Tucker Carlson Interviews Iuliia Mendel

At the end, she addresses Vladimir Putin directly.  Transcript below.



Iuliia Mendel (Speaking in Russian):

Vladimir Vladimirovich, with all your life experience I don't understand how you see this world.  But I'm not a NATO representative, not a Western representative, and I don't work for Zelensky — they're political opponents.  You're not a threat to me.  I'm a Ukrainian woman from provincial Kherson.

You say you're a man of God, but what's happening in Ukraine has nothing to do with God or humanity.  You say you want peace — the only right thing today.  It's the only way Ukraine and Russia can both win.  No victor.  Both lose.  Slavs kill Slavs.

Your army tells you only noble victories, but there's a drone safari on people.  My mom, a nurse, was talking on the phone going home — a Russian drone wounded her.  Another nurse, back from her grandson's birthday in my Kherson village, was killed by a Russian drone getting out of her car.  We see videos of old people evacuating, falling in blood and snow, shocked by explosions.

On frontlines, the oldest and poorest have no money to leave.  Your army posts videos hunting people with drones.  There must be limits of humanity.  One word, one order from you can stop this.

You want peace?  Stop.  No one may thank you, but people will know.  Peace is the only possible decision today.

[Grok translation]

Ordinarily I would not take such a speech seriously.  And I confess, at the beginning of this video, I did not really take her seriously.  Her English is imperfect and she is too pretty.  At first glance she comes across as a pretty Ukrainian woman who lacks depth and seriousness.  This is incorrect.

I'm telling you, set your stereotypes aside and listen to her.  If you watch the video, it becomes clear that she is a master of her subject, Volodymyr Zelensky, and she deserves our attention.  She describes Zelensky as a tyrannical child who simply does not want the war to end, because that would end his grift.  That sounds about right to me.

And this ending was completely unexpected, which I guess is what makes it notable.  Because I don't see Putin responding at all, even if he does see it.  I just wish she would have also addressed her fellow Ukrainians.  Message:  Arrest Zelensky before he plunders the entire country and gets us all killed.

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Crazy Times Demand Principled Choices

Compliance is always a choice

Yesterday we made a trip to the Philippine Bureau of Immigration in order to extend my visa.  While our local office is never particularly busy, naturally one does tend to run into other expats.  Yesterday this fellow walks in behind me and he looked American or European.  He was late twenties, early thirties.

So I asked him:  "Hey brother, where are you from?"

"Russia."  I did not expect that.

"Oh" I said, thinking that he was definitely conscription material, "well, I'm glad you're here."  He smiled and gave me a knowing look.  I think he must have instinctively known I was referring to Putin's war in Ukraine.

After a bit of chit-chat in perfect English, I learned that he was waiting on his Russian (not Filipino) wife to join him here.  How interesting is that?  Then he asked me:  "So why are you here?"

I thought about giving him my customary answer to this question:  "My wife is from here."  It's true, but essentially evasive.  Instead I said:  "Well, the US has gone crazy."

He did not miss a beat:  "Yes...Russia too."

We both nodded knowingly.

By this time I was done, and he was being called to the counter.  So I left wondering how many of his contemporaries are here?  And in other countries?

I wish them good luck and long life.

It is one thing to be patriotic, and fight for your country.  It is quite another to risk your life for the whims of a corrupt political class.  Clearly this applies to Russian conscripts in Ukraine; just as it once applied to US conscripts in Vietnam.  Some people, especially in the US, especially during the Vietnam War, viewed conscription as a no choice situation.  Or worse, a patriotic duty.

But looking back at the Vietnam War, can anyone explain the US interest?  Of course not.  It was not about patriotism, much less fighting for your country.  No, it was about a corrupt political class and their self-serving misconceptions.  Remember, these are the same people who let Cuba go, but decided a poor country on the other side of the world, was worth dead Americans.  No, no, Cuba may have been worth war, but certainly not Vietnam.

I think it is worth noting that even George Kennan, father of our containment strategy, thought involvement in Vietnam was a preoccupation and a mistake.  But Johnson and McNamara, and Nixon and Kissinger, did not care about poor dead midwestern farm boys anymore than Putin cares about young dead Russians.

Here's a rule for you:  If you give corrupt politicians the tool of conscription, they will use it to further their corruption.  Every time.  And they only get away with this with our sanction.  Just don't give it; always question everything.  And just like with the Covid vaccine, there is always a choice.  Unpleasant though it may be.

Compliance is always a choice.

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