Re: Milan Rai on UN occupation of Iraq

["Chris Doss" <nomorebounces@xxxxxxx>]

You mean on the part of the Chechen population? Hard to say. My impression is that the majority of the population is very tired of being caught in a cross-fire bewteen trigger-happy, panicky Russian conscripts and jihadi nutballs and will accept anything that will get them out of the situation. The 2003 presidential elections in Chechnya were probably fixed; the same seems not to be the case with the referendum held earlier that year, in which the majority voted for remaining a part of the Russian Federation with broad autonomy (i.e. they would be in roughly the same situation as Tatarstan).

What is interesting is that Maskhadov, through Zakayev, has said recently that he no longer wants independence, which makes you wonder what the hell he's fighting for. My guess is for the right to have some position in the Chechen government. His men keep crossing over to Kadyrov.

Basayev on the other hand is a loon who wants to establish shariah over the Caucasus and will probably never stop fighting. Hell, he's the guy who launched the current war by attacking Dagestan, as far as I know against Maskhadov's objections (and those of Kadyrov, who has always been very anti-wahabbi and was Head Imam of Chechnya back when it was Free Ichkeria). Not that Maskhadov responded to the Kremlin's ultimatum to hand him over, which is why there was a Second Chechen War. He didn't apologize to the Dagestanis either, causing a great deal of anti-Chechnya sentiment in Dagestan.

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> Is this an endorsement of Russian control over Chechnya?
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