Comments by "Paul Aiello" (@paul1979uk2000) on "Gravitas: No fast-tracked EU membership for Ukraine" video.

  1. I hardly call this the EU and it's members betraying Ukraine, we should remember that it's not a simple process in joining the EU, there are a lot of economic and political reforms needed in a country before a country becomes ready and that takes years. Also, with everything going on in Hungary and Poland, there is not much incentive from other EU members to want to expand until those two members are sorted out as well as some reforms in the EU on vetoes and majority voting. The reality is that the EU is not ready to bring Ukraine in yet and a big part of the blame on that is Hungary and Poland, as long as they keep backsliding, there's going to be limited support from other EU members in bringing in any country never mind Ukraine. So basically, until the EU gets it's own house in order with sorting out Hungary and Poland and doing a few more reforms that makes it so the EU can go after countries more effectively when they are backsliding on democracy, Ukraine will have to wait, I don't blame the EU for this, I blame Hungary and Poland for this, after all, it's hard enough managing the EU with 27 members, adding more in the mix will make it harder until there are some big reforms in the EU institution.
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  2. True, it would be disrespectful to thoes other countries that want to join. The truth is, how quickly or slowly a country can join the EU is really up to the country in question, how quickly they are really to make the reforms needed to the political and economic system. The EU isn't like the UN where they let anyone in or the African Union which is trying to let everyone in but it's a mess because there is little incentive for the countries to do any real change, the EU makes sure the countries that want to join are on a fast track in becoming a democracy and modern economy, hence why there are problems with Hungary and Poland at the moment, because they are backsliding on that. Clearly, a lot of people don't seem to understand how the EU works, it's nothing like NATO or the UN, it's actually closer to something like the US union but in the making.
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  3.  @terefefeyssa877  If that was true then why does the EU and US go at it with economic sanctions at times, both the EU and US have shown a lot of disagreements over the years and have hit each other accordingly. If as you say the EU is a pawn of the US, why would the US hurt it's own interest, basically, you don't know what you are talking about.
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  4.  @terefefeyssa877  Much of the media has an agenda and that is the case around the world and more so in countries that are run by dictators or authoritarian governments. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is facts, regardless of what we might think of them, Putin got himself into this mess because he isolated himself in Russia so much with so much paranoia that he didn't see what was actually going on whiles seeing threats from everywhere, inside and outside the country, that's quite common with dictators compared to democracies and hence why Putin miscalculated in Ukraine. But we get much of this in the west, you only have to look at Brexit in the UK with all the lies that were told on that from much of the right wing media or in the US when Trump was in power, again, the right wing media, I tend to find that the right wing media isn't about reporting on the news but making the news up to shape public views for their own agenda, they are probably the biggest threats to democracy and ironically, Putin took advantage of that. Democracy is only as good as the people in it, being informed with facts on what they are voting on, much of the media, right wing again likes to distort reality.
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  5.  @IloveCamels335  That's what most seem to misunderstand, they seem to think it's a quick tick box to join the EU, they've got no idea how many social, political and economic reforms are needed in a country that wants to join the EU is needed before they are ready to join. Also, letting in a country too early when they are not ready can cause other big problems, just look at Hungary and Poland to see how they are backsliding on democracy. As much as I would like to see the Ukraine join the EU, it's not realistic until the EU gets it's own house in order, basically, Hungary and Poland as well as do a few reforms at an EU level to make it more difficult for countries in the union to backslide on democracy as we are seeing in those two countries. As for NATO, I'm not sure how some are making them seem like the same organization, they are two very different organizations with different goals, the EU being far more useful as it's political, economic integration which also lifts living standards, basically things that actually matter to the people.
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  6. True, how quickly a country can join the EU is really up to the country in question in how quickly they are willing to make the changes and reforms needed to join, some countries can do it quite quickly and have little issue in joining, others drag their feet like Turkey and decades later are still not in. It's easy for people to blame the EU but the truth is, there are set rules in place that countries that want to join have to abide by, if they do the changeset needed, they can join but that usually takes years and much longer for countries that drag their feet.
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