I miss the battlefield. Not the burning heat, the ache of heavy armor or the cold darkness of hostile ground. I miss the clarity. We were fighting an enemy, who though often vile, was completely clear on his cause and beliefs. They were willing to live hard and die hard for what they believed in, no matter how misguided.
Most of all I miss Americans. In a war between tribes, religions, sects and ideologies, the enemy often churned, blended, twisted and turned. But Americans were like rocks, Gibraltars in a storm. In the midst of the chaos, Americans were handholds on the cliff, bridges over the abyss of terrorism and treachery.
The battlefield is the great crucible. On our battlefields the one virtue that mattered was an American would stand fast and have your back. The bond and the lifeline in combat were other Americans. The Americans to your left and right had no hyphens. I scanned for NODs and kevlars not faces or skin. In a street or alley, on the side of a mountain or sand berm all I looked for was an American uniform with a shoulder flag.
The camouflage and combat literally and figuratively melted everything else together. No race, no religion, no politics, just Americans. There is clarity and a physical purity in that. Today at home, in the United States, I miss the battlefield.
White Democrats should pay the reparations and have mandatory education on the history of racism. Democrats owned slaves for 400 years - a Republican never owned a slave. Democrats should be taught they are responsible for slavery that the KKK was a Democrat terrorist organization. That the Democrats voted for segregation and passed the Jim Crow laws of the South, and fought every civil rights act from 1868 to 1964. Democrat president Roosevelt started welfare to put the Blackman back on the plantation of dependence,. The Great Society that led to the fatherless men and the baby mama that destroy their lives and fill our prison systems was started by Democrat President Johnson. That it as Democrat Clintons and Biden Bill for the 1994 drug laws that destroyed thousands of black lives. And now Democrats are encouraging the burning and looting of black neighborhoods. It's not white people who are your enemy. It's Democrat white people
Throughout the 1960s, Bezmenov served the KGB primarily in India where he spread Soviet propaganda and disinformation to the Western world. He eventually defected to the West in 1970 and settled in Canada where he lectured and wrote about the KGB's techniques for subverting the West.
In 1985 he was featured in a television interview which is still available on YouTube. During the interview, Bezmenov explains the KGB's activities are less about espionage in the classic James Bond sense (only 15 percent), and more concerned with "Ideological Subversion" (85 percent) which is used to secretly undermine the American government through psychological warfare. Key to this program is to change the perception of reality using subliminal brainwashing techniques over an extended period of time. As I've written in the past, people act on their perceptions of reality, regardless if it is correct or fallacious. They are not so much concerned with facts as they are in perspectives and self interests. By controlling the perceptions of people, they become more prone to make erroneous conclusions thereby simplifying the manipulation of the masses. The objective of the KGB program, therefore, is to program people into dismissing true facts as fallacious even in spite of the obvious.
As Bezmenov explains in the interview, there are four steps to transform the thinking and behavior of the population:
1. Demoralization - this is a process which can take about 15-30 years to perform (a generation). During this stage, the moral fibre and integrity of the country is put into question, thereby creating doubt in the minds of the people. To do so, manipulation of the media and academia is required to influence young people. As the younger generation embraces new values, such as Marxism and Leninism, the older generation slowly loses control simply through attrition. Again, true facts no longer matter during this stage, but rather creating perceptions are of paramount importance.
2. Destabilization - the purpose of this step is to change the status quo, particularly the country's economy, foreign relations, and defense systems. The intent is to create a massive government permeating society and becoming intrusive in the lives of its citizens. This can take from two to five years to perform, again with the active support of academia pushing youth in this direction. Here, entitlements and benefits are promised to the populace to encourage their support. Basically, they are bribing people to accept their programs.
3. Crisis - this is a major step lasting up to six weeks and involves a revolutionary change of power. This is where a cataclysmic event upsets and divides the country thereby creating panic among the citizens. Recent examples include the 2011 upheavals in the Middle East, most notably Egypt and Libya. To Americans, symptoms would include circumventing the Constitution and altering the checks and balances of government, and possibly martial law.
4. Normalization - the final stage is where the populace finally acquiesces and begins to assimilate communism. Bezmenov claims during this stage, the naive college professors are no longer needed and since they will undoubtedly protest government policies when they discover the truth, they will be disposed of quickly. He cites examples of this occurring in Nicaragua, Grenada, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.This can take up to two decades to complete. (Obama's friend Pentagon bomber Bill Ayers estimated 5 million American would have to be killed in this stage.)
Bezmenov claimed the first step, Demoralization, was completed well before his 1985 interview. In fact, the Russians were surprised how easily it had been performed. One clear indicator of the moral decay of the country is the decline of organized religion which, historically, has been a beacon for morality, but now it is in retreat. He also thought step two was nearing completion in 1985 but I believe he underestimated the rise and popularity of Ronald Reagan as president, which led to the end of the Cold War with the Soviet Union in 1991, and the shift to the War on Terror following 9/11. Nonetheless, many would argue America is now realizing Bezmenov's scenario in 2012, particularly as the November elections loom ahead. This means the third step is in the offing which has a lot of people frightened for America's future.
Yuri Bezmenov died in 1993 never realizing his prophecy, and hopefully it will never come to fruition, that we will remain a free and democratic Republic bound to the U.S. Constitution. However, as Bezmenov reminds us, communism requires simple patience and perseverance to alter the perceptions of the people. The only way to thwart it is to practice due diligence and not let it go unchallenged.
"America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within." - Joseph Stalin
"The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev
