Posted on 09/28/2004 9:20:06 AM PDT by Destro
Sep 28 2004 2:23PM
Mercenaries from 40 countries killed in Chechnya - Ivanov
MOSCOW. Sept 28 (Interfax) - Mercenaries from over 40 countries have been killed in Chechnya, said Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov.
"Another gang involving citizens of Turkey was destroyed in the Chechen mountains yesterday. By the way, citizens of Turkey get killed in Chechnya on a regular basis," Ivanov said while meeting with Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Alvaro Gil-Robles in Moscow on Tuesday.
Foreign mercenaries in Chechnya?
Interesting.
Doesn't smell right...
What proof is there available that this man is telling the truth?
What proof is there available that this man is telling the truth?
Ever heard of Hattab and the Islamic regiment in Chechnya? The Americans have been kept in the dark regarding the Chechen conflict for a while. In the meantime, the Chechen rebel representatives were received in the US at the highest level while their buddies killed Americans in Afghanistan and elsewhere. One can prefer to remain ignorant, but with proper dilligence and availability of new informational tools one can find info without uttering fruitless expletives.
Ping
What's to prove that he's lying?
Its called Jihad, and your right it stinks.
We need to invite the Russians to join us in a little hunting expedition. No bag limit.
Well, normally proof would be required.
Funny, not that many years ago, any announcement that came out of the Kremlin was automatically doubted...I guess now they're the good guys.
Right...
In that you are absolutely right.
For all the bad stuff the KGB ever did in its past, they never deliberately targeted a school and shot little kids in the back.
The Chechens crossed a big, bright line. Believe me, I never thought anything could be WORSE than the Soviet Empire - well, the more I see these terrorists, the more I have to re-think that assessment. The Soviets were evil, but they were rational.
Based on what I see so far in the war on terror - the enemy we are currently at war with is not rational. I think it's going to get a little ugly - and we'd better come to terms with that reality.
This is why I worry less about the Russians and their nuclear stockpile than I am about folks who might BUY from the stockpile...
The Soviets murdered 60 million people, they starved kids to death with forced famines.
Have you forgotten already?
They killed an estimated 40,000 Chechen children prior to this horrific massacre in Beslan.
The Chechen terrorists who committed the atrocities in Beslan are inhuman monsters...but so are the Russian troops.
Do not imagine for one minute that in the rebirth of a totalitarian Russia, we have found an ally in the war on terror...we've added an enemy.
Hey, I never said the Soviets and the communists were not evil. But what I am saying is that the POSSIBLE re-emergence of totalitarianism is less of a threat than the folsk we are currently at war with. I emphasize POSSIBLE. After all, we really cannot tell what will happen with Putin. Yeah, he disagreed with us about Iraq, but he also warned us that Saddam was planning to launch operations against us. On 9/11, when we went to a higher alert, he ordered Russian military forces to stand down - which was one less thing we had to worry about. He also played ball with us when we withdrew from the ABM Treaty.
If I were to make a bet on this, I'd say that Putin is probably a Russian version of Pinochet - not what we'd like in terms of democracy (Allende HAD been elected, but he was rapidly taking Chile downhill), but certainly better than other alternatives. Russia will be authoritarian, but not totalitarian - at least that's how it looks from what I've seen. I think we're about to see a bunch of corrupt cops and troops lined up against the wall and shot.
Also, given what I've seen from other Islamic groups (like Hamas and Fatah), the Chechen "resistance" might be using teenagers (and women) as soldiers and/or murder-suicide bombers. Iran was using young kids as soldiers in its war with Iraq (I think as yound as ten, but I'm not sure). We also faced children carrying guns in Somalia during that Mogadishu firefight with Aidid's clan (at least one scene in the movie Black Hawk Down featured one such young boy as combatant - carrying an AK). Young boys also fought the Russians in Afghanistan as part of the mujahidden.
Putin openly pines for the days of the old Soviet Union, blames all the ills of the nation today on its fall. He's placed his ex-KGB colleagues in damned near every position of authority in Russia, and presided over a nation whose arms manufacturers sold arms and technology to Saddam before and during the invasion by the coalition of the willing.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0904/schneider1.asp
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.