Leap Day: Putin’s Address to the Federal Assembly (substack.com)
A fascinating speech by the man Our Betters want us to hate.
Can we imagine “Joe Biden” saying what Evil Putin said to his nation:
I have always said and I will say it again: no one—not even the authorities or law enforcement officers—is allowed to harass people, break the law or use it for selfish purposes. We need to help people, including those from the business community—and I’m talking about them now–-to help them. They create jobs, provide jobs, and pay salaries to people. This is the vocation of the authorities—to help.
Then there is this:
You know that the word “elite” has largely discredited itself. Those who, without any merit to society, consider themselves some kind of caste with special rights and privileges, especially I mean those who in previous years filled their pockets at the expense of all sorts of processes in the economy of the 90s, they are definitely not the elite. I repeat, the real elite is all those who serve Russia, hard workers and soldiers, reliable, proven, and worthy people who have proven their loyalty to Russia.
And this:
I want to emphasize that the main result of our programs is not measured in tons, kilometers, or the amount of money spent. The main thing is the assessment of people, how their lives are changing for the better.
The speech is not all good, of course. President Putin describes a society in which Government has a finger in every pie – sort of like the West is these days. And he pushes Russia in the direction of some of the issues which have undermined the once-dominant West, such as a larger role for the Stock Market and an increasingly complex tax system.
Even so, it is clear that the aspiration is to run the country for the benefit of all its citizens. Isn’t that a refreshing approach!