18:55
I like how Putin clarified that Soviet Ukrainianization and indigenization of other areas of the USSR was not a bad policy in principle, makes it seem less anti-communist than his February 24, 2022 speech where he just says Lenin created Ukraine. This time he's close to the Russian leftist view, that it was the nationalists that divided Russia and the Soviets reunited and stabilized the country.
How is it reactionary and nationalist to have a shared Belarussian, Ukrainian and Russian space where each national identity flourishes but is also interconnected? If Putin wants to live in harmony with Belarus or pre-maidan and to some extent post-maidan Ukraine instead of devouring them, where's the issue?
In the interview he also admitted the superiority of China and it's economy to Russia. He said that Russia is not much of a threat to US hegemony but China is. Having a population of 1.4B to Russia's 140m and growing at 5%, having the largest economy.
There's no issue in that instance but he doesn't approach it from a Marxist point of view clearly. It's good he didn't shit on the USSR there yes but we shouldn't misunderstand what type of a person he is and his political philosophy. He started his political life very naive and to some extent he still is compared to even your average poster here who understands deeply the irredeemable and uncompromising nature of the white supremacist capitalist west and it's imperialist system and how it cannot be reasoned with, bargained, with and under what principles it operates and what it operates in service to.
I was just stating how I think he views it and is trying to sell it and probably how Tucker perceives it.
Oh alr nice, I see how it fits in the broader context of your post.