V.V. Putin replies

Dear Julian,

Thank you for your message. Of course I know who supplied the New York Times with the information they published-- but I can't tell you! You know how it is. Former KGB and all. :)

In 2022, we did not have a lot of international support for our actions in Ukraine. Now there has been a huge shift in international opinion, and we are supported by almost everyone who is not in the thrall of the US and its mini-mes.

Lies are like curtains — they keep the room dark— but the light always shines through around the edges, and you know when it's morning. 2025 is morning . The sun is rising.

Drawing back those curtains has always been difficult.

But what you call the "piss" summit in Switzerland, and the earlier G-7 meeting in Italy made it much easier.

I have said that we will not negotiate with Zelinski because he has no legitimacy as president of Ukraine .

What that means is that any promises he makes—any agreements he signs—would be meaningless and impossible to enforce.

To a degree, the same applies to agreements with the Collective West whose leaders’ legitimacy is in doubt.

Their positions are legally constituted —but, politically speaking, they are not representative of the people of their country. So once their legal tenure ends, the credibility of any agreements they have made comes into question. They sign in their names— but not in the name of their peoples.

Hypocritically, they claim to be defending democracy and freedom. Despite being satraps of the history’s biggest neocolonial empire, they claim to be anti-imperialist and anti-colonial.

For example, the President of Poland, Mr. Duda, has said that Russia is an empire ruling 200 ethnicities-- and should be broken up to "free" those ethnic groups.

His point of view reflects traditional and historic Polish thinking from the days when Poland was part of a feudal empire. It still is, of course—a vassal state to Washington.

Russia, however, has a different history and different traditions.

As a federation, our ethnic republics always had the right to opt out—and still do.

We do not want to "rule" anyone . If peoples in, say Donbass or Lugansk or Kherson or Zaporozhya or Crimea want to be part of Russia, fine. They must vote democratically in a referendum to join us. Only then we will consider inclusion as Russian republics, each with its own rights and responsibilities. There is a legal and democratic process.

In the event that we take control of all of Ukraine the same will apply. If people in a given oblast—such as, say, Galicia—don't want to be part of Russia— fine. They can be independent of us—so long as they are independent of countries or alliances hostile to us. If they do want to join us, we will welcome them as brothers.

Similarly we support ethnic independence and autonomy and cultural diversity—worldwide. That's the basis of the new multipolar world that is evolving fast.

The US and many countries in Europe such as Poland are locked into what you might call "old world" thinking which is not only “neoliberal” but neo-feudal-- and does not respect difference-- except maybe where it doesn't matter such as with “wokeism”.

As you can see, the Russian military is making good progress in Ukraine. Ukrainians are still losing at least a thousand men a day. Often more. There will be breaking point. But the end of all what happens next should is up to Ukrainian people and not Zelinski who is unelected and suppresses all political opposition to the applause of the US or NATO.

Of course we take losses in this conflict—but about 1/10 of what the Ukrainians do. And we do lose equipment, which we are easily able to replace with expanded and upgraded production capabilities. We do this because we have to.

Still— I am not too worried about the Nazis in Ukraine. I am more worried about the American Reich.

So now I am in in Asia, solidifying our relationship with North Korea-- and also with Vietnam-- old friends, both victims of American aggression.

Eurasia is now our focus. Since w are a power in the North Pacific and control the Arctic sea route— makes sense to solidify our relationships with East Asian countries.

This, of course, helps China but also any country that wants to control its own destiny We are a “Coalition of the Unwilling”. Unwilling to surrender our basic human rights..

We support each other indirectly — but that support could become more overt if there was if the United States starts a war with China. China doesn’t need us to fight on their side but we can supply weapons and weapons technology and ISR and targeting— just as the US is doing for NATO countries..

Our alliances in East Asia are a kind of brake on American adventurism .

If the Americans attacked China, would they also attack Russia? I think not

Should the Americans make the mistake of attacking Vladivostok, for example, they would have to do so from Japanese bases. In reply, we could attack the US base in northern Honshu, and perhaps occupy—preemptively—northern Hokkaido— easy to do since it is mostly uninhabited. The Japanese would naturally try to dissuade the Americans from using their bases to attack us as a result.

Of course, it is not going to come to this.

The Chinese are not going to attack Taiwan. Nor are the Americans going to attack China—just militarize Asia—to shore up their defense industries.

If the Americans made up some excuse to attack China, they know they would lose quickly. American military planners have conducted wargames-- and they always get beaten badly in the Pacific. Their forward bases and naval forces are as much vulnerabilities as assets.

They have talked of attacking Chinese energy systems, oil tankers and ports, pipelines and railway lines bringing oil from Russia.

That is just talk.

Attacks on Chinese territory would likely be unsuccessful. China has very good AD systems and we are considering selling them our most advanced air defense systems, including the S500.

In addition ,attacking the Chinese mainland, would result in the Chinese attacking Guam and Hawaii as well as American bases in the Pacific, including Japan. The Chinese have the means to do so—their newest hypersonic missile, the DEF 27, certainly has the range. The Americans have no defense against hypersonic systems.

The US. like all overgrown bullies, is all talk. They assume that their size means they will never have to backup their words. That is also why they feel no need to honor their agreements. They like to, push and shove , and call people names. thinking they will never have to fight.

I grew fighting on the streets and large, fat out-of-shape bullies are the easiest to defeat. They usually rely on friends to help them just as the US relies on NATO and its allies in the Pacific. But faced by a determined and dangerous opponent, those friends tend to hide behind the big guy—who of course is no protection.

So the US is just blowing off a lot of steam in Asia.

China is a key BRICS member— as is India. Thailand is joining.

Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam are all signing up. I suspect North Korea will join too at some point— it will be a great workaround for them to deal with sanctions and embargoes. Asian BRICS is really ASEAN plus—but without. Japan, South Korea and the Philippines! How long before they to see they have no future with the Western alliance? How long before they realize that BRICS is just good business.

China leads in next-generation technologies-- such as photonic semiconductors which will replace silicon semiconductors now produced by Taiwan and South Korea using Dutch UV technologies. Despite recent announcement by Japanese automakers among others, it is China who is ahead in hydrogen technologies, including fuel cells for cars, and building infrastructure for it.

They appear to be ahead in AI too .

To the degree that Russia is cooperating with China technologically. we can develop our own industrial capabilities more quickly and effectively—much more so than if we had relied upon Western industrial and technological exchange. Sanctions have pushed us in the right direction. Not so much autarky as global cooperation.

The question for the future is who needs the US and its satellites? At this point in history they have financial power but produce very little, and develop even less of relevance to human life.

Your thoughts?

Your friend,

Volodya

Thanks

Wasn’t feeling well last night at all. Ended up in bed 13 hours. And just got up now to finish this post.

Many thanks to all those who wrote me encouraging messages. Love those messages.

If you like what I am doing, please support me by buying me a coffee HERE! I try to write personal thanks to every coffee buyer and replies to comments. I am kinda behind in that process —but gradually catching up.

Julian