The U.S. Is Willing to Pay for Russia’s Collapse

According to statements made at the end of last week by Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Philip H. Gordon, during 2009, the U.S. Department of State plans to spend nearly 30 million dollars to encourage democratic reform in Russia. Apparently, despite the financial crisis, the United States will not abandon its approach of “weakening the enemy from within,” and will continue to engage in what Washington calls, “the development of democracy in Russia.”

Based on official information from the U.S. State Department, part of the allocated funds will be spent to support Russia’s independent media. It’s not difficult to guess who will be on America’s list of grant recipients, especially since, following the recent death of human rights defender Natalia Estemirova, the State Department once again began to exaggerate the issue of human rights in Russia.

It’s possible that one of the key issues to which the United States will allocate this money will be the situation in the North Caucasus, and particularly in Chechnya. In any case, the “independent” media’s tone and assessment of the situation in the Caucasus will soon make it clear who will receive America’s money.

The various human rights movements are a different story altogether. Human rights defenders began working toward “democratic development” back in 1991. It was then that the West began to shamelessly pour generous funds into these movements. The leaders of these movements realized that they could make good money this way. To this day they continue to make money by weaving their “human rights activities” between what’s “allowed” and what “should be.”

Between 1992 and 2008, the U.S. gave Russia over 3.7 billion dollars under the provisions of the Freedom Support Act. Officially, this money was spent on support for market reforms and humanitarian and social assistance. Unofficially, these funds enable the people involved with the human rights movements and the media that details their actions to live comfortable lives. Informed sources close to the “human rights” movements and the “independent media” named at least two representatives of the “democratic movement” that used this money to treat their children’s drug addictions in elite foreign clinics. It’s likely that this seriously concerned U.S. congressmen, who must report to their taxpayers exactly who received the money and the specific purpose for which it was used.

It’s no secret that for some people, the promotion of “Western values” has become a generous source of personal funds, forcing the West to steadily reduce their funding. For comparison purposes, in 2003, the State Department asked for 148 million dollars to support Russia. Last year, the cost of the same objectives fell to 50 million dollars. This year’s funding for “democratic support” didn’t even reach 30 million. What, exactly, is American taxpayers’ money funding?

According to the U.S. Department of State Advancing Freedom and Democracy Report 2008, “U.S. government priorities for promoting human rights and democracy in Russia include encouragement of modern democratic political institutions, an active civil society, independent media and the rule of law. Overall, the U.S. aims to see Russia become a more democratic, vibrant, and stable geopolitical partner within the international community that increasingly moves toward a free-market democratic system built on checks and balances, and acts as a strong and effective partner in areas of common interest.”

Behind the general wording of “encouragement of modern democratic political institutions, an active civil society, independent media and the rule of law” and the usual rhetoric lies an obvious deception. More than anything, Washington never wanted to see Russia as a “strong and effective partner.” Finally, the U.S. has a “common interest” only with countries that follow in the wake of its own political course.

Clearly, this is unacceptable for Russia. Stanislav Govorukhin, a film director and ex-deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, put it more precisely. “All of our human rights defenders serve the West and they have never defended citizens’ interests. Where was Kovalev (Sergei Adamovich Kovalev, a well-known provocateur who, during the New Year’s storming of Grozny in 1995, called for Russian soldiers to surrender as prisoners) when, prior to the first war, all foreign language residents of Chechnya, from Russians to Jews, wrote thousands of letters to the president, government and parliament, demanding they stop the lawlessness that was taking place? Chechens raped women, kidnapped children and adults alike and demanded ransom to save them from slavery. They killed people and seized their homes. And Kovalev didn’t know about this? Nor the Soros Foundation? This benefactor alone, under the guise of supporting our scientists, caused irreparable damage to our country by financing the brain drain. Even a child would not believe that the West would pay for someone to act in Russian peoples’ best interests.”

For Reference

– Based on the intelligence agency’s estimates, during the past seven years, the Ford Foundation alone spent over 50 million dollars! What’s more, it finances such exotic organizations as the North Caucasus Public Institute, which has for a long time attracted the attention of the intelligence agency and the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.

– Other foundations that are just as active in our country include The National Endowment for Democracy (American), The Henry M. Jackson Foundation (American), The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (German) and The Konrad Adenauer Foundation (German).

– In 2008, the U.S. State Department established a special Digital Outreach Team, headed by James Glassman, the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. This team’s objective is to spread a “war of ideas” on popular websites, blogs and chat rooms or websites frequently visited by Russians. The team established by Glassman includes representatives from the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Defense and the United States Intelligence Community.