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Putin tells reporter to 'get circumcised'
ABC News ^ | 11/12/02 | staff

Posted on 11/12/2002 8:50:00 AM PST by ppaul

Russia's media expressed has shock over a remark by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Russia-EU summit in which he urged a Western reporter asking about the war in Chechnya to come to Moscow and "get circumcised".

Mr Putin's comments, made at a closing press conference of the Russia-EU summit in Brussels, were played by TVS television station and republished by several major Moscow newspapers and Internet sites.

The Kommersant business daily reports Mr Putin was asked a Danish reporter why Russia was using mine warfare in the separatist North Caucasus republic and exterminating Chechen civilians.

Reports say Mr Putin became infuriated by the question and launched an unprecedented defence of the three-year Chechen war that at one stage went off on a tangent.

"You, if I am not mistaken, represent an ally [of the US war on terror] and are therefore in danger," Mr Putin told the reporter, according to a transcript that appeared in the Vremya Novostei daily.

"They [the Chechens] talk about killing non-Muslims and if you are a Christian, you are in danger. And even if you are an atheist, you are in danger," Mr Putin is quoting as saying.

"If you decide to become a Muslim - even then you are not safe, because traditional Islam contradicts the conditions and goals that they [the Chechens rebels] set.

"But if you are prepared to become the most radical Islamist and prepared to get circumcised - I invite you to Moscow.

"We have specialists that deal with this problem. I suggest that you do such an operation that nothing grows out of you again," Mr Putin reportedly said.

Mr Putin is known for his tough talk that at times becomes interlaced with slang used by criminals and the military.

He launched the war in the predominantly Muslim Chechen republic in October 1999 by threatening to "waste [the Chechens] while they sit in their outhouses".

Russian media say a Kremlin aide explained to reporters after the Brussels press conference that Mr Putin was tired during the summit after a hectic working schedule.

The wide coverage given to Mr Putin's remarks appears unusual for a Russian media that has grown to carefully toe the Kremlin line in recent months.

Advice dismissed

Meanwhile, Mr Putin has brushed aside European advice on a peaceful solution to the Chechen conflict, saying it had to be solved by the Russian and Chechen people alone.

"Of course we listen to advice from our colleagues in Europe," Mr Putin told a news conference in Oslo after talks with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who said he hoped for a peaceful, political solution in Chechnya.

But he added: "It is an internal Russian problem to be solved between the Chechen people and the Russian federation."

Russia has scrapped plans for a partial military pullout from the southerly province since Chechen separatists took a Moscow theatre hostage last month.

The siege ended with the deaths of 128 hostages and 41 rebels.

"We don't want to turn up our noses and say that others' opinions are irrelevant," Mr Putin said.

But he added: "The problem is so complicated that no one can give really good advice."

Mr Putin said Europe had some good examples of conflict resolution but that other conflicts had rumbled on unsolved in other parts of Europe for hundreds of years.

Mr Putin has shown no sign of reining in the Russian military in Chechnya, where thousands of people have died in almost a decade of fighting.

Mr Putin has said a new constitution and elections offer the best prospects of a swift resolution.

"The political process on Chechnya must continue," Mr Schroeder said.

Mr Putin and Mr Schroeder met in Oslo because Mr Putin cancelled a planned visit to Germany last month during the theatre siege. Both men were, by coincidence, on visits to the Nordic nation.

Mr Schroeder and Mr Putin also said a UN resolution seeking to disarm Iraq offered a chance of peace.

Shortly afterwards, Iraq's parliament voted to reject the resolution while leaving the final decision to President Saddam Hussein.

Mr Putin said he hoped Arab countries would bring pressure on Iraq to comply.

Mr Putin said Moscow was keeping up contacts with Baghdad but that only Saddam knew what Iraq would finally decide.

Mr Schroeder reiterated on Monday that Germany would not take part in any US-led attacks on Iraq if Saddam failed to comply fully with the resolution.

Mr Schroeder won popularity before his re-election in September by ruling out sending troops.



TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: allah; chechen; chechnya; circumcised; circumcision; holywar; islam; islamicjihad; jihad; jihadis; liberalmedia; media; moscow; muhammad; muslim; press; putin; vladimirputin; war
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To: Diogenes
Dr. Paul Fleiss is the father of Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss.
61 posted on 11/12/2002 9:41:28 AM PST by SupplySider
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To: the_doc
Absolutely. Putin was telling the scribbler to return to reality. George W. could take a lesson.
62 posted on 11/12/2002 9:43:12 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: stuartcr
Maybe so, but I don't recall any Christian teaching that specifies that we are to kill all non-christians.
63 posted on 11/12/2002 9:43:19 AM PST by TheBattman
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To: ppaul
He launched the war in the predominantly Muslim Chechen republic in October 1999 by threatening to "waste [the Chechens] while they sit in their outhouses".

There are some things that are unlikeable about this man.... but.... He clearly understands what to say and do when reason fails to persuade....And I love it!!!

64 posted on 11/12/2002 9:43:22 AM PST by rmvh
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To: Diogenes
In my days, thankfully in the past, when I thought I was gay, I used to correspond on the net with a guy who's screen name was "foreskin grower".

Ouch! I can only imagine how one would attempt to grow back a foreskin that had been cut off.

65 posted on 11/12/2002 9:44:42 AM PST by AxelPaulsenJr
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To: isthisnickcool
Was this a female reporter? That puts another twist on it!
66 posted on 11/12/2002 9:45:52 AM PST by Domestic Church
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To: TheBattman
That is true, which just goes to show, it's the interpretation of the teachings, and the militant fundamentalists, not all the individual Muslims.
67 posted on 11/12/2002 9:49:50 AM PST by stuartcr
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To: ppaul
Pootie-poot bump!
68 posted on 11/12/2002 9:51:00 AM PST by condi2008
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To: Alouette
That was hillarious!
69 posted on 11/12/2002 9:51:10 AM PST by tomahawk
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To: stuartcr
Not all Muslims want to kill people. Just as there are many Christians, Jews, etc., that do not abide by all that they are told, so too are there many Muslims.

Yes, fortunately there are many Muslims who do not abide by the Islamic doctrine and do not emulate example of the desert robber prophet.

One the other hand the fact that there are many Christians who do not abide by the teaching of Christ is unfortunate.

Abiding is good or bad depending on the given rules or teaching. It is good to abide by the rules of just law but it is bad to abide by the rules of criminal organisation.

70 posted on 11/12/2002 9:52:31 AM PST by A. Pole
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To: Diogenes
Proud to be a circumcised male.
71 posted on 11/12/2002 9:52:42 AM PST by tomahawk
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
Bump for that one! Sorry I misunderstood you.
72 posted on 11/12/2002 9:53:20 AM PST by the_doc
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To: ppaul
LOL yeah why is *anyone* shocked about this? That was refreshing!!
73 posted on 11/12/2002 9:54:56 AM PST by Terriergal
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To: finnman69
Apparently Putin knows how to deal with CLYMERs up front.

Ya know... there's a joke there somewhere...

74 posted on 11/12/2002 9:55:40 AM PST by Terriergal
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To: isthisnickcool
What's horrific and sick is the female circumsion or female genital mutilation in Muslim countries. Islam is evil.

This is just false. Female circumcision is not a muslim tradition. Is is a tribal and ethnic custom in Africa. Some Christian tribes use it. It was even used by physicians in Europe and the United States between roughly 1850 and 1950.

75 posted on 11/12/2002 9:56:12 AM PST by DanDan
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To: Skywalk
Maybe they finally got sick enough of it that they aint gonna take it anymore.

??
76 posted on 11/12/2002 9:56:25 AM PST by Terriergal
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To: stuartcr
Well then they shouldn't keep pretending. (meaning they should ditch it!)
77 posted on 11/12/2002 9:57:50 AM PST by Terriergal
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To: Dog Gone
Okay, I'll confess my ignorance here. I don't get the circumcision remark at all. Do Moslems practice circumcision? I thought, as a religion thing, it was a Jewish practice.

Yes, Muslims also practice circumcison. Jews, Muslims and some tribes have ritual circumcision.

Also what most of people in Europe and elsewhere are not aware - a large part of Americans got secular circumcision, because the medical loobby promoted it a beneficial for health, although the actual reasons tend to be switched every few years (while the profits remain constant). Now the secular circumcision seems to be on decline.

78 posted on 11/12/2002 9:58:26 AM PST by A. Pole
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To: stuartcr
Do they live in the middle east, where Jihad (not just a spiritual struggle) is not a distant theory but daily practice?
79 posted on 11/12/2002 9:59:20 AM PST by Terriergal
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To: stuartcr
BTW the Koran also permits them to live in peace with unbelievers until such time as they feel strong enough to succeed in Jihad against them. Making the world Islamic, by force if necessary, IS orthodox Islam.
80 posted on 11/12/2002 10:00:27 AM PST by Terriergal
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