines of people that were standing to expect to vote, to express their voting opinion. As an example, I always give American love. They love numbers. The length of the line in Mariupol was 1.5 kilometers. It was the longest line I’ve seen.
I’ve seen less lines. I wanted to help one grandmother to make sure, you know, she was old. She was standing in the line. She had that stick helping for her to walk, and it was 20 meters before she would walk in. I said, hey, come on, let me get you in without a line.
She took that rod, and she said, don’t you dare. I’m going to stand like everybody else in this line. And the second thing, I saw the parade, the victory parade in 2015, you know? I was crying. I was a participant of that parade, but I have seen people honestly with flowers coming out and meeting the people.
Because of that, Donbas stood up honestly with open heart to celebrate the holidays that we have deep in our heart. So this understanding, if American citizens would understand the reason of what takes place in Ukraine, it’ll be easier for them to select, to make a choice, Ukraine or Russia. It’s just like your civil war as an example.
In your society, you still have that separation line of north and south. But people still find the points that don’t divide them, but unite them. Same thing would take place here. We will find the points inside Ukraine and between you and your country and our country. We have a lot of things in common than just differences.
Sometimes we just don’t notice them. So the choice of 2014, it was our internal choice for the people of donbass and we wanted to show to all the rest of the citizens of ukraine that we’re not slaves but humans who wants to live happily on
this earth this next question isn’t meant to insult it’s meant to inform because There’s a lot of ignorance in the United States about the reality of Russia, about the reality of this conflict, about the reality of the Donbas. The narrative we have is that the Russians stole Donbas from Ukraine.
that in 2014 Russian ultranationalist Wagner came to the Donbas to eject the Ukrainians to steal the Donbas for Russia. And for that reason, politically, it’s difficult to get American politicians to say, even if there’s a peace agreement reached between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska or from that meeting, that we will never recognize,
even if the border is drawn and the war has ended with a certain border, we will never recognize Donetsk and Lugansk as part of Russia. It will be like the Baltics were treated during the Soviet Union times, where we had a map of the Soviet Union, but the Baltic states were colored differently as if they were occupied
territories. I’m looking at a man who fought for the Donbas. What can you tell the American audience so that they can understand that Russia didn’t steal the Donbass from Ukraine, but the Donbass separated itself from Ukraine for a reason? And what was that reason? What’s the idea of the Donbass that separates it from Ukraine?
probably just to show a snapshot. In 1930s, we had this poster where Donbas was shown as the heart of the Soviet Union, not Ukraine, but the total territory. Show them that poster where it said, Donbas, it’s not Ukraine. Donbas is a huge territory. The same snapshot, as you said, to show that due to the sales.
You know, everybody talks now about Alaska. It’s on everybody’s tongue. American money that we sold, Alaska. We took that money to create Donbass. Again, show them that snapshot. You know, Americans, they look at the snapshot, and I take that lesson from you.
Yes, exactly. Americans, you know, they count with snapshots and money, and they don’t want to destroy what they have created. So practically, American people, that the money came from American people, they invested, so-called, over 100 years ago, money to Donbass. Show that to them, and they will see on these snapshots, this is not Ukraine.
This was another country, and it did not belong to Ukraine. Ukraine is a political thing. American people, they don’t like history, do they? Maybe, how can you show history in snapshots? Maybe we can, and try to tell them that it’s more we have in unity than in division, getting back to our history.
Russia helped America during standing up twice. Let’s talk honestly. If it wouldn’t be for Russia or Russian Empire, probably the state of America would not be existing today. Americans love their country, and they’re proud of it, but that’s a fact. You can’t take it out of the book. It’s a fight for independence.
And when you had civil war, Russian Empire supported North, whether the South likes it or not. But it’s a fact. And number three, and the money from Alaska went to Donbas. So to speak that Donbas is Ukraine, if we look at the snapshots again, it looks like it’s a fake.
So let’s show those snapshots and then American people will be a better understanding of what takes place.
Have you ever seen the when somebody draws a cartoon and then they take another piece of paper and they draw the cartoon with a little bit of movement. And then when you hold it up and you flip it, it’s like a movie. And so what we need to do in America is because we think like snapshots,
to take a series of snapshots, put them together, and turn it into a movie, maybe that’ll work. And I think you’re 100% right. We need to take the snapshots of the Donbas and then allow the mind of the American people suddenly to transform these individual snapshots into a kinetic synergy.
And I’ll do my best to do that, because I think it’s important. We can’t speak of peace, true peace, between Russia and the United States unless we recognize the totality of Russia. We can’t have peace with an asterisk. We’re at peace with Russia, except for Donbass, except for Kherson, Zaporizhia.
We have to be at peace with the totality of Russia. And it’s important for the American people to understand that whether we like it or not, the Russian Constitution, the will of the people as expressed through referendum, is that these four territories, five if you include Crimea, are forever Russia and will forever be Russia.
And that’s one of the most difficult challenges, and that’s why having a conversation like this is so powerful and so important. But now we speak of movies and snapshots. Okay, we’ve talked about the past. How do you see the Donbass movie going forward? What do you see happening in the Donbass, say, projecting 10 years?
It’s a place that’s been heavily destroyed by war. I just had a very powerful conversation with a member of the Russian Duma, Yana. She’s talked about the trauma that’s inflicted on the children, on the families, physical trauma, psychological trauma. The physical destruction of the Donbas is absolute. You’ve seen, you know, Bakhmut.
You’ve seen the destruction of the other cities. Pokrovsk is going to be totally destroyed. Maybe Kramatozha will also be impacted. But we’ve also seen Mariupol and how it’s been rebuilt. If you were to write the movie script for the Donbas for the next 10 years, what movie would we be seeing?
Probably optimistic one, first of all. Donbass history in a historical context of that empire, the royal, Tsars, Russia, then Soviet Union, then Russia. Donbass was always pulling the term. You know, it’s phenomenal. I would show that in the movie. You know, people, you can kill people. You cannot kill the spirit.
And a spirit of Donbass, it has no death. I would show that. It’s eternal. It’s very difficult now to live in Danbas. It’s really difficult. It’s war plus it’s different aspects, social aspects of life. But people are still there. Like, for example, my mom. Mama said, I’m not going to go anywhere. A lot of snapshots there.
There were old people. living in underground a few months on the front line from basements. They don’t want to go to Ukraine. They want to come. They want to sit and wait till Russians will come and make them free. They’re afraid. Yes. But they have dream and faith. We all live with a dream.
We Americans, we all have a dream. Each one has. I would make a movie about a dream. And a dream about that, again, will help to raise great empire and make it stronger. I think that’s what I would make my movie about. On a spirit that Donbass stands on. This is what my movie would be about.
I’d watch that movie. It’s a more difficult topic. Yesterday, I was walking near the Arbat, and there was a wounded veteran on the sitting. He had a sign, showed photographs of him as a soldier. He’s wounded, and he’s asking for help. He’s not a veteran of the SMO.
I truly believe that the Russian government is taking care of the soldiers who fight in the SMO, taking care of the wounded, et cetera. He was wounded in 2014, early on in the fighting. And there’s eight years of war where the Donbas fought alone, and they suffered casualties, tremendous casualties.
Men were killed, men were wounded, some crippled for life. Have they been forgotten? Have they been abandoned? The men that were killed, are families getting pensions? What’s happened to brave men like yourself who fought for eight years for the freedom of Donbas when it wasn’t part of the Russian Federation?
Of course, it’s a very difficult period for the people when people don’t recognize you. Looks like you’re a separated state, but nobody want to take you in. Yes, there is such a category of people. Yes, we have to acknowledge that. But at the same time, we have to look at
at the laws that are signed by our presidents. Right now, one of the last ones he signed that those people that in 2014, we talk about the military people, soldiers, to make sure that they will be called as the participants of the military campaign starting from 2022 and the Russian Federation as a state taking responsibility for them.
Also included in that law are the wounded ones. The state takes the responsibility for those people. The state takes the responsibility to restore the houses, civilians. that were wounded, injured, broken during those days. You know, we don’t live in a magic country where you just raise a magic moon. You’ve got a huge mansion. You need time.
You need money. Plus, the war, it keeps going for each day. It takes place not on Donbass ground, but it also takes place on a historical ground of Russia. of what took place, for example, today in Rostov, in Belgrade, when regular people, civilian kids, they carried from the aggression of Ukrainian soldiers.
It stops them to have a regular life. Give us time, and these people will get help. We are very patient. We had a very long patience, for example, from 2014, what helped us personally. We had a dream in our hearts that someday we will become one united territory of Russia. That really helped us.
And now we have a dream about this help coming to everybody else. All people live with a dream. Without a dream, you can’t live. You can’t survive. If you’re not dreaming, then your life will stop, and you stop developing. America has gone through that stage after Vietnam War.
Then you also had people in a uniform who were begging for bread, but country did not refuse from all of them. Some used, you know, by case, by chance, different reasons. People were without their house. It’s experience of our country also.
I can say it’s not just Vietnam. We fought a 20-year war against terror. where we sent generation after generation of Americans to Afghanistan, to Iraq, to Syria, and many of them came home broken, wounded. Twenty-six American veterans a day commit suicide because they’ve lost hope in life
because American society has abandoned them because They were wounded and in pain and the government gave them painkillers But then when they were released the government took the painkillers away and so they had to turn to drugs and narcotics and become Addicted and then America treats them as drug addicts not as wounded veterans It’s a horrible experience
And it’s a failure of American society. It’s a failure of the American people. It’s a failure of fellow veterans like myself who don’t do enough. We can put a yellow sticker on our car that says, I support our troops. But we only support the concept of the troops, the heroes, the unbroken.
But the people come home, and then we forget about them. Are you confident that Russia will not forget about the veterans or the SMO? these brave Russians who have sacrificed so much for the Donbass, but for Russia, and I would say for the world, because you’re completing the job of World War II. You’re finishing unfinished business.
So much has been sacrificed, so much. Will Russia take care of their veterans so that you don’t make the mistake we have made in America where we have veterans homeless, veterans helpless, veterans committing suicide because they’ve been abandoned by their families, by society.
I cannot say for the whole country or for the leadership. I can say for myself. If the country and the state will not do that, then our country will cease to exist. The main thing, problem, the main problem, as people say, that the country, the government said that, we need you. You have to keep our territory,
our culture, our faith, because the enemy wants to destroy all of us. And the state, the government said, we need you. And after that, the state would refuse to help them, then there wouldn’t be such a state, wouldn’t be such a country. So just imagine for a minute. a third country, whatever.
Not Russia, not U.S., any other country. They refused to help their soldiers that gave their lives and health, lost a lot of family members. And then the country said, oh, we don’t need you. Do whatever you want to do. What do you think they would do to the leadership of that state?
There’s not really a lot of choice. That’s the first thing. And the second thing is that this Russian code, the soul, we have it from the very birth. We don’t think any other way. We have to help. We have it in our hearts. It’s not an anecdote, but it’s…
One priest told me the difference between Catholics and Orthodox. Catholics, they think about the body. And Orthodox, they think about the soul. And it determines who we are and what is the difference between us. We have a soul. We think with a soul. This is why we put our soul into other people.
I don’t disagree with you at all, but there’s a quandary of history for me. You were a Soviet. You were born a Soviet. And the Soviet Union rejected the church, rejected God in the name of communism. Today I see Russia reborn as an Orthodox nation.
And a religious nation, we’ll say, because in Chechnya, of course, Islam is the faith. In Kazan and Tatarstan, Islam is the faith. But Russia is a nation of God, we can say. Maybe you don’t want to answer this, but it’s just a personal question. You were a communist. God was not instilled into you by the state.
And yet today, you’re a man of God. You speak of the orthodox soul. Did you have to rediscover orthodoxy or was it always part of your life?
That was always part of my life, where I knew it or I didn’t know it, accepted it or not. Yes, Soviet Union in the beginning was refusing from God, but when we had real tough times, World War II think about that. Then we remembered about God, we remembered about the church,
and the church helped to unite the soldiers, and nobody refused from that. And then they said the church does not, we said as the church was not influencing the political process, but it was always there. Yes, I was a communist. My dad was a communist. I was secretly baptized. Yes, it was not accepted in a society.
Yes, I am baptized. I was baptized. I had a given name, Michael, because then my name, Eduard, the priest said, well, it doesn’t exist in Orthodox religion. There was a religious holiday dedicated to Michael, so I was named Michael. And they told me that I was godless. I’m not a communist, I’m godless. But we all are believers.
The faith is inside of us. You correctly noticed that Russia is unique about that. But we are all believers in this or that measure. It’s in us from the very birth of faith and God Almighty. You know, God for all is one. You know, he’s got different names. And we live with that.
In the name of God, we used to die. And now we’re dying in the name of God. Because in the name of God and country, motherland. So it’s not… Yes, I don’t go to church. As I was told that you did not get there yet. Maybe I have it ahead of me. But at the same time,
one priest told me the people that call themselves godless, they’re the most believers because you talk about it and you don’t lie. You’re not a hypocrite. And I support those that believe it helps people. Faith and dream. And also we have Russian word hope. Faith, love and hope.
I remember the story. Please tell me if it’s true. It’s a story I’ve heard and I’ve read about it. I haven’t researched it to the absolute hard fact. But during the Battle of Moscow, Stalin ordered the icon, Our Lady of Kazan, to be put on an airplane with priests on board and flown over the front to bless
the troops. If this is a true story, it shows, it demonstrates absolutely that Russia never lost its faith in God, even when it was ruled by communists. Have you heard this story? Is it just a dream or does it have a basis in reality?
No, there is a reality behind that because the main thing God did not turn away from Russians. You know, maybe we turned away from God. Russian history had a lot of dark times and they came when we wanted to refuse from God. We wanted to say what otherwise what God do we worship was black black black spots
on our history same style and then went to the Think of what he said. He said brothers and sisters in his famous speech that comes from the church persecution is persecution but faith It keep keeps us alive You know, we’ve seen it 2014 when people on their own desire, priests,
first they went around the city on a circle until they had an opportunity. Then they took a cross and would walk around the city with a cross, and they asked God to protect. for their close ones and relatives of whoever stays there. I always said this phrase. A lot of people can remember that.
I said that there’s an umbrella over us. His name is God. If it won’t be that umbrella, we will have a lot more dead ones. So you say it correct. that on one side we refused officially state power said no but you know people celebrated all religious holidays Easter was celebrated baptism was celebrated yes
it was not greeted it was not welcome but we had it people went to church people went to to worship people went to synagogues in any other religious centers and at the same time People walked and nobody, people were not arrested, didn’t send them to the far jails in Siberia. It’s a wrong of what was taking place.
Here you have a snapshot that the priest was arrested. And then you say that that’s it. We have persecution on the church. But the second snapshot wasn’t showed. Third one was not showed when the same priest with a gun in his hands was protecting his motherland.
The reason why I’m focusing on faith is because as a student of Russia, especially modern Russia, I’m trying to learn more and more. I’ve said I’m on a journey to discover the Russian soul. And as you’ve said, the Russian soul is defined by faith in God, orthodox faith in God. The Russians speak of Ukraine.
being part of Russia. From one root comes two branches, but it’s the same. And we know that the birthplace of Russian Orthodoxy is Kyiv, where the Orthodox Church was formed, etc. And if that was the case, if the Orthodox Church was still in Kyiv, I would share optimism about the future for Ukraine, the movie going forward,
not just a snapshot, but the movie. But today we have the Ukrainian government dismantling orthodoxy, declaring orthodoxy to be the enemy, carrying out, I don’t know what to call what they do in the satanic rituals, a different kind of faith, but it’s not orthodoxy. They’ve transformed the orthodox churches into It’s not a joke, it’s a tragedy.
If Ukraine loses its faith, loses its orthodox soul, can it truly ever be brought back into the Russian family?
That’s what faith is built on, forgiveness. all forgiveness. It’s orthodox. And it helps that hardness of hearts that they have for that heart to melt. Don’t bother people. People will determine how they want to live and what God to believe. When they push the faith down their throat that is not close to them, it’s a tragedy.
It brings that whole nations are disappeared. History is different on today’s Ukraine territory. You have noticed correctly that Kyiv is the mother of Russian cities. I’ve studied that when I was a student. You know, the history book, the mother of Russian cities, Kyiv, and it will be still Russian city.
Yes, it will not take place today or tomorrow, but day after tomorrow it will take place. It’s historical justice. That’s not up to us people to determine what church to go to. The Lord determines that. He directs the hearts of people.
It’s just now some people try, because of the name of God, make a lot of money on the blood. Russians, it’s not just for an empty war. Russians always finish the wars. And that’s the war not for the body, but also for the soul.
It’s like a phoenix. It’s like a phoenix, you know, phoenix bird. You’ve noticed, right, the root we have won. We can have a lot of branches. Belarus, Ukraine, other nations, Russia. part of these people living at Balkans, we have one root. Bulgarians, we have the same root. Yes, there are different branches that we’re bringing from other plants,
That’s a very positive message. From faith comes hope. And I think we should end on a positive message. I want to thank you very much for this conversation. It may not have gone the direction I originally envisioned when I thought of talking to you, but you are a man of faith,
and that came out in every answer that you provided. And I think that this conversation has done more to educate the American audience about the reality of the Russian soul and the role that faith plays in it. And for that reason, I thank you very much for sitting down with me today.
I want to present as a gift. I’ve written a book. It’s about the dangers of nuclear war, but also the necessity of arms control. And the key aspect of arms control is the ability to negotiate, to have conversations. And I like to believe that the conversation we’ve had here today might serve as a lesson to our
leaders when they meet tomorrow in Alaska on how to sit down and have an informed fact-based civil conversation. But I’d like to present this book to you as a gift and a token of my appreciation.
Yes, thank you very much. Because lately, a lot of politicians, they say that nuclear weapon, it’s not a bad thing. And you have noticed it correctly. You cannot find a deadlier weapon than that. It doesn’t choose you by nationality or faith or your faith or your religion or your birthplace.
It’s a weapon, you know, like you said some time ago about the faith, right? I want to give an offer for you. You carry the information to American people. Let’s take a look deeper. Let’s offer the dream for our nations, for Russia and America, because Americans always, you know, they like the dream. They live with the dream.
Give them the dream that don’t divide us, unite us. The dream for us, what we can try, touch. Let’s get into space together. We cannot do it without each other. Go into Arctic. Then it would unite us. And when something we have together to unite, the snapshots, you know,
and we’ll put them together like in a cartoon you’ve mentioned, then we can make a video and then we can understand each other better. And then we will know the history of each other better. And when we know the history, we understand why this one or that one did this or that.
It’s a wonderful concept. We’ll call the movie Hope. Thank you very much for talking with me. It’s an absolute privilege. And I want to thank you, the audience, for joining us here today in the Russia House. I want to thank TAS for providing us with this studio.
And I want to thank the National Unity Club for helping organize this. But most importantly, I want to thank you, the audience, for joining us here today. Thank you again.
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@tobararbulu # mmt@tobararbulu
The Man in the Middle
The Man in the Middle
(https://scottritter.substack.com/p/the-man-in-the-middle?r=1vhv3f&triedRedirect=true)
Aug 27, 2025
From advisor to the leaders of Ukraine, to a leader of the Donbas resistance ton Ukraine, Vasil Vakarov has been at the center of the storm when it comes to the Russian-Ukraine conflict. In this edition of The Russia House, I get Mr. Vakarov’s insights on the origins of the crisis with Ukraine, and his perspective on where things are going.
Transkripzioa:
Welcome to a special edition of The Russia House. Here we are in downtown Moscow at the headquarters of TASS. They’ve been generous in providing us with this studio. We’re here courtesy of the National Unity Club, who’s organized this. And we’re here to carry out citizens diplomacy.
And today I have the honor and privilege of speaking with Vasil Vakarov. You’re a political scientist. You’re an activist. When I read your bio, you’ve worked for a number of Ukrainian leaders, Timoshenko, Yushchenko, Yanukovych, Poroshenko. But in 2014, after the events of the Maidan, you went over to the Donbas and began to resist.
I’ve talked to a lot of people about the Donbas. I’ve talked about the situation. you know, in what people call Eastern Ukraine. But your background isn’t that of an Eastern Ukrainian. You come from a part of Ukraine in Western Ukraine, In America, we call it the Ruthenian people. I think you say Rusanian or Rusi, of Hungarian origin.
I mean, when you speak of cultural roots, I’ve spoken to many Russians about the importance of Russian roots. Your roots aren’t in Moscow. Your roots aren’t in Kiev. Your roots are in Budapest. Your roots are Hungarian. And yet you’re part of Western Ukraine, an ignored part of Western Ukraine, because in the West,
we tend to oversimplify Western Ukraine as the land of Bandera, step in Bandera’s homeland. And we paint everybody with the same brush. Is it true that Western Ukraine is Bandera land, or is it far more complicated than that?
Of course, that’s not true. Ukraine is not a bandera. You have noticed it, correct, that I was born in the western part of Ukraine. And Soviet time, we called Zapadentsy from the western Ukraine. My ancestors, my great-grandparents, they, yes, they leave Austro-Hungarian Empire. They didn’t leave an empire, Russian Empire. It’s only when World War II finished.
Second war, that’s when Where they live, that part, it was attached to the Soviet Union. We called it Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the part of USSR. I was born in USSR, but my ancestors didn’t. And in 10th grade, when I was about 16, 17 years old, first time I heard Bandera.
And I said, from my great grandfather, because he was still alive. Who’s Bandera? Where did it all come from? So my life experience and the circumstance is a proof that Not all are Benderas at Western Ukraine, not now, and not all will be. Russinians, my ancestors, we were always friends. 300 years, 400 years then,
I don’t know further on, but what I’ve studied, what I’ve learned, we were always Russinians. We also had Orthodox faith and the same language, not quite Russian, the dialect of Russian. But when my oldest daughter left to the United States together with my ex-wife, my daughter lives in the United States.
Many times I was there in different cities. She, it was difficult for her to understand how the life in the United States was done. It’s not just like it is here. When I’m talking to her now, I ask her, what do you think about Ukraine that you remember and that you have now?
She says, Daddy, you have never told me about Bandera. I learned about Bandera when I was in the United States. So even the West part of Ukraine, absolutely not Bandarian. Different, very different. The only thing that I would like to add here is that
The part, the life of the Western Ukraine was very, very different than at the east or Donbas. Western Ukrainian people left. A lot of people were working on a shift. There was no industry, okay, at the Western Ukraine, often, very often. People from Western Ukraine would go to either Donbas for a shift to work,
at industrial plants or to Russia. For example, there’s a city, Ivana Frankovs, there’s an institute where they teach Oil, gas industries, but no oil and gas industries. So they studied there, but they went to make money to Siberia, to Tumen, and worked six months there. Six months, they stayed at home.
Let’s talk again about, OK, the Ruthenians, their Hungarian roots. I think earlier this summer, the head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR, Mr. Narishkin, held a conference, and he brought in people to discuss the future of Ukraine. And he postulated a scenario where Bandaraland, Western Ukraine,
could be broken off from Ukraine proper and maybe transferred to Poland. The Romanians have spoken about There’s lands in Western Ukraine where there’s a Romanian population. And if you’re going to do that with Western Ukraine, then the Romanian land should come to Romania. And of course,
the Hungarians are advocating for not just full rights of the Ruthenian people, but that the Ruthenian people belong to Hungary. Looking forward, was this… a provocation on the part of narishkin simply to stir up trouble in the west or is this serious thinking is there is there serious thinking today that maybe the bes
I don’t think it’s a game. I think it was a serious speech. I know people at the Western Ukraine that they strongly desire to go back to Poland. When the war began in 2022, a lot of people left. A lot of people left to Western Ukraine. About a million left to Poland. They ran away to Poland.
And to… Romania, about 150,000. See how Western Ukrainian people distributed it, kind of divided by the people left. Part wanted to be here, part wanted to be there. They are politicians. Orban, Prime Minister, Mr. Trump, he thinks that he’s a great friend. And Orban, last year, visited Trump. And he stands out in Europe as a Trumpist, right?
The whole Europe really doesn’t like Trump, but he does. And Orban, he wants to have great relationship with Russia. This playing with the situation that takes place in reality, he wants to take that part, just like you said, the part of the land, part of the territory to himself, to his country, Romanians for themselves.
They want to take those cities from Karpaty and others. So it is probably possible that if the war is over, there will be a peaceful solution. They will divide Ukraine and Western Ukraine would be given either by parts to certain countries, Poland, Hungary, etc. Or it will be taken by the EU and then on.
whatever would be done to reform. That is a possible scenario. I don’t want that to happen. I’m strongly against that. I want Russians that, as my ancestors and myself, we want to live in a part of Russia. We want to be united with Russia.
Well, in order for that to happen, though, there has to be peace. This war must come to an end. Our presidents, Russian President Vladimir Putin and American President Donald Trump, are going to meet in Alaska tomorrow. where among the topics it’s expected to be finding a path to peace in Ukraine. What are your feelings about this meeting?
Are you optimistic that these two leaders together can find a path to peace, or do you think it’s going to be a little bit more complicated than that?
As a man, as a human being, I believe I’m orthodox. I believe that it would take place as a specialist who lived through life. As you said, yes, I worked with them many years in Ukraine with a lot of authorities. I’m pessimistic. Because probably United States and Russia will have an agreement about their own business.
Russia, United States, work, cooperation, partnership. It would be easier to do rather than to have a solution for Ukrainian problem. Because war touched the whole Ukraine. All people are in war there. Mobilization, military state, it’s all over Ukraine. And how to do it step by step, how to make it a reality, who would execute it, implement it,
how the problems would be solved. It’s not a quick process. Maybe three years, maybe five years till Ukraine will have peace, or maybe something will be frozen, or enemies will be, peace will be restored. I think minimum five years would pass, and then Ukraine will have a peaceful life.
There’s a lot of people, and all the politicians, they don’t want peace in Ukraine. European Union doesn’t want peace. Great Britain doesn’t want peace. People in Ukraine don’t want peace. They say, yes, we want the power, but they don’t do anything for that. Ukraine continues to be weaponized, not by U.S., maybe Europe.
They produce weapons together, rockets, drones. And European Union gives money to continue war. So it’s – yes. I won’t. I believe that Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump will have an agreement. They will have changes. But it’s a long process. And again, I say that a lot of people, business and politicians,
I understand if you say Europe doesn’t want peace because Europe is willing to sacrifice the Ukrainian nation for its own objectives. I understand if you say that American industrialists don’t want peace because they’re making money off of this war. But you confuse me when you say that the Ukrainian people don’t want peace.
I can understand that the political elite, economic elite that have been empowered by the West may seek to hold on to power by sustaining the conflict. But the people are the ones that suffer the most from this. They’re the ones who pay the price through mobilization,
They’re the ones who pay the economic price with the collapse of the economy, et cetera. Why would the Ukrainian people not want peace at this time?
Two moments here. Number one, people are moved by hate, deep hate. A lot of people lost their families, their beloved ones. They want to have a revenge. They take the weapon. They go fight. When I talk to them with my friends, with different messages, You want to continue to fight because you want to have a reveng
Then let’s think. If tomorrow we’ll lose another relative. You already lost somebody. He’s dead. You can’t bring him back. So let’s think about those that are alive. People need to continue to live. That’s revenge. Then there’s such a thing that 200,000 of Americans left the United States. They took a lot of people in.
There’s also what I’m speaking about as a selfishness, OK? Six million Ukrainians are living in Europe, say, for example, 1.2 million in Germany, one about a million in 300,000 in Great Britain. A lot of people left. And they lived there for already three years, part of them, major part of them.
They want to stay there, and they want those governments to stay. And part of them says, we don’t want to go back there, because we are here, we have our houses, we have our kindergarten schools, and we want the government to keep us. But what if not, I say? Germany, Italy say, hey, go home.
What are you going to do? They say, we don’t understand. For us, it is better for the conflict to continue. And we would continue to stay here. That’s the second reason. On the part of the Ukrainians, they don’t want to go back. And it’s profitable for them, for their selfishness. Okay?
In the West, we’re showed videos constantly of Ukrainian mobilization services hunting down a man on a bike and grabbing him and dragging him into the van and taking it off, you know, to the front. And indeed, the Russian Ministry of Defense has put out a number of videos that are of Ukrainian prisoners.
And when they ask, you know, why are you in the military? I was forcefully mobilized that this was happening. But I take a look at the tenacity of the Ukrainian resistance. Yes, the Russians are winning. Yes, the Russian soldier is dedicated. Yes, the victory will be Russia’s. There’s no doubt about that.
But this is not an easy victory. Even today, the Russian victories are won with great sacrifice, with great fighting. Mobilized soldiers don’t fight like that. So this is why I’m very interested in what you’re saying about the revenge factor and what motivates Ukraine to continue to fight. Today, there’s a talk about Ukraine running out of manpower.
And we see it manifested on the battlefield. They simply don’t have enough resources to match the Russian maneuvers. But Ukraine is a large nation. Can Ukraine, building upon this hatred, attract enough manpower to sustain this war?
Yes, I do agree that Ukraine has a strong mobilization, this busification, where they put young people into this, you know, in these buses and they sent to war. But there are about 15,000 to 18,000 volunteers that take the weapon to go fight. And Ukrainian army gains the people. Yes, people are running down.
They can, you know, end up. We can end up with people. But there is such a situation. Ukrainian power and Mr. Zelensky and the people around him, they are interested, first of all, so the war would take place. If we talk about society, there are motives that people have. But there’s also politics. Zelensky says,
I don’t want peace. I don’t want any peace. I want to finish with victory. I need Russia to pay about a trillion dollars in compensation.
He behaves like he won. And Ukraine has a lot of people that are living in a very close circle. They don’t get real data. They don’t have enough information. There’s not enough people in Ukraine that know that Ukrainian is winning. There’s huge propaganda in Ukraine, and a lot of people know Ukraine is winning.
Maybe we lost the village, maybe this or that. And I tell them, hey, look, look at the other sources. Read the Internet. Don’t trust. Don’t trust Russia’s. Listen to Orban’s. One month ago, Mr. Orban said Russia won the war. Ukraine lost. Listen to him. Oh, no, this is all Russian propaganda. Orban is also together with Puti
So it’s hard to yet on the politicians, on the Ukrainian power to tune people there that we don’t lose. Ukraine don’t lose. People don’t believe. There’s one channel in Ukraine, one TV channel. Can you imagine one TV channel where everybody works 24-7, constantly, constantly, constantly propaganda?
And if I tell them something or send them something, like this podcast, I’m going to send it to them for sure, that there’s an American representative, a person who came to Moscow, asks questions. Maybe you can believe not me, but him. But, you know, these are just… a small number of people.
It’s very hard to work with people when the authorities build a huge wall. Ukrainians cannot go overseas like men. Only women can go overseas, come and go and back. My motherland, where I’m from, There’s a Tisa River. It separates Ukraine with Hungary and Ukraine with Romania. Do you know how many thousands of people, thousands of people,
And when I tell to Kyiv, look, look at the picture. People been drowned in the river. because they’re running away from the Ukrainian power. It’s somewhere else. They don’t believe. They are zombie. And it’s a very important reason. Until Zelensky or any of the power will tell the truth, then Ukrainians will fight.
Waiting for Zelensky to tell the truth. It’s like waiting for Godot. On a more serious note though, I’m very happy we’re having this conversation because it’s a conversation that needs to happen. Because there’s a feeling in the West that when this war is brought to an end,
the Ukrainian people will accept the peace and Zelensky will be removed and there’ll be a smooth road to transition. But taking what you’ve said further, Are we running the risk of a repeat of the stab in the back that the Germans felt at the end of World War I, where the German army lost in France,
but the German nation, although suffering from war, never really was defeated? The German people felt that we could continue this fight. If there is a peace that is negotiated in Alaska, or at least comes from Alaska, Is there a chance that the Ukrainian people will be feel betrayed by this peace and
that they will struggle against peace and that this transformation will be far more difficult than you thin
Yes, this process will be a lot more complicated because Ukraine is divided. You know, there is Western Eastern and there’s also central Ukraine. where people remember history as Lenin gave them the land, and then Stalin took away and sent it to Kolkhoz. And the people didn’t want to go to Kolkhoz.
They took them and sent them to Siberia, the central Ukraine. People still remember that there. And they’re protesting. They’re fighting against Russia as an ideology level. How come their ancestors were put to jail, to Kalama, and they were taking away all the property. You know, they’re upset. They have a generational resentment.
And when they will exchange the protest, A lot of people in Ukraine will fight inside themselves. Ukraine can have a civil war between the politicians, between the different groups, when a big war with Russia will finish up. I don’t want that to happen, but I understand that that can take place. And then we’ll have regional wars.
Somebody betrayed. Somebody was killed. Somebody was not protected. Those militants that are fighting right now and the people from the front line, what are they going to do? Will they be taken care of? The psychologists, psychiatrists, nobody takes care of them.
A lot of actions are at the territory of Ukraine where somebody throws a grenade to a cafe or a region, a person shot the military soldier who wanted to take him to the army. Cases like that are numerous. What if the mass of people will come from the front line? How are we going to manage them?
And the last thing. Ukraine has not a life like it is in U.S. or not in such a way. Zelensky is the first time he’s the president and he has a lot of people in a parliament supporting him. That never happened in Ukraine before. You know,
usually the people were the head in the parliament that were deputies from different groups and so on. They had arguments. And now, with whom I work, Poroshenko, Timoshenko, when she was a prime minister, I know how it’s built vertical power, and each of them They have their own departments and the military.
So if you don’t give them political opportunity to call themselves, they can pull the military to Kyiv. It’s not just a civil war or, again, another military coup. I don’t want that to happen, but there’s a possible way. And it would be more difficult than you would say as a Germany that stabbed in the back.
Well, I want to thank you very much for this conversation. We’ve touched upon some very difficult topics. Topics that aren’t normally discussed in the framework of conflict resolution. it’s going to be far more complicated and far more dangerous than people think. When the fighting ends on the front line, it’s very possible that the fighting begins inside Ukraine.
And this is something we all need to be aware of. So I want to thank you very much for coming here today and talking about this. It’s been an honor and a privilege to speak with you. And again, I want to thank… everybody for tuning into this edition of the Russia House.
I want to thank TASS for giving us this great space and the National Unity Club for helping organize it. But the interviews are about the quality of the people I get to talk to and it’s, you are, I mean, this has been a fascinating conversation. Just as a token of appreciation, I’d like to Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
oooooo
@tobararbulu # mmt@tobararbulu
A Conspiracy of Injustice
https://open.substack.com/pub/scottritte
A Conspiracy of Injustice
(https://scottritter.substack.com/p/a-conspiracy-of-injustice?r=1vhv3f&triedRedirect=true)
Aug 25, 2025
In this episode of the Russia House, I interview Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian commercial pilot kidnapped by US agents, tried and convicted in a US court on manufactured conspiracy charges, and who served 12 years of a 20 year sentence before being exchanged for an American citizen being held by Russia. A grim assessment of the injustice of the American justice system.
Transkripzioa:
Welcome to this edition of the Russia House. It’s people’s diplomacy being carried out in downtown Moscow in the headquarters of Itaratas. I want to thank the National Unity Club for helping organize this, and I also want to thank my guest today, Konstantin Yaroshenko. Thank you very much for joining me.
This is going to be a different kind of conversation because, I mean, your story is as fascinating as it is tragic. But I think it’s important when we speak in this day and age of improving US-Russian relations that we understand that one of the reasons why US-Russian
relations are strained is because of politics and the politics that leads to the destruction of human beings. Your story is one of a pilot. who was arrested by the Drug Enforcement Agency of the United States in Liberia, Africa, I think 2010. You were accused of trafficking narcotics. They brought you to the United States.
They ran you through a trial that I don’t believe was fair or just. And then they imprisoned you. I think you received a 20-year sentence. And you served 12 years of this sentence in a federal prison before there was a prisoner exchange. You know, just roughly speaking, we’ve got to clear this up. Were you trafficking narcotics?
Scott, thank you very much for inviting me, allowing me to give you some details. You said that there was some kind of investigation, that I was arrested, so I want to get back to 2009. And I was not arrested, because arrest is some legal procedure, okay?
drug enforcement agency, when they were performing illegal operation both on Liberia territory, Guinea, Ukraine, they prepared the facts ahead of time, the evidences, they cooked the facts. When I was trying to get the fairness, not to be legal, but to be fair, who am I? Not myself, but all other citizens of Russian Federation that on many,
I was kidnapped, right? They pursued me from Monrovia, Liberia’s capital. There were three days of abuse. So I would give him some kind of information. I went through torture. I refused. I said no. I don’t know myself how I lived through it. It was from 28th to 30th of May.
Illegally, I was taken out of that territory with a abuse of all the norms of international law. A huge operation, special operation took place at the money that American taxpayers paid for. You know, simple citizens, they don’t know how much money they spent to support these special forces. I think this is criminal money.
At least DAE is criminal. And when at the court, I was saying, check me out. Check who I am. Who is Mr. Yerushchenko Konstantin? I never hid myself. I didn’t do strange flights, illegal flights. Please, check me out. When we gave all the data to the court, check me out where I was, what I’ve done,
who I worked for, and how and when. It’s not a secret. Yes, I worked a lot in African countries. That’s not a secret. I worked in Guinea, Angola. That’s not a secret. I brought passengers. I brought cargo, humanitarian help. evacuated citizens when they had unstable times.
But American government, DAE and a prosecutor’s office, they didn’t need that truth. They wanted to get the objective that they were going after. And they just wanted one thing. for me to become their agent, cooperate with them, given lies against other citizens of Russia. And what was it done for? To discreditate Russian Federation.
I’m a very small chain link on this huge chain. But, you know, they missed the American authorities, you know, FBI, CIA. Huge money is spent for those organizations. So you have so much money. You have all the means to check out who I am and what I do. It’s not so difficult.
See, from the end of the 80s, see, now it’s not difficult, but it wasn’t needed. So American authorities, you know, I’m always saying that American citizens, please open up your eyes. What American powers, what American authorities do to you. People are being judged for lies for Hundreds and hundreds of years. How do you even comprehend it?
We have 2.5 million people in the prisons of the United States were illegally accused. That’s 25% of all the people, all the criminals in the world. Are the people so criminal that you have so many? I spent with them 12 years. I spent with those people years. I understand who they are, and I understand American citizens.
Of course, there’s a lot of difference among Americans, but there’s a lot of workers, simple workers there. from South Carolina, from center. They’re good workers, laborers, simple people, and they were put in jail for 40 years or longer. But I think the system is rotten there. It just can’t be that.
You know, it’s not spoken about in mass media of the world. They show Russian jails. Look how bad it is there in Russia. When I was accused, I went back home, and I visited our jails, and I was shocked how the conditions The conditions of the people in the jails are much better than in the United States.
You can talk a lot about different things and what is American law, right, and how it works. I think you need to change it, not the state law. It’s more or less good. But federal law, it has to be changed and open the eyes of the people, because a lot of American mass media,
they don’t say what is going on. They, in a system of justice, so-called system of justice, because justice in the federal system, it does not exist in America. I knew it on my own skin when I was kidnapped. When they started, they cooked a case against me and falsificated a criminal case against me,
and they put me in jail for 20 years, 24 years, actually, because four years was a probation period, right? So totally 24. Praise God for, I’m so thankful, our government that they were fighting for me from this horror, from this jail where I was. in American jails.
Of course, I’m very mad about that. I’m very upset. You know, I never hurt them or American people or American government. You know, I was criminal. Okay, this is my responsibility. I’ve visited many countries, whether with myself, with my flighting team. I said, guys, come on, friends, we are the territory of another country. Watch what you do.
Watch the laws that are there. Make sure you behave yourself well. Whether, think about it, you’re like an African country, completely different rules, completely different roles or Muslim country. Watch out where you are. So when I started to prove and catch in the lies that prosecutors, when they were swearing in the courtroom, I’m proving the court.
He said, the prosecutor is lying. They’re lying huge. It’s not just a little bit. You know, he didn’t do anything. Lie, falsification, manipulation, that’s all okay. It’s norm for them. Not the law or court. And then the appeal court, court of appeals, they agreed to what was done.
So the system of justice in the United States is rotten, at least on a federal level. And great attention should be given to it by American people. Their eyes need to be open. Tell them the truth. Whether truth is bad or good, it doesn’t matter. You have to know the truth,
not just in the United States and not in Russia, but everywhere else. Come on, let’s speak the truth of what has taken place, not hide things, some moments, and manipulate by the brains of the citizens.
Well, first of all, thank you very much for sharing that. I understand it’s not easy to talk about these things. Just so you know, in America we have, you’re correct to note that the American people are ignorant about the justice system. our symbol for justice is Lady Justice with a blindfold because justice is supposed to be blind.
She carries the rule of law and she carries the scales of justice and they’re supposed to be balanced by truth. But that’s not the case. We have so many people who at one time in their life are to be tough on crime, about justice. You have nothing to fear. You’ve done nothing wrong. You have nothing to fear.
The system of justice is good, et cetera. And then they find themselves under the microscope of the Department of Justice. And then they go to trial, and they realize how absolutely corrupt the court system is, how the prosecutors control everything. And then they go to prison, and they come out, and suddenly they’re all about reform.
Oh, we must reform the prison system. It’s horrible what we’re doing to these prisoners. The system of justice is broken. It was broken before you were accused, but you chose to be ignorant of it. So this is why your story is important. It’s important for the American people to understand that the American system of
justice is fundamentally flawed, and you are a case of that. But it’s also important to note that I’m looking at a very strong man here. I’m not looking at a broken man. is designed to break human beings, to break them down. Especially in your case, my understanding is the U.S.
government wanted you to testify against other people, to give testimony. And one of the reasons they were so harsh on you was to try to break you, to get you to testify, and you didn’t break. We talked before this interview, and there were two aspects of your life that I think people need to understand. First of all,
You were a Soviet Marine. And I believe Marskola Pajota, whether you’re American or, it’s a different breed, a different kind of character. So you are a man of steel. You have a steel core. But maybe the most important thing is the ring on your finger, the support of your family and your wife.
You were married with kids when you were arrested. Today, you’re still married to the same woman. You still have the same family. You’ve stayed united. Tell me about these two things about your life, because I think it defines who you are, and it also tells us so much about who you are as a person. I mean,
you’re a quality human being, a man who has been tested by the Marines, a man who married a quality woman who stood with him side by side through all this trouble, whose family is together. Your families don’t stay together if you’re not a good person, if you’re a bad person, if you’re
If you’ve done something wrong, families tend to break apart. You’re a good man. Could you just give us a little bit of information about those two aspects of your background?
Good question. Thank you, Scott. Thank you. I would get deep into it concerning What is a Russian woman? Globally, what is a Russian woman? Why I am here? What American authorities did to me, it was difficult to go through, you know, broken bones, beaten organs on the inside, torture. They wanted to give me a life sentence.
You know, it was very difficult to go through, you know. If Americans would understand who I was, who I was in the Soviet Army, what was my history, who I served, because Soviet appraising, you know, and Russian appraising, they’re different. When they raised kids in Soviet Union, it was, and even some now, love to the motherland,
respect of the elder. This is very important. Respecting to the family, to the mother, to your father, to your wife. Because when I was in jail in the U.S., I was speaking with hundreds and hundreds of people. I heard their stories, destinies and everything. You know, relationships become different. When they found out,
the American guys that were with me, when they found out and I was judged for 20 years, years and dozens of years i called my wife and said she didn’t leave you she didn’t divorce you she says no we don’t have that because a russian woman she’s like a old
um she’s gonna get into the fire house on fire and she’ll stop the horse on the way same way with my wife with my mother they were fighting for me all the time It didn’t matter to them, lifelong sentence. They continued to expect me to be home.
And when they threw me in jail, I had already 20 years announced. And I said, Victoria, you’re young. You know, you need to make sure that you have to put your life in order. She answered me quite tough. She answered, she used some cuss words. I found out that she would follow me to the end.
The American people, not all of them, but a very different structure. I take examples, you know. A husband was three, four, five years in jail, then they divorced. And when I look at them, when I saw their faces, they were like, When I call my wife every day, how is she? She’s okay. We were discussing some things,
and nobody was jealous that a woman was supporting me with any way possible, however she could, just financially, psychology-wise. She was running to the government, finding justice, lawyers, you know. Definitely they had some jealousy, but still, what we went through But the Soviet school and the army, I believe that every man has to go through the army.
It doesn’t matter what country, whether Russia, whether it’s United States, because you give back like a debt to your country, to your motherland. You were in the army, I was in the army. And, of course, I had guys around me who were professional fighters, professional warriors from the army, and there was respect for each other,
respect that every person was paying a debt to the motherland. And what politicians do is a completely different story. You gave an oath, you have to do what you have to do. An example I had before. before they announced me guilty I was waiting for the verdict and the federal
system they have I don’t know how would be probation officer I don’t know how it would be in Russian a give recommendations before the verdict announced by judge for how long they should give me a sentence lifelong 40 50 60 years so when He asked me questions. I had an interview with him.
I answered two or three questions. Then I didn’t want to answer to him. He says, who are you? I’m Konstantin Yerushenko, Russian Federation. And they asked me a question as follows. Who are you in Soviet army? I answered him. OK, here’s the answer. If you have anything against me, send official requests to the Ministry of Defense,
to Russian Federation, and they’ll give you a full detailed answer. And I never said anything else. Of course, according to American laws, with a probation officer, it was a big mistake. Mr. Rakov, the judge, Judge Rakov, he noticed that he said, you have not spoken with a probation officer in details.
I will add to you years of sentence. And I said, if I would answer to him who I was and what I did, he said, then I would violate my constitution and my oath. Give me another 10 years, 20 years, but I gave an oath. I have to keep it. This is a Russian mentality of Russian soul.
I’m a soldier. I’m an ex-soldier. like my wife. We got married in 1992. We take this cross and we carry it, and we must carry it because we are one family. We are one nation, and nation must be united. That’s unclear because people in the U.S., they’re a bit different. They’re not really in agreement much.
I think we’re a little bit more united. In Soviet Union, we had a phrase, the family is a cell of the society. So each family would be tough and strong. in the cities and the villages, then as we grow, the cells grow. We will be victorious. We will be undefeatable. When people have differences, disagree,
but you can see it on your own what takes place in the world. Countries are divided. Nations are divided on the different reasons. Look, Ukraine, one nation, one nation, what to fight about? Belarusians, Ukrainians, Russians. But on some reasons, nationalism gets the head up and other reasons. They continue to do this division work.
It’s like a bombing division work. And they wash out the minds of young people. But when you have education in the family, appraising in the family, Soviet appraising in Russia. Like we do, we call it in the army where we have a right political appraising. The youth must understand that money is not the number one thing.
The number one is your mother, father, your wife, your husband, your country, your nation. If any person, whether it’s U.S. or United States or Ukraine or in Europe, people would understand that division. It’s not going to bring to anything else, to any good case.
Well, thank you very much for sharing that. I just want to say I’m deeply impressed with your wife, but that also reflects on you. The fact that a woman stands with her man in times of trouble speaks volumes about the quality of the people you are, and it also speaks volumes about the quality of the Russian peopl
As you said, she’s a Russian woman, so I’m deeply impressed by that. It’s a shame you had to go through this, and I’m deeply sorry. that my government was involved. Let’s talk about this for a second. Why did they come after you? It’s a rhetorical question. You weren’t a criminal. They manufactured a case.
If you were a criminal, a real criminal, when they arrested you, they would have put handcuffs on you and flown you away. Instead, they isolated you, they beat you, they tortured you. Why? Because they want to invent a crime. They want to make you testify. They falsified information at your trial. The whole works. Why?
As you said, you’re a small cog in a big chain. Tragically, you got caught up in a political process of demonizing the Russian Federation, the Russian people, the Russian government, to show the American people that the Russians are bad. So they manufactured a case against you.
And the reason why this is important isn’t just to highlight the human tragedy and the inefficiencies of American justice, but our presidents, your president and my president, are going to meet on Friday, tomorrow, to try and talk about improving U.S.-Russian relations. But to improve U.S.-Russian relations, we need to do more than have our presidents meet.
We need to resolve the fundamental problems that lead America to do what they did to you. This isn’t about a miscarriage of justice. Of course it is. You were in prison, though. You saw prisons full. of American citizens where there’s been a miscarriage of justice. We’ve talked about the need for reform. Let’s push that aside.
This is about building trust between Americans and Russians. How could you ever trust America again? How could you ever trust America again, given what they did? And that’s a fundamental question, because if we can get you to trust us again, there’s hope to repair our relations. But the damage that was done to you
has been done collectively to the Russian nation by the United States in a number of ways. The sanctions we put on, the accusations that we made. We accused your president of kidnapping children. A manufactured case, it happens all the time. From your perspective, is there a possibility to restore trust between the Russian people and the American people?
What needs to happen so that we can live together, trust one another? Because I would never condemn you if you looked at me in the eyes and said, I will never trust another American again. I have no faith in the American people. You have every right to say that.
You know, I would divide that. Trust who? Structures, authorities, or trust the nations. Big difference. I have a lot of friends in America, great American friends, and Afro-Americans, white Americans.
good people, great people, they were raised in U.S., no more people, excellent people, and I have trust for them. But my personal point of view, now, at this moment, I would not, the structures of the U.S. government, I would not trust, I will not trust special forces, because they have not changed. Special services, they didn’t change.
And I’m glad that Mr. Trump, when I was in jail, I saw a lot of political shows. I watched every day what was happening inside American society. And if I would be American, I would be a Republican, more adequate people there in that party than a Democrat. But now I look what Trump does. Yes,
They go back. It’s like a boomerang. It goes back to American people. It’s about price, how prices form. There’s a lot of products and materials that we export to U.S. And now sanctions and American people hurt due to that. Concerning trust, I would divide that. I would separate that. American people, yes, I can trust them.
But you have to tell the truth about what’s happening, because all these American channels, NBC, Fox News, CNN, and et cetera, has manipulators, strong manipulators, especially channels of Democratic Party, CNN, NBC, and so on. Fox News, you can maybe understand a little bit. But the other channels, no. They change, they twist the facts. Partial truth is given.
Partial truth is not given. And when they ask me, as a Russian who was in the Russian Federation, regular Americans that lived in the United States all their life, fully seriously said, Do you have mobile phones in Russia? Do you have AC? People are seriously asking me. I was shocked, because what do you mean?
Mass media says we don’t have those things. We are wearing these crazy hats. We have nothing. Of course, I’m paraphrasing, but that’s what they say in the movies and the news. They constantly keep saying that. And if to be more open, at least in informational way,
then the trust will be bit more between the countries and also the higher levels. What do you mean a state, an authority? It’s a support for the nation. And if the nation will understand what takes place, they will support. And then the authority through mass media brainwashes the nation. Of course, then, that’s what we see.
until Reagan came in. It was open country, 70s, 60s. It was beautiful country. And where did it go? It went down. Democracy? There is no democracy in the United States. The human rights? None. Big question. Election system, whoever pays more, that’s the one who wins. Who are the voters? The people are not voting.
Some kind of part of a small part of the nation. Even the election, this two-party system, big questions towards that system.
The picture of your opinion is very depressing. But as an American, I can identify exactly with what you’re saying. If I take what you said at face value, though, there’s no hope. What you’re saying is that no matter what our leaders do tomorrow in Alaska, there’s no hope because America is fundamentally broken. You can’t trust the system,
and the American people appear to be unable to change the system because the system won’t let it be changed. I don’t disagree with your analysis, but as an American citizen, it’s not my job to sit back and cry. It’s not my job to go, oh dear, everything’s bad. It’s my job to fix the system.
And we can’t fix the system if we, for instance, commit suicide by going to war with Russia, because a war with Russia would be the end of the world. And so what I’ve been doing is trying to promote the idea of peace between Russia and the United States to prevent a war. In order to do that,
I have to change the mindset of the American people. You saw it. When you say you’re a Russian, do you have flushing toilets? Do you have washing machines? You have refrigeration? You have roads? Cars that use gas? I mean, the ignorance of the American public about the reality of Russia is very real.
And that’s one of the things that I’ve been trying to do is capture the Russian reality and bring it back to the United States. There’s a lot of work to be done, and I will continue to do that work. But we need Russia’s help. So I’m asking you,
as a Russian who has been betrayed by the US government, betrayed by the US system, who knows the reality, what can I do to win your trust? Because our leaders will need time. If they make an agreement on Friday to move forward in peace, They’re going to need time to make that happen.
And during that time, the American people need to mobilize in support of the concept of peace. Do we have time? Can you give us that time? Can you learn to be patient with the American people? It’s a question I’m asking you. After everything you’ve gone through, all of the cruelty and the inhumanity that you’ve experienced,
I know you probably will never trust us as a system. But are you willing to trust the American people and have patience for us so that we can change the system.
American people to the nation, yes, we have trust. If you talk to them and open their eyes, they’re fantastic people. You know, they didn’t know me. I was just a simple Russian. They helped me. American citizens, Christians, Christians, Christians, they came to me. They visited me. They gave me help.
But we have to be open if citizens of United States would come to Russia and visit and take a look at who we are, how we live. Not just here. They would go to Ukraine to understand the mentality. Belarus. They would understand who we are, what we do. We are open, very open.
especially from the deep of the country, not like New York or Philadelphia. That’s a different topic to discuss. But, you know, simple workers, people that work at the manufacturing plants in the villages, in the farms, excellent people. They’re hardworking people.
Yes, just like me. They’re believers. And faith is number one thing. I believe Christian faith. I don’t care Catholic, Orthodox. There’s Christian faith. So here, faith. Yes, we do have trust to American people, simple citizens, to the government and special services. No. But it’s good that now, you know, all Russians, we’re open. Our president is open.
You want to talk to us? Come on over. Let’s talk. Let’s sit down at the table. Let’s have negotiations to regulate all the questions, solve all issues. So now we come to the point where we can’t go on. If the war takes place, It’ll be a catastrophe.
So we, in any case, we have to have a two-side relationship at the highest level. Change the system, that’s a completely different question, especially in the United States. And I always tell Americans, get off your knees, get off your knees, take a look, take your ride that is given to you by the country and fight.
Well, the fear comes from ignorance. When you’re ignorant of something, you’re afraid of it because you don’t understand it. In America today, as you learned, we have Russophobia and we’re afraid of Russia because we’re ignorant of Russia. We don’t understand Russia. I’ve been working very hard over the course of the past several years to try and
come to Russia, to learn from Russia, to capture the Russian experience and bring it back to the United States. As you may know, last year, I was supposed to come to Russia to speak at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. And the U.S. government took my passport and refused to let me travel to Russia because they
were afraid of my work. They were afraid that if I actually talked to the Russians, learned about Russia, brought it back, that the people would become mobilized and seek to change the system. And in August, a year ago, They sent 40 FBI agents into my home to raid my home, to intimidate me,
to accuse me of being a Russian agent. They criminalized free speech. I was simply talking about peace, peace between Russia and United States. But merely talking about peace became a crime. One of the interesting things is they charged me with manipulating the elections. Well, what is a citizen supposed to do.
A vote is a manipulation of the election. If you are saying something that I don’t agree with, I’ll vote for the other person. And I’m allowed to say why I’m voting against them. I was saying that we need to promote peace with Russia, but I was accused of trying to manipulate the election on behalf of Russia.
No, it was on behalf of the American people. But I started a program to promote this, and they called it a Russian program. Russia had nothing to do with this program. But it was a, I did a coin. to help promote the idea, to encourage the vote.
What would you do to save democracy, save America, save the world through your vote in November? This is the project that the United States government said the Russian government was behind. No, this is my project. But I decided to bring this coin with me to Russia because I do want to make it a Russian project.
Not because you’re telling me to, but because I’m asking you to help me create peace. This has been an outstanding conversation. It’s absolutely essential that we continue these conversations. And I’d like to offer you this coin as a gesture of gratitude for everything you’ve done for all the sacrifice you’ve made, all the suffering you’ve done.
But more importantly, by joining me here today to have a conversation about peace and the potential of friendship. What we’re doing here today, every American should be doing with Russians, learning about each other. And once we do that, we become empowered with knowledge. And when you have knowledge, you’re not afraid.
And when you’re not afraid, you can take the action. So thank you very much for joining me today. in this edition of the Russia House. It’s been an absolute honor and privilege to talk with you.
The main idea of what you said has to be understanding between the people, among the people. The more we visit each other, I invited a lot of people. I said, come on over, guys. Visit me. Come to me. Come to see me in Russia. I had guests from Europe. I showed them who we are, what we are.
Come, stay at my house. Look how we live. Go to the shops. Walk the streets, villages, cities. Take a look. If there will be more exchange, then there will be great understanding. And there wouldn’t be the problems that we have now between the countries. Good thing that you have a possibility to come to Russia.
You see the reality. I have a friend in America, a great friend. When he came first time to Russia and he found out what is Russia, what is Europe, what kind of people live here, more open, more trust. and communication, you know, communication between the people. And then everything else would follow and build itself between two countries.
Thank you very much. And I want to thank the audience for joining us here today on this special edition of the Russia House. It’s been facilitated by the National Unity Club, who helped bring Konstantin here to speak today. And I want to thank our hosts, the TASS News Agency, for providing us this wonderful platform.
And I want to thank you for watching. Thank you.
oooooo
INTERVIEW: Israel’s very existence is a war crime
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INTERVIEW: Israel’s very existence is a war crime
INTERVIEW: Israel’s very existence is a war crime
What Gaza is doing is driving a stake through the heart of the United Nations, says Scott Ritter. And Ukraine war will come to an end only on terms dictated by Russia
Transkripzioa:
0:00
Scott Ritter, once an eminent United
0:04
Nations weapons inspector and a former
0:08
Marine Corps intelligence officer, has
0:11
developed into a sear. He’s developed
0:14
into a soldier scholar of some global
0:19
significance. And I’m glad to say he
0:21
always answers our call. Scott Ritter,
0:24
welcome to the to the show. Before we
0:28
get on to what probably the bigger
0:33
in Ukraine. I wanted to ask you about
0:36
this new missile that Iran has unveiled.
0:41
Well, characteristically, it’s still
0:42
partially veiled, but uh its main uh
0:46
attributes seem to be well enough known
0:50
amongst military people around the
0:52
globe. Is it a gamecher in your view? We
0:56
already know that the Iranians had
0:57
established missile superiority over the
1:01
Israeli integrated anti-bballistic
1:03
missile defense shield. Um that was
1:06
proven during the 12-day conflict
1:08
between Israel and Iran. What Iran is
1:11
doing now is fielding even more advanced
1:14
systems uh that are designed
1:16
specifically to defeat uh the Israeli
1:21
ballistic missile defense shield.
1:22
Understand this. The Israeli ballistic
1:24
missile defense shield isn’t getting any
1:27
better. There are no new weapons coming
1:29
out. It is what it is. The Iranian
1:32
ballistic missile attack capability is
1:35
getting better by orders of magnitude.
1:37
So if there is a renewed conflict
1:40
between Israel and Iran, understand
1:43
this. The Israeli missile defense shield
1:45
will be overwhelmed immediately and the
1:47
consequences to Israel will be
1:50
devastating. And is there any
1:52
possibility in those circumstances that
1:55
before anything changes that Iran might
1:57
take the initiative after all Israeli
2:00
commanders and uh heads of the
2:03
government are daily declaring that
2:07
they’re going to attack Iran. That gives
2:09
a legal basis for self-defense, does it
2:12
not? I’m not a international lawyer and
2:15
I don’t play one on TV, but my
2:17
understanding of international law
2:21
um and the concept of preemptive uh
2:24
self-defense under article 51
2:26
established by um you know legal
2:28
precedent that’s founded in the United
2:30
States Supreme Court, yes, gives Iran
2:32
the ability to preempt any um Israeli
2:36
attack. And if the Israelis are
2:37
announcing it, if their uh officials who
2:39
are directly related to the
2:41
decision-making necessary to launch a
2:43
strike are talking about this, Iran has
2:46
every right under international law to
2:48
preempt that attack. Iran historically
2:50
has avoided this kind of action. Um, and
2:54
I don’t know if Iran would do this, but
2:56
Iran does have the right to do it. And
2:59
the reports of unconventional weapons
3:02
overnight in Jabalia camp, I know well,
3:06
uh, are widespread. But of course, we
3:09
lack the ability to investigate. There
3:12
are no journalists left in Gaza,
3:15
virtually none, and there are no
3:18
officials who could investigate it. but
3:22
very widespread reports for the first
3:24
time, I may add uh overnight that
3:27
chemical weapons may have been used in
3:30
the munitions last night. You and I are
3:32
both familiar with the use of
3:35
unconventional weapons, depleted uranium
3:37
in particular uh in Iraq. Uh is there
3:41
any possibility that given the toughness
3:43
of the fight in Gaza that Israel may be
3:47
resorting to unconventional weapons like
3:50
that? There’s no doubt in my mind that
3:52
Israel is capable of using these
3:54
weapons. They possess these weapons. Um,
3:57
and there’s also no doubt in my mind
3:58
that the battlefield reality that exists
4:02
in Gaza uh leaves Israel almost no
4:05
choice but to employ these weapons if
4:07
they are to have any chance of defeating
4:10
a Hamas opponent who has um buried
4:14
themselves underground. And the I think
4:16
the purpose of these weapons is to uh
4:18
deploy something that can penetrate uh
4:21
underground and esphyxiate or otherwise
4:24
neutralize uh the enemy. But of course
4:26
that this means that civilians above the
4:28
ground will be impacted. Israel doesn’t
4:30
care. They’re committing an ongoing
4:31
genocide of uh unprecedented magnitude
4:35
in the modern age. The starvation, the
4:37
deliberate targeting of women and
4:39
children. Um, so no one should be
4:41
shocked that Israel would uh would would
4:43
would seek to embrace, you know, what is
4:46
in effect a war crime because they’re
4:48
committing a war crime. Their very
4:50
existence is a war crime nowadays.
4:52
Now, you worked for the UN. Can the UN
4:55
do anything at all about this or indeed
4:58
other international flash points that
5:01
might lead to the world to conflration?
5:05
I mean, it feels to me like the League
5:07
of Nations circa 1936.
5:11
They declared a famine, but they have no
5:14
means of doing anything about it. Is the
5:18
UN finished, Scott? Unless it gets
5:21
fixed, it’s finished. uh that what Gaza
5:23
is doing is driving a stake through the
5:25
heart of the United Nations as an
5:26
effective um
5:29
vehicle for guaranteeing the rights of
5:33
peoples and nations around the world
5:35
against violations of their rights
5:37
against the violations of international
5:39
law. You know, in order to have to to
5:42
intervene effectively, uh you would need
5:45
a chapter 7 resolution by the Security
5:48
Council. And right now the Security
5:49
Council because of the United States um
5:52
is incapable of producing um you know a
5:55
a document a resolution that would
5:57
authorize meaningful intervention. For
6:00
instance, it took a resolution 687 back
6:03
in 1991 to authorize the work that I did
6:06
in Iraq uh as a weapons inspector. Uh a
6:09
chapter 7 resolution backed up by the
6:12
force of the international community.
6:14
You would need something similar to be
6:16
effective in Israel. But the United
6:18
States will never let that happen. And
6:19
so long as the United States continues
6:22
to wield its veto in defense of this
6:25
genocidal regime in Israel, then the
6:28
United Nations is all but dead.
6:30
Now Scott, I posed a question, a
6:32
dichotomy really uh in my monologue. Uh
6:37
and my dilemma is this. I felt I may
6:42
have egg on my face. I might be entirely
6:45
wrong that Donald Trump actually did
6:48
want to bring the Ukraine war to an end.
6:52
If I was right, he clearly lacks either
6:57
the motivation or the political strength
7:00
to actually carry that over the line.
7:04
But equally, it’s possible that I was
7:06
wrong and that the whole Alaska affair
7:10
was just theater. It had no meaning at
7:14
all. It may be a false dichotomy and you
7:18
may have other contradictions to bring
7:20
up, but the Ukraine war ain’t coming to
7:24
an end, is it? The
7:25
Ukraine war will not come to an end on
7:27
terms that will be acceptable to either
7:29
Ukraine or Europe. This is absolutely
7:31
sure. Um, if the war is going to end,
7:34
it’s going to come on terms that will be
7:35
dictated by Russia. Russia has indicated
7:38
a willingness to um work with the United
7:41
States uh on the peripheria to create um
7:45
cosmetic um you know political
7:49
concessions but on the core issues that
7:52
are confronted or raised by this
7:54
conflict. Russia will not yield on any
7:56
of these issues. And it’s clear to
7:58
anybody who studies Russia, who’s been
8:00
to Russia, who’s talked to the Russians
8:02
what this case is. And this is known by
8:04
Donald Trump. I believe he was sincere
8:07
in Alaska. I do believe that he is
8:09
seeking a peace. But I also recognize
8:11
the reality um that Donald Trump is
8:14
surrounded by people who do not want
8:15
peace. There is a political reality in
8:17
the United States that the opponents of
8:19
Russia, the opponents of peace um are
8:22
betraying this president as he speaks to
8:24
include some of the people that he
8:26
brought with him to Alaska. They do not
8:29
want peace. And so the president has to
8:32
play political games. he has a very
8:33
critical midterm election coming up that
8:36
if he doesn’t carry if his party doesn’t
8:39
carry and sustain control of the House
8:41
and the Senate, uh his term is over,
8:44
finished. He won’t get anything done
8:46
that he wants because he’ll be stymied
8:48
by Congress. And so this president has
8:50
to say things and posture and do things
8:54
that, you know, people like you and I
8:56
who are hoping for decisive action on
8:58
the part of the president will be
9:00
disappointed in this. But I I know I I
9:03
believe you’re going to ask a question
9:04
about the missiles. And so I’m going to
9:06
preempt your question and just to show
9:08
this as a as a case study. The missile
9:11
in question, the ER advanc extended
9:14
range attack missile or something. Um
9:18
it’s it’s a missile that was created in
9:21
2023 2024 specifically for Ukraine by
9:25
the United States Air Force. Created
9:27
means conceptualized. They had two years
9:30
to begin production. The missile has not
9:32
gone into serial production yet. Um it’s
9:35
still a theory, a concept. Um you Trump
9:40
can speak of selling 3,000 600 and some
9:44
odd missiles to Ukraine. These missiles
9:45
don’t exist. They haven’t been built
9:47
yet. The maximum production capacity for
9:50
the ERAM is 1 1,000 missiles per year.
9:54
They have to begin serial production. So
9:58
what Trump has done is said in six weeks
10:00
we will begin delivery of a system. That
10:03
means that we might be talking about
10:05
five 6 7 10 no more because they don’t
10:08
exist. They have to be built. This is a
10:11
game being played by Trump uh that says
10:14
look Russia but he’s actually not
10:16
talking to the Russians. He’s talking to
10:18
the political uh his political opponents
10:21
saying I’m willing to give Ukraine the
10:23
ability to defend themselves. We’re
10:25
going to provide these weapons. But it’s
10:26
a joke. These weapons don’t exist. They
10:28
have yet to be produced. And when they
10:30
are produced, they won’t be produced in
10:31
numbers sufficient to tilt the balance.
10:33
And the United States maintains a veto
10:36
over how Ukraine can use these. So you
10:38
give Ukraine weapons, but then you say
10:40
you can’t use them because Trump
10:42
understands the moment the United States
10:44
greenlights the use of these weapons, we
10:46
become an active participant in the
10:48
conflict, and any chance of having a
10:50
negotiated settlement with Russia is out
10:52
the window. And that would be a
10:54
political disaster for Donald Trump in
10:56
the leadup to a midterm election where
10:58
his base believed him when he said he
11:01
will stop this war in Ukraine. And if
11:03
Donald Trump is seen instead of becoming
11:05
an active participant in this conflict,
11:08
then that’s it for him politically. So I
11:10
think this is just one big smok and
11:12
mirrors uh thing done by a president who
11:15
you rightly have said is somewhat weak
11:17
when it comes to standing up to his
11:19
opponents. This is a time for the
11:21
president to show strength, to tell
11:23
Europe to pound sand, to tell Zalinsky
11:25
to bend the knee or die. Um, this isn’t
11:28
a time to play stupid games. But
11:30
unfortunately, this is America and all
11:33
politicians of both stripes do is play
11:35
stupid games.
11:37
On the subject of Europe, I I felt it
11:40
was a bad idea to allow the seven dwarfs
11:43
to show up. uh it was bound to uh at
11:47
least inhibit Trump’s ability to uh
11:51
force uh Zalinski into the concessions
11:55
which would be necessary. And on that I
11:58
think I proved right because although
12:00
the photo optics of these dwarves
12:04
sitting there in front of the headmaster
12:07
uh on one level looked bad for Europe,
12:11
Europe is getting its way. They are
12:13
continuing to prolong this war even
12:16
though they are not at least until now
12:20
shouldering most of the financial burden
12:23
and don’t have an army navy and air
12:25
force between them between all of them.
12:29
The British, the French, the Dutch, the
12:32
Danish and the rest could not dream to
12:36
get into a shooting war with Russia.
12:39
They want America to do that for them
12:42
100%. Um, but I I I have a different
12:46
perspective on this. Um, first of all,
12:48
Russia is not afraid to continue this
12:50
war because it’s a war that Russia is
12:51
winning decisively.
12:54
Uh, Europe is unable to alter this
12:57
reality whatsoever. Moreover, these
13:00
seven dwarves, as you call them, that’s
13:01
kind, it’s sort of an insult to dwarves.
13:04
Um, they what did they get? They wanted
13:08
to get the United States to agree to
13:10
article five. That’s a reference to the
13:12
NATO charter, a collective defense
13:14
article. An attack against one is an
13:16
attack against all. I’m frozen, I think.
13:19
I don’t know if you can uh see me, so
13:21
I’ll wait until I unfreeze.
13:22
I can still hear you. Hear you, Scott. I
13:24
can still hear you.
13:26
Okay, I think we’re back. Um, Article 5
13:29
protection. That’s what they wanted.
13:30
NATO Article 5 protection. They’re not
13:32
getting it. the Donald Trump basically
13:35
told them no the United States will not
13:37
support this and without American
13:38
support there is no article 5 there is
13:40
nothing and nobody in Europe can change
13:43
this so there’s a lot of talk about
13:45
something nothing happened moreover the
13:48
humiliation they had to feel as Donald
13:50
Trump stopped their discussions to call
13:52
Vladimir Putin it proves that Donald
13:55
Trump puts more credence in the opinion
13:57
of the Russian leader than he does of
13:58
the seven dwarves uh they left
14:00
humiliated but again the idea that
14:02
Europe is extending this conflict.
14:04
Russia doesn’t care. 7 1.7 million dead
14:09
Ukrainian soldiers. We now know 625,000
14:13
of them have died this year. This is
14:15
just August. The kill ratio is going up
14:18
exponentially every month. If the
14:20
Ukrainians want to lose the totality of
14:22
their manpower on behalf of a
14:24
discredited European uh, you know,
14:27
continent, so be it. The Russians don’t
14:30
care. They’re going to win this war no
14:34
matter what. And that’s a reality that I
14:37
think Donald Trump has recognized. He
14:39
has to play stupid political games with
14:42
his American backstabbers, with the
14:45
people who continue to oppose peace. But
14:47
ultimately, Donald Trump under and the
14:50
proof is clear. Donald Trump went into
14:53
Alaska threatening Vladimir Putin. If
14:56
you don’t agree to a ceasefire right
14:59
from the start, I’m out of there. and
15:01
all hell is going to break loose. But
15:03
after a short meeting with Vladimir
15:05
Putin, Donald Trump said, “Nope, no
15:07
ceasefire. We’re looking for a
15:09
comprehensive solution to the root
15:10
causes of the conflict.” That’s Russia’s
15:12
position. This proves we know who’s
15:15
calling the shots here, and it’s not
15:17
Donald Trump, and it certainly isn’t the
15:19
seven dwarfs.
15:20
Finally, Scott, uh, as it happens, I
15:23
know Venezuela rather well. Is it
15:27
seriously to be expected that as the
15:30
ultimate diversion, the peace president
15:34
is going to invade Venezuela? Because I
15:37
think I can definitively promise no good
15:40
would come out of that for the United
15:42
States. Look, I’m a former Marine and I
15:45
uh I have the highest respect for the
15:48
professionalism of my fellow Marines
15:49
today. Uh 4,000 Marines are not going to
15:53
invade uh Venezuela. They’re there as a
15:56
as a demonstration of force. Um that’s
16:00
it. They may make I I don’t know what
16:02
the president’s planning, but uh to to
16:04
go into a nation the size of Venezuela
16:07
with um a military as well as the
16:10
Venezuelan military with a population
16:12
ready to rise up and defend Venezuela,
16:16
you would have to come in with forces
16:17
that number in the hundreds of
16:19
thousands, if not millions. And we
16:21
simply don’t have the force. So this is
16:23
this is Marco Rubio’s uh muscle flexing
16:27
trying to put pressure on Venezuela uh
16:29
to to create a a diversion. Uh Marco
16:32
Rubio doesn’t believe in Ukraine. He
16:35
does meaning he doesn’t believe in
16:36
making peace in Ukraine and he’s losing
16:38
that conflict. So what Marco Rubio is
16:40
doing is you know starting to talk about
16:44
what he does care about which has always
16:46
been intervention into Latin America
16:49
into South America. Uh he’s flexing
16:52
muscles though that the United States
16:53
doesn’t possess. The United States
16:55
doesn’t have sufficient military power
16:57
right now to project um any meaningful
17:00
um military force into Venezuela. We’ve
17:03
lost Colombia. That used to be a place
17:04
where we could talk about, you know,
17:07
staging uh military force. But Colombia
17:09
and Venezuela now are on the same page
17:11
talking about joint defense. This is
17:14
just ridiculous flexing on the part of
17:16
Marco Rubio and it’ll lead to yet more
17:18
embarrassment for the Trump
17:20
administration.
17:21
And is he out of the woods on Epstein,
17:24
but maybe not. What do you think?
17:26
I don’t believe so. I I I can’t claim to
17:28
know everything uh about the Epstein
17:31
case. I’ve spoken to Ryan Dawson, who’s
17:33
very well informed on this matter. Um I
17:37
believe that um that there is substance
17:40
to uh to these allegations. Whether or
17:42
not that sticks to Donald Trump, I don’t
17:44
know. Um, you know, everything about
17:48
this is suspicious. And the notion when
17:51
you see people going overboard as they
17:53
did the Department of Justice interview
17:55
with Jelene Maxwell, uh, in prison
17:58
where, you know, basically in order to
18:00
get her herself, you know, cozy
18:02
accommodations in the position herself
18:04
for a pardon, she said, “Oh, no. Donald
18:06
Trump’s a pure gentleman. He’s doing
18:08
this, he’s doing that. he’s done nothing
18:11
wrong. The more they say that, the more
18:13
it becomes clear in my mind that where
18:17
there’s smoke, there’s fire. I don’t
18:19
think he’s out of the water yet. And as
18:20
you alluded to in your um monologue,
18:24
what happened in Las Vegas is a
18:25
disgrace. Uh and again, the the the the
18:28
influence Israel has on the United
18:30
States of America uh is absolute and
18:32
it’s disgusting. And I think that the
18:35
Epstein files, the Epstein case when
18:37
it’s finally released, because notice
18:38
she said, “Oh, no, no, there’s no no
18:40
connection between Israeli intelligence
18:42
and Epstein, that means there is a
18:43
connection between Israeli intelligence
18:45
and Epstein.” And this is problematic
18:47
for the United States on very many
18:49
levels.
18:50
And very finally, should we shed a tear
18:53
for poor John Bolton?
18:55
This is a tough one for me because I
18:57
despise him as a human being. I despise
18:59
him as a man. I despise his policies. I
19:01
despise everything about him. Um, but I
19:03
do live in the United States of America
19:05
where free speech is absolute. And I
19:07
think it’s incumbent that we ensure that
19:10
what is happening here is about a a
19:13
genuine threat to the national security
19:15
of the United States, which may exist. I
19:18
need to see the affidavit of probable
19:20
cause and not uh simply the the Trump
19:23
administration doing what the Biden
19:26
administration did to me. Send FBI
19:28
agents into the home of somebody that
19:29
they disagree with. I disagree with John
19:32
Bolton, but I defend his right to say
19:33
whatever he has to say. I don’t want him
19:35
silenced. Let him speak and then I’ll
19:37
put out better ideas and crush him in
19:38
the battlefield of ideas. Um, so I I’m
19:41
I’m holding off until I see more about
19:43
this. I’m concerned about the potential
19:46
weaponization of the US law enforcement
19:49
to silence the opponents of uh President
19:52
Trump.
oooooo
