How Putin's speech describes Russia's fight against 'Western values'

In his speech to the Federal Assembly, President Putin stressed that Russia is not just an independent nation-state. It is also an independent civilization with its own identity, which is in conflict with the West and actively opposes the values of "Western civilization".

Russian President Vladimir Putin's much-anticipated speech to the Russian Federal Assembly last Tuesday must be interpreted as a fundamental display of sovereignty.

Significantly, the speech coincided with the first anniversary of Russia's official recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. What was accomplished a year ago also marked the birth of the multipolar world of the 21st century in many ways. Then, two days later, Moscow launched the special military operation in Ukraine – also to defend these republics.

Statesmanlike, self-contained, and without a hint of aggression, Putin's speech portrayed Russia as a centuries-old, independent and distinct civilization – sometimes on a common path with other civilizations, sometimes in divergence.

Ukraine, also part of Russian civilization, is now occupied by Western civilization, which Putin said was "hostile to us," as in some cases in the past. The acute phase of what is essentially a proxy war of the West against Russia is thus taking place against the entirety of Russian civilization. This explains Putin's clarification:

"Russia is an open country, but an independent civilization – we don't consider ourselves superior, but we inherited our civilization from our ancestors and we need to pass it on to future generations."

A war that threatens the entirety of Russian civilization is a serious existential matter. Putin also made it clear that "Ukraine is being used by the West as a tool and staging ground against Russia." Hence the inevitable conclusion:

"The more long-range weapons are sent into Ukraine, the further away we must push the threat away from our borders."

Translated, this means that this war will be long – and painful. There will be no quick victory with minimal blood loss. The next movements around the Dnieper can take years to consolidate. Depending on whether US policy continues to adhere to neoconservative and neoliberal goals, the front line must be pushed all the way to Lvov. In addition, the political balance of power in Berlin could change, while trade with Germany and France could probably not resume until the end of the next decade.

The Kremlin's Bitterness: The End of the START Agreement

All this brings us to the intrigues of the empire of lies. Putin said:

"The promises of Western leaders have become deceit and lies. The West supplied weapons, trained nationalist battalions. Even before the start of the special military operation, there were negotiations on the delivery of air defense systems to Ukraine. We also remember Kiev's intention to preserve nuclear weapons."

Putin again made it clear that the element of trust between Russia and the West, especially the US, is in ruins. Therefore, it is a logical decision for Russia "to withdraw from the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Weapons, but we are not doing it definitively. At the moment, we are merely suspending our participation in the START agreement. No U.S. inspections will be allowed at our nuclear facilities."

Apart from that, Washington has already withdrawn from two of the three most important US-Russian arms control treaties: the ABM Treaty, which was abandoned by President George W. Bush's administration in 2002; and the INF Treaty, which was put to an end by President Donald Trump in 2019. The Kremlin's bitterness over this is so deep that Putin is even willing to order the Ministry of Defense and Rosatom to prepare Russian nuclear weapons tests should the US go down that road. If this happens, Russia will be forced to completely break nuclear parity and abandon the moratorium on nuclear testing and cooperation with other nations in the production of nuclear weapons. Until now, the US and NATO had the opportunity to open a small window that allowed them to inspect Russian nuclear facilities. With his judo trick, Putin is now returning the pressure to the White House.

The US and NATO will not be thrilled when Russia begins testing new strategic weapons. In particular, the Poseidon – the largest nuclear torpedo ever built, which is said to be capable of triggering terrible radioactive contaminated tsunamis on the enemy's shores.

The economic front

Bypassing the US dollar is the essential step towards multipolarity. During his speech, Putin made a point of emphasizing the resilience of the Russian economy:

"Russia's GDP fell by only 2022.2 percent in 1, the estimates of the other side, which predicted 15 to 20 percent, have not come true."

This resilience gives Russia enough leeway to "work with partners to make the system of international payment processing independent of the US dollar and other Western currencies. The dollar will lose its universal role."

Putin also mentioned the economic corridors from West to South Asia:

"New trade corridors and transport routes are being built eastwards, a region on which we will focus our economic development. New highways to Kazakhstan and China are being built, as well as a new north-south corridor to Pakistan and Iran."

These routes will connect with Russia and lead to the seaports of the Black and Azov Seas. It is necessary to build logistics corridors within the country, Putin said. The result will be a gradual connection to the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), whose key players include Iran, India and eventually China's Belt & Road Initiative (BRI).

China's Plan for Global Security

It was inevitable that much of Putin's speech would have to focus on the war between NATO and Russia – except for outlining several state strategies aimed at Russia's internal development.

Putin recalled that relations with the West have deteriorated, and this is entirely the fault of the United States; that NATO's goal is to inflict a "strategic defeat" on Russia. And he also recalled that the warmongering frenzy had forced him a week earlier to sign a decree to "put novel ground-based strategic complexes on combat readiness." It is no coincidence, then, that the US ambassador was summoned to the State Department immediately after Putin's speech.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Ambassador Lynne Tracey that Washington must take concrete measures, including the withdrawal of all US and NATO forces and military equipment from Ukraine. In a further step, he called for a detailed explanation of the destruction of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines and an end to US interference in an independent investigation to identify those responsible for the sabotage.

To maintain momentum in Moscow, top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi met with Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev before subsequently speaking with Lavrov and Putin. Patrushev noted:

"The course of developing a strategic partnership with China is an absolute priority for Russia's foreign policy."

And Wang Yi added less cryptically:

"Moscow and Beijing must bring their clocks into line."

Meanwhile, the Americans are doing everything they can to forestall the Chinese proposal for de-escalation in Ukraine. China's plan is due to be unveiled on Friday, and there is a serious danger that Beijing will fall into a trap set by Western plutocrats.

But the Chinese smelled the roast and decided to go on the offensive themselves by presenting a concept paper for a new global security initiative.

The problem here is that Beijing still gives too much influence to a toothless UN when they refer to "formulating a new agenda for peace, which will be presented to the UN Secretary-General in our common agenda." The same is true if Beijing maintains the consensus that "a nuclear war cannot and must never be fought." Try explaining this to the neoconservative psychos in Washington, who have no idea about war, let alone nuclear war.

The Chinese reaffirm the need to "comply with the Joint Declaration on the Prevention of Nuclear War and the Avoidance of an Arms Race issued by the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon states in January 2022 to strengthen dialogue and cooperation among nuclear-weapon states to reduce the risk of nuclear war."

It can be bet that Nikolai Patrushev has extensively explained to Wang Yi that this is pure wishful thinking. The "logic" of the current collective Western "leadership" has been expressed, among others, by the irresistibly mediocre Jens Stoltenberg, NATO's Secretary General: even nuclear war is preferable to a Russian victory in Ukraine.

Putin's thoughtful and moderate but clear speech has made it clear that the stakes are getting higher and higher. Now it's all about how deeply Russia's – and China's – "strategic intelligibility" will be able to freeze in fear a paranoid West juggling nuclear bombs.