 So Russia Ukraine and the United States response by now I'm sure that you've heard that something is going on something pretty significant to put it lightly and I Honestly, I don't know where to begin here Do I start with a history lesson? Do I supply you with the context of the geopolitical situation in Eastern Europe over the past five years? I don't know. This is tough This is really complicated and anyone who claims that they're an authority on this issue unless they have a PhD in political science and Russian history and Eastern European history. I Don't think that they are an authority on this issue and what's difficult is that we are working with a Situation where two competing imperial powers are purposefully spreading disinformation to muddy the water So you could read an article that sounds pretty impartial But yet it's written by someone with an interest who's representing a particular point of view So it's difficult to be someone who finds objective information when you don't really know how to decipher between the bullshit and the correct Objective impartial information. So not really knowing how to approach this the solution that I came up with is to Just do a generic listicle and I know that that's not the best solution here But if I just give you five things that I know for sure and give you an objectively good takeaway in my opinion I think that that is probably the best way to approach this although it's it's admittedly imperfect So the first thing that you absolutely must know about the situation is that you don't know shit and Neither do I Reading an article or two watching a YouTube video about this does not make you an expert on this subject I'll say it again reading an article or two and watching a YouTube video with some dickhead know it all does not make you an expert on this Subject it is not an adequate substitute for real knowledge here There are a lot of things at play and the reason why it's so difficult to obtain accurate information here As I stated is because of the disinformation campaigns on one hand the United States I don't trust them because This is a country that has been militaristic and aggressive Throughout my entire life. We have a military industrial complex that at this point is almost semi-autonomous and Is always going to err on the side of militarism. So whatever our government officials say I'm skeptical But on the other hand that doesn't mean that I trust Vladimir Putin when he says that he's not gonna invade Ukraine Do I believe him? Absolutely not. Would he even possibly do a false flag attack in Ukraine to kind of use that as the catalyst to justify an invasion into Ukraine? Oh, sure. I wouldn't put it past him. I don't trust anyone here so what I'm trying to do is look out for the human species and even with that, you know Really a bold go here, you know, there are pitfalls that you can easily fall in So just know that everything that I say in this video everything that anyone says take it all with a grain of salt Use that as a jumping point to educate yourself. But as you pursue Information be careful because you could inadvertently stumble upon misinformation Everything here needs to be rigorously, you know vetted. It's this is really really difficult. So just remember You don't know shit We can try to figure out what's going on and be as objective as possible but there are limits to that given what's at stake and how many competing narratives are out there now another issue is that the Mainstream media has not been trustworthy case in point should the US rattle Putin's cage Published in Politico and presented by Lockheed Martin not necessarily a source I trust given that conflict of interest and then on top of that you have Joe Scarborough and his right-wing colleagues Implying that the US is seen as weak globally therefore the implication is that maybe we shouldn't be so weak Maybe we should be a little bit more aggressive. He says the Russian see our a retreat from Afghanistan as a green light to invade Ukraine China sees American passivity toward Ukraine as a green light to invade Taiwan So do you understand the problem here? There are people who have an agenda Basically, everyone in mainstream media conservative liberals, they're going to be beating the war drums They do this in every single instance of there being a foreign policy issue be it China Venezuela Iran this is just what they do So you you have to be very careful in the information that you come across and verify it before you repeat it and be Very careful even repeating anything that you hear about this including from me because even if I'm trying to do my best again I can make a mistake that could lead to You being you know misled, which is not what I want to do So that brings us to point number two war with Russia is Unquestionably out of the question and anyone who suggests otherwise is Psychopathic now that might sound like hyperbole, but I need you to understand what's at stake here The United States and Russia are both nuclear powers So a war with them over Ukraine not only is this not in the interest of the American people and the Russian people and the Ukrainian people it's not in the interest of Humanity itself because nuclear war is something that could literally end life on this planet and in an op-ed for the Washington Post Bronco-Marcetic rights if US Russian hostilities led to the use of nukes It wouldn't end well Imagine if the web of alliances that led to crisscrossing declarations of war in 1914 had triggered hundreds Thousands of nuclear warheads being fired across continents instead the United States whose missile defense systems have a far from 100% success rate Would not escape unscathed and even if a ground war managed to avoid triggering a nuclear holocaust It would still precipitate an economic downturn considering Europe's dependence on Russian natural gas and the costs accrued from US wars against weaker Countries than Russia Ukraine on whose behalf warhawks would risk such disaster is a country 5,700 miles away from American shores and one that as a non-NATO member Washington has no obligation to defend its government and security forces are also infected with neo-nazis who have trained and directly inspired Homegrown far-right terrorists if you're reading this from one of the dozens of major metropolitan and military centers That would sit in the crosshairs of a Russian nuclear attack ask yourself is Ukraine's territorial integrity really worth the costs And the answer is no now it's easy to kind of get bogged down by all of this and just think you know from a strategic perspective Okay, if they do this we obviously have to respond this way if they do x we do y But understand what's happening here. We're not just talking about pieces on a chessboard. We're talking about the lives of human beings. So of course We absolutely under no circumstances can have a hot war with Russia Now pundits on mainstream media will imply that we're obligated to defend Ukraine in the event Russia does invade But that's not true. We absolutely fucking have a choice when we're facing the prospect of war between two competing nuclear powers We absolutely have a choice and the only thing that we should be considering is how do we preserve life on this planet? Because a nuclear war would not be in the interest of the human species and I don't give a fuck about what the US government says I don't care about the way that they'll look if they don't intervene in the event Russia doesn't invade I don't care about Russia's geopolitical interests I couldn't care less about any of that bullshit what I care about is preserving this fucking planet for all of us human beings To live on perpetually if we lived in a sane world all nuclear powers would come together and get rid of every single Nuclear warhead in existence in the mutual interest of preserving the human race, but that's not happening So all of humanity has to watch in horror as leaders of global superpowers play chicken with each other in a deadly dick measuring contest Which is bound to get us all killed at some point in time. It's fucking insane So yes, we do have a choice and diplomacy is the only option and if diplomacy fails Then you take the L and you you move on you can't invade you can't have a hot war with Russia What the fuck are we thinking? Why is this even on anyone's brains as a possibility not to be fair? Diplomatic talks between the United States and Russia are ongoing But if this fails this does not justify war if Russia invades Ukraine that would be catastrophic and that still would not justify war Nothing would justify war between two nuclear powers. I shouldn't have to say this That's not to say that a Russian invasion into Ukraine wouldn't be catastrophic for the people of Ukraine Especially if Putin decides to annex regions of Ukraine that aren't ethnically Russian But as bad as that would be it would be orders of magnitude worse if this devolved into a nuclear war between the United States and Russia therefore we'd have to make a utilitarian calculation It's Ukraine or everyone else and I choose everyone else I choose everyone on the planet We're talking about life on earth here We're talking about the prospect of nuclear war wake the fuck up people Why are you even thinking this is an option whoever thinks this is an option is unironically psychopathic now? That's reductionist admittedly so but the prospect of war with Russia all because these dumb fuck leaders of both countries Think that they're justified in doing this. No, it's not life on this planet is what matters the most And we have to do everything in our fucking power to preserve life on this planet But it seems like human beings aren't a fucking extinction speedrun lately and the fact that this is even being considered and championed in Main Street media is just truly Insane and I'm gonna be using that adjective quite a bit But it's the only thing that's appropriate for this situation nuclear war Do you all really want to live in that world where we're seeing a nuclear holocaust where we're worrying once again? Like you know the cold war before if we're gonna be nuked who wants to live in that world I mean people we have to get our shit together as a species. We're killing the planet I mean is it really good and come down to what kills us first? the Unhabitability of our planet or nuclear war is that really the world that we want to live in because I sure the fuck don't I actually want to live I want future generations to be able to thrive on this planet So fuck your war fuck the prospect of war fuck the interests of all these superpowers We need to live now I understand if we do nothing if Russia does indeed invade Ukraine the fear then becomes well What if Russia starts going after other countries, you know if it's Ukraine Do they just stop there? Of course not and this fear however warranted it may be it kind of Dismisses the reality of the global situation currently Russia as big as they may be there's still not the global Hegemonic power. It's the United States. We are the ones who keep expanding We are the ones who keep invading other countries, which brings me to point three, which is we keep antagonizing Russia and escalating and we're doing this instead of trying to pursue diplomatic options Trying to hear Russia out trying to be reasonable in our response all that we know is aggression And that's the only thing that we keep doing rather than trying soft diplomacy for once where we offer to ease Sanctions if Russia decides to withdraw troops from Ukraine's border This is what we're doing instead as Sarasota explains how stems want to expedite a floor vote on a massive Ukraine defense bill That would dramatically increase US security assistance and lay groundwork for major sanctions on Russia Hey sending a much more aggressive posture without much room for debate So when you do things like this, you don't really leave room for diplomatic talks to flourish Additionally, Biden was at least considering sending troops to Ukraine to defend against the Russian invasion and his administration claims that it's imminent And as a result currently 8,500 troops were on standby Although I say were because he seemingly ruled this out when talking to the press earlier today So that's a genuinely positive development But things can change and they do tend to change and understand that Biden as reasonable as he's being right there at least He has a lot of voices in his ear always constantly pushing for antagonism. You're weak. You're weak You're weak. Be stronger be stronger. Remember Afghanistan and how weak you are be tough So, you know because he's saying this now doesn't mean that the situation won't change and as a result You know, he changes his mind as a consequence Which moves us to the fourth thing that I think you should know The world is not black and white. It's not just that Vladimir Putin is the villain And we're the good guys or that we're the villains and Vladimir Putin is the good guy Things are a lot more complicated than that in truth. We're all villains We're all evil and whenever one side does something it's usually in response to the others aggression So in an article for Jacobin Bronco Marsetic breaks this down In fact, Putin's highly publicized provocations against Washington are responses to far less publicized U.S. Actions and vice versa part of a tit for tat exchange between two adversarial powers The solar winds hack of April suspected to have been carried out by Russia was the last of these But before that Washington carried out a hack and dump operation against the Russian company working for intelligence services Of course before that was Russia's infamous 2016 election interference Also allegedly involving the hack and release of embarrassing documents, which itself was a response to Washington's Democracy promotion work in Russia, which Putin not unreasonably views with suspicion It's worth noting that in May U.S. officials were tricked into admitting on camera that they have a very very active program throughout Russia And we're targeting the country's legislative elections Meaning this political meddling the likes of which Americans would justifiably balk at if it was revealed Beijing or Moscow Was doing the same thing within U.S. Borders is still going on and it would be naive to assume that there isn't some Russian version of this going on within the United States Even if it's not on the same scale You can go back throughout history like this and Washington and Moscow would each point the finger claiming the other started it Who's right doesn't matter for now? The point is that Russia has not been some supreme evil testing the United States unprovoked But has instead been engaging in a pretty standard to and fro with the geopolitical rival Now this right here characterizes the back and forth between Russia and the United States over the course of the last few years But you have to go back a little bit further to really understand What's happening here so after the collapse of the Soviet Union at that point NATO was effectively meaningless Once the Soviet Union collapsed the need for NATO was over But for whatever reason After promising to not expand eastward between 1999 and 2020 There were 14 new countries that were added to NATO all of them Eastern European countries So when you have the prospect of Ukraine Joining NATO Russia justifiably sees that as a threat and Russia sees this as a threat because of the large border They share with Ukraine quote Putin has given the side-eye to this expansion for a while But the inclusion of Ukraine would be a step further Not only does the country share a far larger land border with Russia than any existing NATO member state But there has always been a powerful contingent within the country that sees Ukraine as Fundamentally part of Russia or at least as a younger sibling There is in other words a lot of national pride tied up in the matter for Russia as well as considerable security concerns Just imagine if Russia or China looked to add Mexico to a military alliance of Latin American states They headed placing troops and weapons just over the fence from Texas though the United States and NATO have always insisted The alliance isn't directed against Russia Moscow is Understandably not convinced after all the Clinton administration itself justified expanding NATO by warning of the need to be on guard for the possibility that Russia could return to the threatening behavior of the Soviet period and Putin's early suggestion to let Russia join NATO Albeit while jumping queue or create a European wide security pact was rebuffed No, I think this is an important mental exercise here imagine if that was the case if Russia was trying to Create some sort of alliance in Latin America to you know Stifle US aggression which has been a thing in Latin America for those of you who don't know and then they decided to expand to Mexico a country that borders the United States. What would our Psychopathic leaders do how would they respond? I don't think it would be a question They would bomb Russia it would be an outright hot war and for the more imagine if Vladimir Putin Backed a coup in Mexico the ouster of you know a government that was favorable to the US and favor of a government That was more sympathetic towards Russian interests. I mean in 2014. We did this in Ukraine We backed the ouster of someone who was more favorable to the Kremlin. So imagine if Russia did that so in order to try to understand the motivations of a Global rival you have to try to get into their head and see what's happening and as you can see You know there has been Repeated aggression and escalations from the United States that doesn't mean that Putin is the victim But you have to understand that the world is in black and white It's not just that everything that Putin does is a provocation oftentimes It's a response and what we do we can view that as a response to to Putin's aggressions But either way the world isn't a black and white thing And you know if people try to propagate this myth that the world is black and white And we only have binary choices to make and it's this way or that way They're wrong now Let's get to the final thing that you need to know about this particular issue At least as of right now based on an ABC News report published less than two hours ago from the time that I record this Ukraine does not believe a Russian invasion is imminent now Russia does have a hundred thousand troops near the Ukraine border and yes, that's alarming an invasion would be absolutely Devastating, but let's try to bring it down right Ukraine wouldn't say we don't believe an invasion is imminent If that weren't the case, I mean if they believed that an invasion from Russia was imminent They'd probably say that on top of that thinking about Russia They know that the economic sanctions that would be imposed at a minimum would cripple their economy Which is already in shambles So they have an interest to not invade aside from you know the history and him Maybe wanting to reignite the Soviet Union either way There are a lot of things that lead to him not wanting to make this decision doesn't mean that he's not going to make it But there's you know a lot of factors at play here that make it not necessarily a Certainty that an invasion will occur and I'm saying this because I want you to bring it down calm down It's very easy to become doom and gloom when you know we talk about these things that could result in Nuclear war a nuclear Holocaust, but understand that this rivalry between the United States and Russia is nothing new It might be new for our generation, but our parents and grandparents They grew up with this my mom for example She grew up in Hawaii and they had drills in school to get under the tables hide in the event of you know a nuclear war We don't have to deal with that today So let's let's calm down. This is nothing new. Let's not assume the worst. Let's not Unnecessarily catastrophize. Let's try to live our lives and chill I think that's really important because oftentimes these emotions Can lead us to making irrational decisions these emotions can lead us to you know finding a source an article You know somebody on YouTube who just tells us what makes sense when we can't really make sense of things We're when we're in this state of panic. So it's very important That we relax and notice how I'm even using a more calm tone To bring it all down after talking about this catastrophic issue, but it's important You know, it's concerning, but as individuals there's not much that we can do So it is absolutely not beneficial to us to freak out about this. It's worrying Absolutely, I grant you that I'm worried about this But let's chill and acknowledge that if this is okay if if they don't invade and situations kind of You know improves if tensions are eased then in a few months Who knows there could be the prospect of war with Iran. It's just this is always going to be a thing So we have to find ways to cope with these types of details and stories when they're so common You can't let this, you know pollute your brain. You can't let this get you down and affect your mood and make you depressed Really really important. So that's what I want to leave you with and just remember it once again You don't know shit and neither do I so everything that I've told you here that it You can check out the articles that I've listed in the description box that I've used to kind of guide my assessment But I understand that it's very very difficult to ascertain Objective and impartial details about the situation given the current state of media and the disinformation campaigns Being waged by the United States and Russia and their their allies and in media So it's it's hard to know just know that one objective takeaway that I think everyone can agree with who's reasonable Is that a war with Russia? Even the thought of war with Russia is totally out of the question it's something that we have to unequivocally rule out and That's because we are focused on the higher goal of preserving life on this planet Which to me is a little bit important. So yeah, that's what I've got for you. I have no idea if this was satisfactory I have no idea if this was helpful Perhaps you find it helpful But some of the details here aren't explained carefully either way just be careful here folks when we're looking at details as it relates to this issue