SeanAshi
04-24-2004, 06:21 AM
Of all the crass condemnation heaped on Israel's recent assassination of Hamas founder Shiekh Ahmed Yassin, none rivaled in its disingenuousness, its duplicity, and its downright chutzpa the objection put forth by Vladimir Putin's Russia.
Feigning outrage at this long-overdue crackdown on terror, the Russian foreign ministry grumbled that Israel's decision to take down the man who ordained the deaths of hundreds of Israelis, including countless women and children, would provoke “a new wave of violence.”
For those who missed the memo, it is only through these hydrated catch phrases, served up daily by the media, that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may be addressed. If the latest Israeli attempt to beat back terror doesn't constitute a “wave of violence,” then it's because it has already set off a “cycle of violence,” which floods up from the “depths of despair”—and so on, ad infinitum, until our understanding of the conflict is diluted into a blur of inanity.
Blurring the truth, however, is precisely what the Russians have in mind. By questioning the wisdom of Israel's action, the Kremlin aims to cover up its complete lack of credibility on the issue of targeted assassination.
Only last month, Russia became entangled in the assassination of Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, a once-popular Chechen guerilla leader (think Che Guevara with Wahhabi leanings) who served as president of the breakaway republic between 1996 and 1997. After President Putin marched Russian troops into Chechnya in 1999 to put down the separatist resistance there, Yandarbiyev fled to Qatar.
Russian authorities vigorously leaned on Qatar's authorities to extradite Yandarbiyev for what they said—not without justification—was his involvement with al Qaeda. The end for Yandarbiyev came on February 13, when a five-pound bomb, likely planted by Russian agents, blew him up inside his Toyota Land Cruiser in the Qatari capital of Doha.
Russian fingerprints are all over the assassination, but Russian officials steadfastly have rejected any culpability. Yandarbiyev's explosive end, they claim, was sparked by a bitter internal feud among Chechen separatist leaders. Targeted assassination, a fixture of KGB maneuvering during the Cold War, has supposedly been phased out. Casting doubt on these explanations is the fact that witnesses have placed Russian agents on the scene of Yandarbiyev's murder. Further, a van, spotted near the site of the explosion, was traced to a car-rental agency at Doha airport. Surveillance cameras then revealed three Russian agents renting the van. After tracking the agents to the villa of a Russian diplomat, Qatari police placed them under arrest. Two of the agents, both military officers, remain under arrest today. (The third agent used his official status at the Qatar embassy to dodge prosecution.)
These agents are almost certainly responsible for Yandarbiyev’s murder.
Moreover, Russia's version of the events leading up to the assassination—that Yandarbiyev was targeted by Chechen leaders—seems highly implausible. Mainstream Chechen leaders severed ties with Yandarbiyev several years ago, after he attempted to hitch the Chechen struggle for independence to the totalitarianism of the Taliban and the terrorism of al-Qaeda.
Like Sheikh Yassin, Yandriyev sought to use radical Islam to further his fanatical cause. Both men exploited the yearning for autonomy among their people by channeling it into a campaign of indiscriminate murder. Just as Yassin refused to recognize Israel's right to exist, dispatching suicide bombers to cow Israeli civilians into submission, Yandriyev embraced a similarly intolerant vision, and he was widely believed to be the instigator of a 1999 attack, by Chechen guerillas, on the Russian republic of Dagestan. And just as Israel's papers rightly denounced Yassin as a terrorist, Russian reporters were correct to describe Yandriyev as a “bandit.”
Yet when it comes to the war on terror, there is a major difference between Israel and Russia. Whereas Israel stood solidly behind its decision to strike down the man it called its Osama Bin Laden, Russia has tried to cover up its part in the death of a man it has long suggested was a Chechen version of the terror kingpin. Today, in the face of fermenting terror, Israel stands ready to defend. Russia stands ready to deceive.
On the day Yandarbiyev was killed, a Russian parliamentarian announced that he would not be missed. If Russia wants to prove its commitment to the war on global terrorism, it should bid Yassin the same farewell.
Feigning outrage at this long-overdue crackdown on terror, the Russian foreign ministry grumbled that Israel's decision to take down the man who ordained the deaths of hundreds of Israelis, including countless women and children, would provoke “a new wave of violence.”
For those who missed the memo, it is only through these hydrated catch phrases, served up daily by the media, that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may be addressed. If the latest Israeli attempt to beat back terror doesn't constitute a “wave of violence,” then it's because it has already set off a “cycle of violence,” which floods up from the “depths of despair”—and so on, ad infinitum, until our understanding of the conflict is diluted into a blur of inanity.
Blurring the truth, however, is precisely what the Russians have in mind. By questioning the wisdom of Israel's action, the Kremlin aims to cover up its complete lack of credibility on the issue of targeted assassination.
Only last month, Russia became entangled in the assassination of Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, a once-popular Chechen guerilla leader (think Che Guevara with Wahhabi leanings) who served as president of the breakaway republic between 1996 and 1997. After President Putin marched Russian troops into Chechnya in 1999 to put down the separatist resistance there, Yandarbiyev fled to Qatar.
Russian authorities vigorously leaned on Qatar's authorities to extradite Yandarbiyev for what they said—not without justification—was his involvement with al Qaeda. The end for Yandarbiyev came on February 13, when a five-pound bomb, likely planted by Russian agents, blew him up inside his Toyota Land Cruiser in the Qatari capital of Doha.
Russian fingerprints are all over the assassination, but Russian officials steadfastly have rejected any culpability. Yandarbiyev's explosive end, they claim, was sparked by a bitter internal feud among Chechen separatist leaders. Targeted assassination, a fixture of KGB maneuvering during the Cold War, has supposedly been phased out. Casting doubt on these explanations is the fact that witnesses have placed Russian agents on the scene of Yandarbiyev's murder. Further, a van, spotted near the site of the explosion, was traced to a car-rental agency at Doha airport. Surveillance cameras then revealed three Russian agents renting the van. After tracking the agents to the villa of a Russian diplomat, Qatari police placed them under arrest. Two of the agents, both military officers, remain under arrest today. (The third agent used his official status at the Qatar embassy to dodge prosecution.)
These agents are almost certainly responsible for Yandarbiyev’s murder.
Moreover, Russia's version of the events leading up to the assassination—that Yandarbiyev was targeted by Chechen leaders—seems highly implausible. Mainstream Chechen leaders severed ties with Yandarbiyev several years ago, after he attempted to hitch the Chechen struggle for independence to the totalitarianism of the Taliban and the terrorism of al-Qaeda.
Like Sheikh Yassin, Yandriyev sought to use radical Islam to further his fanatical cause. Both men exploited the yearning for autonomy among their people by channeling it into a campaign of indiscriminate murder. Just as Yassin refused to recognize Israel's right to exist, dispatching suicide bombers to cow Israeli civilians into submission, Yandriyev embraced a similarly intolerant vision, and he was widely believed to be the instigator of a 1999 attack, by Chechen guerillas, on the Russian republic of Dagestan. And just as Israel's papers rightly denounced Yassin as a terrorist, Russian reporters were correct to describe Yandriyev as a “bandit.”
Yet when it comes to the war on terror, there is a major difference between Israel and Russia. Whereas Israel stood solidly behind its decision to strike down the man it called its Osama Bin Laden, Russia has tried to cover up its part in the death of a man it has long suggested was a Chechen version of the terror kingpin. Today, in the face of fermenting terror, Israel stands ready to defend. Russia stands ready to deceive.
On the day Yandarbiyev was killed, a Russian parliamentarian announced that he would not be missed. If Russia wants to prove its commitment to the war on global terrorism, it should bid Yassin the same farewell.