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.