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Since Russia is now our much talked about enemy, one would assume that the Western media would scrutinize every word said by President Putin at the influential 2021 Valdai Discussion Club in Russia. But not so.
As the Valdai event in Sochi focused on the individual, values and the role of the state, sharing the vision of modern Russia, negative focus on COVID-19 in Russian hospitals was seemingly the only popular topic the same week in Western mainstream media.
This, of course, effectively halted any intelligent discussions in the West on topics such as conservatism versus progressivism, totalitarianism versus citizens’ rights, the importance of not focusing on race and skin color, the need to combat racism, inequality and important topics such as the dire situation in Afghanistan, all addressed at the Valdai Discussion Club.
President Putin held talks with journalists for over three hours at Valdai, rivaling his well-known annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum open talks.
First, he spoke about the Afghanistan situation. Putin stated that normalizing the situation requires that countries help rebuild the nation, as Russia, China and other countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization have pledged to Kabul.
He added that “the main responsibility for what happens there is borne by those countries that fought there for 20 years. The first thing they should have done, in my opinion, is to unfreeze Afghan assets and enable Afghanistan to solve social and economic problems.”
As ISIS mercenaries – in Afghanistan now popularly called ISIS-K – are gathering in the North, the assumption among many is that they will form a new, regional threat to Russian territory and further east – China.
When the Taliban was left billions of dollars in U.S. military equipment, rumors quickly emerged that this was coordinated with the United States, in yet another effort to “get to Russia” from the northern Afghan border.
Soon after, mainstream media reports began confirming that yes, ISIS is gathering its mercenaries precisely in the north. And Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in September – less than a month after U.S. withdrawal – that it’s “possible” the United States will seek to coordinate with the Taliban on strikes against IS militants, to quote CBN. In other words, admitting that the terror organization Taliban and the U.S. may become official partners.
With massive Russia military drills near the same northern area, it seems quite clear that a cooperation between the U.S. and Taliban – and other terror groups – is no secret. Everybody is expecting trouble, as Western interests are fixed on the tensions with China and Russia.
The second main topic at the 2021 Valdai Discussion Club was President Putin preaching Russian conservatism as a remedy against the extreme progressive, left-wing wokeness that now destabilizes the Western hemisphere. Putin noted: “It is with puzzlement that in the West today we see practices that Russia has left in the distant past.”
The president said that it is very surprising to see how Western countries turn to an aggressive dogmatism in the struggle for equality against discrimination that borders on absurdity. While opposing racism is a noble cause, the culture of abolition turns into a reverse discrimination based on skin color.
“People who dare to say that men and women still exist as a biological fact are almost ostracized. … Not to mention the simply monstrous fact that children today are taught from a young age that a boy can easily become a girl and vice versa. Let’s call a spade a spade: This simply verges on crimes against humanity under the banner of progress,” he said, as quoted by The Moscow Times.
Putin added: “In the coming era of global readjustment, which may last quite long and whose final outlook is unknown, moderate conservatism is the most reasonable line of conduct,” stating that Russia will be guided by the ideology of healthy conservatism. This is seen as opposed to the extremism that leads to political collapse.
He described the current worldwide political and social upheaval by quoting a Chinese proverb: “God forbid living in a time of change,” which is precisely what we are now experiencing.
Many remember Putin’s words at the World Economic Forum at Davos this year, where he warned of grim, dark, anti-utopian days ahead: “The situation can develop unpredictably. … There’s a chance of a real breakdown in global development that’s fraught with a fight of all against all. A global, hot conflict is principally impossible now, I hope. It would mean the end of civilization.”
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