The coming 'crisis' in the Caucasus: Part 1

Map showing Ingushetia
Head of Russia's Ingushetia in intensive care

MOSCOW, June 22 (Reuters) - The leader of Russia's Ingushetia region was in a serious condition and being treated in intensive care after an assassination attempt, RIA news agency quoted a source in local law enforcement agencies as saying.

President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov of the Republic of Ingushetia was injured when a blast rocked his car.

Chechen Leader Ramzan Kadyrov: Vicious

Chechens 'to fight rebels in Ingushetia'

The president of the Russian republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, says Moscow has ordered him to help fight insurgents in neighbouring Ingushetia.

The president of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, was wounded in an apparent assassination attempt on Monday.

Speaking to the Reuters news agency, Mr Kadyrov said the Russian leadership had told him to intensify operations in both Chechnya and Ingushetia.

Both republics have experienced an upsurge in violence over recent months.

Given the recent assassination attempt against the President of Ingushetia, I decided to post what I consider to be some vital information for understanding the soon to be 'Crisis' in the Caucasus.

Zbiggy Smalls, The Obamessiah & MC Rahm Bam Emmanuael:
The 3 Rappers of the Apocalypse?

first up a post from Justin raimondo of Antiwar.com

Making Excuses for Obama

The mythology of good intentions

"Obama lied – people died!" How long before we see that slogan emblazoned on a placard at a rather sparsely-attended antiwar rally?

But of course he didn’t lie, and isn’t lying now. He’s telling us he wants to confront Russia and Iran. He’s telling us he wants to increase a military budget already larger than the total military expenditures of all other nations combined. He says he won’t hesitate to invade Pakistan – and, presumably, any nation anywhere – if we have some reason to believe Osama bin Laden and his cohorts are in the vicinity. I think he’s telling the truth – and I challenge the Obamaoids, especially the ones who claim to be sick of eight years of constant warfare, to prove otherwise. If Obama is indeed giving us the real story, and if he actually implements his foreign policy proposals, we are in a world of trouble.

He’s telling us he wants to confront Russia [ Zbiggy Smalls Bug-bear ] and Iran. [ Rahm-Bam Emanuel’s Bug-Bear ]


All you need to know about an Obama Administration Foreign Policy direction, in 30 seconds flat!

Zbigniew Brzezinski: How Jimmy Carter and I Started the Mujahideen

Q: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs ["From the Shadows"], that American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet intervention. In this period you were the national security adviser to President Carter. You therefore played a role in this affair. Is that correct?

Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.

Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into war and looked to provoke it?

Brzezinski: It isn't quite that. We didn't push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.

Q: When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States in Afghanistan, people didn't believe them. However, there was a basis of truth. You don't regret anything today?

Brzezinski: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter: We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.

Q: And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic [integrisme], having given arms and advice to future terrorists?

Brzezinski: What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?

Q: Some stirred-up Moslems? But it has been said and repeated: Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today.

Brzezinski: Nonsense! It is said that the West had a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid. There isn't a global Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner and without demagoguery or emotion. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is there in common among Saudi Arabian fundamentalism, moderate Morocco, Pakistan militarism, Egyptian pro-Western or Central Asian secularism? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries.

Now remember that the Prez of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, was targetted by a suicide bomber. Now who do we know uses suicide bombers as their preffered method of assination? Step forward those dastardly demons, at Al Quaida. Now what do we know about Al Quaida? Well one time Foreign Secretary of Great Britain, The Right Honuourable Mr Robin Cook,
wrote this article exactly one month before he died:

Al-Qaida, literally “the database”, was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians.

Exactly 30 days after making that statement Robin Cook died, reportedly of a heartattack, on a Scottish mountainside, on British Ministry of Defence land.

In other words, the US did some “outsourcing” and secretly “hired” some “mercenaries” to fight a “proxy war” for the US (my own choice of terms). It seems that Pakistan’s CIA, the ISI, was also involved and that some amount of the financing/support came from the Saudis, the UK, and China. Pakistan also received massive amounts of US military aid. The number of Muslim men who became US mercenaries according to Robin Cook was “thousands.”

The fact the Cook appeared to believe that Bin Laden did not provide the name for his own organistaion, and that the name apparently was provided by the Security Services that ran the organisation, indicates that Bin Laden was merely a figurehead without much power – others set-up and ran the organisation. In much the same way that Bush appears to be a mere front-man for other more capable and more dangerous individuals, so too is/was Bin Laden.

Wouldn’t it be kinda spooky if in both cases the individuals behind the frontmen were the same people?

If the people running the Org were picked and trained by the Security Services (ISI, MI5 and CIA and others) then in effect the organisation was being run by agents of the security services, and if the funding and weaponry were provided by the Security Services, then to maintain that the Security Services were not running the Org is, at best, naive.

If Cook is to believed, and I see no reason not to believe him, the Big Bad Wolf (Osama) didn’t even provide the name for the Organisation he apparently was mastermind of. That name was provided by the security services.

US reporter Ron Suskind provided us with this quote waaaaay back in October 17, 2004

The aide said that guys like me were in what we call the reality-based community,’ which he defined as people who ‘believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality. I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ‘‘That’s not the way the world really works anymore,’‘ he continued. ‘‘We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.’‘

Vlad the Prevailer: Putin gives his side of the Georgian/S. Ossetia Story



Barack Obama: Promised to "Curb russian agression"

So:

• Ingushetia is at present a part of Russia.
  
• Someone recently tried to assassinate the President of Ingushetia using a suicide bomber
  
• "Al Qaida" is known to frequently use suicide bombers
  
• "Al Qaida" is, according to British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, a creation of the US&UK Intelligence services, brainchild of one Zbigniew Brzezinski, advisor to the Carter Administration
  
• Before becoming Prez of the U.S., Barack Obama pledged to "going to "curb Russian aggression"
  
• Zbigniew Brzezinski is a trusted advisor to the US President Barack Obama
  
• Zbiggy likes to spend a lot of his time thinking about way to destroy Russia

Part 2 tomorrow . . . .

Human Rights Watch [sic] still lying

Marc Garlasco: moved over to Human Rights Watch
after working 7 years at Pentagon(?)
Postman (Lord) Patel nails it . . .

On the 16th August we posted Russia uses Cluster Bombs on civilian targets in Georgia which was based on a widely reported Human Rights watch report. A friend kindly pointed out what a bunch of lying fuckers they have been .. in fact they have an impressive track record. (of which more soon)

Now it turns out the bombs were M85 bombs of Israeli manufacture, and used by the Georgians. A letter from the Georgian Defence Ministry to HRW said the bombs were used "against Russian military equipment and armament" near the Roki tunnel that links Russia to South Ossetia. The Georgians have admitted using them. The original report was by a helpful chappie called Marc Garlasco, who moved over to Human Rights Watch after working 7 years at Pentagon. HRW has acknowledged cluster bomb use, but has not retracted their now baseless accusations against the Russians and still maintain the Russians used them. Tuesday, September 02, 2008 Clusterfuck on Blog Simple

Pipelines from the Russia, Stupid™


Cool reception for Cheney in Azerbaijan
Russia Today, Sept5, 2008

American Vice President Dick Cheney’s visit to the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, appears to be have been unsuccessful for Washington, unlike his visit to Tbilisi. Cheney received a cool welcome and, according to Russia’s Kommersant newspaper, Azerbaijan’s President Ilkham Aliyev has implied that Baku is going to play a waiting game concerning the Nabucco gas pipeline, which is set to bypass Russia. Neither President Ilkham Aliyev nor the Prime Minister, Artur Rasizade, were there to greet Cheney at Baku airport. Instead, he was met by the country’s First Deputy PM and the Foreign Minister.

The Kommersant newspaper reports that Cheney was very annoyed by the results of the meeting with President Aliyev and even refused to attend a ceremonial supper in his own honour. Aleksandr Pikaev, an analyst from the Institute for World Economy and International Relations, believes Dick Cheney is hardly the right man for diplomacy in the region.

Human Rights Watch [sic] caught lying . . . again!

HRW provided this picture as evidence identifying
the weapon debris shown as a Russian RBK-250 clusterbomb.


Moon Of Alabamha has the scoop:

HRW Continues False Cluster Bomb Accusations against Russians

On August 15 Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the Russian Federation of having used cluster bombs in the conflict with Georgia. These accusations were widely repeated in the 'western' media. The Russian Federation consistently denied any use of cluster ammunition. As it now turns out the repeated HRW accusations were wrong. The 'evidence' provided by HRW was based on pictures and misidentified ammunition in those.

The ammunition in question is of Israeli origin and was used by the Georgian military. The Georgian Ministry of Defense has now admitted as much. HRW now also acknowledges this in a new press statement. But it continues to claim Russian use of such weapons. It does so by pointing to its own older reports which clearly misidentified Georgian cluster ammunition as Russian made. HRW has still to show any proof for its continuing accusations against the Russian Federation.

While reviewing the story as documented below, notice the special role of HRW's 'senior military analyst' Marc Garlasco in this propaganda effort.

An August 15 HRW press release claimed:

Human Rights Watch said Russian aircraft dropped RBK-250 cluster bombs, each containing 30 PTAB 2.5M submunitions, on the town of Ruisi in the Kareli district of Georgia on August 12, 2008. On the same day, a cluster strike in the center of the town of Gori killed at least eight civilians and injured dozens, Human Rights Watch said.

A Russian(?) blogger noticed as much [that Human Rights Watch was LYING] yesterday.

See also:
Weapons found in Kodori Gorge, Georgia,
with English Markings
Cache of Georgian arms found in Kodori Gorge

Vlad the Prevailer: Putin gives his side of the Georgian/S. Ossetia Story

Vlad the Prevailer?

Here's a YouTube of Vald Putin's interview with German Channel ARD. With English sub-titles



I found a Russian transcript HERE

I the used Google Translations to get to an English Transcript of the interview HERE

V. PUTIN: I just want to point out that we have not created this situation.

And now about the credibility of Russia. I am sure that the credibility of any country that can protect the lives and dignity of its citizens, a country which is able to pursue an independent foreign policy, the credibility of this country's long-term, medium term the world will only grow.

Conversely, the credibility of those countries which have a rule for foreign policy to serve the interests of other states, ignoring their own national interests, regardless of how they explain, will decline.

T. ROTH: You are still not answered the question: why have you gone to the risk of isolating your country?

V. PUTIN: I thought I replied. But if it requires further clarification, I will do.

Full 27 minute interview with English subtitles:

• Vlad Putin's interview with German Channel ARD: Part 1
  
• Vlad Putin's interview with German Channel ARD: Part 2
  
• Vlad Putin's interview with German Channel ARD: Part 3

See also:
Media, Georgia, NATO, Russia and The FRENCH! . . . Oh, and Israel!

...

Russia Is One of 10 Biggest Creditors of the U.S.
Russia ranks the eighth in the list of the U.S. creditors, according to Finance magazine.

The Russian Federation share in the U.S. state debt was 2.5 percent ($65.3 billion) as of June 30, 2008.

Japan ($583 billion) and China ($503 billion, less the debt to Hong Kong and Macao) are the key creditors for the United States, accounting for over 40 percent of the state debt on aggregate.

What’s more, the debt to China goes up by 25 percent a year.

Other major creditors of the United States are

• Britain,
• Luxembourg,
• Hong Kong,
• Switzerland,
• states of Caribbean offshore zone and the oil-exporting states, including Venezuela,
• the United Arab Emirates,
• Ecuador,
• Iran,
• Iraq,
• Kuwait,
• Oman
• and others.

Here's a curious headline

EU officials express surprise over Russia sanctions

a casual observer might think the EU were surprised that RUSSIA was considering sanctions.

It appears to me that the headline is phrased to make it seem, to the casual observe, that Russia is the one proposing sanctions.

They would of course be wrong. It is the EU that is driving the debate on sanctions, as the rest of the story makes clear:

The European Union is considering sanctions against Russia as punishment for refusing to withdraw its troops from Georgia and for recognising the two breakaway enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The first hint that the EU might impose sanctions was made by Bernard Kouchner, the French Foreign Minister, during a press conference ahead of the planned summit on Georgia on Monday.

The reason the wiley Headline composer got away with their slightly deceptive headline, is because EU-heads seem 'surprised' that the always scrupulously impartial Mr Kouchner is the one proposing the sanctions:

Some EU officials were surprised that Mr Kouchner had raised the subject in public, knowing that it was going to be difficult to reach any form of consensus.

While some EU members are thought to be pushing for sanctions, it is a fact that the partnership and co-operation arrangements between the Europeans and Russia are of mutual benefit and both sides will be punished if sanctions are approved by the summit leaders.

Meanwhile Lord Patel has some interesting comments on the travels and travails of Mr Vlad Putin:
Mr Putin visits that nice Mr Karimov for a chat about this and that and oil and gas and pipelines

Vagit Alekperov called to tell us of his trip alongside Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin, to Uzbekistan yesterday. They were met personally at the start of their 2 day visit yesterday at Tashkent International Airport by "boil in bag" Islam Karimov himself.

Russia, Uzbekistan agree on Uzbekistani gas pricing European formula

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who is visiting Sep 2 Uzbekistan has announced following talks with Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov that Moscow and Tashkent have agreed on the formula of pricing of Uzbekistani natural gas purchased by Russia. According to Putin, the formula is going to be the one used in Europe.

Uzbekistan produces 60 billion of cubic meters of natural gas annually, of which 7-8 billion are sold to Gazprom. In the first half of 2008, Russia was paying Uzbekistan $130 per 1,000 cubic meters, and is paying $160 in the second half.

See Also:
Pipeline Time: Pipeline Politics and Oil Imperium from Azerbaijan, to Ashkelon and Mogadishu


Piplines in teh Russia, Stupid!™

Bloomberg reports that “In the 2 1/2 years since Mikhail Khodorkovsky, then Yukos chief executive officer, was arrested on fraud charges, President Vladimir Putin’s government has used assets from Yukos to help turn Rosneft and OAO Gazprom into challengers to BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Rosneft and Gazprom have given Putin, 53, control of 60 percent of Russia’s energy industry, the world’s biggest.”

Considering the degree of U.S. and European investment in Yukos, if it had happened in any other country, then the government would surely have been pilloried, maybe even forcibly removed. The Pootster gets to hold a G8 summit. He’s obviously being a good enough boy – which may be where Abkhazia comes in. Perhaps at the G8 Summit it was suggested that Russia agree to withdraw from the Caucasus in exchange for the evisceration of foreign energy interests in Russia proper?

Then again, is he stupid enough to loosen all influence over the pipeline region just to avoid a few editorials in the financial press? I doubt it. The Caucasus remains an Achilles Heel of the Oil Imperium.

Russia faces new Caucasus uprising in Ingushetia

But it is Ingushetia, where the population has long been at odds with its Ossetian neighbours, that is prompting the greatest concern among observers and western diplomats.

Russian opposition newspapers have claimed that up to 1,200 Ingush police officers have resigned their jobs in protest at the war in South Ossetia, creating a power vacuum that could allow the insurgency to flourish.

Anger has particularly grown since Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, recognised the independence of South Ossetia last week. Many Ingush fear that could lead to the unification of South Ossetia, which lies in Georgia, and North Ossetia, which lies in Russia.

Ingushetia and North Ossetia fought a brief war in 1992, which claimed some 600 lives, over control of a slither of territory called Prigorodny which had come under Ossetian occupation after Stalin deported the entire Ingush population in 1944.

Regional experts say that a desire for separatism is now spreading from radical insurgents to Ingushetia's more moderate underground opposition.

Mr Yevloyev's death could act as a catalyst for opposition against regional head Murat Zyazikov, a former KGB officer and close ally of Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister.

The journalist, who was also one of Ingushetia's best known opposition figures, was arrested at an airport near the Ingush capital Nazran. Shortly after his detention, his body, bearing a single bullet wound to the temple, was thrown out of a police car.

Ingush officials passed off the death as an accident, but the angry reaction from opposition activists suggested not all believed that - especially as Mr Zyazikov had been on the same flight as the dead journalist.

Map showing Ingushetia