Simple way of describing complex situations in a way that is totally digestible. This solved a few questions I had about motives and now the situation is clearer. Not great, but clearer.

Well put

Yes yes yes

EXCELLENT EXPLANATION! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Concerning russia Mr. Kotkin is a coryphaeus. He has forgotten more about russia than other people will ever learn.

absolutely

@@fjames208 0

It is and it isn't IMO, the West is European, it's former colonies, former British Empire nations and a few others like Japan etc, but yeah also rule of law and all that stuff mentioned in the interview.

@@bob-zi1eb is China even a real threat? If the west moved all their low end production out of China to other countries and back to the west....what would China be?

I agree 100 percent!

I was totally engrossed thinking, wow, this pure gold, then I scrolled down the comments and exactly what you said.

Stephen's analysis is brilliant, he clarifies where most tend to obfuscate behind ambiguity.

Yep, and as Kotkin points out, this uniquely Russian 'POV' precedes the formation of NATO and goes all the way back to the Czars. Though such rapid expansion of territory also arguably almost _demands_ some kinda uber-authoritarian strong man figure, just to keep in line the growing list of accumulated territories and disparate cultures, most with separate identities going back for hundreds of years,

You know he’s read all those books too.

I am shocked at the intellectual insight of this man. but why he couldn't say anything about the west being the trouble maker around the world. Noam chomsky said the US is the world's biggest terrorist, and what NATO did around the Muslim world is shocking. A man like himself should be neutral and honest that West is also at fault here.

@@LowenKM so Russians have always been this way! Russians are not like us. Let's eat em!

'Fer sure, and also nice to hear reminders that Russia's aggressive 'expansionist' tendencies long pre-date the formation of NATO, contrary to claims by John Mearsheimer and other 'Putin-apologists'.

Off course “ he puts it in simple and clear terms” !Will be a problem spreading lies if are not in a clear and simple terms!

He's clueless.

@@ScumbagKonflict I think he’s very,very well informed about everything. I don’t think secret service will employ clueless people. It is pretty amazing dose off hypocrisy, with not even a single moment off shame when he talk about lies he presents as a truth!

@@dezurniprovokator373 oh I didn't even know he's employed by the Secret Service. That puts his lies in perspective. They're doing everything they can to push these lies.

It’s a shame that people of this caliber do not involve themselves in politics. His kind is needed…

@@67275gtb4 Agreed!

We agree all the way in southern Africa

@@67275gtb4 Kotkin is an academic at Princeton, and a very good one. Politics is a different game. Navigating political parties, finding donors, etc. I'm not sure he would like to be involved in that.

@@67275gtb4 Better that people like him advise the politicians who need different skill sets.

His clarity is just stunning.

What you call "distilling" I call "oversimplifying"

Do you actually understand what he is saying? are you in favour of imperialism, puppet governments? Cause according to Kotkin that is the west "doing it properly" via EU and NATO and Ukraine is happening because Putin is just a bad guy. Also there are literally videos of Gorbachev talking about the consequences of NATO expansion in the 90s! there was no Putin. Kotkin is for people who seek confirmation bias.

@@MajinXarris That’s some twisted logic you have.

@@MajinXarris No, no… your original comment does not translate that cleanly. You said that because this dude has never lived in Russia, he can’t know anything about it and he’s a fool. Meanwhile, a quick search shows you that Stephen has been to Russia multiple times starting in 1986 and is very highly regarded in the scholarly community. What exactly does someone need to do to be an expert in your opinion?

Врун он! Story teller 🤔🤯

Hear hear!

Not under current circumstances, Kotkin in this discussion is the same as all the media narratives that are Putin is crazy psychotic evil who will self destruct. Professor Mearsheimer is in the camp of 'realpolitik' which is a minority if not on his own.

Mearsheimer is stupidly naive and his theories are on the level of highschool kids theres nothing to discuss about

Mearsheimer can go and live in Ukraine after it is under Russian oppression.

Putin's Russia has a terrible record on respecting treaties. They angle shoot constantly and simply use implausible deniability rather than address issues. This includes massacres after agreeing truces in 2014, as well as the recent humanitarian corridor breaches.

Yes, totally agree, we don't want to live under Russia never again.

Correct. No one should have been more afraid of Putin than Finland, as it was unprovokedly attacked by Stalin. But for years Finland appeased the USSR and Russia. But Putin opened many eyes. The new midget with Napoleon complex must be stopped and brought to trial. Hopefully, one of his humiliated generals or a simple private will take care of the problem. Those who blame the west are appeasing cowards.

If you came here looking to have the agitprop on cable reinforced, you got it. They opened by naming John Mearsheimer, then they never named or refuted one point of Mearsheimer's position on this crisis, and he is the expert. I've read Kotkin's books and watched his lectures, I have a section in my UKposts library titled Kotkin, but this was an awful conversation. You go to character assassination when you got nothing. It is ironic, Kotkin supports every US NATO escalation and move against all sorts of nations including Russia for the last 30 years, but when Russia pulls an Iraq in Ukraine, Kotkin says Putin must be mad.

@@johnsmith1474 can you share that video link..

@@johnsmith1474 mmk

@allgood what?... he din't compare Zelensky to Hussein at all...? he compared Russia's invasion of Ukraine with the US invasion of Iraq.

@@ScumfuckMcDoucheface Yes he did. He is comparing both and I agree.

I think if you find the evaluation of Russia by a Finnish Intelligence officer, you will see how bridging it is unlikely. Power and strength is key. Russia is fundamentally weak

Oh, really? Bul he's talking about not reality at all. 😵🤯 Что-то дядька напридумал?...? 😲

​@@user-hv9vn4fi4wit is you who don't know reality. The Russian economy was seventh largest in the nineteenth century, now it's twelth. It has to spend 30% of its budget to hold in Ukraine.

Cant give up on Hope thats how the Russians try to win by saying hope is a weakness, not if thats some peoples only way of getting out of bed or not burried in a bottle of Vodka. As they say their Ruissa is doing great & all! Anything even stuff that a normal brain knows cant be possible Russia will point fingers until someone takes the bait ! I hope 🇺🇦 Ukraine built this Scum a Golden Bridge now, sadly 😥

@@darrenlord2468 I hope so, I just can't get my head around Putin who has thousands of nuclear weapons and he's waging war against the free world. Every day I woke up and look at the face of my kids and think what if there is a miss calculation on both sides? I just can't fathom what will happen.

🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

🤡

Не's big..... liar. Дядька сочиняет на ходу! 🤯🤔

You need to review your views mate. Two months on and we are the ones who are isolated . Russia is doing just fine . This interview was rubbish

Lolol as times goes on it's the west that's isolated and collapsing.

@@trevorcrook5753 You're whistling past the graveyard, comrades "Crook" & "buzuxi".

Me too.

He was wrong on every count . His BS is towering not his intellect

He's incredibly wrong on nearly everything.

@@ScumbagKonflict Interesting. What is he wrong about?

@@georgesimon1760 doesn't even mention the Minsk Agreement and Ukraine's failure or refusal to implement it for starters. Talks about sanctions as if its Russia that needs europe whereas its the other way around, just yesterday the rolled back scanctions on about 10 Russian banks. Doesn't mention NATO and the fact that Putin wrote a letter to Washington on December 16 pleading with the US for diplomacy on the border issue. These are things you can research if you aren't lazy looking to be spoonfed by so called experts.

STEVE KOTKIN FAILS TO REMIND THAT PUTIN AND THE WEST THAT "GOD" ULTIMATELY WILL DECIDE PUTINS FATE. HIS PERSPECTIVES AND INSIGHTS ARE JUST FLIMSY ASSUMPTIONS IMAGINED BUT CLOUDIES AS TO THE REAL OUTCOME OF THE RUSSIAN ILLEGAL INVASION OF UKURAINE. I THINK PUTIN WILL BE FORCED BY THE WEST TO GIVE UP HIS IMPERIAL ASPIRATIONS MAINLY DUE HIS LACKING OF TOP LEVEL TECHNOLOGIES TO MODERNIZE HIS WEAPON SYSTEMS, LIKE CHEMICAL, NUCLEAR OR CYBERATTACK RESOURCES.

I absolutely agree.

yes. the West is a unicorn really.

Why is it that it wasn’t (and wouldn’t be even today) acceptable when Russia was in Cuba but is for NATO (ie the US) to be Ukraine? Putting aside the issue of anti-West rhetoric, isn’t it provocative to park NATO/US on Russia’s border? Given Russia’s arsenal and its repeated warnings stretching back decades, isn’t this injudicious? The idea of spheres of influence is basic to foreign policy but the US seems to believe it applies only to itself. It can put a sphere of influence on Russia’s border (Ukraine) just as it can maintain one in China (Taiwan). Ukraine has demonstrated the costly folly of such thinking - a debt we Americans don’t have to pay; we just let Ukrainians take the hit. So far we have learned nothing. If anything, we are emboldened. Let’s see how these false beliefs play out in Taiwan.

@@Ephilates2024 That tired, stupid question again. You Russian trolls need to learn both current military realities and logic. Goodbye.

@@Ephilates2024 This interview rebutted every point you're trying to make. Did you even watch it? "Spheres of influence" is nonsense. What about the spheres of influence of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Romania, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakstan etc.? Your Mearshimerist claims completely ignore all of their concerns. Russia is the economy of Italy or California with pretensions of being an America, a China, a Japan, an EU. And besides Putin's funhouse mirror of a worldview there's the fact that Ukraine's gas reserves in the Donbas are a threat to Russian gas profits.

Mike, I see your point, but what do you recommend as an "out" for Putin?

His analysis remains relevant in spite of Ukraine's new advances. As Kotkin said Putin would not stop - he would completely destroy Ukraine if he is not offered some tangible deal that allows him to save face .. so this recent development is great.. but it would not stop Putin

How's Ukraine looking right now?

Hey bro, is prZel panhanding within the train?

at least she knew how to hire competent military leaders to run the army without grifters

When Catherine the Great was ruling Russia, USA was printing their laws allowing slavery. Is racism ingrained in USA?

@@leaselmary_sims2189 She also allowed slavery, as serfdom, in Russia. Serfdom lasted until 1861 in Russia.

@@leaselmary_sims2189 I think racism is not inherent to US culture, but it is constitutive to Russian identity.

Yes, love the quote, but people are dying, a country is being destroyed.

If the US is strategic (an attribute the US has lacked for decades) about this war, it will enable it to drag on for years into a war of attrition even at a toll of hundreds of thousands of deaths. The war can only hurt Putin and Russia.

Joe Rogan is high school banter. This is an academic study.

Rogan is a backwater semi illiterate.

It does not take much to make Rogan look like an idiot, but a lot to let his followers to understand that.

What? It is not real story and history. О чём он рассуждает??? 🤔😵

🤡

One requires education and intelligence The other uses meatheads 😂 Obviously joking

He is obviously exaggerating for the sake of the argument. Russia's unfortunately was capable enough to hit quite a few very specific targets like military bases and training camps with ukrainian losses in the hundreds a rocket or two, weapons and fuel storages, tank-repairing facilities and so on. Many rockets, indeed, strayed off course, I can't say how many or what % though, I'm no military expert. I daresay they are less precise than the american ones but precise enough to be quite effective anyway. The tech lag in itself is a very valid argument though but it will probably not manifest itself so fast and as drastically as we hope.

The latter requires advanced Western microchip technology, I think.

Pure Western propaganda. Russia does have hypersonic missile. Usa don't. Usa have only slow missile. Russia has extremely precise guided missile 305E. Usa is dreaming of getting them. When it comes to technology actually Russia is well ahead of usa.

@@karmpuscookie microship are made in Taiwan not in Chicago or London...

It's the Democrats who are in power, in case you didn't know. And it was Trump who warned Western Europe of the dangers of relying on Russian oil and not contributing enough to their own defense. Oh, and if Trump was in office, Putin would never have unleashed this war. Putin did it because he knows Biden is weak. And for you to call out the GOP's ingorance and emptiness when your side has Kamala Harris as it's VP, is absolutely laughable.

Tom Carl, I have to disagree with you that Putler “knew” Joe Biden was weaker than Donald “But I’d like you to do us a favor though” Trump. The truth is Putin only “thought” Biden and America were weaker after four years of Trump and Trump’s failed insurrection to overthrow our democracy on January 6. For years, Putin made it no secret that he intended to restore Russia to the USSR’s former glory. So. within days of Trump’s failed coup, Putin began moving his troops and weapons to his border with Ukraine. But, Putin was deluded, and that made him the weaker president. Biden unified the nations of the Free World against his invasion and led the efforts to pour hundreds of millions of dollars worth of advanced weaponry into Ukraine, transforming it overnight into one of the most heavily armed nations on earth. Biden’s strong leadership even convinced Switzerland to reverse 500 years of neutrality and ship 5,000 modern anti-tank weapons to Ukraine. As a result, Ukraine has repulsed the Russian Army, and Putin has proven the world that his military is no match for NATO. He has reversed 40 years of economic progress and plunged Russia into a Great Depression. And, now Putler’s greatest fear is a bullet with his name on it in the gun of an FSB or GRU agent.

^All that you say above is complete nonsense… Of course. Your Orange-headed savior and clown of a so called “President” Trump would have licked Putin’s boots and then abandon Ukraine. You’re either a complete ignoramus or your a Putin troll. Or both perhaps.

GOP and Democrats are shallow and without any meaningful analysis. Unless you think making sure certain colors or sexes are part of everything means it is deep. Oh, and not being able to define what a woman is, so deep!

@@TheHarmonicOscillator Another reason Putin decided to invade was after witnessing the lunacy of Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal. I just saw photos of the Taliban the other day. They were decked out in brand new American uniforms, armed with our latest guns. They were resplendent, actually. But you think Putin was inspired to invade because of Jan 6th??? You have got to be kidding. And this ain't over. You watch how the Biden administration reacts when China decides to invade Taiwan. But I'm sure you'll find a way to try to pin that on Trump as well. Good luck with that.

Sounds feminine voice

you probably meant sycophant

Clever? You mean you think leading your country to destruction is clever? Maybe he is Mickey mouse.

@@ginnyazcona8529 He is leading his people back to the freedom they treasure. Putin is the one causing the destruction

@@ginnyazcona8529 Don't let them pay you in rubles

@@ginnyazcona8529 If My Country is under attack amd invaded, I will stay and stand my grohnd and fight all I can sith all my might till my last breath. Now go F yourself if You Think Staying back Defending oan Country is stupid.. YOU are A BLardy Coward.

So, lawyers are clever. Actors, not clever. Is that how it goes?

The Lies, Suppression, Brutality and Manipulation are exactly what Russia is. Nothing more than a succession of criminal psychopaths, propped up by a sleep-walking, lacklustre population. I'm fed up hearing history lessons on Russia. For heaven's sake, call out these sub-human low life for what they are.

but isn't the main problem changing those goals would have to change, to take a smaller but more realistic place in the world, given Russia's abilities?

"knowledge based commentary!" And that is what makes this character so valuable and people like Mearsheimer so poor. Traceable facts versus simple minded anti-western hate,

Hey bro, is prZel panhanding within the train?

Тоже самое можно сказать и о США))) одна ложь,жестокость,лицемерие и стремление контролировать весь мир

It is worth understanding who are the main players in the game. Biden family made over 40 million using Ukraine as a base. ukposts.info/have/v-deo/sGWGmm2YpqWp13k.html