RUSIA NU CÂȘTIGĂ! DAR ȘTIE SĂ AMENINȚE, SĂ MANIPULEZE ȘI SĂ SPERIE! ARMAND GOȘU #IGDLCC

#TRUMP #ELONMUSK #UKRAINE

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And I’ve never seen you so well-groomed. After that, I told myself
that the shirt was in the bag. He handed it to me, arranged it,
the barber dressed me nicely, I left the hair-covered t-shirt there, I’ll
go get it tomorrow, and he sent me to the base, because he said so. And the taxi took 45 minutes for
a route that usually takes 10-12 minutes, but that’s Bucharest for you. Still. It will clear up soon. The holidays are coming. Open the door to taxes. When Romanians go on
vacation, it gets quiet. Yes, he told us to make it happen faster. The fares? My taxi it stings my wallet. A ride that used to cost
10-22 lei now costs me 60 lei. Well, I’ve been wanting
to for three hours. We need to join forces here, to make
more hands, to pay for these rides. I’m going to end up washing the taxi
driver’s car to cover the expenses. I expected you to take a position
as an advisor, something to call you to… I’ve seen all sorts of
negotiation discussions between parties. Have you seen what’s happening
in Bucharest, here with us? So we give and fight. I don’t really follow Romania. I have a TV but I never switch to Romania. No, no, on I’m thinking… You know, I’ve been following
Russian news for about 20 years. But I I was following on the new
Telegram, but it’s banned now in Romania, you can’t see it anymore. With VPN? Not with a VPN, I read them on Telegram. Telegram is banned in Romania now. Not for me, I probably
have a special network. They used to block me when I paid
for Russian TV channels to get access, the bank would block them,
they blocked my account for years. I had to go monthly to
unblock it, now it’s fine. Now it’s good. They’ve learned with me, yes. Paul, you do it for me. I will do it. We need to, we have to learn this as well. But in the meantime, we have gathered
here together with Professor Armand Goșu, whom you probably recognize. If not, we have at least half a dozen, I
think, of interviews where we have talked. Oh, yes, yes, yes, we have,
I think, four or five. We’re getting close. We’ve been talking since the beginning
of the invasion of Ukraine, mostly about Russia, more than ever about
our eastern neighbor, who these days is in an absolutely embarrassing
and dangerous situation at the same time, which we need to discuss. Because I’ve been waiting, thinking
that by the time we meet, since we’re recording on Friday the sixth. Five days have already passed
since the shocking infamous attack by the Ukrainians. And we still haven’t seen the response;
everyone is wondering, is it coming? We’ll talk about that. And last night, just before we met
here, guess what, America caught fire. Finally, the love chain broke,
the love chain between Elon Musk and Donald Trump has been broken. And he told us, you just returned from
America, so I’m sure you have a different perspective on our North Atlantic ally. I also thought to tell you that while I
was in America, I went there specifically to discuss Russia, to talk about Russia. Did the Americans invite you? It’s a convention at Columbia
University, right there in New York. There, I happened to arrive on the
day of the graduation ceremony, with the president’s speech that
was critical of President Trump. Critical? Let’s say it was critical
of President Trump. On the second or third day, right during
the conference, when we were there for four days, right during the conference,
Trump blocked foreign students at Harvard. I also went to Harvard two days
later, and they were quite scared, but nothing unpleasant ever happened to me. You know, Columbia University has a campus
police, and they were very okay, I mean, they would look at you from a distance. They could sense you were a professor,
they saw you with glasses, lenses, magic, but no, you’re a serious person. Well, this time to enter the campus,
they issue you a QR code every day. And it was quite unpleasant because
the conference organizers were late in sending us the QR codes for that day. It would be 10 o’clock, you had to enter,
the panel you were supposed to attend was starting, so some panels got canceled. My colleagues who were coming to the
panel we were at were delayed and weren’t allowed into the main event. There were two lines of police. There was the New York State
Police and the campus police. The New York State Police were stopping
those with foreign-looking faces, especially from Africa and Asia, who
seemed much fewer this time on campus than I had seen on other occasions. Among the professors, there was a
certain agitation, a certain increase in tension, and also a certain frustration
because they are very anti-Trump. The intellectual elite,
especially at Columbia, Ivy League, they are all Democrats. Not only are they anti-Trump,
but are they woke? How do you say it? Being niche and more specialized,
this conference didn’t seem like it would be woke. Of course, there are a lot of institutes
because there’s talk about the infiltration of American universities, of all kinds of elites like these who… To go to the respective faculty. Here at the Harriman Institute,
where I go, the Russian studies center, you don’t even realize. Here are people who are knowledgeable
about the respective subjects. They don’t promote, let’s say,
more woke topics within this. Here, either you know or you don’t. You need to know the language, you
need to know the area, you need to… What was our perception regarding
the overall situation there? Because on one hand, what you’re
telling me ties in with what the Europeans are doing, who are starting
to attract foreign students that no longer go to the United States. Well, students come, professors come. And professors are coming too. I was I was shocked. Including in artificial intelligence. A few years ago, they didn’t even
know where Romania was on the map. They asked me if there are jobs in
Romania with teaching in English so they could come and continue their
careers in Central Europe and often. Not bad. Well, their professors, their
elite, Harvard, Princeton, they moved quickly, they went to
Canada, they went to Australia. The rest tried in Europe, they applied. But in Europe, there’s
intellectual unemployment. The intellectual proletariat is quite
developed, unemployment is very high within the intellectual proletariat, and
you don’t really find such positions. And they were interested in how
the pay is, hourly, how much is paid, if you can survive. If you can survive, Romania is
not interesting for them either financially or professionally,
let’s say career opportunities. We are here on the border, we’re on the edge of the
Empire, things are happening around us. In Romania, if you come to teach on an
hourly basis, you’re paid very poorly. I understand. I mean, we do hourly pay, but we do
it because the university is forced not to hire full-time teaching
staff to cover the entire schedule. Then you get paid for the hours you
work, so it would be a business. to create an international university
in Romania, to bring in professors of this caliber, I mean, is this
something that would be paid for? Would it be a business? Here we need either at the level of Romanian business
or at the level of the Romanian state if the poor state is groaning, creaking at
all joints, I understand it has no money or to dismantle what still resists in
this cultural research area what is our general perception regarding America? The Hungarians are doing this; the
Matias Corvinus Collegium has a branch in Cluj with very high salaries. They simply replaced the CEO of the
European University Center of Soros. Soros moved the university to Vienna,
and Orban said he wants to create a political elite of his own color. He invested a lot and paid
very, very high salaries. He brought in people from
America, from Great Britain, with courses in foreign languages. I met with students from Matias Corvinus. Let’s see if it changes. somehow and the state
of the country in Texas established a right-wing university
with oligarchs close to Trump. With very good salaries, they aim to
replace the Ivy League, saying that they don’t want their children to be educated
in woke philosophy and gender studies. They are creating a Southern university
in Texas and investing a lot of money. So, there’s a big cultural
battle going on right now. You asked me something—we are completely
absent from this because we don’t have ideas or people to fight this battle. We are barely scraping
by with our universities. Have we had any leaders like
this since the 1848 revolution? we had, we had, I mean at least we were
present in the international public debate with a few after the war of
independence with people interested there, it was the period when modern
Romania was being built, you had a few more interested, we were in the interior
period, meaning when we were quite well connected to European culture and then
of course we moved quite well and in the avant-garde field we had people whose
names unfortunately did not enter not in the public consciousness, not even in
the academic area, they are not very well known but we moved well and they are very,
very good in the field of painting, in poetry, of course many of Jewish origin or But we were… We have very valuable Romanians in many
American universities and companies who are so well integrated there that,
yes, if you ask them, they are not shy, they can proudly say they are Romanian,
but they are not activist Romanians. I know, they are not activists and they don’t make a big
deal about being Romanian, and I have to ask them two or three times
before they admit they’re Romanian. I have also met people in Boston
and around the Harvard area, there are institutes and research centers. We need to let’s see how we can bring them
together a bit, because I think we also need some support there. The Poles have. They didn’t give me the impression
that they would respond to calls, meaning they are quite reserved. They mobilized for the election
now, there are people who haven’t voted in 20 years and managed to
mobilize now with the May elections. And that was also the occasion when
I met some of them, as they were interested again after many years
in what was happening in Romania. But we didn’t identify any
intention of returning to Romania or getting involved in that way. Yes, yes, yes. We find this sentiment more on
TikTok among people with little education and a lot of emotion. I’m not on TikTok, I’m not even classic prices. There was a boy crying that he wanted
to return to the country, but if Simeon didn’t come out, why should he return? There would be no one
and nothing to return to. But that’s another discussion. I wanted to get a feel for the atmosphere,
the temperature in the United States, because right now I’m watching from a
distance everything that’s happening there related to the beginning of Donald
Trump’s term, extremely tumultuous with a fantastic loss of image capital. Together with him, it seems
that Elon Musk has also driven his company into the ground. But I left Romania with a certain
perception about there, and when I arrived, spending seven or eight days in
Manhattan, where Trump practically draws his economic power and millions, those
people feel somewhat in solidarity with Trump, because their ideal is one of them. I didn’t notice anything in
the real estate area, I didn’t notice… I mean, you know that New York is quite democratic. At the same time, I didn’t feel that they
were anti-Trump or emotionally involved. I mean, they talked much
less about Trump than we do. It was quite difficult to bring up Trump
at the table around the Wall Street area. We have our own matters. Okay, so what are the discussions? Well, look, they discuss
and show me a newspaper. Look here, see? It was done… Uuuu… I don’t know,
this building again, they explained to me how they trick the New York
City Hall with floors, they make false floors and the problem is
that the windows no longer close. Okay, and, well yes, but this is a
problem for us with these buildings, the windows no longer close, because
an apartment there costs 4 million. And well, who buys 4-million-dollar
apartments in such a building, which has, how should I say, quite a small surface
area, it’s very narrow and very tall. So in Manhattan, every three buildings
there’s a crane, they’re working, renovating, building, and building
because there’s nowhere else to build in Manhattan but upwards, you
know, because of the winds and all. And they managed, in many opinions,
to find solutions, but there’s a problem with the windows,
because you can’t make them out of plasticine to stretch with the wind. So, that’s what concerns
them, those in real estate. Yes. And how much it costs and they have an interesting law there in New York, they are required
to have windows in all rooms. That’s nice, I like that. Well, good vibes then, so to speak,
but I’m really curious because… The kids from school, because it was the
time when they were finishing at Columbia and going back to Europe, to Frankfurt,
since I came with people from Frankfurt, I think a quarter of them were red, they
were red with a lot of money, because you know at boarding you also have a
priority line, it costs a few hundred dollars extra, everyone there was red. Some who avoided speaking English,
I noticed they were a bit more reserved and understanding. It’s surprising what you’re telling me,
because usually I know they avoid Europe and fly through Istanbul or Doha or Dubai. Don’t forget, these ones used to go,
they used to fly through Frankfurt. Interesting. There are indeed many who are on
the Istanbul route, on Turkish Air, almost all of them are Romanians. Yes, I saw that. And there are a lot in America, I mean,
ones you wouldn’t have seen two years ago. What I find interesting at the Istanbul
airport is not just that you see a lot of Russians, but you see a lot of
Russians or people from the federation who have gone to get hair transplants. Ah, I see. So, I should understand that
there are hordes, entire heads with hair implants and with little hair. So it’s follicular tourism and where else have I seen it? In Doha, at the airport for example. In Doha, if you have to stay a few hours
and go through the restaurants, you hear a lot of Russian being spoken, a lot. Ok. In Moscow Doha, I mean, they
definitely found their niche. People have a lot of money, they have
bags of money, they generally travel Well, we see lawyers in deep Russia… Okay, so, we’re talking about
a country with a population of 50 million or 140 million. Out of those 140 million, you have
1,000-2,000 who have money and are active. These 1,000-2,000 make a fuss until
everyone at the airport is affected. Maybe it’s 20,000. Maybe it’s 20,000, but still very few. Very few. Yes. And, yes, yes, very noisy. So… They’re not as noisy anymore,
they’ve become much more discreet. I remember times when, if I ended up with
Russians in a hotel somewhere in Athens or Paris, or they made a racket in Berlin,
yelling on the street, because of the war they’ve become somewhat more discreet. At the same time, they
still draw attention. Look, just two days ago there was
a scandal involving one of Putin’s daughters, who was discovered
in Paris at an art gallery. It caused a big uproar, and both the
Russian press and the exiled Russian press, as well as the Western media,
reported on it with photos of her. Yes, yes, yes. They also found all sorts of oligarchs’
wives who filed for divorce so they could settle in various resorts in France. And they launder them of money, because they had a lot,
I think they need to be shared. And you won’t find any administration,
neither in Paris, nor in Nice, nor in Monaco, that when they see a pile of
billions, will say no, no, we stand by our principles, take your billions elsewhere. So beyond principles, as far as
I can tell, the United States is seeking a bit of, as they say nicely
in French, rapprochement with the Russians, and they would prefer
the Russians over the Chinese. Yes, they would reopen it. Not that the door was completely
closed, but look, for the past 2 years I couldn’t see them, now
I’ve started seeing them again. Not that the door was completely closed,
but look, until 2 years ago I didn’t see them, now I’ve started to see them again. They come, they are active, surely more
discreet than they were 50 years ago. But their presence is felt, and you
can track them because information still appears in the press. For example, someone was saying that
the last summer apartment worth 5 million in one of these buildings
was bought by a Russian student at Columbia, and this was in the Columbia
Gazette, our colleague being like a Russian oligarch who bought an apartment
in the new skyscraper in Manhattan. It’s true that Manhattan is like
Bitcoin—limited in quantity, and you’re competing for a finite amount of space. Before we move on, let me take a moment
to praise our sponsor, Tudor Taylor, Let’s broaden the context a
bit and add some information. Pete Hexet was at a NATO summit
yesterday, at the time of our recording, which is the first week of June. He reminded allies not to rely on the
United States in case of any issues and to increase their investments. In other words, consider the U.S. an ally,
but don’t depend too heavily on them. That’s one point. Meanwhile, with the
circus happening there… Now, I wouldn’t necessarily link
these together because I think Pete Hexet is somewhat glad that
others are also arguing, so it’s not just about him after Signalgate. And the scandal with Elon Musk
and Donald Trump probably diverts some attention from the absolutely
spectacular attack by the Ukrainians. Where do you want to start? How do we connect all this information? Let’s take it in the order in which you presented them. Hexet is happy that a scandal broke out and that
he didn’t have to go to Rammstein anymore. Because wherever he went, whatever
he said would stir up animosity. Let’s explain to people
that the United States The United States did not go to
Rammstein to discuss Ukraine. neither in person nor online, the
head of the Pentagon in our case, Peter Hexer, was not present. The American delegate, the
American delegation was led by the American ambassador to
NATO, which was quite a blow. Think about the fact that the Americans,
Lloyd Austin, is the one who invented the Rammstein format, precisely because…
Because there were animosities within NATO, you have the Hungarians, you
have countries there that are not very strong supporters of Ukraine. And so the Americans came
up with this solution. At Rammstein, which is the largest
American military base in Europe, they said, look, we’ll create
and call it the Rammstein format. And we Americans are at the head
of the table, we lead, and we’ve seated everyone around the table
to get to work and support Ukraine. But at the beginning of the
year, the Americans signaled that they are disengaging. There was a conference in Munich with
a secretary from Munich where Vice President Levens gave a speech… In
which he clearly announced the rift across the Atlantic, the deepening
fault line, and Hexed saw it too, after which came a Reimstein. At that Reimstein, Hexed practically
handed over the leadership of Reimstein to the United Kingdom and Germany. So at this moment, the Americans
are no longer leading Reimstein. The he didn’t see it. No, They’re no longer there, it’s
over, they clearly said no. There was even a sort of handover. The Germans and the British came
and took over the leadership of the Reimstein group. Obviously, it’s complicated for the
Pentagon chief, who is caught up in Signalgate, caught up with his
wife who participates in meetings, people in his circle who have dubious
connections with the Russians. So, the fact that he wasn’t
present probably did him some good. He has somewhat reduced the pressure
on him, but it still lingers. Sooner or later, he will be replaced
because he made some major blunders, just like the head, the advisor of the Security
Council, who was already replaced. So, we will probably witness
this in the coming months. In our case, regroupings within,
let’s say, Trump’s inner circles 1 and 2, we are witnessing a
strengthening of Rubio’s positions. We see that Rubio has remained at the
State Department and has consolidated his position, even though few people
expected him to last long there. Remember the reaction Musk had
against him when he was appointed. And Rubio, who also holds Waltz’s
position, is currently a security advisor. We don’t know how long he will stay. I assume that at some point Trump will
feel the need to appoint someone with a full-time job as a security advisor. So, the old guard of the Republican
Party is getting back in the game. With Musk’s exit at this moment and
the war that has started between Musk and Trump, this only deepens the
rift within the techno fraternity. So the party, the Republicans,
the old techno brotherhood. Musk never had the ability to
make alliances there, he exposed himself too much and it was somewhat
predictable after… Just wait to happen, just don’t expect it… But
not so quickly, but not that quickly. And he burst out, he couldn’t… probably has major problems with his
company and simply snapped because in the new budget law all subsidies,
all those incentives, all the customs tax exemptions for electric
cars were cut, and they exploded. And in a few hours, he lost 30
billion dollars of his own wealth. 30 billion in a few hours. And things can’t stay like
this, I’m curious to see… Although we have to give credit where
it’s due, he never actually asked Donald Trump to keep those subsidies for electric
cars, even when Donald Trump announced, in his presence, that American state
institutions are no longer required to buy electric cars and can choose any type. He didn’t fight over that and tried
to focus on his business with Dodge. The official dispute between the two
didn’t start with electric cars; it started with that Big Beautiful Bill, the
act that passed through Congress and… The budget and the bill that it ultimately led to
additional budget indebtedness. Which passed by a margin of one vote due
to, how should I put it, the cowardice of the Republicans in the end, who didn’t
commit to austerity, actually not even austerity, they didn’t commit to cutting
expenses to pre-pandemic levels at least, let alone adopting austerity measures. So they continue to incur debt following
our model, only we do it at a much faster pace, but on a smaller scale. Yes, but currently the global financial
system allows the United States to engage in such borrowing models that would
otherwise be completely impossible. Why? Because everyone refers to the dollar. Anyway, this is the global
financial system that was built after the Second World War. If Europe also wanted to matter in
Frankfurt, it would say, look, from this moment the euro has a different status. But Europe prefers to line up behind
the American dollar and let the Federal Reserve call the big shots in this area. But the general impression, and it’s also
felt here, is that Musk’s outburst against Trump has this motivation: the loss of
tax privileges, special taxes for cars. And then there’s something else. There will be a Trump-Musk discussion to
calm things down because the accusations have gone way too far, they’re much
too serious, related to Epstein’s case, who either committed suicide
or was mysteriously killed afterward. Epstein, who Epstein, again,
there are some absolutely… Like a Mossad operation. Like a Mossad operation, because it’s
certain that there was a network there. Of pedophiles, trafficking teenagers,
sexually abusing them, involving the American political elite, American
business elite, in the 70s and 80s many wealthy people participated in
these networks and it’s practically a nuclear bomb placed at the foundation
of the American political elite. Not Epstein, who died just in time in
prison, I repeat, and the one who died. He was murdered in prison. He would have been killed in prison. Well, that’s a very serious threat. He didn’t prove it, mind
you, what he circulated. He gave share anything. Share some images and some photos from
the 70s featuring Trump, and that’s nothing, they were known. These were known, they don’t
incriminate him in any way. If asked, what did Musk say? He said, you declassified the
Kennedy assassination files. You declassified the Martin
Luther King assassination files. Declassify the Epstein investigation file
too, so you can see your name will appear. And more Republicans have asked, okay,
declassify Epstein’s file precisely because these suspicions hover over
him, over Trump personally and over… It doesn’t end well for Musk either,
because already Russian journalists, Russian commentators, and refugees
in the West have started to make a comparison between Musk and Prigozhin. Obviously, it’s highly exaggerated,
but I’ve already seen Americans asking when Musk will be arrested. It’s hard to arrest Musk, who is
the richest man in the world, with, I don’t know, 300 billion, even
if he lost 30 billion, there are still a few hundred billion left. But the political costs
will be quite high. Think about the fact that, for example,
in 12 hours or when we have this discussion, or maybe 20 hours, Musk asked
on his personal network X, what do you think, should I start a political party? And the libertarians came
and said no, because there’s already one, go take that one. Alright, Yes. Take us, take us. However, in that, there are still
very many, there are hundreds of millions of people who… And Rich’s for a post just in the United
States, it’s in the millions. Well, that’s enormous. It’s more than what CNN
and Fox News have combined. At a place, yes. It’s huge, it’s huge. He is the most watched person on the
planet, more watched than the Kardashians. So, okay, they were saying something
like, “Hey, I gave you 350 million for your election campaign and I made you
president.” Well, it’s unlikely that… made him president. He says, “Oh my, not only did I make
you president, Trump, but I also secured your victory in the House and
the Senate, and you have the majority and the position thanks to me. I worked
for this, and there’s still money.” putting forward some candidates now for
the midterms, which are being prepared as we speak, and he has some candidates
that he is funding in many areas. The fact that he tried to extend
this model he used with the Republican Party and Trump in the
United States to here and to us, that I saw the long reach of Musk’s influence
extending all the way to Romania with all sorts of MAGA, podcasters,
influencers from X, who kept making trips to Bucharest to save democracy. I don’t know if you saw them, you
might have been busy with other things, but I saw people… I didn’t hear that there were a few dozen people here and they circulated very discreetly with private planes they came to Romania. One went on to Belarus, another
went on to Turkey, meaning they moved around this area. So Elon Musk has some… he has the
temptation of any wealthy person to extend his aura of influence and
power, and through this association with the Republican Party. Well, at the same time, it’s also a
security issue for America, because things didn’t seem to take a dramatic
turn until he threatened to pull SpaceX out of state contracts with NASA. No, no, no. Before that, Donald Trump said he
would cancel all his contracts if he cancels all contracts with the
state and at that moment… I gives the order to SpaceX to
decommission the capsule that, guess what, is used to transport astronauts
to and from the International Space Station because if Musk doesn’t
do it, someone else will have to. Who else should do it. No yes. China. I don’t think China has access to
the International Space Station because they don’t have access to the
ISS, and only the Chinese are left. Only the Russians are still there. Exactly. So then with whom… With whom
are they running this program? Because NASA has only one program,
it doesn’t have… It has only one important contract with SpaceX,
which is a private company, mind you! And with Roscosmos. And with Roscosmos. Which signs private contracts. We recently had a launch with a
Russian astronaut, but there aren’t many alternatives to these two. So, either SpaceX or Roscosmos. Alright. SpaceX with… Okay. It’s worrisome, but there’s a bigger
danger here than Musk, who works very well in China and also has Tesla in China. He’s also involved in space stuff like
Sputnik, as they say… Satellites. Satellites. I liked that. that you thought in Russian Do Russian words still come to mind
if you spend the whole day there? So, this is a big security
issue for the Americans. And they can’t do anything about
it; it’s a private company. Pay attention, it goes
and signs contracts. And what can you do? And remember something else: the
fact that he has many businesses in China and has gotten close there. I also link it to the moment
when Marco Rubio was proposed for the State Department, for
the head of American diplomacy. Marco Rubio, who is banned from entering
China and has a history of statements against the Chinese, against the
Chinese communists, very well outlined. And at that moment, it
sparked Musk’s terrible fury. Think about it, at the beginning of this
year, what a public outburst he had. So, it’s a very serious issue, and I am
also waiting for these confirmations. We’ll see if it will bring peace
to the American stations, because otherwise, think about it, the
Russian press, the whole world, the entire globe is watching what What do the Russians say? How is it perceived so I know how to be? perfume. And it’s much more than they
could have imagined you could get. And Whose side are they on? They don’t take sides. They laugh and roll around. They finally have a
reason to distract them not even advance. They only repeat what the international
press writes, the memes circulating in the cartoons, and roll around for a day. that doesn’t need to transform
reality, just report it. A rare day. At the same time, I don’t think
they were happy about it, because they bombed very heavily last night. They had 470 drones, about
40 missiles, cruise missiles. I want to talk about the night of June 5th
to 6th, to set a time. Of Thursday to Friday when the
scandal started in America. A scandal that escalated exactly
when they were bombing more… And the fact that the Russian
bombings are not being talked about, I don’t think they like that. The Russians, in everything they
do, like everyone today because today war is conducted this
way, also have a PR component. When you strike, all the spotlights need
to be on your strike, you need to know how to sell it, whether it’s a moment
of strength, of… You have projected power through all of it, Professor, what power to project with some drones after
they have devastated Ukraine in your entire strategic defense doctrine. Yes, the poor ones, yes. The poor ones, yes. It was a strike, but I wouldn’t interpret
it that way, and I believe that even in the intention of the Ukrainians who
carried out this fabulous operation, there wasn’t this component of
“let’s hit the nuclear triad,” right? A component of the nuclear
triad, the atomic bombers. These bombers were used to
bomb Ukraine night after night. They had a strap on one of them. Well, they could have bombed with
all three, but they destroyed the most, I’m sure seven were completely
destroyed, meaning from the photos that can be exactly identified, partially
about 40 are indeed damaged, but completely destroyed, totally seven. Wait a minute, I did some more research,
they are still being manufactured. Not only are they no longer being
manufactured, but there’s another thing we might be missing: the fact that they
are no longer being made means there are slim chances of producing parts for the
ones that are still flying right now. They don’t make them anymore. They were just… 56 in total. And out of those 56,
only a part are flying. Because the rest were… The rest are…
Donors from which they were taking parts and removing pieces from them. And when you start taking
parts off it, it’s a big hit. I should mention that in
those areas on that airfield, there were no nuclear loads. To be serious. Not nuclear. But they were ballistic. And they were… Well. No, ballistic missiles are something else. No, but the planes… So the
nuclear triad doesn’t give up. Those are cruise missiles. They had missiles. cruise missiles, but they were prepared
for an attack the very next day. Yes. They were supposed to attack
after Istanbul, after 2 AM, on the night of the 2nd to the 3rd. That’s why… That’s why Zelensky gave
the order on the 1st, because they told him, okay, we’ll meet in Istanbul, the
Ukrainians will reject the surrender that we Russians are demanding,
and then we’ll show Zelensky, we’ll send the planes for a big bombing. And the cruise missiles, the most
important ones, so first you have the Kinzhal, well, they said the Kinzhal is
incredible, that it hits and not even the Patriot can intercept it, nonsense. The Ukrainians have
already taken them down. They took them all down. At the same time, these S-300, S-400,
just like those, and also the guided bombs, which don’t have much direction. That’s the big problem with those bombs,
that they go, but they go off by a few hundred meters or even a kilometer. You want to hit a military unit
and end up hitting a hospital. That’s what happens with those
guided bombs, which are very powerful because they weigh 1,502 kg of explosive. And another thing happened last night,
also on 15.6, a missile disintegrated over Kazakhstan, it was supposed to
reach Ukraine but it didn’t make it. This is the greatest rocket the Russians, it broke apart when it
reached above Kazakhstan, friends. The rocket disintegrated and
re-entered the atmosphere in pieces. These are some new-generation missiles
currently being tested on the battlefield. So now let’s go back to
the Russian nuclear triad. You have submarines, ballistic
missiles, and strategic bombers. The strategic bombers only have
580 nuclear warheads out of 2800. So, the less numerous ones, the core
of the nuclear weapons, are still the submarines and ballistic missiles. Which are transported on wheels. They can also be transported on wheels. they are in special silos. So, I wouldn’t insist so much on this
nuclear component because we’ve moved the discussion into a very dangerous area, and
everyone, especially Americans, is like, “When is Putin going to use nukes?” Hold
on a second, I don’t know, it means he has to use a small one, it’s in the security
doctrine, and the moment you threaten one of the components, it’s a threat to
Russia’s status as a nuclear power, and then Russia is justified in striking. But there have been other cases where
this could be interpreted this way. Why? Because the wind blows, if I use the nuclear
option, it blows towards China. Well, you can use tactical nuclear bombs,
which are less powerful than those from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to hit a
city or an area with massive troops. But in Ukraine, you don’t have any area
where the Ukrainians have gathered so many troops that you could say, “Yes,
okay, there are 40,000 troops there, I hit them with a tactical nuclear
missile, killed 40,000 soldiers, and forced Ukraine to end the war.” The problem is that you don’t
gain any strategic advantage by using a tactical nuclear bomb. The comparison with Japan
seems relevant here. You hit Japan in August 1945, at
the end of a world war when Japan was practically destroyed, bombed,
encircled, but didn’t want to surrender? Well, Ukraine is not in that situation. Russia is far from winning this war. If Russia advances at this pace,
at best by the summer of this year, it could approach entering
Konstantinovka by the end of the summer, which is the central point of
the offensive in the summer of 2025. And if Konstantinovka is
occupied, what have you achieved? You haven’t done anything. Because Konstantinovka is in Donetsk,
which you claim to have already occupied and annexed, and now you’re asking the
Ukrainians in the Istanbul negotiations to withdraw from Donetsk if you’ve
included it in your Constitution. It’s like Bulgaria including in
their Constitution that Bucharest is Bulgarian territory and
asking us to withdraw, right? And withdraw from Bucharest, because
if we put it in the Constitution… So this is absolutely absurd. It’s unrealistic. It’s about an extreme inadequacy on
the part of Putin and the Kremlin under the conditions in which
they insist on these peace terms. The idea that you hit with
a nuclear bomb and Ukraine surrenders is absolutely stupid. Ukraine will not collapse. They will achieve the
exact opposite effect. Because I don’t think a single
nuclear bomb would be enough. Well, fear. Well, it’s not just about…
It’s about what it triggers. You can… Tourists, okay, Trump
is your friend, he won’t nuke you. But you don’t know what France will
do, you don’t know what the UK will do. You don’t know what… If the European countries, Germany,
the United Kingdom, France, Poland, do not send troops to help
Ukraine… I believe that Macron he told Putin that if he drops
any kind of nuclear bomb on Ukraine, France will intervene. I know that Biden did this before. He said, don’t play around, don’t use
nuclear weapons, that’s a red line. With what we have in Europe right now,
we’ll send you 300,000 well-equipped, well-trained soldiers who will crush you. Well, from this point of view, I don’t
think Putin can afford to take risks. And you saw, look at all these three
years, there have been decisive moments. When the Ukrainians hit Russian territory
with a missile, the Russians said the red line was crossed, it was going to
be… Kursk, the invasion of Kursk. The invasion of Kursk. Man, after Kursk, I was
expecting a nuclear response. They called in the North Koreans,
10,000 North Koreans died there because they weren’t enough. So from a military standpoint, last year
was the peak of Russia’s military capacity and… And last year, at the end of the
year, only in October, November, in those weeks did the Russians advance a bit more. At the same time, they
advanced very little. We talked, the international press
talked about great Russian victories. Well, what victories? They were represented by a few hundred
square kilometers of Russian advance. So, Pacrovsk. Pacrovsk, since August we were
saying that Pacrovsk would fall, the international press. August 2024. 2024. But it’s getting confusing,
it’s been a year since we’ve been waiting for Pacrovsc to fall. And not only has Pacrovsc not fallen,
but the Russians have also retreated, being pushed tens of kilometers away from
Pacrovsc at the beginning of this year. Similarly, now with Constantinov,
the Russians no longer have enough troops, nor do they have
enough money to pay the troops. They have major problems because
there are ongoing processes to declare missing soldiers dead. We’re talking about tens
of thousands of soldiers. We’re talking about administrations
that no longer have the money to pay for a dead soldier. We’re talking about tens
of thousands of soldiers. We’re talking about tens
of thousands of soldiers. We’re talking about tens
of thousands of soldiers. Now more give a million How much is that in euros? Well, 100 rubles to the
dollar, how much is that? About 10,000. Yes, 10,000. That’s a lot. And think about the fact that there were
also 2 million, 3 and a half million. Now they no longer have the regions,
the regional budgets, money so much that it was done at the level. It was a kind of
competition between regions. The governors, it was a kind of auction. And then people from Asia would move to
the European area, go to Moscow or St. Petersburg. In their home region, they would have
taken 1,800,000 or 2 million and gone to St. Petersburg to get 3.5 million. And with that money, well, they
either wanted to be sent by their families or thought it
was the business of their lives. And with that money and what they earned
in a few months until their families received news that they had disappeared
in battle or were dead, they bought apartments or washing machines or cars. War was a business. It was a business for many people. And if you look at the statistical data
in Russia, you will see that now, finally, after 2008, for the first time, the share
of a middle class is increasing, even if it’s a false middle class because it’s
about these tens and hundreds of thousands of people who earn a lot of money because
they go as volunteers to the front. then if that phrase about Russia’s
Pearl Harbor doesn’t hold, I would propose another analogy. This surprise attack by the
Japanese at Pearl Harbor when they took down the Pacific fleet, I
would propose another one: what if Ukraine is now Russia’s Afghanistan? I think this comparison
might be more accurate. To say that Afghanistan, considered by
many, is the graveyard of the Soviet army, the graveyard of the Russian Empire. Why? Because Afghanistan was the last major
military operation of the Red Army. In December 1979, Afghanistan was invaded,
and within a few months, it became evident that Soviet soldiers were being attacked,
subjected to guerrilla warfare by the local population, and the losses were
significant—20,000 people from ’79 to ’89. In May ’89, they crossed the bridge
and retreated to the border with Tajikistan, leaving only advisors behind. Well, it started with a few
thousand advisors, by ’93 there were still 500 advisors who left
when the Mujahideen came to power. And they still they tried after that, they tried again if I’m not
mistaken, in the 90s? Didn’t the Russians withdraw in the 90s. Then they withdrew… And the
Americans tried again, too. Americans tried in 2001, but it’s
very difficult because the British tried in the mid-19th century. Why? Because of opium. The problem with opium, with… It’s
the problem with opium and there’s a problem with the population there. You have a very warlike,
extremely warlike population, which is helped by… Hardened, Right? Because there’s that word that they
are extremely resilient, adapted. Extremely resilient. Yes, and you have a geography
that helps them a lot. You have a mountainous terrain, which
is easy to defend, you have… A fairly complicated ethnic composition
there, a Pashtun majority of about 60% which is common with Pakistan,
the borders there are permeable, and you also have crossings to Iran. Iran, a year before ’79, was the site
of an Islamic revolution, which scared both the Soviets and the Americans. So, a complicated story. You had guerrilla troops, people who
attacked, often civilians who attacked the Russian army in the valleys, but
the Soviet Union collapsed primarily because the global price of oil dropped. From 170-180 dollars per barrel, it
fell to 30 dollars per barrel, and practically the petrodollars that
fueled the Soviet military-industrial complex’s budget evaporated. Or, history could follow the
same scenario now if Trump manages to convince Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has agreed to a price
around 50 dollars, but even for American oil producers, it is favorable for the
price of oil to be below 60 dollars because they extract a lot of shale oil. Now, shale oil is more expensive but the Russian economy cannot function
efficiently below 60 dollars per barrel. It could function efficiently but
it could support the war. Because Russian oil has both an
advantage and a disadvantage. The disadvantage is that Russian oil
is of lower quality, it’s Ural oil that appears on international markets,
so it’s oil with more sulfur in it. When you have more sulfur in it,
that means the oil processing installations don’t erode as quickly. So the cost of processing…
To amortize the refining costs, you need to spend more money. On the other hand, it’s
much easier to obtain. I don’t expect Russian oil
to have American technology; it’s from a different depth. So they go for fairly simple extractions,
like 100 years ago, you take out what you can, and they don’t even
extract everything from a deposit. I mean, they very rarely use water to
lift the oil, which means that significant quantities remain in the underground
of these deposits, and you can go back there to exploit them further. So it’s a problem for the
moment when you run out of oil. Why? Because the budget plan was set at 65, but
I think it remained at 60 in the budget. No, it was 65. but up to 60 it was still viable. And at 60, but below 60 it’s already a big problem. The big blow for Russian oil, for Russia’s
budget, would be if Trump imposes these sanctions that we are all expecting. And what does this mean? It means that the countries
buying Russian oil will be subjected to tariffs of 500 euros. This means that China, India, the
main buyers of Russian oil, might say they are no longer interested. And all the conditions are set in
America, everyone is looking at Trump’s finger to see what he will say. Adopt or… For now, Trump has said no. We don’t know how long this no will last,
we don’t know what he wants to do, but we know that a comfortable majority has been
formed in the U.S. Congress and Senate for adopting this sanctions package. And the Americans say trifecta. You have the very successful Ukrainian
attack, the Saudis who have shown willingness to lower the price, and now
you just need this round of sanctions. And the Europeans are also
increasing pressure on this side. NATO is starting to move. Several European countries are
announcing significant investments in armament and technology. I’ve heard the British are
preparing a fund specifically for drones to send to Ukraine. thousands of drones. At least. And are there enough conditions to
see, I don’t know, I’m taking a risk by saying this, but could we see the
collapse of the Putinist empire in 2025? I think it’s too early. The conditions are not yet in place. For now, we are very anxious. The next two or three
weeks will be decisive. Just two weeks because… Trump
always talks about another two weeks. But now it’s really two weeks. Why are they two weeks now? Well look, from my perspective, I say
Because the perspective of the day will be the G7 in Canada. You will have the first meeting
of the G7 leaders with Trump. Trump is participating,
the person confirms. And there will be the
discussion, what are you doing? Continuing to support Ukraine? Trump will have to clarify
his position on Ukraine. We see that yesterday at the
meeting, now with the new German chancellor at the White House,
he said yes, he supports Ukraine. But from the other statements, it is not
very clear what position he will adopt. He will have to answer. Still, the president of France,
the prime minister of Italy will be there, the new German chancellor,
and the British prime minister. He has to clearly state
his position on Ukraine. After that, the NATO Summit
in The Hague follows. America will have to clearly clarify what? What are his intentions
regarding the defense of Europe? Is he withdrawing from Europe
and pulling out the troops? He still has 70,000 soldiers, with
significant military bases in Germany. Is he withdrawing them? Will there be a withdrawal schedule? Is he pulling back the
security umbrella over Europe? Are the French and British
coming with their nuclear weapons to ensure Europe’s security? There will be a schedule related to this,
and this will be a major stress point. It’s clear that he discussed behind
closed doors, as I’m convinced he talked with Merkel, with the new German
candidate, and the issue of Ukraine, the support for Ukraine behind closed
doors, not at the press conference, what everyone saw, the problem of tariffs. This threat addressed to Europe
with tariffs, that we will impose, that we are lucky, that we are
some bandits who just want to… I can’t continue. So we need to clarify. The big fear of the Europeans is that
Trump wants to discuss all these three major issues together, meaning if
you make some concessions on tariffs, I’ll support you more with NATO. No, and with NATO, that
5% will matter a lot. But that 5% will have to… Do you remember when they
were asking for 1.5%? 2.5, no, no no the first term in Trump 1 after that was with 2.5 and now it’s with 5. The problem for the Americans is
different, though, that Europe might want to consolidate its own defense
industry because the moment you have created that big pie of hundreds of
billions of euros for armament, it say trillions like this we don’t know yet they understood
600 billion we’ll see, it’s going to grow the Americans’ eyes lit up like
in slot machines lemon, lemon, lemon the problem is that Europeans no longer want to buy
weapons from the Americans; they want to create their own defense industry because
they no longer trust the Americans. The Americans have proven unreliable
when tensions with Ukraine arose. They said, “Well, you know, we won’t
give you this, we’ll press the button so you can’t use the F-16s, so you
can’t take them up,” and at that moment, both Portugal and Germany, which have
contracts—Germany has about 9 billion in contracts for the F-35—said, “Wait
a minute, we’re buying American planes that we don’t control; someone in
Washington controls them with a button, a software that can keep them grounded
at the airport so we can’t take off. It’s a risk.” And then they said,
“Well, it’s better if we create our own defense industry in Europe, start
our own engines, and keep the money in Europe instead of throwing it across
the ocean to the Americans.” And this observation seems quite reasonable to me. I would tie this with another detail: Elon
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency was preparing to enter the Pentagon. The same American military complex
responsible for many narratives and stories about influence of all kinds wants
money from Europeans through, I don’t know, those currently in power, right? Through Trump, through Hexed,
through Rubio, through all of them. At the same time, they
want to antagonize them. Meanwhile, the Americans are focusing
more on the Pacific because they are mentally and collectively
preparing for a conflict with China. It seems inevitable. It looks like these huge, long freight
trains that are on a collision course. They behave as if they
can’t be stopped anymore. And because of this, they say they
are progressively withdrawing from Europe, because otherwise, I can’t
explain why you would build such a large base at Cogălnicianu, only to
then come with ambiguous messages like this, saying don’t rely on us anymore. Why yes? America’s history, these cycles. There are periods when America has been
involved in managing global crises, and there have been periods of isolationism. We are most likely entering
a period of isolationism. No, I don’t think it’s isolationism. I think it’s a different focus. No, this is an illusion. This is what some commentators
and analysts want us to believe. But it’s not. He says, didn’t he talk on
the phone with Xi Jinping? He said, we got along so well on the
phone and he invited me to… But he has done this with too many people. He says it to everyone. But didn’t he say that he solves
things, that he’s the deal-maker? No, I don’t see the progress. I don’t believe it. that he will make a deal with China,
because what I hear from the business sector across the ocean is that they
are extremely concerned about the lead China has already taken over the United
States in electricity production. This is a technological competition for rare metals, with electric cars. This can be solved with And the
last battle they are in, we here say desperate, but I think it’s already
a Hail Mary discussion there To not lose the competition on artificial
intelligence where the Chinese are leaders in applied artificial intelligence. In general artificial intelligence,
Americans are hoping to be the first to develop a superintelligence, and
they see that they might have another 3 to 5 years to achieve this, but
guess what, they lack the energy. And if they move their troops from Europe
there, will that solve the problem? Well, yeah, where do you
think the chips are made? In Taiwan? The majority of the
world’s chip production? And to those from Taiwan, the normal rates I think that it’s just for show. Let’s cut the gentleman doesn’t know what
he’s doing, let’s not exaggerate. There are chances you might be right about
this, but I confirm. NVIDIA and the chips coming from TSMC in
Taiwan are critical for global dominance. Because if China occupies Taiwan, it
gains access to 2-3 nanometer lithography, which means it can develop much faster
since Huawei already announced their own AI training chip two weeks ago. If the Americans don’t defend Europe,
if Ukraine falls, can you imagine that Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, still
trust America’s promises, does anyone still hope that they won’t be let down? They might not. have a choice because
China is too powerful. And all those you mentioned look to
the United States as the only one. the new president South Korea, what is his political
program, just found the law ready, what is his foreign policy program
regarding relations with China. That he will negotiate with China,
he will get closer to China. Look at what Australia has been doing for
the past 2-3 years when it felt abandoned after 60 years with the Americans. Look at what Australia was doing 2-3 years later, abandoned
after 60 by the Americans Look at what happened
2-3 years ago when after 60 years Americans And Europe has suddenly
opened up like this. In the past month, we’ve seen many
Chinese car brands being launched here. But no Can you imagine that this is
because we’ve suddenly fallen in love with Chinese brands? This is because of the
zigzags Trump is making. Because Trump, with his threats towards
Europe with tariffs, with “I’m pulling out tomorrow,” “I’m getting cozy with
Putin,” “I’m handing you over to Putin,” “Ukrainians, you can’t use F-16s anymore,”
all these moves, zigzags that Europe is making, you should know that… They
are the result of Trump’s policies. Do you know what Trump supporters
call this kind of negotiation, this kind of diplomacy? 4D chess. And when he does something foolish,
they add another dimension. Now it’s 5D. Last night it was 7D. I understand. Alright, let’s try to
be rational and serious. So most likely, America is
entering a period, re-entering. However, the cycles of American
isolationism will focus on itself. Our problem is not America;
our problem is how Europe deals with these Russian aggressions. Which will continue and, in the event
that Russia… Wins in some way, we don’t know how, but if it wins
in Ukraine, how will the Russian aggression continue, against whom, in
what directions, but it raises major security and defense issues for Europe. Okay, but after everything we’ve
seen recently, we see that the emperor is increasingly exposed. Are you more optimistic about Ukraine’s
future than you were a year ago? No, I’m not optimistic. Last fall, in November-December, after
the American elections, I was much more optimistic than I am now because
I never imagined for a second that Trump could get close to Putin, adopt
Putin’s viewpoints, his narrative, and bring it to the White House. Why is he doing it? Here, surely multiple
answers can be given. I don’t know, I don’t
have the information. Is he being manipulated? Is he afraid? His advisor on Russia says
he was very afraid of Putin. He’s afraid, but what are
the reasons for his fear? Do the Russians have
something on him, about him? Do they control people in his entourage? Why this eagerness from Trump
to adopt the Russian stance? You know, in Helsinki, for example,
in 2018, at the Helsinki summit, when he came out at the press conference,
Trump said that he believes Putin, not the American intelligence
agencies, the FBI, the CIA were lying, and Putin was telling the truth. I might have also provided
information during the campaign, you know, about the attack on the
Democratic Party… the Democrats. the Russians did it,
they did it hard, yes. Hillary Clinton’s email and so on. Or maybe he is indeed being
blackmailed with some things. He was helped on one hand,
probably blackmailed on the other? Well, under these conditions,
Europe’s security is in great danger. So it means that Europeans have to
fight on two fronts, both East and West. Or maybe what I’m hearing is happening,
which is another scenario being circulated about the impeachment,
meaning the suspension of Trump. we’ll see what happens… Now
the Republican majority And to what extent Musk controls… I don’t think it will come to impeachment. I don’t believe the Republican Party
can afford to blow something like this up, and I don’t think Pence is such
a staunch Republican with deep enough roots in the majority to mobilize the
party for impeachment, resulting in Vice President Pence becoming president
and taking power in Washington. Hard to imagine such a thing. I think they will rather isolate
Musk, they see him as a danger, this divorce will happen. Complicated, complicated for that Elon Musk is still very close
to some people in the administration, who are well-established, one of them
being David Sachs, who brought J.D. Close to Donald Trump. It’s complicated, complicated over there
in the United States, but I’m surprised by what you’re telling me about this
rekindling of relations with China by everyone else, while from America,
you hear that they are not concerned about Russia, they are concerned about
China, with more and more economic and virtual embassies all over Europe, and
you also mentioned Australia and Asia. Look at Romania, they are everywhere. The Chinese have never been so active
in the economic sector in Romania, and Romania is not even a priority
destination for Chinese businesses. Look at any country, Tesla has been
replaced by Chinese electric cars. By BYD, Yes. I recently filmed a car from BYD,
launched here, the best-selling car in China, Seagull, which they
renamed Dolphin, and I filmed it here and published a video about it. People’s reactions are very
interesting because it’s cheap, but also well-equipped for that price. So it competes and easily beats
the Spring, which was the most efficient alternative, yes, in
terms of quality, features, price, and range, which are what matter. But I noticed a very interesting reaction. Although many people are interested
in this car, the chorus of trolls, which I follow to gauge
the sentiment, is very negative towards Chinese products in Romania. The same trolls who are in the
sovereigntist camp are anti-China. So it seems like, I don’t know, the
media and communication channels in this area don’t want this increased
interest from Romanians and Europeans. A few months ago passing through Chișinău
and Kyiv, I saw many Chinese businessmen, like never before. In the hotel, half were Chinese
and the other half were Americans, Japanese, French, Germans. A lot of Chinese. A lot of Chinese, big businesses from
China, waiting for the moment the war ends and the reconstruction of Ukraine begins. With open offices. Yes, but for the Chinese to be welcomed
in Ukraine, they need to completely withdraw their support from Russia. Because there are many components and
technological support provided to the Russians at several important moments. Obviously, Obviously. No, but I mean they are very
active, they are everywhere. Without being aggressive,
they are attentive. You know, nature abhors a vacuum. Exactly. The Americans have pulled back a bit, or
they give the impression of pulling back. Immediately, someone
else infiltrates there. So, when the Americans pulled back from
us, the political class, the elite from the foreign service area signaled to
the French, come on, you Spaniards, Germans, Italians, come quickly to
fill the spot left by the Americans. I don’t know how well this process
has succeeded, I still see that Romania is trying to patch things
up here and there, but the fact that the Americans are sending the signals
they are, even though I’m always told, look, they are just sending signals,
but look at the actions, not at what they say, it’s a very bad sign. It’s a very bad sign, it’s a very bad sign
because they are making some investments, you in this area of security and defense,
you can’t do planning for six months, a year, or based on American political
cycles, you can’t say, now you have a Republican ambassador, it’s going to be
good for four years, then we’ll see what happens, it doesn’t work like that, you
either have commitments for decades, you can’t withdraw and dismantle military
bases in Germany and Italy to move them to Poland, Romania, in less than ten years. Then let’s come closer to home
and I need to ask you a slightly more… answer if you want or not. Is the support for Nicușor Dan
through Zagărmân his own doing or is it the American hand? I really don’t know. They had some discussions and meetings
before announcing their candidacy. I don’t really know, it could
be a communication channel. With the Americans, but now it’s
very hard to say who can still be a communication channel. My feeling is that the Romanians
don’t have any communication channel in Washington. They probably tried something through
Israel, through Netanyahu as far as I know, more likely through the old Jewish
lobby that used to communicate before, but not the classic one, rather Netanyahu. He is very pragmatic. If Trump won, he would choose Nicușor Dan. He does business with Nicușor Dan. He has a transactional real
estate mindset like in Manhattan. He works with, you know, Romania
doesn’t present much interest, neither in investments nor at the
same time for, the moment you step out of the security defense logic,
Romania becomes uninteresting for us. It was interesting during the Cold
War as long as you could play against the Soviets, you doubled, you turned
Romania into a kind of Yugoslavia 2.0 and Ceaușescu into a kind of Josip Tito 2.0. But from the Warsaw Pact at
home, you inflated, you made it autonomous, independent from Moscow. Obviously, Ceaușescu
wasn’t like that, right? To make you believe, it was a PR
product that Western leadership delivered to the Western public opinion. Well, and now what? When does Romania become uninteresting? The moment you and the
Russians, with Moscow, make peace, cooperate, collaborate. When was that moment? It was under Gorbachev. The first meeting was in ’85, Reagan
with Gorbachev, friendship in Reykjavik. Later, they negotiated, and Ceaușescu
no longer mattered, he was no longer interesting for America. At this moment, if Trump wants to
be with Putin, Romania and Europe are no longer interesting from… the area of defense in the area of security
defense as a business, you can’t handle it, you’re not Poland Well, Tomai, didn’t you see how
big the battle was over Poland and Romania in this election cycle? But the battle wasn’t fought by the Americans
We also had American influence Well the Americans were more likely to have
teamed up with the Russians now Correct And they played against the Europeans For that Moscow’s interests and Washington’s
interests are close, if not coinciding to weaken a European Two federations are asking a potential
federation, because the European Union is not yet a federation, not to federalize. No, it’s about federalization now. It’s about… If forming a common army is
a very important step. Well and this doesn’t suit either
Moscow or the United States. Why would it suit Moscow? Europe, with its 550 million
inhabitants, becomes the largest and richest market on the planet. If it becomes an autonomous political
actor in defense and security, with its own army, a coherent foreign
policy, a single currency everywhere, and a common financial policy, it
becomes an actor that will be very hard to beat and can call the shots. Consider that Europe, with a larger
population than the United States, has industrial capacities that surpass those
of America, and compare Europe with 550 million people to Russia’s 142 million. Russia and America together don’t
match us in terms of population. Russia and America together, no. It’s the largest market, the
richest, the wealthiest people on this planet are in Europe. Right? Just think about… not Italy. Every Italian city, every Italian village,
has historical legacies worth billions of euros, which Americans can only dream of. So from this point of view,
we’re in a realm of realpolitik now, in terms of education and
healthcare, but Americans can’t even dream of what we have in Europe. Just think about it, Americans
don’t have health insurance. To get health insurance,
it costs quite a lot. Think about education. Well, in America you pay for everything. In Europe, you have education free of charge. There’s no place on the planet where
you can find so much prosperity, freedom, and security all in one place. And you had all this thanks to America. After the Second World War, you had
the Marshall Plan, you rebuilt Europe. After the West, America ensured your
security and defense, and you invested heavily in the population, in education,
in culture, in human development, and you raised the standard of living. And now the Americans are saying,
hey, stop, enough, come on, pay up, what are you doing, this isn’t okay. Pay for your train ticket. We are the train. At least buy a ticket. What does a ticket mean? 5% for… Defense. But actually, it’s a kind
of disguised protection tax. It’s a sort of a disguised protection tax and
the way Trump negotiated, or rather didn’t negotiate, of
course it backfired on America. However in an optimal world, not to say ideal,
the European model is the most advanced on the planet and the best for many. a little sustainable. It’s also the least sustainable. Why? Because this European model often runs on
debt, relying on others to pay for your defense and security or to guarantee it. Yes, but in a world where conflicts
are resolved, the 5% currently spent on defense could go towards universities,
technology development, improving human conditions, and reducing suffering. Sure. It’s about eradicating diseases
and hunger, educating children in Africa, mitigation, solving climate
issues, because we will again have waves of climate refugees. European society is, if you will,
much more democratic in this regard. In Europe, you don’t have the same
disparities between the rich and the poor as you do in America. And even the rich don’t brag about
this, it doesn’t stain them And the wealthy have a different culture. I mean, you won’t see a mask in Europe,
or you won’t see, I don’t know, boastful billionaires like Steve Witkoff comparing
Trump’s villa to the Élysée Palace. I mean, they are more
refined, more discreet, more refined than a world, it’s something else. The discussion in Europe is less
about wealth and more about ideas. It’s more… What do you know? Europe, after all, is not where
the great ideas were born. And it has remained so for a long time. It has a kind of leadership
in major cultural debates. Europe’s problem is whether it will
manage to adapt to the new context. The new context is the one created by
Trump at this moment, where America is withdrawing and there is a risk that
America might start at least an economic war, tariffs, a tariff war with the West. At this point, Europe needs to regroup. It needs to unite. It should federalize. It should, in the defense area, come
together to create a common defense including the United Kingdom or maybe
even with the United Kingdom having some sort of leadership in these common
defenses, with Germany put to work. Germany knows how to build. It knows how to build militarily. It could have good soldiers, but
it needs to move very quickly here. I was just sitting and thinking
about how much confidence and wisdom education brings in Western Europe,
for example, where the Dutch didn’t even blink when they gave up their last
tanks because they don’t need them. To defend against whom? The Belgians? The Germans? The Swedes? Against whom should
they defend themselves? With tanks. Neither we, nor the Poles, nor
the Balts are in such a situation. Exactly, we are not there, but Europe as mindset, is not a part from Europe, Northern Europe
is aware of the Russian threat, which which doesn’t mean that
all of Europe is aware. Spain, Portugal, Italy don’t seem
very aware of the Russian threat. They seem distant, somewhere where
neither Russian nor Soviet soldiers have ever reached, and they don’t
quite understand our fear of Russia and what the Russian threat entails. On the other hand, you have countries
that have now woken up and sent the right signals in 2022, including Germany. Remember, five years ago, with Merkel
still in charge, Germany was cozying up to Putin, collaborating with him. And this time, look… Cheap gas. Cheap gas, yes, but they reacted very well
and understood that this is a historic moment with incredibly high stakes. And I believe that in Europe, during
critical moments, it manages to come together, demonstrating enough
intelligent leadership, but also empathy. Europe manages to have more empathy,
to be more humane, more humanistic. You know, I think because it’s not just about empathy here. You know how it is with this empathy? You can change the channel on
the TV so you don’t see the horrors happening in Ukraine. Yes. I think it’s about pragmatism. Because a European and Europe,
I don’t think they can withstand a dramatic defeat of Ukraine. Because… I’m thinking. Well, there are still about 37 million
inhabitants, 35-37 million Ukrainians. Well, if 10 million Ukrainians
flee Ukraine, in the event that Ukraine is militarily occupied—so
the Russians don’t occupy another country militarily like thugs. So it’s an army that commits
genocide wherever it goes, right? So those people will
flee, millions will flee. Can Poland handle it, can Romania
handle it, can Europe handle 7-10 million refugees right now? I don’t think it can. I don’t believe that European structures,
that the states in Europe at this moment, even with aid for… Two million Ukrainians displaced here and there
are still tensions, you see, Poland… in Poland, what was the main topic
during the election campaign, Poland being one of the countries that
supports, look at the final phase, the last stage of the election campaign… What did you see? What aggressive anti-Ukrainian themes
that you would never imagine, I mean much more than in Romania. Sure, in Romania there have been fake
news stories about Ukraine and the war. I still see circulating claims that
220,000 to 300,000 Romanians are being called up, some crazy stuff, and there
are people who should be identified. That’s what I’m waiting for
after these elections… After the government, right? I still expect some reforms at the
level of Romanian administration and in the intelligence structures,
for the intelligence agencies to do their duty, to see where these
disinformation networks come from, how they operate, who is behind them. It can’t be that countries
like Finland, Estonia, Latvia can withstand this assault. Moldova, Moldova, a small country
that doesn’t have an army, manages with some structures. the Intelligence and Security Service, The Ministry of Internal Affairs
is dealing with the Russian series. Romania, nothing. I asked, and the justification is
as follows: We have to comply with European Union regulations here and
cannot block IP classes because attacks come from all sorts of IP classes. And because our Constitution guarantees
the right to free correspondence, we cannot block these addresses
accessing Romania from outside. Only yesterday I heard for the
first time after that And probably in Finnish, in Estonian And they kicked out of Europe This is outrageous
We can’t believe such a thing And there’s another one,
including the phone scams. Only now have we realized that
we can block phone numbers. Actually, calls that mask their
phone numbers to scam Romanians. There are a lot of people
from Transnistria who do this. They scam people in Romania using numbers
that appear to be from the UK, because you can get a number online from any country. I could call you from my phone as
if I were from who knows where. So I believe that at a very high level,
the leadership of these militarized institutions was either infiltrated
by the Russians, which is not the case at all, or there was a concept, like,
“let’s play along with them because we know what the outcome will be.” I believe in the second option
you mentioned, because every time I pass through Otopeni,
I see a Gazprom gas station. Can someone explain to me how we
have Gazprom gas stations in Romania? This is the least significant. Why? That Gazprom and Lukoil, the problem
is what they do with the intelligence structures, why those don’t incur debts,
why the Romanian state doesn’t function. For me, this is a signal, it’s a thing, actually the
most trivial example that even though they are boycotted by Romanians who
have no clue, they are still there. They are intentionally left as footholds
to operate here, and there is clear evidence of how some money moved through
the refineries, the Lucoi refinery. No, they these appeared 10 years ago, up
to the point, various details and combinations emerged, in Ploiești. So we have people, in case anyone
comes, we have a person. No. And then… But they are allowed, I mean,
here in Romania you have radio and television stations that do nothing but
systematically promote Russian narratives. Why do we tolerate this thing? I mean, seriously. Let’s try to answer this, because…
After zooming out and understanding the macro-level situation… To know what world we live in,
because here, usually in our news, most of the news on TV… So who for 30 years have been Russian
plants, so no, what I’m saying, that it’s a coincidence, let’s see, no, they
are simply plants, no, you can’t, I mean, look at the Ukrainians, in the war
after 2014, they clean their services, they clean, they clean, almost every
month, you see that they caught another one, that there are suspicions, that
he gave information to the reds, here we haven’t had anything like that in
the service, you’ve had the service… We need a lustration… Well, it takes more than that,
I mean, in our case, you need to come in radically and clean out the
Russian agents, which I assume have been around since the early 90s. So, first of all… Măgureanu, first
of all, Iliescu, because otherwise, it doesn’t make sense, I mean, there are
people doing business, you could say, with Transnistria, through Transnistria they
do business with Russia, talking about Gazprom, there are big businesses here. Many are done through connections
with Chișinău, others through Swiss companies, Dutch companies, behind
which are Russians, a lot from Vienna, from Israel, Russian communities. The famous Mr. Șaț, again, because
an investigation came out in Austria a few days ago about the fact that,
indeed, behind Mr. Șaț there might be some Russian interests and with Mr.
Șaț’s money, apparently, Mr. Georgescu was also financed, but again, we
still need to clarify these matters. Well ready for this, we are not called,
or well, anyway, I teach this, this service is at the university. But Bulgaria also expelled, they
made expulsions, they cleaned up. Let’s see people caught for treason,
because so far… after what happened happened, meaning if these things with
Georgescu hadn’t happened, you’d see them with these Russian narratives, practically
as if they were received in an envelope from Moscow from Zakharov, and no one
says anything and there’s no reaction… These are very curious, I will see now. No, who will be the ministers,
let’s see the services, who goes, what reform program they have. If we see some investigations,
we will see some reports on what happened, to have some explanations,
how some things happened. Because otherwise, we only took
a break for a year, two years. They will come back and
take control of Romania. They will take over the country without
any discussion, meaning you have no say. The simple question the question I ask is, are we
really not catching any traitors? Do we really not have any? It seems not. So, no one has betrayed this country? All the countries around us
catch traitors, but we don’t? Maybe the traitors are the very
ones who are supposed to carry out the operation to catch them. Because after the presidential
elections, now during the negotiations to form the government, at the
time we are recording, we still don’t have a government, all state
institutions are focused on controls. There are also controls on tax evasion,
raids are conducted with masks. Have you seen what? Surely that deficit won’t be filled just
by catching some big tax evaders who, I don’t know, when were they investigated? Last week? I mean, seriously now, in recent
years you knew you had a deficit, that the problem isn’t from yesterday. It surfaced after the guard changed. We had an election year, okay, but
seriously now, something else… The fear My fear is that these things will pass,
we’ll forget, new topics will emerge in public debate, and we’ll never have that
lustration, nor any issue of lustration. I still raise the issue
of some investigations. Romanian politicians are too cheap to buy. Could it just be corruption? But then, that still seems like a
counterintelligence issue to me. It can’t be happening right
under your nose, right? You, being perhaps the largest
service in Europe in terms of numbers and budget, to let this happen. The DNA didn’t exist, the
environmental guard, ANAF, I don’t know, all the institutions that
should have been responsible for collecting, catching, stopping, for… You haven’t heard about them in
recent years, and now suddenly this talk is starting to circulate again. That maybe Coduța Căveșii should
come back to clean things up. Others say, no, no, she’s involved with
Coldea and you’ll see that again… Then on the other hand, you even hear
President Nicușor Dan, who I think is getting worn down lately because
of these negotiations with the PSD, saying that it might be necessary to
involve the SRI to combat tax evasion, as it’s a matter of national security. You should know that these things
are very delicate, very fragile, and so is the public’s trust. These things today, in two or three weeks,
and in a year you could have a political situation, you could have a crisis here. First of all, the result of the December
1st elections forces you into very complicated arithmetic, at the level
of the political elite, the Romanian political class does not exist. What are you thinking about? Not the fact that a reform is needed. What are you thinking about? Because if… Well, yes. look at what’s happening. You have an election result, right? In the last few days, the election
result has practically changed with entire parliamentary factions
switching to another political party. They weren’t actually created by PSD. Well, you see, in these
conditions… what do we do then? Do we abolish elections? Or do we play games with the elections? So the Romanian political system is… How should I put it, democracy has been
so falsified that everything is fake. Hence the reaction of the population. So you can understand those who
come and say, “Sir, we are voting for Simeon because things can’t go
on like this, they need to change.” And now, if a reform doesn’t happen,
if something dramatic doesn’t occur to change Romania’s course, in 2-3 years
you’ll have AUR and such political groups inciting nationalist hatred at 60-70%. No doubt about it. No doubt about it. I’m telling you all this. Don’t imagine that Nicușor
Dan’s term will last 5 years. He will stay in power. No, he won’t. Well, people will simply take
to the streets in two years if something truly significant
doesn’t happen in this direction. I think, you know, that’s how it will go. I think they can do it even faster
because after the elections, I already see from last week, I see in the
comments section, the trolls are all targeting Nicușor, so defamation and
belittlement, and you pro-Europeans with Nicușor, you will be blamed because… You didn’t vote because you voted like
this, and all this economic decline, all this recession will be blamed on the
pro-Europeans along with Nicușor Danu? And from this whole story, PSD won’t
win, because the hatred towards PSD will remain and will grow due to
their behavior during this period. Gold will rise. PSD is power, PSD is the system. And the trolling on the internet right
now, which is inflaming the population and keeping it warm, that’s why, by the
way, and Simeon, the way he turned it around, you saw, 180 degrees after he
admitted defeat and came to contest, he re-entered the electoral campaign
instantly, because someone with enough experience probably told him, I don’t
know from Vienna, now I’m speculating, someone told him, hold on, it might be
less than three and a half years until the next elections, with a bit of luck
there might be some early elections. This with Vienna with… they are a local
product, this with the cases that… sure, the Russians use them too, but
they are a local product, they are the creation… Client’s material. Don’t imagine that there aren’t
agents recruited through Chechnya and sent to training and GRU school,
nothing like that, they are the creation of some institutions in
Romania, when I say institutions, I know what I’m talking about, okay? Nicosor yes, and which they haven’t gotten out of control. Exactly. There are groups within these institutions
fighting each other for money, for power. So stop with these explanations. Nicușor Dan and Ilie Bolojan seem like a kind of David against a Goliath,
which I don’t think they bought. They seem to know They seem to know that things are
serious, that they are dramatic. Let’s see if we quickly
realize everything. In a few days, the
appointments will appear. We’ll see the team when it forms. If the old guard starts
coming back, you’ll know. Then you have to give
me a kind of countdown. I don’t give them more than two years. So if they can’t put people in place to bring in people who can make
changes and implement reforms shake things up. Because that’s what I publicly
accused them of, and the sovereignists caught on and made it a trampoline. I received tens, hundreds of
shares very quickly, which doesn’t usually happen to me. I criticized the fact that, at this
moment, the parties in the pro-European coalition keep planting news in the major
TV channels’ journals about the necessity of increasing VAT and certain taxes. But you don’t hear much information
about state restructuring, territorial reorganization, mergers, things like that. So, they are not cutting from
themselves yet, but from us. They want to save themselves, not us. Whatever you… say you will be used because
you have a very high rating It’s not about trading,
it’s about the narrative. In the end, I came and said P.S. All the
sovereigntists from Cucuruz should keep quiet because I’m not giving them an easy
shot since they don’t have credibility. anyway they will use it, try to think,
everyone needs to think and not let themselves be manipulated anymore. We are in a hybrid war, and it’s a hybrid
war that Russia is waging against us, but we are also in a hybrid war against
groups within Romania, political parties, and certain militarized structures
that have seized a good opportunity. They don’t want to miss this chance
and aim to bring the country to its knees; they are close to doing so. I’ve heard you say this in
another interview that the Russians are here, you’re saying
it again, but how deep are they? How deeply do you see them? Look what has happened in the last few months,
they are not at the top more than that. Look, compare Romania with Finland,
with the Baltic countries, with… You don’t have situations like this. Here, openly, do you have in any
of these countries radio or TV stations that do nothing but promote
Russian narratives for years? No one has questioned their health. Don’t say that Romania is democratic. It’s the least comparable; look at the
democratic index to see where Romania stands compared to Estonia and Finland. asked in the services area and
asked the CNA if they can fine them, summon them to close down, not
much democracy, Europe, that’s the justification, should they be closed? we also believed that but look at what happened in Finland,
not only were people who promote these narratives imprisoned, they
are in jail for promoting, for posts, for fakes, for Russian propaganda. Is Finland somehow undemocratic? Look at where Romania is and where
Finland is on the democracy index, so by elimination if we don’t have arrests legislation, you introduce this
kind of training, media literacy, starting from 8, 9, 10, 14 years old,
so the child understands that there are fakes, that they need to verify
information, not to be manipulated. Right now, you have a population
that is being manipulated on TikTok just like the Russians are, yes, And yet, I haven’t heard of any
serious cases of arrest, trial, and conviction for death threats. And there are hundreds of death
threats every day in Romania. Have you received? No, no, but no, when you say that I was
there, what, to threaten me with death? No. Do you receive comments like that? I I don’t read them, I don’t follow them,
I’ve been threatened on the street. Do you think tomorrow I’ll
be done with their threats? When it was with Plahotniuc,
there were people with a Chișinău accent who would stop their car
on the street to tell me to… So, I’m good. Good at what I do? And So, I’m good. Good at what? And you are not alone, we have had other
guests here who told me the same thing, that… Look, Teodor Paleologu or
another journalist Claudiu Pândarot, we all end up on those infamous lists
that they don’t even have to make with their people, they just need to inflame
society enough for a madman to believe he has to save Romania from the madman
of buhnii or goșuri or who knows who. And our authorities do nothing concrete
about it… I was called only once by a policeman, I’ve mentioned this before,
who said he heard on a live stream that a manele singer threatened me. That’s it. Seriously, is that all? And he asked if I wanted them
to do something about it. And I said, well, I
don’t know, you decide. Because you are the police, right? Well, probably… I assume you need to file a complaint. For the criminal act, it’s not necessary. that it can self-report. The threat for a threat does
not require my complaint. Well, I’m sure it’s worth keeping the
discussion in this area because we’re afraid, and I don’t think it’s necessary
at this point after the election. The problem is that the one who…
This problem hasn’t disappeared. I’m telling you that Russian
manipulation and bots are very active. It’s fervent. It was quiet, you know how long? One week. And I realized why. They were busy with Poland. After they finished with
Poland, they got back to work. The pro-Russian propaganda
and bots are furious. In fact, they are not pro-Russian,
they are anti-Ukrainian, anti It depends a lot on what they will what the governors do. If they start reforms and bring a
breath of… Who, Mr. Grindeanu, reform? Well, I don’t know. Who’s there? I don’t know anymore who in
Romania is in charge of reforms. It depends a lot. We’ll figure it out. In two years, I’m telling
you, we’ll understand. But I hope, but I repeat, the
signals I see and the feedback I have, are not very… But these
are decisive weeks and months. First of all, it depends a lot
on what will happen now at NATO, at the Summit, at the G7, if the
European Union will restructure. If Romania risks being left somewhere on
an outer circle, then from a prosperity point of view, it becomes, I would say,
risky for Romania because its chances for reform become doubtful and then
you remain a kind of periphery of the West and from a security point of view,
if the Americans withdraw, it’s a kind of periphery of the Atlantic worlds. At that moment, Russian presence will
be increasingly significant in Romania. I see Romania’s future as a kind
of joint-stock company, where Russians will hold 20%, 30%,
but they could also hold 50%. And you will see Russian companies
openly, not just 2, 3, 5, but many more. TV stations promoting Russian narratives
or radio stations with Russian narratives won’t just be 3, 5, but half of all the
TV stations broadcasting in Romania. In the Romanian Parliament, you will have
parties and political formations, half of which will promote Russian narratives. The problem is that the rest of them our people, let’s say,
who are pro-Western, no I know, I don’t understand
the stakes of this war. This tolerance ours… This infinite patience? The Russians can’t provide enough
washing machines, so they have to steal them from Ukraine? They can’t even build sewage systems
and highways in a country like that? It depends a lot on what happens here. It depends a lot on Ukraine. Think of a nightmare scenario where,
simply, a collapse occurs in Ukraine. Imagine the front line collapsing. And, in fact, that was Putin’s hope
in February 2022: that Ukraine would collapse, that the Russians would
occupy the capital, that Russian troops would start a parade on
Khreshchatyk, in the center of Kyiv. Well, and in those conditions
with the Russians here at the border, isn’t it indeed. Which border? That Moldova doesn’t have
an army, it’s not NATO. Moldova doesn’t has an army if it comes
under Russian influence. 9% under Russian influence. And then it will be a huge
problem for Romania as well. That’s why it was so
important for both Romania and Poland was extremely important because
Hungary and Serbia are resolved. Poland is A. And with Romania,
which is still here like this… We all depend on Ukraine. If Ukraine succeeds, if the Europeans—the
Germans, the French, the British—are skillful enough to resume their support,
this is the moment when Europe can… take the initiative With the Taurus
missiles and a bit of courage I believe this war can be resolved And we need to remember something: Don’t
be so afraid of Russia anymore. Don’t be afraid that Russia
will use nuclear weapons because it has no teeth left. The peak of Russia’s military
capabilities was last year, in the summer and fall of last year. Russia no longer has enough
people on the front lines. Haven’t you noticed that for a month
and a half, they launched a major offensive since the summer of 2025? Have you heard of major battles? Every three days, they occupy a
small village or a locality in the Sumy region in the north. They got within 30, 50, 60 kilometers
of the regional capital of Sumy. But at this rate of advancement, it would
take them 100 years to reach the Dnipro. So let’s not be afraid anymore. Let’s see that Ukraine is
determined to continue the war. Let’s help them resist Russian incursions. And here, internally, let’s
consolidate and eliminate these Russian networks that prevent us from
developing as a democratic state. They hinder our prosperity and
prevent us from playing an important role on NATO’s eastern flank, which
we can aspire to because we are a large and important state in Europe. Look at what the Ukrainians
have done; they have reset the entire modern military doctrine. They have rewritten the airfields. What? Tanks, first of all, are useless. What can you do with tanks? Then they solved the
trenches and the shovels. Now they are destroying the myth of
strategic bombers and large aviation. What’s next? We might find that they
do another brave thing. They have rewritten the rules of war. Exactly. If I were the Minister of Defense right
now, I’d be sitting with my notebook, watching footage from drones in the war. It’s a completely different thing. Drones with fiber optics? I am convinced that they already have
drones with lasers in the lab, because, in fact, that is what fiber optics are. It’s a tube through which light travels. It can’t be jammed by electronic warfare. So, if they do what Elon Musk did
with satellites, which communicate via laser, if they reverse engineer
Starlink and make drones communicate from a base station through a single,
invisible wire—since it’s a laser after all—if these communicate via laser,
they can’t be taken down by anything. I don’t know what technology they had now
against those four airfields, simply put. There it was classic. Those airfields were equipped with
classic anti-aircraft systems that weren’t prepared for drone combat. And besides, it happened very quickly. Yes, the problem is that…
Those with the jamming systems you can’t keep those running non-stop. No, the problem is that they were
piloted via satellite networks. No, no, no, they were piloted
from there, from nearby, they were controlled from nearby. It’s hard to believe they were
controlled from nearby because there was nothing nearby. The driver simply left the truck there
because that’s what he was told to do. There are three rows of drones; you have
an automated drone with built-in memory. And here, artificial intelligence was
used on the Poltava museum, where you had models of TU-95 and TU-22F M bombers. Because if you look at the drones,
there are some in the third swarm at the back that are filming. So, you have the first one that
helps you aim correctly, the second one that comes and strikes, but
those were only hitting the tanks. I mean, drones are drones,
but not to this extent. And you had a third set of drones
above filming the entire operation, making it look like a Hollywood
movie shot on something incredible. I watched at least the second set
of videos released by the Ukrainian services, rubbing my eyes, not
understanding why those tires were on the wings of the planes. Why? And I’ve been listening to
Israeli commentators, Ukrainian commentators, and Russian military
commentators explaining how it works. And you see the drone descending
under the wing to get a good grip on the tank and how it hits the tank. And have you seen what
kind of drones they are? These are drones that you can’t
take down with guns or stones. When they start to rise, those are the
images from… This is near Irkutsk. When the driver gets scared, the
drones start to rise, what does he do? He climbs onto the truck’s hood
and starts throwing stones at the drones to bring them down. They are all small drones. So, imagine a scenario where someone
buys 20 drones or makes 20 drones at home, attaches some small explosive
devices to them, like small grenades, and they come to attack a unit. Consider that it might not just be
state entities behind such attacks, but it could be… A terrorist cell
sending 10 drones to a military unit in the center of a capital. anywhere. Think about how many doors… You realized the path from the balcony. You are on the balcony at 300 meters… I mean, after September 11,
the cockpit door was locked because of the knife, but now what What are you doing now? What are you doing? The drone is coming outside. And I looked at the comments from
those who were watching and they said, for example, I’m a truck driver,
I have regular deliveries near… I recently had a delivery near a
military base in the United States. Well, I parked my truck 50
meters from a military plane. I could see it over the fence. Yes, yes, yes. What are you doing at the moment? that one? do you control them? Because these were also… It was
even seen at one point when the roof opens and they start to fly. The Americans keep their
strategic planes in hangars. Because they are very expensive. These planes, these
bombers, were at Engels. They were in the European area south
of Moscow, in the Saratov region. From there, they would take off and bomb. However, the Ukrainians sent
attacks in both 2022 and 2023. In 2023, they hit the
Engels airfield twice. So, the Russians had to move
them further away, right? These planes, which carry Kinzhal
missiles, take off from a distance, climb, and when they get within about 200
kilometers, they launch these missiles. Don’t imagine that they come
over Kyiv to drop them, because we’re no longer in… And more valuable than those planes
with Kinzhal missiles on them were the ones with radar, AWACS. Those are very expensive, A-50,
A-50s have been destroyed, they had seven in total, two have been
destroyed, they have five left. Those are planes without
which you cannot attack. Those are radar-equipped planes that
connect you with all other attack elements, and when you’re up in
the air, they identify enemy fire. They fired missiles at a
Russian base and transmitted. The only way you can… You
can fight on the ground. very expensive So imagine that, look, this
table is the globe, right? If… it’s not… the earth
isn’t flat, it’s round, that’s why they need these planes. They have to lift up nicely here,
an AWACS, so they can see enemy planes over a larger radius. And now, suddenly those F-16s
start to operate, becoming a very interesting option. But they have ammunition, they don’t give
them foreign ammunition. But if in the end, the Germans give Taurus I don’t know if they’ll give the
Taurus, but the Germans are doing something even more interesting, and I
think this is to Ukraine’s advantage. They’re providing technology and
starting to build weapons and ammunition factories on Ukrainian
territory, which is a dream come true. Because, in a way, this
counters the Russian threat. Don’t give them weapons to attack Russian
territory with foreign arms, NATO arms. Because right now, many NATO
countries are getting scared. If a factory was established near
Lviv, near Kyiv, and you produced a missile there, that’s fine. However, I don’t believe the Ukrainians could
have executed this operation so well without American satellites. Probably, but the Americans said no. Trump stated yesterday at the meeting
with MED that they asked and he said no. And people from Trump’s entourage
at the White House said no, that they didn’t know anything. But, again, it’s hard for me to believe how they could The only
ones who have spatial supremacy in that area are just the Americans. But how does it work, how do you manage to
guide that… Ok, first of all, the ones that hit your carburetors are automated. You put some artificial intelligence
in them and they hit… But how do you transmit the images for the rest? It was said, ok, they are
SIM, Russian SIM cards. To transmit on a SIM card, as
a symbol, it takes much longer. Yes. I am the third row of drones filming
with incredible quality, and the transmission is very good, and I suspect
that everything is from satellites. Who has satellites? The Ukrainians don’t have satellites. Exactly. Who has them? The Americans have satellites. Exactly. So they say no, no, no,
no, we don’t, maybe. And they certainly will. they keep saying no, but I believe that at
the Trump administration level, there is a line of communication and direct support
for the Ukrainians, and it seems to me that it’s also a kind of image game where
they signal that they are withdrawing, but at the same time, the Ukrainians
are striking so deep inside Russia. Yes, but this It’s a Ukrainian operation. Is this a Ukrainian operation? The footage is made with Nodar technology. This was planned by Ukrainians,
made by… It was planned by… Ukrainians, I agree, but
without information… It would you might not have had
information at that moment. It could be… The Americans
didn’t transmit before either. They didn’t transmit about
Kursk, they didn’t transmit when they tried to hit Kerch. I mean, don’t imagine that
the Ukrainians are asking for permission from the Americans. This is not the case. the first year of the war didn’t…
I’m not talking about permission, I’m talking about information. About at some point they stopped giving
them, now I see they are giving them again, I don’t know how much but at
the same time there’s information that they are withdrawing their anti-drone
weapons, the American anti-drone weapons that were around Kyiv, this has been
confirmed by American sources, the Americans are taking these weapons
and sending them to the Middle East. So, they are running out. The fact that they are no longer
being supplied with ammunition for the Patriot missiles, which are very
expensive but very effective, even hitting the Kinzhal, is true information. Sure, the Norwegians or the Germans
can come with alternatives, but they don’t match the quality of the
Patriot, though they are still good. there could still be a scenario
where they monitored those airfields with Ukrainians who actually went
there like commandos in that area. I think they might have had that idea. Now no, the Ukrainians are much better
at espionage, that’s not the issue. The issue now is with the
satellites, because they provide images from the satellites. The problem is that the
satellites pass by every few days. So at one point, you had information
that they were there, that they were preparing, but here… My assumption is that the Ukrainians also
have a network of… Not trainers, they I’m convinced they have saboteurs
and internal operatives. So look now, not a day goes by
without a railway being blown up. Sometimes half a bridge, sometimes
a whole bridge, sometimes it detaches… I’m convinced they have saboteurs and support within Russia. And I believe. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense. Okay, Russian railways are bad. Russian bridges are very bad, they
can collapse even without saboteurs. But the way we see an explosion
every day for 10 days a week, that can’t be explained. Yes. Well, we’ve returned to Ukraine
again, but we intended to talk about America, Ukraine, and Romania. I think we’ve covered
the important topics. We above all. We are up to date for now. Until next week. Who knows what else might explode next week next week. Thank you for making time. I thank you, Professor Arman
Goșu, as always, it’s a great honor to have you here with us. It’s a joy for us. I’m glad. I hope you’re feeling better now
and, how should I put it, I feel more at ease after each discussion
like this with people like you. Because I understand. And once I understand, I know it won’t
be easy, but at least it’s clearer. I think we’re missing a bit of clarity
these days and honesty, I might add. And you have this ability
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