Comments by "Alan Friesen" (@alanfriesen9837) on "Medvedev threatens Nuclear War with NATO if NATO goes to war with Russia - Commander's Briefing" video.

  1. "I wouldn't call the Russians' bluff"—that's because you don't think like a chest-thumping idiot. Our presidential election this year (USA) is almost certainly going to be between two chest-thumping idiots. The only difference (foreign-policy-wise) is that one of them has a man-crush on Putin, and he might not call Russia's bluff because of that.
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  2. Both would dominate because they would be the largest and most influential members by a long shot. If you have an organization with one superpower in it, that superpower will dominate all of the decision making (see NATO). It wouldn't be because Russia has evil intentions necessarily, but because Russia would feel compelled to promote the interests of their people over that of others, and they'd have the heft to do so. Right now in the European Union, Germany has an outsized influence because they are the biggest dog in the yard. This sometimes chafes the other members who feel like their interests are neglected when they don't align with the Germans, and they're correct. If Russia were brought in, it would be at the extreme expense of Germany and France. Your read on China is simplistic and stupid. China is one of the least aggressive and least restrictive global influencers the world has seen in the last half-century. Certainly they are for their size and strength. In fact, it's fair to criticize them for not being active enough internationally, and many do criticize them for this very reluctance. They are opportunistic and if you don't negotiate skillfully with them they will take advantage of it, but they have no intention of enslaving anyone, or even forcing ideological requirements. They do intend to dominate their region, like the United States does in the Western hemisphere and like Russia is currently trying to do in the current conflict, but that is only natural for a great power. It's not overly invasive. If you're a small weak country, it's absolutely imperative that you accommodate your stronger neighbors for the betterment of your people. Sometimes you can play two strong neighbors off of each other, but you need to be aware of their red lines, and you need to make sure you don't cross them.
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  3.  @mahmoodmai1754  I have a rather strong history background. I've said nothing historically inaccurate. I haven't mentioned everything because that would take too much time. I can see why you might think I'm propagandizing for China. I'm actually just pushing back against an unfair narrative against them. I think China regularly takes stupid actions which hurt their overall image and I have no intention of defending that. However, their treatment of other countries is much less intrusive than that of the United States or Europe. One could argue that it should be a little more critical of behavior when it deals with Myanmar or Laos.
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