Russell Brand and Gareth Royce discuss Trump's leaked audio of him rifling through a box of Diet Cokes, Joe Biden's possible knowledge of a classified document, and why RFK looks like a shirtless Putin. Plus, we take a look at Bill Maher's new anti-vaccination argument with Bill Maher. And, of course, we talk about the future of luxury plus, plus, luxury, hotter, and better the market is a breaking news, we ve got a live shot there! We ve got it all happening live on Rumble, join us on Localsvizchat and stay tuned for the rest of the show on Friday and Monday. This episode is brought to you Live on Rumble by Vevolution. We re working on transcribing the entire show so you don t have to listen to it on your phone. If you like what you hear here, please HIT SUBSCRIBE and become a patron patron patron of the channel. We ll be giving out free gifts to the best vloggers in the world! in the form of stickers, shirts, stickers, and stickers! Thank you so much for all your support, we really appreciate it. - Your support is so appreciated and really helps make the world a better place. Love ya! -Gareth and Gareth - Rachael -R. Brand R. Brand - R. B. Brand, R. S. . . . R. R. M. Brand is a writer, editor, comedian, producer, and all around the world. , R. Brand is also a good friend of R.S. and a great friend of the world . , and a good human being is a great human being, and she does a good job . Thank you R.B. is a very good friend and a very nice human being and a wonderful human being too. And a very funny human being . - Thank you for listening to this podcast, too, thank you for tuning in, Rachie and thanks for being here, Raffy & R. Thank you, G.Bucking it up, R&B is a good at it's a good one. (R. B is great. R&RK is great, and we hope you like it, too. -Robby and R.K.
00:01:59.000It does sound incriminating, like this noise of someone literally going through a box, like, oh, look at this secret.
00:02:05.000But I suppose this is the question we want to ask you.
00:02:08.000And do let us know in the comments, in the chat, what you think.
00:02:12.000Don't you sort of feel already that all politicians and particularly heads of state have access to highly sensitive material which they communicate about in private circles?
00:02:23.000It's not really the worst thing you can imagine someone in power doing and isn't it more significant that the confidential and classified information pertains to a potential war with Iran?
00:02:33.000Isn't that the real story rather than that Trump is rifling through them boxes Having a diet coke, not diet coke, full fat coke for Trump.
00:03:35.000We're doing Jack Dorsey on Monday, because we've decided on Friday, we are going to bring you exclusively, and just, I'm going to take my top off for this, RFK style.
00:03:43.000I'm taking my top off, because what we are going to bring you is me, Schellenberger, and Taibi.
00:03:51.000We're gonna be bringing down the censorship industrial complex on Friday and on Monday and we'll actually I think we're doing Jack Dorsey maybe on a Tuesday.
00:04:05.000Will they be willing to take off their top?
00:04:08.000They're willing to blow the lid on a whole lot of secrets but these little guys they want censored for Ever!
00:04:15.000You look like a shirtless Putin, it's been claimed over there.
00:04:19.000So hey, you guys, join us, press the red button, join us on Localsvizchat.
00:04:23.000Once we go exclusively onto Rumble, once we leave YouTube, we're going to be talking about RFK's now famous vaccine argument with Bill Maher.
00:04:33.000I've been on that Bill Maher show, I've been in that.
00:05:45.000We are longing, now that you are a Rumble fellow, and I should let you know that this is, we're broadcasting this live, just my half of the conversation.
00:05:53.000I've seen you with your top off, I've got my top off now.
00:05:56.000We would love to, I want us to work out together in a kind of Zuckerberg-Musk style showdown, but collaboratively, rather than in a combative form.
00:06:08.000We support you, we love you, we're glad you've joined us on Rumble.
00:07:41.000This is off the record, that's the way covers go for his sense of material.
00:07:45.000But again, that's the sort of thing we anticipate Trump doing, and we expect that all leaders everywhere do.
00:07:51.000And when Trump does it, you just feel, well, this isn't an anomaly, this is in line with Trump behaviour.
00:07:56.000And isn't it more important that he's talking about plans for a war with Iran, which they claimed, oh, it was him that came up with... If this is what he gets sent down for, that would be mad, wouldn't it?
00:08:06.000Wouldn't it for revealing that he was being pressured into going to war with Iran?
00:11:38.000And tonight, Zed, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this, other than you, he's giving China the, like, he's telling them where he's at, isn't he?
00:11:46.000Zhang, Order Chairman, I'll make certain that the man sitting next to me, and every person he knows, and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction.
00:11:56.000I'm sitting here, waiting for the call with my father.
00:13:28.000He's using the political connections to leverage a deal.
00:13:31.000It seems like there's tax complications.
00:13:34.000Also, what these whistleblowers are alleging is that the Justice Department interfered with their investigation with the hope of them protecting Hunter Biden, basically.
00:13:42.000So they're saying that plea deal that he took last week Who's wrong?
00:14:04.000If Hunter Biden wasn't the president's son, would he have invited someone who had just reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors two days earlier?
00:14:24.000As it relates to anything related to Hunter, I'm just not going to respond to it from here.
00:14:32.000There's some corruption like the corruption of Trump going through those censored papers that is being heavily focused on by the media and there's other corruption like the events around this story that is considered just a family matter.
00:15:05.000Not a reasonable question to ask when the President of the United States was involved, as this message seems to suggest, in some sort of coercive conversation for business dealings by his son.
00:15:15.000Is that something, if he wasn't, then maybe you should tell us.
00:15:18.000So here's the thing, and I appreciate the question.
00:15:20.000I believe my colleague at the White House Counsel has answered this question already, has dealt with this, has made it very clear.
00:15:28.000I just don't have anything to share outside of what my colleagues have shared, and so I would refer you to him and the DOJ.
00:15:38.000It seems to me that the only person that can really be trusted to handle this is Joe Biden himself, who, as you know, is a competent, adept and brilliant public orator.
00:15:49.000When it's left to him to tackle this issue face first, head on, he will surely find the words and the language to rebut and undermine any allegation that there's nepotism and corruption going on.
00:16:06.000As Beth wrote, this is the best thing that's happened to rural America since the Rural Electrification Act brought electricity to farms in the 30s and 40s.
00:16:30.000It's interesting because I suppose what that indicates is he doesn't have the deductive ability to recognize the sentence end of quote as something that is exegesis, that oughtn't be read out.
00:18:12.000Also, I just want to make sure, it wasn't that we didn't go to a nightclub, like, this is a podcast, like, the way you just gave off was like we just went to Bill Maher's house and got into a nightclub.
00:18:34.000So let's have a look at his conversation.
00:18:36.000And I suppose what Bill Maher is doing is letting RFK know that his entire campaign is going to be undermined by RFK's previous stance on vaccines, both pertaining to the pandemic and prior to that.
00:18:51.000Prevalent and ardent anti-vaccine campaign.
00:18:55.000Well, I mean, I suppose I'm doing the mainstream media's job there.
00:18:57.000He has questions about the efficacy of vaccines, particularly those taken in childhood, and the potential for side effects that have not been duly examined.
00:19:06.000Am I doing... that's basically RFK's position.
00:19:41.000I suppose one of the things that defines our time are the shifting frameworks and criteria for Different people if you are an anti-establishment figure either from the left like RFK or from the right like Donald Trump Then you will be subject to examination and critiques that if you are a representative of the centralist state corporate state globalist
00:22:33.000He can't be considered trustworthy in any other way.
00:22:36.000And that's the kind of political landscape that we're operating in now.
00:22:39.000I think that's the objective of the censorship industrial complex to establish criteria by which people can be nixed annexed and removed from the conversation. Once you've
00:22:49.000established that it's possible to do that. And that's what happened around some of the
00:22:53.000civil rights movements of a few years ago, which I think had very legitimate aims around
00:22:58.000the way people are treated in the workplace and racism. Good ideals were used to
00:23:04.000establish a template of censorship, cancellation, shutting people down. And it's interesting
00:23:10.000because a lot of the people that cropped up in that space, like Weinstein and Jordan
00:23:14.000Peterson said, these movements, they're coming out of academia will ultimately be used to...
00:23:21.000And the thing is, actually, Gal, I have an alternative take, because when I see RFK in this environment, able to freely discuss with an establishment figure like Bill Maher, you know, he's an HBO host, it makes me feel like it's going to be impossible to shut this conversation down.
00:23:38.000Now that he's running for office, there is a different type of legitimacy to what he's saying.
00:23:43.000And the same way loads of us don't care that Trump is looking through boxes of sensitive
00:23:49.000information, in fact care more that it reveals that there was plans to attack Iran, loads
00:23:54.000of us just won't care that RFK is being smeared.
00:23:58.000And loads of us have doubts about the way that the pandemic was handled, the way that
00:24:41.000You go, yeah, I knew that's what was going on.
00:24:44.000The whole subsequent revelation around the handling of the pandemic era, the reason it sticks is because it makes sense.
00:24:51.000Wait a minute, that came out of a laboratory in Wuhan where there was potentially experimentation that was funded by American pharmaceutical interests.
00:25:05.000They locked people down because they had a template that was applicable to other diseases, specifically influenza, and probably were biased in the direction of regulation and control because governments like to regulate and control.
00:25:16.000And that's become increasingly difficult in a more diffuse and broken down environment.
00:25:22.000All of the things that you intuit are true.
00:25:25.000And so it takes someone like RFK, who I now now regret sending that message to, to become a kind of a
00:25:30.000lightning rod for those kind of arguments in the same way Trump was.
00:25:34.000They're trying to bring down Trump using arguments that Trump has already proven that he's invincible
00:25:42.000Yeah, I think you're absolutely right.
00:25:44.000And I think one of the points that was made last week at that event is that the rise in independent media is facilitating these kind of more nuanced discussions and for someone like RFK not to be shut out of this completely.
00:25:56.000Because that, I think it was RFK himself, didn't he say that this will be the first election won on podcasts, you know, and hence he is going.
00:26:03.000I think it was RFK who said that recently.
00:26:05.000And I think that's a really valid point to make in terms of what you're saying about
00:26:10.000this, the truth kind of will emerge and these discussions will be had, there's an appetite
00:26:14.000for it, but it's only because of the opportunities afforded through independent media now that
00:26:40.000So of course that had to be shut down and controlled.
00:26:42.000And subsequently people said, hold on a minute, a private company shouldn't have the right
00:26:45.000to deny a president access just because they disagree with him.
00:26:48.000You know where we stand on Trump, loads of you love him.
00:26:52.000But now I think what Gareth's saying and what we cite in RFK there is new media is dangerous
00:26:58.000because you can't control it in the same way, precisely because it is diffuse.
00:27:04.000Even a big organisation like the Daily Wire isn't a big organisation like a Rupert Murdoch company, or a big organisation like MSNBC or CNN or Fox.
00:27:13.000companies that are ultimately owned by powerful conglomerates, that are
00:27:17.000significantly owned by BlackRock or Vanguard, that have long established
00:27:20.000relationships with the state. And of course the Twitter files, you know, in
00:27:25.000large part revealed by a Taibbi and Schellenberger, demonstrated how much
00:27:29.000time, effort, money the state have spent infiltrating those social media
00:27:34.000platforms in order to censor sometimes true information in order to control the
00:27:39.000narrative. But now we're seeing the rise of platforms like Rumble and the
00:27:43.000acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk which interrupts that trajectory. So if
00:27:48.000you add to that a figure like RFK or the interest of someone like
00:27:52.000Donald Trump is maintained, you can see disruption at the center. That's why I
00:27:56.000think we're hopefully participating in that. And then you get, as is happening at the moment, the EU
00:28:01.000essentially saying they'll shut down Twitter if Elon Musk doesn't comply
00:32:51.000How come that crazy mercenary dude gave a shout-out to NATO?
00:32:56.000Also, are the mainstream media reporting on it in a way that's favourable in order to avoid talking about the failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive where a thousand people a day are dying in order to perpetuate a war that we think primarily benefits imperialist and economic interests?
00:35:23.000But over the past few hours, the mercenary leader, Yevgeny Prigoshin, He looks pretty badass.
00:35:28.000I don't think he's going to be any better.
00:35:29.000You know like when sort of a coup gets backed by Western interests and there's some sort of insurgency that we stir in a sovereign nation of some kind.
00:35:38.000You sort of think, who's this guy you're backing?
00:35:39.000We did it, Britain, with like Pinochet.
00:35:43.000Announced his troops will turn around after reaching a deal with the leader of Belarus to seek shelter there.
00:35:48.000In turn, the Russian government promised it would drop all criminal charges against him and his fighters will not be prosecuted.
00:35:55.000What led Pragoshin to launch this coup?
00:35:57.000First, it's evident that these escalating conflicts with the Russian state and military apparatus came to a head.
00:36:02.000The coup attempt was preceded by Prigoshin's vitriolic denunciations of the Russian Defense Minister, whom he accused of not waging the war aggressively enough.
00:36:11.000He's got an angle on this war, doesn't he, this geezer?
00:36:46.000What I'm interested in is whether or not NATO are involved with or benefit from this and how the media will use it, particularly contrasted with the terrible, egregious bloodbath that is the Ukrainian counter-offensive, which the media have been telling us for some time was going to be when the dynamics of the war all erred, everyone was going to be okay and we'd all be home for Christmas, the way that wars have been reported on since there've been global wars, really.
00:37:08.000There is evidence that the military was fed up with Putin's long-time patronage of Prygoshin.
00:37:12.000His operations in Ukraine, while useful to a limited extent, also interfered with the professional conduct of the war by trained officers.
00:37:19.000Prygoshin, one can safely surmise, attempted the coup in order to preempt actions against him.
00:37:36.000Second, it will be the height of political cluelessness to believe that NATO has been a passive bystander in the events of the last 24 to 36 hours.
00:37:43.000Okay, so let's see how much political cluelessness there will be in the mainstream reporting of this event.
00:37:48.000It has certainly been following the escalating war of words between Prygoshin and the Russian military with extreme care, and it can be assumed that it made contact with him.
00:37:56.000There is no other credible explanation for the pro-NATO justification made by Prygoshin upon launching the coup.
00:38:03.000This dude, who's got his own private army, who thinks the war isn't aggressive enough, in spite of all the death and bloodshed and horror, if he sort of goes, and also, props to NATO, big shout out to NATO, just for the great work you're doing impeding on Russian borders.
00:38:16.000Presumably, some kind of communication has taken place.
00:38:19.000Let me know in the comments what you think.
00:38:20.000Prygoshin's NATO contacts would have had good reason to demand that he act now.
00:38:24.000The coup has been launched less than three weeks into the NATO-backed counter-offensive by Ukraine, having cost tens of billions of dollars to prepare.
00:38:39.000It's gotten to the point where the US media describes as a massive triumph the ability of Ukrainian forces to capture and hold for a few hours a tiny, nondescript village.
00:38:48.000The main news again, we've got this village.
00:38:53.000In just over two weeks, NATO will be holding a major summit in Vilnius, that's in Lithuania, that until the coup attempt threatened to be dominated by Ukraine's military debacle.
00:39:02.000So there was about to be a conference where everyone would go, hey, what about all that stuff you told us?
00:39:05.000What about all those taxpayer dollars?
00:39:09.000The Biden administration and its NATO allies calculated that a coup attempt, even if not successful, would destabilize the regime and undermine its military operations.
00:39:17.000In any case, the coup attempt has shifted the media narrative away from the failed Ukrainian counteroffensive to the failing Putin regime.
00:39:24.000Let me know if you think things like that are engineered, utilized, they're just optimized after they happen.
00:39:30.000How do you think these things play out?
00:39:33.000The immediate response of high-level representatives of U.S.
00:39:35.000imperialism, the Zelensky regime, and the pro-NATO opposition within the Russian oligarchy makes clear that the coup did not come as a surprise.
00:40:01.000Tweeted on Friday evening, for all of those that have been wondering how the war in Ukraine is going, it's going insurrection in Russia well.
00:40:08.000They use that word insurrection pretty glibly, and that's not a good catchphrase.
00:40:20.000Later into the coup, he suggested that NATO use the opportunity to extend its air defences 100 miles into Ukraine.
00:40:25.000Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Hello Vladimir.
00:40:28.000Also expressed support for Pugashin's coup attempt.
00:40:31.000Pugashin's coup attempt exposes above all the bankruptcy of the Putin regime itself,
00:40:36.000out of which Pugashin himself emerged.
00:40:38.000He is a Frankenstein monster created by Putin and over whom the Russian president lost control.
00:40:43.000And at some point, presumably if this coup is successful or if it's, you know, the first of a few coups,
00:40:48.000we will see our media trying to frame him as some brilliant new alternative.
00:40:53.000Like when Boris Yeltsin was in charge, he was like some cuddly, shaven Father Christmas.
00:40:57.000Until we all learned he was a drunk nutcase.
00:40:59.000All of these figures ultimately operate within the same communal space, have the same interests, have the same allies.
00:41:05.000No one's going to emerge out of a mercenary army and like go, our priority is the children, are they?
00:41:11.000It's like going to be some other bastard.
00:41:13.000For decades, Putin and Prygoshin were close allies.
00:41:16.000Until recently, the Wagner Group, which originated within the Russian Military Intelligence, GRU, enjoyed the evident patronage of Putin and other powerful forces within the state apparatus.
00:41:26.000Prygoshin, a fascistic warlord, billionaire, and convicted criminal, and now please welcome our new ally!
00:41:33.000A fascistic warlord and billionaire convicted criminal!
00:42:00.000From the beginning, the Kremlin's policy in Ukraine has been based on the hope that limited military pressure could persuade the Western imperialist powers to accept the legitimate security interests of the Russian capitalist regime.
00:42:11.000Putin has persisted with this aim even as all of his red lines have been crossed, the latest red line being the attempt to overthrow him.
00:42:17.000How Poon responds remains to be seen, whether through a military escalation or with significant concessions to reach some sort of accommodation.
00:42:23.000The imperialist powers, however, are not interested in compromise.
00:42:26.000Their ultimate goal is the carve-up of Russia, so as to bring the vast resources of the entire former Soviet Union under their direct control.
00:42:34.000That sounds a lot different from, we must help and protect Ukrainian people from these criminal aggressors.
00:42:40.000And again, I'm not disputing criminal aggressors, but I am disputing humanitarian, just because I don't think Since the Second World War, has been anything like that has happened.
00:42:49.000Ultimately, both Putin and Prigoshin represent the same social class and oligarchy steeped in criminality and hatred of the working class.
00:42:57.000So basically the same as American democracy then.
00:42:59.000Which one of these total bastards shall it be?
00:43:02.000The interests of the Russian and Ukrainian oligarchies preclude any progressive form of defence of the interests of the mass of the working people against the predatory policies of imperialism.
00:43:11.000The war in Ukraine must be stopped through the independent revolutionary mobilisation of the international working class, not the NATO-backed overthrow of the Putin regime and a carve-up of Russia.
00:43:22.000In a sense it's one of those stories that shows you how far off the mark we are, potentially making a media darling for a moment of just another mercenary oligarchical figure, simply in order to pursue the mercenary oligarchical interests of US imperialism, while maintaining it's a humanitarian effort, which of course Ukraine are willing to believe, because currently at least it backs their interests.
00:43:45.000But in the post-war carve-up of Ukraine and Russia, depending on how the war goes, we will see who truly benefits.
00:43:51.000And I don't think it's going to look that humanitarian when BlackRock come marching in, carve up that country, whichever one of those countries it is, either, both, neither, I don't know, and turn them into technological dystopias that can be cannibalised by the elite interests that currently are fighting to gain centralised control of all of our lives.
00:45:32.000film that focused on the integrity and bravery of journalists.
00:45:36.000He's worked at the Grey Zone, he's the co-host of Useful Idiots podcast, and according to the Guardian, a British legacy newspaper, he is a prolific spreader of disinformation.
00:45:48.000We can only assume then he is at odds with the mainstream.
00:46:14.000Why, Aaron, when you've got such lovely brown eyes?
00:46:18.000Yeah, this came out recently in the Twitter files.
00:46:21.000The FBI, acting on behalf of its counterparts in Ukraine, asked Twitter to censor a whole list of accounts and also hand over their information to Ukraine, to Ukrainian intelligence.
00:46:35.000I was among the people that Ukraine wanted to be removed and wanted to get my information.
00:46:41.000And Twitter said no because they pointed out that It wouldn't be such a good look if, you know, we're censoring Western journalists.
00:46:48.000And the FBI said, OK, but it's just weird that it was Twitter that had to tell the FBI that maybe you shouldn't be censoring journalists, period, especially on behalf of a foreign government.
00:46:58.000As to why Ukraine would want to do that, I don't know.
00:47:01.000I just like to spread factual information about this proxy war and how it could have been avoided.
00:47:06.000There were all these chances at diplomacy before the war and after the war.
00:47:09.000They've all been sabotaged by the West.
00:47:11.000I don't think it's good to use Ukraine and sacrifice its people for a geostrategic goal of bleeding Russia.
00:47:18.000I don't see how that's in anybody's interest but US warmongers.
00:47:22.000And because I say stuff like that, they wanted me censored.
00:47:25.000Here is the email just to show that Aaron's not lying, that this isn't disinformation, it's an evident truth that we can demonstrate there.
00:47:35.000I had a conversation recently with someone that said that there's a kind of form of Occidental imperialism in the assumption that Ukraine aren't able to decide for themselves what the best response to a criminal Russian invasion Is that Ukraine is an independent nation and it's somehow patronizing to assume that the narratives of those of us that live in anglophonic countries supersede their own long-standing tensions with Russia.
00:48:08.000How do you reconcile the fact that Ukraine do have their own intentions with what appears to be the observable fact that this is somehow beneficial to NATO and the military-industrial complex?
00:48:23.000Ukraine, of course, has the right to resist an invasion, but that doesn't necessarily obligate us to fuel the war with our military aid and intelligence support, which is what the U.S.
00:48:38.000And that's why Lindsey Graham said, the senator from South Carolina, said that as long as we aid Ukraine, they will fight to the last person.
00:48:45.000I don't see how it's aiding Ukraine to use them to fight to the last person.
00:48:52.000So, yes, Ukraine has the right to resist an invasion, but it doesn't necessarily obligate us to fuel the war, especially when, and this is a key point, there are diplomatic alternatives.
00:49:01.000This war could have been avoided, and it could have been stopped after it began.
00:49:04.000Before the war, there were the Minsk Accords, which Ukraine's far-right and the bipartisan U.S.
00:49:10.000establishment bitterly opposed because that would have ended the war and the Donbass that began.
00:49:14.000After the 2014 U.S.-backed coup, Russia put out proposals in December 2021 that at minimum should have been discussed trying to address Russia's security concerns about the expansion of NATO and the, you know, placement of NATO infrastructure surrounding Russia, including inside Ukraine.
00:49:36.000And that was a case where diplomacy could have possibly averted all this.
00:49:40.000And then after the war, we now have so many sources, NATO sources, Ukrainian sources, Vladimir Putin himself saying that a deal was reached in April 2022, but that Boris Johnson, with presumed U.S.
00:49:53.000So yes, in principle, of course, a country has the right to resist a foreign invader.
00:49:58.000But when there are reasonable alternatives to avoiding it, those at least need to be explored and not blindly fueling this disastrous war, especially when it's pitting the world's top two nuclear powers against each other.
00:50:11.000And one more thing about Ukrainian agency.
00:50:14.000It depends which Ukraine we're talking about, because Zelensky himself was elected on a peace mandate in 2019.
00:50:20.000He was going to end the war in the Donbass.
00:50:23.000He was going to make peace with the rebels and with Russia.
00:50:25.000He couldn't, because Ukraine's far-right blocked him.
00:50:28.000They protested violently whenever he took steps towards implementing the Minsk Accords, and some people even threatened to kill him.
00:50:36.000So, this far-right leader named Dmitry Yarosh said that if Zelensky makes peace with Russia, he won't lose his popularity.
00:50:46.000So, when people say we need to respect Ukrainian agency, which Ukrainian agency are they talking about?
00:50:51.000The agency that elected Zelensky on a peace mandate?
00:50:55.000Or the agency of the far-right fascists who threatened to kill him if he implemented peace?
00:51:00.000Of course, it's reductive to suggest that there is one Ukraine with a singular objective.
00:51:06.000That's a good point, thanks for explaining that.
00:51:10.000Arshela says in our chat here that this is an example of neoliberalism by proxy, corporate control and global oligarchy, neocolonialism, she corrects. Now this Ukrainian
00:51:22.000counteroffensive, which many people said was going to change the timbre of the war, has
00:51:27.000gone appallingly badly and some suggest that the much-covered coup approach in Moscow,
00:51:35.000that sort of seems to have amounted to very little, was covered so favorably and extensively
00:51:44.000It was interesting, wasn't it, that NATO got a shout out when our man Pragoshin was outlining
00:51:50.000his objectives. You didn't initially offer us a take on this, Aaron. Will you offer us
00:51:54.000one now, mate? Well, look, Pragoshin's hard to read and there's so many theories about
00:51:59.000Some people say he was working with Western intelligence, and there was Pentagon leaks not too long ago saying that Prigozhin had offered Ukraine the coordinates of Russian military positions.
00:52:10.000He basically had betrayed his own side.
00:52:13.000Now, I found that hard to believe, because I don't think Ukraine needs to know where Russian forces are, because the U.S.
00:52:24.000On the surface, this could just be what it appears to be, which is that his group, Wagner, was facing a deadline to be incorporated into the Russian military.
00:52:33.000Accordingly, Purgosian was going to be sidelined, and this was his way of rebelling against that.
00:53:08.000It took about 24 hours and this thing was done.
00:53:10.000And the fact that this was not a threat to Putin can be I think best seen in the fact
00:53:15.000that you didn't have a single person switching sides and pledging allegiance to Purgosian.
00:53:20.000He had a few thousand of his own forces with him.
00:53:22.000But aside from that, I can't find a single senior Russian official who said that, you know, I'm joining with Purgosian and I'm on his side now.
00:53:30.000So that to me is a reflection that this actually strengthened Putin, although it embarrassed
00:53:34.000him and it made it did make him look weak.
00:53:37.000But ultimately he leaves this, I think, emboldened because now Purgosian's in exile in Belarus
00:53:42.000and his militia, Wagner, will be implemented into Russia's forces.
00:53:46.000So the fact that there was this desperate rush to sign Putin's death warrant before
00:53:50.000even the developments could unfold speaks to, I think, first of all, the clamor for
00:53:55.000regime change in Russia that drives NATO policy in Ukraine, and also a reflection, as you
00:54:01.000mentioned, that this Ukrainian counteroffensive, which was supposed to turn the tide, is not
00:54:07.000Understandably because Russia's always had the advantage and this was only a matter of time before Ukraine would run out of material and also people to sacrifice.
00:54:16.000All these young people being sent off to die in this useless war that could have been prevented and could still be avoided now.
00:54:22.000So I was not surprised to see this hype in Western media because they need anything they can to distract from how badly this counteroffensive is going.
00:54:30.000In our chat, Bandi Boyan says, RFK Jr.
00:54:35.000says he will free Assange on the first day.
00:54:39.000We had a censorship industrial complex event with Schellenberger and Taibbi the other day in London where the significance of opposing the current agenda, global, legislative, it's been set up in several countries simultaneously, new censorship laws that will prevent free speech such as that which we are literally, I think right now, Enjoying.
00:55:03.000What do you feel the emergence of a figure like RFK means from somewhat from within the Democrat party establishment, although he's sort of peripheral status is assured by some of his well established views on, for example, vaccines.
00:55:17.000Do you think that this is a significant shift?
00:55:20.000Do you think it will alter the conversation?
00:55:22.000And if you'll forgive the pun, do you think it will move the needle?
00:55:30.000He's got a lot of courage and clarity there.
00:55:32.000I hate what he says about Israel-Palestine.
00:55:34.000To me, he parrots anti-Palestinian talking points, and I just think for a progressive, there's just no room for that anymore.
00:55:40.000You just can't support the Israeli government and its occupation of Palestinians and call yourself a progressive.
00:55:45.000I appreciate that he has changed the conversation on some of these key issues such as Ukraine and the fact that even before the primaries is underway he's already polling really well.
00:55:56.000That to me speaks with the deep frustration even inside the Democratic Party with the current government, this Biden government that's overseen this disastrous proxy war in Ukraine and has meanwhile neglected people at home.
00:56:07.000So although I don't agree with RFK Jr.
00:56:09.000and everything I appreciate that he's there and I'm also excited that Cornel West Who's, I think, a progressive much more in line with my values is in the race as well.
00:56:19.000And Marianne Williamson is also launching a challenge.
00:56:20.000So I hope that all these voices get the chance to be heard because clearly their presence in the primary reflects growing dissension and growing frustration with this current government.
00:56:31.000And as for censorship, the movement to me has to center on Julian Assange, the most important journalist in the world.
00:56:37.000He's being tortured, persecuted for his courage and bravery.
00:57:08.000I'm really interested to hear, Aaron, What you feel about the current story about the Trump audio there, what our take on it is, is that all of us basically expect that former presidents have access to censored material and probably
00:57:28.000share it in ways that are inappropriate. There were stories about Biden having comparable
00:57:32.000materials. And again, what's interesting is the lack of interrogation about the contents
00:57:38.000of the boxes, in particular the plan for a potential war with Iran and exacerbating the
00:57:44.000tensions between Israel and Iran. What do you think about the coverage of this story?
00:57:54.000Well, because the media is obsessed with Trump, that's all they care about, they're going to ignore the substance of the story, which, as you pointed out, speaks to Trump revealing that there was a plan to attack Iran, and he was against it.
00:58:08.000Therefore, I think, making himself look good.
00:58:10.000But the media doesn't care about stopping warmongering, because they support warmongering.
00:58:15.000goes to war against anybody, no matter the consequences.
00:58:18.000And all they care about is ratings and all they care about is going along with this campaign to undermine Trump, not because they care that Trump is a misogynist or has bigoted views.
00:58:30.000They don't think Trump is a suitable steward of the U.S.
00:59:10.000And I don't care about these intra-elite feuds.
00:59:12.000I care about the substance of what these stories contain.
00:59:15.000And as you point out, this story is more evidence that there is a clamor to attack Iran.
00:59:22.000And it's very odd that we have to rely people like Trump to stand up to it.
00:59:27.000And we certainly can't rely on our media to cover it because they just don't care about stuff like this.
00:59:31.000They just care about spectacle and taking a part in this long running lawfare campaign to undermine Trump, which began when they framed him as a Russian agent.
00:59:40.000And even recently, we had this long report from John Durham, a special counsel, showing what a scam Russiagate was.
00:59:45.000And there's been zero or close to zero introspection in U.S.
00:59:49.000media because they don't care about facts.
00:59:50.000They just care about whatever their agenda is.
01:00:10.000Aaron, Can't have seen that he says so maybe he's offered an update on that opinion.
01:00:15.000That would be cool if he has Aaron Thanks for joining us mate.
01:00:19.000You can follow Aaron on his sub stack, of course and at the gray zone Plus you can hear his fantastic podcast the useful idiots podcast Which I haven't been on in spite of seeming to have been designed for that title Aaron.
01:00:31.000Thanks for thanks for joining us, mate Thank you Russell.
01:01:56.000We've got a fantastic coming up and you're going to want to be a locals member by the time that happens because we'll do very exclusive stuff.
01:02:01.000So if you're watching this on Rumble, stay Switch on.