>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Rick Rozoff) >Reply-To: "STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN!" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Check THIS out! >Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 15:26:06 -0600 (CST) > >STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG > > [The following is written by a lifelong, dedicated ANTI-communist. >Draw your own conclusions.] > >____________________________________ >The Red Tide Turning? >by George Szamuely >New York Press >11/9/99 >Ten years ago this week the Berlin Wall came down. Cold War stalwarts >like myself rejoiced. Today, however, I rejoice every time I read of a >poll that suggests the Communists will soon be back in power in Russia. >The demise of the Soviet Union gave rise to the unrestrained global >tyranny of the United States. This tyranny brooks no rivals. It >disregards election results and robs nations of their dignity. Armed to >the teeth with missiles and a relentless self-righteousness, the United >States is unable even to respect worthy adversaries like Yugoslavia or >Iraq. Military victory is never enough. There have to be sanctions, >ostracism, isolation and half-witted attempts at subversion. In this >U.S.-led order there is no room for friends – only client-states or >supplicants. >Today, the Communists – in Russia, China or Cuba – are heroic >fighters. Almost alone they are resisting the relentless juggernaut of >the United States and its mindless "market democracy" ideology. Perhaps >– and this is what Cold Warriors like me failed to grasp – it was >always thus. The Communists were a dreadful bunch. Stalin's Gulag, Mao's >"Great Leap Forward," Cambodia's "killing fields" can never be >forgotten. Yet, strangely, Communists also often succeeded in restoring >dignity to downtrodden nations. >In 1917 Lenin took Russia out of a terrible war and proclaimed his >supreme indifference to the war's outcome. He did the right thing and >was rewarded with absolute power. Czar Nicholas II and the hapless >liberals who followed him were the Yeltsins of their day. Forever >seeking guidance on all matters from Western liberals, they led the >Russian people to disaster and themselves to oblivion. In retrospect, it >seems amazing that the Communists stayed in power for as long as they >did. Surrounded by a capitalist world that wanted them gone, they used >all the guile and ruthlessness they learned from Lenin to outmaneuver >their enemies. By the 1980s the Communists had made Russia into a >formidable rival, if not quite the equal, of the United States. Mao >Tse-tung freed China from its century-long submission to foreign powers. >Fidel Castro restored dignity and pride to an island with a miserable >recent past. For 40 years he defied the United States. He defeated a >U.S.-sponsored invasion. He thwarted innumerable assassination attempts. >He overcame a crippling trade embargo. What's in store for Cuba after >Castro? Probably nothing more inspiring than becoming a satellite of >Miami. >Unlike most members of my generation, I supported the U.S. involvement >in Vietnam. Whatever the atrocities the U.S. perpetrated, I believed >that they were a price worth paying to resist Communism. It is obvious >now that Ho Chi Minh, unlike the assorted political hacks who played >musical chairs in Saigon, was an authentic leader of Vietnam. He did not >need 500,000 Soviet or Chinese forces to assist him. Left to its own >devices, South Vietnam collapsed in a few weeks. The Hanoi regime, on >the other hand, took everything the United States threw at it and still >prevailed. >Today there is no countervailing force to U.S. supremacy. There is no >power that can offer support to a nation asserting old-fashioned >independence. Washington's tantrums are international law. Consider the >following: Hans von Sponeck runs the United Nations "oil-for-food" >program, which allows Iraq to sell $5.2 billion of oil every six months >to purchase food and medical supplies. The other day the U.S. let it be >known that it wanted him out. His crime? He had blurted out something >self-evident to everyone in the world except for Washington. The >sanctions on Iraq were hurting civilians and made little sense. >Unusually for him, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan stood his ground and >refused to follow Clinton administration orders. In the meantime, the >U.S. government hosted a conference in New York – to the tune of $3 >million – for an organization called the Iraqi National Congress. >Billed as a meeting to unite Saddam Hussein's opponents, it really was >nothing more than a gathering of out-of-work Iraqis on the U.S. payroll. >Now the United States knows perfectly well that this bunch can never >hope to overthrow Saddam Hussein. By resisting relentless U.S. pressure >for almost 10 years, Saddam has shown himself to be the authentic leader >of Iraq, something these toadies can never hope to be. The only way they >can come to power is by riding in to Baghdad in U.S. tanks. Since >hysteria about Iraq can be turned on and off at will, a full-blown U.S. >invasion can never be ruled out. >U.S. policy has been pitiless on Yugoslavia as well. No humanitarian >aid. No aid to clear the Danube of the debris from the NATO bombing. No >support for the European Union policy of supplying oil to two cities in >Serbia, led by opponents of Slobodan Milosevic. Then the other day, to >much fanfare, it was announced that the U.S. was changing its policy. It >was doing nothing of the sort, of course. Following a meeting of some >people described by the State Dept. as a "delegation of Serbian >Democratic Opposition Leaders," the hideous harridan of Foggy Bottom >announced that she was prepared to "evaluate the EU's pilot project." >She would also "be watching closely to see if the assistance actually >gets to the intended recipients in the manner proposed." That was >heartening to know. She also announced that the ban on flights and the >oil embargo would be suspended as soon as free elections were held in >Serbia. However, the pathetic bunch of losers groveling before Dr. >Albright (as The New York Times ingratiatingly likes to call her) could >not win an election if their lives depended on it. So what happens in >the almost certain eventuality that the winner of any elections in >Serbia is the nation's true leader – Slobodan Milosevic? "I have made >quite clear that there have to be free and fair elections >internationally supervised with observers that come as a result of a >free and fair campaign," the fat and stupid one spluttered. "I find it >very hard to believe that Milosevic could ever win those kinds of >elections… I expect that the people of Serbia…when they have the >opportunity to vote for people that are going to provide freedom for >them…will choose correctly." In other words, as far as the U.S. >government is concerned, "free and fair elections" are those that yield >the "correct" results. Interestingly, one of the "opposition" leaders >who failed to attend this meeting was Vuk Draskovic. According to The >New York Times, earlier this summer Draskovic was all set to lead a >transitional government in Belgrade. When the Clinton administration >heard of this, it threatened to indict him for war crimes. "Leaders" >have to follow Washington's orders or they might end up in prison. >An arrogant United States has recklessly expanded NATO to Russia's >borders. However debilitated Russia has become as a result of blindly >following the "privatization" nostrums of Western advisers, it still >mustered the energy to voice a protest. The U.S. response was smugly >dismissive. "Quite bluntly," the loathsome Strobe Talbott explained, >"Russians need to get over their neuralgia on this subject." That the >Russians might view with some concern the American bombing of their ally >Serbia or the machinations in the Caucasus would never occur to Talbott. >The United States is always on the side of the angels and is always a >victim. >A recent opinion poll in the Czech Republic had the Communists ahead of >every other political party. This is an amazing reversal of fortunes. >Only a few years ago President Vaclav Havel was a national hero. He had >resisted Communism and had paid for it by spending years behind bars. >Today he is a discredited figure, a man who is seen as little more than >a toady of the Western leaders whom he is so anxious to be included >among. Not long ago, he spoke of the Czech Republic as being "at a >historical crossroads." The Czechs could either embrace "responsible >participation in improving the world," or they could build "walls from >concrete or [impose] visa requirements, import surcharges and quotas, >and a ban on evil foreigners buying houses here." One can see here how >much Havel has made his own the gobbledygook of the "market democracy" >ideologues. It is a relief to learn that this stalwart of the Cold War >is now a deeply unpopular figure in the Czech Republic. Like other >nations the Czechs want to retain at least a little bit of dignity. >Today's fighters for freedom are no longer Lech Walesa or Vaclav Havel. >They have names like Jiang Zemin, Vladimir Putin and, yes, Slobodan >Milosevic. > > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
