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| AP | |
| Beslan residents dig graves for those killed in assault on school | |
Posted on 09/07/2004 2:51:32 PM PDT by familyop
Listen to David Gollust's report (RealAudio) Gollust report - Download 380k (RealAudio)
The United States Tuesday reaffirmed its "absolute solidarity" with Russia in its fight against terrorism, but also reiterated its support for a political solution to the Chechnya conflict. The comments followed charges by Russian President Vladimir Putin that U.S. meetings with Chechen separatists undermine Russia's efforts against terror.
AP
Beslan residents dig graves for those killed in assault on school
Officials here are defending past U.S. contacts with Chechen separatists in the face of sharp criticism by Mr. Putin following the terrorist attack last week that killed hundreds of children and others in North Ossetia.
The State Department acknowledges having working-level meetings with Chechen separatist politicians, though it says there have been none since 2002 and none with members of factions associated with acts of terror.
In a talk with reporters, Secretary of State Colin Powell said while the United States supports a political solution in Chechnya, it totally rejects and condemns acts of terrorism committed in the name of the Chechens such as the North Ossetia schoolhouse attack.
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| Colin Powell | |
Mr. Powell, who along with his deputy Richard Armitage paid a condolence visit earlier in the day to the Russian embassy, said the entire civilized world condemns the North Ossetia attack, especially the murder of children.
He said the United States will work closely with Russian authorities "in any way we can" in the follow-up to the tragedy, and is looking forward to the official Russian investigation of the attack to see what it reveals about the perpetrators.
In response to a Russian request for help, the U.S. has delivered two planeloads of emergency medical supplies worth nearly $600,000 to North Ossetia with a third aircraft due there on Wednesday.
In comments to Western foreign policy experts in Moscow, Mr. Putin said the Bush administration had brushed off Russian complaints about contacts with Chechen figures.
He criticized what he said was a "Cold War mentality" on the part of some U.S. officials, and said calls on Moscow to talk to Chechen separatists were like asking the United States to talk to Osama bin Laden.
A senior diplomat here said the U.S.-Chechen contacts were at the working or desk-officer level, and that the last State Department visit by a Chechen separatist was in 2001. He said there have been no meetings since a similar encounter at an overseas international conference in 2002.
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Avoid uncritical acceptance of Democrat propaganda that, during election campaigns, falsely accuses the Administration of of huge internal strife. Avoid accepting accusations by expansionist antagonists who continue to get very angry if plans for expanding are temporarily foiled. Avoid following emotions over logic and desires to protect your loved ones.
I hope Bush is taking the time to talk to Putin directly. F* State.
Russia should give up on Chechnya when we give up on Atzlan.
That's the political solution.
I remember Putin's strong support in our war against terrorism . . . Oh wait.
Putin is having enopuigh trouble with Chechbya, why does he want to piss us off too. Does he think bad mouthing the US will make him look better ?
Will we come to a time to abandon the idea of "political" settlements with 'palestinians' and 'chechnyans' and 'kashmiris' and every other muslim-revolutionary-terror entity?
"Political" settlements are for girlie-men. Real men want settlement by force, which I believe is the only method for muslims.
Period.
The only "political" settlement acceptable to the Muslim fanatics who invaded the Caucasus 1000 years ago is complete subjection of the entire region to a Wahabbi Islam.
If the State Department believes any of the LIES coming out of the Chechen Muslim Terrorists, then they are MORE STUPID than even Putin thinks they are!
The proper American response of this tragedy should be:
1. Break off all communications or "negotiations with any and all Chechen "separatists".
2. Deport any and all Chechens who were given asylum here because the Russians have warrants for their arrests.
3. Work diligently with the Russians and anybody else who will join us to utterly crush the demon warrior cult called "Islam".
5000 years of recorded history proves that "Peace" can never be "negotiated"; the losers must beg for it.
I'm with Putin on this one. NO NEGOTIATION WITH TERRORISTS OR THOSE WHO HARBOR THEM!!!! We should have enver even entertained the idea.
Agreed. My post #3 is that there is no political solution with these demonic savages.
I'd be happier with a State Dept. that asserts it will never again countenance discussion with these barbarians, and as you mentioned, ship all of the "refugees" off to Russia.
There comes a point when diplomacy must say "fini."
Thanks for the feedback. It shows that our Department of State needs to take a harder line for the same plan for US defense than that above.
The "Russian Federation" has opposed us every step of the way on terrorism from various countries other than the terrorist elements in Chechnya. The "Russian Federation" is helping Iran with its nuclear buildup against our allies and against our troops in Iraq (whom Iraq recently threatened). The "Russian Federation" wishes very much to have its satellites back, and eventually, to own a large, secured warm water port--maybe in the Mediterranean. Some of Russia's former satellite countries are very friendly, but Russia never really changed its attitude toward the USA.
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"Disregard for Human Life" [Russia blames the USA, revives Stalin.] (Moscow Times)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1209036/posts
Disregard for Human Life
By Pavel Felgenhauer
There can be no justification or sympathy for the hostage-takers who last week took the lives of innocent children in the school in Beslan, North Ossetia. The final body count still isn't in following the reckless, poorly organized attempt to free the hostages by Russian special forces. But it's already clear that only about 10 percent of the hostages escaped unharmed; the rest were killed or wounded, most of them children.
In his address to the nation last Saturday, President Vladimir Putin rightly said that a full-scale terrorist war is being waged against this country. Within two weeks, two passenger jets were blown out of the sky, a bomb killed pedestrians outside a Moscow metro station, and then came the slaughter in Beslan.
In has address, Putin acknowledged that Russia's law enforcement and judicial systems are corrupt and inefficient. Again, one can only agree, recalling the Yukos case and many other instances of blatant judicial bias.
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.
Putin said that although the Soviet Union had disintegrated, "the nucleus of that giant" was preserved. "We have called the new country the Russian Federation." His remarks seem to imply that present-day Russia is not a country in its own right, and that it could just as well be called something else. 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.
In the Stalin era, anything that went wrong in the Soviet Union was blamed on foreign powers and their agents. The country, like Stalin himself, was paranoid and xenophobic. Putin seems to suffer from the same sickness, and is doing his best to make the entire nation paranoid along with him.
In his address, Putin promised to prepare "a complex of measures aimed at strengthening the unity of our country." He also pledged "to create a new system of forces and means for exercising control over the situation in the North Caucasus" and an "effective crisis management system." Such measures will mostly likely involve the further restriction of civil liberties, elimination of the few remnants of a free press and enhanced powers for the secret police -- all in the name of fighting terrorism.
Two prominent journalists critical of Putin, Andrei Babitsky and Anna Politkovskaya, were prevented from traveling to Beslan last week. Politkovskaya was apparently poisoned. Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muradov told me that she is currently recovering from kidney and liver damage.
Stalin regularly used the secret police to harass or murder critics and opponents. The plight of Babitsky and Politkovskaya indicates that in Putin's neo-Stalinist Russia, the same methods will be used to eliminate terrorists and their "sympathizers."
Journalists are easy targets, but terrorism in Russia will only be bolstered by repression. Many in Chechnya and Ingushetia view the terrorists as freedom fighters. Only political dialogue can change their thinking. But Putin's address contained no reference to holding negotiations with anyone.
During the Beslan siege, the authorities deliberately and consistently lied about the true number of hostages taken, reducing the numbers to make the crisis appear less grave and the imminent attack by special forces less reckless. As they did in 2002 during the Dubrovka theater siege in Moscow, the authorities deliberately refused to negotiate with the hostage-takers. 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. Instead, a bloody attack by the Russian military and special forces was carried out to demonstrate Putin's resolve.
Terrorists in Russia display a blatant disregard for human life, and the Kremlin does the same. The victims of terrorism and the wrath of the state -- all of us, potentially -- are left in the middle with no protection.
Pavel Felgenhauer is an independent Moscow-based defense analyst.
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The older political forces in Russia are alive and predominant.
They claim not all Muslims are terrorists , maybe not all Chechens are either. I doubt any time we spent talking with Chechens was meant to undermine Putin.
Furthermore, Putin has his head so far up the EU's butt that he's not even really interested in fighting his own war. All he wants is trade, and he won't get it by pissing off the French and Germans. How do you piss off the French and Germans? By trying to fight back, so he won't. I don't care what Bush said. I don't trust Putin any farther than I could spit a rat. He's sneaky and weak.
It's not being reported much, but the Russians have already lost several thousand men in Chechnya. They won't say how many, but it's a lot. They're afraid to go in there and clean house.
These terrorists are not fighting for an independent Chechnya, they are fighting for a global Muslim hegemony.
Good - at the same time Powell criticized Israel's targeting Hamas terrorists today as "unhelpful" and an act of "revenge". I think actually Powell is "unhelpful".
Equals=====I actually voted for this before I voted against it.
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