Russia Girds Itself For War (sound familiar?)

[Dover]

Russia Girds Itself For War
By Robert Coalson

Investigators suspect terrorism was the cause of the 24 August air crashes.

As Russia continues to reel from an unprecedented wave of terrorist attacks that apparently included the 24 August downing of two civilian airliners and the ongoing takeover of a school in North Ossetia, it increasingly seems that the country is on the edge of a transformation similar to that experienced by the United States following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks there.


Among the many dramatic statements made over the last week in the heat of the unfolding events, perhaps the strongest came from Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov on 1 September. "War has been declared, a war in which the enemy is invisible and there is no front line," Ivanov said in a statement that was repeatedly broadcast on the national television channels. He said that the 31 August suicide bombing outside a Moscow subway station "was not the first and not the last terrorist" act that Russia will see in this now-open war.

State Duma Speaker and former Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov echoed Ivanov's statements in remarks the same day. "It is time for all those who tried to romanticize acts of madness, who try to present acts of terrorism as a lonely struggle for independence and justice, to come to the only proper conclusion: this is war," Gryzlov said, according to "Vremya novostei" on 2 September. He added that the war is being waged by well-financed and well-organized groups with international ties. "We are obliged to undertake measures commensurate with this situation," Gryzlov added. He said that the front line in this war "passes through the entire country" and the new situation "demands particular vigilance from everyone."

Gryzlov also said that new legislative initiatives in keeping with the new, wartime situation are being drafted and will be presented to the Duma in short order. He added that many of these initiatives are being drafted by law-enforcement and security agencies themselves, including the Justice Ministry, the Federal Security Service (FSB), and the Interior Ministry....more

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2004/09/f59bd6e0-20c7-45ef-b9f1-1b4261fd43de.html

[iconoclastic cat]

1. Eternal darkness. Well that's just great.

[Dover]

2. Deja Vu all over again

Check out the headline articles on just this one page re:Russia

AIR PASSENGERS REFUSE TO FLY WITH 'SUSPICIOUS' FELLOW TRAVELERS

CHECHEN RADICALS DENY RESPONSIBILITY FOR HOSTAGE TAKING

REGIONS INCREASE SECURITY AROUND SCHOOLS, NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

AS DUMA DEPUTY SAYS NEW ANTITERRORISM LEGISLATION ON THE WAY

ETC. ETC. ETC.

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/1-rus.asp

[belle]

3. Whee.

[bahrbearian]

4. $$$$$$$$$ Kaaching

[LondonAmerican]

5. They have essentially had ware declared on them

by rightwing terrorists. They are just taking cognisance of the fact -- hopefully they will respond with the resolve necessary.

[mbperrin]

6. Lord knows all that shit helped the US plenty! Now

we're at peace, lotsa jobs, health care for everbody, no child left behind, peace and love everwhere, man.

It's old, but applicable: "If war is the answer, what was the question?"

[UpInArms]

7. well said. ......... eom

[ejcastellanos]

8. Better secure the oil fields <nt>

[Crunchy Frog]

9. How can they be "girding themselves for war"?

They're already at war and have been for the past 10 years. They've completely smashed Chechnya, turning it's capital city into a pile of rubble, and it doesn't seem to have helped improve the terrorist situation one iota, although thousands have died on both sides.

[pacalo]

10. Putin is cut from the same cloth as Dubya...

I've wondered about all these "attacks" that have been attributed to "terrorists" by the Russian press lately. Sounds like Dubya has loaned his PNAC handbook to Putin.

I've also wondered if this could factor into an October suprise for Dubya: That Putin will send his Russian army to Iraq to help U.S. battle "terrorism".

[tom_paine]

11. TOLD you Comrade Putin was using the Bushevik Playbook

I feel bad for the Russians because when Comrade Putin puts HIS PATRIOT ACT into law there will be noplace to run, noplace to hide because he is already MUCH farther along (due to the weakness and infancy of Russia now-dead democratic institutions) with the New Totalitarianism "Managed Democracy" that the Busheviks.

Not for lack of desire on the part of the Busheviks, Old America stood for 225 years before it's death in 2000. Russian Liberty was born roughly in 1993 and started dying shortly thereafter, thus was MUCH easier to fully destroy.

Poor Ruissians. The KGB is coming back in a BIG way.

Imperial Amerika: We may be heading there more slowly but their fate is our fate...

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

12. Oh shit. If he follows Dubya logic he may bomb BRAZIL!

:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

[HuckleB]

13. Girds itself?

What the heck has Russian been doing all along?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1213034,00.html

AND

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1296220,00.html

AND

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,859806,00.html

AND

http://www.mosnews.com/feature/2004/09/01/terror.shtml

AND

http://www.hrvc.net/articles/kuhner.htm

AND

http://www.hrvc.net/articles/zbrzezinski.html

AND

http://www.hrvc.net/west/12-10-03.htm

AND

http://www.hrvc.net/articles/koshmel.html

AND

http://www.hrvc.net/articles/osgood.html

AND

http://www.hrvc.net/articles/putley.html

AND

http://www.hrvc.net/articles/boston.html

AND

http://www.theoathbook.com/op-ed.php

And on and on and on...

[slojim240]

14. But I thought the world was safer? Bush said so.

Democracy and freedom are spreading everywhere. Except in NYC.

[bemildred]

15. Like a recipe in a cookbook. nt

[Disturbed]

16. Freedom?

If the US Neo Fascists are so all about "Freedom" why don't they encourage Russia to let Chechnia have self-determination and their Independence?

[Geo55]

17. Lessee now...which resource rich country are those terra ists from?

[bemildred]

18. I was thinking more of the urgent need for "emergency powers",

but I see you get the idea. Sounds very like Pooty-Poot
borrowed some ideas from Shrub.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

19. OT: Your. Sig. Kicks. Ass. (N. T.)

[bemildred]

20. I like it.

I haven't had one since they made me remove the one
by Reverend Steve about arguing on the internet, but I
could not resist this one.