13 February 2008
Watching the Front, Forgetting the Back
Posted by Roy Bischoff under: Constitution in Peril; General .
Although we need to do everything we can to win in Iraq, stabalize their government, then get out, we shouldn’t forget that this war is not the end all. There is a much larger picture. Islamic Jihadists are not the only people who want to destroy our way of life. The following article should help us remember to keep one eye on the back door so that even if we successfully defend ourselves from Muslim extremists, others may slip in behind us. Thanks to Peter Anderson for pointing out this op/ed piece to us.
Defenseless and Stupid
by J. R. Nyquist
Weekly Column Published: 02.08.2008
A recent Pravda headline stated, “USA absolutely defenseless against possible attack from Russia or China.” Of course, this headline seems ludicrous to most Americans. But there is nothing ludicrous about it. In 1998 a leading Russian military defector told me that Russia and China could combine to defeat the United States in a future war. Yes, such a war is possible, even if the Americans think it’s some kind of joke. According to Pravda, “No matter how mighty it may seem, the United States of America is defenseless in the face of an external enemy. Neither the U.S. Army nor the National Guard will be able to rebuff a sudden attack due to the lack of military training and equipment.”
Pravda’s assessment of American strategic vulnerability refers to a 400-page study “prepared by the independent committee which the U.S. Congress set up to test the battling capacity of the national Armed Forces.” According to Pravda, “Any unexpected attack against the USA with the use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons will become fatal for the [Americans]….”
Whatever your opinion of the War in Iraq, the most strategically significant result of the war has nothing to do with Iraq. Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has admitted that the U.S. military commitment to Iraq and Afghanistan “may have undermined the military’s ability to fight wars against major adversaries….” The U.S. military has changed its focus, losing sight of the real enemy – the most dangerous enemy of all.
The danger from Russia and China is not well understood. To complicate matters further, there is a new, rising incompetence in Washington. There is blindness in the governing class, a lack of understanding, an unwillingness to work with facts, a falsification of meanings, and fatal disregard for historical truth. Enemies are not recognized as enemies. Subversion is not recognized as subversion. Madness goes about in the guise of political correctness.
There are, of course, flashes of truth and moments of recognition. On the night of the Feb. 5th presidential primary, Republican Senator Orrin Hatch told an interviewer that he feared America could lose the economic wherewithal to sustain its armed forces. The interviewer completely ignored the senator’s statement. It wasn’t something journalists are ready to take seriously. Even so, the senator offered up a warning. He had begun thinking about the military budget and the prospect of declining revenues. You might say that the “writing is on the wall.” The U.S. dollar is falling, the banks are in trouble, the stock market is ready to tumble, the housing bubble is bursting. What will happen to the economy? What will happen to the military?
In recent testimony, National Director of Intelligence Michael McConnell told Congress that Russia, China and OPEC could use their growing financial power to advance strategic goals damaging to U.S. national interests. According to McConnell, American intelligence was concerned “about the financial capabilities of Russia, China and OPEC countries and the potential use of their market access to exert financial leverage to political ends.” In other words: The enemy has cash, and cash can buy people and companies.
The reader might say that America also has cash with which to buy people and companies. But the United States has never possessed a fully competent espionage apparatus. The Russians, on the other hand, always penetrate their enemies. To understand the power of Russia, one must understand the power of controlling intelligence information. On this basis, the Russians can do spectacular things with very little money. On the other side, the Americans can do almost nothing with vast sums. This makes the United States and its allies vulnerable.
Consider the breaking story about the new chairman of NATO’s intelligence committee, Sandor Laborc. As a Communist Hungarian intelligence officer he spent six years training with the KGB. He also has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. We all know that Russia complained bitterly about Hungary’s admission into NATO. But Russia’s complaints are purely theatrical. The former Communist countries are riddled with secret KGB-aligned structures that take their marching orders from Moscow. Therefore, it is easy to see that NATO has admitted several Trojan Horses inside its defensive perimeter. Russia has urged this process forward through reverse psychology. They have protested NATO expansion every step of the way. All the while, East Bloc agents were getting inside of NATO.
It is unreasonable to think that Laborc is a democrat committed to the free market system. As a friend of Putin, as a KGB-trained spy, he is certain to pass NATO secrets to the Kremlin. Yet, NATO officials are not moving to reject Laborc’s presence as chairman of the intelligence committee. News reports indicate that “not a single ambassador” to NATO has protested Laborc’s sensitive posting. The meaning of this event is manifold, and will escape the attention of the vast majority of Europeans and Americans. NATO is defenseless. NATO has become stupid.
21 Comments so far...
E.E. Says:
13 February 2008 at 11:17 am.
Seems like this would come under the rubric of warning against threats to our freedom. I have read about the Russians giving nuclear materials to Iran. Not much is made of this kind of thing and I don’t know why.
Peter Says:
13 February 2008 at 1:32 pm.
Here we go again. Another stupid conspiracy theory. I hear the feet running for the door.
Stumpy Says:
13 February 2008 at 1:36 pm.
Ya got bad hearing fella. Them are my feet running for your door to knock some sense into your hard head.
Hey Joy whats your take on all this cause I got to tell ya, this is something I have read up on a bit and I chew on it like Cat is doing on a mouse head right now.
Joy Bischoff Says:
13 February 2008 at 1:44 pm.
Good timing, Stumpy. I was about to sign off. First of all, in the short term I think you should be more worried about Terrie’s husband coming down there and thumping on your head.
Let me share a prediction I read from a very insightful man. He thinks the infighting between the Democrats and the Republicans will turn into outright war of words and then it is likely that a third party will finally gain some real strength here. His concern is that with the amount of money being spent in foreign wars, and with our soldiers and national guard out of the way, that we will prove too tempting to Russia and China. He believes we will have war on our own soil and our freedoms will be hanging by a thread. He also thinks, and I agree, that the backbone of this nation will rise up and defeat them. Of course I would rather this not happen but one good thing could come from all the bad; we would not take our freedoms for granted any more.
Stumpy Says:
13 February 2008 at 1:46 pm.
You really think them ole boys would come right here and attack America? China holds a lot of our dollars. Why would they shoot themselves in there own foot?
Joy Bischoff Says:
13 February 2008 at 1:52 pm.
Paper money used to be backed by gold. The new gold is oil. The dollar is weakening and it is oil that really matters and will more so in the near future. China will be willing to take a hit on dollars since they are in tight with Iran and Venezuela etc.
A few years back our spies got a hold of some Chinese White papers that were their intelligence on warfare on American soil. The front company for the Chinese army who also owns COSTCO by the way, owns the old American base at Panama. They also have a base in the Caribbean. They have allowed loyal Chinese to immigrate to Canada and according to these papers we got a hold of, that will be another front. So they are planning four fronts to eventually try and take us over with the help of the Russians.
E.E. is right. So many ex-KGB have chided us for our gullability and even brought documentation but either it is so scary or someone doesn’t want much made from this because the info is always suppressed much to the anger of these defectors.
The Book of Daniel gives a pretty clear picture of how things are going to play out. Maybe I will blog on that sometime.
Cameron Says:
13 February 2008 at 1:54 pm.
Our mainland has never been attacked. We have natural defenses that would make it very difficult to succeed in that.
Joy Bischoff Says:
13 February 2008 at 1:59 pm.
Cameron, If the country breaks down into factions and continues to weaken economidally, then we will have left ourselves wide open. Picture it like this. If we continue to fracture and feel no unity as a country, we have in effect broken down into tribes. When the pilgrims first arrived, the Native American population was huge. As soon as they became aware that the white man was laying claim to land that was already occupied, the natives could have unified to drive us out. They could or would not do that and so their numbers meant nothing. It is through unity that people make a stand. If they allow their differences to become their main focus, they cannot work for mutual protection.
We are becoming so focused on what is right before our eyes that this distraction will eventually put us in great danger. I believe America has a bright future but if we do not stop the fracturing, we will go through some hard bumps.
Stumpy Says:
13 February 2008 at 2:01 pm.
Dont like your words but dont doubt them neither. I know sense when I see it.
Cameron Says:
13 February 2008 at 2:04 pm.
It seems like almost every day I read something here that makes me think I finally understand how important what we are doing is. Today is a red letter day for importance with this and your Dialogue of Freedom article. And this is on top of Terrie’s article with quotes from Glenn Beck. That was bad. We are definitely going to drive away the weak of heart from this place.
Am I still a good soldier if my knees are shaking?
T. Fan Says:
13 February 2008 at 2:09 pm.
What I want to know is if you think Russia, China and Iran are working together and Iran is being used to stir up trouble. I have wondered this for awhie.
Matt Says:
13 February 2008 at 2:26 pm.
Iran Puts Uranium Gas in Centrifuges
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Iran’s new generation of advanced centrifuges have begun processing small quantities of the gas that can be used to make the fissile core of nuclear warheads, diplomats told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The diplomats emphasized that the centrifuges were working with minute amounts of the uranium gas. One diplomat said Tehran has set up only 10 of the machines—far too few to make enriched uranium in the quantities needed for an industrial-scale energy or weapons program.
The statements shed light on the Islamic Republic’s experiments with its domestically developed IR-2 centrifuges, which can churn out enriched uranium at more than double the rate of the older machines that now form the backbone of Tehran’s nuclear project.
The existence of the IR-2 centrifuges was made known last week by diplomats accredited to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency probing Iran’s nuclear program for suspicions it may have been designed to make weapons.
Diplomats told the AP last week that the machines appeared to be running empty and said they could not say how many centrifuges had been set up at the facility linked to Iran’s underground enrichment plant at Natanz.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8UPKV600&show_article=1
Cavetrollhead Says:
13 February 2008 at 2:27 pm.
Well,
This is disconcerting of course. I am taking for grated that this article and the names in it have been verified as true. Is the web site http://www.financialsense.com/ is reliable and accountable.
I would hate to be deceived. I would double check it myself, but I am too lazy at the moment. Maybe I will later.
How would one verify the facts here? For example, is Laborc is who this article claims he is? Is his history what is claimed here? I don’t mean to sound too cynical, but when something like this comes forth, the harder it is to believe- the better it needs to be sourced and double sourced.
Peter offers healthy skepticism that will reflect that of the people whom we would hope to convince. So source, source, source. Just as important as the truth is that the truth can be spread to those who are healthily skeptical.
There is a lot of BS out there and the normal Nine-to-fiver is not going to boil down every rumor out there.
If this site is to make a difference, we have to do more sourcing than would be normally done. There is too much paranoid, wacky static out there and without extra heavy sourcing, this site is just another crackle.
Joy Bischoff Says:
13 February 2008 at 3:58 pm.
T. Fan, first I’ll answer your question. Iran has a war pact with Russia, China, Syria, and Venezuela. This in itself is a major red flag.
Now this will address both T. Fan and CTH. Years ago Roy and I did a report on nuclear proliferation. We studied documented sources for a couple of weeks. We learned from solid sources that Russia had been funneling nuclear technology and weapons grade plutonium through German brokers into Iran. This was confirmed from a number of sources, not just one. I can’t remember the sources and it would take work I do not have the time to do right now to dig them all up. I had assumed it was fairly mainstream knowledge by now that so many KGB agents had defected and warned us that Russia’s intentions have never changed. Glenn Beck got it right. There is so much information out there about this. I seriously didn’t consider it conspiracy stuff at all. If it is, that’s too bad but I know too much and consider it far too great a danger to keep my mouth shut. I will try to find some things on this but can’t promise now. Too bad I didn’t keep notes for the last fifteen years. I could have compiled a book on this by now.
Joy Bischoff Says:
13 February 2008 at 4:08 pm.
CTH, you asked a fair question so I thought I would take a minute and grab a little on Laborc for you. This below is a major European paper. Lately it is easier to find major international news from Europe than it is from the U.S. There are lots of articles, I’ll go grab one or two more.
BERLIN: The new chief of the Hungarian secret services,
who spent six years at the KGB’s academy in Moscow during the 1980s, has become chairman of NATO’s intelligence committee, a development that diplomats said could compromise the security of the alliance.
Sandor Laborc, 49, was personally chosen by Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany of Hungary as director of the country’s counterintelligence National Security Office in December, after a bitter dispute between the governing coalition led by the Socialists - the former Communists - and the main opposition party, Fidesz.
Laborc, a former Communist who was trained at the KGB’s Dzerzhinsky Academy from 1983 to 1989, according to members of the national security committee in the Hungarian Parliament, had failed to win support from that committee, which oversees such appointments.
Despite that, Gyurcsany and Gyorgy Szilvasy, the minister responsible for the intelligence services, pushed through the appointment.
Joy Bischoff Says:
13 February 2008 at 4:12 pm.
Here is another from a source I don’t trust as much as the above paper but it certainly can’t be considered extreme, The New York Times:
BERLIN — The new chief of the Hungarian secret services, who spent six years at the K.G.B.’s academy in Moscow during the 1980s, in January became the chairman of NATO’s intelligence committee, a rotating post that is held for a year.
Some NATO diplomats, asked about the appointment, said in recent days that his background might make NATO countries less willing to share intelligence with one another.
Sandor Laborc, 49, was chosen by Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany of Hungary in December to become director of the country’s counterintelligence National Security Office.
The appointment followed a dispute over the issue between the governing coalition led by the Socialists — the former Communists — and the main opposition party, Fidesz. Mr. Laborc was trained at the Dzerzhinsky Academy of the K.G.B. from 1983 to 1989, members of the national security committee in the Hungarian Parliament said. He failed to win support from that committee, which oversees such appointments but whose vote is not binding.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/world/europe/04hungary.html
Cameron Says:
13 February 2008 at 4:26 pm.
SVR Col. Sergei Tretyakov: In His Own Words
This is an except from the book Comrade J:
Epilogue: The words of Sergei Tretyakov
In Moscow, lies are being spread about my disappearance and why I escaped. I would like to address these rumors. No one recruited me. No one pitched me. No one convinced me to do what I did. I was never approached by a foreign intelligence service. I was never targeted by U.S. intelligence, I believe, because of my image. I was not perceived as a new Russian democrat, and although I was young, I had a reputation for thinking like the old-style KGB officer. I was considered a tough, untouchable Russian. It is important for me to explain that I was neither seduced nor blackmailed nor bribed. The decision that I made was mine without any outside influence.
It is important for me to explain that I never suffered any unfair attitude inside the SVR. I had a skyrocketing career, promotions, decorations, respect, and a very promising future. I did not have any financial concerns or any need for money.
Col. Tretyakov to author Pete Earley on why write this book (page 8):
“I want to warn Americans. As a people, you are very naive about Russia and its intentions. You believe because the Soviet Union no longer exists, Russia now is your friend. It isn’t, and I can show you how the SVR is trying to destroy the U.S. even today and even more than the KGB did during the Cold War.”
After Words: Pete Earley and Sergei Tretyakov, “Comrade J: The Untold Story of Russia’s Master Spy in America After the End of the Cold War” interviewed by Peter Earnest, executive director of the International Spy Museum
From 1997 to 2000, a man known as “Comrade J” was the highest-ranking operative in the SVR-the successor agency to the KGB-in the United States. He directed all Russian spy action in New York City, and personally oversaw every covert operation against the United States and its allies in the United Nations. He recruited spies, planted agents, penetrated security, manipulated intelligence, and influenced American policy, all under the direct leadership of Boris Yeltsin and then Vladimir Putin. He was a legend in the SVR, the man who kept the secrets.
Then in 2000, he defected-and it turned out he had one more secret. For the previous two years, he had also been a double agent for the FBI: “By far the most important Russian spy that our side has had in decades.” He has never granted a public interview. The FBI and CIA have refused to answer all media questions about him. He has remained in hiding. He has never revealed his secrets . . . Until now.
……Earley describes in the book how the CIA and FBI introduced him to Tretyakov in a hotel room at the Ritz Tyson’s Corner, near the Washington Beltway, with the idea that they do a book together. Other than that, Earley says, the CIA and FBI had no role in the book, other than vouching for the Russian’s credibility.
……..(Congressional Quarterly, 19 Jan 08)
Pete Earley is an author of two other highly respected and recommended espionage books about the Aldrich Ames case and the John Walker case:
What was done financially, I believe, was done because of genuine appreciation and respect for the risks that I took. I knew nearly all of the Russians who were exposed by Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen, and knew they were executed because they were helping the U.S. This means that I was — better than anyone else — fully aware of the dangers that I was taking and the danger that my family was placed in as a result of my actions. Because of my high rank and position, which were uncomparably higher than those of the KGB officers who were executed, there is no doubt in my mind that I would have shared their fates if I had been arrested.
Why, then, did I choose to do what I did — given that I had a promising career and money was not my motivation? Why would I put my life and the lives of Helen and our daughter in jeopardy? There were two reasons. I have tried to express both in this book. But
I will repeat them now, for they explain everything.
The first was my growing disgust and contempt for what has happened and is happening in Russia. These feelings of revulsion first surfaced in Ottawa when I saw a new breed of bureaucrat who was taking power. Neither I nor Helen was naive, nor did we idealize the Soviet system, its immorality, cruelty, repression, and ineffectiveness. Yet it was our motherland, which, like your parents, you cannot choose. I was trying to serve my country the best possible way and was always ready to sacrifice myself defending its national interests. I became extremely enthusiastic and optimistic when Gorbachev came into power and started his famous perestroika and glasnost. Even though he often sounded as if he were an uneducated Russian peasant, I believed that Gorbachev would start a new era of democratization in the Soviet Union. But instead, the Soviet Union ceased to exist, civil war started in different parts of Russia and in the Soviet republics. The economy collapsed, and people became desperate and miserable. Since then Russia has been repeatedly raped and looted by its leadership. I call this process GENOCIDE of the Russian people performed by a group of immoral criminals.
Yeltsin may be best remembered in the West for his impassioned speech outside a besieged White House in Moscow while standing on a tank. But as a president, he was an alcoholic with a deranged mind who surrounded himself with gluttons who stole and robbed and cheated our nation in order to become billionaires. His successor, President Putin, is not a drunk, thankfully. But he was created and chosen by Yeltsin’s clan, and for years his presidency was controlled and supervised by the former head of Yeltsin’s administration, Aleksandr Voloshin, who remained in his position as chief of staff. In what normal country does a president inherit the administration of the previous president and for years is helpless to appoint his own?
Cameron Says:
13 February 2008 at 4:29 pm.
That is only a small part of the info I found. Google gives up the story. Just stick to first hand sources and ignore the conspiracy sites and the full story can still be found. I have made a committment to keep my eyes wide open to truth now no matter how frightening it seems.
Joy Bischoff Says:
13 February 2008 at 4:35 pm.
Thanks Cameron. Great stuff. It is good that CTH brought it up though. If he wondered about the validity, then we can be sure a lot of other people out there reading this are questioning it also. Always good to confirm.
Cavetrollhead Says:
13 February 2008 at 4:44 pm.
Thank you Joy and Cameron,
I hope you understand that I am not trying to antagonize. Becoming part of the endless crackle out there can be avoided by bettering them all with solid sourcing to every assertion.
Joy Bischoff Says:
13 February 2008 at 7:37 pm.
No problem, CTH. It is a fine line we are trying to walk. We want to point out dangers to our freedom but we don’t want to become completely conspiracy theory oriented to the point where we lose half our readers. We can’t please everyone and can’t worry to try but I do want to focus more on learning principles and freedom and spreading the unity idea than trying to untangle all of the conspiracy theories. We have to pick our battles.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.