← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Sertorius
Thread ID: 17784 | Posts: 13 | Started: 2005-04-14
2005-04-14 20:49 | User Profile
The International Herald Tribune
Why make an enemy of Russia? William Pfaff International Herald Tribune Wednesday, April 13, 2005
PARIS U.S. and European Union policies toward Russia are more dangerous than they may seem. What has been happening on Russia's borders could reasonably be interpreted by the government of President Vladimir Putin as a Western campaign to detach and alienate the neighboring states that Moscow describes as its "Near Abroad."
In an important respect, Putin's government has invited this interference on its frontier. It has combined complacence with complaisance in corrupt leadership in Belarus, Ukraine and the former Soviet republics in Central Asia.
When the Soviet Union was dissolved by Boris Yeltsin in 1991, time should have been up for the whole system. Yeltsin told the leaders of the former Soviet states to take as much freedom as they could manage. In fact, most took as much power, and as much of their states' wealth and resources, as they could.
They did roughly what was being done in Russia itself, to Western approval. "Democracy" was being installed there, but it was the form of democracy described by the oligarch Boris Berezovsky when he said "democracy everywhere is the rule of big money."
A system of swindling, robbery, asset-stripping and appropriation of public resources was created then that Putin is now trying to reverse. Thus his arrest of the politically ambitious oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which continues to be described in the West as an attack on market freedom.
It no doubt was that, but is also intended by Putin to make the state prevail over the oligarchs' version of capitalism, and to resist the international criminal forces that have infiltrated the existing system and are capable, if unchecked, of destroying civil power in modern Russia.
Putin is saying: Do you want Russia run by patriots who will defend political authority and restore Russia's international standing, or are you content with decline and corruption? There is a popular reaction against oligarchy and in favor of what Putin presents as patriotic reform.
There almost certainly is going to be another popular reaction against foreign interventions in Russia's Near Abroad.
Recent events in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, and pressures on Belarus - whose despotic president, Alexander Lukashenko, is loyal to Putin, but which is described by President George W. Bush as "an outpost of tyranny" - are creating anxiety and anger in Russia. Moscow sees a big campaign under way to turn Russia's neighbors into allies of the United States and the West.
The congressionally financed democracyadvocacy groups of the two major U.S. parties, plus Freedom House in New York, the German Marshall Fund, the admirable Open Society network financed by George Soros, and other nongovernmental organizations have all been active in training volunteers from these states to overturn the corrupt governments in power (as was done in Serbia in the 1990s).
Some talk darkly about CIA plans, but there is little that has been hidden in this. Official U.S. support was there when needed: the opposition press in Kyrgyzstan was printed in an American-financed printing plant (and when electricity failed, the U.S. Embassy supplied generators).
The changes of government produced by these actions are described in the United States as triumphs of democracy. You can ask whether this really is so, or merely a shuffling of old elites and clans, but that's not the question that bothers Moscow.
I should be the last person to criticize since, in the 1950s, I worked for the Free Europe organization, which pioneered broadcasts and other forms of political warfare directed against the Communist regimes of Central and Eastern Europe. Our efforts certainly contributed to their eventual collapse.
There is a fundamental difference, however, between what is going on now and our activities and broadcasts during the cold war.
The Soviet Union was a powerful and hostile foreign despotism, dominating Eastern and Central Europe against the will of their populations. Russia today, however, is a "strategic partner" of the West. Putin may control national television, but press and public discussion in Russia are free. The public unquestionably supports him, yet there is vigorous political debate and controversy. Elections take place.
Moscow cooperates with the West at virtually every level of international relations. It supplies the West with oil, cooperates in Bush's war on terror, and has made no trouble over U.S. bases in Central Asia.
So why do we want to make an enemy of Putin?
The Russians are being subjected to a very high level of provocation. Russia is now encircled by American power. There are U.S. forces in Central Asia and the Caucasus. With the Baltic states now members of NATO, alliance aircraft are deployed on Russia's frontier. The Poles and others are anxious for Ukraine to join NATO and the EU.
The Russian government has been amazingly calm about all this, but it might one of these days lose that calm. Russia today is not the Soviet Union, but it could still find ways to be very unpleasant to those who chose to make an enemy of it.
IHT Copyright é 2005 The International Herald Tribune | [url]www.iht.com[/url]
[url]http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/04/12/news/edpfaff.html[/url]
[QUOTE]"democracy everywhere is the rule of big money."[/QUOTE]
Whether it be in the U.S. or any other place that plutocrats desire to plunder.
2005-04-14 22:50 | User Profile
If Amerika and the Jews try to steal the oil in Iran going to China, Russia, France and others will be gettin plenty more of enemys.
2005-04-15 01:31 | User Profile
The Russian government has been amazingly calm about all this, but it might one of these days lose that calm. Russia today is not the Soviet Union, but it could still find ways to be very unpleasant to those who chose to make an enemy of it. This is true. For example, Russia still has enough nukes to blow the United States into oblivion several times over.
2005-04-15 03:02 | User Profile
Go Russia! :thumbsup:
2005-04-16 01:15 | User Profile
The Jews have always hated Russia and Eastern Orthodoxy. The czars were onto them and made great-grandpa Schlomo live in the Pale of Settlement, now 120 years later the neo-Cons get their revenge.
Hooray for Russia!
2005-04-16 04:41 | User Profile
Related news:
Putin enlists Cossacks to fight terrorism
[url="http://http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/04/13/cossackbill.shtml"]http://http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/04/13/cossackbill.shtml[/url]
Cossacks back to fight again
[url="http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/7306-4.cfm"]http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/7306-4.cfm[/url]
If they ever get their economics straightened out, the Russkies will be hell on wheels.
2005-04-16 05:07 | User Profile
The beauty of it, the Cossacs are by definition nationalist (and by extension anti-semitic).
Here's an interesting account of the fall in quality of the Moscow News (I found it often quoted by the West, and this explains the mechanics behind "freedom of the press"): [url]http://www.exile.ru/2005-April-08/pigs_at_the_printing_press.html[/url]
2005-04-16 09:53 | User Profile
MR, this is for you... [url]http://www.cyberussr.com/rus/repin-cos.html[/url] ...if people would do this to Bush.
2005-04-16 11:28 | User Profile
Russia today, however, is a "strategic partner" of the West. Putin may control national television, but press and public discussion in Russia are free.
Bull...
2005-04-16 17:14 | User Profile
Mother Russia is our natural geopolitical and cultural Ally.
[img]http://www.lomo-expedition.de/RUS_Wolgograd_2003_06_16_Mutter_Russland.jpg[/img]
2005-04-16 17:33 | User Profile
[COLOR=Red][B][I] - "Russia still has enough nukes to blow the United States into oblivion several times over."[/I][/B][/COLOR]
They also have power to annihilate [I]China[/I], which may be even more important in suppressing Beijing's ambitions towards Siberia and its natural resources...
[COLOR=Blue][I][B] - "If they ever get their economics straightened out, the Russkies will be hell on wheels."[/B][/I][/COLOR]
Actually they may already be heading the right direction:
[url]http://www.financialexpress.com/print.php?content_id=87303[/url]
[COLOR=Sienna][SIZE=3]"Russia may pay back foreign debt by ââ¬â¢07 amid oil boom"[/SIZE] [I] [B][U]Moscow, April 7[/U][/B]:
[B]Russia, which defaulted on $40 billion of domestic bonds in 1998, said it may pay back its entire $110 billion of foreign debt as soon as 2007 as record oil prices swell government revenue.[/B]
ââ¬Ëââ¬ËItââ¬â¢s most likely that the debts will be repaid one by oneââ¬â¢Ã¢â¬â¢ by 2007 or 2008, Andrei Illarionov, 43, an aide to President Vladimir Putin, said in an interview in Moscow on Wednesday. He gave no details, saying only that payment is a ââ¬Ëââ¬Ëtechnical issue.ââ¬â¢Ã¢â¬â¢
The tripling in oil prices since 1999 helped Russia, the worldââ¬â¢s biggest producer of crude, boost foreign-currency and gold reserves to $139 billion as of March 31, improving its ability to service debt. Oil rose to a record $58.28 a barrel two days ago in New York.
Russiaââ¬â¢s 2030 bond had its biggest gain in six months on Wednesday, and has almost tripled in price since its inception in February 2000. An investor who bought $1 million-worth of the securities when they were sold would have made about $667,000 as of Tuesday, according to Bloomberg calculations.
Stocks also rose today, with the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange Index adding 1.4%. ââ¬Ëââ¬ËThe buyback of the entire stock of public-sector debt does seem a bit ambitious,ââ¬â¢Ã¢â¬â¢ said Tim Ash, managing director of Bear Stearns International in London, in an e-mailed note.
ââ¬Ëââ¬ËThe math might just about add up if you assume oil and commodity prices remain close to current highs, and fiscal policy remains tight.ââ¬â¢Ã¢â¬â¢
Putin has taken steps to shore up investor confidence after his government seized and sold the main production unit of OAO Yukos Oil Co, then the nationââ¬â¢s biggest oil exporter, last December, sparking a decline in stocks and bonds. Foreign investors will soon be able to increase their stakes in OAO Gazprom, the worldââ¬â¢s largest natural-gas producer, a Putin aide said March 29.
Moodyââ¬â¢s Investors Service has upgraded Russiaââ¬â¢s long-term foreign-currency credit four times since the government defaulted on its domestic debt and devalued the rouble in August 1998, when crude oil traded as low as $12.56. The default prompted a wave of asset selling that cost billionaire George Soros about $2 billion and drove US-based Long Term Capital Management, one of the worldââ¬â¢s largest hedge funds at the time, to collapse.
Russiaââ¬â¢s long-term foreign currency debt is rated Baa3 by Moodyââ¬â¢s, the lowest investment grade. Following his election in 2000, Putin introduced a flat income tax rate of 13%, slashed the corporate profit tax to 24%, legalised the sale of agricultural land and introduced measures to reduce bureaucracy for small companies.
[B]The country, the biggest of the former Soviet republics, is poised to record its seventh straight year of economic growth. The government says the $533 billion economy may grow between 5.8% and 6.5% this year, after 7.1% in 2004 and 7.3% in 2003[/B].
Oil and natural gas account for half the countryââ¬â¢s export revenue.
ââ¬â Bloomberg [/I][/COLOR]
Much has been made about how the population of Russia is falling because of low birthrates and amazingly low average age, but at least the latter factor may actually turn out to be a sort of [I]blessing in disguise[/I] - since so many Russians die so young, they will largely avoid [B]the retirement bomb[/B] that will strike the economies of Western societies in near future!
Petr
2005-04-16 19:29 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Petr][COLOR=Red][B][I] - "Russia still has enough nukes to blow the United States into oblivion several times over."[/I][/B][/COLOR]
They also have power to annihilate [I]China[/I], which may be even more important in suppressing Beijing's ambitions towards Siberia and its natural resources... Yes, very important point since we seem intent on turning China into an economic superpower by shipping all of our industries and technology to China.
Much has been made about how the population of Russia is falling because of low birthrates and amazingly low average age, but at least the latter factor may actually turn out to be a sort of [I]blessing in disguise[/I] - since so many Russians die so young, they will largely avoid [B]the retirement bomb[/B] that will strike the economies of Western societies in near future! [/QUOTE]That's not much to crow about, but at least they are not importing non-white minorities.
When we see an openly nationalistic Russian government and increasing birth rates, we'll know Russia is on the mend. Nationalism, economic improvement, and rising birth rates go hand-in-hand. Hitler did it. That's one reason why Germany got "sat on" and that's why you-know-who will try to do the same thing to Russia if Russia has a similar turnaround.
2005-04-16 22:58 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Sertorius]MR, this is for you... [url]http://www.cyberussr.com/rus/repin-cos.html[/url] ...if people would do this to Bush.[/QUOTE]
Those Brothers didn't mince words, Sarge...Junior would indeed benefit from such a verbal bitch-slapping. :thumbsup:
[img]http://www.cyberussr.com/rus/gal/syech-l.jpg[/img]
...Thou scullion of Babylon, thou wheelwright of Macedonia, thou beer-brewer of Jerusalem, thou goat-flayer of Alexandria, thou swineherd of Egypt, both the Greater and the Lesser, thou sow of Armenia, thou goat of Tartary, thou hangman of Kamenetz, thou evildoer of Podoliansk, thou grandson of the Devil himself, thou great silly oaf of all the world and of the netherworld and, before our God, a blockhead, a swine's snout, a mare's ___, a butcher's cur, an unbaptized brow, May the Devil take thee!