Tucker Carlson interview with Sergei Lavrov: the highlights
Key Markets update for Friday, 6 December 2024.
Tucker Carlson travelled to Russia once more, this time to interview the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergei Lavrov. The interview was published today and is available at this link.
Carlson's outreach is important as it allows Western audiences to hear from a representative of the Russian government directly, rather than from representatives of Western governments, think-tanks or media. Here are the highlights of what Lavrov attempted to convey to Western audiences:
THE ORESHNIK "SIGNAL": Russia wants to avoid escalating the conflict in Ukraine and hopes that its "signal," in using the Oreshnik missile, would be taken seriously by the Western powers. When Carlson asked Lavrov, what was the signal, he answered that the US and its allies who authorized Ukraine to strike at Russia with Western-supplied long-range weapons, must understand that Russia will use any means available to prevent sustaining a strategic defeat, which is what the Western powers are trying to inflict on Russia. Lavrov further underscored that the reason they're fighting the war in Ukraine is existential for Russia and contrasted it with Western objectives, which are focused on controlling the resource wealth of the region.
LIMITED NUCLEAR EXCHANGE: Lavrov discussed this in the context of a "new" thinking by some in the US and NATO, mentioning specifically U.S. Strategic Command and Rear Admiral Thomas R. Buchanan who are now advocating a "limited nuclear exchange," and defending the possibility of a first-strike nuclear attack on Russia as justifiable. Lavrov said this would be a catastrophe, which Russia wants to avoid and added that Russia sees no reason why Moscow and Washington couldn't cooperate "for the sake of the universe." As we know, U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken has completely closed off all diplomatic communications between the U.S. government and its Russian counterpart.
THE UNPROVOKED AGGRESSION: With regards to Russia's "unprovoked" invasion of Ukraine, Lavrov said this would not have happened if Kiev and the West had implemented the Minsk Agreements. Interestingly, when Carlson asked Lavrov what are Russia's demands in Ukraine and on what conditions they would discuss peace, Lavrov did not give an answer. Instead, he began recounting the long history of negotiations with the Ukrainian side starting with the post-Maidan Coup in 2014, the Minsk Agreements and the peace negotiations in Minsk and in Istanbul in 2022 but never got to what, specifically Russia is demanding now.
ISTANBUL PRINCIPLES: Later in the interview Lavrov referred to the issue and stated that Russia was ready to negotiate on the basis of the principles of Istanbul - this is what Vladimir Putin expressed in July of this year, but that since that time there have been changes on the ground which would have to be taken into account. At the core of those demands, however, is that Ukraine must give up on joining NATO, that there must be no NATO troops or military bases on the territory of Ukraine and no military exercises with the participation of foreign troops. Furthermore, Ukraine would have to reverse the prohibition against the Russian language, Russian culture and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
NATO ROLLBACK? In all, however, Lavrov's answer didn't come full circle, which suggests that once the opposed parties come to the table, there will be surprises. Recall, when in December 2021 Russia issued its two draft treaties to the U.S. and to NATO about the status of Ukraine, one of their demands was that NATO must roll back its expansion to the pre-1997 lines of demarcation, implying that Russia might demand a roll-back of NATO from all the nations that have joined the military alliance from 1997 until now.
KEEP THE SANCTIONS: When Carlson asked him whether Russia would demand the lifting of all sanctions, Lavrov was evasive. He acknowledged that some people in Russia would love the lifting of sanctions, but said that sanctions forced Russia to find ways of being more self-reliant and to develop relationship with friendly nations; that sanctions have ultimately made Russia more resilient, so it seems that at least as far as the Kremlin is concerned, the sanctions can stay.
NO MORE MR. JUNIOR PARTNER: Carlson asked whether Russia would consider rejoining the West as a counterweight to the East; in other words, would Russia consider rejoining the West and walking away from its alliance with China. Here, Lavrov was categorical: NO. Russia would not go back to the pre-2022 state of things. He said that since the 1990s, the West had treated Russia at best as a junior partner in a subordinate position to whom the West could dictate its own terms.
The interview covered a great deal of ground, including Boris Johnson's mining of the April 2022 peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, the Bucha massacre, Alexey Navalny's death, the Skripals whereabouts, Barack Obama's expelling 120 members of Russian diplomatic personnel and their families and the seizure of Russian property in the U.S., who may be running U.S. foreign policy (Lavrov declined to speculate); who is supporting the "moderate" terrorists in Syria and more.
Given that we seldom get unfiltered content from Russian officials, I believe that Carlson's 120-min. interview is very much worth hearing. Back in 2018, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel stated in an interview with Bild am Sontag that, "the completely shattered relationship between Russia and the U.S. was the greatest threat to peace across the globe," and that unless the two powers find common ground, "our children would inherit a dangerous and very uncertain world increasingly armed with nuclear weapons."
After four years of the Biden administration, It is quite clear that this relationship has been deliberately destroyed by one of the sides in the conflict. The process of destruction has been going on for years now, including during the Barack Obama administration. When Donald Trump wanted to improve relations with Russia, the deep state swamp sabotaged him at every step. The Biden/Blinken team has destroyed the relationship between the two powers almost entirely, putting the whole world in jeopardy. Tucker Carlson deserves credit for his effort to engage with the Russian leadership and bring their message to the Western audiences.
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Best regards,
Alex Krainer
With Europe’s financial and cultural implosion, the spread of nationalism and populism throughout the West, and Trump’s persecution by the Establishment, how much longer will the NATO alliance even exist, and how soon will Trump open trade negotiations with Russia and China, and the other BRICS+ nations?
strange things can happen, Tucker Carlson's background, both personal and through his parents would make me wonder about his current career path going so "abnormal". I can guess only that his truth telling, when he does it, is serving some internal conflict between the elites, but which ones? Sometimes the obvious answer is the one they want us to see, but for now I can only back what he does and observe.
Someone out there is working hard to builds another 3rd Reich type organ to control the masses now that neo-liberalism's mirage is starting to evaporate into the desert air as we approach it's end point. Classic example in Georgia. The maternal grandfather of Georgia's "President for Life" Salome Zourabichvili was Michael Kedia. Kedia was the head of the Georgian desk for the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) and worked under Reinhard Heydrich. I don't believe she's the lone Nazi hiding in that system, as the Georgian bankers are now backing the coupe. Von der Layen/Lügen and her ilk, decedents of übermench, infect Brussels and EU capitals like roaches. The EU is the 3rd Reich by internal takeover, but this time the S.A. is winning the longknives.
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Turkey, a rotten Ottoman Empire, Saudi Arabia dreams of buying Jerusalem, while Israel dreams of buy the rest of the USA it doesn't yet control. Parasites have invaded so many "control centers" that only a dose of demonetization may work. I have hopes that the BRICKS or some other format will eventually break the exorbitant privileges of the US$, but they are dim hopes. Perhaps it's more likely that the USA/West will break it themselves.