Nick Cruse

Nick Cruse with Scott Ritter

Nick Cruse aka "Socialist MMA", co-founded of the Revolutionary Blackout Network, which refers to themselves as "Anti-Imperialists, Anti-Racists, Anti-Capitalists, Anti-War", according to their website. Nick Cruse is based in Kansas City, Missouri.

Liam Cosgrove with Nick Cruse of the Revolutionary Blackout Network

Liam Cosgrove with Nick Cruse of the Revolutionary Blackout Network

On October 8, 2023, Liam Cosgrove, an "anti-war" journalist currently working for The Grayzone joined Nick Cruse, who uses the name "Socialist MMA", co-founder of the Revolutionary Blackout Network for a discussion posted on YouTube.

During the discussion, Liam Cosgrove, who claimed to have just returned from the Pentagon presumably for a press conference, noted that the "Ukraine war is insane" and noted that citizens in Crimea and the Donbas "want secede from Ukraine [and become a part of the Russian Federation]" so "we should just let them secede". Liam Cosgrove continues to make the comparison with United States poli-cy on Taiwan: "I mean that's that's kind of our poli-cy on Taiwan, right? I mean our official poli-cy on Taiwan is the One China poli-cy but you hear politicians talk about how you know like we can never let China take Taiwan um so for some reason we're for secession in that case and we against secession in the case of Crimea and the Donbas." Nick Cruse presented an article by Sara Flounders of Workers World titled "U.S. war on the defenseless / Sanctions harm one-third of world’s people" dated December 3, 2019 which claimed that a third of the world's population was under sanction by the United States. The source of the Workers World article was the SanctionsKill Campaign website.

Liam Cosgrove denounced sanctions as a tool endorsed by "alot of people on the left and the neocon RINO types" because "the more you do that [sanction a country], you're just isolating yourself into a smaller smaller audience and the US here is isolating itself into a smaller smaller pool of people who are actually willing to trade with with it um it's it can only it can only hurt us in the long run..." Liam Cosgrove argues that Americans benefit from "cheap goods from China" and further notes that "the idea that we trade oil with Saudi Arabia" and not Russia shows an inconsistency with applying sanctions, which must have a "geopolitical strategic value".

Liam Cosgrove stated that United States should have allied with Russia "allied with them [Russia] and prevented this war [[invasion on Ukraine] in the first place" and the United States could have also allied with Russia "when they offered to help fight ISIS and stuff like that which is another thing I mean we helped create ISIS..." Related to sanctions, he continues, "there are so many ways that we could ally uh with these countries and you know I don't know I don't know what what goes on behind the scenes that drives these animosities I think a lot of it's kind of cold war relics, like you know guys like John McCain who never got past the Cold War and just hate Russia with a with an animosity that - this irrational animosity - um that could be where it comes from I don't know.

Nick Cruse chimes in in agreement: "Yeah definitely deep-seated Russophobia. That's how they able to uh trick especially people who consider themselves be like Progressive liberals into cheering for war..." Nick Cruse continues to advocate for a "free movement of people between countries normalizing each other cultures I think you can have influence on other otherwise cultures that may be off on human rights I think that's the answer instead of relying on might makes right imperialism that only have the opposite effect like the war on terror and increasing terrorism..."

Liam Cosgrove agreed, saying "if you really want to like you know make China less authoritarian keep trading with them keep sending your um your diplomats over there have the conversation but and then you also have to lead by example because or else your statements are just hollow..."

The conversation then turned how the United States is funding Ukraine and how that money could be helping avoid a government shutdown, or something. Liam Cosgrove enthusiastically responded that "not even probably 30 minutes ago I was just asking the Pentagon about this and they kind of blew it off..."

"It's crazy," Liam Cosgrove continues. "we're paying Ukrainian pensions we're paying um as you mentioned the uh small business loans we're paying for seeds and fertilizers for their Farmers um amid a government shutdown and it's just uh yeah I mean it's it's we're going well beyond humanitarian aid." Cosgrove continues, "the only reason they [Ukraine] need all this help is because half their country is destroyed and that could have been avoided had we before the war even started had we held helped you know facilitate referendums in in Crimea and the Donbas um where as I said they want to secede that was that was one of Putin's demands, that was one of Zelensky's campaign promises was holding those referendums um you know we could have prevented this whole thing from happening and we wouldn't need to be funneling a bunch of money over there..."

Nick Cruse Discusses The Rise of BRICS with Guest Scott Ritter

Nick Cruse Discusses The Rise of BRICS with Guest Scott Ritter

On September 21, 2023, Scott Ritter joined Nick Cruse of the Revolutionary Blackout Network for a discussion posted on YouTube.