Why NATO's Involvement in Russia-Ukraine War Matters

Hello my friends, it's so nice to see you again. And when I say "again", I sincerely mean "again" because I've seen you just a few hours ago in the previous episode. But hey, stuff is going on in the news and I want to talk about them. With that in mind, I was just browsing Reuters, you know, our favorite mutual friend, and I saw this title that has absolutely captivated my attention. I was hooked, I was immersed as soon as I saw the title. Let me read it to you guys. Stoltenberg says NATO could have done more to prevent Ukraine war. FAS reports. Now don't tell me that doesn't intrigue you at the very least, right? So as soon as I saw it, I was like, "I gotta read this", right? I clicked it and literally from the very first paragraph, my illusions were shattered. [laughs] My hopes were no more. Because let me tell you what this article is all about. It's about Stoltenberg making a case that NATO could have prevented the war in Ukraine, but not the way you and I would think. Oh no, not that way. The NATO way, maybe. And also, before I kick this article on, I just want to say something. At the time when this war started, I didn't have the YouTube channel. So you and I never really had the chance to talk about these things because, well, when I started a few months ago, the war was well on its way and it was really hard to go back in time. But thank you, Mr. Stoltenberg. You've done one good thing in your life, which is you gave us the opportunity to discuss this. So let's discuss it. Let's see what Reuters says. "NATO could have done more to arm Ukraine to try to prevent Russia's invasion in 2022", the outgoing head of the Western Medici Alliance said in an interview released on Saturday. So basically, their Stoltenberg, not they Stoltenberg, is claiming that NATO could have indeed stopped this war or prevented this war in the first place by arming Ukraine. So basically, you know, that thing that led to this war, if NATO would have done more of that, there wouldn't have been any more war. So that's Stoltenberg logic. I don't know what this guy is smoking, but I think all of us want some of that as well, just to get us through these hard times. Seriously, man, these people are so hard to... I've stopped trying to understand these people a long time ago, because to me, I don't think anybody can be that stupid, sincerely. I think the reason they're making these statements, the reason they present themselves in the way they do, is because of this, and not because they can't think for themselves. I think their opinion is being made for them, and they're just a mouthpiece vociferating that opinion, just voicing it out to the masses and let's see what sticks, you know? But let's carry on with the article. "Now we provide military stuff to a war, then we could have provided military stuff to prevent the war." NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told German weekly newspaper FAS. I don't see how that would have turned out the way you implied would have turned out, because let's imagine, okay, let's look at the support Ukraine has received. Do we honestly believe that the Russians wouldn't have invaded just because Ukraine had what? Six F-16s, or seven F-16s, or whatever the number is, but it's not that high, really. I don't know, 40 tanks, 40 leopards, 40... Do you know what I mean? You cannot make a serious case and argue that with a straight face. You can't. The whole point, well, the whole thing that really led to this war, well, there's a few things, but the biggest one was Ukraine's ascension to NATO. On the 17th of December, or might have been on the 16th of December of 2021, Vladimir Putin sent a draft to the White House, to the Americans, and said these are the points, and by the way, there were eight points that Russia wanted to speak to NATO about. Eight points. One of which was an absolute red line on Ukraine getting into NATO. So, what do you think happened? Well, most of you will know exactly what happened. That draft became toilet paper for the Americans. They didn't even want to discuss it. There were a few statements here and there, which I'm going to cover in this video, because I found an article from the Guardian that goes all the way back then, and it tells us exactly what was in that draft, that NATO didn't even want to negotiate. So, that was what led to the war. So, more weapons wouldn't have made a difference. In fact, you probably just sped up this war, and instead of kicking off, when it did, you probably kicked off a lot sooner. And then I'll just say this one last thing about this article, and then we're going to move on to the older one. Stoltenbeck pointed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's reluctance to provide weapons that Kiev held us for before Russia's full-scale invasion, because of fears that tensions with Russia would escalate. So, let's try to understand this logic. So, there's already tensions between Russia and Ukraine, because NATO really invited Ukraine in, so the tensions are already there. And what the chief of NATO is saying is that, well, if we would have just provided them with more weapons, aka antagonize the Russians even more, well, surely then Russia wouldn't have invaded, because we are so strong, you know, Russia would have been scared. Putin would tremble in his pants. These people, man, I'm telling you, these people are just something else. But, speaking of that draft that Putin sent to the White House, we have it here. So, let's have a look and see what was important to Russia, and what was so important to NATO that they didn't even want to negotiate with Russia about. So, we have this article from The Guardian. As you can see, it was written on the 17th of December, and it goes like this. "Russia issues list of demands it says must be met to lower tensions in Europe." Okay, "Russia has put forward a significantly contentious list of security guarantees. It says it wants the West to agree to in order to lower tensions in Europe and defuse the crisis over Ukraine, including many elements that have already been ruled out." Ruled out by who? But I guess that's the root of the problem. You see, when the West rules something out, well, it's gone forever, my friend. There's no chance of getting that back, because, well, the West doesn't want to, right? And the West is the arbitrary of truth. If the West says so, well, it must be so. But let's get even past that. Even if, even if a lot of those things have been ruled out, why was it such a bad thing to just sit down? I don't know, Joe Biden, a teleprompter, and Vladimir Putin. I mean, a teleprompter for the Joe Biden. Don't get me wrong. I mean, the man needs some assistance when he speaks, right? Just get Joe Biden, hook him up to a machine so he can actually speak coherently for five seconds and try to have a conversation and see if there's any points, any pressure points that Russia can help with. And on the other side, maybe NATO can help with something, like compromise a little bit here and there. See what's important for you, what's important for your enemies. You know, the needs and the wants. That's exactly what the negotiation is. Separate the needs from the wants. Compromise on the wants and try to keep on tight to the needs. But no, of course not, because NATO is above negotiating, especially with Russia, with a backwards country, a gas station with nukes, right? Do you remember that one? Who can forget it? It will probably go down in history. The Eight-Point Draft Treaty was released by Russia's foreign ministry as it forces massed within striking distance of Ukraine's borders. Moscow said ignoring its interests could lead to a military response similar to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. So this paragraph right there tells you that this was not the attack on Ukraine didn't come as a surprise. This was already there. It was talked about. I remember it was the end of September, beginning of October, when Russia started to push forces in a big number to the Ukrainian border. I remember looking at the news. I was I was watching it on YouTube and I saw the trains carrying all that equipment. And I remember I was talking to a friend and the friend of mine said, this is just posturing. It ain't going to happen. I said, mate, if you think this is not going to happen, then you have another thing coming. You see, the Russians and this is not just the Russians, but this is generally speaking with serious people. A serious person doesn't pick up a lot of fights. You know, they choose the hill they die on, so to speak. Choose your fights carefully. Don't fight over over everything because then the people around you will start to not take you seriously. A.K. what the United States has been doing for so long. Conflicts here, conflicts there. People start to lose trust in you and people start to not understand what is the need and the want. What's really something that you absolutely need to have. And the Russians, they don't play this game. The Russians don't pick fights that are not absolutely important to them. So I remember at the time I was showing all of that equipment going and I knew this was only a matter of time. And I'm sure most of you who watch this video right now feel the same. But hey, NATO was completely caught by surprise because the Russian aggression. There we go. Russia has also demanded that NATO rule out further expansion, including the ascension of Ukraine into the Alliance, and that it does not hold drills without previous agreements from Russia in Ukraine, Eastern Europe, in Caucasus countries such as Georgia or Central Asia. Well, yes, because that's Russia's backyard. Now, I am sure, I'm sure the NATO fans will tell me, well, Seb, you know, there is no more spheres of influence. There's no more blocks. Oh, really? Oh, is that what you think? There's no more blocks. I'm sorry to burst the bubble, but there's always going to be blocks. There's always to be a power, be it regional, be it world power, be it a superpower. But the point is the countries which are powerful, they will project that power in the state surrounding them. That's just the way it is. I haven't made the world this way. That's just the way it is. It's a reality. Just like the United States is the hegemon. Well, I would say at this point in time, it's probably not the hegemon of the world, but it's definitely the hegemon of a big chunk of this world. OK, certainly of the Americas. That's the point I'm trying to make, because you have the money, you have the military power on your side. Of course, you're going to dominate everybody else. So my question is, why was it so important for NATO to go into Russia's backyard? Why? Well, to humiliate it, obviously, of course, and also to try and tear it apart bit by bit, brick by brick. That's that was the whole game plan for 30 years. It didn't start now, by the way. OK, the Russia the Russia document also calls for the two countries to pull back any short or medium arranged missile systems out of reach, replacing the previous intermediate range nuclear force idea and F-treaty that the US left in 2018. By the way, that I and F-treaty, why did the US leave? Well, they said, oh, no, the Russians are not abiding by the treaty, but they have failed, absolutely failed to provide a single shred of evidence. They said so. So it must have been so. Right. Well, no, the Russians still abide by that treaty up until at least six months ago when Putin said, well, you know what? Since you're not coming back, we're going to take the liberty to pretty much leave the treaty ourselves. So keep in mind in between 2018 and up until six months ago, the Russians still abide to that treaty, even if there was no more treaty. That's really how serious the Russians took this. But the Americans know, of course not. Absolutely not. The Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergey Ryabkov, said on Friday that there was no deadline for the talks, but that Russia wants to begin negotiations without delays and without stalling. So basically, this was not an ultimatum. I know the West at the time when this was published, they claimed all the Russia the Russians are giving us ultimatums. We don't negotiate with terrorists. You know, that's a good old phrase. Like NATO doesn't respond to ultimatums. Well, this was not an ultimatum at all. This was an invitation to negotiation. Now, it was an invitation with a timer. The clock was ticking, but it was an invitation. And all NATO had to do is agree to at least have a conversation. And look, if after the conversations, obviously, if they were carried out in good faith, if after those conversations, NATO still says, you know what, we can't, we absolutely can't give up anything out of those eight points, then OK, I guess it is what it is. But to not even want to negotiate. And then you have Stoltenberg today saying, well, this would this could have been prevented if only we would have given Ukraine more arms sooner. No, no, Stoltenberg. No, take your glasses off and see reality, because I don't know what glasses you have. I don't know what lenses you have. But you're not seeing things clearly, my friend. The only thing that would have accomplished is to speed this war up, not to delay it, certainly not to prevent it. But my friends, that's really all I had for you in this video. I think for most of us, it is absolutely clear what has happened and why it has happened. But you know what? There's still people in the world who say, well, NATO should not be accountable to the Russians. They shouldn't. I'm not saying they should. But what they should be is a little bit of common sense and understand, look, this is my backyard. That's your backyard. If you're not comfortable with me standing on top of your fence and watching you in your garden, then please do the same. And do the same thing to me. You know what? Let's both agree to leave some buffer between us. Ukraine acting as a buffer between NATO and Russia was a great thing. NATO should have jumped on this opportunity, not rejected. There is nothing that Ukraine can add to NATO. Nothing. Let's imagine Ukraine was in NATO today. Let's just imagine that. And there's a conflict between Ukraine and Russia. That involves the entire alliance, the entire NATO alliance. Is that a good thing for NATO? Well, of course not. Absolutely not, because NATO doesn't want a war with Russia. NATO wants to chip at Russia and sponsor proxy wars, but they don't want a conflict with Russia. That's for certain. My friends, yeah, again, this was a Saturday. I hope you've enjoyed the episode. Enjoy your Saturday evening or your Saturday morning, depending on where you are on the planet. It's been an absolute pleasure and I'll see you guys tomorrow. Take care and bye bye.