CSIS ON CHECHNYA AND RUSSIA

The Center for Strategic and International Studies has essentially called for international intervention in Chechnya, saying that it has " the markings of a failed state, except that it is part of the Russian federation" and that it represents a serious danger to American national security.

I can't really disagree with CSIS as far as their statement goes but they have missed the more obvious danger which is Russia itself sliding into the status of a failed state. Russian territorial integrity is perceived to be quite fragile and the public has never recovered from the demoralization of the fall of the USSR and Yeltsin's failed economic policies. Vladmir Putin, for all his flaws, did give Russians the reassuring sense of a strong man at the helm - this tied in to a cultural tradition of respect for the "Vozhd" or supreme leader. Putin's speech on the hostage crisis, I am guessing, has undermined that psychological security blanket.

LINK:

Winds of Change has an extensive briefing on the current status of Chechnya and it's recent history.
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