Posted on 09/18/2004 12:16:08 AM PDT by pook
Many in the West would prefer to herald the Beslan tragedy as an opportunity for greater U.S.-Russian cooperation in combating terrorism. In reality, however, relations between Washington and Moscow are following a downward spiral. In Russia we find an emerging dictatorship that espouses a subtle anti-American propaganda. What was previously hidden has come into view: the totalitarians are still in charge. Putin’s pretext for strengthening his dictatorship is found at Belsan, in 350 body bags.
What actually happened at Beslan (where hundreds of children were slaughtered by terrorists)? We still don’t know the facts.
Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya says that the FSB poisoned her on a flight from Moscow to Rostov, effectively keeping her from reaching Beslan. She was not alone in being hindered. Journalist Andrei Babitsky was detained at Vnukovo airport on “a specious pretext.” Russian security personnel drugged Georgian journalist Nana Lezhava’s coffee, putting her out of action at a critical moment. The 55-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) took note of these and other incidents in a “scathing” report on the Kremlin’s handling of the Beslan affair. According to the OSCE, the Kremlin forfeited its credibility by preventing journalists from reaching Beslan. From the outset, Russian authorities told one lie after another. As if to prevent accurate information from reaching the outside world, Russian authorities also interfered with foreign journalists, confiscating television footage.
With Beslan as a pretext, Putin has moved to consolidate his already formidable powers. Russia’s so-called “democracy” is now being liquidated. This is not surprising for those of us who have watched the changes in Eastern Europe since 1989. From the outset, secret totalitarian structures were left beneath the surface to guide the process of liberalization, to herd the new business class and infiltrate the various governments. Organized crime became a prominent tool in this process. The secret creatures of the totalitarian apparatus came to power, as “dissidents” or as “reform communists.” Capitalism and freedom were set up in Eastern Europe with this endgame in mind. It was a confidence scheme; and now the scheme has played itself out. Moscow’s strategic gains have been absorbed, now the reversion begins.
Russia’s so-called “oligarchs” have been driven into exile, frightened into cooperation or arrested. The Kremlin has “cemented its control” over the Russian energy sector. The old Soviet anthem is back. Soviet battle flags have been restored. The founder of the Soviet secret police, whose birthday is Sept. 11, is now openly celebrated. The old KGB has taken Russia by the throat. The West’s alarm, however, is muted by hope. Nobody wants to admit that America’s Cold War victory was equivocal; that step-by-step it is coming undone.
Given the Kremlin’s dishonest behavior during the Beslan affair, would it be outrageous to suggest that the tragic massacre was a provocation organized by the FSB/KGB?
Already Izvestiya is calling Putin’s power-grab “The September Revolution.” Other Russian publications are calling it a “restoration.” Wednesday’s Washington Post featured a story by Peter Baker titled, “Critics Say Putin Must Address Security Corruption.” According to Baker, “Putin … had been planning to centralize … political authority for months and took advantage of the school seizure in Beslan to unveil the decision.” This begs the question. If the liquidation of Russian democracy was planned in advance, then how did Putin think he would justify his blatant power grab to the Russian people? Surely he had something in mind.
The following changes have been proposed by Putin: (1) Regional governors, instead of being elected by the people, will be appointed by Putin and confirmed by regional assemblies; (2) Duma representatives will be selected from party lists, making parliamentary opposition all but impossible; (3) the restoration of the death penalty is being contemplated (suggesting a return to the sanguinary “discipline” of the Stalin era). In keeping with recent developments, we can expect that private companies will be seized on various pretexts, bank accounts will be frozen and businessmen will be arrested as the Kremlin rebuilds its totalitarian machinery. Already the Russian government has announced a 50 percent pay increase for the military.
This so-called “September Revolution” has been greeted with dismay in Washington and London. As one might expect, Vladimir Putin will have none of it. He bluntly tells his Western counterparts to “stay out of Russia’s business.” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says that America has no right to impose its democratic ideals on others. “This is our internal affair,” he explained. “We, on our side, do not comment on the U.S. system of presidential elections.”
Moscow’s attitude is nothing new. The most distressing fact in all of this, however, is the ultimate non-reaction of the Western elite. There is a strong tendency to self-deception in Washington, especially where Russia is concerned, and this tendency is struggling mightily against truth. And what is this truth? Former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko spelled it out in his book when he described Putin’s objective as “the total destruction of the foundations of a constitutional society built on the admittedly frail but, nonetheless, democratic values of a market economy” in Russia.
The failure of freedom in Russia is a major event. No other country is as dangerous as Russia. No other country has thousands of nuclear weapons pointed at America. None has missiles as advanced as Russia’s. None has a submarine fleet as large. To rate Russia as “just another country” is to negate the last 100 years of history.
I should like to end with a quote from Bill Gertz’s new book, Treachery: “The record of Russian proliferation – to Iraq and other dangerous countries – is long. Classified intelligence reports show that for more than a decade Moscow used its arms sales to rogue states as a strategic hammer against the United States.”
Now ask yourself: Why has Russia done this?
"The Saint's relics will be returned to Diveyevo and Russia will be restored."
They just did this, last year I think or recently. Returned the relics.
So if a North Korean research satellite, courtesy of Comrade Putin, happens to incinerate Seattle we can send the appropriate reply to him and his North Korean buddy.
Interesting, thanks.
Remember Christ's first warning regarding signs of his return was "deception" and he was talking to Christians.
Putin's comment -- that North Korea would end its missile program if other nations provided it with rocket technology for space exploration -- was expected to receive attention during the G8 summit.
The three-day summit of the world's leading industrial nations begins Friday; G8 leaders plan to meet officials from developing nations on Thursday, however, to discuss debt- and poverty-related issues.
"The country which could probably steward North Korea out of isolation, help them, if they are looking to get out of isolation, might be Russia," said former Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev.
Putin, the first Russian leader to visit North Korea, offered few details about how a program of shared technology would work, or who would finance it. He rejected a suggestion that Russia send its rockets to North Korea. He also told reporters that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il had assured him that North Korea's missile program was only used for peaceful purposes.
"The North Korean government is prepared to use exclusively the rocket technology of other nations if they provide such an opportunity for the peaceful exploration of space," Putin said.
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Putin...told reporters that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il had assured him that North Korea's missile program was only used for peaceful purposes. "The North Korean government is prepared to use exclusively the rocket technology of other nations if they provide such an opportunity for the peaceful exploration of space," Putin said.
An absolute pant load .
I wondered when the Dems would try to establish that Bush's fumbling foreign policy restarted the cold war. First salvo. Deluge coming. All for the cause.
I was thinking how well this works for the left.
A Pentagon report on weapons found in Iraq after the war revealed a staggering amount of armaments, almost all foreign-made. The report, first disclosed in a new book by one of this column's writers, Bill Gertz, reached this stark conclusion: "Foreign munitions were used against coalition forces during the war and continue to be a potential source of explosives for improvised explosive devices still being used to kill U.S. soldiers."
According to the report cited in "Treachery: How America's Friends and Foes are Secretly Arming Our Enemies," 24 nations supplied armaments to Saddam Hussein. The total amount was between 650,000 tons and 1 million tons. By contrast, the entire U.S. military arsenal is between 1.6 million and 1.8 million tons.
The big three arms suppliers were Russia (and the Soviet Union), China and France: Russia supplied 122 different types of arms and a total of nearly 13 million items; China had provided 19 different types of arms and almost 380,000 items; France had supplied 12 different armaments and more than 115,000 items.
The report was produced by the office of deputy undersecretary of defense for international technology security, John Shaw.
It found that Russia had violated U.N. sanctions on Iraq by selling Saddam Hussein Kornet-E antitank guided weapons. The report said that in March 2003, Kornet missiles, first developed in 1994, were fired at two U.S. Army M-1A1 Abrams tanks near Najaf, disabling them.
The report also stated that Syria purchased 500 to 1,000 Kornets from Ukraine "on behalf of Iraq"; the transfers took place in early 2003, the report said. The Ukrainians had bought the missiles from Russian manufacturers. The report concluded, "Possession of the Kornet-E violates U.N. Security Council Resolution 687," which barred arms sales to Iraq.
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An examply of Putin's Christian charity?
"...improvised explosive devices still being used to kill U.S. soldiers.
"The big three arms suppliers were Russia (and the Soviet Union), China and France: Russia supplied 122 different types of arms and a total of nearly 13 million items... That would be Putin's Russian.
"It found that Russia had violated U.N. sanctions on Iraq by selling Saddam Hussein Kornet-E antitank guided weapons. The report said that in March 2003, Kornet missiles, first developed in 1994." Charity Putin style.
"The Ukrainians had bought the missiles from Russian manufacturers. The report concluded, "Possession of the Kornet-E violates U.N. Security Council Resolution 687," which barred arms sales to Iraq." It's a shame Putin doesn't export Bibles...they would kill fewer of our people.
Ask the Serbs sometime about the fun they had with our bombs.
Putin's Christian charity...illegal arms sales to Islamic nations.
That's the best you can do in defense of Putin's illegal arms sales to Iraq...being used to kill our troops even today.
How old are you? Do you think time began in Serbia?
Who held that state together until they fell, sure wasn't the US?
Clinton intervened because nobody else would and CNN ran the pictures 24/7.
JR Nyquist was a chechen supporter and I suspect you are as well.
I am happy to sit back and see what happens, and when you are proven wrong, I'll be sure to remind you of all these doom and gloom posts of yours.
The facts are that Putin is in a bad place and Russia has lost repeatedly to a single psychopath terrorist with a huge cult following. An *elected* governor, perhaps illegally elected, looked the other way while explosives were planted that killed children and people.
Russia is filled with rampant corruption and Putin doesn't want another election, real or otherwise, to put in place another pro-chechen who will allow Beslan the second to happen. The only way he sees to stop this is to take full responsibility and a lot of control. It is exactly like what I do when I don't trust my teenagers.
Paranoia is not called for when the facts clearly show a frightened man, not a power-hungry one. Putin just realized he doesn't have time, after all, to slowly clean up the corruption left behind by Yeltsin. Because Basayev just announced his intention to do the same or worse as he did at Beslan, and asap.
As for the rest of it, you said it yourself, Russia is not our ally. But they look to be becoming Israel's and very soon. Putin doesn't owe us anything, and as I recall, some Israeli leaders have told us to butt out in the past too. Sharon doesn't seem the least bit threatened by Putin's arm sales or whatever. How can that be?
Thanks.
Gertz's book is on my must read book.
Ah yes, Klintoon, Madeline Halfbright, and CNN, a worthy team.
It never went away.
"As for the rest of it, you said it yourself, Russia is not our ally. But they look to be becoming Israel's and very soon. Putin doesn't owe us anything, and as I recall, some Israeli leaders have told us to butt out in the past too. Sharon doesn't seem the least bit threatened by Putin's arm sales or whatever. How can that be?"
You would not believe the answers if you were given them.
LOL! Not at all, I'm simply exposing Putin for the person he really is.
Bill Gertz has the facts on your beloved Putin...arms merchant of death.
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