Comments by "LRRPFco52" (@LRRPFco52) on "William Spaniel" channel.

Biggest mistake that we make in the West is trying to understand Russia and Putin from our perspective. NATO or no NATO, it doesn’t matter, Putin was going to invade all of these places and he made this known to his foreign ministry in the early 2000s, practically after taking office. I’ve known about this since 2007. Russia isn’t comfortable with nations not under its control so close to Moscow for historical reasons.
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@manofsan My close friends in Finland (I’m half Finnish) had their close family member in the Russian Foreign Ministry. He was running his mouth bragging about how now that Russia has Putin in office, they are taking back Kazakhstan, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Romani, Bulgari, Poland, Baltics, and Finland. The Russian Foreign Minister told him to shut his mouth and not speak so openly if he wanted to remain healthy. I have lived all over that region of the world and many others, so while it is true that most people suck at geography, that isn’t the case with me. In fact, I like to travel all over different nations and go to places where the people there usually have not gone themselves. None of what I’m telling you is reported anywhere because it is incidental POLINT. Your description of Saddam’s precursors to the invasion don’t match up with any story I have heard so far. Saddam was in violation of multiple UN Resolutions he agreed to, and he wanted the world to think he had nukes. He also had purchased Nigerian yellow cake, so it was natural for the UN and his Arab neighbors to be very concerned about what he was doing. This was a dictator who used chemical weapons against Iran and his own people, so obtaining more WMD was setting off alarm bells. I’m not saying I agree or disagree with the invasion of Iraq in 2003, just what the facts were. Only 17% of Ukraine are ethnic Russians. 77.5 - 77.8% are Ukrainians. Your numbers are way off. False flag units acting for Putin initiated attacks on ethnic Russians in Donbas/Donetsk region after Ukraine ousted Yanukovych in Feb 2014, who was a Russian puppet for Putin.
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 @Virtus555 When I lived in Russia, the Ruble was ~22/USD. The foreign investments into Russia were significant. After Putin's crack-downs, foreign investors started withdrawing.
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@KolyaUrtz Canada and Mexico are the US's biggest trade partners. The US isn't using Canada to launder money for s_x-trafficking billionaires and depressing the Canadian economy. The comparisons don't work because the US has the best geography, farmland, river networks, sea ports, mountains, rail, highway, and airport systems.
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bruce parka If you played a more advanced game of geopolitical strategy and took the position of Russia, most people in the West would be shocked at how quickly they might find themselves making the same kinds of moves as Putin has. I definitely don’t agree with them, but I understand. Russia has caused personal losses to my family in Finland from 1939-1944, after Finland did nothing to Russia.
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@r3n736 Have you ever wondered why Peter built Saint Petersburg? The world doesn't need Russia. Russia has never been able to export and import much due to geographic limitations. Russian sea ports are too shallow, too few, too cold, not connected to any major river networks.
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@hlorii6598 I can't argue with that. I also think he sees himself as one of the great leaders in Russian history who must leave a legacy where he strengthened Russia from inevitable invasion by some foreign army, real or imagined. If Ukraine had been allowed to trade with Eurozone more, their economy could have surpassed Russia's and isolated Russia even more, which Putin understands better than most. His pipelines run right through Ukraine into Central Europe, who are the biggest and best-paying customers.
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@manofsan US Presidents can only be in office for 2 terms max. The Bushes and Saddam had some strange dealings going on from 1989-1993, which were under investigation by the FBI. Bush Sr. didn't get reelected.
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@TorianTammas I know. We were stationed in West Germany from 1980-1982.
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@olddogoddments675 Yup. And most of those who identify as ethnic Russians no longer support Putin after their homes have been turned to rubble.
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Trump is the only US president who authorized US forces to decimate Russian forces in Syria in 2018. Trump also led an energy policy that crushed the Russian economy.
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@jameswest416 Aitor Lorenzo was indicted for securities fraud, and is facing trial for child abuse as well.
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@melvinavery159 You can't. He's in prison awaiting trial for securities fraud and child p.
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@MultiNike79 Putin's Night Wolves started killing in Donbas after Yanukovych fled back to Putin. The only Nazis are in Russia, with pre-2014 stories from Russian news about the problems with Russian Neo-Nazi gangs.
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@gobofraggel7383 Unfortunately, mr caca-poopoo was arrested for securities fraud and kiddie vids, and is facing a minimum of 80 years in prison if convicted. Let your friends know...
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Putin crashed in an ultralight while filming a piece for Russian TV. You can see the episode here on YouTube, but they don't show the landing.
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Legacy media is and always was mostly trash.
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Putin's plan relied on Joe Biden removing Zelensky from Kiev. This would have allowed the Russian "Special Military Operation" to be quickly executed, without much response from the West, just like in Georgia 2008. When Zelensky refused to comply with Biden's evacuation, it left a leader in Kiev who could rally Ukraine to fight, while serving as a legitimate coordinator to receive foreign military articles. Had Zelenensky fled, Ukraine would have collapsed into resistance fighting of an occupier, vs an organized military force under national leadership. This changed everything, since Russia was stopped from taking Kiev and Odessa, and fought back with great effect.
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Putin was counting on Biden to get Zelensky out of Kiev in the first 24hr. This is why the WH told the Ukrainian envoy they couldn't help, while preparing the media for the inevitability of the Russian invasion and success. Putin, Biden, and the media never counted on Zelensky digging in and rallying Ukraine against the invasion. Once everyone saw how incompetent Russia was, they began sending weapons and materials to help Ukraine.
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@davidcpugh8743 US Army combat arms units that train regularly do as well or better than USMC, but it's personality-dependent of the command structure at the time. I would say that's true of any USMC combat arms unit as well. If the chain of command emphasizes constant individual and collective tasks training, run by competent and experienced NCOs who enforce the standards. This is done while creatively constructing challenging, tough, and realistic drills and exercises. If you're in a unit commanded by a garritrooper who emphasizes polish and avoids the ranges and FTXs, then that unit is ill-prepared, though the experience of its NCOs will determine if it is successful downrange. As far as combat arms units within the same career field goes between US Army and USMC, there are more similarities than differences. US Army has far superior logistics, for example, which is a product of the organizational structure and overall strategic vision for each. USMC Infantry down at the Platoon level was more flexible because of the size of Rifle Squads when they had 3 Fire Teams. USMC aviation is integrated into the MAGTF and MEU, so everyone knows who they answer to and why they're there.
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@D G Before 9/11, we were literally complaining that nothing was going on. In all of the units I was in, most dudes joined to see action, not for the college money. After 9/11, dudes were complaining still that we hadn't deployed yet, while one of the Battalions from another Brigade down the street got to go to Afghanistan. We finally got our chance to go kick off the invasion of Iraq, which many of the younger guys seemed to enjoy as long as they were slaying Fedayeen, the waiting around and typical misery of the rest of infantry life, not so much. Subsequent deployments were much more dangerous, with way more KIA suffered by most units due to the influx of insurgents looking to kill Americans for sport. Now guys are back to complaining that they never go anywhere.
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@kevinlove4356 The inner drive of some young men to be tested, prove themselves, and form bonds with their brothers is universal. The flags and ideology are adjacent to that, sometimes underlying it, sometimes after-the-fact.
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