Peace Mission 2007

The armed forces of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) are holding a major military exercise in Urumqi in Xinjiang and subsequently in Chelyabinsk in Russia. For the first time, a large Chinese contingent of 1,600 troops is traveling to Russia for a joint drill. A total of 32 Chinese Mi-17 and Z-9 helicopters will also participate in “Peace Mission 2007”. China is quick to point out that the exercise is not targeting any third country. The enemies are terrorism, extremism and separatism, cleverly chosen so the U.S. can hardly object. But there is no doubt that the armies of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are strengthening their ability to cooperate. Nothing will stop them to counter U.S. aggression if it would materialize. The U.S. has its bases in Jordan, Qatar, Afghanistan and Iraq to the South, but the members of the SCO are forming a strong bloc, which the U.S. will find very hard to penetrate.

The presidents of the SCO members themselves will observe the military maneuvers in Chelyabinsk on August 17. Iran has observer status and its president is also joining the summit meeting. The U.S. should think twice before attacking Iran.

The new empire

Michael Gorbachev presided over the demise of one empire – the former Soviet Union – and is now lamenting the rise of another – the new American empire. The United States is “sowing disorder across the world by seeking to build an empire,” he said. “World leadership by a single power, and what followed? What has followed are unilateral actions, what has followed are wars, what has followed is ignoring the U.N. Security Council, ignoring international law and ignoring the will of the people, even the American people. It is a massive strategic mistake: no single center can command the entire world, no one. Current America has made so many mistakes.” (Reuters: "Russia's Gorbachev says U.S. is sowing world disorder")

Ah yes, Gorbachev seems to have second thoughts on breaking up the Soviet Union and ending up with the American empire ruling the world. Gorbachev, who is deeply unpopular in Russia, now also risks to lose his credibility with his American friends. Although what he is saying now is right, it is too little too late. To his eternal shame, he left the world in the grip of the American empire. Destroying Soviet social imperialism was the right thing to do. But Gorbachev could have steered the Soviet Union back on the path of Marxist development instead of leaving the fate of Russia in the hand of a capitalist drunkard like Yeltsin.

Now, Gorbachev can lament as much as he likes. He had the power to destroy the Soviet empire, but he lacks the power to destroy the American empire. He is just shouting in the desert.

The gravedigger of the U.S.S.R.

Boris Yeltsin died yesterday and his legacy is controversial. That's about the only thing everybody can agree on. Let's see what CNN has to say: “Former President Boris Yeltsin, who engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union and pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy,...” (CNN: Former Russian leader Yeltsin dead)

Let's take a moment to rephrase this:

... the final collapse of the Soviet Union ...: He managed to break up the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics into 15 separate states, leaving the world with only one superpower, the U.S.

... pushed Russia to embrace democracy ...: and only the super-rich oligarchs have enough money to get themselves elected.

... and a market economy ...: controlled and exploited by those same oligarchs.

Some also say Yeltsin was the man who beat Communism (The Independent: Yeltsin: The man who beat Communism; He shaped our world, for better or worse) The man who destroyed the socialist character of the Soviet Union was Nikita Krutchev, not Gorbachov or Yeltsin.

The fact that Soviet Social-Imperialism (as Mao characterized the country) disappeared at the end of 1990 is a good thing. It destroyed a superpower, which was – once again according to Mao – worse and more dangerous than the U.S. The Soviet Union collapsed under its own weight, with all the contradictions pushed to the breaking point. Gorbachev had a hand in that. But then what did Yeltsin do? He promoted Russian great-chauvinism to the extent that the Soviet Union broke up in 15 pieces. That is Yeltsin's primary legacy and none of the peoples of the 15 countries, except those of the three Baltic states which joined the E.U., got a good deal. As for democracy, the Western media are saying Putin is already killing it.

One focus of the editorials and comments has been on Yeltsin the drunk. Well, let the guy have his vodka, as long as he doesn't confuse the nuclear button for the cap of the vodka bottle.

Yeltsin also got praise from the Chinese, because indeed, during his term as Russian president, relations with China improved a lot. Nowadays, the Chinese government only evaluates a foreign statesman on one criterion only: did he improve bilateral relations? That is indeed important, but it is not everything.

The West only cares about democracy and free markets, China about bilateral relations. Who gives a damn about the peoples of the former Soviet Union? Ask them if they liked Yeltsin, and they will tell you.