BULLYING RUSSIA? By Abena Osagu Boateng.

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Some time ago the members of the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) swore that their subversion of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was anchored on a determination to stop the spread of communism.

They were gripped by the craze of producing weapons of mass destruction and developed the capacity to destroy the world ten times over. Thousands of spies were recruited trained and deployed with the sole objective of destroying every and anything soviet. They sabotaged industrial and agricultural development. They overthrew governments which were friendly with the USSR and killed their leaders.

Cuba continues to suffer an illegal and crushing economic blockade imposed on it by United States of America (USA) more than 60 years ago. Cuba’s only crime was that it was close to the USSR and it’s model of development looked like that of Soviet Union.

More than 20 years ago, NATO member states proclaimed their victory over the USSR with the collapse of the Berlin wall and the disintegration of the union. Their jubilation has not ended yet and their assertion that communism has been killed forever still lingers on their intellectuals say that we now have a unipolar world led by the United States of America.

If all of these claims are true, then one is tempted to ask why the subversion of Russia which is widely seen as the inheritor of the Soviet Union? Why is the West fixated on destabiling the Russia Federation? Why has it launched a hysterical campaign of disinformation, lies and propaganda against Russia?

One of the most laughable accusations against Russia is that it is a dictatorship which continuously violates the democratic rights of its citizens. This is best described by the racist gibe about the pot calling the kettle black. Hitterite fascism was not Russian and Russia was not a promoter and beneficiary of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Russian did not impose colonialism on the peoples of Africa, Asia, Australia and elsewhere denying their people their right to choose their own leaders and stealing their resources. They are not perpetrators of neo-colonialism which is a disguised form of colonialism.

Russia remains an enemy of the West not because it promotes communism. Russia today is a nationalist state under the leadership of Vladimir Putin whose main objective is to assert the greatness of Russia.

The problem with Russia is that it seeks to promote true friendship with the peoples of the so-called third world. It genuinely wants to help Africans, Asians, Latin Americans to take control of their resources and to exploit them for their own benefit. Russia is positioning itself as a counter to the exploitation of the peoples of the former colonies and this is what the West hates. The west wants the current exploitative relationship it has with the neo-colonies to endure and sees Russia as a major threat which has to be liquidated by all or any means possible.

Recent noises from NATO capitals are more than interesting. They are shouting in a frenzy and inciting the world against Russia by insisting that it is about to invade Ukraine.

The evidence that NATO has been presented is nothing more than a claim that Russia is massing up its troops on its own soil.If massing up troops on one’s own soil is condemnable, then what about the invasion of Iraq and US adventurism in faraway places like Afghanistan, Chile, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ghana ,Congo and Vietnam?

The attempt by the West to bully Russia is not likely to go far for a number of reasons. First, the Russia state cannot be a walk over in military and political terms.

Russia has never been afraid of the West and will not allow itself to be intimidated.

Perhaps, the West can come to its senses and realize that beating the war drums this time cannot be in its own interest given its failing economy and the increasing agitation of the working people in the West for improved conditions of work and life.