Chechnya pretty much _is_ sovereign de facto. The Chechen government is not controlled by Moscow -- just the opposite. Russian forces are not fighting in Chechnya, the Chechen security forces are, and they are Chechens. Really badass, scarily effective former rebel Chechens. Seven thousand of them. They are their own government. In fact, they are talking about introducing Shariah.
--- Michael Pugliese <michael.098762001 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
http://www.versobooks.com/books/tuvwxyz/w-titles/wood_t_chechnya.shtml
> An eloquent case for independence for Europe's
> forgotten colony
>
> Since the end of the Cold War, Chechnya has suffered
> two full-scale
> Russian military assaults, and is now in the seventh
> year of a brutal
> occupation. The casualties remain largely uncounted,
> and the
> fundamental issues at stake are routinely
> sidestepped in Russia and in
> the West. In this powerful argument for Chechen
> self-determination,
> Tony Wood considers Russo-Chechen relations over the
> past century and
> a half, as well as the fate of the region since the
> fall of the Soviet
> Union. The Case for Chechnya sharply criticizes the
> role of Western
> nations in their struggle, and lays bare the
> weakness—and
> shamefulness—of the arguments used to deny the
> Chechens' right to
> sovereignty.
>
> "A passionate and eloquent case for Chechen
> statehood, well researched
> and reasoned. Whatever one thinks of state
> sovereignty these days,
> this political project demands serious engagement,
> and his
> humanitarian concerns cannot be ignored." — Georgi
> Derluguian, author
> of Bourdieu's Secret Admirer in the Caucasus
>
> Tony Wood is Assistant Editor at New Left Review;
> his work has
> appeared in the Times Literary Supplement and the
> London Review of
> Books, among other periodicals.
>
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