Day 247 Round Up: World Faces Most Dangerous Decade Since WWII, Says Putin

Facts

• In a wide-ranging address on Thursday, Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin said that the world is facing the most dangerous decade since World War II as Western elites scramble to prevent their crumbling grip on global dominance.¹
• 'The historical period of the West’s undivided dominance over world affairs is coming to an end,' Putin told the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow, a conference of international policy experts. 'We are standing at a historical frontier: Ahead is probably the most dangerous, unpredictable and, at the same time, important decade since the end of World War II.'²
• Putin also accused the US of inciting the war in Ukraine, alleging that the West was playing a 'dangerous, bloody and dirty' geopolitical game. Nonetheless, he said he doesn't view the West as an enemy of Russia, adding that Moscow 'had one message' for the 'leading countries of the West and NATO: let’s stop being enemies, let’s live together.'¹
• He also said Russia sees 'no need' to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine — comments which were rejected by US Pres. Joe Biden. 'If he has no intention, why does he keep talking about it?' Biden said, adding: 'He’s been very dangerous in how he’s approached this. He can end this all, get out of Ukraine.'³
• Elsewhere, US Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin told reporters that Ukraine can expect to receive two US air defense systems, that had previously been promised to the country, 'early next month.' The US plans to send an additional six systems, but they could reportedly be years away from delivery as they still need to be contracted and built.⁴
• Meanwhile, according to an American diplomatic cable obtained by Politico, the US has accelerated the delivery of its more accurate mainstay nuclear bomb to NATO bases in Europe from next spring to December. Pentagon officials have said the move is to ensure stockpiles of the B61-12 air-dropped gravity bomb are modernized and safe, and added that the plans are completely unconnected to developments in Ukraine.⁵
• On the ground, as heavy fighting continued in the Bakhmut region of Donetsk, Ukrainian officials also recorded continued Russian shelling in Sumy, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk. Ukrainian officials also said that four civilians were killed and nine were injured in Donetsk over the past day, while one was killed and three were injured in the Zaporizhzhia region. The bodies of five people who'd been killed earlier were also reportedly discovered in Donetsk.⁶

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²NBC, ³Uk.Yahoo, ⁴Washington Post, ⁵POLITICO and ⁶UKRINFORM.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Uk.Yahoo. If Putin has no intention of using nuclear weapons, why does he keep threatening to do so? The Kremlin's aggressive tact is raising tensions between Russia and the West at the cost of the security and safety of innocent civilians in Ukraine. The Putin regime must give up this unwinnable war to protect itself and the rest of Europe.
• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by TASS. Russia's doctrine on nuclear weapons is clear: they can only be used in retaliation to a first strike. Despite accusations that Moscow's comments are incendiary, they have in fact been measured responses to inflammatory remarks made by Western leaders.