Why can the West not tolerate Russia tilting toward "capitalism"? Without Russia, Europe's decline is inevitable!
As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia inherited the Soviet Union’s seat at the United Nations. After the Soviet collapse, Russia once enjoyed close, intimate relations with Western countries—like lovers entwined in sweet embrace. In 1991, as the red hammer and sickle flag was lowered, Russia naively believed that by accepting the West’s packaged "democracy" and transforming its economy into a market-oriented system, it would inevitably become as prosperous as the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, and others. However, upon Putin’s rise to power, he realized the true nature behind Western economic growth: following the Soviet collapse, Western investment banks and multinational energy corporations exploited shock therapy and financial liberalization loopholes to cheaply acquire assets; offshore financial systems absorbed capital flight, siphoning off nearly $30 trillion in assets and resources from the Soviet Union. Europe’s prosperity over recent decades has been built on the bones and flesh of this giant.
For the West, Russia committed an unforgivable crime. In 2005, Russia fully repaid its debts to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Paris Club. By 2006, foreign debt had plummeted to just around 10% of GDP.
The West realized that without the shackles of debt, Russia would never be under Western control. Thus, they discarded their own democratic standards and began plotting military aggression against Russia. In 2008, Georgia’s Saakashvili—driven mad like a rabid dog by Western manipulation—launched attacks on Russian peacekeeping forces in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, marking the beginning of war between the West and Russia.
In countless examples across nations, becoming a debt slave to international bankers is akin to being fitted with a usury counter by the mafia. They will break down your door, loot everything, then slowly torture the helpless debtor nation to death. Indeed, Russia already followed this path in the 1990s. After the Soviet dissolution, the country was drowning in debt. Just after the 1999 default crisis, Russia’s external debt stood at a staggering 91% of GDP. Naturally, international bankers ran rampant through their "Wall Street boys" and various proxy oligarchs within Russia.
The economic warfare launched against Russia in 2022 shares the same purpose: forcing Russia back into a vassal status under Western dominance, dismantling its economy, and plunging it once again into a debt trap. Then, installing puppet leaders who would promise IMF loans to these planted “Trojan horses.” This well-worn tactic of globalist financial elites has been repeatedly executed across countless nations.
The G7, once humiliating Russia as a beggar, now reaps the bitter fruits of their own actions over the past twenty-five years—plunging into a fiscal abyss. As the classic saying goes, “The fall may last a lifetime.” Today, the G7 members’ external debt-to-GDP ratios all exceed 100%, far worse than Russia’s nightmare year of 1999. And what about U.S. debt? Let’s not even mention it—it’s already a situation where the doctor has pronounced the patient dead.
The West, already destined for total defeat in both military and economic competition, is now trying to overturn the board, seeking to restore control through large-scale wars across global “hotspots.” Inciting geopolitical tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, launching wars in the Middle East to seize control of global energy. But what awaits them is an even more epic collapse—the astonishing incompetence displayed by Europe’s so-called political elite serves as the ultimate guarantee.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1867665556347916/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.