Eighteen months ago a curious item appeared in the Billings Gazette (Montana). It was about the proposed sale of Stillwater Mining Co. shares to a Russian company, Norilsk Nickel. As the Gazette pointed out at the time, effective Russian control of Stillwater Mining Co. would signify U.S. reliance "on a foreign company to control its supply of platinum and palladium." It is remarkable, indeed, that Russia has so openly attempted to corner the market on strategic minerals vital to America's national security.
Stillwater Mining Co. fell to Norilsk almost 17 months ago. As explained in Stillwater's August 2004 Quarterly Report: "The company revised its mining plans several times in an effort to optimize production and minimize costs in light of financial limitations. Recognizing these challenges, the company considered several strategic options including seeking a financial partner that could infuse additional equity and bring Stillwater's capital structure back into balance. This process led to the stock purchase transaction, announced in November of 2002 and closed in June of 2003, whereby Norilsk Nickel acquired 50.8 percent of the company for $100 million in cash and 877,169 ounces of palladium, through the purchase of newly issued Stillwater common shares. Norilsk Nickel subsequently completed a public cash tender offer for some additional shares, increasing their ownership interest to 55.5 percent."
Given the strategic importance of platinum and palladium, the entire sequence of events craves further investigation. Stillwater was apparently hurt by fluctuations in the market and the fact that American mining costs nearly doubled in four years. Critics of America's corporate culture might add that U.S. companies have too many managers with too many entitlements. As the company's wealth was sucked out at the top end, the demoralized and unsupported employees felt the pinch and reacted accordingly. The result was lower productivity, lower company morale and chronic financial weakness. (Some feel this is happening in the American health care industry.) It is amazing, indeed, that highly profitable industries can end up "painted into a corner," as one executive put it; and not just any corner, since the story has a national-security dimension. On the wink and smile side, Stillwater chief executive Frank McAllister allegedly received a "golden parachute" of $2.25 million for the Norilsk deal (according to the Billings Gazette).
Russia's Norilsk Nickel is also on the move elsewhere. On Oct. 18 the Guardian (UK) reported that Norilsk is planning a merger with South Africa's Gold Fields. Billed as a "major reordering of South Africa's gold mining industry," Norilsk's planned penetration of mineral-rich Africa appears to be part of an economic campaign to dominate strategic mineral resources worldwide. In addition, Pretoria's ANC government enjoys friendly relations with sinister Russian elements active in sub-Saharan Africa since the Angola War. This suggests a political or ideological dimension touching on vital strategic interests. But Washington is hardly alarmed.
Russia is also making moves in the world's oil sector, and this directly relates to the situation in the Middle East where Moscow continues to play a double game. According to two European intelligence services, Russian special operations troops removed weapon systems and materials used in the manufacture of high explosives and nuclear weapons from Iraq. According to the Washington Times, Russian spetsnaz troops organized convoys bound for Syria in the days leading up to the American invasion. It is now known that the Russian intelligence services worked diligently to hide the movement of Iraqi war materials to Syria. When American intelligence could not find a trace of Saddam's most dangerous weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin cynically mocked U.S. President George Bush's search for WMDs.
Readers of this column may remember comments made by Romanian intelligence defector, Ion Mihai Pacepa, who described Russia's WMD-removal program for various rogue states. According to Pacepa, Russia is the chief proliferator of WMD technology to the world's most dangerous dictators. Furthermore, Russia is determined to hide its policy of arming anti-American regimes around the world. In a recent article for National Review Online, Pacepa observed that Russian President Vladimir Putin "is in the Andropov mold." In other words, he is in the mold of Lenin and Stalin - a totalitarian by any other name, and very dangerous. "Former KGB officers are now running Russia's government," says Pacepa, who later added: "it's an old Russian tradition to fill the most important government positions with undercover intelligence officers." After becoming Russia's prime minister in 1999, Putin privately toasted Stalin. He declared that Russia had "enemies."
The "former" communist structures of Eastern Europe are still powerful. Aligned with criminal groups and Russian intelligence, they manipulate all of Europe - economically and politically. The underground totalitarian structures of Poland and the Czech Republic are real. They take their orders from Moscow. They are drawing up lists of those they would liquidate in the event of a totalitarian resurrection.
The question ought to be asked: Has democracy won out in the "former" Soviet republics and satellites? Ukraine's recent elections were characterized by one of my East European contacts as follows: "It is terrible how government officials, in the age of post-Sovietism, can use law and fear against [their] own people." According to my correspondent, "U.S. [inspired] reforms did not affect [the] Ukrainian political situation." At present, the situation in Ukraine is "very tense," with Ukrainian special forces troops surrounding Kiev. "They wait in the forests," my contact explained, "There are military vehicles standing nearby the Central Election Commission (CEC)." The Russian KGB hand is visible throughout, manipulating the political situation of "former" republics like Ukraine.
It is alarming to see how a Russian company, probably staffed by Russian intelligence officers, has wormed its way into Montana's Stillwater Mining Co. It is alarming, as well, that the Russians are moving into Africa and Latin America. The war on terror itself is, at best, a diversionary sideshow with Osama bin Laden in the role of sideshow freak. The Russians follow up on America's economic exhaustion. They follow up on the exhaustion of South Africa and Venezuela. It is no accident that al Qaeda aims to break down America's economy. Last Friday bin Laden made his first video appearance since September 2003, broadcasting via al Jazeera television, telling the American people how "best to avoid further conflict."
Outlining his strategy, bin Laden explained the method behind al Qaeda's madness. "The mujahedeen recently forced Bush to dip into emergency funds to continue the fight in Afghanistan and Iraq," he boasted, "which is evidence of the success of our bleed-until-bankruptcy plan - with Allah's blessing." According to bin Laden, the 9/11 attack cost al Qaeda roughly $500,000. "Every dollar of al Qaeda defeated a million dollars by the will of Allah, and cost a huge number of jobs," he explained.
The real attack is economic. And the mastermind is the one who moves in behind the attack to pick up all the economic pieces.
