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!
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.
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
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
@@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.
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.
@@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.
@@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.
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?
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 .
@@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 )
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 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.
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.
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.
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
@@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.
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!
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
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
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 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?
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.
@@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.
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..."
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. 😊
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.
Sir, I greatly admire you and always listen to your wise words. But I'm requesting that you listen to mine for one minute. I was living in France in 1983 when the nazi Claus Barbie was returned for trial. France spent an intense few months of reviewing how it had done in WWII. I remember the speech of one wise elderly politician who summed up what many had come to realize. France gave up early in that war. They hadn't wanted to loose their beautiful buildings or millions of soldiers or finances. But this man said that was the wrong choice. He suggested that France NEVER NEVER again choose to be owned by another country especially one with vastly different moral standards. There is much more I'd like to say on this topic but I'll leave it there for now.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This war should never have happened. The US-backed Maidan coup in 2014 should never have happened. The US should never have tried to pull Ukraine into Nato in 2008. The West should have respected the promises it made to Gorbachev 30 years ago. Militarily and economically the collective West is 20 to 30 times more powerful than Russia. If you are up against Godzilla 20 or 30 times your size in a dark alley way without any escape route, you only have one move to lay your adversary flat on his back. If you miss, you are dead, literally, because they'll hunt you down to kill you like Qaddafi in some hole in the ground and destroy your country. This is not a game. Putin only had one move to check mate the West and prevent encirclement by Nato. He chose the one place and time Russia cannot be defeated.
@@humwawa3468 your arguments are racist lies.. as i read it you believe that there are no other people in Ukraine than Russians and CIA agents, you deserve nothing else than ridicule.
Russia armed and funded separatists to start a civil war in the Donbas and took crimea and only want those 2 areas you know why you know what’s so important about the Donbas and crimea
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Said the cowardly chicken hawk from the comfort and safety of your LazyBoy chair. You bravely fight until the last Ukrainian.
Can you give them more Ukranian men and boys to send into the meat grinder? Ukraine is doomed, and it is the West who planted the seeds of its destruction.
@Traiano Wellcome He never said that. He said if Russia invades NATO countries we would have to send sons and daughters. I can see you are in the misinformation bubble.
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.
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.”
@@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.
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.
Dear Richard, you have put across a very objective assessment of the consequences of the Ukraine war todate. Indeed, any disillusions painted by politicians will only get the war further into a dangerous and unassessible path.
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?
Thank you very much, Professor Wolff, for your honest and objective assessment of the situation. The fact of the war itself is terrible, but also shocking is the silence and lies spread by the media on both sides. It is also very hypocritical on the part of European and American propaganda to ignore the obvious external threat to Russia's borders, which Zelensky himself has repeatedly spoken about. I remember that in 1962, when the Cuban Missile Crisis happened and the USSR wanted to install missiles in friendly Cuba, which threatened the security of the United States, the United States was ready to unleash a war to defend itself. But when it happens to other countries, "It's different, you don't understand." From a Marxist-Leninist from Russia, with best regards! ❤
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
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.
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
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.
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.
OH talk about wrong... of course ukraine is going to win.. just because you are impatient and you want to see ukraine start their offencive this weekend doesnt' mean Russia is winning. Listen to ben hodges not richard wolff
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.
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.
@@ВалентинПивоваров-о9с 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?
@@ВалентинПивоваров-о9с 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.
Russia has not made the kind of progress Wolff is describing here. They hold the eastern regions, yes, but that's all they're able to hold at the moment. Russia should be occupying way more land given the country has a large military relative to Ukraine. Plus, Ukraine successfully took back land in the September counteroffensives. Things could change at the moment, especially when we're entering spring and either side are planning offensives. But Russia isn't "winning" as much as Wolff describes. Also, Ukrainians fighting back is not "delusional". They have every right to defend their land from Russian imperialism and, given the progress we're seeing, they're right to believe they can successfully push out Russian invaders. Or at very least keep fighting out the war so that Ukraine is in a favorable position when it comes to negotiations.
Nonsense, Ukraine has lost 300,000 troops while Russia has lost between 20 to 30,000. The reinforcements being sent to Bakhmut are old men and children aged 16/17. The war is over but Zelenski will sacrifice his country to pursue his Natzi dream and to keep the money rolling into his offshore bank account and his ever growing overseas property portfolio.
@@brianpollard7909 Where did you get the 300k number? That is wildly inaccurate. Most I could find was over 100k, but that include Ukrainian casualties and civilians.
@@Dsworddance22 The BBC was reporting over 200,000 before Christmas and they usually report wildly in favour of the Natzi regime in Kiev. Colonel Douglas McGregor and Scott Ritter also both come up with about 300,000 dead. Ursula Von der Leyen let slip in January that Ukraine was losing a thousand men per day, that is why they are sending men up to 60yrs old and children of 16 and 17 to the front, they are running out of men. They have also asked the Polish government to round up refugees of fighting age and send them back to Ukraine. There have also been complaints from Hungary and Rumania about ethnic Hungarians and Rumanians living in Ukraine who are being forced at gunpoint to enlist in the Ukraine army. America did say at the beginning that they would fight Russia to the last Ukranian. How true that was.
The war will end when Russia fully secured its annexed territory. That's the only reason why the war is going on. If Russia wanted to invade the ukraine they can easily do that because kiev is not so distant to Belarus but why Russia doesn't put its military troops to be used to capture Ukraine. You can easily invade one nation through capturing its capital which is kiev.
How is Russias winning? Russia hasn’t secured the entire Donbas, the Russian military can’t even secure the small town of Backmut after 8 months of trying. The Russian military is so pathetic that after a year of fighting in Ukraine they haven’t achieved a single one of its military objectives in Ukraine.
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.
I disagree with Wolf here. Russia is not further into Ukraine than ever before, they were forced to abandon the entire northern front and give up their attempt to take Kiev. It has by no means been an easy fight either way but it's not currently in Russia’s favor
They only wanted the Russian speaking Eastern Sector maybe up to Odessa and Ukraine is f**ked being land lock When Ukraine military is completely destroyed when Odessa is takened, Poland and Hungary may grab their old land back. Ukraine may be left like before, a small frontier place 😂🤣🤣🤣 275,000 NahZees dead ! 600,000 injuired ! Zero economy left. They were used to sell children and Harvest very lucrative Human Organs. They are #1 place to search for fresh human organs said Google !!!
yea but i don't think he meant during the war, they were only at the border of kiev because of the war. ukrainians pushed them out, but they got what they wanted the russian populated donbass area donestk area with an encirclement of bakhmut. if the west abandons them zelensky might come to the table but who knows what a western puppet thinks
I know right? You would expect the professor to be able to read a map. The suburbs of Kyiv are, in fact, significantly further west than the current front line. Incidentally he's also wrong about Russia controlling all of the Donbass.
Russia is winning the war. Ukraine can't get enough ammo and weapons to keep up with Russia. And yes the current state of the war is massively in Russia's favor. Militarily Ukraine has lost huge swathes of their country with no hope of getting any of it back. They've suffer up to 10 to 1 casualties as compared to the Russians. Their economy is destroyed, Russia's is actually getting stronger. Politically Ukraine is a disaster with open N azis in positions of power. Meanwhile the Russian public is overwhelmingly united behind the war in Ukraine... In a way they weren't at the beginning. Russia will win, and there is nothing the West, NATO, or the USA can do about it, short of using nukes... which would be madness and accomplish nothing but destruction. The lesson to be learned here is to honor other country's security interests. The regime change globalist bunch we've had in Washington for the last thirty years have completely screwed up the world. It's way past time they were moved on.
@@blogintonblakley2708 This is simply untrue. You know as well as I do that the West fully backs Ukraine, that is to say, Ukraine is propped up by the wealthiest nations on earth. The USA alone has no issue writing Ukraine a blank check and famously overspending on its military. Russia is a large country but it lacks the industry and capital to keep up with the west, especially given its horrid economic performance since 1991. By large swaths, you mean the Donbas and Crimea. Don't forget that Russia attempted to take Keyv and failed. Ukraine has taken a lot of land back from Russia. 10 to one is frankly cartoonish, the lines have been stagnant for the past few months. If Russia was having so much success why are they only holding onto their southern front? Everything you say is cartoonish propaganda. I am no fan of the western block but you seem to have swallowed everything RT has said without a critical thought. How could Russia’s economy improve after sanctions from the capitalist world? It just doesn't make sense
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?
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!
@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.
@@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.
This war is a major triumph of american foreign policy, I would say biggest win since ww2. They created a war that somebody else is fighting on their behalf, and bullied all their colonies in western europe and elsewhere to ramp up defense spending and buy enormous amounts of totally unnecessary weapons from the us weapons industry, and also buy american lng gas that's 5 times more expensive than the Russian higher quality gas. Americans won this by a large margine. The second biggest looser after Ukraine is Europe, economically they have shot themselves in the foot. The reasons are two-fold: arrogance (they were themselves colonial powers, so they still think they can impose their shit onto other nations) and dependence - they are nobody without the US so they blindly follow any order that comes from the boss in Washington.
As progressives we agree, but we said this in 2014 when a coup in Ukraine was supported by the American government. Those people that orchestrated the coup are still in power both domestically and abroad. The anti Russia campaign has been going on for decades and its the same theme of regime change to serve American interest. That in itself is a losing cause in a declining American living standard. The more the military is given resources and power, the more average citizens of America suffer.
Prof. Wolff, I have been following your writings and this channel for well over a decade. In this video, you have thrown out core aspects of your own methodology that I have become accustomed to seeing reflected in your analyses, and instead seem to have outsourced your intellect to Twitter. The level of factual inaccuracy regarding the situation on the ground is one thing (at present rate of advance, Russia will have conquered Ukraine in 3000 years), but in this video and in many others, you make erroneous claims about the funding of weapons entering Ukraine, as if the Biden administration is simply handing over bags of cash. Simply nonsense, what's instead being sent is weaponry, purchased directly from manufacturers. Is this something I'm hugely supportive of, not at all, but reality should factor into your analysis at some point especially if you then are going to make arguments regarding inflation based off such "facts."
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?
@@Horamod 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
How disappointing you have become. I used to watch you a lot because of your Left economic - but even with this you say things that are not accurate. And, really, you should stick to economic, because you clearly don't understand what is happening on the battlefield right now. Plus, Putin has already said he will not compromise on the territories he stole - so what is there to 'negotiate'? Would you tell Palestinians to give away their land and people to their nuclear armed aggressor state neighbour? I assume you wouldn't - but with Putin you do.
Professor Wolff, I really enjoy your commentary on domestic issues and economic issues, but your takes on international politics are weak and disingenuous. Completely dodging the issue of Russia's aggression in this conflict, which is the actual central element, and ignoring the disastrous implication of a peace deal at all cost that would isolate Ukraine and leave it vulnerable to further Russian oppression, is unacceptable. I can only imagine that you either have some form of bias on this topic or that you simply want to be contrarian, either way I think your commentary falls very short on this topic.
"weak and disingenuous", perhaps you need to analyze your own assumptions about what really originated the "aggression" of Russia, perhaps that way you will begin to understand who the initial aggressors are or is. Good luck with your endeavor
@@darrenfleming7901 Of course, this is called self-deception, and it is the ability we have to deceive ourselves, when we fall prey to our cognitive biases, by using the same machinery that provides us with cognition and understanding. This self-deception consists of consuming information without a critical analysis and distorting the observed facts to adjust them to our internal narrative, so as not to have to deal with the conflict and effort that would mean adjusting our internal narrative ("beliefs").
@@huveja9799 you just prove your ignorance with your statement. mr. wolff is pushing several lies and falsehood, he knows nothing about international politics
Darren, you are very polite. truth is, mr. wolff's "factual" video contains multiple lies, falsehoods and distortions straight from the russian propaganda book.. see my other posts...
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
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.
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.
A wonderful analysis. One of the few voices of reason and sanity in the West.
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. 😱
Thank you very much Richard,it's really appreciated and well explained 👍
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.
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?
Dr. Wolff you should be a Senator.
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 )
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.
Summary: War is bad. Uhhh... Thanks.
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.
Love your content! Love your message! Ty for helping to educate to the unwashed masses like me❤
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
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.
I support your words.
Thank you
Saudações do Brasil 🇧🇷
Muito obrigada por trazer a verdade. Espero que o povo estadunidense acorde a tempo.
it’s not a war with Russia and NATO. that’s just misleading. And freezing and seizing russian assets are NOT the same thing. again, misleading.
Thank you professor for one of the most smartest thing I heard finally about war. I will share this video
Solidarität from Germany!
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?
Let me briefly say it, I love you sir
Totally agree!!!
GDP is an absurd measure of economic activity.
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
"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.
Yes, I agree with you!
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?
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.
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..."
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.
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. 😊
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?
Hello and thanks from Kyrgyzstan. I think it is not a Marxist position.
2,1 -2,2 trillion for Russia. Doesn't change much, but to be precise.
Wolff gets it all... the UK Government has got it all wrong....Prof Wolff should be an advisor to the UK Government ..
Putin literally said that this conflict will be "long and difficult"...
When did he say this?
Sir, I greatly admire you and always listen to your wise words. But I'm requesting that you listen to mine for one minute. I was living in France in 1983 when the nazi Claus Barbie was returned for trial. France spent an intense few months of reviewing how it had done in WWII. I remember the speech of one wise elderly politician who summed up what many had come to realize. France gave up early in that war. They hadn't wanted to loose their beautiful buildings or millions of soldiers or finances. But this man said that was the wrong choice. He suggested that France NEVER NEVER again choose to be owned by another country especially one with vastly different moral standards. There is much more I'd like to say on this topic but I'll leave it there for now.
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.
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.
I wish good health and long life lovely man... we need youuuu
Excellent!
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.
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.
So glad l found you .Thank you so much .x
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.
Not that it changes his overall point but he left left out Syria, Yugoslavia, and one could argue Libya from the invasion list.
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.
Lets not forget how Russia Invaded Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Georgia and Ukraine 2x.
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.
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, 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.
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
This war should never have happened. The US-backed Maidan coup in 2014 should never have happened. The US should never have tried to pull Ukraine into Nato in 2008. The West should have respected the promises it made to Gorbachev 30 years ago.
Militarily and economically the collective West is 20 to 30 times more powerful than Russia. If you are up against Godzilla 20 or 30 times your size in a dark alley way without any escape route, you only have one move to lay your adversary flat on his back. If you miss, you are dead, literally, because they'll hunt you down to kill you like Qaddafi in some hole in the ground and destroy your country. This is not a game.
Putin only had one move to check mate the West and prevent encirclement by Nato. He chose the one place and time Russia cannot be defeated.
yes, because Ukranians don't exist - they are just CIA agents... you dummy :D
@@nescius2 Do you always resort to insults when you don't have arguments?
@@humwawa3468 your arguments are racist lies.. as i read it you believe that there are no other people in Ukraine than Russians and CIA agents, you deserve nothing else than ridicule.
Russia armed and funded separatists to start a civil war in the Donbas and took crimea and only want those 2 areas you know why you know what’s so important about the Donbas and crimea
Give Ukraine whatever they need to push Russia out of their country.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Said the cowardly chicken hawk from the comfort and safety of your LazyBoy chair. You bravely fight until the last Ukrainian.
Can you give them more Ukranian men and boys to send into the meat grinder? Ukraine is doomed, and it is the West who planted the seeds of its destruction.
@Traiano Wellcome He never said that. He said if Russia invades NATO countries we would have to send sons and daughters. I can see you are in the misinformation bubble.
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.
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.
so,"professor" i called you out on three lies. cat got yer tongue? don't have the courage to respond? yer silence speaks volumes...
Well said, Prof. Wolff..👌🏿👌🏿
The utter violence by deliberate use of military in Ukraine by means of thousands of artillery shells …didn’t start in 2022. It started in 2014.
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.
I will definitely share your video sir! Thank you so much for opening up the curtain to let us see the light 💡!
Dear Richard, you have put across a very objective assessment of the consequences of the Ukraine war todate. Indeed, any disillusions painted by politicians will only get the war further into a dangerous and unassessible path.
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?
An amazing man, heroooooo
With inflation, higher gdp?
Thank you very much, Professor Wolff, for your honest and objective assessment of the situation. The fact of the war itself is terrible, but also shocking is the silence and lies spread by the media on both sides. It is also very hypocritical on the part of European and American propaganda to ignore the obvious external threat to Russia's borders, which Zelensky himself has repeatedly spoken about. I remember that in 1962, when the Cuban Missile Crisis happened and the USSR wanted to install missiles in friendly Cuba, which threatened the security of the United States, the United States was ready to unleash a war to defend itself. But when it happens to other countries, "It's different, you don't understand." From a Marxist-Leninist from Russia, with best regards! ❤
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?
Great suggestion
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.
Thanks
GDP is a piss poor measure of a nations economic strength, it's very misleading and easily manipulated, that's why they use it.
Enough with self loathing. Try?
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
Ok! They dropped bombs on their heads while they slept bur, there is rules in war. Yes! War may not be the answer.
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 🤣🤣🤣
OH talk about wrong... of course ukraine is going to win.. just because you are impatient and you want to see ukraine start their offencive this weekend doesnt' mean Russia is winning. Listen to ben hodges not richard wolff
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.
@@ВалентинПивоваров-о9с 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?
@@ВалентинПивоваров-о9с 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.
Really I think you'll make a good propaganda minister for Russ's
Russia has not made the kind of progress Wolff is describing here. They hold the eastern regions, yes, but that's all they're able to hold at the moment. Russia should be occupying way more land given the country has a large military relative to Ukraine. Plus, Ukraine successfully took back land in the September counteroffensives. Things could change at the moment, especially when we're entering spring and either side are planning offensives. But Russia isn't "winning" as much as Wolff describes.
Also, Ukrainians fighting back is not "delusional". They have every right to defend their land from Russian imperialism and, given the progress we're seeing, they're right to believe they can successfully push out Russian invaders. Or at very least keep fighting out the war so that Ukraine is in a favorable position when it comes to negotiations.
Nonsense, Ukraine has lost 300,000 troops while Russia has lost between 20 to 30,000. The reinforcements being sent to Bakhmut are old men and children aged 16/17. The war is over but Zelenski will sacrifice his country to pursue his Natzi dream and to keep the money rolling into his offshore bank account and his ever growing overseas property portfolio.
@@brianpollard7909 Where did you get the 300k number? That is wildly inaccurate. Most I could find was over 100k, but that include Ukrainian casualties and civilians.
@@Dsworddance22 The BBC was reporting over 200,000 before Christmas and they usually report wildly in favour of the Natzi regime in Kiev. Colonel Douglas McGregor and Scott Ritter also both come up with about 300,000 dead. Ursula Von der Leyen let slip in January that Ukraine was losing a thousand men per day, that is why they are sending men up to 60yrs old and children of 16 and 17 to the front, they are running out of men. They have also asked the Polish government to round up refugees of fighting age and send them back to Ukraine. There have also been complaints from Hungary and Rumania about ethnic Hungarians and Rumanians living in Ukraine who are being forced at gunpoint to enlist in the Ukraine army. America did say at the beginning that they would fight Russia to the last Ukranian. How true that was.
see the other sources man
The war will end when Russia fully secured its annexed territory. That's the only reason why the war is going on. If Russia wanted to invade the ukraine they can easily do that because kiev is not so distant to Belarus but why Russia doesn't put its military troops to be used to capture Ukraine. You can easily invade one nation through capturing its capital which is kiev.
How is Russias winning? Russia hasn’t secured the entire Donbas, the Russian military can’t even secure the small town of Backmut after 8 months of trying. The Russian military is so pathetic that after a year of fighting in Ukraine they haven’t achieved a single one of its military objectives in Ukraine.
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.
Seriously bad takes. I agree with you on a lot of economic issues, but you don't know anything about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
I disagree with Wolf here. Russia is not further into Ukraine than ever before, they were forced to abandon the entire northern front and give up their attempt to take Kiev. It has by no means been an easy fight either way but it's not currently in Russia’s favor
They only wanted the Russian speaking Eastern Sector maybe up to Odessa and Ukraine is f**ked being land lock
When Ukraine military is completely destroyed when Odessa is takened, Poland and Hungary may grab their old land back. Ukraine may be left like before, a small frontier place 😂🤣🤣🤣
275,000 NahZees dead !
600,000 injuired ! Zero economy left. They were used to sell children and Harvest very lucrative Human Organs. They are #1 place to search for fresh human organs said Google !!!
yea but i don't think he meant during the war, they were only at the border of kiev because of the war. ukrainians pushed them out, but they got what they wanted the russian populated donbass area donestk area with an encirclement of bakhmut. if the west abandons them zelensky might come to the table but who knows what a western puppet thinks
I know right? You would expect the professor to be able to read a map. The suburbs of Kyiv are, in fact, significantly further west than the current front line.
Incidentally he's also wrong about Russia controlling all of the Donbass.
Russia is winning the war. Ukraine can't get enough ammo and weapons to keep up with Russia. And yes the current state of the war is massively in Russia's favor. Militarily Ukraine has lost huge swathes of their country with no hope of getting any of it back. They've suffer up to 10 to 1 casualties as compared to the Russians. Their economy is destroyed, Russia's is actually getting stronger. Politically Ukraine is a disaster with open N azis in positions of power. Meanwhile the Russian public is overwhelmingly united behind the war in Ukraine... In a way they weren't at the beginning.
Russia will win, and there is nothing the West, NATO, or the USA can do about it, short of using nukes... which would be madness and accomplish nothing but destruction.
The lesson to be learned here is to honor other country's security interests. The regime change globalist bunch we've had in Washington for the last thirty years have completely screwed up the world.
It's way past time they were moved on.
@@blogintonblakley2708 This is simply untrue. You know as well as I do that the West fully backs Ukraine, that is to say, Ukraine is propped up by the wealthiest nations on earth. The USA alone has no issue writing Ukraine a blank check and famously overspending on its military.
Russia is a large country but it lacks the industry and capital to keep up with the west, especially given its horrid economic performance since 1991.
By large swaths, you mean the Donbas and Crimea. Don't forget that Russia attempted to take Keyv and failed. Ukraine has taken a lot of land back from Russia. 10 to one is frankly cartoonish, the lines have been stagnant for the past few months. If Russia was having so much success why are they only holding onto their southern front?
Everything you say is cartoonish propaganda. I am no fan of the western block but you seem to have swallowed everything RT has said without a critical thought. How could Russia’s economy improve after sanctions from the capitalist world? It just doesn't make sense
SUPER ! 👍👍👍👍👍👍
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.
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.
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.
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.
This war is a major triumph of american foreign policy, I would say biggest win since ww2. They created a war that somebody else is fighting on their behalf, and bullied all their colonies in western europe and elsewhere to ramp up defense spending and buy enormous amounts of totally unnecessary weapons from the us weapons industry, and also buy american lng gas that's 5 times more expensive than the Russian higher quality gas. Americans won this by a large margine. The second biggest looser after Ukraine is Europe, economically they have shot themselves in the foot. The reasons are two-fold: arrogance (they were themselves colonial powers, so they still think they can impose their shit onto other nations) and dependence - they are nobody without the US so they blindly follow any order that comes from the boss in Washington.
Ding ding ding, this post is a winner.
The US also invaded Syria, and destroyed Libya.
As progressives we agree, but we said this in 2014 when a coup in Ukraine was supported by the American government. Those people that orchestrated the coup are still in power both domestically and abroad. The anti Russia campaign has been going on for decades and its the same theme of regime change to serve American interest. That in itself is a losing cause in a declining American living standard. The more the military is given resources and power, the more average citizens of America suffer.
Prof. Wolff, I have been following your writings and this channel for well over a decade. In this video, you have thrown out core aspects of your own methodology that I have become accustomed to seeing reflected in your analyses, and instead seem to have outsourced your intellect to Twitter.
The level of factual inaccuracy regarding the situation on the ground is one thing (at present rate of advance, Russia will have conquered Ukraine in 3000 years), but in this video and in many others, you make erroneous claims about the funding of weapons entering Ukraine, as if the Biden administration is simply handing over bags of cash. Simply nonsense, what's instead being sent is weaponry, purchased directly from manufacturers. Is this something I'm hugely supportive of, not at all, but reality should factor into your analysis at some point especially if you then are going to make arguments regarding inflation based off such "facts."
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?
@@Horamod
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
How disappointing you have become. I used to watch you a lot because of your Left economic - but even with this you say things that are not accurate. And, really, you should stick to economic, because you clearly don't understand what is happening on the battlefield right now.
Plus, Putin has already said he will not compromise on the territories he stole - so what is there to 'negotiate'? Would you tell Palestinians to give away their land and people to their nuclear armed aggressor state neighbour? I assume you wouldn't - but with Putin you do.
Professor Wolff, I really enjoy your commentary on domestic issues and economic issues, but your takes on international politics are weak and disingenuous. Completely dodging the issue of Russia's aggression in this conflict, which is the actual central element, and ignoring the disastrous implication of a peace deal at all cost that would isolate Ukraine and leave it vulnerable to further Russian oppression, is unacceptable. I can only imagine that you either have some form of bias on this topic or that you simply want to be contrarian, either way I think your commentary falls very short on this topic.
"weak and disingenuous", perhaps you need to analyze your own assumptions about what really originated the "aggression" of Russia, perhaps that way you will begin to understand who the initial aggressors are or is. Good luck with your endeavor
@@huveja9799 russia is the aggressor in Ukraine, you are deluding yourself
@@darrenfleming7901 Of course, this is called self-deception, and it is the ability we have to deceive ourselves, when we fall prey to our cognitive biases, by using the same machinery that provides us with cognition and understanding.
This self-deception consists of consuming information without a critical analysis and distorting the observed facts to adjust them to our internal narrative, so as not to have to deal with the conflict and effort that would mean adjusting our internal narrative ("beliefs").
@@huveja9799 you just prove your ignorance with your statement. mr. wolff is pushing several lies and falsehood, he knows nothing about international politics
Darren, you are very polite. truth is, mr. wolff's "factual" video contains multiple lies, falsehoods and distortions straight from the russian propaganda book.. see my other posts...