Anti-Japan protests in China spread.

[Mr Khan]

mrstickball said:

mai said:

mrstickball said:

 Belarus and South Ossetia for starters. Then you have that whole Chechnya issue that has been dragging on for 20 years.

You also have a lot of interference and issues with the Ukraine as well. Those are just the ones I know of off the top of my head - I haven't even looked into Russia's former eastern holdings to see what's been going on with them lately.

Err, come again? What about Belarus? What about South Ossetia? Let alone Chechnya which is a part of Russia for almost 200 years? Ukraine?

Elaborate. I cannot comment on smth as laconic.

Chechnya wanted independence like the other former Soviet states. They did not sign the Federation Treaty, and Russia did not honor that. Instead, the Russians invaded Grozny and killed tens of thousands of civilians in the 1st Chechen War. You can say whatever you like, but Russia put troops in a state that wanted to become a soverign entity. Up to 100,000 civilians died in the 1st conflict - almost as many as the Iraq war.

South Ossetia? Russia rolls in tanks within a few hours of Georgia attacking the rebels. They then proceed to destroy as much of the Georgian military as fast as possible. Why was Russia so ready and willing to attack a former state? Why were they mobilized and ready to send their mechanized troops at the drop of a hat? Furthermore, when the Georgians pulled out of South Ossetia, the Russians came in and have more or less annexed the area, by giving their civilians dual-citizenship with Russia.

In the Ukraine, you have the poisoning of anti-Russian presidential candidate (when he was candidate), Viktor Yushchenko. Many point to external influences on that, because he wasn't the Russian-backed favorite.

The South Ossetia thing was high-tension for a good two years before the actual war broke out. Russia had plenty of lead-in time for that war to not have been a plot.