Tag: Russia

The Free Pass Has Expired

This is the second public warning, in less than a week, that Russia is no longer willing to permit the USA and its European satrapies to continue waging a proxy war directly against it without experiencing the repercussions of their actions:

A proxy war between the nuclear powers is already underway; moreover, in the course of this conflict, more and more restrictions are being removed, both in terms of the weapon systems used and the participation of Western troops, as well as the geographical limits of the theater of war. It is possible to pretend that a certain ‘strategic stability’ is being maintained, but only if, like the US, a player sets the task of inflicting a strategic defeat on the enemy at the hands of its client state and expects that the enemy will not dare to use nuclear weapons.

Thus, the concept of strategic stability in its original form – the creation and maintenance of military-technical conditions to prevent a sudden massive nuclear strike – only partially retains its meaning under current conditions.

Strengthening nuclear deterrence could be the solution to the real problem of restoring strategic stability, which has been seriously disrupted by the ongoing and escalating conflict. To begin with, it is worth rethinking the concept of deterrence and, in the process, changing its name. For example, instead of a passive, we should talk about an active form. The adversary should not remain in a state of comfort, believing that the war he is waging with the help of another country will not affect him in any way. In other words, it is necessary to put fear back into the minds and hearts of the enemy’s leaders. The beneficial sort of fear, it’s worth stressing.

It must also be recognized that the limits of purely verbal intervention have been exhausted at this stage of the Ukrainian conflict. Channels of communication all the way to the top must remain open around the clock, but the most important messages at this stage must be sent through concrete steps: doctrinal changes; military exercises to test them; underwater and aerial patrols along the coasts of the likely enemy; warnings about preparations for nuclear tests and the tests themselves; the imposition of no-fly zones over part of the Black Sea, and so on. The point of these actions is not only to demonstrate determination and readiness to use available capabilities to protect Russia’s vital interests, but –most importantly– to bring the enemy to a halt and encourage it to engage in serious dialogue.

The escalation ladder does not end here. Military-technical steps can be followed by real acts, warnings of which have already been given: for example, attacks on air bases and supply centers on the territory of NATO countries, and so on. There is no need to go further. We simply need to understand, and help the enemy to understand, that strategic stability in the real, not narrow, technical sense of the word is not compatible with armed conflict between nuclear powers, even if (for the time being) it is being waged indirectly.

It is unlikely that the enemy will accept this state of affairs easily and immediately. At the very least, they will need to realize that this is our position and draw the appropriate conclusions.

Translation: Russia doesn’t need to nuke anyone yet, or even rattle its nuclear saber, but since neither the USA nor the European states have been willing to pay any heed to a) the comprehensive defeat of the Ukrainian forces in Ukraine, b) the series of tactical defeats of the NATO forces in Ukraine, c) diplomacy, or d) the observable geostrategic imbalance in favor of BRICS in general and Russia in particular, it is going to be necessary to inflict damage directly in the territory of the various NATO countries before any negotiated settlements are possible.

Fortunately, even in the aftermath of the murderous attack on the Russian civilian population, it appears the Russians intend to remain disciplined and will limit their response to military targets. However, this will certainly be an escalation which will, no doubt, lead to an absolute explosion of fear, hysteria, and warmongering on the part of Clown World’s pet politicians and media outlets, and, quite possibly, among the general populations.

So, it’s time to prepare yourself for the next stage of World War III. It appears we’re going to learn the difference between a special military operation and an actual war.

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Terror Attack Near Moscow

It appears the recent Ukrainian attacks on the border near Belgerod were conducted in order to permit the infiltration of NATO special forces targeting Russian civilians:

The deadly attack on a large mall outside Moscow on Friday night was an act of terrorism, Russia’s Investigative Committee has said.

According to videos posted to social media, a group of heavily armed gunmen broke into the popular Crocus City Hall on Friday night and began indiscriminately shooting visitors. They then reportedly set the building on fire. At least 40 people have been killed and more than 100 injured, Russia’s Federal Security Service said in its preliminary assessment.

It is unclear if the terrorists are still in the building. The evacuation of visitors and attempts to put out the blaze are underway. The mall is located in the city of Krasnogorsk, just northwest of Moscow.

I don’t know if Clown World will try to blame it on the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the Irish Republican Army, or rogue Ukrainian commandos, but everyone knows it’s NATO. What they’re expecting to accomplish, I have no idea, but no amount of special forces operations are going to save the Kiev regime.

The US and UK embassies warned two weeks ago about such an attack by ‘extremists’ at a crowded venue.

However could they have known? From whence did these “extremists” come? They might as well have simply announced that it was a joint CIA-MI6 operation.

UPDATE: The Russians knew this sort of attack was a US objective nearly a year ago:

The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service chief on Wednesday accused the US of training Daesh/ISIS terrorists to carry out sabotage and terrorist attacks in Syria and Russia. Sergey Naryshkin claimed at the XI International Meeting of High Representatives in Charge of Security Issues in the Moscow region that the US Al-Tanf military base, located on the border of Syria, Jordan, and Iraq, is used for training Daesh/ISIS terrorists to carry out sabotage and terrorist attacks in Syria and Russia.

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The Most Popular World Leader

Your odds are not good when your entire geostrategic approach to winning World War III revolves around inspiring a color revolution against the most popular, most democratically-supported leader on the planet.

They have waited 10 long, suffering years to vote in this election. And vote they did, in massive numbers, certifying a landslide reelection for the political leader who brought them back to Mother Russia. VVP may now be widely referred to as Mr. 87%. In Donetsk, turnout was even higher: 88,17%. And no less than 95% voted for him.

To follow the Russian electoral process at work in Donbass was a humbling – and illuminating – experience. Graphically, in front of us, the full weight of the collective West’s relentless denigration campaign was instantly gobbled up by the rich black soil of Novorossiya. The impeccable organization, the full transparency of the voting, the enthusiasm by polling station workers and voters alike punctuated the historical gravity of the political moment: at the same time everything was enveloped in an impalpable feeling of silent jubilation.

This was of course a referendum. Donbass represents a microcosm of the solid internal cohesion of Russian citizens around the policies of Team Putin – while at the same time sharing a feeling experienced by the overwhelming majority of the Global South. VVP’s victory was a victory of the Global Majority.
And that’s what’s making the puny Global Minority even more apoplectic. With their highest turnout since 1991, Russian voters inflicted a massive strategic defeat to the intellectual pigmies who pass for Western “leadership” – arguably the most mediocre political class of the past 100 years. They voted for a fairer, stable system of international relations; for multipolarity; and for true leadership by civilization-states such as Russia.

VVP’s 87% score was followed, by a long shot, by the Communists, with 3.9%. That is quite significant, because these 91% represent a total rejection of the globalist Davos/Great Reset plutocratic “future” envisioned by the 0.001%.

Imagine how popular a US president would be if he won three wars in succession while significantly increasing life expectancy and per capita income as well as restoring the prestige and morale of the nation. Clown World’s claims that Putin is a dictator or that his policies are unpopular with Russia are nothing more than its usual inversion of the truth, just as the idea that Ukraine and NATO are “fighting for democracy” is totally risible in light of the Kiev regime’s cancellation of the presidential elections that were scheduled later this month, on March 31st.

The reality is that if Putin were to run against Biden in the U.S. Presidential election, there is a very good chance that he would win, and that chance would become a near-certainty with a single debate, even given Putin’s need for a translator.

Everything about Clown World is fake and SGL. Every single thing.

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Russia Backs Putin… Again

The comprehensive failure of Clown World’s color revolution-style strategy to wage psychological and economic warfare against the Russian people, thereby turning them against President Putin and forcing the collapse of the Russian government, is evident in the landmark results of today’s presidential election.

A record number of people have voted in this election. More than 74% of Russia’s 112.3 million voters cast their ballots between March 15 and 17, the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) said on Sunday. This is the highest engagement in the nation’s modern history, unseen for more than two decades. A previous similar turnout was recorded in 1991 at the first and only presidential elections in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, when Russia was still a part of the USSR. At that time, around 74% of voters turned out to cast their vote. The average turnout at the presidential elections in modern Russia ranged between 64% and 69%. The ballot held in 2018 had a turnout of around 67%.

First vote in new territories. It was the first time people in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), as well as in Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, were able to take part in Russian presidential elections. All four regions joined Russia after referendums in September 2022. The new territories demonstrated high turnout figures at the vote, which amounted to 83.7%, 85%, 87% and 88%, for the Kherson, Zaporozhye, LPR and DPR, respectively.

With over 80% of all ballots counted, Putin gets more than 87% of the votes. Kharitonov and Davankov enjoy 4% support each, and Slutsky is backed by some 3% of the voters.

The easily confirmable fact is that Vladimir Putin is far more democratically legitimate, in every sense of the word, than the unelected leaders of the so-called European “democracies”, which are ruled over by a) foreign imperialists based in the United States, b) the unelected bureaucrats of the European Commission, and c) illegitimate heads of state like the UK’s Rishi Sunak, who has never faced an election as a candidate for Prime Minister and is going to lose the first one he faces, and lose it badly, assuming he survives long enough to lead the Conservative Party into it.

And President Putin is, of course, far more legitimate in every sense than the series of decrepit, mask-wearing body doubles that we are supposed to believe are Joe Biden, who clearly didn’t receive anywhere nearly enough votes to win the 2020 U.S. election, let alone the record-setting 81 million that was manufactured for him.

In fact, I suspect the only reason “Joe Biden” has not been charged with any of the various crimes that have been comprehensively exposed and are related to the Biden vice-presidency is because the federal prosecutors know they can’t actually charge anyone who is not Joe Biden for the crimes of the actual man, who is probably lost in the final throes of dementia, assuming that he’s even still alive.

All of the headlines about the illegitimacy of the Russian election or claims that it was, for some totally unnecessary reason, “rigged”, are clearly nothing more than the customary Clown World inversion. The most reliable metric is not to assume that what they are reporting is wrong, it is to assume that what they are reporting is the complete opposite of the truth.

UPDATE: Vladimir Putin himself reached the same conclusion in a recent interview:

“I think it’s obvious to everyone that the American political system cannot claim to be democratic in any sense of the word.”

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Why the Taurus is Off the Table

Simplicius explains why the UK providing its Storm Shadow missile to Ukraine doesn’t pose the same danger to the UK that providing its Taurus missile would to Germany:

The majority of people, by the way, don’t actually understand the real reason behind Germany’s trepidation at sending the Taurus. It’s not that Germany is somehow more afraid to get involved, considering the fact they’re already the top aid provider besides the U.S.

It has more to do with the fact that, unlike the Storm Shadows, limited to under 250km for the export versions given Ukraine, the Taurus comes stock at well over 500km range, and is reportedly secretly capable of carrying nuclear warheads—a fact the Bundestag indirectly confirmed by declining to answer the question recently, stating it was ‘top secret information’.

That means the Taurus presents a totally different type of strategic threat if used against Russia. From the Russian standpoint, if a Taurus were to be launched into Russian territory, Russia would have no choice but to treat it as a potential nuclear first strike attack from NATO, given that Moscow is less than 500km from Ukrainian territory and there is no way to determine if the missile is nuclear-armed during its inbound flight. This opens up an entirely different can of worms, which would doctrinally give Russian armed forces the allowance to potentially respond to Germany in almost any escalatory measure, up to and including preventative nuclear launch on Berlin.

Germany knows this, which is why the Taurus is off the table.

The bizarre thing about the European leaders blathering in their helpless ineptitude about what they will and will not permit Russia to accomplish is the way in which they apparently fail to grasp that they have absolutely no say with regards to what Russia will do or will not do.

For all their blustering, for all their threats, for all their posturing, there is nothing, literally nothing, that all of the European countries combined can do about Odessa, or Kiev, or even Warsaw, for that matter. And they know this, which is why the only weapons that will be permitted to Ukraine are those that cannot even credibly threaten Russia, and the primary European objective is not winning an unwinnable war, but rather “to send Russia a signal of resolve and long-term commitment.”

I’m sure that signal will impress the field marshals of the Red Army about as much as it impresses us. It doesn’t say they are strong. It just says they are stupid and that the retardery of Clown World is relentless.

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The Trauma of Russian Independence

Clown World cannot abide Russia because Russia has escaped the satanic chains that bound her, while her European diplomats have lost the art of diplomacy for which they were once famous:

Dominic Lieven, a fine British scholar of the Russian Empire’s origins, wrote that the Russians were the only people Western Europeans had to deal with who were capable of fighting for their special, independent niche in the modern world with boundless courage, perseverance, and self-sacrifice.

Consider these words – we are the only civilization against which the West has attempted to act aggressively, and failed to achieve its goals. All the rest – the Great Empire of China, the ancient civilization of India, and many others – were unable to withstand the decisive thrust of the West, which for 500 years had been expanding the frontiers of its power by fire and sword. They were beaten, even if they were able to restore their statehood after some time.

Our country was never defeated. But let’s try to put ourselves in the Western Europeans’ shoes and understand their emotional state. For centuries, they have been living with a trauma called ‘an independent Russia’. However, we ourselves have never had the opportunity to understand what it is like to have a permanent enemy that can never be conquered.

So, when the USSR suddenly collapsed in 1991 and the unified state disintegrated, Western Europe found itself in a situation it had never experienced before. Overnight, the most unfulfilled wish of generations of European politicians and military leaders came true. All by itself, without a decisive military clash, and with the Russians’ full of desire to join the ‘European family’, even as pupils. Such a shock could not pass without serious consequences for the psyche of the statesmen and ordinary citizens of these Western European states.

Their entire foreign policy culture was based on the fact that Russia would never be pushed around or told what to do. Suddenly, the West felt it had won the Cold War without firing a single shot. In a state of fantastic emotional upheaval, the Western Europeans began to build relations with Russia as if it had finally been defeated. For several years, Moscow accepted the rules of the game that the West imposed. It took into account the wishes of the Western Europeans in the economic sphere and developed its foreign relations with an eye to how this would affect the main goal – which was gradual ‘integration’ with the EU.

In the new circumstances, the bloc found itself in the position of a demanding teacher, offering numerous ‘partnership’ programs with two simple objectives. First, to secure the interests of Western European business and make the Russian market even more open to it. Second, to ensure that Moscow was complying with its instructions.

European diplomats became equally demanding teachers. For several generations of EU ambassadors in Moscow, the main task was to monitor how well Russia was honoring its many commitments. As part of this ‘honorable’ mission, a tradition of communication with Russians at various levels has developed. And while there have been talks at the level of heads of state or foreign ministers, there has been no trace of normal diplomacy below that level.

EU ambassadors did not simply become the executors of the will of their masters back home (which is perfectly normal) – they gradually became technical workers entrusted with the task of observing Russia and pointing out errors in its behavior.

And the level of their intellectual ability was no longer measured by their competency in playing a subtle diplomatic game. The main measure was the degree of hysteria with which they pushed through a very simple agenda. All the more so as their individual will and intelligence were increasingly integrated into the system of rules and requirements common to all NATO and EU representatives abroad.

As a philosopher wrote in the last century, “in any collective, individual agency becomes the servant of the collective interest.” And gradually, we should add, it disappears in the sense that is a sign of agency in the first place – the ability to analyze a situation independently and to make decisions. This problem has become so total for Western European diplomacy and politics that it has gradually ceased to be noticed.

All the more so because European politics was also changing rapidly. Having found themselves, through no fault of their own, in the position of ‘winners of the Cold War’, Western Europeans felt a deep sense of moral superiority over the whole world around them. Except, of course, towards the Americans, who they are simply afraid of. We have repeatedly seen examples of the European Union interfering in the purely internal affairs of key partners such as China, or the still-very-friendly India. Not to mention states of lesser size and importance. Last year, for example, French President Emmanuel Macron made a scene with the Brazilians over their treatment of their forests.

The behavior of European leaders like Macron, Merkel, and Boris Johnson does often strike one as significantly out-of-touch with basic reality. When they talk about “defeating Russia” or “sanctioning China”, it makes one seriously wonder if they are even capable of basic math, let alone capable of understanding that the balance of power is no longer in their favor.

What the author gets wrong is that while Russia was never defeated by the West, it was defeated by a foreign power when the Bolsheviks took power in 1917, by the same power that rules over Ukraine and is at war with Russia today.

UPDATE: This recent demand by the European Parliament should serve to demonstrate the cartoonish extent to which the European leaders are overestimating their influence.

On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on Moscow to send back 91.5 metric tons of gold and cultural artifacts that were exported to the Russian Empire in 1916-1917 by Romania.

I’m a little disappointed that the Russians merely rolled their eyes and told them, explicitly, “to fuck off”. I think it would have been much more amusing if they’d simply pointed out that the sanctions being applied by the European governments render any such transaction impossible.

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The Vampires’ Ball is Ending

And here you thought Midnight’s War was simply fiction.

For centuries, they got used to stuffing their stomachs with human flesh and their pockets with money. But they must realize that this ‘ball of vampires’ is coming to an end.
– Vladimir Putin

This sort of rhetoric isn’t accidental. Putin understands precisely with whom, and with what, his nation is at war. This is a spiritual war, it is the original war, it is quite literally a war between good and evil, even if the vast majority of those on the evil side have no idea how wicked their masters are.

But The Empire That Never Ended has already spent itself. It can’t hide in the shadows anymore and the its current host has been bled nearly dry. Clown World’s time to move on has already come and gone, the servants are already being thrown from the Black Rider’s high horse, and the purifying light of the rising sun is coming.

Neoclown Victoria Nuland is already out. Now it appears Netanyahu is next on the list.

Israel’s far-right cabinet led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could face serious challenges and be forced to step down due to flagging public support, the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has warned. In a report published on Monday, the ODNI noted that a “different, more moderate government” could take over the reins in the near future. The US intelligence agency concluded that “Netanyahu’s viability as leader as well as his governing coalition of far-right and ultraorthodox parties that pursued hardline policies on Palestinian and security issues may be in jeopardy.”

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The Bear Warns Clown World

Vladimir Putin makes it pretty clear that Russia is going to invoke NATO’s Article 5 and strike every NATO country if any of them are foolish enough to send troops to Ukraine instead of simply targeting the foreign soldiers and intelligence agents that are secretly in Ukraine with missile strikes as they’ve been doing all along. It’s apparent that the Russians are growing tired of the neoclowns’ childish “I’m not touching you” game and will not tolerate many further provocations.

We need to shore up the forces in the western strategic theatre in order to counteract the threats posed by NATO’s further eastward expansion, with Sweden and Finland joining the alliance. The West has provoked conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, and other regions around the world while consistently propagating falsehoods. Now they have the audacity to say that Russia harbours intentions of attacking Europe. Can you believe it? We all know that their claims are utterly baseless. And at the same time, they are selecting targets to strike on our territory and contemplating the most efficient means of destruction. Now they have started talking about the possibility of deploying NATO military contingents to Ukraine.

But we remember what happened to those who sent their contingents to the territory of our country once before. Today, any potential aggressors will face far graver consequences. They must grasp that we also have weapons – yes, they know this, as I have just said – capable of striking targets on their territory.

Everything they are inventing now, spooking the world with the threat of a conflict involving nuclear weapons, which potentially means the end of civilisation – don’t they realise this? The problem is that these are people who have never faced profound adversity; they have no conception of the horrors of war. We – even the younger generation of Russians – have endured such trials during the fight against international terrorism in the Caucasus, and now, in the conflict in Ukraine. But they continue to think of this as a kind of action cartoon.

That being said, I think all the hysteria in the Clown World media about Putin making “nuclear threats” is the usual Fake News. He’s obviously talking about using non-nuclear hypersonics as a reminder that there is nowhere to hide, albeit with the guarantee that if Clown World responds by further escalating the situation by going nuclear, Russia will respond in kind.

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Waging War without an Army

The UK, France, and Germany are all playing a very dangerous game by seeing how far they can provoke Russia with their direct involvement in NATO’s war on Russia without seeing their own territories targeted by Russian forces.

The discussions between German officers, including a top Air Force commander, about aiding Kiev in a potential attack on the Crimean Bridge are genuine, a German Defense Ministry spokeswoman told the national public broadcaster, ARD, on Saturday.

The leak was published on Friday by RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan, who said she’d received it from Russian security officials. The journalist initially released a Russian-language transcript of the conversation and then posted the source audio file in German on social media. 

The 38-minute audio dated February 19 contained a conversation between four officers of the German air force (Luftwaffe), including its commander, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz. The military were discussing the operational and targeting details of Taurus long-range missiles that Germany was considering sending to Kiev. 

The entire transcript is here and it is pretty obviously real. As Simplicius notes, it also exposes a lot of information about direct US and UK involvement in combat taking place in Ukraine.

These combined revelations paint a stark picture of NATO’s true involvement in the war—but, alas, it is one that we have already long suspected. Particularly, readers of my blog will have long known about the deep involvement from my consistent coverage on the topic, like when I posted videos of AFU servicemen openly describing Polish and other soldiers operating their own equipment, like AH Krabs, etc. It’s just telling that this is coming out in the open now, which further emblemizes the current period as one of culmination, and perhaps termination phase for Ukraine.

Ultimately, though, it shows the utter disarray that NATO and the West are in. It’s clear that there is huge disagreement and perhaps even outright revolt—what else could possibly cause Scholz to come out to countermand, and outright expose, his allies in this way?

The key summarizing takeaways are the following:

  • The West is absolutely desperate to staunch Ukraine’s impending collapse and have doubled down on taking out the Kerch Bridge as their final ‘holy grail’ of salvation
  • The West is in disarray, with secret infighting, backbiting, double-crossing, or outright revolt amongst the ranks due to terminal fear of uncontrollable escalation
  • The combination of the above is a decisive confirmation that the Ukrainian military is getting down to its dregs and could be on its final legs

The last most important point that’s come to light amid all this recent controversy is the further illumination of the deep role that the CIA has played in Ukraine from the beginning.

Bundeswehr Wiretap Bombshell, SIMPLICIUS, 2 March 2024

All of this posturing appears to be an attempt to put pressure on Russia to return to the negotiating table, or face what the French are describing as a “strategic dilemma”. But there is no strategic dilemma for Russia, for as Putin, Lavrov, and other Russian leaders have repeatedly made clear, they are at war with NATO and Clown World, not Ukraine, and therefore they are not even remotely concerned about the secret aspect of the war they are observably winning going public.

This is precisely why Russia still has not committed the greater part of its regular army to the Special Military Operation, and why it still does not regard the two-year-conflict as a full-blown war or made any use of its air superiority. It has been prepared, from the very start, to face the full power of NATO and defeat it. Putting a French or US tripwire force in Ukraine is not going to dissuade Russia or even make it think twice about proceeding with its military objectives there; the decision to go to full-scale war with NATO, if necessary, was made two years ago.

The only thing all the posturing and public defiance of Europe’s leaders – who are merely puppets with strings being pulled out of Washington – can possibly accomplish is to get their nations invaded and occupied by the Russians again. Russia has previously taken Berlin, Paris, and Warsaw, and the only thing really preventing them from doing so again is a complete lack of interest in occupying those nations.

So, it would be very highly preferable if the Scholzs and Johnsons and Macrons of the world would stop giving them a good reason to just go ahead and do it.

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Putin Calls Out Neoclowns

The Russian President knows perfectly well who Russia’s most vicious enemies are, and why they are pushing for NATO forces to engage directly with the Russian military:

You know that the word “elite” has lost much of its credibility. Those who have done nothing for society and consider themselves a caste endowed with special rights and privileges – especially those who took advantage of all kinds of economic processes in the 1990s to line their pockets – are definitely not the elite. To reiterate, those who serve Russia, hard workers and military, reliable, trustworthy people who have proven their loyalty to Russia by deeds, in a word, dignified people are the genuine elite.

Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly, Vladimir Putin, 29 February 2024

He’s referring to the foreign oligarchs who took advantage of the post-Soviet “end of history” era in order to financially rape Russia. Most of them have now fled Russia. As Yoram Hazony has pointed out, foreign elites are entirely common in the late stages of empire; the fact that the current US political elite is entirely foreign, with nary an American nor a Protestant to be found in it is a) not at all surprising and b) strongly indicative of the incipient end of the imperial USA that we already appear to be witnessing.

Other historians have noted this phenomenon of imperial foreign elites as well. I was reading The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire last night and came across this pertinent passage:

Such priorities and shibboleths are, however, best viewed against a background of barbarians frequenting the imperial court, ad hoc arrangements continually being made with useful potentates, and titles bestowed on outsiders with barely a smattering of spoken Greek. The proportion of families in the ruling elite comprising first-, second- or third-generation immigrants probably made up around a quarter of the total… Many were members, if not from the dominant family, of elites beyond Byzantium’s borders, external or internal.

Putin knows the treachery of them that say they are elites and are not…

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