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On 8/30/14 8:29 AM, Ron Jacobs via Marxism wrote:
http://stillhomeron.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-rational-unreason-of-imperial-war.html
From the article above: In other words, NATO plans to build and
maintain military bases in several nations that share direct borders
with Russia.
Did Yeltsin decide to make war on Chechnya because of being threatened
by NATO?
In yet another sign that the disintegration of the Soviet Union was
turning global politics upside down, the Russian President, Boris N.
Yeltsin, wrote to NATO today saying Russia hoped to join the alliance
some time in the future.
Mr. Yeltsin's letter was sent in conjunction with the first meeting
ever held at the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
between NATO foreign ministers and those of the former Warsaw Pact --
the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania.
--Thomas Friedman, NYT, 12/21/1991
Just 3 years after the pro-capitalist drunk wrote his letter, he invaded
Chechnya. And just 1 year after he had changed his mind about NATO:
President Boris N. Yeltsin, apparently under pressure from his armed
forces, has sent a letter to President Clinton opposing any expansion of
NATO to include East European nations like Poland or the Czech Republic,
Western diplomats said today.
Sent after President Yeltsin dissolved Parliament on Sept. 21 and
embarked on a collision course with members opposed to his reforms, the
letter amounts to sharp retreat from the position the Russian leader
outlined during a visit to Warsaw in August. At the time he expressed
understanding of Poland's desire to join NATO and said it did not
threaten Russian interests.
--Roger Cohen, NYT, 10/1/1993
Despite its backward economy, the Russian Empire had much in common with
the United States. In the same way that the USA seized territory through
military force like Texas, so did the Kremlin. Think of Ukraine as
Texas. But unlike the USA, where the conquered territories were rapidly
assimilated into the prevailing socio-economic relationships on the
basis of equality--at least if you were Anglo, in the Ukraine suffered
from forced underdevelopment outside of Donbas. In Texas, you had a
local ruling class that did quite well in oil and ranching while the
Spanish-speaking population concentrated in the South were treated like
typical colonized subjects.
By contrast, colonized Ukraine was largely a victim of the the same kind
of dependency as south Texas except that it was much worse. Stalin saw
fit to wreak havoc in the countryside through his forced march to
Communism in the 1920s. Millions died even if it was only an accident.
In 1991 the yoke was lifted from Ukraine. O frabjous day! Callooh!
Callay! The first thing that happens under free Ukraine is the
development of an oligarchy that took advantage of its privileged
position in the bureaucracy to become owners of coal mines, steel
factories, and all the rest. A layer of the bourgeoisie in the western
and central regions feeling resentful exploited the anger of those
beneath them in the Orange Revolution and catapulted into power. Once
they were in power, they resorted to the same corrupt deals with the
Kremlin that preceded them. Yulia Tymoshenko, the Orange Revolution's
icon, gets caught in a crooked deal with Gazprom and goes to prison.
None of this is of interest to our anti-imperialists. They are
interested in one thing and one thing only. How to defend the Kremlin.
This is not the first time we have seen this on the left but at least
when the CP was at its height, you could at least make the excuse that
they were defending socialism. Nowadays, it is nothing less than
defending naked Russian imperial appetites.
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