Six soldiers killed in Chechnya

[dolgoruky]

SIX pro-Russian servicemen were killed today when their jeep was blown up by a remote controlled explosive device in the heart of Grozny, the shelled-out capital of the separatist republic of Chechnya, ITAR-TASS reported.

Chechnya, Russia's Iraq.

[teryang]

1. Ever wonder who funds those terrorists?

The ongoing war for control of other peoples resources continues.

[bemildred]

3. From what I read, like the Colombian FARC,

they get a good deal of their funding from the movement of
various kinds of contraband. I imagine with the recent
rise in Afghani agricultural production things would be
going rather well. It would not be surprising if there is
a good deal of money to be made in moving arms these days
as well, say into Iraq or certain other countries to the
South of the Caucasus.

This is not to say that it would be unexpected if they were
to get money from government sources as well, although I would
think that a bit risky for a number of reasons, but risky and
stupid seems to be what we DO these days.

Aidoneus is right about the prevalence of this sort of thing.
It never fails that when I check the news for the area there
are a few handsfull of dead Russian soldiers to report.

[teryang]

5. An indirect source of information

...informed me some time ago that "rebels" in Chechnya were "professionals" receiving arms and support from Uncle in a similar fashion to the Afghan operation against Russia.

Take it for its worth. Terrorism is never more than a few steps removed from a state sponsor. The notion that al qaeda or another violent insurrection has an independent base and arises sua sponte is unsound. The Saudi financing documented in Forbidden Truth is very reminiscent of BCCI. It is a very sophisticated form of learned behavior. Come to think of it, BCCI and bank fraud, aren't the scoundels who brought us those now running our government? What did happen to all that ENRON money?

Your comment concerning contraband is dead on. Arms trafficking and contraband go hand in hand financing these campaigns. Remember Mena? Such off budget techniques give the operators the freedom of action and flexibility the home office prefers to keep off record. Islamist forces allegedly trafficked in heroin and fought side by side with American assets in Macedonia. As my source would say, "this is how the game is played."

[Aidoneus]

6. what source?

any number of things are claimed, many of them ridiculous and, if given more than a week, self-contradicting..

[bemildred]

8. All of the above.

It seems clear the US is intent on a course of provocation against
Russia, and has been for some time past, as with China and the EU,
in an apparent sort of divide-and-rule strategy.

But Russia is the major strategic threat, all those ICBMs, all those
raw materials. FWIW this strategy does not appear to be working
very well, if the intent was to keep Russia from re-asserting itself
and pursuing further strategic integration with it's neighbors to the
East and West.

Mr. Dolguruky's comments below are well taken, also.

OTOH, smuggling and related activities are a long standing way of
life in the Caucasus, and I doubt that these groups much depend on
Uncle Sugar, i.e. they have been "professional" for a long time.
That said, no doubt they are happy to accept such assistance as we
might choose to offer. My own feeling is that that would be a
much smaller factor in this than was the case in Afghanistan, but it's
hard to tell out here in TV land. I would suspect that the suicide-
prone fundy terrorists are simply a convenient weapon of opportunity.

Your comment about state sponsorship of terrorism is correct of
course, although areas classified as "failed states" also serve in
some degree providing - as with FARC - one has independent means.
In either case the issue is access to goods and services not normally
available to non-state actors, and the ability to pursue ones
activities without much supervision or surveillance.

[Aidoneus]

2. a somewhat common thing

regardless of the claims to the contrary by the state, attacks on the Russian occupying forces like this occur several times weekly--that is, more frequent than on the US occupying forces in Iraq at this time but in a much smaller space. They're sometimes hard to keep track of..
Many of those living in neighborhoods near the blast will soon be rounded up, passed through the network of concentration camps, some of them tortured, and perhaps some executed.

[Aidoneus]

4. a link for this so it doesn't get locked..

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/59FA7C92-67EF-4907-9D82-5DEDB2C41CCE.htm

[dolgoruky]

7. Some good points made

Given the destruction of the economies of Chechnya, Dagestan, and to some extent, Ingushetia, these areas have become a fertile soil for an extra-legal (if that's the right word) economy to develop, run mainly by warlords. Maybe "warlord economy" is a better expression. The populations of these regions have become increasingly dependent on gangsters for their survival. Young men and women are sucked into criminal activities as the only means of survival, thus the warlords have a fresh supply of bodies when needed. The "Islamic" factor in all this seems to be nothing more than a flag of convenience for people like Basaev, etc. But in the chaos that has been caused by the scorched earth policy of the Russian military, it has proved to be an fertile recruiting ground for Islamic extremists, not for any deeply felt religious reasons, but because of the ideoligical vacuum that the war has created.

Here's a link to a short, but excellent background article by Rob Jones.

http://www.socialismtoday.org/42/dagestan.html

Here's another on from the Moscow Times on one aspect of the Islamic factor.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/02/11/016.html

[teryang]

9. Good link from Moscow times

Thanks-

<Abu Walid, who is believed to be about 30 years old, has donned the mantle of Omar Ibn al Khattab, the flamboyant, Saudi-born rebel leader who died in 2002, apparently after being poisoned. Like Khattab, he is said to be second in authority only to Shamil Basayev, a Chechen known for a series of raids and brutal attacks.

An expert in explosives, Abu Walid trained in camps in Afghanistan and fought alongside Muslims in Bosnia before arriving in Chechnya in 1995, according to the FSB. Like Khattab, he is a moneyman for the rebels -- receiving and distributing funds smuggled in from abroad to support the Chechens' fight.

"It's understood that he has money. Since he took over from Khattab, lots of units answer only to him and no one else," said the liaison, who spoke on condition of anonymity.>

His predecessor in interest, Emir Khattab influenced Basayev to attack its neighbor, Dagestan, in Aug. 1999, which precipitated the second Chechen war. Not a suprise that the structual relationship with the destruction of transcaucasus secular governments is maintained from the "supporters in the west."

Here's a link to a character sketch of Khattab:

http://www.diacritica.com/sobaka/dossier/khattab.html

[bemildred]

10. Fascinating.

Thank you, in turn, for the link.