Independent journalist Tucker Carlson has detailed his findings on the endless war in Ukraine and warned that the American people “are being lied to.”
Following his historic recent interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Carlson has now spoken about his experience during a three-hour podcast hosted by Lex Fridman.
Carlson revealed that his own investigations and recent experiences in Russia have opened his eyes to the extent of the propaganda and lies being fed to the American public by the federal government and their obedient allies in the corporate media.
Interestingly, the interview with Fridman comes after Russia recently claimed to have foiled an assassination lot against Carlson during his visit to Moscow, as Slay News reported.
Russian intelligence arrested a man who was allegedly plotting to kill Carlson.
According to Russia, the man confessed that he had been paid by Ukraine.
During his interview with Fridman, Carlson revealed more about what motivated him to do the televised Putin segment.
He further discussed his personal take on the Russia-Ukraine war and where it could go from here, now that the conflict has entered its third year.
However, Carlson’s main critique of the war focused not on Russia’s actions in Ukraine but on the impact on America.
Carlson explained that the West’s escalation of the conflict long ago into a full-blown proxy war has not only resulted in more needless Ukrainian deaths but has been devastating for the United States.
“I reject the whole premise of the war in Ukraine from the American perspective,” Carlson told Fridman.
“There’s a war going on that is wrecking the US economy in a way and at a scale that people do not understand.”
He also generally characterized the response of the US political class to the conflict, along with the American public which has uncritically followed, as naive.
Carlson emphasized that what would be a cautious realist approach was utterly abandoned by Washington from the start, as has been typical of the past decades of US interventionism abroad.
“It doesn’t even matter what I want to happen… that’s a distortion of what is happening,” Carlson explained, and pointed to Russia having 100 million more people and more defense industry might “than all of NATO combined.”
He described that a big part of the rationale behind the Putin interview was to bring “more information” to the West.
He says he wanted to ensure “people could make their own decisions about whether” escalation of weapons to Ukraine and jingoistic rhetoric from Western capitals is a good idea.
Ultimately, he said, Americans are being lied to.
“Just to be clear, I have no plans to move to Russia,” Carlson said.
“I think I would probably be arrested if I moved to Russia.
“Ed Snowden, who is the most famous openness, transparency, advocate in the world, I would say along with Assange, doesn’t want to live in Russia.
“He’s had problems with the Putin government.
“He’s attacked Putin. They don’t like it. I get it. I get it.
“I’m just saying, what are the lessons for us?
“The main lesson is we are being lied to in a way that’s bewildering and very upsetting.
“I was mad about it all eight days I was there because I feel like I’m better informed than most people because it’s my job to be informed.
“I’m skeptical of everything and yet I was completely hoodwinked by it.”
Carlson also warned that the entire conflict was escalated, and is being fueled, by a small group of people in Washington D.C.
WATCH:
PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT:
“I reject the whole premise of the war in Ukraine from the American perspective, which is a tiny group of dumb people in Washington has decided to do this for reasons they won’t really explain.
“And you don’t have a role in it at all as an American citizen, as the person who’s paying for it, whose children might be drafted to fight it.
“To shut up and obey, I just reject that completely.
“I think, I guess I’m a child of a different era.
“I’m a child of participatory democracy to some extent, where your opinion as a citizen is not irrelevant.
“And I guess the level of lying about it was starting to drive me crazy.
“The idea that Ukraine would inevitably win this war.
“Now victory was never, as it never is, defined precisely.
“Nothing’s ever defined precisely, which is always to tell that there’s deception at the heart of the claim.
“But Ukraine’s on the verge of winning. Well, I don’t know.
“I mean, I’m hardly a tactician or military expert.
“For the fifth time, I’m not an expert on Russia or Ukraine. I just looked at Wikipedia.
“Russia has a hundred million more people than Ukraine – a hundred million.
“It has a much deeper industrial capacity, war material capacity than all of NATO combined.
“For example, Russia is turning out artillery shells, which are significant in a ground war at a ratio of seven to one compared to all NATO countries combined.
“That’s all of Europe. Russia is producing seven times the artillery shells as all of Europe combined. What?
“That’s an amazing fact, and it turns out to be a really significant fact. In fact, the significant fact.
“But if you ask your average person in this country, even a fairly well-informed person of good faith who’s just trying to understand what’s going on, who’s going to win this war?
“Well, Ukraine’s going to win. They’re on the right side.
“…And I raised that question in my previous job, and I was denounced as of course a traitor or something.
“But okay, great, I’m a traitor. What’s the answer? What’s the answer?
“[Vic]Toria Nuland, who I know, not dumb, hasn’t helped the US in any way, an architect of the Iraq war, architect of this disaster, one of the people who destroyed the US dollar.
“Okay, fine, but you’re not stupid.
“So you’re trying to get a war by acting that way, what’s the other explanation?
“By the way, NATO didn’t want Ukraine because it didn’t meet the criteria for admission.
“So why would you say that? Because you want a war, that’s why. And that war has enriched a lot of people to the tune of billions.
“So I don’t care if I sound like some kind of left-wing conspiracy nut, because I’m neither left-wing nor a conspiracy nut.
“Tell me how I’m wrong.”
“I was mad about it all eight days I was there because I feel like I’m better informed than most people because it’s my job to be informed.
“I’m skeptical of everything and yet I was completely hoodwinked by it.”
Carlson also warned that the entire conflict was escalated, and is being fueled, by a small group of people in Washington D.C.
WATCH:
PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT:
“I reject the whole premise of the war in Ukraine from the American perspective, which is a tiny group of dumb people in Washington has decided to do this for reasons they won’t really explain.
“And you don’t have a role in it at all as an American citizen, as the person who’s paying for it, whose children might be drafted to fight it.
“To shut up and obey, I just reject that completely.
“I think, I guess I’m a child of a different era.
“I’m a child of participatory democracy to some extent, where your opinion as a citizen is not irrelevant.
“And I guess the level of lying about it was starting to drive me crazy.
“The idea that Ukraine would inevitably win this war.
“Now victory was never, as it never is, defined precisely.
“Nothing’s ever defined precisely, which is always to tell that there’s deception at the heart of the claim.
“But Ukraine’s on the verge of winning. Well, I don’t know.
“I mean, I’m hardly a tactician or military expert.
“For the fifth time, I’m not an expert on Russia or Ukraine. I just looked at Wikipedia.
“Russia has a hundred million more people than Ukraine – a hundred million.
“It has a much deeper industrial capacity, war material capacity than all of NATO combined.
“For example, Russia is turning out artillery shells, which are significant in a ground war at a ratio of seven to one compared to all NATO countries combined.
“That’s all of Europe. Russia is producing seven times the artillery shells as all of Europe combined. What?
“That’s an amazing fact, and it turns out to be a really significant fact. In fact, the significant fact.
“But if you ask your average person in this country, even a fairly well-informed person of good faith who’s just trying to understand what’s going on, who’s going to win this war?
“Well, Ukraine’s going to win. They’re on the right side.
“…And I raised that question in my previous job, and I was denounced as of course a traitor or something.
“But okay, great, I’m a traitor. What’s the answer? What’s the answer?
“[Vic]Toria Nuland, who I know, not dumb, hasn’t helped the US in any way, an architect of the Iraq war, architect of this disaster, one of the people who destroyed the US dollar.
“Okay, fine, but you’re not stupid.
“So you’re trying to get a war by acting that way, what’s the other explanation?
“By the way, NATO didn’t want Ukraine because it didn’t meet the criteria for admission.
“So why would you say that? Because you want a war, that’s why. And that war has enriched a lot of people to the tune of billions.
“So I don’t care if I sound like some kind of left-wing conspiracy nut, because I’m neither left-wing nor a conspiracy nut.
“Tell me how I’m wrong.”