

Why We Must Act - conover
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/14/opinion/why-we-must-act.html?pagewanted=all

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ryanackley
Chechnya is a republic of Russia. Seems legit for him to exercise some
authority over it and try to keep peace there and in other parts of his own
country.

I assume this has been posted to highlight some contradictory stance he is
taking on Syria which is a sovereign country. Chechnya to Russia is not the
the same as Syria to the USA.

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trekky1700
In 1999, Chechnya was its own republic. It was in 1999 that Russia launched a
military campaign known as the Second Chechen War and took Chechnya back as a
Russian state. Civillian casualty estimates during that war range from 25,000
to 50,000. It's all very complicated, of course.

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temuze
> Then, in a flash, hundreds perish in explosions at the Watergate, or at an
> apartment complex on Manhattan's West Side. Thousands are injured, some
> horribly disfigured. Panic engulfs a neighborhood, then a nation.

It's remarkable that he is arguing for strong military action as a result of
terrorist attacks using this hypothetical scenario, which is eerily similar to
9/11\. In retrospect, he was right - we took strong military action as a
result as well.

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davidw
Political, mainstream news: this is pretty much by definition something that
is supposed to be off topic here.

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mpyne
Let's let the upvotes decide, isn't that what we've been told about that Other
Topic Which Shall Not Be Named? If enough people agree with you maybe this
story will be flagged into oblivion.

But I think it's a very interesting riposte to Mr. Putin's essay in the NYT
from this week.

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aqme28
First off, [1999].

Second, Why was this submitted? Was it an attempt to draw comparisons with
Putin's plea for us not to bomb Syria?

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trekky1700
I believe so, and it did so superbly.

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jessaustin
Are you saying the following?

Russia : Chechnya :: USA : Syria

Because that would indicate an impressive level of geographic, cultural, and
political ignorance. Congratulations!

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amirmansour
Wait, if this was published in 1999, then how could he mention 9/11?

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gringofyx
He didn't mention 9/11 - he mentioned the WTC "bombing"

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_World_Trade_Center_bombing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_World_Trade_Center_bombing)

