Chechnya - War Against Terrorism Or Violating Human Rights?

I need a little more info in my noggin to discuss what I think about the whole thing, but I'm leaning towards Russia as the bad guy. I have a Slovakian housemate who despises Russia and wonders why the rest of the world is allowing them to cow Chechnya

I know very little of the background of that conflict other that the Chechens want their independence. However one thing is painfully clear a third outside party can do nothing, short of the use of force, to ameliorate the situation. Only the conflicting parties can. That truism has been proved over and over again.

Some background (granting the most recent news as known):
" [...] Chechnya's main ethnic group is the Chechen, with minorities of Russians and Ingush. The Chechen and Ingush are both Muslim and are two of the many Caucasian mountain peoples whose language belongs to the Nakh group. Fiercely independent, the Chechen and other Caucasian tribes mounted a prolonged resistance to Russian conquest from the 1830s through the '50s under the Muslim leader Sh(mil. They remained successful while the Russians were occupied with the Crimean War, but the Russians used larger forces in their later campaigns, and, when Sh(mil was captured in 1859, many of his followers migrated to Armenia. The Terek River remained a defensive frontier until the 1860s. The constant skirmishes of Chechen and Russians along the Terek form the background to Leo Tolstoy's novel The Cossacks.

The Chechen autonomous oblast (province) was created by the Bolsheviks in November 1920. In 1934 it was merged with the Ingush autonomous oblast to form a joint Chechen-Ingush autonomous region, which two years later was designated a republic. When the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin accused the Chechen and Ingush of collaboration with the Germans during World War II, they were exiled to Central Asia, and the republic of Checheno-Ingushetia was dissolved. The exiles were allowed to return to their homeland, and the republic was reestablished under the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1957.

Secessionist sentiments emerged in 1991 as the Soviet Union's decline accelerated, and in August 1991 Dzhozkhar Dudayev, a Chechen politician and former Soviet air force general, carried out a coup against the local communist government. Dudayev was elected Chechen president in October, and in November he unilaterally declared Chechnya's independence from the Russian Federation (subsequently Russia). In 1992 Checheno-Ingushetia divided into two separate republics: Chechnya and Ingushetia. Dudayev's aggressively nationalistic, anti-Russian policies undermined Chechnya's economy, and in 1993 he dissolved the Chechen parliament. During 1994 armed Chechen opposition groups with Russian military backing tried repeatedly to depose Dudayev by force, but without success.

On December 11, 1994, Russian troops invaded Chechnya but were repelled in their assault on the capital city of Grozny (Dzhokhar), which was partly destroyed in the fighting that followed. Augmented Russian forces totaling perhaps 40,000 troops managed to take Grozny in March 1995, but at the cost of heavy civilian casualties, and Chechen guerrilla resistance continued in other areas of the republic. A series of cease-fires were negotiated and violated. In 1996 Dudayev was killed during Russian shelling, and the following year former guerrilla leader Aslan Maskhadov was elected president of Chechnya. Boris Yeltsin, the president of Russia, and Maskhadov signed aprovisional peace treaty in May but left the question of Chechnya's eventual status undetermined. Russian troops soon withdrew from the territory but returned in late 1999, after which heavy fighting resumed. It was estimated that up to 100,000 people died and more than 400,000 people were forced to flee their homes during the 1990s.

The backbone of the economy has been petroleum, and drilling was mainly undertakenin the Sunzha River valley between Grozny and Gudermes. Petroleum refining was concentrated in Grozny, and pipelines ran to the Caspian Sea (east) at Makhachkala and to the Black Sea (west) at Tuapse. Natural gas is also found in the area. Manufactures include furniture, parquet flooring, and musical instruments, and there is some food processing. Agriculture is largely concentrated in the Terek and Sunzha valleys. [...]"
from: encyclopædia.britannica.com


I

I consider it both.

"war on terrorism" or "human rights violation" seems to depend on who is waging the war.

There is a clear double standard in what is considered a war on terrorism.

Agreed, Craven.


Ehem, the USA has been founded by terrorists?

Nah, you have to lose to be a terrorist. When you win it's called founding father.

Israel is another example.

I agree all the way on that last sentiment Craven.

Its amazing how these horribly complicated civil disputes become so clear once oil and gas is found.

Well, so it really is a war on terrorism.

That's really interesting, Steve, isn't it?

I am beginning to realize that the term terrorism is beginning to take the same tone as racism. Any incident involving different races, ethnicity's and, etc., became an incident of racism. Now every conflict is labeled terrorism. When it is convenient people play the terrorism card in the same manner they played the race card.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) describes terrorism as "the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives."

"The element of criminality, however, is problematic, because it does not distinguish among different political and legal systems and thus cannot account for cases in which violent attacks against a government may be legitimate. A frequently mentioned example is the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa, which committed violent actions against that country's apartheid government but commandedbroad sympathy throughout the world. Another example is the Resistance movement against the Nazi occupation of France during World War II." (britannica.com)

I've even heard the word terrorism used to describe verbal abuse of teachers by students ("the little terrorist").

It's just another word that will forever evade a clear definition.

I can recommend a couple of articles from The Eurasian Politician magazine about this topic:

War in Chechnya - honourable resistance or terrorism?

Chechen Majority Opposes Islamism

The author is colonel of the Finnish Intelligence Anssi Kullberg, a big expert of the problem of terrorism. During and after 9/11/2001 he was serving as an advisor at the Northern Alliance headquarter in Afghanistan. Probably he was the last Europian who saw Akhmad Shakh Masoud alive.

Thanks for the links, Docent, and wellcome to A2K!

Easy question (alas).

Both.

I used to very heavily lean towards Russia as the bad guy. No explanation needed for those who followed reporting on the Russian army's practices in Chechnya. Scorched earth strategy.

However; massive state terrorism, as I'd call it, can lead rebel groups - regardless of where they initially were best defined on the scale of freedom fighters <-> motley gangsters - to become a national resistance movement, but also, if they're cornered enough, to become ever more merciless fanatics.

Like, the PLO went from terrorist group to Palestinian Authority, but the Algerian FIS militants went from legitimate election victors to ruthless desperados. That's the tragic part - I'm convinced that, initially, most of the "massacres" that followed the military take-over after the FIS-victory was annulled were the work of the government, to discredit the FIS and sow fear and division in the population. But the "fighting back" by the cornered militants became at least as extreme in violence and cruelty. Same thing might be happening now with a new generation taking over in the Chechnyan guerrilla.

Interesting journal. btw, Docent P

>Thanks for the links, Docent, and wellcome to A2K!

Hello. I'm glad you liked the articles. Any comments?
--------
>to become a national resistance movement, but also, if they're cornered enough, to become ever more merciless fanatics.

The most interesting thing is that since the ruling regime became more and more anti-democratic the Chechens Resistance totally left the tactic of hostage-taking actions (there were 2 such things during the 1st war - Budennovsk and Kizlyar but none in the 2nd war). The Kremlin's indifference to their citizens has demonstrated the total uselessness of the Budennovsk-style actions for the Chechen commanders. Unfortunately not for such guys like Movsar Baraev who aren't controlled by anyone.

>Interesting journal. btw, Docent P

Yes I know. I like it too. If only it was updated more often.

I think, nimh got the right point(s).

And to be honest, I really don't know, what I would think, if I lived there ... and had the wrong religion, belonged to the wrong tribe, ethnic group etc.

It quite easy to have a non-violation-but-freedom-for-all-in-democracy-opinion from the outside!