The suicide bombing at DME in Moscow made me start thinking about Chechen Autonomy. I’ve been reading about Chechnya’s history. I wonder if all of these attacks since 1994 could have been avoided had Russia granted secession after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Of course, since Chechnya has that oil pipeline, Russia was completely opposed to their autonomy. Money and oil. Same song, different language.
I would have given the autonomous nod as a “So sorry about the whole deportation to Siberia thing in WWII” parting gift. In reality, economic impact trumps trying to right some wrongs in history. So, the consequences become Russia’s reality – almost 20 years of violence in the form of 2 wars and countless attacks.
Now, I wonder if granting autonomy would even help this situation at all? When I read today’s AP’s article A Timeline of Major Terror Attacks in Russia, today’s attack is different than the previous ones. Before, the targets were Russian – commuter trains, government buildings, etc.
Today, the attack happened at an international airport. I heard an expert on Russia on the radio that this is for attention. They want people to remember their “cause” and get money from terror groups to fight for it. But is that cause autonomy at this point? Maybe it still is. Yet, in order to get financial support, maybe they have to disguise it as an anti-West act of terror by having someone blow themselves up in the international arrival gate of a major airport.
Or, is it more sinister? Have extremist Islam terror groups taken hold of them and turned their cause into pure anti-West hatred? Is this more like the bombings in Madrid and London and no longer a domestic issue? That thought frightens me.
Honestly, I don’t think autonomy would help at this point. The Taliban has been their financiers. If Chechnya became a sovereign nation, it could become Taliban-ruled a la Afghanistan? That would be disastrous.
Usually, I don’t think too much about the politics of other nations. U.S. politics make my head spinny enough. This one gave me pause, though, especially when I heard where this happened. Has the struggle in the Northern Caucuses become one with global terrorists of extremist Islam? Where will they strike next? Selfishly, I ask, do we have to get involved?
Spinny Liberal 