Chechnya: response to Russian invasion?

[jmage at panix.com]

those wishing to take sides as among chechen nationalist politicians and
the crew more or less in charge of this russian government are attempting
the impossible, since until there is some clear proof to the contrary, the
most reasonable and likely hypothesis (apparently supported concretely by
tapes of berezovsky telephone conversations with chechen nationalists) is
that they are in collusion. collusion both as to the "islamist" invasions
of dagestan & the bombings of apartment houses in russia. since it is most
likely a single  conspiracy, as soon as you take sides with one group of
conspirators you have taken sides with - not against - the other.

the only side to take is that of their victims (of all nationalities). talk
of "self-determination" is blather. there are chechens on all sides of this
nightmare; there are even chechen communist internationalists. next some
types will take sides between groups of chechens, and start calling the
group they don't like "traitors." this is an idiotic sectarian exercise,
and should occupy no sensible person for a moment. there are real
"traitors" (say to "humanity") enough, and they include *both* the chechen
nationalist politicians & the yeltsin/chubais/berezovsky crew.

incidentally, angela, you said


>it's election time in russia is all; and i'm not surprised
>>that zuganov found the tide of chauvinism so irresistable

but the actual zyuganov response to these events has been much better than
you (not wholly without reason) expected - here is some tass account of a
press conference he gave on wednesday:


>No Military Solution to North Caucasus Problems, Zyuganov.
>
>MOSCOW, September 29 (Itar-Tass) - There is no military solution to any of
>the problems of the Northern Caucasus, Russian Communist Party leader Gennady
>Zyuganov said.
>
>Zyuganov told a news conference on the Internet on Wednesday that any
>government is obliged to halt violence and combat terrorism.
>
>Asked about the Chechen connection to a series of terrorist blasts in Moscow,
>Zyuganov said that "no nation should be blamed". "There are scoundrels who
>should answer for what they have done," he said.

john mage