Russia Checkmated Its New Best Friend (the US)

LA Times ^ | November 29, 2001 | Eric S. Margolis

[rightwing2]

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE, CLICK THE LINK ABOVE AND DO A SEARCH.

[rightwing2]

I posted this yesterday, but it got yanked because I forgot that LA Times was one of those FR is prohibited from posting full LA Times article. Nevertheless, I feel that it is an important article, because it tells the real story to be found beneath the smokes and mirrors of media propaganda about a massive US victory in the war against Afghanistan. Certainly, the US led by President Bush has achieved a commendable victory over the hated Taleban, but only at the price of restoring a vociferously anti-American Russian proxy government to power in Afghanistan. This is a superior article. The author, Eric Margolis, is a hard core anti-Communist geopolitical realist warning us about the continued ambitions of a Russia that is led by former KGB Director, President Vladimir Putin, and intent on dominating Central and Southern Asia. So much for the much ballyhooed new US-Russian strategic alliance.

[rightwing2]

AFGHANISTAN: The Russians Arrive
For Your Eyes Only newsletter
www.strategypage.com
Steven Cole

November 28, 2001; About 100 men from Russia's Ministry for Emergency Situations set up a temporary base in the center of Kabul after dark on 26 November, circling their 12 Kamaz trucks and building bonfires. According to Reuters, their presence was a source of rumor and even some consternation among "scores of spectators" the following day. Apparently, the western wire service failed to check with Itar-TASS, which covered President Vladimir Putin's announcement that the trucks had been unloaded at Kabul's airport on the morning of the 26th in 5 1/2 hours.

One Russian worker told Reuters that they were there to build a field hospital and a temporary embassy while First Deputy Russian Emergency Situations Minister Yuriy Vorobyev told Interfax that they were deploying a humanitarian center in Afghanistan. Vorobyev added that the Russian humanitarian center in Kabul was being deployed at the permission of the legitimate Afghan authorities and in close coordination with US representatives.

According to Russian Minister for Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu, it will take $600 million to accomplish the first stage of Afghanistan's reconstruction and that the first task was to help the Afghans to live through the winter. He noted that the group of 88 Russian specialists, including a group of security guards headed by Deputy Minister Colonel-General Valery Vostrotin, was expected to be increased to 200 in the future.

Most Afghans and even more journalists don't realize that the Emergency Services Ministry was frequently targeted by Chechen rebels during the Second Chechen War. The AK-74s these Russians carry are a precaution borne of bad experiences. - Adam Geibel

The northern fortress of Qala-e-Jangi has finally fallen, after the last rebellious foreign Taliban were killed. NGOs are demanding an investigation to determine if the rights of the Taliban prisoners were violated in any way. U.S. bombers are concentrating on Kandahar, hitting military and leadership (ie, where the leaders are thought to be staying) targets in and around the city.

[Dixie republican]

I'm not sure Russia is in a position to dominate any region. Anyway, who cares? As long as Afghanistan doesn't harbor terriorist, we really don't care who occupies it. We know we don't want it.

[rightwing2]

A Colonel-General heading a 100 man field hospital? Not sure if this passes the smell test. Why exactly would the Russians risk a Colonel-General's safety in Afghanistan and why they would put him in charge of a field hospital which should be headed by a Major is a legitimate question. Methinks this smells of Russian mischief like when in June 1999, they put a Lieutenant General in charge of an airborne BTR-80 battalion to capture the highly strategic Pristina airport in Kosovo and promoted him to Colonel General for the success. Clearly, this Colonel-General Vostrotin's principal mission is not humanitarian in nature. Far more likely his mission is one of advising their new Afghan Northern Alliance proxies in Kabul on how to set up their new government in such a way that it looks legitimate (with the pro-Russian King as head of state) but with the real power in the hands of Russian backed President Rabbini, Afghan Defense Minster and KGB agent GEN Fahim and Uzbek warlord and Afghan Communist chieftan GEN Dostum. These Russian "specialists" are either elite Spetsnaz or their KGB equivalents--not aid workers. No wonder the Bush Administration sent Colin Powell to warn the Russians to avert future unpleasant surprises such as this and the Pristina incident.

Russian Colonel-Generals were historically used to command "fronts" which was the Soviet Army equivalent of the Western Army Group. However, the Soviets and the Russians since have had a long history of sending Colonel- Generals to various countries to directly command the forces of proxy armies in wars of national liberation. Specifically, they sent Colonel-Generals to South Africa, Mozambique and Angola. Accordingly, the presence of a Colonel-General in Kabul means that he is there not for humanitarian relief purposes, but to jointly command the Northern Alliance Army alongside Afghan Defense Minister and former Afghan KGB head, General Fahim. Furthermore, he is likely there to help advise President Rabbini on how to set up a Russian proxy government which while appearing to be led by the former Russian backed King is in fact led by Rabbini, Fahim, and Russian Army Colonel-General and Emergency Situations Deputy Minister Valery Vostrotin himself. So much for the US victory. We beat the Taleban only to restore a Russian proxy government to power in Kabul to power nearly a decade after the downfall of the last.

[stop_fascism]

Great. They can have the whole miserable desert. Does that mean that they will be paying to rebuild Afganistan instead of us?

[Vote 4 Nixon]

Good for the Russkies, those Saudi oil barons are shaking in their boots...Doom on them.

[dirtboy]

So long as the Alliance holds power, the U.S. is equally denied access to the much-coveted Caspian Basin. Russia has regained control of the best potential pipeline routes.

Considering that both the potential reserves and therefore the overall importance of the Caspian have diminished, this guy needs to update his political atlas before making such a big deal out of this.

The new Silk Road is destined to become a Russian energy superhighway. By charging like an enraged bull into the South Asian china shop, the U.S. handed a stunning geopolitical victory to the Russians and severely damaged its own great power ambitions.

Gee, and here I thought America was already a great power. We were involved in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union is gone now, but this guy is still stuck in a Cold-War state of mind even though the Cold War is over. The new axis will be Russia, Britain and the United States - very similiar to the axis of WWI and WWII, absent France, which is probably an overall improvement. And the new enemy is not Germany but fundamentalist Islam. And that is why Putin is reaching out to the West - he realizes where the battlefields of the next fifty years will be.

[RightWhale]

Somebody is ignoring the Pashtun. They really shouldn't ignore the Pashtun.

[Alexandre]

Bump!

I just killed my window with reply - but you almost toop words from it!

Plus... somebody, help me! Few moths ago (August) here was a discussion about who are Americans did support in Afghanistan. I dared to say Taliban - and was stoned. Indeed, Taliban surfaced as a power after Soviets left, and even after the USSR was gone. Soviet proxy was destroyed by forces ether dispersed and sucked in by Talibs - or were arranged into North Alliance.

Now North Alliance is an enemy of the USA? Russian puppet? Hello! For me it looks like that Afghans (all of them) fight whoever comes to them. If there is no foreinger - they fight each other. If this is not preoccupy them enough - they start to fight old Buddist statues...

[dirtboy]

Now North Alliance is an enemy of the USA? Russian puppet? Hello! For me it looks like that Afghans (all of them) fight whoever comes to them. If there is no foreinger - they fight each other. If this is not preoccupy them enough - they start to fight old Buddist statues...

You got that right.

[rightwing2]

Few moths ago (August) here was a discussion about who are Americans did support in Afghanistan. I dared to say Taliban - and was stoned...Now North Alliance is an enemy of the USA? Russian puppet?

It is true that the US under the Clinton Administration supported the Taleban takeover of Afghanistan in 1996 because they assumed that the Taleban would be more reasonable than the anti-American Northern Alliance government which controlled Afganistan from 1992-1996 and was listed all five years on the US State Department list of state sponsors of terror, whereas under the Taleban, Afganistan has never been on that list. In addition, Northern Alliance leader Rabbini was a staunch backer of Saddam Hussein against America during Operation Desert Storm. Now, with Russian and unwitting US assistance Rabbini has reinstalled himself once again as the de-facto President of Afghanistan. The Northern Alliance is often referred to as a Russian proxy in the articles of experts on Afghanistan because that is exactly what they are. The Russians and the Iranians have backed them to the hilt for five years.

So, the Russians and Iranians are the ultimate victors here. Of course, Bush should get credit for beating the Taleban at a low cost in American lives, but let's not blind ourselves to the facts just because it doesn't mesh with the propaganda line that we have been hearing in the liberal media press. Let's not kid ourselves that the Northern Alliance will be our "ally" one day longer than is necessary to establish 90% plus control over Afghanistan and relegate the Taleban to a purely guerilla role. This is merely an alliance of convenience and it took the US a longtime to come this far. For weeks the Bushies could not bring themselves to back the distasteful Northern Alliance until they realized that they had no choice if they wanted to beat the Taleban and the Afghan branch of Al Queda.

[PoisedWoman]

Eric Margolis, is a hard core anti-Communist geopolitical realist warning us about the continued ambitions of a Russia that is led by former KGB Director, President Vladimir Putin, and intent on dominating Central and Southern Asia. So much for the much ballyhooed new US-Russian strategic alliance.

Bump for later, serious read. Apparently those photos of Vlad riding shotgun in Dubya's truck didn't quite capture the reality of the situation?

[rightwing2]

The Soviet Union is gone now, but this guy is still stuck in a Cold-War state of mind even though the Cold War is over. The new axis will be Russia, Britain and the United States - very similiar to the axis of WWI and WWII, absent France, which is probably an overall improvement. And the new enemy is not Germany but fundamentalist Islam. And that is why Putin is reaching out to the West - he realizes where the battlefields of the next fifty years will be.

The Cold War is over, yes, but the US-Russian rivalry and great power game is not. Russia is no US ally. Russia's interests are unalterably opposed to those of the US. True, our interests coincide on the issue of terrorism, where the US and NATO gave the Russians a quid pro quo by agreeing to support the Russian brutalities against the Chechens in exchange for Russian support for US bases in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The Russians cooperated us because it furthered their foreign policy interests to do so. The dominant Russian influence over Central and Southern Asia--through their Indian ally--will now be increased with the Russian proxy Northern Alliance's victory in Afghanistan. Russian prestige has been increased as well.

There will be no repeat of the US-Russia-UK Grand alliance against Fascism. The Russians are longtime backers of some of the most extreme Islamic terrorists and state sponsors of terrors in the world, many if not most of which they trained at terrorist schools inside Russia. The Russians have supported Islamic terrorists against the West for decades since at least the 1960s. The Russians don't care how extreme the Islamicist terrorists are that they support, they only care that their focus is anti-US which is true of the vast majority of them, rather than anti-Russia as in Chechnya.

[Frances_Marion]

Ah yes, the Russians, our good buddies who slander us weekly in their press

[rightwing2]

Bump for later, serious read. Apparently those photos of Vlad riding shotgun in Dubya's truck didn't quite capture the reality of the situation?

We have seen these kind of atmospherics since FDR's meetings with "Uncle Joe" Stalin. Americans were conditioned by FDR & Co. to view Stalin as a bona-fide US allies, not the most murderous dictator the world had ever seen as he truly was. Later when Khruschev presented himself as the great reformer and visited Disneyland, we were told that the Soviets had mellowed. Next came Gorby who was feted like a rockstar despite the fact that he was a self-admitted die hard "lifelong Communist" fighting to preserve the Soviet Union and had the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent Afghans on his hands. Now we have Putin, an old KGB hand, saying that he is embracing the West and declaring he will match Bush's declared unilateral nuclear disarmament cuts even as he rebuilds Russia's political and military power, establishes an autocratic dictatorship for himself and continues in his goal of reestablishing a federation of states on the space formerly occupied by the Soviet Imperium. The reconquest of Afghanistan by a Russian proxy is but the latest of his foreign policy successes.

[dirtboy]

Ah yes, the Russians, our good buddies who slander us weekly in their press

Hey, OUR own press slanders us weekly. Does that make us an enemy of ourselves?

[Fulbright]

I think that this piece is flawed. The Russians are not well loved in Afghanistan by anybody, including the Northern Alliance. The US has much good will here to capitalize on, if we are smart enough to do it this time.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration needs to tell Moscow that we have seen enough IL-76 transports and do not need to see anymore.

[taxbreak]

Bump!

[taxbreak]

Bump! Their border not ours... I say let them deal with the bastrads.