Comments by "Paul Aiello" (@paul1979uk2000) on "CRUX" channel.

  1. So basically, what Putin has done, is got two countries to join NATO, many more likely to follow in time, it's got the EU to take expansion more seriously, with many countries wanting to join. It's also got the EU to take military and foreign policy matters more serious at an EU level, which could very well lead to reforms of the EU and likely more integration in key areas. Putin's war in Ukraine has done what he feared most, he's got the EU to encroach more on Russia, he's also got NATO to do the same, and no one should be surprised by this, after all, what the hell did Putin think was going to happen when you threaten other countries? They will counter it with their own measures, and considering the EU is far bigger than Russia, it was a tactical blunder on Putin's part, which is ironic, because he had the image of being this tough smart man image, now he's likely going to be remembered for pulling Russia into decline, and it's usually the last actions that history remembers the most. The moral of the story is that Putin massively miscalculated here, in other words, he's not as smart as some thought he was, and as we've seen by his military, it's far weaker than the west thought it was. Also, let's be blunt about this, Putin fears the EU far more than he fears NATO, both the EU and NATO have a defence clause that an attack on one is an attack on all, and considering EU countries are far more integrated into each other, it makes it far more compelling that other countries would come to the aid of other EU members because the economies of those countries are so tied in together, an attack on one hurts the interest of the others, which puts far more pressure on the others to intervene more directly, NATO on the other hand, well we only have the word on that others will come to the aid of its members, but very little is holding its members together and it's unproven. But I think what Putin fears the most with the EU, as it continues to expand, it helps to modernise the continues it expands it, that has a ripple effect on countries in the region that want the same thing, from Putin's point of view, he sees that as the EU taking these countries away from Russia, making these countries more powerful by building up there economy and building democracy in them, that for Putin is a disaster, being that he sees that as the EU taking these countries out of Russia orbit, and he's right in that sense, but the simple reality is, the EU offers far more to these countries then Russia does, security, economic growth, democracy and freedom, and Russia can't counter that because it doesn't have the economy to do so and Putin's ideology doesn't allow that. With that said, it also makes sense to join NATO, it adds that extra layer of security on top of what the EU already offers.
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  2. Italy and France is understandable, they like to protest a lot about many things and are strong for trying to stick up for their rights so it doesn't surprise me that these things would happen in these countries where it's less likely in many other countries where it feels like the people are more subdued by the system they live under. Australia is an unknown for me as I don't know much about the political and media landscape over there and how that impacts public thinking, what I do know about Australia is that Rupert Murdoch has a big media impact and that's never a good sign when it comes to stability as is media crave creating division, infighting and chaos. In the UK for instance where I live, the public have been subdued since the late 80's by the government, much of it thanks to Margaret Thatcher which knocked the stuffing out of union and public voices to be heard in any meaningful way, the same more or less happened in the US but in a different way and even thought protest have happened, the scale is pretty small in comparison to others. In any case, the way I see it, the vaccine should be optionally without pressure of it being forced on citizens, for the ones that don't want to take the vaccine, a test to see if they have or have had the virus should be good enough for them to have the same freedoms that people with vaccines have and any time a system tries to pressure people to do or take something in a forceful way, you have to wonder if there is any ulterior motives involved, in other words, governments should be trying to convince us to take it, not try and force people to take it which is basically what some governments are heading towards and the irony is about that, it's convincing more people to not take the vaccine because of how hard they are pushing people to take it.
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  3. They can do both by improving efficacy, so basically, to find more resources for the military, they'll improve efficacy in other areas of the economy, so social programs probably won't change much if at all.
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