Russia’s former President, Prime Minister and current Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev wrote the following—obituary, perhaps—about Europe at his VK page instead of his Telegram. Some have taken part of what he wrote and reposted it to other social media platforms. Although written on 29 October, I just learned of it and thanks to having my own VK page was able to access and copy it so I can share it with readers here:
EU leverage evaporates in many arenas, and trade partners of all kinds will extract more. (think Turkey, China, financial intermediaries in US or Dubai or HK now that Euro's reputation as a neutral finance arena is also dead...). With this, likely to see wave of reactionary politics across the continent, making it even worse.
i like medvedevs line at the bottom in regards to usa towards europe -
"And soon he will simply throw the insanity grandmother out onto the cold street, mercilessly slamming the door of her own house behind her." a sad, but truthful summation as i see it..
A sense of bleakness pervades Dmitry Anatolyevich's comments: Certainly he sees the increasing totalitarian Nazism in EU and perhaps, taking into account a major SMO objective of UA denazification, may wonder if this objective ends at the PL-UA border.
I sort of addressed the issue of further Denazification beyond Ukraine in a MoA comment. The challenge there is large. As I've written before, WW2 has yet to end.
That's part of it, but he also took a lot of heat for being at the helm during Libya and not vetoing the UNSC Resolution that NATO used as cover for its destruction. He also took heat when he was PM. Many suspected him as a 5th or 6th Columnist, and he has shown great resentment toward that. Patrushev is his foil on the Security Council and is known as a very tough nut. Lavrov is also much harder than he is outwardly as was revealed in January 2022. He was at the heart of all the events that led up to the SMO, and Putin's decision was based on Lavrov's estimations. The bottom line on Medvedev is he's clearly seen as an asset by the top core of Rusia's managers, which is why he has his position.
I remember Medvedev being called out for “Atlantisist sympathies” - I’m sure he hasn’t forgotten those that would impugn his patriotism. To (once again) quote Mr. T, “I pity the fools!”
The ‘top core’ of Russia’s managers - all of the names you mentioned plus Shoigu and certain ministers (Treasury, manufacturing, transportation and others have for some time now have been convened as a Stavka (War Cabinet) that collectively “call the shots” for as long as necessary. John Helmer (Dances with Bears) described this in good detail some time ago - certainly before the start of the SMO so I’ll take the ‘old fart with Swiss cheese memory defense’ and leave it to someone with better search skills to dig it up. Putin is still the President but he defers to the decisions of the Stavka - of which he is a member. I can’t help but be deeply impressed at this style of government of a nation that finds itself in an existential crisis.
I saw a political survey (at Edward Slavsquat's substack, a now critical ex-Putin supporter thanks to covid and digitalization policies which he regards as being in lockstep with the globalistas) showing Medvedev as being basically at the bottom of a long list of politicians and a few celebrities. I found that surprising since he has such a strong voice; perhaps he is mainly only read by foreigners. Generally, he voices a hard line, the sort of tone he didn't have when a national leader. But he paints a colorfully accurate picture of Europe even through machine translation obfuscation.
That said, I was always against the European Union once it grew beyond being a common market mechanism and turned into an unaccountable agent of over-centralization. They did some great things with redistribution resulting in long-neglected zones - like Wales and Ireland in the UK - getting substantive improvements, but the sclerotic bloat of over-bureaucratization, so easy to predict, sure enough has resulted in something entirely unsatisfactory. It seems that all European nations have surrendered their sovereignty and initiative not only to the crass greediness of the nouveau riche Robber Baron Empire across the pond with still vigorous roots in Zurich and the City, but also to their home-grown bankster-run boondoggle in Brussels, known mainly for its excellent pommes frites and seedy underage sex trafficking rings. They need to go back to the drawing board. That will only come from individual nations putting forth strong leaders who insist on doing things for the benefit of their own countrymen rather than sacrifices such interests on the altar of EU solidarity. Interestingly, and as Medvedev points out, it seems that no such leaders are to be found in the Western European space, only from nations which used to be in the Soviet orbit.
Both in Europe and the Middle East the increasingly open confrontation between the West and the 'Global South' is like a dog having a good shake after rolling around in a muddy stream, in this case shaking off your 'Outlaw US Empire' (a misleading term IMO) out of their body politic!
In this regard, I doubt Russia will come to terms with Ukraine by negotiating with the US or NATO, rather they will insist on dealing with a sovereign Ukraine which has renounced any such backing. If not, from the Russian POV, it would be better for Ukraine to cease existing as such and rather reconstitute its population as RF oblasts, thus no longer a petri dish spawning deadly NATO pathogens on her borders. Those who don't want to be Russians can move to Europe which eagerly accepts millions from all over the world.
One can argue about whether or not Israel (and those behind it) is the tail or the dog, but either way if they want to remain as a sovereign nation in the Middle East, they are going to have to come to terms with their neighbours there and stop behaving like needy adolescents dependent upon the backing of Great Powers from far away to support their hostile way of treating everyone in the Region, especially the local Palestinians, with such relentless contempt and cruelty.
Somethings gotta give. Meanwhile Medvedev in the Kremlin gets to point his finger, ridicule and chuckle away!
I wonder how Mr. Slavsquat would fare addressing a forum like the Civic Chamber with his notions? I don't think he'd do very well. As for the Ukies and Zionists, both have their own specific and very different problems regarding survival. What saves the Ukies for now is they haven't earned the enmity of their neighbors, while the hatred aimed at Russia is artificial. Thus, the two situations differ markedly. Incirlik was mobbed today my very angry Turks and friends, and there are massive protests happening globally. A Genocidalist Zionist government minister made the massive and perhaps fatal error of threatening to use nukes on Gaza--a statement I seriously doubt Netanyahu will refute and thus further compound the situation as seen by the Global Majority, which is growing larger as parts of the West join.
Ha, well he's just a journalist not a national leader so that's a cheap shot, but many of his pieces show extracts from Russian sources which is what I go to him for. His friend Rolo (now Rurik Skywalker!) also provides extracts from alternative Russian press, but I find his writing too wide-ranging / scattered for my tastes, though often outside the box interesting.
Whether Slavsquat's critiques are valid or not there are many in Russia who have concerns, which is to be expected in any large nation. We mainly look at Russia's geopolitical expression but there is a whole internal aspect as well. The conservative concern there, understandably, is that Russia is being too subservient to or outfoxed by Western powers especially in the financial realm. Also, Putin's seeming embrace of digital money and passports, plus the only slightly modified genetic modification shot, embrace of the 2030 Sustainability Agenda also supported by the WEF. These are valid concerns about which there have not been clear answers.
My take is that Putin (Russia) balances many cross currents both internally and externally like all complex groups much larger than a few thousand, let alone pushing two hundred million. So purists of either a conservative/patriot/critical or a modernist/liberal/globalista stripe will have much to gripe about, each with good reason. Countries are never perfect.
But as to what the Zionists and Ukraine have in common, two glaring things:
1. Heavy duty Jewish leadership (obvious in Israel but unnaturally so in Ukraine)
2. Heavy duty military, financial and diplomatic (neocon-Jewish) support from the West which takes precedence over serving and protecting their citizenry, both borders and social policy.
In this regard they are remarkably similar with few other States about which one could say the same.
blunt, but true.
EU leverage evaporates in many arenas, and trade partners of all kinds will extract more. (think Turkey, China, financial intermediaries in US or Dubai or HK now that Euro's reputation as a neutral finance arena is also dead...). With this, likely to see wave of reactionary politics across the continent, making it even worse.
i like medvedevs line at the bottom in regards to usa towards europe -
"And soon he will simply throw the insanity grandmother out onto the cold street, mercilessly slamming the door of her own house behind her." a sad, but truthful summation as i see it..
A sense of bleakness pervades Dmitry Anatolyevich's comments: Certainly he sees the increasing totalitarian Nazism in EU and perhaps, taking into account a major SMO objective of UA denazification, may wonder if this objective ends at the PL-UA border.
I sort of addressed the issue of further Denazification beyond Ukraine in a MoA comment. The challenge there is large. As I've written before, WW2 has yet to end.
If you have a thread number, I'd like to read that.
It's at the end of a longer comment here, https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/11/the-ukraine-peace-talk-trial-balloon.html?cid=6a00d8341c640e53ef02c8d3a23cf9200d#comment-6a00d8341c640e53ef02c8d3a23cf9200d
Thank you!
No punches pulled. It's interesting how he has taken, or being given, this role.
Despite the translation errors, Medvedev certainly has a way with words. You never have to read between the lines....
He never used to be this way so I wonder how he got here.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
Perhaps he realised how he and Russia were being screwed.
That's part of it, but he also took a lot of heat for being at the helm during Libya and not vetoing the UNSC Resolution that NATO used as cover for its destruction. He also took heat when he was PM. Many suspected him as a 5th or 6th Columnist, and he has shown great resentment toward that. Patrushev is his foil on the Security Council and is known as a very tough nut. Lavrov is also much harder than he is outwardly as was revealed in January 2022. He was at the heart of all the events that led up to the SMO, and Putin's decision was based on Lavrov's estimations. The bottom line on Medvedev is he's clearly seen as an asset by the top core of Rusia's managers, which is why he has his position.
I remember Medvedev being called out for “Atlantisist sympathies” - I’m sure he hasn’t forgotten those that would impugn his patriotism. To (once again) quote Mr. T, “I pity the fools!”
The ‘top core’ of Russia’s managers - all of the names you mentioned plus Shoigu and certain ministers (Treasury, manufacturing, transportation and others have for some time now have been convened as a Stavka (War Cabinet) that collectively “call the shots” for as long as necessary. John Helmer (Dances with Bears) described this in good detail some time ago - certainly before the start of the SMO so I’ll take the ‘old fart with Swiss cheese memory defense’ and leave it to someone with better search skills to dig it up. Putin is still the President but he defers to the decisions of the Stavka - of which he is a member. I can’t help but be deeply impressed at this style of government of a nation that finds itself in an existential crisis.
Medvedev is adept at the “bad cop” role.
I saw a political survey (at Edward Slavsquat's substack, a now critical ex-Putin supporter thanks to covid and digitalization policies which he regards as being in lockstep with the globalistas) showing Medvedev as being basically at the bottom of a long list of politicians and a few celebrities. I found that surprising since he has such a strong voice; perhaps he is mainly only read by foreigners. Generally, he voices a hard line, the sort of tone he didn't have when a national leader. But he paints a colorfully accurate picture of Europe even through machine translation obfuscation.
That said, I was always against the European Union once it grew beyond being a common market mechanism and turned into an unaccountable agent of over-centralization. They did some great things with redistribution resulting in long-neglected zones - like Wales and Ireland in the UK - getting substantive improvements, but the sclerotic bloat of over-bureaucratization, so easy to predict, sure enough has resulted in something entirely unsatisfactory. It seems that all European nations have surrendered their sovereignty and initiative not only to the crass greediness of the nouveau riche Robber Baron Empire across the pond with still vigorous roots in Zurich and the City, but also to their home-grown bankster-run boondoggle in Brussels, known mainly for its excellent pommes frites and seedy underage sex trafficking rings. They need to go back to the drawing board. That will only come from individual nations putting forth strong leaders who insist on doing things for the benefit of their own countrymen rather than sacrifices such interests on the altar of EU solidarity. Interestingly, and as Medvedev points out, it seems that no such leaders are to be found in the Western European space, only from nations which used to be in the Soviet orbit.
Both in Europe and the Middle East the increasingly open confrontation between the West and the 'Global South' is like a dog having a good shake after rolling around in a muddy stream, in this case shaking off your 'Outlaw US Empire' (a misleading term IMO) out of their body politic!
In this regard, I doubt Russia will come to terms with Ukraine by negotiating with the US or NATO, rather they will insist on dealing with a sovereign Ukraine which has renounced any such backing. If not, from the Russian POV, it would be better for Ukraine to cease existing as such and rather reconstitute its population as RF oblasts, thus no longer a petri dish spawning deadly NATO pathogens on her borders. Those who don't want to be Russians can move to Europe which eagerly accepts millions from all over the world.
One can argue about whether or not Israel (and those behind it) is the tail or the dog, but either way if they want to remain as a sovereign nation in the Middle East, they are going to have to come to terms with their neighbours there and stop behaving like needy adolescents dependent upon the backing of Great Powers from far away to support their hostile way of treating everyone in the Region, especially the local Palestinians, with such relentless contempt and cruelty.
Somethings gotta give. Meanwhile Medvedev in the Kremlin gets to point his finger, ridicule and chuckle away!
I wonder how Mr. Slavsquat would fare addressing a forum like the Civic Chamber with his notions? I don't think he'd do very well. As for the Ukies and Zionists, both have their own specific and very different problems regarding survival. What saves the Ukies for now is they haven't earned the enmity of their neighbors, while the hatred aimed at Russia is artificial. Thus, the two situations differ markedly. Incirlik was mobbed today my very angry Turks and friends, and there are massive protests happening globally. A Genocidalist Zionist government minister made the massive and perhaps fatal error of threatening to use nukes on Gaza--a statement I seriously doubt Netanyahu will refute and thus further compound the situation as seen by the Global Majority, which is growing larger as parts of the West join.
Ha, well he's just a journalist not a national leader so that's a cheap shot, but many of his pieces show extracts from Russian sources which is what I go to him for. His friend Rolo (now Rurik Skywalker!) also provides extracts from alternative Russian press, but I find his writing too wide-ranging / scattered for my tastes, though often outside the box interesting.
Whether Slavsquat's critiques are valid or not there are many in Russia who have concerns, which is to be expected in any large nation. We mainly look at Russia's geopolitical expression but there is a whole internal aspect as well. The conservative concern there, understandably, is that Russia is being too subservient to or outfoxed by Western powers especially in the financial realm. Also, Putin's seeming embrace of digital money and passports, plus the only slightly modified genetic modification shot, embrace of the 2030 Sustainability Agenda also supported by the WEF. These are valid concerns about which there have not been clear answers.
My take is that Putin (Russia) balances many cross currents both internally and externally like all complex groups much larger than a few thousand, let alone pushing two hundred million. So purists of either a conservative/patriot/critical or a modernist/liberal/globalista stripe will have much to gripe about, each with good reason. Countries are never perfect.
But as to what the Zionists and Ukraine have in common, two glaring things:
1. Heavy duty Jewish leadership (obvious in Israel but unnaturally so in Ukraine)
2. Heavy duty military, financial and diplomatic (neocon-Jewish) support from the West which takes precedence over serving and protecting their citizenry, both borders and social policy.
In this regard they are remarkably similar with few other States about which one could say the same.