Vladimir Putin, the Rules-based Order and the West's Law of the Fist

After Russia's official recent recognition and the accession of the Ukraine's four breakaway regions as shown on this map:

 

...which is not surprising considering this:

 

...and the explosion which has crippled the Nordstream 1 and Nordstream 2 pipelines as shown here:

 

 

...the contents of a recent address by Vladimir Putin to Russian citizens on September 30, 2022, commemorating the signing of the treaties on the accession of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions to Russia  is most important as it clearly outlines Russia's sentiment toward the West and its anti-Russia/anti-Putin narrative.

  

Here is the speech in its entirety with subtitles in English:

 

 

Let's look at some key excerpts provided by the Kremlin's English language website.  He opens by with these statements (all bolds throughout are mine):

  

"As you know, referendums have been held in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. The ballots have been counted and the results have been announced. The people have made their unequivocal choice.

 

Today we will sign treaties on the accession of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Lugansk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye Region and Kherson Region to the Russian Federation. I have no doubt that the Federal Assembly will support the constitutional laws on the accession to Russia and the establishment of four new regions, our new constituent entities of the Russian Federation, because this is the will of millions of people. 

 

It is undoubtedly their right, an inherent right sealed in Article 1 of the UN Charter, which directly states the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples.

 

I want the Kiev authorities and their true handlers in the West to hear me now, and I want everyone to remember this: the people living in Lugansk and Donetsk, in Kherson and Zaporozhye have become our citizens, forever."

 

By "true handlers", Putin is referring to Europe, the Anglo Saxons in particular, and the United States, aka "the West".

  

Now let's look at how Putin describes the West's historical relationship with Russia:

 

"When the Soviet Union collapsed, the West decided that the world and all of us would permanently accede to its dictates. In 1991, the West thought that Russia would never rise after such shocks and would fall to pieces on its own. This almost happened. We remember the horrible 1990s, hungry, cold and hopeless. But Russia remained standing, came alive, grew stronger and occupied its rightful place in the world.  

 

Meanwhile, the West continued and continues looking for another chance to strike a blow at us, to weaken and break up Russia, which they have always dreamed about, to divide our state and set our peoples against each other, and to condemn them to poverty and extinction. They cannot rest easy knowing that there is such a great country with this huge territory in the world, with its natural wealth, resources and people who cannot and will not do someone else’s bidding.

 

The West is ready to cross every line to preserve the neo-colonial system which allows it to live off the world, to plunder it thanks to the domination of the dollar and technology, to collect an actual tribute from humanity, to extract its primary source of unearned prosperity, the rent paid to the hegemon. The preservation of this annuity is their main, real and absolutely self-serving motivation. This is why total de-sovereignisation is in their interest. This explains their aggression towards independent states, traditional values and authentic cultures, their attempts to undermine international and integration processes, new global currencies and technological development centres they cannot control. It is critically important for them to force all countries to surrender their sovereignty to the United States....

 

I want to underscore again that their insatiability and determination to preserve their unfettered dominance are the real causes of the hybrid war that the collective West is waging against Russia. They do not want us to be free; they want us to be a colony. They do not want equal cooperation; they want to loot. They do not want to see us a free society, but a mass of soulless slaves.

 

They see our thought and our philosophy as a direct threat. That is why they target our philosophers for assassination. Our culture and art present a danger to them, so they are trying to ban them. Our development and prosperity are also a threat to them because competition is growing. They do not want or need Russia, but we do.

 

I would like to remind you that in the past, ambitions of world domination have repeatedly shattered against the courage and resilience of our people. Russia will always be Russia. We will continue to defend our values and our Motherland."

  

In the eyes of Russians, Russians are Russians first, the rest of the world be damned.

 

Putin goes on to describe some key aspects of America's historical geopolitical manoeuvrings:

 

"The United States is the only country in the world that has used nuclear weapons twice, destroying the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. And they created a precedent.

 

Recall that during WWII the United States and Britain reduced Dresden, Hamburg, Cologne and many other German cities to rubble, without the least military necessity. It was done ostentatiously and, to repeat, without any military necessity. They had only one goal, as with the nuclear bombing of Japanese cities: to intimidate our country and the rest of the world.  

 

The United States left a deep scar in the memory of the people of Korea and Vietnam with their carpet bombings and use of napalm and chemical weapons.  

 

It actually continues to occupy Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea and other countries, which they cynically refer to as equals and allies. Look now, what kind of alliance is that? The whole world knows that the top officials in these countries are being spied on and that their offices and homes are bugged. It is a disgrace, a disgrace for those who do this and for those who, like slaves, silently and meekly swallow this arrogant behaviour.  

 

They call the orders and threats they make to their vassals Euro-Atlantic solidarity, and the creation of biological weapons and the use of human test subjects, including in Ukraine, noble medical research.  

 

It is their destructive policies, wars and plunder that have unleashed today’s massive wave of migrants. Millions of people endure hardships and humiliation or die by the thousands trying to reach Europe."

 

Here is his interesting description of America's "Law of the Fist", its template for ruling the globe:

 

"The dictates of the US are backed up by crude force, on the law of the fist. Sometimes it is beautifully wrapped sometimes there is no wrapping at all but the gist is the same – the law of the fist. Hence, the deployment and maintenance of hundreds of military bases in all corners of the world, NATO expansion, and attempts to cobble together new military alliances, such as AUKUS and the like. Much is being done to create a Washington-Seoul-Tokyo military-political chain. All states that possess or aspire to genuine strategic sovereignty and are capable of challenging Western hegemony, are automatically declared enemies."

 

...and how the West's belief in its own exceptionalism will be its downfall:

 

"At the same time, the West has clearly been engaged in wishful thinking for a long time. In launching the sanctions blitzkrieg against Russia, for example, they thought that they could once again line up the whole world at their command. As it turns out, however, such a bright prospect does not excite everyone – other than complete political masochists and admirers of other unconventional forms of international relations. Most states refuse to ”snap a salute“ and instead choose the sensible path of cooperation with Russia.

 

The West clearly did not expect such insubordination. They simply got used to acting according to a template, to grab whatever they please, by blackmail, bribery, intimidation, and convinced themselves that these methods would work forever, as if they had fossilised in the past. 

 

Such self-confidence is a direct product not only of the notorious concept of exceptionalism – although it never ceases to amaze – but also of the real ”information hunger“ in the West. The truth has been drowned in an ocean of myths, illusions and fakes, using extremely aggressive propaganda, lying like Goebbels. The more unbelievable the lie, the quicker people will believe it – that is how they operate, according to this principle.

But people cannot be fed with printed dollars and euros. You can't feed them with those pieces of paper, and the virtual, inflated capitalisation of western social media companies can't heat their homes. Everything I am saying is important. And what I just said is no less so: you can't feed anyone with paper – you need food; and you can't heat anyone’s home with these inflated capitalisations – you need energy.

 

That is why politicians in Europe have to convince their fellow citizens to eat less, take a shower less often and dress warmer at home. And those who start asking fair questions like “Why is that, in fact?” are immediately declared enemies, extremists and radicals. They point back at Russia and say: that is the source of all your troubles. More lies."

 

And, since we constantly hear from the West's ruling class that Russia (and China for that matter) are not following the "rules-based order", let's close this posting with Putin's concept on that very issue:

 

"And all we hear is, the West is insisting on a rules-based order. Where did that come from anyway? Who has ever seen these rules? Who agreed or approved them? Listen, this is just a lot of nonsense, utter deceit, double standards, or even triple standards! They must think we’re stupid.  

 

Russia is a great thousand-year-old power, a whole civilisation, and it is not going to live by such makeshift, false rules.

 

It was the so-called West that trampled on the principle of the inviolability of borders, and now it is deciding, at its own discretion, who has the right to self-determination and who does not, who is unworthy of it. It is unclear what their decisions are based on or who gave them the right to decide in the first place. They just assumed it."

Let's summarize with these comments from the United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken which nicely summarizes Washington's views toward Russia:

 

Let's close with these thoughts.  Since the end of the Second World War, the United States has taken upon itself the mantle of the sole purveyor of all that is good in the world and has vilified any nation, particularly the former USSR and its current offspring, of being in violation of international laws and morals.  Ask yourself if you truly believe that this is factual.  Look at the examples of Iran in the 1950s, Chile in the 1970s, Nicaragua in 1979 and onward, Iraq in the 1980s and again in 2003, Afghanistan in 2001 and onwards until 2021, and both Libya and Syria in 2011 and onwards.  As well, look at the examples of "former friends" of Washington including Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein and enemies including Salvador Allende and Muammar Qaddafi.  How did the rules-based international order work out for those nations and those individuals?  Is it any wonder that Vladimir Putin and his partners in other nations, including China, view the West and its self-serving unipolar world narrative as the source of all that is wrong with the global geopolitical landscape?  

Western leaders would be wise to remember that Russia doesn't bluff.  It's in it for the long game.  As the nation with the highest body count during the Second World War, it would be wise to remember that Russians have a long memory of what it is like to be treated with distain by other nations.  It would also be wise to consider who really is wielding the "Law of the Fist".