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bronxiteforever

(9,287 posts)
Wed Jul 3, 2019, 10:56 AM Jul 2019

Vladimir Putin's War on "the liberal idea"

New Statesman
July 3, 2019
By MICHEL ELTCHANINOFF

Vladimir Putin arrived at the G20 in Osaka, Japan, as the victor of an ideological world war...
Putin took advantage of his presence among world leaders to assume his favoured role: that of the international relations strategist, the philosopher of history. ...Vladimir Putin is first and foremost offering a brutal diagnosis of the world since the end of the Cold War: a world of Western domination, which he views as both hypocritical and unjust. In his interview with the Financial Times, the Russian president referred to this ideological, political and economic hegemony as “the liberal idea”, declaring that it had become “obsolete”. As such, he is not only targeting economic liberalism – an ideology which, after all, he himself pursues in Russia – but also political liberalism: a system based on the rights of individuals and civil society.

...The rise of Donald Trump aids Putin’s vision: the US president’s policies have marked the retreat – and possibly the death – of the “liberal idea”. This idea, Putin said, only profits a minority and is in direct contradiction to the interests of the majority of the population. He denounces German chancellor Angela Merkel for her openness to migrants, and hopes for a hard Brexit and the election of Marine Le Pen as French president, as well as for secessionist movements and popular revolts in Europe and across the world.

...Before the end of his 20-year reign, which he knows could be near, Putin wishes to gift the world a spectacular legacy: the triumph of a new, post-democratic paradigm in opposition to universalism. It is clear that the Russian president will use all the powers at his disposal to advance this goal, including “fake news” and information war, cyber attacks, subversion and even outright violence.

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2019/07/vladimir-putin-s-war-liberal-idea

Can’t do the article justice with quotes. Worth the read.

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