0104 Sir Gene Speaks with Dude named Danny

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Danny (00:03):
The US wanted to tie up a, a, a gas deal with the eu you
know, taking it further away.
The whole thing is to do, Imean, the, with Ukraine is to do
with gas.

Sir Gene (00:16):
Joining me, today is Danny Armstrong.
Danny, how are you?

Danny (00:20):
I'm alright mate.
How are you?

Sir Gene (00:22):
Pretty good, pretty good.
We got a little bit of a timedifference between us.
I'm in Texas.
And where are you at?

Danny (00:29):
I'm in a little place called Manchester in the north
of England.

Sir Gene (00:33):
North of England.
About five hours differencebetween the two of us.
So hopefully it's not too latefor you, but

Danny (00:39):
Mm.
Yeah, it was 20 past nine, but Iget, I get up pretty early, so
it's a bit past my bedtime.

Sir Gene (00:45):
I guess let's just jump right into it then.
the first place I saw you was onthe RT on reports, and that's
what led me to reach out to youand connect up and set up this
interview.
so we'll definitely wanna chatabout your experience at rt, but
I'd like to start a littlefurther back.
It's always fun to understandpeople's backgrounds, where they

(01:06):
came from, how they grew up,that sort of thing.
So, did you grow up aroundManchester?

Danny (01:11):
Yeah.
I was born and raised inManchester.
Um, when I was born, we lived ina place called Stratford.
Which is around the area whereManchester United played
football.
So the football around, aroundthere.
And then we moved to a placecalled Sulfur, and then back
over the water to, to Manchesterright about 10 years later.

(01:34):
So I've been here.
Yeah, well, I spent the lastdecade really in my, in, in
Moscow.
So from 22 till till 31

Sir Gene (01:44):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (01:45):
I was in Moscow.
But before that I went toSheffield for uni.
But apart from that, on the timebefore has been,

Sir Gene (01:54):
Manchester.

Danny (01:55):
has been Manchester.
Yeah.
Um, born here, raised there.
All my family's there.
Um, my, I was born.
In this area.
My parents were born in thisarea.
Their parents were born in thisarea.
I'm pretty sure their parentswere born in this area, apart
from maybe, maybe one, but yeah,not a drop, not a drop of
foreign blood in me, which Ialways found pretty boring.

Sir Gene (02:17):
Well, that's one way to look at it, but I think that
also makes you a little morerare these days.

Danny (02:23):
More, more of a thoroughbred I'd like to.
Yeah.
But, um, the Armstrong name is,um, carries a bit of weight or
carried a bit of weight rather,about five centuries ago in
Scotland.
Apparently we could raise 600men on a single whistle in any
given night.

Sir Gene (02:40):
Nice.
So that's where the ancestry'sfrom is from Scotland, eh?

Danny (02:45):
Yeah.
We've got our own, um, our owntartan.
We've got our own family,

Sir Gene (02:50):
Yeah

Danny (02:50):
motto, allegedly.

Sir Gene (02:52):
I think there's a lot of those in Scotland because
every person I've met that has aScottish last name seems to tell
me about their castle

Danny (03:01):
Mm.

Sir Gene (03:02):
I think it's gotta be something that's either there's
not a whole lot of clans orthere's a lot of castles.

Danny (03:08):
yeah, well, the Armstrong Clan was a massive, massive clan

Sir Gene (03:10):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (03:11):
apparently.
Um, but I didn't realize ituntil I went to Edinburgh a
couple a few years ago.

Sir Gene (03:17):
Mm.

Danny (03:18):
And in one of the, you know, the, the, the tourist
shops they were selling aselling like books to find out
where your name comes from andall Scottish names, and
Armstrong was one of them.
And so we've got a blue andgreen and red sat and pattern

(03:39):
design, and the Armstrong namegoes back many, many centuries
and was, was, apparently it wasa big deal back in the day.

Sir Gene (03:47):
Oh, well, I, I think it's still a big deal to a lot
of people with Scottishancestry.

Danny (03:51):
It's alright.
It's a nice name in it.
I'm stronger.
Mean you can't really get muchbetter than

Sir Gene (03:54):
Well, it's probably a description of one of your past
relatives

Danny (03:58):
Yeah,

Sir Gene (03:58):
strong in the arm,

Danny (04:00):
Possibly, possibly.

Sir Gene (04:01):
Well, certainly that's the way they used to do it back
in the Viking days, you know,your, your name tended to,
Really your nickname.
So what, what did you go to unifor?

Danny (04:11):
um, what did I go for?

Sir Gene (04:13):
Yeah.
Journalism or

Danny (04:16):
I studied journalism in Russian

Sir Gene (04:19):
okay.

Danny (04:19):
at university and it's not a great deal you can do to
validate that other than be a, ajournalist in Russia.

Sir Gene (04:25):
that's, that's an appropriate career choice.
I think a lot of people getdegrees in, you know, like,
Japanese history and then end upworking at Starbucks.

Danny (04:34):
Well, there you go.
Yeah.
And I was determined not to, toend up like that really.
So, um, I ended up moving there.
Well, I, I, I already movedthere.
Like, I mean, a lot of the timepeople think I just moved there,
you know, on, on, kind of on awhim, but I knew what I was
getting into.
I, um, the, the main reason whyI chose Russian and, and the

(04:59):
main reason I chose Russian atuni was because you had a year
abroad.

Sir Gene (05:02):
Hmm

Danny (05:03):
Um, now I think at the time it didn't really, it didn't
really matter to me what yearabroad I had.
I think, I think I appliedsomewhere along the line for
like, American studies, likeHispanic studies or somewhere,
something, because they gave youreally cool kind of years
abroad.
Um, but I think my top choiceswere was, was English and

(05:24):
Russian and journalism andRussian and English and Russian.
I got a place at Manchester Uni,but because I went to school
around about where the uni is,um, I was kind of sick of the
area.
I was kind of sick of justManchester in general.
So I, I decided to go to, toSheffield and do journalism.
Journalism as well was like thenumber one place to do

(05:46):
journalism in the uk, in, in, inSheffield.
So I chose there, but theRussian thing was, yeah, it was
just cause I wanted to, I wantedto live there.
When I went there, it was just,it was just amazing.
So I think after, after uni Ijust, just wanted to move back
and I had the idea of being ajournalist in Russia sounded

(06:07):
pretty cool and covering theWorld Cup sounded even cooler.
So that was, um, that was mymain goal and I ended up doing
it.
So, yeah.

Sir Gene (06:17):
So you started off by doing your last year of uni in
Russia.

Danny (06:22):
It was the third year.

Sir Gene (06:23):
Oh, third year.
Okay.

Danny (06:24):
So it was a four year course.

Sir Gene (06:25):
finished off, and then went to Russia.

Danny (06:28):
Yeah.
Yeah, so I went to funnyfingers, actually.
I went to like, I never did anytraveling.
Like it is not really the donething for, you know, for kids
where I'm from.
Like, I mean, where I went toschool, of course, I mean, I, I
went to quite a good schoolbecause I was a smart kid.
Um, you know, that's, that's notme boasting.

(06:51):
I was, I was a really smart kid.
I went to one of the bestschools in the country,
certainly the best school inManchester, um, when I was like
11 years old, was like loads ofkid loads of schools.
Um, Kind of writing into me andmy parents saying, look, we'd
love to have him as a studenthere.
But I ended up being really, Ireally, really postured to be
honest.

(07:11):
I think it was like, you know,when you, you have that kind of
rebellion sort of thing, youknow, you, you're told you were
a smart kid in this and you toldyou're gonna do this and that,
and then you, you start kind ofworking against it.
But, um, the, the travelingthing was never really a big
thing for me.
So the year abroad was, youknow, the be all and end all.

(07:32):
And I was like so geared up toit and I ended up having such a
great time.
Did an internship at St.
Petersburg Times.
And then from that I went on, Iwent to Switzerland.
I got a job in Switzerland, butit only lasted three months.
And then I came back, um, kindof resigned and then, and then
came back and then finished uniand then, went out to Moscow in
on the 1st of January, 2016.

Sir Gene (07:54):
Okay.
And then what was your plan inMoscow?
Had you set up a job already ordid you decide once you get
there, you're gonna figurethings?

Danny (08:02):
The, I think there was, there was a, at the time there
was, there was a few people thatI went to uni with, um, that,
that were going out to Moscowand that had like teaching jobs,
um, which I also did by, I didthat just basically just to get

(08:23):
the visa, cuz of course you needvisa to be in Russia.
You need a, um, you know, meansto support yourself if you're
gonna be there for any greatlength of time.
Um, and then straightstraightaway set about getting,
um, getting experience.
The, the, the main, the plan wasto, was to get as much

(08:45):
experience as possible and to,and to.
Learned the language.
I said to me, dad, I said to me,dad at the time, I said, look, I
was 24 when I finished uni cuzobviously it was a four year
course and I ended up dickingabout a bit between school.
Well, no, I worked and then Ithink first year of uni I was
still, um, planning on being aa, a boxer.

(09:09):
So I do boxing a lot.

Sir Gene (09:11):
Oh, okay.
As a profession.
Got it.

Danny (09:12):
Yeah, yeah.
Kind of.
Well, trying to go pro and Idedicate more time to that than
my studies.
So I ended up suffering fromthat, but ended up graduating at
24, moving over at 25 to, toRussia.
And I, the, the way I reasonedit at the time was, look, I says
there's gonna be the Russia 2018World Cup.

(09:36):
I want to go out there and Iwanna do that.
Like, I want to cover it as ajournalist.
nobody's gonna give a kid twoyears outta uni accreditation
for the World Cup.
If I stay here, if I stay inEngland, like, no, there's no
chance, then no one's gonna dothat.
No one's not gonna take achance.
Um, you know, some inexperiencedkids, I said, I've gotta go over

(09:56):
there, get as much experience aspossible, learn the language,
come acquainted with, you know,the ways and and means of the
sports industry over there, andfootball and whatnot.
And by the time it comes around,I'll be 27, I'll be young
enough.
If it doesn't come off, it'sstill gonna be a buzz.
It's still gonna be, you know, agood time.

(10:18):
And by that time I thought Iwould be able to put myself in a
shot window enough to otheroutlets, um, and then move back,

Sir Gene (10:30):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (10:31):
you know, go and get my experience and whatnot, achieve
a few things, and then, and thencome back.

Sir Gene (10:37):
So were you, were you thinking of eventually like
being a BBC reporter with aRussia bead or something?
Or, or not?

Danny (10:44):
Yeah.
Well, I, I, I think the thing isfor, for a lot of young
journalists, the, the BBC is theHoly Grail.
And, and, and, and you feellike, you know, there's, there's
a great deal of weight thatcomes with the name of the bbc
and, um, you, you know, you feelas though it's all almost a, a
validation of your journalisticstatus, I guess.

(11:06):
But sort of as time goes on,you, you realize it's the exact
opposite.
And, you know, working for thebbc, I can't, I couldn't imagine
a worse place to work.
But the b BBC actually before Imoved to Russia, they offered me
my local BBC station, like Ilive, so we live in Sort of the,

(11:27):
it's called the Stratford, it'skind of like, what, what you,
what you'd have in the states,like, like a tri-state area but
on a, on a huge, on a much moreon, on, on a minuscule scale in
comparison.
Like, like a tri region sort ofarea.
So we, we live in like theStratford ston sulfur area,

(11:47):
like, and in sulfur, sort of insulfur keys near where the
football ground is.
And as I mentioned, that's likekind of where I, I was born and
kind of grew up.
Um, we have the b BBCheadquarters.
So I, I did a placement thereand it was at my local BBC
station and they offered meshifts shift work, um, and said,

(12:12):
look, we, we think you'd begreat.
You know, you can come in andwe, we, we'd love to have you on
the, on, on a desk and that.
So I said, yeah, great.
Um, But I think by that time Iwas, I was, I had my heart set
on Moscow, to be honest.
And then when the, the World Cupcame around, I was actually
offered a job with BBC Sport asa fixer, which I, you know, I'd

(12:35):
be traveling around with acommentary team and helping'em
out and using my Russian skillsand my knowledge and all that,
you know, experience that I,that I'd gathered over those two
years.
But I ended up turning it down,um, and working for, I was
working for RT at the time, butRT were gonna give me
accreditation.
And the accreditation for me wasthe, the one thing that I

(12:55):
wanted, it was, it was the onething that I, I set out to get.
So, I mean, the bbc I didactually, I did actually turn
him down twice, um, with offersof work.
So it can't have been that muchof a, a dream if I, if I, if I
had turn it down.
But like I say, it used to be,The dream to work at the bbc,

(13:18):
but I think as time goes on,you, you realize it's now it'd
be a, it'd be a nightmare.

Sir Gene (13:24):
Now, why do you think it'd be a.

Danny (13:27):
It's, um, I dunno how much you know about part of bbc.
Um, it's been a, like a bit of ascandal at the moment with one
of the presenters who was askedto step back from the BBC's
flagship football coverage show,which is kind of a little, it's

(13:48):
a bit of a British institutioncalled Match Day.
Now we tweeted that the Toryparty's language in their
immigration bill cuz we alsohave another, not scandal, but
a, a huge issue going on with,with migrants reaching

Sir Gene (14:02):
Mm.

Danny (14:03):
Britain illegally.
And of course we, I mean we're,we're an island of, well as as
Great Britain of what, 70million.
That's.
Half the population of Russia.
But if you look at it in termsof land mass, we're, we're,
we're, it's a fraction of whatRussia is.
So we're overcrowded, which iswhy there was a big problem

(14:23):
about how we regulate peoplecoming into the country and, and
whether they're here legally ornot.
But anyway, the, the sittinggovernment at the moment
produced an immigration bill,and this presenter is called
Gary Linnea, said the languagethat was used in that
immigration bill.
Um, similar to that in 1930s,Germany, of course, as everybody

(14:46):
knows, I mean, that's a kind ofa, a thinly veiled EU euphemism
for, for, for nazim.
Um, and there was a big falloutfrom that cause it was asked to
step back.
And then the bbb, they said theBBC was censoring him, which I
kind of do agree with.
Then they reneged on it.
And then the.
Kind of capitulated and, andsaid, oh, well we, we said that

(15:06):
he, he shouldn't tweet thisstuff, but he could have his job
back.
And why not?
They're a little bit of a, they,they embarrass themselves with
the, with the whole kind ofcarry on.
They show that they don't reallyhave one standpoint one way or
the other.
And if they do, they don'treally, they lack the backbone
to actually back it up.
And I think that it, it's, it'san institution that's kind of

(15:28):
falling behind the curve of alot of, a lot of things.
And it tries to overcompensateby employing, um, well, making
sure it fills in representation,quotas, for instance.

Sir Gene (15:43):
Gotten woke,

Danny (15:45):
yeah, they've, well, they've gone woke, mate.
Yeah.
They've hugely, I mean,

Sir Gene (15:48):
call it what it is.

Danny (15:49):
yeah, it's hugely woke.
Um, the same with Sky Sports.
I mean, pe when you say, oh,it's gone woke, can you say, oh,
there's, there's more.
You know, people from ethnicminority backgrounds on tv.
Now, what it is, is actuallynothing really to do with skin
color, because the only way itis to do with skin color is
because representation is thebiggest box that they've gotta

(16:12):
tick.

Sir Gene (16:13):
Right.

Danny (16:14):
So that means that what you see is what they've got the,
you know, they've gotta fill acertain quota of, of, of people
that you see on the screen, um,that look a certain way.
Um, however, it isn't too muchto do with skin color because
even though the people that arewhite that work there, so
there's a guy called Paul me andwho's a, who's an ex

(16:36):
professional footballer, but he,he, he ticks the mental health
box.
Cause he, he's that strugglewith addiction.
He's that struggle with mentalhealth.
So you will get, um, presentersand, and, and people on TV that
aren't really actually up to thejob.
But they have, they will, theywill tick a box for that

(16:57):
corporation.
It's not just the bbc Sky Sportsdo it, um, talk sport, do it as
well.
Um, it's basically, it'sappealing to kind of the TikTok
generation as well.
I think that's got an awful lotto do with it.
But the BBC, in terms of beingwoke is, is just, you know, the
BBC needs defunding, not becausethey censor people, not cause of

(17:18):
the Gary Linnea situation.
It's because they fucking wokeme.
That's, that's the main reason,is because it, this woke
ideology is so pernicious and,and permeates every single part
of our lives.
That, I mean, even, even theGary Linus though, that Gary Lin
is one of the most woke peopleon the face of the planet,
certainly the most wokecelebrity that we've got,

(17:40):
certainly in the media industry,but I'd say in the UK the guy's
got 9 million followers and youknow, I think 90% of them would
be probably be there becausehe's, he's woke.

Sir Gene (17:50):
Yeah.

Danny (17:51):
And, but BBC are, they're trying to shut him up and he's
just all the fucking mess.
And it kind of sums up the mediaindustry in, in, in our country.

Sir Gene (18:01):
Well there, I I recently finished watching
Jeremy Clarkson's farm

Danny (18:05):
Oh, really?
Yeah.

Sir Gene (18:07):
And I, in fact, I think I even tweeted something
about it because I, I couldn'timagine living in a place with
so many regulations and so manyother people.
That can tell you what you canand you can't do on your own
land.

Danny (18:23):
You mean in England?

Sir Gene (18:25):
Well, yeah.
In England.
Exactly.
I mean, it's the, the wholeseason too is basically him
trying to fart fight the localyou know, the local little town
that he's next to in, in, inexpanding the activities on his
farm and them constantlyblocking him.

Danny (18:42):
Yeah, that's, it's, I hate the British public.
I, I, I, I, one of the things Ididn't miss when I was, I was
away for the best part of adecade, and one of the things I
didn't miss was just dealingwith his everyday bullshit

Sir Gene (18:58):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (18:59):
and some of the shit that went on during lockdown, like, I
mean, in Russia, okay.
I mean, like everything's,people have real problems.
Do you know what I mean?
And they tend not to focus ontiny little things that you
know, make making mountains outof, out of tiny little mos.
Whereas in England, MOS this,or, yeah, the molds tend to be,

(19:21):
what is in the headlines is GaryLinus stuff's gone on for
fucking ages because of onetweet.
And then before that we hadHarry and Megan and, and all
that bullshit.
And then,

Sir Gene (19:31):
yeah.

Danny (19:32):
And then before that, and then they says you Jeremy Clarks
and he's been in the news aswell and

Sir Gene (19:36):
Yeah.
More recently too.
Yeah.

Danny (19:38):
Yeah.
About the right, you know, it'sall, they're all words and, and
you know, they don't hurtpeople.
You what I mean?
But like, um, people are up inarms about it and just, you find
that with the British public,like the everyday, you know,
middle-aged British woman, he'sjust mess and melting part of

(20:01):
just histrionic,

Sir Gene (20:03):
Yeah.

Danny (20:04):
ramblings, And, and just that's one of the things I
didn't miss about, about thiscountry.

Sir Gene (20:11):
Being in the uk.
Well, let's talk about your,your move abroad then.
So you, you arrived in Moscow,you got a job with rt Now, was
that something you, you, yeah.
How long until you got that RTjob, I guess?

Danny (20:25):
Um, it was, The, the middle of July.
So from January to July, soright about six months.
Um,

Sir Gene (20:33):
It's not, not long at all.

Danny (20:36):
yeah, so what I was doing, I was, I moved and I did,
um, like this teaching gig, it'sreally poorly paid teaching gig,
but I didn't give, I didn't givea shit.
Like, um, I do this teaching andthen I, I do, um, football
reporting because I, I, I gotinvolved with a football site

(20:57):
that did Russian football news.
It's called Russian FootballNews.

Sir Gene (21:00):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (21:01):
And they, one of the greatest things about that is
because they didn't pay you, butthey gave you accreditation to.
Any match that you wanted inRussia?
So living in Moscow, a fizz, Ithink at the time there was five
teams in the top division, soyou could go, there was always a
match on, so you could justapply through this site and then
you get a ticket.

(21:23):
Um, so I then up, I did that atthe weekends and during the week
as well.
I did my teaching thing.
Um, I had a little side job copyin, and I also had an internship
at the Moscow Times,

Sir Gene (21:42):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (21:43):
which was really good.
I mean, it wasn't my bag, itwasn't my thing.
Um, very, very left wing andvery, very like hypercritical of
everything Russia does.
Um, to the point where I, I, Ithink they find or, or try and
find, making missions to try andfind you know, Negatives in, in,

(22:04):
in even some things that, in thesame way that, that, I mean, I
think that's kind of prevalentin the West in general, but the
same way in the, in the UK wherepeople find, you know, try and
nitpick and then try and find afence in everything.
I think that's one of the mainthings that Moscow Times does
and their journalists as well.
And they try and make Russia acaricature of itself, which I
don't like, because I think alot of the time they poke fun at

(22:25):
some of the people that maketheir stories.
Um, some of the people they meetalong the way and they're always
poor and they're always, youknow, they haven't got two acs
to rub together, as we say.
And they, you know, they'realways poor and dirty and
they're no hope for the future.
And everything's always bleakand, you know, we, we are the
white knights and the whitesaviors that, that have to go in
there and, you know, show thesepeople the way

Sir Gene (22:47):
Mm.

Danny (22:48):
so we are so advanced in the West.
Um, I got a job there.
Yeah, I pain as well.
I think it was my pain job.
Yeah.
My first painting gig in Russia.
Um, well that brought mytranslation skills up really
well and I learned a lot there.
But I, they let me go after afew months and then my CV was,

(23:10):
was, was picked up by a guycalled Dennis And I don't get on
with Dennis anymore, but I willalways be thankful to him for
giving me that gig.
So it was art sport that I gotthat I ended up working for
beginning RS Sport.
And it was just me and him thatworked at, like, we kind of
built it up from the ground and,um,

Sir Gene (23:32):
so you were Russia based, so you were covering
sports in Russia for R'SInternational market.

Danny (23:39):
kind of, yeah, I mean, that sound, that's like
overselling it a little bit.
We, we were, it was not in thebeginning as, as time went on,
we held a little bit more, um,was a little bit more weight
behind the site and, you know,held a bit more sway, like what
we were doing, especially,especially around the, the World

(24:00):
Cup and with M mma, MMA is, youknow, huge in Russia and
there's, you know, dozens ofjust thousands of kind of
Pakistani and, you know,Siberian sort of MMA fighters.
But when we first joined, orwhen I first joined, it was just
two of us.
And we'd write, we'd justrewrite articles, basically.

(24:24):
We'd write reports on likecertain things like, you know,
boxing matches and whatnot.
But we'd mainly just look forstories and then like post one
story an hour and, and that, andyou know, that that would just
be it in, in the beginning.
But as kind of time went on, Wetook on, you know, a few more
people and we would write kindof really tabloidy stories, but

(24:49):
some of the journalism that wedid was actually really, really
good with, in terms of, um, sortof, um, organic stories with
sports stars, um, and someopinion pieces as well.
So, I mean, like the, the, thelevel of journalism kind of
picked, eventually picked up,but for a while it was, it was

(25:12):
just monotonous, you know,looking for.
This story, that story, um,rewriting it and then, you know,
the, the viewing figures wouldbe really, really poor.
But as things picked up and wekind of found a style and we
went for that kind of punchyhead, tabloidy kind of crisp
between like, kind of New YorkPost and ESPN basically, you

(25:32):
know, it's perfect match betweenthat.
Things got better, especiallywhen we went on onto YouTube as
well.
We've got loads and loads ofsubscribers and Instagram

Sir Gene (25:40):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (25:41):
shit, loads of subscribers there, and then did
the World Cup and that.
So that was it, basically.
I mean, we ended up doing reallywell with, with R Sport because
we'd, we'd cover everything thatwas in Moscow and St.
Petersburg as well.

Sir Gene (25:56):
Did you get to travel around Russia during that?

Danny (25:59):
yeah, yeah.
Went to, went all over, youknow,

Sir Gene (26:04):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (26:04):
St.
Petersburg which is in Stan

Sir Gene (26:07):
probably.

Danny (26:09):
USA

Sir Gene (26:10):
Sochi,

Danny (26:12):
Sochi.
Yeah, Sochi.
Sochi.
I don't, um, you mind me askingthough?
I don't think you spoke aboutyour background.
I'm guessing you.

Sir Gene (26:19):
Oh yeah.
I'm Russian.

Danny (26:20):
Ah, right.
Okay.
Right.
Yeah.
So you used to fully learn,speak Russian and that Yeah.

Sir Gene (26:26):
However, as much as I just said, yeah, we can speak
Russian.
And Russian.
My, my listeners

Danny (26:30):
yeah.
Yeah.

Sir Gene (26:31):
95% Americans, so it's, it's very much an English.
But I grew, I grew up in the USso I I was born in Russia, but I
grew up in the us.

Danny (26:41):
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Interesting.
Yeah.
So, yeah, SOK and um,

Sir Gene (26:47):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (26:48):
um, or Queensburg or however it's pronounced.
You know what?
Whatever it used to be,

Sir Gene (26:53):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It used to be Germans when itused to

Danny (26:56):
yeah, you know, you can go, you can argue forever, can't
you?
The funny thing about sorry, Imean, like, it's, it's a really
beautiful city, but then it'sthese, like these cancerous
little, you know, corners thatjust are the imprint of the
Soviet Union, kind of, you know,the and stuff like that.
And it's like the worst parts ofRussia has just seem to have

(27:19):
invested this beautiful littleplace.
Um, yeah, it's sad Um, apartfrom that, it's, it's just like,
it's like a perfect, it doesn'teven look like a kind of German
city.
Looks like a

Sir Gene (27:31):
Yeah.
Well, it's, Russia's been therea long time.

Danny (27:33):
Yeah.
Long, long,

Sir Gene (27:35):
and it's really, I mean, it's the port.
It's not so much about the city,it's about the port.

Danny (27:39):
It's like, it's like somewhere where you find in
Switzerland or somewhere likethat.
But yeah, I went about Russia.
Like, I won't say I traveledkind of extensively.
There's a lot of, I didn't seein Russia, but I mean, in terms
of, Moscow, St.
Petersburg.
I lived there for quite a while.
And then yeah, it's got a fewplaces.
Kaza.

Sir Gene (27:58):
Nice.
Yeah.
I, I, I'm originally from St.
Petersburg,

Danny (28:03):
Oh, cool.
Cool.

Sir Gene (28:04):
Beautiful city.

Danny (28:05):
Amazing.
Amazing.
I actually chose it because wehad another choice to do our a
year abroad, either in St.
Petersburg or Moscow.
And I chose St.
Petersburg because

Sir Gene (28:16):
Yeah.
It was the right

Danny (28:17):
a few.
Yeah, yeah.
I saw a few similarities withManchester kind of being the
Northern Capital and the secondcity and whatnot.
Um, and saw that was a reason.
But he, he's a beautiful city.
You can, I knew it like the backof my end.
By the time I'd left it, I mean,I spent eight months there, but
it's so small, but everything's,you know, in, it's within

(28:38):
walking distance, you know whatI mean?
What about the, the center?
Um,

Sir Gene (28:42):
Yeah.
Well, it kind of had to be backin, back in the day cuz there
was not a whole lot of cars

Danny (28:48):
Yeah, exactly.
There you go.

Sir Gene (28:49):
It was just, I remember the the Metro was very,
very cool back when I was a kid.

Danny (28:54):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
The Metro people don't realizelike just how advanced Russia is
with some things.
Like you got like the tube.
Have you ever, you've ever musthave been a London

Sir Gene (29:07):
actually I never have, no,

Danny (29:08):
never been a London.
Right?
The Tube is a fucking hell hallmate.
It's, you got the Moscow Metroand like every single station is
beautiful.
Okay.
There might be some like newones that they built now that
are a bit crap and a bitmetallic and a bit, you know,
Seay.

Sir Gene (29:23):
Yeah.

Danny (29:25):
But every, I mean, you got to, um, make Gok or you go
to and it's just absolutelybeautiful.
It's like it transports you backabout 200 years.
I mean, the, the point of it orthe point of it being so
beautiful was to, was to educatethe solitary was to, was to, was
to bring them kind of, you know,up to speed in terms of the,

(29:47):
the, the cultural education and,and you know, feeding in
classical music cuz they'regoing down these, you know,
huge, I dunno

Sir Gene (29:56):
Yeah.
They're very deep, unlike a lotof places

Danny (29:58):
And you kind of, you kind of feel that now.
But like the tube is just like,it's just, it's dirty, it's
unreliable,

Sir Gene (30:05):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (30:06):
it's cheap, it's never on time.
It's just, honestly it's theworst.
And it feels like he's full ofpollution as well.
I'm not saying, you know, like,obviously it's public transport,
but the tube's just horrible.

Sir Gene (30:18):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I've been to subways in a numberof different countries, and I
don't remember any that lookedas nice as Russia.
I mean, some of'em weredefinitely faster or quieter or
whatever, but in terms of justvisually they certainly did a
very good job in Russia and

Danny (30:37):
Yeah, it's beautiful.

Sir Gene (30:38):
Yeah, creating a certain style and certain mood
in the subway.

Danny (30:42):
Do you have a, do you have a favorite metro station,

Sir Gene (30:46):
No, I, I really don't.
I mean, it's, this was, this wasa long time ago, and I when I've
been back, I've tended not touse public transportation.

Danny (30:55):
No.
Any reason?

Sir Gene (30:57):
Um, just, I don't know, usually just have a.

Danny (31:00):
Fair enough.

Sir Gene (31:01):
Yeah, it makes it a lot easier when there's somebody
that just drive you around.

Danny (31:06):
Well, do you know, I mean, you must love still the
charm of.
Transporting Russia, you know,The little buses that take you
roundabout for like what?
50 rubles?
60

Sir Gene (31:19):
Yeah.
Um, there's, I mean, it's notexclusive to Russia.
I think in general, when I waslike young, I really enjoyed the
the public transport.
Um, it was fun, but as I gotolder, I just started valuing
time, a lot more

Danny (31:37):
Mm.

Sir Gene (31:37):
And so it, like, those things don't really matter all
that much to me.
I just want to get in, get out,not not not really care about
how it happens as long as ithappens quickly.

Danny (31:48):
Do you not think, you know, whe when you're in Moscow,
wherever you are, it doesn'tmatter where you're going.
It always takes an hour to getthere.

Sir Gene (31:55):
Well, that's, that's a very good point.
Yes.
There, and again, not the onlycity by any stretch that that is
their case.
But yeah, it the, the sad truthis where I am right now in
Austin, Texas, which is a tinylittle city in comparison, it
still takes about an hour.
I

Danny (32:12):
Yeah.

Sir Gene (32:13):
think it's just more of a, a function of, um, of the
build out that's happened.
And certainly it happened inRussian cities and, and it's
happened in plenty of Americancities where, um, there was just
a big growth spurt that happenedbecause of technology or because
of companies moving there.
Or something happened where,like in Russia, obviously the

(32:35):
fall of communism really.
Allowed free enterprise to movein and, and put in massive
amounts of money forconstruction.
Um, and you just see buildingsthat used to look like they were
tall, like 10 story buildingsall of a sudden be overshadowed
by much, much larger buildingson both sides.

(32:55):
So the construction is in fullswing, that's for sure.

Danny (32:58):
And that's another great thing about St.
Petersburg as well, cuz youcan't build over a certain
height.

Sir Gene (33:02):
Right?

Danny (33:03):
Yeah.
So it's not to, to ruin theskyline.

Sir Gene (33:07):
Yeah.
And it, and it is a I mean,there are, there are other
cities with restrictions likethat as well.
If you, you go to Rome, you haveto get out of the city quite a
ways before you can, you know,lift some of the restrictions
they have.
Um, you, you don't want to beruining a 2000 year old skyline,
that's for sure.

Danny (33:24):
No.

Sir Gene (33:24):
But in general, I, I think that.
I've always recommended thatAmericans go see St.
Petersburg if they choose, ifthey have a choice, go there
instead of Moscow on the trips.
That's one of the sad things nowwith this whole Ukraine
situation, that people are nolonger going as tourists to see
st at least not from the west tosee St.

(33:45):
Petersburg or Russia in general.
Um, but let's, let's jump backto your career there.
So you were there for 10 yearstotal, you said?

Danny (33:53):
I was there for, well, yeah, well, from the age of 22
till 31, so yeah, it's the bestpart of, a best part of a
decade.
But there was a, a year inbetween when I came back, so I
came back to, you know, finishuni and then, and then got back
out there.
Were a bit old, a little, alittle bit over a year.
I, I think maybe about justshort of 18 months

Sir Gene (34:16):
did.
Did you get married?

Danny (34:18):
over there.

Sir Gene (34:19):
Yeah.

Danny (34:20):
No, I got engaged.

Sir Gene (34:23):
Yeah.

Danny (34:23):
got engaged.
Um, I got engaged last yearactually.

Sir Gene (34:27):
Oh, okay.
All right.
Do you have a British girl or a

Danny (34:30):
No, no, she's rushing.

Sir Gene (34:32):
Okay.
It's I say that with a smile onmy face, cuz once you've been
around Russian women, it's hardto, you'll date somebody else.

Danny (34:41):
Yeah.
It where Yeah.

Sir Gene (34:44):
It's a good, it's a good combination.
It's a good package.

Danny (34:47):
it worked.
Yeah.
It kind of is, but I mean,there's a, there's a fair few
stereotypes around that that Idon't particularly like because
there's a great, there's a subsubculture.
The sex pack subculture isn'tthere.

Sir Gene (35:01):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (35:02):
the people that aren't really anything over here, you
know, that kind of failed malesthat go over to Russia to tap
into.

Sir Gene (35:12):
Yeah.
Well, and I think I'm Ukrainewas even more so, in that
regard.
Um,

Danny (35:17):
it's, it is utter nonsense because you can't go
over there and just say, Hey,I'm English, and then expect,
you know, like, girls to fuckaround you.
You have to have something aboutyou.
You have to have some sort of yyou know, you have to have some
sort of, um, kind of story oryou, or some sort of goal or
something.
I think, like, I'm gonna behonest with you, like I was like
quite popular with girls overthere, but it was more to do,

(35:42):
more so to do with the fact thatI learned the language and that
I had a goal and that I'd goneover there not just to, you
know, just piss about, um, I'dgone over there with, with,
with, with a plan and, you know,I, I was putting that plan into
action all the whole time, butabout rushing women.
Yeah, like there's definitely a,there, there's a difference in

(36:03):
temperament and different in, indifference.
I don't wanna say that wordmentality, but there's a
difference in, um, definitelythe way.

Sir Gene (36:13):
Yeah.

Danny (36:13):
The way people, the way the way think over there.
Well, but

Sir Gene (36:16):
is a difference in mentality.
I, I totally would say that.

Danny (36:19):
the main thing is like, girls are more, they say, you
know, like Russian women orEastern European women are, you
know, they put a spell on, onmen and it's nonsense because
the only thing they do is they,they just, they accentuate
femininity

Sir Gene (36:36):
Exactly

Danny (36:37):
and that's it.
And

Sir Gene (36:38):
called femininity

Danny (36:39):
yeah.
And that's it.
That's all men want.
Like if you strip us down, thatis what attracts us.
Just, um, it's deep down in likeyou're talking about like why we
were made like

Sir Gene (36:52):
Yep.

Danny (36:53):
billions of years of evolution and it's like that is
the main thing that could dolike with sex in, in, in, in
animals and insects is purelychemical.
It is purely, um, just based on,on, on pure feeling.
Like, and if you ignite thatkind of.
You know, feeling and, and, andyou excite that, that, that
whatever that is, that chemicalthing, then you will be able to

(37:17):
attract that person as that'swhat we, that's what girls in,
in, in Russia do.
They just accentuate femininity.
The girl might not be the bestlooking, but it's like, you
know, she, she, she draws wellor something, you know, she like
draws beautiful paintings orshe's got a nice smile and she
uses that like, or the way shelike does her hair or the way

(37:37):
she like, has her posture oranything, just like her
confidence that femininity andthat features just always
accentuated it.
And that's why they have thiskind of superpower.
Cause people in the westerngirls in the West are told that
that's not the way to be.
And that's why a lot of themcan't find men.

Sir Gene (37:55):
Yeah.
And that's, I, I, I think that'sgonna be a, a major problem that
I don't know that there's a goodsolution for in the West is that
it's gotten so, at least I canspeak about the United States.
It's gotten to a point where alot of men are just not willing
to.
Get married and get into aserious relationship, a at all

(38:18):
in lieu of doing it withsomebody that is as feminist and
politically correct as most ofthe women are here in the us.
I mean, it, it's, it's literallylike they've managed to surpass
that line of attraction wheremen are willing to just put up
with anything.
Well, there is a line, there isa point at which men are not
willing to put up with anymore.

(38:40):
And I think a lot of women inthe US have managed to cross
over that line.

Danny (38:44):
yeah, yeah.
But.
Sorry.
Yeah, I I also to make the pointthat it worked both ways as
well, because there's certainthings that you are expected to
do as a man over there.
You're expected to traditionallybe a man.
And if you don't do thosecertain masculine things or you
know, those tasks, they willpull you up on it.
Girls will pull you up on it inRussia, like, um, certain things

(39:06):
around the house you won't getaway with being as lazy as you
might be with a, with a girlover here.

Sir Gene (39:12):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (39:13):
Or just, that is a roughexample.
Um, you will be pulled up onthese things if you're not a
bloke, and it doesn't mean thatlike, you know, you're, you're
just there as like to use as acash machine and a, and a dildo
or whatever.
But like, you will be pulled upon it if you aren't providing,

(39:37):
and it doesn't mean, it doesn'tmean, you know, taking a
shopping every weekend

Sir Gene (39:43):
Yeah.
It's not, it's not necessarilyabout the money, but things like
bringing flowers not only on

Danny (39:49):
Oh yeah, mate.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I told, yeah, I told a couplegirls the other day, um, in the
gym.
I said, they were talking aboutInternational Women's Day.
I said, you know, international,right?
I says, international Women'sDay in Russia.
I said, it's just gone March8th.
I says, it's like their biggest,so it's like Valentine's Day and
a girl's birthday and Christmasand everything rolled in.

(40:10):
I want, I said, they get a dayoff.
Um, if it's on a Friday, thenthey get the Thursday off as
well.
Or if it's on a Monday, they getthe Tuesday off as well.
Or if it's on a weekend, theyget the day off either side and
they said, oh my God, I can'tbelieve it.
I can't believe it.
I says, They get the days off,and then the lads in the office
where they work or whatever,they'll bring in flowers,

(40:32):
they'll bring in champagne,they'll bring in fruit and
chocolate and everything for thegirls in the office.
And then they'll stand around.
They'll do that awkward thingwhere they stand around and then
they'll, like, they, you know,congratulate each other, And
then they, they kind of clap andthey say, oh, thank you.
We didn't expect anything.
Um, but they were in it in awe.
But that is the, it is probablythe perfect example that I can,

(40:53):
you know, give to you thathighlights both.
Um, though, you know, that thatmasculine sort of, um, that
man's job of providing thesethings for a woman, you know,
providing pla it can be, youknow, shelter, it can be flowers
on, on a special day.

(41:13):
And it's also highlights, youknow, that kind of.
Ness in women, because even someof the most, even the, the, the
biggest feminists, and these twogirls that I was talking to,
they, they're quite, you know,feminist kind of leaning.
They melted at the idea thatthat happened.
So that, that shows you again,that they're just like women.

(41:34):
They've fucking love this.
Like they wanna be girls andthey wanna be pampered and they
wanna be treated by men, butthey, they're not allowing
themselves to do that in thewest because, I don't know,
fucking some bra burning Antifamember tells'em to, so,

Sir Gene (41:47):
E Exactly.
I think it's, it's really a sortof a brainwashing in the exact
same sense that was happening inSoviet Union during the Soviet
days, where you're being toldsomething that is just
contradictory to nature, butyou're just told to believe it.
And that's, I think, what'shappening in the West right now.
I've seen, you know, I was I'm,I'm, I'm old, so I, I was in

(42:12):
Soviet Russia, I was in the U SS R and now I'm watching America
getting closer and closer tothe, the way the U S S R
operated, which is not to sayit's exactly the same thing,
obviously it's not a commandeconomy, there's plenty of
differences, but the sort ofattitudes and the sort of
complete disregard for naturallaw and for.

(42:35):
Really tradition and fairnessthat's happening here is amazing
and amazing in a bad way.
I mean, I'm, I'm amazed that acountry that was seen as the
epitome of liberty and freedomis now getting closer and closer
to the U S S R.
And it's

Danny (42:54):
Really.

Sir Gene (42:55):
it's, it's horrible watching it happening in real
time because I think that theyounger generations here, the
the Zoomers, especially if itwas left up to them, they would
sooner elect a socialistpresident than just a liberal
president for that matter.

Danny (43:11):
Mm.
that's interesting you shouldsay.

Sir Gene (43:14):
it's going in the crazy, crazy direction.
But anyway.
So, um, let's get to the end ofyour time in Russia.
So you were there a decade I didsee you doing some non-sports
reporting as well on rt.
So,

Danny (43:28):
Did you really?

Sir Gene (43:29):
Yeah.
So how much of that were youdoing?
How much did you do that wasn'tsports related?

Danny (43:32):
Not an awful lot actually.
I think I've been a little bittypecast, um, especially since
the outbreak of the war.
I mean,

Sir Gene (43:40):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (43:42):
I think the main thing you wanna talk about is, is the
time that I spent being a, anews correspondent for rt.

Sir Gene (43:47):
Yeah.

Danny (43:49):
Um, I was there from only really the back end of 2021, I
think maybe around aboutSeptember

Sir Gene (43:58):
Okay.

Danny (43:58):
to the, the outbreak of the war.
So I'd kind of come to the endof my time on the sports desk
because we had the World Cup.
And then after that couple ofmonths later, Habib, he became a
huge star in the ufc Beat KMcGregor and kind of it, it gave

(44:23):
us just so much content.
Um, on the sports desk that wewere just, it kept us in a job
for a couple more years and soeverything with me kept getting
better and better with sport.
Um, and I became like kind ofthe, the m m A game and we were
doing videos and whatnot and wego going down Stan.
And, um, it was really good andI got a lot of, a lot of like,

(44:45):
freelance work off the back ofit as well with, with like ESPN
and, um, there's other thingsthat we, we covered.
Um, but after the Euro 2020tournament, which held and one
of them was St.
Petersburg, so we, we were basedin St.
Petersburg.
Um, for that time, of course it,2020 was when the pandemic was

(45:07):
and it ended up happening in2021 instead cause it was
canceled in 20.
Um, after that I just realizedthere was nothing really else to
do as regards sport.
And I think that, you know, Ineeded to get out

Sir Gene (45:20):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (45:20):
and kind of do something else and, um, you know, I was.
Kind of just, just, just Bos AndI didn't really want to be, we,
we were going back to like, kindof rewriting articles and I
thought, you know, I'm too longin a tooth for that.
Like, there can't be wasting metime on that.
And kind of needed to moveforward.
But there was no real place todo that, you know, I'll tell you

(45:43):
other than, you know, on camera,and I'd done videos and stuff
for sports.
So I thought, you know, it'd bekind of the same doing it for
the new, the news desk.
The news channel.
And so I went over and said,look.
I said, Hey.
So they knew me as a sports guy.
I said, would it be possiblejust at that time there was like
a sh kind of a reshuffle at thetop of the English site because

(46:04):
the, the RT is, and I don't knowhow, like, I, I really don't
give a shit about these, youknow, non-disclosure agreements
and what you're allowed to talkabout and whatnot, blah, blah,
blah, blah.
But it's, they're broken into,like you have.
Channels, different channels.
The Arabic channels, Spanishchannel.
We had French and German at onepoint.

(46:26):
The main ones were Arabic,English, and Spanish.
And there was never a Russianchannel.
There was only a Russianwebsite.
Um, cause obviously, I mean the,the point of our was to, to
spread the message of, of thestate to, you know, the English
speaking world, and of coursethe Arabic and Spanish speaking

(46:48):
world, but to the west,basically, well apart, apart
from course Arabic speakingnations.
Um, so yeah, so I mean, it wouldkind of defeat the object.
Not, not, not, not defeat theobject, but it, there was kind
of no point in, in making aRussian channel, speaking

Sir Gene (47:05):
Yeah, there, there's plenty of other channels doing
that already.

Danny (47:07):
Yeah.
And he's, he's carrying the samemessaging rate and plus the
people who watch it are just,it's like preaching to the
choir.
It's kind of pointless.
So, um, So, yeah, so they'rebroken down into the, I'll get
to the point of what I'm tryingto say, but the, they're broken
down into, they have the Englishsite and then the English

(47:28):
channel, and they're twoseparate entities.
Um, they're two differentoffices.
They're run by separate people.
Um, but also they have someoneat the top who runs the English
side and sort of who will have asay in what goes on on the site
and also what goes on, um, onthe tv, but to a lesser extent

(47:53):
on the TV now.
Just at that time then I alwaysweren't, you know, trying to
cross over.
There was a kind of a reshuffleat the top of the site.
Um, and I kind of saw that as anopportunity to just say, look,
I'd like, I would also like todo something different.
Um, So I went in and yeah, they,they knew me as the sports guy.

(48:14):
They thought initially that Iwanted to just do sports on air.
I says, no, I wanted to, I wannado politics.
I wanna do something different.
Um, and so they said, well,look, so we can't promise
anything, but you can go and tryout and set me.
They sent me a few tasks andwriting scripts and then tell,
saying them in front of camera.
And yeah, after that they said,yeah, we'd, we'd be kind of,

(48:35):
we'd be happy to work with you.
Cause I was, I was quite, I wasall right in front of camera.
I was, I was quite good becauseI had experience from doing it
in sport.
Um, so yeah, they took me on andthen I ended up being a a
correspondent, which was, whichwas a great little job.
Um,

Sir Gene (48:50):
rt?
You were correspondent in Russiain English?

Danny (48:55):
Yes, yes.
So for the English channel, Imean, my Russians fluent is
good.
I mean, we can have a littletalk later off.
Uh, But it's not to the extentwhere I could be doing like say
live Yeah, live breaking newsand stuff like that.
I mean, I've done, I, I havedone this stuff like that for
sports channels and stuff.
Um, and yeah, it is all right.

Sir Gene (49:17):
Well, I, I, I remember cuz I, I interviewed Faren a
couple of weeks ago and I, Iremember there was a clip where
she was doing something for RTAmerican and she brought you in
as the remote in Moscow.

Danny (49:29):
yeah, yeah,

Sir Gene (49:30):
And and I, I think I've seen you in other things as
well, but I, that was the mostrecent one that I remember
seeing both of you guys

Danny (49:36):
yeah.

Sir Gene (49:37):
in the same clip.

Danny (49:39):
Yeah.
She, um, the, I got toldactually by an American
reporter, I dunno whether youknow him,

Sir Gene (49:48):
Who,

Danny (49:48):
Donald Quarter.

Sir Gene (49:50):
Oh, I do not.
No,

Danny (49:51):
You do.

Sir Gene (49:52):
no.

Danny (49:53):
Oh, okay.
Well, he, he was a, well, hestill is a, a correspondent
Forti.
Um, he said that the bar forquality at R America is a lot
lower than what we used to whenI did my first R America thing,
because I did it.
And then like, it was all right,but like it, were just thinking,
oh, thank you so much.

(50:14):
That's so, that's amazing.
Thank you so much.
Um, so yeah, but I remember thatI was, that was my last live at
the day when Schultz flew intoto Moscow,

Sir Gene (50:29):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (50:29):
and we did, I think we did about 10 lives, like one
every hour.
So it was like 10 hours overthere.
Yeah.
I mean, like for me it was, itwas a good job and.
It was ticking a lot of boxes interms of doing something new,
doing something with Russia.
Cause you'd be speaking peoplein Russian all the time and
you'd be, they'd send yousources in Russian and stuff

(50:51):
and, you know, you'd have totranslate.
And, and also being kind of, youknow, on screen and, and getting
the blood pumping and theadrenaline going.
And the newsroom was full offantastic people, 90% of them
young girls.

Sir Gene (51:10):
Yeah.
I, I knew where you were goingwith

Danny (51:12):
you mate.
Oh, come on.
You know, like, I don't wanna, Idon't wanna be crude, but I
mean, you know, you walk in likewith your suit and you know,
with your air, with your makeupdone and your hair all hairspray
and, you know, you flash a bitof the old rushing and a wink
and whatnot and it's just, it'sdecently.

Sir Gene (51:29):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (51:30):
I miss that job every day.
I miss it every day of the week.
But I was in a relationship atthe time with my girl.
Well, actually when I started asa correspondent, me and my
girlfriend had had split up,

Sir Gene (51:42):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (51:43):
kind of split up.
Like, you know, we'd, we'd splitup and, and, and get back
together, you know, more timesthan fucking Led Zeppelin, do
you know what I mean?
Like, so yeah, it was, it wasone of those things like, so
just in that kind of littlewindow, that kind of two weeks
where I was a single man, it wasnice.
I mean, not the idea of it, youknow what I mean?

(52:03):
Like, with being, you know,

Sir Gene (52:05):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (52:06):
I don't wanna sound like one of them fucking sex pats
like I mentioned before, but,you know, was, that was all
right.
But it was, it was a good job,man.
It was a good job.
And I, I liked it and I likedbeing, um,

Sir Gene (52:18):
So what, what wrapped it up for you?

Danny (52:22):
just the war, the war kicking off.
Um, I was on air.
When it, when it happened.
So I was called in and we did anovernight shift and I was
talking about sanctions cuz justbefore, I think it's two days

(52:42):
before Russia had declared thetwo to Dunas Republics or the,
the Han

Sir Gene (52:52):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (52:53):
People's Republics as they recognized them as, as, as
republics.
And of course that that meantthat they could send troops into
area.
And then after that came sort ofa wave of, of sanctions and my
job was to report on thosesanctions.
I think Margarita, who of courseis the chief of RT, had been

(53:14):
sanctioned, um, RomanAbramovich,

Sir Gene (53:18):
Yep.

Danny (53:19):
you know, billionaire that used to own Chelsea.

Sir Gene (53:21):
Mm.

Danny (53:22):
Yeah, he'd been sanctioned as well.
So I, that was my job to reporton that.
I think I did like three livesin the studio on that.
And then by like an hour aftermy, my third one, around about
like five, six o'clock in themorning, there was kind of a bit
of a commotion around one of thecomputers in the office.

(53:42):
And, you know, people weregathering around and, and we
finally realized that Putin wascoming out and that he would
give an address and he gave, youknow, the, the famous address,
famous speech on the layout, thepretext for war for, for the
invasion of the special militaryoperation.

(54:04):
All it.
And, um, funny, funny fact,actually, I was the first person
to.
Translate into, or to read outthat speech in English because I
was the only English speakerthat was, was on shift at the
time.
And somebody gave me a piece ofpaper downstairs, well, could
you go downstairs and, and do avoiceover for us?

(54:26):
Which was kind of customary atthe time.
You know, they get Englishspeakers, native speakers to
voice things, you know,translations and whatnot.
So I did it.
I didn't really realize at thetime that it was that, and I
went down and, and, and read itcuz I was in a little bit of
shock really.
And it turned out to be saying,you know, he was launching this
invasion with the objects ofDemilitarizing and Dify in

(54:50):
Ukraine.
And that was picked up, that wasthe first English soundbite that
existed.
Um, and that was picked up bythe sun, the Sydney Morning
Herald in Australia of allthings, because of course they
were up early, earlier than,than the rest of us.
And then when the UK media worldwoke up, the first sound bite

(55:15):
that they found was in theSydney Morning Herald.
The first, you know, reportsabout it was, was there.
And then when they used that,and that sound bite went okay
across a lot of, of otherEnglish speaking outlets.
So if you kind of, if you Google24th of February Putin speech

(55:35):
and, or, or whatever chances areit will come up with, with, um,
with that, I think if you

Sir Gene (55:43):
With somebody with a Manchester accent accent
speaking

Danny (55:46):
that's it.
I mean, like any, any Englishspeaking media outlet that has a
report of that day, if you findit, you'd find that Vladimir
Putin has a mank twang to hisvoice.

Sir Gene (55:56):
Mm.

Danny (55:57):
Um, so yeah.

Sir Gene (55:59):
So they, they didn't put out an official translation
in English from from Putin'soffice.

Danny (56:05):
Um, I'm not too sure, you know, um, thinking back on it, I
know that we got his speech,the, the New Year's speech.
I know we got that

Sir Gene (56:16):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (56:17):
few hours before New Year, so I, I'm not su I'm not
sure if if what I was handedwas, was what they put out or
not.

Sir Gene (56:27):
wanted something immediately out.
Yeah.

Danny (56:30):
So, I mean, it was, it was kind of just on, like, on a
whim.
But yeah, I mean, like afterthat, like I, I realized it was
my girlfriend at the time thegirlfriend that, you know, I was
kind of on and off with.
And,

Sir Gene (56:41):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.

Danny (56:42):
um, she was actually, she's actually born in, in Hans
She's rushing.
And I remember she'd slept in,she, she used to wake up around
about seven, eight o'clock everymorning without fail.
But she slept in that day.
And, and I remember, um, beingjust texting and just saying,
look, I'm so sorry.
I'm, I'm so, so sorry.
I'm sorry.
Like just over and over again.

(57:04):
And she didn't wake up untilaround about half 10.
But as it went on and on, I wasgetting more and more anxious,
more and more nervous andwondering what had happened.
And finished my shift at aroundabout 10 and, and going to taxi.
I was going to mine before hermom rang me.

(57:27):
And it was sort of like I was, Iwas half asleep in the backseat
of this taxi and the kind ofringing of the, of my phone.
Sort of jolted me awake.
And it was her, it was, and sheasked me how I was.
And you know, kind of whensomebody's trying to hide

(57:48):
something, but their voice isgiving it away, like they, they
know something or some, some badnews or something.
And, and I told her, I said, Iknow.
And then as soon as I said thatkind of a voice, her voice
cracked.
And sh she began kind of wailingand shouting and said, they're
bombing him, the bombing him.
And you know, what is it allabout?
And there's this war and youknow what's gonna happen.

(58:09):
And her husband, my girlfriend'sdad would, we were kind of
feared that he might beconscripted.
He was below 55 and he's, he'sRussian, but he's, he is also,
he was born in ki Kiev.
So, I put a phone down to my, mygirlfriend's mom, and then my

(58:32):
girlfriend rang me around.
It must have been about a minuteafter, and she read the
messages, but I hadn't actuallysaid what was going on.
And she said, what's going on?
And I said before, like, I'vebeen speaking the language for,

(58:53):
for a good few years now, andtook quite a high level of
proficiency.
And I was kind of, I wasspeechless.
I didn't really, didn't reallyknow what to say.
And I just said right now, ofcourse, his war now.
That I was the only word that,that come, that came, came to

(59:16):
mind.
The only thing that I can, Icould really, could really must
her at the time because she'dgot quite hysterical.
She, she, she was shouting and,and, and saying, why can't
anybody tell me what's going on?
Um, so yeah, so that was that.
And that was that morning.
And, and I realized then I, Igot the taxi back to her flat

(59:41):
where we decided to get engagedand sort of get married.
Um, and I drafted, we, we wentdown to the, the protest protest
in Moscow that night.

Sir Gene (59:56):
mm.

Danny (59:57):
we lived in a place called Ishk, which is kind of to
the north of, of, of Moscow,just on the outskirts.
We had to walk past the, theshopping center.
So we said, look, I said, I'dalways dreamed of proposing
where our first kiss was, whichis on the, um, just near by Goki

(01:00:17):
Park, like just near like onethe bridges, like by the, by
the, by the water.
But I thought, fuck that.
I thought we could be dead infucking 10 minutes.
I thought, I'm going.
So when we went past theshopping center, I, I just dived
in.
I said, look, I said, picksomething you want.
As soon as she picked it.
And then as we were walking out,I said, look, will you marry me?
She goes, yes, but it wasoutside some like, kibab shop.

(01:00:39):
So it wasn't exactly, it wasn'texactly, you know, the most
romantic person.

Sir Gene (01:00:42):
Yeah.

Danny (01:00:44):
Um, so yeah.
And then I went down to, we wentdown, we went on the train to
the center of Moscow.
And whilst this girl was, was.
Protesting.
Um, I had to look after a momand at the time I had my face
covered because I thought that,you know, somebody there might

(01:01:06):
want to, might wanna do me in alittle bit because I worked for
auntie.
And so I covered my face andtook, um, my girlfriend's mom
sort of under my arm and shebegan crying when I told her why
I had my face covered.
Because at the time everythingwas so, highly strung and, and

(01:01:28):
it was so sad that, you know,people were, the sadness was,
was the fact that two nationsthat were so close to each
other, you know, not justgeographically, um, that one
could, could, could kind ofbring so much harm upon the
other.
And the fact that, you know,somebody might wanna harm me as

(01:01:49):
well.
Just anybody off the street hadnow in this atmosphere and in
that this climate would wannaget me harm was, was, was
something that really upset her.
So we went down to the protestsand whilst I was looking after
my girlfriend's mom appended myresignation letter I said, look,

(01:02:10):
I said I can't come in tonight.
When they asked me, I says, Iwanted to hand this resignation
letter in by hand, but, um, Iended up just sending it by
email and yeah, that's, that'swhen it all came to an end.
That's when a lot, that's when alot of things came to an end.

Sir Gene (01:02:29):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (01:02:30):
my career at it came to an end that night.

Sir Gene (01:02:33):
So you, you had no anticipation of the special
military operations starting.

Danny (01:02:39):
Um, no.

Sir Gene (01:02:41):
Hm.

Danny (01:02:42):
I mean, I don't know whether that's a loaded question
or not

Sir Gene (01:02:45):
Well, no, I mean I just, I guess it being in the
political circles, I think allof us knew that was about to
happen.

Danny (01:02:52):
Oh really?

Sir Gene (01:02:52):
Yeah.

Danny (01:02:54):
You knew?

Sir Gene (01:02:54):
Oh yeah.
I mean, I couldn't tell you theexact date and hour though, but
it was gonna be within a twoweek period.

Danny (01:03:01):
No,

Sir Gene (01:03:03):
Hmm.
So, and then once you did the

Danny (01:03:07):
let's just, let's just come back to that question.
Yeah.
Because I mean, I mean, the wayI see it is like, I don't know
whether it's with you being inthe west, or, sorry, sorry.
In America.
I mean, there was a lot of, atthe time what we were calling
anti-Russian, you know, Westernhysteria about the invasion, and

(01:03:31):
I was convinced at one point,That there was gonna be an
invasion, but I remember thennot thinking there was gonna be
an invasion.

Sir Gene (01:03:41):
Now, wait, when you say invasion, you mean Russia
going into Ukraine, or are youtalking about West?
Going into Russia.

Danny (01:03:48):
no, no.
I was talking about Russia goinginto Ukraine.

Sir Gene (01:03:50):
Okay.
Yeah.

Danny (01:03:52):
I don't think anybody ever anticipated or will
anticipate that the west goinginto

Sir Gene (01:03:56):
Oh, I, well, that was part of the reason for the
timing of the uh, specialmilitary operation.
Was the joint NATO operationsthat were happening right before
that in preparation for theinvasion of Russia through LA
Gangs?

Danny (01:04:11):
Oh, really?
So you think that NATO was aboutto attack?

Sir Gene (01:04:15):
Well, there were, if you look at the, the let's see,
you're not gonna see it in, inprobably uh, Russian or American
news articles, but if you lookat the local news articles,
there was a very definitebuildup of NATO operations
happening in Germany, Poland,and in, um, joint operations
with Ukrainians that were inNATO at the time.

(01:04:39):
There was also a satelliteimagery that was showing the the
preparation of logistics for awhat appeared to be, and again,
here I'm just, you know, I'm,I'm repeating what others said.
It's not like I've seen,

Danny (01:04:52):
No, but this, this is very interesting, like, um,
certainly like your point ofview.

Sir Gene (01:04:57):
Yeah.
Well, it, it's interesting that,um, I guess because you guys
were doing news for the Westthat you weren't really talking
about this because it wouldn'tbe advantageous to Russia to be
showing its hand in what theyknow to the West, so you

(01:05:19):
wouldn't have found out throughwork about it, that's for sure.

Danny (01:05:23):
Yeah.
Um, I kind of see, I mean, I, Ianswered not entirely honestly.
And, and so I, I didn't thinkthere was gonna be an invasion.
Um, now what I, what I recountto you, whatever counted just so
far as, you know, the day in theinvasion and when it all came to

(01:05:44):
an end,

Sir Gene (01:05:45):
right.

Danny (01:05:46):
it came, it brings up, you know, a lot of emotions
that, that were very, I, I wannause like Russian words as well
to describe it, but, um, There'ssome, there's, they won't kind
of ever really kind of leave.
Um, but I think I'm kind ofsurprised as I, as, as I retell

(01:06:11):
it because it, it's somethingthat I don't feel now certainly
knowing some of the things thatwe do now and then sort of, kind
of how the dust is settled.
And I think the world is kind ofwisen up to the, the bullshit of
the US and

Sir Gene (01:06:30):
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
I mean if anything, I wouldapologize on behalf of the
United States for causing you astress during that night, cuz
this is 100%.

Danny (01:06:39):
well, yeah, I would, I would've to agree in large part
with that statement.
Um, I mean, there's, there's anumber of things that you can
pinpoint, you know, knowledgestream and, and.
The US wanted to tie up a, a, agas deal with the eu you know,

(01:07:03):
taking it further away.
The whole thing is to do, Imean, the, with Ukraine is to do
with gas.
I mean it like, the MadanRevolution as well was, was, was
down in huge parts in, ingetting from under that Russian
influence, they call it, whenhalf the country wants to put,
is praying to be hoovered up byRussia because the potential,

(01:07:24):
the earning potential there isthree times what you can earn in
the Ukraine.
In Ukraine rather, because thegovernment put fucking huge tack
on fucking grain.
He's one of the corruptcountries in the world.

Sir Gene (01:07:35):
It that, like, you can repeat that about 10 more times
because it's been that way, waybefore the Soviet Union fell
apart.
Like the, historically theregion of Ukraine which was
never a country before, it wascreated a thin air.
That whole region had areputation and it's, I'm sure
there's similar things in the UKand there are in the US where

(01:07:56):
certain regions, they gain a, anegative reputation and
something people make fun of,right?

Danny (01:08:03):
Yeah.

Sir Gene (01:08:03):
So in Ukraine there was very much a reputation that,
you know, if you wanna go to theMiddle East, go to Ukraine first
to get trained on how people aregonna pick pocket and steal from
you.
You know, it's, it's theattitude that yes, it's, it's,
you know, yes, they speakRussian.
Yes, it's all part of the samecountry.
It's, it's that part of thecountry that is right next to

(01:08:24):
the border.
And so a lot of bad habits havecrossed over into Ukraine.
It now there's also,historically, and again, I'm
quite a bit older than you,there's historically a, a
Russian memory of the Germaninvasion of Russia and the
relative ease with which theywent through Ukraine because

(01:08:45):
Ukraine very much supported.

Danny (01:08:47):
Elaborated with.
Yeah, because I mean, those inthe west didn't really have any
ties or affiliation with theSoviet Union, and they saw them
as kind of occupying Ukraineand, and, and,

Sir Gene (01:08:59):
well, the Bun Banderas was you know, he, in a lot of
ways he out German, the Germans,like, he didn't just dislike
Jews.
He disliked everybody who wasn'tidentical to him.
He disliked Russians.
He disliked blonde blue-eyedpeople.
He disliked everybody.
The national hero of Ukrainetoday.
And, and, you know, Who,

Danny (01:09:22):
this sl the.

Sir Gene (01:09:24):
right, right.
Which in itself, a lot ofnations would say, you know,
glory to whatever the name ofthe country is.
That's all it means in English,but, but it is also recalling a
certain slogan that was usedduring World War II for stealing
land, for killing people, andfor helping the Nazis get to

(01:09:47):
the, to Moscow ultimatelyfaster.

Danny (01:09:50):
true.
And before this war started,this wasn't a secret before the,
this war started.
It wasn't, um, something thatwas a bad thing to say.
Ukraine was nothing good, wastied with Ukraine,

Sir Gene (01:10:05):
the grain.
The grain was always the thingthat, like everybody Oh, I
remember always talked aboutlike, you know, only we had
soil.
Like they have.

Danny (01:10:15):
right?

Sir Gene (01:10:16):
That was historically always a big positive for
Ukraine.
And I will have to say, havingdated number of Ukrainian women,
they're very beautiful You know,there there are, there are a lot
of beautiful girls in Ukraine,or they were, now they're spread
all over Europe.

Danny (01:10:31):
yeah, yeah.
Um, yeah, I don't really wannatalk too much about Ukraine,
about the girls and being,

Sir Gene (01:10:39):
Well, yeah, yeah, fair enough.
Fair enough.
You're engaged, you're engagedon top of that, so I probably
don't want to go down that road.
Um, but in general, the, theidea that the, the maan coup
that was completely orchestratedby the US State Department with
funding with imported rebelrousers with military that were

(01:11:04):
not officially in US uniforms,but were absolutely.
US military that were in there.
There's tons of documentation ofthat in video.
And in fact, I think the BBC hasmanaged to kill off a few shows
that were previously on the BBCthat discussed that the, the
fact that the revolution wasreally a Western sponsored coup.

(01:11:28):
And there are a number ofpolitical and legal reasons why
the way that the government wastaken over, um, was not, um,
what's the best way to phraseit?
It was not according tointernational law, which I know
is a silly thing to talk about,like war in international law or

(01:11:48):
revolution in international law.
But nonetheless, it's sort oflike if you come in and then you
shoot all your opponents andyou're the only one left
standing, and then you'remagically elected the leader.
That's not the same thing aswinning a legitimate election
and having supported the people.

Danny (01:12:06):
Yeah.

Sir Gene (01:12:07):
So the events in Odessa with the, the burning of
hundreds of people alive in abuilding that were counter
professing mean, there's a lotof negative aspects Way before
the special military operationsstarted in Ukraine, um, the con
constant shelling of lu gonskiand dank, and the fact there

(01:12:27):
were 18 and a half thousandpeople that were killed there
without a, any declared war,without any kind of, it was
just, you know, military action.
They were, they were justconstantly bombarding areas.
I think out of those 18,000, Ithink four and a half thousand
were children.
And, and there, you know, thereare children that had Ukrainian
passports.
They might have been Russianspeakers, but they had Ukrainian

(01:12:49):
passports.
So there's a lot that I thinkthe West Gary's responsibility.

Danny (01:12:54):
Yeah.
I, I, I would agree.

Sir Gene (01:12:57):
It's very unfortunate that so many Ukrainians had to
die as a result of the Westactions.
That's the way I kind of

Danny (01:13:03):
Yeah, I think, I mean, I think the whole, I think Ukraine
as a country and as a people hasbeen sold down the river.
I think, um, I think, you know,Zelensky, he, he needs this war.
He's, he's time man of the year.
He is, you know, all over theworld.
And before this war, he was, hewas, he was a joke.

(01:13:27):
He was an actor.
He was,

Sir Gene (01:13:28):
don't forget, Hitler was also Times Man of the year

Danny (01:13:31):
yeah.
That's, that's true.

Sir Gene (01:13:33):
1937, I believe.

Danny (01:13:35):
That's true.
Me personally, I'm not gonna goas far as to make a comparison,
but I fully believe that,

Sir Gene (01:13:42):
No, I'm, I'm just saying in the sense what.
what?
American Publications Bestow isnot worth the paper it's printed
on.

Danny (01:13:50):
Yeah.
Um, yeah, I mean, Zelensky washuge.
He was, was not trusted by hispeople.
He was seen as carrying on someof the same corruption in the
country that he

Sir Gene (01:14:05):
Yeah.

Danny (01:14:05):
out to, to kind of banish.
He banned a lot of media.
I think the two biggest, likeEnglish language in publications
are ki of Independent and KievPost.
Now both of them were huge, hugecritics as Zelensky

Sir Gene (01:14:24):
Mm-hmm.

Danny (01:14:25):
and Zelensky moved to Silence.
I can't remember who owns and,and, and which publication is, I
think it's the Kia Post.
Um, the owner sacked the entirenews desk because they had
complaints from.

(01:14:46):
government, I mean, this isZelensky, it's administration.
Um, cuz they weren't happy withsome of the things they were
writing on whatever topic itwas.
Um, Zelensky is control of themedia is, is, I mean, it makes
RT and whatever people accuse RTof it just makes it look like

(01:15:08):
complete child's play.
It just makes it look like, incomparison, what Zelensky did
with, with state meeting andwhat he's, what he's continuing
to do is, is what people thinkhappens at rt.
Do you understand what I'msaying?
Like what?
Like the worst thing that the,that the west can think about
me.

(01:15:28):
Media manipulation and about,um, state propaganda as it were.
What they think is happening inRussia is happening in Ukraine.
Do you understand what I'msaying?
It's like it's Ukraine is wherethat's at.

Sir Gene (01:15:43):
Oh yeah.
Well, and they've moved on tochurches now.
They've banned first the RussianOrthodox Church.
Now they've banned all orthodoxchurches.

Danny (01:15:50):
Yeah, that's true.

Sir Gene (01:15:52):
that's, that's another distinction.
I, I don't know.
I, I think that what a lot ofpeople in the West don't
understand and it is the.
The caution with which Russiahas been, um, using military
force in Ukraine.

(01:16:13):
And they, they take that forweakness.
They think, oh, look at, look athow this little country called
Ukraine could just hold offRussia for a whole year.
But they don't understand hereis that it's literally Russians
fighting Russians.
It, it is a civil war as much asanything else.

(01:16:33):
And so you try to minimizedamage and casualties and
deaths, certainly when you'refighting your own people.
If this was a war between Russiaand Germany there would be no
holding back.
There would be no restraintwhatsoever.
It would be a complete oblationand it would be, it would start

(01:16:54):
at the capitol and move on tothe other major cities.
and then clean up thecountryside.
And that is literally theopposite of what's happening in
Ukraine because it was neverabout fighting an enemy.
It was about really taking backcontrol that was you served by

(01:17:17):
the west and taking people thatare blood relatives.
And in a lot of cases, ev youknow, people, people aren't just
Russians living in Ukraine.
It's like everyone has arelative who's Ukrainian.
And every Ukrainian has arelative who's Russian.
It really is the same people.

(01:17:38):
And, and the west managed tosplit those two geographic
regions apart, um, by puttingout a lot of promises.
And now again, all of thosevideos have shown up and we've
got videos from 2014.
Including with Biden and with alot of current politicians in

(01:18:01):
the US and the promises theywere making groups in Ukraine
before Myan.
I mean, it, it is, it is a 100%US directed overthrow of a
government.
You can, are, you can certainlysay the government wasn't very
good that got overthrown.
I'd agree with that.
Sure, there's tons ofcorruption, but there always has
been for literally hundreds ofyears in that region.

Danny (01:18:24):
Mm-hmm.

Sir Gene (01:18:25):
And 2014 did not fix the corruption.
All it did was create a footholdfor the west to start a
leveraging against Russia.
And from a country that'sliterally the border between the
Ukrainian border and, and Moscowis close enough for even medium
range missiles.

Danny (01:18:46):
Yeah.

Sir Gene (01:18:46):
this was never gonna happen and everybody that had a
brain cell would've seen thisahead of time.
Um, but for some reason there'sstill this American belief that
America can't do any wrong.
There is nothing that Americacan do that will be perceived as
wrong.

(01:19:07):
Yeah.
And this is where we are.
I mean, y I, I think to some ofthese people that want to
continue sending money toUkraine and, and funding this
war, um, even further, theydon't care about Ukrainians.
They don't care about how manyUkrainians die.
They're the same people thatleft Afghanistan with billions
of dollars of a mili Americanmilitary equipment left on the

(01:19:31):
ground.
And, you know what I mean?
It's like, is there any betterway to supply terrorist groups
and different separatist groupswith arms than just to leave a
huge stash of them in aterritory that's controlled by
Taliban?
It's, it's insane.
And then there was a recent mapthat was great recently that was
showing the Middle East beforethe US came in to Iraq and the

(01:19:56):
Middle East after us left.
And the only difference is wenow have isis.
That's the great achievement forthe Middle East is we've, we've
now created isis, but o otherthan that, all the borders are
there.
All the people are there.
A lot of people died, a lot ofmoney was spent and for what,

(01:20:20):
you know, so I, I don't know,man, it, it, like, again, it's,
it's very it's very sad seeingthe actual people on the ground
in Ukraine and what's happeningin destruction there and, and

Danny (01:20:33):
Yeah, I, I think on a human level, I think that's,
that's

Sir Gene (01:20:36):
yeah, a human level.
Of course all conflict, all waris horrible and it's sad, but,
but you start looking at why ithappened, the fingers just keep
pointing right back at the US

Danny (01:20:51):
Yeah, I would, I would have to agree.
I would've to agree.
And I also think that this waris gonna go on for as long as it
takes the US to tie up a dealwith, with EU on gas.
And then after that, I thinkthey, they probably stop
sending,

Sir Gene (01:21:10):
Yeah.
Then they'll forget aboutUkraine.
Exactly.

Danny (01:21:12):
they'll stop sending arms.
They'll stop sending themillions of dollars that they
send over an eight.

Sir Gene (01:21:19):
and I'm, I'm shocked that Germany has still not
responded to the pretty damnobvious American sabotage of the
pipeline that has effectivelycrippled their country.

Danny (01:21:31):
And what did they say?
Oh, yeah, but I mean, again,what did they say about who is
it supposed to be now?
Who did they point the fingerat?
Norwegian Divers.

Sir Gene (01:21:41):
yeah, it keeps changing.
So it was like Ukrainianassociated, you know, people
rented a Polish boat and thenwent to,

Danny (01:21:51):
yes.

Sir Gene (01:21:52):
and there's, there's, um, a multitude of these ideas
floating.
But Seymour Hirsch did thestory, I guess, about a month
ago now that made the mostsense, which I actually read.
I don't think most peoplebothered reading.
I, I, most people just readheadlines.
They don't actually read storiesanymore.
Um, but, you know, he, hedescribed in there from his

(01:22:13):
sources, like why it wasn't theUS Special Service why it was
done through a just a, an USnav.
Operation, and a lot of it hadto do with requirements that the
US Congress has for bringingthem in on clandestine
operations.

(01:22:34):
Like, you can't run aclandestine opera.
You can't go and kill somepresident of some country
without us Congress first beingnotified and then presumably
having an opportunity to say,no, that's not gonna happen.
Like, we're not gonna allow thatto happen.
But by doing it through thenormal naval, I think it was a,
a, a, um, a division out inFlorida, that's not the seals,

(01:22:59):
but it was just a division thatworks on underwater construction
and stuff like that.
So they funneled it all throughthat, and they did it apparently
three weeks before the actualexplosion happened.
So there was time there for, Iguess, They, they, they had time
to determine whether they wereneeding to blow it up or not, or

(01:23:23):
if they could leave it alonedepending on what Germany was
doing.
I mean, it's, it's just, I, ifyou haven't read the story by
Hirsch, I recommend checking itout cuz it's, it's quite, it, it
paints a very vivid picture.

Danny (01:23:36):
Yeah.
I have read, um,

Sir Gene (01:23:39):
So,

Danny (01:23:39):
thesis.
I mean, and the other thing thatwas, was quite telling by was
the reaction of, of pro orrather anti Kremlin figures such
as GE

Sir Gene (01:23:55):
mm-hmm.

Danny (01:23:56):
basically Navani's D girl, glorified personal
assistant.
Who it was, it wasn't untilPosner complimented Hirsch,

Sir Gene (01:24:07):
Mm.

Danny (01:24:08):
been pretty silent on the, on the war, like one way or
the other.
He's

Sir Gene (01:24:12):
He is getting old.

Danny (01:24:14):
Yeah, he's bloody old, isn't he?
He's getting in 90.
Um, but um, he complimentedHirsch and says, if you know, we
need to really respect thisguy's work and we need to take
into account what he's sayingabout Lord Stream.
Now this chu, I think that's howyou pronounce the second name.

(01:24:36):
She was quick to completelydismiss Hirsch, not just his
work on the, the Nord Streamstory, but just his entire body
of work.
I mean, this is a guy youuncover the Mayline massacre and
then the the Watergate scandal.

(01:24:57):
This guy's, this, this guy's atop dog.
This guy's still going strong at80 odd.
This guy's a Puli surprisewinner.
Now what that echoed to me wasthe same shutting down of free
media, free speech, and anythingthat opposes the official
narrative that, you know,

Sir Gene (01:25:18):
Yeah.

Danny (01:25:19):
west Good

Sir Gene (01:25:21):
Well, and I don't know how much you've been following
the Twitter files, but

Danny (01:25:24):
leader of Free World Russia, but

Sir Gene (01:25:27):
Yeah.
Russia bad.
That's about it.
That's literally like the, theonly thing you need to know from
US media, is Russia bad?

Danny (01:25:34):
they're all actors and they've all been set up.
They've all been set up thatZelensky, Navalny,

Sir Gene (01:25:41):
yep.

Danny (01:25:42):
every single one of them.
And the, the reason why thislie, these myths of these people
are sold and, and, and keptalive for so long, is that
there's a complete war onanybody who thinks outside of.
Fucking idiots of the Economistand at the Moscow Times who
paints these huge caricatures,these caricatures of bad guys in

(01:26:07):
Russia and the good guys in theWest.
And it's just, I've got, youknow, knowledge of experience
of, of being over here in themedia and being over there in
the media.
And I've only been here ninemonths now, and I'm getting
fucking sick and tired of thebullshit that the West

(01:26:28):
propagates.
And really, I don't think, Ithink the w I think the West is
probably, probably not,probably, I think the West is a
lot worse in terms of thetactics that they use and the
way that they manipulate.

(01:26:48):
Public opinion glory favor.
I think it's a whole lot worsethan, than what they see.
And if they, if there was amirror held up to them, I think
they, I, I can't wait for theday that that happens when they
see themselves for what theyare.

Sir Gene (01:27:01):
Well, whether they see themselves or not I, I don't
know.
But it's definitely the case.
And this is a statement I neverthought I would hear myself say,
because I'm a very staunchanti-communist that you can
imagine having, you know,started my life in, in the
Soviet Union.

Danny (01:27:16):
Yeah.

Sir Gene (01:27:17):
Um, but I I, lately I've been thinking maybe Carl
Marx is right in the sense thatevery country needs to go
through communism in order tocome out on the other side,
which is the part he doesn'ttalk about.
But in order to come out on theother side, having seen just how
evil, truly evil communism is,and then proceed with creating

(01:27:41):
a, a form of government thatthat has capitalism.
As its basis, but not the sortof, um, you know, crony
capitalism that we have both inthe United States and in the UK
right now.
Oh, and really in, I mean,Europe, you, I don't even wanna
talk about anymore cuz they,they're not gonna have much for
manufacturing or business ingeneral.
The Mercedes makes more cars inthe United States now than they

(01:28:04):
do in Germany because they,they're shutting down factories.
So Europe is gonna be basicallya tourist destination that maybe
grows a little bit of specialtyproducts like cheese and wine.
It's, it's, I mean, I'mexaggerating obviously, but you,
you get the idea.
That's the, the general ideathat I'm starting to see.
It's like the West is fastmoving towards totalitarianism

(01:28:28):
and socialism and Russia cameout on the other side.
I think China is probably goingto come out.
I don't have a timeline for whenthat's gonna happen, but at some
point, China's gonna stop sayingthat they're actually
communists.
They're just gonna say thatthey're Chinese.
And then, and that's a anothertopic that I've spent way too

(01:28:48):
much time talking about is the,the West's misunderstanding of
Chinese history and culture.
Because much like people in theWest don't really learn about
Russian history and culture,they definitely don't learn
about Chinese history andculture.

Danny (01:29:03):
No, it's very true.

Sir Gene (01:29:05):
And when you don't know who you think your enemy is
very well, then you're basicallyfighting yourself, not them.

Danny (01:29:13):
That's very, very well put.
Very, very well put.

Sir Gene (01:29:17):
Well, and on that note, I think we're getting up
to our time cut off here.
So I definitely appreciate yourtime and um, you willing to jump
on, I know we had some technicalissues when we were starting.

Danny (01:29:28):
Yeah, I mean,

Sir Gene (01:29:29):
third software to get this done.

Danny (01:29:32):
and to be honest, um, I, I did actually kind of, I
didn't, I didn't forget aboutit, but I, I didn't think it was
gonna happen.
So I, I I mean this is this,it's 11 o'clock now, so it's
Megan, maybe late for me.
I've been up to this house threethis morning because I like
getting up to it early andgetting ahead of people.
I dunno why.
It's just always been a quirk ofmine, but I

Sir Gene (01:29:52):
habit.
I wouldn't say anything badabout that habit.
Is there anything that I didn'task you about that you think
would be interesting or usefulfor listeners?

Danny (01:30:00):
Oh, oh, I'm, yeah.
The more I think about it, themore I'm tempted to go back to
art.

Sir Gene (01:30:10):
Okay.
That's, that's definitelyinteresting.
But,

Danny (01:30:14):
world exclusive

Sir Gene (01:30:15):
yeah, there you go.
You heard it here, folks.

Danny (01:30:19):
Yeah, because it's just a fucking big lie that people are
being told, um, about Ukraine,about the whole reason why
they're in this situation.
You said about, you know, likefrom a human point of view, it's
very sad what's happening to thecountry as a, you know, as a

(01:30:43):
physical country, as, as it'sbeing quite literally ripped
apart and people are being Ritzpart and it's, it's terrible.
It had to happen.
But I think, I think the US andI think certainly the, the
Ukraine.
Ukrainian government, Zelenskyadministration has sold him down
the river.
I think,

Sir Gene (01:31:03):
Yep.

Danny (01:31:03):
I think, I don't think they could care less.
Certainly not zelensky

Sir Gene (01:31:08):
No, he, he's got a, he's got a multimillion dollar
house in Florida.
He knows exactly where he'sgonna end up when this whole
thing is over.

Danny (01:31:15):
Yeah.
It's, um, it's sad and it reallyis.
It's worrying to the, see theextent that people have, have
swallowed it all and the waythey bought it.
And one thing, I mean, doesn'tit not seem, I think people not
cutting in on how the reason whyis, was premeditated though.

(01:31:37):
Number one example you couldgive about it being premeditated
is the fact that Zelensky, hemight go on that he doesn't have
this in his arsenal and he needsthat and he needs these weapons.
And one thing that he does havein his arsenal, in his locker,
Is a fucking good PR team,

Sir Gene (01:31:58):
Oh, the best.

Danny (01:32:00):
the best in the world, and they're all American.

Sir Gene (01:32:03):
I, if Germans had the team that he has we might have
had a different outcome in theworld, Wari.

Danny (01:32:08):
Yeah, you may, you may be speaking fucking German right
now, mate.

Sir Gene (01:32:12):
Yeah, they have all,

Danny (01:32:14):
But the, the point I was trying to make was the, the
people do people not, they notallow suspicion a little bit
just how fast this PR was comingout.
Just how fast these videos thatwere perfectly cut were coming
outta Kiev and they wereperfectly still.
There was no shaking.
You know, like, did he notarouse suspicion

Sir Gene (01:32:36):
It's all professionally produced and it

Danny (01:32:38):
These professionally produced videos and these teams
of PR people, these cameramen,these crews, these green room
experts,

Sir Gene (01:32:51):
and it, and

Danny (01:32:51):
Green screening experts

Sir Gene (01:32:53):
Green, green screen.
Yeah.
And it's the same.
You know what shocked me is thatwe just went through C O V I D,
which again, you know, myposition on it from day one has
been because I actually readscientific, and, and was that
masks don't work.
The, the, um, the new methodthey're developing these

(01:33:15):
vaccines with are at least 10years away from safety testing.
And that the most likelyscenario on using Occam's Razor
is that if the first cases werenext to a lab level three lab,
that's probably where it camefrom.
And I ended up being absolutelyright on all three of those

(01:33:36):
counts.
But seeing people that took twoyears to realize that, oh boy,
maybe the government wasn'ttelling us the truth about covid
immediately with Ukraine, we'reright back on board with the
government's right aboutUkraine.

Danny (01:33:49):
Yes,

Sir Gene (01:33:49):
They literally just lied to you about Covid and now
you don't think they're lying toyou about Ukraine.
Really?

Danny (01:33:55):
yes, yes, yes.
But the, it comes back to theold adage, Abraham Lincoln, it's
easier to fool someone than toconvince them that they've been
fooled.
And people don't like it whenyou point out that they've been
fooled.
So they would rather clingingonto the lie that they've been
sold.
And I've found that a lot of thetime, like when you tell people

(01:34:16):
I'm not at my jobs.
I have not had, I didn't get theSputnik, I didn't get that
Pfizer or any other shit thatwas on the market.
I didn't get anything.
Number one reason is because Ididn't have it I never got it.
Even when I thought that I was,that, that I was ill,

Sir Gene (01:34:31):
Mm-hmm.
Yep.

Danny (01:34:32):
all them tests came back negative and they were at
different clinics.
So they can't be a falsenegative.
And I keep myself healthy, so Idon't need a jab to, to make me
healthy.
And again, something that's notgonna cause me any threat or
anything.
So yeah, I, I kind of rejectedall that.
I forgot, I forgot what, what Iwas talking about, about Ukraine

(01:34:54):
just before that, but yeah.
Um,

Sir Gene (01:34:58):
Yeah.
Propaganda works.
Marketing

Danny (01:35:00):
That was it.
So the lie that they were toldand the lie that they were
given, like, I haven't beenfooled.
I didn't need to be nobody,there's nobody there convincing,
trying to convince me that I'vebeen fooled and I'm not clinging
onto a lie.
But when I have told peopleabout Covid and that they were
lied to it, it elicits areaction.

(01:35:20):
It's just really strange.
And then you say, oh, well, no,no, no.
Oh, well it's better to be safethan sorry.
No, no.
Well, well no.
Well, and there's always likesome excuse, even when you give
them the evidence right in frontof them, it's so hard to
convince them that they've beenfooled So, yeah.

Sir Gene (01:35:37):
It, it's It is surprising very often to me at
the, the amount of effort peoplewill put into denying facts and
just wanting to believe a, atruth that somebody else told
them.
That turns out not to be thecase.
I mean, it's, it's uh, it'slike, sunk cost fallacy is like

(01:35:57):
they, they already made up theirmind once.
Now it's too much trouble forthem to change their mind.
So they're gonna defend theirposition even if they're
completely at odds with thefacts.

Danny (01:36:09):
Yes, very much so.
And I think we're gonna have thesame trouble when the cobwebs
are removed and this whole thingis over and the US ties up their
deal for natural gas with the EUand finally stops giving a to
Ukraine.

(01:36:30):
Um

Sir Gene (01:36:30):
it, it's, it's bound to happen at some point.
Obviously the rhetoric right nowis, you know, us is gonna keep
giving money until theUkrainians win the war.
But I don't know if the US isgonna be around that long.

Danny (01:36:42):
oh really?

Sir Gene (01:36:43):
Well, I'm, I'm making a joke, but I mean, it's like,
it may take him a thousand yearsfor Ukraine to actually win
against Russia.
So given, given that America isonly 250 years old, you know,

Danny (01:36:54):
Yeah.

Sir Gene (01:36:54):
a bold statement to say we're gonna be there as long
as it takes and we haven't evengotten into China.
So we'll save that for the nexttime you and I talk, I

Danny (01:37:01):
Yeah mate, listen, um, it's been, it's been fun talking
to you like, hey, like I say,it's, it's a little bit past my
bedtime mate cause I'm also oldas well in, in comparison to a
lot of people.
But, um, I, I'd love to chat allthe video sometime as well, so
if you've got any time,

Sir Gene (01:37:17):
We'll have you back on for.

Danny (01:37:19):
yeah, I'd be well up for it, mate.

Sir Gene (01:37:20):
All right.
I appreciate it.

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