The Guardian had a major feature last week on the 20th anniversary of the attempted coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union. Contrary to the intention of the coup leaders, it was the catalyst for the end of the Soviet Union and, in a sense, the ultimate victory of NATO.
As NATO bombing this week achieves the loss of power of Gadaffi in Tripoli, a look back at that 1991 Soviet coup highlights the stunning hypocrisy of NATO and the danger to world peace which it has become.
One of the leaders of the coup against Gorbachev was a dedicated Stalinist Politburo member named Islam Karimov, who was President of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. After the failure of the coup, he embraced the idea of Uzbek independence in order both to escape retribution for his part in the coup and to maintain Stalinism in his little part of the Soviet Empire.
(A digression, but one of Karimov’s first acts in independent Uzbekistan was to order the Uzbek Supreme Court to pardon Alisher Usmanov, a notorious gangster jailed by the Soviet Union. He is now the third richest man in Britain).
Karimov has to this day maintained the Soviet institutions in Uzbekistan and even increased the levels of repression, with absolutely no civil or political liberty, and commercial freedoms restricted to his immediate family and friends.
So Karimov, the world’s most notorious torturer, must be NATO’s number 1 remaining enemy, right?
No, actually. He is NATO’s best friend.
Karimov is the major conduit for land supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan, is host to Germany’s forward airbase, is a most valued member of NATO’s “Partnership for Peace”, is a recipient of NATO military training and equipment.
Because NATO does not care in the least about dictators. It likes them if they forward NATO’s interest in Central Asian or Middle Eastern oil and gas, and if they host NATO military logistics. Karimov can murder hundreds, keep 10,000 political prisoners in desert gulags. Bahrain can become a torture camp. NATO really does not care. Every time you hear a NATO spokesman telling lies about their mission to protect civilians, remember the tortured of Uzbekistan.
I used to be neutral about whether or not an independent Scotland should remain in NATO. I now view leaving NATO as the number one foregin policy priority.
“If the US does that then they’ll run the risk of producing a new Gaddafi. The Libyan people won’t tolerate foreigners on their soil.” Ruth
Nat0’s vvav.
The renowned, for propaganda, programme Newsnight has just broadcast an “interview” with an unknown TNC terrorist. During the Interview the terrorist spokesman declared that the 2 million inhabitants of Tripoli are suffering from acute shortage of food, water, fuel and medical facilities. If this fact is true why did not NATO and it’s cohort allow supplied through to alleviate these shortages as they allowed fuel, food arms and mercenaries through to the TNC terrorist army.
Mr Paxman in all his unbiased way, totally failed to see the inconsistency.
Mr Paxman went on to interview another failed politician from the UK who is still trumpeting the view that the NATO aggressors had full legal backing for regime change from the UNSC, again with no questioning from Mr Paxman.
The telegraph is leading in tomorrows paper that the SAS are in Libya, hunting for the Libyan Government leader. They also state that contrary to UNSC resolutions they have been there for weeks.
“Nat0’s vvav.” Courtenay.
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Please could you explain what that means, Courtenay. Thanks.
SAS have been in Tripoli for weeks dressed as Arabs (Telegraph) – well I’ll be damned – well done agent Cameron UNSC Res. 1973 is worthless:
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..while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory…
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So why bother with a resolution – Oh! I know – to avoid another Iraq genocide?
Some comments from Medialens
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“WE’RE HERE TO GET YOU FRIZZHEAD” says the Daily Mirror p2 “Libya on the Brink” 23rd August 2011
Posted by jo abbess on August 24, 2011, 10:30 pm
That’s “REAL News.. REAL ENTERTAINMENT” right there, that is.
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US outsourcing regime change: Nato partnership with Libyan rebels as a model
Posted by margo on August 24, 2011, 8:53 pm
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US Outsourcing Regime Change:
NATO Partnership in Libya Serves as Model, Panetta Says
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28929.htm
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By American Forces Press Service
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MONTEREY, Calif., Aug. 23, 2011 – Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta today called U.S. support for the NATO mission that’s helping opposition forces make progress against Moammar Gadhafi’s regime Libya an example of the international cooperation that will be critical in the future.
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“It is a good indication of the kind of partnership and alliances that we need to have for the future if we are going to deal with the threats that we confront in today’s world,” Panetta told students during addresses at both the Naval Postgraduate School and Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center.
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Panetta said he is particularly proud of the mission the United States performed as a NATO partner in Libya, including the establishment of a no-fly zone to help protect the Libyan people.
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“It is a credit to the great job of nations working together on a common mission – something that is absolutely essential if we are to provide security in the future,” he said.
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This support and assistance, he said, has been “part of the key in being able to help the opposition forces there ultimately be able to succeed.”
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Panetta expressed hope that the opposition will succeed and NATO will have completed its mission. “It’s clear that the opposition has made significant gains. It’s clear that the regime forces are collapsing and that Gadhafi’s days are numbered,” he said.
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The United States continues to monitor events, but the situation remains dangerous and “very fluid,” he said.
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“In many ways, the future of Libya is in the hands of the Libyans,” Panetta told the assemblies, echoing President Barack Obama. “We hope that they will decide that it is important to establish stability and important political reforms for the future after 40 years of Gadhafi.”
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The Arab Spring, the name given to recent revolutions for democracy throughout the Middle East, is bringing change and in many cases, turmoil to the region, Panetta said. But it also offers “a chance to make that part of the world a better region, one that enjoys some of the values and some of the reforms and some of the political opportunities that we have in this country,” he said.
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“Proud” ? Bombing a capital city and you feel “proud” ?
Posted by jo abbess on August 24, 2011, 10:47 pm,
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Let’s just consider some other capital city and reflect on what that would feel like…say…Jerusalem ? How would Leon E. Panetta feel if he was having to report that NATO had bombed Jerusalem in support of an uprising in Israel ?
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Re: “Proud” ? Bombing a capital city and you feel “proud” ?
Posted by margo on August 25, 2011, 7:25 am,
Let’s also reflect on how it would be if some of the other world powers decide to take a leaf out of the proudly flaunted USNATO handbook – you know, set up ‘no fly zones’ to ‘protect civilians’ on ‘humanitarian grounds’ in sovereign countries experiencing civil unrest. So you could have Russian jets pounding Tbilisi in support an uprising in Georgia and China deciding to enforce a ‘no fly zone’ over Taiwan and ‘being forced’ to bomb buildings in Taipei to get rid of ‘a mad dicator’, etc.
I guess the world’s policeman would be all over them, though.
Of course the SAS are in Tripoli..who the hell do you think are calling in the air strikes..
Yugostiglitz,
You have repetaedly failed to produce the “conspiracy theory” you claim I posted about DSK. It exists entirely in your own, rather warped mind. Where is it, precisely? And no, I have not deleted anything.
The article by Dr Paul Craig Robert in FPJ today should keep Yugo going on for a while..maybe he could come up with all the answers. (sorry Moderator.too good an article to miss)
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2011/08/25/911-after-a-decade-have-we-learned-anything/
‘… if the NTC can make the improvements it’s promised then there’s hope.’ This is
a response to the situation that should be taken more seriously on this blog. First, you suggested, Craig, that NATO’s mission to remove Gadaffi would fail and that they were working on a deal to keep him, Gadaffi, in power. Then when this preciction turned out to be false you shifted the goal posts and said ‘what about Bahrain?’, as if to suggest that they, NATO, can’t take any credit for assisting in the removal of a mad, bad dictator in one place because of a lack of action in another place. The same with central Asia. I am sure you are right about Bahrain etc but your reaction to events Libya is telling. It is almost as if you don’t want to admit that any good could have been done with the removal of Gaddafi. Logically, there is no inconsistency with believing x about Bahrain and y about Libya. Also your position confuses intention with circumstance. The claim is made: it is all about geopolitics and oil, about their, NATO’s, intentions. This may be true, but the circumstances surrounding the actions that result from those intentions could also involve something else, which may actually turn out to be a good thing. There was a genuine rebellion; Gadaffi was a tyrant, executioner etc., there were good moral reasons to support a movement whose intention was to overthrow him and give Libya hope for a better form of government. All this is compatible with NATO also having its own interests.
One does not cancel out the other.
And as for the Scottish angle, which I believe you introduce to cause argument, the SE role in Libyan politics is as murky as the rest. I do recall the Scottish flag being flown as the Lockerbie bomber’s plane landed on Libyan soil. Now, everyone, especially the young Hitler, don’t all rush at once with your ‘deep’ theories about that.
Googling for images of authentic Libyan rebels –
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAyOjmfTqcI&feature=player_embedded
If you are looking for deleted pages to become a have ago hero, Yugostiglitz, you have to log on to Pamela Gellers site, we will see how she will answer to the questions of the Norwegian police currently interviewing the EDL deputy for being quoted.
Pam Geller did more that just quote Breivig on her blog, she conspired to hide his moniker and encouraged his behaviour by speaking for the bombing of Palestinians in Gaza in 2009. She is a raving fascists/zionist, she should be deported to Bagram C, just to go by the ‘Diallo standard’ set here.
Thanks Ruth for your insight into what must be very tense times. The messages of ‘security first’ and the focus on a single man who is in hiding, looks like it is a distraction. All NATO helpers are falling over themselves to be nice to the TNC, but when asked about releasing Libya’s funds, fancy words are banded about.
No assets returned will mean no oil for your addicted economies, pals! that would be my response.
How many Libyans do not want to see a US base in Libya and what would be the justification for it? Libya is not Iraq and Iraq can hardly be described as a positive example. All the plans made by western stooges on how to govern Libya will be pushed now, ensuring that we are somehow involved there, when this is a purely Libyan affair, gerrymandering of the worst kind.
Off course the SAS has been there, I reckon they were in that country from the start of hostilities and have trained many of the rebells, not just placed laser responders round millitary facillities.
NATO has lost its aim and objectives when the berlin wall fell, its set up, despite the nice words, was as a bullwark against the warsaw pact. Today its a whore that likes to dipslay nice and shiny new weapons in conflicts. By its inception NATO was never designed as a full blown global empirical enforcer, but its surely is going that way.
Karimov is the new Saddam/Gadaffi the future fall guy. Thing is, he already accepted US bases and hence has nothing to fear as long as he directs his violence towards Muslims. But his time will come soon, because he must have ammassed quite some serious billions over the years, just as with Gadaffi’s billions, so safe in Goldmann schmucks hands, his riches will be a target for these financial schmutzfinks,(direct tranlates into ‘dirtfinches’.
Lets hope Gulnara cannot persuade the US that she is the new improved democratic woman for Uzbekistan, together with a thirty year plan to democratise the country, her style.
Thaks for all the links, it will take me half a day reading up and I got my bathroom to paint, does that mean domestic chores are a form fo dumbing down (:-)?
Not entirely off topic – here is a powerful clip of the thoughts of the widow of an American Army Ranger who committed suicide as the result of his experiences. http://afghancentral.blogspot.com/2011/08/death-of-soldier-film-clip.html
Frazer, ?!
I agree with Ingo…various units of UK Special Forces have been in Libya since the commencement of hostilities..I know quite a few people over there whom are working for INGO’s and they have seen them, especially in the port city of Misrata..if you know what to look for they are hard to miss, however well they blend in.
Frazer, if they would be working for INGO’s, (you meant NGO’s) I would not be dreaming of owning a motorcycle again, but be lounging it on a Harley ;)or an old Ducati.
Craig,
You are so, so right. NATO is indubitably the North Atlantic Terrorist Organisation and all decent Scots must demand our withdrawal from this despicable body.
A few years ago I was staying in an Edinburgh hotel where I had a chat with an American. tourist. We discussed the Iraq invasion amicably and he said (smirk) but we are not comparable to the nazi’s.[At the time I was staying in my old home town having just spent time in the USA on my way back to my new home in Australia.] I stated that in my opinion – in agreement with Bennet – that they were much, much worse and pointed to the Philippines, Vietnam, and Serbia as examples.
He didn’t like that and we didn’t speak again. But now, the sheer, utter aggression of NATO has only become more and more apparent and all decent people – not just Scots – must surely shun this organisation and speak out against it. It is utterly evil. Hopefully, at least, Scots can lead the way.
Azra,
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Activism in schools is important to me. I tell children that greedy adults are destroying their future and children must learn to fight for their future by making speeches. Free from the baggage of social conditioning children are an important part of change in these final months of retribution.
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I tell children who they can trust to help them. Dr Paul Craig Roberts is one such person. Paul, a contributor to OpEdNews voted against the Iraq war and has called for Bush’s impeachment for lying to Congress about the case for war. Paul has said that the ‘war on terror’ will conjure one more attempt at ‘corrupt change’ which, ‘will be orchestrated’ by the ‘Sturmabteilung’ priests of the Bush dynasty who are striving for a powerful governing body to head up NATO nations as a step towards a centrally governed world.
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Senator Max Cleland is the man who said, I cannot look any American in the eye.. after he resigned from the commission. I use this brave veteran of the Vietnam war man as an example to the children I speak with, as a victim of social conditioning, succumbing to peer pressure to conform. Cleland was one of the 29 Senate Democrats who backed the authorization to go to war in Iraq although he had reservations. Obama gave him the job as Secretary of the ‘American Battle Monuments Commission, a strong reminder of his transgression and ‘treachery’ to the cause.
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Yet Cleland is typical of many Americans content to stay inside their bubble while America cannot look the world in the eye. After ten years 72% of Americans have realised they have been lied to; their liberties destroyed, their country a puppet for Israel. American children must now speak out and and I look to those here in the UK to lead this fight.
Mark_Golding : Amen to that. We need more people like you. We are all guilty of being content to stay in our buble and just bitch about all the wrongs on blogs such as this one, yet how many of us will go out and take the message to people specially young ones??
Ingo..I stand corrected..if it turns out to be true, enjoy the Harley 😉
NATO: “starting fights in the name of democracy since 1953”
This is an interesting case:
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2029346/Ive-fought-racism-life-Desperate-plea-St-Andrews-student-defiled-Isreali-flag.html
Well we know what Craig thinks about St Andrews – “St Andrews is in Scotland, but is no longer of Scotland.”
FREEEEEEDDDDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM to Scotland!
My understanding is that the MO for the SAS in this type of situation is that suitable SAS members are allowed to resign their commission, do their dirty work in Libya (for example) as private individuals, then unresign back into the SAS as though they had never left. This gives the government ‘plausible deniablity’ – no SAS in Libya – whilst advancing the government’s intentions.
Yonatan
Not true..this a fallacy cooked up by fiction writers…how do I know ? I asked a mate of mine who was part of the Bravo Two Zero team…he said that was b******s.
Craig…I also have a Blog if anyone is interested…obviously will not put the address on here without your ok…
Strange – A report suggests ‘mad dog’ Gaddafi and family are in an unassuming private house in central Tripoli being watched by French & British special forces? Perhaps it takes a while to develop the plot and film a remarkable and awe inspiring capture?
@Mark
Shades of Saddam’s siblings methinks ?
Who is that Frazer – Andy McNab?