If you are one of the few people on this planet who keep an eye on US foreign policy, Operation Phoenix is (maybe) one of the atrocities that come into your mind when the Vietnam War is being discussed.
What was it? How does an event that occurred around 50 years ago relate to the events unfolding in Ukraine today?
(HISTORICAL LESSON STARTS HERE): The Phoenix Program (1967-1972) was designed by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Vietnam War to identify and destroy anyone associated with Vietcong (VC) via torture, interrogation, and assassination.
Vietcong (VC) was an armed communist political revolutionary organization. The word “communist” is important here. The CIA didn’t hate the organization itself but its ideology, which is communism. The CIA has been on the mission to eradicate the “communist threat” and hunt down anyone who supports this ideology since day one of the Russian Revolution.
VC and CIA were enemies of each other and if you ever came in contact with some VC personnel or praised them or even tried to stay neutral, you were on the CIA’s list. (HISTORICAL LESSON ENDS HERE.)
After he defected to Russia in 2018, Vasily Prozorov, a former officer at the Security Services of Ukraine (SBU), states that the SBU has been advised by the CIA since 2014.
He said in a press conference in 2019, “They are residing in clandestine apartments and suburban houses. However, they frequently come to the SBU’s central office for holding, for example, specific meetings or plotting secret operations.”
CIA has been in Ukraine since the end of WWII, as the declassification of thousands of CIA documents from 1953 shows. (Search: Operation Aerodynamics)
CIA in Ukraine…..hmm….. no wonder that Operation Phoenix made its come back. The organizers are the same. The program is the same. But the place where it’s carried out is not the same. This time it’s in Ukraine, not Vietnam.
A campaign has been launched in Ukraine where anyone accused of being loyal to left-wing, anti-imperialist or communist organizations is considered “pro-Russian”, and gets kidnapped, tortured, or even murdered. All of this is happening under the watch of “defender of democracy” and the Western media darling Volodymyr Zelensky.
One of the many targets of the SBU was the mayor of the city of Kreminna in Ukraine-controlled side of Luhansk, Volodymyr Struk.
On March 1, he got kidnapped and a few days later, his dead body was found outside his home with “gunshot wound to the heart.” Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, wrote in a post on Telegram, “There is one less traitor in Ukraine.”
Traitor?
Because he supported Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), a political organization with communist ideology, and he also tried to communicate and negotiate for peace with Russian officials. That’s why they got him.
In another example that dates back to 2015, Oles Buzina, a prominent journalist known for his pro-Russian opinion pieces in Ukraine’s Sevodnya daily newspaper, was shot dead by two masked gunmen.
It shows that the suppression of opposition in Ukraine began as early as 2014, when the government of democratically-elected leader, Viktor Yanukovych, was overthrown. After the invasion in late Feb, it only intensified as 11 mayors of Ukrainian cities, who dared to negotiate with Russia on humanitarian aid and the safe evacuation of civilians, have gone missing.
There is this website called Myrotvorets, which has compiled a list of “enemies of Ukraine.” Anyone who is critical of the Ukrainian government or “pro-Russian” finds himself on the list and gets kidnapped/tortured/killed.
All of this is happening in the name of “defending independence and democracy of Ukraine.” It looks like Zelensky has learned how to suppress opposition in the name of democracy from his American daddy(s).
In March 19 Execurtive Order, Zelensky banned 11 opposition parties. Yes, you read it right. The “defender of democracy” did it. The banned parties held socialist, left-wing, or anti-NATO views. Although some parties, like Azov National Corps, were left untouched, as they believed in fascist or pro-Nazi ideologies. One can clearly identify the pattern here.
Douglas Valentine, author of The Phoenix Program, says in both cases “neutralism wasn’t tolerated.” If you live in Ukraine and dare to hold a neutral stance or don’t criticize/fight against Russia, you automatically become “pro-Russia,” and by now, you might have an idea about how they treat the so-called “pro-Russia” people.
There was no such thing as “due process” in Vietnam’s Phoenix Program. Ukraine is no different. If a random person accuses of being “pro-Russia”, you better pray for your life because the SBU will pick you up, no evidence needed of you being “pro-Russia.”
One left-wing activist, Alexander Matjuschenko, was tortured by the SBU officers and Azov members. “The war is being used to kidnap, imprison, even kill opposition members who are critical of the government," says Alexander.
The list goes on and on.
Gonzalo Lira is a Chilean journalist living in Ukraine, known for being a Zelensky critic. He went missing on April 15 and wasn’t seen or heard from for at least a week.
On April 22, he came back online and said, “I was picked up by the SBU on Friday, April 15.”
Clearly, anyone who criticizes Zelensky or his government, holds left-wing views, or simply wants peace talks with Russia is being targeted, which is what the Operation Phoenix in Vietnam was all about.
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