About a week ago, the Neo-Tsar held a marathon, and magisterial, four-hour press conference in which he addressed both the Russian and international press, and also answered a wide range of questions from his own citizens. The point of this event was to provide a year-end review of 2023 – a year which has seen tectonic shifts in the geopolitical alignments of the world.

Lest anyone be under any illusions about the nature of those questions, it is worth watching at least parts of that event – the Neo-Tsar got plenty of tough, challenging, and difficult questions. And, as he always does, he handled it like a pro – speaking extemporaneously for FOUR HOURS without notes, breaks, or difficulties.

Keep in mind, The Putin (as Alex Christoforou likes to call him) is SEVENTY-ONE YEARS OLD. He is nearly the same age as my own father. Yet, he is capable of maintaining a punishing schedule that would run most men HALF his age straight into an early grave.

How many Western leaders are able to speak for FOUR HOURS, continuously, answering questions from both press and ordinary citizens? How many of them can do anything even close to that? Furthermore, how many can claim to have any actual legitimacy from their own people?

There is… well, let’s see… Viktor Orban of Hungary… maybe Robert Fico of Slovakia… and THAT’S IT.

No one in his right mind, thinks that Brandon, for example, is in HIS right mind. He would not last fifteen minutes in a press environment like that.

That, however, is not the truly important part. No, the actually interesting bits have to do with what The Putin actually said:

Putin said Russia’s economy had demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of outside pressure over the past year, noting that GDP was expected to grow by 3.5% by the end of 2023. He specifically pointed to industrial production at 3.6% growth, as well as a decrease in external public debt from $46 billion to $32 billion.

Real wages in Russia also continue to grow and real incomes are set to increase 5% by the end of the year amid a historically low unemployment rate of 2.9%, Putin said.

The nation has also reduced its reliance on the US dollar in foreign trade and started to use its national currency, the ruble, more actively, according to the president, who insisted that strengthening Russia’s sovereignty in the economic and other fields would remain a priority for Moscow.

“Existence without sovereignty is impossible for Russia,” he said.

The Neo-Tsar also had quite a lot to say about the conduct of the Special Military Operation in Banderastan. Simplicius the Thinker went over some of the key comments, and arrived at some very interesting conclusions:

“The whole southeast of Ukraine has always been pro-Russian, because these are historically Russian territories. Turkey knows this well, the entire Black Sea coast went to Russia as a result of the Russo-Turkish wars. What does Ukraine have to do with this? It has nothing to do with it. Neither Crimea, nor the entire Black Sea coast in general,” Putin said in response to a TASS question.

“Odessa is a Russian city. We know this. Everyone knows this. But no, they drummed up all sorts of historical nonsense,” he pointed out.

At the same time, the president noted that once upon a time “Vladimir Lenin gave away the whole of Ukraine when he created the Soviet Union.” “We came to terms with this after the collapse of the Soviet Union. We accepted it and were ready to live in this paradigm,” the Russian president emphasized. “But this part, the southeast [of Ukraine], is pro-Russian. It was also important for us,” he underscored.

The Neo-Tsar actually did say that – the official readout at the Kremlin’s own website confirms this. Here is the actual clip showing him saying these words:

So we now have a pretty good idea of how The Putin sees the war ending – with the complete takeover of the southern coast of Ukraine, by Russia, resulting in a landlocked, broken, impoverished rump-state of Banderastan.

He has gone rather further in more recent announcements, actually. Here is what he said at a meeting of the Defence Ministry Board on Dec 19, just a couple of days ago:

Here is what I would like to say in closing: Russia was the only guarantor of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. I mentioned this earlier. When creating the Soviet Union, Russia transferred to it vast historical territories, Russian territories, along with the population, a huge potential, and invested immense resources into this land.

The western lands of Ukraine? We know how Ukraine obtained them. Stalin gave them away after World War II. He gave part of Polish lands, Lvov, and so on including several large regions with a population of ten million. Not to offend the Poles, he compensated for their losses by giving them the eastern German lands, the Danzig Corridor, and Danzig itself. He took some from Romania and some from Hungary and gave it to Ukraine.

The people who live there – many of them, at least, I know this for sure, 100 percent – they want to return to their historical homeland. The countries that lost these territories, primarily Poland, dream of having them back.

In this sense, only Russia could be the guarantor of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. If they do not want it, so be it. History will put everything in its place. We will not interfere, but we will not give up what is ours. Everyone should be aware of this – those in Ukraine who are aggressive disposed towards Russia, and in Europe, and in the United States. If they want to negotiate, let them do so. But we will do it only based on our interests.

There is some considerable subtlety in these words. Some – myself included – take them to mean the Russians will readily give back the territories of Ukraine that were once parts of Roumania, Hungary, Slovakia, and so on. But actually, you can interpret those words another way, as Alexander Mercouris said in his video stream recently.

Essentially, the Neo-Tsar might well be saying that the ONLY way for Ukraine to stay kind-of-sort-of intact at this point, is to make the best deal they can with the Russians. If they do not, then the Russians will simply determine for Ukraine what its borders will look like.

It is critically important to understand clearly one very simple point:

President Putin never wanted this conflict with the West – but he has been preparing for it, for YEARS.

This is not idle speculation on my part. Unlike a lot of Western critics of President Putin, I actually listen to the man, and I read (some of) his speeches – both in the original Russian (where possible), and in English. As such, while I cannot claim to be any sort of expert, I am still VASTLY better educated about the state of things in Russia than about 99% of the wankerati who write for the whore-media in the West, simply by virtue of having put in a bit of effort to know and understand the Russian people, culture, and language.

One of the books I am currently browsing through is called The Putin Plan, and it is a book of speeches by Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, translated (sometimes overly literally) into English. If you read through it carefully – and it is a LONG book, with speeches dating back all the way to 2007 and beyond – then you will get a sense of the man himself.

This is not some brash and trigger-happy imperialist looking to restore the glory days of the Soviet Union. This is in fact a Russian Nationalist, who wants nothing more than for his own country to develop in peace, following its own course of action.

His plan is simple:

• Leverage Russia’s colossal industrial power and incredible resource base to act as the Eurasian landmass’s key source of energy;
• Develop out the domestic economy using export-oriented capitalism to drive the industrial sector;
• Invest in the agricultural sector to ensure Russia never again becomes dependent on outside food supplies;
• Protect key strategic industries, especially the military, and continue to develop out the world’s most advanced stand-off strike weapons to keep the West at bay;
• Use military force judiciously and only as a last resort, when diplomacy has nothing more to offer, while preserving Russia’s people and culture;
• Push for pro-natalist policies to stem Russia’s demographic decline, while investing heavily in the infrastructure and development of the Russian Far East;
• Build out relationships and friendships, without creating entangling alliances, with any and all regional and global powers, while preserving Russia’s autonomy of action;

Does any of this look familiar to Americans? My Yankee friends might recognise this as essentially the basis of American economic and foreign policy for the first 150 years or so of the country’s existence – before it turned into a globe-spanning Evil Empire that is now very clearly on its last legs.

This is why I keep saying to people that they underestimate and misunderstand Russia. Make no mistake, Russia has HUGE problems – believe me, I know, I have been there many times, and I hold no illusions about just how hard life is there for most of its people. But, Russia is now a proud, free, independent, and self-sufficient civilisation-culture that upholds a state-sponsored form of Christianity that is simply far more masculine, sensible, and effective than anything you see in the cucked-out West.

Most importantly, its people have rediscovered their sense of purpose, pride, and strength. And they have the Neo-Tsar to thank for that, who for the last 25 years has followed a clear, pragmatic, yet principled vision, to which he has stayed true and consistent for all of that time.

I am not joking about this. Read his speeches from 2002 or thereabouts, and you will find him saying almost all of the same things he says today. The main difference, however, is the nature of his rhetoric toward the West.

Back then, The Putin was more than willing to talk with the West and make deals. But twenty years of bitter experience have left him fuming, with the core belief that the West is agreement-non-capable, and the FUSA least capable of all at honouring and living up to actual words on paper.

He is not wrong, either. It does not matter who is in power – Bush, Obama, Clinton, Biden, or even Trump. All have betrayed him, and all have torn up agreements that used to serve the interests of both the FUSA and Russia.

The Neo-Tsar will not make these mistakes again. And the West is going to suffer for its singular lack of principle and decency. Russia is now growing at a rate nearly unheard of prior to the SANKSHUNS!!!, while the West slips deeper into recession and depression, caused by its own self-inflicted gunshot wounds to its lungs, spleen, intestines, and head.

Meanwhile, Russia will simply carry on building friendships and trade links with the rest of the world – while never giving up on the quintessential things that make it RUSSIA.

Let us close with the gentlemen of The Duran as they analyse the import of the Neo-Tsar’s remarks in a detailed discussion:

And one more meme that explains Putin’s basic philosophy on life in a single three-word sentence: