Macgregor Surveys Trump's Geopolitics

I’ve done a bit of an edited transcript of Doug Macgregor’s conversation with Judge Nap this morning. It’s partial. I’ve edited the parts that are included and I’ve left out the entirety of Macgregor’s remarks on the Middle East. My thinking in providing this transcript is that much of what Macgregor says supports my views as expressed a few minutes ago.

I do have some disagreements. I’ve left out most of Mac’s strong criticisms of Trump personally. Not that I deny Trump’s weaknesses and character defects, but I do believe that Trump genuinely—but mistakenly—thought he had a MAGA strategy that could work. Call it hubristic or whatever, but I’ll give Trump credit for that much. I also disagree, to a degree, with Mac’s view that the attack on the Russian airbases was “a PR stunt.” I believe, with Simplicius, that the thinking behind the attack was much more ambitious—it was a recklessly misguided attempt to force Putin into concessions. I also agree with John Helmer’s assessment of the Russian reaction. I can also recommend Helmer’s written assessment:

WHAT IS PUTIN TO DO NOW

Finally, before we get to the transcript, I also recommend Michael Flynn’s new statement that can be found at CTH:

Lt General Michael Flynn Has Strong Advice for President Donald Trump Regarding Russia-Ukraine Conflict

OK

COL. Douglas Macgregor: Is Russia on the Ropes?

Judge: Did the United States and NATO attack Russia over the weekend using drones from their proxy Ukraine?

Mac: Yes, unquestionably.

Judge: How significant was this attack?

Mac: I think for the most part it was a PR stunt to try and convey the impression that Ukraine is capable of carrying on the war. Anything you hear from the Western outlets--BBC or any of the mainstream in the United States--are probably untrue or at least grossly exaggerated. What I think is true is that we damaged ourselves and our relationship--what there is left of it--with Moscow by attacking these bombers on the tarmac as a result of the strategic arms limitation agreements. I think the Russians have reached a point now where collectively they all say we can't be trusted. Whatever we say is irrelevant because it's probably untrue. I think that's the real fallout from this. We lost whatever lingering credibility we may have had with them for the foreseeable future.

Mac: I think the larger question is: What is the likely impact of all of this on Russia? How are the Russians going to proceed from here? The problem now for President Putin and his generals is, you can't put up with this any longer. You've got to push this to some sort of conclusion or risk this whole business escalating out of control--because you don't know who you're dealing with. President Trump tweets things and he thinks because he says them they're true: This is not my war. I didn't start this. I don't want it. President Trump, this is your war. You are the commander-in-chief. This is your responsibility. And that's the way the Russians look at it, and everybody else. Trump's beginning to look either feckless or downright reckless.

Mac: What Putin's doing at this point is he's looking at the map. He's listening to his commanders and he is concluding that they have to press west. In other words to Dnipro, which is on the Dnieper River, also to Kherson, and then ultimately down into Odessa. I think he's reached the point now where he understands they're going to have to press to those areas and I think that will be his response. He's not going to announce it in a big way, but over the next week or two I think you're going to see major troop movements and there's not a damn thing that the Ukrainians can do about it.

***

Judge: Does the nature of this attack, with the drones being smuggled into Russia and set off from within Russia, bear the earmarks of Mossad? Does it remind you of the exploding pagers?

Mac: Well, keep in mind that there are many Mossad agents inside Ukraine. They've been involved for some time now. Reports came in early on, within the first couple of years, of Mossad officers who spoke perfect Ukrainian in Ukrainian uniform directing operations, running replacement operations, and so forth. So they've been involved from the beginning, and keep in mind that the CIA and MI6 in Great Britain and Mossad are all joined at the hip. If you begin asking how much were they involved then we're in the game of speculation. But they're involved.

What Mac says should not surprise anyone who’s familiar with the fact that large numbers of Ukrainian and Russian Jews are among the most radical of Jewish Nationalists in Israel.

Mac: Thus far we've found out that President Trump isn't willing to do anything to fundamentally change what Biden and his administration did. For the Russians right now this whole business is hard to grasp. They'll continue to be polite because that's their nature, but they're going to press on and do whatever they think they have to to secure their borders and their country.

***

Judge: Secretary Hegseth has been saber rattling over China lately. Is something happening over there or is this just a diversion?

Mac: First of all, the US armed forces are in no shape to take on any major power in a major war. So the whole notion that we're we're going to threaten the Chinese or the Russians or someone else into obedience--which is what Mr Hegseth and President Trump seem to think--that we can bully people into submission, is nonsense. And that's a big problem right now. because I know that President Trump thinks that bullying works. We've done everything in our power with these tariffs not only to try and and harm China, Russia, and Iran and other states. We've harmed our allies, our friends people who are friendly to us. We have made a mess of the world right now. There have been meetings all over the world. The media doesn't report this stuff. You can go to Asia. They've had these meetings in Singapore, in other capitals, and they're saying "What what do we do with Patient Zero?" That's the man with the original malady that can infect everybody and kill them. That's the way they refer to President Trump at this point. So the objective is to contain the Americans. This is a rogue state that still has enough military power at its disposal to do a lot of damage. This is what BRICS is all about. It's not just militarily but it's also financial and economic. How do we protect ourselves against this? How do we contain the bacillus. That's the way we're viewed at the moment.

Again, referring to Larry Wilkerson yesterday, the US has for decades attempted to get the ASEAN nations to become part of a military alliance in opposition to China. They continue to adamantly refuse to sign up for such a mad project. Hegseth’s initiative in Singapore got nowhere.

Mac: The most dangerous thing Trump can do at this point is drive foreign capital out of the United States. We need foreign capital. We shouldn't be taxing any of it. This should be a haven for it. And so people are looking at this, whether you're in the Emirates or Singapore or China or Japan or Korea or anywhere else. They're saying, "Well we got to get our money out." And the stupidity that you hear in Washington from everybody is "Well, there's nowhere else for them to go We're the biggest market in the world." They're out of their minds. Not true So you can't view what's being done militarily--which is stupid and counterproductive--as something separate and distinct from what's happening on the financial and economic side. It's all linked and it's all bad at this point.