Posted on 03/16/2003 9:40:51 PM PST by Ivan the Terrible
As the United States and its allies prepare massive invasion and long-term occupation of Iraq, America's "strategic ally" in the war on terror is warning of "a new Cold War," which would "jeopardize the most important achievements" in recent U.S.-Russian relations.
The trigger for another Cold War is the U.S. determination to act independently in world affairs -- especially with help from Great Britain.
Moscow condemns the present willingness of the U.S. and Britain to "go it alone" in their confrontation with Iraq, and attributes U.S.-British cooperation to Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister during WWII and staunch anti-communist. Churchill is also the cause of the first Cold War, according to Moscow.
The assertions were carried by the Voice of Russia World Service, official broadcasting service of the Russian government.
Moscow is taking particular exception to Churchill's March 1946 "Iron Curtain Speech" in Fulton, Missouri. In the address, Churchill coined the term "Iron Curtain," as he described Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and most of the Balkan Peninsula. The speech is generally credited with rallying the free world against Stalinist military expansion.
Employing Soviet Cold War clichés, however, Moscow describes Churchill as seeking to "eliminate the …balance of power in the world. Churchill dreamed of using force against [the Soviet Union]," declared Moscow.
The "balance of power" to which Moscow refers is the Soviet military occupation of Eastern Europe. Although Russia did not possess nuclear weapons at the time of the "Iron Curtain" speech, the Soviet Union acquired atomic weaponry in 1949 through espionage networks in the U.S. and Britain.
U.S. and British cooperation against the USSR "became an ideological principle of British and American leadership for so many years," Moscow stated.
Following Churchill's speech and Truman's assistance to Greece and Turkey the following year, "a new alliance [NATO] was set up [in 1949] …[and] Europe evolved into two camps…" declared Moscow.
Observers note that Europe did not "evolve" into "two camps," but resulted from the existence of two very different societies. The free and democratic West stood in sharp contrast with the Soviet-dominated, communist East.
Churchill recognized the reality - as did few others - that the West faced the real possibility of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin launching a successful attack into the heart of a still-devastated Western Europe from bases in Eastern Europe - behind the "Iron Curtain."
Churchill firmly believed that America's possession of atomic weaponry prevented an attack by the numerically superior Red Army immediately after the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.
The threat of a Red Army attack upon Western Europe remained a constant danger from the end of WWII.
Moscow today states that there is a "new relationship" between the U.S. and "democratic" Russia, especially following the terror attacks of September 11. Russia and the United States are "partners" in the war on terror, the Voice of Russia asserts.
Despite declarations of cooperation with the U.S., the "new" Russia is renewing old Soviet propaganda attacks not only aimed against Churchill, but particularly against the United States.
Moscow periodically denounces the concept of an "axis of evil," declaring that the U.S. "needs an enemy as much as it needed an enemy during the Cold War," and is reviving Soviet-era charges that Washington seeks "global superiority" and "world domination." Moscow declares that the war on terror is really an extension of Harry Truman's Cold War policies.
America's "partner" in the war on terror maintains its Soviet-era alliance with every nation which the U.S. considers to be a supporter of terrorism, including Iraq, Iran, and North Korea.
While America's "strategic ally" in the war on terror aids those nations supporting terror networks, the U.S. faces a growing threat, apart from Iraq, of well-trained terror cells operating in Latin America.
Carrying the conspiracy theory a step farther . . . Who is against us in North Korea?
Anyone who thinks these political pendulums swing this way by chance had best pull their heads out of the sand.
Bro, we're on exactly the same wavelength! So much for those who said glasnost and perestroika were the end of monolithic Communism. These Communist-orchestrated "peace" demonstrations have been absolute proof to me. Putin is a slicked-up version of Stalin.
I know just how to help. We'll send them a passel of our own domestic communists to help 'em out: the environmental movemint of the American left.
They'll never recover.
The "New World Order" might not be so new after all.
The U.S.A. must learn that we protect us and our interests first and foremost. If it aids the rest of the world, so be it. But we have to put our interests first. Generally speaking the world will be a safer place if when we do.
I believe GW and his team knows this and are prepared to act. The time for action is at hand.
Let's Roll!!!
Declining birthrate will do it. The Russian governments offer of a "free house" for extra children is a pitiful bandaid on a gaping wound...
What is the Chinese word for Siberia?
I am pointing no fingers, mi muy buen amigo. Merely restating the #1 problem that Russia will face in the next 50 years. The US and Europe also have it, but IMHO the US is very lucky because the South Americans are a talented people and bring much to the American melting pot.
As for the US co-ercing Russia, or even France and Germany, I will merely say this: the United States is an open country, and open countries are easy targets for those that would do an evil act, which is what happended 9/11.
The protection the US has against this vulnerability which is built into its open society is a traditional and time honored one:
revenge.
The US is in the process of taking out its revenge for 9/11, just as HIROSHIMA and NAGASAKI were the ultimate revenge which the US exacted from Japan for launching its surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
The best thing other countries can do in this situation is stay out of the way. The US is like a raging bull when it is hurt, and 9/11 did hurt.
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