Russian police kill Islamist militant leader before Olympics
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - Police have killed a senior Islamist militant in Russia's North Caucasus ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, where security forces searched on Tuesday for a woman they fear is planning an attack during the games.
Eldar Magatov, a suspect in attacks on Russian targets and alleged leader of an insurgent group in the Babyurt district of Dagestan, died in a shootout, the National Anti-Terror Committee said on Tuesday.
President Vladimir Putin has staked his political reputation on organizing a successful Olympics and tightened security nationwide after insurgents who hope to create an Islamist state in the North Caucasus threatened to attack the games, which start on February 7.
Putin had a phone call on Tuesday with U.S. President Barack Obama in which they discussed how best to have a "safe and secure" Winter Olympics, the White House said.
Continued at Link
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/22/us-russia-militant-idUSBREA0L00K20140122
The story also explains how Russia became aware of the threat of the "black widow" suicide bomber being in the country. The government received a letter giving information on her and her plans.
MADem
(135,425 posts)Last edited Wed Jan 22, 2014, 05:24 AM - Edit history (1)
You refused our help, you'd BETTER not be hosting no damn*Edited due to Brain Fart!
DFW
(54,379 posts)Berlin? As in 1936? Or might you have meant München 1972?
MADem
(135,425 posts)Now I get where you're coming from!
MADem
(135,425 posts)I went on ahead and edited it so it wouldn't discombobulate others!
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)Last edited Wed Jan 22, 2014, 04:16 AM - Edit history (1)
Black Widows are the wives of those who have died in those regions - there's more than one and they are committed to suicide deaths.
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)Russians will hunt down and kill all of them.
Terrorists should be stomped out with decisiveness.
marble falls
(57,083 posts)cosmicone
(11,014 posts)so they eliminate the middle man for speedy results.
Also, preventing terrorism has different rules than prosecuting it after the fact. If you see a terrorist bomber in advanced stages of planning his/her mission, you don't arrest and wait for a trial -- you shoot them at sight to prevent harm to dozens/hundreds/thousands.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)Why would Russia?
2banon
(7,321 posts)One person's 'terrist' is another person's freedom fighter, as Reagan once said with regard to the insurgents (mujahideen) who we were providing logistical and financial support against the Soviets - who we are now providing intelligence and technical support toward their suppression of "insurgents" ..
marble falls
(57,083 posts)2banon
(7,321 posts)Anyone else listen to the segment on this on PBS News Hour Tonight?
What has got to be the first for PBS in recent memory, they actually went into the history and back story of these "black widows" .
Why the hell Russia decided to hold the Olympics in Sochi is beyond the pale of ruthless insult to a people of that region going back exactly 150 years ago. (as side note of interest I'm curious as to why Olympic Committee granted Russia's bid if they knew Sochi would be the chosen site.)
News Hour anchor Hari Sreenivasan interviews Professor Robert Bruce Ware who has written extensively on the history of the Russian Caucasus.
Link to the video of this interview (includes a transcript)
excerpt on point:
So, the Sochi Olympics are taking place on the same site where the Circassian people were massacred and deported in a genocidal manner exactly 150 years ago. And one of the points that's made in the video is that essentially the Olympic ceremonies are being held on the bones of their ancestors.
MADem
(135,425 posts)I mean, really...why not Baghdad or Damascus? Better still, how about Afghanistan? There should be some great snowfall in the mountains...!
I wonder who on the Olympic Committee was bought/paid for, too. Didn't they have to know that Sochi was the site? Doesn't each city have to put on a big show, explaining what they'll build and where, to accommodate the festivities?
muriel_volestrangler
(101,316 posts)Georgia has protested after Russia temporarily expanded its Olympic security zone into the breakaway Georgian territory of Abkhazia.
It said Russia had created the new zone, 11km (seven miles) inside Abkhazia, for the duration of the Winter Olympic Games in nearby Sochi.
The Georgian government expressed "deep concern" over the "illegal expansion".
Russia is one of the few countries to recognise Abkhazia as a sovereign state since it broke away from Georgia.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25830623
Georgia doesn't have effective control of that territory, but, even so, it's a bit rich to use the Olympics to exercise powerl over part of another country, in contradiction to the general international recognition.
MADem
(135,425 posts)The guy gives me the creeps. He probably wants Georgia back in the fold (if he had his way he'd reconstitute the USSR, is my guess) as well as Abkhasia. I think he wants to relive the old school days. He's already cracked down on the news media and consolidated his control over all Russian news sources.
Nasty fellow.
2banon
(7,321 posts)Don't know for sure, but I suspect he's doing far better under the current corrupt, despotic system than he would have under the old corrupt, despotic system. Far more wealthier, I think.
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)and very few Georgians live there. Most of the people there have Russian passports and trade with Russia rather than Tblisi.
I don't get why Georgia doesn't let Russia annex it.
2banon
(7,321 posts)Pretty much reminds me of the U.S. in that respect.
2banon
(7,321 posts)Back ground/history adds more perspective, and raises (now obvious) questions wrt to the Olympic Committee's decision. I haven't researched the OC's protocols with respect to bids, not clear on whether or not specific locations (within the country) are required.
So, it may not have come into consideration at the time. But given recent history of bloody conflicts with Chechnya/Georgia - it should have been on their radar, one would think.
Amonester
(11,541 posts)$ecret deals burried far and deep into the myriads of this Capitalist system's offshore fiscal-paradise tax havens.
One would think these 'former-athletic' one-percenters would care about the brutal History of that region?
Nah. Can't be.
The Waste and Corruption of Vladimir Putin's 2014 Winter Olympics
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-02/the-2014-winter-olympics-in-sochi-cost-51-billion
2banon
(7,321 posts)Lefta Dissenter
(6,622 posts)Interesting and terrifying.
2banon
(7,321 posts)It adds important perspective on the situation. It doesn't terrify me personally. But I'd be if I were participating in the events, that's for sure.
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)we are always doing something on top of the bones of our ancestors. 150 years ago is a long time and without accurate survey data, the whole thing seems to be far-fetched. Who is alive today that can specifically and unequivocally state that where the opening ceremony is being held is where the genocide took place?
All this "on the bones of ancestors" etc. is the kind of emotional buttons used by terrorists to inflame and recruit.
It was 150 years ago. Get over it. Being deported to Turkey turned out to be not so bad -- would someone rather live in Turkey or Russia?
okaawhatever
(9,462 posts)people object to having the Olympics in Berlin? What is Israel made the same claim? Most cities have some sort of ugly history, it's just a matter of how long ago.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Builds rage and revenge worldwide. Take a page from what Bush and Cheney did to the USA, Putin.