Israel and the Chechen Menace 06/05/2010
'I think we missed the boat to jihad'
Following a week of disastrous press coverage, Israel has begun to hit back. Politicians, military brass, and journalists have all been making the case that people aboard the Mavi Marmara had connections to terrorist organizations. These groups clearly hope that by changing the focus of discussion they will rally some much-needed international support.
A key target of this campaign is Russia. With its permanent seat on the UN Security Council and historic ties to the Jewish state, post-Soviet Russia has traditionally been a strong ally of Jerusalem. Yet the Kremlin’s ambassador to the UN condemned Israel’s recent actions in an uncharacteristically harsh fashion.
The Israeli foreign ministry responded on Friday by declaring that several protesters had “very close connections” to Chechen rebels. It also stressed that the people behind the so-called Freedom Flotilla had “supported Chechen separatism for many years.”
Whether or not these allegations are true, they will probably achieve the desired effect. Russia’s hatred of anything to do with Chechnya is so visceral that it has a hard time not sympathizing with a state playing the Chechen card. In the future, expect to see a far more muted response from Moscow to any international effort to censure Israel.
That would be unfortunate. Given its experience with the Beslan school shooting and the Moscow theater tragedy, Russia should be the first to point out that gratuitous and disproportionate violence does not stop terrorism. After years of ‘annihilating Chechens in the shit house,’ all the Kremlin has done is turn much of its southern border into a war zone.
Unless Israel wants to end up in a similar quagmire, it needs to take notice.
-Joe
A key target of this campaign is Russia. With its permanent seat on the UN Security Council and historic ties to the Jewish state, post-Soviet Russia has traditionally been a strong ally of Jerusalem. Yet the Kremlin’s ambassador to the UN condemned Israel’s recent actions in an uncharacteristically harsh fashion.
The Israeli foreign ministry responded on Friday by declaring that several protesters had “very close connections” to Chechen rebels. It also stressed that the people behind the so-called Freedom Flotilla had “supported Chechen separatism for many years.”
Whether or not these allegations are true, they will probably achieve the desired effect. Russia’s hatred of anything to do with Chechnya is so visceral that it has a hard time not sympathizing with a state playing the Chechen card. In the future, expect to see a far more muted response from Moscow to any international effort to censure Israel.
That would be unfortunate. Given its experience with the Beslan school shooting and the Moscow theater tragedy, Russia should be the first to point out that gratuitous and disproportionate violence does not stop terrorism. After years of ‘annihilating Chechens in the shit house,’ all the Kremlin has done is turn much of its southern border into a war zone.
Unless Israel wants to end up in a similar quagmire, it needs to take notice.
-Joe
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Life in Grozny 08/12/2009
Radio Free Europe correspondent Gregory Feifer's recent article on the Chechen capital and its leader Ramzan Kadyrov is a must read.
Money quote:
"Shootings and bombings by the handful of separatist rebels remaining in Chechnya have been on the rise since Moscow declared its decade-long counterterrorism operation over earlier this year. But it's the Chechen authorities, not the militants, who are believed to be behind most of the ongoing abductions and killings, and, most recently, the burning of houses belonging to relatives of suspected separatists."
Money quote:
"Shootings and bombings by the handful of separatist rebels remaining in Chechnya have been on the rise since Moscow declared its decade-long counterterrorism operation over earlier this year. But it's the Chechen authorities, not the militants, who are believed to be behind most of the ongoing abductions and killings, and, most recently, the burning of houses belonging to relatives of suspected separatists."
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