T
the patriot
Guest
February 25, 2001
Spy case shows Cold War never really ended
By Eric Margolis -- Sun Media Newspapers
SAN FRANCISCO - President Zia ul-Haq of Pakistan took a slim, blue-bound volume off a shelf in his study and handed it to me.
"Here, this was just given to me by the Soviet ambassador. It contains a summary of Soviet foreign policy," Zia said. "The ambassador told me, ‘Your Excellency, American foreign policy is constantly changing. Americans are undependable allies. Russian and Soviet policy never changes. Read this book 15 or 50 years from now and our policy will be the same as today, no matter who rules in Moscow.‘ "
That was 15 years ago. Since then, Zia was murdered, probably by the Soviet KGB, the Soviet Empire collapsed, the Cold War officially ended and the world entered a new era of co-operation and harmony. Or so most Americans believe.
Last week‘s accusations of espionage against a senior FBI agent, Philip Hanssen, shocked the U.S. and produced the universal response, "But I thought the Cold War was over."
Hardly. Since 1991, operations by SVR, Russia‘s foreign intelligence agency (formerly the KGB) have increased 50 per cent in North America and Europe. Moscow Centre scored a remarkable coup by placing two spies, Aldrich Ames and Philip Hanssen, at the very nerve centre of both the CIA and FBI. Each was able to provide enormous amounts of top-secret data, confirm the validity of the other‘s information, unmask western agents in Russia and sabotage U.S. counter-intelligence operations.
Russia reportedly executed at least 11 U.S. agents exposed by Ames and Hanssen. Moscow Centre, in spite of a far smaller budget than the CIA, scored a grand slam.
But there is nothing novel or shocking about this triumph. Americans are being naive if they believe spying and the U.S.-Russian rivalry is a thing of the past.
In a recent poll, Americans were asked to rate the greatest threat to their nation. Thirty-six per cent named China while 15 per cent cited Iraq. Amazingly, only eight per cent named Russia. China has only a handful of primitive inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) pointed at the United States. Iraq‘s military forces are about equal to Romania‘s during the First World War and, contrary to propaganda, have zero offensive capability. By contrast, Russia has thousands of nuclear warheads targeted on the U.S. and is modernizing its sea- and land-based ICBMs.
During the Bill Clinton era, Russia was portrayed as a friendly power, or even ally, by the White House and much of North America‘s media. Boris Yeltsin‘s "democratic" Russia was given $120 billionUS in western aid to keep the Communists at bay, withdraw the Red Army from Germany and Eastern Europe and allow the U.S. to keep bashing Iraq. Most of this money was stolen.
Under its new president, veteran KGB agent Vladimir Putin, Russia is quickly dropping its pretence of being an American partner and reverting to traditional national geopolitical interests. With the Kremlin firmly in the hands of KGB young turks and the military, Moscow is flexing its muscles, particularly across the expanse of the former Soviet Union.
In the Caucasus, Moscow is waging a second brutal, criminal war against the Chechen. The Russians are arming Armenia while destabilizing Georgia and Azerbaijan. Independence movements in Ingushetia and Dagestan have been crushed. In Central Asia, 25,000 Russian troops are battling Muslim insurgents in Tajikistan. KGB security forces keep the Communist rulers of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgystan in power.
Moscow is accelerating support for its long-time henchman in war-torn Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Massoud, sending him arms, money, troops and advisers. Russia appears determined to reassert its influence over Afghanistan, where it was defeated a decade ago. Moscow also has revived its old Cold War strategic alliance with India, providing Delhi with billions in bargain-priced arms and with missile and nuclear weapons technology. Russia is helping Indian scientists develop an ICBM that will eventually be able to hit North America and is selling arms to China to counter American Pacific forces.
In Europe, Russia continues to back Serbia with oil, arms and money, to destabilize Ukraine and to intimidate the tiny Baltic states and East Europe‘s new NATO members. The KGB is especially active in Ukraine and Poland, sowing political unrest and preparing for a return of Russian power.
But all of this is natural. Russia is merely returning to its usual habits after 10 years of temporary political coma and rampant gangsterism under Yeltsin. Putin has made clear his intention to rebuild Russia‘s military and political power and restore his rundown nation to its former greatness. As this column has been saying for a decade, it is Russia‘s manifest geopolitical destiny to keep expanding its spheres of interest into Eastern Europe, the Baltic, Mideast, South Asia and North Asia and to inevitably clash with its natural superpower foe, the United States and its regional allies.
Russia and the United States, as was said of the late British Empire, have no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests. The great Russia-U.S. rivalry we called the Cold War did not end. It was merely suspended for 10 years and is now returning with renewed vigour. The words and faces are different, but the song remains the same.
Americans should not be surprised that Russians are acting like . . . Russians.
Eric Margolis is foreign affairs editor for Sun Media Newspapers.
**********************************************************************
-the patriot-
Spy case shows Cold War never really ended
By Eric Margolis -- Sun Media Newspapers
SAN FRANCISCO - President Zia ul-Haq of Pakistan took a slim, blue-bound volume off a shelf in his study and handed it to me.
"Here, this was just given to me by the Soviet ambassador. It contains a summary of Soviet foreign policy," Zia said. "The ambassador told me, ‘Your Excellency, American foreign policy is constantly changing. Americans are undependable allies. Russian and Soviet policy never changes. Read this book 15 or 50 years from now and our policy will be the same as today, no matter who rules in Moscow.‘ "
That was 15 years ago. Since then, Zia was murdered, probably by the Soviet KGB, the Soviet Empire collapsed, the Cold War officially ended and the world entered a new era of co-operation and harmony. Or so most Americans believe.
Last week‘s accusations of espionage against a senior FBI agent, Philip Hanssen, shocked the U.S. and produced the universal response, "But I thought the Cold War was over."
Hardly. Since 1991, operations by SVR, Russia‘s foreign intelligence agency (formerly the KGB) have increased 50 per cent in North America and Europe. Moscow Centre scored a remarkable coup by placing two spies, Aldrich Ames and Philip Hanssen, at the very nerve centre of both the CIA and FBI. Each was able to provide enormous amounts of top-secret data, confirm the validity of the other‘s information, unmask western agents in Russia and sabotage U.S. counter-intelligence operations.
Russia reportedly executed at least 11 U.S. agents exposed by Ames and Hanssen. Moscow Centre, in spite of a far smaller budget than the CIA, scored a grand slam.
But there is nothing novel or shocking about this triumph. Americans are being naive if they believe spying and the U.S.-Russian rivalry is a thing of the past.
In a recent poll, Americans were asked to rate the greatest threat to their nation. Thirty-six per cent named China while 15 per cent cited Iraq. Amazingly, only eight per cent named Russia. China has only a handful of primitive inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) pointed at the United States. Iraq‘s military forces are about equal to Romania‘s during the First World War and, contrary to propaganda, have zero offensive capability. By contrast, Russia has thousands of nuclear warheads targeted on the U.S. and is modernizing its sea- and land-based ICBMs.
During the Bill Clinton era, Russia was portrayed as a friendly power, or even ally, by the White House and much of North America‘s media. Boris Yeltsin‘s "democratic" Russia was given $120 billionUS in western aid to keep the Communists at bay, withdraw the Red Army from Germany and Eastern Europe and allow the U.S. to keep bashing Iraq. Most of this money was stolen.
Under its new president, veteran KGB agent Vladimir Putin, Russia is quickly dropping its pretence of being an American partner and reverting to traditional national geopolitical interests. With the Kremlin firmly in the hands of KGB young turks and the military, Moscow is flexing its muscles, particularly across the expanse of the former Soviet Union.
In the Caucasus, Moscow is waging a second brutal, criminal war against the Chechen. The Russians are arming Armenia while destabilizing Georgia and Azerbaijan. Independence movements in Ingushetia and Dagestan have been crushed. In Central Asia, 25,000 Russian troops are battling Muslim insurgents in Tajikistan. KGB security forces keep the Communist rulers of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgystan in power.
Moscow is accelerating support for its long-time henchman in war-torn Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Massoud, sending him arms, money, troops and advisers. Russia appears determined to reassert its influence over Afghanistan, where it was defeated a decade ago. Moscow also has revived its old Cold War strategic alliance with India, providing Delhi with billions in bargain-priced arms and with missile and nuclear weapons technology. Russia is helping Indian scientists develop an ICBM that will eventually be able to hit North America and is selling arms to China to counter American Pacific forces.
In Europe, Russia continues to back Serbia with oil, arms and money, to destabilize Ukraine and to intimidate the tiny Baltic states and East Europe‘s new NATO members. The KGB is especially active in Ukraine and Poland, sowing political unrest and preparing for a return of Russian power.
But all of this is natural. Russia is merely returning to its usual habits after 10 years of temporary political coma and rampant gangsterism under Yeltsin. Putin has made clear his intention to rebuild Russia‘s military and political power and restore his rundown nation to its former greatness. As this column has been saying for a decade, it is Russia‘s manifest geopolitical destiny to keep expanding its spheres of interest into Eastern Europe, the Baltic, Mideast, South Asia and North Asia and to inevitably clash with its natural superpower foe, the United States and its regional allies.
Russia and the United States, as was said of the late British Empire, have no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests. The great Russia-U.S. rivalry we called the Cold War did not end. It was merely suspended for 10 years and is now returning with renewed vigour. The words and faces are different, but the song remains the same.
Americans should not be surprised that Russians are acting like . . . Russians.
Eric Margolis is foreign affairs editor for Sun Media Newspapers.
**********************************************************************
-the patriot-
