Article by Bernie Debusmann While largely forgotten by Americans today, between 1979 and 1992 America was transfixed by the brutal, vicious war between the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) and the U.S.-backed military government. Even now, more than twenty years after the Chapultepec Peace Agreement brought an end to the fighting, the war … Continue reading
The Velvet Rocket is fairly picky about contributions from correspondents as most of the proposals we receive are either not relevant, not original material (in other words, just a repost of material that has already been published elsewhere), or not particularly interesting. Fortunately, we also receive some gems from time to time, such as that … Continue reading
Taiz is at something of a crossroads in Yemen. It is close enough to the south to be touched by the separatist sentiments found there. It is close enough to the north to be caught up in the intrigues in the capital. It is close enough to the wilderness of Yemen to have Al Qaeda … Continue reading
If one were to try to pick the exact date that the contemporary conflict in the North Caucasus turned dramatically in favor of the Russians, it would be September 1, 2004. However, it was not, as many have suggested, that the Chechens lost as much as the Russians won – despite the incredibly high casualty … Continue reading
As Ramzan Kadyrov and the Kremlin seek to legitimize their control of Chechnya, there is a steady rewriting and glossing over of history underway. One dramtic example of this is found in the strenuous effort to promote Akhmad Kadyrov as the father of modern Chechnya. Indeed, Grozny’s stadium has been named after him. And the … Continue reading
Welcome to Grozny! Before the First Chechen War broke out in 1994, Grozny was a fairly typical Russian city of a half a million people – the same size as Oslo in Norway. One notable aspect of the city though was that it was one of the Soviet Union’s most important oil centers. Grozny was … Continue reading
Crossing into Chechnya from Ingushetia one will immediately find themselves entering the plains of Chechnya: The Russians like the plains. The plains offer greater visibility and mobility and thus the mechanized advantages of the Russian military can more easily be brought to bear here, making it easier to do battle with the Chechens. Rather than … Continue reading
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