February 03, 2010

Like,killing high value al Qaeda targets.

A wanted Egyptian al Qaeda operative who helped establish the terror group in the Caucasus has been killed by Russian security forces during a clash in Dagestan.

Russia's Federal Security Service killed Mokhmad Mohamad Shabban, who is better known as Saif Islam or the Sword of Islam, and an associate during a raid yesterday in a mountainous region in the Republic of Dagestan.

Yet Russia still sells technology to countries that support al Qaeda. Go figure.

Thanks to QP

December 09, 2009

BBC:

A devout Christian couple have been cleared of insulting a Muslim guest because of her faith.

Benjamin and Sharon Vogelenzang were accused of launching a tirade against Ericka Tazi at the Bounty House Hotel in Aintree, Liverpool, in March.

The couple had denied using threatening, abusive or insulting words which were religiously aggravated.

...Explaining his reasons for dismissal, Judge Clancy said Mrs Tazi's claim that she was verbally attacked for up to an hour had not been backed up by the other witnesses.

He also said the language Mrs Tazi used in the exchange "did not quite form the same religious view" that was put to him on the stand.

Judge Clancy said: "I'm not satisfied on the facts that this case has been made out."

December 03, 2009

I told you these guys were behind it. On cue, "The Islamic Emirate of the Caucuses" claims the bombing of a passenger train between Moscow and St. Petersburg which killed 26 innocent civilians. I've been on this train.

NEFA:

We declare that this operation was prepared and carried out within the planned, early this year, and successfully carried out acts of sabotage on a number of strategically important objects of [Russia], pursuant to the order of the Emir of Caucasus Emirate Dokka Umarov.”

“As previously repeatedly warned, in the spring Majlisul Shura by the command of the Caucasus Emirate, it was decided to transfer the sabotage war to the territories of [Russia], along with strong blows to the occupiers’ infrastructure in the Caucasus.”

“Today, we carry out sabotage operations on electricity transmission lines, oil-and gas-wires. Many of the operations are under preparation status.”

“We declare that we will do everything possible to spread Jihad even greater in the territory of [Russia] to undermine its economy, so that [Russia] will not have the opportunity to use the Caucasus as its raw material base.”

Move along, folks. Move along.

For more "press releases" like this one check back with NEFA frequently or go to the official propaganda outlet of the Chechen terrorists at the Kavkaz Center.

December 01, 2009

I keep reading article about the Russian terrorist attack on the train that indicate that no one has claimed responsibility. This seems to indicate the Russian's tendency to lean on the Caucasian Emirate is warranted in this case.

November 28, 2009

ITAR-TASS reports 20 killed, but Pravda puts the number at 39. Some of you may recall that I lived in Russia for a time. My heart goes out to the Russian people.

The usual suspects in this act of terror: Muslim extremists from the Caucasus.

Don't let the fools in the media mislead you on this by claiming "Chechen nationalists" or "Chechen extremists". Chechnya is just one piece of the larger Islamist goal in Russia. The dream is of a pan-Caucuses state ruled by sharia law.

What's interesting about the Islamist movement in the Caucuses is that many of the leaders are not Salaafist Sunnis. They are Suffis. The most peaceful branch of Islam alleged to be the most compatible with Western values.

There goes that theory out the window.

Look to this website for an official claim of responsibility in the next few days.

Pravda:

At least 39 passengers were killed and about 96 were injured when the Nevsky Express train #166 derailed at 18:34 GMT Moscow time at Bologoye, between Moscow and St. Petersburg, an emergencies ministry source said Saturday. The FSB has confirmed that the derailment was caused by a terrorist bomb.

Just prior to the accident, the train driver had applied the brakes. The last four cars out of thirteen left the rails. Witnesses speak of a loud explosion just before the train derailed and claim that a crater with a diameter of one meter appeared in the track.

Aleksandr Bortnikov, Director of the FSB, declared to President Dmitry Medvedev that a bomb with the equivalent of seven kilos of TNT was detonated and caused the incident.

November 03, 2009

A Polish leading news magazine, Wprost, has obtained documents that show that Russia and Belarus conducted a war game that simulated nuclear attacks on Poland.

The war games took place back in September around the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Poland by the Soviet Union. If you recall, the Obama administration also canceled the missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland.

Poland is on it's own, no help will come from Obama, the EU or anyone else and Putin and co. know this. Looks like Hillary's wish to reset the relationship between the US and Russia have reset them back to the cold war era.

From Telegraph

The armed forces are said to have carried out "war games" in which nuclear missiles were fired and troops practised an amphibious landing on the country's coast.[...]

The documents state the exercises, code-named "West", were officially classified as "defensive" but many of the operations appeared to have an offensive nature.

The Russian air force practised using weapons from its nuclear arsenal, while in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, which neighbours Poland, Red Army forces stormed a "Polish" beach and attacked a gas pipeline.

The operation also involved the simulated suppression of an uprising by a national minority in Belarus – the country has a significant Polish population which has a strained relationship with authoritarian government of Belarus.

October 08, 2009

Via Yahoo News:

KABUL – A suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle outside the Indian Embassy in the bustling center of the Afghan capital Thursday, killing 17 people in the second major attack in the city in less than a month. The Afghan Foreign Ministry hinted at Pakistani involvement — a charge Pakistan denied.

The blast occurred a day after the war entered its ninth year and as President Barack Obama was deliberating a request by the top commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal for up to 40,000 more troops. Opponents of a troop increase want to shift focus to missile strikes and special operations against al-Qaida-linked groups in Pakistan.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack — the second against the Indian Embassy in the past two years — and specified that the Indians were the target.

September 29, 2009

(Moscow, Russia) Proposed legislation mandates that undefined "required information" on Internet users be handed over to the government.

Internet providers operating in the Russian segment of the web will be forced to give information about their users to law enforcement agencies, according to a bill posted on the Justice Ministry’s web site.

Neither the bill nor an attached memorandum indicated what kind of information the providers would be obliged to hand over.

September 01, 2009

Today is the 5th anniversary of the Beslan massacre. I'd almost forgotten.

Michelle Malkin and Jim Hoft remember.

You'd think such a despicable act of terror would turn would-be jihadists off? It didn't and it hasn't. Instead, more and more the would-be jihadis of the world turn their attention to creating an Islamic state in the Russian Caucuses.

Instead, radical Islamists living in the West glorify the actions of the "mujahideen" in Chechnya, Dagastan, Ingushetya, and North Ossetia. "Liberating" the Caucuses from the Russian "occupiers" is now a top priority for jihadists.

Much of the attention given to the Caucuses by the global jihad community can be explained by the actions of the U.S. State Department and European countries. Western governments have failed to formally designate "The Islamic Emirate of the Caucuses" and related groups as Foreign Terrorists despite jihad leader Dokka Umarov declaring war on the U.S.

Today, supporters of a Taliban like state within the historical borders of Russia openly operate in the West. The main nexus of this community can be found online at "The Kavkaz Center" and "Imam TV". Both websites openly operating in the West: Kavkaz Center out of Sweden and Imam TV from Atlanta, GA.

International support for jihad in Russia will continue to grow until the West takes action. Many radical Muslism who fear arrest by Western governments for supporting internationally outlawed groups like al Qaeda, the Taliban, Hamas, and al Shabaab have turned their attention and support to related jihadi groups that are not "illegal".

Until the U.S. State Department designates Russian "separatists" as terrorists, there is little chance that Europe will do the same. And until such time we can expect support for the Russian jihad to continue.

August 20, 2009

Okay, not a tortilla, but close. Here's a vidcap of a video showing the alleged "miracle" of one deceased jihadi in the Caucuses named "Abu Dudjanah" [called "The Shahid Ilyas"].

According to a video being featured by al Qaeda's Russian affiliate, the "Martyr Ilyas" was still bleeding at his funeral over a week after he had been killed.

A miracle! Allahuakhbar!

Alternate explanations:

1) Oh no, we buried him alive!
2) Zombies! Protect your brains!
3) That'll teach Ilyas to try and blow up The Statue of the Perpetually Weeping Virgin.

Thanks to Abu Umar.

August 18, 2009

August 04, 2009

Russian subs spotted off of our coast zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

June 10, 2009

It's actually worse than the Russians let on. Much worse. For the past two or three years, much of the propaganda coming from the jihadis has focused on the Caucases.

European and American jihadis, in particular, are always looking for a new way in which they can legally support the violent jihad. These Western jihadis skirt the law by shifting their support from group's which are officially recognized as terrorists (al Qaeda, Taliban, LeT) to groups with essentially the same goals but which have not been officially sanctioned.

With the change in legal status in the U.S. of Somalia's al-Shabaab, many in the West have turned their eyes back toward Russia where the low intensity Islamist insurgency has continued unabated. Especially in Europe, radical Islamists openly support what is essentially al Qaeda's Russian front.

What's unusual about this is that the Russians are being open about it. News about violence in the Caucases is either suppressed or goes unreported since the Russian government generally does not allow outside journalists into the area. So, we are left with the propaganda produced by the Kavkaz Center and the "Islamic Emirate of the Caucases" to see what is going on in the conflict. Hardly reliable sources.

So, why begin to focus on the conflict now? How does this benefit the Kremlin? Does Sochi's proximity -- the future home of the Winter Olympics -- to the conflict have anything to do with it?

Keep an eye on this one. It's going to get worse before it gets better.

AP:

Gunmen shot and killed a top judge as she dropped her children off at school in Russia's violent North Caucasus Wednesday, officials said. Five other people were reported wounded, including a small child.

The daylight killing in Ingushetia highlighted the spiraling violence in the region, plagued by years of poverty, corruption, the growth of radical Islam and nearly 15 years of fighting in Chechnya.

In Dagestan, a province east of Chechnya, militants battled police forces after attacking a police post with automatic weapons and mortars. Hours earlier, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev paid a televised visit to the region in an effort to showcase official efforts to stamp out the violence.

May 01, 2009

Meet Amir Abu Zarr, a former Chechen jihadi who somehow couldn't get back into Russia from Turkey and is now fighting in Afghanistan.

Someone call the "experts" over at the State Department who continue to claim that the ongoing Chechen conflict has nothing to do with the global jihad, that the fighters there are not connected to al Qaeda, and that we should all just move along and shut our pie holes because Chechnya is just a local nationalistic movement!

Also, it appears that Abu Zarr is some kind of magical elf. Look at the ears.

Exit question for geeks: Would elf powers be considered WMD?

April 28, 2009

President Dmitry Medvedev, blogger. The good news keeps getting better as the Kremlin also has a blog.

And what does Russia's titular head think of the internet?

I don't think you'll be shocked to know that he opposes American's imperialist dominance on the web:

"The Internet should not be an environment dominated by rules set by one country alone, even the strongest and most advanced country,” he says. “There should be international rules drawn up through collective effort, and the worldwide web should continue to develop as it has done so far – as a common environment. Only this way can we counter terrorism, xenophobia, and other unlawful activity on the Web.”

April 03, 2009

Australian

RUSSIA'S Dmitry Medvedev has hailed Barack Obama as "my new comrade" after their first face-to-face talks, saying the US president "can listen" - even if little progress was made on substance.

The Russian president today contrasted Mr Obama as "totally different" to his predecessor George W. Bush, whom he blamed for the "mistake" of US missile shield plans fiercely opposed by Moscow.

Mr Obama agreed to visit Moscow in July after his talks with Mr Medvedev yesterday on the sidelines of a G20 summit in London aimed at fixing the battered world economy.

"I believe that we managed to establish contact. But Moscow lies ahead. I cannot say that we made much progress on the most serious issues," he said, adding: "Let's wait and see."

"I liked the talks. It is easy to talk to him. He can listen. The start of this relationship is good," he said, adding: "Today it's a totally different situation (compared to Bush)... This suits me quite well."

March 30, 2009

Come on, we all know who is behind the slate of assassinations of Chechens living outside of Russia. Each of those killed has been a critic of Moscow's puppet government.

Chechen Suleyman Madov killed in Dubai. Fourth Chechen killed abroad in a month.

So, is this a good thing or a bad thing? That depends.

There are two kinds of critics of Ramzan Kadyrov, the current leader of Chechnya.

There are those with sympathies to al Qaeda and who have a vision of an "Islamic State of the Caucuses" who criticize Kadyrov for being a traitor to the cause of Islamist separatism. That view can be most readily found at Kavkaz Center. If Madov is one of these, then good riddance.

Then there are those critical of Moscow's iron fisted rule because they are interested in human rights, liberty, and the right to self-determination. In this case, such a political assassination is a bad thing.

So, no I'm not against assassinations. I'm just against assassinating the wrong kind of people. Unfortunately, when the Russians are behind a killing it's never quite clear whether you should be cheering or jeering.

March 14, 2009

Russia is considering bases in Cuba and Venezuela (and Brazil? Dream on!).

Let them build. They can then spend the next 20 years bankrupting themselves yet again while simultaneously rattling very rusty sabers.

One of Bookworm's readers chimes in:

I would hope that the Obama administration would generally shrug at the notion of Russia basing a few outdated bombers (that’s all they have) in Cuba or Venezuela.

Just keep quiet and let them go ahead, because if they do it provides an opportunity. Once the bombers are in place, Obama should take note of this provocation and announce that he is proceeding with the anti-missile defense installations in Poland and the Czech Republic. Quid pro quo.

Thanks to Kim.

March 02, 2009

It wasn't Medved's fault because he says so

MADRID, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said here Monday that his country was not responsible for the closure of the Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan, the only U.S. facility in central Asia and a key logistic center for American-led operations in Afghanistan.

In an interview with Spanish state television station TVE, Medvedev, who is on a two-day state visit to Spain, insisted Russia was not behind the decision of the Kyrgyzstan government.

Of course he doesn't have any animosity towards the US using the strategic air base. He doesn't have anything to do with Kyrgyzstan accepting Russia's offer

Russia's winning offer consisted of forgiving $180 million in debt, giving an interest free loan of $150 million (these usually don't get paid back) and a real loan worth $2 billion.

Three years ago Kyrgyzstan tried to get the U.S. to increase payments for use of the 2,500 acre Manas air base, from $5 million, to $50 million a year. Local politicians had already developed a feeding frenzy around the rich Americans. The U.S. offered more money, but not nearly as much as the Russians eventually offered.[h/t Mongol for link]

Photo credit: La Russophobe

February 12, 2009

Sorry Noah, I believe I have a new favorite blogger over at Wired. Nathan Hodges points out that the Miss Atom contest featuring the hot babes of Russia's nuclear power industry.

What better way to promote Russian nuclear power to, say, the Iranian Mullahcracy? I wonder if they throw in a "personal guide" on junket tours for potential Middle East clients? If so, I believe I'm in the market for a new Russian built nuclear power plant.

There are no Homer Simpsons here. Apparently one must be a smoking hot chick to get a job at a power plant in Russia.

Nathan seems to be into Alyona. Me, I'm more of a Maria (pictured below) man myself.

Any way, you can vote here.

January 31, 2009

My thoughts and prayers for family and friends of those affected by this terrible tragedy committed by thugs in chief operatives.

It's bad for ones health to be a investigative reporter in Moscow

The dead loom over the morning editorial meeting at Russia's leading investigative newspaper. Novaya Gazeta's staff is trying to plan the next issue and editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov is in an understandably foul mood.

In a corner hang photos of four reporters he has lost in the past eight years - one beaten to death, one allegedly poisoned, two shot - the most recent on Jan. 19.

It's not easy to put a paper out these days, Muratov says.

"There's usually a lot of jokes, laughing, talk about ideas. But our batteries are totally spent," says Muratov, 47, billows of pipe smoke filling the long pauses. "How can there be any sort of (normal) frame of mind when a journalist is being buried?"

That journalist was Anastasia Baburova, a 25-year-old cub reporter. She and a human rights lawyer were shot execution-style by a masked man with a silenced pistol as they walked together a few blocks from the Kremlin.

In a country considered one of the most dangerous for journalists, no Russian newspaper has suffered like Novaya Gazeta. In a country where most media have been cowed into submission, no other newspaper publishes such probing investigative articles and acid commentary about government corruption, police-state politics and Chechnya war abuses.

Fairness Doctrine/Rush Limbaugh kinda comes to mind.

January 28, 2009

Another campaign promise delivered?

Russia suspends its missile plans in Kaliningrad.

Russia has dropped plans to install missiles near Poland after the Obama administration signaled a change in US attitude to the region, a Moscow military official has reportedly said.

The official suggested that Mr Obama's White House had made clear it would not prioritize executing the Bush administration's plan to install a missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic

I previously posted on Obama's defense plan, strangely the video has been set to private.

I found another:

h/t Gateway Pundit

January 19, 2009

Just last Friday we noted that Umar S. Israilov had been murdered in Austria. Now a prominent Russian lawyer, Stanislav Markelov, shoots self in back with silenced pistol. Also shot was a muckraking journalist critical of Russian handling of Chechen war, but who survived the attack.

The saddest part? My friends from the days I lived in Moscow think I'm crazy to point out that they are slowly becoming a fascist state. But now that the oil boom has gone bust, I pray that it will only be a matter of time for them to wake up and see what's happening.

January 16, 2009

Another Kremlin critic murdered in Europe. Umar S. Israilov had filed a lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights in 2006 claiming that the Kremlin backed thugs in Chechnya systematically kidnap and torture enemies of the state. He was living in exile in Austria at the time of his murder a few days ago.

He was apparently no saint, but all indicators point to a political assassination.

[UPDATE: Within minutes of posting this, I also learned that a Russian general was shot in Dagestan, which borders Chechnya. He was the general in charge of "counterterror" in Dagestan. Kavkaz center hasn't yet reported a claim from the "Islamic Emirate of the Caucuses". The war in Chechnya goes on. On the one side Islamist thugs with direct links to al Qaeda, on the other side secularist thugs sympathetic to a new Russian empire......]

A friend described this to the NY Times a few days ago:

A family friend of Mr. Israilov’s gave this account of his killing:

He was ambushed at lunchtime on Tuesday near his apartment as he left a grocery store where he had stopped to buy yogurt. At least four men in two cars were waiting for him. Mr. Israilov tried to run away but was quickly overtaken and shot.

The family friend, out of fear for his own safety, asked that his name be withheld.

AP today:

A human rights group urged Russian and Austrian authorities to investigate the slaying of a Chechen man who, they say, claimed Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader personally tortured him.

Umar Israilov, a former bodyguard of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, fled to Austria and was gunned down in Vienna on Tuesday.....

A lawyer in Vienna released a statement purportedly from Israilov's father, saying his son joined the Chechen insurgency in 2001 when fighting between Russian forces and militants was still frequent. He was detained in 2003 and tortured by Kadyrov and others, the statement said....

Israilov fled to Austria in 2003, and Chechen authorities detained and tortured his father for 10 months, Sokiryanskaya said. The statement from his father said both he and Umar fled Chechnya in 2004.

December 29, 2008

(Moscow, Russia) I can't explain this except to say, propaganda works.

A Russian state television network says Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, who sent millions to their deaths in the Great Purge of the 1930s, has been voted the country's third-greatest historical figure.

Some of Stalin's great historical works

Rights activists have blasted Stalin's inclusion in the 90-day, nationwide project run by the Rossiya channel. They say authorities are trying to gloss over Stalin's atrocities and glorify his tyranny.

Nos. 1 and 2 were medieval leader Alexander Nevsky and Pyotr Stolypin, prime minister under Czar Nicholas II.

November 19, 2008

Russia's state censors have warned Newsweek not to insult Muslims. So does this mean no more, "a rabbi, a priest, and an imam walked into a bar" jokes in the new Imperial Russia?

November 17, 2008

This sucks.
Times

A spy at the heart of Nato may have passed secrets on the US missile shield and cyber-defence to Russian Intelligence, it has emerged.

Herman Simm, 61, an Estonian defence ministry official who was arrested in September, was responsible for handling all of his country's classified information at Nato, giving him access to every top-secret graded document from other alliance countries.

He was recruited by the Russians in the late 1980s and has been charged in Estonia with supplying information to a foreign power.

Several investigation teams from both the EU and Nato, under the supervision of a US officer, have flown to the Estonian capital Tallinn to assess the scope of what is being seen as the most serious case of espionage against Nato since the end of the Cold War.

Hopey, changey may have just had his "change" done for him by a suspected spy. Remember, Obama doesn't believe missile defense shields work.

h/t Leapofaith

November 15, 2008

Washington Times

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was the only one out of two dozen leaders whose security would not allow U.S. Marines to open the door to his limousine for him.

Each of the leaders was delivered by limousine to the foot of a six-step staircase covered with a red carpet, where Mr. Bush stood waiting at the top of the stairs.

For every leader but one, a U.S. Marine in a dress blue uniform at the foot of the stairs opened the limousine door. The leaders then greeted Mr. Bush at the top of the steps, posed for a photo and walked into the White House with the president.

President Medveded, our Marines don't operate like the KGB.

November 10, 2008

(Moscow, Russia) Tens of thousands of communists celebrated the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution this past weekend.

More than 150,000 citizens took part in the rallies across the country, according to the Interior Ministry, and in Moscow thousands of supporters marched (pic) Friday evening from Pushkin Square to Teatralnaya Ploshchad to commemorate the Revolution.

Led by Communist Party head Gennady Zyuganov, his deputy Ivan Melnikov and a group of girls in red satin caps holding carnations, the demonstrators marched down Tverskaya Ulitsa toward the Kremlin, blocking two lanes of traffic.

The global financial crisis was one of the key themes in the rally.

"Capitalists! I recommend you start reading [Karl] Marx's 'Das Kapital,'" Zyuganov told the crowd in a speech.

November 09, 2008

(Vladivostok, Russia) Reported today, 20 people have died and 21 have been injured on the Russian nuclear submarine Nerpa during an onboard accident involving a fire extinguishing system.

The Akula II-class submarine was undergoing pre-commissioning sea trials in the Sea of Japan at the time of the accident. The boat was being prepared for delivery to the Indian Navy. (more)

November 07, 2008

Why the sudden saber rattling from Russia with the announcement of new missiles aimed at Eastern Europe? Especially given Obama's opposition to the missile defense systems the missiles are supposed to be a reaction to? Richard Fernandez sums it up:

the Russian missile deployment is simply a prelude to a wider geopolitical game. It’s the opening bell of a main event whose outlines have yet to be definitely discerned.

November 06, 2008

NMS emails the latest from Nathan Hodge who reports that Putin may be planning a return to power. Scroll down to the bottom of the post where Hodge is asking readers to submit their own ideas about what kind of eeeeevil Putin will bring with him.

Me? I think that hot Russian chess champion/bikini model Alexandra Kosteniuk is step two in his plot.

Step one? Monkey's paw, man. Monkey's paw.

Obligatory Alexandra Kosteniuk bikini photo below.

November 05, 2008

(Moscow, Russia) Around the same time that it became clear Barack Obama would be the next President of the United States, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced plans for Russian deployment of a new missile system on the EU border.

The stretch of Baltic coastline between Poland and Lithuania known as Kaliningrad will have missile installations and radar jamming equipment to neutralize proposed American missile shield sites in Poland and the Czech Republic.

In a blistering 90-minute speech broadcast live on radio and television, Medvedev blamed the U.S. for acting unilaterally, arrogantly and selfishly. The war in Georgia was a result of U.S. arrogance, Medvedev said. (more)

October 14, 2008

The Colony Club in Soho is due to be closed in December following trouble renewing its lease.

A website www.savethecolonyclub.com has been established to try and save the historical haunt. Club members have asked TJR to help out with the cause. Rusty is offered to be a guest there and we've been promised that someone will dutifully and lovingly smack Christopher Hitchens up side the head for his article this week. So its kind of an offer we can't refuse.

We urgently need your help to save London's Colony Room Club, which is under threat of closure at the end of the year. Set up 60 years ago by Muriel Belcher in Soho's Dean Street, it has been a vibrant, unique and historical drinking den for artists, writers, musicians, actors and their acolytes. There is nowhere else like it in the world; one drunken member muttering, "Thank God for that".

basically the story is - the landlord wants to develop the property into studio flats - the current manager wants to sell off all the art and b*gger off to Barbados. Now these things are wrong because 1. the club should be granted sitting tenancy and 2. the art belongs to the club, not the current manager..... hence the campaign etc.

When asked Jabba said only

Where would I be if I wasn't willing to wipe out history at the first sign of a quick buck? It's not good business.

May The Force be with you.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XKccwAMCvwI
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wRBfPCDgjvk

October 06, 2008

October 02, 2008

Russia is to deploy new nuclear missiles designed to defeat the US missile defense shield. Admiral Alexander Tatarinov of the Russian navy stated that they plan to build 8 new nuclear submarines which would be armed with the new missiles.

Personally I think the Russians are using the missile defense shield as a pretext to develop new nuclear missiles. The easiest way to defeat the missile defense shield is to overwhelm it with a huge quantity of missiles, nuclear armed or not. The defense shield was only designed to take down a limited amount of missiles, not 100s or 1000s.

So there is no need to develop new missiles. More at ROA

September 08, 2008

Oh my G*d, Russia killed South Park. You bastards!

Prosecutors in Russia want to ban the award-winning satirical U.S. cartoon South Park, calling the series "extremist" after receiving viewer complaints, a spokeswoman said on Monday.

Source: Bill Dauterieve

August 19, 2008

Or so the Russians think. And for once, the Russians are right:

The Russian Ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, dismissed the impact of the emergency meeting in Brussels, Belgium: "The mountain gave birth to a mouse."

You really should go read Allah Pundit's commentary on Pat Buchanan's latest piece calling for American isolationism. It's dead on in its criticism of Buchanan who with each passing day begins to sound more and more like a paranoid Illuminati conspiracy theorist. Also dead on in taking the middle ground between complete failure to support Georgia and declaring war on Russia.

One thing I would note is that I think Buchanan is right in that admitting the Ukraine into NATO with its present borders would be problematic, to say the least.

Buchanan is rather inelegant in referring to Yalta as the "vacation resort of the czars". The point he was trying to make, I think, is that certain areas of the traditional Russian homeland were only ceded to the Ukraine during Stalin's reign. The Crimea was always considered Russia and its people Russian.

See for instance this pre-WWII map.

I have some friends in Sevastopol (that's on the Crimean peninsula). They consider themselves Russian, and not Ukrainian.

They blame Stalin for giving the Crimea to the Ukraine.

Since it was an integral part of the Soviet Union the notion of "giving" the Crimea to the Ukraine seemed laughable at the time. But now? Not so much.

Parenthetically, and I'm sure many of you already know this, but can you name Joseph Stalin's nationality? No, he wasn't Russian, he was Georgian.

What does that have to do with the present conflict in Georgia? Nothing, but it does have everything to do with potential future conflicts with Russia.

For even though Stalin was born Georgian, he was really the first homo-sovieticus: Soviet Man. The communists were anti-nationalist. Stalin, being a true believer, also believed that communism would transform the citizens of the Soviet Union from Russians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Turks, etc into something completely new: Soviets.

It seems laughable to us today. We tend to take the cynical view of Stalin that it was all about his personal ego. I don't think so. The crimes of the Soviet Union were the crimes of communism. If anything, communism became less severe in later years because the communist rulers are guilty of that which we impose on Stalin's character: cynics who really didn't believe.

They just didn't believe in communism enough to let a few million murders get in its way. To paraphrase all of my high school coaches: they just didn't want it bad enough.

Digressing? Not really. Because the present make up of many Eastern European countries were imposed during an era when it was thought that national boundaries no longer mattered.

Does any one really believe that now? I don't think so.

The point being that most Russians believe, and with good reason, that certain areas of the Ukraine should be Russia proper. If not for Stalin's insane notions about the new "Soviet man" places like the Crimea would be Russia, not the Ukraine.

The reverse holds true, of course: there are many areas of Russia proper that probably shouldn't be if the locals had any say in the matter.

This isn't an argument for breaking up Russia or the Ukraine. It's not. What it is is an argument against considering the Ukraine for inclusion in NATO. At least not now.

It's also just a little history lesson to make sure that the rhetoric stemming from analogy doesn't overstep the limits of the analogy. This isn't Mexico demanding Arizona back. Or Canada demanding -- okay, sorry, can't continue with that analogy since it's "unpossible" to imagine Canada demanding anything. Those issues were settled by America's awesomeness at assimilation in conquest.

When we speak of the former countries of the Soviet Union, we are speaking of boundaries created by Czars and dictators. Boundaries I for one am not comfortable shedding American blood over. Which is exactly what NATO membership would mean.

If that was Buchanan's main point, I think it probably got lost in his increasingly odd rhetoric and Chomskyesque logic of blame-America for all the ills of the world. But I tend to agree that European problems should best be left to the Europeans.

If Europe feels threatened by Russia's moves against its neighbors, shouldn't they step up to the plate? I think so. But they won't. Why? Because as noted in the title of this post: they're pussies.*

More than just pussies: they're pussies who don't have to spend an appropriate amount of GDP on their own defenses so long as they are under the American security umbrella.

*My apologies to all the Europeans who are disgusted by their governments' collective pussytude.

August 13, 2008

Not good if true. We need Barack Obama back here STAT to play president and tell them to stop.

Col. Sam Gardiner notes, in an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now, Russia has deployed tactical nuclear weapons to South Ossetia. The SS-21 Missile launchers are relatively weak compared to bombs that have already been used against Georgia by the Russian air force. However, this move does indicate Russia is potentially upping the game from a conventional weapons war to a tactical nuclear weapons war. Gardiner notes that at a news conference on Sunday, the US Deputy National Security advisor has noted these weapons arriving in South Ossetia.

August 11, 2008

Thanks to Publia for pointing out that Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia is blogging the war. Pretty horrifying images and a timeline of events from the Georgian point of view.