Re: Beslan & Russian banditry

[Chris Doss <lookoverhere1@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Michael,

The "the FSB bombed the apartment buildings" theory is
possible, but I tend to doubt it. For one thing, its
main proponents are Boris Berezovsky and Aleksandr
Prokhanov, who is an ultranationalist who blames
everything on ZOK (the Zionist-Occupied Kremlin). For
another, the bombings took place a few weeks after
Wahabbis anounced a bombing campaign in Russian
cities. Finally, the war was not unpopular, since it
was perceived as a reaction to the incursions into
Dagestan by Chechen warlords and the kidnap industry.
But really who knows? It might be true.

The Kremlin has a multifaceted policy in Chechnya, the
primary pivot of which has been to ally with moderate
religious leaders (like the now-assassinated Kadyrov,
who was a separatist in the first war but sided with
the Kremlin in the second, because he believed that
Chechnya had been corrupted by fundamentalism and
foreign influences) and Chechenize the conflict. The
bulk of the fighting in Chechnya (which kills a few
dozen people a month; far lower casualty figures than
in Iraq) is being done by the pro-Moscow Chechens.
Money is being shovelled into the republic to try to
rebuild it (about half of it gets stolen on the way).

You are absolutely correct about the state of the
troops. Russia has a conscript army, and, the state of
the system being what it is, anybody who can bribe
their way out does. These are almost untrained,
terrified 18- and 19-year-olds who know they will be
tortured to death if captured. Accordingly, they shoot
first and often. They also get caught up in the
commercial machinations of their commanders.


--- Michael Perelman <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

> The problem here is again that it is probably not
> simply black & white.  I thought
> that Putin was suspected of supporting the bombing
> of apartment houses in Moscow to
> win support for his unpopular war.  Maybe he
> actually did.  I don't know, but I don't
> have the impression that he has not had a positive
> program other than force.
>
> Also, won't drafting poor kids into the military &
> then not supporting them be
> certain to cause abuses.
>
>



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