> A lot of people on my rabid pro-Chechen mailing list
> are up in arms about this article. In particular, they
> dispute the accuracy of the poll that claims that 80
> percent of Chechens want to be part of Russia...
> The San Francisco Chronicle>
> Helping the North Caucasus
> Robert Bruce Ware >
> Thursday, September 9, 2004>
> "Chechens want to be independent of Russia." Eighty
> percent of the people in Chechnya want to be part of
> the Russian federation, according to a July survey by
> the Russian Institute of Social Marketing...
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If this were so, wouldn't you expect the Russian authorities would have an
interest in organizing a referendum showing the overwhelming majority of
Chechens hostile to the Islamic separatists and in favour of retaining
Russian citizenship? The result would not be other than a tremendous
political coup for Putin and a blow to the rebels in the eyes of world
opinion, including in the Islamic countries. The reluctance of states to
agree to these referenda is usually the best indicator of their underlying
belief that the pro-independence movements they oppose enjoy broad popular
support, and I would expect this is also the case with respect to Chechnya.
MG