Date: Wednesday, 01 April 2026
https://ericzuesse.substack.com/p/scott-ritter-and-garland-nixon-on
https://theduran.com/scott-ritter-and-garland-nixon-on-how-ukraines-war-will-end/
Scott Ritter and Garland Nixon on How Ukraine’s War Will End
31 March 2026, posted by Eric Zuesse. (All of my recent articles can be seen here.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNRwJ0HKozk
30 March 2026
00:00
INTERVIEWER: Uh the western mainstream media has been
00:02
very much up in arms about these massive
00:04
attacks that the Russian military has
00:07
been undertaking on Ukraine and they've
00:10
also been panicking about the Sumi and
00:12
the Dniepetrovsk front. What exactly is
00:15
happening on the battlefield now and
00:17
what can we expect? SCOTT RITTER: Well, I mean, Russia
00:19
has said that um it's I mean, Vladimir
00:22
Putin apparently had a conversation with
00:24
Emanuel Macron and he said that um you
00:28
know, while Russia is not opposed to a
00:30
negotiated outcome, it will have to deal
00:32
with realities including territorial
00:34
reality and the territorial reality is
00:36
as such as things stand Russia's
00:40
requirements are that all four of the
00:43
Nova Russia territories Kherson, Zaphorisia,
00:46
Dnipropetrovsk and Lugansk in their totality
00:48
belong to Russia. and Russia will occupy
00:50
all of them, including the right bank of
00:51
Kherson. Um, and because of the
00:55
nefarious actions of the Ukrainians,
00:57
Russia will create an appropriately
00:59
sized u buffer zone. Um, and what we see
01:04
happening in Sumi and in Dnipropetrovsk is
01:07
Russia acting on that, meaning that they
01:09
will advance until which time they have
01:11
created a buffer between what will be
01:12
left of you of sovereign Ukraine um and
01:16
mother Russia. that Ukraine will not be
01:18
allowed to have a a common border with
01:21
Russia because Ukraine has attacked
01:24
Russia and Russia is not going to allow
01:25
that to happen again. Um I mean this is
01:29
the reality and this is what Russia is
01:31
moving forward in his conversation with
01:34
President Trump. Putin said the same
01:35
thing. We will address the root causes
01:38
of this conflict and one of the root
01:40
causes is of course Ukraine's behavior,
01:43
their their de facto status as a NATO
01:45
member. um and you know that will be
01:48
reversed. And so I I think what we're
01:50
going to see is progress um along those
01:54
lines. But Russia is not going to throw
01:58
away human life needlessly. They don't
02:00
need to. They just This is a war of
02:02
attrition. Um Garland and I have had
02:04
this conversation repeatedly and I'll
02:06
just say it again. At some point in
02:08
time, there will be a culminating moment
02:11
where Ukraine's ability to maintain
02:13
cohesive defense along the totality of
02:15
the front will diminish to the point of
02:18
zero and you will see collapse and that
02:21
collapse will be dramatic. Um I continue
02:24
to believe that Russia has the potential
02:26
of achieving that collapse this summer.
02:28
Um, Ukraine has shown a tremendous
02:30
amount of resilience over the over the
02:33
years and you know if Russia isn't
02:35
willing to put the you know the remember
02:37
the more aggressive you are the more
02:39
casualties you take right now Russia has
02:41
a winning formula that minimizes Russian
02:43
losses maximizes Ukrainian losses and
02:46
Russia's not hasn't shown a proclivity
02:48
to change that but if um if Russia
02:51
decides to put their pedal to the metal
02:53
they can accelerate the collapse because
02:55
you you will you know create a
02:59
mathematical equation which has the
03:01
Ukrainians losing resources at a far
03:03
greater rate than they can be
03:04
replenished and at some point in time
03:06
you achieve collapse. Um but that's a
03:09
political decision has to be made
03:11
because to do that to put the pedal to
03:14
the metal you're going to increase
03:15
Russian casualties at a time when I
03:18
think um the Russian government doesn't
03:20
want to um alter the um the support of
03:25
the Russian people. Right now, the
03:27
Russian people have stealed themselves
03:29
to um the reality of this conflict to
03:32
include Ukrainian drones striking uh
03:35
deep inside Russia. Uh but they've also,
03:38
you know, they've they've reached a uh
03:41
an equilibrium of what kind of
03:43
battlefield losses can be accepted.
03:45
Understand that the Russian losses are
03:47
um greater than the losses we suffered
03:50
in Vietnam. Vietnam broke the back of
03:53
America. um the Russian losses are uh
03:57
are greater than that. They are hurt,
03:58
you know, occurring at a at a larger
04:00
frequency than Vietnam. So the Russian
04:02
people have to absorb real losses, real
04:05
battlefield losses. And I don't think
04:07
that Vladimir Putin wants to change that
04:09
um you know this equilibrium by you know
04:12
making the Russian people absorb even
04:14
more losses. Um especially when you have
04:17
a winning strategy, you have an a
04:20
constituency that's be supporting you on
04:22
this war. I think the Russians will just
04:24
continue as business as usual, threes
04:26
and sixes until the Ukrainians collapse.
04:28
And that could happen this year, that
04:29
could happen next year, could happen
04:31
whenever it happens, but it's going to
04:33
happen.
04:33
INTERVIEWER: We just had an audience member say that
04:35
we've been wrong about Ukraine, that uh
04:37
they've been far harder to defeat than
04:40
we've been saying, and Russia is taking
04:42
massive hits. What is your answer to
04:44
this?
04:44
GARLAND NIXON: Well, I think here's the thing thing. I
04:46
mean, you know, this is not again, this
04:49
is not Yemen. This is the most powerful
04:51
NATO army proxy that's ever been
04:54
created. And in my opinion, Russia has
04:56
destroyed it two to three times over. At
04:58
the same time, Russia has demilitarized
05:01
NATO in that Russia in I don't know if
05:04
it's intentionally, but in the method
05:05
that they fight, which is a very slow
05:08
method of fighting. It's a very uh
05:10
cautious and uh continuous way of
05:13
fighting. [snorts] I think that they
05:14
have demilitarized NATO. They have been
05:17
in it very effective. I mean, it's been
05:19
it was a million man army and they've
05:20
been adding people the whole time. So,
05:22
let's not pretend [clears throat] that
05:24
this was ever going to be a cakewalk
05:26
walk for anyone um for for Russia, etc.
05:29
It was it was the combined might of all
05:33
of NATO focused and concentrated on
05:36
Russia. At the same time, there was a
05:38
full spectrum attack there add terrorist
05:40
attacks. You have to add economic
05:44
attacks, diplomatic trying to make
05:45
people stop buying things from Russia.
05:47
So this was a full spectrum war on
05:49
Russia and I would argue that given the
05:52
um size of this attack on Russia that
05:55
they have um you know done quite well
05:57
and the way Russia fights means that
06:00
sooner or later the eventuality was that
06:02
they were always going to win. I don't
06:04
think Russia was in ever had a calendar
06:07
here saying we have to win by this day
06:09
or that way. It was we're going to do
06:10
things the way we do them and in the end
06:12
this is existential and we will win. I
06:14
also think that, you know, as an
06:16
example, supposedly Presidents Putin and
06:19
Trump talked today and Trump did the
06:21
old, hey, you know, like Macron, when
06:23
can we get some kind of a ceasefire? And
06:24
apparently, President Putin just
06:26
reiterated what he's always reiterated.
06:27
Look, we got to address the underlying
06:30
issues because the underlying issues are
06:32
what make it existential to Russia. And
06:34
the true underlying issue is that NATO
06:37
was always a mechanism to destroy Russia
06:39
so that the NATO countries could go in,
06:42
take Russia, break it into pieces, and
06:44
split it amongst each others and take
06:46
all of its natural resources. Russia
06:47
knows that, I know that, you guys know
06:49
that, and Russia knows that just ain't
06:51
going to happen. So, I think that um
06:54
ultimately what we're looking at here is
06:57
uh I got to add this. I also think that
07:00
if Russia didn't already know what they
07:02
were up against, watching what happened
07:03
in Iran, seeing the complicity of seeing
07:06
the, you know, the things that was done
07:09
utilizing various like the IAEA using
07:13
utilizing international organizations as
07:15
tools of imperialism by the US, uh,
07:18
sneaking attacks from other countries
07:20
inside the countries, lying and saying
07:22
that we were, uh, we were negotiating a
07:25
deal at the same time we're hiding a
07:26
knife behind our back so we can, you
07:28
know, get you to look the other way
07:29
during negotiations and attack you. All
07:31
of these things, I think, have even more
07:33
convinced Russia, we have to hold firm.
07:35
We've got to do what we know we need to
07:37
do. And I think the fact is keep an eye
07:40
on Russia constantly saying we must
07:43
address the underlying issues because
07:44
the underlying issues are not just
07:47
Ukraine. The underlying issue is a
07:49
comprehensive security agreement with uh
07:53
um Europe. That includes getting uh as
07:57
they said at the very beginning, getting
08:00
um NATO's military infrastructure off of
08:02
their border. And I think as this
08:04
continues, they're going to at some time
08:06
bring up the things that they've said
08:08
that they said back in December of 2022,
08:10
which was or 2022. Yeah. Which was we
08:14
have to address NATO on our border and
08:16
NATO expansion. And they're going to
08:18
want to talk about that. And Ukraine is
08:20
not the only thing that's existential to
08:23
Russia. And the discussion will come up.
08:24
I I I also think this I wouldn't be
08:27
surprised if at some point we don't see
08:29
a Russia, China, Iran, some kind of a
08:32
military alliance come up. And now I
08:34
thought a while back probably no. But
08:36
some things that I'm hearing leads me to
08:38
believe that I think not only will we, I
08:41
think in order to shut down the crazies,
08:44
the hot-heads as they refer to them in
08:46
Washington, they're going to have to do
08:48
that. So I my guess could be wrong is
08:50
that that may come at some point also.
08:52
RITTER: Well, I mean, could you read the
08:53
question in its totality, so I
08:55
understand?
08:56
INTERVIEWER: Sure, sure, sure.
08:58
Um, so right here it says, uh, I come in [got a]
09:01
key piece [saying] that you guys have been wrong
09:02
about Ukraine non-stop. They [Ukraine] seem way
09:04
harder to defeat than expected. Russia
09:06
took massive hits as well.
09:08
RITTER: It's an absurd question. I mean, I don't
09:10
mean to pick on the guy. He gave you
09:12
five pounds, 99 p. Um, so I hope he
09:16
continues to support your cause. Um,
09:20
you clearly are somebody who hasn't
09:22
listened to anything I've said, anything
09:23
Garland has said. If, uh, at any time
09:26
you thought that we said that, uh,
09:28
Ukraine was going to fold over like a
09:30
house of cards. Um, especially after the
09:33
initial phases of the war, I think
09:35
everybody believed that Russia was going
09:36
to come in and declare war on Ukraine.
09:38
Had Russia declared war on Ukraine, this
09:40
war would be over. But again, you know,
09:42
that's something that your question
09:43
doesn't uh address the difference
09:46
between a special military operation and
09:48
the war. I don't mean to be insulting,
09:50
but don't throw a question out there
09:51
unless you do your goddamn research.
09:53
Nobody thought this was going to be a
09:55
special military operation. That term
09:56
didn't exist when this conflict began.
09:58
Everybody thought that this was a war,
10:00
including the chairman of the Joint
10:01
Chiefs of Staff, the director of the
10:02
CIA, except the people that knew what
10:04
was going on, the special military
10:06
operation people. They understood that
10:07
this wasn't a war. This was something
10:09
different. And it took people in the
10:11
west a while to adjust to that, you
10:13
know. So you have to adjust your
10:14
analytical framework, which I did. And
10:17
once that happened, you realize now that
10:19
Russia's not in the business of the
10:21
physical destruction of Ukraine. If this
10:23
was a war, Ukraine would no longer
10:25
exist. What did I get wrong exactly?
10:27
Maybe the pace of operations. I already
10:29
told you, I'm a very aggressive analyst
10:31
who believes in uh, you know, putting
10:33
the pedal to the metal, but the Russians
10:35
don't. So when I use my analytical
10:38
framework to to you know project things
10:40
that happen yeah every time I get
10:42
attached to a calendar I'm wrong but you
10:44
know what I've not been wrong on the
10:46
results. Russia's winning this war. I've
10:48
not been wrong on the math. Russia's the
10:51
math is you know lends itself totally to
10:53
a Russian victory. So where have I been
10:54
wrong? Russia has taken massive hits.
10:57
That's a curious term. What what is the
10:59
quantifiable there? What defines a
11:01
massive hit? Russia's taking casualties,
11:04
but you do know that we're Russia's
11:05
fighting a NATO proxy, an army of 700 to
11:09
900,000 men trained to NATO standards,
11:10
equipped with the best equipment NATO
11:13
has put in air defense system that is
11:15
better than anything NATO has installed.
11:17
And Russia's beating this hands down. I
11:20
mean, nobody talks about the Russian
11:21
suppression of enemy air defense
11:23
campaign that started to operate in the
11:25
fall of 2022 to get to where we are here
11:27
today, where Russia has literally
11:29
suppressed the totality of NATO's air
11:31
defense capacity. Stripped NATO bare.
11:34
And now they're just pounding Ukraine.
11:37
Well, massive hits, right? Yeah. A
11:39
couple drone strikes, that's a massive
11:41
hit. Where's the massive hit you're
11:43
talking about? This is war. just because
11:45
the Ukrainians are able to take this
11:47
technology and apply it on the
11:48
battlefield and inflict casualties on
11:50
Russia. That's what's going to happen in
11:51
a highintensity conflict zone. But don't
11:54
talk about massive hits unless you can
11:55
document it and you can't. The bottom
11:57
line is Ukraine is being used as a
11:59
proxy. I've not been wrong on that. From
12:02
the very beginning, I said this is a
12:03
proxy war between NATO and Ukraine. I
12:05
said that in March of 2022. Put on
12:08
Ukrainian death list for saying that.
12:10
How dare you say that? Well, it's the
12:11
truth. It's so true that the Ukrainian
12:14
defense minister had to come out and
12:15
admit it and now the United States
12:16
admits it. Hadn't been wrong on that.
12:18
So, we're talking about a war here. It's
12:20
not a conflict between Ukraine and
12:22
Russia. It's now transformed into a
12:25
conflict between Russia and the
12:26
collective west. Does your question
12:28
reflect that? Understand that the
12:31
Russians in their defense industrial
12:33
base is out producing the totality of
12:35
the NATO defense base. That's not me
12:37
saying it. It's Route the NATO secretary
12:39
general saying that. Have I been wrong
12:41
on that? No, this is a war. Understand
12:43
that when you defend Ukraine, you are
12:45
defending literal Nazis. Literal Nazis.
12:49
Not hypothetical Nazis, but literal
12:52
Nazis. The worst people in the world.
12:55
Ukrainian nationalists. You view anybody
12:57
who's not a Ukrainian nationalist as
12:59
subhuman. Subhuman. You're subhuman. The
13:02
person who sent that question in. These
13:03
are horrible human beings. Horrible
13:06
human beings. And the Ukrainian
13:08
government embraces their ideology
13:10
without question, without embarrassment.
13:12
And we in the West support this, which
13:14
means we are complicit in the crimes
13:16
committed by the Ukrainians.
13:17
NIXON: And I have something that I really
13:19
believe, and the time is coming. And
13:20
remember, I've been saying this over and
13:22
over since the beginning. The time is
13:24
going to come when the Ukrainians are
13:27
not going to be pissed at the Russians.
13:29
They're going to be pissed at the US. I
13:31
know how this game works. At some point,
13:33
they're not going to say the Russians
13:34
did it. They're going to say, "You sons
13:36
of you let us down here. You
13:39
knew we were going to get crushed. You
13:41
stuck us out here. You threw us in a in
13:43
a in a bin with a with a dog on grizzly
13:46
bear and told us you'd help us and then
13:48
you walked away and you left us for the
13:49
bear to maul us. They will be furious
13:52
and they will be armed to the teeth and
13:55
they will be refugees in Europe and all
13:58
over Europe armed to the teeth. They're
14:00
going to want revenge. when this is
14:02
over, they're going to blame NATO.
14:05
They're going to blame the West. They're
14:06
going to blame the US. And here's the
14:09
problem. They'll be right. So, there's a
14:13
good possibility that there will be an
14:15
internal civil war with various factions
14:18
fighting in Ukraine. But at least some
14:20
of those, and I predict the Nazi faction
14:22
is going to come after people in Europe,
14:25
furious at the people in Europe. you
14:27
know, they're planning on, well, after
14:29
this is over, we'll have some we'll have
14:32
these CIA and MI6 operatives that to
14:35
continue a dirty war on Russia. I think
14:37
that dirty war is going to be on the
14:38
West, and I think they're going to be
14:40
pissed and they're going to figure out
14:42
who it was that threw him in the in in
14:44
this cage with a bear. That's my
14:46
opinion. I felt I could be wrong, but
14:48
I've always felt that that's the way it is.
14:49
INTERVIEWER: The significance of Lugansk uh you
14:52
know we haven't talked about this yet on
14:53
the program but given that given that
14:56
you know Putin talks a lot about root
14:58
causes of Lugansk Donetsk I mean these
15:02
were huge in the proliferation and the
15:04
the sparking of this uh conflict to
15:07
begin with.
15:07
RITTER: Well I mean the Donbass was the um you
15:10
know the the center of this conflict. Um
15:14
the Donbass is the collective term used
15:16
for Donetsk and Lugansk. um both very
15:20
heavily populated by uh Russian-speaking
15:23
people, people who um even though they
15:26
were technically Ukrainian citizens
15:28
identified more with Russia than
15:29
Ukraine. Um and these are the people
15:32
that um you know when the CIA backed
15:36
coup that empowered these Ukrainian
15:38
nationalists who immediately declared
15:40
war on Russian Russian ethnicity, they
15:42
called them orcs. Uh declared war on the
15:45
Russian Orthodox Church. uh declared
15:47
Russ war on the Russian language,
15:50
Russian history, Russian culture. Uh
15:52
seeking basically ethnic genocide and
15:55
then acted on it. Uh you know they uh
15:57
they they made a move to seize Crimea.
15:59
They were stopped dead in their tracks.
16:01
Then they they made a move. They took
16:03
over Mariupol. When you speak of the rape
16:05
of Mariupol, it's the literal physical
16:07
rape of Mariupol by these Nazis. Um you
16:10
know what they call the AZOV battalion.
16:13
Um they have at the core of their
16:16
membership not western Ukrainians but
16:18
people from uh soccer hooligans
16:21
who bought into this Nazi um you know
16:24
ideology but they came into Mariupol
16:27
physically occupied this city and then
16:30
raped the women of Mariupol drove the
16:32
Russian[-speakers]s out imprisoned the Russians
16:35
terrorized the Russians while building
16:37
this literal Nazi edifice this literal
16:40
Nazi edifice. Um you know this is the
16:44
reality and this is what the people of
16:45
Donetsk and Lugansk rose up against. They
16:47
said no. Now when you when you look at
16:50
the the map understand that uh when this
16:53
conflict began the majority of Lugansk
16:56
was held by the Ukrainian government uh
16:58
basically Lugansk city and uh some
17:00
territory to its uh immediate uh west
17:03
and north uh were under the control of
17:07
Lugansk People's Republic. But when this
17:10
war began actually um the special
17:12
military operation began
17:15
the vast majority of Lugansk was um was
17:18
taken over uh rapidly. I mean there was
17:20
heavy fighting. Um Wagner played a very
17:23
important role in this
17:25
but uh you know but there was a a corner
17:28
of uh of Lugansk that um was heavily
17:31
fortified by the Ukrainians. Heavily it
17:33
was part of this huge defensive line
17:35
that the Ukrainians had built over the
17:37
course of 14 years. 14. Is my math
17:40
wrong? Huh? 14. Not 14. Eight.
17:44
Marine math. Eight years. Um, and they,
17:48
this was heavily dug in the Russian, it
17:50
was never captured. And, um, it was
17:53
there this this corner of Lugansk was
17:55
being held on to. And so symbolically
17:58
this was very important for uh for
18:00
Russia and in Lugansk but also for Donetsk
18:03
and Zaphorisia uh for them to you know
18:06
evict the Ukrainian government from
18:10
Lugansk from mother Russia because
18:12
Lugansk is now mother Russia. Um but to
18:15
show you how you know that this the
18:17
reality they're dealing with just today
18:19
I believe the mayor of Lugansk city was
18:21
assassinated by Ukrainian nationalists.
18:24
um they they they they killed him. Uh
18:26
the Ukrainians now um because they're so
18:29
angry at the Russians, you know,
18:31
capturing the totality of the Luganska
18:34
Republic, they've they've they attack
18:36
they use HIMARS missiles and other
18:38
missiles to attack uh Ukrainian
18:41
Russian civilians um to carry out
18:44
continue their terrorism. the
18:46
anti-terrorist operation that was
18:48
initiated in April of um 2014
18:52
um continues to this day with the
18:54
Ukrainian government viewing uh the
18:56
citizens of Lugansk and Donetsk as
18:58
terrorists and therefore from their
19:00
perspective there are no civilians. They
19:02
continue to rain death down on innocent
19:04
civilians. And this is why Russia speaks
19:08
about a um a um the need for a um buffer
19:12
zone to protect the citizens of Russia
19:15
from um you know these criminal actions.
19:18
Um but you know it's also you know
19:21
heartening because now the citizens of
19:23
Donetsk know that they're next and then
19:25
after Dniepropetrovsk you'll see the the
19:27
citizens of Zaphorisia know and then
19:29
Kherson knows. Um and the other thing is
19:32
it represents an inevitability for the
19:34
people of Dniepropetrosk because the Russians
19:37
will build their buffer zones. Sumi
19:39
will have a buffer zone. Um and if this
19:43
continues, I can guarantee you that the
19:45
Russians will probably extend a buffer
19:47
zone into Nikolaev and even into Odessa uh
19:50
by the time this is done. Uh this is a
19:52
reality. This is the kind of reality
19:54
that Putin is talking about. But now
19:56
it's more than just um words. We now
19:58
have action. We've seen the Russians
20:00
actually, you know, physically liberate
20:04
the totality of one of the four new
20:06
territories. And um I think it's just
20:08
part of the inevitable um you know,
20:11
advance um that that Russia's engaged in.
20:14
INTERVIEWER: Do we see this as when it's all said and
20:16
done, one of the biggest blunders uh in
20:19
the foreign policy of I guess we call
20:21
the combined collective west as our
20:23
friend Andrei Martyanov would would see it.
20:26
RITTER: I do. I I I see it as a massive blunder.
20:28
Um, you know, let's look at the uh
20:32
regime change strategy used by the
20:35
United States. Um, with great success
20:38
against Iraq, great success against
20:41
Syria. Um,
20:45
success against Libya. Um, they're
20:49
trying to apply it in Iran today. But,
20:52
um, I think Iran and Russia have
20:56
something different. um about them. What
20:59
are the weaknesses of Russia? What what
21:01
lent what made Russia vulnerable to
21:05
western regime change? First of all is
21:07
the decade of the '9s. Uh the decade of
21:09
the '9s broke the Russian spirit and had
21:12
many Russians flee the concept of mother
21:14
Russia. Um you know they fell out of
21:17
love with Russia and fell in love with
21:19
the west. So they were already attracted
21:21
to this alternative uh in the west. Um
21:24
the
21:28
they almost the west almost succeeded.
21:30
Had Yeltsin not yielded power to Putin
21:33
when he did. Had Yeltsin tried to hold
21:35
on to power for another 6 months, you
21:37
would have seen a total collapse of
21:38
Russia and Western goals and objectives
21:40
would have been achieved. Russia would
21:41
have broken up into constituent parts.
21:44
Um and uh functionally the Russian
21:47
Federation would not exist the way it
21:49
does today. Uh but Putin reversed that
21:51
and there's been resentment ever since
21:53
then. But Putin even though he reversed
21:56
it, you know, from the very beginning
21:57
Putin was fighting an uphill battle. Uh
22:00
first of all, he's fighting against
22:02
Western oligarchs that controlled the
22:03
Russian economy in totality. Uh and
22:06
Putin had to make deals with the devil.
22:07
He's acknowledged this. I mean the the
22:09
the deal he made with um
22:13
Khordakovski, I think it was the you know
22:15
big oil magnate. Um, you know, he said,
22:19
"You can keep your money, but you got to
22:21
invest it back in Russia. You can't take
22:22
it all out, but you got to stay out of
22:24
politics. I can't allow your money to
22:26
get involved in Russian politics." And
22:27
Garroski disobeyed, thought he could uh
22:31
beat Putin at his game, and Putin had
22:32
him arrested, had his uh empire broken
22:35
up and taken over by the the Russian
22:37
state. Um but this was a constant
22:40
balancing act with the oligarchs and it
22:42
was always a problematic because the
22:44
with the oligarchs comes corruption and
22:46
um there was corruption throughout
22:49
Russia and there still is corruption
22:50
throughout Russia. Many of the political
22:52
structures that exist in the provinces
22:55
um are a byproduct of the of the '90s.
22:57
They're legacy of the '90s. Putin hasn't
23:00
weeded them out yet uh because it's
23:02
almost mission impossible to do under
23:04
normal circumstances. The other thing
23:07
that Putin had to do is um try and build
23:11
um a Russian
23:16
democratic
23:18
potential. But this was almost
23:19
impossible. We know this because in 1994
23:22
the chargé d'affaires of the US embassy in
23:25
Moscow, Mr. Mary, I think his last name
23:27
was. He wrote uh what is currently
23:29
referred to as the modern long telegram,
23:31
the modern day equivalent of uh George
23:34
Kennan's long telegram of 1946 that set
23:37
in motion what became containment in the
23:39
cold war. Um he wrote a long telegram
23:42
that was condemning the United States
23:44
for what it was doing uh by blindly
23:46
supporting Boris Yeltsin. You know,
23:48
Yeltsin in October of 1993 puts tanks in
23:50
the streets to uh shell declared war on
23:53
the Russian parliament. that's not
23:55
democratic and yet we doubled down on
23:57
Yeltsin he said we're destroying
23:58
Russia's ability to build democratic
24:00
institutions and this will come back to
24:02
haunt us and sure enough by the time
24:04
Yeltsin left there were no meaningful
24:06
democratic institutions what happened is
24:08
that you had a number of NGOs uh funded
24:11
by you know I used to be called paranoid
24:14
because I say well that's a USAID
24:16
national endowment for democracy funded
24:18
system it can't be you're just buying
24:21
into Russian propaganda well now we know
24:22
that literally it's regime change run by
24:24
the state department. Um
24:26
…
—————
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse’s latest book, AMERICA’S EMPIRE OF EVIL: Hitler’s Posthumous Victory, and Why the Social Sciences Need to Change, is about how America took over the world after World War II in order to enslave it to U.S.-and-allied billionaires. Their cartels extract the world’s wealth by control of not only their ‘news’ media but the social ‘sciences’ — duping the public.