In the early 1980’s, the trio of Reagan, Thatcher and John Paull II, using Lech Walesa and Gorbachev himself, successfully dissolved the Soviet Union. George H. W. and Boris Yetsin finished the job of course. H. W. finally oversaw the collapse of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. On June 12, 1987, President Reagan had said “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”. The influence and reach of American intelligence were at their best during this period. America had won the cold war even with the Soviet Union desperate attempt to prop itself up with a certified KGB officer at the helm of affairs, Yuri Andropov.
Then came another KGB officer who apparently committed to avenging the humiliation of the Soviets by the Americans, Vladmir Putin. He successfully outmaneuvered America with his skillful Putin-Medvedev chess game in Russia leadership that confused everyone. On his second coming, he had sharpened his focus and apparently had carefully chosen his target. He smartly identified Trump and got him elected. This in fact brings memory of “Eli Cohen” to mind. Eliyahu Ben-Shaul Cohen was the Israeli top intelligence asset that became Senior Adviser to the Syrian Minister of Defense.
Now American institutions are challenged by its own President. Suddenly Lawmakers are rising against each other along partisan lines; it has become party before the flag; Russia is winning the diplomacy in Turkey and Syria. Even allies who fought with America against terror are being disowned. The integrity of American elections is questioned. American President has become the Divider-in-Chief, the most virulent polarizing agent in the American society. Honour in leadership has taken a flight in American political space. Presidential nicknames are flying everywhere – Shifty Adam Schiff, Nervous Nancy Pelosi, Crooked Hillary, Sleeping Joe – practice that ordinarily would have been regarded as never-possible in American political engagement. Suddenly, America is questioning its own commitment to democracy and free press. The global network, CNN, is portrayed as the harbinger of fake news by the chosen managers of the American establishment.
Between Russia and America, which one will have the last laugh in this new episode in the East-West tangle? The rest of the world is watching.
