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<P>Behind the Chechen crisis</B> </P>
<P>by Tracey Brown </P>
<P>On Monday 13 December, the Russian army moved into Grozny in Chechnya,
following its demands that all inhabitants leave the city or 'face the
consequences'. Many of the villages outside Grozny have been completely
flattened as part of Russia's 'scorched earth' tactics, and the destruction of
Grozny now seems inevitable. </P>
<P>The war over Chechnya started in 1994. The respite of the past few years
followed a cynically negotiated 'ceasefire' in April 1996, during which
artillery bombardment of the Chechens continued. This tentative settlement was
an attempt by the Yeltsin administration to distance itself from the disastrous
and drawn-out campaign in the run-up to the presidential election in June 1996.
It followed 16 months of humiliating attempts to suppress Chechen forces, during
which an estimated 30,000 people died, over 3000 of them conscripted Russian
soldiers. The campaign exposed the Russian military as bankrupt, poorly equipped
and poorly directed - with stories of Russian soldiers handing over artillery
equipment to the Chechens in exchange for vodka. </P>
<P>The number of Russians killed in the conflict up to 1996 reinforced a broader
public cynicism about the war. As Russians became increasingly hostile to their
government's failing forces, so demoralisation in the military intensified and
produced a stalemate. When Communist presidential candidate Gennady Zyuganov
argued for the resurrection of the Soviet Union, Yeltsin was given an
opportunity to rise above the suppression of the Chechen revolt and don the
mantle of peacemaker. And with Northern Ireland and Israel never out of the
news, 'peacemaking' carried the added attraction of allowing the ridiculous
Yeltsin to stand alongside other world leaders who presided over peace
processes. </P>
<P>The current campaign has been resurrected in different circumstances. Russia
was recently humiliated over its attempts to stop the bombardment of Belgrade by
NATO forces. Yeltsin's efforts to save face by sending Russian troops into
Kosovo to oversee the humanitarian invasion descended into farce as it became
obvious that the Russian military was badly equipped and easily sidelined. But
Yeltsin was able to galvanise a degree of popular support for renewed military
action in Chechnya, following the bomb explosions earlier this year in Moscow
which he attributed to Chechen terrorists. </P>
<P>Yeltsin's hardline response to the Moscow bombs drew on the moral authority
of those who wage war against terrorist forces. World leaders frequently claim
moral credibility on the international stage with their agenda of 'wiping out
terrorism'. Robin Cook's ethical foreign policy has always extended to
supporting Russia in combating the terrorist tactics of the Chechen forces.
Yeltsin is trying to overcome stagnation, disaffection and ridicule at home in
exactly the same way that Bill Clinton and Tony Blair do: asserting his
authority by standing up to 'evil forces'. </P>
<P>But while Yeltsin's actions have won the support of the Russian media, there
has been condemnation from the 'international community'. Western leaders and
international bodies like the IMF have pointed to the humanitarian disaster
caused by the bombardment and have closed ranks against Yeltsin. At the risk of
destabilising international relations, they have come out against the
destruction of Grozny and are now embroiled in a diplomatic standoff. Yeltsin
thought he was taking the moral highground and confounding international
ridicule by showing off Russia's ability to stamp out its own 'forces of evil'
in Chechnya. What he did not bank on was that the moral agenda of 'humanitarian
intervention' which is now well-established as the modus operandi of
international politics means that nobody can be left to sort out their own
affairs. At the very mention of a humanitarian crisis, Western leaders drop
everything to get involved because nothing gives them mileage like an
international moral crusade. Prestige now rests on 'doing something' about
others' conflicts and crises. </P>
<P>The consequences of getting involved in such conflicts can be lethal. The
result is that local conflicts like Chechnya can quickly spin out of control.
The international condemnation of Russia has nothing to do with what is
happening on the ground in Chechnya - the West has shown little concern about
Russia's actions in the past. Rather, it is an attempt by Western leaders and
institutions to assert their own authority in the international arena, even if
that means standing up to 'one of their own'. </P>
<P>As world leaders jostle for their space on the moral highground of the
international stage, the stakes are being upped all the time. In the space of
just one week, the moral crusaders have taken us from a bloody local conflict in
Chechnya to the possible destabilisation of international relations.
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