Constitution of the Russian Federation
Declaration of Independence -Larry Johnson
RUSSIA’S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (annotated)
A Review of Putin’s Speech to Russia’s National Assembly
21 February 2023
by Larry Johnson
(further context provided by William Thomas)
(Putin’s quotes in bolded italics. My comments in regular italics. LJ = Larry Johnson)
LJ: Reflecting on Putin’s long awaited speech to Russia’s national assembly I was struck by some similarities with Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. What do I mean? Jefferson started with his iconic preamble (i.e., We hold these truths to be self-evident...) and then proceeded to present an indictment of Great Britain that created the predicate for the rebellion of the Colonies:
That is precisely what Putin did in the first 45 minutes of his speech — he presented the “history of repeated injuries and usurpations” by the United States and NATO that forced Russia’s hand to undertake the Special Military Operation. Here are some of the key points:
Russia did everything possible to solve the problem in Ukraine by peaceful means. But the statements of Western leaders turned into a forgery and a lie.
The West supplied weapons, trained the nationalist battalions. Even before the start of the SMO, negotiations were underway on the supply of air defense systems and aircraft. We remember Kyiv’s attempts to obtain nuclear weapons.
The United States deployed bases and biological laboratories near our borders, mastered the theater of military operations, prepared Ukraine for a big war.
We received a refusal on all fundamental positions. It became clear that the go-ahead for the implementation of aggression had been given. The threat grew every day. By February 2022, everything was ready for the next punitive action of Kiev in the Donbass.
US and Canadian military officers meet members of Azov Nazi battalion during Nov. 2017 training in Ukraine. -Azov photo
Vicki Nuland treats Ukrainian coup participants to cookies in Maidan Square -SkyNews
Since Nuland, Obama, Blinken and related neocon maniacs orchestrated the Maidan Coup in 2014, ousting Ukraine’s elected president for a more compliant comedic “actor”, the US Government, NATO and too many equally clueless and blindly racist constituents have backed Kiev’s Nazi regime, whose oft-stated aim is to “eliminate” Eastern Ukraine’s Russian-speaking populations. In February 2022, as 20,000 Ukrainian combat troops poised to invade the breakaway republics of Donbass for refusing to recognize an illegitimate and murderous Nazified regime, the eight-year artillery bombardment of Donetsk City and surroounding towns reached a crescendo. After already murdering more than 14,000 civilians.
Inna Kukurudza died after both her legs were blown off in US-ordered airstrike in Donbass (June 2, 2022). -Russell Bentley
With fellow Russians under immediate genocidal threat, Minsk 2 and all other Russian peace proposals repeatedly snubbed, more than a dozen biolabs poised to release bioweapons on avian flyways deep into Russia, and NATO repeatedly pledging to place nuclear missiles on Russia’s doorstep less than 7 minutes’ flight time from Moscow — a moderate named Vladimir Putin was finally forced to act.
Initially a limited police action to compel negotiations, one month later Russia and Ukraine were nearing a peace deal. Before an appalled Washington and London ordered Zelinski to walk away.
Unfortunately for “Voldemort” and his hate-blinded neocon puppet-masters, President Putin had spent those same years preparing his country’s vast industrial base and a fully modernized Russian military for a US-NATO conflict in Ukraine that would determine Russia’s survival.
The West laughed.
And once again, German tanks emblazoned with the Iron Cross are aimed at Russia, along with heavily armed Azov, Right Sector and related fanatics proudly displaying the swastikas of their Waffen SS predecessors. Everyone in the Russian Federation understands that the last time German tanks were allowed to mass on their western border, 27 million Russian died. Like Israel, they have sworn: “Never again!”
German Leopard 2 tanks were mauled by Russian weapons in Syria -dailymail.co.com
They spare no expense to encourage unrest and coups around the world. At a conference in Munich, Russia was blamed so that everyone would forget what the West had done in recent decades. Entire regions are in chaos. American experts say that as a result of the wars unleashed by the United States after 2001, more than 900 thousand people died, more than 38 million became refugees.
In the 1930s, the West opened the way to power in Germany for the Nazis, today they are making “anti-Russia” out of Ukraine, this project goes back to the 19th century, Austria-Hungary, Poland nurtured it to tear off historical territories from our country.
LJ: Putin then shifted gears and identified red-lines that will escalate the current conflict from demilitarizing and de-nazifying Ukraine to a full scale war if the United States and NATO continue to fund the war and arm Ukraine with more sophisticated weapons. Putin said:
The more long-range Western systems will come to Ukraine, the further we will be forced to move the threat away from our borders.
The goal of the West is to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, to end us once and for all. We will respond accordingly, because we are talking about the existence of our country.
We remember what problems the late Soviet economy faced. The Russian economy was created on a market basis. However, in the end, our economy became oriented towards the West, as business was aimed at selling resources and making quick profits. It took years to break this trend, and we have achieved visible change.
LJ: The image of the West as a safe haven turned out to be fake… they were simply robbed.
Thanks to Yeltsin’s alcoholic naiveté and desire to be “more Western”, the ex-Soviet Union was raped by US corporate interests in the 1990s. In the calamity that followed, the economy collapsed and many Russians died. Until Yeltsin's appointed successor — a man few had heard of — stepped up to restore Russia’s shattered pride. This is why Putin is hated by all those whose golden rice bowls he smashed.
LJ: In early February, a NATO statement was made with the actual demand for Moscow to “return to the implementation of the strategic offensive arms treaty.”
The United States and NATO openly say that their goal is to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, and at the same time they are going to drive around our facilities? I have signed a decree on putting new ground-based strategic systems on combat duty. Are we going to let them in there?
A week ago, I signed a decree on putting the latest ground-based missile systems on combat duty.
Faced with continuous and increasingly belligerent threats to “destroy Russia,” “break up Russia,” “kill Putin,” and “rewire the Russian people” — that nation is now on full nuclear alert. This means, Putin has warned, that with its warhead necessarily indeterminate, any ballistic missile fired at Moscow will be treated as a nuclear “decapitation” strike — requiring a full and immediate nuclear response.
Russia suspends its participation in the strategic offensive arms treaty.
Not “cancels” — “suspends”. Until the West can produce adult leaders, whose trust can be reliably demonstrated. After being humiliated over the Minsk peace plan ruse ,and previous US cancellations of key nuclear arms treaties, good luck with that.
LJ: As Putin delivered his plan of action, the Russian’s reportedly summoned the American Ambassador to the Foreign Ministry and delivered a strong Démarche:
The note of protest handed over to the ambassador emphasizes that the pumping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with weapons, as well as the transfer of target designations for strikes against Russian military and civilian infrastructure, clearly prove the inconsistency and falsity of the assertions of the American side that the United States is not a party to the conflict. It is also indicated that the weapons supplied to Kyiv, as well as service personnel, including American citizens, are a legitimate target.
In this regard, the ambassador was told that the current aggressive course of the United States to deepen confrontation with Russia in all areas is counterproductive. It was especially noted that in order to de-escalate the situation, Washington must take steps that involve the withdrawal of US-NATO military and equipment, as well as the cessation of hostile anti-Russian activity.
LJ: This means Russia is putting the United States on notice that Moscow will hold America accountable and that any U.S. military and equipment inside Ukraine will be treated as legitimate targets.
If not immediately withdrawn, US forces currently killing Russian civilians with Himars in the Donbass, as well as Russian person