Sir, - In light of the most recent massacre by Russian forces in Chechnya, it is worth repeating a question previously posed by a number of your correspondents: why has the international condemnation been so lukewarm?
Consider what has actually happened so far. Thousands of civilians have been murdered, many while fleeing from the fighting or as a result of indiscriminate shelling of villages by Russian artillery. This has been attested to by organisations such as Amnesty International and the Russian Human Rights Centre. At the same time the Russians have refused to seek a peaceful solution by entering dialogue with the democratically elected representatives of the Chechen people.
Ostensibly the Russians invaded in response to the gross acts of terrorism carried out by Islamic fundamentalists based in Chechnya, despite the fact that these same terrorists did not have the support of the majority of the Chechens who practise a very different form of Islam to that being promoted by the fundamentalists. The reality is that the Russian invasion has little to do with countering terrorism and a lot to do with keeping Yeltsin and his cronies in power. The corrupt elite that now controls Russia, in an attempt to win popularity in advance of the upcoming elections, has gambled on a short, victorious war that will stoke the fires of old-fashioned imperial nationalism.
The response of the West to the stream of human rights violations by Russian forces has been abysmal. The wanton killing of Chechen civilians has earned Russia no more than a mild rebuke from any American or European leader. The reason for this reluctance to condemn is patently obvious. It is the West, through the IMF, which is literally bankrolling the corrupt Yeltsin regime in the hope that eventually a "stable climate for investment" will emerge, allowing Western business interests to exploit Russia's vast reserves of cheap labour and natural resources. So the unfortunate Chechens are to be the sacrificed at the altar of economic expediency.
The past year has shown the extent to which public outrage can force Western governments and the United Nations to act, admittedly in a belated and reluctant manner, in the face of humanitarian crises. As the noose tightens around Grozny, those who respond to plight of the Kosovars and the East Timorese earlier this year must act again, and quickly. - Yours, etc., Colm Breathnach,
Woodlands Park, Cabinteely, Co Dublin.