[stlnative]

Elsewhere in his prepared address, however, Putin referred to unnamed, hostile foreign powers that "think that Russia, as one of the greatest nuclear powers of the world, is still a threat, and this threat has to be eliminated." Terrorism, Putin said, "is only an instrument to achieve these goals." Since al-Qaida and other Islamist extremists couldn't possibly be threatened by Russia's nuclear arsenal, Putin was apparently referring to the West.

[stlnative]

Ping

[thegreatbeast]

Not knowing who Putin is talking about, I prefer to think that he's referring to the EU maroons who chided him last week for not being "sensitive" to the Chechen concerns.

[F14 Pilot]

US intervention?

[Mitchell]

Putin referred to unnamed, hostile foreign powers that "think that Russia, as one of the greatest nuclear powers of the world, is still a threat, and this threat has to be eliminated." ... Putin was apparently referring to the West.

Not the West.

China.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

...the terrorists' only condition for releasing the children...

I don't believe that for a minute.

Six-year-olds were shot in the back.

[stlnative]

SCHOOL TERRORISTS GOT ORDERS FROM ABROAD: PUTIN'S ADVISER

[stlnative]

SCHOOL TERRORISTS GOT ORDERS FROM ABROAD: PUTIN'S ADVISER

[stlnative]

Putin refuses talks with "child-killers"



Tue 7 September, 2004 09:15

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin has rejected calls to soften his Chechnya policy after last week's school hostage siege, in which at least 335 people died, and said he would not talk to Chechen separatists.

Putin also ruled out holding a public inquiry into the storming of the Beslan school after a three-day stand-off with rebels demanding Chechnya's independence ended in carnage. Half the victims were children.

"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?" Putin was quoted on Tuesday by the Guardian newspaper as saying.

"You find it possible to set some limitations in your dealings with these bastards, so why should we talk to people who are child-killers?" said Putin, who spoke to foreign journalists and academics late on Monday.

[familyop]

It's amazing that so many people can be so led by their emotions, as we've seen over the past few days.

Russia has opposed us every step of the way on terrorism, most recently on the matter of Syrian troops in Lebanon. Political people have come to this board from Russia to argue that the USA is conspiring with Saudi Arabia against them, demanded that we get all personnel out of Iraq and demanded that we cut other friendly ties in the Middle East. We know that Russia has had a thing going with Iran for some time and has demanded that we have nothing to do with Iran.

And I believe the defense analyst who wrote the column above. he knows the culture, knows what he's writing about and is doing so at great risk to himself.

Most people in some other countries do not think the way we think. For one, the norm of ideals in some other countries is far closer to regards of weakness vs. strength than good vs. evil (moral). Notice Putin's recent flaggelation of his country on "weakness." That's a very bad sign, folks, and not necessarily only for the terrorists.

Maybe it's time for more education on Russian culture and politics.

[familyop]

"This falls into line with the praise for the Soviet past, and for Josef Stalin in particular, in programs on state television and in newly revised history textbooks used in the schools. For Putin, Stalin seems to be something of a role model."

We'll let that sink in a little, along with the name of the country, "The Russian Federation" and what it more than implies.

And expect to see more propaganda stink about Georgia and other countries in that region.

[BunnySlippers]

•

[angkor]

In another report yeaterday (Monday), yes, there was an allusion to the West including the U.S. and the EU as bring those "foreign powers." The Russians seem deeply offended that the kinds of atrocities we've seen there in the last three weeks are regarded as the acts of "Chechen militants" rather than the acts of terrorists. They see and hear the hypocrisy loud and clear.

Certainly there is no doubt from European press accounts in the last few days, as well as the demands for "further information" by the EU and France, that the EU in particular sides with the Chechens. And our own State Department is firmly in the same camp.

By all accounts Russia's war against Chechnya has been brutal and hamhanded. In the cold light of reality, that is the price paid by all separatist movements run by deluded leadership and ultimately supported by the people. Including our own Civil War.

That the Chechens have resorted to baby-killing and the crudest expressions of terrorism is not Putin's fault nor that of any Russian. It is the road the Chechens have chosen under the familiar and hideous guidance of the one single ideology on Earth which encourages such barbarity. It isn't a separatist ideology or a political ideology or any other kind of ideology articulated by rational people.

Plain and simple, it is Islamism.

If we don't get our State Department on-board and supporting Russia's self-defense against this barbarity, it'll be a long, cold, and lonely walk in our own struggle against the Islamists.

[garylmoore]

Does anyone really think that Putin is accusing the USA for these attacks? That is ridiculous. I give him credit for being smarter than that.

[Colosis]

They did not reveal that the terrorists' only condition for releasing the children was for Putin to sign a decree on removing Russian forces from Chechnya.

A piece of paper could have saved hundreds of lives.

*Sigh*

[nw_arizona_granny]

ping