Re: Russophobia: why do so many people in the west hate and fear Russia?
Olaf Scholz tells Putin who can and Kant quote a philosopher that lived Kalingrad, Russia (then Königsberg) and died a subject of the Russian crown.
German leader tells Putin he can’t quote legendary philosopher
Olaf Scholz has accused the Russian president of ‘poaching’ Immanuel Kant and misinterpreting his teachings
https://www.rt.com/news/596464-schol...kant-poaching/
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has lashed out at Russian President Vladimir Putin for quoting iconic German philosopher Immanuel Kant. Speaking on Tuesday at an event marking the 300th anniversary of Kant’s birth, Scholz accused Putin of trying to “poach” the great thinker as well as misrepresenting his ideas.
Kant was born in 1724 in Koenigsberg (present-day Kaliningrad), which belonged to the Kingdom of Prussia before later becoming part of the Russian Empire. The philosopher is famous for his work on ethics, aesthetics and philosophical ontology, and is considered one of the pillars of German classical philosophy.
“Putin doesn’t have the slightest right to quote Kant, yet Putin’s regime remains committed to poaching Kant and his work at almost any cost,” Scholz said at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, as quoted by Die Zeit.
Scholz said Russia’s role in the Ukraine conflict contradicts Kant’s fundamental teachings. He referred to Kant’s words on the interference of states in the affairs of other nations, and defended Kiev’s decision not to engage in peace talks with Moscow. He said Kant believed that forced treaties were not the way to reach ‘perpetual peace’ – a reference to one of Kant’s major works.
Putin has been known to praise and quote Kant, even suggesting in 2013 that the philosopher should be made an official symbol of Kaliningrad Region.
During a meeting with university students in Kaliningrad in January, Putin called Kant “one of the greatest thinkers of both his time and ours,” and said the philosopher’s call “to live by one’s own wits” is as relevant today as ever.
“A country must live by its own wits… This does not mean that we do not care about the interests of others... but we will never allow Russia’s interests to be neglected. In some countries, among our neighbors, this thesis has been forgotten. Many live by someone else’s wits. This will not bring them any good,” Putin stated.
The administration of Kaliningrad Region responded to Scholz’s statement on Tuesday, saying no one has done more than Russia to “perpetuate the memory of the great philosopher and his teachings.”
“Immanuel Kant died as a subject of the Russian crown. It seems to me that this, more than any words of all possible German politicians, shows the position of the great philosopher regarding Russia,” the governor’s press secretary, Dmitry Lyskov, said in a statement.
Re: Russophobia: why do so many people in the west hate and fear Russia?
If there is just one answer to the question in the title of this thread, then this is it.
Russophobia in US ‘manufactured’ by elite politicians – Tara Reade
The former Biden aide shared her thoughts on the reasons for Washington’s attitude towards Russia at SPIEF-2024
https://www.rt.com/russia/598923-us-...ed-tara-reade/
The underlying reason for Russophobia in the US is completely monetary and intended to benefit the elite political class, RT contributor and former aide to President Joe Biden Tara Reade suggested during a panel discussion at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday.
Speaking during a panel hosted by RT, titled ‘The Empire of Evil: Has the West Successfully Demonized Russia?’ Reade suggested that Russophobia is “completely manufactured” by the Obama and Biden administrations, as well as the Republican Party and the military industrial complex.
The whistleblower, who currently lives in Russia, argued that the entire US system has been “overtaken by the intelligence community, by the military, and companies such BlackRock, Raytheon, and LockHeed.”
“There is no esoteric reason for Russophobia in the US, its monetary, its economic, it’s done purposefully,” Reade claimed, noting that the average American doesn’t know much about Russia.
As one example, she recalled her former boss Leon Panetta, who previously served as the head of the CIA. “Now he sits on the board of Raytheon. Yet you’ll see him on MSNBC trying to talk about why we should have more weapons going to Ukraine. Well, of course he wants more weapons, because he’s personally profiting.
“The politicians in the US that should be serving the people are serving their pocketbooks and the corruption is off the roof,” Reade suggested, adding that the Biden “regime” is now moving towards “fascism and a police state” in which people are losing their freedoms.
In 2020, Reade publicly accused Biden of having subjected her to a “violent sexual assault” on the Capitol grounds in 1993. She was working on the Democratic senator’s team at the time.
Re: Russophobia: why do so many people in the west hate and fear Russia?
