The Cold War isn’t over

By Jane Chastain

The Soviet Union did not collapse because of “reform minded leaders”
or because of the Reagan Administration’s brilliantly aggressive
strategy. According to Stanislav Lunev, Russia’s highest-ranking
military defector, the Soviet Union was brought down by the Russian
mafia. Although Lunev acknowledges that Reagan played a part in its
demise, he believes the revolution was neither social nor political. It
was criminal.

Lunev, the son of a Soviet Army officer, was destined to become one
of his country’s military leaders. After graduating from a prestigious
boys military school, he went on to the Tashkent/Uzbekistan Joint Arms
High Command Military Academy, which is the equivalent of West Point.
Lunev loved his country and was trained to protect her at all costs.

Lunev was an intelligence officer in the GRU, the military
counterpart of the KGB, working undercover in Washington as a
correspondent for TASS, the Soviet equivalent of our Associated Press,
when the end came on the morning of August 19, 1991. He had warned
Gorbachev of the coup and still wonders why the Soviet president took no
action and set in motion the dissolution of his government. Rather than
serve the criminal element that now controls the country, Lunev
defected.

After serving as an advisor to the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence
agencies, in the security of the FBI’s witness protection program, Lunev
surfaced to warn the citizens of his adopted homeland that Russia is
more dangerous than ever. The warning was delivered in a book called
Through the Eyes of the Enemy that reads like a James Bond
thriller. The message is hard-hitting and direct. However, it is easy
to get lost in the intrigue and miss the point: Though the Russian mafia
controls the country and its leaders, the United States still is
considered the enemy. The GRU and the KGB (now the SVR) still are
continuing the strategy of supporting any activity that might weaken our
country or our allies. The buildup of Russia’s chemical, biological and
nuclear weapons continues, as well as the development of space-based
lasers that can blind entire cities and very, very low frequency radio
signals that can destroy the human brain. If a powerful enough delivery
mechanism can be perfected, these radio signals can kill millions of
people from thousands of miles away.

What most Americans don’t realize is the extent to which our country
already is penetrated by the Russian mafia and Russia’s military
intelligence. Arms caches lie in wait here for use by Russian special
forces call “Spetznatz.” While we view nuclear weapons as a deterrent,
Soviet and Russian military doctrine believes they are to be used, and
the Spetznatz has them available.

Why was Lunev not content simply to inform the Pentagon and our
intelligence agencies about these matters? Perhaps he feels that his
information and his warnings have not been treated with the urgency they
deserve. His greatest concern is Russia’s growing cooperation with
China, the country he perceives to be our greatest threat.

Lunev no longer is worried about his personal safety. He has cancer
of the lymph nodes, a fate suffered by almost all his former colleagues
who were stationed at the Russian Embassy in China. He doesn’t know if
his cancer was a result of high doses of radiation, due to the
monitoring at that embassy, or a sophisticated form of assassination or
poisoning.

Time is not on his side now, nor is it on ours.

Jane Chastain

Jane Chastain is a Colorado-based writer and former broadcaster. Read more of Jane Chastain's articles here.