Comments by "Nicholas Conder" (@nicholasconder4703) on "OBF" channel.

@alexkowalewski Yup. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia existed as independent states between around 1920 until Stalin marched in to "protect them" in 1939. And before that, between 1569 and 1795, they were part of the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Until that state was dismembered by Germany, Austria and, surprise, surprise, Russia.
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@universo5564 Ah, Russian trolls. Gotta love them.
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Very well put. Also, Xi might be unwilling to put his own neck out too far, because there may a a movement to oust him as Premier of China. He could be ousted at the Party Congress this fall. That might also change the dynamic between China and Russia as well.
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He's an ex-KGB operative who was in East Germany when the Soviet Empire fell apart. For sure he wants the USSR back.
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@honkhonk8009 Richer, actually. Eastern Ukraine contains huge gas reserves that could feed Europe's energy needs in the form of oil and natural gas for a long time.
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@vnolan633 NATO has no desire to attack Russia, as can be seen by their years of turning a blind eye to most of what Putin did in Georgia and Ukraine. All those countries want is to live in peace, but it is Russia that is aggressively attacking them. Those are the facts. As is the fact that Russia has broken most of its agreements for the last 100 years.
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@leninbestwaifu1917 Perhaps it would be better if I had said he wants an imperialistic nationalistic Russia that occupies the borders of the former USSR.
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Which is part of the reason that Russia's tank factory has shut down, and probably explains in part why their cruise missiles and other "smart" munitions are having a failure rate of close to 50%. It is really funny seeing a photo of a cruise missile sticking vertically out of the roof of a building like a flag pole.
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@vnolan633 The only missiles that have been put in those countries are AA missiles. No nukes have been deployed into any of the Eastern European nations. They are still in Germany, Belgium, Italy and Belgium (France and Britain have their own stockpiles). So it is a moot point. Oh, before you say anything, I'm not an American.
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@Y A Doesn't mean he won't try. There are more ways to do this than invasion. Subversion of the political system is an option, as is civil unrest leading the overthrow of the government. These are tactics he used in Georgia and Ukraine.
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@furlan1743 It depends on the form of socialism. You don't want Communism, because you would end up losing your wealth. But Fascism and Nazism are forms of socialism that do not confiscate wealth. Socialism merely means that there is public ownership of industry, rather than private ownership. Doesn't mean that the manager won't be paid an exorbitant salary, just means he doesn't own the business itself. There were a lot of wealthy Nazis and overseers of industry in Germany in WW2. And yes, hard as it may be to believe, Nazism is a form of socialism (National Socialist German Worker's Party). There are several good modern books on Nazi economics that make this very clear. Best way to look at it is this: Communism: Socialism conducted for the sake of eliminating social classes (great way to destroy your economy, as all communist countries discovered) Fascism: Socialism conducted for the sake of militarism and conquest Nazism: Socialism conducted for the sake of racial and nationalistic reasons, often through force of arms and conquest
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@TheNextGamer21 It is possible he might be ousted. He has been making some rather oblique references to how he is holding onto power, but he has ticked off the majority of his military with his anti-corruption campaign, and many of the politicians linked to them. He sat through the 2-party Congress last month with two cups of tea in front of him, which was suggested is a statement by Xi that he will never be pushed out of power. But that could be a sign that his position is being threatened and he is trying to make a political statement to the contrary. Also, either his supplies of Grecian formula have run low, or he suddenly got a lot of grey hairs recently. It has been postulated that the recent crash of the 737 in China may have been politically motivated, the reasons being 1) the military got involved really quickly and pushed aside the civilian authorities and 2) they have yet to publish a list of the passengers on the plane. One video discussing this suggested that a politician who supports Xi might have died in the crash. If so, Xi's position may be more precarious than anyone realizes.
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@Sil-zx What he likely wants is a new Russia occupying the same territory as the former USSR. Problem is, he and his oligarch friends have ripped off the country so much that this is unlikely to happen.
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@goldman6506 As I have told others, he wants a socialist state run on nationalism. And National Socialism = Nazi. So, Putin is a Nazi.
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@dachiarchvadze Yes, I know. It was very poignant in 2008 when Russia attacked Georgia. My boss was communicating with a Georgian researcher at the time, and I remember one e-mail that we received asking us to do something because the Russians were killing them (Georgians). And the [expletive deleted] are still creeping the border fence forward 10-50m a month. Sadly, you cannot trust anything they say, which the Americans since President Truman have been well aware of. "On April 23, 1945, Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov arrived at the White House for a meeting with the new president. Truman immediately lashed out at Molotov, “in words of one syllable,” as the president later recalled. As Molotov listened incredulously, Truman charged that the Soviets were breaking their agreements and that Stalin needed to keep his word. At the end of Truman’s tirade, Molotov indignantly declared that he had never been talked to in such a manner. Truman, not to be outdone, replied that if Molotov had kept his promises, he would not need to be talked to like that. Molotov stormed out of the meeting."
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@allistairneil8968 Good point! Amazing what one can find by reading history.
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