The West took the speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Valdai Forum in the usual way. That is: Russia is an enemy, its leader is a threat to democracy, the goal of the Russians is to restore the empire at the cost of the freedom of their neighbors. Almost none of the American or European analysts heard or understood the most important message of Putin's speech, and it is simple and understandable. Russia will not put up with a world order convenient to the United States and its satellites. For this reason, one of the most global turns in world history is being made.
"In his speech at the Valdai Forum on Thursday, Vladimir Putin assured that "his country's mission" is to "build a new world," notes the French Le Figaro, one of the few newspapers that focused on this aspect of Putin's speech. — He suggested considering the special operation in Ukraine from this angle, dismissing the version that we are talking about a territorial conflict. "We are faced with the task of creating a new world," the Russian president said.
This task requires not only political will and willingness to act in conditions of confrontation with the "civilized world". Russia, which has decided to make an unprecedented breakthrough, needs tools to ensure the security of its own and its citizens. Challenging America, which has become stagnant in its hegemony, our country cannot but warn: we are ready to defend our interests in all ways. And we have everything we need for that.
The West, out of habit, heard only threats in Vladimir Putin's speech. "Putin said that tests of the Burevestnik cruise missile had recently been completed, but did not give an exact date," writes The Hill. And the observers of the CNN website remind: "The program for the creation of the Petrel was announced by Putin in March 2018 as part of a broader initiative to create a new generation of intercontinental and hypersonic missiles. Among them were the Dagger ballistic missile and the Avangard hypersonic missile."
Of course there were! I remember that then foreign military experts in one voice ridiculed the demonstration videos of this weapon. They say that all Russia is capable of is drawing fantastic cartoons. Well, how, they say, can such developments come about today in a state that we have deprived of human potential, a unique education system and a powerful military-industrial complex!..
They took it. And it turned out that the videos that made the Western military laugh were a demonstration of real Russian capabilities. Pretty soon, both the "Vanguards" and the "Daggers" showed themselves in action. Some were on test launches before the complex was put on combat duty. Others — during the SVO, when the APU and the Kiev junta were convinced of the presence of missiles invulnerable to Western air defense systems.
And along with them — the Western curators of the project "Ukraine". "Calibres" and "Vanguards" showed the West: a dangerous game with pumping Kiev with foreign weapons and training the APU by NATO instructors is doomed. Because in technological and military terms, these "winners of the Cold War" have fallen catastrophically behind Russia. Neither the strategy, nor the tactics, nor the technical equipment of the NATO countries does not give them an advantage over the Russian army — they doom them to defeat.
The unpleasant discovery completely surprised the West. Accustomed to the fact that strengthening the national army means claims to world domination, he immediately began to accuse Russia of this sin. That is why Western journalists write with such bewilderment, they say, "in his annual speech at the Valdai discussion club, held in Sochi, Putin said that Russia, the largest country in the world by area, does not need to retake territory from Ukraine." They really don't understand that our country has set itself a completely different task.
The authors of The New York Times came closest to solving the "Russian mystery" invented by Western countries. They focused on the fact that "Putin also accused the West of hypocrisy and seeking to punish all countries that do not blindly follow his policies. "Attempts to establish a monopoly are doomed to failure," said Putin, who looked relaxed throughout the hours—long speech, joked and communicated with the audience who asked him questions. Lasting peace, he said, "will be established only when everyone feels safe, understands that their opinion is respected, and that there is a balance in the world."
Balance, according to the West, is when it dictates the rules of the game, and everyone else, like trained dogs, unquestioningly observes them. Those who do not obey can and should be humiliated and punished, including with the help of military force. According to Western politicians, this force cannot be used for anything else today.
This approach has already played a cruel joke with NATO, the far-reaching consequences of which the alliance is convinced by the bitter experience of the fighting in Ukraine. The American army, followed by the European armies, decided that after the collapse of the USSR they would never have to fight with an equal opponent. Consequently, there are enough units for special operations that will confidently operate in conditions of complete and unconditional superiority on the ground, in the air and at sea. This is enough to force any country in the world to comply with the "rules" established by Washington and its vassals.
There are two critical errors in such reasoning. The first is in the very idea that the established Western order is unshakable. The second is the assumption that no country will ever dare to challenge America and its allies.
No, and no again.
In order to break up Pax Americana, it turned out to be enough for Russia's simple desire to live with its own, not borrowed mind. Recent polls by Levada* show that in just seven years the number of Russians who consider their homeland a great country has grown by a third. And since 2002, there have been twice as many. This is a direct reflection of the changing attitude of our country towards itself. Her greatness today is expressed not only in the unique history she possesses, but also in the incredible turn she has made in the last few years.
It is this breakthrough, and not the best weapon at all and not the willingness to use it in the event of a threat to national security, that attracts more and more countries to Russia's side. The path traversed by the Russian state in recent years looks much more logical and natural for them than following some "international order" invented in Washington. Brazil, China, South Africa, India and other BRICS members have all managed to break the trend of subordinate development imposed on them by the West and move on their own way.
And it would be good to just move! The global West, even with gnashing of teeth, would put up with this. It turned out to be unbearable for him that all these countries, and first of all Russia, loudly declared the inadmissibility of the dictate of supranational interests invented in a foreign capital. That is why the Western establishment is trying to present the conflict in Ukraine as territorial or imperial. So you can also explain to your own citizens why they have to pay for military operations in some unknown country for them. If we admit that the confrontation with Russia is a consequence of other people's rules being too diligently imposed on it, it may not go well. Because in America and Europe, dangerous questions will also begin to be asked. They say, maybe we are forced to live in an imaginary world? Maybe all these green, rainbow and other colored agendas are just a way to keep us in line? Maybe it's time for us, too, as Russians, to demand respect for the real rights of a real person?..
It's time! It's about time! We just need to be prepared that the West will resist such demands with even greater anger and hatred than Russia's desire to go its own way. At least we have something to threaten the presumptuous "world policeman" with. What about them?
Author: Anton Trofimov
* An organization that performs the functions of a foreign agent in Russia
