Ramzan Kadyrov has been called a lot of things. Few of them positive. But an interrogator of would-be terrorists? It has been alleged that Kadyrov has been present at the interrogation of Chechen rebels and terrorists, even going so far as amusing himself “by personally giving prisoners electric shocks or firing pistols at their feet.” But these allegations have never gone beyond anecdotal evidence. Kadyrov himself has certainly never used his participation in interrogations as PR. Until now.
It’s been a summer of death in the North Caucasus, and Kadyrov might be feeling the need to personally step in and show he’s still large and in charge. According to the NY Times,
Between June and August, 436 people have been killed, compared with 150 during the same months in 2008. And the number of attacks jumped to 452 from 265, according to statistics compiled by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a private research group based in Washington.
Then there is the return of suicide bombings to the Chechen capital just in time for the fifth anniversary of the school massacre in Beslan.
But a stroke of luck came a few days ago when four suicide bombers, all under 18, were detained by Chechen police. They had three bomb belts, three AKs, a Makarov pistol and ammunition in their possession. And never to miss an opportunity, Kadyrov decided to conduct the interrogation himself for all the world to see.
Here’s Kommersant‘s transcript of the exchange:
“Why did you want to blow yourself up?” Mr. Kadyrov asked a detainee, holding the removed suicide bomber’s belt in his hands.
“They told me that I would go to heaven” the bomber answered.
“Who told you?”
“Arabs named Mokhdan and Yasir.”
“And why didn’t you suggest that they do it themselves? So they would go to heaven?”
“But I didn’t meet with them. I listened to them only a video,” the detainee attempted to explain.
Next, by Kadyrov’s order the father of one of the unsuccessful suicide bombers was allowed into the interrogation.
“I arranged for you to go to an petroleum institute and paid for your studies. And you disgrace me in front of the entire world [by] wanting to kill innocent people. What you yob, you listen to some Arabs but not your own father!? Am I not a Muslim to you? That I don’t pray or fast,” the old Chechen yelled at his son.
Then the old man turned to Kadyrov and said, “Ramzan, there is no forgiveness for my son. But I am guilty. I failed to watch over him.” The four youths then spilled their guts about their plot. Two were to blow themselves up at the police station in Leninskii district. The others were to blow up a mosque during Friday prayers in Shalinskii. They also said that the coordinator of the attack was a certain Gerat.
What happened to the four youths after that is unknown.
According to the Caucasian Knot, Kadyrov’s public show might not curry him the favor he desires. One resident of Grozny told the Knot, “All that abuse and dirt that the President poured on the militants, his tone and insults addressed to the detainees and their relatives do no credit to him,” she said.
Perhaps. But it still makes for good theater.
Image: KomPrav
It may look a theater for you, but actually the Chechen society is a very good and fair one.
Yeah. Ramzan is doing exactly what vainakh society expects him to do. Especially the appealing to the elders thing.
Is this accurate?: “436 people have been killed, compared with 150 during the same months in 2008.” This is very hard for me to believe. Even the latter number.
BTW has anybody mentioned yet that the obvuous thing correlating with the increase in violence is the pullout of federal troops?
Aha, I see. The statistics being cited refer to “deaths due to violent incidents,” with what constitutes a “violent incident” being left undefined. Does anybody who gets murdered get lumped into these statistics?
These Salafi brats need a slap. They would kill their fellow Muslims and compatriots in a mosque, when they are all lined up for prayer and sermons on Friday? Disgusting!
Aha, but those guys in the mosque are evil non-Salafist Sufis. Which makes it OK.
Even if they were Siberian shamans, it would not be OK.
‘Twas a joke. Rather, I was pointing out that Salafists consider Sufis to be heretics and therefore fair game (like Shia).
Whuch of course is one of the main reasons that the Kadyrovs sided with the federal forces in Chechen War II — they are Sufi Chechen nationalists opposed to the foreign Salafist internationalism of Basaev et all.
Which is something I think most commentators (who as far as I can tell usually don’t even know that Chechens are Sufi) seem unaware of.
“Even if they were Siberian shamans, it would not be OK.”
As a former denizen of Siberia and personal friend of many budding Shamans, I find this comment outrageous and demand lavish compensation.
It seems that the article sheds a new light on the criticality of the situation there. I would be interested to know more on Ramzan Kadyrov in future blog postings. michael.uber@sudchemie.de
@ Chris; I know what you meant, don’t worry
@ Candide; I am sorry if I took my jokes too far here. I have a habit of making cynical remarks about Siberan natives but they never ill meaning. Maybe I need a slap as well. %)
Leos,
That will do as an apology. Now let’s talk lavish compensation.
@ Candide; I can pray for God to grant you and your relatives eternal bliss.
Isn’t auto DA fe a norm?
President Medvedev is going to meet American dissidents during his official visit to the U.S. this month.
http://lenta.ru/news/2009/09/15/meet/
Sean, did you already sign for the event
?
If there was a list, I’d totally sign up. But if he’s meeting with American dissidents, then he must be meeting with teabaggers, Limbaughists and Glen Beckites. As Ames says the far right is the real opposition here. http://exiledonline.com/why-wasnt-there-a-single-democrat-willing-to-heckle-bush-like-joe-wilson-did/
Hell maybe Dima should meet with them. They could trade notes on whipping up fake populism.
They say this statement was made at the meeting with Valdai club members.
I can’t be sure how serious they are about it, because the full transcript of the meeting is not revealed yet.
However, if even purely for fun you would decide to attempt taking part in the event, I guess you could try the following option:
http://eng.kremlin.ru/articles/send_letter_Eng1a.shtml
If they are not sure about the participants yet, sending a request through the President’s press service (the link above) could be helpful.
I guess it’s the list of participants that will make the event what it will be.
If you care of my personal advise, I would propose you to try taking part in it, even if there’s only an 1% possibility of success.
The majority of people do not have even that chance.
That’s bizarre. The only reason dissidents met with Obama is because they thought they could get something from it. What kind of leverage can Dima give the teabaggers?!
poemless:
Everything depends IMHO on the participant list.
With those participants Obama had, the meeting had zero chances to be an important event in Russia’s politics.
What Russians want from Medvedev’s meeting — IMHO, besides being a sort of retaliatory event (if they do, why we don’t?), I guess the real interest would be the actual situation inside the U.S. The real ways the political system works, aside from the TV image. The interactions of the opposition and the power. — for starters.
I guess the real interest would be the actual situation inside the U.S. The real ways the political system works, aside from the TV image.
If Dima finds this out, I wonder if he’d let some of us Americans know. Because as things stand, there is no political system beyond the TV image. The signifier has become completely divorced from the signified. Rhetoric and image function as the real material reality.
Sean:
What you say is very much the Pelevin-style. One of the possible views.
“If Dima finds this out, I wonder if he’d let some of us Americans know. Because as things stand, there is no political system beyond the TV image.”
Well, actually there is. Which is not to dismiss the ubiquity and frightening power of the TV image. But there is a political system. To say there isn’t is just as silly as saying there is no political system in Russia beyond Putin’s whims. It’s a bit naive… (Though I appreciate the source of your anger.) However, I have trouble imagining that the Russian government is ignorant of how the American system “really” works. So I’m still not sure what motivation the American opposition would have for wanting to meet with Medvedev.
poemless: The motivation for the American opposition would be extra publicity. About motivation of Russians, did you hear that saying, “trust, but check?” First-hand information about anything is priceless in this world, whenever the actual knowledge matters.
You know, we don’t trust the democracy you Americans attepmt to give us for free. It’s a wrong type of democracy, and no good things will come from it. Of course, you don’t give away a working thing for free. But instead, we need to steal, or buy, or smuggle your American democracy. And that would be our native Christian Orthodox democracy, that we’ll cherish so that our gardens will blossom.
(Not exactly Gorchev-style, but I tried.)
It doesn’t nec. work for us either…
It saddens my heart to see rabid Left propaganda taking roots within the erstwhile rational minds of Sean and Bez-poem-naya.
To confess, I too was momentarily misled by lurid promise of mass teabagging and rushed to investigate. Sadly, there is no teabagging going on at all at the tea parties. It’s all lies, propagated by Obama-fellating disinformation agencies.
Remember, each time you say “teabaggers” you raise your voice for the Establishment.
That’s what THEY want you to say!
Remember, each time you say “teabaggers” you raise your voice for the Establishment.
Is’t it cute how fast some can revert? As for Dima, I doubt he will find anybody beyond Ward Churchill or Angela Davis in terms of dissidents. Would that be of any PR value to Dima and Russia? Meeting with inconsequential rabid left or right makes much less sense then meeting with a rabid lefty like Chavez. That one at least managed something or merit – he has a country to run.
On the other hand, meeting with congressional opposition is a very prudent move. If Obama continues with his incompetent drive, Putvedev will likely have to deal with a different Congress.
“Sadly, there is no teabagging going on at all at the tea parties.”
Did you check the local rest stops?
I would say that Medvedev is even less popular than Obama with Obama’s opposition here in the US. At least Obama was fairly elected, even if it was by a bunch of people that were a bit too easily swayed by the cult of personality (nobody here of course, ya commie pinkos
).
While the list of “US dissidents” Medvedev wants to meet is still not written, we know who will meet with Putin today,
“Shortly after the pullback on the shield programme was announced, Russia’s government said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would meet several U.S. executives on Friday from firms including General Electric, Morgan Stanley as well as TPG, one of the world’s largest private equity firms.”
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Obama-helps-strengthen-General-Electric-Putin-ties-59644627.html
Tea parties are only a mild reaction to a government throwing money on banks and businesses who they deem are too big to fail.
Tea parties are only a mild reaction to a government throwing money on banks and businesses who they deem too big to fail.
As a Czech native who lived in US the last 17 years and voted for Obama, I find your jaded comments hilarious. The current US and Russian administrations see eye-to eye more than you think. As US is now getting less bellicose in the foreign posture and has to deal with serious internal problems so will Russia. For Russia the real long-term security and economy concerns lie in the East.
Kadyrov: A disgusting thug but he is quite popular there; a somewhat better alternative than artillery fire laid on Grozny
I’m not quite sure where “US is now getting less bellicose in the foreign posture” notion comes from. In fact, Obama just authorized execution(!) of some terrorists in Somalia and was applauded by both parties. Iraq is not in the news because it’s relatively under control but military build-up in Afghanistan continues.
Pushing health care and other social programs doesn’t mean that US absolutely “has to deal with serious internal problems”. Clinton did that too. Once he was frustrated he went on to interfere in Bosnia, bomb Iraq, bomb Serbia… Once Obama finds himself frustrated on the domestic front, he also might be tempted to kill some “terrorists” to improve his ratings.
Just a quick heads up to the CPJ’s Sept. 16 report on journo whackings in Russia. A very interesting read.
##http://cpj.org/reports/2009/09/anatomy-injustice-russian-journalist-killings.php
In case you were wondering, I really am enjoying Andrei Kurkov’s 1999 ‘The Good Angel of Death’. I hope one day that he and Kusturica will meet.
Thanks for noting it Aleks. It looks comprehensive and I’m glad they have a section, albeit short, on local journalists. This is one area I think is too often ignored.
I never thought I’d say this but I agree with Candide in principle. I don’t think the US is any less bellicose under Obama. Maybe in tone but not in action. The Dems are good at this. They use a language of reconciliation and multilateralism, but their actions are in substance no different. Obama’s foreign policy appears very Clintonian in this respect which is not surprising since he’s surrounded himself with Clintonites.
I’m afraid that the whole missiles decision is more about the US awaking to reality (which is nonetheless refreshing and to be applauded) than anything that signifies a huge change. I was disappointed in his make the Russians “less paranoid” comment. Let the Russians announce a plan to put missiles in Venezuela or Cuba and see how he responds.
But the Russians will take it his dumping the missile plan. The question is what the alternative plan will be.
“Obama’s foreign policy appears very Clintonian in this respect which is not surprising since he’s surrounded himself with Clintonites.”
Actually, I think Obama has more Bushites in top positions than Clintonites.
As far as missile news, I think everybody needs to take a fresh look and re-evaluate the situation. SDI might have been a brilliant Reagan ploy to undermine the USSR but that was 25 years ago. USSR ceased to exist 18 years ago. I’d say it’s long time for a change of scenery on both sides. And it’s not clear to me whether Russians “won” that round. I know Russian tendency to get stuck in the old ways. Their whole apparatus is accustomed to old status quo situation, to which they have predictable response. Now they’ll have to develop a new official position, which always comes difficult for them. Since the Obama announcement they expressed approval, disapproval, mistrust, dismissal and most of all confusion through various channels.
“I’m afraid that the whole missiles decision is more about the US awaking to reality (which is nonetheless refreshing and to be applauded) than anything that signifies a huge change.”
That is a huge change.
Hi milkshake, could you elaborate on those long-term economic and security concerns you see in the Russian East? I know there are some but the picture is far more complex for them to be in anyway important. The real problems are Ukraine and the Caucasus.
Again I do not see much of a change in the bellicosity of US foreign policy with the ascendance of Obama. He is just less reckless than Bush and gave it a facelift. The same could be said about relationship with Russia. Talk is cheap.
Call my comments jaded, but they are certainly not naive.