geopolitical developments in the news: the 2000s
JANUARY 2000 DEVELOPMENTS
VLADIMIR PUTIN, soon after taking office, pardoned Boris Yeltsin for any crimes he may have committed--an act reminiscent of Ford's pardon of Nixon. He also launched a new web site which presents his detailed political program for Russia. It begins with a very pessimistic take on the economic and political situation. Putin suggests that it would take Russia 15 years of stunning 8 percent growth just to catch up to the present per capita output of Portugal! He insisted that Russia would crush the stubborn Chechen resistance, even though things were not going well for Russia on the war front in early January.
THINGS IN CHECHNYA were still not going well for the Russians as January drew to an end. Even though the Chechen capital of Grozny lay in ruins, the Kremlin maintained that some 2,500 Chechen rebels remained in the city and were carrying out hit-and-run operations against Russian forces. The claim may have been true, for there were reports that Russian casualties were far higher than the Kremlin was admitting. Some of those reports were from Russian troops themselves, who complain of dismal conditions for the Russian military. At home the war continues to be reasonably popular, unlike the botched 1994-96 war in Chechnya.
FEBRUARY 2000 DEVELOPMENTS
AT LAST THE RUSSIANS succeeded in taking Grozny, the capital of Chechnya --but not without almost completely destroying the city. The Muslim rebels who had been defending the city escaped to the mountains, vowing to fight on. They will likely be joined by Islamic radicals from other countries. Early in February it was reported that arch-terrorist Osama Bin Laden, holed up in Afghanistan, was "freeing up" associates to join the fight in Chechnya.
NAZI SYMPATHIZERS are not welcome in the European Union. That was the EU's message to Austria when Jorg Haider's Freedom Party was made a part of a coalition government in Austria. The charismatic Haider disavows the generous things he has been known to say about the Nazis in the past, but many Westerners are not buying it. Opposition by other members of the EU stunned Austria but may have backfired. The support of Haider's party by Austrians is increasing, since they do not want their country to appear to bow to foreign pressure.
