Georgia is under control now of peo Russian politicians. Russia ob iously led that development. I see Armenia at the forefront of wanting to get away from Russia
@fainitesbarley2245 The real problem isn't even that, the real problem is who's in charge. The guy who owns the party that's in charge is pro Putin. He wants to move Georgia to the Kremlin. He wants Georgia to become part of Russia. It is entirely possible with the weaponry that Georgia has and the expertise that it's soldiers have, for them to move in and take over both regions. Remember the only reason Russia ran over Georgia the last time, was because all of George's soldiers were in one of the forever wars led by the United States, and the United States just stood back and let Russia run roughshot on Georgia. Never trust a Republican
@@fainitesbarley2245Also... Sadly Georgia is neutered not only by military capabilities... The political leadership is parroting Russian leadership stragety and tactics. Basically, current Georgian government is Pro-Russia.
He probably already is. Or, rather China is (I agree with the point TCK-9 made below that Xi himself might be on his way out) But since China seem quite a bit smarter then Russia under Putin they will probably have a more patient approach - keep investing in the area (as they already are doing through Belt and Road), gain a measure of economic control over local authorities and slowly gain and build more and more influence. Once they have enough of it, local people in the area might actually rather want to become part of China - which China can support diplomatically. In simple terms, they probably rather buy the area then fight over it.
Xi is on the way out the door, he won't be making any moves. At this point he is nothing more than a figurehead. Recent weaknesses have been exposed and the powers behind the curtain are putting others into operational control of the country who will start to shift China back to a more world friendly stance and less whatever the last few years of chaos have been. All of the power moves against Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Philippines have backed the country into a corner that they aren't enjoying. It won't be a quick 180 as they have to maintain face, but the warmongering and territory grabbing will start to settle down.
@@martinsportfoto2423 ''...- keep investing in the area (as they already are doing through Belt and Road), gain a measure of economic control over local authorities and slowly gain and build more and more influence'' Indeed, that's how the British Empire 'acquired' all it's colonies at first
General Seagal bursts into Putin's office and says. Seagal. Vladimir Vladimirovich. It's the Ukrainians. They want to talk peace. Putin. Finally. I knew I'd break them. Are they on the phone? Seagal. No sir. They're at the front door and they look p!ssed.
The Ukrainians have finally shown the whole world that Putin's best skill is making a poker face. He has had years of professional training in this. We have all been fooled by him for decades.
That face Putin made when he summoned the security council following the start of the Kursk invasion - was the exact moment Ukraine called his bluff and nuclear blackmail - that poker face was litterally melting. Impressive to watch.
Government leaders and others have been fooled by him. Not meaning to brag but the first time I saw him I knew he was a wrong'un. I remember thinking "meet the new boss. Same as the old boss".
Pull back his propaganda curtain and Putin's no more than a pygmy , falsely given credit for being brilliant and shrewd . He's like the Wizard of Oz , "the great and powerful Oz" who turns out to be a fake. Putin has been exposed with his disastrous invasion of Ukraine as nothing more than a corrupt , megalomaniac , caught with his pants down.
"Utility" might me more fitting. Xi is figuring out that Putin's regime has limited utility, especially when set against a global cost of supporting Putin
@@nenasiekI believe part of the gamble is that Russia will pull troops from the frontlines in Ukraine, and send them to Kursk. Or said in another way: send the soldiers from a type of war that favours russian numbers, to a war that favours Ukrainian brilliance.
that is the irony of it. Russia is ranked 11th in world economies. And it holds the record for the amount of wealth by a small number of individuals in the world. Putin is at the top of that list. If Putin had just developed his country more, he would have been far wealthier, his people would be thriving, and he would have gained the respect of the world leaders.
@@steveducell2158 He already has the respect of the Chinese , n Koreans, Iranians and majority of Middle East and third world nations. He just doesn't have the respect from the west and its allies.
@@Kaesemesser0815 Siberia and eastern Russia are home to same population as Canada. Definitely not the world least populated region . This title goes to Namibia, Australia , Mongolia etc. As long as the population remains Russian and are not displaced by Chinese then it'll remain part of Russia.
They have taken over Russia's breadbasket at harvest time. Few are talking about this. Inflation on food will go through roof in Russia. It is a genius move.
@IslamicOrigins The incursion is at most 20km deep into Russia. Russia is the largest nation on earth , what makes you think 20km will have impact on nationwide harvest?
@@alqaas1948 Do you understand the concept of area? Width by length? They have conquered about 1000 square kilometres, or 250,000 acres of Russia's best agricultural land. And that may increase. That's a lot of wheat. 15 quintals of wheat is 1500 kg of wheat per acre. This is 375,000,000 kgs of wheat. That's the minimum impact but it may be worse. Any reduction in supply will aggravate an already dicey food situation in Russia.
@@IslamicOrigins According to deep state ua the main pro Ukraine mapper, , Ukraine has 500km2 under control with further 400km2 under contest. With that being said, Russia already holds 98% of Luhansk which is equally productive in terms of agriculture as Kursk. Russia grew its agricultural capacity even further by incorporation of the territories in the east . Also how is food situation dicey in Russia when they can feed their population many times over and even export grain to the rest of the world?
Our Intelligence Community have failed us miserably. Russia was advertised as a global military power. Instead Urkraine has exposed Russia as a regional belligerent. Bless Ukraine for all they have endured, clearly they are incredible warriors.
Also, when you think about it, the restrictions we have unreasonably put on Ukraine defending itself actually make us MORE of a party directly involved in the conflict than if we just handed Storm Shadow etc. to Ukraine and then said "they're Ukrainian now", like we did with the tanks etc. - when we are programming their missiles, "helping" choose targets and have a say in which targets may be hit and which can't, this is a much more direct involvement than if we just hand them long range weapons and say "do as you please". What the Ukrainians have shown in terms of bravery and endurance is truly impressive - they really deserve our admiration and respect for what they have done with the limited means the West has given them.
they have not failed... if they would have told then what we do know now, then the public opinion would turn pacifistic why do we need weapons blablabla , well while that is a good thing, there are other countries beside russia that want to cause harm. so its best to stay as strong as possible hope for the best prepare for the worst. intelligence is a game of chess not checkers.
I think our military forces have always been in a position to out-fight Russian troops thanks to better training and equipment. The threat from Russia is still real but the military balance is tilted in NATOs favour thanks to the damage of Russian capability. NATO does need to prepare itself for future conflict, rebuild and modernise its capabilities but Ukraine shows us that we needn't be fearful of Russia.
@@AAWTYes, Ukraine have been fighting with one hand behind their back and doing an amazing job. In hindsight, the moment the tanks first rolled into Ukraine, decisive action should have been taken by the West.
Ukraine is a very deceitful partner. Blindsided the US in a surprise invasion of Russia that could have easily directly dragged in the US. Untrustworthy Ukraine should get no more support.
UKR would have won the war decisively over a year ago, if only they had the weapons they have been begging from day1. Look at the weapons the US sent to Israel. If only UKR could receive a fraction of those.
Sadly, I'm forced to agree with Mr. Ingram on this. Even if Ukraine had multitudes of weapons at the beginning, the effect wouldn't be as great as we think, and the losses would have been higher. Training a large formation of troops to be highly effective and coordinated takes a lot of time. The Ukrainians would not have been able to exploit them to their maximum effect. Most Ukrainians actions up to now were taking place at the company level. Now however, the training and experience built up by Ukrainian officers and troops could allow them to perform much larger, bolder actions with greater success than before, such as the invasion of Kursk.
This is one of the most well-informed and balanced explanations I have heard about the Russo-Ukrainian war. No alarmism or jingoistic hype. I agree that Ukraine has been demonstrating exceptional performance for many, many months and now are showing how they can apply their capabilities in mobile warfare. Military history is being made in front of our eyes.
@VinceLammas and how are the Ukrainians doing in Donbas. I keep hearing town after town are falling. The Russians are effectively at the gates of pokrovsk despite the Kursk incursion.
Just wild suppositions then eh? Nothing happens in this war without the other side knowing. In case you don't know the Russians have satellites! They knew about this so called incursion. It's a trap and 4,000 troops are going to die or spend 20 years in a Siberian gulag. Ukraine is spent. Russian people are very patriotic and are having thousands of new recruits joining up. They have a population of 140 million people to draw on. This invasion will just make them more determined. The way these 2 are talking is like children are playing war with toy soldiers. I'd like to see these two lying in a muddy field pinned down by mortar fire defecating in their pants for a week or two. War is not a game. Everything they are saying is just wild suppositions. You have no idea what is really going on. This is pure war propaganda.
@@mrjerzheel This comment REALLY went over your head now didn't it? To spell it out for you: Russia did a fake referendum in the regions it stole from Ukraine with the dodgy excuses that they were going to 'denazify' the country... where it is nothing but a blatant invasion of a sovereign nation. So now people, rightfully poke fun this way.
There's some good discussion by @laowhy86 regarding the rumor-mongering of a coup. It's not at all likely, but it's very possible that Xi is desperately attempting to manage the years-long crisis he's been pretending doesn't exist. The rumors may be attempts at getting him to stop LARP'ing Chairman Mao.
He would have certainly preferred Russia bankrupting itself with fighting confined to Uraine. Doesn't change the fact, that he still hopes for Russia to bankrupt itself. It'll make it easier to turn the country into China's b*tch.
The reality is embarrassing or not China supports Russia the enemy of Europe and the greatest threat to our security, whilst Europe is buying record amounts from China and funding them, we should re-shore and relocate our supply chains from China as a matter of urgency it should have started in 2022!?!
When western countries pushed Ukraine to launch an offensive last summer it was not successful and that wasn't surprising given that Russian forces knew well ahead where and when the offensive was going to occur. But when Ukraine decided itself to launch two major offensives in the second half of 2022 and now in the summer of 2024 the offensives were successful and gained a lot of territory. Maybe western countries should accept that Ukraine knows what it is doing and just let Ukraine decide how to conduct its war without putting pressure on Ukraine to do this or that or to not do this or that. And that should include taking away restrictions on the use of western supplied weapons in Russia.
Never forget, there is NO firendship between countries, only interests. When we talk about "friendship", then we talk about a large number of common interests.
I find it interesting that no analyst seems to be talking about the fact there's a huge no fly zone over Russia's western border and that no fly zone extends almost all the way to Moscow. If that no fly zone extends any further it will ground commercial air traffic to Moscow.
None of putin's foreign allies trust him. Nor do they care what he thinks about their own affairs. He went begging to all of them showing his incredibly weak position. They make the most of this to help themselves while telling him what he wants to hear. 😂😂😂
Is Russia's "meatwave" strategy, with all its destruction and cruel treatment of human life, applicable on its own territory in Russia? If not, Russia has no answer to the incursion / invasion
Kursk operation can’t be tackled. It could have been prevented but Putin and his military team are seriously incompetent. Now, all Russian defensive options will have huge costs and will seriously weaken the army hold of Ukrainian land. Putin is facing a dilemma neither he nor his team is capable to solve.
"but Putin and his military team are seriously incompetent." It's mostly, i think, about Putin deliberately placing certain (incompetent) people in in places of command. He cannot afford to have good people there because they might pose a threat to him. There is this "game" he plays by placing puppets that he can control directly and certainly do not oppose him but just keep the situation going.
@@robertatkins9419lowering the debate to ad hominem argument is an example of a weak Russian defense! No wonder the Ukrainians are walking around in Russia relatively unchallenged. Russia is bellicose to the point of self-sabotage.
Actually Putin blew it earlier when he entered into a defense agreement with China's vassal state NK. Putin is not blind to China displacing Russian influence in central asia. Giving NK an option was Putin way of warning China. China's strange joint training with Belarus was Xi's way of showing Putin he too can play this game. Putin and Xi are friends with long knives. They are made for each other.
Russia and China’s breakdown in negotiations with an oil pipeline certainly showed the limitations of their “unlimited friendship”. Nobody’s taking a close look at what China will do to Russia next.
Thank you James. Your research, other preparation, knowledge of the subjects covered and the people you are interviewing, as well as your presentation within the actual interview are first class.
Great interview, with insights way beyond tactical bickering of how many settlements or km2 have been seized. With Mr Ingram, military intelligence is no oxymoron !
Says who the west? You lived through Afghanistan Iraq Syria Libya 911 and covid and all the rest of the lies war mongering and skull duggery and you trust our leaders and the media????? I’m not saying Putin and Xi aren’t bad but can you believe these liars?
I would accept that the odd national leader might have confidence in putler, although how they get to that is beyond me, but that nobody has trust in him. Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦 from 🇦🇺
23:00 WHY does this guest and everyone else suppose that Putin will eventually negotiate in 12 or 24 months? I don't think he ever will. The best case scenario is that Ukraine fights Russia out but it becomes a frozen conflict like the Koreas. The most likely scenario is a line of control something like the current front lines (though western F-16's may help move Russia back a considerable amount) but again a frozen conflict whereby Russia no longer attacks, and is too dug in for Ukrainian attacks to achieve anything so they too die off. Once this status is reached, it will continue until Putin dies. Western sanctions will continue, and Putin's successors will want to end those, PROBABLY. And I'd advise Ukraine to demand a 250km DMZ inside Russia AND Belarus with no 4-lane roads, no bridges that can handle over 10 ton trucks, no airports and no trains. Further Ukraine must get reparations for all damage (currently about 1-2 trillion, about a year of GDP for Russia) plus some nominal amount for dead civilians and soldiers, plus the costs of defending itself, which will include costs of aid from the West (which should be framed as lend-lease; to be paid back by Russian reparations and not otherwise due by Ukraine).
The problem is that Russia started this war with its best, they're gone. The herd is thinned out and the best and brightest ain't no more. He's got a pair of deuces acting like it's four of a kind.🤣
I keep hearing that the UK was the first to send tanks to Ukraine this is incorrect. Several countries, including the Czech Republic and Poland, sent tanks to Ukraine before the UK did.
13:29 he is pretty useless isn't he? He said Ukraine could pull out after proving they can take lots of russian lands if Putin wanna do a territory swap, and now he say they can only do surprise attack ones! :P Obviously, Ukrane should not leave the russian territory at least not unless russia has paid as dearly for it as if it was Ukraine! It's much better for Ukraine to fight inside russia, as there are no russian defensive lines and minefields, that allow Ukraine to utilize its advantage in a battle of maneuver. Ukraine should commit to this and maybe even do more incursions further north on the boarder, they are sparsely populated and defended so they could take lots of land with a few light units, while spreading confusion.
Xi will tolerate Putin for very cheap oil, but will find him an incompetent & embarrassing dictator. Eventually Xi will probably turn his back on little Putin if China’s trade with the West drops too far…
REAL TALK! and not the BS that Times Radio trying to brain wash you! Don't F**K with Putin! Yeah I said That! U-Dig!... Check this out! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bchezcGKwNI.html
When Putin started expropriating western owned and built industries in Russia, China immediately ceased its belts and roads developments in Russia. Since over 60% of China's belts and roads money was in fact being spent if Russia, this is a serious hit to Russia. It's old news, but the MSM in many nations, particularly the UK and Canada, like to avoid talking about Russia's poor financial situation.
Only point I would refute is that this is Ukraine's only shot at a surprise - this is already their 2nd time w/ a big surprise to Russia Otherwise, a very reasonable and competent speaker who stuck to relevant discussion and pertinent information 🤘
China is not bothered with Ukraine counter invasion of Russia. It is not like Ukraine will be able to hold territory for a long time. Russia can cede more land and Ukraine will be so thinly spread that they cannot hold for long
I hope China have a think about is War in any ones interest when you consider the overall cost and os the energy worth it. Who wins and what do they actually win? Is there a better life without having a War?
I think Ukraine can invade in other areas just because they need Russia to take more troops from the front line in their own country to take the pressure off.