 If Ukraine, a sovereign nation wants to join a military alliance, it's not a Russia's business. If Ukraine, a sovereign nation wants to affiliate itself economically with the West, it's not a Russia's business. But Russia is making its business because Russia believes that NATO is a threat to it. Russia wants an empire. Russia wants to control what happens in Eastern Europe. And Russia clearly, let's be very, very, very clear here. Russia here is in the wrong. Putin is a thug. Ukraine is in the right. Ukraine's sovereignty should be respected. Russia has no legitimate excuse to invade Ukraine. None. Right? All right, now let's shift to the United States. What interest does the United States have in Ukraine? None. I mean, philosophically, ideologically, obviously, the United States has an interest in freedom and liberty in the world, right? It has an interest in standing up, if you will, or in restraining authoritarians and in allowing for freedom and liberty. Ukraine is a relatively free country. Russia is an authoritarian country. It would be preferable for you in the United States if Ukraine stayed independent. It would be preferable for the United States if Putin was deposed and a free country was established in Russia. A lot of things would be preferable for the United States. The question is, does that preference justify the United States being involved in any way in Ukraine, specifically, militarily? Does it justify the United States going to defend Ukraine? And the answer for that is, no. And the reason for that is that the job of the United States government is to protect the individual rights of Americans. The individual rights of Americans are not threatened by Ukraine. By Russia, sorry. Russia could take Ukraine. Russia could then take Poland. Russia could take Germany. And the individual rights of Americans are not threatened by that. It might not be good. It might reduce trade. It might reduce wealth in the world. It might not be ideal. But how many of your sons are you willing to sacrifice for the sake of the Germans and the Ukrainians? Now, I find it interesting, right? Germany is a far richer country than Russia. Germany can mount a military force that should be able to withstand anything Russia has. Of course, NATO, even if the United States was not a member of it, should be able to take the Russians on and defeat them. Europe has a larger population than Russia. It is significantly richer than Russia. It has far superior technology than Russia. It can buy that technology from the United States. I have no problem with the United States selling arms, selling weapons to Ukraine, to the rest of Europe, to any country that is fighting generally for freedom, should be able to buy weapons in the United States to defend itself. It's a travesty that the United States has not sold. Ukraine more. Yes, Russia has nukes, but Russia is unlikely to use nukes. And by the way, so does NATO, even without the U.S., right? The Brits have nukes, the French have nukes. So Germany, I think, has a strong interest in preventing the Russians from taking Ukraine. It just brings the Russians closer to the German border. Poland, other countries in Europe have a strong interest in preventing the Russians from taking Ukraine. Now Germany is not willing to fight the Russians. Germany is not willing to commit to doing anything about the Russians. Germany wants its natural gas from Russia. So why is the United States in the middle of this? Because of our role in NATO and because of the idea that we are somehow the defender of every free country in the world, that we somehow the policeman of the world is supposed to go after every thug that's out there in the world. I mean, it's very difficult to do right now, but the United States should stand down. We just put 8,500 troops on alert all over Europe. For what? Are we going to send them into Kiev? Are we going to bomb Russia? What exactly are they alert for? It's just saber rattling. It's just p-10s. The United States does not need another war in Europe. It does not need to police Europe. Again, Europe is wealthy. Europe is militarily far superior to Russia if it invested the money in it. So it's time for the Europeans to start for you writing off of America. It's time for the Europeans to take care of their own affairs. It's time for the Europeans to become independent of the United States of America. Now I know people say, yeah, but when they did Germany, Nazis, First World War One, okay, but you know, the Europeans want to slaughter each other. It's not the job of America to stop them. I think that one of the most horrific decisions ever made by an American president is joining World War One. And I think Iron Man was right in not wanting to go into World War Two until Pearl Harbor when we had no choice. Trump didn't quite get it right because Trump wanted them to pay more, but he still wanted to be a NATO. I'm saying the United States should not be a NATO. Yeah, I say it should leave NATO. Should have a transition plan. Maybe it takes five years. Maybe take 10 years into which NATO becomes an independent entity free of the United States, raises its own money. I would encourage the United States to encourage, I would suggest that the United States encourage, for example, Asian countries that do not want to fall under the thumb of China to establish treaties among them. So you can imagine if South Koreans and Japanese could get over the animosity between them, them establishing an alliance maybe with other countries in South Asia, all the way to India. India has a strong interest to control China. It has a disputed border with China. But the United States has no border with China. The United States has no border with Russia. The United States should, from militarily perspective, leave these countries alone. Now if China stops intervenes in shipping to the United States, if Russia stops U.S. boats out there, if they disrupt our shipping lanes, if they do stuff that makes it impossible for free countries to trade, for example, then the United States shouldn't intervene. But other than that, the United States should not be putting its military in alert. We should not be sending more troops. Indeed, we should be bringing troops home. Now I feel bad saying that because I don't want any of that to embolden Putin. That's why I started off by emphasizing how anti-Putin I am and how anti-Russia I am. I'm pro-Ukraine. I'm pro-Ukrainian independence. I hope the Ukrainians crush the Russians if there's a war. I would supply the Ukrainians with all the weapons they can have. They can use. Let the Ukrainians defend themselves. Look, Israel, a tiny little country, defends itself against hundreds of millions of Muslims. Let the Ukrainians defend themselves against Russia. I think Russia could be in for a nasty surprise when they invade Ukraine, particularly in the winter. If the Ukrainians are armed, if the Ukrainians have the technology, then in spite of the fact that Russia has nukes and Ukraine doesn't, they should be able to defend themselves or inflict a lot of casualties in the Russians which would hurt Putin, make Putin's position domestically in Russia very, very tenable. The Russians don't want a war. I mean they want a war for nationalistic reasons. What they don't want is their kids dying. 40% of Ukraine is ethnically Russian. So what? But they're part of Ukraine. It's a different country. There's Mexico over right to invade because we have a lot of Mexicans living in the United States. I mean, it's just pathetic. But there are people out there. There's a segment of the Libertarian movement, Ron Paul being part of it. And there's a segment of the conservative movement that love Vladimir Putin, that love Russia. Or you could flip that that hate the United States. And as a consequence, we'll justify anything Putin does. We justify his taking of Crimea. Ukraine is a sovereign state. It's a free country. Nobody has a right to invade it. Even if they're ethnic Russians in Ukraine. So what? Countries are not just ethnic groups. The USSR was a travesty. Nothing should be recognized in the USSR days. But anyway, right now it's a country. Leave it alone. How far back in history do we have to go? Lithuania used to occupy Poland. Should Lithuania just invade Poland? Say, hey, once upon a time, you were part of us. Maybe we should go back to the Holy Roman Empire. Anyway, I mean, it's ridiculous to use history. Oh, but the Russians had this a long time ago. So what? They don't anymore. Keep their hands off. It's a free country. The way you measure these things is who's free and who's not. Russia is the illegitimate regime. Russia is the regime she should go away. It's legitimate to invade Russia because it's unfree. It's illegitimate to invade Ukraine, which is a relatively free country. Soviet Union doesn't count, guys. Soviet Union was a dictatorship, communist dictatorship. Nothing from the Soviet Union in terms of borders counts. The Soviet Union should be defeated. We should never, ever, ever use anything from the Soviet Union as a standard for anything today. Yeah, I don't. Anyways, so Russia is not more free than the US in any respect. Any, any respect. But yes, as I said, there are people in the chat who are Russia. As I said, they're probably big supporters of Von Paul, would be my guess. But yes, there's a whole segment of the libertarian movement that is very, very, very pro-Russia. It's amazing to me. It's like there's a huge segment of the conservative movement that is very pro-Orban. Oops, there goes my light. Let me just fix that. So, Oban and Putin are kind of favorites. And even though these people tend to be nationalists, all nationalisms are okay, except Ukrainian nationalism. Yeah, I'm repeating State Department talking points and I'm the statist. I love the chat. The people that come up with these strange points of view that they get spoon fed by people like Von Paul is why I hate Von Paul. By Von Paul or by their conservative nationalists or by whatever flavor of the week there is of something out there is just unbelievable. Just unbelievable. Thank you very much.