Nigel Gould Davies - Why A Putin Victory Risks Security, Freedom, Tolerance, and Wealth in the West. 

As a British European I completely agree with you. We need more balance across the Atlantic and this, fundamentally, is something that we in Europe have to do for ourselves. Domestic European solidarity and strength (political, military and economic) should be seen as another (now very necessary) pillar to underpin our collective security and wellbeing. It in no way should this be seen as a rejection of constructive partnerships with the United States and other countries and regions when the conditions and stability for such partnerships exist. It should be seen as an enabler for better decision-making all around. As we all know, there have been times over the last 25 years when our collective transatlantic decision making could've been better. Many of the flaws in the quality of our decision-making had roots in an over-abundance of American military power and a temptation to use it as a blunt instrument even when it wasn't appropriate or skillful to do so. And also European lack of political and military cohesion (and preoccupation with fire-fighting a self-made economic crisis by tinkering around the edges of it) while perhaps only seeing the dangers of misusing abundant military power whilst ignoring the dangers of not sufficiently investing in cohesive integrated European defence (which is more of a political issue than ever it was an economic one alone). My country, the UK, in particular blocked Europe becoming militarily more independent and cohesive as a matter of policy which - as we now see - was both blinkered and short-sighted. Other countries have been equally as blinkered, relying on collective defence as a matter of policy, but treating defence procurement and foreign policy as a fragmented, non-strategic, nationally ring fenced domestic economic and political concern. In many cases we've treated this as an opportunity to flag-wave and as a job and profit-making business rather than a vital element of our own wider security. Many of us have engaged in wishful thinking. We all need to learn from this experience and to be a little more humble and respectful of each other. The irony is that we have a belligerent (but fortunately weakened and ill-prepared) Russia to thank for helping to bring us to our senses.

The problem is Europe doesn't always do the right thing either. It definitely didn't do the right thing in terms of its own defences. And the beurocratic crap stemming from the EU was so bad that it drove the UK into that whole brexit mess. Hell, some EU laws even mess with the work I do in Australia.

@@toby9999 It sounds as if you walk through life half asleep. Open your eyes, mate. You have far.... FAR... far more bureaucracy now that the UK is outside of the EU than *any* EU country. I operate businesses on both sides of the Channel, am British but live on the continent. Until 2016 I was heavily involved with the British government delivering systems to REDUCE bureaucracy, make cross border trade easier, faster and cheaper. As well as working with the UK Government Digital Services organisation to simplify all aspects of dealing with the British government and its rules. The massive irony is that people like you chunter on about "Brussels bureaucracy" without a damn clue about what you're talking about. yet the reality is the exact OPPOSITE. Why do you think the EU exists, you silly person? And why do you think so many countries are trying to join it after having decades of experience of the disadvantages of being outside it? Those candidate countries all have FAR more experience of being outside the EU than the UK does. And they all know that the mountain if bureaucracy that they face today all DISAPPEARS the day they become EU members. As somebody who used to work cross border prior to 1992, to put one of our engineering people from Britain in a factory in Austria - one of our subsidiaries - used to take 6 to 9 months. It was so hard to get residence permits in Austria that we used to get their work permits for Austria but their residence permits for Germany. It was nightmare and cost a fortune in time, money and paperwork. That's the world that the UK is going back to. In the EU we just used to buy a plane ticket and that person would be working in Austria the same day at the drop of a hat. No business visa required. No driving licence issues. No insurance issues. And all with fully transferrable social security and pension benefits with full access to public healthcare in any country within the EU. You have absolutely no idea how hard that is now. It has become such a nightmare that for smaller UK businesses (including manufacturers, creative industries and so many more) it has killed their exports and capacity to adequately support their overseas projects stone cold dead. Even as a Brit I now have to worry about contravening local laws when crossing borders for something as simple as a business meeting in Germany or a sales demo in Switzerland or Norway (that aren't even in the EU). You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. And mate, the reason EU regulations exist for things like manufacturing, farming, IT, telecoms, farming, medical foods, pharmaceuticals and banking is to make life EASIER and CHEAPER for the people in EU countries. That's why EU citizens and residents (like me) no longer have to worry about exorbitant mobile phone charges abroad. Whereas in dear old Britain, outside of the EU, those charges are being ramped up. You wanna licence your British product to sell it abroad? You do that at EU level with a CE mark certifying it to EU regulations and you can automatically legally sell it in most countries in the world (not just the EU) because they accept the EU standards and licencing as more than good enough. This is the very reason that the UK has now abandoned it's own equivalent - which would've more than doubled the costs for British businesses for absolutely no gain whatsoever. Seriously, mate. Open your eyes and stop repeating what were ALWAYS downright ridiculous lies for stupid and ignorant people to repeat like the suckers that they are. The rest of us now actually have to deal with the logjam of bureaucracy that the UK has now created for all of us with Brexit. I do shed loads of business with the US and all the guys there think the Brits are nuts. As do many Australians incidentally. And guess what, when you want to sell stuff in and around America you have to comply with Federal laws over and above the individual state laws. Works the same as the EU laws in Europe. Americans in business all understand Title 21 of the Federal regulations (or whatever other Titles apply to their sectors and usually choose to apply EU law such as GDPR (data privacy laws from the EU) voluntarily because they simply MAKE SENSE and go hand in hand with influential state laws from important markets like California.

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You are right, all of the staff are great, heaven only knows how many people it takes to put on such a great show. Thanks. Glory to Ukraine. God Bless Ukraine and her people. 🇺🇦🇺🇸

@@williamkevinjames I believe the Helsinki Summit was in July 2018. Then Trump in August 2018 begins talking about the US buying Greenland from Denmark. April 2021 Putin formally enlarged its claim to the seabed in the Arctic Ocean all the way to Canada's and Greenland's (Denmark's) exclusive zones. A situation where they're claiming Canadian and Danish continental shelf as the Russian continental shelf.

You are absolutely right! 💙💛💙💛

There lies the problem.WE,think that it all ends,with WE.

Those " FROZEN" assets belong to Russia.

@@petehowett2854 Ukraine belongs to Ukrainians.

Yes, a big bang.

Well said, this is not discussed enough. Control over Ukrainian wheat to bound to African nations would also be of interest to Russia.

Ukraine has control of the black sea and grain shipments are higher than 2022 now. Oil targets are effecting the Russian home market and are a legitimate target.

Your comment re Netanyahu smacks of antsemitism. His responsibility isn't too dissimilar to Zelenky's... to defend his country in its existential fight against the axis of evil... a large chunk of the Arab world, Islamic extremists, ruzzia, Iran, Syria, NK... you know the ones, that cartel of thugs backing the destruction of Ukraine. If you support Ukraine, then you must support Israel. Anything else doesn't make sense. The lie that Jews are occupying some other people's land is akin to Putin's lies regarding Ukraine. The denial of the rights of an indiginous culture. The denial of their identity and of their history. Netanyahu using food as a leverage (assuming he did) isn't too dislimialar to Zelensky, destroying Russian oil refineries, and arguably justifiable. Why? Because both leaders are fighting the same fight, and if they lose, they lose everything.

Thank you!

and what about weekend people ? 😂

Thanks again!

What is IR?

​@@user-yq2wk6yg8s-- International Relations

It's not that it can't be compelling.... It's that the person doing it rarely seems to know anything about what he's trying to apply it to. 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

Thanks for your question! You are right that the US does not import oil from Russia, But oil is a globally-traded commodity, so prices are global. The price rises for all countries if supply from any country falls.

and do u know how fast WW2's american war production ramped up? When necessary, the stuff gets produced, u can rest assured. So it's a matter of deciding when.

It does have a matter. If we speak about China + Russia + Iran + Noth Korea Union and compare them to OECD countries, first ones are 3 times smaller in GDP, 2 times smaller in GDP PPP, are equal in territories (and resources), and 1.5 times more only in human resources. Technologies in the West are 3-20 years more advanced, attractiveness and world influence is higher and so on. This is the case why China in USA - Chinese economic war began to use assymetric actions. War with the help of Proxy - USSR used this tactics, Russia, of course, and China today USA cannot win economic war with China along also (Trump is just an Idiot), and Europe (wich is richer than USA in GDP PPP) must make it's own decision. All the world is awaiting of Europe decision.

@@williamkevinjames If you're referring to Putin's recent rigged election, Trump was to be found in court being harangued by yet another pearl-clutching accusation. But if by comeback you mean Russia's all out attack on Ukraine, well that occurred during Biden's administration. We must dispense of partisan superstition, it's wasting time and strategic sensibility.

I don’t think you can possibly know this. And it’s a rotten strategy in any case. It exudes weakness.

@@SiliconCurtain Yes but the West is constantly exuding weakness.

​@bradleyheights5905 the west pretends its all about helping Ukraine

It is both about Ukraine and ultimately the very real threat to European security should Russia win this war. I don't think there is any difficulty in having a moral position about the brutal assault on freedom and justice in Ukraine and at the same time recognising that for Putin this is a much wider conflict against the West.

You probably don't even realize that telegram is owned by the FSB....

Just because you CLAIM Kharkiv is falling does not mean that it is falling. What is falling is any semblance of Russian legitimacy in international circles. You Russians have already lost, but continue to exert violence against truth and democracy. What do you have to offer Ukraine? Your rapes, your abductions, your nightly bombing of civilians. Shame on you!

Jonathan's softly spoken propaganda ignores the facts, just listen to his latest guest liar

Our friend Joe Lindsley is in Kharkiv. We do not ignore it. Just explore the channel, more

😂😂😂 hilarious, not.