I understand very well that the Chechens may indeed remain on their own. And I know the Russian generalitet is not going to listen to any outside criticism, as long as it has the overwhelming support of the population. (To take just one example of the latter: one Moscow newspaper -- Nezavisimaia gazeta -- is running a poll right now, asking readers whether they support negotiations with Maskhadov or not. The count so far: 14% support negotiations; 86% oppose them.)
It is just that I don't want my government to support what is going on. The first time round, Clinton covered himself with disgrace, when he compared the war in Chechnya to the American Civil War, and Yeltsin himself to Abraham Lincoln. And then, of course, the IMF money....I was in Chechnya at the time, and I had a difficult time fending off questions like "Why do you Americans want to exterminate us?" That was what it looked like to them...
Here is an opportunity for Clinton & Co. to go on record as opposing the slaughter of the civilian population of Chechnya (which, let us not forget, still includes ethnic Russians). It probably will not pay off, at least not right away. But keeping silent is no alternative. Silence is implied approval. |
