Posted on 11/12/2002 8:50:00 AM PST by ppaul
Russia's media expressed has shock over a remark by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Russia-EU summit in which he urged a Western reporter asking about the war in Chechnya to come to Moscow and "get circumcised".
Mr Putin's comments, made at a closing press conference of the Russia-EU summit in Brussels, were played by TVS television station and republished by several major Moscow newspapers and Internet sites.
The Kommersant business daily reports Mr Putin was asked a Danish reporter why Russia was using mine warfare in the separatist North Caucasus republic and exterminating Chechen civilians.
Reports say Mr Putin became infuriated by the question and launched an unprecedented defence of the three-year Chechen war that at one stage went off on a tangent.
"You, if I am not mistaken, represent an ally [of the US war on terror] and are therefore in danger," Mr Putin told the reporter, according to a transcript that appeared in the Vremya Novostei daily.
"They [the Chechens] talk about killing non-Muslims and if you are a Christian, you are in danger. And even if you are an atheist, you are in danger," Mr Putin is quoting as saying.
"If you decide to become a Muslim - even then you are not safe, because traditional Islam contradicts the conditions and goals that they [the Chechens rebels] set.
"But if you are prepared to become the most radical Islamist and prepared to get circumcised - I invite you to Moscow.
"We have specialists that deal with this problem. I suggest that you do such an operation that nothing grows out of you again," Mr Putin reportedly said.
Mr Putin is known for his tough talk that at times becomes interlaced with slang used by criminals and the military.
He launched the war in the predominantly Muslim Chechen republic in October 1999 by threatening to "waste [the Chechens] while they sit in their outhouses".
Russian media say a Kremlin aide explained to reporters after the Brussels press conference that Mr Putin was tired during the summit after a hectic working schedule.
The wide coverage given to Mr Putin's remarks appears unusual for a Russian media that has grown to carefully toe the Kremlin line in recent months.
Advice dismissed
Meanwhile, Mr Putin has brushed aside European advice on a peaceful solution to the Chechen conflict, saying it had to be solved by the Russian and Chechen people alone.
"Of course we listen to advice from our colleagues in Europe," Mr Putin told a news conference in Oslo after talks with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who said he hoped for a peaceful, political solution in Chechnya.
But he added: "It is an internal Russian problem to be solved between the Chechen people and the Russian federation."
Russia has scrapped plans for a partial military pullout from the southerly province since Chechen separatists took a Moscow theatre hostage last month.
The siege ended with the deaths of 128 hostages and 41 rebels.
"We don't want to turn up our noses and say that others' opinions are irrelevant," Mr Putin said.
But he added: "The problem is so complicated that no one can give really good advice."
Mr Putin said Europe had some good examples of conflict resolution but that other conflicts had rumbled on unsolved in other parts of Europe for hundreds of years.
Mr Putin has shown no sign of reining in the Russian military in Chechnya, where thousands of people have died in almost a decade of fighting.
Mr Putin has said a new constitution and elections offer the best prospects of a swift resolution.
"The political process on Chechnya must continue," Mr Schroeder said.
Mr Putin and Mr Schroeder met in Oslo because Mr Putin cancelled a planned visit to Germany last month during the theatre siege. Both men were, by coincidence, on visits to the Nordic nation.
Mr Schroeder and Mr Putin also said a UN resolution seeking to disarm Iraq offered a chance of peace.
Shortly afterwards, Iraq's parliament voted to reject the resolution while leaving the final decision to President Saddam Hussein.
Mr Putin said he hoped Arab countries would bring pressure on Iraq to comply.
Mr Putin said Moscow was keeping up contacts with Baghdad but that only Saddam knew what Iraq would finally decide.
Mr Schroeder reiterated on Monday that Germany would not take part in any US-led attacks on Iraq if Saddam failed to comply fully with the resolution.
Mr Schroeder won popularity before his re-election in September by ruling out sending troops.
IMO, your hopes regarding Russia's politics are naive.
With "ex"-communists running everything in Russia, what political ideology do you think those "ex"-communists are following in their latest "adventure"?
I also found it interesting that the previous chapter ends with a discussion of Sarah and Hagar - the mothers of the Jewish and Arab races, respectively.
Gal 4:29-31 "At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. But what does the Scripture say? "Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son."Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. "
Just because you say it and it makes you feel better doesn't mean it is true.
Yep.
That is exactly what Putin said!
"If you decide to become a Muslim - even then you are not safe, because traditional Islam contradicts the conditions and goals that they [the Chechens rebels] set.
He goes on to spell out his message...
"But if you are prepared to become the most radical Islamist and prepared to get circumcised - I invite you to Moscow.
Something got lost in translation.
But he added: "The problem is so complicated that no one can give really good advice."
Mr Putin said Europe had some good examples of conflict resolution but that other conflicts had rumbled on unsolved in other parts of Europe for hundreds of years.
Wise man. This must drive the liberal utopians nuts.
There were many people in Nazi Germany and Stalin's Russia who did not abide by all that they were told. Nevertheless, Nazi Germany and Stalin's Russia killed tens of millions of people.
We must think alike, as that was the first thing that popped into my head.
Putin sounds just a little like Patton!
This might be one "Russian son-of-a-bitch" that Patton might have drank a toast with.
My take is that the "religion of peace" mantra is just cover. I would be more than a little surprised if this was something GWB really believes. Lincoln spoke about "the better angels of our nature" and interstingly this was in the closing of his first inaugural address
I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stre[t]ching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
So before the the bloodiest conflict ever seen on the continent and in the history of our country, Lincoln was trying to look for the best in people and trying to inspire them to get there.
I thing that the "religion of peace" of GWB is his attempt to appeal to the "better angels". Ultimately, Lincoln's appeal was unsuccesful in the short-term (but arguably succeeded in the long run) and I would look at GWB's comments in that light.
Of course in no way am I directly comparing the current conflict to the American Civil War or saying that Lincoln was without flaws, but I think that the use of language to accomplish long-range goals bears comparison.
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