But as to answer the question why is this happening, at first I believed Russia would use this buildup to make the west "agree" that Crimea is now part of Russia, but after they built the field hospitals on the border and started blasting propaganda to citizens I think they actually might take out huge parts of eastern Ukraine. Probably right after the Olympics like last time
Kudos, Bryson, for taking the bull by the horns. This is a hot topic and I hope no Kentuckians are eager to be deployed to Europe. It is not worth it to fight over energy-resources and harbours when we are transitioning to energy-resources that are abundant in every country.
A few things worth mentioning. The "excuses" coming out of Russia for a possible invasion, or the demands they have put to the US and NATO, are plain ridiculous. The most common I have heard of these reasons are; They fear having a NATO country as a neighbour, to which one just have to look at a map of current NATO members to see how ridiculous that is, they already have NATO neighbours, and they are much closer to the big metropolitan areas, such as St. Petersburg or Moscow, and their current posturing have even made Finland consider joining NATO, meaning they would have another neighbour in NATO. Furthermore, why would they fear a neighbour joining a purely defensive alliance, that yes was primarily formed to counter USSR/Russian aggression, but is purely a defensive alliance? Does Russia have plans to invade further? Because that could be the only reason to fear NATO in its current form. Now granted NATO might change, but that is highly unlikely to happen, it just isn't set up to become an aggressive alliance. Do they fear a new alliance would attack them? Perhaps, but then being unnecessarily aggressive wont help them. Now, is there a good reason for Russia to fear US military presence in Europe? Possibly, but I would say the chance for a US attack on Russia be 0%, but still I can understand why they don't like it. Both Russia US aren't exactly known for being peaceful, though in the west Russia is certainly seen as being worse. The whole "Ukraine has always been a part of Russia" argument, is a bit harder to tackle, on one hand the people of Ukraine certainly don't see them self as part of Russia, and there definitely is cultural differences, but undeniably the Ukraine region has been part of first the Russian Empire under the Tsars, and later as part of the USSR. Though the USSR certainly didn't treat the people of Ukraine well, just google Holodomor, where millions of Ukraines starved to death. There isn't even an official number of deaths as Stalin had the people who tallied such things shot, and all documents destroyed. But the number is estimated to be up towards 10 million people. Now lets talk about the propaganda, here I certainly agree with both Russia and Ukraine (Hey look they agree on something!), that the US, and the US media, is blowing it out of proportion. There is almost daily articles about how much and how the Russia military is preparing, which really isn't helping the situation. But try to speak to a Russian (living in Russia), and they are bombarded with propaganda as well, from being told everyone in "the west" are russiaphopic and hate everything Russian. Or how "the west" is preparing a massive military buildup to use against Russia. Lets remember that that is the world they live in, that is their truth. Yes many Russians know it is propaganda, but lets be honest, we are all bad at not listening to propaganda. Finally there the question of will Russia invade? To answer that I think we should look at why they would, and what they want from this whole mess. An invasion would be costly, bloody and diplomatically a pure shit show. This isn't going to be a quick done deal, like with Crimea. Most likely it will a drawn out of fight with a lot of guerrilla fighting, both in the countryside and in the cities. So what does Russia want from this? Is it a pure PR show of strength, there is something to say about this, Russia likes to be "respected" (read: feared), and lets be honest they aren't as serious a threat today as they were 50 years ago, they want to go back to that. It could also give them some bargaining position to have different sanctions lifted. Which could makes sense, as they start out with some rather ridiculous demands from NATO and the US, and slowly bargain for something that is actually possible. Though on the other hand, one would think they wouldn't keep hammering about the same demands. What else could it be? Perhaps something as simple as a distraction from how bad Russia is doing, they are suffering economically, and Covid haven't been kind to them either. So a big show of force to distract the public, get the media to talk about something else, maybe even kick start the industries again. Perhaps Putin just want to be seem as a strong leader, it is worth remembering he is only in power as long as he have the backing of the oligarchs, and they certainly don't want more sanctions on Russia. All in all, the whole situation is a mess, and I'm not going to say it turn out one way or the other, but as it currently stands I have a hard time seeing Russia coming out of this with a win, in any form of capacity.
What if Russia concentrated its resources developing its industry and school system.. its ppl, instead of eyeing something that is not theirs. If they would not have fallen as victim of oligarchs and could forget the false dreams of soviet and imperial russia.. and live in this day, they would be competing much higher.. even with likes of US and China.. not some middle level european countries. Oh.. finnish perspective ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bTmWCbcYwb8.html&
Ukraine and Georgia have always been 'the breadbasket' countries of the former Sovjet Union. They practically produce more food, than any of other ex-Sovjet countries do, together Of course, if the Ukraine joined NATO, present day Russia would deem it a threat. The Crimean peninsula is important to Russian Navy accessibility, as the Baltic Sea passage is 'blocked' by Denmark and Norway, both in NATO and by Sweden and Finland as neutrals, that act; in part, as a buffer zone. Murmansk & Kamtjatka are quite distant from anywhere and have always been the crux of Sovjet/Russian waterway accessibility, as even in the days of Peter the Great, it was a military issue! Here in Denmark, we have brief news updates on the Ukraine..atm it is not something, other than to be aware of & follow ..no long segments, no scare-mongering Europe has been in this situation before, more than once hello from Denmark 🌸 ❄
@@DeReAntiqua According to Russian history, the Kievan Rus (before Russia) began in Kiev, Ukraine. Ukraine became part of the Russian empire on the early 1700's and became a Socialist Soviet in 1918 and only became fully independent in 1991. They are very closely tied despite of the famine and holodomor. The problem since mid 2000's have been the absolute state of corruption in Moldova, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. Most people in Ukraine have not seen much progress since 1991, and there have been protests multiple times. The EU and US have promised economic support since the 2014 Crimean situation. Massively shifting the opinion for EU and againt Russia.
Some guys have been playing too many war-games and spent endless time on that hobby, instead of reading history and about peace-processes. Both Russia and the USA have huge internal turmoil going on. It can come handy to fill the media with an external conflict. We "ordinary" people should be on the side of peace, because it is ordinary people who pay the price of wars - and whether Russia nor USA have even taken good care of the veterans from earlier wars, yet. I hope Sweden and Finland could emphasize the neutral and peaceful solutions-finding position, together with Switzerland and other wise leaders, so that Ukraine could take pride in joining that neutral group, which is good for the development of any country, and so help diminish the tension. It is also time, after the pandemic that has cost all the countries so much, to stop any boycot of Russia. I think the Russians would be very pleased. Germany has sworn to adhere to the principle: never any more wars; instead diplomacy and commerce should be the way to a future where world-wide problems will be addressed in peace. If the United Nations would be lifted up into the fore-ground, there would be no losing of face for any country. I think President Biden could be generous and wise enough to choose that path. If the US could start to pay enough for the United Nations again, it would be a win-win-win solution. We could point at Covid, climate change, pollution of the oceans and air, as more urgent battles to manage, and the military forces could retreat to peace-time positions, honorably.
One question slowly being asked concerning the Ukraine/Russia situation is, Is this another Appeasement? Is Biden going to become the Chamberlain of our time?
I think Russia is doing very stupid thing with the military show off. They dont want more countries to join nato but with waving the guns at your neighbours you scare them to do just that. So what the hell is the poin really?
Hey Bryson. If you want some more history on the subject then check out "History With Hilbert"'s video "War in Ukraine (2014-2022)". It gives a little more historical insight to why :)
Its actually at bit scary with this huge Russian troop buildup close to Ukraine and inside Belarus. What is Putin up to!! Just think if the 130.000 troops are sitting in Las Vegas - getting ready to attack in direction of Kentucky!! Same distance here between the Russian troops and Denmark. Sweden even closer.
NATO would not have allowed Ukraine to join. Maybe they had a chance for some kind of partnership and cooperation, but full member was not on the table. It is the policy of NATO that you can not join if you have contested borders and Crimea is unfortunately contested.
Ex-Secretary of State Pompeo once again called the Monroe Doctrine binding. The USA claims the right to have a say in the political and economic ties between the countries of South and Latin America. Who is questioning this?
So, this was about why Russia does what it does. Now another important question is......why every Russian neighbor want closer ties to the West? What are they scared of?
The US got triggered having a 'communist' country (Cuba) close to their edge. It seems natural to me that Russia is not so much amused having the Nato and especially with former USSR countries right in front of their border. No matter how I see Putin. The conflict wouldn't be half that dramatic without the US involved. Personally I would prefer if the EU would build their own military alliance and keep the americans out. The US can create a NATO with the UK on my behalf.
Not all EU countries are NATO members, specifically: Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, Malta & Sweden. Russia already borders NATO - Estonia & Latvia are NATO members and missles from their territories would be at the same distance from Moscow as if Ukraine was in NATO. On top of that, there's the whole thing with the Kaliningrad enclave which is surrounded by NATO - Poland & Lithuania. So the idea that if Ukraine would join NATO it would be too close to Moscow or Russia makes no sense. What they didn't touch in the video on was the whole thing that Russian oligarchs have the real power in Russia and Putin remains in power as long as they allow him to. And they aren't happy. Or, that Russia's economy is crumbling and the population is getting upset, so to divert attention from internal problems, Russia is creating "external enemies", to maintain control.
Nato is a defense alliance to prevent another war. Ukraine is its own state and Russia have no right to control what Ukraine does. It would be like Sweden would control Finland at every turn because Finland used to be Swedish territory. it makes no sense. The thing is russian military have been seen both by water and by air practicing attacks across the Baltic sea the last couple of years. Swedish military have a strong presence on the strategic island of Gotland in the Baltic sea because of this. There is possibly aggression not only towards Ukraine but also Finland, Sweden and the Baltic states. This is a lot bigger than Russia wants to admit, I fear. we never know til it happens ofcourse.
NATO was created as an anti-communist alliance and has always been against Russia during both Soviet and post Soviet eras. The Warsaw Pact was created as a result of the Soviet Union not being allowed to join NATO in 1954.
