Posted 17:51 by Grote 0 comments

A spin-off if you will.

I’ve been lax in blogging the Republican National Convention, due to the fact a good friend of mine is moving into his new house on the fifth and frankly helping him takes precedence; a thousand apologies to those of you who were looking forward to reading it.

However, I do have a corollary to the Republican Convention, or at least my blogging of it. My good friend Mike Addison, took me to task on some of the things I said and in response to one of those items, I brought up an opinion I had been forming for the last week or so since the downing of the two Russian airliners. My theory, I believe, is given even more strength with the recent events in southern Russia.

By now you might see where this is going, so let’s look at the history of Chechnya

First of all here’s where Chechnya is located:


Starting, in 1830, Russian Imperial Forces began moving into Chechnya, after about 30 years of resistance; Russia had fully integrated Chechnya into its empire and secured its border with the Ottoman Empire. It received status of an autonomous republic under the Soviet Union (e.g. Ukraine) in 1936. During World War II, most of the citizens of Chechnya fought for the Nazis against the communists. After the Soviet Union fell, civil war started after the Russian Federation refused to recognize Chechnya as an independent state.

The First war lasted about 2 years (94-96) but only after Chechen soldiers began torturing and executing pro-federal citizens and federal soldiers, thus demoralizing the federals. The separatist president was supposedly killed by a Russian Rocket attack in 96, but accounts vary. A second war broke out in 99, after bombs destroy apartment blocks and killing about 200. Chechen Rebels blame the Russian Secret Service after the Russian government blames them.

The separatists are reportedly funded by our good pal Osama bin Laden, and in 2002, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed the war was over, even though most of the separatists still held the mountains and were being harbored in the country of Georgia. You can read a lot more of the history of Chechnya here.

Ok, so here’s my theory.

Chechnya has been a thorn in the side of the Russian Federation since 1994. Osama bin Laden has been, more than likely, funding the militant Islamic radicals and separatists in Chechnya. The Russian government had given us intelligence about Iraq’s pursuit of WMDs, but I believe Putin found himself in a pickle. If he supports the United States in the liberation of Iraq, then that gives the rebels in his country a new reason to step up the fight. At that point he’s now fighting a civil war and trying to keep the peace in Iraq. If he then pulls out of Iraq, the Russians now look ripe for the plucking terrorism-wise. So, the logical solution is to keep quiet all around. If I recall correctly, the Russians haven’t been as vocal as the French or the Germans or even the English about our involvement. If the Chechens had been put down, I’m sure we’d have Russian troops in Iraq.

Now with today’s massacre added with the suicide bombing in the Russian metro and the airplane bombings, Putin can claim that he only has one choice but to put down the rebellion once and for all and with the weight of the entire Russian army. Remember, this is a man who used to be a KGB agent. I’m suspecting that he’s got the “super-size” can of whoop-ass stashed on the border ready to go. I guess next, we wait and watch.