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So, if people come to the table with the belief that some are more equal than others, or to put it more bluntly, there are those beings who have no moral value, is that the only legitimate excuse for excluding them from the table? Are they then radical evil at that point?
It has become obvious that you and your community do not want me as a member or commenter. This is terribly unfortunate as I feel that I could have been a contributing member. I shall not return, because I am honest.
@@daviddawson1718 It's a very open place to share ideas, but rude comments are not helpful...content creators have no control over their "Likes" Many people, myself included are very familiar with the channel and will "Like" a video before watching. I enjoy the content and ideas very much also reading other peoples' comments because very few people IRL (in real life) have any interest in international politics..also I enjoy discussing western politics with educated people. Most people in my daily sphere don't have this level of knowledge. So I always give a "Like" not because I agree with everything...I just enjoy gaining some insight. There is nothing insincere in instant "Likes" appearing. Also RUclips is rather fickle...it's not a sure science how Likes/Views actually work.
Your Speaking speed is never a problem. If needed I just adjust the RUclips speed to 1.25. Your natural measured and thoughtful delivery is what makes your videos such a pleasure to listen to.
I seem to have a lot of ADHD symptoms so always play on 1.5 anyway (otherwise my mind isn't occupied and wanders.) I do this on every commentator and you have good enunciation, and you speed is not slow. Love listening to your videos. Informative and kind
Honestly, someone coming for lunch in a giraffe-suit has made more of an effort than most people! It might be "not so appropriate" but still: top marks for effort.
I do know if this is what he ment, but there are 2 levels of respect: 1. The kind we give to all humans. Do on to others as you would want done to you. This includes drunks, strangers and even crazy people in costumes. How you are towards them is more about the person you are. 2 Respect that could be called admiration. How well do you treat your future self? There is a difference between being selfish and having healthy self-respect. Everyone you know who knows you sees how you treat yourself. I have only known 1 person get this correct 100%. I didn't think it was possible.
My favorite part of the interview is when Anna said that watching Vlad’s videos has changed her perception/demeanour toward Alexei Navalny; that instead of dismissing him out of hand, she and perhaps other Ukrainians would try to see if they could get any use out of him.
Thank you very much for your answer, Vlad. Not the answer I was expecting :-) but that's the reason for asking questions. I'm happy you found it worth a whole video.
Edmund thank you! And sorry if I was a bit rude! I can be pretty brutal! The shifting demographic underneath what I say here is that 60% of Russians are positively resisting politics and looking away from the war ( but they half know what their government has done). 5-20% (varying strength of commitment) positively support the war, and they are closer to some of your darkest descriptions. 10-20% are against but are dejected and need to be re animated.
Where are the Russian people? Spacially: partly in Russia, partly in trenches in Ukraine and partly abroad, hiding from being sent to the trenches. Temporally: in the Middle Ages.
Hi Edmond (Edmund?), In case you are reading this i want to thank you for posting this interesting question/postulate Thoughtprovoking answers aswell. Thank you and Vlad for taking the time and ressources
I though Edmund was pointing out a large inconsistency with the Russian narrative... if Ukrainians don't exist and they are infact Russian then Russians are killing themselves. (Although I am getting the picture that historically that is not usual for Russia, as was true for many other countries) I thought it was interesting to take the narrative to its logical conclusion because as pointed out they simultaneously think Ukrainians are Russian and that they are not. Simplistically depending on if its right they control them or right that they kill them. The dichotomy comes through on the 1412 interviews frequently especially with the older generation. The younger generation interviewed are much clearer in general that they are there own people. Vlad as always a interesting and thoughtful chat and thank you Edmund for providing the stimulus for it.
Imitation can often be flattering....so in that context I submit that my Wife and I have begun to greet each other in Vlad's wonderful "hello beautiful community". Best wishes from 'Merica 🤠.
Vlad, Thank you for clarifying for your audience the reality and nature of evil. Unless we are clear-headed about this (nihilism does not lead to evil being viewed as good; nihilism fuels real evil qua evil) we risk the worst of all conclusions, i.e. moral equivalence where it does not, in fact, exist.
I consider myself a nihilist because I see the destruction of the human race as a good thing. We are just one species on this planet but we are too powerful and too destructive. I consider that other species have as much right to exist as we have. And since we can’t bring ourselves to grant them that right and threaten all life on the planet with things like nuclear weapons and climate change it’s the human race that has no further right to exist. Philosophy talks endlessly about morals but fails to understand that moral codes are simply the rules for survival. Being moral is being non-threatening which is of course why we all approve of other people being moral 😀
It is also interesting that the Russian policy makers compare it to trading Poznan for Boston, or Hamburg for Chicago. They seem to deny the real trade probability of St. Petersburg for Boston. As if somehow Russian cities won't figure in the equation. Definitely magical thinking there.
The Germans in WW1 were shocked when Trotsky told them that Russia won’t fight in the war anymore but won’t offer any concessions in exchange for peace nor sign any peace treaty (Trotsky assumed the German military was exhausted and couldn’t carry out any further offensives) So the Germans just continued advancing into western Russia. The result was that the Bolsheviks were forced to sign a peace treaty whose terms were even more harsh than if they had agreed to peace in the first round of negotiations. The Romanov Tsars were horrible, but the Bolsheviks turned out to be even worse. Evil AND Incompetent.
Consistently, Vlad’s analysis and commentary is unsurpassed online today, here and now. Honest, sincere and fulsome. Gratitude from the Great Lakes. Take good care, all.
Good insights about the nature of evil, its wholly destructive impulses and its entirely negative values that can be just as real and straightforward as the more positive ones associated with goodness. And how difficult it can be for human beings to come to grips with this realization and understand just how evil, evil can be.
From my parent’s kitchen window you can watch a big group of bunnies jumping around freely, crossing the street, searching for dandelions in all neighbouring gardens. Sometimes when you comment on people, I imagine you as their shepherd analyzing their behaviour from above. Ok, now and then one has to be culled, but the rest of the time it’s rich feeding and cuddles. You obviously aim to be and are a good shepherd. I feel appreciation and affection when I watch, but it’s also odd. I’m not 100% sure you are aware that you’re a bunny too. What happens if a bunny tells you?
In my half understood historical thinking, changes of a stable regime can come when people smell weakness. People are persons, individuals weighing in the possible consequences of disobedience. There are many who are auto-obedient and there always who are auto-disobedient. But the people who are angry, frustrated and in-between... must see that it is possible to overcome the regime. One thing is angry people shouting in the street, and another if those angry people can get away with it, or the military starts changing place and it seems there will be weapons for the change.
It's so interesting. I've seen parallels in my life of how being " in" the war changes the mindset. I left my homeland because of war and watched from elsewhere. Going home was terribly hard for me as when I challenged family members, I was looked on as a traitor because I saw the bigger picture. They didn't like what I said as they were 100% committed. I, too, hate war.
According to Napoleon Bonaparte, a critical component to maintaining discipline and cohesion in a military force is ensuring good supply. The Ukrainians have been focusing on Russian logistics since the very start of the invasion (terrible Russian logistics played a big part in the failure to advance on Kyiv) Soldiers who are starving and growing weak from lack of water are less likely to maintain discipline. They are fighting defensively though so it reduces the chances of them mutinying or deserting (many videos of Russian soldiers protesting their orders are of them refusing to advance or attack) Makes me think of the last years of the First World War; morale had all but collapsed in the Russian Army. Whole regiments stayed in their trenches, refusing to carry out attacks.
I was a conscript in the German Bundeswehr in the early 80th. I remember being thrown into a unknown social structure. I remember learning the rules by imitation. I think that is a basic human trait. I can't imagine how much worse this is for Russian conscripts sent to Ukraine. Would I plunder Ukrainian shops or do worse? I hope not, but I am not sure.
I suppose a lot would depend on your CO's and the tone they set. If they told you that the conquered were subhuman beasts, you might; if they ordered you to be respectful and obey the laws of war or you'll be courtmartialed and possibly shot, then you definitely wouldn't.
I liked how you delivered this episode - even though it took me a while to get past the dinner in a giraffe suit thing. That one blocked out everything else in my mind for a minute straight :)
So glad you told us that you were very brain-tired . For a moment there, you sounded serious, thoughtful and even intelligent? So nice to be corretced in one's bewilderings.
Your discussion with Anna was excellent. You compliment each other quite nicely. Do it again - and do it with some others. There are several people I would like to see you dialogue with, like you have with Anna and Jake Broe. Slava Ukraini!
10:03 About the conscripts behaviour, I think there are many documented cases that can help us understanding our relationship with inner, human evil and how contexts affect us morally and behaviourally. From the top of my head, many US citizens unwillingly conscripted and forced into the Vietnam war spoke later about the monstrous things they and their also human comrades and enemies ended up doing to each other 😢
Hi Vlad! I have a question related to what you mentioned during your chat with Anna - and also something you sometimes touch upon, that is, that whoever replaces Putin would not be worse than Putin since he is already doing all the horrible stuff. It strikes me as a bit optimistic - looking at just Russian history one can easily imagine someone not just being fine with what happened in Bucha, but actively ordering the massacre that Tsarist Russia did in Warsaw in 1794. One can easily imagine dissidents not just being beaten by the police and jailed, but being shipped off to Siberian death camps and their families being shot like under Beria. One can imagine a repeat of the Holodomor. Or, to use examples of other totalitarian regimes - Russian internet could be not just censored, but cut-off like in North Korea. Ukrainians could be not just invaded, but trying to be actively exterminated like Jews in Auschwitz...and one can imagine someone who isn't just using nuclear blackmail like Medvedev or Solovyov, but someone that actually goes through with that. It's not that i don't support Putin's regime collapsing - i do with all my heart - but to me it seems a bit optimistic and bizarre to not even entertain the idea and not including in our calculations the possibility of someone much worse than Putin taking over.
Indeed. The Bolshevik revolution that replaced the Tsarist era brought on 70 years of almost unimaginable and unprecedented horror. What follows evil eras is not necessarily an improvement.
The problem is that someone like that does not know how the Russian nation works. Putin is able to get what he wants in Russia because he knows exactly how the country works. Someone like Medvedev wouldn't be able to facistise Russian society quickly enough while also having 0 control over the country.
Whoever would theoretically would replace Putin no matter how ruthless would be better in at least the short term, the practical implications of consolidating power within Russia would demand no less than an immediate end to the war in Ukraine because continuing the war as is would only serve to weaken the budding new regime all but ensuring its head would soon be replaced by a more capable and practical one. This is not to say the would-be New regime and its head wouldn't ultimately prove to worse but current circumstances in effect would all but demand they'd be better in the short term as in 2-3 years.
@@christopherellis2663 1. I did not say that we are guaranteed to get someone worse than Putin, merely that there is a non-zero possibility this could happen. 2. Arguably the force that tried to replace Saddam was even worse - ISIS tried to implement a global islamofascist caliphate that regularly threw gay people from the rooftops as entertainment, they were only stopped by the most insane coalition that saw Russia, USA, Iran, Kurds, Assad and even some cells of Al-Quaeda on the same side.
Nice "H". Your point around Russian attitudes to nuclear risks intrigues me and it's not one I've managed to bottom out. What do Russians think when they see leaders/propagandists merrily pronouncing the requirement for a nuclear war? Is it that they (Russians) have a lack of self-preservation, or is it that they don't understand the impact that even a medium-sized nuclear war - in terms of the incomprehensible scale and totality of death and destruction - would have, or do they think that a "strike" would happen in a consequence-free way? The reason it intrigues me is that in the West (particularly the nuclear-armed states), if our leaders started brazenly threatening nuclear war we'd see them carted off and put in an asylum (rightly so), but in Russia it seems it's met with a sense of jingoism and that to me suggests either a lack of knowledge or a suicidal disposition, and I'm not sure which worries me more.
Never try to rationalize what Russians say or do. There’s no rationale when it comes to Russian mindset. Just never show that you fear them, keep calm and carry on.
It's met with sarcastic smiles, because it's just very clownish characters talking random bullshit. I don't know a single person who is seriously paying attention to this propaganda tv shows for old people.
@@jamievardy9698there are such people, and a big problem with "sarcastic smilers" is that they don't believe in the existence of such people. Soloviev had a RUclips channel once. Yeah, you could say 90% of the views and comments were fake; but that leaves 10% on the table
HHHHhhhhilarious intro Vlad! I always get a little kick out of the second channel overly emphasized h to start. I like that you leaned into it! You like few others bring a very thoughtful perspective to this conversation and I really appreciate you. Thank you for being you and sharing it with us. I struggle to find a level of discourse that can bring me out of the dark places in my head, but you and a few others always stimulate further thought and get me out of the doom spiral that this world can so often put us in. A small point of curiosity, do you have any recommendations on readings, thought or phsyical excercises, or community's to reach out too to help those that are deeply impacted by the current state of our world mentally? You are always so grounded and balanced and you have overcome so much and I wish I knew your secret to good mental health. I don't mean to project or presume too much. I'm just reaching out curiously as I feel my mental health needs a bit of help these days. Cheers Vlad.
Currently watching "One Day in Ukraine" by Volodymyr Tykhyy, an excellent documentary, so I can't watch this yet. But thank you for your videos as ever! Thank you for your work!
Fear & anger play into actions on the battlefield regardless of nationality; the question is, do troops feel that they will be held accountable to certain humane standards. A remarkable effort is being made in Ukraine to gather evidence and hold Russian troops accountable BECAUSE the Putin regime is ruthless. On Jan 6th some of the violence at the capital became unconscionable. A jail sentence of 22 years was handed out! If the MAGA rightwing and Trump are not held accountable and kept under law, we will start to roll down the path towards a regime that won’t hold unconscionable violence accountable. If it comes to this, the ordinary U.S. civilian/ citizen will be in the same boat as the ordinary Russian civilian/citizen. I would expect more from U.S. citizens because we have a centuries in the making tradition of English liberty behind us.
I don't understand how some people can demand a 22 year prison sentence for one set of rioters and no consequences for another just because one wears MAGA hats and the other BLM shirts and can still claim to be on the side of rule of law.
"Deliberative disasters" is a pretty good diagnosis! Russian Fatalism has nothing to do with finding evil things good, but with finding Destiny malignant and inescapable - see Tchaikovsky's last three symphonies and his opera, ""The Queen of Spades."
I enjoy your manner speaking, even if it is a bit slow, because it gives me time to digest what you are saying, as you speak. It's a refreshing change from much of RUclips.
The position put by Edmund is also supported by multiple cases of Russians shelling their own troops, and also by Russia's use of block troops. I completely fail to understand.
Have you gone to russian media monitor? They posted a video of a front line priest. He says if he is asked by soldiers why they are in ukraine he replies “to die”. According to him, this is chosen by God and hence no one can change it. Just creepy. Not even ISIS ever said anything like that. Surely, they used to kill their weak fighters but it was always in a sneaky way. Apparently, they didn’t even force anyone into doing suicide bombing. It was always a personal choice by whoever went for it.
Can't help remembering a joke I heard in Gorbachev's time: Two Tchuktchis (= Soviet Eskimos) are sitting on an ice floe, fishing. One says: "Do you want to hear a political joke?" The other answers: "Noooo! I don't want to be exiled!" My utterly boring explanation: it isn't about Tchuktchis, it's about the people telling and laughing at the joke - it's funny to them because they are in fact nervous about holding a political opinion.
It seems to me as though there's a distinction between what a group as a whole is thinking and what its various members are thinking. If most of the group opts out as much as they can from the joint thought process (as is typical of humans, not just Russians), it doesn't mean that the process isn't happening. It just means that their individual opinions don't play much part in it. The thoughts of a group are usually incoherent. People usually interact in ways such that all of us together are stupider and more mean-spirited than any of us are individually. But the point is that we do interact, in ways such that it makes some sense to talk about what ideas are current in a group, even if those ideas are incoherent and mostly nonsense.
Some important context to consider here as well is that there are some general universal truths to most soldiers: Once the bullets start flying most soldiers don't care why they are there. They care about the person to either side of them, they care about survival and they care about killing the enemy. So for these soldiers who are Fighting, they are in a life & death struggle that transcendeds normal politics Vlad. To them,.it doesn't matter if the enemy is also Russian. The political components that are important to them are the ones that provide their ability to function as combat units. That is why we saw Wagners attempted coup. Not just due to Mr.Putin compartmentalizing his propaganda. But because direct military leadership is getting soldiers killed, is making their conditions worse, didn't properly prepare to handle wounded. It is also why we are now seeing the Russian military slowly adapting to this new situation and making improvements such as adopting Ukrainian tactics. They don't care about the Ukraine itself. They want to get home alive, And they want to make the other guy dead. Who that other guy is doesn't matter if they have a firearm and are shooting at you. The real hardcore Ideological fanatics are always the first ones to die in any conflict. You can see this even with the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. The survivors of those wars weren't the ones blowing themselves up. They are the ones who set IEDs instead of suicide vest. They were the ones who tried to formalize training and are now part of the talibans current military. Yes they are believers, but they aren't the same kind of radicals who are now fertilizing the desert.
In one of the videos on his main channel, Vexler said that, win or lose in Ukraine, there are going to be hundreds of thousands of Russians returning to Russia. They are going to be traumatised, angry, and acclimatised to killing. There have already been reports of Russian veterans of Ukraine going on killing sprees in Russia. A Russian man stabbed an old man to death in a diner while screaming at everyone that he fought for his country and watched his comrades die and no one here in Russia cares.
Your comment about being slow I have always considered a deliberate, contemplative speaking style That you are actually thinking about your words before, not like so many, after you speak them. I also admire those commentators who are sharing in English whilst often thinking in a different language.
I would like to applaud Edmond for asking a question that sparked a very interesting conversation but also because the question in the end assumes much of the same things as many common sense views about the war in Ukraine.
I was very much against the invasion of Iraq because of 9/11 but I was completely shocked that Sadam had no surviving wmd programs, he was a super dictator but the world doesn't mind super dictatorships.
A child who shares childhood memories of abusive, parents who also are under the influence of alcohol with discovered others who also had similar experiences. There’s a likelihood that those people will grow up and become abusive 😮😮😮😮
What you say around 11:20 I have personally witnessed among people who lost friends or family in the Vietnam war. Even to this day my dad and my uncle refuse to believe that their friends died in vain, and therefore have done tremendous mental acrobatics to justify the war. They won't discuss it (other than to claim a kind of "pride" for "serving," although I personally cannot understand refusing to discuss something I'm proud of), but I have seen among Vietnam vets a secret code they share. I can only imagine the pain of being forced into those kinds of situations, and I don't hold it against them that they try to keep the memory alive. But you're absolutely right, Vlad, as soon as a person is involved in an event like that, one beings to personally identify and relate to that event, and defend the event as just or meaningful. Much chappiness and chealth to you. I love your on-going joke about your pronunciation of the letter "H."
I'm sorry but I would rather see more reductionist statements on your part Vlad. Sometimes nuances and complexity blind us from calling a spade a spade. Fatalism is morally reprehensible. Rejecting authoritarian abuse is a universal individual responsability, not a product of Ukrainian 'false consciousness' that strayed so far from the 'Russian soul'. Rejecting fatalism and overcoming fear are just developmental challenges that not everyone manages to deal with. Therefore, Russian disengagement can be seen as evil, perpetrated both onto themselves and onto others.
For sure, Russian parents care for their children like in any other culture. My conversations with contacts in the scientific community in Moscow and St. Petersburg revealed tremendous fear related to waves of conscription. But the emotions nonetheless end there, there is little thought or belief that they are otherwise involved or have any political agency in society. They dont want their children to die, but otherwise they need to get on with their day.
Just wanted to add some things that may be obvious, 1)the central place of the Russian army and the prestige of it in Russian society it is robust. At best, as an outsider you may get "some rotten apples" across, but to make the argument that their is systematic misconduct and warcrimes is nearly impossible. A lot of cherry picking and " what aboutisms" will fly in your direction. 2)Leaving the country ( as a Russian)will invalidate your position (reasons , personal safety don't count) immediately, you are of bad intention at best. 3)There is no death cult, more of a fear cult that can result in dehumanising, and cruelty. 4)There is more tribalism than a year ago that cannot be ignored. The dark humor is less apperent. 5) Ukrainian people do exist for Russians, but they do have an apart national identify, they are "them" not a "us" for Russians . The Putin fairytale about misguided "little Russians" is only for the delusional and lazy ones. 4) if the war is considered lost by Russia their will be a lot of blame games and not a lot of acceptence of responsibility. Maybe the situation in Germany after WW1 and (directly after)WW2 can give some insight there are more parallels to be drawn if the West gets it mostly how its want. That is 1) no occupation of Russian ground 2 ) large payments for reparations ( most Russians are not very rich, so they will bear the brunt of this.) 3) a kind of trail for warcriminals , if we look at Serbia that will not be easy to convince these trails will be just and not just another instance of the Wests alleged Russophobia.
Thanks for your ideas. It will be a God-awful mess to sort this out after the Putin regime has imploded (which I still believe is the greatest hope to end this tragedy that has befallen the two countries). The blame game will not be not helped, I would suggest, by the country being steeped in propaganda.
Let me clarify, absolute love is caring for another happiness (listen, respect, care for, step back). Only goal is that the other person feels good. Then there is relative love, also important, much more self-centered, key word "I" and "me" as in I love you becaue I can trust you, I love you because you are good to me, I love you because I understand you, etc... And of course, there is a beautiful dance between absolute love and relative love. Ideally, the meaning of life, is to rest always in absolute love for all people. Then relative love is also meaningful and important for building a family and other positive environments....
Russians through a fit about the soldiers they lost in Afghanistan. Have they completely become something else? They don't seem to care about the 200k lost in Ukraine. It's like they are different people IMO.
The first time I read 1984 I was about 12 or 13 years old. The one thing in that story that frightened me the most was what I would call self induced schizophrenia as the only mechanism for survival. The protagonist Winston Smith eventually comes to believe that the statements 2 + 2 = 4 and 2 + 2 = 5 are both true and he believes they are true with equal conviction. It's not just a matter of saying it because that is what those who have power over him want to hear, he actually comes to believe it himself. Orwell called it "doublethink." I dismissed this as a fictional mechanism in a story about a society that was quite literally insane. You had to be insane to stay alive. I forgot about it until the fall of 1966 one day in a sophomore physics class. The professor, Hans Meisner whose father had been a famous physicist said in a discussion about the nature of electromagnetic energy that "sometimes we see them as waves and sometimes we see them as particles so we call them wavicles." I was in a large lecture hall in a seat with one of those fold down desks or I would have fallen out of my seat onto the floor in shock. Which is it? How can it be both at the same time? The next words out of his mouth just doubled down on it. "When we think of them as particles we call them photons and they have no mass." Something made out of nothing? I'm living in 1984. This is what our science of physics tells me. And it happened again when I learned that in quantum mechanics an electron can have both positive and negative spin at the same time. To be or not to be. What a question. To be both at the same time. So this is where the majority of Russian people are in their minds, The Ukrainians are our brothers. The Ukrainians don't exist. We are invading Ukraine to save it from American satanism. Ukraine has no right to exist. We're at an existential risk if we lose. We're going to use some of our 6000 nuclear weapons to vaporize them, we have the largest arsenal of them in the world. In 1984 The Ministry of Truth was responsible for rewriting history to suit the doctrine of the day. Oceania is allied with Eurasia to fight the monsters of Eastasia. Oceania is allied with Eastasia to fight the monsters of Eurasia. Each time history was rewritten all previous documents had to be inserted into a memory hole to be incinerated. Every day there was the ritual of "Two Minutes Hate." The citizens were entertained by videos of soldiers shooting women and children from helicopters. There is no way to rationalize the inherently irrational. It's in the cultural DNA of Russia. The only thing you can rationally do is find a way to destroy it without destroying yourself in the process. Trying to save it, rescue it, change it is impossible. It was tried and failed. Sometimes you just have to accept the world for what it is and deal with it on its own terms.
@@travelbugse2829 way ahead of you, fatalism in RU runs to the core... it's almost our most beloved trait. Survivors are respected, not the weak. Cheers 🍻
Thank you for your thoughtful and informative insights. Can you speak to the 'man on the street' interviews conducted by 1420 and how they seem to fully reflect your perspectives on the population in Russia?
@@travelbugse2829 I agree. Vlad’s explanation of the cultural dynamics in Russia give those interviews a very rich context. In light of that, I wonder if there are deeper insights @VladVexlerChat could illuminate for us. Cheers!
there was a recent independent questionnaire from the Russian Field (300 days) about presidential elections (May 2023, 1600 people). 30% support Putin, 29% cannot answer, 16% would vote for another "person" (they could name anyone but didn't), 6% would ignore elections, and Navalny got 2%. This probably supports Vlad's opinion but you can make your own.
We could also ask where were the American people from 2002 - 2022 regarding Afghanistan / Iraq. At least the Russian people have the excuse of the despot in charge. Americans are mostly just apathetic AF. I respect fatalism far more than indifference
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"H"
No, *this* is clearly the main channel.
Source: Just look at the frequency at which videos are posted there and here.
So, if people come to the table with the belief that some are more equal than others, or to put it more bluntly, there are those beings who have no moral value, is that the only legitimate excuse for excluding them from the table? Are they then radical evil at that point?
It has become obvious that you and your community do not want me as a member or commenter. This is terribly unfortunate as I feel that I could have been a contributing member. I shall not return, because I am honest.
@@daviddawson1718 It's a very open place to share ideas, but rude comments are not helpful...content creators have no control over their "Likes" Many people, myself included are very familiar with the channel and will "Like" a video before watching. I enjoy the content and ideas very much also reading other peoples' comments because very few people IRL (in real life) have any interest in international politics..also I enjoy discussing western politics with educated people. Most people in my daily sphere don't have this level of knowledge. So I always give a "Like" not because I agree with everything...I just enjoy gaining some insight. There is nothing insincere in instant "Likes" appearing. Also RUclips is rather fickle...it's not a sure science how Likes/Views actually work.
Vlad, you didn't come across as slow at all in your interview with Anna - just thoughtful and careful in your choice of words. It was excellent.
Any time words are difficult to flow, we have settings for 1.25x or 1.5x speed. I listen closely and speech speed is for me good. 💯
Yeah, I just thought he was considering a couple of very different angles to answer the questions from and trying to synthesize them.
Your Speaking speed is never a problem. If needed I just adjust the RUclips speed to 1.25. Your natural measured and thoughtful delivery is what makes your videos such a pleasure to listen to.
I seem to have a lot of ADHD symptoms so always play on 1.5 anyway (otherwise my mind isn't occupied and wanders.) I do this on every commentator and you have good enunciation, and you speed is not slow.
Love listening to your videos. Informative and kind
The talk with Anna was awesome. You both did great; very well thought.
Love from Dallas, Texas 💙🌻
Love back!
❤
Honestly, someone coming for lunch in a giraffe-suit has made more of an effort than most people! It might be "not so appropriate" but still: top marks for effort.
I do know if this is what he ment, but there are 2 levels of respect:
1. The kind we give to all humans. Do on to others as you would want done to you. This includes drunks, strangers and even crazy people in costumes. How you are towards them is more about the person you are.
2 Respect that could be called admiration. How well do you treat your future self? There is a difference between being selfish and having healthy self-respect. Everyone you know who knows you sees how you treat yourself.
I have only known 1 person get this correct 100%. I didn't think it was possible.
I’m really excited about your collaboration with Anna. It really moves the conversation along.
❤
My favorite part of the interview is when Anna said that watching Vlad’s videos has changed her perception/demeanour toward Alexei Navalny; that instead of dismissing him out of hand, she and perhaps other Ukrainians would try to see if they could get any use out of him.
😇 loved the opening. You always bring a huge smile to my face Vlad.
about the 'h'
what did it mean?
Thank you very much for your answer, Vlad. Not the answer I was expecting :-) but that's the reason for asking questions. I'm happy you found it worth a whole video.
Edmund thank you! And sorry if I was a bit rude! I can be pretty brutal! The shifting demographic underneath what I say here is that 60% of Russians are positively resisting politics and looking away from the war ( but they half know what their government has done). 5-20% (varying strength of commitment) positively support the war, and they are closer to some of your darkest descriptions. 10-20% are against but are dejected and need to be re animated.
Edmund, thank you very much for raising the question!
In my view, it's (very) important.
In social media 'time out' due to hand injury(one hand typing) Just a thank you for this and love what you are doing w/Anna from Ukraine 🌻
Healing wishes to hand. So sorry you hurt it.
The opening bit, rofl :D :D :D Sending love from Lithuania, V!
Love back at you!
Where are the Russian people?
Spacially: partly in Russia, partly in trenches in Ukraine and partly abroad, hiding from being sent to the trenches.
Temporally: in the Middle Ages.
Hi Edmond (Edmund?),
In case you are reading this i want to thank you for posting this interesting question/postulate
Thoughtprovoking answers aswell.
Thank you and Vlad for taking the time and ressources
I though Edmund was pointing out a large inconsistency with the Russian narrative... if Ukrainians don't exist and they are infact Russian then Russians are killing themselves. (Although I am getting the picture that historically that is not usual for Russia, as was true for many other countries) I thought it was interesting to take the narrative to its logical conclusion because as pointed out they simultaneously think Ukrainians are Russian and that they are not. Simplistically depending on if its right they control them or right that they kill them. The dichotomy comes through on the 1412 interviews frequently especially with the older generation. The younger generation interviewed are much clearer in general that they are there own people.
Vlad as always a interesting and thoughtful chat and thank you Edmund for providing the stimulus for it.
Imitation can often be flattering....so in that context I submit that my Wife and I have begun to greet each other in Vlad's wonderful "hello beautiful community". Best wishes from 'Merica 🤠.
Ha ha ha wonderful!
Next, insert a small pause before "community" :)
@AndreasDelleske Indeed 🙂, hello beautiful works well.
@@lawrencemitchell5983 I would still add the "community", maybe whisper it in her ear after a long pause :)
@@AndreasDelleske ☺️
You have a big heart Vlad. ♡
I’m a giraffe in a man suit.
It's ok...
Thank you, Vlad, for so many insights! ❤
Vlad, I really, really like your channel!
Thank you 😊
Thank YOU!
Vlad you are so creative and I love it! The opening of your video is too good! Ha!
Cheers
Great to hear your chat with Anna
CHello beautiful community and thanks for appreciating our gloriously mad English phonology.
Enjoyed the discussion with Anna.
Thank you Vlad. I'm glad we have you to decipher all this for us.
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦
@AussieT, We're all over the place!! 🇺🇦
@@DeputyDawg35 good. You're keeping up😉 I don't leave a comment everywhere.
🌻
Vlad, Thank you for clarifying for your audience the reality and nature of evil. Unless we are clear-headed about this (nihilism does not lead to evil being viewed as good; nihilism fuels real evil qua evil) we risk the worst of all conclusions, i.e. moral equivalence where it does not, in fact, exist.
Yes Gerald. I am specifically interested in the category of political evil.
I consider myself a nihilist because I see the destruction of the human race as a good thing. We are just one species on this planet but we are too powerful and too destructive. I consider that other species have as much right to exist as we have. And since we can’t bring ourselves to grant them that right and threaten all life on the planet with things like nuclear weapons and climate change it’s the human race that has no further right to exist.
Philosophy talks endlessly about morals but fails to understand that moral codes are simply the rules for survival. Being moral is being non-threatening which is of course why we all approve of other people being moral 😀
It is also interesting that the Russian policy makers compare it to trading Poznan for Boston, or Hamburg for Chicago. They seem to deny the real trade probability of St. Petersburg for Boston. As if somehow Russian cities won't figure in the equation. Definitely magical thinking there.
The Germans in WW1 were shocked when Trotsky told them that Russia won’t fight in the war anymore but won’t offer any concessions in exchange for peace nor sign any peace treaty (Trotsky assumed the German military was exhausted and couldn’t carry out any further offensives)
So the Germans just continued advancing into western Russia.
The result was that the Bolsheviks were forced to sign a peace treaty whose terms were even more harsh than if they had agreed to peace in the first round of negotiations.
The Romanov Tsars were horrible, but the Bolsheviks turned out to be even worse. Evil AND Incompetent.
That cold open caught me off guard 🤣
I like listen to you and learning. Hope you are feeling better. Thank you for spending you time on your channel Daniel
Consistently, Vlad’s analysis and commentary is unsurpassed online today, here and now. Honest, sincere and fulsome.
Gratitude from the Great Lakes. Take good care, all.
Gratitude back your way!
I love Lake Michigan, I spent some time in Chicago...beautiful lake..Navy Pier, so nice.
Good insights about the nature of evil, its wholly destructive impulses and its entirely negative values that can be just as real and straightforward as the more positive ones associated with goodness. And how difficult it can be for human beings to come to grips with this realization and understand just how evil, evil can be.
From my parent’s kitchen window you can watch a big group of bunnies jumping around freely, crossing the street, searching for dandelions in all neighbouring gardens. Sometimes when you comment on people, I imagine you as their shepherd analyzing their behaviour from above. Ok, now and then one has to be culled, but the rest of the time it’s rich feeding and cuddles. You obviously aim to be and are a good shepherd. I feel appreciation and affection when I watch, but it’s also odd.
I’m not 100% sure you are aware that you’re a bunny too. What happens if a bunny tells you?
Thanks Vlad it was a great collaboration with Anna from Ukraine. It was awesome,
and, I hope you don't change a thing! Always delighted to find a video from you, Vlad!
In my half understood historical thinking, changes of a stable regime can come when people smell weakness. People are persons, individuals weighing in the possible consequences of disobedience. There are many who are auto-obedient and there always who are auto-disobedient. But the people who are angry, frustrated and in-between... must see that it is possible to overcome the regime. One thing is angry people shouting in the street, and another if those angry people can get away with it, or the military starts changing place and it seems there will be weapons for the change.
Shards of glass analogy is lovely
Ty Vlad
Thank you for your wonderful chat with Anna! It was so nice to see two of my favorite people together!😊❤
It's so interesting. I've seen parallels in my life of how being " in" the war changes the mindset. I left my homeland because of war and watched from elsewhere. Going home was terribly hard for me as when I challenged family members, I was looked on as a traitor because I saw the bigger picture. They didn't like what I said as they were 100% committed. I, too, hate war.
According to Napoleon Bonaparte, a critical component to maintaining discipline and cohesion in a military force is ensuring good supply.
The Ukrainians have been focusing on Russian logistics since the very start of the invasion (terrible Russian logistics played a big part in the failure to advance on Kyiv)
Soldiers who are starving and growing weak from lack of water are less likely to maintain discipline. They are fighting defensively though so it reduces the chances of them mutinying or deserting (many videos of Russian soldiers protesting their orders are of them refusing to advance or attack)
Makes me think of the last years of the First World War; morale had all but collapsed in the Russian Army. Whole regiments stayed in their trenches, refusing to carry out attacks.
How refreshing: a speaker talking at ‘thinking’ speed ! Especially when the topic needs thought.
I was a conscript in the German Bundeswehr in the early 80th. I remember being thrown into a unknown social structure. I remember learning the rules by imitation. I think that is a basic human trait. I can't imagine how much worse this is for Russian conscripts sent to Ukraine. Would I plunder Ukrainian shops or do worse? I hope not, but I am not sure.
I suppose a lot would depend on your CO's and the tone they set. If they told you that the conquered were subhuman beasts, you might; if they ordered you to be respectful and obey the laws of war or you'll be courtmartialed and possibly shot, then you definitely wouldn't.
@@pwp8737 👍
Elimination of bad examples definitively helps.
You absolutely nailed that "H" at the beginning, who is your supplier? I want the number of whoever you were speaking to, that was a high quality "H".
Top secret!
I liked how you delivered this episode - even though it took me a while to get past the dinner in a giraffe suit thing. That one blocked out everything else in my mind for a minute straight :)
So glad you told us that you were very brain-tired . For a moment there, you sounded serious, thoughtful and even intelligent? So nice to be corretced in one's bewilderings.
I will assume sarcasm, alternative denied 🤷❤️
Ulrick, are you a troll?
"How did the ordinary Russians react to the war?" : Vlad: "With consumerism" .... (so true)
Good Sunday dear Vlad 🤗
Good Sunday!
Happy Sunday 🌻
"I hope you don't cry" WAS mean, but it made me laugh! 😂
Your discussion with Anna was excellent. You compliment each other quite nicely. Do it again - and do it with some others. There are several people I would like to see you dialogue with, like you have with Anna and Jake Broe. Slava Ukraini!
Thanks for thought with Anna: The following thought passed my mind: The germans said 1944-45, enjoy the wa,r the peace will be horrible! So it was!
10:03
About the conscripts behaviour, I think there are many documented cases that can help us understanding our relationship with inner, human evil and how contexts affect us morally and behaviourally.
From the top of my head, many US citizens unwillingly conscripted and forced into the Vietnam war spoke later about the monstrous things they and their also human comrades and enemies ended up doing to each other 😢
Love the opener!❤
It is learned helplessness and regression under that fatalism.
Hi Vlad!
I have a question related to what you mentioned during your chat with Anna - and also something you sometimes touch upon, that is, that whoever replaces Putin would not be worse than Putin since he is already doing all the horrible stuff.
It strikes me as a bit optimistic - looking at just Russian history one can easily imagine someone not just being fine with what happened in Bucha, but actively ordering the massacre that Tsarist Russia did in Warsaw in 1794. One can easily imagine dissidents not just being beaten by the police and jailed, but being shipped off to Siberian death camps and their families being shot like under Beria. One can imagine a repeat of the Holodomor.
Or, to use examples of other totalitarian regimes - Russian internet could be not just censored, but cut-off like in North Korea. Ukrainians could be not just invaded, but trying to be actively exterminated like Jews in Auschwitz...and one can imagine someone who isn't just using nuclear blackmail like Medvedev or Solovyov, but someone that actually goes through with that.
It's not that i don't support Putin's regime collapsing - i do with all my heart - but to me it seems a bit optimistic and bizarre to not even entertain the idea and not including in our calculations the possibility of someone much worse than Putin taking over.
Indeed. The Bolshevik revolution that replaced the Tsarist era brought on 70 years of almost unimaginable and unprecedented horror. What follows evil eras is not necessarily an improvement.
So, who was this " worse than Saddam Hussain " that stopped them after the Kuwait invasion was repelled?
The problem is that someone like that does not know how the Russian nation works. Putin is able to get what he wants in Russia because he knows exactly how the country works. Someone like Medvedev wouldn't be able to facistise Russian society quickly enough while also having 0 control over the country.
Whoever would theoretically would replace Putin no matter how ruthless would be better in at least the short term, the practical implications of consolidating power within Russia would demand no less than an immediate end to the war in Ukraine because continuing the war as is would only serve to weaken the budding new regime all but ensuring its head would soon be replaced by a more capable and practical one. This is not to say the would-be New regime and its head wouldn't ultimately prove to worse but current circumstances in effect would all but demand they'd be better in the short term as in 2-3 years.
@@christopherellis2663
1. I did not say that we are guaranteed to get someone worse than Putin, merely that there is a non-zero possibility this could happen.
2. Arguably the force that tried to replace Saddam was even worse - ISIS tried to implement a global islamofascist caliphate that regularly threw gay people from the rooftops as entertainment, they were only stopped by the most insane coalition that saw Russia, USA, Iran, Kurds, Assad and even some cells of Al-Quaeda on the same side.
Nice "H".
Your point around Russian attitudes to nuclear risks intrigues me and it's not one I've managed to bottom out. What do Russians think when they see leaders/propagandists merrily pronouncing the requirement for a nuclear war? Is it that they (Russians) have a lack of self-preservation, or is it that they don't understand the impact that even a medium-sized nuclear war - in terms of the incomprehensible scale and totality of death and destruction - would have, or do they think that a "strike" would happen in a consequence-free way?
The reason it intrigues me is that in the West (particularly the nuclear-armed states), if our leaders started brazenly threatening nuclear war we'd see them carted off and put in an asylum (rightly so), but in Russia it seems it's met with a sense of jingoism and that to me suggests either a lack of knowledge or a suicidal disposition, and I'm not sure which worries me more.
Never try to rationalize what Russians say or do. There’s no rationale when it comes to Russian mindset. Just never show that you fear them, keep calm and carry on.
It's met with sarcastic smiles, because it's just very clownish characters talking random bullshit. I don't know a single person who is seriously paying attention to this propaganda tv shows for old people.
@@jamievardy9698Come on.
That's Russia's entire foreign policy. The people who don't buy into the propaganda are almost completely invisible.
@@jamievardy9698there are such people, and a big problem with "sarcastic smilers" is that they don't believe in the existence of such people. Soloviev had a RUclips channel once. Yeah, you could say 90% of the views and comments were fake; but that leaves 10% on the table
HHHHhhhhilarious intro Vlad! I always get a little kick out of the second channel overly emphasized h to start. I like that you leaned into it! You like few others bring a very thoughtful perspective to this conversation and I really appreciate you. Thank you for being you and sharing it with us. I struggle to find a level of discourse that can bring me out of the dark places in my head, but you and a few others always stimulate further thought and get me out of the doom spiral that this world can so often put us in. A small point of curiosity, do you have any recommendations on readings, thought or phsyical excercises, or community's to reach out too to help those that are deeply impacted by the current state of our world mentally? You are always so grounded and balanced and you have overcome so much and I wish I knew your secret to good mental health. I don't mean to project or presume too much. I'm just reaching out curiously as I feel my mental health needs a bit of help these days. Cheers Vlad.
Very very thank you for your time and insights
Currently watching "One Day in Ukraine" by Volodymyr Tykhyy, an excellent documentary, so I can't watch this yet.
But thank you for your videos as ever! Thank you for your work!
Fear & anger play into actions on the battlefield regardless of nationality; the question is, do troops feel that they will be held accountable to certain humane standards. A remarkable effort is being made in Ukraine to gather evidence and hold Russian troops accountable BECAUSE the Putin regime is ruthless. On Jan 6th some of the violence at the capital became unconscionable. A jail sentence of 22 years was handed out! If the MAGA rightwing and Trump are not held accountable and kept under law, we will start to roll down the path towards a regime that won’t hold unconscionable violence accountable. If it comes to this, the ordinary U.S. civilian/ citizen will be in the same boat as the ordinary Russian civilian/citizen. I would expect more from U.S. citizens because we have a centuries in the making tradition of English liberty behind us.
I don't understand how some people can demand a 22 year prison sentence for one set of rioters and no consequences for another just because one wears MAGA hats and the other BLM shirts and can still claim to be on the side of rule of law.
"Deliberative disasters" is a pretty good diagnosis! Russian Fatalism has nothing to do with finding evil things good, but with finding Destiny malignant and inescapable - see Tchaikovsky's last three symphonies and his opera, ""The Queen of Spades."
I'd like to hear you play your piano.
On the classical music channel one day - a bit
@@VladVexlerChat We want Yiddisher honky-tonk!
I enjoy your manner speaking, even if it is a bit slow, because it gives me time to digest what you are saying, as you speak. It's a refreshing change from much of RUclips.
The position put by Edmund is also supported by multiple cases of Russians shelling their own troops, and also by Russia's use of block troops. I completely fail to understand.
Have you gone to russian media monitor? They posted a video of a front line priest. He says if he is asked by soldiers why they are in ukraine he replies “to die”. According to him, this is chosen by God and hence no one can change it. Just creepy. Not even ISIS ever said anything like that. Surely, they used to kill their weak fighters but it was always in a sneaky way. Apparently, they didn’t even force anyone into doing suicide bombing. It was always a personal choice by whoever went for it.
Can't help remembering a joke I heard in Gorbachev's time:
Two Tchuktchis (= Soviet Eskimos) are sitting on an ice floe, fishing.
One says: "Do you want to hear a political joke?"
The other answers: "Noooo! I don't want to be exiled!"
My utterly boring explanation: it isn't about Tchuktchis, it's about the people telling and laughing at the joke - it's funny to them because they are in fact nervous about holding a political opinion.
Спасибо, посмеялся xD
Best part of it is that you can't really exile a tchuktchi.
They live in the places where all the other people of the USSR would be exiled to.
@@moritamikamikara3879Even so, they can still be gulaged.
@@ElBandito this is not the point of the joke
Thank you, Vlad. I also enjoyed your conversation with Anna very much.
I am glad!
Love is a man in a chicken suit telling a man in a giraffe suit that it is ok to be a giraffe. That is love. And Vlad, I love you.❤
It seems to me as though there's a distinction between what a group as a whole is thinking and what its various members are thinking. If most of the group opts out as much as they can from the joint thought process (as is typical of humans, not just Russians), it doesn't mean that the process isn't happening. It just means that their individual opinions don't play much part in it. The thoughts of a group are usually incoherent. People usually interact in ways such that all of us together are stupider and more mean-spirited than any of us are individually. But the point is that we do interact, in ways such that it makes some sense to talk about what ideas are current in a group, even if those ideas are incoherent and mostly nonsense.
Love the intro! LOL
Ha HA! I Loved your opening "H", Vlad. And I love your sense of humor. Thank you for these chats. 🤗
Some important context to consider here as well is that there are some general universal truths to most soldiers:
Once the bullets start flying most soldiers don't care why they are there.
They care about the person to either side of them, they care about survival and they care about killing the enemy.
So for these soldiers who are Fighting, they are in a life & death struggle that transcendeds normal politics Vlad.
To them,.it doesn't matter if the enemy is also Russian. The political components that are important to them are the ones that provide their ability to function as combat units.
That is why we saw Wagners attempted coup. Not just due to Mr.Putin compartmentalizing his propaganda.
But because direct military leadership is getting soldiers killed, is making their conditions worse, didn't properly prepare to handle wounded.
It is also why we are now seeing the Russian military slowly adapting to this new situation and making improvements such as adopting Ukrainian tactics.
They don't care about the Ukraine itself.
They want to get home alive, And they want to make the other guy dead.
Who that other guy is doesn't matter if they have a firearm and are shooting at you.
The real hardcore Ideological fanatics are always the first ones to die in any conflict. You can see this even with the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. The survivors of those wars weren't the ones blowing themselves up.
They are the ones who set IEDs instead of suicide vest. They were the ones who tried to formalize training and are now part of the talibans current military. Yes they are believers, but they aren't the same kind of radicals who are now fertilizing the desert.
In one of the videos on his main channel, Vexler said that, win or lose in Ukraine, there are going to be hundreds of thousands of Russians returning to Russia.
They are going to be traumatised, angry, and acclimatised to killing.
There have already been reports of Russian veterans of Ukraine going on killing sprees in Russia.
A Russian man stabbed an old man to death in a diner while screaming at everyone that he fought for his country and watched his comrades die and no one here in Russia cares.
Greetings from Utah.
If the shirt fits, wear it. It fits😩😂.
Thanks for your awesome work. Appreciated.
Slava Ukraine.
My son was just in Salt Lake for a tournament...Utah is beautiful
Vlad, you have pleasant interactions.
Love the "H" gag. And they must have sent you a really good one - it came out perfectly!
Your comment about being slow I have always considered a deliberate, contemplative speaking style That you are actually thinking about your words before, not like so many, after you speak them. I also admire those commentators who are sharing in English whilst often thinking in a different language.
I would like to applaud Edmond for asking a question that sparked a very interesting conversation but also because the question in the end assumes much of the same things as many common sense views about the war in Ukraine.
That introduction is darling 😊
Thanks Vlad for taking the time to create this content.
I was very much against the invasion of Iraq because of 9/11 but I was completely shocked that Sadam had no surviving wmd programs, he was a super dictator but the world doesn't mind super dictatorships.
Ne pleure pas Edmond.
As the Germans Said 1944: enjoy the war, the peace will be horrible!
You got it. You bloody got it! The 'H'. Well done Old Chap. I told you so months ago. Glad it helped.
You're talking with Ana. I've missed this. That's great.
Well, Vlad, the Russian reaction to Bucha was a shrug or a ‘They deserved it”.
nice propaganda bs
@@vedser just quoting your countrymen, Ivan
A child who shares childhood memories of abusive, parents who also are under the influence of alcohol with discovered others who also had similar experiences. There’s a likelihood that those people will grow up and become abusive 😮😮😮😮
In those bunkers waiting for pootin to show up so the can dance on pole for him🎉😂😂
What you say around 11:20 I have personally witnessed among people who lost friends or family in the Vietnam war. Even to this day my dad and my uncle refuse to believe that their friends died in vain, and therefore have done tremendous mental acrobatics to justify the war. They won't discuss it (other than to claim a kind of "pride" for "serving," although I personally cannot understand refusing to discuss something I'm proud of), but I have seen among Vietnam vets a secret code they share. I can only imagine the pain of being forced into those kinds of situations, and I don't hold it against them that they try to keep the memory alive. But you're absolutely right, Vlad, as soon as a person is involved in an event like that, one beings to personally identify and relate to that event, and defend the event as just or meaningful.
Much chappiness and chealth to you. I love your on-going joke about your pronunciation of the letter "H."
That was brilliant... love is tolerating but not being afraid to acknowledge that your dinner guest is wearing a giant chicken suit.
I'm sorry but I would rather see more reductionist statements on your part Vlad. Sometimes nuances and complexity blind us from calling a spade a spade. Fatalism is morally reprehensible. Rejecting authoritarian abuse is a universal individual responsability, not a product of Ukrainian 'false consciousness' that strayed so far from the 'Russian soul'. Rejecting fatalism and overcoming fear are just developmental challenges that not everyone manages to deal with. Therefore, Russian disengagement can be seen as evil, perpetrated both onto themselves and onto others.
For sure, Russian parents care for their children like in any other culture. My conversations with contacts in the scientific community in Moscow and St. Petersburg revealed tremendous fear related to waves of conscription. But the emotions nonetheless end there, there is little thought or belief that they are otherwise involved or have any political agency in society. They dont want their children to die, but otherwise they need to get on with their day.
agape, brotherly/sibling, platonic love.
Just wanted to add some things that may be obvious, 1)the central place of the Russian army and the prestige of it in Russian society it is robust. At best, as an outsider you may get "some rotten apples" across, but to make the argument that their is systematic misconduct and warcrimes is nearly impossible. A lot of cherry picking and " what aboutisms" will fly in your direction. 2)Leaving the country ( as a Russian)will invalidate your position (reasons , personal safety don't count) immediately, you are of bad intention at best. 3)There is no death cult, more of a fear cult that can result in dehumanising, and cruelty. 4)There is more tribalism than a year ago that cannot be ignored. The dark humor is less apperent. 5) Ukrainian people do exist for Russians, but they do have an apart national identify, they are "them" not a "us" for Russians . The Putin fairytale about misguided "little Russians" is only for the delusional and lazy ones. 4) if the war is considered lost by Russia their will be a lot of blame games and not a lot of acceptence of responsibility. Maybe the situation in Germany after WW1 and (directly after)WW2 can give some insight there are more parallels to be drawn if the West gets it mostly how its want. That is 1) no occupation of Russian ground 2 ) large payments for reparations ( most Russians are not very rich, so they will bear the brunt of this.) 3) a kind of trail for warcriminals , if we look at Serbia that will not be easy to convince these trails will be just and not just another instance of the Wests alleged Russophobia.
Thanks for your ideas. It will be a God-awful mess to sort this out after the Putin regime has imploded (which I still believe is the greatest hope to end this tragedy that has befallen the two countries). The blame game will not be not helped, I would suggest, by the country being steeped in propaganda.
" Если бы провалилась Россия, то не было бы никакого ни убытка, ни волнения в человечестве. " -- Иван Тургенев.
Couldnt've said it better myself:)
G-translated that: "If Russia had failed, there would have been no loss or excitement in humanity." -- Ivan Turgenev.
Let me clarify, absolute love is caring for another happiness (listen, respect, care for, step back). Only goal is that the other person feels good. Then there is relative love, also important, much more self-centered, key word "I" and "me" as in I love you becaue I can trust you, I love you because you are good to me, I love you because I understand you, etc... And of course, there is a beautiful dance between absolute love and relative love. Ideally, the meaning of life, is to rest always in absolute love for all people. Then relative love is also meaningful and important for building a family and other positive environments....
Thanks!
Thank you!
4:10 so you have covered chicken and giraffe suits ... How about the other animals? 😂
(just could not help miself)
Russians through a fit about the soldiers they lost in Afghanistan. Have they completely become something else? They don't seem to care about the 200k lost in Ukraine. It's like they are different people IMO.
Or it's like 200k haven't died there and you were lied to by Ukrainian propaganda which just thrown random number.
The first time I read 1984 I was about 12 or 13 years old. The one thing in that story that frightened me the most was what I would call self induced schizophrenia as the only mechanism for survival. The protagonist Winston Smith eventually comes to believe that the statements 2 + 2 = 4 and 2 + 2 = 5 are both true and he believes they are true with equal conviction. It's not just a matter of saying it because that is what those who have power over him want to hear, he actually comes to believe it himself. Orwell called it "doublethink."
I dismissed this as a fictional mechanism in a story about a society that was quite literally insane. You had to be insane to stay alive. I forgot about it until the fall of 1966 one day in a sophomore physics class. The professor, Hans Meisner whose father had been a famous physicist said in a discussion about the nature of electromagnetic energy that "sometimes we see them as waves and sometimes we see them as particles so we call them wavicles." I was in a large lecture hall in a seat with one of those fold down desks or I would have fallen out of my seat onto the floor in shock. Which is it? How can it be both at the same time? The next words out of his mouth just doubled down on it. "When we think of them as particles we call them photons and they have no mass." Something made out of nothing? I'm living in 1984. This is what our science of physics tells me. And it happened again when I learned that in quantum mechanics an electron can have both positive and negative spin at the same time. To be or not to be. What a question. To be both at the same time.
So this is where the majority of Russian people are in their minds, The Ukrainians are our brothers. The Ukrainians don't exist. We are invading Ukraine to save it from American satanism. Ukraine has no right to exist. We're at an existential risk if we lose. We're going to use some of our 6000 nuclear weapons to vaporize them, we have the largest arsenal of them in the world. In 1984 The Ministry of Truth was responsible for rewriting history to suit the doctrine of the day. Oceania is allied with Eurasia to fight the monsters of Eastasia. Oceania is allied with Eastasia to fight the monsters of Eurasia. Each time history was rewritten all previous documents had to be inserted into a memory hole to be incinerated. Every day there was the ritual of "Two Minutes Hate." The citizens were entertained by videos of soldiers shooting women and children from helicopters. There is no way to rationalize the inherently irrational. It's in the cultural DNA of Russia. The only thing you can rationally do is find a way to destroy it without destroying yourself in the process. Trying to save it, rescue it, change it is impossible. It was tried and failed. Sometimes you just have to accept the world for what it is and deal with it on its own terms.
That last paragraph depresses me nearly to the point of alcoholism.
@@travelbugse2829 way ahead of you, fatalism in RU runs to the core... it's almost our most beloved trait. Survivors are respected, not the weak. Cheers 🍻
4:53 Total agreement with the 'consuming' thing😅. It is high-level cringe, isn't it?
Thanks 👍 Carry On. There is no better or worse, only history, made from individual choices. Some of us have very poor judgment.
Thank you!!
Very true...sadly there seems to be high levels of poor judgement to be found everywhere
@@suzannstrohmaier2578through history, this seems to have been a constant.
@@jmolofsson Yep...Murphy's law I suppose
Perfect H, brother.
they are fighting the tide of perversion..
we thank them and pray for them
Thank you for your thoughtful and informative insights. Can you speak to the 'man on the street' interviews conducted by 1420 and how they seem to fully reflect your perspectives on the population in Russia?
Daniil's vox pops prove to me just how accurate are Vlad's insights. It's quite terrifying to hear so many people saying, "I don't follow politics".
@@travelbugse2829 I agree. Vlad’s explanation of the cultural dynamics in Russia give those interviews a very rich context. In light of that, I wonder if there are deeper insights @VladVexlerChat could illuminate for us. Cheers!
there was a recent independent questionnaire from the Russian Field (300 days) about presidential elections (May 2023, 1600 people). 30% support Putin, 29% cannot answer, 16% would vote for another "person" (they could name anyone but didn't), 6% would ignore elections, and Navalny got 2%. This probably supports Vlad's opinion but you can make your own.
We could also ask where were the American people from 2002 - 2022 regarding Afghanistan / Iraq. At least the Russian people have the excuse of the despot in charge. Americans are mostly just apathetic AF. I respect fatalism far more than indifference
“H”ello 😅
It would be excellent to watch in your you tube channel if you can have a guest like Operators Starsky and Jake Broe. In your channel 😅🎉❤