A Putin Speech That's Difficult to Argue With
A Putin Speech That's Difficult to Argue With
In a recent speech, Vladimir Putin made many of the arguments about the West that I've been making for a few years
Liberal ideology is unrecognisable. Whereas classical liberalism meant that each individual is free to speak and act as he sees fit, in the 20th century liberals started claiming that their "open society" has enemies. And the freedom that these enemies have must be restricted and cancelled.
—Vladimir Putin
We were brought up to believe in truth, justice, and the American Way—the tag line from Superman on both radio and television. But “the American Way” of 1940 was a lot different from the American way today.
Today’s American way includes chemical castration of juvenile boys and hysterectomies for little girls. We take six-year-olds to drag shows and let them shove dollar bills in the underwear of men dressed like over-sexualized women. We demonize free speech and scientific inquiry, banning free thinkers from the public forum and revoking the medical licenses of experienced researchers. We fund wars for the exclusive benefit of private companies. We prohibit every First Amendment right about which Congress is prohibited from legislating.
In a perfect world, America’s descent into perverted tyranny would have been called out by an American—a revered professor or an elder statesman. But our culture has been so decayed and our tolerance of the truth so depleted that, instead, it takes a ruthless dictator to hold a mirror before America and demand, “look at what you’ve become.”
In a speech to the Valdai Discussion Club recently, Vladimir Putin explained his purpose in breaking up the unipolar world. I can’t argue with most his points. I can’t be sure of Putin’s sincerity—he could be trying to win favor from people who think like me—but no one can dispute his cardinal complaints about the rot that is 21st century America.
Regarding our perverted sexuality, Putin says:
If Western elites believe they can fill the minds of their people with odd but fashionable ideas like dozens of genders and gay parades, that is their right. But what they do not have the right to do is demand that others follow them down this road.
Not only is Putin right to criticize this uniquely Western idea of gender fluidity, he does so rather politely. You can claim he’s being unreasonable. He does not demand that we stop producing drag shows for children but only that we stop trying to force Russians to ruin their families.
Before going further, I’d like to thank Substacker Konstintin Kisin for translating Putin’s speech for Western audiences. The media can’t be trusted to accurately convey the words of world leaders, so we depend on the works of citizen journalists like Kisin for our information. Please consider subscribing to his Substack. His full translation is available here:
Reasonableness, in fact, was a constant component throughout the speech. Regarding Christianity, he said:
Washington talks about the “global order” but every day this so-called order multiplies chaos and is becoming more and more intolerant, even in respect of the Western countries themselves. They don’t have a problem introducing sanctions against their own allies, who bow and take it.
Hungarian MPs attempted to enshrine Christian values in the EU and this was seen as destructive provocation. In Russia, we have all the world’s major religions and we respect each other’s values instead of cancelling them.
We see this reasonableness in a paragraph that also includes a very thoughtful explanation of “traditional values”—an explanation almost no one could dispute:
I want to emphasise that traditional values are not some fixed list of axioms that everyone must follow. The difference between traditional values and neoliberal values is that traditional values are always unique because they emerge from the traditions of that society, its culture and historical experience. That’s why traditional values cannot be imposed on others. They must be respected and treated with care as the choices made over centuries by the people of that country.
Putin may not be reasonable or liberal, but you’d be hard pressed to find a better example of classical liberal thinking. Values can evolve, but they must evolve from the traditions of the people, not be imposed by some gnostic authority.
Putin’s description of two Wests also rings true, as does his self-proclaimed respect and admiration for one of the two:
the West of traditional, primarily Christian, values of freedom, patriotism, a rich culture . . . . We have much in common with this West including our antique roots.
But there is another, aggressive West that is consmopolitan and neocolonial which acts as the weapon deployed by liberal elites. And Russia will never accept the diktats of this West.
Earlier in the speech, Putin alluded to the Cold War. Fondly, as I sometimes do myself. But Putin recognized something about then and now that I hadn’t: the Soviet Union and the West had more mutual respect.
During the Cold War, at the peak of the stand-off it did not occur to anyone to deny that other peoples had their own cultures, art, science etc.
Yes, there were restrictions on scientific, educational, cultural and even, sadly, sporting links between our countries but even Soviet and American leaders understood that the cultural sphere must be handled with care and respect for your adversary. And what's happening now? The Nazis burned books, while the descendants of the founders of liberalism and progress are banning Tchaikovsky and Dostoyevsky.
Putin then offers a critique of modern liberalism that I wish I’d written:
Cancel culture is destroying everything that's living and creative, preventing freedom of inquiry in economics, politics and culture.
Liberal ideology is unrecognisable. Whereas classical liberalism meant that each individual is free to speak and act as he sees fit, in the 20th century liberals started claiming that their "open society" has enemies. And the freedom that these enemies have must be restricted and cancelled.
They've got to the absurd point where any alternative point of view is declared harmful propaganda that is a danger to democracy.
Who can argue? Putin’s attack on the “liberal” concept of cancel culture is nothing new to those of us who’ve lived through it. My old Twitter handle, @hennessystl, was suspended indefinitely until I asked them to delete it in February of 2021. Millions experienced the same treatment. My crime was to retweet something from The Gateway Pundit that Twitter’s Gen Z psychopaths found discomforting.
Glenn Greenwald has been warning the world of the danger of state censorship and secrecy for years. Recently, he’s also warned us about the exponentially greater danger of state censorship by a willing social media network.
Glenn’s post today discusses the “disinformation industry.” That’s a good name for it. It can join the pantheon of dangerous industries, alongside the Medical Industry, the Pharmaceutical Industry, and, of course, our favorite: Military-Industrial Complex. Greenwald may be a humanitarian and Putin not, but they seem to agree completely on the dangers to liberalism posed by these regimes.
Most of Putin’s speech focused on the West’s economic exploitation of the planet—exploitation made possible by military and covert operations to create chaos and unrest. America’s number one export since the fall of the Berlin Wall has, in fact, been destabilization. We destabilize a country, then rush in to restore order on our terms.
Just as Glenn Greenwald, too, sees America’s lamentable guilt in cancel culture, psychiatrist and prolific writer Rae sees the same guilt in global exploitation. She posted a simple meme today:
She’s right, of course. While Putin was a bit less direct, he seems to see the same thing: exploitation.
The overwhelming majority of the international community is demanding democracy at a global level. We reject the authoritarian diktats of certain countries and blocks. That’s genuine popular rule at the global level. Surely Western “democrats” must welcome this expression of billions of people seeking their freedom?
But no. Instead they claim this is “undermining the liberal rules-based order”. They use economic warfare, sanctions, boycotts, colour revolutions and coups. One of these occured in Ukraine in 2014 - they supported it and even announced how much they spent on it. They are impudent. They have no shame.
That last line stings because it is so true. The godless West has no shame. Without God, there is no shame. For all his horrendous crimes, Putin, at least, gives lip service to the fear of God—Joe Biden demands that God fear him and his F-15s.
If “America First” means anything, it means a willingness to try to make America morally perfect. And the road to perfection begins with kicking the sticks and stones off the path, patching the potholes, and, occasionally, building a bridge or two. Twenty years ago, I argued America could do nothing wrong. Today, I know better.
America has more potential for greatness than any country that ever existed. But you can’t be great if you’re not first good. When the intro to Superman announced the hero’s commitment to “the American Way,” everyone knew what that meant. And they knew it began with decency, respect, and fear of the Lord. In 1940, my dad was 15 years old. His dad was an immigrant. His was the first generation of Hennessys born in the US. They didn’t hate other countries—they viewed being an American a God-given privilege that carried a lot of responsibility. Two years later, Dad was on a destroyer escort in the Atlantic on his way to discharge that responsibility by putting down Hitler’s cancel culture.
Putin might be a bad man, but his words to the Valdai Discussion Club deserve a discussion. I pray that his words match his values and are not just a slick attempt to win fans in the West. But, regardless of Putin’s sincerity, I pray Western leaders and journalists take his warnings to heart. The American hegemony is not healthy. The West in general is sick. We would be wise to avoid making enemies of nations that someday will be able to treat us the way we’ve treated them since 1991.