Chechnya and Russia
Growing up in the 1980s, it was hard to imagine there would ever not be a Soviet Union.
Then there was Ronald Reagan and “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall” and then the Berlin Wall actually being torn down in 1990. Then the 1992 Olympics where there was no Soviet Union, just a loose confederation that hadn’t even had enough time to get a new flag or decide if they were different nations or what.
Many Russian republics successfully declared their independence in that era. Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, others. One did its damnedest to separate from the Russian bear: Chechnya.
The Chechens’ desire for independence came early on and helped pave the way for many of the other republics splitting off. But Russia never quite accepted it from Chechnya, as evidenced as far back as that linked 1991 article from the LA Times.
Ever since, war has raged in Chechnya - sometimes covertly, sometimes quite overtly.
Will anything come of the latest terrorism, in which a Moscow subway explosion killed dozens and injured well over 100 others? Unlikely. A whole wave of terrorist attacks in 1997 did nothing, even though a peace treaty was signed not long after.
A new war broke out between Russia and Chechnya in 1999. The capital, Grozny, was obliterated. Russia hopped on the Sept. 11 anti-terror train and announced plans to attack Georgia to get at Chechen rebels if need be.
And then, in 2002, Chechens took a theater full of people hostage in Moscow.
Written in 2004, this op-ed piece from the LA Times remains true today: No one is winning in Chechnya.
