Putin: The West's Conflict With Russia Is Not About Ideology

In an interview with the Russian TV channel Rossiya President Vladimir Putin gave some insight into Russia's changing perspective of the West.

There is unfortunately no transcript available yet. Various Russian media provid snippets of the talk in English language:

• Contradictions between Russia, West arise from geopolitics, Putin believes - TASS
  Britain, France, and other former empires, still blame the dismantling of their colonial might on Russia, the Russian president continued adding that he could still sense this historical negative attitude toward his country
• Russia-West clash not about ideology – Putin - RT
  The standoff is only about geopolitical interests, the Russian president has said
• Putin Explains What Truly Divided Russia and the West - Sputnik

I have yet to find the full interview. But these tweets of Djole include some quotes and subtitled video excerpts:

In an interview with Pavlo Zarubin, a well-known journalist on Russian state television, Putin spoke about deep misunderstandings that, he says, he initially mistakenly attributed to ideological differences. But over time, he points out, it became clear that the background is not ideology, but something else - interest.

"I thought that the contradictions with the West were primarily ideological. It seemed logical at the time - Cold War inertia, different views of the world, values, the organization of society," Putin said.

"But even when the ideology disappeared, when the Soviet Union ceased to exist, the same, almost routine deviation from Russia's interests continued. And it was not because of ideas, but because of the pursuit of advantages - geopolitical, economic, strategic."
...
"The world respects only those who can protect themselves," he said. "Until we show that we are an independent and sovereign power that stands behind our interests, there will be no room for anyone to treat us as equals."

My very first thought when reading that was 'what took him so long'. During the Cold War I was indoctrinated with the fairy tale of Western freedoms versus the evils of eastern communism. But I for one have never accepted that view. Western animosity against Russia goes back many centuries. (Maybe even further back than the big schism of 1054). The fight against the 'evils of communism' was just a contemporary variance of it.

One might call that ideological but I believe that it always has been and is about greed. There is one side in this conflict which never seems to have enough and therefore aims for Russia's riches. What else explains Napoleon's march to Moscow or the British war in Crimea? (See Karlov1 who writes a bit more about the 'ideological' aspect of this.)

But why did it take Putin and Russia until 2022 to accept the consequences of this insight?

Palestine Open Thread 2025-157

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Ukraine Open Thread 2025-156

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The MoA Week In Review - OT 2025-155

Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:

• Jul 7 - Trump Caves Again Over Tariffs - Uncertainty Increases
• Jul 10 - First Casualties From Trump's Increasing Tariff Craze
  Related:
  - Trump says he will impose 30% tariffs on the EU and Mexico from August 1 (archived) - FT
  - Trump Just Did Lula a Massive Favour With His 50% Tariff Against Brazil - Naked Capitalism
  - The week the costs of Trump’s tariffs became clearer (archived) - Washington Post
    He is imposing rising input costs and uncertainty on the economy. The damage is starting to show.

• Jul 8 - Ukraine - Drone Mass Production Lets Russia Gain Upper Hand
  Related:
  - A thousand drones and a million more to come: why Ukraine must tame its weapons "zoo" - Pravda.ua
  - Almost 9 million Ukrainians live below the poverty line.  (in Russian) - Strana
  - If the Russians are Killing Ukrainian Civilians, Where are the Bodies? - Sonar21

• Jul 11 - The Europeans And The U.S. Against Russia - Who Is Really The Patsy?
  Related:
  - Europe is losing – JPMorgan CEO - RT
    The region’s economic competitiveness is dwindling, Jamie Dimon has warned
  - Kaja Kallas is the real threat to Europe She personifies the bloc at its worst - Thomas Fazi / Unherd
  - France's Parliament Calls Europe to Break with America and Partner with China - Arnaud Bertrand
  - The European Green Deal Has Failed - Thomas Fazi / Compact

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Other issues:

Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review - OT 2025-155

The Europeans And The U.S. Against Russia - Who Is Really The Patsy?

Karlof1, aka Karl Sanchez, points to his translation of the latest Dmitri Trenin piece:

Yesterday, Dmitri Trenin, Director of the Institute of World Military Economics and Strategy at the Higher School of Economics, wrote an op/ed for Kommersant, “The War Will Be Long,” which was picked-up translated and altered by RT for publication today. My practice is to provide the translation of the original because of RT’s past and present manipulations that I’ve denounced every time I encounter one. IMO, Trenin makes clear that Putin knows the Outlaw US Empire’s plans, which is the basic reason why Putin doesn’t yield anything to Trump. Here’s Trenin:

The war will be long
Dmitri Trenin on the intermediate results of the "special diplomatic operation"

...

The war will not end in 2025. It will not end after the end of hostilities in Ukraine.

We need to realize that the current conflict is not about Ukraine as such.

This is a proxy (so far) war of the West against Russia. And this confrontation itself is part of an ongoing world war, in which the West is fighting to maintain world hegemony. This will be a long war, and the United States, with or without Trump, will remain our adversary. At stake for us in this struggle is not the status of Ukraine, but the existence of Russia. [My Emphasis]

To which English Outsider replies:

Cont. reading: The Europeans And The U.S. Against Russia - Who Is Really The Patsy?

First Casualties From Trump's Increasing Tariff Craze

Yesterday U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a 50% tariff on all products from Brazil.

His letter to President Lula of Brazil was published before it had been received. That and its content make it unprecedented.

bigger

Cont. reading: First Casualties From Trump's Increasing Tariff Craze

Palestine Open Thread 2025-154

News & views related to the war in Palestine ...

Ukraine Open Thread 2025-153

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Open (Neither Ukraine Nor Palestine) Thread 2025-152

News & views not related to the wars in Ukraine and Palestine ...

Ukraine - Drone Mass Production Lets Russia Gain Upper Hand

The Russian military has increased its operational tempo in Ukraine. There is (still) no big arrow movement but a rise in activity along the frontline.

On top of this come frequent drone and missile raids deep into the territory of Ukraine. The numbers are mind boggling:

Tatarigami_UA @Tatarigami_UA - 14:49 UTC · Jul 8, 2025

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia has launched 28,743 Shahed/Geran drones at Ukraine - 2,736 of them in June of this year, according to President Zelensky. ...

That's nearly 100 long range drones per day which target Kiev and other bigger cities. These are by the way no longer Iran made Shahed drones but a third generation development based on the original design. These drones are now bigger. They have new engines and fly faster and higher. Their load of explosives is now about 90 kilogram, double that of the original version. For each of these drones launched against Ukraine there is an additional decoy drone flying along. The decoys look similar but are not armed and much cheaper. The are to attract the air defenses while the real drones pass through.

Recent targets have been Ukrainian refineries, industrial objects and, during the last days, recruiting offices of the Ukrainian military.

These offices are in public buildings. Their addresses are naturally known as the whole mobilization process for additional soldiers is being run by them. The recruiters are hated by the population. Ukrainians are published the  addresses of mobilization offices with requests to Russia to hit them.

At the frontline the area northwest of Donetsk city is the most crucial. The Russian forces are in the process of semi-encircling Pokrovsk and Konstantynivka (see maps below).

The New York Times writes (archived) of the later one:

Cont. reading: Ukraine - Drone Mass Production Lets Russia Gain Upper Hand