But this resonated with me: "I want ordinary citizens of Western countries to hear me too: they are now persistently trying to convince you that all your difficulties are the result of some hostile actions of Russia, that you have to pay for the fight against the mythical Russian threat from your own wallet. All this is a lie.
"And the truth is that the current problems faced by millions of people in the West are the result of many years of actions by the ruling elites of their states, their mistakes, myopia and ambitions. These elites are not thinking about how to improve the lives of their citizens in Western countries. They are obsessed with their own vested interests and super profits.
"Evidence of this is the data of international organizations, which directly say that social problems, even in leading Western countries, have only worsened in recent years, that inequality is growing, the gap between rich and poor, racial and national conflicts are making themselves felt."
Putin is using the left's own arguments against the left.
He lashed out at economic sanctions which he has countered by limiting grain and fertilizer exports, which will send soaring food prices even higher. $5 gasoline? Hah. Wait till we have $5 milk.
He pointed out the amorality of the economic sanctions that drew blood.
He said, "All verbal tinsel about political correctness, inviolability of private property, freedom of speech -- all this flew off overnight. Even the Olympic principles were trampled on. They did not hesitate to settle scores with the Paralympic athletes - this is such a sport outside of politics."
That is a reference to a New York Times report, "In Reversal, Paralympics Bars Athletes From Russia and Belarus."
Those cheering the firing of an opera soprano or requiring a Denunciation of Putin Card for a Russian to play at Wimbledon need to realize that they are next. You can never be woke enough because the rules are constantly changing. Tennis champ, Martina Navratilova, a pioneer in lesbian rights, is now an outcast because she dares question transgenderism.
Putin knows this and he plays against it. He lashed out at oligarchs who have been Westernized.
He said, "I am not at all judging those who have a villa in Miami or the French Riviera, who cannot do without foie gras, oysters or so-called gender freedoms. The problem is absolutely not in this, but, I repeat, in the fact that many of these people, by their very nature, are mentally located precisely there, and not here, not with our people, not with Russia."
Of course the cable channels label his nationalism as evil while Zelensky's nationalism is saintly.
I don't think this war will do in Putin or Zelensky. Patriotism rings true in sane countries.
History shows that Russians may be dumb as bears but they do love their country. They call World War 2 the Great Patriotic War. Millions of deaths did not bring Stalin down because he saved the country in the eyes of his countrymen.
Putin is of course KGB. That means he knows of the world outside of Russia. He knows it well.
His line about "so-called gender freedoms" echoes across the globe. Many see Uncle Sam now as a drag queen.
In journalism, there are at least two sides of every story or else it is not journalism.
The collapse of the Soviet Union liberated hundreds of millions of people in Poland, Ukraine and all those Stans.
But the collapse also humiliated the Russian people, just as the World War I reparations humiliated Germany.
Russia had no business invading Ukraine.
We have no business being in Ukraine. But we are up to our necks in it because a corrupt government and its corrupt corporations pay Hunter Biden and other offspring of politicians well.
Writing off Putin's speech as madness may make you feel good and superior, but it also makes you look shallow and weak.