Posted on 09/17/2004 1:19:51 PM PDT by Teacher317
MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) accused the West of indulging terrorists on Friday, just hours after a Chechen warlord claimed responsibility for a wave of deadly attacks in Russia and threatened more.
"A patronizing and indulgent attitude to the murderers amounts to complicity in terror," Putin said, widening a rift between Russia and the West over how to deal with Chechen rebel violence.
Shortly before, Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev said he had ordered the Beslan school siege in southern Russia in which more than 320 hostages were killed, half of them children, and threatened more attacks by any means he saw fit.
"We have long warned about the threat of terrorist attacks, but our voice has not been heard," Putin told an international meeting of city mayors.
"Moreover, we faced double standards in the attitude toward terrorism," he said, repeating charges the West has been two-faced by giving asylum to top Chechens and urging Moscow to negotiate with rebel leaders but rejecting the possibility of dialogue with Osama bin Laden (news - web sites).
He said calls to deal with Chechen separatists recalled the failed appeasement of Nazi Germany before World War II.
"I urge you to remember the lessons of history, the amicable deal (with Adolf Hitler) in Munich in 1938 ... Of course, the scale of consequences is different ... But the situation is very similar. Any surrender leads to them widening their demands and makes losses worse."
His comments are certain to fuel the mounting tension with a West critical of Putin's policy on Chechnya (news - web sites) and which has warned that his recent response to terror attacks -- by handing more power to the Kremlin -- threatens Russia's brittle democracy.
Putin said Russia was also preparing to carry out its threat to launch pre-emptive strikes on "terrorist bases" anywhere in the world.
"Now in Russia we are seriously preparing to take preventative measures against terrorists," he said without giving any further details.
BASAYEV CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY
Basayev, Russia's most wanted man, said he was behind the wave of recent attacks in Russia -- including the school siege, the near-simultaneous downing of two passenger planes and a bomb attack in Moscow -- in which well over 400 people died.
In his statement posted on rebel Web Site www.kavkazcenter.com, Basayev warned that violent campaign for an independent Chechnya would continue.
"We are not bound by any circumstances, or to anybody, and we will continue to fight as is convenient and advantageous to us, and by our rules," he said.
But he denied Putin's charges of links with al Qaeda leader bin Laden. "I don't know bin Laden. I don't get money from him, but I wouldn't turn it down," he said.
Moscow insists international terrorism is involved.
"Whatever (Chechen rebel leader Aslan) Maskhadov and Basayev say, there is a lot of evidence that their terrorist activities are being funded from abroad," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko told NTV television.
U.S. DENOUNCES BASAYEV
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage denounced Basayev. "He has proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that he is inhuman. Anyone who would use (the killing of) innocents for political aims is not worthy of existence in the type of society that we endorse," he told a news conference in Warsaw.
Basayev said units of his Riyadus-Salikhin group had carried out the September 1 attack on the school in southern Russia, seizing more than 1,000 hostages.
It ended just over two days later in a bloodbath with special forces storming the school amid bomb blasts and shooting.
Basayev referred to it as the "North-West operation" -- drawing a parallel with the Moscow theater siege in October 2002 which he also ordered. The musical "North-East" was being performed at the theater when an armed group seized it, leading to a siege that ended with the deaths of 129 hostages.
The bearded Basayev has been fighting Russian forces throughout the 10-year battle for independence. He is said to have lost 11 relatives, including his wife, in Russian attacks in Chechnya in 1995 and lost a foot treading on a mine in 2000. (Additional reporting by Oleg Shchedrov in Moscow, Dmitry Solovyov in Astana and Nathaniel Espino in Warsaw)
I hope by "West", Putin's referring to "Old Europe" and not us.
So why is he selling nuclear technology to Iran?
"Moreover, we faced double standards in the attitude toward terrorism," he said
Yeah, Putin, we recall your many faces when we needed your support in Iraq.
"A patronizing and indulgent attitude to the murderers amounts to complicity in terror"
I dont think I disagree.
So why is he selling nuclear technology to Iran?
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
So why does he support Hamas and other Arab terrorists?
I guess it depends on which he's facing...
Le Frogs and Der Krauts
I hope so too, but our state department should be cooperative with Russia, we help them in Chechnya they help us in Iraq.
I don't think they are going to help us in Iraq. Putin is being hypocritical. He criticizes us for going to war with Iraq, and he expects us to support him in Chechnya? He wants to go after the Islamists there, but supports Iran with nuclear technology? Sorry, Crazy Vlad, we don't work that way, particularly when the Chechyns have real grievances against Russia (doesn't justify the killing of hundreds of children, but thousands of civilians have died in Chechnya since the days of Stalin)
The individuals who populate our state department consist of political hacks getting lucrative posts in countries they know nothing about, and the ignorant toadies and lackies who become servants of the nations in which they are stationed, rather than the agents of America.
The entire State Department, from Powell on down stinks and has done a miserable job in negotiating with the thugs in the U.N. pre-Invasion, and in supporting our fighting troops in field in the Middle East.
The Chechens are professional theifs, Islamic mafiosi and terrorists. Chechnya and the Chechnyans should be wiped out.
Exactly.
But don't count on the Cretins in the U.S. State Department to see the logic of this themselves.
Intelligence is a virtue they lack. They must be ORDERED to do this, and removed if they interfere.
I forgot about that. It's a rather recent development though.
Here's to Bush winning a second term and perhaps doing a little housecleaning...
/wishful thinking
The train blast? or the dam project?
>>Russia lauched a pre-emptive strike against North Korea.
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