Russia: Other Points of View

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

ROPV CONTRIBUTORS

Response to Christian Science Monitor "Western Media Bias", August 23, 2009 

by Nick Petro

To the Editor:

The August 23rd Christian Science Monitor weekly review contained an item in "How the World Press Views America" (page 29) that caught my eye. Entitled "Western media bias," it purported to be an excerpted translation of an article by Pravda political correspondent Vadim Trukhachev.  As a professor of Russian politics who has been reading the Russian press for decades, the text seemed so odd that I simply had to check the original.

The original article, "Now Western Mass Media are Writing Differently about the Instigator of the War in the Caucasus" of August 10th, is a commendably broad ranging review of Western press commentary about the anniversary of the Russo-Georgian conflict, with extensive excerpts from the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Le Monde, Liberation, Financial Times Deutschland and the Frankfurter Rundschau.

The Monitor's translation begins with a small error, saying that the anniversary of the war "has become the main topic of the week for the Western media," when in fact the article says only that it was "one of the main topics."

(UN)CIVIL JIHAD IN RUSSIA'S CAUCASUS EMIRATE

COMMENTARY 

Gordon M. Hahn

On August 17^th a jihadist suicide bomber, or perhaps two, commandeered a truck filled with explosives to the entrance of the MVD headquarters in Nazran, Ingushetia and exploded himself and his cargo.  The attack killed 25 and wounded anywhere from 138 to 262, depending on reports, including 11 children.  

The response of Western scholars, various activists, and Russian liberals was to avoid the words ‘jihad,’ ‘jihadism’, even the nonsensical term ‘terrorism’ (the ‘blitzkriegism’ of our politically correct/perverse post-modern days).  

They focused more on Russian brutality, violations of human rights, and the need for economic development in the North Caucasus [Just a few examples include Sarah Mendelson, “(Un)civil Society in the North Caucasus” Foreignpolicy.com, August 12, 2009; Boris Nemtsov, “War Clouds in the Caucasus,” Wall Street Journal, August 26, 2009; Philip P. Pan, “Blast Kills at Least 20 in Russia: Apparent Suicide Attack Hits Ingushetia Police Building,” Washington Post, August 18, 2009; and Michael Schwirtz, “Suicide Bomber Rams Truck Into Police Station in Russia, Killing 20,” New York Times, August 18, 2009]. 

Thus, Dr. Mendelson’s recent article “(Un)civil Society in the North Caucasus” (ForeignPolicy.com, August 12, 2009) points out correctly that the turmoil and violence in the North Caucasus has remained off the West’s radar screen for too long.  However, she is off base in describing which elements of the violence are most ignored and most grave for Russia’s stability and for Western, indeed global security.  

RUSSIA IS NOT A SUPERPOWER?

ARTICLE CRITIQUE

Response to Wall Street Journal "Do the Math: Why Russia Won’t Be a Superpower Anytime Soon", by Peter Brown, August 26, 2009 

by Gordon M. Hahn

The Wall Street Journal article reviewed below makes the argument that Russia is not a superpower.  This is a straw man, but given the author’s lack of expertise in international relations it is entirely possible that his real point is to claim that Russia is not even a great power.  While many Russians aspire to and envy the status of the U.S. as the lone superpower, few live under the illusion that Russian can compete with the U.S. on any level any time soon.  The claim that Russia is not a major world power is clearly wrong, as we show below.  The condescending underestimation of Russian power in Eurasia in the post-Soviet era is one of the main causes of the decline in U.S.-Russian and Russian-West relations and the westernization and democratization of Russia.  Aside from foisting this miscalculation on the U.S. public for the umpteenth time and aside from being the usual one-sided tripe that alone is allowed to populate the pages of the U.S. mainstream print media, the article reviewed here is poorly organized, repetitive, and uninteresting.  It returns to the demographic issue three times over the course of the article, rather than placing all the date related to this point in one place. In addition to this, it manages to be so one-sided so as to be in general wrong, omitting a series of factors that make Russian an enduring Eurasian power.

To access the full analysis, please click here Download WSJ_Brown_Aug_09

RUSSIAN FEDERATION WEEKLY SITREP

by Patrick Armstrong

North Caucasus. Medvedev addressed the security problem: he spoke of corruption, socio-economic factors, the training and responsibility of police. He also recommended that jury trials be dropped for organised crime issues. Medvedev’s argument is “to ensure that criminals and corruptionists cannot exert pressure on courts hearing such cases.” For a similar reason, he proposed that terrorism cases (jury trials already eliminated for them) be held in different parts of the country from where the crimes were committed. The organised crime proposal has attracted some opposition: for one thing, the temptation of the police to label every crime “organised” would be overwhelming, given that jury trials result in a higher rate of acquittal.

Suicide bombers. Suicide attacks are back in the North Caucasus: on the 17^th, 21^st and 25^th. Now that Iraq is much calmer, it is likely that the suicide bombers are being sent to the North Caucasus, Afghanistan and elsewhere. It’s a world-wide phenomenon in which a change in one battlefield affects the others. See this.

PAVLOVSKY TALKS ABOUT PUTIN-MEDVEDEV RELATIONSHIP

ROPV CONTRIBUTORS

by Joera Mulders 

www.eunis.eu

It has been an interesting week for Russia watchers after the Kremlin’s royal spin-doctor Khleb Pavlovsky granted two interviews. One was published in his journal Russkii Zhurnal (JRL#151-7), the other aired on the RSN radio program Ataka (JRL#152-6). In addition a report was leaked that directs the blame of the impact of the crisis on the oligarchs (JRL #152-11).

These three publications give us several insights in the dynamics and plans within the Putin - Medvedev cooperation, the so called tandem.

An important element in both interviews with Pavlovsky is his reference to the Belovezha accords, the December 1991 agreement between the leaders of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, de facto dissolving the Soviet Union. Pavlovsky uses this event to once again underscore the fragility of the Russian state. This event - he argues - symbolizes the opportunity that exists for a small group of people to abolish the state (existing for the service to the people) for personal gains. This opportunity manifested itself in 1991, was apparent in 1999, when Putin came to power, and still lingers today, spurring for example the recent increase of violence in the Caucasus.

THE U.S. MAINSTREAM MEDIA'S BIZARRE WAR AGAINST THE WORD ‘JIHADISM’

COMMENTARY

Jihadist Terrorism Without Jihad, Jihadism or Mujahedin

by Gordon M. Hahn

The ongoing jihad in Russia’s North Caucasus finally regions made it to Western newspapers on August 17^th when suicide bombers commandeered a truck bomb and detonated it at the entrance of the police headquarters in Nazran, the capitol of the Republic of Ingushetia.  The republic has been the center of gravity for the jihad for several years.  Jihadi terrorists there have killed and wounded hundreds since summer 2007.  The only times prior to this event that the North Caucasus made the U.S. mainstream media’s pages and airwaves were the apparent assassinations of several journalists working in the region.  Is anyone asking, ‘why cannot American media admit that Russia has rampant jihadi terrorists within the body of Russia proper?’ 

Despite this month’s apparent breakthrough, the reports on the August 17^th terrorist attack were replete with the same sorry clichés and simplicities designed to relegate the jihad to the sidelines of the reports.  The present review examines these persistent distortions, biases, and inaccuracies in the U.S. mainstream media’s reporting on this issue as reflected in the reportage on the August 17^th attack.  The articles reviewed include: Philip P. Pan, “Blast Kills at Least 20 in Russia: Apparent Suicide Attack Hits Ingushetia Police Building,” Washington Post, August 18, 2009; Michael Schwirtz, “Suicide Bomber Rams Truck Into Police Station in Russia, Killing 20,”  New York Times, August 18, 2009; and Alan Cullison, “Suicide Bomber Kills 21 in Southern Russia,” Wall Street Journal, August 19, 2009. 

UKRAINIAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS

ARTICLE CRITIQUE 

Response to Financial Times "Russia's botched policy in its own backyard" by Anders Aslund, August 18, 2009 

By Gordon M. Hahn

The following article in the Financial Times provides a quite one-sided view of Ukrainian-Russian relations.  It finds fault only with Moscow for problems in the Ukrainian relationship, while ignoring the pernicious role of NATO expansion and the approach taken by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.  The problems regarding Ukrainian politics are carefully omitted, while problems in Russian politics are exaggerated as is common in the U.S. mainstream media.

To access the full analysis, please click here Download FT_Aslund_18_Aug_09

THE POST-WESTERN WORLD: IMPLICATIONS FOR RUSSIA AND THE WEST

ROPV CONTRIBUTORS

by Andrei Tsygankov

Baltic Rim Economies, No. 3, June 2009, p. 28 

The second half of 2008 has revealed that the world is entering a principally new stage of development. While the global economic crisis has severely undermined the West-centered model of global economic expansion, the Russia-Georgia war ended the West's monopoly for unilateral use of force previously demonstrated by NATO's military attacks on Yugoslavia and the United States' invasion of Iraq.  That Russia chooses to use force in the Caucasus in defiance of the West implies de-centralization of hard power usage and promises serious difficulties for Western nations; that is, if NATO's geopolitical expansion continues at the expense of other political arrangements, such as Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Collective Security Treaty Organization. 

It is becoming clear that attempts to dominate others by using tools of military and economic coercion are going to be increasingly de-centralized and undertaken without consultation with Western nations. Observers are increasingly aware that the West-centered world is beginning to unravel. Structurally, it is still the familiar world of American primacy with the Western - especially American - military predominance and the West's global superiority in political, economic and cultural dimensions. But dynamically the world is moving away from its West-centeredness even though the exact direction and result of the identified trajectory remains unclear. 

MEDVEDEV'S MESSAGE

COMMENTARY

Response to Eugene B. Rumer and David J. Kramer, “Medvedev’s Message,” New York Times, August 21, 2009.

By Gordon M. Hahn

In their recent New York Times article entitled, “Medvedev’s Message,” Eugene B. Rumer, senior fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, and David J. Kramer, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States warn against the “conventional wisdom” represented by the Obama Administration’s efforts to ‘reset’ U.S.-Russian relations.  They offer instead their specific “unconventional wisdom” which concludes by warning that Russia might start a war with Ukraine soon. 

This warning follows numerous warnings published by Western and Russian commentators that Moscow will start a war with Georgia this month.  I would like to flip the conventional and unconventional wisdom nomenclatures in order to illuminate the real security dynamic that plagues Ukraine, Georgia, Russia and the U.S. – exposing the tensions caused by NATO expansion without Russia.

RUSSIAN-CHECHEN POLITICS

ARTICLE CRITIQUE 

Response to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty "From Byzantium To Grozny -- Russia's U-Turn Toward Zakayev" by Aslan Doukaev, August 17, 2009

by Gordon M. Hahn

The article reviewed below was published by U.S. government-affiliated and taxpayer-funded Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).  The author is Aslan Doukaev, director of RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service.  Although the article was accompanied with the famous disclaimer – “The views expressed in this commentary are his own, and do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL” – they reflect exactly RFE/RL’s editorial policy – which is consistently critical of Russia.  In this article the arcane contentious, and usually violent politics of Chechnya are written off as the consequence of Russia’s “Byzantine” political culture.  In reality, the curious path that those like Akhmed Zakaev, Ramzan Kadyrov, and numerous other former Chechen separatists and Caucasus jihadists is better explained by internal Chechen politics shaped by clan, ethnic, Islamic and other factors.  Russian political culture is ‘Byzantine light’ compared to the Byzantine nature of Chechen politics.  To be sure, Russia has played no small role in the region, but to whitewash the Chechens for the predicament the Chechen nation and that now much of the Caucasus find themselves in – facing a viciously violent jihadist movement called the Caucasus Emirate – is to falsify the facts as they have existed in the Caucasus since the collapse of Soviet power.  That the article constitutes a whitewashing of the Chechens is evidenced by the fact that Zakaev’s website (www.chechenpress.org ) translated and posted it.  Who Is Mr. Zakaev and why does RFE/RL skip over some of the more important details of his ‘separatist’ activity?  Read the footnote commentaries to the article reviewed below.

To access the full analysis, please click here Download RFERL_Doukaev_17_Aug_09