(The President’s Office responded to this message and thanked me for its foreign policy views.)
lähettäjä: Reijo Lahdenperä
vast. ott.: presidentti@tpk.fi
päiväys: 3.2.2021 10.40
aihe: Jokunen kysymys ulkopolitiikasta (Some question on foreign policy)
Mr. President of the Republic
Decades ago, I realized a rather barren truth about human nature. There are always people who are willing to even kill if they get permission to do so. And there are always people who give it permission.
I will start by outlining the events on which my questions will be based.
If one had not otherwise understood how crises arise in the world, this was demonstrated by recent events in the United States (Seizing the Parliament House). What did not happen compared to other crises was that third countries did not provide arms, funding and spiritual support to both sides. That’s also just because the U.S. is self-sufficient in all those things. (Refers to an event in which Trump’s supporters invaded Parliament.)
It feels like some politicians and the media want our neighbor to have a situation similar to that in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine and developing to Belarus. While in the West it is thought that the opposition is being helped, history says that their situation has only worsened every time. From the initial democratic deficit and perhaps from a few thousand deaths has ended up to tens of thousands of deaths and even millions of refugees.
Iran
A Finnish person still influential in politics took part in a demonstration against the Shah of Iran in Helsinki decades ago. And he wasn’t the only one!
Well, the Shah was got rid of, but was the replacement administration better?
Afghanistan
During the Obama administration, Secretary of State .. to my recollection, Hillary Clinton .. said that the Americans were provoking the Soviet Union to occupy Afghanistan. After that, history tells that they funded, trained and armed the resistance movement to make it stand up to the occupiers. The chosen strategy was successful and in addition to the disappearance of the Soviet Union, it collapsed. The Americans withdrew their support from Afghanistan because the goal had been achieved. The country was left alone with its problems.
The insightful resistance movement was abandoned and from it grew out Al Qaeda and the Taliban in unrest in Afghanistan. And unrest, also outside of Afghanistan, has since been enough. And, of course, refugees.
Iraq
Contrary to UN decisions, the Americans went with a few allies to overthrow Saddam Hussein. More than 90,000 civilians died on that side. The unrest has continued because internal forces have not been able to resolve their mutual disputes without the involvement of outsiders and the government they support. And look, there have been enough dead, refugees and problems since then.
Libya
Next, this time already approved by the UN Security Council, the US set out to overthrow the Libyan regime along with a few NATO allies. (They are also the most affected by terrorist attacks.) Well it happened, but even there, the Western-backed regime doesn’t seem to be gaining a real foothold in Libya’s internal chaos. So, to that what operation caused. In addition, refugees flow to Europe through it.
Ukraine
Western neighbors, including Germany, were actively supporting the Ukrainian opposition when President Yanukovych was in power. The opposition and the citizens were promised ten good ones and nine even better ones if they could just get rid of the pro-Russian president and regime. Worked there, of course the Americans too. Finally, the confrontation intensified to the point where it began to demand the cancellation of the lease of the Russian military base in the Crimean region. That was enough to occupy Crimea and move under Russian rule. Western promises of financial support were generally not fulfilled. Initially, with the support of the West, the same corrupt opposition that had emptied the state treasury and assets during the previous 18 years of power rose to power. More importantly, the crisis continues despite administrative reform.
Syria
The Al Assad regime was overthrown by strengthening the opposition. It was funded, armed and trained to act against the Syrian army. Primarily by the US. Part of that gang, with their weapons and training, moved into the ranks of Isis. Against that, the U.S. funded, armed, and trained the Kurds because they were most effective against Isis. Of course, because they fought for their homeland … that is, the country they inhabit, but which has never been given to them.
When, in the words of President Trump, the U.S. no longer received oil as compensation for its aid, they decided to withdraw and rejected the Kurds. At the same time, rumors that the US had taken oil compensation from Iraq and Libya were reinforced. Maybe also in decades from Afghanistan? Has its end made them think to retreat from there as well?
Belarus
Western countries have also been supporting the Belarusian opposition to overthrow the pro-Russian presidential regime. Without it, the protests would not have become so large and thus did not provoke such large and violent retaliation acts.
Russia
A similar incitement to unrest is being made by an opposition leader in Russia to overthrow Putin .. with the support of the West. And if you do not yet understand, driving a country like Russia to the same state as it has been done with those other states is a much greater security threat to Finland than being involved in the matter. (Especially when there is much to be corrected in our own democracy. Over the decades, it has emptied outlying areas and ruined their property values. And even so, the law does not even allow it to be examined.)
Good / bad external support
The support that will cause the crisis at a later stage is not just about supporting the parties and organizations in the country in opposition, but about what the ordinary people get. The notion of wealth that seems to prevail in the West makes them join the violent riots. It, in turn, causes the government to take tougher action, which will only increase the problems of the protest movement. Even until the Civil War. The unfortunate truth shown by history is that, as a rule, the support and sanctions provided by the West have only been sufficient only that the crisis has been brought about. Citizens are left with an even worse life than was under “wrong” governance. It is far from a marketed dream.
The examples should also show the meaning and purpose of the provocation.
But also the need for some other kind of peace work.
And now those questions:
– Is the acquisition of a fighter jet, which has also been promised cruise missiles carrying a thousand kilometers, also a provocation to force Russia to retaliate? Thinking of a submarine base at the bottom of the White Sea.
– If the crisis between Russia and Finland escalates into a military confrontation, how will we pay the Americans for their help?
– What do we do then if it goes the same way as Americans used to do and they reject us?
Concerned
Reijo Lahdenperä
Additional attachments:
Näkökulma: Tukeeko länsi väärää miestä? (iltalehti.fi)
Iltalehti 1/26/2021 9:25 Perspective -Pekka Numminen:
Does the West support the wrong man? Navalnyi is a far-right nationalist who believes that Crimea belongs to Russia
“Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was pro-Western and so Western countries under the leadership of the United States supported him, or were as if they had supported.
Behind the scenes, the CIA, led by President Jimmy Carter, had launched an operation to get the increasingly authoritarian shah aside.
The CIA was secretly preparing the return of Ayatollah Khomeini, a religious leader in exile in France, to his homeland of Iran. “
………………………..
Published in the Kansan Uutisten Viikkolehdessä (People’s News Weekly) 11.8. 2006.
Newly released documents tell of the close interaction between big business and the U.S. government during Chile’s 1970 presidential election. The companies had enough money to buy the “right” election result and, after the failure of this project, to prevent the election of Salvador Allende and eventually overthrow him.
When the assets of an American corporation are nationalized somewhere in the world, help is always as close as the nearest U.S. president. This was stated in Weekly 7.7. 2006 in the story of Stephen Kinzer’s book on the overthrow of democratic governments in the United States in the 20th century (Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change From Hawaii to Iraq).
However, it is not always necessary to bother the principal himself. Even a properly qualified advisor will suffice. (Henry Kissinger)
The National Security Archive is an independent research institute at George Washington University that publishes official documents that become public under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, particularly in relation to security policy.
KU:n arkistosta: Chilen kaappauksen anatomia – Kansan Uutiset