THE COLD WAR'S LONGEST COVER-UP: HOW AND WHY THE USSR INSTIGATED THE 1967 WAR

A Fistful of Ruble Theory

How Many Soviet troops were actually committed to any foreign battles during the Cold War (Afghanistan not included)? If there was a measure of belief in ideologies between Western nations and the former Soviet Union, who really was committed to their ideas?

I doubt that Soviets had a genuine love for Jews, but would Soviets really bind themselves to Arabs and Egyptians to be later accused of hating Jews as much as Hitler's Nazis? The Soviets in charge then were all associated in no small way with the Great Patriotic War against Hitler. The Soviet Army also liberated concentration camps. I'm guessing, but I think that Soviets hated Nazis so thoroughly, that hating Jews would have put them on the same level as Nazis. This would have been repulsive to Soviets. I don't think that the Soviets trusted any religion, but they spared a few to the end (if you can call being imprisoned in Siberian Gulags as being "spared"). If Stalin hadn't died when he did, he would have persecuted what religions remained in the USSR.

Stalin's successors were never true believers in Communism. They were criminals who thought like criminals. I think that Soviet interest in the Middle East was to raise money by selling weapons. The Soviets saw any foreign power or ideas as a gangster business competitor (ironically, maybe that's how the Kennedy's could understand and deal with the Cuban Missile Crisis).

How different was Soviet support in the Middle East than what they gave to the Korean peninsula and PLA? Yes, there were Soviet pilots flying those MIGs, but where there other Soviet troops raising hell on a separate border against the same ideological enemy? Other than intel officers and weapons specialists (SAM missiles) in Vietnam, were there Soviet ground troops deployed to Southeast Asia? Of course they'd be ejected from the UN, but what stopped them from rejecting the UN first? Would it have been all the money they were raking in from the criminal businesses they were investing in (include also the rising drug culture)?

The Soviet expansion could not install any 100% obedient puppet outside its borders. China would never kowtow to Moscow as Mao walked his own path. Perhaps the next most influential thing that the Soviets could push was war itself. Revolutions in the Middle East dismantled pro-Western influence. But the reigning governments were nationalists. A failed war may put the Soviets in a better position to install politically favorable leaders friendly and obedient to Moscow. Otherwise, they made a killing on selling off their old military equipment and raised R&D money for new weapons systems. Whatever war being fought against the West (particularly the U.S.), Soviets were sure to send agents to collect intelligence.

I'll bet one ruble and one shekel that the Soviets were playing all sides to make money for themselves. Considering the numbers of Russian Jews in the Soviet Union and that Islam had always been a traditional enemy in Russia, I wonder if Soviets had actually informed Israelis of enemy equipment troops movements (all at a cost, of course).

Perhaps a notable statistic: were there any ex-Russian weapons dealers that sought and won asylum in Israel? Was it to repay invaluable favors?

Thanks for posting this very interesting article.

I had a look through Moshe Dayan's memoirs and some other books on the 6 Day War written quite soon after the events to see how much was known (or revealed) about the Soviet's intents.

All the authors are in agreement that that the Soviets had a large responsibility in stoking the fires prior to the war. Dayan in a short aside also writes that the Soviets had promised Nasser to send an expeditionary force.

However, nothing is written about any direct amphibious attack on Israel. But the Stasi archives have been shown to be very fruitful on many aspects of the "Cold War" - most recently about the murder attempt on pope John Paul (posted here on FR).

From a historical point this paper is interesting because it shows yet another instance where the Soviets revealed how "adventurist" they were - and how difficult it was for the western powers to not give in, but not to let the the cold war escalate to a hot war.

At best, those commentators who argued that the terrorists movements in Europe and other parts of the free world could not have been sponsored by the Soviets because the Soviet leaders were afraid of escalating conflicts with the west, totally misunderstood the policies of the Soviet Union.

Finally, one more point of interest. Ms Ginor mentions that Soviets according to their official history saw the Israeli attack on USS Liberty (maybe lucky that the article was so long - any post that mentions USS Liberty usually gives rise to very heated exchanges here on FR) as a reason to send its naval forces closer to the Egyptian waters in the Red Sea. But there may be another connection to USS Liberty and the story Ms Ginor writes.

In their book "The Six Day War" Randolph and Winston Churchill (son & grandson of the great Winston) write about the attack on USS Liberty. They speculate that one of the reasons for the nervous and rash action by the Israelis could have been the fact that one of their reconnaissance plane earlier in the day had seen a number of radar echoes coming towards Israel from the west. And this was interpreted as a possible large naval attack from Egypt.

Again, according to Churchill & Churchill later on the radar-echoes were reinterpreted as echoes from very uncommon cloud formation. In view of Ms Ginor's article I think I'll say hmmm..........

Ms Ginor writes that "the scope of this paper cannot include the sequence of events that prevented the activation of the Soviet operation on behalf of Egypt in the opening days of the war, and then brought about its restart as a declared, deterrent move to stop Israel's subsequent onslaught on Syria."

I certainly hope she will return to this story and write a paper where that part of the story can be included.

I doubt that Soviets had a genuine love for Jews, but would Soviets really bind themselves to Arabs and Egyptians...

The Russian Revolution was mostly a Jewish Revolution and retribution for decades of pogroms promoted by the Czar. The Red Russians, including ethnic-only Bolshevik Jews, feared/hated the Zionists, as they did the Arabs. The Zionists could ruin the creation of a secular Jewish socialist state. That's the connection and the distinction. As well, the opposite happened in America after WWII. The USA essentially became "Zionist" by being pro-Israel in its foreign policy.

I'm guessing, but I think that Soviets hated Nazis so thoroughly, that hating Jews would have put them on the same level as Nazis.

Ethnic Jews held high offices in the Russian Communist Party and the Russian military. Since the mass starvation of the Ukraine by Stalin is what gave Hitler the idea that a state could exterminate its undesirable populations, as long as it did not get caught. I don't think that comparisons with the Nazi's worried the Russians very much.

Stalin's successors were never true believers in Communism. They were criminals who thought like criminals. I think that Soviet interest in the Middle East was to raise money by selling weapons.

I agree. Those after Stalin continued the arms enterprise and endeavored to keep Israel as small as possible because its Zionist existence was a threat to the Soviet Union.

Perhaps a notable statistic: were there any ex-Russian weapons dealers that sought and won asylum in Israel?

Is the Pope Catholic!

How Many Soviet troops were actually committed to any foreign battles during the Cold War (Afghanistan not included)?

Here's something interesting I found on a Russian site:

THE FORGOTTEN WAR
From Novaya Gazeta, Aug 3, 2004

THE "FORGOTTEN WAR" - a special by Novaya Gazeta, whose purpose is to assemble an anthology of memoirs from Soviet officers and soldiers who served in the 'local wars' of 20th century.

The editorial staff of Novaya Gazeta turns to the readers and visitors on this site with a request to send us their recollections, evidence and stories on this theme.

From the extract of the federal law concerning veterans quoted below, you can recall when and where Russian soldiers and officers participated in the wars. These events have been erased from the active memory of people born in this post-Soviet era, but they cannot be crossed out from the history of Russia, or from the living recollections of those Russian servicemen who carried out their international duty abroad.

QUOTE

Countries, Cities, Territories and periods of combat with the participation of citizens from the Russian Federation

Division I

Civil war: 23 February 1918 - October 1922
Soviet-Polish war: March - October of 1920
Combat operations in Spain: 1936 - 1939;
War with Finland: 30 November 1939 - 13 March 1940
World War II: 22 June 1941 - 9(11) May 1945
War with Japan: 9 August 1945 - 3 September 1945
Combat operations for the liquidation of banditism: October 1922 - June 1931
Combat operations in the region of Khasan lake: 29 July - 11 August 1938
Combat operations on the Khalkin-Gol river: 11 May - 16 September 1939
Combat operations during the reunification of the USSR, West Ukraine and West Belorus:17- 28 September 1939
Combat operations in China: August 1924 - July 1927, October - November of 1929, July 1937 - September 1944, July - September of 1945, March 1946 - April 1949, March - May 1950 (for personnel from PVO Air Defense), June 1950 - July 1953 (for the personnel of the military subdivisions, which participated in combat in North Korea from the territory of China)
Combat operations in North Korea: June 1950 - July 1953
Combat operations in Hungary: 1956
Combat operations in Cuba during the Caribbean crisis: July 1962 - November 1963
Combat operations on Damanskiy island: March of 1969
Combat operations in the region of Lake Zhalanashkol' : August of 1969
Combat operations in Tadzhikistan: since 1990;
Combat operations in the Chechen republic: since October of 1994.

Division III

Combat operations in Laos: January 1960 - December 1963, August 1964 - November 1968, November 1969 - December 1970
Combat operations in Vietnam: January 1961 - December 1974
Combat operations in Algeria: 1962-1964
Combat operations in the Yemen Arab republic: 18 October 1962 - 31 March 1963, November 1967 - December 1969
Combat operations in Ethiopia: 1962-1991
Combat operations in Egypt (the United Arab Republic): 18 October 1962 - 31 March 1963, June 1967 - 1968, March 1969 - July 1972, 5 October 1973 - 31 March 1974, June 1974 - February 1975 (for the personnel of ships and auxiliaries from the Black Sea and Pacific Ocean fleets, which participated in the mine clearing of the zone of the Suez Canal)
Combat operations in Syria: 5-13 June 1967, 1 March - 31 July 1970, 1 September - 30 November 1972, 6-24 October of 1973
Combat operations in Mozambique: 1967-1969, November 1975 - November 1979
Combat operations in Cambodia: April - December 1970
Combat operations in Bangladesh: 1972-1973 (for the personnel of ships and auxiliaries in the navy of the USSR)
Combat operations in Cyprus and in the adjacent sea area: July - August 1974
Combat operations in Angola: November 1975 - 1994
Combat operations during the Sino-Vietnamese conflict: 17 February - 18 March 1979
Combat operations in Afghanistan: April 1978 - 15 February 1989
Combat operations during the of the Iran-Iraq war: September 1980 - August 1988 (for the personnel of the USSR navy, which ensuresd navigation in the Persian Gulf)
Combat operations in Syria and Lebanon: June 1982
Combat operations in South Sudan: 1983-1994
Combat operations during the Yemeni - Saudi conflict: 1 December 1983 - 31 January 1984
Combat operations in the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen 1 - 31 January 1986
Combat operations in the territory of Libya and adjacent waters in the Bay of Sider: 23 March - 15 April 1986
Combat operations in Somalia: 1991-1994
Combat operations in Kuwait and adjacent waters of the Persian Gulf: 17 January - 28 February 1991

The editorial staff of New Gazeta awaits your stories.
Write us on this forum, or by electronic mail, if you have it, how you or someone you know fought in other countries as the soldiers or officers in the various branches of USSR armed forces.
By participating in this, you are helping your compatriots learn the truth about those events which, even after many years, the officials prefer not to speak about.

This message was edited by darin - Aug 3 2004, 12:11 PM

Thank you for this valuable information. I don't rebut your statement, but I'm interested in a finer detail not stated.

The USSR obviously deployed troops around the world. Is there information as to the number of troops? Considering the size of both USSR and the USA, I would be interested in comparing populations to the number of deployed troops.

When Soviet forces did go beyond their satellite states, what was the normal troop strength? I consider submariners in a different class of strategy (nuclear deterrence) from a unit more comparable to what Americans had and still has: Marine Expeditionary Unit, and Carrier Task Force.

I know that there were countless skirmishes between the Chinese and Soviet borders. But, when comparing the distance and size of America's level of commitment to Korea and/or Vietnam, how did the Soviets fair (exclude Cuba since Soviet involvement happened after Castro did most of the work). Were there MEU sized troops deployed to those "local wars" mentioned?

That a Russian site calls these "Forgotten" must imply that whatever Soviet involvement was invested in those foreign wars, the Soviet troops that suffered were largely abandoned. Since many nations have operated like this, this might be the reason why they accuse us, the U.S., of abandoning our own troops. Considering some the Vietnam Vets I've worked with, our nation shares a little of this blame (but probably not as much as other "empire builders").

The last detail I wonder about is the secrecy of troops deployments. How many operations are kept so much in the dark as to avoid a security breech, that exposing the operations gives evidence against the Soviet regimes true nature? Compare this to US Marines protecting American investments in foreign lands (like "Chesty" Puller fighting the Banana Wars), protecting investments from being "nationalized" by illegitimate powers with no democratically derived authority.

I don't consider America's diplomacy a record of perfection. Far from it, I wonder about America's actions comparable to competing factions around the world. All politics being put aside, the value of a young soldier's life, especially a patriot filled with such a willing spirit, is a precious value indeed and should never be ill-spent.

"The Zionists could ruin the creation of a secular Jewish socialist state."

My gentile self being the goy I am, I'm far removed from understanding Jewish and Israel's politics. I've naively wondered that the infighting among Jews over Israel was because someone grabbed hold of the Israeli state before the other Jews had a say or any involvement. (Sort of like the musical child rap group Criss Cross wearing their baggy clothes backwards wasn't so original from other child wrapper groups, but Criss Cross got all the credit from their hit video "Jump"). Sorry to belittle the jealousy image, but that's how far removed I am from understanding Israel.

Thus, my only real understanding of Israel is what in-fighting I see in the Catholic Church (those who hold the seat, and those on the outside trying to manipulate the Vatican...or keep Vatican influence as small as possible).

---
Please also examine German experience in the Bohr Wars in South Africa.

http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&q=south+africa+bohr+war+concentration+camp

The only way the British could subdue the South African guerrillas was to force the Boers' (Dutch word for farmer, today called Afrikaners) women and children into concentration camps.

British tactics of using a large regular army met with disastrous results against the lightly armed and fast moving Boers. The farmers were also crack shots sniping with high powered rifles (German Mausers with smokeless ammunition). Their concealed fire easily out distanced the British army rifles, and their quick ambushes and evasion allowed them to escape before the British could counter attack.

http://histclo.hispeed.com/essay/war/war-boer.html

The movie, "Breaker Morant" glosses over some of these details. Though the British Empire employed Australians and New Zealanders with great effectiveness against guerrilla tactics, it was the concentration camps that eventual broke the Boer's will to fight.

England gained access to South Africa's immense resources while averting war with Germany in Europe, or German involvement in South Africa.

Other noteworthy trivia: Winston Churchill was captured during the Boer War, and he escaped. He was so impressed with the Boers, that during World War 2, he modeled the "Commando" units after the same fighting style of the Boer resistance.

I don't know, I only translated it. The site shows the wars and dates as extracted from a Russian law declaring participants in the above actions as 'official war veterans', and I thought it was interesting.

It caught my eye because when I was in Omsk awhile ago, there was a little park across the street from my apartment on Vatutina street, alongside a community center called 'Dvorets Molodezhi' (Palace of Youth). It had a nice little grove of birch trees and a monument like a low wall enscribed in gold "Here are the remains of an unidentified soldier, together with the soil from his grave in Afghanistan."

At that monument there always seemed to be fresh flowers, even in the winter. Behind the wall, on a raised platform was a circular structure like a gazebo, open at the top, with a lot of plaques bearing places and dates which I wrote down:

Algiers, 1962-1964
Egypt, 1962-3, 1967-75
Syria, 1967-70, 1972-73
Yemen, 1962-63, 1967-1969
Syria/Lebanon, 1982
Laos, 1960-3, 1964-68, 1969-70
Vietnam, 1961-1974
Cambodia, 1970
China, 1924-27, 1937-44, 1945, 1946-1949, 1950
Ozero Khasan, 1938
Khalan Gol, 1939
Japan, 1945
North Korea, 1950-53
Ozero Damanskiy and Ozero Zhalansh Kol, 1969
Finland, 1939-40
Hungary, 1956
Czechslovakia, 1968
Yugoslavia, 1993-95
Cuba, 1962
Mozambique, 1967-69, 1970-75
Bangladesh, 1972-73
Angola, 1975-1979
Ethiopia, 1977-1979
Afghanistan, 1979-1989

The website roughtly corresponds to the monument I found in Omsk, FWIW. I always wondered how many lost and fallen soldiers those dates and places represent.

I don't have a picture of it, but here's one from Kyiv's Afghanistan monument that captures the mood.

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