Russia's Gulf of Tonkin Incident

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The four explosions in Russian apartment blocks in September were acts of
such wanton terrorism against the civilian population that they swung the
population behind the government's policy of aggression against Chechnya.

What is not much publicised in the west is that in western diplomatic
circles there is scepticism that these four incidents were the work of
Chechen terrorists rather than the work of government agencies.

No culprits have been caught. Yet the incidents were not repeated. Strange.
Especially considering that the Chechens appear to be determined to fight
to the end. Why should they suddenly have stopped such terrorist measures
if they thought they were legitimate means of waging war? Would they not be
even more legitimate now?

What is clear is that the bombs came at a very convenient political time
for the Russian military to launch an attack on Chechnya, which they have
clearly been planning for a long time in view of their careful strategy.

What is not so clear is why the west says little about this.

One true answer is that it would be very difficult to prove that the
apartment blocks were bombed by say, Russian military intelligence. Another
answer is what would the west have to gain by publicising this idea? It
would only swell public opinion for tougher economic action against Yeltsin
and the oligarchs of the sort that made Habibie yield up East Timor. Like
Habibie the regime might fall after a defeat and be replaced by one more
hostile to the west and the IMF.

The article below is from the Guardian at the moment that the Russian
government decided to cash in the 300 deaths in apartment blocks to win the
moral right to become a sub-imperialist power, with the embarrassed
connivance of the west.

Chris Burford

London


_____________________________________


Russia bombs Chechen capital as Dagestan conflict spreads


Friday September 24, 1999

Russian warplanes twice bombed the airport in the Chechen
capital Grozny yesterday, the first big attack on the city since
the end of Moscow's 1994-96 war against the breakaway
republic.

Arms depots and a radar station believed to be used by
Chechen guerrillas to track federal aircraft were hit, and an
airport technician was killed. A fuel dump, oil-processing plant
and electrical substation in the capital were also attacked -
marking an alarming escalation of the conflict in the north
Caucasus region of Russia.

Moscow has accused Chechnya of sheltering the rebel leaders
whose attempts in the past two months to establish an Islamic
state in neighbouring Dagestan have thrown the whole region
into turmoil.

Senior Russian politicians have also accused guerrilla
commanders in Chechnya of orchestrating the four devastating
explosions at apartment blocks in Russia which killed nearly
300 people.

Kremlin advisers have been warning the government for several
weeks that the worsening situation in the Caucasus is in danger
of deteriorating into a full-blown conflict comparable to the last
war with Chechnya, in which thousands of Chechens and
Russians died. But the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin,
said last night that Moscow was not planning a large-scale
military operation in Chechnya.

He said Russian aircraft had been attacking, and would continue
to attack, concentrations of Chechen rebels "wherever they are".
"If that is in the area of an airport, then in the area of an airport."