Discussion Page
The CPRF is the authentic voice of
the Communist Party of Russia --
which is the 2nd largest party
in the Duma (Parliament)
If you want a thorough insight into
the recent events in Kazakhstan,
you won't do better than reading
the article below!
THE VOICE OF THE WORKING PEOPLE
OF KAZAKHSTAN - MUST BE HEARD
January 2022 (https://cprf.ru)
Kazakhstan is living through a difficult period.
The long pent-up popular discontent has
erupted into mass indignation
and protests.
Every broad movement... has multiple components.
The events in Kazakhstan involve social discontent,
the activities of “the fifth column,” and the actions
of terrorist groups. “The fifth column”... includes
extremists adhering to radical Islam, numerous
NGOs nurtured by the West, some members of
the security and military communities looking
for a chance to fish in troubled waters, and
oligarchic clans which are prepared to use
mass protests, in their struggle for power.
The fraternal peoples of Russia and Kazakhstan
are linked by the bonds of centuries of
common history.
Together we created the Soviet Union, built
and gained victories, and prided ourselves
on outstanding economic and social
achievements. Together... we have
revived integration processes:
creating the EurAsEC,
SCO and CSTO.
Today... our comrades and friends are living through a
period of trials and tribulations. Kazakhstan has been
swept by mass protests. The southern capital Alma-
Ata – has seen bloody riots, which claimed many
victims and brought devastation. An accurate
and all-round assessment of the events,
should take many things into account.
It is clear that the situation in Kazakhstan... is a direct
consequence of the tragedy that befell all of us, thirty
years ago. The collapse of the USSR, renunciation
of the socialist system and Soviet power, planted
numerous mines under the new “independent
democratic states.”
The savage capitalism into which the Soviet republics
have been plunged, inevitably doomed the people to
poverty and rightlessness, creating appalling
inequality. By the same token, our peoples
have become extremely vulnerable, in
the face of external threats.
Contrary to the promises of liberal pundits, the new
states have not become fully-fledged members of
the “civilized world.” Global capitalism, has
reduced them to the role of raw materials
appendages and markets, sources of
cheap labour and pawns in the geo-
political adventures of imperialist
powers.
Kazakhstan embarked on this slippery path. Modern
industries perished in the cesspool of privatization.
The commodity sector was rented out to foreign
capital. The oil sector is dominated by Chevron
and Exxon Mobil (USA), Total (France) Royal
Dutch Shell (UK and the Netherlands). The
transnational corporation, AlcelorMittal,
has become the new master of the
steel industry.
The nascent bourgeoisie of Kazakhstan, allied
with overseas capital, has been profiting from
exploitation of the republic’s labour & natural
resources. Just like in Russia or Ukraine, it
went to any lengths in the process of
“primary capital accumulation.”
Many of the richest people,
have - effectively - become
part of the establishment.
Like almost everywhere in the post-Soviet space,
Kazakhstan created an oligarchic-comprador
system, typical of savage capitalism.
Inequality in the republic was steadily growing. The
people got tiny morsels of the national income and
inequalities of wealth and social tensions, were
rising. In 2011 a strike of oilmen in Zhanaozen
led to clashes, in which 16 people died. The
authorities demonstrated their attitude to
the people, by raising the retirement age
to 63 for men and women.
The coronavirus pandemic finally shattered the myth
about “social peace” in Kazakhstan. Even the official
poverty figures grew. With the world poverty level at
5.5 dollars a day, one in every seven citizens is
below the poverty line.
According to surveys, the percentage of households
that cannot even put food on the table... has grown
from 3 to 13%. A further 44% say they have money
only to buy food. Meanwhile the number of dollar
billionaires --- grew from 4% to 7%, and their
combined fortunes almost doubled.
Strikes have been going on, at Kazakhstan’s
enterprises, throughout the last 2 years. The
biggest protests are in the western regions.
While these regions are the main producers
of export commodities – oil and gas – they
also have the highest level of inequality in
the country. Thousands of people were
angry about wage arrears and lay-offs
and demanded higher pay, to make
up for the constant rise of prices.
Even according to official statistics, food
inflation in the country, ran at 20% over
the past two years.
The authorities ignored the legitimate demands of the
people. Social support during the pandemic turned
out to be inadequate. People were also angry over
the harsh quarantine measures. Like in Russia...
Kazakhstan had lived through the disastrous
“optimization” of health care --- which left
them more vulnerable to the epidemic.
Some measures taken by the authorities... were
seen as humiliating. Thus -- in the autumn -- the
president promised to unfreeze part of citizens’
pension savings. However, several days before
the New Year a minimum sum of savings above
which people aged 59-62 were allowed to with-
draw part of their savings, was raised to more
than 9 million tenge, or 1.5 million robles. Only
a tiny fraction of Kazakhstan’s population has
such savings. Instead of addressing societies
problems the ruling class preferred to further
divide society, by fanning Russophobia and
ethnic hostility. Kazakhstan’s kids read in
their school textbooks about “Russian
colonialism” and “bloody Soviet
totalitarianism.”
An official campaign has been launched... for
a rehabilitation of all “victims of repressions,”
including those who collaborated with Hitler.
Monuments were reared to people like Mustafa Shokai
who collaborated with the Nazis. Streets and schools
are named after them. The authorities were ramping
up speculations about “the Kazakh Holodomor” in
gross contradiction to historical facts. The pro-
government nationalistic forces, openly
demanded that the famine be equated
to genocide --- and called for a “final
de-Communization” of the country.
Against the background of this hysterical hand-
wringing the remaining monuments to Lenin are
being brought down:- streets, regions, villages -
entire cities are being renamed. The new wave
of this political skullduggery swept the country
late last year. Dozens of streets were renamed
in Uralsk, Semei (former Semipalatinsk) and
other cities. In Karaganda the Octyabrsky
district was named after Buhkeikhanov,
leader of the bourgeois Alash party
who fought against Soviet power,
along with Kolchak and Dutrov.
Contrary to the officially proclaimed friendship of
the peoples - Kazakhstan’s leaders were steadily
restricting the use of the Russian language... and
discriminating against Russian-speaking citizens.
Late last year parliament passed a bill whereby all
visual information could only be in the Kazakh
language. Transition of the Kazakh alphabet
from Cyrillic to the Latin script, is to be
completed by 2025.
Such policies provoked an exodus of the population.
The share of Russians in the republic, dropped from
38 to 18 percent during the post-Soviet period. Thus,
in 2019 of the 45,000 who left the country 85 percent
were Russians, Ukrainians and Germans. A program
is underway in Kazakhstan... to resettle indigenous
citizens to the northern, mainly Russian-populated
regions.
“Language patrols”... are a hideous phenomenon.
Humiliating the “|non-titular nation” participants
making people apologize in front of the camera
for not knowing the Kazakh language. For a
long time the authorities turned a blind eye
to this. The authorities went through the
motions of condemning such actions,
only after they provoked an uproar
in the Russian media.
These policies were welcomed -- by numerous pro-
Western NGOs, which had dug in, in the republic.
The authorities, while coming out in support of
Eurasian integration, were flirting with the
Western capitals. Relations with the US
reached the level of Enhanced
Strategic Partnership.
Every year the republic hosts The Steppe Eagle
military exercise, jointly with NATO. With US
help, several biological laboratories have
been built, which raise many questions
among local and foreign experts.
While aiding and abetting the nationalists, the
Kazakhstan government is cracking down on
the left opposition. Communists, independent
trade unions, have come under real pressure.
Against this background a social explosion occurred.
The immediate pretext was the doubling of the price
of liquefied gas. Earlier, the authorities announced
a transition to “market pricing” and abolished all
subsidies. Western Kazakhstan became a focus
of protests. First, liquefied gas is used there
more extensively to heat dwellings and fuel
motor vehicles. Second, fuel is produced in
this region through the efforts of many of
its citizens, a fact which people were
asked to forget, in deference to the
free market. And third, Western
Kazakhstan was hardest hit by
the previous waves of the
crisis, making it a centre
of protests.
Within days the protests spread to other regions.
Initially, they were peaceful. Protesters wanted
lower prices, higher wages and social benefits
and a return to the former pension age.
Workers at some oilfields staged
sympathy strikes.
However, the situation changed quickly and
got out of control. The first acts of terror &
vandalism were committed in the cities of
Zhanaozen and Aktau, in the Manguistau-
skaya Oblast, in S. Western Kazakhstan.
Unrest then developed into fierce clashes in Alma-Ata
& other cities. The work of airports in Aktobe, Aktau
and Alma-Ata was paralyzed. The Baikonur space
launching site was in danger. Groups of armed
men attacked police and army, seized and
rampaged through buildings and attacked
doctors, firemen and civilians. A wave
of marauding, swept the cities.
Obviously, the violent acts were perpetrated by
people who had nothing to do with the mass of
the protesters. Criminal groups... were taking
advantage of popular protests in Kazakhstan
to further their own ends.
These are first & foremost radical Islamist cells.
Proof of this, is atrocities committed against
policemen, some of whom were beheaded.
External agents -- became active. This is
especially true of Alma-Ata, traditionally
a stronghold of liberalism where many
pro-Western NGOs have their offices.
Criminals linked to nationalist groups, went on
the rampage. This is evidenced by the targeting
of the prosecutor’s & special services buildings
which were set alight, the seizure of weapons,
& the looting of shops and other public places.
It cannot be ruled out that all these actions were
coordinated from a single centre which seeks to
destabilize Kazakhstan. But some responsibility
rests with the republic’s leadership... because
officials had aided and abetted the activities
of pro-Western forces -- and adopted a
conciliatory stand with regard to the
Islamists. The country’s National
Security Committee turned down
numerous requests for Salafism
to be banned. Clerics trained in
Saudi Arabia, and other Arab
countries, were active
in Kazakhstan.
It is incumbent on our country, to see all these
developments in a broad international context.
The military-political situation near Russia’s
Western borders had clearly deteriorated in
recent months. Our country.... came under
growing economic, information, diplomatic
and military pressure. The Western media,
diplomats, politicians, and NATO officials,
have repeatedly voiced “concern” about
alleged “plans to attack Ukraine”, and
threatened to take “comprehensive
preventive measures.”
In the midst of the worsening situation around our
country, we have now received a blow on our
southern border. At the start of the New Year,
Russia’s enemies in the world upped the ante
in the game on the big chessboard. On Jan. 2,
Kazakhstan's people got a shock from the
authorities, which raised gas prices.
The flareup of indignation was promptly taken
advantage of, by the terrorist underground...
whose leaders used jihadists' experiences
in Syria and Iraq. Large-scale acts were
mounted, to destabilize the situation.
The members of the underground managed, on the
one hand, to blend with the masses of protesters
and, on the other hand, to enlist the support of
declasse and criminal elements.
As of now, thousands of people have become victims
of criminal acts. Hundreds of people have been
hospitalized, dozens are in intensive care and
many have been killed. Thugs obstructed the
work of ambulance crews, intimidated the
population, looted shops and engaged
in marauding. The character of their
actions, attests to the existence of
a plan coordinated and funded
from abroad.
The President of Kazakhstan has declared a state
of emergency in the country and dismissed the
government. Considering the scale of events
and the interference of external forces, the
republic’s authorities have sought help
from their partners. The CSTO Council
decided to render such assistance in
order to stabilize the situation in
the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The CPRF takes the view that the sending of CSTO
peacekeepers is a forced but adequate and timely
measure, called upon to put out the flame of yet
another “colour revolution.”
The Communist Party of Russia resolutely condemns
the actions of international reaction, and criminal
elements. We deem, as totally unacceptable, this
interference in the internal affairs of Kazakhstan
and attempts to destabilize Central Asia, which
pose a direct threat to our country.
The CPRF wants to see Kazakhstan return to the
peaceful path of development. We believe, that
the main task of the peacekeeping contingent
is to protect strategic facilities called upon
to ensure a normal life for the citizens.
The population of Kazakhstan must be
protected against terrorist attacks
by jihadists, who have resorted
to intimidation tactics.
We are sure the peaceful mission of the CSTO will
help to stabilize the situation in the Central Asian
region. At the same time we strongly believe that
the peacekeeping contingent... should be used
only for the purposes that have been declared.
Involvement of peacekeepers in internal
settling of scores between rival power
clans and groups, is inadmissible.
It would be a mistake for Kazakhstan’s leadership
to persecute peaceful protesters & bracket them
together with “terrorists” & “thugs.” We believe
that the government should, promptly, initiate a
dialog with the working people and authoritative
politicians and immediately meet their legitimate
demands for better socio-economic conditions.
The CPRF thinks that the time has come to nip in the
bud, the manifestations of Russophobic and anti-
Soviet policy in the republic. There is a pressing
need to take a long hard look at the activities of
pro-Western organizations & media. All that for
years, has been turning Kazakhstan into an
arena of activities of anti-Russian forces
that sought to set the people in
opposition to friendship with
our country.
The time has come to honestly discuss and root out
the fundamental causes of the pernicious social
cleavage in Kazakhstan and also in Russia. Our
country has been given another sinister signal
that the policy that breeds divisions, inequality
& poverty inevitably makes people’s patience
run out. Any government... that works for the
interests of oligarchs, tossing “crumbs from
the master’s table”, to the working people,
will sooner or later meet with a demand to
answer for its actions. Then neither crack-
downs, nor the nationalism dope, nor the
lies of anti-Sovieteers and Russophobia
will help.
The most important lesson of Kazakhstan events is
that the attempts of the national bourgeoisie to fit
their peoples into the world of global capitalism,
turns them into puppets of the world oligarchy.
The root interests of the peoples of Russia,
Kazakhstan and all the other states
consist in giving up this
dead-end policy.
Today, more than ever... our program of Ten Steps T
oward a Worthy Life and the unique experience of
people’s enterprises, take on added relevance. Not
foreign or homegrown capitalism, but the working
masses, should be the masters of their countries.
Gennady Zyuganov,
Chairman of the CPRF
Central Committee
What do you think?
__________________________________
Positive interaction among
religions ensures salvation
of global civilization
- Iranian scholar
December 28th, 10:41am (PressTV)
A high-ranking Iranian Muslim scholar has underlined
the need for a “positive and constructive interaction”
among faiths in order to guarantee the salvation of
global civilization, stating that political and social
systems are based on common origins that
enable cultures to unite.
Ayatollah Alireza A’rafi, head of Iran’s Seminaries, said
that extensive communications among people, along
with peaceful coexistence, can advance human and
humanitarian goals and help overcome political,
social, and cultural issues.
“Positive and constructive interaction among
religions is one of the most important factors
for saving global civilization, and fostering
intimacy among human societies,” the
cleric said.
“Interactions of religions can tremendously contribute
to their convergence, and bond human societies
together. Common values of religions can easily
address human needs. The diversity and
multiplicity of religions is an ideal
opportunity for human societies
to deepen their understanding
and visions and exchange
their achievements,”
Ayatollah A’rafi
pointed out.
The senior scholar went on to highlight that all
human values are anchored in spiritual and
religious traditions, adding that religion,
therefore, plays a matchless role in
human life and lifestyle.
He said prophets have tried throughout history to
create a lifestyle based on monotheism, promote
the spirit of love and affection among all people,
and command their followers to love each other.
“The goal of all divine religions has been human
happiness, salvation, & liberation in this world,
& in the hereafter. Throughout history the role
of prophets in creating unity and solidarity
within societies, has been undeniable,”
Ayatollah A’rafi noted.
He called on religious scholars... to fulfill their
educational, moral-promotional, educational,
and social responsibilities, work towards
scientific discussion among different
denominations and schools of
thought, and avoid prejudices
and extremism.
The cleric then dismissed the concept of absolute
relativism, saying it gets in the way of correct
understanding.
“Absolute relativism, especially postmodern
relativism... does not have a strong and
acceptable rational and philosophical
logic. Postmodernism relies on the
logic of relativism and makes
dialogue... expedient and
superficial,” he opined.
“All religions and denominations of the world are
organized on the basis of rationality, the focus
of which is the purposefulness of the world
and societies. Religions have sought to
understand the relationship among
man, himself, and his existence,
and at least within the frame
-work of rationale and
common sense, tried
to provide a correct
and realistic inter-
pretation of man
and existence,”
Ayatollah A’rafi
said.
He added that all religions and schools of thought
are formed on the basis of justice and peace and
are meant to direct human societies within such
a framework.
“The interaction of religions and denominations is
not based on formalities. It is rather, based on a
deep logic. Religions and denominations, are
rooted in common principles of philosophy,
law, values, and jurisprudence,” the
cleric said.
“The current world needs to learn the etiquette of
dialogue among different religions. Islam and
Muslim scholars... have always stressed the
need for interaction among human beings
...and underscored respect for their
sanctities,” Ayatollah A’rafi said.
He emphasized that interfaith dialogue has been
one of the main areas of concern for religious
thinkers over the past two decades, adding
that epistemological, ontological, theo-
logical, and interactive necessities,
have made religious dialogue
inevitable in today’s world.
“Through interfaith dialogue, a clear and close
understanding of the teachings of religions
can be obtained, and many misunder-
standings would be removed. This
will prepare the ground: for belief,
value & behavioral convergence,”
Ayatollah A’rafi said.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
_______________________________
I Have No Doubt He Will Die
if Extradited to US, Julian
Assange's Brother Says
December15th, 10:15am (Sputnik)
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is facing new
uncertainties.. after the UK's High Court ruled
last Friday.. that he could be extradited to the
US. "I have no doubt he will die [if extradited
to the US]," said Assange's brother, Gabriel
Shipton, in an exclusive interview with
Global Times (GT) reporter
Wang Wenwen.
Assange's fiancée revealed to the media that he
suffered a stroke in prison, in October, due to
stress over his future. What does the family
plan to do next? How did the US admin-
istration disappoint the family? Shipton
shared his thoughts with Global Times.
GT: When was the last time you saw him?
How was his condition?
Gabriel Shipton: ''The last time I saw Julian was in
Belmarsh maximum-security prison just outside
of London. And that was in October last year
when I was last in the UK. His condition at
that time I think he had almost been in that
prison for two years. So... it was taking its
toll on him. Over the years when I go and
visit him, whether it's in the Ecuadorian
embassy or the prison, you can see
what effect it's having on him.''
''This sort of pressure that he is under... is really taking
its toll on his health. He just had a mini-stroke during
the appeal hearing in October. His health is
progressively getting worse and we sort
of live in fear, that he won't survive
this ordeal.''
GT: How did you feel when you heard the latest ruling
that he could be extradited to the US? Is the fear that
Julian may choose to die by suicide haunting
you more?
Gabriel Shipton: ''Yes, it certainly does. I hope he can
survive. He's very strong and he's very determined.
I think the extradition approval that was given by
the high court - we're gonna fight it. Julian is
going to appeal. He has until December 24 to
lodge an appeal to the Supreme Court, in the
UK but I think we can't rely on the UK courts
anymore. I think the chances of winning,
are very slim.''
'' One of the justices who approved the extradition on
Friday (December 10)th, was the chief justice of
England and Wales. So he is the most senior
judge in the whole of the UK and that's his
decision to grant the extradition.''
''So any appeal to the Supreme Court will have to take
that into account, that they will have to rule against
the most senior judge in the UK. So it's really up to
the US and the Biden administration to let this
attack on press freedoms and attack on
journalism go.''
GT: Besides the appeal, what else do you plan to do?
Gabriel Shipton: ''We are campaigning now around the
world for Julian's release. I'm here in the US in New
York City today and I'll be in Washington, DC
tomorrow, advocating for Julian's release.
I'm doing media here. We have many
avenues of the campaign... that is
ongoing... I was just at a protest
action outside the UK consulate
here in New York, where there
were many people, celebrities,
lots of media.''
''So there's renewed attention on Julian's persecution
now, and we're taking advantage of that and building
momentum for a campaign to free him.''
GT: What could happen to Julian
if he is extradited to the US?
Gabriel Shipton: ''I have no doubt that he will die. If he is
extradited in the US prison system, they cannot keep
their prisoners safe. You just have to look at what
happened to other high-profile prisoners... like
Jeffrey Epstein. He cannot be kept safe in the
US prison [system]. And I don't think we can
assume that they can look after him or keep
him safe from the forces that are trying to
keep him in prison now.''
''We saw in September revelations coming from
investigative reporters in Washington, that
there were plots from within the CIA to
kidnap or kill Julian... when he was in
the Ecuadorian embassy. I think those
plots haven't really gone away. There
are still those factions within the US
intelligence - that want to see Julian
dead. That's what I feel will happen
...if he gets extradited to the US.''
GT: You tried to lobby the Biden administration when
it was just about to take office. Did it disappoint you
more when you dealt with it?
Gabriel Shipton: ''There was a time when people post-
Trump, thought that maybe Biden would let this go,
maybe the Biden administration would revert to
the position of the Obama administration where
they found that they couldn't prosecute Julian
without also prosecuting The New York Times.''
''So there was a bit of an expectation that the Biden
administration might revert back to that position.
And we did have... some early contact with the
administration. But after the inauguration on
January 20th, we had no more contact with
them. And shortly after that, they
announced that they would be
pursuing this prosecution.''
''With the Biden administration, we've seen with the
"democracy summit" last week --- they are talking
the talk when it comes to press freedom. They're
using press freedom to lecture other countries...
and talk to other countries about press freedom
in their country... when they are holding a
publisher and journalist in prison.''
''Julian is in prison only at the request of the US DOJ
(Department of Justice) and they have also
requested that he not be given bail.''
''The Biden administration has an opportunity now, to
show the world how serious they actually are about
press freedom. And it's not just hot air that they're
talking about press freedoms and lecturing other
nations on press freedoms, and that they are
actually serious about press freedoms, and
they should just let Julian go. And that is a
way that they can show the world that they
are actually serious about press freedom.
They're not just lecturing other countries
about it.''
''I see the Chinese foreign affairs spokesperson today
(Monday) come out with a tweet, saying that if the
Biden administration wants to lecture people on
press freedoms, they should let Julian Assange
go. I think those sorts of things are going to
increase over time. Nations & states around
the world are going to say to the USA, you
can't say anything to us... because look
what you're doing to Julian Assange.''
GT: What do you expect from the Australian
government? If it steps in, will it make
a difference?
Gabriel Shipton: ''I think so. Australia - they just have
this AUKUS agreement in place. So Australia is an
ally of the US, so Australia can turn around and
say, hey, we're one of your allies. Just let this
go --- let our man come home to be with his
family. Just yesterday (Sunday) the Deputy
Prime Minister of Australia Barnaby Joyce
--- called for the extradition of Julian
Assange not to go ahead.''
''That's an encouraging sign that maybe the Australian
government might do something here, or at least the
deputy prime minister is on the side of Julian, and
sees that this is a problem, a problem that US law
can be applied to anywhere. It can be applied to
any of the allied countries - the extraterritorial
reach of US law. I think that's a big problem,
and Barnaby Joyce... sees that problem.''
''We even saw Meng Wanzhou in Canada. She is the
CFO of Huawei. The US used the extradition
treaties with Canada.... to hold her captive.
So we can see it happening time and time
again. The US is using these unfair
extradition treaties to pursue
people... whom they don't
agree with politically.''
''I think it's an opportunity for Australia to tell the US
-- its biggest ally -- that they want Julian to be free.
Australia should use its alliance in it, for its favour,
rather than just take orders from the US. Australia
is an important strategic ally of the US, and we
should be respected as such --- and we should
be listened to, when it comes to our citizens.''
GT: Some believe Julian's case is the result of the
connivance of Western governments that cannot
tolerate the truth, which shows the decline of
the West. What do you think?
Gabriel Shipton: ''What we're seeing with Julian's
persecution is that if you expose the crimes of a
government, or if you expose torture, or if you
expose the corruption of the government, you
are going to be punished. What the US DOJ
is attempting to do, is to make telling the
truth illegal.''
''I think when you look at a government that does that,
you start to think, well, is this a democracy? Am I
living in a democracy, if I don't know what the
government is doing in my name? What does
my vote mean? Is it just a performance that
we do every four years? Voting, if we don't
really know what our votes are voting for,
or where our tax money is going? I think
the Julian persecution strikes at the very
heart of what we believe our democracies
are. So we need to stop it... and sort of
rebuild... and stop this descent into
barbarity... that is happening in
the West.''
GT: Besides some news reports from US media
about the process of Julian's case, few made
the call to free him. What do you think of the
US mainstream media's reaction to this case?
Gabriel Shipton: ''They could always do more. What is
their stake here is their rights as well. So they should
be coming to defend the defence of Julian. They're
getting better and some are reporting on it more.
But they can always do more and they need to
realise that really, this is their business that's
under attack here. If journalism is a crime,
then how can I do business? What we've
been saying since the last 10 years is
mainstream media has been losing its
audience and so they need to take a
long hard look at themselves and
say, what is their function in a
democratic society?''
GT: Have you imagined what you will do
if Julian is set free? What is his wish?
Gabriel Shipton: ''I would imagine Julian coming up for
Christmas this year, would be good. I think if he gets
out, he's going to need some time to recuperate,
to sort of rehabilitate himself after this ordeal.''
''I hope he has some time to spend quiet time with his
family, with his children, and his fiancée Stella, so
that they can just take some time to become a
family again and do normal things, take the
kids down to the park... or go and have a
coffee or something like that. I think it's
a pretty nice dream at the moment.''
GT: How are his two children right now?
Gabriel Shipton: ''They're very cute. Gabriel and Max -
they're OK, but they're still quite young and don't
have a great grasp of what's going on. One of
them has only ever known Julian in prison.
He's never known his dad to live outside
or anything like that.''
''So when they grow up more and begin to understand
what's going on, I think they'll be very proud of what
their father has done. And they'll get a better
understanding. But at the moment, this is
what they know. This is their life.''
This article was originally published
by the Global Times
What do think...?
More importantly, what are
you going to do... to help?
______________________________
Biden moves to form fund --- for
interference in domestic affairs
of others --- Russian senator
December 11th, 11:57am (TASS)
US President Joe Biden, who announced plans
to commit $424 mln for assisting other nations
in strengthening democracy, actually seeks to
form a fund for interference in the domestic
affairs of countries, the Deputy Speaker
of Russia’s Federation Council (upper
house of parliament) Konstantin
Kosachev, wrote on Facebook
on Saturday.
"At the recent summit... US President Biden announced
the launch of the Presidential Initiative for Democratic
Renewal, which involves the allocation of $424 mln to
support countries loyal [to Washington]. It is already
clear that in fact, a fund for interference in the
internal affairs of disloyal states is being
formed," Kosachev pointed out.
"The idea certainly was not to just review forces in the
run-up... to the upcoming fight for democracy. It was
about convincing the world that those who oppose
the US unilateral world order... actually oppose
democracy. It is quite a simple manipulation
but it serves an important ideological
mission, aimed at camouflaging the
geopolitical causes of the current
crisis as those related to values,"
the Russian senator emphasized.
According to him, the way that participants were
chosen for the summit was based on geopolitics.
"It is foreign policy that was the focus rather
than the domestic one, it was about being
loyal to America," Kosachev stressed.
"It is a perfect signal to all the pseudo-democracies
in the world: proclaim a policy guided by the West,
vote the right way in the United Nations.. and you
will be allowed to do whatever you will at home,"
he added.
On December 9th-10th, Washington hosted a video
conference dubbed the Summit for Democracy.
The 110 countries and territories that the US
authorities invited to the summit did not
include China, Russia, Turkey, Egypt
and a number of other states.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier
slammed the event as one of the most odious
US projects, aimed at dividing countries into
democratic and non-democratic ones.
WHAT DO you THINK?
email rayjoseph2021@aol.com
and we promise to air your opinion!
(suitably edited to remove inelegant prose)
________________________________
Poll: Majority of US citizens...
Believe US Politicians Spread
More Misinformation Than
Russia, China
October 8th, 3:43pm (Sputnik)
The majority of US citizens believe that politicians
and social media in the US spread misinformation
online more often than foreign actors, including
Russia and China, according to a joint poll by
the Associated Press, the NORC centre for
public affairs and the University of the
Pearson Institute, in Chicago.
When asked to pick who was the most to blame for the
spread of misinformation about current events in the
US and the world, 77% of respondents picked social
media users, while social platforms such as Face-
book, Twitter and YouTube, and politicians were
picked by 72% of those surveyed each.
Slightly over a half of all respondents considered
the Russian & Chinese governments responsible
for spreading false information, 54% and 53%,
respectively. The Iranian authorities were
chosen by 39% of US citizens surveyed...
and 41% blamed the political structures
of other countries, compared to 48%
of US citizens... blaming their own
government.
Older people were considerably more prone to
believe in the involvement of foreign govern-
ments than younger people, the
poll showed.
A total of 81% percent of US citizens consider the
spread of misinformation, to be a serious issue.
The survey was conducted among 1,071 US
citizens aged over 18 on September 9th-13th.
What do YOU think?
Do you trust your media and dutifully hate all
Muslims, Russians, Chinese, and Iranians?
_________________________________
UK government secures injunction
against eco-warrior protestors
who repeatedly blocked
sections of M25
September 22nd, at 10:12am (RT)
UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced on Wednesday
that National Highways has secured an injunction against
protestors calling themselves ‘Insulate Britain’ who have
repeatedly disrupted traffic by blocking the M25.
A judge granted the injunction last night - with it set to come into
effect later today, in a bid to discourage further protestors from
invading the motorway in a “reckless” manner that “puts
lives at risk,” Shapps stated on Twitter.
The eco warrior protestors will “face contempt of court with
possible imprisonment” if they continue to hold their
demonstrations, which have seen ‘Insulate Britain’
activists halt traffic, by sitting down in the
middle of the busy M25 motorway.
The group have stated that they are trying to raise awareness of
concerns about insulation in housing, urging the government to
ensure it is put in all of “Britain’s 29 million leaky homes by
2030 and all social housing by 2025.”
“We are simply asking the government to get on the job. The
people of Britain understand that climate change is a severe
threat to everything they hold dear,” ‘Insulate Britain’
spokesperson Liam Norton stated.
UK Home Secretary Priti Patel previously described the legal
action as an “important injunction” that would ensure
“people can get moving again,” warning the
protestors that “we will not tolerate
lives being put at risk.”
On Tuesday, a demonstration by the group at junctions 9 and 10
of the M25 resulted in 38 protestors being arrested by Surrey
Police, after the activists had unveiled banners and poured
paint on the road.
While the injunction covers the situation on the M25, Patel and
Shapps highlighted in a newspaper column published on
Wednesday that the government is working to ensure
police have more “powers to better manage such
guerrilla tactics in future.”
ALSO ON RT.COM
XR is not a protest group, but a vanity project for
a liberal middle class that soon won’t exist at all.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
_______________________________________
Pipeline proposals brought the Taliban
to power first time round – could the
same be true again now?
August 31st, 5:33pm (RT)
By Kit Klarenberg, an investigative journalist exploring
the role of intelligence services in shaping politics
and perceptions. Follow him on Twitter
@KitKlarenberg
Washington helped the Taliban take power in Afghanistan
before, with a view to unlocking the country's natural
wealth. Now the band is back together in Kabul, is
something similar going on?
Contrary to official claims that the last US soldier has left
Afghanistan, it’s been reported that a “diehard” team of
elite British and US troops are to remain in the country
to “avenge the deaths” of those killed at Kabul airport
in a suicide bombing by ISIS-K.
The joint party – which includes the SAS and the Navy Seals
– may seek to construct a base in the “lawless” Afghan-
Pakistan border area to conduct stealth strikes against
the terror faction, and will be supported by US drones.
Of course, this effort will require the Taliban’s approval
– but defence sources say this is “likely to be given.”
Even more extraordinarily, the possibility of the
taskforce working alongside the returned
rulers of Afghanistan has not been
ruled out.
While seismically shifting alliances are nothing new for London
or Washington, the speed and totality of this volte face, is truly
unprecedented. Nonetheless, the rationale for the resounding
reversal – and indeed the total withdrawal of coalition forces,
despite defense chiefs having long known the illegitimate
and unpopular Western-backed government would
immediately collapse as a result – may
be straightforward.
In March, the Taliban were surprise guests of honour at a US-
brokered meeting in Ashgabat, between representatives of
Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India – the four
participating members of the long-awaited TAPI pipeline.
The group assured attendees... that they weren’t merely
committed to not attacking the project’s infrastructure,
but would actively ensure its safety --- and that of any
and all other “developmental projects” in the country.
The Taliban’s intervention was clearly intended to reassure
international financial institutions, which for so long have
been deterred from investing in the endeavour... by the
very real threat of its destruction by insurgents, that
the pipeline would be in safe hands.. once they were
back in the saddle – if successful, construction can
finally begin, marking the culmination of an effort,
almost three-decades in the making.
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 destroyed the Iron
Curtain, that had, for so long, blocked Western access to
Central Asia’s vast energy wealth. The Vice President,
Donald Rumsfeld, declared in 1998... while chief
executive of energy giant Halliburton, which
reaped billions from government contracts
on which only ''it'' was permitted to bid
during the Iraq War.... “I cannot think
of a time when we have had a region
emerge as suddenly... to become
as strategically significant.”
There was just one problem – how could these vast riches
be effectively extracted? Funnelling oil and gas through
Russia would be expensive due to transportation fees
levied by Moscow, brought in to reassert Russia’s
influence over the region’s newly-independent
republics. US sanctions on Iran made even
transiting resources through its borders,
illegal.
That just left Afghanistan a barren wilderness with no infra-
structure to speak of, where Westerners typically feared to
tread. Undiscouraged, US oil major Unocal dispatched
representatives to conduct feasibility studies across
Central Asia starting in 1995. They concluded that...
once a stable government... or at least a governing
force, was in place in Kabul.. a 1,000-mile pipeline
capable of carrying a million barrels per day, was
attainable. At least one Unocal executive
provided information they gained on
these trips, to the CIA.
The next year, the company opened an office in Kandahar –
coincidentally across the street from a compound owned
by Osama Bin Laden, and not far from a Pakistani
intelligence station – as the Taliban were in the
process of taking control of Afghanistan. Their
subsequent success... could well have been
attributable to support provided by Unocal.
A US Defense Intelligence Agency whistleblower who visited
the country at this time heard from numerous informed
sources the group’s capture of Kabul wouldn’t have
been possible without the firm’s assistance.
Once that came to pass, Unocal’s in-house security forces
and the CIA, both afforded the Taliban weapons and
instructors to maintain its grip on power, and the
company engaged in well-funded lobbying back
home to secure Washington’s recognition of
the group as the legitimate government of
Afghanistan, hiring numerous high-profile
government officials for the purpose,
including Henry Kissinger.
He would later be appointed to head the 9/11
Commission, which specifically examined
the pipeline effort, but stepped down,
rather than reveal potential
conflicts of interest.
Another lobbyist enlisted was Zalmay Khalilzad, a State
Department veteran pivotal to increasing the Reagan
administration’s support for the Mujahideen’s war
against the Red Army in the 1980s. In October
1996, he authored a strident op-ed for the
Washington Post, demanding the US
“reengage” with Afghanistan...
dismissing suggestions the
Taliban were an extremist
force, and speaking of
a “common interest”..
between Washington
and the group.
His Unocal role was unmentioned – it also didn’t
factor into mainstream media coverage of his
appointment - as the special envoy to
Afghanistan - in January 2002.
Taliban were also flown into Texas to meet in person with
Unocal executives in late 1997, as its fighters battled to
seize control of the remaining third of Afghanistan not
under its rule. Accounts of the VIP visit are rendered
supremely surreal today --- the group travelled to a
zoo, the NASA space centre, and a massive Target
outlet for a shopping spree, before retiring to the
palatial homes of company chiefs, replete with
golf courses and swimming pools, where they
feasted on halal meat and rice, washed down
with Coca Cola.
The Taliban returned to Afghanistan bearing a number of gifts
from Unocal, including a pledge to invest close to a million
dollars in training Afghans how to construct the pipeline.
For its part, Washington was very much open to recognizing
the group, despite ever-growing domestic outrage at its
treatment of women and their extremely harsh
interpretation of Sharia law.
“The Taliban will probably develop like the Saudis did. There
will beAramco, pipelines, an emir, no parliament and lots of
Sharia law. We can live with that,” a senior US diplomat
allegedly said at the time.
That changed in August 1998, when US embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania were bombed by Al Qaeda, killing over 200 people,
and Washington responded with a series of cruise missile
strikes on Afghanistan. By December, Unocal had finally
withdrawn entirely from the pipeline project and ended
its operations in Kabul outright – although the next
year Graham Fuller, former Deputy Director of the
CIA’s National Council on Intelligence, made a
revealing disclosure.
“The policy of guiding the evolution of Islam, and of helping them
against our adversaries worked marvellously well in Afghanistan
against the Red Army,” he said. “The same doctrines can still be
used to destabilize what remains of Russian power, and
especially to counter the Chinese influence in
Central Asia.”
So, in 2005, with the US so firmly “guiding the evolution” of Islam
in Kabul anew, the pipeline was back on the table, in the form of
TAPI - US officials were reportedly strongly supportive, because
as before, it would allow Central Asia to export energy to
Western markets “without relying on Russian routes.”
However, the project again stalled in short order, due to an
increasingly volatile security situation. There’s no such
risk of that happening today, though, given the
Taliban’s solemn pledge to defend it at all
costs, from bothersome incursions.
The aforementioned Zalmay Khalilzad was appointed in
September 2018/// as the US Special Representative for
Afghanistan Reconciliation & led talks with the Taliban.
He has been condemned harshly, in some quarters, for
the group’s rapid reseizure of power but no reference
to his time as a Unocal lobbyist, let alone discussion
of how energy interests so intimately intersect with
US foreign policy can be found among the criticism.
This may be attributable to suggestions oil and gas interests
played any role in Afghanistan having long-been dismissed
as lunatic conspiracy theorist fare. But the facts are what
they are, and more than speak for themselves.
What do you think?
Too far fetched..
or obvious?
_______________________________________________
THERE IS LITTLE ENOUGH ENGLISH LANGUAGE
NEWS FROM THE COMMUNISTS IN RUSSIA...
WHO WERE CHEATED OUT OF VICTORY BY
YELTSIN AND HIS CIA ADVISORS IN
ELECTIONS IN THE 1990s.
As the United Russia party is low in the polls and
the Communist Party of the Russian Federation
is the only party with enough cross-country
support to pose a realistic challenge..
perhaps this article is worth
taking a look at.
CPRF is number 1 !
As a result of the drawing of places in the ballot
voting paper for the forthcoming elections of
the State Duma Parliamentaries (September
19th, 2021), held on August 16th by the
Central Election Commission of
Russia, the CPRF is at the
top of the voting list.
This time all the tricks of the ruling party failed.
The Communist Party “clones” striving to
confuse the voter and draw the votes
from CPRF are closer to the end of
the list.
______________________
Essay by Gennady Zyuganov
Chairman of the CPRF, Head of the CPRF at
the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of
the Russian Federation, Dr. of Philosophy
The Country’s Russian Core
The systemic crisis, which has been aggravated by
the pandemic of a previously unknown virus & the
plummeting of the world prices of raw materials,
has laid bare the catastrophic costs of the
capitalist system.
These costs are manifesting themselves all over the
planet. They clearly indicate that the “liberal
paradise” does not exist anywhere in
the world.
Within the globalist world structure even the most developed
countries, faced with large-scale challenges, give in and slip
into the maelstrom of social evil. Planetary crisis processes
are doubly painful for Russia which, like in the beginning of
the last century, is a weak, peripheral link in the world
capitalist chain. They are particularly destructive of
Russian people, which forms the core of the state
and which is hardest hit by the costs and losses
caused by the inhumane social experiments of
the past decades.
World significance of
the Russian question
In 1990 there were more than 120 million ethnic Russians
in Russia, today there are 10 million fewer of them. A
further 20 million Russians, then lived outside the
Russian Federation. Over the past 30 years their
number shrank by 10 million. The contraction
by twenty-five million is comparable to
the losses we suffered during the
Great Patriotic War!
At stake is the question of our survival. Of saving civil
peace and safeguarding our statehood. These all-
important tasks can only be solved through a
fundamental change of the destructive
comprador policy and through the
implementation of a patriotic
anti-crisis program based on
the principles of rule by the
people, and social justice.
On restoring the country’s economic and financial
sovereignty, without which, genuine political
sovereignty, is impossible.
However, such a program cannot be implemented without
an honest and thoughtful look at the Russian question.
Without belittling the dignity and the interests of the other ethnic
entities that form the multinational Russian people, it has to be
recognized that the Russian question is today the most acute
and urgent one. It is key for the destiny of Russia and all the
other peoples living within its borders and on the territory
of the former Soviet Union.
We Communists are staunch supporters of internationalism. We
are very well aware that every people wants to see its language
preserved, its faith endure, its traditional way of life remaining
immutable and its well-being enhanced. However, Russians
form the spiritual, moral and state core of the country. This
was the way our common destiny was formed. This was
what History ordained. This is not something that can be
wished away. To deny this and to think and act in denial
of this is madness that spells disaster for all the peoples
of Russia. If the Russians become enfeebled... and leave
the historical forestage, which is inevitable if the course
pursued since the early 90s is preserved, a catastrophe
is inevitable. I stress: a catastrophe for all the citizens
inhabiting the vast Eurasian space. Russia will simply
be trampled underfoot and torn apart by its stronger
and luckier neighbours.
The best representatives of our Motherland have always been very
mindful of this. In the middle of the 18th century Mikhail Lomonosov,
an outstanding scientist, said: “The grandeur, the power and wealth
of the entire state consists in the preservation and propagation of
the Russian people.” This idea engaged the mind of the great
Mendeleyev in the early 20th century. Pushkin’s genius
expressed concern about Russia and Russianness.
And today... for the country, 80% of whose population are ethnic
Russians, the program of saving the original Russian civilization
and reviving Russians as the spinal cord of the Motherland...
must be the key element of the nationalities policy.
Indeed, the preservation and well-being of Russians, the largest
European nation, is an issue of worldwide relevance. If the
destructive processes of the last 30 years continue... if its
numbers continue to shrink at such a rapid pace, this will
have a fateful impact on the European space and on the
whole planet. This will finally break down geopolitical
and economic stability, in the world in which the
Russians have over many centuries been one
of the key nations determining its character,
history, moral and ethical ideals.
It is not by chance that even the analytical materials of the CIA...
which can hardly be suspected of sympathizing with our country,
speak of the problem of the dying out of Russians, as a key threat
to the world. And yet those who run the Russian economy and the
social sphere today still refuse to admit the scale of the danger
and to seriously discuss effective measures aimed at counter-
acting it. In spite of the serious external & internal challenges
facing Russia, challenges that are obvious to any person in
his right mind, they adhere to the absolutely destructive
liberal policy. A policy that exacerbates tensions within
the country, is openly hostile to the Russians and to
the other peoples, and to our thousand-year-
old statehood.
The CPRF is the only political force which has throughout the post-
Soviet period, consistently upheld the idea of restoring the rule by
the people & justice, strengthening a nationally –oriented system
of governing society and the country. It is only logical that we
persistently raise and thoroughly analyze the Russian
question which is inseparable from the key problems
of our state.
Back in 2004 I devoted my book Russians and Russia to a detailed
analysis of the issue. The book met with lively interest on the part
of the patriots of our country and provoked a hysterical reaction
from Russophobes and anti-Sovieteers. I regret to admit that
contrary to our hopes for a fundamental change that were
generated in the early 2000s, the position of the Russian
people has not changed for the better. It keeps getting
worse. Russia-haters continue with impunity to attack
and stage provocations against the people that has
erected the edifice of Russian statehood. Their
destructive activities continue with the
connivance of the high-ranking
principals ensconced in the
corridors of power and the
mass media.
The repossession of Crimea & Sebastopol prompted an in-depth
nationwide dialog. Support of the heroic struggle of the people’s
republics of Donbass has shown the potential of the patriotic
sentiments within Russian society. The march of the Immortal
Regiment on Victory Day was a convincing statement in favour
of genuine values. Yet, even after these events, the authorities
failed to cooperate with the political opponents who genuinely
care for the fate of their Motherland. The ruling circles have
failed to take the necessary steps to meet the people, their
problems and aspirations. Instead, they respond to the
growing discontent in society by policing and endless
torrents of anti-Soviet rhetoric, vicious attacks on
socialism and the great achievements of
Leninist-Stalinist modernization.
The “fifth column” and venal propagandists, have launched an
immoral, and indeed, illegal campaign to present as heroes the
White Guard butchers & their followers.. who made short shrift
of their compatriots: side-by-side with the foreign armies of the
Entente and Hitler invaders. Their victims were representatives
of all the peoples that fought courageously for the freedom and
independence of our Motherland during the Civil War and the
Great Patriotic War. Their officially inspired attempts to tear
up the most glorious pages of our history and to put bloody
traitors of our Motherland on the rotten anti-Soviet pedestal
constitute a challenge in the first place to the Russians and
an insult to the country’s largest people, a desecration of
its outstanding victories.
The liberal position deepens the rift between power and society.
People are fed up with endless attacks on our history. Torrents
of dirt have been poured on it since the time of Gorbachev’s
“perestroika.” It was then that the “blank spots” in our past
began to be smeared with black, the colour to which official
propaganda is still clinging. But this paint has not stuck to
the Soviet legacy. It has dried up and peeled off to reveal
- to the astonished gaze of the new generations - the
grandeur of the accomplishments of the Land of
the Soviets.
That is what makes Soviet symbols so popular today and
that is why Lenin and Stalin are seen by the people as
the most authoritative statesmen & political leaders,
the towering figures not only of the Soviet epoch,
but of Russian history as a whole. This is an
undeniable fact and if so, its main lessons
have to be learned. Then we will get rid
of the Russophobia and anti-Sovietism
which impede our progress.
Some of the outstanding historical lessons are worth remembering.
Above all, it is the lesson of the formation of Russian consciousness
and the building of our state which was crowned with the emergence
of the Land of the Soviets, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
The power of peacemakers
In old Rus, the patriotic feeling pre-dates the political, economic
or cultural unity of the peoples that inhabited it. Therefore all
the enemies of Russia, then and now, have tried to destroy
this feeling and turn the Russians and kindred peoples of
Eurasia into second-rate simulacra Germans, the Horde
people, Byzantians, Varangians, Hazars and so on…
Yet each time the patriotic feeling proved to be
stronger than external pressure.
Rus never became a colony and was never dissolved in other ethnic
groups. That in itself was a historic feat. Especially considering the
adversities our country faced: the cold climate, shortage of arable
land, openly hostile environments all along the perimeters of the
country’s western and eastern borders.
The English explorer Richard Chancellor, who was the first to penetrate
into Russia and initiate trade relations between the two countries wrote
about the Russians in his 1553 diaries that no other people under the
Sun encountered such harsh conditions. And yet this people. against
all the odds that seemed insuperable, managed to create the largest
country on the planet. This, was because its will was cemented by
unbending patriotism based on the Russians’ battle & labour feats.
The unique geographic and geopolitical position of Russia, which
linked Europe and Asia, led to the synthesis of the Western and
Eastern elements that shaped the unique Russian civilization.
The East is more inclined toward introspection and contemplation,
adherence to tradition and archaics. The Western civilization has
very different aspirations. Its strengths lie in the drive toward
scientific knowledge and development, economic & domestic
improvements based on innovative thinking. However... these
features which underpinned the West’s successes, went hand
-in-hand with its negative features: extreme individualism, and
the cult of personal success, at all costs. The habit of looking
at human relations through the materialistic & financial prism.
The abiding penchant to achieve one’s goal through the
exploitation, enslavement and even extermination of
other peoples. This inevitably caused original
capitalism to morph into imperialism and
globalism, which today, are pushing the
world toward a catastrophe and are
destroying the capitalist system...
pushing it toward degradation
and collapse.
The uniqueness and strength of the Russian world lies in the fact that
it seeks to combine the best features of the East and the West and
springs from the combination of high spirituality, an adherence to
traditional values and collectivism and innovative thinking, a
striving toward scientific and cultural heights.
Like the West, it has striven toward progress, but it never reduced
progress to economic and financial matters. In Russian civilization
progress has always been linked with moral laws... with principles
of sobornost’ (“togetherness”) & justice which rejects selfishness
and individualism. Supreme power and the privileged class some-
times departed from these principles. This led to the revolutionary
uprising in the early 20th century, and a systemic crisis, in whose
vice the country has been struggling over the past three decades.
But the people itself has always adhered to these principles. Only
a state based on them ,can meet its aspirations and ensure its
viability and well-being.
Collectivism, statism, the self-sufficiency of the Russian state,
a commitment to promoting the supreme ideals of justice and
brotherhood – these are bedrock principles of Russian
civilization. They predetermined the historical result
referred to by the philosopher Nikolay Beryayev:
“The Russian people has created the most powerful state
in the world, the greatest empire. From Ivan Kalita
Russia was consistently and steadfastly, pulling
itself together to achieve a size that defies the
imagination of all the peoples of the Earth.”
The Russian state as a unique civilization and the largest power
is the main historical result of the Russian people’s endeavour.
And this is the constant target of our external and internal
enemies, past and present. Not only a geopolitical and
economic but also a spiritual target that is hostile to
them in the cultural and moral sense.
Those who target it target the Russian people. Hence the
whole world civilization, since life itself proves that world
History would have been fundamentally different without
the Russian contribution.
The Empire created by the Russians is the only one in world history
that was not built by conquest, plunder and the extermination of
other peoples, but by allying with them, usually on a voluntary
basis. Whenever the Russians resorted to arms it was to
protect the allied peoples against invaders who
threatened to destroy them.
Russia has a brilliant military history. A history, not of conquest,
but of peace-making. A history of national liberation wars
against aggressors who encroached upon our country,
of saving other peoples from external intervention,
genocide and annihilation.
This was the case in the 17th century when Ukraine rebelled
against Polish oppressors and reunited with Russia. And
again in the 19th century... during Russia’s wars against
Persia and the Ottoman Empire when Armenia found
refuge from ruthless neighbours under the Russian
wing. And again in the 20th century when the USSR
determined the outcome of the most terrible war in
History by defeating Hitler’s Nazism and saving the
world from the “brown plague.”
The role of Russia and the Russian people in world history is above
all, the great role of peace-maker. Without it the world would have
been totally different and many of the peoples inhabiting it today
would not exist. This is something that cannot be said about any
other power. It can only be said about Russia and the Russians.
“We shall be the first to herald to the world that we want prosperity
for ourselves not through suppression of the individual and other
nationalities, that we seek it through the freest and most brotherly
universal unity.” This is what the outstanding Russian writer of
prose & essays, Fyodor Dostoyevsky. wrote in his Diary Notes
in 1877. These words were fully vindicated by the military
exploits of our people and the Russian Empire and the
Soviet Union, created in line with these principles.
Russia’s interests from ancient times have been not to conquer, invade
and subjugate someone but to unite on its land, under its wing, under
the protection of a single powerful state, all the Russian people and all
those who consider Russia to be their motherland. All the peoples that
agree to cast in their historical lot with Russia.
We seek to ensure unconditional and lasting peace in our own home
secured against any encroachments from without and from within,
creating favorable external conditions for this. To defend our
historical uniqueness and original spirituality against the
aggression of alien and perverted stereotypes of mass
consciousness. Against the pernicious influence of
immorality elevated to the level of the norm. Against
egoism praised as a virtue. To create for our fellow
citizens, all the necessary conditions for education
and healthcare, work and leisure, the development
of science and culture, a happy childhood, and a
secure old age.
However, Russia has had at all times, to uphold its right to all this
in fierce struggle against foreign enemies and their high-ranking
accomplices inside the country. Against the “fifth column” which
today continues brazenly to corrupt and strangle our country.
From the geopolitical point of view Russia is a key element in
preserving the global balance of forces. A kind of safety fuse
that deters the world powers from violating strategic inter-
national equilibrium. From attempts to use force to create
a unipolar world... which transnational capital seeks to
create, and which brought forth Hitler’s Fascism in
the last century & today is concentrated in Anglo
-Saxon political and financial centres. From the
disastrous mixing of political systems,
cultures, and religious teachings
advocated by the globalists, who
try to reduce humankind to a
uniform, anonymous and
totally docile mass.
From one century to the next, our country turned out
to be the main obstacle in the way of all those who
sought to dominate the world.
All those who ever laid claim to global power & sought
to enslave mankind – from Batu Khan to Tamerlane to
Napoleon and Hitler stumbled upon Russia. After the
Great Patriotic War our country stood in the way of
the Americans.... who held out to the world the
prospect of electronic slavery, essentially an
“updated” version of Fascism, laced with
neoliberal socio-economic and geo-
political theories.
The Soviet Union provided an antidote to this deadly
triumph, until the USSR and the world socialist
system collapsed, as a result of betrayal.
Victorious warriors.
As we mark the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory we should
remind the young generation of our country’s heroic history.
Beginning from the 9th century when the Russian state was born it had
to fight at least 70 major wars to defend its freedom, honour and dignity.
And our country has been involved in countless military conflicts. In
the period between 1240 & 1462, according to historical chronicles,
Russia survived nearly 200 wars and invasions. Of the 500 years
between the 14th and 20th centuries the country was fighting for
almost 330 years. In 1900 the well-known Russian general
Kuropatkin in his memorandum to the Czar wrote that in
the previous 200 years Russia had been in a state of war
for 128 years and enjoyed only 72 years of peace.
Throughout its history our power was constantly the target
of external enemies. The arduous and heroic fate of our
country was summed up in the words of Alexander III:
“Russia has no friends, our vastness is feared.
Russia has only two reliable allies –
its army and navy.”
A country which has such a destiny must have a strong army. Russia’s
history has always been and will be inseparable from its armed forces.
Therefore its greatest leaders – from Peter I to Lenin and Stalin – were
the creators of a powerful state and builders of an invincible Army.
Alexander Nevksy, then barely 20 years old, defeated the Swedish
invaders on Lake Ladoga. Two years later he scored a brilliant
victory on Lake Chudskoye over the Livonian Order forcing it
to give up all the previously conquered Russian lands.
Thanks to the valour of our warriors, Ivan the Terrible, who was
enthroned when he was just 16... opened up Russia’s road to
Siberia along the Volga and the Caspian, when he was 25.
Peter I created the armed forces of the Russian Empire which replaced
the Streltsy regiments and manorial troops. He laid the foundations not
only of recruitment of the regular Russian army, but the principles of
unconditional respect for the defenders of the Motherland, which
penetrated deep into the thick of the people.
Having spent so many years fighting, Russia did not become cruel. Its
army, unlike the armies of Western countries, had never been an army
of hangmen. Its soldiers did not fight, in order to turn other peoples
into slaves, rob foreign lands and grow rich at the expense of their
resources. Our soldiers never perpetrated the kind of plunder and
treachery that spawned the world capitalist system.
This calls to mind the words of the brilliant Russia poet & diplomat
Fyodor Tyutchev, in the mid-19th century, when he served at the
Russian Embassy to Germany, & was engaged in polemics with
the Russophobes who even then tried to accuse our country of
being “an Evil Empire.” “Walk through the French departments
and ask people which enemy soldiers constantly displayed the
greatest humanity, strictest discipline and the least hostility
toward civilians. One hundred to one, they would name
the Russian soldier.”
The combination of great courage and unquestionable
humanism has always guaranteed the victorious feats
of the Soviet soldier. Its most salient manifestation,
was the Soviet country and the Red Army
which took on Fascism.
When it entered the Great Patriotic War our people was
truly united. Its cohesion was the main foundation of
the May 1945 Victory. The cohesion manifested itself
in everything. The Soviet leadership & Communist
Party fully shared the fate of the fighting people.
All the grown-up sons of the members of the
Politbureau of the CC AUCP (B), went to the
front, & many of them died a hero’s death.
The unity of power and society cemented
the unexampled national solidarity and
assured victory over the enemy.
The Soviet State did everything.. to remind people of the
heroic pages of Russia’s thousand-year history. In 1941
the artists, Kykryniksy, and the poet Samuil Marshak,
made a poster which showed Red Army soldiers and
tanks standing like an iron wall to block Fascists.
Above them, also facing the enemy, were figures
ofthe great military commanders of the past:
Alexander Nevsky, Alexander Suvorov
and Vasily Chapayev.
It was as if they were in a single file with the Red Army
men defending their Motherland. Beneath the picture
were the verses:
We are fighting hard,
Wielding bayonets,
Grandchildren of Suvorov,
Children of Chapayev.
Stalin said on November 7th, 1941: “May you be inspired by
the courageous images of our great ancestors – Alexander
Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Kuzma Minin, Dmitry Pozharsky,
Alexander Suvorov and Mikhail Kutuzov.” He was saying
these words from the stand of the Lenin Mausoleum...
during a military parade to mark the 24th anniversary
of the Great October Socialist Revolution. The words
of a great statesman who managed to bring together
the great ideas coming from the depth of time and
embodied in Soviet society: the great state
and socialism.
The marriage of these ideas opened a new and the most glorious
page in Russian history. It marked the birth of a new state of which
its founder, Lenin, had every reason to say in his 1919 article
“The Great Beginning”: “The world has never seen a more
democratic state in the true meaning, a state more closely
linked with the working and exploited mases.”
It was the fullest and most successful embodiment of the
unique synthesis of the best features of the West & East
which brought forth the Russian civilization. A synthesis
of forward-looking energy of great transformations and
spirituality rooted in the innermost eternal values of
equality, justice and selfless love
of the Motherland.
The Russian Roots
of Socialism
It is impossible to understand Russian history as a whole and its
outstanding Soviet period without being conscious of the fact
that the socialist idea has its roots in Christianity. The Gospel
of charity, equality, justice, of rejecting “filthy lucre,” lies and
exploitation. The underlying basis of the socialist world view
is the faith whose adoption finally made Russia a single
nation that embarked on the path of constant spiritual,
cultural, state, and political, creative endeavour.
The tail end of the 10th century, on the eve of Russia’s adoption of
Christianity, saw the schism between the Western Roman Catholic
Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. The confessional
division was not over differences of ritual, as some historians
and propagandists would have us believe. It had to do with
the underlying world view and values.
Western Christianity, which concentrated on the glitter of rituals and
the bureaucratic structure of the papal hierarchy, virtually cast
aside the basic ideas of the Gospel: Sobornist’, inconspicuous
charity, care about the poor and the disadvantaged, rejection
of the ideology of usury branded by Christ. Protestantism,
which branched off from the Roman Church in the middle
of the previous millennium, spreading to the Anglo-Saxon
world and the north of the European continent, was
reduced to the preaching of extreme individualism,
and the superiority of “the select.” It severed all
links with the foundations of the Christian faith
& laid the foundations of the capitalist ideology
declaring glaring social inequality to be “God’s
providence” and the amassing of material
wealth, to be the highest virtue.
The Russian people from the start chose Orthodoxy which managed to
preserve the genuine spirit of Christianity and maintain the moral high
ground. To preserve over the centuries adherence to sobornost’
which was uniquely embodied centuries later in the
collectivism and solidarity of Soviet society.
The enemies of Communism in their spurious propaganda make wide
use of 2“unmasking” theses. The first one is that the Bolshevik Party,
upon coming to power, supplanted the Christian idea and symbols
with its own forcing out of society’s consciousness the spiritual
assumptions and meanings and replacing them with political
and social ones. The second charge our enemies level at us
is that the communist ideology allegedly, has the character
of worship, of symbols and major political figures.
The truth is that the idea implemented in Soviet society combines
the basic Christian values which echo humanity’s age-old dream
of justice and political practice aimed at embodying this dream in
reality. We are looking... not at a contradiction between socialism
& Christianity, but at the historically logical evolution of popular
consciousness, worldview and morality rooted in Orthodoxy
toward their political and social implementation. That is only
possible in a society of social justice and in a socialist state.
That is why the presence of Stalin’s image in the main church of
the Armed Forces built in Kubinka near Moscow to mark the 75th
Victory Anniversary is deeply symbolic. It infuriated many
prominent functionaries who have effectively made anti-
Communism their profession. However honest and
principled church representatives gave a fitting
rebuff to these attempts to whip up hysteria.
Thus, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church's expert council on
church art, architecture and restoration, Reverend Leonid Kalinin,
explaining why he would never order the image of the leader of
thevictorious Soviet country, to be removed from the church,
said quite rightly: “I have no rights or authority to tear out
pages from the Book of History.”
It was not in Russia that the basic principles of the Communist political
philosophy were formulated. They were proclaimed by Marx & Engels
in the Communist Manifesto. But it was our country and the Russian
people that adopted them not just as an ideology, but as a national
idea. They had been prepared for doing so by centuries of their
development. Herein lies one of the main reasons why
socialism first triumphed on Russian soil.
Such a triumph could only occur on a social and philosophical soil
of which Dostoyevsky said the following in A Writer’s Diary more
than forty years before the October Revolution: “The supreme
and most characteristic feature of our people, is a sense of
justice and a hankering for it.”
This is why the socialist idea is so close to the Russian world. This
predetermines the sincere adherence of the followers of socialism
to the key values: equality, rejection of greed, collectivism,
compassion, responsibility for the country & the society
understood as personal responsibility.
With true communists, staunch champions of socialism this
adherence is indeed akin to religious faith. Which ensured
the great Soviet achievements. The Great Victory in 1945
and the outstanding social and economic achievements
of the Soviet Land, or our conquest of outer space,
could not have happened without it.
Like the present authorities, those who ruled Russia before
the Revolution, proved to be unable to understand the
irrepressible yearning of the Russian soul for justice
& its stubborn resistance to capitalism. They paid
dearly for their deafness. This is a lesson today’s
rulers should learn. But they stubbornly refuse
to do so. They do not want to understand the
destiny of their own country, the character
and mentality of the Russian man.
Throughout the 19th century social and class contradictions in
Russia were growing in spite of the desperate attempts of the
state to take the situation under control. Neither the “great
reforms” of Alexander II, nor the “counter-reforms” of
Alexander III... nor the establishment of the State Duma
by Nicholas II saved the country from social upheavals.
The Romanov dynasty had led the country into an impasse.
The bourgeois Provisional Government that replaced it
failed to take Russia out of its crisis. It helplessly
watched the country falling to pieces. Only the
Bolshevik Party managed to prevent the
country from being buried under the
ruins of the monarchy.
The national elite of Russia's Empire failed to fulfil its main function:
to ensure an acceptable level of well-being and social justice for its
people. No wonder it was swept away by the revolutionary wave in
1917, the wave of the Great October. That wave had been prepared
by the revolutionary movement of the 19th century which was
Russian society’s response to the progressive degeneration
of its ruling class. To the inability of power to keep the
country within the framework of its indigenous
non-capitalist path.
Socialism and Soviet power provided Russia with a new historical
form of the centuries-old Russian idea by not only preserving but
putting into practice what is its core: altruism, collectivism, the
yearning for justice, readiness to make sacrifices in the name
of lofty ideals. In short, everything that negates capitalism
and cannot coexist with it, as it is incompatible with the
Russian civilization.
Contrary to the wish of the ruling class, which challenged the
fundamental laws of civilization, it blazed the trail toward a
new, socialist world reuniting the Russian Power under the
banner of the Soviet Union. It radically changed the history
of the whole of mankind. This was the second great gain
of the Russian world after the creation of the Russian
Empire and the foremost result of its thousand-year
development.
Soviet power and
national pride
Another thesis popular among the anti-Sovieteers who try put on the
patriotic garb is that socialism and Soviet power with their adherence
to internationalism, are allegedly hostile to patriotism. Including
Russian patriotism, whereas the capitalist system does not in
any way impinge upon patriotic feelings and even
encourages them. This is a patent lie.
Capitalism identifies national interests exclusively with the interests
of the ruling class, the exploiting minority of the nation. This is
manifest in the version of patriotism offered to society by the
official Russian propaganda which equates patriotism with
worship of the rulers. Seeking to perpetuate class divisions
within society capitalism thereby tries to perpetuate a
cleavage within the nation. In dividing the world into
exploiter and proletarian nations and dividing
classes within individual countries... the
capitalist system foments international
contradictions and tensions
within states.
In the 21st century capitalism acquired its final anti-national form in
the shape of globalism which has a stake in intellectual, cultural
and linguistic uniformity. It sees people’s consciousness, their
culture and individuality as no more than a function of capital.
As indeed the human personality. Everything that does not
correspond to this function should be rooted out,
according to the globalist ideology. Therefore
the aim is to subjugate all national cultures
to a single cosmopolitan and essentially
anti-cultural standard.
To this end the globalists are prepared to use the most sophisticated
technologies of digital enslavement. These include tacit
mass chipization they may eventually resort to under
the pretext of a mandatory vaccination against the
coronavirus. The ideologists of digital fascism have
allies among the owners of major corporations,
bank presidents and high-ranking officials,
including in our country.
Unlike capitalism, socialism is inherently aimed at eliminating the
soil on which inter-ethnic contradictions and conflicts arise. It
creates prerequisites for the nations which have put an end to
class divisions of nations to draw closer together on the basis
of cooperation and mutual enrichment. This is in striking
contrast with the national and cultural uniformity which
capitalism has long been trying to impose on the world.
That is why there are absolutely no grounds for
opposing patriotism to internationalism which
is essentially the opposite of anti-national
capitalist cosmopolitanism.
Even before they came to power, the Bolsheviks saw the future
Soviet State as a combination of socialist and patriotic ideals.
The key ideals which are equally dear to the Russian people
and which are an indispensable condition of its well-being.
Yes, it is a historical fact that in the early post-Revolutionary years
Trotskyites who were in thrall to anti-Russian sentiments and a
nihilistic attitude to the history and spiritual heritage of our
country sought to play an active role in Soviet politics
and social life. However, these attempts were
resolutely brushed aside by the Soviet State
and suffered a debacle.
Exposing the anti-Russian ideas of the Trotskyites, Stalin said:
“We are told that nationals... should not be mistreated. This is
very true and I agree with this: they should not be mistreated.
But to promote a new theory, to the effect that the Great
Russian proletariat should be put in an unequal
position to the former oppressed nations,
means to talk nonsense.”
Today there is a lot of such nonsense about. It is actively used
by the Russophobes who oppose the unity of peoples. They
continue to whip up anti-Russian hysteria in Ukraine. They
are trying to spread its bacilli to fraternal Byelorussia.
They rail against the historical choice of the people
of Crimea and Donbass. But their wicked activities
are doomed to failure, as witnessed by the
Bolshevik experience.
Beginning from the early 1930s the USSR categorically rejected
attempts to portray Russia’s pre-Soviet history as nothing but a
combination of backwardness, oppression and aggressive
feudal wars. School textbooks and literary works pictured
the country’s rulers, military commanders and diplomats
as colourful, flesh-and-blood, and many-dimensional
individuals. They stressed the continuity of historical
development of Kieavan and Muscovite Rus, Peter’s
Russia and the Soviet land.
After the Victory Stalin openly admitted that the Russians take the
decisive credit for this Victory. He never tired of reminding people
of what the CPRF staunchly adheres to and what is written down
in our program and what we insist should be reflected in the
Constitution: the Russian people forms the core of the state
because it is ordained by history to play the central and
unifying role in our Motherland.
The architects of the Soviet State were very conscious of the idea
which is pivotal for our party’s ideology and policy: the distinctive
feature of Russia patriotism that stems from the unique Russian
history and from Russian consciousness is its anti-capitalist
and anti-bourgeois thrust.
The far-reaching consequences of this truth for the practices of the
Soviet State have been acknowledged even by those who, after the
October Revolution, disagreed with Soviet power & left the country.
This is what the philosopher Nikolay Berdyayev said in his book
The Sources and Meaning of Russian Communism, published in
1938 in France where he lived after emigrating “A new generation
of youth has appeared which has been able to commit itself with
enthusiasm to implementing the Five-Year Plan, which perceives
the task of economic development not as its personal interest
but as social service. The Russian Revolution has awakened
and released the great strength of the Russian people.
Herein lies its main meaning.”
Today one can elaborate on the philosopher’s idea: herein lies the
main reason why, in the minds of those who hate the Russian
people, hostility toward it is intertwined with anti-Sovietism
and a visceral rejection of socialism.
The ideology of sovereignty
The Great Patriotic War which the Soviet Power won, thus saving
the world from destruction, has fully vindicated the path chosen
by the Communists, the Soviet leadership and the people who
came to believe it. Stalin put it very emotionally when he
famously toasted the Russian people in 1945.
In the wake of Victory our country created a new geopolitical space,
the socialist community led by the Soviet Union. The resulting
geopolitical and economic model was an outstanding
combination of traditional Russian concepts: the
imperial one with its idea of self-sufficient
statehood and the Pan-Slavic one,
based on the idea of the Great
Slavic Space.
Stalin’s policy of rapid industrialization was designed not simply
to boost the economy, but also to create a self-reliant economic
system independent from external conditions. Thus,
industrialization also solved the main political task
of ensuring unconditional sovereignty and its
protection against any adversary.
The task that was key for the Russians and that was only
completely solved during the Soviet era... when Russia
got rid of the enslaving influence of capitalism, which
basically colonizes peoples, by making them live
according to its laws.
At this point recalling the lessons of history – this time
socio-economic history – would not come amiss.
In the period between 1885 and 1913, Russia’s national
revenue was growing at an average annual rate of 3.4%.
The period between 1914 and 1920, when the country
lived through two terrible wars - the First World War
and the Civil War - predictably saw a decline of the
national revenue by an average 11.7% a year.
However, already in the following 8 years, during Lenin’s
NEP... these lamentable results gave way to growth
unheard of, not only in this country, but in the world
economy: 12.7% a year. In 1929 - 1940, when Stalin’s
industrialization was launched, our annual national
revenue was growing at a still more astonishing
rate of 14.5%. That was more than four times
the rate of the most favorable
pre-revolutionary years.
The New Economic Policy of the 1920s introduced by the Bolsheviks
was based on the model aimed at recovery of a devastated country
which had sustained huge human and economic losses. That model
proved the Communists’ ability to withstand any crisis and to keep
their word. Lenin’s party delivered on a promise it gave its people:
under its leadership the country attained a fundamentally higher
level of development than pre-revolutionary Russia.
Stalin’s industrialization, building on the foundation of the economic
and social achievements of the early Soviet years, represented a
model of forward-looking development. The model aimed at
making the country in which only 15 years earlier half of the
population were illiterate, one of the world leaders in key
areas. By the early 1940s this target was achieved in
spite of the colossal external pressure from the
enemies of the Soviet Union. In spite of the
international sanctions, which were even
more severe than the present ones.
Stalin left behind him a country which, by the mid-1950s, had a national
revenue 14 times that of the late 1920s with an industry growing at an
annual 12.3% and, not counting the war years, at 19%. The country
had paid off all its foreign debts. Its gold and currency reserves
were the second largest in the world. We were first in Europe in
terms of absolute industrial output volume, and first in the world
in terms of the proportion of machine building in industry and
mechanization of agriculture. The Soviet power had assured
its total technical and economic independence. The most
advanced high-tech industries –nuclear, space, aviation,
instrument-building, radio electronics — were powering
ahead. This was ensured by a spectacular development
of world-level engineering and science schools, top-
class and free education and healthcare systems.
Average life expectancy had increased by 23 years between 1929
and 1955. Russia’s population had increased by 40 million. Above
all due to the rapid growth of the number of Russians. And this in
spite of the colossal losses sustained during the Great Patriotic
War which carried away 27 million Soviet lives... of which,
20 million were Russian lives.
The welfare of the people was growing steadily. Real wages during
this period had increased more than fourfold and total bank
savings fivefold. Meanwhile prices in the USSR were
constantly going down, unlike in the capitalist
economy whose law says that as incomes
grow so do prices, which basically brings
to naught the formal rise of wages.
Here is but one example from Soviet history which contrasts sharply
with the current socio-economic policy, which spells a
constant impoverishment of the people: in the period
between 1947 and1954, consumer goods and food
prices in the USSR, went down by 2.3 times.
The giant economic and social leap forward the Soviet Union made in
less than three decades is unmatched by any state in human history
except socialism. This spectacular achievement is underpinned by
three factors: wise strategic planning, massive government
investments in development and fair distribution of the
national income in the interests of the state and its
citizens, and hence in the interests of the Russian
people who account for the absolute majority of
the population.
These factors are totally absent in the policy of the present authorities.
As a result, the country is unable to adopt the proactive development
model and indeed to implement the model of recovery development
and overcome the consequences of the decimation of a powerful
and self-sufficient Soviet economy.
Today economic recovery should take the shape of return of the
financial and production base to the state and the people. It is
only by wresting the financial system and strategically
important sectors from the fabulously rich oligarchy
that these sectors can be harnessed to proactive
development, to ensuring a technological break-
through and economic independence of the
country. This is the essence of the CPRF
program... to which there can be no
alternative.. if we want to really lift
Russia from its knees and ensure
a decent life for all its citizens.
However, those who run our economy think otherwise.
They continue to feed society with tales that claim that
the socialist model has failed. That “perestroika” in
the second half of the 1980s, which developed into
a geopolitical & social catastrophe, was allegedly
brought about by a crisis of the Soviet economy
& by the need to revert to capitalist principles.
But that is a malicious lie.
The USSR had built entire sectors of the national economy,
major enterprises many of which are still in operation. The
well-being and social security of citizens was growing, the
USSR had become a great space, science and industrial
power. It remained such a power until a handful of out-
and-out traitors and rent-seekers pushed the country
toward self-destruction... under the pretext of
“perestroika.”
In 1987 the USSR accounted for one-fifth of the world industrial
output whereas today that share is almost 10 times less. Per
capita industrial output in our country was 4.5 times the
world average. While in the USA national revenue was
growing at the rate of 3% a year in the Soviet Union it
was more than 4%. In the mid-1980s our industrial
output growth was double that of America: 5.3%
versus 2.6%. We were also ahead of the USA in
terms of average life expectancy.
Was that a system that had to be dismantled instead of modernizing
and strengthening it? Only avowed enemies of our country, of the
Russians and all the other peoples inhabiting it can make such a
claim. But they continue unabashedly to lie and pour dirt on our
history. The reasons for this are obvious.
Anti-Soviet alliance
of Russophobes.
Russophobia nearly always lurks behind anti-Soviet statements. It is
a feature of practically all those who are hostile toward our past and
the ideology of socialism. If you scratch them hard enough even
those who try to project an image of patriots who care about the
interests of the Russian people, those who claim to have been
ill-done-by under Soviet rule turn out to be Russophobes, who
have profound disdain for the people, its history
and achievements.
Soviet history is about the establishment of the first state in the
world, based on the principles of social justice. The victory of
our country in the most terrible of wars. The great unmatched
feat of industrialization, colossal economic, scientific, cultural
& social achievements. It is a history of the great uplift of the
Russian people. An uplift which manifested its will, & infinite
creative potential.
This is one of the main reasons why the Soviet idea and Soviet
history so enrage professional anti-Communists the absolute
majority of whom hate and detest the Russian people. Suffice
it to look at the propaganda talk of anti-Sovieteers and the
deeds of those who persistently attack our past, to see
that they are also, all of them, Russophobes.
The activities of propagandists who foment anti-Sovietism and
Russophobia have the support of high-ranking officials who
prefer not to display such sentiments publicly, but who
share them deep down.
Today the systemic crisis is putting the increasingly unstable
peace to a test. The two previous crises ended in world wars.
Today, too, the enemy does not want to confine itself to the
economic and information wars it has long been waging
against Russia.
NATO is again sabre-rattling close to our border. The prospects
of a new Drung nach Osten are again publicly discussed. We
are surrounded by a contracting ring of fronts. Transatlantic
provocateurs continue to run the show... in Ukraine. Their
Bandera underlings make constant attempts to aggravate
the situation on the border with Crimea and Donbass. The
Russophobic regimes in the Baltic states and in Eastern
Europe, are desecrating the graves of Soviet soldiers.
This is all part of the global strategy of the US and
its accomplices, who see a new big war as the
last remaining trump card, in their struggle
topreserve the power of transnational
capital. The power, which meets with
a growing protest on all continents.
To repel the growing external and internal threats Russia needs
social consolidation. But the current policy, which has a strong
element of Russophobia and anti-Sovietism, precludes unity.
It destroys any prospects of national cohesion.
To revive Russia is our mission. Each of us must realize this.
In order to move forward, one needs solid ground under
one’s feet. This is only possible if a country cares for
its history and the people which forms the spiritual,
social and demographic core of the state.
And yet our policy-makers consistently seek to deprive Russians
of their national identity. To dissolve them in the anonymous
mythical notion of Rossiyane (“citizens of Russia”), the idea
which was taken on board during the Yeltsin pogrom of the
country & is actively being used by the current authorities.
Reliance on native history is exceedingly important at critical junctures.
This principle was trampled upon at the tail end of Soviet history. The
enemies managed to blow up our Motherland. The same weapons of
Russophobia and anti-Sovietism were actively used to undermine its
foundation. In our time it may lead to no less gruesome results, sow
chaos as destructive as that at the end of the last century.
The call for cleansing the information domain from hideous lies that
distort our history is a very special part of the demands of the CPRF
set forth in our programmatic theses. Cleansing information of the
hysteria which insults the dignity of the Victorious People whom
the present system treacherously “rewarded” for its sacrifice...
with poverty, plunder & extinction provoked by the pro-US
course. Society needs to understand that if the country
is to get rid of officials and propagandists who sneer
at our country and the Russian people... it needs to
be guided by Communists to implement a patriotic
program of revival.
The colonial seamy side
of “independence”
In 1812 the Prussian military commander & theorist Karl Klauzewitz
spent some time with the Russian army. He hated Napoleon and
wanted to help Russia personally, when Napoleon’s army
attacked it. After getting to know our country, Russian
soldiers, generals & government representatives,
Klauzewitz came to the following conclusion:
“Russia is not a country that can really be
conquered, that is, occupied, at least not
by the present European states. Such
a country can only be defeated by its
internal weakness or the effect of
internal discord.”
History has fully vindicated that conclusion.
The Russian state continued to grow from strength to strength
as long as it was able to follow its own path of development,
preserve its unique civilization & pursue its own historical
course. Borrowing, if necessary, the achievements of
neighbours, but not losing its identity in the process.
Not allowing alien ideas and values to become
prevalent in the hearts and minds of
its citizens.
Any departure from this golden rule inevitably led to troubles. The
state lost its effectiveness & strength. Society, riven by internal
contradictions, became an arena of interminable political and
ideological conflicts. This happened at the end of the 20th
century when turncoats in the nomenklatura (the party &
government elite) began to sing from the same hymn
book as the foreign enemies of our country and
socialism. They ruined the USSR , seduced by
the liberal attractions of the West which
brought nothing but countless woes &
privations for the absolute majority of
citizens. For the Russian people it
was the biggest geopolitical,
social, demographic and
moral catastrophe in
its history.
Against the background of this catastrophe, only cynical liars
& imbeciles can claim that the liquidation of the Soviet Union
brought independence and national liberation to Russia
and the Russians. The truth is, that the destruction of
the USSR paved the way for its de facto colonization.
The declaration on state sovereignty adopted in June 1990 by the
RSFSR Congress of People’s Deputies, was a key step toward
the disintegration of the Soviet State. Russia’s declaration of
“sovereignty” in the early 1990s, was a harbinger of the
processes which led precisely to our country losing its
sovereignty de facto. It included our country in the
neocolonial system of global capitalism. And not
as a strong independent power, but as a raw
materials appendage and a cheated “partner.”
Let us face it, it is the Russians who are paying the highest price
for the adventurous and essentially criminal policy imposed on
the country, by the “victorious democrats.”
In March 1991 the absolute majority of Soviet citizens voted for the
preservation of the USSR. But in December of that same year their
will was unlawfully ignored by Belovezhskaya Pushcha plotters
led by Yeltsin, befuddled with alcohol, power and the praise of
Transatlantic principals. By proclaiming the end of the Soviet
Union they perpetrated one of the most heinous political
crimes in human history. This was, above all, a crime
against the Russians comparable only to the crimes
committed against them by the most wicked of
foreign invaders.
As a result of the treacherous destruction of the USSR the Russians
became one of the largest divided peoples in the world. Twenty-five
million Russians who lived in the other union republics, found
themselves outside the Russian border. They became
foreigners against their will.
Overnight, the plotters turned Russia, Ukraine and Byelorussia into
separate states. As a result, the single Russian civilization was torn
into three parts. For each of them, the consequences were dire in
economic, demographic and cultural terms. The question of the
reunification of the Slavic republics has to do, not only with the
restoration of Russia’s lost geopolitical status. Contrary to
what our foes would have us believe, it is not just about
Russian interests. It has to do with the viability of all the
three republics and their peoples, which are bound by
common roots, that cannot be torn by any enemies
and any temporary disagreements.
Restoration of a full-fledged union between Russia, Ukraine and
Byelorussia was hindered above all by a lack of the necessary
political will on the part of the Russian leadership. This, in the
final analysis, gave a free hand to the pro-American clique of
Banderovites that seized power in Kiev in 2014. It is this that
is provoking processes that threaten a cooling of relations
between Russia and Byelorussia. This policy has to be
stopped immediately.
Russia meets one third of Europe’s demand for gas. It is capable of
providing 500 million cubic metres of renewable forest resources.
It supports a quarter of the world’s diamond market. Our country’s
wealth and revenue is based on assets created above all, through
the efforts of the Russian people. On labour resources, a majority
of which are formed by the Russians. On natural resources of the
land where the bulk of the population is Russian. From the point
of view of justice and from the legal point of view the Russian
people is entitled to a proportionate corresponding share of
the national revenue. This was the case, during the Soviet
years. But this principle has been criminally erased under
capitalism. The people that created the Russian State and
provided the major part of its national wealth has through
the efforts of the new “masters”, been reduced to an
impoverished, disadvantaged and miserable lot.
Those who got hold of the property of the people and state created
during the Soviet years, have either destroyed it, or turned it into a
source of unbridled personal enrichment. The Russian tightwads,
who enjoy the protection of the authorities, have, in the last 25
years spirited away at least a trillion dollars to foreign banks
& offshores. And yet this money could have doubled
government spending on education, science,
healthcare, trebled pensions, stipends and
wages. But the authorities keep mum
about it and continue conniving at
the plunder of the country.
Russia & the Russian people have paid for this with the destruction
of countless industries, thousands of factories, & millions of lost
jobs. With veritable colonization of the financial sphere and the
economy, which has become addicted to the sale of natural
resources and depends entirely on imports. This poses a
colossal threat to national security in the face of growing
hostility on the part of our “partners.”
But those who rule us today and engage the West in fierce polemic
in the world arena, do nothing to liberate Russia from what is,
obviously, financial and economic occupation.
This situation which spells disaster for the country and society can
only be changed through implementation of the CPRF program. A
program that envisages wresting control of the strategically
important sectors from the hands of the oligarchy. Revision
of the criminal results of privatization and bringing its
organizers to account. The use of federal and
regional budgets, that would be substantially
replenished, due to these measures, to
massively increase investments in
industry, agriculture and the
social sphere.
A ban on the export of capital from Russia. Easy-term crediting of
national producers at an interest rate below the level of inflation.
Raising the minimal wage, pensions & social benefits by at least
2 times. All-round support and constant growth of the number
of people’s and collective enterprises whose effectiveness is
convincingly being proved by our fellow party members and
talented managers: P.N.Grudinin, I.I.Kazankov, I.A.Bogachev,
I.A.Sumarokov and many others.
This is the only program that today meets the national interests of
all the peoples of our country. Only the enemies of these interests
can reject it.
The epidemic of capitalism
The collapse of the socialist system caused colossal damage to the
country’s economy and the social sphere. As a result, in the 1990s
the national revenue was shrinking by an average annual 5.7%, i.e.
more than at the start of the Great Patriotic War. In the first two
decades of the 21st century our economy either declined or
reported a “growth” within a range of statistical error. In
other words, it hovered around zero, stagnated.
After the liquidation of the USSR the state cast aside all its social
obligations to its citizens. Millions of people are growing poorer
and falling into a debt pit. Meanwhile a score of the top Russian
billionaires increase their total wealth... by 1.5 trillion roubles
every six months, i.e., almost 300 billion a month, 9.5 billion a
day and 400 million an hour, according to Bloomberg agency.
Only the oligarchy which has seized our national wealth and the
bureaucrats in its service, are interested in the preservation of
this destructive system that emerged on the ruins of the great
Soviet power. But the people want to see a great, truly
independent country emerge from the ruins. Our
history confirms that this is only possible, if
Russia, in its struggle to recover, relies on
socialist principles.
The development of the situation in the world and inside our country
proves that the current neoliberal policy initially conceived by the
West and its appointees as anti-Russian and Rossophobic, has
spent itself and is on the brink of collapse.
Against the background of a growing crisis the socio-economic course
pursued in Russia, meets with ever sharper criticism from all sides.
More and more people realize that by embarking on the neoliberal
path and taking dictation from the IMF and transnational capital,
the authorities made a choice that spells disaster for the
country and society.
However, only a few people dare to tell the full truth: we are looking
not only at a dead-end socio-economic model. The ultimate goal
for the sake of which this model has been foisted on Russia is
to enfeeble its people & effectively to destroy it. To “clean up”
the fabulously rich country, in order to seize its resources.
The main target here is the biggest state-forming Russian
people, without which the country will collapse & become
easy prey for conquerors. The neoliberal socio-economic
model is a deadly weapon directed against it. Effectively a
neutron bomb in the hands of our external enemies and
their underlings inside Russia.
The current socio-economic course serves their interests. The
authorities today have a twin task: to minimize their obligations
to the citizens, and to absolve themselves from any legal
responsibility for this. This principle informs the entire
socio-economic policy.
The anti-people pension “reform” launched in the country is a direct
reflection of this principle. It is nothing but undisguised robbery of
those who have, for many years, worked honestly for the country
and society, and have now been deprived of their right to enjoy
a well-deserved rest and draw a legitimately earned pension.
Let us recall the clear and solid guarantees of protection of life and
health every Soviet citizen was granted under the country’s Main
Law. Article 42 of the Constitution of the USSR adopted in 1977
reads in part:
“The citizens of the USSR have the right to the protection of their
health. This is ensured directly by free qualified medical care
rendered by state healthcare institutions; the broadening
network of institutions for the treatment & improvement
of the health of citizens; the development and improve-
ment of safety rules & occupational hygiene; wide-
scale preventive measures; measures to improve
the environment; particular care for the health of
the young generation, including a ban on child
labour, unconnected with educational and
vocational training; & the deployment of
scientific research, aimed at preventing
and lowering the level of morbidity, and
ensuring the active longevity of citizens.”
These are much stronger and wider guarantees than those
promised by the present Constitution. Unlike those of
today, they were fulfilled, as long as Soviet power
existed, financed out of the treasury, without any
abstract insurances and contributions.
In its program the CPRF stresses that to rescue the country’s
healthcare system and give back to the people guarantees of
free and effective healthcare, we need to go back to Soviet
constitutional norms. To build a state that would again
guarantee their fulfilment. This can be done only by
the socialist state, which can stop the dying out
of the Russian people.
The wages of genocide
In 2006 the German military expert & journalist Peter Scholl-Latour
made a documentary film titled “Russia Surrounded” for the major
German TV company ZDF. Speaking about it, he made a grim
prediction: “Russia is inexorably moving towards death.
Russia’s main problem today, is the catastrophic
shrinking of the share of Russians.” Reluctant
as we may be to do so, we have to agree with
his assessment. Unless we want the demise
of our country to become reality, we must
honestly admit the destructive ongoing
processes and take urgent measures
to stop them.
The anti-Russian and anti-Slavic thrust of the country’s internal policy
is becoming ever more evident. The Russians and other indigenous
peoples that historically formed the backbone of Russia’s thousand-
year history are the most disadvantaged and humiliated. The dying
out of indigenous Russian regions is 2 or 3 times faster than the
average population decline figures. The representation of
Russians in key areas – governance, economy, culture
and the mass media is startlingly at odds with their
predominant share in the total population.
That the current policy is veritable genocide of the Russian people
is evidenced by the demographic catastrophe the country faced
after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialist system.
The population of the USSR as a whole and of the Russian Federation
had been growing throughout the Soviet era with the exception of the
Great Patriotic War, when we lost 27 million people. By 1941 it was 43
million larger than that of the Russian Empire in the late 19th century.
It dropped by 13 million toward the end of the war, but 10 years after
Victory, it almost reached the pre-war level. By the early 1990s,
Russia had a population two and a half times larger than 100
years before. And this without any migration, solely due to
the high birth rate stimulated by Soviet social policy.
In the USA by the early 20th century people lived on average 17 years
longer than in Russia, the average life expectancy having risen by 18
years in 1967 compared with 1900. In the USSR fifty years after the
establishment of Soviet power people came to live on average 38
years longer than in Russia in the early 20th century. In 1967 the
Soviet Union had a longer life expectancy than the USA.
The increase of life expectancy in our country in the 67 years of the
20th century, was over twice that in the USA, the leading country of
the capitalist world. In terms of life expectancy the USSR, outran
not only the United States, but also, such countries as France,
Belgium, and Finland and was level with Japan, the FRG, Italy
and Canada. It shows that the socialist system contributed
much more to rapid social progress, than the capitalist
system at its best.
The capitalism that has been foisted on us brought deadly
demographic wages for the Russian people. By 2010 –
the year of the last census – there were only 111
million Russians in the country. A loss of ten
million members of the state-forming people
in the first two decades of capitalism. This,
according to official statistics, which do
not give the real picture.
On the whole Russia’s population since 1991 shrank by 1.6 million,
and the Russian population by 10 million. That does not take into
account the data for the last decade, which are still unavailable.
In other words, the number of Russians is diminishing over
six times faster than the total population. The shrinking
numbers are “balanced”, only by migration. This is a
real humanitarian disaster!
During the Soviet era the number of Russians more than doubled.
During the three decades of capitalism, it shrank by at least 13%.
What more proof is needed - of the fact that socialism meets the
national interest of Russians while capitalism is patently hostile
to them, and is deadly for them? What further arguments are
needed to show that renunciation of the present destructive
governance system, is not only a question of the socio-
economic well-being of our people, but a question of
its physical survival?
Only Communist power, socialism & a recovery of the best Soviet
experience, will put an end to the system that leads to an actual
extermination of the people. The system under which, citizens
consigned to conditions inadmissible for a country so rich in
resources, are afraid to raise a family and have children.
Today an absolute majority of young Russians do not expect to be
ableto afford their own - even a very modest - dwelling. Moreover,
they have no prospect of acquiring one, even 10, 15 or 20 years
from now. The cost of housing in Russia has risen 100 times
since the early 1990s. Even if he saves all his earnings
down to the last kopeck toward buying a flat, the
average Muscovite will have to save for 12
years, the citizen of Petersburg, 11 years,
those who live in a central region, 18
years & those who live in the south
of Russia, 10 years.
Those who try to solve the problem by taking out bank loans
will have to pay the bank two or three times the price of the
flat, or move out, because of exorbitant interest rates.
The situation will change dramatically after the Communists
come to power. The young people, who will contribute the
most to boosting national industry & science, restoring
agriculture & strengthening the country’s defenses,
will be granted housing for free immediately or
within a short space of time.
Others will be able to get housing within several years, as
was the case in the USSR which guaranteed free housing
for everyone. Housing construction - not for the new rich,
not for the millionaires and billionaires, but for normal,
honest people - will become one of the main areas of
effort in the country’s development.
To be an effective program of national salvation of the Russian and
other indigenous peoples of our country, it has to be based on firm
& effective socio-economic principles. The answer to the question
what should these principles be is provided by socialism. That is
why the CPRF program is a convincing and relevant program in
the interests of the country’s indigenous peoples.
The people’s soul trampled
underfoot by wreckers
Simultaneously with physical extermination, the present system
destroys Russia & the Russian people spiritually. While paying
lip service to patriotism... the authorities absolutely refuse to
support the Russian national culture. They contribute to the
displacement of culture by primitive & immoral trash made
according to Western templates. With the connivance of
bureaucrats and cynical people, who treat culture as a
source of profit, this hack work has inundated TV
screens, cinemas and publishing houses.
The present system induces the state to renounce any attempts to
provide moral education & enlightenment and to help those who
seek to do so. The soul of the people and its consciousness, its
intellect, is above all, the native language. And yet the Russian
language, the language of the great Russian literature, which
is a key part of the world's cultural heritage, is subjected to
humiliation every day. And again, the authorities look
the other way.
Our language, is one of the richest in the world. But these riches
are trampled underfoot, by today’s mass culture, education and
information policy. The language is being polluted by newspeak
- senseless anglicisms which symbolize the colonial essence
of the system imposed on our people. Newspeak is effectively
a language of occupation. Take a walk in the streets of our
cities and you will see that foreign names of Western and
eastern provenance today outnumber Russian ones. It is
as if we are deliberately told that the Russian people are
not masters of their land. They have no right to national
self-consciousness, identity, and to native speech.
The law On the Official Language of the Russian Federation
passed in 2005, was aimed at protecting the Russian
language. But the same authorities that passed
this law, are reluctant to protect it.
We see the Western countries being swept by the migration process
which threatens to develop into a political crisis. But try to get a
decent job without knowing the official language. In this country
it is becoming the new normal. In the services sphere and
in the housing and utilities sector, we, increasingly, deal
with people who are unable to communicate in Russian.
This is not merely an inconvenience. It provokes social
tensions. Ultimately, it threatens civil peace which is
inevitably shaken when society is divided into groups
that do not understand each other.
By all the criteria adopted in the world community, genocide of
theRussian people has been unleashed. That is why the most
sensitive national issue in modern Russia is not the issue of
the “national borderlands” but the issue of “the national
core.” It has to do not with a minority but with an
overwhelming majority.
The sacred desire to safeguard our Motherland and our people
against destruction, inspires us to struggle to revive in Russia
the state that is capable of stoppingthe physical and spiritual
genocide of the Russians and other peoples. Of enabling
them to return to the path of harmonious moral, cultural
and intellectual development. This is the key element of
the CPRF program. This is our main duty... to present
and future generations.
In order to throw off the yoke of anti-national capital & confidently
move forward Russia needs to become aware of itself as the heir
not only to Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Nekrasov &
Chekhov, but also to Gorky, Sholokhov, Simonov, Isakovsky,
Tvardovsky, Bondarev and Rasputin, Prokofiev & Sviridov,
Mukhina and Vuchetich, Makarenko and Sukhomlinksy.
Kurchatov and Keldysh. Korolev and Gagarin. Zhukov,
Rokossovsky, Vasilevsky & Konev. The country must
be proud of the fact that the galaxy of brilliant names,
the pride of the Russian civilization, was born of the
Soviet era, the socialist Motherland, the land of
Lenin and Stalin.
Communists & all patriots must be more active in defending
Russian history, Russian culture and the Russian soul.
Because they are the targets of all those who seek to
destroy our Power. At this critical juncture we need
to be conscious of the fact that we are not only a
party of rule of the people and of justice, but a
party of national salvation.
Russia is about to awaken
If the experiment undertaken by Lenin ....... the experiment of
socialism fails, modern civilisation will perish, just like many
civilisations perished in the past.”This was said in 1931 by
Nobel Prize-winning British playwright Bernard Shaw. The
Soviet power proved its strength and its great creative
potential. But its treacherous destruction vindicated
the writer’s foresight.
The collapse of the Soviet Union triggered a chain reaction
of global destabilization which threatens terrible upheavals
on the planet. It put on the brink of destruction the Russian
civilization whose crowning achievement has been the
creation of the Soviet State. The state of the working
people. The state of socialism.
However, the colossal historical experience, the great vitality,
the moral and intellectual potential we possess, enable us to
step back from the abyss. To overcome the systemic crisis.
Our people can still do it. And it will do it!
It was the Soviet civilization that, in the early 20th century,
offered all mankind the greatest socialist project of the
world order, a project based on the laws of justice,
humanism and equality. It demonstrated its
righteousness and power in the battles
against the armies of the Entente and
Hitler’s hordes. Its real superiority
over capitalism, which inevitably
degenerates into Fascism and
political banditry.
The bid of transnational capitalism... to bury the socialist project
turned out to be futile. Today mankind, tormented by crises and
disenchanted with capitalism, is again turning toward socialism.
The Russian world must be in the vanguard of this process, as
it was a hundred years ago, because the socialist ideas are
rooted most deeply in its consciousness. They cannot be
suppressed by any resistance of the world and the
Russian political and financial elite.
The German philosopher Walter Schubart who left Germany after
the Nazis came to power and who had sincere respect for our
people, said this about the Russian man in his 1938 book
Europe and the Eastern Soul: “He does not try to turn
his fellow man into an instrument. This is the essence
of Russian brotherhood. This is the Gospel for the
future… Russia’s mission is to give man back his
soul. Russia has the strength that Europe has lost
or destroyed in itself… Only Russia can breathe
the soul back into the human race, which is
perishing from power lust ...and is steeped
in materialistic business consciousness.”
Obviously, he was referring to the historical processes that
unfolded in the world after socialism challenged the
ideology of greed, plunder and exploitation. The
processes that put the Russian people and all
the other peoples of our great power at the
centre and, I am sure, will put them
there again.
History, whose main facets are again highlighted with fresh force
by thedramatic events of our time, warrants the conclusion that
a true Russiancannot be anything other but a supporter of
socialism. And a true adherent of socialism cannot but
treat Russians with respect, gratitude and love.
The rabid anti-Sovietism & Russophobia of our opponents is the
last toxic potion for which the bankrupt liberal pro-marketeers
are reaching out, in their attempt to rescue their sinking
authority and to convince the country of the need to
preserve the system of criminal capitalism. Only a
return to the principles of the social state can pull
Russia out of its crisis and set it on the path of
true development. The path of friendship,
brotherhood, and genuine national
independence.
That is why the CPRF program and fifteen key amendments
to the Constitution we are promoting are based on the ideas
& measures that would restore all the best features of the
Soviet economic, social and cultural policy. All the most
decent and progressive modern practices.
The Communists resolutely counter the ideology of liberal
anti-Sovieteers who worship capitalist globalization with
the ideology of social justice and national revival that
meets the interests of the absolute majority.
We have no doubt that the salvation and revival of Russia is
impossible without restoring the firm moral foundations &
moral principles society & power must abide by. Let us
give an honest answer to this question: in what epoch
were the principles dominating society and politics
closer to the premises of good, selflessness,
charity and humanism which the main world
religions have been preaching for ages.?
Was it in the Soviet epoch or today?
We are convinced that there can be only
one answer: the Soviet system directly
embodied these principles, based on
the ideals of universal brotherhood,
solidarity and social justice.
The systemic crisis can only be overcome & full-fledged
development resumed when those who were involved
in the criminal dismantling of the USSR and the
establishment of a system of wild criminal-
oligarchic capitalism are stripped of their
control of the political, economic and
financial spheres.
Let us remember Cicero’s wisdom: “A nation can survive its
fools and social climbers, but it cannot survive treachery.
The enemy at the gate is fearsome, but it is known and it
openly holds up its banners. A traitor circulates freely
among the besieged, his cunning whisper rustles in
the city streets, he acts secretly, and infects the
citizens such that they can no longer resist.
A murderer is less fearsome than he is.”
Removal of the Russophobic and anti-Soviet “fifth column” from
power is an indispensable condition of the revival of our country
& the Russian people. Only then, will the new truly patriotic and
nationally conscious leadership be able to implement the vitally
needed change of course, and unite all the healthy forces in the
Motherland.
The CPRF has renewed its call on the patriots of Russia to promote
this idea in the course of the festive events of the All-Union Popular
Assembly we organized in the spring of 2020, to mark the 150th
anniversary of Lenin’s birth, the First of May outing, timed for
the Day of International Solidarity of Working People.
We made a similar appeal to citizens on May 9, the day of the great
jubilee, the 75th anniversary of Victory. On the eve of that day, as
part of our political campaign Lenin, Stalin, Victory we announced
large-scale patriotic actions: “Immortal Regiment Under the Red
Banner,” “Victory Garden – the Garden of Life,” “Youth Follows
the Road of Heroic Fathers.” They will span the whole of Russia
and the former Soviet republics, which retain sacred bonds
with us.
Because of the dangerous infection which put all of us under an
exasperating lockdown, we could not stage street processions
and rallies and held our gatherings online. However, in spite of
the distance, they throbbed with the energy of the struggle for
justice. Of confidence: that we will soon reunite with fresh
force, in the name of the common cause: of reviving the
Motherland and the people.
The Lenin and Victory jubilees remind us that we are heirs to great
deeds. Heirs to heroes who have astonished the world with their
achievements. It is the people’s sacred right and sacred duty to
regain what it has gained & what traitors have taken away from
the country and society. We are confident that the enemy will
be defeated and victory will be ours.!
When in the Time of Troubles, invaders were feasting at the Kremlin
Patriarch Hermogenes who refused to recognize the impostors and
occupiers was imprisoned in a dungeon. But even there, deprived
of water and food, he continued to call, “Arise Russian people!.” He
was heard and the militias led by Minin and Pozharksy came and
saved the country. If we put it across to our people, Russia will
arise and step back from the edge of the historical abyss. The
21st century, will become the century of the revival of our
great Power.
The ideology that will pave the way toward our resurgence must
be the modern Russian idea capable of uniting all the country’s
peoples for the sake of the common cause and the common
good. The idea rooted in socialism and the thousand-year-
old spiritual and patriotic values. The idea that cements
the nation in a single surge of creativity. The idea that
mobilizes all the social resources to secure an early
end to the systemic crisis that threatens the very
existence of our country.
China has achieved spectacular results by linking socialism,
patriotism and the age-old folk traditions. Cuba, Vietnam and
Venezuela are following a similar path. We will achieve
victory if we rely on the Russian character, the
Russian spirit and Russian history.
The Russians are the state-forming nation. They have never
oppressed other peoples and have done everything to
safeguard their independence, their faith, their
alphabets, language and culture. Neither our
country, nor world peace, can be secured...
without strengthening the Russian people.
This is something true patriots of Russia - both Russians
and other peoples - cannot help recognizing. And this
strengthens our confidence... that it is important
to remind society of the sources of Russian
civilization, the Soviet values, discoveries
and achievements. Of the need to uphold
the ideas of socialism... and struggle to
promote these great ideas, in today’s
Russia. For a victory that will assure
a decent future for our Motherland.
This entry was posted in Articles
on June 1st, 2020
What do you think?
_________________________________________________________
CRISIS IN BELARUS
Three dozen Afghan migrants roam
Polish-Belarusian border for 12th day
August 20th, 12:26pm (TASS)
A large group of migrants is roaming the Polish-
Belarussian border --- guarded by the two
countries’ law enforcers, for the twelfth
day. As a TASS correspondent reports
from the scene, about 30 people are
stranded... near the community
of Usnarz-Gorny, Podlaskie
Voivodeship, in the east
of the country.
The refugees from Afghanistan tried to illegally cross the
border, only to be stopped by border guards. The Polish
authorities argue that the migrants are on the territory
of Belarus. On one side.. they are guarded by armed
Belarusian law-enforcers, who prevent their return
to Belarus. On the other side Polish border guards
and the army, keep them out of Poland.
"The situation has not changed. As before, up to 30 people
are on the Belarussian side of the border," the press-
secretary of the Podlaska border guard office,
Katarzyna Zdanowicz told TASS.
"The Polish border guard service is doing its job," she
added, when asked if Poland had any plans for letting
the migrants in.
Zdanowicz said Poland had asked Belarus to take part
in resolving the problem. After that, nearly all women
and children were taken out of the temporary
refugee camp.
The migrants - mostly young men - have set up one tent.
Most spend the nights in sleeping bags on the ground.
Some politicians and human rights activists have
visited the site. Food and water is being brought
to the migrants.
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a news
briefing, on Thursday, that Poland had no intention of
accommodating illegal migrants roaming the
border on the Belarusian side. He added
that such a decision would entail a
migration crisis, involving tens
of thousands.
Situation on the border
Earlier, Poland and Lithuania urged the European Union to
take tougher measures against Belarus over the migration
crisis in the region, allegedly provoked by Minsk. Since
the beginning of this year, more than 4,000 illegal
migrants have been detained on the Lithuanian
-Belarusian border, which is 50 times more
than in the whole of 2020.
According to the Polish Interior Ministry, there have been
2,100 illegal attempts to enter the country since the
beginning of August. The border guards prevented
1,342 attempts at crossing the border, and 758
foreign nationals were detained and sent to
closed centres.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that
his country had served as a barrier in the way of
illegal migrants to the neighboring country, but
in the light of political pressure from the West,
Minsk might think again about maintaining
this policy.
What do you think?
Should Belarus keep the West safe, from
an influx of young men of dubious intent
...when the West keeps trying to crash
Belarus' sovereignty?
______________________________
Perestroika did not cause
USSR’s downfall; but ‘a lot
of things’ - should have
been done differently,
says ex-Soviet leader
Gorbachev
by Jonny Tickle
August 4th, 4:56pm (RT)
The collapse of the Soviet Union was not caused by the
controversial policy of perestroika but should actually
be blamed on the attempted coup, in August 1991,
and a conspiracy between the leaders of
Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.
That’s according to former Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev, who wrote an article for ‘Russia in
Global Affairs’, explaining his point of view:
that perestroika was “historically correct”
and necessary for the USSR.
Gorbachev led the Soviet Union from 1985 until its collapse
in 1991 and is seen as one of the most important figures of
20th-century history. However... while he enjoys a positive
reputation outside of the country, he is viewed differently
inside Russia. Many people blame him for the post-Soviet
economic crisis, that led to a dramatic decline in living
standards, as well as a diminution of Moscow’s
status on the world stage.
Perestroika, seen by some as a significant contributing factor
in the dissolution of the USSR, was an attempt to restructure
the economic system and end stagnation. As part of the
policy, Gorbachev introduced market-like reforms into
the socialist system, which led to food shortages
and political tensions.
However, according to Gorbachev, those who believe
perestroika wasn’t necessary... have a very
short memory.
“They have either forgotten or don’t want to remember what
the moral and psychological situation in Soviet society was
like by 1985,” he explained. “People were clamouring for
change. Everyone - both leaders and ordinary citizens
- felt that something was wrong with the country.
The country was sinking deeper into stagnation.
Economic growth had virtually stopped.”
“Perestroika was aimed at people. Its goal was to liberate a
person, to make him the master of his own destiny, of his
country,” he said.
However, despite his conviction that the policy was correct,
he did note that he would have done “a lot of things
differently.”
In Gorbachev’s opinion, the real reason for the fall of the
Soviet Union, was insubordination within the ranks of
the Communist Party.
“Two blows proved fatal for perestroika,” he explained.
“The attempted coup d’etat, organized by reactionary
forces, including those from my entourage, in August
1991, and the December collusion of the leaders of
Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, which ended the
centuries-old history of our state.”
In particular, he pointed the finger at Boris Yeltsin, who was
the leader of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist
Republic, and who promised that a union of some
sort would survive. However, according to the
former Soviet leader, the heads of Russia,
Ukraine, and Belarus got together and
opted to destroy the country.
“Yeltsin did not keep his word,” Gorbachev wrote. “He and
his entourage sacrificed the Union --- to an unstoppable
desire to reign in the Kremlin.”
What do you think?
________________________________________
Back to Stalingrad? Disputed poll
claims TWO THIRDS of Russians
want Volgograd to return name
used in legendary WW2 battle
July 30th, 10:13am (RT)
A majority of Russians support restoring the name of the
country’s twelfth-largest city back to ‘Stalingrad,’ 60
years after it was renamed Volgograd, in the Soviet
program of de-Stalinization, a poll has revealed.
The survey, commissioned by the centre-left political party
‘A Fair Russia’, and made public on Thursday, revealed
that 68% of Russians are in favour of returning to the
title it bore from 1925 to 1961, with just 28%
wanting to keep the current name.
Interestingly, in Volgograd itself, the poll discovered that
local residents are somewhat less supportive of a name
change, with 48% backing a return to Stalingrad.
The last time Federov’s pollsters conducted a study on
this topic was in 2005, and just 23.4% in Russia said
then, that they supported a renaming.
However, most interestingly, the faction is now coming
under attack from the Communist Party (CPRF), which
has accused A Fair Russia of stealing one of its flag-
ship proposals. Speaking to the Moscow daily,
Kommersant, Communist Party Secretary
for Elections, Sergey Obukhov, accused
''right-wing forces'' of using his party’s
ideas to draw away voters. In 2013
-- on the 70th anniversary of the
Battle of Stalingrad -- the CPRF
collected more than 100,000
signatures in favour of
the renaming.
...What do YOU think?
________________________________
Slovenian PM: EU’s ‘imaginary values’
could trigger ‘collapse’ of bloc,
amid Hungary LGBT row
July 4th, 2:09pm (RT)
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa has condemned
the EU’s western states, for imposing “imaginary
European values”, without respecting local
cultures. Jansa supports Hungary, in its
fight against LGBT content in
schools and TV.
Sandwiched between Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Croatia,
Slovenia is a tiny country of 2.1 million people. However,
for the next six months, it will set the agenda of the
European Council.
Speaking after his country assumed the council’s rotating
presidency, last week, Jansa made it clear, that his
priorities might not line up with those of the
bloc’s western powers.
Railing at the Slovenian “mainstream media” and its alleged
allies in the country’s judiciary, Jansa also spoke out
against the EU’s promotion of its liberal values in
eastern and central Europe, LGBT causes
among them.
Imposing “imaginary European values,” he argued,
would be the “fastest road to collapse” for the bloc.
“The European Union brings together countries with
different traditions, with different cultures, there
are differences... that need to be taken into
account and respected,” he stated.
European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen,
openly disagreed with Jansa during the press briefing,
saying that “freedom of expression, diversity and
equality” are fundamental “European values”
that need to be upheld.
The clash between Jansa and von der Leyen is just one
more battle in a growing cultural conflict between the
western swathe of the EU, and the centre and east.
In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has led the charge
against Brussels in this conflict, angering the liberal West
by passing a law forbidding the portrayal of
homosexuality to children.
The EU in return has threatened legal action against Hungary,
and 17 western European leaders signed a letter last month
condemning “discrimination towards the LGBTI community”
and their “fundamental rights.”
Orban has insisted that the law does not discriminate against
the LGBT community, but allows parents to decide what to
teach their children, about matters of gender
and sexuality.
Jansa has taken a similar line. Responding to von der Leyen
on Friday, he said that the pair had “a sincere discussion on
what human rights are,” but that he defended “the right of
parents to educate their children” as they see fit. Von der
Leyen responded that “the right of parents to educate
their children was not at all disputed,” but “the
question was … whether the amendments
of existing laws discriminate against
minorities.”
Jansa also proclaimed that Slovenia is not “a colony” of the EU
to be dictated to, much like Orban last week decried the Dutch
“colonial” mentality, after Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte
declared earlier that Hungary “has no business being in
the European Union any more” if it doesn’t submit to
the bloc’s position on LGBT rights.
What do YOU think?
Think your friends would be interested?
Share this story!
__________________________________
Save the Children has been captured
by transgender ideology. It isn't
protecting youngsters, it’s
endangering them
by Debbie Hayton
July 2nd, (RT)
Debbie Hayton is a high school teacher and trade union
officer. She teaches science to 11-18-year-olds, at a
school in central England. As a transgender person,
she has written extensively about what it means to
be trans, and how trans people can be included in
society without compromising the rights of other
vulnerable groups. Her work can be read in
publications from across the political
spectrum, where rational scientific
debate is allowed and encouraged.
Follow her on Twitter @DebbieHayton
The charity is supposed to help vulnerable children, which is
why it rightly opposes FGM. So why is it promoting the idea
that it’s OK for girls as young as seven to go down a path
that leads to gender reassignment surgery?
Save the Children was established in the aftermath of the First
World War by Eglantyne Jebb and Dorothy Buxton, two sisters
from England who had been appalled by the impact of British
government policy on children across Europe. The war may
have been over, but the Royal Navy maintained a blockade
of Germany until it signed the Treaty of Versailles. In cities
like Berlin and Vienna, children were starving.
In 1919, Jebb was arrested and convicted --- for distributing
leaflets bearing shocking images of malnourished children.
A hundred years later, their campaign has grown into a
massive NGO with an annual turnover approaching
£300 million. Enjoying royal patronage, it is now
part of the British establishment. In the 2020
annual report, Princess Anne wrote, “I
thank you for everything you have
done for children this year.”
Maybe Princess Anne should ask them about their
campaign for Pride Month? Earlier this week, they
shared some tips about how to raise a
“transgender child.”
Judging by the video clip, Save the Children has been captured
by transgender ideology – the idea that men and women are
defined not by their sex but by some soul-like gender identity.
With reckless abandon, they extend this idea to children.
The lack of critical analysis is breathtaking. Each
slide could and should have been pulled apart.
There is no need to pigeonhole children as ‘transgender’.
We should let them be. Gender is not assigned at birth;
sex is observed and recorded sometimes before birth.
Identifying as the opposite sex does not mean we are
the opposite sex.Girls can have short hair; it’s fine!
Why do we need to validate feelings? What does it
even mean to validate feelings? We are all
vulnerable to the reactions of others, and
all parents can help their children to
respond constructively.
But behind the slogans, the cartoons, and the enchanting
music, this campaign focuses on a real nine-year-old girl
whose parents think she is a boy. They claim their
daughter was “assigned a female gender at birth,”
something she was questioning by the time she
was five. Two years later, she apparently
identified as a boy. In response, her
parents cut her hair short and
changed her name. In
their words:
“As we move forwards and puberty looms, there
will be problems to solve and decisions to take.”
These are problems of the parents’ making. The decision
they should be making for their child is to return to reality.
Despite their professed “moments of grief,” they still have
a daughter. She never left. Girls can be masculine – they
can cut their hair short, they can take a preferred name
usually adopted by boys, they can climb trees and play
football – and that is fine. But they are still female.
But rather than celebrate the diversity of humanity within
each sex, Save the Children uses this family’s story to
perpetuate the lie that girls can become boys. Worse,
gender non-conforming children, and their parents,
may get the impression that girls need to become
boys to express their masculinity. The video ends
with a link to Mermaids UK, an organisation that
promotes puberty blockers, drugs that stunt
natural development and lead to profound
and irreversible damage.
This is the same organisation that – rightly – condemns
female genital mutilation. Their country director for
Sudan said, “FGM is not only a violation of girl’s
rights, it has serious consequences for a girl’s
physical and mental health.”
Why is the mutilation that results from puberty blockers,
cross-sex-hormones, double mastectomies – for girls
whose breasts developed before they started treat-
ment – and gender reassignment surgery any
different? Abuse is abuse.
Who told Save the Children that seven-year-olds have a
gender identity that trumps their biological sex, and –
more importantly – why did the charity believe them?
Gender identity can be neither proved nor falsified,
and it is not needed to explain transsexualism.
I know that... as a trans person who
transitioned as an adult.
The fact that I am unhappy with my sex does not mean
I am the opposite sex; I am simply unhappy with it.
Further, I know that it is possible to be reconciled
to my sex. That delivered peace and contentment
within my own skin that I never experienced when
I thought I was some sort of woman. These
children’s lives are being built on folly, and
that is no way for anyone to start out in life.
Lies can never satisfy in the same way.
A hundred years ago, Eglantyne Jebb campaigned
against policies that harmed children. Her modern
successors are actively promoting harm.
Think your friends would be interested?
Share this story!
...what do YOU think?
__________________________________
Did the Soviet Union collapse
because of a lack of love?
Or because it foolishly
trusted and looked up
to the West?
OR, PERHAPS, both.
What do YOU think?
Boris Yeltsin had entourage of
‘hundreds’ of CIA agents, who
instructed him on how to run
Russia, claims the former
parliamentary speaker
by Jonny Tickle
June 12th, 8:20am (RT)
The first Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, was surrounded
by “hundreds” of CIA agents, who told him what to do
throughout his tenure as leader. That’s according to
Ruslan Khasbulatov, the former chairman of
Russia’s parliament.
Speaking to radio station Govorit Moskva, Khasbulatov
claimed Yeltsin’s entourage was full of Americans. In
1991, he was elected to his leadership post, with
Washington’s ''help'', it has been alleged, and it
is still not yet known, to what extent the US
remained the voice in his ear, through-
out his presidency.
“There must have been a hundred [CIA employees],”
Khasbulatov said. “They determined everything.”
He added that, after ''winning'' the presidential
election, Yeltsin would send security officials
and heads of departments to the US, so the
Americans could “examine them” and
“give conclusions.”
Khasbulatov’s statement comes after former Russian vice
president Alexander Rutskoy told online outlet Lenta that
12 full-time employees of the CIA helped carry out the
landmark Yeltsin-Gaidar market reforms, system-
atically dismantling the centrally planned
economic system --- and leading the
country into shock capitalism.
However, according to Khasbulatov, everyone knew about
Rutskoy’s links to the US, and American officials even
influenced the former president to replace a
considerable number of his appointees.
“On the whole, Rutskoy is absolutely right – Yeltsin was
advised by foreigners,” he continued. “There is no
secret here... and a great number of people know
about it. I don’t have any detective stories about
eavesdropping, but, in general, it’s well known.
Yeltsin used to confer very closely, on all
personnel matters, with foreign
representatives.”
Yeltsin left office in 1999, but not before creating a hyper-
presidential system, taking power away from a hostile
parliament, and removing almost all the checks and
balances. This move was supported by Washington,
which hoped to keep the Communist Party out of
power in the newly formed Russian state.
Now, Yeltsin has a mixed legacy, with many Russians
believing he was a drunkard, who sold the country to
Western capitalists. However... in ''the West'', he is
compared to revolutionaries such as South Africa's
Nelson Mandela, Poland’s Lech Walensa... and
Czechoslovakia’s Václav Havel, with former
US president, Bill Clinton, even having
likened him to Abraham Lincoln.
Like this story? Share it with a friend!
_________________________________
Interview: ''Love for people''
makes Chinese communists
source of strength, says
French party chief
May 24th, 10:14am (Xinhua)
Chinese communists... have accomplished great
achievements in the country's development, by
living up to their all-for-the-people commitment
Jacques Cheminade, chairman of the French
political party, Solidarity and Progress,
recently told Xinhua, via video link.
For the Communist Party of China (CPC), loving people
is not only a political commitment, but also its source
of strength, said Cheminade.
In his view, a political party must know well about, and
be linked to, the history of its own country, which is
exactly what the CPC has been doing.
"In China, there is a vision of the future nourished by
the past, by Chinese history," said the party leader,
referring to the Belt and Road Initiative,
as a case in point.
In 2019, Cheminade visited China for the first time, and
participated in the Euro-Asia Economic Forum in Xi'an,
capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
During the trip, he noticed that people's living standards
in this country, had been growing incredibly fast, and
that local people were more optimistic about their
future, compared with people in the West.
Talking about relations between France & China
Cheminade expressed his hope: that the two
countries could forge... a more rational and
active link in safeguarding multilateralism.
"It is by building multilateralism through
different ways, that we will achieve the
same commitment to the development
of all," he said.
In March, Cheminade co-signed a declaration with
experts from different countries, calling on the
West to face up to China's development
achievements - and to strengthen
cooperation with the
Asian country.
Denouncing the anti-China propaganda organized
by some Western countries, Cheminade stressed
that China has never imposed its own political
system on other countries.
In dealing with adverse situations created by the West,
China has, also, been showing patience and good
political will, he added, expressing appreciation
for "the sense of common welfare" of the
CPC and the Chinese people.
___________________________
Siege of Russia by
US and its Allies
Offers a Lesson
for China
April 20th, 12:04pm
The US has rallied its European allies, to launch a new
diplomatic expulsion campaign, and a public opinion
crackdown against Russia.
In addition to the situation in eastern Ukraine,
Alexei Navalny's hunger strike in prison - and
reports that he's "dying" - have now become
the latest focus of pressure on Russia.
It is noteworthy... that countries including the Czech
Republic, Poland, Ukraine, and Bulgaria have joined
the US in expelling Russian diplomats, mostly
claiming that these Russian diplomats have
conducted "activities incompatible with
their status".
This is a highly ambiguous reason for expulsion. Once
members of the Warsaw Pact, or part of the Soviet
Union, these countries are now often the first to
respond to the US' calls to confront Russia.
There are complex historical reasons for the Central &
Eastern European countries tilting toward the US, and
becoming "anti-Russia", that are difficult for outsiders
to comment on. It is a pity that internal disintegration
- rather than coercion from the US - had directly led
to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Russian Federation was one of the main promoters
of this disintegration.. and the original agreement to
replace the Soviet Union with the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS), was signed by Russia,
Ukraine and Belarus. The Russian leaders who
destroyed the Soviet Union, had no idea what
would happen to their country afterwards.
The collapse of the Soviet Union has brought about
geopolitical changes globally, and the evaluation
of the event is destined to vary from country to
country, and from time to time. But it has
become increasingly clear, that Russia
has been the biggest loser from
that collapse.
Many Russians once believed that when the Communist
Party stepped down and the Soviet Union collapsed, the
US and the West would embrace Russia and respect
them, for taking the initiative to end the Cold War.
The reality, however, is harsh. Moscow has
received no gratitude or kindness,
from the West.
From the moment the Soviet Union collapsed, the US has
arrogantly treated Russia as a defeated country in the
Cold War, engaging in all possible moves to suppress
Russia, at will.
The collapse of the Soviet Union was a geopolitical disaster
for Russia. As the dominant power in the Soviet Union, if it
had chosen to support reforms to solve problems in the
beginning, Russia could have paid a much smaller
geopolitical price, than it would pay, over the
following 30 years. Back then, Moscow had
a broad sphere of influence and powerful
capabilities; it could act independently
and defiantly against Washington. But
it has ceded those geopolitical
resources, giving up its
advantages.
The US' vicious attitude toward Russia offers a glimpse into
the brutality of great power competition and helps people
see through Washington's geopolitical manipulation
measures. The US portrayed its Cold War with the
Soviet Union as an ideological confrontation --
to conceal its intention -- to dominate the
world alone.
Many people, including Russians, believed a political
change of course, would fundamentally change their
relationship with the US, and that Russia could thus
integrate into the West, and become a dignified
member of the Group of Eight.
Yet Russia is too large, with a nuclear arsenal on par
with that of the US. It spans the Eurasian continent
and advocates multi-polarity, with no possibility to
becoming a new member of the West, that is
submissive to Washington.
The US then took advantage of its "victory" - promoted the
eastward expansion of NATO, squeezed Russia's strategic
space at the fastest speed, and completely abandoned its
verbal commitment that, after Germany was unified and
remained a NATO member, the bloc would recruit no
former Warsaw Pact countries, or former Soviet
republics, as new members.
The US is extremely untrustworthy. Its method of great power
competition fully mobilises the ideological resources of its
own, and in the West, and it is very good at infiltrating into
other countries, which makes it very deceptive. Since the
collapse of the Soviet Union, the world has witnessed
other "colour revolutions" supported by the US. The
destinies of countries that experienced subversion
of state power, have proven tragic, as the US has
neither the intention nor the ability to provide
substantial assistance to those countries.
China, as a newly targeted "strategic competitor" of the US,
is fortunate that we've witnessed all the colour revolutions
in the world in the past 30 years. This is equivalent to
having gotten politically vaccinated and receiving
a boost shot to enhance the effectiveness.
The Chinese people must protect the fruitful achievements
of the People's Republic of China, & remain sober-minded
about the US's repeated deceptive clamour that the
strategic ''game'' between the US and China, is a
battle between "democracies and autocracies".
China must continue to grow its national strength and weaken
the ability of the US to pressure it "from a position of strength".
China can only be a friend with whom the US has to coexist,
because it cannot crush it. We must not bear any illusion
that the US would embrace China, due to its changes.
China is so big that we cannot try to get rid of the natural
burden that comes with it. Since China is big, it should
live with great courage and advantages.
This article originally appeared
on the Global Times website.
What do YOU think?
Is the US a friend
to the world ?
Or a psychopathic racist empire?
_______________________________________
Justice or Hegemony...
what do you think?
China's Xi says world needs justice,
not hegemony, in veiled reference
to US
April 20th, 9:14 am (PressTV)
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for a fairer
world order in the face of the West’s unilateralism,
warning hegemonic countries against “bossing
others around.”
Speaking at the annual Boao Forum for Asia on
Tuesday, Xi said that “the future destiny of the
world should be decided by all countries.”
“One or a few countries shouldn’t impose their rules
on others, and the world shouldn’t be led on by the
unilateralism of a few countries,” Xi said.
Without singling out the US, the Chinese president
warned against building barriers that are against
market principles.
“Attempts to erect walls or decouple run counter to
the law of economics and market principles. They
would hurt others’ interests without benefiting
oneself,” Xi stated, in a ''veiled'' reference to
Washington’s efforts to reduce dependence
on Chinese supply chains and scrub the
export of products such as advanced
computer chips to China.
“What we need in today’s world is justice, not hegemony...
Bossing others around, or meddling in others’ internal
affairs, will not get one any support,” Xi said, while
giving assurances that China will never engage
in an arms race.
“A big country should look like a big country by showing
that it is shouldering more responsibility," he added.
China has repeatedly criticized US hegemony and
its projection of power in trade and geopolitics.
China and the US have been engaged in an intense
trade war, kicked off under the Donald Trump
administration.
The two world powers are also increasingly at odds over
a range of issues, including alleged human rights abuse
in the Xinjiang region, protests in Hong Kong, China’s
territorial claims on the Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)
and most of the South China Sea, as well as
the COVID-19 origin.
Beijing hoped for an improvement in relations under
President Joe Biden's administration. But the new
president has, so far, shown no sign of backing
down on hardline policies toward Beijing.
The Democratic president has even urged
his allies, to harden their stance on China.
In the latest anti-Beijing move, Biden sought
to present a united front with Japan, to
counter “challenges” by China.
On Friday, he hosted Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide
Suga in a meeting, in which China topped the agenda.
In a display of economic cooperation to the exclusion of
China, Biden said Washington and Tokyo will jointly
invest in areas such as 5G technology, artificial
intelligence, quantum computing, genomics
and semiconductor supply chains.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson censured the
US-Japan alliance and said the 2 were in fact ganging
up to form cliques & fanning bloc confrontation, while
talking about a “free and open” Indo-Pacific.
"It will only enable the world to see with increasing clarity
the detrimental nature of the US-Japan alliance, which
attempts to undermine regional peace and stability,"
the spokesperson said.
____________________________________
In Quest of a Multi-Polar World
March 28th, 2021
Michael Hudson and Pepe Escobar resume their
conversation about a global monetary system
that appears headed for divorce.
Michael Hudson: Fifty ago, I wrote Super Imperialism about
basically how America dominates the world financially and
gets the free ride.
I wrote it right after America went off gold in 1971, when the
Vietnam War, which was responsible for the entire balance
of payments deficit, forced the country to go off gold. And
everybody at that time worried the dollar was going to go
down. There’d be hyperinflation. And what happened
was something entirely different.
Once there was no gold, America strong-armed its allies to
invest in U.S. Treasury bonds because their central banks
don’t buy companies. They don’t buy raw materials. All
they could buy is other central bank’s treasury bonds.
So, all of a sudden, the only thing that other people
could buy with all the dollars coming in were U.S.
Treasury securities.
And the securities they bought essentially were to finance
yet more war making and the balance of payments deficit
from war, and the 800 military bases America has around
the world. And the largest customer, I think we discussed
it before, are the Defense Department and the CIA that
looked at it [Super Imperialism] as a how-to-do it
book. Well, that was 50 years ago.
And what I’ve done is not only re-edit the book and add more
information that’s come out, but I’ve picked up the last 50
years and how it’s absolutely transformed the whole
world. And it’s a new kind of imperialism.
There was still a view 50 years ago that imperialism was
[essentially] economic. And this is the view that there’s
still a rivalry for instance, between America and China
or America and Europe and other countries.
But I think the whole world has changed so much in the last
50 years that what we have now is not really so much a
conflict between America and China or America and
Russia, but between a financial system economy
run by finance and an economy run by
governments — democratic or less
democratic, but certainly a mixed
economy.
Well, everything that made industrial capitalism rich, every-
thing that made the USA so strong in the 19th century,
through its protective tariffs & through its public infra-
structure investment, all the way down through World
War II & the aftermath. We had a mixed economy in
America, and that was very balanced. Europe had a
mixed economy. Every economy since Babylon and
Rome, has been a mixed economy, but in America
you’ve had, since 1980, something entirely
different.
That was not foreseen by anybody
because it seemed to be
so disruptive.
And what that was, was the financial sector saying we need
liberty and by liberty, meaning we have to take planning and
subsidy & economic policy and tax policy, out of the hands
of government. And put it in the hands of Wall Street.
So libertarianism & a free market is a centralized economy
which is centralized in the hands of the financial centres,
Wall St, the City of London, the Paris Bourse. And what
you have today is the attempt of the financial sector to
take the role the landlord class had in Europe, from
feudal times through the 19th century. It’s a kind
of resurgence.
If you look at the whole last 200 years of economic theory -
from Adam Smith and, Henry George and Marx, onward -
the whole idea was that everybody expected a mixed
economy to become more and more productive and
to free itself from the landlords, to free itself from
banking - to make land a public utility.
That was the tax base to make finance basically something
public, and government would decide who gets the funding
and thus, the idea of finance in the public sector was going
to be pretty much what it is in China. You create bank credit
in order to finance capital investment in factories. It means
the production of machinery, agricultural modernization, of
transport, infrastructure of high-speed trains of ports and
all of that.
But in the US & UK, you have finance becoming something
completely different. Banks don’t lend money to factories.
They don’t want money to make the means of production.
They make money to take over other assets. 80% of bank
loans are mortgage loans to transfer the ownership of
real estate. And of course that’s what created a
middle class in the US.
The middle class was able to buy its own housing, it didn’t
have to pay rent to landlords or absentee owners or war-
lords and their descendants in England and Europe.
They could buy their own. What nobody realized is
that if you borrow the money to take a mortgage,
there’s still an economic rental value that is not
paid to the landlords. It’s paid to the banks.
And so, in the Western civilizations in
America and Europe, the banks have
played the role that the landlords
played a hundred years ago.
And just as the landlord is trying to do everything they can
through the House of Lords in England & the upper houses
of government in Europe, they’re trying to block any kind of
democratic government. And the fight really, is against
governments that will do anything that isn't controlled
by the 1 percent, by the banks. Essentially the merger
between finance insurance and real estate; the FIRE
sector. So, you have almost a relapse of capitalism
in the West back into feudalism, but feudalism with
a financialized twist, much more than it was in
medieval times.
The fight against China, the fear of China is that you can’t do
to China, what you did to Russia. America would love for
there to be a [former Russian President Boris] Yeltsin
figure in China to say, just give all the railroads that
you’ve built, the high-speed rail, the wealth, all the
factories to individuals. And let the individuals run
everything and, then we’ll lend them the money,
or we’ll buy them out and then we can control
them financially.
And China’s not letting that happen. & Russia stopped that
from happening. And the fury in the West is that somehow,
the American financial system is unable to take over
foreign resources, foreign agriculture. It is left only
with military means of grabbing them, as we are
seeing in the near East. And you’re it seeing
in the Ukraine, right now.
Pepe Escobar: Well, as an introduction, Michael that was
perfect because now we have the overall framework -
geo-economic and historically - at least for the past
70 years.
I have a series of questions for you. I was saving one of these
for the end, but I think I should start really the Metallica way.
Let’s go heavy metal for a start, right?
So considering what you describe as a new kind of imperialism
and the fact that this sort of extended free lunch cannot apply
anymore because sovereigns around the world, especially
Russia and China, I tried to formulate the idea that there are
only three real sovereign powers on the planet, apart from
the hegemon; Russia, China, and Iran, these three, which
happen to be the main hub and the main focus of not only
the New Silk Roads but of the Eurasia integration process,
they are actively working for some sort of change of the
rules that predominated for the past 70 years.
So my first question to you would be, do you see any realistic
possibility of a, sort of a Bretton Woods 2.0, which would
imply the end of the dollar hegemony as we know it, and
petrodollar recycling on and on and on, with the very
important presence of that oily hacienda in the lands
of Arabia. Do you think this is possible considering
President [Vladimir] Putin himself - only a few days
ago reiterated once again that the US is no longer
agreement-capable? So that destroys already the
possibility of the emergence of the new rules of
the game. But do you think this is still
realistically possible?
Michael: I certainly do not see any repetition of a Bretton Woods
because as I described in Super Imperialism, the whole of
Bretton Woods was designed to make American control
over Britain, over Europe total. Bretton Woods was a U.S.
-centered system to prevent England from maintaining
its empire. That’s okay. To prevent France from maint-
aining its empire --- and for America to take over the
sterling area and, essentially, with the World Bank,
stop other countries from becoming independent
and feeding themselves --- to make sure that they
supported plantation agriculture, not land reform.
The one single fight of the World Bank was to
prevent land reform and to make sure that
America and foreign investors, would take
over the agriculture of these countries.
And often, people think of capitalism, certainly in the sense
that Marx described in Volume One, is exploitation of wage
labour by employers. But capitalism also is appropriation
of land rent, agricultural rent, natural resource rent, oil
and mineral rent. And the idea of Bretton Woods was to
make sure that other countries couldn't impose capital
controls or prevent US finance from coming in and
appropriating their resources, of making loans to
foreign governments so that governments would
not create their own money to promote their own
social development, but would have to borrow
from the World Bank & IMF, that essentially
meant from the Pentagon and the State
Department, in U.S. dollars.
And they would dollarize their economies and the economies
would all be sucked. The economic rents from oil, agriculture,
mining would all be sucked into the United States. That kind
of Bretton Woods cannot be done again. And since Bretton
Woods was an idea of centralizing the world’s economic
surplus in a single country, the United States, no, that
can never be done again.
What is happening? You mentioned the world of free lunch,
and that’s what was a theme of Super Imperialism, when
America issues dollars, for these all end up in central
banks and they hold the dollars as a surplus. That
means what can they do? All they can do is really
lend them to the US. The US got a free lunch. It
could spend and spend on its military, on
bumping up corporate takeovers of other
countries. The dollars have come in, and
foreign countries couldn’t cash them in
for gold. They had nothing to cash them
into. All they could do, is finance the US
budget deficit, by buying Treasury bills.
That’s the irony now, what has happened in the last few years
in the fight against Russia and China is America has killed the
free lunch because it said, okay, now we’re going to have
sanctions against Russia and China. We’re going to all of
a sudden grab whatever money you have in foreign banks
like we grabbed Venezuela’s money. Let’s go, we’re going
to excommunicate you from the bank clearing system. So
you can’t use banking. We’re going to put sanctions
against banks that deal with you.
So obviously Russia and China said, okay, we can’t deal with
the dollar anymore, because the US just creamed them. And
if we do have dollars, we’re just going to hold everything in
reserves * lending to the US, the dollars that it’s going to
spend building more military bases around us to make us
waste our money on monetary spending. And so America
itself by the way, in fighting against China and Russia,
has ended the free lunch.
“In America you’ve had since 1980 something entirely different.
That was not foreseen by anybody because it seemed to be
so disruptive.”
And now, Russia and China as you pointed out, are de-dollarizing,
they’re trading in each other’s currency. They’re being the exact
opposite of everything that Bretton Woods tried to create. They
are trying to create independence from the United States.
If Bretton Woods is this dependence on the US, a centralized
system dependent ultimately on Wall Street financial planners
then, what China & Russia are trying to create is an economy
that’s not run by the financial sector, but it is run by, let’s say,
industrial and economic engineering and saying, what kind
of an economy do we need in order to raise living standards
& wages and self-sufficiency and preserve the environment,
what is needed for the ideal world that we want?
Well, in order to do that, you’re going to have to have a lot of
infrastructure. And in America, infrastructure is all privatized.
You have to make a profit. And once you have infrastructure,
a railroad or electric utility, like you see in Texas recently, it’s
a monopoly. Infrastructure, for 5,000 years, Europe, the near
East, Asia was always kept in the public domain that goes, if
you give it to private owners, they’ll charge a monopoly rent.
Well, the idea that China has is, “OK, we’re going to provide
the educational system freely and let everybody try to get
an education.” In America if you have an education, you
have to go into debt for the banks for between $50,000
and $200,000. And whatever you make you’re going to
end up paying the bank while in China, if you give free
education, the money that they earned from education
will be spent into the economy, buying the goods and
services that they produce, and the economy will be
expanding, not shrinking, not having it all sucked out
into the financial banks financing your education,
same thing with railroads, same things with
healthcare.
If you provide healthcare freely then the employers do not
have to pay for the healthcare because that’s provided free.
In the United States, if the corporation and the employees
have to pay for healthcare, that means that the employees
have to be paid a much higher wage in order to afford the
healthcare, in order to afford the transportation that gets
him to work, in order to afford the auto loans, in order to
drive to work, all of this is free, or subsidized in other
countries, who create their own credit.
In the United States and Europe, governments feel that they
have to borrow from the wealthy people in a bond and pay
interest. In China they say, “we don’t have to borrow from
a wealthy class. We can simply print the money.” That’s
Modern Monetary Theory. As Donald Trump explained in
the United States, we can print whatever we want. Dick
Cheney said, deficits don’t matter. We can just print it.
And of course, Stephanie Kelton and my colleagues
in MMT at Kansas City, for many years, have
been saying.
“The economy has been saturated & Reaganized and
the result is, a fight of economic systems against
China and Russia.”
The banks fear this because they say, “Wait a minute, Modern
Monetary Theory means it’s not feudal monetary theory. We
want feudal monetary theory. We want the rich people to be
able to have a choke point on the economy that you can’t
survive unless you borrow from us and pay us interest.
We want the choke points.” That’s called economic rent.
So, you have the West turning into a rent-extractive economy,
a rent-seeking economy. And you’ll have the whole ideal of
Russia, China, and other countries, being the ideal of not
only Marx, but Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Ricardo. The
whole of classical economics was to free economies from
economic rent. & the US economy is all about extracting
rent through the real estate sector, the financial sector,
the health insurance sector, the monopolies and the
infrastructure sector.
The economy has been saturated and Reaganized and the
result is a fight of economic systems against China and
Russia. So, it’s not simply that, there’s a fight between
who makes the best computer chips and iPhones. It’s:
are we going to have a fallback of civilization back to
feudalism, back into control by a narrow class at the
top of the economy, that 1 percent? Or are we going
to have the ideal of democratic industrialization that
used to be called socialism - but it was also called
capitalism. Industrial capitalism was socialism; it
was socialized medicine, it was socialized infra-
structure, it was socialized schooling. And so,
the fight against socialism is a fight against
industrial capitalism, a fight against
democracy, a fight against
prosperity.
That’s why what you’re seeing now is a fight for what
direction civilization will go into. And you can’t have
a Bretton Woods for a single kind of organization...
because the US would never join that civilization.
The US calls a country trying to make its labour
force prosperous, educated and healthy,
instead of sick with shorter lifespans,
they call it communism or socialism.
Well, it can call it whatever it wants, but
that’s the dynamic we are talking about.
Pepe: Well, you put it very, I would say starkly. Opposition
between 2 completely different systems, what the Chinese
are proposing, including, from productive capitalism to
trade and investment all across Eurasia and beyond,
including Africa, parts of Latin America as well. And
the rentier obsession of the 0.01 percent that
controls the U.S. financial system. In terms of
facts on the ground, are we going slowly but
surely and ominously, towards an absolute
divorce --- by a system based on rentier,
ultra-financialization, which is the US's
system and not productive capitalism
at all.
I was going through a small list of what the U.S. exports, it’s
not much as you know, better than I do. Agricultural products
but always privileging U.S. farmers. Hollywood, we are all
hostages of Hollywood all over the world. Pop culture?
That’s not the pop culture that used to be absolutely
impregnable and omniscient during the ‘60s, the 70s,
during the Madonna, Michael Jackson era in the ‘80s,
right? Infotech. And that’s where a big bet comes in.
And this is maybe the most important US export at
the moment because American Big Tech controls
social networks all over the planet. Big Pharma.
Now we see the power of Big Pharma with the
whole Covid operations, right? But Boeing
prefers to invest in financial engineering
instead of building decent products.
Right?
So, in terms of a major superpower, the hyperpower, that’s
not much, and obviously buyers all over the world already
noticed that. So, China is proposing the New Silk Roads,
which is a foreign-policy strategy, & a trade, investment
and sustainable development strategy. [It’s] applied not
only to the whole of Eurasia, but Eurasia and beyond to
grow a great deal of the Global South and that’s why we
have Global South partners to the New Silk Roads —
130-and-counting as we speak.
So, the dichotomy could not be clearer. What will the 0.001
percent do? Because they don’t have anything seductive
to sell. To all those nations in the Global South to start
with; the new version of the Non-Aligned Movement,
NAM, the countries that are already part of New Silk
Road projects, not even to Europe and this, we
could see by the end of last year when the
China-European Union agreement... was
more or less sealed. It’s probably going
to be sealed in 2021 for good.
And at the same time, we had the Regional Economic
Comprehensive Partnership, RCEP, with the ASEAN
10, my neighbours here, the Association of South
East Asian Nations, China, Japan, South Korea,
Australia, and New Zealand. So, when you have
the China-EU deal, and when you have RCEP,
you have China as the number one trade
partner on the planet, no competition
whatsoever.
And obviously every one of these players wants to do
business with China. And they’re privileging doing
business with China to doing business with the
U.S., especially with a country that once again,
according to President Putin, is non-agreement
capable. So, Michael, what is your key geo-
economic view of the next steps? Are we
going towards a divorce of the American
financialization system and the Eurasia-
and-beyond integration system?
Michael: Well, you have made the whole point clear.
There is incompatibility between a rentier society
controlled by the finance and real estate interests
& military interests - and an industrial democracy.
Industry in England and Europe in the 19th century — the
whole fight for democratic reform to increase the role of
the House of Commons against the House of Lords in
England and the lower house in Europe — was a fight
to get labour on the side of industry [and] to get rid
of the landlord class. And it was expected that …
capitalism [would then be] free of the landlord
class, free of something that wasn’t really
capitalism at all, it was a carry-over from
feudalism. Once you free capitalism, you
wouldn’t have this overhead of the idle
1 percent, only consuming resources
and going to war, anymore.
And then World War I changed all of that . … Already, in the
late 19th century, the landlords and the banks fought back,
and they fought back largely through the Austrian School
of individualism and the English marginalists and they
called it freedom. They call it free markets. Free
market meant giving power to monopolists,
to oppressors, to violence. A free market
was where armies can come, take your
country, impose client dictatorships like
[Gen. Augusto] Pinochet in Chile or the
neo-Nazis in the Ukraine. And you call
that, a free market.
The free world was a world centrally planned by the US
military & finance, together. So, it’s Orwellian, and the
dynamic of this world is shrinking since it’s polarizing
- and you’ve seen with the Covid pandemic in the US -
the economy has polarized much more sharply than
ever before between the 1%, the 10% and the rest
of the economy.
Well, as opposed to that here, you have economies that are
not run by a rentier class, that don't have a banking class
and the landlord class controlling the economy, but a
partnership. The kind of thing you had in Germany in
the late 19th century, government industry & labour
all working together to design how we provide the
financing for industry, so that it can provide, not
only industrial capital formation, but public
funding for us to build infrastructure and
uplift the population.
What China is doing is what made America rich in the 19th
century, what made Germany rich. It’s exactly the same
logical engineering plan. Now, this plan, because it’s
based on economic expansion, and environmental
preservation and economic balance instead of on
concentration, this is going to be a growing
economy. So, you are having a growing
economy outside of the USt - and a
shrinking economy in the States
and its satellites in Europe.
Europe had a choice; either it could shrink, and be American,
or it could join the growth. Europe has decided unanimously,
we don’t want to grow. We want to be constant. We want our
banks to take over just like in America. That’s a free market
because Americans have found out, and I’m told by US
officials we just buy the European politicians, they’re
bribable. That’s why when president Putin says,
America and Europe are not agreement capable,
it means they’re just in it for the money. There
is no ideology there. There is no idea of the
overall social benefit. The system is “how
can I get rich, and you can get rich, by
being bribed?” That’s why you go into
politics. As you can tell in the US with
the Supreme Court's law saying that
politics can be personally financed.
So, you’re having two incompatible systems and, they’re
on different trajectories & if you have a system that is
shrinking, like the West, and growing in the East, you
have resentment. People who obtain their wealth in
crooked ways, or without working - by inheritance,
by crime, by exploitation - they will fight like any-
thing to keep that. Whereas people who actually
create wealth, labour, capital, they, they’re not
willing to fight, they just want to be creative.
So you have a destructive military force, in
the West... And a productive, economic
growth force. And in Eurasia, the clash
now is occurring largely in Ukraine.
You’re having the US back the
neo-Nazis.
Pepe: The old Nazi movement!
Michael: It’s the same swastika-carrying group that threatened
Russia in World War II. And this is like waving a red flag before
a bull. Putin continues to remind the Russians. We know what
happened with the 22 million Russians that died in World War II
with Europe coming in. We’re not going to let it happen again.
And you can be certain Russia is not going to be sucked into
invading the Ukraine. The US has its military advisers in the
Ukraine. Now, the Vineyard of the Saker has a very good
report on that. America’s trying to needle Russia into
fighting back against the terrorist groups and Russia
has no desire at all to. There’s nothing that Russia
has to gain by taking it over. It’s essentially a
bankrupt country.
The US is trying to provoke a response so it can say Russia
is attacking the West. The result will probably be, that
Russia will simply provide arms to the E. Ukrainians
to fight back the invasion. And you’re going to have
a waste-land in Western Ukraine and Poland. And
this wasteland will be a new buffer state with
Europe. Already you have, maybe, 10% of the
Ukrainians having moved to Russia and the
east. 10% are now plumbers in England
and Europe, working.
They are beginning to look like Latvia, and all the other
neo-liberalized countries. Neo-liberalized countries? If
you want to see the future, look at Latvia and Estonia.
Look at Greece. That’s the American plan. Essentially,
an emigration of skilled labour, a sharp reduction of
living standards, a 20 percent decline in population.
And although it may appear to have more income,
all of this income and GDP is essentially interest
collection and rents to the FIRE sector.
All US GDP growth is essentially payment to the bank, to
the landlords and the monopolist, it’s not the population -
employees aren't sharing in the GDP. It’s all concentrated
at the top. They make a desert, and they call it growth.
It hasn’t changed. Rome was a predatory economy held by
military force that ultimately collapsed and the US is on the
same trajectory as Rome. And it knows this, I have spoken
to US policymakers & they say, “you know, we’re going to
be dead by then. It doesn’t matter if the West loses.
I’m going to be rich. I’m going to buy a farm in New
Zealand, and make a big bomb shelter there, and
live underground, you know, like a cave dweller.”
The financial time frame * the predatory rentier time frame
is short term. The Eurasian time frame, is long-term. So,
you’ve got to have the short-term burning what wealth
it has, as opposed to the longer-term building up.
[Consider the Biden Covid relief measure.] They call it a stimulus
bill, but if you’re starving, if you haven’t been able to pay your
rent, if you’re six months behind in your rent and you get
enough money to pay the landlord, at least one month
back rent, that’s not a stimulus, that’s a survival. And
it’s a one-time payment. This kind of stimulus checks
that America’s sending out are sent out every month
in Germany and parts of Europe.
The whole idea in Europe is: OK, you have a pandemic, you
have business interrupted. What we’re going to do is we’re
going to have a pause. You don’t pay the rent, but the land-
lords are not going to pay the banks. And the banks are
not going to be in arrears. We’re just going to have a
pause so that when it’s all over people will go back
to normal. Well... China and Russia are already
pretty much there and where you are [in Asia],
and especially in Thailand, are already back
to normal.
But in America anybody who’s renting or who’s bought a
house on mortgage credit or who has credit card debt or
personal debt or automobile debt they’re way behind.
And all of these stimulus checks are just being used
to pay the banks and the landlords - not to buy more
goods and services.
All they’re trying to do is, is get out of the hole they’ve dug
in the last 12 months. That’s not a stimulus that’s a partial,
desperation payment. This problem never existed in other
civilizations. You have the whole tradition of Greece and
Babylonia --- that’s what my book Forgiving the Debt is
all about. The whole idea is, when there's an economic
interruption, you have an interruption, you don’t have
people going into debt. You wipe out all the arrears
that have mounted up. You wipe out the tax arrears,
the rent arrears, the debt of payment arrears. So,
once the crisis is over, you can start from a
normal position again.
There’s no normalization in the US, there’s no normal position
to start. You’re starting from a position, even more behind the
financial problems than you were when you went in. The
foreign economies of China and Russia don’t have that
kind of problem, they don’t have any kind of deficit. So,
the West is beginning with 99% of the population
deeper and deeper into debt to the 1 percent.
Where is that whole polarization between the 1% and the
99 %? It doesn’t exist, certainly in China and in Russia,
Putin is trying to minimize it, given the legacy of kleptocracy
that the neo-liberals put in, he’s still trying to deal with that,
but you really have that. It’s a difference in economic
systems, and the direction in which these systems
are moving in.
Pepe: I’m really glad that you brought up Ukraine, Michael,
because this, let’s say U.S. foreign policy, even before
Trump and now with the Biden-Harris administration,
basically more or less what it boils down to, is
sanctions, sanctions, sanctions, as we know,
and provocations --- which is what they’re
doing, certainly, in Syria with that
recent bombing.
In the case of Ukraine & Donbass, it’s absolutely crazy
because NATO so-called strategists, when you talk to
them in Brussels, they know very, very well, about
each state or whatever they weaponize and
financialize, to profit Kiev to mount some
sort of offensive against the Donbass:
and even if they would have l,300,000
soldiers against 30,000 in Donbass.
If the Russians see that this is going to get really heavy if they
intervene directly with their bombing, with their super missiles,
they could finish this story in one day. And if they want it, they
could finish the whole story, including invading Ukraine, in
three days, like they did in 2008 with Georgia, and still they
keep the provocations, loosely acted on by people from
inside the Pentagon.
And so, we have sanctions, we have nonstop provocations, and
we have also a sort of introducing a Fifth Column — elements
inside or at the top of government — which brings me to, and
I would love to have your personal analysis on the role of
Mario (Goldman Sachs) Draghi now in Italy, which is
something I had been discussing with my Italian
friends. And, there’s more or less a consensus,
among very well informed, independent Italian
analysts that Draghi may be a perfect Trojan
horse to accelerate the destruction of the
Italian state, which will accelerate the
globalist project of the European
Union, which is absolutely non-
state centric.
Let’s put it this way, which is also part of the Great Reset,
so, if you could briefly talk to us about the role of Super
Mario at the moment.
Michael: Well, Italy is a very good example to look at. It had
strings for a long time. When you have a country that needs
infrastructure, plus public, social democratic spending...
you need a government to create the credit. But when the
US and specifically the University of Chicago free market
lobbyists created the the Eurozone financial system, their
premise was that governments cannot create money. Only
banks can create money. Only banks owned by the bond
holders can create money for the benefit of their owners
and bond holders. So, no European government, first of
all, can run a budget deficit sufficient to cope with the
coronavirus or with the problems that have been
plaguing Italy for a decade.
They can’t create their money to revive employment, to revive
infrastructure, to revive the economy. The European Central
Bank only lends to other central banks.
It’s created trillions of euros just to buy stocks and bonds, not
to spend into the economy, not to hire labor, not to build infra-
structure, but just for the holders of the stocks and bonds.
The 1% or 5% of the population gets richer. The function of
the European Central Bank is to create money, to save the
wealthiest 5% from losing a single penny on their stocks
and bonds.
And the cost is to impoverish the economy and to basically
make the economy end up looking like Greece, which was
sort of, the dress rehearsal for how the Eurozone was
going to just essentially reduce Europe to debt
dependency, just like in feudalism, everybody
had to have access to the land by becoming
a serf.
Well now you’re in debt peonage. It’s the modern, finance
capital’s version of serfdom. And so, in Italy we’re going
to need government spending. We are going to need to
do in our way what China’s doing in its way and what
Russia is doing in its way. We’re going to have some
kind of government program. And we can’t have the
economy being impoverished, just because the
University of Chicago has designed a plan for
Europe to prevent the euro ever from being
a rival to the U.S. dollar.
If there’s no European central bank to borrow,
to pump euros into the world economy, then,
only dollars will be left for central bank
reserves.
The United States doesn’t ever want a rival. It wants satellites
and so that’s what it’s basically turned Europe into. And I do
not see any response outside of Italy for an attempt to say
we can’t be a part of this system. Let’s withdraw from
the euro.
I know that the Greeks, when I was in Greece years ago, we all
thought can’t we join with Italy and Portugal and Ireland and
say look, the system isn’t working. Everybody else no, no,
the Americans will just simply get us out of office one way
or another.
And in Italy, of course, if you look at what happened after World
War II, the great threat was Italian communism. You had the
Americans essentially say well, we know the answer to
communism, it’s fascism, and, you saw where they put
the money. They essentially did every dirty trick in the
book in order to fight any left- wing group in Italy, just
as they did in Yugoslavia, just as they did in Greece,
wiping out the partisans, all the leading anti-Nazi
groups from Greece to Italy to elsewhere. All of
a sudden, they were all either assassinated or
moved out of office and replaced by the very
people that the US had been fighting against
during World War II.
Well, now Italy is finally coming to terms with this and trying
to fight back and you’re having what’s happening there,
between Northern Italy and Southern Italy. You’re
having the same splits occur in other countries.
Pepe: Yeah. Well, I’m going to bring up, perhaps an even more
extreme case now Michael, which is the case of Brazil, which
at the moment is in the middle of an absolutely out of this
world mix of telenovela and Kabuki theater that even for
most Brazilians is absolutely incomprehensible. It’s like
a fragmentation bomb exploding over and over again,
a Groundhog Day of fragmentation bombs.
In fact, it’s completely crazy. Lula [former President Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva] is back in the picture as well. We still don’t know
under which terms, we still don’t know how the guys who run
the show, which are the Brazilian military, are going to deal
with him or instrumentalize him, et cetera.
I bring up this case because …essentially it has convulsed
Brazil completely and large parts of Latin America. It is a
telenovela with one cliffhanger after another, sometimes
in a matter of minutes, but it encompasses all the basic
themes of what really interests the 0.01 percent, which
we can identify as a class war against labour which is
what the system in Brazil, since the coup against the
Former President Dilma Rousseff has been waging.
A war on mixed economies, economic sovereignty,
which is something that the Masters of the Universe
of the 0.01 percent cannot wage against Russia and
China. But that was very successfully waged against
Brazil and implemented in Brazil. In fact, in a matter
of 2 years, they completely devastated the country
in every possible sense, industrially,
sociologically, you name it…
And of course, because the main objective is something that
you keep stressing over and over again, unipolar rentier
dominance, in fact.
Brazil, I would say is the extreme case in the world not only in
the Global South, but in planetary terms of let’s say the last
frontier of the rentier economy, when you manage to capture
a country that was slowly emerging as a leader in the Global
South, as an economic leader. Don’t forget that a few years
ago, Brazil was the sixth-largest economy in the world and
on the way to become the fifth. Now it’s the 12th and falling
down nonstop and controlled by a mafia that includes not
by accident, a Chicago Boy Pinochetista, Minister Paulo
Guedes, who is implementing, in the 21st century,
something that was implemented in Chile in the
‘70s and ‘80s. And they were successful.
Apparently, at least so far.
Brazil is so disorganized as a nation, so shattered, so fragmented
& atomized as a nation that it depends on the re-emergence of a
single political leader, in this case Lula to try to rebuild the nation
from scratch. And even in a position where he cannot control the
game he can interfere in the game, which is what happened, like
you know, … when he gave a larger-than-life press conference,
mixed with a representation of himself as a statesman and said,
“Look the whole thing is shattered, but there is some light at
the end of the tunnel.”
But still, he cannot confront the real Masters of the Universe that
have allowed this to happen in the first place. So just to give an
example to many of you who are not familiar with some details
of the Brazilian case, and it involves directly the Obama-Biden
scheme or the Obama-Biden larger operation. When Biden was
vice president in 2013, in May 2013, he visited Brazil for three
days and he met with President Dilma.
They discussed very touchy subjects, including the most important
one, the absolutely enormous, pre-salt oil reserves, which obviously,
the Americans wanted to be part of the whole thing, not by accident.
You know what happened one week later? The start of the Brazilian
colour revolution, and this thing kept rolling and rolling and rolling.
We got the coup against Dilma in 2016, we got to the Car Wash
operation landing Lula in jail. And we got to the election of
[President Jair] Bolsanaro. And now we are in a place where
even if the military controls this whole process, even if
Bolsanaro is becoming bad for business will he become
bad for the rentier class business, for the 0.01 percent in
the U.S. that has all the connections in their new, large
neo-colony in the tropics, which has enormous
strategic value, not to mention, unforeseen
resources, wealth resources, right?
So, this is an extreme case - and I know you follow Brazil
relatively closely. So, your geo-economic and geopolitical
input on the running telenovela I think would be priceless
for all of us.
Michael: Well, this problem goes back 60 years. In 1965, the
former president of Brazil came to New York and we met. He
explained to me how the United States essentially got rid of
him because he wasn’t representing the banking class. And
he said that they built Brasilia because it’s apart from the big
industrial cities, they wanted to prevent industry and
democracy and the population from controlling
the government.
So, they built Brasilia. He said maybe they’ll use it as an atom
bomb site. It certainly doesn’t have an economic thing. Well,
fast forward, in 1980, after Mexico defaulted on its foreign
debt in 1972, nobody would invest in Latin America. And
by 1990, Brazil was paying 45 % interest per year to
borrow the dollars to be able to finance its deficit,
which is mainly flight capital by the wealthy.
Well I think I’d mentioned before, I was hired by Scudder,
Stevens and Clark for the Third World bond fund. 45%:
I mean, just imagine that. It’s a fortune every year. No
American would buy it, no European would buy it. Who
bought it? The Brazilians and Argentineans bought it,
& I get it, they’re the government, they’re the central
bankers. They’re the president’s family. They’re the
1 percent, they’re the only people that are holding
Brazil’s dollar debt.
So when Brazil pays its foreign dollar debt, it’s paying to its own
1 percent who are holding, who are saying well, we’re holding it
off shore in the Dutch West Indies where the fund was located
for tax-exempt purposes and pretending to be American
imperialists, but actually being local imperialists.
Well then, just towards the end of Lula’s reign, the Council of
Economic Advisors brought Jamie Galbraith and Randy Wray
and me down for a discussion. How do we, you know, we’re,
we’re really worried because, Lula in order to get elected,
had to meet with the banks and agree to give them what
they wanted.
They said, look, we can see that, you know, you have the power
to be elected. We don’t want to have to fight you in dirty ways,
but will let you be elected, but you’re going to have to do the
policies and certainly the financial policies that we want and
Lula made a kind of a devil’s agreement with them because
he didn’t want to be killed and he wanted to do some
good things.
So, he was sort of like a Bernie Sanders-type character. Okay,
you have to go along with a really bad system in order to get
something good done, because Brazil really needs something
good done. Well, the fact is that even the little bit he did the
finance couldn’t take because one of the characteristics of
financial wealth is it’s addictive. It’s not like diminishing
marginal utility. If you give more food to an employee or
to a worker you know, at the end of the meal, you’re
satiated, you don’t want much more. If you give
enough money you know, OK, they buy a few
luxuries and then, OK, they save it. But if you
give more money to a billionaire they want
even more... and they grow... even more
desperate. It’s like a cocaine-addicted
person and the Brazilian ruling class
wanted it so desperately that they
framed up and controlled the
utterly corrupt judiciary.
The judiciary in Brazil is almost as
corrupt as it is in New York City.
Pepe: More, even more.
Michael: They framed them up and they want totalitarian control.
And that sort of is what free market is. Totalitarian control by the
financial class. That’s freedom for the financial class, if the
freedom to do what they want to do to the rest of the
economy, that’s libertarianism, it’s a free market,
it’s Austrian economics.
It’s the right wing’s fight against government, it’s a fight against
any governments for long enough who resist the financial and
real estate interests. That’s what the free market is. And Brazil
is merely the most devastating example of this because it
takes such a racial term there. Not only does Brazil want
to make a fortune, tearing down the Amazon, cutting up
the Amazon, selling the lumber to China, turning the
Amazon into soy production to sell to China. But for
that, you have to kill off the domestic population,
the indigenous population that wants to use land
to feed itself. So you see the kind of race war &
ethnic war that you have, not to mention the
war against blacks in the Brazilian slums -
that Lula tried so much to overcome.
So you have a resumption of the ethnic war there, and on Wall
Street, I had discussions with money managers back in 1990.
Well I wonder whether that’s going to be a model for what’s
happening in the United States with the ethnic war here.
Essentially, it’s a tragedy what’s happening in Brazil, but it’s
pretty much what happened in Chile under Pinochet which
is why they have the Pinochetistas and the Chicago boys
that you mentioned.
Pepe: Absolutely. Coming back to China, Michael, and the
[recent] approval of the 5-Year Plan, which isn't actually
the 5-year plan. It’s actually three 5-year plans in one
because they are already planning 2035, which is
something absolutely unimaginable anywhere
in the West. Right?
So, it’s a different strategy of productive investment, of the
expansion of social welfare and solidifying social welfare,
technological improvements. I would say by 2025 China
will be very close to the same infotech level of the U.S.,
This is part of “Made in China 2025,” which is fantastic.
They stopped talking about it, but they're still implement-
ing it, the technological drive in all those standard areas
that they had codified a few years ago. And of course,
this notion, which I found particularly fascinating
because it is, in one sense, socialism with some
Confucianist elements, but is also very Taoist:
The dual development strategy, which is
inversions and expansion of domestic
investment and consumption and the
balancing all the time with projects
across Eurasia, not only affiliated
with the Belt and Road, with the
New Silk Road, but all other
projects as well.
So, when you have a leadership that is capable of planning
with this scope, amplitude breadth and reach, and when we
compare it to the money managers in the West, which
basically their planning goes, not even quarterly in
many cases, it’s 24 hours.
So our dichotomy between rentier capitalism, financialization,
or whatever we want to define it, and state planning with the
view of social benefit is even starker in fact, and I’m not
saying that the Chinese system can be exported to the
rest of the world, but I’m sure that, all across the Global
South, when people look at Chinese policies, long-term,
how they are planning, how they are developed and how
they are always fine tuning what they developed and
discuss…. As you said in the beginning, this is a
frontal shock of two systems and sooner or later
we’re going to have the bulk of the Global South
including nations which nowadays are still
American vassals or satrapies or puppets
or poodles, et cetera.
They’re going to see which way the wind is blowing. Right?
Michael: Why can’t the Chinese system be exported to the West?
That’s a good question…. How would you make US industry able
to follow the same productive path that China did? Well for one
thing the biggest element in workers’ budget today is housing,
40 percent. There was one way to get rid of it, get rid of the
high housing prices that essentially, or whatever a bank
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