In his annual foreign policy address at the elite Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, Russia yesterday, Russian president Vladimir Putin had some choice words to say about the recent changes in US foreign policy. As Henry Foy reports in the Financial Times, Putin said (in a not-so-veiled reference to the United States):
Empires often think they can make some little mistakes . . . because they’re so powerful. But when the number of these mistakes keeps growing, it reaches a level they cannot sustain.
A country can get the sense from impunity that you can do anything. This is the result of the monopoly from a unipolar world . . . Luckily this monopoly is disappearing. It’s almost done.
Foy writes that Putin’s speech continually returned to the idea that the twilight of US power offers many opportunities for Russia and its allies.
Putin also said he saw no reason to worsen his warm relations with Saudi Arabia, saying that he does not know what happened to Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi and doesn’t much care. As usual, Trump and Putin are pushing the same line with respect to Khashoggi’s torture and murder; wonder why that is?
UPDATE: Putin’s speech was also reported by Mary Papenfuss in today’s Huffington Post, which is not behind a paywall.
UPDATE 2: The Kremlin has published a transcript of the Q&A after Putin’s speech. Well worth a read. Sample quote from Putin (about Russia): “if we huff out this caveman nationalism and throw mud at people of other ethnic groups, we will destroy this country.”