San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec

San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec




San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec

Let Chechnya Choose Its Own Destiny

ScottWells is a columnist and a history junior.He can be reached at: Worldwelder@aol.com

Well, it’s that time again. Time to strap on the old backpack,grab the thinking cap and redirect the mind back to the business ofeducation.

The overwhelmingly favorable response I received last semesterfrom those of you who chose to partake in Reality 101 prompted me toreturn to put forth a second semester.

This semester I will be presenting Reality 102 — Big Issues andCommon Sense, also known as American Society and the MisplacedConstitution.

Let’s begin our semester with a bang and consider for a moment theRussian action in Chechnya.

As many of you may have already heard the Chechens are trying tosecede from Russia. The Russians aren’t too happy about the idea andhave decided to make them remain a part of Russia, even if it meansbeating them into submission.

Does this scenario sound familiar? It should. It has happenedrepeatedly over the years. American colonists, in effect, secededfrom Britain in the late 1700s. Then around eight and a half decadesor so later, several southern states decided to secede from theUnited States.

You may have read a little something about these cases in ahistory class.

In both of the aforementioned cases, force was used to persuadethe seceding parties back to their original status. One attemptfailed and one succeeded. Since the United States has been on bothsides of this type of conflict, how should we react to the Russiansituation?

It all boils down to whether or not we believe people should beallowed to determine their own destiny. Do we believe in allowingpeople to govern themselves even if it means giving them the right tobreak away?

If you think Chechnya should be allowed to separate from Russiawould you also be supportive if Alaska and all its oil left theUnited States?

Would you support bombing the South back into submission a secondtime to keep half of the Union from taking their toys and going home?

If you think the Russians are within their right to do whatever ittakes to keep their nation together, then you must ask yourself ifyou would have supported the British when they fought to keep all oftheir colonies.

Do you think the French should have been allowed to do whatevernecessary to keep Vietnam?

Well, let me enlighten you as to what the official Americanposition is on this subject. We have expressed our concern, urgedthem to withdraw and given them a warning about using force inChechnya.

In other words, we have decided that the South should have beenallowed to secede and any state wishing to do so can feel free atthis time.

We explained to the Russians, when they protested our involvementin Serbia, that we were free to use force where we felt necessary andthey should stay out of it. However, we don’t seem to have thatattitude now.

It sounds a bit hypocritical to me. What we should do, if only forthe sake of being consistent, is to stay out of the conflict. Weshould let them figure it out. We have no great national interest inChechnya and should avoid entangling ourselves in their internaldispute.

If the Chechens gain their independence we should recognize them.If they don’t, we should be content with the fact that the Russiansdid exactly what we did 135 years ago.

The United States should be careful about how it plays this game.There are an awful lot of people who are beginning to feeldisenfranchised with the current government structure and mightwelcome the opportunity to begin anew.

Of course, if the federal government continues to disregard theConstitution, as it so frequently does, it may not be long before theRussians are issuing threats for Washington to stop the bombing ofMontana.

This column is the opinion of the columnist and not The DailyAztec.

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San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913
Let Chechnya Choose Its Own Destiny