America's Long-standing Campaign to Destabilize Russia
by Eric Draitser
August 22, 2012
The shootings and bombings in Ingushetia and Dagestan this week rekindled a long-standing, brutal campaign of violence and terrorism in Russia’s Caucasus region – one that
has seen more than its share of terror stretching back to the Chechen “rebellion” of the 1990s. However, in examining
the recent attacks, it becomes clear that there are political and geopolitical interests behind the scenes that are
actively working to destabilize Russia, with violence as their most potent weapon. The attacks are not simply isolated
terrorist actions, but rather, cynically orchestrated events carried out by well-connected criminal networks whose goal
is to foment conflict and carry out the agenda of the US intelligence establishment in its subversion of Russia.
Terrorists, Propagandists and Handlers
The complex network of terrorist organizations that operate under the banners of “separatism” and “independence” for the
Caucasus region, has been at the center of the destabilization of Russia for the last two decades. Within hours of the
deadly attacks, the Kavkaz Center – an organization known to be the propaganda mouthpiece of terrorist leader Doku Umarov – released an article characterizing the attacks as heroic acts and referring to the dead as “Russian puppets.” Though this would seem to be
not in keeping with the Center’s stated mission “to provide reporting of events…and assistance of journalistic work in
the Caucasus,” this is, in fact, very much par for the course for an organization that is funded by the US State Department and Finland’s Foreign Ministry.
Kavkaz Center has a long track record of supporting and legitimizing terrorist actions throughout the region,
rationalizing atrocities committed in the name of “resistance.” In fact, Kavkaz engages in perpetual upside-down logic,
referring to Russians as “terrorists” and terrorists as “heroes.” This type of Goebbles-esque propaganda is the hallmark
of Western imperialist projects; most recently in the conflict in Syria, in which the Syrian National Council, Western
corporate media and the like refer to terrorism and subversion as “rebellion and freedom-fighting”. Additionally, it is
essential to note that Emarat Kavkaz (Umarov’s terrorist organization translated as “Caucasus Emirate”) has been listed by the United Nations as an organization associated with Al-Qaida. Kavkaz Center has been described by Umarov himself as “the official information organ of the Emarat Kavkaz.” This, of
course, supports the claims made repeatedly by Moscow of the connection between Chechen and other extremists in the
region and Al Qaida, a claim which, until recently, Kavkaz Center continued to deny.
Despite the fact that organs such as Kavkaz Center operate in the service of terrorists who advocate the destruction of
Russia, their activity alone is not altogether significant if seen in a vacuum. Rather, it is the association of these
types of individuals and organizations with the US State Department and US intelligence that makes them particularly
insidious. One such entity that bears scrutiny is the American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus (ACPC), previously known as the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya. As reported by Right Web at the Institute for Policy Studies, “The ACPC was founded in 1999 by Freedom House, a neoconservative organization
that has worked closely with the U.S. government, receiving funds from the National Endowment for Democracy and other U.S. democratization initiatives.” This intimate relationship between the ACPC and the US State Department
indicates not merely a confluence of interests, but rather a direct relationship wherein the former is an organ of the
latter.
The paternalistic role of the US intelligence establishment in the ACPC is made all the more evident when one examines
some of the more well known members of the ACPC including former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, former
Pentagon advisor Richard Perle and other top neocons such as William Kristol, Elliott Abrams, Kenneth Adelman, and
Robert Kagan – the last two being closely associated with the inner circle of the Romney campaign. What becomes apparent
in even a cursory analysis of these figures is that, despite the preponderance of neoconservatives, the top members of
the ACPC are pulled from both the liberal and conservative establishments. Therefore, one can see how the ACPC
represents a bipartisan consensus within the US imperialist ruling class – a consensus of aggression against Russia.
What should be even more concerning to political observers is that, given the very real possibility of a Romney victory
in November, Russia may see a surge in separatism and violence supported overtly or covertly by the ACPC and a future
Romney administration.
The ACPC has taken the lead in championing the cause of separatism and terrorism directed toward Russia, both tacitly
and overtly. After having championed the cause of former Chechen Foreign Minister Ilyas Akhmadov in his quest for asylum in the United States – subsequently granted along with a generous taxpayer-funded stipend –
ACPC member Zbigniew Brzezinski went so far as to write the foreward to Akhmadov’s book The Chechen Struggle. The
alliance between political figures such as Akhmadov and terrorist leaders in the region demonstrates conclusively the
partnership between the various terror networks and the imperialist ruling class in the West. Moreover, it shows that,
along with oligarchs such as Boris Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich, the US and UK are still the favorite safe havens for criminals fleeing Russian justice.
The Political Context
Although the attacks of this week are tragic, their real significance is political in nature. There has been a sustained
destabilization campaign waged by the West, particularly the United States, and aimed at President Putin going back to
last December and the beginning of the so-called protest movement. The attempt by the Western imperialists has been to
isolate Putin, demonize him, and erode his support within the country in hopes of toppling his government, thereby
removing the biggest obstacle they face in implementing their hegemonic agenda. However, despite the financial backing,
political demagoguery and media inundation, the attempts have entirely failed.
Once it became clear that Vladimir Putin would be reelected to a third term, the US State Department began its campaign
against him. Organized and implemented by US Ambassador Michael McFaul in Moscow, the protest movement led by figures such as Alexei Navalny and Boris Nemtsov as well as US-funded NGOs such
as GOLOS and the Moscow Helsinki Group, the movement essentially sought to instigate a “color revolution” in Russia
using the same tactics that had been successful in Ukraine, Georgia and elsewhere. However, it was soon quite obvious to
political observers in Russia and around the world that this movement was nothing more than a superficial
destabilization attempt that had no real traction among the Russian people.
Because of the failure of this manufactured protest movement, the tactics of subversion had to change. The imperialists
had to incorporate new tactics that would either revive and grow the protest movement or inspire an international
outcry. And so, we get the controversy surrounding the feminist punk band Pussy Riot. The Western media has attempted to hold up the band, which engaged in obscene and lewd acts inside a Russian church,
as crusaders and martyrs for the cause of free speech. Naturally, this utterly transparent and vacuous attempt to whip
up anti-Putin sentiment has, like the protest movement before it, sputtered and stalled. And so, as every covert attempt
at subversion through the use of “soft power” has failed, the Western imperialists now activate their terror networks in
the Caucasus to do by force what their intelligence networks failed to do by stealth: destabilize Russia.
The Geopolitical Calculus
The seemingly endless attempts to subvert the Putin government are cynically designed operations whose overarching goal
is geopolitical in nature. To the US and its allies, partners, and clients, Putin represents a block that is difficult,
if not impossible, to maneuver around. As demonstrated clearly in Syria, President Putin is able to successfully lead an
opposition to the United States: an empire attempting to impose its hegemonic designs on the region. By using
international law, the principle of national sovereignty, counter-propaganda, and countless other diplomatic weapons,
Putin, along with his allies in China, has prevented the wider war that the US has tried to foment. Moreover, Putin has
presented a major roadblock on the path to war with Iran, another mortal sin in the eyes of Western imperialist
warmongers.
Putin’s “crimes” do not stop there He has managed to successfully assert the right of national sovereignty over state
resources, jailing or otherwise diminishing the power of the oligarchs who enriched themselves in the 1990s at the
expense of the Russian people. He has successfully established the legitimacy of international institutions such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS that exist outside the dominance of the United States and have begun to emerge as a counter-weight to NATO and other
similar arms of US imperialism. Putin has also led the economic resurgence of Russia and maintained its dominance in the
energy market with pipelines, exploration, and myriad deals with multinational corporations.
The common thread that unites the above mentioned achievements of President Putin is an unwillingness to be subservient
to the United States. Putin has become, in the eyes of the Western imperialist ruling class, the unruly little brother
who must be taught a lesson by force. And so, innocent Russians must pay with their lives for the hubris of these
imperialists. As has been clearly demonstrated in Syria, Iran, Pakistan and countless other places around the world,
terrorism remains the favorite weapon in the arsenal of the ruling class in the West. The attacks in Ingushetia and
Dagestan are merely the latest example of this. Surely, they will not be the last.
ENDS