Other than that Russian President Vladimir Putin declared an end to a nuclear arms treaty with the U.S. — no biggie! — you’ll probably hear precisely nothing else from the press about what he had to say Tuesday during his lengthy address. That doesn’t mean the rest of his speech was unimportant. It means the national media, for their own reasons, don’t want you to hear it.
But you should hear it because when you remove the name “Vladimir Putin” from the equation, what he said during that 100-minute address to his nation was both indisputably true and rational, even if it deflates the media’s incessant, eye-roll-worthy framing of the conflict in Ukraine as “Putin’s unprovoked war” and “a fight for democracy.” (Gag.) Here are three examples:
1. “The U.S. has used Ukraine to prepare for a large war. They have publicly admitted that.” This is, in fact, implicit if not official policy articulated by the Biden administration. The president himself declared early last year that Putin “cannot remain in power,” a threat of forced regime change if there ever was one. Biden kicked off the week by visiting the capital of Ukraine, a literal war zone with no U.S. military presence, as if to claim the conflict is as much ours as it is Ukraine’s (and it is, given that we’re footing about two-thirds of Ukraine’s defense cost).
Even Republicans in Congress are flirting with the ignition of global war. GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said we should designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has declared that the “defeat” of Russia is “the No. 1 priority for the United States right now.” (So much for lifting up America’s poor. They can wait, I guess.)
2. “The West is guilty of escalation.”
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