Word: caucasus
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Once again the mountains of the Caucasus are the backdrop to scenes of violence, cruelty and suffering. The Russian government last week warned all civilians in Grozny, the capital of the breakaway republic of Chechnya, that they must leave the city in a days or be killed when the city is destroyed in an apocalyptic artillery barrage and bombing. This is a particularly cavalier escalation of a war which has already been very punishing for Chechen civilians...
...consequences of Chechen independence would not only be misery for the Chechens but a destabilization of the already unsteady Caucasus. During the past few years of autonomy, Chechnya became home to several foreign Islamic fundamentalist warlords, who have taken advantage of the confusion and abundance of arms to use it as a base for spreading rebellion in neighboring provinces. Russians often point to the Chechen government's ties to organized crime, and warn that an independent Chechen state could quickly become a conduit for drugs and smuggled arms. There is little doubt that that a Chechnya that wins its independence...
...this war is that Chechnya will be destabilized for years and possibly decades to come. Perhaps the West can serve a useful role when the fighting has ended in advising or reconstruction. Regardless, for the corpses of Russian conscripts and Chechen civilians mouldering amidst the harsh beauty of the Caucasus, this war has been worth very little...
...improving its human rights record and accepting the binding arbitration of the International Court of Justice at the Hague in its long-running dispute with Greece over Cyprus. "This is good news for the U.S. because Turkey is NATO's front line in relation to Russia and the Caucasus, and drawing them closer to Europe cements the West's security alliance with Ankara," says TIME U.N. correspondent William Dowell...
...Russian generals like to compare their operation to NATO's Kosovo campaign, it's proving a lot more expensive. Moscow has already acknowledged losing four soldiers and two planes in the campaign, while Chechen authorities claim their forces have killed upwards of 100 Russian men. Heavy losses in the Caucasus could prompt a backlash from Russian voters; meanwhile, the campaign has already drawn criticism from the U.S. and the European Union. That's likely to grow amid a burgeoning humanitarian crisis. More than 100,000 refugees have fled Chechnya since Russia began bombing and cut off gas supplies, and that...