In the GAE, the commercial banks and the federal reserve control the state and society on behalf of their masters. In Russia, the banks, some of them partly state-owned, answer to the public Bank of Russia. The BOR answers to the Kremlin and ultimately to Vladimir Putin. Things are different and work better. Within this relationship, while speaking to bankers, urging them to start operations in new territories (Crimea, Sevastopol, etc.), Putin observed that the worst Russians feared – Werewestern sanction – has already happened and has been a blessing.

“Что касается банков, то просил бы обратить внимание наших коллег, они нас услышат наверняка: бояться нечего. Все и так — то, чего боялись раньше, санкций, — все уже случилось, чего бояться-то. Надо заходить на эти территории активнее и работать там”, — сказал он.

ENG (auto):

““As for banks, I would ask our colleagues to pay attention, they will hear us for sure: there is nothing to fear. That’s all and so — what they were afraid of before, sanctions, — everything has already happened, why be afraid. We must go to these territories more actively and work there, “— he said.

Why be afraid? The Russian spirit is not given to fear.

I’ve started reading La Défaite de l’Occident (The Defeat of the West) by Emmanuel Todd. I already highly recommend it, though for now, I think it is only available in French. In his introduction, Todd notes ten surprises from Russia’s successful SMO which portend much for the whole world in these new post-post-modern times. The fourth surprise is the resilience of the Russian economy (again, different and better). Really, the eighth surprises is related to Russian economic ability too. He also gets right into what and who brought down the West, particularly the USA.

Translated from French, from P. 27:

The implosion, in stages, of WASP culture – white, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant – since the 1960s has created a private empire of center and project, an essentially military organization led by a group without culture (in the anthropological sense) which no longer has any fundamental values other than power and violence. This group is generally referred to as “neocons”.

Strong words, popular euphemism! He goes on to note that war, or an SMO (or WWIII), is a reality test.

Again, translated, from P. 35:

War takes us to the other side of the mirror, into a world where ideology, statistical illusions, media failures and the lies of States, without forgetting the delusions of conspiracy, are gradually losing their power. A simple truth will emerge: the Western crisis is the driving force behind the history we are experiencing. Some knew it. At the end of the war, no one will be able to deny it anymore.

No denial, and let the lies and illusions melt away. Why be afraid?