News from the Soviet Uniion
By ITAR-TASS
The US’s ambassador to Georgia, Richard Miles said that two battalions of Georgian commandos will be sent to Iraq and other countries in the Middle East. He made that announcement on the Rustavi-2 TV last month. The intensive training by United States of these Georgians, with the approval of President Shevernadze are at the beckon and call of the USA military, ready to be sent to any spot the US deems it necessary.
These US troops that are training the Georgian soldiers as they do others, are not soldiers, defending their country, they are mercenaries, as was and is the French Foreign Legion, nothing more and nothing less.
FROM PRAVDA-RUSSIAN
US White House top man Donald Rumsfeld in April proclaimed that Saddam Hussein will join others in the annals of history books as a failed dictator, naming "Hitler, Stalin, Lenin and Causescu".
For Mr. Rumsfeld information, Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin) came to power on a message of "bread and peace", setting in motion a process which was to bring a Medieval state to the front line of development and give to an oppressed, illiterate population with a zero chance of social mobility every opportunity for a good education, a guaranteed job, house, retirement pension, food, health care and cultural and sports opportunities second to none.
Vladimir Lenin set in motion the mechanism to create the Soviet Union and under Stalin’s leadership the USSR heroically defeated the fascist forces of evil. The Soviet Union lost over 20,000,000 of its souls and whose armed forces, under Stalin, whom Rumsfeld also mentions in the same breath, killed 90% of all the German soldiers in Word War II.
To compare Lenin and Stalin to Hitler demonstrates a degree of arrogance and ignorance that is shocking in a person at the US political level which Rumsfeld had somehow attained.
At least Lenin or Stalin did not fount international law and launched a murderous campaign against a sovereign nation, leaving women and children without limbs. Maybe Rumsfeld forgot to add Bush to the list.
If Rumsfeld compares Lenin-Stalin to Hitler, maybe we should compare Bush to Genghis Khan and Rumsfeld to Jabba the Hutt.
By Ekaterina Larina
"The Russia Journal"
Knowing that the rightwing in Russia will not become a real counterweight to the Kremlin in the near future, some business people are choosing to support the left as an alternative.
The Russian left wing has found itself at a crossroads in history. It is just like in the fairy tales – the road branches out in three directions. The left could follow the road of opposition to the Kremlin and remain a marginal player in politics. Or it could turn to the right, become subservient to the party of power and lose its identity by adopting a more social-democratic platform. And of course, it could veer further left and take a road of greater confrontation and more vigorous opposition to the Kremlin.
The main proponent (???-Editor) of sticking to the chosen path is the current leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), Gennady Zyuganov. He has faced against Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin in the presidential elections already. A right turn is favored by the leading members of its CC Sergei Glazyev and Gennady Semigin, as well as the Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznyov, all members of the higher body of the CPRF. As for the third road, most of its supporters are radical leaders of extreme left-wing parties.
It is dangerous for the Communists not to make a choice now because, as elections for the Russian parliament approach and the traditional Communist parties go into action, the ideological battle could end up causing a schism. It could fragment the Russian voters, resulting in a deluded presence in the Duma.
To complicate matters, there is increased interest from leading Russian businessmen in financing the election of the CPRF. The sponsors in question are members of the elite who believe that a left-wing opposition is needed to keep a political balance. (Yes, a left wing political party that the businessmen have nothing to fear from - Editor). These new rich capitalists do not thrust the Communists to do it for them, so they now are trying and buying their way into the CPRF and place their representatives in the Duma on the CPRF party ticket.
Offers of support to the CPRF came even from the likes of Boris Berezovsky, the multi millionaire who has a warrant for his arrest even by the present Russian government.
A source within the CPRF said that when Zyuganov was offered huge financial support by one such businessman at a CPRF meeting, he asked point blank how many places on the CPRF parliamentary election list he was expected to provide. Russian political parties get seats in the Duma in proportion to the votes they receive, irrespective of who is on the party list. Many Russian business groups use that catch phrase in the constitution and electoral system to get their own lobbyists on the party lists into the Duma.
Zyuganov knows that there is no such thing as a free lunch. This explains, why as party sources say, he might find it hard to resist these offers.
So, as paradoxical as it seems, it was the business and political elite’s attention and willingness to help certain Communists that had led to the current crisis. As long as the struggle for influence within the CPRF remained an internal affair, it would not have posed a problem, or serious threat, as the reins of power remain firmly in the hands of Zyuganov. He has managed to keep a check on the left wing of the party and growing number who believe that the CPRF would benefit from a leadership change. But this lure of massive financial influx, and thus a shift in policy is much different. As new sponsors arrive and finances start flowing into the coffers of CPRF, Zyuganov’s influence is starting to crumble.
The question is whether the CPRF will start kicking out its left wing voices and socialism ideologues in order to make way for representatives of big business (and the power that is behind them – Editor). No one should be surprised if the CPRF benches in the next Duma are filled with such people!
COMMENT:
The writer of the Russian Journal is not a left-winger or the newspaper she writes for. Nevertheless, she outlined the scenario that NSC had predicted for years…we even had a cover dedicated to the CPRF and its leader Zyuganov: "Is there a Trojan horse within the CPRF?"
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