Comments by "Ash Roskell" (@ashroskell) on "Why Has Russia Not Collapsed Yet?" video.

  1.  @kevinfernandez6532  : Perhaps what you’re overlooking there is that, regardless of Putin’s dictates and however radically things change domestically for the Russians, the global economic forces at play are inescapable. There are a lot of variables and moving parts to these kinds of analyses, but the fact that Jake may be looking at them through an American lens doesn’t make them any less real globally. I don’t think anyone doubts that Putin will hurl as many bodies into this fight as he believes he can get away with. It has been estimated that this figure may be as high as 5,000,000 service aged men (and women) over a period of anywhere between 2 to 5 years, in the worst case scenarios. After that, there simply will not be anyone to take their places. But the civil unrest is expected to finally explode long before then, with the combination of shortages at home, losses of actual Ukrainian real estate being un-spinnable, and a range of other mounting political and economic pressures causing the collapse of the Putin government. Smart governments in the free world will prepare for the worst, whilst striving for better outcomes. And, to that end, our secret services diplomats, business magnates and media will all be playing a role. They will be looking to, “quietly,” support viable replacements for the Putin regime and offering funding and logistical support to that end. I lay no claim to any special knowledge here, but I know that this is how history has always worked. The only thing the west needs to do to win this thing, outright, to see Ukraine restored to full sovereignty, prosperity and security, is to stay the course, through thick and thin. Unlike the Middle Eastern and covert Latin American disasters we’ve seen since WWII, countries like Ukraine and Russia are both very susceptible to successful, “nation building,” programs, along the lines that Germany and Japan emerged so triumphantly from. They both went from aggressor nations, applying for acceptance back into the human race, to leading economic powerhouses and liberal democracies. Ukraine has VAST untapped reserves of all kinds of resources, right under its earth, as well as established economic growth potential from certain industries that were disrupted by this war. So, I am optimistic as to their future, so long as we never flinch and do not let them down. And, who knows? Maybe Russia will finally get its first ever democracy in more than 1,000 years?
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  2. BTW, Jake. We missed your regular, “call signal,” as in, “Welcome back, my friends.” I think it’s part of your identity now. Kind of comforting, like hearing your favourite host’s catch phrase. Just saying. 😉✌️🇺🇦👍
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  3.  @AshtarMichael  : That’s an interesting one. Is it still over 50% of the world’s Argon that Ukraine supplies? Vital for the manufacture of microchips, of which there has been a worldwide shortage for some years now. And, when Putin and Xi were sitting in that box at the Winter Olympics, were they pencilling together an agreement, in which China takes Taiwan, which produces something like 65% of the world’s microchips from ONE, SINGLE factory (which was how the shortage began, when they closed the place due to Covid) and Putin would have control of the elements vital for China’s new manufacturing monopoly? A deal by which they could dominate the world between them by dominating all technology? It’s crossed a few brighter minds than mine . . .
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  4. I always do, my friend. Hey, you know, Paul Massaro would be a great guest to have back on your channel to speak to this topic? Just a thought, but it’s very much his bailiwick. 👍🇺🇦
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  5.  @DetroitMicroSound  : That’s a cool, but curious thing to have collected? Are you a collector of the esoteric? Or a money collector? A historian, maybe? Just curious. ✌️🇺🇦
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  6.  @AstroGremlinAmerican  : It’s not quite as simple as that though. There are other resources that the USA holds which are as good as, or convert quickly to, cash; oil, grain, gold, etc. The USA is in a position to manage its resources so as to keep a firm hand on the national tiller. I wouldn’t put too much store in sources that try to convince you that the US is ever on the verge of, “financial crises,” or, “global collapse,” etc. Especially when you consider what those sources’ biases are?
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  7.  @AstroGremlinAmerican  : P.S. Perhaps that was a misprint? Did you mean, “Russia,” where you put, “America”? You seem to be claiming that America is facing the same economic problems as Jake just pointed out that Russia is confronted with?
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  8.  @AshtarMichael  : Yeah, apparently Joe Biden was stunned to hear about the fragility of the whole microchip chain and quickly set to work on changing that, but fast. So that’s no surprise. I also suspect that Xi really believed that Putin could pull off a three day (maybe three week) invasion and that he could get on with invading Taiwan while the west was busy coping with the fallout in Europe. China gets a win win out of it, if they play their cards right (or so Xi believes) as a protracted war, with protracted economic pain in Russia, means Russia moving ever closer to becoming their client state, like North Korea, wholly reliant on China for survival and protection. With the possible further development of certain states breaking away from the Motherland and seeking China’s help with that, being on their borders, etc . . . It’s a long view with a billion moving parts unaccounted for, but the broad brush picture is not implausible I guess?
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  9.  @DetroitMicroSound  : Y’know, I once got into trouble for laying my hands on a suit of armour that Henry V wore, and defended myself by saying, “I’m sorry but I just had to touch the armour that the King who faced the French at Agincourt wore, in this once in a lifetime opportunity, or I never could have forgiven myself and probably would have taken it to the grave as one of my deepest personal regrets and failures of courage, had I not committed to my impulse.” I know this verbatim because my wife recorded the incident, which set off an alarm and resulted in a very angry young woman and two burly security guards confronting me. Her response? She seemed to visibly melt, I think upon the realisation that I was not just doing it for a larf, but genuinely overcome by historical enthusiasm, and she said, “Since you put it like that, and we cannot undo anything now, perhaps you’ll accept these complimentary vouchers for lunch at our restaurant? So long as you accept them now and go there before doing anything else?” I took the hint, and the gift, and all smiles behind me. The point of that obscure, outré story? Just to say that I so completely get why you would have such a collection and the value of curating such a thing, that puts you so closely in touch with the people and places where they were once used and created. To hold a coin, at a time when we may well live to see coins fall out of use altogether, knowing that it passed through the hands of an ancient, who valued and spent it exactly as we would our own currency; to know and understand such a thing and to be able to hold that in your hands . . . It means everything. Especially to those of us who travel in time, at least in our minds. I am filled with both envy (of a pleasing nature) and admiration for your collection. So cool. 👍
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