Word: chechen
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...should not be surprising that Chechens would be up in arms following this kind of treatment. But their suffering at the hands of Russia extends back much further. Chechnya only became part of Russia after 19th-century wars. During World War II, Stalin was suspicious of their loyalty, and deported almost the entire nation to Central Asia in cattle trucks, a journey which perhaps a third of them did not survive. Unsurprisingly, they declared themselves independent as many minorities in the fomer U.S.S.R. did, starting the first Chechen war, from which they emerged with a limited form of autonomy...
...there is a great danger in using a litany of past and present wrongs against a minority group as justification for their sovereignty. It is especially tempting with the Chechens, who have a remarkable courage and perseverance in the face of long odds, which they demostrated in the fiercely noble stand a few Chechen fighters made against the massive Russian army this decade...
...Chechnya's experience with autonomy dashes this romantic longing for independence. After Russia was badly mauled in the first Chechen war earlier this decade, the peace settlement gave Chechnya five years of autonomy before a referendum on independence. Despite the election of a moderate president, the country quickly descended into chaos as warlords carved out fiefdoms and law and order almost completely broke down. Foreign aid workers were captured, several were beheaded and the notorious Chechen mafia had a field day in the chaos...
...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...
...keeping Chechnya under Russian control is stricken with almost as many problems. The devastation the Russian army has left in its wake has done irreparable damage to any sort of legitimacy the Russian government might have had to rule the Chechens. Russia recently tried to organize a loyalist government--the only Chechen who would co-operate with them was a former mayor of Grozny in Russian prison following his conviction for embezzlement. In every shelled village, everyone who is killed or maimed leaves behind several family members who fiercely hate the Russian army and its rule...