 Well, as you all know, yesterday things took a turn for the worst in Ukraine when Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to drastically escalate tensions by ordering the Russian military to conduct, quote, peacekeeping operations in Donetsk and Luhansk after signing decrees recognizing both areas in Ukraine purportedly as sovereign states. Now the peacekeeping operation is a very flimsy justification for an invasion. That's bullshit and anyone with a brain can see right through what he's doing there. Now I was wrong on this issue. I genuinely didn't really know how to process the situation. I didn't rule out an invasion given what Vladimir Putin did in Crimea back in 2014. Having said that though, when you see constant posturing from the Russian military, when they constantly increase and decrease the number of troops on the Ukraine border, when you see the Ukraine President say that this invasion isn't as imminent as US intelligence is suggesting, you know, I can't help but think is this as serious as American media overstating the threat simply at the behest of the military industrial complex and the State Department? It's hard to say because I'm very skeptical of anything that the State Department says. But regardless of what led to this point, regardless of what people have said, Russia is the clear aggressor here and what Vladimir Putin did is an overt act of aggression and it destabilizes the entire region and potentially the world depending on how bad things get. Now in response, President Biden has announced sanctions on Russia. This is the first set of sanctions and he stated that he will impose more sanctions in the event Russia continues its aggression. But here's what President Biden said today. So today I'm announcing the first trance of sanctions to impose cost on Russia in response to their actions yesterday. These have been closely coordinated with our allies and partners and will continue to escalate sanctions if Russia escalates. We're implementing full blocking sanctions on two large Russian financial institutions, VEB and their military bank. We're implementing comprehensive sanctions on Russian sovereign debt. That means we've cut off Russia's government from Western financing. It can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade in its new debt on our markets or European markets either. Starting tomorrow and continuing in the days ahead, we'll also impose sanctions on Russia's elites and their family members. They share in the corrupt gains of the Kremlin policies and should share in the pain as well. Because of Russia's actions, we've worked with Germany to ensure Nord Stream 2 will not, as I promised, will not move forward. So when it comes to how I want countries to respond to aggression, really the goal here is always to make sure that the response is proportional and used specifically to disincentivize further aggression from another country, not instigate further conflict. And I think that Biden's response here basically hits that mark. In my opinion, I think that his response was measured and reasonable, which is actually surprising to me given how tough his administration has talked. But you know, I hope that Biden continues to reject the advice of warmongers because I think that a lot of people are going to call him weak. House Republicans have tweeted about how weak he is and how his response here is just, you know, not good. At least that's the implication. But you have to reject all of that and try to opt for a peaceful solution. I mean, a peaceful diplomatic solution at this point seems like a pipe dream given what Russia did, but the fact that Biden isn't actually trying to further antagonize them and is simply trying to disincentivize more aggression is, I think, what he should be doing as a responsible world leader, although I will say it is President Joe Biden and given his hawkish past, I mean, he may change. It just kind of depends. But at least for now, I think that this targeted set of sanctions at, you know, Russian oligarchs, elites, the Nord Stream pipeline, I think that this is the right move. And it's reasonable to say if Russia continues, we will respond with more sanctions. I think that that is indeed reasonable, at least for now. But the situation is changing a lot. And my position will always be how do we get away from war? How do we deescalate? That's the position that I'm coming from. And I think that's a fairly common position that a lot of people are approaching the situation from. Now, what I do want to share, rather than really sharing my own commentary, because this issue is incredibly complicated, I do want to share what others have to say about this. So the Kenyan ambassador to the United Nations Security Council had a really compelling response to Russia's aggression. Kenya in almost every African country was birthed by the ending of empire. Our borders were not of our own drawing. They were drawn in the distant colonial metropoles of London, Paris, and Lisbon, with no regard for the ancient nations that they cleaved apart. Today, across the border of every single African country live our countrymen, with whom we share deep historical, cultural, and linguistic bonds. At independence, had we chosen to pursue states on the basis of ethnic, racial, or religious homogeneity, we would still be waging bloody wars these many decades later. Instead, we agreed that we would settle for the borders that we inherited. But we would still pursue continental, political, economic, and legal integration. Rather than form nations that looked ever backwards into history with a dangerous nostalgia, we chose to look forward to a greatness none of our many nations and peoples had ever known. We chose to follow the rules of the organization of African unity and the United Nations Charter, not because our borders satisfied us, but because we wanted something greater forged in peace. We believe that all states formed from empires that have collapsed or retreated have many peoples in them yearning for integration with peoples in neighboring states. This is normal and understandable. After all, who does not want to be joined to their brethren and to make common purpose with them? However, Kenya rejects such a yearning from being pursued by force. We must complete our recovery from the embers of dead empires in a way that does not plung us back into new forms of domination and oppression. We rejected irredentism and expansionism on any basis, including racial, ethnic, religious, or cultural factors. We reject it again today. So his perspective here is obviously very valuable. And what Russia is doing here is imperialist expansionism by force. And that's not acceptable at all. Now, you can argue that Russia feels threatened by NATO. And I've made the point before that in the event there was some sort of a defense of alliance with Latin American countries because of US aggression. US wouldn't say kindly to some sort of alliance with Russia in Mexico. And I think that that's a reasonable thing to say, but that still wouldn't justify the United States going into Mexico and trying to take over portions of Mexico or declaring portions of Mexico as part of the United States or independent. You can't do things like that. It's it's unacceptable. So, you know, yes, the United States of America and their history of aggression and imperialism is absolutely something that we have to be cautious of. And I will always be skeptical of whatever the State Department says. But at the same time, though, you can't give Russia a pass for their imperialistic endeavors because the US is saying it, right? As a leftist, my goal is to ultimately pursue peace. And so I reject all forms of imperialism, US imperialism and Russian imperialism. And sometimes it's difficult to wade through all of the disinformation and propaganda by both of these imperialist powers. But at the end of the day, I think it's pretty obvious what Russia did. They were aggressive. Doing that is unacceptable. Doing that puts us closer to war. And I don't necessarily believe that this will all lead to World War Three. At least I hope that that's the case. Knock on wood, right? But still, what they did was a drastic escalation. And I hope that people see through it and condemn it. I don't care about the excuses. I don't care about the justifications whatsoever to do what Vladimir Putin did is an explicit escalation. It is explicitly aggressive. And I'm against that. I'm against war mongering. I'm against war hawks. I'm against imperialism. Period. Full stop. Again, don't care who does it. I'm against it. Now, I want to share a really good clip from Mehdi Hasan, where he kind of goes through the history of Russian imperialism. It's not just the United States who is an aggressive imperialist power. It's also Russia as well. And Mehdi Hasan kind of breaks down how they've been terrorizing their neighborhood, you know, in the same way that the United States invades countries, Russia, they do the same sort of thing just in their backyard. And Mehdi Hasan had a really good message that resonated with me at least at the end. So this is relatively long, but it's worthwhile. Take a look. Let's just take a look at Russia's record under Putin since the late 1990s and how absurd the Kremlin statement is in that light. Because in the 1990s, the Russian government fought not one but two wars in the oil-rich Russian Republic of Chechnya, which is located along its southern border. The conflict there between Chechen separatists and Russian loyalists preceded Putin. But after he was appointed prime minister in August 1999, the war took on a new and very bloody phase. Islamist fighters invaded the neighboring Republic of Dagestan. Less than a month later, there were a series of bombings in apartment buildings in Russian cities that left hundreds dead. Russian authorities blamed the attacks on Chechen rebels, on terrorists. But later independent investigations presented evidence that strongly suggested the bombings were a false flag attack coordinated by Russian security services to win support for a new full-scale war in Chechnya. The pretext was set. Russia under its new prime minister launched a massive months-long aerial campaign that killed tens of thousands of Chechen civilians, creating mass internal displacement and a huge refugee crisis. Russia was accused by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International of committing war crimes against the Chechen people. The siege lasted until February of the following year. And despite the brutal military offensive, leaders in the West largely ignored it. Just the next month, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair visited Putin in St. Petersburg, a private visit to personalised ties with the new Russian leader. They even went to the opera. Then in April, Putin visited the UK. And despite the trip being widely criticised for such poor timing, Blair defended it, saying Putin wanted a strong relationship with the West and that he talks our language of reform. Well, that so-called reformist was just getting started. In 2008, Putin would launch similar aggressions in the former Soviet state of Georgia, also located along Russia's southern border. Georgia became independent in 1991, but the existence of pro-Russian separatists in the self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia caused tensions with Moscow. A full-blown diplomatic crisis took place in April 2008. Long story short, Putin launched another war, backing the separatist regions against Georgian forces. He trumpeted claims of genocide being committed against South Ossetians to win public support. Hmm, sound familiar? In just 12 days, hundreds were killed in Georgia and South Ossetia. Tens of thousands were displaced. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called it a peace enforcement operation. That must be it. The Russians saw their military aggression as peace enforcements, not as attacks. Convenient, right? And maybe that's what the seizing of Crimea in 2014 was to Putin as well. Not an attack or invasion or an annexation, but a peace enforcement. How about Russian bombings in Syria, attacks that have been called war crimes? Maybe those were peace enforcements, too. Today, it's peacekeeping functions in Donbas, according to the Kremlin decree. Poor, misunderstood Vladimir Putin. All he wants is peace at the barrel of his gun. In response to Putin's latest cynical moves against Ukraine, even someone like Democratic Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders, who's been much less hawkish than other US lawmakers, even Bernie called out the Russian president's escalation in a tweet on Saturday. It is beyond belief that in 2022, as we face challenges like COVID and climate change, any national leader would start a war that could kill thousands and create millions of refugees, he wrote. There's a diplomatic solution. It's tragic Putin seems intent to reject it. Sanders was attacked by someone the far left for those comments. And I get it. The US has very little credibility in calling out any country for foreign aggression or invasions of sovereign territories. But we've covered all that on this show. And the fact is, just because the US too often acts as an imperial power around the world, it doesn't make it okay if Russia and Vladimir Putin do it, too. So that was a great segment by MediHuson. And that last point in particular was really important. You know, it's easy for me to instinctively just dismiss whatever the United States says because we are an aggressive imperialist power. And whenever we say something about another country, odds are we're doing it so we can pursue our own imperialist ventures. But that doesn't mean that you should just disregard other forms of imperialism that are and have been taking place throughout the world. We really have to be nuanced here. And I'm preaching to myself mostly trying to be introspective because this is difficult for me. This is a very complex issue. And I feel hesitant to speak about this because I'm not an authority on this. And the history here, the geopolitical politics, it's all so complex. But by the end of this video, my takeaway that I want you to leave with is that all imperialism bad, American imperialism and obviously Russian imperialism too. And what Russia did is absolutely aggressive and imperialistic. And the last thing that I will leave you with is that we should absolutely reject any calls for war. We should try to do everything in our power to constantly de-escalate. Sure, peace looks less likely. De-escalation looks less likely currently. At the moment it's really bleak. But still we can't afford to get involved with a war with Russia. A war between the United States and Russia even if at the moment it doesn't necessarily seem likely. Once you kind of have momentum towards a particular direction, it's really hard to shift gears when the momentum is heading in one direction. So before it gets bad, before it becomes this snowball effect, we have to be absolutely vocal in condemning any sorts of escalation. Make sure that when the US responds to Russian aggression, we're not further escalating ourselves. This is really complicated. This is a sensitive issue. And I really don't intend on talking much about this unless I can bring on an expert. And I've reached out to people who are more familiar, who are educated on this. And when I say educated, meaning they didn't just read articles, they've been in school for years studying Eastern European politics. I think that's really important. But the takeaway is we have to try everything in our power to stop war, reject calls from war mongers to escalate further and condemn war mongering and imperialism that's taking place around the world. Imperialism is still imperialism even if it's the United States that's not doing it. So as a leftist, I'm just trying to stop an apocalypse. I don't know who's gonna start it. I don't know where it's gonna come from. But as long as we can stop catastrophic levels of death and destruction, then that's my focus, that's my goal. But what Russia did here is obviously antithetical to that goal. It's antithetical to peace and diplomacy. And it's just fucked up and stressful and it's infuriating. But that doesn't mean that we lose hope. We just try to do what we can to pressure our government to not escalate further. And we just hope that the sanctions will sufficiently, you know, dissuade Vladimir Putin from doing more. But who knows how that's gonna play out? So we'll just cross our fingers, expect the worst, but ultimately hope for the best. And I feel like that's really all that we can do and be really, really skeptical of all the information that we receive and acknowledge that people who are making videos about this on YouTube, myself included, we are not authorities like you. I'm just trying to process all of this complex information. I'm trying to weigh through the details. I'm trying to figure out who's good faith actors and bad faith actors. And I'm trying to opt for the best outcome for humanity. And that is no war.