On September 19, 2022, Jeremy Kuzmarov, Managing Editor of CovertAction Magazine, released a report on Myrotvorets, titled, “Ukrainian “Hit List” Publishes Names and Addresses of Alleged “Russian Propagandists:” Turns Out To Be Based Not in Ukraine But in Langley VA Where CIA Headquarters Is Located.” As I read through it, the first idea that crossed my mind was: “This is the Mujaheddin’s fiasco all over again! Far worse! This is being cultivated on European soil! President Biden, what have you wrought?! May God help us all!”
The Afghan Mujaheddin were also, though not on the same scale vis-á-vis media coverage and publicity (Well, they didn’t have social media at the time!), endorsed by American liberals (i.e. Democrats)—most notably, Congressman Charles Wilson—and financed, armed, and trained under the CIA’s aegis in Operation Cyclone. “Operation Cyclone was one of the longest and most expensive covert CIA operations ever undertaken.”
Dawn via Reuters
Then what? Where did that leave us? From the shadows of covertness was born a demon we’d strive against for decades to come, and continue to do so till this very day. Years of U.S.-sponsorship and training in warfare, billions of dollars in finances and arms, have only blown the gates of hell asunder and unleashed a brutish diabolical force that would instill terror and claim the lives of the innocent around the world—and particularly, of all places, in the United States of America.
But why did it all manifest in the first place? It had allegedly manifested as a covert operation to contain and rollback“Soviet Expansionism”. While I was researching and reading on the Afghan Mujaheddin, I became bitterly disappointed when I learned that the British (MI6) had followed the Yankees’ lead into such a heedless escapade, whilst neglecting one of the most essential ground rules in the covert operation’s handbook: a thorough HOUSEKEEPING, that is due upon completion. In retrospect, I would foremost blame the British for not seeing it through.
This is not me indulging in some sort of unseemly schadenfreude. Rather, mine intent herein is to identify—to the greatest possible degree of accuracy, attainable by my cerebral faculties—where things went south in the past, so that future and far more daunting recrudescences may be averted.
Even after Soviet forces had fully withdrawn from Afghanistan by February 1989, the United States continued to fund the Mujaheddin during the Afghan Civil War which followed (1989–1992). Between then and September 11, 2001, they were taken out of the public spotlight; and pushed to the shades of “strategic irrelevance”. Spiritually loaded (to employ one of the Islamist instruction jargon), armed and trained, with some tech savvies among their number, and hundreds of millions of dollars at their disposal, the Mujaheddin were left alone to their better judgment.
To put the Mujaheddin fiasco (i.e., where an American-sponsored order of fighters had given birth to the fanatic and thirsty for American blood Al Qaeda and the Taliban) in perspective, the American way has always been that of an aloof surgeon; who would forget all about his patient at that exact moment when the surgery is complete. He wouldn’t care to stop by the room in the evening to check on his patient’s vitals. To him, that patient is nothing but an irrelevant corporeal extension of the past, whether immediate or remote.
What had slid under the public radar in the leading days to 9/11, and the American public remains oblivious thereof today, was that “On September 9, 2001 [just two days prior to the terrorist attacks] Putin called Bush with an urgent message: Ahmed Shah Massoud, leader of the Afghan anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, which was supported by Moscow, had been assassinated in his compound by two Arab suicide bombers posing as journalists. Russian intelligence authorities concluded that Massoud’s assassination presaged the beginning of a broader terrorist campaign. Putin warned Bush about the wider implications of this act: “I told him I had a foreboding that something was about to happen, something long in preparation [my formatting].”” (Stent 63)
Three thousand American lives could have otherwise been saved, had only the President of the United States listened to his Russian counterpart, who has obviously had a better and deeper understanding of the dynamics of the Afghan contention—given the USSR’s experience in the South Asian country (Stent, 2014). But, as always, it is almost impossible to convince the President of the United States that, under certain circumstances, it is theoretically possible for him to know less about something than another person, especially the President of the Russian Federation.
Fate has a captivating and most distinct sense of irony in its unveiling of U.S. strategic sloppiness, the result of laser-focusing on undertaking anti/counter-Russian endeavors. Angela E. Stent puts it beautifully in her book,
“Afghanistan was a difficult issue for Washington and Moscow. After all, the United States had been instrumental in helping defeat the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, thereby contributing to a train of events eventually led to the demise of the USSR [my formatting]. The day the last Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan in February 1989, the CIA station chief in Islamabad sent a two-word cable home: “WE WON.” U.S. support of the anti-Soviet Mujaheddin between 1980 and 1988 helped to end the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. But American money and weapons—along with money and recruits from Middle Eastern countries—also helped to create what later became the Taliban and Al Qaeda, which were the OFFSPRING OF THE MUJAHEDDIN. THE UNITED STATES, THEN, INADVERTENTLY BECAME MIDWIFE TO WHAT EVOLVED INTO THE GREATEST THREAT TO ITS OWN NATIONAL SECURITY [CAPS are mine] in the twenty-first century [my formatting].” (Stent 63)
This was not the grand manifestation of irony, however. Rather, it was in the fact that the Russians were the first to demonstrate solidarity and extend an arm of help to the Americans in their fight against the forces of evil; which they, the Americans, had nurtured, trained, and armed for 13 years; for the purpose of inflicting damage on Russia; who proved to have better knowledge of the Afghan terrain, and supplied the Americans with intelligence on the location of terrorist camps.
If anything, this serves as an incontrovertible proof of how little the United States actually knows—or cares to know—about the indigenous/local forces they provide financial, military, and logistical aid to, as part of their, both covert and overt, operations to contain and rollback Russia’s global presence and clout. The Americans are so obsessed with the Russians, that they never give much thought to what would become of those factions, organizations, insurgents, or what have you, in the aftermaths—let alone follow-up details on the funds channeled and the weaponry sent.
To those with no background in Cold War history, doesn’t all this sound awfully and presently familiar to you? For years, Russia has been sounding the alarm on the rise of neo-Nazism in Ukraine; only for her warnings to fall on deaf ears in the United States and the European Union. As much as they would hate to admit it, they knew before Ukraine came under the spotlight that Russian concerns have been and continue to be well-founded; and that Zelensky is no democratic leader. They simply prefer to feign ignorance, brush off and obfuscate the facts, since they’ve tremendous political capital invested in this conflict.
[Read, “Zelensky’s Ukraine: An Asset or a Liability for the United States?” And, “Zelensky “The Entitled Plighter” in Disneyland”]
Indeed, any plausible outcome circumventing the negotiations table will be far too gruesome for the West, than it would be for Russia.
For the truth of the matter is this:
Over the past eight months, the United States, Britain, and other European powers, in addition to providing all forms of material aid to Zelensky and the Ukrainian army, have propagated the conflict in Ukraine as a moral cause, of good against evil; and, thou shalt not question Zelensky or Ukraine as a categorical imperative: an eleventh commandment canonized and appended to the Western Decalogue; making the conflict a crusade or jihad of sorts. The Western rhetoric has been, in a way, the elevation force that transcended with the Ukrainian ego to the highest moral ground conceivable—to infallibility, as it were—on which Zelensky has been grandstanding; “absorbed into his own self-image, lost in his own terminals;”he instantaneously forgets about the green screens and all the ‘mocap’ and high-production technology filling up the room; whilst cocksurely lecturing the world on virtue and valor.
As a matter of fact, Ukraine has been in the business of issuing killing fatwahs for years, on that notorious site Myrotvorets, against the infidels who dare to examine the facts in search for the truth, or utter anything that can or may undermine Ukrainian claims and entitlement. Noticeably, the Jewish [emphasis added] Former U.S. Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, 99 (i.e. with one foot in the grave, already), is on the list—labeled as a “Russian Propagandist”—alongside current U.S. Senator Rand Paul, and other high profile European and American journalists, businessmen, and politicians. Moreover, those deceased on the list have their photos stamped with “Liquidated”.
That sent chills down your spine? It’s not the whole story. “Under Public Law 117-128, the U.S. Congress is funding an organization called Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD), whose professed purpose, according to its website, is to “counter Russian disinformation.” But its real purpose may be to create the equivalent of a “fatwah list” of alleged traitors whom patriotic Americans and/or Ukrainians will feel they have a green light to assassinate.” There you have it. Unsurprisingly, Myrotvorets’ “domain name is listed as being in Langley, Virginia, headquarters of the CIA.” Quelle surprise!
Yes, history is never learned. They’re resolved to take the trek to the quagmires of unfinished business and loose ends all over AGAIN!
Ironically enough, this will seem more of an inconsequential minor error, compared to what followed in more recent months. The West has virtually guaranteed an existentially impossible sweeping victory [emphasis added] to Ukraine. Yes, it has far bypassed the extents of a casual promise and news headline, and lifted to the glare of a pure fantasy with, only God knows how, a 100% probability. Now we have a ridiculously over-powered, outgunned, outwitted, and crumbling country; yet financed, trained, and armed by modern Western weaponry; who is entitled to unrealizable victory—which the guarantors (the United States and NATO) cannot deliver—and verging on suffering either yield or defeat in the near future.
So what can possibly go wrong, when the inexorable conclusion of this war come to pass, but afar from peace negotiations, and Ukraine is forced to concede with humiliation?
My wager is that, in the process of disillusionment, Ukrainians jaundiced and simmering with resentment will unleash their wrath on those who made them empty promises; and conned them with guarantees of an implausible victory in order to prolong the war; hoping it may enervate Russia and deplete her stockpiles of weapons.
Make no mistake! A Ukrainian defeat will release a train of hazardous reactions to European and American security. And, whether Myrotvorets has or hasn’t been a kill-list hitherto, it will definitely become one; much worse, it may well expand to enumerate private and low-profiled individuals (myself included) who were inquisitive, incredulous of the Hollywood charade, or said anything out of line on social media platforms or elsewhere. Let alone indiscriminate terrorist attacks on critical infrastructure and crowded public spaces. Mind you, exploding the Crimean bridge has certainly primed and got the Ukrainian palate wet for clandestine terrorist attacks.
By the same token, their vengeance and consolation would depend on shattering the European identity—which they would reckon have betrayed Ukrainians; then, after they have assumed that identity and been publicly lauded for “fending for Europe and the West, at large”—and the dismantling European/Western structures, those denied Ukraine expedited accession.
The only viable preemptive remedy vis-á-vis such scenario is a prompt housekeeping: the immediate shut down of Myrotvorets; accompanied by the tailing of every financial transfer in and out of Ukraine; monitoring of the dark web; and, more importantly, tracking every single piece of weaponry and ammunition, to the last bullet, sent there, and around the clock oversight of weapons blackmarkets. Needless to mention, other, rather unsavory, off the books (unsanctioned) measures, that may include the neutralization of radicalized personnel, may be necessary.
For what would be the challenges and stakes involved, if a proper and thorough housekeeping is not carried out pronto?
To start with, how on earth could European and American police and intelligence services identify potential or credible threats, with Ukrainian refugees already dispersed across the continent, Britain, and the United States? Would they only screen registered refugees? What about those who were trafficked into neighboring countries? It is worth bearing in mind, that Ukrainians already have access to ‘facilitators’ who know their way around borders and official routes. And, how about domestic sympathizers and neo-Nazis who might be triggered to act?
Furthermore, what criteria will be applied to the profiling: caucasian, Ukrainian, or Eastern European; individuals of Slavic descent? Physiognomy would only serve the purpose of further confounding the authorities. What of public devotees, activists, and sympathizers to the cause, or casual supporters on social media platforms? Or even disinterested individuals with psychological disorders, who may be exploited and employed as suicidal assets?
This whole thing could unravel and spiral down to a very nasty end in the blink of an eye. It would be a coalescence of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Taliban/Al Qaeda 2.0.
What are the authorities to do to mitigate such risks? Search every car trunk, suitcase, and luggage, carry-on bag, gym bag, and crate? Laptops and smartphones, perhaps? To put the entirety of measures listed thus far into application, the United States and Europe may need to contract China and India to supply the required manpower.
What would become of the free movement of peoples, merchandise, and capital, in response to these threats and in the name of counterterrorism? The Treaty of Rome (1957) will be annulled—or, in best case scenario, suspended indefinitely; and the open-borders policy reversed in a heartbeat; until all potential threats have been eliminated?
Or, will the Europeans and Americans seek to hire the Russian housekeeping services to clean up, once more, the mess they brought about in their ill-conceived efforts to weaken Russia.
In a nutshell, as the probability of this horrifying and unnerving peril manifesting in the future increases with every day passing by, its weight and horror falls on the shoulders and conscience (if there is any) of President Biden, President von der Leyen, and Former PM Johnson. To add a cherry on top, this has all been financed by American and European taxpayers money.
PRESIDENT BIDEN, WHAT ON EARTH HAVE YOU WROUGHT?! MAY GOD HELP US ALL!
Reference
Stent, Angela E. The Limits of Partnership: U.S.-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014.
