Original subtitles

PUTIN- THE NEW EMPIRE, 2017 POUTINE POUR... TOUJOURS? 2016 [FRENCH] DOCUMENTAL / BIOGRAFÍA / HISTORIA BY JEAN-MICHEL CARRÉ

On the 2015 May 9th,

Moscow commemorates the 70th anniversary of the end of WW2.

The nation pays homage to the 27 million soviet men and women,

and to the bravery of the Red Army.

It was their personal sacrifice that

led to victory over Nazi Germany.

President Putin had invited the Western leaders

to come and pay their respects

to the memory of the nation which

paid the highest toll in this war.

Not a single Western leader has responded to the invitation.

This is a supreme "affront" to Vladimir Putin, (and clearly unfair and inconsiderate indeed to the greatly humanly spirited people of Russia)

one too many;

in his official speech there is no place

for traditional diplomatic rhetoric.

"I congratulate you on the 70th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Today, while celebrating this sacred anniversary date,

we realize the scale of grandiose victory over the Nazis.

We are proud that our fathers and grandfathers made it to overcome,

defeat and destroy this dark force.

Hitler's mad gamble became a hideous lesson for the whole world.

Then, in the 1930s,

enlightened Europe did not instantly see the deadly threat of the Nazi ideology.

And today, with 70 years having passed,

history once again calls upon us to be mindful and vigilant.

We should never forget that such completely misguided ideas of so-called "racial superiority" (actual bigotry)

led to the bloodiest war ever.

Hoorah!

Hoorah!

Hoorah!

Vladimir Putin's speech is delivered in the

presence of the Chinese and Indian presidents.

Between the three of them they represent

nearly a third of the world's wealth.

Tomorrow's allies, against those that

Putin calls, "the strong armed block".

The 70th anniversary of the end of World War II,

the 'Great Patriotic War' as it was called by Stalin,

is celebrated by the people themselves.

From all over Russia, they converge

in Moscow for the 9th of May.

Russian grandeur is contained with one event:

the victory over Hitler in 1945.

and this crucial date is the

turning point of the 20th century.

So all new ideology is based on the past.

From there, the mighty Soviet Union emerged

and a Russia exists that they want restored,

and they are grateful to Vladimir Putin for

stating that it exists and that it is powerful.

And I believe that this is why we have

difficulty in understanding Russia

What we are witnessing, I believe,

is the rebirth of their nation.

- Hoorah!

They are currently trying to rewrite history,

saying America won the war

whereas in fact, it was won by us, Russia,

by the Soviet Union.

Accompanied by a cortège

of 250,000 people

Putin leads what the Russians call

the 'immortal regiment' for the first time.

The force of this initiative is that it does

not emanate from power or State administration

It comes from the hearts of our people.

It expresses our respect towards

the generation which defended the nation.

It demonstrates that we will continue to uphold their values.

But it also conveys our confidence in ourselves,

in our strengths and in the well-being of our children.

The president carries a photograph of his father,

Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin,

one of the millions of soviet soldiers

that fought during World War II.

For Putin, the absence of western leaders

on this historic day

is as much a personal insult as it is to the Russian people.

The previous year, Putin had joined the allies

for the anniversary of the Normandy landings.

But he had not been invited to the commemoration ceremonies

of the liberation of Auschwitz, only a few months later.

The Soviet Union was the only state

actually involved in its liberation.

In my opinion, this is all about

Western short-sighted and sterile arrogance

and this isn't how we might rebuild

a different and intelligent relation

between the West and Russia,

which will have to happen sooner or later.

The flagrant contempt of the West

brings back memories of the past.

After the explosion of joy following the victory of 1945,

the world plunges into a new type of conflict:

the Cold War.

1949 sees the creation of NATO,

grouping numerous Western, mostly European countries.

In the East in 1955, the Warsaw Pact is

formed by the confederates of the USSR.

The propaganda pumped out by the two eastern and western blocks

persistently invites countries to favour

one block or the other.

The Cold War lasts 45 long years,

and sees the birth of many peripheral world conflicts

and the construction of the Iron Curtain

which is 8,500 kilometres long.

It cuts Europe in half.

CHEERING

In 1989 and 1991 the world celebrates the destruction of

the Berlin wall and with it the end of the Iron Curtain.

Hope rises that the world will be re-unified.

The disappearance of the USSR, however,

sees the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact.

NATO, initially designed to oppose the Soviet Union,

continues however to exist.

The Russians are totally traumatised

by what has happened to their nation.

From 300 million inhabitants, the USSR

is now reduced to 140 million overnight.

Yesterday they were the proud citizens of a world super-power,

and in next to no time they had been abandoned,

their state dismembered and subjected

to international supervision.

It was certainly incredible news!

The end of he USSR was a real catastrophe.

I'm not sure we've absorbed the full impact,

the full import of what happened,

but communism died this year.

By the grace of God, America won the Cold War.

I knew I couldn't do anything.

It happened one night!

And then, George Bush declared:

"It's over, we've won."

And indeed, the USSR admitted its defeat

and simply ceased to exist.

One can easily imagine the feelings of a nation

that was once a super power and shared the world with the US,

a nation that controlled vast territories

in different parts of the world

and which had suddenly lost both its influence and territory...

and which had been weakened economically and militarily.

Thanks to the armies of financiers

directed by "marshall" Goldman Sachs,

the former regime is painlessly eradicated.

With the complicity of the new government,

a group of Russian oligarchs, fascinated by power and money,

take over former state companies

and the exploitation of raw materials

for next to nothing.

Russia has become Europe's sick nation.

In fact, nobody emerged victorious from the Cold War.

It was in Moscow that the decision was made

to end this madness.

American economic consultants arrived

and plunged the country into misery.

Much of the Russian resources ended up

in the hands of international companies

linked to Russian oligarchs.

Russia experienced the most

humiliating period in its history.

At the end of the USSR, Russia,

the Russians lost about 40 per cent of purchasing power.

40 per cent!

Look what happens in a European country

if there is a loss of 0.5 per cent.

So it's a massive shock.

When the press conference

with Boris Yeltsin and Clinton took place,

and Yeltsin was a bit drunk and Clinton started laughing,

and it was broadcasted everywhere,

and shook the national consciousness of Russia.

It was the first time in history that an American president

befriended a Russian president so openly.

This accident, which seemed trivial to most,

had a major impact on people like Putin.

Westerners really believed that

they were the masters of the world.

They would impose human rights, democracy

and markets on the world without difficulty.

Bill Clinton, who had presented this

in a seductive and attractive way,

spoke of market democracy.

China had already adopted, not democracy, but market economy.

Russia would have to follow.

We thought there would be a few uncooperative countries,

but that they would weaken with speeches,

sanctions, air strikes and so on.

And of course, the West used this weakness.

with the US air strikes on Yugoslavia,

they ignored protests from Russia, sending a clear message:

"You are too weak to be considered."

Without consent from the UN security council,

NATO takes the unilateral decision to send in planes

to bombard the Yugoslavian army

to protect the Albanese populations of Kosovo.

Yeltsin is on his last legs

and Russia proves incapable of preventing

its last European ally from being brought to heel.

The West didn't think it would end,

and that Russia could one day protest

with more strength and determination.

Of course it was a misjudgement!

Then Putin arrived.

He is the man who has borne the humiliations of his country.

Today I have decided to announce

the man who, in my opinion, will be able to consolidate society:

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

In August 1998 Vladimir Putin is made prime minister.

A few weeks later, a series of five attacks are made

in Russian towns with over 300 victims.

The government immediately accuses Chechen separatists.

We'll pursue terrorists wherever they might be.

We'll seize them in the toilets if we have to!

That's my final word.

Two terrorists are arrested and

the Kremlin puts a halt to enquiries.

But Russian journalists discover that the terrorists in question

are members of the FSB, former KGB.

This doesn't prevent Prime minister Putin

from sending Russian bombers to bombard Grozny,

the capital of Chechnya.

From the 1st October, it is bombarded

non stop for several months.

Out of the one million inhabitants, 200,000 are killed.

The Russian people are proud

of their prime minister's inflexibility.

Six months later, they elect him

president of the Russian Federation.

Putin quickly imposes his, "vertical of power"

and his, "directed democracy",

excluding oligarchs that show interest in politics

and the media that criticise him.

In the West, countries seem

quite confident in the new president.

The world seems to have entered a period of relative stability.

So the future is now ours and history is over.

It is the end of history due to lack of fighters,

since everyone agrees on the fundamentals.

But then, gradually we begin to realise that things aren't over,

quite the opposite, history is just beginning.

- Right here, right here, stay right here.

- It's terrible, terrible.

I've never seen nothing like it in my life.

Putin has been very affected by the September 11 attacks.

And despite the enmity between the two nations,

he was willing to support the US

and provide assistance during these painful ordeals.

The people of Russia are familiar with terrorism.

We feel very close to the citizens of America.

We understand how they must be feeling today.

In the name of Russia, I want to express our solidarity.

With this declaration Putin also hopes

that the Chechen genocide will be forgotten.

So he took action and he said, "That will justify our moves.

They will stop harassing us via NGOs and the media..."

So maybe there's the possibility of an agreement,

an arrangement whereby Russia,

the new Russia that is taking form, will be fully recognised.

Maybe he thought that at some point.

Today we must proclaim firmly and finally:

The Cold War is over!

As for European integration,

we not only support these processes,

but we look upon them with hope.

We look upon them, as a people who learned

very well the lessons of the Cold War,

and the damaging effects of an ideological occupation.

In response,

at least according to him,

first there was first the American intervention in Iraq:

an illegal military intervention in

an independent and sovereign nation

and lacking the required approval

from the Security Council.

France, Germany, and Russia protested,

but that didn't prevent the US from

carrying out an operation which led

to the death of one million Iraqis.

And then there was Georgia

and the Orange Revolution in Ukraine,

actively supported by the US.

In other words, according to him,

he held out his hand and they spat in his face.

In September 2003, a former Republic of the USSR,

Georgia, is overthrown by the Rose revolution.

With the secret support of the USA and other countries

in search of a Western life-style,

the charismatic, pro-western young leader,

Mikhail Saakashvili,

brings down the old soviet apparatchik Shevardnadze.

This is a velvet revolution,

the greatest day in history of this nation.

Not a shot was fired, not a single shot,

people overwhelmed and really removed

the government by peaceful means,

that's classics you know, really European. I am proud.

The scenario of this colour revolution

reappears again in Ukraine in 2004 with the Orange Revolution

and once more in Kyrgyzstan in 2005 with the Tulip Revolution,

making The Kremlin's interests waver

at the heart of its sphere of influence.

We kept sending messages to the Russians,

saying that we didn't trust them,

that since the Soviet Union had disappeared,

nothing had changed.

Anyway, we had to step into the breach

and drive back Russian influence as far as possible,

because they were dangerous.

During these people's risings

seven countries decide to join NATO once and for all.

Today, we proudly welcome

Bulgaria

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Romania

Slovakia

and Slovenia.

We welcome them into the ranks of the

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

With Russia it was always a question of "NATO against whom?"

There had been a Warsaw pact,

but there was no longer a Warsaw Pact.

Against whom?

Why join NATO?

The expansionist intentions of NATO and Europe

are in total contradiction with the secret,

and unfortunately, verbal agreements

made between Gorbachev and Bush senior

after the collapse of the USSR.

The agreements between the two presidents stipulated

that countries having a common frontier with new Russia

could in no event join NATO.

When the former Baltic states of the USSR

joined NATO in 2004,

NATO called it a 'wave of transformation'

whereas in Russia they called it a 'wave of enlargement'.

This immediately provokes

the reaction of Alexey Pushkov,

spokesman for foreign affairs in the Duma,

the Russian House of parliament.

NATO "amasses" an increasing number of nations

and then the US secretary of defence said:

"Russian forces are at the gates of NATO!"

Yes, because NATO has come from Germany to the Russian border,

but it's NATO that had expanded in the direction of Russia,

that's why we considered it a great danger.

After NATO, it is the European Union's turn

to invite Baltic states and a few other former members

of the Warsaw Pact to join it.

The expansion of a new Europe means the

expansion of an acutely anti-Russian bloc,

which will, in fact, build around Germany.

That's to say that within the European Union

there is an extremely powerful Eastern European bloc,

whose opponent is Russia,

and that's something that counts a lot.

The West was convinced that it could rule the world,

not by military means as previously,

in the age of the empires,

but by combining economic control

and the ideology of universalism.

If the West had collaborated with Putin

in a genuine economic partnership,

today Russia would be a member of NATO and the European Union.

But they didn't want relations based on equality with Russia.

Between 1999 and 2000, Putin was probably the most

pro-European of Russian politicians.

Certainly not the most pro-Western, that hasn't changed.

But certainly the most pro-European in Russian history.

At the Munich conference in 2007,

Putin expressed his feelings on the US with clarity.

He couldn't wait until 2012.

What is a unipolar world?

No matter how one tries to embellish this term,

in reality it means only one thing: one centre of authority,

one centre of force and one centre of decision-making,

of a unique sovereign.

Ultimately it would be fatal for those within such a system,

because it destroys itself from within.

Harasho, harasho. I run this freakin' show.

You think I can't speak English? There's nothing I don't know.

I know that World War 3 nobody wants to see

so please EU and USA don't mothersuckers mess with me.

Oh, Yes I Ken

'cause I'm the president...

In the Munich speech of 2007

Putin pronounces his first violent diatribe

on western policies.

There is no immediate follow up as until now

Putin has only concentrated on putting

Russian domestic affairs in order.

But Russia has strategic interests.

Like The United States and other principal western countries,

Russia must now prove its capacity

to influence other countries.

Because what counts is a sphere of influence

each large nation has in the world.

For Russia, security interests come before economic interests.

In this context, the relations between Russia

and the US, Europe and NATO countries,

are the subject of constant debate

Russians feel scorned, surrounded,

threatened with irreparable destabilisation

and Westerners believe that Putin is increasingly a bit autocratic,

Putin is pressed by the liberals in his inner circle

and the West is beginning to weigh

on Russia economically and needs reassuring.

He tells his Prime Minister, Dmitri Medvedev,

a renowned moderate, to run for president.

Vladimir Putin is playing a

political game of musical chairs.

For four or eight years, he will

replace Medvedev as prime minister,

with in mind, a subsequent return to power,

while to all appearances submitting

to the rules of the constitution.

In large Russian towns President Medvedev's liberal policies,

inspired by the West, raise the hopes of

the Russian middle classes for change.

But an event reveals the tension between

the two ruling heads of the country.

In August 2008, Georgia bombards a

province on the Russian frontier.

President Medvedev, Chief of the Armed forces, fails to react.

On air, in front of the whole nation,

Putin curtly reminds him of his responsibilities?

I think it would be wise that you

give an order to the War Tribunal

Of course I shall do that

Putin feels obliged to take on the role

of Chief of the Armed Forces,

a role normally incumbent on the president.

Medvedev remains sovereign in the economic field.

His job is to reassure investors,

but the West takes advantage of his weaknesses

rather than dialoguing with him

During the sub-prime crisis in 2008,

Medvedev is unable to prevent the

massive flight of American capital.

The Russian stock exchange plunges

and shuts down several times.

FIRING

But 2011 looks like being the year of every danger.

During the Libyan crisis Russia fails

to use its veto in the UN Security council.

But Putin quickly realises that the supposedly

humanitarian Franco-British coalition

has the ultimate aim of physically eliminating Gaddafi.

Medvedev doesn't see this coming and Russia loses a key ally.

Putin now clearly knows what he wants

and has himself easily nominated by his party

to be the candidate for the next presidential election.

In the parliamentary elections of 2011

Putin's party is victorious,

but the opposition denounces significant

electoral frauds and takes to the streets.

They are the biggest demonstrations

since Putin's arrival in power.

Take the square!

Prevent these rats from gaining power!

Prime minister Putin sees the ghost of a colour revolution,

gliding over his own country.

We just witnessed fraud in the Duma election in Russia,

including efforts to halt the election monitoring

The first thing the Secretary of State

does is to criticize the elections,

even if she still hasn't received any proof from

the monitoring international organisations.

She is addressing some people in particular

and is sending them a message.

The message was received and people have started

to take steps, with the support of the State Department

According to the Kremlin, the intelligentsia deceived them.

They were ungrateful and were rejected from society.

Robber! Robber!

She is here anyway!

We gave them plasma TV's, holidays in Turkey or Fiji

we allowed them to buy houses abroad,

to do whatever they wanted in bed

and even to criticise us in their blogs

and little radio stations,

to drink lattes, buy a Mercedes or a Ford,

to use all the new gadgets, including the iPhone.

And what do they do?

They took the iPhones they had bought thanks to us

and they went to Bolotnaya square and tweeted:

"Down with Putin! It's all crap!"

I mean you can imagine a conversation with Putin,

you know he was Prime Minister after he was president

then one day says "Vladimir, you think

you'd like to be president again? I think I would actually.

Why don't we just go announce it,

we'll tell Dimitri that he could be Prime Minister.

Excellent, excellent idea. We have a process, yes?

One month later in March 2012,

Putin has the satisfaction of winning

the presidential election in the first round

with 63 per cent of the votes.

His prime minister will be? Dmitri Medvedev.

Thank you to all those who said yes to Great Russia.

I salute you comrades!

We salute you Comrade President of the Russian Federation.

Hoorah! Hoorah! Hoorah!

Putin is well and truly back.

He is not less authoritarian, he is more so.

He is not less conservative, he is more so.

He is not less militaristic, he is more so.

All this is confidently asserted,

coherent, and part of his global vision.

It's exactly what a large number of Russians want to hear.

Putin, at last clearly spells it out.

"Russia will become a great power again."

I keep hearing it said that "Russia should have the respect its entitled to"

Why should anyone think otherwise?

Who? Who would think otherwise?

So it's really just a rhetorical question.

Yes, but...

"How can we demonstrate that we are a great power?"

To begin with in the 2000s, his strategy was

to reach out to the United States and to Europe and say:

"We are Europeans".

But faced with the failure of this policy

he creates a new concept of international relations,

viewed as a new imperialism, but it isn't.

It's a new concept of international relations,

which is not the same thing.

The master of the Kremlin launches

a vast enterprise of strategic reconstruction.

His priority is to displace his great

country's economic centre of gravity.

In the search of a new ally, he sets sail for the East:

His first port of visit is China.

From 2004 he had begun to participate

with the Shanghai group,

a group invented by China and not at all by Russia,

which was composed only of Asiatic states.

He entered the BRICS, the ASEAN,

into the entire system of extra-European alliances

where, in fact, Russia seemed a workable player.

In 2012, an important event occurred:

The moment he became president,

Putin inaugurated his mandate with a State visit to China.

Putin believes that Europe wants to

impose its (controversial) ideological conformity ideas on Russia.

and Putin prefers to trade harmlessly with China,

who do not seek to impose themselves, and instead simply cooperate with Russians,

even though he actually of course approves of what are European values.

Our economic goals have similarity of course.

We are both large economic countries

and compete with similar economic growth aspirations.

We both hope to become successful

in this competitive world environment.

Europe is a huge market for Russia.

But Russia has chosen a different

strategy and turned toward Asia.

Basically it says:

"We are not dependent on Europe,

we have multiple alternative outlets."

This is what led to signing agreements with China.

China plays along with Putin

and very quickly becomes Russia's

most important commercial partner.

Together, they initiate military cooperation

and large infrastructure works such as the silk road.

Amongst all their joint projects,

the most ambitious one,

carried out with great discretion,

is to bring down the hegemony of the dollar.

China and Russia both buy large quantities of gold,

each using their own currencies.

Their long term project is to prepare

a fatal blow to the dollar empire.

There might be a geopolitical alliance,

short-lived and limited to few subjects,

an agreement with China to trump various US projects,

to use the Chinese economy for specific deeds,

accords, projects.

I cannot fathom to think that Russia would ever consent

to an alliance against the rest of Europe.

But it is mired in circumstances, it will potentially become viewed in such seeming circumstances

where no real alternative was to presents itself instead.

Right now I have the impression that

we have stuck our heads in the jaws of the Chinese tiger.

And this tiger is thinking.

It isn't in their interest to eat us

so they will just play with us.

When Xi Jinping became president,

his first foreign visit took place in Russia.

This reveals the knowledge and profound determination

of these two heads of state

on the importance of the relations

between our two countries.

China is an important diplomatic and economic ally,

but Putin knows it is a circumstantial alliance.

The Middle Empire is becoming the major world economy,

one day or another each country's

interests will diverge.

On a parallel with the alliance with China,

Putin's dream is to create a multi-polar world

where Russia will play a predominant role.

He revives an ancient Eurasian ideology.

Moscow would be at the heart of a new economic hub

consisting of former soviet republics in Europe

and central Asia, stretching from Belarus to Siberia

and including Kazakhstan and if possible Ukraine.

...Kazakhstan, Armenia, and soon Kyrgyzstan.

Phil, you said it's big, look at the size of it,

five times bigger than its neighbour the European Union.

We will continue to cooperate with Russia, if it wishes,

We shall develop our close cooperation

with members of the Eurasian Economic Union.

Belarus will remain a crucial player

in the post-Soviet reconstruction.

The aim of this economic structure

is to show solidarity and be self sufficient.

Open to the rest of the world it would become

the turntable for relations between Europe and Asia.

One of these countries, Kazakhstan

is particularly important:

it's new capital Astana, with its avant-guard architecture,

is constructed at the heart of the Steppes

and has been chosen as the future capital of Eurasia.

For the last 26 years this former soviet republic

has been run by the dictator Nazarbayev.

Very close to Putin, he acts as a mediator with Turkey.

Kazakhstan is immense and extremely rich in raw materials:

gas, petrol, uranium.

The country shares a frontier

of 7000 kilometres with Russia and 150 with China.

Its geographic position would be perfectly

central as the capital of Eurasia.

Clearly, Russia's objective is based on volunteering,

on reconstructing a geopolitical body

of roughly 200 million inhabitants,

which would have military cooperation,

common economic cooperation

simply in order to influence the course of events,

in the same way that Europe plans

to influence with 500 million,

alongside the Kazakhs, the Kirghizs, the Belarusians

and with the Ukrainians if it had been possible

but that didn't work.

Apart from the very strong

cultural and economic link that unites Russia and Ukraine,

the second greatest economic power of the former USSR,

Ukraine also holds an essential geo-strategic position.

as far as Europe is concerned.

But neither the United States

nor present European leaders see it that way.

In the end, Ukraine, which could have

been a bridge between the two worlds,

is driven to choose between one or the other.

In 2014, the European Union signed an agreement with Ukraine

signifying, "you are dealing with us, and not with Russia,"

which was a declaration of war.

Now, in one move, the EU decided to enter

the customs territory of Russian via Ukraine.

Is that how things should be done?

And when we suggested holding consultations,

we were told it wasn't our business.

Is that how we should solve the problems of Russia?

The European Union demonstrated

an abysmal lack of understanding.

And it is very responsible.

I mean, the European Union's misfortunes,

which are perceived with Brexit

stem from that, from its ignorance of the people.

The Association agreement will modify the rules of the game

and will transform Ukraine into a country

with a European policy and economy

This will pose a terrible threat to Putin,

because our people are very close.

And the outcome of Ukraine embracing a European development

will be an unbearable scenario for Putin.

Subject to pressure from the Kremlin,

Viktor Yanukovych, elected after the failure

of the leaders of the Orange revolution, in 2010,

finally, but not surprisingly,

turns his back on Europe and joins

The Customs Union with Russia.

The sudden about-turn of President Yanukovych

provokes public protest in Kiev the capital.

Thousands of people take to the streets.

At first the movement is pacific as in the orange revolution,

but Yanukovych's repression is enforced

by the Ukrainian special forces

and paramilitary and nationalist groups

turn it into a military confrontation.

The series of decisions taken by Moscow, Kiev or Brussels

only succeed in plunging the world

into a new trial of strength.

Yanukovych destroyed the Ukrainian army.

However, he was able to develop internal troops

which were forced to fight against

internal enemies, meaning us.

We stood no chance of winning.

But we did!

On 21st of February 2014

after several weeks of bloodshed on Maidan,

the opposition takes advantage of Viktor Yanukovych's flight

to invest parliament.

The protests in Kiev were a brutal awakening for Putin.

They showed that in Ukraine, which is like a mini-Russia,

people can demonstrate and simply dismiss

a regime that isn't even communist,

in a country with no gulag and where nobody dies of hunger.

Whatever people might say,

we are all fully aware

of the staged events that took place on Maidan.

The media coverage, the support of the politicians...

it demonstrates the full involvement

of the USA and of Europeans

in a coup d'etat and an

anti-constitutional seizure of power.

The United states no longer even makes any effort to hide.

Victoria Nuland, the US vice secretary of state

openly distributes sandwiches on Maidan.

A few weeks earlier in a telephone conversation

intercepted by the Russians, to her foreign affairs colleague,

she had cracked: "Fuck Europe""

Putin fears that if he does not react quickly,

Ukraine will join NATO

and partially compromise his Eurasian project.

The entire future of Putin's Russia is perhaps

secretly at stake behind the Kremlin doors.

The new government of Ukraine,

has recently announced its plans

to join NATO.

Just imagine, say, that in the 1980s,

the Warsaw Pact had expanded through much of Latin America,

uh, Mexico announced its plans to join the Warsaw Pact.

How would the United States have reacted?

Putin takes a trip to Crimea,

an autonomous province of Ukraine,

where 90 per cent of the inhabitants

are Russian speakers.

Former territory of Tsarist Russia and the USSR,

Russia has many vested interests there

and owns the naval base of Sevastopol

with unique control over the Black Sea.

Mindful of my responsibility to preserve the

life and security of the citizens of Crimea,

I call upon the President of the

Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin

in order to maintain peace and security in the territory

of the autonomous Republic of Crimea.

After several days of silence,

Putin improvises a counter-offensive

that will mark a turning point in east-west relations

Ukraine says Russia declared war.

European leaders are meeting in Brussels at this moment.

Respond to Russian intervention in Crimea

And the Russians who are now attempting

to recuperate military bases...

Armed men with no formal identification...

Who are these men?

They are wearing combat fatigues,

which appear to be new,

where do they come from?

Russian?

No answer.

These are events that we would consider unthinkable

in the 21st century in the European continent.

Russian troops are deployed in the Crimean Peninsula.

Heavily armed, yet surprisingly relaxed,

the green men tranquilly go about

neutralising the regular Ukrainian army,

in what could be called a particularly

unspectacular power grab.

The Russians fired warning shots in the air.

You're being filmed by journalists!

The US are with us!

Calm own, stop this chaos!

Calm this crowd, major.

It's not a crowd, we are all soldiers!

Honey, I can't talk to you.

Once the green men have installed themselves in Crimea,

nothing more can be an obstacle to Putin's plans.

And yet, according to the Budapest accords of 1994,

the Russian intrusion is considered

as illegal by the west.

The Crimean parliament invokes the people's right to

dispose of their own future and votes for independence.

A referendum is immediately organised.

The Crimeans that do vote,

vote 96 per cent in favour of an annexation with Russia.

Crimea is highly strategic.

Possessing it means, amongst other things,

controlling the oil pipelines that cross the Black sea.

In less than a month, Ukraine has definitively lost Crimea.

For a large number of the Russian people

the annexation is reuniting with a land

that is historically and sentimentally Russian.

I've a tendency to believe that everything

this government is doing is incompetent somehow

However, my first emotional reaction

when we retrieved Crimea

was one of patriotic relief and the

sentiment that it was so fulfilling,

because Crimea re-became integral part of Russia.

The re-joining with Russia of its Crimean territory was presented

as an action in defence of this Russian population, who are the Crimeans,

portraying an image of a paternalistic state

safeguarding its people.

Among us are representatives of the

Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol,

citizens of Russia,

residents of Crimea and Sevastopol!

It was presented and experienced as

a retrieval of an historic justice.

The anti-Putin ranks actually emptied

with the annexation of Crimea.

All this led to a huge wave of support among Russian people,

who instantly forgot the malfunctioning

governance of Putin and the Kremlin.

Crimea is one of numerous examples

of the victory of the Russian army.

We had all grown up with classics of Russian literature,

Dacha of Sevastopol,

the heroic death of Makarov the academician.

All this concerns Crimea and is part of our education.

Crimea was won by Russia, repelling the Ottoman Turks at a high cost in Russian lives.

At the UN Security Council, a resolution

proposing to condemn Russian policies in Crimea...

...a negative veto vote of the permanent members...

changes nothing.

Russia uses its veto, and China cautiously abstains.

After a long and bitter journey,

Crimea and Sevastopol

have returned safely to their motherland,

and to their home port,

Russia!

♫ Russia is our sacred state, ♫

♫ Russia, our beloved country ♫

♫ A mighty will, a great glory, ♫

♫ Yours forever for all time, ♫

♫ Be glorious, our free Motherland... ♫

I like that he promotes powerful things like peace, love,

traditional Russian art, traditional Russian values.

Even more important here is that the babushka is valued,

her house is warm, the wood is cut, the sky is clear.

In short, all is well!

What I like about President Putin is the protective instinct, the power

and force emanating from his core.

In general, to me,

in his policies, his body,

his whole image represents strength.

It is true that Vladimir Putin is

very popular in Russia and abroad.

The majority of Russians have a really positive opinion of him.

This mythology has finally turned against us,

I am afraid that Putin began to believe in his own myth.

So many newspapers claim he is the

most influential man in the world...

the most this and the most that...

So now he believes it!

The man in the street believes everything

the state television tells him,

He loves anyone who has

"President of the Russian federation"

written on his business card,

or "Emperor of the Russian Federation".

He's a man who respects his own power and rejects weakness.

We are victorious people!

It is in our genes, our genetic code!

It is passed down from generation to generation.

We will win this time too.

I ask you: are we going to win?

In June 2015, Putin's popularity rating

verges on 90 per cent.

There is an adhesion amongst even the

most fervent members of the opposition

but Nationalism wins the day.

Eduard Limonov is one of them,

but also Sergei Udaltsov,

a hero of the important anti Putin demonstrations in 2011,

for which he paid 4 and a half years in prison.

Like many Russians they too salute

the result of the referendum in Crimea.

It is the start of a Putin-mania which is still vibrant today.

A man like Putin, who isn't unkind to me

A man like Putin, who won't run away!

A man like Putin, full of strength!

A man like Putin, who doesn't drink,

I want a man like Putin, who would never run away.

A man like Putin, who wouldn't hurt me,

A man like Putin, who doesnt run from a fight

'Putin Victor', 'Putin Victorious',

His power has matured.

This means that, today,

everything he touches turns to gold,

with such popularity, with a population so united,

he can do whatever he wants.

After his power grab in Crimea

Putin has managed to pull the country together

but he has also disrupted the power balance

between Russia and the West.

The United States reacts in consequence.

Today is a reminder that the United States

means what it says

and we will rally the international community

in standing up

for the rights and freedom of people around the world.

Today,

and building on the measures we announced two weeks ago,

the United States is imposing new sanctions

in key sectors of the Russian economy.

The rouble plummets.

The GDP drops by 6 cent.

Numerous sanctions hit the country hard.

They mainly affect the middle classes

and the rural community.

But natural resources and in particular, oil and gas,

are strangely not concerned by the sanctions.

A sign of the generalised hypocrisy

in both Russian and Western policies.

The issue is that Russia is the biggest supplier of Europe

and there is no other country or group of countries

that can replace the volume of Russia's exports to Europe.

So in other words, Europe will always depend on Russia

and Russia will be... will remain the biggest

supplier of gas to Europe.

No-one can support an all out, economic confrontation.

Weakened, but supported by his electorate,

Putin acts as if he is unperturbed by the sanctions,

as for example when France refuses to

deliver the two Mistral war ships,

that Russia had already partly paid for.

Quite frankly, it has no effect on our position of defence.

We have mainly made contracts to support our associates

and provide work for their shipyards.

We will not impose penalties

or excessive fines.

We simply want our costs to be covered.

Foreigners will never understand Russia.

We want to thank you for your sanctions.

We will increase production as instructed by our president.

We are pro-active against such sabotage.

We say to you amiably:

we need nothing more from you as we do for our own

McDonald's quality food is not to the taste standards of Russians.

You have worn yourselves out imposing your sanctions.

We will impose a total embargo on you!

With pride rediscovered,

the Russian people remain united behind their leader.

The US and NATO now understand

that we have no need for other nations,

We don't steal from anybody,

but we shall retake all land which is ultimately "our own".

Despite the massive support of the population,

Putin continues his repressive policies towards the opposition

and groups whose values he considers

incompatible with his policies.

Putin's policy is very harsh domestically

with regards to any opposition or uprising.

This might seem surprising because he is

very powerful and overwhelmingly popular

Why does he do this?

I think it's due to a profound fear of disorder.

Putin has the impression that he's sitting on a volcano,

He feels it because he knows that

he is witnessing a changing society,

a changing world, in which he is trying to adapt,

and he is succeeding with regards to

international politics.

But how does one govern a society in the egalitarian minded 21st century?

Not by using old regime methods.

In this respect he still is a man with knowledge of historical values,

so he responds accordingly - everyone does - with their own history in mind.

He reacts with his experiential endowment:

including unquestionably authoritarian seeming tactics

the Soviet era was previously certainly no stranger to employing

In Russia, the notion of force and power,

of power and even absolute power

are not unthinkable as required.

For those who exalt Putin,

they think that power even in civil society means at times some measure of autocracy too.

One man who decides everything, and takes action...

We can refer to the presence of of political opponents

but it's impossible to speak of organised opposition forces,

they don't exist.

The aim of the Kremlin's policies is

to nip in the bud any indication or form of particular kinds of political opposition.

During the night of 27th February 2015,

Boris Nemtsov, one of the most staunch members

of the opposition, is killed,

only a few yards from the Kremlin.

The regime's violence is so fierce

that the opposition has no hesitation

in accusing Vladimir Putin.

Boris Nemtsov dedicated his life to that.

He unmasked criminals,

it is said that this is why "they" hated him and gave the order to kill him.

We are continuing the fight,

our fight for Russia to become an even more democratic seeming State,

in which all people will have the same rights and

political freedom of a more liberal minded egalitarian quality.

But a video filmed in a hotel room,

equipped with the usual FSB secret service technology,

is broadcast on television.

The very same Mikhail Kasyanov is filmed

in close detail with his mistress and personal assistant.

Apart from the sexual details of the video,

Kasyanov speaks of the other leaders of his opposition group

in extremely insulting terms.

The video undermines his credibility

and shatters his fragile contestation of Putin.

Today, only 5 to 7 per cent of the Russian people

consider themselves anti-Putin.

The majority of the Russian population do not believe

that freedom of speech is an indicator of development.

It's not that they don't want it.

It's just that they don't consider they are missing out under Putin

That's all.

Liberal individualism, such as that

experienced at the fall of the USSR,

was for the Russians synonymous with division and even chaos.

The present cohesion of the nation

evokes harmony and security.

Putin offers the Russians an all powerful chief

and unconditional values to devote themselves to.

After strength, religion is the system's second linchpin.

In the Soviet system, we were educated by the Communist Party

which offered us a ready made morality,

we knew what was good, what was bad

and people's lives were guided, which is reassuring.

Total freedom is very unsettling

and for Putin the prevailing Church,

which has been restored in all its splendour

and with its traditional authoritarianism,

has the merit of being a reasonable guide for society.

For Russian people, denying the orthodox

religion would mean denying too much embedded history,

its own seeming related traditions

but in fact, if the Soviet Union ended in disaster,

it's also because it rejected this specific religious ideology.

In order to gain support among the people,

it seems needed to profess religious orthodoxy

because Russian cultural relics are inclusive of orthodox

and orthodoxy has been at the roots of Russian state religious practice.

Without orthodoxy, the tzar would simply be impossible,

he would just be destroyed!

In the space of one generation, an atheist country has,

without difficulty, become a religious country.

This is part of the vast ensemble

that might be called power in Russia.

It has become increasingly present in

the public sectors and public debates.

Vladimir Putin focused on the church to represent

a moral authority that would guide Russia

along a path of collective adherence to values

which would be those of the state and society.

Today, many countries are reviewing their moral standards,

seeking to abolish their historical seeming norms and traditions

and the differences between nations and cultures. ("Cancel culture" etc.)

And we are aware that throughout the world

an increasing number of people support our approach

which aims to protect Russia's traditional values.

Of course, it involves a conservative approach.

The intent is to avoid the recurrence

of chaos and of a primitive state.

I would say that it's really the

centre of an ideological conflict,

in inverted commas, between a kind of

Russian conservatism and a Western liberalism

where we Westerners have a tendency to view Putinism

as something rather out of fashion,

outdated, and conservative,

and that Putinism upholds conservatism and says:

"It's you, the Western leaders

who are out of touch with Human reality

and with your own best people."

In his ideological counter-attack,

Putin supports parties that denounce

the supranatural aspects of the European Union.

They share a very conservative vision

on standards of behaviour,

in particular concerning homosexuality,

the family and religion.

Like Putin, they loudly denounce western universalism,

which can only lead to the crumbling

of the social fabric and decadence.

If Putin supports the nationalist parties,

paradoxically, he also supports the leaders of a radical left,

where his anti-liberal views find an echo.

His shadow hangs over the whole Greek crisis.

Putin is a seducer,

for some he has become, "Putin, the bearer of hope".

As these parties gain popularity,

in both France and other European countries,

it is beneficial for Putin's strategy,

a strategy which consists of dividing

Europe by all possible means,

The aim is to distance Europe from the US.

and exploit the divergences between European countries.

The weaker a European government is,

the better it will be for Putin.

At a time when party leaders who support the same values as him

cut themselves off in their xenophobia,

Putin claims he will free the world

from the shock of civilisations

and protect it from new wars of religion.

After being the grave digger of post totalitarian utopias,

he is now attired as the Grand organiser of world peace.

A turn around which may appear astonishing for Putin

who presented himself as pro-European and even pro-NATO

when he first came to power.

Putin considered it necessary to

reassess the organisation of the world

and this conviction emerged when he

became aware that geopolitics has changed,

that global equilibriums are no longer the same,

that Europe is no longer decisive in the world,

that's finished.

That economically seeming, inertia seems inexorably heading towards Asia,

due to the assimilated power of China,

over too the expansion of the Muslim world,

and this is where Putin moved from a potential,

pragmatic threat, to a political redefinition.

Within Russia there exists

a mosaic of peoples and cultures

that makes it a model of cohesion

for bordering countries.

At the present time, Europe is obsessed

with the question of identity.

Putin proposes an alternative based

on tolerance and multiculturalism,

where Islam holds its own specific place.

When you notice how polite to the orthodox religious movement Putin is,

it's astonishing to see him fraternising

in such a way with other religions.

That's what's important.

It's impossible to understand if you forget that Russia

is also a multi-religious sect country.

The construction of even the first mosque in Moscow

displays a tolerance to show that Islam

was one of Soviet era significant religious influence in some parts.

On this basis, Putin considers

that Russia has a historic mission to fulfil

as mediator between the Western and the Muslim worlds.

Russia too has always been a multi-ethnic

and even somewhat multi-religious country.

We created it like this.

The mutual cultural, traditional and religious enrichment

is the strength and originality of our common country, Russia.

By promoting the idea of a multicultural world,

Putin's aim is to fight radical Islamism,

which he considers a threat for his own country

and for the rest of the world.

He hasn't forgotten how the Soviets

were routed out of Afghanistan,

when the prestigious Red Army was

beaten to the ground by the Mujahideen.

Or again in Chechnya, after the war against Putin,

the Wahhabites, backed by Saudi Arabia,

planned to found a Caucasian emirate.

So Islam, yes, but not just any Islam,

one that would accept to exist with other religions

and submit to the state,

to a powerful state.

After Tunisia, Egypt and and Libya,

Syria is shaken in its turn by a wave of contestation.

The repression is ferocious and immediate.

Bashar al-Assad is at the head

of a multi-confessional but despotic state

and a key ally for Putin in the region.

Russia is a highly influential nation in Syria,

the alliance dates back to the '70s

and is a military and political alliance.

Cynically but incredulously though, somehow considered by a few as an arms market for Russian weapons but most of all,

it's the only place outside Russia

where it has maintained its bases out of need.

Particularly since it lies on the Mediterranean,

which is fundamental for the Russians.

But this view has shifted because

it corresponds to a period when Westerners

still impertinently regarded Russia as somehow without real insignificance on stage.

"What we're about to do in Syria won't please them,

but we don't give a damn."

For example, when we observe the Middle East and North Africa,

we witness the terrible consequences

of this forced standardization

It's unbelievable.

But unfortunately, it wasn't really a lesson

to many Western politicians.

There are still a lot of them promoting a

globalisation based on a unique model.

It is in the Middle east, at the heart of Islamic fundamentalism,

that Putin plans to defend his model.

While the West defends the Arab Spring

and the people's dream for democracy,

the head of the Kremlin defends authoritarian regimes

that he sees as bastions against radical Islamism.

We need to distinguish the

philosophical idea of universalism,

which is indisputable, and the methods used to impose it.

When this situation occurred during the Arab Spring,

many Westerners thought, this is great,

it will finally show that Arabs and Muslims

are able to develop their own theocracy - yet seeming democracy of a sort,

so we must apparently support this idea.

So in Syria, we will be on the right side of history.

We will be on the side of good

and we must establish "democracy" (Islamic theocracy in actuality) rapidly in Syria at all costs.

And there we see Westerners,

in particular Americans and the French,

very supportive, desiring and

announcing the collapse of the regime,

which was visibly a cruel and repressive regime.

So it was announced, but it didn't quite work that way.

Many Christians in Syria thought, "Be careful,

it's a cruel regime but the next one will be worse,

because it will be Islamists"

And the French and other European countries

said "No they will be Syrian democrats."

And others replied, "We would like them to be Syrian democrats

but there's little chance of them succeeding.

All of Saddam Hussein's followers, his officers,

his bodyguards and even those who gained from the system,

the soldiers or security guards,

were sent home.

Obviously, this was a boon for radical groups,

who could try to integrate them.

They turned up with their fighting expertise,

and created a powerful core amidst these radical groups.

...the order of the day has been adopted.

Putin can perhaps win the diplomatic war in Syria

but using his veto at the UN and blocking the situation

has enabled the rise in power of Islamist extremists

brought to Syria to fight the opposition to Assad.

The consequence is a minority group of jihadists

who in less than a year have become a powerful army,

capable of acting outside their territory.

The West, led by the United States and France,

is ready intervene to help the rebellion

and destitute Assad In the name of human rights.

Posing as the defender of peace,

Russia merely blocks all UN resolutions in that direction.

For Putin and his allies, Western interference

is directly responsible for the chaos in Iraq and Libya.

- Those against?

- The United States is disgusted

that a couple members of this council

continue to prevent us

from fulfilling our sole purpose here,

addressing an ever deepening crisis in Syria

and a growing threat

to regional peace and security.

In the same way as the Russians,

we found ourselves faced with structural antagonism.

The US didn't want China to become a force

capable of challenging their global hegemony.

So the US deployed various measures of

coercion and containment upon China.

Russia is unfairly excluded from the G8

after the rejoining with Crimea.

One year later, Vladimir Putin gets his revenge

when he reunites 15 heads of state during a double summit

of the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

European and American authorities have

repeatedly announced that Vladimir Putin

was politically isolated,

but it would seem they have failed to reach their goal.

1,300 dead and hundreds of wounded is be the latest figure

of the chemical weapon attack

led by the Syrian regime in an area of Damascus.

Children are crying, holding rags over their mouths and noses

Behind me, somebody is yelling: "God is great!"

That we are ready to move forward together...

From the outset of the conflict,

the Obama administration warned that the use of chemical weapons

was a limit not to be crossed;

and that a chemical attack by the Syrian government

would result in an immediate riposte from the Pentagon.

Putin obtains the Syrian disarmament of this arsenal,

his first diplomatic victory.

He is now a credible partner, if not yet on equal grounds.

Moscow has obtained a victory on the ground,

but the regular Syrian army is retreating

despite the Russian military experts at their side.

Armed factions and combatants are multiplying.

and ISIS and Al Nusra are

rapidly amplifying their numbers

to the detriment of the democratic opposition to Assad.

...one of the key organisations.

The Americans have armed a significant

faction of the opposition.

Is there a specialist in Arabic to help

me with the pronunciation of the name?

The Al Nusra Front?

- That's it, Al Nusra

This is one of the major Syrian opposition organisations.

The US State Department has confirmed that

it is a terrorist organisation linked to Al-Qaeda.

And the Al Nusra Front does not deny it.

Do they want it to merge with the future government?

Of course not.

So are you going to ward them off like flies?

No.

In view of attitude of the West,

in September 2015,

Vladimir Putin decides to go one step further in his commitment.

Instead of the triumph of democracy and progress

we have violence, poverty, and social disaster.

I would like to ask those who are

responsible for this situation:

are you now aware of what you have done?

The flag of the Islamic State has already

federated tens of thousands of combatants.

Among them, former Iraqi soldiers,

thrown into the streets in the wake of the 2003 invasion.

They are now joined by members of

the "moderate Syrian opposition"

which was armed, trained and supported by West.

This is not about the ambitions of Russia,

but of the fact that we will no longer

tolerate this management of global affairs.

Russia ventures,

for the first time since the collapse of the USSR,

to use military force outside its own domain.

Fighter planes and helicopters, of the latest generation,

brutally invade the Syrian airspace.

The Russian army's offensive is particularly ferocious

and is massive,

using carpet bombs, similar to the ones used in Chechnya,

the Russian operation targets

all the forces engaged against the regime,

and enables Bashar al-Assad to re-conquer

a great number of lost territories.

Russian diplomacy is very much a diplomacy in response

to what the West might or might not do.

I think that the intervention in Syria

was largely motivated by Western delays,

which lasted for two, even three years,

What should we do? What do we want?

So for several months, and even as we speak, we are witnessing

a form of re-entrance of Westerners

into the real world

And in the real world, they can't overthrow Assad.

The efficiency and violence

of the Russian air strikes force the Islamic rebels to retreat.

The numbers of civilian victims are high

but Putin obtains a prestigious victory in

liberating the antique jewel of Palmyra.

With its management of the Syrian conflict,

Russia has displayed its renewed military strength

and its capacity to assume the security of its allies.

In the eyes of the West

it has confirmed itself as a major world player.

Currently, the centre of gravity has

switched to other region of the world.

China is "progressing", India is "progressing", (economically speaking that is)

Latin America and Africa are both progressing!

But Europe is not developing.

The US is a predominant but failing force,

clinging to its possibilities,

but the wind of change has already begun.

Putin has succeeded in placing

his pieces on the world chessboard,

showing he can carry his weight in crucial conflicts

and has perhaps avoided an

open regional conflict in the Middle East.

By continuing to arm and support

Russian speaking separatists in the Donbass,

Russia will be present for a long time

in Ukraine through a proxy war.

Far from the Syrian battle fields,

Ukrainians continue to fight for their independence.

Putin doesn't intend to obtain major victories

in Ukraine or to impinge on its territory.

A war of which no one can imagine the conclusion.

We are a kind of Christian Taliban.

I will consider my mission accomplished

when I witness the ruins of the Kremlin.

I can well understand that Europe won't help us.

It has no intention of helping us

and to tell the truth, it has no obligation to do so.

It is our war, it is our misfortune.

The more Russia is attacked by the

liberal so-called "intelligentsia" and equally by such minded Western based politicians,

the more it relies on populist movements everywhere.

Traversing frontiers Vladimir Putin has even become

a reference for his worst enemy:

The United States of America.

If he says great things about me,

I'm gonna say great things about him.

I've already said he is really very much of a leader,

I mean you can say "oh, isn't it a terrible thing?"

The man has a very strong control over a country,

he's been a leader far more than our President has been a leader.

You called him is brilliant, outstanding, talented.

I just said he was a brilliant and a colourful candidate.

Don't you think so?

I do.

After the collapse of the USSR,

people thought the world would now be a unipolar one,

inducing peace and stability.

But since then the myth has dissolved

and fears have replaced that conviction.

Are we going to see a real disruption of the world order

at a time when Western universalism,

defending humanist values,

is sowing death and destruction;

when it is exacerbating rank social inequalities

and injustice,

when it is pushing peoples towards populist models?

So, are we going to witness a major

realistic policy resurfacing in the West,

tied to its own values,

yet refraining from imposing it every morning on the world,

accepting an evolving partnership,

whose role would be to assist Russia,

to overcome "obsessional complexes"

and aim for an "alternative" seeming future?

This is what we hope for.

We are glad to announce billionaire,

and everybody's favourite, Donald Trump,

has won the American presidential election.

In wanting to restore the former Cold War

and to sustain mental images of the Cold War before '91,

we are hindering the analysis of the prevailing new Cold War.

You must abandon the framework of the previous Cold War

in order to understand what's happening today,

which is not about conflict between two

superpowers that are governing the world

but clearly of a much more complex world.

I congratulate Donald Trump on his victory.

We paid great attention to his election campaign.

We are aware that this will be a difficult task

in light of the deterioration in our current relations,

but Russia is willing to reconstruct

all aspects of our relations.

Moscow has played an active

and important role in international negotiations,

including the accord with Iran to cease nuclear production.

Could solutions now be found for Syria or Ukraine,

and other international hotspots?

This remains to be seen.

Today, responsibility for the world's future

lies on the shoulders of the United States, Europe, China,

and of course Russia.

The United States and Russia

will probably remain enemies forever,

whoever their leaders may be.

Maintaining reciprocal hostility serves their domestic policies.

China, will methodically and unilaterally

use its economic power and military strength,

to establish what it considers

its zone of influence: the China Seas.

Europe is perhaps the only entity capable

of changing the rules of the game.

But, without renouncing any of its fundamental values,

it has to have the necessary intelligence

and strength to do so.

I won't stop

Until I win...

Yay! Putin.

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