Putin Calls Russia Defender of Islamic World

Cold War part II - the sequel?

Putin Calls Russia Defender of Islamic World

MosNews

Russia is the most reliable partner of the Islamic world and most faithful defender of its interests, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in Chechnya’s capital Grozny. Putin unexpectedly visited the war-ravaged republic to speak in the local parliament that opened for its first sitting on Monday.

“Russia has always been the most faithful, reliable and consistent defender of the interests of the Islamic world. Russia has always been the best and most reliable partner and ally. By destroying Russia, these people (terrorists) destroy one of the main pillars of the Islamic world in the struggle for rights (of Islamic states) in the international arena, the struggle for their legitimate rights,” Putin was quoted by Itar —Tass as saying, drawing applause from Chechen parliamentarians.

“Those who are trying to defend these false (extremist) ideals, those who are used as cannon fodder, who plant a mine for ten dollars or shoot with automatic weapons either do not know or have forgotten this,” the president said.

“Those who organize such activity certainly do this deliberately, understanding what goals they want to achieve,” Putin went on to say.
The leaders of the main Islamic states understand this, he added.

“For this reason their representatives were present at the general voting in the referendum on the Constitution of the Chechen Republic, they were at the presidential elections; both the Organization of Islamic Conference and the League of Arab States, our colleagues and friends were present at the elections to the parliament.”

Putin said that “member countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference have unanimously passed a decision that Russia will begin working as an observer on a permanent basis”.

“And we shall continue our activity within the framework of this organization. Quite recently a delegation of Russia’s Muslims has been to Mecca to discuss the problems of Muslim world development with their brothers. I repeat: Russia will pursue this policy,” the president added.

SNIP

http://mosnews.com/news/2005/12/12/muslimfriend.shtml

Russia has been a little more tolerant towards religions as of late, but their war in Chechnya is brutal, and has left countless dead and disposed. It'll be interesting to see how these people respond.

Ask some of the former soviet republics or Afghanistan.

The people of the Chechnya region have been trying to fend off Russian invasions and domination for over a hundred years. They are very like the Vietnamese* in that respect. They hate being occupied. The breakup of the Soviet Union was their opportunity to throw off Russian rule, and they took it. They happen to be Islamic (the quarrel was originally religious-tinted--Russian Orthodox church vs. Islam--but mostly anti-Tsar imperialism), so they attracted Islamic jihad support.

Really, Putin is sounding as Orwellian as the Bushspeakers.

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*I don't know how far back the Chechnya-Russian quarrel goes. The Vietnamese fought off Chinese, French and other invasion and domination for 5,000 years. They figured us for just another occupier, and threw us off. The measure of their ferocious love for independence is the one million people we slaughtered trying to subdue them--and failing. We were wrong to consider them, and fight them, as "communists." They weren't all that "communist." They weren't Stalinists. They just wanted land reform, and, above all, INDEPENDENCE. Kind of like WE did. Same with the Chechnyans, I think. I'm not sure of the death toll in Chechnya, probably in the hundreds of thousands. Russia's "Vietnam." Putin has a lot of nerve saying he's the "defender of the Islamic World"--even if it does tweak Bush's nose.