Russia wouldn’t need these miraculous new missile detection systems if the West had listened to Putin in Munich 10 years ago. He warned against unipolar world domination, calling instead for a multilateral approach, relying on international law, which stems from humanitarian values. He argued that nothing else was even realistic.

Putin: "I believe that the unipolar model is not only unacceptable, it simply will not work. And not only because no country has the power to run the whole world by themselves, but more importantly, because the model itself is defective — for it lacks a moral foundation".

What is amoral rarely works. It is a simple idea, but it seems to have been lost on the likes of George Bush and Barack Obama. They staked their claim to world domination on disgraceful wars which they lost. The US has paid dearly for it.

I’m not just talking about wasted treasure. The country has fractured and lost a sense of right and wrong. The result: a shockingly dishonest media and a country stalked by hatred. This is what Putin was warning against 10 years ago — the dangers of a unipolar world.

Putin continues: "No matter how you sugar-coat it, it always come down to the same thing: one center of power, one decision-maker, one master, one ruler. It is ruinous not only for the ruled, but also for the ruler, for it corrupts his state from within".

Putin’s words were prophetic — it came true. Fortune tellers rely on guessing, astrology, or faith, but Putin relied on something else — his knowledge and respect for the history of civilizations, and his sense that Russia is a rock of strength which will not be callously pushed around. Since then, the US has blundered into the Middle East, North Africa, and Ukraine: new ventures — same old results. The precision of Putin’s warning 10 years ago is uncanny.

(Putin continues): "The result? — unilateral and often illegal actions have solved nothing. On the contrary, they have brought human tragedy and conflict. We have more war than before, and far more people are dying in these wars than ever before".

If Trump truly wants to be ‘friends with Russia’, the US should build relationships the old-fashioned way — by focusing on shared values.

The leaders of our countries have not yet begun preparations for a meeting. Trump would do well to start by reading Putin’s 2007 Munich speech. I hope his CIA briefers include it in his reading list. Without it, his briefing will be incomplete, as it contains quite a bit about the US.

(Putin continues) — "We see growing disdain for international law — what’s more, the legal system of one country, the US, has spread around the world in all areas — economic, political, and humanitarian — pushing itself on other countries. Nobody likes this".

He specifically proposed doing the ‘hard work’ necessary to agree to a new global security architecture: "I am convinced that we have reached a turning point — we must together rethink our entire approach to world security".

This turning point is now upon us. A new approach to foreign policy is a hot topic today in the US. Putin’s Munich speech is an excellent primer, still fresh after 10 years.

Meanwhile, the old US policy of regime change and pitting nations against each other continues by inertia. Nowhere has it brought happiness, while huge amounts of blood is spilt.

Petr Poroshenko still thinks he can count on a pat on the head from America for his war, so he keeps on killing.