Putin as Russia's next Prez?? No kidding! I think he's merely paving the way for Alexander Lebed.... There're already rumors about his possible dismissal --despite (or is it because of?) his growing popularity.
Anyway, below is a clear-sighted analysis by General Lebed on the Kosovo war. Actually, reading between the lines, most of Lebed's comments can apply to the current Chechen conflict, especially his chilling portrayal of wild desperadoes....
Finally, his assessment of Russia's room to manoeuvre in the geopolitical arena astutely hints at the underpinnings of the West's "double standards" as regards Kosovo and Chechnya: Russia is still a nuclear power. Hence, you just don't threaten them with military intervention or smart missiles. Bottom line: today's Chechnyan punitive havoc is actually Milosevic's revenge --through Russian middlemanship. And JBE's witticism is right on: Russia has warped NATO's surgical warfare to claim its racially prejudiced warmongering against Chechens.
The fact is therefore not about a so-called Western double-standard policy (as regards human rights, compliance with international treaties, UN memoranda,....) but rather, to quote S. Zizek, about a double blackmail: firstly in the Balkans, where a jingoist regime wanted to dispose of its Muslim minority at will; next, in Russia, where the same Christoslavic creed calls for a punitive freehand against Muslim "greaseballs" --but this time with a nuclear passe-droit.....
Lebed: US Warfare in Kosovo 'Stupid,' 'Untalented'
Hamburg's Die Woche in German
2 July 1999
Interview with Krasnoyarsk Governor Aleksandr Lebed by Stefan Scholl in Krasnoyarsk; date not given: "There Are No Winners Anymore"
[Scholl] Aleksandr Ivanovich, who won the Kosovo war, in your view?
[Lebed] No one. Who could have won it?
[Scholl] NATO, for instance.
[Lebed] Then why did NATO Secretary General Solana resign from his office? Winners do not leave, winners stay in the boss's seat.
[Scholl] After all, he will soon be "Mr. CFSP [Common Foreign and Security Policy]," the EU's quasi foreign minister.
[Lebed] (grinning) In the Army we called this promotion by kick in the ass.
[Scholl] Thus, if somebody won, it was rather the United States than Europe?
[Lebed] In strategic terms, the Americans certainly won, because Europe lost. Europe now has to take care of hundreds of thousands of refugees, the ecological disaster caused by the bomb war will be there for decades, the euro has plummeted. And the Americans say quite shamelessly: we took the ax to your forest, you must pay the damage. Tactically, however, the Americans lost this war. Instead of precise air strikes, they spread their bombs from the stratosphere, hitting refugees and journalists, embassies, and hospitals. They killed several thousand people and destroyed a flourishing country --with stupid, untalented warfare.
[Scholl] They imposed their will on Milosevic.
[Lebed] NATO crushed Yugoslavia with technical superiority. But now a new stage begins: neither the Serbs nor the Albanians will keep the peace.
[Scholl] NATO ended Milosevic's "ethnic cleansing."
[Lebed] What Milosevic did in Yugoslavia is disgusting. However, one could have put much more pressure on him also without a war. Why was he not indicted as a war criminal much earlier? Why were the international borders not closed to him earlier and his bank accounts frozen? NATO
wanted war.
[Scholl] Milosevic is certainly not one of the winners of this war.
[Lebed] I wore a uniform for 26 years, I participated in the most varied wars and conflicts, I got a lot of medals. And I have come to the conclusion: there are no winners anymore. NATO has bombed Yugoslavia to rubble. But in Kosovo men, women, and old people will soon shoot, stab, poison NATO soldiers. Have you ever dealt with people who lost everything in just an hour? In the morning you leave the house where your wife, your children, your parents live. You return and you find a smoking pit. Then something happens to you --to a certain extent you stop being human, you do not need any glory, any money anymore, revenge becomes your only joy. And because you no longer cling to live, death avoids you, the bullets fly past. You become a wolf.
[Scholl] Do you want to instill fear in the KFOR [Kosovo Force] peacekeeping forces?
[Lebed] I know what I am talking about, I have often dealt with such people. Many soldiers will return home in body bags. And this will cost may politicians their jobs. The leftists started this war, the rightists will end it. Your German social democrats and Greens, for instance, announced to close down all nuclear power plants and to defend the inviolability of every single mole-hill. And then they drop bombs on Yugoslavia, and that after the experiences of two world wars! This is stupid, short-sighted, and dangerous. And German soldiers will pay for it.
[Scholl] What will the consequences of the war be for NATO, in your view?
[Lebed] I know that the mood in Hungary, Poland, and, above all, in the Czech Republic has become very pensive: what have we gotten ourselves into? Oh so "precise" NATO missiles hit Macedonia and Bulgaria, Italian fishermen fish unexploded shells out of the Adriatic. The Italians complained right from the beginning, Greece did not join in the first place.
[Scholl] This means, you think that NATO, which has just been enlarged, is already falling apart again?
[Lebed] Certainly not. The Alliance is rich and has prestige. But the facade has got its first crack.
[Scholl] As a Russian officer, you were repeatedly involved in settling ethnic conflicts. In Transdniestr you managed to protect the Moldavian minority against the Russian-speaking majority. How should order and security be reestablished for all inhabitants in Kosovo now?
[Lebed] The peacekeeping troops there should operate absolutely under the UN flag and come exclusively from neutral countries. And one needs a commander with authority.
[Scholl] Do you favor the participation of Russian soldiers in the KFOR?
[Lebed] We could also do without it. However, this would be even more expensive for you. Russia is the only political force in the peace process that can credibly mediate between Yugoslavia and the West.
[Scholl] Many Russians believe mediator Viktor Chernomyrdin let himself be bought by the Americans.
[Lebed] Chernomyrdin has the mentality of a merchant and, as peacemaker, he haggled like a merchant. You cannot give a businessman such a job!
[Scholl] The first Russian paratroopers turned up in Pristina against Chernomyrdin's will?
[Lebed] We had a wonderfully absurd situation there. The contingent marched into Kosovo. It should have been reinforced immediately, should have staked out its own sector. But they arrived, took their positions, and started to talk about water and food. The first sergeants of each company must secure the food!
[Scholl] Some Russian and western observers think that the generals themselves decided to put the battalion on the road because they were angry about the results of the negotiations.
[Lebed] In September 1990, when I marched to Moscow with my division, a deputy told me I should admit that I had got drunk and drove the division to Moscow under the influence of alcohol. In our country they like to blame the generals. However, the Russian commander has not yet been born who crosses three European borders with his unit on his own responsibility. Our hawks have not yet grown such wings.
[Scholl] Where did the order come from, in your opinion?
[Lebed] I do not rule out that they will now take the major general to task, who commanded the battalion. This is ridiculous, because he only carries out the orders of the chief of the Russian General Staff, who, for his part, is subordinate to the Defense Minister and the President. However, our Defense Minister is a cautious man. The order came from the President. Then Yeltsin quietly stepped aside, as usual, and everybody got all excited.
[Scholl] Is President Yeltsin still able to make such decisions?
[Lebed] No. This means, he easily makes initial decisions, a wave of his hand, a decree that is in effect for half a day. But our paratroopers marched, and now it would have been necessary to take determined action to the end. Thus, we just showed our teeth a bit without really biting.
[Scholl] The Kosovo war was a premiere in international politics. Do you consider it possible that one day Russia, too, might become the target of a "humanitarian intervention"?
[Lebed] No. As long as we have strategic nuclear missiles, this is impossible. Anyone who bombs us, gets an immediate response. The West has much to lose, Russia does not. And the one who has more to lose is worse off.
[Scholl] This means, Russia need not fear anyone?
[Lebed] Russia went through two world wars in this century and through Stalin's repression --this means, it has lost 70-75 million people. Russia does not intend to wage war against anybody. We do not need a big army anymore, we need not be able to defend ourselves at any time in all directions. A mobile task force, which costs little, is sufficient. There are external conflicts, but our strategic missiles are sufficient to make sure that we are taken seriously at the negotiating table.
[Scholl] Which countries do you see as Russia's reliable allies?
[Lebed] Somebody once said that there are no eternal friends or foes, there are just eternal interests. As long as Russia is poor, we will not have any friends. As soon as we get rich, the friends will come by themselves.
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