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Russia

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Like they did in regards to Iraq...which proved to be the right call. The rise of IS is largely down to American / coalition foreign policy over the last decade, it's understandable why Putin is pissed off.
Note the date :

Chechen Warns of Islamic Extremism


By Nora Boustany
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, February 6, 2008


A Chechen human rights researcher is warning that militant Islamic ideology is gaining currency in the Russian separatist region of Chechnya and broadening its appeal elsewhere in the tense North Caucasus.

Ousam Baysaev, 43, an author and former journalist who has made a career of chronicling human rights abuses in Chechnya and surrounding republics, presented his conclusions in a lecture in Washington last month at the National Endowment for Democracy. Such findings are likely to cause new anxiety among U.S. and European policymakers already concerned by the unrest in a region strategically important to the United States because of its proximity toIran, Turkey and Afghanistan.

Russia has fought two post-Soviet wars against separatist rebels in Chechnya, including one in 1999 that helped propel Russian President Vladimir Putin to power. While fighting declined in Chechnya a few years ago after the Russian military established a Kremlin-supported government there, turmoil and strife in the wider North Caucasus have spread.

In recent weeks, there have been protests in the neighboring, mostly Muslim republic of Ingushetia in response to a government crackdown on political opposition.

The demonstrators have risen up against official corruption and the republic's president, Murad Zyazikov, a close ally of Putin. On Monday, Putin visited a military unit stationed in the hills of Dagestan, another restive republic on Chechnya's eastern border.

"In those republics, there are metastasizing rebel movements," said Miriam Lanskoy, a senior program officer for Central Asia and the Caucasus at the National Endowment for Democracy, who moderated Baysaev's talk. "They come to Chechnya, fight for a week or two, and go home having more credibility and status."

Lanskoy, who is completing a book on the Caucasus, said Chechen rebels who subscribed to the strict Wahhabi strain of Islam fought secular nationalists in 1998 for control of the separatist movement. The battles, she said, tilted in favor of the secular wing of the movement.

That changed, she said, when the secular rebel leaders tried to flee Grozny, the Chechen capital, ahead of a Russian assault in 2000. Many were exiled or killed, including a dozen top rebel commanders who died in a minefield.

In his lecture, Baysaev showed a slide of a wall to illustrate the shift from secular to Islamic influence within the separatist movement. One slogan that had been sprayed on the wall graffiti-style read: "Freedom or Death." Beneath it was a more recent one declaring: "Chechnya is the Province of Allah."

"They perceive themselves as having no outlet," Baysaev said of the rebels, adding that they would probably "take the fight to a broader area" that would include Ingushetia, Dagestan and other nearby republics.

A former correspondent for Radio Free Europe, Baysaev has documented human rights abuses in Chechnya since 1999, when the second phase of the war began. He is a founding member of Memorial, a nonprofit organization devoted to monitoring atrocities, war crimes and other human rights violations.

Baysaev first became involved in human rights work in 1995, when Human Rights Watch came to his village of Zamashke during the first Chechen war. The following year, Russian soldiers arrived, searching for rebels, and ordered residents out of their homes. He said the soldiers then opened fire, wounding his entire family and others in the village.
 
Like they did in regards to Iraq...which proved to be the right call. The rise of IS is largely down to American / coalition foreign policy over the last decade, it's understandable why Putin is pissed off.

Putin isnt pissed off...he enjoys this. Another example of the fact that people who think they understand ruskies actually dont in the slightest.
 
:)

Russia complains over 'gay bar' on president's plot in Finland
Hip-hop duo erected bar in forest on Åland island to protest against Russia’s crackdown on homosexuality


Mariehamn, one of the Åland islands in the Baltic Sea.
Police in Finland have received a complaint after two pranksters erected a makeshift gay bar based on the famous Blue Oyster from the Police Academy films to protest against Russia’s anti-gay laws.

The gay bar, a wooden structure hung with fairy lights and decorated with blue lettering, was built last weekend on a plot of land that belonged to the Russian presidency on the remote Åland archipelago, a Swedish-speaking region of Finland.

Pictures posted by the pranksters from the scene show people outside the bar, some clad in leather and wearing yellow builders’ helmets, with one couple kissing.

“This is pure hooliganism,” Russian consul Mikhail Zubov told Finnish news agency STT.

CO9e4RoWUAAt8ZH.jpg
— Escape To Suomi (@EscapeToSuomi)September 15, 2015
Some wags have opened a Blue Oyster Bar on Vladimir Putin's plot of land on Åland and dressed as gay workmen.
The bar, outside the village of Saltvik, has been erected by the Swedish comedy hip-hop duo Far & Son, who told local media they were doing it to protest against Russia’s gay propaganda law - which forbids the “promotion” of homosexuality - and a crackdown on gay rights in the country.

“We expected a bit more of a vigorous response from the Russians and that they would immediately send the Scud missiles into the gay bar, but it seems they can’t keep up with Far & Son,” the comedians told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. “They are simply cowards.”

Approximately 28,000 people live on the Åland Islands, but 90% of them reside on the largest island of Fasta. The archipelago lies between Finland and Sweden, but one uninhabited property is owned by the Russian presidency, having once been owned by a German-Finnish couple.

The waterfront plot became Russian property in 1947 under second world war peace treaties which saw all German-owned items given to the Soviet Union.

Åland police confirmed they had received a complaint about the incident on Sunday, and said the area belonged to the Russian state.

“The perpetrators forced their way into the area and built something, leaving their rubbish behind. The incident has attracted attention, including in the local media,” they said.

“This incident has been classed as trespassing, as well as some sanitation violations.

“Police have been in contact with the Russian consul and documented the crime scene.”

The crime could be punishable by up to three months in prison but Far & Son told Aftonbladet they were not afraid. “I think someone will build this again with cement next year. Then it will remain there forever.

“The Blue Oyster will be the only thing you can see from the moon, apart from the Great Wall of China. They will never take us alive.”
 
Another Afghanistan ?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34399164

Syria's civil war has raged for four years, with an array of armed groups fighting to overthrow the government.

The US and its allies have insisted that President Assad should leave office, while Russia has backed its ally remaining in power.

The upper house of the Russian parliament earlier granted President Vladimir Putin permission to deploy the Russian air force in Syria.

_85840046_russian_airstrikes_syria.png

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Image copyrightSyria Rebels Gathering
_85837100_de28-1.jpg
Image copyrightSyria Rebels Gathering‎
The Russian defence ministry said the country's air force had targeted IS military equipment, communication facilities, arms depots, ammunition and fuel supplies - and did not hit civilian infrastructure or areas nearby.

Syrian opposition activists said Russian warplanes had hit towns including Zafaraneh, Rastan and Talbiseh, resulting in the deaths of 36 people, a number of them children.

None of the areas targeted were controlled by IS, activists said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States was prepared to welcome Russian military action in Syria - but only as long as it was directed against IS and al-Qaeda-linked groups.

Speaking at the United Nations Security Council, Mr Kerry said the US would have "grave concerns" if Russia conducted strikes against other groups.

He said the US-led coalition against IS would "dramatically accelerate our efforts" and that the US was prepared to hold talks with Russia about avoiding accidental conflicts between the two air strike campaigns "as early as possible".

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Image copyrightRUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY
Image captionSu-24 fighter-bomber aircraft are said to have been involved in the strikes
Analysis: Jonathan Marcus, defence and diplomatic correspondent
Russia's decision to intervene with its air power greatly complicates the Syrian crisis while probably offering little additional chance of a diplomatic resolution.

Russian sources indicate that Sukhoi Su-24 warplanes were involved, operating out of an airbase near Latakia.

There are serious questions about who exactly the Russian aircraft are targeting. US officials believe that the initial Russian strikes are not in IS-held territory, raising the possibility that Russian air power is being utilised more in the form of close air support for Syrian government forces against the multiple enemies of the Assad regime.

Of course, many of these enemies are supported by the West's Arab allies or Turkey. The warning time given by the Russians to the Americans announcing the start of their operations may also raise some eyebrows, suggesting that much more detailed co-ordination may be needed in future to avoid incidents in Syrian airspace.



In a televised address, Mr Putin said the air strikes were targeting Islamist militants - including Russian citizens - who have taken over large parts of Syria and Iraq.

"If they [militants] succeed in Syria, they will return to their home country, and they will come to Russia, too," he said.

He added that Russia was not going to send ground troops to Syria, and that its role in Syrian army operations would be limited.

"We certainly are not going to plunge head-on into this conflict... we will be supporting the Syrian army purely in its legitimate fight with terrorist groups."

Mr Putin also said he expected President Assad to talk with the Syrian opposition about a political settlement, but clarified that he was referring to what he described as "healthy'' opposition groups.

A US defence official said: "A Russian official in Baghdad this morning informed US embassy personnel that Russian military aircraft would begin flying anti-Isil [IS] missions today over Syria. He further requested that US aircraft avoid Syrian airspace during these missions."

US state department spokesman John Kirby told reporters: "The US-led coalition will continue to fly missions over Iraq and Syria as planned and in support of our international mission to degrade and destroy Isil [IS]."

Syria's civil war
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Image copyrightAFP
What's the human cost?

More than 250,000 Syrians have been killed and a million injured in four-and-a-half years of armed conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a full-scale civil war.

And the survivors?

More than 11 million others have been forced from their homes, four million of them abroad, as forces loyal to President Assad and those opposed to his rule battle each other - as well as jihadist militants from IS and other groups. Growing numbers of refugees are going to Europe.

How has the world reacted?

Regional and world powers have also been drawn into the conflict. Iran and Russia, along with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, are propping up the Alawite-led government. Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are backing the Sunni-dominated opposition, along with the US, UK and France.
 
Good on the Russians for sticking by Assad. A man who I would describe as the least worst option, whilst still being a bit of a twunt really.

Fact is Syria would not have descended into chaos had a few Islamic extremists not got a bit uppity in 2011 and spurred on unsuspecting victims to join their cause.
 

Good on the Russians for sticking by Assad. A man who I would describe as the least worst option, whilst still being a bit of a twunt really.

Fact is Syria would not have descended into chaos had a few Islamic extremists not got a bit uppity in 2011 and spurred on unsuspecting victims to join their cause.
Uppity:eek:
 
I was being polite :)
Be interesting to see how stable and firm will be Putin's policy if he puts forces on the ground. He only has a 65 per cent approval rating for military action in Syria, which is unusually low for him - memories of the debacle that was Afghanistan is still present amongst the Russian populace.
 

Be interesting to see how stable and firm will be Putin's policy if he puts forces on the ground. He only has a 65 per cent approval rating for military action in Syria, which is unusually low for him - memories of the debacle that was Afghanistan is still present amongst the Russian populace.

Interesting times ahead for sure but I don't envisage any country putting boots on the ground officially.
 
Assad:
" you're welcome to our country but first you have to bomb the s*** out of those rebels, they're pain in my arse"

Putin:
" sure, we just have to pretend for a while that we are fighting ISIS, soon enough world will see that we're only here to [Poor language removed] western countries, though"
 

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