Putin: Globalism Has Failed U.S. Middle Class

‘Liberal idea’ failed the West, elites forgot about people: Putin in interview

Globalization and the ‘liberal idea’ have failed Europe and the US, while post-Cold War chaos is driving crises in Venezuela and North Korea, but was stopped in Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview to FT.

In a lengthy interview with the UK-based Financial Times on Wednesday, Putin candidly addressed questions about the Russian intervention in Syria – and lack thereof in Venezuela – as well as nuclear proliferation, North Korea, immigration policies in the US and Europe, Russian economy, relations with the UK, and the failure of what he called the “liberal idea” to provide for the people’s well-being.

Globalism has failed US middle class

Donald Trump is president of the US because he realized that the American middle class did not benefit from globalization, Putin argued, adding that this helps explain Trump’s economic policies and relations with partners and allies. 

The obvious problem is the gap between the interests of the elites and the overwhelming majority of the people.

“He believes that the distribution of resources and benefits of globalization in the past decade was unfair to the US,” Putin said. Indeed, he argued, one of the major problems in the US but in Europe as well is that the “ruling elites have broken away from the people.”

‘Liberal idea has failed’

Whether one agrees with Trump’s idea to build a wall on the US-Mexico border or not, “he is at least looking for a solution,” Putin said, while the proponents of the so-called liberal values are “not doing anything,” insisting that everything is just fine even as unprecedented numbers of migrants come across their borders. 

So, the liberal idea has become obsolete. It has come into conflict with the interests of the overwhelming majority of the population. 

The same thing is happening in Europe, the Russian president said, noting that other leaders he spoke with saying nothing can be done because there are laws.

"Well, change the laws!” he said.

That does not mean the liberal ideas – or any others – should be outlawed or suppressed, Putin concluded. 

Even the failed liberal idea, he said, “has the right to exist and it should even be supported in some things. But you should not think that it has the right to be the absolute dominating factor. That is the point. “

“Various ideas and various opinions should have a chance to exist and manifest themselves,” while keeping in mind the interests of the general public. “Then, it seems to me, we would be able to avoid major political upheavals and troubles.”