Here is a blast from the past from a CBC playlist from five years ago:
The Russia military’s brutal campaign against Chechen rebels raised the ire of the international community this week, especially after the Russians told civilians to leave Grozny by Saturday before the Russians bombed the city to the ground. The IMF is now withholding a $640-million loan payment to Russia, while leaders in Europe, the United States and Canada condemn the Russians actions in Chechnya. But how much does the Chechen situation differ from the crisis in Kosovo last March, the same crisis that required a massive NATO-led air campaign? Dick Gordon talked to Richard Gwyn, a columnist for the Toronto Star, and Janice Stein, a professor of political science at the University of Toronto about Chechnya, Kosovo, and what the West should do.
I was looking for internet references to Janice Stein and Chechyna as she was on TVO’s excellent Studio 2 last night affirming that the terrorism there needs no assistance, is 150 years old and has to be understood on its own terms. Others, less ivory-towerish elite-ly but way more knee-jerk, see the world more simply.
I am wondering this morning who has not been a terrorist? What nation has not deserved the label or been labelled undeservedly? Who will be next? I think Taiwan is a good candidate as Manuchuria was in 1933. You know what place doesn’t fit the new world order? Cambodia. One of the worst genocides of all time a couple of decades ago, a little international law applied, a little peace keeping and the murder of one reporter is the news. Sounds like Derek Ali in Ohio.