Comments by "John Roberts" (@view1st) on "Alexander Mercouris" channel.

  1. The European Union has shot itself in the foot regarding its energy policy. No doubt the USA has had a hand in persuading European governments to buy their gas at fluctuating spot prices rather than at a single, stable and guaranteed price set in advance by Russian energy provider Gazprom. I'm also given to wondering just how much of this energy crisis is due to real shortages and supply problems and how much of it is actually contrived through the deliberate creation of artificial scarcity.
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  2. Hopefully, sooner or later we'll see a sea change in strategic thinking on the part of the European Union as they realise that the USA cannot keep up with the growing economic power of China and the energy resources of Russia. The ease by which these resources can be accessed by Europe, together with their relative cheapness, will almost always be preferable to countries like Germany over energy from elsewhere.
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  3. The sooner this terrible war ends the better. Too many lives have already been lost and Zelensky prolonging the conflict will not change things one iota. A Ukrainian defeat is inevitable and surely all sane minds can see this.
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  4. How long can this go on for, because it seems to me that neither the European Union nor the USA want any settlement of this problem, at least not in the near term. The Europeans would rather it be used as an excuse to problematize the relationship between themselves (European Union) and the Russian Federation that solve the issue decisively and normalise relations between them.
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  5. When faced with pressure from Uncle Sam and John Bull (the biggest money launderers on the planet) threatening to reveal the corruption in Switzerland of its leaders as well as closing down its secret accounts that it gets a lot of its revenue from and sanctioning it I think they just caved. They did the same after WW2.
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  6. Countries should enter into negotiations in good faith and with realistic expectations as to what is achievable, as well as being in a position to give substantial concessions where possible and expedient. They should certainly not treat other major powers as less than there equals.
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  7. As I've said before and will say again, this war needs to end and soon. It is so sad that a people who are so alike should be fighting each other.
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  8. The USA has already implicitly admitted Taiwan belongs to China, it did this when it recognised China in the first place back in 1979.
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  9. Hopefully, this war will be at an end by this time next year if not sooner and Alexander can go back to talking about more mundane things. The sooner this carnage ends the better.
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  10.  @willrobinson9767  And it's poisonous.
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  11. It always has been pushing for a diplomatic and peaceful end to the conflict. It's the USA and its client states in Europe who have been engaging in brinkmanship and, indeed, still are.
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  12. The sooner the Ukrainian government comes to the negotiating table and engages in some serious negotiations the sooner all this unpleasantness will be over. And when all the smoke clears the rouble and the yuan will be stronger and we'll all be one step closer to that tripolar world that the world sorely needs right now.
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  13. Did anyone think differently, that NATO would fight over Ukraine?
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  14. 👍💯✔
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  15. Are Britain and the USA (becoming increasingly) out of step with the rest of the European Union, especially France and Germany? Is there a rift growing between the Anglo-Americans and the Franco‐Germans or are the differences within the EU relatively minor?
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  16.  @alhassangangu4357  Put simply, it's an arms race and the USA this time around is losing. An arms race with Russia or China on their own it may just be able to handle but not between Russia and China combined, especially as its so deep in debt and is possibly on the verge of hyperinflation or something similar. The USA simply can't afford another cold war, however, the neocons who apparently control the deep state don't seem to have realised this.
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  17. The West is basically the USA and that's it. Britain and Germany are more or less subordinated to the US in terms of their foreign policy (the French maybe less so) and no European politician or political party is allowed to be independent of the neocon‐dominated elite that sets American policies towards Russia and China.
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  18.  @honeybear9376  I wonder how susceptible India is to having its own religion, Hinduism, weaponised and used against it the way Islam was weaponised and used against its neighbour Pakistan. Indeed, I often wonder whether the right wing Hindu nationalist party with fascist leanings currently in power owes its existence at least in part to the USA or is an entirely indigenous phenomenon.
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  19. It would seem that, working together, the Chinese and Russians can force the USA into an arms race that it will find itself increasingly difficult to keep up with (assuming the USA doesn't change its ongoing support for the military).
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  20. The unaccountable deep state of the US government is more damaging to the nation's interests that either China or Russia. This is what happens when you put profits before people, the needs of a plutocracy before the needs of the rest of society, and when you allow bank managers and the CEO's of corporations whose main profits are from war to run the country instead of a more diverse range of people.
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  21. At the moment westerners don't really care. They are indifferent to the concerns of non‐western peoples unless it hurts their bottom line: profits. Two hundred years or more of having their heads filled with the idea of western cultural superiority has made them both complacent and hubristic towards others. I feel things are slowly changing though in this regard and that slowly, as western power wains and eastern power waxes and parity is reached between East and West, a more respectful relationship will develop.
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  22. Is Alex sitting on bubble wrap? 😂
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  23. The aim is not to win but to drain Russia's resources, pump‐prime the US military‐industrial complex, divert the attention of the EU and keep NATO together. The world is in a pre‐dollar collapse phase and this is one of the consequences of the USA getting increasingly desperate.
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  24. Especially if it succeeds in Syria as a well.
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  25.  @parallax9281  Yes. And in this case I think it's a case of China being mightier than the USA in its own back yard. Maybe everywhere else (except Russia) the USA'S might may reign supreme but not here, I'm afraid. All the USA can do is bluff and bluster.
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  26. And in clear violation of the Non‐Proliferation Treaty that clearly commits all signatories to work toward the elimination of all nuclear weapons.
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  27. That's because NATO is not truly a representative organisation comprising the various nations of the European continent and has no genuine concern about the real threats facing Europe such as terrorism, religious extremism and radical ethno‐nationalism. Rather, it is an arm of the US government, an extension if you will of its military‐industrial complex. Indeed, the USA is behind much of the instability on Europe's periphery as the debacle in Kazakhstan as shown. You only have to look at Yugoslavia and Libya, as well as Afghanistan, to see how NATO is an offensive and not a defensive organisation.
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  28. I think it's finally sinking in at the White House that the alliance between China and Russia will place them at a serious disadvantage in the longer term. I think that this realisation will ultimately weaken the neocons, either making them less ideological and more pragmatic to the extent that they recognise the tripolar world we are almost in, or by them making a mistep which will show in no uncertain terms the limitations of US military and economic power and so discredit them that other political groupings will be able to remove them from influence.
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  29. I'd say it goes deeper than that. Taiwan/Republic of China has been a part of China since at least the Ming dynasty where Cuba was never a part of the USA. The people on both sides of the straits are culturally and ethnically Han Chinese. It's more akin to Texas compared to the Union.
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  30. He'll be calling them Russians next (which wouldn't be untrue as that is what they are). However, if they did they would be implicitly recognising Russia's legitimacy – protecting its own people in what historically until very recently was a part of Russia.
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  31. A wise choice given the circumstances.
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  32. They want combat experience and to gain military intelligence. That and prolonging this needless conflict.
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  33. What events specifically are you referring to? And where exactly is Europe, specifically Germany, going to get its energy from? Especially as the Germans seem hellbent on undermining their own domestic supplies of energy (eg. shutting down their nuclear power plants) ostensibly due to ecological concerns but I think that there some other reason that we aren't being told.
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  34. Or: We never left!
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  35. Shortly after NATO has been officially disbanded. Without NATO the raison d'être of the USA having a military presence in Germany disappears. As time goes on I see Germany pursuing policies that will diverge increasingly from those of the USA with regards its relationship with Russia. I think it's inevitable. Germany has been under the wing of the United States long enough and I think that maybe now it is mature enough to stand on its own two feet. Germany can act as the bridge between Russia and Western Europe.
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  36. But how much of India's GDP will used to alleviate poverty effectively? With all those trillions they should be able to give a guaranteed minimum income to every Indian and provide basic housing, education, clean water and healthcare for everyone. India has had since 1948 to have a standard of living at least equal to that of China yet has had comparatively lacklustre performance. India's leaders appear incompetent in comparison to their Chinese counterparts. I hope things will change and every Indian will have greater opportunities in the future.
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  37. The USA is going to go bankrupt. In fact it is already bankrupt and has been since the 1970's and it's just a matter of time before China or the international banking system gets rid of the dollar as the world's reserve currency. When that happens the government of the USA will suffer from a fiscal crisis unless some contingency plan has been planned in advance (and one which will probably require the cooperation of China and the rest of the world for its successful implementation).
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  38. ​ @mm8u9y7i  The USA was absolutely clobbered in the Battle of the Bulge... but Germany was still defeated (by Russia! ).
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  39. I think in the short term India will continue to source most of its energy by importing oil and gas from the Middle East by tanker or otherwise obtain it domestically rather than become too dependent on the Russians or Chinese for their energy needs, at least not until they are sure that playing off the USA against China and Russia is no longer a viable strategy.
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  40. India needs to remain neutral and the champion of the non‐aligned movement, developing at its own pace and keeping itself out of unnecessary foreign entanglements.
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  41. But that is what the Australian corporate ruling class wants. They want to provoke China to justify their own aggression by portraying them as being the aggressor.
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  42. In never stood a chance, though. And they knew it. It was just posturing.
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  43. 25:00 That's what the USA might want: turmoil in Europe. It's worked in the Middle East, might possibly work in Africa. Latin America is divided.
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  44. The government of the Russian Federation officially subscribes to the orthodox interpretation of the events of 11th September 2001 and as this channel is pro‐Russian and also does not want to be demonetized, banned or censored by the US‐controlled You Tube it will put out talking points that tend to favour the status quo on certain issues. That's my opinion anyway.
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  45. I'd like to see the Russian Federation using the same court to try and prosecute US, French and British troops using the excuse that war crimes were committed by their soldiers on the soil of a signatory nation of the ICC convention. A fortiori, Britain and France would be even less able to argue their way out of things because they are themselves signatories to the ICC convention, unlike Russia and the USA. But just like with Syria vis‐à‐vis alleged chemical weapons use by Bashar al-Assad against civilians and the downing of commercial airline flight MH-17 over Ukraine we would see a complete travesty of legal procedure and suborned UN officials sabotaging their own organisations on behalf of NATO and the EU.
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  46. I think Saudi Arabia might be the real objective. Saudi Arabia is the key to the USA dollar's dominance after all. It may also be designed to re-assert its dominance over Europe and possibly get it to do something that will weaken it and strengthen the USA à la the two major wars. fought in Europe in the 20th century.
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  47. The USA reminds me of the Ottoman empire during the late nineteenth century, the so-called sick man of Europe. Its demise was long anticipated but it held on into the twentieth century, much longer than anyone expected. Likewise, it's impossible to predict with any great degree of certainty when, or how, or even if, the USA will collapse in any meaningful way soon.
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  48.  @Carbuncle0168  You're in denial.
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  49. Looks like this sorry saga will go on for at least another year.
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  50. I doubt this will get much coverage in the MSM.
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  51. The apparent underestimation of the Chinese by the Americans smacks of some kind of superiority complex borne of cultural chauvinism that finds itself incapable of treating them as intellectual equals capable of great feats of technological development and this is strange given even a cursory glance at Chinese history as a leader in technological advances. Just because they fell behind in the development of guns – a technology that they themselves invented – doesn't mean they can't develop them now. The idea that the Chinese, and Asians more generally, can't be leaders in technology or other fields and thus can only develop by copying the West is absurd.
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  52. Europe is part of Asia, a subcontinent in fact, so when it collaborates with Asia it is to everyone's benefit.
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  53. The way things are going it would seem that Anglo-American neo‐liberal capitalism is a failed experiment.
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  54. A peace treaty would probably involve the Syrians asking Israel to give them back the Golan Heights and Israel very probably would not agree to that as they see it as a territory of great strategic value and vital to the security of Israel.
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  55. NATO was always about the USA and not about Europe. Like the European Union, it was pushed on Europeans by the USA as a means of controlling the continent and dominating it politically through proxies, playing one European country against another. Like in all empires, underlings aren't allowed to be militarily superior, or even equal, to the hegemon that exercises suzereinty over them.
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  56. If Taiwan plays its cards right its GDP will rise in tandem with China's.
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  57. ​ @jamesflames6987  I would like to see the United States try breaking out of jail US military personnel captured by Russia and held in a Russian prison while being tried under the Rome statute on behalf of the International Criminal Court for war crimes, the Dutch being unable to do so themselves.
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  58. The United States has allowed itself to become over‐reliant on force at the expense of long term investment in diplomacy and mutually beneficial trade. Unlike China it refuses to use strategic investments in ways that are not perceived by the recipient country as being unfairly exploitative or of being neo‐colonialist in character, such as by making demands which impinge on issues of political and economic sovereignty.
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  59. The Taiwanese know that the USA cannot help them given the current technological developments in Chinese military capability. Near its coast China would win in any naval engagement with the US navy.
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  60. The crisis in Sri Lanka may have been engineered deliberately at least in part by the USA. They may want to create the conditions in which an anti‐Chinese faction come to power who oppose the Belt and Road or otherwise create tensions between India and Sri Lanka.
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  61. It did in the first cold war. Not saying it can do it a second time but you never know how the Great Game ends until its over.
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  62. Not just these countries but the whole world. A new paradigm is needed that encompasses the political, economic, social and cultural. One that everyone can buy in to because it promises a world better than this one, a world that is more egalitarian and philanthropic.
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  63. It's run out of options. The USA likewise. They have both come to an impasse. Now its action or inaction and how long the latter can be pursued is anybody's guess.
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  64.  @Larkinchance  Factoids is what the media peddle nowadays.
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  65. Japanese politics never changes. The system is specifically designed to preventing that.
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  66. They don't, but the military‐industrial complex does.
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  67. Who is Gonzalo Lira?
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  68. No use complaining, You Tube is a corporation and part of the military‐industrial complex of the USA that operates according to facist-corporatist neo-liberal principles and ideology.
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  69. Israel is basically an extension of the USA the same way that Canada is (and possibly Japan, Britain).
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  70.  @thucduyen9592  It irks me no end that the same people who deride political tyranny are the same people who are fully supportive of economic tyranny, which is exactly what capitalism is and amounts to the same thing in the end. Under capitalism only the propertied class have any real say in the way things are done any everyone else is just a prole, the modern equivalent of a middle ages peasant.
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  71. If neither side (Kiev, Donetsk/Lugansk) defeats the other, either because they can't or aren't allowed by their respective supporters (the USA in the case of Ukraine, Russia in the case of Donetsk and Lugansk), how will this pan out? How long can this stalemate be maintained before the government in Kiev capitulates and begins to implement in good faith the Minsk Accords? Is it simply a matter of convincing the USA that it is pointless to continue or will the government in Kiev have to be overthrown in an internal coup?
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  72. I wonder who can that be.
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  73.  @richardscathouse  The ruling class of America secretly want immigration, both legal and illegal, to keep wages low, reduce labour shortages and stave off demographic collapse.
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  74. Only if the United States insists on making them so. Disband NATO and remove US troops from Europe and they will be no need for buffer states on Russia's borders (unless Germany or France become warlike).
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  75. The Congress of the USA is as the Senate was in ancient Rome just before the demise of the Republic: an aristocratic body officially in charge but with real power residing elsewhere. Which illustrious 5‐star general‐turned‐politician will be America's Ceasar? Time only knows.
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  76. The Sudetenland was an integral part of Germany, so Germany was basically taking back or reuniting the country, like happened in 1989 with East German and West German reunification. And the Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia) (and Poland) had ethnic German minorities. Taiwan was historically part of China and both countries make clear that they are Chinese, with the Taiwanese claiming they have a right to rule China and China claiming they have have a right to rule Taiwan. To the Chinese, Taiwan is a renegade province in need of liberation and that China will not be whole until it is united with the mainland. The USA and much of the rest of the world also acknowledge, either explicitly or implicitly, that the Republic of Taiwan is not an independent country de jure but that the People's Republic of China is. They do not officially recognise Taiwan.
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  77. Cooperation tends to be better than conflict in the long run.
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  78. It was a planned withdrawal. The idea that the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan was precipitous and unplanned is what the US wants everyone to believe. Don't fall for it.
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  79. The danger is that policy makers will begin to believe their own propaganda, with negative long-term consequences.
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  80. Wait until China takes over from the USA in GDP per capita. Then we'll be seeing a downgrading of GDP as a measure of one‐upmanship. Some other metric will be used, one that just happens to show the USA in a good light.
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  81. What is referred to as 'The West' is in fact not as monolithic an entity as it's so often made out to be. Instead it is a diverse and dynamic grouping of individual countries with often conflicting interests that may appear to have solidarity on the face of things but in reality is often deeply divided. We must not mistake the Europe that is under the hegemony of the USA for the Europe that can say "no" when it really matters.
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  82. Britain did its best to stop Eurasian integration (France, Germany, Russia, Turkey) and 4 wars — Napolionic, Crimean, Great War/WorldWar 1, World War 2 — in which millions died was the result. The USA seems to want to do the same.
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  83. I wish.
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  84. But Russia doesn't need containing because it's already within its recognised borders.
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  85.  @uus292  The whole of the Soviet Union was suffering food shortages and famine and not just Ukraine. Other areas of Europe were also suffering from the effects of war and various revolutions, civil wars and other kinds of civil disturbance that occurred in the wake of world war one. Indeed, while the famine in Ukraine wasn't deliberate (that has been debunked if you care to look) famine or near famine in defeated Germany under a British blockade was.
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  86. "Illegality" is the best way of describing it. The criminality and corruption that exists in the USA is now being exported to Europe.
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  87. Understandable when you consider a fair proportion of the elite are eugenicists fully committed to reducing the human population of planet Earth. Nuclear bunkers are for them, the chosen few, not the rest of us. As far as they are concerned we can go to hell.
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  88. That would make for a better security environment for Europe, I believe. The Russians would not feel as threatened and as a result the rest of Europe would not feel the need to spend as much of their budgets on arms spending, freeing them to spend on socially useful things instead.
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  89. "Western elites" are constrained by their subservience to Washington. Their hands are tied.
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  90. RIP Miss Dugin. Condolences Mr Dugin.
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  91. I think Alexander is referring to Asia and Europe en bloc when he uses the word 'Eurasia', the implication being that they are basically one continent with the two parts remaining geographically distinct but with the major countries in the region still sharing similar and sometimes overlapping geopolitical interests, peace and prosperity being chief among them. I don't think he's trying to erase Russia at all. Russia straddles both continents and can therefore, under certain circumstances, be referred to legitimately as Eurasian. This is not meant as an insult to Russians, merely a statement of geographical fact.
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  92. The US political economy is dysfunctional and everyone suffers as a result.
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  93. By being seen to be doing something bold and decisive the Russian government has won a great moral victory in the eyes of its own people, so far without a shot being fired. And that is what is important.
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  94. Is this because you've been injected with a gain-of-function 'vaccine' developed at least in part by the United States military that actually may make you MORE likely to develop cold/flu, including variants of COVID? Of course, you could be particularly prone to catching the cold as you frequently seem to be suffering from its symptoms in your videos.
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  95. Well said. Thanks to pressure from the USA both the European Union and Great Britain are cutting off their nose to spite their face. The actions of the USA are very likely to exacerbate an already worsening economic situation.
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  96.  @willengel2458  They pulled a Yeltsin.
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  97. Soon the government of the USA might run out of things to sanction and if that happens it will have to re‐learn the art of negotiation. Sanctions can only take you so far.
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  98. That's probably what the evil empire wants. It wants Europe to be as separate from Russia and Asia as possible and basically sanction and embargo them like it did during the cold war. All for the benefit of the United States, of course. It wants Europe and Asia to remain as disconnected as possible. A united and economically developed Eurasia would be a nightmare and a united Afro‐Eurasia even worse.
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  99.  @James-Campbell  Low intensity conflict is the term they give it. The USA and Britain want to draw out this whole sorry saga for as long as possible. Resources being wasted on war are resources not being used for development and are a drain on the economy, something that the British and Americans would find useful.
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  100. I would have thought the USA would have had enough foresight to understand that doing business with India would not stop India in turn continuing to do business with China and Russia. They should have realised that selling technology to India would not stop other countries from doing the same.
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  101.  @rwjazz1299  And why is that? Russia and Germany are on the same continent so why should they not do more trade with each other and develop closer economic and political relations? Germany is a natural commercial hub for central and western Europe.
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  102.  @Carbuncle0168  And I sincerely hope that it does, leaving aside the substantive meanings of words like freedom and democracy. However, have you considered the option of 1 country, 2 systems that Hong Kong uses? Taiwan under such a system would preserve substantial autonomy while realising the goal of reunification with the homeland.
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  103. Congratulations, you've just added a new word to the English Language.
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  104. ​​ @Freddie19008  The political parties Syriza and Podemos come to mind. Not very encouraging.
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  105. His brain has been addled by taking too much cocaine.
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  106.  @tjsbbi  What if China and later India joined in and then later still Latin America, Africa and the Middle East? Would that also be naive? The ball may roll slowly at first but once a‐rolling, boy does it pick up speed! Time will tell.
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  107. Λυπάμαι, αλλά το Google Translate δεν φαίνεται να μπορεί να το μεταφράσει στα αγγλικά στο τέλος μου. Θα μπορούσατε να το μεταφράσετε στα αγγλικά από τα ελληνικά στο τέλος σας παρακαλώ.
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  108. What part of the USA, red state or blue, conservative or progressive? The population of the USA tend to divided in their viewpoints on Republican versus Democrat, North‐South lines.
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  109. Seems you're not alone in this regard. Oh well, we'll just have to keep trying. At least the comment section seems to be still working. I'm sure the glitch will be ironed out eventually.
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  110. Don't write off the USA too soon!
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  111. It would seem that wars occur in a regular cycle and we are due for another. In Europe a century is about the most we can go between wars.
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  112. Whatever were they thinking!
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  113. At the moment it would appear hardline neocons are controlling the government of the United States and directing its foreign policy and these neocons seem to think that it's still 1989 and not 2022 and that Boris Yeltsin is still in charge and not Vladimir Putin. They're trapped in the past.
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  114. I think it might be floundering.
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  115. Neo‐liberalism is global and recognises no limit on its reach. For neo‐liberals China and Russia are impediments to their total domination of the world and only the threat of military defeat are keeping them in check.
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  116. Are you saying that China will annex Siberia? I am given to understand that there is an understanding between the two countries that Siberia is irrevocably Russian though China is more than welcome to engage in the commercial exploitation of the region subject to Russian approval.
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  117. Good question. NATO has outlived its usefulness and it is high time that it be disbanded like its counterpart the Warsaw Pact. The peace of Europe cannot be guaranteed by an organisation that insists on continously expanding into areas where it does not belong. In fact by doing so and provoking Russia it is actually threatening the peace of Europe and contributing to the continent's overall insecurity.
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  118.  @andrew30m  So can NATO and the USA.
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  119.  @andrew30m  NATO (the USA and its client states) has expanded right up to the Russian Federation's borders thereby threatening it. Military personnel from NATO countries are also known to be working in Ukraine aiding the Ukrainian military and missiles from the USA and other NATO countries have indeed been deployed in Ukraine and used against the armed forces of the Russian Federation.
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  120. But ask yourself how much of that, if it is real, is due to having taken out bank loans at usurious interest from the predatory lending institutions of the US‐controlled IMF and World Bank? Those loans will come due soon and how will you ever be able to pay them back, with an economy in ruins? Debt bondage is form of modern day slavery that should be outlawed.
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  121. The last great empire is in fear that this just might be the beginning of the end.
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  122.  @BooDamnHoo  It's in a bind. Whatever option it choses it will have negative repercussions. It can kick the proverbial down the road but that won't make the problems the USA faces go away.
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  123. Pull in more NATO involvement? NATO should not be involved in the first place as Ukraine is not a member and thus the organisation has no business being their there.
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  124. Don't be silly. Even if the USA could do such a thing it wouldn't because it would make no military sense as it can't invade the Chinese mainland and therefore attacking China would be pointless, unless out of pure spite and to send a message. But as the Chinese can retaliate in kind against the continental USA even this would be counterproductive and ultimately futile.
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  125. Ваше терпение и снисходительность начинают окупаться, поэтому было бы неразумно менять политику сейчас.
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  126. I'm beginning to think this energy crisis is deliberate and the scarcity is artificial.
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  127. Are they having any appreciable effect on the policy decisions of the French government? If the problems the country faces are caused by external factors beyond the French government's control – like hyperinflation caused by excess money printing by the US government – then I doubt there is anything much that can be done to remedy the situation. However, if the problems are due to France sanctioning Russia then there is something that can — and should — be done and in this case protests by the French people may have some, albeit limited, effect.
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  128. Talking about alleged anthropogenic climate change without mentioning certain country's ongoing use of weather modification technologies and deliberate attempts to alter the weather is also a bit pointless.
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  129. Franco‐German axis versus Anglo-American.
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  130. The foreign policy establishment of the United States certainly seems to have become increasingly dysfunctional since 1989 when it became drunk on hubris after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It needs to sober up and fast.
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  131. Britain has no genuine independent nuclear weapons, they are all de facto under the control of the USA and the technology, from the missiles themselves, through to the launch systems (submarines), as well as the navigation systems (satellites) are under the control of the USA, directly or indirectly, as is most of the military and dual‐use technology on which they rely. I'm also under the impression that France's nuclear weapons have been placed under NATO (i.e. US) control as well, or at least operate within the NATO command structure, though I'm not sure. To wit, neither Britain or France are in a position to act independently of the USA. And, indeed, why would they? A scenario where either country would feel the necessity of unilaterally using nuclear weapons is all but inconceivable.
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  132. The United States might actually prefer this new Saudi oil production policy, indeed may even be behind it though pretending otherwise.
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  133. It's been a semi‐client state of the USA since the umpteenth European civil war ended in 1945 and that might have been a good thing for some other Europeans (France, Britain) in the medium term as Germany as shown a tendency to dominate Europe economically and politically if left to its own devices. However, with the power of the USA in apparent decline things may change if or when Germany regains full and genuine sovereignty and throws of the shackles imposed on it by the victors.
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  134. ​ @keenanhomemovies6517  Which is then used to police and control it.
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  135.  @dnickaroo3574  Isn't Galicia part of Ukraine?
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  136.  @slave2damachine  So? The United Kingdom is also in Europe but it acts as if it might well as be located in North America. Just because a country is geographically located in Europe does not necessarily imply it shares the prevailing sociopolitical or sociocultural values of the core European states. 'In Europe but not of Europe' is a phrase that comes to mind here. Russia is, or professes to be, a Eurasian power, connecting East with West and not merely just another continental European power and what I would say is that most western Europeans view the East warily, seeing it as radically different socioculturally speaking from the West and its political values not necessarily compatible with those of western Europe's.
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  137. Currently, it seems the Eurasian elites of Russia and China (India and potentially am independent Latin America elite too) are rapidly emerging as competitors to the Anglo-American and Franco‐German elites and threaten to subordinate them if they cannot co-opt them.
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  138.  @jefflith2974  They have not really left. 'Stay‐behinds' have been left to continue causing trouble. Also the US military is still in Afghanistan engaging in military operations (drone strike murders, special forces death squad murders, aerial bombing murders, sanctions‐embargo murders and landmine murders through its use of de facto landmines known as cluster bombs). So, no... the United States hasn't actually left Afghanistan, not really. And neither has its little poodle, 'Great' Britain.
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  139. All planned probably. I've just been listening to Pepe Escobar and he spoke of a thing called the Israel-Middle East Economic Corridor (IMEC) and its implications for the region. The USA and its client state want to undercut China and Russia in the pipeline-transit corridor competition.
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  140. Reminds me of Wales and Scotland in the British Isles. Despite being a part of a political union, the United Kingdom, for a very long time they still retain a strong sense of local nationalism.
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  141. As if the USA would go the far!
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  142. Keep preaching. If it stops unnecessary in can't be bad.
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  143. Mercenaries paid for by the usual suspects.
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  144. ​​ @xenusceptic  Yes, Quaddafi was murdered by a lynch mob organised by Clinton and Obama. A rich, prosperous polity was destroyed by paramilitaries (mercenaries) and the military forces of NATO.
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  145. ​​ @John-yr4uh  Ironic, no, that a prison which held the Dutch resistance held up as heroes fighting fascism should be used to imprison a person fighting US-Ukrainian fascism?
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  146. The economists and The Economist are all neoliberal, but then I'm given to understand that is the only kind of economic theory available, There Is No Alternative (TINA) as Margaret Thatcher would say. Whatever happened to Keynesianism? Are there no alternative economic theories out their – Marxism perhaps?
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  147. What about the atrocities of the Urgun and Stern gangs? Perhaps you would call the deaths of camp guards 'atrocities' when they were committed by the inmates of Sobibor as they made their break for freedom.
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  148. I was given to understand that it was Austria's invasion of Serbia in revenge for the assassination of the King of the Austro‐Hungarian empire that triggered the first world war.
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  149. What needs to be done?
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  150. Probably a means of killing off the youngest and brightest of Ukrainian society and leaving it depleted of an educated workforce when the Russians finally win. The lack of an educated civilian population after the war will have a serious negative effect on the region's economic recovery, one of the consequences that would benefit the United States.
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  151. Yes, maybe you're right and it is all just a deception, a smokescreen. The economy of the United States as well as that of the European Union is in deep trouble with a financial crash and period of high or hyperinflation predicted as increasingly likely. Like the false flag attacks on the world trade centre all this Ukraine malarkey, together with the pseudo‐pandemic, could be – very probably is – just a way of paralysing the public mind with fear in preparation for a globally coordinated descent into authoritarianism that no one will notice because it will be world-wide.
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  152. The USA is going to try and separate Europe, western Europe in particular, and as much as the rest of world from having normal economic relationships with Russia and China and create a block of anti‐Sino‐Russian countries in a new cold war and if it succeeds who knows how long this new US‐imposed Iron Curtain will last. The USA seems to be trying to create a continental blockade of the eastern part Asia that will benefit itself to the long-term detriment of both Eurasia and the rest of the world. More or less it's continuing with the strategy that Britain had been pursuing for the last century. It could very well lead to a EU that is heavily centralised and militarised under pro‐US, pro‐corporatist German and French leadership. I for one hope that if this is the correct interpretation of what is happening that it wil fail long before it succeeds
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  153. Will the collapse of the US dollar be enough? And how long before the USA recovers to pre‐collapse levels? Will it be able to get the world to help it, as by using the IMF's special drawing rights as a new global currency, replacing or supplementing the individual currencies of the European Union?
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  154. ​ @aaronl7045  Are you saying that the area was empty before Israel was created, that no people lived there? Would you say the same of native peoples in the USA and Canada – that there was no continent called America and no USA therefore the indigenous people in the Americas cannot call themselves American?
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  155. Hezbollah will be contained by Iran that in turn will be contained by Russia and China. None of these three countries want the conflict to escalate but instead seek stability and a modus vivendi, even at the cost of Palestinian genocide and forced removal.
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  156. In world war 2 the Germans made very swift progress and it looked for a time as if they might win. But then....
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  157. It's probably a result of paranoia and paranoia is a mental illness that cannot be reasoned with and often makes people — countries — do apparently irrational things.
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  158. Not stupid, rigged. I'm given to understand that Kamala Harris wasn't elected by the US electorate (at least not directly) and was instead foisted on them by the DNC/Democratic Party leadership. This subterfuge had to occur because otherwise she would have been unlikely to have gotten the post due to her low popularity rating within the Democratic Party itself, as well as among its core supporters. Thus, if the POTUS is relieved by his VP while in office due to being non compos mentis it will be good to remember that she is a VP who has been effectively appointed to the position rather than elected.
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  159. The United States and its corporations know that to maintain control and economic advantage over the European Union the European states must become more authoritarian than they already are so as to overcome the lack of popularity that such policies will engender. A country's elites prioritising the interests of international predatory capitalism over the interests of their own people does not garner much support among the masses and thus requires large doses of oppression, as any Latin American will attest.
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  160.  @broskibear9666  Creativity, individualism and ambition are qualities that are independent of the economic or political system one lives under. Rather, these qualities I would argue are all inherent in the human race, being an essential part of who and what we are as humans beings. They have always existed and always will so to say that socialism (however defined) has destroyed these qualities in my opinion is patently absurd and makes no sense.
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  161.  @broskibear9666  Please enumerate the exact ways that socialism, however defined, stifles those traits and why those traits are so important in the first place, more important than other traits just as desirable or more so?
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  162. Are you the Mona Lisa?
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  163. It might very well have been the case that the US submarine was caught laying geophones (underwater microphones) or other sensors on the ocean floor or trying was to install eavesdropping equipment in Chinese submarine telecommunication cables.
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  164.  @drbuckley1  The Euro, the Yuan, or a basket of weighted currencies (the IMF's Special Drawing Rights), or something like what the economist J.M. Keynes advocated for just after world war two.
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  165. Agreed. And the sooner it ends the better.
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  166. John Roberts | Джон Робертс ☆ Germany needs to start doing what's best for Germany and not follow the orders of the USA. ▪︎ ▪︎▪︎▪︎ Германии нужно начать делать то, что лучше для Германии, а не следовать приказам США.
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  167. According to British TV and print media all Asians either hate the Chinese, hate the Japanese, or both. 80‐odd years after world war two ended the mass media of Britain are still bringing up Japan's apparent need to atone for what it did in the 1930's and 40's and their equally apparent refusal to do so to the satisfaction of the English speaking world is always alluded to, often with some seemingly obligatory reference to the a rape of Nanking. It's a way, I suppose, of justifying that war by implying how nasty the Japanese were and how they thus deserved to be fire bombed and nuked by the USA, it being done for the benefit of Asians like the Chinese, Koreans and Filipinos and for which the Chinese in particular should be eternally grateful (but to the great chagrin of Uncle Sam and John Bull aren't, or only grudgingly so) and why US troops are still stationed in Japan so long after the war has ended — obviously to protect Asia from itself, which it can't do without a generous helping hand from the white man. To be honest I find it both irksome and subtly racist. Something similar occurs with Germany, only in their case the portrayal is one of being suitably repentant.
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  168. As I see it Europe is finally sloughing off the political, economic and military architecture set up in the immediate post war period by the USA, a period when it was in unquestioned ascendancy. After 80 years and four generations the USA'S relative power is in visible decline and that is forcing the countries of Europe hitherto under US influence to stand on their own two feet whether they like it or not. It's a trend that will probably continue but how long before the core states of Europe act with true independence without reference to the USA is anybody's guess. Maybe by the middle of the next century but then western Europe will likely be kow‐towing to China.
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  169. "Insurmountable advantage"? In its near abroad the Russians would easily vanquish the USA and NATO in quick time. If Russia invaded Ukraine it would be like the German Blitzkrieg in Poland and France in 1939 and 1941, or the taking of Singapore and Malaya by the Japanese in 1942, with defeat in this case probably being achieved in a matter of days rather than weeks. Quite simply, a successful defence of Ukraine by NATO is militarily next to impossible. And no one is seriously contemplating it. Western propaganda on the issue is pure bravado.
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  170. Welfare systems are necessary to act as safety nets, otherwise we'd see the same instability and poverty in Europe that these refuges are fleeing.
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  171. The question is how to get the neocons out of government. It took a de facto coup (which occurred either on 9/11 or with the assassination of JFK) to install them so it could take a coup to get them out.
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  172. But why as it doesn't appear to be any different to any of the other videos he's recently made. Nothing really new or controversial here in my opinion.
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  173. Thermite or thermate. The sort used to bring drown two of the three high-rise steel buildings in New York on 11th September 2001.
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  174. A tripolar world where the USA, the PRC and the RF each respect each others spheres of influence and legitimate interests is what is needed.
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  175. You mean promoting 'representative' (i.e. indirect) democracy. Most tribal societies have forms of direct democracy that puts the western type to shame. Most, if not all, Western so‐called democracies are merely formal democracies in that they have the form but not the content of democracy, the nominally elected being several times removed from the electorate and generally under no direct influence by, or accountability to, them.
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  176. As mentioned by Alexander this serves as a basis for further discussions.
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  177. I think the terms you want are revanchism (ирредентизм) or irredentism (ирредентизм). ○●○●○●○●○●○●○ Note: I don't think that Russia wants either of those.
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  178. Instability is an emergent property of all nation states. For a nation to rise another must fall and strength is built on keeping others weak.
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  179. Let's hope so. The USA should stop trying so hard to dominate the world. This world would be a much better place if the win‐lose attitude of the USA'S leaders were to be replaced with the win‐win attitude of China's. The zero‐sum games the neoliberals play is becoming prohibitively costly for ordinary Americans and the world; it is taking us to the brink.
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  180. That's because it can be used by its proxies against the USA's enemies, such as Iran in Yemen.
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  181. They might be doing this to force governments to be dependent on the USA and the IMF/BIS at a later date or to precipitate a wider, global crisis. Also, If there is an economic crisis that looks like moderately left wing governments — read radical or hard left to neo‐liberals — are going to win elections like Podemos or Syriza those countries will be over a proverbial barrel with regards energy because they will have depleted their strategic reserves and therefore will be in no place but to obey those who are behind the Great Reset (European Union, IMF, BIS, UN corporations, etc.), just like Greece with the troika. Another reason might be manipulation of the stock market to steal money for the deep state and its crooks like they did with Enron, Libya, Iraq, 9/11, etc.
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  182. It reminds me of Ukraine, another country that was cobbled together from areas previously controlled by its neighbours and with very little of it having had an existence as an independent state.
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  183. ​​ @interovic  It's not the first time. Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA, plus scores of countries where we relocated non-indigenous peoples, altering the ethnic composition and demographics of entire nations and socially destabilised them.
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  184. The EU is simply the political‐economic counterpart to NATO with the only real difference being that the USA more or less controls NATO directly while with the EU it is more of a heavy and indirect influence exercised by more sophisticated means.
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  185. By the time NATO supplies anti‐ship missiles it will be all but over. They won't make any difference to the outcome of this war whatsoever beyond making it last that little bit longer. Maybe the aim is to draw the Russians into annexing coastal regions and serve as a pretext for Finland joining NATO.
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  186. I fear the Americans will promote Hindu fundamentalism in India not unlike their promotion of Islamic fundamentalism in neighbouring Pakistan. And much like those terrorist and paramilitary groups sponsored by the USA, Britain and France there and in the Middle East and elsewhere they will be used as proxies to destabilise the subcontinent and increasingly force the secular government of India to compromise or attempt to coopt those groups at the risk being overthrown if it doesn't. Either way, India would become more authoritarian and militantly nationalist, something the Americans and their 'international community' would no doubt take advantage of under the guise of standing up for universal human rights.
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  187. They probably will be, at least the more extreme members.
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  188. The lawless deep state doesn't care much for rules. Rules apply only to others, not themselves.
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  189. Because it's going to the shadow economy and shadow banking system and not being invested prudently in the formal economy.
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  190. So is this an attempt to destabilise the region?
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  191. I'm thinking along the same lines. The USA is drawing down its old munitions stocks so that it then can claim a 'munitions gap' (like the missile gap) and tell its people that it has to get a gizzillion artillery shells or it won't be able to defend itself against Iran and North Korea.
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  192. And that's why the Russian Federation cannot allow that to happen. China also knows that if the Russian Federation falls it will be next, so China also cannot allow that to happen. I think that by continuing in its attempts to weaken Russia the USA will only accelerate its own economic decline and attempting to weaken both Russia and China at the same time will be something that will prove next to impossible, especially in the straitened economic circumstances that US economy now finds itself in. The USA would be better expending precious resources on maintaining its own political stability before trying to prevent countries half a world away from maintaining theirs.
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  193. I'm worried what will happen when Putin is gone. Will his successor be up the task of carrying on his legacy of a strong, decisive leader or will he be another Yeltsin.
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  194. What were these art works and were they originally Finnish? Refusing to return museum artefacts after they have been generously loaned to you is both a gross violation of trust and extremely petty.
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  195. But would they do that short of war?
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  196. The Green Party of Germany is probably a fake party created by U.S. intelligence designed to cause divisions in the German political system and act as a break on moves by Germany's political class of attaining too much sovereignty over its own foreign policy. Sabotaging Germany's economy by shutting off cheap gas from Ukraine and Russia whilst simultaneously shutting down or limiting alternatives (like nuclear power) un the name of saving the planet is a great way of doing this as it makes Germany dependent on the USA and its allies.
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  197. The Russians are using attrition rather than annihilation as their strategy. It's all just a question of time.
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  198. Probably they meant that there is not enough gas to be sold at prices the EU can afford or is willing to pay, though there is also probably not enough gas (or oil) for export from the USA overall. I think the USA wants to make Europe overly dependent on it for energy needs while cutting out the Russian Federation and its allies. Apropos, what appears to be a systematic closing down of Europe's own means of domestic energy generation (gas- and oil‐driven power stations, nuclear power stations) under the rationale of global anthropogenic climate change may be part of a cynical plan to weaken Europe and even the rest of the world. Alternative energy sources like hydroelectric, solar, hydrogen , battery and wind power are not yet developed enough to take up the slack and probably won't be for at least another decade.
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  199.  @richardscathouse  Better more, North Stream. But that would put them into conflict with Germany and a slew of other countries. Too risky, IMO.
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  200. Asia‐Pacific. China and Taiwan are in the Pacific ocean, not the Indian ocean. The phrase Indo‐Pacific is being used by US government sources to imply that India should have primary influence in the region and not China. It's calculated to get the Indians to support the geostrategic aims of the United States by suggesting that the Chinese are encroaching on India's backyard.
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  201. Zelensky is a puppet; he's not in charge. A committee of arch neocons who apparently don't want to negotiate.
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  202. Yes, I tend to agree. Outstanding in my very humble opinion.
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  203. I thought so too. 🍻🏰🤎
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  204. I thought I was the only one to think that the wallpaper wasn't the best, aesthetically speaking. I agree, a new, brighter wallpaper is needed.
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  205. Could go both ways.
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  206. The eurocracy are clearly determined to force the issue over whether drivers go over to electric powered vehicles.
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  207. Or they could take the their Jews back (many of them come from Russia). They even had a Jewish SSR under president Stalin I do believe. They could have one again.
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  208. A nation state defending its borders from foreign aggression (and colour revolutions, hybrid warfare, paramilitary invasions ARE all forms of aggression) orchestrated from thousands of miles away is entirely legitimate.
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  209. "Always took the wrong side"...‽ Beating Russia in the Russo‐Japanese war was, I would argue, hardly a case of taking the wrong side. Au contraire, it put Japan on a par with the major European powers of the day and earned it immense respect and prestige. Neither was the Meiji restoration that preceded it in so far as it forestalled Japan from becoming a vassal state of the Europeans or the USA in the way that its much bigger neighbour did. Japan's war in the Asia‐Pacific region with the USA and the European colonial powers of Britain, France and the Netherlands was also a legitimate war to protect Japanese economic interests from attack by the West. After all, if you aspire to be a successful modern country you need an empire and colonies to exploit and parasitise. That is how the West became successful and if you're going to emulate the West then, naturally, you should get yourself an empire.
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  210.  @SuanLuang  They are doing exactly what the USA does in Latin America and did in Vietnam and Iraq: deliberately attack soft – that is civilian – targets, a crime under international law.
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  211. It's a combination of carrot and stick. It's a case of getting the balance right.
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  212. The USA will find itself increasingly unable, even by proxy or by attacking third countries, of dominating the world outside its near abroad such that by the end of this century China and Russia will be the dominant powers with France and Germany playing second fiddle.
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  213. 1. The Russian Federation is not demanding a return to the pre‐1990 status quo for NATO, it is merely demanding no further expansion eastwards and in particular no attempt to bring Ukraine, Belarus or any other country bordering the Russian Federation into NATO. 2. The nuclear weapons of the USA do not need to be based in Europe to be effective therefore there is no need to station them so close to the borders of the Russian Federation. To do so is a provocation. 3. The expansion of NATO is unnecessary as the Warsaw Pact no longer exists and the Russian Federation is not a threat. However, as an anti‐Russian military alliance led by the USA, a non‐European country, the continued existence of NATO is an ongoing threat to the Russian Federation and creates unnecessary tension between the countries of Europe by threatening the peace and security of the whole continent.
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  214. What in your opinion would be reasonable?
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  215. Client states more like. And not even necessarily reliable client states.
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  216. The deep state in the USA and Europe, in collusion with big agro and big pharma, are doing this.
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  217. Australia an island...? I always that it was a continent, albeit the smallest of the continents.
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  218. The same goes for fascism. Words like neo-Liberal and neo-Conservative, or hard right are used instead of the word that should be used, (neo-) fascist.
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  219. I second that! 👍
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  220. Are there any channels where one can still watch RT, or has it been closed down completely everywhere in Europe. Apparently my RT channel feed on YouTube has been discontinued.
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  221.  @ivanfreely6366  Thanks.
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  222. "Therefore America requires regime change." Unfortunately for the USA, Ukraine is turning out to be a failure in this regard. The only question is what, if anything, the USA can salvage from their debacle in Ukraine.
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  223. A missile that he's never likely to ever possess... except when it becomes totally obsolete. The Russians and Chinese are as complicit as the USA and its minions in Europe of keeping the North Koreans poor and freezing the Korean conflict indefinitely.
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  224. An excellent summary of the situation, if I may say so. Russia wants concrete guarantees that are legally both under international law and, more importantly, under the laws of the United States itself (not that it means much these days). I'm not too hopeful the Russians will be successful in their aims though as the continued existence of NATO - a major pillar of US hegemony in my opinion - depends on expansion. It's a case of expand or die unless it can transform into something bigger like a Global Treaty Organisation or something of that sort, maybe combining with the Quad.
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  225. The Cuban missile crisis 2.0?
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  226. NATO is made up of independent sovereign states and the USA needs them all to be on its side and to consent to its proposed actions. That is, it operates by consensus and if there is none (and there certainly is none here) the USA cannot hope to use the organisation in the event of Russia resorting to military intervention in Ukraine.
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  227. Stop it with the damn adverts, Alexander! It's ridiculous.
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  228. The political and economic reforms she ushered in have placed Britain in such a weakened position that if the Argentinians were to invade today Britain would be hard put to stop them without putting a strain on the military and the economy.
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  229. If she is unpopular in her own country how did she manage to get where she is. Who voted for her or was she simply appointed without consultation?
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  230.  @thinkingaloud5379  What role did the electoral college play in Biden's victory?
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  231.  @tinatang1  If only one could go back into the past and show the presidents of the USA what would happen if they created the Federal Reserve, the CIA and the FBI, got involved in world wars 1 & 2, the Korean war, etc. maybe the world would be a better place. Come to think of it, if we could go back into the past and do this with all the world's leaders....
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  232. Whereas in the 1980's it was the USA playing off China against Russia, today it's both playing off each other against the USA. — Sino‐Russian cooperation can only grow in the climate of obstructionism coming from the USA.
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  233. Tri‐hegemony (global hegemony shared between the three of them) with maybe India joining some time later as it progresses in the technological, scientific, and economic fields, gaining parity with other three almost in spite of itself.
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  234.  @elmersbalm5219  Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well.
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  235.  @topixfromthetropix1674  Britain would come a close second. Britain and America are like two peas in a pod.
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  236. But GDP & GNP aren't the whole story. There are other metrics by which an economy can be measured and some which are not amenable to strict mathematical or statistical analysis. In economics everything is measured in money, but money isn't everything.
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  237. I think that some of the more sophisticated weaponry initially left being has subsequently been destroyed by air raids and drone strikes and that much of the rest is unusable due to lack of spare parts and proper maintenance (which the Taliban lack). Also, the majority of the weapons left behind tend to be old or obsolete. In other words, a good percentage of the weaponry captured is more or less useless or will become so in a comparatively short space of time and the rest is largely made up of small‐to‐medium arms with a smaller number of heavy weaponry such as tanks, artillery pieces and mortars.
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  238. Gaza is a concentration camp and however humanely you treat the prisoners they're still prisoners destined for genocide.
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  239. Or replaced by a Russo‐Chinese Eurasian Economic Union (EEU)?
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  240. The UN hasn't a reputation worth its name; it's just a place where superannuated grifters go.
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  241. Keir Starmer is basically doing what Scholz did: debilitate the German economy for the benefit of his masters in Washington DC.
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  242. And the fact that, at least in Britain, there is no industry to "crank up". Private for-profit banks should be abolished throughout Europe, as should the charging of compound interest. At the very least they should be regular debt 'jubilees' where debts are cancelled. The countries of Europe should each concentrate on maintaining energy and food security by pursuing a policy of economic autarky as well as nationalising strategic industries and services so that they can be used for the public good and for the building up of public infrastructure rather than for private profit.
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  243. The simplest reason is practical: from a military point of view the USA cannot win any war with China over Taiwan; if China wants to take Taiwan it can. The other is moral: imperialism and colonialism are deemed by most of the world as outdated and evil and the USA interfering in another country's affairs are no different from Hitler's Germany. If it's bad for Germany it's bad for the USA, no?
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  244. Russia and Ukraine are at war, therefore this is an act of war by one state against another. Terrorists are non-state actors, often domestic, (though often backed by states) that carry out militant activities.
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  245. So polluting the lands of indigenous people and damaging their ecosystem so the rest of (white) Canada – or at least its corporations and those of its neighbour – can have lower priced gasoline to driv your car is okay?
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  246. Let us remind ourselves that the so-called Pivot to Asia (that saw the hardening of the USA's stance towards the People's Republic of China and was tantamount to a declaration of cold war) was begun under the Obama presidency and not that of Trump. Also, that its the MIC‐Pentagon combo that decides these policies and independently of any sitting president.
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  247. Maybe these sanctions were never primarily designed to crush the Russian economy, rhetoric aside, but more to crash the economies of the European Union and even the United States itself, in so doing creating the crisis needed to usher in the Great Reset and shore up US hegemony in the West.
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  248. We can but hope.
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  249. Let's see if China and Russia can protect Pakistan the way they have protected Turkey by pre‐empting the USA's attempts at regime change by leaking its plans to Erdoğan.
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  250. Neoliberalism (rentier capitalism) is leading to the West to eat its own. Indeed the West, with the United States being an integral part, appears to be fracturing with the Americans seemingly intent on going their own way and treating western Europe the way western Europe treats eastern Europe (as inferior junior partners). Western Europe may soon find its privileged position within the USA's hierarchy of nations to no longer exist, the USA treating them in exactly the same way they treat all other (non‐western, non‐white, non‐Christian) countries. In fact, the USA may actively seek the breakup of the European Union and the weakening, even balkanisation, of the continent similar to what it's done in the Middle East.
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  251. The neocons and neolibs who've been in charge of the US administration since Reagan need to be removed from their positions of influence and someone with the wisdom and popularity of a Roosevelt needs to come along and implement a more intelligent foreign and domestic policy, including better fiscal management and an emphasis on rebuilding the country's infrastructure and making crucial reforms to the military‐industrial‐congressional complex to make them less of a drain on the USA budget.
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  252. I also think that. Maybe, though, the USA might have actually lost control of the situation.
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  253. A return to religion (belief in the supernatural) is not what is needed if that is what Putin is implying. Supernaturalism/irrationalism is not a proper foundation for a modern society to be based on. Religion is a way of maintaining the status quo, shut down independent thought, and encourage conformity. Things that Russian rulers, of course, approve of.
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  254. Possibly to counter the build up by NATO or for a major offensive against Ukraine. Or both.
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  255.  @danintheoutback1  A multilateral world, which is what the Chinese and Russians say they want, could still lead to a trilateral hegemony where the USA, China and Russia dominate the world together, dividing it into spheres of influence. Thus, rather than getting rid of US domination you could end up still being under their thumb if China assigns Australia/New Zealand to the US sphere of influence. The only real difference is that under such an arrangement Australia will not be (as) hostile to Chinese interests.
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  256. GDP in minus figures. What's the rate of this shrinkage? If that's the case money printing (Q.E.) looks it will only make things worse.
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  257. If the United States hadn't joined Britain in 1941 do you think there would have been a D‐day?
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  258. My thoughts exactly. The USA should start becoming a team player and acting in good faith, something that neoliberals don't seem to be particularly good at.
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  259. If you can successfully invade the USA or cause a catastrophic collapse of its population, economy or social infrastructure then you can.
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  260.  @joman563  But what would take its place?
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  261.  @stevenpreston5619  Because Great Britain copied the neoliberal nostrums of the USA and has as a result suffered the same disastrous consequences of the complete financialization of its economy and the hollowing out of its industry. This has left it in a position of profound economic and military weakness, forcing it to rely on the political power of the USA to retain any vestige of influence on the world stage and within Europe as it cannot go it alone. And the price paid by a ruling elite who hanker after empire and are feeling lost since its end of being allowed to experience vicariously its former glory through another was complete subservience to the foreign policy of the USA. This dependence will only increase, in my opinion, after withdrawal from our the EU. The country has been sucked dry by the vampiric parasites of rentier capitalism that Smith, Marx and Ricardo amongst others warned us about but which the Chicago school's agent of influence Margaret Thatcher insisted was the only way.
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  262.  @cart172  Like France in Africa. No wonder they want an EU army, they want another NATO but this time under French control that they can use to keep Russia at bay while they make a move on Africa.
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  263.  @cart172  Hope not.
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  264. They owe it to the British (English). They are the ones who helped create the League of Nations which in turn created the legal entity known as a protectorate, the protectorate – or mandate – of Palestine, in effect giving this piece of real estate to them to do with what they pleased. And it pleased them to create the embryonic state of Israel.
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  265. As a substantial part of the economy of the United States seems to depend on military related procurement for growth a drawdown in military spending, which is what the disbanding or reduction in size of NATO would entail, could be a great loss to its overall economy. I therefore don't think the USA could agree to any reduction of NATO. Maybe if the drawdown of NATO was phased and spread over a decade or two, it might be possible, allowing the USA to redirect its economy to one not so dependent on the military , intelligence security sectors.
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  266.  @sparky6086  Short squeeze?
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  267.  @MuhammadAli-in1qm  Go home white sock puppet! And stop using the photo of a black Muslim man who fought against western racism, imperialism and colonialism and paid with a prison sentence for it.
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  268. Au contraire, globalisation may stall for a while but then it will pick up, albeit in an Asia‐centric form with China at its core. What do you think China's Belt and Road project is all about if not globalisation? Globalisation doesn't have to be the parasitical neo‐imperialist version practiced by the likes of Britain and the USA. It can be a better, more inclusive globalisation where genuine economic development begins to occur in place of the pseudo‐development of the IMF.
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  269. The question is: How will Russia react with regards Nagarno-Karabakh?
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  270. Concern for the environment by those who rule us is at best contingent and will always come second to politics (in the service of economics).
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  271. The Ukrainian government is, it seems to me, basically a puppet government in the fullest sense of the word. The hands of its president are tied by the die‐hards in Kiev (neo‐fascists, US‐trained elements in the army capable of removing him) yet he is, in my honest opinion, in a losing position, militarily speaking, so eventually he, or his replacement, must come to the negotiating table. As for sanctions, they aren't really designed to work in the way they are described. They are basically a form of warfare permanently waged on a country which, like all warfare, is designed to kill and maim. They are, rightfully in my opinion, criminal under international law and and act of war. Another thing is the USA might even want the current economic, financial and international system and its institutions to collapse; controlled implosion followed by reconstruction of the (at least western) world's financial architecture under US auspices. In other words a kind of Bretton Woods 2 tying the European Union, Australia and New Zealand willingly our otherwise, to the USA (maybe akin to the continental blockade system that Napoleon Bonaparte tried to use against against Britain during the Napoleonic Wars or the similar system used by the USA during the cold war against the Soviet Union and Pact). Whether such a thing would work and whether China – which I'm assuming is the biggest economy round about now in real terms rather than the nominal terms reported in the media – would go along with it or has the power to modify it in such a way that it thwarts the USA'S continued dominance I have no idea. The use of the IMF's Special Drawing Rights as a – presumably temporary – form of international currency for this purpose (perhaps in the form of digital currencies which I am given to understand allows for more governmental control over ordinary people) might be used for this purpose, but I'm just speculating wildly.
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  272. Depends on whether they were given permission by you know who. And if they were to act independently whether they would be stopped before they can do anything or have their organisation effectively destroyed if they did do something à la Al‐Quaida.
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  273. Joe can't last another term, surely.
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  274. The USA won the cold war but lost the peace it would seem. A short but sweet pyrrhic victory gained in Its plutocratic elite's existential struggle against the worldwide aspirations of workers and peasants and capital's existential struggle with labour. In Its attempt to destroy social movements like communism and socialism it may well have succeeded in only destroying itself and paving the way for a renaissance of the left.
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  275. It would seem that these Baltic republics were collectively better off during their time as part of the Soviet Union. They all seem to have suffered social and economic decline since adopting the capitalist 'free market' system of western capitalism.
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  276. Britain will be jealous.
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  277. Israel is ultimately a client state of the USA and while the majority of Israelis would like to have their government normalise relations with its neighbours this isn't going to happen. And the simple reason for this is that the USA doesn't want Israel to have normal relations with its neighbours. Rather, it wants a Middle East that is fragmented and weak, filled with client states, each threatening or being threatened by the others with Israel being the the chief threat to them all. As such Israel serves as a proxy that the USA can use as its principal antagonist in the region, much like Saudi Arabia, its other client state in the region.
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  278. And the USA's 'stay behind' units who were engaging in acts of sabotage into the 1950's.
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  279. Aligned on paper. In the future as China's economic influence in Europe becomes even stronger and counters that of the USA the nations of eastern Europe will find themselves increasingly leaning towards the east and Russia as the natural Eurasian go‐between.
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  280. Tulip mania! 🌷 Wait for the crash!
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  281. It's very probable that the Pakistanis have no option but to allow these strikes as they are unable to stop them.
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  282. And the people indoctrinated to commit suicide in nuclear war for such ideas as parliamentary 'democracy', liberalism and 'free market' capitalism — all metaphysical ideas held by their adherents with the same degree of uncritical religion‐like devotion?
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  283. The intelligence apparatus of the United States has grown into a many‐tentacled Frankenstein's monster since its creation back in the 1940's... it's become a government within a government, especially after the Kennedy killings and even more so since nine‐eleven. It needs to be reined in.
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  284. What we refer to as The West is basically a group of countries whose senior government officials have been compromised in one way or another by the intelligence service of the USA and its closest allies since at least the 1980's.
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  285. A patience born of necessity.
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  286. The Poles are too enamoured of the European Union to ever want to leave. Same with the Hungarians and Romanians. They want to be part of the West, not the East. Only if the East (Russia and China) can offer something better might they be lured away and I don't see this happening in the foreseeable future. Maybe 50 years from now.
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  287. All the adverts probably.
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  288. Basically it's the Anglo-Americans up to their old tricks of stopping a more unified Europe made up of a Germany, France and Russia that have closer relations.
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  289. But that's the way the Chinese do things: build infrastructure first – a railway station , say, or a town – and then fill it with people later, as the need arises.
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  290. Davos and Bilderberg. Multi‐billionaires in positions of undue influence combined with the military‐industrial complex.
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  291. I think they did that a long time ago.
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  292. China is rapidly developing technologically and will soon be on a par with the USA in most areas where its relevant. And once it has reached parity it may even overtake the USA (and Europe) and become technologically superior.
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  293. It took the better part of 75 years to destroy the Soviet Union, can the United States wait that long to repeat its success? And China, a country on the rise... how long will it take?
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  294. I'm sure the Americans want to crash the world's economy because they are doing things that destabilise and reduce confidence in the global financial system.
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  295. Partly true. And for the time being. I trust though the Australians will, like their New Zealand cousins, become more level headed as time goes by.
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  296. I see what you did there. 😉
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  297. And it must go beyond that because the USSR had all those things but was still destroyed. Overthrowing the USA and its allies or at least creating a group of countries that can draw their fire long enough for South East Asia as a whole, led by a China‐Japan‐India tetrachy, can reach a level of stability, cohesiveness and military‐economic power whereby it can take on the West and reduce it to impotence where it is no longer a threat and it is no longer in a position to force its political norms and sociocultural values on other peoples.
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  298. I'm increasingly drawn to the whole idea of anthropogenic climate change and the rationale for getting rid of oil, gas, coal and even nuclear is part of a deliberate, well planned and long term strategy of making Europe vulnerable to energy blackmail.
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  299. The Palestinians are prisoners in a concentration camp/ghetto, they cannot just flee, and it is the Israelis who hold the keys to the prison. Would you say they same to the Jews being held in the Warsaw ghetto or the Bergen-Belsen extermination camp?
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  300. What do you think of BRICS and South Africa's role in this organisation?
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  301.  @Durnyful  Western governments aren't really swayed by their electorates either and no more care for what the majority of the people think than the countries labelled by them as autocracies. On anything that really matters the elites get their way, (barring coups d'état and the like).
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  302. He's not in charge. It's anyone's guess who is.
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  303. Such a terrible failure? Great education (free), universal healthcare (free), housing for all – no homelessness (free), no endemic malnutrition or starvation with low cost food (healthy diet). Oh, and not to mention a military that the elites of the West feared after it had destroyed the fascism that capitalism had created in response to the very appealing ideology of communism and the liberation of the Russian people (and Eastern Europeans) from monarchy and serfdom. It also provided much needed aid and inspiration to Global South countries throughout the world to such an extent that the wonderful capitalist (corporatist) role model that you presumably admire so much had to resort to fomenting coups and installing military junta which proceeded to kill and imprison millions of its own to impose the capitalist paradise (never a failed experiment, oh no, it's never described as such) that people like you admire so much. Ever visited a favela (slum) lately? Ever encountered a US-trained death squad? Know someone who was disappeared? People talk about Stalin's purges but signally fail to draw the obvious parallels with the purges of the Latin American peoples.
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  304. In what way?
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  305.  @thewesternworld9695  I thought China was communist or communist‐capitalist hybrid. And that it pumps out more professionals each year than the whole of the USA and Europe combined. And is the workshop of the world, producing most of the consumer products that the USA and Europe use. And Russia....
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  306. I'm sure that either jointly or separately Russia and China will prove themselves more than capable at suppressing undue interference from the USA in that country and, indeed, that region. Cooperation for mutual benefit between Kazakhstan and its neighbours is a much better proposition than any involving conflict or sanctions.
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  307.  @EnglishMike  incompetence... or expediency?
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  308. Interesting. Don't know how much of what you say is true but I wouldn't put it past certain elements of the military and intelligence apparatus of the USA to do this, those that are literally unaccountable within the regular system of governance and oversight.
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  309.  @HarryWolf  I don't know. Ask the OP.
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  310. I suspect the real powers behind the throne in the European Union deliberately want to foster the conditions that will make colour revolutions, coups and the like more likely, destabilising the continent and making the assumption to power of authoritarian right wingers like Marine le Pen governments much, much more likely.
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  311.  @danmar007  Define precisely what 'The West' is.
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  312. Those Covid shots seem to be making him more, not less, susceptible to repeated re-infection.
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  313.  @kiwikeith7633  They're probably a fake party created by US intelligence.
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  314. It would seem then comrade that a return to communism is what is needed. Under communism the average Russian and Ukrainian tended to be better fed and eat a healthier and more varied diet than their western counterparts. And could afford to eat! /$
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  315. Well, to be honest it was an unworkable arrangement to begin with and was probably designed as such by the British – dividing, if not conquering, to the last.
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  316. Isn't Canada just an extension of the USA? Canada needs to get rid of its current prime minister and his neoliberal cabinet and replace him with someone who is less of a globalist and more of a nationalist/nativist.
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  317.  @sheenytan1061  The threat of a good example.
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  318.  @sheenytan1061  The threat of a bad good example.
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  319. The USA wants to stand alone with a European rump as its satraps.
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  320. What would settling the Kurdish problem mean in reality? The Turks see the area inhabited by the Kurds as an integral part of Turkey and find Kurdish nationalism anathema, seeing it as conducive to separatism and the breakup of Turkey.
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  321. I think the Russians see Ukraine as basically an extension of Russia so fighting Ukrainians is like fighting themselves, almost like a civil war, so they don't want to alienate the majority of Ukraine's citizens any more than they have to, especially as the areas where they live will eventually be absorbed into Russia either_de facto_ or de jure in everything but name (like Belarus) and they'll have to live with each other when all's said and done. They also want as much of Ukraine's infrastructure left intact at the end of the war so that it will reduce the costs of reconstruction.
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  322. Blueish. Greenish. Yellowish.
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  323.  @zanshikaijin2709  I was joking.
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  324. Would be very demoralising I should imagine.
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  325. I doubt Britain has much more.
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  326. It takes money to maintain an empire so I wonder how long it will take for the USA to realise the implications of this when China and the world stop propping up the dollar. Perhaps China prefers to prop up the dollar until the bankers are in a position to replace the world's national currencies with a single international currency dominated by just a few countries, China amongst them.
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