The Russians are having their ugly war brought home to them. It will be hard for the Russian people to pretend like nothing is going on as long as they are vulnerable. That is the threat of terrorism to large states and absolutist governments, and that is why our government in particular is trying to root out armed resistance by guerrilla and terrorist groups. How long could the US kill Colombians, Iraqis, Iranians, Afghans, Somalis if they had to worry about attacks on Americans? Americans must be kept shielded from the brutality waged by American foreign policy. The same goes for other large governments around the globe. The Chinese have their rebel Uighur. The Russians have their Chechens.
CNN Coverage
The Chechens have a violent history with Russia:
Conquered by czarist armies in 1859 after decades of war, but Chechens never accepted Russian rule. During World War II, dictator Josef Stalin ordered Chechens deported en masse to Kazakhstan. Many died; rest returned home in 1950s, after Stalin’s death.
Of course, it doesn’t help them that their ancestral homeland is rich with oil.
History of Chechnya: We, the Chechens, are not slavs. We are not Turks, despite the fact that Turkey unites all North Caucasus Muslim into a category which is related to them. We are not even “Chechen.” This was coined by the Russians after the name of a village (Chechen-aul) where the Russians first encountered our people in the early 16th century. The first written mention of our people was in the 7th century, where we were known as the “Noxche” (pronounced “No-h-chee” with the “h” pronounced as if one was gargling from the back of the mouth: very similar to one of the ancient Aramaic letters). Our ancestors also called themselves the “Nahk”. But a few ancient sources refer to our earliest ancestors as the “Tushba” (or “Tushpa”), an early reference to the “center of the earth.” Ethnically, we are unique. We are related to other ethnic groups throughout the Caucasus, most closely with the neighboring Ingush. Together, the Noxche and Ingush people have been called the “Vainaikh” which means “Our People.” We have lived where we are now since prehistoric times, especially in the mountain regions. There we we have remained ethnically the same for thousands of years. While the Mesopotamians, Persians, Turks, Mongols, Slavs and others have greatly influenced the region with their wars, conquests and trade, we have remained fiercely proud and protective of our ethnic roots and background.
The History and Politics of Chechen Oil
This entry was posted on Thursday, October 24th, 2002 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Military and defense.
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