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Putin: 'The Liberal ideal has started to eat itself'

RT
Sat, 29 Jun 2019 13:55 UTC

Though it's attractive in general, liberalism has overreached on multiple issues, such as immigration, and is now "eating itself," Vladimir Putin said, just days after he'd suggested that the ideology has failed Western societies.

Liberalism still remains "multifaceted" and there's no need to be arguing about its overall attractiveness, the Russian president told reporters on Saturday, during a final press conference at the G20 summit in Japan. In the meantime, the philosophy has its own setbacks, he pointed out. "The liberal ideal has started to eat itself."

In Putin's view, liberal approaches to immigration is a real problem. "In some European countries, parents are told that girls should not wear skirts at schools," he asserted, adding that "people are living in their own country ... why has it come to that?"

His latest remarks summed up what he'd told the Financial Times in a much-talked-about interview this week. Speaking to FT's Lionel Barber and Henry Foy, he called liberalism "obsolete" and said it has now come into conflict "with the interests of the overwhelming majority of the population."

However, it does not mean that liberal ideals - just like any others - should be outlawed or suppressed, Putin stressed. Even if it appears to have failed, it "has the right to exist and it should even be supported in some domains."

The President happened to be discussing the FT interview with some of his counterparts at the G20 summit in Osaka.

"Some colleagues, I don't want to call them by name, talked about this with me," Putin recalled, saying that, while some leaders were unappreciative of his views, others "supported them in general."

Putin doesn't reject liberalism as such, even if he's critical about aspects of it, the Kremlin spokesman said. He remains "close to the liberal ideal," but at the same time he opposes it being aggressively instilled on others.

Comment: From RT: Putin comments on the Golunov drug arrest scandal

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the now-dropped drug charge recently brought against investigative journalist Ivan Golunov was a clear case of "power abuse" that shouldn't go without repercussions for those responsible.

"Regarding the situation with Golunov, it's not injustice, it's lawlessness," Putin said at his final press conference at G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. "It's a complete power abuse, it must be investigated and certain decisions must be made regarding the case," the head of state added.

The charges against Golunov were dropped a short while later, with Russia's interior minister announcing that Golunov was cleared of all charges due to a lack of evidence against him.

From RT: Putin's remarks on '5 or 6' genders - should not enforce agenda on kids

There are no high tempers in Russia about LGBT groups, but they shouldn't instill their views on under-18s, Vladimir Putin said, adding the ever-growing types of genders may somehow be confusing.

Putin's latest interview with the Financial Times seems to have hit a nerve, as many public figures, among them singer Elton John, rushed to voice unease over some parts of it. Even at the G20 summit in Osaka, the Russian President couldn't avoid being challenged into explaining his stance on sexual minorities and liberalism.

Russia has "very relaxed attitude towards the LGBT community, we aren't biased against them," but the minority must not aggressively disseminate its views among minors who may not be able to decide on their own, he told reporters. "Let's give children an opportunity to grow up and decide afterwards who they want to be. Leave them alone," Putin urged. "[They] invented 6 or 5 genders. Transformers, trans... I have no idea what that even is."

Another part of the problem is that "this part of the society" is advancing their views "by force" on the majority, Putin said, citing "so-called sexual education" as an example. "Let them live as they wish. But some things do appear excessive to us."

Yet, the legendary singer accused Russia of "hypocrisy" and complained that his film 'Rocketman' was "heavily censored" by the country's distributors.

Calling Elton John "a genius musician," Putin argued: "I think he's wrong on this, we have very calm attitude towards the LGBT community, we aren't biased against them."

From RT: Claims of Russia's aggressiveness but an illusion to solve domestic problems

Moscow has no aggressive intensions against any country, but other countries' policies will always be met with a symmetrical response, Vladimir Putin said during a final press conference at G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.

"I want to tell you the good news - we don't have any intentions to carry out aggressive actions against anyone," Putin said when asked if Russia is ready to "choose a different path" in order to improve ties with the UK and the West. "[Russia's aggressiveness] is an illusion, wishful thinking to have a foreign adversary whose presence is good for solving domestic policy issues."

An enormously tense meeting between Putin and Theresa May made headlines on Friday, as did the prime minister's icy handshake and a warning that there will be no improvement of bilateral ties until Moscow stops "the irresponsible and destabilizing activity" against the UK.

While Moscow has no plans to intimidate anyone, its actions "will always mirror those of our partners," Russian president argued. "We'll treat others the same way we're treated by them. I want everyone to remember this."

That said, Russia is more than interested in "improving" ties with London and other Western countries. "Common sense" should, and hopefully will, prevail, he added.

Reader Comments

graeme15b · 2019-06-29T20:07:45Z

Well, so-called liberalism actually destroys what it purports to endorse. Multi-culturalism destroys culture for example. As the ideology of postmodernism masks globalism and neoliberal economics, it is bound to eat itself. Counterpart institutions that are now pathological can but resemble the action of a black hole.