I enter this news wrap-up at minute 12 with a discussion of Ukraine’s latest announcement on exports of its military supplies, in particular in the Middle East.  We move on to an item in the EU’s planned 20^th package of sanctions against Russia: interception of Russian tankers at sea.  The EU legal team is hard at work trying to justify what is in effect piracy as something acceptable under international law.  As I say in this interview, von der Leyen and her minions are doing their best to bring Europe into open war with Russia at a time when the outcome is clear – turning Western Europe into a Gaza-like wasteland.

https://www.urmedium.net/c/presstv/135851

This morning I wrote about this interview on my Subdtack platform and now it is my pleasure to offer the link to the podcast here on Word Press.  I do not mince words in the interview:  Ursula von der Leyen and Kaja Kalas are leading the European Union to collapse at best and to destruction under Russian bombs at worst.

To what I say on this interview I can add a piquant further detail:  this intended damage to the Hungarian economy is precisely introduced to cause economic harm before the coming general elections in Hungary later this spring.  While the Financial Times told us two days ago that the Commission has decided not to say or do anything that would appear to influence the elections against Orban, the cut-off of Druzhba is precisely that.

http://www.urmedium.net/c/presstv/135837

This is a focused 2 minute discussion of the impact of Ukraine’s cutting delivery of Russian oil to Slovakia and Hungary via the Druzhba pipeline.  A work-around is being put together with Croatia, so that the consequences may be less consequential than Kiev may have hoped.

My apologies for the poor sound quality on this podcast.

This early morning interview starting on minute 4.30 focuses on British and American approaches to the Ukraine negotiations, the split in the Ukrainian negotiating delegation over conceding the Donbas to Russia, the British and American positions on Iran, the meaning of joint Russian and Iranian naval exercises going on in the Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean, and the relative weighting of Russian and Chinese assistance to Tehran.

This afternoon interview begins at minute  3.30  and deals with an evaluation of the results of trilateral Russian-Ukrainian-US negotiations yesterday and today in Geneva, the likelihood of a power struggle now going on in Kiev over abandonment of the Donbas, the ongoing meeting of Cuban Foreign Minister in Moscow  and the prospects for Russian assistance to Cuba.

Yes, indeed, NATO Secretary General speaking in the context of the ongoing Munich Security Conference has gleefully declared that Russia is experiencing “crazy losses” of 65,000 soldiers killed or wounded in the past two months and that the Russian economy is reeling from a one-third loss of oil export revenues. These words are meant to prod Conference attendees to believe in a possible Ukrainian victory in the war and to maintain solid materiel and financial support to Kiev.

If only words could win wars, Zelensky and Co. would be carried aloft by proud patriots down the streets of Kiev.

Reality tells any neutral observer that Rutte’s figures are ‘crazy’ in the sense that they are totally fabricated in the febrile word shops of Kiev and have no substance to them.

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NewsX World (India) morning interview :  a potpourri of issues relating to the Russia-Ukraine war

This six-minute interview which begins at minute 4 on the podcast covers a number of different issues, some of which have arisen from discussions ongoing in the Munich Security Conference. We discuss British Prime Minister Starmer’s views on how Europe should bulk up its defensive capabilities while remaining in close association with the United States. We discuss the time frame needed for Europe to rearm and how the Russians may react to such a threatening development.  We discuss Emmanuel Macron’s supposed agreement with German Chancellor Merz on a shared nuclear umbrella, which might just be in violation of the treaty on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons to which both are signatories. 

Promotional offer for new one-year paid subscriptions to gilbertdoctorow.substack.com, the web platform where I publish analytical essays which are not posted on Word Press You will be eligible to receive a free of charge paperback copy of th historical novel on the Russian emigration of the 1970s, ‘Nadine’s Story’ by Larisa Zalesova. Subscribers must identify themselves by email to gsdoctorow@gmail.com to avail themselves of this offer. Information about the book is available on the various country websites of Amazon.

https://www.urmedium.net/c/presstv/135802

In this interview, I insist that Merz is the most dangerous German leader since Adolf Hitler and that his plans for making Germany the strongest military force in Europe is an incarnation of Hitler’s vision. On top of this Merz is in talks with Emmanuel Macron over making the French nuclear force de frappe mutualized, meaning that Germany would receive nuclear bombs from the French, something which will meet with violent opposition of the Russians as it violates the terms of the Non-proliferation treaty on nuclear arms.

The interview was framed by Merz’s speech to the Munich Security Conference today which reconfirms that he is taking Germany in the wrong direction by preparing it for an eventual open war with Russia in 2030.  He has learned nothing from J.D. Vance’s rebuke at the Conference one year ago that suppression of free speech and of other liberties in Europe is a greater threat to European security than China or Russia. Instead, Merz insisted that Europe must act against disinformation, meaning in practice, censorship and trampling on free speech.  The only progress of democracy from a year ago under American pressure was the admission this year to the Conference proceedings of the Alternativ fuer Deutschland representatives.

Breaking news indeed!  This interview opens with the presenter saying that the Russian-Ukrainian-US talks on peace will recommence on 17 February where they were last held, meaning Abu Dhabi.  Then half way through our conversation we learn that the talks will in fact be held in Geneva.

No matter! The essential fact remains that the two sides are very far apart insofar as Zelensky refuses to make any territorial concessions, refuses to face the reality that Ukraine has lost the war because he is being encouraged by Europe to keep on fighting and to rely on their arms and cash deliveries to Kiev.

Under the circumstances, the greatest likelihood is that the sides will not have an agreed text of a peace treaty ready for Trump’s deadline of 15 May and Mr. Trump will walk away from these negotiations lest his continued participation have an adverse effect on the Republicans’ campaigning for November mid-term elections.  In that case the interesting question is whether Trump will stop all U.S. arms shipments to Europe for Ukraine, will he stop the U.S. intelligence sharing with Ukraine.  If this happens, then the war will wind down in a matter of weeks whatever the Europeans may wish or say.