2023-05-02 20:00:35
In a way, I wish I could be shocked by the horrific video of a Russian soldier brutally beheading a screaming Ukrainian POW.
But the Russians did the same in Syria. The brutality of Moscow’s war in Ukraine is deliberate – and Russian society is locked in a paradoxical spiral of denial and approval.
The so-called Chechenization of Russian society (a term often used by Russian dissidents and scholars, originally referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strategy of relying on local warlords) has been going on for a long time.
I use this term carefully. There is nothing inherently brutal about Chechen society itself, no matter how horrible the wars there have been. The dictator of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, supported by V. Putin, caused the most suffering to his fellow Chechens – both through daily oppression and corruption, and through brutal purges.
However, the wars in Chechnya in 1994-1996 and 1999-2000. played an important role in making Russian society brutal.
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