Vladimir Putin’s speech on the occasion of signing of accession treaties yesterday with four of Ukraine’s oblasts is worth reading in its entirety. It remains for the Duma to formally recognize the oblasts as new members of the Russian Federation. Only then will the territories they represent become officially Russian.
The speech criticizes the United States and the West rather harshly. I noticed, however, that all but one the very same criticisms have been made in Tidewater Forum at one time or another by leftist commentators. And the one exception (genderism) is vaguely reminiscent of the old leftist complaint that Western Civilization is morally corrupt.
The speech illustrates an inversion: Those who once loved the Soviet Union, or at least Communists, now hate Russia.
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
Two things to remember, the devotion of Russians, including Putin, to the Rodina.
And that Putin has a much better speechwriter than Biden.
LikeLike
Ah, the praise of Putin and condemnation of our own President. The right wing is steeped in patriotic fervor.
But the question is which nation.
White nationalism or just European chauvinism, both with the blessings of Jesus as general, have found a friend. Now if they can just get around the inconvenience of democratic principles, they might get somewhere. Nevada might make some nice American gulags. Or barges anchored near Guantanamo for variety.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Projecting?
Noting the patriotism of Russians and Putin’s appeal to it is important to understanding why they do things. We have no emotional equivalent to the Russian Rodina
And noting the quality of the speech is also not an endorsement of Putin, it’s just a damned good speech.
Jesus was mentioned only once, as attribution for a quote.
LikeLike
“it’s just a damned good speech.”
If you like lies, derangement, whiny victimhood, hypocrisy and nonsense. But, hey, you people like Trump so I guess it makes sense.
LikeLiked by 1 person
RE: “it’s just a damned good speech”
Yes, it is. Too many Americans see Putin as a cartoon figure and Russia as dystopian Soviet wasteland. This will prevent them from seeing this particular speech as an historical turning point.
The speech articulates a belief that appears to be common in Russia — that the West has become decadant, unstable, and untrustworthy. The Russian people have become aware that they need nothing fom us and, increasingly, they want nothing.
LikeLike
Rodina party has a commanding 1 seat in the Duma. Out of 450 seats. They are anti-Semitic, hard right, White nationalists, even for Russia.
I would say our Freedom Caucus and the core of the MAGA party are pretty much the same. With some exceptions, of course. Our folks don’t speak Russian is one. Also, here you can attack our Congress, beat up police, brag about it and get a fine, a few weeks at Club Fed and a scolding by the judge. In Russia, you’d be Melba, as in toast.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The Rodina Party is not the Rodina, Mother Russia. Russian Patriotism is deep within them.
LikeLike
You may have a point. But are we seeing reports of throngs of young men rushing to recruiting stations to sign up and defend Mother Russia?
Goerings admonition was spot on. Putin’s appeal to patriotism and that Russia was “invaded by Ukraine” is the dead Nazi’s playbook.
Again:
“All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”
I am not sure this trick is working, Rodina notwithstanding.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Love of Mother Russia may well work against the criminal fascist regime of Putin. He is destroying their country far beyond anything Ukraine can do. The truth of that is impossible to hide. Ordinary people loved Mother Russia in 1917 – that did not protect the Czar.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The trick is to convince Russians that this war – whoops – Special Military Operation – is about protecting the Rodina. Based on the massive outflow of young men and numerous protests that message is not selling all that well.
It is also worth noting that the new conscription is falling disproportionately on the non-Russian members of the Russian Federation. Whatever love of Mother Russia the Russians may have it is not shared by Chechens, Tatars, Dagestanis, and other non-Russians dragged sometimes literally kicking and screaming into the war.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Who are those “ who once loved the Soviet Union, or at least Communists, now hate Russia.”
Putin is not Russia. He controls the people and it’s institutions via fear and rampant corruption. The trail of bodies is testament to that.
His problem now is that the bodies are Russian soldiers.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Even with the draft, Putin has a 75% approval.
LikeLike
And Donbas voted 99% to be absorbed by Russia!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ironic that the same people who condemned our election, arguably the most transparent and audited in history, believe polls and elections in Putin controlled countries and regions.
LikeLiked by 2 people
RE: “Who are those ‘who once loved the Soviet Union, or at least Communists, now hate Russia.'”
The important point is the inversion. Your own comment provides an example. You say, “Putin is not Russia. He controls the people and it’s institutions via fear and rampant coruption. The trail of bodies is testament to that.” Ronald Reagan said much the same thing when he called Russia an “Evil Empire.” The inversion is that you, a liberal, now adhere to a once-conservative talking point.
LikeLike
“The inversion is that you, a liberal, now adhere to a once-conservative talking point.”
Ahistorical nonsense!
Do you even know what the Truman Doctrine was? Ever heard of JFK? LBJ? President Biden could give the same speech today that Truman did on March 12, 1947. Ever since the end of WW2 Democrats have consistently opposed and condemned the fascist totalitarianism of the USSR/Russia. It is MAGA-Republicans – so-called “conservatives” – who have gone through an “inversion.” They used to be with us in UNIFIED opposition to fascism. Now? Not so much. And YOU are good evidence of that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
RE: “Ever since the end of WW2 Democrats have consistently opposed and condemned the fascist totalitarianism of the USSR/Russia.”
Amazing. I never expected to see a contemporary liberal hug the flag.
LikeLike
“Amazing. I never expected to see a contemporary liberal hug the flag.”
I was not hugging the flag. I was stating two indisputable facts.
(1) Since the end of WW2 Democrats have consistently opposed the fascist and/or communist totalitarianism of the USSR/Russia.
(2) It is MAGA-Republicans who have changed, not Democrats.
I know you people love to call others names such as “communist.” You should try hard to not believe your own bullshit. Reality is out there – if you are interested.
LikeLiked by 1 person
RE: “I was not hugging the flag.”
Even more amazing.
LikeLike
Russia has only been ruled by dictators. I never supported dictators no matter what they called themselves.
You want to make me a lover of communism. Never have been. Plus called the Soviets communist is just gilding the lily of a pure, corrupt dictatorship.
LikeLiked by 2 people
And yet today, your rhetoric is indistinguishable from Ronald Reagan’s.
LikeLike
And yet?
What point do you think you are making?
LikeLiked by 1 person
What is your point? That I don’t like Putin so that makes me a Reagan Republican? Reagan was probably the last quasi-decent Republican we have had. Bush the Elder had his moments of course, but his term was just an extension of Reagan.
I don’t know that I met too many Americans or even folks from Europe and other regions who liked the USSR.
I really get the impression that you would love to see Putin crush Ukraine, kill Zelensky and generally make the US and Europe look bad.
LikeLiked by 2 people
“I really get the impression that you would love to see Putin crush Ukraine, kill Zelensky and generally make the US and Europe look bad.”
Based on every single post he has laid upon us, I would have to agree.
Not ONE pro-Ukrainian post shared. Most attack the country as “nazified” (hysterical considering the Jewish President) or belligerent toward Russia because they wanted to protect their sovereignty by NOT liking the annexation of Crimea. The belligerence was and is in response to being attacked and not lying down like a crony lapdog (see McCarthy-led GOP in Congress today for prime example.) And any one shared by others has been laid into as “propaganda”. Yet he does not see the propagandist nature of what he shares.
LikeLiked by 2 people
“The important point is the inversion.”
Interesting point that is so often ignored in THIS country. In the later states of the 19th century, the Republicans freed the slaves and worked for the rights of all. In hte mid- to-late 20th century, Nixon INVERTED the parties.
Yet how often, when talking about civil rights, do Republicans claim the mantle of the OLD Party and say “We freed the slaves!”?
Inversions do happen. However, I do not believe ANY one, except HARD CORE communists (which there are SOME, but not as many as we are led to believe), have ever “liked” the Soviet/Russian government led by autocrats and dictators. I don’t think many people disagreed with Regan’s assessment at the time. At least I do not recall an outcry of support for the Soviet Union.
So your “inversion” posit, is just so much word salad.
LikeLiked by 2 people