Will your country recognize Kosovo? Do you want your country to recognize Kosovo?

[Wezil]

The First Chechen War (also known as the War in Chechnya before the Second Chechen War) was fought between Russia and Chechnya from 1994 to 1996...

By one conservative estimate there were 7,500 Russian military, 4,000 Chechen combatant, and more than 35,000 civilian deaths.[3] Other estimates put the number of casualties between 80,000 to 100,000 killed. More than 500,000 persons were displaced by the conflict,[4] as cities and villages across the republic were left in ruins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Chechen_War

Very nice but Russians weren't happy with the results apparently.

The Second Chechen War, in a later phase better known as the War in the North Caucasus,[5] was launched by the Russian Federation starting August 26, 1999...

Large-scale fighting has been replaced by guerrilla warfare and bombings targeting federal troops and forces of the regional government, with the violence often spilling over into adjacent regions. The exact death toll from this conflict is unknown, yet estimates range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands dead or missing, mostly civilians in Chechnya. No clear figures for Russian losses are known to the public. In spite of its large amount of casualties, both Chechen wars remained largely unpublicised in the West.[6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Chechen_War

Well done.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by onodera

Mr. Surkov from the Presidential Administration...

He appears more enlightened than the average russian anyway.

Surkov: No. The West doesn't have to love us. In fact, we should ask ourselves more often why people are so suspicious of us. After all, the West isn't a charity organization. How have we been perceived for centuries? As a huge, warlike realm ruled by despots -- first by the czars and then Bolsheviks. Why should anyone have loved us? If we want to be accepted, we have to do something in return. And it's an art that we have yet to master.

SPIEGEL: How far has Putin's Russia come on this path?

SPIEGEL: The people have attained a new sense of soberness. The romantic days are gone. We no longer have the feeling of being surrounded by enemies, but rather by competitors. We have achieved too little when it comes to modernizing our society, and we must look to the West for the technological and intellectual solutions necessary to do so. The idea that we should suddenly be able to produce something, now that we're on our own, is erroneous. We must learn from others.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,361236,00.html

and I see Mr. Surkov's Chechen roots go deep.

Surkov: Yes, my father is Chechen, and I spent the first five years of my live in Chechnya. As someone who grew up there, I say: The Chechen Republic must remain part of Russia. Everything else is negotiable.

[onodera]

Originally posted by Wezil
How many Chechens did you kill last year? How about the year before? And the year before that...? We have a grand total of zero (0) Quebecers in that time.

I have killed zero (0) Chechens last year. And about the same amount the year before. And the year before that. Why did you bring the subject of Chechnya up anyway?

[Wezil]

Serb made the "free Quebec" argument as if there was some sort of parallel between a people that fully participate in the political life of the country and a people being oppressed by a larger neighbour.

He made the comparison and I demonstrated how foolish his position is.

[PLATO]

My Country will recognize Kosovo and I disagree.

I fail to understand how a part of a country can just be involuntarily ripped away from another these days.

Still...I guess it does set a precedent for places like Taiwan.

[Wezil]

"involuntarily"? All I've seen indicates the people of Kosovo overwhelmingly wanted this.

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by PLATO
My Country will recognize Kosovo and I disagree.

I fail to understand how a part of a country can just be involuntarily ripped away from another these days.

Still...I guess it does set a precedent for places like Taiwan.

This from the guy who lists his location as the "occupied south"....

[LordShiva]

[BeBMan]

I think Americans in general should think about that entire independance thing again. Let's hope it doesn't turn out to be illegal, like the French revolution and the revolution(s) in Czarist Russia.

I'm also wondering who started with the recognizing back then

[SlowwHand]

Originally posted by OzzyKP


This from the guy who lists his location as the "occupied south"....

I don't understand your point. Do you know how many damn yankees migrate to the South so they can complain up close and personal? I'd like to load them all onto cattle cars and ship their collective asses back to where they belong.

[OzzyKP]

It seems to me that his "occupied south" comment is a statement of support for southern independence. Or of feeling at least somewhat wronged by the north during the Civil War (or War of Northern Aggression if you swing that way...). It just seemed ironic that one would support the South and say what he said.

[SlowwHand]

I have to admit, they don't seem to mesh well.

[Whoha]

Originally posted by OzzyKP


This from the guy who lists his location as the "occupied south"....

He's saying hes in charge of that occupation though.

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by Apocalypse
Does anyone have one of those Milosevec was a good guy articles laying around? Preferably an up to date one about how it is the EU's fault he died because they didn't have evidence against him.

The transcripts of his trial and the way he demolished the 'evidence' against him will make fascinating reading for future historians - in terms of both the strength of his defence and the kangaroo nature of the show-trial. Even many of his opponents there were forced to admit that his defence was superb.

I won't forget the Albanian who appeared waving a t-shirt full of holes supposedly caused by machine-gun fire while he was wearing it. "So how did you survive?" asked the defendant. "God saved me", claimed the witness. The shirt was accepted by the court as evidence.

[Ben Kenobi]

Serb said that? Man.

He's one to talk after the dissolution of the USSR.

There are many minorities still in Russia. Should Tataristan be independent? They are fortunate that Siberia didn't choose to become their own state.