« Pakistan: Muslim Honor Killing - 14 Year Old Girl Dies |
| Australia: Muslim Leader Is Sacked »
May 23, 2006
Russia: Relations with U.S. Worsen Over Muslim Terrorist Seminar in D.C.
The Russian government continues its criticism of the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington D.C. think tank, for its April 14 seminar on Muslim separatist movements in Russia's North Caucasus region. This area, which makes up Russia's weak southern border, includes the war-torn Muslim republics of Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, and Kabardino-Balkaria.
The April 14th conference,``Sadullaev's Caucasian Front: Prospects for the Next Nalchik'' gathered experts from around the world ``to assess Russian policy and Muslim separatist movements in the region.''
Nalchik is the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, and Muslim insurgents launched a failed attack there in October, which left an estimated 100 of the terrorists dead. The North Caucasus has been plagued by violence ever since Chechen Muslim nationalists launched their bid for independence in 1991. The Chechens immediately began instituting Sharia law and launched ethnic cleansing of the region's Christian and Jewish population, murdering, kidnapping, and enslaving those who didn't leave. In December 1994, the Russian government responded with an invasion, and the war has festered ever since, killing tens of thousands on both sides and leaving Chechnya a wasteland.
What a tragedy. All this misery and suffering just because a handful of Chechens wanted to force their people to follow the dictates of the 7th century Arabian warlord and pedophile, Mohammed.
The current dispute between Russia and the United States is disappointing. Both countries need to be allies. But merely the fact of discussing the Muslim insurgents' plans was enough to anger the Russian government. It is a Russian tradition to try to hide its weaknesses. Obviously, the regime of President Vladimir Putin wants to extend its heavy-handed control of the Russian media into the United States.
In an April 18 press release, the Jamestown Foundation said the Russian government charges, aired on Russian state TV, were ``distorted, manipulative, and patently false.'' (http://www.jamestown.org/press_details.php?press_id=31)
``ORT's false reporting on The Jamestown Foundation is a throw-back to Soviet-style manipulation and propaganda'' declared Jamestown Foundation President Glen E. Howard.``Far from advocating terrorism, Jamestown's publications and public events provide American and Russian policy makers with the insights they need to prevent catastrophes like the September 2004 hostage crisis in Beslan and the October 2002 Moscow theatre siege''
The Foundation also pointed out that Russia recently funded the Palestinian terrorist organization, Hamas, to the tune of $10 million.
``For some time now, it's been very fashionable in the Kremlin to blame the country's failures on an American conspiracy, especially regarding the Caucasus,'' said Ivan Sventsitsiky, head of the NGO, ``Yalta Initiative for Peace in Chechnya.''
Grow up and stop arguing boys. It's time to work together. We have the same enemy. The main conclusion of the Jamestown seminar was that Muslim insurgents in the North Caucasus are large in number, well-prepared, and planning for new strikes.
Posted by at May 23, 2006 3:47 AM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)