The transformation of the Soviet Union into what is today Russia, is a fascinating phenomenon for me. This series of three chapters has already aired two and while I’m happy to enrich my knowledge on the subject, I must say I am a little disappointed on the lack of depth and self-serving commentaries by the invited panelists and the series itself.

It is not that they are lying but more a matter of SPIN and what they don’t say. To talk about the erosion of democracy in Russia without mentioning the unprecedented erosion of democracy in the USA and other countries in the World is frankly unforgivable. It is as if Russia was happening in a vacuum.

To talk about what Putin is doing without talking about the surrounding of Russia by NATO, bringing it by the first time to the actual gates of Russia with the membership of new countries at the Russian border is remarkable. The plan to install a “defense rocket shield” by the US in Poland and Czech Republic aimed at Russia (however the US barks is against Iran) is inconceivable not to mention it in the program.

A new sort of Cold War is already on but this series fails to recognize it. It is outrageous that a US senator can be inside Russia, in front of a Russian court building threatening Russia with US legislation in order to affect a domestic issue is taken by the panel as “business as usual”. Just try to imagine the opposite was happening with a Russian parliamentarian doing the same in front of a court’s building in Washington during ANY proceedings, political or not. Unconceivable.

Putin has seen how in the name of “democracy” (hardly existent in the US itself after two national elections have been stolen in 2000 and 2004) the CIA has elbowed itself into Georgia and Ukraine pouring money into CIA Pro-Democracy front groups, supposedly to “help set up democracy” but actually doing there what has been well documented has been done in Iran to install the Shah, and Chile to install Pinochet amongst others like Guatemala etc. and pushed off the Kremlin’s favorite pets to power. Putin has learned quickly that in order for Russia to be governed by an elite however oligarchical but to the benefit of Russia, he had to wrestle off the wealth that gave the power to the private oligarchs who were openly flirting with the International Corporatocracy to install a banana republic’s government corrupted and controlled by it, just as it is today in Mexico, and many others in Asia, Africa and elsewhere, using the system explained by John Perkins in his book “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man”.

On one thing the series is right. It is a political issue, not a civil or criminal issue. It is an issue of who will govern Russia and for whom. Other than that I see the BBC doing its job for the Status Quo as it always has done, supporting and doing its masters bidding.

Another omission is China, the darling of the corporative world where democracy is more of a “dirty word” than in Russia, where there is not even the pretense of elections but where unions are non-existent and where the corporations benefit while making billions with it. Why demand of Russia what is not demanded of China?
What is happening in Russia to the few steps towards democracy it had made, being reversed is a real shame. What is happening to the “free press” and the killings of brave journalists in Russia is despicable and doesn’t give anyone much hope it will end soon.

What is happening in Russia regarding the concentration of wealth being yanked from the private oligarchs to the state oligarchy is perhaps in the long run the salvation of Russia as a nation but a loss for the International Corporatocracy which aims to own and control the World. I don’t know that, but I do know this series really don’t seem to be on the side of the whole truth, only the Spinned facts to fit a corporative agenda crying to expand its reach deep inside Russian natural resources and wealth.

The whole second chapter in the series was dedicated to presenting the oligarchs as victims. Not a single prosecutor, government official or press articles supporting the governments view were presented. These oligarchs and their families talk as if their wealth was something they really had earned somehow, not stolen in an opportunistic maneuver when Russia was in the hands of a misguided drunkard who destroyed the Soviet Union in order to avenge a personal dispute he had with Gorvachev. By disappearing the Soviet Union Yeltsin left Gorvachev in fact without a job, so Yeltsin fulfilled the CIA’s wildest dream without firing a shot, with total disregard for the well being of his country which was knitted in a Soviet Empire that worked badly but worked together.
The reason the British gave back Hong Kong when the New Territories outside Hong Kong were up in the lease to China (Hong Kong was actually British to perpetuity) was because they couldn’t give the new territories back without extricating HK from it. It would destroy HK by dividing it as such. Something similar happened in the Soviet Union when it was divided, letting go of many republics whose industry and agriculture worked as one with the rest, and one of the reasons of the chaos that followed. The chaos that offered the opening for the new oligarchs to size the opportunity and buy for peanuts from a sick and drunk Yeltsin the wealth of Russia. This fact is somewhat acknowledged in the series. But to help their bidding in showing themselves as victims of a repressive government is evidence of the series own shortcomings.

I wonder what would Russia be doing today if 9/11 hadn’t happened and the US pursued a genuine policy of enlightened, positive engagement in the world, truly furthering democracy in all fronts, not just happy when the elected leaders are to its liking, but also when like in Palestine Hamas won the elections only to be pressured out by them.

What would Russia do today if it didn’t feel threatened by the hypocritical and blatantly aggressive actions of the monolithic USA superpower in Iraq and elsewhere. The facts in Guantanamo and the Extraordinary Rendition activities with hidden prisons and torture openly pursued by the US are reasons for the Russians to fear and mistrust the US as an honest partner, not to mention the new nuclear weapon’s programs pursued by the US today and it’s intentions to use space as another battleground.
This is not explored in the series. With typical British paternalism it portrays Russia in ways it furthers the agenda of the few for the few. And they talk about democracy?

In any case I am grateful for LinkTv’s effort in bringing us new perspectives in the matter and look forward to see the next and last chapter in the series.