London Mail on Sunday (Internet Version-WWW) in English 25 Nov 0
In the summer of 1996, I returned to Moscow from Chechnya and was summoned to see my boss, General Vyacheslav Voloch, head of the Anti-Terrorist Directorate of the Federal Security Bureau (FSB).
'They are putting Khokholkov in charge of URPO,' he said. 'That man is a monster. We should do everything to stop him.'
URPO was the acronym for a newly established top-secret unit at the FSB, and Evgeny Khokholkov was a colonel in the anti-terrorist directorate. More than that, he was General Voloch's subordinate-turned-rival.
The two men had fallen foul of each other ealier that year when Colonel Khokholkov masterminded the assassination of a Chechnyan separatist leader. An air-to-ground missile was used to home in on a satellite phone signal - there wasn't much left of him. It was a sophisticated and costly operation with a hefty budget that, as boss of the Anti-Terrorist Directorate, General Voloch was expected to sign off.
But when the dust had settled nearly a million dollars was missing and Voloch demanded a full account. He was never given one. His subordinate had powerful protectors within the bureau and the matter was papered over, much to General Voloch's embarrassment.
Now Colonel Khokholkov was being handed his own directorate to run - a special operations unit that would be allowed to break the law - and he was likely be promoted to full general.
In fact, the very idea of URPO came up as a result of the Chechen experience. In that undeclared war, secret services enjoyed generous operational freedom: they could detain, interrogate and kill without legal constraints. But while no one would think of 'due process' before firing a missile in Chechnya, back in Moscow, the legal niceties had to be observed.
So the agency bosses decided that it would be handy to have an autonomous, secret unit to carry out occasional 'special tasks', and thanks to his track record Colonel Khokholkov was the natural choice to lead it.
For General Voloch it was a devastating appointment - effectively placing his one-time subordinate in charge of a rival operational division with greater powers than his own. His response to the news of his rival's success and his reason for summoning me to FSB headquarters that day was to give me a secret assignment. I was to dig out all the dirt I could find on this Colonel Khokholkov.
So began a chain of events that would show just how deep the stain of corruption ran - and which would lead me to Vladimir Putin.
It was not the first time that Colonel Khokholkov had been brought to my attention. Three years earlier, as a young operativnik, I had helped unmask a group of corrupt FSB officers, most of them of Uzbek origin.
My report became known as the Uzbek file and Colonel Khokholkov's name surfaced in these investigations. But although several of his colleagues were transferred or fired, he remained untouched. I had found no direct evidence against him.
Shortly after I began digging again into his background, I was contacted by a source at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Organised Crime Unit of the Moscow City Police had some explosive material on Colonel Khokholkov, I was told.
He had been videotaped in the company of major crime figures as they gathered to carve up the Russian drugs market. This explained Khokholkov's wealth: he owned a posh restaurant on Moscow's Kutuzovsky Avenue and a country house worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. And one night, he lost some $120,000 gambling at Casino Leningrad.
It was no surprise to me that the police should have investigated an officer of the FSB. At the time, both the FSB and the police were so deeply involved in the city's protection rackets they were virtually at war. Some of their rivalry was over who would benefit from the supply of drugs pouring from Afghanistan into Europe.
I did not find the videotape, but I did find enough evidence against Khokholkov to charge him - if my superiors would agree.
General Voloch was rel uctant to take the decision, so I took my file to the newly appointed FSB Director, Nikolai Kovaliov.
The meeting was brief and the Director defensive. He shrugged 'What can I do?' when told of the evidence against Khokholkov. I later learned that he had ordered an Internal Affairs file on Khokholkov to be closed the moment he was put in charge.
While the meeting at the Director's office failed to affect Colonel Khokholkov's career, it certainly changed mine. Before long, in the same office, the Director asked me to become his personal agent in his new department, the URPO.
I was speechless. Work for Colonel Khokholkov?
Reading my mind, the Director said: 'Forget about Khokholkov. We checked him out. There is nothing there. But it would not harm if I had my own man keeping an eye on him. Agree? Call any time.'
It was an order, not an offer.
So, for many months, I found myself working for the man I had been tasked to expose. But it was only a matter of time before the compromising videotape of Colonel Khokholkov's meeting to extort money from Moscow's drug barons surfaced once more.
The incident started with a simple enough case. A local shopowner had been visited by a man claiming to be a police officer and demanding protection money.
The demands went up and up from $5,000 a month to $9,000 then to $15,000 and more. Next the shopowner received a visit at his home - he was beaten up and threatened. He turned to the FSB.
We identified the vehicle used to visit the shopkeeper that night and it led us to a dingy den where we found a police officer, several men and two terrified girls, one under age. Both showed signs of abuse and had been raped.
We summoned the local police, who obtained a search warrant. The men were booked for rape and a local investigator began questioning them.
Then a remarkable thing happened. A lawyer for the policeman we had arrested showed up, but instead of dealing with his client's situation he told us that for the past three years the policeman had been forcing him to provide services to companies he had under protection, without any pay. But he wanted to take the opportunity to come clean.
I took the lawyer to the Lubyanka FSB headquarters and taped his testimony. He told us about the massive involvement of the Moscow City Police Organised Crime Unit in criminal activity. His evidence implicated the head of the unit and high officials at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I was discovering that corruption was everywhere in this city - and I was to find out that it went right to the very top.
When the case was completed and everything was ready for the prosecutor, I felt a certain uneasiness about bringing it to Colonel Khokholkov for signature. Investigating such police corruption was a dangerous business when I knew that the tapes linking my own boss with similar protection rackets were still sitting in the vaults of the Moscow City Police.
As it was, Colonel Khokholkov was conveniently unwell, so his deputy signed off the case. And it was only a matter of time before the organisation we were investigating revealed their own evidence about our boss. When it happened, it was calmly and deliberately done. Two police officers showed up at the FSB reception and left the tape of Colonel Khokholkov extorting protection money from drug barons. There was a clear message - forget the investigation or we'll bring down your boss.
I knew about it the next day when the irate Colonel barged into my office: 'What have you been doing? Who authorised this? Why did you go to the prosecutors? Get the case back.'
The case was recalled and I never saw the material again. Most of the criminals are still walking around. The policeman we had arrested was allowed to slip out to Turkey, with much of his money. As for me, I never felt more betrayed. But I was knee-deep in the dirty system in which men like Putin would flourish.
Shortly afterwards, I myself became the centre of a scandal w h en my unit was ordered to plan the assassination of Boris Berezovsky, the entrepreneur-turned-politician who was close to President Yeltsin. No one told us of the reason, but there was no need to: Berezovsky was the most visible of oligarchs, a billionaire tycoon whose Liberal Russia political party stood against the corruption that flowed through the heart of the FSB and our own unit. He was a threat.
I and five other officers refused to carry out the order. Instead, we went directly to Berezovsky and warned him about the plot. We also complained to the Prosecutor-General. The FSB pressured us to withdraw our complaints and suspended the whole group of officers.
Behind the scenes, Berezovsky was pulling levers in the Kremlin and persuaded Boris Yeltsin to turn on our department. Within a few weeks, our secret directorate was disbanded. Colonel Khokholkov was transferred, FSB Director Kovaliov fired. In his place, Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin, a little-known Colonel working inside the Kremlin.
Putin's appointment was a shock to everyone - and a disaster for me. I met him soon after his appointment. I was still technically suspended but one day Berezovsky called me. 'Alexander, could you go to Putin and tell him everything that you have told me? And everything that you have not. He is new at the Service, you know, and would benefit from an insider's view.'
Before our meeting, I spent all night drawing up a chart with names, places, links - everything.
I arrived with two colleagues, but Putin wanted to see me alone. It must be incredibly tough for him, I thought. We were of the same rank, and I imagined myself in his shoes - a mid-level operativnik suddenly put in charge of some hundred seasoned generals with all their vested interests, connections and dirty secrets.
I did not know how to salute him without causing embarrassment. Should I say 'Comrade Colonel' as was required by the code? But he pre-empted me and got up from his desk and shook my hand. He seemed even shorter than on TV.
From that very first moment I felt that he was not sincere. He avoided eye contact and behaved as if he was not the Director, but an actor playing a role. He looked at my chart, appearing to study it, and asked a couple of random questions.
I knew he could not have grasped the details in the cursory glance he had given it. 'Shall I leave the chart?' I asked.
'No, no, thank you. You keep it. It's your work.'
I gave him another list I had compiled: 'These officers are clean. I know for sure that you can rely on them in the war on corruption.' Number one on the list was a colleague called General Trofimov. 'There are honest people in the system,' I said. 'We could bring the situation under control.' He nodded, acting as though in full agreement. He kept my files on Colonel Khokholkov and his links to the Uzbek drug barons and protection rackets. He said we would keep in touch and took my home number.
But he never called. Many months later,I got the chance to study my own file and I learned that he had ordered Internal Affairs to start a case against me right after that meeting. I regretted many of the names I had handed over. It seemed I had given them to the enemy as well as revealing just how much I knew.
Shortly afterwards, I was fired from the FSB. Before I left, a former boss at the Anti-terrorist Centre went to Putin to put in a word on my behalf. Returning from the meeting, he looked at me, shook his head and said: 'I do not envy you, Alexander. There is common money involved.'
I did not understand then what he meant by 'common money'. Now I do. He was referring to Colonel Khokholkov and his dealings with the Uzbek drug barons. This understanding came to me many months later. I discovered that Putin's connection with Colonel Khokholkov dated back to the time when Putin was a Deputy for Economic Affairs to the Mayor of St Petersburg.
I had an informer in St Petersburg's city hall. He kept an eye on the criminal connectio n s of city officials. When the Mayor lost the elections, Putin lost his job. One day my informant had a beer with him. Putin was down and out and could not get hold of money he had stashed away. He was under surveillance by the new Mayor's people. My informant took pity on Putin and gave him $2,000 as an 'open-ended' loan. When Putin became President, he repaid him by appointing him an economic adviser.
As for me, my years of service at the FSB were rewarded by being fired and thrown in jail. It was a year before I was released pending trial. My informant came to see me following my release: 'Putin will squash you,' he said, 'and no one can help you. He has no choice because he was working with the Uzbek group. There is lots of common money there.'
I could not believe that he was using the same phrase: common money. He was telling me that Putin had been directly linked with the mob that my investigations into Colonel Khokholkov had led me to. How close had I come to his name?
My informant smiled: 'Remember the smuggling of rare metal in the early Nineties? Putin was in charge of export licensing. You worked on organised crime? Tell me, could anyone export a kilo of metal in those days without the mob? They would blow up the whole train. And he was right at the centre of it all. All his licensees were mob fronts.'
The two of us were talking in a restaurant. 'Vladimir fell for power very quickly,' confided my informant. 'Look, when Yeltsin drove to the Kremlin, only one traffic line was cleared. But for Vladimir they close down the whole highway. He is not fit for power. He has no political skills and a certain weird way of thinking. He is dangerous.'
My friend got drunk and I took him out to the lobby. 'Are you crazy?' I said. 'All of this will be at the FSB tomorrow morning. Don't you know that I am watched?'
But it was too late. Three weeks after that conversation, he was killed by a hit-man from a passing bicycle. A direct hit at close range. I learned about it from TV. A presidential aide has been shot. One of many during the past decade.
Concluding this story, I'm quite sure there will be an explosion of protests about my unsubstantiated allegations that President Putin is personally involved at least in a cover-up of organised criminal activities connected with drug traffic in Russia and Europe. People will demand hard proof. I am not going to try to prove anything. I am an operativnik, not a prosecutor. My job is to collect operational information and analyse it. This is my analysis:
First: two independent sources report that a suspect - call him Mr P. - has 'common money' with Colonel Khokholkov at the FSB. One of the sources gets killed as soon as his connection to me is compromised.
Second: Colonel Khokholkov is tied to the Uzbek drug organisation. He lives lavishly, well beyond his means.
Next: Mr P. protects Colonel Khokholkov. He neutralises his internal opponents.
Further: Mr P. is fully aware that Colonel Khokholkov is involved with the Uzbeks.
Finally: when the crimes were committed, Mr P. held a key position in a northern metropolis, Russia's gateway to Europe. Much of the drug transit went through his city. This made him of tremendous value to the Uzbek friends of his friend Colonel Khokholkov.
As an operativnik, I have every reason to suspect Mr P. at least in criminal complicity. There is nothing unusual in that - in my time I have seen hundreds of similar situations. Sure, Mr P. happens to be the President of Russia. But the crimes were committed when he was a humble Deputy Mayor of St Petersburg.
Admittedly, the evidence against Mr P. is indirect and cannot be used in a court. And, of course, if Mr P. were not the President, I would not have publicised it, but would have opened a case and brought him in for questioning.
But he is the President, and there is no possibility of questioning him. He is accountable by a different standard. So he must respond to my questions before the pu bl ic .
But first, I would like to see what will happen to the newspaper that prints this story.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Monday, November 27, 2006
Turkey: Armenians in Diaspora Assist PKK
ERZURUM (A.A) - 16.11.2006 - "Armenian Diaspora supported and expended large amounts of financial assistance to terrorist PKK to weaken and fragment Turkey," Associate Professor Savas Egilmez, the Chairman of Association on Fight Against Baseless Allegations of Genocide, said on Thursday.
In an exclusive interview with the A.A correspondent, Egilmez said, "we have been carrying out intensive efforts in the national and international platforms to explain that so-called allegations of Armenian genocide is a lie."
"Despite the affirmative responses, we started to get negative reactions recently. We have assessed that supporters of the terrorist organization is the source of the reactions that were sent through e-mail," he noted.
Egilmez indicated that Armenian-PKK relationship was once again revealed with the reactions, noting that "upon the reactions in the world in 1980's, the Armenian terrorist organizations changed tactics and cooperated with the PKK terrorist organization."
Egilmez said terrorist PKK organization in 1980 proclaimed April 21-28 the week of "Red Week" and remembered April 24th as the so-called genocide day of the Armenians.
"Another remarkable example regarding Armenian-PKK relationship is the meeting in Beirut between January 6 and 9, 1993. Lebanese Armenian Orthodox Archbishop, Armenian party executives and 150 youngsters attended the meetings that were held in two separate churches. At the meeting, the Archbishop underlined that the Armenian society was growing gradually and strengthened in economic means. He said so-called genocide was started to be known better in the world thanks to the propaganda activities," Egilmez said.
"The Archbishop unveiled their real faces by saying, 'Armenian state was established and broadens its territories day by day. The support to PKK activities in Turkey rises. Thanks to this support, Turkish economy will drop to zero, the country will be dragged into chaos, and Turkey will enter fragmentation process. Turkish territories will be in the hands of Armenia tomorrow'," Egilmez said.
In an exclusive interview with the A.A correspondent, Egilmez said, "we have been carrying out intensive efforts in the national and international platforms to explain that so-called allegations of Armenian genocide is a lie."
"Despite the affirmative responses, we started to get negative reactions recently. We have assessed that supporters of the terrorist organization is the source of the reactions that were sent through e-mail," he noted.
Egilmez indicated that Armenian-PKK relationship was once again revealed with the reactions, noting that "upon the reactions in the world in 1980's, the Armenian terrorist organizations changed tactics and cooperated with the PKK terrorist organization."
Egilmez said terrorist PKK organization in 1980 proclaimed April 21-28 the week of "Red Week" and remembered April 24th as the so-called genocide day of the Armenians.
"Another remarkable example regarding Armenian-PKK relationship is the meeting in Beirut between January 6 and 9, 1993. Lebanese Armenian Orthodox Archbishop, Armenian party executives and 150 youngsters attended the meetings that were held in two separate churches. At the meeting, the Archbishop underlined that the Armenian society was growing gradually and strengthened in economic means. He said so-called genocide was started to be known better in the world thanks to the propaganda activities," Egilmez said.
"The Archbishop unveiled their real faces by saying, 'Armenian state was established and broadens its territories day by day. The support to PKK activities in Turkey rises. Thanks to this support, Turkish economy will drop to zero, the country will be dragged into chaos, and Turkey will enter fragmentation process. Turkish territories will be in the hands of Armenia tomorrow'," Egilmez said.
Turkey's Gul on War on Terrorism, Separatism; Armenian Claims
ANKARA (A.A) - 14.11.2006 - "One of the most important problems and threats against Turkey is separatism. The fight against terrorism is our priority duty," said Turkish Foreign Minister & Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul on Tuesday.
Speaking at the Parliamentary Planning & Budget Commission over the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the year 2007, Gul said, "since we predicted current situation in Iraq, we held the meeting of neighboring countries with Iraq. The world should appreciate Turkey's initiatives to this end. We attach great importance to Iraq's territorial integrity and political unity. Protection of these are of vital importance for Iraqi people. If Iraq is separated, it will lead to a new unbelievable dark era."
Recalling that the Iraqi prime minister would pay a visit to Turkey in the coming days, Gul said that all those issues would be taken up in detail during the visit.
Referring to the issue of PKK terrorism, Gul said, "one of the most important problems and threats against Turkey is separatism. Our government has been doing everything in its power in the fight against terrorism. Unfortunately, the northern part of Iraq has become shelter for the terrorist organization. Our government has displayed a determined attitude against it. We attach great importance to the United States' appointing a special envoy. We consider the fight against terrorism our priority duty. Therefore, we do not need a coordinator. However, we have appointed Edip Baser to head the Turkish delegation and to attend the meetings among Turkey, the United States and Iraq."
Upon a question about presence of several maps separating Turkey, Gul said, "these are nothing but worthless rags."
Describing the Armenian issue as one of the most important problems of Turkey in the next decade, Gul said that they would launch all necessary initiatives.
Speaking at the Parliamentary Planning & Budget Commission over the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the year 2007, Gul said, "since we predicted current situation in Iraq, we held the meeting of neighboring countries with Iraq. The world should appreciate Turkey's initiatives to this end. We attach great importance to Iraq's territorial integrity and political unity. Protection of these are of vital importance for Iraqi people. If Iraq is separated, it will lead to a new unbelievable dark era."
Recalling that the Iraqi prime minister would pay a visit to Turkey in the coming days, Gul said that all those issues would be taken up in detail during the visit.
Referring to the issue of PKK terrorism, Gul said, "one of the most important problems and threats against Turkey is separatism. Our government has been doing everything in its power in the fight against terrorism. Unfortunately, the northern part of Iraq has become shelter for the terrorist organization. Our government has displayed a determined attitude against it. We attach great importance to the United States' appointing a special envoy. We consider the fight against terrorism our priority duty. Therefore, we do not need a coordinator. However, we have appointed Edip Baser to head the Turkish delegation and to attend the meetings among Turkey, the United States and Iraq."
Upon a question about presence of several maps separating Turkey, Gul said, "these are nothing but worthless rags."
Describing the Armenian issue as one of the most important problems of Turkey in the next decade, Gul said that they would launch all necessary initiatives.
Iran accused of failing Chechen rebels, Muslim cause
A commentary on a Chechen rebel website has said that the current Iranian government headed by President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad is working against the interests of Muslims by failing to support the rebel Chechen cause. The only interest in Chechens Iran has is keeping the USA out of the region, which resulted in its "pro-Russian intrigues", it said. The following is the text of the commentary by Data Tutashkhia posted on the Chechen news agency Daymohk website on 7 November; subheadings have been inserted editorially:
Chechen overtures to Iran "prudent"
There is one indisputable advantage to problems of the Chechen-Iranian relationship - it is as transparent and predictable as last year's snow. In other words there is a total absence of any kind of strategy, which one can see with the naked eye. In summary this means that the Iranians, if not our enemies, are certainly not our friends.
The question of whether it is worth knocking at the Iranian door when they are not expecting us, is unlikely to cause any doubt in the minds of most Chechens, although one can understand the optimism of diplomat Ilyas Musayev, who in good faith has taken concrete steps towards getting a dialogue going, which would be useful for all concerned. As far as we know, the late public figure Vakha Ibragimov also tried to do his bit for this relationship and put before Iran a strategy for the Chechen leadership. And this was not without risk, because these people travel with a sharp blade. The Iranians could have surrendered them or there could have been a hue and cry on the part of the Russians cutting off the Chechens from any contact with Iranians. The Americans could have stepped in with their intense loathing for Iran. In a word, the Chechens prudently did what they were able to do. And their behaviour ought to be understood and valued.
Iranians at first welcome in Chechnya
The Iranians' basic conclusion is that having freed themselves from Russian influence, the post-Soviet bases have now fallen under the influence of the United States. From this arise two defining factors of Iranian foreign strategy in the Caucasus:
No 1 - We interest Iran only in the sense of keeping the Americans out of the Caucasus. The result of this is Iran's pro-Russian intrigues
No 2 - We interest Iran only as part of its plan to spread Shi'ism.
As far as the first point is concerned, a justified question arises - why not support a Caucasus region which would exist separately from everyone. Surely this would be the most sensible policy. No answer has been given to this question.
We were all witnesses to the fact that before the first war in Chechnya the first few hundred Shi-ites appeared in Naur and around. Not many knew that Iranian emissaries had their people in the central mosque of Dzhokhar [Groznyy] where Shi'ah literature was distributed
But then the Iranians went to the villages of Nozhay-Yurt, Gudermeskiy District and so on, proposing the study of Islam in Iran and Chechnya but only with Iranian teachers. Behind all this, as became apparent later, were Russian Special Forces. The goal was Shi'ism, the collection of intelligence information on developments in Chechnya and to influence them. And most people took the Iranians in good faith and suspected nothing of their actions. At that time it was not just the Arabs of the Middle East who were well regarded in Chechnya. Having only just having freed ourselves from the communist regime and practically knowing nothing about the East, we thought it was the home of the Islamic ideal. Now we have grown wiser and understood the way in which Iran trades openly with the fate of the people of the North Caucasus. We remembered that Iran had already once surrendered the North Caucasus to Russia once and for all and that Peter the Great closed the borders of the republic. Such was the fate of the Chechens.
Carefully avoiding giving any real help to the battling Chechens, refusing to shelter wounded mojahedin, refusing to give them material or moral support, admitting that Chechnya was Russia's internal affair, openly playing up to the Russians [ellipsis as received] in a word, Tehran has adopted the position of the infidels. Thus we were not brothers and probably will not be so in the foreseeable future. The Iranians are indisputably working against Islam. And the fact that they are giving help in Iraq will also continue only as long as it suits them. Until now Russia's position there is not strong enough.
Iranian president "dangerous to Islam"
Ahmadinezhad with his war-like rhetoric and demagoguery is as dangerous to Islam as he is to the Americans. The global threat to Islam is not an external threat but what undermines it from within. And the conviction of the Iranians that they are consorting with the Russians on a friendly level until they have acquired nuclear capability is no more than a fantasy. Iranians will always be Iranians, that is the people they have shown themselves to be up to now. Therefore they interest us less and less. And Praise be to Allah, that they are be a little further away from us, beyond Dagestan, Azerbaijan and the Caspian sea otherwise they would be getting up to all kinds of chaos in Chechnya and dancing to Russia's tune.
The spirit of Islam and brotherhood of the Umma in jihad - is something before which all the nuclear bombs in the world are powerless. And if this religious force is destroyed in the hearts of Muslims as Iran is doing, then the danger is greater than a bomb in one's breast. If Iran heads towards its aim, destroying the unity of the Umma, bargaining with religion and the blood of the shahids, then Muslims of the Caucasus will not be worried by their stinking tin cans. Their bombs may go off in other Islamic countries but never in Israel, America or Russia, as one of the Chechen spokesmen put it.
Comparison with Saddam
And furthermore Ahmadinezhad's bomb reminds one of Saddam's shot gun which he would fire from the balcony of the Shah's palace for any and every reason and, as a result, shot himself. Do not rouse yourself fighter for this disgrace. It is not worth it for Saddam's sake, for he was only concerned with strengthening his relationship with Russia, which today sees his mock trial as an internal affair of Iraq. There's your thanks for oil quotas and for being pro-Russian. The same thing could happen in Iran. But will the Umma come to the help of Ahmadinezhad, who is treading the same path as Saddam in the direction of the Russians. And will it not be these same Russians welcoming the noose around Ahmadinezhad's neck - the neck of a man who thought that the murder of Chechens was an internal affair of Russia.
At any rate, if I was today in the place of the statesmen of Ichkeria I would be launching a written appeal to all the leaders of the Islamic world to suggest the establishment of diplomatic relations. Yes, we all know the futility of this, but we also need to record its refusal for the future. The absence of a result is also a result.
A Caucasus independent and free - this is the issue and nothing else, whether Iran likes it or not. But Russia must get out. The criminal past could come back like a boomerang to hit future Iran-Chechen relations but that is Iran's problem. We need friendship with Russia like a dog needs a fifth leg
Chechen overtures to Iran "prudent"
There is one indisputable advantage to problems of the Chechen-Iranian relationship - it is as transparent and predictable as last year's snow. In other words there is a total absence of any kind of strategy, which one can see with the naked eye. In summary this means that the Iranians, if not our enemies, are certainly not our friends.
The question of whether it is worth knocking at the Iranian door when they are not expecting us, is unlikely to cause any doubt in the minds of most Chechens, although one can understand the optimism of diplomat Ilyas Musayev, who in good faith has taken concrete steps towards getting a dialogue going, which would be useful for all concerned. As far as we know, the late public figure Vakha Ibragimov also tried to do his bit for this relationship and put before Iran a strategy for the Chechen leadership. And this was not without risk, because these people travel with a sharp blade. The Iranians could have surrendered them or there could have been a hue and cry on the part of the Russians cutting off the Chechens from any contact with Iranians. The Americans could have stepped in with their intense loathing for Iran. In a word, the Chechens prudently did what they were able to do. And their behaviour ought to be understood and valued.
Iranians at first welcome in Chechnya
The Iranians' basic conclusion is that having freed themselves from Russian influence, the post-Soviet bases have now fallen under the influence of the United States. From this arise two defining factors of Iranian foreign strategy in the Caucasus:
No 1 - We interest Iran only in the sense of keeping the Americans out of the Caucasus. The result of this is Iran's pro-Russian intrigues
No 2 - We interest Iran only as part of its plan to spread Shi'ism.
As far as the first point is concerned, a justified question arises - why not support a Caucasus region which would exist separately from everyone. Surely this would be the most sensible policy. No answer has been given to this question.
We were all witnesses to the fact that before the first war in Chechnya the first few hundred Shi-ites appeared in Naur and around. Not many knew that Iranian emissaries had their people in the central mosque of Dzhokhar [Groznyy] where Shi'ah literature was distributed
But then the Iranians went to the villages of Nozhay-Yurt, Gudermeskiy District and so on, proposing the study of Islam in Iran and Chechnya but only with Iranian teachers. Behind all this, as became apparent later, were Russian Special Forces. The goal was Shi'ism, the collection of intelligence information on developments in Chechnya and to influence them. And most people took the Iranians in good faith and suspected nothing of their actions. At that time it was not just the Arabs of the Middle East who were well regarded in Chechnya. Having only just having freed ourselves from the communist regime and practically knowing nothing about the East, we thought it was the home of the Islamic ideal. Now we have grown wiser and understood the way in which Iran trades openly with the fate of the people of the North Caucasus. We remembered that Iran had already once surrendered the North Caucasus to Russia once and for all and that Peter the Great closed the borders of the republic. Such was the fate of the Chechens.
Carefully avoiding giving any real help to the battling Chechens, refusing to shelter wounded mojahedin, refusing to give them material or moral support, admitting that Chechnya was Russia's internal affair, openly playing up to the Russians [ellipsis as received] in a word, Tehran has adopted the position of the infidels. Thus we were not brothers and probably will not be so in the foreseeable future. The Iranians are indisputably working against Islam. And the fact that they are giving help in Iraq will also continue only as long as it suits them. Until now Russia's position there is not strong enough.
Iranian president "dangerous to Islam"
Ahmadinezhad with his war-like rhetoric and demagoguery is as dangerous to Islam as he is to the Americans. The global threat to Islam is not an external threat but what undermines it from within. And the conviction of the Iranians that they are consorting with the Russians on a friendly level until they have acquired nuclear capability is no more than a fantasy. Iranians will always be Iranians, that is the people they have shown themselves to be up to now. Therefore they interest us less and less. And Praise be to Allah, that they are be a little further away from us, beyond Dagestan, Azerbaijan and the Caspian sea otherwise they would be getting up to all kinds of chaos in Chechnya and dancing to Russia's tune.
The spirit of Islam and brotherhood of the Umma in jihad - is something before which all the nuclear bombs in the world are powerless. And if this religious force is destroyed in the hearts of Muslims as Iran is doing, then the danger is greater than a bomb in one's breast. If Iran heads towards its aim, destroying the unity of the Umma, bargaining with religion and the blood of the shahids, then Muslims of the Caucasus will not be worried by their stinking tin cans. Their bombs may go off in other Islamic countries but never in Israel, America or Russia, as one of the Chechen spokesmen put it.
Comparison with Saddam
And furthermore Ahmadinezhad's bomb reminds one of Saddam's shot gun which he would fire from the balcony of the Shah's palace for any and every reason and, as a result, shot himself. Do not rouse yourself fighter for this disgrace. It is not worth it for Saddam's sake, for he was only concerned with strengthening his relationship with Russia, which today sees his mock trial as an internal affair of Iraq. There's your thanks for oil quotas and for being pro-Russian. The same thing could happen in Iran. But will the Umma come to the help of Ahmadinezhad, who is treading the same path as Saddam in the direction of the Russians. And will it not be these same Russians welcoming the noose around Ahmadinezhad's neck - the neck of a man who thought that the murder of Chechens was an internal affair of Russia.
At any rate, if I was today in the place of the statesmen of Ichkeria I would be launching a written appeal to all the leaders of the Islamic world to suggest the establishment of diplomatic relations. Yes, we all know the futility of this, but we also need to record its refusal for the future. The absence of a result is also a result.
A Caucasus independent and free - this is the issue and nothing else, whether Iran likes it or not. But Russia must get out. The criminal past could come back like a boomerang to hit future Iran-Chechen relations but that is Iran's problem. We need friendship with Russia like a dog needs a fifth leg
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Malachi Ritscher's self-written obituary
Chicago resident Malachi Ritscher passed away last (day of week), a (tragic, baffling, mundane) death at the age of (subtract 1954 from current year). He was the modern day version of a 'renaissance man', except instead of attaining success in several fields, he consistently failed, and didn't really worry too much about it. For example, his boxing record in Golden Gloves. The eldest son of Richard C. Ritscher, a music educator, he collected and played many exotic instruments, without mastering any. Most recently, he had been playing a vintage Conn C-Melody saxophone that once belonged to free-spirit Hal Russell. Malachi was best known for his live concert recordings, mostly of local jazz groups who couldn't afford expensive studios. His license plates said AKG C 414, after his favorite microphones. Upwards of fifty recordings were eventually released commercially, with some acclaim for their natural sound. His archive of live recordings he had documented exceeded 2000 shows. Mostly he was just a big fan.
Also he was a film photographer, with a picture of a peregrine falcon chick published in a local Audubon magazine, and related video footage shown on local television news. He wrote poetry that was not published, painted watercolors in a quirky naive style, and participated passionately in the anti-war and free speech movement. He was arrested at a protest on March 20, 2003 and spent the night in jail, then became a member of the pending class-action suit against the City of Chicago. Arrested again two years later, he successfully sued the City of Chicago for false arrest on 1st Amendment/free speech grounds. One of his proudest achievements was an ultra-searing hot sauce recipe, which he registered under the name 'Undead Sauce - re-animate yourself!' It was a blend of tropical peppers, which he grew indoors in 5-gallon buckets, and a few secret ingredients that gave it a unique flavor (pomegranate, pistachio, and cinnamon).
Born Mark David Ritscher in Dickinsen, North Dakota on January 13, 1954, he lived most of his life in the mid-west, ranging from small-town Madison, South Dakota to Chicago, where he moved in 1981, changing his first name to Malachi. As a child, he was intensely afraid of many things, especially heights; he spent the rest of his life trying to face his fears, without ever coming to terms with his fear of people. He dropped out of high school and married at the age of 17, a union that lasted almost 10 years. He became an ordained minister with the Missionaries of the New Truth in 1972, and had performed several weddings. He provided for his family with a variety of trade positions, eventually reaching Journeyman High-Voltage Technician status with the electric utility in Lincoln, Nebraska. He became a Licensed Stationary Engineer in 1987. He was a member of several unions throughout his career, including IBEW, IUOE, and SEIU. He was proud to be a dues-paying proletariat intellectual.
After getting divorced, he relocated to Chicago to work with friends in an art-rock band, which inevitably led to forming a trio called 'wantnot', recording and releasing a CD in 1990, with Malachi on bass and vocals, Mike Mansfield on guitar, and Janna Brooks on drums. The cover design received an award from the American Center for Design, which didn't increase sales. He also designed skateboard decks, flyers, and t-shirts, with similar commercial results.
He was a collector of several things: books, records, meteorites, butterfly knives, keris, glass eyes, fossil tully monsters, microphones, medium-base lightbulbs, and instruments, especially snare drums. He was a man of strong contrasts, and fierce loyalties. There was a joy of life, which balanced a suspicious misanthropy. Endless pondering of existential gray areas could be interrupted by a totally spontaneous act: jumping in his car to drive downtown and participate in the Sears Tower stair-climb (2003). When he read Goethe's words "Nowhere but in his own Montserrat will a man find happiness and peace", his first thought was to find out where it is, and then book a flight there. He had memorized Pi to the 1101 decimal place, and would recite it at will. He could shave with a straight razor. He loved cinnamon rolls. He loved the smell of turpentine. He also loved motorcycles, which he wisely avoided. In the words of Stephen Wright, he was a 'peripheral visionary'. His sense of humor was droll - he theorized that surprise and not tragedy was the most important element of comedy. His favorite joke was to walk into a room, sniff the air, and observe "it smells like snot in here". His favorite word was 'ominous'. His favorite two words were 'Tahitian hiatus'. He always carried his passport with him.
He owned and maintained several web-sites: www.savagesound.com, www.unwinnablewar.net, www.killthepresident.net, www.warwhores.us; in addition he was preparing www.publicparkingparty.org, to promote protection of residents' rights in Chicago.
A lover of literature, even more than music, he had always dreamed of being a writer. The handwritten manuscript of his 'fictional autobiography', titled "Farewell Tour", was under consideration by publishers. It had a general theme of shared universal aloneness, and was controversial for seeming to endorse suicide after the age of fifty. His favorite classic authors were Proust and Shakespeare.
The metaphor for his life was winning the lottery, but losing the ticket. In the end, the loneliness was overwhelming. He was deeply appreciative for everything that had been given to him, but acutely aware that the greater the present, the higher the price. He was a member of Mensa, and Alcoholics Anonymous since 1990. For him, sobriety was virtually getting a second chance at life. He practiced a personal and private spirituality, seeking to connect across the illusion that separates us from each other. Reportedly, his last words were "rosebud... oops".
Near his end, he was purchasing real estate in Vancouver with the intention of eventual emigration, unable to reconcile his conscience with his tax dollars financing an unjust war. He frequently took short trips to New York City and New Orleans, where he made more recordings of concerts. Europe seemed more civilized to him, and he experienced Paris and Amsterdam, Germany and Switzerland, as well as Madrid and Barcelona.
His family was far-flung, surviving parents Richard and Betty Ann, older sisters Carol and Susan, younger siblings Paul, Jon, and Ellen; nieces Laurel, Carol, Julia, Jessica, Marissa, and nephew Aaron. He had a son, from whom he was estranged (at the son's request), and two grandchildren. He had many acquaintances, but few friends; and wrote his own obituary, because no one else really knew him. He has a plot at Calvary Cemetery in Evanston, Illinois; and the epithet he chose is "I Dreamt That I Was Dreaming".
Bruno Johnson of Okkadisk will have the dubious honor of maintaining archives and dispersing collections.
Also he was a film photographer, with a picture of a peregrine falcon chick published in a local Audubon magazine, and related video footage shown on local television news. He wrote poetry that was not published, painted watercolors in a quirky naive style, and participated passionately in the anti-war and free speech movement. He was arrested at a protest on March 20, 2003 and spent the night in jail, then became a member of the pending class-action suit against the City of Chicago. Arrested again two years later, he successfully sued the City of Chicago for false arrest on 1st Amendment/free speech grounds. One of his proudest achievements was an ultra-searing hot sauce recipe, which he registered under the name 'Undead Sauce - re-animate yourself!' It was a blend of tropical peppers, which he grew indoors in 5-gallon buckets, and a few secret ingredients that gave it a unique flavor (pomegranate, pistachio, and cinnamon).
Born Mark David Ritscher in Dickinsen, North Dakota on January 13, 1954, he lived most of his life in the mid-west, ranging from small-town Madison, South Dakota to Chicago, where he moved in 1981, changing his first name to Malachi. As a child, he was intensely afraid of many things, especially heights; he spent the rest of his life trying to face his fears, without ever coming to terms with his fear of people. He dropped out of high school and married at the age of 17, a union that lasted almost 10 years. He became an ordained minister with the Missionaries of the New Truth in 1972, and had performed several weddings. He provided for his family with a variety of trade positions, eventually reaching Journeyman High-Voltage Technician status with the electric utility in Lincoln, Nebraska. He became a Licensed Stationary Engineer in 1987. He was a member of several unions throughout his career, including IBEW, IUOE, and SEIU. He was proud to be a dues-paying proletariat intellectual.
After getting divorced, he relocated to Chicago to work with friends in an art-rock band, which inevitably led to forming a trio called 'wantnot', recording and releasing a CD in 1990, with Malachi on bass and vocals, Mike Mansfield on guitar, and Janna Brooks on drums. The cover design received an award from the American Center for Design, which didn't increase sales. He also designed skateboard decks, flyers, and t-shirts, with similar commercial results.
He was a collector of several things: books, records, meteorites, butterfly knives, keris, glass eyes, fossil tully monsters, microphones, medium-base lightbulbs, and instruments, especially snare drums. He was a man of strong contrasts, and fierce loyalties. There was a joy of life, which balanced a suspicious misanthropy. Endless pondering of existential gray areas could be interrupted by a totally spontaneous act: jumping in his car to drive downtown and participate in the Sears Tower stair-climb (2003). When he read Goethe's words "Nowhere but in his own Montserrat will a man find happiness and peace", his first thought was to find out where it is, and then book a flight there. He had memorized Pi to the 1101 decimal place, and would recite it at will. He could shave with a straight razor. He loved cinnamon rolls. He loved the smell of turpentine. He also loved motorcycles, which he wisely avoided. In the words of Stephen Wright, he was a 'peripheral visionary'. His sense of humor was droll - he theorized that surprise and not tragedy was the most important element of comedy. His favorite joke was to walk into a room, sniff the air, and observe "it smells like snot in here". His favorite word was 'ominous'. His favorite two words were 'Tahitian hiatus'. He always carried his passport with him.
He owned and maintained several web-sites: www.savagesound.com, www.unwinnablewar.net, www.killthepresident.net, www.warwhores.us; in addition he was preparing www.publicparkingparty.org, to promote protection of residents' rights in Chicago.
A lover of literature, even more than music, he had always dreamed of being a writer. The handwritten manuscript of his 'fictional autobiography', titled "Farewell Tour", was under consideration by publishers. It had a general theme of shared universal aloneness, and was controversial for seeming to endorse suicide after the age of fifty. His favorite classic authors were Proust and Shakespeare.
The metaphor for his life was winning the lottery, but losing the ticket. In the end, the loneliness was overwhelming. He was deeply appreciative for everything that had been given to him, but acutely aware that the greater the present, the higher the price. He was a member of Mensa, and Alcoholics Anonymous since 1990. For him, sobriety was virtually getting a second chance at life. He practiced a personal and private spirituality, seeking to connect across the illusion that separates us from each other. Reportedly, his last words were "rosebud... oops".
Near his end, he was purchasing real estate in Vancouver with the intention of eventual emigration, unable to reconcile his conscience with his tax dollars financing an unjust war. He frequently took short trips to New York City and New Orleans, where he made more recordings of concerts. Europe seemed more civilized to him, and he experienced Paris and Amsterdam, Germany and Switzerland, as well as Madrid and Barcelona.
His family was far-flung, surviving parents Richard and Betty Ann, older sisters Carol and Susan, younger siblings Paul, Jon, and Ellen; nieces Laurel, Carol, Julia, Jessica, Marissa, and nephew Aaron. He had a son, from whom he was estranged (at the son's request), and two grandchildren. He had many acquaintances, but few friends; and wrote his own obituary, because no one else really knew him. He has a plot at Calvary Cemetery in Evanston, Illinois; and the epithet he chose is "I Dreamt That I Was Dreaming".
Bruno Johnson of Okkadisk will have the dubious honor of maintaining archives and dispersing collections.
Malachi Ritscher's suicide note/mission statement
My actions should be self-explanatory, and since in our self-obsessed culture words seldom match the deed, writing a mission statement would seem questionable. So judge me by my actions. Maybe some will be scared enough to wake from their walking dream state - am I therefore a martyr or terrorist? I would prefer to be thought of as a 'spiritual warrior'. Our so-called leaders are the real terrorists in the world today, responsible for more deaths than Osama bin Laden.
I have had a wonderful life, both full and full of wonder. I have experienced love and the joy and heartache of raising a child. I have jumped out of an airplane, and escaped a burning building. I have spent the night in jail, and dropped acid during the sixties. I have been privileged to have met many supremely talented musicians and writers, most of whom were extremely generous and gracious. Even during the hard times, I felt charmed. Even the difficult lessons have been like blessed gifts. When I hear about our young men and women who are sent off to war in the name of God and Country, and who give up their lives for no rational cause at all, my heart is crushed. What has happened to my country? we have become worse than the imagined enemy - killing civilians and calling it 'collateral damage', torturing and trampling human rights inside and outside our own borders, violating our own Constitution whenever it seems convenient, lying and stealing right and left, more concerned with sports on television and ring-tones on cell-phones than the future of the world.... half the population is taking medication because they cannot face the daily stress of living in the richest nation in the world.
I too love God and Country, and feel called upon to serve. I can only hope my sacrifice is worth more than those brave lives thrown away when we attacked an Arab nation under the deception of 'Weapons of Mass Destruction'. Our interference completely destroyed that country, and destabilized the entire region. Everyone who pays taxes has blood on their hands.
I have had one previous opportunity to serve my country in a meaningful way - at 8:05 one morning in 2002 I passed Donald Rumsfeld on Delaware Avenue and I was acutely aware that slashing his throat would spare the lives of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent people. I had a knife clenched in my hand, and there were no bodyguards visible; to my deep shame I hesitated, and the moment was past.
The violent turmoil initiated by the United States military invasion of Iraq will beget future centuries of slaughter, if the human race lasts that long. First we spit on the United Nations, then we expect them to clean up our mess. Our elected representatives are supposed to find diplomatic and benevolent solutions to these situations. Anyone can lash out and retaliate, that is not leadership or vision. Where is the wisdom and honor of the people we delegate our trust to?
To the rest of the world we are cowards - demanding Iraq to disarm, and after they comply, we attack with remote-control high-tech video-game weapons. And then lie about our reasons for invading. We the people bear complete responsibility for all that will follow, and it won't be pretty.
It is strange that most if not all of this destruction is instigated by people who claim to believe in God, or Allah. Many sane people turn away from religion, faced with the insanity of the 'true believers'. There is a lot of confusion: many people think that God is like Santa Claus, rewarding good little girls with presents and punishing bad little boys with lumps of coal; actually God functions more like the Easter Bunny, hiding surprises in plain sight. God does not choose the Lottery numbers, God does not make the weather, God does not endorse military actions by the self-righteous, God does not sit on a cloud listening to your prayers for prosperity. God does not smite anybody. If God watches the sparrow fall, you notice that it continues to drop, even to its death. Face the truth folks, God doesn't care, that's not what God is or does. If the human race drives itself to extinction, God will be there for another couple million years, 'watching' as a new species rises and falls to replace us. It is time to let go of primitive and magical beliefs, and enter the age of personal responsibility. Not telling others what is right for them, but making our own choices, and accepting consequences.
"Who would Jesus bomb?" This question is primarily addressing a Christian audience, but the same issues face the Muslims and the Jews: God's message is tolerance and love, not self-righteousness and hatred. Please consider "Thou shalt not kill" and "As ye sow, so shall ye reap". Not a lot of ambiguity there.
What is God? God is the force of life - the spark of creation. We each carry it within us, we share it with each other. Whether we are conscious of the life-force is a choice we make, every minute of every day. If you choose to ignore it, nothing will happen - you are just 'less conscious'. Maybe you are less happy (maybe not). Maybe you grow able to tap into the universal force, and increase the creativity in the universe. Love is anti-entropy. Please notice that 'conscious' and 'conscience' are related concepts.
Why God - what is the value? Whether committee consensus of a benevolent power that works through humans, or giant fungus under Oregon, the value of opening up to the concept of God is in coming to the realization that we are not alone, establishing a connection to the universe, the experience of finding completion. As individuals we may exist alone, but we are all alone together as a people. Faith is the answer to fear. Fear opposes love. To manipulate through fear is a betrayal of trust.
What does God want? No big mystery - simply that we try to help each other. We decide to make God-like decisions, rescuing falling sparrows, or putting the poor things out of their misery. Tolerance, giving, acceptance, forgiveness.
If this sounds a lot like pop psychology, that is my exact goal. Never underestimate the value of a pep-talk and a pat on the ass. That is basically all we give to our brave soldiers heading over to Iraq, and more than they receive when they return. I want to state these ideas in their simplest form, reducing all complexity, because each of us has to find our own answers anyway. Start from here...
I am amazed how many people think they know me, even people who I have never talked with. Many people will think that I should not be able to choose the time and manner of my own death. My position is that I only get one death, I want it to be a good one. Wouldn't it be better to stand for something or make a statement, rather than a fiery collision with some drunk driver? Are not smokers choosing death by lung cancer? Where is the dignity there? Are not the people the people who disregard the environment killing themselves and future generations? Here is the statement I want to make: if I am required to pay for your barbaric war, I choose not to live in your world. I refuse to finance the mass murder of innocent civilians, who did nothing to threaten our country. I will not participate in your charade - my conscience will not allow me to be a part of your crusade. There might be some who say "it's a coward's way out" - that opinion is so idiotic that it requires no response. From my point of view, I am opening a new door.
What is one more life thrown away in this sad and useless national tragedy? If one death can atone for anything, in any small way, to say to the world: I apologize for what we have done to you, I am ashamed for the mayhem and turmoil caused by my country. I was alive when John F. Kennedy instilled hope into a generation, and I was a sorry witness to the final crushing of hope by Dick Cheney's puppet, himself a pawn of the real rulers, the financial plunderers and looters who profit from every calamity; following the template of Reagan's idiocracy.
The upcoming elections are not a solution - our two party system is a failure of democracy. Our government has lost its way since our founders tried to build a structure which allowed people to practice their own beliefs, as far as it did not negatively affect others. In this regard, the separation of church and state needs to be reviewed. This is a large part of the way that the world has gone wrong, the endless defining and dividing of things, micro-sub-categorization, sectarianism. The direction we need is a process of unification, integrating all people into a world body, respecting each individual. Business and industry have more power than ever before, and individuals have less. Clearly, the function of government is to protect the individual, from hardship and disease, from zealots, from the exploitation, from monopoly, even from itself. Our leaders are not wise persons with integrity and vision - they are actors reading from teleprompters, whose highest goal is to stir up the mob. Our country slaughters Arabs, abandons New Orleaneans, and ignores the dieing environment. Our economy is a house of cards, as hollow and fragile as our reputation around the world. We as a nation face the abyss of our own design.
A coalition system which includes a Green Party would be an obvious better approach than our winner-take-all system. Direct electronic debate and balloting would be an improvement over our non-representative congress. Consider that the French people actually have a voice, because they are willing to riot when the government doesn't listen to them.
"Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government... " - Abraham Lincoln
With regard to those few who crossed my path carrying the extreme and unnecessary weight of animosity: they seemed by their efforts to be punishing themselves. As they acted out the misery of their lives it is now difficult to feel anything other than pity for them.
Without fear I go now to God - your future is what you will choose today.Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Wahhabis are financed by Jews - Bosniak politician in Montenegro
Text of fifth report in a series of texts by R.T, B.C. and A.S. headlined: "Veskovic: Tool of Western services" by Montenegrin newspaper Vijesti on 15 October; subheadings as published:
Bijelo Polje/Rozaje - "The Wahhabis and the Wahhabism as a religious movement were not brought here by the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina. They are being recruited in the diaspora, particularly in the Western one. I met representatives of the Wahhabism even before the Bosnian war. Considering the fact that their origins can be dated back to the second half of the 18 century, one cannot link them to Al-Qa'idah and the mojahedin. They are really a foreign body within Islam, used as tools by Western intelligence services, supported by Jewish money in order to cast a negative light on Islam as an intolerant and radical religion which is a danger to the modern Western civilization," Rifat Veskovic, chairman of the Democratic Union of Muslims-Bosniaks, has told Vijesti.
According to him, Wahhabis are recruited among those who are not very fond of work and are "willing to be paid a few hundred euros every month by their bosses in order to disseminate anti-Islam propaganda that harms greatly all members of this religion, no matter where they might be".
"The Wahhabis are not basing their activities on Islam as the most modern religion, but on retrograde positions, returning to the very roots of this religious movement and its most radical goals. Not a single manifestation of the Wahhabi movement is aimed at following messenger Mohammed A.S. and his teachings. The Wahhabis are operating according to a pyramidal organization, both institutionally and in any other way. The pinnacle of the pyramid is located in some Western centres of power and our young men in their short trousers and with their trimmed beards, our women wrapped and covered, turned into modern slaves - are not aware of this," Veskovic said, adding that the Wahhabis "are not, at least for the time being, dangerous fundamentalists".
"If those who surround them, both clerics and laymen, do not oppose them most determinedly, they could be dangerous tomorrow. I fear that we see them as more harmless than they are and that we underestimate their role and intentions. The Wahhabis are leaving the phase of passive Islam learning behind and entering the phase of direct clashes with those who do not agree with them," Veskovic concluded.
Senad Agic, main imam of the USA Islamic community, also describes the Wahhabism as a rigid interpretation of Islam, "a militant one, which rejects any new thing and every single thing that enriched the Islamic tradition".
Back in 2001 Agic was warning Bosniak officials that a failure to take action against the Wahhabis could cost them their lives. He says that the Wahhabis are an organized religious sect which originates from Saudi Arabia and spreads its influence by financing new mosques with oil money.
Attacked imam in mosque
According to Veskovic there are many cases of clerics and believers being attacked in many municipalities of Sandzak [area straddling the Montenegro-Serbian border with a significant Muslim population]. "They have to be faced first by leaders and believers of Islam and then by all those in the area. This had to be done through a direct dialogue and confrontation of arguments for and against the Wahhabism as a faction of Islam, i.e. as a phenomenon that causes grievous harm to the member this religion. If none of these attempts is successful and if they fail to restrain and prevent this bad Islamic trend then the force of state can be applied," Veskovic pointed out. Last year in Bijelo Polje [town in northern Montenegro] there were two cases of Wahhabis attacking Islam priests. The first cases happened in May, when an imam was attacked in the local centre of Lozna during a divine service. Before that groups of young men with beards started with provocations during funerals, asking that the service be held according to some new method of theirs. After "the close encounter" with the Wahhabis the imam had to be treated in the Bijelo Polje hospital and the police identified the attackers. We do not know whether they were punished for their actions. A similar case happened in the Rasovo mosque, where a Wahhabi, after being warned that he was disrupting the religious service, attacked the imam in front of the mosque after it was over.
Wahhabis' house rules
No man, barring the father, brothers or the husband, is allowed to see the face of Wahhabi's wife. When a Vijesti female journalist visited the family house of a Wahabi, she and her driver were very cordially received by the head of the household. His wife was in an adjoining room the whole the time and she was knocking every time when she wanted to give prepared food to the husband. After the guests were offered coffee, juice, cakes, black currant and mulberry fruit just picked for that occasion, the husband invited the driver to join him outside so his wife can enter the room and talk to the journalist. The husband returned soon and the guest remained outside to wait. They explained that this kind of Islam behaviour is based on the need to protect the women. "You never know when a passion between a man and a woman can be born and what can arouse it - woman's face, eyes, hair or any other part of her body. She needs to guard her beauty and reveal it only to her husband. Due to these reasons a woman and a man who is not her brother, father or husband can never be together in the same room," the husband explained
Bijelo Polje/Rozaje - "The Wahhabis and the Wahhabism as a religious movement were not brought here by the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina. They are being recruited in the diaspora, particularly in the Western one. I met representatives of the Wahhabism even before the Bosnian war. Considering the fact that their origins can be dated back to the second half of the 18 century, one cannot link them to Al-Qa'idah and the mojahedin. They are really a foreign body within Islam, used as tools by Western intelligence services, supported by Jewish money in order to cast a negative light on Islam as an intolerant and radical religion which is a danger to the modern Western civilization," Rifat Veskovic, chairman of the Democratic Union of Muslims-Bosniaks, has told Vijesti.
According to him, Wahhabis are recruited among those who are not very fond of work and are "willing to be paid a few hundred euros every month by their bosses in order to disseminate anti-Islam propaganda that harms greatly all members of this religion, no matter where they might be".
"The Wahhabis are not basing their activities on Islam as the most modern religion, but on retrograde positions, returning to the very roots of this religious movement and its most radical goals. Not a single manifestation of the Wahhabi movement is aimed at following messenger Mohammed A.S. and his teachings. The Wahhabis are operating according to a pyramidal organization, both institutionally and in any other way. The pinnacle of the pyramid is located in some Western centres of power and our young men in their short trousers and with their trimmed beards, our women wrapped and covered, turned into modern slaves - are not aware of this," Veskovic said, adding that the Wahhabis "are not, at least for the time being, dangerous fundamentalists".
"If those who surround them, both clerics and laymen, do not oppose them most determinedly, they could be dangerous tomorrow. I fear that we see them as more harmless than they are and that we underestimate their role and intentions. The Wahhabis are leaving the phase of passive Islam learning behind and entering the phase of direct clashes with those who do not agree with them," Veskovic concluded.
Senad Agic, main imam of the USA Islamic community, also describes the Wahhabism as a rigid interpretation of Islam, "a militant one, which rejects any new thing and every single thing that enriched the Islamic tradition".
Back in 2001 Agic was warning Bosniak officials that a failure to take action against the Wahhabis could cost them their lives. He says that the Wahhabis are an organized religious sect which originates from Saudi Arabia and spreads its influence by financing new mosques with oil money.
Attacked imam in mosque
According to Veskovic there are many cases of clerics and believers being attacked in many municipalities of Sandzak [area straddling the Montenegro-Serbian border with a significant Muslim population]. "They have to be faced first by leaders and believers of Islam and then by all those in the area. This had to be done through a direct dialogue and confrontation of arguments for and against the Wahhabism as a faction of Islam, i.e. as a phenomenon that causes grievous harm to the member this religion. If none of these attempts is successful and if they fail to restrain and prevent this bad Islamic trend then the force of state can be applied," Veskovic pointed out. Last year in Bijelo Polje [town in northern Montenegro] there were two cases of Wahhabis attacking Islam priests. The first cases happened in May, when an imam was attacked in the local centre of Lozna during a divine service. Before that groups of young men with beards started with provocations during funerals, asking that the service be held according to some new method of theirs. After "the close encounter" with the Wahhabis the imam had to be treated in the Bijelo Polje hospital and the police identified the attackers. We do not know whether they were punished for their actions. A similar case happened in the Rasovo mosque, where a Wahhabi, after being warned that he was disrupting the religious service, attacked the imam in front of the mosque after it was over.
Wahhabis' house rules
No man, barring the father, brothers or the husband, is allowed to see the face of Wahhabi's wife. When a Vijesti female journalist visited the family house of a Wahabi, she and her driver were very cordially received by the head of the household. His wife was in an adjoining room the whole the time and she was knocking every time when she wanted to give prepared food to the husband. After the guests were offered coffee, juice, cakes, black currant and mulberry fruit just picked for that occasion, the husband invited the driver to join him outside so his wife can enter the room and talk to the journalist. The husband returned soon and the guest remained outside to wait. They explained that this kind of Islam behaviour is based on the need to protect the women. "You never know when a passion between a man and a woman can be born and what can arouse it - woman's face, eyes, hair or any other part of her body. She needs to guard her beauty and reveal it only to her husband. Due to these reasons a woman and a man who is not her brother, father or husband can never be together in the same room," the husband explained
Ramzan Kadyrov has taken part in the inauguration of a large trade centre opened thanks to the entrepreneur brothers Yakhikhadzhiyev. Cutting off a red tape, Kadyrov said that the present opening is a good example of successful investment in Chechnya.
Later a representative delegation took part in the opening of a new kindergarten, intended for 180 children, in the town of Gudermes. "Gudermes is becoming more and more beautiful by the day. We will remove old buildings and build new ones. And then it won't be Chechnya looking up to Europe, but the other way round - it'll be Europe looking up to Chechnya," Kadyrov added. (Groznyy Radio, "Novosti" 1700 gmt, 5 Oct 06)
Later a representative delegation took part in the opening of a new kindergarten, intended for 180 children, in the town of Gudermes. "Gudermes is becoming more and more beautiful by the day. We will remove old buildings and build new ones. And then it won't be Chechnya looking up to Europe, but the other way round - it'll be Europe looking up to Chechnya," Kadyrov added. (Groznyy Radio, "Novosti" 1700 gmt, 5 Oct 06)
Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov has again spoken in favour of polygamy. According to statistics, he said, women in the republic are 30,000 more than men.
"The arithmetic is quite simple. If every man marries only one woman, what will the remaining 30,000 women do? They also want to have a family and raise children," Kadyrov said. The prime minister believes that every well-to-do Chechen must have two or three wives. In this way, he will protect those women and provide them with good life.
"But the wish of a woman should also be taken into account. She must decide if she will be reconciled to this situation or not," Kadyrov said. He added that he has one wife for the time being, but he may have a second one should there be a good candidate. (Groznyy-Inform, 28 Sep 06)
"The arithmetic is quite simple. If every man marries only one woman, what will the remaining 30,000 women do? They also want to have a family and raise children," Kadyrov said. The prime minister believes that every well-to-do Chechen must have two or three wives. In this way, he will protect those women and provide them with good life.
"But the wish of a woman should also be taken into account. She must decide if she will be reconciled to this situation or not," Kadyrov said. He added that he has one wife for the time being, but he may have a second one should there be a good candidate. (Groznyy-Inform, 28 Sep 06)
Albania: Daily Reveals Turkish Plane Hijacker's Letter to Pope, Praying For Help
Tirana Gazeta Shqiptare in Albanian 04 Oct 06 p 3
[Unattributed report: "Letter Addressed to Pope From Tirana"]
"Dear Pope, I am called Hakan Ekinci. I am a Christian and do not want to do military service in a Muslim army. I ask you, as the head of Christians, to help me.
"I go to church ever since 1998 and have found the right path in Jesus. As is known, Turkey forces immigrants to convert to Muslims and my family was forced to take on the Turkish identity.
"When I was born in 1978, I had the word 'Muslim' written in my documents without being asked. In the schools of the Turkish Republic, everybody is forced to learn the Islamic ethics and the tenets of the Islamic faith, because the teaching of no other religion is allowed. While I was a student in Izmir, my teachers often punished me for my lack of interest in religious lessons. With the assistance of a friend of mine, I started going to church in Izmir. In 1999, I was baptized and became a Christian. In the past, my Macedonian forefathers were forced to change their faith under the threat of the sword. In my country I had not the right to be a Christian, either. In 1998, I was called up. I had to comply and went to the army. Thanks to Jesus' help, after 18 days I was dismissed on health grounds. Unfortunately, the devil played a trick on me in the devil's country. Regardless of my protests, I had to do military service in a Muslim army. I did what I was not supposed to do and deserted. I resisted and struggled, tried to explain my situation to my commanders, but they did not listen to me and shut me up in jail. I have suffered great pain and suffering for being a Christian. In 2005, I succeeded in having myself released from the Gumussuyu military hospital on a six months' leave and fled abroad. I went to Albania, another Muslim country, in order to obtain a visa. This Muslim country, however, entertains good relations with Turkey and may extradite me to that country. Help me, Pope... [ellipsis as published throughout] I do not want to live in a Muslim country, nor can I breathe in a Muslim city. Only you, Holy Father, can save me. That is why I am addressing myself to you. I pray you to help me in the name of Christianity and of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. I hope you will lend me a helping hand. I affectionately kiss your hands..."
[Unattributed report: "Letter Addressed to Pope From Tirana"]
"Dear Pope, I am called Hakan Ekinci. I am a Christian and do not want to do military service in a Muslim army. I ask you, as the head of Christians, to help me.
"I go to church ever since 1998 and have found the right path in Jesus. As is known, Turkey forces immigrants to convert to Muslims and my family was forced to take on the Turkish identity.
"When I was born in 1978, I had the word 'Muslim' written in my documents without being asked. In the schools of the Turkish Republic, everybody is forced to learn the Islamic ethics and the tenets of the Islamic faith, because the teaching of no other religion is allowed. While I was a student in Izmir, my teachers often punished me for my lack of interest in religious lessons. With the assistance of a friend of mine, I started going to church in Izmir. In 1999, I was baptized and became a Christian. In the past, my Macedonian forefathers were forced to change their faith under the threat of the sword. In my country I had not the right to be a Christian, either. In 1998, I was called up. I had to comply and went to the army. Thanks to Jesus' help, after 18 days I was dismissed on health grounds. Unfortunately, the devil played a trick on me in the devil's country. Regardless of my protests, I had to do military service in a Muslim army. I did what I was not supposed to do and deserted. I resisted and struggled, tried to explain my situation to my commanders, but they did not listen to me and shut me up in jail. I have suffered great pain and suffering for being a Christian. In 2005, I succeeded in having myself released from the Gumussuyu military hospital on a six months' leave and fled abroad. I went to Albania, another Muslim country, in order to obtain a visa. This Muslim country, however, entertains good relations with Turkey and may extradite me to that country. Help me, Pope... [ellipsis as published throughout] I do not want to live in a Muslim country, nor can I breathe in a Muslim city. Only you, Holy Father, can save me. That is why I am addressing myself to you. I pray you to help me in the name of Christianity and of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. I hope you will lend me a helping hand. I affectionately kiss your hands..."
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