The BIGGEST lies “often involve what remains UNSAID”— Norman Solomon commenting
on the relentless post-Helsinki Hysteria among US rabble-rousers, demagogues,
and warmongers.
In search of clarity, sanity and no doubt an end of hostilities, Solomon
presents a fuller picture or track record—often censored by US major print and
broadcast media—of US-Russia relations.
- Promise-breaking huge expansion of NATO to Russia’s borders since the
fall of the Berlin Wall
- Brazen intervention by U.S. leadership in Russia’s pivotal presidential
election of 1996
- U.S. government’s 2002 withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile
Treaty
- More than 800 U.S. military bases in foreign countries — contrasted
with Russia’s nine overseas bases.
ELABORATION
1972 Arms Control Treaty Abandoned
Under the terms of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty or
ABMT), each signer agreed to limit its arsenal “to two ABM complexes, each of
which was to be limited to 100 anti-ballistic missiles.” This arms control
treaty (1972—2002) was “between the United States and the Soviet Union,
limiting “the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems used in defending areas
against ballistic missile-delivered nuclear weapons.”
The arms control treaty essentially ended when U.S. President George W.
Bush gave notice to Russia on December 13, 2001 of US withdrawal from the
treaty. Finalized in 2002, the act went on record as “the first time in recent
history that the United States had withdrawn from a major international arms
treaty.”
A new treaty signed by Russia and the United States “mandates cuts in
deployed strategic nuclear warheads but without actually mandating cuts to total
stockpiled warheads, and without any mechanism for enforcement.”
Spirit of 1990 East-West Treaty Breached
The Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany was signed
in Moscow [USSR] on September 12, 1990 and paved the way for German
reunification on October 3, 1990. The Four Powers that occupied Germany at the
end of WWII in Europe—French Republic, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America—
“renounced all rights they held in Germany, allowing a united Germany to become
fully sovereign the following year.”
Since then claims have risen concerning the violation of the treaty. From
the German perspective one interpretation has suggested that “only German
forces may be deployed in the area of the former East Germany.” NATO troop maneuvers
on German soil have questioned; and, in 2006, “German News Information Services
argued that ‘an international lawsuit should be initiated against the
development of installations at Leipzig Airport in preparation for service in
NATO and EU combat missions.’” Also questioned is the eastward expansion into
former Soviet states and the Russian Federation.
One historian has reportedly said, though the US State Department has
disputed the claim, notes that signers of the treaty agreed “that NATO would
never expand farther east.”
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in May of 2008 newspaper
interview seemed to agree with the historian: that the treaty stood against eastward
expansion.
The Americans
promised that NATO wouldn’t move beyond the boundaries of Germany after the
Cold War but now half of central and eastern Europe are members, so what
happened to their promises? It shows they cannot be trusted.
A few years later the leader reportedly reversed his position, saying
that in discussions “‘NATO expansion’” per se was “‘not discussed’”; however,
what has occurred since the agreement violates “‘the spirit of the statements
and assurances made to us in 1990.’”
Spiegel reports that in a 2009 interview with then-Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev, the official said “that when the Berlin Wall came down, it had
‘not been possible to redefine Russia’s place in Europe.’” But “‘[n]one of the
things that we were assured happened —namely, that NATO would not expand
endlessly eastwards and our interests would be continuously taken into
consideration.’”
After reporting on both sides of the treaty issue and “examining
previously classified British and German documents in detail,” Spiegel concluded
“that
there was no doubt that the West did everything it could to give the
Soviets the impression that NATO membership was out of the question for
countries like Poland, Hungary or Czechoslovakia.”
1996 US (President WJ Clinton) interference in Russian Presidential Election
Approaching the 1996 presidential election candidate incumbent
President Boris Yeltsin had “low support” and reportedly resorted to questionable
means to turn the tide in his favor: “money, control of the mass media, use of ‘black
arts’ to disrupt the Communists’ campaign and manipulation of the vote count.” Major
electronic and print media “controlled either by oligarchs or the state” waged “an
information war in favor of Yeltsin and against Zyuganov.”
The Bill Clinton administration also insinuated itself into the
presidential campaign throwing its support to Yeltsin’s reelection. Money
exceeding the millions said to have been contributed to Yeltsin by “oligarchs
and other business interests” were even larger sums of money pouring in “indirectly”
from the West. Under pressure by the United States (under Clinton), “the
International Monetary Fund granted a $10.2 billion loan to Russia four months
before the June election “and enabled the government to spend huge sums paying
long-owed back wages and pensions to millions of Russians, with some overdue
checks arriving shortly before the June election.”
Reports following the election found that these shenanigans not only
breached Russian law but rendered the election fraudulent.
EAST WEST MILITARY BASES ABROAD
Russian Military Bases Abroad 9
Russia’s military bases abroad are mostly “near abroad”, the majority of
them “located in former Soviet republics.”
They are: Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Syria,
Tajikistan, and Vietnam.
USA Military Bases Abroad Hundreds
The United States military bases abroad are estimated, according to
Pentagon reports (2013), at 600. With domestic based included the figure
exceeds 5,000. The largest U.S. military personnel totals are said to be Ramstein
AB (Germany): estimated at 9,200.
Exceeding all other countries of the world, the United States of
America is “the largest operator of military bases abroad.”
Sort Out Fact From Fiction.
Decide the character of those who proffer endless hostility in domestic
and international relations and world affairs.
Decide for yourselves who and what presents the greatest threat to the world,
including to the United States of America.
Decide that nonviolence is not an act of cowardice but an act of courage.
Hear through noise. See past pageantry.
Sources and News
Consortium News “Climb Down From the Summit of Hostile Propaganda” July
18, 2018 Norman Solomon: “Public reactions to an open letter from academics,
journalists and politicians asking for co-existence with Russia show many
Americans don’t buy the media’s bellicose spin”
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/07/18/climb-down-from-the-summit-of-hostile-propaganda/
Spiegel “NATO’s Eastward Expansion: Did the West Break Its Promise to
Moscow?” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has accused the West of breaking
promises made after the fall of the Iron Curtain, saying that NATO’s expansion
into Eastern Europe violated commitments made during the negotiations over
German reunification. Newly discovered documents from Western archives support
the Russian position.” Uwe Klußmann, Matthias Schepp and Klaus Wiegrefe
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/nato-s-eastward-expansion-did-the-west-break-its-promise-to-moscow-a-663315.html
Wikipedia
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Ballistic_Missile_Treaty
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlargement_of_NATO
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_NATO
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_the_Final_Settlement_with_Respect_to_Germany#Claimed_violations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Russian_military_bases_abroad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_military_bases
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