Tucker Carlson Interviews Vladimir Putin
Posted by freedomforall 2 months, 3 weeks ago to Politics
Exerpt:
"Last week, Tucker Carlson traveled to Rusia to interview President Vladimir Putin. This sent the left into hysterics - some of whom have called for the journalist to face sanctions, or worse.
Prior to the interview - which can be seen right now in its entirety at tuckercarlson.com, Carlson explained that it's his job as a journalist "to inform people," as "most Americans are not informed" as to what's happening in Ukraine.
To that end, let's get into it.
Tucker starts the interview by asking Putin why he invaded Ukraine, "and the answer we got shocked us."
Putin proceeded to delve into the history of Ukraine, going back to the middle-ages. Tucker pushed back, saying "I'm not sure why it's relevant to what happened two years ago," to which Putin continued with the history lesson.
"But why didn't you make this case for the first 22 years as president, that Ukraine wasn't a real country?" Tucker asked.
"The Soviet Union was given a great deal of territory that had never belonged to it, including the Black Sea region. At some point when Russia received them as an outcome of the Russo Turkish wars, they were called New Russia or another Russia. But that does not matter. What matters is that Lenin, the founder of the Soviet state, established Ukraine that way," Putin replied. "For decades, the Ukrainian Soviet Republic developed as part of the USSR. And for unknown reasons, again, the Bolsheviks were engaged in Ukrainization."
The trigger for the Ukraine war: "Initially, it was the coup in Ukraine that provoked the conflict... They launched the war in Donbas in 2014 with the use of aircraft and artillery against civilians. This is when it all started."
NATO Expansion
Getting to the meat of the Ukraine war, Putin told Carlson that "The former Russian leadership assumed that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist and therefore there were no longer any ideological dividing lines. Russia even agreed voluntarily and proactively to the collapse of the Soviet Union, and believed that this would be understood by the so-called civilized West as an invitation for cooperation and association."
"We were promised no NATO to the east, not an inch to the east, as we were told. And then what? They said, well, it's not enshrined on paper, so we'll expand.""
"Last week, Tucker Carlson traveled to Rusia to interview President Vladimir Putin. This sent the left into hysterics - some of whom have called for the journalist to face sanctions, or worse.
Prior to the interview - which can be seen right now in its entirety at tuckercarlson.com, Carlson explained that it's his job as a journalist "to inform people," as "most Americans are not informed" as to what's happening in Ukraine.
To that end, let's get into it.
Tucker starts the interview by asking Putin why he invaded Ukraine, "and the answer we got shocked us."
Putin proceeded to delve into the history of Ukraine, going back to the middle-ages. Tucker pushed back, saying "I'm not sure why it's relevant to what happened two years ago," to which Putin continued with the history lesson.
"But why didn't you make this case for the first 22 years as president, that Ukraine wasn't a real country?" Tucker asked.
"The Soviet Union was given a great deal of territory that had never belonged to it, including the Black Sea region. At some point when Russia received them as an outcome of the Russo Turkish wars, they were called New Russia or another Russia. But that does not matter. What matters is that Lenin, the founder of the Soviet state, established Ukraine that way," Putin replied. "For decades, the Ukrainian Soviet Republic developed as part of the USSR. And for unknown reasons, again, the Bolsheviks were engaged in Ukrainization."
The trigger for the Ukraine war: "Initially, it was the coup in Ukraine that provoked the conflict... They launched the war in Donbas in 2014 with the use of aircraft and artillery against civilians. This is when it all started."
NATO Expansion
Getting to the meat of the Ukraine war, Putin told Carlson that "The former Russian leadership assumed that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist and therefore there were no longer any ideological dividing lines. Russia even agreed voluntarily and proactively to the collapse of the Soviet Union, and believed that this would be understood by the so-called civilized West as an invitation for cooperation and association."
"We were promised no NATO to the east, not an inch to the east, as we were told. And then what? They said, well, it's not enshrined on paper, so we'll expand.""
SOURCE URL: https://twitter.com/i/status/1755734405337723294
Ukraine (borders always in motion) was tossed around like a rag doll. Russia, Poland, Hungry, Lithuania, Romania, all possessing some or all of Ukraine.
Russia clearly having the longest standing claim, (16th century) of the most amount, of that war-torn country (the bloodlands).
Further, back in the 15th century, the Ukrainian head of state wrote letters to both Polish King (who was trying, and failing, to change their language and religious views, and The Russian Czar. Poland to leave, Russia to come to their aid.
They chose Russia. Most of the rest of the story is common knowledge:
The C.I.A. starts wars and coups everywhere they can, for the profit of the Central Bankers (which is the very reason they were created and exist to this day) that they (the C.I.A.) started this war by staging a coup in 2014.
It was a breath of fresh air to hear it proclaimed openly.
Mark Thursday February 8th 2024 as the day the Deep State and the Leftist puppets in Congress were exposed for the warpigs and financial oligarchs they are.
Politically and Legally they got spanked like a red-headed step child.
Their demented crony puppet illegally in the big chair, was exposed as a multiple count felon who cannot be legally prosecuted because he is too mentally impaired to stand trial.
The leaves Jamaican-Born CamelToe (Who can't legally be President), or Mike Johnson. This fight is going to be epic.
If the Deep State ceases Russian US Bonds, the world will have a fire sale of all their US bonds. BRICS is patiently waiting for the day the USA is no longer the worlds exchange.
That leaves two conclusions:
> This country has proven we can't be trusted with other peoples money.
> Our so-called leaders will not stand behind our treaties or agreements. As we used to say as kids, they lie like a rug.
There is no gentle way to say this, these are a self-inflicted wounds, yet another in a long series of unforced errors.
Bottom line. Putin puts Russia first.
I sure wish we had someone who put America first. Instead we have the worse political embarrassment any country has ever had to suffer through, at any time in history.
Prove me wrong.
MAGA Protestors were concerned, they did not riot.
From what I saw, it was a FED-Surection.
John Nichols (the scaffold commander), Ray Epps.... the people wearing their MAGA cap backwards... Panty-fah.
The first image of someone wearing a "Qanon shirt.... FED. FED FED.
The first windows broken were broken by the capitol police (there is video of this. it exists)
The FBI infiltrated the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. Seeing a pattern here?
They tear gassed the back of the crowd forcing the people in front with no choice but to go forward.
The pipebomb the cap-police expressed little interest in. They actually directed people (with children) to walk within the bombs range.
The violence was entirely an inside job.
What was clear is that the global delete and the American Kakistocracy has always shinned Russia, especially Putin, saying we'll get back to you and didn't.
Seems to me that Putin is a whole lot smarter and honest than any creatures in the rest of the world.
He reminded me a lot of Ayn Rand . . .
That said, I don't thin Putin is particularly bound by morality, particularly if his power was threatened. I do think that the Ukraine war could be stopped in a few days if Trump gets a chance to negotiate with Putin directly.
The relationship between Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill was always one of a politician (Roosevelt) with all the resources and two military tacticians who needed them. The Russians would have lost the war without the US providing necessary rubber for tires and shoes - they had the steel production and engineering to build tanks, etc. with the Ural mountains between them and the German armies. The problem for the Russians was that Moscow is on the other side of the Urals from the manufacturing base and thus their political capital was unprotected.
Similarly, Britain would have lost their part of the war without the US supplies in old naval vessels - primarily old destroyers on the so-called Lend-Lease program (which the US forgave) - as well as basic supplies such as food. But let's remember that England still had a formidable navy (which the Russians lacked) and so they still had access to shipping both from the United States and from the colonies in Africa and India and the Far East (Singapore was a hot spot).
The US had the economic base and it was insulated from direct conflict. England had its formidable Navy which controlled the Mediterranean Sea, and Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Russia had lots of people it was willing to sacrifice and lots of steel. Germany had a robust military culture and history and grievances against England (and France) from WW I. Italy was supposed to be the foil for the UK's navy - but they were remarkably absent, refusing to engage the British navy despite having superior numbers and local bases. Japan was similarly a military culture with larger ambitions which had been stunted by the Americans.
I think it's pretty remarkable that the Allies won, to be honest. A few major battles or strategic decisions different and the Axis could very well have forced a negotiated treaty at a bare minimum. The Battle of Britain, Midway, Dunkirk, Crete (the Germans tried to invade and cut off the British in the Med) and a handful of others (decision by Goering to go for jets instead of heavy bombers) all dramatically shaped the course of the war.
Why did you not fight the Propaganda?
My INTERPRETATION of the Response:
Putin: ~"Against the US-Controlled World-Wide Propaganda Machine... The likes the world has never seen before? Come On this would have been futile! Like trying to get your media to admit there was ZERO Russian Collusion, and Trump is a Decent Person... It simply cannot be said, heard, echoed or repeated without pain of punishment..."
If his English were better, he would have said it my way... LOL. But that's what I heard.
He could have added:
The Average Communist Mouthpieces BLUSH when they think of the power the USA Deep State/CIA Yield in spreading lies!
In fact, this is what made them realize that Capitalism produces better results!!!
Trust me Comrade!
ROTFLMAO
Russia and USA need to sit down and just end the Ukraining thing. We don't need to supply military stuff to maintain a conflict, and neither does Russia. As things are going, Ukraine in short order will be a vast wasteland filled with dead people- and for what?
If I was king, I would go over to Russia and work out a solution wherein both countries admit to misjudgment and bad actions that need to stop now-period. If both countries are ok with looking bad as a starter, the conflict can be over pretty fast.
have betrayed the country and the People and accept the punishment for treason.
The country nor the People have any responsibility for the unconstitutional actions
of the Deep State controlled government, except perhaps that the people have a
responsibility in a republic to revolt against the treasonous fedgov.
Gitmo all the most obvious traitors including many in the con-gress.
Otherwise the con-gress will just impeach him again and 4 years will
pass with nothing done and another traitor tyrant Democrat as incoming
potus after the election is stolen again will pardon everyone who is a
traitor and arrest thousands who are innocent.
The Jan 6 committee should be executed immediately for treason.
Constructive destruction is the likely path.
Mankind has gone through many stages of enlightenment, (or UN-enlightenment) from the spoken word, to communal living, complex societies, to metaphoric speech, awareness of one's own awareness, raw and evolved introspection and all actions in relation to that introspective ability; the latter, not always "just in time" results.
Believe what one may but it's clear that one cannot be blamed for the actions taken, mistakes, misunderstandings of the past, unless one is still behaving in those ways, (like the democrapic party and the resulting political Rino-viruses), much less the openly heathen UN-introspective bicameral's which pretty much involves 60% of present day population according to the last studies of such.
Of Course we understand that a majority of which resides within governments and associate offices.
If I were elected president, the first thing I would do is visit Putin and tell him that both Russia and the USA have made mistakes in the pas (The USA reneged on Minsk agreement and NATO, and Russia thought that taking over Ukraine would be a two day invasion and it wasn't), and its time to accept those and settle disagreements and move on. Russia and USA need to be friendly neighbors, same with China too. I would tell Putin that a good start would be to revisit the Minsk agreements and reinstate those and pull all the troops out on both sides and leave Ukraine to elect its own leaders and get no further military help without interference from the USA.
Trump can do this, and I hope for everyone's sake that he gets a chance to do just that. Biden and the left doesn't know how to get out of a war (Afghanistan), but certainly knows how to get us into one (ukraine)
Putiin asked a good question- with a huge national debt and uncontrolled borders, why is the USA interested at all in fighting in Ukraine? Damn good question !!!
The famous slogan of The New York Times~~"All The News That's Fit To Print"~~has a Fake News different meaning in this day and time.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/t...
I have no reason to doubt your personal Russian contacts, although I'm sure your observations often get discounted because those with opposing view tell you anecdotal experiences don't count in "the big picture." It has to be difficult for anyone from either country involved to get the facts out (just like I don't trust nearly every official source of information in our own government and media).
It's probably always been that way.
Please accept my apologies if I did call you a liar.
That was not my intention, which was to express my mistrust in reports from both sides of the conflict.
One very interesting post by a Polish officer stated that if Russian troops stepped over Poland's border their army would roll right over them, and in a few days be in Moscow. They would burn it to the ground like they did during the Polish-Muscovite War of 1605-1618.
What really started Ukraine-Russia relations rolling toward a catastrophic collision was Ukraine's refusal to renew the lease of Sevastopol for the Black Sea fleet. Without that port, Russia would have to undertake a huge infrastructure effort in Rostov or one of the other Black Sea Russian ports, so the loss of that port was the tipping point.
NATO is treaty bound to accept requests to join from any European state, and did not proselytize for new members after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was the rise to power of Yuri Andropov's favorite KGB agent Putin that led nations to seek NATO membership. Otherwise, they felt it was obvious that they would soon have the Russian collar around their necks again, in a new Warsaw Pact.
Trump held Putin's hand in check by simply telling him that he could break Russia's economic back by enabling increased production of American oil and gas, dropping the international price below what it cost the Russian industry to produce. Putin does not want to see Trump in charge again.
I'm sorry you all are so loyal to the Republicans that you can't see that Putin is an imperialist and NATO hasn't harmed the Russian people in the least. it has only limited Putin's imperial dreams.
and think before posting your criticism.
I would like to hear your opinion of the US telling the Russian leaders that NATO
would never move one inch closer to Russia and then breaking that promise.
This is not a case of NATO white hats against Russia black hats.
The sole evil empire is not in Moscow.
The biggest and most powerful evil is the Deep State warlords in D.C.,
Brussels, London, and their conspirators in places like Ukraine.
What power is going to limit that evil empire's 'imperial dreams?'
It certainly isn't coming from the GOP or the Democrats or
any other arm of the US federal government.
It certainly isn't coming from the UN which is a Deep State
conspirator supporting the evil imperial dreams.
Every country seems to want to take over other countries in the whole of history. The USA did it until it expanded from the Atlantic to the Pacific. I am sure Russia wants it too, even though they have more land area than anyone else (but most of it is frozen and useless). The USA should concentrate on making itself a great country with tremendous defenses that no one wants to test, and we ll live in peace as a result. Fighting over Ukraine is a useless exercise even for Russia, and it should be stopped ASAP
Russia can't stop trying to grab all the territory it can, as it will only have the young population to support military action for the next ten years, before the demographic bomb hits, and there aren't enough young people left. Even now the effects of the current action in Ukraine are straining the limits, as increasing the size of the military has reduced the size of the labor force for Russia's military industries to the point that they can't meet the schedules for new armored vehicles.
Common sense left the picture long ago, crushed by Putin's determination to restore Russia's international stature and secure a defensive posture that controls all the possible land invasion corridors.
A comment on countries going up and down. First of all, we are all dependent on other people for our lives as we know them today. Not just internationally, but also within our own borders. I just ate a fancy burger that had beef, cheese, jalapenos, lettuce, bacon, secret sauce(?). I am dependent on the farmers who made the lettuce, raised the cows and pigs, processed the cheese from the milk the cows provided. Without all those people, I don't eat what I just had. If our economy crashed, our lives as we know them would face major disruptions.
A business relies on customers and their needs. If those needs change because the customers are older or younger, the business must adapt in size and what it provides if it wants to stay in business.
Same thing applies to a country. The people in the country must be willing to adapt to changes in demographics both inside and outside its borders. That applies to the USA and also Russia. Economies are similar to individual businesses, and have to adapt to those changes. Trying to take over additional lands is not a very efficient way to adapt, as there are bad side effects to that. We in the USA should heed that and try to maintain our lifestyles in the face of many changes both inside and outside of our borders. We are doing a BAD job of that by bringing in millions of illegals who arent going to help our country by feeding off our citizens and not having useful skills. Our national debt is going to collapse the country financially at some point. Those two things are MAJOR problems that we are trying to ignore, but which till cripple us.
Russia should consider that same issues. Maybe Russia can preserve a significant amount of its economy even with demographic shifts, and still have good lives for its people. Russia is doing quite good with resources it can trade to other countries. Its pretty safe from invasion too. If mean who is going to attack Russia !!!!
Check out the YouTube channel Zeihan on Geopolitics, and Peter Zeihan has some very good discussions on what the impact of the demographics of many countries are going to have on the future of international trade. China, as just one example created a disaster for itself with its "one child" policies, and over the next decade will see a decay in the number of working age adults.
We definitely agree on the disaster that is the open border policy supported by the increasingly extreme left wing Democrat party. Unless we get a handle on it, they will discover too late what a huge mistake they've inflicted on this country.
Putin is trying, far too late, to shift the Russian demographics by encouraging larger families. However, he seems oblivious to the fact that he's draining the supply of reproductive age males with his insane Ukraine "special operation." The KIA ratio in the latest Russian offensive is a mind boggling 20 Russians killed for every single Ukrainian killed. Unfortunately, Russia finds itself in the hands of a madman with delusional visions of restoring the grandeur of the Russian empire.
I've seen a number of his videos and he always seems to parrot the Deep State propaganda of the day.
I think he's being fed by the state and is being paid to publish the videos. Just so you know which ones,
the Zeihan videos I recall were all saying how Ukraine was going to retake all their territory from Russia.
Maybe they will in 20 years, but he was talking about them doing so in a month (at that time), not 20 years.
I have no respect for Zeihan based upon those published videos.
I did check on his statements about the demographics, and his numbers are correct. Think about the predicted collapse of our Social Security system when all the Boomers retire, and there aren't enough working age people to keep feeding the Ponzi scheme. Russia has one of the worst demographic imbalances of the developed countries, so their situation is worse.
Unfortunately, there is no rational government that is foolish enough to accept them regardless
of the demographic imbalance 'problem.' Most of the rest of the world has many worse
problems and they don't purposely destroy their own civilization as a solution.
The solution is worse than the problem it is supposed to solve.
Americans managed to survive world wars and economic catastrophe at the hands of
the banking cartel. American people can conquer this 'problem' better than the elite
but the result might be better for the people and reduce the wealth and power of the state.
It's another 'problem' like global warming. It will just give the Deep State cover
for their plans to eliminate all freedoms except for themselves.
Typical of the elite who feel that the people can't decide whats best for themselves
and their loved ones. They are definitely traitors and should be treated as traitors.
I am very interested in those factual details.
The normal ratio of attackers to defenders is estimated at about 3 to 1, but the UK intelligence service has estimated a consistent 7 to 1 ratio for the "special operation" based on the number of Russian units that lost combat capability and had to be replaced.
Ukraine appears to have made better use of FPV drones, and has stepped up production to the extent they can target troops as well as armor, flying the explosive drones directly into Russian trenches.
Part of the armor loss may be due to the effort to bulk up the force with the use of updated T-55 and T-62 tanks, that are more vulnerable to FPV drone attacks than the T-72, T-80, and T-90. When a Russian T-55 or T-62 is lost, more KIA result, as the older tanks lack the autoloader, and have to have a fourth crewman to load the cannon.
I was surprised at the KIA ratio, and tried to get a link to a complete document, but all I've found is secondhand information through American and French sources, so it's one of those things that have to be taken as a "could be less, could be more" number.
It's plausible that the "Storm Z" troops, who have limited training could be the source of heavy losses, inexperienced, sent into combat with limited ammo, and shot if they try to retreat. The Russian commanders seem to be banking on the fact the Ukrainians are going to run out of ammo before Russia runs out of bodies, and given the admission from the Ukrainians that they're desperately short on artillery shells, the Russian commanders may be right.
My company buys a lot from china, and I have to say that most of the peoplewe deal with in China are young people who look like 12 years old, but are probably no more than 21. Zeihan is a bit sold on himself and his cocky attitude, and it makes me trust what he is saying about China and how they cant do anything about the effects of demography, I look at the unbelievable growth and vitality the Chinese people have shown, and it just seems to me that with that level of adaptability, they will find a way to survive.
The Ukraine mess is definitely a Putin mistake. Biden is just carrying out the orders he gets from the folks behind the curtain. American military action has become an embarrassment, and the constant whining about not wanting to escalate has prevented decisive action needed. The world is exploding because our enemies feel the time to take us down is while we have an incompetent demented head of state.
If Russia shifts its gears (and Putin will have to go for that to happen) away from being primarily a military production house to being an agricultural breadbasket (they already provide a substantial part of the world's grain supply), using their technological edge to further automate agricultural production, that will overcome its demographic issues.
If you want evidence of something not being right, some of the recent Ukrainian videos from the front line show T-62 and T-55 tanks they've stopped that have no upgrades, like added armor, which indicates they were sent to the front directly from storage, as soon as they could be made to run. That's a sign of problems in the refitting that's supposed to happen with these older vehicles, indicating labor problems crippling the component supply chain. Earlier these vehicles were just used as "zombies," loaded with explosives and sent without crew into minefields to clear a path, and later were said to just be used as light mobile artillery, not on the front line, but lately have been seen as part of direct assault forces.
However,as to the Ukrainian video, I have no faith in anything coming from the Ukrainians who are liars (desperate or corrupt to get more billions that we can't afford to send) or the western press who are utterly controlled.
Based on conversations I had some years ago with Russians, Putin has respect and control because he has convinced Russians that he is a Russian patriot. (I haven't spoken to them recently.)
I tend to rely on France 24 and the Indian news service, CRUX, which seem to be more even handed in their coverage of the whole affair.
Nuclear weapons are not going to save the Russian Federation. He who first uses nuclear weapons will result in immediate expanded use of nuclear weapons and the end of civilizations. So, every country really might as well get rid of them.
The EU and NATO both indicated the door was open for Russian membership, but the Russians viewed those as traps to make them subordinate to foreign rule. Putin was smart enough to recognize it was easier to support the Russian ego and pride than to convince Russians that joining those organizations could be a positive thing.
Call it a culture clash, and Putin had a personal vision of remaking Russia into a superpower again, which led to supporting the other side of whomever the western countries didn't get along with. He appears to have felt the Cold War was a good thing, keeping the world in balance, and wanted to restore that balance.
Wanting to avoid the problems of the Soviet economy, Putin went the fascist direction, with the state directing the economy, rather than trying to own it, and it appeared to be working, until he decided to stop the move for independence of some of the former socialist republics, diverting the nation's wealth into increasing military ventures.
We had a fantasy of a new Russia that would become part of one big family of developed countries, and Putin spoiled that vision, so a lot of Americans are pissed that he stomped on the dream.
All that said, USA needs to think about USA first, as does European countries. We need less government, less controls on the economy, no money printing, and a strong moral fiber as well as impenetrable defenses. Russia will do what it does and we should stay out of it
fall of the USSR are pissed that foreigners stomped on their dreams.
I take no side in this as I have little to base a rational conclusion.
Some who lived in Soviet satellite countries said they sometimes longed for the stability they had under the Soviets.
This surprised me, coming from people who had learned to prosper in a freer 'western' world.
American and European business persons weren't trained to deal with the introduction of their way of conducting things to people that had no exposure to the high risk environment of western markets. There was no ill intent on the part of western players, but they didn't realize the effect on Russians who had no skill or desire to operate in such an environment. When ventures failed, or payment wasn't made because a product wasn't delivered, or didn't meet standards, the Russians felt betrayed.
If there had been a strategy to create a kind of middle ground, to meet Russians halfway as they were introduced to how to deal with western folks that had so recently been their enemy, and who might as well have been beings from another planet when it cam to the conduct of business affairs, things might have turned out differently.
2) There is a lot of ingenuity inherent in the people, and I think Zeihan doesn't take that into account. Policies could change as demographics change
Xi has established such absolute control that if something happens to him, there's no real successor. When things fall apart, as I suspect they will, things will become brutal in the Middle Kingdom as he lashes out to punish anyone he thinks enabled failure.
Compared to those terminal cancerous lesions on humanity, Putin's dreams are insignificant cold viruses.