Orlov is a well-known kook of the type that believes the United States is a fascist state that will catastrophically collapse like the Weimar republic and bring us back to a barter economy.
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Well, there is the oppression of its people, mismanagement of resources, along with pollution and ecological problems. Not that theyāve any sort of monopoly on these practicesā¦
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The Finns took over 300,000 Russians out of actions in 3 month.
As for economics, they need to focus on making and sending us more cheap ammo, especially stuff with out steel cores.
Seriously though, Russia has some huge potential in many areas. I donāt know enough about it to guess why they seem so far behind the times.
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North Korea from South Korea. North Vietnam from South Vietnam? I guess from their point of view they tried to āsaveā many countries in various proxy wars.
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You need to stop applying non-Russian norms to Russia. Now, please.
Petr, you left rocket engines off your list of Russian exports. That market is exploding lately.
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Ahhhhā¦ no. A more precise description would be to say that Germany lost WWII. They screwed up by pulling Russia into the war, yes, but to imagine that Russia would have done jack shit to Germany - as long as she kept her guns pointed west - is sheer fantasy.
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Nothing Russia has done in half-a-hundred years has been fractionally as horrible. Or as callously dismissed.
Really? Flatly stealing the entirety of Crimea is not so terrible? And considering France is now following through with delivering warships to Russia, it sounds like the statute of limitations on grand theft country is about 6 months. Less if thereās not an Olympics going onā¦
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Sure, but I donāt see any reason to be cavalier about the possibility of one and all the damage it would do. And if anyone actually cared to avoid one, Putin is very blunt about why he would prefer one; second place or not, a cold war looks better for his interests than a world set up by America unilaterally.
If you look not just at the summary but at the text, points 2-3 are the central point, and honestly theyāre not wrong. Russia has always been obstructionist, but you can see that turn to outright hostility as America has turned away from international organizations that give them some say, to trying to settle affairs all over the world on its own terms:
This created the impression that the so-called āvictorsā in the Cold War had decided to pressure events and reshape the world to suit their own needs and interests. If the existing system of international relations, international law and the checks and balances in place got in the way of these aims, this system was declared worthless, outdated and in need of immediate demolition.
From here emanates the next real threat of destroying the current system of arms control agreements. And this dangerous process was launched by the United States of America when it unilaterally withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002, and then set about and continues today to actively pursue the creation of its global missile defense system.
In absence of legal and political instruments, arms are once again becoming the focal point of the global agenda; they are used wherever and however, without any UN Security Council sanctions. And if the Security Council refuses to produce such decisions, then it is immediately declared to be an outdated and ineffective instrument.
Previously just about everything Russiaās done in places like Ossetia and Ukraine has been while holding up the US assumption of authority to unilaterally carve up Serbia. Here it looks like heās decided to focus on something more obvious:
They once sponsored Islamic extremist movements to fight the Soviet Union. Those groups got their battle experience in Afghanistan and later gave birth to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
In Iraq, after Saddam Hussein was toppled, the stateās institutions, including the army, were left in ruins. We said back then, be very, very careful. You are driving people out into the street, and what will they do there? Donāt forget (rightfully or not) that they were in the leadership of a large regional power, and what are you now turning them into?What was the result? Tens of thousands of soldiers, officers and former Baath Party activists were turned out into the streets and today have joined the rebelsā ranks. Perhaps this is what explains why the Islamic State group has turned out so effective?
There is of course a lot selective in all this. Anybody who pretends that Putin is an honest leader is completely wrong; there is no reason to think him at all principled on domestic or humanitarian matters, about all the wonderful things Russia has done for the Ukraine, or so on.
But I am inclined to trust him about his international concerns and wish we would take some steps back on them, not because I think appeasing him makes any sense, but because the things he brings up are ones most sensible people are already worried about.
Americaās unilateral actions have been making a mess, and itās no surprise any country that isnāt closely aligned would be as antagonistic to them as they think they can afford. I think itās in everyoneās interests not to go further down that route.
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Theresa May isnāt the only one talking about withdrawing from ECHR jurisdiction.
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Sure, all we need is for them to offer some clear goals or policies. The Russian government needs to be accountable not to me, but to the Russian people who are screwed over. Evaluate them by their own supposed norms, see how they do. Career politicians just tend to be hypocrites.
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I noticed that Orlovās summary puts a gloss on what Putin actually said. For instance, this is downright creepy
. Russia favors a conservative approach to introducing innovations into the social order, but is not opposed to investigating and discussing such innovations, to see if introducing any of them might be justified.
but those are not Putinās words.
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Russia didnāt kill half-a-million children, denying imports of ordinary antibiotics and other medicines, while bombing clean water supplies from the air.
The US and UK did. War crimes.
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Russia needs to stop applying Russian norms to non-Russia. e.g. Ukriaine.
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Read Orlovās earlier commentary - if you can leave the USian āNew Speakā bubble for 10 minutes:
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Yes. I like how here, in US-istan, our democracy has enabled us to:
- End corporate banking welfare
- Withdraw drone warfare against states without formal declaration of war
- Stop the cable monopolization of Internet infrastructure against the public interest
- Etc. etc. etcā¦
Lawd, I loves me some freedoms to access cheap credit!
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Not since leaving Afghanistan in 1989, at least. FYI, thatās less than 50 years ago.
What are you fighting -for-?
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Russian warfare in Afghanistan was not on a comparable scale of the 3 phases of US led agression on Iraq.
Also, the Russians were manipulated into the conflict by deliberate intelligence operations by Brzezinski, among others - something he boasts of.
Ha! I see that you have been trapped in the Web of Lies spun by the decadent West. Russia and Novorossia are merely two components of the Glorious Kievan Rusā-- to insist that they are āindependentā states is to buy into the mischievous plans of the occidental bandits.
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Yes. I like how here, in US-istan, our democracy has enabled us to:
End corporate banking welfare
Withdraw drone warfare against states without formal declaration of war
Stop the cable monopolization of Internet infrastructure against the public interest
Do you believe that these three goals are broadly shared by the populace of this country, acting as individuals, but are not shared by those who control the political direction of this country? Do you believe that policies that reflect the interests of elite groups over the interests of the broader populace are somehow illegitimate? If so, congratulations. Youāve just made a political critique rooted in democracy.
What Orlov is saying, what Putin seems to be saying is that Democracy is not the basis for legitimate government. The consent of the governed doesnāt matter. The antidemocratic behavior of the United States is only important if it is hypocritical. If the United States were to adopt the manner of an oligarchy, and justify itself publicly using appeals to oligarchic ideals, it would be more legitimate and more admirable in the eyes of Russia, not less.
In Orlovās view, democracy as an ideal does not matter. One simply should not attempt to obtain the consent of the governed.
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