Daily Archives: February 7, 2022

Trance legends Cosmic Gate kick off the new year on a high-note with their first two musical project reveals of 2022. Following a tremendous amount of success throughout the past couple of years, The GRAMMY-nominees show no sign of slowing down this time around, and their most recent releases mark only the beginning of what the dynamic duo has in store for us moving forward.

Nic and Bossi ring in the month of January with not one but two phenomenal productions for fans all over the globe to thoroughly indulge in. First things first, they recently unveiled a stunning Sunset Set livestream recorded in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico a few weeks back, and we cant even begin to discuss how breathtaking the entire 2-hour performance was. Set on the picturesque Playa Del Caballo located along Mexicos scenic Pacific coast, the livestream embodies Cosmic Gates more techno-driven, melodic soundscapes flawlessly all throughout and removes listeners winter scaries with its scenic views.

Just a few days after all the built-up hype and persistent track id requests following their remarkable Puerto Vallarta livestream, the Black Hole Recordings mainstays released their newest single on the prominent label, We Got The Fire featuring Olivia Sebatianelli. The stellar track was featured on the livestream right around the last 30-minute mark, and it was the perfect addition to the sets entrancing deep and progressive vibe.

Olivia Sebastianelli, who was also featured on their highly-acclaimed single, Everything Everything, adds an enchanting touch to the already spellbinding tune with her stunning vocals. Her chemistry in the studio with Nic and Bossi is simply unmatched, and We Got The Fire is yet another one of their endeavoring musical masterpieces out now for fans to continue blasting on repeat.

But wait, theres more. The alluring single is the first track to come fromMOSAIIK Chapter Two which is rumored to be fully unveiled later in May. The first edition of their MOSAIIK project was nothing short of legendary. So legendary that fans are still losing their minds over it. With that in mind, its forthcoming sophomore LP is starting to rank as the duos most highly-anticipated LP to date.

Devoted fans are going absolutely insane over Nic and Bossis latest musical ventures, and theres plenty more where that came from. Aside from a new livestream, a new single, and an official release date for MOSAIIK Chapter Two, you bet theyre also undertaking one of their greatest North American tours yet. Tickets for all shows are available here, with full tour date details below.

Originally posted here:

Cosmic Gate Kicks off 2022 with Breathtaking Puerto Vallarta Livestream & New Single "We Got The Fire" - The Nocturnal Times

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One by one, the guests got up from the table and returned with their instruments. It was around ten-thirty on a warm, breezy night in December, and at the house of Caetano Veloso, Brazils most celebrated musician, an after-dinner custom was under way. One person came back with a guitar, another with a Brazilian-style ukulele called a cavaquinho, and a third with a tambourine and a tantam drum with a long, thick neck. They sat in a semicircle around a large coffee table in the living room. Behind them, a set of sliding doors had been opened to admit the coastline of Rio de Janeiro. The lights of Leblon Beach dotted the dark bay.

Veloso, who is seventy-nine, cracked a can of Coke, and sat down in a cushioned seat across from the players. He was all in whiteslide-on Vans, checked pants, a shirt buttoned to the neck. In the nineteen-sixties, Veloso looked like a Christ of the counterculture, with curly hair that reached his shoulders. When he was arrested by the military dictatorship, in 1968, for playing music judged to be desvirilizante (literally, de-virilizing), the authorities cut it off. Now his hair is gray and more sparse. His dark-olive complexion has lightened with age, and for years hes worn a pair of wire-framed glasses that give his handsome, birdlike face a look of subdued watchfulness.

The loose Brazilian term for the jam session unfolding in the living room was a roda de samba. Its staple is the samba, an Afro-Brazilian form with a two-four beat. Usually, the musicians remain seated, and are surrounded by dancers who press in close; here, the arrangement had the relaxed energy of a lounge show. The sambistas eased into some old standards with shuffling rhythms and choruses sung in shaggy unison. Mosquito, a trim singer in a T-shirt and sneakers, took a matchbook out of his pocket to add some sandy-sounding percussion. Linda, linda, Veloso purred from his seat.

Paula Lavigne, his wife and manager, sat next to him, rolling a joint. She describes the state of awe and ecstasy that her husband inspires as the Caetano effect. People talk fitfully in his presence. They rush to mention their favorite of his albums, or they quote from songs that have become de-facto Brazilian national anthems.

Brazilians arent the only ones pulled in. Madonna once bowed down to him on a stage in So Paulo. David Byrne, whos known Veloso since the eighties and has performed with him at Carnegie Hall, considers him an unclassifiable inspiration. Theres this guy whos got elements of Cole Porter and the Beatles and Bob Dylan, all these kinds of things that people might be familiar with, he told me. But that wouldnt do it to describe him. In addition to composing hundreds of his own songs, Veloso is known for idiosyncratic covers of Brazilian classics, Spanish-language boleros, themes from Italian cinema, and hits by Nirvana and Michael Jackson. He has recorded some fifty albums, and plays to sold-out theatres in Europe and the United States, to say nothing of Latin America, where hes regarded as a fine artist and a pop celebrity. Once, when Veloso was on tour for an album called Abraao, meaning Big Hug, an admirer embraced him so hard that he spent days in bed with a tweaked back.

Velosos preferred place in these gatherings at home is somewhere off to the side, so he can chat in relative peace. He is soft-spoken, even shy. As a boy, he once wrote, I was timid and extravagant. He can seem suspiciously modest for a world-famous musician. Many of his contemporaries are technically superior, hell say. But there is this more mysterious aspect to his talent, he told me: The atmosphere that comes with my voice. He described it as my presence, my personality, which echoed an old song of his, called Minha Voz, Minha Vida, or My Voice, My Life. His liquid tenor, melodic and trance-like, is one of the most distinctive voices in music. Away from the microphone, he listens intently, and goes into languorous digressions full of references to books and films. The theatre director Peter Sellars has written of Veloso, What if John Lennon was a world-class intellectual with an insatiable curiosity for Third World literature and a deep adoration for Hollywood cinema, as seen from the wrong end of a telescope? What if Stevie Wonder could see and he loved movies?

Lavigne took advantage of a brief lull in the music to direct everyone downstairs. I dont want our neighbors thinking this is the house of Ronaldinho, she said, referring to the soccer star notorious for his partying. The musicians moved to a stairway by the front entrance. Veloso grabbed another Coke and a fistful of cashews, and skipped over to join them.

The apartment is in a gated complex, on a steep, winding hill. Vast and luxurious, it became Veloso and Lavignes full-time home only recently. They were staying there in March, 2020, while their house was under renovation. Once the coronavirus pandemic began, they never left. A descending staircase led to what had become Velosos COVID bubble. There was a room with a massage table and medicine balls for daily exercise. Next to it was a recording studio, where he made his latest album, Meu Coco, which came out late last year.

By now it was well after midnight, and inside the studio, recording his own music, was Zeca, the second of Velosos three sons. All of them are musiciansand, like their father, insomniacs. The hours of high activity at the Veloso residence fall roughly between dinner and dawn. Eventually, the guests made it outside to a porch with an adjacent bar. The beach peeked through a curtain of lush palms, and a bluish light in the distance illuminated Rios famous soapstone sculpture of Christ the Redeemer, overlooking the city from Mt.Corcovado.

The music started again, and Veloso shimmied in a boyish trance. His feet scissored off the ground to the beat. One of the guitarists picked up the melody of a song from Velosos new album. Its title was Sem Samba No D, or Without Samba It Just Wont Do. The strumming grew soft as Veloso cut in, singingin a velvety voice barely louder than a whisper. The group leaned in as if he were about to share a secret.

The samba was born in the Brazilian state of Bahia, and so was Veloso, in 1942. The town where he grew up, Santo Amaro, was like something out of a Jorge Amado novel or a Fellini film; it was full of music, dancing, and voluble eccentrics. There were three cinemas, where Veloso watched daily showings of foreign movies. When he got restless, he visited the nearby capital, Salvador, which had a university and theatres that put on avant-garde plays and performances. His parents were modest, middle-class peoplea postal employee who worked from home and a housewife with eight children, two of whom were adopted. The house was large but crowded, filled with extended family and a regular procession of daily visitors. An older cousin, whom Veloso and his siblings called Bette Davis behind her back, professed a desire to live in Paris and be an existentialist. In one corner of the first floor was a small piano where Veloso, with the help of a sister, tried to replay, by ear, the songs they heard each day on the radio. A turn of the dial brought Portuguese fados, Latin American folk tunes, Brazilian crooners, and classics from the American Songbook.

In his late teens, he moved with his younger sister Maria Bethnia to an apartment in Salvador, where he traded the piano for a guitar, and took up painting and film criticism. Missing home, he would put Ray Charles on the turntable and weep while listening to Georgia on My Mind. Occasionally, he composed simple, nostalgic songs of his own, drawing inspiration from his childhood haunts. References to Santo Amaro abound in Velosos work. The years are passing by, he wrote in a later song. And I havent lost you/My job is to translate you. In conversation, Veloso likes to quote an old poet friend who says, Rio de Janeiro is Brazil. So Paulo is the world. Bahia is Bahia.

Velosos greatest inspiration was a Bahian by the name of Joo Gilberto. In 1959, when Veloso was seventeen, Gilberto released the album Chega de Saudade, which introduced a style called bossa nova. The music featured intricate yet understated harmonies, sly dissonances, and a repertoire of rediscovered Brazilian songs that had fallen into obscurity. It was a new old sound, Veloso told me. Bossa nova became an international sensation, particularly in the U.S., but Veloso experienced it as a private epiphany. Every aspect of the music appealed to him, from its samba rhythms and limpid vocals to the enigmatic personality of its evangelist. Gilberto, who had moved to the U.S. in 1963, visited Salvador, staying at the house of an acquaintance with his wife, Micha, who was pregnant. All the young musicians in the city flocked to pay their respects. Veloso was joined by one of his closest friends, a young singer named Gal Costa, who got nervous and ran off, leaving him alone at the bus stop. When Veloso arrived, Gilberto wouldnt come out of the bedroom. Eventually, the visitors coaxed him into the living room, but only after Gilberto ordered them to turn off the lights. It was the closest Veloso would come to meeting his idol for many years. Everything was a strange new joke with him, Veloso told me. It was dark. The light of the street lamps was coming in through the window. You could see, more or less, Michas belly and the outline of his face.

Other encounters in Salvador were less poetic but more eventful. Walking down Rua Chile one afternoon, Veloso bumped into the most important collaborator of his artistic life: Gilberto Gil, a buoyant Black musician with sharp, arching eyebrows and the charged air of a revolutionary. Gil was a prodigy of limitless interests and played the guitar unlike anyone Veloso had ever seen. They were the same age, and were united by a fascination with the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and the blues. I learned how to play the guitar by imitating the positions of Gils hands, Veloso said.

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How Caetano Veloso Revolutionized Brazil's Sound and Spirit - The New Yorker

Film Rating: . 3.5/5 & Review Rating

This is the tale of a young woman who finds herself torn between two suitors. With her extended family, Rinku Suryavanshi (Sara Ali Khan) lives in the city of Siwan in Bihar. It was Rinkus extended relatives who murdered her parents as a kid. In love with an unknown guy, Sajjad (Akshay Kumar), Rinku has eloped with him many times. Maternal grandma (Seema Biswas) is fed up with her after the most recent unsuccessful elopement attempt. Tell her family that she wants to marry any guy who is willing to settle outside of Bihar. In their town, they saw Vishu (Dhanush). As a medical student, hes in town for a week of summer camp.

Mandakini or Mandy (Dimple Hayati), his girlfriend, and he are already engaged and planning their wedding. Rinku is kidnapped by his family and forced to marry Rinku. The next day, they arrange for train travel for them to Delhi. Vishu is in a trance as he reflects on the events of the previous night while riding the train. Vishu learns from Rinku that she has fallen head over heels in love with Sajjad and would be leaving with him as soon as she arrives in Delhi.

Vishu is pleased to learn that the marriage is arranged just for her benefit. He eventually makes it to Delhi, where he enrolls at a university to further his education. That Sajjad has gone to Africa to learn magic and will be back in 10 days, Rinku informs him.

Its time to go to Madurai for Vishu. Thats why he advises Rinku to remain at his hostel until Sajjad returns. Alternatively, she might accompany him to Madurai for his wedding. Vishu and Mandy get engaged in Madurai, and Rinku joins them. Before long, Mandy stumbles upon a wedding video of Vishu and Rinku. The remainder of the film is based on what occurs after that.

This is the tale of a young woman who finds herself torn between two suitors. With her extended family, Rinku Suryavanshi (Sara Ali Khan) lives in the city of Siwan in Bihar. It was Rinkus extended relatives who murdered her parents as a kid. In love with an unknown guy, Sajjad (Akshay Kumar), Rinku has eloped with him many times. Maternal grandma (Seema Biswas) is fed up with her after the most recent unsuccessful elopement attempt.

Tell her family that she wants to marry any guy who is willing to settle outside of Bihar. In their town, they saw Vishu (Dhanush). As a medical student, hes in town for a week of summer camp. Mandakini or Mandy (Dimple Hayati), his girlfriend, and he are already engaged and planning their wedding. Rinku is kidnapped by his family and forced to marry Rinku. The next day, they arrange for train travel for them to Delhi. Vishu is in a trance as he reflects on the events of the previous night while riding the train.

Vishu learns from Rinku that she has fallen head over heels in love with Sajjad and would be leaving with him as soon as she arrives in Delhi. Vishu is pleased to learn that the marriage is arranged just for her benefit. He eventually makes it to Delhi, where he enrolls at a university to further his education.

That Sajjad has gone to Africa to learn magic and will be back in 10 days, Rinku informs him. Its time to go to Madurai for Vishu. Thats why he advises Rinku to remain at his hostel until Sajjad returns. Alternatively, she might accompany him to Madurai for his wedding. Vishu and Mandy get engaged in Madurai, and Rinku joins them. Before long, Mandy stumbles upon a wedding video of Vishu and Rinku. The remainder of the film is based on what occurs after that.

The life narrative of Himanshu Sharma is one that is both original and out of the ordinary. The script, on the other hand, elevates an otherwise uninteresting story into something worth seeing. The author has included a number of heartwarming and remarkable scenes. So even if things go a little crazy, one doesnt mind. A highlight of the film is the humorous speech delivered by Himanshu Sharma, who is a perfect fit for the role he plays.

The film is superbly directed by Aanand L Rai. In a number of moments, you can see how his storytelling has progressed. Keeping the audiences interest and successfully executing a narrative like this is his greatest achievement. Aanand is a breath of fresh air compared to any other filmmaker. In addition, he offers an insightful remark on mental illness. However, the second hand may have been crisper and more logical.

ATRANGI RE is off to a great start. First-half highlights include Rinku and Vishus forced marriage, their talk on a train, and other memorable sequences. In front of an emotional Rinku, Vishu delivers a stunning speech in Tamil. Its a stunner in the last moments before the break. Even after the intermission, the movie remains engaging, despite the fact that some of the events are tough to swallow. Its tough to fathom how Rinku manages to live in peace at an all-boys dormitory with no one taking notice. Because of Vishu and Rinkus love tale, all hostel mates gather together and contribute to participate in the lunacy, which is even more implausible. While the conservative audience would be turned off by this last surprise, those who are yearning for something hatke would go crazy for it.

The performances in ATRANGI RE are top-notch. In LOVE AAJ KAL [2020], Sara Ali Khan tried her hand at another atrangi role, but it didnt work out. But in this film, she shows to be one of the most promising performers of our day. As the film unfolds, one sees that this character is so rich and complicated. This was no simple figure to play. On the other hand, Sara plays it like its no big deal.

When it comes to Dhanushs performance, you can count on the fact that hell deliver. Although hes had a number of notable roles, this one takes the cake for him. In the dramatic speech, the dancing in the loos or when he loses it on the train and auto rickshaw, hes of course remarkable. In certain instances, he doesnt speak, but he uses his silences and gaze to convey a lot of information.

In a supporting role, Akshay Kumar excels. In terms of star power, hes a big draw. As the sidekick, Ashish Verma (Madhusudhan) always delivers. Dimple Hayathi and Seema Biswas are great in their little parts. Aside from Gopal Dutt (Rinkus divorce lawyer) and Pankaj Jha (Rinkus mother), there isnt much else. They were supposed to do more. Babe Rinkus Mannat Mishra is adorable.

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Atrangi Re Review: Mixes together the pair and employs a bewildering series of story bends. - UMAR FAROOQ

The Tragedy of Macbeth cast : Denzel Washington as Macbeth, Frances McDormand as Lady Macbeth. Director Joel Coen

Macbeth is perhaps an unparalleled drama by William Shakespeare as the focus is more on the riving guilt that results in a splitting conscience, post crime, than the events leading to the act of butchery itself. It is more about punishment (mostly self-inflicted) than crime. Though one could argue that the reasons for Fyodor Dostoevskys Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment and Shakespeares Macbeth were different, the consequences of their heinous acts are much similar in nature.

Considering that The Tragedy of Macbeth is a Joel Coen project, bereft of any contribution by his brother Ethan Coen who has otherwise remained a collaborator in most films produced by the duo, one feels akin to sipping vintage wine when watching it. The film is aptly handled by allowing it to breathe, and viewers are made to imbibe it at a sober pace lest too much smother the palate in a single sip.

The Tragedy of Macbeth is a tour de force that assiduously encapsulates a tale of conspiracy and betrayal in a monochromatic format. And yet, the film never falters in exuding the many shades of a human character, the credit for which partially goes to the extraordinary ensemble of actors.

While Michael Fassbender appeared as a haughty warrior in the Justin Kurzel version of Macbeth; in this film, actor Denzel Washington appears vulnerable, more mature and astute than brusque and impulsive. The fact that Macbeth had his share of fragile moments was initially proved by his vacillation over assassinating the King, leading him to even confess to his wife that he is willing to junk his murderous ambition.

The cold-hearted personality portrayed by Washington and his consistency in dialogue delivery straight from the original text to retain the essence of this Shakespearean drama is noteworthy. He takes the right pauses and allows viewers time to absorb a moment.

Case in point is the scene where King Duncan, enacted by Brendon Gleeson, bestows upon Macbeth the title of Thane of Cawdor but soon declares it is Malcolm, his son, who is next in line to be King of Cumberland. The disappointment and fiery ambition, which begins nesting in Macbeth, becomes apparent in Washingtons poker face; best captured in the words of the character, False face must hide what the false heart doth know. The characters repressed rage finds vent in the next scene where he admits, The Prince of Cumberland! that is a step/ On which I must fall down, or else oerleap,/For in my way it lies.

It is noteworthy that Joel Coen has reinvented Macbeth in a very American way which seems to assert itself through Washingtons diction. But, since the play is based in 11th century Scotland, his American accent sticks out like a sore thumb. An English accent may have been fair but then, as they say, fair is foul, and foul is fair.

Frances McDormand as Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, perfects hers except minute slips. She impresses with her measured acting; not overdoing parts where the chances of going overboard were ample. McDormands Lady Macbeth, compared to Marion Cotillards in Kurzels version, equals in embodying the conniving nature of the character that influences Macbeth to murder the King. In this, she appears more fastidious and subtle than hysteric and desperate. The mark of a mature and scheming woman is prominent. It is the literal translation of Lady Macbeths wish, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/Of direst cruelty.

McDormands soliloquy, during a fit of somnambulism, is a scene worth admiring. She aptly appears as a woman in trance but moves one when she sort of breaks the fourth wall and makes a gesture at the camera, sparking a doubt as to whether the state of trance is but a conscious act. Lady Macbeths death would perhaps always remain shrouded in mystery and thus a matter of debate. In the play, though she dies off-stage, suggesting suicide, the movie leaves one wondering if she really killed herself.

Certain slips, pertaining to attention-to-detail, fail to evade viewers. Theres not a scratch on either Macbeth or Banquo as they return from a bloody war against the Irish invaders, even as the apparently wounded Captain reports to King Duncan that both the Scottish generals fought with great valour and violence.

The setting of the film, shot on a sound stage, creates a closeted ambience where each character holds a secret, which, if it were to trundle out of the cupboard, could scuttle their cynical ambitions. Macbeths secret constricts and suffocates him like a serpent coiled around his neck, making him eventually slip into delirium.

The chiaroscuro effect casts a glimpse into the psyche of the characters and their motives which are both virtuous and sinister. This finds evidence where Lady Macbeth, while walking down a long corridor, approaches from a brighter section of the passageway but gradually steps into the shadowy part while she reads a letter from her husband. She is enticed at the prospect of him becoming King, just as the witches prophesied.

Wry humour and suspense are the sine qua non of Coen Brothers films. Their neo-Western crime thriller No Country for Old Men made one quake in their boots as a rotating doorknob in a dark and hushed motel room indicated the arrival of hitman Anton Chigurh in search of his target.

Here, in a tense situation, the comic relief is brought forth by Jacob McCarthys Wheyface a servant who informs Macbeth about the approaching troops but is instead assailed with a barrage of expletives such as creamfaced loon, goose-look and lily-livered boy. The forlorn and muddled Wheyface, and his quick retreat in the face of a hurricane of insults, is what tickles the funny bone.

The success of The Tragedy of Macbeth would remain incomplete without acknowledging the intense music by Carter Burwell that relays the mood of the film at times, euphoric, and at others, despondent. The director of photography Bruno Delbonnel creates hypnotic visuals on screen, which look like charcoal sketches on a white paper. In the main, this film can be termed as the finest Macbeth ever adapted for the screen as it retains the charm of the play being enacted on stage.

The Tragedy of Macbeth is available for viewing on Apple TV+

(The writer is a reporter, The Statesman, Kolkata)

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Darkness within, darkness without - The Statesman

Fifteen years ago this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a vitriolicspeech at the Munich Security Conference in which he denounced the United States as a hyperbolic superpower, challenged Europe to reexamine security institutions across the continent, and questioned the rationale for expanding NATO. Sound familiar? On the fifteenth anniversary of his manifesto, as the world sits on the precipice of yet another conflict in Ukraine, Putin has dusted off the same talking points and the same demands, announcing last week that once again fundamental Russian interests were ignored. And just as the Bush administration did a decade and a half ago, the Biden administration is engaging in a series of talks which, while likely leading nowhere, are validating Putins bad behavior and giving him a bigger presence on the world stage than he deserves.

Founded more than fifty years ago, the Munich Security Conference has grown into a major annual event attended by world leaders, American and European defense ministers, parliamentarians from both sides of the Atlantic, journalists, policy experts, and more. The conference was, for decades, the place where U.S. defense secretaries reinforced Americas security commitment to Europe and occasionally chided their counterparts about contributing more to transatlantic security.

But on February 10, 2007, Putins litany of grievances disrupted this pattern, transforming the conference into a launch party for a resurgent Russia. The blockbuster tirade led to a series of diplomatic discussions and high-level strategic framework meetings that were, while interesting, ultimately fruitlessthe same kind of meetings which are being repeated now to address the Ukraine crisis.

U.S. and European policies leading up to the February 2007 conference provided Putin useful material for his rant. In the months preceding the conference, the Bush administration in concert with Americas European allies was pursuing multiple, concurrent policies intended to strengthen transatlantic security. Bulgaria and Romania had agreed to host U.S. forces. NATO was close to extending membership invitations to Albania, Croatia, and Macedonia, having invited seven nations of Central and Eastern Europe to join in 2002. NATO had also made the decision to take over responsibility for the entirety of Afghanistan via the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission. As the Alliance began preparations for its April 2008 summit in Bucharest, its members were discussing whether and how to draw Georgia and Ukraine closer. And, the month before the conference, newly minted Secretary of Defense Robert Gates had made the decision to place the third site of the nations missile defense system on the territory of some of NATOs newest members in Central and Eastern Europe.

To Putin, these policies provided a way to portray Moscow as the victim of U.S.-led dominion in Europe with scant regard for Russias interests. Another Russian leader might have smiled on developments that brought democracy, rule of law, and free markets closer to a Russia struggling with long-term economic stresses, crumbling infrastructure, and declining demographics. Putin saw them are threats to his rule. Instead of seeing NATOs ISAF mission as an opportunity for cooperation against the common threat of Islamic extremism, Putin portrayed it as NATO destabilizing his near abroad.

No one in the U.S. delegation or the international audience was prepared for what Putin would unload over nearly 45 minutes. The strident Russian president spent the majority of his speech and the following Q&A period railing against the Bush administration, staring down Gates and the U.S. congressional delegation led by Sen. John McCain throughout. He criticized the United States for being arrogant, for its uncontained hyper use of force, for having overstepped its national borders in every way, and for not adhering to the rule of law. He called America out for its policies on missile defense. He criticized NATO actions in Kosovo.

For the first two-thirds of the speech, which focused on castigating the United States, many of the Europeans in the audience were disturbingly open to Putins message. I remember sitting with the rest of the American delegation, seeing agreeable expressions and nods of approval from our European friends and allies.

But the Europeans trance broke when Putin redirected his ire toward the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). He claimed the organization was being transformed into a vulgar instrument designed to promote the foreign policy interests of one or a group of countries, paying insufficient attention to relations between the spheres, and making states dependent and, as a consequence, politically and economically unstable. This naked paranoia startled the Europeans. It made them concerned that Putin had bigger ambitions about transforming Europe, and that his rant was not only about President Bush and his policies, but about Europe and the institutions that keep it free and peaceful. The unease was palpablethe Europeans were happy to criticize American leadership, but deeply suspicious of any plan to replace the institutions it supported.

Putins remarks and Gatess responseone Cold War was quite enoughled to a yearlong effort known as the 2+2 talks, with Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and their Russian counterparts trying to define areas of cooperation, such as counterterrorism and nonproliferation, and trying to soothe areas of contention, such as missile defense and military deployments in Europe. Yet despite honest attempts at good relations, the issue of NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia loomed over the discussions as neither side was willing to accept the others position.

Putins Munich speech was a watershed moment in Russias relations with the free world. It made many in Europe aware of the danger Putin represented, but it also created division among them (and among Americans) about how to respond to Moscow. It put the United States in the lead position for engagement with Putin about his concerns and grievances. And it served as the manifesto for the revanchism Putin has pursued ever since. Perhaps the biggest and most lasting effect of Putins speech was the reaction it generated from the West, which sought to engage him and reason away his concerns. This helped to legitimate his grievances and his desire to be treated as the leader of a great power.

Since 2007, Putin has remained intent on shaping political and security developments in Russias periphery. He wants to be seen as a necessary player on the world stage. He wants Russia to be seen as global power whose approval must be sought. As he said at Munich and many times thereafter, he seeks to reestablish Russian influence in the world.

Successive U.S. administrations and European governments have failed to convince Putin that he could have more influence by playing a constructive, cooperative role than a destructive, antagonistic one. His countrys forces wreaked havoc in Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine since 2014, splintering the territory of both nations and launching disinformation campaigns which have degraded their democratic processes (and those of other democracies as well). Putin and his cronies have paid relatively little compared to what damage they have been able to inflict militarily, psychologically, and diplomatically on millions of people.

With potential violence and devastation an order of magnitude greater than anything Europe has seen since World War II awaiting only Putins order, the Biden administration is again engaging in strategic framework talks with Russia, entertaining Moscows grievances and revisionist fantasies. Thankfully, United States and Europe have rejected Putins proposals, which essentially amount to a do-over of the Cold War. No doubt, talking is better than fighting, but the cost of talking is legitimizing Putins quest for dominion over Russias neighbors, as if that were the kind of thing about which the United States could or should negotiate.

For the most part, the collective position the transatlantic community has taken has been the right one: There needs to be an unambiguous message to Putin that any hostile actions by Russia against Ukraine will be met with consequences. For this threat to be seen as real and enforceable, NATO, the European Union, and individual European nations must be unified in their willingness to impose penalties on Russia for yet another attempt at disrupting peace and redrawing borders in Europe.

The United States and Europe have an opportunity to learn from past ineffective engagements with Putin and have this round turn out differently. Ideally, American and Europes leaders would adopt a stronger position of deterrence regarding Russias new offensive in Ukraine so as to make the penalties so severe that they force those around Putin to calculate the cost and benefits.

Putin told the world at Munich fifteen years ago that he has a narrative of how the West wronged his country, and he has used that story to appeal to the Russian people and to satisfy his need for validation, legitimacy, and special treatment. Taking his insecurities and Cold War nostalgia seriously gives him what he wants. By making clear that the consequences of aggressive action in Ukraine will be severe international political, economic, and military isolation would hit Putin where it matters.

Originally posted here:

Putin Announced His Manifesto Against the West Fifteen Years Ago. His Story Hasnt Changed. - The Bulwark