Boris and The Russians

His name is Boris after all, for goodness sake! 

For the last four years, the Tory media have tried to throw everything they could at Corbyn. They have tried to connect him to terrorists; they have tried to claim he was a Czech spy; they have tried to claim he is an anti-Semite, despite the fact that his parents were in Cable Street fighting Mosely's fascists, and Corbyn himself has been on many more anti-fascist demonstrations, confronting anti-Semites, than the entire Board of Jewish Deputies, the Editors of the Jewish Chronicle or the members of the Jewish Labour Movement combined; now they are trying to claim that the leaked Treasury document, exposing the government's lies over its Brexit deal, is in some way a Russian fabrication, despite the fact that the government itself does not deny its authenticity. The history of such smear campaigns goes back throughout history. Only the gullible are taken in by them, and they have a tendency to backfire when the lie is exposed for all to see. In the case of the relation between the Tories and the Russians, its not hard at all to see. Its not Labour being funded by Russian money, but the Tories. No wonder the Tories did not want to publish the parliamentary report into Russian involvement in UK elections, because it will expose what everyone already knows, which is that the Tories are funded by the same dirty money that funds Farage, Trump, Le Pen, Wilders and others of their ilk; every one of them dire enemies, not just of the working-class, but of democracy itself. No wonder the Tories are now saying that their government will put chains on the judges so as to further limit scrutiny of their undemocratic activities, and power grabs. 

Before the 2017 General Election, I pointed out that there was a clear political link between the right-wing, kleptocratic regime of Putin with that of Trump, as well as those of Erdogan, Duterte, Netanyahu, and with the politics of people like Le Pen, Farage, Wilders et al. All of these extreme right-wing regimes are the most vile opponents of workers and of democracy, and yet they present themselves as being Workers Parties, as being champions of traditional workers' interests. It is, of course, no different to what their predecessors have done. Mussolini did it in Italy in the 1920's, Hitler in the 1930's, and Moseley tried it in Britain. A look at what actually happened to workers in Italy and Germany exposes the truth. The first people sent to the concentration camps in Hitler's Germany were not Jews, but trades unionists, communists and socialists, ordinary workers fighting to defend workers actual interests against the fascist onslaught. 

The Tories, and Tory media, of course, try to rely on old fears and ignorance to tie Corbyn to Russia. Most of those old people who are taken in by the reactionary ideas of Brexit put out by the Tories and the gutter press, when they think about Russia, still think of it in the terms they understood when they were growing up. The fact is, of course, that whatever the Stalinists of the British Communist Party, or its fellow travellers like Arthur Scargill might have wanted to believe, the USSR most certainly was no workers' paradise. But, when it fell in 1990, it was not replaced by some shining new hope either. Gorbachev was replaced by the drunkard Yeltsin, who was completely in hock to western imperialism. 

Had Russia perhaps adopted some of the ideas that the EU represented at that time, its transition might have been easier. But, instead, Yeltsin brought in US advisors, and they all advised the introduction of harsh remedies, of the use of monetarism, of closing down lame ducks, of which the Russian economy was overwhelmingly comprised. They introduced the same kind of privatisation programmes that Thatcher and Reagan had introduced in the UK and US, during the 1980's, which enabled a few very rich people to get much, much richer still overnight. At the same time, the ordinary Russian workers, for whom things had been bad under Stalinism, saw things get much, much worse still. Many were left to fall into prostitution, and become sex slaves trafficked across Europe, many were reduced into starvation, and trying to find food out of refuse bins, and so on. Out of this chaos arose the kleptocratic, oligarchy, hardly discernible, if at all, from the Russian mafia, inordinately wealthy and out of control, increasingly extending its operations across the globe, into the US, UK, Israel, and elsewhere. It took over foreign businesses, sports clubs, newspapers, and bought into other media outlets. It bought up luxury housing in the main metropolitan areas, like London, and used these places as tax havens, and centres from which it was able to launder its dirty money. It brought the same mafia methods that it used in Moscow to the streets of London to silence those that stepped out of line. And, out of this mire of shit emerged Putin, as the strong man, the Al Capone of Russia, imposing some sense of control over the whole criminal empire. This is no communist or socialist, or friend of workers who would be on the side of Corbyn, it is the very antithesis of it. 

Of course, that impression that there is some continuation of the USSR through to Putin, is aided by the fact that Corbyn, himself, as with the British Communist Party, and its hangers on, often act as though there has been some kind of natural progression. In both cases, it actually flows from the perverse approach by which “my enemy's enemy is my friend”, which has led Corbyn and others to lend uncritical support to all kinds of nasty, reactionary regimes and organisations, simply on the spurious basis that they are in some way “anti-imperialist”. It has meant that they can be used as “useful idiots”, as Lenin once described such people. 

Its not restricted to Corbyn and those like him, of course. The US, in Iraq, funded and armed various Shia groups to fight against the remnants of Saddam's regime, and its Sunni backers, whilst those same Shia groups were simultaneously being backed by Iran, and were undertaking their own attacks on US troops in Iraq, in Shia held areas. The US, itself did deals with Iran, so as to channel arms via the back door, and CIA channels, to the contras in Nicaragua. Most notably, the US and its Gulf allies armed and financed Osama Bin Laden to fight against the USSR in Afghanistan, only to find that Bin Laden then turned his attention to opposing both the Saudi regime, and the US, resulting in the attack on the twin towers in 2011. 

In trying to clear away all of the shit covering these murky dealings, the basic rule is to ask Cui Bono – who benefits? In the US, the numerous investigations into the Russian interference in the 2016 election showed indisputably that they interfered on behalf of Trump. Why did Russia want Trump elected rather than Clinton? For many reasons. Clinton, as Secretary of State, had rubbed up against Russia. Trump by contrast had demonstrated a close affinity with Russia and Putin. For Putin, a tyrant, but a smart one, having the moron Trump as President is an added bonus. After all, if Kim Jong Un can easily manipulate Trump, imagine how easy it is for Putin. Moreover, Trump, who has gone bankrupt four times, has questions to answer about where his current fortune has come from. He has steadfastly refused to make his tax records public. Trump who has repeatedly used his political position to further the financial interests of himself, his family and his company, is now being impeached for doing precisely that. There are many questions to be asked about just what Putin and the Russians have on Trump. 

Either way, what we do know is that a number of Trump's advisors, some now in gaol, have acted as advisors to other unsavoury characters, in Ukraine, in Turkey and in Indonesia. Trump's advisor Steve Bannon, who ran the right-wing populist, white nationalist, anti-Semitic Breitbart News, has also set up European operations to spread this kind of garbage across the continent, and to bring together these forces. It had links to Cambridge Analytica, which had a role in the EU referendum, and was exposed by Channel 4 News, for its activities across the globe. These same links have also brought together people like the Koch Brothers, who have also financed right-wing populist organisations such as Spiked Online, whose leading members have become prominent lights within the Brexit Party. All of these people present themselves as being opponents of the elite, but they are comprised, at their head, of the most elitist billionaires, and mavericks, all out to line their own pockets by whatever means you could imagine. 

The roots of co-operation between these right-wing nationalists can be traced back to the 1930's, when these ideas about conservative nationalist parties being the true workers' parties were developed, and as with the Strasserites, the idea of using the capitalist state as a central element of economic development and planning was introduced. Such ideas are not only central to the policies of Putin, but they are now also part of the programme of Trump, of Johnson, of Le Pen, Orban and others. 

In the 2017 General Election, it was no coincidence that May ran on a campaign slogan of “strong and stable” leadership. It is the traditional battle cry of the Bonapartist and dictator seeking to undermine parliamentary or judicial scrutiny. In the months preceding it, we saw the International Trade Secretary of the time, Liam Fox, go to visit the butcher of the Philippines, Duterte, and declare their shared values.

In the US, the investigation of Trump, by former FBI Director James Comey, exposed the links between Trump's Defence Secretary, Mike Flynn, and the Kremlin. But, he is just one of those around Trump found guilty of lying about the Trump regimes connections to Russia, many of whom are now either in gaol, or awaiting sentencing. 

Yet, we know that all of those around Trump, and around those that support him, whether it is Breitbart, Cambridge Analytica and its offshoots, are also enmeshed in these connections with Russia, and other right-wing nationalist regimes and organisations across Europe and the rest of the globe. But, in Britain there has been a complete lack of any kind of police investigation of these links, and that investigation has been left up to media organisations such as Channel 4, or the Guardian. The Security Services must know the truth about these links between the Tories, their outriders in UKIP, the Brexit Party, the various Brexit front organisations like Leave.EU, not to mention groups like Spiked Online with the Koch's, Breitbart, Trump, and so on, and so, even if indirectly, with Russia, and yet we have heard nothing, in complete contrast to the revelations that keep pouring out of the US investigations. Something, of course, may have been forthcoming from the Security Services about these links, contained in the parliamentary report on Russian interference, but Johnson and the Tories have ensured that the report was not published prior to the election. 

But, everyone with eyes, and a small amount of curiosity can see these links with their own eyes. Its only necessary to look at Trump's relations to Putin, his insistence on having closed meetings with him, without even interpreters, and so on. Its only necessary to see Trump's fawning over Farage, and Farage's own relations with Putin's regime in Russia. Its only necessary to look at Trump's relation to Johnson, and hostility to Corbyn. Or we can look at Trump's friendly attitude to Le Pen and Wilders, and Orban, Farage's co-thinkers across the EU. We only have to look at the links between Putin and Netanyahu, as well as Trump and Netanyahu. No wonder that right-wing Zionists in Britain, in promoting Israel, also seek to destroy Corbyn, whilst sending their warmest congratulations to actual anti-Semites like Trump, and Orban on their elections, as of course did Netanyahu. 

Attempts by Russia to interfere in the French Presidential Election also appear to have taken place, but without success. Yet, there have been quite clear links between the Front National, and Putin's Russia. And, these international links appear to spread across Europe, and wider in respect of these right-wing populist forces. A common theme for all of them, in line with Putin's own strategic ambitions, has been focussed around the break-up of the EU. That, of course, is the objective of Putin's ally Trump, as well as of Trump's allies Farage and Johnson. It isn't hard to draw the dots of where the money and other trails lead from Moscow, through Washington and London, in attempting to break up the EU so as to benefit both the kleptocratic empire of Putin, now thought to be the world's richest man, whose wealth is hidden away, as well as of the kleptocratic regime of Trump. In these relations, Britain is reduced to the hired help, doing the dirty work for the main beneficiaries in Moscow and Washington. 

Back in 2014, even the Daily Express discussed these links between Farage and Putin's regime. Trump said that his election would be Brexit Plus Plus. And Trump then threw his weight behind Le Pen's campaign in France. 

Some of the links were also discussed by The Atlantic magazine. Trump like Farage, like Le Pen, like Wilders and all the other right-wing populists across Europe, and like Putin, is seeking the break-up of the EU, and now they have a powerful ally in that, in the Tory government of Johnson, which has moved quickly on to the ground previously occupied by Farage. It has also moved quickly on to the ground of all these other Bonapartist regimes of seeking to prevent scrutiny of its activities as it lies without limit and without shame, knowing that the Tory media will simply parrot those lies for it endlessly. Now, when Labour produces documents exposing those lies, the Tories and Tory media try to portray this as somehow Russian involvement on behalf of Corbyn! It is real Alice in Wonderland stuff, and something that is only possible because of the domination of mainstream media by the Tory regime, and the decadent nature of TV news reporting. It is only countered by online news channels, and social media. If the Tories win, expect that, alongside putting restrictions on the courts and judges, they will also seek to impose restrictions and censorship on the internet, and social media, as all such Bonapartist regimes and dictatorships have done in the past. That is a lesson they will have learned from Putin, Erdogan et al. 

In 2016, Labour MP Jon Ashworth asked questions about the links of a major Tory donor to Putin's regime in Russia. The Times has also carried stories about Putin's connections with true blue Tories. 

Details of further links between the Tories and Russia were set out by The Australian. Yet, ask anyone in the street today, and you are likely to be told that if anyone is connected to Russia it would be Jeremy Corbyn, because many people still live in that old mindset, whereby Russia is still considered to be some bastion of left-wing ideas and activity, rather than what it is, which is a centre for political reaction, for nationalism as a global ideology, which appears to be a contradiction in terms, and yet nevertheless is what the links between all of these various right-wing populists amounts to. 

Even the right-wing Daily Telegraph was led to ask questions about the role of the Kremlin in financing and promoting these right-wing populist forces across Europe. A trial run was undertaken with the Brexit referendum. Large amounts of foreign money, much of it Russian, was channelled into Northern Ireland, where election laws introduced during the Troubles, to provide anonymity for donors, meant that the sources of the money could be hidden, then found its way into the coffers of various Brexit supporting organisations, including Tory groups, who channelled it from organisations based in Scotland. 

But, the financial links are even more overt. Several newspapers ran the story about Boris Johnson playing tennis with Lubov Chernikin, the wife of a former Russian Minister, and Putin ally. She paid £160,000 into Tory coffers to do so. This was at a time when Russia was being investigated over the Schrypal poisoning. Of course, the Tories have tried to portray that event as Corbyn being soft on Russia. In fact, all that Corbyn did was the perfectly reasonable thing of asking that the facts be first established before Britain start throwing out accusations of responsibility. Moreover, it was Corbyn and McDonnell, who were arguing that the real way to hit the Russians was not via a few token diplomats being expelled, but by going after the dirty Russian money that was sloshing around London. It was Corbyn and McDonnell that were pushing for the Magnitsky Act, and they have gone further since. 

Of course, its no wonder that the Tories were the ones resisting introducing the Magnitsky Act, and other clampdowns on dirty Russian money, because it is the Tories that have been the massive beneficiaries of it. At least £3.5 million of Russian money has gone into the Tory Party in recent years, and that figure will have risen sharply in the run up to the election. Earlier this year, Luboc Chernikin donated a further £135,000 to the Tories at a fundraising dinner with Theresa May, and she has handed over a further £200,000 in the first week of the election campaign. 

Yet, we are to be told that all of these oligarchs, multi-billionaires, allies of Putin, Trump and other kleptocrats, who are financing the Tories, and other Brexit supporting organisations, are somehow providing backing for Corbyn, by fabricating or leaking UK government papers that expose the lies that Johnson's government is purveying in respect of Brexit! 

That is truly bizarre. Anyone taken in by that nonsense is either a dullard, a dupe or themselves a liar.