Radio War Nerd EP #383 — Economic/Ukraine War Update, feat. Ben Aris

I'm curious to know if Ames and Dolan-Brecher-Nerd (meant as a respectful last name conglomeration) consider Ukrainian/pro-Ukrainian reporting sources to be as obviously biased as Russian/pro-Russian sources? It seems like Ames was articulating a bunch of more nuanced ways that Ukrainian sources can show some amount or kind of bias, as opposed to a blanket statement of Russian sources being so obviously biased that one needs to fact check everything they say. I feel like the discussion of the term "oligarch" might be a useful parallel here w/r/t it only being used for Russian persons and not their Western analogs, or being mis-used, etc. I confess to following predominantly news from sources that are at least trying to be cognitively empathetic to the Russian side, so from this perspective I find just about all info coming from the Ukrainian side to basically stink to high heaven and often not hold up to fact checking. And I say this in a judgmental way because I think the propaganda coming from the Ukrainian side is ultimately contributing to Ukrainians and Russians dying, and all the other bad things about the situation.

Can you guys get Scott Ritter on please ?!

Have you guys ever tried getting Scott Ritter on RWN?

YES DRAG DAVID REMNICK. A right scoundrel. I wish him ill.

Also Petr Pavel did not literally suggest Russians be rounded up and put into internment camps, but his interview was a bit creepy.

'Star of the show' Carl Zha is apparently in Moscow right now? Wouldn't it be great to record an episode with him about Russia, China, Ukraine, Taiwan, and more? Or is he a persona non grata on RWN now?

I'm close to Putin, or at least, I'm like 250 miles closer to Putin than War Nerd is. That's a lot of inches. Gotta count for something at any rate, anybody who is happy about this war continuing needs to be drafted into whichever army they're rooting for immediately.

Disagree I thought it was interesting!

Great episode thanks ! Love Ben and his analysis

Y'all are assuming that because the invoice says washing machines that's what actually arrives. Oh my dear sweet naive war Nerd Radio Podcast Subscribers!

Who is this guy? In what world does Russia have the biggest consumer economy is Europe? The Russian consumer market isn’t even half that Germany. Seems to just be making some of this up as he goes along

what he says re: sending weapons to Ukraine sounds too old. The only thing Ukraine hasn't gotten after extended begging has been the F16s. That and the ATACMs I guess, but they're going to get 50 next month anyways, which will probably be their one shot at wrecking the Kerch bridge. Russia accepted long ago that this was a war against NATO, especially after a few high ranking Euro govt officials bragged that the Minsk agreements were a fake-out. It's not like anything will change if Ukraine gets the F16s, especially since the F16s can't even be used near the front line because they can only launch off an immaculate airstrip. Deutsche Welle has been really obnoxious in pumping up this war, on a side note.

I don't have enough knowledge to fact-check Aris one way or the other but everyone in this comment section saying "it's just a podcast lol who cares if the facts are wrong" is being disingenuous. The main reason most of us turn to Radio War Nerd is because we believe this podcast holds to a higher standard of accuracy or at least honesty than other news sources.

Zelensky just seems like he's in the pilot chair but the whole thing drives itself. If the rumors of him being a drug addict are true, I can't blame him, because I'd be zooted out if I were in his position too.

People here complaining that Aris called Zelensky a hero. For gods sake, he won an Oscar! And got a fashion shoot in Vogue!! What more do you want?!?

1:00:45 - "Zelensky is a hero, a real life Marvel hero." Which one?

I simply do not understand the underlying “rooting for Ukraine” in this program. I respect all of you guys but what about the “Ukrainian” war on eastern Ukraine and it’s citizens, who they view as non-Ukrainians, and have been shelled and killed as such, since 2014? Do we have no sympathy for the Russian-speaking population? I simply do not understand all the “oh those plucky Ukrainians” comments.

This comment section is a clusterfuck. You guys need to chill out and touch grass. The dudes an economic analyst. I would probably agree that his military analysis isn't accurate but again it's a podcast (and I am certainly not a military analyst by trade either so Im speculating that he's military analysis is off as well as I'd wager most of you goons are).

I said it before - Aris is a fraud. Why they keep bringing him is a mystery to me. The conversation should have stopped at minute 10 when he talked about Russia importing washing machines for chips. Anybody who’s still claiming that this is how the barbaric Asiatic Ruskies get chips for their “high precision missiles” should be laughed out of a polite society. But alas no shred evidence is required with regards to untermenschen. He spewed a bunch of incoherent nonsense in between some reasonable observation. “Unlike US, Russia has small kilo bombs.” “Everyone is still fighting with their old Soviet era Buks and Kalashnikovs. They’ve lost all their night goggles.” “Five to one, three to one, whatever it is.” “Russians lost over 200K, at least 2:1 to the Ukrainians.” Yet, “250K of veterans of ATO, 80% of them are dead.” Do I have to point out that 250K * 0.8 = 200K? “F-16s and their incredible fire power that blows Russians into pieces.” Hello, ever heard of Russian air defense and air force? It’s a shame that John and Mark keep talking to such a character. There are many much more credible people out there to talk to. I suggested some in the past. I can suggest more. But I have a feeling they are uninterested to talk with somebody who’d challenge their views of the conflict.

They have no hope… lol. F16’s?! With what airfields? With what pilots? With what logistical support. This shit is about to be unsubscribed.

How can Zelensky be called a “hero” when he is absolute puppet and he’s has utilized nazis and elevated Nazism?

I looked into the washing machine chips, turns out the chip in question is an FPGA (field programmable gate array) which can be *reprogrammed* after manufacturing/outside the factory. As an engineer I totally buy the story that these FPGA chips are being repurposed for munitions.

Anti-personnel mines are such a terrible weapon. They're banned for a good reason- unfortunately Russia is not a signatory to the Mine Ban Treaty, and while Ukraine is, Human Rights Watch has accused Ukraine of using them, so we can safely assume that's probably true. Vehicle mines are not banned, probably because there's almost no chance a little kid might get killed because of it (although they do pose an obvious hazard to farm equipment, as was mentioned in the episode)

Pretty hard to get through the first solid 30 mins of oil price talk.

This clown of an analyst initially claims western equipment isn’t at the front then later admits to German tanks being hit by mines. If you take this guy seriously you’re a damn fool.

I think aris' info on economic sanctions etc is very good and he's one of my favorite guests covering current events; however, the notion that the ukrainian army could rush the shipment of f16s and actually get some utility is absurd. They will be unable to operate over russian lines due to the s400/s500 systems and even so the fact that russians will most likely have 2-6x as many air superiority fighters makes it highly unlikely that they'd have any effect whatsoever. Mike koffman pointed out it takes several years to master the set of missions that that thing can do. They probably would be better served by more air defense batteries given their issues with s300 systems but idk how good the patriot system is.

Great episode! Ben's a great guest, would be great to hear from him once a quarter or so!

Gives me hope when hearing informed people having open discussion….. for some reason not the main stream model…

Ben Aris is always a great guest.

Aris says Europe is afraid of giving Ukraine too much. Respectfully, this seems like a dated take to me. Many European countries as well as the US are now all in and giving Ukraine some of their best stuff: Leopards, Gripens, F-16s, Abrams, Storm Shadows, ATACMS, Patriots, Excaliburs, HIMARS, depleted uranium munitions. What does Aris think they're holding back on? If anything I think the West is so heavily invested in Ukraine they'll do whatever they can short of nukes and WW3.

Great episode. War madness.

12:42 - Truly dismayed that Mark said India had Russia "by the throat"... when "over a barrel" was staring you right in the face! For shame...

I suspect the IMF will happily swoop down on the remains of Ukraine after the war and really put the screws to them in true Western fashion. And the Zelensky's will happily sell out whomever is left.

Re: the assumption that to be wealthy in Russia means that you must be a criminal - Amazing how that only applies to Russia AND NO OTHER COUNTRY.

When Ben brought up oil technology I wondered about the Brazilian state oil company PBR, industry leader in margins, engineering, and technology, and we all know that BRICS is more important to Lula than sticking it to Russia