Posted on 06/12/2005 11:05:06 AM PDT by BringBackMyHUAC
Communists Still Run Eastern Europe
John LeBoutillier
Saturday, May 7, 2005
Often things look differently years after the fact. The perspective of time gives us a better, clearer view. As President Bush flies around Europe this week - including a controversial visit to Moscow - we need to take a look back at the supposed revolution(s) that swept Eastern Europe 15 years ago.
At that time, we all hailed the peaceful events that seemingly brought down the communist regimes behind the Iron Curtain as 'miracles.' The ending of these murderous regimes - without riots, mass killings and violence - was too good to be true!
Well, guess what?
It indeed was too good to be true!
Because all those Communist leaders and subordinates not only went unpunished for their crimes, most of them remained - and still remain - in power!
In Russia, the 'former' KGB operative, Vladimir Putin, has seen to it that his KGB cronies exert enormous 'backroom' power while he steadily undoes democratic reforms and re-consolidates power in his presidential office.
All the previously state-owned enterprises that were sold off were grabbed by Communist or KGB insiders, who then made billions of dollars off these transactions. (You know the old saying: Who are the world's biggest capitalists? The Communists!)
And the apparatchiks - the bureaucrats, the people who run everything in a government-dominated society - from the Soviet days are the very same people in the very same jobs!
Clearly, when 1989 saw the 'crumbling' of the Soviet Empire, the Communists in all the Eastern European nations all adopted the same standard playbook: "Just say you are a former Communist and stay in power."
And in all these nations - Russia, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania - the same pattern followed: With the 'ending' of Communism, the West - armed with tons of cash - came calling.
Billions of dollars of American aid poured into these countries - and thus into the pockets of the very same Communists who built their careers on hating America.
NATO began admitting these nations. Why not? They seemed as if they had renounced their Soviet patrons and were now free to follow their hearts and join the good guys.
Yes, the people of these nations wanted - and still want desperately - to be on our side. But their leaders and their military officials are all Communist leftovers who are now inside our henhouse living off our eggs.
And these 'renounced' Communists are everywhere. Just this week, it was revealed that Polish President Kwasnieski - himself a lifetime Communist - is now being considered by the Bush White House to be the next secretary-general of the United Nations!
Kwasnieski is so reviled in Poland that Lech Walsea hasn't talked to him in years and only reluctantly shook hands with him at Pope John Paul II's funeral in Rome last month. But Kwasnieski has ingratiated himself with GW Bush by dispatching Polish troops to Iraq - over the protests of the majority of the Polish people. Now it is payback time.
A 'former' Communist running the U.N.? Why not? He'll feel right at home there.
Next: The Truth About the Czech Republic
One of the most disturbing proofs that the "death" of Communism was engineered by the Communists themselves.
ping
It seems like they run a lot of our instituions as well.
Are you kidding? Congress is full of them, including sveral RINO's.
Yup.
When the history of socialism is written, they will note the various mantras used.
One will be "From each according to his ability, to each accoring to his need"
The one that matches our generation will probably be "For the chilrun..."
"Yes, here and there, via penetration. But they simply relabled themselves as "ex" Communists in Russia "
Yeah - and they'll be here in a minute, too.
South America is also riding the "pink wave" at the moment, having elected six former communists who are now socialists to run governments. Uruguay recently joined Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador and Venezuela in putting socialists into power.
==Yeah - and they'll be here in a minute, too.
Not sure I follow you. But I guess I'll find out soon enough if they're going to be here in minute! :o)
"Yeah - and they'll be here in a minute, too."
Now they rater won't come. You spoiled the fun :(
all those Communist leaders and subordinates not only went unpunished for their crimes, most of them remained - and still remain - in power!
The important thing in this is what kind of power they have. Now they are elected by the nations, previously they were nominated by a dictatorial clique. And the range of power they have now is no different than in other democratic countries. The author doesn't seem to see the difference between democracy and dictatorship.
Yes, the people of these nations wanted - and still want desperately - to be on our side. But their leaders and their military officials are all Communist leftovers who are now inside our henhouse living off our eggs
The leaders of Poland Ukraine, Hungary and other post-communist countries decided to send troops to Iraq rather in spite of the will of the respective nations (who are otherwise really pro-American)
Polish President Kwasnieski - himself a lifetime Communist - is now being considered by the Bush White House to be the next secretary-general of the United Nations!
The problem with Kwasniewski is not that he was a communist, but that he is a cynical careerist. He didn't believe in Marx when he was in the party, and he doesn't believe in anything now.
Is Kwach the right person to be the head of UN? I don't know.I rather wish that UN should function better, not worse.
"The important thing in this is what kind of power they have. Now they are elected by the nations, previously they were nominated by a dictatorial clique."
Yes, but It's not so easy. We both know that commies stole a large part of privatized property and often control the media, especially in Russia, but also in other countries in FSU and Central Europe. This is not a great achievement to win elections in these conditions.
"The author doesn't seem to see the difference between democracy and dictatorship."
Russian "democracy" ?
DOH!
==Yes, but It's not so easy. We both know that commies stole a large part of privatized property and often control the media, especially in Russia, but also in other countries in FSU and Central Europe. This is not a great achievement to win elections in these conditions.
HERE'S A PERFECT EXAMPLY OF WHAT GREGORZ IS TALKING ABOUT:
Definition of Terms, Identification of Players
Political consultants in Russia generally have broader job descriptions than their counterparts in the West. Most of the firms engaged in “political technologies” in Russia offer a wide range of services from conducting focus groups and organizing opinion polling to producing paid political advertisements and designing media strategies for campaigns.
Also involved in the mix can be a variety of "dirty" and "not-so-dirty" tricks ranging from digging up dirt on rival candidates and organizing the transportation to the polls for elderly voters to registering "double" candidates (people with the same or similar name as a rival) to issuing counterfeit campaign materials under a rival candidate's name. In a practice that is regarded as strictly unethical in Western democracies, political consultants are often hired specifically to work against a particular candidate....
In addition to the term “tekhnolog” in Russian, there is also the moniker “prshchik.” This term generally has a negative connotation and is used to describe people who conduct “black public relations.” The terms "black public relations" and "dirty technologies" are used more or less interchangeably to describe a broad range of dirty tricks from very simple ones, such as pasting leaflets of opposing candidates on voters' car windshields with hard-to-remove glue to more complex and elaborate hoaxes such as creating websites containing compromising materials about rival candidates. Few consultants ever refer to themselves as "prshchiks," although the term is much bandied about in the press...
Who are the consultants? Many leaders of the political consulting profession spring from the Moscow-based, Soviet-era political elite. They were part of that section of the intelligentsia that performed "services," such as political consulting and image making for the elite.11 A random sampling of the backgrounds of some of the best known figures shows how some members of the old elite adapted themselves quickly to the new world of elections and multiple political parties.
Take, for example, Igor Mintusov and Yekaterina Yegorova, the founders of the Nikkolo M consulting agency. They worked at the Moscow-based USA and Canada Institute. In the 1980s, Yegorova reportedly prepared background information about American political leaders for the Communist Party apparatus.12 In 1995, Yegorova and Mintusov reportedly established a relationship with Aleksandr Kazakov, who was then the head of the presidential administration’s territorial department. This relationship resulted in the firm gaining important clients and contracts.13 Although Nikkolo M was founded in 1992, Mintusov did not officially resign from the Institute until 1996. Kazakov went on to become first deputy head of the presidential staff under Anatolii Chubais. And it was Chubais, who ran Russian President Boris Yeltsin's successful 1996 presidential campaign.
Another leader in the field, Vyacheslav Nikonov, the head of the Politika foundation, is also former member of the Communist Party elite and grandson of former Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov. Nikonov was a top speechwriter at the Central Committee in the late 1980s where he wrote speeches for Mikhail Gorbachev and former KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov.14 He founded the Politika foundation in 1993 together with Yeltsin-era adviser Georgii Satarov, who now heads the INDEM foundation. The same year, he was elected to the State Duma on the Party of Unity and Accord party list. In 1996, he was co-chairman of Yeltsin's re-election committee. He is also the author of "From Eisenhower to Nixon: From the History of the Republican Party" and "The Republicans: From Nixon to Reagan," among other books and articles.
Aleksei Koshmarov is another former member of the Soviet Communist Party elite who spent the bulk of his early professional life working at the Moscow-based Committee for Youth Organizations.15 Koshmarov likes to joke that his firm is close to the Kremlin, because Novokom’s office is located just a few kilometers from Red Square.
In an interview in 2002, he admitted that he maintains close ties to deputy head of the presidential administration Aleksandr Abramov, ties that were established during their Komsomol days.16 He became general director of Novokom in 1992. According to "Moskovskie novosti," Koshmarov boasted at a conference in 2000 that he created the populist image of the notoriously anti-Semitic former Krasnodar Krai Governor Nikolai Kondratenko.
Koshmarov played a leading role in the successful 1996 campaign of Vladimir Yakovlev to become governor of St. Petersburg, and in 1998 he spearheaded a highly controversial effort to elect a pro-Yakovlev majority to the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, an effort that included a wide range of dirty tricks including the widespread use of "double" candidates. He remains an adviser to Yakovlev. He also headed the unsuccessful 1996 campaign of Volgograd Mayor Yurii Chekhov to become governor of Volgograd Oblast.
Communist Nikolai Maksyuta won that race, despite the Kremlin's support of Chekhov. Image-Contact President Aleksei Sitnikov -- who is younger than Nikonov, Yegorova, or Mintusov -- hails from Novosibirsk and was initially a bit of an outsider in Moscow politics. But he was able to capitalize on his ties with fellow Novosibirsk native and former Railways Minister Nikolai Aksenenko. In an interview, Sitnikov acknowledged having a warm personal relationship with Aksenenko and said that “one of the great events in his life was helping [Aksenenko] to create the Unity party.” However, Sitnikov insisted that his firm was awarded business and contracts based on its merit, noting that it won a contract to reorganize the Railways Ministry together with two Western firms in an open tender and after Aksenenko had left office.
Sitnikov founded Image-Contact in 1989 and, according to his website, the company has conducted more than 300 election campaigns at all levels, including unspecified participation in the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections. Some of Sitnikov's colleagues have alleged that he enjoyed close ties with former Kremlin powerbroker Boris Berezovskii, but Sitnikov denies this. However, he admits that he organized Berezovskii’s winning campaign for the Duma in Karachaevo-Cherkessia in 1999 and that he has met with the tycoon in London during business trips, in addition to his role in the creation of Unity, which is widely seen as a Berezovskii inspired and funded Project-17.
While many leading political consultants got their starts in the business around the beginning of competitive elections in 1989, the profession itself is considered to have really begun in Russia in 1993. “Before [seven or eight years ago], there was no profession such as political technology," Dianov said, "and no one knew what public relations was or they thought it was some kind of swear word.”18 It was not until 1993 that the application of so-called “election technologies” became widespread.19
...Many political consultancies grew more through informal, personal contacts than through more formal means of seeking new clients such as advertising. For example, Novokom's Koshmarov explained that his firm got its first big campaign -- representing Yakovlev in the 1996 St. Petersburg gubernatorial race -- through a referral by “friends.” 20 Later business flowed to the firm from its good contacts with Aleksandr Abramov, deputy head of the presidential administration under Putin. Sitnikov explained that he was hired to manage Sergei Darkin’s successful 2001 campaign for the governorship of Primorskii Krai because he was an old acquaintance of Darkin’s from their days as leaders in the Komsomol. 21
Full text:
http://www.indiana.edu/~reeiweb/Corwin.pdf
You're right. One of the problems with this article is that it lumps all the countries of Eastern Euroope together, while it's obvious that there are great differences between, say, Russia and Slovenia.
commies stole a large part of privatized property and often control the media, especially in Russia, but also in other countries in FSU and Central Europe. This is not a great achievement to win elections in these conditions.
Again, situation differs from country to country. In Russia commies didn't stole privatized property and media, but rather never lost hold of them. In non-democratic countries the only key to power is power itself, not money. In Russia those who had the money, but didn't want to obey Kremlin sit in jail
This is not a great achievement to win elections in these conditions.
As far as Poland is concerned it's just not true. Even if a great part of the privatized property came into post-commie's hands (and I don't know if this is true), it won't help them much in the forthcoming election, which will be a landslide victory for the right (hurray!)
==Yes and the communist run the democrat party and some rino's agenda also.
True, there are no doubt Communists in the Demorat party and the Republican party alike. But neither the Demorats or the Republican party is Communist. I'm talking about bringing to justice the elite of the COMMUNIST Party in Russia and Eastern Europe. These people have been allowed to remain IN PLACE and they need to be brought to justice and removed.
"This article is so stupid than no comment seems to be necessary. However, I want to say a few things:"
j24 - member since 2005-06-03.
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Qwinn
ping
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