It's OK being #2.
Great Britain had to be that after WWII. No problemo. They'd ruled the waves. Their decline had begun. They accepted it.
But the US? After suddenly being catapulted to the world stage in WWII and staying up there as long as they had?
Seventy years is a short time, but for them it's an eternity. They weren't about to give up and they goddamned are not going to give up.
How many movies have you seen where a school bully finally gets his comeuppance? They fight and scrap and cheat. They're not about to give up until they're completely defeated and humiliated beyond recognition.
About 88% of the humans on the planet support Russia in the current standoff over Ukraine. 88%. Someone at RT broke down Putin's speech at the 25th SPIEF. It's a good place to start.
1. The old world order is gone with the wind
True. Putin warned about this back in 2007 at the annual Munich Security Conference. Vladimir Pozner asked rhetorically at Yale in 2018 if any action or word by Putin or Russia from 1991 and onwards had in any way been found objectionable by the US. The answer was 'of course not'. Putin bided his time, with infinite patience.
Then too, the Russia of 2007 was not the overall powerhouse of today. Recovering from the onslaught by the US in the 1990s took time. The US saw to it, in those drunken Yeltsin years, that the average life expectancy in Russia had dropped to 50. FIFTY. People we know have relatives who remember. Families made bread out of tulip bulbs. That's how bad it was. Putin himself, employed by the University of Leningrad, considered taking a moonlight job as a cabbie to support himself, his wife, and his two daughters, so dire were conditions. He also considered sleeping with a shotgun under his bed, so real was the threat of break-ins by people getting increasingly desperate by the US-induced situation. So it took a long time. Life expectancy was back up, Putin had restored critical infrastructure something incredible, his staunch stance on no-nonsense honest government was bringing out the best in people everywhere, but Russia was still in no position to challenge the Hegemon. Today, fifteen years later, the situation's changed. For in all possible respects, social, political, financial, economical, Russia's now light years ahead of the US. Their social fabric is stable, their cities are exemplary, clean and tidy, their people have a good life unimaginable in the west. The only thing they do not have is real tropical climates with nice Bora Bora-type beaches.
Worst of all - most definitive of all - is that they're not even interested in the west anymore. The west was forbidden fruit in the Soviet era, but now they've had a taste of it, do not like it, have tired of it. They have it better going their own way.
2. Anti-Russian sanctions backfired on the West
Well no, sanctions never work. Who claimed they did, or could now? All the misery that the people of the west are now expected to endure: that has nothing to do with Russia. It's all about a bunch of fat old bastards in Washington who are pissed that they can't rule the world anymore.
'The European Union has completely lost its political sovereignty', Putin said. Indeed. With crackerjacks like Ursula von der Leyen running things - she's hated in her own country - what can you expect? She turned off the spigot on RT satellite transmissions! Not the EU - it was Ursula! Nobody ever elected the bitch to anything. The EU is so corrupt in its very roots that this was possible. And Ursula is lockstep with Biden. You know that.
3. Energy prices and inflation are self-inflicted
Yes of course. To make matters worse: the Russian economy is actually improving, and the ruble is gaining back ground it hasn't had since the pre-Yeltsin years! If you're thinking of migrating to Russia and trying out their tasty foods and cavorting with their world-class women: do it now whilst the exchange rate is still favourable. A modest nest egg can be a fortune over there. And say hello to Ed Snowden and family if you run into them.
Oh. That business about Biden and 'Putin's price hike'? Do you want to know what Putin said at SPIEF? He said it's a 'stupidity' and 'designed for people who can't read or write'. Who could he be referring? Who does Biden think he's addressing?
4. 'Elite change' awaits the West
This one's a bit more diffy.
'Such a detachment from reality, from the demands of society, will inevitably lead to a surge of populism and the growth of radical movements, to serious social and economic changes, to degradation, and, in the near future, to a change of elites.'
What he's saying is that you, the people in the west, are going to grow sick and tired of the bullshit and are not going to take it anymore.
Which is inevitable. The Russians and the MAGA people, for example, have very few endemic differences. Their cultures are not congruent, but their fundamental principles are completely so. Russia and MAGA should understand each other and work together. It's only the Deep State of the US, aware all along of the above, who tried to stymie one of humanity's most obvious MFEOs ever.
5. If there's a famine, it won't be Russia's fault
Of course. But you don't expect Biden or his pack of world champion losers to do anything about it, do you? Try to understand their POV. They're down for the count and they know it. There is NO FUCKING WAY they are going to give up. And no, they don't care what destruction they wreak along the way.
Yes, it's fucking stupid as can be. Remember how the British segued after WWII. But this is the US. They're bullies, brats, boys of the frats.
6. Reasons for the Ukraine conflict
Biden's been doing so well that he needed a war to rally the voters. But even that failed? No POTUS has ever failed like Biden. There are those who claim Biden is not a legit POTUS. Better for the image of the US in such case. The track record is unparalleled. Woke shit, open border and stop construction of the wall, people pouring in from 150 countries, pouring right in, the shameful catastrophe of Kabul, the murderous campaign of the Bill Gates vaccines, the millions of vaccine-injured, THAT CREEPY VOICE whispering to you over a microphone - does he scare small children? You bet he does! The tiny hairs on their legs stand on end!
And no man left behind in Afghanistan. He overrides the woke advice of woke generals to evacuate the military before the civilians they're supposed to protect - who can vote for that man?
And we're not even to the laptop...
The reason - the most recent reason - for the conflict is that the US was planning on invading sometime in early March. The US also had bio weapons labs all over the place.
7. Economic development is an expression of sovereignty
OK, Vova, anything you say. But you made your point. And every thinking human agrees with you.
And we back you.