Comments by "Siana Gearz" (@SianaGearz) on "The NATO Endgame: Why European Union Membership Is Not Enough for Ukraine" video.

  1. In 2007 Putin voiced a threat about joining NATO. Most people wanted to kep things paceful, and it seemed like if we were to go through with this, Putin would try to prevent it by some something akin to Transnistria or Abkhasia, creating a conflict region. But the threat profile wasn't well defined. When in 2014 it turned out that what he was waiting for was an opportunity and excuses were just that, well. Now we know we NEED the protection. But we also don't know that if we had it, we would be able to rely on it. After all, all sorts of agreements appear to work just as long as they aren't being challenged.
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  2. Ukraine has been consistently disappointed with numerous international agreements and organisations. The trust level is low. It's been let down by the Budapest accords, by the UN, by Amnesty International, Red Cross, and so on and so forth. So Ukraine wants NATO but doesn't entirely trust NATO either, and it trusts EU even less. This is why regaining Crimea is so critical. Russian Crimea is just a dagger pointed on Ukrainian neck. Which is why amputating a leg and a hand in order to join NATO is not seen as a safe option.
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  3.  @anarcho-boulangistllamaent2023  Bad reasoning. Ukrainians are fighting for their survival. Surrender is not an option, since the genocide of Ukrainians will just continue. Go ask a Russian whether they actually KNOW what tey're fighting for, why they went bearing arms into a foreign country, you'll get all manner of confused non-responses. "it's not of our small mind, the big guys in Kremlin for sure know what's best for us". Russian influencer arm of propaganda already tried "would you even notice if there was 1% fewer gummies in the pack or 1% fewer french fries in your order" during the autumn mobilisation but as you might imagine it didn't actually go down particularly well. If the body bags keep piling up, people are bound to have second thoughts. You can't fight a war without pople willing to fight and die for it. For Russia, surrender effectively means losing Crimea and Donbas, plus reparations, not some sort of existential hazard.
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