Putin’s 14th Annual Address to Russia and the World: “U.S. is Raising Risk of Nuclear War”

Listen to me carefully: Trump wants nuclear war, I do not

From Moscow via Reuters Putin’s 14^th Annual Address to Russia and the World (December 20, 2018:

“Russia's Putin accuses U.S. of raising risk of nuclear war”

MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS from his speech (with my emphasis notes):

In a news conference that lasted more than three hours, Vladimir Putin  backed Trump’s decision to pull troops out of Syria; said British PM Theresa May had no choice but to implement Brexit; and that Western democracy was under serious strain.

(My two notes: (1) Of course Putin backs U.S. withdrawal from Syria – it gives him more power, influence, military presence, and muscle in that region along with a long-sought-after warm weather port and foothold in the Med Sea along with Iran, his closest new ME ally.

And, (2) As far as any stain on our democracy that he says exists – well that is primarily due to his shenanigans in our 2016 election that continues to this day, and all the while his new best BFF, Donald J. Trump looks the other way and denies any Putin hanky panky).

The annual event, the 14th of its kind, is used by Putin to burnish his leadership credentials and send messages to foreign allies and foes.

This year, he made clear his biggest worry was what he called a dangerous new arms race, something he accused the United States of stoking by turning its back on arms control.

(My note: On this point I agree since Trump want no nuclear arms treaties – which in essence benefit both Putin and Kim, Jung-in, as seen this new related article).

Washington has threatened to pull out of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) which bans Moscow and Washington from stationing short- and intermediate-range, land-based missiles in Europe. Putin said the move, if it happened, would have unpredictable consequences.

Related to Trump’s view of ditching the INF here, here, and his dislike for treaties other than his own here and more on North Korea here.

Putin added: “We are essentially witnessing the breakdown of the international arms control order and (the start of) an arms race.” 

He continued: “It’s very hard to imagine how the situation will develop (if the United States quits the INF treaty). If these missiles appear in Europe what should we do? Of course, we’ll have to ensure our own security. No talks on extending this are yet being held. Are the Americans not interested, do they not need them? Ok, we’ll survive and will ensure our own security, which we know how to do. But in general, this is very bad for humankind because it takes us closer to a dangerous threshold. No talks on extending this are yet being held. Are the Americans not interested, do they not need them?” 

He concluded citing the dangerous tendency of lowering the threshold for using nuclear weapons and the idea of using ballistic missiles with conventional warheads, saying: “If, God forbid, something like that were to happen, it would lead to the end of all civilization and maybe also the planet.”

(I note: This last part of Putin’s speech is purposely inserted by him to show his “deep” concern and “personal” compassion for a world at peace and free of any nuclear threat. Very clever and skilled ending to his remarks on the subject seeing as how it is he as well as Trump that are the two evil twins in this new threat to Earth and every living thing with their crazy nuke madness talk and proposals and implied threats).

Putin has previously said that Russia would be forced to train its own missiles on any European countries that host U.S. rockets. Another New START pact, which limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads each side can have, expires in 2021. 

Putin said he was worried that Washington didn’t appear to be interested in discussing its future.

Putin said Moscow had developed nuclear weapons which he believed gave it an edge over other countries, warned the threat of a nuclear conflict was growing as a result of the U.S. moves. But though Putin criticized Washington, he made clear that he still hoped to meet Trump sometime soon, saying it was important the two leaders discussed issues such as arms control. 

With relations between Moscow and Washington strained by everything from Ukraine to hacking allegations, Putin said he did not know when a meeting with Trump might take place however.

My 2 cents: What do we see going on here? Pretty simple actually: Putin hungers for the “good old USSR days” (the era he grew up in and was trained in) – and to achieve world fame anyway possible – the harsher the better. 

Plus, this Putin “anti-America” talk takes the heat off of Trump about any investigation of “collusion” between the two of them for dirty deeds in the 2016 election outcome. 

Clever, indeed – will it sell? With Trump loyalists it surely will “See we told you, no collusion – we love Trump more so.” (Only my hunch BTW)… 

Add Trump to the mix that we see from him Putin’s world experience and zero from Trump and the picture is not pretty with two blow-hard skilled con men in powerful world positions and both uncertain and unstable by any measurement standard.

This latest rant by both of them, with Trump giving in to Putin and Putin blaming Trump (wink/wink) is very troublesome to say the least on a grand scale. What lies ahead? Who in the world knows?  

Both Putin and Trump are willing to destroy anything and everyone around them for their self-marketing and personal gain. 

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