What if Russia isnt as wounded as we have been led to believe? What if some elements have taken advantage of the economic collapse to catch the West on its laurels?
Before the USSR was dissolved, the KGB stashed millions, possibly billions of Party money in offshore accounts in the West. KGB officers, some very senior, took positions in major business and financial institutions. There are rumors that the Russian mob has been aided by former KGB officers and considerable money laundering and drug dealing has been done through channels that allegedly lead back to Communist Party coffers.
Of the former Russian states, only Russia has had any real manner of democratic elections. Almost all of the former Soviet states are run by former hard line Communists, and the Party hard liners still run a lot of the show in Moscow. Different titles, same names.
In 1984 KGB defector Anatoliy Golitsyn predicted that the USSR would collapse, the East Bloc would be liberated, Russia would be liberalized. He predicted that Communist hardliners would use this as an opportunity to do to the West what Russia could not do by force: demilitarize the West. What has happened since 1991? US military spending has been slashed to around 17% of the federal budget and materiel has been depleted in piddling skirmishes around the world. Both China and Russia continue aggressive weapons development while such research in the West has stagnated and may put us a decade behind.
The average Russian is resentful of the Yeltsin government and 'democratic," "capitalist" reforms. Russians see Western investment money going out the back door and feeding criminals and speculators. It may be that anti-western sentiment is rising, especially in light of the Serbian bombing. The hardliners may utilize this for a reactionary swing away from reform and liberalization. It is concievable that a new Communist revolution may be ushered in with welcoming arms.
There is some evidence that Russia is manipulating events, there is evidence that both the Iraqis and the Serbs are under influence. Is Russia probing the US defenses, probing our reaction time, our will? Is this a test to see how far the US can be bent before it gives way? Is power balancing against the US? Russia and *China* talking about a strategic tripartite alliance with *India*? Is the Bear really dead, or just playing possum and biding its time? Did we really "win" the Cold War, or just fall for a deceptive thaw? |
