Valeriy Romanov for The Saker Blog

This is my first article under the general heading “View from Russia.” I would like to pre-empt it by informing American readers that the leading Russian TV channels regularly have political shows on which there are heated debates on the most pressing issues of world politics. Both Russian and American, Israeli, German, Polish and Ukrainian political scientists participate in the broadcasts, and former and current politicians of various countries speak via video link. Unfortunately, repeated appeals from representatives of the Russians to the Western media have not received positive responses for cooperation and participation. That is why we have decided to eliminate this gap to some extent with a series of articles where we bring to American readers a generalized vision of Russians on various issues of international policy with hope for improving US-Russian relations.

And so, I begin with presenting one of the latest shows called “Evening with Vladimir Solovyov”, which took place on 12.12.2019.

In the last section of the TV show, and it usually goes for 2-4 hours. The issue discussed was a bill on the recognition of Russia as a country that supports terrorism. The bill was introduced by Colorado Senator Cory Gardner who had recently defected from the Democratic to Republican Party.

I will not retell all the controversy but will focus mainly on the point of view held by the representatives in the debate on the Russian side.

The shows host V. Solovyov expressed surprise at the actions of the Senator. He said that representatives of the political elites of the United States do not understand how much grief the residents of Russia experienced at the beginning of the formation of their new state after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The terrorist attacks that occurred in Beslan, in Budennovsk, in Nord-OST, in Moscow apartment buildings, and in other cities greatly shocked Russians. Most of the US Congressmen probably do not know or do not remember these events. It is also forgotten that it was the Russian special services that warned the relevant US services about the upcoming terrorist attack in Boston, but then the American side simply ignored this warning.

The Russian President was the first of the leaders of the world community to call George W. Bush Jr. and express sympathy and condolences to the entire American people in connection with the tragic events of 9.11, and then made a public statement about the tragedy.

At the same time, as the facts indicate, at various times the US government indirectly supported or directly financed the Afghan and Iranian Mujahideen, al-Qaeda, and the Kosovo liberation army, which the US first included in the list of terrorist organizations. Moreover, the US government quietly excluded Ukrainian nationalist military formations which in fact are the successors of the ideology of fascist collaborators during the Second World War. The United States is constantly confused and changing the names of such organizations, calling them the fighters for independence, the insurgents, the rebels, and then terrorists.

It is clear that young Senator Cory Gardner needs to be re-elected in 2020 in some way, and his “Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression (DASKA) Act seeks to increase economic, political, and diplomatic pressure on the Kremlin in response to Russia’s interference in democratic processes abroad, malign influence in Syria, and aggression against Ukraine.” https://www.gardner.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/foreign-relations-committee-passes-gardners-hard-hitting-russia-sanctions-package

It is his only initiative during his time in the Senate.

It is clearly not made from a deep understanding of the matter, nor from a greater mind. He is clearly not interested in the consequences of making such a decision, he just needs to be re-elected and this initiative allows at least something to say about himself to the general public, as well as to get a sufficient amount of money for his election campaign from the customers of this provocative initiative.

How can we simultaneously consider such an initiative and immediately talk about expanding economic ties with Russia at the last meeting of foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with Mike Pompeo? How can a member of the UN Security Council be declared a sponsor of terrorism? What evidence can be presented to the Senate to support this?

After all, what can be attributed to the concept of aiding and abetting terrorism? The fact that the weapons used by terrorists almost exclusively come from the United States; they are not captured by them as a result of fighting; not bought from illegal sellers of weapons; they come almost directly from the United States. To do this, the Congress allocates about 500 million dollars to Bulgaria and Ukraine for the purchase of American weapons, and those weapons are forwarded to terrorist organizations. This path is easily traced by the marked numbers on the weapons.

The panelists opined on the need of adopting a legislative act defining the role of the US and its Western accomplices in bringing despair to the peoples of several States of the Middle East, including the loss of state sovereignty of some of them.

Isn’t this open terrorism? Hundreds of thousands of people died from the chaos created by the Americans on the territory of these States. The fact that Ukrainian politicians (in particular, former defense Minister A. Gritsenko, etc.) often talk about the need to organize terrorist acts on the territory of Russia and this threat has real evidence – is it terrorism?

During the fighting with the Donetsk and Luhansk self-proclaimed republics, 14 thousand people were killed, the vast majority of these were civilians. In this regard it was questioned why Turkey firmly and consistently declares that it will not allow anyone to kill in Syria Turkomans, and Russia has been allowing Russians to be killed on the territory of Ukraine for many years. It should be borne in mind that before the revolution, Crimea and some other regions were inhabited mainly by Russians and their territories historically were Russian provinces, and Ukraine itself was part of Russia. Only part of Western Ukraine was annexed after the Second World War.

When the panelists moved on to define what could be called terrorism, Forbes columnist Ariel Cohen suggested a definition, describing it as the murder of children and women (I would correct – civilians) for political purposes. He cited the example of the Soviet Union’s assistance to terrorist organizations. To which the show host countered that the Soviet Union supported national liberation movements from colonial regimes. This ended in 1990, but the United States supported and still continues to support such bloody regimes as the Pinochet regime, armed conflict in Nicaragua (Iran-contra), death squads in El Salvador, the Syrian free army, and others. The CIA and the Pentagon took out the leaders of terrorist organizations by helicopters and trucks from Raki.

During the discussion, a question arose to the representatives of the United States – Who in America determines foreign policy? To which Ariel Cohen stammered, under the laughter of the audience, that in the United States according to the Constitution, foreign policy should be determined by the President. But since the country is currently embroiled with impeachment and accusations of bribery in foreign policy, it is determined on the one hand by the President of the country, on the other by the Senate and Congress and foreign policy agencies, including the state Department, the Ministry of defense, and the intelligence services.

The host of the show, agreeing with the description of the situation, recalled the satirical interlude of Arcady Rayikin “Who made the suit? “When the measurement of the client and the sewing of one suit were entrusted to several masters, as a result of whom the buttons were sewn firmly, the seams were smooth, but the sleeves and legs of the suit were different in length, and the material of different parts of the suit was different.” As a result, there was no one responsible for the sewn suit. This is also the case in the country’s foreign policy. In the international arena, no one will understand who to negotiate with, who makes the final decision, who to trust, and how, in the United States, there is little trust between the branches of government and between departments.

Russian political scientist Dmitry Drobnitsky expressed confidence that the responsibilities for foreign policy in the country, to a greater extent, are political think tanks. Recalling that the idea of recognizing Russia as a supporter of terrorism arose 10 years ago at the Brooklyn Institute. He added that the United States itself has created a “marketplace” (in real terms, “lobby”) to which a representative of literally any country can apply and pay for the initiation of any law in the United States.

Cory Gardner probably got an order from these political circles to initiate this law. Trump came and decided to break down the mechanisms of this old machine, to eliminate the obvious channels of bribery apparently in the interests of the state. Trump is trying to hurt their livelihood by threatening the additional personal enrichment of many lawmakers.

Yakov Kedmi, an Israeli public figure, said that the main threat to the United States is the complete degradation of the Executive power and its deepest systemic political crisis. The policy that is carried out today by the power elites causes irreparable damage, first of all, to their country. And everyone knows about it. The process, when the state goes against the interests of its own country, leads to huge damage. The breakdown of normal relations with China, Russia, Europe, as well as with Turkey and other countries is already leading to isolationist relations. We well remember where isolationism led in the Soviet Union.

V. Solovyov said that, if earlier in the West all the troubles could be blamed on the Jews, in the 21st century they were replaced by Russians. Now if something bad happens in the world, the Russians are blamed for everything.

Nikolai Zlobin, an American citizen, journalist, and historian, expressed his confidence that such a law as Gardner proposes would not be adopted. And this law is aimed at restraining the foreign policy of one branch of government, as it does not like the other. This is an internal, applied US law against Trump’s policy towards Russia.

The question of the host of the show – After all, this law will be directed to all sides of foreign economic, humanitarian, political actions of Russia, including trade in gas, oil, rocket engines, titanium, disconnection from SWIFT, termination of all scientific, cultural, socio-political exchange, etc. the result is clear-WAR. Is someone calculating this?

Nikolai Zlobin tried to answer, saying that he himself was critical of the situation. After World War II, a very closed and influential foreign policy elite was formed in the United States. These elite practically monopolized the development of the country’s foreign policy. The host asked, “You’ve been saying for a long time that Russia is a gas station, a country torn to shreds, the economy of which is not visible in the microscope, etc. Why don’t you leave Russia alone? We have proposed that you jointly investigate any evidence of interference in your election. But your country refused.

Moreover, you at one time in fact brought B. Yeltsin to power, approved the killing of the building of the Supreme legislative body and you were the first ones that B. Yeltsin called about signing the document on the dissolution of the USSR.

And remember how a citizen of your country announced the candidacies of the President, Prime Minister of Ukraine and mayor of Kiev. She also pointed out where Europe should go at the same time? And then you accuse Russia of all its sins.

Dmitry Evstafiev, a Russian political scientist in particular noted that the political life of the United States has always put forward such people as Barry Goldwater, John McCain and Cory Gardner. The ideas that they had put forward and now put forward again, decent people would never do, but in the US, war, the death of people is abstract or even humorous. At the moment, we clearly see that common sense is leaving the American elite.

Many participants in the discussion, one way or another expressed the opinion that the West is waging an undeclared war with Russia, primarily economic and propaganda based. Russia should make serious efforts to strengthen its economic independence and finally completely get off the dollar needle, develop a detailed concept of countering this unprecedented and unjustified pressure from the United States and its supporters.

Vladimir Solovyov concluded this section of the political show by saying that if two powerful countries such as the United States and Russia worked together on existing problems related to terrorism, poverty, hunger, lack of water, and the development of science and technology, many of them could be removed from the agenda forever, and the world community would achieve incredible breakthrough technological solutions.

I think that in this brief article I have quite fully outlined the view from Russia on the problem of world terrorism and the situation in relations between the United States and Russia. As a normal person, I cannot accept the fact that the United States – the country of which I am a citizen – and Russia- the place of my birth have today such a high level of contradictions that at any moment they can slide into a pit of hopeless war and mutual civilizational destruction. Russians and Americans are more alike in many ways than different. We equally love and care about our families, relatives and friends, we love our home, native land, we do not want to destroy our fragile little world in which each of us lives his own, unique life. We equally want to enjoy the sunrise, peaceful sky, clean air, green trees and grasses, singing birds.

We, the people, have already done a lot for the happy life of our children and grandchildren. We can do even more if we learn to just talk to each other like good neighbors and help each other.

Therefore, I am happy to take on the role of some kind of parliamentarian mutually interested conversation. For several months now, I have been running a column on the popular Russian Internet portal “View from America”, which is of great interest among Russian readers. I think that the View from Russia will be interesting to my fellow Americans as well.