Putin reacts

seattle post-ap ^ | 9/4/04

[The Citizen Soldier]

He said he would enact reforms to make security services more effective, tighten border controls...

Seems so obvious. Wonder why we don't take border control more seriously. Hate to think we will wait until a school in the U.S. is terrorized before we get serious about protecting our borders.

[Regulator]

tighten border controls

Key point...which is lost on the 'American' government...

[Netizen]

The former KGB spy said in a televised address to the nation that terrorists are waging an "all-out war" against Russia. He said he would enact reforms to make security services more effective, tighten border controls and establish a new system to control the situation in the war-torn Caucasus.

[mass55th]

"I think Putin finally gets it. "

Let's hope so. Does anybody know what security precautions they took after the theater incident a couple of years ago?

[Netizen]

"Moreover, our country - which used to have the strongest defense system of its external borders - instantly became unprotected from either the West or the East."

Hope we take a cue from Putin.

[Netizen]

I think Putin finally gets it.

Yes, he gets it, he mentioned protecting and securing their borders more than once. Talked about ending porous borders.

[Southern62]

Putin has every right to be fuming at the Americans right now. The State Department of the United States has the blood of those innocent children in Beslan ON THEIR HANDS!!!

ridiculous - the terrorists are the only ones responsible.

[ncpatriot]

Hallelujah

[pacelvi]

Putin is most definitely referring to the U.S. in his statement. After all, who else could he possibly mean?
Um... the Islamic seperatists perhaps?


And, by the way, the evidence is irrefutable.


Our State Department is still fighting the cold war.


Just a week ago, the American State Department issued a statement in support of the Chechen terrorists' claim, agreeing with them that last week's elections in Chechnya were not "fair" or even "valid".


What do elections being fair have to do with plane crashes? Either the elections were fair or they weren't. In what way do terrorist attacks change the evualation of the legitimacy of the election? Either there was fraud or there wasn't.


And lets give you your point that the State Dept is still mired in the past.. it's also State Dept "policy" to not have big States disolve into small ones. They also do not like changes to the International System.


So what is it? Is the State Department trying to create 10 more countries in Central Asia or trying to maintain current borders at all costs?


The State Department of the United States has the blood of those innocent children in Beslan ON THEIR HANDS!!!


Please..how dramatic. And how dare you blame the United States for what happened.

[Westbrook]

And how dare you blame the United States for what happened.

President Bush said that you are either for the terrorists or you are against them.

There is no middle ground.

Concerning the "Chechen War for Independence", which are really Muslim fascists fighting to establish a Wahabbi State, on whose side is the U.S. State Department on?

What did the U.S. State Department say about the elections in Chechnya two weeks ago?

How will you feel when the Foreign Ministers of other nations say that the elections scheduled for next Winter in Iraq are "unfair" and "not valid"?

Won't you feel like they are siding with the Terrorists?

[Westbrook]

Oh, and have a look at this!

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a394ee9213158.htm

[Southern62]

How will you feel when the Foreign Ministers of other nations say that the elections scheduled for next Winter in Iraq are "unfair" and "not valid"?



Regardless how I feel I won't go kill someone. Your reasoning is flawed.

[Westbrook]

Southern62 wrote:

Regardless how I feel I won't go kill someone. Your reasoning is flawed.

You misunderstand.

I was talking from the perspective of the Russians, not that of the Chechen Terrorists.

How do you think it made Putin feel to have the American State Department dismiss the Chechen elections as "invalid", thereby lending American support to at least one of the claims of the Terrorists, just days after the Terrorists took two of their airplanes down and blew up a metro station?

How do you feel knowing that our State Department may have emboldened the Terrorists with the validation of one of their silly claims?

How is that any better than that Euro-Peon Union weenie Bernard Bot demanding an "explanation" from the Russians for the Commando raid into the school?

I, for one, am ASHAMED of the U.S. State Department, just as any Dutchman should be ASHAMED of the putrid bureaucrat Bernhard Bot.

The State Department is NOT synchronized with President Bush, or even with reality.

I hope the President demands some resignations over the stupid pro-forma, cold-war, old-world, bumbling-mumbling, anti-Russian, pro-Terrorist droolings emanating out of our State Department.

[luvbach1]

Democrats have been hoping for an attack on US soil prior to the election.

Could they be obtuse enough to think that would be to their advantage? In actuality, Bush is in a win/win position. No attack is evidence of effective homeland defense; a successful attack unifies nation behind proven terrorist fighter, the POTUS.

[luvbach1]

Putin is most definitely referring to the U.S. in his statement.

I agree. As a cold warrior (KGB no less), Putin has a reflexive tendency to view the U.S. as the enemy.

[luvbach1]

Darned right the Russians aren't as nice as we are: They raped and pillaged their way to Berlin in WWII; captured millions of German soldiers, few of whom ever returned home; and their police routinely administer severe curbside justice to alleged wrong doers.

[LenS]

I'm not nuts in the least. Nor do I believe that the US has such a goal. But to pretend that many Russians don't believe or suspect this at times, is the true delusion. Many Russians grew up in a system where there was non-stop propaganda with the US as the bad guy and the CIA as the sneaky villain. Even with all that's happened since the collapse of the USSR, such indoctrination still has an impact.

Whether Putin believes such things is hard to say. But he does cater to such sentiments to maintain his position. Money alone can not explain why Russia persists in helping Iran with nuclear research. Money alone can not explain why Russia sells modern weaponry to China. Money alone does not explain why Russian generals were advising Saddam in the build up to the second war. Money alone doesn't explain why the latest Russian anti-tank weapons showed up in Iraq and were used against US tanks. Money alone doesn't explain the collaboration with Chirac against the US in diplomatic efforts before the war. Money alone does not make up for arming nations like China and Iran who would gladly crush Russia. No, only a foolish idea that the US is the true threat could lead to such idiocies.

Finally, remember that it isn't China or Iran or Syria that has troops in the former Soviet Republics. Paranoia has always been a big part of the Russian outlook upon the world. To blindly think that Putin and many Russians don't look upon US efforts and successes without jealousy or a bit of fear (understandable when one compares the conquest of Bagahdad with the conquest of Grozny) would be the real mistake.