An international team of scientists led by Vegard Eldholm from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health found that armed conflicts may be the cause of the spread of tuberculosis. In a paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers suggested that pathogenic bacteria may have appeared in Europe during the participation of Soviet soldiers in the war in Afghanistan (1979-1989).
Researchers have reconstructed the evolution of the Beijing strain of Koch bacillus (Mycobacterium tuberculosis), which is known to be increasingly resistant to various antibiotics. It is believed that bacteria of this strain are more susceptible to mutations than other types of mycobacteria. This leads to the appearance of genes that contribute to the immunity of microbes to drugs, including the most powerful and modern ones.
The strain was first identified in histological preparations of lung tissue from patients on the outskirts of Beijing. To date, bacteria of this family have been found in Asia, South Africa, the Caribbean and the USA. According to scientists, poor healthcare and migrant flows are to blame for the spread of the bacillus.
It is believed that the tuberculosis bacillus originally evolved in Africa and the Somali peninsula. The common ancestor of all varieties of bacteria, according to scientists, existed 40-70 thousand years ago. When settlers left the Dark Continent to explore new territories, tuberculosis began to spread around the globe along with them.
Today there are seven types of bacteria, distinguished by unique genetic sequences. They are found throughout the planet, but individual types have formed in different regions. Thus, the results of phylogeographic analysis showed that the “Beijing” strain formed in Southeast Asia approximately 30 thousand years ago and penetrated into Northern China during the Neolithic era. Data from another study showed a different time of origin - about six thousand years ago.
In a new study, scientists compared the DNA of different subtypes of the Beijing strain, characteristic of Europe, Central and South Asia. It turned out that their evolution and spread across Eurasia were closely related to recent historical events. Thus, the countries of the former Soviet Union turned out to be hotbeds of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis infections. Experts also managed to find out that even earlier the tuberculosis bacillus entered Afghanistan and then spread throughout Europe.
The researchers analyzed the genomes of M. tuberculosis from residents of Norway, Denmark, Germany, Moldova and other countries and deciphered the DNA, identifying sets of single nucleotide polymorphisms - differences in the DNA sequence measuring one nucleotide. It turned out that they belong to the family of the “Afghan” strain, which also includes clade A from Russia. This subgroup of bacteria is found in abundance in areas located east of the Volga. A comparison of suspected and known mutations leading to resistance showed that bacteria found in Central Asia in the countries of the former USSR have many genes that promote resistance. It has been established that most of these mutations arose after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The development of drug resistance may have been facilitated by the collapse of public health and misregulated drug supply systems.
Scientists have found that subtypes of the “Beijing” strain characteristic of the Soviet Union penetrated into Afghanistan as a result of the USSR’s participation in the hostilities of 1979-1989. Refugees later brought it to European countries, which led to individual outbreaks of tuberculosis.
It is known that unsanitary conditions and incorrect treatment methods provoke the emergence of strains of infections that are resistant to treatment. Thus, one of the sources of antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis is prisons and medical institutions with poor living conditions. In the mid-90s of the last century, the centralized supply of free anti-tuberculosis drugs stopped in the countries of the former USSR. As a result of inadequate therapy (especially in prisons), a strain of the tuberculosis pathogen that was resistant to many drugs was grown.
Scientists say the findings show how political instability and armed conflict contribute to the spread of infections and the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria.
"You can beg for anything! Money, fame, power, but not your Motherland... Especially one like my Russia"
Five minutes of "friendship of peoples". Polish song from 1944.
Quite popular these days.
Dedicated to the failed and suicidal Warsaw Uprising of 1944 - more precisely, to how Polish patriots, realizing that they were losing to the Germans dryly, called for help from the Red Army. Considering that this whole performance was made without coordination and in spite of the USSR, which had just completed a tedious forced march during Operation Bagration, it was purely physically unable to provide military units (several detachments were sent, but almost all of them were destroyed, because such an operation required special training) in order to clear up the mess that the Polish brothers had brewed.
PS: During the liberation of Poland from the Nazis, 600 thousand Soviet soldiers died.
Summary:
Pan received a slap in the face from Burger.
He saw Ivan walking and shouted to him:
- Hey, you Muscovite redneck, the noble Pan allows you to help me beat the Burger!
To which Ivan, in complete confusion, sits down on the bank, trying to digest the information received.
Józef Szczepański (Ziutek)
CZEKAMY CIEBIE, CZERWONA ZARAZO
Jozef Szczepanski
WE ARE WAITING FOR YOU, RED INFECTION
We are waiting for you, red plague,
to save us from the black death,
so that our quartered edge will meet
Your “liberation” is like leprosy.
We are waiting for you, rabble of a great power,
introduced into bestiality by the authorities by the batogs,
We are waiting for you to trample us with your boots,
You will flood me with your evil propaganda.
We are waiting for you, eternal villain,
bloody killer of our brothers,
We do not crave revenge, retribution, reprisals,
and with bread and salt we will go out to meet you,
Just so you know, hated rescuer,
What kind of death do we wish you as a reward,
as if we clenched our rage in a fist,
asking for your help, cunning punisher.
Just so you know, grandfathers and great-grandfathers kat,
the notorious guard of Siberian prisons,
how he curses your kindness here
all the Slavic people, your imaginary brother.
So that you know how scared and painful we are,
children of the Free, Holy and Great Fatherland,
to be again in the shackles of your wild love,
the one that stinks of centuries of captivity to us.
The invincible red hordes have risen
near the walls of Warsaw, lit up by fire,
a flock of gravediggers amuses themselves with bloody pain
a handful of madmen dying in heaps of ruins.
A month has passed since the start of the Uprising,
You make us happy at times with the thunder of guns,
you know how scary it is not to find an excuse for yourself,
My conscience will gnaw at me for laughing at us again.
We are waiting for you - not for the sake of saving the rebels,
and for the sake of the wounded, thousands of them are dying in agony,
there are many children here, nursing mothers here,
and an epidemic is already spreading through the basements.
We are waiting for you - but your troops are still in no hurry,
you are afraid of us - we know that, of course,
do you want us to fall here, as one, without exception,
waiting near Warsaw for us all to be killed here.
We don’t ask you anymore - you choose for yourself:
if you help, you will save many from death,
If you wait, you will leave everyone to perish.
Death is not scary for us; we already know how to die.
But know that the winner is from our common coffin
a new strong Poland will be born someday -
one that soldiers won't have to walk on
and the lords of the wild red rabble.
The “Delegation” developed a plan for the simultaneous action of the Home Army when the Red Army forces approached (the “Buzha” plan, that is, “Storm”). The plan was calculated on the fact that Polish forces would be able to liberate the main cities, and above all Warsaw, before the entry of Soviet troops into them and thus would establish national power there, which the Soviet military authorities would have to reckon with. The general order to begin Operation Buja was given on July 20, with the entry of the Red Army into Polish territory. However, the plan, as it turned out, was based on overestimating one’s strength. In Vilna and Lvov, the AK achieved partial success, but upon the entry of Soviet troops into the cities, its units were disarmed and the command was arrested. At the same time, the Polish government could not use information about mass repressions against the AK due to the reluctance of the Western allies to quarrel with the USSR. The main attention of the Home Army fighters was focused on Warsaw, which was considered necessary to liberate from the Germans at all costs by the time the Soviet troops entered it, who would have found the already existing government bodies in the capital.
On October 12, 1943, Soviet foreign intelligence established that the Polish emigrant general headquarters in London, with the consent of its government, sent instructions to the authorized representative in Poland to prepare to resist the Red Army upon its entry into Polish territory. In accordance with these instructions, the Home Army was to “wage a merciless fight against the pro-Soviet partisan movement in Western Ukraine and Western Belarus and prepare a general uprising in these areas when the Red Army enters there. To combat the partisan movement and the Red Army, provide for the use of the Polish police, now officially in the service of the Germans.” Thus, preparations for Operation Storm actually meant preparations for military operations against Soviet troops. At the same time, it was recommended to incite the population against the USSR, promoting the following theses: the Russians want to capture all of Poland, close all the churches, convert the Poles to the Orthodox faith, and deport those who disagree to Siberia. Naturally, the tasks assigned to the Home Army were known to the command of the Soviet troops approaching Lithuania and Poland. Therefore, one should not be surprised that in 1944, when the Home Army units liberated Vilno before the advancing Red Army, then after the Soviet troops entered the city, the Home Army soldiers were disarmed and their command was arrested. The same thing happened in other areas where the Red Army met with Home Army units.
“Po-2 night bombers... dropped cargo from low altitudes to points indicated by the rebels. From September 13 to October 1, 1944, front aviation carried out 4,821 sorties to help the rebels, including 2,535 with cargo for the rebel troops. Our planes, at the request of the rebels, covered their areas from the air, bombed and stormed German troops in the city.”
From September 13 to October 1, the rebels dropped 156 mortars, 505 anti-tank rifles, 2,667 machine guns and rifles, 41,780 grenades, 3 million rounds of ammunition, 131,221 kg of food and 500 kg of medicine.
Another anniversary of “the most heroic and tragic page in the history of the Polish people.” I'm talking about the beginning of the Warsaw Uprising.
I admit honestly, I have a very contradictory attitude towards this “feat”. On the one hand, this is indisputable - patriotism, great heroism and tragedy of ordinary Warsaw residents. These are almost unarmed children against tanks and SS soldiers. This is such a monument in Warsaw to a little rebel and countless stories of heroism and dedication.
These are the songs about the feat of an entire city
Films about the uprising, books about the uprising, museums of the uprising, streets in every city in honor of heroes and command... And on the other hand... Let's take the same command.
The uprising was commanded by three AK generals - Tadeusz Komorowski (pseudonim „Bór”), Tadeusz Pełczyński (ps. „Grzegorz”) gen. Leopold Okulicki (ps. “Kobra”)
Also, five colonels, eleven lieutenant colonels and three majors are mentioned among the command of the uprising. So - the generals ALL survived the uprising. The colonels also survived ABSOLUTELY ALL! But out of eleven lieutenant colonels, as many as TWO were unlucky! The majors were quicker - they all survived.
Why do these facts look simply shocking and quite disgusting? It’s very simple - to do this you need to understand how these two months of the uprising went and how they ended. Before the war, Warsaw was a city of almost one and a half million people. The city is old, the capital of a rather large European power. After the suppression of the uprising, Warsaw was just a pile of burnt ruins - special teams of Germans with flamethrowers systematically burned and destroyed house after house. Literally a few percent of the buildings survived from the pre-war buildings. In all of Warsaw, after the suppression of the uprising, no more than 1000(!) people remained hiding in the ruins. In a city of one and a half million people, there are a THOUSAND people left hiding like rats in basements!!!<>And TWO of the twenty-one from the command of the uprising died... In a city completely wiped off the face of the earth...
In the city - where 20,000 rebels and 200,000 thousand civilians - children, old people and women died directly in battle. And the creatures that unleashed this massacre, abandoning unarmed townspeople against an entire German army with tanks, planes and artillery - almost all survived. Moreover, almost all of them died quietly in all England and America at a respectable age.
So maybe this uprising was vital? Maybe the Nazis planned to destroy the city and its inhabitants? Maybe the command of the Home Army simply had no other choice - like the residents of the Warsaw ghetto? No matter how it is - to do this you just need to look at the “goals of the uprising” section on the Polish Wikipedia page. They state quite openly that the uprising was directed against two enemies. The military enemy was the weakened and retreating Germans. But the Russians, who were about to recapture Warsaw from the Germans, are quite openly identified as a political enemy.
You know, they are quite openly declaring that the uprising was directed, among other things, against the Russians. Without being shy or hiding anything. Knowing about this “little fact” - as the goal of this entire uprising, I always listened with great bewilderment to the ritual curses on the heads of the Russians - “who, cannibalically and basely, did not help the rebels and delayed the offensive.”
There’s something I don’t understand... Here you need either panties for circumcision, or a cross around your neck. After all, the number one goal of the uprising was for the wild Russian barbarians to come to Warsaw, where the rebels had strengthened themselves. So the longer these Russian orcs don’t come, the better? Or not?
And what about Stalin’s allegedly personal ban on the British and Americans supplying Warsaw with weapons? It’s like - the Americans and the British could bomb Berlin, but to fly to Warsaw - do you need Stalin’s personal permission? Why on earth? Moreover, they regularly dropped weapons and supplies in reality. And without even asking Stalin. So why did these brave generals, colonels and lieutenant colonels, who had been hiding since 1939, send such children to their deaths?
Why was it necessary to sacrifice the city and hundreds of thousands of lives of ordinary citizens? After all, you could have just waited a month or two and the Germans would have been knocked out of Warsaw? The medieval city and almost three hundred thousand human souls would have remained intact.
And everything is simple - the task was to jump into a chair at the last second, in front of the stupid Russian Vanka. And then, with an arrogant face, pretend that he wasn’t even there. And even wrinkle your nose - they say, you should take off your bast shoes when you visit decent people. And so with a mannered pen - please, let's go out.
That’s all arithmetic and higher trigonometry with the philosophy of the “heroic Warsaw Uprising” - bite the almost finished German in the heel, and sit in a chair in front of the Russians. By the way, this also did not have any particular political or military meaning. Even if everything had gone according to the plan of the leaders from London... So what - would the Red Army have entered Warsaw where the uprising was victorious? What's the point? Would Stalin have been mortally afraid and abandoned all the Yalta agreements? Would you not help the Polish communists take power in the elections after the war? Don't make my slippers laugh.
So it turns out that all this heroism and young lives were sacrificed for purposes incomprehensible even to the leaders...
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has published a large trove of declassified archival documents: 275 summaries of American intelligence reports that fell on President Harry Truman's desk every day in 1946. The Cold War has not yet begun, but the interests of the victors of Nazi Germany are increasingly diverging: Washington is dividing Europe with Moscow and intensively spying on yesterday's ally, suspecting it of claims to world domination.
Rumors, gossip, "keyhole"
On July 3, 1946, intelligence informed President Truman about the resignation of the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, Marshal Georgy Zhukov.
“Perhaps the rumors that Marshal Zhukov was recently relieved of his post as Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Ground Forces and appointed to command the Odessa Military District are being confirmed. According to available information, Zhukov told Stalin that he could not remain as head of the Ground Forces because the leader was not agreed with him on issues of principle,” the document says, citing the American military attaché in Moscow.
The removal of the famous commander, who held several important government posts, was a significant event. However, the information was almost a month late - Zhukov was removed from office on June 9. The marshal was accused of misappropriating many trophies and inflating personal merit in the defeat of the Nazis. Rumors that the commander fell victim to his own obstinacy and dared to object to Stalin really circulated for a long time.
It is noteworthy that in the report to the president, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIG, the predecessor of the CIA) relied precisely on rumors.
However, this is not the only such example. Many reports received by the White House are based on information that can hardly be called reliable.
And sometimes - simply on speculation, free interpretation of data from open sources.
"Ambassador Smith in Moscow reports that photographs in the Soviet press published in connection with the death of former President Kalinin once again emphasize the importance in the Soviet hierarchy of Georgy Malenkov, Lavrentiy Beria and a small group in the Politburo (we are talking about Vyacheslav Molotov, Andrei Zhdanov, Anastas Mikoyan, Nikolai Bulganin and, of course, Joseph Stalin - Ed.). dated June 27.
American intelligence, which at that time did not have reliable informants in party and government agencies, had to analyze photographs in Soviet newspapers. The quality of such “analytics” left much to be desired, but all this fell into the hands of the president, Harry Truman. And American policy towards the USSR was built on this basis.
"The Soviets are seeking world domination"
The intelligence officers' assumptions that, having won the war, the USSR is striving to become world leaders do not seem any more reliable. Often, reports do not contain any references to primary sources at all and are based only on someone’s opinion. Like, for example, the message from London, also included in the April 18 presidential briefing.
"According to the (US) embassy in London, the British Foreign Office no longer believes that the Soviets are primarily interested in ensuring their own security, and then focus on internal development. British diplomats believe that the Soviets are "motivated on the idea of world domination, which should be achieved indirectly by promoting communist doctrine and directly by putting pressure on other countries,” the document notes.
Messages from various countries are in the same spirit. For example, the report dated May 8 states that the French communists, with the support of the USSR, are preparing a coup in the country, and even names a specific date: May 12. From Turkey on April 23: “The Soviet Union intends to take control of the Mediterranean straits.” From Hungary on May 10: "The Soviets are going to take over the entire Danube." On the same day from Syria and Lebanon: “Soviet influence is gaining strength every day.”
Five days later, the president is reported: The Soviets are establishing complete control over the Romanian economy. And from distant Argentina they warn that “a future conflict between the Western powers and the Soviet Union is almost inevitable.” People from Brazil are complaining to the president about the sharp intensification of “communist agitation.”
The “red infection” is spreading even to the most remote corners of the planet. Thus, a report dated March 29 claims that the USSR was targeting the Micronesian islands in Oceania.
The basis, again, is only a publication in the press - an article in the Soviet Journal of World Economy and World Politics.
"The article emphasizes (a) the strategic importance of Micronesia in maintaining a stable world and (b) the danger that these islands posed in the hands of aggressive powers such as Germany and Japan. The naval attache notes that ... this indicates a propaganda plan against the United States as an aggressive imperialist power," the report said.
"Russian spies are everywhere"
Spy mania is developing. The commander of the US occupation forces in Austria, General Mark Clark, reports on March 14 that “the Soviet command is using any excuse to extend the stay of its repatriation mission in the US zone.” According to the general, "intelligence work in the US zone represents a small part of its activities."
Another general, the commander of US troops in Europe and the commander in chief of the American occupation forces in Germany, Joseph McNerney, draws attention to the “serious intensification of Soviet espionage in the Berlin area.” According to him, "Soviet intelligence methods include threats and bribes to German civilians employed by the US Army."
The report dated March 27 contains a report from Baghdad, which expresses suspicion that among the pilgrims performing the Hajj, many spies from the USSR arrived in the country with the task of “Soviet propaganda among the Shiites.”
“The US military attaché in Copenhagen was informed by a usually reliable source that Soviet secret intelligence agents were infiltrating Alaska and Greenland.
The military attache assesses this information as probably true,” the report of June 20 informs.
Hard times
The worst war in history has ended recently, the economies of many countries have been destroyed, and Europe is facing famine.
At some point, the Pentagon proposes, in the interests of the American budget, to stop grain supplies to Germany - intelligence warns the White House that this could cause unrest in the occupied territories.
“In response to the War Department’s proposal to stop all wheat supplies to Germany, General Clay (Lucius Clay is the head of the administration of the American zone of occupation of Germany - Ed.) states that to maintain a diet of 1380 calories, up to 46 thousand tons of wheat will be required in month until September, before harvesting. This will be half the ration - the minimum necessary to prevent famine and unrest," the report dated March 21 said.
At the same time, intelligence officers report on how the USSR is providing assistance to the population of the countries of the Soviet zone of occupation. And they connect this with Moscow’s intentions to increase its influence on the policies of these states.
"The US delegation in Budapest reports that Marshal Tolbukhin has been authorized by Moscow to make available to the Romanian government and Romanian peasants mechanized equipment, horses and troops from Soviet forces in Romania to assist "in the agricultural campaign." The delegation notes that such a move will allow the Soviets and the government Groza (Petro Groza, Prime Minister of the Hungarian coalition government - Ed.) to put pressure on the conservative peasantry for the upcoming elections,” intelligence reports to the president on March 18.
"US Ambassador in Prague Steinhardt has learned from a reliable source that the Soviets have promised the Czechoslovak government up to 30 thousand tons of wheat by May 15. Steinhardt points out that the Soviet promise is clearly intended to strengthen the Communist Party in the May 26 elections and the arrival of Soviet wheat will be widely publicized by the Czech Ministry information controlled by the communists,” the May 1 report noted.
All this time, the Soviet Union itself is overcoming devastation with incredible difficulty. The situation in the USSR is also in the field of intelligence.
“The American military attaché in London has learned from a reliable source that a three-month drought in Ukraine will lead to the loss of half the planned grain harvest,” Truman was informed on May 31.
And one of the reports even suggests that the USSR is in no hurry to reduce its troops in Europe, because “there is nothing to feed them at home.”
Unpeaceful atom
By the summer of 1946, the United States was the only state in the world with nuclear weapons. In August 1945, atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And Washington is trying in every possible way to maintain its status as a nuclear power.
From the division of Europe to the atomic bomb
Declassified US intelligence documents
Vladimir Ardaev
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has published a large trove of declassified archival documents: 275 summaries of American intelligence reports that fell on President Harry Truman's desk every day in 1946. The Cold War has not yet begun, but the interests of the victors of Nazi Germany are increasingly diverging: Washington is dividing Europe with Moscow and intensively spying on yesterday's ally, suspecting it of claims to world domination.
Rumors, gossip, "keyhole"
On July 3, 1946, intelligence informed President Truman about the resignation of the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, Marshal Georgy Zhukov.
“Perhaps the rumors that Marshal Zhukov was recently relieved of his post as Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Ground Forces and appointed to command the Odessa Military District are being confirmed. According to available information, Zhukov told Stalin that he could not remain as head of the ground forces because the leader did not agree with him on fundamental issues,” the document says, citing the American military attaché in Moscow.
The removal of the famous commander, who held several important government posts, was a significant event. However, the information was almost a month late - Zhukov was removed from office on June 9. The marshal was accused of misappropriating many trophies and inflating personal merit in the defeat of the Nazis. Rumors that the commander fell victim to his own obstinacy and dared to object to Stalin really circulated for a long time.
It is noteworthy that in the report to the president, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIG, the predecessor of the CIA) relied precisely on rumors.
However, this is not the only such example. Many reports received by the White House are based on information that can hardly be called reliable.
And sometimes - simply on speculation, free interpretation of data from open sources.
“Ambassador Smith in Moscow reports that photographs in the Soviet press published in connection with the death of former President Kalinin once again emphasize the importance in the Soviet hierarchy of Georgy Malenkov, Lavrentiy Beria and a small group in the Politburo (we are talking about Vyacheslav Molotov, Andrei Zhdanov, Anastas Mikoyan, Nikolai Bulganin and, of course, Joseph Stalin - Ed.). Smith believes that Stalin considers the current period “one of crisis for the regime,” requiring vigorous internal control and guarantees of protection from foreign subversive influences,” the June 27 summary reports.
Joseph Stalin - People's Commissar for Nationalities of the RSFSR (1917-1922) and People's Commissar of State Control (1919-1922), member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Mikhail Kalinin - Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and Vyacheslav Molotov - Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (SNK) (from left to right).
American intelligence, which at that time did not have reliable informants in party and government agencies, had to analyze photographs in Soviet newspapers. The quality of such “analytics” left much to be desired, but all this fell into the hands of the president, Harry Truman. And American policy towards the USSR was built on this basis.
"The Soviets are seeking world domination"
The intelligence officers' assumptions that, having won the war, the USSR is striving to become world leaders do not seem any more reliable. Often, reports do not contain any references to primary sources at all and are based only on someone’s opinion. Like, for example, the message from London, also included in the April 18 presidential briefing.
“According to the (US) embassy in London, the British Foreign Office no longer believes that the Soviets are primarily interested in ensuring their own security and then focusing on internal development. British diplomats believe that the Soviets are "motivated by the idea of world domination, which should be achieved indirectly by promoting communist doctrine and directly by putting pressure on other countries," the document notes.
Messages from various countries are in the same spirit. For example, the report dated May 8 states that the French communists, with the support of the USSR, are preparing a coup in the country, and even names a specific date: May 12. From Turkey on April 23: “The Soviet Union intends to take control of the Mediterranean straits.” From Hungary on May 10: “The Soviets are going to take over the entire Danube.” Same day from Syria and Lebanon: “Soviet influence is gaining strength every day.”
Five days later, the president is reported: The Soviets are establishing complete control over the Romanian economy. And from distant Argentina they warn that “a future conflict between the Western powers and the Soviet Union is almost inevitable.” People from Brazil are complaining to the president about the sharp intensification of “communist agitation.”
The “red infection” is spreading even to the most remote corners of the planet. Thus, a report dated March 29 claims that the USSR was targeting the Micronesian islands in Oceania.
The basis, again, is only a publication in the press - an article in the Soviet Journal of World Economy and World Politics.
“The article highlights (a) the strategic importance of Micronesia in maintaining a stable world and (b) the danger these islands posed in the hands of aggressive powers such as Germany and Japan. The naval attaché notes that... this indicates a propaganda plan against the United States as an aggressive imperialist power,” the report said.
"Russian spies are everywhere"
Spy mania is developing. The commander of the US occupation forces in Austria, General Mark Clark, reports on March 14 that “the Soviet command is using any excuse to extend the stay of its repatriation mission in the US zone.” According to the general, “intelligence work in the US zone represents a small part of its activities.”
Another general, the commander of US troops in Europe and the commander in chief of the American occupation forces in Germany, Joseph McNerney, draws attention to the “serious intensification of Soviet espionage in the Berlin area.” According to him, "Soviet intelligence methods included threats and bribes to German civilians employed by the US Army."
The report dated March 27 contains a report from Baghdad, which expresses suspicion that among the pilgrims performing the Hajj, many spies from the USSR arrived in the country with the task of “Soviet propaganda among the Shiites.”
“The US military attaché in Copenhagen was informed by a usually reliable source that Soviet secret intelligence agents were infiltrating Alaska and Greenland.
The military attache assesses this information as probably true,” the report of June 20 informs.
Hard times
The worst war in history has ended recently, the economies of many countries have been destroyed, and Europe is facing famine.
At some point, the Pentagon proposes, in the interests of the American budget, to stop grain supplies to Germany - intelligence warns the White House that this could cause unrest in the occupied territories.
“In response to the War Department’s proposal to stop all wheat supplies to Germany, General Clay (Lucius Clay is the head of the administration of the American zone of occupation of Germany. - Ed.) states that to maintain a diet of 1380 calories, up to 46 thousand tons of wheat will be required in month until September, before harvest. This will be half the ration, the minimum necessary to prevent famine and unrest,” the March 21 report said.
At the same time, intelligence officers report on how the USSR is providing assistance to the population of the countries of the Soviet zone of occupation. And they connect this with Moscow’s intentions to increase its influence on the policies of these states.
“The US delegation in Budapest reports that Marshal Tolbukhin has been authorized by Moscow to make available to the Romanian government and Romanian peasants mechanized equipment, horses and troops from Soviet forces in Romania to assist “in the agricultural campaign.” The delegation notes that such a step will allow the Soviets and the Groza government (Petro Groza, Prime Minister of the Hungarian coalition government - Ed.) to put pressure on the conservative peasantry for the upcoming elections,” intelligence reports to the president on March 18.
“US Ambassador in Prague Steinhardt learned from a reliable source that the Soviets promised the Czechoslovak government up to 30 thousand tons of wheat by May 15. Steinhardt points out that the Soviet promise is clearly intended to strengthen the Communist Party in the May 26 elections and the arrival of Soviet wheat will be widely publicized by the Communist-controlled Czech Ministry of Information,” the May 1 report notes.
All this time, the Soviet Union itself is overcoming devastation with incredible difficulty. The situation in the USSR is also in the field of intelligence.
“The American military attache in London has learned from a reliable source that a three-month drought in the Ukraine will lead to the loss of half the planned grain harvest,” Truman was informed on May 31.
And one of the reports even suggests that the USSR is in no hurry to reduce its troops in Europe, because “there is nothing to feed them at home.”
Unpeaceful atom
By the summer of 1946, the United States was the only state in the world with nuclear weapons. In August 1945, atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And Washington is trying in every possible way to maintain its status as a nuclear power.
The further into history the years, popularly nicknamed the “dashing 90s” go, the more clearly the greatest tragedy of the 20th century associated with the destruction of the Soviet Union becomes apparent. Until the mid-80s of the last century, the country with the loud name of the USSR remained the leading power in the world. She was valued, respected, feared.
Without the participation of the Country of Soviets, not a single significant decision was made in the world. Not to mention the fact that it was our country that stood in the way of all kinds of “color revolutions”, wars on the planet, etc. And although the pace of the country’s socio-economic development, due to a number of objective and subjective reasons, has slowed down in recent years, a shortage has begun to be felt consumer goods, but the people looked confidently into the future, believed that these were temporary problems, that without war any difficulties could be overcome. After all, fathers and grandfathers, previous generations endured worse conditions. People lived poorly, but cheerfully and amicably. We celebrated holidays together, of which there were always many in Rus', and visited each other. Children attended kindergartens for free, young people studied in schools, colleges, technical schools, and universities. Each person was provided with a job, received a decent salary, free medical care, and proper rest. The state fully implemented social guarantees.
However, with the coming to power of M. S. Gorbachev, with his “perestroika” and “new thinking,” different times have come... Today, many consider, and not without reason, Gorbachev, Yakovlev, and Shevardnadze to be the main destroyers of the greatest country in the world. Unfortunately, in the highest political leadership of the country, and in the entire Central Committee of the Communist Party, there was no force that could resist the collapse of the USSR. And the party then, as we know, was the backbone of the state, the core of Soviet society. Moreover, when G. A. Zyuganov (and he at that time was just an instructor of the CPSU Central Committee) published an article “Architect at the Ruins” in “Soviet Russia”, the Politburo of the Central Committee at its meeting condemned his act and recognized the article as harmful and biased , which does not correspond to reality. However, subsequent events fully confirmed the relevance, truthfulness and topicality of our fellow countryman’s position.
At that meeting, the author of the article was to some extent supported only by the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee E.K. Ligachev, for which he was immediately nicknamed an orthodox. Others, including E. S. Stroev, remained cowardly silent. How can one not recall the well-known wisdom: “Do not be afraid of your friends, in the worst case they can betray you. Do not be afraid of your enemies, in the worst case they can kill you. Beware of the indifferent. They do not betray or kill, but with their tacit consent all betrayals and murders occur.”
But today I and, I think, many others are concerned, or rather outraged, by the fact that from among the destroyers of the Soviet Union, the figure of Yeltsin is somehow imperceptibly, or perhaps deliberately, being taken into the shadows. And he, in my opinion, is one of the main participants in the collapse of the USSR. It was Yeltsin, Shushkevich, Kravchuk who concluded the Belovezhskaya agreement on the dissolution of the Country of Soviets, on the denunciation of the treaty of December 30, 1922, without having any authority to do so. It was Yeltsin who first called the American president and reported on the dismemberment of the Soviet Union.
Nevertheless, today's rulers of Russia are striving by any means to whitewash Yeltsin and elevate him to a pedestal. Evidence of this is the opening of a library named after him, and the creation of the Yeltsin Foundation, and the construction of the huge Yeltsin Center, where, according to official data, more than 7 billion rubles of public funds were invested. The President of the Russian Federation and almost the entire government headed by Medvedev came to the opening of the memorial complex. Moreover, all the destroyers of the USSR, including Shushkevich, gathered there.
Exalting Yeltsin’s “merits”, presenting him almost as the savior of Russia, the speakers allegedly did not know about the drunken antics of the Russian President, who was conducting a foreign orchestra, about his diving from a bridge, about the bloody massacre that unfolded in Chechnya, about the barbaric execution of the Supreme Council RSFSR and many other atrocities against their own people.
And what is surprising is that among the population there are still many who approve of the position of the Russian government in perpetuating the memory of Yeltsin, Gaidar and other destroyers. The so-called Gaidar forum is already legal. The entire economic bloc of the government, headed by Medvedev, takes part in its work. Liberals are once again openly pushing through the mossy ideas of the “dashing 90s.” I think that it is not difficult to guess what “anti-crisis plan” the bourgeois government will soon offer to the people.
The following opinion is also imposed on Yeltsin about honors: they say, he is the first president of the Russian Federation. And in America, presidential centers have existed for a long time. What can I say? Firstly, Russia is not the USA. Why should we look up to them in everything? Secondly, not a single US president has committed such atrocities against his people. Thirdly, if we proceed from this logic, we can remember that Gorbachev was the first president of the USSR. But in the minds of the vast majority of Russians, he is clearly associated with the image of the destroyer of the Soviet Union. But didn’t Yeltsin, with his antics, contribute to the collapse of the Russian Federation? Let us remember his call to regional leaders to “take as much sovereignty as you can swallow”!
In this context, in my opinion, the opinion of our President V.V. Putin, who recently accused V.I. Lenin of giving nations the right to self-determination, is erroneous, thereby allegedly planting a time bomb under the state. But in the USSR, all nations and nationalities lived in peace and harmony, there were no special strife then, in fact, a new historical community of people had formed in the country - the Soviet people. And at the national referendum held in 1991, the overwhelming majority of citizens of the Soviet Union expressed a strong desire to preserve the Land of Soviets.
92 years have passed since the death of Vladimir Ilyich. And to accuse the leader of the world proletariat, whose ideas are reflected even in the UN Charter, for something for which he, in fact, is not to blame, means falling into childishness, knowingly playing into the hands of liberals and other anti-Sovietists who have long hated V.I. Lenin and the Soviet build. For example, what anger and hatred Zhirinovsky recently demonstrated again in a duel with Prokhanov on the first Russian TV channel! I think that every sensible person, especially from among the older and middle generations, is well aware that the ideas of “independence” and separation from indigenous Russia began to actively germinate during the Gorbachev-Yeltsin period. It was then that the regions had their own “presidents”, governors without provinces. They turned into local kings, princes, khans and began to implement Yeltsin’s advice into practice. The country was on the verge of collapse.
It must be honestly admitted that V.V. Putin had to collect it. But the poisonous infection of enrichment by any means has already spread across the regions. Our Oryol region was no exception. After his second coming to power, E. S. Stroev, who in April 1993 was popularly elected head of the regional administration, gradually began to assume the role of sole monarch.
During the election campaign, Orlovskaya Pravda, which I edited at the time, was one of the few media outlets that supported the candidate’s real program and sided with Stroev. To this day, I sometimes hear reproaches addressed to me: they say, why are you criticizing Yegor Semenovich when you worked with him and supported him? Yes, that's all true. I have repeatedly said and written that in the first years as head of the regional administration, Stroyev took a sovereign, patriotic position, and sought to work for the common good of his fellow countrymen. He did a lot to keep the Oryol region afloat in the troubled years, strengthen its socio-economic potential, and raise the authority of the Oryol region. Under him, mass gasification of regional centers, villages and hamlets of the region began. Stroev put a lot of effort into creating the Oryol Polesie national park and so on. And if he had retired at the age of 65, he would have remained in the memory of Oryol residents as a man with a good name, a progressive leader, a champion of the new, a benefactor who tirelessly cared about the development of his native land and his people.
But this, unfortunately, did not happen. Gradually, from a creator, he increasingly acquired the features of a destroyer. The tumor of selfishness and permissiveness especially began to grow in his body when he took the post of chairman of the Federation Council, traveled around countries and continents, visited the rich people of the West, when he entered the circle of Yeltsin’s “family”, when he saw the mayor of Moscow with his According to rumor, half of the capital was “taken over” by his wife... People who knew Yegor Semenovich from his work in the Pokrovsky district confidently say that there was a wormhole in Stroev’s soul even then. She gnawed at his soul from the inside, but could not get out. There was strict party discipline, and objective conditions did not allow human rot to manifest itself. But then this abscess broke out among many leading cadres, who built mansions on the “fields of miracles” and amassed wealth on the people’s mountain.
I discovered the decay of this man’s soul much later. In the meantime, in personal conversations and newspaper articles, I tried to point out the shortcomings and then the mistakes of the Oryol leader. After each meeting, it seemed to me that Yegor Semenovich understood my comments and wishes. But to be and to appear are two different things, and for Stroev this has long become the norm of behavior with interlocutors.
With every month and year our relationship became more and more strained, to say the least. At first, in relation to me, he tried to apply his basic principle in working with personnel - the “carrot method”. His “volunteers” and sycophants suggested (without hiding that on the advice of Yegor Semenovich) either to write a doctoral dissertation, or to change the apartment to a more spacious one, or to build a country house. And every time I answered them: “Tell Yegor Semenovich that I don’t need anything from him.”
Then he decided to use the “whip method.” To begin with, I set the goal of removing him from among the deputies of the regional Council by any means necessary. To do this, under certain conditions, candidates for my constituency were either the first secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, or large businessmen, etc. But every time, the voters were on my side. Then it was decided to remove me from the posts of chairman of the Oryol Union of Journalists of Russia and editor-in-chief of Oryol Pravda. Here all means were good, and with the help of fraud this was achieved. I have already written about this.
I am sincerely sorry for this newspaper, whose circulation today has dropped to the regional level. Many high-quality journalists have left the publication and are now working in other media. But on March 22, 2017, “Orlovskaya Pravda” turns 100 years old.
The destruction of the economic potential of the region was also laid down under Stroev. I will not list all the plants and factories that ceased to exist during his tenure. Readers, I think, are well aware of them. I will refer to just one example. To this day we hear that the industry of the Soviet period collapsed in many regions because it turned out to be uncompetitive. But this is far from true. For example, the Oryol watch factory “Yantar” produced products of the highest quality, and therefore in demand all over the world. Yantar products were exported to almost 80 countries around the world. To this day, watches of various brands from the Oryol factory reliably serve in many Russian families, and not only in them. Oryol-made grandfather clocks still adorn many government offices and offices of the modern bourgeoisie.
At the enterprise, where more than 7 thousand people worked, all conditions were created for high-tech productive work and rest for workers. The association had two kindergartens, a pioneer camp, and an excellent country base.
But it was the watch factory that was one of the first to fall under the skating rink of Gaidar-Stroy “reforms”. All his property was quickly stolen and sold. The exhibits of the huge factory museum were taken out overnight to an unknown destination. The production premises were sold for next to nothing to Moscow businessmen. The factory buildings were occupied by the Atoll company and other trading enterprises. And in the two-story building of the former factory canteen, the commercial bank “Menatep” and then “TRUST” were located. A similar fate befell many other Oryol enterprises.
In order to somehow calm people down, to distract them from pressing problems, the governor blew soap bubbles, painted bright prospects for Oryol residents for the construction of a giant Volkswagen plant on the Tekmash base, the construction of a major international airport with a huge terminal, the construction of an oil refinery, etc. , etc. Gigantomania is a characteristic feature of Stroev. In agriculture, he began reforming collective and state farms, or rather, their destruction, with the creation of large agricultural holdings. “Orlovskaya Niva”, “Orlovsky Agricultural Plant”, “Orlovskie Chernozemy”, “Wheat-2000” absorbed almost all collective farms. Huge budget funds and large borrowings, including foreign investments, were poured into it. The region still has not yet paid off its obligations during the construction period. And the rural infrastructure in many places has been completely destroyed.
The “flaws” of the previous governor could not be corrected by the team of A.P. Kozlov, who, having been in power for five years, did not leave any noticeable mark on the development of the region. And the newly elected governor V.V. Potomsky is unlikely to be able to repay the debt left by his predecessors. The region's external borrowings are constantly growing. The nearby regions have long moved forward, but our last enterprises are being destroyed (for example, Orleks, Livnyplastic, Dormash, etc.). In addition, Vadim Vladimirovich has little experience in the leadership of the region and makes big mistakes in personnel policy.
Once G. A. Zyuganov called me and asked: “Tell me, is it true what the central newspapers write about Potomsky?”
- I can’t judge his previous work. As for the personnel leapfrog, everything is true. Before he has time to appoint a deputy, either a criminal case has already been opened against him, or a new one has been opened, or “bathroom situations” have surfaced, etc. But, in my opinion, this is not only Potomsky’s fault, but rather his misfortune. He might have been happy to appoint locals from Oryol to his team, but before him, worthy personnel were either pushed to the sidelines of the management track or were forced to leave their respective positions. But flatterers, sycophants, people-pleasers, except to lick one place of the boss, have not been taught anything. Here come personnel from outside, who have not been deeply studied, and have not gone through the school of life and management at the appropriate level.
And the influence of E. S. Stroev on the socio-political situation in the region is still great. Let's take, for example, an industry such as construction. Until recently, Oryol television ran a commercial every day, “I’ll buy Orelstroy shares.” And who needed them? Again to the construction team. It soon became known that not only Yegor Semyonovich became a member of the Board of Directors of Orelstroy, but also his closest assistants Fefelov and Korolev. And his nephew V.V. Stroev now heads this council. So the main construction complex is again in the hands of Stroev’s “family”. On his initiative and direct participation, Orelstroy is building a temple in the village. Bolshoye Sotnikovo, in the Uritsky district. Rumor has it that in the near future we will witness the construction of a family crypt in that place. So the influence of Stroev’s “family” on the life of the Oryol region continues.
Anatoly Kononigin,
member of the Union of Journalists of Russia.
