The Ron Paul революция (revolution)

“The current atmosphere in the US is that we’re having a love affair with Russia, that the Cold War is over,” agreed Eugene Poteat, a retired senior CIA operative who served from 1960-1990. “But there are more Russian spies here now than during the Cold War.” From the New York Post

The Patriot Deception, my ongoing investigation into Russian Active Measures (Russian: активные мероприятия) against the U.S. Liberty and Patriot movements, has led me to some interesting characters. From treasonous former U.S. government officials who now openly support Russia’s agenda toward the U.S., to Tea Party and Oath Keepers organizations that are unwittingly being deceived by their choices in news sources, they all have one element in common: They are all classic examples of Russian Active Measures that have been perpetrated against the west since the 1960s.

Active Measures are a combination of Influence Operations and Propaganda designed, not for espionage purposes, but for the purpose of altering public and political opinions in the target nation. In this case, the United States is the targeted nation but, with MI5, the UK’s domestic security service, warning that espionage activity within the UK remains at Cold War levels, we know that the U.S. is not the only target of these operations.

The Patriot Deception synopsis is as follows. Russia, in an attempt to alter the opinions of U.S. citizens and politicians, creates news items, or alters existing news items to add a pro-Russian slant, and then feeds them to alternative media outlets. Of course, InfoWars is among those outlets, as are numerous other alternative media websites, which then further alter the “news” to promote it to their audience – the Liberty and Patriot movements. In the end, the final recipients of this “news” may be completely unaware that the information originated from a Russian propaganda machine, the major offenders being RT.com (formerly Russia Today), Pravda, Sputniknews, and riafan.com. The item is typically copied and shared on so many websites that its origins cannot be determined with a simple glance. You may find the item on Zero Hedge which lists InfoWars as the source and then find InfoWars lists RT.com as the source, and round and round until you have no idea who created the item. To learn more about this process, read the previous articles in the Patriot Deception series, starting with the Introduction HERE.

Ron Paul entered the equation early on in my research. Since he is such a popular figure, in effect, the poster-child for the liberty movement, I wanted to continue my research in order to present a clear picture of his involvement. The research is ongoing but it is sufficient to present the basics of how Russia is using Paul as part of their Active Measures.

Who is Ron Paul?

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1935, this son of Pennsylvania dairy farmers graduated from Duke University with a degree in medicine. He served as a military physician in the U.S. Air Force, and then the Air National Guard, during the 1960s. He entered politics in the 1970s and served in various elected positions, losing the occasional election and returning to his private gynecology practice. He served as a Republican but later ran for President as a Libertarian, knowing he would not be able to win the support of the Republican Party. Also in the 1970s, Paul began writing about the gold market and his personal economic theories. All in all, his story is an excellent example of the American dream. Humble beginnings, hard work, devout study, and eventual success.

And he has a love affair with Russian thuggery.

I will assume many of those reading this were children during the Cold War, or perhaps weren’t born until after the fall of our old rivals the Soviet Union. This fact, coupled with the explosion of alternative media outlets in the last ten years, accounts for much of the success attributed to Russian Active Measures. People simply weren’t aware of what the Soviets, and now the Russian federation, have been doing. They grew up in a period after the Cold War and have been told, mostly by Russia, that Russia is now a “friend” of the United States. For the people of Russia, this may, or may not, be true. For the government of Russia, this has never been true. The United States, according to Russian intelligence documents, remains the “main target” of Russian intelligence. Russia is not content to simply steal our secrets, which they do fairly easily because of the new public perception. Russia seeks to alter our politics, change the opinions or our citizenry, and reshape the west into an environment that will not hinder Russia’s agenda.

For an official report on Russian Active Measures, written by the U.S. State Department as the Cold War drew to a close, click HERE. It is a blueprint still followed by the old KGB-hands who now run the Kremlin. To learn about some modern forms of this, I recommend reading Deception, by Edward Lucas.

Enter Daniel McAdams

During the last decade of Ron Paul’s political career, he brought on a foreign affairs adviser named Daniel McAdams. McAdams is also the executive director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, an organization that promotes non-interventionist philosophies for U.S. governmental affairs. Daniel McAdams works for the Russians. His self-written bio on the Voices of Liberty website states:

Daniel McAdams is Executive Director at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, a non-profit policy institute founded in 2013 by Dr. Paul. The Institute focuses on publishing and education to promote Dr. Paul’s philosophy of non-interventionism abroad and defense of civil liberties at home. Previously, McAdams served as US Representative Ron Paul’s adviser for foreign affairs, defense, intelligence, and civil liberties from 2001 until Dr. Paul’s retirement from Congress at the end of 2012. From 1993-1999 he worked as a journalist based in Budapest, Hungary, including as editorial page editor at the Budapest Sun. He also served with the British Helsinki Human Rights Group while based in Europe, monitoring human rights and elections in various contentious states, including Albania, Montenegro, Georgia, Armenia, Belarus, Croatia, and Slovakia. He was a Phillips Foundation Journalism Fellow (1998-2000) and an American Swiss Foundation “Young Leader” (2006). He holds a BA in English from the University of California at Berkeley and completed studies for a Master’s in international relations at San Francisco State University.

The British Helsinki Human Rights Group, with which McAdams is so proud to have worked, is barely a blip on the political radar today but, during its prime in the 1990s, was well-known as a pro-Russian, anti-west organization. The organization supported such liberty-minded leaders as Slobodan Milosevic, Robert Mugabe, and Viktor Yanukovich. The BHHRG was well-known to be nothing more than an arm of Russia’s propaganda war as it promoted Russian foreign policy.

Strangely enough, there is no mention of McAdams’ work for Russia Today, now known as RT, RT International, and RT America. A collection of his pieces for RT can be found on the RT website HERE. In them, you will find his full range of pro-Russian, anti-U.S. and NATO opinions. He is also frequently interviewed by Russian media as an “expert” on civil liberties and the “imperialistic” United States. Ron Paul himself, the de facto leader of the U.S. Liberty movement, appears on RT regularly during interviews as well as writing articles for their websites. In fact, Ron Paul appears so frequently on RT that you would think he was still an elected official.

Now, for those who remember the Cold War, and, in particular, those who were in government service or the military at the time, can you imagine the outrage if a sitting Congressman’s adviser on foreign affairs worked for the Russian government? In 1984, can you imagine what would have happened in the press and in the houses of government if a policy adviser was found to have ties to the Soviet Union? But, in an odd case of amnesia, fast forward just a few years and that is exactly what happened. Daniel McAdams may not have been on the payroll of the FSB or the SVR but he was, without question, an agent for the Kremlin. He is the quintessential “agent of influence” used so often by the Russian intelligence services – people in positions of sufficient authority to alter or redirect the policies of the target nation. When you sit at the right hand of a congressman and have his ear, and are openly advocating the policies of the enemy, you are the very definition of an agent of influence. For Paul and McAdams, non-interventionist doesn’t simply mean “Let’s stay out of it.” It means “We support the other side and will openly speak out against the United States.” Ron Paul’s hand-picked group of pro-Russian advisers doesn’t stop with McAdams. Several board members for the Ron Paul Institute have connections to Russia and pro-Russian NGOs. McAdams is simply the most active and most verbal of the group.

Why does the Kremlin love Ron Paul?

Because Ron Paul has done more to promote the Russian agenda than he has to improve the political situation in his own country. Russian media parrots Paul in his angry rants against NSA surveillance and the erosion of civil liberties. Fomenting dissent among the population of the target nation is the purpose of Active Measures. It is a major victory for Russia when an admired American politician does the work for them. Paul’s pro-Russia stance and seemingly inexhaustible desire to have his ego stroked by Russian media belies the fact that Russia is the definition of a surveillance state, possessing no truly free media and a history of danger to journalists who attempt to report the truth. Paul will gladly sit with an interviewer on RT and describe the U.S. as a dictatorship, an imperialistic regime, and an insult to our founding fathers. He does so from the pulpit of a nation well-known for killing those who disagree with the Kremlin and attempt to expose its own dirty laundry.

Between agents of influence in our own government and willing traitors like Edward Snowden, Russia is enjoying greater success today than they ever enjoyed during the Cold War. Our own citizens and representatives, blinded by a false declaration of friendship and enticed by stardom and wealth from Russia’s deep pockets is, in my opinion, the greatest success in the history of Active Measures.

Ron Paul, the godfather of the patriot movement, is no prophet. He is a puppet. And thousands of acolytes line up to lick his boots, and fill his coffers, completely unaware that the man behind the curtain is an old, determined, and creative enemy. The Ron Paul revolution is The Patriot Deception defined.

True patriotism does not involve siding with the enemies of your nation. Patriotism means putting your energy to work repairing those things you find wrong in your own society. There is much to do if we are to bring the United States back to its previous stature. Our communities are falling apart. Divisions in our country are worse than they have been in decades. Violence is rampant in much of our nation. Russia does not have an answer to our problems. In fact, discord, violence, and division are exactly what the Kremlin wants here. Reject those who claim to be working for the good of the patriots by promoting Russia’s agenda. WE are the beacon of freedom and liberty to the world. Today, Russia understands that better than our own citizens. And they want that beacon extinguished.

Ross Elder