 Well, thanks for tuning in everybody. I've got it on the line again Roman and Ukraine and Just want to touch base with him to find out what's going on on the ground See see how the people are being impacted and just get a get a quick update from within the the borders of Ukraine so Welcome back Roman Thanks for having me And I want to start out I understand that you just had an article post over at the Daily Beast and Unfortunately, I haven't had an opportunity to read that yet So if you would give us a quick overview of what the article is about and I'll put a link at the bottom of the in the about section below this video and Grab a couple of screenshots, but go ahead The article is about Ukrainian's historic role as a borderland and arguing that it needs to remain so and Part of the audience that I'm engaging is the Ukrainian community in the United States. These are the people I grew up around Understandably these people regard Russia as the great evil, you know, they these are people who narrowly narrowly escaped repatriation after World War two The Allies were sending a lot of Ukrainian refugees by the hundreds of thousands back into the arms of Stalin so the like so I grew up among the descendants of that generation and These people are entirely pro-western and my email has been getting a You know has been getting requests. So you need to call your elected representatives right now and demand intervention in Ukraine So I was kind of responding to that Responding to this eagerness for Western intervention that exists both there and within Ukraine, although not entirely I'm delighted to be hearing, you know, we don't need the EU from a lot of Ukrainians who I never expected before But I make the case that You know Ukraine and Russia have a border that's 2295 kilometers long That's not gonna go away so if right now American young men and British young men and women and you know, Western young men and women solve the problem that Ukrainians should be solving for themselves What about the next conflict? You know that that Ukrainians and Russians like it or not are gonna stay neighbors. So so I think Western intervention would kind of put Ukraine in a permanent state of dependence and What what also People don't understand is is the ethnic gradient these people calling for for Western intervention I understand them, but but they're missing also the ethnic gradient that exists in the east Ukrainians and Russians have similar cultures. You can argue whether they're just the same people or not I think they're not but but nevertheless the cultures are very similar and This is having a huge pacifying effect on the conflict Where I live in the city of Lviv the mayor announced that we would speak Russian for a day and people try a little bit speak Russian in the eastern city of the next people announced Everyone's gonna speak Ukrainian for a day. It's the Russian speaking city in the east mostly and there are all kinds of gestures like that and A foreign army or a heavy foreign hand in this conflict would kind of Would ruin that pacifying effect Ukrainian and Russians can achieve on their own and make a few other arguments along those lines, too I quote Lord Byron the great British poet you who would be free must himself strike the first blow Ukrainians need to do this themselves if they want to be a sovereign nation and Being sovereign is what it's all about Yeah, it is Ukraine has to remain a borderland with that about two thousand kilometer border It's not gonna be a Western power, you know, if it's a borderland It's a sovereign nation if the West solves this problem Ukraine goes from being a borderland to being Adversary to Russia and where where people are kind of related where people are of mixed Ukrainian Russian ethnicity You know suddenly they're supposed to be enemies Incidentally, I was in the American army for six years And I felt like like I had this effect when I was in Afghanistan You know what when the foreign army was there when the US troops were there people had to pick sides either you're against the Either you're against the the soldiers or you're with the soldiers But without that people are much better at solving their problems There's also there's also with no historic precedent for the West being willing or able to help Ukraine After World War one Ukraine Ukrainians fought like hell Both against the Polish forces and against the Bolsheviks in the east. There were two wars going simultaneously Ukrainians were trying to carve out a Carve out, you know a nation for themselves And they succeeded for all of three months. There was a very short-lived Ukrainian country There were two there was a separate one declared in the West and then most of Ukraine declared also a country But it didn't last and the West Had no interest in in helping Probably against their their national interest to get that close to the to the Russians after World War two There was a similar story. So I think Ukrainians The Ukrainians need to do this themselves And I would I would agree with that wholeheartedly and when you and I spoke back on February 21st You had mentioned I believe it was a collision of cough who was Taking kind of the front seat as far as taking power What's that Kalishnikov is the AK-47. That's the inventor I never appreciated the similarity What is it? Yeah, but what was the gentleman's name Kalishko? Klitschko for a heavyweight boxing champion. Yes, one of two brothers both heavyweight boxing champions They are probably the favorites. Oh, sorry He is probably Vladimir Klitschko is probably the favorite the most popular guy among the opposition to be the next president What's a little bit disturbing is that the Ukrainian Congress, which is called the Radha They chose a different guy they chose Yatsenyuk and that completely drives with that famous intercepted conversation that US ambassador Victoria Nuland had she was saying we don't like Klitschko We don't like that other guy from the Soviet Party. We should pick Yatsenyuk So it's a little disturbing to me that so far this narrative has matched You know that famous intercepted conversation But you know, even if the Western powers do affect the outcome, which I think they're gonna do This is not a Western orchestrated revolution But the West is trying to co-opt it But even if they succeed and even if they put Yatsenyuk in charge I think there are still gonna be better things a better future for Ukrainians because whatever regime comes next Even if it's as corrupt and I hope it's not but even if it is as corrupt as the former one It'll be limited in that the people have kind of shown their strength the people have shown their ability to throw off a corrupt regime Which is which is a very positive thing and which leads me into you now have Russia in your country in force and I would presume that you have Western troops there either in blue helmets or Maybe they're still Hiding in the bushes at this point, but they're there I mean you and I both know that Western forces are on the ground in your country And how are the how are the people responding to in particular the Russians because we know that the Russians are there they have a multitude of troops and weaponry and Heavy equipment are on on the ground there. How are the how are the people responding to their presence? Right, well, I'm not I'm not aware of any Western troops here. I'm sure like Intelligence agents are here. I'm sure the diplomatic missions are here if there are forces They are clandestine forces who have so far kept their presence on the wraps and I hope they go away But how are people responding to the to the Russian troops? Well, the headlines have been frightful and perhaps Rightfully so we have the world's second largest army invading another country But for people that really want to get a taste of what it what is happening I recommend tuning into this vice magazine video that they made inside a Naval base in Crimea Where you know the the Ukrainian soldiers are all still there Outside the naval base you have these like crowds of angry Russians who almost beat up the American reporters They're probably all getting paid in my assumption and inside the base the Russians got in So the Ukrainians decided to put all their weapons in a vault and they're still there They're still in their offices and walking around the base are Russian soldiers right next to the Ukrainians with guns Wow And it's it's it's amazing because they're talking to each other They're sharing cigarettes the Russians and the Ukrainians. There is no willingness to fight I'm not saying a big fight can't happen with a provocation But you know the further away the West is from this the less likely a provocation is going to happen There have been all kinds of gestures against Making this a bloody conflict They're crying I'm not sure. I mean Nobody has been killed in Crimea yet And with this invasion so now how far away from Crimea are you are you and because I know you're in Lviv And how far away and and for clarification is Crimea? Is that a state or is that a region? Yeah, that's a good okay So I'm I'm kind of far. I think it's like six seven hundred kilometers. Maybe uh 300 miles Away and it is the peninsula that juts out into the black sea Yes, uh, it has a really interesting history for a long time. It was a a muslim khanate allied with the the Ottoman empire The ukrainian version of cowboys and indians is kozaks and tartars the tartars were from Crimea Okay, um, they were all deported after world war two Uh, not all but a huge bunch of them were deported after world war two Um, it was part Crimea was part of russia people say that under the soviet union Brezhnev gifted Crimea to Ukraine I don't think it was a big difference. The soviet union was one gigantic prison But uh, one of the the russian presidents I think it was Brezhnev announced that Crimea would not be part of the russian soviet union It would be part of the ukrainian soviet union not a big difference um Some people had used that argument that Brezhnev made it a gift to ukraine I think that argument is false Um, kremia depends on mainland ukraine for electricity and food. So it's a natural choice And also when ukraine became independent Uh, 54 percent of kremians voted to join ukraine. It's a very slim majority But nevertheless, it was a majority and the referendum voted to make kremia a part of ukraine and that kind of Leads me into You've got lights obviously you've got electricity And what's happening with the food the water supplies in general are the supply lines open and how much Are the supply lines being impacted by what's actually happening? Um Very little, um My friend the my friend owns a very small trucking company and the day after we talked on february 21st Which was kind of the height of all the violence was on the 19th 20th and 21st He brought his truck home. He says I need to I need to wait and see what happens But after a few days his truck is back on the road. Okay All public transportation never stopped working in Lviv The biggest disruption that happened here in Lviv in the western city was that the police disbanded Um I think they were under pressure to disband after all the violence that the police exhibited in Kiev So they disbanded and there were local volunteers In these reflective yellow vests all over the city Um, there was a report by western media. I think it was on rebar. I'm not sure if i'm pronouncing that right Right bar dot com posted a story that crime in Lviv actually dropped when the volunteers took over the path of the police Imagine that the people policing themselves and things improve Yeah, it's a beautiful thing Who would have thought Oh, well, that's it's good. I'm sorry I was gonna add the other disruption which didn't quite happen was that the exchange rate From the ukrainian rivnia to the dollar Um, it went from about eight to one. It rose all the way up to 11 to one Um, the best thing might be for it to collapse and for the government bureaucracy to collapse But nevertheless now there's an expectation that the world bank is going to prop up ukraine Not something i'm a fan of But nevertheless it brought it brought the exchange rate back down to under 10 It didn't go back down to eight but it brought it back to to under 10 So I guess in terms of uh, finance ukraines are gonna take their medicine in the future instead of taking it now They'll take their medicine when the whole financial system comes Tumbling down as I think many of our viewers expect. Yes. Well, I mean, you know that Christine Lagarde that that current criminal In charge of the imf. I mean she's she was first one to come out and say that, you know, we need to We need to rush in there and and help the ukrainians with their with their finances and And i'm glad to hear I mean i'm hoping that The the people of ukraine Have a little better understanding That whenever the world bank or the imf or any of these other Central bank criminals want to come in that they're they're specifically to steal as much as they can period So it's it's part of the conversation Still a small part of the conversation, but but if people are hearing that um, I'm doing what I can to spread the message I was on tv the other day Oh, my you're okay Yeah, oh, I just knocked over my computer. I was on uh tv the other day and I just printed out All these nifty bitcoin flyers and ukrainian that i'm going to be handing out It talks a little bit about competing currencies. So I'm spreading the word in my own little way. That's a good thing I mean personally, I'm not a big fan of bitcoin, but that's a story for another day Uh, as long as people can get Can protect themselves and and speaking of which I mean, what about gold and silver? I mean as far as the precious metals. I mean, is there any any kind of is that part of the dialogue at all? I mean, I know that you're I mean, obviously you're going to be talking to people about bitcoin and and getting away from You know Ways that are trying to educate people on better ways to protect themselves I mean, will precious metals be part of that conversation? No, there's no conversation here at all. It's Almost none. There's a libertarian community that that tunes into all our sources But uh, so those guys know about gold. They know the story as we know it But you know when I tell people about it, it's it's news to them for security Most ukrainians run towards european currencies Okay European and american money. Yeah, well europe's dollars Well, where are they going to go when those when those fall apart? I mean, that's you know Yeah, it's a pretty safe bet that the ukrainian currency will collapse first But if you guys if they had a longer term vision It would Well, I and don't take this the wrong way, but I wouldn't expect anything less I mean, you know people are people whether they're in the united states or in the ukraine and Most of them are they have the blinders own and They live in their own little world and that's where they're comfortable. So Yeah, but let's move on so so you How so you're doing okay, and you're able to provide for your family and everything's everything's pretty smooth and la vie Yeah, everything's great. I'm uh paying my computer programmers tomorrow. I have a little developing a little bit of software So yeah, everything's fine. The banking system slowed down. They're capping atm withdrawals and money withdrawals, but Um, it does seem like uh through through the expected world bank loan They're gonna we're gonna kick the can down the road and everything will be all right for now So how and what kind of impact is that having on people as far as and what is the what's the exact amount that as far as the atm withdrawals? Um atm withdrawals at first it was just One bank just the most popular bank privot bunk and they limited to a hundred a day um, a normal salary in ukraine is like Like a 500 to a thousand a month. So a hundred a day isn't that bad for ukraine Okay And when I was making a cash withdrawal from a wire transfer to pay my programmers I could take out 15,000 up 1500 dollars a day And that's us dollars or ukrainian us dollars. Yeah, and the transfer took forever to get here too So I was actually late, but they understood So it really doesn't it doesn't sound like that it sounds like life is pretty normal everything is moving along There's some some minor inconveniences as far as being able to get money You know or not money but currency Yes, and and to be able to conduct business to hear that for for you and and for everybody there And what and the last question that I that I want to ask is Same one that I asked you the last time And what do we need to know about what's happening on the ground in levive and and around Your immediate area to better understand how the people are living their lives Inside of this situation well aside from the need to tune in to sgt report You can also visit my blog at romanianukraine.com Um I guess that there's a lot being made there's a big like social media is such a big part of this And there's a lot of propaganda and counter propaganda from both sides One myth that I think has been dispelled from everywhere is that this is some kind of like Nazi fascist movement Um, that that's a ridiculous claim And so that so I want to address it Well, we are we are hearing just now hold on and we are hearing a lot of that from a number of sources that there are Nazis That are on the rise that there are some very hardcore over-the-edge Groups that are that are coming into the forefront. All right. Well, let me let me just cite some of the evidence The head rabbi of Kiev had an interview that I posted on my blog. He said there is no serious Antisemitism he says in fact, it's it's much worse in russia um another guy Ihor Kolomoisky, he's a ukrainian oligarch. He's also head of an organization called the european jewish community He was just made governor of One of the big industrial regions in ukraine. He was just appointed when he was like a When he was made governor, he gave a long discussion of how ridiculous these claims are obviously he's jewish He's head of this huge european jewish organization The new prime minister yats and uke. I don't think he's a practicing Jew, but he has jewish roots So a lot of russian. Oh, there was a well-known russian nationalist Let's see if I can find his name Boris Mironov, he also had a a lecture that I posted on my or he made a big statement that I also posted on my blog He said the western ukrainians are not nationalists. They were fighting the soviet union So all over social media, there's a lot of accounts of both russians and jews Exposing this propaganda It seems to come a lot from the kremlin and I think uh, it's coming It's coming from some libertarian sources, which I love those libertarian sources and I was so So uh disappointed by their coverage. I think it comes from two places Like for a long time For a long time the press supported the soviet union and they supported the idea that any resistance to the soviet union was fascist and nazi That was that was made loud and clear So the the longer the soviet union went on and suppressed ukrainian nationalism Like the more you heard crimes that expressions of ukrainian nationalism was all all fascist and nazi, but There's just so much So many russians and so many jews saying that this is crazy Oh, I also posted a picture on my blog uh, ukrainian flags flying in israel as a show of solidarity Okay, I think the I think the the claims are ridiculous um I would recommend timothy snider's book Uh blood lands it was uh a book that describes the plight of people Trapped between hitler and stalin um The the grain of truth around which uh, these stories are built Is that when germany invaded the soviet union? Uh, ukrainians and russians as well joined the invading nazi army by the hundreds of thousands um General officers their staffs on down all the propaganda officers like whole russian military units and ukrainian military units switched over And joined the invading nazi army because they had lived in the soviet union, you know, these are the you know in the 30s As many ukrainians were killed in the great famine as jews were killed in the holocaust And that wasn't the only tragedy that happened under the soviet union in those years Now the the legacy of those russians who joined the invading nazis Was wiped out because the soviet union had an iron grip in moscow Here in ukraine their legacy kind of lived on Because in ukraine armed resistance to the soviet union lasted for another 10 years So it seemed like that as a little bit like the nazis were the enemy of our enemy You know, yeah, and i think europeans are very uncomfortable as they're they're meeting a people for whom world war two history Is not so black and white as it is in the west but But the claims that the protests are defined By fascism are ridiculous But there's one the most nationalistic party is called the swobodawl party And its leader olig chagnabok is usually shown as like evidence of you know, that the protests are are fascist First of all olig chagnabok has no standing with the protesters. He's not popular among the protesters It was just a scandal where wounded protesters went on television and saying hey The swobodawl party used our image saying that saying that we were members of their party That were injured in the protests and we were never members of that party So what you see is this supposedly nationalist party trying to jump in front of the parade It's not defining the protests. That's the first thing i'll say Second thing i'll say olig chagnabok and the swobodawl party are not radicals Yes, they're a little bit nationalist But chagnabok has repeatedly made statements about protecting minorities in ukraine He says israel is an example of the type of nationalism that i want for ukraine I want a homeland for ukrainians that also protects minorities So he is by no means Like i want to know if if somebody watching this knows justin ramundo or or scott portin like What do they think? What do they think these protesters are gonna do do you think like besides the word neo nazis, which is in an accurate description Do they think they're gonna invade poland next? Do they think they're gonna start pogroms? I mean the the chief rabbi of Kiev says it's completely fine there. He says it's better in ukraine than in russia So I went on maybe a little bit too long But i'm trying to trying to correct what i perceive as uh as an inaccurate coverage Well, and that's what that's what i appreciate is the fact that you do explain What we need to know. I mean it's You have to understand i mean is More than likely it's the same thing that you're experiencing. I mean we've got this this flood of information That is that's trying to direct a particular narrative and I just want to cut right right to the chase and that's why that's why i have you on the line I mean you're there you're among the people And that's what That's why we're having this conversation is so that To help to clear some of the smoke Help to to shed some actual light from From within i mean You're just a you're just a a person just like me You know you're trying to get to the truth. You're trying to deliver the truth We can't do that if we don't have this if we don't have a conversation if you and i you don't go on and explain The history and explain Who these people are? And why they're doing what they're doing and we're left with the narrative that we're getting from ever it's coming from I mean and it's not that I don't appreciate all the reporting that's going on But it's gotten to the point where I look at it and go well, maybe not Maybe that's not right You know not according to The source that I have that's right there. He lives in Lviv He's an ukrainian He's you know, he's a born national ukrainian. He's an american citizen also and That's not what he's saying So I mean please don't don't don't apologize for Trying to educate Because that's what it's all about and life is too short and life is too precious for us to not Get to the truth. We've been lied to all of our lives period And it's time to Have the truth come out enough for me. So I really appreciate your time roman grateful very very grateful that that we have the the opportunity to speak I really am Well, it's it's my pleasure. Uh, have me on again anytime you want Well, we'll do it again real soon