European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 29, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday december 29, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 Russia . Should leave chechen alone -.-m. I i Washington the chechen Are a Bunch Osborn hoodlums and religious fanatics. Their criminal clans Are running an Island of banditry within the rus Sian federation. Their Gross National product is stolen goods. What s More they were on the nazis s what Moscow wants the world to believe As the red army moved to crush the secession of Chechnya a re Public of a million fiercely Independent muslims. An Early inkling that the disparaging assessment of chechen May be Kremlin disinformation came in a new York times oped piece by John be Carre the spy novelist and longtime student of islam. Other no establishment types have been rounding out the picture of the 1991 secession of Chechnya from the soviet Empire. For two centuries these mountaineers have resisted russian Rule and fought the eradication of their Many ukrainians they welcomed Hitler s invaders As liberators from Stalin s tyranny for this the were murdered and scattered by the vengeful dictator until Khrushchev restored survivors t6 their like Ukraine Chechnya seized the moment of the Brea Kup of the soviet Union to de Clare its Independence in 1991.but it controlled no nuclear weapons and boasted no Large army or Navy. Although president Boris Yeltsin of Russia Promise to leave it alone he has refused to Brook secession and sent in disarmed forces to re establish rus Sian Rule in the capital reaction of the Clin ton administration has been is . The United states understands the need for Moscow to defend its sovereignty throughout the the chechen Are permitted to secede other republics would follow. Possible results of this slippage toward subdivision anarchy tumult civil . Policy is to frown on any rocking of the russian boat. Our state department therefore under stands Yeltsin s forceful imposition of National authority within Chechnya. Clinton support of Russia rejection of chechen secession is unequivocal because Jimmy Carter has his hands full elsewhere this is not an outrageous position. The russian mafia is permeated by chechen enforcers Grozny is a enter of crime and corruption and militant islam its Symbol a crossed Crescent and Kalashnikov is a threat to peace. If Russia is to retain sovereignty it must take responsibility for Law and order within its , the former soviet air Force general Lead ing the Independence movement a Khokhar Dunayev is no Jefferson Davis. His hypocrisy was on display recently when he asked Turkey which is waging War units kurdish Muslim minority to intercede with Russia on behalf of its chechen Muslim , a Good Short term argument can be made that William Safire the . Interest is in the stability that Yeltsin s crack Down should bring. But is anybody in foggy Bottom thinking past the next election to the Long term inter est of the United states to be pragmatic Arajj event that diminishes the likelihood of Russia s regaining superpower status is one to be encouraged or at least not discouraged. When George Bush in his infamous Chicken Kiev speech urged Ukraine to remain subservient to Moscow he made the biggest Geo strategic mistake of his presidency. To be principled if that s allowed in modern Diplo Macy the United states should not set its face against self determination. When a distinct ethnic group in specific place has a history of fighting for its Freedom a Vars continue to be Wona from oppression and if it is Able to protect minorities within its territory then we should be on the Side of evolving autonomy and ultimately sovereignty. What should we be rooting for in the showdown Between the Kremlin and the fierce often crooked secessionist chechen answer an accommodation. Yeltsin does not have to recognize the secession nor do we. We should quietly urge the russians to Back off to claim a Victory for restraint in a fuzzy Compromise and to make a hero of the tank commander who would not fire on civilians standing in his York Olmos fifty three years ago the de Cember 1941 Reader s digest carried an article by Walter Lippmann then consid ered one of America s most sagacious strategic analysts. World War ii he opined would be won primarily by air and sea Power with ground forces play ing a minor role. He was reflecting the general Public revulsion of the terrible casualties suffered in the trenches of world War i As Well As the Peculiar conceit that technology could produce a relatively bloodless As Lippmann s article was published the japanese Navy s Carrier born Aerial attack on Pearl Harbor that Sank most of the . Pacific Fleet seemed to confirm his prognosis. But the reality As the Navy War College acknowledged in1936, was that Man does not live in the air or on the sea. Land is the natural habitat of Man therefore the final out come of War is dependent on ability to isolate occupy or otherwise control the territory of the world War ii validated not Lippmann but the great British naval strategist sir Julian Corbett. The True value of sea Power and As it turned out of air Powers Well wrote Corbett before world War i lies in its influence on the operations of in the korean War the Vietnam War and the persian Gulf War the United states had total control of the air and the sea yet it was on the ground that the ultimate decisions were made. But Lippmann s fallacy lives on. Recently George town University s Philip Gold director appropriately enough of the aerospace 2010 project re Vived it in a re cent column inthe Washington times. New technologies he writes offer the Harry to do from the air Andrea Many things that once had to be done at horrific human Cost on the ground writing from an air Power and for thermic Hovenan Navy at least from a sea Power perspective As Well where Man serves the technological machine Gold As Lippmann before him does not begin to understand the dynamics of the army where Man is still dominant and the machine merely tool. Technology must serve the Soldier not vice versa. Unlike the . Air Force where its former chief of staff retired a. Tony Mcpeak noted correctly that stealth technology had rendered allot her world air forces obsolete there is no such techno logic change in land warfare. Although technology has improved their Battlefield effectiveness a Hundred fold tanks Are still tanks artillery is still artillery and the Rifle and the Bayonet Are still the primary tools of the infantry Man As he closes with the enemy and destroys him with fire and Man Euver. But fire and Man Euver May themselves be obsolete says Gold. This is basically Industrial age warfare with an applique of microchip technology he writes. The Day of massed forces operating inthe open against . Air Power May have As a survivor of the 1951chinese Spring offensive where despite total . Control of the air they threw 27infantry divisions some 250,000 troops against a seven division . Front Iam not persuaded by Gold s arguments. And the mountains Down Korea scentral spine that gave those chinese divisions cover As they moved the Man Miles from their manchurian staging areas to the front have not gone same Type of terrain has severely limited air operations in Bosnia today. Gold s article notes the army s Pon Derous nature. But those of us who suffered through the Quick but stupid pen Tomic reorganization in the late 1950s Ashe army rushed to get on Board the atomic revolution Are glad to see Sucha considered approach to change. As the army sees it the major change affecting ground operations Are in rapidly acquiring processing and acting upon Battlefield intelligence. To that end it has designated the 2nd army div at for Hood Texas As the test bed for Battle Field digital ligation to provide As Gold notes disparagingly real time situational awareness. But the army has not lost its Battle Field focus. As the army chief of staff Gen. Gordon r. Sullivan Points out while on one hand much will change in the conduct of War in the information age the nature of War will change Little. Death and destruction will remain the coins of War s realm. And the value of these coins will not diminish regardless of How much technology is available to the information age Lippmann did not want to hear that Ter Rible truth about the essence of War in 1941, and Gold does not want to hear it it is a reality we ignore at our peril. Los Angola times
