Press TV news headlines on Friday read “NATO waging undeclared war on Russia: Moscow” with the explanation that Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s ambassador to NATO, accuses the drug trade coming from Afghanistan since the US-led invasion of the country, resulting in 30,000 people deaths in Russia per year, amounting to an “undeclared war against our country”.
Is this a declaration of war against NATO? While Press TV goes all out in presenting the facts, the Associated Press is more cautious with its news headline: “Russia criticizes US, NATO over Afghan drugs, but nevertheless still includes the statement Rogozin made:
“Russia “is losing 30,000 lives a year to the Afghan drug trade, and a million people are addicts,” Rogozin said. “This is an undeclared war against our country.”
“We are obviously very dissatisfied with the lack of attention from NATO and the United States to our complaints about this problem.”
So how is this statement to be digested? What exactly does it mean? Read on in the AP article and you might find the answer:
Russia contributes logistical support for NATO- and U.S.-led operations by providing a vital land and air transit corridor for the shipment of supplies to the international force. It also services Soviet helicopters and organizes training for the Afghan anti-drug police. But Moscow always has ruled out sending ground troops.
During the Cold War, the Soviets provided military support for the secular Afghan government, and deployed over 100,000 troops to defend it against religious fundamentalists being financed by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Britain, and other Western nations. About 15,000 Soviet soldiers died in the 10-year war in the 1980s.
“Today we are helping them fight the same fanatics whom they supported against us 20 years ago,” Rogozin noted.
The claims made by Russia are self-explanatory: “Russia claims that drug production in Afghanistan has increased tenfold since the U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban regime in 2001. Smugglers freely transport Afghan heroin and opium north into Central Asia and Russia, and also on to Western Europe.”
Taking into account Rogozin’s background, the comments, claims and accusations begin to gain context. Dmitry Rogozin was born in Moscow in a family of a famous Soviet military scientist. In 1996 [Rogozin] also got a PhD in philosophy. In 2004 Rogozin called on his party comrades to support incumbent President Vladimir Putin. In 2005 Rogozin’s policies [in the Rodina party] led to the party being banned as a result of it using what was viewed as a “chauvinist” slogan – “Let’s clean the garbage”. In 2008 Putin appointed “nationalist” Rogozin as Russia’s NATO envoy.
The popular phrase: “Actions speak louder than words” in this case can be applied as “Facts speak louder than words”. The accusations Rogozin makes against NATO are clear: The US and NATO have 30,000 Russian souls [per year] on their conscience plus the 15,000 [Russian] soldiers that died in the 1980s as a result of the struggle Russia endured against the Western backed fundamentalists. Who will pay the price for this? Or seen from another perspective: Who will be targeted for this? Is Rogozin signalizing“eye for an eye” retaliation?
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