Dear Julian

From Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin

Dear Julian.

On Names and Culture

Thank you for your “Dear Vlad’” email. Nobody here in Russia calls me "Vlad" by the way. Your commenter Moscow Exile is correct when he writes:

"Vlad" is not a friendly, diminutive form of "Vladimir". "Vlad" is a friendly diminutive of the name Vladislav. The name "Vladimir" is never shortened to "Vlad". The friendly forms of Vladimir are are Volodya and its variants with diminutive suffixes: Volodka, Volodyenka; Vova and its diminutive suffixes: Vovka, Vovochka; Vovchik and Vovan. Russians often ask me why Americans always call Putin "Vlad". Apart from the fact that "Vlad" does not mean "Vladimir", unless he were a close friend and speaking to him in private, a Russian would never publicly refer to the Russian head of state using the diminutive form of his name, as Americans do when referring to their president as "Joe".

But I know you're a Westerner and don't speak Russian—and I'm used to people calling me Vlad’ in the West. But since you and I are friends— call me "Volodya " –or even Vovochka—but, privately please.

As you know from living in Japan, every culture has different rules for names and they are important. I know that Japanese people call you “Julian”. I also know that they are not supposed to use your given name unless you are close friends. Respect demands that they call you “Macfarlane-san”not “Julian”, But they think foreigners want to be called by their first (given) names.

That is one of my main points in policy—that differences in culture and tradition should be respected. It is said that many Westerners do not think such things matter. But respect, even in small things is the basis of civil society.

Not just a proposal for peace

I'm sorry that the timing of my a "peace proposal" was inconvenient for you writing your special article-- but my speech wasn't just about Ukraine- although that is what the West is focusing on. As you have written somewhere, we are entering a new age, unprecedented in human history. As I wrote:

The world is changing rapidly. Global politics, the economy, and technological competition will never be the same as before.

More countries are striving to strengthen their sovereignty, self-sufficiency, and national and cultural identity. The countries of the Global South and East are gaining prominence, and the role of Africa and Latin America is growing….

This new political and economic reality now serves as the foundation for the emerging multipolar and multilateral world order, and this is an inevitable process. It reflects the cultural and civilisational diversity that is inherently part of humanity, despite all attempts at artificial unification.

These profound, system-wide changes certainly inspire optimism and hope because the establishment of multipolarity and multilateralism in international affairs, including respect for international law and broad representation, make it possible to resolve the most complex problems together for the common benefit, and to build mutually beneficial relations and cooperation between sovereign states for the sake of well-being and security of peoples.

Such a vision for the future aligns with the aspirations of the vast majority of countries. This is evident, among other things, in the growing interest in the work of a universal association such as BRICS, which is based on a culture of trust-based dialogue, sovereign equality of its members and respect for each other. Under the Russian chairmanship this year, we will facilitate the smooth inclusion of new BRICS members in the association's working bodies

That’s the context— the background—for so much happening around the world.

Conflict with the US

Frankly the matter of Ukraine’s future has already been decided: rejecting our proposal—it has no choice now but unconditional surrender . It will not surrender as long as Zelinsky is in power, which is to say, the US remains in control Zelensky must try to keep the war going to satisfy his masters. But he cannot. He will be gone. Just another stain on the pages of history.

Russia now has 700,000 troops in place in Ukraine.

We get 30,000 volunteers a month, who we are rewarding with special educational programs after their service in order to fast track them into public service—improving, and reforming the administration of our country with people who have proven their patriotism and adaptability.

The US now gets 37,000 recruits for its military—a uear. . But public service jobs go to people whose parents have the money to pay for "good" universities or political connections. So the number of young men opting out of the labor force has vastly increased.

In the new Russia that is developing merit must count more than knowing the "right" people. More and more of our young men in our country are seeking to contribute—not just in the military but in industry, business and public service.

In Russia, with a diverse collection of cultures, we emphasize cultural values and respect cultural difference. That is what it means to be Russian.

By 2025, we will have a million men on the ground in Ukraine. Volunteers mostly.

But we do not want to dominate by force of arms. Rather, we must convince our Ukrainian brothers that we are not the monsters that the neo-Nazis have said we are. It is not us who are killing them — it is the monsters in Berlin and Paris and London and Washington.

I know you understand this—since you've said essentially the same thing many times—pointing out as I have done in my speech— that the real aggressor in this conflict is not Russia— but the United States of America—who over and over again has proven that it that it cannot be trusted—that it seeks only domination.

Russia is now one of the world's fastest growing economies—and every new economic attack by the West makes us stronger and better.

Losing the war might be the best thing that ever happened to Ukraine since it can then join rapidly developing multicultural Eurasia which has a bright future. Ironically Ukraine losing may also be good Europe, which is increasingly vandalized and despoiled by American financial carpetbaggers.

NATO is a waste of men and money that should be put to work to meet the challenges the world as a whole must face.

Capital and capitalism

In your special article you write a lot about capital and capitalism.

Capitalism works best with competition and free markets — constrained where need be by the public interest and national goals, which define its conscience. . America's form of capitalism, however, is predatory and monopolistic. It is psychopathic because it has no values other than avarice, greed, and accumulation of wealth— at the expense of others, including American citizens.

There can be security of any kind, when such aberrant forms of capitalism rule.

An important part of the Eurasian system of security and development must, of course, include issues of the economy, social welfare, integration, and mutually beneficial cooperation, addressing such common problems as overcoming poverty, inequality, climate, ecology, and developing mechanisms for responding to pandemic threats and crises in the global economy—everything is important.

The West, through its actions, has not only undermined military-political stability in the world but has also discredited and weakened key market institutions with sanctions and trade wars. Using the IMF and the World Bank, manipulating the climate agenda, it restrains the development of the Global South. Losing in competition, even by the rules that the West itself wrote, it resorts to prohibitive barriers and all kinds of protectionism. In the US, they have practically abandoned the World Trade Organization as a regulator of international trade. Everything is blocked. Moreover, they exert pressure not only on competitors but also on their satellites. Just look at how they are now “squeezing the juices” from European economies, which are balancing on the brink of recession.

I know you have already written about this .

The US is indeed "squeezing the juices"—not just from European economies— but from all economies where it has leverage conferred by the dominance of transnational extraterritorial American and British financial institutions.

What do you do with the lemon when there is no juice left?

Fortunately for us, American sanctions and animosity cannot affect our development and growth except to drive them to greater accomplishment.

The world has seen recent attempts to attack the Russian economy financially end in failure. What do Americans say? “We shall overcome”. We are setting an example for the world.

It is becoming clear to all countries and companies, sovereign funds, that their assets and reserves are far from safe — in both legal and economic terms. And the next in line for expropriation by the US and the West could be anyone — these foreign state funds could be among them.

Distrust of the financial system based on Western reserve currencies is already growing. There has been an outflow of funds from securities and debt obligations of Western states, as well as some European banks, which until recently were considered absolutely reliable places for storing capital. Now even gold is being withdrawn from them. And they are right to do so.

I believe that we need to seriously intensify the formation of effective and safe bilateral and multilateral foreign economic mechanisms, alternative to those controlled by the West. This includes expanding settlements in national currencies, creating independent payment systems, and building production and distribution chains bypassing channels blocked or compromised by the West.

Of course, efforts to develop international transport corridors in Eurasia — a continent whose natural geographic core is Russia — must continue.

I instruct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to fully support the development of international agreements on all these areas. They are extremely important for strengthening economic cooperation between our country and our partners. This will also give new impetus to the construction of a large Eurasian partnership, which can essentially become the socio-economic basis of a new system of indivisible security in Europe.

Eurasia is a brave new world indeed! And amazing things are happening!

There is always a workaround

For example Huawei in in China, recently sold electronics to Argentina, accepting payment in beef, which you could resell in China. The US wants to sanction insurance for Russian oil tankers to inhibit their shipments of oil to China and India. The Chinese and India want cheap Russian oil and are not going to cooperate. In 2022, we had a “shadow fleet” of 100 tankers. Since then we have many more. And we are developing alternative transportation networks by sea and land.

By contrast , major Western insurers and shipping companies have been suffering heavy losses thanks to Houthi attacks—which promote our much less expensive northern Arctic route.

Of course the US dollar is not going to just disappear. For the multipolar world to assert his independence and grow, the dollar is in some sense irrelevant, as long as we innovate our own mechanisms of exchange and payment—with the rubles or yuan — or beef.

War?

Will there be a nuclear war?

A lot of people—especially in the West —are talking about that as the only way that America could maintain its dominance—even though it would be suicide for the United States since Russia and China have nuclear superiority. It’s not going to happen.

The Americans lost the Vietnam War because their public don't want to see their sons dying for imperial ambition. Today, with America's industrial base hollowed out— and its culture increasingly shallow— there is even less taste for war. If the Americans can't win against Afghan peasants— how could they win against the Russian military?

We are not afraid to fight. The Americans cannot fight.

All empires are territorial by nature. Which is why when they decline, expanding beyond the limits of control. Thus, it is the provinces that go first . The US is a new kind of Empire— not just territorial but extraterritorial— seeking to impose its will beyond its own domains. This kind of overreach weakens the US even further. We see it weakening peripherally in all areas.

This is the sad and ugly end of empire, which takes with it innocent men, women and children.

I tried to lay all this out in my speech as completely as possible because the only antidote for the poison of lies is reason and the truth

Good luck with your special article! I hope my speech will be of help . And say hello to Ichi.

Your friend,

Volodya

PS

Never trust someone who doesn’t like animals. I learned that from my black lab’ Konni, who I introduced to Angela Merkel. Merkel hates dogs apparently—I didn’t know. Konni tried to make friends. Merkel pretended to like him for the photographer but later made insulting remarks: "I understand why he has to do this (Konni)—to prove he's a man.... He's afraid of his own weakness. Russia has nothing, no successful politics or economy. All they have is this"

Konni was not impressed. I should have listened to Konni because Merkel lied about Minsk. Konni was a great consultant.

I can’t buy Julian and Ichi a coffee. But you can- and get on the mailing list for the special article. Click here or on the photo.