The Age of Confrontation

Dmitry Medvedev (Дмитрий Медведев)

Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, on how the tectonic civilizational rift can and must be resolved.

Once again, there is a white noise coming from the West, and accusations against Russia keep coming. Everyone, from the senators in the US Senate to the unstable old guy in the White House, is sick with heavy Russophobia.

It would seem that everything has been said before. Why are Western politicians again spouting nonsense about the need for a "strong signal" about the Kiev protectorate's participation in the North Atlantic Alliance? Why do they continue dictating a peace for Ukraine only on the terms of the Nazi Kiev regime? Why so much rage after almost a year and a half of SWO?

Of course, our enemies, both external and internal, were hardly pleased with the result of the recent armed insurgency. Power in Russia has convincingly proved its strength and resilience, and the country's people have demonstrated their willingness to rally around Commander-in-Chief, Vladimir Putin, to defend the homeland. On the other hand, it is unlikely that our opponents were so upset by our capture of Artemovsk, aka Bakhmut. The defeat of the AFU on this front was a foregone conclusion.

Another thing is that the beginning of the counterattack was unexpected for the Western political morons. They believed in the genius of their instructors, the omnipotence of unlimited money and the power of the lauded NATO equipment. What more is, disgusting figures have been saying, here and there, officially or not so officially: Russia has already lost, [and] we have won. Why did they suddenly start singing such bravura songs?

Now, facts are stubborn things, there is no place for illusions. The tectonic rift that has formed between different parts of the world as to the understanding of the future of this conflict will only deepen. The confrontation will be very long. But let us understand their arguments first.

1. "Russia is isolated." Not at all. Political contacts with Asia, Africa and Latin America are very active. Their markets are open, their companies are very active in our country, despite the sanctions. The end of the era of the almighty dollar looms. The transition to national and digital currencies is on the agenda.

Yes, ties with Europe have significantly decreased (but, frankly, they have not disappeared). But with the global South and the equally global East, they have increased significantly. Goods from Europe that we needed have been replaced by others. The Europeans have lost our market for a very long time, their investments burned out, although the industries themselves remained. Thanks to them for the free or much cheaper facilities that have been taken over by Russian companies! Smarting from their self-inflicted wounds, their companies are cleaning their balance sheets from losses, but due to notorious political correctness and (why deny it?) cowardice before the overseas suzerain, they keep silent, swallowing their tears over lost income.

2. "The Russian economy is falling apart." Not at all. Manufacturing growth is much higher than in Europe. Even Reuters admitted: in April 2023, activity in the manufacturing sector in Russia showed an increase for the 12th consecutive month. At the same time, our inflation rate is much lower than in many Western countries. It is close to a historic low of 2.9 percent. It won't rise above 5% by the end of the year. Whereas, according to the European Commission, inflation in the Eurozone will be close to 6 percent in 2023. At the lowest historical level, we have unemployment at 3.3 percent.

There is development in all sectors of the economy. According to Rosstat, the volume of industrial production in March this year increased by 1.2 percent compared to last March. In April, they already grew by 5.2 percent. There has also been impressive progress in construction. In 2022 alone, the volume of construction work increased by 5.2 percent. Last year's growth in agricultural production was more than 10 percent. And with all commodity positions in this sector, we actually cover our own needs, and we are actively working on exports. By the way, everyone has realized everywhere that they are dependent on agricultural products and food from our country, hence the endless chants on the topic of the grain deal, although it's clear to everyone that it is unnecessary in its current form and must be terminated by all means. We can help our partners anyway we can, and it is not our task to feed the fat-faced European burghers. They have their own old and bald "liverwurst" for that [Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz], as well as a lot of highly educated economists who are brilliant at running the European economy.

3. "Russia wanted to contain NATO, and the alliance was expanded to include Sweden and Finland. This is a pure lie. We have never tried to contain NATO. It is beyond our power and capabilities, and these two Scandinavian countries were already associated with the alliance. We have always asked only that our concerns be taken into account and that we not invite the former parts of our country into NATO. Especially those with which we have territorial disputes. So our goal is simple - to remove the threat of Ukraine's membership in NATO. And we will achieve it. One way or another. Today, even the stoned leaders of the Kiev regime admitted that in the state of conflict, "Banderaukraine" (as it is called now, or its rotting remains) will not be accepted into the alliance. However, a very simple and sad conclusion must be drawn: if however Ukraine is accepted into NATO, then the conflict will be permanent, because it is a question of Russia's existence.

So the reasons for their indignation are obvious. Russia has not been broken, the anti-Russian front has failed. And it is not about politics, not about strategy, and not even about tactics. It's just that the end is very near. The time has come. Our eternal ideological opponents are one step away from losing everything they value most of all. First and foremost, their global dominance, on which their prosperity has been based for centuries. This is why Western politicians are trying to create fear. But in fact, the Orwellian characters of the barnyard - the brash English pigs and the rest of their subordinate cattle - are themselves in full animal terror. They want, as they have always done before, to show the world their power. But this time they only signify their own powerlessness. They create a lot of informational noise, but there is practically no substance to it. Everything is clear: their time is up. Not even today belongs to them. Tomorrow, especially not today.

I will name three things that the Anglo-Saxon world must finally realize.

Firstly: The confrontation with the collective West has become a global one. — The years 2022-2023 will go down in history as the time of the most powerful civilizational fracture, the peak of humanity's existential crisis in the XXI century. Its direct consequence was the start of a special military operation in Ukraine. Russia was forced to undertake it in order to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity and the safety of millions of citizens. Our country, as we know, exercised its right to self-defense based on Article 51 of the UN Charter.

What is happening now in Ukraine and Donbass is not just a "regional conflict," but something quite different. It is a total confrontation between the collective West and the rest of the world. It is caused by diametrically opposed views on the further development of humanity. On one side are the Western countries, which do not want to admit that the world has changed radically, and to lose their dominance. A hybrid war, which they are now waging with us, is their last chance to maintain a favorable status quo for themselves, not to lose their weakened power and influence. On the other hand, it is not only Russia, but the global East and South. Their populations make up nearly two-thirds of the globe. These are countries that continue to gain strength, gradually overcoming the economic and political consequences of the colonial past. They stand for equal development of all states. Without senior and junior partners. Without the cynical division into historically developed and underdeveloped countries. Into "genuine" democracies and "authoritarian regimes", from the point of view of the West, of course.

Their desire for independence was much disliked by the former colonialists. They are clinging to the past with all their might. The new conflict has already caused an order of magnitude more tension than during the previous Cold War and extremely negative consequences. It has actually brought the world to the brink of World War III. Moreover, with the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, the full package of "double standards" was once again put into action with the help of the United States. Nothing new, everything is as usual: independence and territorial integrity, according to the collective West, can be defended only by those who are allowed to do so. The rest must be subdued, crushed, and preferably smeared as bloody scraps over their own territory. Russia did not want to recognize this logic. It did not submit to the will of others. And it fought back - hard and unambiguously.

Secondly: The confrontation will be very long, and it is too late to tame the "stubborn one." [i.e. Russia] — The tectonic rift that has formed between different parts of the world as to the understanding of the future of this conflict will only deepen. You don't have to be a visionary to understand that the phase of confrontation will be very long. The confrontation will last for decades. One way of resolving it is a third world war. But this is obviously a bad one, for the winners are not at all guaranteed continued prosperity, as was the case after previous world wars. Most likely, there will simply be no winners. After all, a world with a nuclear winter, cities of millions of people lying in ruins, no electricity due to the destructive electromagnetic pulses, and a huge number of people killed by shock waves, penetrating, ionizing radiation and radioactive pollution cannot be seen as a victory, where terrible epidemics and starvation reign.

There must be no more anti-Russia in principle, otherwise everything will end very badly sooner or later. The Kiev Nazi regime must be annihilated.

And here I will note one thing that politicians of all stripes do not like to admit: such an Apocalypse is not only possible, but also quite probable. Why? There are at least two reasons.

The first. The world is in a confrontation far worse than that of the Cuban Missile Crisis, because our adversaries have decided to actually defeat the biggest nuclear power, Russia. They are, no doubt, utter morons, but that's exactly what they are. And the second reason is quite prosaic - nuclear weapons have already been used and we know by whom and where, so there is no taboo!

The second way to resolve this total contradiction is to find the most difficult compromises over a long period of time. The formation of a new respectful world order, which will be based on a balance of interests of all countries. And it is certainly not the notorious 'rules-based order' that can induce nothing but a gag reflex in any country independent of the United States. Yes, you will have to communicate a lot, to be patient, to show restraint, to leave negotiations and come back to them, but in the end, to create the international contours of an equitable and secure world of the 21st century. This will likely take years, perhaps decades. But it is surely better than all of us passing out together on Apocalypse Day.

And thirdly: What are we ready to do to get out of the phase of total confrontation? — Indeed, we are ready to seek reasonable compromises, as the president of Russia has repeatedly said. They are possible, but with the understanding of several fundamental points.

Firstly, our interests must be taken into account to the maximum extent possible: there must be no more Anti-Russia in principle, otherwise everything will end very badly sooner or later. The Kiev Nazi regime must be annihilated and legislatively banned in civilized Europe as fascist. Thrown away like a rotten piece of lard to the dustbin of world history. We do not know what will replace it or what will be left of the former Nezalezhnaya Russian derisive slang reference to Ukraine (Conservapedia)]. But the West will have to accept this if it does not want an apocalyptic end to our imperfect civilization.

Secondly, all the results of the total confrontation that has been suffered must be enshrined in a new document of the type of the Helsinki Act that ended the famous 1975 meeting. Only Helsinki itself, alas, is no good for obvious reasons. For us, Finland is now a hostile country, created by Lenin's ill-consideration and now a member of NATO. It would be better to temporarily suspend diplomatic relations with Finland and the like (like Poland, the Baltic states, and, of course, Britain), or at least to lower their level for the time being.

Thirdly, a careful reassembly of the UN and other international organizations is likely to be necessary. This is possible only with full respect for the rights of the permanent members of the Security Council, otherwise it will be totally ineffective. And then the UN will fall into oblivion as an institution that has failed to live up to the expectations of free peoples. I am not talking about the fate of the current international freaks like the ICC, the Council of Europe or the OSCE. They are already in the stinking dumpster of world development.

Whether it will be possible to find a way to compromise, I do not know. I am not sure. So far, the degenerate Western political class is trying to up the ante in a bloody clown horror show. In a state of persistent dementia, it pushes our little world toward World War III. Pushing the stoned Kiev regime to go to war with every last Ukrainian.

In other words, I am not an optimist. It was not without reason that Anton Pavlovich once remarked that "life is, in fact, a very simple thing, and a man must take great pains to spoil it."

But there is always hope.

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Source: Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Translation: DeepL.com. Proofreading: FreeGrammarCheck
Photo: © RIA Novosti. AWIP: http://www.a-w-i-p.com/index.php/2023/07/03/the-age-of-confrontation