[No.6]

There doesn’t seem to be a way to comment/ask directly — maybe if I chased it to his substack, but anyway I prefer FR so I’ll ask here.

Several times in the speech there’s a reference to “the West” or “Western elites.” From over here when I read that I interpret this as the EU + USA “deep state” or “uniparty” whichever phrase turns your fancy, and behind those the power brokers/billionaires whose stated agenda the politicians seem eager to implement (WEF, Soros, Roshschilds, take your pick or others or none). I would very much include Germany, or at least the Germans in power there, in that group and have long considered the EU a sort of 4th Reich of Germany with France as a neo-vichy state.

However in the speech there are several references to “the West” beating the snot out of Germany including a direct reference to Dresden, and to “the West” using nukes ...

...so for people more familiar with the Russian mindset, do you think he means the amalgam of western elitist groups, or is this longhand for “the USA,” or what?

[ought-six]

“..so for people more familiar with the Russian mindset, do you think he means the amalgam of western elitist groups, or is this longhand for “the USA,” or what?”

I think he probably means “The West” is anyone who doesn’t think the same way he does, as he appears to be including, at least by implication, countries that agree with The West and follow — to one extent or another — The West’s lead.

[Rockingham]

Coherent serious ideas are not to be found in Putin's remarks. Instead, his comments are best understood as pathological expressions of the old messianic idea of Russia as the "Third Rome," the successor to Byzantium, and the caretaker of true Christianity and Christian culture. Denouncing "the West" resonates with similar denunciations centuries ago of the Roman Catholic Church in the West after the split between it and the Byzantine and the other Eastern Rite churches that became what we know today as Orthodox or Eastern Rite Christian denominations.

Putin's speech and his recourse to mobilization also resonate with the Soviet Union's declaration of the fight against the Nazi German invaders in 1941 as "The Great Patriotic War" against fascism, making the war a defense of Russia against an ideology driven attackers instead of a defense of the communist regime. And through mass mobilization, the Soviet Union created and trained wave after wave of new divisions that wore down the German army to defeat even as the Soviets experienced staggering losses in men and materiel.

Ultimately, although rooted rooted in history, Putin's approach does not conform to the facts or current military needs. Russia is the invader of Ukraine, not the other way around, and Russia's weapons industry is relatively weak, obsolete, and dependent on Western suppliers for high tech components. Modern military gear and tactics require intelligent, skilled technicians, operators, and soldiers, not rifle-toting mass conscripts with minimal training.