The commentator Дарман, who appears to be from Dagestan, argues that Chechens are quite different from the other North Caucasian nationalities. Apparently, minorities in Russia don’t like Chechens much more than do ethnic Russians. (Brings to mind that War Nerd quote, “They seem like one of those tribes that are either going to rule the world or go extinct but nothing in between”). He also argues that the impunity their gangs enjoy isn’t so much because of money, as AP suggests, but because they are capable of physical retaliation/revenge, making the police loth to mess around with them. His comment is reprinted in full below:
This incident brought some bad memories: when I was 8 years old I remember witnessing how Chechens operate, that day they killed an older man outside the movie theater in Makhachkala. These guys were really noisy and the man asked them to calm down. As he was walking out with his wife, the four Chechens grabbed his arms and dragged him behind the theater, where they stabbed him. I did not see the murder, but I remember the man’s wife screaming and a police officer rushed to her, but when he heard that the Chechens were involved, he turned around and walked away as she was begging for help.
Lets not mix chechens and dagestanis. Many times when dagestanis are mentioned in relation to crimes in Russia, people do not realize that 99% of times the huligans or criminals are ethnic Chechens. Over 100K ethnic Chechens live in Northern Dagestan. Dagestan is not a nationality, it is a multi ethnic region, where people called Avars, Kumyks, Dargins, Azeri, Lezgins, Mountain Jews (Gorsky Juhuro) live. These small ethnic groups are all at odds with the Chechens. Which is the case also for most of other Caucasians, except maybe Ingushs.
Ruslan Marzhamov had a couple acquaintances from Dagestan who rushed to his help but too late, and they are the ones who actually took him to the hospital, as Ruslan’s mother mentioned in her interview to the press.
Yes, the people from Caucasus have a short fuse, but it is the Chechens who are giving all Caucasus a bad name. The Chechens have a serious case of megalomania because of their formidable clan system and mafia-like organization, which makes them very dangerous.
Lets not forget that the second Chechen war started when they invaded Dagesta: – these two regions are enemies.
I do not think that Russians are cowards; they are not. Simply they lack good community organization, and that is why 80 organized Chechens can act as if they own a city with 40,000 people. Which is an absurd situation, in my opinion. Chechens are also vengeful and too many small town Russian police chiefs are insecure and prefer not to mess with them for fear of individual retaliation.
From my personal experience: if you are physically strong, not afraid of them (and in arguments they always threaten you and look you in the eyes to see if you are afraid or not, just like dogs they can sense your fear) and have a backing from a strong group of people, they will avoid picking a fight with you. The Chechens are always in groups of three and four, but they only attack if they are sure they have you cornered and defenseless. If you ever get into argument with one of them, be aware that two more will be positioning themselves behind you.
Finally, why do you think Putin is so respected in Chechnya? Because he proved that he would not blink and would level the whole republic with heavy artillery and missiles, if he felt like it. This is the only argument they understand.
….
Except a few hundred mercenaries and fanatics from Caucasus, Russia and Ukraine, the Chechens fought alone. If there is another war (and I do not believe there will be one) they will fight alone, at least Dagestan and Cherkess will fight against them for sure.
Alex Mercouris on Navalny. He considers that the conviction is sound and that the trial was fair
http://mercouris.wordpress.com/2013/07/27/aleksei-navalny-an-examination-of-his-trial-and-conviction/
Yes, I know. There will be a reprint of his article here on Monday. For now please discuss it at his site.
An equally generalizing characteristic of the Chechens is to be found in Lermontov’s The Hero of our Time – Danish ed. p 38 and 106 – so there is evidence long before the “Chechen Wars”
Hahahaha this is bullshit chechens and the rest caucasus are brothers i dont know who wrote this article but all of that was lies
Brotherly love shown at Beslan then?
Those who were in Belsan were mostly Ingush and Beslan is in North Ossetia and the ingush and ossetians hate eatcheater but those who did that terrorist attack were islamist u cant bring up islamists when ur talking about ethnic relations chechens and dagis are brothers sure there are sometimes fighting between eathchater but its nothing that big
(btw sorry for my horrible english)
“….the greatest force on earth is the law of vendetta.
We Europeans, at home and at school, read and pronounce only words of lofty disdain for this savage law, this cruel and senseless butchery. But the butchery is perhaps not so senseless after all. It does not sap the mountain peoples, but strengthens them. Not so very many fall victim to the law of vendetta—but what power the dread of it has over all around! With this law in mind, no high-lander will casually insult another, as we insult each other in drink, from lack of self-control or just for the hell of it Still less will any /ton-Chechen look for trouble with a Chechen, call him a thief or a ruffian, or accuse him of jumping the queue. For the answer may be given not in words, not in abuse, but with a knife in the ribs! And even if you grab a knife yourself (but you won’t have one on you—you’re civilized), you cannot give blow for blow, or your whole family will fall under the knife! The Chechens walk the Kazakh land with insolence in their eyes, shouldering people aside—and the “masters of the land” and non-masters alike respectfully make way for them. The law of vendetta creates a force field of fear—and so gives strength to its small mountain people.
“Strike your neighbors, that strangers may fear you!” The ancestors of the highlanders in remote antiquity could have found no stronger hoop to gird their people.”
(c) Alexander Solzhenitsyn “GULAG ARCHIPELAGO”
The Saker on Chechen terrorism and the Second Chechen War. He certainly believes that the iron fist is the only thing the nastier elements among the Chechens understand
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2011/02/will-muslim-world-ever-show-enough.html
Everything you said is 100% true, it is rare to find someone who speaks so clear in these times of “political correctness.” Everything you say accurately reflects the behavior of Muslims in northern africa, cruel, vindictive, brave only in groups, and especially traitors. Europe is aware of the problem that she already has inside.
Spain was a Christian country and was invaded by these savages in 711, fortunately they were completely expelled,them and their families, in 1609, after their final defeat in 1492, including converts to Christianity. They were always making problems, not assimilated, called Turkish pirates, kidnapped people for money, Do not think that is very similar to their current behavior? . Expel is the only effective solution, and , yes, they only respect strength, like animals.
I had no idea “Mountain Jews” referred to an actual ethnicity. To me, it’s always just been a name for generic brand Mountain Dew.
This article made me laugh, some of it is absolute rubbish. “The Chechens are always in groups of three and four, but they only attack if they are sure they have you cornered and defenseless.”
The lone wolf is the national animal of the Chechen nation. According to the Chechen ethos, “the wolf is the only animal that would enter into an unequal match, making up for any disadvantage by its agility, wit, courage and tenacity. If it loses the battle, it lies down facing the foe in full
acceptance of its fate.”
Chechens have for CENTURIES been fighting against Russia whom are so much more powerful it is off the charts. Yet, Chechens still give zero fucks and fight for their pride and nation. They are some of the toughest people on this planet and believe me when I say they do not care about how the odds are stacked. Do your homework you idiot.
Do you know that wolfs attack always in packs? The lone wolfs are typically the older wolfs driven from the pack or the young adults trying to build a pack of their own. Chechens have always been bandits and kidnappers. Very little to admire.
Idiot. I’ve done a lot of research on Chechnya and have a few friends who are ethnic Chechen. “Very little to admire”, believe me when I say that they DO NOT GIVE A SINGLE FUCK about what outsiders admire. They have their own laws, rules and beliefs my friend. Chechens are probably the toughest people on this planet.
You say they only fight in groups but this is simply incorrect. During the first Chechen war a nation 1/10 the size of England HUMILIATED a country covering 1/6 of the earth. And during the second they did not even want any help from any other nation, but they simply allowed it as some Muslim fighters were decent. No other nation in the Caucasus would dare stand up to the regime whereas Chechens have been doing it for centuries upon centuries.
“Chechens have always been bandits and kidnappers”, once again YOU and most westerners view this as a negative thing. To the Chechens this is very respectable as someone like this is not content with what he has and tries to gain more land and power.
Also, Chechens have a teip system which operates similar to wolf clans. That’s why they are usually in groups, but these teips are constantly fighting each other during peace times. And if Chechens believe that someone is worthy they will fight on even terms. For example, there are various stories of Russians being challenged to knife fights against Chechens where the Chechen is unarmed but the Russian is not. If the Russian shows no fear and survives he is left alone, if a single ounce of fear is shown he is brutally killed. That’s how the Chechen mindset works, they view things very differently to the outside world.
Now do some more research and stop publishing utter bullshit.
I am chechen and I am telling this is not completly true, we do respect and love as our brothers dagestanian people like avars,dargins,kumiks etc. Of course we are orgonised in different way and yes we have very powerfull orgonisation, but believe me also dagestanians are very well orgonised and they are also tough guys. And I have nothing against them, why should I? About those 4 chechens who killed that guy, if this is really true, then according to us chechens they should be all killed the same way. No one is allowed to take life!
Interesting to hear from an actual ethnic Chechen that the issue of Chechnya that we don’t really hear much discussion in regards to historical significance and impact each ethnic group and region has played in the historical development in the region except in western circle a simplified anti-Russian stance the it is the Caucasus against Russia and to what degree this has been a result of the major foreign powers gaining influence and control of the region.
I basically see the Caucasus region like the Balkans and the former Yugoslavia that because of this there will always be a degree of conflict that you have so many various foreign elements trying to compete for influence in an historically important region among the different ethnic groups.
I have a lot of question to ask you although it is certain you probably wont post here again.
I am an ethnic Chechen, ask your questions to me. I’ll happily answer.
@Tim
What happened? I was wanting to ask questions about Chechen society and national identity through the years.
Urgh.. Another hater trying to convince people.. It’s not that this guy doesn’t know how our (chechen) system works, it’s just that this guy got his ass brutaly beaten up by a chechen kiddo and thats why he’s trying to give us a bad name by posting trash 🙂
I am Chechen and honestly sometimes I do hate how my Chechen compatriots behave and act, just too much agression and unnecessary bravado. I think this is not what REAL Chechens should be like. But I’m proud of our strong moral and ethical code, our culture and traditions.This is what makes us out and what we should preserve for the next generations.
In 5-10 years time Chechens will be marching with the gay rights activist in Europe just like in the Balkan states Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia as a test of civility and tolerance just like everybody else.
Well not really…At least not so soon I hope. There’s a strong tendence towards islamization in Chechnya now, so I’m afraid Chechens will be more like the 7th century Arabs by that time. And Russia is generally quite a homophobic country, so no parades in the next future)
johnUK, you are talking absolute rubbish. Chechnya is currently going through extreme Islamisation due to Kadyrov and his goals of stabilising the country to prevent another war, which actually goes against our culture. Although Chechens are proud Muslims we always put our nations culture first. It’s probably the one country that will do anything to retain it’s traditional values so no gay parades any time soon you fool.
@Tim
I’m talking about Chechen as a global community not those actually living in the regional province in Russia.
With all the western support both from conservative and liberal groups in West comes at a price to adopt secular liberal values and a big litmus test of that is the gay rights issue.
I imagine Chechens to take a stance similar to Turks that they have the greatest cultural affiliation.
The impression I got is that Dagestan ethnic groups were more militant in the Islamic sense like The Pakistan tribal regions/Arabs and Chechens were more ethno nationalist like Jews or Zionists?
Yep Chechens have always put their traditional values in the first place (but now they are being substituted by those of Islam). And yes the ‘greatest cultural affiliation’ thing is there too. Not very good, but maybe it’s the way of surviving as an ethnicity and retaining our culture.
I doubt that Chechens will adopt Islam like other Muslim countries.
Bosnia since the wars has had a significant presence foreign Islamic/jihadist presence with Iranian, Saudi and other money coming into the country still having a significant presence there with terrorists and groups still operating but even with the high unemployment it is still rather secular.
Akhmad Kadyrov before he was killed other than the wars of course and the influx of foreign jihadists I think blamed Chechens tribal system for infighting.
“Why is it all happening in Chechnya? Because the Chechens are warriors, first and foremost. Secondly, they are very trusting people – I am saying this to you as a Chechen man. We trust everyone else, but we do not trust each other. We believe people of other nationalities more than we believe each other. All the wars that have happened in Chechnya since the era of tsarist Russia were unleashed by people of other nationalities. Unfortunately, our nation has never had a leader who would stand up for his nation.”
http://www.network54.com/Forum/84302/thread/1353977130/last-1353977130/Akhmad+Kadyrov-+The+situation+in+Chechnya+is+an+internal+issue+of+Russia+and+Chechnya