Posted on 08/12/2006 9:10:29 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
The KGB lives, and is still participating in Cold War era activities like killing enemies of the state and harassing troublesome diplomats.
Really.
The Cold War struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union is not over, sort of.
While the U.S., and its allies, won the Cold War, and the Soviet Union is gone, one part of the Soviet Union, Belarus, remains, well, rather Soviet. Belarus (formerly Belorussia, or "White Russia") was one of the parts of the Soviet Union that became an independent country in 1991. But rather than become a democracy, the Soviet era bureaucrats who used to run the place when it was part of the Soviet Union, continued to run the new state of Belarus. Little changed. Belarus still has a KGB, and the KGB still does the dirty work for the minor league tyrants that still run Belarus. A recent incident featured the KGB bugging the home of a Latvian diplomat, and passing the video, of a homosexual tryst, on to a state controlled television channel. The KGB also raided the diplomat's home, saying that is was searching for pornographic material. In fact, the Latvian diplomat was being harassed for meeting with opposition politicians. Can't have that, not in the Soviet State of Belarus.
But the KGB went too far. While the Soviet Union could shrug off the occasional abuse of diplomatic immunity (which they did), because of their superpower status, Belarus barely qualifies as a minor power. The Vienna Convention, to which all nations subscribe, prohibits violations of diplomatic immunity. Iran trampled on the Vienna Convention back in 1979, and is still paying the price. Belarus is hoping their KGB will get them out of this mess. Somehow. But the Belarus KGB is not much of an intelligence agency, in any sense of the word, having been largely taken over by a bunch of politically well connected thugs.
"But rather than become a democracy, the Soviet era bureaucrats who used to run the place when it was part of the Soviet Union,"
Themore they change , the more its the same.
I have no doubt that this is true. Putin is a former KGB operative and I believe that the agency never really ceased operations, they just went more underground for awhile.
The KGB is a vile organization and, as Russia sinks back to its recent communist history, the KGB will be an even greater presence in their lives.
Its a pity. The Russians could have made something positive with their nation.
I suppose it's a lot like the moonbat Left: when you've spent your whole life as a hammer, all you can do is define everything else as a nail. Take that away and your life has been wasted. No wonder you cling to the outmoded past that shaped you and that gave your existence meaning.
I have no doubt that this is true. Putin is a former KGB operative and I believe that the agency never really ceased operations, they just went more underground for awhile. ==
What is doing Putin in Belorus?:)))))
Seems like usual mantra on "KGB" brought to you Joe the usual response of ignorant crowd. DO you like it?:)
Putin at least the univercity graduate as the rest of his team. How could the ignorant and illiterate people compete with him and his team? Phew:).
He mentioned that there were a good number of old-school officers that were holding out. He just shrugged his shoulders and referred to them as dinosaurs.
Putin supports Luka and opposed a pro-American "color" revolution in Belarus. Putin apparently considers freedom from communist tyranny a threat to his own regime.
One of the reasons the Russians were so chronically ineffective against Napoleon was because their command structure was so haphazard that the front-line troops didn't know whose orders to follow, if they followed any orders at all.
It was my observation, when in the former Soviet Union during the early and mid-1990s, that most "foreign aid" we sent them went into the pockets of "ex"-Communists, and not to the ordinary people.
I inquired on the matter with a USAID employee in Kiev, and his comment was simply, "we have to work with who we know."
Uh-huh.
The gentleman I described earlier is in Kiev as we speak, telling much the same story. There is a hide-bound bureaucracy in the Ukraine that does not welcome change. It is extremely powerful, if by virtue of nothing but its sheer inertia.
"One of the reasons the Russians were so chronically ineffective against Napoleon was because their command structure was so haphazard that the front-line troops didn't know whose orders to follow, if they followed any orders at all."
Now, this is strange... I was under the illusion that Napoleon entered Russia with half a million men and left in a hurry with less than two thousand. Those ineffective russians must not have listened to Kutuzov et al., who's advice to the Czar probably would have been different had he consulted FreeRepublic in time....
But this must be the result of inferior Hungarian education... I'll try to read more American versions of world history in the future so as not to embarrass myself.
The Russian winter and poor logistical planning defeated Napoleon on his retreat, not Mikhail Kutuzov! In fact, Kutozov tried his best -- wisely -- to keep his troops from engaging the retreating French army, since there was little to be gained from harassing men already at death's door.
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