Article Analysis: Counter Terrorist Operation in Chechnya Officially Ended

One country is comparable to the United States of America in terms of world power and prominence. Russia makes their name known beginning in World War 2 (WW2), later in the Korean War, Cold War, and today’s proxy war in the Syria. Russia’s culture, environment, politics, military, and economy do not just make Russia a regional powerhouse, but slowly becoming a region of influential power to surrounding countries with the end state of a global superpower. All the factors that make Russia the powerhouse that it is slowly becoming, highlights the impressive trend that supersedes the previous Soviet Union and past leaders.

De Waal, T. (2002). Greetings from Gozny. Fighting for Chechnya: Is Islam a factor? Retrieved

In 1989, the world saw the fall of the United Soviet Socialist Republic (U.S.S.R.), which was also known as the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was a block of 15 Communist Eastern European states that was ruled by one government with various puppet governments located throughout the states. Its collapse brought about new issues that the world had never had to deal with before. The fall of such a large block of Soviet states created many problems and some of the solutions that were used to solve these problems, as well as many of the tensions that were created during this time, still affect the world today. Some of the ramifications resulting from the Soviet Union’s collapse are still being felt; however, many problems have been solved

The situation in Chechnya is out of hand, a senseless echo of Stalin in a day where the expression of such rank evil should not occur or be tolerated. An interview with a local Chechen refugee solidified my understanding of the situation. However, meeting a survivor face-to-face also made the situation seem more real and therefore much more painful. When asked to comment on the film "Crying Sun," my subject took a deep breath. "This is just like what happened in our village," she said. There were land mines everywhere. The paratroopers came a lot. Once we ran to the neighbor's house barefoot, just like the woman in the movie said. They looted from our homes too. My cousins died.

In 1917 the Russian Empire plunged. Not long after, Chechnya’s declaration for independence failed, they

First, as a result of World War II, the Ingush and Chechens were deported from their ancestral lands and majority of Ingushetia’s territory was put into North Ossetia’s control. Second, two instances of ethnic cleansing occurred that are found to be relevant to the Beslan attack. One instance involved Ossetian authorities forcing over 30,000 Ingush people from their land. Another was a war between the Russian and the Chechen that resulted in 80,00-100,000 murdered. Third, Vladimir Putin allowed the use of aerial bombing during the second Chechen war. By doing so, approximately 20,000 Chechen and Ingush people were killed and over 300,000 Chechens were driven out of their territory. Overall, the citizens of Chechnya and Ingushetia experienced a number of years filled with trauma and death.

On September 1, 2004, the world was shocked and horrified by the terrorist attack of Chechen rebels on a Middle school in the Russian town of Beslan. Nearly 1,200 children, teachers, and parents were taken hostage on the first day of school, and held captive for 53 hours. In the aftermath of the explosions and gunfire, over 360 people were killed, and hundreds more were left injured (Kaplan, 2004). The siege of the school was the latest of a dozen bloody attacks – on targets such as airliners, trains, government buildings, hospitals, and a movie theatre - that have claimed nearly 1,000 lives in Russia over the past two years, and yet another chilling reminder of the festering tensions between Russia and Chechnya (Kaplan, 2004).

In the first days of Putin's presidency, he made state media and private owned broadcast media under Kremlin surveillance, to filter what the Russian citizens are watching and perceiving. He began by destroying the NTV news, as the president of the station Dobrodeev was expelled from his position. Ostrovsky comments, “Tempting though it may be to portray NTV journalists as altruistic defenders of freedom and speech, this would be misleading as presenting their opponents as stewards of justice. Many of the journalists, spoiled and compromised by their inflated status and their own cynicism, which they had seen as an asset when they were in power, now invoked moral values in their time of need. 282. Furthermore, Putin begins his widespread propaganda movements with his now state-controlled media. The bombing of the apartments in Moscow by the alleged Chechen terrorists, instills fear in citizens as they realize the print and television towers will not protect them from danger. Therefore, the media influence began to self-destruct. Putin then begins to utilise his control panel, by using media as a tactic of spreading false but undeniably fearsome stories of ethnic cleansing of Georgian villages by South Ossetian irregulars. This was proved false, but the idea of Georgia as an aggressor and threat to the Russian people helped the

Chechnya is situated in the Caucasus Mountains, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. It is surrounded by Dagestan to the east, Georgia and South Ossetia to the south, Russia to the north and North Ossetia in the west. Chechnya is rich in mineral oil and produced twenty million tons per year before the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 created the opportunity for the Russian provinces to declare their independence. The Russian government managed to keep its control of all states apart from Chechnya, which, under the new president Dzhokhar Dudayev, declared independence in October 1991.

Chechnya is a small republic, located in the Caucasus region, located southwest of Russia. Chechnya was first taken by Russia during the Caucasian War, in a peace treaty, ending the Ottoman Empire rebellion in 1785. However, the victory was short-lived. As Russians tried to spread Christianity throughout the predominantly Muslim region, the rebellions had started again. Russia managed to maintain hold of the region, and kept it, even under the extreme circumstances. In 1917, the Chechens gained independence

From a century to another and from regime to regime Russians have been accused of empire-building and imperialism. It is not always without a reason, since the Tsarist Russian Empire was clearly and undeniably imperialistic. (Beissinger 1995) However, the case of Soviet Union and especially their rule over Central Asia is more ambiguous and unique. It is highly disputable whether Soviet actions were actions of state-building or actions of empire-building. In this essay I examine Soviet rule in Central Asia in order to find out if it was imperialistic, and if so, to what extent. I argue that there are several facts that support the idea of Soviet imperialism in Central Asia and therefore it is correct to define it as imperialistic. Yet at the same time there are several facts that demonstrate how Soviet Union was very different from earlier Western Empires such as the British Empire. Some evidence even makes Soviet actions to be seen as actions of state-building. Therefore it is to be noticed, that the Soviet Union was not entirely imperialistic and when it was, it was imperialistic in a very unique way.

The argument proposed is for the protection of human rights universally, therefor not excluding terror suspects. The aim is to establish whether the current methods operating are protective of terror suspects human rights, and if not, what changes can ensure the protection. Through considering counter-terrorism legislation pre and post 9/11 and its effectiveness, alternatives will be proposed in order to protect the rights of terror suspects.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1980s is one of the most important events of modern history. It led to the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Consisting of all former soviet republics including Russia, this organization of sovereign states had to elect new governments to take over the dissolved ones. The imminent end of communist rule resulted in the democratization of those states, and created the potential opportunity for Russian provinces to declare their independence. However, through diplomatic negotiations Russia managed to reclaim all its provinces except Chechnya which declared independence in October 1991. Russia feared that this would spark disintegration efforts in other regions so in an effort to resolve this issue diplomatically, Russia proposed higher regional autonomy and tax privileges for Chechnya but to no avail. Realizing that diplomacy was at a stalemate, Russia declared war on Chechnya in December 1994 in order to re-establish rule in that region. The conflict became known as the first Chechen war.

For those who do not know much about the Soviet Union, or those intrigued by the almighty Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the history of the collapse of the Soviet Union is extremely well documented in Stephen Kotkin's Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse 1970-2000. This relatively short book provides great insight into the downfall of the Soviet Union, as well as to how it could potentially have sustained longer than it did by the Soviet elite. A dramatic shift occurred in the Soviet Union between 1970 and 2000; numerous events and modifications occurred to pave the way for a long and slow decay, as opposed to a rapid and fervent eruption of a crumble that many may have expected. Kotkin provides the readers with a

Russia’s Return as a Superpower. There are concerns that Russia may once again “reassert itself militarily” (Wood 7). After the original fall of communism in 1991, Russia seemed to be on a path to democracy. Currently the notion of a democratic Russia seems to be fading as Russia “has been centralizing more and more power in the Kremlin” (Putin 2). Regional governors, who were once elected by the people, are now being appointed by Moscow.