Russia’s modern wars and imperialism: a history of blood, terror & propaganda

The attention of the international community has rarely been focused on this simple and horrifying truth: modern Russia has been waging wars since the very first years after the fall of the USSR. Most of its wars follow the same inhumane and repetitive patterns: political provocations, funding separatism & terrorism, heavy casualties among civilians due to widespread use of artillery and aviation, poverty and lawlessness in the invaded regions, and a backdrop of outlandish Kremlin propaganda.

To show that Russia has always kept up its brutal imperialist ambitions, we only have to list the wars from 1991 to 2015 with some short qualifying remarks:

-ARMED CONFLICT IN TRANSNISTRA (1990 — 1992). Russia created a lawless breakaway region in Moldova, supplying local criminals and separatists with weapons and armored vehicles.

-SOUTH OSSENTIAN WAR (1991 — 1993). A war between Georgia and its breakaway region South Ossetia. Russia supplied weapons to both sides, funded separatists, and then froze the conflict, using its army as an oppressive “peacekeeping” force.

-WAR IN ABKHAZIA (1992 — 1993). The second breakaway region created by Russia within Georgia’s sovereign borders. The conflict was orchestrated by Russia via the same methods and for the same reason: to exert pressure on Georgia, blackmail and try to control its government.

FIRST CHECHEN WAR (1994 — 1996). The first truly bloody and large-scale war conducted directly by Russia against the Chechen republic when it tried to attain independence. The war saw heavy use of artillery and aviation, the bombing of civilians, and the destruction of cities.

SECOND CHECHEN WAR (1999 — 2009). The second phase of the Chechen war, the “Empire strikes back” scenario, where Russia took revenge for its previous defeat. These two wars became a brutal “school” for Russian artillery officers and pilots on how to bomb cities into submission via mass killing of civilians. This experience would later be used in Syria and Ukraine to horrifying effect.

RUSSIAN GEORGIAN WAR (2008). The final (as of now) act of the conflict with Georgia, where Russia finally used the excuse of the breakaway republics it itself created to openly invade Georgia with its army. The war inclulded bombing of peaceful cities by Russian planes.

OCCUPATION OF CRIMEA (2014 — present day). The Kremlin reaction to Ukraine’s move towards democracy and global integration. The annexation was done via military invasion of the Ukrainian peninsula by the Russian army and a staged fake referendum.

WAR IN DONBASS (2014 — present day). The invasion and temporary occupation of parts of Donbas and Luhansk regions. Russia used covert army operatives for provocations and armed local criminals and separatists with heavy weapons.

MILITARY OPERATIONS IN SYRIA (2015 — present day). One of the most terrible modern acts of military brutality. Started by Russia for political reasons, it was notable to due to the bombing of civilian hospitals by Russian aviation, indiscriminate killing of civilians and the horrific (nearly complete) destruction of the city of Aleppo by Russian forces.

RUSSIA CREATES BREAKAWAY REGIONS USING THE "SALAMI METHOD" (or the creeping invasion). The salami method is a metaphor used by some political analysts: Russia expands its oppressive global influence by slicing off parts of neighboring countries with the eventual goal of full takeover. Before the 2022 war in Ukraine, it did so slowly, gradually, to minimize international sanctions. This ensures the global community gets tired of dealing with protracted conflicts and loses its focus and unity. This has proven effective up to 2022, as Russia was never punished severely enough to stop.

INTERNATIONAL BLACKMAIL AND IMPERIALIST INFLUENCE ABROAD: by creating frozen conflicts throughout Eurasia, and stationing its troops there, Russia can exert influence on smaller countries, terrorizing countries like Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine (and indirectly their neighbors like Lithuania, Poland and the Baltic states). It can also blackmail and threaten larger global players like the EU and U.S. that are forced to enter into negotiations or deal with the fallout of Russian aggression. Essentially, this is geopolitical equivalent of a schoolyard bully or domestic abuser.

POPULARITY AT HOME DISTRACTING ITS OWN POPULATION USING THE MYTH OF "IMPERIAL GREATNESS" Despite the trillions of roubles earned from energy exports, Russia’s population is in constant economic and societal crisis, with millions living in medieval conditions. The Kremlin regime robs its own country blind but retains its power by distracting the people from poverty and corruption using military conquest. This way, the people can focus on the “myth of imperial greatness”, on the idea of a “special Russian destiny” instead of rebelling against internal problems in Russia.

BOMBING AND SHELLING CIVILIAN CITIES AND AREAS. Even back in 1991, the Chechen capital of Grozny was reduced to rubble by Russian bombs with no regard for civilian lives. When looking at photos of the leveled city from 1994, one can’t help drawing a horrible parallel to the brutallized Mariupol and Kharkiv in 2022. Nothing seems to have changed.

Civilian casualties and humanitarian disasters are a traditional attribute of Russian wars. Depending on the source, civilian deaths from Russian bombings in the First Chechen War are stated as anywhere from 10,000 to 200,000 people. Hundreds of thousands of refugees fled the country in 1994-1996. Russia’s war with Georgia resulted in 192,000 refugees; 224 civilians killed and 15 missing; 547 civilians injured.

ARMING SEPARATISTS AND CRIMINALS This has also been a method copy-pasted by Russian imperalists, FSB operatives and Kremlin politicians over and over. The Transnistrian conflict started by Russian provocateurs taking Moldovan police officers hostage. Then the local criminals and separatists were armed with Russian weapons (firearms, tanks, artillery). The same exact methods were used in Chechnya, Georgia and Ukraine: the criminals in the occupied regions of Donbas and Luhansk, for example, were declared by the Kremlin to “have found the tanks abandoned in old coal mines”.

COVERT OPERATIONS OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY The armed aggression of Russia in Transnistria, Georgia, Crimea and Eastern Ukraine pre-2022 all included Russian special forces entering other sovereign countries to cause provocations, occupy cities and cause violence. Independent investigations indicate that many so-called “local rebels” were actually Russian soldiers out of uniform.

MUDDYING THE WATER (INTERNATIONAL PROPAGANDA). The goal of Russian propaganda abroad is based on the KGB playbook: sow chaos and confusion, spread so many outlandish and contradictory narratives that the civilized world doesn’t know what to believe. This is called upon to ensure there is no unity in the West. Examples of this are ridiculous claims about “repressions of Russian-speakers”, “Ukrainian nazis”, “nations” of Transnistria or Crimea (which are just administrative regions of sovereign countries) and many other examples of disinformation. The end result: Western freedom of speech is used to seed propaganda and confuse minds.

XENOPHOBIA AND MACHISMO AR HOME (INTERNAL PROPAGANDA). The Chechen wars were justified to regular Russians by painting the Chechens as islamic extremists. Russian society was mobilized based on the government fostering xenophobia and racism. Ukrainians also face an unprecdented level of hate from Russia in 2022, with state propaganda justifying “de-Ukrainization” in official publications (essentially – physical and cultural cleansing) with the rhetoric similar to Germany in 1939.

On the other end of the propaganda spectrum, the murderous Russian army is presented at home as “liberators” and “peacekeepers”, ignoring the facts of war crimes: killings, rape, bombing civilian homes, etc. Supposed Russian military might is presented as a point of pride to the regular Russian citizen.

HOW HAVE THESE INVASIONS AND WARS AFFECTED THE REGIONS RUSSIA SUPPOSEDLY "LIBERATED"?

The long-term influence of Russia’s invasions and frozen conflicts on the occupied territories inevitably results in poverty and criminality. Transnistria is entirely dependent on Russian subsidies, it is a hotbed of smuggling and illegal weapon trade; many investigators claim it is a country controlled by the local mafia. Territories like Abkhazia and South Ossetia are in a terrible state as well: the locals survive on subsistence farming, and most of the industrial manufacturing has shut down.

The man who started the Russian invasion of Donbas in 2014 (the terrorist and FSB operative Girkin) himself admitted that the Russian occupation has turned the occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk into a criminal wasteland. Since Ukraine temporarily lost control of these areas, the UN has reported growing lawlessness, cases of killings, torture, and abduction carried out by the Russian-backed forces.

WHY WASN'T THERE MORE INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION (AND MORE PUNISHMENT) FOR THESE RUSSIAN WARS?

ENERGY EXPORTS Any political confrontation with Russia is complicated by the energy dependency of many European countries on Russian oil and gas. Even though income from these exports is literally used to finance Russian wars, some European states have their economy (factories, industry) and population (ex: heating of homes) dangerously tied to Russian energy. This has led to closer political ties starting from the early 2000s.

The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has led to discussion of removing these dependencies, but the history of the last 20 years still remains.

FOSTERING INTERNATIONAL CORRUPTION Russia not only has a deep culture of corruption at home that affects all areas of society (136th worst in the world out of 180 countries, with no improvements over 20 years), but it also “exports” corruption to compromise other countries. The FSB and Kremlin use Western democracy and free markets to “weaponize” corruption, buying influence in many companies, media institutions and political circles. This ensures that when the time comes, the regime in Moscow can sow discord among civilized countries and push through harmful decisions and narratives.

PROPAGANDA AND THE “SALAMI METHOD. These methods already mentioned above work effectively to lower the reaction of the global community. Cutting off territories piece by piece and sowing confusion via propaganda previously stopped the civilized world from presenting a unified front. The invaded countries are also often far away geographically and not well-known by the Western world culturally (once again – Russia uses the classic abuser tactic of isolating its victims).

RUSSIA'S BRUTAL INVASION OF UKRAINE HAS FORCED THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO LOOK DEEPER INTO THE NATURE OF RUSSIA'S MILITARY AGGRESSION. HOWEVER, TO PREVENT MORE TRAGEDIES HAPPENING IN THE FUTURE, WE MUST TRULY UNDERSTAND THE PAST.

Evil Empire Speech
by Ronald Reagan
March 8, 1983
Historical Note

On March 8, 1983, President Reagan delivered an address to a meeting of the National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando, Florida. It referred to communism as “the focus of
evil in the modern world,” and quickly became known as his “Evil Empire Speech.” The speech was delivered at a time when Congress was debating a resolution in support of a
“nuclear freeze,” a doctrine supported by the Soviet Union that would have prevented the deployment of U.S. cruise and Pershing II Missiles in Europe. On March 7, President Reagan
had met in the White House with a group of conservative leaders and pro-defense elected officials on the subject of the nuclear freeze. The President advised that his Administration was stalwart in opposition to the nuclear freeze, but meeting participants nonetheless urged
him to use his presidential “bully pulpit” more often on the topic.

Following the meeting, according to a contemporaneous report by the President’s National Security Advisor Judge
William Clark, the President added paragraphs to a speech he was scheduled to deliver the next day to the National Association of Evangelicals. Those additional paragraphs turned it from a routine, if worthy, speech to one that electrified dissidents behind the Iron Curtain
and appalled Reagan’s domestic opposition, including much of the press. The speech was destined to go down in history as one of Reagan’s most influential addresses.

Reverend clergy all, Senator Hawkins, distinguished members of the Florida congressional delegation, and all of you:
I can’t tell you how you have warmed my heart with your welcome. I’m delighted to be here today.

Those of you in the National Association of Evangelicals are known for your spiritual and humanitarian work. And I would be especially remiss if I didn’t discharge right now one
personal debt of gratitude. Thank you for your prayers. Nancy and I have felt their presence many times in many ways. And believe me, for us they’ve made all the difference.

The other day in the East Room of the White House at a meeting there, someone asked me whether I was aware of all the people out there who were praying for the President. And I had to say, “Yes, I am. I’ve felt it. I believe in intercessionary prayer.”

But I couldn’t help but say to that questioner after he’d asked the question that — or at least say to them that if sometimes when he was praying he got a busy signal, it was just me in there ahead of him.
[Laughter]
I think I understand how Abraham Lincoln felt when he said, “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.”
From the joy and the good feeling of this conference, I go to a political reception.

[Laughter]
Now, I don’t know why, but that bit of scheduling reminds me of a story — [laughter] — which I’ll share with you.
An evangelical minister and a politician arrived at Heaven’s gate one day together. And St. Peter, after doing all the necessary formalities, took them in hand to show them where their quarters would be. And he took them to a small, single room with a bed, a chair, and a table and said this was for the clergyman. And the politician was a little worried about what might be in store for him. And he couldn’t believe it then when St. Peter stopped in front of a beautiful mansion with lovely grounds, many servants, and told him that these would be his quarters.

And he couldn’t help but ask, he said, “But wait, how — there’s something wrong — how do I get this mansion while that good and holy man only gets a single room?”
And St. Peter said, “You have to understand how things are up here. We’ve got thousands and thousands of clergy. You’re the first politician who ever made it.”
[Laughter]
But I don’t want to contribute to a stereotype So, I tell you there are a great many God-fearing, dedicated, noble men and women in public life, present company included. And yes, we need your help to keep us ever mindful of the ideas and the principles that brought us into the public arena in the first place. The basis of those ideals and principles is a commitment to freedom and personal liberty that, itself, is grounded in the much deeper realization that freedom prospers only where the blessings of God are avidly sought and humbly accepted.

American experiment in democracy rests on this insight. Its discovery was the great triumph of our Founding Fathers, voiced by William Penn when he said, “If we will not be
governed by God, we must be governed by tyrants.”
Explaining the inalienable rights of men, Jefferson said, “The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.”
And it was George Washington who said that “of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”

And finally, that shrewdest of all observers of American democracy, Alexis de Tocqueville, put it eloquently after he had gone on a search for the secret of America’s greatness and genius — and he said, “Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the greatness and the genius of America. America is good. And if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
Well, I’m pleased to be here today with you who are keeping America great by keeping her
good. Only through your work and prayers and those of millions of others can we hope to
survive this perilous century and keep alive this experiment in liberty — this last, best hope
of man.

I want you to know that this administration is motivated by a political philosophy that sees the greatness of America in you, her people, and in your families, churches, neighborhoods, communities — the institutions that foster and nourish values like concern for others and respect for the rule of law under God.”
https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/centers/boisi/pdf/Symposia/Symposia%202011-2012/Regan_EvilEmpire.pdf

Interesting site, enjoy:
http://www.irishmanabroad.com/2015/02/reagans-words-on-soviet-union-still-valid-today/

Reagan’s Words On Soviet Union – Still Valid Today

“His words spoken two decades ago are every bit as valid and relevant today as they were then. His dubbing of the Soviet Union as the “evil empire” could be as much describing today’s Russia ruled by an increasing megalomaniacal menace, Vladimir Putin, as it was then to describe Gorbachev’s politburo back in the 1980’s. The difference that set’s Gorbachev and Putin apart is that Gorbachev was actually trying to rebuild the Soviet Union for the better, whereas Putin aims to cling on the power come hell or high-water, lest he be dragged off his perch and prosecuted by the proletariat for the various crimes he has committed against them in his 16 years in power.”

Reagan rightly pointed out of the Soviet’s that “they lie, they cheat, you can’t trust them”. Only two weeks ago, a wet behind the ears Federica Mogherini announced a plan to lift sanctions against Russia and rebuild economic ties with the dictator, whilst our neighbours in Ukraine continue to fight and die as their country struggles against the occupation from it’s aggressive Russian neighbours. It seems that despite Europe’s leaders being taught the lessons of history, such as Hitler’s bare-faced lies to Neville Chamberlain or of the duplicitous Stalin carving up the map of Europe in Yalta, they still prefer to live in a world where they believe that today’s world leaders wouldn’t dare dream of thinking or acting in a similar fashion.

But one has to only look at Putin’s track record to know that he is capable of anything and has in fact already shown that to be the case. His crack down on freedoms of speech, his near monopolistic stranglehold on the press, and the increasing, almost monotheistic “Power Vertical” he so lovingly refers too in his speeches, all point to a man who has become drunk on power. And his continued wars in Chechnya, Transnistria, Dagestan, Georgia and now Ukraine all demonstrate that he will stop at nothing to maintain his position at the top at home, and project his power abroad.

In Reagan’s own words back then, “detente” with the Soviet Union was a “one way street” and that the Soviet Union repeatedly acknowledged and declared that their intention was to “further their [communist] cause. Meaning that they reserve the right to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat, in order to attain that”. This pretty much sums up today’s Russia and Putin’s current foreign and domestic policies. But if you don’t believe me, then why not listen to the words of “Ronnie” and decide for yourself.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCl5FG9Kl7s&t=516s

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