Don't forget about Russia, Chechnya, Iran, Venezuela, et al

Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, anti-American buddies, have been cozier than a pair of bed bugs lately.  Chavez wants a seat on the UN Security Council.  Why not, he would fit right in.  He also wanted an arms deal with Russia and reports say he left a happy man. 

Ahmadinejad visited Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.  Why?  Who knows why he does anything except to stir up anti-American sentiment.  (Does he ever stay in Iran?)  What has happened to Russian President Vladimir Putin?  Has he really changed or is he just showing his true colors?

Just today Putin "approved controversial changes to the country's law on extremism that critics fear may be used to muzzle dissent.  Critics fear the law "could be used by state authorities against opposition groups or critical media and foreign leaders attending the G8 summit in St Petersburg in July tried to persuade Putin not to approve the alterations".

Russian media reports say pro-Moscow Chechen forces have killed two alleged commanders of rebel groups.

Moscow-backed Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov was quoted as saying one of the men was responsible for an attack earlier this month on a military convoy in which six soldiers were killed and 14 wounded.  The other allegedly was a close aide to the late Chechen commander Shamil Basayev.  source

Also:

19 Russian soldiers were killed and at least 24 others wounded in 48 hours  (July 24 to July 26) in firefights and landmine explosions by  Mujahideen mobile units and diversion group fighters  in Jokhar, the capital of Chechnya, and Vedeno, Kurchaloi, Itum Kali and Nozhai Yurt districts, reports a spokesman of the Chechen Military Command.  source

Russia does not consider Hamas and Hezbollah to be terrorist organizations, according to Yuri Sapunov, head of anti-terrorism at Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) who said Hamas and Hezbollah were not regarded as "terrorist" groups worldwide.  I beg to differ with Mr. Sapunov.  Russia has published a list of 17 groups it regards as "terrorist organisations".

Among those on the Russian list is Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical Muslim group which wants an Islamic Caliphate across Central Asia and the Middle East. It is also targeted by the authorities in Uzbekistan.

The list also includes: the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic Party of Turkestan, the Congress of the Nations of Ichkeria and Dagestan, Jamaa al-Islamiya and the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba.  source

The European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that Russia was responsible for the disappearance and presumed death of a prisoner detained in Chechnya and had failed to properly investigate complaints that the man had been summarily executed on orders from a Russian Col. Gen. Aleksandr Baranov, one of the country’s most senior military officers.

The missing man, Khadzhi-Murat Yandiyev, was a member of the Ingush ethnic group in southern Russia, which is closely related to the Chechens and presumed to have been a fighter on the Chechen side.

In a video tape, Yandiyev is shown being interrogated by Baranov, then the general 'uttered an epithet. He continued: “That’s the whole order. Get him out of here, damn it. Come on, come on, come on, do it, take him away, finish him off, shoot him.”' Yandiyev has not been seen since.   Oops, got to watch out for those video tapes.

What should the US be doing?  In an opinion article Evgeny Morozov says:

What can the US do? First of all, be less open and more cunning about its interference in the region.  ...  Better dispatch Saakashvili, Yuschenko, or the Romanian Basescu--those three make a strong pro-US alternative to the trio of Ahmadinejad, Chavez, and Lukashenko.

Second, provide unconditional support and guarantees for assistance for the countries, whose alignment is not yet firmly delineated (Armenia, Moldova, Turkey). The US should exert more pressure upon the EU to secure fast-track memberships for Ukraine and Turkey, ...

Thirdly, work more actively with the Russian civil society. It is only with its help that Russia can reclaim some of the democratic freedoms it has lost in the last six years. Although Kremlin has succeeded in marginalizing all domestic political opposition, the US shouldn't give up on Russia...

Above all, the United States should recognize that the days of the blunt and irrational Russian foreign policy--when Yeltsin was banging his fists on the table--are gone. KGB Inc that is running Russia now is truly smart and sophisticated. Yet, their skills and mindset date back to the 1980s. The new recalibrated US policy towards Eurasia should take note of that--and behave more like a wolf and less like an elephant.  source

Mr. Morozov makes some good points, but wasn't it Yeltsin's shoe banging on the table?

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Comments

[La Russophobe]

If you want to read the full story on how Vladimir Putin is creating a Neo-Soviet Union in Russia, you can read it here:

http://russophobe.blogspot.com/

[FrauBudgie]

Nobody should forget for a second that Putin came up thru the KGB.

[Evgeny Morozov]

thanks for linking to my oped~

it was actually Nikita Khrushchev who was banging his shoe on the desk (I believe in the UN).

banging one fists on the table is more of a Russian idiom, which stands for showing resolution...

Evgeny Morozov

[Butch]

I used to trust Putin...but now I'm not sure...