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| 5/24 |
| 2004/9/5-6 [Politics/Domestic/911, Politics/Domestic/Crime] UID:33363 Activity:very high |
9/5 They Knifed Babies, They Raped Girls
It should be pointed out that Beslan is a small Christian
enclave among a Muslim population.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1208007/posts
\_ And the Russians raped and killed Chechens, a small Muslim enclave
ruled by a Christian population. Right?
\_ No, the Russians didn't rape anyone. Killing is what happens in
war.
\_ Well, the Russians have never been famous for their
| kinder, gentler military. (Well, unlesss you're
| comparing to the imperialist Japanese) But they probably
| weren't so systematic about it.
Sigh. Do I really have to dig up links?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2618021.stm
http://www.torturecare.org.uk/news/newsRelease04-15-04.php
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,820261,00.html
Russian rapes are widely reported, although often without direct proof,
but do we have direct proof of this "They Raped Girls" allegation?
\_ I don't ever recall the Russians taking a school and shooting 200
children in the back, do you?
\_ Maybe, but they blew up entire villages and so forth. Why
split hairs? Fact is the Russians have no justification for
being there. It's left over from old Russian imperialism.
If the Russians wipe out a village it's fine, but some
terrorists take over a school it's unthinkable brutality.
\_ Look, no one disputes that what the hostage-takers did at the
school was dispicable. I think what the pp is trying to point
out, though, is that they didn't do it just because they were
bored and felt like being evil. To prevent this sort of thing
from happening again, you need to understand why it
happened in the first place. If you adopt the "all Muslims
are evil" posture of these freeper idiots, then there is no
hope.
\_ It happened because some people *are* evil. This was it.
No one said all muslims are evil. To prevent this sort of
thing from happening again, you need to understand that
some people *are* evil, they mut be found, they must be
killed before they commit more acts of evil. You're
strawmanning with the all muslims are evil line.
\_ "If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously
committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to
separate them from the rest of us and destroy them.
But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the
heart of every human being. And who is willing to
destroy a piece of his own heart?"
- Alexander Solzhenitsyn
\_ Hey, I hear ya. There are people who
are just born evil, and there's nothing you
can do about it. But I don't think comparing
these guys to Son-of-Sam/Zodiac Killer
types is entirely correct. Some people are
born evil, some people aspire to evilness,
and some people have evilness thrust
upon them. In which group are these guys?
As for "all Muslims are evil", did you read
the entire text of the link you posted?:
"And to anyone who is appalled at the
prospect of killing "innocent" Chechens,
these scum didn't grow up in a vacuum.
They were raised to be fiends by other
fiends. It's us or them."
"If the muslims will not police
their own, make Mecca Melt."
If you want, I can pull even more
egregious examples out the
freeper bunghole.
\_ Woah! You mean people sometimes post stupid
crap on Internet message boards? No Way!
\_ Dude, don't be fatuous. You posted a freeper
link, and I made a comment on the content of
that link. You then accused me ok creating a
strawman argument, and I then posted evidence
that I was responding to statements in the
link you posted, and now I am somehow to blame
for you posting a dumb-ass freeper link? Sheesh.
\_ A) I'm not the same guy. B) Perhaps he
was trying to link to the article, not
to what a bunch of freepers SAID about the
article.
\_ watch how easy it is to link to the
article without linking to freeper
noise:
http://csua.org/u/8xo [mirror.co.uk]
that took me all of about 10 seconds.
\_ http://www.filibustercartoons.com
\_ It is not surprising that this attack happened in Beslan and
not elsewhere. There have been always attacks on Ossetia throughout
90s and 2000s but most didn't seem to be worthy of coverage to the
western media (those were mostly explosions on the markers, etc).
It is quite possible that this time the terrorists were intending to
instigate ethnic strife in all of Northern Caucasus. Many Ossets
are already talking about revenge on the Chechen and Ingush peoples
living in their republic. Beslan is the third largest city of the
autonomous republic of Northern Ossetia. Here are some facts that
put Ossets at odds with the Chechens:
1. Ossets are predominantly Christian (although there is a small
muslim minority among Ossets, mostly living around the
town called Digora).
2. Ossets are probably the most pro-Russian people on the Northern
Caucasus. While they are very proud of their Ossetic identity,
they are also very proud to have been part of USSR and now
Russia. (BTW, they are also very proud of the well-known fact
that Stalin's true father was an Ossetian from South Ossetian
part of Georgia). In addition Russians seem to favor Ossets in
their territorial conflicts with the neighboring Ingushetia and
Georgia.
3. In the early 90s, Ossets have been involved in a short lived
but very violent territorial conflict with the neighboring
republic of Ingushetia. Ingush were demanding the return of the
territories that were taken away from them by Stalin after WW2
for sympathizing with Germans. During the conflict Ossets
succeeded in ethnically cleansing their territories from the
Ingush who have moved in after they were rehabilitated after
Stalin's death. Nothing has been done to solve this conflict
since then and both sides consider themselves as victims. It is
important to note that the Ingush are ethnically very closely
related to Chechens. (they have similar languages, customs, etc)
\_ short recent article on the ossentians in The Exile
http://www.exile.ru/2004-August-19/war_nerd.html - danh
\_ Thanks, that was among the most informative posts I've
read on the MOTD. Like information I would expect to
find on, gasp, http://freerepublic.com
\_ The signal to noise ratio is much higher in places
like the Journal of Foreign Affairs. |
| 5/24 |
|
| www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1208007/posts Canticle_of_Deborah THE full horror of the Russian school atrocity began to emerge yesterday as traumatised children told horrific tales of stabbed babies and brutal rapes. It has also emerged that scores of the 323 who died - including many children - had been shot in the back. While despairing soldiers and rescue workers moved among the growing pile of body bags, it was revealed that an 18-month-old baby had been repeatedly stabbed by a black-clad terrorist who had run out of ammunition. Other survivors told how screaming teenage girls were dragged into rooms adjoining the gymnasium where they were being held and raped by their Chechen captors who chillingly made a video film of their appalling exploits They said children were forced to drink their own urine and eat the petals off the flowers they had brought their teachers after nearly three days without food or water in the stifling hot gym. Their stories came as Russian officials warned that the final death toll of the siege of Middle School No 1 at Beslan in North Ossetia - in which up to 1,200 people were held captive - was likely to be more than 400. The official toll yesterday stood at 323 which included 156 children, 10 Russian soldiers and two emergency service workers - 35 of the hostage-takers were also killed. Last night 434 people were being treated in hospital with 247 children and 85 adults in a critical condition. A Russian official said six seriously injured children had been taken to Moscow for treatment. "One of them is a child, just 18 months old, with many knife wounds," he said. View Replies To: Canticle_of_Deborah There's the "great religion of peace" folks. Course, I guess I must've missed the part in the Koran that said that God blesses the holy act of raping children and stabbing babies. View Replies To: Canticle_of_Deborah Absolutely appalling. The media needs to cover this story more, maybe drop a bit of the Scott Peterson drivel and show the heartless, unbelievable reality of "terror". Destro Other survivors told how screaming teenage girls were dragged into rooms adjoining the gymnasium where they were being held and raped by their Chechen captors who chillingly made a video film of their appalling exploits They sent that video out for Putin to view early on in the seige. Knowing the chechens, the rapes were probably done just to make a movie for Putin. View Replies To: Canticle_of_Deborah My daughter, who is four, goes to the school my wife works at. Kissing them goodbye in the morning is the hardest thing I do all day now. Actually headline reads: THEY KNIFED BABIES, THEY RAPED GIRLS Sep 5 2004 SCHOOL SLAUGHTER: 323 DEAD, 434 HURT By Euan Stretch Chief Reporter It is an urban myth if it only spread by word of mouth or email or internet. View Replies To: BonnieJ This is probably the biggest story of the year, and it gets covered like its less important than Amber Frey testifying about her sex life. View Replies To: Canticle_of_Deborah Syria is now in the Russian site. The Arabs would quickly find, however, that the Russians play by an entirely different set of rules than the US. dennisw it was revealed that an 18-month-old baby had been repeatedly stabbed by a black-clad terrorist who had run out of ammunition. May the horrors of hell become more hot just for the terrorist scum who did this. View Replies To: MarMema They sent that video out for Putin to view early on in the seige. There was something different about him which I couldn't put my finger on. He looked deeply, deeply disturbed, like he had been affected to his core. View Replies To: Chuzzlewit It is UNBELIEVABLE that this story of terrorism in the Russian school is not FRONT PAGE NEWS in this country! It's hidden in the middle of the newspapers and TV news (including FOX) is barely covering it! This is ghastly and our country needs to wake up before it happens here! View Replies To: Canticle_of_Deborah I think it's time to remind the leaders of world Islam that there is no "Surface to Air" Missle Defence System in,or around MECCA, or MEDINA. A couple of MOAB's could ruin their whole Religion of Peace. View Replies To: Canticle_of_Deborah To continue to call these barbarians "hostage-takers" is an absolute disgrace by the media! I guess by their standards, Hitler would have been a "peace activist"! View Replies To: All One disguised herself as a teacher leading children to safety. She was apparently shot dead seconds before trying to blow herself up in a nearby hospital. "Portable health care, guaranteed social security, even the gay couple next door getting married won't mean CRAP when terrorists take over your kid's school or your next plane trip. "We must keep our strong President in charge and give him an even stronger republican congress." last Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works. |
| news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2618021.stm Change to World Tuesday, 31 December, 2002, 16:38 GMT Killer colonel cleared of murder Russian Colonel Yuri Budanov Budanov is seen by some Russians as a hero A Russian military court has ruled that a senior military officer who admitted strangling a Chechen teenager was temporarily insane at the time. Colonel Yuri Budanov is to undergo psychiatric treatment, instead of facing a lengthy prison term. He is the first high-ranking military officer to be brought to trial for such a serious offence, despite widespread accusations of human rights abuses by Russian troops in Chechnya. The family of the victim, 18-year-old Kheda Kungayeva, said the doctors who declared Colonel Budanov insane had conducted a biased evaluation aimed at exonerating him. But their report, presented earlier this month, was accepted as correct by the court in Rostov-on-Don. There is no hope any more for Chechens that the crimes of Russian forces against the civilian population will be punished Tatiana Kasatkina Human rights activist Ms Kungayeva's family says that Russian soldiers dragged her from her home at night, before raping and murdering her in a drunken rampage. Colonel Budanov initially faced a charge of rape as well as murder, but it was subsequently dropped. Colonel Budanov said he suspected the teenager of being a rebel sniper who had killed some of his comrades. He said he killed her while in a rage during his interrogation of her. He had faced a sentence of up to 12 years in prison if found guilty of murder. The case has polarised public opinion in Russia - from those who see Colonel Budanov as a hero, to others who say he has got away with murder because his victim was Chechen. Lawyers for the victim's family have questioned the verdict, asking why if the colonel was insane he was allowed to command a key Russian tank unit. Justice tested And the BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Moscow says this case has been seen as a key test of Russian justice, and, for Chechens at least, the court's verdict proves Russia has failed that test. The verdict was denounced by human rights campaigners, who said Russian soldiers had been given a free hand to carry out human rights abuses. The Russian army today is an independent political force, as it was in the darkest periods of our history Svetlana Gannushkina Refugee aid group "The Budanov case was so clear-cut and yet the murderer has escaped punishment," Tatiana Kasatkina from the Russian human rights group Memorial told the French news agency AFP. "There is no hope any more for Chechens that the crimes of Russian forces against the civilian population will be punished." The verdict would "further undermine the trust of the Chechen people", said Svetlana Gannushkina, the head of refugee aid group Civic Assistance. "The Russian army today is an independent political force, as it was in the darkest periods of our history," she said. |
| www.torturecare.org.uk/news/newsRelease04-15-04.php Thursday April 15 2004 PRESS RELEASE First Reliable Evidence of Widespread Rape in Chechen Conflict The first substantial body of reliable evidence on the use of rape in the armed conflict in Chechnya is presented today in a report by British charity the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. The report, entitled "Rape and Other Torture in the Chechnya Conflict,"* is based on medical and psychological documentation of 35 asylum seekers, 19 women and 16 men, from the Chechnya conflict at the Medical Foundation's treatment centre in London. During assessment and treatment, 16 of the women and one man disclosed that they had been raped. In 13 of these cases, the alleged perpetrators were Russian soldiers, in three cases they were said to be Russian police officers, and in one Chechen rebels. Of the 17 rape victims, 10 were Chechens, five of mixed Chechen-Russian parentage (including the woman who described being raped by Chechen fighters) and two were Russians. All rape survivors were interviewed by health professionals with years of experience interviewing victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence. The Medical Foundation found their testimony reliable and consistent with that of rape survivors from other conflicts. Report author Dr Charlotte Granville-Chapman said: "Human rights groups have long suspected that sexual violence in the Chechnya conflict is widespread but have faced major difficulties documenting such cases due to the stigma attached to the issue. One female victim told the Medical Foundation said she had been insulted and physically attacked by a woman in her own community when it became known she had been raped." In its report, the Medical Foundation also documents other forms of torture and ill-treatment, including repeated kicking, beating and burning. Its medical doctors have documented shoulder dislocations, fractures, and damaged kidneys. Last week the Medical Foundation joined with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Moscow-based human rights organisation Memorial in calling for the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to issue a strong resolution condemning "gross and systematic violations" of human rights in Chechnya at the hands of Russian troops and pro-Moscow Chechen militias. |
| observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,820261,00.html The Observer At 5am on 14 April 2002, an armoured vehicle moved slowly down Soviet Street. A young brown-haired man, covered in blood, his hands and feet bound, stood onboard. The vehicle stopped and the man was pushed off and brought over to a nearby chain-link fence. The force of the explosion, caused either by a grenade or dynamite, sent the man's head flying into the neighbouring street, called Lenin's Commandments. Blowing people up, dead or alive, she reports, is the latest tactic introduced by the federal army into the conflict. It was utilised perhaps most effectively on 3 July in the village of Meskyer Yurt, where 21 men, women and children were bound together and blown up, their remains thrown into a ditch. From the perspective of the perpetrators, this method of killing is highly practical; it prevents the number of bodies from being counted, or possibly from ever being found. Since the spring, dogs have been digging up body parts in various corners of Chechnya, sometimes almost daily. On 9 September the bodies of six men from Krasnostepnovskoye were found, naked, with plastic bags wrapped around their heads. In June, a ditch containing 50 mutilated bodies was discovered near the Russian army post in Chankala. The corpses were missing eyes, ears, limbs and genitals. Since February, mass graves have been found near Grozny, Chechen Yurt, Alkhan-Kala and Argun. For nearly 10 years, since the beginning of the first war in December 1994, the grey-haired woman has been patrolling with her camera. She shows the gruesome images strewn on her table as if they were relics, or photographs from a family album. She runs her hand over the contours of an actual cracked skull, one of about a dozen found in February between Meskyer Yurt and Chechen Yurt. The torn pieces of flesh suggest that the victims were attacked by dogs. Many men simply disappeared after being detained by Russian soldiers or security police; During an operation in Chechen Aul between 21 May and 11 June, 22 men were killed. Since Chechen Aul is considered hostile territory, it has undergone 20 such 'mopping-up operations' this year. Usually the raids are conducted by federal armed forces (particularly OMON, the police special forces, and Spetsnaz, its army equivalent) and occur at any time of day or night. Typically a village will be encircled by tanks, armoured vehicles and army trucks, one of which, known as the purification car, is designated for torture. According to Human Rights Watch in New York, torture is a preferred method of gathering intelligence. Cut off and isolated, Russian troops' best hope of discovering guerrilla activity is by grabbing citizens, almost at random, and coercing from them whatever information they might have. In its most benign form, such raids are limited to theft of personal property - from cars, refrigerators and television sets to jewellery, clothes, pots and pans, and, of course, money. If you do, then in the best-case scenario you may be tortured or shot dead on the spot. About 20 of them, armed to the teeth and wearing masks, climbed into the yard and the house. As always, they were dirty, unshaven and reeking of vodka. They took my identification papers and started to shred them. They went to our neighbours' house, the Magomedova family. We heard shots and the screams of 15-year-old Aminat, the sister of Ahmed and Aslanbek. Through the window we saw a half-dressed OMON commander lying on top of Aminat. When their men tried to defend them, 68 of them were handcuffed to an armoured truck and raped too. After this episode, 45 of them joined the guerrillas in the mountains. One older man, Nurdi Dayeyev, who was nearly blind, had nails driven through his hands and feet because it was suspected that he was in contact with the fighters. When relatives later retrieved his remains, he was missing a hand. The relatives of another villager, Aldan Manayev, picked up a torso but no head. The families were forced to sign declarations that Dayeyev and Manayev had blown themselves up. Shortly thereafter their families begin feverish searches in all the army headquarters and watch posts. If they can track down a missing family member, they might be able to buy him or her back. The going rate for a live person is in the thousands of dollars. If they cannot find the person, family members mail letters to Putin (Russia's president) and file petitions with social organisations and rights groups. Most of the abductees never return and the trail grows cold. Those who do return are often crippled, with bruised kidneys and lungs, damaged hearing or eyesight and broken bones. Indeed, an official order has been issued banning such abuses. But what most journalistic accounts from the region overlook is the savagery committed by the other side. Anyone considered a 'collaborator' by the guerrillas is subject to abduction for ransom or summary execution. This summer a remote-controlled mine, presumably intended for a Russian military convoy, exploded at a bus stop in the Chechen capital of Grozny, killing 11 civilians, including two children. Analysts say that guerrilla leader Aslan Maskhadov, once regarded as comparatively secular, has succeeded in consolidating his often fractious forces by welcoming back into his command several rebel commanders regarded as radical Islamists. New rebel videotapes play down nationalist imagery in favour of Islamist symbols. It all suggests that the brutality of the Russians has also resulted in a growing radicalisation of their opponents. |
| csua.org/u/8xo -> www.sundaymirror.co.uk/tm_objectid=14605550%26method=full%26siteid=106694%26headline=they%2dknifed%2dbabies%2d%2dthey%2draped%2dgirls-name_page.html THEY KNIFED BABIES, THEY RAPED GIRLS Sep 5 2004 SCHOOL SLAUGHTER: 323 DEAD, 434 HURT By Euan Stretch Chief Reporter THE full horror of the Russian school atrocity began to emerge yesterday as traumatised children told horrific tales of stabbed babies and brutal rapes. It has also emerged that scores of the 323 who died - including many children - had been shot in the back. While despairing soldiers and rescue workers moved among the growing pile of body bags, it was revealed that an 18-month-old baby had been repeatedly stabbed by a black-clad terrorist who had run out of ammunition. Other survivors told how screaming teenage girls were dragged into rooms adjoining the gymnasium where they were being held and raped by their Chechen captors who chillingly made a video film of their appalling exploits They said children were forced to drink their own urine and eat the petals off the flowers they had brought their teachers after nearly three days without food or water in the stifling hot gym. Their stories came as Russian officials warned that the final death toll of the siege of Middle School No 1 at Beslan in North Ossetia - in which up to 1,200 people were held captive - was likely to be more than 400. The official toll yesterday stood at 323 which included 156 children, 10 Russian soldiers and two emergency service workers - 35 of the hostage-takers were also killed. Last night 434 people were being treated in hospital with 247 children and 85 adults in a critical condition. A Russian official said six seriously injured children had been taken to Moscow for treatment. "One of them is a child, just 18 months old, with many knife wounds," he said. The Chechen terrorists - including two so-called "Black Widows" - had been meticulously planning the hostage-taking for months. High explosives and ammunition had been smuggled into the building during the summer by rebels disguised as workmen. |
| www.filibustercartoons.com Feel for them September 06, 2004 A very brutal news story has been coming out of Russia this week. Chechen rebels from Russia's Muslim province seized control of a Russian schoolhouse and held all the occupants inside hostage for hours. Eventually the Russian troops stormed the building and the rebels responded by setting off explosives, killing scores of people, including many children. The Chechen Muslims have a long history of launching brutal terrorist attacks on the Russian people. At the same time however it's often argued that the Chechens have a more legitimate historical basis for their anger than many other radical Islamic groups. That may have been the case at one time, but it's hard to imagine any political grievances that could justify the sort of disgusting, murderous acts the Chechens are increasingly committing against innocent civilians. gif Update to the Canada guide Saturday, August 28 2004 I've updated my Canada guide once again, adding some scattered new pictures and info and updating some dated material. I've also added an all new chapter about Canada's Indians. php I'm back Tuesday, August 24 2004 I'm back from California. I guess the whole guest comic thing didn't quite pan out the way I wanted, but I'm back now, and I'll return to my old updating routine. htm Guest Comics Thursday, August 12 2004 I could still use some more guest comics if anyone is interested. Come on, it's a great way to get free hits to your site! com Guest comic plea Thursday, July 29 2004 Starting August 9th I'm going to be going to California for two weeks. It might be fun to get some guest comics for those weeks. If you're a comic artist and are interested, give me an email. Late toon Saturday, July 10 2004 Sorry today's cartoon is late. Site Meter Filibuster Cartoons version 30 - Design copyright 2003 Jaco Joubert - All original images copyright 2001-2003 JJ McCullough - Non-original images copyright their respective owner. |
| www.exile.ru/2004-August-19/war_nerd.html Next FRESNO (Independent Exile) -- Ames tells me the eXile must now "be more sensitive to Russian interests" and I've got to play along. But like any Cold-War brat, I always kinda wanted to be a Russian agent of influence -- just like that all-American boy Hansen at the FBI, who turned traitor just because he was bored at his desk. So I spun the globe a few times and came up with a war where, believe it or leave it, Russia actually comes off like the White Knight. I see your little eyes glazing over, so I better give you some idea where and what South Ossetia is. I mean the other Georgia, on the east shore of the Black Sea, just north of the Caucasus, where all us Caucasians came from, although we got sorta less hairy along the way, thank God. The east shore of the Black Sea -- that's where Jason went to get that Golden Fleece, only he ended up with Medea, one of those high-maintenance foreign girlfriends. Moral of the story: those exotic war brides never work out, long term. Other moral of the story: folks in this part of the world play rough. The Caucasus may be the part of the world that's hardest for Americans to understand, because over there every inch of land is marked off with its own language and basketweaving traditions. We're just the opposite, which is why it's so hard for us to get. In the US you can drive a thousand miles without seeing one thing different. No matter how far you go, it's the same Interstate landscape, like you're in a stuck video game: crops, offramp, Denny's, Mickey D's, AM/PM Minimart, more crops, offramp. You cheer up when you come across a car crash because at least it's a little variety. The Caucasus is a crazy maze of mountain valleys, every damn one marked off as the property of one tribe or another. Step across some imaginary line and you're walking into a blood feud that's been going since the last Ice Age. This is feudin' country that makes Appalachia look like Haight-Ashbury. While the Soviets were in charge, the Caucasians put their feudin' gear in storage. In fact, as long as Comrade Stalin (real name: Dzhugashvili) was on top, every Caucasian tribe wanted to claim him. The Ossetians said he was Ossetian, and the Georgians told everybody he was Georgian. And when everybody decided Stalin was a bad guy, it reversed: the Georgians said he was nuthin' but a bloodthirsty Ossetian. When Georgia turned independent after the USSR dissolved, the locals changed their tune again. Instead of going on about how Ossetians were totally different from Georgians, the Georgians went around yelling that Ossetia was an integral part of Georgia, with no reason to go thinking about seceding. At the time Georgia was run by this crazy poet-fascist named Gam-sakhurdia, one of the first post-Communist rabid nationalists, and he kinda got all the non-ethnic Georgians a little paranoid with his Gruzya (Georgia) for the Gruzininy rant. See, Georgia's small enough already, but even so, there are at least three parts of it that may or may not be ethnically distinct, depending on who you ask and who's got the gun at the moment. Think of Georgia as a big mouth, opening to take a bite out of the Black Sea. There are three teeth in this mouth that are sort of loose, like GULAG prisoners' teeth used to get from the scurvy. and there's South Ossetia, back inland there like a top molar. When this new Georgian president, Saakashvili, took power last year (with a whole lotta help from the CIA and George Soros), he started some intensive dental surgery to make sure none of those loose ethnic teeth fell out. First he went after Adzharia, that loose lower-front tooth. He got lucky there, because Adzharia was ruled by some white-haired nut-case who was more interested in raising fighting dogs than government. They liberated his kennels -- seriously, this fruitloop had about 200 pit bulls and Dogos Argentinos, those all-white monsters -- and voila, Adzharia was back in Georgia again. Adzharia was pretty easy, because most of the locals saw themselves as ethnically Georgian, only they were nominally Muslim instead of nominally Orthodox Christian as most Georgians are. Ossetians don't think of themselves as ethnic Georgians. The Ossetians have what you call "a glorious past," and in their case it's true. The Ossetians are nothing but the stay-at-home remains of the Alanii. If you know your late-Roman and Dark-Ages military history, that made you sit up and grab for your helmet. The Alanii were horse nomads who raided around the steppes east of the Black Sea. One I like is that they used Great Danes, who used to be called "Alanii Dogs," to attack enemy horses. The Alanii kicked ass until they encountered the Roman Empire pushing east. The Romans beat them in 175 AD, and then incorporated them into the Imperial Army. The Romans were smart that way: they didn't take it personally if you put up a good fight. They admired you for it, helped you up and offered you a job somewhere else in the Empire -- somewhere where you didn't have any relatives who'd try to talk you into rebelling. They sent a unit of Alan cavalry to Britain, where an Alan leader Artoris became sort of a local legend under the English version of his name: Arthur. The Alanii who stayed home soon had a big problem: the Huns, who were moving west all through the fourth century. One thing you'll notice about Western military history is that we always had a hard time dealing with mounted archers, and the Huns were the best. They could put an arrow through your eye and make their horses dance a waltz at the same time. The Alanii were good horsemen too, but they used the spear and the sword. Like their friends the Vandals, they couldn't handle those mounted archers. The Alanii did the sensible thing: got the Hell outta Dodge. They may not have had an Interstate, but they made pretty good time: they went all the way West. Some stopped in Gaul, but some kept going into Iberia (Spain) and further into North Africa. Some Alanii still roamed the steppe till the Mongols came. Same tactics and weapons but much more systematic about wiping out everyone in their path. The Alanii fled into the mountains, and that's how they became the Ossetians. From then on it was just a matter of who was going to dominate them, the Russians or the Georgians. Most Ossetians preferred the Russians, who were farther away and not so damn interested in them. In this part of the world, the less interested your masters are in you, the better. When the USSR dissolved in '91, one of those classic border messes developed: North Ossetia was still inside Russia -- the new, smaller Russia, the Russian Federation -- but South Ossetia was officially part of Georgia. In 1989, all fizzy with that liberation chatter that was going around back then, South Ossetia declared itself united with North Ossetia. The Georgians, led by the nutcase Gamsakhurdia, begged to differ. In 1991, the Georgian Army made its point about South Ossetia being an integral, beloved part of Georgia the traditional Caucasian way -- by shelling every rebel village in range of its guns. And since these were Soviet artillery, the best guns ever made, the point got through. At least 100,000 South Ossetians fled North, which meant that the entire population of South Ossetia is now only 70,000 people. Backed by the Russians and plenty of North Ossetian first cousins, the South Ossetian irregulars wound up flattening the Georgians and have been free-ish ever since. See what I mean about how crazy this stuff seems to us Americans? All this fuss about a place with a population about one-fifth of Fresno's. But like I keep saying, and like the Bush people keep not figuring out, not everybody thinks like us. The ones who are left in South Ossetia are the hard core, the ones who can't or won't leave, and they're backed by Russian "peacekeepers." some of the villages in the nominal breakaway region are Georgian, so there's no way even God himself could draw a clean border that would put all the Ossetians on one side and all the Georgians on the other. Truth is, if God himself had to solve problems like this or Bosnia, He'd probably end up using Ethnic Cleansing P... |
| freerepublic.com -> www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/browse Republic Log In | Register News/Activism Latest | Search | Topics | Home | Help News/Activism Threads Threads | Messages Search (by title: enter all relevant words or partial title) Search Austrians Praise Schwarzenegger in US Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach On 05/13/2004 9:28:13 PM PDT with 1 comment The Las Vegas Sun ^ | May 13, 2004 at 11:56:36 PDT | GEORGE JAHN GRAZ, Austria (AP) - America, nein. Arnie, ja! When Austrians vent about the United States, the key word nowadays is "no" to things American, with only a few exceptions - including praise of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnie, that country has a real problem," says Robert Biber, echoing sentiments across Austria roused by images of US soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners. Outrage as KISS player mouths off on Muslims Posted by veronica On 05/13/2004 9:25:48 PM PDT with 3 comments Sydney Morning Herald ^ | May 14, 2004 KISS bass player Gene Simmons has caused an uproar among Australia's Muslim community by launching an attack on Islamic culture while in Melbourne. The lizard-tongued rock god who is touring Australia with the world's most enduring glam rock band launched an attack on Muslim extremists during an interview on Melbourne's 3AW radio - including comments which were labelled inaccurate. Cold Turkey Posted by Rennes Templar On 05/13/2004 9:23:01 PM PDT In These Times ^ | May 10, 2004 | Kurt Vonnegut Many years ago, I was so innocent I still considered it possible that we could become the humane and reasonable America so many members of my generation used to dream of. We dreamed of such an America during the Great Depression, when there were no jobs. And then we fought and often died for that dream during the Second World War, when there was no peace. But I know now that there is not a chance in hell of Americas becoming humane and reasonable. Because power corrupts us, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. May, 2004 10amET | Fintan Dunne The family firm of beheaded American Nick Berg, was named by a conservative website in a list of 'enemies' of the Iraq occupation. That could explain his arrest by Iraqi police --a detention which fatally delayed his planned return from Iraq and may have led directly to his death. Nick Berg, 26 disappeared into incommunicado detention after his arrest by Iraqi police in March, 2004. He vanished again after his release 13 days later. Science & Space ^ | Thursday, May 13, 2004 Posted: 10:13 PM EDT (0213 GMT) | From Dave Santucci, CNN Firm is competing for the $10 million X Prize Aircraft designer Burt Rutan and his firm Scaled Composites took a giant leap early Thursday toward becoming the first private company to send a person into space. Scaled Composites, funded by Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul Allen, set a new civilian altitude record of 40 miles in a craft called SpaceShipOne during a test flight above California's Mojave Desert. Turning Shame Into Outrage Posted by neverdem On 05/13/2004 9:18:08 PM PDT with 1 comment LA Times ^ | May 13, 2004 | Charles Paul Freund Charles Paul Freund is a senior editor at Reason magazine. It's a tough call whether Abu Musab al-Zarqawi the Jordanian militant who is reportedly responsible for the videotaped butchery of Nicholas Berg is more stupid than he is brutal, or whether he is a bigger monster than he is a fool. Zarqawi's own nauseating videotape makes the case for his indescribable brutality and may have inadvertently delivered his enemy from its own demoralization. Official Says War Budget to Exceed $50B Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach On 05/13/2004 9:14:08 PM PDT with 3 comments Yahoo via AP ^ | Thu May 13, 6:29 PM ET | ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Wars in Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites) will cost more than $50 billion next year, a top Defense Department official told Congress Thursday in the Bush administration's clearest description yet of the conflicts' price tags. Berg's Father Demands Answers From Bush (Free Republic mentioned) Posted by kristinn On 05/13/2004 9:13:32 PM PDT with 25 comments Duluth News Tribune ^ | Thursday, May 13, 2004 | Nicole Weisensee Egan Posted on Thu, May 13, 2004 Berg's father demands answers from Bush BY NICOLE WEISENSEE EGAN Knight Ridder Newspapers PHILADELPHIA - (KRT) - The day he buried his son, Nick Berg's father angrily lashed out at President Bush - and said he had a question for him: "I would like to ask him if it's true that al-Qaeda offered to trade my son's life for another person," Michael Berg told a small group of reporters early Thursday morning outside his West Chester home. One Last Card to Play Posted by Russian Sage On 05/13/2004 9:10:54 PM PDT Claremont Review of Books ^ | Posted March 18, 2004 | By Peter W Schramm One Last Card to Play A review of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America, by Allen C Guelzo. Since 1865, the new york state library has been the proud owner of the original Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Media Maelstrom Posted by hope On 05/13/2004 9:06:15 PM PDT with 3 comments News Max ^ | 5-11-04 | John L Perry Media MaelstromJohn L PerryTuesday, May 11, 2004 This presidential election is in peril of being swallowed in a perfect media storm, more terrifying than Edgar Allen Poes A Descent Into the Maelstrom. With the inexorable force of the novelists oerpowering whirlpool that funnels nearly every object in its clutches down, down, down into certain doom, the perfect storm of television is sucking American democracy into oblivion. The way things are headed, television mass communications with print media puppy-trotting alongside its ankles are what will determine the outcome of the 2004 presidential election. Not the candidates. Bush Team to Rework Iraq Funding After Senate Balks Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach On 05/13/2004 8:59:04 PM PDT with 7 comments Yahoo via AFP ^ | Thu May 13, 4:11 PM ET | Vicki Allen WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bush administration officials said they would rework a plan for a $25 billion reserve fund for Iraq (news - web sites) operations after Republican and Democratic senators on Thursday deplored it as an effort to get "a blank check" without congressional oversight. STRATFOR: Geopolitical Diary: Friday, May 14, 2004 Posted by Axion On 05/13/2004 8:57:27 PM PDT STRATFOR ^ | May 14, 2004 0305 GMT Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers went to Iraq on May 13. Three things are clear from this trip. First, the administration is committed to retaining Rumsfeld, or at least is committed to doing everything it can to salvage him. An open letter-- Berg dies while the Senate preens Posted by hatfieldmccoy On 05/13/2004 8:54:43 PM PDT with 16 comments vanity | 5-13-04 | hatfieldmccoy Senator Hagel, Senator Nelson, It has taken two days for me to have regained my composure to the point I could actually write you. You see, I've seen the unedited video of the Berg (an American) murder. Yes I watched the horrors of 9-11. I saw the Pearl (an American) murder video and the burning and gleeful dismemberment of the four security personnel (Americans). But the Berg video was staring straight into Hell. These things took their time. They used a dull knife and took 30 seconds to saw off this man's head. AM ET LONDON, May 13 (Reuters) - Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper suspended the weekly column of Barbara Amiel-Black after its parent, Hollinger International, filed a lawsuit accusing her and her husband Conrad Black of looting the company. Martin Newland, the editor of Britain's top-selling broadsheet, "has decided to suspend the column until legal proceedings are completed," the paper said in a statement on Thursday. What Led Nick Berg to Iraq? Posted by dyno35 On 05/13/2004 8:48:10 PM PDT with 20 comments The Philadelphia Daily News ^ | May 13, 2004 | By William Bunch BERG'S JOURNEY SPARKED FBI PROBE AND OTHER STRANGE DETAILS HE WAS not like anyone else his friends from West Chester had ever known - an adventurous dreamer, a driven idealist, part philosopher and part inventor who was bored with college Record 26m divorce win 'a pyrrhic victory' (More Saudi kidnapping) Posted by Lan... |