Comments by "LancesArmorStriking" (@LancesArmorStriking) on "Geopolitical analysis for 2019: Europe" video.

@Malcolm M Thank you! People seem to forget how different the world was just 50 years ago (though I admit I wasn't there for it :P). Iran in particular was doing quite well and on its way to becoming a Middle Eastern power until the US and England dismantled their democracy. Not to mention Nicaragua, Cuba, Guatemala, Colombia, the CIA backed contras, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran AGAIN... The list goes on. No country is perfect, but few have destroyed as many nations' development as the United States, maybe England in second.
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Maybe don't bomb their countries next time. Or, don't allow your red, white and blue friend to "liberate" them for oil... with drones.
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That's good for ad revenue, no? :)
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@temich1985 Take it easy, Artem. Ukraine is no better right now— in fact, it's worse, and it elected its own president! That reflects poorly on the judgement of the Ukrainian people, unfortunately. This isn't even taking into account its war with Russia in its Eastern border, it's just economically doing poorly in virtually every other area— Poroshenko's corruption scandals certainly don't help. Russia is inefficient, but at least it has spades of natural gas, and valuable airspace and Arctic shipping territory to keep itself afloat. While Putin is not good for Russia, it will survive without him, when he dies. I'm not sure how other Eastern European countries will do with their leaders..
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@Stardust You can't be "free" when you're starving to death. What's so hard to understand? Investors and financial firms robbed Russia blind, and authoritarian rule, while undesirable in the long-term, was a quick solution to Russia's devastated economy.
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@Stardust Investors flocked to the Russian market, out-pricing fledgling domestic producers and stifling economic stability (albeit quickly increasing growth, but it was inherently unstable, as everything was revalued to Euros at the first sign of trouble). When Russia defaulted its currency (yes, this was its fault) the investors fled, furthering the 1990's crash. So Russians didn't profit. International, usually Western corporations did. Fewer Russian businesses. An older example: how do you think that England's textile industry survived against India's (before it colonized)? It was protected, with anti-competitive measures. The "shock-therapy" prescribed by the U.S. and IMF failed miserably. It was Yeltsin's fault for listening to them, but they knew what they were doing.
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@Stardust Yes, you are missing something. Foreign companies aren't as reliable in terms of employment as domestic ones, especially when your country's currency's purchasing power parity and value (how much a unit of money is within your country; and how much it's worth compared to the dollar, respectively), is in close range of another's (i.e. outsourcing— China is starting to lose jobs to India because their labor is getting more expensive). When they leave, nothing is left behind. Russia was given no chance to develop companies of its own, how could they when multinational companies with huge economies of scale rushed in right away? How can a Russian businessowner compete with that? Secondly, you're forgetting that Moscow 30 years ago was much different politically— it was friendly to the West! So much so that it took its financial advice. President Clinton spent $12M to ensure that Yeltsin won the election, what hostility are you referring to? Russia simply had no experience managing a market-based economy and Yeltsin implemented poor policies. That's why it crashed.
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@mengelmoesNL China is, true to its form, acting very wisely. It recognizes that ideology scares Americans and the West more than soft power, so they focus on areas that actually matter. They watched the Soviet Union fall, and vowed not to repeat its mistakes. Money is power, and once they have that, then they can show their true Communist character.
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Stephen Jenkins Necessitating? The U.S. had its own interests prior to intervention in most of the countries, and many (Vietnam comes to mind) were simply fighting for their independence (in this case, from the French, supported by the U.S.). They just happened to choose somebody whose political ideology was distinct enough to rally behind against their colonial overlords. Do you think Ho Chi Minh would have had the same sway if he had advocated for slow reform and negotiation with the French and Americans? Same with Mexico, Guatemala, Iran (the worst of the U.S.'s failures of the bunch), the Congo, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, to an extent Syria; there's a whole laundry list. The motivation was almost economic; or political, but irrespective of the U.S.S.R.. (because it had already fallen). And again, prosperity is a relative term. The U.S., as far as I can tell, has a nation "success/failure" ratio of about 1:5. Japan, Germany, and South Korea all ended up becoming prosperous. The rest are underdeveloped, or still steeped in sectarian violence or civil war.
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Freedom of Speech You're a fucking idiot. Like, I can't begin to describe how stupid you are, but maybe this is a good start: "Under no pretext should arms and ammunition be surrendered; any attempt to disarm the workers must be frustrated, by force if necessary." -Karl Marx, Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League There is no suggestion that nobody should have privacy in any of Marx's works, nor suggestions of abolishing rights— those are to upheld and maintained by the people, because the government cannot be trusted to do so. Go home, conspiracy theorist. Your time came and went in 2008.
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@LiterallyWho1917 Agreed. Russia's working with borrowed time, especially in regards to its economy. When oil prices inevitably drop due to Arctic oil drilling, the entire economy will tank. Russia had 20 years to diversify and expand into other industries, but it chose to pick the lowest hanging fruit and stay there- its massive resources. Essentially, it's the only example of a European cash-crop nation, except instead of tea and tobacco, it exports oil and minerals. It's sad, really, to see a nation with such enormous human capital and potential for creativity (especially in science and engineering) inch closer and closer to destabilizing and starting over, for a third time. This time, with other nations making exponential, instead of linear, gains of their own. I fear for its future.
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@temich1985 Oh! Sorry I thought you were Ukrainian and I wanted to troll you :D (Мне казалось что Артём это более Украинское имя) It's a beautiful country with wonderful people, but it, like Russia, is plagued with corruption at the highest levels too. And, it's economically doing worse. I want to visit Lviv someday, friends tell me it's worth it. Where from Russia are you? Я из Петера
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