On the subject of why the Russian Orthodox Church cleaves so much to the criminal Russian State, it is well known that its senior leadership has always belonged to the KGB -- not as assets or informants, but agents in active service. As reported by Forbes (Nov. 2009): "Kirill, who was the Metropolitan of Smolensk, succeeds Alexei II who died in December after 18 years as head of the Russian Church. According to material from the Soviet archives, Kirill was a KGB agent (as was Alexei). This means he was more than just an informer, of whom there were millions in the Soviet Union. He was an active officer of the organization. Neither Kirill nor Alexei ever acknowledged or apologized for their ties with the security agencies." I think this should clear up any misunderstanding about the Church's "moral values."
@@miklosfabian4722 Did the Pope really say this? That's good! In any case, it should be really easy for the pontiff to understand the "Patriarch." All he has to do is to stop thinking of Kirill as a man of God, or any kind of a religious man at all, and grasp the simple fact that all he really is, and ALWAYS has been, is a KGB agent. And what follows from this is that his one and only task at the helm of the church is to make sure it follows the dictums of, and supports, the government. The Orthodox Church in Russia, like any other organization or business, exists solely at the pleasure of the dictator, because it either serves his purposes or is so insignificant, he doesn't even notice it. The latter is obviously NOT the case with the Church, so its function is, in fact, to be an important instrument of power for the State. This means that the "election" of Kirill as Patriarch was undoubtedly ordered from "above" (and we are not talking about the Almighty).
17:28 There is a chapter written about this in David Satter's book ''It Was A Long Time Ago and It Never Happened Anyway''. KGB now FSB is in control of the Russian Orthodox church. Patriarch Kirill (you know the guy who loves to wear luxury watches which the state later censures photos of like Stalin) is himself KGB/FSB.
The world cannot progress with CIA/KGB cat and mouse games the thinking behind the non-aligned movement..... that being the case we can observe whose on the right side of history this time round.
@@SiliconCurtain In 1943, a meeting took place between Stalin and Metropolitan Sergius. For communication between the government and the church, the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church was created, headed by NKVD General Georgy Karpov…., kGB(gru) at the head of the church to control the people…
Jonathan - i don't know how you turn these videos around so fast given you mentioned in one of them that you have a day job! But, well done, you're doing a good thing for Ukraine and for freedom.
As a collector of many books on Russian History and Politics.These conclusions confirm many of my own and this site is an excellent needed source of information about Russia and it’s complexities at this awful time for Russia,Ukraine and the World.
Thank you Jonathan for a brilliant interview with Mark Hollingsworth. I do my best to catch all your podcasts. I found this one to be among the very best yet and I thank you and Mr. Hollingsworth. Best wishes from Connecticut.
except THAT is the problem, i.e, everyone became used to them over the past 20 yrs slowly as they started boiling us all, as the frogs getting slowly boiled. They now are a direct threat to the world economy, food stability, etc etc.
@@18_rabbitI suggest it's been going on longer than that, eg as a Brit, the recrudescence of the troubles in Northern Ireland in the 60s, and the destruction of British manufacturing industry in the 70s. My dad was a union negotiator at a large plastics company, and regularly brought home tales of how the union voting processes were manipulated by Marxist agitators. 'Weaponised' Marxism, perhaps?
Another excellent discussion. For Russians, who do not have independent legal system, and no institutinal checks and balances, turmoil in government, with capricious and unrestricted laws, directly, and intimately, affects their lives, often violently. So they see the political diversity and conflict of our democracy as deeply disturbing. But, in democracies, with checks and balances, and a robust and independent legal system, the wranglings of politics do not have that dire an effect on our lives. That's why Russians are easily persuaded to distrust democracy
A lot of Russians seem to see western political forces as being all identical under different formal guises rather than diverse. E.g., CDU is about the same as SPD, which is about the same as the Green Party, and about the same as FDP. Obama is about the same as Bush, who is about the same as McCain, who is about the same as Mitt Romney, who is about the same as Bill Clinton, who is about the same as Biden. And so on. Basically, they have a very similar set of views to the white working class a la "they are all lying disconnected politicians". By contrast, Putin is very different from Yeltsin, who is very different from Gorbachev.
@@Humanophage Maybe, They are aware that our political system has conflicts between politicians, but, agreed, they see our diverse political viewpoints as having all the same potential for turmoil. They don't seem to understand that just because politicans argue we are not on the brink of civil war, and the Russian propaganda continually represents our vibrant democray as the "West" tearing itself apart, and our freedoms as decadent. I'd be carefull with sweeping characterizations and sterotypes like 'the white working class' - it's invented by detractors of democracy. Furthermore, we all know that Politics is the art of persuassion, and it's cornerstone, rhetoric, has only socitial norms which limit it's adherence to truth. It's an important part of the democratic process, allowing freedom for the individual to acess the truth of the speaker, and allowing a choice of viewpointss. Denied in Russia, and look at the result !.
@@derduebel Well, there is distrust for democracy for those reasons even in countries which are perfectly functional. There is a discourse in Russia that 'the West' is not freedom-loving and simply consists of a kind of conformist burgher hivemind that destroys all real political diversity, giving pseudo-choices instead.
You could start by researching one Ladislav Bittman and his lovely 'The Deception Game' book. Good luck finding it as it has managed to get on their "catch and shred" list. The list itself is interesting and was established in late 1920s. Good luck!
@@SiliconCurtain Hopefully it is a smaller one, a paperback, He also had a thicker hardcover, that one is more technical - an abstract analysis. The paperback is more captivating account of specific campaigns. Palmer Operation in Indonesia is one example of a superb operation that you will not find anywhere else in open source domain. There are quite a few of those in the book.
I know this would be additional work many might not appreciate, but it would be wonderful if you would provide links to relevant reading which could lead viewers towards the primary sources, as it were and what may be available, which back up the interviews. There is alreqdy the list of books written by the interview subject, which is a great start, but I'd love to see more relevant reading presented.
Moral: If you hunt for enemies hard enough you’ll find them, because you’ll create them. Moral 2: War is too important a business to be left to anyone but the generals.
Like always, interesting and factual conversation. Maybe, if I may suggest, one of the topics could be the influence of Russia in fmr. Yugoslavia. Only recently parliament of my Croatia voted against training of 100-120 Ukrainian sappers, under the influence of both Serbian-Russian agencies in Croatia and former communist structures, still active in Croatia. Also, recent elections in Montenegro were celebrated in Belgrade, in Serbian part of Bosnia and in Montenegro by waving Russian flags. A year ago some members of Montenegrin parliament voted for exiting NATO and giving Russia the Boka bay as naval base. Also, Belgrade and Bosnian Serbs are building with Russian money "an airport", runway 3.5 km long in Trebinje, 30 km from Croatian border. Putin is desperate to distract and widen the conflict- Let this not be Bosnia again.
The Balkans is the easiest region where breaking the shackles of the EU can be achieved, because they all can be connected to the Turk stream. (As long as it isn't blown up by the US).
Russians from Prighozin web brigades are very active here. Send their comments to modration to delete them. FSB is very active in in Western social media.
You are probably right. This channel is probably monitored by russians in order to detect enemies and analyze them. This channel is supposed to be useful for proukranian and pro nato side , but it can be even more useful for the opposite side.
Wait, does this 5 pointed star have any connection to the 5 pointed star that has been cropping up all over starting maybe 20 years ago? No one ever explained it to me, but i had this sort if sense that it was connected to some kind of something spiritual like wiccan or something. Am i crazy to make that connection?
Another thorough and brilliant interview...I highly encourage an interview discussing the degenerate role of the Moscow Patriarchate...as well as the historical division between hierarchy and parish/monastic clergy. I'm curious what Scott Kenworthy would say??? Your guest also drew parallels to the Roman Catholic Church which don't really hold up...the closest would have been the Spanish Church during the Civil war... certainly not the European church during the Second World War, which as material comes to light was far more active and antagonistic but unable to publicly pronounce given the multinational basis of the Church, unlike the often nationality based governance of the Orthodox churches....as always..a fantastic production
I, for one, would love to hear some expert comment and analysis on the current state of, and dynamics within the Russian Orthodox Church vis a vie the war in Ukraine. So any guest that van be hosted on the podcast to elaborate on this would be much appreciated!
Comparison with the US Robber Barons is interesting. It holds up some, but not completely. As comparison, Andrew Carnegie avoided increasing his workers' pay, saying they'd only spend it on drink and idle pastimes. Better to help keep them on the straight-and-narrow! In the end, he gave 90% of his wealth to various philanthropies that were intended to improve the lives of the same workers. (For example, founding over 2,000 public libraries.) _[With that sample of 1 US R.B., I now generalize about Russian oligarchs + Putin. Thus, it's not a great generalized comparison, but it's something to think about.]_ Russian oligarchs, on the other hand, seem to have no such philanthropic vein. Further, they seem to prefer to keep the masses opiated (with vodka) in a kind of self-righteous, "Puritanical" stupor.
Happy at least someone (M.H.) spoke this out in an interview: "Putin is a little insecure man". I already feel sorry for the academic who writes the biography of this staidly ugly guy (Putin). However very interesting interview 💯! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I believe the SPETSNAZ is organisationally actually a (very large) branch of the GRU. It's not really part of the regular Army or Navy, but obviously they are assigned missions to support the latter two.
@@SiliconCurtain SPETSNAZ are not assigned to any particular branch of the military. They can be airborne, naval infantry (marines) or whatever. It's a resource which comes under a separate command from the normal force structure, and I do believe they are under the GRU. In other words, its a typical Russian "silo" approach to organisation: SPETSNAZ may be wiped out and fail in their mission, but other units will just blunder into the same scenario because the plan said so.
At 7:07 the host and guest are puzzled by the russian orthodox church link to putin and Siloviki. As I have lived in a former warsaw pact country, there was a mode that the security services from these countries had in common, and that was infiltration of this church that they know they could never replace with their ideology. The polichinele secret was that it was permitted but infiltrated. Thing that they could not do in Poland, as the catholic religion had alegiance to Rome...So most of their "problems" was the deep religious poland allied with the free sindicate, both addressing the ideological and the economical "problems" with communism. The revolution in Romania was seemingly piloted by siloviki in Moskaw that were experimenting with the model to be exported, with influence in political , media in ex soviet countries paired with controling the religion with implants at the top and controling the economy with an oligarchic system, easy to implement givin the green light given by the "west" to rapid privatisation. I am not sure that the western strategists were so appalled or mere complicit in that, knowing how "chummy" the western leaders were to friendly dictators wherever that suited their respective interest. Yes, we all knew that , in the coutnries that were given by Churchil to Stalin . Back to the subject, I am amazed by the ingnorance about the structural link between the orthodox religion and the kleptocratic regimes inspirated by the KGB all over the ex soviet space. This kind of regime , we see from space that, it lacks ideology and spirituality. Moreover thiese regimes advanced quite rapidely to de politicise the populace, and transform these countries in organized crime states. EU moved swittly and Nato also to save some, but they had to compromise and aknowledge a concept that we all thought was begone: feudal sphere of infouence of last centuries, for Moskwa. Fast forward to the present war in Ukraine. All is because YOUR IGNORANCE, and arm chair politics, while generations were lost in these countries With all these discussions about givin 3 or 4 tanks to fight the thousands of tanks Putin has, we see the history repeating all over again, apeasing and giving the terrorist state something (their strategy is escalation escalation asking a lot, beeing given some, then repeat).
@@symbionese2348 well thanks for pointing that to me. So the fact that these excelent points did not make it , in the proper format, is because some smuchks put a lot of effort into the format and nothing in the content. As a wiseman said: when everithing was said and done, it is obvious that it was a lot said and nothing done.
@@Grundewalt Avoid thinking the worst about everything and everybody and your life will become happier even as your communication skills improve. Your English language ability is good.
18:24 as one who "leans Catholic," I'm afraid it's a very fair comparison, Bourne out by events. I've felt myself reminding TH-camrs of Mr H's very points. _Christianity is not a matter of "liberal vs conservative;" it is a matter of being at once both liberal and conservative._ My suggestion is rarely well received. To the point of the conversation, during Trump's elections, I would contend with these Christians about Trump's demonstrated sense of justice & ethics. They were much more concerned with the abortion plank as the sole priority. I realized democracy would not have happened in the US (at least not as early) if the population was dominated by Catholics. It's a real conundrum for me.
"The Peter Principle" should be renamed "The Putin Principal". 'a person who is competent at their job will earn a promotion to a position that requires different skills' on other words, promoted to a position in which they are incompetent. Another great interview.
Interesting and have learnt some more. I would like to know if you have covered in more detail which 'far-lefts' are currently or have recently been used by the recent iteration of the KGB? I know which far rights are and have found a lot on that, but far-lefts not much. Thanks for your channel, its enlightening to say the least.
Putin understands the real purpose of religion: first assure the assure the Cannon fodder the terrible lives they lead will find reward in heaven, second - FROM THE PULPIT-- tell them they will go straight to heaven if they die on the field in Ukraine, Chechnya, Georgia, Syria,...
Would Russian courses in London about which info was obtained through Intourist in the 1980s be connected to the KGB? Didn't learn much Russian but the courses were cheap.
I bet the KGB were having a good time in the London of the sixties! It amazes me that the Holodomor was never known of at that time. Was it due to that American journalist who travelled to Ukraine reporting back that everything was fine in Ukraine?
Hi Silicon Curtain, just re putin and the church. At the time of Solidarity in Poland there was a Polish Pope, I think maybe putin connected this with how religious the then Soviet people were and chose to keep a tight control over it. A great channel btw, you speak my mind.
It seems to me that Yuri Bezmenov and Golitsyn (''New Lies for Old'', ''Perestroika Deception'') was right. There are some interesting details about Gorbachev in Ken Alibek's book ''Biohazard''.
How do Russian and Chinese strategies and tactics of regime change differ from comparable U.S. strategy and tactics of regime change? Which nation has been most successful in regard to regime change?
@@JamesSmith-ix5jd Ukraine, Tibet, Mongolia, Taiwan, and India might have different opinions regarding the benign nature of Russian and Chinese geopolitics.
37:54 / 59:26 Intourist agency helped people with car hire and accommodation but was really also operating as a front for KGB, even low level staff were expected to inform for the KGB. Honey trapped a British MP. Intourist was a Russian tour operator, headquartered in Moscow. It was founded 1929, and served as the primary travel agency for foreign tourists in the Soviet Union. It was privatized in 1992, and from 2011, was 50.1% owned by the British Thomas Cook Group until its collapse in September 2019.
During the Soviet Union the Communist Party ruled and it had at its disposal the Red Army with which it kept the KGB on a very short leash. The Red Army hated the KGB. When the Soviet Union was dissolved and the Party lost its power the KGB became a free agent. Mikhail Gorbachev had used the KGB to keep an eye on his opponents and possible rival! He did not do anything to reform the KGB, mainly because he saw it as his tool for power. When the Soviet Union was dissolved Boris Yeltsin did not dissolve the KGB, he only changed its name! He knew very well the utility of the KGB as a tool to keep his political opponents in check and secure his own power. He thought that he could keep it under control, but he failed. And the KGB became the de facto ruler of Russia.
Kinda a Gang-based Boy-band, at least the acronym I have concluded what KGB represents. The KGB has a long history far more storied than the CIA. Both are agents of convenience, not as a legitimate state institution but an illegitimate enterprise employed by the state to do what the state is not allowed to do by legal means.
I was married to someone who greatly admired the Oathkeepers. He held a lot of strange beliefs, let's just say. The more i learn about the specific content of Russian propaganda, the more i wonder how far back it has been influencing people in the USA and if there's a connection. I mean, dude got several strange ideas from his father, who considered himself quite superior foe his alternative views. He was born in the early 1920s, so maybe their were waves of propagandistic efforts in the USA commensurate with the world wars, or maybe those efforts have gone a lot farther back than i formerly realized. Just my thoughts on your comment. Editing after viewing: this explanation firmed up my suspicions.
@@thinker646 Thank you for your reply. It was very interesting, to say the least. Yes, Russian propaganda has been around contaminating western thought for a long time. Certainly since the 1920's, and very likely back into Czarist times. But there was also NAZI propaganda rampant at the same time. The Oathkeepers are a radical right-wing extremist group though, and are more aligned NAZI ideology. I guess that at some point the two ideologies merge, as both NAZI and Russian ideology are based on the concept of "superior man" (notice I said "man") and hatred of all who do not agree.
I am surprised that no one called me out for my typo where I questioned if the FSU (Florida State University) had any complicity with January 6th, rather that FSB (Russian Federal Security Service). I appropriately hang my head in shame.
Might go and listen to Red skies over paradise by seventies new wave band Fischer Z, it reeks of the cold war, the arms race and all that stuff, suits this cold war "revival" right down to the ground. Only half joking.
The inference in this interview that there are no current/recent defectors in the KGB (outside of the 2 mentioned in the interview) is baseless. The mere fact that the CIA and MI6 both firmly predicted the Ukraine invasion prior to it's occurrence might suggest the presence of active agents currently operating within the KGB and/or Kremlin. Active agents would obviously not be known to the general public or even these two gentlemen in this interview. Many of the events that have occurred during this war, such as targeted attacks on senior military officers or public figures, which have been attributed to things such as "poor cellphone practices" or other signal intelligence may have actually occurred from informants within the Russian hierarchy. If this were true, you (western intelligence agencies) would obviously then attribute the source of the intel to something other than an agent/informant within the KGB, GRU or Kremlin.
China and Russia were preparing this for some years in advance. I would not be surprised if Indians and Saudis also knew about it, and 3 months prior pretty much everybody knew, I don't see this as a particular achievement by CIA or whomever
KGB had two chief directorates, one was tasked with spying outside the Soviet Union the other was tasked with keeping an eye on internal dissidents and run the informants. The name of the first mentioned was changed to SVR and the other's name was changed to FSB! The men and the task stayed the same.
The comparison of the the 'guilty' silence of Moscow Orthodoxy with the 'guilty' silence of the Catholic Church is partly unjust. With respect to national-socialism (nazism) it is unjust, as the Roman Magisterium was one of the first confessional authorities in the world to condemn this ideology. With respect to the scandals of pederasty it is entirely just, unfortunately. However, the situation in Russia is quite different and has very different causes. It is worse than it seems. The present Moscow Patriarchate has little to do with the original one, which was abolished by tsar Peter I in 1700 and failed to resurrect during the bolshevist revolution. Today's patriarchate is a creation of the secret services of Moscow (today named FSB) - it is a resurrection without resuscitation. In fact, in1943 it was established to help remotivate the russian masses, numbed by years of famine and terror, to thow themselves into the war as cannon fodder. During the Soviet regime the patriarchate served as a diplomatic facade of the KGB, aimed at duping naive well-meaning westerners. Under the present neo-fascist regime it serves as a cohesive force, but without a real spiritual renewal, it shares fully in the dysfunction of Russian society.
If the Ukrainian spring offensive overwhelms Russia and the army is in retreat and mutinies spread throughout their forces in Ukraine, anything is possible for Russia. Putin could be arrested for crimes against the state and nation a large pro-democracy movement may arise and lead to something close to a free country.
The ideas about Ukrainian victory and a rout of the Russian army is possible, and there are historical precedents for it. The liberal revolution- probably not. Because even before Maidan huge changes in Ukrainian society had to take place. There are not the foundations laid in Russia deep enough for a sustainable democratic revolution. Also the centralised state, secret police and ‘siloviki’ are too entrenched…
No, even if Putin is arrested then the civil war immediately starts and the West would have to send 250,000-500,000 troops to Russia to guard the nukes against the slavic terrorists. Either way there will be big war in coming 2-3 years.
Mr. Fink, your wife worked in a tourist agency that was run by KGB? It turns out that KGB was perhaps a sort of your matchmaker? 💕 Are you able to understand Russians in a rational and objective way? Do you know in what kind of relationship stood Leningrad's branch of KGB and program called Intensification 90? Do you believe that AI can fix some social problems, asssist in creating more human societies? Intensification 90 included some sort of AI use. Have you heard something about soviet social engineering programs? Homo sovieticus was regarded as an evolutionary imroved and healthy human being. You turned things upside down. Regarding soft bellies- they are used in diplomatic language. Organically speaking, soft bellies are actually lower parts of human body. Modern Russia likes to export or sell russian world. The question is if Russia sells its world or its chaos?
Intourist was definitely not the matchmaker… the guides had nothing to do with KGB - it was the managers and those that placed guides with your groups that were. And FYI there was massive corruption and bribe giving…
Is the author of these videos an expert on Russia? I am Russian and a little at a loss from such a presentation. for whom is this being done by some Englishman and American you are Americans about Russians? complete nonsense
Care to expand on your opinion...perhaps give some examples to back up your observations. I dont anything is being claimed in any of his videos...He interviews a wide array of very intelligent well educated people...many of them Russian.
@@ldhorricks Yes, they are so far from reality that I don’t even know where to start writing a big essay. Do you know what is happening with human rights in Ukraine now?
Please prep your interviewees with pronunciation: there is no u in the name of the president of Russia. Путин is correctly pronounced PooTin which indeed… he is. They simply short shift their presentation by being unable to pronounce the subject.
Britain is ruled by Leftist, Globalist, Wokist, Net Zero agendas. The political elites have no interest in the people. Only in the headline of the day. Putin is not restricted by those concerns and can deliver a peaceful prosperous life to the Russians... _as long as they do not challenge his authority_ .
And yet the standard of living in Ruzzia lags far behind the west, life expectancy is lower, alcoholism is higher ... I'm pretty sure most Brits wouldn't trade their current lifestyle for one like in pootin's utopia. Looks like you're the one pumping out the propaganda.
20% of all Russian have no indoor toilet, they have to go to outhouses in the yard. Is this the same in GB? Average RUS annuity is $220. A big portion of RUS retirees never reach the official pension age. Same in GB?
Best TH-cam channel if you want to understand this terrible war
Also check out ‘1420’, vlad vexler, Jake broe, joe blogs, Perun, and anything with Timothy Snyder in it.
@@bmunson4920 You forgot Stephen Kotkin!
On the subject of why the Russian Orthodox Church cleaves so much to the criminal Russian State, it is well known that its senior leadership has always belonged to the KGB -- not as assets or informants, but agents in active service. As reported by Forbes (Nov. 2009): "Kirill, who was the Metropolitan of Smolensk, succeeds Alexei II who died in December after 18 years as head of the Russian Church. According to material from the Soviet archives, Kirill was a KGB agent (as was Alexei). This means he was more than just an informer, of whom there were millions in the Soviet Union. He was an active officer of the organization. Neither Kirill nor Alexei ever acknowledged or apologized for their ties with the security agencies." I think this should clear up any misunderstanding about the Church's "moral values."
Pope Francis had given a good answer to Cyril: I don't understand you at all. You speak the language of war and not as Jesus Christ had spoken
@@miklosfabian4722 Did the Pope really say this? That's good! In any case, it should be really easy for the pontiff to understand the "Patriarch." All he has to do is to stop thinking of Kirill as a man of God, or any kind of a religious man at all, and grasp the simple fact that all he really is, and ALWAYS has been, is a KGB agent. And what follows from this is that his one and only task at the helm of the church is to make sure it follows the dictums of, and supports, the government. The Orthodox Church in Russia, like any other organization or business, exists solely at the pleasure of the dictator, because it either serves his purposes or is so insignificant, he doesn't even notice it. The latter is obviously NOT the case with the Church, so its function is, in fact, to be an important instrument of power for the State. This means that the "election" of Kirill as Patriarch was undoubtedly ordered from "above" (and we are not talking about the Almighty).
17:28 There is a chapter written about this in David Satter's book ''It Was A Long Time Ago and It Never Happened Anyway''. KGB now FSB is in control of the Russian Orthodox church. Patriarch Kirill (you know the guy who loves to wear luxury watches which the state later censures photos of like Stalin) is himself KGB/FSB.
Now booted out of Ukraine
ruZZian orthodox churches have ears.
@@SL-sd3sg not exactly...
The world cannot progress with CIA/KGB cat and mouse games the thinking behind the non-aligned movement..... that being the case we can observe whose on the right side of history this time round.
Excellent conversation, thank you both !
My exact sentiments.
FULLY AGREED 👍
A very interesting discussion that " Highlights that Democracy is Messy!!! " but Better than the Alternatives.
👍
Always very interesting and thought provoking!
Brilliant channel!
👍
@@SiliconCurtain In 1943, a meeting took place between Stalin and Metropolitan Sergius. For communication between the
government and the church, the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church was created, headed by NKVD
General Georgy Karpov…., kGB(gru) at the head of the church to control the people…
Thank you so much for doing these interviews.
👍
Jonathan - i don't know how you turn these videos around so fast given you mentioned in one of them that you have a day job! But, well done, you're doing a good thing for Ukraine and for freedom.
👍👍👍 my daily quota of sleep has gone down considerably… and other projects put on hold… 🙀
@@SiliconCurtain Please do not burn yourself out for youtube..
As a collector of many books on Russian History and Politics.These conclusions confirm many of my own and this site is an excellent needed source of information about Russia and it’s complexities at this awful time for Russia,Ukraine and the World.
"Londongrad" is a great book!
Great discussion! Thanks to both of you!
Thank you Jonathan for a brilliant interview with Mark Hollingsworth. I do my best to catch all your podcasts. I found this one to be among the very best yet and I thank you and Mr. Hollingsworth.
Best wishes from Connecticut.
👍👍👍 your support is very much appreciated!
@@SiliconCurtainWill you have him back on?
5 star! Thank you for this excellent episode.
👍
ruZZia is like having another planet on the planet.
Russia is the largest country on earth. Russians must be tempted to think "why wont the rest of the world do what it is told?"
except THAT is the problem, i.e, everyone became used to them over the past 20 yrs slowly as they started boiling us all, as the frogs getting slowly boiled. They now are a direct threat to the world economy, food stability, etc etc.
@@18_rabbit and so have to be defeated
@@18_rabbitI suggest it's been going on longer than that, eg as a Brit, the recrudescence of the troubles in Northern Ireland in the 60s, and the destruction of British manufacturing industry in the 70s. My dad was a union negotiator at a large plastics company, and regularly brought home tales of how the union voting processes were manipulated by Marxist agitators. 'Weaponised' Marxism, perhaps?
All warfare is deception. The part they forgot is: "Deceive the enemy not yourself."
Another excellent discussion. For Russians, who do not have independent legal system, and no institutinal checks and balances, turmoil in government, with capricious and unrestricted laws, directly, and intimately, affects their lives, often violently. So they see the political diversity and conflict of our democracy as deeply disturbing. But, in democracies, with checks and balances, and a robust and independent legal system, the wranglings of politics do not have that dire an effect on our lives. That's why Russians are easily persuaded to distrust democracy
A lot of Russians seem to see western political forces as being all identical under different formal guises rather than diverse. E.g., CDU is about the same as SPD, which is about the same as the Green Party, and about the same as FDP. Obama is about the same as Bush, who is about the same as McCain, who is about the same as Mitt Romney, who is about the same as Bill Clinton, who is about the same as Biden. And so on. Basically, they have a very similar set of views to the white working class a la "they are all lying disconnected politicians". By contrast, Putin is very different from Yeltsin, who is very different from Gorbachev.
@@Humanophage Maybe, They are aware that our political system has conflicts between politicians, but, agreed, they see our diverse political viewpoints as having all the same potential for turmoil. They don't seem to understand that just because politicans argue we are not on the brink of civil war, and the Russian propaganda continually represents our vibrant democray as the "West" tearing itself apart, and our freedoms as decadent. I'd be carefull with sweeping characterizations and sterotypes like 'the white working class' - it's invented by detractors of democracy. Furthermore, we all know that Politics is the art of persuassion, and it's cornerstone, rhetoric, has only socitial norms which limit it's adherence to truth. It's an important part of the democratic process, allowing freedom for the individual to acess the truth of the speaker, and allowing a choice of viewpointss. Denied in Russia, and look at the result !.
@@Humanophage yes that is very true and a good observation
@@Humanophage That's a good thing, because I don't need a completely new approach every 4 years.
@@derduebel Well, there is distrust for democracy for those reasons even in countries which are perfectly functional. There is a discourse in Russia that 'the West' is not freedom-loving and simply consists of a kind of conformist burgher hivemind that destroys all real political diversity, giving pseudo-choices instead.
You could start by researching one Ladislav Bittman and his lovely 'The Deception Game' book. Good luck finding it as it has managed to get on their "catch and shred" list. The list itself is interesting and was established in late 1920s. Good luck!
I’ve just ordered a copy! Several comments on the channel mention him, and now I have to read it!
@@SiliconCurtain Hopefully it is a smaller one, a paperback, He also had a thicker hardcover, that one is more technical - an abstract analysis. The paperback is more captivating account of specific campaigns. Palmer Operation in Indonesia is one example of a superb operation that you will not find anywhere else in open source domain. There are quite a few of those in the book.
Thank you for another very interesting discussion Jonathan. Please be safe, sometimes I worry about your safety.
I know this would be additional work many might not appreciate, but it would be wonderful if you would provide links to relevant reading which could lead viewers towards the primary sources, as it were and what may be available, which back up the interviews.
There is alreqdy the list of books written by the interview subject, which is a great start, but I'd love to see more relevant reading presented.
I’ll see what I can do. But am very time-poor, this channel not being my day job!
And another great interview! Due to time constraints I am selective in what I view on this channel, but this was the right choice.
Moral: If you hunt for enemies hard enough you’ll find them, because you’ll create them.
Moral 2: War is too important a business to be left to anyone but the generals.
This is one of my favorite channels on yt. The Keir Giles interview was very good
That is now one of my favourites too!
And between being a KGB thug and a genocidal war criminal, PooTin was a Petersburg gangster.
Thanks again for a super interesting interview. I'm hoping that Mr. Hollingsworth's book will eventually available as an audiobook.
👍
It is now :)
First class interview. Interesting and informative. Thank you. 👍
👍
Russian arrogance is a stunning example of the Dunning Kruger effect.
Really important work, imho. Thank so much.
We have Chinese Infiltrators too!
Thanks Jon 😊
Evil destroys itself in the end!
Like always, interesting and factual conversation.
Maybe, if I may suggest, one of the topics could be the influence of Russia in fmr. Yugoslavia.
Only recently parliament of my Croatia voted against training of 100-120 Ukrainian sappers, under the influence of both Serbian-Russian agencies in Croatia and former communist structures, still active in Croatia.
Also, recent elections in Montenegro were celebrated in Belgrade, in Serbian part of Bosnia and in Montenegro by waving Russian flags.
A year ago some members of Montenegrin parliament voted for exiting NATO and giving Russia the Boka bay as naval base.
Also, Belgrade and Bosnian Serbs are building with Russian money "an airport", runway 3.5 km long in Trebinje, 30 km from Croatian border.
Putin is desperate to distract and widen the conflict-
Let this not be Bosnia again.
The Balkans is the easiest region where breaking the shackles of the EU can be achieved, because they all can be connected to the Turk stream. (As long as it isn't blown up by the US).
@@JamesSmith-ix5jd What "Balkans"? Croatia and Slovenia are not Balkans, were never under Ottoman rule. Croatia and Slovenia are Central Europe.
I hope Mi6 people watch this channel.
Russians from Prighozin web brigades are very active here. Send their comments to modration to delete them. FSB is very active in in Western social media.
You are probably right. This channel is probably monitored by russians in order to detect enemies and analyze them. This channel is supposed to be useful for proukranian and pro nato side , but it can be even more useful for the opposite side.
Good point.
I had that badge from the thumbnail on my Ushanka for a long time.
...I now have a Tryzub there instead.
👍
Wait, does this 5 pointed star have any connection to the 5 pointed star that has been cropping up all over starting maybe 20 years ago? No one ever explained it to me, but i had this sort if sense that it was connected to some kind of something spiritual like wiccan or something. Am i crazy to make that connection?
Another thorough and brilliant interview...I highly encourage an interview discussing the degenerate role of the Moscow Patriarchate...as well as the historical division between hierarchy and parish/monastic clergy. I'm curious what Scott Kenworthy would say??? Your guest also drew parallels to the Roman Catholic Church which don't really hold up...the closest would have been the Spanish Church during the Civil war... certainly not the European church during the Second World War, which as material comes to light was far more active and antagonistic but unable to publicly pronounce given the multinational basis of the Church, unlike the often nationality based governance of the Orthodox churches....as always..a fantastic production
That was very interesting and enlightening.
I, for one, would love to hear some expert comment and analysis on the current state of, and dynamics within the Russian Orthodox Church vis a vie the war in Ukraine. So any guest that van be hosted on the podcast to elaborate on this would be much appreciated!
Comparison with the US Robber Barons is interesting. It holds up some, but not completely. As comparison, Andrew Carnegie avoided increasing his workers' pay, saying they'd only spend it on drink and idle pastimes. Better to help keep them on the straight-and-narrow! In the end, he gave 90% of his wealth to various philanthropies that were intended to improve the lives of the same workers. (For example, founding over 2,000 public libraries.)
_[With that sample of 1 US R.B., I now generalize about Russian oligarchs + Putin. Thus, it's not a great generalized comparison, but it's something to think about.]_
Russian oligarchs, on the other hand, seem to have no such philanthropic vein. Further, they seem to prefer to keep the masses opiated (with vodka) in a kind of self-righteous, "Puritanical" stupor.
Happy at least someone (M.H.) spoke this out in an interview: "Putin is a little insecure man". I already feel sorry for the academic who writes the biography of this staidly ugly guy (Putin). However very interesting interview 💯! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I believe the SPETSNAZ is organisationally actually a (very large) branch of the GRU. It's not really part of the regular Army or Navy, but obviously they are assigned missions to support the latter two.
"Spetsnas" is just the Russian word for special forces. It is not a particular unit. Of course the army has their own.
This is did not know. Interesting. They have suffered catastrophic losses in Ukraine apparently…
@@SiliconCurtain SPETSNAZ are not assigned to any particular branch of the military. They can be airborne, naval infantry (marines) or whatever. It's a resource which comes under a separate command from the normal force structure, and I do believe they are under the GRU. In other words, its a typical Russian "silo" approach to organisation: SPETSNAZ may be wiped out and fail in their mission, but other units will just blunder into the same scenario because the plan said so.
Democracy depends on loyalty and respect for the law!
Psychopathy. The largest problem of our time.
At 7:07 the host and guest are puzzled by the russian orthodox church link to putin and Siloviki. As I have lived in a former warsaw pact country, there was a mode that the security services from these countries had in common, and that was infiltration of this church that they know they could never replace with their ideology. The polichinele secret was that it was permitted but infiltrated. Thing that they could not do in Poland, as the catholic religion had alegiance to Rome...So most of their "problems" was the deep religious poland allied with the free sindicate, both addressing the ideological and the economical "problems" with communism. The revolution in Romania was seemingly piloted by siloviki in Moskaw that were experimenting with the model to be exported, with influence in political , media in ex soviet countries paired with controling the religion with implants at the top and controling the economy with an oligarchic system, easy to implement givin the green light given by the "west" to rapid privatisation. I am not sure that the western strategists were so appalled or mere complicit in that, knowing how "chummy" the western leaders were to friendly dictators wherever that suited their respective interest. Yes, we all knew that , in the coutnries that were given by Churchil to Stalin . Back to the subject, I am amazed by the ingnorance about the structural link between the orthodox religion and the kleptocratic regimes inspirated by the KGB all over the ex soviet space. This kind of regime , we see from space that, it lacks ideology and spirituality. Moreover thiese regimes advanced quite rapidely to de politicise the populace, and transform these countries in organized crime states. EU moved swittly and Nato also to save some, but they had to compromise and aknowledge a concept that we all thought was begone: feudal sphere of infouence of last centuries, for Moskwa. Fast forward to the present war in Ukraine. All is because YOUR IGNORANCE, and arm chair politics, while generations were lost in these countries With all these discussions about givin 3 or 4 tanks to fight the thousands of tanks Putin has, we see the history repeating all over again, apeasing and giving the terrorist state something (their strategy is escalation escalation asking a lot, beeing given some, then repeat).
they were organized crime states from the outset, the West did not create that.
You make excellent points, but organizing your rhetoric into paragraphs would make it easier to read.
@@symbionese2348 well thanks for pointing that to me. So the fact that these excelent points did not make it , in the proper format, is because some smuchks put a lot of effort into the format and nothing in the content. As a wiseman said: when everithing was said and done, it is obvious that it was a lot said and nothing done.
@@Grundewalt Avoid thinking the worst about everything and everybody and your life will become
happier even as your communication skills improve. Your English language ability is good.
@@symbionese2348 well thank you boss. Will do. Patronising a little bit ?
18:24 as one who "leans Catholic," I'm afraid it's a very fair comparison, Bourne out by events. I've felt myself reminding TH-camrs of Mr H's very points. _Christianity is not a matter of "liberal vs conservative;" it is a matter of being at once both liberal and conservative._ My suggestion is rarely well received.
To the point of the conversation, during Trump's elections, I would contend with these Christians about Trump's demonstrated sense of justice & ethics. They were much more concerned with the abortion plank as the sole priority. I realized democracy would not have happened in the US (at least not as early) if the population was dominated by Catholics.
It's a real conundrum for me.
"The Peter Principle" should be renamed "The Putin Principal". 'a person who is competent at their job will earn a promotion to a position that requires different skills' on other words, promoted to a position in which they are incompetent. Another great interview.
Interesting and have learnt some more. I would like to know if you have covered in more detail which 'far-lefts' are currently or have recently been used by the recent iteration of the KGB? I know which far rights are and have found a lot on that, but far-lefts not much. Thanks for your channel, its enlightening to say the least.
And still is...
Really interesting... Thank you.
👍
Active measure, aka, disinformation, aka, lies.
Has anything changed since Yuri Besmenov warned of KGB subversion of the West so many years ago?
Seems not. Great videos of his lectures those are!
It's pretty obvious that the James Bond stories came from this.
Thankyou Jonathan for your very informative interviews. Perhaps you could interview Vlad Vexler, an expert on Russia and how it it perceived.j
I have! Three times! And soon we’ll do another conversation for the channel! 👍
regarding Churches, The British shouldn't criticise too much given that most Anglican cathedrals venerate the Military and Empire
Maybe, but you won’t hear genocidal rants from the pulpits, at least not in the 21st century …
You guys, make too much sense !
Excellent! Many thanks!
BBL to listen!! 😀👍❤
Ok, I'm here 😄
Putin understands the real purpose of religion: first assure the assure the Cannon fodder the terrible lives they lead will find reward in heaven, second - FROM THE PULPIT-- tell them they will go straight to heaven if they die on the field in Ukraine, Chechnya, Georgia, Syria,...
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Here on TH-cam you can find videos by Yuri Bezmenov, the videos are from the early 1980's and he explains what the KGB was up to and why!
I’ve watched these several times. Fascinating.
Would Russian courses in London about which info was obtained through Intourist in the 1980s be connected to the KGB? Didn't learn much Russian but the courses were cheap.
I bet the KGB were having a good time in the London of the sixties! It amazes me that the Holodomor was never known of at that time. Was it due to that American journalist who travelled to Ukraine reporting back that everything was fine in Ukraine?
Hi Silicon Curtain, just re putin and the church. At the time of Solidarity in Poland there was a Polish Pope, I think maybe putin connected this with how religious the then Soviet people were and chose to keep a tight control over it. A great channel btw, you speak my mind.
It seems to me that Yuri Bezmenov and Golitsyn (''New Lies for Old'', ''Perestroika Deception'') was right. There are some interesting details about Gorbachev in Ken Alibek's book ''Biohazard''.
There is no such a thing as former KGB agent. Bezmenov message to west was exactly what KGB wanted west to hear.
He doesn’t understand the importance of the russian Orthodox Church to putin? Then he does not truly understand putin.
How do Russian and Chinese strategies and tactics of regime change differ from comparable U.S. strategy and tactics of regime change? Which nation has been most successful in regard to regime change?
Russia and China are not doing regime changes, at most they try to finance the desired regime, or put some economic sanctions on undesired ones.
@@JamesSmith-ix5jd Ukraine, Tibet, Mongolia, Taiwan, and India might have different opinions regarding the benign nature of Russian and Chinese geopolitics.
37:54 / 59:26 Intourist agency helped people with car hire and accommodation but was really also operating as a front for KGB, even low level staff were expected to inform for the KGB. Honey trapped a British MP.
Intourist was a Russian tour operator, headquartered in Moscow. It was founded 1929, and served as the primary travel agency for foreign tourists in the Soviet Union. It was privatized in 1992, and from 2011, was 50.1% owned by the British Thomas Cook Group until its collapse in September 2019.
During the Soviet Union the Communist Party ruled and it had at its disposal the Red Army with which it kept the KGB on a very short leash. The Red Army hated the KGB. When the Soviet Union was dissolved and the Party lost its power the KGB became a free agent.
Mikhail Gorbachev had used the KGB to keep an eye on his opponents and possible rival! He did not do anything to reform the KGB, mainly because he saw it as his tool for power. When the Soviet Union was dissolved Boris Yeltsin did not dissolve the KGB, he only changed its name! He knew very well the utility of the KGB as a tool to keep his political opponents in check and secure his own power. He thought that he could keep it under control, but he failed. And the KGB became the de facto ruler of Russia.
Spasiba- as they say in English😂
Kinda a Gang-based Boy-band, at least the acronym I have concluded what KGB represents. The KGB has a long history far more storied than the CIA. Both are agents of convenience, not as a legitimate state institution but an illegitimate enterprise employed by the state to do what the state is not allowed to do by legal means.
Stop the moral equivalency argument. Russia is a terrorist state.
The Russian Orthodox Church simply follows its Cesaropapist Tradition
so nothing unusual here
Russians be scary like that, bruh.
Was the FSU involved in January 6th?
I was married to someone who greatly admired the Oathkeepers. He held a lot of strange beliefs, let's just say. The more i learn about the specific content of Russian propaganda, the more i wonder how far back it has been influencing people in the USA and if there's a connection. I mean, dude got several strange ideas from his father, who considered himself quite superior foe his alternative views. He was born in the early 1920s, so maybe their were waves of propagandistic efforts in the USA commensurate with the world wars, or maybe those efforts have gone a lot farther back than i formerly realized. Just my thoughts on your comment. Editing after viewing: this explanation firmed up my suspicions.
@@thinker646 Thank you for your reply. It was very interesting, to say the least. Yes, Russian propaganda has been around contaminating western thought for a long time. Certainly since the 1920's, and very likely back into Czarist times. But there was also NAZI propaganda rampant at the same time. The Oathkeepers are a radical right-wing extremist group though, and are more aligned NAZI ideology. I guess that at some point the two ideologies merge, as both NAZI and Russian ideology are based on the concept of "superior man" (notice I said "man") and hatred of all who do not agree.
I am surprised that no one called me out for my typo where I questioned if the FSU (Florida State University) had any complicity with January 6th, rather that FSB (Russian Federal Security Service). I appropriately hang my head in shame.
Florida State University? I wouldn’t be shocked, actually…😉
@@Grumpyoldman037Florida State was the first thing I thought of…🙂
Extremely week discussion.
Has your Spicilist ever left Oxford or Cambridge
Still listening but the big question is how can they be stopped permanently rather than repeat the Yeltsin Putin years
Short of occupying Russia, I don’t see any clear way through this…
only through genocide, if you don't have the people that causing you problems then there will be no problems to cause
I can't help remembering the BLM leader proclaiming, "We are trained Marxists".
Might go and listen to Red skies over paradise by seventies new wave band Fischer Z, it reeks of the cold war, the arms race and all that stuff, suits this cold war "revival" right down to the ground. Only half joking.
Russia is a country with all kinds of people thinking we need to see Russia beyond individuals... Stalin,Khrushchev,Andropov e.t.c.
What FOOL would for a moment think that the Russian Orthodox Church has anything to do with Christianity...?
Well, we should be under no illusions by now…
The inference in this interview that there are no current/recent defectors in the KGB (outside of the 2 mentioned in the interview) is baseless. The mere fact that the CIA and MI6 both firmly predicted the Ukraine invasion prior to it's occurrence might suggest the presence of active agents currently operating within the KGB and/or Kremlin. Active agents would obviously not be known to the general public or even these two gentlemen in this interview. Many of the events that have occurred during this war, such as targeted attacks on senior military officers or public figures, which have been attributed to things such as "poor cellphone practices" or other signal intelligence may have actually occurred from informants within the Russian hierarchy. If this were true, you (western intelligence agencies) would obviously then attribute the source of the intel to something other than an agent/informant within the KGB, GRU or Kremlin.
China and Russia were preparing this for some years in advance. I would not be surprised if Indians and Saudis also knew about it, and 3 months prior pretty much everybody knew, I don't see this as a particular achievement by CIA or whomever
The Russian Orthodox Church doesn't support or obey the ten commandments, That's all one needs to know.
the CIA should just given us names and then lets start a Witch Hunt,
trump?
@@JamesSmith-ix5jd any, declare them an enemy of state and have all their rights removed,
There was no KGB in 1995 so I don't understand why you are saying some KGB agents were stationed in the USA in that year.
KGB had two chief directorates, one was tasked with spying outside the Soviet Union the other was tasked with keeping an eye on internal dissidents and run the informants. The name of the first mentioned was changed to SVR and the other's name was changed to FSB! The men and the task stayed the same.
Stalin was hopeless in the beginning of the war. It was really luck that it turned around.
And the inevitable grinding power of the Russian winter…
Excellent. I have no doubt the CIA would have many similarities.
Back to the second secret of Fatima.
The Orthodox Church occupies the same space as Christianity does in Jungian psychology.
is the CIA different?
Yes.
The comparison of the the 'guilty' silence of Moscow Orthodoxy with the 'guilty' silence of the Catholic Church is partly unjust. With respect to national-socialism (nazism) it is unjust, as the Roman Magisterium was one of the first confessional authorities in the world to condemn this ideology. With respect to the scandals of pederasty it is entirely just, unfortunately. However, the situation in Russia is quite different and has very different causes. It is worse than it seems. The present Moscow Patriarchate has little to do with the original one, which was abolished by tsar Peter I in 1700 and failed to resurrect during the bolshevist revolution. Today's patriarchate is a creation of the secret services of Moscow (today named FSB) - it is a resurrection without resuscitation. In fact, in1943 it was established to help remotivate the russian masses, numbed by years of famine and terror, to thow themselves into the war as cannon fodder. During the Soviet regime the patriarchate served as a diplomatic facade of the KGB, aimed at duping naive well-meaning westerners. Under the present neo-fascist regime it serves as a cohesive force, but without a real spiritual renewal, it shares fully in the dysfunction of Russian society.
Unfortunately the Orthodox Church in Russia is not silent. They are very vocally pro war and pro genocide.
If the Ukrainian spring offensive overwhelms Russia and the army is in retreat and mutinies spread throughout their forces in Ukraine, anything is possible for Russia. Putin could be arrested for crimes against the state and nation a large pro-democracy movement may arise and lead to something close to a free country.
The ideas about Ukrainian victory and a rout of the Russian army is possible, and there are historical precedents for it. The liberal revolution- probably not. Because even before Maidan huge changes in Ukrainian society had to take place. There are not the foundations laid in Russia deep enough for a sustainable democratic revolution. Also the centralised state, secret police and ‘siloviki’ are too entrenched…
No, even if Putin is arrested then the civil war immediately starts and the West would have to send 250,000-500,000 troops to Russia to guard the nukes against the slavic terrorists. Either way there will be big war in coming 2-3 years.
Mr. Fink, your wife worked in a tourist agency that was run by KGB? It turns out that KGB was perhaps a sort of your matchmaker? 💕
Are you able to understand Russians in a rational and objective way?
Do you know in what kind of relationship stood Leningrad's branch of KGB and program called Intensification 90?
Do you believe that AI can fix some social problems, asssist in creating more human societies? Intensification 90 included some sort of AI use. Have you heard something about soviet social engineering programs? Homo sovieticus was regarded as an evolutionary imroved and healthy human being. You turned things upside down.
Regarding soft bellies- they are used in diplomatic language. Organically speaking, soft bellies are actually lower parts of human body.
Modern Russia likes to export or sell russian world. The question is if Russia sells its world or its chaos?
Intourist was definitely not the matchmaker… the guides had nothing to do with KGB - it was the managers and those that placed guides with your groups that were. And FYI there was massive corruption and bribe giving…
98% cinical for sure !
First 🤗
🤣
Is the author of these videos an expert on Russia? I am Russian and a little at a loss from such a presentation. for whom is this being done by some Englishman and American you are Americans about Russians? complete nonsense
Care to expand on your opinion...perhaps give some examples to back up your observations. I dont anything is being claimed in any of his videos...He interviews a wide array of very intelligent well educated people...many of them Russian.
@@ldhorricks Yes, they are so far from reality that I don’t even know where to start writing a big essay. Do you know what is happening with human rights in Ukraine now?
Please prep your interviewees with pronunciation: there is no u in the name of the president of Russia. Путин is correctly pronounced PooTin which indeed… he is.
They simply short shift their presentation by being unable to pronounce the subject.
I liked the way he said it same way as puke 🤮
ahaha so the kgb/fsb and russia perform identically to cia and usa, hahah got it thanks for clearing that up guys
No, not exactly. In fact not even remotely true.
@@SiliconCurtain ok thanks for clearing that up
Has no idea what he's talking about
your anti-socialist and anti-communist propaganda is just hilariously bad
Your comment is ineptly vacuous...perhaps you can enlighten us on your greater understanding.
Why does the Russians getting a better life year by year, while ther Brits is getting it worse?
What about more hard work and less propaganda?
Britain is ruled by Leftist, Globalist, Wokist, Net Zero agendas. The political elites have no interest in the people. Only in the headline of the day.
Putin is not restricted by those concerns and can deliver a peaceful prosperous life to the Russians... _as long as they do not challenge his authority_ .
@@sillygoose9070 the Conservative Party is leftist? Good to know ...
And yet the standard of living in Ruzzia lags far behind the west, life expectancy is lower, alcoholism is higher ... I'm pretty sure most Brits wouldn't trade their current lifestyle for one like in pootin's utopia. Looks like you're the one pumping out the propaganda.
lol. OK, Sergei
20% of all Russian have no indoor toilet, they have to go to outhouses in the yard. Is this the same in GB? Average RUS annuity is $220. A big portion of RUS retirees never reach the official pension age. Same in GB?
Same as the “ Church of England”
@Attila the Pun you can have Bournemouth it’s a shit hole