Putin Address Takes Swipe at U.S.-Led World Order

"Russian President Vladimir Putin’s combative address Monday from the Kremlin was a nearly hourlong recitation of decades worth of historical grievances and an unmistakable challenge by Moscow to the post-Cold War international order dominated by the West.

The speech, ostensibly aimed at recognizing the independence of two breakaway statelets that Russia carved from Ukraine in 2014, outlined Mr. Putin’s view that Ukraine was a historical accident that the U.S. has turned into a launchpad to attack Russia.

“The United States and NATO have begun the shameless development of the territory of Ukraine as a theater of military operations,” Mr. Putin said, seated at a desk flanked by Russian flags.

Mr. Putin’s speech echoed defiant remarks he delivered in Munich in 2007 that helped set the trajectory of his combative relations with Washington. Then, he sharply criticized what he called a U.S. monopoly on foreign relations and American use of force in places such as Iraq." WSJ