In the video below, Col. Douglas Macgregor speaks with Borschy on Russia’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine.
Col. Macgregor noted,
“I don’t really see much evidence for a peace process that involves the United States or its so-called NATO allies.”
.
.
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Following is a transcript generated by Youtube
Ukraine um what do you make out of the
most recent development in what I still
hope is a peace process but it might
actually be unraveling in front of our
eyes
yeah I I don’t really see much evidence
for a peace process that involves the
United States or its so-called NATO
allies i don’t see much happening there
i I think what we we have to keep in
mind and we don’t understand this in the
West at all is that the guiding
strategic imperative for President Putin
from the very outset from February
2022 until now has been to scrupulously
avoid war with the United States and
NATO that’s something he doesn’t want
and never has wanted and so he’s worked
to try and contain the conflict keep it
from spreading and try to prevent the
Europeans from foolishing intervening in
it now the difference between Ukraine
today and the Ukrainian war with Russia
today and what it was in February 2022
is very important in at the time that
Russia entered eastern Ukraine for the
purpose as they as we know of uh
essentially ending the oppression of the
Russians that lived there stop the
discrimination the maltreatment and in
fact the killings of Russian citizens
going on in Luhansk Donetsk
Uh Russia at that point was actually not
very strong it it had a modest military
establishment it could intervene in
eastern Ukraine but it certainly wasn’t
capable of doing a great deal more than
essentially intervening and sending
quote unquote a signal that Russia was
serious about its
intentions that has changed russia is
now arguably the leading certainly army
ground force in the world let there be
no mistake about it and they have taken
some casualties but nothing compared
with what has happened to the Ukrainians
and I would estimate perhaps 100 to
120,000 Russian soldiers have been
killed and when I say Russian that
includes obviously Chetchin forces that
have joined into this battle and also
Luhanska Donetsk veterans people that
have fought there to begin with with the
Russians against Ukrainians but the
Ukrainians have now lost 1.5 million
people
russia has developed a a marvelous
24-hour a day 7-day a week manufacturing
base capable of meeting all the demands
of the battlefield from standard
munitions for artillery all the way up
to and including sophisticated drones
missiles rockets and so forth in other
words Russia’s on a war fitting war
footing russia has effectively won the
fight on the battlefield and is now po
poised to complete its destruction of
its enemy let’s be frank that’s where
they are and the Ukrainians are in very
very bad shape each day is worse more
people are being killed it’s very
reminiscent of what it was like to be in
the German military in the last 6 to 8
months of World War II that’s when the
Germans by the way took most of their
casualties and people don’t realize that
uh but when you look at that war that’s
it’s very similar to the the collapse of
the German armed forces and the and the
Germans did not completely collapse all
at once they had to be driven out and
they certainly fought as they retreated
and withdrew but the point is that’s
what we have right now with the
Ukrainians now the difference is I think
things have changed inside Ukraine we’re
now hearing that there are large numbers
of Ukrainian organizations you could
call them gangs whatever you want to
call them who are now essentially
obstructing the forcible recruitment of
Ukrainians into the army in other words
they’re not allowing either old men
young men or any men that can be found
on the streets to be picked up shoved
into vans and sent off for a couple of
weeks of orientation and then killed on
the Eastern Front against the Russians
they’re stopping it so there’s real
opposition to the war inside Ukraine in
ways that did not exist let’s say 6 or
12 months ago inside Russia the opposite
is the case they have no trouble
recruiting they have no trouble with
volunteers they have more troops than
they know what to do with at this point
in other words they have almost more
that they can adequately train and equip
and prepare for operations
uh than they need but they are still
taking them in they are bringing them in
they are outfitting them and they have
enough forces that they can now rotate
routinely in and out of the battle zone
and gradually introduce new formations
to the battlefront so that they can
learn how to fight without losing
heavily in the process these changes are
very important so when you talk about a
peace process there is none because the
United States led by President Trump uh
in a in a state of complete and utter
what I would call ignorance and
arrogance has walked into this war and
said “I’m going to stop this i’m going
to force Zalinski and Putin to the table
as though this were a schoolyard dispute
and two opposing boys could be made to
sit in the corner and cooperate with
each other there is never been an
understanding in Washington of the
complexities of this fight how it came
about what the long-term problems are
there’s no no comprehension of what the
Russians continually refer to as the
root problems nor has there been any
willingness to address those and
Russia’s legitimate national security
interests have been treated with
complete contempt so now Trump is
irrelevant the United States is
irrelevant and he’s essentially thrown
up his hands walked away and abdicated
responsibility for the conflict in the
meantime the people that have always
wanted this war for the purpose of
harming Russia who are sitting in the
Senate in the House in the CIA and
potentially the Department of Defense or
State Department they are in charge so
they are continuing to provide aid and
continuing to push the war that’s where
we are yeah I I I agree with that
assessment the thing is you know I a
couple of weeks ago I talked to Mikuel
Fondulenborg he’s a European a German
MEP in in the European Parliament and he
was for many many years a a negotiator
and and and you know involved in also
the peace process between Iran and Iraq
and his assessment of the the way that
things were going was that this is what
we usually see in peace processes where
one side makes an offer then the other
one and the the fighting continues at
the time and the the big difference now
to let’s say half a year ago when Mr
biden was still in office is that we
actually do have talks happening phone
calls we have delegations meeting in uh
in Istanbul and um do you do you hold
any hopes for this political process
that’s going hand in hand and you know
the Russians made it clear they will not
give a ceasefire and negotiate we will
negotiate while shooting and only once
we have an a hard deal the way that the
the Russians think this will actually
help solve the overall problem then the
shooting will end um how do you see this
parallel track um um uh strategy of the
Russians evolving
well as long as Zilinski is in charge in
Kief and his little band that surrounds
him uh I see no hope for any sort of
solution at all because anytime he is
approached he makes it abundantly clear
that there will be no recognition of any
of the territorial gains made by the
Russians there will be no recognition of
Crimea uh nothing nothing along those
lines or is forthcoming from him i think
as long as he’s there there will be no
peace and if you listen to Lavough who
spoke yesterday and read from a paper
trying to explain what Russia’s
positions are not that it was new i mean
we’ve listened to these positions over
and over and over again for months
except that nobody in Washington has
listened but the rest of us have all
listened to it but he made it very clear
th this is an impass and as long as this
regime is in power
The Russians will not abandon the
Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine
effectively Russians in eastern Ukraine
to the tender mercies of the Ukrainians
because they know that with this regime
in charge if they were to do such a
thing the SBU in other words Ukrainian
secret police would simply show up and
start putting bullets in everybody’s
head and that’s unacceptable in fact you
know a lot of people don’t understand
this when the Russians first went into
eastern Ukraine they were told “Don’t
shoot at anybody unless you’re being
shot at uh avoid any confrontation if
you can talk to people.” And so lots of
Russians came out and said “Hi we’re so
glad to see you where have you been
thank God and what are you going to do?”
And the answer was “Well we’re going to
come in here until there’s an agreement
and then we’re leaving we’re going back
to Russia.” And and these people said
“Well if you’re not going to stay get
the hell out of here because the only
thing you’re doing is consigning us to a
firing squad we’ll all be murdered after
you leave.” Well it took a while for
that to sink in in Moscow it actually
took 2 or 3 months and finally Putin
realized he was dealing with a very
different situation from the one he
thought he was confronting well I think
that still obtains now only it obtains
with great clarity they’re not giving up
anything that they currently hold and
they don’t see any reason why they
should in fact they’ve now publicized
what they are calling a buffer zone and
if you look at the buffer zone that’s
most everything that’s east of the Neper
River plus Odessa well gosh what a
surprise i’ve been waiting for that for
the last two years well this is this is
where we’re headed as a minimum and
nothing is going to change that and our
friend Zalinski is going to continue to
talk as though he has a chance to re
reverse that or a chance to halt this as
long as we continue to support him and
we’re continuing to support him so in
your assessment like you know the idea
of a buffer zone in my view the the
Russian optimal case would have been
entire the entirety of Ukraine to be a
buffer zone as a neutral state right and
a big that was the idea and now it seems
the Russians are giving up on that and
saying like okay if we can’t have a big
buffer zone then we want at least a
military 150 200 kilometer buffer zone
uh in order to to make sure that these
most the fastest small rockets can’t
reach very very quickly right do you
think that’s the new strategy now saying
like okay if we don’t get an agreement
we create a military solution to this uh
to this problem and it will include a
buffer zone which we don’t control but
which is basically a bit like the 38th
parallel in in the Koreas right well I
think it’s I think they will control it
in fact I think before you get the
so-called buffer zone they will denute
it of Ukrainian military presence i
don’t think they’re going to tolerate
that so I I think ultimately everything
up to the NPA river will be cleared of
Ukrainians and then they’re going to go
into Odessa remember Odessa is the
principal resupply point for the
Ukrainian military certainly we fly
things into Poland we send things
through Poland into Ukraine but they get
an enormous amount of support supplies
everything from ammunition to food
through Odessa so to ignore Odessa and
leave that in Ukrainian hands is
something that I don’t think the
Russians are going to do i I think we
have to look at this a little
differently i think yes they’ve
concluded that what reason do they have
to believe anything we say that’s the
first question look at what happened
with the Minsk agreements and obviously
Putin signed on to that and they made a
fool out of out of President Putin let’s
face it Putin and Lavough looked foolish
and stupid they believed what Merkel and
Obama and subsequently Trump said it was
all nonsense it never it never had any
basis in fact so if you’ve already been
down the road with this Minsk business
what are you going to believe unless you
cross the river and expunge this regime
in Kief and right now I I don’t think
that they’ve decided to do it but I
think they’re getting closer with each
passing day but what they have decided
is that everything up to the river is
going to be under Russian control it
will be denuted of any Ukrainian forces
now will they ultimately decide uh at
some point are they prepared to turn
over say DPRO or something like this to
the Ukrainians uh I don’t know i I doubt
it it’s it’s not impossible they’ve
already looked at Sunumi after the Kursk
intervention and they said why are we
why are we uh stopping what what is the
incentive for us to halt anywhere short
of the Napper River aren’t we leaving
ourselves open to future attack if you
can control everything up to the Neper
River and someone moves short range or
intermediate range ballistic missiles
into western Ukraine you can destroy
those from eastern Ukraine in other
words you have the range and the reach
you have the overhead satellites as well
as other forms of surveillance and of
course you’ve got lots of operatives on
the ground who are going to pick up the
cell phone and tell you what you want to
know so the Russians I think are saying
if we can’t get a truly neutral state
because we don’t know that we can ever
trust an agreement that creates a
neutral state in western Ukraine if we
occupy and control everything up to the
river plus Odessa we probably have
control of the region if we need it in
other words if we have to attack into
the west if we have to destroy something
we see over there if we see things
develop as we watched in the past then
we can attack so I think that’s kind of
the thinking behind the scenes i’m
speculating i I’m not on on distribution
from the Russian general staff it would
make life a lot easier but the the point
is I think that’s where the mentality is
right now yeah I I see that too because
you know on on in some stupid corners of
mass media the the the the narrative we
get is still oh my god Putin will will
occupy all of Ukraine and then he will
go into Europe i mean the there is no
military uh uh rationale behind trying
to take the entirety of Ukraine right
that would be a poison pill so the
question is how do you how do you keep
that that bad part out have your the
part that you claim and that is filled
with with Russian people and so on that
is now under the Russian constitution uh
safe and then the buffer zone what would
that what is a buffer zone in in
military terms i mean is it no man’s
land or is it like the the jur uh
Ukrainian but the the Russian military
has like um absolute uh control over it
how how how should we imagine that
buffer zone to what will it be i mean
the Russians would probably not chase
away all of the civilian inhabitants of
that area right no no I don’t think so
either uh I think they would leave that
civilian population in place in fact
probably welcome it if it came back
they’re not interested in permanent
hostility with the Ukrainian people per
se they are very sensitive to what
happens in Western Ukraine i have had
Russians tell me some in uniform this is
within the last few years that they
thought that the best solution was for
the Poles to move into Western Ukraine
because within a very short period of
time there would be a Polish Ukrainian
war and then the Russians would have
less to worry about uh because the
Ukrainians hate the Poles and Ukrainians
hate a lot of people not just Russians
all sorts of people and the Poles have
had their eye on that area they ruled it
for hundreds of years obviously but
they’ve also had bad experiences it was
ultimately the Kossac rebellions that
weakened Poland so much that it had to
ultimately vanish from the map because
it couldn’t rule itself so you know the
Russians know the history and you’re
absolutely right there is no interest in
going into Western Ukraine under any
circumstances so that the notion that
that was ever on anybody’s mind is just
nonsense in fact I think they would be
very grateful if the Poles the Slovox
the Hungarians
uh the people in Mulava and Romania
would all sit down and say “Look let’s
sort this thing out let’s come to some
sort of agreement.” And I think that
could happen ultimately but
unfortunately at the moment we’re making
that impossible you heard the
announcement from Chancellor Matz who
now says there are no restrictions on
the use of the strike weapons with a
range of 300 miles or 500 km well you
know this puts the Russians in a very
difficult position they made it clear
this is unacceptable so the question now
is how much do they put up with
before Chancellor Merittz wakes up in
the middle of the night with a missile
in his bedroom and people don’t think
that’s possible they’re wrong the
Russians have just about had it with
this German government and the Russians
do not necessarily understand how this
government could behave as it does when
the overwhelming majority of Germans
want nothing to do with this war in
Ukraine just as the overwhelming
majority of Poles want nothing to do
with it uh they’ve been waiting for
these people to change their governments
i know that for a fact they’ve said
clearly you know give these people time
they’ll put somebody else in power who
makes sense but it hasn’t happened yet
the problem is that even if you have 80
85 90% of the population against the war
with Russia if you manage to bait Russia
into firing the first shots then you you
you will have that war i mean that’s
what happened to Ukraine that’s how they
got this mass mobilization and so on
this is how the the neocon factions
managed to to get the war going in the
first place by having the other side
firing like crossing the first like big
uh uh uh
uh border right and and and and moving
in but the Europeans Colonel you know I
I listened again to one of these very
popular talk shows in Germany they still
to this date argue that oh we cannot
reward Russia with territories reward
they use the word reward still after 3
years they think it’s a reward that
Russia is winning the war um can you I I
don’t want to raise your blood pressure
but can you talk to that a little bit
where and when what would it take for
the Europeans especially the Germans for
this to sink in that this is not a
reward this is this is the the the the
bloody outcome of a bloody horrible war
the way that Berlin was not a reward in
45 well that’s right no this is a de
facto recognition of what what exists
that is not reversible at this stage or
should be frankly given Russia’s
interests i think and I have a lot of
friends in Germany and I do talk to them
as you know and they tell me there has
been a sea change in public opinion in
Germany that first of all the the
Germans are sick of all the foreigners
they have in their country not just
Muslims uh they’re also sick of the
Ukrainians who are in Germany just as
the Poles are sick of the three million
Ukrainians in their country uh a lot of
people don’t know it but this is an
interesting interesting side when the
Ukrainians in Poland were asked what
language they wanted their children to
be instructed in they all said Russian
uh so you know the the Germans are
looking at this and the average German
on the street is we’re we’re kind of fed
up and disgusted with this now what
you’re saying is that if Matt ends up
with a missile in his bedroom that the
entire German nation is going to
suddenly mobilize equip and march east
no I don’t see it first of all these
military establishments in in Europe
particularly in Western Europe are so
backward they are so complacent their
discipline is so poor it would take a
decade to recover from the current state
of of their armed forces now they can
certainly build missiles and rockets but
then again you’re just exchanging with
the Russians look at the size of Russia
look at the size of Germany that’s going
to be a short exchange i I don’t see the
Germans doing that i think the Germans
are increasingly dissatisfied with Matts
and and everybody else and the
interesting thing is that this has been
wonderful for the alternative futon you
know the the AFD has benefited
enormously from it but they’re also
continually excluded from the policy
process they’re kept out of everything
so if you look at this it’s kind of uh
national socialism in reverse you know
you’ve got this dictatorial regime in
Berlin that wants to pursue policies
that are fundamentally antithetical to
the interest of the German nation and
they remain in power and the one party
that is absolutely opposed to war with
Russia it’s opposed to
de-industrialization it’s imposed to the
destruction of the German economy and it
has recognized the futility and
stupidity of trying to build an armed
forces an armed force right now to fight
Russia
uh but they can’t get into the policym
process now will this last forever no I
don’t think so and I think what will
happen is they will eventually gain
power but in the meantime if the German
people uh have any say in anything and I
think they would in in the case of going
to war with Russia they would oppose it
especially since we’ve made it clear and
this is the other strange phenomenon you
have on the one hand Trump adopting the
Bellose language make making these
statements that have no bearing on
reality things that he rejected 120 days
ago 180 days ago he wouldn’t have said
any of them now he’s saying them
essentially repeating this sort of
neocon globalist narrative about Russia
he’s also saying he wants to get out of
Germany he wants to withdraw forces from
Germany well if you’re a German and you
say “Well the Americans the Americans
want to get out.” Do you think he’s
serious about that i I just can’t
imagine it you think he’s serious look
one of the thing in private conversation
with him in November of
2020 he made it abundantly clear that he
was deadly serious and that wasn’t the
first time he has long felt that the
Europeans should be their own first
responders president Trump is not not a
fool he understands just as Eisenhower
did in the 1950s there will be no new
Normandy invasion it’s not going to
happen we’re not coming back with
millions of troops we can’t do it the
technology of warfare has changed and if
we’re going to send anything to anybody
that’s meaningful it has to go by sea
and today any convoy that crosses the
Atlantic or the Pacific with large
quantities of troops and material is
going to be identified and ultimately
destroyed either by groundbased or air
launched precision missile strikes or by
submarines so it’s over and he knows
it’s over the Europeans are in denial
they don’t want to accept that but
they’ve got to come to terms with it hey
*
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