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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Abbas visits RussiaÂ’s Chechnya
2008-12-21
GROZNY, Russia – Ineffectual Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived on Sunday in Grozny, capital of Russia’s troubled region of Chechnya. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov welcomed Abbas at the airport to take him to his residence along a road decorated with photos of their previous meetings.

“We feel at home here. We thank the Almighty that we came to the Chechen Republic,” Abbas told journalists through an interpreter.
Chechnya is a bombed-out rubble. Of course it feels like home ...
Kadyrov is seen by Chechens as dedicated to the revival of the Muslim religion and has met several influential Muslim leaders from Arab states. Kadyrov, a former rebel who now declares loyalty to the Kremlin, held talks with Abbas during the haj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.

Chechnya, on RussiaÂ’s southern border, is now relatively peaceful after two wars fought by separatist rebels and Islamist militants against MoscowÂ’s rule starting in 1994. Some analysts say that, in return for quelling rebel attacks, the Kremlin has let Kadyrov enforce some Islamic rules, such as requiring women working in government offices to wear headscarves and long skirts, and imposing periodic alcohol bans.

A Kremlin spokesman in Moscow said Abbas would stay in Russia until December 22, when he was due to hold talks with President Dmitry Medvedev.
Posted by:Steve White

#1  "Chechnya is a bombed-out rubble. Of course it feels like home"

Snark-O-The-Day®
Posted by: Mullah Richard   2008-12-21 13:39  

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