Posted on 06/02/2005 3:43:42 PM PDT by strategofr
Not to just extol how smart he is---though he is very, very smart. He has an advantage over the average analyst---he was in the KGB from the 1952 to 1961---highly ranked practically from the start due to his brilliance and creativity.
Above all, it is the information he has, and how he has applied it.
I have only read to page 81 of New Lies for Old (1984) and glanced at The Perestroika Deception (1995), but I am overwhelmed. Beyond Suvorov and Pacepa, though congruent with them.
One quick warning---The Perestroika Deception (1995) is only a reproduction of memorandums Golitsyn wrote, and I paid like $30 for it. While I am completely happy with it, I can't recommend it to the general public on a dollar-for-value basis. I don't want to be too negative---it is 248 pages of small print. And of course, it is a later publication.
Nonetheless, most would want to start with New Lies for Old, which costed $14. This is more of a real book--explaining his thinking.
Briefly, Golitsyn says that the years 1953-1957 were a time of tremendous upheaval and vulnerability in the Communist world. From 1948 to 57, there was the famous break between the Soviet Union and Tito---a real event.
In '50-53, there was a real break between Russia and China. I believe Stalin died in 53, if I am interpreting and remembering correctly.
Golitsyn says the breaks with Tito (Yugoslavia) and China were caused by Stalinism---Stalin's attempt to rgidily impose his (the Soviet Union's) will throughout the Communist world.
Golitsyn says (remember, he was there, ranking high in the KGB) that around 1957, everything was all patched up and resolved in the Communist world, due to a new system of local autonomy for all Communist parties outside the Soviet Union. (Clearly, there would have been more autonomy for China than Poland, but I haven't caught him laying that aspect out.)
The question of Stalinism was also resolved---it was terminated. However, it was decided that these issues would be kept going---on a 100% fake basis. All Western intelligence agencies missed this completely---in part because they were all penetrated by the Soviets! In addition, Golitsyn says that the dissident movement in Russia was a KGB operation---utilized to control society by constantly bringing in anyone who really wanted to rebel and dealing with them easily---cause most of the dissidents were KGB agents.
He makes the same charge (in Perestroika) about the Tienemen Square movement being controlled by the Chinese government. Eyewitness accounts provide various evidence. Demonstrators sang the Internationale, signs proclaimed obedience to the Communist government.
Apparently, things went "out of control" when real protesters started spontaneously entering the demonstration. At this point, according to eyewitness reports, the original demonstrators joined hands and, singing the Internationale, walked from the square, leaving the new spontaneous demonstrators there alone. These were then massacred.
In addition, Golitsyn predicted in writing, years before the Chechyn outbreak, that the Soviets would stage a fake Chechyn rebellion.
I am overwhelmed by Golitsyn.
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Thanks!
(Mmmmm....pudding....drool...)
Bumparoony
Definitely paranoid.
The expression is "the proof of the pudding is in the tasting", not "the proof is in the pudding". The latter is meaningless.
Extremely interesting. Thanks.
I would add to this little summer reading list, the following, quite rare, books:
1. "We Will Bury You" - Jan Sejna
2. "Icebreaker" = Viktor Suvrorov
3. "The ABM Treaty Charade" - W. L. Lee
Being paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.
I believe that Kissinger said of Nixon, "Paranoids have enemies too."
It is interesting that at least the French were convinced that Golitsyn knew what he was talking about. He broke the news that the French SDECE was infiltrated by the "Sapphire Ring". His information led to the arrest of Georgi Paques in 1963. However, the French potentates allowed the "big fish" in the SDECE to get away.
"The expression is "the proof of the pudding is in the tasting", not "the proof is in the pudding". The latter is meaningless."
Good point. I did not write the title, myself, just transcribed it from the website. However, it is interesting that this old quote has been degraded.
Another example is "No rest for the weary." The real quote is 'No rest for the wicked" (sounds Biblical, but don't know origin.) Originally, it was no doubt a bitter statement. Then people started applying it to themselves when they were tired, to be funny. Then as people's sense of humor faded, it had to be watered down to its meaningless form.
I read a bio on Angleton. Fascinating man.
Thanks for the suggestions. I have 3 Suvorov books already, (aquarium, gru, and spetsnaz), but am unfamiliar with:
2. "Icebreaker" = Viktor Suvrorov
Please tell me a bit about it.
"I believe that Kissinger said of Nixon, "Paranoids have enemies too.""
I recall the K quote this way:
"Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean that people aren't out to get you."
Thanks for saving me the trouble of pointing that out. If Mr. Nyquist can't bother himself to get the saying correct, I won't bother myself to read his article. (And the fact that it's from WND merely hastens my exit from the thread.... ;-)
"His information led to the arrest of Georgi Paques in 1963. However, the French potentates allowed the "big fish" in the SDECE to get away."
I am unfamiliar with this part of history but it is interesting to me also. Sounds like there were 2 factions in French intelligence, legit and compromised. The legit forces scored an early victory, but ultimately lost to the compromised forces.
If it had gone differently in Intelligence, perhaps the course of France would have been different.
I agree with all of your points. In response to this statement,
"Even if the Soviet Union is gone from the world stage..."
I would refer you a quote from an article in the Wall Street Journal, page 1, Wednesday, February 23, 2005:
"Mr. Putin him self served more than 15 years in the KGB and later headed its successor, the FSB. Since taking over the Kremlin in 2000, he has presided over an unprecedented influx of ex-KGB men into the upper echelons of power---men whose formative years were spent learning how to undermine the West's interests.
Prominent among the ex-KGB officials who now pace the Kremlin's corridors are Defense minister Sergei Ivanov, Interior Minister Rahid Nurgaliev, and FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev, as well as the heads of Russia's arms-export, defense-procurement, and drug-enforcement agencies. A close Putin aide and former KGB man, Victor Ivano, serves on the board of flagship airline OAO Aeroflot. A favorite parlor game in Russia is to divine which other senior officials and businessmen have suspicious gaps in their resume that suggest a past with the intelligence services."
In other words, the Soviet Union is gone, but the organization that penetrated the West is alive and well, and ruling Russia!
Unfortunately, Golitsyn is 79 years old now (if alive) and his recent stuff does not focus on what is happening domestically in America, as I beleive it would if he was younger and more able to switch focus. However, he does mention the KGB influence on US society. His references, though few and brief, are telling.
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