Putin does not bluff.
Putin issues chilling nuclear warning to UK as Russia runs out of troops: 'Deliver more weapons and face catastrophe'https://t.co/Ol3SH2f90f
— GB News (@GBNEWS) January 22, 2023
Putin does not bluff.
Putin
The Russian president explained what led to the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine
https://www.rt.com/russia/570084-putin-ukraine-operation-explanation/
Russia could not stand idly by when Kiev started eliminating people just for associating themselves with Russian culture, language and traditions, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday as he explained the reasoning behind Moscow’s ongoing military operation in Ukraine.
Jan 18, 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with World War Two veterans, residents of besieged Leningrad and representatives of patriotic civil society associations at the State Memorial Museum of the Defence and Siege of Leningrad in St. Petersburg, Russia. © Sputnik / Ilya Pitalev
Russia could not stand idly by when Kiev started eliminating people just for associating themselves with Russian culture, language and traditions, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday as he explained the reasoning behind Moscow’s ongoing military operation in Ukraine.
Speaking at an event dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad, Putin noted that the Donetsk and Lugansk regions were “historical territories” of Russia and that he ultimately made the decision to launch the military operation in order to end the eight-year-long war in Donbass and to protect its people.
“We endured for a long time, tried to reach an agreement for a long time. But, as it turns out now, we were simply led by the nose, deceived,” the president added, apparently referring to the admissions by former German chancellor Angela Merkel and former Ukraine president Pyotr Poroshenko that the Minsk agreements of 2014 and 2015, designed to bring peace to Donbass, were a ruse by Kiev to buy time in order to build up its forces.
Russia indicates when Ukraine conflict may end
“It’s not the first time this has happened,” Putin admitted, stating Russia had done its best to resolve the situation by peaceful means. “It is now clear that this was, by definition, impossible. The enemy was preparing to transfer the conflict into an acute, hot phase. We had no choice but to do what we are doing now,” Putin explained.
Earlier on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Russia will consider its objectives in Ukraine fulfilled when no military infrastructure that poses a direct threat to Moscow remains. He also stated that, in order to bring the conflict to an end, Kiev must stop harassing and discriminating against Russian speakers.
Sanctions and international pressure have failed to seriously harm Russia’s economy, President Vladimir Putin has said
https://www.rt.com/russia/569718-nothing-predicted-russia-economy-happen/
Jan 11, 2023
FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin © Sputnik / Sergey Guneev
None of the gloomy forecasts the West made about Russia’s fate in 2022 have come to pass, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the government on Wednesday as he commented on the West’s failure to disrupt the national economy.
“Nothing that our adversaries predicted has happened to us,” Putin said as he thanked the government for its effective work throughout 2022, which helped Russia withstand international pressure amid unprecedented sanctions imposed by the US and its allies. “In no small way, that was the result of the government’s work,” he added.
The president then said that there’s still much that needs to be done to secure Russia’s “absolutely … sovereign independent development despite all the external pressure and threats.” He highlighted the fact that more efforts should be aimed at supplying the Russian forces involved in the conflict in Ukraine. Russia should also expand the technological capacities of its economy and encourage the creation of new industries and workplaces, he said, while strengthening the financial sector, the agriculture industry and some other economic fields.
Russia outperforming many G20 members, despite sanctions – Putin
Following the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine in late February, the US and its allies in Europe and beyond imposed unprecedented sanctions against Moscow, targeting entire sectors of its economy, including finances and banking as well as aviation and space industries. In December, the EU, along with the G7 countries and Australia, introduced a price cap on Russian seaborne oil, set at $60 per barrel.
Last spring, many Western officials and media outlets predicted that the Russian economy would collapse under the pressure of sanctions and military expenditures, only to admit that Moscow managed to defy all of those predictions. In May, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic admitted that the Western sanctions were not working, as The Economist reported that the Russian economy proved to be “surprisingly resilient” amid high oil and gas revenues.
In August, Bloomberg and the Washington Post reported that the sanctions failed to bring about the economic collapse that Western leaders had hoped for. In December, Putin said that Russia was outperforming many of the G20 nations despite sanctions. Earlier the same month, the Russian Finance Ministry said that oil and gas budget revenues exceeded the full-year target in the first 11 months, bringing an additional $9 billion to Russia’s coffers.
| https://rense.com/general97/putins-jan-7-speech.php | |
| 1-11-23 | |
| PUTIN’S JANUARY 7, 2023 SPEECH I’m tired today. I am tired of everything. I want to talk to the countries of the World. What’s happening? What kind of Satan’s plan do you dream of? You want to deliberately reduce the world’s population by sacrificing innocent lives using unstable spirits who believe in your political correctness. People brainwashing, vicious media systems, and shameless lies- constantly and intentionally. I am aware of your Satanic Plans to reduce the population of the planet. You are so Evil to use the weakest and marginalized. If you think your people will have to get used to being massacred, leave your position! If America and Europe do not end these plans, you will face not only God’s judgment, but mine as well. Stop your plans! Long live God and the Fatherland, or death is waiting for you. |
Russia’s president has broken years-long tradition, addressing the nation from a military HQ
https://www.rt.com/russia/569238-putin-new-year-ukraine/
Dec 31, 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his traditional New Year’s Eve address on Saturday, speaking to the nation about the challenges the country has faced over the past year and the achievements it has made. The address venue differed drastically from the traditional Kremlin courtyard stand-up shots of the president, with Putin this year recording the annual message at the Southern Military District HQ. During his visit, he also met with top military brass and gave state awards to distinguished soldiers.
The unusually long address primarily revolved around the ongoing special military operation in Ukraine, the large-scale conflict which broke out late in February. The dramatic events have shown that Russia, “our multi-ethnic country has demonstrated its courage and dignity, as it always has during times of trouble,” he said, praising the country’s military and common citizens alike.
“Russian soldiers, militia and volunteers are fighting for our homeland, for truth and justice, to ensure peace and security for Russia. All of them are heroes to us. Their burden is the heaviest today. With all of my heart, I wish a Happy New Year to all participants of the special military operation,” the president said.
While the outgoing year has been “full of worries and anxiety” and many “tough, but necessary decisions” have been made, the country has made “critical steps towards achieving Russia’s full sovereignty and a vital consolidation of our society,” the president said.
READ MORE: Britain’s problems ‘won’t go away’ next year, Sunak says
“This was a year of pivotal and fateful events that set the foundation of our common future and our true independence. This is what we are fighting for today. We are protecting our people in our historic lands, new constituent territories of the Russian Federation,” the president stated, referring to the four formerly-Ukrainian regions, incorporated into Russia after September referendums.
Not only Russia but the whole world experienced a “significant change” over the past year, Putin said, adding that the efforts to harm Russia made by the collective West, which has been backing Ukraine in the ongoing conflict, have largely failed. The ongoing conflict has been “inspiring for other nations as they aspire to forge an equitable and multipolar world,” the president noted.
“Russia has been living under sanctions since the events in Crimea in 2014. Yet this year, an all-out sanctions war has been declared against us. The masterminds behind it expected our industrial, financial and transportation sectors to collapse. This didn’t happen,” Putin stressed.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/12/25/695110/Putin-says-Russia-ready-to-negotiate-over-Ukraine
Dec 25, 2022
He also blasted the West for trying to “tear apart” Russia and stressed that Russia was acting in the “right direction” in Ukraine. “At the core of it all is the policy of our geopolitical opponents, aiming to tear apart Russia, the historical Russia,” Putin said. “They have always tried to ‘divide and conquer’… Our goal is something else — to unite the Russian people.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Photo by Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow is ready to negotiate with all parties involved in the war in Ukraine, but Kiev and its Western allies refuse to engage in talks.
In an interview aired on Sunday on Rossiya 1 state television, Putin manifested his government’s readiness to sit at the negotiating table but asked for a two-way solution.
“We are ready to negotiate with everyone involved about acceptable solutions, but that is up to them – we are not the ones refusing to negotiate, they are,” Putin said.
He also blasted the West for trying to “tear apart” Russia and stressed that Russia was acting in the “right direction” in Ukraine.
“At the core of it all is the policy of our geopolitical opponents, aiming to tear apart Russia, the historical Russia,” Putin said.
“They have always tried to ‘divide and conquer’… Our goal is something else — to unite the Russian people.”
He added, “I believe that we are acting in the right direction, we are defending our national interests, the interests of our citizens, our people. And we have no other choice but to protect our citizens.”
Referring to the patriot missiles, recently pledged by the US government as military aid to Ukraine, Putin said that he is “100 percent” confident that his forces would destroy the Pentagon’s most advanced air defense system.
“Of course we will destroy it, 100 percent!” Putin stressed.
In his first trip outside Ukraine since the offensive began in February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earned firm pledges of support from US President Joe Biden, including the Pentagon’s most advanced air system.
The US and its Western allies have provided Ukraine with a raft of lethal armaments, after the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.
Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:
The US and its “satellites” are using the country as a battering ram against Russia, the president insists
A working security architecture that can deal with modern challenges must be “based not on some mythical unwritten rules, which nobody has seen, not on someone’s domination and monopolization, but only on international law and respect for one another’s interests,” Putin added.
https://www.rt.com/russia/567956-putin-ukraine-cannon-fodder/
Dec 9, 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin. © Kremlin
Western nations are intentionally seeding chaos and violence to achieve their geopolitical goals, Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed. The conflict in Ukraine is an attempt by “the US and its satellites” to use the country to harm Russia, he stated.
Putin offered the disparaging analysis in a video address to defense ministers from several Asian nations who had assembled for a summit in Moscow.
“For years, the West has been brazenly draining and exploiting [Ukraine’s] resources, encouraged genocide and terror in Donbass, de-facto turned this nation into a colony, and is now cynically using the Ukrainian people as cannon fodder, a battering ram against Russia, as it keeps delivering weapons and munitions to Ukraine, sending mercenaries, pushing it down the path of suicide,” Putin said.
This violence is just one example of the destructive influence that Western nations exert around the world, in an attempt to preserve dominance on the global stage, the Russian president contended.
Kremlin promises to ‘liberate’ territory held by Ukraine
A working security architecture that can deal with modern challenges must be “based not on some mythical unwritten rules, which nobody has seen, not on someone’s domination and monopolization, but only on international law and respect for one another’s interests,” Putin added.
The US and other Western nations pledged to provide military assistance to Ukraine “for as long as it takes” Kiev to defeat Moscow. The cause was crucial for a “rules-based order” senior US officials claimed.
The defense ministers convening in the Russian capital represent member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Russia and the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have joined both regional organizations. SCO includes major powers like China and India in its ranks.
Putin urged closer cooperation between the militaries of participant states, arguing that cooperation and joint training exercises will help them ensure better security for all. He stressed the importance of taking part in peacekeeping missions, including those under the aegis of the United Nations.
The news comes amid a major migrant-influx crisis in the country
“Treat the cartels like you want to treat Putin,” Greene tweeted, pointing out that criminal gangs were “making billions trafficking humans and drugs killing over 300 Americans [per] day.”
https://www.rt.com/news/566456-mtg-drug-cartels-putin-energy/
Nov 13, 2022
© Getty Images / Caroline Brehman
The US government should focus its military efforts on drug cartels instead of obsessing over Russian President Vladimir Putin, Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has suggested on Twitter, arguing that if Washington gets its energy security in order, its national security will follow.
“Treat the cartels like you want to treat Putin,” Greene tweeted, pointing out that criminal gangs were “making billions trafficking humans and drugs killing over 300 Americans [per] day.”
The country should also prioritize its domestic oil and gas industry in order to “strengthen national security and deter foes,” she continued.
Ukraine ‘won’t get a penny’ if Republicans win Congress – Trump ally
Greene was tweeting in response to former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who had argued conservatives needed to “make the case” that “helping Ukraine defeat Putin is in our interests.” Getting that narrative worked out would “strengthen our national security, deter a foe, and lower costs for Americans,” the ex-diplomat claimed.
It was not the first time the Georgia representative has criticized the Biden administration’s generosity with regard to Kiev, which has received $54 billion this year from the US alone, more than half of that in military aid. Greene claimed ahead of Election Day that if Republicans retook the House, “not another penny will go to Ukraine,” accusing the Democratic Party of prioritizing their proxy war over the problems at the US’ southern border.
Greene won re-election by a sizable margin last week, despite being stripped of her committee assignments last year over her past support for QAnon and related “conspiracy theories” on social media. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has vowed to reappoint her to committees should their party retake the House, a possibility that remains open as votes continue to be counted.
Last month, the Energy Information Administration sounded the alarm that the US had less than a month’s worth of diesel fuel left. Asked how it planned to address the problem, the Biden administration downplayed reporters’ concerns, vowing to continue exporting domestic supply to Europe, which has been hit hard by price increases after sanctioning Russian oil and gas.
READ MORE: US doesn’t owe Zelensky ‘a damn thing’ – congressman
Pompeo, who ran the CIA before former President Donald Trump appointed him to lead the State Department, has confirmed he is considering a presidential run in 2024, “no matter who all decides to get in” – presumably a reference to Trump, who has still not officially declared his candidacy for the coming election despite throwing shade at potential rivals like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis after this month’s midterms.
By Oliver Stone
Global Research, November 03, 2022
Druppy Channel 25 October 2017
Region: Europe, Russia and FSU, USA
Theme: History, Media Disinformation, US NATO War Agenda
In-depth Report: UKRAINE REPORT
First published in January 2018
Ukraine’s 2014 Maidan Massacre helped oust President Yanukovych with Russia painted as the perpetrator.
Oliver Stone interviews Russian President Vladimir Putin, Yanukovych and others exposing the role the U.S. played in destabilizing the region.
Watch the full documentary below.
*
Putin in fact did nail where we are: on the edge of a Revolution.
“the situation is, to a certain extent, revolutionary” as “the upper classes cannot, and the lower classes do not want to live like this anymore”. So everything is in play, as “the future of the new world order is being shaped before our eyes.”
“The Nazis burned books. Now the Western fathers of ‘liberalism’ are banning Dostoevsky.”
“The unipolar world is coming to an end. The West is incapable of single-handedly ruling the world. The world stands at a historical milestone ahead of the most dangerous and important decade since World War II.”
https://www.globalresearch.ca/putin-situation-certain-extent-revolutionary/5797579
By Pepe Escobar
Global Research, October 31, 2022
Theme: Intelligence
In an all-encompassing address to the plenary session of the 19th annual meeting of the Valdai Club, President Putin delivered no less than a devastating, multi-layered critique of unipolarity.
From Shakespeare to the assassination of Gen Soleimani;
from musings on spirituality to the structure of the UN;
from Eurasia as the cradle of human civilization to the interconnection of BRI, SCO and the INSTC;
from nuclear dangers to that peripheral peninsula of Eurasia “blinded by the idea that Europeans are better than others”, the address painted a Brueghel-esque canvas of the “historical milestone” facing us, in the middle of “the most dangerous decade since the end of WWII.”
Putin even ventured that, in the words of the classics, “the situation is, to a certain extent, revolutionary” as “the upper classes cannot, and the lower classes do not want to live like this anymore”. So everything is in play, as “the future of the new world order is being shaped before our eyes.”
Way beyond a catchy slogan about the game the West is playing, “bloody, dangerous and dirty”, the address and Putin’s interventions at the subsequent Q&A should be analyzed as a coherent vision of past, present and future. Here we offer just a few of the highlights:
“The world is witnessing the degradation of world institutions, the erosion of the principle of collective security, the substitution of international law for ‘rules’”.
“Even at the height of the Cold War, nobody denied the existence of the culture and art of the Other. In the West, any alternative point of view is declared subversive.”
“The Nazis burned books. Now the Western fathers of ‘liberalism’ are banning Dostoevsky.”
“There are at least two ‘Wests’. The first is traditional, with a rich culture. The second is aggressive and colonial.”
“Russia has not and does not consider itself an enemy of the West.
Russia tried to build relations with the West and NATO – to live together in peace and harmony. Their response to all cooperation was simply ‘no’.”
“We do not need a nuclear strike on Ukraine, there is no point – neither political nor military.”
“In part” the situation between Russia and Ukraine can be considered a civil war: “When creating Ukraine, the Bolsheviks endowed it with primordially Russian territories – they gave it all of Little Russia, the entire Black Sea region, the entire Donbass. Ukraine evolved as an artificial state.”
Russia and China Haven’t Even Started to Ratchet Up the Pain Dial. Pepe Escobar
“Ukrainians and Russians are one people – this is a historical fact. Ukraine has evolved as an artificial state. The only country that can guarantee its sovereignty is the country which created it – Russia.”
“The unipolar world is coming to an end. The West is incapable of single-handedly ruling the world. The world stands at a historical milestone ahead of the most dangerous and important decade since World War II.”
“Humanity has two options – either we continue accumulating the burden of problems that is certain to crush all of us, or we can work together to find solutions.”
What do we do after the orgy?
Amidst a series of absorbing discussions, the heart of the matter at Valdai is its 2022 report, “A World Without Superpowers”.
The report’s central thesis – eminently correct – is that “the United States and its allies, in fact, no longer enjoy the status of dominant superpower, but the global infrastructure that serves it is still in place.”
Of course, all major interconnected issues at the current crossroads were precipitated because” Russia became the first major power which, guided by its own ideas of security and fairness, chose to discard the benefits of ‘global peace’ created by the only superpower.”
Well, not exactly “global peace”; rather a Mafia-enforced ethos of “our way or the highway”. The report quite diplomatically characterizes the freezing of Russia’s gold and foreign currency reserves and the “mop up” of Russia’s property abroad as “Western jurisdictions”, “if necessary”, being “guided by political expediency rather than the law”.
That’s in fact outright theft, under the shadow of the “rules-based international order”.
The report – optimistically – foresees the advent of a sort of normalized “cold peace” as “the best available solution today” – acknowledging at least this is far from guaranteed, and “will not halt the fundamental rebuilding of the international system on new foundations.”
The foundation for evolving multipolarity has in fact been presented by the Russia-China strategic partnership only three weeks before imperially-ordered provocations forced Russia to launch the Special Military Operation (SMO).
In parallel, the financial lineaments of multipolarity had been proposed since at least July 2021, in a paper co-written by Professor Michael Hudson and Radhika Desai.
The Valdai report duly acknowledges the role of Global South medium-sized powers that “exemplify the democratization of international politics” and may “act as shock absorbers during periods of upheaval.” That’s a direct reference to the role of BRICS+ as key protagonists.
On the Big Picture across the chessboard, the analysis tends to get more realistic when it considers that “the triumph of ‘the only true idea’ makes effective dialogue and agreement with supporters of different views and values impossible by definition.”
Putin alluded to it several times in his address. There’s no evidence whatsoever the Empire and its vassals will be deviating from their normative, imposed, value-laden unilateralism.
As for world politics beginning to “rapidly return to a state of anarchy built on force”, that’s self-evident: only the Empire of Chaos wants to impose anarchy, as it completely ran out of geopolitical and geoeconomic tools to control rebel nations, apart from the sanctions tsunami.
So the report is correct when it identifies that the childish neo-Hegelian “end of history” wet dream in the end hit the wall of History: we’re back to the pattern of large-scale conflicts between centers of power.
And it’s also a fact that “simply changing the ‘operator’ as it happened in earlier centuries” (as in the U.S. taking over from Britain) “just won’t work.”
China might harbor a desire to become the new sheriff, but the Beijing leadership definitely is not interested. And even if that happened the Hegemon would fiercely prevent it, as “the entire system” remains “under its control (primarily finance and the economy).”
So the only way out, once again, is multipolarity – which the report characterizes, rather vaguely, as “a world without superpowers”, still in need of “a system of self-regulation, which implies much greater freedom of action and responsibility for such actions.”
Stranger things have happened in History. As it stands, we are plunged deep into the maelstrom of complete collapse. Putin in fact did nail where we are: on the edge of a Revolution.
This article was first published by Strategic Culture Foundation
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Pepe Escobar, born in Brazil, is a correspondent and editor-at-large at Asia Times and columnist for Consortium News and Strategic Culture. Since the mid-1980s he’s lived and worked as a foreign correspondent in London, Paris, Milan, Los Angeles, Singapore, Bangkok. He has extensively covered Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia to China, Iran, Iraq and the wider Middle East. Pepe is the author of Globalistan – How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War; Red Zone Blues: A Snapshot of Baghdad during the Surge. He was contributing editor to The Empire and The Crescent and Tutto in Vendita in Italy. His last two books are Empire of Chaos and 2030. Pepe is also associated with the Paris-based European Academy of Geopolitics. When not on the road he lives between Paris and Bangkok.
He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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The original source of this article is Global Research
Copyright © Pepe Escobar, Global Research, 2022
The Russian president stayed silent when asked about this possibility
…He noted that the aggressors should know that retaliation was inevitable and that they would be destroyed. “And we, as the victims of aggression, as martyrs, will go to heaven while they will simply die,” he said, adding that “they won’t even have time to repent.”
https://www.rt.com/russia/565477-putin-nuclear-war-heaven/
Oct 27, 2022
FILE PHOTO. Atomic Explosion Against Blue Sky At Dusk © Getty Images / Enzo Brandi / EyeEm
Russian President Vladimir Putin jokingly became “lost in thought” when asked to follow up on comments he made in 2018 about Russians being the victims of aggression who would go to heaven in the event of a nuclear apocalypse.
During Thursday’s Valdai Discussion Club event in Moscow, moderator Fyodor Lukyanov told the Russian president that “we grew a bit worried remembering your comments made here four years ago when you said that we would all go to heaven.”
“We’re not in a hurry to get there, are we?,” Lukyanov asked.
Putin stayed silent for a couple of seconds, as some audience members laughed. The moderator broke the silence by stating, “Now that you are lost in thought it’s getting alarming.”
The president laughed and said, “I intentionally got lost in thought to alarm you,” adding that “the effect has been achieved.”
In 2018, the Russian leader was asked about the likelihood of a nuclear war. He responded by saying that Moscow, in accordance with its doctrine back then, could not launch a preemptive nuclear strike and could only conduct a counterattack. Russia would launch its nuclear warheads only after confirming that a potential aggressor had launched ones targeting Russian territory, the president explained.
Russia shares ‘dirty bomb’ concerns with India and China
Nevertheless, he noted that the aggressors should know that retaliation was inevitable and that they would be destroyed. “And we, as the victims of aggression, as martyrs, will go to heaven while they will simply die,” he said, adding that “they won’t even have time to repent.”
In late February, Putin issued an order to increase the readiness level of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces shortly after Moscow launched its military offensive against Ukraine. This Wednesday, the president personally oversaw military drills conducted by the Russian Defense Ministry enacting a retaliatory nuclear strike.
Meanwhile, Russia has recently warned that Ukraine is preparing to set off a ‘dirty bomb’ to frame Moscow and has called on the likes of the US, the UK and other nations to investigate these concerns. Ukraine has rejected these allegations and instead claims that Russia is planning to conduct a tactical nuclear strike, which the Kremlin has also denied.
Western hegemony should be replaced with an actual order respectful of all, the Russian leader said
“Ruling the world is what the so-called West has staked in this game, which is certainly dangerous, bloody, and – I would say – dirty. It denies the sovereignty of countries and peoples, their identity and uniqueness, and disregards any interests of other states,” the Russian president explained. In their so-called “rules-based world order,” only those making the “rules” have any agency, while everyone else must simply obey.
“As soon as something becomes profitable for themselves, they change the rules immediately, on the go, in the course of the game.”
Yet when some other countries, notably China, began benefiting from globalization, the West “immediately changed or completely canceled” many of the rules it long insisted were set in stone and sacred, Putin said, with free trade, economic openness, fair competition, and even property rights “suddenly forgotten at once, completely.”
In a truly democratic multipolar world, any society, culture, and civilization should have the right to choose its own path and socio-political system. If the US and Europe have that right, so should everyone else. Russia also has it, “and no one will ever be able to dictate to our people what kind of society we should build and on what principles.”
https://www.rt.com/russia/565476-putin-valdai-club-takeaways/
Oct 27, 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club forum in the Moscow region on October 27, 2022. © Pavel Byrkin / AFP
The world is entering a decade of tumult as the pursuit of a more just world order clashes with the arbitrary hegemony of the collective West, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, addressing the annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club.
Putin’s speech ranged from biodiversity to “cancel culture,” the nature of what the West has to offer and Russia’s response, followed by hours of answering audience questions. Here are six key points from his opening remarks.
The West stokes conflict to preserve hegemony
From inciting conflict in Ukraine and provocations around Taiwan to destabilizing the world food and energy markets, the US and its allies have been escalating tensions around the globe in recent years and especially in recent months, Putin said.
READ MORE: The US has nothing left to offer the world – Putin
“Ruling the world is what the so-called West has staked in this game, which is certainly dangerous, bloody, and – I would say – dirty. It denies the sovereignty of countries and peoples, their identity and uniqueness, and disregards any interests of other states,” the Russian president explained. In their so-called “rules-based world order,” only those making the “rules” have any agency, while everyone else must simply obey.
However, the West has “no constructive ideas and positive development, they simply have nothing to offer the world except the preservation of their dominance.”
Rules for thee but not for me
The West insists its culture and worldview should be universal, Putin said. While not saying it outright, they behave as if these values must be unconditionally accepted by everyone else.
Yet when some other countries, notably China, began benefiting from globalization, the West “immediately changed or completely canceled” many of the rules it long insisted were set in stone and sacred, Putin said, with free trade, economic openness, fair competition, and even property rights “suddenly forgotten at once, completely.”
“As soon as something becomes profitable for themselves, they change the rules immediately, on the go, in the course of the game.”
“Cancel culture” and canceling culture
Believing themselves infallible, the rulers of the West desire to destroy – or “cancel” – those they dislike. Where Nazis burned books, the Western “guardians of liberalism and progress” now ban Dostoevsky and Tchaikovsky, Putin said. Liberal democracy has transformed into something unrecognizable, declaring any alternative viewpoint as propaganda or a threat, he added. The so-called “cancel culture” destroys anything that is alive and creative, preventing any freedom of thought in culture, economics or politics alike.
READ MORE: Putin reveals his thoughts on gender theory
“History, of course, will put everything in its place,” Putin said, adding that the the self-conceit of those who seek to cancel them is off the charts, “but no one will even remember their names in a few years, while Dostoevsky and Tchaikovsky and Pushkin will endure.”
Russia does not seek domination
Russia is an “independent, original civilization” and “has never considered itself an enemy of the West,” Putin said. Since antiquity, it has had ties with the West of traditional Christian and Muslim values, freedom, patriotism, and a rich culture. There is another West, however – “an aggressive, cosmopolitan, neocolonialist, acting as a tool of neoliberal elites,” Putin said, “whose dictates Russia will never accept.”
READ MORE: Russia is not an enemy of the West – Putin
Even so, Russia is not throwing a gauntlet to the elites of that West, but “simply defends its right to exist and develop freely. At the same time, we ourselves are not seeking to become some kind of new hegemon,” Putin said.
Western hegemony is ending
“We are standing at a historic milestone, ahead of what is probably the most dangerous, unpredictable, and at the same time important decade since the end of World War II. The West is not able to single-handedly manage humanity but is desperately trying to do it, and most of the peoples of the world no longer want to put up with it,” Putin said.
Conflicts arising from this tumult are threatening the entire humanity, and constructively resolving them is the principal challenge ahead, according to the Russian leader.
No one can sit out the coming storm, which has acquired a global character, Putin said. Humanity has two choices, “either to continue to accumulate a burden of problems that will inevitably crush us all, or to try together to find solutions, albeit imperfect, but working, capable of making our world safer and more stable.”
What multipolar world should look like
In a truly democratic multipolar world, any society, culture, and civilization should have the right to choose its own path and socio-political system. If the US and Europe have that right, so should everyone else. Russia also has it, “and no one will ever be able to dictate to our people what kind of society we should build and on what principles.”
READ MORE: Putin calls for ‘dialogue on equal terms’ with the West
The biggest threat to the political, economic, and ideological monopoly of the West is that alternative social models may arise in the world – and would be more effective and more attractive.
“Above all, we believe that the new world order should be based on law and justice, be free, authentic and fair,” the Russian president said.
“The future world order is being formed before our eyes. And in this world order, we must listen to everyone, take into account every point of view, every nation, society, culture, every system of worldviews, ideas and religious beliefs, without imposing a single truth on anyone, and only on this basis, understanding our responsibility for the fate of our peoples and the planet, to build a symphony of human civilization.”
The Russian president has forecast greater uncertainty as the era of unipolar Western dominance comes to an end
https://www.rt.com/news/565480-putin-predicts-most-dangerous-decade/
Oct 27, 2022
FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin is shown speaking to reporters after his July 2018 summit with then-US President Donald Trump in Helsinki. © Getty Images / Chris McGrath
Russian President Vladimir Putin believes the world stands at the precipice of a tumultuous decade that will bring the most danger and unpredictability in several generations as Western hegemony inevitably draws to a close.
“We are standing on a historic frontier,” Putin said on Thursday at the Valdai Discussion Club’s annual meeting in Moscow. “Ahead is probably the most dangerous, unpredictable and, at the same time, important decade since the end of World War II.”
Putin rebuked the West for playing a “dangerous, bloody and dirty” geopolitical game. He said the US and its NATO allies helped to incite the Russia-Ukraine conflict while at the same time stoking a crisis over China’s sovereignty in Taiwan to enforce its global dominance.
“I have always believed in the power of common sense, and I still do, so I am convinced that sooner or later, the new centers of the multipolar world and the West will have to embark on an equal dialogue about our shared future, and the sooner that happens, the better,” Putin said.
The Russian leader noted that when Moscow laid out the security concerns that would need to be addressed to avert the Ukraine crisis last December, NATO cast the proposal aside. “It’s not going to be possible to sit this one out. Whoever sows the wind will reap the storm. The crisis has taken on a truly global magnitude. It affects everyone, and we should not entertain any illusions otherwise.”
Humanity essentially faces two options, Putin added. “Either we continue accumulating the burden of problems that is certain to crush all of us, or we can work together to find solutions – functional, if imperfect ones – solutions capable of rendering our world more stable and safer.”
In any case, Putin said, “the historical period of the West’s undivided dominance over world affairs is coming to an end.” Citing a 1978 quote by Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, he said, “the West has a blindness of superiority.”
“Almost half a century later, the blindness Solzhenitsyn spoke of, openly racist and neo-colonial in nature, has become simply ugly, especially after the emergence of the so-called unipolar world.”
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