Chechnya Burns, Putin Kills, but Obama Talks Treaty
The Russian tinderbox known as Chechnya is smoldering once again, indicating a complete policy breakdown on the part of the Kremlin that has wide and deep repercussions for the outside world — including a greatly increased risk of terrorism at the 2014 Olympic Games. If the Obama administration does not act soon, it may have blood on its hands.
Current events coming out of the region look like a public relations nightmare for the Kremlin. First came the renewed insurrection: on October 19, 2010, Chechen rebels launched a bold direct assault on the Chechen parliament building in the capital city of Grozny, choosing the exact moment when a high-ranking Russian cabinet official was visiting. A few months earlier, the rebels had been even more provocative, attempting to assassinate the Kremlin’s puppet ruler Ramzan Kadyrov while he was watching a theater program. The myth that Kadyrov had decisively cowed the rebels has been, no pun intended, exploded. In fact the rebel groups are operating far and wide with impunity. There was a recent attack on a power station in Kabardino-Balkaria and a devastating explosion at an outdoor market in Vladikavkaz, emphasizing that insurrectionist activity is not limited to Chechnya proper but is spreading throughout the region.
Then came the revelations: in recent weeks, two different Russian military figures have come forward with confessions about brutality in the Kremlin’s earlier military campaigns in Chechnya that can only be called barbarism.
Major Alexei Potyomkin has admitted that a group of Red Cross volunteers slaughtered south of Grozny in 2006 were butchered not by rebels, but by Russian forces — hearkening back to World War II when Russian forces exterminated thousands of Polish officers in the forest of Katyn and blamed it on the Nazis.
Even more chilling, the Times of London has published the diary of an anonymous Russian combatant who reveals a seemingly endless litany of horrific crimes committed during the 1999 crackdown.
Viewed through this prism, an explosion days ago at the rail station in the spa town of Matsesta, just a few miles outside of Sochi where the 2014 Winter Olympics are to be held, takes on a terrifying new level of significance. It is as if the rebels are both probing and taunting the Russian government, preparing the stage for a wave of attacks as the Olympiad unfolds. Indeed, rail attacks are becoming bolder and more commonplace all across Russia, even in areas remote from the region itself. Attacks on law enforcement officers and troops viewed as occupiers continue on a regular basis as well, with no end in sight.
That the Russian government is unable to maintain security in the Caucasus, and that it is unwilling to be honest about that fact with the world — to the contrary, they seem eager to gamble with the lives of the world’s young athletes for propaganda purposes — can surprise nobody who is familiar with the KGB regime in the Kremlin. But the attitude of the Obama government towards these ominous developments is truly shocking and repellent, especially since Russia was not awarded the Olympic Games on Obama’s watch.
The Russian gov’t are a bunch of mafia/facsict thugs. They kill all legit reporters, rip off millions for the KGB & rule the country like Stalin. I’d kick them out of the Olymipic, much less let them host it. O will continue to brown nose Pukin as he has a man-crush on him. Russia should be treated like Iran. There is really little difference except instead of the mullas, you have Pukin’s gang of mafia thugs running everything…
Why exactly, would Obama do things any differently? He surrounded himself with Communists advisors – Van Jones being a classic example. Chaos IS the desired result…appeasing isn’t the point; the START treaty is a means to an end and it’s a worthwhile endeavor in the minds of this administration…problem is; the reality “the end” result is something they simply cannot fathom.
Mr.Zigfelt, a great and informative article but there’s no surprise at all here. The potential loss of human life means nothing to these people; how else could one even explain appeasing the Russians. Putin is a deceptive thug plotting our demise.
The START treaty ranks right up in the treasonous zone…and is an abject dereliction of duty to the American people. We have a fool in the WH. I hate to say that, I really do, because of the reverence I have for the office and for our country.
We really need to stop being concerned about about every rebellion that is taking place in every part of the world. It’s one of the worst aspects of trying to be “The world’s policeman.” Excuse me for saying this, but I’m really all broken up that Russia is having a hard time in Chechnya. The Russians are giving us zero help with Iran and now want to threaten Europe again with nuclear missiles just to prove that it’s a relevant power, although it is now simply a third world nation with first world nuclear weapons. Their military is in a shambles (especially its Navy, which has now been reduced to buying foreign ships for its diminishing fleet). If Russia cannot handle Chechnya, I doubt that it could ever invade Europe. Sure, it could fire nuclear missiles at it, but I doubt Russia wants to begin a Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) arms race all over again.
If Obama were smart and had some real stones, he would threaten to provide support for the Chechnyan rebels if Moscow does not terminate its association with the Iranians. This “Reset” fantasy with the Russians is insane and appeasing them will only lead to more disasters for not only the United States, but for the Middle East as well if Iran does get its nuclear bomb. We need to start threatening Russia a little more and stop kissing up to them a lot less. It really is the only thing these thugs understand.
The Chechen rebels are not gaining any friends by plotting terror attacks in Europe.
Even though what the Russians are doing is barbaric. It would seem kind of self loathing for western countries to help the Chechen rebel groups while said groups simultaneously are trying to blow up newspapers in Scandinavia.
It’s not natural to help people that want you dead.
There are several rogue states – or wannabe rogue states –at large in the former Soviet Union: The biggest one, headed by a former KGB officer, Vladimir Putin, who couldn’t charm anyone even if he were in clown make-up, his cold killer’s eyes would be too chilling; and the noisiest one, Chechyna, focus of an “independence” movement led by Muslims. A pox on both their houses. Putin wants to resurrect the “glory days” of the Soviet empire with a repressive dictatorship and doesn’t discriminate between opponents and whoever might be standing in his way; the Muslim “rebels” want to impose their own religious, totalitarian regime and don’t discriminate among their victims, either. As for the latter, I see no difference between them and the IRA and any other terrorist group who kill for the sake of killing. One shouldn’t forget the carnage in the Moscow theater and Beslan from a few years ago, and most recently the Moscow subway bomb.
Putin murders journalists in Russia and assassinates his enemies beyond Russia with impunity. His contempt for Obama is all too apparent.
As for Obama, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he’s an appeaser of brute force. He despises America as much as does Putin and bin Laden and has worked assiduously to knock it down a few rungs. His affinity for totalitarian governments and regimes is transparent; observe his deference to Hugo Chavez, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Putin, and other bloody thugs. He envies them. And his legislative agenda in this country is geared to turning it into another socialist regime, which requires the application of brute force. He makes Neville Chamberlain look like a schoolyard coward. Obama’s appeasement of tyranny, on the other hand, is deliberate and calculated. He is motivated by a death wish for his own country. So, a pox on him, too. I do wish people would stop being surprised by how “stupid” and “short-sighted” Obama appears to be. He and his puppet-master George Soros are not stupid and short-sighted; they know exactly what they’re doing. Obama’s policies are concocted with malice aforethought.
Add pedophile to the list. Yes, Putin the pedophile…
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=18244
That man couldn’t be any more disgusting if he went around covered in dung all day.
While I am no fan of the seemingly incomprehensible hubris and ineptitude currently esconced at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. and the reprehensibly narcissistic putin, perhaps a little context is needed. The tragedy at Beslan was committed by our ‘peace loving’ muslim brethren. There is ABSOLUTELY NOT a scintilla of justification for murdering hundreds of innocent schoolchildren. And so when I read about the justified persecution, and hopeful extermination, of Chechen ‘rebels’ in a reputable outlet, such as yours, I wonder if PJM has slipped a gear. Would you be happier if American Olympians were held hostage and slaughtered, as happened to Jewish atheletes in 1972? Make no mistake, this fight in Chechnya is about Western style ‘freedom’, the imposition of sharia and another piece of the West succumbing to islamic expansion. If the Russian response is viewed as ‘draconian’ by Ms. Zigfeld, imho, she is exceedingly short sighted and shockingly ignorant of the history of the fighting in Chechnya. The wounds of murdered children never heal and I hope putin is even more draconian and extreme in the extermination of these muslim ‘rebels’.
The West is in a struggle for its life. And jabbering on about unproven accusations of how the Russians are defending their own is puzzling. There are bigger issues which need to be addressed by this administration, namely Iran, that obama would be wise to get a firm and unshakable handle on. Exterminating murderous muslims extremists is something that needs to be practiced on a more widespread basis. This isn’t a theoretical exercise. It is a precursor of what may come to pass here in America, whether we like it or not.
I agree with this post completely. The war in Chechnya is nothing but a continuation of jihad – 1400 years old. The population of Chechnya is mostly Sunni – what more need be said? We should not have intervened in Bosnia. This intervention has caused in part Putin’s disrespect for our country. The killing of thousands of Muslims was the Islamic chickens coming home to roost. The history of that region should make clear the deeply held animosities. How many pogroms of Christians had the Muslims in that region made up until that point? How many Armenians were massacred in 1921 or so? 2 million? No peace can ever be made with Islam. Islam can never form the basis of a democratic state which can last. Russia was attacked 11 times from 1400 to 1920 by Muslims. She repelled each attack. She was also attacked by Napoleon and Hitler. We know what happened. I can understand that a bit of paranoia can be a legitimate part of the Russian identity. Putin is a male of the species. That is more than Obama could ever be. We could take a page from the Russian playbook on how to deal with the jihad of Islam. One must be ruthless to the nth degree.
The Beslan incident was in 2004.
That was five years after the Second Chechen War, in which Russian forces blasted their way into the city of Grozny, using their massive firepower indiscriminately, while their poorly disciplined and often drunken soldiers raped, looted, and murdered. Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of Chechens were killed.
This war was launched by the Putin regime as a response to the 1999 apartment house bombings in several Russian cities, which were blamed on Chechens. However, no Chechens have ever claimed responsibility for those bombings, and an FSB officer was caught planting a similar bomb. This incident was “explained” as a “training exercise”, but no independent investigation of the bombings or the “training exercise” has ever been allowed. Ex-FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko charged that the bombings were a “false flag” attack staged by the FSB – he was later murdered with a dose of radioactive polonium.
The deaths at Beslan were a great tragedy. But who was responsible? The Chechens only? Or also the Russian army and security forces, who blasted the school building with 125mm tank guns, anti-tank rockets, and heavy machine guns, then stormed in firing automatic rifles, throwing grenades, and using flamethrowers? Most accounts estimate that about half of the fatalities were burned to death in the resulting fire, which the Russian authorities made no preparations for and were wholly unable to check.
Obviously the Chechens were not innocent, but rhetoric about a “massacre” does not fit either.
That result was all of a piece with Russian actions in other incidents, such as the Moscow theater takeover. According to some of the foreigners who were present, only one hostage was killed by the Chechens. But over 100 died when Russian security forces flooded the building with gas. The Russians would not let foreign hostages be released, they blocked foreign doctors from assisting after the gassing, and would not identify the gas used so doctors would know what antidotes to give.
That there are brutes and murderers among the Chechens is certain. But what else is to be expected after years of merciless Russian brutality? Some Chechens have become radical Moslems. (There were some in Fallujah, according to a Marine officer I heard speak.) But what else is to be expected among savagely oppressed people who have gotten no help from anyone except the jihadists?
If one beats and tortures an animal long enough, it becomes vicious.
Moslems have caused a lot of problems around the world; but there are non-Moslem thugs and gangsters who are quite eager to attack Moslems and claim they are fighting terrorism.
Your tale of woe for the Chechens is pathetic, especially in light of the fact that they are the aggressors. THEY started the siege at Beslan. And regardless of friendly fire casualties, this entire tragedy lies at the feet of the aggressors. Stop making excuses for murderers, it doesn’t reflect favorably on your judgement.
I have no pity for them and even less for their ‘successors’. Pointing fingers and whining about who started what in the murky past is nothing but a totally fruitless and pointless exercise in mental flagellation. If the muslims don’t like the welcoming they receive when they attempt to subjugate the ‘dhimmis’ then maybe they should stay in their desolate part of the world and be content to practice bestiality while they disfigure their women. Don’t forget, mohammed was a pedophile. And I agree with HEP-T.
Actually “Aghast” the Russians are the aggressors in the Caucasus, and it is interesting to note that as little as 150 years ago, over half of all Chechens were actually Christians. Of course the brutality with which they were treated by the Russians drove even the Christians into the arms of Islam.
In addition, the siege at Beslan was a direct result of the brutal Russian actions in the early 90′s and again starting in 1999.
During both campaigns the Russians deliberately targeted civilians, including children, set up concentration camps (called filtration camps) where men, women, and children were beaten, tortured, raped, and murdered.
The Russians bombed Grozny flat, they bombed most of the villages of Chechnya flat, they targeted refugees using cluster bombs, napalm, and also simply drove tanks over them.
The Moscow theatre siege and the Beslan school massacre will both be placed squarely at the feet of the Russian state.
After all we do not blame the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto for their “terrorist attacks”, as the Germans called them, against the German Army do we?
I really do suggest you get an education “aghast” your comments make you look like a complete idiot.
Oh and BTW, I am an Orthodox Christian before you pull the whole “Christian V Moslem” BS.
Andrew, you are psychotic.
Get help.
My bad, I didn’t know you support murdering jihadis. So you have no problem with muslim jihadists murdering schoolchildren? OK, now that we have that established, would you like to explain to me how killing schoolchildren is going to help the muslims? Obviously, only an excuse maker for muslim murderers can understand your rationalization. Maybe the Russians are sending a message to the muslims that they are not welcome in the Caucasus
And the Russians were the aggressors at Beslan? Whatever you say, Andrew.
Have a nice life.
@ James you are a moron.
@ Aghast, really you do seem to be a bit of a cretin.
I certainly do not support “murdering Jihadis” but Russia has killed far more schoolchildren in the Caucasus, be it Chechnya, Daghestan, Ingushetia, or Georgia, than all the Jihadi’s have done, you do realise that the Russians killed at least 100,000 and possibly up to around 250,000 Chechens (many of them part Russian) over the last couple of decades, around 25% of the entire Chechen population.
Then there is the ethnic cleansing and mass murder of Georgians by Russian “volunteers” including the Black Sea Fleet, Russian Army and VVS during the war in Abkhazia in the 90′s (Sokhumi, Gagra and Omchamchire massacres spring to mind) followed by ethnic cleansing of the Georgian population.
The Russians started the killing, the Russians committed mass war crimes against civilians, and they are responsible for the cycle of violence.
If you are incapable of understanding this you are a waste of space.
Oh and by the way, Russia happily provides weapons to Iran, Hizbollah, Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and the Muj in Iraq (funny how they magically manage to get their hands on the latest Russian RPG’s which even the Russian Army has very few of eh?)
Maybe you should try and understand the causes of the problem rather than being another idiot that supports the murder of women and children.
Just because they have a different religion does not make them legitimate targets.
“A Promise Unfulfilled
In October 1999, when Russian troops invaded Chechnya to crush the separatist rebellion, then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (who has been president since 2000) told the nation that this time it would be done properly: the enemy would be defeated, casualties would be low, the war would be short, and it would be the Chechens themselves, not the Russians, who would be fighting the rebels – chasing them out of villages. It actually seemed at times that Richard Nixon was back, talking of the “Vietnamization of the war” (the notion that the Vietnamese would fight Vietnamese, while the U.S. soldiers would go home).
Instead of attacking with infantry and tanks, the Russian army, in an attempt to reduce its own casualties, used heavy equipment and firepower to lay waste to the Chechen capital Grozny and many other towns and villages. The loss of life, mostly civilian, and the damage to property was terrific — today most towns are still in ruin. In many instances Russian troops committed appalling war crimes, deliberately attacking the civilian population in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions. There is credible evidence of use of the so-called Heavy Flamethrowing System (TOS-1) – a fuel bomb land-based multiple launch delivery system, also known as “Buratino” among the Russian rank and file – against Chechen towns and villages during the winter campaign of 2000. The third protocol of the 1980 Geneva Convention strictly forbids the use of such “air-delivered incendiary weapons” in populated areas, even against military targets.
After the fiasco of the first Chechen war, the Russian Defense Ministry created “permanent readiness” army brigades and divisions that were intended to be almost fully manned and ready for deployment to deal with local conflicts. But the basic quality of the Russian troops did not change dramatically. It turned out that “permanent readiness” units could not be moved to the front as full-strength brigades and divisions. In combat in Chechnya in 1999-2003 Russian military staffs were forced to use combined “operational groupings” instead of a traditional system of divisions, regiments, brigades and battalions. Combined tactical groups were formed, often built around battalions with strong reinforcements, especially of artillery.
A Strategy of Bombardment
As the campaign has progressed, it has become obvious that the Russian forces in Chechnya do not have any good infantry units capable of swiftly engaging Chechen fighters at their weakest moment without massive air and heavy artillery support. Instead of seizing the initiative to exploit sudden opportunities, Russian field unit commanders tend to plough ahead with the execution of battle plans approved in advance by their superiors.
To compensate for the low quality of their fighting units in Chechnya, Russian military chiefs have adopted a strategy that tries to copy NATO’s policy in the Balkans in 1999: bomb till victory and win without heavy casualties.
This strategy of victory by bombardment has inevitably lead to massive war crimes. In attacks on Chechen towns and villages Russian forces have not only extensively used TOS-1 (Buratino), napalm and fuel air bombs, but also “Tochka” and “Tochka-U” ballistic missiles that can fly up to 120 km and cover up to 7 hectares with cluster shrapnel on impact. The use of such mass-destruction weapons as aerosol (fuel) munitions and ballistic missiles against civilian targets was undoubtedly authorized by Moscow and may implicate the President Putin personally, as well as his top military chiefs, in war crimes.
However, the indiscriminate attacks did not make the second Chechen war a “low casualty” engagement even for Russian forces. Unofficial estimates put Russian military losses in both Chechen conflicts (1994-1996 and 1999-2003) as high as 12,000 dead and some 100,000 wounded. Chechen losses (mostly civilian) are estimated at 100,000 or more.”
http://www.crimesofwar.org/chechnya-mag/chech-felgenhauer.html
Try learning to read idiot.
Oh and “Aghast”, you really are a complete cretin with this comment:
“Maybe the Russians are sending a message to the muslims that they are not welcome in the Caucasus”
Sorry twit, but the Chechens, Ingush, Daghesh etc (Muslims) are natives of the North Caucasus, while the Georgians (Christians) are natives of the South Caucasus.
The Russians invaded the Caucasus in the early 19th century and have done nothing but create rivers of blood for around 200 years.
It is they who are not welcome, a violent, barbaric, and genocidal occupier of Caucasian lands, be the inhabitants Christian, Jewish, or Muslim.
This says it all.. http://typobounty.com/Funny/Obama_2.htm
This says it all.. http://typobounty.com/Funny/Obama_2.htm
No treaty has ever prevented the development and use of any weapon. It only ties the hands of the US and surrenders any technological advantages we may still have. No weapons treaty the US ever signed ever made the US stronger or more secure, none of them. I read the other day that the UN now wants to outlaw drones, go figure.
I’ll go a step farther, diplomacy has never, ever, prevented a war, it’s only delayed them while both sides got better armed.
No nation ever survived because other nations “respected” it, or “admired” it, or even “loved” it. A nation can only survive if other nations FEAR it. After thousands of years of recorded history why can the imbeciles in charge not understand that?
Obama’s only concern is to burnish his legacy with “historic” milestones such as peace in the Middle East by holding Israel’s feet to the fire, even it it kills them, and a nuclear arms treaty, jammed through Congress much like the stimulus and the health care debacle, so that he can point to his aspiration of a “nuclear-free” world.
They’re just boxes to be checked off on his “to-do” list.
Snake Plissken, I heard you were dead.
Those who beat their swords into ploughshares end up plowing for those who did not.
Obama is far too busy whittling away at the US Constitution to be bothered with such things.
He told us not to expect America to be the world power it has been up to now.
Maybe he’ll ask China to deal with it.
FINISH OFF START AND KILL IT DEAD
Writing for the Boston Global Mitt Romney warns that the New Start Treaty is a dangerous, ill considered, deeply flawed treaty that must be stopped. And this blogger agrees. It is a piece of blatent brown nosing appeasement that gives too much away to Putin and the treacheorus Russians and gets nothing in return but a weakened national defense. Understanding the strategic advantages it gives his country over the US Putin, trying to sound like a Brezhnev or Khrushchev, warns of a new arms race if the treaty isn’t ratified. If such a threat was made during the Cold War days the Left would be up in arms fearing nuclear war and crying RATIFY OR DIE at mass demonstrations across the world! But there’s hardly a peep out of them. Why? Because Putin’s threat is a hollow one. Because the Soviet Union (and its global ambitions) is dead. Because they know that the threat of nuclear war now comes from rogue states like Iran and North Korea. Yet being weak with Russia sows the seeds of future conflict as it wants to become a world power again-and ratifying START will help get it there. The time for being weak must end.
Click my name to read the rest of this article on my top ten widely posted community blog at townhall.com
what you failed to mention here:
the “separatists” “insurgents” who are these? violent MUSLIMS plotting overthrow of the government and preaching sedition- not to mention the Rusian version of 9-11, the torture rape and murder of women and children in BESLAN. Trains of civilians blown up. People do not easily forgive that or forget who did it.
I admire the Russians for the courage to face this issue head on and without mercy- OBAMA should learn from the RUSSIANs how to control and deal with this increasing GLOBAL threat.
I am not saying ignore Russia, or minimize the power it can unleash but it may not be so dumb to try and get along with them or fake it.
Russia shares a border with ISLAM and they cannot ignore the aggressions directed to them.
American prejudice re: USSR should not cloud your judgement.We SHarE common enemy like ww2-
This Cold War prejudice gave us Clinton’s Bosnia fiasco- giving a base of operations in EU for ISLAMIST to carry out their totalitarian visions. We paved the way for Bosnia Kosovo Muslims to ethnic cleanse a formerly Christian nation, and then persecuted those who fought to keep their land in a civil war- do you also advocate the South should have seceded?
This same thinking gave us BIN LADEN- we trained and armed this group out of our USSR hatred- the very enemy we now face in Afghanistan.
This kneejerk fear of the Russians is making you blind to a much graver danger.
In any case internal wars of Russians are between themselves, have we not meddled into enough nation’s affairs? Who would listen to us now anyway?
Sorry to be so un-PC, I am not an Obama supporter and I do not support his vision to dis-arm the USA when the rest of the planet is arming up.
Excuse me idiot, but you do realise that it is Russia that is arming Islamic terrorists such as Hamas, Hezbollah, not to mention Iran.
Russia supported the (supposedly) Moslem Abkhaz against the Christian Georgians too.
who is the idiot??
must be you, as you failed to read and comprehend”
“I am not saying ignore Russia, or minimize the power it can unleash”
Your inane idea that Russia and the west have a “common enemy” is what makes you an idiot when Russia is hell bent on arming and facilitating that same “common enemy”
Why do you think they are so worried about what Viktor Bout will say to the CIA & FBI?
The Russian’s can ethnically cleans Checnya for all I care, their enemies are our enemies.
I don’t believe it’s appeasement on Obama’s part at all. I think it’s agreement. I wish you and others would stop this denial, and realize Obama is evil. There is no use trying to figure out why anymore then people could figure out all of the despots of history. Obama is one of them.
Appeasement? Isn’t that just another word for “detente?” Ah, let’s go back to the nineteenth century ( the age of classical liberalism), and reduce our military, foreign aide, and domestic spending to those pre-twentieth century levels. Let the Europeans scramble to police their sea borne oil routes and revisit the joys of nationalistic competitions on the seven seas–ditto for the Western Hemisphere, it’s about time we had a border lockdown or annexed Mexico. What do I care if a yachts person, like Senator Kerry, gets pirated, raped, and pillaged off the Muslim Somali coast? Yes, let’s return to the age of wooden ships and iron men, when girls were girls, and sheep were nervous. As I recall, we did win those Barbary Coast wars against the Muslims back in the early nineteenth century, and with a much smaller navy and politically incorrect Marine Corp: damn the torpedos, full speed ahead, take no prisoners! Let’s start with ending the Federal Reserve and testing to big to fail: instead of devaluing the dollar in general, a slow motion default, let’s have specific bondholder and corporate defaults and get it over with, rather than appeasement at the taxpayers expense.
WTF? Are you recommending trying to make fiends with the Chechens? These are an entire state of Muslims who are mostly intent on waging total war on Christians. I thought most sensible folks had seen the dismal prospects of making peace with these beasts. Sure, the Russian will have to take some lumps in hammering the Chechens, but that’s the only plan that has any hope of success. I thought we had learned that lesson with assisting the Taliban in Afghanistan. It’s time for us to man-up to the inevitable: we have to help the Russians to flatten Chechnya.
The Russians have Checnya in their backyard and we have Mexico in ours. We cannot exert our sovereignty over swaths of our own territory and have 12 million illegals in the US, unable to do a single thing about it.
The US has its own crisis and I would like to compare the death toll in Checnya to that of Mexico. Crimes are being committed in every American city of any size due to drug dealing, identity theft and more illegals are coming and there is no plan to stop them or weed them out.
Screw Checnya and the Russians. Let them take over their old empire for all I care. Let’s keep out noses where they belong – in our own backyard.
Were I an American president, I would place American troops INSIDE Mexico along the border since that failed nation cannot exert sovereignty over that area and damn the legations as it were. American has to start using its military to exert its political will where it matters and that is no where outside the 48. America’s eyes drift every where but where it matters – home.
The Russians are fighting in Afghanistan, by way of their proxy,Iran.They dont have a military strong enough to fight a clean fight. Iran is fighting in Iraq,by way of proxy ,….Shia Muslims ,who are the terrorists in Lebanon and Gaza. They do not care for the people,only the outcomes of such a fight.
Obama is the gutless wonder that wants to claim victory by giving in to Russian demands on the ‘missile shields’. The Senate must NOT pass this treaty. I think Reid is a scumbag but not a traitor.(I gulp as I wrote that)
Obama is willing to hand over sovereinty of America to the UN.You mark my words,before he finishes his term,he will let this happen.He has already given INTERPOL, jurisdiction over any American police force, on investigations IN America.(a slight of hand deal).MORE WILL FOLLOW.
The Ruskies have less than eight years to deliver a safe and secure World Cup. It’s clear a crater the size of Chechnya is Vlad’s ‘only’ solution.
At least some of the information is now coming out. The question is, what will the left do about it? We know Obama always sucks up to our enemies. Now we actually expects people to trust Russia enough to even think about getting an arms treaty?
“This document means no nuclear arms in our time!”
Yeah, that’ll work out well.
The Russkies have 1200 ICBM’s and cannot afford more. We have 2200. This deal limits both sides to 1700. Parity! Pah! It is unilateral disarmament.
Yeah, that’ll work out well.
Prokofy Ne…er, La Russophobe, is always rubbing her hands with ghoulish glee whenever terror attack happens in Chechnya. But let’s see where the body count is higher of late, Chechnya or America’s war zone border town of Juarez (and that’s one city)? Yeah, crickets. Focus more on the trouble at home rather than projecting them all on Russia and Russians.
“The Russians are fighting in Afghanistan, by way of their proxy,Iran.They dont have a military strong enough to fight a clean fight.” Dude, who do you think is supplying U.S. forces in Afghanistan by way of Tadjikistan and the other surrounding former Soviet republics? Oh right, Russia.
If Zigfeld told PJM readers tomorrow that Putin had announced he was the anti-Christ and had just put up the Berlin Wall again like in that Simpsons cartoon, I suspect roughly half would buy it.
While Zegfeld’s concern over Russia’s security issues are noble they may be misplaced. The mistake many writers make when reporting on Russia or many other such nations is to compare them to a Western democracy. Russia is not now nor is it likely ever to be a democracy or hold the same views of government and social norms as the West. To expect them to is to fly in the face of the history, culture, and religion of any nation that does not share the experience of Western Europe and the US. The Chechnya situation is a case of one brutal regime (Moscow) dealing with a group of brutal terrorists. There are no angels here but there are some significant demons. That Russia should seek to reassert hegemony in the regions of their former Empire is only logical. It is also irrelevant to the United States. While we should not kowtow to the every whim of Moscow we should also not be under the illusion that they are the primary threat to peace in Central Asia. They may not be an ally but they can be made a partner. Who would we better be able to work with? Moscow or a jihadist in a cave in the Caucasus. A little realpolitik goes a long way.
C.L.I.
A little pragmatism. A truly excellent post!
Thank you. Prescriptive approaches to international situations (if a response is required at all) are usually best. Those based on emotion or on knee jerk domestic pressures only get us into trouble. The one thing most people fail to realize about Russia is that whatever its name it is essentially still a Tsardom. This has been warped beyond recognition first by the Communists then by the turmoil of the 90′s and the introduction of some democratic systems. Nevertheless the vastness of Russia still operates on the authoritarian system established centuries ago by the Tsars. Until we get past the misconception that they are otherwise governed we cannot approach them honestly. This and we must dismiss the idea that unless a nation guarantees civil liberties as we see fit (or claim that we do) we cannot take them seriously on the world stage. This is the policy of dreamers.
C.L.I.
Apparently unlike Ms. Ziegfeld, I’ve actually spent time in the Caucasus Mountains in recent years; in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karacheyevsk. Kabardins and Balkars are Muslim and don’t care much for the Russians. But they’re not into jihad and they absolutely hate the Chechens because whenever things heat up in Chechyna, the tourist trade in the mountains dries up. Kabardino-Balkaria has the highest mountain in Europe; Mt. Elbrus; as well as the Cheget ski area as tourist attractions.
In the late ’90s. the Chechens marched into Dagestan trying to create a “greater Chechyna. The Dagestanis also dislike the Russians, but their young men were flocking to Russian army recruitment stations to sign up to thrown the intruders out of their territory.
Another reason for wanting things quiet is that the Russians host the next Winter Olympics in 2014 in Sochi. That’s about 70 or so miles west from Kabardino-Balkaria.
The problem is they are caught between a rock and a hard place, between Putin’s proxy Kadyrov and the soldiers of the Chechen emirate, who ever
is running it this week. Brent Ghelfi’s Wolf novels, illustrate this bleak landscape. And even would be men on horseback, like General Shamanov, need to take care
Kim’s still at it? I didn’t know they allowed internet access in closed wards.
Terror acts in the Caucasus up 100% this year.
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