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				Yeltsin Is Ready For Battle, Are You?

J.R. Nyquist
© 1999 WorldNetDaily.com, August 26, 1999

When Boris Yeltsin arrived in Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday, reporters asked about his health. Yeltsin answered the reporters, saying, "I'm in fighting form, ready for battle, especially with Westerners."

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov tried to translate Yeltsin's remark into more diplomatic language, saying that Yeltsin "was talking about the fact that ... there is an ongoing struggle over the future global order. China and Russia and a lot of other governments are for a multi-polar world in the interests of all states."

In other words, according to Russia's foreign minister, the United States wants to dominate the world and dictate terms, making other countries serve America's national interest.

Given this extraordinary statement about America's position in the world, we should ask ourselves: Is this really true? Are we a kind of empire, greedy for hegemony and world domination?

There are those in America who think that we have become a threat to peace. These people are disgruntled by internationalism in American foreign policy, they are distrustful of Washington, and they hate American big business -- pointing to our recent intervention in Kosovo. In fact, these people sound a bit like the Russian and Serbian Communists in their rhetoric.

Is America an imperialistic country as the Communists have long claimed? Does America conspire against the good people of the world? Is America forcing other countries to serve its interests?

On the contrary, a case can be made that the United States doesn't even serve its own interests. In terms of Kosovo, America gained nothing from the intervention except an ongoing headache. As for what America lost, there was a huge price tag on that intervention. We were forced to convert a large number of nuclear cruise missiles into conventional cruise missiles, decreasing our nuclear war readiness. We also lost the good will of the Russian people, who are now prepared to vote for the Communists, neo-Communists, and nationalists in the upcoming elections.

Is that how you dominate the globe? Is that how you force other countries to serve your interests? What was President Clinton out to gain by his Balkan adventure? There was nothing to gain. Perhaps we won the good will of the Albanian people, but how is that going to help us as Moscow and Beijing draw ever closer at the summit in Bishkek? It may be controversial to say this, but the real threat to world peace lies in Moscow and Beijing, as they continue to funnel weapons of mass destruction to rogue states like North Korea, Iraq, Iran, and Syria.

Ironically, one of the things discussed in yesterday's meeting between the presidents of Russia and China, was how Moscow and Beijing might oppose U.S. plans for a theatre missile defense. Meanwhile, General Anatoly Kornukov, chairman of the coordinating committee of the united air defense system of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and commander in chief of Russia's air force, has been leading a military exercise called "Comradeship-in-arms 99." It involves several "former" Soviet countries, including Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Kornukov's war game is meant to test the CIS air defense system -- a kind of system unlike any in the world. Its mission is to shoot down American missiles and bombers in a future nuclear world war.

Here is the irony: Russia and China object to missile defenses for America and its allies. At the same time, Russia and its "former" Soviet republics are perfecting their own missile defense systems. This double standard, by the way, is acceptable to President Clinton, who tends to sympathize with the Russians on arms control issues. In fact, Clinton has resisted calls to drop the ABM Treaty which is preventing us from deploying ABMs to protect the United States. If anyone thinks America is dominating the globe and bullying other people, it is time to think again. How can we be forcing our will on other countries when we are unable to defend ourselves because the Russians won't give us permission to drop the ABM Treaty?

Here is a perfect example of America putting the interests of Russia ahead of its own national survival. Russia has been violating the ABM Treaty for many years by deploying between 10,000 and 12,000 ABMs for defense. The United States currently has no ABM defenses, no civil defense shelters, and is extremely vulnerable to missile attack. All the same, Russia wags its finger at us and says, "No, no, no, you cannot deploy an ABM defense shield."

Furthermore, when we try to create a theatre missile defense for countries like Japan, a huge uproar follows. That uproar always comes from Russia and China. These countries do not want America and its allies to be defended from missile attack. And we have -- so far -- gone along with this.

Such a big mean bully we are!

In this context, the idea of some sinister conspiracy by America or NATO against the Serbian or Russian people is off the mark. Whatever we may think of Clinton, he is not conspiring against the Serbian or Russian people. Strangely, he is one of Russia's best friends. Violating the NATO charter and violating Yugoslav sovereignty didn't strengthen America's global position. It weakened NATO even as it bolstered the political standing of the warmongers in Russia and China.

In the last analysis, as you look around the globe, the countries that most often talk about a nuclear world war are those supported by Russia and China. North Korea says the nuclear war is imminent. Saddam Hussein has also intimated that "the final showdown" with America is coming soon.

You have to listen carefully to what is being said. There are dictators and terrorists out there who want to wipe America off the map. Not only do these people thrive, but they are supported by Moscow and Beijing. A thinking person has to ask why this support continues, and why the leaders of these countries have the nerve to level accusations against America.

The Russian leaders have a vicious mentality. Whatever you say, their words and deeds are indefensible. They take billions of dollars from us, and billions in food aid for their people, and they work against us on every front. They speak ill of us at every turn. They conspire to assist those who would destroy us. In fact, they are building a war machine with which to destroy the United States of America.

It is a vicious dog that bites the hand that feeds it.

America's survival is at stake. The threats against us are very real. And that is why it is wrong for Americans to fall prey to enemy propaganda. It is wrong to say that we are the evil empire, that we are planning a world war. The fact is, we have never prepared for a nuclear world war. Our nation is oriented entirely toward economics, not conquest. We are not the enslavers of Tibet or the North Caucasus. We do not run a vast system of forced labor camps.

When Boris Yeltsin says he is "ready for combat, especially with Westerners," Americans ought to sit up and take notice. No doubt President Yeltsin got in trouble with his "handlers" for making the remark, but it was all the more honest for being so spontaneous.

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J.R. Nyquist is a WorldNetDaily contributing editor and author of 'Origins of the Fourth World War.'