Posted on 11/01/2004 4:34:15 PM PST by TapTheSource
September 20, 2004, 8:14 a.m. No Peter the Great Vladimir Putin is in the Andropov mold.
By Ion Mihai Pacepa
Vladimir Putin looks more and more like a heavy-handed imitation of Yuri Andropov — does anyone still remember him? Andropov was that other KGB chairman who rose all the way up to the Kremlin throne, and who was also once my de facto boss. Considering that Putin has inherited upwards of 6,000 suspected strategic nuclear weapons, this is frightening news.
Former KGB officers are now running Russia's government, just as they did during Andropov's reign, and the Kremlin's image — another Andropov specialty — continues to be more important than people's real lives in that still-inscrutable country. The government's recent catastrophic Beslan operation was a reenactment of the effort to "rescue" 2,000 people from Moscow's Dubrovka Theater, where the "new" KGB flooded the hall with fentanyl gas and caused the death of 129 hostages. No wonder Putin ordered Andropov's statue — which had been removed after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991 — reinstalled at the Lubyanka.
In the West, if Andropov is remembered at all, it is for his brutal suppression of political dissidence at home and for his role in planning the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia. By contrast, the leaders of the former Warsaw Pact intelligence community, when I was one of them, looked up to Andropov as the man who substituted the KGB for the Communist party in governing the Soviet Union, and who was the godfather of Russia's new era of deception operations aimed at improving the badly damaged image of Soviet rulers in the West.
In early 2000, President Putin divided Russia into seven "super" districts, each headed by a "presidential representative," and he gave five of these seven new posts to former KGB officers. Soon, his KGB colleagues occupied nearly 50 percent of the top government positions in Moscow. In a brief interview with Ted Koppel on Nightline, Putin admitted that he had stuffed the Kremlin with former KGB officers, but he said it was because he wanted to root out graft. "I have known them for many years and I trust them. It has nothing to do with ideology. It's simply a matter of their professional qualities and personal relationship."
THE NATIONAL POLITICAL PASTIME In reality, it's an old Russian tradition to fill the most important governmental positions with undercover intelligence officers. The czarist Okhrana security service planted its agents everywhere: in the central and local government, and in political parties, labor unions, churches, and newspapers. Until 1913, Pravda itself was edited by one of them, Roman Malinovsky, who rose to become Lenin's deputy for Russia and the chairman of the Bolshevik faction in the Duma.
Andropov Sovietized that Russian tradition and extended its application nationwide. It was something similar to militarizing the government in wartime, but it was accomplished by the KGB. In 1972, when he launched this new offensive, KGB Chairman Andropov told me that this would help eliminate the current plague of theft and bureaucratic chaos and would combat the growing sympathy for American jazz, films, and blue jeans obsessing the younger Soviet generation. Andropov's new undercover officers were secretly remunerated with tax-free salary supplements and job promotions. In exchange, Andropov explained, they would secretly have to obey "our" military regulations, practice "our" military discipline and carry out "our" tasks, if they wanted to keep their jobs. Of course, the KGB had long been using diplomatic cover slots for its officers assigned abroad, but Andropov's new approach was designed to influence the Soviet Union itself.
The lines separating the leadership of the country from the intelligence apparatus had blurred in the Soviet satellites as well. After I was granted political asylum in the United States in July 1978, the Western media reported that my defection had unleashed the greatest political purge in the history of Communist Romania. Ceausescu had demoted politburo members, fired one-third of his cabinet, and replaced ambassadors. All were undercover intelligence officers whose military documents and pay vouchers I had regularly signed off on.
THE MAKING OF A DICTATOR General Aleksandr Sakharovsky, the Soviet gauleiter of Romania who rose to head the Soviet foreign intelligence service for an unprecedented 15 years, used to predict to me that KGB Chairman Andropov would soon have the whole Soviet bloc in his vest pocket, and that he would surely end up in the Kremlin. Andropov would have to wait ten years until Brezhnev died, but on November 12, 1982, he did take up the country's reins. Once settled in the Kremlin, Andropov surrounded himself with KGB officers, who immediately went on a propaganda offensive to introduce him to the West as a "moderate" Communist and a sensitive, warm, Western-oriented man who allegedly enjoyed an occasional drink of Scotch, liked to read English novels, and loved listening to American jazz and the music of Beethoven. In actual fact, Andropov did not drink, as he was already terminally ill from a kidney disorder, and the rest of the portrayal was equally false.
In 1999, when Putin became prime minister, he also surrounded himself with KGB officers, who began describing him as a "Europeanized" leader — capitalizing, ironically, on the fact that he had been a KGB spy abroad. Yet Putin's only foreign experience had been in East Germany, on Moscow's side of the Berlin Wall. Soon after that I visited the Stasi headquarters in Leipzig and Dresden to see where Putin had spent his "Europeanizing" years. Local representatives of the Gauck Commission — a special post-Communism German panel researching the Stasi files — said that the "Soviet-German 'friendship house'" Putin headed for six years was actually a KGB front with operational offices at the Leipzig and Dresden Stasi headquarters. Putin's real task was to recruit East German engineers as KGB agents and send them to the West to steal American technologies.
I visited those offices and found that they looked just like the offices of my own midlevel case officers in regional Securitate directorates in Romania. Yet Moscow claims Putin had held an important job in East Germany and was decorated by the East German government. The Gauck Commission confirmed that Putin was decorated in 1988 "for his KGB work in the East German cities of Dresden and Leipzig." According to the West German magazine Der Spiegel, he received a bronze medal from the East German Stasi as a "typical representative of second-rank agents." There, in those prison-like buildings, cut off even from real East German life by Stasi guards with machine guns and police dogs, Lieutenant Colonel Putin could not possibly have become the modern-day, Western-oriented Peter the Great that the Kremlin's propaganda machine is so energetically spinning.
Indeed, on December 20, 1999, Russia's newly appointed prime minister visited the Lubyanka to deliver a speech on this "memorable day," commemorating Lenin's founding of the first Soviet political police, the Cheka. "Several years ago we fell prey to the illusion that we have no enemies," Putin told a meeting of top security officials. "We have paid dearly for this. Russia has its own national interests, and we have to defend them." The following day, December 21, 1999, another "memorable day" in Soviet history — Stalin's 120th birthday — Putin organized a closed-door reception in his Kremlin office reported as being for the politicians who had won seats in the Duma. There he raised a glass to good old Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (Stalin, meaning "man of steel," was the dictator's nom de guerre).
Days later, in a 14-page article entitled "Russia on the Threshold of a New Millennium," Putin defined Russia's new "democratic" future: "The state must be where and as needed; freedom must be where and as required." The Chechens' effort to regain their independence was mere "terrorism," and he pledged to eradicate it: "We'll get them anywhere — if we find terrorists sitting in the outhouse, then we will piss on them there. The matter is settled." It is not.
SCAPEGOATING AND CONSOLIDATING On September 9, 2004, Chechen nationalists announced a $20 million prize on the head of the "war criminal" Vladimir Putin, whom they accuse of "murdering hundreds of thousands of peaceful civilians on the territory of Chechnya, including tens of thousands of children."
For his part, President Putin tried to divert the outrage over the horrific Breslan catastrophe away from his KGB colleagues who had caused it, and to direct public anger toward the KGB's archenemy, the U.S. Citing meetings of mid-level U.S. officials with Chechen leaders, Putin accused Washington of having a double standard when dealing with terrorism. "Why don't you meet Osama bin Laden, invite him to Brussels or to the White House and engage in talks, ask him what he wants and give it to him so he leaves you in peace?" Putin told reporters in Moscow.
Then Putin blamed the collapse of the Soviet Union for what he called a "full scale" terrorist war against Russia and started taking Soviet-style steps to strengthen the Kremlin's power. On September 13, he announced measures to eliminate the election of the country's governors, who should now be appointed by the Kremlin, and to allow only "certified" people — that is, former KGB officers — to run for the parliament.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, its people had a unique opportunity to cast out their political police, a peculiarly Russian instrument of power that has for centuries isolated their country from the real world and in the end left them ill-equipped to deal with the complexities of modern society. Unfortunately, up until then most Russians had never owned property, had never experienced a free-market economy, and had never made decisions for themselves. Under Communism they were taught to despise Western democracy and everything they believed to be connected with capitalism, e.g., free enterprise, decision-making, hard work, risk-taking, and social inequality. Moreover, the Russians had also had minimal experience with real political parties, since their country has been a police state since the 16th century. To them, it seemed easier to continue the tradition of the political police state than to take the risk of starting everything anew.
But the times have changed dramatically. My native country, which borders Russia, is a good example. At first, Romania's post-Communism rulers, for whom managing the country with the help of the political police was the only form of government they had ever known, bent over backwards to preserve the KGB-created Securitate, a criminal organization that became the symbol of Communist tyranny in the West. Article 27 of Romania's 1990 law for organizing the new intelligence services stated that only former Securitate officers "who have been found guilty of crimes against fundamental human rights and against freedom" could not be employed in the "new" intelligence services. In other words, only Ceausescu would not have been eligible for employment there. Today, Romania still has the same president as in 1990, but his country is now a member of NATO and is helping the U.S. to rid the world of Cold War-style dictators and the terrorism they generated.
Russia can also break with its Communist past and join our fight against despots and terrorists. We can help them do it, but first we should have a clear understanding of what is now going on behind the veil of secrecy that still surrounds the Kremlin.
— Ion Mihai Pacepa, a former two-star general, is the highest-ranking intelligence officer to have defected from the Soviet bloc. His book Red Horizons has been republished in 27 countries.
Judging by the kind of society the Russians have been able to create for themselves and occasionally export to others (like the Baltics- since 1700's) these aspects, if they have ever been there, are not sufficient. The best description I ever came across of the social characteristics I am talking about, comes in Russian proverb
"Ty nachal'nik - ya der'mo, ya nachal'nik - ty der'mo" - "If you're the boss, I'm POS,if I'm the boss - you're POS". Now tell me what, if any, improvement would occur in such a system if that same arbitrary boss is sophisticated and cultured?
Hit piece - propaganda.
Please see # 63.
With knowledge, we are forearmed. Putin is a world leader with whom we work...but not a "comrade" or friend.
So if you compare Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Rachmaninov and others with the tribal singers and dancers, then who are people like Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Chekhov? They must be the primitive tribal story tellers in your eyes.
I specifically referred to the way of life, i.e. to how people relate to one another [...]
Have you ever been in Russia?
"Have you ever been in Russia?"
I was born in Moscow (thucking USSR) in 1955; and grew up and lived in the aforementioned country till 1981. I suppose it means that have indeed been in Russia. And as for Tolstoy etc. - they are precisely story-tellers, either over the fire or without it.
I am curious, are you an ethnic Russian?
As for your comment about Vargars bringing civilizations, was that before or after they pillaged and burned towns up and down Ireland and England? Settled Normandy, a really poor district of France, I've been there and the Normandy Invasion was the best thing to happen to them for 600 years, now they have some tourism. Or attacked and besieged Paris? Yes, Vargars why the empitemy of civilization.
Keep your arguments coming. You pitch em, we'll bat them.
That saying was born for the Bolshaviks, just like: "Ti predyrivasya to chto ti nam platish, i mi predyrivayemsya to chto mi bydem rabotat."
Simple facts: 1. you hate russia and russian culture, ok, that's well documented and established, so like everyone's yours is a highly biased opinion. 2. You haven't been back to Russia in 25 years, so your views, knowledge is antiquated at best and based off of extremely biased and ignorant Western reports.
Did I miss anything?
Ok, enough of this crap. Aside the fact that you loath and detest anything Russian. What is your criteria of "great" civilization? Sinfeld? J.Leno? Britny Spears? The Piss Christ? Gay Rights? Feminism? Marxism (another Western invention), Nihilism (another Western invention). What? Inform us stupid people, please.
On another thread you mentioned the Vargars (Vikings) as bringers of civilization. If that is your benchmark, then you must consider Islam at the top of the list.
Start with the Magna Carta as a criterium of the great civilization. And as for your Russia - you could take it.
Well, France, Germany, etc do not have anything of the sort. Tsar Nicholar II gave Russia a constitution, of course other parts like Poland and Finland already had constitutions. But then again, a constitution trumps the Magna Carta any time. So besides a document giving some voting rights to the nobility, what are your other criteia? I'm really interested in what it is you view as "civilized".
Magna Carta was more than it is commonly assume today, see: The Secret History of the Magna Carta. It was indeed a great document.
See also the full text of Magna Carta
But Russia at the time of Magna Cart and in following few generations had another achievement, possibly with greater consequences for the Christian world.
Russia struggled with the greatest source instability and destruction - the unlimited steppes of Asia. From there came the Huns, Genghis Khan and numerous others. After Mongols became Muslim this new mortal threat was overcome by the Russian princes and people - first in the manly fought battles, then through slow and patient work. In the steppes and in the Siberia the churches were build, towns were established the Gospel of Christ and civilisation started to take roots.
England was in much more privilleged position - she had the heritage of civilisation from the Roman times, fully defined Christian doctrine and patterns of organisation, she was sheltered by Europe from barbarians and destruction, with easy climate and acccess to the trade routes. And much more.
England built on the achievements of others, Russia had to start from zero and has to keep watch against the forces of chaos until today. This is what gives the strenght to the Russian culture. That is why Russian music is more pleasing to the American ears on July 4th than Gershwin.
Worth re-reading....Ping.
Its fascinating that the Russophiles usurp everything as "Russian" Chekov, Gogol, and even Tchaikovsky are either born in Ukraine or lived in Ukraine during their creative years. Russian despots ere oppressive back then too.
"Ukraine played an important role in the life of Tchaikovsky. His greatgrandfather Fedir (Fyodor) Tchaika was a cossack of the Myrhorod (Ukraine) battalion, and his grandfather - Petro (Pyotr) Tchaika studied at the Kyiv academy having changed his name to Tchaikovsky. He subsequently studied medicine in Russia and settled in Ural in 1774 where the composer's father Ilya Petrovych was born and in 1840, the composer himself.
For over twenty years Tchaikovsky spent almost every summer in Ukraine and stayed for a few months every time. He was very comfortable at his sister's in Kamianka. In his November 1878 letter from there to Nadezhda von Meek he wrote: "I really feel very well here, a sense of peace has overcome me here, which I searched for in vain in Moscow and St Petersburg."
Tchaikovsky's letters from Ukraine to Nadezhda von Meck, from Kamianka, Kyiv, contain many examples of his infatuation with Ukraine, its landscape, Verbyntsi, Nyzy, Brayilov, colourful folk for costumes, folk traditions and songs, all of which inspired him in his work. In one of his letters he wrote that while staying in spectacular natural settings in Italy and Switzerland he never felt "such moments of sacred infatuation with nature, which is even more than infatuation with art" as that given him amid the natural scenery of the Ukrainian Brayilov.
A large part of Tchaikovsky's work was either fully or partly composed in Ukraine and many contain Ukrainian musical material, the opera Mazeppa, Cherevychky (The Little Shoes) the Second Symphony, Songs set to the verses of Taras Shevchenko, Dumka for piano, and others. He used Ukrainian melodic material in his First Piano Concerto, and the Third Symphony. The Liturgy also projects a Ukrainian aura."
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