To Russia with hate

Russia 'ends Chechnya operation'
Russia has ended its decade-long "counter-terrorism operation" against separatist rebels in the southern republic of Chechnya, officials say. The move aimed "to create conditions to further normalise the situation", the National Anti-terrorist Committee said. Russian forces have fought two wars in the mainly Muslim republic since 1994. Moscow says Chechnya has stabilised under its pro-Kremlin President, Ramzan Kadyrov, but human rights groups accuse his militias of widespread abuses.

While George Dubya was illegally invading parts of the planet to cause terror, Russia were quietly re-opening the wound of Chechnya and were exterminating any defiance to their brutal occupation, so concerned were Russia that a Chechnya independence bid could lead to other provinces splitting away. While the West were perpetrating their own human rights abuses, it left no moral high ground to demand Russia stop the butchery in Chechnya, the latest move to downgrade their occupation has more to do with shrinking oil revenues to pay for the occupation force than any real stability in the region.

The horror story of Chechnya and Moscow’s vested interest in killing journalists who ask questions became painfully apparent in 2006 with the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko by Russian agents who were also allegedly involved in the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Both researched Russian war crimes in Chechnya, Litvinenko (former KGB)in particular accused the Russians of bombing their own citizens in Moscow, and by blaming rebels from Chechnya, gained popular support from Russians to re-invade Chechnya. The true depth of human rights abuses and the outright manipulation by the secret police to murder their own citizens to create a pretense for re-invasion and to eliminate those who asked such questions may never see the light of day, if the West hadn’t been so busy perpetrating their own war crimes the horror story of Chechnya may have been challenged at the time.