Bill Bartlett writes:
> Martin William Smith wrote:
> [...]
> >I thought the idea was to save the Chechens, not punish the Russians.
> >Isn't the point of activism to stand in solidarity with the weak and
> >oppressed?  You make it sound like the point of activism is to defeat
> >the bully.  Since you can't defeat the bully, the weak and oppressed
> >get slaughtered.
>
> Last time Russia state used military force in Chechnya it was Russian
> public opinion that forced them out.

I thought it had as much to do with losing.

> This time, as a result of the terrorist campaign in Russia which
> rightly or wrongly has been attributed to Chechnya-based terrorists,
> those protests are muted.
>
> Russia is not saying it wants to bomb Chechens, it is saying it is
> bombing terrorists. The Russian people want the terrorists dealt
> with. Bombing the bombers sounds like reasonable
> self-defense. Bombing people who bomb you is not necessarily immoral
> in most people's eyes.

NATO said it didn't want to bomb Serbs.  It said it wanted to destroy
the Serb military, which was oppressing the Kosovars.  Bombing the
military sounded like a reasonable way to do that.

> People who bomb you are not normally regarded as "weak and
> oppressed", you see. Such people can not reasonably expect the
> solidarity of peace activists. Of course the truth may be different
> from the perceptions, but perceptions count when it comes to
> expecting solidarity.

So the Russian PR campaign is successful.  The Russian people think
that such a high percentage of Chechens are terrorists that it makes
sense to bomb them.  They have even forgotten the fact that the
terrorist bombers aren't even in Chechnya to be bombed.  They're in
Russia blowing up buildings.

martin