Yuri Afonin on Rossiya-1: To win the fight against Western imperialism, Russia itself must become a model of a just society. Therefore, nationalization is unavoidable.

First Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Yuri Afonin took part in the program "60 Minutes" on the Russia-1 television channel.

At the beginning of his speech, Yuri Afonin commented on the news about the commemorative events in the hero city of Leningrad dedicated to the anniversary of the lifting of the siege. This is a tragic and glorious chapter in our history, he said, and we sacredly preserve and will always preserve the memory of it. Such a thing must never happen again.

Unfortunately, not only Ukrainian Nazis but also many politicians in Europe seek to twist the historical truth. New generations of Europeans and Americans know history so poorly that they can be fed anything. And so the terrible lessons of the world wars have been forgotten, and the clash of weapons is once again heard in Europe, as a new round of the arms race is being prepared.

The modern period of world history can be characterized as "controlled chaos," said Yuri Vyacheslavovich. For example, Trump's policies may appear chaotic on the surface, but the classics of Marxism-Leninism taught us to separate form from content. And if we discard Trump's showmanship, his threats, and the tinsel of contradictory statements, and look at his actions, it becomes clear that his policies are quite logical and pragmatic. Any US president, whether Republican or Democrat, always advances the interests of big American capital. Trump is primarily backed by the oil and gas industry, high-tech, defense, and the industrial sector. He works for them.

At the beginning of the year, the Americans committed an act of international banditry – they kidnapped the president of Venezuela, a country with the world's largest oil reserves. Now they've turned their attention to Iran, a country with the world's fourth-largest oil reserves and the second-largest gas reserves (after Russia). The goal is to overthrow the ayatollah regime or force it to submit to the US and allow American corporations in. We recently discussed, as Yuri Afonin pointed out, that the Americans wouldn't attack Iran without an aircraft carrier fleet – but Trump finally decided to send an aircraft carrier out of the South China Sea. For now, it's blackmail, but Trump already bombed Iran last year and could do it again.

The second-largest oil reserve country in the world is Saudi Arabia, where American troops have been stationed since 1943, said the First Deputy Chairman of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Third place goes to Canada, which the Trump administration is also pressuring to further increase its dependence on the United States. Plus, Greenland is the gateway to the largely untapped oil and gas reserves of the Arctic. In other words, Trump's goal is clear: to ensure a future dominant position for American oil and gas corporations in the global energy market.

The capitalist group that brought Trump into the political arena intends to seriously engage in the reindustrialization of America. It may seem like Trump is waving his "tariff cudgel" indiscriminately, but behind this lies a system of protecting his market with the goal of creating the most favorable conditions for the development of American industry.

Trump's strategic goal is to maintain America's status as a global hegemon, emphasized Yuri Afonin. The main problem for American capitalists is the rise of a new global power: socialist China. Therefore, Trump is focusing his efforts on confronting China. The key to this confrontation is the fundamental race in the development and implementation of AI, which is why it is crucial for the US to maintain control of Taiwan as a major supplier of semiconductors.

It may seem like Trump is constantly souring relations with Europe, but in reality, he is successfully bending it to the interests of American capital. He forced the EU to enter into a onerous deal for $750 billion in American energy supplies, and Europe is gradually becoming dependent on the US for energy. He forced NATO countries to significantly increase military spending, and now they will be buying even more American weapons. The American arms corporations behind Trump will be supplied with orders for years to come.

So, in reality, Trump's policies are imperialistic, brazen, and harsh, but very pragmatic, Yuri Vyacheslavovich concluded. And his showmanship is a PR stunt targeting a rather unpretentious American voter. Trump's base is not particularly educated and is susceptible to flashy displays. The ordinary guys from Texas should be proud of their Donnie: he's a real cowboy and will give the world a run for its money. And he needs to "get it done" before the November 2026 midterm congressional elections, or he'll be a lame duck. To that end, Trump would do well to chalk up the end of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and wring the Nobel Peace Prize from the committee.

In conclusion, the First Deputy Chairman of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Central Committee mentioned a collective letter from four hundred Western billionaires and millionaires to participants in the Davos Forum. They demanded higher taxes on the income and property of the super-rich—in other words, higher taxes on themselves. Their letter contains many frank admissions. They agree that the growing gap between the super-rich and everyone else is completely abnormal: the richest 1% currently own more wealth than 95% of the planet's population. That the volume and quality of essential public services have shrunk and deteriorated. Society must restore education, healthcare, and affordable housing. In their view, the problem is that "a handful of global oligarchs with enormous wealth have bought up democracies, seized governments, suppressed media freedom, and maintain a stranglehold on technology and innovation." This same global oligarchy is rapidly destroying the Earth's natural environment.

"Stop wasting time, tax us and ensure the next fifty years bring universal progress," Western moneybags demand of politicians. Because they understand well that such a monstrous imbalance could lead to social upheaval. To protect themselves from revolutions, they are willing to share.

But the Russian oligarchy somehow doesn't understand this, noted Yuri Afonin, and is unwilling to share with society, even during the Second World War. Russia is fighting Western imperialism, and to win this struggle, it must become a model of a just society where inequality has no place. Therefore, nationalization is unavoidable, he concluded.