Youtube hearted comments of Andrew Sarantakes (@andrewsarantakes639).

  1. Thanks for this video. It seems the legacy of Russian/Soviet imperialism has created some very long term problems. It would seem that Baku is in a strong position given Russia's current focus it has with Ukraine. Thanks again for the great content you provide.
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  2. Outstanding analysis. The politics of France have always been eye opening related to the strident political differences, and how they can co-exist in a single political entity. The issue of the war in Algeria highlights the internal political dynamics of France, and the fervently held feelings as well as France's imperial chauvinism contrasted against its profound liberalism. In this case it seems that this "internal" French political conflict played out violently in Algeria. Given the current internal politics of France it would seem Algeria will continue to be a giant "Pink Elephant" in the room that no one will talk about. So Algerian & Franch relations will continue to be contentious. Thanks for this great video and your efforts to objectively analyze difficult topics. 👍
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  3. Excellent laydown of events in Turkey. But as a reaction to Turkey's purchase of the S-300 Air Defense system, it would have been a great addition to articulate the US' actions to prevent this and finally removing Turkey from the F35 fighter program which Turkey was part of the strategic manufacturing supply chain for this new aircraft, which shows that US sees Turkey as a "second string" NATO nation, given that the US is happily selling this aircraft to smaller politically powerful NATO nations. Great content as always. It will be interesting to see if the elections there will actually be above question..?
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  4. Great video. Thanks for highlighting this Russian political & geograhic oddity. Russian leaders I am sure expected physical isolation of this region. Lithuania is a soverign nation and open & close their borders as they see fit. Access to the sea essentially makes any Russian points moot. Again thanks for your objectively solid content!! 👍
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  5. Thanks for discussing this timely topic. With the idea of "Novorussia" doctire, logic would tell us that Russia would in theory invade to bring all of Moldova under its control. But it is failing to conquer Ukrine, so Russia's goals in Ukriane have changed. So although Moldova is weak, Russia doesnt have the combat power to expand into attempting to seize Moldova. So a status quo of the current paradigm can be expected. Excellent video!!!!
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  6. Thanks for your balanced academic assessment of such a complex situation
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  7. Excellent topic to cover!
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  8. Thank you for highlighting China activities in African countries.
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  9. Excellent and timely topic. Thanks for laying out all the details in a way that everyone can easily understand. Soviet administrative border constructs created over 100-years ago have created so many problems, as well as all the massive population relocation Stalin conducted after WW2.
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  10. Excellent laydown of the dynamics in Moldova. Residual effects of past national political borders and conflicts conflicts is surprising.
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  11. Thank you for all of the illuminating information you always provide
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  12. Outstanding! Thanks for covering this very important topic.. My perspective is due to domestic political concerns the neo-cons under Bush refused to face the military realities that unfolded in Iraq. Bottom line is Rumsfeld was misguidingly applying his theoretical model of post-industrial age conflict, and under Bush the United States Never used the required military manpower needed to pacify & win in Iraq. The neo-cons did not have the political will or courage to win. Iraq is a failed state due to poor execution of US foreign policy. Since the American Civil War the way in which the American Army defeats an enemy is with overwhelming manpower & robust logistics. This tenant was not followed in Iraq. A true failure in the accomplishment of a desire political goal. But poor execution of Foreign Policy will always result in a failure, and the people in Iraq have beeen the ones who have sadly have suffered due to tge political failure in Iraq. Thanks again for your great political analysis. Keep up the great work. 👍
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  13. A great topic on the podcast, yet another sub-set of the Cold War that lingers on long after the fall of the Soviet Union. Cuba & the US have so much history of being intertwined with significant acrimony over many decades. It is unknown if the roots of socialism are deeply embedded in the Cuban body politic, or like in some former Soviet bloc nations in Europe where communism was imposed upon a nation & remained unmoved due to single strongman leader.?🤔 I am not from Florida in the US, but the Cuban expatriate community there is so strongly focused on politcal change against the current socialist regime in Cuba that it is difficult to ascertain the pathway forward. The Cuban community in Florida would probably want Cuba to become the 51st state (LOL), but 60+ years of socialist influences have most likely had deep cultural impacts on the Cuban people. As people pontificated in the early 1990s that if the Soviet Union imploded, Cuba, north Korea & the PRC would soon follow. But Cuba & north Korea have remained as steadfast nations focused on communism most likely due to strongman political structures, but now the assessment can be that Cuba will remain a poor socialist nation that despite the world around it, will choose to adhere to the framework of communism. This is a great topic to analyze, so thanks for highlighting this on the podcast. Keep up the your great efforts to provide a solid platform for true intellectual dialog.
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  14. Excellent content. Pointing out the absence of coverage/information on this conflict is very important. The foundation in this tragic situation we see pre-date the colonial era and seem to be a classic situation of factional efforts of groups attempting to gain political power. The vast scope & scale of this situation compared to events in Gaza are enormous and the humanitarian disaster that is developing needs world attention. Thank you for having this as your topic. Many small voices combined add up and the will result in world attention. Keep up your excellent work.
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  15. Excellent! Thanks for covering this topic is a great balance way. There will always be a natural tension between Greece & Turkey, but I believe that liberal political leadership in Turkey would produce a more conducive environment. Thanks for the great content!
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  16. Outstanding analysis! Keep up your diligent efforts. 👍
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  17. Thanks for your very fair & diligent efforts to frame a very difficult aspect of international relations. As the baby boomer generation in the United States ages away, the contentious paradigm of "Vietnam War Syndrom" has moved into political obscurity in the American body politic. As Vietnam War veterans, both Senators McCain & Kerry's efforts to normalize relations with Vietnam helped bury to political ghosts of that era in the US. As an American, I can say, culturally, the bitter divide in society over "Vietnam" is gone. Most people in the US arent even aware the Cold War and the war in Vietnam as a subset of the bi-polar world conflict. However, I am not sure how the people of Vietnam see the legacy of that conflict. But it seems despite Clinton, Bush, Obama & even Trump efforts to have positive engagement with Vietnam, it seems that Vietnam works to be publicly engaging with the US, but the historical/cultural/political scars are too deep there for them to fully partner with the US against the PRC as Japan does. Excellent content as always
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  18. This is a little studied aspect of WW2. Thanks for this topic.
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  19. Great assessment of the situation in the Philippines
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  20. Excellent assessments.
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  21. Excellent Cold War history content! A video on the Turkish invasion would be a fantastic content to present. Truly looking forward to that when you have the opportunity to get to Cyprus!👍
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  22. Thanks for covering this WW2 topic
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  23. Thanks for all the content reference the Netherlands and the Dutch perspective in WW2.
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  24. Excellent
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  25. Outstanding video! Thanks forvyoyr great objective videos. 👍
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  26. Excellent
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  27. Awesome content!! Thanks for discussing this topic. What is happening in the Red Sea is in fact an international threat. Unfortunately "passive" coalition efforts in the Red Sea will not accomplish ensuring the freedom of navigation. The current weakness of the US government will only result in more provocative events. The lesson of 1938 has been essential ignored. Passive measures in the Red Sea area will prove to be unsustainable. To shoot down 14 Houthi drones at a cost of $20,000, the US used 18 SM-2 missile at a cost of $2.5 million each. Cost benefit analysis at the US Dept of Defense is a real factor over timein policy decision making and $45 million to shoot down $280,000 worth of drones can not be sustained over time in a "passive" coalition effort. The aggression being seen in the Red Sea is a result in the failure of deterrance, and deterrence is the key to sustainable peace. As always thanks for the excellent content you provide in a true academic perspective. Your work is so refreshing and provides for true learning. 👍
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  28. Excellent video. Keep up the amazing work.
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  29. Great content! It is important to highlight historical events that are not well known about.
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  30. Great topic to highlight. Excellent work!👍
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  31. 👍 👍 👍 👍
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  32. Excellent content. It seems that Russia's security commitments & guarantees were proven to be hollow, so Armenia politically would naturally orient towards the West. Your assessment I see as accurate that Armenia will begrudgingly see the situation as it is and that true alignment with Russia is their only option, despite Russia's current strategic focus on Ukraine. Thanks for your great content!
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  33. Excellent video, well laid out. Best of all is your true academic objectivity. Thanks for all your efforts.
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  34. Thanks for your effors in 2021
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  35. Thanks for your videos
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  36. Very informative. Thanks for discussing this topic.
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  37. Very intresting topic with great depth of information. It is so intresting how the nuissance of words can create such high levels of political consternation. A good question to examine in depth would be to analyze Greece's perspective. Does Greece have fears of secession feelings in its norther administrative areas, or territorial claims from the north? Great topic.
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  38. Great topic on a subject little known about. Keep up the great work.
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  39. I complement you for discussing this issue.
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  40. Excellent topic!
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  41. Well delivered and articulated content! 👍
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  42. Thanks for all the information
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  43. Excellent video
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  44. Excellent.
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  45. Extremely enlightening video. Than you for this unique content on Agriculture
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  46. James, great topic and you covered the "two edge sword" impacts of Russian owned assets outside of Russia extremely well. Freezing of aseests was a wise move at the outset of this situation, but we must address that most of these "assets" are property own by individuals who are Russian. If the assets are soverign holdings of the Russian state, it falls in a different catagory of consideration. Regardless of owernship these assets are in numerous countries and fall under the individual jurdistiction of the property rights laws in those locations. The rights to the ownership of property (land tenure & title) are a cultural foundation to the success of Western nations. Appropriation of assets who happen to be individuals who are Russians, must follow established legal processes in each nation where they are located. Even the seizure of intrest earning from this property must also be fully adjudicated by individual state's legal processes. Russia is the Aggressor State in this situation, however the issue of assets is highly complex & nuissanced. Defense of Western liberal values is equally applying the law to the situation regarding property owned by Russians or the Russian state outside of Russia. Retrograde legislation passed by nations after Russia's invasion of Ukraine that targets Russian property is only a mechanism of legal theft. These kind of actions undermind the concept of property ownership in the West. Doing so is a betrayal of the idea of Western values, and smacks of convenient hypocrisy. In the United States the ACLU has famously defended evil characters right to free speech despite the evil speech being vile to all of society. But as in that situation the individual "right" is more imporant then the person. So we must acknowledge that despite Russia's evil actions in Ukraine we in the West must adhear to the concept of property rights of Russian individuals & the Russian state and any processes to sezie property MUST be adjudicated legally with the laws in place prior to Russia's invasion in February 2022. Undermining that concept of the safety of property ownership, as you well stated, opens up Pandora's box and in effect is a contributing factor to the destruction of liberal Western values, prosperity and success. Excellent topic to present. As always thanks for the great platform your podcast provides.
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  47. Excellent content
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  48. Excellent content! You have mapped out the paradox wrapped in an enigma which is Cyprus is in the world of international relations. What about the security guarantees from the UK & Greece from 1960 for the Republic of Cyprus? It seems that Turkey has truncated the three nation guarantee from 1960 when they invaded Cyprus in 1974. But Hezbollah is Iranian proxy so Cyprus would maintain its relations with Gulf Arab states if it was attacked by Iran's proxy. Also the the UK's legal status of its installations are "Soverign Base Areas". So this from a legal perspective is territory of Britan. If inaccurate rockets & missiles fired by Hezbollah hit these facilities that would in fact be an attack upon the UK itself, thus bringing NATO's Article V into consideration. A highly thought provoking and complex situation. Definitely a situation for lawyers to opine upon before policy makers recommend any course of action to a decision maker. Thanks for this very salient topic for the podcast.
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  49. Excellent analysis! It is truly a pandora's box. Putin politically will not accept a defeat in Ukraine in any way, and now since the annexation of Ukrainian territory, he most likely for domestic political reasons, has intentionally painted Russia into a corner so victory is assured. From a Conventional conflict perspective, Putin know he can win an attritional war with Ukraine and he most likely believes time will cause European/NATO's resolve to collapse. Ukraine can not win a war of attrition, and bluntly Putin knows no NATO country has the political will to directly engage him militarily. Simply put Putin WILL use battlefield tactical nuclear weapons if needed, thus he wins; but he is playing a long game conventionally, which he knows he will win. Mass media or political actors around the world focusing on Russian Tactical or Operational set backs is quite foolish. This is a Strategic conflict. And Strategically Russia has the capability, and more importantly, the political will to win. In the 1940s small little Germany easily, at theTactical & Operational level, defeated the Red Army twicein two years, but Russia (Soviet Union) fought a Strategic & attritional conflict, and won. The Russian way of war is the use of Attrition and Mass. A Ukrainian opertional gain is good for short term political optics, but the Mass of Russia's capability has not yet been shown. Thanks again for your excellent assessment of issues involving nations & politics. Amazing work and keep up your efforts to articulate facts about situations in a true academic way.
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  50. Thanks for your content! Keep up the History Hustle!👍
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  51. Excellent video. Keep.up the great content.👍
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  52. @JamesKerLindsay  The situation is tragic, and the lessons of 1938 are clear, aggression unchecked leads to more aggression. That is the fear we all know that with Russia seen as the winner in this conflict, will turn international politics upside down, with interstate conflicts rising again to be the norm. We all dont want that to be the outcome, but deterrance was ambiguous, thus the conflict happened. I was a career professional soldier, and the hard cold military assessment is that given the attritional nature the conflict has become, the weight of demographic numbers make it impossible for Ukrine to accomplish its political goals through military means. The historical analog is just like when the German army threw itself against robust prepared defenses at the Battle of Kursk in 1943, the ability to win the operation victory was impossible and the strategic outcome was obvious. It is shocking and sad to see that only a few NATO nations see the reality of Russian aggression with Poland & the tiny Baltic republics taking the situation seriously. Poland for example has aggressively moved to 4% of GDP spending on defense, while other NATO nations seem to see the "situation in Ukrine as manageable", which is dangerous. But the seemingly addiction to the post Cold War Peace Dividend in Europe is not reality now, and without creating solid deterrance, more conflicts will occur. The shocking realities of Ukrainian losses have been extremely well hidden, but the level of losses are shocking. Given the lack in the ability of the Ukrainians to execute operational art to achieve decisive results on the battlefield, the Russians have the advantage. The situation is beyond tragic, but political failures happened. At this point the way to decisively prevent more future conflicts is to fall back onto the Cold War paradigm of robust deterrance. In jest we can say "West Germany from 1987 called me and said deterrance works". Poland today is effectively applying this strategy & it will prove to be successful. The financial cost of deterrance is not cheap, but compared to the costs in blood & treasure in a conflict, investing in robust deterrance has historically proven to be successful as well as financial cheaper. We all want the same outcome, but this conflict is appalling & sickening to me in levels I feel I can't express in words. A good commander has wisdom and understands the realities of his limitations. The outcome is horrible, but to me, the military realities of the situation are clear. As always, thanks for providing a platform for positive dialog.
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  53. James, you have out done yourself. I know you spent more time on preparing this video & you did an amazing job at presenting objectivity into the most controversial topic on the planet. Excellent! I like the idea of the EU becoming the lead organization in reconstruction effort. The cast of players from the past involved in all things related to the conflict can not be objective in this effort, and the EU would objectively have the best chance of success at reconstruction. Again, thank you for this video.
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  54. James I am shocked to see as you said the low views on this topic, when this should be the topic of highest interests. Bottom line is that this war is going to end, and to create the conditions of success for reconstruction must be discussed. The EU is the only body/nation which has not been a participant in the historical events in Holy Land since the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 & the establishment of Isreal in 1948. The example we have historically is Germany, which was successfully rebuilt post 1945. The scale of destruction of Germany in 1945 is beyond compassion to the small geograpic enclave of Gaza, so it is in scope of the possible for the EU to accomplish this critical task. The EU as an impartial body can successfully set the conditions of success. In regard to this difficult conflict, "good fences make good neighbors" and the EU can give the people of Gaza a way forward to success. The US, UN, Isreal & Arab nations all have too much "baggage" in this region, so for a highest chance of success the EU is the only choice, any other will be more of the same. Warfare, despite its brutality, is a tool of statecraft and from a realist perspective through a lens of Clauswitz, "war is politics in a different form." As stated previously, this war is going to end, and a successful reconstruction effort will prevent yet another flaring up of violence in the future. It is best to work to solve this "political issue" after the kinetics have ceased through an impartial body working to eliminate theological influences which are constantly present. And the political tools the EU can bring to bear in a reconstruction environment can be a pathway to success. Thanks for presenting this vital topic in the podcast.
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  55. Excellent content. Thanks for having this as your topic. Eye opening and a shock.
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  56. Outstanding Content!
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  57.  @JamesKerLindsay  I completely agree. The driving factor was Rumsfeld blind adherence to his theoretical model, which was low troop numbers, and thus not having the required forces to pacify & to provide for civil stability of an occupied county. The historical exames of Germany's and Japan's occupation, then subsequent success of positive cultural change, and effective governance is proof of a positive outcome. But most likely that proven model of success was rejected by neo-cons because it was planned and conducted by FDR's "New Dealers". Blind adherence to any idology is proof of ignorance.
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  58. Thanks again for this great video. Keep up the fantastic work. 👍
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  59. Intresting assessment🤔
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  60. Thanks for all the information you provide.
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  61. Thanks for covering this topic.
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  62. Good video
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  63. James, excellent run down of the background and the political ramifications. I am here on the ground in Korea, and we shall see today (Saturday) how this all unfolds. If Yoon's party rallies behind him (108 seats in parliament) he will remain president, but a very damaged lame duck, which will result in complete political grid lock & the RoK government will be crippled. It's definitely an eye-opening event. Thanks for the balanced academic way you present every topic. It provides a true platform of dialog. 👍
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  64. Great content
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  65. James, outstanding content. Excellent job on summing up a highly complex situation dealing with Turkey/Syria & the Kurds. Turkey seems focusd on being the local/regional hegemonic power dictating the future political constructs.
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  66. Great video on a topic which not much is known about. A question I have is was there anti-sedition laws in the Netherlands prior to the war? And if so were these the laws used to prosecute Dutch after the war who supported Germany. Great work. Keep the Hustle going.
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  67. Thanks for highlighting the bad businees pratices that happen in China
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  68. Awesome as usual. 👍
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  69. Great video on the never ending theft efforts by the CCP. Keep up your great efforts on exposing the Chinese gangster state...
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  70. 👍
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  71. Highly educational. Many thanks.
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  72. Great video. Georgia seems to be quite conflicted. Small nations seem to be concerned about their sovereignty to avoid domination by larger political entities. Great topic & clear fair analysis.
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  73. 🤔 The world wonders what China will do? Great analysis! Your assessment is accurate. Keep up the great work. 👍
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  74. Excellent video
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  75. Outstanding content
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  76. Excellent content.👍
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  77. Very informative content
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  78. Awesomeness...
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