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

  1.  @evukelectricvehicles  Hate to disagree, but the reason why NATO expanded is because the former Warsaw members and Baltic States feared exactly what is happening now. Russian aggression. These nations wanted protection from the biggest, nastiest bully on the block, Russia. And Putin has proven that their decision was the right one. Otherwise we would likely have seen Russian tanks in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by now. Also, you might want to research for yourself how the NATO application process works. You obviously haven't read up on how complicated a procedure it is, including the unanimous vote by all current members to enable a nation to join. Or that you can leave at any time by a vote in your country (like France did between 1966 and 2009). Nobody twists your arm to join, it is purely voluntary. Which is why Austria and Switzerland are not part of NATO, and Sweden and Finland only applied to join this year.
    7
  2.  @elmersbalm5219  I agree. I started writing a rebuttal to a lot of what was said here. However, I gave up before I was halfway through the video because this presentation is so loaded with half-truths and lies that it wasn't worth the effort. I pity anyone who actually believes this presentation.
    3
  3.  @yurichtube1162  Correction, only the Russian Orthodox Church is being banned in Ukraine. They are trying to merge the remaining parishes who have maintained allegiance with the Moscow Patrarchate to join the Kyiv Patriarchate.
    3
  4.  @hhf39p  The sad fact is that Russia is being run by a psychopath named Putin. Putin is a man who had several hundred Russians murdered by his FSB so he could attain national attention and win the Presidency. He is in total control of the country, and had eliminated or cowed just about anyone who could stand up to him. The reality is that Putin never got over the collapse of the USSR, and dreams of re-establishing a Russian Empire that encompasses the bounds of the old USSR plus some of the Slavic-speaking state in the Balkans. The old Czarist dream of the Pan-Slavic Union with Russia at its head. Currently, he, his cronies and his military are lashing out like spoilt children who are being denied something they want. I know about the medieval mindset you talk about with most of the older generations - I have seen them speaking on 1420 youtube channel, and quite frankly they are scary. Both in their ignorance of the outside world and their arrogant belief that Russia should be able to do whatever it wants.
    2
  5.  @hhf39p  Biggest reason this whole thing started was for 4 reasons, one economic, one political/economic and two geopolitical. First, Putin and the oligarchs were concerned about the oil and gas reserves that were discovered in Ukraine in 2012. If developed, they could rival Russia's reserves and undercut Putin's political and economic clout with the EU. Since oil and gas sales make up over half of Russia, loss of even part of this market would put a severe dent in Russia's economy. Second, back in 1991, Ukraine started in an economically poorer position than Russia. They are finally getting their feet under them, and raising the overall living conditions in the country. Ukraine is on the verge of showing what a market-based liberal democracy can accomplish; unlike Russia, which is heading towards being a totalitarian socialist system once again. Considering the number of people from Russia who have relatives in, or who work in, Ukraine, having a vibrant wealthy country suddenly spring up on its borders would make people question the direction Russia is going. It would undermine Putin's regime. Third, and probably the direct cause of the war, was the need to secure Crimea. Back in 2014 when Russia stole Crimea, they were unable to gain control of the North Crimea Canal. This supplies a large chunk (I have seen up to 85%) of the water used in industry and agriculture in Crimea, plus a lot of the drinking water used in the region as well. Ukraine blocked the canal in 2014, and by my rough estimates Crimea would have emptied its reservoirs by around July of 2022. Putin invested heavily in Crimea militarily because he wants to control the northern Black Sea region, but without a secure water supply he cannot hold Crimea. He was going to be forced to either negotiate with Ukraine over control of Ukraine, or try to take the entire length of the North Crimea Canal. He obviously did the latter. Fourth, Putin is a megalomaniacal psychopath who wants to recreate the Russian Empire, but occupying the territory the USSR once held, including all the former Warsaw Pact nations. This seems to be a shared dream amongst many of the leaders in Russia right now, a diseased concept of Russkiy Mir dreamt up by Dugin and outlined in "Foundations of Geopolitics".
    2
  6.  @martinoneill5804  Yes. In fact it has to be a unanimous decision by all member states of NATO for an application to be approved. Sweden and Finland are still waiting for Turkiye and Hungary to give approval for their applications. The applications by Georgia and Ukraine were turned down because of civil unrest (read Russia's interventions). North Macedonia's application was almost derailed by Russia's machination, but their activities were exposed, so North Macedonia was allowed to join NATO.
    1
  7.  @GoingUpBetter  Puppets don't say, "Don't give me a ride, give me ammo". They always flee, like the leaders of all the so-called new Russian Oblasts have.
    1
  8.  @martinoneill5804  As far as I can tell, NATO doesn't really do that. It is more like a gentleman's club, where you need to meet certain criteria (liberal democracy at time of joining, willingness to put aside 2% of budget for defense, etc.) before NATO will entertain a country's request to join. Once a country decides to join, they are given a Membership Action Plan that outlines what that particular applicant needs to do in order to meet the requirements for joining. Only after the MAP has been completed and the country's citizens agree that they wish to join NATO (either vote in parliament or plebiscite) will the NATO member countries vote on accepting the application to join, and it must be a unanimous decision by the member states. The fact that so many former Warsaw Pact nations joined NATO as soon as they could indicates how much of a threat they considered Russia to be.
    1
  9.  @sixmillionsilencedaccounts3517  Gee, and all those people who swarmed onto the streets and wept tears of joy in Kherson, a region that "voted" 97% to join Russia, were all fakes. Right. The vote in Crimea was as valid as the ones that Russia held in Kherson and Zaporhizhia, you know, the ones where blank forms were counted as "Yes". Stop spreading Russian propaganda.
    1