Noam Chomsky: Russia-Ukraine War, Finland and Sweden joining NATO, Global Crisis of Neoliberalism #1

World renowned linguist, political critic, professor Noam Chomsky shares his views on the Russo-Ukrainian war, NATO expansion, and general developments in the global geopolitical security concerns over the last three decades.
0:50 Introduction
4:39 Russia-Ukraine War, NATO, US foreign policy
17:00 Crisis of Neoliberalism: healthcare and welfare state
31:30 Finland and Sweden joining NATO
33:47 Q&A
This Zoom meeting was organized by a non-profit NGO managed by volunteers inspired to bring together an international culture kaleidoscope.
Kulttuurikeidas ry (Culture Oasis)
Turku, Finland
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[@oreganoregan5947]

Did Dr. Chomsky manage to list all the reasons for Sweden and Finland joining NATO and not include the security that joining NATO would bring? If Ukraine had been a member of NATO, Russia would not have dared to invade. Finland well remembers being invaded by its Eastern neighbour in 1939.

[@quantumalajos1149]

As long as you don't aspire to be in NATO Russia doesn't care. Pre 2014 there's been Ukrainian separatism in the East, but there was no threat coming from Russia or reason for Russians to interfere.

[@oreganoregan5947]

@@quantumalajos1149 How do we know. Russia lies about everything. They are now saying that they are not bothered by the fact that Finland and Sweden are joining NATO. In my opinion, Russia is an imperialist, expansionist power. It hates NATO because NATO prevents it from bullying its neighbours that are members.

[@chipgowest]

@@quantumalajos1149 Russia and imperialism go hand in hand

[@Kuolonen]

@@quantumalajos1149 A lie. Firstly NATO is a defensive pact and secondly official Russian policy is that invasion of Russian land means nuclear war. For Russia threat distance doesn't matter because in terms of nuclear war it doesn't matter if the closest enemy is in Kyiv or London, either way it's nuclear armageddon. The reason Russia cares is because they wish to have the option to interfere and invade.

[@dwl3006]

If Ukraine had not tried to join NATO, Russia wouldn't have invaded either. It's the attempt that matters.

[@EmperorofMu]

It certainly doesn't justify the invasion.

[@miroslawmatuszewski3872]

America is able to finish the war against Kremlin psycho if Washington fulfills the commitments the US made to Ukraine 27 years ago in the Budapest Memorandum. It was easy for Washington to disarm victims of Putin agression from the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world and to sign "security guarantees", but it was much harder to fulfill the promises, even though Ukraine provided military support to the Americans after the 9/11 attack. The Ukrainians are allowed to defend themselves against bestial attacks half-heartedly with one hand tied behind their backs, and the war equipment given to brave Ukrainians is modified in such a way that its effectiveness is limited

[@BobJones-zf6ie]

America signed said agreement along with the Russians and some other parties. Obvious problem is one of the signees has a nuclear arsenal larger than any other nation on earth and happens to be the aggressor in this war/attack on Ukraine. Had the aggressor been outside the circle of signatories, Ukraine would be safe: under the umbrella of the two largest nuclear powers. All those with Ukraine's best interest at heart, have had to dance around Putin's aggressions but alas, Putin was not to be denied; he went in and were it not for his ability to bring the whole planet to utter destruction, all other signatories would have jumped in to Ukraine's defense. It is just a harsh reality, that limits all parties wanting to help Ukraine: that Russia is capable of bringing the entire planet to its final days and one man sits with his finger on the button that would initiate this final act of mankind.

[@paifu.]

12:00 15:40 NATO summit support for war 25:40 Yougoslavia, structural adjustment programs 30:00 Repurcussions of Finland and Sweden joining NATO. (Increase in military spending, rise of the right wing, and cut in social spending.)

[@pyxxel]

When I saw Noam Chomsky's name I knew what was coming. He is quite leftist and highly critical of US interventions in the world. It's truly great to hear a different perspective from him. I don't agree with him on all points, but sometimes it's good to get your point of view challenged, and he does that - hard.

[@ohpohp481]

Leftist is good.

[@benahaus]

An Intellectual living so long usually occurs in a society free of the pathologies around which he so stridently skirts.

[@BobJones-zf6ie]

I'm sorry but despite Noam having interesting anecdotes to add to any discussion, so many of his answers are based on false premises and he has a repeating theme that he uses all his knowledge to substantiate. He glosses over so much just filling in the parts that back his narrative. A "pause button" would be much appreciated to stop him and question his formulation. He states America and Britain dominating for the last 2 centuries is the culprit of so much, redrawing geographic boarders and exploiting other peoples, as if those peoples had not at some point in earlier history not done so themselves. However in the discussion of Ukraine, what is important is not what the Americans had done in previous history, or what the British had done, but instead what is going on in contemporary times when countries have their borders drawn and all nations have decided that the current geographic lines are sacred: that is what the United Nations is all about. Putin sits back while his orders destroy the neighboring country, kill and maim Ukrainian civilians and soldiers, destroy their homes and infrastructure, and Noam's analysis is that the west helps just to feed the military industrial complex. I'm sorry but there is a lot of political will to help Ukraine due to humanitarian empathy and goodness.

[@ohpohp481]

Blah blah blah propagandise much?

[@safidinelaib8009]

Laborious talk! Hard to connect the dots for the non-initiated of Mr. Chomsky discourse. Even intriguing to some point! He has been very critical of the US hegemony of the world affairs to a point where he seems to justify Mr. Putin invasion of Ukraine! Some people may have been perplexed by this speech.

[@linmal2242]

Total proponent of Marxism and socialism to the point of being a traitorus critic of the U.S.of A. Any semblence of freedom for various ex-Comecon countries is ignored.

[@ohpohp481]

No, he is consistent. Power corrupts. Keep up!

[@jozefgaborcik8608]

wiki writes that the project nordstream starts 1997 and after 1999 Czech Magyar and Poland was in NATO. The question is, who came up with the idea first.

[@carlking3979]

I admire the way Chomsky never gets angry. Those who ask what they think are provocative questions are calmly answered. The questions are always fully answered, with a depth of detail that always amazes me. He never shows any slowing down in his mental abilities.

[@davidsnedeker8098]

and he never fails to flub the geography, history etc and compensate with fabrication when his lack of modern analysis tools, language, and cultural context conflict with his "USA Bad" pat answer for everything. that is his rice bowel, the "leftist" accusation plays second to his late life lazy coasting. He is not a qualified historian, an informed student of diplomacy etc etc etc. He is just as uninformed as many rightwhack clowns.

[@carlking3979]

@@davidsnedeker8098 and you are nobody.

[@davidsnedeker8098]

@@carlking3979 what relevant languages does noam speak per these issues ,or even read? which archives has noam assessed with what analytical tools, published in which peer reviewed venues? See Carl, us mere nobodies need such crutches given our low skills in ass kissing of antique objects. I too am an old guy but do not expect my every mumble and brain fart to be worshipped as a golden pellet.

[@carlking3979]

@@davidsnedeker8098 Doesn't add to your credibility.

[@-danR]

His mental abilities have slowed to about a quarter of their former speed, and he isn't even being challenged by a heavyweight debating opponent here. Cf. "Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: Vietnam and the Intellectuals" .

[@Redmanticore]

30:18 - 31:32 hmm, despite claiming the opposite, I am not 100% sure Mr. Noam has really spoken to any Finn, because if he would, to his surprise, he would learn that both have been historically true at the same time to Finland. Noam Chomsky does not seem to know, or care, very deeply about the history of the Finnish winter war and the continuation of war, so he does not know, but should, that from Finnish history it is natural thinking. And it wasn't eu+nato that the Finnish and Swedish people were worried about, heh, don't be intelligently daft Mr. Noam, but just about neutral Finland, and Sweden themselves that Russia needed to take, according to Putin's summer speech of returning imperial borders. after all, Finland and Sweden were just neutral, so there would be no obligation by anyone to defend them. why? because we know the same happened already: once Russia was weaker and bumbling during the winter war because of Stalin's purges, Russia returned stronger in the continuation of war a few years later. even during the winter war, the change started when Kliment Voroshilov was replaced by Semyon Timoshenko as the commander of the Soviet forces in the war on 7 January, it totally changed everything in Russian doctrine and systems as a whole as much as that short time frame he could, and after that executed the soviet breakthrough on 1st of February. and of course, boots on the ground from the Allies' help never came, it would have driven the Allies against the soviets, despite the league of nations condemning Russia and throwing them out of the union. did receive some arms, as Ukraine, though not even as substantial as Ukraine today, not modern heavy weapon systems like Ukraine of today. finland was naturally lacking in everything. had made some poor decisions like investing in the navy instead of investing in land forces at the time. that is why seeing Russia as a bumbling idiot now, but also seeing it able to come back shortly as a stronger proper opponent and getting ready for it pre-emptively by joining nato is perfectly aligned with real lived history for the Finns. you see, militarily things can and often do dynamically change for big countries, Mr. Noam, they very often do not just stay the same. perhaps Chomsky just doesn't care about any of that, irrelevant to him. I have no doubt in my mind that Chomsky would recommend doing things like giving Finland away to Russia, etc. just for Russia to feel more comfortable, being ignorant of European history, long before the USA. I am not sure if he would ever put his foot on the ground and say this is enough. when the European and Asian security framework would crumble down, well, he would blame the united states for it, too. - the latest poll on nato in Finland, as revealed on 23.11.2022 by STT on YLE, is that 78% are in favor. in march, less than half of female respondents were in favor of nato membership, but now 75% of women are in favor of Finnish membership. men are even more supportive of NATO than women. 83% of them are in favor, compared with 75% in spring. there is majority support for NATO membership among all demographic groups, except left-wing voters. even among them, 48% favor membership, and 23% are against it. it was done by the Values and Attitudes Survey of the Delegation of Finnish Enterprise (Eva). the survey was conducted by Taloustutkimus in an internet panel, collecting views from 2,088 respondents. the margin of error at the level of the population as a whole is 2-3 percentage points in each direction. the data was collected towards the end of October.

[@user-ny7bt5jg6f]

Still begs the question; why was Finland neutral when the Soviets were so strong and threatening?

[@ordasf]

@@user-ny7bt5jg6f a short answer could be this term: "Finlandization" a not so much longer: - Battle of Stalingrad, German defeat, 1943 (- Jalta, 1945) - Paris Peace Treaty of 1947 - Paasikivi doctrine - Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance with the Soviet Union, 1948 - North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 1949 and a longer: from 1943 for the Finns to opposing the Soviets on their own successfully was not likely and international support was not likely: - Germany (their main supporters against the SU) were losing the war - (Sweden was not keen and strong enough to fight the SU) - the later NATO powers were the winners of the war, but they were also the main supporters and allies of the SU. it was unlikely that the western powers would want to continue the war by turning against this former ally, maybe except for Churchill. and just then (Yalta) they let the SU to "keep" all the neighboring countries, even the victims of the Nazi, not to mention the Nazi "ally" states. so, international support was not likely. but nowadays it is kind of the opposite (hopefully)

[@markusvarsta6788]

@@user-ny7bt5jg6f It wasn't (neutral), Finnish neutrality is by far and large a convenient historical lie....

[@dixonpinfold2582]

"I have no doubt in my mind that Chomsky would recommend doing things like giving Finland away to Russia, etc. just for Russia to feel more comfortable[...]" Yes, he _would_ give Finland to Russia. But no, his _real_ concern would instead be to weaken, threaten and punish the West. As an analyst of world and US affairs, Chomsky is talentless. His real métier, at least since he left linguistics behind, has always been that of passionate moralist in search of moral distinction. (The usual cause for that noisome state is an overpowering sense of personal guilt.) And since obviously there has never been much special distinction to be earned in condemning the enemies of the US and the West-at one time Castro, the USSR, the government of North Vietnam and its allies, meatpacking communist leaders everywhere etc.; later Iran, violent Is la mists of whatever nationality, those who wish to wipe out Israel, for some time now Putin, etc.-he perforce moralistically attacks the US and the West. West-dwelling misfits warm to his vision of an immoral West, for since they are-with complete justification except rarely-individually powerless, their interest is in attacking power no matter what it does. Tearing down any set of arrangements or values under which they are insignificant is their sole hope of ameliorating their miserable station. (If they could only look in the mirror more honestly their prospects would brighten considerably, but of course indulging a reflexive and unthinking moralism is entirely painless.) So he becomes their leader and hero; their adulation furnishes him the gratification, or relief, that he was after in the first place. Anyway, thanks for your comment, which I read with interest. I now want to find out more on those subjects. [Note to anyone whom I've offended or who objects to my argumentation: It's only right that you should be offended. And yes, lots of ad hominem attacks here, so there's no need to point it out. The ideas come out of the man; thus I am against the man; thus I attack the man. The ideas themselves I attack, too, all the time. Today I pay proper tribute to Chomsky himself, as well as his pitiable disciples.]

[@ianoliver3130]

@@dixonpinfold2582 waol! How many books have you got published? We all need to know more about your ideas

[@abushakoor1603]

Dr. Chomsky what a great philosopher and intellectual and also someone who dares to speak the truth nothing but the truth. Long live Dr. Chomsky.

[@martinko4086]

** Dr, Chomsky speak the truth , ** NOTHING but the truth , ** so help him JESUS and forgive him his trespasses!!

[@it9104]

Love Chomsky, thank you for organizing this talk!

[@linmal2242]

Cannot stand the bloody communist !

[@reedschrichte800]

Chomsky is stuck in the 1960's. Don't tell him that the US and Viet Nam are allies now, he'll blow a fuse.

[@ohpohp481]

What is this, a Russian propaganda site? Jeeez

[@nicholastaylor9398]

In 2000, just before he was elected as president the first time, Putin claimed he wanted Russia to join NATO (but was not prepared to 'stand in line', so there might have been conditions). I wonder what has changed.

[@abrambadal8997]

Irak WAR in 2003 plus drawing East-European countries being introduced into candidates to join in including and especially Georgia on border of Russia !

[@Redmanticore]

he just had a temper-tantrum that he would have to wait like a "commoner", do the democratic process, like everyone else. who knows, maybe whoever comes after him might want to join nato. if he is a normal statesman and not from the security apparatus. for which there is a low chance.

[@tecuci76]

Nato eas created against ussr/rusia, so russia joining nato makes no sense.

[@davidsnedeker8098]

cancer

[@agarlicsorbet6482]

Russia joining NATO? Like Russia is in UN lol? Do you see what's wrong here? He just wanted to give Russia privileges as a big boy. And would Russians have sincerely agreed to join? After all the years they have been fighting against the "demon OTAN/NATO which was hellbent on USSR' destruction" who actually caused the USSR to fall and roll into misery according to their conspiratory beliefs? Not in a million years. Everyone saw what Russia did to Chechnya and Moldova after USSR collapse. NATO was meant to stay after that mess.

[@markmarshall5234]

At 1:03:38 the picture that appears is of George H.W. Bush, not George W. Bush, who invaded Iraq in 2003. H.W. was W's father.

[@999fedora]

Exactly so.

[@somerandompersonontheinter656]

I feel so uncomfortable that all that seems to limit everything bad, is circumstantial, and not of our doing

[@0x0david0x0]

Czech point of view: If we were in NATO in 1968, Russia would not invade us. I prefer Americans and NATO countries over Russia.

[@Timrath]

Everyone who isn't a psychopathic dictator would prefer anything over Russia.

[@Tappettava]

Self determination of smaller nations does not matter to tankie propagandists. They "speak the truth" by leaving out half the facts and all the nuance to further their point of view. "Never justifying" an invasion, yet blaming America for it, even though there are no NATO troops in Ukraine nor were there any before the invasion. Even if Ukraine invited 50 000 NATO troops before the invasion its is their right as a sovereign nation. However the tankies do not care about this and chose to ignore any self determination or desire for independence of smaller nations. You could make a reverse example using this sort of idiotic rhetoric, by claiming that NATO should have invaded Belarus for inviting Russian troops for training pre-invasion just to protect the Baltics and Poland. That would actually be less stupid than Chomskys claims as the Russian troop build up and "training operation" lead to an actual invasion of a sovereign nation. I don't think the US is a saint by any means and it is good to criticize them for their crimes and wrongful invasions, however it does not justify nor should even be a major talking point in Russia invading Ukraine. It is just used by tankies to justify the big nations imposing their will on smaller nations by force, we should be united in opposing these sort of invasions instead of undermining the sovereignty of smaller nations!

[@theunspeakable24]

thank you for posting this

[@geoffreynhill2833]

The etymology student clearly misunderstood Prof. Chomsky's usage of the word "great" as applied to America. 😟

[@georgekrivosic5094]

Words of wisdom that will be devoured by the thought police

[@littlefluffybushbaby7256]

Sounds like you're implying if you disagree with him you're from the dark side. Isn't that just a little bit like thought policing itself?

[@agarlicsorbet6482]

​@@littlefluffybushbaby7256 yeah pretty disappointed seeing this coming from who I thought was based

[@johnkruk6929]

It is sad to listen to such an intellect explain the workings of the political system 😢

[@neurobio11]

Indeed sad that a scientist of his caliber is ignoring facts and sticking to his political belief no matter what. Dr. Chomsky do you remember that comrade Stalin signed a pact with Hitler and then took over Eastern Europe for 50 years? Did you hear Putin again and again denying the existence of Ukrainian as a country? No it is not Western propaganda. That US diplomats offered compromises about NATO? Sure the US has an ugly past in Vietnam and Iraq but this time it is standing on the right side of history and you are NOT. Why is so difficult for you to understand that Poland and the Baltic countries and others want to make their own decisions and are not just an influence zone of Russia and that Finland was attacked in the past and learned the lessons of uniting against the regional bully. That Russia is targeting civilians and committing crimes that have not seen since WWII (correction, since the death of Stalin) and even the people in Russia are suffering from the insane decisions of Putin. You reminds me of James Watson a renowned scientist (of Watson and Crick) who ruined his reputation with his politics (on the other side of the political spectrum of Dr. Chomsky, but sometimes there is little difference between the extreme right and left.

[@NickBogomolov]

Это Михаил Абрамович с поступашек?

[@avnerperl9935]

I Love the fresh mind in the old body. Sadly it has a predetermined end.

[@sunshineglow5579]

Perhaps Euro-asia will reject trade with Western Europe?

[@davidsnedeker8098]

What planet do you live on? Euro-asia and authoritarians in general cannot get enough Mercedes and BMWs, London suits, safe Western cities to stash their families, and financial centers to hide their stolen money.

[@swapticsounds]

"How to critique Chomsky on Ukraine" with Vlad Vexler: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gniUpauMhZejkNU Video description: "Noam Chomsky's views on the Ukraine war have received much publicity. To critique them, we need to have broader look at Noam Chomsky's work and his vast contribution to our culture. We start by looking at Noam as a linguist, philosopher and scientist, and end by talking about him as a public intellectual, a voice of moral outrage. This is a comprehensive introduction to respectfully critiquing Chomsky on politics."

[@MsCristea]

Chomsky doesn't know much about European history or politics, doesn't he?

[@geoffreynhill2833]

????????????????????????????

[@phillipphil1615]

With this kind of reasoning everything the US has done to thwart any socialist or communist experience in central America is justified and feeling threatened they should invade Cuba as soon as possible. Noam, I have a hard time agreeing with you this time.

[@onlinecc]

He never justifies it. He calls it a crime. Furthermore, your analogy isn't right. The analogy would be a chinese-led military alliance creeping up on the US border. That would likely cause the US to invade Mexico - although not justified, that would be the background to a such war. Labeling explanations of causal effects as "justification" is a standard right-wing practice, why engage in such nonsense?

[@phillipphil1615]

@@onlinecc Hi I see your point but if I look at the attitude of the USA towards Cuba during the cold war the analogy works. The US said it was a threat, a Soviet outpost, and even fomented an invasion attempt (Bay of pigs).

[@onlinecc]

​@@phillipphil1615 I am sure you know everything about US historical subversion of Cuba (and most of the world) - not due to any legitimate threat, but solely for reasons of empire. However, missiles in Cuba would be a real cause of concern (justified or not) for literally any government. That does NOT justify US actions against Cuba. It is merely pointing out that in terms of the missile crisis the US had a (partial) legitimate grievance because no government wants a foreign military power at their door step. But this is where it falls apart, because the US had missiles in Turkey before there were missiles in Cuba, so you could say it was the USSR who acted in response. So the other analogy, although laughably hypothetical, is much more on point.

[@swapticsounds]

Check out this take on Noams views. Vlad Vexler has a very differenciated, respectful, yet critical perspective on Chomsky in general: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gniUpauMhZejkNU

[@onlinecc]

​@@swapticsounds He is a KZbinr who uses sources that misrepresent Chomsky. I have done the research. Now do it yourself rather than me telling you - unless, of course, you are satisfied with views that match whatever your feelings are. Doesn't really matter that it's respectful. That should be a given.

[@ricksmithguitar]

There was in fact no written agreement that NATO would not expand to Russias border. Show me this in writing. Exactly when and were this guarentee was made, the actual quote from Bush and who it was made to. It doesn't exist.

[@jesan733]

The alleged promises were given orally not to Russia but to the Soviets. The Soviet Union soon ceased to exist and the administration changed in the US. So both parties of that alleged agreement simply ceased to be, so I don't know why anyone could consider it relevant.

[@reedschrichte800]

@@jesan733 Finland joins NATO because of Russian invasion of Ukraine... guess what, NATO now on Russia's border 250 miles from Russia's second largest city. So how did that work out for you, Russia?

[@codyvandal2860]

@@jesan733 The RF is the internationally recognized successor state to the USSR. It's true that it was not a guarantee in writing - one reason that the Russians feel they were deceived (they were) but you have to be stupid to doubt it's authenticity.

[@jesan733]

@@codyvandal2860 Gorbachev disputes that such assurances were even given, and if they were, any sane person understands that an oral promise is only relevant for the administration that gave it. The GHWB administration was replaced in 1993. The Russians were not deceived in any way. An agreement that was signed, though, was the Budapest memorandum, with Russia, UK and the US guaranteeing the borders of Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine giving up its nuclear missiles. Russia's deception regarding signed agreement truly underscores how it cannot be trusted to keep any promise. Btw, Prigozhin experienced that in a very real way some time ago, as he clearly made a deal with the Kremlin to abort his march on Moscow only to be blown out of the sky along with Wagner leadership a while later.

[@codyvandal2860]

@@jesan733 This is addressed directly in plenty of official sources and documentation - unfortunately YT automatically bans and deletes those comments so I can't respond to you as comprehensively as I would like. In the interest of brevity you can believe this: "Euromaidan" was as much a "revolution of dignity" as the 1953 CIA backed coup in Iran. The intent is very obviously to park tanks on Russia's doorstep. They are reacting to it precisely the way the US would react if Mexico was going to have Chinese military bases in Juarez and Tijuana. Brutally. If you think it's a simple case of Victim and Villain with brave and heroic and democratic Ukraine being bullied by evil, imperial, Voldemort Putler then discourse is impossible because US propaganda has made critical evaluation impossible.

[@tyrantonion6660]

It seems that nowadays you have to be a genius to spot hypocrisy.

[@guydreamr]

A couple things Chomsky leaves out: after the Maidan uprising, Russia proceeded to invade and annex Crimea, then fomented separatist uprisings in Donetsk followed by a subsequent invasion by Russian troops (without insignia) as well. These two events were what largely prompted increased aid and training from the West to Ukraine. Now, it's certainly true Bush promised NATO membership to Ukraine and Georgia in 2008. However, as Chomsky himself pointed out, this was largely opposed by members of his own administration, including Defense secretary Gates as well as many other senior officials, vetoed by Germany and France, and was essentially dead in the water from that time forward. On the eve of Russia's invasion of 2022, there were no serious moves to bring Ukraine into NATO afoot and indeed, most of public opinion in Ukraine itself was opposed to it.

[@sunshineglow5579]

Well said Dr,Chomsky!!!!

[@albertoramirez2003]

el Senil chomsky es 5a columnista de la democracia

[@garethcharlton7508]

but Noam all those eastern european small countries have been "liberated by Russia" within living memory some more than once -Prague for example they were desperate to join Nato they fully understood the consequences of not doing so as is now self evident violence rape and murder cannot pay and cannot be seen to pay - this does not excuse others of their crimes Iraq 2003 etc the right of self determination is fundamental if not always adhered to - we hold these truths to be self evident ring a bell ?, pursuit of happiness rather than a sphere of influence anyday

[@naturalexplorer]

Very disappointed in many of the insights of Professor Chomsky. Do not agree with a whole range of them. He says he rates countries following "orders" by the United States very highly. This is mere obedience to American desires. He needs to open his mind in a very big way. My suggestion to Professor Chomsky is for him to look in his own back yard. Amazing.

[@kevinjohnson9533]

Great talk by Noam. Always providing for people a whole and convincing picture of the world we live.

[@Mark-pb4dn]

not much to learn from this guy, if he mixes truth with lies

[@davidsnedeker8098]

Oh please, stop the crap.

[@matroskinmatroskin4175]

CHMO-VSKI IS THE SHIT

[@MrStarman2010]

Excellent Discission Dr. Chomsky. Best.

[@user-eo6oq1fl6p]

My Hero.

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

I used to really enjoy listening to Noam, even if I didn't agree with everything he said.... now I'm not so sure. I surely don't have time to go back and listen to the hundreds of hours of talks I've heard him give, but this, to me, at this time, is sounding a lot self hatred / US hate. I agree that he has plenty of reasons to be critical of the US, but I feel like this is a lot less black and white than he is making it. I used to search for more and more of anything he did and couldn't get enough, but now I can't be bothered to watch the whole video. I'm starting to think that he has so much dislike for the US that it influences his thoughts to the extreme. To be clear, I don't believe that the US or any other country is helping Ukraine out of the goodness of their hearts or because of some moral goodness.... It's all about foreign policy and what's best for each nation. With that being said, Russia is as guilty of terror and misconduct as the US and it is currently invading a country... another country... again. Yes, the US is horrible and it needs to change, yes, helping Ukraine is based on the military industrial complex and all that jazz... but what are the options ? Russia proved what it would do many times over, and in 2014, when they were not resisted. I know this is much more complex and Noam probably claims that Ukraine doesn't really want to be part of Nato and it it is a puppet government installed by the US/ the west ... but Russia and communism also seem like a pretty good motivation for a country to want to join NATO, and if Noam is saying that a country shouldn't be free to do what they want because of an agreement made decades ago by two other nations ... that's just idiotic.

[@grimreaper492]

Russia is not as guilty of terror and misconduct as the US. Russia has commited terror and misconduct, but to claim it is on the same level as the US is false and actually a justification of NATO.

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

@@grimreaper492 I never claimed that it was as bad or the same as the US... that is a totally separate argument. NATO does not require "justification" it is nations grouping together to ensure security in numbers and geographic location. If individuals of a country decide that they want to be part of NATO Russia or the US has no business standing in their way. I believe that the "agreement" made should be amended or changed to reflect these decisions, but just because it was written down as an agreement or law does not mean that it is right or that people should fight against it. The US has committed horrible war crimes and those responsible should be held accountable... Slavery also used to be legal in the US and you could beat your wife... the logical response shouldn't be "well... the US did it so who cares. Putin / Russia is CURRENTLY in 2022 bombing civilian areas, infrastructure, using white phosphorus, torturing, deporting civilians to Russian to filtration camps, and openly talking about wiping Ukrainians off the earth. They are literally talking about erasing the memory of Ukrainians. So, as bad as the US is, and despite all of the things they have done wrong, I think this is a little bit complicated and supplying the Ukrainians with weapons to defend themselves is the lesser of evils...

[@grimreaper492]

@@JoelArseneaultKZbin "I never claimed that it was as bad or the same as the US" "With that being said, Russia is as guilty of terror and misconduct as the US" "using white phosphorus" every military that is in any serious conflict uses white phosphorous "torturing" that might be true, we have no concrete information yet though "deporting civilians to Russian to filtration camps" I haven't heard of this one, what is your source? "openly talking about wiping Ukrainians off the earth. They are literally talking about erasing the memory of Ukrainians." lol no they have said the opposite, and in the beginning they didn't bomb Ukraine because they wanted to cause as few civilian casualties as possible

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

@@grimreaper492 Excuse me " I never claimed they were as bad or worse than the US"

[@dvegule920]

If you don't have time to listen what he is saying, don't comment. You miss connections.

[@thomasrebelo2189]

Great post!! Chomsky even in advanced age asking questions we never thought to ask ourselves .

[@JackTenrec-qk4zp]

Chomsky went senile, he better stay quiet and try to enjoy those last few years he has left

[@cheeto8960]

France and Germany wouldn't even guarantee the minsk accords how would Macron make europe do the european common home

[@georgalem3310]

He was saying that this could be an opportunity for Western Europe to start carving up their own path, independently of the Godfather. By invading Putin delivered Europe to the US in a silver plate.

[@matroskinmatroskin4175]

Cogent

[@loretalingyte9908]

AMEN, Mr Chomsky.

[@hewdelfewijfe]

Funny that the diplomats at this meeting say that it's a lie that any such promise was made about NATO expansion. Even Gorbachev says this was not promised.

[@micnorton9487]

Gorbachev didn't say that and you know he didn't say it.. do you think that Stalin didn't know that it was Wall Street that was behind the Nazi Party from its Inception up till the invasion of France,, with the ultimate goal being the reduction and occupation of Russia? To acquire some of those 6 million square miles of resources that Russia has stretching to the Pacific ocean? Military Adventures do not exist for any purpose other than acquiring resources,, although you might say that counter military Adventures exist to repel Nazis... the United States with 800 bases worldwide obviously represent the nazis, now you can claim they are benign and altruistic all you want but it doesn't change the facts just as Chomsky stated...

[@seeofrains]

> Even Gorbachev says this was not promised. For more credibility, may I suggest to refer to when/where Mr.Gorbachov "said" that?

[@C0urne]

@@seeofrains If I recall Gorbachev gave conflicting statements on the matter over the years. The book "Not One Inch" (2021) could be an interesting read for knowing how much of a nuanced mess this piece of history is. Still, verbal promises or breaking them holds little value when Russia broke numerous signed treaties with the invasion of Ukraine.

[@micnorton9487]

@@C0urne ..signed treaties don't mean much when you're talking about Nazis on your border inviting other parties to come in with nuclear missiles to point at your capital.. no thinking person agrees with Russia's invasion of Ukraine however, what thinking person would deny the Russians their security after what happened in World War ii? Over 20 million of their civilians were killed by Nazis,, who were brought into Power by the industrialists of the west, and that means western Europe and America... even before the time of napoleon, Western European powers have been wanting to crack Russia and there's only one reason, for the millions of square miles of resources that Russia holds... if the United States would ever try a non-despotic sort of world policy, maybe we could see that it is causing most of these problems Itself by their continuous economic Warfare against every place in the world trying to get Wall Street more Rich than they already are... every Russian leader since Stalin has proposed the elimination of nuclear weapons and in fact the elimination of aggressive military forces worldwide by every country in the world including themselves... this would seem a healthy stance to take for a country with 25 million people killed in World War ii, don't you think? So who really are the crazy megalomaniacs here?

[@hewdelfewijfe]

@@C0urne Thanks. Note that Gorbachev IIRC never said that it was explicitly promised, just that he was maybe misled verbally. Note that nothing regarding this was ever written down, and it was never explicitly promised verbally either.

[@Origi-Nator]

Noam Chomsky; a human face for GOD ❤‍🩹

[@worfoz]

what god? thor, zeus of baal moloch?

[@gogrape9716]

Still self obsessed...

[@FINNSTIGAT0R]

NATO is the natural peer group of Finland and Sweden. There is no contradiction in the thought of Russia being a paper tiger and still seeing it as a great threat. Even the most idiotic and badly led military can cause great harm and destruction when the numbers are as it is between Finland and Russia. Russia 144 million, biggest land mass of all countries, immense resources at least in theory - Finland 5,5 million (less than St. Petersburg), not extraordinary in size, no resources to brag about, kinda middle class , so not extraordinarily wealthy (like Norway for example). Chomsky is playing rhetorical games in a desperate manner, and is easily proven to do so - like I just did. Rather pathetic from a man who is considered to be a great thinker 🤷

[@jimrevkin9271]

Exactly. Even Chomsky’s theory of language is garbage.

[@littlefluffybushbaby7256]

I'm neither agreeing nor disagreeing but when it comes to the size of Russia, geographically, it's a little misleading. Most of it is hardly occupied. If you look at the areas of it that are populated and productive it is a much smaller country that sheer geography implies. Most countries are like that. Something like 80% of Americans live in the eastern half of the mainland. Australia is really two or three small countries with a vast empty space in the between. Size isn't everything. It's still bigger than Finland though. It's also a Federation. Many of it's parts have some degree of autonomy.

[@FINNSTIGAT0R]

@@littlefluffybushbaby7256 I understand what you said aboit population. Big land mass can be a blessing ot a curse, depending on the situation. Why I brought that up is that since they have so much land that brings them resources, like oil, gas, rare minerals etc.

[@littlefluffybushbaby7256]

@@FINNSTIGAT0R Fair enough

[@matroskinmatroskin4175]

It WAS PROVOKED ...NO DOUBTS ABOUT IT

[@kerrryschultz2904]

Following your analogy if your neighbour buys a gun, but neither branishes it or shows you intention to do you harm you shoot him dead with the reason that maybe he could do you harm. People put up fences for a variety of reasons but on their land that's their perogative to do so. The USA is not perfect nor innocent but neither is russia. Also Dr.Chomsky seems to have been asleep when he said russia did not attack civilian infrastucure and energy sources such as electrical installations. I agree with Dr. Chomsky when he suggests that the world wide trend towards warmongering needs to stop, and it would be interesting to know how much the top 1 percent of the worlds richest people make off of these wars by selling munitions and war hardware. And even further do they have a hand in to provoke such world wide events to occur.

[@fabiengerard8142]

I’ve been following this man for three decades. Most lucid mind and most trustful academic I’ve ever known. A unique treasure to humankind, just like Socrates. 🙏🏼🙏🏾🙏

[@georgalem3310]

Totally, and let's not even start mentioning his contributions to linguistic...

[@Redmanticore]

well, socrates was in favor of slaves, because he had them. even nomsky-chomsky is not perfect. i have no doubt in my mind that chomsky would recommend of doing things like give finland away to russia, etc. just for russia to feel more comfortable, being ignorant of european history, long before usa. i am not sure if he would ever put foot in the ground and say this is enough. when the european and asian security framework would crumble down, well, he would just blame united states for it, too.

[@yaroslavrogotsky5434]

However, on the Russo-Ukrainian war he produces nothing but brain farts))))

[@fabiengerard8142]

(Sounds like some guys around here still do live inside Plato’s Cave - the 2.0 Cave, actually). 🤔

[@bohdansheiko5018]

Out of touch

[@abrambadal8997]

Abram Badal il y a 0 seconde China--Russian Federation is strengthened by new big nations closing in and expecting to join Shanghai Pacte and also expanding The BRICS economic world market , by N. Korea , Mongolia, Argentine, Indonesia, Iran, Venezuella , Pakistan , Turkey , Qatar , Serbia, .... plus has many other new important countries together with OPEC plus with Russia joinning in a good relations with OPEC countries , strengthened very much by Saudi Arabia , Algeria, Irak, Syria, Nigeria, Venezuella, Iran , Indonesia, joinning closer to China--Russia stand against USA-NATO-E.U. ; Struggle for avoiding lack of Energy especially in Oil and gas in near future , passing through OIL-Peak , is a vital strategic importance for growth and future sustained growth or struggling through depression or zero growth ! Then a more serious matter driving into solid rock alliance is The De-Dollarization policy well set-up by both countries and intensified after Ukrain's war , this has a far greater and far more importance than this report is falling short of investigating for the geostrategic financial crutial matter !

[@koksalceylan9032]

Turkiye is Not in Brics nor in other Eastern sceems. Turkiye says in the Western side,will always bee. Thanks Allah

[@reedschrichte800]

Thanks for the good laugh!

[@littlefluffybushbaby7256]

Did you type that or pass it through a language translator? It seems like it was translated into English by software. I'm not sure what you were trying to say.

[@reedschrichte800]

@@littlefluffybushbaby7256 I think he was trying to say that all of the shithole countries are going to get together in order to equal even one moderately developed Western country

[@littlefluffybushbaby7256]

@@reedschrichte800 Hello Mr Trump. How's the golf going?

[@sharongrandi6903]

Listen to Timothy Snyders Yale class on Ukraine. It's free and on KZbin. Much more interesting than Chomsky and in my mind more relevant. I got tired of Chomsky years ago.

[@littlefluffybushbaby7256]

I watched all 23 of his lectures. I second your recommendation. I think Chomsky is worth listening to but, whilst what he says is true, it's not all the truth. It's a spin, or viewpoint. But that's the point of listening to different perspectives. I use the analogy of a court case. What we have is different evidence and witnesses, and from listening to those often contrary views of truth you may come to a conclusion of what is probably true 'beyond reasonable doubt'. It still may not be the actual truth. Often multiple things are true at the same time. I'm also cautious when people talk in broad brush strokes about geopolitical areas and what countries want etc. Individuals matter a lot and history tends to have the straight flow of brownsian motion or the weather. That is to say it's usually pretty random. One nutter missing from the stream and you'd get a totally different result.

[@crawwwfishh3284]

In bunkers they breed on muddy ground we bleed. No wars under Trump.

[@reedschrichte800]

Trump was handing it over for free.

[@92100mark]

Ir seems Chomsky is way too intelligent to simply focus on denouncing a genocide in Ukraine. I'm not, and believe 1941 was not the best of times to discuss the Treaty of Versailles

[@purnurschneider1254]

This is the scariest and most depressive speech I heard lately

[@littlefluffybushbaby7256]

You haven't heard my wife talking about our relationship. 😁

[@pyrefly7575]

Wait so Russia isn't the very baddie bad very very evil bad guy and NATO the very very goody boy 😢😢😢😢😢😢???

[@JoelArseneaultYouTube]

LOL... there's no good in the world ... it's all motivated by greed and power. It's all a game of trying to choose sides with the lesser evil. Noam has a lot of reasons to hate NATO, US and "THE WEST" but I believe his hate makes him overlook the evil of others. A decade old agreement between US and Russia should not have any say on what Ukraine chooses to do, and just because US and NATO have been involved in awful things doesn't mean that the world should ignore decades and decades of war crimes of Russia. Those who will suffer the most form this "Ukraine war" will be 1. Ukrainian civilians who are being illegally targeted and 2. Russian population who are being forced to fight in a war they don't believe in without proper training or equipment. Not that I would enjoy this scenario, but IF Russia were just a little less corrupt and a little less brutal, they would have taken Ukraine in a week, few lives would have been taken and there would have been negotiations and a decade of peace... and then another invasion of whatever was left of Ukraine. Russia / Putin has made it clear that they want to go back to being the former USSR and even more. All of these European countries, who don't want to be a part of Russia will all have to some day make the choice. "Fight Russia, or become part of Russia" and almost every single one of these countries are doing a whole lot better on their own.

[@thebear844]

Both are the same. When this is widely understood, we'll have a better world.

[@LustWaffel]

Russia is very very bad boy. If you think Chomsky lying changes anything then you are what's called "Very big dumb dumb"

[@simonhorler5795]

Love you, Noam, explain to me better how one minute you say the US has the worst health services in the world and the next the best military because they spend the most, bearing in mind they haven't won a war since WR2. I know you're right but just to bridge that gap in my mind, I should say I'm from the west and am appalled at our behavior, and want Putin to be useful in showing the world how a country can boot out the Central banking system and still succeed against what I see as an enemy to all the citizens of the world, the so-called new world order.

[@codyvandal2860]

When you say they haven't "won a war" since WW2 you are making presuppositions about their war aims and assuming they did not accomplish them. Do you think the war in Iraq was about providing some kind of Scandinavian democracy to the Iraqis? Of course not. It was to completely destroy the country, plunder it of it's natural resources, and make it perpetually dependent on the international finance system. In this regard it was a massive "victory." As were most of the other US wars.

[@cd-smotribestvideo8220]

Noam Chomsky, why don't you say anything about the war in Donbass, about the alley of angels and other crimes of the Kiev regime against its people, against those who did not support the neo-Nazis who came to power in Kiev? Why???

[@Azdroc96]

What neo-Nazis in Kiev are you talking about? The president of Ukraine is Jewish.

[@issacbrott3336]

The very same hypocritical drone like construct....

[@martinko4086]

Mr. Dr Chomsky, we would like to know what is on your mind / if you still have any / regarding WAR in Ukraine which start by your fellow communist former KGB member Mr , DR. Putin PhD.

[@davidsnedeker8098]

norm's "use by date" is long past, . . . for all but some folks stuck in the 1960-1970s" he does not have either the language or done the documentary analysis work to opine seriously on the Ukraine. virtually ALL his analysis is referential to other geography and historical events, which is his stock and trade where ever he appears. sad to see a significant american intellect decline/debase like this.

[@reedschrichte800]

Viet Nam is now one of America's closest allies.

[@issacbrott3336]

This nutter is a walking dedicated critique....all critiqe and no answers...if Bolsidom is so attractive movee to Vladivostoc...

[@darthregulus]

Ukraine provoked the attack

[@thebear844]

US did, not Ukraine.

[@atticusfredericks6210]

@@thebear844 Neither. If you wish to point a finger of provocation, point it at Putin's lap dog Viktor Yanukovych , who despite promising to keep Ukraine neutral , took a hard left turn toward Putin, leading to the coup which overthrew his corrupt government. Yanukovych now lives in luxury outside Moscow where he fled and on the $-millions he and his family stole from Ukraine.

[@yaroslavrogotsky5434]

@@thebear844 Oh, innocent russian? Sure, everyone provokes you. when there's no russia, there will be no one to provoke)))

[@thebear844]

@@yaroslavrogotsky5434 Ukraine is dead!

[@yuliasergeevna2310]

@@yaroslavrogotsky5434 you should know that when there's no Russia, there's no world. It's not a threat, it's a fact. So calm down and carry on with your small life