West in mortal danger from Islam, says Putin

Worldnetdaily, London Telegraph ^ | 12/12/02 | By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels and Julius Strauss in Moscow

[OPS4]

West in mortal danger from Islam, says Putin By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels and Julius Strauss in Moscow (Filed: 12/11/2002)

Islamic radicals are pursuing the systematic annihilation of non-Muslims, President Vladimir Putin claimed yesterday.

The Russian leader said at a European Union summit in Brussels that western civilisation faced a mortal threat from Muslim terrorists, and claimed that they had plans to create a "worldwide caliphate".

President Vladimir Putin His words overshadowed the main achievement of the summit, which was to end years of wrangling over Moscow's isolated enclave in Kaliningrad.

The EU and Russia reached a compromise deal that will prevent Russian citizens from being cut off in the Baltic port as the EU's borders move east in 2004.

Mr Putin said the world no longer faced isolated acts of terrorism but a "concerted effort and programme" by a global network bent on slaughter, perhaps with nuclear weapons.

He said the West should face up to the reality that Chechen terrorists were religious extremists in league with al-Qa'eda, rather than a separatist movement seeking a breakaway republic.

If the West failed to deal with the Chechen terrorist threat, he said, there would be repeats of the Moscow theatre siege and the Bali bombing "all over the world".

Mr Putin secured a joint EU-Russian action plan to fight terrorism at the mini-summit, but he was firmly warned that Europe would not give Russia carte blanche in its fight against terrorism, particularly after reports that fragmentation bombs were being used widely against civilians in Chechnya.

Privately, EU diplomats said Mr Putin was playing the al-Qa'eda card for all it was worth, seeing it as a useful way to create a sense of common purpose with the West and heighten the strategic value of Russia.

The resolution of the Kaliningrad issue, which is highly emotive in Moscow, will have satisfied Mr Putin. The Russian press had warned of a "blue curtain" encircling a million Russians in EU territory.

But the Russian president said yesterday he was now "satisfied" that fellow-citizens living in the drab industrial hub, once the great German city of Konigsberg but now a smuggling centre, would be able to travel freely across Lithuanian territory.

Under the deal, residents of Kaliningrad will be given cheap multiple visas. This will allow Lithuania and Poland to comply with the Schengen agreement, which obliges them to eliminate their western border posts once they join the EU but at the same time erect more rigid barriers to the east, including tougher visa restrictions on Russians.

The agreement clears away one of the last obstacles to the EU's "Big Bang" enlargement of 10 mostly ex-communist states.

[OPS4]

It takes Russia to tell the truth, while we here in U.S. play the politically correct game.

Ops4 God Bless America!

[Monty22]

Wow, wish Bush would realize this (or at least admit it).

I think most people know islam and the rest of the planet are at war, but they simply can't bring themselves to say it out loud.

[xzins]

Putin is 100% correct here.

Islam is a 1 billion strong enemy that hates western democracy and does wish to impose a caliphate. American Islamics have said that their religion dictates that the US system and constitution must be dissolved.

[ZULU]

Go Putin, Go!! You are right on target. Islam is a fantic, anti-western, anti-eastern product of a mad prophet out to detroy all non-Muslims.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

Well Putin is right on here. a "World wide Caliphate" is precisely thier goal.They swept out of the Arabian peninsula in the seventh century and it took till the end of the Ottoman empire at the end of world war one to totally end thier reign.They have simply regrouped and doing it again, but instead of behind swordsmen and troops they are using terror cells with plans to take over countries world wide over the next few decades.We either deal with it or reap the whirlwind.

[Fiddlstix]

......American Islamics have said that their religion dictates that the US system and constitution must be dissolved.

Bingo!

[freeperfromnj]

I believe Putin's wake-up call came as a result of the terror attack on the Moscow theater last month. Our wake-up call came on 9/11 -- sadly, we are not fully awake yet when it comes to realizing the true threat posed by Islam.

[Aquinasfan]

It takes Russia to tell the truth, while we here in U.S. play the politically correct game.

Who woulda thunk it? Putin is right. It's Islam stupid.™

[Robe]

Islam is not a religion, it is a ideology based on world domination masquerading as a religion.
No other religion requires total submission or death.
Islam does.!

ISLAM IS TERRORISM BY IT"S VERY NATURE

[Cachelot]

The Russian leader said at a European Union summit in Brussels that western civilisation faced a mortal threat from Muslim terrorists, and claimed that they had plans to create a "worldwide caliphate".

Kind of ironic that when finally a world leader goes out in public and tells it like it is, it has to be an old KGB hand :).

[alex]

"... once the great German city of Konigsberg ..."

Funny thing is that Germans are way way better off without Konigsberg - it is counterintuitive but it is a modern day reality.

[Gritty]

It is interesting this article was co-authored by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, who did such a marvelous job of chronicling the depredations of the Clintons.

He always seems to be ahead of evertbody else on an important story! The entire U.S. press, with a few exceptions such as Bill Gertz, can't even hold a candle to this guy.

[wharfrat]

Hows this; radical islamic fundamentalism is the enemy of every living, breathing, crawling, flying, creeping, organism on the planet! Mohammed is a lying cheating stealing buffoon and a moral counterfiet of Allah!

[Sender]

Putin seems like a very wise man. Agree 100%

[Travis McGee]

Putin is right on, and he has the guts to speak the truth.

[ex-snook]

Couple of loose ends. Why did Islam unite with the Bush 41 coalition? Why is Islam coming so late to the internatinal table already occupied by other religions and athiests who are already long time possesssors of weapons of mass destruction?

[JasonC]

How stupid are you people? This two-faced cynical KGB graduate is giving Iran nuclear weapons with one hand, while playing up his supposed common cause with us with the other. He does indeed envision Islam fighting a war with the west, perhaps using nuclear weapons. And he is giving them the nuclear weapons. Russia is not our friend.

[JasonC]

Please see post 17.

[Nateman]

If Russia is giving Iran nuclear weapons , it is a monumentally stupid thing to do, for they share a border with that country.It will hurt Russia more than anybody else. That's why I don't believe it.

[anymouse]

ping.