{"id":96296,"date":"2013-12-05T08:06:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-05T08:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?guid=b493eb6f09aa82f8970aaf8110da881a"},"modified":"2013-12-05T08:06:00","modified_gmt":"2013-12-05T08:06:00","slug":"orange-revolution-2-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/editorials\/orange-revolution-2-0\/","title":{"rendered":"Orange Revolution 2.0?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Orange Revolution 2.0?<\/b><\/div>\n
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by Stephen Lendman<\/div>\n
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Ongoing Ukrainian protests bear its earmarks. Whether it succeeds remains to be seen.<\/div>\n
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Ordinary Ukrainians are being manipulated. Internal street thugs are involved. They’re militants. They’ve been recruited to cause trouble. They’re mostly young. They’re Western oriented. <\/div>\n
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Washington’s dirty hands are involved. Color revolutions are a US specialty. At issue is eliminating independent sovereign states. <\/div>\n
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It’s co-opting former Soviet Republics. It’s drawing them into NATO. It’s increasing American dominance.<\/div>\n
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It’s using EU membership as bait. It’s doing so despite no tangible benefits. Promises made to be broken substitute. Weakening Russia is prioritized. <\/div>\n
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So-called spontaneous uprisings are manufactured. Ukrainians should know better. They’ve been through this before. <\/div>\n
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Memories are disturbingly short. Washington manipulated Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution. <\/div>\n
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Ordinary people ended up losers. Promises made were fake. Exploitation followed. Once deceived should have been enough. <\/div>\n
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Good sense isn’t a man on the street attribute. PT Barnum allegedly said “(t)here’s a sucker born every minute.” Con men, corporate predators, and ruthless nations take full advantage.<\/div>\n
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Ukrainians were had once. They’re being set up again. They’re not mindful enough to understand. <\/div>\n
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Awakenings usually come too late to matter. Shutting stable doors after horses are stolen won’t get them back. What’s ahead remains to be seen.<\/div>\n
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Washington developed manipulating tactics through years of trial and error. They’re down to a science now. Often they work.<\/div>\n
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Rand Corporation strategists were involved. In the 1990s, they developed the concept of “swarming.” It relates to communication patterns and movements of bees and other insects.<\/div>\n
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They’re applied to military conflicts and street protests. Key US organizations are involved. More on swarming below.<\/div>\n
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The usual suspects include the National Endowment of Democracy (NED), the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Freedom House, the Soros Foundation, and other corporate groups.<\/div>\n
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They serve US imperial and corporate interests. They exploit ordinary people doing so. Various activities are ongoing in different countries. <\/div>\n
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Different strategies are featured. Sustained mass protests are one step removed from revolutionary violence.<\/div>\n
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So-called color revolutions mask dark intentions. Ordinary people are easy marks. They’re manipulated like pawns. <\/div>\n
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Ukrainians are protesting against their own self-interest. Succeeding assures harming their welfare. They’re too out of touch to know.<\/div>\n
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Whether Ukrainian officials succeed in calming things remains very much up for grabs. Daily images aren’t encouraging.<\/div>\n
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Opposition elements allied with Western interests. On December 4, Russia Today<\/span><\/a> headlined “Ukraine opposition vows to maintain protests, PM calls to end violence.”<\/div>\n
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Opposition MPs blocked parliament. They demand President Viktor Yanukovych’s government resigns. <\/div>\n
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A Tuesday no confidence vote failed. It fell 40 votes short of a majority. It didn’t affect Yanukovych. Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and cabinet ministers were targeted.<\/div>\n
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Yanukovych tried to quell public anger. So did Azarov, saying:<\/div>\n
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“We have extended our hand to you.” He erred adding “if we encounter a fist, I will be frank. We have enough force.” Honey catches more flies than vinegar.<\/div>\n
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He accused opposition elements of an attempted coup. They have “an illusion” about toppling the government, he said. “They have a plan. It includes taking control of Ukraine’s parliament by force.”<\/div>\n
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Deep-seated internal problems persist. Poverty, unemployment and widespread corruption need addressing. <\/div>\n
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Ukrainians are justifiably angry. Allying with troubled EU economies won’t help. Their best interests lie more East than West.<\/div>\n
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On Tuesday, Yanukovych flew to China. He did so to discuss a bilateral trade deal. He hopes to sign it. He’ll head to Russia next.<\/div>\n
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Moscow offers Ukraine tangible benefits. So do China, Iran and other non-Western states. Washington and EU intentions assure greater trouble than already. <\/div>\n
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It’s hard making ordinary Ukrainians understand. Even Western oriented ones. They have an illusion of EU-aligned future prosperity. Hard lessons often are learned too late.<\/div>\n
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According to Russia Today, “Ukraine is sending government delegations to both Moscow and Brussels to discuss economic ties.”<\/div>\n
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Kiev want “considerable (EU) aid to compensate for Ukraine’s losses.” Brussels won’t offer “any special treatment or review” alliance terms. Sticks substitute for carrots.<\/div>\n
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On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin attributed Ukraine protests to attempts to undermine its government.<\/div>\n
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“As far as the events in Ukraine are concerned,” he said, “to me they don’t look like a revolution, but rather like ‘pogrom.’ ” <\/div>\n
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“However strange this might seem, in my view it has little to do with Ukrainian-EU relations.”<\/div>\n
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Putin called protests pre-arranged. He believes opposition elements intended them ahead of February 2015 presidential elections. They jumped the gun, he thinks.<\/div>\n
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Ukrainian presidents serve for five years. Yanukovych was elected in 2010. He hopes for another term.<\/div>\n
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Putin called ongoing protests a “false start due to certain circumstances.”<\/div>\n
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Video footage shows “how well organized and trained militant groups operate,” he added. People are being manipulated.<\/div>\n
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“They say that the Ukrainian people are being deprived of their dream. But if you look at the contents of the (EU) deal – then you’ll see that the dream” is more illusion than reality.<\/div>\n
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EU terms are “very harsh,” Putin stressed. They involve sticks, not carrots.<\/div>\n
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“I want to stress,” he added, “that regardless of the choice of the Ukrainian people, we will respect it.”<\/div>\n
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Dark US and other Western sources accused him of pressuring Yanukovych to back down.<\/div>\n
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Russian Federation Council international affairs committee head Mikhail Margelov <\/span><\/a>blames Brussels for Ukraine’s refusing an alliance deal.<\/div>\n
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“Brussels mistook Ukraine for some microstate, for which joining the European Union means making history,” he said. <\/div>\n
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“And it is mostly Brussels rather than some pressure from Russia that is to blame for Kiev’s decision not to sign the agreement in Vilnius.”<\/div>\n
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Ukraine is a “coveted prize,” he added. Brussels thinks inviting a former Soviet republic is too high an honor to refuse.<\/div>\n
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No matter that membership minuses way exceed pluses. Ukraine benefits most by turning East. Brussels offers little incentive to do otherwise.<\/div>\n
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On December 4, a Ukrainian delegation left for Moscow. At issue is restoring trade and economic ties. <\/div>\n
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A Brussels visit will follow. John Kerry is currently there. He didn’t surprise. He lied claiming “very powerful evidence” shows most Ukrainians want an EU alliance.<\/div>\n
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“We stand with the vast majority of the Ukrainians who want to see this future for their country,” he said.<\/div>\n
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Unacceptable meddling in other nations’ affairs is longstanding US policy. Doing so includes spreading malicious misinformation.<\/div>\n
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Western Ukrainians favor an EU alliance. Why they’ll have to explain. Eastern Donbas region and Crimean Peninsula ones are opposed.<\/div>\n
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Most Ukrainians favor a customs union with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Two-thirds oppose joining NATO. They do so for good reason They’re against global militarism.<\/div>\n
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They don’t want Ukraine involved in NATO wars. The Atlantic Alliance serves America’s imperial ambitions. Ukrainians oppose compromising good relations with Russia.<\/div>\n
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Current street tactics resemble 2004. In 1997, RAND Corporation researchers John Arquilla and David Ronfeld developed them. They titled their concept “Swarming & the Future of Conflict<\/span><\/a>.”<\/div>\n
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It involves waging war by other means. It exploits the information revolution. It takes full advantage of “network-based organizations linked via email and mobile phones to enhance the potential of swarming.”<\/div>\n
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In 1993, Arquilla and Ronfeldt prepared an earlier document titled “Cyberwar Is Coming!<\/span><\/a>” <\/div>\n
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They said “warfare is no longer primarily a function of who puts the most capital, labor and technology on the battlefield, but of who has the best information” and uses it advantageously.<\/div>\n
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State-of-the art IT techniques use “advanced computerized information and communications technologies and related innovations in organization and management theory,” they explained.<\/div>\n
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Information technologies “communicate, consult, coordinate, and operate together across greater distances.”<\/div>\n
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Cyberwar today is what blitzkrieg was to 20th century warfare. In 1993, Arquilla and Ronfeldt focused on military conflicts.<\/div>\n
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In 1996, they studied net and cyberwar. They did so by examining “irregular modes of conflict, including terror, crime, and militant social activism.<\/div>\n
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In 1997, they developed the concept of swarming. They suggested it might “emerge as a definitive doctrine that will encompass and enliven both cyberwar and netwar.” <\/div>\n
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They envisioned “how to prepare for information-age conflict.” They called swarming a way to strike from all directions.<\/div>\n
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Effectiveness depends on various elements able to interconnect using revolutionary communication technology.<\/div>\n
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What works on battlefields proved effective on city streets. US-instigated color revolutions achieved regime change in Serbia (2000\/2001), Georgia (2003), and Ukraine (2004), and Kyrgyzstan (2005). <\/div>\n
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Other efforts fell short. Color revolutions reflect America’s modern day new world order strategy. They followed the Soviet Union’s dissolution. Proxy and direct hot wars rage at the same time.<\/div>\n
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US strategy is multi-faceted. Subversion, mass surveillance, and destabilization play major parts. Successful swarming tactics accomplish coup d’etats by other means.<\/div>\n
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Anti-Iranian Green Revolution efforts failed. Street protests and clashes followed June 2009 elections. <\/div>\n
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CIA elements instigated black operations. They did so to destabilize Tehran’s government. Regime change plans haven’t changed. What happens going forward bears close watching.<\/div>\n
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Ukraine is currently in the eye of the storm. Protests have been ongoing since November 21. They show no signs of ebbing.<\/div>\n
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Ukrainian independence is at stake. Key is holding firm against US-led Western interference. It’s doing it nonviolently. <\/div>\n
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It’s transforming Ukraine responsibly. It’s initiating popular reforms It’s turning East more than West. It’s acting before it’s too late.<\/div>\n
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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. <\/div>\n
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His new book is titled “Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.”<\/div>\n
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http:\/\/www.claritypress.com\/LendmanII.html<\/div>\n
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Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. <\/div>\n
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Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.<\/div>\n
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It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.<\/div>\n
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http:\/\/www.progressiveradionetwork.com\/the-progressive-news-hour<\/div>\n
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