Essay: What drives Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin?

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Question: What drives Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin?

Contents

Interview with Stephen Kotkin & Orville Schell on what drives Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin

Stephen Kotkin is a historian and scholar of Russia.

Orville Schell is known for his works on China.

Interview Stephen Kotkin & Orville Schell on Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin:

Unwrapping The Enigma, Mystery And Riddle of Russia: Stephen Kotkin Explains Russia To Andrew Roberts

Stephen Kotkin: Sphere of influence - Russia's chip on it's shoulder

China, Russia, Iran – that have rich histories as civilizations, empires that once extended well beyond their current size, a powerful sense of historic entitlement and of historic grievance. Today their quest for enlarged spheres of influence in East Asia, Eurasia, and West Asia (or the Middle East), respectively, has reinforced, and in turn been reinforced by, a politics of resentment inside many countries of Europe and the U.S. The chip on the shoulder politics of the moment are perhaps best exemplified by Russia, because of the steepness of its decline. Is this a passing phase or a new normal, in Russia and beyond?

The rising rule of communist idiocracy in China

See also: The rising rule of communist idiocracy in China

China banned Winnie-the-Pooh because of the similarities between Winnie-the-Pooh and Xi Jinping.

Xi Jinping is obese. See also: Atheism and obesity

A number of leading geopolitical analysts are skeptical about China remaining a global power as is faces a number of serious intractable problems (See: Skepticism about China remaining a global power).

Chinese elite moving to the USA: "What of the new, 21st-century Chinese elite? Unnoticed, many “princelings” — progenies of the 500 families that founded the PRC in 1949 — have quietly left with their ill-begotten gains, and settled in exile, mostly in the Los Angeles area. This is not a sign of confidence in the CCP regime when the offspring of its founders have forsaken it." - Communist China: A Long March to Collapse? (Only those ignorant of its history think Communist China will survive forever. It won’t) by Dimon Liu. Center for European Policy Analysis, July 15, 2024 (See: China's decline and some Roman Empire decline parallels)

The Chinese communists are godless, corrupt, short-sighted and authoritarian. A cult of personality has developed around Xi Jinping and he has eliminated all significant political opposition so now he is surrounded by yes man. So the government is calcified around Xi Jinping's thoughts and less responsive to citizens' concerns and problems. See: Chinese Communist Party and Militant atheism and China and atheism and Atheism and morality and Atheism and leadership

Corruption is so widespread in China that Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia founded by an atheist and agnostic, has an article entitled "Corruption in China".[1] On October 20, 2019, Wikipedia's Corruption in China article indicated, "Corruption in China post-1949 refers to the abuse of political power for private ends typically by members of the Chinese Communist Party, who hold the majority of power in the People's Republic of China."[2]

In modern history, corrupt, one-party regimes are not known for their great longevity such as lasting over 100 years and China has one-party rule - namely the Chinese Communist Party.[3] Mint News reported that "Chinese President Xi Jinping is expressing concerns about the potential collapse of the Communist Party of China (CCP) as millions worldwide are renouncing their affiliation with the party."[4]

On December 22, 2022, Foreign Affairs magazine noted in their article China’s Dangerous Decline "...China is teetering on the edge of a cliff. Ten years of Xi’s “reforms” — widely characterized in the West as successful power plays—have made the country frail and brittle, exacerbating its underlying problems while giving rise to new ones. ...a growing number of Western analysts—including Michael Beckley, Jude Blanchette, Hal Brands, Robert Kaplan, Susan Shirk, and Fareed Zakaria—have begun to highlight this reality..."[5]

In 2023, Professor Minxin Pei, professor of government at Claremont McKenna College, wrote about China's dysfunctional government:

“ The bigger problem is that President Xi Jinping and his lieutenants still haven’t figured out how to dispel gloomy sentiments among Chinese entrepreneurs and foreign investors. The government’s crackdown on the tech sector and mistreatment of iconic executives such as Alibaba founder Jack Ma and real estate tycoon Ren Zhiqiang have instilled deep fears among private-sector businessmen. Many have emigrated abroad along with their wealth. A record 13,500 high-net-worth individuals are expected to leave China for safer shores this year.

If Xi can’t reverse this trend, the loss of confidence in his leadership among private entrepreneurs will depress investment and job creation. The share of private capital in China’s total investment in 2022, for example, fell to roughly 54% , the lowest in a decade.

The government can’t tackle this problem because it is the problem. In the past decade, there’s been a fundamental shift in the survival strategy and governance structure of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. The regime has prioritized political control over economic development and systematically shifted resources from the private sector to state-owned firms, mainly through industrial policy programs such as Made in China 2025.[6]

”

On October 30, 2023, The Guardian reported: "But by all accounts, the number of uber-wealthy people in China is in decline. Of the world’s estimated 2,640 billionaires, at least 562 are thought to be in China, according to Forbes, down from 607 last year.[7]

Videos and articles:

China's major economic crisis are signs of major deflationary pressures

According to Investopedia, "Deflation is not normally bad for an economy, except when it occurs in reaction to previous over-inflation."[8] Unfortunately for China, it has economic bubbles that are bursting in relation to its real estate and stock markets which is causing much economic hardship to many Chinese. Both of these markets had values that were highly inflated relative to their actual economic value. The Empower website notes that deflation "can lead consumers to spend less now, in part because they expect prices to continue to fall; it can push businesses to lower wages or lay off employees to maintain profit levels; and it makes existing debt more expensive for many borrowers.[9]

Presently, communist China is facing multiple crisis with the three major crisis below being signs of growing deflationary pressures on their economy:

China has likely peaked arguments

Why the Chinese Communist Party can't solve China's economic crisis


China is no longer set to eclipse the US as the world’s biggest economy soon, and it may never consistently pull ahead to claim the top spot as the nation’s confidence slump becomes more entrenched.

That’s according to Bloomberg Economics, which now forecasts it will take until the mid-2040s for China’s gross domestic product to exceed that of the US — and even then, it will happen by “only a small margin” before “falling back behind.”

Before the pandemic, they expected China to take and hold pole position as early as the start of next decade.[11]

See: Skepticism about China remaining a global power

The fragility of an economy run by communists that has the cult of personality surrounding Xi Jinping

See also: Is there anything more fragile than an economy run by communists - especially one that has the cult of personality surrounding Xi Jinping?

"The underpinnings of China’s growth seem fragile from historical and analytical perspectives. Even if no crises materialize, unfavorable demographics, high debt levels, and an inefficient financial system will constrain China’s growth."[12]

Is there anything more fragile than an economy run by communists - especially one that has the cult of personality surrounding Xi Jinping?

Question: Are Chinese vases less fragile than Xi Jinping's inept leadership?



Authoritarian regimes, like China, are strong (Various means to repress population and/or to limit other political options), but at the same time they are brittle. The former Soviet Union is an example of this principle.

In modern history, corrupt, one-party regimes are not known for their great longevity such as lasting over 100 years and China has one-party rule - namely the Chinese Communist Party.[13] Mint News reported that "Chinese President Xi Jinping is expressing concerns about the potential collapse of the Communist Party of China (CCP) as millions worldwide are renouncing their affiliation with the party."[14]

The Chinese Communist Party could lose power if China continues its downward path in terms of economic strength (See: Scenario of a collapse of the CCP, Taipei Times, 2023).

Why I am not bullish on Russia's future. Russia's growing problems will put increasing pressure on Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin is a corrupt kleptocrat and an authoritarian

Vladimir Putin

See also: Vladimir Putin is a corrupt kleptocrat and an authoritarian

One the most basic traditional values is not stealing. As far as the traditional value of not stealing, Vladimir Putin doesn't practice this aspect of social conservatism.

The conservative thinktank, the Hudson Institute, has a good video on Putin's kleptocracy: Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia? (Karen Dawisha, an American political scientist and writer, is the speaker) .

Alexander J. Motyl's article at The Hill stated regarding Vladimir Putin's presidency and corruption:

“ Russia has been in disarray for 30 years. True, the Boris Yeltsin years in the 1990s were especially difficult, but Putin has decidedly failed to build a cohesive society and functioning economy. A repressed society may be more pliant, but it is not cohesive and stable, as the Soviets learned during perestroika.

A dirigiste economy may enable the authorities to funnel resources toward whichever projects they want, but it is not therefore more functional. Putin did succeed in building a stronger regime and state, but even that success has been deceptive. It’s clear now that strengthening the forces of coercion while permitting the bureaucracy to run roughshod and seize rents is no way to promote state strength, but it is an excellent way to promote corruption and self-enrichment.[15]

”

Russia has a long history of corruption. Putin's corruption is not some surprising fact of history. See: Corruption in Russia: A Historical Perspective

Panama Papers, corruption and Putin associates

Vladimir Putin's cozy relationship with organized crime in Russia

Vladimir Putin at a conference.

A review of Mark Galeotti's 2018 book The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia by Yale University Press indicates:

“ The vory, the professional elite of Russian organized crime, have roots that go far back into the days of the tsars...

...as the Russian state began to reassert its authority under Putin, members of organized crime became less important than the oligarchs whom they had helped ascend to wealth and power. Today, Putin controls the oligarchs, and together they control and exploit the criminal world to their mutual advantage.

Galeotti’s work excels at providing an understanding of Russian criminality at its operational level. It focuses on the different types of personnel represented in the crime groups — the bosses, the lookouts, and the aspirants seeking to share in the excitement and the profit of the criminal world. In contrast to the greyness that characterized Soviet life, the world of the blatnye, as conveyed by Galeotti, was vibrant, not reined in by the constraints that dominated the Soviet era. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that the criminal world was so often romanticized in the Russian and Soviet imagination. One need think no farther than the Odessa Tales of the great author Isaak Babel, who, as Galeotti recalls, brought to life the crime-dominated Moldavanka neighborhood in the colorful port city on the Black Sea.

A particular strength of the book is Galeotti’s ability to analyze the dynamics of the diverse criminal gangs that comprise the thieves’ world in different urban centers — such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Ekaterinburg. Many operated on a smaller scale in numerous other cities across Russia and Ukraine. Ethnic groups, particularly from the Caucasus, were key actors in the professional criminal world of the Soviet and post-Soviet era. The most prominent of these were the Chechens and the Georgians, both overrepresented in the highest ranks of the criminal world and both meriting their own chapter in The Vory.[16]

”

The Journal of Power Institutions in Post-Soviet Societies review of Mark Galeotti's book The Vory: Russia’s Super-Mafia states:

“ Galeotti makes a strong case for the presence of a vory logic in current Russian state practices – look at how the "raiding" of businesses is conducted with state agents using tactics reminiscent of the mob; the state uses criminals to fight its wars in Ukraine and do its dirty business in Spain; Putin uses the language of the street to assert his credentials; taxi drivers listen to shanson, prison music, on the radio; films about honourable criminals and gangs gain cult followings; and young men spatter vory jargon into their speech. The book, especially in the later chapters, provides up to date, thorough and thought-provoking analyses of important events. It is a comprehensive account of an argument that has been touched on before but has never been so well articulated. Svetlana Stephenson’s 2015 Gangs of Russia, for example, ends by noting the infusion of gang logics and language into Russian politics. Anton Oleinik (Organized Crime, Prison and Post-Soviet Society 2003) also argued that post-Soviet society mirrored the "small society" of criminal subculture and the norms originating in Russian prison. Here, though, this argument gets its fullest and most convincing airing yet.

Indeed, Galeotti takes it even further. He suggests not just state practices but even Russian social values have become suffused with the norms of organized crime. "Maybe…it is not that the vory have disappeared so much as that everyone is now a vor, and the vorovskoi mir [thieves’ world] ultimately won (p. 222)".[17]

”

The Moscow Times notes concerning Galeotti’ book The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia:

“ Russian gangsters, Galeotti writes, “hold up a dark mirror to Russian society” in which the boundaries between crime, business and politics are “all too often indistinct.” The book’s central contention is that these gangsters “have not only been shaped by a changing Russia, they have also shaped it.”

Since the end of the 1990s, Russian organised crime has become “regularised, corporately minded and integrated with elements of the state.” If you follow Russian politics, chances are that you have seen the now famous clip of President Putin threatening to “‘whack terrorists, even in the outhouse.” That Putin publicly deployed these terms, Galeotti says, is only possible because of the widescale appropriation of the underworld lexicon by mainstream society. Krysha (roof, i.e., protection), skhodki (meetings), and limonki (little lemons, i.e., one million rubles) are just a few examples of underworld vocabulary – and, indeed, practices – that have become part of everyday political parlance in Russia.

Another central premise of the book is that where there is demand, organised crime supplies. In most cases the demand is for illegal and often violent services, but Galeotti also tells the lighter tale of “cheese runners” who smuggle Western cheese – forbidden by Russian counter-sanctions – into the country through Belarus. If 20 years ago organized crime was “a facilitator within Russia’s still unruly business environment,” today it plays a similar role on a transnational scale. [18]

”

Videos on Vladimir Putin's corrupt kleptocracy

  • Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia?, Tales of corruption in Russia are nothing new. But in her new book, “Putin’s Kleptocracy,” Karen Dawisha connects the dots between government and private sector corruption and Vladimir Putin’s rapid rise to power, leading to the question, who owns Russia?

Recommended books on Vladimir Putin's kleptocracy

  • Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia? by Karen Dawisha, Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (September 22, 2015)
  • Russia's Crony Capitalism: The Path from Market Economy to Kleptocracy by Anders Aslund, Yale University Press; Illustrated edition (May 21, 2019)
  • The Vory: Russia's Super Mafia by Mark Galeotti, Yale University Press; Illustrated edition (May 22, 2018)

Critical reception of Karen Dawisha's book Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia?

Putin's Kleptocracy Who Owns Russia? by Karen Dawisha has been called an "unblinking scholarly exposé"[19] exhibiting "admirable relentlessness",[20] in which "the power of her argument is amplified by the coolness of her prose".[21]

Book review of Karen Dawisha's book Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia?

Vladimir Putin and authoritarianism

Vladimir Putin and electoral authoritarianism

Putin lays a wreath a the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the anniversary of the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

A description of the book Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes by Vladimir Gel'man which is published by the University of Pittsburg Press states:

“ Russia today represents one of the major examples of the phenomenon of “electoral authoritarianism” which is characterized by adopting the trappings of democratic institutions (such as elections, political parties, and a legislature) and enlisting the service of the country’s essentially authoritarian rulers. Why and how has the electoral authoritarian regime been consolidated in Russia? What are the mechanisms of its maintenance, and what is its likely future course? This book attempts to answer these basic questions.

Vladimir Gel’man examines regime change in Russia from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to the present day, systematically presenting theoretical and comparative perspectives of the factors that affected regime changes and the authoritarian drift of the country. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia’s national political elites aimed to achieve their goals by creating and enforcing of favorable “rules of the game” for themselves and maintaining informal winning coalitions of cliques around individual rulers. In the 1990s, these moves were only partially successful given the weakness of the Russian state and troubled post-socialist economy. In the 2000s, however, Vladimir Putin rescued the system thanks to the combination of economic growth and the revival of the state capacity he was able to implement by imposing a series of non-democratic reforms. In the 2010s, changing conditions in the country have presented new risks and challenges for the Putin regime that will play themselves out in the years to come.[22]

”

The abstract for the 2018 journal article Regional elections in Russia: instruments of authoritarian legitimacy or instability? states:

“ This study examines three rounds of regional assembly and gubernatorial elections in Russia that took place in September 2015, 2016 and 2017. In particular, it examines the ways in which the regime has manipulated the elections to guarantee the victory of United Russia. The study shows that the Kremlin has adopted a new electoral strategy. Rather than engaging in the risky business of outright fraud during the vote count, which was an important factor in sparking mass protests against the regime, in the wake of the 2011 elections to the State Duma, the authorities have decided to concentrate their efforts on preventing opposition parties and candidates from registering for the elections. Whilst other forms of electoral malpractice have continued to be practiced, such as coercing or bribing voters to turn out and vote for United Russia, promoting “carousel voting” (multiple voting by groups of mobilised citizens), or ballot stuffing, much more focus has been paid in these elections on manipulating the registration process in favour of United Russia. As is clearly demonstrated, scores of opposition candidates and party lists, have been prevented from competing because of problems with their registration documents. However, whilst this strategy has helped United Russia win large majorities in all of the gubernatorial and assembly elections, it has also created lacklustre and predictable contests, and this in turn has led to a sharp decline in turnout, particularly in the gubernatorial elections. There is a real danger that these low levels of turnout may gradually erode the legitimacy of United Russia, embolden the opposition, and threaten the stability of the regime.[23] ”

Vladimir's Putin's propaganda machine

The below videos provide information on Vladimir Putin's propaganda machine:

Why did Putin invade Ukraine? A theory of degenerate autocracy

Critics of Vladimir Putin have often died under suspicious circumstances and he has shut down press outlets that are critical of him. Protestors of the Russia-Ukraine War have been arrested

Please click on these Google searches which show a lot of relevant results: Vladimir Putin kills opponents and Vladimir Putin shut down press outlets in Russia

Vladimir Putin is a ruthless dictator, but admittedly he is not as bad as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin or the Chinese Communist Party. For example, he is letting people flee Russia with their money - even many men who are fleeing the country due to Russia calling up reservists. And Russia is a freer and better country to live in than China.

As noted in my previous essays, Ukraine is not considered to be a democracy for various good reasons. It is a hybrid regime and in a recent democracy index it was ranked 92 which is low, but Russia was ranked even lower at 144.[24]

Vladimir Putin's foolish decision to launch an invasion of Ukraine in February 2022

See: Vladimir Putin's foolish decision to launch an invasion of Ukraine in February 2022

The "extra special military operation" had NOTHING to do with Vladimir Putin's corruption, authoritarianism, poor leadership and regime security! P.S. National security is different than regime security

"Russia is a nuclear-armed country with a large army and a big stockpile of weapons. But Russia felt threatened by Ukraine and its tremendous horde of Nazis - led by the Ukrainian Jew Volodymyr Zelenskyy!

Russia's "extra special military operation in Ukraine" had NOTHING to do with regime security and as a distraction for my corruption, authoritarianism and failed leadership.

Pay no attention to the graphs and information below!" - Vladimir Putin

P.S. National security is different than regime security.
"The United States and China are undoubtedly the two most powerful countries, but at least one more country must be roughly in their league for multipolarity to exist. This is where claims of multipolarity fall apart. Every country that could plausibly rank third—France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom—is in no way a rough peer of the United States or China." -The Myth of Multipolarity, American Power’s Staying Power, 2023

However, a number of leading geopolitical analysts are skeptical about China remaining a global power as it faces a number of serious intractable problems (See: Skepticism about China remaining a global power).

I do agree with Donald Trump that America should not get into "endless wars" that do not serve America's vital interests.[25] I also agree with Trump's policy of not using the American military to "solve ancient conflicts in faraway lands".[26]
Chart of the growth of U.S. GNP from January 1947 to January 2023.

A great strength of the United States is its very consistent growth of its GNP over decades and its quick recovery the few times its GNP has gone down.[27]

In addition, research indicates that in the long-term, non-authoritarian countries are more likely to experience greater economic growth. See: Time Under Authoritarian Rule and Economic Growth, CORI Working Paper No. 2007-02

For more information on this topic, please see:

*Should You Be Bullish on America?

Why is America so rich?

*Size of a working age population in a country and its correlation with national GNP in advanced economies. The ability of the United States to attract some of the best and brightest workers in the world

*Slow and steady growth over the long term via capitalism and the rule of law versus short-sighted authoritarian economic growth that is costly to the long term economy
Russian GNP 1991 to August 2023.

Estimates of Russian GNP 1991 to August 2023 measured in US fiat dollars; exchange rates between the dollar and the ruble ended in March 2022 when the ruble became a gold-backed currency.

Recently, the Russian ruble has seen a big decline:

*Russia’s War-Torn Economy Hits Its Speed Limit: Economists see this week’s currency gyrations not as the beginning of a financial crisis but rather as a symptom of the Kremlin’s sclerotic economic prospects, Wall Street Journal, August 2023

*The Russian ruble hit a 16-month low this week and is one of the worst performing currencies in 2023, August, 2023

*Russia Cranks Interest Rates to 12% in Emergency Move Supporting Ruble, Barron's, August 2023

*5 stats show how Russia's economy is declining, Business Insider, 2023

Judo blackbelt Vladumir Putin: The Jewish leader of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and his Nazi horde was threatening me!

Volodymyr Zelensky and friends dancing.

Please notice the complete absence of Nazi swastikas and Nazi salutes!
Judo blackbelt Vladimir Putin and his friends looking at Volodymyr Zelensky dancing and feeling very threatened - especially since they are all Nazis!

Note: Ukraine does have a Nazi/Neo-Nazi problem, but Vladimir Putin exaggerates the problem for propaganda purposes: Ukraine's Nazi problem is real, even if Putin's 'denazification' claim isn't. For example, Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish.

Seemingly weak, little girl Judo practioner tosses Vladimir Putin to the floor

Seemingly weak, little girl Judo practioner tosses Vladimir Putin the floor!

Ukrainian delegate punches very rude Russian official over a Ukrainian flag at a summit

User: Conservative essays on geopolitics

Vladimir Putin

See also: Vladimir Putin is a corrupt kleptocrat and an authoritarian

General

The United States

China

Russia

War in Ukraine

User:Conservative's essays

External links

References

  1. ↑ Corruption in China, Wikipedia
  2. ↑ Corruption in China, Wikipedia
  3. ↑ China's Communist Party is at a fatal age for one-party regimes. How much longer can it survive?, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2020
  4. ↑ [Xi Jinping raises concerns over potential collapse of Chinese Communist Party: Report], Mint News, 2023
  5. ↑ China's dangerous decline, Foreign Affairs magazine, December 22, 2022
  6. ↑ China’s Economy Is OK. The Problem Is Its Politics by Minxin Pei (Professor of government at Claremont McKenna College, Bloomberg News, 2023
  7. ↑ China’s billionaires looking to move their cash, and themselves, out, The Guardian, 2023
  8. ↑ Why Is Deflation Bad for the Economy?, Investopedia
  9. ↑ What is deflation?, Empower website
  10. ↑ What’s going on with China’s stock market?, MarketPlace.org
  11. ↑ China Slowdown Means It May Never Overtake US Economy, Forecast Shows, Bloomberg News, September 5, 2023
  12. ↑ China Stumbles, but it is Unlikely to Fall by Eswar S. Prasad, December 2023
  13. ↑ China's Communist Party is at a fatal age for one-party regimes. How much longer can it survive?, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2020
  14. ↑ Xi Jinping raises concerns over potential collapse of Chinese Communist Party: Report, Mint News, 2023
  15. ↑ The Ukraine War might really break up the Russian Federation by Alexander J. Motyl, The Hill, 2023
  16. ↑ A TANGLED WEB: ORGANIZED CRIME AND OLIGARCHY IN PUTIN’S RUSSIA, A review of Mark Galeotti's 2018 book The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia by Yale University Press
  17. ↑ Mark Galeotti, The Vory: Russia’s Super-Mafia, a review by the Journal of Power Institutions in Post-Soviet Societies
  18. ↑ Mark Galeotti: ‘The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia’, Moscow Times, 2019
  19. ↑ "Putin's Reaction To Sanctions Is Destroying The Economy And China Won't Help". Forbes. October 14, 2014."
  20. ↑ Anne Applebaum, (December 18, 2014). "How He and His Cronies Stole Russia". The New York Review of Books.
  21. ↑ "A book too far". The Economist. April 3, 2014
  22. ↑ Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes By Vladimir Gel'man
  23. ↑ Regional elections in Russia: instruments of authoritarian legitimacy or instability? by Cameron Ross, Palgrave Communications volume 4, Article number: 75 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-018-0137-1
  24. ↑ Ranking of Countries by Quality of Democracy
  25. ↑ Trump to West Point grads: 'We are ending the era of endless wars', Reuters, June 13, 2022
  26. ↑ Trump to West Point grads: 'We are ending the era of endless wars', Reuters, June 13, 2022
  27. ↑ Should You Be Bullish on America?
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