– RUSSIA

 

RUSSIA stretches on all the width of East Europe from the Black Sea in the South to the Baltic Sea in the north and on all North Asia up to the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Strait. RUSSIA stretches on 17,000,000 km and is, by large, the bigest country in the world – more then Canada and USA combined. The RUSSIAN population is estimated in 2008 as 143 millions.

RUSSIA, in about 12 centuries of history, never experienced Democracy, freedom of speech or independent judicial system, except a short time of about 15 years from the collapse of the Soviet-Union in 1989 to the early 2000. RUSSIA has a tradition of brutal totalitarian regimes since its early history up to the end of the Communist era and the collapse of the Soviet-Union. The short period of democracy was accompanied with deep economical crisis, enormous corruption and made many people in RUSSIA to be deterred from democracy and to accept a more authoritarian regime.

In the 18-19^th century RUSSIA occupied large Muslim teritories in central Asia such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and other. From the beginning of the 19^th century RUSSIA expended its influence to the Caucasus and occupied from the Turkish Ottoman Empire large territories in the Caucasus inhabited with a mix of Christian and Muslim nations with historical rivalries and hostility. One of the nations was the Chechens. All the large Muslim population who came under RUSSIAN and Soviet rule were oppressed with iron fist in the days of the RUSSIAN Czars and the Soviet regime. In its peak the Soviet-Union stretched on 22,000,000 km and included the large Muslim teritories of Central Asia.

At the end of the Second World War Stalin deported many of the Muslims from the Caucasus, mainly the Chechens, as he suspected them of welcoming and collaborating with the German Nazis.  In 1956, during Nikita Khrushchev period, the Chechens were allowed to return to their homeland. About million Chechens returned to Chechnya with a deep hate to the RUSSIAN nation and the RUSSIAN regime. The daily friction with the new RUSSIAN population arose, even more, the tension and historical hostility between RUSSIANS and Chechens.

When the Soviet-Union collapsed in 1989 the Muslim nations of central Asia became independent States.  Almost from the beginning of the 90s’ Chechnya was transformed to a base of anti RUSSIAN violent activity. At the beginning, when RUSSIA shrank to 17,000,000 km and suffered from chaos, economical crisis and corruption, the former mighty Soviet-Union was forced, in 1996, to a sort of compromise with the Chechens and recognition of their autonomy in Chechnya.

Only in 2000, when RUSSIA recovered, President Putine ceased the opportunity of a series of Chechen terror attacks to renew the war with the Chechens, followed with large scale atrocities, to reoccupy Chechnya and to set up a pro RUSSIAN local regime. Although the RUSSIAN Army managed to overcome the Chechen resistance Chechnya is still an open wound, a source of tension with the Muslim World and with potential to erupt again.

Lucky for RUSSIA, operation Absolute Justice in Afghanistan in 12/2001 and the War in Iraq which breached out in 03/2003, diverted the Islamic Global Jihad and the attention of Muslims from the war in Chechnya, which became a neglected, forgotten war.

 

 

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• wikipedia  
  cia.gov