Lets give some money to Chechnya...

[Black Baron]

Iran and Qatar gave 150Mln $ to hamas.

Well it is understandable. Terrorists stick together.

Then this *** ** * ***** Putin gives 10 mln more.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/707094.html

He already met with hamas leaders, and broke its isolation.

Now he gives money, which will be used on bombs and grenades, to these ****** *******.

You know, the chechen "terrorists" are actually peace loving freedom fighters.

Lets donate them some money, huh?

I am ashamed that i originate from russia. [img]graemlins/1puke.gif[/img]

[shamrock_uk]

Hey there Black Baron.

We should keep a few things in mind before laying into Hamas.

Hamas has been observing its informal ceasefire since it was declared (some considerable time now) and they did not carry out this attack. Blaming them for every terrorist attack is a little unfair - if advanced Western governments can't prevent their own citizens from carrying out terrorist attacks then expecting the Palestinians to do it with their ramshackle government systems is a bit of a tall order. The more we take funding from Hamas, the more we impact upon their ability to reign in militants.

Secondly, the Hamas comments are misquoted slightly in the Beeb amongst others - IIRC the spokesperson defended suicide bombing as a method a legitimate form of defense, rather than a direct defense of this specific attack.

Finally, the suicide attack should be seen against the backdrop of the (almost completely unreported) continuous bombardment of the Gaza strip by Israel. Link. This is not a random act of aggression against a newly passive Israel.

[pritchke]

The problem is that there platform involves the destruction of Israel by any means. Until they remove it the Americas will not give that group any money. It is unreasonable for any country to give money to an organization/government whose sole purpose is the destruction of another country. We may find other ways to give to Palestinians who need help but no money will be going to the hamas government.

[ 04-18-2006, 05:46 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

[Stratos]

I wonder why Russia would bother aiding Hamas. Anyway, 10 million isn't that much...

[Morgeruat]

Shamrock, Hamas praised the latest suicide bombings and has pledged numerous times that it will not soften it's goal as stated in the Charter, to drive Israel into the sea. These are not people that can or should be dealt with.

[Morgeruat]

Originally posted by Stratos: I wonder why Russia would bother aiding Hamas. Anyway, 10 million isn't that much...

couple of things to think about. Russia has been extremely anti-sermitic for a very long time. Israel is an ally of America, Russia still doesn't care for us, so any move that opposes us means other countries that oppose us will look more favorably upon them. Iran strongly opposes anything from the US. Iran gave $50 million. Iran is a Shiite theocracy posing as a democracy. Shiites and Sunnis hate each other with a passion (see the "It's not a civil war" speaches about Iraq). Chechnian muslims are typically Sunni, and a "good practicing shiite" considers them as bad or worse than any infidel.

{edit} Backing the West against Iran's nuklear program cost Russia PR kudos in Iran.

[ 04-18-2006, 06:03 PM: Message edited by: Morgeruat ]

[johnny]

Originally posted by Stratos: I wonder why Russia would bother aiding Hamas. Anyway, 10 million isn't that much...

Because they are twotiming bastards you can never turn your back to ? I recall Putin swearing to root out all terrorism alongside the Americans, and off they went into Chechnia, putting the deed to the word. But apparently they only care about their internal "terrorists", and not about the ones next door. I think from their point of view, it's "any enemy of Israel is a friend of us". They appear to be very cosy with Iran these days as well. Russia is like a hooker who sells her ass to anyone willing to pump a little cash into it. Or should i say oil ?

[Zaleukos]

There's a catch 22 situation with Hamas. The west and Israel obviously cannot cooperate with them as long as their programme includes "the destruction of Israel". In particular Israel cant hand over the tax and toll money they've collected on behalf of the Palestinians to such an organization. And Hamas cant remove that paragraph or they will lose face, especially as Israel and the west arent cooperating.

On the other hand Israel and Hamas are in a de facto ceasefire and has been so for more than a year. No bombings or targeted killings either way. It's not in the interest of either side to resume the attacks either. And Hamas is democratically elected as a replacement to a horribly corrupt Fatah government, which even though its leader and its program officially are against terror attacks have pretty deep connections with the "Al Aqsa martyr brigades", who never observed any ceasefire. A few weeks ago Gaza saw the ridiculous situation of Hamas trying to stop Fatah activists from firing rockets into Israel. The Fatah aligned elements within the police and security forces are turning into ordinary gangs now that their party is out of government.

I'm fairly sure there are unofficial contacts between the sides, and the Israelis might even be happy with foreign aid (at least if it is Russian, they are probably not so happy about Iran building ties to the Palestinians) helping stabilize the situation in the Palestinian territories. Anarchy there is definitely not in the best interest of Israel. It will only further the cause of terrorists and criminals.

EDIT: Putin is at any rate incredibly hypocritical. The war on terror is an excellent excuse for an almost genocidal suppression of that place. Chechens disappear almost every day.

[ 04-19-2006, 07:59 AM: Message edited by: Zaleukos ]

[Zaleukos]

I read a (dry and political but interesting) blog that comments on both Russia and Palestine. Read "policy for disaster" about halfway down the page.

http://bildt.blogspot.com/

[Stratos]

I suppose Russia is trying to gain some good will in the ME and be the "diplomatic" part.