“I want to warn Americans. As a people, you are very naïve about Russia and its intentions. You believe because the Soviet Union no longer exists, Russia now is your friend. It isn’t, and I can show you how the SVR is trying to destroy the U.S. even today and even more than the KGB did during the Cold War.” Sergei Tretyakov, KGB/SVR defector
If you read the news from day to day you will notice a gradual shift in the strategic balance. This year’s headlines are as representative as those found in previous years. Perhaps you’ve read about joint military exercises involving South Africa and Russia, South Africa and China, or North Korea acquiring uranium from Congo. Perhaps you noted the Communist victory in the Angolan Civil War. Maybe you’ve caught a glimpse of Europe’s growing anti-Americanism, or noticed stories about Russian weapons reaching insurgents in Iraq. How about a recent headline stating that “Germany wants a new strategic Partnership with Russia”?
We’re not supposed to worry about such things. We’re supposed to shop, that is, before the dollar sinks out of sight and the shopping mall regime ingloriously ends. What then? The Germans want a strategic partnership with Russia. This is perfectly logical. Germany needs Russia because Germany wants to feel safe, and Germany wants to be warm in the winter; and Russia needs Germany, right? It is now suggested that the European Union enter into special negotiations with Russia.
America’s best ally in Latin America is Colombia. The U.S. has been helping Colombia fight Communist rebels who traffic in drugs, guns and now uranium. When Colombian forces made a cross-border attack on a Communist encampment in Ecuador, killing the number two Communist leader in the insurgency, the neighboring government of Venezuela mobilized troops and tanks, closed the border with Colombia and broke of diplomatic relations. It’s not that there’s going to be a war in South America. There already is a war in South America. The question is one of general alignment for other countries. The strategic shift against America is here manifest – on a continental scale. Those who support Communism would be expected to find the Colombian attack objectionable and denounce Colombia as an American puppet state. Those who understand how dangerous Communism is, who grasp its intrinsic totalitarianism, its threat to the liberty and prosperity, will applaud Colombia’s cross-border attack. The people of Ecuador themselves should applaud. But there is a movement of countries, as I’ve noted, and a shift towards (dare we say it out loud?) a new totalitarian bloc.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is quietly backed by Communist China, not so quietly backed by Communist Cuba and the Communist president of Nicaragua, and by weapons from Russian President Vladimir Putin. If this were 1978 instead of 2008, Washington would be alarmed at the situation. Brazil and Argentina would be alarmed. But no, these countries understand the situation differently.
The Germans want a new strategic partnership with Russia. A large chunk of South America is headed toward the exact same partnership. It is said that the Cold War has been “consigned to history.” This is a convenient idea for those who would make a separate peace in a long struggle that wasn’t finalized – contrary to what you’ve read and heard. Re-enter the Cold War? Europe cannot do that. Take the side of the United States? Latin America hesitates. Great struggles do not die or disappear. They recur. Rome and Carthage had periods of prolonged peace between the three Punic wars. And so it is between the East Bloc and the West Bloc.
There was a curious interview, more than a year ago, with the speaker of the Chechen parliament, Mr. Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov. The reader should keep in mind that Mr. Abdurakhmanov was formerly the chairman of the Executive Committee of the District Soviet of People’s Deputies. Speaking of the Chechen revolt, Mr. Abdurakhmanov said in all frankness, “Russia created Dudaev, Maskhadov and Basaev [the chiefs of the Chechen rebel movement]. Basaev, by the way, was a GRU officer in Abkhazia; it’s not a secret….” Abdurakhmanov further stated that Chechnya had “saved Russia from NATO.” In fact, he added, the Chechens would save Russia in the future.
According to Webster’s New College Edition, an imposter is defined as “a person who deceives under an assumed identity. For example: a Communist who pays lip service to the free market; or a Communist who pretends to be an Islamist rebel. Here the question of identity depends on a false presentation, so that the whole world is deceived.
There is a new book, sporting an old theme, authored by Yossef Bodansky. It is titled Chechen Jihad: Al Qaeda’s Training Ground and the Next Wave of Terror. The main argument of the book may be summarized as follows: Al Qaeda has nuclear weapons, and some of these have probably been smuggled into the United States for use against American cities. The weapons are Soviet-made weapons, smuggled out of Russia courtesy of the Chechen mafia via the Chechen rebel state (i.e., “Al Qaeda’s Training Ground”). It is an old story, first told by Bodansky in 1999 and repeated in greater detail in this more recent volume.
Now I will repeat what Abdurakhmanov said: “Russia created Dudaev, Maskhadov and Basaev [who was a GRU officer in Abkhazia].” The Chechens “saved Russia from NATO,” and the Chechens will save Russia in the future.
