On Thursday’s episode of the PBD Podcast, Patrick Bet-David sat down with special guest Colonel Douglas Macgregor to get an inside take on the war between Ukraine and Russia. Colonel Macgregor, a decorated U.S. Army veteran, was former President Donald J. Trump’s acting Secretary of State and led one of the key Gulf War battles as a squadrons operation officer. He is also an author and Defense and Foreign Policy consultant.
Here are some key take-aways from the live episode:
1. Russia is actually winning economically in the midst of Ukraine conflict.
“Today Russia is stronger economically than it was before war began, our sanctions have been helpful to the Russians, they’re not a part of western finance systems to the extent that you think they might have been hurt. They managed to sell all their minerals and agricultural products through others, likely at a higher price. At the same time they discovered they can sell virtually everything if they needed to, to China,” Macgregor said.
2. The West could have prevented the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
“Putin said ‘I’ll immediately embrace a ceasefire.’ He was sending a signal, willing to negotiate. Zelensky said he could live with neutrality. He actually made that statement. Which was the end goal as far as Putin was concerned. Ukraine’s mission is supposed to be a nice buffer between Russia and the West. Don’t fight there, don’t go there. That was thrown out of the window. Instead the British Prime Minister said we will back you and be victorious, Russia will collapse and Putin will be gone.” Macgregor noted.
Western Europe wanted Putin gone. They realized creating a war would be the perfect excuse to make that happen.
3. Key leaders in Western Europe lied about their intentions.
“This whole thing was based on the Minsk accords. We promised Russians living in Ukraine would be treated as equal citizens. They can speak their own language, go their own schools and church, etc. That was a big lie as it turned out,” said Macgregor.
In 2014, key western European nations — France, Germany, and the United Kingdom — signed the Minsk Accords to end the Donbas war between Russia and Ukraine. The Accords brought peace to the region and enabled the powers to prevent further fighting in Ukraine or beyond its borders. But, German Chancellor Angela Merkel then admitted: “The 2014 Minsk agreement was an attempt to give Ukraine time. It also used this time to become stronger, as you can see today.”
4. Russia isn’t actually losing badly.
Unsurprisingly, the media inflated numbers. PBD introduced Fox News’ data alleging 200,000 Russian soldiers died. “They’re trying to get you to believe Ukraine is winning. Ukraine has never been winning, they cannot win. Russia’s lost maybe 40,000 troops,” Macgregor revealed.
5. The war in Ukraine is just a continuation of American “altruistic imperialist” post World War II policy. It’s all part of a long-term plan.
“Remember the bases you’re referring to is really a product of the Cold War. After WWII, Europe was in ruins, the Soviet Union couldn’t wage another war. We were the only power, we had to stay in Japan, or else it could have become a Soviet satellite state. All our efforts had to do with communism. You contain it until it finally implodes. We’d like to say we caused it but the system was so dysfunctional it imploded on its own. So DC realized they held all the cards. We can intervene everywhere, we’re going to be altruistic imperialists,” Macgregor explained.
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