Comments by "Stephen Hill" (@stephenhill545) on "Did the U.S. provoke Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?" video.

He contradicts Gorbachev, and he discounts Russian imperial ambition. He also denies the right of the peoples who have suffered at the hands of this imperialism, read Poland, the Balts, the Finns etc., the right to protection for fear of provoking the aggressor. A nonsensical and immoral argument.
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I would like to ask Mr. Horton if he thinks it is a legitimate goal of NATO to limit Russia's ability to pursue its imperial goals, or what it likes to call its "historical lands". Considering the brutal nature of the Putin regime, I think it's a moral imperative to protect the populations around the Baltic coast and the northern European plains from its form of governence. I live in Russia.
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Wesley Clarke didn't lose, because he was there, and Horton wasn't. Horton relied on a conspiratorial perspective, which limits his ability to understand human agency, for example, the individual decisions of millions of Ukranians not to stand for living in a country where corruption and police brutality was acceptable. Fir this they stood in subzero temperstures in their multitide month after month. Horton also doesn't understand Ukranian history, that the steppe was traditionally home to serfs who had run away and the Cossacks, literally free men, that Ukranians are individualists, not at home with collectivism and statism, unlike their Russian neighbours. Ukraine also has a very vibrant civil society, which Russia utterly lacks. Si yes; you do need to understand Ukraine to understand why these events unfolded.
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You have them in Kaliningrad. Nobody cares. But we do care about you changing national borders by force in Europe, which hasn't happened since Stalin annexed the Baltic states in May 1940.
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@TNNChannelYT Gensche was refering to former East Germany according to Gorbachev and Gensche. This makes sense due to the following reasons a) the Warsaw Pact still existed b) Gensche did not have the power to promise this beyond Germany's borders c) NATO has, in fact, to this day not built a base in East Germany. I know exactly what Gensche said because I speak excellent German, so unlike Mr Horton nothing got lost in translation. He is, I believe, a radio host, not a linguist as proper historians are.
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We're eagerly awaiting your view on the other EU reports. I guess you see the EU as a credible source.
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He has the certainty of all conspiratirial thinkers, but I read Gensche's account in German, and he was refering to East Germany, not the whole of Europe. It makes sense, when you consider that he had neither the authority nor the power to determine NATO policy for later administrations as Gorbachev would have known, but he coukd of course make assurances relating to his own country. To this day, there are no NATO bases in East Germany.
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 @peter12266 How many eagles are on the Russian flag? Do you know what thst signifies? Everyone else does.
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The Budapest Memorandum was agreed in 1994. The first colour revolution was in 2004. Please get your facts straght before posting. It's a serious subject.
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He loved apartheid. What more can we expect?
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True. And Putin did in fact claim precisely that. He was trying to absolve his beloved USSR from blame, it having invaded Poland. I guess Scott loves Russia so much he wants to do that too.
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This 5 billion goes on promoting democracy, good thing, tackling AIDS etc, also good. But don't worry, Trump just cut all foreign aid..
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It sells a book, but it discounts some basic facts. He says Gorbachev is a liar, and he says Gensche was able to prevent NATO expansion beyond his term limit. Both are highly dubious assertions. But worst of all, he assumes NATO expansion is the root cause of the Ukranian war, when any half decent historian knows it isn't. If you have the patience, Tim Snyder has given 24 lectures on the roots of the conflict, well worth a watch. Unlike Horton, Snyder speaks ukranian and Russian, and could read original historical documents, and he's trained of course.
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Putin blamed Poland for starting world war 2, apparantly provoking Hitler by not agreeing to give up its territory to him (Carlson interview). It seems we should live in a world where big countries get to invade their weaker neighbours without pesky interference like them having big friends to protect them. Is that the world you want, big fish swallowing little fish till only the big fish are left? Me not. I live in Finland.
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NATO was formed to counter Russian expansionism, specifically in Greece at the time. The countries most at risk are Russia's neighbours. We know this because of what transpired from 1939 to 1941. As it was becoming clear thst Russia had not changed, Tschechen Wars, giving Iran nuckear technologies, the decision was made by NATO members to allow eastern Europe in. Of course, we made a mistake. France and Germany vetoed Ukranian and Georgian membership in 2008. They were doing a lot of business with Russia at the time, the most in fact. Had we agreed on that, therexwould be no war now. Russia is not strong enough to challenge NATO, and Russia knows this.
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Do you trust EU reports? They published one saying Russia is committing cultural and ethnic genocide in Ukraine and torturing people including children, or are you cherrypicking the evidence?
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"Nicht ein schritt nach Osten" bezog sich auf Ostdeutschland. In der Tat hat die NATO bis zum heutigen Tag keine Militaerstutzpuenkte in dem vereinbarten Gebiet errichtet. My tip for you would be to learn German, so you can read Gensche's words without the perils of translation, like professional historians like Tim Snyder do. As far as I am aware, Horton is unqualified to quote Gensche. He is, after all, a radio host, not a profesdional historian. And it shows. I would also point out, that our political life is governed by internstional treaties, not backroom handshakes. Gensche did not have the authority to determine the foreign policy of coming administrations, even had he wanted to. Unlike Russia, we have frequent changes of government.
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I guess you have representative government. It's the standard model in modern nation states.
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It would help of course if he could speak German. Having read Gensche myself, he needs a better translator. I don't know his background, but I have a hunch he isn't a professional historian due to his lack of language skills and accurate sourcing. Is he a media figure?. He seems used to public speaking.
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He can't speak German, and he missed Putin's speeech here in Rossiya in Feb 22. Didn't mention NATO, rather genocide of the Russian speakers of Ukraine, which was a lie of course.
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Yes.; I admire the CIA. They were able to mobilise an estimated seven million people to participate in protests lasting seven months through a long subzero winter. Quite a feat. Especially when you consider those people had no desire to end corruption, oligarchal power and to stop government's about turn on EU integration, which they had voted for.
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You do realise that the Maidan protests involved literally millions of people from all over the country, and lasted seven months, through a long subzero winter. If that isn't organic, what is? It's funny how people want freedom from tyrants. Maybe you just don't get that need.
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@ProdByPrivateJoker Hitler said he invaded Poland to liberate a German speaking minority. He said this about Czechia too. Stalin said he was liberating a Russian speaking minority when he invaded Finland. Are you sure it's a bad analogy? I'm sure I heard Putin saying on Russian TV on Feb 22nd 2022, that he was libersting the Russian speakers of the Donbas. Strangely enough, he never mentioned NATO. If only Scott could understand Russuan, he could edit his nice book.
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Yeah, they tjought, wrongly, that the Ukranians would welcome them. Victims of their own propaganda.
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Are you saying that the Ukranian government has a national socislist program? Thst would entail; euthenasia for the disabled, building concentration camps for communists, jehovah's witnesses, Jews, gays etc., race laws prohibiting the intermarriage of Ukranians and Jews, excluding Jews from government positions, banning the teaching of Jewish scientists such as Einstein. I'm not aware the Ukranian government has done this, but feel free to enlighten me..
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