Boris is gone

[Phillip]

I get to be the first one to post this :-)

So Boris is gone - good or bad?



[This message has been edited by Phillip (edited 15 January 2000).]

[StasUA]

It is bad, Boris was neutral... we dont know what Putin will change, but he looks pretty aggressive, so he may not be friendly to motherland Ukraine.

[Phillip]

I am getting the same impression. I have seen him showing off his judo on TV. - trying to look like a take no sh*t kinda guy, plus he flew to Chechnia showing much the same sorta thing. I guess you knew all that.

I think Russians are happy and lets hope, fingers, crossed he stops at Chechnia.

I don't know abou the situation, but from what I can tell about your history these things happen easily.

[johnstruthers]

I like Putin. I don't think he poses any danger to Ukraine, or anyone else. I've already expressed my opinion on the very aggressive Chechens: It's tragic, but necessary. We wouldn't let Alabama threaten to secede, then attack Georgia (Dagestan), then blow up buildings in Washington. We'd turn Mobile into dust, in that analogy. He sounds responsible, has the support of enough in the Duma to succeed in passing programs, and he has the firm hand that Russians have been looking for. He has the support of the demoralized military, and as former head of KGB, he knows where the skeletons are. He's tough, smart and young. Most importantly, he's not a communist.
Regards,
J

[StasUA]

I heard(from unofficial resources) that war in Chechnya was planned by Putin so he can show off there and so Russian people love him. He blowed buildings in Russia, so people think chechens did it. And it proves by one thing, everytime terrorists blow something they say why they did it (ex: for allah) But in Russia, nobody said nothing.
I'm not saying that I believe this, but I cant say thjat I dont.

[johnstruthers]

Sometimes terrorists brag about their destruction, sometimes they don't. To the extent that Russia doesn't really have the same apparatus as during Soviet years, it would be difficult to keep that scenario a secret internally. There are too many people who would profit from the revelation. I'm not saying the scenario you posted is wrong, Stas, merely that it would be too dangerous to pull off, so I view it as unlikely. I believe that Chechens did it, but that it was a bunch of free-lancers, and not a "statement" by the organized Chechen rebels.

[StasUA]

Actually for a guy that used to command soviets KGB, it would be/was pretty easy to make it secret.