Modern Revolutions
Pro-US & Anti-US Revolutionary Struggles
Define: Revolution
Synonymous with:
coup d'etat, rebellion, insurrection, or uprising.
Geopolitics: Might makes Right
Domination of World Powers
World powers have historically exerted control over less powerful nations and they did so with the threat and/or use of force. From the time of the renaissance nations would exert control over other sovereigns with the application of financial pressure, such as economic sanctions, embargoes, or restrictions. Having power also allows for nations to influence the geopolitical affairs of various areas which means they can bring about war or peace.
Strong nations suppress weak ones and peoples without control will take it.
Great nations use their strengths to control others.
USA: 'The solo world power'
During the early 19th century the US had taken the role of the dominant financial power, the following decades of militarization eventually made it the dominant military power, and soon America became masterful in subversion, intrigue, and even usurping.
American Hegemony
The United States of America has adopted most characteristics of empire, other than title. From the moments the US had become the dominant world power, it had began exploiting smaller nations for it's own financial, military, and geopolitical interests, which did not coincide with the interests of the people within the state. Due to the influence of the US hegemony world wide most nations succumb to the pressure of sanctions and/or it's military strength. For states that refuse clandestine wars of subversion, intrigue, and insurgencies can be launched within the borders of the the resistant sovereign.
US backed Oppression and oppression
Geopolitical stratagems of US foreign policy have been executed by the CIA to deal with nation's governments which deviate from the US interests. While the rhetoric of the America suggests an inclination of freedom and democracy for peoples, the use of oppression through dictators seems to be a predisposition of the CIA.
Revolutions can be instrumental or detrimental for US foreign policies, thus encouraging or discouraging revolutions becomes a geopolitical stratagem
Gaining power in 1933 through a coup against the then democratically elected president Machadoknown, supposedly being democratically elected in 1939, and eventually declaring himself dictator in 1952, Fulgencio Batista had transformed Cuba into a fascistic cooperate vassal of America, where he was then overthrown in 1959.
When Batista had become dictator he opened the country to foreign corporations and Cuba became a tourist attraction for Americans who would live lavishly, while in the mean time the lower classes of society lived in poverty with no benefits from the inflow of capital. The wealthy who were able to invest in the American start up companies within Cuba, such as hotels and casinos, made huge profits and promptly 'donated' to the dictatorship, as John F Kennedy said, "there is no country in the world...where economic colonization, humiliation and exploitation were worse than in Cuba." Civil unrest was a widespread and revolutionaries soon were colluding to bring down the military junta government with a military coup. Infamous revolutionary, Fidel Castro, gained men and financial support by travelling Cuba and agitating the spiteful population to act.
During the July of 1953 revolutionaries, including Castro, had launched a failed attack on a military installation in Santiago, to which Batista ordered the death of 59 civilians and the imprisonment on Castro and his revolutionaries. By 1955 Batista was so politically isolated that to relive tensions, he ordered the release of all the political prisoners, including Castro who latter fled to Mexico. Fidel organized the "26th of July movement" with Spaniard revolutionaries, including Che Guevara, and later returned to Cuba to oust Batista. Once in Cuba the revolutionaries traveled the country side and set up basic infrastructure for the poverty stricken population while waging 'guerrilla warfare' on the regimes troops. The revolutionary insurgency soon turned into a full blown civil war with the population behind it and after heavy losses Batista fled Cuba, marking the end of the 1956-1959 Cuban revolutionary war.
Fidel Castro would become dictator and execute a socialist policy of nationalization and reform. Che Guevara once said, "Cruel leaders are replaced only to have now leaders turn cruel," and the Castro regime exemplified this by quickly becoming more authoritarian and brutal towards the opposition, counter revolutionaries, and outspoken critics. In conclusion, Cuba went from a pro-US fascist dictatorship to a pro-USSR communist dictatorship.
Greece-1967
Andreas's father George Papandreau had been prime minister in Greece which had strenuous relations with the Americans due to the Cyprus conflict, up until he was deposed by the the young Greek king Constantine II. President Lyndon Johnson when referring to the Cyprus dispute to Greece's ambassador to the US said,
"fuck your parliament and constitution. If those two fleas (Cyprus and Greece) keep itching the elephant (America) they may just get whacked by the elephants trunk. If your prime minister (Georges Papandreau) gives me talk...his parliament and his constitution may not last very long." Possibly with his son coming it was decided to 'whack' Greece.
There is also the evidence that show the CIA had developed a profile on Adreas, for example declassified documents and memos say about Andreas, "He belongs to a camp of individuals opposed to US interests." As well as more notable, "He will gradually direct Greece away from NATO and will gravitate to the soviet block..." Lastly, various people within the coup within Greek intelligence were liaisons for the CIA including George Papadopoulos himself who trained to become a CIA agent.
The conspirators had seized various positions within the bureaucratic hierarchical political and military structures and declared their "revolution to save the nation" from the "communist conspiracy". Within hours commanders sided with the military regime, the constitution was suspended, and possible defiant generals, politicians, and outspoken citizens were arrested. The arrests were so sweeping that the director of Greece's military police, Yannis Ladas, said, "Within twenty minutes every politician, every man, every anarchist who was listed could be rounded up...It was a simple diabolical plan."
The king, Constantine, had been blockaded within his palace and declared the new leaders as legitimate. Within days the US had recognized the new authorities and eventually began supporting, funding, and supplying with arms. Not all supported the state departments actions, with the US ambassador in Athens, Philip Talbot, calling it a "rape of democracy" to which the CIA station chief in Athens, John Maury, responded, "How can you rape a whore?"
Iran-1979
The primary reason for the invasion in Iran during WW1 was to take control of the vast Iranian oil fields in order to fuel the allies war machine. The Shah was to bring Iran's interests into alignment with that of the 'wests' when it came to foreign and domestic policy. US and British companies were founded primarily to extract the natural resource wealth of Iran, with the most notorious corporation being the joint-venture Anglo-Persian Oil Company which redirected Iran's petroleum industries capital to foreign and domestic elites. There was also the 'White Revolution' which was a broad range of economic, social, and political policies to weaken the power of the land owning aristocracy and strengthen the low-middle classes in order to build a stable political base for stability. The policies were not limited to wealth redistribution, nationalization of the primary industries, privatization of public monopolies, and social programs.
Noam Chomsky refers to the rule of the Shah as "client fascism" as it was characteristic of fascism pervasive combination of corporations and the government, kleptocratic aristocracy, and the invasion itself which brought the Shah to power was executed in the interests of US-British corporations. Pahlavi also created the Rastakhiz one party system after he stated years before that, "If I were a dictator rather than a constitutional monarchy, then I might be tempted to sponsor a sing dominant party such as Hitler organized."
The revolution was religious in nature and the various Islamic leader organized protests, demonstrations, and strikes which were dealt with by violence by the Shah's gov. Mass protests nationwide were backed by every martyr killed by the government and the Shah soon adapted a public image as demon spawn of the satanic demiurge of the USA.
Religious and secular leaders cooperated to unite the population into a revolutionary force for change, exemplified by Ruhollah Khomeini's quote, "With peoples revolutionary rage, the king will be ousted and a democratic state, Islamic republic, will be established."
The schism deadlocked Iranian society and after the protests became unmanageable, terrorism increased, production halted, the Iranian Shah was forced to flea the country. Under the leadership of religious revolutionary, Ruhollah Khomeni, the representative government became an Islamic republic which 'would not become a democracy'.
In 2014 the pro-Russian democratically elected Ukrainian president, Victor Yanukovych, had decided not to sign a free trade agreement with the EU bloc, which revealed that he intended to bring Ukraine economically closer to the Russian bloc through the signing of the Eurasian customs union. Protests organised by wealthy oligarchs and foreign governments within Ukraine's capital, referred to as the 'Euromaidan protests', drew people from across the nation who were in favor EU integration and wanted to make the 'civilizational choice' of siding with the west over the east. Protests escalated to where the president fled and a pro-Western government was 'selected' and installed in order to 'midwife' the gov until presidential elections could be held.
Large portions of the population, primarily from the west of Ukraine, joined in on the Euromaidan movement, which were declared by EU parliamentarians as,"the largest pro-European demonstration in the history of the EU," and these people were primarily middle class citizens as well as various oligarchs who were instrumental. Widespread corruption was a factor in the protests, however rebelling because of corruption was not a president meant to be set. Rather the decision by the pro-Russian regime to not sign with the EU was the heart of the revolution and the Euromaidan atmosphere fomented various anti-Gov movements.
Protests were responded to with violence which Amnesty international said was a ,"shameful disregard for peoples right to peacefully protest," and then the protests became increasingly violent, to the point where catapults were installed! And while the overthrow of the democratically elected government was referred to as a 'pro self-determination, freedom, democracy, and America revolution' it was a violent coup. The mobs soon engaged in the, "siege of state agencies of power, seizures of administration buildings... and the destruction of historical monuments," as the Russian Duma voiced.
The coup itself was committed the day after the feb/24 agreement was brokered between the opposition and government. The head of the 'Right Sector' organization, Dymitry Yarosh declared after the agreement that, "the criminal regime had not yet realized the gravity of it's evil doing", and called for the continuation of the "peoples revolution". The head of the Automaidan movement, Andriy Parubiy, also declared they would, "not accept anything short of Yanukovych's resignation.
On feb/25 the president fled Kiev, that day a US puppet government was installed, and later Petro Poroshanko, an oligarch who helped finance the Euromaidan protests, was elected president of Ukraine. Some members of the Euromaidan movement who entered the government following the coup openly espouse fascist, nazi, and anti-semitic views, which Russia has highlighted to illuminate who the US had supported. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, said after the coup that, "[America] helped train the nationalists, their armed groups, in western Ukraine," and Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Laverov, made comments during the coup that there was western involvement, increasing violence and a lack of dialogue from opposition. The Euromaidan may be the most violent peaceful protests in history.
Comparing revolutions
All revolutions required:
Death: In Cuba and in Greece the revolution took the form of military coups
while in Iran and Ukraine the revolution took the form of violent protests.
Capital: In Greece and Cuba there was capital of weapons
and in Iran and Ukraine there was a capital of donations and supplies.
Order: In every case there was a hierarchy of authority within the opposition
which gave stability and order to the revolutions
Cuban and Iran (Anti-West)
-western fascist tyrants were overthrown
-dictatorial power of individuals was seized
-majority of the population supported revolution
-gov overthrown had an economic policy of corruption
-detrimental to US interests
Greece and Ukraine (Pro-West)
-US backed fascist individuals seized power
-democratic power of individuals was seized
-portion of the population supported revolution
-gov overthrown were going to choose an economic policy
-instrumental to US interests
Lessons of revolutions
-Interests of the majority is always the heart of revolution (the base)
-Domestic and foreign interests of must be recognized (co-opting)
-Foreign and domestic factors influence revolutions (pos or neg)
-Violence is political power and will be used by people (all sides)
-Deposing rulers will leave a power vacuum to be filled (opposition infighting)
-Coups can bring about instability and equally bad rulers (someone must rule)
-Other nations will prey upon the instability from revolutions (seizing advantages)
-Revolutions will be harmful to society, therefore there must be a considerable necessity