Even if the Americans have themselves had a record of
sometimes “interfering” in elections in other countries, they have every right
to be upset that Russia interfered in their presidential elections, as all the
intelligence agencies have agreed happened. Interestingly, president Trump has time and time again, chosen to believe Putin's word, although he is ex and probably still KGB, while dismissing the evidence provided by 17 of his own intelligence agencies, but that's another issue.
Anyway, the difference between what the Russians did to the USA in their democratic elections and normal "interference," is that the US and Russia are currently
the two most powerful superpowers in the world and if one can gain unchallenged
influence throughout the world because it has its surrogate in power as the head of the other superpower, it would
be terrible for the rest of us.
Especially if the one that ends up with total
power is Russia!
For Russia is by no means a liberal democracy and thus their
holding sway over what happens in smaller and weaker states would be tragic for
people in the free world, who could see the freedoms to which they had become
accustomed, being gradually diminished.
I have been there and speak from personal experience on the
front lines.
This was during the cold war era in my small island of
Jamaica which lies only 90 miles away from Cuba. We were forced to go through
four years of turmoil because the democratically elected government of the day
decided it preferred the Cuban system of government and the socialist
philosophy to the Westminster system of government under which it had gained power. And the Cubans were only too happy
to assist them in every way possible to take away our freedoms. For after all, Jamaica
being the largest and most influential island in the English speaking
Caribbean, would give them great leverage in their quest to have the then USSR
dominate the entire region.
So we saw our island being flooded by thousands of Cubans
supposedly coming in to assist in agricultural development and the health
service. They however were under the command of a general named Ulysses Estrada
who was allegedly the head of their intelligence agency, the DGI. Also
assisting the Cubans but covertly, was the Russian KGB and I know that as a
fact as I did have an encounter with one.
On the other side was the American CIA which had allegedly
heeded the opposition party’s cry for help, but they apparently operated very covertly, for although I was often on
the frontlines, I never encountered a CIA agent on the ground.
However, I say without apology THANKS TO THE AMERICAN CIA
FOR ASSISTING US, FOR IF THEY HADN’T, JAMAICA TODAY WOULD PROBABLY BE LIKE
VENEZUELA where food shortages, hyper-inflation, no press freedom, government
sponsored aggression and the silencing of the opposition are the order of the
day.
Worse yet, we could be like Cuba itself. I have visited that
country four times since 1980, because of its physical beauty and the fact that
I have close family there. Their life is one of absolute misery and the younger
ones who were born after the revolution, do not even know that there is an
alternative world in which people can criticize their government, read and
write what they want or even better, get a passport and travel to any place
they wish, as long as they have the money. Sad.
I therefore thank the Americans for “interfering” and
assisting us in defeating the Cuban DGI and Russian KGB in the elections that
followed our four year period of turmoil…1976-1980.
For reducing the world to a position where one of the two
super powers dominates totally because it succeeded in putting its surrogate in
power, is extremely dangerous for the entire world. For what Lord Acton said in
the 1800’s is still relevant today. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power
corrupts absolutely.”
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