Comments by "LancesArmorStriking" (@LancesArmorStriking) on "Big Think" channel.

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  15.  @Morwenna1220  No, not really. At the time of NATO General Secretary de Hoop Schefer announced that both Georgia and Ukraine "would become a part of NATO", interest in Ukraine for membership was barely in double digits. If it were held to a vote, instead of the ruling party deciding the interests of the entire country, and the US taking advantage of that fact, then the vote would fail. So I'm not really sure what you mean by "would never have sought to join nato". That sounds like empty assurances to me. It is not the first time the West has done that, either. Most of their current international influence was rooted in them not being beneath lying, cheating, stealing, and colonizing. "As usual Russia creates its own problems" If Europe genuinely attempted to integrate Russia into Europe, instead of exploiting its economic and political weakness immediately after the fall of the USSR, it would not as paranoid ans hostile as it is today. Russia did not create this problem, the West did. Every Russian stateman's (Tsar, Emperor, or Premier's) worst fears were confirmed when Russia fell under Western influence- and the country was absolutely ruined for over a decade as a result. The economic policies and political reforms that the West instructed Russian leadership to do, seemingly were designed to keep it destitute. You could argue "well Russian leaders made that choice", but you would also need to concede that the West has never had Russia's best interests at heart, and that when the formalities fall away, they really deep down just wanted to plunder our natural resources and human talent, which they did. I have seen people unironically tell me that it was Russia's fault to be so naïve as to think the West would honor any agreements or good wishes between us. And you wonder why it is aggressive. The oldest Russian motto was re-affirmed in 1991: “I have no way to defend my borders but to extend them.” Security against whom? Well, now we have our answer.
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  23.  @Morwenna1220  "And that fear motivated them to conquer, to subjugate and generally to wage war when they had overwhelming numbers and power" How does this make them any different than the West? France still has a stranglehold on West Africa's economy, UK still has colonies and is trying to dissuade Scotland from leaving, US coups a democratic government for breakfast.... yet nobody tries to punish them. Nobody, including you, who claims to care really does, or I would see them in the comments calling Bush a "madman" or "bully" or whatever other silly armchair psychology they come up with. You seem to forget that Russia feels a need to expand... because they were, up until 1945, constantly being attacked! You act like they just decided to wage war for fun one day. Europe was playing the exact same game, don't pretend like Russia is any different. Repeatedly and with great urgency Again, no. Italy and Greece's elections were massively rigged to keep their Communist parties from genuinely participating. Ukraine, as I mentioned, had no interest in joining even in 2008. Only its temporary administration. "Also Russias economic weakness is their own fault" Sounds like you don't know much about the 1990s in Russia. It was not Russia's fault. Russians did not finance Yeltsin's campaign with a $10Billion loan from the IMF. Russians did not launder their own money to London and New York. Russians (even Russian government) did not all want to privatize everything and drain the government of any tax income. It wasn't Russians who rigged the elections in Chechnya. This was all done because of Bush and Clinton. He was elected, but once US presidents realized how much of a spineless drunk he was, they rigged Russia's elections in 1996 and pushed him to privatize everything. "they could have done what China did " They could have, there were many in Russian government who wanted to, but the US economists convinced Yeltsin otherwise. Besides, for that to happen, the USSR would need to still exist. Gorbachev should have started with economic reforms, then political reforms, slowly. "In stead of fooling yourself by thinking they were somehow forced by it" They aren't forced. But, like Ukraine, the US waits for an opportune moment when the government wants to join (regardless of what the people think) and then they legally tie them in.
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