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| Russia | |
| Russian ultra-nationalists call for ethnic crackdown | |
| 2004-02-10 | |
| Shocked reaction to Friday’s metro bombing is strengthening voices calling for a crackdown on ethnic minorities in the capital and a toughening of state power as the influence of nationalist and hawkish forces rises. In one of the strongest reactions to the blast, Dmitry Rogozin, co-leader of the populist-nationalist Rodina bloc, called for the declaration of a state of emergency and laid the blame for the attack squarely at the feet of "ethnic crime." "It is clear that this terrorist act was an attempt to undermine the power of the state in the country," Rogozin said Friday, Interfax reported. "This was committed on the eve of the presidential elections and the reaction to it should be the harshest. The enemy is here, within. This is ethnic crime, which is supporting terrorists arriving in Moscow, which owns property in Moscow and is imposing its will on the authorities. These ethnic criminals are behaving insolently and should get the harshest response." There is a large Chechen diaspora in Moscow. Rogozin’s Rodina bloc surged into the State Duma with a surprisingly strong showing in this December’s parliamentary elections on a nationalist and anti-big business ticket. The campaign tapped into a rich vein of ethnic resentment as well as an ideological vacuum left by the collapse of communism and the failure of liberal market reforms to boost living standards for the majority. The bloc joined Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, which also boosted its standing in the Duma, to give nationalist forces nearly 20 percent of all seats. The rise in influence of nationalist factions comes as forces from the security services grow in power under former KGB official President Vladimir Putin. On Friday, Zhirinovsky, too, called for all immigrants from the Caucasus regions to be deported from the capital. Analysts said the growing voice of nationalist forces in the country’s political life could embolden leaders to take tougher action. "The situation in the country and the results of the Duma elections could give [Moscow Mayor Yury] Luzhkov and other leaders carte blanche to introduce tougher measures in pushing out migrants and in increasing police powers," said Yevgeny Volk, political analyst at the Heritage Foundation. Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov, the former interior minister, also called for greater police powers. Analysts said it was unlikely Rogozin’s call for a state of emergency would find any greater resonance, but they said moves to beef up security could strengthen the hand of those calling for tougher authoritarian measures. "Terrorism is becoming an element of everyday life in Russia," said Lilia Shevtsova, political analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center. "This can be used to strengthen totalitarian tendencies. This is much more of a threat."
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| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #5 I think you all give the skinheads too much credit. They have already made their statement: A nine-year old Tajik girl has been stabbed to death in the Russian city of St Petersburg by suspected skinheads. Anybody surprised. As I remeber the backlash in the USA was pretty much consisted of some people hassled and a Sikh killed by a total looney that didn't bother to even figure out whether the guy was a moslem. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-2-10 5:17:05 PM |
| #4 Liberalhawk -- while I agree with your comments in general, the line about "brown-skinned" people is off-base. Some peoples of the Caucasus (the Chechens, for example) are darker, in general, than Russians. Others, such as the Circassians are quite fair -- often blond with blue eyes. Moreover, in no mainstream racial scheme have the people of the Caucasus ever been considered anything but Caucasians -- in fact, as the name indicates, the peoples of the Caucasus are the proto-typical Caucasians (this goes back to early German anthropology). True, Russians are often deeply prejudiced against "swarthy" people who look like they might hail from Muslim areas. But this doesn't mean that such people have brown skin. It is time to drop this racial obsession. The hard left tells us that we went to war in Afghanistan because of racism. Evidently, their brains refuse to process what their eyes see: the Pashtuns as well are "Caucasian" by any definition of the term. |
| Posted by: closet neo-con 2004-2-10 12:19:09 PM |
| #3 1. The LDs would target all chechens, regardless of their support for the terrs, regardless even of their support for Chechen independence. Remember there are some Chechens working WITH Russian authorities - if they are to be discriminated against, how can you not expect Chechens to rebel in some form. 2. LD's dont specify Chechens in the above statement - they say all immigrants from the Caucasus including - Dagestanis, ingush, etc - groups whose homelands have remained loyal to Russia - why? because LD isnt motivated by terrorism or rebellion, but by dislike for brown skinned muslims living in Moscow. 3. LD isnt just anti-muslim - theyre antisemitic, and antiwestern as well. Remember - the enemy of my enemy isnt always my friend. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2004-2-10 8:52:20 AM |
| #2 This is not a good time to be a Chechen in Russia. |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-2-10 3:03:39 AM |
| #1 Until a bomb goes off at a theatre near you. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-2-10 2:26:18 AM |