Journalist Anna Politkovskaya was murdered in October 2006.
Western media is always ready to jump on the back of the Russian government when it comes to high profile murders. In all honesty, that is problematic. I never thought the Russian governent ordered the murder of Politkovskaya, just like I don't believe they ordered the pulonium murder in London of Russian Dissendent Alexanader Litvnenko.
This arrest makes sense actually.
Buraev was the former head of Chechnya's Achkhoi-Martan region and may have been implicated in Politkovskaya book about Chechnya. Regardless, Chechnya has been at war for a long time. This is another 'ethnic' region with many troubled people and it is easily used by The West as a wedge against the Russian government. I don't recall the number dead in Chechnya but it exceed 100,000 easily. Of course we all remember the tragedy of Beslan as well. It is these rebels that the Russians have tried to defeat for I believe at least ten years. The 'marathon war' seems to be the plague of Russia when considering it's efforts in Afghanistan when defeated by the Mujahedeen with the assistance of the USA.
But that aside, the 'idea' that a government official in Chechnya was being implicated at some level by Politkovskaya makes complete sense. To that end, realizing his fate would be sealed if found to be guilty of a state crime against Russia. With that the case, there would be no alternative but to kill the messanger and in this case it was the lovely lady journalist. I also find it interesting this should come about with the advent of the confirmation of the new Prime Minister. Interesting.
The extrapolation that the Russian government silenced her after so many years of writing in opposition to the Chechen war came from the fact she strongly felt there was something within the government that caused the people's hardship, reinforced the ethnicity and hence the war. It would seem as though she may actually have been absolutely right, but, it wasn't necessarily the Russian central government that was the issue as The West would like to believe but the ethnic government of Chechnya itself.
Anna seems to have been right and investigating a war conducted in the far reaches of the Caucasus Mountains where she was exposed to violence from elements unknown and known was a very dangerous self assignment. I am confident the people of Chechnya miss her terribly and may even feel abandoned due to her loss, although, since Beslan the Russian government has been actively interested in the people and their mental health a good deal more.
I remind, the attacks in Beslan were facilitated by primarily outside interests, the Uzbeks whom have/had a warlord in Afghanistan. The dynamics are interesting but the actual terrorists of Beslan weren't really native to that country and one has to speculate whom backed them and why.
Disruption of peace in a country The West lusts after that would see the Russian government disintegrate further as did the USSR raises many, many questions. Beslan was conducted with very few Chechen rebels involved. The attack was very suspicious and designed to disgust the world because it was innocent children and mothers that were the target. I don't think it was al Qaeda as it primarily enlists Saudis and angry/criminal Sunni Arabs. Beslan was a very odd collection of ethnic terrorists, as if perhaps 'hired.'
Just a thought.
I would imagine the world was so angry at the time, invading Russia would seem a real reasonable answer. No different than Litvinenko. His murder was an outrageous act and demanded attention beyond a normal event. Seemed like only a 'national/state' authority could have carried out such a dynamics.
A country such as the USA needs the cooperation of it's populous to conduct a war successfully. Passion drives war. No different than passion drives love or art on many an occassion. Strong feelings of bonding with an issue that would change the course of lives. Iraq was a passion driven war and The West needs to be cautious to the kind of passion they are demanding of their populous as Iraq was a prime example of how passionate trust laced with lies and a culture of fear actually places the USA and it's allies on the "W"rong path.
Chechen Arrested On Suspicion Of Ordering Politkovskaya Hit (click here)
Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika has alleged Politkovskaya knew the person who ordered her killing
(AFP)
September 15, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Aset Buraeva, the wife of former Chechnya official Shamil Buraev, has told RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service her husband has been arrested on suspicion of ordering the October 2006 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
Buraeva's comments substantiate a report in today's “Komsomolskaya pravda," which cited unnamed law-enforcement officials as saying Buraev, the former head of Chechnya's Achkhoi-Martan region, was arrested in Moscow on September 13.
Moscow's Basmanny District Court sanctioned the arrest the following day, on suspicion of Buraev's suspected involvement in the crime. Details of the arrest could not be independently confirmed.
Sergei Sokolov, the deputy editor of “Novaya gazeta," where Politkovskaya worked at the time of her death, told RFE/RL's Russian Service the media should not play a role in spreading information about possible suspects.
"It's not journalists, but the court, that has to decide if the investigation is on the right track," he said. "Shamil Buraev has been under suspicion for a long time. We've had those suspicions ourselves. I think [the arrest] is a continuation of this strange game, where the investigation is in fact powerless because its secrecy is being violated immediately."
Likely Leak?
Sokolov also said the information was the likely result of a leak from law-enforcement organs, and that the appearance of press reports like the one in “Komsomolskaya pravda" might hamper the investigation....
Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika has alleged Politkovskaya knew the person who ordered her killing
(AFP)
September 15, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Aset Buraeva, the wife of former Chechnya official Shamil Buraev, has told RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service her husband has been arrested on suspicion of ordering the October 2006 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
Buraeva's comments substantiate a report in today's “Komsomolskaya pravda," which cited unnamed law-enforcement officials as saying Buraev, the former head of Chechnya's Achkhoi-Martan region, was arrested in Moscow on September 13.
Moscow's Basmanny District Court sanctioned the arrest the following day, on suspicion of Buraev's suspected involvement in the crime. Details of the arrest could not be independently confirmed.
Sergei Sokolov, the deputy editor of “Novaya gazeta," where Politkovskaya worked at the time of her death, told RFE/RL's Russian Service the media should not play a role in spreading information about possible suspects.
"It's not journalists, but the court, that has to decide if the investigation is on the right track," he said. "Shamil Buraev has been under suspicion for a long time. We've had those suspicions ourselves. I think [the arrest] is a continuation of this strange game, where the investigation is in fact powerless because its secrecy is being violated immediately."
Likely Leak?
Sokolov also said the information was the likely result of a leak from law-enforcement organs, and that the appearance of press reports like the one in “Komsomolskaya pravda" might hamper the investigation....
...until tomorrow...good night.
