In 1997, Putin was the PM of Russia and destined to be the 2nd President within a short period of time. This was the same year that the book called Foundations of Geopolitics was published in Russia. It is a long read - over 600 pages, but it tells the whole world about Putin's intentions as the…
In 1997, Putin was the PM of Russia and destined to be the 2nd President within a short period of time. This was the same year that the book called Foundations of Geopolitics was published in Russia. It is a long read - over 600 pages, but it tells the whole world about Putin's intentions as the next President of Russia. His list of goals includes (I am paraphrasing) (1) destruction of the U.S. democracy, (2) abolish Ukraine, (3) befriend France and Germany, (4) return the world order to pre-NATO time, (5) BREXIT, and (6) restore Russia to it's glory days before the collapse of the USSR. It also includes instructions on the post-communist timeframe and military exercises.
Putin is a lifelong Russian secret service agent who became President. His whole life has been dedicated to the destruction of the U.S. He blames us for the downfall of the USSR and he openly wants revenge. During the USSR timeframe, other countries were under Russia's control because they placed a man in power who was loyal to the Soviet leader - who was always a Russian. Putin has groomed Trump for decades and at some point in the 2000's Trump was compromised. He has clearly demonstrated his devotion to Russia - and if he didn't, he or a member of Trump's family would die. This is how Putin operates. Keep in mind, only a few months after Trump lost the 2020 election, Ivana Trump died due to a blunt blow to her head. While Trump did his very best to tell the world this was an accident - I strongly question her death because it resembles the same type of murders conducted by Russian KGB/FSB.
TIME 100 Edition (June 2022), was dedicated to the "most influential persons of 2021-2022." It says "Influence, of course, may be for good or for ill - a dichotomy never more visible than in this year's TIME100, which describes both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky." President Biden described Zelensky, and Alexei Navalny described Putin. There are two quotes from Navalny in this edition of Time 100 that I would like to share with readers:
(1) "Perhaps Vladimir Putin's true mission is to teach lessons. To everyone - from world leaders and pundits to ordinary people. He has been especially good at this in 2022. He reminded us once again that a path that begins with 'just a little election rigging' always ends with a dictatorship." When I read this statement, all I could think of was former President Trump's call (which was taped) to Brad Raffensperger (R) the Secretary of State for Georgia pressuring him to 'just find 11,780 votes' in order to overturn the GA election. If this is not election rigging, I am not sure what is.
(2) Navalny goes on to say "World leaders have hypocritically talked for years about a 'pragmatic approach' and the benefits of international trade. (My thought: This is because the World and the U.S. thought that the Cold War was over and we were living in global peaceful co-existence - a huge mistake.) In so doing, they enabled themselves to benefit from Russian oil and gas while Putin's grip on (international) power grew stronger. Between sanctions and military and economic aid, this war (with Ukraine) will cost hundreds of times more than these lucrative oil and gas contracts, the signing of which used to be celebrated with champagne."
As most of you know, Alexei Navalny was the Russian foremost presidential opposition leader until Putin first poisoned him and then imprisoned him and then murdered him in an inhumane gulag in Siberia. While Navalny himself decided to return to Russia after recouping in Germany from his near-fatal poisoning, our entire global community is responsible for his death. Let's be clear and honest for a change - Putin is a ruthless, blood-thirsty dictator - often compared to Stalin who murdered over 20 million humans. Our world is not living in peaceful co-existence and little has changed over 75 years.
The United States and other democratic countries have imposed sanctions on Russia that would normally cripple any thriving nation. These sanctions have not worked and will not deter Putin. The West and especially our country naively believed that the Cold war had ended and the West had won. This was a critical and momentous mistake. I was living in Russia during this timeframe, and have been repeating since 1993 that the Cold War DID NOT END. Having lived under the oppressive orthodoxy of Communism and having witnessed numerous frightening lessons on how Soviet/Russia official egoism and bureaucracy works, I understood that sanctions on influential and wealthy Russians - the oligarchs - has NO impact on Putin - yet the sanctions continue. Of course, Biden has few options - and Putin knows this. It is all out war against Putin and Russia or it is sanctions. I doubt that Biden will wage war, at least not before the 2024 election.
In 2004, the Beslan School incident was a shock to most Russians. Briefly, Chechen rebels held more than 1,100 hostages in an attempt to convince Putin to withdraw his troops from Chechnya. Putin refused to back down and he solved this issue by bombing the school. A total of 186 Russian children died as well as hundreds of Russian adults. Because Russian families, at that time, only had one child, all Russian children were/are normally highly protected and safeguarded. A Russian named Illarionov was Putin's economic advisor at the time. Because he could not bare the thought of these children's violent deaths , Illarionov left Russia and moved to the U.S. The following is a quote from him to the American people: "One of the greatest misconceptions in the West and in the United States is the role of the so-called Oligarchs in the Russian economy and its political system. These roles are next to zero. I've heard so much through all these years about the oligarchs, about how important it is to put sanctions on them . . . (thinking this will in turn influence Putin). If you would like to make life miserable for these people, it's OK. But if you think these sanctions would make changes in the decision-making process of Mr. Putin or the Kremlin, it's wrong. It's a mistake. The political regime in Russia is not like the United States . . . it is not a democracy. .and not even an authoritarian regime. . . Right now, it is a one-man show. You can punish 145 million Russians and it will not change the decision-making process of Putin. It has been Putin's dream for decades to destroy Ukraine.. . . His goal is to not stop in Ukraine, his goal is to move into Europe.. . Ukraine is just his testing ground. . . The West may not want to be at war with Russia, but they also may have NO CHOICE." He goes on to ask the West "How long should we (the U.S. and the world) tolerate the endless spiral of deaths produced by one person?" In Ukraine, Putin has targeted non-military targets - hospitals, schools, and apartment buildings. Thousands upon thousands of innocent people have died. How long can we watch and tolerate this human carnage without our own souls crying out in pain?
We live in a country where the "rule of law" and not the "rule of one person" has governed. If Trump is re-elected, our democracy may die because this is a corrupt man who thinks only of himself. We also have half our country believing that Trump is a decent human being. They have ignored his six business bankruptcies, his 91 criminal charges, his convictions of both fraud and rape, his instigation of a violent insurrection against the legal transfer of power, and perhaps most importantly his obvious dedication to Vladimir Putin and Russia. In reality, this relationship is nothing more than subjugation of a stupid American who was caught in a typical Russian/KGB's trap. I know this process well and was subjected to the Russian "wining and dining" often. I was told that because I speak Russian, but had an American passport, that I could go into the U.S. Embassy and be useful to Russia.
The real problem our nation faces in this coming election, is the enormous number of voters who have succumbed to Trump's form of coercive mind manipulation. Brainwashing began in totalitarian countries 100 years ago, and has been widely used in dictator-led countries. Hitler converted an entire peaceful society/nation into mass murderers. He tortured and killed over 6 million people and perhaps another million died on the battle fields trying to stop him. He turned families and neighbors against each other, and he used speeches filled with repetitive lies, fear, threats and hatred. If this sounds familiar it is because Trump - a candidate for the Presidency of the United States - has used these same mass mind manipulation tools. There are ways to combat and detox brainwashed individuals - but this post is already too long.
I am very opinionated on this subject, so I apologize for the length of this message.
Elizabeth Graham
From Democracy to Democrazy
In 1997, Putin was the PM of Russia and destined to be the 2nd President within a short period of time. This was the same year that the book called Foundations of Geopolitics was published in Russia. It is a long read - over 600 pages, but it tells the whole world about Putin's intentions as the next President of Russia. His list of goals includes (I am paraphrasing) (1) destruction of the U.S. democracy, (2) abolish Ukraine, (3) befriend France and Germany, (4) return the world order to pre-NATO time, (5) BREXIT, and (6) restore Russia to it's glory days before the collapse of the USSR. It also includes instructions on the post-communist timeframe and military exercises.
Putin is a lifelong Russian secret service agent who became President. His whole life has been dedicated to the destruction of the U.S. He blames us for the downfall of the USSR and he openly wants revenge. During the USSR timeframe, other countries were under Russia's control because they placed a man in power who was loyal to the Soviet leader - who was always a Russian. Putin has groomed Trump for decades and at some point in the 2000's Trump was compromised. He has clearly demonstrated his devotion to Russia - and if he didn't, he or a member of Trump's family would die. This is how Putin operates. Keep in mind, only a few months after Trump lost the 2020 election, Ivana Trump died due to a blunt blow to her head. While Trump did his very best to tell the world this was an accident - I strongly question her death because it resembles the same type of murders conducted by Russian KGB/FSB.
TIME 100 Edition (June 2022), was dedicated to the "most influential persons of 2021-2022." It says "Influence, of course, may be for good or for ill - a dichotomy never more visible than in this year's TIME100, which describes both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky." President Biden described Zelensky, and Alexei Navalny described Putin. There are two quotes from Navalny in this edition of Time 100 that I would like to share with readers:
(1) "Perhaps Vladimir Putin's true mission is to teach lessons. To everyone - from world leaders and pundits to ordinary people. He has been especially good at this in 2022. He reminded us once again that a path that begins with 'just a little election rigging' always ends with a dictatorship." When I read this statement, all I could think of was former President Trump's call (which was taped) to Brad Raffensperger (R) the Secretary of State for Georgia pressuring him to 'just find 11,780 votes' in order to overturn the GA election. If this is not election rigging, I am not sure what is.
(2) Navalny goes on to say "World leaders have hypocritically talked for years about a 'pragmatic approach' and the benefits of international trade. (My thought: This is because the World and the U.S. thought that the Cold War was over and we were living in global peaceful co-existence - a huge mistake.) In so doing, they enabled themselves to benefit from Russian oil and gas while Putin's grip on (international) power grew stronger. Between sanctions and military and economic aid, this war (with Ukraine) will cost hundreds of times more than these lucrative oil and gas contracts, the signing of which used to be celebrated with champagne."
As most of you know, Alexei Navalny was the Russian foremost presidential opposition leader until Putin first poisoned him and then imprisoned him and then murdered him in an inhumane gulag in Siberia. While Navalny himself decided to return to Russia after recouping in Germany from his near-fatal poisoning, our entire global community is responsible for his death. Let's be clear and honest for a change - Putin is a ruthless, blood-thirsty dictator - often compared to Stalin who murdered over 20 million humans. Our world is not living in peaceful co-existence and little has changed over 75 years.
The United States and other democratic countries have imposed sanctions on Russia that would normally cripple any thriving nation. These sanctions have not worked and will not deter Putin. The West and especially our country naively believed that the Cold war had ended and the West had won. This was a critical and momentous mistake. I was living in Russia during this timeframe, and have been repeating since 1993 that the Cold War DID NOT END. Having lived under the oppressive orthodoxy of Communism and having witnessed numerous frightening lessons on how Soviet/Russia official egoism and bureaucracy works, I understood that sanctions on influential and wealthy Russians - the oligarchs - has NO impact on Putin - yet the sanctions continue. Of course, Biden has few options - and Putin knows this. It is all out war against Putin and Russia or it is sanctions. I doubt that Biden will wage war, at least not before the 2024 election.
In 2004, the Beslan School incident was a shock to most Russians. Briefly, Chechen rebels held more than 1,100 hostages in an attempt to convince Putin to withdraw his troops from Chechnya. Putin refused to back down and he solved this issue by bombing the school. A total of 186 Russian children died as well as hundreds of Russian adults. Because Russian families, at that time, only had one child, all Russian children were/are normally highly protected and safeguarded. A Russian named Illarionov was Putin's economic advisor at the time. Because he could not bare the thought of these children's violent deaths , Illarionov left Russia and moved to the U.S. The following is a quote from him to the American people: "One of the greatest misconceptions in the West and in the United States is the role of the so-called Oligarchs in the Russian economy and its political system. These roles are next to zero. I've heard so much through all these years about the oligarchs, about how important it is to put sanctions on them . . . (thinking this will in turn influence Putin). If you would like to make life miserable for these people, it's OK. But if you think these sanctions would make changes in the decision-making process of Mr. Putin or the Kremlin, it's wrong. It's a mistake. The political regime in Russia is not like the United States . . . it is not a democracy. .and not even an authoritarian regime. . . Right now, it is a one-man show. You can punish 145 million Russians and it will not change the decision-making process of Putin. It has been Putin's dream for decades to destroy Ukraine.. . . His goal is to not stop in Ukraine, his goal is to move into Europe.. . Ukraine is just his testing ground. . . The West may not want to be at war with Russia, but they also may have NO CHOICE." He goes on to ask the West "How long should we (the U.S. and the world) tolerate the endless spiral of deaths produced by one person?" In Ukraine, Putin has targeted non-military targets - hospitals, schools, and apartment buildings. Thousands upon thousands of innocent people have died. How long can we watch and tolerate this human carnage without our own souls crying out in pain?
We live in a country where the "rule of law" and not the "rule of one person" has governed. If Trump is re-elected, our democracy may die because this is a corrupt man who thinks only of himself. We also have half our country believing that Trump is a decent human being. They have ignored his six business bankruptcies, his 91 criminal charges, his convictions of both fraud and rape, his instigation of a violent insurrection against the legal transfer of power, and perhaps most importantly his obvious dedication to Vladimir Putin and Russia. In reality, this relationship is nothing more than subjugation of a stupid American who was caught in a typical Russian/KGB's trap. I know this process well and was subjected to the Russian "wining and dining" often. I was told that because I speak Russian, but had an American passport, that I could go into the U.S. Embassy and be useful to Russia.
The real problem our nation faces in this coming election, is the enormous number of voters who have succumbed to Trump's form of coercive mind manipulation. Brainwashing began in totalitarian countries 100 years ago, and has been widely used in dictator-led countries. Hitler converted an entire peaceful society/nation into mass murderers. He tortured and killed over 6 million people and perhaps another million died on the battle fields trying to stop him. He turned families and neighbors against each other, and he used speeches filled with repetitive lies, fear, threats and hatred. If this sounds familiar it is because Trump - a candidate for the Presidency of the United States - has used these same mass mind manipulation tools. There are ways to combat and detox brainwashed individuals - but this post is already too long.
I am very opinionated on this subject, so I apologize for the length of this message.
Elizabeth