Chechnya and the German Left's Silent Hypocrisy

(By Ray D.)

Day for day in the German media, the United States is mercilessly criticized over abuses and alleged abuses that have occurred at Abu Ghraib and other military prisons. This open and harsh criticism continues to be regularly voiced despite the US government's highly visible efforts to punish those guilty of abuse while aggressively stepping-up military training programs to prevent future occurrences of abuse.

But when it comes to Chechnya, where up to 5,000 people have simply disappeared in a brutal Russian war that has claimed thousands of victims, there is no widespread outcry or criticism in the German media. When compared to the amount of reporting done on Iraq, the level of reporting on Chechnya is negligible. The bloody conflict in Chechnya has also barely been mentioned by Europe's leading politicians of late and has never been cause enough for the so-called "peace movement" to pound the pavement in mass protest. After all, Vladimir Putin is seen as a valuable partner by Germany's leaders and welcomed with open arms on state visits. And mentioning the quagmire in the Caucuses or engaging in anti-war protests would only upset Gerhard Schroeder's brilliant Ostpolitik and his chummy Männerfreundschaft with Putin. Never mind the thousands of faceless victims in Chechnya...

So is it any surprise that more Germans trust Vladimir Putin than George Bush?

A recent poll by Infratest published in Die Welt revealed:

"The Russian President enjoys great trust especially in the east of the republic, so the result of the representative poll. While the national average is 29% for Putin and 24% for Bush, Putin gets 37% alone in eastern Germany (Bush 16%). To compare: In western Germany Bush has 27% and Putin 26%."

The results can be better understood in the context of an interesting article written by Adrian Pohr for  Die Zeit entitled 'The "Missing" Chechnyans'. Here, now, is an exclusive translation of the article for our Medienkritik readers:

The “Missing” Chechnyans

"Human Rights Watch speaks of up to 5,000 cases in which Chechnyan people have been abducted. In the Chechnya question the Europeans have, to this point, made themselves noticed primarily through their silence.

Relations with Russia mean a lot to Europe. Unpleasant topics are better left out, like the disappearing freedom of the press, the centralization of power in Vladimir Putin’s hands or the Chechnya question. While US President George W. Bush was latently criticizing the Russian understanding of democracy during his meeting with Putin at the end of February, his colleagues from France, Spain and Germany remained rather silent during their four-way meeting last Friday. Neither Jacques Chirac and Jose Louis Rodriguez Zapatero nor Gerhard Schroeder even uttered the word Chechnya—and there have certainly been developments worth criticizing of late.

For example the killing of rebel leader Aslan Mashadov. Russian troops murdered the moderate Chechnyan; the photos of the dead man were released afterwards for a general display of the corpse. From Moscow one could register celebration in light of the blow struck against terrorism. The fact that the last Chechnyan leader willing to negotiate was executed has been realized by the European media, but not by their national leaders. Today the human rights organization Human Rights Watch released a report that forces up further unpleasant questions about the Russian Chechnya policy and harshly criticizes the accompanying European silence.

The report is the result of a comprehensive examination of the human rights organization on the abduction of people in Chechnya. According to the data from Human Rights Watch, between 3,000 to 5,000 Chechnyans have become victims of abductions, which gives Russia the infamous distinction of being the worldwide leader in forced abductions. The human rights organization found it remarkable that the EU has for the first time not introduced a Chechnya resolution at the UN Human Rights Commission: Looking away while human rights violations are taking place is without scruple.

While Putin is claiming to the international community that the situation in Chechnya is normalizing, abductions are taking place with the full knowledge of the Russian government according to the report. The government has admitted in an official statistic that at least 2,090 people have disappeared since the beginning of the Chechnyan conflict. However, according to the vivid reports in the report from Human Rights Watch the missing do not simply dissolve into thin air, but are instead brutally ripped from their families through the force of arms, as relatives recounted.

And the perpetrators of the kidnappings were identified by the human rights organization: In the overwhelming majority of the cases the perpetrators were without a doubt agents of the government, either federal troops or (pro-Russian) Chechnyan security forces. And this also explains the low rate of resolved kidnappings, which is a noteworthy zero percent: None of the 1,814 criminal investigations have led to conviction of the perpetrators according to information from a Chechnyan official.

The missing are divided by Human Rights Watch into three categories: Most are men between the ages of eighteen and forty who the government officials believed had connections with the rebels. Secondly many women have been kidnapped lately – a trend that can be traced back to the recent participation of female Chechnyan underground fighters in terrorist attacks in Russia. A minority has thirdly been abducted because of their (familial) relation to rebels, probably to press information out of them about their unpopular relatives or to put them under pressure. And so Human Rights Watch complains about the possible (and in many cases, in their view, probable) torture of those abducted.

Human Rights Watch has called on the United Nations to actively take on these human rights violations. Because the Russian government does not feel obligated to pursue the perpetrators. And that contributes to the ongoing cycle of abuse summed up the human rights organization. In the view of experts the Kremlin does not give direct orders to kidnap. But according to Roland Goetz, director of the research group Russia at the Foundation for Science and Politics in Berlin, Moscow allows its armed forces in Chechnya large freedom. The abductions are at least not stopped on the part of the Kremlin, which is a form of approval, says Goetz.

The perpetrators have two differing motivations to kidnap people according to him. On the one hand they want to demonstrate their dominance. On the other, the kidnapping of Chechnyans is also an excellent source of money. For the kidnapped or the corpses of the kidnapped the perpetrators demanded ransom. Good business was especially possible with the dead; according to the beliefs of most Chechnyans, the souls of the dead first find their peace when buried."

So where is the daily media outrage on Chechnya? Where is the anger at all of the widespread, systematic torture carried out by Russian troops and condoned by the Russian government? How could it be that virtually none of the cases of kidnappings have been legally resolved? Where is the German left in all of this? Why the outrage over Iraq and the deafening silence on Chechnya? Why the double-standard?

Why is virtually no one asking whether those abducted in Chechnya are receiving proper treatment and being tried in a fair and legal manner before a court of law? Are they receiving proper medical care and visits from the Red Cross? Are their international human rights being upheld? Are both male and female prisoners free from sexual abuse and humiliation? Where is the so-called "peace movement" when Vladimir Putin visits Germany? Why aren't they out beating their drums and waving their rainbow flags by the thousands?

Oh yeah, one final note: The results of the poll on who Germans trust is truly revealing. However, it would be even more revealing to see the results of a poll that asked Germans where they would prefer to live if forced to decide between Russia and the USA. As Markus Wolf, East Germany's notorious Stasi spymaster and the mastermind of the organization's counter-espionage department noted when the CIA attempted to recruit him at the end of the Cold War with offers of money and resettlement in California: "Life in Siberia isn't too bad either."

UPDATE: Here is a flattering first for Davids Medienkritik: A fellow blogger liked this article so much he translated the entire piece into Hungarian. Thank you Vilmos!

Comments

[PacRim Jim]

Germans and Russians deserve each other. Socialism makes strange bedfellows, and I do mean fellows.

[ic, chicago]

Isn't the full name of Nazism National Socialism? Both of their leaders use whatever means, including torture, to impose their wills on the populace. Won't it be ironic if by the middle of this century democratic Iraqis have to come to rescue the West from their socialist slave masters?

[Scott]

Hmmm, seems to me a certain slogan might be appropriate here, too: "It's all about oil." Well, maybe not "all," but since more of Germany's oil comes from Russia than from anyplace else (almost 30%, I believe), such behavior is expected. Something to do with "biting the hand that feeds you."

Along those lines, I continue to be amazed that the price of gasoline in Germany has remained virtually unchanged in the last year, while the price of oil (and gas in the US) has skyrocketed. Just imagine the hot water Schroeder would be in if the "man on the street" in Germany had to deal with a 30% increase in the price of gas. It already costs us 72 Euros to fill the tank of our little VW (equivalent to roughly $94, for those of you in the US).

Of course, it could be the ideological similarities...who knows.

[BBR, Chicago]

Gas remaines unchanged in Germany because of the Euro. It has been rising against the dollar and that keeps your prices low because oil is traded in dollars.

If the dollar starts to gain ground on the euro, And it will someday, put your seatbelts on!!

[Peter P. Haase]

The official German "forgiveness" toward Soviet Russian atrocities finds its beginning right after World War 2. After the Red Army devastated the former East German provinces with the officialy condoned rape and slaughter of 2.8 Million civilians and the expulsion of 12 Million. The German political Left justifies this horror with the opinion that Germans had also killed countless Russians during the war. Never mind, that this expulsion of innocent German peoples was the largest in recorded human history.

However, this kind of bestial "relativity theory" is not acceptable to international or national juris prudence. As a matter of fact, no civilized nation can find any justice in killing Millions of innocents with revenge as the only justification. Unfortunately, this has been the custom of warfare by Eurasian powers (particularly Russia) for many centuries.

What is the disquieting novelty in this matter is the acquiescence and agreement with such a horrible methodology of warfare by western politicians. They are fearful that the loss of possible, lucrative export markets in Russia might ensue after a sharp rebuke and criticism of Russia by Europe as a whole.

It is this kind of unholy alliance of Capitalism with Marxism in the West which prevents the West from protesting loudly and with one voice against the still remaining results of the Red Army's holocaust in the historic East Germany as well as against current inhumanities which are again displayed by Putin in Chechnya.

Peter P. Haase
Boca Raton, Florida

[Downer]

Henrk M. Broder mentioned a very important point:

"Bei der Reise von Gerhard Schröder nach Saudi-Arabien fiel mir übrigens auch auf, daß unser Kanzler umso besser gelaunt ist, je reaktionärer das Land ist, das er gerade besucht, je weniger es die Menschenrechte respektiert. In China lächelte er, in Russland nahm er seinen Freund Putin lange in die Arme, in Saudi-Arabien strahlte er beim Besuch des Nationalmuseums, wobei er sich besonders für die Rolls-Royce-Sammlung der königlichen Familie interessierte."

[Joe]

Are we supposed to be surprised by this???

[Anton V]

In Russia it is conventional wisdom that Germany (and particularly Schroeder's government) has a special relationship with Putin. To begin with, Putin was stationed in East Germany for much of his KGB career and he knows exactly how to talk to Germans (in German too, I believe!) What's more, Schroeder has positioned himself as Putin's gateway to the West and often acts as an intermediary when Putin is trying to negotiate with the EU or USA. They have a nice little geopolitical + economic bloc going and they're hesitant to wreck it.

So nobody should hold their breath waiting for Schroeder to condemn Putin's campaign in Chechnya. Alienate a major trading parter and political ally over something as trifling as a few major atrocities? Forget it.

[Hector]

Scott,
Well said. Let's not forget Germany's dependence on Russian natural gas as well.

Ja, es geht um oel und gas!

Putin has more than enough leverage to keep Schroeder quiet and obedient...too bad the German press does not point this out to its own people.

[Doug]

When did it become the German media's concern to tell Germans anything but that they are a reasonable, sophisticated, enlightened beacon to world civilization?

[Mahmoud Masri]

The reason Schoeder (and a host of others) can criticize and demonize America and Americians is because it is safe to do so. There are no consequences.

The US notified Germany a while back that they were closing some of their military bases, which would have resulted in a ten BILLION dollar loss to the German economy. You would think the German government would have been glad to have the hegemonist occupiers reduce their presence in Germany, but (GASP) that was not the case. The US agreed not to close the bases, but there was no obvious quid pro quo. The inflamatory rhetoric and crap continues, and will continue.

Morons like Noam Chomsky, Ward Churchill and others of their ilk constantly accuse the USA of being a fascist state. If that were true, they would have "disappeared" a long time ago. Their mere continuing existence refutes the charge. The fact is, the American government generally respects freedom of speech, even when it it harmed by misrepresentations.

Schroeder will soon discover that demographics are dooming his country. It will be interesting to see how the blame for this will be attributed to the US.

[Walter E. Wallis]

Stupid drunks are always taunting the big guy in the bar, secure in the knowledge he won't deck them. Sometimes, they go too far. And sometimes the big guy leaves and the small time hoods come in and wipe the drunks up.

[beimami]

@Scott and Hector

You are on target gentlemen - it is about nothing but oil. The same was true of the French/German opposition to the liberation of Iraq.

[Stan LS]

For example the killing of rebel leader Aslan Mashadov. Russian troops murdered the moderate Chechnyan

What was so moderate about Maskhadov??? He didn't even renounce Basayev after Beslan.

[Del Hoeft]

Russian president enjoys great trust...

After 50 years of Russian occupation of East Germany, one could ask an east German 'who's your daddy' (both figuratively and literally). Could this be the perverse bond between an abused child and an abusive parent?

I'm guessing France is still west Germany's pimpdaddy of choice. I wish more Germans would come forward on this site and explain such results to bewildered Amis such as myself. I'm thanking God some German I never knew had two brain cells to rub together and booked a oneway ticket on a leaky boat out of Stettin.

For the love of Limburger, what the hell is going on in Germany?

[Doug]

On the bright side, I'll bet that not one of those "disappeared" Chechens has had to suffer the <strike>torture</strike> indignity of underwear on their head.

[Phil]

@ Ray D.,

These are very good points you make. The Zeit article is interesting and I remember another fascinating (and disturbing) piece in last weeks print edition. It concerns the genocide inflicted by the Turks on the Armenians during WWI. So far the Turks have never admitted to it, yet the Greens and the SPD couldn't care less since it would not fit into their worldview of Turkey belonging to the EU.

[Phil]

@ Niko,

You're right. I didn't have the time to summarise the whole article. Thanks

[Joe]

Niko,

Do you have a primary source to support your statement about the US blocking international efforts to call it a genocide.

Thanks.

[James]

The silly thing here is that Germany "borrows" much of it's media information from the broader American media and then rebands it as it's own. Ironically, the German media then willfully chooses to then ignore the original source of this information and claim that Americans are "gleichgeschaltet." One only need to look to the sources like Mike Moore, Susan Sontag, Chomsky, et al : all popular figures within Germany's "intellectual" circles.

Following 9/11, the US hit back in Afghanistan. Planning required cooperation with the Russians as the US needed access to military bases in the former Soviet Union. Part of the deal was that the US would "tone down" it's criticism of Russian attrocities and plentiful human rights abuses in Chechnya. Not a perfect deal, but it was what the Russians wanted in return. I don't think that the Germans were required with such an agreement, they arrived after Kabul had been taken.

Since the US Govt has stopped criticising Russia, so has the American press also stopped it's criticism. We never hear so much as a peep about Chechnya in Germany.

Note that the US Govt remains very critical of "genocide" in the Sudan, whilst our German and EU allies choose different words to describe the systematic goverment driven rape and murder. If the UN were to find genocide in the Sudan, according to it's charter, it MUST act.