Korean Airlines Flight 007: Tragedy & Conspiracy? Pt Five

Many commentators and historians have argued over the years about the notion of there being "hawks" and "doves" in the Kremlin. After studying Soviet history (albeit as a complete amateur for 30 years), I do believe that there were men in the Soviet government who wanted peace more than others, the problem is the only way for a dove to survive surrounded by hawks is to at least appear to be a hawk himself. Second of all, I believe that with the majority of the Soviet leadership, feelings of peace towards the West were greatly enhanced by what they could get out of cooperating and signing treaties with the US and other nations-detente. I also want to say that here it would be very hypocritical for me not to say that the same type of things could also be said of the United States. For the number of Soviets who no doubt would have been relieved if the United States were wiped off the face of the earth-there was a huge contingent of people in the United States who would have been happy to see the same thing happen with the Soviets. In the area of propaganda the United States -in my opinion anyway-intentionally overestimated the "threat" the Soviet Union posed to bloat the already hugely bloated defense industry or military-industrial complex (MIC). There was an enormous amount of hatred and mistrust whipped up by both sides of the Cold War.

Matters were not helped any in 1984 when President Reagan, who didn't realize he was talking into a "live" mike said, "I have just signed a bill outlawing the Soviet Union forever. Bombing begins in five minutes." I may not have the exact quote -but its damn close and it was a hugely stupid thing for Reagan to say-both as a head of state and as a human being. For once the "luck" that seemed to follow Reagan through a great deal of his presidency seemed to have slipped -at least for a moment. Looking back on it, I don't think the aftermath of the "bombing begins in five minutes" incident lasted that long. Forgive me please for digressing (yet again-a rather common thing with me) but does anyone else who was around in the early 80s feel that if any other prez had dealt with the PATCO strike like Reagan did -that if it were any other prez-I feel that within a couple of weeks a huge airline catastrophe would have happened-and thank god it didn't. But what really gets me after these years is that in some quarters in the US Reagan is on his way to being deified and -I suppose it just shows you what can be done with the right sound-bites and Madison Avenue marketing. To me the man was an absolute bore and completely uninspiring (haha-there was the "small" matter of him edging the US closer to a nuclear exchange with the Soviets than any time since 1962!). This may just be a typical left-wing rant but here is my thing with Reagan -he did an excellent job as acting as a president -but I guess that's where I part company with so many. I could always tell it was acting-none of it was real-and he was very good at it -but I could tell almost everything the man said was bullshit!

Sorry about that I will stick to the story from here on out -sheesh as if I am not behind enough! Damn I even lost my place!

Often, survival in the Kremlin meant not survival of the most sophisticated and intelligent -but the blandest and most boring! This meant having a preternatural feel for the upcoming party positions and to agree with them totally-whether you really did or not. Konstantin Chernenko, who would become the general secretary on Andropov's death, chaired the Politburo meeting on the KAL 007 affair because of Andropov's hospitalization. Chernenko was a completely colorless Brezhenev crony. One of Chernenko's responsibilities used to be making sure that Brezhnev didn't smoke over his quota of cigarettes. The Soviet ambassador to the USA, Anatoly Dobrynin, had told a reporter here during the wait and see period after Andropov's death, something to the effect that "The elevation of Konstantin Chernenko to the Communist Party leadership would be an insult to both the Soviet state and people." Once again -relying a lot on memory for that-I will look it up to be sure. Just the fact that Dobrynin wasn't even punished for making such a statement when Chernenko did get the nod-much less called back to Moscow and shot, as he would have been during Stalin's time shows how little respect Chernenko had among many important Soviet officials.

In regard to KAL 007, Chernenko said to the Politburo, "One thing is clear, we cannot allow foreign planes to overfly our territory freely. No self-respecting state can allow that." Defense Minister Ustinov was next to speak. His report to the Politburo contained several major lies, designed to relieve the military of all responsibility for the incident. Unstinov claimed that the 747 was flying "without warning lights," directly contradicted by the testimonyof the interceptor pilot. He also insisted that "repeated instructions" had been given to the intruder to land at a Soviet airfield and that warning shots had been fired "with tracer shells, as stipulated by International rules." Ustinov continued: "My opinion is that in this situation we must show firmness and remain cool. We should not flinch. If we flinch, it gives all kinds of people the opportunity to overfly our territory." Andrei Gromyko, the 74 year old foreign minister was the only Politburo member with the prestige and authority to stand up to Ustinov. And perhaps Gromyko was sorely tempted to do this, as he would bear the brunt of international outrage over the incident. However, Gromyko was always a very cautious man. He had survived Stalin's purges and managed to climb near to the pinnacle of power by always supporting the winning side.

Instead of choosing to debate Ustinov he also caved in, as he didn't want to appear too much like a peacenik during this rapidly escalating incident. Gromyko told the Politburo that the Soviet military had acted "correctly" when it shot down the Korean plane. However, he also acknowledged that the Soviet Union should anticipate a likely barrage of "imperialist propaganda" and admit that "shots were fired." "We should say so frankly, so as not to allow our adversary to accuse us of being deceitful. Our main argument should be that the plane was flying over Soviet territory and had penetrated an exceptionally long way into our territory." It was now Mikhail Gorbachev's turn to speak. The "baby" of the Politburo at 52 years old was in a very fragile position. His colleagues knew he was the one Andropov wanted to be his successor. Andropov had encouraged Gorbachev to get involved in all areas of Soviet government in anticipation of this. The older members of the Politburo needed his youthful energy and competence-but they also felt threatened by him to say the least. It was very hard for them to imagine Gorbachev keeping them around if he came to power, rather than replace them with men closer to his own age. Gorbachev walked a tightrope to retain their confidence and have a realistic chance for the top job.

He had to be an enthusiastic supporter of the Party without threatening any of the vested interests of the Soviet bureaucracy. Gorbachev also took the "safe" line in the Politburo meeting. He told his colleagues that the Americans must have known of this unauthorized violation of Soviet airspace. The length of time that the plane had been in Soviet airspace, two hours, proved that this was a "planned provocation" by the United States. To be continued....

The image is of a plane very similar to what Gennady Osipovich might have thought he was actually firing at. I am exhausted and probably shouldn't even have started this article! Sorry for going off-topic with the "Reagan Rant." I am just amazed so many times how the criminals get away with so much here in the US. O-and any conservatives who might see this-no worries about me. I am voting third party in 2012 and am disgusted with both major politcal parties in our nation right now. I hope to be back online soon with more-hopefully tomorrow. I hope there aren't a huge amount of typos in this-I will try to look real fast. Before finally going offline I will also check for the Dobrynin/Chernenko quote. If it is vastly different than I remember, I will come back and delete it or change it. All the best to anyone stopping by! OK -I am giving myself just a week to confirm the Dobrynin quote about Chernenko. If this were any other area of history I would have taken it down already. Just wanted to come back and let people know to beware of that quote until I can prove it or delete it-maybe someone else will know about it? The second image I brought back is of Chernenko and Brezhnev in happier times-probably the mid to late 1970s with a group of Young Pioneers.