Russian General: LaRouche Is Right;
Financial Oligarchy Is Behind This War
by Rachel Douglas
General Colonel Leonid G. Ivashov, the outspoken former head of the International Military Cooperation Department of the Russian Ministry of Defense, has published a strategic assessment of the current fighting in Southwest Asia, which coincides in many points with the assessment issued on July 23 by Lyndon LaRouche ("Stop Being a Dupe! Know Your Actual Enemy"), whom Ivashov cited in the article. The commentary was published Aug. 7 by the Russian online Marketing and Consulting Information and Analysis Agency (www.iamik.ru).
The most dramatic point, made by Gen. Ivashov in his evaluation, is that the driving force behind the Israeli operation against Hezbollah and Lebanon is not provocations by Syria or Iran, not Hezbollah, and not Israel itself, nor the United States, or Great Britain. Rather, writes Ivashov, "In our view, the primary player is the politically shadowy world financial oligarchy, which is working steadily and persistently to change the political, economic, and social organization of the global community, in its own interest. The well-known American economist Lyndon LaRouche calls this force 'the world financial bankers' dictatorship.' "
The motives of this "financial oligarchy," Ivashov elaborated, would include the final destruction of the Westphalian nation-state system, in favor of global dictatorship; setting the stage for attacks on Iran, as part of a resource grab as a component of such a dictatorship; and redrawing the map of the Greater Middle East.
Ivashov drew attention particularly to the existence of schemes to ensnare Syria, and then Iran, in a spreading conflict. In an interview in Izvestia of July 31, Russia's senior Southwest Asia expert, former Prime Minister Yevgeni Primakov, made a similar point. Primakov said that his greatest concern about the fighting in Lebanon, was that circles in the USA intended it as a cover for an Israeli strike on Iran. In a lengthy discussion, drawing on his personal involvement in diplomacy in the region since the 1960s, Primakov said that he saw the introduction of a large peace-keeping force, brought in with an "intelligent compromise peace plan," worked out by the quartet (Russia, U.S.A., E.U., UN), as a pathway out of the crisis, but that he feared some of the forces involved have a different agenda.
Primakov said he did not think that Iran or Syria were behind the attacks on Israeli soldiers, as is "fashionable" to say about the crisis-precipitating incidents. He developed how the escalation was not at all in Iran's interests, commenting that "Iran's leaders are not so brainless, as to think they could divert attention from their nuclear program by using Hezbollah." As for Syria, he recalled that it is the ABC of Syrian interests, to avoid a direct confrontation with Israel. But, continued Primakov, "What I find especially disappointing now is the behavior of the Americans," said Primakov. "Why aren't they calling for an immediate ceasefire? Sure, there is the traditional U.S. posture of no toleration for terrorists, but there may be something else behind it. Perhaps their design is to drag Syria in? Perhaps they are calculating, that if Syria is dragged in, then Iran will intervene in the war? And then they want Israel to hit Iran? I am not briefed on the secret plans of the Americans, but I don't think their premise is that the destruction of Lebanon will make Hezbollah disappear."
Primakov and Ivashov are widely recognized as co-authors of the concept of a Eurasian strategic triangle of China-India-Russia, as the basis for global stability. That idea goes back to 1998-1999, when Primakov was premier for eight months, after the collapse of Russian state finances. Gen. Ivashov, who is now vice-president of the Academy of Geopolitical Studies, left his Defense Ministry job in 2001, after making a series of high-profile statements that the United States, under the Bush administration, was attempting to achieve world strategic superiority.
In another of his large number of interviews in the Russian media in the recent period, Ivashov characterized the world today as "standing on the brink of a big, world civil war.... There are simultaneously destabilizations in the Caucasus, and armed aggression in the Middle East. Overall, it may be said that a conflict-provocation scheme is in operation in the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Middle East, and Central Asia.... And that gives us the basis for saying that the world is on the brink of some very unpleasant events."
Ivashov told another interviewer, that Russia should respond to U.S. sanctions, imposed Aug. 4 against its arms-exporting companies, by terminating pending contracts with the Boeing Corporation. That State Department action, in which the companies Rosoboronexport and Sukhoy Aviation were accused of illegal arms sales to Iran, brought vigorous denials from the companies involved, as well as official complaints by the Russian Foreign Ministry and Kremlin spokesmen, and indications that retaliation against American aircraft and oil companies is very possible.
