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Friday, November 26, 2004

Conspiracy mongering by the Kremlin's favorite pundit 

This is quite unbelievable - but true - just how prevalent and how believed around Moscow are these sorts of conspiracy theories? Probably quite, seeing who's behind it (read below, after the excerpt). I'm translating the whole short article from Poland's "Gazeta Wyborcza" daily:
"Zbigniew Brzezinski [President Carter's Polish-born National Security Adviser and nowadays an international affairs pundit], his sons, and the Polish government have created an Ukrainian opposition leader and promoted Yushchenko into that role, in order to prevent further integration of the European Union!

"So says, Sergei Markov, well-known political scientists and director of the Institute of Political Studies in Moscow.

"During press conference in the Russian capital, Markov argued that Brzezinski and his sons - Mark and Ian - were counting on Yushchenko victory in the elections to increase Poland's prominence within the EU. That - according to Markov - plays into Washington's hands, because a strong Poland will prevent further integration of the EU under the leadership of France and Germany.

"Markov sees the Polish conspiracy as follows: Mark Brzezinski is a Democrat adviser and his brother Ian advises the Republicans. Their co-conspirator is also of 'Polish origin', Adrian Karatnycky, one of the activists at Freedom House, a think-tank supporting democracy worldwide.

"According to Markov, the arrival in Kiev of Lech Walesa, and the expected arrival of [Polish president] Aleksander Kwasniewski, are not accidents. 'Polish social engineers are planning a repeat in Kiev of the coups in Georgia and Serbia,' maintains the Russian academic. 'Of course, the whole plan must remain secret, because the Ukrainians know that Poles hate them and treat them as second class, so they can't learn that Poland stands behind Yushchenko candidacy.'

"And what does Brzezinski want to achieve for himself? 'It's simple,' says Markov. 'The Polish diaspora in the US hates George Bush, and therefore wants by supporting Yushchenko to cause a split between the American president and the Russian president'."
All clear? No? Really? I thought that the idea of nefarious Poland helping Washington by preventing further EU integration and at the same time screwing over President Bush makes perfect sense. I'm struck by how much Markov's ravings echo my previous post about Poland and Ukraine - read upside down while under the influence of amphetamines.

All I can say is, I'm scared that this sort of thinking goes for a serious political analysis in Russia. And I'm even more scared, since this report describes the Institute of Political Studies as "a Moscow think-tank closely linked with the Putin administration," and this one describes Sergei Markov as "a man who reportedly enjoys close connections with the Kremlin." Markov, by the way, was one of the paid Russian advisors on the campaign team of Viktor Yanukovych, the Moscow-backed "winner" of the Ukrainian presidential election.

I do hope that good sense will prevail and this will not be a start of a new Cold War.

Update: Here's an English-language report from "Mosnews".

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