GEOPOL analysis
Sep 8 2004

by Pedro Cardoso

Looking Beyond the Ossetia Hostage Incident

During Soviet rule, Ossetia was divided between Russian Ossetia (known as North Ossetia) and Georgian Ossetia (South Ossetia), although both were under the economic and military influence of the USSR, their ethnic divisions lay quietly under the surface. Just like in Kosovo, history has left its marks. Although Constantinople did spread it Christian / Roman culture through the region, by the time the Tartars and the Mongols had come through, a distinctive Muslim population had settled. These people are today known as the Ingush. The Ingush later were accused of collaborating with the Nazis in WWII by Stalin and he deported them ALL. When the USSR broke up, North Ossetia (the Russian part) was given the Ingush land, Ingushetia. The Ingush Muslims themselves were given the right to return, but could own NO LAND, by law.

At the same time, Georgia claimed that Georgian Ossetia (South Ossetia) was theirs! They banned South Ossetians from claiming independence – Russia moved in troops to stop the Georgians from going in and conquering the territory. The Russians call this a “peacekeeping mission” – but in reality, it’s an attempt to unite all of Ossetia under Russian rule.

Notice that the hostage-takers did NOT claim to be Chechens, this event may actually have to do with the war in South Ossetia. There are rumors that Georgia supports anyone that will fight the Russians in Ossetia. That includes Chechens, Ingush, Al-Qaida, any Muslim extremist group will do. Of course, the US, by supporting Georgia militarily, might be inadvertently supporting Muslim extremism, but then, that’s not new. The US supported a well-known terrorist group known as the KLA in Kosovo. Today, ties between the KLA and Al-Qaida are more than rumors.

Predictions
The Russians will imitate the Americans and use this hostage-taking as an excuse to prosecute the war in Ossetia without discrimination. What Putin might be telling everyone is that, under the guise of “War on Terrorism”, Georgia is secretly in the crosshairs. One should play close attention to what develops in that region. The Russians will NEVER give up Chechnya. It’s an oil gateway to the west, but if Georgia keeps feeding the Chechen cancer, will the Russians seek a decidedly bolder cure?

Pedro Cardoso

Related articles:

Investigators identify 12 Beslan terrorists - prosecutor

Fridinsky confirmed that the investigators have information that members of the gang had taken part in other terrorist attacks, both in North Ossetia and in the attack on law-enforcement bodies in Ingushetia on June 21.
He said "there are reasons to consider a possible link between this group and the terrorist attack in Ingushetia, which was led by Shamil Basayev."
The identity of the persons who ordered the seizure of the Beslan school is being established; investigators are inclined to give preference to the version that Basayev might be the main mastermind behind the hostage-taking raid, Fridinsky said.
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=1227108&PageNum=0

…Regional security service head Valery Andreyev appeared to reluctantly agree. "The special services are carefully checking the version that the terrorists brought in arms, explosives and ammunition ahead of time," he said, according to the Interfax news agency. That hypothesis appears to conform with other details of the seizure. The approximately 30 raiders arrived in a single military-style truck — believed to have been hijacked in neighboring Ingushetia — which, jammed with people, would have been too small to carry much equipment.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=518&u=/ap/20040906/ap_on_re_eu/russia_school_seizure_plan_2&printer=1

Russia still at sea on the identity of school's attackers
MOSCOW: Two days after the bloody end of a hostage crisis that left more than 350 people dead, the identity of attackers who seized a school in the ethnic Osettia remained uncertain

Shortly after the stand-off reached its bloody finale on Friday, at least two Russian officials said that several of the hostage-takers were Arabs — nine of them, according to an advisor to President Vladimir Putin, or 10, according to the head of the Federal Security Service in North Ossetia.

However, the authorities haven’t publicly presented evidence supporting those claims, which were in line with repeated statements from Putin’s Kremlin that Russia’s military campaign in Chechnya is part of the war on international terrorism

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/841290.cms

There is a risk, however, that the Russian leadership would blame Georgia for having provided safe haven to the Chechens involved in the October 23rd hostage-taking in Moscow, and launch attacks in self defense.
http://www.csis.org/ruseura/georgia/gaupdate_0211.htm

KLA rebels train in terrorist camps
The Washington Times, May 4, 1999
Some members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which has financed its war effort through the sale of heroin, were trained in terrorist camps run by international fugitive Osama bin Laden -- who is wanted in the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 persons, including 12 Americans.
http://www.diaspora-net.org/food4thought/binladen__kla.htm

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