Posted on 09/18/2004 12:16:08 AM PDT by pook
Many in the West would prefer to herald the Beslan tragedy as an opportunity for greater U.S.-Russian cooperation in combating terrorism. In reality, however, relations between Washington and Moscow are following a downward spiral. In Russia we find an emerging dictatorship that espouses a subtle anti-American propaganda. What was previously hidden has come into view: the totalitarians are still in charge. Putin’s pretext for strengthening his dictatorship is found at Belsan, in 350 body bags.
What actually happened at Beslan (where hundreds of children were slaughtered by terrorists)? We still don’t know the facts.
Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya says that the FSB poisoned her on a flight from Moscow to Rostov, effectively keeping her from reaching Beslan. She was not alone in being hindered. Journalist Andrei Babitsky was detained at Vnukovo airport on “a specious pretext.” Russian security personnel drugged Georgian journalist Nana Lezhava’s coffee, putting her out of action at a critical moment. The 55-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) took note of these and other incidents in a “scathing” report on the Kremlin’s handling of the Beslan affair. According to the OSCE, the Kremlin forfeited its credibility by preventing journalists from reaching Beslan. From the outset, Russian authorities told one lie after another. As if to prevent accurate information from reaching the outside world, Russian authorities also interfered with foreign journalists, confiscating television footage.
With Beslan as a pretext, Putin has moved to consolidate his already formidable powers. Russia’s so-called “democracy” is now being liquidated. This is not surprising for those of us who have watched the changes in Eastern Europe since 1989. From the outset, secret totalitarian structures were left beneath the surface to guide the process of liberalization, to herd the new business class and infiltrate the various governments. Organized crime became a prominent tool in this process. The secret creatures of the totalitarian apparatus came to power, as “dissidents” or as “reform communists.” Capitalism and freedom were set up in Eastern Europe with this endgame in mind. It was a confidence scheme; and now the scheme has played itself out. Moscow’s strategic gains have been absorbed, now the reversion begins.
Russia’s so-called “oligarchs” have been driven into exile, frightened into cooperation or arrested. The Kremlin has “cemented its control” over the Russian energy sector. The old Soviet anthem is back. Soviet battle flags have been restored. The founder of the Soviet secret police, whose birthday is Sept. 11, is now openly celebrated. The old KGB has taken Russia by the throat. The West’s alarm, however, is muted by hope. Nobody wants to admit that America’s Cold War victory was equivocal; that step-by-step it is coming undone.
Given the Kremlin’s dishonest behavior during the Beslan affair, would it be outrageous to suggest that the tragic massacre was a provocation organized by the FSB/KGB?
Already Izvestiya is calling Putin’s power-grab “The September Revolution.” Other Russian publications are calling it a “restoration.” Wednesday’s Washington Post featured a story by Peter Baker titled, “Critics Say Putin Must Address Security Corruption.” According to Baker, “Putin … had been planning to centralize … political authority for months and took advantage of the school seizure in Beslan to unveil the decision.” This begs the question. If the liquidation of Russian democracy was planned in advance, then how did Putin think he would justify his blatant power grab to the Russian people? Surely he had something in mind.
The following changes have been proposed by Putin: (1) Regional governors, instead of being elected by the people, will be appointed by Putin and confirmed by regional assemblies; (2) Duma representatives will be selected from party lists, making parliamentary opposition all but impossible; (3) the restoration of the death penalty is being contemplated (suggesting a return to the sanguinary “discipline” of the Stalin era). In keeping with recent developments, we can expect that private companies will be seized on various pretexts, bank accounts will be frozen and businessmen will be arrested as the Kremlin rebuilds its totalitarian machinery. Already the Russian government has announced a 50 percent pay increase for the military.
This so-called “September Revolution” has been greeted with dismay in Washington and London. As one might expect, Vladimir Putin will have none of it. He bluntly tells his Western counterparts to “stay out of Russia’s business.” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says that America has no right to impose its democratic ideals on others. “This is our internal affair,” he explained. “We, on our side, do not comment on the U.S. system of presidential elections.”
Moscow’s attitude is nothing new. The most distressing fact in all of this, however, is the ultimate non-reaction of the Western elite. There is a strong tendency to self-deception in Washington, especially where Russia is concerned, and this tendency is struggling mightily against truth. And what is this truth? Former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko spelled it out in his book when he described Putin’s objective as “the total destruction of the foundations of a constitutional society built on the admittedly frail but, nonetheless, democratic values of a market economy” in Russia.
The failure of freedom in Russia is a major event. No other country is as dangerous as Russia. No other country has thousands of nuclear weapons pointed at America. None has missiles as advanced as Russia’s. None has a submarine fleet as large. To rate Russia as “just another country” is to negate the last 100 years of history.
I should like to end with a quote from Bill Gertz’s new book, Treachery: “The record of Russian proliferation – to Iraq and other dangerous countries – is long. Classified intelligence reports show that for more than a decade Moscow used its arms sales to rogue states as a strategic hammer against the United States.”
Now ask yourself: Why has Russia done this?
That is why Russia's government is jointly controlled by the former KGB and the mafia. It's just the way things work in the post-Soviet state.
Except he was saying the same things way back before I even came here and used to read WND all the time. And selling books, well almost.
By: Ryan Mauro
RM: What countries were the most involved in the creation of the current terrorist threat we face?
JD: The most important nation, the granddaddy of terrorism, is Russia. Russia adopted international terrorism as a strategic intelligence operation in 1955. It organized schools for terrorists, terrorist training camps, coordination conferences and much more.
Next to Russia is China. Although not so prominent, nevertheless China was one of the major actors on this stage. There is hardly a communist or former communist nation that was not involved. North Korea sponsored and was itself involved in terrorism. So were Cuba, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Bulgaria, Poland and so forth.
The one that had the most important role in the Americas was Cuba. Cuba also hosted tri-continental terrorist coordination meetings and was a base for terrorist training camps. They have been a far more serious terrorist threat to the US than Iraq because of their terrorist expertise, large number of intelligence agents within the United States, and significant BW and CW expertise. They should be one of the prime suspects in the anthrax letters of October 2001.
RM: Why did the Soviets and their allies sponsor drug trafficking, organized crime and terrorism?
JD: The three operated cooperatively and in a complementary fashion. They were all strategic intelligence operations, conceived in 1955-56 as part of the effort to modernize the world revolutionary movement. Organized crime was run mainly by the KGB; terrorism and drug trafficking was mainly managed out of the GRU. These operations were all coordinated and worked together.
The function of terrorism is to destabilize the country and drive a wedge between the people and the government. The function of organized crime was to corrupt and compromise the leadership and pro vide an important source of intelligence and influence. The function of drug trafficking is to corrupt the youth, decrease their long-term leadership, and weaken the future leaders of the country.
A fourth factor, which you neglected to mention, but was part of the same set of strategic intelligence operations, was deception, the purpose of which was to mislead people about the instigators and organizers of these activities, and blame the activities on problems internal within the culture of the country. And especially, as Jan Sejna said, "to prevent the spotlight of publicity from falling on our friends, the banks."
RM: Did the Soviets and their allies do anything to create or promote radical Islam?
JD: A major dimension of Soviet strategy was to infiltrate, turn, and use all religions. One of the easiest to penetrate was Islam because this religion is so similar to communism and its world view Within a religion, the idea was to turn the religion to support the Soviet strategy. Because a major thrust of its terrorism was run out of the Middle East -- I am not aware of any Arab terrorist operation that the Soviets were not involved in, if not founder of -- support of such terrorist activities would have been in support of Soviet policy and, as such, strongly anti-American and designed to isolate America from the rest of the world, especially Europe.
A main Soviet tactic was to recruit non-communist agents and send these agents to religious schools (seminaries) so that they would learn the religion from the ground up and be accepted into the religion for the long term. These people were both witting and unwitting agents with ideologies designed to support Russian strategy rather than Arab interests; or to manipulate Arab interests so they supported Soviet interests. The idea was to build a batch of instructors or teachers who would then dominate the teaching centers and schools, which are one of the main sources of terrorist recruitment.
The bottom line is that the Russians have been intimately involved in the corruption of the Islamic teaching centers and schools, through them and recruited clerics, as well as the radicalization of Islam and its anti-American hatred.
Finally, the success of the suicide bombers is quite likely not just a question of training and psychological brainwashing but actual mind-control using psychoactive drugs, as was also done on the Kamikaze pilots, Viet Cong, and others. Parallel activities in turning religions to Soviet interest, although not in the terrorist sense, can be seen in other religions as well.
RM: Did the Soviets do it directly or through rogue states like Iran, Iraq and Libya?
JD: First, as I understand Islam, the term radical is misleading. What we see is more appropriately fundamental Islam. That is, nothing that we see is inconsistent with the Islamic scriptures. This comes as a surprise to many people, what with our President describing Islam as a peaceful religion, focused on love and compassion. This image is nowhere to be found in the Islamic scriptures. A good treatment of the subject can be found at prophetofdoom.net, or in the book "Prophet of Doom." The web site has a mass of quotes and references.
Note that misleading the American public about an ideology is not new. Communism was misrepresented, as was the disintegration of the Soviet Union. As indicated in “The Black Book of Communism”, there was nothing but silence from academics, politicians, and the media on the crimes of Communism for eighty years, and that is still continuing. Respecting the Soviet use of surrogates has been a common practice.
Certainly, the Russians do it directly when the opportunity is right, or when they are not worried about disclosure, or do not want to trust the surrogate. In general, however, they have found it easier and more effective to use a surrogate, such as the Czechs or Germans in running operations and indigenous people where they do not want to show their faces, as in drug trafficking.
The reason surrogates works for the Russians is that people do not trust the Russians, but they do trust the Czechs and Germans, who are seen as victims. Hence, the Czechs or Germans, etc. make the contacts and at the appropriate time turn their information over to the Russians. The Czechs were very active in this respect in Egypt and Syria, where they had good contacts, and the Germans were very active in Iraq and Iran. The key question in planning the operation is which surrogate is the best to use and, in some, countries there are many options.
RM: Is there any evidence then that Russia is still using rogue states to do such dirty work?
JD: Is there any evidence they are not? It is inconceivable that they’re not still involved. One public indicator has been the presence of top-ranking Soviet advisors prior to, and during the First Gulf War, and up to, and during part of the most recent attack on Iraq. The continued Russian presence can also be seen in books such as "Bin Laden." What has been happening over the past decade is less obvious than before for two reasons.
First, the intelligence collection directed toward Russia, Eastern Europe, etc. was turned off in 1990-1992, because our attention has been focused elsewhere, and the Russians have increased their security to hide such activities. However, we also know that their foreign intelligence activities have increased and, that they’re not about to have just "walked away" from the activities of interest, which were, and remain, very valuable.
RM: How come there isn't evidence emerging that Russia is directly sponsoring terrorism itself or via rogue allies?
JD: How do you know there isn't? If there were, would you know it or would it be suppressed? There was, and still is, a major effort to suppress such intelligence, i.e., it is still politically incorrect to focus attention on the crimes of communism. There is also less information available for the reasons stated above.
RM: What do you make of the US "alliance" with the former East Bloc in the War on Terror?
JD: Total nonsense. The problem is that no information has been released that indicates what constitutes this "alliance" and what has been provided in cooperation of real significance. There was also a joint US-Russian team formed to find any information on missing American POWs in Russia. This was formed in 1992. The specific reason was the desire of our government to show it as an example of Russian cooperation.
The person who headed the Russian side, Volkogonov, was propagandized here as a “historian” and “good guy”. In reality, he was Yepishev's deputy for propaganda and disinformation for twenty years. Yepishev was one of the more sinister Soviet generals who headed the Main Political Administration. Volkogonov knew about the use of American POWs, as he told a consultant to the Foreign Relations Committee before the task force was formed but that he would be killed if he talked about it.
He headed the Soviet side, not in a spirit of cooperation, but to make certain we did not find anything. This is more likely than not, an indication of how cooperation in combating terrorism has also gone, but the US would not admit this because it would show how much a farce our pro-Russian policies are.
RM: Does the Soviet sponsorship of drug trafficking, organized crime and terrorism hold any significance today and why?
JD: Tremendous significance. Organized crime and drug trafficking are regarded by professionals as even more important that terrorism, and a massive threat. When you recognize the size (revenues of over $3 trillion and capital assets in the $30 to $50 trillion range), it does not take much imagination to recognize this means the total corruption of financial, business, trade, politicians, law enforcement, justice, law, and intelligence. This was even laid out in a US interagency study published in unclassified form on the Internet in December 2000. Its title was International Crime Threat Assessment.
RM: Russia is a victim of terrorism, especially from Chechnya. How do you respond to those that say this makes them a perfect ally?
JD: Chechnya is also reported to be a region where terrorists continue to be trained. The Russians would not hesitate to kill or allow to-be killed hundreds of thousands of people to cover their own operations. The fact that they are a "victim" means absolutely nothing.
It is too good an "example" for precisely the reason you put forth. It is similar to the sudden drug problem Russia started talking about in 1988 when their role in drug trafficking started to surface. Most of the data in this sudden surge of publicity was shown not to have come from the mid-1980s but from the 1950s. The whole thing was contrived to create the impression that Russia was suffering just as the West was under attack and, thus, gain the sympathy of the West and pave the way for joint anti-drug trafficking efforts.
RM: Why is Russia still anti-American and trying to make an alliance to counter American power?
JD: As Gorbachev explained in his book, Peristroika, “We will never forsake our goals set by Lenin (i.e., global conquest)”. What we see being launched in 1989 is a new strategy to accomplish this same goal. Arbatov foretold the new strategy -- he explained it as follows: "We are going to do a terrible thing to you. We are going to take away your threat." My belief is that Russia will be anti-American until America has been undermined to the extent where, as Rowan Gaither explained in 1953, a comfortable Russia-US merger were possible.
______________________________________________________
Joseph Douglass Jr., PhD (Cornell University, 1962), has 35 years experience in national security matters as a researcher, author, and frequent speaker. He is a recognized authority on U.S. and Soviet nuclear strategy, chemical and biological warfare, Communist decision-making, and Soviet strategic intelligence operations.
Over the past twenty years his work has focused on the international narcotics trafficking and the war on drugs, the leading role of Russian intelligence in international terrorism and organized crime, chemical and biological warfare agents for use in political and intelligence operations, US defense policy, and on the fate of missing American POWs, which is the subject of his most recent book Betrayed.
Dr. Douglass has worked in the AEC’s Sandia Laboratory, the Advanced Research Projects Agency at the Department of Defense and several national defense corporations. He has taught at Cornell University, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He is a frequent speaker and author of over a hundred scholarly articles, op ed pieces and a dozen books, including Red Cocaine: The Drugging of America and, most recently, Betrayed: Missing American POWs. He is also the co-author of America The Vulnerable: The Threat of Chemical/Biological Warfare, Why the Soviet Union Violates Arms Control Treaties, CBW: The Poor Man's Atomic Bomb, and Soviet Strategy for Nuclear War.
Good point. And Russian prophecy.
Yes, you would dislike Nyquist...he shines the light of truth on Putin.
"Postmodern Jihad: What Osama bin Laden learned from the Left."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/573060/posts
Nonsense? Then will anyone answer these questions:
1) If Russia has embraced democracy, capitalism, and shines peace throughout, then why has it openly allied itself with the greatest communist power on Earth, China? China and Russia have always been historical enemies. Since the past few years, they have been allied. Why would Russia do that?
2) If Russia is so happy and in love with the West, then why is Russia behind financing many of the rogue states and terrorist organizations in the world? Iraq... Iran... the list goes on and on.
It is not my contention that the Cold War is resuming, it is that the Cold War never ended. The threats from terrorist organizations in the Middle East is being directly fueled, technology wise and money wise, through Russia. The 'rogue states' that the terror war focuses on are merely pawns, of some form it seems, of Russia and China.
I've been reading Nyquist for years and thought he was nuts. Ever since the 'power grab' lately, we cannot look at the world with false assumptions. Nyquist's sources come primarily from former KGB operatives such as Golistyn.
Thank you very much for the link. I've saved it off; an outstanding read.
"Good point. And Russian prophecy."
Then help us out, what is "Russian prophecy", I have read a little prophecy myself.
"Nyquist's sources come primarily from former KGB operatives such as Golistyn."
Golistyn is very credible. I guess some here tend to dismiss Nyquist outright. It's unfortunate.
Nice. Reminds me of a comic I saw in the 80's. A smoking missile with CCCP lettered on its side is resting nose down, having crashed through the roof of a tavern. Stunned patrons stare at it. The caption: Last Call...
Hmm, let me look into this and get back to you, there was some talk aways back about Russian returning to an Orthodox country being a foretold prophecy.
Two years ago, North Korea agreed with the United States to stop testing long-range missiles until 2003 in exchange for the U.S. lifting some economic sanctions on North Korea.
The announcement was made during negotiations with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, by the deputy head of the Russian president's administration, Sergei Prikhodko. It followed the signing in Moscow of a memoradum between Russia and North Korea.
Both sides reaffirmed the importance of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty which the U.S. is currently trying to amend in order to proceed with the testing of a missile defence system.
The Kremlin aide said negotiations also touched on the issues of strategic stability, trade and economic issues and international issues.
Washington says its missile defence system is planned to protect it from attacks from what it calls "rogue states" like North Korea. Russia and China are key opponents of the plan, saying it could lead to a new arms race.
A key part of the Moscow Declaration signed by Kim and Putin on Saturday insisted that Washington's fears were groundless.
"North Korea asserts that its missile programme is peaceful in nature and does not present a threat to nations respecting North Korea's sovereignty," RIA news agency quoted the declaration as saying.
"The Russian Federation and North Korea, recognising that international relations should consistently guarantee independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, support the right of every state to the same degree of safety," RIA quoted the pact as saying.
Before his meeting with Putin at the Kremlin, Kim laid wreaths at the Lenin mausoleum on Red Square and the adjacent Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, ITAR-Tass news agency said.
He was the first foreign head of state to lay wreath at the mausoleum in the post-Soviet era.
Words on the wreath said “Kim Jong Il - Vladimir Lenin” in Korean script.
Kim arrived in Moscow late on Friday after a marathon nine-day trip across Russia from Pyongyang in a private bulletproof train.
His trip has been shrouded in secrecy and tight security.
Like his father, the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung who is idolised as a virtual god in the country, the younger Kim is rumoured to have a severe fear of flying.
Before the talks, Putin said he was pleased that Kim had finally arrived in the Russian capital.
“You have done the same thing as your father once did,” Putin told Kim, adding that he had seen more of Russia during his journey than many Russian politicians.
Kim said he was looking forward to the meeting and said the Moscow Declaration would strengthen ties and renew understanding between the former communist allies.
Putin and Kim were expected to meet twice -- initially for a one-on-one session, then for a later meeting when they will be joined by aides.
Topping the agenda for talks between the two leaders is expected to be North Korean requests for Russian assistance in modernising the country's outdated industry.
North Korea has been relying on outside aid to feed its 22 million people since 1994 and Kim is under intense pressure to deliver results in rebuilding his country's tattered economy.
Aid in developing North Korea's rail network is also up for discussion -- a subject that is obviously close to Kim's heart.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, who met North Korean Vice Premier Cho Chang Dok shortly after Kim's arrival, said the two sides planned to talk over a proposed link up of North Korea's rail network with the trans-Siberian line.
If plans for an inter-Korean rail link go ahead that could open the way to direct rail services between South Korea and Europe.
"This project is being finalised in Moscow," Klebanov was quoted as saying. Russian aid
The Russian news agency ITAR-Tass said the two leaders would sign a memorandum of understanding granting Russian assistance in the modernisation of four thermal power plants and a steel mill in North Korea.
An agreement on substantial sales of Russian arms and other military hardware to Pyongyang is also expected to be inked.
After meeting Putin, Kim is expected to travel on to the former Imperial capital of St Petersburg, before making the long journey back home, once again by rail.
"...while visiting Mount Athos, more than a quarter of a century ago, that I first heard the Soviet Union would collapse—and would do so in my lifetime. There, in northeastern Greece one early-spring afternoon, two young Russian-American seminary students spoke to me of the greatness of the czars and the Russian Orthodox Church, and of how both the Romanov dynasty and the Orthodox Church were more legitimate than Leonid Brezhnev's Communist regime of the day. A time would come, they insisted, when the czar would again be revered in "Russia," as they called it. I was both fascinated and mystified. Throughout my life I had been taught that the Soviet system, for all its cruelties, was nevertheless an improvement over the reactionary rule of the czars. Moreover, because the Cold War had been in progress since before I was born, I unconsciously assumed its permanence.
But these seminary students spoke matter-of-factly about the fall of the Soviet Union, as if it would occur the following week. They provided no analysis, and little explanation. According to them, the matter was simple: because the Communist system was godless, it had no moral legitimacy, and therefore Russia would necessarily be restored to its true self before long.
I attempted to argue, but they brushed me off good-naturedly with a few references to Russia's pre-Communist, Orthodox past. I liked them, but I did not believe them. Yet I believed my surroundings, where little seemed to have changed since the time of the Byzantine Empire—an era defined by the Eastern Orthodox Church, with all its passions and intrigues. My mind might disagree, but in this setting it was difficult for my heart to follow."
The meeting of the two leaders proved more successful than expected This time around, the official formula "the president is fully satisfied with the results of the visit" turned out to be not only eloquent but also entirely truthful. Within several hours that he spent in Pyongyang, Vladimir Putin achieved all that he had set out to achieve: He was guaranteed both close attention on the part of the G-8 heads of state and a role as a kind of discoverer of North Korea as well as, possibly, peace-maker's credentials.
The start of the visit was marred by a minor snag: Departure from Beijing had to be delayed because of a thunderstorm over the North Korean capital. Later, Kim Jong Il , with his oriental grandiloquence, explained to Vladimir Putin that rain was certainly an excellent thing for the agricultural sector but not quite so beneficial for the one million ordinary Pyongyang residents who had put on their Sunday best and gone to the streets to welcome the Russian president. Luckily, the downpour soon ended and the ceremony proceeded exactly as planned: The jubilant crowds of people, neatly arranged on an airfield, shouted "Hurrah!" to the accompaniment of a gun salute while young pioneers put a red bandanna around Putin's neck.
The arrival of the Russian head of state in the North Korean capital was a major event: Kim Jong Il, who does not often appear in public, for the first time turned up to meet a distinguished guest at the airport. So the Pyongyang residents' delight over a rare opportunity to behold their leader was so great and so clamorous that it effectively drowned out the roar of the presidential jet. Kim Jong Il courteously met Putin at the ramp and was indulgent toward the young Russian leader's habits: When the latter unexpectedly went to the crowd to shake hands with the common folk, Kim merely waved his hand and stood waiting on the carpet.
Everything else took place in a sprawling residence called Pavilion of One Hundred Flowers. At first Putin and Kim met one on one. The meeting was so fruitful that it lasted an hour longer than planned. The Russian president said the conversation had proceeded in a very intimate atmosphere. The result: a joint declaration. The sides had reportedly kept amending the text until the very last moment and so it turned out to be more meaningful and substantive than they had hoped.
Yet perhaps more important than the declaration itself were the details of the meeting that Vladimir Putin later chose to reveal. His comment was basically designed to improve North Korea's image. Terms such as "unpredictable country" or "rogue state" are now gradually losing their meaning. According to Putin, North Korea "is ready to use foreign missile technologies in its space research projects." That statement by the Russian president was primarily addressed to the United States. Putin, on his own admission, believes that instead of retaliating a threat (read: deploying a US national missile defense system), it would be better to attempt to minimize that threat. And Russia is ready to act as mediator in that process.
Furthermore, Russia is ready to assume an active role in facilitating a Korean settlement. True, the wording was different this time - Putin pointed out that "this is really up to the Koreans themselves to decide." Nonetheless, if Pyongyang is agreeable to the suggestion, Russia could help restore the railroad line that passes through both Korean states before it joins Russia's Trans-Siberian Railroad. Although apparently very down-to-earth, this is a purely political issue. For Korea and Europe to be linked by a railway line, Pyongyang would first have to open up its borders a little.
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According to Putin, North Korea "is ready to use foreign missile technologies in its space research projects."
Don't think GWBush needs the advice. His stratergy appears to be Trust but Verify. Hopefully will produce similar results as President Reagan's did.
God Bless the US of A.
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