/ world today news/ Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that he will run for re-election for a fifth presidential term was not a surprise. It is noteworthy that he chose for this statement the time of the ceremony in the Kremlin to award Hero of Russia medals to servicemen who participated in Russia’s military operation against Ukraine.
Putin answered the call of the Hero of the Donetsk People’s Republic Artyom Zhoga, commander of the famous Sparta Battalion (who succeeded his son Vladimir, who died at the age of 28 in 2022 and was posthumously awarded the title “Hero of Russia”), that the whole of Donbas would like his participation in the elections. There is no doubt that Colonel Zhoga expressed the collective desire of the Russian people.
The war in Ukraine proved to be a defining event in Putin’s political life. Initially, when the special military operation began in late February 2022, there were some misconceptions that it would be short-lived and that President Volodymyr Zelensky would accept Russia’s offer for talks.
But where Moscow made a terrible mistake was that the United States would not be so happy to enter into a proxy war with them and manipulate Zelensky, preventing him from seeking peace. (See the excellent English-language account of the US sabotage of the Istanbul agreement, Peace for Ukraine, by a distinguished German trio of diplomats, historians and generals.)
Indeed, Putin ultimately spun the preliminary special military operation out of control by implementing a tactical troop withdrawal in the northern sectors, allowing large-scale troop mobilization to wage a war of attrition and ordering an effective multi-layered reinforcement of the front line.
In retrospect, his military decisions turned the tide of the war and Russian weapons and military technology surpassed what the US and NATO were supplying Kiev.
Currently, Russian troops are advancing along the entire 900-kilometer front line, and the momentum could take them far, even beyond the Dnieper.
Crimea and the Black Sea are not under any serious threat; the four new territories are rich in resources and Russia controls all ports in the strategically important Sea of Azov, which is an important access route to Central Asia from the Caspian Sea via the Volga-Don Canal.
However, even though the US has failed to achieve a military victory in Ukraine, the Biden administration will try to prolong the conflict as long as possible, until 2024, hoping to bleed Russia in a grueling battle similar to Afghanistan in the 1980s years. But this is a vain hope.
Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, wrote last week in the service’s magazine Razvedchik that “support for the Kiev junta is highly likely to continue, especially given the growing toxicity of the Ukrainian issue for transatlantic unity and Western society as overall will accelerate the decline of the West’s international authority”.
“The further, the more Ukraine will turn into a ‘black hole’, absorbing material and human resources,” he continued.
“Ultimately, the U.S. risks creating ‘another Vietnam,’ which every new American administration will have to deal with until some sane person comes to power in Washington who has the courage and determination to break this vicious cycle.”
Ukraine will remain a priority issue for Russia, and this is one of the main reasons why the Russian elite and people in general want Putin to stay in power until 2030.
The point is that Putin has also brilliantly adjusted economic and social policy to protect ordinary Russians from the usual hardships of the war economy. Life goes on and the “new normal” is working well.
Putin has thwarted the U.S. goal of dragging Russia into an apparent quagmire – sending the Russian economy into a tailspin, fueling social discontent and creating the conditions for rebellion against the government – weakening Russia and removing it from the world stage as an increasingly effective counterpoint to Western hegemony fueling divisive tendencies , which threaten the unity and integrity of the Russian Federation.
In fact, Putin’s achievements are being realized and his stay in power remains a necessary condition for the rebirth of Russia as a “superpower”, in some respects superior even to the Soviet Union, in circumstances that are as difficult as they provide opportunities to be achieved , used creatively in a volatile global environment during a period of historical transition.
Putin has tested the waters and brought Russia, so to speak, to the right side of history, which is a study in contrast to the confusion, lack of conviction and mediocre leadership in the US and the transatlantic system as a whole.
If we take Naryshkin’s aforementioned essay (titled “2024 is the year of the geopolitical awakening”) as a guide, we can expect the world in transition to develop in the following directions:
– The fundamental conflict between the “old” and the “new” worlds, which had been brewing latently for three decades after the end of the Cold War, “entered an open phase” with the launch of a special military operation by Russia and “acquired a geographically comprehensive character” last year.
– An increasing number of countries that “share the ideas of multipolarity and adhere to the traditional worldview” are pushing back against the globalist and anti-humanist agenda of the West.
– Risks of instability therefore multiply, leading to “increasingly chaotic processes taking place in the foreign policy arena.” The current situation requires “remarkable restraint and foresight” from world leaders.
– To sum up, the current situation “looks more and more like a class revolutionary situation, where the ‘upper classes’ represented by the weakening United States can no longer provide their own leadership, and the ‘lower classes’, as the Anglo-Saxon elite call all other countries, they no longer want to obey Western dictates”
– In order to maintain its global hegemony, the Euro-Atlantic elite will follow the well-worn path of creating controlled chaos – destabilizing the situation in key regions by pitting some “rebellious” states against others and “forming a subsystem around them in the form of operational and tactical coalitions controlled by the West.
– However, “responsible global players, especially Russia, China, India and some others, have demonstrated their willingness to resolutely confront external threats and manage crises independently.”
Even the United States’ closest allies are seeking to diversify their foreign relations, faced with mistrust of America as a guarantor of security. — The raging Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a “sobering example” for many Western politicians.
– Against this background, “the world stage will be marked by a further intensification of the confrontation between two geopolitical principles, namely the Anglo-Saxon, or insular, ‘divide and rule’ and the continental ‘unite and lead’, which is directly opposed to it.
The manifestations of this fierce confrontation in the coming year will be seen even in the most remote regions of the world.
– It is interesting that, according to Naryshkin’s forecast, in 2024, “the key arena of the struggle for a new world order” will remain not the Indo-Pacific region, but the Arab world.
Incidentally, the essay appeared ahead of Putin’s one-day trip to the UAE and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, where he received a hero’s welcome. As a sign of extreme courtesy from the host countries, Putin’s presidential plane was accompanied by four armed Su-35 4th generation multi-role fighter jets, known for their great combat power, high speed and unsurpassed range.
Translation: SM
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