Self Defeat

At UPI, Mark N. Katz discusses the implications of Russia's military failure in Chechnya:

Putin's policy toward the borderlands is counterproductive and could well result in far worse consequences for Russia than the ones he hopes to avoid. Far from preventing secession, Putin's continued failure to crush the Chechen rebellion may convince other parts of Russia that Moscow is too weak to prevent them from seeking independence. Moscow's fear of a U.S. military presence in various former Soviet republics is simply wrong-headed. Far from being a threat to Russia, this serves to protect it from Islamic threats (arising either from inside these countries or to the south of them) that Moscow is clearly incapable of dealing with by itself. Finally, Russia's security would surely be enhanced if the former Soviet republics to its south and west became democratic, stable and prosperous instead of remaining autocratic, unstable, and poor.

(via chechnya-sl)