Comments by "Dale Crocker" (@dalecrocker3213) on "The end of the war in Ukraine" video.

That's OK then. Can Russia have the territory back which was stolen from it in 1991?
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This is much exaggerated for propaganda purposes. Compared with - say - Britain in the 1940s Russia is doing just fine.
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With Ukraine kicked out of Kursk Russia is in a commanding position at the conference table.
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Best prejudice confirmation, I think you mean.
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@Geffo555 Depends what it boils down to in the end. I'm in favour of any deal which actually stops the fighting. I hope Trump is clever enough to force Ukraine into granting Putin's demands, which are quite reasonable under the circumstances, and should guarantee peace for at least the foreseeable future.
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But clever.
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EU leaders just don't have the bottle. And very wise too.
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@4DCResinSmoker Russia's original demands were entirely reasonable. It is significant that this war has led to a position where they are able to demand more. I think they will probably get a great deal in the end- certainly a new and more historically and economically accurate border with Ukraine. I am of the firm belief that Russia has no territorial ambitions other than to reclaim or retain control over areas which it believes - with considerable justification - to rightfully own. The only serious worry in this regard is whether or not Putin will be satisfied with the four oblasts it has now wholly or partially "liberated" or one day seek to take Odessa and other parts of what was once "Little Russia", comprising about 40% of modern Ukraine.
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@4DCResinSmoker Putin is not evil. He is merely a strong and patriotic leader. And the invasion of Ukraine is not an act of aggression, it is an act of self-defence.
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@Geffo555 The facts are simple enough: Ukraine was conned into trying to wrest control of the Russian-owned mines and factories in Donbass and pass them over to the EU. The war is a result of these attempts. It takes two to tango, so to attempt to free Ukraine of all blame is absurd.
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@kirgan1000 Hang on - I thought you said no insight into how close to economic collapse Russia is?
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@Geffo555 Most of Ukraine east of the Dnieper. These Russian territories were included in the new Soviet Socialist Republic of Ukraine by the Russian Bolsheviks in 1921. The SSR was not a country. To create the new country of Ukraine on the same footprint was a huge mistake. These territories were taken away from Russian control when Ukraine was created in 1991. Yeltsin foolishly agreed to this, despite contrary advice.
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@briangriffiths937 I think there is probably some sort of natural statute of limitations on territorial claims. Boundaries of countries change all the time and only become accepted when things have had time to settle down. This hasn't happened in the case of the Russia/Ukraine border, and Ukraine has been at fault in trying to rush things by victimising the Russian population and attempting to sell off Russian-owned assets to foreigners.
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@Geffo555 It's not a question of entitlement. It's a question of actual fact. The former vassal states of the USSR are not and never were Russian, or parts of Russia. The territory occupied by Ukraine, on the other hand, has actually BEEN Russian for generations - long before the name was ever thought of.
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@paulgilbert9346 The Russian Federation is not the Soviet Union and is not bound by any agreements made by that now defunct body. The CIS is equally moribund. Situations change. You can argue that Ukraine has not abided by the spirt of the agreements of the early 1990s by seeking membership of NATO. But even that doesn't matter. Much of the territory of the new country of Ukraine east of the Dnieper is historically Russian, has a substantial Russian population, and with profitable industries largely owned by Russian companies. These facts completely outweigh documents signed and conversations had more than thirty years ago.
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@Geffo555 The Crimean Khanate no longer exists - Russia does. As I've said before, new borders take time to settle and if they don't work out they get changed again. Ukraine's border with Russia just hasn't worked out. Ukraine has made the mistake of seeking alliances with other entities whose interests conflict with those of Russia, and this war is a consequence. If it had stuck to Minsk 2 and found away of keeping Donbass out of the deal with the EU then none of this would have happened.
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@VisiblyPinkUnicorn Simple enough: like all species which survive, they faced up to reality.
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@Geffo555 And Ukraine doesn't exist - except on paper. This "sovereign nation" crap is just lawyerspeak for pretending that because something exists on paper it exists in fact. A country is only a country when it is united - and Ukraine is divided. Minsk WAS dead. In eight years Ukraine did nothing to find a compromise and exclude Donbass and its immense mineral wealth from its deals with the EU.
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@JamesBrown-mt5ru About thirty or forty years should do it. Much more than that and a second generation has grown up which has accepted the new conditions. There are exceptions , of course, national feelings can run deep - especially when they are based on romantic fallacies, as is the case with Ukrainian nationalism.
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@Geffo555 You very much can. I don't think there's much chance that anyone in Ukraine will want to take Russia on again and Russia will be content with gaining four oblasts , the removal of sanctions and Ukraine being vetoed from joining NATO.
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@Geffo555 It's not a question of me liking or not liking a deal, it really is a question of whether or not Russia will accept it. If it does, the war stops. If it doesn't, the war goes on. If Ukraine won't accept it, the same applies. But Ukraine is in a far, far less secure position. If if refuses peace then there is every chance that Russia will get much of what it wants anyway - but by violent means. (No. I'm English.)
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