Jim Rickards is one of the few financial guys that I trust. I have written about his predictions many times.
He just gave a short interview to Steve Bannon on RAV about his recommendations for President Trump regarding the Ukraine-Russia war. It’s one of the few honest assessments that I have heard from anyone. Rickards said Trump is facing the same decision today about the Ukraine-Russia war that LBJ did in Vietnam: either escalate the war and fail or get out now. It’s 15 minutes and worth your time. He talks fast so I am giving you two different versions to listen to and a rough transcript.
Here’s Part 1:
https://x.com/RealJimRickards/status/1918404937236791813
Here’s Part 2:
https://x.com/RealJimRickards/status/1918405914513817658
Here’s the audio for the whole thing and a rough transcript.
RICKARDS: The war will end in victory for Russia. PERIOD. Putin has been clear and consistent from before the war in Ukraine as to what his goals are. And by the way, this war started in 2008 when George Bush said “we're going to make Ukraine part of NATO.” It continued in 2014 under Obama when the CIA and MI6 executed a coup in Ukraine.
We're supposed to love democracy, while we overthrew a elected leader. Putin took Crimea shortly thereafter. The US wanted this war. The US has been promoting this war for almost twenty years. Well, we got it. We got the war.
So anyway, Russia comes in. Now you have to understand the Russian way of war. It is slow, methodical, and lethal. They encircle the enemy. They'll spend months taking every village around a major logistics hub so that when they go go for the kill.
Basically you can surrender if you want, but Ukrainians typically don't. Some of them do before they get annihilated. That's all there is to it.
Right now, Trump is in exactly the position that LBJ was in early 1965 with the Great Society and all that. But LBJ inherited a war from Eisenhower and JFK. He could have done one one of the two things. He could have walked away said hey, good luck,
or escalate, which he did.
Five hundred thousand troops, fifty thousand casualties, ten years of war. Johnson regretted it later, but that's not what he wanted. Trump's in exactly the same position today. The question is - is this going to be Biden's war and then Trump ends it with a deal with Putin or is he going to be sucked into escalation?
If it all just drags out - the war will very quickly be Trump's war.
The four provinces plus Crimea have been formally annexed and are part of the Russian Federation. So if you ask the Russians, they're fighting on Russian territory as far as they're concerned. It has not been recognized internationally, but as far as Russia is concerned those provinces and Crimea are part of Russia.
By the way, the US and NATO, they're really good at negotiating with themselves.
You know, they go to London, they meet with Starmer, they meet with Macron, they meet with whomever - they negotiate with themselves. Who's negotiating with Russia? Only Trump and that’s what it will take.
Russia says, we want those four territories, we want Ukraine to withdraw, We want the demilitarization of Ukraine, de-Nazification. Putin is right. There are NAZIs running Ukraine. They fought on the Nazi side against the Russian army in World War Two. They're still there. They're the power behind the scenes.
Ukraine is essentially Kansas, it's a bread basket. In the 1930s, the Bolshevik Communists, led by Stalin, needed the grain. They went and essentially starved the Ukrainian people - some five million people starved.
The Ukrainians wanted vengeance against the Bolsheviks. So when the German army came, a lot of Ukrainians signed up to fight with the NAZIs to destroy the Bolshevik Communists.
But today Communism is gone, Stalin is gone. Putin is a nationalist, authoritarian leader but he is NOT an atheist Bolshevik and he is closely aligned with the Orthodox Church.
Most people today don't understand Russian history, they don't understand Russians in general.
Now Trump is faced with a decision. He can agree to most of what Putin wants, get a little something in return and call it a day, or he can escalate and fail.
There are three major powers in the world. You got the CCP, Russia and the United States of America. In the 1970s, Nixon and Kissinger came up with the strategy to pull the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) away from the Soviet Communist Bolsheviks so that we could try to take down the evil Soviet Empire. Reagan eventually did it.
Communist China, Russia and the US are the only powers that count today. A poker player knows that if you're in a three handed poker game and you don't know who the sucker is, you're the sucker. Meaning it's always two against one. That's what Nixon understood.
So he opened the door to Communist China in the 1970s so we could isolate the Soviet Union at the time. The Soviet Union fell and we won the Cold War as a result. That was brilliant. That was Nixon.
Today, the same analysis applies, except today Communist China is the main enemy. So what does that mean? It means either the US and Russia hold hands and work together and isolate China or we're the sucker and Russia & China end up working together against us.
Right now we're the sucker unless we can open the door to Russia. Now, going back to LBJ in 1965, he had this critical moment. He was really a domestic politician. No one particularly thought of him as a foreign policy expert. So you rely on the people around you. They were replaying the Korea playbook. They didn't understand how different Vietnam was. Eisenhower said, whatever you do, do not get in a land war in Asia. But Johnson, did. Johnson just followed along and it just got worse and worse and worse. Fifty thousand dead and he tore the country apart and handicapped Nixon in very important ways. That was a national tragedy and national disaster. It did
not have to happen.
Trump is at the same point today. He can basically accept Putin's demands - which are reasonable.
Now, the first thing I always say to the Trump administration is, look, the press is going to bash you no matter what you do. So factor out the press. Look at the situation on the ground. Russia's winning. They're going to win. We know what Putin's terms are. Basically agree to them. That's not surrender, that's just common sense. If Johnson had got out of Vietnam in 1965, we would have ended up in the same place.
Russia is critical - not just to deter China but to control Iran. Anybody want a nuclear war with Iran? We're heading for one. That's one of the reasons Waltz was fired because he wants war with Iran. By basically working with Russia on Iran - instead of going to war - we can have Russia's aid in Iran, where it's far more important.
If you want more information - here are three other articles I’ve written on Rickards and the history of Russia. Enjoy!
A historical perspective on Ukraine, Russia & Europe
I put this historical perspective together to help people understand what's going on in Ukraine and the NEW WORLD ORDER - in a ten minute read. I'm not saying it's all 100% correct - but it's a great start - so if you have insights or corrections please send me an email or message. I'm learning as I go - just like you! Thanks!
Is the US headed for another Great Depression? I'm not a financial guru but here's what I know...
PRESIDENT TRUMP: “The fact is, we’re probably heading into a Great Depression, something I’ve never said before publicly. You know, I don’t believe I’ve ever said that before. It’s a hell of a statement to make and I hate to make it.
Let's talk about money!
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