Pat Robertson, a US TV preacher (;-) called for the assasination of Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, on his 700 club TV show. This is not crazy enough on it’s own. No no, he had to bring in the spectre of the pinko commies and wahhabists, accusing Chavez of turning Venezuela into “the launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism.” This just defies belief really, but it’s especially stupid when you consider that Robertson is head of an organisation that claims to have 2 million members in the US and was instrumental in getting Bush elected in at least one state.

After Uzbekistan’s latest strike in the war on terror, the massacre of hundreds of civilians by the Uzbek army, it’s becoming more apparent that western relations with Islam Karimov’s regime have followed an all too familiar path. In return for almost complete silence about human rights abuses and big piles of cash the Uzbeks are hosts to not one but two western airbases, belonging to the US and Germany. Though the US one is probably closed by the time you read this. Don’t worry though, the UK government is acting responsibly and just training the Uzbek army for them. The army that has received $120m from the US. Which compliments the $80m given for security forces.

Perhaps the most heinous aspect of the west’s relationship with Uzbekistan is the CIA’s use of the country as a torture destination for people rounded up elsewhere in the theatre of the War on Terror. Once there prisoners can expect any kind of fate, up to and including being boiled to death, as one man was in 2004.

Some commentators took the opportunity to predict Karimov’s downfall following the events in May. But while our governments in the west all call for independent investigations at the same time as handing over the cash and while he still has powerful friends in Russia and China, it seems he will remain comfortable enough.

Oh, and his daughter’s a madam.

Shamil Basayev emerges out of Chechnya like a primal force. From a region of such chaos, destroyed cities, horrific abuses of corrupt federals and terrible punishments exacted by rebels driven by a need for horrific revenge, he’s a rock. He is a brutal, brutal man and a fascinating one. Starting out as a soldier, his real skill is for terror, he looms like a comic book supervillain, decimating the pro-Russian population of the north Caucasus and killing indiscriminately in hospitals and schools. He’s an anachronism, seemingly keeping the second Chechen war going single handedly as all it’s other leaders fall fowl to the steady pressure of the Russians.

But suddenly he’s on TV. Channel 4 screened an interview with him in February, in the aftermath of Beslan. He responded to questions sent via middlemen. Now ABC has screened a face-to-face interview conducted by Andrei Babitsky, severely irritating the Russian government.

I find this a bit weird. He’s a man who’s existed in the middle of this kind of ball of chaos which is the mountains of the north Caucasus, lashing out against his enemies once in a while. He seems to have changed tack, at least temporarily, by working with the western media directly. Perhaps this is an attempt to raise his profile before another attack. He has already stated that he is planning more atrocities like Beslan.

The Russians have made a big cock up here. Their conduct in Chechnya has been abhorrent from the beginning. Stalin deported the entire nation to central asia, accusing them of collaborating with the Nazis. The first and second wars are characterised by bitter and bloody fighting, with vicious human rights abuses on both sides (organ farming, kidnapping). The Russians have not been able to paint the clear-cut picture of Chechnya as home of Basayev the terrorist they would like because they themselves are at fault also. Now Basayev is exploiting that. Despite the fact that he is a terrorist by any definition, ABC calls him a guerilla, Channel 4’s epithet was ” jihadi warrior, philosopher, child-killer, freedom fighter.”

On a related point, I read a very interesting piece on research into patterns in suicide bombings. The conclusion: that the vast majority of suicide bombings are conducted by occupied nations against their occupiers.

Perhaps Basayev fits this trend. Perhaps he really is a freedom fighter, just not a noble or a good one, one who is ruthless and barbaric. Though I’m not sure how our image of freedom fighters got so Hollywoodised any way. He said in the Channel 4 interview that if Russian troops leave Chechnya he will stand trial and accept punishment. This has to be the craziest blackmail ever and it’s not really borne out. He was pretty much responsible for restarting the war in Chechnya after an unsteady peace by invading neighbouring Dagestan.

One thing’s for sure, we’ll be hearing more from Basayev. Another act soon? More public demands on the Russians? The mood amongst the Russian people has scarcely changed, Chechnya is and will always be part of Russia to them. Do we simply have to wait for Basayev to fall into one of the many traps set for him until this is over?

Two excellent articles on Basayev: Wikipedia and Sobaka’s dossier.