Taps Coogan – February 18th, 2022

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A battle of narratives has emerged in the past few months about the Russia/Ukraine tensions, much of it coming from institutions in both the US and Russia that have badly damaged their credibility over the years, leading to the perception of a lot of uncertainty about what is or isn’t happening near Ukraine.

The reality of the situation is probably not all that complicated. Russia amassed troops on the Ukrainian border, along with the associated tanks, missile systems, naval assets, etc… and then publicly issued a letter containing a series of ‘demands’ to be met in order to ‘reduce tensions.’ One can debate if those demands are reasonable, but the subtext is pretty clear.

Whether Russia actually intends to follow through, or is just trying to extract concessions (reasonable or not), is debatable. At the end of the day, Russia has its reasons to try and extract concessions from the West and the US has plenty of reasons, both political and strategic, to exaggerate a bluff/threat.

Debating all of this and to a degree our hyper-partisan world in general, is George Friedman, Geopolitical Futures‘ Chairman and author of The Storm Before the Calm, and Leighton Smith of the Leighton Smith podcast. As always, the political commentary isn’t mine.

The actual interview starts around the 6:20 mark.

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