Windows to Russia

Baluchistan and Pakistan Army

Brigadier Nadir Mir

Author of the book “Gwadar on the Global Chessboard”

Blog: Pakistan and Geopolitics

The enemy in Baluchistan is neither the Baloch nor the Pakistan Army, but foreign hostile forces and their allies. The problem in Baluchistan is local sense of deprivation, alienation, grievances; cycle of violence, under development of a sparse demography spread over vast spaces and of course Geopolitics. Many Baloch claim to be fighting for their rights, a mini minority is either backed by foreign powers or seek their intervention.

The six points enunciated by Sardar Akhtar Mengal, need not be compared with Sheikh Mujeeb’s infamous six points. The environment in Baluchistan is pragmatically different from the tragedy of East Pakistan. Pakistan has come to stay much to the chagrin of its enemies. In fact, Pakistan will rise as a great nation. Those predicting Pakistan’s balkanization must be rebutted vigorously. By the same token, irate and aggrieved Baloch must be welcomed back into national mainstream. The COAS has aptly and timely supported the political process (within constitution) for achieving peace in Baluchistan. The Pakistan Army and ISI while bravely defending Pakistan are keen to stabilize Baluchistan. The Army has launched and supported numerous economic developmental and educational programmes for Baluchistan which are creating a positive environment. Still the Baluchistan solution will involve other political forces as well.

Sardar Akhtar Mengal, Nawab Talal Bugti and other Baloch leaders have toured the country to muster support for their cause. Nawab Talal Bugti has repeatedly stressed on the loyalty of Baloch to Pakistan. Major political parties PML (N), PTI, JI and others have wisely embraced the Baloch Brothers. These are happy tidings and can help creating an environment leading to a remedy for the malaise in beautiful Baluchistan. The Supreme Court has to an extent accepted the Baloch petitions as an aggrieved party. Baloch grievances should be heard and resolved in Pakistan rather than in foreign courts and hostile lands.

The time has come to end the blame game and usher in tranquility in turbulent Baluchistan.  Nawab Talal Bugti, Sardar Ataullah Mengal, Sardar Akhtar Mengal and other veteran Baloch leaders must be supported in a national reconciliation effort.

 Baluchistan Geopolitics

Sinister forces appeared at work to sever Pakistani and Iranian Baluchistan (called Seistan). This balkanization agenda is part of a larger Geopolitical design. An appropriate West Asian Strategy is being chiseled by hegemonic powers. Reportedly Nurudin Mengal from Pakistan and Naseer Balodi from Iran in a three day session recently briefed the EU Parliament. Both launched a tirade against Pakistan and Iran, plus pleaded for foreign intervention, (A La Libya, NATO style intervention?) Before that US Congress had introduced a bill to sever Baluchistan from Pakistan. Coming on its heels a UN mission on Baluchistan had even suggested disciplinary action against military officers for alleged excesses. These may be the contours of a foreign intervention case.

A part of the so called liberal media (foreign funded) in Pakistan and liberal puppets living on foreign dole are already blaming the Pakistani State. These Trojan Horse tactics in the information age smack of shaping the battle field. They aim to demonize Army, ISI, divide the people of Pakistan, create political confusion, galvanize terrorists so that mayhem abounds leading to a paralysis of state. After defaming and psychologically isolating the Army, ISI; the stage would be set for a Unilateral Declaration of Independence by a few foreign sponsored Baloch. Foreign forces could then be employed in intervention of Baluchistan.  

The Pakistan Army supported by all patriotic citizens must become pro-active for resolution of Baluchistan’s predicament.

Baluchistan Solution

A holistic solution for Baluchistan must include the following:

• ·         National Unity. The need of the hour is national unity and pragmatic solution for Baluchistan. Baloch leaders, major political parties, Supreme Court, Armed Forces, political government, media and civil society have to combine their efforts for a peaceful and prosperous Baluchistan. Pakistan and Baluchistan belong to all Pakistanis. All are responsible and accountable.
• ·         Reconciliation. Pakistan Army must take initiative along with Government efforts to accommodate the livid and afflict among the Baloch. PML (N) under the leadership of Mian Nawaz Shrif is most well placed to placate Baloch leaders. This scribe had suggested the same to Mian Nawaz Sharif in Gwadar Conference 2012.
• ·         Baloch Aspirations. The Baloch sense of injustice needs to be removed. All Baloch leaders and others in Pakistan seek justice for Nawab Akbar Bugti’s killing. The perception of injustice must be eradicated. The Baloch youth needs a special national package of free education and employment.
• ·         Economic Cycle. Baluchistan has numerous treasures which should benefit first the people of Baluchistan and then the rest of Pakistan. The greatest potential is in Gwadar concept amply highlighted in my book ‘Gwadar on the Global Chessboard’. This can bring prosperity and can change the destiny of the Baloch and all Pakistanis.
• ·         Security. The first act is to freeze the cycle of violence. An understanding based on reconciliation is the basis of security. While the army remains in its garrisons, the FC should be more biased towards the Western Borders. A new internal security force for Baluchistan may be considered with the bulk from Baloch areas.
• ·         Information Warfare. Pakistani media can help positively resolve Baluchistan by encouraging reconciliation with Baloch and discouraging foreign interference. The Pakistan Army can also further augment its information warfare capabilities. The ISPR has recently become more effective in projecting the army view point. It should concentrate more on Baluchistan solution with army’s positive contribution. The ISI while brilliantly guarding Pakistan needs to expose the foreign agendas and hostile agencies fishing in Baluchistan’s troubled waters. A serious effort to retrieve missing persons in Baluchistan must be well projected and presented.   
• ·         Blocking Foreign Interference. The Pakistan Army and the Foreign Office under the Government of Pakistan must present a unified case for blocking foreign interference in Baluchistan. All forms of foreign interference in Baluchistan to include propaganda, funding, training, arming of insurgents or succor for their leaders abroad etc must be dealt with firmly.

Even while blocking foreign interference in Baluchistan through all elements of national power, the key to peace in Baluchistan lies in national unity and reconciliation. All the Baloch have to be on board for prosperity and stability in the province. Baluchistan is as much part of Pakistan as Punjab or any other province. The Pakistan Army supported by the entire Pakistani Nation will defend Baluchistan like the rest of Pakistan.

Windows to Russia!

The views of the above author are not strictly only the views of Windows to Russia. They are an independent view from an outside source that brings a better light on the world in general and Windows to Russia is very pleased to have Nadir Mir’s thoughts on its pages today and in the future. So take a look at his site and read a few articles. – Kyle Keeton

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As Sveta and I travel, we have come to the understanding that the best countries to travel to are the ones that understand about the pocketbook. A pocketbook of money that is…

When you pay to go vacation somewhere, then in essence you are paying their bills and in essence you are their boss…

Now Russia is a country that fails in the tourist business and as much as I would like to talk good about the “Russian Tourist Industry.” I just can not do that and not be lying, but Russia has money coming in from fossil fuels and that is that…

I am talking about countries that have discovered that people who travel have money and those people will spend that money on just about anything. I also am talking about countries that make it easy to cross their borders and not treat you like a common criminal when you do try to cross their borders. The boarder crossing is the beginning and end of any successful trip to any particular country and that my friend is the maker and breaker of a vacation…

Russia has brownie points on the border crossing and starts people out pretty good, especially compared to the Western worlds border crossings. I cross Russian borders all the time and find the experience amongst the best in the world. Then from that great start, “The Snowball rolls downhill and gets bigger all the way to the bottom!” I am perplexed as to why Russia has great border crossings, but everything in between sucks as far as a tourist standpoint is concerned? Visas are not part of this article and that is a whole other story…

Final word on Russia (As this article is not about Russia!). Russia is a great place to travel a la carte and do try to get away from Moscow, if you desire to see the real Russia…

I am talking about a country like Georgia. Tunisia and Turkey to name a few. They understand that a tourist is a paying customer and pays the bills. I will mention that Georgia is a tad more authoritarian than most, but it is easy to get around and have fun…

So as I sit in Tunisia and look around at how they treat the outsiders. I realize how many rules they bend for us outsiders to be here and enjoy life. Even as we flagrantly break their rules left and right. I mean social, moral and legal rules that their people have to follow…

I will say that it is strange to see women in a full burgq, along side women in string bikinis. That is a daily sight here and it is a daily sight within the hotel also. Now to be fair the hijab is by far the most used female head covering and in most cases is very attractive…

Sveta talks about a girl that came to do step aerobics and she was in her hijab! Sveta said she was so cute and was so hard working, that she was amazed. Sveta talked for days about this gal and I can tell Sveta was impressed…

The Tunisian people accept us heathens from the West and do not say a word…

I understand that they are silent, because of the almighty Euro! They want those Euros converted into Dinars and then converted into cash flow in the country. Money talks and I find that money breaks all barriers, especially when things political are left out of the equation… (Hint – Hint – Hint!)

Actually I was impressed by the tolerance that is shown by the Tunisians. They sometimes show by their facial expressions what they are thinking, but they are very polite and calm…

I guess money talks…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

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American teacher: Who are you going to vote for?

American student #1: (male–18 year old eligible to vote): I am voting for Romney.

American teacher: What is your rationale?

American student #1: It is unfair for Obama and people [sic] to pick on the upper class just because they are wealthy. I listen to my parents about these things.

American teacher: Alright, that’s a reason. Do you know anything about national security and how it affects you? What do you think about Iran? What about the decay of many of our cities and towns in our country? How about the unemployed? What about those military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan? I mean there are a lot of issues that you should consider when casting your vote whether it be for Romney or Obama. You can’t rely solely on the easiest sources of information.

American student #1: Well, for unemployment, we can bring all the jobs back into the United States that were outsourced.

American teacher: Why would corporate shareholders want to pay more in labor costs? It does not make sense.

American student #1: Well, look, I am voting for Romney because it will be something new.

American student #2 (female—18 year old eligible to vote): I am voting for Obama because Romney wants to cut funding for the arts. Abortion is a matter for each woman to decide. Romney is not focused on our country’s problems. I don’t like his attitude. I do not know all the issues or much about the Iran situation except that it is not good. Really, they are not that much different. But Obama is my choice. Voting ‘just for something new’ is crazy.

Above is a record of a conversation with two eighteen year old Americans who will be casting their votes in the presidential election of 2012. A third student, just shy of her eighteenth birthday, was asked the same questions to which she said that Romney would be her selection because “it would be something new.” All three students were sincere and passionate about their responses. So in this three person poll, Romney wins it 2-1. All three indicated that there was not much difference between the two of them.

Feeling the intensity of their political passions, and being in the presence of the future that is current youth, it was difficult not to feel some sadness for them possessing the knowledge that war plans are afoot for a terrible kinetic assault on Iran by the US, UK, Israel, and some form of international military coalition involving Saudi Arabia. Already, economic sanctions are crushing the Iranian people and the Iranian television outlet Press TV is being knocked off the airwaves by the European Union. United States’ and Iranian leaders refuse to break out of their ideological fortresses.

The Iran matter coupled with record youth unemployment levels, debt (credit card, college), and a general feeling of boredom engendered by a non-substantive American culture, just adds to the gloominess of the times.

Why not vote for “something new”? It’s a crap shoot. The new face alone is identified with progress/change and provides the impetus/rationale for a decision/vote, not a critical look at what’s behind and below the face or the events/people driving the look of that face and the noises it makes.

Although making a decision based on appearance, gesture, voice and dress is a strong evolutionary trait, it is one that must be fought against mightily. The king makers/marketers are betting on a swift visceral evolutionary reaction that triggers a vote, not a critical assessment of the face, gestures and so on.

Monsters with Nice Faces

Slavoj Zizek speaks to this matter through the use a John Carpenter film. “When the hero of John Carpenter’s 1988 They Live puts on a pair of weird sunglasses that he has stumbled upon in an abandoned church, he notices a billboard that once invited us to a Hawaii beach holiday now simply displays the words: ‘MARRY AND REPRODUCE.’ Ad copy on another billboard – this one for a new color TV – says, ‘DON’T THINK, CONSUME!’ The glasses, then, function as a device for the critique of ideology. In other words, they enable him to see the real message lying beneath the glossy, colorful surface.”

With Zizek’s description in mind the socioeconomic and cultural symbols of the American human terrain—and the noises emanating from the faces of American leaders and news readers–are really saying something like this: Let’s kill and displace more young people, this time in Iran. A lot of our own young Americans have no future anyway and there is only so much we can get them to spend on clothes, travel and gadgets. So let’s put ‘em to work killing Iranian kids or converting them into American disciples. So what if Iraq and Afghanistan turned into hell holes. Iran will be different and we can combine that with a Syrian adventure.

Third time is a charm!

As the insanity for a kinetic war with Iran reaches a crescendo, and the justifications for failure in Iraq and Afghanistan reach their nadir, the International Crisis Group has already predicted the outcome of a war on Iran’s turf. Simply replace Afghan with Iranian in the following passage (and consider the notion that in some distant future, some invading country might write the same about the USA).

“Today in Afghanistan you do not have a national army. You do not have a national police. A factionalized government can only create a factionalized army and police. It is not a question of ethnic balance; it is a question of factional balance. People in the army and police are fighting for their factions, not the country…Assurances from NATO and U.S. military commander’s aside, there can be little doubt that levels of insecurity are likely to remain high, if not increase, ahead of the 2014 [Afghan] presidential election. With the majority of Afghan security forces unable to meet even the most basic operational benchmarks, particularly in the crucial areas of supply, logistics and air support, it seems highly improbable that they will be able to fill the gaps left by departing international forces by the time the campaign gets underway in earnest in late 2013.

Afghanistan’s political leaders have a maximum of eighteen months to prepare for an election and ensure a smooth transfer of presidential power. Many key tasks must be finished much earlier, particularly regarding electoral oversight. Resolving both the long crisis over electoral administration and related constitutional disputes could well be the key to determining whether the current political system will survive the 2014 NATO drawdown. Failure in either would be a crippling blow to chances to generate popular trust in a regime already regarded as highly corrupt. The international community must realize this is its last best chance to leave a viable state in Afghanistan and mobilize accordingly.”

And the outgoing head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Afghanistan, Reto Stocker, had this to say upon his exit from Afghanistan. “I am filled with concern as I leave this country. Since I arrived here in 2005, local armed groups have proliferated, civilians have been caught between not just one but multiple front lines, and it has become increasingly difficult for ordinary Afghans to obtain health care…People are not just suffering the effects of the armed conflict. Hardship arising from the economic situation, or from severe weather or natural disaster, has become more widespread, and hopes for the future have been steadily declining.”

Hope for American Contractors in Iran, Africa, Russia, China? Hell! Everywhere!

Groan….Not again! It’s near Halloween. A magic spell is needed to make the Human Terrain System (HTS) vanish.

The US Army, TRADOC, HTS still manages to suck up millions. Some say it is really a pension program run by those who are trying to shore up bank accounts. Whatever the case if HTS is still around it means that there must be dozens of programs just like it.

“I have stopped believing that someone will start asking questions about the Human Terrain System. This is fraud on such a massive scale, it defies description. HTS is extending almost anyone in country who wants an extension. The next HTS class is scheduled to start on or about 22 October. Something just doesn’t seem right. HTS made it through the critical October 1st (new FY gate), and CGI got the $42 million contract. If they clear the January 2, 2013 automatic budget cuts, HTS will have eternal life, because [contractor] CGI will not let it die. There is a glut of people around, with no work, and none anticipated. There is nothing new HTS teams can learn in Afghanistan, but there are plenty of opportunities in Somalia, South Sudan, Turkey, Kenya, Guatemala, and the former Soviet Republics.

Personnel in the Human Terrain System have produced some graduate papers, a few scattered self-promoting articles in the Military Intelligence Bulletin, and a critical series of papers done by the American Anthropological Association. Other than that, HTS has been blessed to be able to fly well below the radar screen, despite its huge budget. There are a handful of publications floating around but they would probably have to be requested under the Freedom of Information Act. These include the HTS Command Climate Survey, March 2011; HTS Team Productivity Workbook, March 2012; HTS/CGI Contracting Specifications, August 2011; TRADOC HTS Audit Report, August 2011; and the HTS Budget FY 2011-2012

Some of the military commanders who made use of HTS have made some obligatory passing comments about how well their HTS team worked for them, but it is doubtful that they will show you anything useful their HTS teams actually did for them or any information that was generated by an HTS team that had any impact on any operation they conducted. That’s not to say that HTS teams can’t make a difference.”

They Live!

John Stanton is a Virginia based writer specializing in national security matters. Reach him at cioran123@yahoo.com

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

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Swedish furniture giant IKEA is to build around 20 small stores with a floorspace of up to 5,000 sq m across Moscow, as part of its strategy of reaching customers across the Russian capital, Izvestia daily reported on Tuesday…

I find this tidbit of information and it brings back memories of an article that I did on Windows to Russia. The article slammed IKEA for bad mouthing Russia and bringing up a issue that IKEA helped induce and that is bribery…

I said then, just like I will say now, “IKEA is going nowhere and will stay in the Russian market, because it is so damn lucrative. IKEA is a corrupt company and will undermine any and all legit countries, trying to get a better deal for themselves…”

IKEA is trash and Sveta and I, will not shop there…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Past WTR Article >>>

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The weather in Tunisia is delightful and the sun hot, but the shade is cool. I sat down at the computer after a long spell away from it and what do I get lambasted with by the news sites? Nobel Prize Awarded to the EU…

I figured that the Nobel Award would at least give the reward to someone that really cares about peace. I mean after the last award being given to Obama and what a joke that has been. They should at least give the award to, well to at least the “Little Old Lady From Pasadena!”

I know at least 100,000,000 people much more deserving for these rewards, just because they leave other people alone and that is a big step toward peace in the world…

Nobel committee chairman Thorbjørn Jagland added: “The stabilizing part played by the European Union has helped to transform a once torn Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace.” Source >>>

The Western world is so in infatuated with itself that most will imagine this award a successfully given piece of a well deserved pat on the back…

But many people in the world will disagree and find the choice for the award an insult to humans all over the world, but alas we have all forgotten that, to name a few recent adventures – Libya still burns and Syria is on fire and Iran is next and this all is due to intervention of the EU participants and friends…

My grandma once told me, “People without friends have to pat their own back…”

The Western world is losing friends fast in this world…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I find that my concept of freedom is different from many other people. One of my criteria for freedom is set by this example: I believe that an important freedom is when I can pass through a border into another country unhindered by regulations that impede my progress…

Tunisia is such a country and when traveling from a country such as Russia who has the same proper border controls, then it makes for a very nice excursion from country to country…

I do not like taking my shoes off, taking my belt off, tossing my bottle of water in the trash, having someone feel my crotch for bombs and questioning me about my nitro spray bottle. When I experience these types of anti-social behavior from a country, I never go back or I leave them to better pastures in the first place…

Traveling the Middle East and Asia is such a pleasure compared to traveling Europe as such. Tunisia is a great example of a wonderful border crossing…

Sveta was able to drink on a bottle of water all the way through customs and border and never once did someone threaten us with any form of terrorism tactics against us for having a bottle of water. In fact one metal detector and all is cool when crossing a Tunisian border. Why even mothers could bottle feed or breast feed their babies as they crossed the border and no one, I mean no one attacked them…

Strange Huh? You would think that a country that is located in the Middle East, where the terror capitals of the world reside, would be the least free countries in the world…

Not so! It seems to me that the countries that claim freedom as their trademark are the least free. It also seems that the countries that are proclaimed as terrorist hotbeds are actually the most free countries…

So my concept of freedom is a country that allows me to pass freely within her borders and welcomes me as I enter. Tunisia is such a country, They were friendly and helpful from the border to the big cities. People are nice and polite! The world is so different from what is portrayed, that I was not sure that I was even in Tunisia and maybe we were lost and had entered another country. You know like where Peter Pan lives in “Never Never Land…”

I guess it is my concept of freedom that is at play here, but Sveta agrees and thousands and thousands and thousands of French, Germans and Russians agree also…

Tunisia is a paradise for freedom lovers…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: Sveta and I talked about traveling to Europe! We looked at each other after we see what hassles it is to cross a border in Europe and said to each other, “No way!”

I guess Europe will not get our money…

America’s image and influence has taken more of a beating within the Middle East, credit goes to the anti-Islam film. The movie, which appeared on YouTube has yet to be taken down. Meanwhile, both Iran and Israel are becoming increasing defiant of America’s calls for peace. Retired Pakistani General and author of the book ‘Gwadar on the Global Chessboard’, Nadir Mir, told The Voice of Russia that Russia is the only player that might be able to help.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, has refused to take down the video. Instead it decided merely to block the video from being accessed in the countries where protests have turned violent.

YouTube released a statement saying; “This video, which is widely available on the web, is clearly within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube. However, given the very difficult situation in Libya and Egypt we have temporarily restricted access in both countries.”

While the film will still be shown around the world, because of YouTube’s refusal to take it down, some countries are planning to filter out the video or ban the website completely.

One of those countries is Russia; it has been talking about blocking the video to help prevent the damage it has already caused from spreading further. Retired Pakistani General and author of the book ‘Gwadar on the Global Chessboard’, Nadir Mir told The Voice of Russia “as Russia plans on banning sites hosting this film, they are heading in the right direction. Russia is rightly sensitive to its Muslim population’s sentiments and also those in Central Asia.”

As other countries are currently looking into these bans, American interests have suffered because of the film, but it seems America may still be able to pick up the pieces and salvage its image.

America will need to start promoting peace and, according to Nadir Mir, “America can make its embassies safe, not by adding walls and layers of security but by getting back to pure diplomatic work. The American embassies should be the abode of the State Department and not infested with every kind of special force and military contractor. In addition, America needs to respect Islam and Muslims instead of demonising them”.

This will be a gigantic task for America to take on; Nadir Mir also added that the film was just one more nail in the coffin of America’s good relations in the Middle East, where there is ever-increasing anti-US sentiment. “The American image was already tarnished over decades of wars and empty promises. In fact, the film was one more catalyst of hate and there may be more to come”, he added.

The fact that America’s influence is slipping in the Middle East can be shown by the fact that both Iran and Israel are becoming increasingly defiant of America’s calls for peace. Nadir Mir also hinted at the fact that the only player that might help is Russia. “This potential war will not only become a regional conflict quickly, but might even possibly lead to a World War III situation. Moscow’s efforts for peace must be appreciated, more than ever before.”

The short-term damage that the blasphemous film has inflicted on the American image seems to be expanding into longer-term problems. Nadir Mir believes that America needs start backing off and should not provoke Muslim feelings any further. He also stated that President Obama has done a good job so far at just that. “It would not be prudent for America to provoke things further. In fact, President Obama’s restraint is seen as a prudent act as things begin to boil over.” He told The Voice of Russia.

The road to recovery will be a massive undertaking for America, which is now faced with a huge damage control exercise. The challenge of regaining a certain influence in the Middle East might be harder than it sounds. America’s decisions will not only be essential on the path to peace but may also prove to be too much to take on. –Voice of Russia

Geopolitics of Peace: by Nadir Mir. Author of the book “Gwadar on the Global Chessboard” Blog: Pakistan and Geopolitics wwwpakistangeopolitics.blogspot.com/ The author is a retired Brigadier General of the Pakistan Army.

Windows to Russia!

The views of the above author are not strictly only the views of Windows to Russia. They are an independent view from an outside source that brings a better light on the world in general and Windows to Russia is very pleased to have Nadir Mir’s thoughts on its pages today and in the future. So take a look at his site and read a few articles. – Kyle Keeton

“Marinetti [and Benito Mussolini] understood the masses as material to be formed by men of action. A bond was established between futurists and fascists…”

US Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s speech at the Virginia Military Academy in early October was an embarrassment to the nation. For those who seriously study the life and career of General George C. Marshall (or teach about the man and his times to young/old Americans) it was appalling to the senses to hear Marshall’s name invoked by Romney just as it would be by any of today’s American  civilian and military leaders.

But there is a far more serious issue facing the United States than the appropriation by the cultish Romney of, perhaps, America’s greatest military commander, statesman, teacher, politician, negotiator and public servant.

The nearly hyper-fascist, war making state of political and cultural/economic affairs in the United States today makes it possible for American leaders (and handlers) from business and government to steal and distort history, and deliberately wrench current events in order to advance ideological agenda’s for the benefit of cultish ideology. Neo-conservative liberalism with barely disguisable fascist tendencies/programs hides at the core of both the Republican’s and Democrat’s party platforms. The platforms’ wording camouflages the reality taking place outside of the documents: austerity, war, fear and torture are the predominant themes of the day.

There is a frightening description of the ideology/politics of both Obama and Romney and their respective camps/supporters. It reflects the times and it comes from Filippo Martinetti’s Futurist Movement that emerged in late 19^th and early 20^th Century in Italy. The Futurist Movement is analyzed and described with eloquent excellence in Stephen Eric Bronner’s Modernism at the Barricades, (2012, Columbia Press).

Martinetti would have thrilled at the United States’ freneticism. He would marvel at the use of remotely piloted Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Drones) to destroy enemies of the US State. Martinetti would have unbounded excitement for Rods from God, the use of spaced-based platforms to–once activated–nearly instantly destroy a target anywhere on Earth. The speed with which information flows over the World Wide Web; the rapid distortion and elimination of history and memory; America’s perpetual wars that cleanse the world; the disconnected and relativist cultural stovepipes that characterize American ethics and society; and the subtle, yet brutal, destruction of American cities, workers and government social programs (austerity) would have been trumpeted by Martinetti in his flamboyant showman-like manner.

There seems little doubt that if Martinetti lived today, he would be a major player in the political process of the US as a neoconservative liberal.  He’d likely support Romney but given Obama’s warring record, he might go for the incumbent president.

Martinetti’s Platform

Bronner describes Martinetti’s Futurist platform thus.  “Speed, Motion and incessant activity for the sake of activity—the constituents of the multiplied man—are also the constituents of the fascist style and outlook. Introducing the virgorous and the dynamic necessarily calls for conditions in which, as Marinetti writes, ‘the sick and the weak will be crushed, crumbled and pulverized by the vehement wheels of intense civilization. The green beards of provincial back alleys will be shaved clean by the cruel razors of speed.’”

Bronner continues. “Progress has nothing human about it: the dignity of times past is a thing of the past. The sublime not only escapes articulation but obliterates all ethical concepts and humanitarian norms. Existence itself is propelled into a situation where there is no past, even the best past, along with a self-negating horizon. Duration comes to mean as little for individual as for a machine. Speed and annihilation become ends in themselves. The individual, again, is worth no more than a light bulb. Reification reasserts itself as it becomes clearer in Futurist Painting, Technical Manifesto (1910) so that “the suffering of a man is the same interest to us as the suffering of an electric lamp which, with spasmodic starts, shrieks out the most heartrending expressions of color…Marinetti…believed that war might serve as an antidote to boredom and he became an advocate of war as the world’s only hygiene…’

The Forty Years War

Len Colodny’s–with Tom Shactman–The Forty Years War: The Rise and Fall of the Neocons from Nixon to Obama (2009, Harper Collins) is an extraordinary work that should be used in educational coursework from the senior level in US high schools through the college years. American voters and foreign observers of American politics should seek out the text.

Colodny has written an exceptionally documented and scintillating yarn of American politics dating from the World War II years to the first days of President Obama’s administration. The marquee events, names and organizations common in today’s political/historical analyses of those years and neocon movement and its successes and failures are all featured prominently in the book: Kissinger, Nixon, Haig, Reagan, Clinton, Bush (first and second), Obama, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Carter, Bin Laden, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Watergate, Iran-Contra, 911, Bob Woodward, the Cold War, the Project for a New American Century, the American Conservative Union and so on.

But the real power of the book comes from Colodny’s digging beneath the standard American historical narrative of the panoply of events, issues and personalities of 1945-2009 to adroitly reveal the many stories of personal power grabs; political infighting between the White House/CIA, State and Defense Departments and Congress; ideological constitutional warfare; and, arguably, petty criminal activity bordering on treason. All of this is sourced with 432 “notes” to the text and a fine bibliography.

What is fascinating and unsettling is that all of this political and ideological brinkmanship and internal warfare took place even while the US leadership was faced with life and death matters like the Cold War, Vietnam, 911, both Iraqi invasions and an assortment of domestic maladies.

Given the dangerous state of the world at the time, The Forty Years War leaves one wondering how the United States, led by the many egomaniacs and ideologues in power, managed to get the United States to the position of “sole superpower” without self-destructing.

Unsettling, after reading Colodny’s book, comes the knowledge that the same ideas, people processes, and struggles are in play as the US seeks war with Iran, NATO intervention in Syria and strained relations with China and Russia even as its domestic health deteriorates.

Among the many revelations in The Forty Years War there are a couple that standout.

A little known Pentagon analyst named Fritz Kraemer and his many protégé’s (Kissinger, Rumsfeld, Haig, for example) would arguably become the godfather of the neoconservative movement. His theory of “provocative weakness” would be repeated time and again over the years. “Although the public had no awareness of Fritz Kraemer, he had influenced generals, service secretaries, secretaries of defense, and secretaries of state since the 1940’s. It was Kramer who coined the term “provocative weakness.” That concept, which reflected his militaristic approach to foreign policy, along with other Kraemer tenets such as his rejection of diplomacy and his emphasis on morality as a guide for policy made Kraemer the godfather of the George W. Bush administrations ways of relating the United States to the rest of the world more so than Leo Strauss…” writes Colodny.

Colodny notes that “the ideas they [neocons] shared [with Kraemer] ranged from Kramer’s basal distrust of international organizations such as the United Nations, to his preference to elite rule, to his belief in the United States to spread democracy, to his championship of Christianity.” That’s not too far removed from Marinetti’s view.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Spy Operation Targets President of the USA

The Moorer-Radford spy operation documented in Colodny’s opus documents how Nixon’s attempts to negotiate arms reductions with the USSR were stymied by the most senior military personnel in the Joint Chiefs of Staff office with the help of a spy operation created by Admiral Tom Moorer. “He ordered the military liaison office, operating in the White House, to spy on Kissinger, the National Security Council and the president. The principal thief would be a young clerk, Yeoman Charles Radford…Though the scheme itself lasted for only a year and a half, its results—and the reverberations of its exposure—continued through the end of Nixon’s presidency and beyond.”

On Moorer’s command, …The military staffers who worked at the liaison office at the White House, but reported to him at the Pentagon, stole a substantial number of sensitive documents from Kissinger and the NSC and therefore from the president…Moorer, who had sworn when accepting his office as chairman to observe the Espionage Act, was the main receiver of the stolen goods. The intermediary was the newly elevated Rear Admiral Rem Robinson, chief of the military liaison office and Radford did the stealing.”

There are other gems in The Forty Years War.

Bob Woodward, the famed Washington Post writer, pops up repeatedly. His relationship with senior US military and intelligence personnel—most prominently Al Haig—is explored in detail. The claim by Bob Woodward that Mark Felt was “Deep Throat” (over the “gaps” in some of the Watergate tapes) is questioned by Colodny. The FBI was apparently not aware of the matter and Felt had been out of the FBI for six months.

Watergate is painted in different colors (Felt without exonerating any of the players. Other “currents” as Colodny points out were flowing adding to Nixon’s Watergate woes. Given the animosity Nixon and Kissinger had created within the military and intelligence communities, there were good reasons for wanting him out of the White House (arms limitations with the USSR, opening to China, social/environmental programs, loss of presidential power). The currents combined into a flood that drowned the Nixon presidency.

Filippo Martinetti and Fritz Kraemer’s doctrines can be seen in every aspect of political and cultural life in the United States today. Elitism; the “gratuitous act” of reality entertainment; the loophole society; the unaccountability and an unwillingness to accept some measure of canon and standard; the atomization of American society; the condescension towards “the other”; and, as David Bowie alluded to in the song Young American, the denial of history in favor of an unmoored existence–“Do you remember your President Nixon…Do you remember the bills you have to pay or even yesterday..”

John Stanton is a Virginia based writer specializing in national security matters. Reach him at cioran123@yahoo.com. The Moorer-Radford Spy Operation will be the subject of a forthcoming piece.

Tomorrow I will have been officially 6 years in Russia! On October 10th 2006 I crossed the border for the first time and stepped into a world that was unbelievable and fantastic…

It is a world that has very few friends from the West and I understand that it needs to stay that way. Russia is Russia and Russia needs to stay Russia…

I have come to another cross roads in my life and this trip to Tunisia finalized many thoughts and thinking’s. I also have seen that Sveta has reached that crossroads with me. That is important as she is my better half and walking these paths are so much more fun holding Sveta’s hand…

This trip has placed the groundwork for Sveta and I to move onwards and upwards and one of the things that I have realized to complete the next journey is to completely leave the USA behind…

This also means leaving Windows to Russia behind, as it is part of the past and that is exactly where most Americans are, in the past…

I am not going to get political in this article, but I do know that the world is what is important and not any singular country. The world is a wonderful place and we Americans have screwed it up and are trying to screw up a great thing. Are we that scared of what is out in the world?

So as Sveta and I step into a more broad and delightful world of travel and times. I realize that I have to leave my old thinking’s behind and so this is the last article to give a damn about a sick and pathetic America. I am tired of an America that wants to take the world to hell with it and all ride in a hand basket as we go to hell…

Sveta and I are going to Thailand in January. The plans are to set up second home and second life. If not in Thailand, then we will set up base in a dozen other countries. The point is that America is no longer in the view port and that means even when it comes to being upset about what she does…

Tunisia has really opened our eyes and the world really is much more important…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

The picture is a photo just taken by Sveta and she wanted me to put it in the article. She said, “That is you posting this article.”

So there is the picture… 🙂

So back to the article – In our travels around the great little country Tunisia, we have discovered that everyone knows you and they even have served you food or helped get your suitcases to your room. (Except, I carried my own suitcases! Oops…)

What I mean by this is that we all have a yellow band around our left wrist and it has the hotel information on it. The locals know what color belongs to what hotel and they try to act like they have already met you as you travel around and look at the sights…

So it is, “Hey, I know you, you I served food to! I carried your bags and or I cleaned your room!”

Then after they try to get you caught by those statements, they then try to get you to go see their families! Now I have to tell you some of these guys have sisters all over the country… 🙂

Their English is limited to virtually what I just wrote above in the quote and the Russian ability is zilch. So while Sveta and I know two languages, it is the two that Tunisians do not know…

The hotel is literally Germans and French and the staff can speak either language fluently. Then Italian runs a close third, but English is at the bottom of the list…

Since French is a strong basis of English and I spent several years in Germany, I understand most of what is going on and I just act like a grouchy Russian, which by the way there are about 40 of us grouchy Russians running around here…

I have seen one Canadian and a couple of Britain’s, but it looks like I am the only American out of around a thousand guests staying at the hotel. In fact that makes me just perfectly happy and no one bothers me…

I am going to cut it short and since dinner is about ready and it is yummy, yummy and more yummy here with the food department. I do not want to miss the dinner bell…

You all have a great day and weekend! Sveta and I have been swimming up a storm, in a very beautiful ocean…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…