Agreed! However, it is not when, it is happening now. The greed of unsustainable capitalism will have untold casualties mostly among the poor. Teach your children well and plant your garden now if you can.

10/12/26. "You have destroyed yourselves with your endless wars of Gods. Now bow down and worship YOUR BEAST." That's what Xi says. ONE LAST CHANCE: Epochal eclipse April 8th 2024. Don't stare at the sun. Matthew 16: 4 Jonah 3: 4 Jonah 4: 11

I eagerly await that day. Only hope no other country takes their place

When American Empire disintegrates, someone else will take its space. And there is no guarantee they will be benevolent.

Isn't the World a Sad and Pathetic Place when someone is rightfully considered a Hero for simply speaking the Truth ??? What does it tell us about the Pitiful Condition of Humanity in the 21st Century when Lying and Deception is accepted as the Norm ???

@@JosephKulik2016 “In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell

The People are starving for truth. Only Truth will win an argument. And never before in the entire history of humanity have so many educated people lived so freely, so abundantly, and so CONNECTED to a SHARED Worldwide Experience with near-instant communication. It is GUARANTEED to Wake THIS Generation Up.

@@MountaineeringSense Do you think Twitter will become the Daily Dose of HATE? All in the NAME OF Free speech and truth? Or will TRUTH prevail and somehow drown out the dross? I'm a wait-and-seer.

8V

King of WhatAboutism Chris Hedges lol

@@ajc5479 a good one ;-)

cant see the UKposts censors putting up with him for too long.

@@julianciahaconsulting8663 He's been around for ages. Read his books. I think they think that he's irrelevant. They can point to him and say he's a nut.

I agree, I do not share his opinions, but equally I do not doubt his honesty and humanity.

As he has gotten older I think he may have had a few epiphany's, not enough to make him admit to himself that he has wrong thinking regarding economic matters but enough for him to realise a good chunk of what he was raised to believe = bullshit. I am British, it only took me 25yrs from birth to understand that ^ which I have now understood for 15 years, for him, due to a comfortable life and an in built willingness to believe right wing = right by default, it has taken considerably longer. But even though I would disagree with him on such topics, I would be ever glad of his company, as he is a man you can politely and constructively debate and discuss with in a meaningful way who will take from your input as much as you would from his own contributions. As we see here. i mean I am certain on political and economic history he would be a wealth of information from a different perspective to my own. He is probably one of the few actual conservatives left, all the rest post Thatcher have become ever growing shades of Ayn Rand libertarian whom the entire country is presently ran by, to utter disaster and ruin.

@@Nine-Signs I agree with your assessment of Oborne. It irks me though - and this is apparent yet again in this interview - that even now, quite a few years after having begun to see the light, he seems incapable of realising (or accepting?) that his belief that Britain and the USA were originally the bright, shining beacons that he was taught they were as a child was NEVER the reality. It is clear that Oborne believes that, for some reason he doesn't seem to quite understand, they were, and just that they have over time become corrupted. I find this naivete almost unbelievable - to me it seems slightly childlike. And, although on the one hand one feels that slightly loath to disillusion a child, on the other hand he IS an adult and I do wish that those who interview or debate with him would try to expose this blind spot. Partly in order to challenge the narrative of the fallen but essentially noble liberal democratic and capitalist myth, and partly because it may also be good for Oborne personally to continue his journey.

I could feel myself shifting in my seat at times as Peter shared his feeling of pride in British values. I do feel England in particular is imploding as those values are trodden underfoot by the political class and I believe he is genuine and honest and someone I could do business with. His openness to other perspectives is refreshing, yet at the same time, as a conservative, he is a prisoner of his class. It struck me, at the end of the interview, that he and Chris met common ground like passing trains.

@@neilcomley7854 I agree with you. His take is incredibly naive, Britain never has adhered to "fair play", these are just fairytales we're told n then perpetuated to obscure us from understanding Britain's real role in the world. This was a difficult interview to watch because though Oborne is very well intentioned, he was struggling to find the words for what I thought were pretty easy questions to answer. The one on Ukraine's perceived loftier civilisation than that of the Arab world, he proceeded to answer the question by complimenting Yemeni architecture and presumably their journalists or high rank members of the society rather than just saying the disparity in coverage and treatment is due to racism.

They've been giving voice to the things that matter to those on the fringe of society and I will always support the real news

@@25lighters91 I found they were really good on local issues but not being in the area made it so they rarely captured my interest. Having Chris on should help to balance things out, though.

PAR??

I agree totally with you. From southeurope 🇪🇸🇪🇸 or northafrica as you wants 😉😉

@@antifazisbonifaz6964 Simple answer: The WASP are the Scum of the earth...demons from hell

@North Korea Is Best Korea america is the biggest terrorist organization in the world, they have killed more people and started more wars than any country on the planet, but we must condemn Russia?

@North Korea Is Best Korea Everybody has been doing it so...what's is international law really means? The usual offenders are crying the loudest, lol😌

@North Korea Is Best Korea who's determining who is violating international law? All the major countries do what they want to do anyway...Look what happen to Iraq, Lybia, Afghanistan, etc.

Chris Edges is everywhere on UKposts, dude, repeating what John Mearsheimer said a decade ago.

@@pezeron24 I see that Univ of Chicago students were trying to get Mearsheimer fired a while back. Idiots.

@@pezeron24You've even got his name wrong. 😒

@@MC-in8mc lol

So am I.

So listen to those who spew Russian propaganda or just want to world bow down to Russia and china ya they didn’t help you learn anything about geopolitics

@@notamurderer6226 it is not propaganda when it is the truth. The Empire of lies is so good at manufacturing war propaganda, that it has conditioned the population to see the inconvenient truth as propaganda. Harry Truman said, "I dont give 'em hell, I just tell the truth and it seems like hell." Putin could say the same. Russia is winning, and no matter how it is spun, there is no escaping that conclusion.

I'm glad you're finally waking up we need more people to wake up

Excellent reference, Jesse.

unfortunately what we've seen though is that it's much easier for hate to obtain power.

And the most defeating righteous battle against the powers that be is the war of a non identity people as a class of oppressed working mass separated by confused issues such as race and national origin forgetting that real power resides in the daily having their hands on the wheels of the system. The workers that could realize that the Achilles heel of the wealthy class is in the power to Strike and stop those wheels in a future to find unity of purpose.

MX and MLK jr.

We were told " the love of many will run cold" Turns out it was our fear full sold out corrupt leaders HE was talking about.

I Agree! However, Mr. Hedges has and will always had a home! And do not kid yourself;... they fucking hate him! And as he states from his many of his speeches regarding Nixon and H. Kissinger ~ this is exactly where you want the seats of power to be! Now do your part!

Really? Outstanding

utterly NO EXCUSE, especially when he had a hand in conjuring up & propagating said 'bad intelligence' to the world with foreknowledge & glee!! AND IMPUNITY TOO?? NO WAY!!

They knew it was all nonsense. The English public just wanted an easy war. The tub thumpers in the UK were stoking this up for months and the UK population have a low education standard.

You could see he was lying by his facial expressions....😒

In 2012, all the intelligence agencies, the CFR, Henry Kissinger, The Club of Rome, the UN -- just about everybody -- agreed that the Zionist Agenda for an Independent State of Israel surrounded by 100 million angry Arabs, had proven a failure, and that Likkud's policies were in conflict with both US and UN humanitarian concerns. Israel failed. Ukraine was proposed as a new Israel, with Kiev to be rebuilt as NEW JERUSALEM. THEN, Trump, and Kushner, and Netanyahu, and the Evangelical Zionists came to power and pushed hard rebuild the Temple, but they failed to bomb Iran into oblivion. If ONLY McCain had been President instead of Obama. The US would have already bombed Iran. Now that the Secular, Liberal Jews are back in power -- Schiff, Schumer, Obama, Pelossi -- the resettlement of Ukraine can continue as planned. But, of course, "THEY" must keep things SECRET from ewes. Putin is under contract to displace 8 million Ukrainians to make room for the Israelis. Russian and Ukrainian Oligarchs -- many of them Jews currently living in Israel -- will received lavish, no-bid contracts to rebuild. What better buffer between NATO and Russia than Jews? Win-Win-Win-Win. Little Israel will remain. The Ultra-Orthodox will never leave. They will still be battling centuries from now. WIN? Great Re-Set on 09/23/26. hint: China gets Taiwan. T. Tippity Top says, "I control ALL the currencies. They do whatever I want."

Adenda: he was bad intelligence acting

How? Non-violent systemic Revolution that offers means Social Management that negates the asymmetrical power of game-theoretical warfare. This can be done through global consensus processes of mutual accountability where each individual and their group affinities are represented through liquid-democratic block-chain systems. Values and principles can signal and reinforce political intersections of solidarity while projecting an apportionment of power in alignment with both a sovereign plurality and individual autonomy. Protecting and empowering cultures, nations and individual’s rights against the moral and ethical corruption of Economic Liberation and antisocial totalitarian ideologies is our common goal. This non-Utopian Structural Anarchy serves to eliminate illegitimate hierarchy and psychopathic governance, which has been the foundation of Civilization thus far.

I would say you are correct my friend they are many psychopaths ruling over the vast majority of the populations. How do you stop them ,you ask?. Well I guess you have to find the lunatics to deal with the psychopaths.

I'm assuming you are referring to the statement about "values" at 17:36. And you're are correct. All the wars, all the coups, none of them were grounded in any well intentioned values.

He’s basically a Conservative; I was disappointed in the way he dodged about. He didn’t seem comfortable talking to Chris who comes across as formidable, because he is formidable. However Peter is one of the old school and far superior to the motley band that govern the U.K. during such disturbing times as we are living through. And by the way the opposition, the Labour party is hardly any better.

The brit obviously does not know his history, shame on him

@@poesie6279 I agree but regarding Yemen war he was on the ground as a reporter and don't forget he still works for the propaganda media, so he has to be cautious but he's honest and dares speak out about some issues.

@@ElisabethArana I was talking about Peter Oborne, not Chris Hedges who I really admire, even though I’m an atheist. Chris was invited to Julian and Stella’s wedding, but the prison authorities would not allowed him to attend. That was another expression of cruelty.

You have GOT to find new friends, to add to the old, not replace them. Please take it from someone who didn't . . . Well, I made a real start just in 2018 and 2019. You know what happened next. :/ Trust me on this. It is essential.

My world exactly ma’am. Sad reality. I think they don’t want to face reality because they don’t want their illusions destroyed

none for quite a while

@@jacpratt8608 I remember main stream media promoting and justifying Iraq war. I was loosing my mind of the insanity😢

Their job now is to push the war.

They are also not confronting Russia or China; if they were, the atrocities would be well documented, and some even invented for good measure. Assad and his alleged chemical attacks were front page news. Obama issued his 'line in the sand' comment over it.

Agree!

Because its just not true. It matters more just due to proximity. Russia can strike at the heart of Europe, its a world ending prospect to the people there. A genocide in Asia is a statistic, something abstract.

I know lol he doesn’t want to face the reality of it because his identity is tied to “whiteness” and thus to admit it is to accept blame.

Palestine, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Lebanon etc

Ukraine becomes Big Israel; Kiev becomes NEW JERUSALEM. It's a done deal. Little Israel will remain -- perhaps called Palestine again. The Ultra-Orthodox will never leave . . . surrounded by 100 million angry Arabs. Everybody gets paid. T. Tippity Top says so.

both statements can be true my friend

"They" value the value of human fodder in the propaganda war. Dead Ukrainians currently have more "propaganda" value. The TRUE value of Life did not change -- just the value of the Dead. Fodder AND Propaganda Win-Win. Yep, that's why I get the Big Bucks. hint "THEY" are generations ahead of you with both a Vision AND a Plan. I suspect that you have neither. heh-heh

They don't care about Ukrainian lives. The USA play games with people's lives to further their own agenda

proxy implies a plan. So often events are the product of muddle and mistake. I don't see convincing evidence that America planned a war of provocation. Even people like Scott Ritter didn't expect a Russian invasion.

SUCH WELL COMPOSED WORDS WHICH REFLECT THE INNER THOUGHTS OF MANY!

The one percenters don't like him so they try to shut him up

Yes. It's like "Indeed, it's OK when we do it".

How is this different when there was no discussion of Ukrainian and other border nations, which are democracies & let alone their citizens, in favour of blaming their own nations; domestic politics applied to geopolitics?

@@xmaverickhunterkx correct, when USA does it…no issue: it’s called delivery freedom and democracy. USA is THE global thug and bully

Never heard of this. TY.

Varufakis? Graeber? Who are the others?

@@davidpeppers551 Noam Chompsky Vijay Prasad

@@davidpeppers551 Richard Wolff.

@@jacpratt8608 Wolff!

T. Tippity Top says, "I control ALL the currencies. So they all do exactly what I want."

Hegemonic ( culturally inculcated ) racism.

Love Chris! Met him at Washington for Free Assange event and love him even more❤

Everyone is a hypocrite. Saints do not exist. I see people online who support Palestine and Putin. Go figure. We have entered a phase in human consciousness where there is a race for the morality throphy. The best thing we coukd all do now is throw away our phones and spend more time talking to our neighbours. Millons of people decry how the world mistreats women, yet watch P0rnography. Inequality is disgusting, yet who these days is not indulging in Conspicous Consumpsion. If you think you don't have that mindset, just look at the comments on here. My morality is better than yours. We are all trying to do our best. We can't all be Noam Chomsky. Ditches have to be dug.

Faran Balanced has fault lines on YT.

These voices will not be silenced. Chris, Lee and other important journalist have reemerged on several channels, the messages are clear.

RT is Putin's propaganda channel, dude!

@@pezeron24 Right, but he was clever enough to use the truth as his tool, the truth that the western (especially US) mainstream/establishment want to keep from us. Too bad he wouldn't allow much truth in his own society. And too bad for us that too many were led to believe that everything on RT was lies.

I've been listening to his words for the past 15 years and everything he says is coming true

You should listen to his speech Trump fascism it is mind opening

What it was a civil war started by Russian separatists Jesus y’all ain’t even trying to hide the stupid

Forces here in Canada as well. What's being lost, is the belief in the common good.

The US only cares about Uighrs because the US views China as an enemy.

It's not the victims, it's the aggressor.

Even world domination for all predatory capitalist is influenced by the concept of racial hierarchical presence. To easily be dismissive of this nuance speaks loudly.

@@EuphoricImpact Agreed, we can see the big picture of the imperialists pursuing world domination and stealing of other countries resources and acknowledge there is a racist viewpoint these elites possess that overrides their consciences. Though I also believe it is only by uniting on class lines that we might be able to defeat them.

Thats why the ICC is in The Hague and not in NY.

Most Ukrainians don't seem to agree with you. Even among the separatists of the Donbass, not all want to be part of Russia.

@@cathjj840 disagreeing does not make them right in regard to this matter!

Yes. War crimes are used to rationalize the victor's terms of settlement. In Ukraine's case they may be used to award seized Russian assets to plaintiffs charging wrongful death or property damage. War crimes are cited in a declaration of a nation being a state sponsor of terrorism, simplifying the adjudication of claims for seized assets.

Hi, I’m very glad you said this. Of course I wish humans would not have wars but they do and always will. While I respect Chris very much for his moral integrity he does gloss over the why, the Minsk agreement, the Nazis he almost never mentions, these omissions distort the situation especially when people tend to follow blindly. Anyway thank you for your important comment.

I’m just tired of this song and dance where people go “look what Putin is doing isn’t optimal BUT *spends all their time and energy saying US/NATO are actually at fault and Ukraine are a bunch of Nazis and the US is holding up peace deals and Zelenskyy is evil for not surrendering and Russian war crimes are probably overstated if not fake and also WHATABOUT IRAQ?!!”. As if Russia never backed with troops and weapons the separatists, and never sent their troops to Crimea. Ukraine wasn't even eligible to enter NATO to due to conflicts orchestrated by Russia. The Russian invasion of Ukraine will be among the worst crimes in modern history. Doesn't matter how much mental gymnastics is used to justify it and cover up their crimes.

"Russia preempted the seemingly imminent Ukrainian hostility." from what I saw elsewhere, Putin REACTED to already increased shelling in the Donbass, a genocide in the making...

@@moestietabarnak There had been an ongoing clamor to forcibly repossess Crimea!

@@RanjitSingh-ul1xk /sigh .. forget it, won't happen

The "system" everyone keeps looking to fix can never be fixed b/c it is NOT a system at all. It is an IQ problem in which those who are above water were born with an ability to swim, the vast majority are underwater grasping at their ankles b/c a tiny minority are directing their struggle in order to build a raft out of their dead bodies. Marx's flaw is that he believed everyone is born with the same brain. They always shoot the wrong oppressor b/c they are not smart enough to see that they should shoot themselves. If IQ was prevalent there would be no "oppressor."

@North Korea Is Best Korea lol yes

Are his OnContact shows on Substack?

@@kuriadams9138 I haven't seen them podcasts on substack but I do know that he managed to copy all them before being cancelled with all podcasts gone.

It’s very simple it because they are straight up white I am not afraid to call it what it is don’t get me wrong it is horrible what is happening in Ukraine 🇺🇦 and Putin should be charged with war crimes but also so should George w bush and Tony Blair should be charged with war crimes has well but what I was getting at is you don’t here a dam about what is happening in Yemen or the Israel and Palestinian war aka war crimes committed by the apartheid state called Israel or the 20 year war in Afghanistan.the Iraq war libia war Syria war crimes u basically here crickets from the mainstream media all u here 24. 7 is the Russia Ukraine war witch again don’t get me wrong is very sad what is happening in Ukraine 🇺🇦 but we all know why the media is now concerned about Ukraine is because they are white that is just fact it is straight up hypocrisy from the the media that all it is

@@krisburgess2857 I agree with the points you raise.

@@trollthumpermicnastywitit2001 " I agree with the points you raise." ... either Kris Burgess removed his post of was memory-holed, as his Comment is gone.

@@lincolnpork9357 wierd

@@trollthumpermicnastywitit2001 no, jew ish

I agree with you completely. Uighur Muslims are not White, and the US cares soooo much about them. It has nothing to do about race, ethnicity or religion. US foreign policy (and domestic policy for that matter) has nothing whatsoever to do with protecting people or upholding laws and everything to do with ensuring the world domination of US capitalists.

@@kuriadams9138 Exactly, human rights are weaponised by the US and UK. It's laughable the argument that NATO attacked Libia and Syria out of the kindness of their heart just to protect the people of those countries.

Escalate? that would be Russia invading their country. seriously?

Because Ukrainians have chosen to be out of Russian sphere of influence. Because being under Russian sphere of influence means being under Russian slavery. They tell what you should do what you shouldn't, what you have to like what you don't. They don't even see Ukrainians as an independent nation, just as "minor russians" This struggle between Ukrainians and Russians stems back to 17th century. To understand this situation you should study more about Ukrainian history.

@@user-gm6xs4be2i Because it was minor Russians, not Ukrainians that existed back then (in Malorossija). They were literally called minor Russians. You will be hard pressed to find decent historical documents talking about Ukrainians before the 18th or 19th century. Ukraine as a country and Ukrainians as an ethnic groups is quite a modern concept (its a country that was created by Bolsheviks in its current borders). It does not mean it does not have its claim today, but i find it weird your attempt to rewrite history instead of accepting it as it is. This is exactly why you have this conflict. Because it is YOU who deny the fact that ethnic Russians and Russian speakers have EQUAL claim to Ukraine and to be called Ukrainian, without any ifs or buts. Half of your population did not accept your new version of events in 2014 and a large part even tried to leave, but instead of allowing those people to leave for Russia (with their lands), you violently attacked them in 2014 and did not do anything to stop the war for 8 years. What right do you have to oppress and attack those people who want to be pro-Russian? If Ukraine was a democracy and not a failed state, you would allow the best ideas to win and not instead force people into one narrative. You cannot change history or geography and attempting to do so with violence has led you to this conflict and before people in Ukraine start taking responsibility for their actions, the conflict won't stop. Going full towards West with NATO and everything else, does not mean Ukraine would somehow achieve prosperity out of thin air. Prosperity is achieved via hard work, understanding and allowing all kind of point of views to co-exist. There is no magic instant solution or someone else who would build your prosperity for you and certainly having bad relations with MOST of your neighbors does not help (not only Russia, but also Belarus and Hungary too). How is this anti-Russian course of yours has worked out so far for you? Maybe instead of building your country as anti-Russia for the sake of Western ambitions towards Russia, you should have maintained neutrality? Since before 2014 Ukraine was doing million times better. *You should really understand by this point that the West could not care less about your Ukraine, since the prize has always been ONLY Russia for the West.*

@North Korea Is Best Korea Remember how US violated international law by bombing Somalia, Serbia, Libya, (helping to bomb Yemen) or by invading and occupying Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan in last 25 years? Maybe you remember how Ukraine violated international law by committing genocide for 8 years against the people of Donbas? Or is the international law only for everyone else except the West and its proxies? PS. I would add that it is not a proper invasion (like US did in Iraq), since Russia is not planning to conquer most of Ukraine.

Ethnic Ukrainians were historically known as Ruthenians and their language as Ruthenian. The fact that we were called different names in the past doesn't make us different nations. The name "Ukraine", meaning rather "in-land" or "native-land", not a "border-land" as it usually interpreted, first appeared in historical documents of the 12th century and then on history maps of the 16th century period. The history of Ukrainians as an independent nation becomes with unification of the principalities of Halych and Volhynia into a single state which leter became Kingdom of Ruthenia in 1253. The term "Lesser Russia" is technically created after Russian Empire conquered Ukraine as a part of its policy aimed to suppress Ukrainians so they stopped see themselves as an independent nation. The word Ukrainians first emerged in 14th century and came into wide use after the fall of Russian Empire in 1917 when independent Ukrainian State was created which was conquered by Soviet Russia in 1917. I'd like to know where you are from. You don't know what it is to be Ukrainian right now. We live in constant fear and uncertainty of what might happen. The West had been warning us about the war for months while Russia ensured us that they didn't plan any attack and Russians didn't want any war with Ukraine. Russians cynically lied to us while the West is trying to help. This war is deliberate destruction of Ukrainian cities, infrastructure and economy. Thousands of civilians have already died just for nothing, just for Russian geopolitical game where Ukraine is just a scapegoat. Russians just wish Ukraine to be eliminated so that even the name of the state was forgoten. Ukrainians chose the West just for the better life for themselves on the experience of Poland and Baltic states.

@@user-gm6xs4be2i Yes i know the 16th century map you speak about. It shows the POLISH conquered territory ("wild lands to be settled" as it reads in the map) that they called Ukraine that was conquered from Russia in the 16th century, that is the first and ONLY map where any Ukraine exists before modern era. Ruthenian is a Westernized version of Russian (in short). The principalities of Rus were from Kiev to Novgorod and Pskov, so Russian empire did not "conquer" any Ukraine. It only returned its historical Kievan Rus malorussian lands back from Poland that were annexed by Poland during the 16th century. These people living in these lands wrote in Church Slavonic language and spoke RUSSIAN. I specifically wrote that such a state or ethnos did not exist back then in these names and terms you use today. If you would teleport now back to Kiev in year 1700, i do not think you would find any people calling themselves "Ukrainian" and speaking even remotely close to current version of Ukrainian language (let alone writing it). What is today Ukraine got also lot of its influence from Poland and even Hungary, but it is absolutely silly to falsify history and attempt to rewrite in attempt to remove the Russians from its history. First time i hear that Ukraine was conquered by Soviet Russia, i thought they had a civil war across whole land that just recently was the Russian empire and the Ukrainian nationalists with their small enclave lost to the Bolsheviks. It was those Bolsheviks (that you hate so much that) gave you all those very much Russian territories (like Donbas). Many of your so-called Ukrainian cities were built by the will of the Russian emperors and empresses. Your blind hatred to all Russian simply detaches you from reality and makes any actual conversation based on historical documents and historical events simply impossible. It would not matter how much hard evidence based on actual historical documents the other side could present, you would still invent reasons why it is not so. But that is fine its your right, but what is not your right is then to use violence on people that are not very convinced on your very inconsistent history (since you use it to justify your actions today). If Russia wants Ukraine to be eliminated then why it has not started carpet bombing your cities and towns? Why it fights you with kids gloves? Maybe you should learn to live first in peace (like you did before 2014) before you start blaming other people? Ukraine chose West? Not all people in Ukraine chose West and you started killing them for that reason. *You did not choose West, a radical minority in Ukraine supported West and Ukrainian oligarchs by chose for Ukraine to be anti-Russia by violently overthrowing a legal government and terrorizing anyone who disagreed, that is very different from any real or democratic choice.* You did not have any democratic referendum or anything like that, so its a lie that you "chose" anything. How is this "choosing West" has worked out for you so far even before the Russian operation? Did your economy start to boom and you got some unprecedented freedoms? Maybe you had stamped out most corruption and crime? No, Ukraine was a burning trashfire after 2014 with no hope in sight. Do tell what country the West has made better by their meddling in the past 50 years? Its so childish for you to believe that you can "choose West" and everything will be done for you automatically. No, you should choose HARD WORK, friendship with all neighbors and building your own paradise. Life is about COMPROMISE and if you do not learn to compromise with your neighbors, you cannot mutually benefit. Russia proposed you mutual benefit, while the West only sold you an empty dream. You CANNOT be against your biggest neighbors that half of your country is very much culturally part of and think that you can benefit from that in the long run somehow. Your illusions of grandeur are extremely dangerous and have brought you to this point. YES, Russia uses Ukraine for its geopolitical gains, but its also way more than that and Ukraine is extremely important to Russia. Yet when it comes to West, you are not important at all to them. You are important only as long as you can be used against Russia and the faster you learn this, the faster you will start your rebirth. When you will learn that the West you so much love sees you only as a means to an end? That if they could exchange you for Russia they would do it at a moments notice? That you are not the main prize for them, but that Russia with its vast resources IS. That these same empty platitudes were sold to so many other countries before Ukraine (like Libya and Iraq in recent history) and all those countries are much worse off than they used to be (or certainly not any better).

Totally ignored to focus upon US and/or UK; along with any insight into the wishes of smaller EU democratic nations & their citizens?

Agreed! I know first-hand of cases of Russians converting to Mormonism and Baptism and then claiming they're being persecuted for their religion. They appeal to the US State Department which routinely grants these people visas. Getting a visit visa for an ordinary Russian is nearly impossible. This unholy marriage has been profitable for American Mormons. Some years ago, an American Mormon was discovered to have ransacked Orthodox churches in Russia and amassed millions of dollars worth of Russian icons which he hid in his home in SLC. Christians. Right.