The Complicated Politics of Rainbow Six (And Why They Matter) 

BELARUS! I MEANT BELARUS NOT BULGARIA F#@!

Just another point on why people like Gregor deserved to be community developers for everything Tom Clancy related. Also along with others like NGN.

As a Mexican, Goyo is a really great representation of the actual people who work in the army/police who just want to get rid off the narco. The narco has infected all institutions, so naturally there is people who want to make the right things (and i know people like that in my line of work). I main and have a special place in my heart for my guy Goyo, great fictional character who represents real life people i´m surrounded by

As a Nigerian this message resonates with me very well. My family had to flee the country because of all the violence, and it really is a mess of violence. There's freedom fighters fighting against an oppressive govt, theres terrorists operating on supremacist ideologies who massacre everyone they see as below them, and there's many in govt and the military specifically fighting at home and abroad to defend democracy in Africa. My country desperately needs something like this, to promote unity and focus on the real threats we have. I think if we got a Nigerian op for siege it should be made clear that not all our govt does is righeous, that the people in our armed forces who are fighting the good fight are doing so in spite of our corrupt govt, no because of it. A good story like this would inspire millions to continue fighting against injustice.

Gregor, thank you for this video. I worked with R6S Esports and work with security consulting, and what you have talked about here is something that has been on my mind for years now, especially after i read the book in middle school. The points you brought up here are extremely valid and are points that really should be talked about, especially in the times we find ourselves. Fictional institutions like Rainbow present to us a prospect of a future of unity, fraternity and hope. But what most fail to see are the delicate politics that happen under the veil of such an organization. Its not just a collection of SOF operators from around the globe working together to thwart terrorism, it's a representation of how different agendas, ideals and politics can shape warfare and how we enact upon it as a whole. For some, R6 might be western propaganda, for others like myself i see it as a way to represent SOF and CTU's in a different light. The human behind the operators and the struggles of each country that finds itself within Rainbow. Once again, thank you Gregor. You shed some light on a subject that is very important to anyone who has a working brain.

interesting fact: iceland and greenland’s names were swapped in order for the people living there to trick the vikings or any other invader to going to the other one. since iceland sounds hostile, invaders would much rather invade greenland. sounds simple but it actually worked. 5head Icelanders.

I haven't played Siege in a couple of years, but I always end up watching your videos Gregor especially these types of pieces. Your writing and humor are just real fun and I hope for your continued success.

I wished that Rainbow Six Siege would add characters from Central Asia, it would show a great representation of post-Soviet politics in post-Soviet republics and the culture of Central Asia.

Alright, I need the “Gregor Explains: The Political Compass”

Only thing I have to say is, when removing railings from stairs it is better to punch them away and save your ammo. #ProLeague

Is the main idea here that the reason siege is heavily influenced by politics is because harry goes around finding these unique special forces of different nations to unveil their specific motives of why they fight. And it matters because with this information we are able to see what good and importance these special forces have on different nations fighting their own individual struggles. Maybe i missed the ballpark and I need clarification on the subject. I know there is other topics like propaganda i didn't include. Im currently taking medieval history in college and am watching stories of ww2 in netflix and im currently enveloped in imperialism as a whole. (Also anyone saying politics has nothing to do or have any importance in the existence rainbow six siege is clearly playing a different game.)

These people always remind me of the "politics doesn't belong in sports" people. Also another point I always make, is that the fact that they add these ops that don't have combat focused backgrounds or squad roles in the lore, makes the combat simulations (pvp multiplayer) all the more understandable. The more experienced squad members are going to need to train these ops and people like Mira are going to need to test their gadgets in a combat situation.

Icelander here. We have a terrible do-nothing government and in the last year a pair of young men were arrested for 3D printing and importing automatic weapon parts because they planned to attack a police gala here as a terror attack. The naming is because settlers discovered Iceland first, only discovering the southernmost tip of Greenland afterwards and naming it such.

It’s not that they pull characters from non CTU backgrounds, but how cartoony and weirdly designed some of them are. I want that Grim-dark aesthetic/feel back, and a lot of operators (Nighthaven especially) just feel strange and out of place. Recent ops have gotten better at this (Grim and Solois), but some of the other ones just clash hard with some of the older ops (Amaru, Flores, etc). Even something like Thorn’s bombs look super goofy compared to how they’d look if they were made at launch. I get they’re doing it to catch that light hearted hero shooter crowd, but I just think it sucks; it’s the reason you see people clamor for a new White Mask storyline, older fans want to go back that original feel the game had (even though they game is still fun).

Banger video greg. Very entertaining to watch. I like the emphasis relatability in your script when you make these type of videos. It feels like a reasonable friend is explaining something to me rather than an emotionally strong talking head.

I think after Rainbow Six you're going to want to jump in to The Bear and the Dragon as Team Rainbow has positive interactions with the Russian Federation in the main conflict of that book and is the culmination of all the goodwill the ryanverse has been trying to foster with their cold war adversary John Clark's whole mission for awhile in the ryanverse has been hey lets get all the good guys who are willing to fight the good fight together and aggregate all the experienced and well trained operatives regardless of background together and learn from each other Clear and Present Danger is probably the igniting point of this idea in the ryanverse

i enjoy the informational, or monologue content. Very informative and easy to listen to. Being this, or ranking… the use of info and research but being entertaining is great.

9:50 sorry guys, Gregor disappeared under mysterious circumstances

An unrelated tangent to the Boston Dynamics bit: I think the main "they can strap a gun on it" critique is aiming at the right spot but just missing it. Of course the Robodog is cool, and has viable usage in improving human safety, such as automating hazardous jobs and assisting in search and rescue. The main issue, however, and the one grazed by the "strapping a gun" argument, is that the development of such products is secondary. Appealing to military and police customers is the primary focus of robotic development, which is rather disappointing to see something that could alleviate human suffering instead turned towards amplifying it. Anyway, the video's good. I do think Siege has interesting politics as an international counterterror org, but it's a shame that the current writing seems to be moving towards something that I personally see as less engaging.

I love this kind of commentary, its sad that we dont get people with your outlook to work and opine on the creative and narrative side of things more often. Also andor is so fucking good, I rewatched it like 3 times already

deadass i'd watch or read a journal/documentary series of just Harry going through the entire roster, spending a day or 2 with each op to see what they do, what makes them tick. the nighthaven bullshit never interested me, but Harry and the gang chilling sounds great.

The average player's concern with the politics of Rainbow Six: 0.00001% The average player's concern with cheating: 99.99999%

8:50 I don’t know why but this robot dog talking point was hilarious to me.

BIG OOOOF ! Bulgaria is not an ally with Russia and we don't have a Russian Airbase . We are part of NATO and EU since 2007 in fact we probably more NATO airbases the some other European Union Countries .

That's what I think facinates me in Rainbow six story, as a Brazilian I can tell that the operators from BOPE are almost the same from the ones from the game, from all the criminal shit they see in the favelas, Cav is like a ghost, someone dead inside, just seeing a Bope operator in real life gives you fear. And thats the point the story shines, representing different methods and a different way of doing the exact mission.

I like spending my time learning about politics and history. It is really interesting reading the news from the 2 extreme ends and seeing that they interpret it soo differently. I believe politics is a personal matter, but it really is important to have a perspective of other opinions and know what is happening. And for what is concerning siege, the game can just keep its neutral stance and continue releasing new content.

Yes, another video of gregor talking about shit! Informational siege conte t is cool n all, but its really nice to watch these every so often.

Speaking of propaganda, its also the reason why its hard to tell the actual battlefield facts of the Ukraine war. We always highlight every Ukrainian success no matter how small and downplay every Russian success no matter how big. The same experts who said Russia wouldn't invade, also now say a Ukrainian victory is the default, ignoring historically the way in which the Russians fight wars. The Russia's have always taken high casualties and had incompetent military leadership, its nothing new, but they always bounce back through sheer brute force and disregard for their own troops lives. That quality is already imbued in Fuze. Will that happen, who knows wars are too fluid to make either conclusion. Also Putin is definitely a Soviet Union lover not an Imperial Russia lover. All his propaganda refers to the Soviet era, he rarely if ever uses the Tsars, the White Armies of the civil war or its heroes like Kolchak to push his new vision of Russia.

I'm waiting for a Puerto Rican operator. His ability would probably be a device that launches rice and beans at people.

He’s not lying about andor tho. It really ask the question the same question siege ask, is it ok for good people to get their hands dirty to protect others and so other good people don’t have to get their hands dirty.

This is so well made that I almost forgot it was siege content

I feel like rainbow is trying to get back into that shadow war approach Tom clancy used to have for his series. I hope they can make the cut like he did

Thank you for talking about this, I feel people have become so ingrained in their own Echo Chambers repeating the same propaganda that they heard someone told them to say over and over again and it's becoming a serious issue get nobody's talking about it, thank you for being you

That book is badass. First Clancy book that wasn't 150 pages of buildup... just right into the shit. Lets go.

I sure hope sometime in the future the Devs will somewhat relay back the original lore of "Rainbow Six". I get the russians in the game kind of throw that off but it would be cool, especially for those that have read the books

Thank you for recommending andor too, it really fits well and explains a lot of nuance with insurgencies and things of a similar vein. Amazing show that makes some really relevant points

Great video man, you should do these more often imo.

i loved listening to this video like a podcast, the wider span of naratives you are talking about was really enjoyable to hear your opinion on

I'm not a politics fella but I do enjoy Gregor talking about stuff and not blaming one party for all the problems that are relevant.

Extremely informative video. This kind of content is what stands out from the norm of Siege content, and is amazing. Glad I subbed.

honestly i'm a big fan of these history/geopolitics oriented videos, they're always a great watch

your story about professionals not believing that the Ukraine war could happen reminded me of something. I was sitting in a Starbucks with a friend a couple of weeks before the covid pandemic really kicked off the United States. I was telling her about how all the reports coming out of Europe and Asia made It seem like we were in for something bad, but that nobody was really paying attention to it. A guy was sitting at a table next to us and decided to butt into the conversation to tell us that it's all propaganda and that there will never be any impact felt from this virus. And the fact that we were even talking about it was cute. Literally like two weeks later lockdown began. In this case he wasn't any kind of professional. Just some pompous guy sitting at a Starbucks. But all the same. It's funny how people become so insistent about their own theories that they act as though their theories are facts.

I think melusi is one of the biggest examples of the importance of this stuff. I thought when she was dropped she was the most pandering sounding character ever; yeah sure she’s part of an all women African anti poaching force that definitely sounds real. It totally sounds like a backstory made up to make her seem like a real girl boss to make a character seem strong and super lovable like the zebra rescue scene from lou2. Except it’s actually real. Yeah. That things real there actually is an all women military unit built around counter poaching. And honestly that’s kinda cool. You learn more about the world when you give a shit about this stuff.

I found a bunch of his books for 50 cents at a book sale this year. Really regret not buying them now

I absolutely love this video but I have to defend 1 thing. The bit about people thinking that Russia wouldn't invade Ukraine is something I really believed. This was because the whole thing about lining up soldiers on the border was not anything new. Russia has done many buildups on the Ukrainian border and they always led to nothing so understandably people thought that this was just a tuesday. Same thing happened in the Yom Kippur war in Israel when Israel was caught off guard by Syrian forces as they had done the same thing: once for every now and then they would do a buildup and then go home. Also people knew that Russia invading Ukraine would end badly. Not this badly but people thought that it would be Afghanistan 2.0. Only thing I failed to realize was that that Putin isn't very smart.

I laughed at the Greenland/Iceland bit.😆 Hello from Montreal!

I am so glad that i found Gregor because this dude is quite literally my favorite content creator ever. I love this type of shit and he kept me in throughout the entire video which is rare because people be mad boring but not Gregor. Thank you Gregor and have a good day

Andor is exceptional (and one of the best star wars stories I've watched so far) and yes you should go and watch it to give yourself a better understanding of "sides". Good vid bud. I shall i now try Jack Ryan...

Fun fact: Current number of military equipment leaked by War Thunder community - Type 99 MBT ammo specification - F15 radar - F16 radar - MIG 29 avionics and rockets - Challenger 2 turret specification - Leclerc turret specification - Tiger helicopter avionics - SU 57 avionics

Absolutely fantastic video, Greg. Thanks for making content like this.

I still don't get people complaining about Flores or Azami when the game itself says they're assets. They have to be playable exactly like the other characters but in lore they clearly won't go headfirst into a firefight.

To be fair, Ukraine also didn't think Russia would invade the rest of the country after they had already taken Crimea and part of the Donbas.

I read the book years ago, and I remember the premise and 'action' scenes being really good. However, the in-between scenes were trying to establish camaraderie between the teams were...awkward at best

Fun fact, Iceland is called such because one of the people who first arrived there from Europe fuckin hated it and declared it a barren wasteland of ice, despite others who were with him at the time saying that it was pretty nice and had lots of open grassy land

the only politics ubisoft is comfortable involving themselves with nowadays is identity politics that cost them nothing to support. the rainbow six storyline will never get back to rainbow taking on south american rebels/cartels or african warlords or russian nationalists. we will continue to get animes where the bad guys are just bad guys that do bad things for nothing more than because hey thats bad.

I agree with you but it seems like you sort of deliberately avoided more unrealistic and silly character ideas like amaru ETC for the sake of the point, wondering what you think of that

You should watch a RU-vidr name warlockracy, every his video game essay always link a historical context or behind the scene similar to this video of you. I hope it inspired your future content.

This is the greatest ad for Andor I've ever seen.

This was a really well done video. This is a mature topic that people should learn about.

You say believable characters, but Oryx came with Iana, and both Jordan and the Netherlands have world class CTUs to pick and choose from which were not used. Siege sold me on release with realistic representations of FBI HRT, GIGN, GSG-9, and Spetsnaz packaged with a mixed pace tactical shooter. Your point about it being "believable characters" really falls flat on its face when the precedent set on the game's release was much more realistic. Iana isn't from a CTU. She's a aerospace engineer that somehow passed in becoming an astronaut despite the fact she should be handicapped by albinism because she has a special pair of high-tech contact lenses. That's the most Mary-Sue shit I've ever heard, and compared to someone simple like Thatcher who is a 40 year SAS veteran who is grumpy about new technology, it sounds like piss poor writing.

5:45 Chinese Propaganda has this weird tendency to make America look way cooler than it is, to the point Americans see it and go "Man I WISH we went that hard"

I feel like I'm in the minority where I don't mind the politics in siege. Like I don't follow it or anything, but I dont want it gone either. It's just a thing that exists. And I never really cared where an op was from, I was always more interested in their functionality than nationality. Maybe thats just me

Already excited for this

Thank you for pointing out the similarities to the sudetenland and Crimea. I was telling people that for some time before the invasion and I got called a conspiracy theorists or ignorant because "that'll never happen again, Russia isn't like them"

TOM CLANCY’S rainbow six featuring master chief and Rick Sancez. Directed by Ubisoft and sponsored by Red Bull. Laugh

MEXICAN ESPECIAL FORCES

This is genuinely some solid content, I would love to see more

Thank you for your support, it really means a lot for us I would say that i am the lucky one, i'm not shelled every day, yet sometimes, when i hear the sirens i cant help but think how some people in the west are desperately looking for nefarious groups and organisations lurking in shadows, plotting to do bad things to their countries, when there is a 140 million group of such people overseas. It seems nuts.

I need a playlist with videos like these from Gregor, I haven't watched his videos in a hot minute, so this is awesome to see

I'm sure many here are aware of Tom Clancy and 9/11. When Captain Sato flew his 747 into the new inauguration ceremony in Debt Of Honor it was essentially a decapitation strike in that all of the senior political leadership would be in one place at one time. Sometime between then and 2001, Clancy spoke with a USAF officer about the concept of using an airliner as a weapon. When quizzed about this on Charlie Rose he stated the Japanese had used it in WW2 (and in his book the JAL Captain was avenging Japanese losses at the hands of the Americans during a brief conflict between them, and mention is made of Banzai Cliff.) He also stated that he came up with the idea while he was at college as a theoretical exercise. It's really good to find a channel bridging the gap between the Tom Clancy name as it may have been in the 80s/90s and the Tom Clancy of Rainbow Six/HAWX/Ghost Recon/Splinter Cell. For what it's worth, Red Storm Rising is really, really in-depth as a techno-thriller. Tom Clancy himself was often credited with inventing the techno-thriller as a genre, but he said that Michael Crichton did that when he wrote the Andromeda Strain. Such a humble, interesting, knowledgeable man. Taken from us too soon some would say, but I think that was he still alive, he'd be disgusted at the chaos of the world today.

0:20 damn bro that hit really close to home.

I need the game of thrones dark brandon propaganda, sauce plz

13 hours is actually a really good movie. I would recommend it heavily.

Hey greg, really appreciate the vid I love that this silly lil game can mean a lot of things moving forward in this political climate. I think it'd be a mistake to ignore why Rainbow exists and why it needs different perspectives. I hope maybe you can do more digging on units like you did with the GIGN and SPETSNAZ, those were really interesting to me.

This was a fantastic video, Greg. Bravo.

"Russia will not invade" was a good demonstration that a lot of "political" figured hold positions because they're popular or they feel right and rarely have anything to truly back their beliefs

My main issue is not so much the operators coming from varied or non-CT/LE/military backgrounds. It's more their design. 'Crude' operators like Amaru and Oryx kind of ruin the vibe - slapping on just a camelpac and a vest and making him punch through walls like a bull is antithetic to Rainbow's core concept as a high-tech counter-terrorism organisation. These operators since recruited are not operating in their native environments anymore so their clothing and abilities should reflect a techy, tacticool, near-future theme while at the same time keeping some aspects of the character's roots. There are plenty of ways to 'techify' without sacrificing gameplay or balance.

Bro when you said “but they could put a gun on it” and you went “what? They could put a gun on anything” got me dying

7:20 oh Greg..... their has been MORE leaked documents on War Thunder.......

MeXicEn SpeShul FoRsaYs!!

The reason people should be up in arms about Krasinski shouldn’t be “muh propaganda film,” because we all know CIA does CIA things, but rather the whole “cherish and thank the CIA everyday” thing he said on twitter, for those not in the loop.

My only complaint with the vid is the small tidbit you brought up about the first Captain America comic. If memory serves me correct (and it might not, it's been a few years since I was taught the exact details, however I believe the overall is correct) the makers of what would end up being DC and Marvel were Jewish immigrants who fled Europe because of the N*zis, and after they and all the other Jews were trying to warm everyone about the horrible things the N*zis were doing, only to fall on deaf ears due to American Isolationism. As a way to try and make their voices heard, they turned to making comics. You brought up the First Captain America comic, but you failed to mention it was in March, not after the U.S. declared war in December. Ironically, the comic industry would later be accused of being communist propaganda and would have tons of restrictions placed on it after WW2. If you want a book about the creation of comics I recommend the amazing adventures of kavalier and clay, it's a fictionalized take on what happened, but is still very good.

Guys I got the book “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six” by Tom Clancy. When does this “Jynxzi” fellow appear in the book?

I came to watch a rant and instead I got cursed with Corporate Memphis Kronos, I will never forget this Gregor.

This feels like a re-upload

PLEASE Gregor diversify your content. Create a second channel if need be. You're an amazing analyst and great thinker, and you have a fun side to your content too! We'd love videos outside of siege, videos that cover politics and stuff like that.

Rumour has it that the Nordic explorers that discovered and named Greenland are also the people that discovered and named the Red Delicious apple

I had to watch that speech in Andor a couple times. It’s so good and so well delivered.

Oh my god this is so true the best video I have seen on this so thank you thank you so much ❤

I consume these types of videos everytime, keep it up

I both grew up in that area and went to middle/high school with Tom Clancy's kids

8:30 seeing nonagon infinity gave me a chuckle

I love this kind of stuff Greg. Please keep doing this. Also having recently read the R6 book myself, I'm very excited to hear your thoughts on it.

I enjoy Siege's characters a lot. Some of them are a little cringey, not gonna name names. But, it's fun to see the good ones doing their thing. It's not real life, and honestly a real life SWAT simulator would be pretty boring and all the operators would be the same brick sh*thouse dudes. That's basically every elite military and police unit; you need to be extremely physically fit, capable of putting rounds on target, and know when to stop and go so you maintain control. Games don't have to be that, they can be a little more aspirational. If you want a more true-to-life death squad simulator, there's always Ready or Not.

5:45 Ngl, Joe Biden sitting on top of a "Gun Throne" is metal asf

WE NEED MORE OF THESE KINDA VIDEOS

Gregor, I just want to say thank you for talking about the book, even for just a second. I started reading it a week or two ago thanks to my dad finding a copy of it in a stash he had after I was expressing to him how fun the games are. Not enough people realize that Tom Clancy made this world and story, not Ubisoft.

Fun fact, a common peice of equipment used by camera operators to make steady shots was originally made to help m249 machine gun operators fire on the move

13:22 finally someone explained it thoroughly

Jedi Outcast was the first video game I played, nearly gave me a stroke seeing that clip here