Peter Jennings’s Magnifying Glass ...........................docx
Putin's Russia - The New American Magazine - 1-22-07.pdf
1. Business vs. Government • Neoconservatism’s Deadly Influence • “Normalizing” Premarital Sex
January 22, 2007
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Putin’s
The Return of the Iron Fist
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5. Vol. 23, No. 2 January 22, 2007
Photo: Newscom; design by Joseph W. Kelly
COVER STORY
RUSSIA 12
12 Putin’s Russia
by William F. Jasper — The return of the iron fist.
Putin’s
17 Putin, Poison, and Murder
by William F. Jasper — The recent murder-by-poison of Russian
KGB/FSB defector Alexander Litvinenko is a potent warning about
the dangers of our new security “partnership” with Putin’s Russia.
17
23 Putin’s New Soviet Economy
by Dennis Behreandt — After a decade of “market reform,” the
Russian economy appears to be returning to its Soviet roots.
28 Silent Suffering in Russia
AP Images
AP Images
by Kurt Williamsen — As Russian companies were privatized, the 23
bulk of Russians received merely empty promises.
FEATURES
BOOK REVIEW
31 Business vs. Government
by Brian Farmer — In his book The Big Ripoff, Timothy Carney
destroys the deception that Big Business and government are
adversaries.
AP Images
HISTORY — PAST AND PERSPECTIVE 28
36 Neoconservatism’s Deadly Influence
by John F. McManus — A look at the roots of neoconservatism and 31
the reasons why this deadly movement must be rejected.
THE LAST WORD
44 “Normalizing” Premarital Sex
by Warren Mass
DEPARTMENTS
5 Letters to the Editor 35 The Goodness of America
7 Inside Track 41 Exercising the Right
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36
11 QuickQuotes 42 Correction, Please!
COVER Photo: Newscom; design by Joseph W. Kelly
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9. Inside Track
Saddam Hanged for Crimes Committed While Backed by United States
The media has widely reported the fact the same article, it was reported that
that Saddam Hussein’s December 30 ex- Donald Rumsfeld (who recently re-
ecution had been ordered as punishment signed as Secretary of Defense) went
for the killings of 148 men and boys in to Baghdad in December 1983 and met
the northern town of Dujail in 1982. with Saddam Hussein.
Less reported is the fact that Saddam In an article in the Washington Post
enjoyed a considerable amount of U.S. for December 30, 2002, “U.S. Had Key
support during the 1980s and before. Role in Iraq Buildup,” Michael Dobbs
An April 10, 2003 report by UPI writer also referenced the 1983 meeting be-
AP Images
Richard Sale stated that Saddam’s “first tween Rumsfeld and Saddam, describ-
contacts with U.S. officials date back to Saddam Hussein ing the future defense secretary as being
1959, when he was part of a CIA-autho- “among the people instrumental in tilt-
rized six-man squad tasked with assassinating then Iraqi Prime ing U.S. policy toward Baghdad during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq
Minister Gen. Abd al-Karim Qasim.... The CIA/Defense Intelli- war.” Dobbs continued: “The administrations of Ronald Reagan
gence Agency relation with Saddam intensified after the start of and George H.W. Bush authorized the sale to Iraq of numerous
the Iran-Iraq war in September of 1980.” items that had both military and civilian applications, including
In a briefing with White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer poisonous chemicals and deadly biological viruses, such as an-
on January 27, 2003, White House reporter Russell Mokhiber thrax and bubonic plague.”
referenced an article the previous day in the San Francisco It is ironic that of all the possible charges that could have been
Chronicle that a number of major American corporations — in- leveled against the now-deceased dictator, those responsible for
cluding Hewlett-Packard and Bechtel — helped Saddam Hus- his conviction and execution focused on a massacre that occurred
sein beef up his military in the 1980s. Mokhiber said that in when he enjoyed considerable U.S. support.
The Lies That Led to Iraq
In a report that garnered little if any attention in the United States, that was kept secret until now by the British Official Secrets Act,
in mid-December the Independent, a London newspaper, reported Ross said, “at no time did HMG [Her Majesty’s Government]
that the British government’s (and hence, the U.S. government’s) assess that Iraq’s WMD (or any other capability) posed a threat
case for war in Iraq was based on lies. According to the report, to the UK or its interests.” Moreover, he said it was a widely held
the case for war was “torn apart by the publication of previously view among British officials that the Iraqi regime had been “ef-
suppressed evidence that Tony Blair lied over Saddam Hussein’s fectively contained.”
weapons of mass destruction.” The evidence comes from British According to British Members of Parliament (MPs), it appears
diplomat Carne Ross, a negotiator for the British government at that the British Foreign Office sought to keep Ross’ testimony
the UN who participated in crafting UN sanctions against the secret because of its explosive contents. According to the Inde-
regime of Saddam Hussein. pendent, the testimony was revealed only after several MPs from
While his UN service is in no way a mark of distinction, Ross the [House of] Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs
may have been well placed to examine the evidence that was used pressured the Foreign Office on the issue of suppression of the
to justify the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq. In testimony information under the Official Secrets Act. According to one MP
from the Foreign Affairs Committee, “There was blood on the
carpet over this. I think it’s pretty clear the Foreign Office used
the Official Secrets Act to suppress this evidence, by hanging it
like a Sword of Damacles [sic] over Mr. Ross, but we have called
their bluff.”
Ross’ hitherto secret testimony was delivered to a panel inves-
tigating British intelligence blunders prior to the start of the Iraq
invasion. That investigation was led by Lord Butler of Brockwell
(aka Robin Butler), a former private secretary to Margaret Thatch-
er. According to the Independent, Ross told the Butler inquiry
“there was no intelligence evidence of significant holdings of CW
[chemical warfare], BW [biological warfare] or nuclear material”
held by Iraq. “There was, moreover, no intelligence or assessment
AP Images
Carne Ross
during my time in the job that Iraq had any intention to launch an
attack against its neighbours or the UK or the US,” Ross added.
THE NEW AMERICAN • JANUARY 22, 2007 7
10. Inside Track
Securing a Pardon for Secure Borders
“Everybody realizes that President Bush has some kind of com- his civil rights.
mitment to an open-border policy with Mexico,” exclaimed Con- Both Jose
gressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) at a press conference held Compean and
at the steps of the Old Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana, Ignacio Ramos
California, on December 21, 2006. have been ordered
Congressman Rohrabacher was joined by Border Patrol agent to begin serving
Jose Compean and his family to call upon the president to grant their sentences
a presidential pardon to two U.S. Border Patrol agents who are on January 17.
being treated as criminals by the U.S. Justice Department for During Christ-
simply performing their duties to secure our country. mas, President
Border Patrol agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos were Bush pardoned
Jose Compean joined
Sam Antonio
sentenced in October 2006 to 12 and 11 years respectively for 16 criminals in- by Congressman Dana
an incident that occurred along the El Paso, Texas, border in cluding five drug Rohrabacher (right)
February 2005. That incident involved both agents in a non-fatal dealers. In light
shooting of an admitted drug smuggler, Osbaldo Aldrete-Da- of this, 51 con-
vila, as he tried to smuggle 743 pounds of marijuana in his van gressmen have signed a letter urging the White House to grant a
into the United States. pardon to the two Border Patrol agents.
Aldrete-Davila eventually escaped back into Mexico, but that Perhaps Congressman Rohrabacher put this whole distorted
was only the beginning of an ordeal that would continue to haunt scenario into perspective when he stated, “They [the Bush admin-
agents Compean and Ramos. To the shock of many, the drug istration] got their priorities totally backwards. We should be back-
smuggler was given free medical treatment for his wounds and ing up our defenders, finding reasons to help our defenders, and
immunity by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in exchange for his tes- finding reasons to put the bad guys away. Our President is treating
timony against both agents. Furthermore, Aldrete-Davila, who the bad guys like good guys and the good guys like bad guys.”
lives in Mexico and even failed to show up to testify against the For more information about the Compean/Ramos case, see “Be-
agents, is suing the U.S. Border Patrol for $5 million for violating trayed in the Line of Duty” in our September 18, 2006 issue.
Bush Administration Approves of UN Status for Homosexual Groups
The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has granted and Gay Federation (ILGA), a group whose alliance with the
official status to three European homosexual organizations. child-sex group NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love As-
After initially objecting to awarding this coveted status to such sociation) earned rejection in past years. ILGA’s claims that it has
groups, the Bush administration’s representative went along and broken with NAMBLA, the leading pedophilia promoter in the
voted for it. United States, but it refuses to condemn NAMBLA.
Two of the groups gaining UN approval were the Danish Na- The vote to accept the three organizations by the UN’s ECO-
tional Association for Gays and Lesbians and the Gay Federation SOC was 23 in favor, 16 against, and 10 abstentions, with the
in Germany. Also winning approval was the International Lesbian United States voting approval.
Iran Challenges U.S. Dollar Hegemony
Iran announced last month it is implementing policies designed to end its dependence
on the U.S. dollar. The central bank of Iran has been ordered to convert dollars to
euros. Overseas assets denominated in dollars will be transformed to euros and foreign
trade will be done in euros. That will also apply to oil deals, although the BBC reports
that payments in dollars are still expected to be accepted.
The effect of these new policies has been downplayed since Iran already has most
of its currency reserves in non-dollar assets. Other oil producers such as Russia,
Venezuela, and Indonesia have also been shifting more and more oil income into
alternate currencies. They are concerned about protecting their oil profits from the
effect of a depreciating dollar. Iran’s announcement had little immediate effect on
the dollar.
8 THE NEW AMERICAN • JANUARY 22, 2007
11. Basque Terrorists Bomb Madrid Airport During Christmas Rush
An explosion at the new Terminal 4 parking garage of the Madrid warning call from someone claiming to be with the ETA.
Airport on December 30 is being attributed to the Basque terrorist The New Year’s bombing ends a nine-month cease-fire be-
group ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, Basque for “Basque Home- tween the ETA and the Spanish government. Last fall the ETA
land and Freedom”). The bomb, a stolen van reported to have been began an escalation of street violence, and in the days and weeks
loaded with 1,200-1,800 pounds of explosives, brought down sev- before the bombing, Spanish police uncovered several ETA arms
eral stories of the structure, shutting down the airport and stranding and explosives caches. The ETA, which has a long record of co-
thousands of holiday travelers during the busiest travel period of operating with many different terrorist organizations, including
the year. The ETA’s four-decade terror campaign has left more than al-Qaeda and other Mideast terrorists, is an avowedly Marxist-
850 dead and thousands wounded. Leninist group that has been supported
Initial news stories reported only by Cuba, China, Libya, Russia, Syria,
20 injured and none killed in the latest and Iran. In 1978, Spanish intelligence
bombing. However, shortly after the learned that the ETA was being directed
bombing two men who were sleeping in by KGB agents in France and Spain, in-
cars in the structure were reported miss- cluding Oleg Suranov, manager of the
ing. They are believed to have perished Soviet airline Aeroflot in Spain, and
in the blast. The relatively small number Anatoli Krassilinikov of the Soviet em-
of casualties in relation to the size of bassy in Madrid. The Russian FSB (for-
the blast at the busy terminal was due mer KGB) appears to still have a hand
AP Images
to the fact that the terminal had been in the ETA through its agents in Iran,
evacuated after officials had received a Syria, France, Italy, and Spain.
Congressional Inquiry Into 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing Fizzles
investigation into John Doe Two,” and failure to “thoroughly in-
vestigate the potential involvement of Andreas Strassmeir and
Hussain al-Hussaini, et al., despite evidence showing they may
have played a role.”
The report is critical not only of past obstruction during the
Clinton administration, but ongoing stonewalling during the cur-
rent Bush administration. Without naming names, the report is
critical of federal officials who were “less than responsive” and
Oklahoma City National
says the subcommittee “is dismayed that there remains a lack of
AP Images
Memorial in downtown willingness to examine legitimate issues.”
Oklahoma City Survivors and family members of the 168 victims who died in
the blast no doubt also are dismayed at the half-hearted (at best)
After nearly two years of “investigation,” a congressional inquiry investigative effort by the Rohrabacher subcommittee, as well as
into the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building its decision to release the report during the worst possible news
in Oklahoma City has delivered a frustratingly inconclusive re- cycle. After spending two years digging into important ignored
port that raises more questions than it answers. and covered-up evidence concerning one of the most important
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), who chaired the inquest by terror attacks ever on America, the subcommittee issued its news
the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, had repeat- release announcing its report the day before Christmas, and then
edly indicated that he would aggressively investigate evidence that issued the actual report the day after Christmas.
convicted bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols had been The Rohrabacher report concludes by saying: “We have found
assisted by others. Specifically, he had targeted evidence point- no conclusive evidence of a foreign connection, but there remain
ing toward foreign involvement of Middle Easterners, a German questions that need to be answered before this final chapter can
national by the name of Andreas Strassmeir, and a group of Aryan justifiably be closed.” Indeed, the subcommittee has raised even
bank robbers associated with a rural Oklahoma white separatist more questions with its own conduct, its reluctance to take on
compound known as Elohim City. the former and current executive branch officials who have sty-
The subcommittee report, entitled The Oklahoma City Bomb- mied the OKC bombing case from the beginning, and its failure
ing: Was There A Foreign Connection?, justifiably criticizes the to follow through on much of the important evidence that was
federal investigation for failing to follow important leads and ig- provided to it.
noring obvious suspects and evidence. Particularly, it criticizes For information about this magazine’s OKC bombing investi-
the Department of Justice and the FBI for “calling off any further gation, go to www.thenewamerican.com/okc.
THE NEW AMERICAN • JANUARY 22, 2007 9
12. Inside Track
Rep. Ellison Becomes First Muslim U.S. Congressman
On January 4, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) became the first Muslim U.S. congressman. After the
official oath of office with the other representatives in the House chamber, he used the Koran, the
holy book of Islam, in an individual ceremonial oath with Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the new Speaker
of the House.
Ellison used the Koran once owned by Thomas Jefferson — thanks to the Library of Congress.
But although the book Ellison used has, in the words of the Washington Post, “an unassailably all-
American provenance,” and provided him with “a savvy bit of political symbolism,” it is probably
safe to say that Jefferson never swore an oath on the Koran.
Prior to the swearing-in ceremony, Ellison’s announcement that he would use the Koran provoked
a strong reaction from Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.), who is concerned about the effects uncontrolled
Keith Ellison
looks at the
immigration, including large numbers of Muslim immigrants, is having on our country and values.
Koran once “I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not
owned by adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs
AP Images
Thomas traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped,” he
Jefferson
warned last month in a letter to constituents.
Comptroller General’s Bleak Report Largely Ignored
A reading of the December 15, 2006 report issued by the Treasury tems that its officials were “unable to express an opinion” about
Department and the Office of Management and Budget forces the the financial statements issued by the government. But Walker
following conclusion: the United States is insolvent and there did say that “net social insurance commitments and other fis-
is no way for the nation’s bills to be paid with current levels of cal exposures continue to grow and now total approximately $50
taxation and promised benefits. trillion … up from about $20 trillion in fiscal year 2000.” He
But the report, produced during the days leading up to the continued: “Given these and other factors, it seems clear that
Christmas season, drew next to no attention. If it weren’t for Dr. the nation’s current fiscal path is unsustainable and that tough
Chris Martenson’s CMI Gold & Silver Newsletter, it might have choices by the President and the Congress are necessary in order
been tossed into the nearest memory hole. to address the nation’s large and growing long-term fiscal imbal-
In a statement accompanying the report’s release, Comptroller ance.” Our combined federal indebtedness, including unfunded
General David Walker noted that the General Accounting Office future obligations, now totals more than 400 percent of the entire
found so many deficiencies in the government’s accounting sys- gross domestic product!
Venezuelan Voting Machine Firm Leaves U.S. Market
In the aftermath of last fall’s disclosures that electronic voting machines can easily
be adjusted to rig an election, a new concern has been raised about their use. Smart-
matic, a Venezuelan company that makes electronic voting machines widely used in
American elections, is facing an investigation into its ties to the Marxist regime of
Hugo Chavez. However, the company will divest itself of Sequoia Voting Systems,
the company’s U.S. subsidiary, ending the investigation.
The investigation by the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in
the United States (CFIUS) came after several investigative reports, chiefly by the Miami
Herald, revealed the company’s ties to the Chavez regime. According to the Herald
investigation, it was through a $200,000 investment in a voting software business run by
Smartmatic’s president that the Venezuelan voting machine firm was able to get a foot-
hold in the market place. Though the sale of Sequoia Voting Systems will mean the end
for the CFIUS investigation, Smartmatic is not yet in the clear. According to the Miami
Herald, the company has been in contact with the Justice Department to deny that it
“paid a bribe to secure a $91 million contract to supply electronic voting machines in
Venezuela.” Moreover, the Herald reports, agents from the IRS and the FBI “are in- New Venezuelan
AP Images
voting machine
vestigating allegations involving tax evasion, an excessive commission to a lobbyist in
Caracas and alleged death threats by Smartmatic President Antonio Mugica.” ■
10 THE NEW AMERICAN • JANUARY 22, 2007
13. QUICKQUOTES
Former President Ford Disagreed With Invasion of Iraq
“Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in
justifying going into the war in Iraq.”
In tapes made more than two years ago but kept private until his
death at his request, Gerald Ford told Washington Post reporter
AP Images
Bob Woodward that he disagreed not only with the claims about
Iraq having weapons of mass destruction but with the war itself.
Primitive Indian in Brazil Shuns Wealth, Teaches a Lesson
“I used to think that money was good and that I wanted to be rich, but now I don’t. A little bit might be
good, but a lot is not. It only brings problems and suffering, when what we really want is tranquility.”
The area in which Pio Cinta-Larga lives with his tribe in remote western Brazil has been inundated by
prospectors seeking diamonds believed to be in the soil of the upper Amazon jungle. The wealth gained
from mining the diamonds has brought many problems to the once peaceful area.
Nevada Town Enacts Measure to Combat Illegal Immigration
“These people are breaking the law and they should be pros-
ecuted somehow.”
Pahrump, Nevada, town board member Michael Miraglia is
pleased with passage of the measure he proposed that outlaws
giving town benefits to “undocumented foreign workers,” forbids
AP Images
flying any foreign flag without an accompanying American flag,
and declares English the town’s official language.
Comedian Targets the President — Again!
“President Bush has received a copy of the 96-page Iraq Study Group report. When they gave it to him,
President Bush said, ‘Don’t tell me how it ends.’ They said, ‘Uh, it doesn’t.’ ”
In his role as the host of television’s Tonight Show, Jay Leno pokes fun at a wide variety of personalities
and, in the process, oftentimes delivers incisive comments about current events.
Americans Spend Countless Hours in Front of Computers and Television
“The news [in this report] means that America is making a smooth transition from couch potato to
mouse potato. Put another way, I suspect the only exercise Americans are getting is walking between
their TVs and their computers.”
Data in the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest Statistical Abstracts of the United States pointed to increased
time spent at computers and television thereby prompting a comment from Silicon Valley technology
forecaster Paul Saffo.
Former Secretary of State Skeptical About
Increasing U.S. Troop Strength in Iraq
“I am not persuaded that another surge of troops into Baghdad
for the purpose of suppression of this communitarian violence,
this civil war, will work.”
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who also served as
AP Images
chairman of the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, additionally
claimed that the U.S. Army is “about broken.”
Former General Motors Manager Not Surprised at Toyota’s Success
“We figured we were going to have a problem. We taught them how to beat us.”
Recalling that he often gave plant tours to Japanese executives, retired G.M. plant manager Dick
Lynch early expected that Toyota would become a threat to his company’s status as the world’s larg-
est auto manufacturer.
Some Things Never Change
“The whole aim of politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety)
by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”
H.L. Mencken, 1920 ■
— COMPILED BY JOHN F. MCMANUS
THE NEW AMERICAN • JANUARY 22, 2007 11
14. RUSSIA
Putin’s
Newscom
The return of the iron fist.
by William F. Jasper fluence of ex-Soviet spies has ballooned and the West — have also expressed sur-
under President Vladimir Putin.” prise and alarm at the apparent resurrec-
‘‘K GB influence ‘soars under
Putin,’ ” blared the headline
of a BBC online article for
The study, which looked at 1,061 top
Kremlin, regional, and corporate jobs,
found that “78 percent of the Russian
tion of the dreaded Soviet secret police.
After all, for the past decade and a half
these same experts have been pointing to
December 13, 2006. The following day, a elite” are what are known in Russia as the alleged demise of the KGB as the pri-
similar headline echoed a similarly alarm- “siloviki,” which is to say, former mem- mary evidence supporting their claim that
ing story at the website of Der Spiegel, bers of the KGB or its domestic succes- communism is dead.
one of Germany’s largest news magazines: sor, the FSB. The author of the study, Olga From the Bolshevik Revolution in
“Putin’s Russia: Kremlin Riddled with Kryshtanovskaya, expressed shock at her 1917, the Russian security apparatus
Former KGB Agents.” own findings. “I was very shocked when I Cheka (and its later permutations: OGPU,
In the opening sentences of Der Spie- looked at the boards of major companies NKVD, MGB, KGB) had been the “sword
gel’s article, readers are informed that: and realized there were lots of people who and shield” of the communist world
“Four out of five members of Russia’s po- had completely unknown names, people revolution.
litical and business elite have a KGB past, who were not public but who were defi- “We stand for organized terror,” de-
according to a new study by the prestigious nitely, obvious siloviki,” she told Reuters. clared Felix Dzerzhinsky, the first chief
[Russian] Academy of Sciences. The in- Other supposed experts — in Russia of the Cheka for Soviet dictator Vladimir
12 THE NEW AMERICAN • JANUARY 22, 2007
15. and the Cheka. We reported
in 2002 on Putin’s restora-
tion of important communist
symbols:
• the Red Star, as Russia’s
official military emblem;
• the Red Banner, as Rus-
sia’s military flag;
• the music of the old So-
viet anthem, albeit with new
words;
• and his attempt, along with
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzh-
kov, to restore the giant statue
of Dzerzhinsky to its former
place of honor in Moscow’s
Lubyanka Square.
Public opposition to the glo-
rification of “Iron Felix” have
(temporarily) scotched Pu-
tin’s plans for Dzerzhinsky’s
statue. Nevertheless, as we
have reported, in 2005, Putin
AP Images
did restore a smaller bust of
the mass-murdering Chekist
Terror chief returns: A statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, founder of the dreaded Cheka (forerunner of the KGB), was to a pedestal at the infamous
unveiled in Minsk, Belarus, in May 2006. Putin proposes restoring an identical statue of the mass murderer to Lubyanka headquarters of the
its former place in Moscow’s Lubyanka Square. KGB-FSB.
Any reasonable person
Lenin. In 1918, Dzerzhinsky launched the “Americans got so drunk at the USSR’s would have seen these events as very sig-
campaign of arrests and executions known funeral that they’re still hung over.” And nificant clues that maybe Vladimir Putin is
as the Red Terror. Krasnaya Gazeta, the stumbling around in their post-inebria- not the “reformer” and the “democrat” that
Bolshevik newspaper, expressed the Chek- tion haze, many of these Americans have Boris Yeltsin, Bill Clinton, George Bush,
ist credo when it reported approvingly in only recently begun noticing that they had and the New York Times told us he is. And
1918 of the terror campaign: “We will prematurely written the KGB’s epitaph, if those clues weren’t enough, there is a
make our hearts cruel, hard and immov- even as it was arising vampire-like from trail of corpses from Chechnya to London,
able, so that no mercy will enter them, and the coffin. as well as Putin’s Soviet-style foreign and
so that they will not quiver at the sight of a However, there is really no excuse domestic policies that hearken to Brezh-
sea of enemy blood.” for Olga Kryshtanovskaya or any of her nev and Andropov, if not Stalin. The recent
Unflinching cruelty and merciless, American counterparts to be stunned by murder-by-poison of KGB-FSB defector
bloody terror have been the trademark the current siloviki dominance in Putin’s Alexander Litvinenko in London (see ar-
of the communist secret police, from the Russia. For nearly a decade, even before ticle on page 17) and the murders of jour-
Cheka to the KGB. Obviously, the demise he became Russia’s “president,” T HE nalist Anna Politkovskaya, special forces
of such an organization would be cause NEW AMERICAN has been reporting on operative Movladi Baisarov, central bank
for much rejoicing. Hence, when the KGB Putin’s KGB pedigree and
was ordered dissolved and its chairman, his steady implementation
General Vladimir Kryuchkov, was arrest- of a long-range Soviet de- For nearly a decade, even before Putin
ed in 1991 after attempting to overthrow ception strategy, includ-
“liberal reformer” Mikhail Gorbachev in ing the public rehabilita-
became Russia’s “president,” THE NEW
the failed “August Coup,” many people in tion and refortifying of the AMERICAN has been reporting on his KGB
the West were only too willing to pop the KGB-FSB.
champagne corks and start celebrating our We reported in 1999, for
pedigree and his steady implementation
supposed victory over the Evil Empire. instance, on Putin’s omi- of a long-range Soviet deception strategy,
But, as Mikhail Leontiyev, commenta- nously revealing speech
including the public rehabilitation and
tor for Russia’s state-controlled Channel for Security Organs Day,
One television, recently noted, repeat- celebrating the accom- refortifying of the KGB-FSB.
ing a phrase popular among the siloviki: plishments of Dzerzhinsky
THE NEW AMERICAN • JANUARY 22, 2007 13
16. RUSSIA
rely upon verifiable facts, If Golitsyn is correct, then rather than
combined with analysis in- winning the Cold War, as Western politi-
With his knowledge of the KGB strategy, formed by the incomparable cians, military leaders, academicians, and
Anatoliy Golitsyn accurately foresaw, years insights of Anatoliy Golit- media figures have been proclaiming since
syn, arguably the most im- 1991, we instead have been celebrating
ahead of actual events, many specific
portant Soviet defector ever while in very grave peril. Like the ancient
developments that have now occurred. to come to the West. Trojans, we have fallen for one of the old-
He correctly predicted the opening of the No other defector has had est deceptions. Unable to breach Troy’s
access to the KGB’s inner impregnable walls, the Greeks feigned de-
Berlin Wall, the reunification of Germany, sanctum, where the Soviet feat and pretended to fade away. Believing
and the end of the Warsaw Pact. Union’s top-secret, long- that they had finally defeated the Greeks,
range plans for strategic de- the Trojans brought the Greeks’ peace of-
ception were hatched. And fering — the giant wooden horse — inside
official Andrei Kozlov, and ex-FSB gener- no other Russian expert comes close to their formidable walls. And while the Tro-
al Anatoly Trofimov — to name but a few matching Mr. Golitsyn’s accurate analy- jans were engaged in celebrating — well,
— are sending an unmistakable message sis and prescient predictions concerning we know the rest of the story.
to everyone with eyes to see and ears to the Soviet bloc and its current incarna- According to Golitsyn, in 1960 the
hear that the KGB (though not under that tion as Russia and the Commonwealth Communist Party Central Committee of
name) is firmly in control of the Kremlin. of Independent States (CIS). Golitsyn’s the Soviet Union, with implementing help
astounding track record, which stretches from the KGB, secretly set in motion a
Defector Exposes Deception back more than 40 years, fundamentally long-range plan that is still playing out
The media-anointed Russian experts challenges every major assumption under- today. A key feature of this plan would
have proven time and again to be spec- pinning U.S. policies concerning Russia, be a whole series of controlled “splits”
tacularly, dangerously wrong. We, at THE the CIS, China, and the global communist within the communist movement and be-
NEW AMERICAN, have chosen instead to system. tween communist countries that the Krem-
lin strategists would use to
manipulate Western policies.
This was initiated at the 1960
Moscow Congress of 81 com-
munist parties from around the
world. All genuine factions,
splits, and power struggles
within the communist bloc
were completely ended at
that meeting. From that point
forward, any such infighting
between communists, or any
popular resistance against
communism, would be artifi-
cial and under the full control
of the extensive secret-police
networks permeating societies
under communist rule.
The “Sino-Soviet Split,”
the alleged splits between the
USSR and Romania, Yugo-
slavia, and Czechoslovakia,
and Moscow’s “break” with
so-called “Eurocommunist”
moderates in Western Europe
were all elaborate deceptions
managed by the Kremlin and
AP Images
its KGB strategists. An equal-
ly elaborate deception is the
Mikhail Gorbachev, seen here with Putin at the 2004 German-Russian Summit in Germany. Gorbachev, who KGB-created “Russian Mafia,”
pretended to abolish the KGB, remains a key Kremlin operative, helping Putin sell the “new, reformed” image which is blamed for the cor-
of Russia to the West. ruption, violence, chaos, and
14 THE NEW AMERICAN • JANUARY 22, 2007
17. Sounding the Warning
mayhem that have plagued Rus-
sia and the CIS since they “went
capitalist.” In truth, all of the
leading Russian crime bosses,
the “oligarchs,” — Loutchansky,
I
Gusinsky, Berezovsky, Khordo- n 1984, ex-KGB officer Anatoliy Golitsyn’s
James Angleton,
kovsky, Mogilevich — are vet- important book New Lies for Old appeared, former chief of
erans of the KGB-FSB and/or warning of a coming spectacular disinfor- counterintelligence
the Komsomol, the Communist mation offensive by the communists. This stra- at the CIA
Youth, and were “set up” in tegic long-range offensive, he said, would be
business by the KGB, follow- aimed at convincing the West that communism
ing a refined version of Lenin’s had disappeared, in order that the West might
New Economic Program of the accept gradual convergence with the “former”
1920s. Besides providing the communist states. Here are some of his (then)
fictitious appearance of a genu- startling predictions:
ine free market to attract West- • “The ‘liberalization’ [in the Soviet Union]
ern capital and technology, the would be spectacular and impressive. Formal
KGB-Mafia also provides an pronouncements might be made about a reduc-
efficient means for dealing with tion in the communist party’s role; its monopoly
AP Images
political undesirables: when a would be apparently curtailed. An ostensible
foreign or domestic “trouble- separation of powers between the legislative,
maker” needs to be liquidated, the executive, and the judiciary might be in-
it can be done with the blame troduced. The Supreme Soviet would be given resentation from the Soviet Union and East-
falling on unidentified criminal greater apparent power and the president and ern Europe. ‘Europe from the Atlantic to the
elements, rather than the State, deputies greater apparent independence.” Urals’ would turn out to be a neutral, socialist
or communist officials. • “The communist strategists are equipped, Europe.”
in pursuing their policy, to engage in maneu- In 1995, Golitsyn published The Perestroika
Amazingly Accurate vers and strategems beyond the imagination Deception, a 250-page book updating the un-
Predictions of Marx or the practical reach of Lenin and paralleled insights of his earlier analysis in New
With his intimate knowledge of unthinkable to Stalin. Among such previously Lies for Old.
the KGB strategy, Golitsyn ac- unthinkable strategems are the introduction • “The [Soviet] strategists are concealing the
curately foresaw, years ahead of false liberalization in Eastern Europe and, secret coordination that exists and will continue
of actual events, many specific probably, in the Soviet Union and the exhibi- between Moscow and the ‘nationalist’ leaders
developments that have now oc- tion of spurious independence on the part of of [the] ‘independent’ republics.... This is not
curred. He correctly predicted the regimes in Romania, Czechoslovakia, and true self-determination but the use of ‘national’
that Soviet dictator Yuri An- Poland.” forms in the execution of a common Communist
dropov would be succeeded by • “If [liberalization] should be extended to strategy.”
“a younger leader with a more East Germany, demolition of the Berlin Wall • “The power of the KGB remains as great
liberal image,” perfectly describ- might even be contemplated.” as ever.... Talk of cosmetic changes in the KGB
ing Mikhail Gorbachev and the • “The first communist strategy of strength- and its supervision is deliberately publicized to
political restructuring process ening and stabilizing the bloc politically and support the myth of ‘democratization’ of the So-
that would be carried out under economically has been assisted by Western eco- viet political system.”
the name “perestroika.” nomic aid and by the acceptance of détente and • “Scratch these new, instant Soviet ‘demo-
In his 1984 blockbuster book, cooperation with communist governments.... By crats,’ ‘anti-Communists,’ and ‘nationalists’
New Lies for Old, Golitsyn cor- accepting Sino-Soviet rivalry as genuine … the who have sprouted out of nowhere, and under-
rectly predicted that Solidarity West is creating opportunities for the construc- neath will be found secret Party members or
would be legalized in Poland tion of new alignments that will rebound, in the KGB agents.”
and allowed to form a coali- long run, to its own detriment.... By providing • “After the Second World War the victori-
tion government with the com- advanced technology first to the Soviet Union, ous allies correctly applied a de-nazification
munists after sham multiparty then to China, the West has helped to shift the program to eliminate former Nazis and their
elections. He also foresaw, with balance of military power against itself.... Tak- influence from the institutions and political life
astonishing precision, democra- ing détente at its face value, the West has been of the new Germany. No equivalent de-commu-
tization in Czechoslovakia, with ready to accept the notion of a long-term evo- nization program has been applied in the USSR
a revival of former communist lution of communism and its ultimate conver- or Eastern Europe. The Soviet Party, the KGB,
dictator Dubcek and close al- gence with the democratic system.” and the armed forces with their political com-
lies; the opening of the Berlin • “The European Parliament might become missars remain intact.” ■
Wall and the reunification of an all-European socialist parliament with rep- — WILLIAM F. JASPER
TNA • JANUARY 22, 2007 15
18. RUSSIA
will, drew up what they
termed a “grand bargain”
which recommended
granting the Soviets $15
to $30 billion per year for
several years. A few days
later, on May 24, the New
York Times went even
further with an editorial
(“A Western Spur to So-
viet Reform”) urging a
Soviet bailout package
of $150 billion. This was
followed with an article
by Allison and Blackwill
in the CFR’s prestigious
journal Foreign Affairs
calling for aid of “$15
billion to $20 billion per
year for each of the next
three years.”
At a 47-nation Soviet
aid conference convened
AP Images
in Washington in January
1992, President George
Bush (the elder) pledged
Controlled opposition: Opponents of Putin’s policies demonstrate in Moscow on December 16, 2006. Virtually all
more than $5 billion. But
opposition groups in Russia have either been started by the KGB or infiltrated and taken over by it.
that was just to prime the
pump; untold billions
Germany as the core for a United Europe; de Marenches, who headed French intel- have followed since.
the implementation of “democracy” in ligence, both saw Golitsyn as an invalu- As costly as our Russian foreign policy
such countries as Romania and Hungary; able ally and an indispensable asset in has been financially, the cost to our nation-
the end of the Warsaw Pact; and the efforts our efforts to understand the Soviets’ geo- al security has been immeasurably greater.
of Eastern European governments to join political chess game. Unfortunately, both For more than two decades, America’s
the European Community as a prelude to of these men were opposed by powerful leaders have marched our nation headlong
unification with the West. Golitsyn even forces in their governments who wanted into the deadly perestroika trap, ignoring
stated that these changes would begin dur- to believe in and embrace the perestroika the warnings of Anatoliy Golitsyn and the
ing the five years following his 1984 book deception. Angleton and de Marenches overwhelming evidence that vindicates
— which actually happened, from Gor- were fired, while Golitsyn and his warn- those warnings. They have embraced the
bachev’s appointment in 1985 to the re- ings were ignored — when they weren’t Russian and CIS leaders as our “allies”
newal in Eastern Europe since early 1989. scorned and ridiculed. and intertwined our military, police, and
Mark Riebling, author of the important intelligence agencies as “partners” in
1994 book Wedge: The Secret War Be- A Not-so-grand Bargain global security.
tween the FBI and CIA, says of Golitsyn’s On May 20, 1991, Russia’s economic Now, with Putin’s FSB Chekists coming
predictions in New Lies for Old: “139 out adviser Grigory A. Yavlinsky met with brazenly into the open, it is long past time
of 148 were fulfilled by the end of 1993 a group of cognoscenti from the Council to repudiate this deception and reverse
— an accuracy rate of nearly 94 percent.” on Foreign Relations (CFR), the private course — before the trap door is shut and
That record is even more astonishing when U.S. organization that has dominated bolted behind us. ■
one considers that Mr. Riebling’s assess- both Republican
ment includes only the more prominent of and Democratic ad-
Golitsyn’s projections; it does not include ministrations since
many of his more subtle analyses and fore- at least FDR’s time. EXTRA COPIES AVAILABLE
casts. No other foreign policy analyst even The group, which ➧ Additional copies of this issue of
comes close to Golitsyn’s level of accu- included Stephen THE NEW AMERICAN are available at
racy and depth of analysis. Sachs, Graham Alli- quantity-discount prices. To order, visit
James J. Angleton, the CIA’s chief of son, Stanley Fischer, www.thenewamerican.com/marketplace/
counterintelligence, and Alexander Count and Robert Black- or see the card between pages 38-39.
16 THE NEW AMERICAN • JANUARY 22, 2007
19. RUSSIA
Putin, Poison, and Murder
The recent murder-by-poison of Russian KGB/FSB defector Alexander Litvinenko is a
potent warning about the dangers of our new security “partnership” with Putin’s Russia.
AP Images
Alexander Litvinenko, (right) who was killed by polonium poisoning, is shown here at a 1998 press conference in which he accused Putin’s FSB of
kidnappings, extortion, and contract murders. The man in the ski mask is a fellow FSB officer.
by William F. Jasper tion, the Kremlin’s heavy-handed tactics KGB. Litvinenko was sure that he had
to thwart the efforts of British police de- been poisoned later that evening, when he
A
s Alexander Litvinenko lay tectives sent to Russia to investigate the was seized with violent vomiting. After
dying under tight police pro- poisoning do little for the credibility of three weeks of agonizing deterioration, in
tection at London’s University Putin’s protestations of innocence and his which the fit 43-year-old Litvinenko lost
College hospital, he pointed an accusing pledges to do everything possible to help his hair and shrunk to a shell of his former
finger at the man he believed responsible solve the crime. self, he died on November 23.
for ordering his assassination: Russian Mr. Litvinenko had become ill on No- Even as his life was ebbing away, Alex-
President Vladimir Putin. The dying man vember 1, after a meeting at London’s ander and his wife, Marina, had been hop-
had good cause for suspecting Putin. Mayfair Millennium Hotel with three ing for a recovery. “I did not lose hope,”
Abundant evidence, including a radioac- Russian “businessmen”: Andrei Lugovoi, she told the Sunday Times of London.
tive trail of polonium-210, the substance Dmitry Kovtun, and Vyacheslav Soko- “He was a very handsome man, but each
used to poison him, leads right back to lenko. Lugovoi acknowledges that he is day for him was like 10 years, he became
Putin’s operatives in Moscow. In addi- a former agent of the FSB, the renamed older in how he looked.” Mrs. Litvinenko
THE NEW AMERICAN • JANUARY 22, 2007 17
20. RUSSIA
“This is not a tool chosen by informed by Russia’s chief prosecutor Yuri
a group of amateurs. These Chaika that, in the words of a Reuters re-
The Kremlin’s heavy-handed tactics people had some serious re- port, they would be “virtually relegated to
to thwart the efforts of British police sources behind them.” the role of observers,” as Russian police
Polonium-210 leaves a ra- carried out the interviews. Mr. Chaika, a
detectives sent to Russia to investigate
dioactive trail and, as many Putin flunky, further made it clear that no
the Litvinenko poisoning do little for the news stories have noted, that suspects would be extradited to England.
credibility of Putin’s protestations of trail has turned up wherever He has kept the British detectives on a
Lugovoi and Kovtun went very short leash.
innocence and his pledges to do everything in London, Germany, and Spokesmen for Putin have denounced
possible to help solve the crime. Russia: a hotel restaurant, suspicions of Putin’s involvement as “ab-
airplanes, an apartment, a surd” and part of a frame-up and conspir-
soccer stadium. One of the acy to discredit Putin and Russia at home
added: “Even until the last day, and the more important polonium traces is on a and abroad. As to be expected, the Russian
day before when he became unconscious, passport photo of Kovtun, which he left at press, reflecting Putin’s control, points the
I thought that he would be OK. We were the Hamburg City Hall in Germany, where accusing finger at Putin’s enemies, most
both completely sure he would recover. he had applied for a residency permit two frequently citing Boris Berezovsky, a for-
We had been talking about bone-marrow days before meeting with Litvinenko. mer Putin ally now in exile in London, as
transplants and looking to the future.” When British police detectives from the likely culprit. Not surprisingly, many
The poison, initially thought to be thalli- Scotland Yard went to Russia to interview journalists in the West have picked up and
um, turned out to be polonium-210, which a number of witnesses and suspects, in- parroted this theme as well.
Dr. Andrea Sella, lecturer in chemistry at cluding the three men who had met with However, in addition to considerable
University College London, told reporters Litvinenko, they were told that two of the evidence tying Putin to the murder through
was “one of the rarest substances on the main objects of interest, Lugovoi and Kov- his secret-service minions, it is clear that
planet” and few could obtain it. “This is tun, were in hospital quarantine for radia- he — not Berezovsky — qualifies as the
not some random killing,” Dr. Sella said. tion poisoning. The detectives were also top candidate possessing the classical cri-
teria for a crime suspect: mo-
tive, opportunity, and means.
Beslan massacre: Parents mourn the loss of their children, killed at a school in Beslan, Russia, on September
3, 2004. Was Putin’s FSB behind the event attributed to Chechen terrorists? Alexander Litvinenko — and much
evidence — says yes. What Litvinenko Knew
Mr. Litvinenko, an ex-agent
of the Soviet KGB (and its
successor, the Russian FSB),
was a fierce critic of Putin
even before fleeing to Britain
with his family in 2000. He
had first come to the atten-
tion of the Western media in
1998 while still a lieutenant-
colonel in the FSB, creating
a stir with his public revela-
tion that he had been ordered
to assassinate Berezovsky,
one of Russia’s richest new
oligarchs. It was an order he
refused to carry out. The head
of the FSB at the time: Vladi-
mir Putin.
After obtaining asylum in
England, Mr. Litvinenko be-
came an even bigger thorn
in Putin’s side. His power-
ful 2002 book, Blowing Up
Russia: Terror From Within,
with Yuri Felshtinsky, pres-
AP Images
ents convincing evidence
which supports the charges
18 THE NEW AMERICAN • JANUARY 22, 2007
