The entire speech showed the failure of the West to integrate Russia into the modern First World economic system.
Subjecting Russia to idiot Libertarian economic “shock therapy” as it was termed in the early ‘90s merely culminated with financial collapse in 1998.
Putin was the response to all of this. His actions to re-impose discipline in the banking and stock segments of their economy resulted in stability and rising incomes for Russians, buoyed by oil prices.
He headed up the group of people who had decided that the West planned to let them die and gloat over the corpse.
After all, what was our message to them? Drop Communism so you can lose all your industries and starve to death as your daughters become whores to feed themselves?
His war with Ukraine is a trade war. He wanted to keep Ukraine within an economic trade zone dominated by Russia and the other Slavic countries. The Neocon dominated globalists did not like that and helped disrupt that plan which included the pro-Russian thug Yanukovytch as President of Ukraine.
The sanctions that came out of that were seen in Russia as an attempt to starve them yet again. The reaction of building up his military is seen as justified by Russians.
All of this could have been avoided if we had an incremental recovery plan for Russia starting in 1992.
But the West decided to turn their back on Russia. Worse then that they saw NATO expansion East as a direct threat. Where are they wrong? G. H. W. Bush promised Gorbachev that NATO would not expand if the Soviet Union dropped the Warsaw Pact and ceased to exist.
Putin and his re-arming is the direct result of all of that. Put them in a corner and they will fight.
It never had to happen.
Please, don’t introduce an actual understanding of history, economics, and human nature into any discussion that targets Russia as the great evil of our day.
Stop making sense.
L
So Russia’s problems are the West’s fault? OK.
Putin can’t be a popular reaction to anything because he was hand picked by Yeltsin and made his successor.
Sad to see that you’re another one buying into this popular story where the west needs to self flagellate and repent and hope if enough prayers with appeasement are sent toward Moscow they’ll forget they’r evil ways.
Objectively Moscow has nothing to complain about. They were met with open arms and a hefty unearned trust credit that they burned through the minute they got their oil money and thus the mean arrogance back.
Putin is a Chavez type hero. They both got into the head of their petrostates in 2000 when the oil boom started and the results of 5x rising oil price are attributed to their “economic miracles” by their fans. When the oil boom ended both of their miracles collapsed.
Excellent summary...although rather than turning its back, I’d say the West actively facilitated the asset stripping Russia’s original oligarchs engaged in.