Russia has been lucky to enjoy a serendipitous confluence of an
export-enhancing and import-depressing depreciated currency,
tax-augmenting inflation, soaring oil prices, and Western largesse. It
is also a major producer and exporter of weapons. Chechnya serves as
testing grounds where proud designers and trigger-craving generals can
demonstrate the advantages and capabilities of their latest materiel.
Some - like the Institute of Global Issues - say that the war in
Chechnya has fully self-financed by reviving the military-industrial
complex and adding billions to Russia's exports of armaments. This
surely is a wild hyperbole. Chechnya - a potentially oil-rich territory
- is razed to dust.
Russia is ensnared in an ever-escalating cycle of violence and futile
retaliation. Its society is gradually militarized and desensitized to
human rights abuses. Corruption is rampant. Russia's Accounting Board
disclosed that a whopping 12 percent of the money earmarked to fight
the war two years ago has vanished without a trace.
Pages:
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116