Soulmates Redux?

G8 ministers met yesterday and among other issues announced there is reason to believe Al-Qa'ida now has bases of operations in Chechnya and Georgia. John Ashcroft was in attendance.

It reminded me of an article posted on the Kavkaz Center, a site that went down around the time Chechen rebels took hostages at the Moscow Theater and it has yet to come back online or I'd link it. You might recall that horrendous event that Putin brought to a close by gassing the people trapped in the theater with a derivative of Fentanyl, a powerful opium-based narcotic. Sharon congratulated him. Bush refused to criticise him. 117 hostages died in the 58-hour siege.

But the article I recalled was an opinion that war in Iraq and Georgia would start at the same time. This is an excerpt;

Quoted figures of the so-called sociological poll only confirm our fears. Everything is actually ready for an invasion. The Kremlin is just waiting for a good opportunity, right time and proper international situation. So far the US position is holding them back, but once the war with Iraq starts, Washington will have no time for Georgia. As far as Europe goes, it actually gave Georgia up. This is the only way you can interpret the recent statement made by the European Union that the EU is not taking sides in the Russian-Georgian conflict. This unexpectedly demonstrative neutrality is nothing but a hint that Georgia should not expect any serious help from Europe

This Economist article published at the time describes a bit of the political climate and the atrocities both sides commit.

I remember wondering at the time if Putin was withholding support for the strike on Iraq in exchange for what appears to be happening now. A linking of the Chechens to Al-Qa'ida in order to eliminate his problem.

Is it just a coincidence that it was announced yesterday that Putin and Bush plan to meet later this month to discuss the militarization of space?

Update 5/8: Media Whores Online has noticed that Bush's recent photo-op 'jet gimmick' is eerily similar to a flight diversion Putin arranged when he was having domestic issues.