Poll:Should Putin change is policy on Chechnya?

arcadegame2004

Following 5 years of genocide in Chechnya and the tit-fot-tat in the form of attacks of Russian occupation forces and Vichy (pro-Russian puppet-government) paramiliaries, not to forget horrifying hostage-takings and badly-handled sieges, is it finally time for Putin to make a serious attempt to find a political-solution to the Chechen problem?

I advocate talks with the only Chechen leader to have been elected freely and fairly - Aslan Maskadov - who has publicly disowned all of the hostage-takings since the first Chechen war.

And you?

pete

Putin should do whatever it takes to ensure we are not overrun with chechnyan refugees - that's the important thing, after all.

Seriously though - Aslan is never the answer.

Moriarty

^

dathi1

I totally agree. In an ideal world Putin would sit down and secretly talk to this guy and get Chechnya on the road to independence. Chechens recognise Maskadov as the only true nationalist leader and would help him rid the country of Saudi's etc and establish a new Chechnya. But I suspect as is the case the world over...Israeli tactics will be employed to ensure a never ending war and hence a power base for votes and we see the results of that for the past 30 years: Hamas, Hizbollah, Al Quida etc.

simu

He should have sorted it out years ago but I don't know if he's going to do anything about it now. I read in the Irish Times today that he has been trying to link this terrorist activity with Al Qaeda or other extremist Islamic groups in an attempt to shift focus from Russia's wrong-doings in Chechnya.

flogen

Putin went to war to win the election, and after all his tough talk i'd be surprised to see him do anything but fight back with force.

A friend of mine told me that most Checnyans are moderate, and would like a kind of Home Rule under russia, rather than complete independence. The problem is Putin won't even talk to the moderates, and so he's alientaing the entire country against Russia.

flogen

Stabshauptmann

Another poll; I wish monty was a mod here.

A friend of mine told me that most Checnyans are moderate

Most people are of medium or average quantity or extent. Really? *boggles*

Putin is a master politician and politically he is doing a good job. As a human being he's a disgusting excuse. Personally I'd like to see more humane politicians. I also want a car, a job and a super-model of a girlfriend who thinks Im the greatest thing since sliced bread.

If I had some power to help what would I do? Hmm, to be practical, Russia needs oil, and isnt the least bit interested in the Chechen ppl. A limited independence shouldnt bother the masses so long as Russia gets a good deal on oil. The problem I think is a psycological one. "Mother Russia is strong"; "The Russian ppl shall have what they need" etc.

I remember watching a program on TG4 about this military school in russia for homeless kids. One lad was there talking about why shouldnt Russia take the Checnyans' oil. We need it, they dont, we are able to take it, if we dont someone else will, all of russia problems are caused by a lack of oil, etc.
Twas interesting.

Victor

Should policy be reviewed? Yes. Should the school incident create a change of course by itself? No. Policy needs to be consistent and justifiable.

Sand

Im pretty depressed about the whole thing. I was reading the paper there, and as I read the angrier and angrier I got - I cant consider those terrorists as human beings and a bullet is too good for them. And what makes me angrier is that I know that the badly trained, poorly led, poorly motivated, indisciplined, young, scared Russian conscripts in Chechnya, who hate the country and the people are reading about this too and they must be getting angrier and angrier too. First thing theyre going to do is go out and get some payback on some innocent Chechen who looks at them funny.

Thats the lasting achievement of terrorism, that we know all about from 30 years of the North - Hate. Theres two types of people in the Chechen conflict and theyre perpatrators and victims, not Russians and Chechens.

Look at Putin - whilst there are reports that the terrorists started deliberately mistreating the children as punishment when Putin wouldnt negotiate with him, other parents fully back his actions and view the special forces as heroes (and they apparently lost 40 guys in the seige). Putin has addressed the Russian nation apologising - not for mishandling Chechnya, but for not being strong enough in his dealings with the country, for not investing in security enough to protect the nations borders, for being weak. Putins not going to lose a single vote for making the Chechens suffer for this.

Clearly hes not going to rethink his Chechen strategy, hes not going to even review the conduct of his troops in Chechnya - what hes going to do is crackdown even more, give the butchers in Chechnya a freer hand with even less media or legal review. His strongman image is the secret of his popularity in Russia - they want and need a strong, unrelenting and nationalistic leader. Why would he tarnish that image by entering negotiations? Are the moderates even able to maintain a deal if one was agreed? The Russian went in orginally because of armed factions basing themselves in the country - with such bitterness over the past decade do the moderates have the support to tackle these psychopaths? Doubtful.

Where *should* he go from here? Well, quit simply the Russian Army have shown themselves to be practically medevial in their treatment of civillians so theyre not fit to maintain security in Chechnya. They should be pulled out, if only to protect the dignity of the Russian nation so that history doesnt remember them with utter contempt. Thats going to leave a vaccumn though, which is going to be filled by the sort of psychopaths who took over the school - after 13 years of unrelenting brutality I dont see them just living happily ever afterwards. The people are no doubt quite radicalised themselves and the moderates are going to have a tough time winning them over.

Youd like to see a U.N./international force brought in to maintain security and help protect the Russian border from the Chechen side - but I dont see any western nation willing to put troops into an utter mess like Chechnya with no exit strategy and the Russians will no doubt do their best to scupper and peace keeping force anyway. The U.N. will doubtless be targeted by the psychopathic factions as well so thats going to make it even harder to get going.

Reality is Chechnya is f0cked. Either the Russians will resort to genocidal measures to grind the Chechen people down to nothing or Chechnya will devolve into an anarchy of warlords, fundamentalists and mafiosi. Either way, everyone loses.

arcadegame2004

Policy needs to be consistent and justifiable.

And do you think it is at the moment Victor?

I consider it to be consistent in its genocidal intent and totally unjustifiable.