TA-ATTACKS: Blast in Chechnya, Chechen President Killed.

its all well and good to call the attacked over-reactors until the same thing happens to you then you join the band wagon

this is what you're refering to. putin after bush adopted this policy distanced himself from bush and questioned his decision implying that it was over reactionary and extreme. but has now adopted this stance himself. short term memory must be failing putin i guess.

[Edited on 10-5-2004 by ThePrankMonkey]

Originally posted by ThePrankMonkey

its all well and good to call the attacked over-reactors until the same thing happens to you then you join the band wagon

this is what you're refering to. putin after bush adopted this policy distanced himself from bush and questioned his decision implying that it was over reactionary and extreme. but has now adopted this stance himself. short term memory must be failing putin i guess.

[Edited on 10-5-2004 by ThePrankMonkey]

What are you talking about? Clarify? Use your quote in context.

The reason Putin objected to our invasion off Iraq was that Russia was making snoodles of money off Iraq at the time. If you'll recall, the last of the Russian contractors were leaving as we rolled in. There was even talk of us compensating Russia for their income loss from Iraq, although I'm not sure how far that idea went. I can't neglect to mention the huge oil bribes they (and others!) were taking to speak against us at the time as well.

At the end of the day, Russia and the US have more in common insofar as the war on terrorism than other matters. Basically, throughout the cold war we concentrated on each other and used these countries as our proxy battlefields and fifedoms. Now, our cold war's over, and both of our biggest threats are coming from the very same sandboxes. Therefore, it is in both our best interests to work together in squashing the insurgents. Personally, I'd like to see more cooperation between us, militarily. We've proven that neither country can wipe the other out and survive, so we might as well get together and lay the smack down on everyone else!

Calm down, hotheads--this is all in good fun!

Latest on the situation in Chechnya:

news.bbc.co.uk...

"Russian President Vladimir Putin has paid a rare visit to Chechnya and pledged to send extra troops following the assassination of a key ally there.
Mr Putin described the killing of Moscow-backed Chechen leader Akhmad Kadyrov as a "lesson" to Russia.
More than 1,000 extra Russian troops will be sent to the Caucasus republic."

What is interesting is the fact that it is estimated that Russia currently has over 80,000 troops stationed in Chechnya. When you look at the figures for Iraq, you can see what a massive operation this actually is.
Chechnya and Iraq can only be compared in terms of extremist terrorism. The political situation is different - Chechnya is part of Russia. The Muslim extremists want a seperate state.
Personally, my belief is that Russia is justified in safeguarding the integrity of her own territory.

It does mean that Putin has one thing in common with Bush though. Both are fighting Muslim extremism and for both it is a war that they cannot afford to lose.

my memory of the situation is that putin was glad for the tough stance bush took on terrorism. At the time russia was taking flak for their actions in chechnya, and so these new actions by bush were a relief for putin. Like the other guy said, they have 80,000 troops in chechnya. I hardly think that is the sign of someone who just decided now to get tough on terrorism. What were the troops there for? to negotiate? I think not. This hardly seems hypocritical to me, merely a continuation of what's been going on for years. May I also point out that amnesty international and many of the other organizations that have been so vocal against bush of late, were in the past very much against russia's actions in chechnya. My thoughts on hypocrisy....