Comments by "Andy Monaghan" (@229andymon) on "Willy OAM" channel.

Tutu’s observation only works if you believe there is an oppressor. If you’re being neutral because you don’t believe either side deserves your support, all you’re being is - neutral. There are wars and conflicts going on constantly somewhere in the world, in most cases, most countries are… neutral. In the eyes of many Chinese I expect it looks like NATO saying - “Help us defeat your ally, until we can defeat you”.
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Received wisdom is that it’s more difficult and costly to attack than to defend. However, while I’m no military expert, Caesar was, and he loved it when his enemy retreated into a defensive position. His logic was that by doing so, they made themselves a static force, leaving him the choice of time and tactics. Add artillery, manpower and air superiority to that mix and I reckon Caesar’s denarium would be on the Russians in this conflict.
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Have you noticed here in the west when they’re telling us we need to spend even more hard earned taxpayers money on stuff that will be blown up, they always talk about percentages? They *never* mention actual sums of money. Could it be because NATOs been spending oceans more than Russia for decades. What’ve they been doing with all this money and why do we need to give them more?
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Yes. Where would we be if UKR had honoured the Minsk agreement, by allowing Donbas to be semi-autonomous while maintaining a consistent stance of neutrality and rejecting membership of NATO? My guess is they’d still have their entire country, probably including Crimea. Russia was determined it wasn’t going to allow a NATO border that close to Moscow. The question we must ask ourselves is - can we blame them? Does anyone really think such an outcome would not pose a threat to Russia?
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My opinion, as someone that strives to find content and news that is as objective as possible to allow me to make my own mind up about things, is that such material is very difficult to find. It’s not that I expect complete objectivity, that’s almost impossible to imagine, I mean I want content that is at least reasonably fair and informed and more news than views.
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European NATO (alone) outspends wartime Russia 3x. Before the Ukraine conflict, this was more like 5 or 6x. How is Russia able to do so much with so little compared with the West? How much more must the west spend to be safe from a Russia that’s GDP is just higher than Italy’s? I realise Russia has certain advantages of centralised command, production, supply etc, but *that* much more? Are they so much better than the west, or is the west so much worse than them?
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@mezzuna Sounds like what happened in 1939, when the Allied powers expected a rematch of 1914. While I agree any conventional all out war between Russia and NATO would indeed go nuclear very quickly, the Ukraine war must be reshaping thinking even around a conventional war. We’re seeing drones become the most important weapon on the battlefield, bar none. NATO banging the war drum is really dangerous and stupid. I can’t see any prospect whatsoever of Russia wanting to take on NATO - unless NATO somehow provokes it. Some people are looking at Russia in 2025 and seeing the Soviet Union in 1945.
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@giovanni-ed7zq I think the Russians learnt that lesson in Afghanistan. It’s one reason I don’t believe they intend to annexe or occupy all of Ukraine. Their intentions aren’t known at this point, perhaps even to themselves in detail, but my guess is they will annexe up to the Dniepr and probably the Odessa region to incorporate Transnistria. By that point those areas will have been devastated by war and probably heavily depopulated. I expect the ensuing repopulation will be from Russia and/or ethnic Russian Ukrainians. They’ll know the remaining rump of Ukraine will head to the EU and probably also NATO, but it’ll be so diminished by that point they’ll accept that. That’s my guess, I’m assuming yours is different?
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@georgejackson4105 He’ll need good luck with that. The Chinese are facing an ever increasing US hostility toward them. I can’t see them being sympathetic to an enemy of their friend and friend to their enemy.
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@johneleven25 it’ll have a lot more by the end of this…
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@Stephen-4722 Well, now it’s going to be Russia. What was best for UKR - a Russian puppet Donbas, still nominally Ukrainian, or a devastated and diminished Ukraine, with no Donbas?
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@oniongingertomato2216 what do you think would happen if Mexico said it was joining a military alliance with Russia and China?
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@Stephen-4722 Or - because Russia doesn’t feel threatened by them? How many Russians do you believe would feel safe with a NATO Ukraine? Would you if you were Russian? I wouldn’t.
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@Stephen-4722 Anyone in any NATO country should feel completely safe from Russia. If Russia attacked NATO country, it would face an enemy that completely outmatches it. I live very far from Russia and therefore have no fear of them whatsoever, but if I lived in Poland, I should feel the same. Like all big nations, including the one I live in, Russia has a history of aggression and interference in other countries affairs. That has led to justified fear and mistrust of them in its neighbours. But to assume from that present day Russia poses a threat to Poland is wrong. In spite of western propaganda to the contrary there is no real evidence Russian objectives lie beyond Ukraine.
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@Stephen-4722 You prove my point.
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My question is - what will the American response be? Will they help their Kurdish allies fight jihadists who are in turn fighting the Assad regime? So in other words, will they indirectly help their "enemy" Assad, and in the process indirectly fight one of their other "allies" Turkey? Very murky situation.
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