Ukraine Invasion: Part 31

[MagicFox]

31st thread, welcome all and thanks as usual.

... "The west is looking for new ways to strike against our country, to weaken and destroy Russia [...] they just can't put up with there being such a big country with its territory, rich natural resources, and people who won't live on anyone else's rules."

He's fucking deluded. But sounds almost like he considers the special military operation to be at an end, and to have accomplished something. Undoubtedly this will change little on the ground but the narrative might now be that the offensive moves are all from Ukraine.

... Putin says the west wants to make Russia a "colony," "rob" it, and turn its people into a "crowd of voiceless slaves."

"They don't need Russia, but we do." Applause.

"Russia will always be Russia. We will always defend ourselves and our motherland."

Any explicit reference to nuclear weapons?

.. Putin on the "rules-based order" in the west. "Has anyone seen these rules? Who agreed to them?"

He says the western elite is "colonial" are "racist" because they are "spreading Russophobia all over the world."

Not yet jelly, no doubt that'll be the crescendo

... Even by Putin's standards, this is really a blistering broadside against the west.

He's drawing a line between the "colonial" western elite and everyone else, going on about the Opium Wars and the Indian mutiny. The message: Russia wants to lead a global resistance to the west.

This is all @maxseddon for anyone wanting to follow live on Twitter but I'm reposting his live tweets here as they arrive

... "The west has said for centuries it is bringing freedom and democracy to the world. Everything is exactly the opposite," Putin says.

He goes on about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Allied bombings of German cities, the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

(In case you had any doubt what this is really about, Putin hasn't even mentioned Ukraine for about 15 minutes now. This is effectively an official declaration of hostilities against the west.)

Putin says the "Anglo-Saxons" are behind the sabotage on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines this week. Then he pivots to ranting about Nato and other US-led alliances like AUKUS.

He says US military doctrine is "total domination" of the whole world.

"We hear about the 'containment' of Russia, China, and Iran. Other countries are next – from the Middle East and Latin America."

He says the "sanctions blitzkrieg" against Russia failed to topple it and non-western countries agree with him that US hegemony has gone too far.

Thank you MagicFox

"You can't feed people with paper dollars and euros. You can't heat people's homes with the lies you spread on social media," Putin says. "You can't warm people with puffed-up valuations – you need energy sources."

(I've watched a lot of Putin speeches over the last 10-15 years and this is the most anti-US one by a really long way.

If I were a western policymaker wondering if he'd really use nuclear weapons – and he hasn't even got to them yet – I'd be very concerned.)

The only people who are ready to live according to US rules are "political masochists and other followers of non-traditional political relations," a homophobic joke.

Putin rants about sex change operations. "This is unacceptable. We have our own future.

"Outright Satanism" in the west (though Putin disappointingly did not expand on this)

Genuine Question: Has he always been like this? I mean, in his own head he probably has, but this ranting against the West and it would seem genuine hatred of us all, is the expression of this a fairly new thing?

Similar point made by @whereisrussiatoday

Bizarrely, a speech about annexation has now become focused on Putin's desire to combat the West's promotion of 'pornography, homosexuality, deviancy, transgender people and Satanism'.

Our translation team has never worked on such a strange source.

Now they're signing the documents to say that parts of another country belongs to them. It's just completely nuts.

Back to Seddon...

Putin says Russia wants to lead an "anti-colonial movement" to liberate the world. "We need to turn this disgraceful page. Western hegemony will be smashed. This is inevitable. We must do this for our people, the great historical Russia."

"Truth is on our side. Russia is with us!" A standing ovation.

That was a truly stunning speech – one clearly aimed at sending fear into the hearts of US, UK, and European leaders.

Another summary of the speech from where is Russia today: threadreaderapp.com/thread/1575802650024587265.html

He's trying to set the china-russia-Iran axis against the west, drawing the contours for a new world split isn't he? Even attempting to pull India in. Just hope it all stays cold rather than (more) hot. No direct mentions of nuclear weapons. This is setting the stage for west against rest. (This is me, not quoting anymore)

I think he might be sorely disappointed as to how much support he'll actually get from China.