The First Network War
We are now at the start of the first network war of this century. A war between the western network and those who oppose it.
Putin's annexation speech was an important turning point in the Ukraine war. Here’s the shortened version:
Putin announced the annexation of contested Ukrainian territories into Russia. Using territorial defense as a pretext, Russia is now poised to use nuclear weapons to rapidly end the war in Ukraine.
Putin acknowledged Russia is in an existential struggle with the west. There will be no return to the status quo ante, and connections to the west have been severed — a process that began with the network’s rapid disconnection of Russia in March and became finalized with the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.
Russia will lead the “anti-colonial” resistance to the “oppression” of the west. Furthermore, Russia claims leadership in the global struggle between independent and traditionalist nations (and individuals) against a corrupt and oppressive west.
In retrospect, this speech will be seen as the official start of this century’s first network war. Here are some useful ways to frame it: