Just so the readers of this blog don’t think that this is an undemocratic blog, I should note that I have disagreements with my guest bloggers Kole (of the CAPS BLOGGING section) and CP Pandya (of the Corporate World section). These are subtle disagreements, but sometimes worth mentioning.
Just so the readers of this blog don’t think that this is an undemocratic blog, I should note that I have disagreements with my guest bloggers Kole (of the CAPS BLOGGING section) and CP Pandya (of the Corporate World section). These are subtle disagreements, but sometimes worth mentioning.
For example, Kole’s last entry on Ukraine, while very informative and while I agree with his conclusions, used sources that I find dubious. The main dubious sources are the British Helsinki Human Rights Group and John Laughland, who is from this group. Laughland’s article appeared on ZNet, though I had noticed it before it appeared on ZNet and didn’t think it should go on ZNet. Anyway I read the article “Putin: A Reality Check” and was unimpressed. For example this line: Russians also oppose the West’s demands for Russia to ‘negotiate’ with the Chechens, pointing out that George Bush has not sat down with Osama bin Laden.
Two questions here. First, how did “the Chechens” become “Osama bin Laden”. Second, the idea of ‘negotiating’, or finding a political solution to the various problems that bin Laden uses to recruit, is precisely what has to be done. Bush is hardly an example of how to deal with life-and-death conflicts involving terrorism. At any rate, the article specifically on Chechnya was also unconvincing. I’m not sure about this BHHRG, and the About US section of the site doesn’t tell us much. I do know that it’s not to be confused with the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights nor Helsinki Watch, which was the original name of Human Rights Watch.
We’ll keep covering this story, and we’ll try to be both consistently anti-imperialist and nuanced as we do so – as I’m sure you’ll find Kole and I are, of course. Kole, let’s pick this up in the comments section?
