You have probably heard clips from Vladimir Putin’s speech to the Russian nation on Wednesday. Here is the speech in full.
YouTube is partially censoring it by disabling the “embed” feature that normally allows a video to be shared on sites like this one. However, you can watch the video on YouTube by clicking the Watch on YouTube link.
Putin’s remarks are interesting in a number of ways. First, he explains his rationale for invading Ukraine. I doubt that many Americans will be sympathetic to his reasoning, but it is useful to hear it.
Then Putin puts forth an economic plan that is clearly a response to western sanctions:
- Expand welfare payments to mothers, children and the unemployed.
- Deregulate the private sector economy to encourage entrepreneurial efforts.
- Pump money into infrastructure spending and other national business development efforts.
I was most struck by Putin’s resolve that the Ukrainian crisis marks an existential break with the West. He seems to be saying, “Good riddance.”
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
Sadly, he is more believable than our own government and media. He is internally consistent and his historical references are correct.
We were never going to intervene effectively, so talking a big game and doing nothing is only losing us a valuable ally in the fight against Islamic fundamentalism and a check on China.
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RE: “We were never going to intervene effectively, so talking a big game and doing nothing is only losing us a valuable ally in the fight against Islamic fundamentalism and a check on China.”
I think the situation is worse than that. I am persuaded that our leaders have been pursuing an idiotic plan to harm Russia instead of accepting Russia as a global power. Instead of accepting that we won the Cold War, our leaders insist on continuing to fight it.
This is ugly behavior on our part, for which the Ukrainian people are paying the price.
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“Sadly, he is more believable than our own government and media.”
Utter nonsense.
Your true colors shining through. It is an ugly sight.
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So, blind acceptance of anything the government and compliant media feeds us is your criteria for goodness?
Do you deny that Ukranian paramilitary groups have killed thousands of people in the Donbas? Or that Zelensky either approves or is unable to rein them in?
Do you hear the MSM acknowledging that?
The causes for wars are rarely one sided, and refusing acknowledge that and making heroes of the lesser thugs is dangerous.
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“Do you deny that Ukranian paramilitary groups have killed thousands of people in the Donbas? Or that Zelensky either approves or is unable to rein them in?”
Do you have cite for your assertions (emphasis on ASS) or are you just making up shit to defend the indefensible?
You have spread so many lies and speculations about Ukraine and Zelensky, I am surprised you can keep them straight. Actually it is pretty easy because you keep saying the same things with ZERO verifiable information about them.
No matter how many times you tell a lie, it does NOT become true.
The cause of this war is based on half-truths and Russian fertilizer. Referring to the leadership of Ukraine as “Nazi” should be the first red flag for you. Jewish Nazi is the ultimate oxyMORON.
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According to the United Nations Commissioner on Human Rights, between 13,000 and 14,000 were killed, mostly by Neo-Nazi paramilitary groups, in the Donbas between 2014, when Crimea was annexed by Russia, and last year, prior to the Russian invasion. By contrast, 6 lives were lost in the Annexation of Crimea.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War#Total_deaths
The lies aren’t coming from me, but from the Biden administration and the warmongering cheerleaders in the MSM.
Had Russia acted sooner, thousands of lives would have been saved.
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“Blind acceptance?”
Your lack of self-awareness is off the charts. You are the one who STUPIDLY puts credence in the obvious lies of Trump and Putin. It has been noted by me and others how you have checked whatever critical thinking skills you may have once had at the door in your role as a Trump/Putin cheerleader.
There has been a lot of turmoil in Donbas and that is the work of your current fascist hero, Putin. It is EXACTLY the same tactic that Hitler used to unsettle the Sudetenland as a pretext for stepping in and dismembering Czechoslovakia.
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Odd, you used to believe the United Nations Commissioner on Human Rights, has that become inconvenient now?
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I followed your link. It does not confirm your fascist bullshit. Yes, about 14,000 people have been killed because of the de facto Russian invasion that has been going on since 2014. Your attribution of most of the deaths to “Neo-nazis” is a flat out LIE. People who spread LIES are LIARS. And that’s a fact.
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So, you think the ethnic Russian people who live in the Donbas are killing their neighbors?
And the Neo-Nazi paramilitary groups that have invaded the region are just bringing first aid kits?
Until this month, Russian troops were not in the Donbas. Russia did provide supplies to the separatists, much like we have done through the CIA for rebels we support around the world for the last 70 years.
People who swallow the tripe the government feeds us to manipulate public opinion uncritically are the useful idiots we were warned about.
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“So, you think the ethnic Russian people who live in the Donbas are killing their neighbors?”
People die in wars. There was an ongoing war in Donbas because of Putin’s desire to expand Russia. There have been 3,400 civilians killed. The remaining 11,000 were people involved in the Putin war. According to your link.
You STUPIDLY repeat the lie that the Russian military was not involved while providing data that among those 14,000 dead were about 1,500 Russian nationals and about 500 Russian military. The thousand Russian dead who were not military were mercenaries paid by Putin. Are you really so dumb as to believe Putin’s lies and not understand the significance of so many Russians ending up dead in a foreign country?
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I have had about enough of your insults. Calling people stupid and liars is uncivil.
The ethnic Russians have tried to leave Ukraine and become part of Russia. They have resisted the Ukrainian paramilitary groups withing their own region.
Odd how you condemn their separatist efforts but you support the Chechen separatists who conducted decades of terrorism against Russian civilians
One has to wonder why you hate the Russians so much, are you just pissed because they gave up on socialism?
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“I have had about enough of your insults. Calling people stupid and liars is uncivil.”
Then stop spreading stupid lies. You do it all the time.
In this case, you claim that Neo-Nazis were to blame for the 14,000 deaths in Donbas. Uh, no. That is a stupid lie. A LIE because it is false. And STUPID because you yourself provided the evidence that it was false while still repeating it.
You also STUPIDLY repeated Putin’s LIES about the involvement of Russian military while somehow not connecting the dots about those 1,500 dead Russian combatants that you provided data on.
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If you invade a people’s homeland, the fault for the deaths on both sides of the resulting warfare belongs to the invaders.
Note that when the Crimea, which is little different from the Donbas, was annexed by Russia after a plebiscite, only 6 people died, primarily protestors. Had the Donbas been allowed to go its own way as well, we would not be looking at 14,000 dead and an ongoing war.
Certainly Russia has helped the separatists. How many CIA and military ‘advisors’ have been killed supporting separatists we supported?
Is it OK when we do it and wrong when Russia supports its ethnic Russians in areas the Soviets separated from Russia?
You seem to think right and wrong depend on the side you choose and not the objective actions.
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“… was annexed by Russia after a plebiscite, only 6 people died, primarily protestors.”
Crimea was, in fact, invaded. Special forces, Russian military disguised in police uniforms, etc. They took over parliament, faked a vote, cut communications, and so forth.
“ …they wore Russian combat fatigues but with no identifying insignia. Ukrainians called them “little green men.” President Vladimir Putin at first flatly denied these were Russian soldiers, only to later admit that they were and award commendations to their commanders.”
“ By early March, Russian troops had secured the entire peninsula. On March 6, the Crimean Supreme Council voted to ask to accede to Russia. The council scheduled a referendum for March 16, which offered two choices: join Russia or return to Crimea’s 1992 constitution, which gave the peninsula significant autonomy. Those who favored Crimea remaining part of Ukraine under the current constitution had no box to check.”
“The conduct of the referendum proved chaotic and took place absent any credible international observers. Local authorities reported a turnout of 83 percent, with 96.7 percent voting to join Russia. The numbers seemed implausible, given that ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars accounted for almost 40 percent of the peninsula’s population. (Two months later, a leaked report from the Russian president’s Human Rights Council put turnout at only 30 percent, with about half of those voting to join Russia.)”
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/03/17/crimea-six-years-after-illegal
annexation/
Don’t like Brookings, try Forbes. Note, these are official Russian numbers accidentally leaked.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2014/05/05/putins-human-rights-council-accidentally-posts-real-crimean-election-results-only-15-voted-for-annexation/?sh=399d6a6bf172
“And that is how that teenaged girl ended up in my hotel room, your honor.” An old joke, but the punchline fits Putin’s verbal sewage.
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“ Do you deny that Ukranian paramilitary groups have killed thousands of people in the Donbas? Or that Zelensky either approves or is unable to rein them in?”
Russian supported, trained, supplied paramilitary separatists have been fighting for Putin since taking Crimea. I say they have killed thousands. The death toll is 14,000 so far.
Do you have reliable information or are you parroting the approved Russian state line?
Did you support Russian destruction of Chechnya, particularly Grozny? That is the tactic in Ukraine.
In my opinion, one nation destroying another because of some illusionary twists in ancient history is the same as ISIS. Genocide to advance power is generally frowned upon by civilized folks.
Mostly.
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It seems to have become a habit to hate Russia since the USSR is no longer there.
Chechnya, despite being Caucasian, is a home for Islamic terrorism.
After a decade of repeated terrorists acts against Russia, the terrorism came to a head when Chechen Islamic terrorists took 850 people hostage in a theater, 170 people died when the Russian police
stormed the theater to end the standoff.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hostage-crisis-in-moscow-theater
Russia was every bit as justified in taking action after that incident as we were after 9/11. perhaps more so since they went after the country that was actually responsible.
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Thanks for regurgitating Putin’s propaganda about Chechnya.
People resisting the yoke of foreigners are “terrorists.” And they have it coming when 80,000 people are wantonly slaughtered. But not if they are Russians living in Ukraine. Then they are freedom fighters resisting Nazis. Is that about right?
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The cite I provided was not Russian.
Is your memory really getting that bad?
Chechen terrorists have plagued Russia for 30 years. Some claim that they were part of a separatist movement, but they acted against Russia outside their territory, targeting civilians as acts of terror.
Our CIA supported the separatists in the past, but that stopped after it was suspected that Chechen terrorism contributed to the Boston Marathon bombing.
Whether their separatist movement was valid or not, terrorism cannot be tolerated.
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chechen-terrorism-russia-chechnya-separatist
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“. . . terrorism cannot be tolerated.”
Chechnya is not Russian. They declared their independence when the USSR broke up. They were crushed militarily and turned to EXACTLY what you recommended that Ukraine do rather than fight on. The old cliche’ applies – one man’s “terrorist” is another man’s “freedom fighter.” There is a lot more to that tragic story than Putin’s self-serving propaganda which you regurgitate.
With that said, I do not condone terrorism. Whether by Chechens trying to split from Russia or by Russians trying to split from Ukraine. But when individuals commit acts of terrorism, collective punishments are a war crime. Killing 80,000 people in Grozny was a war crime.
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Russia tried twice to conquer Chechnya. The second time was the slaughter.
So why were the Chechens fighting? Russia is not an Islamic state. But the Chechens wanted out, but Russia said no.
Freedom…not only for masks.
Ukraine wants no part of Russia. They are 40 million v. Checnya’s 1.2 million. Chechnya want to leave the Russians, Ukrainians don’t want to be absorbed by a dictator.
It would be like us sponsoring separatists in Canada, then when they start to lose, we invade Canada and expect them to roll over.
Putin is a strongman and it seems our conservatives like a strongman.
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There are differences.
The Donbas is an ethnic Russian region adjacent to Russia that was formerly part of Russia and wishes to be so again.
Chechnya is not adjacent to any other Islamic state and is surrounded by Russia and Georgia, so what parent state could they join?
More importantly. the separatists in Donbas have fought within their own region to repel outside forces. The Chechens mounted a war of terror against civilians outside their own region.
I’m pretty much in favor of letting people choose their own government, but would there not be a difference between Maine wanting to be part of Canada and Michigan wanting to be part of Saudi Arabia?
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“The Chechens mounted a war of terror against civilians outside their own region.”
Their war was about separating from Russia. Why would they fight inside their borders when the Russians holding and terrorizing them for years were in Moscow. And Russians killed a lot of Chechen civilians.
Not excusing terrorist attacks, yet the battle was with Putin still in-country, just further north. And recall how Russia was sent packing by Afghans. That would certainly be a point of optimism for Chechen separatists.
If Texas does decide to secede are they going to blow up their own statehouse after years of fighting doesn’t resolve the problem?
The Ukrainian situation is kind of like us taking over Mexico because an expat retirement community in the Baja is unhappy. Not enough to rescue the expats, but take the whole country.
Putin has his vision of a greater Russia and Ukraine is a part of that whether Ukrainians like it or not.
And they obviously don’t.
I think Putin was biding his time as Trump was dissolving NATO for him. When he lost the election, Putin did not want to wait any longer.
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“Not excusing terrorist attacks”
and yet you proceed to excuse them.
The people of the Donbas seem to be managing to keep their separatist uprising inside their own region, and have not been killing people in other parts of Ukraine even as the paramilitary forces kill people in the Donbas.
Putin has been very clear he does not wish to occupy the other areas in Ukraine.
Other than the separatist areas he has consistently said he just wants Ukraine out of NATO.
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Donbas is majority Ukrainian, 60%. Why should they just disappear?
Putin’s propaganda is obviously working full time and some believe him.
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Do you have a cite for that number?
I would like to see how that was determined. In a mixed area like that, there has to be some degree of intermarriage, especially among those who speak Russian so a sharp 60/40 division seems unlikely.
Is it one drop of Ukrainian blood makes one Ukranian?
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“ At the 2001 Ukrainian National Census, the ethnic groups within the Donetsk Oblast were: Ukrainians – 2,744,100 (56.9%), Russians – 1,844,400 (38.2%), Pontic Greeks – 77,500 (1.6%), Belarusians – 44,500 (0.9%), others (2.3%).”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donetsk_Oblast#Demographics
“ The population in Donbas is home to large numbers of people who identify as ethnic Russians: 30% of the population according to a 2014 survey (KIIS 2014), as well as 11% who identify simultaneously as both ethnic Russian and ethnic Ukrainian.”
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1060586X.2018.1447769
Putin flooded the area with 720,000 Russian passports to give a perception of Russian nationals.
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“There are differences.”
You are arguing out of both sides of your mouth in order to support Putin’s every atrocity.
Defending the criminal assaults on Chechnya – Gee, they are NOT Russian so who else should control them except Russia.
Defending the criminal assaults on Donbas – Gee, they ARE Russian so who else should contol them except Russia.
The “outsiders” in the Donbas conflict were the RUSSIANS. Duh. You totally discount the fact that not everyone in Donbas wants to leave Ukraine. It was a civil war exaccerbated by Putin doing a land grab.
Those opposing the Russian takeover of their homes in Donbas are what you and Putin refer to as Neo-Nazis. And you both do so with a straight face.
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You have left behind any semblances of rationality.
What I pointed out was an important geographical difference, The Donbas. like the Crimea, are adjacent to Russia were formerly part of Russia. I don’t know if there has been a plebiscite there as in the Crimea, but certainly the overwhelming majority there wants to be part of Russia. You can’t have a successful separatist insurrection otherwise.
Chechnya has no adjacent parent state to merge with, It is surrounded by Russia and Georgia.
I guess geography isn’t covered in the Daily Kos.
And it is NOT a civil war The people of the Donbas don’t want to take over Ukraine, they want the border restored to its former location with them on the Russian side. They have no desire to control Ukraine.
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PS: Chechnya’s terror bombings that got Putin to destroy Chechnya were likely false flag bombings. 100’s of Russian civilians died in 3 apartment blasts. An undetonated bomb had FSB origins.
https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/how-false-flag-operations-work-and-russias-history-of-using-them/
Putin lies as much as…never mind. But KGB history, false flags, De-Nazification, a phony referendum, stolen billions…and you still admire the man who “loves” his country.
Killing his own countrymen to blame terrorists is some kind of love. Tough love or tough sh*t.
BTW: Donbas is majority Ukrainian. Ethnic Russians are about 40% of the population. Now Russian is spoken by a majority, but that does not mean they want Putin as their president. Many Ukrainians speak Russian also.
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That’s a pretty wild speculation.
In the Theater hostage event, the terrorists were killed or captured and were positively identified.
And conceding that Putin has justification for his action, in this case, is not admiration. It’s putting truth ahead of tribalism.
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What is wild speculation? That Putin set false flags?
Of course the hostage takers were ID’d. They were Chechnyans.
That does not negate the false flag.
Now you have stated that the Donbas is mostly Russian. That is not true. At best it is 40% ethnic Russian. What about the 60% Ukrainians? According to you they can just go screw themselves.
The vote in Crimea was BS according to Russia’s own sources. I posted that too. Two sources in case you don’t like one.
Aren’t you even remotely curious about all the declarations you and Putin are making?
It is not a matter of hating Russians. Rather a matter of recognizing the reality of Putin and his murderous ambitions based on lies that you, of all people, are repeating as if you were also in Putin’s pocket.
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Even if you were correct, other than getting more people killed, what does the warmongering cheerleading accomplish?
Ukraine is going to lose. Putin will get his demands. The sooner it happens the fewer people die.
Or does that not matter when we’re trying to signal our moral superiority?
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“Even if you were correct,”
That Donbas is majority Ukraine? Or the Crimean referendum was phony? Or the false flag bombings to destroy Chechnya?
The first two are easily researched. If my stats are true then what prompts you to say Russia is justified in any land grab?
What are you willing to fight for? Just vaccine mandates opposition and respect for rural America? CRT?
Or your home and lives taken by a foreign dictator?
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Again, so what?
Even if Putin is totally in the wrong, and Chechnya has nothing to do with it really, NATO is not going to go to war with Russia over Ukraine, and absent that the outcome remains the same. The longer it takes and the harder Russia has to try, the more people die.
So, the cheerleading just means more body bags and lingering hatred to bring on the next war.
Unless, of course, you get your wish and NATO does get into it and we wind up with a nuclear exchange.
Other than feeling morally smug, what good does the warmongering do?
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“You have left behind any semblances of rationality.”
Uh, that would be you.
Unless you think believing and spreading obvious lies is rational?
Or believing that the victims of criminal warmongering aggression should be blamed for the lives lost and the damage done because all they have to do is surrender.
Or that resisting foreign aggression makes you a Nazi.
Or that a civil war (a war between citizens of a sovereign state) is “NOT a civil war.”
Or that an area that is 40%(Crimea) or 60%(Donbas) non-Russian is 100% Russian giving Russian aggression against a sovereign state legitimacy.
Or that 1,500 Russian fighters killed in Donbas proves that Russia gave only materials to separatist militias.
Or that Chechnya HAD to merge with someone so why not Russia.
etc.
etc.
In short, your vaunted “rationality” consists of the uncritical acceptance of Putin’s false narratives and phony pretexts. After years of doing the same for Trump, you are well practiced.
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“Do you have a cite for that number?”
You seem surprised by a simple, easily verified truth. That is what happens when you are eager to believe the fascist aggressor and his lies.
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So, you don’t have a cite.
A clean 60/40 split is virtually impossible, so with no way to determine the methodology, the number is suspect.
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“A clean 60/40 split”
There are numerous sources that support this estimate. You too lazy to check for yourself? Or do you prefer pretending to be ignorant so you can accuse Len of dishonesty?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donbas
https://euromaidanpress.com/2019/01/18/the-rise-and-decline-of-donbas-how-the-region-became-the-heart-of-soviet-union-and-why-it-fell-to-russian-hybrid-war/
The underlying data for these facts is the 2001 census which did not examine drops of blood but which allowed people to self-identify as to their nationality.
https://web.archive.org/web/20111217151026/http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/general/nationality/
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I checked it and followed the reference links.
The claim is based on the 2001 census conducted by the Ukrainian government. The methodology is unclear, and classification seems to have been based on the responses given to the census takers. If you say you’re Ukrainian, that’s what is recorded.
There is no explanation for why roughly twice the number who identify as Russian speak Russian in their homes.
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Speaking Russian and being Russian are two different issues. A large number of all Ukrainian people speak Russian also.
I speak Swedish, but I don’t want Sweden to annex VA.
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“… classification seems to have been based on the responses given to the census takers. If you say you’re Ukrainian, that’s what is recorded.”
In other words just like here in the US.
Just because a lot of Hispanics live in Texas doesn’t mean we should give Texas back to Mexico. (Although, not a bad idea.) In addition, I’ll wager that a huge number of Texans, particularly near the border, speak passable Spanish.
Putin wants a land grab of all of Ukraine. The premises of “deNazification”, Russian majorities, protection from an attack by NATO, Lenin’s mistake, etc., are all BS, but some still buy the propaganda for the “non-invasion” invasion.
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On what do you base your assumption that Putin wants all of Ukraine?
He has repeatedly offered an immediate end to hostilities if his conditions are met. It would be easy enough to test his sincerity, simply meet the conditions.
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Funny.
An offer from a despot who can’t win in the battlefield, so he kills civilians. “Genius”! Even so far as agreeing to a temporary cease fire to allow people to evacuate, then shooting them when they do. “Savvy”!
That is the same as Hamas lobbing rockets into Israeli towns or terrorists flying planes into office buildings. My Lai?
Zelensky want sovereignty for Ukraine. Putin wants Ukraine.
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So, how many have to die before you think it will be OK to make peace?
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“Peace”…meaning Putin is now your leader.
Really, coming from the segment of our country that thinks masks and CRT are why we have a Second Amendment.
Here is another peak behind the curtain of Putin’s fiasco.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/reported-detention-of-russian-spy-boss-shows-tension-over-stalled-ukraine-invasion-u-s-officials-say-11647687601
Somebody better tell the emperor his fly is open.
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Since every time a humanitarian corridor is opened for people to leave or aid to come in, the corridors are bombed by the Russians. Why would anyone believe anything Putin has to say when it comes to peace?
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“There is no explanation . . .”
None is needed. The reasons are historic and well understood. And it is irrelevant.
Only about 40% of the people in this region self-identify as Russians. Which is exactly what Len told you. And a fact that you found not credible because, you know, Putin has said that everybody there except for a few Nazis is a Russian. And you really, really want to believe him.
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If you were Black in the 1930s in Mississippi, and you could be white, with all the associated advantages, by checking the proper box on a form, what would you do?
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“If you were Black in the 1930s. . .”
Just not man enough to admit when you have egg on your face. It doesn’t matter. It is there and anyone who can read can see it. You have been blindly parroting Putin lies and on each and every point you simply reject the truth – like you are doing here with this analogy based on zero knowledge that there was ANY advantage to be one ethnicity or another in the 2001 Ukraine census.
The decision to leave Russia and form a separate country was the subject of a referendum in 1991. It enjoyed the support of 83% of the people of the Donbas region. They wanted to be Ukrainian, not Russian. Recent surveys (2019) reaffirmed that fact. Even in the areas controlled by Putin’s little Quislings 55% reaffirmed their desire to remain in Ukraine.
https://theconversation.com/most-people-in-separatist-held-areas-of-donbas-prefer-reintegration-with-ukraine-new-survey-124849
https://euromaidanpress.com/2019/01/18/the-rise-and-decline-of-donbas-how-the-region-became-the-heart-of-soviet-union-and-why-it-fell-to-russian-hybrid-war/
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Where are you getting your information?
You don’t believe any media or Western governments. You must have some insider information.
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