Wolff Responds: The Russia/Ukraine War - One Year Later
Вставка
- Опубліковано 3 бер 2023
- Stay connected with the latest from Democracy at Work. Join our mailing list today: www.democracyatwork.info/sign_up or check out more of our content: / @democracyatwrk
In this Wolff Responds, Prof. Wolff shares his perspective on the Russia/Ukraine war around the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
Want to learn more? Check out Prof. Wolff's in-depth analysis of The Russia/Ukraine War: • Global Capitalism: The...
Wolff Responds is a @democracyatwrk Production. We provide these videos free of ads. Please consider supporting our work. Visit our website democracyatwork.info/donate or join our growing Patreon community and support Global Capitalism Live Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff at / gcleu .
___________________________________________________________________________
Check out the 2021 Hardcover edition of “Understanding Marxism,” with a new, lengthy introduction by Richard Wolff! Go to: www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/richa...
“Marxism always was the critical shadow of capitalism. Their interactions changed them both. Now Marxism is once again stepping into the light as capitalism shakes from its own excesses and confronts decline.”
Check out all of d@w’s books: "The Sickness is the System," "Understanding Socialism," by Richard D. Wolff, and “Stuck Nation” by Bob Hennelly at www.lulu.com/spotlight/democra...
___________________________________________________________________________
Follow Wolff ONLINE:
Patreon: / gcleu
Web: www.rdwolff.com
Twitter: / profwolff
Facebook: / economicupdate
/ richarddwolff
/ democracyatwrk
DailyMotion: www.dailymotion.com/democracy...
Subscribe to the EU podcast: economicupdate.libsyn.com
Shop for EU merchandise: democracy-at-work-shop.myshop...
Watch the newest content from Richard Wolff on Democracy at Work www.youtube.com/@democracyatwrk/videos
can't be bothered to address the obvious lies in your video? cat got yer tongue? you claim you will be factual yet then you lie by saying the russian army has steadily advanced and is now occupying more territory than ever before. this is propaganda BS, i will shame you with you an actual factual statement: after initial gains, the russian army was kicked out of major areas around Kharkiv and Kherson last fall and is now occupying MUCH LESS land. why are you lying? or are you just ignorant? then shut up!
Want to put it briefly, we love you sir
Russia has the power to end this war whenever they want to but they choose otherwise.
US has the power to end this war to negotiate it can never get Donbass or Crimea it mistreated and killed its citizens, but it was military planning since the end of the USSR to encroach on Russia and bring it down. Ukraine is being used for that.
No they don't. It is obvious, that they are struggling with pushing into the Ukraine. They are losing weapons and personell en mass. Willingly contuining this makes no sense whatsoever in any aspect.
Putin sez "Right back atcha"! 😊
@@MrChiangching Unless it implies an actual overwhelming strenght of the Ukraine, you'd want for a country in a defensive war to simply surrender... which is silly, considering the inane reasoning of the russian government.
@@dalfokane Better than Zelensky's insane reasoning, he's getting his people killed in an unwinnable war for nothing. 😱
Imagine starting out pointing out the failures of US invasions against far weaker countries than ukraine and then the mental gymnastics required to then conclude that Russia’s far weaker military would somehow fare better against Ukraine’s military
"usa bad" is the entirety of this professor's foreign policy opinions
I will call both sides tomorrow, too late today; order them to stop this war. Had not realized it was dangerous. Sarcasm of cause, we do not have any power to stop it, politicians runs the show.
So true! This is the underlying horror of this U.S.-provoked war, from our point of view - aside from the probable economic impact, including, for instance, the possible LOSS of Social Security. "We, the People" have no say. None.
Not so! The Vietnam war was stopped by a concerted effort of students, workers, ordinary citizens, and soldiers. When officers started to be fracked in Vietnam, the war was over quickly. The mindset needs to change and for us, that means confronting the propaganda machine.
@@tedder130 That was then, this is now. The corporations and thier government have taken back all the power and the wealth, while the people have stagnated at the very level they were at at that time. But you're right to encourage the people to react, because in the end a critical mass of such will be the only thing to change things for the better
Politicians sort of run the show but they do so according to their masters' voices, i.e., the MIC,corporations, oligarchs that own and direct them.
@@tedder130 Odd that the democrats in the Vietnam era were the ones against the war. Now its the democrats and GOP for the war. I don't get my facts on the war from the American or Russian medias. I know unbiased reports and its not good for Ukraine right now.
Dear Richard - we really enjoy you presentations and have learn a lot from you lectures - many greetings from me and 10 other coworkers. Keep up the good work.
A wonderful analysis. One of the few voices of reason and sanity in the West.
Thank you
Thank you very much Richard,it's really appreciated and well explained 👍
So lets say the west just lets Putin take what he wants, again. Maybe next year he wants Poland. Just let him take that too? Sometimes you have to stand up.
Thank you sir
Dr. Wolff you should be a Senator.
Totally agree!!!
Summary: War is bad. Uhhh... Thanks.
Excellent!
Let me briefly say it, I love you sir
Thank you for your insight Wolff. Your perspective is always educational
Will he mention wall street? Lets see...
But this time he is wrong. He did no research. Basic mistakes. Kinda harmfull. I am really dissapointed as an eastern european progressive socialist
@@yanekc they dont dare critize see eye aye
@@americanfacts6212 What about Wall Street? If you mean how Dr. Wolff says our economy is doing badly yet Wall Street is booming, I gotta remind you that Wall Street does not represent the economy - it's literally nothing more than a legalized gambling ring run by emotions, guesses and ungodly amounts of cocaine. Wall Street is booming specifically BECAUSE our nation's economy is being gutted to fuel Wall Street's insatiable lust for greater windfall profits in ever-shorter and shorter periods of time. Our inflation at this point is no longer due to worker strikes, shortages or supply problems, each of those has more or less stabilized - The main cause of our inflation now is pure corporate greed as they use the excuse of shortages to hide blatant cash grabs before the government reels them back in (if it even does). They artificially keep the prices of goods high citing "shortages", despite warehouses overflowing with goods and employment numbers stabilized. FFS EVEN BUSINESS INSIDER - one of the most pro-corporate business outlets - wrote an article about corporate greed fueling our current inflation. Dr. Wolff is right.
Yes, I agree with you!
I support your words.
I am not sure that the GDP for Russia and the GDP for the US measure the economy correctly. For instance, if a Russian family pays the equivalent in dollars of $500/month for housing while the American family pays $2,500, the measured GDP would show the US GDP as five times higher. A bowl of noodles in China costing ¥5 (yuan) is the same as a bowl of noodles in US China town costing $5, but one dollar US buys 3 bowls of noodles in China.
Russia gets a whole lot more output from its money in dollar equivalence, or measurement by GDP, as does China. I suspect that most of American GDP is hollow; thus we have the phrase, 'Paper Tiger'.
You are referring to purchasing power parity. Using PPP, the GDP of China has surpassed that of the US in 2011. But more than this, the economies of Russia and China are based on actual manufacturing and commodities. Those in the US and the collective west are inflated by FIRE - finance, insurance, real estate.
@@PhiloSurfer PPP only goes so far as living expenses for food and shelter, for luxury goods like a Mercedes or a Rolex watch, you’re going to pay full price in dollars or euros. Besides PPP has no effect on Russia’s biggest problem … endemic corruption! As Russian troops invading Ukraine discovered as tires wore out, boots and armored vests were no available. While poor maintenance and logistics doomed what should’ve been a well planned SMO!??
@@JimCOsd55 You are so right.
ua-cam.com/video/C4D7Er76KGM/v-deo.html
@@JimCOsd55 I'm just glad we don't have endemic corruption here at home in the West.
@@JimCOsd55 corrupt as compared to who? Ukraine? The most corrupt country in Europe? It is to laugh. As compared to the US? Can you say F-35? Can you say 2008? You can't kid a kidder.
Saudações do Brasil 🇧🇷
Muito obrigada por trazer a verdade. Espero que o povo estadunidense acorde a tempo.
GDP is an absurd measure of economic activity.
How could an acceptable agreement look like? Can or should the ukraine ever accept to lose some of its terretory? Will or can Russia ever accept to give back all the occupied land?
Could you not say the same about the Hungarian and Polish territory in Ukraine? And there was a civil war going on for 8 years in the East, for which no one complained. Except the 'bad' guy.
@@earthman6700 Civil wars don't tend to have fighters trained, funded, armed by, and ideologically espousing the virtue of, another state. Also Putin has publicly stated that he sent Russian military into the "east" in 2014 in public interviews since as early as October 2015. Really, this is the dumbest potential spin here.
@@OGShively I was generalising. Its a Country that had many problems before February 24th. And its geopolitics. And it stinks. It is devisive at a time when Countries should be pulling together. I suspect this saga will hit the West harder than it will hit Russia, China, Asia, Africa and some southern American States. A fools game.
@Shively you talking about USA, yes? Sponsoring clown nazis since 2014, like AL caida and ISIS before
The only acceptable agreement where land was forfeited to Russia, would be ukraines admission into NATO, as otherwise the agreement would only be a temporary halt, which putin would build up to launch his third invasion attempt on Ukraine
Great video Richard,finally the truth we don’t hear in the main stream media
Imagine believing this is the truth, when apart from the initial invasion thrust Russia has been pushed progressively backwards. Russian tech/equipment has also been continuously degraded, whilst ukraine continues to get approval for more and more advanced weapons. Literally the only “hope” for Russia is if Russian asset traitors in the US manage to cut off support, but even that won’t stop European support, which amounts to more than half the military aide. Ukraine has also ranked up domestic military equipment production and is not burdened by the sanctions that Russia faces
Ahh Mr.Wolf Clearing the Confusion... thanks once again
Economic stats don't mobilise any kind of negotiations; this position is an idealist illusion. Marx got it right on Poland in 1875:
"As long as the independent life of a nation is suppressed by a foreign conqueror it inevitably directs all its strength, all its efforts and all its energy against the external enemy..."
Rick seems to have a profound grasp of the obvious.
The bald fact is that too few are willing or able to speak that 'obvious' truth. The good professor is rather like a bulldog.
@@tedder130 or stopped lock.
Mr. Wolff , with all due respect , from the approx. 300 billion of freezed Russian assets , only 12% or about 36 billion could be stolen by EU . This are the digits someone told me . And the militaristic and economic war begun in 2008 at the Bucharest summit and not one year ago , as you said .
ye people should go listen to Putin's respectful speech to Western politicians.
"This are the digits someone told me"
Guess we should believe it then. Must be true. /s
@@DivinePigeon this are numbers from Alex Christoforou and Alexander Mercouris from the Duran, who are daily working on issues relating with this conflict. But when you know the exact numbers I will hear this from you. Many thanks in advance. Greetings from Belgium
More accurate to say March 2014 US suspended trade and investment talks with Russia as well as military-to-military cooperation in response to the invasion of Crimea- which was a result of the Ukrainian people outing Yanukovych. Lots of pro-Imperialist forces in Russia that want to reclaim Soviet-era states like Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova.
@@koshka02 you're on track for Crimea, but also Poetin stated that always enlarging Nato to the east was a red line, as well a stupid step towards the old Sovjet imperium. He said that even in a speech ( but I don't remember on what occasion )
Love your content! Love your message! Ty for helping to educate to the unwashed masses like me❤
Thanks
2,1 -2,2 trillion for Russia. Doesn't change much, but to be precise.
Great suggestion
Putin literally said that this conflict will be "long and difficult"...
When did he say this?
Uncommon amount of wisdom and common sense on the part of the Wolff man!!
Thank you, I agree 100% with you.
You mean he's not usually this wise, or people in general aren't usually as wise as the Wolff man?
@@connorocean I mean the former. He mostly peddles far-left political ideology disguised as Economics.
Thank you professor for one of the most smartest thing I heard finally about war. I will share this video
Can someone post a link to the alternative news on Russia moving westward in Ukraine "more than before"? The news i went through in the past 1.5 years was that Russia went in all the way to Kiev and then was slowly fought back to the Donbask where they are now.
Wolff gets it all... the UK Government has got it all wrong....Prof Wolff should be an advisor to the UK Government ..
thank you for your illustration wolf, I love your videos about Marxism
Me too! I just don't like when the Professor makes excuses for an aggressive authoritarian who invades a neighbor in a cold play for power.
"The Russians have the better of it"
Holy fuck there goes Richard's credentials for the rest of his life.
You bias opinion then Scruffopone. I see what's gone on.
Don't look at Russia's GDP. Look at the bigger picture and what the money can buy. The same basket of goods that costs 30 USD is 6 USD in Russia right now and there is more variety and better quality of food. No GMO. 😊
So glad l found you .Thank you so much .x
what do you mean? russia lost kherson, HUGECHUNK. russia lost kharkiv. russia taking bahkmut after 6 months? no victory.
Wolff is really really trying to do geopolitical realism, which is not the game you want to be playing if you call yourself a leftist.
It ist not important what you think about victories..it is importent, What
soldiers on ground are thinking....
@@wolfbirk8295 Ukrainians want their country back, Russians don't want to be there. Those are the thoughts and feelings of the soldiers on the ground.
What if it isn't about territory, but destroying Ukraine's warfighting capability?
@@ianboard544 Ukraine is not a threat to Russia in any meaningful sense. They had no reason to go to war with Russia. Russia took Crimea and funded troops in the Donbass, even sending their own troops in 2014 to help out.
With inflation, higher gdp?
Seriously Dick Wolff, you think 6 million Ukrainian women and kids fleeing the country suggests that the majority of the 40+ million Ukrainians don't actually support fighting for their country? Would you be more convinced of Ukrainian support for fighting back if Ukrainian put suicide vests on the kids? You're critique of helping Ukraine seems centered in part on the profit motive of the MIC. What if we nationalized the MIC? Would you still be opposed to the US assisting Ukraine?
Bravo
Well said, Prof. Wolff..👌🏿👌🏿
It's incorrect to compare military power of the US vs Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq on one hand and Russia vs Ukraine on the other. At the beginning of last year, Ukrainian military was second biggest in Europe after Russia. It is supplied, financed, trained and supported by the US, UK, EU, NATO, Canada, Japan, Australia and NZ. So the comparison is nowhere near to the one Richard makes. Another point is that neither Russia, nor Ukraine declared a war. If this was a real war, not a special military operation as Russia calls it, nobody would be able to take a train to and from Kiev, and all the Ukrainian decision making centers would have been hit with hypersonic high precision strikes. Also, civilian casualties would have been a magnitude higher. Russia doesn't want that, and as you can tell neither Ukraine. So far Russia fights with limited by the SMO military force. Unlike US with its shock and awe tactics.
ha! well USA never wanted to make Afg Iraq Vietnam part of USA territory. Russia is making war to move the boundary lines of Russia into sovereign neighbor territory....
@@towTruck42 Russia is just helping Ukraine to "de sovietize". Soviets gave territories to Ukraine that have nothing to do with it, along with the Russian people who live there, who also didn't want to have NATO bases and bio labs in the backyards. Just like Cubans who don't want US base on their territory, or Syrians who want a third of their country back from the US. US already took from Mexico and Canada whatever they could.
@@towTruck42 Russia could have taken the whole of Ukraine in 2014/15 when it basically destroyed their military. They decided to settle it diplomatically with the Minsk agreement. Turns out neither Kiev nor Berlin/Paris had any intention to fulfill any of their agreement obligations.
A D, unlike the highly credentialed (Harvard, Yale and Stanford) Professor Emeritus Wolff, you get it.
It proves how miserable the American Education System is. They're a bunch of clowns compared to those educated in Russia and China.
Ted Devito, Russia is done talking to those liars and thieves.
It's really sad. I was a Neocon Dupe until I ran into some truths about the lies of our leaders going all the way back to 1916 and Woodrow Wilson. It goes back to 1845-1848 when we stole half of Mexico and slaughtered tens of thousands. The.gang at the Alamo had it coming!
Our entire history was copying the former hegemon the British Empire slavery and all. Our Creator has withdrawn His blessings and we're becoming a "Shithole Country". The chickens are coming home to roost and blowback will be a bitch.
May be you have to say this not in youtube, but in the congress and the pentagon and make sure all american criminals who start the war hear you well.
so,"professor" i called you out on three lies. cat got yer tongue? don't have the courage to respond? yer silence speaks volumes...
excellent, as usual.
The hegemonic left's blind cheerleading of this war has been shameful. This is what speaking truth to power sounds like.
Whose ox is gored? Whose hegemony is being threatened? The left is not cheering NATO. It is objecting to Putin's attempt to reconstruct a dead hegemony. The world is as it is NOW. He invaded a smaller neighbir because they threw out his puppet government and replaced it with a different more Western one. Putin might not like it but he shouldn't invade Ukraine just like we should not invaded or embargo Cuba.
Not that it changes his overall point but he left left out Syria, Yugoslavia, and one could argue Libya from the invasion list.
Mr. Wolff I have a question. Do you find any correlations between the failed soviet state and America? One I was thinking about was how both nations invested heavily into the military. I know that was party to blame for the fall of USSR, could America be next?
SUPER ! 👍👍👍👍👍👍
Solidarität from Germany!
Ukraine has officially banned negotiations with Putin, as suggested by their American "allies". This was to make sure that nobody in Ukraine makes decisions, all must be decided in Washington. The same goes for Germany and the North stream.
So you see everything that's happening and conclude that it's American politicians and not Russian artillery that are motivating Ukrainians to arm themselves? I kinda figured that the location of the fighting was a dead giveaway.
oh, thats why Russians said they wont be fixing the neither nord streams?
from the sentence i assume you think Russians are the victims here, right?
@@nescius2 Why would they rebuild the pipeline, the US would just blow it up again..? Am I missing something or are you just dumb?
Respectively, I completely disagree with both arguments you raise in this video. Your assessment leaves you to believe Russia and Putin are somehow winning in this war of Ukraine? Comparing Putin’s political strength before the invasion of Ukraine to present day, I think we can all agree Putin is significantly weaker. The Russian casualties are significantly more damaging than anyone could have ever predicted. Russia has seen a portion of its population flee the country to escape Putin and the inevitable draft of additional servicemen. The Russian allies are fewer than anyone could have predicted as well to support Russia during their invasion.
Second, to suggest anyone stated that the Russian economy would collapse from this is flat out wrong. Most believed that Ukraine would not be able to defend itself; like they failed to during the invasion of Crimea, and most believed NATO and the US would be hesitant to stand up to Putin, especially after Covid lockdowns. The invasion and war by Russia has only weakened their strength international, as NATO has shown its ability to organize and support Ukraine with military aid, financial aid, and helped President Zelensky become a global leader for democracy against the authoritarian government taken hostage by Putin.
Unfortunately, defending themselves in war is the only response that Ukraine can have at this time. Putin clearly made a gross overestimate of his military and that of Ukraine. Putin has threatened nuclear war!
It is comforting to hear easy, short answers on UA-cam but your suggestions are naive and ridiculous to think if only a sit down happened, everything would resolve. The only real option at this point is for Putin to be removed from power.
Ruble is soaring since the war began. US dollar and Euro are both sinking. Russian casualties are absurdly overstated by Western media.
Crimea didn't need to defend itself. It chose to leave Ukraine in response to the USA causing the Maidain Coup in 2014, where we toppled the democratically elected government.
@@drumlessons833 NATO is supporting Ukraine as they slaughter Russian soldiers. Thousands! You don’t mobilize your military if you are winning. The invasion was intended to last only a couple of days or weeks. Not months and now in its second year! Putin is lying as always! Ukraine will win and NATO will crush Russia and its weak government! Good riddance!
@@drumlessons833 "it chose". at gunpoint you mean.
@@southnoon5808 How would you describe what Kiev has been doing for the last decade to Donbas then?
Great
Enough with self loathing. Try?
Pro Richard Wolff, a great righteous intellect, no bias no prejudice non partial. ONLY JUST.
I’ve learned a lot from his discussions. But, he’s wrong on some things here. He claimed that the Russians now hold more Ukrainian land than ever which is not true. At the beginning of the war they made many advances but were then pushed back and suffered enormous losses. Also, he said that both sides need to stop fighting and talk. But, Russia is the one that started the invasion and has been bombing cities and civilians. It’s a bit like Trump saying about the Neo-Nazis, “Well, there are good people on both sides.”
@@cold_take That’s like a man who beats his wife complaining that she didn’t cook his food right.
@@clacicle As with many political analysts I think Wolff has some good insight in this topic but he's sees things only from a western perspective. The comparison to Iraq and Afghanistan is good but you have to realize that this is Afghanistan for the Russians right now, not for NATO. They went in for a quick victory to achieve political objectives and now THEY are in way over their heads.
Another point, Wolff pointed out how western economies are also hurting due to inflation, but that inflation can't really be attributed to the sanctions and military spending in Ukraine, even the most charitable economic analysis only attributes inflation in part to that, whereas the economic difficulties of Russia are directly related to sanctions and also having to send able bodied men to die instead of having them work.
Despite that the point about economic wars is perfectly valid. We completely overestimated how effective our sanctions would be, mainly because the US no longer has the outstanding influence to intimidate any neutral country into not supporting Russia, so it just creates a situation where our refusal to trade with Russia makes it a more attractive trade partner for other neutral countries which undoes the effect of our sanctions.
Wolff's humanitarian argument about peace at all costs also isn't completely valid because if Ukraine settles for a peace deal that will isolate it and set it up to be oppressed by Russia or further assaulted in the future then that is the worst outcome. Even for the biggest of pacifists there are unreasonable demands that can't be justified if they lead to further violence for the sake of momentary peace.
@@darrenfleming7901
Please watch Oliver Stone's "Ukraine on Fire", not to be confused with Netflix' "WINTER on Fire", which used to come up first on UA-cam's search despite alphabetical order.
@@clacicle Wolff is on point here. It's important to remember that this war did not start with Russia invading Ukraine, contrary to your assertion. It began in 2014 with the USA launching a coup of the democratically elected government. Without that context, it's as if you're trying to see the world through a keyhole in a door.
Just remember. Money is not a real resource, is not something scarce. It's an accountant unit to keep tabs on debt. The real resources are raw materials, manpower, infrastructures, etc.
Not something that gets created every day with a few keystrokes
Agreed
Ok! They dropped bombs on their heads while they slept bur, there is rules in war. Yes! War may not be the answer.
Prof. Wolff, your wisdom, and knowledge in this brilliant analysis are clear. I thank you for sharing them.
All he said was war is bad and we need to make a peace deal with a man that can't be trusted to keep any deal.
Not sure what you find so impressive about that.
So, is it safe to say, GDP, how it is measured now, is NOT a relevant metric for economic strength?
I've read analyses that say that the content of GDP is what is important, as to the true economic strength of a country. For instance, inflated attorneys' fees and inflated health care costs are counted as "growth," while the overall de-industrialization is not evaluated. Industrial capacity - making real things (cars, refrigerators, machine tools, steel, et al) and the possession of, and ability to use, natural resources - is the REAL strength of a country's economy, not the empty profiteering of financial sharks.
Russia has a REAL economy. We don't. Russia can go on making artillery shells for decades. We can't. We don't have the industrial capacity any more. And they are meanwhile providing health care, housing and a decent living for everybody in the Russian Federation. THAT is economic strength.
If I pay my neighbor $100 to dig a hole, and he turns around and pays me $100 to fill it in, the GDP has increased $200. What counts is how much of the GDP is accomplishing something useful.
@@ianboard544 Yeah, I always give similar example to people when they start harping about GDP. Even better one is all kind of financial penalties like overdraft fees and fines are going into GDP too. Literally no added value. We really should subtract FIRE elements and most of other services to get a real picture
Of course not, especially when the economies are inflated, based on fake fiat money and have debts higher than their nominal GDPs.
What's the alternative to use?
Hello and thanks from Kyrgyzstan. I think it is not a Marxist position.
❤❤
As a long time listener of Professor Wolff, I am absolutely perplexed by him on one hand being the voice and champion of democracy in the workplace and now being soft on Russia's imperialist war against Ukrainian DEMOCRACY and independence on the other...
Ukraine fully understands that either they push the anti-democracy, imperialist, fascist Russians out of their country COMPLETELY or they can "choose peace now" and watch as Russia continues to slowly encroach on their land physically and on their democracy cyberly just like they have be doing since 2014!
There is no "negotiating for peace" until Russia is entirely out of Ukraine PERMANENTLY!
U Shld verse yourself on the facts before forming such a strong ANTI-Russia stance. I gather by your callsign u are a true American patriot! What a shame u have zero clue what America TRULY stands for.
Go and research what has been going on in the Donbas and Ukraine since 2014, then come back with an educated opinion.
Here’s a hint, u won’t find truth on msm. Good luck
The Nazis are in Kiev and they are supported by the biggest, most dangerous imperialist power in the world.
Do you not know that the US overthrew the democratically elected government in Ukraine in 2014? How can you possibly refer to Ukraine as "democratic" when they are ruled by a post-coup government under control of the US?
The reason Russia intervened in the civil war that ensued after the coup is that the Kiev regime had 200,000 troops entrenched in eastern Ukraine, ready to finish off the rebellious citizens who refuse to accept the coup government.
@@paulawhowantstoknow2036 well said
@@paulawhowantstoknow2036 did you know that there are actual people in Ukraine and not just CIA agents?
how about asking any Ukranian about it before parroting Kremlin propaganda?
Do not forget the Korean War. It always gets over looked. The forgotten war. About 50 thousand dead Americans are not forgotten.
Wars. There were two Korean wars.
An amazing man, heroooooo
I wish good health and long life lovely man... we need youuuu
GDP is a piss poor measure of a nations economic strength, it's very misleading and easily manipulated, that's why they use it.
The US is going to be affected by the spending.
The USA spends more on cosmetics and makeup in one year than it has in Ukraine so far.
Never forget Panama invasion
Freezing Russian assets to pay for rebuilding Ukraine doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
Wow the way he explains GDP is like his target audience is babies.
We've done that before. Treaty of Versailles. It ended really bad.
@@johnnopeyy4129 oh man Hitler is like 90% of the internet's one and only go to historical reference for every possible situation.
@@mitchellbaker4806 Except it's pretty much identical.
@@johnnopeyy4129 sure, why not.
What made you think Ukraine "got into" this war? When another country invades you, you fight back. That's not a foolish act of warmongering, that's what any country would do if they were INVADED BY A FOREIGN MILITARY POWER.
@Traiano Wellcome Firstly, that doesn't justify a full scale invasion of Ukraine, terrible as it was. Secondly, don't act like the rebels weren't committing even worse atrocities in the regions they had "liberated". Don't act like they didn't break every treaty and ceasefire they signed, including and especially Minsk II. Like they didn't themselves use the same cluster bombs that the Ukrainian government did. Third, keep in mind that Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, Russia financed these rebels back when they were just a protest movement, Russia was the country that propped up Yanukovich. And again, they were the ones who invaded Ukraine.
Right on Mr. Wolff. A negotiated peace plan needs to be worked out, urgently. It would certainly help if the people kicked the warmongers out of their house in DC. Try focusing on Americans for a change instead a few super rich "business" people. Take East Palestine, Ohio, for example. No one from the government showed up to even utter a single word of support to the people there. Boot them out, now.
And if they had shown up immediately (rather than workers from 6 Federal agencies) you would've accused them of politicizing tragedy. Did Chump EVER show up in such a disaster area? NO. Not once.
Infrastructure takes no prisoners. There is a high chance that disasters like in Ohio will continue. And the regime will respond with a stricter control over information.
@@alexsilent5603 Then talk to your local businessman and ask him to stop buying off the only government that might work to protect us. Chump will know all about that, as his record proves, but hey what do facts matter when it's so much fun to hate?
@@alexsilent5603 Regime? Are you North Korean?
@@fredgassit5418
Regime: noun
1. A government, especially an oppressive or undemocratic one.
2.A usually heavy-handed administration or group in charge of an organization.
I would suggest the word regime perfectly describes the american government
Putin's dubious character aside, who's really the aggressor here? The US forty years ago, couldn't have dreamed of this situation, wherein they were directing a proxy war from Kiev.
The fall of the USSR despite being presented as a great victory for world peace, was in actual fact a disaster.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, we've seen three major conflicts in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa ripped asunder, the rise of neo fascism and Islamic Fundamentalism, and biblical levels of mass migration.
The new world order of the post cold-war world, is much like the old world order that went before the cold-war. A world of endless conflict, pandemics and mass migration.
Who's the aggressor? That's a fabulous question, who invaded?
Oh it was Russia, well there's your answer.
@@scruffopone3989 But there are three wars being waged simultaneously. A Ukrainian civil war, a war between Ukraine and Russia, and a great power war between Russia and America. And maybe even a fourth war of East ys West.
Only in one of those wars is Russia the aggressor.
@trev moffatt Also horseshit because in the "civil war" Russia literally had troops directly involved in fighting. And arming these groups. And firing missiles directly into Ukraine from Russia. One of the major points of Minsk was to get Russia to leave Ukraine and they never did fulfill their one job.
@@JAMAICADOCK Ukrainian civil war is really more of a Russian proxy war since it wouldn't exist if Russia wasn't doing everything to fund it and recruit for it. Russia and America are also not at war. We're funding Ukraine because that was part of the conditions of an event like this in the Budapest memorandum. Along with Russia recognizing their independence and not imposing economic sanctions (Russia has either done or threatened to do both). Let's not try and act like Russia is anything but the vilian here.
@@brianleonard6598 And you really believe a word America says? Following Iraq, Libya, Yugoslavia, Syria - America's trust factor was dead. It's not just Putin that supports this war, most of the Russian polity and people support it too.
Ukraine has got too close to the US, and has been too bellicose against Russia.
And basically Russia has only copied the west, that is intervened in a failing democracy on the brink of civil war to recognize a breakaway republic. When the US does that in Kosovo and Bosnia, I suppose you didn't call it villainous?
The US has rode roughshod over border after border caring nothing for sovereignty, but of course Russia is held to a higher standard of international justice.
Lets not forget how Russia Invaded Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Georgia and Ukraine 2x.
Ukraine is asking for help with defense when invaded and murdered. I support us answering their call for support. Negotiations at this point is up to the Ukrainians firstly and conditions has been set. Negotiations require two willing and invested sides, right now we don’t have conditions for negotiations. How long to wait? Not for us to decide.
Can Prof. Wolff and all in left media please start educating everyone about both the: (1) difference between right-authoritarian vs. right-libertarian; & (2) difference between left-authoritarian vs left-libertarian? It’s long overdue. People aren’t cattle or sheep: They will understand if we educate them.
Though we need to educate (& learn) about all the nuance.
For example:
Two different left YTers, Step Back & Anark, who both recently released videos on this topic, made horribly inaccurate videos on the subject. Just atrocious: They both expressed basically no interest in logic or empirical truth. We are in a deplorable state for left YT…
People aren't suffering because they don't know the difference between the 4-axis political compass quadrants. People are suffering because they don't own the means of production.
@@Matthew.E.Kelly. People are suffering because they are poor and realize they will always be poor.
Made up compass shit
@@lukasmadrid1945 Absolutely false. You _now_ have a requirement to become intellectually responsible.
You have to be more analytic than that if you want the best political model that reflects true reality:
The recently discovered 2-axis political model is the most logical, empirically sound & practical political model humanity has atm. You can’t refute that, this is what reason shows.
Verify these truths with your own research. Good luck!
The economic cost are just an actual picture. It doesn’t include the future economic costs. Please ask yourself what we here in the west have. We have transferred our production capability to far east, we are running out of resources. Our societies are becoming dumber, we are not only losing our production base but the capability and know how to produce stuff, because we were transformed into consumer societies based on services. While we still try to maintain our grip on the world militarily, the rest is joining together and will eventually outproduce and outsmart us in any way. We have become victims of our own greed, our own system. If we don’t sit and talk all together on fair and equal terms, where we can all benefit in peace, it is just a matter of time until the west will suffer a major economical and cultural decline.
GDP is a poor measure of military capacity. Producing many raw materials, vast quantities of energy and a strong manufacturing sector enables Russia to resist external pressures.
This Dude loves Russia what it stands for and its ideologies, i could tell you his findings and outlook on the war even before he started .
pretty much.
Oy!
exactly. this "economist" just said russia is doing well after the war. that couldn't be further from the truth: the ruble, after bouncing back, is now at a decades low valuation, with russia's reputation on the world stage being rewinded back to the cold war.
imagine you are a ukrainian getting shelled, and you have this geriatric prick criticizing cross-border investment to rebuild your war torn country. what else are they going to do? make a co-op?
Then goes on to act like there haven't been numerous attempts to sit down both sides and settle it amicably. Please provide a solution then, since you're so bright, Mr. wolfe
When you stand back and objectively look at situations you'll realize things are always far more complex than you once thought. Only a simple minded fool refuses to question their beliefs and views of issues. This war truly is far more complicated than "Evil big bad meanie Putin suddenly wanted to grow his empire and invaded Ukraine". Only a child could believe this overly-simplified garbage. This war is decades in the making and is far more nuanced, encompassing much more than JUST Ukraine and Russia, and the worst part of it is that this war could have been easily avoided had Ukraine chose to not join the EU or NATO and, knowing its location and the nature of its strategic importance to both sides decided to remain neutral and maintain ties to BOTH Europe and Russia.
ua-cam.com/video/hYIRsU34CnA/v-deo.html - this is factually incorrect. While Russia currently has the initiative and is on the offensive, it's completely untrue that "the Russian troops are further into Ukraine than they've ever been before. The line of battle keeps moving westward. It now encompasses for the Russians the whole of the Donbass region". At the beginning of the war Putin said his goal was complete demilitarization of Ukraine and Russian troops tried to quickly capture Kyiv. But they failed and in March - April Russians retreated from that area. That's when their atrocities in Bucha got discovered, for example. Since then there were 2 - 3 major Russian retreats. In September there was a "Kharkiv oblast counteroffensive" during which Ukraine liberated 12,000 square kilometers of territory. It happened in two phases. In first one settlements like Izium, Balakliia, Kupiansk were liberated. In second phase Ukraine liberated Lyman. Then in November Russians completely left the right bank of Dnipro river and Ukrainians retook Kherson, which was the only regional capital captured by Russia since the start of the invasion.
The Donbas region is not fully under Russian occupation. Cities like Slaviansk and Kramatorsk are still under Ukrainian control.
But more importantly, this war involves an imperialistic aggressor (Russia) attacking an independent country (Ukraine) and trying to capture its territory. Instead of comparing this war to the Vietnam War, Korean War and others, a better comparison would be the World War II. Ukrainians didn't "get into" this war, they don't have a choice but fight, if they want to still have a country.
the Russian military never fought to hold land. theyve burned down moscow before. they fight to kill the enemies army, their army doctrine was always very clausewitzian... or as the man himself said it: " To occupy land before his armies are defeated should be considered at best a necessary evil."
Ukraine however is relentlessly comitting the cardinal sin of valuing territory over men and material. often holding meaningless positions, or taking back land that serves no strategic value at tremendous human cost. what purpose did their offensive serve where they lost 40'000 men to puish Russia out of a few territories. also do you think the war magically ends when they push Russia over the border hypothetically? (that wont happen) no. they could push Russia all the way to Moscow and this war wont end.
@@catadoxas Haha, sure, continue buying Russian propaganda. "It was our plan the whole time to suffer huge losses and retreat"
Retreats often make sense when you're defending. But when you're the attacker, it almost never makes sense to attack something that you don't have the means to fully capture and hold. What happened in reality is that Russians expected to capture Kyiv very quickly and for the Ukrainian government to flee, but it didn't happen. And Russia had to retreat because it didn't have the means to sustain such a huge length of the frontline.
Watch Putin's speech at the beginning of the war. It's pretty clear that his goal is destroying independent Ukraine completely.
But anyway, in my original comment I'm simply stating that Mr Wolff's claims are factually incorrect. I don't know if he's creating this video while being ignorant, or if he's intentionally misleading people. But either way is very bad. I used to be a subscriber but no more.
@@MrSmotrelkin politicians holding nationalistic speeches at the onset of wars? my thats never happened before. I spent years in the mil and I can tell you the officer briefs we get from our own(swiss) and friends from the austrian and croatian military are much more in line with what mcgregor reports than the picture you paint. lets me just put it this way. US reporting on this war is as accurate as in all the other wars. I suggest you talk to someone who gets something like the marines internal press and who isnt a retired desk person cashing in on their rank on TV
@@MrSmotrelkin and no. if you are trying to take a country. but the enemy seems prepareod to mindlessly push into your positions, retreat consolidation of local troop strengths, especially when you have a 10:1 artillery advantage is actually a good idea. you much rather fight the enemy on the offense than in their entrenched positions. also if you think Russia was going to take Kiev with 60'000 men.. idk what to tell you. Ukraine itself attacked the south in a diversion before their actual offense in the east was launched. this is utterly basic maneuver warfare. may I remind you that Russia also put empty landing craft near Odessa (a move copied from the first gulf war) and troops in belarus forcing ukraine to spread its army out across their entire country
What about Yugoslavia and Syria?
You forgot Syria
I very much admire and respect Dr. Wolff, but the good professor's logic contradicts itself. However, the truth that remains is the one referred to by Otto von Bismarck when he noted 'I hate war. One never knows how it will turn out." I would note too that in the three wars the good Dr mentioned in which the US lost, there was a winner, and in all cases the winner was the side that reflected the hearts and minds of the people. Also, in all three, the foreign invader was driven out of the country in question. If I was to support any way, it would be a war in which I supported the side in which the hearts and minds of the people opposed an aggressive invader, and in this case, that side would be Ukraine. And knowing the hearts and minds of the people being brutally victimized, I would not abandon them just to make my life and little bit more comfortable and to perhaps save the cost of a cup of coffee a day.
well said, the problem in my eyes is precisely that people are looking to the past to form opinions on this conflict. Americans on the left have been conditioned by the last 50 years of conflicts to see the US as imperialists and meddlers, which they were in almost every conflict and still are in many cases, so now when they form opinions about Ukraine and Taiwan, where the US actually happens to be on the ethical side of the conflict, regardless of their true motivations, they appear to be extremely biased and still view the situation as being one of US imperialism.
Perhaps it's a relic of the era of US hegemony where they were the only country to have the influence to enact true imperialism, but in the modern day, the US is only one of the Superpowers of the world and all of them are enacting their own imperialism, because the same selfish motivations drive all countries, including China and Russia, which leads to conflicts where the US isn't the side abusing it's influence and meddling.
@@darrenfleming7901 FINALLY SOMEBODY SAYS THIS
What about the "hearts and minds" of the Ukrainian ethnic Russians (40% of Ukraine) who were being slaughtered by the U.S.-armed Kiev government and its N_i battallions?
@@maryhuckaby2239 So you don't pay attention to reliable news sources. First of all, just because some Ukrainian speaks Russian doesn't make them an ethnic Russian. And what about the two million or so ethnic Russians from Russia who left the country to avoid conscription? What about all the ethnic Russians in the Donbas who have been conscripted into the Russian forces and sent forward to fight the Ukrainian forces without proper, training or weapons? Just because some relatively ignorant spends their time listening to the Russian propaganda you listen to doesn't mean they don't know the truth.
@@maryhuckaby2239 🤣🤣🤣
What do you mean Russians are making all the progress? The only significant progress they made was at the start as a result of suprise - always the best way of making progress. Since then they have been beaten back from the gates of Kiev and Kharkiv and abandoned Kherson.
Why aren't the Wolff Responds videos on the Democracy At Work channel?
because they are full of eminent falsehoods? because mr. wolff does not have a clue what he is talking about, since his field is ECONOMICS, not politics and study of war?
@@arvothomson9339You cannot separate economics from either politics or war.
What about CPI? GDP isn't the whole enchilada.
Russia has not said it will be a quick war and I really don't believe they wanted the war. And it is on their border so it is quite different from the US wars you brought up. Logistically etc. Obviously loss of life in war is always terrible.
it said its not a war and it will be a special military operation taking about 3 days, that is the longest 3 days in history..
Russia started the brah
No one rusdian officials said about "3 days", it was just western "experts".
But this war could end in 1-2 months in Stambul negotiations. Unfortunately US and UK make Ukraine break it and continue the war.
@@user-kr6us9gx6z Russian officials didn't said that _publicly_ (which was a good strategy compared to first the beggining of this war in 2014 when it was clearly and officially announced as a pretext of rescuing his puppet and comrade kleptocrat Yanukovych)
but judging from reports of Russian army's supplies and apparel (with just two sets of uniforms) Putin had to think that Ukraine is just like Russia - in a terminal case of corruption, and would just fold instantly. otherwise it would have to be even dumber than this senseless massacre currently only about Putin's being afraid of slipping on banana peel next to open window and another long broadcast of Swan lake.
the idea that Ukraine can just give up a part of its land and expect Russian thugs to never attack again, is so naive.. did you hear about Budapest Memorandum? where Russians claimed to guarantee Ukrainian independence and sovereignty in the existing borders (of 1994)
what would you do if someone lied to you twice just to hurt you, and then bombs your grandmother in her home? would you trust -someone like that?- Kremlin?
@@user-kr6us9gx6z also you got that part about Istanbul negotiations wrong, Boris Johnson came to Kiev (14 days after Istanbul took place) and said to Zelenskyy that "Putin is a war criminal, he should be pressured, not negotiated with," and that "even if Ukraine is ready to sign some agreements on guarantees with Putin, they [Putin's regime] are not."
the war even haven't had to start if Russian government kept its part of deal they signed in Budapest during 1994.
Dr. Wolff, remember all the rational explanations like yours dating from Vietnam to the present? They never seriously listened. In fact, they know; "It's all about the Benjamins."
You mean the Rubles.
@@jojor9766 No, it is the Benjamins. That is why the US must continue to start new wars.
The U.S. did not start the Vietnam war. North Vietnam and its communist allies did. America made no money off the war. Instead of taking this stroll down memory lane, why don't we switch to current affairs. Don't you have a few tart words for Russia and its invasions of Ukraine, Geogia and Moldova?
@@jojor9766
Please watch Oliver Stone's "Ukraine on Fire", not to be confused with Netflix' "WINTER on Fire", which used to come up first on UA-cam's search despite alphabetical order.
I do not watch propaganda videos. Do you have any primary sources that you wish me to review? Speaking of which. Do you have any comments on the Russian Ministry of Finance report that I quoted?
The US also invaded Syria, and destroyed Libya.
Y para usa, su pueblo , que los multimillonarios presten en 20 años..., a la nación con problemas. O algo asi, pero que den.
A weighty and timely message, my good Professor Wolff. Given that NATO and the US have been caught repeatedly lying about their intentions around the Minsk Accords, with their real intention being to destroy Russia (including running the neo-nazi Azov militias), it is therefore incumbent on the Citizenry to get serious about jamming up the works (non-violently, of course!) on this side. Most of Eurasia seems to be coalescing now around Russia, so GDP figures aside, that's more than half of the World's population. Most people I've met 'on the Right' are also against this war. We need to grow up, put our differences aside, and realize that the 'western' elites are psychopaths (not unlike the elites that ran the Roman Empire)...We need a new economic order, and to get in on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BRICS, and put this goddamn WTO-IMF-BIS globalized system to sleep. Merci beaucoup!
I knew I was gonna find at least one wackjob in this comments section 🤣🤣
@Traiano Wellcome There is no logic because everything he said is a vague, non-specific lie. It's not worth my time to both figure out his specific claims AND debunk every single one of them, plus he wrote it like a goddamn manifesto, and you can't out-logic a manifesto.
No wonder Richard didn't need to give the propagandist view, people like you were going to post that Kremlin horseshit anyway
@@alexanderboulton2123 Silly boy, all one needs to do is evaluate the history of US military aggression since WWII to know that America always starts wars of choice. You do read history?
@Ted Tripp I read history enough to know that we have had 5 different heads of state since Putin first took power. I read history enough to know that America would never risk war with a nuclear country, not even their mortal enemies in the Soviet Union. I read history enough to know that Russia/USSR is just as bad as us in terms of international fuckery. I don't care how scared Putin is. You don't get to invade another country just because they might possibly have the chance of entering an alliance with a rival power.
So, Russia strong, Ukraine a pawn, NATO US evil. Yeah. Astonishingly uninformed rumblings of an old man based on the biases of an antiquated and anachronistic mode of analysis.
Pink is as pink does. Oh, wait, they are called Tankies now.
I don't think you understood what the video is about. You're looking for the good guy to support out of NATO and Russia, and are angry that Prof. Wolff isn't.
Dude, I make money off wars from selling weapons, rebuilding, getting exclusive deals...I know no country wins, but I do !
I assume this is sarcasm presenting the awful truth behind US warfare.
@@tedder130 Not just US. These are multi national corporations.
If you come to lecture in Melbourne pleaseeeeease advertise... I would love to attend...
GDP in the West and in Russia are measured in two very different ways. GDP in Russia is measured in production capability meaning factories and commodity goods sold. In the West and America GDP is measured via the banking Ponzi scheme market values which increase by simply adding another zero to the fake dollar amount. This means these two numbers cannot be compared in any meaningful way.
thanks for pointing this out. richard wolff is also operating on data about the russian economy WHICH ARE PROVIDED BY RUSSIA...
i like richard's work on economy but here he just works in the russian propaganda and i am very disappointed!!!
Precisely. Well-said!
Wolff is pointing out the ridiculousness of comparing the two, and the ridiculousness of GDP being a measure for success.
Thank Richard very good presentation. I learn a lot with all your videos!