Dhe Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized Western liberal societies in a keynote speech. Before the annual conference of the Valdai Discussion Club on Thursday, he accused the West of wanting to subjugate the whole world. He has replaced international norms with “so-called rules” that only have the purpose that “a global power can act without rules.” But he is no longer able to do that. “The West saw itself as a winner,” Putin said. He only granted his own culture the right to exist. Now this era of Western dominance is ending. The rest of the world opposes the claims of the West.
Referring to a quote from the Russian revolutionary leader Lenin – whom he did not name – Putin characterized the international situation as “revolutionary”: “Those above can no longer, those below don’t want to anymore.” The world is at the beginning of the least predictable, most dangerous and important decade since the end of the Second World War: “A new world order is forming before our eyes.”
The West has changed the rules
The West has created a globalized world for its own benefit, Putin said. But the moment other people benefited from this globalization, the West immediately changed the rules. The principles of open markets and even the right to property are being questioned, Putin said: “They consider everyone else to be second class and themselves an exception.”
The West has “nothing to offer the world but its rule”. The threat to liberalism mired in a “doctrinal crisis” is the emergence of “other models of society that are more effective and attractive”. It will inevitably come to that, Putin said. The new world order he spoke of in his speech is based on respect for the differences between peoples. Russia does not want hegemony. “Unlike the West, we are not stepping into someone else’s yard,” said Russia’s president, who ordered the Russian army to invade Ukraine in February of this year.
In the speech, Putin also reiterated the accusations that Ukraine was building a “dirty bomb”. He also knows roughly where this is happening, he said. Referring to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, he added: “I gave Shoigu instructions to call all colleagues.” The Russian Defense Minister has already spoken to colleagues from the USA, China and India about such an alleged bomb with nuclear material. There is no evidence of this. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Thursday that the US has no indication that either Russia or Ukraine are planning to use such a bomb. Kyiv also emphasizes that using a “dirty bomb” is not part of its plans.
