Comments by "Baddonkey" (@dannysullivan3951) on "VideoParliament Ireland" channel.

Sach's peddling his nonsense, a favorite of contrarians.
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One is a democracy, one is a dictatorship. While we did once try to clandestinely overthrow Cuba’s regime under Kennedy, we have not invaded it. That cannot be said for Ukraine or Georgia, not to mention that Russia once controlled all of Easter Europe.
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@ History has shown that OUR music, if you mean democracy, is the best. The only places democracy doesn't exist is where it is forbidden. Check the history of 20th C to now, nothing but growth for democracy, shrinkage for dictatorships.
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@thembashibase3770 Sachs is a longstanding opponent of what he deems American or Western “imperialism’, in this case via NATO. Certainly there is some truth to the idea that NATO expansion may have helped trigger Ukrainian war. But Sachs just brushes off 75 years of Russian totalitarian control of Eastern Europe, which American military pressure helped end when the USSR collapsed and freed that half of Europe and the former Soviet states (Ukraine and Georgia) among them. Whereas NATO has generally been a force for promoting democracy, Russia aggression is aimed at snuffing out democracy. Both China and Russia fear freedom. China quickly crushed Hong Kong’s democracy, and Putin has long managed to install puppet regimes in former Soviet states. It’s Putin’s nightmare that his own citizens will look at a successful democracy in Ukraine and wonder why they don’t have the same freedoms. Sachs pretends that our political aims and those of dictatorships are somehow equal. History has proven him wrong, again and again.
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Not good when you have to preface you’re argument with ‘I am not Putin;s puppet’.
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@ I agree with you that the US has a long track history of CIA led coups etc. and that are prisons are ridiculously full, particularly of high percentage minorities. Sadly there are no good guys and bad guys in international politics, bad and much worse. Our military might/spending helped bankrupt and collapse the USSR, freeing millions including Ukraine. I would argue that it is in the interests of world peace to promote democracy and fight tyranny. Ukraine is a nascent democracy while Cuba, I’m against the blockade, is not.
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@ We do not live in a black and white world. And as a superpower, struggling against other superpowers, I choose democracy, however flawed over communism or Russian kleptocracy. If you check Ukraine history you’ll find that, like most other former Soviet satellites, the Russians had installed a puppet regime, so again I’ll choose our choice over theirs. Maybe you’re not familiar with Putin’s method of dealing with doctors, journalists or politicians who don’t toe the line-they soon find themselves accidentally falling from a fourth floor window. There’s will be no world peace while China and Russia suppress their people. I’m a diehard liberal, social democrat, but I don’t have illusions about how power works on a global scale.
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@Hardcore_Remixer Yeah, like I said above, geopolitics are not for people who want good guys and bad guys. The CIA certainly intervened, but Russia's been installing puppet regimes around the former USSR since they lost the Cold War and also attacked Georgia. I don't know how any sane person can argue that we are equivalent to Russia. Putin throws his enemies, doctors, lawyers, former associates, politicians, out upper story windows. Even Trump doesn't have that power - yet. I think if you gave people the option of a CIA, or EU installed government or a Russian one, there'd be a clear winner. Ukrainians are not dying by the tens of thousands for the CIA, or the USA, but for Ukraine. Contrarian thinking like Sachs has it's place, but in the end it lacks seriousness. Your reference to 'someone's governance system' is a sad analogy, placing democracy on equal footing with autocracy and police states. I see people around the world fighting for freedom, not for dictatorship.
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@ I agree with your assessment of fighting wars. I also think the draft should be mandatory with no loopholes for the rich/connected. Vietnam and Iraq/Afghanistan, which were what I would consider optional wars would not have been tolerated had sons and daughters of senators and millionaires been dying. WWII, I would've signed up. As for Gorbachev and Reagan and diplomacy to reduce the proliferation of nuclear weapons, that's obviously always a good thing. We disagree on geopolitical tactics. You're 'stable and peaceful world', a noble ideal that we all desire, will never be achieved by retreating in the face of dictatorship. You'll notice around the world that democracies rarely go to war with other democracies. The problem is non-democracies. Chamberlain appeased Hitler and his name is now synonymous with abject failure. Every Eastern European country is grateful for our "aggressive posturing" and the democracy/peace that followed the fall of the USSR. There has to be a mix of diplomacy backed by the threat of force when dealing with police states. Trump has neither the mental capacity nor any sense of humility to carry out this delicate task. He may make 'peace' with Putin, but if Putin leans on a NATO country, which he's already tried, Trump or his replacement may have to ratchet up aggression. That is dangerous.
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No you’re just a contrarian shilling nonsense. Under Sachs’ philosophy the Berlin Wall would still be up because America wouldn’t be ‘meddling’ in world affairs. Hope you’re a better economist than political analyst.
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