A recent column by Sandhya Jain [here] asserts, “Demonetisation is the brahmastra (supreme weapon) that has killed or seriously maimed several asuric (demonic) forces tearing into the vitals of the nation. Most obvious is the black economy that has dwarfed the legal economy many times over, and frustrated development goals by denying the State its legitimate taxes.”

This rings a bell in the US and even louder in Russia where the oligarchic share is still very substantial and influences how Russians perceive the world.

In this context, historian Vladislav Krasnov had an interesting exchange of letters with outgoing US President Barack Obama, which must be read by all those who pay attention to media manipulators world-wide. In October 2016, responding to Sharon Tennison appeal “to flood President Obama with demands to back off of this insane policy to pursue a war with Russia”, Krasnov wrote an Open letter to Obama.

President Obama’s reply was received on October 21, 2016, and was published by Russia Insider under the title, “Obama's Threatening Russophobic Letter Full of Lies, Hubris and Aggression.” This prompted Krasnov to write a long rebuttal to Obama, which was finished on November 7 (before the election), and mailed to the White House as Priority Mail on Nov. 12. Krasnov concluded with a 10-point agenda that is just as relevant for incoming President Donald Trump. We present the exchange as the new President moves to take charge…

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An Open Letter to Barack Obama

Composed by Vladislav Krasnov on behalf of the Russia & America Goodwill Association (RAGA)

Dear Mr. President:

As your presidential duties will soon expire, I want you make sure your Nobel Peace Prize is deserved: Please instruct your officials to return to the path of negotiations with Russia, be it the Syrian crisis, the lapse of the plutonium nuclear arms control deal or the conflict in Ukraine.

By so doing, you will bequeath to your successor - whomever it might be - a solid foundation on which to build a healthier and more peaceful Planet Earth. The United States should re-commit to the policy of non-interference in domestic affairs abroad that our Founding Fathers consistently proclaimed and adhered to. Instead of trying to impose our cherished values of free-market and democracy abroad, let us rely on the wisdom of a man who risked the reputation of a “traitor” when he defied King George’s war on American colonies.

I am talking about Edmund Burke, the British philosopher and father of modern conservatism. Like ancient Greeks he argued that each country is entitled to its own form of government, be it democracy, republic, monarchy, tyranny or despotism, each of which tend to degenerate and acquire features of its opposite. Therefore, the colonies did not have to bow to the King. Burke’s monument now graces the capital of the United States.

In respect to Russia, remember that Empress Catherine the Great refused King George’s request to send Russian Cossacks help him quell George Washington’s rebellion. During the Civil War, while Europe’s powers - Great Britain, France, and Spain - tried to take advantage of President Lincoln’s problems with the South, Tsar Alexander II who had just abolished serfdom in Russia, sent Russian Navy ships to the harbors of New York and San Francisco as a gesture of Good Will to our sovereign nation. More recently, in spite of the USSR’s unconcealed hostility to “Capitalist” America, the two countries were able to co-operate in the defeat of Nazi Germany and Japan, and then keep the bitterness of Cold War in check.

After 1991, the Communist Russia is no more. The New Russia has been espousing the same values of private property, free enterprise, multi-party free elections, secular government, freedom of speech and religion - as we do. To be sure, the post-1991 Russian road has been rocky, but this is because US meddled on the side of Russian oligarchs and because it takes years and decades to cultivate free enterprise and democracy in a country that had none for 73 years.

In late 1980s, when I was writing Russia Beyond Communism: A Chronicle of National Rebirth (Westview Press, 1991), Soviet soldiers were forbidden to wear crucifix, much less read the Scriptures. 25 years later, thousands of churches, destroyed and desecrated under Soviet rule, are restored. Hundreds more are built each year. General Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s Minister of Defense, would not enter the Red Square without crossing himself; and President Vladimir Putin is regularly seen in a church in front of an icon. Putin has also addressed Russian Muslims in a mosque and Jews in a synagogue. None of the Western leaders can match the degree of popular support that Putin enjoys in Russia. This tectonic shift in global correlation of forces the United States can ill afford to ignore.

Therefore, I say, Mr. President, take a breath of fresh air and do what it takes to make your Nobel Peace Prize count: Leave the legacy of peace-seeking dialogue with Russia from which your successor will not deviate lest he or she be called an abominable war monster. Remember Burke’s maxim: “Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together”.

More than any other two countries, Russia and the United States are called upon to jointly safeguard Peace, Liberty and Free trade not just from San Francisco to Vladivostok, but on the entire Planet Earth. So help us God!

Sincerely,

W George Krasnow, Ph.D. (aka Vladislav Krasnov)

President, RAGA.org

October 20, 2016

P.S.  Remember, Mr. President, what Edmund Burke proclaimed: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”.

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From: The White House <noreply@whitehouse.gov>

Date: Fri, Oct 21, 2016 at 11:13 Prime Minister

Subject: Response to Your Message

To: “president92@gmail.com” <president92@gmail.com>

Thank you for writing.  By his actions, Russian President Vladimir Putin has demonstrated a rejection of the bedrock principles of European and global security.  The occupation and attempted annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine, Russia’s ongoing destabilizing activities in eastern Ukraine, the support of Syria’s brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad, and the crackdown on basic civil liberties within its own borders have only served to increase Russian isolation from the rest of the world. The United States has reiterated our commitment to defend ourselves and our allies against Russian intimidation and hostility and to work to ensure Russia’s coercion against its neighbors does not succeed.

My Administration has strongly condemned Russia’s occupation of Crimea, which violates international law and Ukrainian territorial sovereignty. We responded by joining our allies to swiftly enact economic sanctions targeting top individuals in the Russian government and arms industry, as well as the critical financial, energy, and defense sectors of their economy. 

Additionally, the United States has reinforced our commitment to NATO and collective defense by coordinating with our allies to temporarily relocate military equipment and conduct training exercises in Baltic and Central European countries. And in order to make our partners in this region more resilient against Russian coercion and aggression, we are working to strengthen democratic institutions, embrace open economies, and diversify energy supplies.

The United States will continue to work with Russia in areas where we share pragmatic common interests, including promoting nonproliferation, advancing nuclear safety and security, preventing atrocities and humanitarian crises, and combatting violent extremism and terrorism. In this spirit of cooperation, we invite Russia to work toward an inclusive transition of power in Syria and to end their attempts to prop up Assad - a dictator rejected by a majority of the Syrian people.

Since the end of the Cold War, America’s goal has been to integrate a strong and prosperous Russia into the international community as a constructive stakeholder through investment, trade, and security cooperation. As President, I welcome the day when Russia returns as a participant in the international system that is willing to respect the territorial integrity of countries and the rights of individual citizens. America stands with our allies when Russian leadership takes action to undermine these aims, and we will continue to lead with persistent, steady resolve.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

(To be continued…)

Note:

-        Krasnov’s Open letter to Obama was published at

http://www.raga.org/news/an-open-letter-to-barack-obama; and in Russian 

http://www.raga.org/1053105410421054105710581048/4142875

-        President Obama’s reply was published by Russia Insider under the title, “Obama's Threatening Russophobic Letter Full of Lies, Hubris and Aggression”

http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/read-barack-obamas-threatening-russophobic-letter-full-lies-hubris-and-aggression

-        Krasnov’s rebuttal to Obama was published at

http://www.raga.org/news/to-mr-barack-obama-potus

http://www.raga.org/1053105410421054105710581048/8609870