Video: Georgia The Land You Wish to Discover

An excellent video made by the Mistanchorite, please visit his Youtube channel and view his other videos.

Joel.

Caucasus Wolf.

Russian Warships Stationed Off The Coast of Israel

In a move I feel is designed to threaten Israel, Due to how anti-Israel Putin has become in recent months, Russia have stationed warships of the Israel – Gaza coastline.

The Russian warships including a detachment of combat ships of the Black Sea Fleet, including the Guards missile cruiser Moskva, the patrol ship Smetliviy, large landing ships Novocherkassk and Saratov, the sea tug MB-304 and the big sea tanker Ivan Bubnov, have stationed off the coast of Gaza under the guise of “possible evacuation of Russian citizens in Gaza”

What I struggle to understand is that, due to the very few Russian citizens in Gaza and the current ceasefire, why does Russia feel the need to place a small and heavily armed Navy off the coast of Israel?

One of Russia’s favorite bullying tactics is to position it’s navy in an intimidating area, such as they do in the Black sea, off the Georgia – Abkhazia coast.

Original News Source

Russian warships anchored off the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea to prepare the evacuation of Russians in the area, should the conflict in Gaza escalate, The Voice of Russia quoted a Russian Navy Command source on Friday.

“The detachment of combat ships of the Black Sea Fleet, including the Guards missile cruiser Moskva, the patrol ship Smetliviy, large landing ships Novocherkassk and Saratov, the sea tug MB-304 and the big sea tanker Ivan Bubnov, got the order to remain in the designated area of the Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea for a possible evacuation of Russian citizens from the area of the Gaza strip in case of escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict”, the spokesperson said.

He added that ship crew members will continue routine combat training, maintenance of equipment and weapons along with other military services.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops fired on Gazans surging toward Israel’s border fence Friday, killing one person but leaving intact the fragile two-day-old cease-fire between Hamas and the Jewish state.

The truce, which calls for an end to Gaza rocket fire on Israel and Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, came after eight days of cross-border fighting, the bloodiest between Israel and Hamas in four years.

In a letter to the U.N. Security Council, the Palestinian U.N. observer Riyad Mansour called the situation in Gaza “extremely fragile” and said Israel’s cease-fire violations and other illegal actions risk undermining the calm that was just restored.

Hundreds of Palestinians approached the border fence Friday in several locations in southern Gaza, testing expectations Israel would no longer enforce a 300-meter-wide (300-yard-wide) no-go zone on the Palestinian side of the fence that was meant to prevent infiltrations into Israel. In the past, Israeli soldiers routinely opened fire on those who crossed into the zone.

In one incident captured by Associated Press video, several dozen Palestinians, most of them young men, approached the fence, coming close to a group of Israeli soldiers standing on the other side.

Some Palestinians briefly talked to the soldiers, while others appeared to be taunting them with chants of “God is Great” and “Mursi, Mursi,” in praise of Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi, whose mediation led to the truce.

At one point, a soldier shouted in Hebrew, “Go there, before I shoot you,” and pointed away from the fence, toward Gaza. The soldier then dropped to one knee, assuming a firing position. Eventually, a burst of automatic fire was heard, but it was not clear whether any of the casualties were from this incident.

Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said a 20-year-old man was killed and 19 people were wounded by Israeli fire near the border.

Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. observer, said Israeli forces fatally shot Anwar Abdulhadi Qudaih in the head and injured at least 19 other Palestinian civilians in a border area east of Khan Younis.

During the incidents, Hamas security tried to defuse the situation and keep the crowds away from the fence.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, a top Hamas official at the ongoing negotiations in Cairo, told The Associated Press that the violence would have no effect on the ceasefire.

The crowds were mainly made up of young men but also included farmers hoping to once again farm lands in the buffer zone. Speaking by phone from the buffer zone, 19-year-old Ali Abu Taimah said he and his father were checking three acres of family land that have been fallow for several years.

“When we go to our land, we are telling the occupation (Israel) that we are not afraid at all,” he said.

Israel’s military said roughly 300 Palestinians approached the security fence at different points, tried to damage it and cross into Israel. Soldiers fired warning shots in the air, but after the Palestinians refused to move back, troops fired at their legs, the military said. A Palestinian infiltrated into Israel during the unrest, but was returned to Gaza, it said.

The truce allowed both Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step back from the brink of a full-fledged war. Over eight days, Israel’s aircraft carried out some 1,500 strikes on Hamas-linked targets, while Gaza fighters fired roughly the same number of rockets at Israel.

The fighting killed 166 Palestinians, including scores of civilians, and six Israelis. Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. envoy, said more than 1,230 Palestinians were injured, predominantly women and children.

In Cairo, Egypt is hosting separate talks with Israeli and Hamas envoys on the next phase of the cease-fire — a new border deal for blockaded Gaza. Hamas demands an end to border restrictions, while Israel insists Hamas halt weapons smuggling to Gaza.

Mansour also accused Israel of intensifying its use of “excessive and lethal force” against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in recent days and of arresting at least 230 Palestinian civilians since the Gaza fighting began, including several members of the Palestinian Legislative Council who were detained at dawn Friday.

The Palestinian U.N. observer called on the Security Council and the international community “to remain vigilant in their demands for a complete cessation of hostilities and for compliance by Israel.”

A poll Friday showed about half of Israelis thinks their government should have continued its Gaza offensive.

The independent Maagar Mohot poll showed 49 percent of respondents felt Israel should have kept pursuing squads that fire rockets into Israel, 31 percent supported the decision to stop and 20 percent had no opinion.

Joel.

Caucasus Wolf.

Georgia – Abkhazia War, The Forgotten Conflict

The Georgia-Abkhazia War, in which ethnic Abkhazians effectively extracted northwestern Georgia from Tbilisi’s control, is a conflict largely forgotten in the West, despite its high profile re-ignition in August 2008.  Historical arguments can be made both for Abkhazia’s unity and autonomy from Georgia, but the conflict cannot be solely blamed on Soviet ‘ethno-federalism’. It must, however, be understood within the context of Georgian independence.

Ethnic tension between Abkhazians and Georgians was a necessary but not sufficient cause for the conflict.  It took an unstable transition in Moscow, and chaotic Russian involvement in the run-up to the conflict, to turn tension into violence.  Russia’s one-sided role in ending hostilities meant that the conflict’s causal issues were left frozen, only to be violently thawed fifteen years later.

The War in Abkhazia raged from August 1992 to September 1993 was waged between Georgian government forces on one side and Abkhaz separatist forces supporting independence of Abkhazia from Georgia, Russian armed forces and North Caucasian hired fighters on the other side.

Ethnic Georgians, who lived in Abkhazia fought largely on the side of Georgian government forces. Ethnic Armenians and Russians within Abkhazia’s population, largely supported Abkhazians and many fought on their side. The separatists were supported by thousands of the North Caucasus and Cossack militants and by the Russian forces stationed in and near Abkhazia.

Handling of this conflict was aggravated by the civil strife in Georgia proper between the supporters of the ousted Georgian president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia and the post-coup government headed by Eduard Shevardnadze, as well as the Georgian-Ossetian conflict.

Significant human rights violations and atrocities were reported on all sides and peaked in the aftermath of the Abkhaz capture of Sukhumi on 27 September 1993, which was followed by a large-scale campaign of ethnic cleansing against ethnic Georgian population according to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

The UN SG’s fact-finding mission reported numerous and serious human rights violations committed by both Abkhazians and Georgians. From 13,000 to 20,000 ethnic Georgians and approximately 3,000 Abkhaz have been reported to be killed, more than 250,000 Georgians became internally displaced or refugees and 2,000 are considered missing.

Post-Soviet Georgia was heavily affected by the war and suffered considerable financial, human and psychological damage. Abkhazia has been devastated by the war and subsequent continued sporadic conflict.

Joel.

Caucasus Wolf.

Ramzan Kadyrov: Evkurov Is Torturing Youngsters

Original News Source

WEDNESDAY, 14 NOVEMBER 2012 02:35

Russian puppet in Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, who is been in a long dog-fight with another Russian puppet Unus-Bek Evkurov, stated that long-term relationship with rebels will not help him in his future as a politician. Ramzan Kadyrov says: “it is not a secret for anyone that Evkurov is visiting graveyards of rebels saying sorry to their relatives, and even helps them. In his games with bandits, he even invites their relatives to his place and expresses condolences.”

“I think it is imperative to advise Evkurov to fight problems in Ingushetia, unfortunately, which are many,” stated Kadyrov.

In his statement, he said something that has to take an attention of human rights activists wherever they are: “Evkurov knows of his own method called ‘salting of human bodies in barrels,” informs Kremlin’s puppet.

Some while ago, rumors in Chechnya were talking about salting hostages but could not imagine the process itself. In his statement, Ramzan Kadyrov explains the method. It is no more a secret that hostages (young rebels) have been put in barrels of salt and they would rot in there.

Very inhuman method of fighting youngsters in Chechnya and Ingushetia where all the youngsters are fighting for freedom and independence from dictator-Putin.

Joel.

Caucasus Wolf.

“I Saw so Many Nations, But one so Unruly and Intractable as the Chechens do not Exist on Earth”

“I saw so many countries, but so unruly and intractable as the Chechens do not exist on Earth! And the only way to conquer the Caucaus lies through conquering the Chechens or rather, through their complete destruction, or it is rather by means of their final fracture!”

“Your Majesty… Mountain people, Chechens, using the example of their independence in most of the subjects of your Majesty, generate rebellious spirit and love for freedom.”

“They aren’t alike Europe or Asia. There is something that makes them unique.”

(A. Yermolov’s message to Emperor Alexander I)

Joel.

Caucasus Wolf.

Drop Me Off Here – Georgia

In the very first episode drop me off here chose to visit the country of Georgia.

Located in the Southern Caucasus group with neighbouring countries Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia; Georgia has a little of everything it seems. From the soaring mountains and ski fields of the Greater Caucasus Range with the rarely visited village communities nestled around glacier fed rivers, to the warmth and joy of the Black Sea coast where one can still find seclusion in the mid-summer on its vast coastline.

They spent two weeks exploring this amazing place and left with the breath-taking memory of a country we knew nothing about.

Drop Me Off Here aims to show you just how easy and unpredictable unplanned travel can be!

Bringing back the concept of travel how it used to be, we encourage travellers to ditch the guidebook, phrasebook, compass and all other travelling tools and just rely on there own skills. There are not too many places left undiscovered in this world and with travel reaching a new level of popularity, so by taking it back to a ‘grass roots’ level brings a new sense of discovery and exploration to your adventure.

Joel.

The Wolf of The Caucasus

Witness: Chechen Fighters

Documentary on the Chechen rebels and their war against Russian Federal Forces in Chechnya: “The war in Chechnya might officially be over, but rebels are still prepared to die for their beliefs.”

The documentary features rare footage from the Chechen conflict and interviews with former rebels who are now in exile.

The First Chechen War, was the conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, fought from December 1994 to August 1996. After the initial campaign of 1994–1995, culminating in the devastating Battle of Grozny, Russian federal forces attempted to seize control of the mountainous area of Chechnya but were set back by Chechen guerrilla warfare and raids on the flatlands in spite of Russia’s overwhelming manpower, weaponry, and air support. The resulting widespread demoralization of federal forces, and the almost universal opposition of the Russian public to the conflict, led Boris Yeltsin’s government to declare a ceasefire in 1996 and sign a peace treaty a year later.

The official figure for Russian military deaths is 5,500, while most estimates put the number between 3,500 and 7,500, or even as high as 14,000. Although there are no accurate figures for the number of Chechen militants killed, various estimates put the number at about 3,000 to over 15,000 deaths. Various figures estimate the number of civilian deaths at between 30,000 and 100,000 killed and possibly over 200,000 injured, while more than 500,000 people were displaced by the conflict, which left cities and villages across the republic in ruins.

The Second Chechen War, in a later phase better known as the Counter-terrorist operation on Chechnya, was launched by the Russian Federation starting 26 August 1999, in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade (IIPB).

During the initial campaign, Russian military and pro-Russian Chechen paramilitary forces faced Chechen separatists in open combat, and seized the Chechen capital Grozny after a winter siege that lasted from late 1999 to the following February 2000. Russia established direct rule of Chechnya in May 2000 and after the full-scale offensive, Chechen militant resistance throughout the North Caucasus region continued to inflict heavy Russian casualties and challenge Russian political control over Chechnya for several more years. Some Chechen separatists also carried out attacks against civilians in Russia. These attacks, as well as widespread human rights violations by Russian and separatist forces, drew international condemnation.

Joel.

The Wolf Of The Caucasus

The Life Choices Of Chechen Youth

There are young people in Chechnya who live in prosperity and rapidly pursue their careers. If they sing the praises of Putin and Kadyrov, that is. For all the others, life can be very difficult.

Only a few years ago, today’s Chechen youth was all in the same boat, or rather in the same refugee camp. Literally and figuratively. Crowded into tents and trains, stranded in the refugee camps of Chechnya’s neighbouring republics, the young were united in sympathy and hatred. Just teenagers, they prayed for Chechen rebels and dreamt of growing up as quickly as possible to join them and take revenge on the Russians. The hatred for Russia united them more than anything else.

Years have passed. The former residents of refugee camps have grown up, their paths have separated. Some have jumped on the bandwagon of new pro-Russian authorities, in pursuit of fabulous wealth and incredible careers. Others have followed their ancient dreams and joined the rebels. Those who have not chosen either path live on the margins of politics and history, trying to survive and feed their family. The camps where they hated and loved together were demolished long ago.

Radjap Musaev is among those who have quickly become accustomed to the new authorities. As a teenager, like tens of thousands of Chechen refugees, he lived with his family in Ingushetia. What remains of those days is an interesting video-interview, released in broken English to a foreign journalist. In the darkness of the tent, with the few meagre belongings and tin plates donated by some charitable organisation, young Radjap tells the story of his dream of becoming a lawyer and defending the victims of Russia’s war in the region, as well as to sue Russia for what it did to his country.

A few years later, Radjap has become one of Russia’s most passionate supporters. In his blog, under the name of “wild Chechen”, he speaks of “foreign mercenaries” and denounces the United States’ plans to weaken Russia in order to rule the world unchallenged. In his passionate invectives, he accuses the Russian opposition of receiving money from the U.S. State Department and NATO, that also dreams of Russia’s downfall. Such propaganda, in the best style of Soviet news agencies, sounds strange and incongruous from the same boy, just a bit more grown up, who from a dark, damp camp dreamed of condemning Russia for crimes against humanity. It is hard to imagine how, in just a few years, he managed to make a career in the pro-Russian organisation Nashi, where he became chief coordinator for Chechnya. Having become a darling of the authorities, he was then appointed head of “Grozny Inform”, the main Chechen news agency.

But there is more. As it turned out a couple of months ago, Musaev had access to millions of roubles allocated by Nashi to the online fight against dissidents. The hacker group Anonymous got into the mailbox of the head of Nashi press office and spread its content online, including correspondence with Musaev. The amount of money spent by Moscow to fund Internet trolling and create fake blogs with the “Caucasian Bloggers” project is stunning. For every letter, every minute spent online, any provocation on blogs disliked by the authorities, Musaev and his fellows received tons of money. Musaev himself, the correspondence shows, received 18 million roubles per year – 2,4 were his salary and the rest was paid in order for him to build a positive image of Russia in the blogosphere and attract more and more young people into the “Caucasian bloggers'” network. Not for free, of course. So, the boy from the refugee camp in Ingushetia has become a millionaire.

Arbi Sagaipov, who lived in a “humanitarian” tent camp in Ingushetia more or less in the same years as Radjap did, has not become a millionaire. In 2004, once war was declared to be over and the Chechen government began to fight for the return of refugees, Arbi was 16. He did not return to Chechnya, but moved to Moscow with his family. Two years later, he was admitted to the university and later, together with his father, he opened a small business in the Russian capital. Even living in the heart of this country has not allowed him to forgive Russia, let alone love it.

In 2010, unbeknownst to his family, Arbi returned to Chechnya to join the rebels. By then, nobody called them with the noble name of “resistance fighters” any longer – just terrorists. Since then, his mother Tamara has been looking for him all over Chechnya, hoping to dissuade him from an apparently meaningless fight. Once, she managed to get in touch with a group of rebels in a forest near the Chechen village of Shatoi. “They seemed almost like children”, she says. “None of them was older than my Arbi”. There were about twenty rebels in the group. They called themselves mujahideen and their fight against the Russian occupation a jihad – a holy war against the invading enemy, the duty of every Muslim. “I watched them and could not hold back the tears. They are children, they are 17-18. What have they seen of their lives, and what do they know of life? Why should they wander in the woods, half-starved, and die so young, when their peers get to live the big life? They should not have to die just because they can’t or won’t submit to power”. Tamara has not managed to find her son. The rebels told her there were three or four Arbis in that group. And rebels in the woods do not use their real names. However, Tamara returns to Chechnya a few times a year and wanders through villages and towns, looking for information about her son who left for a confused, incomprehensible war that swallows more and more young lives.

The young Chechens who go “into the woods” to join the rebels are generally considered misfits. Many experts of Chechnya and Northern Caucasus see unemployment and social problems as the main reasons pushing young men to join the rebels. It would certainly be foolish to deny the influence of unemployment and lack of prospects on young Chechens’ radical and even religious fanaticism. Probably, however, the main reason why, despite over a decade of cruel persecution, the Chechen resistance cannot be crushed lies in the patriarchal tradition of Chechen society, where the man is not only the breadwinner, but first and foremost the head of the family. Now, the position of men has changed dramatically. They cannot protect or provide for the family if they do not collaborate with the regime and become part of it.

The phenomenon, completely new in Chechnya, of men singing the praises of authorities from the TV screens, rivalling in servility and flattery, sickens the younger generation. Moreover, with thousands of armed men from various security agencies around day and night, violence against unarmed people, or at best verbal humiliation, is routine. Going to court is useless, because the court – as all other state institutions – is a party to power.

Thus, part of Chechen society, educated according to a tradition of equality and justice, has no place in the new system of rules that has suddenly engulfed the country: rights are on the side of those with weapons and money, and in order to get weapons and money Putin and his lieutenants must be worshipped. Hence the growing gap between the young people who drink with pleasure at the Kremlin’s springs and those who consider them poisonous.

The injustices and humiliations suffered by young Chechens at the hands of their pro-Russian peers fuel the resistance. In this sense, the Chechen government – and the Kremlin, which put it there – are indeed tirelessly working in favour of the resistance movement, by multiplying with each passing day the injustices in the country and thus driving young people to armed struggle as the only means for protecting their dignity.

Joel.

The Wolf Of The Caucasus

An Account Of A Visit To Modern Grozny

Early in the morning, on a freezing cold winter’s day, I found myself standing on the edge of a snow covered field in the middle of the Chechen countryside. Before I started my journey here, I failed to check the weather forecast and unfortunately I left Moscow without my military grade jacket and also without my breakfast, a big mistake.

Now the only thing standing between me and the icy winds blowing off the Caucasus mountains was a highly inadequate coat. But things were about to get worse.

As I turned around, Staring back at me were two huge black stone lions standing guard on either side of an imposing gateway, the entrance to a sprawling luxury compound with its own private zoo of exotic animals such as bears and wolves, that is home to Chechnya’s warlord in chief and President Ramzan Kadyrov.

A group of Mr Kadyrov’s personal militia constantly looked me up and down suspiciously, their fingers were uncomfortably tight on the triggers of their automatic rifles, making the situation tense.

I was about to talk to the man who is now regarded as Chechnya’s new president.

Running the war destroyed republic isn’t a job for the faint-hearted. But then again, Ramzan Kadyrov is no ordinary man.

In the early 1990s at the age of 16 he was already commanding a band of Chechen separatist fighters in the first Chechen war.

After the second Chechen war in 2002, Kadyrov’s father, Akhmad Kadyrov, changed sides, leading a pro-Moscow government of former rebels. Two years later the elder Kadyrov was dead, blown up by an assassin’s bomb in Grozny.

Desperate to find a replacement, Moscow turned to his then 28 year old son, who was then head of the secret police. The former rebel then became Chechnya’s prime minister.

The problem for me was that the man now about to be promoted to president had disappeared.

As I stamped my feet trying to stay warm a man in a tweed overcoat emerged from the gatehouse. In perfect accented English he apologised for his boss’s failure to appear.

Either he didn’t want to tell me, or more likely, he didn’t know that Mr Kadyrov was in fact in Moscow.

While I’d been heading south towards the Caucasus, Ramzan was heading in the opposite direction, called to the Kremlin for his meeting. I would not be able to speak with “the Lion of the Caucasus” this time.

A few minutes later amid a lot of shouting, police sirens and revving engines I was packed into a car. We were heading straight for Grozny, Chechnya’s decimated capital.

As we lurched down the potholed road our convoy gathered speed. Soon the speedometer on the old Volga saloon was reading 160 km/h, that’s 100 miles an hour, on a bumpy two-lane Chechen road. Ramzans militia were keen on hanging out of the sunroof and letting off bursts of rounds from their automatic rifles causing the car to swerve on the icy road, Becoming nervous I reached for my seatbelt, to find it did not have a buckle.

The Grozny I had expected, the one I’d experienced, resembled Berlin in 1945. Just four years ago the United Nations still called Grozny the most destroyed city on earth. Ravaged by two brutal wars, it had not a single building left undamaged by the brutal urban warfare fought to take the city.

But now right in front of me, on either side of Grozny’s main street, stood rows of freshly painted blocks of flats. At the far end the soaring minarets of a huge new mosque, the largest mosque in Europe and Russia.

Grozny is being rebuilt at a frenetic pace… and it’s being paid for by Moscow. For the Kremlin the sooner the scars are erased, the sooner the outside world will forget the two brutal wars it fought and the war crimes it committed, to keep the rebel republic under Russian control.

The way I see it, the more young Chechen men working on building sites, the fewer that will be tempted to pick up a gun against Russia.

But while Moscow pays the bills, running Chechnya is today left to Ramzan Kadyrov and his band of former rebels.

In many ways the policy has been a success. The war does seem to be over because thousands of rebel fighters have been absorbed into Mr Kadyrov’s new Chechen army.

But under his rule thousands of other Chechen men have disappeared without trace.

In the middle of Grozny I am surrounded by a group of women holding scratchy photographs of young men. They are the mothers of the disappeared. Their stories are eerily similar, of sons, brothers and husbands who left home one day to go to work, to the shops, to apply for a new passport, and never came back.

A woman with bright green eyes looks at me. I just want to know what has happened to my son, she said. Where is he? Is he alive or dead? People say life is better now, that the war is over, but for us the war will never be over until we find out what has happened to our children, I fear I will never see my son again.

The Wolf Of The Caucasus