The Bleeding Puzzle of Chechnya and Dagestan

[Disir]

Deep in the rolling hills of Southwest Russia’s mountainous Caucasus region lies a pair of restive territories home to a once nomadic collection of ethnic groups. The Avars and the Chechens, who call the north Caucasus region their home, represent a modern distinct identity whose struggle for independence is decades old. The Chechen’s history was especially marred following the collapse of the USSR, after which the Russian Federation executed a ruthless campaign to silence the unremitting cause for Chechen independence. With their ancient roots so closely tied and similar to those of other ethnic communities around the world, the people of Dagestan and Chechnya represent a new type of conflict that may reshape the geopolitical and cultural landscape of the modern world.
A History of Blood
After a chain of migrations of various ethnic populations in ancient times from locations such as the Fertile Crescent as well as Northeast and Central Asia, what came to be known as the Chechen and Avar peoples settled in the Northern Caucasus region. For centuries, this was the site of various invasions and imperial conflicts, involving empires such as the Cimmerians, Mongols, Scythians, Persians, Ottomans, and Safavids.

It was not until 1859 CE at the end of the Caucasian War that the Chechens and Avars would meet their greatest challenge, one which still torments them today. At the dawn of the nineteenth century, Russian Tsar Nicholas I commanded a years-long invasion of the Caucasus region. The Circassian Genocide became the first of many forced exiles of Chechens by Russian Imperial forces. By the conclusion of the Russo-Persian wars, this entire region fell under the control of Imperial Russia, an event which would define the rebellion of the native people thereafter.

The Bleeding Puzzle of Chechnya and Dagestan

Deep in the rolling hills of Southwest Russia’s mountainous Caucasus region lies a pair of restive territories home to a once nomadic collection of ethnic groups. The Avars and the Chechens, who call the north Caucasus region their home, represent a modern distinct identity whose struggle for...

hir.harvard.edu

This an interesting article.

 

[White 6]

That is an interesting well rounded article. Needs to be more reporting and analysis like that, but Americans don't seem to have the time to add it to the mix of world concerns, for the most part. We're kind of busy and screwed up right now. But Russia bears watching and resisting. Of course, you probably already know I am anti-Russia already, not thinking we won the cold war, but only fought it until they called time out and our short attention span focused elsewhere.