Putin Skewers US Ineptitude
By Ray McGovern
November 01, 2022:
Information Clearing House
-- "
Anti War" -
Speaking on Oct. 27 at the Valdai
International Discussion Club, Russian President
Vladimir Putin
questioned the sanity of those who would
"spoil relations with China at the same time
they are supplying billions-worth of weapons to
Ukraine in a fight against Russia."
In answer to a question on "the growing
tensions between China and the United States
over Taiwan," Putin labeled visits by top U.S.
officials to Taiwan a "provocation." Putin
added:
"Frankly, I do not know why they are doing
this. … Are they sane? It seems that this runs
completely counter to common sense and logic …
This is simply crazy.
"It may seem that there is a subtle,
profound plot behind this. But I think there is
nothing there, no subtle thought. It is just
nonsense and arrogance, nothing else. … Such
irrational actions are rooted in arrogance and a
sense of impunity."
Elite, Exceptional People
What kind of people are behind what Putin
describes? It turns out they come from the same
stock of white-privileged, exceptional,
ivy-mantled "Best and Brightest" that brought us
Vietnam. This time, it is President Joe Biden
who brought them in. Giving Biden the benefit of
the doubt, I believe he was/is not smart enough
to understand that they have made a big mess of
things.
These are the sophomores, totally ignorant of
how the Russia-China relationship had evolved,
who told Biden at the Geneva summit on June 16,
2021 that "Russia is in a very, very
difficult spot right now … being squeezed by
China. …," which Biden parroted planeside
before departing Geneva.
In his Valdai speech Putin quoted from a
Harvard Commencement address by Alexander
Solzhenitsyn:
"A continuous blindness of superiority is
typical of the West; it upholds the belief that
vast regions everywhere on our planet should
develop and mature to the level of present-day
Western Systems."
Putin adds:
"Solzhenitsyn said this in 1978. Nothing
has changed. … Belief in one’s infallibility is
very dangerous; it is only one step away from
the desire of the infallible to destroy those
they do not like. … "They arrogantly rejected
all other variants and forms of government by
the people and, I want to emphasize this, did so
contemptuously and disdainfully … as if everyone
else were second-rate, while they were
exceptional."
The day after Putin’s speech, Chinese foreign
ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, asked for
comment, said: "We highly appreciate the
positive remarks by President Putin on
China-Russia relations; they have maintained the
momentum of robust development." The foreign
ministry spokesman added that Chinese Foreign
Minister Wang Yi had a phone call with Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the day Putin
spoke at Valdai, and that the two diplomats
"exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis."
‘Rules-Based International Order’
Putin lampooned the Antony Blinken/Jake
Sullivan concoction of the "rules-based order."
As for the idea of "substituting ‘rules’ for
international law." Putin quipped, as he began
his prepared remarks at Valdai:
"I was tempted to say ‘We are clear about
who made up these rules’, but perhaps that would
not be an accurate statement. We have no idea
whatsoever who made these rules up, what these
rules are based on, or what is contained inside
these rules.
"It looks like we are witnessing an
attempt to enforce just one rule where those in
power … could live without following any rules
at all and could get away with anything."
Later, during the Q and A, Putin rang some
changes on the "rules-based" concept:
"They are talking about rules – what
rules? Where are they written and who has
approved them? It is nonsense … nothing more
than rubbish. Still, they keep drumming it into
people’s heads indefinitely. And those who do
not observe these rules will be subject to
restrictions and sanctions.
Relaxed, Jocular, in Control
Putin appeared vigorous and fully alert, with
a prodigious grasp of detail, during his three
and a half hours on stage at Valdai. He even
told a couple of jokes … one about Russia being
blamed for everything – including broken
toilets. In this connection, readers might enjoy
this short
video showing who was to blame for
sabotaging the Nord Stream pipelines. (Perhaps
one reason Putin seemed in such high spirits is
that he had already seen this video.)
Nonetheless, in his earlier, prepared
remarks, Putin was dead serious in addressing
what he called, multiple times, the "tectonic
shift" in the world correlation of forces.
"Now this historical period of boundless
Western domination in world affairs is coming to
an end. The unipolar world is being relegated to
the past. We are at a historical crossroads. We
are in for probably the most dangerous,
unpredictable and at the same time most
important decade since the end of World War II.
The West is unable to rule humanity
single-handedly and the majority of nations no
longer want to put up with this. This is the
main contradiction of the new era. To cite a
classic, this is a revolutionary situation to
some extent – the elites cannot and the people
do not want to live like that any longer."
Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a
publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the
Saviour in inner-city Washington. His 27-year
career as a CIA analyst includes serving as
Chief of the Soviet Foreign Policy Branch and
preparer/briefer of the President’s Daily Brief.
He is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence
Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).
Views expressed in this article are
solely those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
in this article are
solely those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
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