Following a meeting with his security council this morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a lengthy speech in which he dropped the last piece of the puzzle for war in place.

In what can only be described as surreal at times, Putin lamented the fall of the Soviet Union, proclaimed it “madness” that former subject nations were allowed to leave Russia, and claimed his nation has been “blackmailed” by Ukraine.

Here are a few clips of his ramblings courtesy of Curtis Houck from Newsbusters.

Putin blaming "nationalists" for the USSR's collapse: "Every Soviet republic has its citizenship…given to all….It is not the time…to…give definition of what citizenship is. What happened…was caused by the mistakes…by the leadership of the Communist Party." pic.twitter.com/j314RN5Adv

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 21, 2022

This is just an almost comically false statement by Putin:

"Despite the known problems, Russia has always cooperated and worked with Ukraine in an open and honest manner, with respect to its interests."

He adds Ukraine blackmailed them.

Lol okay. pic.twitter.com/iFGY1b0KW9

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 21, 2022

Putin: "The whole idea of the so-called pro-western civilizational choice of the Ukraine democratic power was and is still not in creating better conditions for the good of the people, but to serve the…adversaries of Russia…They were betraying their people who elected them." pic.twitter.com/vvfxZ94cqL

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 21, 2022

Putin’s “history lesson” on Russian territorial claims and the Soviet Union is obviously not an accident. He is clearly is laying the groundwork not just to take Ukraine, but to rebuild large swaths of the former USSR under his rule. That’s not exactly a new goal for Putin, as the former KGB agent has long spoken lovingly of the Soviet Union, blaming its downfall for Russia’s current malaise.

Perhaps the most important development from Putin’s speech came towards the end, though. The Russian leader recognized the “sovereignty” of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Eastern Ukraine.

NOW – Putin: Russia recognizes the independence of breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/K3dSo0e0L0

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) February 21, 2022

It’s not hard to game out what happens next. With those areas now being “independent” states as far as Russia is concerned, the separatist leadership there can now invite Russian military forces to enter. In other words, Putin has just taken a chunk of Ukraine without firing a shot. If Ukraine or NATO try to prevent the entry of Russian forces into those areas, it’ll set off a hot war that can be blamed on Western “aggression.”

It’s actually a very cunning move, and it shows just how idiotic Joe Biden’s strategy has been in dealing with this situation. While the administration has been focused on using the threat of sanctions as a deterrent, Putin was busy going in the backdoor, getting what he wants without triggering the repercussions set up by the Western nations. Further, Biden also lifted sanctions on the Nordstream 2 pipeline, giving Putin enormous leverage over Europe, while receiving nothing in return.

Who could have guessed this guy has no idea what he’s doing?

Why Mitt Romney's Cold War mentality is out of date: http://t.co/Rj6HtOiv #RomneyNotReady

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 22, 2012

Let’s recall that Sen. Ted Cruz tried to get a sanctions bill targeting Russia passed back in December. He would have had the votes, too, if not for a vigorous lobbying effort by the White House on behalf of Putin. Perhaps those sanctions would have caused enough financial hardship to change the situation? We’ll never know for sure, but what we do know is that the defeat of that bill was the green light for Putin to start amassing his invasion force.

Truly, the United States and the NATO nations at large are run by absolute imbeciles. Germany could have threatened to blow up its energy deals with Russia and stopped all this before it began. When that didn’t happen, the United States, instead of pressuring Germany to make the right move, decided to play hashtag diplomacy. How’d that work out?

As things stand, there’s not much left to do here. The threat of sanctions remains toothless and there’s no stomach for a war to defend Eastern Ukraine (nor should there be). Biden, who remains in Washington, and his Eurotrash cohorts got utterly outmaneuvered by a despot who has been telegraphing for decades what his goal was.