to make things like drones, like they were granting, knitting circle projects, none of his efforts managed to get them killed like he seemed to be aiming for, but they didn't score him some western press in places like news week in the new york times. anyone showing for ukraine will do apparently, even if he alternately is the type who ends up trying to sprinkle some land of freedom seeds onto the president of the united states. whatever kind of things trump might have said to get this guy. so wound up. they just don't know what to do, they're locked into a situation. it said they just don't know what to do. because ukraine is gone. it's not ukraine anymore. any deal even the worst day or what have been better than what we have right now. if they made a bad deal, it would have been much better. they would have given up a little bit. and everybody would be living and every building would be built in every tower would be aging for another 2000 years. seems like one of the most

dangerous jobs these days as being a high profile, anti war influence, or particular anyone who's actually in a position to pop a tire on the western establishment war machine by stay with our team to national for all the latest from around the well to see you again. thanks for watching the the hello and welcome to cross software. all things are considered and peter level. it would be nice to see in the new year with some optimism. unfortunately,

this is not the case. the accumulation and deepening of many problems from last year are still very much with us. so buckle of brace for impact the cross fucking 2025. i'm joined by my guess. george sent me while we in budapest, he's a pod counselor at the guy go, which be found on youtube and locals. and here in moscow we crossed to mux or boulder. he's an international relations and security analyst, right. building cross lock roles and the fact that means you can jump any time you want. and i always appreciate it, mark, i'm going to go to you 1st and i'm going to kind of give to vent a little bit here. during 2024. a lot of people we know in the pod cast world in the alternative media world in the world. we're really kind of obsessed with predictions. and well, there's a lot of a gotten

a lot of faces the go around here. and so i would really like to avoid in this program to work on predictions because i think it's a useless endeavor. okay? because most people end up being wrong and they don't always admit to it unfortunately. so having said that, i would like to look at developing trends. ok, now we've just talked about what happened in 2024. given that conversation. what happened in 2024? what kind of developing trends from the last year do we feel of? do we see going into this new year mark as well? i, i think that you know, the 1st the elephant row in the room is the conflict in, in ukraine. i, i do not believe that the conflict and ukraine will, will end in the next year. i think the trend of the acceleration and the escalation of the conflict will continue despite you know, uh, you know,

but the new us administration of donald trump coming into office in the united states simply because i do not believe that there is any deal that the u. s. president, whoever that us present it is going to offer russia that russian will accept and, and russia's terms are unacceptable to any us presidents, an attempt by the donald trump administration to, uh, you know, play a role in, oh, he's going to cut a deal between russia and ukraine as if he some kind of neutral outside arbiter is just patently false. this is ultimately a conflict between russia and the united states and the united states. it is a proxy war, but it is a conflict to the us is losing, and trump owns that conflict. as soon as he comes into office and whatever, he may think of the average him and zalinski and in person and whatever, you know,

political domestic gripes he has against them justified. he does not want to be known as the president to hand the ukraine over to vladimir pro. no us president wants that on that record. so i predict the. busy we'll continue, it will excel accelerate, it will escalate. and when pointing talks to donald trump, or he is, uh, you know, envoys or whatever and says yes, you know, oh thank you very much, but yet, yeah, it means net and then everyone will whisper in trump's years. you need to show strengths to have peace. you, you need to escalate in order to de escalate and trump himself has already promised to flood ukraine with weapons. and what weapons i have no idea because even he's admitted to the us military, industrial complex doesn't have them. but if you refuse, is his grand deal. so i think that the war will get nasty or will getting more

desperate will continue to see more of bombings of civilian buildings, assassinations, the space of um, a camera dream intelligence, arson attacks that are occurring throughout russia. at the moment, we'll see more and more of these, you know, dirty tricks. i like to call them, you know, u. s. military might call them unconventional warfare because out of desperation and panic, they can't win on the battlefield. that's what they will turn to increasingly in charge here. and i've talked about this a great deal and it's not between i like marks approach to all of us. i think he's largely right. it's, it's, it's not a conflict between ukraine and russia. it's a proxy war, it's a nato proxy war against russia using ukraine here. and if there's got it going to be any kind of coming to terms, it's ne, tow bid is gonna be coming to to or not, you, ukraine, ukraine is a footnote, it's a, it's

a side bar to all of this here. and that's why i've been very frustrated with the commentary. well, the guy i've cut, i've called last leg is um i think mark is right. i don't know about the timeframe . nobody really does. but them, it is as long as the united states is not losing troops and uh, they can keep printing money. um, well, you know, the ukrainians are gonna suffer russians will suffer, the europeans will suffer. well, what's that to an american administration, george? you know, i think i agree with that these are, i think that's um, so the united states, but late so this has been kind of a good war then not losing any lives. it's the ukrainians on the russians. been slobs losing lives by the tens and hundreds of thousands. so why not to keep it doing? the one kelly at that i would introduce is that trump has clearly stated that he's going to end this war. that means he is going to launch

a major diplomatic offensive to try to bring this to an end. um, initially at least i think roughly come up say, no, i think russia would have to play long take this seriously. and then of a really, really question is if there is some guide or the on off, i would just say look, all right, we freeze the line of calls the line of conflicts here at this wines. i'm with the whole issue of the you brain and they to on the back burner with these with that they will be acceptable. now i think of as a, it's a very bad deal for a terrible deal because russia then gets nothing out of it. however, um they have been times in the past in the quite recent bus route. we actually, we had seemed willing dukes and bad deals. and the not coming is something that a clinic is, is matter of concern. i mean, we saw at the minutes, minutes was

a while and 2 very bad ideas or i'm sure a rush or not, i mean sign those deals, but went on for 8 years. you're continually complaining, why aren't you adhering to men's? when it was obvious to anyone that because the west wasn't going to chance him in school so which was just using minutes in order to strengthen your brain for and eventually offensive. that was clearly on the cards. and i think that's why a so largely this it was special as the s m o in uh, february 2022. and then of course, again rush, it was ready to sign at this time. oh, which again was a bad deal for russian, but russian was, was ready to sign it and put it has repeatedly proclaimed blue. here we were ready to sign. we give the signatures are on the paper, so i don't think that's going to be in the like a in the and then i think when, once that the trump initiative kind of comes to a dead end,

then i think really the trump administration will escalate and i think escalate. okay, is russell? i'm i am, i am concerned i can't rule out fully. the rest of it will sign off with something like okay, march synthesized. everything we've already heard here because we have a 3 different kind of approaches to a go ahead. yeah. and don't forget the austin on a framework for syria, which was another bad deal for russia. yeah, that said lou, back on them catastrophically with our to, well, i'm sorry to interrupt mark because it's we, you and i had a different conversation, a different venue about this. how is the failure of us in a going to influence russian thinking in 2025? go ahead. um. well, 1st of all, i think that um, of russia is certainly has reduced influence and power projection capability in the middle east. i do not believe that russia will maintain military bases in the syria, even if or no one wants them there. ah, that's not,

that's not going to happen. russia doesn't want to be under the leverage of, of, i heard a one and i'll call you to, to maintain their bases. they're apparently, they're already trying to shift resources from those bases to libya. however, that's another risky situation. i, i think if they do that, roscoe will almost certainly get burned again. and ultimately they will decide that the africa and the middle east are outside of rushes, geo political horizons, and they will do what many russian critics of of who have said over the last decade is that russia should focus on ukraine. they should double down on ukraine and they should accept no compromises. no bad means. but again, that is a refrain that you hear in russian politics, right? no, no more. is them bulls? no more austin all frameworks. everything has to be settled from

a position of strands on the battle field that there is no wiggle room there is no coming back from. and if it does agree to another bad deal that will be the end of putting politically in russia. i. that is something that almost seems on the general right after the last 2 decades, but i assure you, it is a magical, especially among the military generals, the political elite in the country. right. and an ordinary russians, right. the russians that have sacrificed so much of the opprobrium. uh and uh, you know, russia patriot, the collective punishment of the west, the effects on the economy, the death, some tens of thousands of russian soldiers in ukraine. i don't think that the russian people will accept anything less than victory that has been defined by the russian president and the kremlin again and again unwaveringly.

since the beginning of the conflict and has not wavered, has only strengthened since george before we go to the break here. get my mark is that a lot there? is the american the incoming administration? did they realize would, would something like wouldn't mark had to say to um, yeah, i think so. i mean, i and then i think that if they get something like that, if they can get russia to agree to some do but they've been hinting at and it leads to the downhill boot. and i agree with marketing that the, the 1st assigns onto that it will even maps not immediately, but it will lead to the end of the who to the americans who think, hey, this is a good deal for us. we have done rather well out of it, which is why again, the rush breakfast would stay very, very far from any kind of a deal. sure. so, you know, achieving the goals and i think ultimately the goal has to be regime change in to

you because are you know, any do? well, i, you know, you will, we will freeze the line about the way and what have you still got a problem? this one's good me to on your board is, this is a conversation i had with mark many, many moons ago. and he said that they should have been rename, change of the receipt and change back in 2014 gentlemen. i'm going to jump in here . we're going to go into a go to a short break. and after that short break, we'll continue our discussion on the new year 2025. stay with our team. the russian states never as tight as i'm one of the most sense community best in most all sense and up to 5 must be the one else calls question about this, even though we will then in the european union,

the kremlin mission, the state on the rush of funding and supports the r t supposed neg keeping our video agency roughly all the band on youtube, the payment services for the question, did you say a request for chat the the welcome act across software. all things are considered. i'm peter lavelle to mind you were discussing the new year 2025. the . okay, let's go back to mark market the end of november, beginning of december of last year, we saw a,

an event that no one in that i know of predicted. it was a complete collapse of the state and sovereignty of syria. is this the or d'oeuvre on the menu for the middle east for 20? 25. is this the some the beginning of something a developing trend? because there is so many moving pieces we have um has the law that is still vulnerable the i can't remember the last time 11 on had a real government a if the is re lease with american backing and its the west bank. um uh we're gonna have a huge refugee problem going into jordan jordan, who is already packed full of people that are refugees. we have no idea what the series would be, what used to be called syria is going to look like. and then we have a rack is input, apply even around. so i've kind of set a lot of pieces on the board move. whatever one you want. go ahead mark. yeah. so

in the middle east was in flame. uh, already uh, you know, before this, the events in syria and the year, you know, what came to a close and, and the uh, conflagration of the middle east will only continue into the next year. i think that syria is most likely to become both of failed ends properly. a fractured state . um i, i, uh, syria will now be the humpty dumpty who fell. busy off the wall and all the king's horses are all the hedge funds, horses and all the hedge minds man will not be able to put syria back together again. i think it is very likely that the dis, stabilisation from syria will extend at least into lab and on and a rack potentially further abroad. i think we will see increased direct, the open conflict between israel and the us on one side and iran on the other. you

know, look for air strikes on, on. uh uh e, ron's nuclear facilities which iraq is real is now salivating about now that they're so happy that all of syria's air defense has disappeared overnight and then yahoo has been openly talking about it. i think we will also see the palestinian problem come to an end with the complete ethnic cleansing over the next 4 years of the palestinian people from the territory of, of greater israel that we, i mean we, we, we just saw headlines in the western media over the last week talking about, well, you know, uh israel is taking part of syria out, but you know, is roles, borders of fluctuated throughout history, right. i mean, the way they're there that have moved to have, have moved. so israel borders are on the move. and palestinians will become what the jewish people once we're a no matic people without

a whole and they will not just be gods. i think it will be brought into the west bank as well. and. and for finale, we're going to see economic turmoil throughout the world. as trump begins is much uh, talked about terra for a renewal of the tariff war, not only on american adversaries, but on america now i as well. so, so buckle off every where for economics term on george, i mean a market is set up a lot there. i mean it's really interesting when we look at what's going on in what's called the greater middle east west asia. again to hear moniker um, but i mean there's, there's some very interesting conflicts being played out. no, not looking at states. okay. states in this region are very, very weak for the most part. um, you can even make that case about israel and its entire little politics, but none the less here. you have a new ottoman is, um, you have american hegemony and is really zionism. i mean, that's

a very interesting parlay in a small geographical space. go ahead, george drive it. it is indeed, but what has what turned out in 20232024. and what israel has demonstrated, hey, we can do all of this and we can get away with it. and basically just israel's adverse or is that has taking the hit and concrete all of the predictions. so somehow is rails into our little trouble and that the, the axis of resistance is going to crush israel. now it's gone the other way. so what does that mean? with the, with the incoming very zion is the administration of the trunk. is that this is the mobility of the they've been looking for. um this is the american uh, design is lobby and that goes israel to reorganize the middle of lease web. i use ro once and for all this is the 1st time and assist you once in parole,

can dispense with all of its enemies and play serious sir. it was a very big deal for israel. know that it was it, you know, the long standing ally sort of leave of a so the unit was always the, the one on the questions, the ally of a so read unit. and then, oh russia that's gone. and, and so now, you know, the, the, it's in iran that's in the cross hairs and what are they going to do, really without any question. that's all drunk is going to launch. this is a maximum pressure campaign. 2 point. oh. and you will find all kinds of separate this move once the emerging any wrong in a blue gives us areas. um arabs tubs codes, and all of which will cause be sponsored by the united states and then into around the world will find most of the, some liberal movements emerging. you know,

women will be demonstrating, taking off that he jobs and the manual. the guy says democracy is thriving and then of course, given the, so the chaos that's a, let's go to imagine syria isis. isis is everywhere. you know, somehow, you know, that we, you know, we have to deal with isis. and the americans are going to say it as a realizes suddenly, suddenly, suddenly they came back suddenly and he came back. we have to deal with it. and that's with the moment when they gonna stop bombing iran directly as like just as a bonus, syria directly thing we've got to deal with isis or salt region change. have also been removing regime change, which is bombing isis. so once you've allowed that, you know, you've discussed the bombing iraq, then of course you just continue escal. yeah, i, i'm trying to get, i'm really confused. the difference between isis and l. chi though. okay, maybe maybe a topic for another program mark, go ahead and jump in. yeah, i'm the current de facto ruler of syria in damascus. i'll

gilani. he was the leader of isis in syria. right. the deputy advice is the leader in syria. and he then became the leader of jo, bought all moves throughout rebranded as i up to here. i'll show him. so what is the distinction? i, i, you know, i don't think there is one as well. so i is, this is most definitely back because they just over through, you know, whether you want to call it ices are all kind of, but the self is the, you know, they just over through the, the government in, in, in syria. so that is, you know, not something that is, it will have repercussions, it will have uh, blow back. and i think that if the us in israel go about another 2 point, oh george w bush attempts to re make the mid the east that inevitably it will fail. they will topple some enemies, an editor,

and eminently they will create new enemies in new jail. political problems that they will settled themselves like just as they did with the explosive influence of the rod in the region after the overthrow of saddam hussein, unintended consequences. yeah. uh, this time it will be different. they always tell us that, okay, this time it will be different. george were rapidly running out of time. but you know, china is always on the menu here. how is that going to play out in 2025. we've already heard about the tariffs, they trump in ministration is going to pursue. um, what is it the uh, a navy general said 20272028. the conflict with china? well, it's 2025. go ahead. i think that's a, again, a china will be definitely a preoccupation of the trump administration via the kind of an interesting because it's obviously going to be in economic conflict. i mean,

i don't think it's going to be about taiwan trowbridge show. no particular interest in the whole taiwan issue and in fact, unlike bite, and he refused to make any commitment to coming to taiwan z assistance in the event of an invasion. so i think it's going to be, and he's going to wage a serious a economic war against china. and particularly he's going to wage a war against china throughout the world. you know, he's going to crack down the countries that are doing deals with china. you know, some of this is going to stop black mailing, extorting countries that are assigned onto china, including, including friends and allies. exactly. you know, use you sign on through this with, with china and, you know, you've been a, you know, the china is going to build a portfolio or railway for you. you're going to feel better off of the united states. and i think that's always going to wait wage this war against the china market. we last pontificating words without giving a prediction. go ahead. yeah, i don't. i don't think we should completely right off military conflict with china

as, as the tariff war will escalate the economic war. tensions will grow on the ground and trump has brought people in. notice the deputy secretary of state l bridge. colby is one of the most blaming war mongering china hawks imaginable. and trump may not care about the taiwan straits, but the taiwan straits care about, you know, him. right. they, they, they care about, you know, the united states and the south china sea might be an even bigger flash point. then the taiwan straits. although intrinsically they are linked together. so, i mean, again, there's only 3 types of, of us, of foreign policy and political lead. they all want war with russia, china, e, ron, they just prioritize which of those 3 wars they want more. well, i mean, they had in 2025, which one is which one is on the top of the totem pole?

i would have to say e, ron, but china comes close behind and russia hasn't gone away. george? yep. what, what's your, what's your ranking? i think i think it's the russia of any around in china. ok. we still got 30 seconds . go ahead. george. as well. i think it so because russian work is the ongoing want and, and therefore, because i think this is going to be the subject of, at least for the 1st 6 months, maybe even the year of the trump administration. i've tried to deal with this uh, ukraine issue that's i think it's going to be very dangerous because i think it's, it's probably will fail. and if these initiatives fail, then i think trunk will escalate and try to take risks. you know, that he sees himself as a risk. they and, and that's when it gets good. good, good for. okay. okay. i hope everybody had a good new year because according to my esteem guest here is going to be a be a pretty gloomy and dreary 2025. anyway,

i want to thank my guest in budapest and here in moscow. and of course, i want to thank our viewers for watching us here at our to see you next time. remember, the, the in february 2020 to ukraine, the game, the world's number one new story for ukraine, new brand, new credit, ukraine crane question. truth invaded ukraine, names, loan perspective, ukraine, suffering from russian regression. we seen the main stream media and the nightly news, reciting, clean developed scripts that essentially say exactly the same thing using the buzz words of this as a threat to our democracy. when you see 10 different channels,

exactly that sentence, you know, that it's the central intelligence agency script. the role of p r firms in ukraine, throughout europe and into and i did states really can be overstated. it's quite different than it wasn't previous decades, where as they're used to be more of a culver role of propaganda, government propaganda operations. now this is just celebrated as p r in helping ukraine and helping get their message out to us because who's pulling the strings and who is profiting the what else seemed wrong? just don't have to shape out the application and engagement because the trail when so many find themselves will

support we choose to look so common ground the the user, any soldiers who travel abroad phase will prime case is initiated by pro public opinion. angie is including the hender, a job foundation, representative all that organization told us about the main challenges if it's legal baffled. the trick is to get all parties, connections act, and because of politics, because that is toby. and because of the general seems degenerative speaking amongst law enforcement organizations that is, print islands joins set off. it goes genocide, case against diesel specimen, global efforts to bring the id f to account for potential atrocities that would take a closer look at how so africa has taken the lead.