Ex-UK Diplomat EXPOSES Western Warmongering | Ian Proud
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- Опубліковано 21 тра 2024
- Mr. Ian Proud was a member of the British Diplomatic Service from 1999 until 2023. During that time he worked in Thailand and Afghanistan as well as many years directly from 10 Downing Street. His most eventful posting however was the position as Economic Counsellor at the UK Embassy in Moscow from 2014 until 2019, about which he recently published a book called “A Mistfit in Moscow: How British Diplomacy in Russia Failed” (www.amazon.com/Misfit-Moscow-...)
In this first segment, we talk about his experiences and some of the main arguments of his book. We especially focus on the West's failed strategy of using Ukraine as a tool to fight Russia while trying to not be directly involved in the fighting, maintaining a "Proxy-Peace" while effectively fighting a war through Ukraine with Russia.
Part 2 will elaborate on the people behind these policies. Stay tuned.
Chapters:
00:00:00 - The Need for Direct Negotiations with Russia
00:03:17 - Understanding Russia's Frustrations
00:06:26 - UK Foreign Policy and Censorship in Book Writing
00:09:34 - Sharing Honest Opinions on British-Russian Relations
00:12:48 - Inadequate Encouragement of Ukraine-Russia Dialogue
00:16:00 - Inflaming the Conflict in Ukraine
00:19:26 - The Role of Boris Johnson in the Ukraine Conflict
00:23:35 - Merkel's Influence and German Diplomacy with Russia
00:25:38 - The Mystery of the Pipeline Explosion
00:28:48 - Nobody's Winning
The West fails to note that President Putin is not only popular in Russia but around the world. No one comes close!
Popularity definitely correlated with morality.
When all said and done, we cannot say Russia is a liberal democracy, though in their defence we must accept that they are under threat of coup, war, dismemberment - and thus have the right to be on their guard, in fact go on war footing (fully cognizant of what mischief us and nato can do)
@@vijjreddy are we, in a liberal democracy?? are 9k people being arrested in UK for social media "hate speech" part of a liberal democracy? is having banking accts frozen for protesting in Canada part of a "liberal democracy"?? is Snowden being prosecuted for journalism in UK/US it?? I think u fancy urself quite too much... what are we choosing here, where is democracy here really? propaganda being shoved down our bellies by a few elitist group? who will do whatever the f they wanna do care u like it"the people", or not. how about Guantanamo b.., do we uphold human rights thre
@@vijjreddy What is this "liberal democracy" ideology and where on Earth does it exist?
There is certainly no democracy in the US. $$$ buys everything, the UK is moving in the same direction. The EU is a massive bureaucracy.
We would have to look at a country like China to see where the government actually works for the benefit of the population, and delivers prosperity, social cohesion, welfare, education, infrastructure with palpable benefits. That is way more democratic than anything in the West.
And the liberal bit?
Free speech no longer exists in the West. Sure, you can shout and moan and complain, but you cannot offer resistance to the official narratives.
The other side of "liberal" is the privatising of State assets and transferring power to the wealthy corporations.
Nah, liberal democracies??? Shove 'em up where the sun don't shine.
Who cares if it is a liberal democracy, whatever that is. This is a modern version of "they worship the wrong God. "
The question is not who blew up the Nord Stream Pipelines.
The question is why are European leaders preventing it from being repaired.
For the same reason they allowed it to be blown up. Yet, even though it means more expensive gas, europeans will continue to vote for those same politicians.
@@predragbalorda
In spite of my white heritage, I have to conclude European are not that smart.
They put ideological objectives above the well-being of our planet.
@@predragbalorda if voting mattered you wouldnt be allowed to do it. rest assured, anyone you can vote for is guaranteed to acquiesce to empire will, most are preselected, and rare cases that manage to slip past the net quickly learn to take the silver, least they get the lead
The irony is they are still buying Russian gas/oil at a much higher price with India as the middle man.
No no no dont fool your self. Knowing who blew northstream 1 is important. Belive me Russians know exactly who did that .
According to leacked info to sy Hersh, Norwegian navies together with their lord Americans ( ex marines) took many rounds on setting up the blast. The mission was controlled by white house.
Norway sticked her finger where it should not. They will pay for it. There is no mistry about who did it. Norway, usa and uk did it. These are the evil States that took out North stream 1. By the way norway is selling natural gass after they blew up the pipe line. Mind you Russia is nr 1 economy in Europe now. Norway 6 million totaly from baby to elderly close to 100. yes they live Long. Russia 150 million. Russia can clean norway by taking a piss to norwegian direction. There will be response to norway from Russia about North stream 1. Norway is begging to be neuked. They are arming and militerizing norway with us soldiers . Thexsame sweeden.they know they have fucked up. Western europeans governments have showene their real face they are NAZI'S. No us will help norway. Sweeden and Danmark will lough at norway may be Iceland will pity norway because they like Norwegians.
Pascal, when you asked about the period just before Russia launched the SMO, you need to emphasise 3 important provocations by the West/Ukraine.
First, the comment by Zelensky at the Munich security conference that Ukraine wanted nuclear arms; second, the rejection of Russia's proposals for a new security architecture; and, very critically, the series of meetings between Putin & Macron and Putin & Scholz ... during which Putin directly asked both "what are you going to do to implement Minsk?" ... in both cases, the answer was silence. Check the Russian readouts at the time.
Add these three things to the obvious build-up of Ukrainian forces at the contact line and you have the "unprovoked aggression" that everyone talks about ... but by the West/Ukraine!!
You left one critical part out. Just before the smo Ukraine forces increased shelling of the donbas especially Donetsk region ; they where preparing a big offensive from Adivika that could have split eastern Ukraine into 2. Another offensive was prepared from Mariupol to the sea of Azov bringing them within firing rage of Crimea. In fact Russia waited too long.
According to Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Decree no. 117/2021, Ukraine has committed to putting all options on the table to taking back control over the Russian annexed Crimea region. Signed on March 24th [2021], President Zelensky has committed the country to pursue strategies that Ukrinform reports “will prepare and implement measures to ensure the de-occupation and reintegration of the peninsula.”
I recall when Russia hosted the 2014 Socchi Olympics and then the 2018 World Cup, the criticism that they were doomed to fail with both and that they’d both experience violence and disaster because Russia was an uncultured, backward, gas station. Instead, both events were enormous successes and Russia appeared to be becoming an almost global cosmopolitan society - with many things reflecting an admiration of American “culture” (when it had some semblance of such).
Of course, before Socchi, Boris Johnson was constantly in the media predicting disaster for “Putin’s Games” … and that he was just like Hitler during the 1936 Olympics in Germany.
Of course, he equivocated noting when the conflict accelerated a few years ago: "I am still a Russophile. I am still fascinated by the language, culture and Russian civilisation. Only a fool would not admire it."
You can definitely tell he's a "diplomat". Lol. When someone doesn't directly call a spade a spade, but lightly dances around the answer...that's a govt worker. Granted, he was at least honest enough to concede on some very obvious points, but with a bit of reticence.
The biggest red flag is the failure to admit the biggest elephant in the room...namely, RUSSIA'S NATIONAL SECURITY. The US would freak out if China or Russia were to build bases in Mexico--butting right up to the US border--but for "whatever reason" they believe it's justified to do that Russia.
Anyone who fails to acknowledge Russia's national security concerns in Ukraine should never be wholly nor even partially believed, but merely considered with a grain of salt.
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What you describe is the problem the US faces, if they wait China and Russia in the future will start building bases all over the world.
They will become much stronger in 15-30 years even surpass the US.
At that time a World war will destroy the planet so they choose to fight Russia and China now instead of later.
From a military strategy perspective it saves lives…
They justify it by slandering Russia and China, and deliberately mischaracterize them as authoritarian. So this is a fight between good and evil and since you are fighting evil, you are allowed to use any tactics, no matter how underhanded it can be because the "bad guys" will do the same.
It is the same logic they use to justify rampant gun proliferation. Criminals don't obey gun laws so we can't restrict gun buying so good guys can also easily get guns.
In his response to the questions he has to comply with demands of MI6. So all his answer to questions are partly biased.
Once in a while, we get very sharp and brilliant people in the comments section. Whoever you are, my highest praise!!!
I honestly believe that the real problem is not Putin, Zelensky, Macron, Cameron or any other leader in the West. The real problem is NATO. Ever since 1990-91 when the USSR was dismantled and the Warsaw Pact abolished, NATO have been searching for the reason d'etre. NATO is engaged in functions that are basically outside of its mandate. NATO is supposed to be a defensive organization, but it has become an offensive organization that it was never meant to be. Its first priority ought to be to avoid war instead of become a reason for war itself. Finally, I may also add that NATO or no NATO, there can never be a long lasting peace in Europe until legitimate security concerns of Russia are not properly addressed. Russia is too big and resourceful to be subdued by NATO.
Naive in the extreme. How about going back to the 1989 NATO lines as promised at the fall of 5e Soviet Union.
We in the Corporate corrupt (Russianphobia/Russian Racism) Western Elite world have pumped (money laundering fascist neo-Nazi NATO ) up with Corporate corrupt bullshit decade in and decade out. And now the Russianphobia/ Russian Racism valve has blown and the ordinary decent people have been left with double yoke eggs on our compulsive lying Corporate corrupt faces.
I honestly believe that only 🇷🇺❤️President Putin ❤️🇷🇺 can seriously save us!! Let's be honest with each other the Corporate corrupt Warmongering Shithole Whitehouse Neo-con sociopathic nutters are in a state of out of control mental derangement.
I'm not saying this about Mr Proud but judging by what he has indicated here about ' Diplomacy ' you have to question the intelligence of some if not most of our Young and Old minds within the Diplomatic Corps, Intelligence Agencies and of course the UK Gov't.
I served in the British Army during the Cold war era up to the early 90's and I never understood what our beef was with the Soviet Union, had it not been for the Soviet Union we in Europe could well be speaking German now, the sacrifice that the Soviet Union made was astronomical, a number of dead that was off the scale, hence why since the end of the war / Patriotic War the Russians celebrate (if thats the right word ) that accomplishment. I would suggest that we in the west have much to be grateful for rather than demonising Russia and it's population, but here we are on possibly the outbreak of yet another world war because pondlifeticians in the west have no diplomacy whatsoever, most probably couldn't even spell it. It will be a very long time before Russia ever trusts the west again.
The right word for 9th of May would be "commemoration", even though it's an official holiday we don't really widely "celebrate" at home, it's kind of solemn and somber, "holiday with the tears in our eyes" as per one famous song. We commemorate, honor our ancestors and silently vow to be no less, to be worthy. Every year, we remember.
West will have to change drastically for Russia ever trusting it again :-)
@@alexmashkin863 My sincere apologies Alex, I knew it wasn't the right word but couldn't think of a fitting word, I watch every ' commemoration on the 9th May and will continue to do so, thankyou for putting me right, I won't forget.
@@Alien9828 Nothing to apologize for :-) You've even pointed out that it wasn't necessarily a right word, I just felt that I could contribute to your perspective
You touched the very core of the problem Sir. Allow me to offer the view from the other side, as a Russian. "The beef" with the USSR and by implication with Russia is a blind, irrational, almost zoological hatred of Russia that the British establishment demonstrated for all things Russian (while Chaikovsky is the favourite composer on BBC 3 and Chekhov's plays are very common in London theatres) for the last 500 yeras. Russia never invaded Britain, Britain invaded Russia twice. Right after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Winston Churchill said in a private conversation that if he was still the Prime Minister, he would have been able to convince the Americans to nuke USSR (right after it lost 27 million in the fight with Nazi Germany, as you rightly pointed out). You can read it in the latest book on Winston Churchill by Tariq Ali. I could go on and on. But, I have to point out that this rabid russophobia is common ONLY among the British establishment (the Eaton boys, like Boris Johnson, for whom, messing about in Crimea, is an aristocratic game, a bit like Polo) I have met plenty of British people, and NEVER experienced any hostility as a Russian. On the contrary, a lot of ordinary Brits I have met, liked the Russians, like one old man, who served as a pilot in WWII, was shot down, spent years in a German POW camp and was liberated by the Soviet Army. Russophobia goes back at least to the XVI century, while the Russians, being rather naive, were always enamoured with all things British, until now. The only good outcome from this appaling, and totally artificial conflict, is that the Russians lost any illusions about the West, once and for all. The Russians understand that they can expect nothing but blind hatred and an ocean of lies from the Western establishment. The tragedy is that the majority of ordinary people in the West did not share this view until now. After being subjected to the most relentless brainwashing campaign for decades, that attitude is changing. And let me tell you as someone who grew up in the USSR, the Soviet propaganda is a laughable, amateurish stuff compared to the sophistication and scope of the British / American brainwashing industry. How this conflict will play out, I don't know, but people like you, give me hope. The reasons for this blind hatred would require an essay of a couple of thousands words. So, I will leave it at that. All the best to you Sir, and I hope we are all still around in a year or two.
@@alexanderkolesnik6942 Thankyou Alexander, I have to say with no hesitation whatsoever that at this time I've never felt more ashamed to be British than I currently am now, I have Russian friends and they remain so in these propagandist days where the west spews it's hatred to everything Russian, it really is appalling to witness but as you say this is the Elite more than the ordinary citizen.
We in the west do not understand what it is to be Russian, our mindset are absolutely opposite, The Russians very much maintain their values whereas we in the west have completely lost our moral compass and whatever values we had.
I'm 66 next month , married with grown up children with children of their own, If I was single I would now be and had been living in Russia, yes, it's not perfect but what country is,
The one major point I talk to friends about is ' where did this hatred for Russia come from, when did it start, ??? etc etc, and no one can put their finger on it, when I tell them what I know , because I studied Russia and it's culture, language, albeit my Russian is very bad , not fluent, and I've only been learning it on and off for the past 2 decades , hahaah. they call me the Commisar, and why would I like Pres Putin or any Russian for that matter, to a degree my response often falls on deaf ears. Will it ever change ? I don't know for sure if it ever will while the Elite and pondlifeticians continue with their Russophobic rhetoric.
It's not much but I can only offer my apologies for the disgraceful behaviour of those that should no better but never will.
Spassiba Bolshoi
I wish we had a Prime Minister here in Australia even half as competent as Putin. We haven’t had a competent PM for at least 30 years….
Likewise in the UK, since Maggie, and look at who's next in line, we're absoluetly doomed, politely speaking.
@@Alien9828
Maggie set in train the looting of government resources and deindustrialising of the U.K. that we are still paying the price for today.
Sadly our politicians only know how to manage a 1-2 month media narrative, nothing else is required for leadership positions.
@@Alien9828 Thatcher was terrible. Everything wrong with the world right now can be traced back to her and Ronald Regan's trickle down economy nonsense.
If you mean she was competent at screwing the people, then yes, yes, she was.
One of only a handful of British people sensible enough to appear on media.
Nothing to expose everyone raised in a communist country with the highest academic levels of the era, history as it was written down, geography going back thousands of years, and being old enough to remember the orchestrators of every war for 75 years, since US sold itself and all it's fans in the West as vassals! The desire for former Soviet Union states natural resources started after 1993-94 when IMF charged them 100% interest rate and the Soviet's wizened up, so worked hard to get out from under USD hegemony! After the division of the Soviet Union in to independent countries, Western corruption crept in fast which wise Russian leaders noticed and started to curb before taking deeper roots! CIA started grooming Ukraine in 2002, and Georgia also most likely, since the revolt against Russia occurred in 2008 and calmed within weeks! Ukraine took a few more years until 2014, with a "membership" in NATO ? As that didn't work the killing of Russian farmers started, forcing Russia to interfere. The West arming and training 700,000 strong Ukrainian military! Russia well aware of the Wests track record of wars, coups, proxy and civil wars still cares for Ukrainian's hence in 2 years only around 15,000 civilian's 550 children collateral damage! In Palestine 5000 plus children and 5000 plus adult civilian's in 3 weeks! In Vietnam 70% killed children, civilian's, in Iraq 90% children. civilian's! Palestine 99% children and civilian's! MR Proud's book is obviously as biased and full of holes as a sieve, written for US,UK, EU readers as their masters are much better liars and can write much better fairy tales!
Well said indeed.
Excellent rhetoric! Greatest salutations to you!!! But then, in a small way, Mr. Proud is a bold man.
Look forward to part 2 …. Will be interesting to know what Mr Proud is able to reveal regarding the absurd Skripal event.
Russia did not invade. Russia recognized the independence of the two Donbas regions and helped liberate them from the NATO/Ukraine military forces. The NATO/Ukraine forces bombed and killed 14000 people, including children, between 2014 and 2021.
see Alley of Angels in Donetsk
You are correct. Donbass republics never recognized the illegal government in Kiev after the coup. The last president they voted for was Yanukovych. The last political party they voted for was the Party of Regions which doesn't exist after 2014 but it was the biggest party in the parliament before 2014. So Donbass people lost their representation in the government after the violent coup. Zelensky's pretensions on Crimea and Donbass are strange. They are illegal for Donbass who was supporting the legitimate powers.
Your show is amazing. I learn so much every time I watch one.
Honesty and openness are extremely rare qualities among the British political elite today, and I applaud Mr Proud for speaking candidly here, but I still detect a reticence on the part of Mr Proud to tell it as it is... Perhaps it's not so surprising; Westminster has been ramming it's McCarthyite cold war propaganda down our throats since 2016.
Since 1917 actually. More than a century. By now it's institutionalised in academia, the military and civil society in general. Political discourse at all levels is never entirely free of it.
Simple truths, simply told.
So sad to think that our politicians do not care about their own people.
You've caught the sun, Pascal - hope it's been a nice spring in Japan.
I've got so many happy memories of Hanami from when I spent a lot of time there.
Pascal, why the hell would Merkle 'retrofit' a false story about not pushing Minsk implementation so that Ukraine could have more time to militarise? What's in it for her?? Her reputation went down the toilet! And why would Hollande confirm the claim?? You're not making sense!
This was an excellent interview. Thanks
NATO doesn’t want direct confrontation with Russia because they know the outcome. This might be a situation where their failure will have a high cost. Not for the elites of course. Ordinary citizens in the eu will pay the price.
Very Interesting conversation.
What is this obsession with Russia? I don’t get it. Is it because he rubs some people the wrong way doesn’t mean he’s a baddy. If you can’t practice diplomacy then you shouldn’t be in politics at all!
The same reason the imperialists here in the west hates any government that doesn’t bow down to them and become a vassal: they are independent (in other words anti-imperialist/anti-fascist)
Russia exists and thats why They hate Russia.
Russia is in the way of Their dream of a global empire.
It really is that simple.
It’s the minerals resources Russia contains. The West has always wanted it for themselves
Spot on @@captainchokdee1039
Resources thru political agendas (migrations, green, lgbt..)
Congratulations on Ian Proud's honesty. In fact, Ian elevates the name of the UK more, because we know that there are still good and honest britishmen in UK diplomacy, than any English Ruler. But in fact the UK's hostility and irrational hatred towards Russia is rooted in the past since the British Empire, which the US inherited. The empire and hatred of Russia.
That's why there was the Crimean war in the past and WWII. The number 1 objective of UK and US foreign policy is to separate Russia from Europe and keep Europe divided because it is weaker. Cheap energy from Russia was one of the main pillars of the EU economy, as Borrell himself admitted. This is why it was important to destroy Nord Stream in 2022. And one of the reasons for WWII was the friendship between the Kaiser and the Tsar and Chamberlain supported Hitler until the invasion of Poland because London wanted Hitler destroy Russia. After Moscow spent the 1930s begging London to both stop Hitler before the total arming of Nazi Germany.
And after the end of the USSR, London and the US invaded Eastern Europe, after promising not to enlarge NATO and bled the economies and resources of Ukraine and Russia to London and NY. The two largest economies in the USSR. Therefore, there are also economic reasons in this conflict, as in all conflicts. The Maidan coup was done to definitively separate Ukraine from Russia and provoke Russia into this war to destabilize and divide Russia. To steal Russia's natural resources again. Which, unlike Ukraine, recovered economically under Putin.
And hence the hatred of Putin by the Anglo-Saxons. Maidan and the war in Ukraine were provoked to overthrow Putin and divide Russia, as Biden himself admitted! Russia will never tolerate the NATO threat in Ukraine. And as Ian Proud says, for the sake of independent Ukraine itself, Kiev should maintain economic relations with Russia and the EU. In the same way that Mexico maintains economic relations with the US. But the US and UK overthrew the legitimate government of Ukraine and empowered Ukrainian nationalists who immediately began to discriminate against the Russian-speaking population of UA, who never accepted Victoria Nuland's coup, to provoke this war.
And the US and UK always knew that if NATO entered Ukraine, Russia would be forced to react. Because Russia warned the US, long before the US and UK started dumping weapons in Ukraine after Maidan. Russia entered Ukraine after asking the US to withdraw the missiles they deployed in Romania and Poland, as they did not accept in Cuba in 1962. And to defend the population of Donbass and that is why it activated art.51 of the UN. Russia's intervention in Ukraine is perfectly legal, regardless of all opinions. Ukraine and the West should have fulfilled the Minsk agreements to avoid this war. But the US remains committed to overthrowing Putin and dividing Russia. But they will only destroy Ukraine. Unfortunately.
I agree with you. I hadn't heard of this chap before. He appears to be quite well informed.
Thanks 😢
Thank you to Neutrality studies !
Western Warmongering | Nothing new since 1845
Its really weird that the UN did not interfere with the Nato warmongering policy.
Great video. Thanks
Why was the USA so successful during the Cold War?
It implemented the Marshall Plan to economically strengthen its partners in Europe.
The USA was the largest economy and opened its market to the products of its allies.
The USA offered its allies a security umbrella with nuclear deterrence through NATO.
As a result, America managed to push back the influence of the Soviet Union on Europe and ultimately win the Cold War.
The alliance between Western Europe and the USA is proving difficult today.
For example, Germany follows a mercantilist economic model and is therefore dependent on cheap energy and large growth markets.
Russia and China can provide both of these for Western Europe like no other country.
The USA, on the other hand, is becoming increasingly less important as an economic partner.
And since the collapse of the Soviet Union, there is no serious military threat from Russia to Western Europe.
Nevertheless, tens of thousands of American soldiers are still stationed in hundreds of US military bases and US nuclear weapons are stationed on German soil.
If you look at the situation objectively from the US perspective, America is protecting Europe from the countries with which it has close trade relations.
Europe's core interest, however, is to further expand its economic relations with the USA's biggest competitors.
Don't be blinded by the politicians' rhetoric.
Feelings, shared history, values, culture and traditions play no role at all in whether alliances really work.
What matters is whether the interests coincide.
And it turns out that the interests of Europe and the USA can no longer be reconciled today and this partnership will soon end.
indebted EUROPE TO USA PLUS USA LEFT 60,000 TROOPS IN GERMANY
Great interview. Thank you gentlemen. What a tragic, hateful shitshow.
DIESES Interview brauchts auf deutsch damit ichs mit anderen teilen kann. Wichtig! 👍
Pascal, there are many other to interview with more understanding of the world.
WHY CHOSE A SANCTION MERCENARY?
When he says we and the uk he means a few billionaires not the every day man.
Ian thanks for the thruth❤❤❤
As far as the nordstream pipes goes..so it's broken .my question is who is preventing its repair.it could be fixed relatively quickly. S O.
The 64 million dollar question is..... WHO is putting up resistance for repairs
Who has the will and who has the capability of repairing it? What are the incentives?
@@alexmashkin863 incentives are cheap clean power for especially germany.
The will.....thats MY question .
probably the millions of ordinary people in germany and the eu who didn't have a vote for ursula war monger vonderleyen
Perhaps it needs to be repaired by the country which blew it up. Otherwise it would quite likely be blown up again.
Freud writes about the Death Wish. It clearly applies to nations, as well as to individuals.
Jacques Baud disagrees on a few ponts with the guest.
That’s normal, not everyone will agree 100% on everything but can still have their views based on a realistic assessment. Particularly with one having a background in diplomacy, the other one in military intelligence - that’s still leaps and bounds better than the fact free narrative peddling that is so prevalent among our politicians and media.
Can you imagine a third of US debt burning down in a day? That's the day Ukraine loses the war. Black Rock with its 10.5 trillions of assets goes bankrupt due to the risky business with land in Ukraine. The investors will get the money never back and the Dollar will change forever...
The difficult point to ponder,
appears to be that concept that after 6,000 years,
Capitalism could expire?
Very interesting
The west might have bit off more than they can chew...
hey Mr Proud- "they are Russians trapped in Ukraine" not "separatist"
Haaallow, everybody!
Haaaloeou everybodee
8:00 - 4k words censored out? Sheesh.
War profiteers got into it😑
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Yeah? Once a pom always pom.
Vague, wooly and dull.
Enestående!
Bot
@@patricklarsen8078😭
I favor neither socialists nor knot seas.
It seems that NATO is the latter. I want my country (U.S.) out of it. We are already a union of States; why be involved in another?
What is/are “knot seas"?
@@reasontruthandlogic The radical leftist government of the Ukraine. It is not a democracy, nor is it of. ‘The people’.
The US has dominated EU and NATO since WWII.
If the International Community/ UN do not decide to disband the present structure of Nato......Then the world is in serious problem
@@reasontruthandlogic Hey, I just now discovered that the Fascist CIA censor fuckers deleted my reply. I guess they didn’t approve. Y’know how those fuckers manipulate the conversation by omission. Damn, they sure are good at it!
@18:12 "Russia has to take ultimate responsibility for launching this invasion against Ukraine but we helped to make that flashpoint inevitable"
So - based on the responsibility of every state to address any serious security concern (which do not come much more serious than nuclear weapons on on your border neutralising your own nuclear deterrence capability!) and the responsibility to protects its people being victimised AND moreover, in the context of duplicity and bad faith from the outset on the negotiated Minsk Accords - Russia was left with NO OTHER OPTION BUT THE MILITARY ONE in order to address these fundamental and non-negotiable responsibilities of ANY state because the USA and the UK worked assiduously over a number of YEARS to engineer that outcome, but nevertheless Russia (somehow!) is ultimately responsible?! Here, in a nutshell, you have the West's games of deceit and death which have taken the lives of millions and brought suffering and misery to literally BILLIONS AROUND THE WORLD since WW2.
It is somehow reassuring to see that - even in retirement - this cherub-faced mandarin still retains the propensity for perfidious British statesmanship double-speak.
"So - based on the responsibility of every state to address any serious security concern"
Precisely, all you have to do is admit that this includes Ukraine. Consider Ukraine's security picture for a moment while also noting that Putin had just annexed Crimea in 2014, and was leading and staffing separatists in the Donbas since that time.
"(which do not come much more serious than nuclear weapons on on your border..."
This wasn't at stake. The US, at least, maintains a policy of not putting nuclear weapons in countries that border Russia. This is why there are no nuclear weapons in Poland even though Poland has specifically asked to host nuclear weapons.
"...neutralising your own nuclear deterrence capability!)"
That's not how that works. Russia has a robust second-strike capability.
"in the context of duplicity and bad faith from the outset on the negotiated Minsk Accord..."
What is always left out is the fact that Russia signed those agreements, and yet was responsible for starting the Donbas war and for maintaining it for years by leading, staffing, arming, and organizing the pro-Russian forces. All of this, of course, was denied routinely by the Russian government... but even people like Mearsheimer don't dispute it.
Read the Minsk agreements. Notice that they're clearly trying to solve an ethnic conflict. The problem was that it wasn't an ethnic conflict. It was a land grab, and that's why Luhansk, Donetsk, and territories far from the Donbas were annexed by Russia.
@@jaarneal Why are you wasting my time with the British Foreign Office's poor-man's neo-con Alice-in-Wonderland, selectively edited and fabricated alternate-reality version of the relevant history instead of addressing the primary point of my comment?
My primary point is the calling out of the ridiculous Orwellian double-speak, perfidy, and general mealy-mouthedness of the statement: "Russia has to take ultimate responsibility for launching this invasion... but we helped to make that flashpoint inevitable."
What part of the meaning of "..we helped to make that flashpoint INEVITABLE." are you unable to understand?
The thrust of your off-the-case comment also suggests that you might be clinically insane, never more so than in your reliance on the point "Russia has a robust second-strike capability [!]" in support of what passes for argument in what you say. what you are essentially saying there is that it is OK for the US and the UK (primarily!) to engage in these games of deceit, death, and possible world annihilation against Russia as Russia is not actually seriously disadvantaged. DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT WOULD NEED TO HAPPEN IN ORDER FOR YOUR ARGUMENT TO BE VERIFIED! This is not a video game...
The most charitable thing I can say to you is this: go away and educate yourself on the true history and full facts of America's slowly engineered proxy-war in Ukraine as a pretext for testing its theory that sanctions could break the Russian economy thereby precipitating regime-change as a big step down the road to its ultimate wet-dream of destroying the Russian state and balkanising the vast area currently within its borders. I recommend Jacques Baud, a former NATO insider in relation to Russia. He is the best informed, most knowledgeable, and most authoritative voice on the subject. His "The Russian Art of War" is the most current and most instructive but - given your low informational starting point - I suggest something more introductory in nature such as 2022's "Operation Z".
This guys is uninformed and delusional. NATO personnel have been in ukriane since at least 2014 😂 poor quality guest today pascal
Very wooly and lazy comment.
We know for certain that CIA was establishing bases as soon as the violent ousting of Yanukovic was enacted since that has been confirmed publicly by the New York Times, though whether “NATO” personnel were in the country is a different question.
Mr Proud did say that 4000 words were redacted from his original draft for his book ….. without knowing the details of the redactions it’s not fair to criticise Mr Proud for omitting such details as the degree of NATO involvement.
As a senior British diplomat, Ian Proud will know better than most the exact numbers of western agents operating in Ukraine.
No doubt he also values his pension and has no enthusiasm to be charged under the Official Secrets Act. ii.e. This is not the USA. He will revel only what he is permitted. However that does not mean the interview was without merit.
guest sucks, learned nothing new, just here to sell books
That "system of failure from the Soviet period"? Ukraine was one of the wealthiest, most industrialized, prosperous republics in the Soviet Union. The Soviet govt poured billions of dollars into Ukrainian infrastructure, agriculture and industry! And Ukraine had an inordinate amount of power in the Soviet govt, which is why the 1991 dissolution -- engineered by a clique of Ukrainians -- was even possible when the April 1991 referendum clearly showed that the vast majority of Soviets (75%) voted AGAINST dissolution.
What the heck do you mean to call the Soviet period a "failure"? As soon as Ukraine declared independence in 1991, the Western vulture capitalists moved in, just like they did Russia. But unlike Russia, which had Putin to pull their country out of the neoliberal sewer, Ukraine had no such luck. At the present moment, adding in all Zelensky's financing schemes to keep the war going for his masters, the entire country's resources and lands have been mortgaged to Western corporations or hedgefunds like BlackRock. I guess in your so-called "neutral" framework, this was the beginning of Ukrainian glory compared to the Soviet era?
Western pundits dare never to praise anything the Soviets did, regardless of the many achievements of that great country. Every Western comment about the Soviet Union oozes with negativity, disgust, condemnation, denunciation, disapproval, chastisement, disparagement. There aren't enough negative words in the English language to describe Western attitudes toward the USSR. And you blindly accept every single one, without so much as a peep of disagreement. Why is that? BECAUSE YOU AGREE WITH ALL THE NEGATIVE CHARACTERIZATIONS OF THE USSR. Therefore, you are not only not neutral when it comes to the USSR or Russia, but you are blatantly NOT neutral.
Time after time, your podcast proves why neutrality is dead. Every conversation you have puts the Soviets or Russians in a bad, unjust and ahistorical light. Even your Canadian-Ukrainian Professor Ivan Katchanovski, who debunked the false Western narrative that it was Yanukovych govt forces behind the Maidan Massacre, denied Nazism was a problem in Ukraine. AND YOU NEVER EVEN CHALLENGED THIS BLATANTLY FALSE ASSERTION that can easily be disproved with scores of WESTERN documentaries and articles that were published for years prior to Russia's SMO. But as soon as Russia launched its SMO, what happened to all that Western reporting about Ukraine’s Nazi problem? It all vanished into thin air. Then a massive global media effort was initiated to claim UkroNazism was Russian propaganda!
Can you please suggest a book or article that gives a balanced assessment of the successes and failures of the USSR
@@ahmuqasim7540 You can give my comment a like first. Nothing is free in this world.
"That 'system of failure from the Soviet period'? Ukraine was one of the wealthiest, most industrialized, prosperous republics in the Soviet Union. "
This is not a contradiction. The Soviet Union's stagnation was the result of a failing system. That failing system had more prosperous/industrialized parts, and less prosperous/industrialized parts. But overall, it was an unsustainable system.
"And Ukraine had an inordinate amount of power in the Soviet govt, which is why the 1991 dissolution -- engineered by a clique of Ukrainians -- was even possible when the April 1991 referendum clearly showed that the vast majority of Soviets (75%) voted AGAINST dissolution"
This is not a serious account of how the Soviet Union dissolved. It's not even a serious account of how Ukraine left the Soviet Union. December 1, 1991 is the key referendum on the question of Ukraine. And if you don't understand why the result of that vote was apparently so different from the March (not April) 1991 referendum, revisit the history. The results of these referenda were actually not contradictory: The March referendum was not about supporting the continuance of the Soviet Union as it had existed since 1922. It was for the approval of a renegotiated union that was more equitable (less centralized) than what the USSR had been up to that point, in accordance with Gorbachev's goals.
One of the key reasons the August coup happened was because the coup plotters (who were communist hardliners) wanted to halt that renegotiation and maintain a much stronger central government. Of course, because the coup failed, and because the coup failed in such a way that Gorbachev's stature was diminished and Yeltsin's was inflated, the coup had the opposite of the intended effect, and hastened the disintegration of the union.
"Even your Canadian-Ukrainian Professor Ivan Katchanovski, who debunked the false Western narrative that it was Yanukovych govt forces behind the Maidan Massacre, denied Nazism was a problem in Ukraine."
Yeah, Katchanovski's analysis of video and medical evidence that he did completely by himself without any forensic or medical training. Have you actually looked at his analysis on this?
If Katchanovski said that Nazism wasn't a problem in Ukraine, he was wrong. Nazism is a problem wherever it exists... which is probably every country in the world, including Russia. The most important nazi to die during the Ukraine War was Dmitry Utkin, who went down in the same plane as Prigozhin. Utkin chose his callsign, "Wagner", because Wagner was Hitler's favorite composer. And that callsign became the name of the mercenary group he founded. Putin's claim that Ukraine's government is controlled by Nazis is (like biolabs) a despicable lie intended to distract from Putin's own quasi-fascist tendencies.
@@jaarneal The Great Depression in the United States was a 1000 times worse than anything going on in the Soviet economy, and the Great Depression didn't cause the US to disappear. That pops your bubble that the Soviet economy caused the dissolution of the USSR. Too bad. You seemed like such a promising young fool.
I'm a historian of Soviet and Russian history. Not many people in the West know or understand what caused the economic crisis in the USSR that tanked its economy in the 1980s, least of all you, judging by your yukranusly ill-informed comment.
That aside, everything else you said sounds like Cold War anti-Soviet and Neo-Cold War anti-Russia propaganda. We're all a bit tired of it after 80 years of this zhit. Now go find a nice cave to crawl into and leave the thinking man's world alone.
Just so I don't have to see you drone on about some Banderite fantasy of Holodomor or gulag bullzhit, I'm muting you now. Thank you and have a nice cave life.