Comments by "Keit Hammleter" (@keithammleter3824) on "The Commonwealth Is at Stake | The Crown (Olivia Colman, Gillian Anderson)" video.

  1. This TV show was speculative fiction - on this segment anyway - the weekly sessions of the PM with the Queen were secret. However, Thatcher as portrayed was dead right. The empire was basically lost. Britain was stuffed, stuffed by World War driving it bankrupt, and stuffed by poor post-war leadership. It was up to Britain to fix its own troubles - the countries of the former empire would not. Further, her opinion that sanctions just don't work is correct. They didn't bring down South Africa, they caused it to strengthen - e.g., making their own gasoline. Current sanctions against Russia are only making it stronger - fixing its technology production issues, fixing its internal supply chain, and looking to China and North Korea to trade with. Pre-war sanctions against Japan not only made it stronger, they induced it to start a war against the USA.
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  2.  @Afroman29  You have confused intent with effect. It was perhaps morally right to impose sanctions, as the SA regime was indeed racist and discriminative, but as pointed out, sanctions were counter productive. Russia was indeed wrong to invade Ukraine - an illegal act. But, again, that doesn't mean sanctions will work, and they haven't. Putin has carried on regardless. There is absolutely no sign that Putin will cease his illegal action due to sanctions and every sign that he will continue with the war. The sanctions have made Russia stronger: At the start of the Ukraine war, Russian tanks were fitted with French-made sensor and fire control systems. Now the French systems have been replaced by Russian-made systems built with Chinese parts. Before the sanctions, Russian trade with North Korea was negligible. Now it is significant. Russia is buying lots of arms from North Korea. Russia's trade with China has increased. The Russian car & truck industry was heavily dependent on the West for know-how, machine tools and parts. Since that has been cut-off, Russia has turned to China for expertise and car/truck parts, and their car manufacturing is stronger than ever. Did you not see news reports about Fat Kim visiting Putin, and Putin visiting Fat Kim? Did you not see news reports about Putin and Jinping signing treaties recently? Treaty of Friendship (renewed), Treaties for economic cooperation (several signed last year)? Sure, China SHOULDN'T support Russia. But that certainly does NOT mean they WOULDN'T. They are. It might be morally wrong, but it suits them. There's money in it, and its a case of "up yours" to the USA. Looking at the Ukraine War from the Russian viewpoint, it looks far from disastrous. Sure, vast numbers have been killed and injured on both sides. But looking at how much Ukraine territory is Russian controlled today with how much 2 years ago, not much has changed. Putin is in for the long haul. He can afford to be -Russia has 150 million people, Ukraine only 32 million (counted before many left due to the war). Putin is banking on the West becoming tired of supporting the Ukraine - as soon as that happens, Ukraine is finished. The West is banking on Putin becoming tired first. You should understand the big picture: It probably doesn't matter whether Russia wins or looses in the Ukraine. Either way, Putin will likely wait a bit for military lessons to be learnt, then attack another former Iron Curtin country.
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