OF THE
TIMES
"It's not the Russia that, frankly, we wanted," Nuland told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Thursday. "We wanted a partner that was going to be westernizing, that was going to be European. But that's not what Putin has done."Below are some headlines related to the the OSCE over the last few years:
Putin's predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, enjoyed Washington's support as he oversaw the rushed privatization of the Russian economy in the 1990s. Yeltsin's reforms saw the rise of the so-called 'oligarchs', who amassed huge fortunes selling Russia's natural resources to Western buyers, while the majority of the population dealt with declining life expectancy, soaring crime and homicide rates, and the collapse of the ruble.
Putin, who first took office in 2000, is widely credited with taming the oligarchs, imposing public order, and reversing the economic and social decline of the 1990s. Putin initially sought friendly relations with the West, telling American journalist Tucker Carlson earlier this month that he asked then-US President Bill Clinton whether Russia could one day join NATO, only to be rejected.
Putin nevertheless reached out to Clinton's successor, George W. Bush, with a proposal that the US, Russia, and Europe jointly create a missile defense system. While Bush's team initially expressed interest, Putin said that "in the end they just told us to get lost."
A combination of NATO expansion, American support for jihadist groups in the Caucuses, and Nuland's orchestration of the coup d'etat in Ukraine in 2014 made it clear that the US and its allies were not interested in cooperation, Putin told Carlson.
Nuland told Amanpour that Putin has "destroyed his own country" by intervening in Ukraine, and that the US will "continue to tighten the noose on him," presumably by supplying Kiev with weapons and imposing additional economic sanctions on Moscow.
Well, if Russia is different than I thought, there is no option but to destroy it.
A very empirical approach to the topic.
I will tell you something today, as a person from the middle, i.e. from Poland.And I think I will express the opinion of many people from the "middle".
I don't care much about the West, I think that the West has a flat culture that has been reduced to the concept of "entertainment".
I don't have many Western friends with whom I could talk about the history of HIS OWN COUNTRY!
When I listen to people from the West, I have the impression that I am listening to the dominant television station in a given region.
I used to think that the West was synonymous with economic development, technological possibilities and their practical application for the common good... but this dream is over, I woke up.
I know what the west did to Nikola Tesla. I know how he got him, and now he's tarnishing his name by building shitty electric cars.
I know all this economic dynamism is a fraud. The 34 trillion debt of the US alone, and only officially, is the best proof of my words.
And playing on credit... well, who can't do that?
I will say one thing in conclusion. Countries fall, governments run away, money is stolen... the only thing that matters is your SHORT LIFE!
Develop, learn, have passions, get to know the world, get to know each other... that's all you can take away from this world.