RUSSIAN GENERAL CAPTURED BY CHECHEN DEFENDERS January 21, 2000 The London Telegraph

"Chechen forces piled fresh humiliation on the Russian military yesterday by announcing the capture of a general in charge of the army's efforts to storm Grozny. Maj Gen Mikhail Malofeyev was taken prisoner in the Chechen capital but was removed to "a safe place" where he was being interrogated, the main rebel web site claimed. Russian military sources confirmed that the general had been missing since Tuesday, when a unit he was travelling with was ambushed in Staropromyslovsky, an outlying suburb of Grozny. His fate was unknown, they said. Conflicting Russian reports spoke of the general either being shot dead by a sniper or being wounded in a 'hail of fire' from the rebels. A senior commander falling into the guerrillas' hands was one of the worst blows to Russian morale since the beginning of Moscow's military campaign. No generals were captured during the 1994-96 Chechen war and the rebels are likely to extract as much propaganda value as possible from their new prize. Gen Malofeyev is a deputy commander of the northern group of Russian forces in the north Caucasus and was also described as one of the senior army officers responsible for the operation to take Grozny..."

-- Johnny (jljtm@bellsouth.net), January 21, 2000

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-- I'm Here, I'm There (I'm Everywhere@so.beware), January 21, 2000.

Is it time to "test" those Tactical nukes yet?
UH OH...RUSSIANS CHARGE U.S. WITH SUPPORTING CHECHENS

Russia raises nuke threat

-- Possible Impact (posim@hotmail.com), January 21, 2000.

Russia is looking more and more like a wounded and cornered animal...VERY dangerous! These Chechens are definitely raising the stakes. This event may give Putin and the military an excuse to escalate this war into a NO HOLDS BARRED contest.

-- TM (mercier7@pdnt.com), January 21, 2000.

Wait, this is impossible. According to posts on this forum, the Russians are perched at our shores ready to invade. They can't be getting their asses kicked by a bunch of nomads...

-- Freethinkr (ima@nut.com), January 21, 2000.

It bears repeating, from The Art of War by Sun Tzu...

"When you are strong, feign weakness. When you are weak, feign strength."

-- Chris Tisone (c_tisone@hotmail.com), January 21, 2000.

Chris, uh huh. If a major escalation is afoot, it will need a world-stage justification. Or, could be that this poor general hadn't gotten the job done, so somebody leaked his itinerary. Depending upon this general's previous postings, he may intel of great interest to various powers. Or, maybe I'd just better tip my proverbial hat to the Chechens' intel troops. Coup is right!

-- Redeye in Ohio (cannot@work.com), January 21, 2000.

Your quote, which happens to be one of my favorite, is off point. Russia has not been portraying itself as weak. To the contrary, it has been talking about using its nukes. It has been portraying itself as strong to the rest of the world. It has been saying for months that this confrontation would be over in a matter of weeks, if that long.

The Russians are getting their asses kicked because they have failed to study their history (and their Sun-Tzu): "[T]he art of using troops is this: Do not attack an enemy who has the high ground; do not go against an enemy that has his back to a hill; do not follow an enemy that feigns retreat; do not attack the enemy's finest; do not swallow the enemy's bait; do not obstruct an enemy returning home; in surrounding the enemy, leave him a way out; do not press an enemy that is cornered."

-- Freethinkr (ima@nut.com), January 21, 2000.