Here's Why Russia Invaded Ukraine | w/Bill Maher 

Seeing Bill and Ben having a civilized discussion on current events without the audience cheering or booing is so refreshing

You two debate way better than our current politicians.

Healthy, civil arguments. Miss these. No one yelling the other down, no one throwing insults, no one making incredibly stupid arguments. Thank you, Gentlemen.

I am Polish and I can not believe that I am so impressed with Ben Shapiro’s understanding of history and politics post WWII.

I respect Bill alot because he is willing to talk about sensitive topics without screaming or calling you a racist when he doesn't agree. He's exactly what a true old fashioned liberal is without the modern leftists unhinged mentality

The way these two guys from very differing political views engaged in conversation without resorting to profanity, hyperbole, or personal attacks is an example everyone should emulate.

They both have a mutual respect for each other. We need more of this instead of buying into the cultural cancellation

We need so much more of this. These guys need to do a regular show; people from the left and right having civilized discussions in good faith.

It shows how weird politics has become that it is refreshing to see a conversation between two people on opposite sides the aisle that are respectful to each other and both reject the crackhead woke stuff.

Just a small notice as Ben has gotten some things wrong: 1. Finland isn't part of NATO 2. Russia actually applied to NATO but was denied.

These two have great chemistry. They may disagree on many things, but that’s what makes these conversations so important. We need more of this!

This is the way it was done in the old days as I was growing up. People with different opinions used to be able to conversate without all the anger, insults and threats. I salute these men for being able to talk at each other instead of going off on each other

Wow. This is the very definition of old fashioned, polite and respectful discussion, irrespective of what political leanings you might have. Well done and respect to both of these men.

What I love about this is that Bill is arguing a view that more closely aligns with Trump’s expressed view that we should have made Russia an ally, whereas Ben is arguing the foreign policy of Hillary Clinton, to prolong opposition to Russia. In other words, there’s nuance in their ideology that defy the standard left/right paradigm.

I like this format better than with a studio audience. I think having an audience detracts. Good job gents.

I have to correct Shapiro at 5:32 - Finland was never a member of NATO - both Finland and Sweden applied for full membership in 2022.

Proof that a television audience does absolutely nothing to raise the intellectual or civil level of discourse in this country. More of this, please.

Two smart people with different points of view having a civilized discussion. We used to see this all the time. We need to see it again.

Finland is not and has never been part of NATO, only cooperates in military exercises with them abroad. Sincerely, a Finn

I love these civil discussions. Both sides can learn from this but I can understand being tired of the same old b.s. It takes someone special to remain civil. Much respect to both of y'all.

It is so refreshing to hear polite discourse between two intelligent people. Well done, gentlemen!

More of this, please. Mutual respect even through disagreement. No harsh words. No name calling. Just civilized discussion from smart men from opposite sides of the aisle.

Shapiro at 5:35: ‘Finland has been bordering Russia since 1949 as a member of NATO.’ Incorrect. Finland is only _now_ considering to become a member of NATO, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

So painful agreeing with Bill Maher over my hero "Ben Shapiro" but I couldn't agree more, nato is and has been outdated and should never have been encroaching on Russia, why does nobody remember the security conference in Munich in 2007, when Russia specifically said they could not accept this

It’s amazing how smart Bill Maher sounds when he doesn’t have a drooling studio audience hooting at his every word.

This puts shame to every Sunday Morning show on the MSM. Whoever thought of this, thank you and great job Messers Maher and Shapiro; a thoughtful, respectful debate, kudos.

Don't care for Bill Maher generally but I give him props for coming on Bens show and keeping it civil.

Putin DID look at joining NATO. He decided against, we didn't stop him. And Ukraine had no plans to join NATO - part of their agreement with Russia was not join, and in return give up their nuclear weapons. What they DID want to join was the EU - not a military alliance.

The entire interview was so worth it just to hear Bill Maher say, "Communism was so evil."

Bill should do this more often. This was a real debate. Get more opposition people on your program.

What Bill said about communism changing the psyche of a people is very true. I was born in communist Cuba and my parents came to the US when I was only 6yrs old. Most of our relatives that stayed behind have a very different mentally than my family. And the Cubans that migrate to US now are not the same kind of people that migrated early on.

I like how they disagree on practically everything, but yet they still can have a civil discussion on the subject matter while both coming to an understanding between the twoof them. If only our elected officials could understand this style of cooperation. Maybe we wouldn't be so politically divided between the left and right.

Finally, two well spoken respectful people coming together and expressing their views without resorting to bickering. Imagine if our government or even citizens could do such a thing and where we might be as a people or even country. It’s hard to sift through all the emotion based arguing and get to what really matters in this world.

Impressed with the two arguing civilly. Was glad to see Maher come out against communism and agreed with a lot what he.said. We pushed Russia into the villain role.

First? This is hilarious 🤣🤣🤣🤣 the fact that these two are talking in this format is just weird world 2022

I am neighbor with Russia and Ukraine and I did studied in school a lot about their common history but do not interfere into their fight. Nowadays even if some are thousands of miles away and did not studied not even 1 hour of both States history they can interfere.

Thank you Ben and Bill for a phenomenal show of civil debate. This debate was absolutely refreshing and intelligent. Needed and necessary and our country and in our politics today.

Bill is drastically underestimating Putin…

My first thought was: "These TWO guys? In ONE room?" Happy that they have to organise these meeting. They are reasonable Americans.

Putin asked to be a member of NATO and was told no deal. Look it up.

THIS is the kind of discussion we DESPERATELY need in our country NOW!!! These two are PHENOMENAL!!!

2019 Democrats: “Trump is try’n to start WW3” 2022 Democrats: “We need to start WW3” ……..good grief beam me up Scotty I’ve had enough of this hypocrisy!😖

Maher is correct in this respect; the way we dealt with Russia post 1991 is the proximate cause of this whole mess. NATO is certainly part of that.

When did Putin say invading Ukraine would be a cake walk? He didn’t.

05:32 Ben is wrong - Finland was never a member of NATO, though there's some talk about joining now in fear of Russian invasion.

THANK GOD FINALLY. A respectful debate on current politics between 2 famous figures from the left and right? Please let’s keep doing this and we might actually have a democracy. Edit: We might actually have a constitutional republic* Edit 2: for the nerds. While often categorized as a democracy, the United States is more accurately defined as a constitutional federal republic. What does this mean? “Constitutional” refers to the fact that government in the United States is based on a Constitution which is the supreme law of the United States.

I’m a total conservative but I always loved Bill. He speaks his mind but is also self aware and sees value in hearing everyone’s opinions right or left.

Bill missed totally, that Russians don't want amerikan Rokets on their Border. There's no difference to US interests. Amercans don't want Russian Rokets on their Border to Mexico for example. Or is it like if the US does it then its ok?

This is great. I know Bill studied history, so its great to hear his views in detail in a longer format. And Ben of course is a smart guy. Makes for a good convo. Great to see this interview 👍

I don't know what happened to Bill Mahr, but he's making more sense by the day. GREAT conversation. We need much more of this!

Bill is one of the few people who really makes sense. Ben is clueless when saying finland is a nato member, they are not!

Американцы, которые лезут в политику других стран по всему миру и ведут себя как экономический диктатор, которые уничтожили миллионы в своих интересах - называют Россию плохой. Это просто абсурд.

"Finland has been bordering Russia since 1949 as a member of NATO" uhh Finland isn't, nor has it ever been, a part of NATO.

🇺🇸Lets Go Brandon🇬🇧

A proper conversational debate. Should be used as a template for discussion in all schools today. Mutual respect for each other’s views.

It is sad to see the US citizens struggle with reality.

It's amazing when two people of intelligence have a discussion, it's exactly that; a discussion. Thank you both!

This was a beautiful pairing! I like seeing discussions like this. No need to be insulting or threatening. No need to disrespect the other person. It was wonderful to watch all round

Bill Mahr is quite right in his analysis, Good job Bill.

God, I hate it so much when you americans are acting smart about Europe and our relationships. I'm from Slovenia, the first country that broke from Yugoslavia. We had a short war to get independent, it would last 6 days, after we surrounded and disarmed all JNA in our country, Serbs were ready to let us go out of YU, but then USA called Beograd and demanded to get us in check, so Beograd sent another wave of tanks and armored vehicles, so it took another 5 days to deal with that and after that USA realized it's hopeless and admitted us as first independent country. Still, you did try to backstab us and were willingly ready to risk more death because our independence wasn't going along your strategic interests around the world. Well, after this can of worms was opened, wars broke out all over YU, but rest assured, every ex nation of YU hates you for what you did to Serbs with those 78-79 days of bombings. Kosovo is part of Serbia and it always was, Tito made a mistake settling albanians there in hope albania becomes seventh state of YU, so Serbs became minority, then tried to use that chance and get independent. Same crap happened in Macedonia, but Macedons managed to extinguish rebellion there. Anyway, by taking Kosovo from Serbia, you basically made it acceptable for every region around the world, to go independent if they want to and you gave majority russian speaking regions in Ukraine, that were basically given to Ukraine during USSR by Georgian and Ukrainian USSR leaders, that had millions of russian citizens there, right to go independent. So now you got 2 breakaway regions in Ukraine, with majority Russian population trying to break away, after trying to have their russian identity canceled, language canceled and which were shelled for 8 years by Ukraine. Minsk agreement, that was guaranteed by France and Germany, that's supposed to solve this, was broken, France and germany didn't do absolutely nothing to make sure Ukraine sticks to it. At the same time you got nato pushing after fall of berlin wall toward east, usa lying to russians that rocket shields that were getting placed along the new nato border, are against iran, nato trying to literally surround russia by trying to get Ukraine, Georgia and Mongolia or Kazahstan in nato (which basically means nato tries to surround freaking biggest country in the world). Country that has a disputed territory can't get in nato, so russia hit georgia and got a part of it's territory to be disputed (S. Osetia), now it did the same with Ukraine. Russia actually asked if it can become part of EU and part of NATO, it was refused to be part of EU, because it's supposedly doesn't fit geographically in it and regarding nato, it was also refused, because one of russian conditions was to have equal status to usa and not be a vassal state to usa like european countries. Also, nato branded russia as the biggest threat to the alliance, so now you've got nato trying to surround Russia, building rocket shields, building us military financed biolabs that are collecting specifically russian dna in Ukraine, building up quick response forces and branding russia at the same time as the biggest threat to alliance and at the same time politicians in washington for everything going wrong in usa accusing russia, so naturally russians started looking at nato as legitimate threat to their safety. They were pointing out for years that Ukraine joining nato isn't acceptable to them, because it's a threat to their national security and balance of mutual destruction would be broken, all the responses from western politicians they were getting is that they'll do what they want and to mind their own bussiness. Hypersonic missile needs 5 minutes from Ukraine to Moscow, tanks would need few hours to moscow if nato decided to launch suprise attack, their military would literally need to be on high alert 24/7/365 on a few thousand kilometer long border. Last time they had to defend that border was against germans and they had millions of troops assigned there. It's just not a situation you want to be in. If nato got in Ukraine, USA would basically have knife on their throat and Russia would be at mercy of USA forever and it would be just a question when USA would slit their throat. They know that if they lose Ukraine they're long term doomed as a country and a nation. So now they're doing 3 things. They got breakaway regions under control, Ukraine can't get in nato, the regions they hold from Ukraine also provide 75% of gdp of Ukraine and without them Ukraine is now bankrupt and as Zelensky said, they need 5 billion dollars a month to even run the country. So Russia is in no hurry, because they protected their own citizens in those regions, they're killing and demilitarizing ukrainian army on the border of those regions and nato at the same time, they're wrecking Europe and partially USA in economy by keeping this war going and at the same time Europe and USA will have to give zelensky those 5 billion a month. They will probably never go for the rest Ukraine at all, because they're already doing enough damage with what they have and they can keep this going for years or for as long as it takes; until Ukraine agrees to neutrality and demilitarization and to stay out of nato, or until Europe forces Ukraine to do it, or until nato starts an open war with them. And in that case and if they start losing Ukraine or nato even manages to push into Russia, nuclear weapons will be used. They know they're done as a nation if Ukraine falls to nato, they decided they'll resolve this while their demographics can still handle it and while they might have some advantage over USA in missile systems and ICBM's. Russian people also know that, that's why 85% of them support this. But no one should really have any illusion that they'll somehow lose the war and bend the knee. In slavic culture, it's better to die with some dignity then go on your knees and there is nothing worse then getting on the knees in front of USA. So the more you people try to push them to get on the knees, the closer you are to turning into radioactive wasteland too. But they're not crazy and try to avoid it, what you people perceive as their threats when they talk about usage of nuclear weapons, isn't a threat, from their perspective they're talking to idiots and they're trying to explain, like you would explain to a child, what consequences of his actions would be. Marking Putin as he wants to be some savior is also kind of silly, this is not about him or his personal goals, he's not Biden, the guy literally spent last 20 years working day and night trying to improve lives of russians. He did decide to do it now, because he holds enough power in russia to actually be abel to launch those nuclear strikes and he isn't sure that after he is gone, due to corruption, if whoever comes after him will sell himself out like Gorbachov (which didn't get state funeral) or if he'll accept some american bribery. He's got country under control, so he wants to do it now.

Seeing these two talk like civilized adults gives me hope in humanity.

I always love hearing them talk to each other. It’s one of the best examples of people with different perspectives having a very functional, fruitful conversation and exchange of ideas. They argue points but they also just accept each other’s perspectives and opinions as well. Please continue doing stuff with Bill in the future 🥰

Maher is getting older and he sees his team has gone coo coo for coco puffs and he is scrambling to find some semblance of sanity. Finally! Sensible conversation among two people that don’t have to agree on everything… loved it.

When both these guys agree you know someone's making a lot of money on war

Shapiro is wrong about Finland being a member of NATO. It's concerning that he can insist it so strongly with a back story of when they joined and everything, yet be flat out wrong about it.

Finland isn't in NATO, it stayed neutral and prospered.

BRAVO to both Shapiro & Mahr. It’s refreshing to see 2 people with opposing political views sit down and exchange thoughts without all the “theater” that usually accompanies this type of exchange. My faith in human-kind has slightly been restored. 🤘🤘

Finland didn't join NATO until recently

I love this discussion- it’s calm and rational. Something we are sorely lacking in the media and politics today.

I totally agree with Bill Maher when he said they should have made Russia part of NATO

Bill and Ben, I applaud you for a good honest intellectual conversation, and not be a jab fest. This makes sense and we need more of this. Thank you.

5:33 "Finland has been bordering Russia since 1949 as a member of NATO". That statement is 100% false. Finland is not and has never been a member of NATO. Finland has since the end of the second world war kept a policy of armed neutrality. Finland has a been member of the EU since 1995 mainly for economic reasons.

I like Ben most the times, but really....he has no clue about foreign politics. Bill hit´s it perfectly. The mistakes we did 30 years before are hunting us down now.

this is the first Ben Shapiro that makes no sense and shows that Ben knows nothing about what is occurring or why it occurred. He's literally ignorant to the actual realities.

I'm so happy to see you two continue to have dialogue on tough issues. So much of what we hear is the big media's interpretation (vaccine mandates, critical race theory, cancel culture, etc.) versus intelligent and thought provoking dialogue you guys continue display (while staying respectful). Love it!

What a calming discussion that was and that’s how it should be. I think we can all agree we need more of this and less craziness on both sides.

It's wonderful to see two people having a discussion even disagreeing at times yet having a reasonable basis for the disagreement. Each of which seeing the others point of view agreeing to disagree and moving forward with the conversation. Absolutely fantastic

"30 years ago, 1991". Yeah, that hurt.

correction: Finland is not a member of NATO. There has been growing support in Finland for joining NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

They key question which Maher actually asked at 3:17min is: "Should NATO have encroached all the way up to Russia's borders?" Shapiro answered - Yes! He didn't fully grasp the question because he doesn't understand what is going on in that region. The fact he thinks that Finland are already part of NATO reveals his reasoning is flawed because it is wrapped up in a Right Vs Left ideology.

I agree with Bill, we should’ve accepted Russia into NATO and EU.

America needs a Ben & Bill Podcast

I'm actually impressed by the amount of good points both men are making here. Ben is right that the West in their hubris thought that they could beat Russia by charming them, and that sometimes we need to get rough. Bill is correct that we cannot continue to be the world's police and that NATO definitely has some responsibility in alienating Russia.

Bill Maher is right about NATO adding Russia as a NATO member. Russia applied but was denied.

Two smart Humans with different points of view having a civilized discussion. America and the world needs more of this. Bravo

4:48 Russia was talking to join NATO and even they said they could do. But Putin could not agree with values most NATO countries stand for and choose different path.

I hate to say it but Ben is wrong on one thing. Despite what Ben says at 5:32, Finland has NEVER been a member of NATO...ever.

Bill, your questioning of the role of NATO in a post-soviet era is courageous and insightfull.

huge respect for how these two respectfully discuss topics even when they have very different opinions.

Its so refreshing to see a civil discussion

Refreshing to hear and see Bill Mahar relaxed and speaking his mind. Thank you ❤️

Gotta love when these two get together. Civil, intelligent debates.

Bill actually makes way more sense than Ben. Actually I feel like Ben is holding a grudge against a lot of people

I don’t usually agree with Shapiro, but I 100% agree with him in this. I’m a liberal, but dismantling NATO would probably be the worse option possible.

It's a bit sad how little real information and knowledge guys with that much authority in public opinion have. Bill talks about Kosovo in 1989 and says it wasn't part of Serbia but Kosovo was de facto and de jure part of Serbia until 2008 when they declared unrecognized independence. Shapiro talks how Finland would be part of Russia if it wasn't in NATO while Finland still isn't part of NATO in fact they are all over the news because they want to join but Turkey is blocking them. Then they talk about Stalin with total disregard of different propaganda pictures both nations have of him. In Russia generations and generations of people were born and raised on stories and history of Stalin the man who won the most important war in history of the entire World, a man who brought victory in great patriotic war, the most horrific war in history of Russia a war in which every Russian family gave it's sacrifice, while in the US generations were raised on hating Stalin a brutal tyrant, a dictator whose evil is matched only by Hitler. Edit: oh and Russia, with Putin as president, actually tried to get in to EU and NATO.

2 diametrically opposed ideologues having a civil conversation. Who knew?

This is what is called an intelligent discussion with 2 people with opposing viewpoints. It used to be called American values. Something that is sadly lacking today .

Intellectual pleasure to see the smart people talking!

Really disagree with Ben’s takes on the current situation in Ukraine.

Love to finally see 2 mature adults on opposite sides have a calm, respectful conversation and dialogue!! I've tried it with a few people and it's never gone well....