- metadata: - source: https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-color-revolutions-come-home - people: - [[Matt Taibbi]] - [[Viktor Orbán]] > Please support independent journalism by subscribing to Matt Taibbi --- # The Color Revolutions Come Home > ## Excerpt > The impeachment process brings the joys of "democracy promotion" stateside. --- [](https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F25732360-6c39-472f-8ca6-1b40c8591114_2048x1404.jpeg) The first round of televised impeachment hearings is over. What was the point? Support for impeachment nationally was unaffected by hearings. In battleground states, public enthusiasm may even have [declined](https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/11/20/marquette-poll-impeachment-donald-trump-democratic-race/4244453002/). Conviction of Donald Trump in the Senate remains a fantasy, as not one Republican has budged. Despite months of constant coverage denouncing him as a criminal, Trump’s approval rating has [ticked up](https://news.gallup.com/poll/268493/trump-approval-holds-steady-face-impeachment-probe.aspx). In the end, impeachment may not fulfill any of its ostensible purposes, except one: as a bullhorn of crazy. Its leader, House Intelligence Committee chief Adam Schiff, is a musical comedy version of a show trial inquisitor. Vainglorious, stupid, and certain, full of tears to be shed for party, never using two words when there’s time for a hundred, the California Democrat is using the circus to right a smorgasbord of wrongs. He seeks to restore fealty to theories of foreign subversion villainously forgotten by the post-Mueller public, denounce as “conspiracy theory” rumors of wrongdoing by the intelligence and enforcement agencies, discredit all disobedient/non-credentialed media, and declare as a matter of law the error of voters who in 2016 set in motion events that led to the undermining of our sacred national security consensus. If the flavor of the PR campaign against “[dictator-like](https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/president-trump-s-dictator-administration-attacking-values-america-holds-dear-ncna1091156)” Trump feels familiar, it’s because we’ve heard it before. At least, I have. I feel like I’ve been watching the same story on an endless loop for almost thirty years.  American diplomats push unpopular “reforms”; nationalist movement rises in response; America tries to overthrow the nationalist.   We call it “democracy promotion,” and I got to watch it up close, over a dozen years in developing countries like Russia, Mongolia, and Uzbekistan. “DP” begins with starter kits of party-hardy young American consultants breezing into foreign capitals, where they hang out only with each other in a conspiracy of monolingualism. Their first job is assigning White Hats and Black Hats to local politicians, based upon which are and are not friendly to American business interests. Step two is making sure White Hats remain in power forever, and Black Hats stay out. In almost 100% of cases, this involves pushing policies that inspire local populations to hate us. Even where they never existed, we create rationales for anti-American movements. Russia and Ukraine, the two central players in the impeachment drama, were prime examples. In Ukraine in the early nineties, we forked over $371 million in loans through the World Bank back [in return for “reforms](https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/29/world/ukraine-gets-reformer-at-the-helm.html).” “Reform” was code for austerity, i.e. budget cuts causing mass layoffs, the end of agricultural subsidies, and raised prices for food, heating oil, rent, and a host of other day-to-day costs. We also sponsored high-speed privatization programs with the aid of geniuses from institutions like Harvard.  These programs massively accelerated corruption in both countries, as White Hats in Moscow and Kiev used the opportunity to “privatize” valuable state assets into the hands of cronies.  When anti-American sentiment rose in response, our consultants thought it was fake news. The notion that ex-communist peoples might associate them with economic misery or corruption had to be vicious rumor. After all, newspapers were filled with tales of happy foreigners transitioning to a market economy, enjoying the thrills of VCR ownership, Pizza Hut, etc. Russia even had its own IKEA! In an amazing example of how we chased bad decisions with worse ones, we helped arrange [a $10.2 billion I.M.F. loan](https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/11/world/did-yeltsin-get-a-sweetheart-deal-on-imf-loans.html) in 1996 that, in a conspicuous coincidence, almost exactly matched Boris Yeltsin’s Chechen war debt. In other words, to protect our White Hat in Moscow, we essentially financed the invasion of Grozny.  By the late nineties we’d helped put millions of Slavs out of jobs, turned off their heat, canceled their health care, jacked up rents, created a swinish oligarch class (to create a financial firewall against communism), and helped finance a brutal war on their territory.  Unsurprisingly, nationalist movements surged, forcing the U.S. to meddle more, to protect the initial meddling. This interminable stupidity cycle is the hallmark of American foreign policy. By the end of the millennium, “democracy promotion” organizations like the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, and USAID were graduating from “advice” and logistical campaign support to egging opposition movements to full-blown government overthrows. In the first “color revolution” in Serbia in 2000, “DP” organizations funded by USAID backed an on-the-ground protest movement [called “Otpor](https://books.google.com/books?id=VCpADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA99&lpg=PA99&dq=USAID+%22color+revolution%22&source=bl&ots=rklWseqgmg&sig=ACfU3U0XZpLAuIELDc3gHKwV8OTOKz3kqg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwijjJj-w4DmAhVM1VkKHTpBB84Q6AEwAHoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=USAID%20%22color%20revolution%22&f=false),” which organized an army of protesters. We paid for [5,000 cans of spray paint](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/12/11/us-advice-guided-milosevic-opposition/ba9e87e5-bdca-45dc-8aad-da6571e89448/) that “Otpor” protesters used to write graffiti ripping Slobodan Milosevic all over Serbia, while putting 2.5 million “He’s Finished!” stickers on walls everywhere. “Color revolutions” popped up in most every country in the region with a non-American-approved leader: Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, etc. The script involved funding opposition movements, public protests, and strikes, and relentless, high-dollar public relations campaigns pushing accelerated referendums on power, often through parliament. But the same flaw that had dogged the original “democracy promotion” efforts — our willingness to turn a blind eye to corruption of America’s “White Hats” — made most of the color revolutions immediate failures.  Mikheil Saakashvili in Georgia, whose regime George W. Bush described as a “[beacon of liberty](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/maxseddon/the-rise-and-fall-of-mikheil-saakashvili),” was hounded from office for incompetence and corruption. He ended up facing charges in both Georgia and Ukraine, where he was arrested after climbing to a roof and [threatening to jump](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/08/world/europe/saakashvili-arrest-ukraine.html?auth=login-email&login=email).  The first “Orange” revolution in Ukraine led to so much infighting between Western-backed politicians Viktor Yuschenko and Yulia Tymoschenko, with each accusing the other of fomenting corruption, that Ukrainians ended up voting back in the man the 2004 revolt was designed to keep out of office, Viktor Yanukovich.  In Kyrgyzstan, Kurmanbek Bakiyev massively enriched his family while citizens froze in power shortages. Our Man in Bishkek ended up having troops fire on crowds that protested his rule, leaving [at least 85 dead](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/20/kyrgyzstan-president-bakiyev-exile-belarus), before fleeing to Belarus (!).  In the bloody “Euromaidan” protests in Ukraine in 2014, we backed armed “masked militants” seizing government buildings, leading to a scene in which John McCain stood side by side with agitators from Ukraine’s Svoboda organization – [literal neo-Nazis](https://www.channel4.com/news/ukraine-mccain-far-right-svoboda-anti-semitic-protests) whose original symbol was based on a Swastika – and said, “[America is with you](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/30/russia-ukraine-war-kiev-conflict).” America’s diplomats planned Ukraine’s future to the last detail. Russians leaked a [recorded phone call](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-purported-recording-of-us-diplomat-blunt-talk-on-ukraine/2014/02/06/518240a4-8f4b-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.html) between Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt. Nuland didn’t believe opposition leader/boxer Vitali Kitschko should be “in government,” while another opposition leader named Arseniy Yatsenuk should be. In the call, the big boss served a shit sandwich to Pyatt, who ate it after a pause: > _Nuland: I **don**’**t think Klitsch should go into the government**. I don’t think it’s necessary. I don’t think it’s a good idea._ > > _Pyatt: (after moment). Yeah, I guess… you think… in terms of him not going into the government, just let him stay out and do his political homework…?_ > > _Nuland: (interrupting) I think **Yats is the guy** who’s got the economic experience, the governing experience..._ After we installed Our Man in Kiev in 2014, Vladimir Putin – who was so afraid of American influence that he [banished organizations like USAID](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/sep/18/usaid-moscow-putin-protest)for “political engineering” – freaked out and sent troops into Crimea. This triggered this last playbook American response, the “[this aggression will not stand, Man](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyLdtG7KZvw)” routine.  By January, 2016, Ambassador Pyatt was donning a blue puffer jacket and smart glasses – he looked like a reserve MSNBC host – to [visit a Ukrainian base in a place called Khmelnytskyi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxeZFS9hTUg&feature=youtu.be). In a cheerful video, American troops can be seen enthusiastically firing off automatic rounds there with Ukrainian counterparts, because when it comes to arms buildups and proxy wars between ancient neighbors with centuries-long records of massacre and genocide, America is “[Down for Whatever](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T44yl-LMSU)!” What could go wrong? The strategy worked like gangbusters in Korea, Vietnam, Syria, and Iraq, among other places.    Did Donald Trump, 2016 presidential candidate, object to any of this on a moral level? No way. But as an outsider he had nothing to lose by saying the obvious, i.e. that our foreign policy is run by arrogant, unaccountable goofs who’ve screwed up everything they’ve tried since World War II. Trump talked about how “[we cannot be the policeman of the world](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/us/politics/donald-trump-transcript.html)” (true), said other countries weren’t paying their NATO dues (true), and added we should get out of the “nation-building” business because were too often “[backing people who we don’t know who they are](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/13/donald-trump-foreign-policy-doctrine-nation-building)” (mega-true, especially in Ukraine). Despite all this, Trump green-lit sales of weapons like Javelin missiles to Ukraine, a step even Barack Obama hesitated to make. But when it came time deliver the “aid,” he hesitated. Trump had come to see the government of Petro Poroshenko (then, a pro-American in an alternating cycle of pro- and anti-American leaders in Ukraine) as being part of a plot against him. This was for the factually true reason that at least to some degree, even a small one, it [had cooperated](https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/ukraine-sabotage-trump-backfire-233446) with the DNC in helping the campaign of Hillary Clinton. Moreover, America’s White Hats in Ukraine publicly denounced Trump, with people like our “Yats” saying he “challenged the very values of the free world.” So when it came time to deliver $400 million in weapons to further the glorious arms buildup, Trump was fine with it, but decided that Ukraine needed first to sit up and beg. This was pure Trump: even though he’d argued against such escalations as a candidate, and even seemed to have a fair idea of reasons why, in the end all he really cared about was whether or not Ukraine was going to help him personally. Which is not exactly presidential behavior, but many degrees less insane than setting another region on fire for refusing the gift of our moronic foreign policy. It was nowhere near as bad as bringing the color revolution script back home, which is what impeachment became: a pretext controversy, surfaced by intelligence agencies and the “national security establishment,” followed by massive elite public relations campaign, all in search of an accelerated referendum to do away with a “finished” elected official. On the opening day of hearings Schiff, perched in his butter-leather chair, outlined the conspiracy to extract a “favor” from Ukraine. The favor was never delivered, but if it had been, it would have undermined “our security and our elections.” From there, Schiff began calling witnesses, each a more pious servant of the Fraternal Order of America than the next. One of the first was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Eastern Europe and the Caucuses, George Kent. Kent described how there had been George Kents “sworn to protect the Constitution” for over 60 years, beginning with his ballistic submarine captain father, who went to the Naval Academy with none other than Roger Staubach! The son of the classmate of America’s quarterback [described the response of our esteemed Ukrainian allies](https://time.com/5726753/impeachment-hearings-opening-statement-george-kent-bill-taylor/) to the Russian invasion in 2014: > _Ukrainian civil society answered the challenge. They formed volunteer battalions of citizens, including technology professionals and medics. They crowd-sourced funding for their own weapons, body armor, and supplies. They were the 21st century Ukrainian equivalent of our own Minutemen in 1776…_ Actually those “Minutemen” in the Azov Battalion were [literal neo-Nazis](https://www.thedailybeast.com/ukraines-anti-russia-azov-battalion-minutemen-or-neo-nazi-terrorists), whose symbol is the Nazi _Wolfsangel,_ but who cared? The point was, America helped good people and opposed bad people. Democrats hammered this principle with another of Schiff’s “consummate professionals,” Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman.  Democratic counsel Daniel Goldman asked the Purple Heart recipient to explain the “[fairly consensus policy within the interagency](https://www.npr.org/2019/11/08/777514772/read-testimony-of-alexander-vindman-the-white-houses-ukraine-specialist)” towards Ukraine. He then asked when he first became aware of “outside influencers promoting a false narrative that was inconsistent with this uniform policy.” _Outside influencers, promoting false narratives, undermining the uniform policy._ With a few words added, this is a translation from Maoist law, i.e. “Comrade chairman, I first became aware of outside influencers promoting false narratives inconsistent with the uniform policy of the Glorious Revolution when...” The most bizarre testimony was that of Yovanovich. Ever since the Ukraine scandal blew up, and Yovanovich’s name began appearing in delirious news articles, I searched for a second story layer to explain why we’re supposed to care that Donald Trump “removed” an ambassador. Ambassadorships are literally for sale. Presidents routinely nominate as ambassadors dopes with bags of money and little experience. New presidents make way for their dopes with money by firing their predecessors’ dopes with money.  By the time Barack Obama was re-elected in 2012, academics were able to put concrete price tags on individual seats, as the [New York Times reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/us/politics/study-puts-cost-to-landing-diplomatic-post.html?auth=login-email&login=email) in early 2013. Obama in his first run had fired all of Bush’s ambassadors, then tried to send to Norway a hotel CEO who’d [raised $998,550](https://www.pri.org/stories/2014-01-24/obamas-pick-norway-ambassador-doesnt-know-anything-about-norway) but [didn’t know the country didn’t have a president](https://www.npr.org/2014/06/17/323032817/the-would-be-ambassador-to-norway-whos-never-been-there-himself). Bush did the same with Clinton’s envoys.  Yet the Yovanovich story – essentially, “President Fires Ambassador He Dislikes” – was hyped as a treason narrative. Early in Yovanovich’s “[explosive](https://digg.com/2019/yovanovitch-trump-testimony-twitter-highlights)” testimony, she elaborated on the “false narratives” theme: > _Although I understand, everyone understands, that I serve at the pleasure of the president… the U.S. government chose to remove an ambassador based, as far as I can tell, on unfounded and false claims by people with questionable motives._ Translation: I understand the president can fire me for any reason, but I disagree with the reasons. Only in modern America could an opening like that be followed by nine more hours of talking. Those were tearjerker hours! To quote President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho, [everyone’s shit was emotional](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucKM36YtuXs).  [Jeopardy! failure](https://news.avclub.com/its-3-p-m-lets-watch-wolf-blitzer-get-completely-wrec-1827956593) Wolf Blitzer described the “[truly powerful](https://www.rawstory.com/2019/11/cnns-wolf-blitzer-astonished-by-yovanovichs-devastating-testimony-and-trumps-unhinged-response/)” statement by Yovanovich, who spoke “emotionally but very specifically” about her trials under Trump. Chris Wallace of Fox News – _Fox News! –_ [commented](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGZZFGXT3bA) that “if you are not moved by the testimony of Marie Yovanovich today, you don_’_t have a pulse.” The [Washington Post lede](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/amid-cheers-and-a-tweet-masha-has-her-impeachment-moment/2019/11/15/2cc0558c-07fc-11ea-ae28-7d1898012861_story.html) about Yovanovich’s “impeachment moment” was the most over the top: > _WASHINGTON — The box of white tissues stood by, two seats to Maria Yovanovitch’s right, as she told the world about being “shocked, appalled, devastated” that the president had badmouthed her…_ From Robert Mueller (the “personification of order”) to the not-spying spy Stephen Halper (“[a well-regarded academic who is also a patriot](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cambridge-university-perch-gave-fbi-source-access-to-top-intelligence-figures--and-a-cover-as-he-reached-out-to-trump-associates/2018/06/05/c6764dc2-641e-11e8-99d2-0d678ec08c2f_story.html)”) to FBI chief James Comey (a “[true and passionate patriot](https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-return-of-james-comey-patriot)”) to former CIA director John Brennan (a “[devoted public servant](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/trump-white-house-anonymous-resistance.html?module=inline)”) to the “whistleblower” (a “[real patriot](https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/readers-respond/bs-ed-rr-whistleblower-letter-20190930-po6cky4v3zavbaxyx6ytp4jray-story.html)”), Vindman (“[great American patriot](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/30/opinion/alexander-vindman-trump-ukraine.html)”), Taylor (a “[true patriot](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/22/us/politics/william-b-taylor-diplomat.html?auth=login-email&login=email)”), and, now, the “[wounded patriot’s heart](https://m.cnn.com/en/article/h_6c704d64d10dbffaa00061d9935e342c)” of Yovanovich, we’ve met a string of conscience-stricken heroes whose “entire lives” have been in service, coming forward to stop the criminal interloper from defiling the damsel in distress that is the state. Many of these patriots, like Comey, Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissman, and the Anonymous _Times_ columnist (the [Unknown Comic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BBZVQ4zBcU)of the /#Resistance) parachuted out of service into [massive book deals](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/11/nikki-haley-john-bolton-anonymous-book-deals-arent-saving-democracy.html), underscoring the extreme personal peril of opposing Donald Trump. An over/under on a Yovanovich book deal would open at about half a million.  I’m no fan of Trump. On an almost daily basis, he does something on a policy level that makes me cringe. The recent pardons of three soldiers accused of war crimes (of [varying degrees of horribleness](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/15/us/trump-pardons.html?auth=login-email&login=email)) were an example of the kind of phony-tough decision Trump seems to make with regularity, based on the watching of _Fox and Friends_ segments.  But a new reporting style drastically overplays every Trump narrative, framing even Trump’s legal exercises of power as corrupt, in a way that reveals his accusers to be more deranged than he is. The recent pardons were covered by the _New York Times_ using [language like](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/15/us/trump-pardons.html?auth=login-email&login=email), “The moves signaled that as commander in chief, Mr. Trump intends to use his power as the ultimate arbiter of military justice.” Elected Commander-in-Chief, Trump _is_ the ultimate arbiter of military justice. He also has a right to pardon, just like he has a right to fire ambassadors. Yet he is portrayed as a usurper, a Napoleon, whose existence is an affront to the honor of the system. About the lowest-percentage strategy for winning public sympathy one could dream up in America is a sob story about the selfless heroism of our political elite. These people have made messes all over the world, starting countless wars and overthrows and propping up rapacious oligarchies everywhere, including – as both Trump and Bernie Sanders argued in 2016, in differing ways – here in America.  In this sense Trump is just the latest in a long line of nationalist politicians, some from the left and some from the right, who’ve been catapulted into office around the world running against American policymakers. Even Trump, out of touch as a billionaire naturally would be, underestimated the depth of the anger on this front. He tried to lose, and voters literally wouldn’t let him.  Rather than recognize this, and correct the source of that unpopularity, the reaction in Washington has been as always: double down and shoehorn in the original failed message using sheer force and repetition.  Remember when General Manuel Noriega tried to hide from us in the Vatican’s Panama City embassy in 1989? Troops rolled in Humvees to blast the [Clash version of “I Fought the Law](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsS0cvTxU-8&list=PL7ssB--7GJVy9mgGTxBXhJD50gkR25qkB&index=89&t=0s)” for three straight days. The Holy See complained, but screw the Pope – we ignored him and Noriega surrendered. Impeachment has become as ear-splitting and redundant as the Noriega Setlist. It doesn’t need to result in conviction to be a success. It’s enough to drive home the message that voting for the wrong kind of person will result in four years of metaphorical Humvees parked outside your door, blasting the same song until your skull bleeds.  If this doesn’t restore your respect for the “national security establishment,” it will at least remind you of its capacity for tireless, evangelical insanity, which amounts to the same thing. Here and around the world, the song never ends.  ###### [Photo via U.S. Embassy Kyiv Ukraine](https://www.flickr.com/photos/usembassykyiv/34611961275/in/photolist-UJxme2-ZK6U34-TeeipZ-TeehYt-TeegwR-2eFFHX9-TqCzCH-NQcrqC-NQcuoG-TbPVfY-S99TrC-2eFFHEq-2d6nFV1-R32Sqm-2d6nGdW-R32SH5-2d6nGMb-R32SUC-R32Sw3-QZWepZ-2dXSCYK-QZWevk-T4devW-UufxA5-Tn2URw-JekNfa-TqCAKx-SbMNJV-YDyabe-Tn2UBd-SQDsay-SbMNsT-Tn2Usq-UufNTj-TRqgVa-YErg6j-Ux1UEP-2asfj2m-2asfiVu-2asfisL-2asfhbh-2asfgTU-2asfhF5-2asfi6y-2asfhtw-2asfhk5-2d6nH5q-2d6nGsJ-R32SiN-2asfgG1) _**Earlier**_: - [Russiagate was journalist QAnon (Part 1)](https://taibbi.substack.com/p/russiagate-was-journalist-qanon-part) - [Russiagate was journalist QAnon (Part 2)](https://taibbi.substack.com/p/russiagate-was-journalist-qanon-part-40f) - [The roots of “passive collusion”](https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-roots-of-passive-collusion) - [Military vs. military](https://taibbi.substack.com/p/military-vs-military) - [The intelligence community needs a house-cleaning](https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-intelligence-community-needs) - [Exposé in The Hill challenges Mueller, media](https://taibbi.substack.com/p/expos-in-the-hill-challenges-mueller) - [The rise and fall of superhero Robert Mueller](https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-rise-and-fall-of-superhero-robert) - [The New York Times is no longer the paper of record](https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-new-york-times-is-no-longer-the) - [Latest Russian spy story looks like another elaborate media deception](https://taibbi.substack.com/p/latest-russian-spy-story-looks-like) - [We’re in a permanent coup](https://taibbi.substack.com/p/were-in-a-permanent-coup) - [The New York Times sinks below Fox](https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-new-york-times-sinks-below-fox) _**Also read**:_ - _[Hate Inc.: How, and Why, the Media Makes Us Hate One Another](https://taibbi.substack.com/p/introduction-the-fairway)_ - _[The Business Secrets of Drug Dealing: Adventures of an Unidentified Black Male](https://taibbi.substack.com/p/authors-note-and-preface-the-business-secrets-of-drug-dealing)_