Tucker Carlson on Ukraine predicament

First was that there was no way the Ukrainian army would be able to win a decisive military victory over Russia. And the reason was simple. Russia is too big. Ukraine is too small. The Russian military is many times the size of the Ukrainian military. Plus, of course, it has nuclear weapons. Russia itself is the largest country on planet Earth. It's got a relatively huge economy for the region, and it's got 145 million people who live there. Ukraine has a population of about 40 million. It's the poorest country in Europe. It's got an average annual income that is much lower than Albania's. So just by looking at the most basic Wikipedia level numbers, it was clear right away that if Ukraine wanted to remain a sovereign country, and of course, all of us wanted that for Ukraine, Ukraine was going to have to reach some kind of negotiated settlement with Russia. Pitched battles were not going to do it. Now, that's not a moral judgment. You can root for the Ukrainian military all you want, but it's still a fact, and there's no getting around it. The second thing that was immediately evident about this war was how unusually destructive it was and was going to be. It wasn't just Ukraine that was getting pummeled, though it certainly was. It was the entire Western economy, including our economy. Russian energy fuels Europe. A recession in Germany was certain to lead to a recession here, and in the months since, it has a bad one. The longer this war goes on, inevitably the poorer everyone is going to be, with the exception probably of Vladimir Putin. So we are breaking things that are very hard to rebuild. Again, this was very obvious the first day of the war. You weren't allowed to say it at the time. Anyone who did was denounced as a Russian spy. But it was still clearly true, and Ukrainians certainly understood it. Back in April, according to an account in Foreign Policy magazine, negotiators from the governments of Russia and Ukraine met secretly and, quote, appeared to have tentatively agreed on the outlines of a negotiated interim settlement to end the war. The terms of the deal were simple. Russia would withdraw its troops from Ukraine. Ukraine would promise not to join Naito. So each side would get the thing that it wants most simple and effective. And it might have worked. But the Biden administration adamantly opposed this settlement. Biden's advisers didn't just want the Russians to leave Ukraine. That's what they told us they wanted on television. But no, Biden's advisers wanted a total regime change, war against Russia, apparently to avenge the election of Donald Trump, which they believed Putin was responsible for. And they were willing to fight the last Ukrainian to get it. So on April 9th of this year, the White House dispatched its hapless cutout, then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Kiev. According to Ukrainian news media, Johnson communicated two messages to the Zelensky government. Quote, the first is that Putin is a war criminal. He should be pressured, not negotiated with. And the second is that even if Ukraine is ready to sign some agreements on guarantees with Putin, the West is not. In other words, who cares what the Ukrainians want? America and the UK Demand total war with Russia, regime change, war with Russia. And of course, the Ukrainians caught in the middle had no choice but to concede. So days later, the peace negotiations fell apart. This was virtually unreported at the time, but it was the turning point in the war in Ukraine. This was the moment where the goal change from restoring Ukraine to what it was before the invasion, and that seems reasonable to everyone in the west to something very different, to war designed to topple Vladimir Putin, just like we toppled Saddam Hussein and then hoping for the best afterward. That is clearly insane and dangerous, but that's where we are. And from that point on, everything changed. And that is how we got to where we are today, which is the closest we have ever been to nuclear conflict in history. This week, President Zelensky of Ukraine gave an interview to the left wing newspaper the Guardian. And in it, he casually called for the United States to nuke Vladimir Putin. Quote, the other nuclear states need to say very firmly that as soon as Russia even thinks of carrying out nuclear strikes on foreign territory, in this case the territory of Ukraine, there will be swift retaliatory nuclear strikes to destroy the nuclear launch sites in Russia. Parse that. And we're quoting, as soon as Russia even thinks of carrying out nuclear strikes, meaning before Russia actually launches missiles, the US Needs to launch nuclear weapons against Russia. In other words, we need to launch nuclear weapons now. Why now? And how do we know that's what Zelensky meant? Because Zelensky was responding to this warning from the Russian government on Wednesday. Watch.

I want to remind you that our country also has various means of destruction and for separate components more modern than those of NATO countries. And when the territorial integrity of our country is threatened to protect Russia and our people, we will certainly use all means at our disposal. It's not a bluff.

It's not a bluff says Putin, who we are told is insane, so we probably should take it seriously. He is, after all, running a country with the largest nuclear arsenal on the planet, and he's talking about Using nuclear weapons. If the west continues to threaten Russia's territorial integrity. It's a conditional warning. And of course, threatening Russia's territorial integrity was never part of the deal. Right. You remember this? It's why you wore a Ukrainian lapel pin or put a Ukrainian flag in front of your house. Ukraine was invaded. The point was to kick the Russians out. That seems reasonable by any standard of fairness and decency. But that's not what the Biden administration is pushing for. They're pushing for toppling the government of Russia and once again hoping that everything will be fine after that. Someone better will somehow take over. He's bad. Let's kill him. Heard that story before. So in response to what Putin just said, Ukraine's government called for an immediate nuclear attack on Russia. An attack that would without question result in the immediate destruction of New York, Washington D.C. los Angeles, the deaths of tens of millions of Americans. That's what he just said. Sane people do not talk this way, ever. If there was a moment for the Biden administration to shut this whole thing down and force a negotiated peace, which they could do in an instant, that moment is right now, before huge numbers of people die. But that's not what the Biden administration is doing. Moving in the other direction at high speed and doing all they can to. To bring the west to the brink of destruction. At the UN Yesterday, Joe Biden accused Russia, not Ukraine, of making overt nuclear threats.

Watch this. War is about extinguishing Ukraine's right to exist as a state, plain and simple. And Ukraine's right to exist as a people. Whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe, that should not. That should make your blood run cold. President Putin has made over nuclear threats against Europe and a reckless disregard for the responsibilities of the non proliferation regime. We will stand in solidarity with Ukraine. We will stand in solidarity against Russia's aggression, period.

Okay, Putin is bad. Fine.

Agreed.

But Putin is making nuclear threats. Whatever the reason he is making them. The fact he is making them, and the Ukrainians, of course, are also making explicit nuclear threats is enough for any responsible person to say, now we stopped. Especially if that person is the leader of the United States, the country which is funding this war. And that could end this war tonight. So Joe Biden didn't say a word about America's responsibility Here again. We are funding this war. We could end it. They're choosing not to. He didn't say a word about that at the United nations, of course, because they want war. And neither did Secretary of State Tony Blinken. Watch.

President Putin picked this week as most of the world gathers at the United nations to add fuel to the fire that he started. Shows his utter contempt for the UN Charter, for the General assembly, and for this council. The very international order that we have gathered here to uphold is being shredded before our eyes. We cannot, we will not allow President Putin to get away with it. Every council member should send a clear message that these reckless nuclear threats must stop immediately.

So Tony Blinken is telling the United nations and the rest of us that it's okay for Ukraine to threaten nuclear war on behalf of the United States. And the rest of the world looks on with their jaws open. Only Tony Blinken and lunatics like Tori Nuland really want that. And they are fully behind Ukraine's president as he declares that his goal is not ending the war and getting his country back, which is a fine and admirable goal that most Americans support. No, his goal is toppling Vladimir Putin and turning Russia into another failed state. Oh, good plan. Here he is.

A crime has been committed against Ukraine and we demand just punishment. The crime was committed against our state borders. The crime was committed against the values that make you and me a community of the United Nations. And Ukraine demands punishment for trying to steal our territory. This is the first item of our peace formula. Comprehensive item punishment.

So a corrupt Eastern European authoritarian leader in T shirt is lecturing us about the community of nations and telling us this is really about the punishment the Ukraine demands. It's not about self defense or getting their territory back. It's about regime change. Specifically, they're demanding a nuclear strike from us. How do we get involved in this anyway? But almost nobody in Washington is standing back to ask that question. They're full speed ahead on this. This is insane. But they're all for it. This is complete craziness. This is a, quote, strategy that could very easily bring the total destruction of the west and.