You're starting to show your lack of knowledge on this issue...Russia is using mercenaries.
"This sounds like John Kerry."
It does?
Was it Kerry who assembled and armed the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan?
Is it Kerry arming and training a new Iraqi Army under a moderate Iraqi government?
Really Pooh, you're falling apart here...I described the Bush plan in the ME, according to the Bush NSS!
"the Chechens had themselves a nice round of Stalinist purges before the Russians ever showed up in the mid-1990s."
Huh?
You want to try that one again?
"Unfortunately, it seems that the definition of "enemy," based on Western press reports from the first attempt to take Grozny in 1995, includes any child over the age of 8."
I thought you had a problem with people who defined children as enemy combatants?
"About the only thing holding back the Russian military is an effective PR campaign in the West."
The Russian military has killed 25% of the total population of Chechnya, some reports state the number of Chechen children killed at 40,000, another 25% of the population has been displaced, and roughly 70% of the land is now useless.
You claim that Russia has been holding back?
Granted...the Kremlin will dispute these numbers.
I guess we all should treat anything the Kremlin says as Gospel in these days of moral relativism, and embrace communist apologists calling themselves conservatives as they stand side by side with Al Gore on this issue.
Ronald Reagan must be turning over in his grave.
And Special Forces, and damn near anything else they can.
Re: the Kerry comment. Sorry, but looking for a "moderate" Chechen is akin to looking for the feet of a snake. It's a waste of f-ing time.
You want to try that one again?
I said, the Chechen "government" held purges that reminded the old-timers of life under Stalin.
I thought you had a problem with people who defined children as enemy combatants?
Luis, I do have a problem with people who define children as enemy combatants. I have a bigger problem with people who use children as enemy combatants. Been there, done that, and Uncle didn't even give me a f***ing t-shirt, OK? When a soldier comes face-to-face with someone pointing a gun or throwing a Molotov, he's either going to (a) shoot that someone without respect to that someone's age, or (b) he's going to die. Maybe you're blessed enough to never have faced that issue; if so, then you should thank God every day for that.
The Russian military has killed 25% of the total population of Chechnya, some reports state the number of Chechen children killed at 40,000, another 25% of the population has been displaced, and roughly 70% of the land is now useless.
I would take reports from the Chechen government about as seriously as I would take reports from any other group of Islamists.
You claim that Russia has been holding back?
Yeah, I do. They haven't used WMDs. They could simply flatten Chechnya...and Dagestan...and most of Northern Iran. They haven't. Ergo, they are holding back.