An excellent analysis of the Ukraine problem
This video is a very good independent analysis of why the US-Russia negotiations over Ukraine are going nowhere. And it is not the only US foreign policy dilemma.
John Mearsheimer and Alexander Mercouris have been following the geopolitics over Ukraine for some time. In this interview conducted by Glenn Diesen (who asks the pertinent questions) we get information radically different from the propaganda flows from our mainstream media.
It is worth listening to not just for its content, but to appreciate the difficulties facing the Trump administration on wider geopolitical issues. And it should cause us to reflect on how misled the Europeans and the UK are by their own propaganda.
The underlying point is that Russia simply wishes to secure her own borders from NATO aggression. This is radically different from Hitler’s expansionist desires 90 years ago, which is what European citizens are told to be Russia’s true intentions. If we are to continue to believe our own propaganda in this matter, WW3 and not peace will be the outcome.
With India and Pakistan now kicking off over Kashmir (again), there are fears that it will escalate into a nuclear conflict. And the arrest of Iranian nationals in the UK over an alleged bomb plot (we are are told against the Israeli embassy in London) we can imagine how that plays into Middle East tensions.
Anyway, let’s have some sanity for a change and watch the following video.
Alastair, I love your take on finance. But... I have lived in Ukraine for 18 years. Speak Russian and Ukrainian. I've read Russian history.
Russia is an expansionist nation. It has been throughout its history. Putin has evidenced it in his wars in Chechnya, Georgia and Transnistria, now Ukraine in 2014 and again now.
Trump, whom both of us admire, has been slow to come around. But in his NBC interview he said the obvious. Russia will not be satisfied until they take all of Ukraine. As our European neighbors know from centuries of experience, Putin would not want to stop there. In my opinion they are too exhausted to go further, but they will never renounce the will to dominate their neighbors.
I'll agree that the negotiations will go nowhere. Simply because Putin does not want peace. This tragedy must play itself out until there is a decisive victory. We in Ukraine have no choice but to make sure it is ours. We do not want anything of Russia's, but we surely do not want to be Russian. We did that for several miserable centuries. No more!
Let's have a phone conversation. You are an intelligent guy who will benefit from hearing the other side of an argument even if you don't agree. Send and email and let's get together.
Alasdair - Sorry to have misspelled your name.
I watched the video and agree with the assessment that Trump was naive. Moreover, that there are existential threats at stake.
I disagree as to what they are. Ukraine's very existence is at stake. Putin's existence is at stake. Russia's is not and never has been.
We agree on the fundamental. That a negotiated settlement is unlikely, for the reasons given. You would blame faulty diplomacy on the part of the United States. I will agree it was not well handled, but given Putin's objectives there was no satisfaction to be had.
Please do give me a call.