While Americans were wondering whether the banking crisis is over, when food inflation will be brought under control and concerned about a market selloff, stunning news about an attempted coup in Russia shocked us all.
The coup failed. At least for the moment, Putin is still calling the shots in the Kremlin. And Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the mercenary army the Wagner Group, who was behind the uprising, has fled to Belarus.
Does the uprising have implications for the war in Ukraine? And might they affect America? Armchair analysts are using the little information at their disposal to try to answer these questions.
Demonizing Vladimir
Russian leader Vladimir Putin is absolutely loathed by many millions of Americans, and despised even more so by some of our most powerful leaders. But this is not new. The effort to vilify him began many years ago, and politicians have cast aside political correctness to make their feeling very clear.
Putin is often called “evil” and “wicked,” compared to Hitler, bin Laden, the Ayatollah Khomeini, and described as a person without a soul. Probably no other world leader has been maligned to this extent, including North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, China’s Xi, and even leaders of major terror organizations.
The western media blames him for being solely responsible for the war in Ukraine. They promote an endless stream of rumors about his losing control of Russia, losing his mind, as well as his having serious health and emotional problems. When news about the Wagner Group mutiny broke, many westerners were elated and rooting for its success.
More Fake News?
According to Dr. Steve Turley, a conservative columnist, author, and scholar, the very preliminary spin about the mutiny was that the Russian people wanted nothing more to do with Putin and were rising up against him. This theory was believable to a lot of people, but there’s just one problem with it: It’s fake news.
According to Turley, Russians support Putin overwhelmingly while opposing the globalist agenda some in the West support. Putin’s approval rating now is said to be the highest it has even been – 83% – according to a survey by an independent polling center.
Moreover, Putin’s popularity in the non-western world reaches far beyond Russia’s borders. For example, immediately after the uprising became public, China expressed its support for Putin, and so did other countries, including Turkey, Iran, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia.
Turley says that nations comprising an overwhelming majority of the world’s population refuse to join the west in arming Ukraine and sanctioning Russia. And, he adds, over the last year, Russia has strengthened ties with many of them and has improved its relations with others. So many nations are joining the Russia-China anti-US alliance that an article in UnHerd by Thomas Fazi entitled How Russia and China Overtook the West, asks, “Who is really isolating whom?”
China and Russia have boosted their bilateral trade by 34.3% in 2022 to $190 billion, a new record high. They’ve also agreed to cooperate on major building and infrastructure projects through The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which Turley says is rapidly becoming one of the largest economic organization in the world; its members include India, Pakistan, Iran, Kurzikstan, and Hindistan, among others, and it already encompasses 40% of the world’s population.
In late March, Putin and Xi had a summit in the Kremlin. Xi’s final words to Putin at the end of that meeting were: “Change is coming that hasn’t happened in 100 years, and we are driving this change together.” This remark sounds cryptic at first glance, but is actually very blunt.
Shortly afterwards, delegations from more than 40 African nations attended a Russia-Africa conference. Putin addressed that group and announced “Russia would be forgiving more than $20 billion in African debt as a gesture of solidarity in the support of traditional morality and resistance against the insanity of the woke West.”
This comes on the heels of a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran (brokered by China) that restored diplomatic ties between them – possibly setting the stage for additional alliances and agreements going forward. Also noteworthy is that America was not involved in this deal in any way, which speaks volumes about the changing alliances in that region.
“The world is turning its back on the new world order and the woke policies,” says Turley. “But the legacy media won’t even acknowledge what’s happening.”
But still more is happening. According to Newsweek, “Our familiar system of global political and economic alliances is shifting.” A deal was recently inked between Saudi-Aramco and one of China’s refining giants for $3.6 billion. Bloomberg says, “the move expands (the Saudi) presence in the world’s largest energy importer.” The Saudis have signed other deals with Russia and China. These also raise the question of whether countries are moving away from America.
Learning From Ali
Maybe Putin’s actions can be best explained as his version of the rope-a-dope. Does this phrase ring a bell?
Muhammad Ali was the world’s heavyweight boxing champion for many years. Only George Foreman scared him because of his devastating punch. A fight between the two was arranged and Ali developed a strategy to defeat him he called the “rope a dope.”
It was risky, dangerous, and, at the same time, brilliant. Ali would lean against the ropes, protect his face and head with his gloves, and taunt Foreman to attack. Foreman swallowed the bait and kept punching away. After a few rounds, he had punched himself out and was exhausted. At that point, Ali went on the offensive and won the bout.
Are we watching the same strategy play out today? The West is giving vast amounts of financial aid that it cannot afford, and that is unsustainable. Yet Russia is holding its own and signing all kinds of deals with numerous countries.
The West is also providing Ukraine with sophisticated weapons that it cannot afford to do either. According to an article on Zero Hedge, “Russian arms factories are churning out massive amounts of weapons and ammunition while the West is scraping the bottom of the barrel to find enough weapons and ammo to send to Ukraine.”
Despite the onslaught, Russia has held up surprisingly well and Putin is still in the driver’s seat. And in the event of an unexpected crisis, let’s hope that America will have enough materiel for its own needs.
Even the experts have not been able to predict the twists and turns that are yet to come in the war. But one thing that does seem clear is that Putin has learned lessons from Muhammad Ali. Let’s hope he has not learned them too well.
Sources: bloomberg.com; theeconomiccollapseblog.com; newsweek.com; unherd.com; zerohedge.com; YouTube: Putin Stomps The New World Order by Steve Turley
Gerald Harris is a financial and feature writer. Gerald can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
