COOPERATION 105
cooperation [ koh-op-uh–rey-shuhn ]
an act or instance of working or acting together for a common purpose or benefit.
mutually beneficial interaction among organisms [nations] living in a limited area [planet Earth]
Please, take a minute to watch Paul McCartney performing “Hey Jude” in Red Square, Moscow, Russia, in May of 2003. It could as easily be New York, Paris, or Rio de Janeiro – – – people of the world, with the same hopes and aspirations shared by humans everywhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD-TnBx-Kng
Spend a moment watching young people gathered for a “Mass Singing” at a popular nightclub in Nizhny Novgorod, another Russian city. The language is Russian, or you could be in London or Los Angeles. June 2024.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EuwReNtLVs
Another moment takes us to “The Nutcracker,” Russian composer Tchaikovsky’s ballet, cherished around the globe, performed at the famed Bolshoi theater in Moscow. The audience gathers, the orchestra warms up. Minute 9 and hour/minute 1:14 bring two of the most recognized pieces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oY8A06TF_k
Lastly, spare a minute to watch a young Russian father showing his daughter the sights in Nizhny Novgorod. The scenes, the people, the little girl, are beautiful city anywhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFy_3AJWeaI
Much can be gained by visiting other nations, even if through the medium of video. But for language, Russia becomes indistinguishable from America.
Yet one can almost feel the immediate reaction of most in the United States. “Everything would be great were it not for the evil Vladimir Putin!” But one must question if this reflexive reaction might display how manipulated and misinformed, we Americans have allowed ourselves to become. History matters.
Boris Yeltsin was the first president of Russia (1991-1999) following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The breakup had brought difficult times for the former Soviet countries, including Russia. Joblessness, poverty, and social problems were high – the perfect opportunity to exploit the vast natural resources of Russia. Both US and Russian oligarchs saw Yeltsin as a stooge to be used for their own gain. Indeed, the July 15, 1996 cover of Time Magazine featured Yeltsin, with the headline: “Yanks To The Rescue . . . The Secret Story of How American Advisors Helped Yeltsin Win” – the open bragging about American interference in Russia’s elections.
Realizing he had been used, Yeltsin supported Vladimir Putin’s election in 2000. Mr. Putin has been president or prime minister of Russia ever since. His approval rating, varying from 65 to over 80 percent among the people of Russia as measured by independent pollsters, is rarely equaled by other heads of state. It was under Putin that Russia moved from poverty to the relative prosperity witnessed in the videos above.
Vladimir Putin is a trained lawyer, a student of history and international affairs. It was Putin’s leadership that drove U.S. (and many Russian) oligarchs and corporations out of Russia and ended western exploitation of her people and resources. America’s monied class hates Putin, and have been using their corporately controlled media to demonize him ever since. Accurate or not, this image of the “evil” Putin has been firmly planted in the people of America.
But a comparison of the historical record of Russian and U.S. actions since Putin took office in 2000 tells a different story.
Russian Assassinations:
Putin is alleged to have assassinated over a dozen of his critics since taking office. A March 16, 2024 report from Sky News covers them in depth. Unsurprisingly, the Kremlin denies any involvement in these deaths, but there is also some indication that a number of these individuals had connections to American or British intelligence services.
U.S. Assassinations:
The U.S. record of targeted assassinations against alleged enemies (terrorists) since the year 2000 compared to Russia isn’t even close. A March 10, 2017 article from Vox News reports that over 2700 people have been assassinated around the world in U.S. illegal killings. The Obama Administration was perhaps the most egregious offender, killing U.S. citizens without due process required by U.S. law. Of course, the shameful, immoral use of torture under Bush/Cheney is well documented. For more on America’s assassination program see here, here, and here. Remember, the Monarchy in England once considered George Washington and Thomas Jefferson terrorists.
Russian Wars:
In 2008 Russia launched military actions against neighboring Georgia. The conflict lasted less than a week. US intelligence was deeply involved in creating the discord in the government of Georgia leading to the Russian invasion. It was also in 2008 that the US announced that Georgia and Ukraine would become members of NATO. This continued the breaking of promises made to Russia about the non-expansion of NATO following the Soviet Union’s agreement to allow the dismantling of the Berlin wall. NATO membership would place U.S. arms directly on Russia’s borders with Georgia and Ukraine similar to the Soviet Union’s placement of missiles in Cuba in 1962. The US would not allow this in 1962, and Russia will not allow it today.
In 2014 the Russian/Ukrainian war began when then Vice President Joe Biden approved the illegal Maidan coup in Ukraine which overthrew the democratically elected, pro-neutrality, president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, and installed the pro-NATO, neo-Nazi, Petro Poroshenko. The U.S. began arming Ukraine shortly after the coup. The neo-Nazi attacks on the ethnically Russian Donbas region of eastern Ukraine soon followed. To stop the killing in the Donbas, and to prevent U.S. arms and military bases on its borders, Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. (Please consider listening to Professor Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University for documentation of all of this.)
In 2015 Russia launched a military intervention in Syria at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The US had long been trying to overthrow Assad in an attempt to exploit the oil resources of Syria. This remains a strategic “chess game” today.
U.S. Wars:
Following the 9-11-2001 attack on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. by Saudi Arabian members of the al Qaeda organization led by Osama bin Laden, President George W. Bush announced the “War on Terror.” Because bin Laden’s training camp was located in Eastern Afghanistan’s White Mountains, the U.S. declared war on that nation on 10-7-2001. It never appeared in U.S. mainstream media that the Taliban then in control of Afghanistan offered to surrender and turn over Osama bin Laden shortly after the U.S. attacked. Quoting The Intercept:
“So when the Taliban came to surrender, the U.S. turned them down repeatedly, in a series of arrogant blunders spelled out in Anand Gopal’s investigative treatment of the Afghanistan war, No Good Men Among the Living. Only full annihilation was enough for the Bush administration. They wanted more terrorists in body bags.”
After 20 years of war, thousands upon thousands of lost lives, great destruction across that nation, and billions of wasted dollars, on 8-16-2021, America withdrew from Afghanistan in defeat. The Taliban are once again in control.
On March 19, 2003, the U.S. began bombing the city of Baghdad in Iraq. It is now well documented that the U.S. war in Iraq was based totally on lies by the Bush Administration that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. An estimated 1 million Iraqi’s, mostly innocent civilians, were killed by the U.S., and several cities like Mosul and Fallujah were destroyed. In 2010, President Obama declared an end to the U.S. combat operations in Iraq.
On March 19, 2011, the U.S. launched the war on Libya based on the lie that President Muammar Gaddafi was committing atrocities against his own people. At the time of the attack Libya was the richest, most developed nation in Africa with its citizens enjoying a high standard of living. In a well-researched article, Ellen Brown of the Public Banking Institute explains that the real motivation behind the U.S. destruction of Libya was Gaddafi’s decision to begin selling Libyan oil in Libyan dinars rather than U.S. dollars, thus challenging the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Libya now lies in ruins, its infrastructure destroyed and thousands of its citizens have died. Libya has also become a hotbed of terrorism. For more on the horrors committed by the U.S. in Libya, Syria, Yemen and Somalia, see “The Illegal War On Libya.”
Russian military bases outside of Russia:
Russia maintains 20 military bases outside its own borders. Most are in former Soviet Union nations. None are in the western hemisphere or anywhere close to the United States.
U.S. military bases outside of U.S. boundaries:
The U.S. maintains over 750 military bases outside its own borders. Both Russia and China are surrounded by U.S. military bases close to their borders.
Russian supported Genocides:
None
U.S. supported Genocides:
Gaza
This comparison could go on, but the message is clear: For any American President or leader to call Vladimir Putin evil is the height of hypocrisy. If anything, the term is more accurately applied to America.
So, what does all this have to do with cooperation? Everything.
The world has become a very small place. It is apparent to anyone paying attention that ecologically, politically, economically, and militarily, humanity faces a bleak future if we do not learn cooperate with one another. Russia, China, and Iran, all considered by the U.S. to be enemies, together have a population of almost 1 billion 700 million people – 5 times larger than America. Not one of these 3 nations poses any military threat to the U.S. whatsoever. In fact, just the opposite is the reality. Yet we are constantly told by our leadership and our media that these nations are evil, they are out to destroy America, they are led by horrible dictators, and on and on. But any research at all, presents a different picture.
The whole point of this far too long article is simply to say: For the sake of all humanity, we must cooperate with people everywhere around the globe. But we are never going to be able to do so if continue to believe in the fantasy of American exceptionalism, the delusions of America’s hegemonic right to rule the world, and a corporately owned, self-serving media that drowns us in half-truths and outright lies to demonize other nations and leaders.
Perhaps this is best said in excerpts from a September 12, 2013 Op-Ed in the New York Times written by none other than Vladimir Putin:
“My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.”
In 2014 the U.S. orchestrated the coup in Ukraine. Tragically and understandably, the trust is gone.
Cooperation 106 will continue.