From the Putin Speech: Who's the 'someone' (para 2) ?

[legin]

<<snip>>

Some want to cut off a juicy morsel from us while others are helping them.

They are helping because they believe that, as one of the world's major nuclear powers, Russia is still posing a threat to someone, and therefore this threat must be removed.

And terrorism is, of course, only a tool for achieving these goals.

<<snip>>

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3627878.stm

[Hornito]

1. VERY interesting..... Maybe Putin and his "soulmate" aren't so

close after all?

[stavka]

2. Iran, China, Israel, the US, Western Europe, Japan - Its a long list

Surely you don't buy that Russia is an ally of peace stuff do you?

[troublemaker]

3. I think the reference is to us...

We have refused to sign-off on a Russian invasion of Georgia, a country that Russia says harbors Chechnyan terrorists. Our interest in doing so is presumed (in this speech) to be for the purpose of weakening Russia by assisting the separatists who want to break Chechnya away from Russia.

Headline could be "Putin calls Bush a supporter of global terrorism."

[Sailorman]

18. We should sign off

[troublemaker]

4. Fascinating speech, BTW. Read the whole thing. It's a primer in

the steps a weak democracy takes to become a dictatorship. Very Hitlerian and also similar to our own experience here... Putin is probably only a year ahead of Bush, and with a sounder argument since the threat there is legitimate and largely from within.

(I had thought our democracy was *much* stronger than Russia's, but the facts are suggesting otherwise.)

[Junkdrawer]

5. Great post, legin. And, yes, read the WHOLE speech...

To rephrase Yamamoto:

"Someone has awoken the sleeping Bear and filled it with a terrible rage"

[Junkdrawer]

6. BTW: Weren't there reports that the Russians had 3 of the terrorists...

including the leader, in custody?

Seeing as Russia has never, EVER, had any compunction about torture, I'm guessing Putin has a real good idea regarding who is helping the terrorists.

[stickdog]

7. Important stuff. (nt)

[Junkdrawer]

20. I think so...

:kick:

[Junkdrawer]

8. Saudi Arabia???

A second point is that Chechen militants' main conduit for cash appears to have been a Saudi charity that is part of the royal establishment. Rich Saudis donate huge sums to a whole range of Islamic militants and groups, not just al-Qaeda.

....

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1297657,00.html

And who is best friends with the Saudis?? :think:

[Junkdrawer]

9. .

[legin]

10. I posted this before

but just in case.

the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya
http://www.peaceinchechnya.org/about_members.htm

There are quite a few people here but some are recognisable:

Elliott Abrams
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Midge Decter
Frank Gaffney
Robert Kagan
William Kristol
Michael A. Ledeen
Richard Perle
Richard Pipes
Norman Podhoretz
Gary Schmitt
R. James Woolsey

[Ms. Clio]

11. Those PNACkers sure do get around

They want "peace" in Chechnya like they wanted "democracy" in Iraq.

[Renew Deal]

12. That's an ugly list.

:scared:

[crickets]

13. Zbigniew Brzezinski

My, my, how he does get around. x(

http://www.islandhosting.com/~contempo/library/wtc/brzezinski.html

Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski
Le Nouvel Observateur (France)
Jan 15-21, 1998, p. 76*

[liberalcanuck]

15. I see another interesting name on there and I'm wondering if it

is our one and the same: William Schneider - resident fellow of AEI and public opinion pollster.

[liberalcanuck]

16. Another interesting name on the list is former Defense Secretary

Caspar Weinberger.

[Renew Deal]

14. kick

:kick:

[Junkdrawer]

17. When you look into this thing, nothing is what it seems...

:crazy:

[Junkdrawer]

19. Can anyone find that excerpt in US media accounts?

I've been Googling Putin's address to see world reaction. While many foreign news sources see the speech as a warning to outsiders to "back off", that part of the speech has been cut out of US news accounts.

Funny, huh?

I'm guessing Putin's address was NOT what the neocons expected. Look for Powell or some other high administrative official to fly to Russia in the coming days to quiet things down.

[Junkdrawer]

21. From the Globe and Mail (Canada)...

....

Mr. Putin took a defiant tone, acknowledging corruption in Russian law-enforcement agencies but lashing out pointedly at unspecified foreign foes seeking to tear the country apart.

"Some want to cut off a juicy morsel from us; others are helping them. They are helping, believing that Russia, as one of the world's biggest nuclear powers, is still posing a threat to them," Mr. Putin said. "Therefore, this threat must be removed."

Analysts said Mr. Putin had turned a new page in his foreign policy, blaming terrorism on the West. "(W)ho fears our nuclear weapons? Who are they aimed at? It's the West. It's not Osama bin Laden," said Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent military analyst.

Mr. Putin promised measures to "strengthen the unity" of Russia and tighten its borders, and demanded "action from our law-enforcement organs that would be adequate to the level and scale of the new threats."

...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040905.wbeslan0905/BNStory/Front/