by Judi McLeod, Canadafreepress.com
July 30, 2004
If former Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev landed on his feet at San Francisco’s Presidio, then why shouldn’t former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien be called upon to save Russian oil giant Yukos?
Group Menatep, which owns about 45 percent of Yukos said Friday that it hoped Chretien can "help resolve the tax and other legal issues" confronting the oil company and its executives.
Yukos back taxes alone total as much as $10 billion (U.S.) and unless the Putin Government agrees to extend payments over a number of years, the company is destined for certain bankruptcy.
When Chretien, replaced by Paul Martin last Dec. 12 rode off into the Canadian sunset, he set up offices in a law firm. That law office has now confirmed that it’s their man Chretien to the Yukos rescue, but is remaining mum on the details of the rescue mission.
The West has been marshmallow soft on the survivors of its former Cold War enemy.
Gorbachev, who dissolved the Soviet Union on Christmas Day 1991 was already set up with a $3.5 million bail out to the Presidio, one of america’s most prestigious former military bases–the same place where the UN and UN religious charters were signed.
It was in 1990 when Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, an honour that plummets the prestige of the recipient worldwide, while putting the recipient’s detractors at ease.
It was in late april 1993 that Mikhail Gorbachev and his pre-funded Gorbachev Foundation moved into new american headquarters, a white shingled bayfront house at the historic Presidio, overlooking the Golden Bridge.
It was in 1994 when the U.S. Sixth army departed the scene and when the Presidio was officially transferred over to the National Parks Service. In 1989, The Base Realignment and Closure Committee designated the Presidio for closure.
That’s the official unwritten history of how Mikhail Gorbachev landed without fanfare in america.
and if not many took to heart State Department Publication 7277, Public Law 87-297, intended "to oversee the disarmament of the country and to turn over the Golden Gate National Recreational area, on which the Presidio sits to the UN, then there are the actual words of Gorbachev himself for clarity.
Said Gorbachev in a 1987 speech to the Politburo: "Gentlemen, Comrades do not be concerned about all you hear about glasnot and perestroika and democracy in coming years. These are primarily for outward consumption. There will be no significant internal change within the Soviet Union, other than for cosmetic purposes. Our purpose is to disarm the americans and let them fall asleep."
The Presidio is destined to become financially self-sufficient by the Year 2013.
With a lot of help from american friends and sponsors, Gorbachev had become self-sufficient as early as 1991. While the Soviet leader was dissolving the country he led, friends had set up the non-profit nucleus for the Gorbachev Foundation, then called the Tamalpais Institute of San Francisco. The subtle transition to its current name needed only a little time.
a fund-raising dinner held at the posh New York Waldorf-astoria, attended by Henry Kissinger, representatives of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Ford Foundation and the Pew and Mellon Funds all ponied up to provide the Gorbachev Foundation with its start up bankroll of a tidy $3.5 million.
The fairytale-come-true Presidio vision, which includes turning the old army base into "a global center for sustainability", doesn’t begin and end there. The former Soviet leader, who saw Chernobyl go down on his watch, has a mandate to do the same for other american military bases.
a man called andrew Michael coordinated and organized national conferences on the sustainable development of former military bases, featuring a national summit at the Presidio Officer’s Club in 1996, with Gorbachev and Oscar arias as keynote speakers. From 1993 to 1996, Michael devised plans and identified resources to convert military bases to sustainable and civil uses for the Center for Economic Conversion.
So while Gorbachev is working to shut down american military bases, Jean Chretien, once part of the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau cabinet who first welcomed Gorbachev to the West, is working to help the state take over Yukos.
How dead was the Soviet Union on Christmas Day 1991 if in the 21st century, its ex-leader is housed in the same place as the UN’s United Religion with a man who wants you to renounce your religion, but has yet to renounce communism?
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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