Word: putin
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...assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Harari as a U.N. report concluded that Beirut's own inquiry was flawed and inconclusive. The U.N.'s report did not name a culprit in the bombing but cited Lebanese security failures and polarizing tensions with Syria as factors in the killing. Putin's Promise RUSSIA President Vladimir Putin extended an olive branch to business leaders shaken by the state's controversial breakup of oil giant Yukos. He backed a proposal to exempt privatizations that took place over three years ago from judicial investigation. The announcement aimed to boost confidence and revive investment...
Although the Russian approach to Chechnya has clearly failed to lead to peace, or even to open the door to a negotiated solution, Putin persists in his approach. He may well feel locked into a strong stance on Chechnya because it was his original political platform and the basis of his popularity. He hailed the war as a rallying point for reviving Russia’s territorial unity and national pride and as a clear signal of Russia’s military will to Western nations and to Russia’s other ethnically-based would-be separatist regions...
However, I favor the “Putin is half-crazed” explanation. If his irrational persistence in Russia’s clearly failed approach to the Chechen conflict were not enough, I would point to a few choice press conference quotes. When questioned on the Chechen conflict, Putin’s impassive KGB demeanor has slipped on a number of occasions, betraying his crude vocabulary and coarse mindset. Asked to describe Russia’s goal in the Chechen conflict, he stated that it was to “whack the bandits in the john [toilet...
...Putin, however, has been quick to celebrate Maskhadov’s death as a validation of his Chechen policies, as justification of the indiscriminate use of force as a solution to difficult problems. Putin’s celebration would be the rough equivalent of Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon putting a hellfire missile through Mahmoud Abbas’s window, celebrating the defeat of Palestinian terrorism, and ignoring Hamas. While the moderate, democratically elected Chechen leader Maskhadov lies dead, other, more radical Islamic fundamentalist fighters are still at large. In particular, Shamil Basayef, the mastermind of the horrific Moscow theater...
...reality, with the death of Maskhadov, Russia has shot itself in the foot by eliminating a moderate Chechen leader. Although Putin will continue Russia’s tank-to-cockroaches approach, even an iron fist can not squeeze water (or peace) from a rock...