As a Eastern European the caller is spot everytime "NATO expansion" is brought up we're talked about as mere objects to be claimed by the US or Russia with no interests of our own

Hey I’m an American volunteer in Ukraine. I have been in and out of Ukraine since 2018 I’ve been here since March of last year. The interview with the “foreign experts” was incredibly wrong. This caller is very very spot on.

Kowalski verbalized a lot of my frustrations with the entire Ukraine Russia debate that I couldn’t myself. At the end of the day the climate Armageddon will need everyone on board, certainly the major economic players. Russia being a rogue war threat to all of Eastern Europe, thereby shifting the available resources of those countries from mitigating climate disaster to an immediate military threat, while also having a huge petrochemical economy seems like a worst-case scenario no? A lot of our critical assumptions likely don’t factor in a protracted period of unprovoked Russian military imperialism sapping resources from other productive economic/environmental uses that seems a given if Putin isn’t stopped from his current geopolitical aims

Cmon Sam, zero chance that Russia would attack a nato country, because they have never attacked a nato country

Kowalski f’ing gets it. This guy needs to be on air more.

It heartens me to know that there are people on the left like Kowalski who understand it’s possible to be critical of US policy without being reactionary.

I thought I was losing it when no one pushed back substantially on this the other day. Thank you caller lol

Russia would never directly attack NATO. Putin didnt think it would take this long. It was a mis calculation that he couldnt get out of.

This caller is spot on and well spoken. He needs his own pod cast.

The example Sam gave with Ukraine joining NATO couldnt be possible as Russia had annexed Crimea in 2014, disqualifying Ukraine from being able to join NATO... Which was the whole point. Putin wouldn't ever invade a country in NATO as it would be an instant one sided world war. Putin preemptively took Ukrainian land with no major NATO response, which gave Putin false confidence that lead to the war we see today. After this war is over Ukraine will join NATO and I feel many other countries will follow suit, really turned the tables on Putler.

The caller is spot on. Too many people have embraced Mearsheimer's point of view just because he is somehow considered "an expert". Eastern Europeans are not puppets.

Idea that Russia would had invaded Ukraine if Ukraine was part of NATO is insane. We know that coz we already have a precident for it. Baltic states have collective population of 6 mil realtvly easily traversible teraine, weak military, high russian populations. Only reason why Russia hasnt invaded is because of the NATO

Russian imperialism is the one issue that MR seems to have a problem with. This caller did a perfect job in explaining the problems with not fully, financially/materially supporting Ukraine.

You seem to be forgetting that the Ukraine situation began back in 2014 when Russia invaded the Crimean peninsula. So 2 years ago the Ukraine had been at war with Russia in all but name for almost the entire previous decade. So there was no way they could have joined NATO before now.

Bravo and a huge wave of clapping for this caller, well done sir.

I really respect TMR for not just taking the criticism, but releasing this call as a video. I thought those guests the other day were very cringe, so this is a nice counterbalance.

The caller did a great job explaining his points.

Kowalski From Nebraska is always insightful. Great call from a great caller.

We cannot tell Ukraine what territories we think they should give up. It’s their land. It’s their homes. The people in occupied territories are being brutalized. How can you expect Ukraine to give up on the population that is being currently brutalized.

Caller was on point.

“Caller complains about Ukraine coverage” needs it’s own playlist at this point.

It's such a cool thing to see people disagree & everyone has good intentions + points. Kowalski's the best.

Caller is 100% on point. I was totally surprised that the MR crew isnt in complete agreement with him. I only sporadically visit this channel, and didnt know their position on Ukraine. Very disappointing. Especially Sam talking about supporting Ukraine only until this or that territory is liberated, not all the way, that's egregiously out of touch. Giving substantial aid to Ukraine is the only good thing I can name that the US has done in Europe since WW2. So to have people who are opposed to US imperialism also be opposed to the US making up for its mistakes is kinda shocking. America caused the Nazi Russia problem by bankrupting the Soviet Union, so it damn well better step in and do something about it now. This is yet another Taliban / ISIS situation.

Wait, Tim Pool is in the hospital because of Emma???😂😂

I was wondering about this for a while. Thank you to the caller for voicing this idea.

The caller is 100% correct. Critics of US and western policies often get it wrong. I would also add that what NATO and Russia do are not ethically equivalent. Russia promotes fascim, and oligarchy. NATO, promotes democracy. No country is part of NATO because NATO invated them, they are part of it because they want to be in it. In fact, they have to apply and all the existing members have to accept their application.

Kaller Kowalski 😉 was excellent! Articulated many of the thoughts I've had on the Ukraine War and wondered why no one was saying it. Well articulated. Very refreshing perspective. Very insightful. MR should invite him back from time to time. Thank you, Kolalski! And to MR for giving him the time to put his perspective across. Well done, all round!

Rare caller W

I'm been a MR viewer/subscriber for years now and I've always enjoyed listening to the show, but when anything foreign policy is brought up, I switch away as fast as I can. I won't say tankie, but especially recently I've heard some of the most brain dead takes on Ukraine/NATO anywhere. Still love ya Sam and Emma, but maybe stick to making the right look like buffoons.

There are people living in central Europe.. just saying.. Kowalski is my new hero.

The caller is spot on. NATO is voluntary. The US isn't bullying people into joining. I live in a former Russian colony country and I'm glad we're in NATO.

I hope he becomes a regular caller. He's helped to sway my opinion on the war and European politics in general.

I do have to say that I love the work majority report does and the people on the show. We agree on 95% of the issues and 100% of the outcomes. It is also important to remember they don’t hide conversations with anyone on any topic. This call could have been buried but it wasn’t. That is respectable and shows integrity Also, in my IMs, I said Emma circumcised Tim Pool live on air

Love the comments by caller who makes complete sense, Sam needs to know that a bear would never attempt to attack a dinosaur, not even in its dreams

Great job Kowalski and good on MR for engaging in these conversations and putting them on YT. I think their Ukraine/Taiwan takes aren't great but showing the criticisms they receive deserves major kudos.

Thank you caller. You made all the points perfectly.

The caller was 100% right.

This caller is correct. 100%.

Great discussion with a reasonable caller, always nice to see. In other news, Emma why did you send Tim Pool to the hospital?

Ukraine has been very effective at cutting off Russian supply lines. Russia can't cut off Ukrainian supply lines because of Poland. That is a fact that is going to have some impact on the direction of all this.

I appreciate that MR clips BOTH the full interview right before this and Kowalski's call as well.

Complete disregard for the lives of the Ukrainians when you say that we should keep funding this war indefinitely. Russia has only thrown a fraction of its military into this conflict and it has already been devastating for Ukraine. Imagine even another year of this?

Great call!

12:16 “What if Russia just stopped?” As if we don’t have Crimea as a test case…

Caller is 100% on point!

So when y’all enlisting?

I side with Sam on so much of his politics but I was happy to hear Kowalski take him to task on his very bad takes on Ukraine. Disappointed also to hear Sam twist it as a criticism of his guest when the reason Sam had the guest on was because he has been espousing the same opinions to a great extent. We must not forget that Ukraine has agency in all of this and to think they are merely serving the interests of the United States and the West more broadly is nonsense. Those interests may partially align, but Ukraine is only interested in maintaining its own independence as a democracy and its cultural integrity and any talk of peace agreements with Putin is hopelessly naive.

The reason I support MR is because of the many opinions and views that can be expressed by viewers. Thank you for the intellectual discourse.

Let's not forget that the USSR was its own imperialist force post WW2, hell possibly prior. It made a huge effort to expand its territories as well as expanding its sphere of influence by both covertly and overtly supporting "communist" countries. There's this weird myth that somehow because the USSR was opposite the US Capitalist Imperialist force, and because it claimed to be communist, that it wasn't attempting to create its own international empire under the auspices of communism. Essentially, once Stalin went into power, most everything the USSR did was what the US did, just with the opposite chirality, but if you put them next to each other you can see that they were very much the same. The most clear example is that the US and the USSR were both in the middle east for oil, neither cared about freedom or politics. We often times lose ourselves in our criticism of the US and western imperialism that we forget the reality and truths of the people, countries, and regimes involved. I mean, the most succinct way to say it is that the term tankie wasn't created by libertarians or center left folk, it was made by communists to critique communists who followed party lines purely on principle. Another discussion that irked me in the way of the caller was when one of the people behind the camera called Taiwan an island close to China that can trade with who it wants. Does he have proof that they want to trade with China? Part of the biggest fears of the Taiwanese and companies like TSMC is that China will just send their navy over and take over everything. John Oliver did a great piece about Taiwan because Taiwan is always talked about what's good for it, but no one ever really asks Taiwan what they want, just like eastern Europe and central Asia when it comes to NATO.

I dont think Sam is right here, Putin would not attack a NATO country. If he wanted to he would have attacked Poland a long time ago. Putin knows attacking NATO is a death sentence. I think the caller was spot on. Russia, Ukraine, and Europe have their own autonomy. Yes the US is an imperialist nation and has done bad things, but that in no way has anything to do with Russias actions. Tying them together is exceptionalist because it assumes America has control over everything thay other countries do, which we dont. The only end game there is in Ukraine is Russia pulling out and not invading sovereign nations. Russia has doubled down and doubled down, and doubled down. They could have pulled out after they didnt win after 3 days, they havent. Their own soilders have bailed... Ukraine should not have to conceded any territory to Russia. Russia should not be rewarded for their actions.

hmm, disagree with Kowalski a bit here. One of his early comments, about Russia being more aggressive in Eastern Europe than the US has been in Latin America is dubious. I think we need to simply understand that there are a lot of bad actors in the world. The Russian Empire, the US empire, both bad actors. NATO being heavily influenced by the US in proxy wars with Russia, which again is also a bad actor, doesn't mean we just blindly support NATO. I think both sides in this conflict have not been helping things. I think we can critique Russia's obvious imperial aggression while also critiquing NATO's actions leading up to it and ongoing response to it. The question is where we go from here, and any side/actor that isn't trying to figure out a ceasefire as soon as possible sucks.

Caller should have challenged Matt (whoever is the background voice) on what a peace plan should look like. Its very easy to call for diplomacy and peace but not specify what Ukraine has to give up for peace. At the current moment, Putin would only agree to a peace plan if Ukraine were to give up territory. That also raises the question: does a peace plan actually provide peace long term, or is Putin going to wait a couple of years then invade again?

As a born European, I am always interested in the American point of view when they talk about war in other countries. Many of the arguments are logical and coherent, of course, but you can always hear their own excellent geopolitical position. I think that many Americans find it very difficult to understand that there are countries that are threatened by one or more enemies. I'm not thinking of nukes, but of soldiers, tanks, planes, ships, bombs and rockets razing towns and villages to the ground and the killing of civilians. Fighting for one's very existence on one's own soil is something that no American has ever experienced and therefore one cannot blame the US if they find it difficult to fully understand it.

what a good caller! totally spot on

I really think this caller made some excellent points.

In other words It is difficult, complicated, and has never been as simple as saying "US bad, stop it" or "Please US, tell Putin exactly how much support you're willing to give to Ukraine".

It's rare to see a caller I agree with more than this one.

People do see the Caribbean and Latin America as the US backyard. The Monroe doctrine?

Very intelligent and well read gentleman.

:38 this caller loses a bit of credibility with me when stating that the Russian invasion of Moldova is worse than US Latin America policy. Seems like he doesn't know much about US Latin American policy to say this. I don't know much about the Moldovan invasion, but short of concentration camps/Final Solution stuff, you're not going to convince me that Russian policy in Moldova is worse than US policy (with its support for right-wing coups, death squads, rapes, and massacres) in Latin America. Furthermore, the caller's claim that Russia invaded Ukraine with the express intent to commit genocide sounds like this guy's been drinking too much of the US/NATO propaganda. While I don't agree with Russia's invasion, they were pretty clear that issues of autonomy in the Donetsk region were what was driving the invasion. This guy sounds like a warhawk to the bitter end, and that's just too murderous a perspective for me to agree with.

Mexico would be a powerhouse if the treaty of Bucarelly did not exist.. but quién sabe…

Brilliant point about the climate issue.

Great points by caller. One thing all of the left should agree on is beating authoritarianism at all costs.

The caller is spot on. Eastern European countries joined NATO because they wanted to! It’s a bit America-centric to talk as if NATO is an amorphous blob. Also, Russia just proved why NATO is necessary. There’s no way Russia would’ve invaded Ukraine if Ukraine was in NATO.

This caller is 💯 bang on.

Putin is not that upset by NATO expansion. He didn't want a strong democracy next door, especially with all the connections between Russians and Ukranians leaving his sphere of influence and tilting towards Europe and the West. If Ukraine had been able to join NATO, Putin would not have started this war. He would be at war with three other nuclear powers. As an American, we know how to develop, overspend on and employ the world's most lethal weapons (and we have many of them). We don't have national health care, but who needs cancer screenings and vaccines when we can have HIMARS and F-35s. Even Putin is smart enough to know he would quickly lose a conventional war with the U.S.

Callers comments on Cuba joining a Chinese military alliance are absurd. We know very well from our history that would not be tolerated.

Thank God for this caller.

I agree with Kowalski and liked the thoughtful contributions of all. I'm from Ireland and consider myself left wing and progressive and also reject the so-called 'uk' which is a term used by Britain to include part of Ireland in their territory. The long history of British oppression, colonisation and domination we have endured also made me proud of our neutrality and I never wanted to be in any kind military alliance especially one that included Britain. I'm also strongly anti- Israeli apartheid and against the US/ West arming them and the Saudis despite their war crimes and widespread oppression. However some other people on the left in Ireland wrongly react to their anti-Western imperialism by actively support criminal regimes like Putin, Xi Jinping and Iran despite the massive oppression they all commit against their own people and often their neighbours too. Russian submarines now routinely breach Irish territorial waters and since we have virtually no army and are in no alliance, we are essentially helpless. Russian state TV has broadcast a matter of fact simulation of nuking the Atlantic ocean off our North West coast to send a massive 500 metre high tsunami across Ireland and Britain. The complete indifference shown by so many Russians of their Government's actions, their insistence that they have some right to have a 'sphere of influence over surrounding states and the matter of fact way they accept/ allow Putin to mass murder civilians by destroying cities - eg Aleppo, Grozny, Mariupol makes me now reluctantly open to joining NATO or preferably a European defence pact.

His characterization of a Russian invasion of Tranistria is totally inaccurate. There was fairly brutal repression of the Russian/Ukrainian speaking minority in Moldova which led to a conflict and eventually the frozen conflict.

plus the budapest memorandum

Ukraine could not have entered NATO between 2014 and the present, because NATO's own charter makes it clear that no country seeking to join their alliance can have an existing civil war or territorial dispute with another state taking place while seeking membership. The reason for this is simple, NATO members don't want to have to sell a war to their own people, risk the lives of their soldiers, and military equipment, and the geo political headache that comes along with war. So Ukraine has to conclude its war with Russia before gaining entry. This is not even considering how many hurdles a country has to get past to join the alliance, one of which is unanimous acceptance by all members to allowing a new member in. Between 2014 and today there has never once been a time where all NATO members thought that Ukraine should be brought into the alliance. So those that claim Russia had no choice and Ukraine was going to join NATO, and big ad American was pushing NATO's border closer to Russia are completely uninformed aboit history and how any of this works.

The fact is that our allies in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Romania were right about Russia and we, in particular the American left, were wrong. I was wrong about Russia. I never thought Putin would be so stupid as to openly invade all of Ukraine and declare that he was going to rebuild the Russian empire. I was wrong. My long held ideas about disarmament were wrong. I don't fetishize weapons and military alliances, but the fact is that HIMARS and NATO are what keeps the barbarians from storming the gates. The fact is that Lockheed Martin, while a particularly odious corporation that profits from death, serves an essential and ultimately beneficial function. I wish we lived in a peaceful world, but we don't. Stay strapped or get capped.

Caller is spot on. 💯

We can always wonder if, but the issue is what are we doing now. It is still good to reflect on what happened and hypothesize on how to prevent future escalation. This whole conversation is mute.

Russian imperialism went back in a big way through the USSR to Krushev. Putin has explicitly cited that history in speaking of his ambitions. Preferably, Eastern Europe would be a ‘neutralized’ frontier between Russia and the West, affording more self-determination, but that’s not evidently on the table. The alternative to effective NATO forward bases is effective Russian forward bases. Keeping nuclear-tipped missiles out of the region is I think a minimal precaution, to the benefit of both sides. Ukraine gave up its strategic weapons arsenal in return for a promise of other aid to defend it from invasion. The potential for Russia to keep repeatedly invading needs somehow to be addressed, but a counter-invasion taking territory is likely only to escalate the conflict. Maybe it could be done as a bargaining chip, getting a stabilizing deal for return of the territory, but that would I think require very skillful handling. Diplomacy is an effort we should want to continue despite also being engaged on the battlefield.

Those 2 clowns MR interviewed the other day were disgusting. Well done, caller.

I'm sure the caller would be totally okay with Cuba joining a military alliance with China :)

Does anybody else think that the only reason this conversation wasn't totally condescending from the MR side is because it was Kowalski on the other end? I could be wrong but it seems like any time a caller brings up how they disagree with the MR stance on the Ukraine-Russia war, it seems more contentious (usually Matt jumping in).

“The overall conclusion is that the inertial scenario-a static war of attrition-heavily favors a win by Russia.” - Peter Turchin, scientist and scholar

I swear that this caller is Vaush with a voice modulator. Excellent points from them either way.

Good caller!

agree with this caller

i like this caller, hes well spoken. And as someone froe eastern europe, i gotta say i agreed and still agree with him

Hire Kowalski as a guest contributor.

Totally agree with the caller!!!

The Reason Russia did not want Ukraine to join NATO not because it was afraid that NATO was encroaching on its border, but because they were afraid that if Ukraine was in NATO they would lose their chance to conquer it forever.

whole lot of federal agents in the comment section lol

This is one of the smartest callers I've heard in a long time.

you cannot be a pro NATO leftist. these positions are incongruent.

The caller was spot on !!! You have to cut the head of the snake to make sure it doesn't bite again

Ngl I actually agree with the caller

Oh god you can hear the vaush viewership in his voice

I agree 100% with the caller

You 😊

One of the best clips on the subject in recent memory from this channel - maybe any channel I've been watching. The caller, Kowalski of Nebraska, comes in with clear understanding of the issue that resonates with me as a Finn and all the people I know from Eastern Europe. Respectful debate ensues, Lech got to clarify his point about diplomacy, not as submissive concessions to avoid a just defensive war out of fear, but as keeping the phone lines open and trying a broader doctrine of peace looking further than just the present conflicts. Emma got to distract from the fact that she damn near murdered Tim Pool live on air and did him as dirty as Seder did Crowder (getting that *_WHOOPSIE!_* out of Pool is what got me to see Emma's full potential as a vicious shitposter - enough to rival OH NO SAM SEDER WHAT A NIGHTMARE), and instead spoke about nuclear disarmament which is *always and without exception* going to be as important a topic as climate change (I mean, a nuclear apocalypse would just be a faster and more dangerous version of it.). Sam Seder doing his usual best to navigate the big picture and keep it organized. Overall educational yet humble. I complain sometimes about your show when you get stuff wrong from my POV, but stuff like this makes watching this show worth it.

That would be really interesting to hear, what type of "thumb" Central Asia was since 1991. Russia did not put countries here under sanctions like in case of Venezuela and did not use army to overthow local governments. All local dictatorships are "domestically produced".

Completely agree with the caller's points. Much of that interview was just specious. Sounds good, but is superficial and largely wrong.

Caller was right, about tim poole, too. 😅

Countries voluntarily joining an alliance is not imperialism in the same way invading another country is. And anyone who conflates the nature of NATO with the aggression of Russia should be mocked, not touted as an expert.