George Borodin: Guests from Colombia, Kosovo and El Salvador: US prepares "death squads" in Azerbaijan and Central Asia
Today, under the "fight against drugs" refrain, the US is trying to form loyal groups in law enforcement agencies and special-purpose units in the states of Central Asia. One of the mechanisms of this process is CARICC - Central Asian Regional Drug Information Coordination Center. All this the US has already done in Central America in 1970-1990-s: there, the training of anti-drug police subsequently turned into deadly death squads and decades of civil wars. Drug production, meanwhile, has increased in proportion to US intervention. Today, the process of “Afghanisation” of Central Asia is gaining momentum and very little time remains to the point of no return.
In the foreign policy practice of the Obama administration, a certain tactical approach has been entrenched: to act by the hands of other states and conduct their own initiatives as multilateral through the mechanisms of international organizations. Thus, the war against Libya was unleashed by France, and the United States provided only "supporting" functions. The project "New Silk Road" is initiated by Turkey, and the United States is "neutral but enthusiastic associate" (1) in it. The League of Arab States, one after another, issued calls for the overthrow of the legitimate but objectionable US state leaders. The resolution of the UN Security Council against Syria in October 2011 was put forward by France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Portugal, and the United States only “supports” it - in company with Colombia, Nigeria, Gabon and Bosnia. This is indeed a smarter and more sophisticated tactic, compared with the cowboy swoop of the previous US administration: both the costs and the negative resonance are shared with others; all the more so given the budget deficit, “transferring the defense expenditure to the allies is the only reasonable way” (2-3).
The United Nations, the main international mechanism, is trying to turn the United States into a multilateral expansion of the state department in order to give international legitimacy to its sole initiatives. Washington is also trying to use separate UN structures in its American purpose: the IAEA has recently been used to put pressure on Iran, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is an instrument of penetration into Central Asia.
Another favorite American maneuver is the creation of "regional" organizations thousands of kilometers from its borders, in which the US is a member or observer. Directing the activities of such structures, Washington's curators repeat to the local leadership: "This is your idea, your structure, do everything yourself, we only help you" - and thus receive (semi) an obedient mechanism that serves as their outpost in a distant region.
As a pretext for creating such mechanisms, the United States uses the theme of "cooperation in areas of common interest." The most plausible and convincing cover is the "joint struggle against drugs", and this card is played in the most active way against Russia and Central Asia. In recent months, Washington has put a particularly mocking argument into circulation: they are stepping up their "fight against drugs" in response to Russia's concern about the consequences of "withdrawing" troops from Afghanistan (in fact, not "withdrawing", of course, only a reduction in the contingent).
If the United States is so concerned about the drug problem, why do they refuse to fight drug production and drug trafficking in Afghanistan (4), and instead seek to "help" Russia and the Central Asian states in their territories? Intercepting drugs at the source is much easier, especially when the territory is occupied by 140-thousand military contingent, when drug traffickers part-time serve as CIA agents, and precursors and drugs are transported under the control of the same field commanders who “ensure the security of the US and NATO convoys ( 5). But no, Washington prefers that drugs first fan out in tens of thousands of cities and towns, and then offer to establish a deep operational and intelligence cooperation with the states subjected to a heroin attack, and to provide training for the fight against this "universal evil."
What mechanisms does the US use for the so-called "anti-drug"? What goals are they really pursuing? One of the projects cloned under the cover of the UN in 2005 was the Central Asian Regional Information Coordination Center for Combating Illicit Drug Trafficking (CARICC). Located in Almaty, CARICC was created according to the Europol model through the efforts of the Almaty Office of the UNODC Regional Office in Central Asia (UNODC ROCA) (6). The opening of the Center took place on December 9 2009, and today its members are 7 states: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Russia (7). The declared goal of CARICC is to promote the cooperation of the security forces of the member states in the fight against drugs and related crime, and to serve as the main center in the region for the exchange and analysis of information and for the coordination of joint operations. Director of CARICC, Lieutenant-General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan B.Sarsekov explains that CARICC is "a unique institution that brings together disparate security agencies and approaches" (8).
The center was created at the expense of NATO member states: the USA (3,2 million dollars), the UK, Italy, Canada, Turkey, France, the Czech Republic, as well as Finland and Luxembourg - a total of 15.400.000 dollars (9). The same states plus Afghanistan and Pakistan have the status of observers at CARICC - while China and Iran are not listed. Observer states have access to the entire volume of information collected and analyzed by the Center. Director Sarsekov states that CARICC "is ready to cooperate with Western countries" and proposes expanding the Centre’s mandate to all types of cross-border crime without limiting it to the fight against drug trafficking, as revealed by the WikiLeaks dispatches of the US Embassy in Tashkent (10). Indeed, CARICC receives a lot of international guests: foreign delegations arrive at the Center one by one. The training of personnel of CARICC is carried out by "international experts with extensive law enforcement and management experience" (11).
The United States sees CARICC as a "very important and effective tool"; Secretary Clinton personally oversees the development of the Center (12). As an “observer,” the United States takes an active part in its work. Equipment and software for CARICC supplied the US Central Command (13). CARICC also participates in the “technical support / maintenance” of the US Department of Defense Military Cooperation Office (Office of Military Cooperation, OMC), as reported in a telegram from the US Embassy in Astana, disclosed by Wikilix in the most recent batch of 1 documents on September 2011 (14) . At the same time, the US insists that multilateral efforts to combat drugs pass through CARICC and the Russia-NATO Council, and not through the CSTO (15). Washington also hoped to link the activities of CARICC with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is now training police and other law enforcement officers, but because of objections from Russian officials, the US had to abandon these plans (16). At the same time, attempts are being made to conceal the participation of the US Armed Forces in the activities of CARICC, albeit rather clumsy. The Russian version of the CARICC website reports that "since 16 in May 2011, CARICC has completed two-week training courses for senior management of law enforcement agencies and special services of the participating States, organized with the support of UNODC and donors." The coverage of the same event in English is different: the training courses were organized “with the support of UNODC and the US Central Command” (author’s italics) (17).
For all its benefits, for the USA, CARICC is just one of the stages of penetration into the power structures of the states of Central Asia. In June, 2011 was Assistant Secretary of State and Head of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement at the US Department of State (Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, INL), William Brownfield, who will be discussed separately, announced something " Central Asian Drug Enforcement Initiative (Central Asian Counternarcotics Initiative, CACI) (18). In this project, the legal and practical aspects of which are being developed again by the UNODC, we are talking directly about the creation of anti-drug "special forces" in the five Central Asian states that would be associated with similar structures in Afghanistan and Russia, and would be coordinated through UNODC and CARICC. As a model, Brownfield cites "strikingly effective specially selected and tested units" created by the United States Anti-Drug Agency (DEA) within the Anti-Drug Police of Afghanistan. Washington will provide funding for combat training, the acquisition of equipment and equipment for these special groups: 4,2 million dollars. The State Department has already allocated 19 to the initiative. Brownfield also noted that the implementation of the initiative does not require a massive military presence of either the United States or the Russian Federation. In the summer and autumn of this year, he and his subordinates circulated through the Central Asian capitals, convincing their leadership of the need for such a model of special forces in the region.
Under Secretary of State William Brownfield, even among the arrogant power "diplomats" stands out cold-bloodedness and arrogance. Brownfield came to this post in January 2011 directly from the post of US ambassador to Colombia (2007-2010) (20). Earlier, Brownfield served as ambassador to Venezuela, where, for his not quite ambassadorial activities, he twice received warnings about expulsion (21) from President William Chávez. In 1996-1999, Brownfield served as deputy head of the same Office, fighting drugs and "strengthening the rule of law", in particular, in Bosnia and Kosovo. In 1993, he graduated from the National Military Institute (National War College). In 1989-1990, when the US invaded Panama, he served as political adviser to the commander of the US Southern Command in Panama. And he began his career as Brownfield in Venezuela in 1979 and in El Salvador in 1981-1983. (22) - in the years of the civil war and the highest activity of the ultra-right death squads.
David Kostelancik, director for Europe and Eurasia at the W. Brownfield Office, began his career in Turkey (1989-1991) and Albania (1992-1993); at 1994 was special assistant to Ambassador T. Pickering in Moscow. In 1998-2001 dealt with military and political issues in NATO, the affairs of Central Europe in the State Department and the National Security Council. In 2007, Mr. Kostelanchik improved his qualifications at the same National Military Institute, after which he left for Moscow as political adviser and head of the internal (Russian) politics section (23). D. Kostelanchik's residence in Virginia (24) is located at a convenient 4-mile distance from Langley - much closer than to the State Department.
Can someone believe that US officials with such a track record aim to cooperate in saving the Russian people from heroin? As for the main US anti-drug agency, the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), part of the Department of Justice, its mission is to prevent the flow of drugs into the United States. DEA's international activities are driven by the fact that in 2006 it was included in the US intelligence community, which now consists of 16 structures. Perhaps, in the DEA there are decent officers who consider it their task to truly fight against narcotic evil. But they do not set the course of the Agency, and when the development of reconnaissance is superimposed on their operational work, the latter gain the upper hand.
However, not only power diplomats and the DEA, but also the Central Command of the US Armed Forces, this gigantic military machine that has worn out its area of responsibility with full-scale wars and conflicts of low intensity, is also “fighting drugs” - and already in Central Asia! However, the anti-drug cover in the activities of the Centcom quickly gives way to the formation and combat training of local special forces.
Tajikistan became the center of US military activity in Central Asia, in addition to Kyrgyzstan. According to a press release, in Tajikistan, the Central Command annually conducts from 50 to 60 security programs and activities, and in 2011, more than 70 (25). In particular, the construction of the National Combat Training Center has been completed, interdepartmental communication systems have been created for the Government of Tajikistan, a bridge has been built across the Pyanj River with border and customs posts at the Tajik-Afghan border - a complex that "contributes to an increase in commercial exchanges that strengthens ties between Tajikistan and its southern neighbor "(26). The Institute of Foreign Languages of the US Department of Defense conducted two 16-week English courses for Tajiks, the reconstruction of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan was completed, and assistance was provided in personnel training. Frontier posts were built in Shurabad and Yakhchi-Pune, where Brownfield himself came to the opening of which in June 2011 - there are “heated floors” installed there! (27) The military partner of Tajikistan - the Virginia National Guard - also expands military cooperation: conducting combat training and information exchange in 2011 was supplemented by the formation of a "peacekeeping unit", preparation of "liquidation of the consequences of emergency situations" and military-civil medical preparedness.
Medical services for the civilian population in the host country are a classic method of "winning hearts and minds" from field regulations on counterinsurgency (anti-guerrilla) actions, the current version of which was developed under the leadership of General Mattis, now commander of US Central Command, and General Petraeus, now director of the CIA (28). One can imagine how Tajik border guards donated by America "heated floors" will stun. As well as a new form, brilliant equipment, modern computers - this is how an emotional connection is built with the curator, according to the doctrine of psychological warfare.
A special role in the American regional structure is assigned to Kazakhstan as the largest, prosperous and close to Russia state in Central Asia, without which no Eurasian integration is void. However, the Kazakh leadership of Russia, the United States and China against each other in the medium term will turn Kazakhstan into an arena of acute struggle between the three powers - and the position of the combat range is completely unenviable. This process may have already begun: 17 May 2011 The first terrorist act took place in Aktyubinsk. As Mikhail Pak describes in the “Dagestanization” material: extremists declared a total war on the security services on the REGNUM website, an extensive set of subversive actions is possible to destabilize Kazakhstan: terrorist actions in Astana or Almaty, penetration of illegal armed groups into Kazakhstan, mass demonstrations marginalized, accompanied by demonstrative cruelty to certain groups, a series of explosions on pipelines, provoking Kazakhstan to disproportionate and illegal actions of a military character EPA (29).
And Russia will get all this inside the Customs Union today and in the future - inside the Eurasian Union.
When W. Brownfield speaks of “specially selected and tested secret divisions” in the framework of the Central Asian Anti-Drug Initiative, the questions arise: “selected” by whom? "checked" by whose intelligence? employees to whom? In fact, under the refrain of the fight against drugs, the United States is building a loyal power apparatus in the Central Asian region. For what purposes and tasks?
1. To ensure the obedience of the state to the will of the United States, legal control is not enough - force control is also needed. If the internal situation stabilizes or destabilizes the internal situation, the loyal parts of the power apparatus will support the government if it leads the line set in the USA - or will help to overthrow it if it has left the prescribed course. They will crush the resistance of the masses, eliminate the leaders of the resistance and lead the population to the desired political position. All of these tasks cannot be performed by the US military without affecting the reputation of the United States; besides, local collaborators will do the dirty work with particular zeal, reducing personal accounts (see the experience of "Galicia" and other national units of the SS, massacre with M. Gaddafi).
2. Unconventional wars (irregular war) of the future of the United States will be at the expense of deep partnership with foreign military, according to the plans of the Commander of the Center Gen. Mattis (30). US Secretary of Defense L. Panett confirms that an increase in the budget of special forces while reducing military spending is necessary "to fight the rebels so that the US does not have to do this" (31). The US special forces, in addition to special operations, are training special forces of other states - "the industry is in a stage of rapid growth," say the Centcom.
3. Ensuring the reliability and security of transit of military goods for the occupying contingent of the US and NATO in Afghanistan along the Northern Distribution Newtwork (NDN) requires strict order in transit countries. In the future, as the implementation of the American integration project called "New" or "Modern" Silk Road, it will be necessary to ensure the security of a huge network of transport and energy lines and, most importantly, pipelines. According to strategists from the Washington Center for International and Strategic Development (CSIS), the Modern Silk Road "will serve the US counter-insurgency mission (32).
4. Providing key strategic advantages: Central Asia in conjunction with Afghanistan - the "heart" of the Eurasian region, the last bastion on the path to world domination - gives the United States a springboard for projecting the threat to three main opponents: Iran, Russia, China. The assertion of a military-political presence in Central Asia for the United States today is just as important as the structuring of Western Europe into NATO in the years after World War II.
5. Finally, the US military-political presence in Central Asia is undermining any regional integration initiative that is independent of Washington and not controlled by it — the CSTO, the SCO, and the future Eurasian Union.
The actions of the United States in Central Asia largely repeat their policies in Central and South America: this also applies to integration processes, the "fight against drugs," and the counterinsurgency war. For example, in 1993 the efforts of the United States created the Central American Integration System (SICA) - a system of economic and political integration. In 2000, Washington launched Plan Colombia, which quickly turned from anti-drug into counter-insurgency and a year later it was complemented by strengthening the Colombian army’s ability to guard oil pipelines. Colombia, as is known, became the US military base in Central America.
Peter Dale Scott, world-renowned expert on the role of the CIA in the drug trade, as a result of decades of research into US anti-drug efforts, concluded that the increase in drug traffic is due to, and not contrary to, the efforts of the Americans (33). Alfred McCoy (Alfred McCoy), another world-renowned expert on the role of the CIA in the drug trade, states that where the United States waged the “war on drugs”, drug production usually increased (34). In proportion to drug production, terrorism increased, victims among the population and the suffering of the nation, whose territory the United States chose to "fight against drugs."
It is necessary to understand: in the fight against drugs, the interests of Russia and the United States are not "common." American power uses drugs as political weapon: The US first creates a crisis, then uses it to penetrate into the power structures of the target states to put them at the service of its interests. The formula is simple: to enter into an alliance with drug-trafficking groups - to declare war on drugs - to establish a military-political presence in the region where the drugs are sent.
CARICC for the United States is an intelligence and coordination resource in the region and a platform for training security forces; The 3,2 price of a million dollars is a scanty fee for knowing everything that Russia and other countries know. In the case of CARICC, the United States invites states to play someone else's game with marked cards. This game is impossible to win.
It is unlikely that the Russian foreign policy establishment in the Kremlin and the Foreign Ministry understands the American idea: this understanding cannot be traced to their actions.
And in Central Asia, those who participate in the American game should know: the same fate awaits them as Central America - the role of cannon fodder in the service of American interests, decades of bloody civil wars, discarding development for an indefinite amount of time. Do the leaders of the Central Asian states understand what game they are getting into? Do they want for themselves and their states such a future as the present has become in Afghanistan, when a nation is tormented by both radical extremism and foreign occupation? The process of “Afghanisation” of Central Asia is gaining momentum and very little time remains until the point of no return. And the positions of the leaders of the states of Central Asia can hardly be called stable: the drug mafia overthrew even more stable leaders. The coup d'état by the drug network in contact with the US intelligence agencies, a general massacre and endless foreign occupation are the very likely future for them for all.
1. Andrew Kuchins, Thomas Sanderson, David Gordon. The Road to the Future // Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). December 2009. P.3.
2. Joseph M. Parent, Paul of MacDonald's The Wise of Retreatment - America's Must Cut Back to the Move Forward // Foreign Affairs. November / December 2011.
3. With all the volume that the Pentagon raised over cost cutting, the military budget is reduced by only 7-8% for the next 10 years, and by 2017 will be 522,5 billion dollars (excluding the costs of wars, which are a separate article ). The military budget of Russia in 2010 amounted to 52,6 billion dollars, of China - 114 billion dollars. Source: Wikipedia, List of countries by military expenditures.
4. Except for those 5-6% drug production that feeds the Taliban movement.
5. Alexander Tchaikovsky Terrorism and drug: the commander of the United States and NATO in Europe is going to Moscow // Regnum news agency. 4 October 2011. http://www.regnum.ru/news/1452401.html.
6. The website of the UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia (UNODC ROCA) - http://www.unodc.org/centralasia/.
7. Russia joined CARICC in one of the last 4 September 2009 (Kazakhstan - 16 September 2011), the decision was ratified in March 2011.
8.US Embassy Tashkent cable ID 08TASHKENT485. Caricc Ready To Move Forward As Pilot Phase Nears Completion. Date: 24 Apr 2008. Paragraph3. Wikileaks ID 151157, First published on 26 Aug 2011.http: //www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=08TASHKENT485&q=caricc
9. TD / RER / H22 Establishment of the Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Center - CARICC. Peter Allan, Consultant. http://www.unodc.org/documents/evaluation/ProEvals-2009/ProEvals-2010/ProEvals-2011/TD_RER_H22_Final_Report_rev.pdf.
10. US Embassy Tashkent cable ID 08TASHKENT485. Caricc Ready To Move Forward As Pilot Phase Nears Completion. Date: 24 Apr 2008. Summary. Wikileaks ID 151157, First published on 26 Aug 2011.http: //www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=08TASHKENT485&q=caricc
11. Completion of regular training courses for the leadership of the competent authorities. CARICC website: http://www.caricc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=251&Itemid=1〈=russian.
12. Representative of the US State Department in CARICC. CARICC: http://www.caricc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=247&Itemid=1
13. Avaz Yuldohev Feb 1 // Asia-Plus. February 5, 2010. http://news.tj/en/news/only-five-member-nations-ratify-caricc-establishment-agreement-feb-1.
14. US Embassy Astana Cable, reference ID 10ASTANA225. Kazakhstan: Scenesetter For Srap Holbrooke. Date 18 Feb 2010. Source: Wikileaks ID #249282. First published 1 Sep 2011. http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=10ASTANA225.
15. US Embassy Moscow cable ID 10MOSCOW226. X-NUMX US-Russia Bilateral Presidential Drug Trafficking Working Group Meeting. Date: 4 Jan 29. Paragraph 2010. Source: Wikileaks ID 7. First published 246266 Aug 24. http://wikileaks.org/cable/2011/2010/01MOSCOW10.html#.
16.US Embassy Dushanbe cable ID 09DUSHANBE702. New Russian Ambassador Proposes Closer Cooperation. Date: 5 Jun 2009. Paragraph 6. Wikileaks ID 210433. First published 1 Sep 2011. http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=09DUSHANBE702&q=caricc.
17. Executive-level law enforcement training course conducted at CARICC. CARICC website: http://www.caricc.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1&limit=5&limitstart=15〈=english.
18. United States of America, Central Asia, Russia // Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. July 19, 2011.
19. US issues $ 4.2mln for Central Asia Counternarcotics Initiative. The American-Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce. 10 October 2011. http://www.aucconline.com/news.php?news_id=259.
20. William Brownfield Biography, State Department http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/154184.htm.
21. William Brownfield Biography, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Brownfield.
22. William Brownfield Biography, http://www.allgov.com/Official/Brownfield_William.
23. David J. Kostelancik visits Nizhny Novgorod American Center. 13.03.2009. http://amcorners.ru/news/news796/ac147/
24. Property valuation of Bridle Path Lane, Fairfax, VA. http://www.city-data.com/fairfax-county/B/Bridle-Path-Lane-2.html.
25. CENTCOM, Tajikistan expand security partnership. US Central Command press-release. June 29, 2010. http://www.centcom.mil/press-releases/centcom-tajikistan-expand-security-partnership.
26. Idem.
27. Tajikistan: US Government rebuilds border guard facilities in Shurobod // Fergana News Information Agency. June 30, 2011. http://enews.fergananews.com/news.php?id=2108. See also video: American Diplomats at the Tajik-Afghan Border, June 29, 2011 http://nm.tj/politics/381-amerikanskie-diplomaty-na-tadzhiksko-afganskoy-granice-video.html; original video in English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB5X4GU7-C8&feature=player_embedded#!
28. Counterinsurgency, Field Manual 3-24, Marine Corps Warfighting. Publication no. 3-33.5 Washington, DC: 2006.
29. Michael Pak. “Dagestanization”: extremists declared an all-out war against the special services: Kazakhstan in a week // IA Regnum. 16.11.2011. http://www.regnum.ru/news/1467798.html
30. Greg Grant Grunts to Rebuild Like SOF, Move Away From Bases: Mattis // DoD Buzz - Online Defense and Acquisition Journal. February 19th, 2009. http://www.dodbuzz.com/2009/02/19/grunts-sof-fob-based-coin-must-end-mattis/
31. See important material Thom Shanker, Elisabeth Bumiller Weighing Pentagon Cuts, Panetta Faces Deep Pressures // The New York Times. November 6, 2011.
32. Andrew Kuchins, Thomas Sanderson, David Gordon. The Road to the Future // Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). December 2009. P.22.
33. Peter Dale Scott Drugs, Oil, and War: The United States in Afghanistan, Colombia, and Indochina. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2003. P. 75
34. Alfred W. McCoy The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade. Lawrence Hill Books, Second revised edition. 2003. P. 449.
Georgy Borodin - expert of the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies and Initiatives (INVISSIN, Moscow)
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