Hey everyone, this is moderate rebels. I am Ben Norton. This is part two of our discussion

with the journalist and geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar. We are joined by my co-host, Max Blumenthal.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to join in part one of this interview where they talked about Kazakhstan and the failed coup attempt, the violent color revolution.

Definitely go check out part one to understand the key geopolitical importance of Kazakhstan as a Russian ally as a member right in the middle of China's Belt and Road Initiative in the New Silk Road.

Go check out part one.

But in this section, we are going to talk about the failure of the U.S. and Russia talks going on in Geneva, Switzerland, this January.

Washington refused to make any diplomatic concessions whatsoever.

It completely ruled out the possibility of ending the expansion of NATO right on Russia's

borders.

And Russia has warned that this has put it in a situation where it's forced to react to

the continuous nonstop U.S.-led military expansion right up to its borders.

So without further ado, this is part two of our interviews. stop U.S.-led military expansion right up to its borders.

So without further ado, this is part two of our interview with Pepe Escobar.

I think that brings us to the next issue, which is, you know, the talks, the NATO-Russian talks, which have basically gone nowhere, I would say because the U.S., and, you know, you said this in a recent piece, which is up at

the soccer, the U.S. has refused to accept any Russian request for a pullback of NATO troops in missile deployment,

missile installation deployments, and so on.

The U.S. just won't accept any Russian terms at all.

Does this bring us closer to war?

Are we closer to a crisis as a result of these talks?

And just lay out the dynamic there where you have an experienced diplomat, Sergei Ryabkov, leading the Russian delegation, going up against these nitwits.

This nitwits, exactly.

Jake Sullivan, I mean, who is this character?

...