Russia: Other Points of View

The Dangers of a Declining Global Power

Friends, at last credible voices are speaking out about the primary cause behind Washington's incessant drive to take Russia down––or out.

Sadly,  our great America is in decline -- slowly but surely.  Russia (and China) definitely are on the incline.  Just having come from four different regions in Russia, it is clear that the latter  is a country whose momentum is upward and they are moving at a fast clip.  China, is even more so, I'm told.  So why is it that Russia is Washington's  #1 target? 

Perhaps it is that for some 130 years American administrations have been trying to out-compete Russia, including the 50 years of US-USSR confrontation during which we were in a duel to death with 50,000 nuclear missiles (on launch pads and ready to fire) between us.  We didn't have that personal history with China.  But with Russia and her ill-gotten Republics, it was a very personal vendetta.  And now in the 2000s to see Russia coming up in the world and ourselves in decline –– this must be a deafening blow to those elder white males whose power still runs America today. It becomes clear why the demonization of Russia and Putin have been so intense, so intractable––perhaps thinking that taking them out or down would solve our decline problems?

Cold War II to McCarthyism II

Robert Parry, the American journalist for Associated Press and Newsweek who exposed the Iran Contra Scandal during the Reagan administration continues to be a voice in the wilderness in the Washington, Russia, Ukraine, Crimea debacle.  

Cold War II to McCarthyism II

By Robert Parry, Consortium News

09 June 15

 With Cold War II in full swing, the New York Times is dusting off what might be called McCarthyism II, the suggestion that anyone who doesn’t get in line with U.S. propaganda must be working for Moscow, reports Robert Parry.

erhaps it’s no surprise that the U.S. government’s plunge into Cold War II would bring back the one-sided propaganda themes that dominated Cold War I, but it’s still unsettling to see how quickly the major U.S. news media has returned to the old ways, especially the New York Times, which has emerged as Official Washington’s propaganda vehicle of choice.

What has been most striking in the behavior of the Times and most other U.S. mainstream media outlets is their utter lack of self-awareness, for instance, accusing Russia of engaging in propaganda and alliance-building that are a pale shadow of what the U.S. government routinely does. Yet, the Times and the rest of the MSM act as if these actions are unique to Moscow.

A case in point is Monday’s front-page story in the Times entitled “Russia Wields Aid and Ideology Against West to Fight Sanctions,” which warns: “Moscow has brought to bear different kinds of weapons, according to American and European officials: money, ideology and disinformation.”

George Kennan, one of his last utterances re Russia

Friends, read this and weep. The greatest voice on the US, USSR and the new Russia comes to us with fresh relevance.  Note, this was written in May 1998.  Wish that Washington would have listened.

Sharon 

Foreign Affairs; Now a Word From X

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Published: May 2, 1998

His voice is a bit frail now, but the mind, even at age 94, is as sharp as ever. So when I reached George Kennan by phone to get his reaction to the Senate's ratification of NATO expansion it was no surprise to find that the man who was the architect of America's successful containment of the Soviet Union and one of the great American statesmen of the 20th century was ready with an answer.

''I think it is the beginning of a new cold war,'' said Mr. Kennan from his Princeton home. ''I think the Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies. I think it is a tragic mistake. There was no reason for this whatsoever. No one was threatening anybody else. This expansion would make the Founding Fathers of this country turn over in their graves. We have signed up to protect a whole series of countries, even though we have neither the resources nor the intention to do so in any serious way. [NATO expansion] was simply a light-hearted action by a Senate that has no real interest in foreign affairs.’'

Citizen Diplomacy Travel begins again -- June 2015

Email begun on June 3, 2015

Dear Friends,

The relations between the two nuclear superpowers, Russia and the U.S., deteriorated so rapidly during the Ukraine build-up to war in 2014 that it seemed to us critical to try to rebuild citizen diplomacy again –– even though this attempt feels like David and Goliath with the slingshot.

Our 22 Americans from 15 states (and one from South Africa) came together to travel to Russia May 30 through June 15. Our goal?  To learn how Russian citizens perceive the situations in Ukraine, Crimea and the Washington-based economic sanctions they are now under. We wanted to get clarifying information from them, to share our views with them, and to examine how to begin new efforts to break through the existing barriers between our two countries. 

Our non-traditional travel had no tour guides, no tour buses, no palaces, no concerts, no normal rounds of canned meetings.  Fortunately CCI has sufficient connections across Russia to organize meetings with ordinary Russian business people, journalists, professionals, university students and yes, Russia's venerated TV anchor over the past 40 years, Vladimir Pozner with whom we spent an evening in Moscow. 

No other country has been so persistently maligned in US mainstream media (MSM) over the past decade as has Russia; this demonization has been initiated by a thin segment of Washington's current policy makers and America's compliant MSM. It is said to have started in 2000 when Yeltsin turned over the reigns of the "new" Russia to then unknown Vladimir Putin.  I was told by a State Department diplomat that on that very day when it was announced that VV Putin would likely be Russia's next president, "The knives were drawn."  Actually I think it was even earlier in 1990, when Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, Brzezinski, et al, came up with "The Wolfowitz Doctrine." 

Pozner/Oliver Stone Interview

Dear Friends,

I've just watched the American documentarian and author Oliver Stone/Vladimir Pozner interview on Vimeo and believe it is important for every American to watch and carefully study this interview.  See the URL below

Particularly important for me is how Stone differentiates between deep love of country while speaking out against policies of transient governments and the histories of former administrations.  

Somehow, we in America have gotten this mixed up by believing  "Love of country means loyalty to whatever government is in charge at the time" -- and believing that those who question a current government/administration are not sufficiently patriotic. 

Unfortunately history has shown if we citizens don't question what we feel is wrong, we will end up paying the price in ensuing years and even decades.

Here is a favorite quote: Loyalty to Country Must  Prevail Over Loyalty to Governments

Video link https://vimeo.com/111675614

Russian citizens finally going sour on America?

Dear Friends, 

The following is probably a pretty accurate description of what has begun to happen all across Russia. But after all, how would we feel if Russia had sanctioned our country, forbade others to trade with us and reduced our dollar to half its value by depriving normal trade with other countries––and fomented a war in Mexico or Canada on our borders?

Our delegation of American citizens may be going into the country next week that is having second thoughts about their original glorification of all things American.   

The email below arrived today.  First we hear from a young Simon in Russia who comments very sensitively and intelligently on the article. Next comes the article published by RUSSIA INSIDER, the brainchild of Charles Bausman.  Charles' father was the UP Bureau Chief in the USSR when he was a child. He grew up in Moscow and developed a bi-cultural mindset while there. When American PR got so twisted regarding Russia a year ago, he determined to start a private news service. RUSSIA INSIDER is the result.  In the past six months Charles has launched and has breathed life and fire into getting out what he sees to be the real information about Russia.  

 Sharon

Comment from Simon in Russia: 

I second quite a lot of this article below. Being a 20-year expat in Russia myself I have never seen such a surge in patriotism (in Russia). Many of my Russian friends are what one would consider, young, savvy, educated. And in the past most, but not all, tended to be very down on their country, and Putin too, they would often talk about wanting a new life abroad in the West. I found it embarrassing, I was always far more positive about the opportunities in Russia and the greatness of this country than they were.

But this last year and a half - what a turn around. Quite simply the majority of the Russians I know are DISGUSTED with the West. And they are rejecting it on so many levels. Not just its miltarism but Its products, its brands, as a holiday destination, its liberal values, its version of democracy. They have rediscovered that for all these things there is and was 'Nasha' version - something that is ours (Russian, or even Soviet) and belongs here, but which was previously denounced as sub-standard.

AMERICA'S CITIZEN DIPLOMATS TO RUSSIA

Due to disintegrating  relations between Washington and Russia, the Center for Citizen Initiatives (CCI) has restarted its "citizen diplomacy" work again. CCI began, as a near-hopeless cause, in 1983 during the peak of the nuclear arms race. We are a non-profit, non-governmental organization with no funding or ties to governments.

CCI's founder and President for 32 years,  Sharon Tennison, will bring a group of 22 Americans from 15 American states to Moscow, Volgograd, Ekaterinburg and StPetersburg May 31 to June 15.  The group is searching for ways to create relevant activities in 2015/16.  

Tennison says," It's critical for citizens of our two nations to work together again to offset ill stereotypes, to better understand the political realities of today, and to rebuild the goodwill bridges that existed from 1985 through most of the 2000s. 

"During those years over 6,000 young Russians from 71 Russian regions studied business development in American companies under CCI's programs.  Numerous other projects and  programs were carried out both in America and in Russia––each creating goodwill and understanding between the two countries.

"American host families and business owners still have great fondness for the Russians who came to them during those earlier decades. They respect Russians'  level of education and culture.  On the Russian side, a swath of warm relations toward Americans goes across Russia's 11 time zones.  Their gratitude to their American trainers and "Moms and Pops," (their home hosts), is unending.  Our 2016 programs will be different since conditions have changed, but there are many ways for citizens to open doors and reduce tensions, even today!" 

If the above is used in media, or passed on to other E lists, great -- interviews are possible if notified in advance.

Sharon Tennison

President and Founder

Center for Citizen Initiatives

 

Author:  The Power of Impossible Ideas

Site: www.ccisf.org (under revision)

Rotary Club of Palo Alto, CA.

Senators Undermining Minsk II

Friends,   

Three European Ministers of the OSCE, France's President Hollande and Germany's top diplomats are pressuring Poroshenko of Ukraine to settle the Ukraine Crisis through peaceful means without delay, saying the only acceptable line of conduct is full implementation of the Minsk II accord–––and yet it appears that hardliners in Washington are pushing for the US to send lethal weapons to the West Ukraine regime, despite what their international colleagues are urging. 

It is said that President Obama must be under extreme pressure to go along with Ian Brzezinski, the Senate Armed Services Committee, John McCain and even Senator Jack Reed (D) went along with this diabolical strategy. Only two senators expressed disagreement with this madness.  When will our duly elected Congress wake up and realize they are urging confrontation with an equally armed nuclear power!

PLEASE call President Obama and urge him to resist these Senators.  His Public Comment Line is:  202-456-1111. 

Please READ and COPY this message to all of your e lists. Call every day from now on!

Thanks for standing up against this outrageous mentality!   Sharon

How the Senate Armed Services Committee Is Undermining Minsk II

A peaceful solution to the crisis in Ukraine may be at risk.

James Carden , The Nation

On April 28 three European foreign ministers—Serbia’s Ivica Dačić, Germany’s Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Switzerland’s Didier Burkhalter—met in their capacities as members of the OSCE’s Ministerial Troika to discuss the latest developments in eastern Ukraine. According to the OSCE, the foreign ministers “reiterated that [the Ukraine] crisis can be resolved only through peaceful means and that the political process in that regard should be advanced without delay” and “called on all sides to fully and unconditionally respect the cease-fire.”

Meanwhile, on April 26, Financial Times reported that Kiev is coming under increased pressure from Western European capitals to do its part to implement the Minsk cease-fire agreement. According to FT, German diplomats expressed frustration that Kiev is “dragging its feet” in implementing the agreement. For his part, French President Françl;ois Holland has warned Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that “the only line of conduct is the full implementation of the Minsk accord.”

Yet it seems these calls for a peaceful solution to the crisis are not only falling on deaf ears, but are also purposefully being undermined, in Washington.

To wit: the same day the aforementioned troika met in Belgrade, the 28th, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing on “United States Security Policy in Europe,” though perhaps, given the tenor of the hearing, it should have been held under the rubric “The Russians are Coming!”

Armed Services Committee Chairman, Senator John McCain (R-AZ), got right to the point, running down a list of Russia’s sins—real and imagined. He derided the Obama administration’s “so-called reset” policy and warned of Mr. Putin’s “neo-imperial objectives.” McCain accused Russia of violating the Minsk II cease-fire agreement and hectored NATO allies to follow the example of Poland and Estonia and increase its defense expenditures. Unbelievably, McCain closed his remarks by telling the gallery, which included a visiting delegation of Ukrainian parliamentarians, that “none of us wants to return to the Cold War.”

Depressingly, there seemed to be little daylight between McCain and the committee’s ranking member, Senator Jack Reed (D-RI). Both he and McCain have called on President Obama to “provide defense lethal assistance” to Ukraine. Only Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) expressed any skepticism towards the idea of sending lethal aid to Ukraine. The situation that pertains in the Washington of 2015, is in stark contrast to the previous Cold War. Today, it would seem, Democrats and Republicans are engaged in a contest of who can ‘out-hawk’ the other on Russia.

McCain and Reed set the tone of Tuesday’s hearing by striking a martial note at the outset, and the witnesses, representing the Council of Foreign Relations, the Fletcher School of Diplomacy and the Atlantic Council, were all too happy to pick up where the Senators left off.

The most hawkish of the three, the Atlantic Council’s Ian Brzezinski (perhaps channeling his father Zbigniew), opined that the United States should impose tougher sanctions on Russia in order to “aggressively shock the Russian economy by shutting off its energy and financial sectors from the global economy.” Further, Washington should “provide military equipment to Ukraine, including air defense and anti-tank weapons as well as key enablers, such as drones…”

Most alarmingly, however, was Brzezinski’s recommendation to grant the NATO supreme allied commander the “authorities necessary to deploy in real time against provocative Russian military operations,” thereby taking the decision to go to war with a nuclear armed power out of the hands of the commander in chief and transferring it to the NATO commander in Brussels.

Two days later, as it happened, it was that very NATO commander’s turn before the Armed Services Committee. US Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, who, according to a recent article in Der Spiegel is viewed by many European diplomats as a serial exaggerator, told the committee that NATO’s principle concern is a “revanchist Russia” which in his view is a “global, not regional” threat.

Since, in his view, the current lull in the fighting in eastern Ukraine is only allowing Russia to “prepare for another offensive” it would “not make sense to take any of our own options off the table.” Indeed, later on in the hearing, in response to a question from Senator McCain, the general said, “I support the use, um, [quickly correcting himself] the consideration, of offensive military aid …” His referencing of “offensive” weapons raised an eyebrow from Senator Reed who quickly interjected to ask if the general had misspoken. Breedlove confirmed that he had not.

Breedlove’s testimony also inadvertently helped confirm the basis of one of Russia’s principal objections to American policy: that it is being hedged in on all sides by the American military. Breedlove testified about what he called a Russia Strategic Initiative which seeks to coordinate the various combatant commands which border Russia: CENTCOM (US Central Command); EUCOM (US European Command); USNORTHCOM (US Northern Command); USPACOM (US Pacific Command), the better to respond to a future Russian offensive.

Breedlove also praised the US European Command’s Ukraine Joint Initiative which has carried out a series of 25 visits to Ukraine with the goal of helping Kiev identify and address its most urgent military needs. Breedlove also noted that NATO is “war gaming and table topping scenarios” in the event the US decides to arm Ukraine. Should we fail to send military assistance to Ukraine, the General warned, somewhat paradoxically, that “inaction is also an action and the Russians will react to that as well.”

And so, it is hard, given the tenor of the policy discussion on Capitol Hill over the past week, to escape the conclusion that President Obama is under intense pressure—not only from both political parties, but also, disturbingly, from the NATO supreme allied commander—to wade ever deeper into the Ukrainian morass.

Western Ukraine Fascist Groups Eligible for Official Commemoration

Friends, as more information seeps out regarding the ultra-nationalist groups who are ensconced in the Kiev's ruling party and their military, those who are deeply concerned are speaking out.  It's about time. And it's time for Washington to acknowledge what type of government and military they are supporting with our tax dollars.

Sharon

Ukrainian parliament recognizes militia that collaborated with Nazis

April 14, 2015

By Sam Sokol, The Jerusalem Post, April 13, 2015

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has condemned Ukraine’s recognition of the group as well as a second bill that equated communist and Nazi crimes. Seventy years after the end of the Holocaust, Ukraine’s parliament has extended official recognition to a nationalist militia that collaborated with the Germans during the Second World War.

According to a bill passed on Thursday [April 9], the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, an ultra-nationalist faction that sought to establish an independent Ukrainian state, would be eligible for official government commemoration, according to the Kiev Post.

While the group, an offshoot of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, engaged in warfare against both the Soviet Union and the Nazis, it also collaborated with Germany and took part in actions against local Jews.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center condemned Ukraine’s recognition of the group as well as a second bill that equated Communist and Nazi crimes.

New US-Russia Cultural Institute in Washington, D.C.

Friends, this is truly heartening.  In the middle of Washington a stellar group of respected Americans with long histories in Russia, including Susan Eisenhower, Dwight D. Eisenhower's granddaughter,  former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, John Beyrle, and others have created the Carmel Institute of Russian Culture and History at American University in Washington. D.C.  This new institution has been endowed by Susan Carmel Lehrman in order to "create robust programming in cultural diplomacy."  Dwight D. Eisenhower said at the Geneva Summit in 1955: 

            “War has failed. The only way to save the world now is through diplomacy.” 

New US-Russia Cultural Institute Aims for Better Understanding of WWII

This article originally appeared at Russia Beyond the Headlines 

The American University in Washington, D.C. recently hosted its 4th annual symposium, in collaboration with the newly-established Carmel Institute of Russian Culture and History. Titled “The Strength of Cooperation: Lessons from the Grand Alliance, 1941-1945,” the April 11 event turned out to be something more than just an ordinary historical meeting.

The first large-scale event organized by the Carmel Institute, the symposium reminded its guests about the profound cooperation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during WWII and stressed the importance of the role such unity could play in the future, as well as how this might be achieved given the current political situation.

Instead of stating formalities about the countries’ significant shared history and the need for future cooperation, symposium participants focused on intimate family stories that appeared to provide much stronger proof of the cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union during World War II.

Susan Eisenhower, for instance, told the audience about the personal, almost friendly relationship between her grandfather, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov. According to family history, once Zhukov even complained to Eisenhower about some American journalist who had written that Zhukov was shorter than his wife. The Red Army general was deeply offended by this article and asked Eisenhower to punish the reporter.

Looking to the past for inspiration 

John Beyrle, former American ambassador to Russia, told an incredible story about his father Joseph Beyrle, who is thought to be the only American soldier to have served with both the United States Army and the Red Army in World War II.

Beyrle senior entered the war as a paratrooper in the U.S. army, was captured by German soldiers, then spent seven months in seven different prisons. After two escapes ended in recapture and subsequent torture and beating, Beyrle  eventually succeeded in his third escape attempt, before coming into contact with the Soviet army.

The story goes that