Why Russia invaded Ukraine? - Early Access
Added 2022-04-05 08:39:05 +0000 UTCAs have many other people on YouTube, I did a video to give my thoughts on this topic.
This is not a part of the standard content for the channel and there will be no charge, but you still get early access.
Comments
It seems that the explanation was not as well argumented as I had hoped. I did not mean that it was about ratings, but about Putin's political survival as a leader (some may say that even physical survival). The factors that you bring up are relevant. I would too be interested on hearing peoples opinions on them, but I am very skeptical on making a video. It would just take too much time for me to become familiar with any of these topics enough, that I could be comfortable in making a video about any of them. I did choose my two explanation over any of these factors for the following reason: Most of them are concerned with the benefits that Russia would have from controlling Ukraine. I don't think that anything Russia would gain from taking Ukraine is worth enough to be put at the center of Russian policy. Russia could do a lot of things with the money and the political capital that is now spent on the war and will inevitably be spent in the future and I see only one thing that could justify spending these resources for the Russian government - keeping it in power. An analogy would be that the United States would have many benefits from having direct control over Canada. From a better claim to the Arctic and taking control over Canada's oil reserves. But USA has not invaded Canada, because the gains are not worth the cost of war and the damage to the international relations. Something much more significant must be gained for this invasion to be launched. As for the role of the market reforms in the Russian economic growth - I agree with that. It did play a major role. I know that the answer is not satisfying, as I did not address any of the interesting topics you listed. I have not yet encountered the claim that the Strategic partnership with China and ties with India are the deciding factor. Could you elaborate on that or post a link, where I could read more on this?
Eastory
2022-04-06 11:55:10 +0000 UTCI feel it's a bit too oversimplified. Explaining most motives just by increasing approval ratings seems a bit too simple. I would love to hear your thoughts on the importance of these factors, that might or might not have played a significant role in this: - Rich commodity reserves on Ukrainian territory, industrial cities - Internal ethnic tension and division within Ukraine - Russian vs. West clashes over the influence in the internal Ukrainian politics and foreign policy - Crimea as strategic military location - Role and strength of oligarchs in the Russian and Ukrainian societies - It is likely that a lot of economic growth in Russia was also due to market-based reforms, while Ukraine stayed poor with growing internal unrest (even compared to other Eastern european countries without commodity resources, even before the events of 2014 (most of the growth happened by then) ) - Putin's miscalculations compared to engagements in Syria etc. - Strategic partnership with China, ties with India (this might be the deciding factor in my view) - The narrative of NATO eastward expansion
Pavel Kuriscak
2022-04-05 10:00:58 +0000 UTC
