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AN ENDLESS WAR: THE RUSSIAN-CHECHEN CONFLICT IN PERSPECTIVE. WITH A PREFACE BY ANATOL LIEVEN BY EMIL SOULEIMANOV (Frankfurt am Main et al.: Peter Lang Publishing Group, 2007, pp. 366, ISBN 978-3- 631-56040-2, pb. 39.20 / £ 29.40 / US-$ 60.95)
This volume sheds light on the background to the war in the small, autonomous republic of Chechnya - a war that has almost been forgotten by the world's public but that is still, apart from a hiatus between 1996 and 1999, ongoing. Its roots go back almost two centuries, to when Tsarist Russia thought it necessary to bring "civilisation" to the North Caucasus with fire and sword.
Using numerous sources, Emil Souleimanov from Charles University in Prague illustrates this historical background, the characteristics of Chechen culture, as well as the surprisingly complex structure of its society;...