Sunday, September 05, 2004

"...To rebuff them or to begin obeying their orders..."

You can read the full text of Vladimir Putin's speech here:

"We winked at our own weakness, and it is the weak who are always beaten up. Some want to tear away [some] piece of our wealth, while others help these aspirants in so doing. They still believe that Russia poses a threat to them as a nuclear power. That is why this threat must be eliminated, and terrorism is just another instrument in implementing their designs. As I said, we encountered crises, revolts, and terrorist acts on many occasions, but what happened this time is a terrorist crime, the cruelty of which stands beyond precedence. This is not a challenge to the President, Parliament, or cabinet of ministers; this is a challenge to the entire Russian state and its people. This is aggression against us. The terrorists believe they are stronger than ourselves, that their cruelty will intimidate us, paralyze our will and degenerate our society. Here we have a seeming alternative -- to rebuff them or to begin obeying their orders. The second means to give in and to let them partition Russia in a hope that they will somehow let us alone. As President of the Russian state, a person who gave an oath to defend the nation and its territorial integrity, and last but not least, as a Russian citizen, I am confident that we have no such alternative. "