Vlad's main channel ru-vid.comvideos Peter Zeihan Video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-N_PFs2pEXEc.html Greg Yudin piece: meduza.io/feature/2024/02/16/v-rossii-lyubyat-povtoryat-chto-temnee-vsego-pered-rassvetom-pohozhe-nachinaet-smerkatsya-solntse-ushlo Support Vlad's work on Patreon! www.patreon.com/vladvexler Support Vlad via PayPal www.paypal.com/paypalme/vladvexler?country.x=GB&locale.x=en_GB 00:00 Intro 01:45 Zeihan video 04:11 Informational environment 12:30 Navalny, Ukraine and the war 19:15 Navalny and nationalism 26:00 Navalny's Fukuyamian centrism 28:32 Navalny's importance 30:40 Zeihan on causes of war 33:25 Greg Yudin on Navalny
hello. how would you describe your accent? I keep listening and I cant understand - it sounds like some old British accent but I am not 100 prc. sure. I am not British tho... maybe its obvious answer I dunno 😂
Again a good video as always, but I do have to say, you seem to be spinning Navalny as favourably as possible. Like, Navalny wasn't "engaged in a certain amount of rhetoric" which "has a ring" of xenophobia. Just be straightfoward: he was repeatedly using racial slurs and demanding that non-Russians be kicked out or otherwise oppressed. And spinning it as just a game on his part, "an enterprise of political mobilization", is the most possible positive spin you could put on it. The inverse viewpoint is,as you later mentioned, that his recent "moderated Navalny" schtick is the act (as he learned to be a statesman), and the old Navalny was the real one who didn't feel the need to hide bigoted views. A How few of his past statements he ever bothered to disown is itself IMHO telling. He took back calling Georgians "rodents" at least, but the vast majority of what he said he never took back, despite having had ample opportunities.
@@robertmax88 Vlad's accent is so lovely...mostly English and sometimes Russian tones. British accents are nice and I also really like the Russian accent...his is like a hybrid of both. 👍👍
I have recently watched a video by a young Russian vlogger called NFKRZ who you may or may not be aware of (I'm guessing probably not). He is by no means a political analyst; he's a lot more likely to talk about Kanye West than Girkin. But he was far more upset than I've ever seen him, because he describes when he first started watching videos by Navalny c. 2015 feeling this wonderful sense that an isolation was lifting that he wasn't the only person in Russia who felt like he did, and that millions of others also felt the same way, and some feeling that Russia could be a "normal country". He describes his death as feeling like losing a family member because of the impact he had on his life. Perhaps Navalny couldn't ever reaistically have been in the Kremlin, but by the sound of it he meant a lot to a lot of people.
I was also moved by the rage and pain Roman conveyed in his video. Ive seen a lot of people speak on Navalnys death and express grief about it, but Roman got across how much he meant to people, how much his life meant in a very human way.
A recently released article by Per Kristian Aale in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten: I interviewed Navalny a few months before Putin started sending soldiers into Ukraine. I was going to interview him at a cafe in Moscow. It went precisely the way I predicted. At the table next to us was a big guy. He started screaming, throwing his fists on our table, and kick the chairs. Another guy came and started recording with his phone. It was impossible to talk. We went outside to continue the interview there. The two guys followed us and continued to harass us. “This is proof the authorities fear me when they have to use such methods,” Navalny said. Several different guys had been doing this to Navalny and his family for many weeks. Aale’s point: the reason Putin took him out was because he belonged to Putin’s traitor category, worse than the enemy category. Putin referred to him as a foreign agent in the fall 2021, hence a traitor. When Navalny returned after the failed poisoning attempt, he basically showed Putin the finger, popularly speaking. Putin managed to break the back of Navalny’s organization, but that wasn’t enough for Putin. He was harshly treated in prison, but did not really show signs of being broken. Navalny continued to inspire young Russians from inside the prison. It remains to see if Navalny will continue to inspire people even after his death.
Thank you for sharing. No. Navalny was not a traitor in Putin’s categorisation. He was always an enemy. A traitor would be someone who comes from inside Putin’s regime.
I am an activist - retired. I have crushed the opposition, on occasion. What is in an activists mind ? Before I go there , point one; Vlad's a little too obsessed about the forest. One must stand somewhere. Second, :here are my three rules that cause a person to be an activist. One: you see an injustice that cannot stand. Two: You decide to be a THORN . Three: you will not stop. That's how i see it, because i have lived it. Nationalism, to me - just my opinion - is the dumbest belief one could ever have. Put your minds eye out in orbit, look down upon the world, the earth, point your finger and say "This geographic point on the globe is more important than any other". See how dumb that is ? My final thought : I see the look in Navalny's eyes- maybe I get him, or maybe I don't know his thoughts at all - but i do know he took my three rules seriously....to his death. And that's what hurts - to me . We lost an activist. We're not supposed to die in our line of work. He fought his way : I've fought my way. I feel a loss. I'm allowed. From the U.S.A.
I always leave your videos genuinely feeling like I've grown as a person and I understand things better. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your videos and chats. They are of immense value to all of RU-vid and to anyone open-minded enough to listen Thank you, Vlad
Vlad has more kindness in his soul than most. I used to be more like that, but the last two years have filled me with such anger and disappointment and hatred. I don’t think I’ll ever be the same. At least not towards russians. Probably also not to westerners who support putin’s genocide.
Zeihan is one of the people who is good at something and is constantly being told how smart he is about the thing he is good at....and eventually starts believing that whatever his opinion is on anything is right even if it's not something he knows very much about.
I hope you are right because people don't usually remember a martyr's mistakes. Navalny wasn't a perfect human being but the idealised perception of him can be, and hopefully it will survive for a long time in the Russian collective consciousness.
My touchstone for patriotism is this quote from then-Senator Carl Schurz, responding to another Senator questioning his patriotism: 'The Senator from Wisconsin cannot frighten me by exclaiming, “My country, right or wrong.” In one sense I say so too. My country; and my country is the great American Republic. My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.'
I am very grateful. And your like actually makes a difference. This means another member of the community gets shown the video, who otherwise may not see it.
Glad that you put light on this. I've noticed some changes in Peter Z lately. Some stuff he says feels off, small factual errors... Oddities. I hope he doesn't go full Elon which ended badly and I have a hard time finding anyone more detached from reality as of now.
Demographics is where he seems to be strongest. It's also what trips him up because he seems to think it tells him everything he needs to know and that everyone is looking at it the way he is and being driven by it.
Love the way Vlad says he won't eviscerate Zeihan....then, verry gently and carefully proceeds to annihilate the man to appropriate bonehead status without ever uttering a negative word. I mean really, Peter can't pronounce the man's name Its pretty funny. Excellent analysis as always.
On a positive note, two years ago I had never heard of Vlad Vexler, Peter Zeihan, or a host of other political commentators. Now, I watch them every day, and my life is richer for it.
I was surprised to learn that Zeihan is a political science major. Given the way he's always right about everything, I figured he had to be an economist.
@@emaster01 Economics needed a short bus version? If it weren't for the Nobel prize, economics would be treated like string theory. Get 10 economists together and get 11 opinions.
as a Hungarian, the last sentences by Yudin, the loss of excuses / hopes / escape, as a starter: this touched me. I am familiar with those excuses that I frequently use, used in discussion about the orban regime. I will do my best not to bring up these excuses any more, and make a step forward myself. excuses are truly self-limiting, and there is nowhere to hide. Thank you Vlad for this content!
Those things about Navalny being an extreme nationalist, being in favour of the war, claiming Crimea is Russia has been all over the place for ages already. Peter just regurgitated that. I can't imagine from this that he did much research/investigation into Navalny himself.
@@ThomasBusby In all fairness that's just something he does. He pronounces almost everyones name from Russia and Ukraine incorrectly, almost like it is a joke or something.
I only once was recommended a Peter Zeihan video a few months ago. He claimed Germany's economy was about to collapse and tried to support his claim with nonsense like "the energy price trippled since 2022". The energy price in Germany has risen by about 50% in the past 10 years. not 300% in the past 2. Never really paid too much attention to him afterwards.
I always like to add an "if" and "then" to anything peter says. If global trade breaks down then doomsday scenario #3 happens. If China's population decline is as bad as Peter claims then their economy will do as bad as he claims. The thing about Peter is that it's less useful to view his claims predictively and more useful as thought experiments
People with imagination and commitment can change history. But it can take a long time. We invent solutions to problems in ways most can't imagine. My mother had a chance to invest in a new mobile phone company but she said " why do people need phones in their cars? No one will buy those things. Yeah. My mom was smart but not a visionary.
Your assessment of Navalny is appreciated, especially your clarification of Navalny's position on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its sovereign borders.
Peter, is entitled to his opinion, & God knows, Peter always has an opinion! I criticized Peter, on his channel, for being so obviously ignorant of Mr Navalny that he didn’t even know the correct way to pronounce his name. Hell, I live in a Texas town of 10,000 & I, at least, watched the CNN/HBO Navalny documentary! I DON’T forgive Peter for “Nevanly”. He owes his audience (me) more respect!
Zeihan lives in the mountains of Colorado west of Denver. He often steps out of his home to do videos made on his phone. Additionally he seems to like the outdoors and it is often a normal background to his talks. I don’t have a channel, no one subscribes or watches me. I’m not really qualified to critique anyone who actually produces video and takes all the criticism that goes with it. I will say, from my world view he is often wrong in his analysis, that’s okay, he’s entitled to his opinion. What I began to notice, where my experience overlaps with his cometary, his facts were provably wrong. As such, his conclusions were often wrong. I decided to drink from other sources. Vlad, thank you for the video analysis. Bless Ukraine and the people in pain there.
Thanks a lot for your comment. Im not exactly a big fan of Peter Zeihan. He often talks about topics where you quickly notice that his knowledge is very limited. His books and podcasts are more geared towards an american audience, so staying more on the surface of things than digging deeper into them makes perfect sense for him. Yet that easily leads him into making misinterpretations or even false claims.
Wow. The arrogant condescension of Europeans never ceases to amaze me.
6 месяцев назад
Thank you for this beautiful piece, Vlad! Especially, the bit on Greg Yudin. His words really capture the ever-growing feeling of asphyxiation everyone around the world is feeling... As for Peter Zeihan, every time I listen to him, I think of Claudius Ptolemy. Just with the United States instead of the Earth as the center of the universe... ;)
Yes Peter what Peter said in the forest is comically shallow BS - but this applies only to what he said on the forest and needs to be considered in context of our info environment. We shouldn’t scream at players playing without referees.
Peter is an analyst who is decent on broad data sets but assumes “all other things stay equal.” He is typically oblivious to human factors and the adaptive strategies humans may apply to change things from Peter’s calculations. 😆
Not the first time he has been spewing half-true bs either. I personally lost a little respect for him when he posted his video on Syria, I understand that the country is in shambles but the way he talked about the area felt inredibly dehumanising and petty coming from a so-called expert. Some of his videos are entertaining and the format is a clever one but he is quite reckless with some of the content he pushes, or rather the way he brands himself as an expert on those said things.
You said a lot of great stuff, but I think the most important is the line about "don't judge him based on whether or not you'd vote for him in your country; that was never being offered". Very well made point, and I'll admit that I sometimes fall into that.
I'm so happy that you're kindly and sensitively challenging Peter Zeihan's thoughts on Navalny, but still taking care to point out where Zeihan's analysis was off the mark (to put it politely). I'd watched the Zeihan video post on Navalny a day or two ago and it's excellent that you're attempting to set the real record straight.
I appreciate going easy on slips. I find Peter a great entertainer, he can be often quite wrong, but playing with his ideas has a perspective broadening value. And is fun. You just need a big block of salt to deal with it (just as you need anywhere else).
Yeah, I think ability to take the good with the bad is always incredibly useful, and it is still useful for sifting through modern media. My brain does quite a lot of [x]Doubt meme on a lot of conclusions Zeihan drew over past few years, but at the same time, I found the way he drew his conclusions to be educational. A lot of new factors I haven't previously considered at all, etc.
@@dogukan127 Right, he's entirely entertainer, I'd call it a geopolitical stand-up. But then, it's RU-vid, if you are here in search for truth, you are in trouble.
Your take on not getting upset about people's opinions / people saying the wrong thing, and making negative inferences of the world from it - is spot on. Recently, I've been trying to push my online conversations away from upset, and Fighting, and more towards constructive truth seeking & avoiding manipulation by social media.
I agree with your great point of trying to be charitable when people make mistakes of pronunciation and the like and you have taught me a lot about patience and tolerance for what I previously perceived as “point-disabling” errors. However, I do find that someone attempting to speak with authority on a subject which they cannot simply read or say correctly demonstrates the likelihood that they haven’t listened to anyone else and only wish to use a topic to further their own agenda.
Vlad.. always I wish to gift you platitudes. You are truly a great gift to us. From the outset you emphasize that you are here to elevate, not demolish. You carefully dissect the history of Navalny and with grace are careful to educate us on the truth of his history. You educated me. And you did it in an understanding way. You have a huge heart. Thank you for leading us in the right direction.
Vlad was extremely generous about this mispronounciation issue, but to me, missing something that important makes me think Zeihan didn’t even watch the HBO Navalny doc, much less do any other research.
I've never taken any notice of Peter Zeihan so had no idea what he'd said about Navalny, but I was grateful that it gave rise to Vlad's clarification of Navalny's stance on some contentious topics throughout his career, as I've been confused by various claims about his attitudes in the last couple of days.
Both are crap fueled by emotion and feeling more than research. "American Origins Of Putin's Madness" a four piece RU-vid series made by a Historian who put sources up on every claim. Explains everything FAR better. Both those guys get bit and pieces. To truly understand perfectly you would have to actually live in Ukraine to understand their Culture War at the level I do for the USA. Mearsheimer is definitely MORE WRONG though. Blaming a Consensus Organisation vs KGB Dictatorships is foolish.
@@ExecutiveChefLanceMearsheimer sees the history from American lens. Ukraine cossack fought with Moscow before 1774. Zeihan was more right pinning on geopolitics. He said in 2020 that this is the last years when Russia can Lauch a military operation. He was right. But Zeihan discounts human psychology, a country is not a real estate, it is connection between people.
I believe a better word than despair would be disillusionment. To me it feels strange, the amount of people genuinely shocked by Navalny's execution. What kind of magical thinking did all of these people employ to believe that he could escape this fate? Putin pressured by sanctions to release him? Seal team six breaking him out? Popular upraising with pitchforks demolishing the fence? Prison guards and judges discovering conscience?
@@VladVexlerChat I thought I recognised that raincloud! Your videos are always appreciated Vlad; if I see you in the pub, a rinsed jamjar of whatever's your tipple's on me. 🫙
A wonderful talk Vlad. A brilliant analysis on the work of Navalny, I learned a lot about the man today. At the end of the day he was a politician, and a shrewd politician reaches out to disparate groups, he doesn't vilify them. A dose of nationalism need not turn into an overdose. I very much enjoyed your slow-burn, very calm and diplomatic refute of Peter's video. I watch him periodically, but always measure his thoughts against those of others. Thank you.
Intelligent and insightful, as aways. The main points intuitively click in place. Appreciated your sincerity and the sense of humor. You are doing well to point to the "bs" that is circulating around in the medias.
Hi Vlad, thank you for breaking down Peter’s remarks. One of the biggest things I disagree with what he said was that Navalni didn’t really matter. I have heard many younger Russians say that Navalni was responsible for waking them up and opening their eyes to the truth of what was really going on in Russia. On a different subject I saw on Danil’s 1420 channel a man that was being interviewed said Russians never do anything until the last minute. I pray we are getting closer to the last minute!
I subscribed to Zeihan for a while, but I really didn't care for his views, smartest man in the room syndrome, and love for his own voice. Just my opinion of the man
I've had multiple people recommend Zeihan to me IRL. Probably because of the Joe Rogan podcast. He misses on a basic factual basis so frequently on the topics I know more about that I don't remotely trust him on the topics I'm less knowledgeable about
The funny thing Peter’s books are very different to his podcast etc - their actually really interesting and generally well researched. But his very much a show man in his public persona. He’s been saying China was heading for disaster long before it was popular, and based it on numbers - and here we are seeing it happen. He said Russia would invade Ukraine and it did. He isn’t a prophet and he often overshoots the mark but that doesn’t mean everything he says is wrong. I think he forgets that if you are no 1 you can never be at peace and you can never retreat - done one will alway drag you back into the fray - that’s what happened with sept 11 and that’s what’s happening now. Peter is right that the The US has a dream of isolation, but Peter doesn’t totally realise and it’s one it can never realise.
@@veronicamaine3813 if it went by his predictions, China would have crashed several times over, and would have definitely crashed 10 years ago. While the age of Chinese miracle might well be coming to a close, it's definitely still an entity on the map.
@@brianparker663 I don't like his smugness, and this came across when he he seemed to boast that the UK couldn't operate its aircraft carrier without out the US. Undoubtedly it's true, but not something which is desirable from any perspective. I expect a less biased perspective from a geo-political analysist and it isn't Zeihan
You know, for 5 years or more I am regularly reading "Navanly is not better than Putin because he is a nationalist", almost everybody talking about Navalny is feeling the need to say that. What does this even mean? Is the problem with Putin that he is nationalist?
Imo it's something between dogma and propaganda cliche at this point. Doesn't need proof in the eyes of a speaker and no follow up. Hence day by day I'm more inclined to attribute it to deliberate misleading then take or an argument. Hard to argue with dogmatic statement, you know
Many people, especially in the left find nationalism as a concept and a word kinda icky however, one has to remember that most pro-democratic activists and revolutionaries that fought against autocratic governenments in history were nationalists - French revolutionaries were nationalists, discidents in Eastern block were nationalists, the activists that formed governments in exile that ultimately lead to the dissolution of Austria-Hungary were nationalists. Mustafa Kemal was a nationalist, founding fathers of US were nationalists etc. Because too often the idea of "we the people" is tied to an adjective of what kind of people that is usually defined by ethnic identity.
@@dmitripuzyrev4413 I just think that this one Navalny clip where he compares immigrants to insects and shows an anti insect spray (which is genocidal rhetoric) leaves a very bad taste in the mouth of many ...
@@IsomerSoma He was a Nationalist and a horrible person. A racist and probably worse. Was he worse than Putin? Of course not, because he had no power or hope of becoming Putin. I listened carefully to Vlad's version of the events; his motivations were easy to understand. Vlad also wants to blame the West for Vladimir Putin's atrocious invasion.
@@tzazosghost8256 Im not too well informed there so i cant say much. But i wholeheartedly belive you. Although i kinda like his style, his analysis often is less accurate than mine and im a complete amateur.
I tnink Zeihan is mostly a creation of the ever expanding number channels on an expanding number of platforms that demand to be filled with content. Some semblance of expertise in some field can be seen as having value in the race for content, often without regard to the quality of ideas expressed. Add some notoriety, a smooth verbal delivery and a respectable physical appearance and . . . .voila!! Instant Zeihan!!
Probably the most Meaningful discussion and teaching moment for people alive today. Thank you for reminding me that having heard somewhere that Novalny was Nationalist does not make me informed enough to make a judgement. Thank you for the introduction to Greg the Russian philosopher. Briiliant mind. Thanks to both of you for that Crystal clear message of Hope. Those who bring Hope into Chaos, Fear, Hatred bring the only tool left and the only essential tool to cause Despair to flee! Only I can bring Hope and only all the other 'I' s' can shift from Death to Rebirth! I choose Hope!
I like Zeihan because he will say provocative things, but I know that he paints with a broad brush and sometimes prioritizes the provocation over the facts. So I ain't surprised by your insight into his dismissive attitude to Navalny. Your insight into Navalny's attitude to toward Ukraine is genuinely illuminating and extremely helpful. Thank you...
Mr Vexler thank you for this piece. This is what we need in the West and sadly we don't get enough of it and even the traditional sources for such analysis seems to have faded away in the last decade or two.
Vlad, that was indeed a profound expose of Nalavny, the country of Russia. The last reading of Greg Yudin was very insightful and meaningful. Thank you for sharing your thoughts in a sensitive and authentic way.
Love the Fukuyama reference and the reference to a centrism that can’t fathom its way out of the current crisis of democracy. It’s very clear that Western politicians completely missed how Russia flipped and pivoted away from democracy after Yeltsin’s self coup in 1993. Red flags were evident by 1996 that Russia was eventually going to do what they’ve done. I am now almost inclined to think a lot of the foot dragging on supporting Ukraine militarily is rooted in the fact that many of these leaders now we’re in leadership back in the 90s and they have to issue some sort of mea culpa but can’t seem to because to your point that they can’t fathom how they got into this situation and they can’t fathom how to get out of it. Nor do they want to admit fault and miscalculation if they’ve somewhat figured it out (ie. no one wants a soiled legacy).
I remember hearing Navalny speak in his earlier political career. He was far closer to hard right politicians of today. Clearly, he changed his tactics and got in touch with a softer version of his natural patriotism. He wanted to appeal to a wider public. His development followed an interesting path. I think social media truly helped him influence the wider public. He used it to the end.
You are lookin really good these days, Vlad. I hate the occasion to observe this. True, nonetheless. As always, in this raw time - especially, I appreciate your insight and analysis. Thank you, brother. Navalny made a deal with us. I hope we honor his sacrifice. You do truth and guidance, in these regards, accordingly. So, once again: Thank you. Keep on, keepin on
Prigozhin, Sergei Yushenkov, Anna Politkovskaya, Litvinenko, Natalya Estemirova, Sergei Magnitsky, Boris Nemtsov, many oligarchs who accidentally 'fell out of windows' in their hotel rooms, and now Navalny.
Peter Zeihan passes himself off as geopolitical expert, but does incredibly poor research and makes massive slips in history and names. He is a very sloppy "expert".
First time I heard him I was like 😮 OMG. Second time was like "wait a minute" And now I automatically turn my ears off, because I know I can't trust what he says is actually true. Zaihan is a showman. His method is to Wow his audience so that they forget to question his merit. He's the man who runs a freak show at the county fair.
Funny . . . I sometimes listen to Peter Zeihan but I decided that he probably did not have anything to say about Navalny that was worth listening but Zeihan had to use it as a talking point.
Navalny called Georgians "rodents", Central Asians "cockroaches" and Ukrainians "khokhols". To describe him as a 'nationalist' is to say the least. He was leaning more towards the right, towards fascism. I would describe him as a "light fascist".
Very well done indeed, Vlad. You encapsulated in a way I could not all my misgivings about Peter Zeihan's typical style and content which quickly led me to never watch his posts again after a few I watched out of curiosity some time ago. If Propotkin was alive today (and I saw Navalny in part as a modern day Propotkin although no anarchist as Propotkin was) Putin would not incarcerate him in the Peter and Paul fortress and if he did Propotkin would not survive long, much less be eventually banished from Russia. Yes Putin is a grotesque imperialist. Propotkin was a prince after all in an hereditary monarchy. He was respected by his peers if not all. Lenin admired him. Putin admires no one. That is one of his many weaknesses.
I don’t really know who this Zeihan guy is and there are things to criticise Navalny for and to say about his legacy in general. But to say that a) He wasn’t important b) He was as nationalistic as Putin c) he wasn’t against the war itself is to criminally misinform your audience. And those things for me are so on the surface I couldn’t take this guy seriously anymore as a political commentator. But that’s just me
When Peter steps away from his wheelhouse he gets lost in the chatter. He predicted Ukrainian would be done in a few weeks. In combat you never want to back your opponent, unless you have honest absolute superiority. When you back anyone into a corner, the ferocity goes up at exponential rates. Here we are 2 years later and the ruzzians are getting their azzes handed to them, regularly. The 90 million dollar question is how did an army not on any radar manage to hold off the ruzzians? One factor that may be, is after the 2014 invasion of Crimea the US sent the 173rd Airborne to train the Ukrainians, they are fighting like a country that has been at war since the ‘60s. In regards to Navalny, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Thank you again, Vlad. Your work and insight is deeply appreciated. You've also just given me a reason to go finish up my work for the day. This is the treat at the end! Lots of love from NYC ❤️💛🌻
@@VladVexlerChat Oh, Vlad, that was ever so lovely. Thank you. 🌻 The evidence of self care was greatly appreciated. You know how much drinking your electrolytes makes me happy. Please keep taking care of yourself. Keep that little piece of my heart safe. 💛
