The Chechens' American friends (or Neocons for Terra)

[Clark4Prez]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1299318,00.html

The Washington neocons' commitment to the war on terror evaporates in Chechnya, whose cause they have made their own

John Laughland
Wednesday September 8, 2004
The Guardian

An enormous head of steam has built up behind the view that President Putin is somehow the main culprit in the grisly events in North Ossetia. Soundbites and headlines such as "Grief turns to anger", "Harsh words for government", and "Criticism mounting against Putin" have abounded, while TV and radio correspondents in Beslan have been pressed on air to say that the people there blame Moscow as much as the terrorists. There have been numerous editorials encouraging us to understand - to quote the Sunday Times - the "underlying causes" of Chechen terrorism (usually Russian authoritarianism), while the widespread use of the word "rebels" to describe people who shoot children shows a surprising indulgence in the face of extreme brutality.

On closer inspection, it turns out that this so-called "mounting criticism" is in fact being driven by a specific group in the Russian political spectrum - and by its American supporters. The leading Russian critics of Putin's handling of the Beslan crisis are the pro-US politicians Boris Nemtsov and Vladimir Ryzhkov - men associated with the extreme neoliberal market reforms which so devastated the Russian economy under the west's beloved Boris Yeltsin - and the Carnegie Endowment's Moscow Centre. Funded by its New York head office, this influential thinktank - which operates in tandem with the military-political Rand Corporation, for instance in producing policy papers on Russia's role in helping the US restructure the "Greater Middle East" - has been quoted repeatedly in recent days blaming Putin for the Chechen atrocities. The centre has also been assiduous over recent months in arguing against Moscow's claims that there is a link between the Chechens and al-Qaida.

[USA_1]

1. Blame

I emphatically am NOT in league with these Neo-Conniving hoodwinkers but am forced to agree that it is Putin who is the one that is to blame for the increased violence in Trans-Caucasia. Moreover, I respect Sarah Mendelsohn's viewpoints on the subject as she is very knowledgeable on it. Miss Mendelsohn is a certified liberal who is opposed to Bush's war and she has agreed that there is very little evidence to support the Kremlin created notion that there is a Chechen-al-Qaeda link.


She has appeared on BBC several times and said that part of the problem with regard to Chechnya is the international silence in the face of Putin's 1999 invasion. It will be noted that Chechnya was largely at peace following the 1996 accords that were signed by Yeltsin. Putin unilaterally abrogated those accords without any authority to do so. He re-started the war but has never been held accountable for his crimes against the Chechens.


I am not certain as to why the Neo-Cons have denied that there is an al-Qaeda-Chechnya connection. Moreover, I do not know why they agree that Putin is to blame for the war.

All I know is that based on my knowledge of the situation in that part of the world (for which I take considerable interest based on my past studies of their history, literature and culture), I agree with their viewpoint as to both matters.