An open letter to Glenn Diesen:
Scott Ritter and whom you invite onto your programs
Glenn,
It is with sadness that I inform you that I will no longer accept interview invitations on your channel.
I just listened to the first 3 minutes of your latest chat with Scott Ritter, and since you did not warn him against vicious gutter attacks on me, knowing surely that he would do this following his other very recent podcasts, and particularly Ritter on Consortium News with Joe Lauria last week, I do not see that you are exercising the host’s obligation to set ground rules and prevent the channel being used for defamatory purposes. When Ritter said that Doctorow was speaking the biggest piece of horse shit he has seen in his life, he crossed all red lines of civilized discourse and you did nothing about it.
Tant pis. We all will be judged by the company we keep.
Gilbert D.
A word to the Community:
I understand that the Putin cheerleader cohort is greatly disturbed by any suggestion that Russia might be losing the war even if it is couched in the specific frame that I am applying: namely that Putin’s victory on the ground in further territorial conquest is in fact a Pyrrhic victory given the damage being done to Russian deterrence and sovereignty on the Russian homeland. And so some of my peers throw facts and reason to the wind in an ugly effort to stifle dissent in the Alternative Media.
As you will see when last night’s interview with Michael Farris (Coffee and a Mike) is posted, most likely later today, my understanding of the grave situation created by the intensifying Ukrainian (read NATO) drone attacks was validated by none other than the RF Ministry of Foreign Affairs during its 3-hour teleconference on Kherson oblast last Friday to which I was invited as a representative of Belgium. The Governor of Kherson and other authorities explained how and why the region has become nearly uninhabitable due to the drones. No electricity, no mine-free streets or sidewalks, real deprivation and fear for their lives. The same situation exists today in the Crimea which has been effectively cut off from mainland Russia. If this is the smell of victory, what does Russian defeat look like?
I will use every possibility at my disposal to learn more about the accelerating NATO attacks via Ukraine and about what effect Russia’s reprisal strikes are having.
My apologies go out to those among you who wish to believe that we are all angels on the side of Good. No, life is more complicated.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2026
Gilbert Doctorow 
Dear Gilbert, I read Ritter’s substack article criticising you, at best it was highly polemical and at worst could be seen as abusive. I found the difference of views between yourselves interesting, one coming from a military background and yours from a more scholarly background based on your experience operating on Russian business and society. I appreciate your providing a different perspective on the SMO and attacks on Russian territory and the impact on Russian economy and society. I didn’t watch Ritter’s interview by Diessen but if he indeed said you spoke ‘horseshit’ – which I can well believe given Ritter’s liberal use of the ‘F-word’ when an interviewer asked him about the sting operation against him (which I shared with you many months ago) – then you acted honourably in your letter to Diessen, who apparently did nothing to rebuke Ritter for speaking that way. I deeply respect you standing up for common courtesy, which is a sine qua non for rational debate in a free environment. Demonising one’s opponents instead of demonstrating the falseness of their arguments is another step down the hole of inverted totalitarianism (a la Sheldon Wolin) where we all cower in our hermeneutically sealed echo chambers and hurl abuse at each other. So it is positive that you withdrew from Diessen’s show in order to fight for the idea of common courtesy in fee speech dialogue. I have faced this same type of abuse from the mouths/pens of Zionist ideologues in South Africa, who then add injury to insult by litigating against anti-Zionist political practices. Best wishes and in solidarity, Paul Hendler, Stellenbosch, South AFrica.
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Thanks!
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I am surprised at this dispute, in that Ritter would be among the first to agree with you ( one would think) about Putin not being strong enough and allowing NATO to hit with impunity.
He himself was angry with Russia not taking out various bridges and infrastructure in Ukraine from the beginning.
Where he should have tried to criticise you was for being very generous in your readings of Trump’s intentions towards Russia, even at a late stage, including all this “spirit of Anchorage ” insulting guff that has made the Kremlin a laughing stock.
I don’t blame you at all for believing about Trump’s goodwill- but the Kremlin for doing so for so long
Also, Zelensky seems to be making publicly aware of each major Russian attack at least 12 hours,even a day, beforehand but the major attacks on Russia from Ukraine they seem to only know about in the morning headlines,morning social media, after it had occurred.
Unacceptable situation once again
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I agree with the first comment.
On another note the Zelensky regime may be scoring a critical own-goal with the dismissal of young, anti-corruption, drone-tech expert Fedorov as Defense minister. Some commanders are quitting in response.
There has been a lot of frustration with endemic corruption, which drives team-Zelensky, of course.
This might be a trigger for revolt. It is possible.
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For what it may be worth – and I stress: not to take away from what you say – I wonder if Glenn Diesen simply does not have the personality that laying down ground rules, even as host on his own channel, requires.
I’m very new to watching podcasts but I’m trying to recall a single instance when that was done by anyone. Not to excuse Diesen, only to say I’ve never even seen him so much as interrupt a guest, let alone in order to lay ground rules.
Nonetheless, I agree that Ritter is out of line. And it saddens me to see him being so unnecessarily and inappropriately divisive, especially seeing as that’s put a wedge between you and Glenn Diesen, both of whom, whenever I’ve seen together, give me the pleasant impression of a mentor with his subject.
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