Word: chechnya
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These actions epitomize the sense of insecurity that Russia feels in the Western-dominated post Cold War world. Russia is frightened, almost mortally terrified. On a recent trip to China, Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin responded to President Clinton's criticism of the war in Chechnya by touting the power of Russia's nuclear arsenal. To Dartboard, it brought to mind our own experience as a scared teenager. When we felt threatened, we too ran off to find our six foot, 250-pound football-playing buddy to back...
...latest round of Western hand-wringing looks unlikely to stop Russia's Chechnya campaign - particularly since it's not backed up by any credible threat. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright warned Friday that the U.S. was "reviewing" loans to Russia as she joined G7 foreign ministers and her Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, in Berlin for talks on the crisis. But President Clinton last week emphasized Washington's belief that sanctions are an inappropriate response to the Chechnya situation, and Moscow isn't likely to lose any sleep over the latest warnings. Having reportedly lost an armored column...
...usually record these things," says TIME Moscow correspondent Andrew Meier. "After Moscow's denials, a video showing the ambush did occur could prove embarrassing to Russia's generals." It would prove even more embarrassing to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has built his political reputation almost exclusively on the Chechnya campaign. "The plan may have been for Putin to fly down and raise the Russian flag over Grozny on the eve of Sunday's parliamentary elections," says Meier. "But if reports of the ambush prove true, that could throw a wrench in the works." Once Sunday's elections are over...
...south will mean mounting Russian casualties in exchange for few tangible gains. That gives Russia an incentive to try and divide the Chechen resistance with concessions to the moderates, while seeking to isolate and neutralize hard-liners. With Russian parliamentary elections only five days away, success in Chechnya has fueled the unlikely rise of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to the pinnacle of political popularity. But he won't want this war dragging on into next summer, when he goes to the polls in the hope of succeeding President Yeltsin...
...must be wary of sliding into the classic response of seeing an oppressed minority and leaping forward, enthusiastic they they should have their own state. Nor should we relax, confident that Russia's reconquest of the province will restore stability. The only sure consequence of 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...