Communist Bloc Military Updates: Kremlin counters NATO combat air patrols near Russian airspace, deepens integration between Union State militaries, plans to open air base in Lida, Belarus by end of 2013, deploy Sukhoi Su-27SM3 fighter jets; Belarus borders communist-turned-NATO states Poland, Latvia and Lithuania

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EU File: Czech Republic’s “ex”-red, pro-Moscow president appoints leftist economist, former finance minister (2001-2003) as head of technocratic government until next election; lower house speaker, center-right coalition’s candidate for PM: “This is an expression of disrespect to parliament, an irresponsible step”; scandal-plagued ex-ruling Civic Democrats plummet in opinion polls

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Useful Idiots Bin: Washington, Moscow cross swords over Edward Snowden; Putin: PRISM leaker in transit zone of Moscow airport, free to leave, Russia will not extradite ex-National Security Agency contractor to USA to face spying charges, Snowden not working for FSB/KGB; Secretary of State Kerry softens tone toward Kremlin: “We are not looking for a confrontation”; Russian FM Lavrov: “There are no legal grounds for such conduct of U.S. officials”

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Useful Idiots Bin: PRISM whistleblower eludes US extradition request, flees Hong Kong; Aeroflot flight thought to carry Edward Snowden arrives at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, continues to Cuba; Ecuador receives official asylum request from Snowden, harbors Wikileaks founder Assange in London embassy; US authorities charge ex-NSA contractor with espionage, theft and conversion of government property

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USSR2 File: Kremlin parts company with West’s liberal-left social engineering failure, tries to reverse Russia’s demographic crisis (i.e., high mortality and low birth rates) with baby bonuses, improved healthcare, housing and education, divorce tax, abortion restrictions; follows total ban against “homosexual propaganda”; Russian communists annoyed over Elton John’s flashy costumes, urge Cossack “duds” at concerts

With a pink feather boa, decadent bourgeois entertainer Sir Elton could probably make Cossack “duds” look pretty flashy too.

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EU File: Czech Social Democrats, Communists indicate opposition to reorganization of Civic Democrat-TOP 09-Liberal Democrat government under new PM, demand early election; CSSD leader Sobotka: “There is no reason for entrusting the unsuccessful rightist parties with forming the government again”; CSSD most popular party in Czech Republic, followed by KSCM

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EU File: Czech government collapses as PM resigns, center-right coalition partners bolt in wake of bribery, spying scandal implicating Necas’ closest aide, Civic Democrat politicians; “ex”-red President Zeman expected to appoint caretaker cabinet until 2014 election; Social Democrats, Communists likely to win, form leftist coalition; former subservient to latter in Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

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WW4 File: USA to arm Syrian rebels, Obama Admin cites Assad’s use of chemical weapons (sarin gas), Russia denies accusation; Iran to ship 4,000 troops to Syria, uphold mutual defense pact with embattled Ba’athist regime; reformist cleric Hasan Rowhani wins presidential “election” in Iran, real power remains with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Revolutionary Guard; Ahmadinejad barred from third term

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EU File: Czech Republic’s “ex”-communist, pro-Moscow President Zeman adds voice to demands for Necas’ resignation, considers charges against PM’s top aide, reported paramour and other Civic Democrat politicians “very serious”; Social Democrats, Communists to hold no-confidence vote on Tuesday; Czech Republic declared most corrupt country in Europe in 2009

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EU File: Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia boss demands resignation of PM Necas following arrests of high-ranking government, military intelligence officials, cites “national security”; Stalinist party enjoys 20% popular support 23 years after Velvet Revolution, eyes return to power; Czech judge punishes young communist for feigning assassination of previous president, Vaclav Klaus

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Event Convergence Alert: Dramatic May 2 showdown between Czech police and Russian officials aboard Aeroflot plane at Prague airport suggests possible Russian link to Czech Republic’s biggest anti-corruption crackdown in 20 years; Czech cabinet tried to prevent extradition of Russian businessman, ordered runway blocked by fuel tanker, but backed down, fearing gunfire exchange; PM Necas travels to Russia a few weeks later, warmly received by Putin, Medvedev

See previous post and related story from last October.

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– The Economist: “Mr Nečas’s Civic Democrats were severely punished [in 2010 election] for suspicious deals and links to murky businessmen.” (source)

– Czech Helsinki Committee Questions Decision to Extradite Alexei Torubarov to Russia Since Asylum Request Did Not Receive “Proper Consideration”  (source)

EU File: Masked police in Czech Republic raid government HQ, defense ministry, arrest ruling party politicians, current, past chiefs of military intelligence, seize gold, cash; prosecutors accuse powerful female head of PM’s office of ordering surveillance of Necas’ estranged wife; PM refuses to quit as opposition Social Democrats threaten no-confidence vote; “ex”-red President Zeman expected to help CSSD push ODS from power, form new government with Communists

If you haven’t seen the DVD documentary The Collapse of Communism: The Untold Story by producer Robert Buchar, then get it and watch the interview with former Communist StB officer Ludvik Zivcak concerning the deceptive nature of 1989’s “Velvet Revolution.” Current events in the Czech Republic can only be understood in the light shed by this film.

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– Communism Making Comeback in Czech Republic, Stalinist Party Second Most Popular in Polls (source)

– PM Necas Accuses Social Democrats of Cozying Up to Communists ahead of Election, Suppressing Secret Police Files that Could Embarrass Prague’s Former Totalitarian Rulers (source)

– Historical Flashback: Communists Seize Power in Czechoslovakia in February 1948 (source)

Communist Bloc Military Updates: Helsinki: Russian bomber/fighter formation violated Finnish airspace earlier this week, follows mock nighttime attack on Sweden in April; Russia’s Western Military District carries out another snap drill with Sukhoi Su-24 fighter-bombers, Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets, Mi-8 and Mi-24 combat helicopters; random checks of Russia’s war readiness began in Feb.

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Eurocrisis File: General strike hobbles Greece as unions protest decision to abruptly pull plug on public broadcaster, sack 2,700 workers; pro-austerity government vows leaner state enterprise, center-left coalition partners revolt; Turkey’s PM issues “final warning” to protesters occupying Taksim Square, Istanbul; secular Turks outraged by “creeping sharia law,” draconian restrictions on alcohol; Greek leftists rally for “Turkish Spring”

– Leader of Greece’s Eurocommunist Opposition Denounces ERT Shutdown as “Coup D’etat”; Neo-Fascist Golden Dawn Lawmaker Lauds Closure of “Socialist-Communist Shack”

– 2,000 Greek Communists Converge on Turkish Embassy, Rally in Support of Turkish Comrades; Syriza Lawmaker Views “Turkish Spring” as “Hopeful Message” to Middle East

– Turkish PM Erdogan Dodges Domestic Unrest, Dispatches Warships into Greek Waters Twice in One Week, Enflames Old Animosities between NATO Partners

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Useful Idiots Bin: Putin spokesman: Russia ready to consider any asylum request from PRISM whistleblower Edward Snowden; former CIA techie, US defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton employee leaked existence of NSA’s massive Internet surveillance program to UK’s Guardian newspaper; Senator Dianne Feinstein damns leak as “act of treason,” while WikiLeaks founder Assange applauds Snowden

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Middle East File: Anti-government protests in NATO member Turkey spread to capital, other cities; police in Ankara use tear gas, water cannons to disperse thousands of mostly secular, middle-class protesters; devout Muslim PM Erdogan denounces demos as coup attempt by organized opposition; Egypt’s ruling Muslim Brotherhood warily watches “Turkish Spring”

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USA File: Massive domestic surveillance under Bush, Obama Admins emerges: Top secret FISA court order requires Verizon to hand over phone records of millions of US customers to National Security Agency; National Intelligence Director angrily admits existence of PRISM, covert data-mining began in 2007, enabled NSA to directly access emails, online activity of US citizens; tech giants implicated in PRISM, deny knowledge of DoD program

The KGB could not have done a better job of monitoring Soviet citizens . . .

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Middle East File: Anti-government protests in Turkey enter second week; communists, socialists, anarchists converge in Taksim Square, Istanbul, join tens of thousands of demonstrators in demanding ouster of pro-Islamist Ergodan regime; Turkish deputy PM rules out early election; Greek reds express solidarity, denounce “Kemalism”

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Final Phase Backgrounder: Ex-GDR spies assume top posts at Russian-German companies; ex-Stasi major CEO of Rusal, top exec at Nord Stream AG, Transneft, Rosneft; Warnig helped Soviet spy Putin recruit W. Germans for KGB; ex-Stasi agent at Gazprom Germania, lied under oath, transferred to Istanbul; German Left Party boss probed for Stasi link; communist-era Free German Youth openly recruits despite ban

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Final Phase Backgrounder: “Ex”-communists at helm of Western European states: Merkel raised in E. Germany, cadre in state-backed orgs, “agitprop” function, post in GDR’s only “non”- communist government; father known as “Red” Kasner; Italy’s most popular politician, “ex”-PCI Napolitano, re-elected president, appoints Letta to lead grand coalition of “ex”-red Democrats, Berlusconi’s party

The reunification of East and West Germany was not a triumph for the Free World but, rather, was orchestrated by the Soviet strategists under Mikhail Gorbachev’s visible leadership, with the intent of infiltrating communists into the mainstream politics of the Federal Republic of Germany.

In a March 1990 memorandum to the US Central Intelligence Agency, KGB defector Anatoliy Golitsyn specifically warned about the danger of German re-unification: “In its blindness, the United States fails to foresee the political destabilisation liable to arise from the West’s willingness to contemplate East German participation in federal elections without taking into account of the likely impact on them of the 2.4 million past and present members of the German Communist Party [i.e., Socialist Unity Party]” (The Perestroika Deception, London: Edward Harle, 1995, 1998; page 74). Golitsyn also noted: “Deep penetration of West Germany’s special services by the KGB and by the East German services [Stasi] has compromised members of the West German elite, rendering them vulnerable to KGB pressure and blackmail which may well be used during the reunification process” (page 74).

Meanwhile, in Italy the communist party (PCI) dominated the political left, polling second behind Christian Democracy, which finally collapsed under the weight of scandal and corruption in the early 1990s. As of the 2013 general election, the PCI’s successor, the Democratic Party, holds the largest number of seats in the bicameral Italian parliament. Ironically, or perhaps  not, more than two decades after the stage-managed collapse of the Soviet Union, “ex”-communists now sit at the helm of these two major Western European states, which have been anxious to promote economic ties with “post”-communist Russia.

For decades, the US policy-making community shunned Golitsyn, but once again his perceptive warnings have been vindicated.

Federal Republic of Germany

Chancellor Angela Merkel (2005-present): Born in Hamburg, West Germany in 1954, immigrated with family to East Germany shortly after birth; joined Free German Youth (agitprop secretary) and Free German Trade Union Federation, employed as researcher with Academy of Sciences at time of fall of Berlin Wall; joined Democratic Awakening “reform” movement; deputy spokesperson for first (and last) “non”-communist East German prime minister, Lothar de Maizière (April-October 1990); joined Christian Democratic Union following re-unification of East and West Germany, merger of communist-controlled East German CDU and West German CDU; fluent Russophone

Bio of Merkel’s father, Horst Kasner: Lutheran pastor who accepted post in Quitzow, East Germany; sympathetic toward communist regime, criticized the social order in West Germany; known as “Red” Kasner; moved freely between West and East Germany, enjoyed use of private vehicle, travelled abroad under sponsorship of ruling, communist-controlled National Front; unlike anti-communist pastors, the higher education of his children (including Angela) was not impeded

President Joachim Gauck (2012-present): Born in Rostock in 1940, raised in what later became East Germany, but parents anti-communist; father arrested by Soviet occupying forces, deported to Soviet gulag, later released; refused to join Free German Youth (unlike Chancellor Merkel); became Lutheran pastor; in September 1989 co-founded New Forum, first (apparently) independent political party in East Germany, later joined Alliance 90 to contest first “free” election in March 1990

Italian Republic

Prime Minister Enrico Letta (2013-present): Christian Democracy (left wing), Italian People’s Party, Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy, Democratic Party (traces origin to Italian Communist Party, repackaged in 1991); in grand coalition with People of Freedom (centre-right)

President Giorgio Napolitano (2006-present): University Fascist Youth, Italian Communist Party (heavily financed by Moscow), Democratic Party of the Left, Democrats of the Left, “independent”

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Communist Bloc Military Updates: Red Chinese paratroopers travel to Russia’s Ryazan region, observe Russian counterparts in action, prep for joint jump in Oct.; Russian Navy, PLAN to hold combined maneuvers in Sea of Japan in June, “Peace Mission 2013” to promote mil-mil cooperation under Shanghai Cooperation Organization mandate, counter Obama’s “Asia Pivot” strategy

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Summary of Obama’s “Asia Pivot” Strategy

Red World Order File: Cuban FM in Moscow to preside over Russia-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States summit; CELAC excludes USA, Canada, Castro president pro tempore; Nicaragua expels Venezuelan opposition politician, Maduro in Managua to assess progress of oil refinery promised by Chavez; Caracas funneled US$2.8 billion to Ortega between 2007-2012; Venezuelan DM admits military “advice” from Cuba, denies subservience

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Community of Latin American and Caribbean States

Red World Order File: Regional integration continues apace under communist direction: Eurasian Economic Council meets in Astana, welcomes Kyrgyzstan into Russia-led customs union, Ukraine as observer; ALBA, Petrocaribe to merge, reabsorb Honduras, grab Guatemala; Maduro: New anti-USA economic zone: “cornerstone of union of South and Central America, Caribbean”

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Final Phase Backgrounder: Latin America’s Red Axis Covers All the Bases: Honduran President Lobo Ducks Red Past, Picks Up Where Chavez Lackey Zelaya Left Off Prior to 2009 Coup (source)