PRES. VLADIMIR PUTIN—Look, if memory serves me right, back in 1992, the share of the G7 countries in the world economy amounted to 47 per cent, whereas in 2022 it was down to, I think, a little over 30 per cent. The BRICS countries accounted for only 16 per cent in 1992, but now their share is greater than that of the G7. It has nothing to do with the events in Ukraine. This is due to the trends of global development and world economy that I mentioned just now, and this is inevitable. This will keep happening, it is like the rise of the sun — you cannot prevent the sun from rising, you have to adapt to it. How do the United States adapt? With the help of force: sanctions, pressure, bombings, and use of armed forces. This is about self-conceit. Your political establishment does not understand that the world is changing (under objective circumstances), and in order to preserve your level — even if someone aspires, pardon me, to the level of dominance — you have to make the right decisions in a competent and timely manner.
RUSSIA DESK
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ERIC ZUESSE—The reason why South Korea is performing better than the imperial power isn’t yet clear, but all of the at least major nations in the empire are performing significantly worse than the global average; and both China and Russia (the two major Asian powers) are performing significantly better than any of those U.S.-empire nations is — and significantly better than the global average.
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WILLIAM SCHRYVER—This war was anything but “unprovoked Russian aggression”. This war was spawned and nurtured for decades in the secret chambers of the imperial dark lords in London and Washington. It was a war the empire knew Russia would fight. The imperial suzerains simply deceived themselves into believing it was a war Russia could not win. As was imperative, Russia did choose to fight — notwithstanding there were many reasons to suppose they were insufficiently prepared to win in the event the full weight of the NATO countries were thrown against them.
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EDITOR—A highly illuminating chat with Dmitri Zolotarev, a Russian scientist living in Siberia and brought up in the Soviet Union, who has many warm memories from a country that most Westerners have been indoctrinated to fear and hate. It’s clear the Soviet Union, one of the greatest and noblest experiments in human history, an experiment frequently poisoned by the unrelenting hostility of the capitalist world that unleashed all manner of weapons against it, from a 75-year boycott/blockade to outright wars (Nazi invasion, CIA-instigated Chechen wars, etc.) would have easily surpassed the West if this extraordinary campaign by the West had not been instituted.
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VANESSA BEELEY—I speak to geopolitical analyst and journalist Brian Berletic about Russia’s military and realpolitik strategy in Syria. While many people have a reactionary response to Israel’s persistent aggression against Syria – Russia, Syria, Iran and allies are studying the long-term strategy which is agreed upon with Damascus in the driving seat.