Site of a downtown police precinct in Nazran, Ingushetia, where a suicide bomber detonated a truck with over 2,000 pounds of explosives at 9 am on Monday, August 17 2009.
Monday August 17, two days before the explosions in Baghdad, a suicide bomber drove a truck loaded with a ton of explosives into a local police station in Ingushetia, killing at least 25 people and injuring over 136 civilians, including women and children.
Ingushetia and Chechnya are Russian territories in the country's south-eastern corner. Their status is comparable to the one of an American state within the U.S. The heads of the Russian "states" are traditionally called governors, mayors, heads, and presidents. Many westerners make a mistake thinking, for example, that the President of Chechnya heads his own country. Since the war in Chechnya ended, terrorists had been laying low until half a year ago. Surprisingly, only the murders of human rights activists find their way into Western news reports. However, the list of terrorist activities over the past few months has been full with murders of local judges, heads of villages and towns, armed attacks against police, and kidnappings. These events have been completely ignored by Western mass media.
On June 10, at 8:40 am, the deputy chairman of the Ingushetia's Supreme Court Mrs. Aza Gazgireeva was gunned down in downtown Nazran. On June 13, former head of Ingushetian police Bashir Aushev was gunned down in his car near his home in Nazran. On June 22, a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle targeting the motorcade of Ingushetian president Yevkurov. Yevkurov was severely injured, survived, and just recently returned to his duties. On August 12, Ingushetian minister of development and construction Ruslan Amerhanov was gunned down in his own office in Moscow. During the summer 2009, two police platoons were attacked on the border of Ingushetia and Chechnya--dozens servicemen were killed and injured. In just the three winter months of 2009, when the terrorist activity was "relatively low," there were 19 explosions resulting in nine deaths and nine injuries; 38 armed attacks targeting military and police units took place, resulting in 12 deaths and 32 injured; at least 17 civilians were killed, three kidnapped; and 15 bombs found and rendered innocuous...
President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov is protégé of Valdimir Putin. President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Yevkurov is protégé of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who recently fired the previous President of Ingushetia Murat Zyazikov after he was unable to stop the wave of terrorist attacks. Both Medvedev and Putin are justifiably upset about the situation as they had prided themselves with achieving peace in the Caucuses but have showed inability to stop the violence over the course of the last six months. The funding for Chechen Islamic extremists comes from the same place as does the funding of Taliban and other radical Islamic "establishments." One could speculate that the recent spike of terrorism was one of the factors in Russia's decision to grant the U.S. rights to transport its troops and weapons to Afghanistan via Russia.
Hopefully, Medvedev, Putin, and their multiple friends and advisors with military and intelligence background will find a way to bring peace to the region. Also, hopefully, the Western media and public pundits will find the murders of Russian top officials and common civilians as interesting and worthy of publicizing as they find the ones of select human rights activists. Recent events in Russia prove one more time that, despite certain disagreements, the U.S. and Russia need each other more than ever to succeed in a fight against common enemy.
When this article was being published, AFP reported:
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen wrote to Medvedev condemning the "bloody terrorist attack." In the rare letter to the Russian leader, the NATO secretary general offered his condolences to the Russian people, saying "this tragic loss of life and suffering underscores yet again the grave danger that the terrorist threat poses to all of us," a spokeswoman for the alliance said.
A couple of straws in the wind:
Several weeks ago I caught a discussion on CSPAN, including Strobe Talbott, after the "reset" meeting. In the Q&A session afterward Mr. Talbott was asked what if Russia wouldn't cooperate with the U.S. with regard to Afganistan, Iran, the Trans-Caucasus, etc. Mr. Talbott, usually calm and collected, became quite agitated, saying in that case Russia would soon find itself facing problems in the North Caucasus and other ethnic republics. It was all but a veiled threat. Given Mr. Talbott's connection with the Clinton's, it may have had some substance.
Also, up through 2001 (when I lost free access) FBIS occasionally carried items from Rumanian or Bulgarian media about U.S.-sponsored Saudi training of Arabs for service in Chechnya, presented as if it were common knowledge.
Two swallows don't make a spring, but the current disturbances in the North Caucasus may be no accident.
The leftist now running the Democrat party in the US are not serious people. They are extremely short sighted when it comes to terrorism and 9/11 doesn't seem to be real them let alone the massacre of children at Belsan. The Main stream media in the west live in soft little bubbles. AS time goes on I lose more and more patience with Saudi Arabia. There was a man who once said the best thing the West could do would be to nuke the oil fields of Islam out of existence. At the time I thought he was insane but now it is starting to look like a good idea to me.
The question remains. What is a terrorist?
This is for Toad. Certainly, it has occurred to others here in USA also. But that is just what the terrorists want, more terror so they can declare themselves king. Better to talk to the Saudis so that they have a stake in eliminating terror as a brand. The 911 terror brand has done them near as much damage as it has anyone else. As you say, the press in US is hopelessly lost in its own brand of "war on terror" sloganism. Don;t expect them to snap out of it anytime soon- because the head cheese is now advocating selling off the media channels to "minorities" at cut rate deals, just like the auto, banking and health industries..........
The resistance is growing!; but it takes some time. Watching popular show now "are you smarter than a fifth grader?" (gtg)
Lois White Buffalo
Proof that the US, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, etc. sponsor terrorism in Russia and Central Asia.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/15/551916/-Sibel-Edmonds-Case:-The-Central-Asia-Islamization-Cocktail:-Mosques,-Madrassas,-HeroinTerrorism
Why doesn't Russia Blog or any other sites of analysis of Russia ever interview Paul Murphy who runs the site www.retwa.com on the topic of terrorism or at least entertain the notion that foreign powers sponsor terrorism in Russia.
What’s with the censorship?
Chechen and Bosnian fighters in Iraq.
http://thomasjoscelyn.blogspot.com/2006/07/demise-of-terror-master-role-of-his.html
http://www.serbianna.com/blogs/newspost/?p=1316
It is a proven fact that they do with lots of evidence.
@Lois Dupey
Where the 9/11 hijackers terrorists as all of them were originally recruited to fight in Chechnya.
It is a fact that some of the 9/11 hijackers were recruited to fight in Chechnya trained in Turkish military bases.
http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff01072008.htm
Proof that the US, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, etc. sponsor terrorism in Russia and Central Asia.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/15/551916/-Sibel-Edmonds-Case:-The-Central-Asia-Islamization-Cocktail:-Mosques,-Madrassas,-HeroinTerrorism
Why doesn't Russia Blog or any other sites of analysis of Russia ever interview Paul Murphy who runs the site www.retwa.com on the topic of terrorism or at least entertain the notion that foreign powers sponsor terrorism in Russia.
What’s with the censorship?
Chechen and Bosnian fighters in Iraq.
http://thomasjoscelyn.blogspot.com/2006/07/demise-of-terror-master-role-of-his.html
http://www.serbianna.com/blogs/newspost/?p=1316
It is a proven fact that they do with lots of evidence.
@Lois Dupey
Where the 9/11 hijackers terrorists as all of them were originally recruited to fight in Chechnya.
It is a fact that some of the 9/11 hijackers were recruited to fight in Chechnya trained in Turkish military bases.
http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff01072008.htm