News from the Soviet Union

In Sorrow and Anger:
"MIR" – the first victim of Star Wars

First published in "Sovietskaya Rossiya" February 20, /2001
By Vyacheslav Tetekin

Before the final destruction of the orbital station "MlR," for months the decision to destroy it had been criticized in the Russian press. It was not due much to an economic problem as a question of national security. Hence it became the responsibility of President Putin. As always, in serious matters, however, Mr. Putin gave the impression that this issue was not of his concern. The Kremlin merely stated: "It is already decided!"

There were no arguments. At the late January meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation there were consultations about space; about "MIR" there was complete silence. After all, this object is the equivalent of 200 tons of gold. In "totalitarian" times such significant decisions were taken after tough debates and with the participation of leading scientists; today, under conditions of "perfect democracy," a program of such strategic importance was then squashed by some bureaucrats, like an annoying mosquito.

It was not true that President Putin was not informed. Many letters by renowned scientists, including Nobel laureates, objected to this destruction, were sent to him and were also published. Hence it was a very conscious political decision to liquidate Russia's manned cosmonautics – and that at the time when the United States was pushing ahead with their "Star Wars" program. It was not just the matter of the orbital station as such, but primarily one of Russia's position in today's world. Will the country remain in the shameful state of just a supplier of raw materials to the West, or will it assert its place in the world market of high technology, the product of the 21st century?

The orbital station is not mere symbolism. It is a locomotive which moves a colossal quantity of basic and significant applied research plus masses of science-intensive technologies. Cosmonautics, the aim of the entire Soviet Union, made it possible that early in the 1950's, the country achieved an enormous advance in science and technology. The Soviet Union was making a great effort to get over the aftermath of the worst-ever war. Assuredly, there were no spare resources And in spite of that, in April of 1962 the first cosmonaut in history was sent on an earth orbit That was not a program devised to merely impress! Even today, after the intentional destruction of the national economy, (the program) enables Russia to sustain strategic parity with the United States. Oh yes, by the way, the "inefficient" Soviet economy could pay for everything, for missiles as well as butter... Now, surprisingly, under the "super-efficient market economy" Russia has no money at all, for anything...

Manned space flight as a national goal has disappeared. Next, all scientific institutes and major enterprises are to close, the best brains and the working hands are landing in the streets. Another terrible impact awaits the education system. Even the USA had to admit: Gagarin's flight was a triumph of the Soviet school.

Before 1917, Russia in its majority was an illiterate peasant society; our Soviet system made the USSR one of the leaders in science and technology. It was a matter of the country's survival to create the technology capable of countering the mightiest military power on earth. Today, Russia moves in the opposite direction – deindustrialization and also deintellectualization. The destruction of "MIR" is a milestone on this destructive road. Professorships and entire universities become superfluous, and so is the teaching of mathematics in Russian schools. No long ago, president Putin of the Russian Federation handed out prizes to the winners of the international mathematics competition. But what does Russia need mathematics aces for? Only to calculate the oligarchy's bank profits? After the president's reception, the teachers of the winners said that they saw no future for all their students. Of course, they added that it was possible to find jobs over the Internet in the USA's universities. Correct! For their anti-missile umbrella the USA urgently needs highly qualified mathematicians.

Already today, hundreds of Russian scientists and specialists work for the US war programs.' Two years ago, tests were syndicated in Alaska to trace warheads launched by ballistic missiles, at the point where they re-enter the earth's atmosphere. It was a joint Russo-American experiment, with the participation of academic institutions of the Russian Federation. In practice (this meant that) Russian scientists helped the United States to construct a defensive shield against potential Russian missiles. Fantastic!!!

Why do our top talents participate in the construction of the shield for the USA? Are they blatant traitors? It's not that. The situation was intentionally created. The outcome is utter hopelessness for these people. Liquidation of the "MIR" program further compounds their predicament. Neither the President nor the Security Council are bothered by the transfer of Russian talent to the USA. It is not listed under the heading of "state security" but under the slogan of "general human values."

The United States of America is the prime beneficiary of the destruction of "MIR." The station was an impediment to America's dominance in outer space. The attacks on "MIR" in Russia were under way for some years.

Even the constant talk about lacking funds is not correct. Serious and commercially interesting offers (involving some billions of dollars) were made by India, for example, but were refused by Yeltsin under American pressure. A big international consortium made offers to use our "MIR" for telecommunications. Even Russia's industry could have benefited from billions of dollars. President Putin knows this very well. Regardless of this, he allowed preparations and the final destruction of "MlR" to take place...

The article ended with a quotation (not attributed):

"President Putin loves all discussions about the restoration of Russia's greatness. It has to be said that superpower status does not depend upon the quantity of gold in the Kremlin vaults, but essentially on the ownership of a cosmic orbital station carrying a concentration of Soviet enormous achievements of science and technology. And another superpower feature is creative national goal-setting. A goal of the kind that cosmonautics were for the Soviet Union. They, the leaders of today's "democratic" Russia, try to destroy, drown in the sea, freeze everything. What is born to crawl cannot fly!"

With thanks to Dr. Vera Butler, Australia

Yuri Gagarin, the first Soviet cosmonaut. His space suit was sold to a U.S. businessman!

Committee to Defend Political Prisoners Fighting for Socialism

This Committee was established in Russia on March 1, 2000 and has official representatives on its Executive Committee from the following parties: Russian Party of Communists, Russian Communist Workers Party, All Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Revolutionary Russian Party of Communists, Russian Communist Party-CPSU, CPSU (Lenin-Stalin) plus DZD, AKM and RCUY(B).

There is also cooperation with the Union of Officers and Party of Social Righteousness.

The Committee is fighting not only to defend all those who were sentenced for so-called "crimes against the state" but also those who find themselves in jail because of their constant struggles for socialism and against the present regime, members of parties, movements who are trying to organize a united left opposition,

Our dedication is to take all actions to get these fighters for socialism free from jail and unlawful arrests, repression, torture and the veterans of the Great Patriotic War who find themselves under surveillance and physical attacks.

We add our strength and voice to those parties who are revolutionary minded and all those that have sprung-up on the former territory of the Soviet Union.

Our Committee publishes a regular Bulletin which gives detail of arrests, court proceedings and all acts meant to defend these political prisoners.

COMMENT

This excellent and informative Bulletin gives case upon case of young revolutionary youths who are specially targeted and jailed by the present regime, tortured, physically attacked while in custody. It also contains advice by lawyers about laws and what to do when you are arrested.


From newspaper
"Trudovaya Rossia"
Organ of the RCWP

Opinion of Putin Regarding CPRF After He Sent Greetings to its VII Congress

From the book (From the First Face) interview with Putin.

"Cooperation with the CPRF communists in our Russian Duma was always cordial and ongoing. Not one law that was passed by my government went without the approval of the CPRF. And there were never any disagreements, if we're going to tell the truth. I feel that in our relations with communists, there are only two roads. They have all the chances to become a contemporary parliamentary party in the mode and method of the European parties. We have many parties and groups in Russia who have no social base at all. And there is the CPRF – the only group that is large and has a social base, but has its unfortunate ideological "trappings."

The CPRF either will have to change its outlook and program and in that way it will become stronger and more acceptable as a left party, I repeat again as the other European communist parties have become – loyal opposition – and if they do not do this, or lose their ideological "trappings", they will lose their social base and will step by step lose their seats in the Russian Duma and depart from the political scene".

Below we also publish some quotes from Zvuganov...


"Stalin Saved Them, These Snakes, From Our Hands!"

These were the words of the Crimean Partisans...

Newspaper
For USSR

On January 1, 2001 the Canadian broadcasting radio (CBC) stated, that the Crimean Tatars during World War II suffered for nothing."

You are being blasphemous and lying misters! The archival documents of the Third Reich, stored in the state archives of the present Germany, show absolutely the mass traitorous acts of the Crimean Tatars when they threw their lot to cooperate fully with Nazi Germany.

The agitation by Nazi Germany to sign up the Crimean Tatars began on January 3, 1942 in 203 populated regions and they also established 5 large concentration camps which were manned by the Crimean Tatars, under the command of the "Ainzatgrup D". Here are the results:

* In 15 regions of Crimea, starting in Simferopol and ending in region Sudak, these Crimean Tatars murdered over 5,546 Soviet citizens!

* In the 6 concentration camps for Soviet prisoners of war in Crimea, these Crimean Tatars murdered 3,804 prisoners of war.

There were organized 10 volunteer Tatar battalions and 18 companies who fought together with the Germans against the Soviet Red Army and against the partisan movement. Germans armed these Tatars and they wore German uniforms. Even in 1945 when Hitler's allies started to defect, 10,000 Crimean Tatars still remained fighting for fascism.

Elder Tatars were in the service of the SS Gestapo in the city of Simferopol. These Tatars carried out the most vicious torture on the Soviet people, partisans and the Red Army soldiers. These Tatars showed their beastly hate against the Soviet sailors in particular.

In preparation for the German occupation in Crimea, the Soviet authorities and partisans dug underground trenches where food supplies were stored for the struggle against the occupiers. The Crimean Tatars showed these supply store tunnels to the German Gestapo and they were stripped of all supplies and thus hundreds of partisans died of-starvation in the mountains.

Crimeans today will never forget the episode when 16 partisans came into a Tatar village to ask for food. One Tatar, who was a spy amongst the partisans, locked the 16 partisans into his home, poured gasoline over the home and started a fire. All 16 partisans burnt to death. For his "heroic" deed the Fascist Tatars built this "hero" a new home.

The Tatars got all the health care as did the German soldiers and, not one Tatar young person was shipped to Germany to work, as were other nationalities across Europe.

President Kuchma now is playing with these Crimean Tatars, calling them "victims of repression" by Stalin. While Ukrainian people are suffering deprivation, Kuchma is giving tremendous financial help to these "victims" of Stalin. Even the United Nations is giving them help, while Turkey is organizing constant donations conferences.

You ask any Crimean person now and here is what most will say: "We Crimeans know, that if Stalin did not deport these Crimean Tatars, the Soviet partisans would have killed all of them for their inhuman crimes. Let these Tatars give thanks to Stalin... he saved them... The mass return of Crimean Tatars to Crimea now is a political opportunistic act by Kuchma; this is an anti-Soviet action by those who took over the state by falsehood. The people of Crimea never agreed to this travesty of justice and never will."


Fatal Step Taken

According to the Russian Military News Agency of April 39th the Military Committee of the NATO-Russia and its Permanent Joint Council met in Brussels, Belgium on May 16th, 2001 in the framework of a council session, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry department told the Military News.

Russian Chief-of-Staff Anatoly Kvashin took part in this meeting. They discussed a wide range of issues that are connected with further strengthening and expansion of military contacts between Russia and NATO and eventual Russia joining NATO.

This military committee in the framework of the council of NATO was created in 1997 in accordance with the Founding Act on Russia-NATO relations. A meeting of the two sides' chiefs-of-staff takes place always during committee sessions at least twice per year.

COMMENT

Now with President Bush of the USA launching his missile shield plan to cover and control all the world -- both on land, sea and air, President Putin of Russia and all his traitorous military chiefs have accomplished what the USA-NATO-IMF-WB have only dreamt about!

Somehow it reminds one of the plans that Hitler had for the world and his New World Order!

But, everyone knows what happened to Hitler.


From Newspaper
Forward
Byelorussia

Socialism Or Capitalism?

Just recently held elections for the parliament of Byelorussia saw the bourgeois parties gain a victory. Not one communist from the Party of Communists of Byelorussia won a seat, while the Communist Party of Byelorussia, with the help of the president's "vertical" method gained only 6 seats. In analyzing the reasons for the defeat of the "communists" (but this word is in quotes because in reality they are social-democrats) I came to the conclusion that the workers, peasants and working intelligentsia, pensioners stopped believing in these "communists" who now have turned around and are serving their master – capital.

The proliferation of newspapers, of parties, all arguing with each other as to who is correct and who are real "communists." Meanwhile the main mass media is in the hands of the bourgeois class.

Farmers are pining away for the days of collective and state farms where everyone enjoyed a good life and there were no worries about the future.

Then came into government the pseudo-democrats and everything changed abruptly. Crime, robbery and alcoholism. Life changed beyond recognition.

Let us all remember that without the dictatorship of the proletariat together with the peasants, without the rule of the vanguard of the working class, which in my view is the All Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, we cannot again live normal lives.

World imperialism, headed by USA does not allow us to live in peace and to work. They have another agenda, they need to rule the world, while they want to make us slaves.

Michael Koktygin, worker, member of AUCPB, Mogilev

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