Irony. Why states covertly support terrorism.

[Mal7]

I came across this booklet The Soviet Strategy of Terror by Samuel T. Francis. (Washington, D. C.: The Heritage Foundation: 1981).

This is obviously a very hawkish propaganda booklet from a Washington think tank, and shouldn’t be taken at face value. But it gives some reasons for why states covertly support terrorist groups, even if the author is holding his mirror back-to-front and upside-down.

2. Pressure on the non-Communist Left: By supporting terrorism on a clandestine level, the Soviets may be able to infiltrate and influence terrorist groups that are not friendly to the Soviet Union. The Soviets may then be able to “turn” the group into a more compliant role or, if this is not feasible, to destroy it.
[. . .]
3. Destabilization. There is no doubt that terrorism, whether of the Right or of the Left, whether Soviet-supported or not, increases tensions in a society, challenges the public consensus, and often induces the government to adopt a repressive reaction that cannot be sustained indefinitely without serious damage to constitutional processes and institutions.
[. . .]
All of these consequences may lead to uncertainty, discontent, backlashes, extremism, and the weakening of the Western alliance structure – which would be in the interest of the Soviet Union and may be tactical goals of its support of terrorism in some instances.

- pages 71-72.

 

[Laura]

Somebody should re-write it and change "Soviet" to America and publish it that way. Then things might begin to make more sense.

 

[Alada]

Somebody should re-write it and change "Soviet" to America and publish it that way. Then things might begin to make more sense.

Indeed, just consider one example of the refugee crisis now spreading through Europe as a destabilising influence there, thanks to ‘terrorists’.

Sobering to be reminded that ‘The U.S. Strategy of Terror’ was penned back in the 80s, that think tanks were working in these ideas and strategies already back then. The U.S. / Israel have been playing a very long game in order to create the chaos and disintegration we have today. As the text says "All of these consequences may lead to uncertainty, discontent, backlashes, extremism, and the weakening of the Western alliance structure (europe) – which would be in the interest of the U.S./Israel and may be tactical goals of its support of terrorism in some instances."