Word: russias
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Dartboard was under the impression that the tension between the United States and Russia ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. But the events of the last several weeks showed us that relations between the two nations are far from warm and fuzzy. The arrest of an U.S. State Department worker in Moscow quickly followed by the FBI's arrest of a Russian embassy employee seemed, to us, to be timed to coincide with the release of the latest movie in the James Bond series, "The World Is Not Enough." Cheri Leberknight, the alleged American spy, was apparently carrying...
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...
...Grozny may be mostly symbolic. Chechen forces repelled a Russian armored assault on the center of their besieged capital Wednesday, with the AP reporting that guerrilla fighters had killed a number of Russian troops and left a column of tanks and armored personnel carriers burning in the streets. Russia took heavy losses when it stormed Grozny in the 1994-1996 war, and the capital?s outnumbered and outgunned defenders are hoping to make the Russians pay a heavy price for taking the city. Despite the specter of mounting casualties, the political logic of the war may require that once...
...bloodbath, although Moscow is sending mixed signals over whether it's prepared to talk to the Chechens. But with even Malik Saydulayev, head of the new Chechen puppet government created in Moscow, calling for talks with more moderate Chechen commanders, some form of deal may be in the works. Russia has plainly won this phase of the war, forcing the guerrilla army of President Aslan Mashkadov to retreat from every urban center in the country other than the capital...
...capture of Grozny may put a symbolic seal on Russia?s victory, but that victory remains partial. After all, guerrilla wars aren?t won by capturing territory, and the Chechen forces have retreated mostly intact from the Russian advance. They're already making life difficult for Russian forces by night in many of the areas under Moscow's control, and a protracted guerrilla war against fighters based in the mountains of the 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...