Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary are central european countries geographically. But they are called Eastern everyday because of the block they belonged to during the Cold War.
The presenter calls Kaliningrad an enclave. This is not true. According to the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), an enclave is a territory that is completely surrounded by the territory of one other state. Kaliningrad is surrounded by two countries-Lithuanian and Poland. Therefore, Kaliningrad is an exclave. ESRI defines an exclave as a part of a state that is geographically separated from the main part by the territory of one or more states. So, Kaliningrad is an exclave.
Ffs, he was referring to Kaliningrad being surrounded by the EU. Poland and Lithuania is part of the EU. That’s where the enclave reference comes from.
Europeans when they hear 7,000 gdp per capita : WHAT? POOR PEOPLE LETS HELP THEM! Most of latinos : de que te quejas hermano, yo lo veo bien justo People working in sweatshop somewhere in Bangladesh : lucky those people of Koninsberg
Figures that are not adjusted for purchasing power are meaningless. Kaliningrad certainly looks better than other "EU" members in the region. BTW, the "EU" is a loose confederation of weak and subservient non entities that masquerade as "sovereign".
I've been to Kaliningrad. It's nowhere nearly as bleak as you guys say: for one thing it's an industrial powerhouse, home to one of the country's largest automotive manufacturers (Avtotor) that manufacturers cars from brands like BMW, Chevrolet, and Hyundai/Kia/Genesis under license for the Russian market. Otherwise there are multiple resort towns that have been remarkably well maintained and are visited by tourists from across the CIS (I stayed in Svetlogorsk at the time). The federal government is also investing in the Oblast's infrastructure; the roads are impeccable, a new airport has been built, the seaport is being expanded, and a number of impressive public buildings have been constructed. All in all there's certainly room for improvement, but the oblast isn't doing too bad as is.
*konigsberg, and the problem is not the "oblast" development, but the fact that is a stolen territory, one of many stolen by the thief country called russia
@@EUenjoyer donkey.. just like the imperial u.s and imperial britain. . The different issss... The u.s is weapon seller powerhouse. Witbout war their economy colapse!
@@ccmwarren7036 it is not really well know if old prussians were stateless it''s just a popular theory and cause lack of historical documentation but what is documented is know about them like them being friendly helping others when needed and legend of Widewuto some sources view them alcoholic too but still friendly and also as them have wooden castles, wood was most of easiest materials to gain for building purpose so for me living in mud huts is unlikely
You forgot that NATO expands not by conquest but rather by willful accession of its now-members into the alliance. Why would I care about the security of a bank I have no stake in unless I was planning to rob it? Think for a moment of that.
@@TheMrNalsur In other words NATO broke the promise that it wouldn't expand east. Wether it was forced or not that doesn't change that fact. Russia being upset with nato is totally justified. As a wise person once said "surround a dog into a corner and it will fight back 10 times harder". If only nato zombies would see past the brainwashing.
@@ntf5211 we shall see what happens with NATO ambitions over time. Will the NATO efforts be worth it.. Will the NATO bases be harrased etc .. Russia keeps saying that they have strategic patience. That is a unique kind of patience.
@@Solaxe It is the heart of NATO - basically main and only Nato focus - Latvia has around 2500 most advanced nukes and Estonian space program is as sturdy as Lithuanian fleet!
Putin likes to talk about Russian historical ties to Crimea. So why Putin wont give Königsberg back to Germany? This has been historically and culturally German territory.
After the GDR and FGR unified in the 90's, Germany didn't want Konigsberg so Russia kept it, since it was part of the Russian SSR, and the lands SSR's of the USSR were all kept as they were divided in the USSR. This is why theres wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and why Azbhakia and South Oessieta wanted to split from Georgia.
You see because they 'won it'. Only they have human rights. That is how their mind operates. Scholz even after this has the stupidity to talk about escalation when they are illegally inside their neighbour.
@@ameyas7726 i am pretty sure iraqis have been asking them to leave for a while now. And in entire europe they have created a threat perception that if Americans are not there Russia will invade. In the middle east they made Iran the same villan. What business does American forces have in Syria they have been providing safe haven for Anti Govt troops there and keeping al omar oil fields for themselves.
Kaliningrad isn't an enclave it's an exclave as it is surrounded by Poland Lithuania and the sea. It's small details like this that shows Visualpolitiks is really slipping. Caspian Report did a much better video.
I agree that the attention to detail and general ease with which topics are discussed seems to be on the decline, but the choice of topics has really impressed me recently. I still can't get over the pronunciation of Uighurs in the last video though!
Well, it does really depend on the perspective, doesn't it? For the European Union as a territorycally integrated unit Kaliningrad should look like a Russian enclave in their territory between two member states.
Googled enclave: a portion of territory surrounded by a larger territory whose inhabitants are culturally or ethnically distinct. Seems fit for Kaliningrad?
As others have mentioned here, you should look at Kaliningrad from the Russian perspective as well. The US has military bases right up against Russian borders in many locations. The European plain offers virtually no geographic boundaries to aid military defense. How would the US react to forward Russian bases in Canada, the Caribbean, or Central America?
It's Russian territory: they can put whatever they want there. Kaliningrad is surrounded by NATO forces. No, NATO and Russia will never agree with each other - they are diametrically opposed. NATO announced last year that they have plans drawn up detailing how they would invade Kaliningrad, but everyone wants to talk about the possibility of Russia invading the Baltic states. NATO has certainly been more expansionist than Russia in the last few decades. Certainly when the Soviet Union rubbed shoulders with West Germany, Germany was bristling with weapons and soldiers too. People have such short memories!
“NATO has certainly been more expasionist than Russia in last two decades” 😂 invasion of chechnya in 2000’s, occupation of 20% of Georgia and occupation of Crimea and eastern part of Ukraine. you boy sleeping in some deep hole 😂 every state becoming NATO member wants it and is supported by most of citizens of country but nobody wants to be occupied by russia. russia doesn’t understand the “sweet word” otherwise there would not be such a hostile situation with literally every ! single ! post-soviet country!
@@otikkk7076 Chechnya was and is a part of the Russian Federation, so it couldn't really be called an invasion could it! They had separatist guerilla groups (like the Eye R A in Ireland) and bandits running around killing people, lopping heads off with axes. Georgia - actually quite complicated, but I agree with you there. Crimea was >90% Russian already, and Russia had nuclear sub bases there (It's quite conceivable that had Scotland voted for independence from the UK, Westminster would have annexed Britains only nuclear sub base in much the same way, using military force if necessary). Russians living in Eastern Ukraine certainly welcome Russian protection from Ukrainian military attacks - it was, and is, a civil war. As for NATO, they signed a treaty at the end of the Cold War (in Yalta) NOT to expand into Central and Eastern Europe: they did not honour their agreement. Since then, NATO has expanded right up to the Russian border in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, as well as other countries. Either way, whether a country wants NATO or not, because they could always change their minds later and decide they didn't want NATO (but would still be stuck with them all the same unless their government chose otherwise), is irrelevant. My point was, and still is, that NATO has been MORE expansionist than Russia - I never denied that Russia had expended.
Gavin James i won’t start discuss things where i clearly see that you are hugely mistaken, for example with chechnya and ukraine. you agreed me with georgia, cause in soviet union chechnya was in russian sr and abkhzia and samachablo in georgian sr. for a centuries russian hd mothing to do whatsoever with caucasian region, russia was expanded during the ivan grozni, peter 2 and katarina 2 the great. russian occupied whole caucasian region long before NATO existed, russia expands till today in any direction he can (which is extremely harmfull fot the country and people). if anyone wants to leave a nato is free to do so, if anyone wants to leave russian “protection” organisation he will become the victim of never seen violance. check the 9th april events in Georgia in 90’s as peacefull protesters marched for independence.
Gavin James so if russian princine of expanding is based on separatism, why wont chechnya and other north caucasian mini republics will be free, when russia supports separatism in georgian regions occupied by russia ?! after breaking the USSR everyone went for their way, just as they came in USSR. but russia keeps expanding and occupation to hinder his neighbouts from joining NATO. one russians don’t know is that those neighbour post soviet and thanks to russia nowdays anti russian countries will form new threaty like NATO to defend themselves from russia. we need NATO to protect us for next 30-40 years, if we wont be taken in NATO and wont be occupied fully by russian, be sure that Geogia,Ukraine,Baltic states,Poland,USA (with his real allies) will forn new NATO kinda organisation and for that time, as putin rules his country, russia will be weaker than any other postsociet country, and than we’ll meet each other in WW3 at the gates of moscow and will discuss how evil putin’s regime was, just like american and german troops discussed war crimes of nazis in Europe.
@@otikkk7076 I know Russian history well enough. I lived there when the second Chechen war was launched: I can tell you all about it from the Russian perspective if you like - the good and the bad. But at the same time NATO was attacking Kosovo: my then wife had friends there, so I can offer you some stories about what happened there too. It doesn't matter what Russia did before NATO. It's irrelevant! My original post was about NATO expansion in recent decades. Whichever way you look at it, either by counting the number of countries, land area or populations, NATO has (by soft power and diplomacy, admittedly) expanded its sphere of influence more than the Russian Federation has done (admittedly with force). My point still stands: NATO has expanded more than Russia since the end of the Cold War.
Visited in 2018 (from Poland) and I totally loved the place. It felt like going back to my (Polish/Commie) childhood, not sure how else to explain it. The city itself is... an oddity. Like it can't decide what it is... they destroyed/"took care" of most German-era buildings and features, but the ones that remain are, frankly, the only genuinely pretty parts... so they will probably remain. They then filled whatever space was left with haphazardly built Soviet-era flats everywhere, and so you have this city that is neither Russian nor German... I suppose you might say it suffers from a personality disorder ;) But - love it I do, nevertheless.
would you like to see it become an independent country, part of Germany or what? Also I'm planning a trip from Lübeck along the Baltic to Gdansk, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland. So you'd recommend old East Prussia?
@@nolanjohnson2009 Agreed plus there aren't any Germans there anymore, but exclaves tend to be unstable and eventually drift away from the nation there governed by. From what I've read Prussia always had a lot of Poles, Baltics, and Germans. So given its history I hope that it can recreate some of that mix. And given Germany's history I think it would be better to keep the two separate.
As a Canadian, I have a few Russian friends here and I find that Russians are some of my favourite people! Maybe it is the similar climate but Russians seem to really thrive here and the ones that I know are brilliant and talented in many ways. After traveling to China, I no longer trust the media here when it comes to Russia and China. People are people everywhere. There are no bad guys. So I just wanted to send my love and respect to all Russians from all parts of Russia. We are all in this together, all one race, the human race!
Thank you for your warm comment! As a Russian living in Canada (Nova Scotia), I ought to say that Canadians are the nicest people I have ever dealt with! People often ask me about (read it as a-boat, haha) about my experience living in Russia and I am always pleased to share my first-hand experience with them. Have a nice one and winter will be done soon :)
I am a Berliner and have visited Kaliningrad about eight years ago. I grew up during the cold war, and alone the fact that I was able to make that journey, in my own car no less, makes me grateful and also hopeful for the future. As you said, people around the Baltic Sea: Russians, Poles, Baltic people, Scandinavians, and Germans are visiting each other and coming closer together. My hope is that this continues and big politics doesn't fuck it up yet again. Kaliningrad itself has exactly two historical buildings left, the cathedral with the grave of Emmanuel Kant and the former stock exchange. The city really is a testament to the immense destruction during WW2. The city was largely destroyed by British air force bombardments during the summer of 1944 and the intense fighting between the German and Soviet army in 1945 gave it the rest. Seven hundred years of history destroyed in less than a year. The population fled the city to avoid the fighting. No one was able to return. If that isn't motivation enough to keep Europe peaceful, I don't know what is. Today Kaliningrad is largely a city of Soviet era prefab buildings, which show their years. Yet the city is full of young people and has lively restaurants and cafes. They have a car manufacturing plant and of course the military. I think by Russian standards, they are not doing too badly. I also visited the country-side, where more German era buildings survived. The historic town centre of Sowetsk /Tilsit is largely intact and there are villages with mostly German era houses. What was most jarring to me was that when I visited most of the very fertile, agricultural land was unused. I don't know why or if that changed after the sanctions. Going forward, we have a choice what kind of Europe we want to build, and my vote would be to come closer together instead of more sable rattling.
This video is a year old now, but extremely interesting in light of what is happening now in Ukraine. I very much hope that the people of Kaliningrad decide not to fire those nukes when Putin tells them to.
I've just watched this & I'm pretty surprised there's not a lot of recent comments, I mean, surely this 'Trojan horse' should be massive news right now..? But, on the other hand, quite like you've said, a thought that straight away occurred to me, hoping they won't fire their nukes; what would that matter at all? As soon as 1 is fired from actual Russia it's pretty much game over anyway. On that note I'm a tad surprised a 'battlefield' nuke hasn't been used yet, just as a warning not to fuck with him. But then I think he actually wants that land, Ukraine. Radioactive waste there wouldn't be part of the plan.
C'mon man it's too much propaganda as well as disrispect or even offence toward Russian people and their inferiority. Yes, there is military presence on the border and Putin somwhere in his bunker but you completely ignored FIFA2018 in Kaliningrad as well as it's tourist destination from all over the Russia especially during covid-19 travelling restrictions. So there are some more Russians than listed in census. If you wanna discuss Russia - better cover topic of ethnic diversity and practical multiculitarism in Russian federation than Putin-Putin-Putin on repeat. I.e. check out city of Ka zan that also held FIFA2018.
I remember Moscow somewhere around 2002/2003 (already under Putin) as a place where every non-slavic looking person was stopped routinely and asked about papers. During my week there I was stopped twice, for while I am Polish, I don't look slavic at all. A Belgian Jewish person living in the Center was stopped daily. Recently I talked about it with a Pashto guy in Poland and it never changed much from that time - while in Moscow (under the Putin's nose) he was harassed daily. That's the Putin's practical multiculturalism for you.
@@b.malinowski302 maybe you can just check face of the mayor of Moscow that is in charge for the last decade? I'm talking about whole lote non-slavic republics whithin Russia with there own languages and Muslim/Buddist riligion. You can even check comment of fellow Ukranians in this comment section naming nowadays Russia a 'mongol horde'. That's fair point of multiculturialism but sounds pretty racist.
@@dickystrike6966 Having "tatar" eyes is pretty common, also in eastern Poland. AFAIK the Russian Militsya/Politsya is centrally governed by the state, not by the Cities, as is the norm in this region. You may be well tolerated if You have millions or if you are a middle-asian President etc., but that may not encompass all the folks they refer to as "Chornyi", for the color of the hair. I suppose the Putin clique is simply in favor of some gettoization, like keeping the Chechens under their puppet Kadyrov just where they live. Calling Russians "the Mongol Horde" has a pretty long tradition in this region as well... This refers to the conviction in the non-Russian nationalities that Russians inherited the Mongol model for governance and tendency to political violence. Some part of Ukrainians had their first contact with the Moscovite state only during the WWI, so they may share the historical convictions of the Polish.
@@dickystrike6966 Don't expect anything "systemic" and consistent from the Putin's gang. They are old school soviet apparatchiks pretty sloppy in anything they touch... And that's maybe even the older Tsarist school in this. Of course they did not exterminate all those minorities, and they won't. They are not great ideologists. What for? Probably they are fine with just making anyone they don't like get out of Moscow.
@@b.malinowski302 mayor of moscow is asian, mansi is his nationality similiar to far northen escimo. And there are whole lot of such national republics with own languages. Even 'hate-speech' laws are introduced in Russia for several years and you have to check of using "offensive" words in public and double check if you type 'em in the internets. Especially smth against muslims.
but it's correct what he wrote. I lived three years in Kallingrad , was great. Good salary as expat, easy to go home or just go to EU, but also nice nature in Kaliningrad.
I originally wrote: "Bush jr restarted the cold war when he installed atomic weapons in Poland. Every action by Putin later on was a mere reaction. The USA and Little Britain are the world's worst hypocrites." I was wrong about the weapons. Please check the comments before liking my post. My apologies! Btw: I'm still right about Bush jr
After your responses, I've re-checked my information and found it to be obsolete. According to the Washington Post, Obama scrapped those plans in 2013. My apologies
@@marcusmees4625 Damage is done. A lot of ppl saw your comment and took it as gospel (judging by the likes). No one will now check / re-check the responses for corrections.. That's how conspiracy theories are born..
They also offered it to the DDR in the 1970's but they showed little interest and to the newly reunited Germany in 1990-1991 But Chancellor Kohl felt that it would be simply to difficult as Germany was having to deal with the problems of the DDR! I suspect that once Mr Putin goes the Russians will leave. I have been told by a friend that significant numbers of Russian inhabitants are leaving and that ethnic Germans, The so called "Volga Germans" have been moving to the exclave.
Iosif Nikhma, Hey Hey calm down a notch, just jokin by that i refering to their ethnic minority in Ukraine they seem to have carved up a piece of Ukraines territory... Cuz simple reasons as ethnic Russian opressed by a other country supposely
Russia acted all outraged when NATO sent 20 tanks to Baltic states......when they themselves have fucking 800 in Kaliningrad at all times. I dont think you can even find 800 tanks across the entirety of EU if you tried
We got around 1200, thing is that esp germany dont count most of their "decomissioned" leopards, but include the older variants that are in storage and we got a surpsing amount of decent tanks, but most leopard nations have a fixation about cutting edge, the latest design seems to make it very well suited for its home theather, keep in mind a lot of russian and us tanks are really old and well....the danish airforce operate 40 year old f-16 fighter craft and f-35s...
In Russia's view they believe NATO wants to attack and balkanize Russia. In NATOs view Russia shouldn't even exist but Russia has a large military and nuclear weapons and are forced to accept Russia. Not because they want to, but because Russia has large military power. Remember when USSR fell it was not Russia who moved military based towards NATO border, it was NATO who expanded NATO to be bordering Russia. NATO expanded t heir own borders to Russia not caring how it looked to Russia.
while lithuania was under occupation by soviets they offered to give kaliningrad to lithuania but the current leader Snieckus refused, even though he was highly loyal to commie to kremlin he was a nationalist just as well and he was against russians comming to lithuanian ssr and colonising the country and there was a milion of russians in kaliningrad for a lithuania at the time with 3.7 milion population that would have been a lot... but if he said yes, kaliningrad would be part of eu and nato now
I went to Kaliningrad last year as a tourist. Pretty nice place, has some interesting perks: island where Immanuel Kant was buried (probably contains the only church built by communist Soviets), the ugliest building in the world (the robot head, google it) and a nice maritime museum in which you can enter the real submarine. As an EU citizen, the border crossing was slow (over 3 hours with full checks of everything I carried - as if on airport (I went their by bus)), but it was totally worth.
Robot head is disguised as a building but is an actual robot, with body hidden underground. Russia knows that NATO have King Kong and that NATO could also borrow Godzilla from Japan if they want to and attack Russia. Actually according to Kremlin spokesperson, Russia is most afraid of Godzilla. While Russia may have very good air defence systems, lots of jets and tanks, everybody knows that the only that the only thing that can beat King Kong or Godzilla is a giant robot. If you want to see a very interesting documentary about how good giant robots are just google Beastie Boys Intergalactic.
@@Xenstein Yes. The main stream media doesn't want anyone to know about it. Russia is secretly building more giant robots . I think maybe Russia can win this time.
That is always the case in for any authoritarian country. It does not really matter if the people are "good" or not, they might once democratically voted for Putin as a leader, currently he is effectively a dictator. You cat really blame the citizens for having a dictator as leader.
Works for every country. Those who travel and mix around with others will always have a different perspective of the world. You can take Chinese (don't have to name the group) foreign students, for example, even if they study overseas, they stick to their own groups and become insular while those that mix around with other nationalities tend to develop a more pleasant temperament.
Too many flaws in this report. People in Kaliningrad love Putin as much as in other parts of Russia. The people of Kaliningrad admire Russian cities more than they admire places in Poland and Lithuania. I lived in Kaliningrad for six good years as a student studying at Kaliningrad State Technical University. Many of the things in this report have got nothing to do with the reality in Kaliningrad.
@@peterd.2963 Russia is the free world and your own world is a fake world controlled by the corrupt corporate media that's lying to their low IQ audience every day about Russia. Russians choose the leader whom they want but the US and UK want Russians to choose idiots like nasty Navalny to lead Russia. Where is the so called free world? Your so called free world is cancelling everybody who does not agree with their political establishments. Shame on them!
It's not a "Trojan Horse", it is in no way disguised as being anything other than what it is, a major military base. Neither is it in the 'heart of Europe', it is at the end of the Baltic near to Russia. Kaliningrad was part of the post war settlement against Nazi Germany which regarded it as part of German territory as lying in East Prussia.and is clearly mainly about the naval defence of Russia to prevent Russia's Baltic fleet from becoming bottled up by NATO. I wonder when the strategic dunderheads of the west will wake up to the fact that if you continually exert an existential threat against other powers they will do whatever is necessary to defend themselves, whether these people like it or not. No one ever questions the right of self-defence of any state except those certain states the west chooses to make enemies. NATO endlessly bleats about being peace loving, defensive and enforcing the rule of international law, while continuously acting aggressively out of area and flouting the rule of law according to the US doctrine of 'exceptionalism'. It was the self-indulgence of NATO in an orgy of military adventures the minute the Cold War ended, and the west felt no one could stand up to it, or stop it, that has created the very dangerous world we live in today. A war between the major powers just seems to be a matter of time, and is being encouraged by megalomaniacal neo-con 'strategists' (LOL) in Washington. The only reason Europe hasn't already been destroyed in a war with Russia is because Trump got elected. Once he's gone will there be any sane minds in Washington? I doubt it. They all need cold showers and a slap across the face before we all get killed.
@@marianconstantindumitriu6062 Nobody wins a nuclear war. That's why it's called MAD. Mutual Assured Destruction. Americans need to remember that. They've grown proud with hubris after over 70 years fighting wars with 3rd world countries such as Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya etc, countries that were no match for America.
I doubt If trump cares anything about Europe other than where he owns a golf course. Our idiot president only cares about the man in the mirror and holds supports like you in silent contempt for believing his bulls**t. Fortunately we only have to think about him for another 4 months
@@nameoncard6351 Russia is mostly isolated from western countries thanks to sanctions. And iPhone is something you buy once a year or maybe once every two or three years. The daily use essentials, products and raw materials and energy are produced locally. So PPP is best measurement for Russian economy which always has a positive trade balance and very less debt and a good macroeconomic stability.
You never actually read the Iliad, hahaha! Saying that something is a Trojan Horse is a reference to something hidden, unless you are talking about extra large condoms!
I’ve read that Boris yeltsin thought Kaliningrad would be an economic sinkhole when they were dismantling the USSR and offered it to Poland in the early 90s. But the population of Kaliningrad was mostly Russian by that time (all the Germans being thrown out) and the poles didn’t want 1 million Russian refugees clogging up their soup kitchens so they politely declined.
When the West closes the Suwalki corridor in response to Russia's nuclear sabre rattling followed by losing the war in Ukraine, it will be an economic sinkhole.
No one is talking about Russian tanks along the border with Poland. I live 70 meters from the borderline and since 10 or 11 days tanks are driving around 24/7 making a lot of noise and lot of smog as they drive on high rpm's creating a lot of diesel smoke.
He doesn't. He mentioned US deployments more than once in the video. Also, they are there upon request. I'll remind you that Trump's threat for Germany for standing against his interests was to remove USA's deployment from Germany.
The territory of today's Kaliningrad oblast is historically Baltic land. Original inhabitants of this land were Baltic people - Prussians , related to Lithuanians and Latvians. And eastern part of today's Kaliningrad oblast for centuries had significant Lithuanian population.
I really do not like the anti-Trump thingi at the beginning of your videos. If you want people to trust you as a news outlet, you need to show objectivity and absence of bias. I have been subscribed for a while now, but I think it’s time to unsubscribe for you since you show strong leftist bias.
Kaliningrad is one of the reasons Russia is so interested in keeping Lukashenko in power in Belarus. In order to win the opposition must maintain a neutral foreign policy. That and more are covered in this analysis of the origins and future prospects of the ongoing Belarussian revolution: czcams.com/video/YKBYYD8nx4M/video.html
@@drunkensailor3736 Putin is interested in keeping Lukashenko because he doesn't want to have an example of victory of peaceful protests in a very close country. Any opposition will maintain Russia-friendly foreign policy because Belarus is totally relied on export to Russia. European leaders doesn't seem to be brave and ambitious enough to stop Putin from his harmful actions.
@@Victor-lc3pw Exactly, plus Belarus is a buffer state and transit to Kaliningrad. However, there was a Democratic revolution in Armenia and Putin did not intervene there as the democrats remained pro-Russia. Perhaps something similar is possible in Belarus.
@@mehranmhz Teutonic Knights were invited to northern Poland to fight pagan Prussian tribes (Baltic, not Germanic). Then they expanded quickly and became a danger to Poland and Lithuania. In 1410 took place a battle of Grunwald where Polish-Lithuanian forces won against Teutons. In 1525 Teutonic Knights secularised and as Ducal Prussia were vassal of Poland and later Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1657 they were a vassal of Sweden for a moment and after few year gained independence. In 1701 Prussia united with Brandenburg as a one kingdom.
@@adam3050 As a descendant of germanized Balts and of Germans who immigrated to the Koenigsberg and Masuria region in the 14th century, maybe also Poles, I wonder what the intention of Polish commentators is to invoke these 200 years at every opportunity. That's totally inappropriate, i feel. I think it's a reflex. Late medieval power structures and identity built differently from today's and today the situation is probably clear. We should be happy that we live in a peaceful europe. It is nice to be enthusiastic about history and to discuss everything. There are always at least two views on something. I didn't really want to comment on this, but now I've let myself be carried away.
Would be nice to show on the map how evil Putin gradually moved his Kaliningrad into the unsuspecting EU and NATO over the course of the last 25 years.
Things are so secret in Russia that even their own citizens don't know what is part of their country. Hint: If your country has to use military force to annex it, it most likely doesn't belong to your country.
This video is so disrespectful to all the people of the region who live normal lives. They are presented as nothing more than a military base, never mind its functioning industries and fact that >90% of all amber deposits in the world exists here. The dude has quite a punchable face as well, what a downgrade from Simon.
Saying that it is in the middle of the EU is more than a little bit disingenuous. it is surrounded by NATO member and would be one of, if not the , first places attacked and destroyed. That and the fact that it is quite far north in Europe being on the Baltic coast means that it can be bypassed and starved out, the Russians have yet to show a truly powerful blue water navy to keep supply lines open to its outpost in case of war.
Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad could strike every major "EU" capital with nukes in about ten minutes, utterly destroying Europe in a heartbeat. If Nato or US tried to attack or occupy the region, they would face certain annihilation within minutes from Russia's numerous strategic weapons. Also, Russia holds certain annihilation over the entire US homeland within 20-30 minutes. Russia keeps its supply routes operating just fine in Syria and elsewhere. Seriously, have you given even one minute of thought to the claims you just made??? BTW, the "EU" is a loose confederation of weak and subservient non entities that masquerade as "sovereign".
@@LostMaster100 2:08 The sitting guy is a Polish king, this on knees is a Prussian duke. Yes we Poles are responsible for this cancer since the very begining of its existance until it consumed both Poland and Germany. The only difference is that Germans are happy because of that fact, probably for unifying the glorious Empire of Ulm and a 1000 simmilar entities into the one proper country.
Krzysztof Bartczak I know it’s a Baltic tribe but then later killed by the Germans. Also Poland is older then the state created by the “Prussians” and other Germanic kingdoms that created the German empire.
Its always been western propaganda/right wing "news." simon just had a way of putting a liberal spin on it. and he didnt leave. his contract was up. hes a paid actor. he was paid to read a script. the samething this guy is doing.
@@navyvet8798 hart is quite literaly in the middle of your chest. You only verify how bad US educational system is by publicly claiming that hart is in the left side of you... Hart could be a few centimeters to the left, but generaly - it's in the middle. The part of hart you feel "pumping blood" is on the left side of a hart. That is the source of the wrong belief that hart is on the left. However, school should have thought you that
@@goransevo7508 Your heart is slightly on the left side of your body. It sits between your right and left lungs. The left lung is slightly smaller to make room for the heart in your left chest. SO it is more on the left than not... that is the left side... It doesn't matter if it's slightly or not ... it's still the left side. And you might want to check your freaking spelling before you talk about somebody else's education.
For what I witness, Russia stayed where it was, and Nato, which is a military alliance, expanded towards its borders. No wonder Russia is tightening its defence...
And why did nato bolster their borders? Russia annexing crimea and trying to annex eastern Ukraine. Not to mention all the general hostility Russia throws towards their neighbours. The good news for nato though is that russian military equipment seems to do nato's job for them by killing it's russian operators. I certainly wouldn't want to be a russian submariner or a russian airforce pilot!
What is so hard about former Soviet republics ASKING to join NATO that is so hard for Russians to figure out. NATO didn't expand through imperialism, it expanded because so many countries decided to align with Europe instead of Russia. Jeez, and I thought Americans were idiots.
@@maurvir3197 Ah, so it is peaceful expansion, only to protect former Soviet countries begging for protection? You should have told this to Putin, so he could sleep well, knowing that NATO, who invaded Yugoslavia, later Serbia, Iraq, Libya, etc, also to "protect" someone small, doesn't mean no harm. Glad that someone is still living the fairytale world. :)) But the reality is, that military alliance is moving closer to russian borders with its military infrastructure for latest several decades. And how Russia should react to this? Close eyes, and believe USA that this is peaceful expansion only to protect? Also, those former soviet countries (I live in one of them) are only doing what they are told by the west. Wanna know why? BECAUSE THEY ARE BEING PAID BY THE WEST. Wow, now that's a surprise! :))))
@@EvilChem1st Have you never stopped and asked why they chose to look west rather than maintain an alliance with Russia? Not even once? As for Putin, he uses NATO as the eternal enemy to maintain his support. This was neatly described in the book 1984: “The Party said that Oceania had never been in alliance with Eurasia. He, Winston Smith, knew that Oceania had been in alliance with Eurasia as short a time as four years ago"
Bullsh*t. I used to live there for a year. The biggest part of the Kaliningrad oblast population are people related to military (servicemen and their families, civil personnel, workers of the local industries). People who had real benefits from the visa-free regime with Poland were mostly traders which influence shrinked since most EU supermarket nets like Auchan or SPAR entered Russia and Kaliningrad as well. The author of this video probably stuck in the 90s when the russian military was severely underpaid and most of the local population tried to improve their incomes smuggling cigarettes to Poland. Now all changed and there are not so many differences in life standards between the neighbors in term of "empty shelves" or something like it was in Russia during the Cold War or 90s. There are several McDonalds and KFCs in Kaliningrad,lol))) 2014 didnt change anything apart from Poland shut down visa free regime and ruine all that transborder shopping for Russians which was described on 09:30. Such trips were popular BEFORE the 2014. Now people dont want to pay a visa fee and waste time in consulate just for shopping in Gdansk. Moreover, Russia on the opposite didnt ban Poles to enter but even implemented an e-visas liberalising our visa regime and not only to Kaliningrad but to the whole country. Why? Because we are not so bigoted and can count our money from tourism and fuel shopping. Since 2018 there were shopping tours on opposite direction from Poland to Russia. Mostly because of lower prices. P.S. And such high ammount of external passports in Kaliningrad oblast just because Lithuania requires it for any driver or passenger which ask for transit visa to Russia if you go by car or train. P.P.S. South Korea(yes SOUTH Korea) have a visa free regime with Russia since 2013.We have a good relationship with that country and there are a lot of Samsung,LG and other Korean industries here). Please check your information sources properly before making such videos.
wow you sound butt hurt. You must be very insecure about being a russian. I can understand that though since russia sucks so bad. but dont cry itll collapse again soon
@@navyvet8798 Yes it is.Mostly because video has almost nothing with the reality. As a person who used to live there it is just exaggeration of old(15 years old) story with one political party who wanted to succeed on wake of chaos. During the 90s it was really hard to live in Russia. And life in exclave during the 90s really sucks so it was not a surprise that Rissia could collapse once again.We were on a verge of this. Now the life is 10 times better even during the post 2014 or covid crisis. It is the biggest propaganda win for Putin by the way.People just know that if he toppled by colour revolution or something - our country will return in a period of humiliation again.And economical collapse of the 90s will be just a joke in comparison with possible chaos.
It is shameless to question Kaliningrad status. Without Soviet Union, most Europe would speak German as single language. This just reminds a white eyes of wolf.
Interestingly they did not mention calls for a Kaliningrad referendum around the time that one was done in the Crimean peninsula. Calls that were deemed illegal. "...Anyway, one of Putin's quirks ..."
NATO should have invaded the territory in response to the annexation of Crimea. If Crimea was historically Russian, then Königsberg was historically not Russian.
The difference between USA / NATO and Russia / USSR USA / NATO = Have used Nuclear weapons multiple times and in multiple countries Russia / USSR = Have never used nuclear weapons
@@TheITTman Ok, the salaries are average somewhere 700-1300 $, the air is clean, there is a sea, in the summer you can swim. Crime is low, medicine is good, especially paid) I like to live here, of course, if politicians and the president was better, we could live better
@@emilhelldal7215 no, separatism is about zero here. There are not even such conversations. 99% are Russians or Ukrainians and Belorussians. A small number move to Europe, Poland or Germany especially. They also move to Moscow, St. Petersburg. But this is a small number of people
He asked how we feel about a Russian "enclave" in the center of Europe. Probably not much different than the Russians feel about NATO being right up on their borders.
@TheSushiraw The individual countries in NATO aren't the problem, especially the pre-1990 ones. We made an agreement with Russia after the fall of the USSR that NATO wouldn't expand east, which it did (Georgia almost joined NATO). Figure Russia can't be happy with what they perceive as a hostile threat on their western border considering their history of being invaded from there. Also having to worry about China eyeing the Vladivostok region almost as much as they do Taiwan doesn't help. NATO did have a purpose up until 1990. After that, Europe should have taken over their defense and the policies that go with it. Since you're in Norway (NATO member) you have to wonder like I do (I'm from Missouri), are we really ok with going to all out nuclear war if Estonia and Russia have a skirmish? I'm not. Especially considering my city (St. Louis) is a primary target.
At the Unification of Germany the arrangement was that NATO would not move “a foot more to the East”. But hey, it’s the bad Russins that have their country so close to all the NATO bases. How dare they have strategically important territory!
Ah, much like his Kennedy promised to protect the Mafia if they helped him become President and then hd helped to raise mafia convictions eight fold. The poor mafia.
The annexation of Kaliningrad was the result of an agreement between Soviet Union and allies after the WW2. Here is a quote from the Internet: "As part of the post-war settlement, the Allies agreed to transfer the area to Soviet control, primarily because of its strategic location and proximity to the Baltic Sea. The city of Königsberg was heavily damaged during the war, and the German population was largely expelled or fled as a result of the conflict. The Soviet Union subsequently annexed the territory and renamed it Kaliningrad in 1946."
Jelzin offered Germany to buy Kaliningrad 3 times... but Germany denied, because it had to restructure itself, build infrasturcture in the ex-GDR in this time and first of all didnt want tensions with Poland as after the first WW (corridor-problem). We just should have bought Kaliningrad and gifted it to Lithuania... but in the 90th the baltics were restructuring themself, too.
@@heikkisallinen9012 We don't need Kaliningrad even its etnographic region but people are not baltic anymore. Best thing would be just make that teritory independent and without nuclear weapons that's it.
Anyone else watching this after the invasion of Ukraine? It would be interesting if NATO, especially Poland and Lithuania, got nervous and decided this area must be annexed to eliminate the Russian threat.
If Russia exports its weapons "half way around the world", what about the US? The US exports not only weapons but also its bases to the Russian border.
Little bit is shown but lotta propaganda and Putin-putin-putin blablabla. Check viral promo of local k-grad supermarket for instance czcams.com/video/b8nvPjKMDh0/video.html
I live in Spain (EU) I want Europe to be safe, but i also love Russia! I think everyone should chill and focus on economic prosperity not just arming races 🤔
They haven't been used because of some BS excuse by the Russians that the Syrian have not pass their training. So apart from the radar Israel has only had to deal with the S-200 that some how still manages to shot down Israeli missiles and few planes.
Putin cares if NATO send 3 soldiers to Latvia or Belarus. PUTTY already invaded Belarus now he wants Ukraine .......he forgot how brave slavic people are. Ukraine gave him a bloody nose they not gonna go down with out a fight. They not afraid of bully thugs. Much love to Eastern Europe.
the United States has sent soldiers and military might to Europe, so it is time for Russia to send Russian soldiers and their military might to Central America, especially Venezuela and other countries in the region.
After being one of the host regions of the 2018 World Cup (not even mentioned ?!), Kaliningrad has been developing itself as one of the main internal tourist destinations for Russians (German architecture, fine sand Baltic sea beaches, resort towns) and massive investments start entering from the mainland (there are many historical buildings / sights under restoration now). Painting this history sights and beautiful nature rich region as a millitary base with little things to do helps to get views, but is really weird and just absolutely incorrect.
No bro . His not making a video about the dozens of military bases that are right in Russians borders . Because the US and the EU are the best things the World has ever seen but Russia is the Devils Den full of tall and scary monstrous people .......... I could go and watch a Hollywood movie and it would be more unbiased than this channels content .... They haven t even mentioned the E.U. backed up Dictator of Montenegro Djukanovic , he is 30 years in power with no elections . But i guess it s okay because he is a puppet of the West ....
Here on this channel they describe Kaliningrad as in “center of Europe” yet my country of Czech Republic is often described as Eastern European. Wtf
Every country is the centre of something, if you ask their PR folks.
Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary are central european countries geographically. But they are called Eastern everyday because of the block they belonged to during the Cold War.
And Finland is in the "Heart of Eurasia" . . . if you look from the right angel.
Georgia and Armenia considers itself part of Europe, even though they are right above Iran🤔🤔🤔
John The Giant Slayer spain is also above africa but is called Europe🤔🤔🤔🤔.
The presenter calls Kaliningrad an enclave. This is not true. According to the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), an enclave is a territory that is completely surrounded by the territory of one other state. Kaliningrad is surrounded by two countries-Lithuanian and Poland. Therefore, Kaliningrad is an exclave. ESRI defines an exclave as a part of a state that is geographically separated from the main part by the territory of one or more states. So, Kaliningrad is an exclave.
I love facts over bullshit. Thanks for the lesson
Good response (plus I learned something today..)
Ffs, he was referring to Kaliningrad being surrounded by the EU. Poland and Lithuania is part of the EU. That’s where the enclave reference comes from.
Kalingrad it a enclava from UE end NATO perspective....
@@danfilon3349 EU is not a state so please stop forcing your definition on us. If that was a question you would fail. Facts trump opinion.
Europeans when they hear 7,000 gdp per capita : WHAT? POOR PEOPLE LETS HELP THEM!
Most of latinos : de que te quejas hermano, yo lo veo bien justo
People working in sweatshop somewhere in Bangladesh : lucky those people of Koninsberg
considering that this territory was by no means ''poor'' ever in its history before, it is quite low number lol
@Targ im. G. Busha mł. w Kabulu Though isn't Polish gdp at least double that?
Figures that are not adjusted for purchasing power are meaningless. Kaliningrad certainly looks better than other "EU" members in the region. BTW, the "EU" is a loose confederation of weak and subservient non entities that masquerade as "sovereign".
Ryan Alt wow, another Russian troll under video involving Russia; what a surprise.
@@BB-hx4mj Yes, anyone who debunks your bs is a "Russian troll".
Not much of a trojan horse if it's contents are particularly know.
Agree
btw not "know" but "known"
Perhaps a Trojan rabbit?
It can still do a lot of damage even without the element of surprise!
If Kaliningrad is a trojan horse then the Suwalki Gap is NATO's Achilles' heel.
I've been to Kaliningrad. It's nowhere nearly as bleak as you guys say: for one thing it's an industrial powerhouse, home to one of the country's largest automotive manufacturers (Avtotor) that manufacturers cars from brands like BMW, Chevrolet, and Hyundai/Kia/Genesis under license for the Russian market. Otherwise there are multiple resort towns that have been remarkably well maintained and are visited by tourists from across the CIS (I stayed in Svetlogorsk at the time). The federal government is also investing in the Oblast's infrastructure; the roads are impeccable, a new airport has been built, the seaport is being expanded, and a number of impressive public buildings have been constructed. All in all there's certainly room for improvement, but the oblast isn't doing too bad as is.
Молодец
*konigsberg, and the problem is not the "oblast" development, but the fact that is a stolen territory, one of many stolen by the thief country called russia
@@EUenjoyer donkey.. just like the imperial u.s and imperial britain.
.
The different issss... The u.s is weapon seller powerhouse. Witbout war their economy colapse!
@Nadelwald Königsberg so stealing is morally fine as long as you are capable of getting away with it?
@Nadelwald Königsberg I'm talking about morality. Being strong doesn't give you the right to abuse that strength.
The truth is it was a Prussian (temporarily Polish-Prussian) city for almost 700 years and become Russian in 1945 y due to the
Potsdam Conference.
Though originally it was a whole another state Prussia (baltic, like lithuania and latvia).
@@mignas Hardly a 'state', a bunch of fiercely independent tribes living in mud huts
@@ccmwarren7036 it is not really well know if old prussians were stateless it''s just a popular theory and cause lack of historical documentation but what is documented is know about them like them being friendly helping others when needed and legend of Widewuto some sources view them alcoholic too but still friendly and also as them have wooden castles, wood was most of easiest materials to gain for building purpose so for me living in mud huts is unlikely
Polish?...polish was once russia before 1918.
*was stolen by russia
you forgot to mention all the nato military exercises , missiles and heavy equipment stationed all along the russian border.
nah bro. its the Russian borders that are getting closer to NATO bases, not the other way aroun ;)
@@thesayxx thats a good sign !
You forgot that NATO expands not by conquest but rather by willful accession of its now-members into the alliance.
Why would I care about the security of a bank I have no stake in unless I was planning to rob it? Think for a moment of that.
@@TheMrNalsur In other words NATO broke the promise that it wouldn't expand east. Wether it was forced or not that doesn't change that fact. Russia being upset with nato is totally justified.
As a wise person once said "surround a dog into a corner and it will fight back 10 times harder". If only nato zombies would see past the brainwashing.
@@ntf5211 we shall see what happens with NATO ambitions over time. Will the NATO efforts be worth it.. Will the NATO bases be harrased etc .. Russia keeps saying that they have strategic patience. That is a unique kind of patience.
Saying that Kaliningrad is in the 'heart' or 'middle' of Europe is wildly inaccurate and a little sensational.
The geographical centre of Europe is in Lithuania. So it actually kind of is.
geographically it is in the middle of Europe
@@Solaxe It is the heart of NATO - basically main and only Nato focus - Latvia has around 2500 most advanced nukes and Estonian space program is as sturdy as Lithuanian fleet!
or that it's unknown, everyone in Europe knows Kaliningrad, especially people that watch Channels like this.
@@LegendNinja41 But do they know its history and who it should rightfully belong to, though?
Putin likes to talk about Russian historical ties to Crimea. So why Putin wont give Königsberg back to Germany? This has been historically and culturally German territory.
The same could have said for Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, which were once territories of Japan.
After the GDR and FGR unified in the 90's, Germany didn't want Konigsberg so Russia kept it, since it was part of the Russian SSR, and the lands SSR's of the USSR were all kept as they were divided in the USSR. This is why theres wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and why Azbhakia and South Oessieta wanted to split from Georgia.
@@windowskoala1689 Obvious lie, not even Yeltsin would be stupid enough to try to give it up.
You see because they 'won it'. Only they have human rights. That is how their mind operates. Scholz even after this has the stupidity to talk about escalation when they are illegally inside their neighbour.
Because Crimea was given to the Ukrainians and Kaliningrad was won by defeating the Nazis.
What do you think about US army presence everywhere? 🙃
Natives: FU!!!
Over 99% of US army presence is because they have been invited by the host country or because of a historic defense treaty..
@@ameyas7726 legal government is to invite foreign army... Or this army is invader!!!
@@ameyas7726 i am pretty sure iraqis have been asking them to leave for a while now.
And in entire europe they have created a threat perception that if Americans are not there Russia will invade. In the middle east they made Iran the same villan. What business does American forces have in Syria they have been providing safe haven for Anti Govt troops there and keeping al omar oil fields for themselves.
@@ameyas7726 Tell germany and Japan about how they voluntarily invited the U.S. Army in 1945 and concluded a defense treaty.
Kaliningrad isn't an enclave it's an exclave as it is surrounded by Poland Lithuania and the sea.
It's small details like this that shows Visualpolitiks is really slipping. Caspian Report did a much better video.
I agree that the attention to detail and general ease with which topics are discussed seems to be on the decline, but the choice of topics has really impressed me recently. I still can't get over the pronunciation of Uighurs in the last video though!
caspian report always does a better job in explaining these things
Well, it does really depend on the perspective, doesn't it? For the European Union as a territorycally integrated unit Kaliningrad should look like a Russian enclave in their territory between two member states.
Googled enclave: a portion of territory surrounded by a larger territory whose inhabitants are culturally or ethnically distinct. Seems fit for Kaliningrad?
I agree
As others have mentioned here, you should look at Kaliningrad from the Russian perspective as well. The US has military bases right up against Russian borders in many locations. The European plain offers virtually no geographic boundaries to aid military defense. How would the US react to forward Russian bases in Canada, the Caribbean, or Central America?
When USA starts annexing parts of Canada, Mexico, etc. then we can make that comparison
@@mp1335 America is not a stranger to annexing other lands: Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, Guantanamo, Texas, and yes, from Canada, parts of Maine.
@@AlteredState1123 Russia can only blame itself for the current situation it finds itself in
This guy is trying too hard.. Trying to be so animated that it starts to get irritating..
@Ivan Frani what that animated mean in this context? hentai?
/Pyoo-tin/
His voice quite annoying tbh.
It's Russian territory: they can put whatever they want there. Kaliningrad is surrounded by NATO forces. No, NATO and Russia will never agree with each other - they are diametrically opposed. NATO announced last year that they have plans drawn up detailing how they would invade Kaliningrad, but everyone wants to talk about the possibility of Russia invading the Baltic states. NATO has certainly been more expansionist than Russia in the last few decades. Certainly when the Soviet Union rubbed shoulders with West Germany, Germany was bristling with weapons and soldiers too. People have such short memories!
“NATO has certainly been more expasionist than Russia in last two decades” 😂 invasion of chechnya in 2000’s, occupation of 20% of Georgia and occupation of Crimea and eastern part of Ukraine. you boy sleeping in some deep hole 😂 every state becoming NATO member wants it and is supported by most of citizens of country but nobody wants to be occupied by russia. russia doesn’t understand the “sweet word” otherwise there would not be such a hostile situation with literally every ! single ! post-soviet country!
@@otikkk7076 Chechnya was and is a part of the Russian Federation, so it couldn't really be called an invasion could it! They had separatist guerilla groups (like the Eye R A in Ireland) and bandits running around killing people, lopping heads off with axes.
Georgia - actually quite complicated, but I agree with you there.
Crimea was >90% Russian already, and Russia had nuclear sub bases there (It's quite conceivable that had Scotland voted for independence from the UK, Westminster would have annexed Britains only nuclear sub base in much the same way, using military force if necessary). Russians living in Eastern Ukraine certainly welcome Russian protection from Ukrainian military attacks - it was, and is, a civil war.
As for NATO, they signed a treaty at the end of the Cold War (in Yalta) NOT to expand into Central and Eastern Europe: they did not honour their agreement. Since then, NATO has expanded right up to the Russian border in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, as well as other countries.
Either way, whether a country wants NATO or not, because they could always change their minds later and decide they didn't want NATO (but would still be stuck with them all the same unless their government chose otherwise), is irrelevant. My point was, and still is, that NATO has been MORE expansionist than Russia - I never denied that Russia had expended.
Gavin James i won’t start discuss things where i clearly see that you are hugely mistaken, for example with chechnya and ukraine. you agreed me with georgia, cause in soviet union chechnya was in russian sr and abkhzia and samachablo in georgian sr. for a centuries russian hd mothing to do whatsoever with caucasian region, russia was expanded during the ivan grozni, peter 2 and katarina 2 the great. russian occupied whole caucasian region long before NATO existed, russia expands till today in any direction he can (which is extremely harmfull fot the country and people). if anyone wants to leave a nato is free to do so, if anyone wants to leave russian “protection” organisation he will become the victim of never seen violance. check the 9th april events in Georgia in 90’s as peacefull protesters marched for independence.
Gavin James so if russian princine of expanding is based on separatism, why wont chechnya and other north caucasian mini republics will be free, when russia supports separatism in georgian regions occupied by russia ?! after breaking the USSR everyone went for their way, just as they came in USSR. but russia keeps expanding and occupation to hinder his neighbouts from joining NATO. one russians don’t know is that those neighbour post soviet and thanks to russia nowdays anti russian countries will form new threaty like NATO to defend themselves from russia. we need NATO to protect us for next 30-40 years, if we wont be taken in NATO and wont be occupied fully by russian, be sure that Geogia,Ukraine,Baltic states,Poland,USA (with his real allies) will forn new NATO kinda organisation and for that time, as putin rules his country, russia will be weaker than any other postsociet country, and than we’ll meet each other in WW3 at the gates of moscow and will discuss how evil putin’s regime was, just like american and german troops discussed war crimes of nazis in Europe.
@@otikkk7076 I know Russian history well enough. I lived there when the second Chechen war was launched: I can tell you all about it from the Russian perspective if you like - the good and the bad. But at the same time NATO was attacking Kosovo: my then wife had friends there, so I can offer you some stories about what happened there too.
It doesn't matter what Russia did before NATO. It's irrelevant! My original post was about NATO expansion in recent decades. Whichever way you look at it, either by counting the number of countries, land area or populations, NATO has (by soft power and diplomacy, admittedly) expanded its sphere of influence more than the Russian Federation has done (admittedly with force). My point still stands: NATO has expanded more than Russia since the end of the Cold War.
South Korea probably isn't on the e-visa list because we have visa-free travel agreement
South Koreans can travel without visa to Russia
Visited in 2018 (from Poland) and I totally loved the place. It felt like going back to my (Polish/Commie) childhood, not sure how else to explain it. The city itself is... an oddity. Like it can't decide what it is... they destroyed/"took care" of most German-era buildings and features, but the ones that remain are, frankly, the only genuinely pretty parts... so they will probably remain. They then filled whatever space was left with haphazardly built Soviet-era flats everywhere, and so you have this city that is neither Russian nor German... I suppose you might say it suffers from a personality disorder ;) But - love it I do, nevertheless.
lmao, thanks for the insight.
would you like to see it become an independent country, part of Germany or what?
Also I'm planning a trip from Lübeck along the Baltic to Gdansk, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland. So you'd recommend old East Prussia?
@@j.obrien4990 I dont think it can be a part of Germany since the russians there are like 2nd or 3rd generation already.
@@nolanjohnson2009 Agreed plus there aren't any Germans there anymore, but exclaves tend to be unstable and eventually drift away from the nation there governed by. From what I've read Prussia always had a lot of Poles, Baltics, and Germans. So given its history I hope that it can recreate some of that mix. And given Germany's history I think it would be better to keep the two separate.
Молодец
Would a Russian college graduate be called a Kaliningrad?
"grad" is ancient Russian word for "city"
@@nerdomania24 your point is?
@@gennik7966 that grad is a word in Russian, so nobody would name graduate like that, too similar
it took me way to long to get what you ment ; D
Keep dayjob comrade 🤪
As a Canadian, I have a few Russian friends here and I find that Russians are some of my favourite people! Maybe it is the similar climate but Russians seem to really thrive here and the ones that I know are brilliant and talented in many ways. After traveling to China, I no longer trust the media here when it comes to Russia and China. People are people everywhere. There are no bad guys. So I just wanted to send my love and respect to all Russians from all parts of Russia. We are all in this together, all one race, the human race!
Thank you for your warm comment! As a Russian living in Canada (Nova Scotia), I ought to say that Canadians are the nicest people I have ever dealt with! People often ask me about (read it as a-boat, haha) about my experience living in Russia and I am always pleased to share my first-hand experience with them. Have a nice one and winter will be done soon :)
I am a Berliner and have visited Kaliningrad about eight years ago. I grew up during the cold war, and alone the fact that I was able to make that journey, in my own car no less, makes me grateful and also hopeful for the future. As you said, people around the Baltic Sea: Russians, Poles, Baltic people, Scandinavians, and Germans are visiting each other and coming closer together. My hope is that this continues and big politics doesn't fuck it up yet again. Kaliningrad itself has exactly two historical buildings left, the cathedral with the grave of Emmanuel Kant and the former stock exchange. The city really is a testament to the immense destruction during WW2. The city was largely destroyed by British air force bombardments during the summer of 1944 and the intense fighting between the German and Soviet army in 1945 gave it the rest. Seven hundred years of history destroyed in less than a year. The population fled the city to avoid the fighting. No one was able to return. If that isn't motivation enough to keep Europe peaceful, I don't know what is. Today Kaliningrad is largely a city of Soviet era prefab buildings, which show their years. Yet the city is full of young people and has lively restaurants and cafes. They have a car manufacturing plant and of course the military. I think by Russian standards, they are not doing too badly. I also visited the country-side, where more German era buildings survived. The historic town centre of Sowetsk /Tilsit is largely intact and there are villages with mostly German era houses. What was most jarring to me was that when I visited most of the very fertile, agricultural land was unused. I don't know why or if that changed after the sanctions. Going forward, we have a choice what kind of Europe we want to build, and my vote would be to come closer together instead of more sable rattling.
soviet expulsion of german population should be considered a war crime and genocide
@@tacobell4279 What goes around comes around, the Germans reaped what they sowed.
Well unfortunately you Sir were asleep what is going on in Russia 🇷🇺, the political picture in Russia is Dangerous!
Kaliningrad would be pinched off like a dingleberry if anything kicked off between NATO and Russia.
Haha. Eloquently put.
South Korea has a 14 days free visa regime with Russia, that’s why no need for e-visa, just an entry stamp it is.
This video is a year old now, but extremely interesting in light of what is happening now in Ukraine. I very much hope that the people of Kaliningrad decide not to fire those nukes when Putin tells them to.
I've just watched this & I'm pretty surprised there's not a lot of recent comments, I mean, surely this 'Trojan horse' should be massive news right now..?
But, on the other hand, quite like you've said, a thought that straight away occurred to me, hoping they won't fire their nukes; what would that matter at all? As soon as 1 is fired from actual Russia it's pretty much game over anyway.
On that note I'm a tad surprised a 'battlefield' nuke hasn't been used yet, just as a warning not to fuck with him. But then I think he actually wants that land, Ukraine. Radioactive waste there wouldn't be part of the plan.
Even when been attacked they shouldn't defend,how convenient
C'mon man it's too much propaganda as well as disrispect or even offence toward Russian people and their inferiority. Yes, there is military presence on the border and Putin somwhere in his bunker but you completely ignored FIFA2018 in Kaliningrad as well as it's tourist destination from all over the Russia especially during covid-19 travelling restrictions. So there are some more Russians than listed in census.
If you wanna discuss Russia - better cover topic of ethnic diversity and practical multiculitarism in Russian federation than Putin-Putin-Putin on repeat. I.e. check out city of Ka zan that also held FIFA2018.
I remember Moscow somewhere around 2002/2003 (already under Putin) as a place where every non-slavic looking person was stopped routinely and asked about papers. During my week there I was stopped twice, for while I am Polish, I don't look slavic at all. A Belgian Jewish person living in the Center was stopped daily. Recently I talked about it with a Pashto guy in Poland and it never changed much from that time - while in Moscow (under the Putin's nose) he was harassed daily. That's the Putin's practical multiculturalism for you.
@@b.malinowski302 maybe you can just check face of the mayor of Moscow that is in charge for the last decade? I'm talking about whole lote non-slavic republics whithin Russia with there own languages and Muslim/Buddist riligion. You can even check comment of fellow Ukranians in this comment section naming nowadays Russia a 'mongol horde'. That's fair point of multiculturialism but sounds pretty racist.
@@dickystrike6966 Having "tatar" eyes is pretty common, also in eastern Poland. AFAIK the Russian Militsya/Politsya is centrally governed by the state, not by the Cities, as is the norm in this region. You may be well tolerated if You have millions or if you are a middle-asian President etc., but that may not encompass all the folks they refer to as "Chornyi", for the color of the hair. I suppose the Putin clique is simply in favor of some gettoization, like keeping the Chechens under their puppet Kadyrov just where they live. Calling Russians "the Mongol Horde" has a pretty long tradition in this region as well... This refers to the conviction in the non-Russian nationalities that Russians inherited the Mongol model for governance and tendency to political violence. Some part of Ukrainians had their first contact with the Moscovite state only during the WWI, so they may share the historical convictions of the Polish.
@@dickystrike6966 Don't expect anything "systemic" and consistent from the Putin's gang. They are old school soviet apparatchiks pretty sloppy in anything they touch... And that's maybe even the older Tsarist school in this. Of course they did not exterminate all those minorities, and they won't. They are not great ideologists. What for? Probably they are fine with just making anyone they don't like get out of Moscow.
@@b.malinowski302 mayor of moscow is asian, mansi is his nationality similiar to far northen escimo. And there are whole lot of such national republics with own languages. Even 'hate-speech' laws are introduced in Russia for several years and you have to check of using "offensive" words in public and double check if you type 'em in the internets. Especially smth against muslims.
10:18 when I see Guardian post as source, I immediately realise Fake News is around...
Facts don’t care about your feelings Blase
Old World Patriot facts???? I mentioned Guardian...
but it's correct what he wrote. I lived three years in Kallingrad , was great. Good salary as expat, easy to go home or just go to EU, but also nice nature in Kaliningrad.
I originally wrote: "Bush jr restarted the cold war when he installed atomic weapons in Poland. Every action by Putin later on was a mere reaction. The USA and Little Britain are the world's worst hypocrites." I was wrong about the weapons. Please check the comments before liking my post. My apologies! Btw: I'm still right about Bush jr
What atomic weapons?!? 😄
Marcus- another useful idiot. What atomic weapon in Poland? Maybe you have secret info about it. Please share with us.
After your responses, I've re-checked my information and found it to be obsolete. According to the Washington Post, Obama scrapped those plans in 2013. My apologies
@@marcusmees4625 Damage is done. A lot of ppl saw your comment and took it as gospel (judging by the likes). No one will now check / re-check the responses for corrections..
That's how conspiracy theories are born..
Wrong, in my opinion. The Cold War never ended and goes on to this day between Russia, China, and America.
Fun fact russians ofered kaliningrad to lithuainia but we didint accept becouse of very big pupulation of russians
Maybe Russia would come to liberate
@@cookiecola5852 of couse it would like always
@@iosifnikhma9669 when soviet union colapse russia ofered lithuainia kalininrad maybe lern other way history
They also offered it to the DDR in the 1970's but they showed little interest and to the newly reunited Germany in 1990-1991 But Chancellor Kohl felt that it would be simply to difficult as Germany was having to deal with the problems of the DDR!
I suspect that once Mr Putin goes the Russians will leave. I have been told by a friend that significant numbers of Russian inhabitants are leaving and that ethnic Germans, The so called "Volga Germans" have been moving to the exclave.
Iosif Nikhma, Hey Hey calm down a notch, just jokin by that i refering to their ethnic minority in Ukraine they seem to have carved up a piece of Ukraines territory...
Cuz simple reasons as ethnic Russian opressed by a other country supposely
Russia acted all outraged when NATO sent 20 tanks to Baltic states......when they themselves have fucking 800 in Kaliningrad at all times. I dont think you can even find 800 tanks across the entirety of EU if you tried
We got around 1200, thing is that esp germany dont count most of their "decomissioned" leopards, but include the older variants that are in storage and we got a surpsing amount of decent tanks, but most leopard nations have a fixation about cutting edge, the latest design seems to make it very well suited for its home theather, keep in mind a lot of russian and us tanks are really old and well....the danish airforce operate 40 year old f-16 fighter craft and f-35s...
Well that's kremlin politics. Always blaming others when they doing same themselves.
In Russia's view they believe NATO wants to attack and balkanize Russia.
In NATOs view Russia shouldn't even exist but Russia has a large military and nuclear weapons and are forced to accept Russia. Not because they want to, but because Russia has large military power.
Remember when USSR fell it was not Russia who moved military based towards NATO border, it was NATO who expanded NATO to be bordering Russia. NATO expanded t heir own borders to Russia not caring how it looked to Russia.
while lithuania was under occupation by soviets they offered to give kaliningrad to lithuania but the current leader Snieckus refused, even though he was highly loyal to commie to kremlin he was a nationalist just as well and he was against russians comming to lithuanian ssr and colonising the country and there was a milion of russians in kaliningrad for a lithuania at the time with 3.7 milion population that would have been a lot... but if he said yes, kaliningrad would be part of eu and nato now
Your country is dying out anyways
@@fvo911 dying because of europe, anyways EU dies too.
Probably it wasn't a terrible idea seeing what russia did to Ukraine thanks to the russian population living there
well putin will use that as another excuse to invade
Vals Foppel Outdated news, “comrade” Vals.
Also, what of yours? :D
I went to Kaliningrad last year as a tourist. Pretty nice place, has some interesting perks: island where Immanuel Kant was buried (probably contains the only church built by communist Soviets), the ugliest building in the world (the robot head, google it) and a nice maritime museum in which you can enter the real submarine.
As an EU citizen, the border crossing was slow (over 3 hours with full checks of everything I carried - as if on airport (I went their by bus)), but it was totally worth.
Robot head is disguised as a building but is an actual robot, with body hidden underground. Russia knows that NATO have King Kong and that NATO could also borrow Godzilla from Japan if they want to and attack Russia. Actually according to Kremlin spokesperson, Russia is most afraid of Godzilla. While Russia may have very good air defence systems, lots of jets and tanks, everybody knows that the only that the only thing that can beat King Kong or Godzilla is a giant robot. If you want to see a very interesting documentary about how good giant robots are just google Beastie Boys Intergalactic.
@@andrewbryce5966 just awesome!
Beastie Boys is the missing element of knowing about this cold war 😎
Was your bus driver from Gdansk the guy who looks almost identical to Putin?
@@Xenstein Yes. The main stream media doesn't want anyone to know about it. Russia is secretly building more giant robots . I think maybe Russia can win this time.
I saw the building. It looks kinda cute
Usual european view of russia, good people with a problematic leader/government.
That is always the case in for any authoritarian country. It does not really matter if the people are "good" or not, they might once democratically voted for Putin as a leader, currently he is effectively a dictator. You cat really blame the citizens for having a dictator as leader.
Works for every country. Those who travel and mix around with others will always have a different perspective of the world. You can take Chinese (don't have to name the group) foreign students, for example, even if they study overseas, they stick to their own groups and become insular while those that mix around with other nationalities tend to develop a more pleasant temperament.
It's pretty offencive for local people actually
This land belonds to Russia because of WW2 Victory. You want to take this land? Come and take it!
They won't. They will bark from around the corner, but once things will get serious they shit pants and cry about evil Russia.
“Come and take it”
there’s no need to take it. one day that territory will be free by itself. you’ll see.
@@peterdurum434 hi, troll
@@hellion605
Uh, so I'm a troll without even talking to you pal? You better stick with cartoons and come back once you graduated and got some brains.
@@hellion605 only in Your dreams
Too many flaws in this report. People in Kaliningrad love Putin as much as in other parts of Russia. The people of Kaliningrad admire Russian cities more than they admire places in Poland and Lithuania. I lived in Kaliningrad for six good years as a student studying at Kaliningrad State Technical University. Many of the things in this report have got nothing to do with the reality in Kaliningrad.
THIS IS THE TRUE PROBLEM
RUSSIAN PEOPLE STILL ARE ASLEEP, WHAT THE FREEWORLD IS DOING
@@peterd.2963 Russia is the free world and your own world is a fake world controlled by the corrupt corporate media that's lying to their low IQ audience every day about Russia. Russians choose the leader whom they want but the US and UK want Russians to choose idiots like nasty Navalny to lead Russia.
Where is the so called free world? Your so called free world is cancelling everybody who does not agree with their political establishments. Shame on them!
It's not a "Trojan Horse", it is in no way disguised as being anything other than what it is, a major military base. Neither is it in the 'heart of Europe', it is at the end of the Baltic near to Russia. Kaliningrad was part of the post war settlement against Nazi Germany which regarded it as part of German territory as lying in East Prussia.and is clearly mainly about the naval defence of Russia to prevent Russia's Baltic fleet from becoming bottled up by NATO. I wonder when the strategic dunderheads of the west will wake up to the fact that if you continually exert an existential threat against other powers they will do whatever is necessary to defend themselves, whether these people like it or not. No one ever questions the right of self-defence of any state except those certain states the west chooses to make enemies. NATO endlessly bleats about being peace loving, defensive and enforcing the rule of international law, while continuously acting aggressively out of area and flouting the rule of law according to the US doctrine of 'exceptionalism'. It was the self-indulgence of NATO in an orgy of military adventures the minute the Cold War ended, and the west felt no one could stand up to it, or stop it, that has created the very dangerous world we live in today. A war between the major powers just seems to be a matter of time, and is being encouraged by megalomaniacal neo-con 'strategists' (LOL) in Washington. The only reason Europe hasn't already been destroyed in a war with Russia is because Trump got elected. Once he's gone will there be any sane minds in Washington? I doubt it. They all need cold showers and a slap across the face before we all get killed.
A war Russia would lose, obviously... let's hope they're smart enough not to prosecute it and accept their collapse gracefully :) .
@@marianconstantindumitriu6062 Nobody wins a nuclear war. That's why it's called MAD. Mutual Assured Destruction. Americans need to remember that. They've grown proud with hubris after over 70 years fighting wars with 3rd world countries such as Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya etc, countries that were no match for America.
@@andyigwe7119 Russia isn't a match either. Time for them to wake up to that reality. For the sake of everyone :P
I doubt If trump cares anything about Europe other than where he owns a golf course. Our idiot president only cares about the man in the mirror and holds supports like you in silent contempt for believing his bulls**t. Fortunately we only have to think about him for another 4 months
@@marianconstantindumitriu6062 well they have a right to defend themselves. It's America that needs to remember MAD for the sake of everyone.
Just because you don't like russia, doesn't mean everything related to them is bad, such cold war vibes lmao
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) is much more accurate, if I recall correctly.
Isnt it a special economic/free trade (or whatever) zone?
PPP is good for isolated countries, but since you buy worldwide e.g iPhone - you pay real dollar price.
@@nameoncard6351 Russia is mostly isolated from western countries thanks to sanctions. And iPhone is something you buy once a year or maybe once every two or three years. The daily use essentials, products and raw materials and energy are produced locally. So PPP is best measurement for Russian economy which always has a positive trade balance and very less debt and a good macroeconomic stability.
Look at Big Mac index. In Russia Big Mac cost
It's just like Crimea, a strategic location, nothing more.
Good for military and shithole for people
@@nameoncard6351 Self-hating Russian?
@@nameoncard6351 like kosovo?
@@carlosmpsenyorcapitacollon6977 yes, he is... mad.
@@politrazor ur mad
You never actually read the Iliad, hahaha!
Saying that something is a Trojan Horse is a reference to something hidden, unless you are talking about extra large condoms!
Someone is angry.
Oh and keep the.. peanuts to yourself lol
I’ve read that Boris yeltsin thought Kaliningrad would be an economic sinkhole when they were dismantling the USSR and offered it to Poland in the early 90s. But the population of Kaliningrad was mostly Russian by that time (all the Germans being thrown out) and the poles didn’t want 1 million Russian refugees clogging up their soup kitchens so they politely declined.
What a critical MAJOR MISTAKE!
Not really. Would you want a million person potential fifth column in your country? That was the real reason..!
When the West closes the Suwalki corridor in response to Russia's nuclear sabre rattling followed by losing the war in Ukraine, it will be an economic sinkhole.
No one is talking about Russian tanks along the border with Poland. I live 70 meters from the borderline and since 10 or 11 days tanks are driving around 24/7 making a lot of noise and lot of smog as they drive on high rpm's creating a lot of diesel smoke.
Poland should place tractors along its border to threaten Russian tanks.
You conveniently ignore American presence in Germany and poland against Russia, no ?
Yeah the u.s. didn't get rid of the people that was there
He doesn't. He mentioned US deployments more than once in the video.
Also, they are there upon request. I'll remind you that Trump's threat for Germany for standing against his interests was to remove USA's deployment from Germany.
The territory of today's Kaliningrad oblast is historically Baltic land. Original inhabitants of this land were Baltic people - Prussians , related to Lithuanians and Latvians. And eastern part of today's Kaliningrad oblast for centuries had significant Lithuanian population.
I really do not like the anti-Trump thingi at the beginning of your videos. If you want people to trust you as a news outlet, you need to show objectivity and absence of bias. I have been subscribed for a while now, but I think it’s time to unsubscribe for you since you show strong leftist bias.
Trump is still a real polarizer behind the puddle, it seems. I hardly even notice the intro animation.
Didn't it used to be obama in the intris
Russia moves into Ukraine, Nato moves into Koenigsberg
Fair is fair.
Kaliningrad, the third place to get nuked during WW III
Kaliningrad is one of the reasons Russia is so interested in keeping Lukashenko in power in Belarus. In order to win the opposition must maintain a neutral foreign policy. That and more are covered in this analysis of the origins and future prospects of the ongoing Belarussian revolution: czcams.com/video/YKBYYD8nx4M/video.html
@@drunkensailor3736 Putin is interested in keeping Lukashenko because he doesn't want to have an example of victory of peaceful protests in a very close country. Any opposition will maintain Russia-friendly foreign policy because Belarus is totally relied on export to Russia. European leaders doesn't seem to be brave and ambitious enough to stop Putin from his harmful actions.
@@Victor-lc3pw Exactly, plus Belarus is a buffer state and transit to Kaliningrad. However, there was a Democratic revolution in Armenia and Putin did not intervene there as the democrats remained pro-Russia. Perhaps something similar is possible in Belarus.
oh
@PotatoPlayer Made in China. I think they meant third in the world all time, the first in WW 3
Josh you are the best presenter in Visualpolitik...not much drama, understandable accent and proper speech speed..keep doing more!
From Prussia to Russia, the p stands for prosperity
@Tessellation there is no Prussia anymore dude
When Prusdia was so prosperous how come it doesn't exist anymore?
@cccpredarmy well, I could say the same to the Roman Empire. How come they were so successful and yet gone?
@@digitalshadow7968 because they were not successful?
@@cccpredarmy how, exactly, do you define 'prosperous' then?
NATO broke there word to Russia by deploying troops in Eastern bloc countries. So of course there is tension.
1466-1657 - let's conveniently ignore 200 years of history
Well technically that is considerably less than 200 years. Maybe not even 191 years.
what happened in that era?
I'm not M-Eastern, IDK what are you talking about.
@@mehranmhz Teutonic Knights were invited to northern Poland to fight pagan Prussian tribes (Baltic, not Germanic). Then they expanded quickly and became a danger to Poland and Lithuania. In 1410 took place a battle of Grunwald where Polish-Lithuanian forces won against Teutons. In 1525 Teutonic Knights secularised and as Ducal Prussia were vassal of Poland and later Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1657 they were a vassal of Sweden for a moment and after few year gained independence. In 1701 Prussia united with Brandenburg as a one kingdom.
@@adam3050 I had to read some history to understand what you saying, but thanks for your time buddy
@@adam3050 As a descendant of germanized Balts and of Germans who immigrated to the Koenigsberg and Masuria region in the 14th century, maybe also Poles, I wonder what the intention of Polish commentators is to invoke these 200 years at every opportunity. That's totally inappropriate, i feel. I think it's a reflex. Late medieval power structures and identity built differently from today's and today the situation is probably clear. We should be happy that we live in a peaceful europe. It is nice to be enthusiastic about history and to discuss everything. There are always at least two views on something. I didn't really want to comment on this, but now I've let myself be carried away.
I lived there some years ago and military base not so important part of people life.
Interesting video but wish you could of gone into more depth. Felt as though you just touched the surface.
Would be nice to show on the map how evil Putin gradually moved his Kaliningrad into the unsuspecting EU and NATO over the course of the last 25 years.
He is a ПРОПАГАНДИСТ :)
“you could of gone into more depth”
nobody wants go deep in to the shit. it’s just a information about what type of turd it becomes
Being Russian I’m surprised I wasn’t aware of this. Though it makes prefect strategic sense.
Well, you are Russian, aren't you?
Things are so secret in Russia that even their own citizens don't know what is part of their country.
Hint: If your country has to use military force to annex it, it most likely doesn't belong to your country.
@Hudson Jaxson II they have no shame lmao. Russia annexed a good chunk of the small nation of Georgia, even though for Russia, it's barely relevant.
@@alaric_ So half of USA plus pacific islands can be called that looking at history?
@@LegendNinja41 Barely relevant? It was to prevent Georgia from joining NATO thus bringing more american forces up to their border.
This video is so disrespectful to all the people of the region who live normal lives. They are presented as nothing more than a military base, never mind its functioning industries and fact that >90% of all amber deposits in the world exists here. The dude has quite a punchable face as well, what a downgrade from Simon.
Saying that it is in the middle of the EU is more than a little bit disingenuous. it is surrounded by NATO member and would be one of, if not the , first places attacked and destroyed. That and the fact that it is quite far north in Europe being on the Baltic coast means that it can be bypassed and starved out, the Russians have yet to show a truly powerful blue water navy to keep supply lines open to its outpost in case of war.
Unless Russia is able to annex Belarus and has the Initiative- in which case, it’s Russia that has the Baltics cut off and surrounded.
@@innosam123 Baltics would still have access to Finland and Baltic sea, so yea they wouldnt be surrounded. Kaliningrad on the other hand
Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad could strike every major "EU" capital with nukes in about ten minutes, utterly destroying Europe in a heartbeat. If Nato or US tried to attack or occupy the region, they would face certain annihilation within minutes from Russia's numerous strategic weapons. Also, Russia holds certain annihilation over the entire US homeland within 20-30 minutes. Russia keeps its supply routes operating just fine in Syria and elsewhere. Seriously, have you given even one minute of thought to the claims you just made??? BTW, the "EU" is a loose confederation of weak and subservient non entities that masquerade as "sovereign".
@@Ken-sn7oc Iskander systems now include long range cruise missiles that can reach them all.
@@Ken-sn7oc There is no actual defense against such weapons. All they can do is build up the numbers on both sides.
it is an exclave not an enclave .
BTW, the city was destructed not during the battle, but mostly during constant carpet-bombing by our precious allies: Britons.
As Ducal Prussia was once a fief of Poland, Kaliningrad also belonged to Poland (Polish name: Królewiec).
you mean germany
Frans-Willem Kock No Poland, it was polish controlled way before Germany even existed.
@@myfather_F it never belonged to the polish kingdom, only some Slavic tribes.
@@LostMaster100 2:08 The sitting guy is a Polish king, this on knees is a Prussian duke. Yes we Poles are responsible for this cancer since the very begining of its existance until it consumed both Poland and Germany. The only difference is that Germans are happy because of that fact, probably for unifying the glorious Empire of Ulm and a 1000 simmilar entities into the one proper country.
Krzysztof Bartczak I know it’s a Baltic tribe but then later killed by the Germans. Also Poland is older then the state created by the “Prussians” and other Germanic kingdoms that created the German empire.
Russia asked to join Nato more than once.
Nato wants to keep them as a sort of potential enemy to justify their expenditure.
That, and we trust your government about as far as we can spit.
This comment has aged like milk
@@kreisikutsu was true 3 years ago. Still true now
@@AuramiteEX"sort of potential enemy", after Russia attacked Ukraine who is not in NATO? Yeah, not buying that bs.
@@kreisikutsu please tell me you aren't as ignorant as you sound.. please
Visual Politik is now more like western propaganda after Simon left!
Its always been western propaganda/right wing "news." simon just had a way of putting a liberal spin on it. and he didnt leave. his contract was up. hes a paid actor. he was paid to read a script. the samething this guy is doing.
@@antifuckism Hahaha right wing?! Are you kidding me?! If anything it's left wing as fuck.
A Russian zircon hypersonic missile, which departs from Kaliningrad, can hit Berlin in less than 5 minutes.
1:51
The meme that never dies
If you'd know what the "middle" means, you would never say that Kaliningrad is in the middle of Europe and even less in the middle of EU
he never said middle, he said almost the heart of europe the heart is on the left side by the way
@@navyvet8798 hart is quite literaly in the middle of your chest. You only verify how bad US educational system is by publicly claiming that hart is in the left side of you... Hart could be a few centimeters to the left, but generaly - it's in the middle. The part of hart you feel "pumping blood" is on the left side of a hart. That is the source of the wrong belief that hart is on the left. However, school should have thought you that
@@goransevo7508 Your heart is slightly on the left side of your body. It sits between your right and left lungs. The left lung is slightly smaller to make room for the heart in your left chest. SO it is more on the left than not... that is the left side... It doesn't matter if it's slightly or not ... it's still the left side. And you might want to check your freaking spelling before you talk about somebody else's education.
@@navyvet8798 what you just described is the middle of your chest and you know it :)
For what I witness, Russia stayed where it was, and Nato, which is a military alliance, expanded towards its borders. No wonder Russia is tightening its defence...
And why did nato bolster their borders? Russia annexing crimea and trying to annex eastern Ukraine. Not to mention all the general hostility Russia throws towards their neighbours. The good news for nato though is that russian military equipment seems to do nato's job for them by killing it's russian operators. I certainly wouldn't want to be a russian submariner or a russian airforce pilot!
Master of Puppets Nato approached russian borders far prior to Crimea.
What is so hard about former Soviet republics ASKING to join NATO that is so hard for Russians to figure out. NATO didn't expand through imperialism, it expanded because so many countries decided to align with Europe instead of Russia. Jeez, and I thought Americans were idiots.
@@maurvir3197 Ah, so it is peaceful expansion, only to protect former Soviet countries begging for protection? You should have told this to Putin, so he could sleep well, knowing that NATO, who invaded Yugoslavia, later Serbia, Iraq, Libya, etc, also to "protect" someone small, doesn't mean no harm. Glad that someone is still living the fairytale world. :))
But the reality is, that military alliance is moving closer to russian borders with its military infrastructure for latest several decades. And how Russia should react to this? Close eyes, and believe USA that this is peaceful expansion only to protect? Also, those former soviet countries (I live in one of them) are only doing what they are told by the west. Wanna know why? BECAUSE THEY ARE BEING PAID BY THE WEST. Wow, now that's a surprise! :))))
@@EvilChem1st Have you never stopped and asked why they chose to look west rather than maintain an alliance with Russia? Not even once? As for Putin, he uses NATO as the eternal enemy to maintain his support. This was neatly described in the book 1984: “The Party said that Oceania had never been in alliance with Eurasia. He, Winston Smith, knew that Oceania had been in alliance with Eurasia as short a time as four years ago"
Putin dares to whine about NATO close to the Russian border.
Bullsh*t. I used to live there for a year. The biggest part of the Kaliningrad oblast population are people related to military (servicemen and their families, civil personnel, workers of the local industries). People who had real benefits from the visa-free regime with Poland were mostly traders which influence shrinked since most EU supermarket nets like Auchan or SPAR entered Russia and Kaliningrad as well. The author of this video probably stuck in the 90s when the russian military was severely underpaid and most of the local population tried to improve their incomes smuggling cigarettes to Poland. Now all changed and there are not so many differences in life standards between the neighbors in term of "empty shelves" or something like it was in Russia during the Cold War or 90s. There are several McDonalds and KFCs in Kaliningrad,lol)))
2014 didnt change anything apart from Poland shut down visa free regime and ruine all that transborder shopping for Russians which was described on 09:30. Such trips were popular BEFORE the 2014. Now people dont want to pay a visa fee and waste time in consulate just for shopping in Gdansk.
Moreover, Russia on the opposite didnt ban Poles to enter but even implemented an e-visas liberalising our visa regime and not only to Kaliningrad but to the whole country. Why? Because we are not so bigoted and can count our money from tourism and fuel shopping. Since 2018 there were shopping tours on opposite direction from Poland to Russia. Mostly because of lower prices.
P.S. And such high ammount of external passports in Kaliningrad oblast just because Lithuania requires it for any driver or passenger which ask for transit visa to Russia if you go by car or train.
P.P.S. South Korea(yes SOUTH Korea) have a visa free regime with Russia since 2013.We have a good relationship with that country and there are a lot of Samsung,LG and other Korean industries here). Please check your information sources properly before making such videos.
wow you sound butt hurt. You must be very insecure about being a russian. I can understand that though since russia sucks so bad. but dont cry itll collapse again soon
@@navyvet8798 Yes it is.Mostly because video has almost nothing with the reality.
As a person who used to live there it is just exaggeration of old(15 years old) story with one political party who wanted to succeed on wake of chaos.
During the 90s it was really hard to live in Russia. And life in exclave during the 90s really sucks so it was not a surprise that Rissia could collapse once again.We were on a verge of this.
Now the life is 10 times better even during the post 2014 or covid crisis.
It is the biggest propaganda win for Putin by the way.People just know that if he toppled by colour revolution or something - our country will return in a period of humiliation again.And economical collapse of the 90s will be just a joke in comparison with possible chaos.
Always learning new things..The heart of the EU is 40 km from the Bielorusian border
you need to learn
Russia does not have troops in other countries in Europe, like the US does.
But Russia isn't allied with them?
Looking at moldova and ukraine 🧐
Technically there are a few troops in Belarus too. Those were even officially invited by that states gouvernement :P
A terrible mistake, for the European 🇪🇺 union, Kaliningrad is a bad joke
It is shameless to question Kaliningrad status. Without Soviet Union, most Europe would speak German as single language. This just reminds a white eyes of wolf.
I wanted to watch this, but there were too many adverts.
Just get CZcams premium. I was tired of the ads it’s worth the price.
Get yourself an ad blocker, if you feel like a channel deserves it to get supported, deactivate it temporarily
Interestingly they did not mention calls for a Kaliningrad referendum around the time that one was done in the Crimean peninsula. Calls that were deemed illegal. "...Anyway, one of Putin's quirks ..."
There was no referendum in Crimea, only staged performance after occupation.
@@iiitiberiusiii3441 I guess that is why such performance is illegal in Russia ... "Друзьям всё, врагам закон"
NATO should have invaded the territory in response to the annexation of Crimea. If Crimea was historically Russian, then Königsberg was historically not Russian.
The difference between USA / NATO and Russia / USSR
USA / NATO = Have used Nuclear weapons multiple times and in multiple countries
Russia / USSR = Have never used nuclear weapons
The inky time nukes have been used was when the USA nuked Japan twice
@@chaosXP3RT The tactical nuclear weapons that were used in Yugoslavia and Afghanistan ?
I wanna visit "Kaliningrad?" Lmao
I live here, you can ask questions)
alright, how is it living there?
@@TheITTman Ok, the salaries are average somewhere 700-1300 $, the air is clean, there is a sea, in the summer you can swim. Crime is low, medicine is good, especially paid) I like to live here, of course, if politicians and the president was better, we could live better
@@vaperussia6308 Would you ever consider separation from Russia? Or you just identify as russian.
@@emilhelldal7215 no, separatism is about zero here. There are not even such conversations. 99% are Russians or Ukrainians and Belorussians. A small number move to Europe, Poland or Germany especially. They also move to Moscow, St. Petersburg. But this is a small number of people
@PotatoPlayer Made in China. Poor people here make 200-300$, Spain its better for most people)
I just want to say this shirt is KGB special forces uniform, when they are on very secret assignment in South America infiltrating a local horehouses.
Horehouses are not going to infiltrate themselves, someone has to do it.
degen83 zdrastwuj towariszcz
@@AndreAndFriends , so, they invaded the whorehouse when you were on the clock, is that how you know that ''special KGB shirt'' fact?
This aged well
He asked how we feel about a Russian "enclave" in the center of Europe. Probably not much different than the Russians feel about NATO being right up on their borders.
@TheSushiraw The individual countries in NATO aren't the problem, especially the pre-1990 ones. We made an agreement with Russia after the fall of the USSR that NATO wouldn't expand east, which it did (Georgia almost joined NATO). Figure Russia can't be happy with what they perceive as a hostile threat on their western border considering their history of being invaded from there. Also having to worry about China eyeing the Vladivostok region almost as much as they do Taiwan doesn't help. NATO did have a purpose up until 1990. After that, Europe should have taken over their defense and the policies that go with it. Since you're in Norway (NATO member) you have to wonder like I do (I'm from Missouri), are we really ok with going to all out nuclear war if Estonia and Russia have a skirmish? I'm not. Especially considering my city (St. Louis) is a primary target.
Dressed by your drunk granny again? At least she has as sense of humour.
Biggest, most expensive ditch in recent history wasn't mentioned in the video, I'm disappointed.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vistula_Spit_canal
Make Kaliningrad Konigsberg again
How far is the Kalingrad Military base from England? Looks like a Trojan horse strategically placed .....do they have KGB SPYS, Nuclear Weapons?
The kaliningrad city is so clean and modern i would like to visit there someday....😂🙂😊
lol what a stupid comment, it is in no way modern unless you're from some backward ass town in russia. It is literally a poor country in every aspect.
At the Unification of Germany the arrangement was that NATO would not move “a foot more to the East”. But hey, it’s the bad Russins that have their country so close to all the NATO bases. How dare they have strategically important territory!
Ah, much like his Kennedy promised to protect the Mafia if they helped him become President and then hd helped to raise mafia convictions eight fold.
The poor mafia.
The annexation of Kaliningrad was the result of an agreement between Soviet Union and allies after the WW2. Here is a quote from the Internet: "As part of the post-war settlement, the Allies agreed to transfer the area to Soviet control, primarily because of its strategic location and proximity to the Baltic Sea. The city of Königsberg was heavily damaged during the war, and the German population was largely expelled or fled as a result of the conflict. The Soviet Union subsequently annexed the territory and renamed it Kaliningrad in 1946."
Jelzin offered Germany to buy Kaliningrad 3 times... but Germany denied, because it had to restructure itself, build infrasturcture in the ex-GDR in this time and first of all didnt want tensions with Poland as after the first WW (corridor-problem).
We just should have bought Kaliningrad and gifted it to Lithuania... but in the 90th the baltics were restructuring themself, too.
Still not too late to gift it to Lithuania. It was originally land of the Baltic tribe of Prussians. Lithuania would be the closest contemporary ;)
@@heikkisallinen9012 We don't need Kaliningrad even its etnographic region but people are not baltic anymore. Best thing would be just make that teritory independent and without nuclear weapons that's it.
@@LukasSRR Sounds like a plan.
Anyone else watching this after the invasion of Ukraine? It would be interesting if NATO, especially Poland and Lithuania, got nervous and decided this area must be annexed to eliminate the Russian threat.
Konigsberg was founded by Bohemian king Premysl Ottokar II. and then given to the Teutonic Order. Bad way to start historical explanation.
It was founded by the Teutonic Order and named after Premysl Ottokar II.
In other news:
is the hawaian shirt mandatory to be a presenter on this show??
It's easy to forget that not Russia call on arms but NATO..
If Russia exports its weapons "half way around the world", what about the US? The US exports not only weapons but also its bases to the Russian border.
nothing to do with the video
Thanks, learnt a great deal of Kaliningrad.
Little bit is shown but lotta propaganda and Putin-putin-putin blablabla. Check viral promo of local k-grad supermarket for instance czcams.com/video/b8nvPjKMDh0/video.html
Yes a trojan horse that would probably get completely annihilated should war with Russia ever begin
I live in Spain (EU) I want Europe to be safe, but i also love Russia! I think everyone should chill and focus on economic prosperity not just arming races 🤔
To the US any and all arms race is good for the economy.
Right ! Tell it to Putin...
@@pawelp8307 You and i both know I couldn't say that to Putin face to face 😳😅
S400 didn't do much to stop Israeli plane in Syria
They haven't been used because of some BS excuse by the Russians that the Syrian have not pass their training. So apart from the radar Israel has only had to deal with the S-200 that some how still manages to shot down Israeli missiles and few planes.
Because Israel and Russia have an agreement, Israel is bombing Iranians and Hamas, Russia does not interfere
Israel don’t even try to destroy 300 all is a lie
Putin cares if NATO send 3 soldiers to Latvia or Belarus.
PUTTY already invaded Belarus now he wants Ukraine .......he forgot how brave slavic people are. Ukraine gave him a bloody nose they not gonna go down with out a fight. They not afraid of bully thugs.
Much love to Eastern Europe.
the United States has sent soldiers and military might to Europe, so it is time for Russia to send Russian soldiers and their military might to Central America, especially Venezuela and other countries in the region.
After being one of the host regions of the 2018 World Cup (not even mentioned ?!), Kaliningrad has been developing itself as one of the main internal tourist destinations for Russians (German architecture, fine sand Baltic sea beaches, resort towns) and massive investments start entering from the mainland (there are many historical buildings / sights under restoration now). Painting this history sights and beautiful nature rich region as a millitary base with little things to do helps to get views, but is really weird and just absolutely incorrect.
This video is sponsered by Us Government.
It does look and sound like it.
By ministry of propaganda
How so?
To balance your story, could you make one with all the American Military bases all over Europe?
No bro . His not making a video about the dozens of military bases that are right in Russians borders . Because the US and the EU are the best things the World has ever seen but Russia is the Devils Den full of tall and scary monstrous people .......... I could go and watch a Hollywood movie and it would be more unbiased than this channels content .... They haven t even mentioned the E.U. backed up Dictator of Montenegro Djukanovic , he is 30 years in power with no elections . But i guess it s okay because he is a puppet of the West ....
No one:
Actually no one:
RUSSIA: * Taking Europe *
EU should support Kaliningrad becoming its own country. That’d be awesome
I agree
Рамис Карама, I think you pretty much answered your own question.
Why are westerners constantly plotting about dividing Russia and then being offended when they arm themselves in response like now?