Dark Matters by Daniel Regelbrugge

The following entry is by Daniel Regelbrugge, one of matthewgood.org’s first contributing authors. Dan is a veteran member of the United States Army, served in Iraq and throughout Europe, and currently works at the Pentagon. His area of expertise is in linguistics, primarily Russian.

Dark matter spreads surely across space and time. Currents of pestilent history and futures, as yet ill-described, lurch on and on toward the breech. An artery has been cut; just a prick at first, but now the pressure from the deep is rising. Scarlet fingers grasp at air, only to find the earth, and soon what was stirring feebly below surges once again upon the surface of things; upon the land, and into our lives. All vessels eventually spill their disease once more into the world.

To hear Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (known in some circles these days as “the dark lord”) speak of the strain the current abhorrent situation in the Caucuses has put on Russian/U.S. relations, one would think he were a pouting little boy wandering in from the playground after having been betrayed by the other bully.

To hear U.S. President George W. Bush (known in some circles as “soon to be ex-President”) speak about the same topic, one might conclude that he had an ace up his sleeve somewhere that would somehow force Russia to comply with his demands for immediate Russian withdrawal; neither supposition approaches the truth, nor the crux of the matter.

For several years Georgia has been living under the assumption that the advocated political and military partnership with the United States had somehow supplanted previous allegiance, or submission to the will of the Former Soviet Union—or the Russia of today. Clearly, both Georgia and the United States overestimated their ability to sow deep and lasting seeds quickly and firmly enough to withstand even the rumor of a resurgent Russia.

Clearly, the undercurrents of what was never really went away. Bygones are not bygones, and the perceived weakness or vulnerability that had characterized post Soviet Russia is being washed away-with blood.

But this resurgent Russia is not the great Bear that was the Soviet Union. This is not a monolith that instills fear by means of overwhelming and efficient use of might. This Russia is a hybrid of all possible means of achieving objectives without ever having to openly fight the other bullies on the playground-this Russia is more clever out of necessity, more industrious out of dogged desire to have as much or more than anyone else, and it is a country that will use the specter of it’s remnant WMD arsenal to instill horror in the hearts of any foe.

For several years Russia was forced, as a result of economic instability and pervasive reforms and restructuring of military and governmental organs on the operational level, to more or less turn a blind eye to the then burgeoning ties between Georgia and the United States.

Russia could do little but sit and watch as U.S. Special Forces Units equipped and trained Georgian troops. It was thought then, from the American perspective, that squeezing Russia at it’s underbelly, and stifling its ability to really thrive economically or politically in the 21st Century without eventually relenting and joining NATO would at the very least tap a catheter into Russia’s rich natural resources from which the U.S. and others could drink at will–at reduced, “friend” prices.

Russia needed time to understand fully the new lay of the land. Direct confrontation, both militarily and politically, is a thing of the past. So the Dark Lord waited. He waited for the Russian oil industry to come into synch with his political agenda so as to facilitate veiled control of Europe. He waited, and then he began the methodical construction on an international network of power—power, that is not necessarily plainly apparent, but which courses through the veins of the network like a disease shifting in dormancy until it’s handlers desire it to be bled on-demand wherever the need or opportunity presents itself.

Within the framework of the present situation in Georgia, The United States has proved itself, yet again, to be painfully naïve and ignorant in the ways of the dark arts of the Old World. It prances about like a powerful neophyte that just wants to play-no matter how roughly. For a long time it was enough to go on that way. The events of the twentieth century required the presence of such a strong, benign entity that could be trained by the old masters and turned onto whatever threat became manifest.

During the Cold War, however, the neophyte began to mature and to acquire a taste for power. It began to dabble in the dark arts of political manipulation in Central America and in the Middle East among other places. The world, it seemed, could be mapped, mined, and divided into portions–tributaries that provided different, but equally nourishing benefits. Oil from this place, diamonds from that—toys, sneakers, records, jump rope; you name it—all of it came from somewhere else. It was a not so subtle, if not altogether nefarious way of expanding a sphere of influence; or network, and the nation thrived, but eventually the rest of the world caught on to what was happening.

Russia had been paying very close attention to its old Cold War adversary. Uncle Sam’s tactics were deemed to have been effective to an extent, but ultimately crude, and limited in scope. The Dark Lord decided that Russia’s sphere of influence needed to be transformed; reestablished and broadened on different, more contemporary terms; terms that take into consideration all the best and worst lessons that the rise and potential fall of the United States portends.

Vladimir Putin spoke of “fairness” and “respect” the other day in an interview with a CNN correspondent that aired on the Vyesti Russian website. He spoke with what seemed like great concern about the need for a cease fire and for renewed dialogue as a means to bringing about a peaceful resolution. He reassured his interlocutor that Russia just wants a chance to live freely in peace and harmony, and then he seemed genuinely human in lamenting the loss of so many lives in the Georgian conflict.

Mr. Putin defended Russia’s current tactics in Georgia as being necessary to ensure the stability and safety of Russia’s people and its national interests. Moreover, he suggested that America had incited Georgia into action in South Ossetia as a means of drawing Russia’s fire prior to the upcoming Presidential elections to bolster U.S. national pride.

All of this is speculative, of course. I no longer discount any possibility that exists on the political stage.

But make no mistake: all that has come about in the Caucuses… all that has been released into the world as disease in the guise of war over the course of this past month among the Caucuses has been pre-meditated and dispassionately planned.

The United States is simply unable to commit fully to the defense of Georgia for a few reasons; reasons which were all too obvious to Russia as far back as 18 months ago when it was first mentioned that Russia would no longer participate in the Conventional Forces Europe Treaty (a treaty that was designed specifically to prevent a signatory from massing troops and equipment along any border without the other signatories stepping in—basically, to prevent a nation from doing exactly what Russia did)—The U.S. military is already stretched far too thin in Iraq, Afghanistan, and increasingly in Africa in support of the Global War on Terror. To imagine that America would be able to conjure anything but Black-Op support and tough talk for the defense of Georgian territory is simply not realistic; nor is it consistent with U.S. interests, based on what we’ve seen since roughly September 2001.

The Dark Lord sits back and smiles at the spectacle of U.S. and other Western officials pleading impotently for a ceasefire that cannot be forced; nor can it be brought about by means of tough talk or threats. For with every empty threat and pumping of fists that bear no strength, the new, resurgent Russia is empowered and made to seem even more so in the eyes of the world, to say nothing of the Russians, themselves.

And in the death tolls rising, the spreading of rumors recounting Russian brutality in Georgia, and the lack of any authoritative response or reprisal wrought from the West; America, in particular, the Russian Bear that is now a hybrid, porous vector bled softly as nocturnes into foreign lands rather than loudly onto sunlit fields of wartime glory, is recognized and quickened.

Vladimir Putin says he does not fear a renewal of the old hostilities, nor does he fear a possible descent into a new Cold War.

No, all things considered one should not suppose that he does.

Perhaps it is we who should be wary of what is yet to come.