SKINHEAD WARS IN RUSSIA
As a variety of embassies warned their nationals in Russia to beware of attacks by skinheads following racist assaults from Moscow to Sakhalin, President Vladimir Putin declared "war" against racially motivated violence. "The growth of extremism is a serious threat to stability and public security in the country," Putin said in his state of the nation address. "I am referring first of all to those who under fascist and extremist slogans and symbols organize pogroms and beat people..." He said he would send tough new legislation soon to the Duma. However, it was just Wednesday that the Duma rejected a petition by liberal lawmakers to put hearings about extremism on the agenda for its fall session and voted down a proposal to invite Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov and General Prosecutor Vladimir Ustinov to report about extremist and nationalist groups.

In the southern Krasnodar region, a renowned hotbed of Russian nationalism, a skinhead group raided an Armenian cemetery Wednesday night and tore down about 30 monuments. Skinheads vandalized a synagogue in Kostroma on March 31. Last week, a number of foreign embassies received e-mails warning of a "skinhead war" against foreigners. Then on Wednesday, the Afghan Embassy issued an appeal to the Foreign Ministry for a crackdown on racial violence, saying an Afghan interpreter had died from injuries inflicted in a skinhead attack Monday. "Our countrymen are extremely concerned about the growth of nationalist attitudes in certain layers of Russian society," the embassy said in the appeal. "Afghans ... suffer daily attacks by Nazi-minded youth, and receive no protection from law enforcement officers," it said. The embassies of eight CIS countries in central Asia and the Transcaucasus had filed similar appeals with the Foreign Ministry. The police earlier this week received an anonymous phone call warning that 30 skinheads were planning to celebrate Hitler's birthday on Saturday by attacking Japanese and Koreans in the far eastern part of the country. The U.S. Embassy warned American citizens to ``exercise caution and to avoid large gatherings and areas frequented by 'skinhead' groups.''

Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov ordered increased police patrols starting today at places where violence is expected, including foreign embassies, soccer stadiums and outdoor markets where people from Central Asia and the Caucasus Mountains region often work as vendors.

Today Sri Lanka asked Russia to step up security for its nationals after a series of racially motivated right-wing attacks against Sri Lankans in Moscow. Also today, the Indian embassy in Moscow alerted all Indians in Russia to take precautionary measures ahead of Adolph Hitler's birth anniversary on Saturday after it received an e-mail ordering all members of the community out of the country "or else get killed." Indians have been the subject of numerous attacks in past months. And also again today, a bomb exploded near a synagogue in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. Dozens of youths attacked synagogues last Saturday in Kiev, the capital of neighboring Ukraine, beating three people with stones and breaking windows.
Sources: St. Petersburg Times (Russia), Moscow Times, Reuters, Indian Express, MSNBC, Guardian

The Oread Daily provides daily (Monday-Friday) progressive, left, anti-racist, anarchist, commie, activist, environmental, Marxist, revolutionary, etc. news and information from around the US and around the world. The Oread Daily was a mimeographed sheet that came out first in the summer of 1970 in Lawrence, Kansas. It was irreverent, radical, spicy, revolutionary et. al. Now, three decades later it returns. To view the entire Oread Daily, please visit:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OreadDaily