Who Lost Russia?

Why isn't this being asked? Who lost Russia?

Joe McCarthy and Whitaker Chambers (actually a former Communist himself!) slurred U.S.' Chinese diplomat, Edmund Clubb, and others in State as being crypto-commies or pinks, allowing China to be taken over by Communists in the late 1940s.

Condoleeza Rice, our Secretary of State, after her failure as NSC Director (allowing the 9/11 attacks), first tutored Bush in foreign policy, since he didn't know who was in charge of Pakistan when he was running for President, got her Ph.D. as a Soviet expert! Good for her that a 'former' KGB man had just taken over there, using fake false-flag self-inflicted terrorism to seize power.

Maybe she only knows what to do with a Soviet Union, and not a Yeltsin-style free (or free-for-all) Russia, or a socialist-reformed Soviet State like under Gorbachev, and so the KGB-veteran Putin just seems so much more familiar. Or maybe Condi and Bushie see in Putin something that they see in how they like things to work.

It was disappointing to hear Bush say this after Putin was already quite shady. Nine months before Bush met Putin, the Russian leader allowed the Kursk to sink without rescue and when family members were at a town hall with the Navy a distraught mother who told the ranking officer he should take his medal off as she screamed from the audience found herself getting a dose of old school Soviet-era shut-up-and-go-to-sleep-juice.







Shortly after being grabbed and jabbed, she collapsed and was carried out and the photographers were ejected. Days later she 'emerged,' giving a statement to deny being drugged, but media were not allowed to see her or speak with her in person. Maybe the Russians gave her a nice pay off, an offer she couldn't refuse.

It was in this context that Bush2 said about he and Putin:

"We've got common interests. And from that basis we will seize the moment to make a difference in the world. That's why he ran for the presidency, and it's why I ran for the presidency."

Of course, as we'll see later,* how far Putin had to go to begin to 'make a difference' in his country and how he got to run for re-election after forcing Yeltsin to appoint him in late 1999 as a strong man in the aftermath of the apartment bombings pinned on the Chechens, allowing for a state of emergency to emerge and the revival of war with the Muslim province.

And then this kind of strange Bush remark :
"I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul. He's a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country..."



What did Bush see in Putin's eyes? The cold glare of his CIA father's scheming and putsches? Or perhaps his own?

From Wikipedia

Starting from 1998, people from state security services came to power as Prime Ministers of Russia: a KGB veteran Yevgeny Primakov; former FSB Director Sergei Stepashin; and finally former FSB Director Vladimir Putin who was appointed in August 8, 1999.

In August 7, Shamil Basaev began incursion to Dagestan which was regarded by Anna Politkovskaya [she was the reporter-friend of Litvenenko (he got murdered in November with Polonium, accusing Putin on his deathbed from England), and she got killed shortly after reputedly giving him documents about how the Beslan School Terror attack might have been botched on purpose or worse, an inside job... Litvenenko got killed because, as a former intelligence agent, refused to kill his countrymen -- and blew the lid off how the 1999 Moscow apartment bombings were not done by Chechen terrorists but by the FSB when Putin was in charge! -editor] as a provocation initiated from Moscow to start war in Chechnya, because Russian forces provided safe passage for Islamic fighters back to Chechnya. ...

In September 4 [1999] a series of four Russian apartment bombings has began. Three FSB agents were caught while planting a large bomb at the basement of an apartment complex in the town of Ryazan in September 22. That was last of the bombings. Russian Minister of Internal Affairs Rushailo congratulated police with preventing the terrorist act, but FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev had declared that the incident was a training exercise just an hour later, when he had learned that the FSB agents are caught.


Next day, Boris Yeltsin received a demand from 24 Russian governors to transfer all state powers to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, according to Sergei Yushenkov. The Second Chechen War began in September 24. This war made Prime Minister Vladimir Putin very popular, although he was previously unknown to the public, and helped him to win a landslide victory in the presidential elections in March 26, 2000.

That was a successful coup d'état organized by the FSB to bring Vladimir Putin to power, according to former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, lawmaker Sergei Yushenkov, and journalist David Satter, a Johns Hopkins University and Hoover Institute scholar. All attempts to independently investigate the Russian apartment bombings were unsuccessful. Journalist Artyom Borovik died in a suspicious plane crash. Vice-chairman of Sergei Kovalev commission created to investigate the bombings Sergei Yushenkov was assassinated. Another member of this commission Yuri Shchekochikhin died presumably from poisoning by thallium. Investigator Mikhail Trepashkin hired by relatives of victims was arrested and convicted by Russian authorities for allegedly disclosing state secrets.

FSB as ruling political elite

According to former Russian Duma member Konstantin Borovoi, "Putin's appointment is the culmination of the KGB's crusade for power. This is its finale. Now the KGB runs the country." Olga Kryshtanovskaya, director of the Moscow-based Center for the Study of Elites, has found that 78% of 1,016 leading political figures in Russia have served previously in organizations affiliated with KGB or FSB. She said: "If in the Soviet period and the first post-Soviet period, the KGB and FSB people were mainly involved in security issues, now half are still involved in security but the other half are involved in business, political parties, NGOs, regional governments, even culture... They started to use all political institutions." "Like cockroaches spreading from a squalid apartment to the rest of the building, they have eventually gained a firm foothold everywhere," said Sergei Grigoryants, a Soviet dissident.

This situation is very similar to that of the former Soviet Union where all key positions in the government were occupied by members of the Communist Party. The KGB or FSB members usually remain in the "acting reserve" even if they formally leave the organization ("acting reserve" members receive second FSB salary, follow FSB instructions, and remain "above the law" being protected by the organization, according to Kryshtanovskaya). As Vladimir Putin said, "There is no such thing as a former KGB man". GRU defector and writer Victor Suvorov explained that members of Russian security services can leave such organizations only in a coffin, because they know too much. Soon after becoming prime minister of Russia, Putin also claimed that "A group of FSB colleagues dispatched to work undercover in the government has successfully completed its first mission."

The idea about KGB as a political force rather than a security organization has been discussed by journalist John Barron, historian Victor Suvorov, retired KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin, and Evgenia Albats, a Harvard graduate and writer on KGB subjects, who was assigned to examine the KGB archives after the failed Soviet coup attempt of 1991. According to Albats, most KGB leaders, including Lavrenty Beria, Yuri Andropov, and Vladimir Kryuchkov, have always struggled for the power with the Communist Party and manipulated the communist leaders. Moreover, FSB has formal membership, military discipline, an extensive network of civilian informants, hardcore ideology, and support of population (60% of Russians trust FSB), which makes it a perfect totalitarian political party. However the FSB party does not advertise its leading role because the secrecy is an important advantage.

With regard to death of Aleksander Litvinenko, the highest-ranking Soviet Bloc intelligence defector, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa stated that there is "a band of over 6,000 former officers of the KGB — one of the most criminal organizations in history — who grabbed the most important positions in the federal and local governments, and who are perpetuating Stalin’s, Khrushchev’s, and Brezhnev’s practice of secretly assassinating people who stand in their way."

Suppression of internal dissent

Many Russian opposition lawmakers and investigative journalists have been assassinated while investigating corruption and alleged crimes conducted by FSB and state authorities: Sergei Yushenkov, ‎Yuri Shchekochikhin, Galina Starovoitova, Anna Politkovskaya, Alexander Litvinenko, Paul Klebnikov, Nadezhda Chaikova, Nina Yefimova, and many others. Former KGB officer Oleg Gordievsky believes that murders of writers Yuri Shchekochikhin (author of "Slaves of KGB"), Anna Politkovskaya, and Aleksander Litvinenko show that FSB has returned to the practice of political assassinations which were conducted in the past by Thirteenth KGB Department. Just before his death, Alexander Litvinenko accused Vladimir Putin of personally ordering the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya.

An increasing number of scientists have been accused of espionage and illegal technology exports by FSB during the last decade.... All these people are either under arrest or serve long jail sentences. Human rights groups also identified Mikhail Khodorkovsky as a political prisoner.

....There are credible reports that FSB use drugs to erase memory of people who had access to secret information

Criticism of anti-terrorist operations

Use of excessive force by FSB spetsnaz was criticized with regard to resolving Moscow theater hostage crisis and Beslan hostage crisis. According to Sergey Kovalev, Russian government kills its citizens without any hesitation. He provided the following examples: murdering of hostages by the poison gas during Moscow theater hostage crisis; burning school children alive by spetsnaz soldiers who used RPO flamethrowers during Beslan school hostage crisis; crimes committed by death squads in Chechnya.... Anna Politkovskaya and Irina Hakamada, who conducted unofficial negotiations with terrorists, [were assassinated after they] stated that the hostage takers were not going to use their bombs to kill the people and destroy the building during Moscow theater hostage crisis. This was supported by the subsequent events when the Chechens did not use their bombs.

It is also possible that FSB has returned to the old NKVD practice of creating puppet rebel forces ...Former FSB officer Aleksander Litvinenko stated in a June 2003 interview, with the Australian SBS television programme Dateline, that two of the Chechen terrorists involved in the 2002 Moscow theatre hostage crisis — whom he named as "Abdul the Bloody" and "Abu Bakar" — were working for the FSB, and that the agency manipulated the rebels into staging the attack. Litvinenko said: "[w]hen they tried to find [Abdul the Bloody and Abu Bakar] among the dead terrorists, they weren't there. The FSB got its agents out. So the FSB agents among Chechens organised the whole thing on FSB orders, and those agents were released." The story about FSB connections with the hostage takers was confirmed by Mikhail Trepashkin. Yulia Latynina and other journalists also accused FSB of staging many smaller terrorism acts, such as market place bombing in the city of Astrakhan, bus stops bombings in the city of Voronezh, and the blowing up the Moscow-Grozny train, whereas innocent people were convicted or killed. Journalist Boris Stomakhin claimed that bombing in Moscow metro in 2004 was probably organized by FSB agents rather than by the unknown man who called to Kavkaz Center and claimed his responsibility. Stomakin was arrested and imprisoned for writing this and other articles.

....

According to Anna Politkovskaya, most of the "Islamic terrorism cases" were fabricated by the government, and the confessions have been obtained through the torture of innocent suspects. "The plight of those sentenced for Islamic terrorism today is the same as that of the political prisoners of the Gulag Archipelago... Russia continues to be infected by Stalinism", she said.

Alleged involvement in organized crime

Former FSB officer Aleksander Litvinenko accused FSB personnel of involvement in organized crime, such as drug trafficking and contract killings. It was noted that FSB, far from being a reliable instrument in the fight against organized crime, is institutionally a part of the problem, due not only to its co-optation and penetration by criminal elements, but to its own absence of a legal bureaucratic culture and use of crime as an instrument of state policy [

International affairs

FSB collaborates very closely with secret police services from some former Soviet Republics, especially Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The FSB is accused of working to undermine governments of Baltic states and Georgia. During 2006 Georgian-Russian espionage controversy several Russian GRU officers were accused by Georgian authorities of preparations to commit sabotage and terrorist acts. Historian J. R. Nyquist believes that "The KGB president of Russia wants to reestablish the USSR...."

Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission Richard Butler found than many Russian state-controlled companies are involved in the Oil-for-Food Programme-related fraud. "

...And so did we and Kofi Anan's kid.

Here is Wikipedia's take on the Russian Apartment Bombings of 1999 and the ascent of Putin:

"The first bombing, which did not target an apartment, occurred in Moscow, the Russian capital, on August 31, 1999. A bomb exploded in a mall, killing one person and leaving 40 others wounded. A note was left saying the bombing was a result of increasing Russian consumerism.

On September 4, 1999, a car bomb detonated outside an apartment building housing Russian soldiers in the city of Buynaksk, in the province of Dagestan. Sixty-four people were killed and dozens of others were wounded. Russia blamed separatists from Chechnya, and days later invaded the province of Dagestan.

On September 8, 1999, 300 kg to 400 kg of explosives detonated on the ground floor of an apartment building in southeast Moscow. The nine-story building was destroyed, killing 94 people inside and wounded 150 others. A total of 108 apartments were destroyed during the bombing. A caller to a Russian news agency said the blast was a response to recent Russian bombing of Chechen and Dagestan villages in response to the invasion of Dagestan.

Moscow, Kashirskoye highway

September 13, 1999, was supposed to be a day of mourning for the victims of the previous bomb attacks. But on that day, a large bomb exploded at an apartment on Kashirskoye Highway in southern Moscow. The eight-story building was flattened, littering the street with debris and throwing some concrete hundreds of yards away. In all, 118 people died and 200 were wounded.

It was at this time when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declared a war against the "illegal military units" in Chechnya. Though there was not much evidence pointing to Chechens, preparations were made by the Russian military forces to re-enter the province and to strip the Chechen government of its powers.

The motive for the forceful solution was clinched when a truck bomb exploded September 16, 1999, outside a nine-story apartment complex in the southern Russian city of Volgodonsk, killing 17 people.

In response, Russia launched air strikes on Chechen rebel positions, oil refineries, and other buildings inside that province. By the end of September it was clear another war over Chechnya was underway, and by October Russian troops had entered the province. The attacks would not be the last in Russia or Chechnya.

Ryazan incident

On the evening of September 22, 1999, an alert resident of an apartment building in the town of Ryazan noticed strangers moving heavy sugar sacks into the basement from a car. Militia (the local police) were called to the site and all residents were evacuated. The first test of the powder from the sacks showed the presence of an explosive. All roads from the town were brought under heavy surveillance but no leads were found. A telephone service employee tapped into long-distance phone conversations managed to detect a conversation in which an out-of-town person suggested to take care and to watch for patrols. That person's number was found to belong to an FSB office in Moscow.

Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti (FSB) declared that the incident was a training exercise forty-eight hours later. The original chemical test was declared inaccurate due to contamination of the analysis apparatus from a previous test. The public inquiry committee could not come to a complete conclusion on this and other incidents due to incoherent answers from federal bodies. The General Prosecutor's office has closed the criminal investigation of the Ryazan incident in April 2000.

Official investigation

According to the official investigation, the apartment bombings were planned and organized by Amir Khattab and Abu Umar, Arab militants fighting in Chechnya on the side of Chechen insurgents, both of whom were later killed. The planning was carried out in Khattab's guerilla camps in Chechnya, "Caucasus" in Shatoy and "Taliban" in Avtury.

This particular operation was led by an ethnic Karachay Achemez Gochiyayev. The explosives were prepared in Urus-Martan, Chechnya at the fertilizer factory by mixing hexogen, TNT, aluminium powder and nitre with sugar. From there they have been sent to a food storage facility in Kislovodsk which was managed by an uncle of one of the terrorists, Yusuf Krymshakhalov. Another conspirator, Ruslan Magayayev, had leased a KamAZ truck which the sacks were stored in for two months. After everything was planned, the participants were organized into several groups which transported the explosives to different cities. Most of the people participating were not ethnic Chechens. [Most were subsequently killed. editor]

....
Attempts at independent investigation

The Russian Duma rejected two motions for parliamentary investigation of the Ryazan incident. Duma, on a pro-Kremlin party block vote, voted to seal all materials related to Ryazan incident for the next 75 years and forbade an investigation of what really happened. An independent public commission to investigate the bombings chaired by Duma deputy Sergei Kovalev was rendered ineffective because of government refusal to respond to its inquiries. Two key members of the Kovalev Commission, Sergei Yushenkov and Yuri Shchekochikhin, both Duma members, have since died in apparent assassinations in April 2003 and July 2003 respectively. The Commission's lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin has been arrested in October 2003 to become one of the better-known political prisoners in Russia. Another member of the commission, Otto Lacis, was brutally beaten in November 2003 and two years later on 3rd of November 2005 dies in the hospital after a car accident.

Theory of FSB involvement

The Ryazan incident on September 22, 1999 prompted the initial speculation in the Western press that the Moscow bombings were organized by the FSB, the Russian domestic intelligence service.

The FSB were caught by local police and citizens in the city of Ryazan planting a bomb with a detonator in the basement of an apartment building at the address of 14/16 Novosyelov on the night of September 22, 1999. Explosives experts arriving at the scene found that the bomb tested positive for hexogen (i.e., RDX). On September 24, 1999, Nikolai Patrushev, the head of the FSB, said on the NTV channel that the bomb in the basement of the apartment had been a dummy and that the FSB had been conducting a test. The FSB officially stated that the gas analyzer that detected hexogen had malfunctioned, and that the substance in the dummy bomb was sugar.

....

Yuri Tkachenko, the explosives expert who defused the bomb claimed that it was real. Tkachenko suggested that the explosives, including a timer, power source, and detonator were genuine military equipment and obviously prepared by a professional. He also alleged that the gas analyzer that tested the vapors coming from the sacks unmistakably indicated the presence of hexogen. The police officers who answered the original call and discovered the bomb also insisted that the incident was not an exercise and that it was obvious from its appearance that the substance in the bomb was not sugar.

Alexander Litvinenko, a former FSB agent who was dismissed from the service, accused FSB agents with coordination of the apartment block bombings in his book Gang from Lubyanka sponcored by the exhiled tycoon Boris Beresovsky. On 29 December 2003 Russian authorities confiscated over 5000 copies of the book en route to Moscow from the publisher in Latvia.

Boris Berezovsky also financed a documentary film "FSB blows up Russia" ("An assault on Russia"?) and the book with the same title (financing 25% of the costs). The film accused Russian special services of organising the explosions in Volgodonsk and Moscow. According to research carried out by two French journalists, Jean-Charles Deniau and Charles Gazelle, the explosions were carried out by FSB to provide justification for the continuance of the Chechen War, which in turn helped Putin beat the communists in the presidential election of 2000."

I think Bush in his dreamworld would be Putin.

So, who lost Russia? Who lost the democratic USA?


"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." George W Bush, 43rd President of the U.S. Dec. 18, 2000 on his transition to the Presidency and his having to deal with Congress (a month after the Supreme Court stopped the recount of the Florida votes (which later indicated he lost both the popular and the electoral votes))

I've long believed that to fight an enemy, you become like the enemy. That in the Cold War with missile delivered nuclear weapons the US lost its democracy with the rise of the 'security' state. The US allowed 'former' Nazi 'intelligence' assets who proclaimed an expertise on the Soviet Union to join the CIA (Project Paperclip) where they over-hyped the Soviet threat, leading to US bellicosity and arms build-ups, while keeping these war criminals in clover and power.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, we did not return to democracy after the war ended or enjoy the peace dividend. Yet there were few reasons to justify these enormous global military expenses, a military larger than the rest of the world's militaries combined. 700 full Bases in over 100 countries. What justifies this when millions have no health coverage or pensions?

Ten years later, attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon, basically larger versions of the attacks on Russian malls, highways, apartment buildings, and military housing, were used to to propel the US to a 'soft' privatized military - corporate - 'security' 'counter-terror' state. These attacks and the lack of full investigation seem very similar to what happened in Russia in what was basically a coup without it being identified as one -- even better to have a soft coup that way.

Even though we are bogged down in Iraq, the largest military in the world, now we are less secure, and the only solution is to throw more money at the problem.