Posted: 12/23/2002 8:08:00 AM EDT
| Can anyone recommend any books on the situation and history in Chechnya? I'm particularly looking for anything on the origins of the clash. I'd be interested in a look at the idea that the Russians just one day decided to wipe out the Chechens, but only if it's written by a nonmuslim author. Thanks. |
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I can't recommend any books but you might take a look at this link: [url]http://www.gunsnet.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=441[/url] The user Desantnik VDV (real name is Roma) served in Chechnya with the Russian forces and posts quite a few stories. He is in the process of writing a book. |
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I appreciate that link, bunghole. It's expected that Russians, especially military types, would say that the Chechens are Muslim terrorists no different from al Qaeda (to whom they have been linked by people and training) so they have to be fought just like we fight a-q, and that Muslims would say that the Russians started the conflict by deciding that the Chechens had to be exterminated for the good of the [i]Rodina[/i]. What I'm looking for are any extensively researched books that tell the story from a historical perspective and can conclusively point a finger either way...or at least as far as that's ever possible in the real world. |
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Quoted: Hey JarHead, do you have a copy of the AAR from the theater hostage situation? I don't. I found some interesting stuff on lessons learned in the Soviet military from their abortive experiences in Afghanistan, but I think any AAR on the theater assault would be classified because of the outcome. |
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Jarhead, you'll have to go to the Library and find it in some type of asian history book. Anyone who has wrote anything about Chechnya takes one side or the other. Read Aukai Collins book. It's worth the time. Then read what Desantnik has to say. Then again you probably already have. I have been following the matter for quite some time now. I used to read the daily updates on qoqaz.net. Sept 11 was the demise of that site. Followed by Azzam.com. Kavkaz.org was the last one. Do a little research online, you might get lucky. I seemed to have had luck researching online. Also I have two CD-ROMs of the actual footage of the mujahideen in Chechnya that I obtained from Europe prior to 9-11, it's pretty good. |
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I've only seen one book on the Chechnyan War, and it focused on the first conflict in the mid 90's. It was a military history book, and deathly dull from what I could tell. I wouldn't recommend it. I skimmed though it in Barnes & Noble [url]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/089096856X/qid=1040678551/sr=1-8/ref=sr_1_8/104-9748351-0889530?v=glance&s=books[/url] Most of the books seem to be journalists' stories about reporting on the war. Definitely a shortage of good books about Chechnya. Russians generally like to forget about their military service, and Russian men dont seem to enjoy reading about war. There weren't a lot of books written about the Soviet war in Afghanistan from the soldier's perspective, either. Aukai Collins' book is pretty unique, as there aren't too many accounts of Americans actually FIGHTING in Chechnya. But the book doesn't focus on Chechnya, although most of the combat he experienced was in Chechnya. And naturally, his perspective is that of an Islamic militiant. Also, there are some kind of hinky claims in that book which makes you wonder what else he made up (he claimed to have shot at a Ka-50 Black Shark attack helicopter in the mid 90's. Very unlikely, since there were maybe 2 in active service by 2001). |
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[url]http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/CHECHNYA/chechen_war.txt[/url] this is a good read...the assault on grozny. told from a russian non-com's point of view. after reading it, you may come away with a different mindset than before the reading. there are other excellent russian p.o.v. sites up. btw, stalin started to wipe out the chech, in a serious fashion. that little bit of history is well worth reading about. |
| In the end, I think it will come down to a fruitless "what came first, the chicken or the egg?" type of argument. Did the Chechens always want an independent Muslim state and finally start killing Russians to make this happen? Or did the Russians always want to wipe out the Chechens, and waited until six years after the fall of Soviet communism to start, for some reason? |
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Quoted: Most of the books seem to be journalists' stories about reporting on the war. Definitely a shortage of good books about Chechnya. Russians generally like to forget about their military service, and Russian men dont seem to enjoy reading about war. There weren't a lot of books written about the Soviet war in Afghanistan from the soldier's perspective, either. I read a pretty good journalist's account of the fighting in and Soviet pullout from Afghanistan. It's called "The Hidden War," and the author is Artyom Borovik. He doesn't at all preach the Soviet line, and is very up front about how jacked up the situation was on the ground there. Aukai Collins' book is pretty unique, as there aren't too many accounts of Americans actually FIGHTING in Chechnya. But the book doesn't focus on Chechnya, although most of the combat he experienced was in Chechnya. And naturally, his perspective is that of an Islamic militiant. Also, there are some kind of hinky claims in that book which makes you wonder what else he made up (he claimed to have shot at a Ka-50 Black Shark attack helicopter in the mid 90's. Very unlikely, since there were maybe 2 in active service by 2001). I read it, and have questions about it myself. I at least question whether the Chechens or the Russians started the killing. It seems that most Muslims don't care one way or the other, but just jump in on the side of the Muslims. There's a word for that...something like racism, but not quite. I'll keep thinking about it and see what I come up with. |
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I found this site: [url]www.urbanoperations.com/chechnya.htm[/url] It has a lot of analysis of the fighting in Chechnya, but the first link has a bit of history. No wonder the Chechens are so pissed. It looks like they've been pretty badly kicked around by the Tsar, then the Soviets. Suicide bombers and kidnapping innocent civilians, though? That makes them terrorists in my book, no matter how righteous their cause. |
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SOF magazine recently did a review on a book entitled "My Jihad" - yes, its by an American muslim who went there to fight against the Russians - the interesting thing is that he later used his first hand knowledge of muslim extremists to help the FBI/CIA out in the war against Al Queda. Its erroneous to to assume all Chechens fighting the Russians were Mujahideen - some were disgruntled ex-Russian military who fought the mujahideen in Afghanistan. At this point, I don't think there is any "moral high ground" in the situation any more. The Russians murdered,raped, and plundered Chechnya for literally hundreds of years. Initially in the early 1990's, the Chechens had the so called moral high ground - it was the Russians murdering women and children and trying to destroy a sovereign state. Now, we have Chechen terrorists using the same tactics as the Russians. I'll always hate the socialist Russians more in some respects - but the world would not be at a loss if they destroyed each other. Same as the Albanian/Serbian situation. There are some FUBAR situations in the world that would be better solved if the whole damn place got nuked. |
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Quoted: SOF magazine recently did a review on a book entitled "My Jihad" Yes, you should read the book- Its erroneous to to assume all Chechens fighting the Russians were Mujahideen - some were disgruntled ex-Russian military who fought the mujahideen in Afghanistan. At this point, I don't think there is any "moral high ground" in the situation any more. There are some FUBAR situations in the world that would be better solved if the whole damn place got nuked. |