Embittered by the scars of two hundred years of Russian campaign to deny them the right to run their own country, suffered by the prolonged and hopeless conflicts and fearful of political annihilation and economic servitude, largely consisting of guerrillas who fought Russia in 90's and thereafter Moscow installed regimes formed a group of underground fighters and militants. These militants taken over by the feelings of anger, grief, humiliation and eventually, desire for revenge, conveyed a grim message to the Rusian leadership that the resistance against Russian occupation continues, taking ever more insidious, and underground forms.
Jerry Muller (Us and Them, The Enduring Power of Ethnic Nationalism) writing about the ethnic nationalism, says, "Whether politically correct or not, ethnonationalism will continue to shape the world in the twenty-first century." The breakup of the Yugoslavian Balkan states into separate ethno-nationalist entities is point in case. He further argues, "The creation of a peaceful regional order of nation-states has usually been the product of a violent process of ethnic separation. In areas where that separation has not yet occurred, politics is apt to remain ugly." Russian-Chechen forced political marriage is an example where "politics is apt to remain ugly."
When we search for any commonality between the giant Russia and tiny Chechnya, we find none. Russians and Chechens are two distinct people divided by religion, language, customs, culture, architecture and the great economic disparities between the two have further fuelled the divide. Chechnya never enjoyed equal weight with the equitable claims in the Russian system of government or even given a staus of a junior partner in the affairs of the federation. The ground reality is that Chechnya has been politically mutiliated and humiliated under the Russian colonial rule since the Czars took over the mountainous region; Chechens are mere pawns caught up in the Russian pursuit for the Caspian Sea oil.
Mr. Putin may not agree, but repression and political machination and installing puppet regimes in Chechnya will not work in the long run. He may recoil from a political solution now but in the end Russians will have to sit on the other side of the table and talk to Chechens about a political settlement, possibly a referendum monitored by international election observers. If the majority of Chechens vote for independence, Russia should concede and accept the will of the Chechens, and it should be internationally recognized immediately.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
