Since the end of the Second World War, two countries have
been referred to as “superpowers”: The United States and Soviet Russia. Since
the Soviet Union broke apart, America was said to be the “lone superpower.”
Moscow’s power had collapsed. Such was the West’s perception in late 1991.
Seventeen years later the Cold War rears its ugly head, and many are caught off
guard. The defeated Kremlin has put together a new anti-American bloc,
including China and Venezuela. This has been long in the making, ignored by a
culture of strategic denial in Washington.
Using the presence of U.S. warships in the Black Sea as an
excuse, Russia has landed two long-range strategic bombers in Venezuela. The country’s
aspiring dictator, President Hugo Chavez, stated bluntly, “If the Russian Navy
arrives in the Caribbean or the Atlantic it may certainly dock in Venezuela. We
have no problems with that and would warmly welcome it. And if Russian
long-range bombers should need to land in Venezuela we would not object to that
either. We will also welcome them.”
The main ambition of Hugo Chavez and his socialist bloc
allies in Ecuador, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Brazil, is to bring the United States
to its knees. Now, at long last, Russia is openly showing its willingness to
send forces in support of the emerging anti-U.S. coalition in South America.
This shows that the balance of power has not only been upset in Europe, where
American allies are paralysed by their dependence on Russian gas and oil, but
has also been upset in Latin America where crypto-Communist regimes have
emerged through a cultural process that promotes anti-Americanism.
As they advance, the Russian leaders deny any hostile
intentions. They deny that a new Cold War has begun. According to Russian Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin, Russia had to launch an incursion into Georgia. “In
this situation,” he offered, “were we supposed to just wipe away bloody snot
and hang our heads?” Putin further explained that he had “no wish or grounds to
encroach on the sovereignty of former Soviet republics.” Of course, this
statement is a bald-faced lie.
Russian agents long ago infiltrated the political process in
Ukraine, for example, and now conspire against Ukrainian President Victor
Yuschenko. According to Yushchenko, the Ukrainian prime minister is working
with the Kremlin to remove him from office. “A political and constitutional
coup d’etat has started in the parliament,” stated Yushchenko. “The Tymoshenko
Bloc has accepted union with the Regions Party and the Communists. The basis of
this formation is not Ukrainian, I underline not Ukrainian.”
The Kremlin has also interfered in the politics of
Moldova, stationing troops in the former Soviet republic, supporting a ridiculous
breakaway region (like South Ossetia and Abkhazia) that only serves the purpose
of encircling neighbouring Ukraine. Despite these obvious imperialist moves,
Putin declares that Russia has no imperial ambitions. “We do not have … any of
the imperial ambitions that people try to accuse us of,” he told a meeting of
officials and experts at the Black Sea resort of Sochi. “Russia was the
initiator of the destruction of the Soviet Union. If it wasn’t for Russia, the
USSR would still exist…. We do not have any desire or basis for infringing the
sovereignty of former Soviet republics.”
To correct the record, the collapse of the Soviet Union was
engineered by the KGB. It was initiated by the Kremlin because the
neo-Stalinist model was a failure, because the Kremlin wanted to put the West
to sleep. The Soviet leaders also wanted cash investment and technology to
renew their military capabilities. This is not hard to understand, though the
West preferred to credit itself with victory. There was no victory, however.
There was merely a transition from open enmity on the part of Moscow to
pretended friendship. The Ukrainian people can see this. Victor Yushchenko
openly announces it. President Mikhail Saakashvili also understands the process
of Russia’s ongoing interference and manipulation within the former Soviet
republics. The fact that Georgia broke away from its KGB structures has
infuriated the Kremlin, causing it to activate its fighters in South Ossetia
and Abkhazia, provoking a conflict that was used to excuse the massive armed
incursion of last month.
Putin nonetheless argues his position. “We don’t
have any ideological differences, no basis for Cold War. On the contrary,” he
protested, “we have a lot of common problems that we can only resolve
together.” Perhaps he is referring to international terrorism, which was
largely financed and developed into a global power by Moscow. Not only did the
KGB invent airline hijacking, but the KGB trained an entire generation of Arab
terrorists (including Yasser Arafat).
And then there is the economic game, intended to push
capitalism over the brink. It is not that Russia has caused the West’s economic
problems. But Russia’s mastery of clandestine instruments provides a tool for
pushing the West as it totters on a financial cliff. According to an Associated
Press story, titled “Study Links Oil Prices to Investor Manipulation,” a
curious coincidence emerges in the data. Analysis shows that a massive
“stampede for the exits” in the oil market began on July 15. This date marks a
turning point in Russia’s strategic direction, when the Russian president
gathered all his country’s diplomats to a meeting in Moscow.
A clever analyst has written to me on the subject of oil
price manipulation: “What if the rise in oil was deliberately done in a
coordinated attack? Using multiple business fronts, using foreign government
monies, using lies about production levels to drive up the price to the bin
Laden price of $144 to hurt the U.S. economy and sucker everyone into a long
position in oil, then drop the bottom out of oil….”
If you create a trend, the herd follows. This is well known.
And the financial herd is no exception. Why was there a “massive stampede for
the exits” on July 15? Who triggered it?
Perhaps the United States is under financial attack. We know
that the country is being encircled through maneuvers in Latin America. At the
same time, the U.S. is being isolated from its European allies, financially
hobbled by a combination of its own blunders and poorly understood market manipulations.
There is continuity in Russian grand strategy, from the rise
of Gorbachev to the incursion into Georgia.
Russia’s hidden hand should not be underestimated.
The advent of Boris Yeltsin was not a period of democracy
and genuine liberalization. It was, instead, a period of deception and false
promise.
The strategic danger is not fully appreciated, even now.
There is much more to come.