Putin: Fishing for a Fight
One of the justifications Putin used to invade Chechnya in 1999 was the attacks on Russian soil prior to that war. There were, of course, the so-called invasion of Dagestan by Chechen rebels and later the Beslan hostage crisis which were used as excuses to launch the offensive and then ramp it up.
Putin had been determined to establish his national security and nationalist credentials and Chechnya was the perfect opportunity. The loss of Russian territory as a result of the 1996 peace treaty negotiated by Yeltsin and his incompetent cronies had added insult to injury after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
Always the KGB man, Putin vowed to re-annex Chechnya in 1999 as somewhat of a Presidential campaign promise to bring back the glory of the Soviet Union.
Russia, under Putin and Medvedev, is trying to re-claim the Soviet super-power throne and, once again, we have somewhat of a crisis brewing in the North Caucasus (see this, this and this). And, not surprisingly, Chechen terrorists have allegedly struck again on sacred Russian soil killing civilians in the heart of Moscow.
We have already seen the Russian military flexing its muscles in weak Georgia in 2008. Another military intervention in the North Caucasus would be seen as a follow up to establish absolute Russian supremacy in the region.
Here’s to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Part II, and the Chechen War Redux.
UPDATE: Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov has taken credit for the attacks. Video included below:
