Usual illusions on Trump of Russian “elite intellectuals”

“Trump is destroying the US global empire, and they (the Deep State) can feel it. They realize it perfectly. The European establishment, which was brought up by the American empire, also understands it. … By the way, they will begin to leave (the empire).”

Mon, Jul 23, 2018

Very interesting discussion with one of Russia’s top political thinkers. He draws many parallels to the collapse of the USSR.

Russian talk shows are very refreshing compared to the tired old neocon bill of goods being peddled by the American mainstream media.

Transcript:

Karen Shakhnazarov, director, People’s Artist of Russia:

—What does everything you’re saying have to do with it?

Nothing, obviously. He’s trying to talk around the topic and push his own agenda.

—I think it was a perfect press conference, it’s perfect in its inner dramatism. Do you know why Mr. Trump spoke about the servers? He was defending his life.

Of course.

—Not even his position, but his life! Because he’s perfectly aware of what the American system is and how it treats people who oppose the establishment. He’s perfectly familiar with the biography of the Kennedys, both Kennedy Sr. and John Kennedy, and even Reagan. It’s clear that he was protecting his life. Trust me as a director, I can see that. It was a matter of life and death for him. It was a fantastic press conference.

I don’t recall one like it, maybe you have seen one, unlike me, it’s the first press conference of a US president and his main rival — they actually consider Putin their main rival — there, American journalists directly accused the president of being his rival’s agent. It runs afoul of all norms. It’s unprecedented that an American journalist asks Putin if he has any compromising material on President Trump. This has never happened before. It demonstrates a huge divide in US society. And you’re trying to beat around the bush, speaking about this, about that, about us… What does it have to do with that?

Like I told you before, this is a truly curious phenomenon. Trump is like perestroika. Look, now the same scenario is playing out as in 1989! He faces the same backlash of elites as Gorbachev did with the elites of the Soviet bloc, which was East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, etc. Of course, the political culture itself was different, but the situation was the same.

They didn’t accept him in any way. The same case with the intelligence agencies. The scenario is the same. Why? Because Trump is really ruining America as a global empire. Trump is destroying the US global empire, and they can feel it. They realize it perfectly. The European establishment, which was brought up by the American empire, also understands it. They realize they will have to leave if the empire collapses. By the way, they will begin to leave.

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Most importantly, Trump is actually doing a good thing, be it consciously or not, most likely, unconsciously; but, in fact, he represents the major part of the US population who said: “Enough! We don’t want it anymore… The war against the political establishment has begun. We don’t want to send our guys to fight in every country on the planet, we don’t want it any longer.”

But the thing is that he has challenged a very powerful system. It’s much more powerful than the Soviet elite, as the Soviet empire was a military-bureaucratic one, and the elite was well-mannered. Although it didn’t accept Gorbachev, it couldn’t beat him. In this case, we’re dealing with military-financial elites. Fighting these elites, Trump is trying to attract the production capital. This is the way he’s trying to ruin the elites, but they’re extremely powerful. Thus, Trump might face the same consequences as many American politicians when they fought against the elites. Sometimes, the outcome was the same as in John Kennedy’s case.

That’s why the press conference is awesome. It shows a lot of dramatism. In this context, Trump is right to turn to Putin for support. Of course, he has the support of a large group of people in American society. Putin is no rival for this group. In this context, Mr. Putin’s stance is correct. But the situation is dramatic.

I agree.

—By the way, some are expecting a detente. No way, there won’t be a detente, quite the contrary, there will be further degradation because the controlling elites will deliver more blows to Russia, including sanctions and hostile actions, obviously. Thus, we’re entering a very dramatic period in world politics.

I don’t understand…

—The thing is that when I say “like perestroika,” don’t take it too literally, nothing in history is literal.

Semyon Bagdasarov:

—If you…

—Hold on, Mr. Bagdasarov. Hold on, we’re aware of your skills, but my voice is stronger, trust me, I direct crowd scenes of thousands of people.

Mr. Bagdasarov, stop. Mr. Bagdasarov!

—The thing is that when you know historic events of such scale — collapsing empires, revolutions — they’re actually following the same scenario. When I say “perestroika,” I don’t necessarily mean its literal sense, but you’re right to say, Sergey, that Mr. Gorbachev had no idea what it would all lead to. He expressed the dissatisfaction of the Soviet people with what we had.

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Everyone understood that something had to change. So he introduced changes. The same with Trump: he has no idea what it will lead to. Neither do we. But, obviously, his actions have already ruined the West as we know it, big time. Moreover, I guess he is bound to continue to do so, and I think it’s quite an objective process. We can’t do anything here.

Yes, this process may lead to unpredictable things, like the collapse of the USSR did. I don’t mean the USA will disintegrate as well. But I’m absolutely sure that the European elites will change because today’s Western elites are such “angels.” Angela Merkel is like Honecker. She was brought up amidst US domination. She can’t live without it, and neither can the elites as a whole.

It’s a catastrophe for them. They’re used to living in this kind of world. Now, it’ll be coming apart, and it’s fraught with some serious consequences. There’s no way you can prepare for it. So, when you say that we aren’t ready, you’re right. Well, the Americans weren’t prepared for the collapse of the USSR either. Although nobody admitted it, they were happy about it, and so were we. When I say perestroika, I mean a unique chance for the Russian Federation. In any case, it’s beneficial to us.

It is beneficial, of course.

—It is good. But we don’t know how it will affect the world. From the American point of view… My dear Mr. Bagdasarov, if we were Americans, given our views, following the press conference, I’d say: “Come on, what are you doing? You’re washing dirty linen in front of your rival!”

—Domestic political linen! Don’t do that!

—Of course. And you’d be against Trump, right? You’d be against him. For you, he’d be a traitor.

—Yes, I’d wonder why he’s saying bad things about our intelligence agencies!

—That’s the point, that’s what I’m saying. If you were an American…

—Then he wouldn’t be the US president.

No, it’s much more complicated.

—They don’t personally belong to him, but he’s the commander-in-chief.

No, it’s much more complicated. That’s why he removed some intelligence chiefs.

—But, finally, Trump expresses this objective process anyway. This global configuration is pointless after the collapse of the USSR. It flexes its muscles, boasts about its huge, omnipresent intelligence agencies, but it was bound to collapse inevitably. Trump is a symptom, again, I have no idea where he will end up. Things might end up badly for him, it might result in a civil war in America…

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Sergey Stankevich:

—He has actually announced that he’ll be running for a second term. But he has never hidden that.

What is the most striking thing about it…

—88 million people back him…

—Excuse me, let me finish. The most striking thing about that meeting is that it was organized not for the sake of Syria, Ukraine or Crimea, but for Mr. Putin to tell the American electorate: “Trump isn’t our agent, trust me, you have my word.” That’s what Trump actually wanted from the meeting because the press conference revealed this underpinning. It’s very interesting but dramatic.

I, for one, have a different opinion. First, if we judge from Trump’s presidency so far, there hasn’t been such a president in the US for a long time, if ever. His results are just awesome. Indeed, Trump isn’t being particularly tactful, yet Trump is a US president. And Trump actually sticks to the platform he was campaigning on, unlike most American presidents.

During this press conference, he confirmed what he had said in his Inaugural Address, meaning fighting the Washington swamp. Sergey says his concept is unclear. It’s clear, actually, and it’s Pax Americana. It was developed back under Reagan and before him. Trump alludes to it with his motto, “Make America Great Again,” for a reason. In many things, he’s following the traditional way by relying on domestic production. So, Americans, in fact, understand him very well. He is a very American president who doesn’t appeal to a narrow layer of students and liberal media, but to the American electorate. In this context…

Why do Putin and Trump understand each other so well? Because they both perfectly understand their electorates. Putin is the President of the Russian Federation, and Trump is the President of the United States. Neither of them is someone’s agent. They both want their respective countries to develop, and this gives space for communication.

They were very respectful of the Chinese leader for a reason. It seems to me that we might now witness the very first steps of building a new world order. Conceptually, these three centers of power will have to interact, looking into the eyes of each other to figure out what future they would like to have for themselves as well as all of mankind. That’s why Trump noted that our countries possess 95% of all nuclear weapons. We must negotiate.