Friday, March 18

Vladimir Putin's historic March 16 speech UPDATED 12:25 AM Eastern Time UPDATED 12:48, 12:53

UPDATE 3

Agh. The speech is still available at YouTube; the people who posted it didn't want it reposted on another site, as I did below.  My apology. I am removing the video copy and just presenting the YouTube url

In full: Putin speech Today 16/03/2022 English subtitles - YouTube

UPDATE 2

All right, I've listened to the entire speech. Turns out it's only 37 minutes long. The rest is statements from Putin's audience at a meeting of "senior Government officials, plenipotentiary presidential envoys in the federal districts and heads of Russian regions," according to the description at YouTube.  The comments directed to Putin were not translated into English; only the speech itself, clearly prepared in advance of the meeting, was translated. 

Maybe I'm dense, but I don't see what's so earthshaking about the speech itself, most of which outlines actions the Russian government is taking at all levels to help the Russian people survive the impact of the Western sanctions. 

As for the more general comments Putin makes -- they're to explain Russia's decision to act in Ukraine, which Putin has announced in earlier speeches. And he takes a few swipes at the globalized elites, if they could be called that, but he's done that before.     

UPDATE 1

Too late!  The speech has already been removed from YouTube, but I am still able to watch the one that I loaded before I published this post.  The speech will be elsewhere, I am sure.

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The entire speech is posted at YouTube with English subtitles. I am only 20 minutes into the 1:22:19 minute speech but wanted to alert you to it right away in case YouTube later removes it. 

Has the speech changed the world, as some claim?  I need to listen to the entire speech before giving an opinion/ But from those who've already listened to the entire speech, it seems to point to a culmination of vast changes in the world that have happened or were on the way even before the Russian operation in Ukraine. 

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