From TASS
Has Vladimir Putin seen the Servant of the People TV series? Is dialogue with Zelensky possible? How to view Ukrainians’ national identity? Are Russians and Ukrainians one people?
In the second episode of our “20 Questions with Vladimir Putin” video interview, Andrei Vandenko spoke with the President about relations with Ukraine. Our special project “20 Questions with Vladimir Putin” consists of 20 episodes, in which we asked the President important and very bold questions. This project is the first-ever of its kind not only for TASS, but for the Russian segment of the Internet. The episodes will be uploaded from February 20 to March 26. Watch them on all TASS platforms!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG6dxqwxGE4
In this episode:
— On the Servant of the People TV series
— On relations with Zelensky
— On ties with Ukraine
— Who are the Ukrainians and what unites them with Russians?
— On relations between the Russian and the Ukrainian churches
— What tore ties between Russians and Ukrainians apart?
— On competitive advantages in today’s world
— On Ukrainian identity
— On Ukrainian nationalism
— What did Ukraine lose when relations with Russia fell apart?
— On the Ukrainian power structure’s interests
— On potential implications if Russia and Ukraine joined forces
Watch directly on Tass : https://tass.com/putins-interview-to-tass
Transcript:
Andrey Vandenko
Our next topic is Ukraine. Have you watched the Servant of the People series?
Vladimir Putin
No.
Andrey Vandenko
Even the part when President Goloborodko is picking out a wristwatch just like Putin’s?
Vladimir Putin
I haven’t seen it. I don’t know who Goloborodko is, or what he is choosing there. I haven’t seen it.
Andrey Vandenko
Right. So what we have here is an interesting duo: a ‘galley slave’ and a ‘servant of the people’.
Vladimir Putin
Well, whatever goes around comes around. It’s not what you call yourself that matters, but what you do, and how you do it.
Andrey Vandenko
Is there a chance that you could come to terms with Zelensky?
Vladimir Putin
On what?
Andrey Vandenko
On peace, on friendship.
Vladimir Putin
There’s always hope. But unfortunately, as you see, after returning from Paris he started talking about the necessity to review the Minsk Agreements. This begs the question. Nevertheless, we managed to agree on the prisoner swap, and we’ve agreed on gas.
Andrey Vandenko
The fact that today we are not friends with Ukraine – is this our loss?
Vladimir Putin
Yes, of course, but as I have said time and again, I believe that we are the same people.
Andrey Vandenko
The Ukrainians don’t like it very much either.
Vladimir Putin
I don’t know whether they like this or not, but if you look at the real situation, that is true. You see, we shared the same language until the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. And only as a result of Polonization, Ukrainians that lived in the territory under the Rzeczpospolita, only around the 16th century would the first language differences appear. In general, the term ‘Ukrainians’ was used when talking about the people who lived …
Andrey Vandenko
[arguing on the stress in the word ‘Ukrainians’]
Vladimir Putin
[arguing on the stress in the word ‘Ukrainians’]
Andrey Vandenko
[arguing on the stress in the word ‘Ukrainians’]
Vladimir Putin
Those who lived on the frontiers of the Russian state were called Ukrainians. Ukrainians lived in Pskov, those who defended the southern frontiers from attacks by the Crimean khan were called Ukrainians. Ukrainians were everywhere, even in the Urals. We did not have any linguistic differences. Moreover, something around the same time, up until the 14th–15th centuries even those people, the eastern Slavs, who lived in the Rzeczpospolita or in Muscovy or later in Poland were called Russians. The first linguistic differences appeared much later…
Andrey Vandenko
History is history, but right now we’re talking about the present day.
Vladimir Putin
In order to talk about today and tomorrow we need to know history, we need to know who we are, where we came from, and what unites us. And what unites us is…
Andrey Vandenko
Now, many things divide us.
Vladimir Putin
Many things do divide us, but we should not forget about the bonds that unite us. Also, we should avoid ruining what we have. Take the Church, for example. What was the point in destroying the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church? You know that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is in fact fully autonomous. It has been fully autonomous all along in all respects, including the election of hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. The Moscow Patriarchate has never had any influence on the election of hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. In fact, the UOC has always been independent. Completely. There has only been full communion and the liturgical commemoration of the Moscow Patriarch, who was recalled all the time in churches. That’s it! It has been the only thing uniting the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. But they needed to cut the cords that bind. Why? You say people do not understand. They simply do not know it. They’ll understand better, if they know it. They should be told that.
Why should anyone shy away from it? It’s not an insult, is it? Time has passed. As a result of people sharing the border with the Catholic world, Europe, a community of people feeling to some extent independent from the Russian state began to emerge. How should we feel about that? I have already said: we should respect that. But we should not forget about our shared community. And moreover, in the modern world our joint efforts bring us huge competitive advantages. And, vice versa, division makes us weaker. The Ukrainian factor was specifically played out on the eve of World War I by the Austrian special service. Why? It is well-known – to divide and rule. Nevertheless, if it happened like this and a big part of the Ukrainian population got a sense of their own national identity, etc., we should respect that. We should understand where we are now, but not forget who we are and where we come from. And, by the way, the founding fathers of Ukrainian nationalism never spoke about any urgent need to break up with Russia. Strange as it may seem, but their basic works of the 19th century say that Ukraine is: a) multinational and should be a federal state, and b) should build good relations with Russia. Today’s nationalists seem to have forgotten that. I’ll tell you why they have forgotten that. You know why? Because the interests of the Ukrainian people are not the main issue on their agenda. How can it be in the interest of the Ukrainian people if the break-up with Russia has led to the loss of aerospace engineering, shipbuilding, aeronautical engineering and engine manufacturing. It is virtually deindustrializing the country. How can it be in any interest here?
The World Bank demands to end cross-subsidization. What’s so good about that? Or, they make them export round timber from the Carpathians. Soon, the Carpathians are going to become deforested. What was the reason for doing this? If we pool our efforts together we can innumerably bolster our competitive advantages, so why forfeit it? Why throw everything away? For what? Because the Ukrainian leaders or those who took power pursued their self-interests. And what were they? Not even to get more from robbing the Ukrainian people blind, but hold on to what they had previously stolen. That was the main objective. So, where’s the cold hard cash? Pardon my slang, where is the money? In foreign banks. And what are they supposed to do to hold on to it? Show that they are serving those who hold that money. Hence, the only thing that they trade in is Russophobia. Because some like dividing Ukraine and Russia, they believe it’s a very important goal. Since any integration of Russia and Ukraine, along with their capacities and competitive advantages would spell the emergence of a rival, a global rival for both Europe and the world. No one wants this. That’s why they’ll do anything to tear us apart.
Eps. 2 . A brilliant exposition of historical fact regarding Ukraine and Russia. Putin’s demonstrable knowledge and intelligence in an eight minute capsule.
When people say: why doesn’t Putin just unleash the Donbass Army and use the Russian military to conquer Ukraine, refer to this presentation.
He believes that Ukraine (Eastern half) will come back to “brotherhood” with Russia.
He has put the Ukraine and Donbass negotiations into the hands and mind of Kozak, a Ukrainian. He has removed Surkov so there is one voice to deal with for the Ukies. Zelensky has put the “issues” on the desk of Ermak. Kozak and Ermak have already negotiated the “gas agreement”. So there is some hope they can begin a process that will lead to what Putin thinks is possible.
Note this well. NB: it excludes the nationalists on both sides. Putin will never embrace a Ukraine in which the nazis have any role. And Strelkov and his group of ideologues have zero input or influence on anything Putin intends.
For those who hope for Novorossiya, it is not out of the question. This new negotiation potential may break down, the US may strangle the hope for Ukraine to bolt away and rejoin Russia in the EAEU. If so, then some military adventure may ensue by the Ukies/NATO/US Russophobes. If that happens, then a new dynamic will result and Russia might split the neighbor in retaliation. That seems far off from now.
Ishchenko writes of a new 12 point plan from the Russian International Affairs Council (Putin’s construct)
https://russiancouncil.ru/en/analytics-and-comments/analytics/twelve-steps-toward-greater-security-in-ukraine-and-the-euro-atlantic-region/.
Stalkerzone has the Ishchenko article translated.
https://www.stalkerzone.org/afterword-to-the-munich-conference-russias-strategic-patience/
This 12-Step Plan was published on the RIAC website on 2-14-20. It includes Security Steps, Humanitarian Steps, Economic Steps, and Political Steps.
It is a proposal signed by a long list of co-conveners and participants from Russia, US, Europe.
Unspoken, but easy to “read” from the list and the intentions of the 12-Step Plan is the threat of nuclear war inherent in the US/NATO use of Ukraine and their movements closer to the Russian border, especially since the US has left the INF Treaty.
So, Minsk 2, 13 steps, may soon recede as paramount, and this 12-Step Plan may be what is worked on by Kozak and Ermak.
In my opinion, neither Protocol will work.
Minsk 2 was a choke bone Kiev would and could never swallow.
This 12-Point Security Plan simply is a classic muscle relaxant to stop the sphincter spasms in Washington and Brussels and other EU capitals that are caused by Kalibr cruise missiles, Hypersonic ICBMs and Russian Electronic Warfare, Radars and S-400, S-500 missile defenses.
The resulting geopolitical colitis is wrecking NATO solidarity and giving pause to the Russophobes.
It is a long, patient game Putin is playing. It will go well beyond 2024.
…leaving Slaviansk and not taking Mariuopol (not even mentioning Odessa or Kharkov), not one question about that “plan”?
It was the Russian generals who made a quick decision and action after Tschinvali and giving a lecture to Georgia in 2008, not the Cremlin. Not speaking about 30 years of neglecting the problem of USA’s meddling in Ukraine. The banderanazis revival began with Khruschev already. As for today, it is more than 100 years ago when the Austro-Hungarian’s Habsburgs started the project of Ukrainian nation….
So, what about frankly admitting some failures finally? The dead people of Donbass are a part of “просрали” [screwed-up] strategy?
The Russian counter to the Maidan was embodied in Yanokovich holding power, putting down the Nazis. The psychological breakdown by him was the failure of the Intel service that had written his profile. They were wrong. He ran for his life, leaving a vacuum.
Then, Strelkov forced an insurgent war Putin did not want. It was not a prepared insurgency throughout East and South Ukraine. Thus, no uprising followed Slavyansk. No hope that when it rose in Mariupol and Odessa and Kharkiv that it could hold and join with Donbass. Strelkov couldn’t even hold in Slavyansk, and if it was not for Motorola’s men, Strelkov would have been hung from a tree and skinned alive.
There was never a plan for Donbass. Was that a failure of Putin?
He had a plan for Krim. That was a piece of strategic turf Moscow had to hold.
Donbass could be managed. We saw what the Kremlin plan was for dealing with the Ukies close to the border when the Southern Boiler was formed. The Ukies were obliterated from MLRSs (Russian, not Donbass).
We can see the “failure” repeating in Belarus. Is Putin ready to move in and scoop up Belarus? Only if Poland moves in there. If Lukashenko gives away Belarus to the West, Russia will have to live with the result.
Russia cannot simply take action with its military. There are massive consequences for “aggression”. And the US is salivating to brand Russia an aggressor nation.
The moves Russia can make have to be reactive.
Russia uses diplomacy, gas and oil, and its cultural ties to try to counter all the moves of the West and the Russophobia of the US and UK and the various stripes of naziism in Europe.
The next big move will be after the big project economic development coming from the new government Putin is forming. Russian growth at 3-4% will be a huge magnet to change the minds of elites in Belarus and Ukraine.
Most of what Putin achieves is not “cinematic”. Krim returned to Russia with the polite green men and a vote of the people. The catastrophe in Syria was reversed with a few dozen aircraft and retraining of Assad’s best units.
There are moments of elegant surprise, like the first use of Kalibrs fired from small ships in the Caspian Sea, the flight and accuracy and effectiveness of which that blew the minds of the Pentagon and blew ISIS into charcoal briquettes. Or the use of bases in Iran to fly White Swan bombers into Syria to free the air base at Deir ez Zor.
Putin plays Chess and he plays Go. He’s a tactician, a strategist, an intellectual and a St. Petersburg street fighter.
He’s unique in the world and in history. He is a master of patience, timing, surprise and precision.
The deaths of 15,000 in Donbass, the rapes and tortures, the obscenities of the Nazis and Banderites, are the product of billions of dollars paid by the US, the EU, NATO and other Russophobes and terrorist financiers who join in the effort to destroy Russia as a nation-state. These are war crimes. They are on the historic ledger of war crimes and crimes against humanity that is property of the Hegemon. They are not the responsibility of Putin or the Kremlin or Russia.
Porky and his ATO was an ethnic cleansing war machine whose intention, via Azov and Pravy Sektor battalions, was to liquidate several hundreds of thousands of Donbass residents. They still dream of ‘filtering’ Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine, meaning killing them, all if they can.
So millions of lives have been saved in Donbass. Tragically, the daily loss of life continues, but the constraints on Russia are very real and very vital. Six years is a very long, agonizing time in the trenches of Donbass. Six years in geopolitical terms is a blip on the screen, meaningless as a gigantic strategy plays out between Russia and the West.
The dead of Donbass are the result of a Russian nationalist (Strelkov) insurgency that never took hold across Novorossiya (its only hope for success) and the Ukie nationalist counter attack that enables daily bombardment, kidnapping and assassinations.
Putin took the temperature of the people in Donbass and Novorossiya in 2014, and they were not hot enough, not large enough to risk a war in 2014. He chose wisely to use Voentorg and North Wind to support their resistance.
Krim was very different. Assets that control the Black Sea were at stake. And the people were 95% ready to fight to the death to hold Krim from the Ukies. Historically and socially, Krim and Donbass were not equal. That is the tragic reality. Krim prospers while Donbass suffers.
The decision about Donbass’s suffering is in Washington, not Moscow. The orders, the directions, the money that make the suffering happen are all US hegemonic tactics. Kiev is paid to kill and maim the people of Donbass. Just like Serbia, just like Syria.
Strelkov arrived in Donbass early in the second half of April 2014. He had roughly 25 men with him and precious little ammo. He ended up choosing Slavyansk as his forward base from Donetsk City, but he did not have the strength to hold it and he knew this fact. He was in essence in a soup bowl with the orcs holding the rim of the bowl and shooting down at him, therefore without help from Mother it was only a matter of time before he had to retreat. The fact that he took his initial action with no guaranty of help from Russia (that we know of) shows he was a tactician, not a strategist.
Still, in for a penny in for a pound. He arrived in Slavyansk with somewhere around 100 men. He left at 00:30 05 July 2014 with an army.
Auslander
Well, thanks, you put it nicely. I can agree but on the statement that aggression would be punished. The USA practice not only covert aggression but a bold military one for 200 years. Yet now Russia is finally ahead of them in terms of power. Where else than on his own doorstep should Putin make clear where is the red line? I mean Belarus.
If Lukashenko hands it over to West… Who is he? What about the people of Belarus? Shall Russia wait for another generation of Belarus youth to be fooled by western propaganda and shitty education?
That is what has happened in Odessa and Kharkov. They could have raise up against banderas in 2014 (with some help of a few green polite men, not mentioning that absolute majority of Ukrainian army corps were passive and ready to give in against Russia). Even now there is only some 10-15% of that scum (see Zelenskyi’s election).
By the way, Yanukovich is the one who supported Svoboda fascist party and that alike – because they were disgusting for the people and made his wins in elections even more dominant!
Yeah, Putin is a chessmaster, but as any mortal human he makes mistakes and I hope he is aware of the ones he already made!
Larchmonter445
I will have to disagree slightly with your second comment, where you stated that “historically and socially Krim and Donbass were not equal”. In what way ? The Donbass region of Russia was incorporated into Ukraine after the First World War, while Crimea was incorporated into Ukraine in 1954. Both are strategically important to Russia, although I admit that Crimea, with it’s naval base of Sevastopol, was in 2014 more important than the Donbass, although the Donbass never lagged too much behind Crimea in importance, bearing in mind NATO’s megalomaniac dreams of positioning it’s missile systems in Ukraine, close to the Russian border.
Larchmonter445
Yes, a brilliant historical expose by Vladimir Putin. Since I am a Slav, I will explain (once again) what the name “Ukraine” means. The actual name is derived from the Slavic word “Krayina”, which means frontier region. From “Krayina” you got “Ukrayina” and from “Ukrayina” you got “Ukraine”, which was the frontier region of Russia. Ukraine was not the only Slavic frontier region, as you had “Military Krayina” in the Balkans, an administrative unit run by Serbian military captains, controlled by Vienna, and separating the Austrian Empire from the Ottoman. In the 16th and 17th centuries the Ottoman Turks tried on two occasions to conquer Vienna. They failed on both occasions, with the Serbs making a lions contribution in saving the city.
And yes, the Russian language was initially the only language spoken on the territory of the current Ukraine. The present day Ukrainian “language” is an artificial creation, containing about 90 % Russian words, the remaining 10% being either Polish or Western words. Since the language is artificial, so is the Ukrainian ethnic group, being derived from Russians (the exception being Western Ukraine, the former Galicia). Parallels can be made with the Albanian language in the Balkans. Albanians, with Western backing, are promulgating the laughable theory that they are descendants of Illyrian’s. However, they are incapable of explaining why there is not a single monument in the Balkans which backs their Illyrian “origins”, nor are they capable of explaining why Albanians right until the mid 16th century spoke a mixture of Arabic and Asian languages, as attested by Turkish records. The first Albanians were brought to Europe from Asia in 1043 by Byzantines as mercenaries. The present day Albanian language is a compilation of European languages which produced the Albanian “language”, which for some strange reason has quite a number of Greek words. The same thing with the Ukrainian “language”, nothing but an artificial creation, leading to the creation of an artificial ethnic group. However, what is artificial cannot last for ever. By December of 2017, some 4 million Ukrainians fled to the West and 4.4 million to Russia, which of course is proof that they all know they are of Russian origin.
And yes, you are right. Putin is playing a long, patient game. I don’t see Ukraine lasting as a sovereign state. The coup d’etat against Yanukovich in 2014 subsequently shocked the bulk of the population, which saw the creation of feudal robber barons known as oligarchs who, in conjunction with Western corporations, are robbing the country, reducing the population to feudal serfs. As one Ukrainian commentator stated, the bulk of the population now regrets that coup d’etat in 2014. And finally, more than one commentator has stated that Ukraine will break up into three parts, the eastern and central parts rejoining Russia, while the western part (the former Galicia) being an area of contention between Poland and Hungary. All this, of course, will not happen overnight, but eventually it will happen.
Ridiculous ideas about languages!—No doubt Dutch and German or Danish and Swedish share many words in common, and this does not mean they are the same. Here the modern Russian language seeks exclusive dominance and the extinction of the other Eastern Slavonic languages, Belarussian and Ukrainian as part of a centuries old imperial policy “degrade the language, enslave the people from the heritage of that language”.—The English did it to the Irish!
Also,—in the 10th through 17th century “Ukraine” granted was not a country but a region,—just like Italy “Italia” was not a country but a region during the Roman Empire. So I guess “Italian” is also an artificial construct as far as a nation or ethnic group. The same may be said of the Germans, that there was no country of “Deutschland” namely Germany until the date of 1-18-1871, so that the Germans are also recent “artificial”.—And there is nothing like this peculiar dread-phobia-panic that Russians seem to have regarding this “Ukrainian language” today. Wow!
Also, just look at the original language of the famous “Slovo o p’lku Ihor’a” epic written in the 1100’s long prior
to any Polish or Latin influence,—and this language is basically understandable to any modern Ukrainian because it has so many features of the modern Ukrainian language,—like the vocative case for nouns which is almost absent in modern Russian, the full infinitives for verbs rather than clipped infinitives like in modern Russian or even in Polish, and other features. So modern Russian and modern Ukrainian did somewhat diverge from this original language, each in its own way.—But the overall crazy Russian phobia regarding the modern Ukrainian language will remain a major factor of mutual hostilities. Just look at the superior approach of the Chinese where they have a number of variants of language but nobody over there claims that Fukienese or Szchuanese or Cantonese is illegitimate artificial compared to Mandarin. In fact, my observation is that overall every Chinese tends to be bilingual or even trilingual. There seems to be no quarrel about languages in China. But the Muscovite Russians insist that their language is superior because they consider themselves a superior “herrenvolk” people who should beat down everyone else,—not tiny Siberian minority people, but any group of people who might be serious rivals for cultural or even political power.—The modern dominant Muscovite Russians did not appear until the rule of Tsar Ivan IV when one of his main thrusts was to exterminate the original population of Great Novgorod, one of the oldest major units of pre-Muscovite Russia and resettle it with “loyal subjects” from the hinterland around Moscow, and he would have done the same to cities like Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine if he could get his hands on them. And he set the pattern for “autocracy” of a very extreme form, where even the highest generals and boyars were to be chattel-slaves-property of the tsar who could do to anyone anything whatsoever he pleased.
Our greatest task is before us, not behind us.
For, it is in the now and always that our task awaits us.
This moment is what brings us to our future.
What is happening in Ukraine was exactly what was planned for Russia, and that plan came within a hair of coming to fruition. The fly in the ointment was the selection of a relatively obscure young man, someone whom the selectors thought could be manipulated and who instead turned out to be their worst nightmare.
I have watched President Putin for years and I have seen he has set goals for himself and Russia, and I have no doubts that he will, and in all probability already has, made arrangements for when he hands over the reins of power. Who that will be be I certainly don’t know, but on the other hand I have developed a deep trust in Putin and so far he is made it obvious that the trust is deserved. No matter what the west has done to stymie his goals for Russia, he has rolled with the punches and continued on his course.
Case in point. Krimu. After the coup in Kiev in February of 2014, the locals in Sevastopol and various cities and towns of the Autonomous Republik of Krimea voiced concern and opposition to the coup, and this opposition increased exponentially after the Korsun Massacre of 20 February 2014. While in public President Putin sat back and watched to see what the locals would do, in private I now have no doubts that things were set in motion to make sure Sevastopol, and Krimea, would not become the base for a ‘Nato’ Black Sea Fleet as was planned by those who fomented the coup. The same thing happened in Donbas, events were carefully managed and Ukraine was prevented from becoming ‘Nato East’ with substantial American troop units on the very borders of the Russian Heartland, albeit at the cost of many thousands of dead Ukrainians.
Nord Stream 2 is another case in point, and a classic US victory, or should I say setback for Russian and German economic plans. US sat back and watched and waited while Germany and Russia spent billions building infrastructure and support of the pipeline, and when things were 98% complete US struck and halted the construction in the last two weeks of work. Score one of Uncle Sugar, but I have no doubts that construction will be completed by late spring, so who will win in the end?
Syria is another case which at this time is being massively manipulated by Foggy Bottom. The entire Syrian debacle with the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocents is purely US made. After years of ‘fighting’ the head choppers to little avail, suddenly when President Assad had a scant two weeks left to rule what was left of Syria, Russia was invited in and in three months the tide of war was turned and Brand X was defeated. I know that at this moment Erdogan of Turkey is again turning his coat and stirring up trouble in Idlib, but the next two or three days will put paid to that. Either put paid or the war will suddenly expand and engulf the entire region, which in and of itself is the goal of Foggy Bottom. Washington fully expects to in time build a massive gas and oil supply system from the Emirates to the shores of the Med, through Syria, and from there extend the feeds to Europe. Why? To negate the huge monies Russia earns from supplying Europe with gas and POL via pipeline, pure and simple. This will not happen as long as President Putin is alive. That’s a given.
So here we have it. A quiet and unassuming man, a true Russian Patriot, has been patiently guiding Russia from the disaster of 1992 to present day, never deviating from his task, never getting discouraged from neither the internal Russian resistance nor the continuous and every increasing resistance from Foggy Bottom and her lapdogs, Europe. My thoughts are he will succeed in time, but that being said his success guarantees we in this berg will live to see many more suns. If he fails, the first, and unbelievably large, swarms of cruise missiles will be aimed at our little bucolic village on the Black Sea, after which we won’t care because we won’t be here to argue.
Auslander
Author http://rhauslander.com/
Never The Last One, paper back edition. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1521849056 A deep look in to Russia, her culture and her Armed Forces, in essence a look at the emergence of Russian Federation.
An Incident On Simonka paperback edition. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1696160715 NATO Is Invited To Leave Sevastopol, One Way Or The Other.
Auslander, my suggestion is you look at the Governors that VVP has appointed. Generally young. Some have performed very well, some have been replaced. VVP does not wish for Russia to become a Gerontocracy like the USSR. I look at certain Oblasts and Republics and see Russia’s future – it gives me great hope that there will be no future Time of Troubles.
We have looked at them, each and every one of them. Her Excellency is keeping a list of them and she has noted who she thinks will stay and who will be cashiered. We’ll see if she is correct with time, probably by mid summer if that for some of them. We two and you agree, time for young blood, not a doddering Premier who was on life support before he became same. Reminds of of Hillary Diane Rodham, walking dead.
Auslander
I suspect Her Excellency will be proven right! Tsaritsa’s have been good for Russia. There is one Governor in the Volga region and another in Siber who really impress me, I suspect that by 2024, Russia will have a fine field of potential Presidential Candidates. Looking at the current US Presidential Circus, it would be impossible to do worse.
С праздником. С днем защитника Отечестба!
yandex translate … mod
Happy holiday. Happy Fatherland defender’s day!
Стивен
Спасибо, и тебе того же. Большую часть дня мы провели на 35-й батарее за долгим празднованием Дня плюс годовщины начала Русской Весны.
Auslander
Translation—–mod
Thank you. The same to you. Most of the day we spent on the 35th battery for a long celebration of the Day plus the anniversary of the beginning of the Russian Spring.
Don’t forget that it is also the time for fast and prayer. Certain demons don’t go out except by “prayer and fasting”. The ‘Demons’ of Dostoevski caught Russia when she stopped praying and fasting.
“More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.” (Solzhenitsyn).
“The fly in the ointment was the selection of a relatively obscure young man”
There were swarms of flies not only in Mr. Sobchak’s office, not perceived as a swarm, and not being dangerous, since they were perceived to be flies until circa 2005.
“Washington fully expects to in time build a massive gas and oil supply system from the Emirates to the shores of the Med, through Syria, and from there extend the feeds to Europe.”
A bit off topic, but those Emirate/Qatari pipelines where just the carrot used by the Zionazis to get the Gulf Arab states sign up and finance the Syrian and Yemeni war.
The AngloZionist empire never intended to supply the EU, a competitor, with alternative gas pipelines. That would have only strengthened the EU, providing it with a buyer’s market.
RATM
I beg to differ. The whole idea of the Syria war was to secure not only the oil fields but to have Emirate/Saudi/Qatari POL and NG flowing via pipeline to Europe to cut off a lucrative trade in same with Russia. Bottom line, of Russia did not supply EU will NG and POL, Foggy Bottom could give a darn if EU shivered in winter.
Auslander
The alternative pipeline would NOT “cut off a lucrative trade in same with Russia” BUT provide Europe with 2 pipelines, thus making it a buyer’s market (the buyer – EU – can negotiate a lower price point) which would strengthen EU’s position and threaten AngloZionists control over Europe – the EU becomes a competitor rather than a vassal.
You are wrong. The Emirate/Saudi lines would be used to force EU to stop or greatly curtail buying Russian gas/pol and instead buy from the consortium that would own the new energy supply system, ergo cutting of EU from ‘the evil Russians’.
Auslander
The problem is Russia still wants to win “respect” from the West and that’ their achillies heel. There are more customers East if they only open their eyes. The long term deal with China is a classic. They can strike a few more too and pretty much capture India -> East. The price is market price, so where’s the problem? The problem is politics and power.
The real problem is the delusional wishful thinking of the ‘West’ that Russia wants to ‘win the respect’ of the West, implying that Russia always suffered from an inferiority complex towards the ‘West’ that affects its political judgement and ultimately would yield to buying the ‘West’.
It is this deep-seated prejudice that affected (and still affects) a correct appraisal of the ‘situational awareness’ of the ‘West’ in regards to Russia. The ‘West’ never learned anything from the experiences of Napoleon, of Wilhelmine Germany, of Hitlerian Germany. Insanity is a very difficult disease to cure. It cannot, in its ‘Europe-egocentric’ collective mind, wrap around the fact that Russia is outside its mental ‘categorical imperatives’. ‘Russophobia’ is an expression of the ‘West’ frustration that it cannot submit Russia to its ‘imperatives’ which are, ultimately, far from its claimed ‘idealism’. The ‘West’ knows that Russian petrol, gas, minerals, are not for free and will never be, but still thinks that they will if enough pressure is put on Russia and its supposed desire to be ‘accepted’ by the ‘West’. But the ‘West’ is still so conceited, that it imagines that Russia cannot live without it, even when Russia made it crystal clear that it doesn’t give a hoot for its ‘way of life’. The ‘West’ can eat its ‘Conchita wurst’ to its heart content, Russians (or Chinese, for that matter) won’t buy it.
Anonymous
Well spoken. In Russia you had “Westerners”, now called “liberals”, who dream of the West, wanting to integrate Russia with the West, regardless of consequences. These liberals were a class of people who grew rich with Yeltsins liberal capitalism, something they cannot forget. However, that is of no great importance, as these liberals are outnumbered by Russian patriots who suffered under Yeltsins economic programs. And the West ? It, of course, is backing the liberals, applying the Soros mentality, where a minority is used to both represent and control the majority. It won’t work, as proven by liberal organized demonstrations in Russia, when organizers could not fill half a football stadium with their supporters in Moscow.
Auslander
Another excellent comment from you, which I enjoyed reading. And yes, you are right. What is happening in Ukraine is what was planned for Russia. In fact, much of it was implemented during Yeltsin’s reign, when Russia was plundered of 100 billion dollars a year by Western corporations, banks and domestic oligarchs. People forget the statement made by Madeleine Albright, the former Secretary of State, who publicly stated that she saw no reason why Russia should be so huge and have so many natural resources, who do “not” belong to her, but to the whole world. Remarkable statement, bearing in mind the US fought two wars with Mexico, with northern Mexico ending up in the US.
Over here where I live we have a saying, which goes like this: “In all things evil, you will find things good”. Yeltsin introduced liberal capitalism which almost destroyed Russia, a fact which cannot be disputed. The social, financial and economic problems which arose shocked the bulk of the Russian population, just like the situation in Ukraine has shocked the bulk of the Ukrainian population. The positive aspect of all of this is that it happened in Russia first, opening a road for Vladimir Putin. When it became clear that liberal economics would be the ruin of Russia, patriotic forces in Russia rallied and presented Yeltsin with an offer: if he resigned and accepted Putin, no legal charges against him would ever be initiated. Yeltsin – wisely – accepted the offer, the smartest thing he ever did, not only for himself, but also for Russia. The rest is history.
Finally, we have the question of NATO. When the Warsaw Pact collapsed in 1989, NATO was retained, ostensibly to be used to maintain “peace”. In reality it was retained to be used against Russia, which had to be destabilized, after which NATO would march into Russia to “maintain law and order”, to “introduce democracy”, to ensure “human rights” and to place Russia’s nuclear arsenal under it’s control. After that, in the name of “democracy” Russia would be broken up and plundered by Western banks and corporations. As the late political economist Lyndon la Rouche stated some years ago, the only thing which can save the US dollar is the plundering of Siberia and the Caspian region, two of the wealthiest regions in the world. Well, as we all know, it did not come to that. However, NATO is still in existence, costing billions and becoming highly unpopular in Europe.
https://theduran.com/zelensky-angers-putin-as-ukraine-considers-pulling-out-of-minsk-agreement-video/
Discussion regers to a released transcript of a telephone call from Z to P….the latter appaently telling him what is what and directly asking him Minsk or not(or else???????)…..any ideas where the text is available for us to read??????