Chechnya's nest of vipers

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Amid these people, there is a wide diversity of beliefs and
approaches as to whether they should be freeing just Chechnya
or the Muslim world in general. The fundamentalists are not united
enough in themselves to have convincingly taken hold of the
rebel movement.

Amid this long list of combatants, none really seem like the sort of
people that you would want to run a country. Moreover, were
Moscow able to achieve its goal of eradicating Mr Maskhadov
and Mr Basayev tomorrow, it would not stop the bloodshed. The
loathing inspired among Russians and Chechens by Mr Kadyrov's
rise to power will guarantee that.

It is little surprise that, after a decade of invasions, carpet
bombing, abductions, murders and suicide bombings, Chechnya
is such a vicious nest of vipers.

What is surprising is that the Kremlin thinks it can put one of the
snakes in charge, provide minimal humanitarian assistance, imply
its intentions to withdraw, and then call the resulting scrap for
power and survival a "peace".

Guardian

Interesting read, key region.

SOS, an indication of the lack of success of Pooty-Poot's
sElection; but I thought this was more interesting.