Posted on 03/10/2005 10:45:03 AM PST by sergey1973
Aslan Maskhadov was killed in Chechnya. He was killed by the FSB's special forces, despite Deputy Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov's repeated assurances that he was about catch Maskhadov any day now. This makes sense: Chechens don't kill other Chechens to help out the Russians.
(Excerpt) Read more at themoscowtimes.com ...
I read an interview with Basayev. He claimed that Mashkadov did not help him. But, he added that he did not get in his way either.
Cheers.
Ping
jb6 is banned.
In the next few days, I will post a few thoughts on my blog sergeywatch.blogspot.com.
I think I have something resembling a plan for ending this seemingly endless nightmare. Maybe its a musings of armchair strategist, but who knows. Maybe some elements of this plan will be implemented.
Since I am both an American Citizen and a Russian Immigrant, I think I have quite a good understanding where both genuine American and Russian (not Kremling thugs) interests lie and how they could help to end Chechen/North Caucasus nightmare of choosing between Kremlin thugocracy and Islamists.
antoninartaud
I'm afraid "Enemy of my enemy is my friend" may not work in every case. Putin is in fact cozying up to Islamists, like Iranian Mullahs. I definitely agree that folks like Basayev, Khattab and more then a few other Chechen 'field commanders' are in fact "Wahhabi butchers". Nobody should ever forget Beslan, Moscow Theatre, Budennovsk (1995), Kizljar, etc. However, Kremlin behavior in Chechnya is simply despicable and as much as I am disgusted by Islamists, state terrorism (Kremlin practices in Chechnya is in fact State Terrorism when Security forces are involved in kidnappings of non-combatants, torturing them, freeing them for ransom or simply killing them arbitrarily).
is even more disgusting and simply unacceptable. Again let me polish my "genious" thoughts and I let you judge for yourself.
Not quite.
Great!
Cheers.
I've never heard that The Moscow Times was owned by Oligarchs (like Berezovskiy, Gusinskiy, etc.).
Even if it is, Yulia Latynina is one of the smartest Russian Observers on earth and I highly recommend to read her columns to anyone. After all every business is owned by someone and that someone may not always have the best reputation. CNN is owned by well-known leftist Ted Turner, but it does not mean that CNN cannot produce sometimes decent material.
Czesch twinself-:) Thanks for good words. I'd like to post my reflections on Maskhadov death and my plan for Chechnya on the sergeywatch.blogspot.com possibly on Saturday or the next few days.
I'll let you and anyone interested know in the Bloggers/Personal forums. I can also email you through private mailbox. Anyway, I want to make myself clear that I will not advocate Chechen independence--I'm not a Wilsonian type of utopian who believes that any ethnic/national/religious group in the world should have the state whenever they feel like it. Then the world will be an endless nightmare of border disputations, territorial claims and counterclaims, border redrawings, etc. I want to have a well balanced plan that would stop the Kremlin lawlessness in Chechnya but also provide an effective means to protect Russian territorial Integrity, combat Islamist Insurgency in Chechnya and throughout North Caucasus.
Again--these are only the musings of the "Arm Chair Strategist", but you never know--some elements of these plans may come to realization.
The unofficial ownership of the Moscow Times is common knowledge. What's interesting is that they refuse to disclose their founder but you can tell the immediate supporter by whom they praise. They were slamming Putanin and Abramovich while defending Khodorkovsky for a long time until his arrest and trial. Suddenly they turned on him and started praising Abramovich and Putanin. They still praise Berezovsky and Gusinsky.
Well--that's a business.
You always support (or say nothing) about your owners. Can you imagine FOX News talking anything bad about Rupert Murdoch or CNN about Ted Turner--I hardly imagine this. However, as one journalist said, tbat he would rather be under oligarchs then under the government, especially Kremlin. Under Oligarchs you can have some resemblance of freedom. Under the State--none.
If State (be it American, Russian or any other) has a monopoly on the information--then you will not have any objective information at all.
I'm sure he did, especially if the oligarchs reward the journalist for his flattery. Whether the rest of the nation wants that can be judged by the way they vote. Now with OSCE and US observers declaring the elections open and free, we see that the Russian people voted to send the SRS, Yabloka, Communists and Socialists on their way. The oligarchs had 8 years to make a difference and they did, all for the worse. To defend them and their record is to put one's self on very shaky ground.
Now with organizations like the Moscow Times, St. Petersburg Times, Mosnews, RussiaJournal, can you claim a state has a monopoly on information?
bump
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.