Rolo Slavisky — Substack.com Feb 22, 2023

The hype surrounding this big speech was something else. All the big names were talking about it and speculating about it, myself included. I shared a rumor that Putin might announce a switch from SMO to ATO. But I hedged my bets too.

And people are speculating on what he will say. No one knows, really. Bringing up the existence of the scheduled speech isn’t proof of a large offensive.

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So far, I haven’t really seen any concrete proof of a large-scale Russian offensive provided. I think that people just expect one to happen. It would make sense in some sort of poetic sense, I suppose.

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But hey, we’ve only got a day left to wait for the big announcement.

Unfortunately, I don’t expect any real clarity from Putin’s speech. It will take another few weeks or months of self-styled experts “decoding” what Putin really meant and whether the nose scratch between paragraphs three and four was actually a secret signal to prepare an underwater sub invasion of Odessa or something.

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My prediction: the fighting will intensify in the coming weeks and months as both sides try to eke out last minute gains before the scale down.

The people expecting news of a big offensive are just as disappointed as I am. I was expecting at least an escalation of rhetoric. But there was none. Putin’s rhetoric is definitely more hardline that it was a year ago, but there hasn’t been any hardening since the fall.

We do hear talk about Western Satanism quite regularly now. That’s undoubtedly progress.

Highlights

RT:

World should not be divided

Russia not only intends to firmly protect its own interests, but also its belief that the modern world should not be divided into “civilized countries” and “all the rest,” Putin said. He stressed the need for close partnerships without exceptionalism or resorting to aggression.

The president insisted that Moscow remains open to constructive dialogue with the West, and continues to call for a united and fair global security system. However, Putin claimed that instead of cooperating, the West has only issued a muddled response and hidden behind the umbrella of NATO, which continues to expand its borders towards Russia while American military bases spread throughout the world.

Not good. They still continue to call for dialogue. I don’t think that this is a fig leaf for the Chinese historians. I think the actions of Russia’s elite up to this point reflect this mindset.

Why Russia acted in Ukraine

Putin recalled that all of Russia’s security guarantee proposals were rejected outright by the US and NATO, which he said made it clear that the go-ahead for aggressive actions by Kiev had already been given. According to the president, there was clear evidence that another “punitive action” was being planned in Donbass for February 2022.

Putin said Kiev and its Western backers initiated the conflict in Ukraine, while Russia is now using force to put an end to it.

OK, fair enough. Nothing new or interesting though.

West doesn’t care who it uses against Moscow

Western nations used the “despicable method of deceit” during campaigns in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, and Syria, Putin argued. Regarding Ukraine, Putin said the West had openly admitted that the 2014-2015 Minsk agreements were a bluff. While “Donbass was burning and blood was being spilled,” Ukraine’s backers “were playing with people’s lives,” he stated.

Putin continued by claiming that the West does not actually care who it supports in its fight against Russia, which is why it turns a blind eye to Ukrainian fighters openly celebrating notorious Nazi divisions and bearing their insignia.

Putin asserted that the Ukrainian people have become expendable hostages for Kiev and its Western backers, who have occupied Ukraine in a political, military, and economic sense, devastating the country for the past several decades.

All true. The West will use anyone to further their agenda: a one world Old Testament approved global oligarchy.

Consequences of long-range arms supplies to Kiev

Putin suggested that the West is treating Ukraine as a battering ram against Russia, and is using the battlefield as a test-firing range. However, he stressed that one thing “everyone should understand” is that the longer the range of Western weapons systems being delivered to Ukraine, the farther Russia will be forced to move the threat away from its borders. “It’s only natural,” said the president.

That sounds quite optimistic. Unfortunately, that line of defense hasn’t moved much in a long while.

West wants a global conflict

Western elites no longer hide their true intentions and are openly calling for a “strategic defeat for Russia,” Putin added. He accused them of trying to transform a local conflict into a global confrontation, but argued that Russia will “react accordingly” to any threats.

At the same time, Putin insisted that the West recognizes that it cannot defeat Russia militarily, which is why it is launching increasingly aggressive information attacks against Russian culture, history, the Orthodox Church, and other traditional values.

I actually haven’t seen the West attacking Russian Orthodoxy on the level of rhetoric. In Ukraine, Zelensky has shut down the “pro-Russian” Orthodox Church that condemned Russia’s SMO. But, if anything, the agenda still remains ecumenism, i.e., focusing on creating a one-world religion based around Liberalism and Noahidism.

That the West has a warped morality that they are pushing on the rest of the world is quite true.

Unfortunately, while Russia is far better in this regard, there is little being done to improve Russia’s moral condition by the authorities. Shutting down those awful reality TV shows and the production of smut would be a good start. Why not do that, at least?

Sanctions have failed

The West has not only opened a military and information frontline against Russia, but also an economic one, according to Putin. However, its efforts have backfired and ultimately failed, despite attempts to spark inflation, crash the ruble, and blatantly steal Russia’s foreign exchange reserves, he added.

Well, seeing as there was and still is inflation and the West blatantly stole Russia’s money, so far they’re succeeding, no?

“Anti-Russian sanctions are only a tool,” Putin observed, claiming that the goal, as Western officials themselves have stated, is to “force suffering” upon Russian citizens. “But they miscalculated, and Russia’s economy proved much more robust than the West expected,” the president argued.

True. Russia’s GDP was calculated using Western-biased metrics that put greater emphasis on the service and finance economy. As a result, Russia’s economy, apparently, was valued as being smaller than Italy’s. Which simply doesn’t even pass the sniff test.

Russia is not just adapting to new realities, but is bringing its economy to new frontiers and working with its partners on establishing a stable and secure system of international settlements, independent of the dollar or other Western reserve currencies, Putin explained.

Sure, there’s some of that happening. Mostly though, it’s just China fleecing Russia by getting energy on the cheap. And Russia’s elites continue investing into the USD.

New START suspended

Putin stated that Moscow is well aware of the West’s involvement in attempts by Ukrainian forces to strike Russia’s strategic aviation. This, coupled with “absurd” requests from NATO to be allowed to inspect Russia’s defense facilities within the framework of the New START nuclear treaty, leaves Moscow no choice but to temporarily withdraw from the agreement, the president announced.

And that’s pretty much the only escalation that was announced.

What was concerning and disappointing, was Putin’s unwillingness to honestly address the setbacks and provide a clear vision of the challenges that Russia faces going forward. There wasn’t even much of an appeal to the Russian people. And there have been far more powerful, emotionally-open speeches made by Putin before.

Frankly, emotion is cheap. It’s almost strange that the president didn’t tap into feelings of sentimentality. It is almost as if the Russian government doesn’t want the Russian people getting too worked up.

Now, why would they be afraid of that?

Just think, if your country was getting ready for a total war with a numerically, financially and technologically superior enemy, wouldn’t you want to tap into some of that spirit? Look at how Kiev has relied on working its own population up to keep on fighting and sacrificing against Russia. Listen to the Western rhetoric aimed at Russia.

The Russian government simply does not respond in kind.

At least we have Telegram agitprop as a runner-up prize.

Putin and friends are routinely accused of being worse than literally Hitler, and they reply by saying, “can’t everyone just calm down, we’re trying to be reasonable here.”

I mean, just compare the rhetoric coming from Moscow to the rhetoric coming out of say, Tehran or Damascus. Or Minsk for that matter.

Speaking of Minsk, Lukashenko has promised the death penalty for traitors in the Belarussian government and announced the formation of a 150K strong national militia. He also added that Belarussian men ought to have access to guns and training to be able to defend their homes. And that Belarus would begin mobilizing a half-million strong army.

Very cool, if true.

Unlike Putin, Luka called out the COVID hoax as well. He also went further with his very candid and anti-globalist government speech the day before.

“There is an obvious increase in the threats of aggressive nationalism and extremism in various forms of their manifestation. The ideology of neo-fascism is raising its head. The threats of drug trafficking, human trafficking, illegal migration, which are also used to achieve political goals, are not reduced. The trend towards global cultural unification, including under non-traditional phenomena, threatens the foundations of the nation state — our moral principles, primordial values, historical memory,” Lukashenko said.

If you wanted to hear some tough talk and some red pills being dropped, you would have had a better time listening to Luka. In fact, you should listen to Luka so that you know what fighting words and principled opposition to the West looks like. Some of you are clearly very confused about this. One does not need a 5D interpreter to make sense of the hidden meanings in Lukashenko’s speeches. The man lays it all out and lays it on the line as well. Please, just do a quick mental compare and contrast before you get angry at me for pointing out that Moscow’s rhetoric is weak and reeks of non-committal.

Once again, I find myself wishing that Minsk were running Moscow.

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