Interesting speech on diversity and nationalism...

[Ron]

by Vladimir Putin

http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/19243

My impression after reading this speech is that he is probably a much smarter and wiser man than our president.

Also it is obvious he not only likes but loves his country, unlike our president who wants to unravel it and remake it into a progressive utopia (dystopia if you will).

The west better get its act together soon or real leaders of other nations will eventually mount a true alternative to "our" hegemony.

As an aside, I'm no fan of Putin and roll my eyes at all the bro love out there for him. As a potential adversary he probably isn't to be taken lightly.

This seemed to be more cultural than political so I put it here. If it needs to be moved I apologize.

[HankB]

. . . My impression after reading this speech is that he is probably a much smarter and wiser man than our president . . .

Setting the wisdom bar awfully low, aren't yoU?

[roo_ster]

One a bit closer to America's Western tradition.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3643823/Enoch-Powells-Rivers-of-Blood-speech.html

For these dangerous and divisive elements the legislation proposed in the Race Relations Bill is the very pabulum they need to flourish. Here is the means of showing that the immigrant communities can organise to consolidate their members, to agitate and campaign against their fellow citizens, and to overawe and dominate the rest with the legal weapons which the ignorant and the ill-informed have provided. As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much blood."

The coast, so long desir'd (nor doubt th' event),
Thy troops shall reach, but, having reach'd, repent.
Wars, horrid wars, I view- a field of blood,
And Tiber rolling with a purple flood.

[Hawkmoon]

[Every country] has to have military, technological and economic strength, but nevertheless the main thing that will determine success is the quality of citizens, the quality of society: their intellectual, spiritual and moral strength. After all, in the end economic growth, prosperity and geopolitical influence are all derived from societal conditions. They depend on whether the citizens of a given country consider themselves a nation, to what extent they identify with their own history, values ​​and traditions, and whether they are united by common goals and responsibilities. In this sense, the question of finding and strengthening national identity really is fundamental for Russia the United States.

Spot on, and IMHO the statement applies much more to the U.S. than it does to Russia. It's tough to be a "nation" when we have millions of people living within our borders who think it's okay to burn our flag and that they have a right to fly the flag of whatever shithole they came from, and that we should either (a) become Mexico North or (b) adopt sharia law.

[Andiron]

by Vladimir Putin

http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/19243

My impression after reading this speech is that he is probably a much smarter and wiser man than our president.

Damning with faint praise there.