| WIKI | FAQ | Tech FAQ | |
 http://csua.com/feed/ | |
| ||||||
| 4/7 |
| 2004/9/4 [Politics/Domestic/911] UID:33349 Activity:kinda low |
9/3 Although not funny, it is sort of like the old joke about a Republican
is a Democrat who got mugged. Here's Putin finally "getting it":
http://tinyurl.com/5qd7h
\_ Who do you think the remark at the end is aimed at? -John
\_ Original post is highly misleading, as Putin has been "tough" on
Chechen separatists all along, as his main thing was to crush them
his last five years in office.
He is having his own mini political catastrophe: He is
synonymous with being very tough on the Chechens, and look at
what it's gotten him?
I believe Russians will see right through this, even though Putin
does control the TV and print media these days.
Washington Post editorial:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60580-2004Sep3.html
"Russia's abominable behavior has helped spark but does not
excuse Chechen terrorists and their partners in crime."
An even better one:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57859-2004Sep2.html
"On Mr. Yeltsin's watch, the Russian army turned Grozny, the
Chechen capital, into a ghost town of corpses and rubble. Tens of
thousands of Chechens fled the country. As we wrote on Tuesday,
President Vladimir Putin has since made the situation worse,
launching a second invasion, cutting off the region from aid groups
and journalists, refusing negotiations, and allowing Russian troops
to torture and torment Chechen civilians."
\_ You're confusing the Chechens who may or may not have a valid
gripe against the Russians with the muslim terrorists who just
killed about 350 people, all civilians, mostly women and
children. Putin is saying he fucked up on terrorism, this has
little if anything to do with his actions in Chechen territory
which is a national issue between two lands with defined
borders. |
| 4/7 |
|
| tinyurl.com/5qd7h -> www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/09/04/international1038EDT0487.DTL The former KGB spy said in a televised address to the nation that terrorists are waging an "all-out war" against Russia. He said he would enact reforms to make security services more effective, tighten border controls and establish a new system to control the situation in the war-torn Caucasus. Earlier, Putin sealed the borders of North Ossetia, the republic where more than 340 people were killed in a hostage-taking at a school that turned violent Friday. The hostage-taking was carried out by militants seeking independence for Chechnya, where Russian troops have been battling separatists on and off for more than a decade. Putin vowed never to give in to international terrorists, and that in order to fight them, Russians could not continue living in a "carefree" way. He blamed police corruption and porous borders for the failure to stop attacks and called for mobilizing the nation before what he called the "common danger" of terrorism. "In general, we need to admit that we did not show an understanding of the complexities and dangers of the processes occurring in our own country and in the world," he said. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the nation was weakened and unable to respond effectively to terrorism, Putin said. "We stopped giving enough attention to questions of defense and security, and allowed corruption to infect our judicial and law enforcement sphere," he said. "Moreover, our country -- which used to have the strongest defense system of its external borders -- instantly became unprotected from either the West or the East." We showed weakness, and weak people are beaten," he said. Putin made a lightning pre-dawn visit to Beslan, the town where the school is located and announced the closing of the region's borders while authorities search for the attackers' accomplices. Later Saturday, he decreed two days of mourning on Monday and Tuesday. "I ask you to remember those who died at the hands of terrorists in recent days," he said in his address. He said measures would be taken to strengthen Russia's unity, create a more effective crisis management system, establish a new system to control the situation in the Caucasus, and overhaul the law enforcement organs. "We are obliged to create a much more effective security system and to demand action from our law enforcement organs that would be adequate to the level and scale of the new threats," he said. Putin said some foes wanted to tear off parts of Russia, and others were helping them. "They help, supposing that Russia -- as one of the greatest nuclear powers -- still poses a threat to them. |
| www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60580-2004Sep3.html All RSS Feeds Editorial Tragedy in Russia Saturday, September 4, 2004; Page A30 "I do not believe I am exaggerating in affirming that the empire of Russia is a country whose inhabitants are the most miserable on earth, because they suffer at one and the same time the evils of barbarism and of civilization." News Alert "Letters From Russia," 1839 MORE THAN 160 years after the Marquis de Custine wrote those words, his infamous observations of Russian culture were as relevant as ever this week as the world became acquainted with the full horror of events in southern Russia. Since masked gunmen stormed into a school in the town of Beslan on Wednesday, the first day of the Russian school year, barbarism has been in evidence, along with the worst fruits of "civilization": automatic weapons, bombs, grenades, suicide belts and attack helicopters. The gunmen, described as "inhuman" by those who survived, held hundreds of children and their parents hostage for two days without allowing them food or water, and they shot at those who tried to escape. Russian authorities then stormed the school yesterday without any plan. The result was chaos on an almost apocalyptic scale: Bloody children, piles of corpses, officials providing false or contradictory information, wild rumors, terror and panic. It is important, in the wake of these events, that the US government reiterate its sympathy for the Russians and offer to help track down and identify the terrorists who planned and carried out this attack. There can be no excuse, no justification, no rationalization for the barbarity of seizing a school and turning children into victims. Every parent feels the anguish of the parents of Beslan. It remains true, as we have said before, that the Russian government should seek a political settlement in Chechnya, where civilians also have been the chief victims for much of the past decade. Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that the Chechen war was "over" long ago. But the underlying causes of that war have never been dealt with, and the war itself has had a devastating effect on Chechen society. Deeper, longer-lasting reconciliation between Russia and Chechnya requires not the Russian imposition of another puppet government on Chechnya but a more profound search for a way in which the two can live side by side in peace. This must involve negotiation with moderate Chechens -- even moderate Chechen separatists -- and the creation of a truly representative Chechen government. Russia's abominable behavior has helped spark but does not excuse Chechen terrorists and their partners in crime. Chechen terrorism makes less likely but no less essential a solution to Chechnya's misery. |
| www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57859-2004Sep2.html All RSS Feeds Editorial Acts of Terror Friday, September 3, 2004; Page A18 TEN YEARS AGO Russian President Boris Yeltsin's government made the catastrophic decision to launch an invasion of Chechnya. Although the government said it aimed to put down a separatist rebellion in what had been an autonomous republic in Russia, the invasion instead set off an endless and vicious circle of violence. On Mr Yeltsin's watch, the Russian army turned Grozny, the Chechen capital, into a ghost town of corpses and rubble. As we wrote on Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin has since made the situation worse, launching a second invasion, cutting off the region from aid groups and journalists, refusing negotiations, and allowing Russian troops to torture and torment Chechen civilians. None of this, however, minimizes our condemnation of the acts that Chechen terrorists have inflicted on Russian civilians this week. Chechen terrorists have been held responsible in the past week for two airline crashes and a horrific suicide bombing at a Moscow subway station. On Wednesday a group of heavily armed guerrillas stormed a school in a town near the Chechen border. News Alert The Chechens do themselves no favors by using this kind of terrorism to fight their war. Terrorism radicalizes public opinion in both Russia and Chechnya, making it difficult if not impossible to end the war by negotiation. Terrorism discredits the Chechen cause, allowing Mr Putin to garner international support for his failed policy. Most important, though, terrorism harms innocent civilians -- in this case possibly hundreds of children -- adding new layers of horror to what is already a bloody, poisonous conflict. The Russian families who have suffered so dreadfully and so arbitrarily in the past week deserve nothing but American sympathy and solidarity. |