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Russian Imperialism
Chechans Crush Russian Armored Assault
Oops! Time to bomb the hell out of the old women in Grozny.
NAZRAN, Russia - Russian artillery and jets pounded Grozny on Thursday in the
aftermath of an apparently disastrous ground assault on Chechnya's capital
that left more than 100 Russian soldiers dead and dimmed the aura of
invincibility that commanders have tried to project during three months of
warfare.
In Moscow, officials heatedly denied that anything happened, but the wall of
denial was soon eroded by Russian news agencies, which reported clashes with
heavy Russian losses. AVN, an unofficial military news agency, said officials
in Mozdok, the staging area for the war, acknowledged that 50 soldiers died
overnight in central Grozny. They had entered the city in 15 armored vehicles
from Khankala, a small town at the city's southeast edge.
The Interfax news agency said that an ''intelligence unit'' was ambushed in
Grozny's downtown Minutka Square. Twenty-five servicemen were killed,
Interfax said. Defenders captured four out of eight armored vehicles used in
the mission. ''This reconnaissance operation was aimed at identifying
bandits' firing and fortified positions in eastern Grozny,'' Interfax quoted
its sources as saying.
A spokesman for Russia's Federal Security Service intelligence agency labeled
reports of 100 deaths ''misinformation,'' but added that there may have been
a ''reconnaissance in force'' in Grozny. He said such a probe by a small unit
would not have resulted in heavy casualties.
The Russian news reports from unidentified sources conflicted with the
official version. The deputy army chief of staff, General Valeri Manilov,
said categorically, ''No Russian armored vehicles have entered the city.''
Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev called reports about a debacle in Grozny
''lies and misinformation.'' The Russian military reported that only two
soldiers had been killed in the previous 24 hours.
The massacre of a column of seven tanks and eight armored personnel carriers
vividly brought to mind episodes of a botched invasion of Grozny on New Year's
Eve, 1994, in the early stages of Chechnya's successful separatist war. In
that attack, columns of armored vehicles invaded the city and were swallowed
up by counterattacking guerrillas using the cover of apartment blocks to
ambush and destroy the vehicles and soldiers.
News of a repeat fiasco and of heavy casualties may have important political
implications. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for Sunday.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has staked his political future on the course
of the war and is backing a slate of candidates he hopes will protect him
from efforts to boot him from office. Mr. Putin is a declared candidate for
president in next year's election.
So far, the war, and consequently Mr. Putin, have been wildly popular.
Whether a high death count and apparent military incompetence will deflate
the public mood is unknown. Russians regard Chechnya as a nest of terrorists
who threaten their safety at home and the cohesion of Russia as a state.
A fiasco of this size would likely become a tool in the hands of Mr. Putin's
opponents. On Thursday, former Prime Minister Yevgeni Primakov said that if
reports of the defeat were true, it would constitute a ''crime.'' Like Mr.
Putin, Mr. Primakov is a candidate for president.
''It is a crime to send untrained troops into such an attack or to carry out
an unprepared action which may lead to great losses,'' he said.
Since Russia's ground offensive in Chechnya began in September, generals have
judiciously avoided a frontal assault on Grozny. Commentators said the
Russians had learned lessons from the 1994-96 war in Chechnya and would not
expose soldiers to urban warfare. Rather, the city has been bombed repeatedly
in hopes that the guerrillas would retreat.
It now appears that the events of the first war are being mirrored in the
second, although they are taking place in a different order. In 1995, Russian
troops conquered Grozny and then went on to sweep through towns and hamlets
to the east, south and west.
This time, they have virtually conquered all of the plains flanking Grozny
but have skirted the capital. Grozny is surrounded by tanks, armored
vehicles, artillery, rockets and entrenched soldiers, positioned only
hundreds of yards from city limits.
Top Russian commanders said they would not frontally invade the sprawling
capital, which once housed 300,000 residents. The invasion suggests
otherwise.
The three-hour battle occurred in and around Minutka Square, an open traffic
circle in central Grozny, according to accounts from the city. Reports said
that charred chassis of tanks and armored cars and dead bodies lay strewn on
the square. They apparently were hit from all sides; streets nearby are
framed by high- and mid-rise apartment buildings.
Russian forces shelled Grozny through the night and Thursday morning. Blasts
could be heard as far away as the border with Ingushetia, 50 kilometers (30
miles) west. At Mozdok, Su-25 attack planes and Su-24 bombers took off every
few minutes, either for Grozny or targets in the mountainous south.
Russian officials are repeatedly warning that Chechen defenders of Grozny are
preparing homemade chemical weapons for use against Russian troops. It would
be risky for the Chechens, who would presumably be engaging the Russians in
close quarters, to ignite such weapons. On the other hand, would Russia
itself be tempted to launch chemical weapons from afar?
Major General Nikifor Vasilyev, a chemical warfare expert, told reporters
Thursday that the Chechens were preparing weapons made out of ''poisonous
chemicals, chlorine, ammonia and sulfuric acid.''
''Bombs packed with these substances are being buried in a number of
districts of Grozny,'' he said. ''The bandit command is actively engaged in
constructing chemical obstacle fields along the likely lines of advance of
the federal forces.''
Russia also turned against the foreign press on Thursday. The Federal
Security Service spokesman said that reports from Grozny were ''nothing but a
part of a black public relations campaign that is being carried out by
foreign secret services with the help of correspondents.
''For some reason, some people feel too shy to say openly that foreign secret
services have always cooperated with correspondents and are still doing it
now. The things we have recently observed are the manifestations of this
policy.
''Let me assure you,'' he said, ''if some correspondent has seen destroyed
tanks in the center of Grozny, they were rebel tanks that were knocked out by
Russian aviation earlier.''
International Herald Tribune, December 17, 1999
Buying the Presidency
Bradley, McCain: Rely on Big Government, Not Big Business
More proof whores are picky.
BILL BRADLEY and John McCain, the two self-styled mavericks bidding for the
White House next year, joined forces yesterday, challenging their party
establishments to stop relying on big business backers for funds.
Mr Bradley, vying with Vice-President Al Gore for the Democratic nomination,
and Mr McCain, putting the Republican front runner, George W Bush, under
increasing pressure, could both cause upsets in the first primary election in
New Hampshire in six weeks' time.
Despite disagreeing on almost every other issue, Mr Bradley, a former
basketball star, and Mr McCain, who spent five years in a Vietnamese jail
after his jet was shot down, shook hands and pledged to reform the election
system. Meeting in Claremont, New Hampshire, they committed themselves to ban
their parties from using "soft money", the unregulated corporate
contributions which circumvent election laws.
Although between them the two candidates have spent 36 years in the Senate,
they have successfully portrayed themselves as outsiders mounting an assault
on the political establishment in Washington.
Their joint appearance took place at the site where President Clinton and
Newt Gingrich, then Republican Speaker in the House of Representatives, vowed
in 1995 to commission a study of campaign finance laws. The study never
materialised. Although campaign finance reform is not a major election issue,
the event helped both men to appeal to New Hampshire's independent voters who
could decide the outcome of the primary.
Mr Bradley is neck and neck with Mr Gore in New Hampshire but trailing by 15
points nationally. He has come under fierce attack from the vice-president
over the past month. But Mr Bradley struck back this week, accusing Mr Gore
of being "wedded to the ways of Washington" and saying that he "doesn't care
about reform as much as preserving power".
Mr McCain's stance on campaign finance threatens to alienate him from some
Republican voters. During this week's debate in Iowa, Mr Bush said his rival's
plan was "unilateral disarmament" that would hurt the Republican Party
because it did not impose restrictions on union donations.
During the 2000 election, an estimated $300 million (�182 million) of big
special-interest contributions is expected to be spent by both parties. Mr
Bush has already raised a record $60 million. Critics of the system argue
that it allows influence to be bought and corrupts politicians by encouraging
them to hand out special favours to corporate contributors.
Both Mr Bradley and Mr McCain, who leads Mr Bush in New Hampshire but is a
long way behind nationally, came under fire from their own parties for
appearing together.
The London Times, December 17, 1999 p3O
-----
Aloha, He'Ping,
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Em Hotep, Peace Be,
All My Relations.
Omnia Bona Bonis,
Adieu, Adios, Aloha.
Amen.
Roads End
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