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Russia Blasts U.S. 'Unfriendly Step' on Chechnya (US meets envoy representing Chechen separatists)
Reuters via Yahoo! ^ | Thursday January 24 11:04 AM ET | Reuters

Posted on 01/24/2002 8:59:39 AM PST by Pericles

Thursday January 24 11:04 AM ET

Russia Blasts U.S. 'Unfriendly Step' on Chechnya

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia accused the United States on Thursday of an ``unfriendly step'' in receiving an envoy representing Chechen separatists, and urged Washington to stand by its commitment to fight terrorism.

The Foreign Ministry said it had been surprised by the Washington meeting on Wednesday between a State Department official and Ilyas Akhmadov, ``foreign minister'' of Chechnya's separatist leaders.

``...Such contacts, no matter what the justification, cannot be seen as anything other than an unfriendly step toward Russia, contradicting the spirit of cooperation and partnership of both countries in acting against international terrorism,'' a ministry statement said.

It said there was increasing proof of links between Chechen separatists, whom Russia has been battling in two post-Soviet campaigns, and Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda group the United States has been fighting in Afghanistan.

``Linked to this there is one question: whether the American side is finding itself in the grip of old stereotypes and continues to divide terrorists into 'good ones' and 'bad ones,''' the statement said.

Russia used almost identical language in a protest to Britain earlier this week over a London meeting between a Foreign Office official and a representative of rebel Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov.

A Maskhadov envoy met a Kremlin representative at a Moscow airport last November, for the only peace talks in two-and-a-half years of war. But no one has since returned to the negotiating table.

Akhmed Zakayev, the separatist envoy, told Reuters on Thursday that the rebels were in telephone contact with the Kremlin. But there are no immediate plans to relaunch talks.

Moscow has been engaged in its second post-Soviet military campaign in Chechnya since 1999, after two years of fighting ended in 1996 with an embarrassing withdrawal.

Russian troops now control most of Chechnya on the country's southern flank and have installed pro-Moscow local authorities. But rebels regularly attack Russian army convoys, and scores of pro-Moscow officials have been killed in explosions or ambushes.

Putin's support for the U.S.-led anti-terrorist drive and insistence that Chechen fighters were linked to the Al Qaeda group held responsible for the September 11 airline attacks led to a softening of Western criticism of Russia's military drive.

But as the Afghan campaign winds down, Western countries, including the United States, have resumed criticism of Moscow's tactics, accusing Russian troops of using excessive force.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: islamicviolence
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To: CommiesOut
re : It's not easy to be a U.S. ally, as the Europeans and Japanese know full well. Someone with experience, say British Prime Minister Tony Blair, should tell Putin what it takes to be an American mate.

LOL its easy bend over when told to and pucker up when told to.

Cheers Tony

61 posted on 01/25/2002 5:29:15 AM PST by tonycavanagh
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To: Gerfang, Stavka2
If a plebiscite were held in Chechnya today, or the whole Southern Caucasus, what do you think they would want? I am sure it would be along the lines voted by South Carolina and Georgia and a few other American states once upon a time.
62 posted on 01/25/2002 5:32:05 AM PST by Pericles
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To: tonycavanagh
I have found Tony, as an American, my nation since the 50s has had poor operatives in her foreign service. It has created a boorish culture among those entering the foreign service. As an American I was shocked to talk to these people (during the Clinton years-but most were not political oppointments) who got none of my refrences. America's brightest and best do not enter the diplomatic field (our ambassadors are after all campaign contributors). In fact during the Clinton years the State Dept. contracted most of the State Dept functions out to Soros and his think tanks.

The State Dept (limited in brilliance as it is) does not want allies but subordinates, because they are easier to deal with.

63 posted on 01/25/2002 5:48:17 AM PST by Pericles
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To: Pericles
re : America's brightest and best do not enter the diplomatic field .

We tend to have the same problem.

Cheers Tony

64 posted on 01/25/2002 6:02:44 AM PST by tonycavanagh
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To: Pericles
except we call them journalists.

Cheers Tony

65 posted on 01/25/2002 6:03:34 AM PST by tonycavanagh
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To: MarMema
Btw, I like your words "islamic supremacist". Very nice wording for these people. I hope it's ok to borrow them.

You may use that and some others of my phrases--they're neither original to me nor copyrighted! Besides that, the muslim malefactors (both in the US and abroad) and their shills and enablers whom the "politically correct" crowd lionizes need to be exposed for what they are!!!

Have a good weekend!

66 posted on 01/25/2002 9:46:21 AM PST by Honorary Serb
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To: Fusion
Fusion, Forgive the personal curiosity. How long has it been since you've had pepperoni on your pizza? A BLT or a ham sandwich? Do you point your melon towards the East and your caboose to the West, 5 times a day? In that context, your pro-KLA, pro-Chechen, pro-Al-Qaeda sympathies would at least be consistent. If that's not part of the equation, then it all just gets confusing as heck--what dog does a guy from N. Carolina have in any of those fights?
67 posted on 01/25/2002 10:01:10 AM PST by MoJoWork_n
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To: Pericles
Chechnya has been part of Russia longer than most States have been part of the US.

How long was Rus a part of the Mongol Empire? Did their length of occupation justify their rule? If so, were the Russian people justified in their rebellion?

You know last I looked it was Western Europe that keeps invading Russia, Tuetonic Knights, to the Lithuanian-Poles to the French, to the Germans.

If you do the same things they do, you are the same as they are.

What you call Russian expansion westward, some may call creating buffer zones against future invasions.

How did the people in those buffer states feel about Russian occupation? I seem to recall a lot of cheering when Russian soldiers left in the early 90’s.

If a plebiscite were held in Chechnya today, or the whole Southern Caucasus, what do you think they would want?

I am sure it would be along the lines voted by South Carolina and Georgia and a few other American states once upon a time.

The American Civil War occurred because greedy men on both sides thought they could rule the lives of others. The men of the South enslaved their brothers and the men of the North tried to enslave the men of the South. We still pay the price for their folly.

How do American mistakes justify Russian mistakes?

68 posted on 01/25/2002 10:59:52 AM PST by Gerfang
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To: Gerfang
How do American mistakes justify Russian mistakes?

Exactly, Russia is no better or worse (sometimes better or worse depending on nation compared of course) than any other nation out there today. So as an American the best policy is the mind your own business policy. After 9/11 America's policy should be to back Russia in regards to Chechnya, since the Chechen rebels allied themselves to al-Qaeda. To bad for the Chechen rebel cause. America should not involve itself in the internal affairs of Russia especially since it is a common foe they fight.

You know, just like Lincoln did not want the UK messing around in the American Civil War.

PS: Any group, Chechens , Albanians, Bosnians, American collaborators, etc that had any dealings with al-Qaeda, and I mean any kind must be eradicated. End of story. You shook hands with Osama and his band, your finished.

69 posted on 01/25/2002 11:29:33 AM PST by Pericles
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To: CommiesOut
I've typed it before. I'll type it again. Quel artiste extraordinaire CommiesOut!!!!

The article linked in your post #43 is an ur article. It indicates everything about everything without being hardly anything.

Quick! My kingdom for a "Rudder Finn"! Didn't they do the number on the Serbs? The Guardians Of The Gate are now the sub-humans of the Western World thanks to some fancy footwork by this hard-working outfit.

All it takes is a little good ol' Yankee know how. I'm going to post the text of the article on this thread--just for fun:

...Neil Bush says Arab P.R. machine not as good as Israel's

In a controversial speech, the president's younger brother tells Saudi audience Arabs must play U.S. media game better. - - - - - - - - - - - -

By Jake Tapper
Jan. 24, 2002 |

Presidential brother Neil Bush, while giving a speech Monday in Saudi Arabia, condemned the American media for stereotyping the Arab world and urged Arab leaders to hire lobbyists and public relations representatives to combat these negative images as well as to sway public opinion to a more sympathetic view of Arabs in the Arab-Israeli conflict, according to reports in foreign media outlets. Bush implied that Israel has done a better job of getting its message across in the American media.

"The U.S. media campaign against the interests of Arabs and Muslims, and the American public opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, could be influenced through a sustained lobbying and P.R. effort," said the younger Bush, according to the Arab News, Saudi Arabia's first English-language daily. "Public opinion shapes public policy dramatically. It's true in the U.S., in this part of the world and elsewhere."

White House spokesman Scott McClellan declined to comment. Bush, chairman and CEO of Ignite! Inc., an education software supplier, could not be reached for comment. Louise Thacker, the marketing manager for Ignite!, said that he was out of the country and unreachable; she said she could not provide a copy of his speech, nor could she comment on press accounts of his speech. She also said she had "no idea" who paid for the trip.

State Department spokesman Greg Sullivan told Salon, "I can't say that we were contacted by Neil Bush's people" regarding his trip to the Gulf or the contents of his speech....."

Does Neil drink beer???

70 posted on 01/25/2002 11:44:39 AM PST by LaBelleDameSansMerci
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To: Gerfang
Gee, first your history sucks. The various principalities of Russ were not incorporated into the Mongol empire but were kept as "client" states under the Mongol thumb...well except for the once that were invaded by the ever suffering Poles, Lithuanians and Teutonics...oh, woops, I'm sorry, only us evil Russians ever invade...I mean, what America did through out her entire history to the peoples of N. America is definetly not invasion, slaughter and whole sale genocide, why that's a whole different standard...or at least one you'll rationalize away, I'm sure.
71 posted on 01/25/2002 12:40:18 PM PST by Stavka2
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To: LaBelleDameSansMerci,Free the USA, NewAmsterdam, Black Jade,Carry_Okie,jmp702,malarski, Askel5,
He said the information would soon be passed on to "our foreign partners."
72 posted on 01/25/2002 5:36:32 PM PST by CommiesOut
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To: citizenY2K
Well, I trust major Indian papers as far as I can throw them, as for PMSNBC, I don't believe anything they report.. just another liberal mouthpiece spouting trash. WSJ? Maybe they were on drugs that day.
73 posted on 01/26/2002 10:33:32 AM PST by RussianBear716
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Comment #74 Removed by Moderator

To: Black Jade
You're awesome.

Please, continue ...

(And thanks for the flag.)

75 posted on 01/27/2002 10:23:11 PM PST by Askel5
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To: Black Jade
Thanks for the flag!

The New World Order needs its muslim thugs to do its dirty work, even when these thugs have quite clearly struck out on their own 1400-year-old plan for WORLD DOMINATION!!

However, America can no longer afford to be the epicenter of the NWO, because that means terrorist attacks and subversion by muslim fifth columnists, leading to perhaps millions of deaths, and an islamic America!!

Therein lies the Bushies' dilemma!!!

76 posted on 01/28/2002 11:37:33 AM PST by Honorary Serb
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Comment #77 Removed by Moderator

Comment #78 Removed by Moderator


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