Superb Historian!!!! Professor Stephen Kotkin shares relevant detains in such an tone, tenor, and tempo easily consumed by a Commoner as I. Thanks for sharing. I love statesmen like Prof. Kotkin that allows us to connect the dots.
Exaaactly hahaha I been saying this since I listened to him for the first time years ago. What an incredible wealth of knowledge and brilliant way of delivery! It’s a privilege to have access to people like him via technology…
You are right! And not only to New Yorkers - perhaps all the more mesmerizing, homey Brooklyn-Joisey style of imparting spot-on knowledge and wisdom. Gotta be grateful for him.🙌
At one point during WWII, Irving Berlin, the composer, was invited to a Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street. At one point, as they went around the table, PM Churchill asked "And Professor Berlin, what do you think?" at which point he gave his view -- and added that he thought they had the wrong Berlin there. :-)
This is the "realest" Realpolitik I've ever heard. As a military force in WWII, the Soviet Russian Empire was something of a Thanksgiving turkey. It was a hollow, gutted dead bird stuffed full of British & American weapons, food & other goods. W/o this Western substantiation of Russia, it could not have survived any better then the czar's empire had.
Soviet Russian Empire was the one that defeated Germany while US and UK were pretending they will open western front and only did it when German armies back was broken by USSR...only thing US army was superior compared to USSR was killing civilians, US ratio of killed civilains vs US soldiers was only close to the Nazi Germans...
Tremendous - a great insight in every paragraph. Kotkin is patient and nuanced in his analysis. His turning points share the dates given by others but his reasons have so much more insight from the archives all reinforced by deep understanding and eloquent explanation. It is good that Hitler was destroyed so completely and so relatively quickly (however, at great cost) but such a shame for humanity that Stalin and Mao perpetuated their cruel dystopian nightmares for so long. I would prefer that all three were quickly dispatched to the 10th circle of Hell beyond all others in the depth of their psychopathic indifference to suffering (with Pol Pot and King Leopold II following close behind into the inferno). We are faced with the fact that individuals really do affect history and we should hope for a once and future Churchill or Roosevelt to combat the totalitarian destruction of our freedoms. Be brave so that civilization does not fall. We will all be called to defend what we love. We will stand.
It's exactly time to watch this amazing lecture today this year. We are living together with Chinese meddle class who give market, threat or wisdom etc at the same time. I cannot admire Professor Kotkin too much. And yes train comes just by seconds here.
Great to see Kotkin defend the much-maligned Neville Chamberlain, he did the best he could with what miniscule resources he had available. It's easy for the rest of us to talk. And he was right about the Cold War. Once a pact with Stalin had been struck, the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe & the heinous tragedies that followed it were all but inevitable, despite Churchill's most desperate efforts (Operation: Unthinkable) to prevent the occupation. The Western Allies could not possibly have gotten to Austria, or Poland, or the Baltic states and the rest of Eastern Europe, before Stalin did. Hitler really did start the Cold War. Of course, the rest of the lecture is amazing too. Brilliant as usual.
I do not think the treaty was an anomaly..as Kotkin claims that both Russia and Germany were flat on their back ...that this was they only time since Bismarcks unification..in the 1870..but this was only 50 years in the great span of time so I wouldn't consider it an anomaly...I think both sides are correct ...I think the rise of bolshevism..had more to do with the rise of Hitler.
This is what real scholarship is about. Getting to the truth of the matter. Professor Kotkin makes no bones about his moral perspective , but doesn't allow that to cloud his analysis of the empirical sources. It seems to me that like all great actors, he doesn't inject himself into the subject: it is not about him, but about these earth shattering events he describes with astonishing objectivity. I don't agree with some of his observations ("not in the USA's DNA to be globally engaged", for example, when it has over 1,000 bases around the globe), but that's knit-picking. The force of his exposition is extremely powerful and with the right balance of sympathy.
Brilliant lecture. Just as footnote, the progress of (west) Germany after 1945 could only occur by the support of the US. The example of a republic, not just democracy that eventually might again turn into tyranny (Ben Franklin), was important as role model and education. Freedom of press, checks and balances, all these institutions that are mandatory for a relative democracy require protection until they are enough strongly anchored in the fundament of the society. I’m even not convinced that in eastern Germany this has occurred, at least not in all layers of the society. I believe, democracy requires several generations until enough trust and confidence is established. During the initial phase this very likely requires support from outside in order to prevent the malignant forces in a society to take over the process and eventually turn it into fascism.
Haha. So true my friend. .... I would guess you are from the place that used to be called the West Germany? However, let's give these ddr's a break (people from there, the ruling elite is mostly bunch of criminals.) They suffered a lot. Trust me.
I‘m a hybrid (US/German) but I also lived in many different places including Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine... So I agree with you entirely, people there suffered a lot. But I’m afraid, the transition from communism into democracy seems much more difficult than into fascism. That’s a serious danger, especially if people loose their trust into the western liberal democracy. There are forces who want to turn back time in order to conserve their power. And nationalism seems to work well especially on places where people lost their previous (socialistic) identity. They get confused and tend to regress into an imaginative state of nationalism. In search for a lost paradise that never existed...
Germany had a long history of advanced liberal institutions and good government before Hitler and would have them on their own after Hitler with or without the US. What the US provided was loans.
If Stalin had been born and raised in a small, impoverished, isolated country, without connections to a teetering empire, for example, Bhutan, or Crete, in the 18th century, he could cause relatively little harm to the world. However, if Stalin becomes a prophetic figure in the ages to come, humanity has worse barbarity ahead.
Yes, Russia was not invited to the conference, but that was in part due to it signing a separate peace with Germany and exiting the war. The Russians ceded the territory of what became much of Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, and part of Latvia to Germany. Further, per the treaty Finland, Estonia, and most of Ukraine became self governing, i.e. outside of both German and Russian control. Though the Allies didn't have to do so, it declared the treaty invalid and ended German control, which created Poland and Lithuania. The Red Army then re-took Ukraine and part of Belarus as well as tried to retake Poland, losing the Polish-Soviet War. It also tried to retake Estonia and Latvia.
Small twist. Deng Xiaoping's trip to some Asian countries with large Chinese diaspora, specifically Singapore in 1978, and seeing how they had been developing (he was suitably impressed, even stunned) that paved the way for China to become more capitalistic with the US, of course, the obvious target market.
1:59: "I'm from New York, so craziness is normal." Małpa can confirm this wisdom. Also, Vedmyd is cackling in a three-years-until-the-end-of-the-West-Asian-autocracies sort of way.
so far China had success in building a hybrid political system with authoritarianism, nationalism, private economy and mass education. the thing we need to remember now is that China has now more freedom for individuals and minorities (except Uighurs) than in any moment in its history. this does not mean it cannot get better, on the contrary, but the perspective is needed. a democracy with Chinese characteristics is indeed the solution for them and not a foreign mandated change. my biggest hope is a Chinese prime minister who is educated in US or UK and who comes back to do reforms
I was surprised at hearing Kotkin endorse the European Union. He has not had to live under this cut rate version of the Soviet Union. Yet he thought well of the UK referendum. Is he commuting the error laid bare by the book “What is history” by E H Carr? I refer to the comparison of Butterfield and Rank.
I don't think it would be possible for Prof. Kotkin to talk "too long." I suspect his voice would fail before he ran out of people's focused attention.
one thing prof kotkin does not understand is that ussr or any ideologically similar state can only maintain itself from civil war by an endless militarist regime. there is no real potential for such country to strive to peace as it will become devastating, as it happened when gorbachev opened up just a bit. therefore, kotkin's term "losing peace" is inapplicable for a communist dictatorship system. "smart" communist leaders like like our beloved leader of north korea knows it very well and acts accordingly. see how strong he stands! ...overall kotkin's lectures are very interesting thanks to the abandonce of great factual material - this is the real treasure in his works not his theories .
The only issue I take with this is the dismissal of the facist tendancies of trumpism. Might not have been as bad at the time of filming but you don't need to have gone all the way to be a fascist force
We should take note of Kotkin. With Russia at war with Ukraine and the various supporting powers we are on the cusp of a great power war once again. History tells us that this is when fascism will likely raise its head again, I see the Kyiv or Warsaw regimes and it’s not so hard to see this happening, according to ample (non Russian) documentation, Kyiv was already some way down that path at the time of the invasion. It’s an unpopular conclusion but the pre invasion reports in UK and EC parliaments confirm I am correct.
The dilemma of communism is not how to keep the size of the middle class in check. The dilemma is how to get rid of the class system but keep the regime in power. By definition, this is impossible.
Great lecture. Brilliant. Thought provoking, but… Russia took on debt of USSR? Thats why it got the right of veto in UN? Tsarist russia, then Soviets and then russia again, aggresively anexed, destabilized, robbed neighbouring nations, murdered the elites of those nations. Now they should pay soviet debts??? This shows in clear and obvious manner how western powers treat eastern european nations. First we have to acknowledge it. Then we have to change it. Ukrainians already do this with great success, but also for a big price.
Germany today looks the way it does thanks to America (occupation of West Germany after WWII, etc.). Alas, Russia today looks the way it does because it was never occupied by America. (American occupation did wonders for Japan, too.)
@@arthurkhomiakov4678 - Afghanistan in particular wasn't even remotely close to being a modern state; post-War Germany & Japan were. We should have gone in, knocked some heads, and said: "Get your act together on your own, or we'll be back and resume." Staying was a bad idea. Staying with far too few troops for a true "occupation" was a bad idea.
Germany looks the way it does because 1. the Soviets are who defeated the Germans and won WW2, 2. the Germans are a very talented people &, 3. American loans. We did not "occupy" Germany for any meaningful length of time. We occupied Berlin. And so how in the hell do you even talk about American occupying the USSR?
I could listen to Kotkin 24/7. So interesting and thought provoking. Even when I don’t agree he is amazing to listen to.
he thinks he has a place in world, he has a sense of importance, and he is correct, he is a master storyteller.
He's also very funny. bringing a sense of humor to a field not always known for that.
He is an amazing speaker, intellectual and historian. He needs to be an adviser for all US Presidents.
@@VladTokarev You are so correct!
Indeed. So important for a historian to be listenable. No notes, just big brass balls
We love professor Pesci!
Tedious ref to a pop movie is dismaying and pitiful.
Silly comment.
Whoa whoa whoa. You tryin to be funny? Funny how?
No kidding. He turned off Pesci and instead turned on the Bond Villain accent. Weird.
@@erc9468 Actors Studio.
Fantastic, pure genius and also a sense of humour. I love him.
It's also how I feel about him. He's also very generous with his time and always polite and respectful of others.
@S Baumgartner Agreed, very inspirational personality.
Thank you for this amazing lecture. Professor Kotkin is one of the most brilliant minds of our age.
He is terrible. Stephen Cohen is much better.
@@alo1692 I think both are incredible scholars and lecturers.
Xs88s8sI
He’s my favorite lecturer by a mile.
I always learn so much from Stephen Kotkin. His lectures are so on point and force a reality that we all should be aware of.
AGREE.
Superb Historian!!!! Professor Stephen Kotkin shares relevant detains in such an tone, tenor, and tempo easily consumed by a Commoner as I. Thanks for sharing. I love statesmen like Prof. Kotkin that allows us to connect the dots.
Great lecture, this man is the definition of intelligence and knowledge.
always been an idiot since I remember him in the 90s in Oxford
Excellent talk on history and fascism. This is the best talk that I have heard the real things in history without blaming anyone.
micheal parenti is much better
This guy feeds my mind...
Professor Kotkin speaks like Joe Pesci's character in "My Cousin Vinny" with his tonal sounds and diction. He is very well thought out and logical.
Dat's Brooklyn fer ya!
Your right !! Nailed it!!
Exaaactly hahaha I been saying this since I listened to him for the first time years ago. What an incredible wealth of knowledge and brilliant way of delivery! It’s a privilege to have access to people like him via technology…
He just addresses that on an episode of The Goodfellows 😂
You are right! And not only to New Yorkers - perhaps all the more mesmerizing, homey Brooklyn-Joisey style of imparting spot-on knowledge and wisdom. Gotta be grateful for him.🙌
Always on point Mr. Kotkin.
Great analysis and comparisons.
Listen to the message people not the accent, he delivers it in.
This guy is brilliant
brilliant clear speaker, thank you stephen kotkin
My WWI and Treaty of Versailles go to is usually Margret MacMillan but Prof Kotkin is as good a lecturer as has ever lived.
This dude is a skilled and awesome lecturer.
a brilianr lecture by a great scholar..
Mr . Kotkin style of delivery is mesmerizing to me , hopefully I’m not the only one .
At one point during WWII, Irving Berlin, the composer, was invited to a Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street. At one point, as they went around the table, PM Churchill asked "And Professor Berlin, what do you think?" at which point he gave his view -- and added that he thought they had the wrong Berlin there. :-)
If you think that's bad, you should have seen the producers when the band started playing the songs they asked for from Irving Kristol!
Excellent, start to finish.
My favourite speaker of all
Fascinating analysis. Thank you for sharing.
This is the best Kotkin I've heard yet. What I miss is the enviromental downside of "the American Story".
"What else would you do at Princeton with a laptop during my lecture when you are paying $70000 a year for tuition than buy clothes?" 😂😂😂
True
35:25 lol !
Omg he is brilliant!
Great talk!
He is the greatest historian I'm greatful to have met
Damn, had I known he was in my city... But I didnt know him back then at all.
46:24 This happened because American manufacturers wanted to make in China (low cost) and ship back to the American Market.
Professor kotlin- dont worry about talking a little over alotted time- people would still stay and listen.
Kotkin is a good story-teller with a Joe Pesci accent. Meaning, a great success.
Clear and concise he is without peer
This is the "realest" Realpolitik I've ever heard.
As a military force in WWII, the Soviet Russian Empire was something of a Thanksgiving turkey.
It was a hollow, gutted dead bird stuffed full of British & American weapons, food & other goods.
W/o this Western substantiation of Russia, it could not have survived any better then the czar's empire had.
Czars would not havelost its command structure a few years earlier
Soviet Russian Empire was the one that defeated Germany while US and UK were pretending they will open western front and only did it when German armies back was broken by USSR...only thing US army was superior compared to USSR was killing civilians, US ratio of killed civilains vs US soldiers was only close to the Nazi Germans...
He underestimated the danger of Trump.
Did he just call Timothy Snyder an idiot savant????
I was thinking that too.
As of 2023, Germany's Green Party is doing an outstanding job keeping Center Left sane.
Tremendous - a great insight in every paragraph.
Kotkin is patient and nuanced in his analysis.
His turning points share the dates given by others
but his reasons have so much more insight from the archives
all reinforced by deep understanding and eloquent explanation.
It is good that Hitler was destroyed so completely
and so relatively quickly (however, at great cost)
but such a shame for humanity that Stalin and Mao
perpetuated their cruel dystopian nightmares for so long.
I would prefer that all three were quickly dispatched to the 10th circle of Hell
beyond all others in the depth of their psychopathic indifference to suffering
(with Pol Pot and King Leopold II following close behind into the inferno).
We are faced with the fact that individuals really do affect history
and we should hope for a once and future Churchill or Roosevelt
to combat the totalitarian destruction of our freedoms.
Be brave so that civilization does not fall.
We will all be called to defend what we love.
We will stand.
Att
Doing a kotkin marathon hbu
For the last month.
Same
It's exactly time to watch this amazing lecture today this year.
We are living together with Chinese meddle class who give market, threat or wisdom etc at the same time.
I cannot admire Professor Kotkin too much.
And yes train comes just by seconds here.
So you are going
To him China is an illusion. Bet is China is just distraction.
Great to see Kotkin defend the much-maligned Neville Chamberlain, he did the best he could with what miniscule resources he had available. It's easy for the rest of us to talk. And he was right about the Cold War.
Once a pact with Stalin had been struck, the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe & the heinous tragedies that followed it were all but inevitable, despite Churchill's most desperate efforts (Operation: Unthinkable) to prevent the occupation.
The Western Allies could not possibly have gotten to Austria, or Poland, or the Baltic states and the rest of Eastern Europe, before Stalin did. Hitler really did start the Cold War.
Of course, the rest of the lecture is amazing too. Brilliant as usual.
Kotkin brilliant as ever. D.A. J.D. NYC
Kotkin was a great find.
Thank you.
I do not think the treaty was an anomaly..as Kotkin claims that both Russia and Germany were flat on their back ...that this was they only time since Bismarcks unification..in the 1870..but this was only 50 years in the great span of time so I wouldn't consider it an anomaly...I think both sides are correct ...I think the rise of bolshevism..had more to do with the rise of Hitler.
This is what real scholarship is about. Getting to the truth of the matter. Professor Kotkin makes no bones about his moral perspective , but doesn't allow that to cloud his analysis of the empirical sources. It seems to me that like all great actors, he doesn't inject himself into the subject: it is not about him, but about these earth shattering events he describes with astonishing objectivity. I don't agree with some of his observations ("not in the USA's DNA to be globally engaged", for example, when it has over 1,000 bases around the globe), but that's knit-picking. The force of his exposition is extremely powerful and with the right balance of sympathy.
Actual the point where you disagree is a crucial one. (I disagree there too.) But it's true, his perspective is very enlightening indeed.
Insightful
The Q&A at the end is very interesting.
Brilliant lecture. Just as footnote, the progress of (west) Germany after 1945 could only occur by the support of the US. The example of a republic, not just democracy that eventually might again turn into tyranny (Ben Franklin), was important as role model and education. Freedom of press, checks and balances, all these institutions that are mandatory for a relative democracy require protection until they are enough strongly anchored in the fundament of the society. I’m even not convinced that in eastern Germany this has occurred, at least not in all layers of the society. I believe, democracy requires several generations until enough trust and confidence is established. During the initial phase this very likely requires support from outside in order to prevent the malignant forces in a society to take over the process and eventually turn it into fascism.
Haha. So true my friend.
.... I would guess you are from the place that used to be called the West Germany? However, let's give these ddr's a break (people from there, the ruling elite is mostly bunch of criminals.) They suffered a lot. Trust me.
I‘m a hybrid (US/German) but I also lived in many different places including Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine... So I agree with you entirely, people there suffered a lot. But I’m afraid, the transition from communism into democracy seems much more difficult than into fascism. That’s a serious danger, especially if people loose their trust into the western liberal democracy. There are forces who want to turn back time in order to conserve their power. And nationalism seems to work well especially on places where people lost their previous (socialistic) identity. They get confused and tend to regress into an imaginative state of nationalism. In search for a lost paradise that never existed...
Germany had a long history of advanced liberal institutions and good government before Hitler and would have them on their own after Hitler with or without the US. What the US provided was loans.
ty steven!
If Stalin had been born and raised in a small, impoverished, isolated country, without connections to a teetering empire, for example, Bhutan, or Crete, in the 18th century, he could cause relatively little harm to the world. However, if Stalin becomes a prophetic figure in the ages to come, humanity has worse barbarity ahead.
Yes, Russia was not invited to the conference, but that was in part due to it signing a separate peace with Germany and exiting the war. The Russians ceded the territory of what became much of Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, and part of Latvia to Germany. Further, per the treaty Finland, Estonia, and most of Ukraine became self governing, i.e. outside of both German and Russian control. Though the Allies didn't have to do so, it declared the treaty invalid and ended German control, which created Poland and Lithuania. The Red Army then re-took Ukraine and part of Belarus as well as tried to retake Poland, losing the Polish-Soviet War. It also tried to retake Estonia and Latvia.
Wow! This must be awesome!
PLEASE CONSULT WITH
MR. GERALD HOME
Great lecture.
29:57 min ...
30:50 min ...
31:33 min ...
Speed to 1.25 for easier listening--he's slowing for non-native speakers.
Brilliant.
Small point, apologies, I think Russia was on its back during Bismarck because it lost the Crimean War near Persia fighting the great game.
2:04, Kotkin's belief of what the 4 turning points in history were.
Highly educational
Small twist. Deng Xiaoping's trip to some Asian countries with large Chinese diaspora, specifically Singapore in 1978, and seeing how they had been developing (he was suitably impressed, even stunned) that paved the way for China to become more capitalistic with the US, of course, the obvious target market.
Singapore is an artificial village created by the US, so forget it
@@lejeffrey229 dumbest thing I heave heard in a long time. Singapore created by the US? Lol. A village? Get a passport and travel around, dim/wit
Where are the richest geological resources in the world?
Is Stephen Kotkin, Stephen Kotkin, when not in public?
Norm ... ?
I wonder if Xi's China honoring Mao and not Ping today tells us the direction the regime wants to go.
The time line should draw from 1972 that President Nixon visited Beijing then
1:59: "I'm from New York, so craziness is normal." Małpa can confirm this wisdom. Also, Vedmyd is cackling in a three-years-until-the-end-of-the-West-Asian-autocracies sort of way.
so far China had success in building a hybrid political system with authoritarianism, nationalism, private economy and mass education. the thing we need to remember now is that China has now more freedom for individuals and minorities (except Uighurs) than in any moment in its history. this does not mean it cannot get better, on the contrary, but the perspective is needed. a democracy with Chinese characteristics is indeed the solution for them and not a foreign mandated change. my biggest hope is a Chinese prime minister who is educated in US or UK and who comes back to do reforms
1:19:01 This fucking Joe Pesci has tears in his eyes.
Could Isaiah Berlin speak Latvian? What about Yiddish?
20:08, the 2nd Turning point.
So few men of this kind.
Mr Kotkin could you
explain did wall street create the Soviet Union or just used labor for profit
Look at the stupid vids in your collection, then you illiterate nonsense question without punctuation ... so many weird people here.
I was surprised at hearing Kotkin endorse the European Union. He has not had to live under this cut rate version of the Soviet Union. Yet he thought well of the UK referendum. Is he commuting the error laid bare by the book “What is history” by E H Carr? I refer to the comparison of Butterfield and Rank.
I don't think it would be possible for Prof. Kotkin to talk "too long." I suspect his voice would fail before he ran out of people's focused attention.
What kind of accent Kotkin has got?
OMG, Mr. Kotkin doesn’t recognize ‘goulash’ as exclusively Hungarian? Surely not!
Why would a traditional power like Russia which has never disappeared in the past disappear? That does not make much sense.
I'd like to hear his opinion about the US regime destroying the middle class in America today....
Universalism in one country.
Very good point of China & America relationship
Any idea what movie (about Berlin) is prof. Kotkin referring to?
one thing prof kotkin does not understand is that ussr or any ideologically similar state can only maintain itself from civil war by an endless militarist regime. there is no real potential for such country to strive to peace as it will become devastating, as it happened when gorbachev opened up just a bit. therefore, kotkin's term "losing peace" is inapplicable for a communist dictatorship system. "smart" communist leaders like like our beloved leader of north korea knows it very well and acts accordingly. see how strong he stands! ...overall kotkin's lectures are very interesting thanks to the abandonce of great factual material - this is the real treasure in his works not his theories .
The excellent end!
This guy presents history the way he and his kind choose to.
The only issue I take with this is the dismissal of the facist tendancies of trumpism. Might not have been as bad at the time of filming but you don't need to have gone all the way to be a fascist force
Do you even understand what fascism is? Only a person ignorant of real fascism or one with TDS would equate trump with fascism.
A good development "the Green Party in Germany"?????
What is the difference between Western style 'democracy' and fascism? .... I don't know either.
We should take note of Kotkin. With Russia at war with Ukraine and the various supporting powers we are on the cusp of a great power war once again. History tells us that this is when fascism will likely raise its head again, I see the Kyiv or Warsaw regimes and it’s not so hard to see this happening, according to ample (non Russian) documentation, Kyiv was already some way down that path at the time of the invasion. It’s an unpopular conclusion but the pre invasion reports in UK and EC parliaments confirm I am correct.
you're insane.
terrific
The analysis of Russian power holds up pretty well in April of 2024.
I don't see how he can take present-day Russia as an example of Communism.
BRAVO LOVE YOU ❤😍❤
Resonates with Mearsheimer and his cold blooded realist school
Kotkin is the best, but why is he speaking broken English?
Just out of respect, and for information:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaiah_Berlin
Another great man, from Latvia.
do you know what film they screened here.. was it 'prophet of freedom'?
The dilemma of communism is not how to keep the size of the middle class in check. The dilemma is how to get rid of the class system but keep the regime in power. By definition, this is impossible.
I think Stalin maybe right about Chinese Communist:they are rather nationalist more than are communist
The difference between comunism and fascism?
...
May the Almighty, Blessed be He, save us from the demagoguery of disruptive, interruptive moronic moderators!
Stalin low key history's Lelouch.
Great lecture. Brilliant. Thought provoking, but…
Russia took on debt of USSR? Thats why it got the right of veto in UN?
Tsarist russia, then Soviets and then russia again, aggresively anexed, destabilized, robbed neighbouring nations, murdered the elites of those nations. Now they should pay soviet debts???
This shows in clear and obvious manner how western powers treat eastern european nations.
First we have to acknowledge it. Then we have to change it. Ukrainians already do this with great success, but also for a big price.
Germany today looks the way it does thanks to America (occupation of West Germany after WWII, etc.). Alas, Russia today looks the way it does because it was never occupied by America. (American occupation did wonders for Japan, too.)
@kausmo tumynski - True. America is far from perfect, but better than the alternatives (Nazis, Soviets, etc.).
What do you think of Iraq and Afghanistan? The US is about 20 years there, the countries don't look that good like Germany, still in bad shape.
@@arthurkhomiakov4678 - Afghanistan in particular wasn't even remotely close to being a modern state; post-War Germany & Japan were. We should have gone in, knocked some heads, and said: "Get your act together on your own, or we'll be back and resume." Staying was a bad idea. Staying with far too few troops for a true "occupation" was a bad idea.
Germany looks the way it does because 1. the Soviets are who defeated the Germans and won WW2, 2. the Germans are a very talented people &, 3. American loans. We did not "occupy" Germany for any meaningful length of time. We occupied Berlin. And so how in the hell do you even talk about American occupying the USSR?
@@johnsmith1474 - We didn't just occupy West Berlin. The US, UK and France each occupied a part of what would become West Germany.