A prestigious Russian General, Yakov Kulnev, who defeated the Turks, Swedes and Napoleon, once joked. “Mother Russia is so good because someone is always fighting in one of her corners.”1 After losing a campaign in Afghanistan and suffering massive casualties during two wars in Chechnya, Russian Generals and Politicians are hardly in the mood for joking. A tainted history, militant leadership, crime, and finally Russian intervention are all factors contributing to the ongoing conflict. A …showed first 75 words of 1640 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1640 total…Russian servicemen have been killed and up to 7,000 wounded since last year as the weekly deaths of federal soldiers go unreported by state media. A clumsy and often brutal security regime is being placed on a population that has clearly seen enough fighting and some experts believe that the conflict will draw on for years as rebels resort to guerilla tactics that will certainly hamper public support and cause the loss of more innocent lives.