Putin just gave a brilliant speech on the the fall of the unipolar world order, Russia's economic resilience in the face of sanction warfare, and the collapse of Western markets at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
— Jackson Hinkle (@jacksonhinklle) June 17, 2022
Will be breaking it down on tonight's stream.
Speaking at the SPIEF 2022 event, the head of Russian gas exporter Gazprom, Alexey Miller, said the world's Western-dominated economic system has been undergoing drastic changes, with the US dollar weakening. pic.twitter.com/KV6Q4hST0l
— RT (@RT_com) June 18, 2022
The economic development of Russia will rely on freedoms of entrepreneurship and will be built on principles of social justice, President Vladimir Putin said at the plenary session of the 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum: https://t.co/UEceDJhIIa pic.twitter.com/1PIOYmKaBk
— TASS (@tassagency_en) June 18, 2022
Europe is committing energy suicide – Russian oil chief
Igor Sechin of Rosneft says European nations are losing its competitive power to the US
European states are shooting themselves in the foot by imposing restrictions on Russia, according to Igor Sechin, the head of Russian oil giant Rosneft.
“Europe is committing energy suicide by imposing sanctions on Russia,” Sechin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). “They [European states] lose their identity and competitive power to the US.”
The Rosneft chief also said the sanctions have done away with the “green transition,” as the European leaders no longer need it for “market manipulation, since more blunt and radical approaches are being applied.”
According to Sechin, what remains of Europe’s “green rhetoric” completely contradicts actual practice, as the the nations across the region seek to find sources to replace Russian oil at any cost.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the sanctions a double-edged sword, saying Western leaders have caused significant damage to the economies of their nations by imposing the restrictions. Putin added that the EU’s direct losses from the sanctions could exceed $400 billion in one year, and the costs will be shouldered by EU citizens.
The old world is over: Key takeaways from Putin's first major speech since Russia's military offensive in Ukraine
Russian leader has buried the old world order and outlined his view on Russia’s and the world’s future, in a key address
New centers of power have emerged, the unipolar world order isn’t coming back, and the “colonial” way of thinking has failed, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday, in what the Kremlin described as an “extremely important” speech.
The old world order is gone with the wind
When the US declared victory in the Cold War, Americans designated themselves the “messengers of God on earth,” with interests that should be considered sacred and no obligations, Putin told the audience at SPIEF. New centers of power have since emerged, and have the right to protect their own systems, economic models and sovereignty.
These “truly revolutionary, tectonic changes in geopolitics, the global economy, in the technological sphere, in the entire system of international relations,” are “fundamental, pivotal and inexorable,” Putin said. “And It is a mistake to suggest that one can wait out the times of turbulent change and that things will return to normal; that everything will be as it was. It will not.”
Anti-Russian sanctions backfired on the West
When the US and its allies launched the campaign to “cancel” Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, they hoped to crash and undermine the Russian economy and society. The sanctions have instead boomeranged on their creators, aggravating social and economic problems, driving up the cost of food, electricity and fuel, and hurting the quality of life across the West, but especially in Europe.
“The European Union has completely lost its political sovereignty, and its bureaucratic elites are dancing to someone else’s tune, accepting whatever they are told from above, causing harm to their own population and their own economy,” Putin said.
EU citizens will pay the price for “decisions divorced from reality and taken contrary to common sense,” he added, as direct losses from the sanctions alone could exceed $400 billion in a year.
反ロシア制裁は西側諸国に裏目に出た
米国とその同盟国は、ウクライナ紛争をめぐるロシアへの「制裁」キャンペーンを開始したとき、ロシアの経済と社会を崩壊させ、弱体化させることを望んでいた。しかし、この制裁は、社会的、経済的問題を悪化させ、食料、電気、燃料のコストを引き上げ、西側諸国、特にヨーロッパでの生活の質を低下させ、その生みの親にブーメランのように突き刺さったのである。
「EUは政治的主権を完全に失い、官僚的エリートは他人の曲に合わせて踊り、上から言われたことは何でも受け入れ、自国の国民と経済に害を与えている」とプーチンは言った。
EU市民は、「現実から切り離され、常識に反して行われた決定」の代償を払うことになる。制裁による直接の損失だけでも、1年で4000億ドルを超える可能性がある、と彼は付け加えた。
Energy prices and inflation are self-inflicted
Blaming the high energy prices and inflation in the West on Russia – “Putin’s price hike,” as the White House put it – is a “stupidity” and “designed for people who can’t read or write,” the Russian president said.
“Don’t blame us, blame yourselves,” Putin said.
The EU “blindly believing in renewable sources” and abandoning long-term natural gas contracts with Russia led to the spike in energy prices last year, according to the Russian leader. Meanwhile, both the US and the EU addressed the Covid-19 pandemic by printing trillions of dollars and euros.
‘Elite change’ awaits the West
Policies undertaken by EU and US leaders are exacerbating inequalities and divisions in their societies, not just in terms of welfare but in terms of values and orientations of various groups, Putin said.
“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,” the Russian leader said.
If there’s a famine, it won’t be Russia’s fault
US and EU sanctions against Russia – in particular fertilizer and grain exports – are one of the reasons for growing global food insecurity, Putin pointed out. If there is famine in the world’s poorest countries, “this will be entirely on the conscience of the US administration and the European bureaucracy."
Troubles with food supply have arisen over the past several years – not months – due to the “short-sighted actions of those who are accustomed to solving their problems at someone else's expense,” distorting the trade flows by printing money in a sort of “predatory colonial policy,” Putin said.
Russia is ready to send food to Africa and the Middle East, where the threat of famine is most acute, but faces “logistical, financial, transport” obstacles imposed by the West, he said.
Reasons for the Ukraine conflict
Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February because the West refused to abide by its obligations, and it was “simply impossible to reach any new agreements with them,” Putin said. The decision was “forced, but necessary,” as Russia had every right as a sovereign country to defend its security and protect its citizens and residents of Donbass from “genocide by the Kiev regime and neo-Nazis who received the full protection of the West."
ロシアが2月にウクライナに軍を派遣したのは、西側諸国が義務を守らず、「彼らと新たな合意を結ぶことは単純に不可能」だったからだとプーチン氏は述べた。ロシアには主権国家として、自国の安全を守り、国民とドンバスの住民を "西側の全面的な保護を受けたキエフ政権とネオナチによる大量虐殺 "から守るあらゆる権利があったので、この決定は「強制されたが、必要だった」のである。
The West spent years turning Ukraine into an “anti-Russia” state and pumping it with weapons and military advisers, Putin said, pointing out they “did not give a damn” about Ukraine’s economy or the lives of its people, but “spared no expense to create a NATO foothold in the east, directed against Russia, to cultivate aggression, hatred and Russophobia."
西側諸国は何年もかけてウクライナを「反ロシア」国家に仕立て上げ、武器や軍事顧問を送り込んだとプーチンは述べ、彼らはウクライナの経済や国民の生活については「どうでもよかった」と指摘し、「東部にNATOの足場を作り、ロシアに対して向け、侵略、憎悪、ロシア恐怖症を育てるために費用を惜しまない」のだという。
“All the objectives of the special military operation will be unconditionally achieved,” Putin said.
Economic development is an expression of sovereignty
In the 21st century, sovereignty can’t be partial, Putin argued. All of its elements are equally important and complement each other, and the economy is one of them. There are five key principles Russia will follow in economic development: Openness, freedom, social justice, infrastructure, and technological sovereignty.
Russia will “never follow the path of self-isolation and autarky,” but will expand interactions with anyone who wishes to trade, Putin said, adding there are “many such countries.” Moscow will also support private enterprise, build and repair its transportation infrastructure, seek to reduce social inequality, and ensure its key technologies are not dependent on foreign imports.
“Truly sovereign states are always committed to equal partnerships,” while “those who are weak and dependent, as a rule, are busy looking for enemies, planting xenophobia, or finally losing their originality, independence, blindly following the overlord,” he said.