Comments by "MarcosElMalo2" (@MarcosElMalo2) on "Ukraine and Russia are still far from real negotiations" video.

  1.  @gdutfulkbhh7537  Russia cannot sustain naval and air operations from Crimean bases, but Ukraine doesn’t have the resources to take it back. Crimea is very much in play, but possession of it still favors Russia. To be clear, Russia’s occupation and annexation of Crimea is illegal, but among all its claims, it is the most historically plausible. Crimea hasn’t traditionally been part of Ukraine. Russia’s claim has more historical basis. But to be clear, Russia’s historical claim is based on brutal subjugation of Crimea. An ideal and just solution would be a return of Crimea to the Crimeans, including repatriation of Crimeans forced out of their homeland. Such a solution has 0% chance of coming about.
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  2. Look at Kotkin, who also puts Ukraine into a larger context. Avoid Mearsheimer and his ilk. And run away from Putin apologists from both the left and the right. Another good one is Dan Snyder, especially if you want a cultural and historical perspective.
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  3. They didn’t prevent WWII, but they might have delayed it a bit. The truth is that the Allies weren’t in a position of military strength to impose anything on Germany. They sought delay at the very least. They didn’t have a basis to suspect that Hitler was as ruthlessly ambitious and risk-taking as he turned out to be. The true nature of the Nazi threat hadn’t revealed itself. And the negotiations bought time for the U.K. to build up its Air Force, and the invasion of Czechoslovakia added further impetus to the rapid expansion. The actual history is more complicated than “Chamberlain was criminally stupid and naive.” Let us remember that an alliance is only as strong as its capabilities. Those capabilities had not kept paced in the years between the two World Wars.
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  4. I’ll get back to you on Tuesday.
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  5. It reminds me of the negotiations between the North Vietnamese and the U.S. to end the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict. During the negotiations, the U.S. engaged in a bombing campaign of North Vietnam to force concessions from them. Kissinger knew that the war was unwinable, but thought that the bombing would give the U.S. a stronger negotiating position.
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  6. ⁠ @geheimeWeltregierung  Pompeo wasn’t that different from Bush or Obama, both of whom had a policy of improving barriers near the major crossings. Trump’s plan of hermetically sealing the border with a Great Wall was and is ridiculous, whoever pays for it.
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