By Fazal Rahman, Ph.D. October 8, 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin spent almost four hours in his speech and answering questions at the Valdai Discussion Club. In those, he talked about numerous global, regional, and Russian issues. In the following passages, I will comment on some of the topics that he discussed.
His speech and discussion can be heard by clicking on the following link:
1. Re Civilizational Diversity. He repeatedly talked about the diversity of civilizations and importance of preserving that diversity. However, that diversity has been, and continues to be, drastically reduced and overwhelmed by the Western Capitalist-Imperialist Technological Civilization (WCITC), which has been developing and overwhelming the civilizational diversity during the previous few centuries. With the success of Russian Socialist Revolution of 1917, the alternative Socialist Technological Civilization (STC) appeared on the world scene. However, with the Grand Betrayal of Socialism in the USSR, China, and Eastern Europe, it has currently vanished from the global stage. WCITC is currently the only dominant civilization in the world, dominating and overwhelming all the cultural, linguistic, religious and other super-structural differences between various countries, peoples, and nations. Putin being the leader of an important part of that civilization greatly exaggerates the existence and importance of civilizational diversity.
2. He also correctly accuses the US and Europe of history of colonialism and exploitation of human and natural resources of rest of the world for their enrichment and development, at the expense of under-development and impoverishment of colonized and dominated parts of the world. However, before the 1917 Russian Socialist Revolution, Russian Empire also had a similar history. During the 74 years of socialist development of Russia and USSR, USSR attempted to reverse that history and helped national liberation movements and victims of Russian Empire and US and European imperialisms in their struggles for freedom and development. After the destruction of USSR and socialism, and restoration of capitalism in Russia, Russia will inevitably advance to the imperialist stage and its operations in rest of the world will inevitably have exploitative character, with Russian characteristics, for profits and enrichment of its state and private corporations and its rich and super-rich. In this special period of proxy war of US and NATO imperialisms against Russia in Ukraine, Putin and Russian leaders have started talking like socialists, while continuing to promote capitalism nationally and internationally. Capitalism has its own intrinsic ways of development and no verbal white-washing can hinder those.
3. Putin speaks truthfully and objectively on the causes of crisis and war in Ukraine, e.g., the US funded and organized 2014 violent overthrow of democratically elected and Russia-friendly President of Ukraine with the crucial involvement of Azov and other neo-Nazi groups, discrimination and military attacks against the large population of Russians in the Eastern Ukraine, plans to include Ukraine into NATO, right on the Russian borders, etc. No unbiased and rational person can disagree with those facts or the fact that it was planned by the US and European imperialists as a proxy war against Russia.
4. During the discussion, an Indian intellectual very politely asked Putin if time had come to reduce criticism of 1917 Russian Revolution and Communists. This was the only such question asked. Putin only beat around the bush in his answer to this very important question.
5. Putin is a very capable, competent, energetic, intelligent, and articulate leader of capitalist Russia. After the idiocies and buffooneries of Yeltsin, which caused multidimensional damages to Russia and its status in the world, Putin has managed to counter and remedy those and restored its economic, military, scientific, technological, and industrial strengths, all within the restored capitalist system. These strengths were developed under socialism in the USSR with unmatchable speed and competence. The current strengths of capitalist Russia were inherited from the socialist USSR. The social wealth developed during that period by extraordinary creativity and labor of the working class, farmers, scientists, and technicians was looted ruthlessly by the new capitalist class after the capitalist counter-revolution. Putin is one of the main beneficiaries of that counter-revolution.
6. Restoration of capitalism in Russia is relatively recent. As admitted by Putin, initially he tried for Russia to become part of and a partner to the international super-imperialist organization NATO, as well as the US and European capitalist-imperialist politico-economic block. However, US and European imperialists had other plans and rejected these efforts, forcing Russia and China into a rival block. Initially, China also had similar cooperative plans for becoming part of the US and European capitalist-imperialist politico-economic block. However, it was also rebuffed and forced into the rival block, which many other countries have also joined now in BRICS. US and European imperialism are addicted to global hegemony, which developed in the previous few centuries. They apparently refuse to adjust to the new reality and drastic changes in the balance of economic and military forces, which objectively make it impossible to maintain that hegemony, which has already been drastically eroded and will continue to be eroded further. It is extremely irrational for them to imagine that they can still maintain it and benefit from it.
7. Lately great hopes and expectations are being created in relation to the developing Multipolar Capitalist and Imperialist World, usually only characterized as the Multipolar World. Obviously, the consequences of such a world have not been thought through logically and objectively by its enthusiasts.
The biggest positive outcome of a Multipolar Capitalist-Imperialist World is and will be the end of Unipolar World, dominated by the predatory and hegemonic US imperialism with puppet-like collaboration of its European allies.
On the negative side, Multipolar Capitalist-Imperialist World will continue to enhance global arms race, militarism, and military prowesses of various competitive and predatory national states.
Wars and conflicts are certain to increase between capitalist and imperialist states, the current proxy war of US and NATO against Russia in Ukraine, and between Russia and Ukraine, being an example and evidence of that. US and NATO may also provoke a mutually devastating war against China around the issues and problems of Taiwan. Conflicts between Iran and Israel and India and Pakistan are also simmering. Social inequalities and injustices are also certain to increase, in the absence of social revolutions.
In the developing Multipolar Capitalist and Imperialist World, there are and will be a few super-powers, followed by various levels of lesser powers.
More details on the developing multipolarity are contained in my article with the following link:
Can the developing Multipolar Capitalist and Imperialist World solve the current greatest problems in the history of mankind and the planet?
8. The underlying deeper causes of the war and crisis in Ukraine are rooted in the destruction of socialism and the USSR, and restoration of capitalism in the former Soviet republics. Capitalism activates the demonic parts of human nature and it has reactivated those parts in the leaderships and populations of those republics, on massive levels. Obviously, 74 years of socialism there were not enough to create an irreversible socialist human nature. The demonic parts were lying dormant and woke up under the restored capitalism.
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