The Voice of Mirza Xazar

Since the end of August 2004, the focus of the world community is again on a nation whose struggle has been repeatedly forgotten. It is more than 180 years that Russia has been faithfully waging a war in the Caucasus according to Tsarist Colonization doctrine. This colonial war in the Caucasus was also waged during the Soviet era and this war continues despite the collapse of the Soviet system. Conversely, ongoing are Sheikhs Mensur and Shamil's anti-colonial and liberation movements. Perhaps it should be remarked here that the first liberation movements against Russian domination emerged from Chechenistan by the Chechen nation. Since the collapse of the Soviets, they declared their independence under the leadership of the late Dudayev. If Russians had accommodated this reality after 180 years, these two nations could have engaged in peaceful relations. However, Russians were not prepared for this. They assassinated Dudayev and reduced Chechenistan into a war stricken zone reminiscent of Germany or even worse. They have also inflicted death on hundreds of thousand of Chechens in a dreadful fashion. Today the cities and villages in Chechenistan are wrecked. Everyday, innocent people are murdered in daylight, tortured, have their limbs severed and some women are raped. In Yugoslavian wars, genocide was common place; ditches prepared using bulldozers were filled up by dead bodies suffering the ultimate price in a variety of ways where these ditches were meant to cover up heinous crimes. Such heinous acts initiated in the 1990s, continued to be perpetuated in front of the watchful eyes of the world community. This is shameful for humanity. If the ongoing national liberation war in Chechenistan today is emerging in the form of religion and terror, this is simply the outcome of irresponsible approach and double standards of those who regard themselves as the democrats in the West. The human rights declaration of the United Nations states that every nation has the right to determine their future in the way they want. These have been undersigned by those regarding themselves as Western democrats, as well by the Russians. In practice, however, they manipulate the problems, as they come. This is shameful for Western countries. If they had accepted their undersigned human rights declarations letter by letter, our world would have not diminished to its current state. They are approaching the problems from their own national perspective and own political and cultural points of views. As a result, they have created the right conditions for the emergence of a fundamentalist regime such as that in Iran. The fanatic terrorists groups trained here under the name of Islam have even dared to declare war against the West. The second example is the relationship between Russia and Europe. On one hand, Milosewic is being tried in an international court for committing crime in the former Yugoslavia and on the other hand Gorbachov is decorated with the peace medal, Yeltsin is admired and hand-shakes are offered to Putin. Their crimes are redressed. The last example on this is the meeting on the shores of the Black Sea between Putin and Shröder and Chirac. Of course, this meeting is just one of many. The argument is that double standards in the conduct of Western affairs are evident. In Western countries, even a civilian would be tried according to the rule of law, if that person acts as an instrument of terror, knowingly or unknowingly. An example of this is the trial of Moroccan student, Mutasadig. What if a state leader or leaders adopt the doctrine of state terrorism as their policy; be engaged in acts of genocide murdering hundreds of thousands of women, children and elderly; destroys a nation; have been and is wrecking a country! What about also those state leaders supporting perpetuators of such acts of genocide? Notwithstanding the above, I believe in justice and therefore regard it unacceptable to shake Putin's hand. It is not right to enter into economical or political relationships. His deserved place is the World Court, just as Milisowich is undergoing. His supporters should also be faced with the same fate. How else would one speak of justice on the contrary situations? It is the result of these Western double standards that security in third world countries has been undermined. One of the sources of terrorism is double standards. Recent atrocities in Ossetia were inhumane and ugly covering the siege of a school by Chechens and ending in the murder of so many human beings and children. As regrettable as this was, it was also directly attributable to double standards. Over the years, those losing their lives in Chechenistan are humans too, be it children, girls or women. Discriminating between Chechenistan and other places is a one-sided judicial approach that will inevitably lead to sad outcomes. It would have been better if Shröder and Chirac did not welcome a murderer such as Putin. If they insisted in meeting Putin, they could have made a point in condemning Putin and could have stressed their view on the rights of Chechens to self-determination. Under such circumstances, perhaps we would have not confronted with such a tragedy. At least we would have a moral ground to condemn this ongoing atrocity. We would have earned the trust of both the Chechen nation and any other oppressed ones. However, it is regrettable that humanity, human rights and justice for all do not seem to be issues. It seems that short-term economical and social interests are drivers. The issues are Chechen petroleum and gas, as well as the Chechen market. So it seems that it is simply permissible to harbour any fundamentalist and criminal regime. Speaking of the Chechen nation, they have given up their hope of being supported by the Western countries. Thus, it is regrettable they have resorted to religion instead. This is not their fault but ours. However, I believe that after 180 years of struggle they will achieve their aims. This is because, no one has ever broken their willpower nor will they ever, be it the Tsars, Stalin, Yeltsin, Putin, or any one else for that matter. Eventually the exposed ones will be the Russians or those who supported them. The West needs to support suppressed nations instead of seeking friendship with people like Putin. If the Chechen nation had suffered one thousandth of their current losses during the Soviet era, then the West would have regarded them as the symbols of liberation, the late Dudayev would have been decorated with the Nobel Peace Prize. Speaking of Russians, if they abandon the Tsarist doctrine of colonization and consented to the wishes of the separatist nations and left the Caucasian nations in peace, there would emerge the real chance of collaboration and peaceful coexistence among these nations. Russians could then gather their momentum and save Russia from the ongoing disaster. In the long run, such a policy is in favor of Russians and the Region. Under such a circumstance, the enmity between Russia and the nations of the region would be replaced with fraternity and collaboration, saving the reparation of damages that they are suffering from. Let us also not forget the European Council for peace. Even if this organization pledging its support to human rights, justice, law and democracy, in reality the representatives gathered here behave as the mirror image of the countries they are representing. They too support Putin unashamedly and portray him as a state leader. They ignore that Putin is engaged in an act of genocide and wrecking a country. These are regrettable or shameful for an organization belonging to democratic European countries. Dr Gherevi