Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

COSSACKS ASK PUTIN TO HELP RETURN RUSSIANS TO NORTH CAUCASUS


One of the objectives of the U.S. backed HT is to tear apart Russia through her southern tier.

Now the Cossacks have asked Putin to help them return to Russia’s North Caucasian republics.


Background:

In 1979, when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took over power in Iran and the West was in a quandary, Lewis sucked Brzezinski into his notion that "Koranic evangelism" could be a very useful political tool against Russia in the long term. His Time magazine story at the time, "The Crescent of Crisis", ended with the following telling observation:
In the long run there may even be targets of opportunity for the West created by ferment within the crescent. Islam is undoubtedly compatible with socialism, but it is inimical to atheistic communism. The Soviet Union is already the world's fifth largest Muslim nation. By the year 2000, the huge Islamic populations in the border republics may outnumber Russia's now dominant Slavs. From Islamic democracies on Russia's southern tier, zealous Koranic evangelism might sweep across the border into these politically repressed Soviet states, creating problems for the Kremlin ... Whatever the solution, there is a clear need for the US to recapture what [Henry] Kissinger calls the "geopolitical momentum". That more than anything else will help maintain order in the crescent of crisis.
The recent developments in Uzbekistan have all the hallmarks of the same process. This time the objective is to weaken China, Russia, and possibly India, using the HT to unleash the dogs of war in Central Asia. It is not difficult for those on the ground to see what is happening. The leader of the Islamic Party of Tajikistan, Deputy Prime Minister Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda, has identified HT as a Western-sponsored bogeyman for "remaking Central Asia". He said: "A more detailed analysis of HT's programmatic and ideological views and concrete examples of its activities suggests that it was created by anti-Islamic forces. One proof of this is the comfortable existence this organization enjoys in a number of Western countries, where it has large centers and offices that develop its concept of an Islamic caliphate." It is evident that Turajonzoda has seen through this game. But he has little capability to stop the juggernaut once it has been unleashed.
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-Am

COSSACKS ASK PUTIN TO HELP RETURN RUSSIANS TO NORTH CAUCASUS
22:53


VESHENSKAYA, Rostov Region, May 25 (RIA Novosti) - Cossacks asked President Putin on Wednesday to help return Russians to North Caucasian republics.

They met with Vladimir Putin in the Veshenskaya Cossack village, where the president arrived at to mark the 100th anniversary since the famous writer and Nobel prize winner Mikhail Sholokhov was born.

Chieftain of the Tersky military unit Vasily Bondarev said that the Russian population had reduced from 23% to 3.7% in Chechnya and from 23% to 1.2% in Ingushetia (a republic bordering on Chechnya) in recent decades.

"The exodus of Russians from Chechnya and Ingushetia has reached terrible scales and become virtually irreversible in recent decades," Bondarev said. In the 1990s, over 20,000 Russians were killed and more than 650,00 forced out of Chechnya and Ingushetia.

Few people remained on the left bank of the Terek River, where over 80% Cossacks used to live. "And some of the houses where Cossack families lived, now shelter the families of Chechen militants," Bondarev said.

Addressing the chieftains of Cossack military units, who had come to meet with him, President Putin stressed that the exodus of Russians had become the problem of the whole North Caucasus.

"Russians lived on this territory for centuries, and the authorities of North Caucasian republics understand that the current state of things has also become a problem of other ethnic groups living on this land," the president said.

Putin underlined that "the exodus of Russians means shortage of qualified workforce, the decay of entire industries and technologies. And which is most terrible is that the culture of ethnic coexistence is on the decline in these republics."

"Such ethnic coexistence gave birth to what made the North Caucasus a viable region of the Russian Federation. And the authorities of the North Caucasus and its republics know this. Many of them follow the example of Ingushetia and make effort to return all refugees, regardless of their ethnicity," the head of state added.

"Of course, it is necessary to prompt people to return to their homes on the federal level, no matter what their ethnic status is," President Putin said.

He noted a gradual revival of Cossacks, who had lived in the North Caucasus for centuries. However, he said that not everything had been done for that yet.

"Cossacks serving in Cossack units keep law and order. They have seized a lot of criminals and drugs," the president remarked.

Cossacks also keep up Russian traditions, culture and the Orthodox faith, he noted.

The president also highly appreciated that Cossacks contributed much to foster patriotism with the youth.

"All these facts is evidence that there is a long-felt need to confer a legal status on the activity of Cossack units," the president said.

He mentioned that a bill on Russian Cossacks' state service had been introduced in the State Duma (Russian parliament's lower chamber). It was passed in the first reading a week ago.

"We must think over what else we can stipulate in the law and what we can do for the revival of Cossacks in general," head of the state said.

Cossacks were a community that existed in the pre-revolutionary Russia (before 1917) in the country's southern and eastern extremities. They owned land on favorable terms and served the Czar in return, had their own uniform, possessed cold steel arms, horses and harness.

During World War II Cossack cavalry units were formed again on the Don and Kuban (south of Russia), which made a significant contribution to victory.




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