In the early 1990s, Primakov was one of the first major Russian statesmen to speak against the country's new pro-Western policies. In 1993, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service — headed by Primakov — produced a report claiming that NATO's expansion toward Eastern Europe was a threat to Russia's interests.
Primakov is famous for turning his jet around as it was headed for the Empire when NATO attacked Serbia. It was 1997 when he composed the multipolar world concept. There’s an annual event called the Primakov Readings where Lavrov always gives an important speech. The most recent is in the Gym’s archive.
This man gets it, if there's 1 accusation as a Westerner Im confident in making against the Russian leadership. Is that it's actions & policies, I agree are morally correct but they seem to me anyway. Very naive time & time again. Sometimes it seems to me the Russian leadership doesn't realise how devious dishonest & unreliable the Western ruling classes are. They might do now, but in very recent history they've happily signed agreements & deals with these people. These people constantly deceive cheat & steal from their own citizens on such a regular basis it has to be seen to be believed. Yet the Russian leadership has signed agreements with these people in good faith. I honestly find it staggering. All the proof in the World is there over many decades, how these people are actively trying to destroy Russia. Accepting Turkey as a BRICS partner state is plain stupidity to me. Sure I can see the reasons to play along with Erdogan. But its a bit of a stretch to believe he & his country has any interest in an organisation with a level playing field with equal & mutual benefits as its core interests. The EU thing with Ukraine is just plain stupidity. The EU is an extension of NATO it's became a military alliance against Russia & the other BRICS nations. Agreeing that Ukraine could join the EU is one of the most naive actions of Russia. It could only lead to a bad outcome. Why is Russia abiding by its energy contracts with any of the EU countries? Why? These countries are & have been actively trying to destroy Russia. All is fair in love & war. Russia should be trying to destroy them in every way possible. These countries are willing to harm their own countries massively just to destroy Russia or haven't the Russian leadership realised this? Russia needs to realise the position of strength it is in & use it against those. Who would gladly do it them if it was the other way around.
To understand why Russia acts as it does, you must be Russian. Is Russia at war with the people inhabiting EU nations or those who control their political system? There’s a natural geoeconomic dependence of Western Europe on Russia that cannot be easily erased as we’re seeing. Being reliable contractually—legally—establishes Russia’s bonafides in other areas of relations. Russia also understands who their #1 enemy is—the Outlaw US Empire and its UK deputy. And Russia also knows how propaganda can be extremely manipulative and difficult to counter. Why does Russia have a policy of avoiding civilian deaths as much as possible? Because Global Opinion—which Russia listens to—demands it. Russia simply isn’t the West in a multitude of ways, so it doesn’t act like the West, which is hard for many in the West to understand. The main reason I created this substack was to educate, to expose Westerners to information they weren’t getting hat’s essential for forming a proper perspective of reality.
I agree, and the UK, GB, whatever seems a pale shadow of its former self. However there's the famous "City" and its tentacles with all the financial obfuscatory power that cloaks ownership - leaving what Alex Krainer sees as a still dangerous power. But ascertaining the actual levels of control given CFR, Chatham house, etc. Militarily the UK is now minor league.
The place to find the answer to your unspoken question is to read the numerous speeches by Putin and the discussions he has with government members and those in civil society, which admittedly is a tall task and much easier to do as they occur as I've been doing very closely for the pasts 5 years and not so closely for the 20 prior years. There's a core idea of Russia and what constitutes Russianness that are liked, but one doesn't need to be physically in Russia to have or participate in those areas. Putin is quite keen on keeping Russia evolving, maturing, not just expanding its physical nature. He's also aware that past leadership will not accommodate future needs and is thus cultivating those leaders. Putin's term limit is up in 2030, so he's doing what he can now and in the coming years to continue Russia on its current trajectory. His greatest challenge isn't geopolitics; it's finding a way to solve Russia's demographic problem.
"His greatest challenge isn't geopolitics; it's finding a way to solve Russia's demographic problem."
Perhaps this is not as big a problem as some make it out to be? Granted where there's an age imbalance it has negative implications for such things as care of the elderly and financing pensions. OTOH, we live in an increasingly automated world, both in manufacturing and services. Seems to me that encouraging the young generation to pursue the kinds of studies that will advance that technological trend is a better approach to the problem.
So instead of creating incentives for couples to have larger families, why not focus on the trend which itself is part of the cause of the declining birthrate - i.e. women delaying or forgoing family formation in lieu of pursuing careers. That, plus the rapidly rising costs of family formation are the two largest drivers of the decline in all industrial societies, another being declining fertility. All fairly intractable problems I would argue.
There's an unspoken subtext here, which is that the Muslim population is not experiencing this problem. That has implications further down the road which I'm sure have not gone unnoticed. Part of the reason is that those societies are more traditional, which basically means more restrictive of women's choices. That's a non-starter as far as most Slavic women are concerned, regardless of how hard the government promotes the Orthodox lifestyle. Putin's pushing on a string here I would say.
I see from my last article dealing with demographics, “Meeting of Russia's State Council on Family Support” that there’s no comment from you. Here’s part of what I wrote in my preamble: “How to coax Russians into having larger families so over the decades their population grows and enables them to develop their lands? How to engage in what amounts to social engineering without it being seen as such?” Here’s a portion of what Putin said in his remarks prior to the discussion:
“Yet one area is to support the desire of young parents for early births of children. It is imperative to support these aspirations. Yesterday we said: The first child in women appears at 28-29 years. What happens next? It is well known. Then you want to go back to work, then you need to get education, post-education, work, and so on. And that's it. Then there is not enough time for the second child. We need to pay special attention expectant mothers who are full-time students of universities, colleges, technical schools. As a matter of priority, it is necessary to increase the maternity allowance up to the subsistence minimum.” https://karlof1.substack.com/p/meeting-of-russias-state-council
Russia views its demographic problem as a matter of national security, which is why it’s striving so hard to solve it.
I missed that article, so I went back and read it. I got to this part which I thought was funny:
"It is known that to bring up and raise three, four or more children is a lot of work. And the mothers, heroines of Russia, rightfully have the same high status, as Heroes of Labor."
Heroes of Labor! LOL! My Russian's not good enough to know if there's a double entendre in the original, but he's hit on an important point. Talk to women that have gone through child birth (not to mention 9 months of pregnancy) and ask them how eager they are to repeat the process. Most women don't think about demographics or replacement numbers, they think about their own personal comfort, which is why I said Putin's pushing on a string. It's the old adage about horses and water.
What's telling for me is how he used the Hero of Labour analogy, which I guess is natural for someone of his generation, but I don't think he realizes how far from current reality that analogy is. Heroes of Labour were people who struggled against adversity. So where's the adversity in present day Russia? The place is arguably better off today that it's ever been, and along with that comes an increased degree of personal choice. This not unique to Russia, it's across the board in the developed world - not a single developed nation has a birthrate above the 2.2 replacement level. Not one. As a scientist, when I see a 100% correlation, to me that suggests I'm looking at a constant, not a variable.
I give them top marks for trying though. I don't think you'll ever see a western pop group come up with something like this. I'd be interested to know whose idea this was actually. I doubt the girls thought it up by themselves.
Unfortunately it appears BRICS is like ASEAN where total opposites come together and no one can say anything of the others behaviour which is Asian manners but when attempting to get consensus then nothing happens as in ASEAN.
Sukarnos non aligned movement was another thing all together until US Suharto wiped out a million souls supposedly all PKI including Sukarno.
This gives valuable perspective and I greatly appreciate your having written it.
Thanks, but I didn't write it; I merely translated it and did some editorializing via emphasis of its content.
Modesty noted... thanks again for both the translation and additional clarifications.
In the early 1990s, Primakov was one of the first major Russian statesmen to speak against the country's new pro-Western policies. In 1993, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service — headed by Primakov — produced a report claiming that NATO's expansion toward Eastern Europe was a threat to Russia's interests.
Primakov is famous for turning his jet around as it was headed for the Empire when NATO attacked Serbia. It was 1997 when he composed the multipolar world concept. There’s an annual event called the Primakov Readings where Lavrov always gives an important speech. The most recent is in the Gym’s archive.
Thanks so much Karl Sanchez for the two translations. I know it takes time, effort and unique linguistic skillset. 🏆
This man gets it, if there's 1 accusation as a Westerner Im confident in making against the Russian leadership. Is that it's actions & policies, I agree are morally correct but they seem to me anyway. Very naive time & time again. Sometimes it seems to me the Russian leadership doesn't realise how devious dishonest & unreliable the Western ruling classes are. They might do now, but in very recent history they've happily signed agreements & deals with these people. These people constantly deceive cheat & steal from their own citizens on such a regular basis it has to be seen to be believed. Yet the Russian leadership has signed agreements with these people in good faith. I honestly find it staggering. All the proof in the World is there over many decades, how these people are actively trying to destroy Russia. Accepting Turkey as a BRICS partner state is plain stupidity to me. Sure I can see the reasons to play along with Erdogan. But its a bit of a stretch to believe he & his country has any interest in an organisation with a level playing field with equal & mutual benefits as its core interests. The EU thing with Ukraine is just plain stupidity. The EU is an extension of NATO it's became a military alliance against Russia & the other BRICS nations. Agreeing that Ukraine could join the EU is one of the most naive actions of Russia. It could only lead to a bad outcome. Why is Russia abiding by its energy contracts with any of the EU countries? Why? These countries are & have been actively trying to destroy Russia. All is fair in love & war. Russia should be trying to destroy them in every way possible. These countries are willing to harm their own countries massively just to destroy Russia or haven't the Russian leadership realised this? Russia needs to realise the position of strength it is in & use it against those. Who would gladly do it them if it was the other way around.
To understand why Russia acts as it does, you must be Russian. Is Russia at war with the people inhabiting EU nations or those who control their political system? There’s a natural geoeconomic dependence of Western Europe on Russia that cannot be easily erased as we’re seeing. Being reliable contractually—legally—establishes Russia’s bonafides in other areas of relations. Russia also understands who their #1 enemy is—the Outlaw US Empire and its UK deputy. And Russia also knows how propaganda can be extremely manipulative and difficult to counter. Why does Russia have a policy of avoiding civilian deaths as much as possible? Because Global Opinion—which Russia listens to—demands it. Russia simply isn’t the West in a multitude of ways, so it doesn’t act like the West, which is hard for many in the West to understand. The main reason I created this substack was to educate, to expose Westerners to information they weren’t getting hat’s essential for forming a proper perspective of reality.
I agree, and the UK, GB, whatever seems a pale shadow of its former self. However there's the famous "City" and its tentacles with all the financial obfuscatory power that cloaks ownership - leaving what Alex Krainer sees as a still dangerous power. But ascertaining the actual levels of control given CFR, Chatham house, etc. Militarily the UK is now minor league.
But for Russia to go forward now based on what was and never again will be is naive and dangerous. I'm sure many in Russia see thar.
The place to find the answer to your unspoken question is to read the numerous speeches by Putin and the discussions he has with government members and those in civil society, which admittedly is a tall task and much easier to do as they occur as I've been doing very closely for the pasts 5 years and not so closely for the 20 prior years. There's a core idea of Russia and what constitutes Russianness that are liked, but one doesn't need to be physically in Russia to have or participate in those areas. Putin is quite keen on keeping Russia evolving, maturing, not just expanding its physical nature. He's also aware that past leadership will not accommodate future needs and is thus cultivating those leaders. Putin's term limit is up in 2030, so he's doing what he can now and in the coming years to continue Russia on its current trajectory. His greatest challenge isn't geopolitics; it's finding a way to solve Russia's demographic problem.
"His greatest challenge isn't geopolitics; it's finding a way to solve Russia's demographic problem."
Perhaps this is not as big a problem as some make it out to be? Granted where there's an age imbalance it has negative implications for such things as care of the elderly and financing pensions. OTOH, we live in an increasingly automated world, both in manufacturing and services. Seems to me that encouraging the young generation to pursue the kinds of studies that will advance that technological trend is a better approach to the problem.
So instead of creating incentives for couples to have larger families, why not focus on the trend which itself is part of the cause of the declining birthrate - i.e. women delaying or forgoing family formation in lieu of pursuing careers. That, plus the rapidly rising costs of family formation are the two largest drivers of the decline in all industrial societies, another being declining fertility. All fairly intractable problems I would argue.
There's an unspoken subtext here, which is that the Muslim population is not experiencing this problem. That has implications further down the road which I'm sure have not gone unnoticed. Part of the reason is that those societies are more traditional, which basically means more restrictive of women's choices. That's a non-starter as far as most Slavic women are concerned, regardless of how hard the government promotes the Orthodox lifestyle. Putin's pushing on a string here I would say.
I see from my last article dealing with demographics, “Meeting of Russia's State Council on Family Support” that there’s no comment from you. Here’s part of what I wrote in my preamble: “How to coax Russians into having larger families so over the decades their population grows and enables them to develop their lands? How to engage in what amounts to social engineering without it being seen as such?” Here’s a portion of what Putin said in his remarks prior to the discussion:
“Yet one area is to support the desire of young parents for early births of children. It is imperative to support these aspirations. Yesterday we said: The first child in women appears at 28-29 years. What happens next? It is well known. Then you want to go back to work, then you need to get education, post-education, work, and so on. And that's it. Then there is not enough time for the second child. We need to pay special attention expectant mothers who are full-time students of universities, colleges, technical schools. As a matter of priority, it is necessary to increase the maternity allowance up to the subsistence minimum.” https://karlof1.substack.com/p/meeting-of-russias-state-council
Russia views its demographic problem as a matter of national security, which is why it’s striving so hard to solve it.
I missed that article, so I went back and read it. I got to this part which I thought was funny:
"It is known that to bring up and raise three, four or more children is a lot of work. And the mothers, heroines of Russia, rightfully have the same high status, as Heroes of Labor."
Heroes of Labor! LOL! My Russian's not good enough to know if there's a double entendre in the original, but he's hit on an important point. Talk to women that have gone through child birth (not to mention 9 months of pregnancy) and ask them how eager they are to repeat the process. Most women don't think about demographics or replacement numbers, they think about their own personal comfort, which is why I said Putin's pushing on a string. It's the old adage about horses and water.
What's telling for me is how he used the Hero of Labour analogy, which I guess is natural for someone of his generation, but I don't think he realizes how far from current reality that analogy is. Heroes of Labour were people who struggled against adversity. So where's the adversity in present day Russia? The place is arguably better off today that it's ever been, and along with that comes an increased degree of personal choice. This not unique to Russia, it's across the board in the developed world - not a single developed nation has a birthrate above the 2.2 replacement level. Not one. As a scientist, when I see a 100% correlation, to me that suggests I'm looking at a constant, not a variable.
I give them top marks for trying though. I don't think you'll ever see a western pop group come up with something like this. I'd be interested to know whose idea this was actually. I doubt the girls thought it up by themselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb3PYFr5y98
Unfortunately it appears BRICS is like ASEAN where total opposites come together and no one can say anything of the others behaviour which is Asian manners but when attempting to get consensus then nothing happens as in ASEAN.
Sukarnos non aligned movement was another thing all together until US Suharto wiped out a million souls supposedly all PKI including Sukarno.
IMO, that’s comparing apples and oranges as they’re distinct differences.