Politics: Callous Disregard
Agence-France Presse is reporting that a wide-ranging investigation is underway into allegations that Russian soldiers participated in the "disappearance" of hundreds of Chechen civilians during the last year and a half. The war in Chechnya has continued, largely out of view of the western media. All the news coming from the one-time breakaway republic is filtered through a remarkably oppressive political and military regime being advanced by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The disgusting thing about the Chechen war is that is reflects a huge serving of unresolved racism in Russia. Muslims, largely, are regarded as a lower form of life in Russia. In the big cities, people who look like they are from the Caucusus are immediately suspected, and are treated like they have already committed a crime. They are routinely discriminated against in housing, retail, dining and other everyday experiences of Russian life. They are subject to round-ups and often end up living in dirty, sprawling ghettoes, or getting involved in the mafia, which only serves to further diminish their image for slavic Russians.
The Chechen War has lingered for years, despite the death of thousands of young Russian soldiers and unbearable conditions under which their living colleagues continue to serve. The Russian government has managed to win (or at least fight to a stalemate) the public relations war on the Chechen conflict, and they were aided by a series of mysterious and still unsolved bombings a few years back, soon after Putin came to power. Putin blamed the bombings on Chechen rebels, though some believed that they were either linked to the Russian mafia or intentionally committed by people backed by the government to help turn public sentiment further against the Chechens. To read an excellent analysis of how Russians have been manipulated into this position by the government read The Disconnect in How Russians Think about Human Rights and Chechnya: A Consequence of Media Manipulation from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Agence-France Presse is reporting that a wide-ranging investigation is underway into allegations that Russian soldiers participated in the "disappearance" of hundreds of Chechen civilians during the last year and a half. The war in Chechnya has continued, largely out of view of the western media. All the news coming from the one-time breakaway republic is filtered through a remarkably oppressive political and military regime being advanced by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The disgusting thing about the Chechen war is that is reflects a huge serving of unresolved racism in Russia. Muslims, largely, are regarded as a lower form of life in Russia. In the big cities, people who look like they are from the Caucusus are immediately suspected, and are treated like they have already committed a crime. They are routinely discriminated against in housing, retail, dining and other everyday experiences of Russian life. They are subject to round-ups and often end up living in dirty, sprawling ghettoes, or getting involved in the mafia, which only serves to further diminish their image for slavic Russians.
The Chechen War has lingered for years, despite the death of thousands of young Russian soldiers and unbearable conditions under which their living colleagues continue to serve. The Russian government has managed to win (or at least fight to a stalemate) the public relations war on the Chechen conflict, and they were aided by a series of mysterious and still unsolved bombings a few years back, soon after Putin came to power. Putin blamed the bombings on Chechen rebels, though some believed that they were either linked to the Russian mafia or intentionally committed by people backed by the government to help turn public sentiment further against the Chechens. To read an excellent analysis of how Russians have been manipulated into this position by the government read The Disconnect in How Russians Think about Human Rights and Chechnya: A Consequence of Media Manipulation from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
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