it is September 5th 2024 and the Biden Administration just kicked off a Russia gate 3.0 but all on one hand they want to claim that there is some sort of election interference when you actually get into the details of it it looks like the Biden Administration is trying to really go after RT in particular amid claims that there are people who are acting as unregistered foreign agents receiving Russian funding here in the US so what does all of that actually mean for the world that we live in and how does all of this relate to the current timing as we're watching zilinsky replace his foreign minister among a few other government positions and we're also watching Russian forces continue to advance around the key donbass city of PCR that says zalinski and Kev and their incursion into Russia's kers region still continues to not play out how they initially see seemed to think that it would if only they were actually paying attention to the reality of things to see how much diverting forces into Russia could actually hurt them on the front lines well we got into all of the latest earlier with a special guest so let's take a listen to that conversation now joining me now to discuss is international relations and security analyst Mark slaboda Mark thanks so much for taking the time to join me Rachel thanks for having me it's always an honor and pleasure to be on the show always good to have you now I wanted to get your take on the latest comments I know that Russian President Putin is at the Eastern economic Forum today and he's commented on a number of issues he's taken some questions I saw a video floating around the internet of him saying oh yeah you know we we back Cala Harris jokingly right talking about the fact that previously he had said that he preferred Joe Biden and now Biden has given his endorsement to Harris he's also talked about the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia giving him credit for that recent prisoner swap we saw a few weeks ago will you take us through the latest on kind of what we're hearing from Putin during this event okay so Putin was to to a degree tug and Chic it really the Russian government Putin uh they've made more than clear uh multiple times that they don't think it really matters who is the president of the United States that it doesn't change US foreign policy and then the rest is just domestic window dressing uh but um that being said Putin has made comments previously that um he felt that in some ways uh Joe Biden was preferable to Donald Trump simply because Joe Biden was a predictable Cold War era dinosaur the Russian government knew exactly what he would do in any given situation Joe Biden is a known entity uh you know he's been uh a senator heavily involved in foreign policy for decades now they're well familiar with him well Trump is a bit more erratic and his position on any given issue might have more to do with whom he spoke to in the last 15 minutes than any type of consistency um and he continually gave out contradictory signals uh during both his campaign and his presidency last time between what he said and then what the uh foreign uh the um Secretary of State and and uh defense department that he hired to run his country did often in contradiction with what he said uh they felt that he's not predictable and when they're you're dealing with the two most heavily armed uh nuclear powers on Earth trapped in you know kind of game theory mad logic with each other predictability is actually a good thing right even if it's bad predictability predictability is better than the opposite so in that sense um it is possible that Putin still sees Camala Harris as another you know um rubber rubber stamped Democratic leader who will follow exactly in the footsteps of Joe Biden and take all of her cues on foreign policy which she obviously knows absolutely nothing about or defense policy from the Democratic establishment and in that case she might represent again that predictability that uh Trump being shall we say an unorthodox figure uh often in contradiction with the Republican uh establishment himself uh represents yeah it'll be interesting to see I know that you know even those comments and of course the timing of them right that comes as you have the Biden Administration ramping up these claims of I I guess claims of election interference but not really when you look at the latest sanctions that they've handed down they say that they're targeting what they claim are to RT employees that are based in Russia and they claim that there's some funding for a Media Group based in Tennessee here in the US and so it's interesting to me when you look into those charges and you're going okay wait a second you're just saying basically that there was some sort of Russian funding that was unaccounted for that didn't get reported under the feral laws that are required as a foreign agent here in the United States so that's what you're saying but at the same time the Biden Administration is trying to take all of this and phrase it as oh oh this is all quote unquote election interference by I I guess being critical of the US government that that somehow I mean how do you see all of the latest efforts by the Biden Administration to what it feels like at least on my end is to make Russia gate happen again yeah so uh you know RT and Sputnik have already been banned in Europe right you you you can't even access them uh on the internet uh without a VPN and I I believe ultimately you know that's the same censorship that the us is going through uh they're going through hoops of of doing an end run around the first amendment and and so forth but they are taking the tack of punishing any Americans who might comment on RT uh that you know that that has views that in any way coincide uh with the views of the Russian government uh or uh that uh criticize the United US Government right um that Russia simply is not allowed to criticize the US government Russian media is the enemy and I I guess maybe that is a h feather in the cap of RT and Sputnik because uh they criticize the you know the US government and others to a degree that that they obviously fear them and they going after them and they're they're not giving their own citizens the benefit of of of the doubt hm you know you hear and you make up your own mind what the truth is now the US government's going to tell you what the truth is those Russians are foreign agents or the people who work with the Russians the people who would talk to the Russians ever are are foreign agents uh and and you know that's what it is it's meant to apply pressure to Americans uh at at this point uh not to comment on RT that's that's ultimately uh what it's about it's a uh uh shall we say a uh under theable way of doing of continuing the job of shutting down Russian media uh in the United States Russians and Russ people and Americans who sympathize uh with Russia on any particular uh issue or criticism of the US government or foreign policy um are are ver Bolton they're they're not uh allowed the the same journalistic Freedom that you know the the regular Western media that would not criticize uh in such blanket terms uh the US government because they themselves are uh an instrumental apart of uh you know the US political structure as the fourth estate yeah it's interesting to me how I mean it's been about two and a half years now since you had YouTube just ban RT and sput it completely here in the US and I guess in the west as a whole and so while you have that ban in place it's like okay well clearly I guess it hasn't worked too well because people are still seeking out these networks still watching them and you have the Biden Administration still frustrated about it and then to that end I mean they try to act as if oh well you know there's some sort of election interference that these are networks that are promoting one candidate over another and it's like not really I mean if you actually look and pay attention to what is said and put out there that is not what's actually happening but speaking of different candidates I did want to ask you about the latest shakeup and the zalinsky regime over in Kiev because you've got these reports that I I I guess it's that zelinsky's foreign minister has resigned although it seems like there's some pressure on him to yeah yeah that's the you resign or you're fired type of of resigning right um so um yeah it especially considering the fact that he was going to resign was was announced by someone other than him by by the the Parliamentary speaker of zelinsky's own servant of the people uh party uh in the Rada actually so uh you know he was quite obviously uh forced out um so yeah um Dimitri kbba the outgoing foreign minister has a he was a very bad Diplomat let's let's be honest uh just in the last few weeks he once again ticked off the pretty much the entirety of Polish Society by once again denying uh the massacre of polls by West Ukrainian uh nationalists uh that uh Allied uh with Adolf Hitler in World War II and were responsible for genocide and massacres of of Jews and poles and ethnic Russians and leftists and basically any and every Ukrainian who didn't agree uh with their vision of a banderite fascist Ukraine uh well he he he once again basically um refused to acknowledge that genocide in a very public way um and and that uh ticked off uh Poland once again that the Polish government has been trying to keep that particular huge distinction between a a maidan regime that regards those same uh genocidal um uh fascists as their founding fathers of their vision of what Ukraine should be simply because the the the poles hate Russia more at this particular point in time so they've attempted to Pape over it as much as they can but kbba kept opening his mouth uh about it and and causing them no end of problems and specifically zalinski uh has already highlighted that he that he got rid of kouba uh because he failed to secure uh to drive the Western countries hard enough on weapons deliveries um that uh he wasn't get getting all the Patriots that was promised that he wasn't getting uh the permission uh to use Western weapons long range uh missiles to strike inside Russia and so forth uh and they're saying that he didn't have the energy to drive through for more um there were also domestic political differences uh I don't know that kouba and zalinski ever particularly got along there have been rumors for a long time that zalinski wanted to get rid of him but the US kind of um uh discouraged him from doing that and and now I guess with uh the Biden Administration occupied primarily with the anointing of Camala Harris and and Joe Biden apparently farmed out to retirement and in some country house somewhere that they feel uh now is is the time to go through with that with little objection uh from the US government the one that's replacing him Andre Saiga he has for just a few months been the deputy uh foreign minister or one of the Deputy foreign ministers uh before that he was a deputy to uh yac uh whom is the zelinsky's very powerful gray Cardinal Chief of Staff whom many people in the country uh regard is really running Ukraine um and uh the fact that one of yak's creatures as it were is is now in the fort leading the for ministry as well um I think that's a sign of consolidation of Power by yac uh the other appointments I haven't heard all The Replacements yet but the the other removals of office Environmental Protection strategic Industries uh these weren't like shall we say the big ticket uh cabinet Ministry items they're still uh relatively minor uh the other notable uh piece the other notable uh is that the head of the Kiev regimes um UAV their their unmanned services in the military kind of their drone Zar um has his he has been suspended in office because he's being investigated for treason because evidently his wife has a Russian passport uh so that has suddenly become an issue uh and and uh you know the fact that she visited Crimea one since uh 2014 or or something of the sort so the the The anti-russian Witch Hunt has has crept into uh the uh even within the Kev regime itself and it it's kind of a uh a mccarthyite blacklist thing going on where people are still pointing fingers at each other you spoke Russian just last week you're a trador uh well they all spoke Russian a few years ago but you know that's neither here nor there I guess uh so the foreign Ministry is the most significant uh shakeup and I think it's a consolidation of power of by zalinski and those immediately around him okay and yeah it's always interesting because I know a lot of times when it does come to these kind of sweeps that he does or these shakeups within his administration it's all about corruption right it's zinsky finally rooting out corruption but when it comes to the timing as right now we have kiev weeks after launching this incursion into Russia's kers region and although it has made some headlines here in the west at the same time you've also seen some significant Russian advances in the Da Bass because it's Kiev that is having to take from their Frontline forces to continue on with this little stunt that they are carrying out in the kers region so what do you me now the other way around now the the other way around they're transferring the people that they removed from the donos for kers now they're returning them to the donos because prros has blown up so uh the these troops must really uh must not enjoy being shuffled around quite so much because of course every time they're being shuffled around they're being Expos to Russian long range strikes as they're doing so yeah it's it's crazy to me that well the situation that they're in but also with the the leadership there right who is making these calls just how bad is the situation for kab around psk and is that something that you think zilinski and I guess some of his other members of government could likely be second guessing as to why they decided to go into KK in the first place yeah I mean they've openly said at this point that if the goal was to get Russia to divert forces away from the D Boss they've admitted that was a failure Siri himself uh said that so there's no question there uh if if that was the stated goal there there are other goals that they have discussed that all all also failed so it really doesn't matter that just the fact that they're trying they're still attempting to hold on to it and double down on on a failure is is a testament to the uh Stupid obstinacy of the regime being governed more by PR and infow warfare concerns than really military strategy and and Russia should should you know if your enemy is doing stupid things don't stop them that's that that's the thing Russia is actually absolutely in no hurry to push the incursion out of K because uh they're out of defensive fortifications they're in these Podunk Villages and and they're much easier to Target there and we've heard even from the Western media Forbes did an an assessment that uh the K regime is uh losing or or they don't even have that many left to lose at this point but in the in the month since they lost Western military vehicles at a rate twice faster in ksk than they were uh in the front uh on on the D Boss um and now they're there certainly is going to be some level of recrimination uh for the curse failure it has led to an operational crisis in the D BOS not just with the uh cutting of the supply lines at psk and civa and karova uh but also past prros it's just step all the way to the ner River so that will open up huge operational space for Russia and it is also leading to Russia reactivating the front just to the south on the KV regime's Southern strong point in the donbas region the uh the The Fortress town on a hill of ugar that has resisted Russian efforts to storm it some four or five times in the past well now its supply lines are cut and Russia is putting it into a a a Pinchers that might turn into a complete envelopment and the Kev regime is going to be forced with uh either withdrawing the people from there and it it better do so very quickly because there's a very they already they'll have to use fields and Country Roads uh if to escape safely uh but um or to order the troops that are there to to stand and die and will be left with another Mar opal aof stall situation so uh the crisis is still only expanding and ultimately the Kev regime they they they're shuffling Manpower here there you know to to the incursion incur back from K to pakros oh my God ugar is breaking down too they simply can't defend everywhere at once now um and the defense this attempt to rush forces into pakros is coming so late in the game that uh I believe that they ultimately they will not be able to hold on to pakros for long they may be able to hold it under a concerted Russian attack for about a month or so but that that's it the writing is already on the wall and uh there's reports from Western media discussing with uh Kev regime uh forces troops commanders they already feel that pakros is lost and they're already thinking about the defense of of the nier river of of dener petol or nio as as they call it now so um I I don't think that there's any possibility in the medium term that they'll be able to hold on to psk it's their hope now is just to make it cost as much as they can late in the game for Russia yeah certainly a lot at stake here all around and interesting to see the the consequences of some of those actions playing out rather quickly here I really appreciate you taking the time to join me today to break down all of the latest international relations and security analyst Mark slaboda thanks so much for your time and insight thanks for having me if anything in this video resonated with you be sure to like it share it with your friends leave a comment and as always don't forget to subscribe and if you want to keep up with all 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