Opening Moscow's Bag of Political and Strategic Tricks

Jrnyquist.com ^ | 9 Sept 2014 | J.R. Nyquist

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

Opening Moscow's Bag of Political and Strategic Tricks

Commentary for 9 September 2014

Political correctness was invented by Marxists to destroy Western society from inside…. And in Russia, there is no political correctness at all! The reason is that Marxists do not need to undermine the Russian society from the inside, because it is already Marxist.

– Konstantin Preobrazhensky, “How the West Was Fooled by Vladimir Putin”

In order to understand what is happening in Ukraine it's useful to consider Moscow's bag of political and strategic tricks. It is our failure to understand these tricks that causes us to misread Russian moves and intentions. As an aside, we might ask if our current approach of threatening economic sanctions is entirely realistic given Russia's agents and friends in our midst? There is something odd, after all, in an economic system as vulnerable as ours going after a state (Russia) with a long history of semi-autarky. The sanctions against Russia are undoubtedly necessary, but is big business willing to give up on the Russian market? Would any politician act against the interests of big business in this regard? Again, we must not underestimate the influence Russia has within our own economy. Furthermore, even if sanctions are politically feasible against Russia, the West has made itself vulnerable to Russian counter-measures; for Russia is the capital of international organized crime and, as such, it is an international clearing house for the blackmail of politicians, the corruption of banks through money-laundering, the infiltration of the CIA and FBI, and is the center of a conspiracy to weaken U.S. dollar. One might ask, given the tools available to the Russian strategists, how can they fail?

Then there is Russia’s military potential. With regard to major opponents, the West seriously underestimated its enemies twice during the last century: first in 1939 when the Allies believed they had boxed in Nazi Germany with their “guarantee” to Poland; and again, with sanctions on Japan in 1941. In the first instance Germany smashed Poland and crushed France. In the second instance, Japan destroyed the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, defeated the U.S. forces in the Philippines and captured the British forces in Singapore.

Some may argue that Russians are not as capable as Germans and Japanese. After all, Russia is a backward country; the Russian economy stinks; Russian equipment is obsolete and their people are demoralized. Even more egregious, Russian commanders are political stooges. But wait! Russia put the first man into space. Russia launched the first satellite. Russia built the first operational version of the hydrogen bomb. Let's not make the mistake of underestimating Russia.

Adolf Hitler underestimated Russia. Oh yes, in 1942, out of the mouth of Hitler himself, in a recorded conversation with Baron Mannerheim, we find the following words:

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

Rest at link