The United States is continuing its escalating rhetoric toward Russia.
And honestly it's interesting because I don't know how much has really
changed in the dynamic between the United States and Russia?
There are a few updates that are worth knowing about,
namely the fact that the United States is repeating that they believe that Russia
could attack Ukraine within this week.
There are also some mixed messages.
For instance, Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, that's the president of
Ukraine released a statement saying that, an attack could happen within two days.
But then there are also some messages coming from both Ukraine and
Russia indicating that they want to move forward with a diplomatic approach.
The United States, for its part has deviated from that kind of messaging.
But here's what we know so far.
First off, Ukraine has said that,
it is likely to back away from joining NATO at least anytime soon.
That's a major concession.
A concession that the United States and
other NATO countries were unwilling to make.
However, Ukraine is free to make that decision for itself.
And it seems like Zelensky is hinting at this concession in an effort to
move toward a more diplomatic approach.
Now, I'm going to now go to an interview that national security adviser,
Jake Sullivan did over the weekend on face the nation and his rhetoric a little
different when it comes to how the US would like to approach this, let's watch.
>> You said an attack by Russia could happen as soon as this week.
Are you seeing Russian troops move into tactical positions.
>> We have seen over the course of the past 10 days, dramatic acceleration in
the build up of Russian forces and the disposition of those forces in such a way
that they could launch a military action essentially at any time.
They could do so this coming week.
But of course it still awaits the go order.
And so therefore we cannot predict the precise day or
time that they may take action.
We also are watching very carefully for the possibility that there is a pretext or
a false flag operation to kick off the Russian action.
In which Russian intelligence Services conduct some
kind of attack on Russian proxy forces in Eastern Ukraine or
on Russian citizens and then blame it on the Ukrainians.
>> So that last part is a repeat of an allegation that the US government
has already made against Russia.
In fact, Pentagon officials had been challenged on that false flag
allegation and they were unwilling to share any type of evidence
indicating that the allegation is true or credible.
And going back to what Ukraine is doing and
what we're hearing from leadership in Ukraine.
Zelensky, that's again, the president of Ukraine said Monday that his country might
have to abandon the possibility of joining NATO.
A central Russian demand in a confrontation that threatens the largest
military conflict in Europe since World War II.
Zelensky saying that perhaps the notion of NATO membership is for us like a dream,
suggested that his country might make the kind of concessions it has staunchly
resisted so far.
And again, the United States and NATO have rejected Russia's demands.
But they proposed several other concessions, including nuclear arms
control and limits on military exercises where they were willing to negotiate.
So they're saying, listen,
we're not going to stop Ukraine joining NATO if Ukraine wants to join NATO.
However, if you're worried about your security,
we're willing to be a little more transparent in regard to what we're doing.
It's unclear whether or not Russia has accepted that yet.
But there is more in terms of what Russia is willing to do to move forward
in a more diplomatic approach.
>> Okay, so two things, first off,
I want to be clear about something that's been bouncing around the media.
Zelensky said that the invasion might come on February 16.
That's two days from now.
But he was joking.
>> Got it. >> Yeah, he was clearly joking.
And he was referring to national unity day, and he actually wants people come out
on February 16 with Ukrainian flags and celebrate our their diversity together.
All different parts of Ukraine and different ethnicities in Ukraine.
So I don't want that to be misinterpreted.
But more importantly, as I hope most of the news will clarify that.
Look at him, the president of Ukraine joking around about the Russian invasion.
We have said from day one on this,
it seems like the people that were least concerned were the Ukrainians, and
the Russians seem to be very concerned as they amassed.
Now, 130,000 troops on the border.
The Americans appear to be very concerned based on all the rhetoric and
honestly warmongering and pushing Russia and everyone else into further conflict.
Yes, we're doing that.
Here is America.
Our press is oftentimes an abomination.
Here they've been mixed at best.
And so if you live in America, you might not realize that we've started a lot of
this conflict and I want to talk about the root cause of that in a second.
>> No, your comment about the media is so
accurate because every report that I've read today from like legacy
media outlets took what Zelensky said about February 16 at face value.
They did not report it as him joking around.
>> Yeah, and so now they have begun to fix that, retract that, but
only half the organizations.
And that is not a thing that you should get wrong.
>> Right.
>> Russia and America could start World War III and
Ukraine has caught in the middle.
So when the Ukrainian president said is kidding around about war as opposed to
saying the Russians are going to invade in two days.
That's not a little difference.
That's not a difference in degree.
That's a massive difference, okay.
One seems to indicate, we're about to go into a catastrophic war.
The others seems to indicate there's very little chance of that, right?
So now, what do I think this is about if it isn't about Ukraine?
And apparently even the Ukrainians think it's not about Ukraine.
So Russia has a pipeline going into Germany of gas and
we apparently have put away to get gas into liquefied natural
gas into Germany and from the northern side of Germany.
And guess who has been shipping tons and tons of that.
Recently, now that there is a potential conflict between Russia and Europe.
All right, us and our top ally Qatar.
Okay, so Qatar and the US.
Now making billions instead of the Russians making billions.
Now, look, I don't know that, that's 100% of the reason, of course, but
I'm giving you all of the relevant factors.
And usually billions of dollars is a highly motivating factor for
a lot of politicians, including, by the way, the top Russian,
oligarch Vladimir Putin, but also including the United States government.
And that's context you don't often see in the American media.
>> Thank you for bringing that up.
And that's happening with the backdrop of Americans paying higher and
higher prices for energy within our borders, right?
And so why are we so focused on exporting the resources that we
could be using to actually lower prices for American consumers,
like it's just, that's what's going on.
Right, anyway, so let's move on.
>> And no, but
let me add one quick thing here because there's no one's innocent here.
Russia meanwhile, has slowed down the gas to Germany and Europe,
partly to warn them, hey, you better not mess with us.
Imagine if we cut the whole thing off,
you guys are gonna be in a world of trouble, right?
But also partly to drive oil prices and gas prices up because the lower
the supply, the higher the price is going to be.
And that also winds up punishing the American people and
making Putin and his fellow oligarchs a ton of money in the meanwhile.
So understand all those financial motives, which everyone outside of
reporters understands is highly motivating for normal human beings.
>> Well, with that said,
I want to go to the next video because China is also now in the mix,
not in terms of engaging in military actions or war or anything like that.
But China has kind of come in to defend Russia, especially against the biggest
threat that the United States has issued additional sanctions against Russia.
Let's hear what Jake Sullivan had to say about that.
Well, China and Russia say it's a new era.
They're joining alliances.
So you are threatening to hurt Russia financially.
They seem to be indicating there's a new world order where they're not so
worried about that threat.
>> Well, first of all, Margaret China will not be in a position to compensate Russia
for the losses that it will endure in the event,
that the United States and its allies impose economic measures on Russia.
Second, and maybe more importantly,
we all have to have a bit more confidence in ourselves.
The United States, the West,
the leading democracies of the world were more than 50% of the world's economy.
China and Russia are less than 20%.
We've got innovation, we've got entrepreneurship and yes,
we've got freedom.
Yes, but I think part of the challenge with the discourse in Washington right
now is there's so much emphasis on China and Russia's leverage and
not nearly enough on our leverage, our capacity, our power.
>> Our capacity, our power, now, what Jake Sullivan is saying there is,
there's a kernel of truth to it.
So the biggest issue for Russia would be the export of fossil fuels, right.
If the United States implements additional sanctions.
First of all, let's not assume or pretend like that would be a diplomatic approach.
The sanctions that they would implement would hurt the people of Russia,
not just the oligarchs, not just government officials.
So I want to make sure that people are clear about that, but
let's say they do implement that.
And let's say Russia is no longer able to, transport gas or
export gas to Germany with North Stream.
Okay, well, China would be the monopoly buyer from Russia and
they could charge Russia, or they can charge Russia whatever they want, or
they can determine what the price would be.
So Russia would be at a significant disadvantage because it would just have to
go along with whatever Russia would be willing to pay for
those fossil fuels, right?
So there's a kernel of truth to what Jake Sullivan is saying there.
But there's also this notion that, no, the United States is the biggest,
we're gonna have the most impact.
Even that kind of alliance isn't going to harm us or really help Russia much.
Russia does have some leverage here with its alliance with China.
>> So now let's go back to what this was theoretically about which was
are the Russians going to invade Ukraine?
Well, the Russians have really had basically one demand
that Ukraine not join NATO.
And given that Ukraine's right next to Russia having a military alliance
that threatens it backed up with missiles all over including and other
now NATO countries like Poland where we've planted a ton of conventional missiles.
Now we've moved more nukes into the UK etc, but mainly right on their border.
We wouldn't tolerate it in Canada or Mexico, we didn't tolerate it in Cuba,
that's what the Cuban missile crisis was about.
So my honest opinion is that their ask is relatively easy and
it doesn't cost us anything.
And the Ukrainians today have indicated that they agree,
they should not be in NATO.
So this thing should be completely resolved if it wasn't for
whatever economic forces are driving both governments to
continue this standoff, and hopefully not an actual conflict.
Hopefully, after both sides have made enough money,
they can leave the rest of us alone and not kill us all.