The Russian Northern Fleet Sources of Radioactive Contamination

http://www.bellona.no/e/russia/nfl/

"The Kola peninsula and Severodvinsk have the highest concentration of nuclear reactors, active and derelict, in the world. The cold war arms race went too fast for authorities to plan what to do with decommissioned submarines and the nuclear waste. This report describes the challenges that we face."

let's see if Chinese meltdowns would be the U.S. syndrome, what would this be?

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), March 03, 1999

Answers

oh yeah, and be sure to check out the links to the news articles on the shootout on an Akula class sub. here's a quote that's very relevant to y2k readiness considerations regarding the Russian military:

"The social problems within the Northern fleet have been of great concern throughout the last years. The soldiers have been serving without salary since May this year, and the current collapse in Russias economy will not improve the situation for the soldiers in the north. Media reports have abounded in the last couple of weeks about lack of food at the Northern Fleet bases. On last Saturday, five sailors from the region of Dagestan killed a fellow guard at the nuclear test site on Novaya Zemlya and took 48 hostages, including dozens of schoolchildren. They were later overpowered and arrested. In August of this year, two soldiers were killed in a dispute with some other soldiers at the military camp Sputnik, close to the Norwegian border."

that's from

http://www.bellona.no/e/russia/nfl/news/980911.htm

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), March 03, 1999.

Well this isn't nuclear, but I read on the AP that the Pentacostal church is officially illegal in Russia now. Court ruling. So much for freedon of religion.

-- Deborah (info@wars.com), March 04, 1999.

Hi Arlin. That radiocative mess is a real shame. Just one more in a long list of man's short sighted genie bottle openings. I find the stories of the soldiers running amuk really telling. For years the west dangled the carrot of individual prosperity in front of the Russian people, breeding discontent with their government furnished lifestyle. The Soviet powers that be declared their system bankrupt and loosed the capitalist system into their country to the joy of the general population. Like a nightmare trainwreck the resultant crash of the standard of living in Russia has stretched out for nearly two full decades now, the bitterness and anger off the citizens reaching an unfocused climax of violence in the very near future. They need only two things to convert this kinetic mass of destructive energy into a savage weapon. A leader, and a scapegoat. They will have no problem at all convincing the mobs that the capitalist west and the European banks were behind the cruelties enjoined on them over the last fifteen years, and the retribution will be merciless. Scorched Earth will take on a whole new meaning. I can just see General Lebed rubbing his hands together in glee as London smolders on the horizon. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), March 04, 1999.

I guess I should expand on that last comment about a plan coming together. Two points here should make it very clear exactly what has been going on over there, and how long it has taken to reach this point. Point number one, Russia is a completely self contained economic and industrial superpower. Their natural rescources are unrivaled in the world. Every mineral or metal known to man exist in profusion within their borders. Their timber reserves are virtually unlimited. Oil reserves are largely untapped and extensive enough to supply their country for generations.

Point two. The Russian government could have halted the downward spiral of their economy at any time over the last fifteen years. They could have merely defaulted on foreign loans, resealed their borders, illegalized foreign currency, and set the value of the ruble to whatever they wanted it to be. All foreign currency pulled out of circulation could have been used to purchase additional gold reserves through third parties, or high tech drilling equipment to expand their oilfields. The collapse of the soviet economy has been carefully engineered and is completely reversible even at this point.

Opponents will argue that the Russians didn't develop their oilfields before because they couldn't afford it, and that the economy was already bankrupt through inefficiency and corruption prior to the fall of the iron curtain. That is exactly what they want you to think. The reason the oilfields and other rescources were not tapped had nothing to do with financial problems. Remember we are talking about a communist nation here. If they wanted those rescources developed all they had to do was assign the workers to the task and throw up some housing for them. There is nothing super high tech about drilling an oil well, or laying a pipeline. They had to pretend vulnerability so that the collapse would seem more realistic. In addition the more infrastructure they built, the more nuclear hits they would take in the coming war. By holding the standard of living to an artificially low level through the sixties and seventies they bred discontent among the people, just enough to make the transition to capitalism palatable to the public. There is in fact no reason why the average Russian could not have lived just as well as his American counterpart. If they needed more housing, more people could have been assigned to build it. If they needed more televisions and cars the same holds true. Remember, they can determine the value of their own money in a closed system, they have unlimited rescources, and corruption can only exist to the extent it is allowed by the state in a totalitarian regime.

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), March 04, 1999.

I think you hit the nail on the head with your last statement, Nikolai. "Corruption can only exist to the extent it is allowed by the state in a totalitarian regime."

I think we are seeing what happens when corruption becomes the norm. Western civilisation had best take note, we are too rapidly headed that same direction.

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), March 04, 1999.

Nikolai: "New lies for old?"

-- Spidey (in@jam.com), March 04, 1999.

Hi Nik,

I'm sorry I guess I wasn't clear, what I was trying to get at is that there is absolutely no evidence to support any of your theories. The Russians are broke, they are in debt, and are incapable of feeding their own people. Unless and until you can factually prove your allegations concerning some sort of 'master plan', there is absolutely no reason to believe you, I'm sorry. Show me facts, not your rationalizations of assumed motives, but facts...that's all - I'm asking you the same thing we ask koskinen or de jager and I'm refusing to believe you for the same reasons (lack of facts) that I refuse to believe koskinen or de jager...

sorry, Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), March 04, 1999.

Old enemies

As the national attention has been focused on the "egregious, reprehensible, indefensible" personal behavior of our national disgrace, dark forces work in the shadows to synthesize a threat far greater than a sexual predator in the oval office.

Russia and China have been conspiring (covertly and openly) to undermine the strength and viability of the United States of America. This claim is not the product of right-wing wacky paranoia. ... It is real, growing, and significant.

My friend and publisher, Joseph Farah, often suggests we "Connect the Dots." I have taken his advice and connected a variety of separate issues and interviews, and the conclusion is scary.

About a year ago, I interviewed Col. Stanislav Lunev regarding his book "Through the Eyes of the Enemy." When Lunev's book came out, most everyone focused on his claims of suitcase-size nuclear weapons he reported were already here in the United States. However, although it makes for a jazzy movie, the briefcase nukes are only one element in a long list of items which suggests to some experts, that Russia is preparing for a first-strike war.

When I first started hearing reports of a Russian precipitated first strike, my immediate reaction was "Bullfeathers!" Hell, Russia is in financial ruin, can't feed their people, can't pay the military, and couldn't find or field a full division anymore than they could find their collected derriere with both hands. That is the "conventional wisdom" I had come to believe. ... I was wrong, way wrong.

I recently interviewed a young intelligence researcher (Jeffrey Nyquist) who listed several ominous "dots" in the wake of more extensive interviews with Lunev:

Russia is stockpiling grain.

Russia continues to beg for more food from the West.

Russia is slaughtering its herds.

Russia is increasing fuel production.

Russia is stockpiling fuel.

Slaughtering fur-bearing animals.

Russia continues to build weapons despite treaty agreements to the contrary.

Russia continues to expand its deep water navy.

Russian weapons systems are vulnerable to potential Y2K catastrophic failures. Several experts suggest Russia feels compelled to "use it or lose it" regarding its arsenal.

Russia recently entered into an alliance with Communist Red China specifically designed to undermine the West's dominance as a world power.

Russia continues to lie, obfuscate, deny and dissemble regarding all the above.

Russia refuses to allow any kind of inspections as a condition for receipt of any western aid.

Development of vast underground "cities" capable of housing over 30,000.

Any one of the above elements alone might be rationalized, explained away, or spun as "no big deal." However, as you connect the dots, a sickening feeling grows.

David Hoffman of the Washington Post Foreign Service recently reported "a scandal over an offshore fund handling Russia's foreign currency reserves." He reported "a member of parliament charged that the Central Bank allowed the reserves to be used for buying and selling securities and then concealed the profits from the government." No, this isn't the Clinton cabal, this is the poor destitute Russians.

The Washington Post reports: "Nikolai Gonchar, an independent member of the lower house of parliament and of its budget committee, raised new questions at a news conference about the conduct of the Central Bank, although many details are still unclear.

"Gonchar charged that the Central Bank had set up an intricate scheme to exploit billions of dollars in Russia's national reserves by investing them secretly in high-yield Russian government bonds known as GKOs and concealing the profits from the parliament and government."

This reminded me of a novel (fiction) I had read 10 years ago. However, that was fiction. ... This is fact. It had previously been revealed the Central Bank had set up an offshore firm, Financial Management Co., known as Fimaco, based in Jersey, the Channel Islands, to handle Russia's foreign currency reserves. Wait a minute ... "reserves?" ... We have been led to believe Russia was down on its frozen bottom begging for charity sustenance. Well, according to one estimate, between 1993 to 1998, the offshore fund managed $37 billion. Yes, $37-Billion (with a B). The firm was a subsidiary of Eurobank of Paris, which (by the way) is currently 78 percent owned by the Central Bank.

This epiphany has sparked considerable controversy since it is highly unusual/strange/weird for a Central Bank to turn over management of a country's reserves to someone else (if it had). Additionally, questions are now being asked about whether the offshore accounts were used to primarily as a tool to mislead the International Monetary Fund and other international financial organizations about the size of Russia's reserves. Gee, they have lied about food, fuel, weapons, fur for winter clothing, and the entire table or organization of the military ... would Russia lie about establishing an offshore banking presence to hypothecate reserve funds? Damn straight they would ... and apparently are. "The case is the subject of a criminal investigation," the Post writes, " but Russia's chief prosecutor resigned after disclosing the existence of the offshore fund" And guess what? His replacement has not yet been named, and therefore, no criminal investigation has even started.

I remember Lunev telling me that the KGB is not dead. ... It is very much alive and well. According to Lunev, the alleged Russian Mafia, is in fact controlled by the former KGB. The nomenclature has changed, but the goals, objectives, tactics and mission remains the same today as it was during the Cold War.

I asked Nyquist if we (the United States) had imposed any requirements/restrictions on Russian aid. In other words, do we require anything from the Russians (any quid pro quo) other than receipt of our largess? The answer was a startling "No." At one point Russia had tried to sell our charity for a profit. We did scream about that, and it was supposed to stop. The financial scandal also could (and should) affect decisions anticipated this spring regarding whether to continue aid to Russia. Moreover, the State Duma, parliament's lower house, is engaged in a debate about whether to impose stronger controls on the Central Bank. Is the debate form over substance ... perception over reality?

According to Gonchar the Central Bank had, in effect, found a hidden method to take advantage of soaring yields on Russian government bonds. He reported the Central Bank realized huge profits on these security trades. Russian law requires the Central Bank to donate 50 percent of any profits it receives to the Russian federal budget.

The Washington Post reported: "Gonchar claimed that Eurobank and its subsidiary, Fimaco, had created a third company to carry out the scheme -- a Russian bank called Eurofinance. He said the major shareholders in Eurofinance were Eurobank and Fimaco. He further claimed that Eurofinance then served as the back door by which investments were made in the GKOs."

In one series of transactions, that makes Hillary Clinton's commodity trades look like chump change, he said, Fimaco earned $38 million in net profits. "I want to stress that under the existing laws, they were supposed to transfer half of this sum to the budget," he said. Then again, I guess that is contingent on the specific definition of "existing law," or what is meant by "transfer," and/or what specific "budget" is referenced. "This information was thoroughly concealed. Where has the profit gone to? The issue is a concrete one: We can and must find this money."

So, connect the dots: Stockpiling grain; continued foreign aid; slaughtering herds; increasing fuel production, stockpiling fuel; increasing fuel production; increased weapons development; growing their navy; fear of Y2K impact; China/Russia alliance; refusal of any and all inspections; denials and lies; money laundering and building vast underground cities.

Is this much ado about nothing, or the preamble to something real bad?

-- BB (peace2u@bellatlantic.net), March 04, 1999.

Hi BB,

actually you're only 'connecting' one data point - Lunev. That's one intelligence source whose motives, reliability, and honesty have not been determined. For verified intelligence information you want at least three (and preferably four or five) independent sources of information.

got sources?

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), March 04, 1999.

Hi Arlin, could we move further discussion over to the Y2K and Russian Missles thread? It is difficult and wasteful to be making the same points on two different threads. Thanks, Nikoli

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), March 04, 1999.

Arlin,

Give me some time. Got to run to our weekly y2k meeting. Got about 30 coming out.

I know you are looking for facts, so am I. I ordered Ruddy's 60 page report. We may have to wait for facts until I get the report.

God Bless, BB

-- BB (peace2u@bellatlantic.net), March 04, 1999.

BB - hokay, that may provide more info, good idea!

Nik - yeah, you're right, I'm just old fashioned and keep trying to work my way up the chrono display of threads...

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), March 04, 1999.