Word: caucasus
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Caliphs in Cairo, Cordoba and Baghdad rend the unity of Islam, but not the prosperity. Gold from Nubia and the Caucasus is mined into dinars, the common currency from Spain to Lahore; and slaves from Asia, Europe and Africa labor in mines, cities, armies and harems from Cadiz to Samarkand. Meanwhile, Europe is still limping out of the Dark Ages...
Russia's generals have learned some hard lessons. After the blood-soaked debacle of the last attempt to subdue Chechnya during 1994-1996, war gamers went back to the doctrine of the ferocious Russian who first conquered the Caucasus, 19th century general Alexei Yermolov: use siege warfare rather than frontal assault. Make slow advances under cover of heavy guns and bombardment. Avoid close encounters with a lightly armed but fearsome enemy. Applying these principles in their current campaign, which began in late September, Moscow's generals aimed to grind down the rebel force until the remnants would flee back into...
Once again the mountains of the Caucasus are the backdrop to scenes of violence, cruelty and suffering. The Russian government last week warned all civilians in Grozny, the capital of the breakaway republic of Chechnya, that they must leave the city in a days or be killed when the city is destroyed in an apocalyptic artillery barrage and bombing. This is a particularly cavalier escalation of a war which has already been very punishing for Chechen civilians...
...consequences of Chechen independence would not only be misery for the Chechens but a destabilization of the already unsteady Caucasus. During the past few years of autonomy, Chechnya became home to several foreign Islamic fundamentalist warlords, who have taken advantage of the confusion and abundance of arms to use it as a base for spreading rebellion in neighboring provinces. Russians often point to the Chechen government's ties to organized crime, and warn that an independent Chechen state could quickly become a conduit for drugs and smuggled arms. There is little doubt that that a Chechnya that wins its independence...
...this war is that Chechnya will be destabilized for years and possibly decades to come. Perhaps the West can serve a useful role when the fighting has ended in advising or reconstruction. Regardless, for the corpses of Russian conscripts and Chechen civilians mouldering amidst the harsh beauty of the Caucasus, this war has been worth very little...