Comments by "Dale Crocker" (@dalecrocker3213) on "the movements in Kiev and Moscow towards a negotiated peace" video.

As opposed to insidiously imperialist regimes, such as America's?
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@rafflesmaos I have to disagree. Ever since the end of World War II America, through NATO in Europe and CIA infiltration in many parts of the world, has sought to undermine existing regimes in order to promote US interests, both in terms of acquiring access to natural resources and finding new markets for its products. This has led to many conflicts. All Russia has done since the collapse of the Soviet Union has been to seek to maintain its existing borders and interests - in the face of considerable pressures from the sources mentioned above.
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Ukraine returning to pre-Soviet borders and their international acceptance might well persuade Putin to accept this rump state joining NATO. It would be a very good deal all round.
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@rafflesmaos How do you define Ukraine's border pre 1921?
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@rafflesmaos I'm trying, believe me! There seems to be some dispute whether or not the self-declared Ukrainian People's Republic had a right to claim the territories it did which must, I suppose, provide a background to Putin's claim that the boundaries of the SSR which followed it have no legal definition either. (I'm not being confrontational, by the way. Just trying to puzzle this out. It seems there are no clear-cut or universally accepted answers to these problems.)
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@rafflesmaos The whole situation is an utter mish-mash. One thing which is clearly not true is that there is (or even was) an historic country called Ukraine, with defined borders and a clearly defined ethnic population. I'm not sure that the Ukraine People's Republic was ever recognised by anything called Russia, though, unless it was perhaps in the last dying days of the Romanovs, or by the White Russians?
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@rafflesmaos In principle I have agree -but the fact remains that all these various maps define the area of Ukraine in different forms according to the circumstances of the time. Ukrainian nationalism, as such, seems to have emerged in a somewhat romantic form towards the end of the 19th century and while the Ukrainian People's Republic claimed large chunks of Russia during the brief period of its existence, these claims seem to be aspirational rather than anything else. I really do think that putting the borders of the new country of Ukraine on the same footprint as those of the SSR was a serious mistake, and did not acknowledge the quite considerable pro-Russian sentiments which exist in the East of the country and in Crimea.
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@rafflesmaos I tend to doubt the accuracy of any referendum or election carried out in Ukraine, as of course in Russia. Be that as it may, I believe it is commercial considerations which are at the root of the issues, rather than any high faultin' notions of freedom, democracy and national identity. There are literally trillions of dollars in mineral wealth under the soil in Eastern Ukraine and I think I'm right in saying that these have largely continued to be owned and operated by Russians after independence -as indeed they have been for hundreds of years. Western noses have been sniffing around these resources ever since independence and it is the risk of losing them to BlackRock or US energy companies which has caused Putin to take the actions he has. Autonomy for Donbass, as outlined in the Minsk Accords would have been a viable compromise and it is a great pity that this did not come about. I think it probably could have, were in not for the pernicious influence of the players mentioned above. Tragically it now seems likely that Russia will gain even more than was outlined in Minsk, and tens of thousands of people will have died to no purpose.
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@rafflesmaos I seem to be running into the mysterious censorship of the YouTube algorithm bot. So, briefly: Votes in Ukraine, as in Russia, cannot be taken on face value for obvious reasons. In any case the near economic collapse and huge drop in wages in Donbass post independence undoubtedly caused considerable "buyers' remorse." Again, the acceptance of the 1991 borders can be seen, in retrospect, as a serious mistake. The country is far from unified, but all that aside, the fact that much of Eastern Ukraine's hugely remunerative mineral extraction and steelmaking industries remained largely in Russian hands, operated by people who consider themselves to be Russians is a major factor. The threat of losing these multi-trillion dollar resources to Western agencies and asset management companies is surely the main reason for Russia's actions. Equally the promise of benefits from such courses of action are considerable reason for the Ukraine government's enthusiastic support for them. As for moving to Russia - it now seems as though Russia is making this unnecessary by restoring these territories to Russian control.
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@rafflesmaos Voting in both Ukraine and Russia has to be taken with a huge pinch of salt. You can get more than dirty looks if you suspected of going against whoever happens to be in charge at the time. And Ukraine is in no way unified. It is an artificial construct with no true identity. As for Chechnya, as with Georgia and Ukraine, what we see here are attempts to undermine Russian influence and historic interests. Very many Chechens would rather stick with Russia than be slaves to extremist Islam, especially when that extremism is financed by the CIA. This is why many Chechens are now fighting for Russia in Ukraine.
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@rafflesmaos There really is no such thing as legitimate voting in Ukraine -whichever side is in charge of the ballot boxes. As for Chechnya, like Ukraine it is a deeply divided country with very many Chechens preferring to stick with Russia rather than come under the control of another lordship. It is no coincidence that many Chechens are fighting for Russia in Ukraine.
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@rafflesmaos The simple reason is that, as stated, I do not believe that Ukraine in its present form qualifies as a true country. Neither do I believe that Russian agents did anything more than encourage and organise an existing dissatisfaction with rule from Kiev - in much the same way that US agents have been for years attempting to encourage and organise anti-Russian dissatisfactions in Ukraine, Chechnya and Georgia. It's just the game that is being played. In my view the Russian solution to these problems - the creation of small local buffer states - is a realistic response to these problems. Russia simply cannot be expected to have its security and its economy undermined by Western sabotage masquerading as nationalism. Ukraine, Chechnya and Georgia all owe their present existence to Russia, and if they are at any time destined to become truly independent it must be on terms which are neither detrimental to Russian security and economic interests, nor the result of their resources being desired by Western agencies.
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@rafflesmaos Examples please?
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@rafflesmaos I'm sorry you feel that way. Personally I do not think Putin wants all of Ukraine, let alone to recreate the Soviet Empire. All he wants are the mineral wealth of Donbass and when he gets it, I'm pretty sure he'll stop there. Good luck to you anyway, I mean that sincerely.
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