Он часто писал на тему Чечни и террора, причём его измышления сводились в основном к следующим положениям:
а) Если где-то (в Чечне или на остальной территории России) поизошёл теракт со значительными жертвами, это не могло быть делом рук чеченских террористов - их вообще нет, все чеченцы исключительно благородные и пушистые, всё это провокации "кровавого режима";
б) Если же всё-таки боевики и террористы есть, то Москва совершено перд ними бессильна, вот-вот (и это тянется уже пять лет) освободительные силы "повстанцев" разгромят проклятых оккупантов и освободят не только Чечню и весь Кавказ;
б) Если же всё-таки произошло столкновение в котором боевики понесли большие потери, то на самом деле это было вовсе не уничтожение террористов и "повстанцев", а "расстрел мирных жителей", "террор против населения" и т.д.
В таком стиле были выдержаны практически все его статьи, в которых злоба обычно достигала степени "уши вянут", не говоря уж о занудстве и весьма посредственной лексике. Например, по поводу взрыва террористок-самоубийц у входа в концерт на Тушинском стадионе (личности которых довольно быстро были установлены) в июне 2003, Фельгенхауер усомнился что это были чеченские террористки, и вместо этого предложил свои кандидатуры в виновники, а именно (просьба не падать со стула):
- "православных фундаменталистов", которым не нравится "сатанинская" рок-музыка;
- московские власти, которым тоже нужен был повод отменить другие концерты:
Maybe this was indeed a deliberate attack on a rock concert? There are Muslim radicals as well as Russian Orthodox Christian fundamentalists who believe that rock music and rock concerts are Satanist, imposed by America...
As a result of the Tushino bombing, another rock festival planned for this summer -- Nashestviye -- has been called off by City Hall. (The Moscow authorities also do not like rock concerts.) http://www.cdi.org/russia/264-8.cfm
Много лет Moscow Times исправно печатали подобную
Последнее время Чеченская тема как-то обеднела. После Беслана больше года боевики не могли организовать ни одного стоящего теракта или вылазки, ну хотя бы пары взрывов которые бы тянули на средний спокойный день в Ираке. И вот, наконец, возрадовалась его душа - случилось нападение в Нальчике, в котором в общей сложности погобло более 100 человек. Но тут незадача: окончательная картина событий ещё не восстановлена но по всем признакам боевики серьёзно проиграли: видимо долго готовились к операции, но в результате получили очень тяжёлые потери: более 90 убитых и более 30 арестованных. По сравнению с нападением на Назрань, в Ингушетии, 22 июня 2004 (весьма успешном для нападавших) - полный провал.
Но не беда - Фельгенхауер спешит на помощь реабилитировать их. Это не боевики погибли там! Они провели успешную операцию и организованно отошли на заготовленные позиции! После этого российская армия стала расстреливать и хватать мирных жителей, выдавая их за боевиков! Русский "кровавый сапог" теперь устрайвает геноцид и в Кабардино-Балкарии!
Но тут случилось неожиданное. Поскольку всё это звучало уж совсем полным бредом, и было предложено без малейшего намёка на доказательства, главред Moscow Times решилa не печатать его статью.
И кисо так обиделось! Видимо подобное случилось с ним впервые - всё что бы он не нёс, послушно воспроизводилось в СМИ (всё же "независимый эксперт"), а тут - отказ. Зажимают свободу! Moscow Times продалось Кровавой Гебне!!! ААААААА!!!! Рразорю!!! Не потерплююю!!!!!
Первым делом Фельгенхауер написал в "приёмную обкома", чем в данном случае ему представляется Johnson's Russia List, который напечатал его возмущённыю ксиву вместе с самой статьёй. Для читающих по английски - под катом, весьма поучительно:
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005
From: Pavel Felgenhauer <pavelf@online.ru>
Subject: re Nalchik
Dear David,
I have a serious conflict of opinion with the chief editor of The Moscow
Times Lynn Berry, concerning the situation in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria
and I believe the public must be informed about it. I have sent several
letters to Berry, have got no response whatsoever and would be much obliged
if you could put the story on your list.
Berry decided not to publish my regular column this week that was filed
Sunday and was about the tragedy in Nalchik, but the story is, I believe,
more important than a simple clash of opinion between editor and columnist.
Today there is mounting evidence from eyewitnesses in Nalchik that the
rebel attack or uprising on Oct. 13 was followed by a rampage by security
forces, by random revenge killings, ethnically and religiously motivated
murder of suspects from the minority Balkar tribe by the local police force
that is predominately Kabardin. Eyewitnesses (I met and had contact with
some) that are in no way connected with the rebels ethnically or
religiously, not only report horrific stories of indiscriminate killings, a
massacre, but also say that the number of dead in Nalchik is several times
higher than officially reported and that there are over 300 corpses in the
local morgue.
There is a cover-up of the alleged massacre in Nalchik that is run by the
Russian state propaganda machine and it seems that The Moscow Times has
succumb to becoming part of this cover-up. Not only have they rejected my
column, which could have been a coincidence, but also their reporting of
events in Nalchik is a copy-story of government propaganda.
The Tuesday Oct. 18 report in MT on the situation in Nalchik by staff
writer Nabi Abdullaev quotes Russian newspapers Izvestia and Gazeta that
cite relatives of dead Nalchik residence that the police planted arms and
ammunition on their bodies to claim they were terrorists. A disclaimer
follows the quote: "The reports could not be independently verified." None
of reports or quotes from government and security officials that fill up
the rest of Abdullaev's text has the same disclaimer though "independent
verification" was indeed lacking in most cases.
The situation is especially urgent and of great public concern, because the
killings in Nalchik have not stopped bloody cleansing or zachistki,
accompanied by heavy shooting are continuing in residential areas. It is
possible that the Nalckik situation, if the repression is left unnoticed,
will turn into something like the tragedy in Andigan, where Uzbek solders
massacred hundreds of civilians last summer.
Best. Pavel Felgenhauer. Independent defense analyst. Moscow.
---------
The column.
By Pavel Felgenhauer
The attack by rebels last week on Nalchik - the capital Kabardino-Balkaria
- was hardly a surprise. Local authorities have been accused by human
rights organization of brutal suppression of Islam and of closing mosques
in the predominantly Muslim Kabardino-Balkaria. Experts have warned the
Kremlin that repressions will backfire.
The security services and their local cadre in Kabardino-Balkaria still do
not know for sure where did the rebels come from, how many fighters were
involved in the attack, how many fled after the shootout and were to. The
official line is that the attackers were Islamic militants or Wahhabis, but
nowadays all armed resistance forces in the Northern Caucasus are
universally branded by the Kremlin as "Wahhabis" and "international
Islamist terrorists."
The authorities have accused well-known Chechen warlords Shamil Basayev and
Doku Umarov of contributing forces to the attack on Nalchik. Again, the
Russian security services do not seem to know how many if any Chechens were
involved or how did they penetrate Kabardino-Balkaria that does not have a
common border with Chechnya. It's possible that our security officials are
deriving their information on the Nalchik attack from rebel Web sites,
because they do not have any reliable agents of the ground.
Small groups of rebels of 3 to 10 men simultaneously attacked police
stations and other military targets (9 locations in all) in Nalchik last
Thursday at 9 am. Most of the engagements lasted about an hour, and then
the rebels melted away before Russian reinforcements could enter the city.
Security forces and army units began putting up roadblocks around Nalchik
long after most of the action was over and these pickets did not cover the
entire perimeter of the city. Three small groups of rebels (less than 20
men, most of them wounded) were stranded in Nalchik and were killed by
Special Forces the next day.
The authorities have announced that 92 rebels have been killed, 37 - taken
prisoner, 24 security force members and 12 civilians perished and that
there are over a hundred wounded. After the Beslan school hostage-taking
last year that ended in the loss of over 300 innocent lives, there was much
fear that something as bad may happen in Nalchik. Vladimir Putin has
praised the security forces for preventing the capture of schools and mass
hostage taking, though there is no evidence that the rebels had any
intention to capture any school. There is also no evidence that if the
rebels would have in fact attack the civilian population in Nalchik, the
security forces, could have done anything to stop them.
The Kremlin has declared the entire engagement a victory, arguing that the
rate of casualties is strongly in favor of the security forces. But the
official body count raises many questions. The history of contemporary
urban anti-guerrilla engagements by Russian forces in the Caucasus,
Americans in Iraq and so on, indicates that dislodging, killing or
capturing over a hundred determined fighters, holed up within a big modern
city requires much effort, a week or so of action and lots of tanks, heavy
guns and attack aircraft support. The casualty list, the duration of the
fight and it's intensify in Nalchik do not match do not match each other.
Information has been coming out of Nalchik that many families are reporting
that young men are missing without explanation. It would seem that after
the original rebel force mostly melted away, the security forces began
revenge attacks against the population, kidnapping and killing suspects
more or less at random. This may explain the abnormally large number of
"terrorists" killed. Local security officials could have used the occasion
to settle old scores with suspected "Wahhabis," while the large number of
dead "terrorists" pleased the Kremlin and allowed it to declare victory.
In the past human rights groups have accused security forces in the
Caucasus of constantly kidnapping and massacring civilians, including women
and children to terrorize local populations to into accepting rule from
Moscow. Now Putin, during a televised meeting with his security chiefs last
Friday, has indorsed the same policy in Kabardino-Balkaria: "We have acted
ruthlessly and will do the same in the future."
Heavy-handed Russian policies have in the past only fanned the flames in
the Caucasus. Repression, kidnappings by security forces, mass murder -
have increased hatred, recruited new rebels and caused the conflict to
spread out of Chechnya over the region. Another victory, another "liberated
city," some have been "liberated" so many times, they have been flattened.