Here's a piece getting legs. The first link is to an interview with Nikolai Patrushev at the ‘Russian Gazette’, the second link is to a brief breakdown of the interview.
https://rg.ru/2023/03/27/oni-sovsem-strah-poteriali.html
https://www.kp.ru/daily/27482/4739520/
Who is Nikolai Patrushev? He's Secretary of the Russian Security Council. That's about as high up as you can go without being Putin himself.
What's relevant here isn't whether you agree with him (although you may). What's relevant is that this is what he thinks, and by extension what the security council and Putin himself think.
An auto-translate browser is essential. Neither site is blocked by the EU/US.
Highlights
What follows here are a number of quotes from the interview. 'RG' is 'Russian Gazette'. Settle back. Be patient.
RG:
On Tuesday, the US will begin the second summit for democracy, which, as stated by the State Department, will accelerate the so-called democratic renewal of the world. What do you think about this gathering of US vassals?
Patrushev:
The 'summit for democracy' organised by the current White House staff is certainly being held within the framework of the US presidential race that has actually started...
Dissidents are expected to be labeled 'undemocratic states'.
Once again, the US will declare itself a defender of international law, and will definitely declare that the world should live by its rules.
Geopolitical opponents will be accused of deliberately false accusations of war crimes and corruption, but, as usual, they will turn a blind eye to real acts of genocide and financial fraud committed with the approval of the White House.
They will defend the rights of sexual minorities and impose a 'green agenda' around the world, exacerbating the energy crisis in satellite countries.
The US, which has appointed itself the world's #1 dictator, will in fact simply mock countries where sovereignty and democracy are trampled on by them.
Washington wants to play a central role forever, and dissenters are expected to be labeled 'undemocratic states'.
Patrushev:
The main task of the political regime in the modern US is to mislead its own population in the context of the systemic crisis in which they find themselves.
Their democracy is just a beautiful facade of the state structure, which is designed to hide the disregard for the rights of ordinary citizens.
Anyone who has studied the legal and socio-political system of the US has no illusions about freedom of speech and expression of will in that country.
What kind of freedom of speech can we talk about when even the former president of the US is not allowed to speak in social networks and the press on topics of public interest, and the media are the mouthpieces of the largest companies and elite groups?
By paying lip service to competition, the US government has made the country's economy dependent on corruption and lobbying ties that extend to the White House and the Capitol.
The political process has turned into a clash of corporations that put their own people in key positions in government.
RG:
At the summit, we will also hear emotional speeches about how Kiev, with the support of the 'good' NATO, is resisting the 'universal evil' of Russia?
Patrushev:
I am sure that this topic will be one of the main ones. In fact, the NATO countries are a party to the conflict. They made one big military camp out of Ukraine.
They send weapons and ammunition to the Ukrainian troops, provide them with intelligence, including with the help of a satellite constellation and a significant number of unmanned aerial vehicles. NATO instructors and advisers train the Ukrainian military, while mercenaries fight in neo-Nazi battalions.
In early March, a US strategic bomber tested a conditional nuclear strike on St Petersburg from a distance of 200 kilometres.
RG:
This line of Washington does not change because the US elite never wanted to come to terms with a strong and independent Russia?
Patrushev:
That's right.
Since at least 1945, the source of all global escalation has been the unrestrained lust of the US to maintain their dominant role in the world. They are now being hindered in this by two great powers: Russia and China. The Russian Federation is not just pursuing an independent policy of strengthening a multipolar world, but in many ways surpasses the US in spiritual, moral, and military terms. China is today the main economic competitor of the US.
Let me remind you that specific measures for the destruction of the USSR were approved 75 years ago by the well-known directive of the US National Security Council 'Tasks in relation to Russia'. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the West became euphoric. But it did not last long, as Russia did work on the errors. Today our country can ensure not only internal stability but also the security of its people from external threats.
Patrushev:
For some reason, US politicians are held hostage by their own propaganda and remain confident that, in the event of a direct conflict with Russia, they are capable of launching a preemptive missile strike, after which Russia will not be able to respond. This is a short-sighted stupidity, and a very dangerous one at that.
Russia is patient and does not intimidate anyone with a military advantage, but it has a modern, unique weapon that can destroy any enemy, including the US, in the event of an attack.
Patrushev:
Under pressure from Washington, many Western companies left the Russian market. However, they made a serious mistake in counting on the collapse of our economy.
Our country irritates the rulers of the US and Europe with its economic independence, raw material independence, and scientific thought. The Western countries themselves are completely dependent on multinational companies and global economic chains. If, for example, sanctions of the same level were imposed against England or France as against our country, these states would quickly plunge into chaos.
RG:
It is obvious that undermining the Russian economy and draining the Russian army of blood are two sides of the same strategy that the West has been trying to implement for more than a century?
Patrushev:
Of course.
It is well known that most of these same companies once worked on the development of poison gases and gas chambers commissioned by Nazi Germany. That is, they fully supported the ideology of genocide of the so-called 'extra' peoples.
Let's remember how the same Anglo-Saxons fed the Nazis in the 1930s, hoping to turn them against the Soviet Union.
Having earned financial and geopolitical dividends from World War II, Washington and London are once again indulging in Nazism and fascism. Using Ukraine, they are not averse to igniting a pan-European or even global conflict, imagining that they can get away with everything.
RG:
It seems that the West is not going to learn from the past.
Patrushev:
Westerners get into trouble again and again.
Washington is also unhappy with the stability in Asia that has developed as a result of the Second World War and the liberation movements. The US Indo-Pacific strategy is an attempt to create an Asian NATO. The new alliance will be another aggressive bloc aimed against China and Russia, used at the same time to pacify newly independent states.
The rearmament of the Australian navy under the new AUKUS alliance, including the supply of nuclear submarines, and military support for Taiwan and South Korea have a long-term goal: to establish US and NATO dominance over Eurasia from its eastern flank.
Even during the Cold War, the Pentagon was ready to turn Europe into a radioactive desert at the slightest danger from the USSR.
Washington pushed Tokyo to a new militarisation. Japan's Self-Defence Forces are becoming a full-fledged army that is capable of conducting offensive operations. This is already legally confirmed by Japanese law, which in fact is a gross violation of one of the most important outcomes of the Second World War.
In addition to arming Japan, Washington is trying to revive the spirit of Japanese militarism, which, it would seem, was eradicated in 1945. It seems that the inhabitants of the island state again want to make kamikazes, dying for other people's interests...
RG:
At the same time, US and EU politicians today not only 'forget' about inconvenient facts from the past but also consciously rewrite history, even contrary to common sense. This can be seen in the way the campaign for the rehabilitation of Nazism is launched - that only Ukrainians liberated Europe from the Nazis?
Patrushev:
Those who know history and do not try to falsify it are well aware that, in the 1920s and 1930s, the situation with access to food was worse in Russia than in the Ukraine.
Westerners block the supply of Russian grain and fertilisers abroad and they rob the Ukrainian bins and resell them at exorbitant prices to the poorest countries on enslaving terms, as their colonialist ancestors did.
RG:
Sometimes it seems that the West is digging a hole for itself by its actions. Watching what is happening in the EU, there is a strong feeling that it is looking at a very uncertain future.
Patrushev:
The collapse of the EU is just around the corner.
The US is ready to fight Russia not only to the last Ukrainian, but also to the last European.
Even during the Cold War, the Pentagon was ready to turn Europe into a radioactive desert at the slightest murmur from Russia. It is unlikely that anything has changed in their minds.
The US is ready to fight Russia not only to the last Ukrainian, but also to the last European.
RG:
How does this fit in with the fact that the US and the EU are supposedly allies?
Patrushev:
The paradox is that Washington is directly interested in the collapse of the EU in order to eliminate an economic competitor and prevent Europe from flourishing through cooperation with Russia. They have already done a lot to make the EU lose its status as a powerful economic player.
We are witnessing a radical change in the EU's economic model which is based on a combination of cheap energy resources from Russia and advanced European technologies.
The US dominates Europe, ignoring the fact that the leading role on the continent has historically been assigned to Russia. In the 19th century the Russian Empire, in the 20th century the Soviet Union. So it will be in the 21st century.
RG:
Is the US confident in its own strength? The sunset, in their opinion, can threaten everyone but them? In my opinion, the US may also face disintegration.
Patrushev:
The US gained the status of a great power through cynical actions to seize territories, resources, exploit peoples, and profit from the military troubles of other countries.
Latin American leaders do not hide the fact that awareness of the destructive role of the US has become widespread. There is no doubt that sooner or later they will regain the territories stolen from them.
Patrushev:
The antagonism between Republicans and Democrats is only getting stronger.
The US elites who think they are untouchable have never associated themselves with their people.
Their projects, such as BLM and the universal implantation of transgender theories, are aimed at the spiritual degradation of a population already in a state of apathy.
Their individualism and consumerism will play a cruel joke on their country. Ordinary citizens will not lift a finger for the sake of preserving the integrity of their country, realising they are not needed by their authorities. Without knowing what they are doing, US authorities are destroying themselves step by step.
Their problem is that they've played too many games, forgetting about their own immediate problems.
While the US invents new viruses in its military biological laboratories to destroy the peoples of unwanted countries, once-clean US cities are drowning in mud and garbage.
The model of uncontrolled emission, in which any economic problems are literally flooded by printing more money, cannot work forever.
A drop in the level of confidence in the dollar, which is not supported by real goods, as well as in the system of inflated speculative operations in the stock market, will lead the US to a powerful financial crisis.
RG:
As pathetic as this may sound, the Russians not only don't want war, but also they don't want the US or any country to suffer.
Patrushev:
I absolutely agree.
Our centuries-old culture is based on spirituality, compassion, and charity. Russia is a historical defender of the sovereignty and statehood of all peoples who turn to it for help.
Russia saved the US at least twice - during the Revolutionary War and during the Civil War.
But I believe that this time it is not advisable to help the US.