Posted on 09/08/2004 5:20:45 AM PDT by OESY
...Russia, it appears, has just experienced its own 9/11.
Until now, President Vladimir Putin has treated the problem of Chechen terrorism as a local annoyance, easy to be crushed. Now he knows better.
Not just that terrorism isn't easily defeated — but that it's an international threat, not a regional problem.
To that end, Russia yesterday agreed with NATO officials to boost cooperation on fighting terrorism; specific details will be spelled out at a meeting scheduled for later this month.
Putin also agreed to an offer from Israel ... to provide counter-terror advisers and better intelligence coordination.
Meanwhile, the Russian president was understandably contemptuous of those — including the U.S. State Department — who regard the Chechen situation (if not terrorism in general) as one that can only be remedied with a political solution.
"Why don't you meet Osama bin Laden, invite him to Brussels or to the White House and engage in talks, ask him what he wants and give it to him so he leaves you in peace?" he asked derisively at a press conference.
"Why should we talk to people who are child-killers?"
Why, indeed?
But, for domestic political reasons, Putin stubbornly continues to pretend his nation is a lone player in the War on Terror, abandoned to its devices by Western hypocrites.
Clearly, solving the Chechen problem requires a political component.
But there is also a growing realization that, as British Prime Minister Tony Blair said, the Beslan atrocity "has taken terrorism to a different, even more depraved level."
Chechen fanatics are now working hand-in-glove with al Qaeda terrorists whose Islamist aims have nothing to do with Chechen independence. That simple fact means that Russia — whether or not Putin accepts it — is now part of the global struggle against terrorism.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
The old USSR would have known how to deal with these people.
I was telling someone that same thing on Sunday.
The old USSR did deal with these people. Perhaps two wrongs do make a right...
We need to make some changes in our state dept. Hopefully that will happen when President Bush is re-elected in November.
I agree...think we are missing a chance to increase Russia's involvement in the war on terror. I actually agreed with Putan. What was the DofS thinking... sit down and talk to these people? We do need a change next term.
Apparently not!
The "new USSR" has lots of sympathy toward whatever route they choose to strengthen themselves against the U.S., in their new "war on terror".
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