HEADLINES

London                        1. Chicken Meets the Fox: Blair Upstaged by Putin

Moscow                      2. Putin Seeks Approval of New Military Doctrine 

London                        3. A Muslim “Fatwa” Placed on Putin

Moscow                      4. Russians Close Ranks against the West

Minsk                         5. Russia, Byelorussia Planning New Force on

                                         Poland’s NATO Border

Tel Aviv                      6. Russia Boosts Spending on Strategic Arms  

Yerevan                      7. A Huge Pro-Russian Rally Held in Armenia

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1. Chicken Meets the Fox: Blair Upstaged by Putin

LONDON, Apr. 17 –Tony Blair, the British prime minister, last week became the first western leader to meet the new Russian president, Vladimir Putin, with whom he broke bread and watched a ballet performance in St. Petersburg.  This week, Putin returned the favor, visiting Blair at his lair - London’s 10 Downing Street. 

Afterwards, the two heads of state answered the media hounds’ questions at a London press conference.  Despite the absence of real hounds, however, it soon became apparent that at one end of the head table the media were facing a shrewd (Russian) fox; at the other end, a lame (Limey) chicken.   Here’s an excerpt from a London Sunday Times report about this extraordinary press conference:

“FOR once in his career, Tony Blair found himself completely outclassed as a platform performer and almost lost for words in the face of the man he had invited to a day of talks in London.

Vladimir Putin, Russia's first democratically elected President, dominated a 35-minute joint press conference at the Foreign Office after the Downing Street meeting, giving detailed and faultless answers in Russian, without notes, to a range of sometimes hostile questions.

Side by side in blue suits, neither man smiled. Mr Putin, almost expressionless and employing machinegun delivery, showed a hint of passion only once, when he leant over his lectern and delivered a ringing justification for the Russian invasion of Chechnya.

Mr Blair, who had put away his perpetual grin, listened intently with slightly pursed lips, staring fixedly at a point in the far distance. He talked of "engaging" with Russia and how he had "raised our concerns about the situation in Chechnya". He did not sound entirely confident.

When the inevitable Chechnya question was thrown from the floor, Mr Putin met it head on, clearly determined to put the Moscow view which, he said, was not fully appreciated in the West. He spoke uncompromisingly of an international terrorist movement of Islamic extremists and gave the distinct impression that the West should be grateful to the Russian armed forces for doing everybody's dirty work.

Mr Blair was more diffident, as though frightened of undoing the work of three hours of talks. He admitted differences with Mr Putin on the Chechnya question and talked of a new agreement to meet his Russian counterpart at least once a year.

Mr Putin, on the other hand, performed without hesitation or deviation on all other questions he was asked, from his thoughts on the stock market fall, through the Start 2 treaty to the need to remove the gangster element from the Russian economy.

He claimed to know little of the newly appointed independent commission to examine human rights abuses in Chechnya beyond what he had read in the morning newspapers, and he did duck two questions. Asked about his KGB past, he talked of reforming the Soviet banking system.

Asked how he felt about being the democratically elected leader of a post-communist state invited to tea with the Queen, he gave the tiniest shrug of the shoulders as if to say, "Damnfool question" and said nothing on the subject.

"I can't advise you how to answer that, Vladimir," said Mr Blair, managing a nervous half laugh.

Mr Putin did not flinch; he was already giving his views on the day's share prices fall as "an episode, an incident, not apocalyptic". Mr Putin himself is clearly more than an episode or an incident. For Chechen rebels and Russians gangsters alike, he gave the clear impression of a man who intends to be apocalyptic.”

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TiM Ed.: Apocalyptic?  Hardly.  Except perhaps for the chickens of the New World Order.  

2. Putin Seeks Approval of New Military Doctrine 

"Today we are presenting to you the conclusive document which stands for final ratification," Putin said in televised remarks. "In the past several weeks, this conceptual document on military security had been polished up in the various ministries -- first of all in the defense ministry. Today we have to put a final period to this work."

Reports said that it clearly reserves the right for Russia to strike first, but only if there is clear-felt danger to the country's very existence -- a similar position to one taken by the United States. "It seems that such situations are being taken into account, but they are not very likely," an NTV correspondent reporting on the Kremlin session said.

3. A Muslim “Fatwa” Placed on Putin

LONDON, Apr. 17 - “Stupid is as stupid does,” the mother of Hollywood’s slightly deranged character (Sally Fields), “Forrest Gump,” tended to say, counseling her son, in this 1994 global movie hit. 

Well, meet the Islamic version of the “Forrest Gump,” the “Allah warriors.”  They are being played by the New World Order leaders as if they were the strings of an ancient instrument.  The more harm the NWO does to the Muslim cause, the more willing the moronic or corrupt “Allah warrior” leaders seems to be in aiding their ultimate destruction.

Here’s, for example, an excerpt of a message which we received about a supposed “fatwa” (a death sentence) being placed on the new Russian president, Putin, which was made public during Putin’s visit to Britain:

“The naked aggression and atrocities committed by President Putin and his Fascist Russian Government against the people of Chechnya which includes bombing them indiscriminately, throwing more than 200,000 civilians out of their homeland, consenting to mass rape and threatening to exterminate a whole population is not less than the crimes committed by Pinochet for which the British Government put the former Chilian Dictator under house arrest and threatened prosecution.

Such actions are a clear violation of divine law and against the sanctity of Human Beings and their honor. The situation clearly demands that the Blair regime treat this criminal in the same manner as Putin, however in line with the double standards and hatred that this government has shown towards Islam and Muslims (note the continuing bombing of the innocent population of Iraq) no doubt Tony Blair will end the day by shaking the blood stained hand of this self-confessed murderer.

Despite this show of friendship however, Blair should know that as for Muslims everywhere, including the 4,000,000 in Britain, the Islamic Decree regarding the Russian invasion of Chechnya will continue to be JIHAD which is the obligation of every Muslim to support physically, verbally and financially and that Putin, as head of the barbaric Russian regime remains a legitimate target as do all Russian forces, government, Russian Embassies, military airports and jets etc. since Allah (swt) says in the Qur'an: "And kill them wherever you meet them and turn them out from where they have turned you out" [EMQ 2: 191].

Indeed the Islamic verdict regarding President Putin has already been set out in a Fatwa issued by The Shari'ah Court of The UK on Friday the 15th of April 2000 which is to put him on trial in an Islamic court for his crimes and for capital punishment to be applied!”

AL-MUHAJIROUN, The Voice, The Eyes and The Ears of The Muslims, London, Internet: www.obm.clara.net

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TiM Ed.: Well, with “Islamic warriors” of the above wisdom, precision and aim, Israel can breathe a sigh of relief.  Soon enough, they are bound to shoot themselves in the foot - without the help of any enemies, real or imagined.

4. Russians Close Ranks against the West

MOSCOW, Apr. 13 - Just in case that some of you, the TiM readers, may have thought that the term “apocalyptic” - that the London Times used to describe Vladimir Putin’s mission to put Russia back on the world powers map - may be a bit of an exaggeration, read on.  “From politicians to truck drivers, Russians are irked at (western) criticism, lack of  support on Chechnya campaign,” read the headline of a Christian Science Monitor story filed from Moscow on Apr. 13.  Here are esome excerpts from the story:

“The political temperature is decidedly chilly as Russians react with anger, confusion, and suspicion to the latest Western censure over the war in Chechnya.

"Once I thought we could learn from Europe, but now I think we don't need teachers like these," says Kiril Petrenko, a print-shop designer out shopping in a downtown market. "They are hypocrites and fools. They have no idea how to help us."

The latest jolt to Russian national pride and self-esteem was twofold: Last week, United Nations human rights chief Mary Robinson returned from a visit to Chechnya complaining that the Kremlin had barred her from visiting five "filtration centers" - compared by human rights groups to concentration camps - and a community where Russian troops allegedly massacred civilians.

In Moscow, President-elect Vladimir Putin declined to meet with Robinson, while  another Kremlin official denounced her allegations as "a common lie."

Then at the end of the week, the 41-nation Council of Europe voted to strip Russia of its voting rights and initiate suspension proceedings because of  "serious and documented" allegations of war crimes in the breakaway Muslim republic, now mainly under Russian control after a six-month campaign.

In most countries, the activities of the council, a talking-shop on human rights and democracy issues with no powers beyond moral suasion, scarcely warrant notice. But in Russia the news hit like a bomb.

"The council has made a colossal and historic mistake," thundered Gennady Seleznyov, Speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. "They have forgotten who they are dealing with. Russia can do very well without them, and we will rise up again to become a great world power."

[…] Since NATO's war one year ago against fellow Slavic, Orthodox Christian Yugoslavia, the mood has turned from sour, to bitter, to hostile.

A recent survey by the Boston-based Marttila Communications Group found that 69  percent of Russians polled think the West wants their economy to collapse. Fully 87 percent believe the United States is taking advantage of Russia's current weakness to expand its global influence. Only 13 percent regarded the US as a friend or ally; 28 percent described it as an enemy. […]

“Russia cannot be understood with the mind, it can only be believed in," wrote Fyodor Tyutchev, a 19th-century philosopher. Russians today quote him constantly, with avid approval.

"Let it be worse, but let it be ours," Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov was fond of replying to young officers who complained about Russian technical backwardness.

Kutuzov's armies chased the French invaders under Napoleon all the wayback to  Paris. In the 20th century, despite terrible losses, the Soviet Union did the same to Hitler. Many Russians insist that once again, in Chechnya, they are fighting for the common good despite the ingratitude and incomprehension of the West.

"We are fighting for all of Europe, against terrorism and extremism," says Leonid Troshin, a truck driver. "The West needs us to fight, but they want the luxury of insulting us at the same time. They should be helping, but they just carp about human rights," Mr. Troshin says. […]

5. Russia, Byelorussia Planning New Force on Poland’s NATO Border

MINSK, Apr. 13 - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Byelorussian President Alexander Lukashenko will meet on Sunday, Apr. 16, to discuss a military build-up on the Beylorussian border with Poland, the new dividing line between the Free Europe to the East, and the new NATO Iron Curtain to the West, according to official Russian sources.

Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov, external relations official for the Russian Defense Ministry, stated that the leaders of Russia and Belarus will discuss an increase of their forces opposing NATO on the Belarussian border. The report was carried by the Voice of Russia World Service, the official broadcasting service of the Russian government.

Ivashov stated that the discussion of the two presidents regarding a military build-up was a response to "American-led aggression against Federal Yugoslavia."

Russia has also consistently voiced its opposition to NATO expansion eastwards. Ivashov said the forces to be stationed on the border would be defensive in nature, and consistent with the new military policy adopted by the Union of Russia and Belarus.  Russia and Belarus have grown increasingly close since the signing of a treaty combining the two states into a community on April 2, 1996. On December 8, 1999, Russia and Belarus declared a union of the two states. Defense is one of a number of national functions that Russia and Belarus are placing under the control of the union.

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TiM Ed.: And so, willy-nilly, inch-by-inch, a new “Berlin wall” is being built along the Poland-Belarus border.  Thanks to NATO’s war on Serbia.  Way to go, Mrs. Halfbright! (the Time magazine dubbed it last May “Madeleine’s War”).

6. Russia Boosts Spending on Strategic Arms

TEL AVIV, Apr. 8 - Russia has changed its benign policy and is directing scarce funding toward improving its strategic nuclear weapons arsenal, a leading defense expert says.  Alexei Arbatov, deputy chairman of the Russian parliament's Defense Committee, said that after several years of neglect the Kremlin is focusing its energy on rebuilding and improving its strategic nuclear arsenal. He said this includes billions of dollars into research for new weaponry.

Arbatov said the trigger for the new Russian policy was the U.S.-led NATO offensive against Yugoslavia in 1999. He said Moscow now regards NATO as an opponent if not an enemy.

"Now, everything has changed," Arbatov told a Tel Aviv University conference. "After the war in the Balkans, there was no more talk of detargetting [the United States]. The Duma [Russian parliament] and the executive branch drafted a law for long-term allocations for the strategic forces."

The result, he said, has been a 26 billion ruble increase for such programs as anti-missile and anti-aircraft defense. He said the goal is to increase nuclear deterrence and enhance conventional defense against NATO.

Russia now spends 2.8 percent of its gross national product on defense. To meet Russia's military needs, Arbatov said, Moscow would have to increase the defense budget to at least 3.5 percent of the GDP. "The would mean instituting price and wage controls and we would stop being a market economy," he said.

7. A Huge Pro-Russian Rally Held in Armenia

YEREVAN, Apr. 21 - A huge Pro-Russian Demonstration took place in the capital of Armenia, Yerevan, Friday, Apr. 21, according to the following is a translation of today's ORT Channel 1 news item on the event, which the TiM received from one of its Russian readers:

"In Armenia, this is already the second attempt to raise the union question at the national level. Three years ago the country's leaders brushed off the idea and didn't allow a referendum to take place. Now official Yerevan has softened its position considerably: "Entering the Union is for the time being not on the foreign policy agenda." 

MAN: We're going to demand a referendum anyway. Two years ago we collected over one million signatures. 

But nearly all now are convinced that the cautious approach to the Union on the part of the current administration can be overcome very soon. 

MAN: 80 percent of the Armenian population would like to join the Union. 

WOMAN: Before we were always for Russia, and we'll always be with Russia until the end of our earthly existence. 

MAN: How ungrateful can we be? You see, the Russian people have come to our aid so many times in the past decades and past centuries. But now others want to take over here. 

This is the first such meeting where literally all of Armenia took part. Delegations from all of Armenia's 10 regions converged on Theater Square. 

Today's meeting was timed by the communists to coincide with Lenin's birthday, an epochal event, according to the meeting's organizers. However, despite the abundance of red flags, communists didn't succeed in monopolizing the meeting. 

Among the staff of the initiative group for Armenia's entrance into the Russia-Belarus Union are 38 deputies of the Armenian Parliament from various parties. Their mood is uncompromising and are ready to initiate impeachment proceedings if the President refuses to hold a referendum on union." 

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