Posted on 07/14/2006 2:35:10 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
VLADIMIR Putin would like it to be seen as the "energy security" summit, or the "Russia regains its pride" summit, or perhaps even the "Putin leads the world" summit.
But this weekend's gathering in StPetersburg of leaders of the Group of Eight nations would more accurately be called "the KGB summit".
The streets are crawling with FSB officers, the modern incarnation of the KGB, trying to impose remarkably tight security for the first G8 summit in Russia.
The host himself is a former KGB agent. Dozens of his ministers, regional governors and top Kremlin aides are former KGB men, as are hundreds of their staffers. And even the companies whose success in oil, gas and other strategic industries have strengthened Putin's economic hand at the summit are in many cases run by Putin's former KGB colleagues.
The notorious security agency formed just six weeks after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution is now enjoying a broader role in Russian society than at any time since the darkest days of the Soviet Union, a role that would be unimaginable in any of the other G8 nations.
The KGB was supposedly dissolved in August 1991 after its leader Vladimir Kryuchko was involved in an abortive coup against Mikhail Gorbachev, but it carried on under a different name, with the Russian acronym FSB.
During his 6 1/2 years in power, Putin has poured enormous amounts of money into it so that it now has more agents in proportion to the general population than ever before. The collapse of totalitarian rule means the KGB no longer terrifies ordinary Russians, but its influence stretches from the TV screen to the church pulpit, from the boardroom to the long corridors of the Kremlin.
Russian TV channels, which are either state-owned or heavily influenced by the Kremlin, serve up a heavy diet of KGB action heroes, and the Government is investing in a film called Krasivaya (The Beautiful One), starring Anastasia Zavorotnyuk as a sexy and deadly agent.
The Orthodox Church is co-operating with the once-atheist FSB like never before to protect the nation's "spiritual security" by keeping a lid on foreign "cults" and Western cultural influences such as the Catholic Church.
And Putin, who began by monitoring students at Leningrad University and was an agent in East Germany before heading the FSB in 1998-99, has drafted dozens of his old colleagues into senior positions in the Kremlin and elsewhere.
They form the nucleus of the siloviki (men of power), hundreds of military, police and Interior Ministry officers who make up the Kremlin's strongest power bloc and whose centralising, authoritarian instincts generally have them urging Putin to try to stage-manage Russia's politics as well as its economy.
"You just have to look at the people around Putin to see the remarkable power those KGB people have in politics today," says Christopher Andrew of Cambridge University, the leading expert on the history of the KGB. Putin's closest KGB friend, Viktor Ivanov, who served in Afghanistan, is now the deputy head of the presidential administration - not to mention chairman of the airline Aeroflot.
Former agent Igor Sechin acts as the gatekeeper for people and documents reaching Putin's desk, and chairs Rosneft, the oil company floating on the London stock exchange next week with a valuation of about $US80 billion ($107billion). Sergei Chemezov, chair of the state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, served with Putin in East Germany.
One of the main contenders to replace Putin in 2008 is Sergei Ivanov, the Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. His intelligence career included stints as an agent in Europe and Africa and as Putin's deputy at the FSB.
Richard Sakwa, of the University of Kent, says the siloviki are one of five or six factions in the Kremlin and do not always get their way because "the only dominant faction is Putin himself".
"It is Putin alone who makes the big decisions, but the siloviki are always there as his wild boys," he says.
But is the main thesis of the article true, that much of the power-wielders in Russia now are old hands from KGB? Siloviki a big force in running Russia? How much of a 'free economy' does Russia have now, with an economy dominated by oil and gas and such companies in the hands of a few operators with ties to Putin?
This would make for a great "DaVinci Code" like conspiracy theory, it reminds me of the way the Freemasons once were viewed (although a much more benign organization than the vile KGB, conspiracy theories abounds that hte society held secret power behind the scenes; modern versions spoke of the Trilateral Commission etc).
Sadly, in many circles, the Masons are still viewed that way.
Russia has always been embroiled in "conspiracies", real and imagined.
Ping
Pete Wilson is a besotted "journalist" who wouldn't know a fact if it hit him in the face. For ex: " The KGB was supposedly dissolved in August 1991 after its leader Vladimir Kryuchko was involved in an abortive coup against Mikhail Gorbachev, but it carried on under a different name, with the Russian acronym FSB. "
Surely even TGJ can spot the glaring mistakes in this statement? To Lemmings, a.k.a Wilson's target audience he would have you believe the KGB was banned immediately after the GKChP and a magic wand was waved to make it the "FSB."
G-8 summitt - plenty of security. Um, where's the problem?
More b.s.:
"Russian TV channels, which are either state-owned or heavily influenced by the Kremlin, serve up a heavy diet of KGB action heroes, and the Government is investing in a film called Krasivaya (The Beautiful One), starring Anastasia Zavorotnyuk as a sexy and deadly agent."
Um, hmm., ok, same channels also have:
Moscow Saga - about the purges
Children of the Arbat - about the purges
Master and Margarita - about the purges
numerous tv series depicting corrupt KGB, FSB, mafia, government officials, etc.
Wilson, of course, doesn't really know "Russian" so he's just writing what others tell him.
I do find it quite "odd" that you and spanalot always rely on the leftists to do your arguing:
http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10189/20011026/www.newaus.com.au/news4g.html
Lovely source that Pete Wilson...
"I do find it quite "odd" that you and spanalot always rely on the leftists to do your arguing: "
Let the record show that Romanov -after 7 days- has failed to support Yushchenko's and Tymoshenko's fight against the Communist/Socialist/Putinist coalition.
And since then , he continues to support the egregious behavior of the fascist Russians. For example, below he goes into a long winded and fallacy fraught argument on why Putin really did not run the KGB in East Germany.
""Putin was the head of the KGB operation in East Germany. That means he ran the Stasi, a group some people consider to be worse than the S. S." "
"Could you enlighten us as to where you pulled this completely WRONG statement from? It shows how you have absolutely ZERO knowledge of the Cold War, the Warsaw Pact, and the Soviet Union. "
"Let the record show that Romanov -after 7 days- has failed to support Yushchenko's and Tymoshenko's fight against the Communist/Socialist/Putinist coalition."
Yes, spanalot you are absolutely correct. I am FAILING to support a FOREIGN leader in a FOREIGN country against FOREIGN entities. I am an American and do not have loyalties to dubious movements abroad - something you cannot say.
Perhaps you'd like to repeat your pro-UNA/UNSO statements? The organization you support here and in Ukraine. The SAME organization that has called for the deaths of American soldiers...
"Yes, spanalot you are absolutely correct. I am FAILING to support a FOREIGN leader"
I did not say that - you DID fail to support Yushchenko against the communists and socialists who have pulled a coup in that country.
You CONTINUE to support Putin.
Big yawn there spannie. It's noted you conviently ignore my criticisms of Putin - someone I don't support since I'm not a Russian, and not a Russian citizen. As such, I do not support Yushenko or any other Ukrainians in their internal battle. Yushenko allied himself with the Commies and Socialists and got burned by Timoshenko. You have a convient "memory" that allows you to ignore these things.
You have repeatedly expressed support for and defended the UNA/UNSO and this is the same organization that called for Ukrainian troops in Iraq to rebel and kill Americans. It's been months since this statement has been brought to your attention and you refuse to condemn your Ukrainian "brothers." This puts you squarely on the side of these organizations and AGAINST THE US. Traitor.
"It's noted you conviently ignore my criticisms of Putin "
All your "criticisms" of Putie are backhanded. They always put a positive spin on Russia.
"All your "criticisms" of Putie are backhanded. They always put a positive spin on Russia."
You either have serious reading comprehension issues or are extremely duplicitious. Pick one, Comrade UNA/UNSO member. Say, speaking of which, by refusing to condemn your heros in the UNA/UNSO who have called for American soldiers to be killed, are you saying you agree with their statements? Will you renounce your membership in these organizations or does the "greater" Ukraine outweigh your loyalty to your alleged home (US)?
Yet another day goes by and Romanov continues to support the socialist and communist coup in Ukraine.
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