hey everybody welcome back to MC Mike and our guest this week is Vlad um Vlad
is a former uh citizen of Ukraine and Russia then when he was a teenager came
to the United States and joined the US Army and uh we’ve had him on before but
we we’re bringing him on to get the perspective uh of somebody who has
relatives and loved ones in both of those countries uh and the current
negotiations which are just breaking on the news I guess is Donald Trump will be having a some kind of start to the talks
next week and zalinski is not really happy about this but because uh I guess
the American point of view at this time for peace talks is that we’re not inviting the Europeans or others because
in previous discussions they’ve all Fallen apart because of having too many people present it’s like too many cooks
in the kitchen but anyway Vlad you’ve written on this subject on your Twitter
feed and uh just for a moment I’d like you to share your
thoughts well I I actually have a ton of thoughts and I made some notes here but
if I were to go over them one by one I think would be here for the entire uh two hours so I was hoping maybe you
could ask me some questions of uh what you’re thinking and I could clarify from
my perspective but as you have mentioned yes I was born in Ukraine and for a
large part of my uh young upbringing I was raised in Russia I do have family on
both sides of um in both countries and on both sides of this conflict
um and I have served in US Army uh I was served with first Cavalry Division and I
was an Iraq from 06 to8 and then 9 to 10 so uh this is a very dear to me topic
because in the end of the day uh we’re still talking about uh the people which
are well historically Roose people um and these are all my people they’re all
my Slavic people which uh are part of my family and my upbringing well I did discover that uh
the popularity of Putin is really high in Russia right now it’s it’s listed to
be 78 to 80% now the argument there is because it’s a totalitarian system few
people would speak out against him however my thought is even if those numbers are way skewed his popularity
among his people are is probably equal to Donald Trump’s right now which is at
53% so he has a pretty strong mandate however zelinsky’s
popularity uh has dropped to around 22% so it looks like there you know
zalinsky is losing the popularity but I I’m not sure that that’s as important
when it comes to the peace talks what are your views on how the peace talks should
proceed all right well um before I answer that let me address this uh part
about the popularity um and you cannot talk about it without uh this talking
about the statement he just made today and in particularly you know uh zilinski
said that ukrainians oppose the elections and those who don’t should
leave and that was just today and he so said and I will actually quote here had
written down we need Unity during wartime uh if some ukrainians don’t like
the absence of elections they can choose a different citizenship that’s what he said today now I’m thinking back on this
and uh I’m thinking about something that I have heard Tuli Gabbert say just couple of days ago on this point and uh
it’s impossible to for me in my mind to reconcile his statement without her statement and I’m paraphrasing but
essentially she said uh ziny proponents support the suspension of Elections
because of War okay well if that’s the case now let’s stop and think for a second if we accept that excuse as a
criteria for suspension of Constitution and suspension of Elections that uh you know then we
should presume that election representatives in our own country uh will also use the same excuse and
rationale when they suspend well our Constitution and our elections okay so
uh we’re talking about popularity I think this is what it really boils down to right now is because the Ukrainian
people are tired of uh sending their young men to die in this conflict and
they’re also tired of the control that uh uh you know as you know the martial
law has been enacted in 22nd of February in 2022 which it’s funny date
right so but uh since Ukraine since that then Ukraine has banned like pretty much
all the opposing parties and even the most widespread religion which is Ukrainian
Orthodoxy um and I can go in the detail on that but you know the point is it’s
been oppressed priests have been um and ministers have been uh jailed it’s a you
know in Ukrainian Orthodoxy has ties to Russia from its very beginning and they of course don’t forget that They seized
full control of all the major national media so it is uh something that is um
inevitably becoming a big reason of why he is not popular because first he went
into people’s homes and families and said what you have been worshiping historically for Generations you’re no
longer worshiping it’s no longer a Ukrainian Orthodox Church you know which
is uh uoc Ukrainian Orthodox Church which historically has Russian Orthodox
ties the you know Roc but uh it has now
become ocu Orthodox Church of Ukraine because of zilinski push
to separate uh Faith from anything that has historically been Russian and a big
part of that is ocu is technically ran under Con well Constantinople Orthodox
Church of Constantinople which is in modern day Istanbul everybody remember the song the song Istanbul was
Constantinople right so so it is very funny how for modern day Turkey the
present day uh Orthodox Russian Christianity is being ran and um people
are not having it they’re not happy with this and I’m speaking even from um my
own family who do support zansky I do have family over there who does although
majority of my Ukrainian family does not but even the family that does have a big problem with that because they feel like
their identity has been slowly stripped away from them well how do play how do
you think that plays into the potential of peace talks and
compromise oh man I as far as compromise this is a whole other topic here
um I mean if we want to look at how this actually could go down
compromise wise okay
um here here’s my point Ukraine was never meant to win this war it was
always a money laundering scheme for Western leads um and if you look at the regions
like luhans and dones that have been uh Russian identified regions for decades
functionally like between I say 2014 um NATO always knew Ukraine
couldn’t join was you know territorial dispute like this so if we really want
to think about this um the the corruption and the money
laundering allegations they’re not anything new for Ukraine but um they
have become rather impossible to ignore uh the reports now show that half of the
money that us well USA right and and and others um sent to Ukraine is missing or
misplaced um and at the same time Donald Trump is asking for the return on that
investment in uh resources right right zalinski wants security
guarantees and anything short of NATO there are other ways to give him
security guarantees if say the European Union wants to do that or a number of
particular countries they could create a sort of uh like France is suggesting a
European Army because it looks like they’re afraid that the United States is
pulling out of NATO which we are not we’re just using our leverage to get
them to Pony up more money um but again I’m sort of interested because it seems
like there is an uncompromising position with uh denans and U what’s the other
one luhansk luhansk they they want those back but it
is true that most of those people speak Russian have Russian cultural there was
a referendum that was like 92% of those people wanted to have uh
Russia rule that now the argument is that was given under uh pressure because
the Russian army had at that time actually been in those regions and the
argument is they were coerced I don’t believe that you can come up with a 92%
vote even on a coercion so I think I do think the majority of people in those
regions want to belong to Russia or at least have some type of autonomy to
themselves where they can be you know either capitulate and work with Russia
or Ukraine whatever benefits them at the particular time especially like having
their own police force judges lawyers and uh business dealers so that seems to
be an intractable uh position what what are your thoughts do you think Russia
would ever give up those regions and let them be sort of autonomous H well actually mik they’re
already autonomous Russia didn’t claim those places as a part of Russian Federation uh luhans and dones were
given uh you know full autonomy and they are their own Sovereign Nations on
bordering Russia um now how does that work in reality I don’t know I mean I I
can’t tell you you know it’s it’s like us annexing Mexico installing a new government in there and
saying well now you have full autonomy I cannot tell you how that really works uh
in that regard but essentially that’s exactly what happened in uh Ukraine to beginning with in 2014 was a removal of
uh yanovski but um just couple points on
this um
like if you really want to look look back at like Cuban Missile Crisis right and like the reasons why Ukraine could
never be a part of N I know you didn’t ask that but it’s like a lot of people do not know like what’s a big deal with
Ukraine joining NATO right and one of the core reasons Ukraine could never be
NATO nation is uh without risking world World War II that is um You Know It Gos down to the icbm’s and uh NATO’s nuclear
posture I mean Ukraine joining NATO would force Russia to likely to escalate to nuclear war because the alternative
would be well accepting lots of strategic deterrents and uh us faces dilemma again during Cuban Missile
Crisis and we nearly went to war over it expecting Russia to react differently is
like isra naive or it’s an elaborate deliberate provocation yeah we discussed
that last time we had John Vlad That’s a good point uh it would be difficult I
don’t a I don’t think it would escalate the nuclear war necessarily it might but
the I don’t think NATO is ever going to accept Ukraine I know that’s a big Hot
Topic in the news but uh gonna happen what do you think Ma
what are your thoughts you mentioned that you mentioned NATO Pete hesketh who is the new SE def said Ukraine will
never be part of NATO he said that yesterday so there’s already some movement on the position of the United
States States and very honestly as as vad helped us understand previous
conversations you know the Ukraine and NATO was one of the primary reasons that pushed Putin and Russia to their posture
of invading Ukraine there were other reasons but that was an important one you know the comparison to the Cuban
misstic crisis is absolutely appropriate I’d like to ask Vlad this Vlad it was it
I didn’t understand the religious aspect of this but uh religion obviously is a
very important very personal matter here’s the question I would I I’ll set up the question this way um United
States in the form of President Trump called Vladimir Putin to try to end this
war he called Putin first zalinski was upset by that he called zalinski second
but you know zalinski was put off by the fact that uh Trump first called Russia I
will tell you that the government of UK the government of Germany um the whoever
is in charge of the EU all three of them basically supported zalinski when he
said there will be no peace if Ukraine is not at the negotiating table
so I guess what I’m trying to ask and maybe you do or don’t know is I don’t
think Ukraine is capable of Prosecuting a war against Russia without the United
States Aid in in weapons and money Etc you’ve already mentioned some of that I
don’t think Europe is in a position there is no European Army yet I don’t think Europe is in a position to be able
to um support Ukraine against Russia so
what I’m really asking is is if United States and the former president Trump
and Russia the former President Putin negotiate a peace treaty of some kind
whether that includes territory being given to Russia or not whether that includes Ukraine being part of NATO
which I think is off the table will zalinski and Ukraine accept
that peace treaty if they are in fact not included at the table when negotiations occur because the Europeans
seem to support zelinsky’s claim if we’re not at the table we’re not taking the
deal I do not believe it’s actually going to come to to this looks Trump
Trump’s approach was contacting Russia first is rooted in how do you say this in English uh
realism okay and not appeasement and another thing about this is uh well
Russia is a nuclear superpower and if we are trying to prevent a global catastrophe and
deescalate tensions I think the people who matter in this equation the most are the people who can do damage right and
the people who are our potential allies going forward because if you’re you really want to think about the split of
the world right now between um you know us and our allies and uh the opposite
Spectrum which would be bricks right then uh this is the people that we need to have a conversation with
and hash out the details with them first saying like listen we all want to end this right so and then people who do not
have the um people who do not have the say so in this essentially is what Mike
has said in the beginning of the conversation is the EU and Ukraine of course has a uh role in conversation to
be played as this but they are to be contacted last at least in my opinion uh about this is quite frankly because um
their opinion their regime’s opinion at this point doesn’t truly truly matter
here’s why um where is it going to get support to fight if we’re pulling money
from them because we are right um we are pulling resources and you know weapons
from them which we are where are they going to ask for support if NATO is not going to be involved it does really
truly folds on European nations and are they prepared to commit and carry the
burden Financial on their own citizens you know what I would like to see it let
them do it because their own people will Revolt in that and maybe it’s a part of larger Trump strategy if European Union
does want to get involved and send their armies and their sons to die how would those nations react now that there is
not a Kushi blanket and US support okay at the same time um the way we’re
looking at this is this Ukraine suspended as for what I said before the elections that took control of the media
at at this point they are you know staying in power for the sake of
self-preservation yeah so it’s hard for me as an American to believe that the United States of America is willing to
support a nation that has suspended elections that doesn’t sound like a democracy to
me right and again like this is what I said I mean I get the argument like oh you know what because uh we are in
unstable War period but again what Tuli gabber has said it it really does resonate with me because if we allow
that there and we support that there we’re supporting that everywhere including up to in our own nation and we
can’t have that we can’t stand for that and at the same time uh not only NATO
joining or rather allowing Ukraine to join would be a disaster because it’s potentially escalating the uh new Cuban
Missile Crisis type scenario but at the same time it sends a message that uh
NATO is inherently biased and geopolitically opposed to Russia by
default because uh Ukraine is having territorial disputes with ethnic people of that land
not NATO can’t have that in both regards so it is very clear that Ukraine doesn’t
have a future as is and it is at the mercy of the deal that is going to be
made as much as I hate saying that but that’s just the cold reality and that’s Trump’s approach was like your question
in uh why I call Russia first it’s rooted in realism you know Europe are saying
that’s appeasement but I get your point you’re you’re right vad you’re calling it right it’s it’s not appeasement it’s
it’s really to to understand that there is no deal unless Russia decides to stop the Waring
uh part you know Waring actions on their part yeah I just Google something quick
I just want to let everybody that’s listening know that even the United States suspended elections during the
Civil War in some states so it’s not an uncommon thing to suspend elections uh
we even had a little blip during World War II but um and of course with Co we
had lot of changes so I I don’t know how that necessarily plays into it maybe Vlad
maybe you know does the Ukrainian Constitution allow zalinski to suspend
elections during war was that where he got the power from or did he just make that up out a whole cloth no the
Constitution actually allows uh and and same goes in Russia although that has never happened at least not to my
knowledge do not quote me on that uh but the institution of Ukraine does in fact allow you to suspend elections and uh it
is really good approach to uh sorry really good point that you’re making Mike was that in fact in fact we had
this uh you know our constitution suspended during uh Civil War and from
what you’re saying even momentarily uh during World War II I’m definitely going to have to research this I think this is
a very interesting uh point that you’re making and I was not aware of that Franklin Del roselt Ran for re-election
during World War too and was elected yeah but there’s there’s something I didn’t get to read it all that happened
then and uh of course if you didn’t know it Abraham Lincoln was guilty of
suspending habius Corpus so that was actually a big constitutional crisis all
I’m saying is during wartime It’s Not Unusual for even Western countries to
take extreme actions when it comes to elections but the the question is how is
it going to affect peace I think Vlad you’re correct when you say
um you have to go to Russia first I mean there’s just no doubt here when you imagine getting between a husband and
wife fighting you want to first put them off in their own room and and go talk to
one of them first you can’t talk to them at the same time now eventually you will bring him to the same table but you’ve
got to sort of find out okay like you said Vlad Russia is a superpower with
nuclear weapons let’s talk to them first see where we can get them you know we kind of know
what Ukraine is looking for and then we say okay we bring this over to Ukraine
Ukraine talks to us and we’re kind of the middleman so that these two parties
don’t blow up at each other in a meeting and just say that’s it we’re done and then they walk out that’s what happens
too many times I think in negotiations you know of these
negotiations going to occur in Saudi Arabia I think that that’s a very
interesting choice of locations to begin negotiations and I do believe that it’s
Trump’s intention that once a deal is made that the United States is walking
away and leaving the deal implementation and the payment and the protection Etc
to the Russians on one side and the ukrainians and the European Union on the other side we’re not we’re not going to
be the forward goinging sugar daddy I think you’re right yeah you know I I
have very um different perspective on to to add to this when we’re talking about
have you seen this uh trilateral proposition that Trump has made no Trump
has made trilateral proposition to cutting all the uh military spending
from uh China Russia and United States by 50% I mean I think this is Trump
signaling for end of these conflicts uh by at least major
superpowers okay or at least you know putting that in a back burner and concentrating on development which gives
me hope that uh I I do believe he’s looking at it in a much Jeffersonian and
non-interventionism uh philosophy which what I believe our nation should always
adhere to from the very beginning because this is not of business to be world’s police to begin with and at the
same time thank you but I do believe at the same time this’s this conflict in Ukraine and the peace treaty uh another
reason why it was addressed with superpowers first is to say look listen we want peace we want stability maybe
it’s time we let these nations and this uh you know smaller Nations that are uh
supporting due to their uh philosophical or political inclination one way or
another conflict maybe it’s time for them to take the burden up on their shoulders look even if we do not achieve
peace in Ukraine with the first second set of negotiations what is going to happen if you allow this nation’s
autonomy and pull uh the support from under them this this this negotiation is
done for to begin with what are they going to do again they’re going to send their sons you know and in a lot of
cases daughters to this conflict and uh then the citiz of their prospective
countries will feel the burden and that is not going to stand for long so uh because they do not have the bandwidths
like the superpowers do so I think this is like a very interesting Global move
towards uh acknowledging a world of uh unipolar world to where we can
collaborate without trying to you know be a hegemon or uh and not speak it on
all fronts you know from any of the superpowers or try to dominate the landscape um so this you know the the
outcome of Ukrainian peace talk negotiations I think it’s largely a mute point at this point because everything
that needed to be said has already been said by uh heges I could never say his name right Hees
yeah yeah that’s that’s the the out the Outlook that I’m having on this I think
it is largely all by decided because without the support it is largely a a
mute point point there will either be peace or the smaller Nations will experience on their own skin what it is
like and peace will be accomplished one way or another yeah another another outcome
that I saw is like Mack once said there’s no way Ukraine could ever defeat Russia and that’s true but the other
problem is there may be no way that Russia can ever defeat Ukraine think about Afghanistan both Russia tried to
take that over they pulled out we tried over how how many years we eventually
pulled out if if the will of it depends on the will of the people and I don’t know what that is glad you would have a
handle on that because even though 22% May support zalinski I don’t know how
many or what percentage of them support the war you can not support the president but support your own National
sovereignty what do you think the ukrainians where do you think they are on that I think they’re tired of seen
their sons die I mean we we are talking and you know you gotta you got to look
at the numbers with bias you know uh Ukraine says Russia lost a million people uh and they lost 500 Russia says
we lost 600 and Ukraine lost 1.2 you always have to look at this with you
know some sort of inherent bias but uh one thing you could say for certain that definitely lost close to a million
people on either side and I don’t think uh you know um I don’t think it’s
sustainable for Ukraine simply because of their population because if you look at the population that they have while
Ukraine is largely now been depopulated and the majority of men over there are elderly and young or disabled that’s
right okay so uh which also leaves a very unique opportunity for you know um
European nations because European nations would definitely want Ukraine without this um masculine uh you know
influence because well Ukraine could be easily influenced at that point debatably but if you’re also looking at
the territories like the inherently Russian territories which by the way let’s not forget Crimea which was
inherently Russian territory too so uh those territories are going to remain Russians and even if Ukraine war would
last for another decade or two uh Russia is digging themselves in more and more
and better every day on that because they can afford to for them it’s a long game for this so whether or not it drags
out Russia doesn’t really care they got what they wanted they got the access to the Sea uh uh what is it I’m
sorry exactly and uh they returned inherently Russian territories back to
their uh motherland right um so and here’s what Europe is concerned about you know United States of America has
oceans on both sides so we’re somewhat insulated from our from our enemies the Europeans look at it like Ukraine
is that buffer Territory between Russia who they consider to be their enemy and
their Homeland so they they they want Ukraine to be there as that buffer between Russia and them yeah and you
know what quite frankly I I I have to agree with you and it always baffled me uh because I think it’s also beneficial
for for for the EU uh to have a buffer zone so uh you know NATO uh you know uh
the whole NATO conversation was largely a mystery to me why why would you want
somebody this close uh unless you are specifically trying to start a provocation now the argument that I have
heard was like well how about other nations that are NATO Nations that are bordering uh Russia okay such as Finland
and you know upper neighbors over there but I’ll tell you what they do not posst strategic threat to Russia as bad as
Ukraine does simply because the ICBM uh reach from let’s say Finland to Moscow
is over 500 Miles Ukraine is half of that they could do something over there
second of all uh the Finland and um you know the that entire part is landlocked
I mean they would have to if they were to amass any kind of Defense we’re talking about a massive logistical
operation and that that would take time and Russia would know and they would be able to prepare and if need be overrun
that so for them that doesn’t really pose as much of a threat as Ukraine which is land rich and resources uh you
know open uh land stee to where uh if and and so much closer to Moscow if need
be you know for a an allout type of Confrontation so again I agree with your
point I don’t think this is a conflict that even United Nations want but I my point
is I believe United Nations right now are so
I wouldn’t say brainwashed but I say they have prolonged PTSD from dealing
with bipolar United States that they do not know what to do okay and a lot of
them are uh you know and it’s a constant struggle for this small um Lordships or
small Kingdom struggling for power who’s going to stay in there and uh and they’re always looking up the well the
Trump thing is going to change uh Democrats are going to be back in power they’re still acting under assumption
that at some point daddy or their version of daddy is going to come and save them okay so it is not until we
allow them to figure out their own stuff on their own skin using their resources
that we’re going to come to any kind of consensus and I think this is again this is what largely is happening with this
uh trilateral approach with uh Trump’s uh policy on you know like let’s get out
of these NeverEnding Wars and let them figure it out because the moment the resources dry out so will the conflicts
and if they do not they will over time but to your point Russia is prepared to be there for a long time they are uh and
they’re just digging themselves better in a position because what they wanted they got and very honestly United Nations is
ineffective in doing any of these kinds of things pro or con you know stopping the War beginning the War I mean they’re
just ineffective and that’s why Trump has suggested in the past that maybe United States ought to get out of the
UN yeah and financially too yeah well we got about five minutes
left so we’re at the five minute Mark I I don’t know if there’s any follow-up questions that you have
ma well my only point is is that you know I can’t understand I mean I
understand the perspective of zalinski that he needs to be at the table because it’s his government that is being
ignored but the reality of it is in my mind that the people who need to be at
the table are the Russians and the Americans because let’s be honest this is a proxy war okay and um you know I
think the Europeans will go along with whatever despite what they’ve said I think the Europeans will go along with
what Russia and and the United States negotiates and I think very honestly
Trump is a better negotiator than zalinski as far as getting Ukraine the best deal possible I guess I guess I’m
just frustrated to hear zinsky say if we’re not at at the table we’re not taking the deal because let me tell you
what I believe if Russia and the United States cut a deal zolinski will take it he won’t have a
choice well let’s say if he doesn’t what then he doesn’t have the support what
then what’s what does he do no it’s I I I I appreciate it always
is is is very refreshing to speak and and again I’m I’m a big proponent in non-interventionism and I think this
this particular this particular approach this time is the best approach we could
take at one time America had what they called the Monroe uh Doctrine which was
under President Monroe which was a long long time ago but basically what the Monroe Doctrine was hey everybody stay
the hell out of the Americas and we’ll stay out of your business and somehow we’ve gotten away from
that well we’ve gotten away from a lot of things uh I I do believe uh we were
largely funding our nation through tariffs as well and we got away from
that exactly right yeah prior to World War I you bet you why do we have the war
why did we have the Roaring 20s because tariffs were paying for everything all right and the burden was not on the
citizen as much you know what we are I I do believe we have a way to get back to that and uh you know there are a couple
of things that I’m um really interested in in seeing how they develop in
upcoming future here because during Trump’s campaign that was sometimes he
mentioned wouldn’t it be wonderful if we eliminated the income tax well you know what not a lot of people paid attention
to that but I did because technically speaking we could I mean we could go back to the way those things were again
as for what you said in the Roaring 20s and if that’s the case looking just at the larger implications of this the
entire IRS structure all of this is going to be completely overh hold cut down and made like into just a small
stock pile of stuff but it’s also going to impact the nonprofits which are gigantic uh stuff like USA is not going
to happen again because this is gigantic tax shelters for people who and you know
what another thing that it allowed to do it allowed Democrats to have a monopoly
on uh do gter uh perspective I’m a do gur because I donate money well let’s
see how much of a do gur you truly are and if you have Monopoly on that if you
do not get your tax incentives are you still going toate do good or dig in your own pocket exactly I think this is I
think why I’m bringing this up you know in our conversation pertaining to Russia and Ukraine because I get to see uh a
little bit of tr’s overall psychology on this again non-interventional ISM pulling resources
out from our enemies while we do have demestic enemies you know and people who’ve been abusing the system quite a
bit you know to fund uh our own nation’s destruction and demise as well as that
of overseas and I think it is very possible that uh we’re going to be able to fix all of this by simply addressing
where the money is coming from you believe in something you put your Mouse where on time Mike yep we’re under one
minute let’s uh let’s thank Vlad for being with us today sharing his perspective on Russia and Ukraine
clearly a special insight and I guess we should say Mack and Mike out out