Word: russias
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Just that afternoon in Moscow, Russia's generals had boldly predicted imminent victory. The secret of their success, they said, was the change in tactics. Grozny would be taken "in a matter of days," declared General Valeri Manilov of the General Staff, and all of Chechnya would fall to Russia in a month or two. A day later, the military denied that any foray into Grozny had even taken place. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, chief sponsor and political beneficiary of the war, dismissed reports of heavy casualties as "complete nonsense...
...Minutka Square battle was the first real setback for Russia's military since it launched its "counter-terror operation," as Moscow insists on calling the war against Chechen independence. Russian generals are once again figures of respect, not the butt of jokes. The three ground commanders, Colonel General Viktor Kazantsev, Lieut. General Gennadi Troshev and Major General Vladimir Shamanov, were recently named heroes of the Russian Federation. The country's self-confidence has flourished along with its armed forces. And Putin's supporters happily predict that a victory will propel him to the presidency next July...
...casualties and never show combat. When things go wrong, as they apparently did last week in Grozny, the official response to foreign reports is apoplectic. Accounts of the incident were, said General Alexander Zdanovich, spokesman for the internal security service, "active measures" concocted by Western intelligence services to discredit Russia...
Remember that late-'80s joke: The U.S. and Russia waged a cold war for half a century. Who won? Japan...
Well, it did not turn out quite that way. Japan went into economic decline. The U.S.S.R., then Russia, collapsed. Europe entered a decade of economic stagnation and diplomatic fecklessness (as displayed in the Balkans until the U.S. cavalry arrived). And China, though rising, remains decades away from being able to pose a global challenge...