Fanatics and Fire: Medvedev on MidEast unrest

President Dmitry Medvedev made his first comments today on the revolutions rocking the Middle East and North Africa, as Libya explodes in a round of state-sponsored violence the likes of which the world has never seen.

If you’re looking for condemnations of the regime of Col. Gaddafi or calls to peace and dialogue, move right along.

Medvedev said it was “quite probable” that “fanatics” would come to power, according to Russian news agencies accompanying the president on a visit to Russia’s troubled Caucasus. He did not name specific countries, but said they could face “fires for decades and the spread of extremism.”

“These states are not simple and it is quite likely that complicated developments may occur, including the rise of fanatics to power – this would mean decades of flames and the spread of extremism, let's look the truth in the eye,” he said.

And here’s the kicker – Medvedev appears to have joined the long standing chorus of Russian politicians eager to blame Russia’s troubles on “outside forces” (usually a veiled reference to some combination of the CIA, MI6 and Mossad).

“They also prepared such a scenario for us earlier, and what’s more they will try to realize it now – in no way will this scenario pass,” he said, failing to say exactly who “they” were.

The view of outside involvement in Russia’s troubles is particularly popular among Caucasus leaders like Ramzan Kadyrov, who has blamed the Islamist rebel movement that grew out of his republic on the US and UK. Either it’s something in the air down there or as Russia’s terror problem spirals out of control, Medvedev is no longer playing the nice, rational lawyer that he is so often held up to be.