Reflection
I feel that this reflection was basically upon why I think we did this project and what I learned from it.
I believe we did this project because even though we learned a lot about many of the subjects, there were just some that we really didn’t learn about so thoroughly. So, we did a project on the subjects (and new ones as well) and learned a lot about them. Our group did the project on Chechnya and I didn’t even know information like that existed. Also, the groups that did the Holocaust must have learned more about the topic than in class.
I didn’t like only one thing about this project. It was hard for me to look up some of the information. I didn’t know anything about the topic before we even started. We were supposed to do the project on a topic that we weren’t familiar with. It was hard to find out things, especially for me. Everybody else in my group had the main points about Chechnya like the wars. I only got that timeline and the problem with that was is that I didn’t learn much about the topic. Learning important dates was good, but I didn’t know anything about what those events were. But, I then learned a lot more after talking to my group.
I liked that I got to learn a lot about the topic and learned what happened to the Chechens. It was amazing to learn about each war and what happened in them. I thought it was sad to learn about specific events like the killing of thousands of innocent people. It was kind of fun to know what happened to these people and knowing that their freedom was taken away and abused the Human Rights too. That was wrong of Russia to do that and I found it more amazing that the conflict is still going on today.
I learned a lot about Russia and the case of Chechnya. I never knew a lot of the facts about this topic until last week when we picked the subject to do for our project. It was a little difficult in the beginning, but then I understood it and I find it fascinating what happened to Chechnya and the many events that happened to the Chechens that are still going on to this very moment .
Monday, June 11, 2007
Olivia P.'s Reflection
During the time that I have been working on this blog, I have never seen such inhumane actions done by a government since the Holocaust. People are being slaughtered like pigs for their rights that they deserve. Over 250,000 people were killed just in the first war, there are still deaths happening now even after the second war has ended. This is not right; people should not be murdered as if they’re inhuman. The Chechens are Slavic, just as the Russians are. They are the same, and should get along, not fight. It started when Chechnya tried to gain it’s independence, but Russia did not want them to leave from the country and after four years the Russian army came in and started to attack. The Chechens fought back, winning the first war, but did not stop the army from taking innocent lives. The second war had started, creating more conflict when Russia said they were only trying to get rid of some traitors that were hidden in the mountains. Chechnya soon caught on to their plans, starting the second Chechen war. This ended in 2003 when a constitution was created to stop the fighting. But since then, there have been terrorist attacks on Hospitals, planes and one in a movie theatre in Moscow which killed 300 civilians. That’s going a little too far, but the Russians should strike some sort of peace treaty with the Chechens so no one else gets killed and no more wars are started.
The government was the greatest director of the war on Russia’s side. Russia and Chechnya are the only two countries in this. I would say this is stupid since Russia hasn’t gone after any other countries that have broken away. They’re using all their troops on Chechnya as if it’s the most important country to keep around. They haven’t created any laws against the country, the Russians have actually let them have their own president since the second war has ended, but they’re still a part of Russia.
I think these people were tortured and killed because the Russians wanted the government to surrender. They probably thought that if they slaughtered off the people, the government would give in so the others could survive. When the Chechens didn’t surrender, more killing went on but the Chechens fought back. The Russian’s plan, by my beliefs, was denied since Chechnya never gave in.
This event is still going on today. The wars might have ended, since the first war started in 1994 until 1996 and the second war was in 1999 to 2003, but there is still killing and pain and suffering all around the two countries. Chechnya is still stooping to terrorism, killing hundreds of Russian civilians. This is like the war in Iraq, many civilians getting massacred on the streets like in the beginning of the war. The agony of this all will affect all the countries, Russia, Chechnya, and Iraq, for the rest of their existences. The bonds between the countries, Russia to Chechnya and America to Iraq, will never be the same. No matter how hard they try.
The result of this event has yet to be known. The two countries have taken a break from the war, but human rights have not been completely given to Chechens. There is still horror every day as long as the two countries are at war. There will be no compromise until the end of the war has been created.
The government was the greatest director of the war on Russia’s side. Russia and Chechnya are the only two countries in this. I would say this is stupid since Russia hasn’t gone after any other countries that have broken away. They’re using all their troops on Chechnya as if it’s the most important country to keep around. They haven’t created any laws against the country, the Russians have actually let them have their own president since the second war has ended, but they’re still a part of Russia.
I think these people were tortured and killed because the Russians wanted the government to surrender. They probably thought that if they slaughtered off the people, the government would give in so the others could survive. When the Chechens didn’t surrender, more killing went on but the Chechens fought back. The Russian’s plan, by my beliefs, was denied since Chechnya never gave in.
This event is still going on today. The wars might have ended, since the first war started in 1994 until 1996 and the second war was in 1999 to 2003, but there is still killing and pain and suffering all around the two countries. Chechnya is still stooping to terrorism, killing hundreds of Russian civilians. This is like the war in Iraq, many civilians getting massacred on the streets like in the beginning of the war. The agony of this all will affect all the countries, Russia, Chechnya, and Iraq, for the rest of their existences. The bonds between the countries, Russia to Chechnya and America to Iraq, will never be the same. No matter how hard they try.
The result of this event has yet to be known. The two countries have taken a break from the war, but human rights have not been completely given to Chechens. There is still horror every day as long as the two countries are at war. There will be no compromise until the end of the war has been created.
History Reflection
The case in Chechnya really opened my eyes to how today the brutal fight for independence is still going on in other parts of the world. The Chechen people risk their lives daily in hopes that they will someday be free
The civilians of Chechnya are denied the privileges that every human is entitled to such as the right to flee from heavy fighting, and the right to leave Chechnya during war. With bombs exploding constantly and people dying everyday, the civilians are still not allowed to leave. Human rights and other liberties have been stolen from these helpless people, which contrast with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights issued by the United Nations. During the wars, the Chechen people were tortured unmercifully, which is similar to the holocaust, seeing as these people are treated as if non-human. They are treated as if they are a detached being of the human race that does not deserve human rights.
Humanism, the idea that all individuals matter, is not a concept used in Chechnya during these awful times of war. On the contrary, the civilians are treated like a tool of warfare and are killed more than the soldiers themselves. To Russia, a person is just another obstacle they would have to get around to, to use, to kill. A single human being means nothing, whether it is a strong older person or a small child. It does not matter if they have thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams for that could all end tomorrow.
After reading about the case in Chechnya, I was depressed but also very aware of how the cruelties of war affect the people of Chechnya. After all the fighting, all the pain, all the tears, the only thing they were granted was the liberty to elect a new leader. I was very shocked that we, the United States, have not stepped in to help these poor souls who have been hurt and overwhelmed with grief.
Over all, I thoughts this project was very enlightening to what is going on in the world. Many american teenagers only seem to care for what is happening in their lives and anything that affects them directly. After learning about this, I hope to be more aware of what is going on in other parts of the world and see if there is anything the United states is doing to help out in the fight for human rights!
The civilians of Chechnya are denied the privileges that every human is entitled to such as the right to flee from heavy fighting, and the right to leave Chechnya during war. With bombs exploding constantly and people dying everyday, the civilians are still not allowed to leave. Human rights and other liberties have been stolen from these helpless people, which contrast with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights issued by the United Nations. During the wars, the Chechen people were tortured unmercifully, which is similar to the holocaust, seeing as these people are treated as if non-human. They are treated as if they are a detached being of the human race that does not deserve human rights.
Humanism, the idea that all individuals matter, is not a concept used in Chechnya during these awful times of war. On the contrary, the civilians are treated like a tool of warfare and are killed more than the soldiers themselves. To Russia, a person is just another obstacle they would have to get around to, to use, to kill. A single human being means nothing, whether it is a strong older person or a small child. It does not matter if they have thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams for that could all end tomorrow.
After reading about the case in Chechnya, I was depressed but also very aware of how the cruelties of war affect the people of Chechnya. After all the fighting, all the pain, all the tears, the only thing they were granted was the liberty to elect a new leader. I was very shocked that we, the United States, have not stepped in to help these poor souls who have been hurt and overwhelmed with grief.
Over all, I thoughts this project was very enlightening to what is going on in the world. Many american teenagers only seem to care for what is happening in their lives and anything that affects them directly. After learning about this, I hope to be more aware of what is going on in other parts of the world and see if there is anything the United states is doing to help out in the fight for human rights!
Caleigh Tierney's reflection
After researching this ongoing event, I believe that Human Rights aren’t always regarded, and people’s rights are violated on a daily basis. Before researching this issue, I had thought that human rights were only being violated in Darfur, and maybe some small cases in other parts of the world. I didn’t think that it would be as extreme as it is in Chechnya. This relates to Chechnya because some of the same human rights were violated. Like the right to know why you are being legally detained, and the fact that they were illegally detained, and tortured. In the event that is going on with the Chechens, I don’t believe that the ideals of humanism are being supported, they are denying the principle to the people of Chechnya. The idea that all individuals matter is disregarded everyday, and the importance of individuality is lost. Chechens are killed, just because of their Chechens, and they believe that they are all against them. Even journalists who speak out, are brutally murdered in cold blood. So, the idea of humanism cannot be applied to Chechnya at all/. On leadership I believe that you need a strong, and fair ruler, not one that makes decisions for everybody, but discusses it. I don’t really believe in leaders, unless its in a form of a democracy. In this situation, the leader, Putin, was bot a good one. He was anything but fair to the Chechens, and just tortured them, trying to convince them to join the rest of the country. Yes I pity the victims, because they were wronged, and treated horribly. The events that took place, aren’t, and will never be justified. In fact, theres no way these acts against the Chechens can ever be justified. They violated their human rights. There aren’t any peacekeeping efforts in any countries right now to begin with. They aren’t acceptable in e first place, because the efforts of peace aren’t a priority, and nobody makes the effort to uphold the efforts, and protect the rights of people. So the peacekeeping efforts in sovereign countries aren’t acceptable to me at all. First of all, the government wouldn’t allow the United Nations to intervene with the sovereignty of the United States, so it wouldn’t happen. And I don’t think that anything that The UN wanted to change, the government. Even though it is their right, I don’t believe that the United Nations has the right to intervene in our country. I think that they can do it to other countries, because America hasn’t been that bad, and I believe that in America, we try to be fair, and do make an effort to uphold peacekeeping efforts, unlike other countries such as Chechnya, and Darfur. Like America even tries to help those devastated countries. So in America’s case, I don’t believe that the United Nations has the right to intervene on the United States.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Second Chechnyan War-Kate's Personal Reflection
In Chechnya, the words "human rights" are totally ignored by the Russians. They have no respect nor pity for the thousands they have killed in cold blood. And why are they randomly killing innocent civilians? Chechnya wants to be free. They want a chance to be their own country, and Russia refuses to give them that chance. In turn, they are violating the rights that every person in the world is entitled to, and Putin and his followers don't care. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a good thing, but for some reason beyond my understanding, Putin has chosen to ignore it completly, and continue torturing people for no reason.
In the Holocaust, certain people were singled out for being 'subhuman', and were therefore eliminated. In the second Chechen war, the Russians are singling out an entire country. No one is safe from their wrath. They randomly pluck people from their homes, neglect to tell them where they are being taken or why, and are detained and tortured. In both the Holocaust and in the war happening now, human rights are swept aside and thrown in the garbage.
To Putin, this entire country has done wrong and deserves to be punished. Not only is it stereotypical, but it is also dangerous to those innocent standbyers who live in Chechnya. They are subjected to punishment that they don't deserve. There is only a small group that has done wrong, but they are not being hurt because of it. Even though Putin didn't send out anything like the Nuemberg laws, it is obvious to all that the Russians don't believe that the Chechens are worthy of equal treatment. Their torture of anyone they can get their hands on is proof of that.
I feel sorrow for these victims, and can't help feeling rage toward Putin and his followers. What is the world coming to when an elected leader randomly pulls people from the streets and shoots electricity through them when they did nothing to him? I also want to know how people in Russia are tolerating this from Putin, and why they don't take him out of office. He does kill anyone who dares speak out against him (he has sent assasins to kill 13 journalists since 2000), but that shouldn't stop people from raising up against him.
One of my main concerns is that this is not raising much alarm in the United States. We may be allies with Russia, but sitting by and letting this happen is just wrong. I didn't even know anything about what was happening until I started this project. After researching it a bit, I want to know why I didn't know about it before. Why don't journalists write about it? The West doesn't know a lot about what is happening, and I fear that it's going to be just like what happened with the Holocaust. At first, the United States ignored the Holocaust, thinking it wasn't a big deal. Obviously we were wrong. I believe the knowledge should be spread further, in order for more people to learn of this.
The United Nations has a job to keep the peace, and that's exactly what they should be doing at the moment. Invading a country and imposing on soverengty is necessary in this case. Everyone deserves a chance to their rights, and the Russian government is taking that away for no real reason. Times like these require the UN to reach out, and help those who have fallen. They should help, because if they don't, who will?
-Kate
In the Holocaust, certain people were singled out for being 'subhuman', and were therefore eliminated. In the second Chechen war, the Russians are singling out an entire country. No one is safe from their wrath. They randomly pluck people from their homes, neglect to tell them where they are being taken or why, and are detained and tortured. In both the Holocaust and in the war happening now, human rights are swept aside and thrown in the garbage.
To Putin, this entire country has done wrong and deserves to be punished. Not only is it stereotypical, but it is also dangerous to those innocent standbyers who live in Chechnya. They are subjected to punishment that they don't deserve. There is only a small group that has done wrong, but they are not being hurt because of it. Even though Putin didn't send out anything like the Nuemberg laws, it is obvious to all that the Russians don't believe that the Chechens are worthy of equal treatment. Their torture of anyone they can get their hands on is proof of that.
I feel sorrow for these victims, and can't help feeling rage toward Putin and his followers. What is the world coming to when an elected leader randomly pulls people from the streets and shoots electricity through them when they did nothing to him? I also want to know how people in Russia are tolerating this from Putin, and why they don't take him out of office. He does kill anyone who dares speak out against him (he has sent assasins to kill 13 journalists since 2000), but that shouldn't stop people from raising up against him.
One of my main concerns is that this is not raising much alarm in the United States. We may be allies with Russia, but sitting by and letting this happen is just wrong. I didn't even know anything about what was happening until I started this project. After researching it a bit, I want to know why I didn't know about it before. Why don't journalists write about it? The West doesn't know a lot about what is happening, and I fear that it's going to be just like what happened with the Holocaust. At first, the United States ignored the Holocaust, thinking it wasn't a big deal. Obviously we were wrong. I believe the knowledge should be spread further, in order for more people to learn of this.
The United Nations has a job to keep the peace, and that's exactly what they should be doing at the moment. Invading a country and imposing on soverengty is necessary in this case. Everyone deserves a chance to their rights, and the Russian government is taking that away for no real reason. Times like these require the UN to reach out, and help those who have fallen. They should help, because if they don't, who will?
-Kate
Russia and the case of Chechnya- Personal Reflection (Christina Garbarino)
To put it simply, even basic human rights are not respected. Evidently, many people do not abide by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights issued by the United Nations. Even if it is a great idea to have a universal declaration, there is no way that we can get everyone to follow it. There are your everyday basic crimes against humanity, but Putin took them to the extremes. It is incomprehensible to me exactly why so many people do not follow the declaration. There is no explanation that will make it okay. Already, so many people were tortured and killed by the masses, and nothing can make up for this. This information is only for my topic, Chechnya, I cannot even imagine how many times people disobeyed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights combined with all the other topics.
This relates to the Holocaust because in both, people were treated like subhumans. The Holocaust singled out different people within the nation, while the case of Chechnya singled out a whole nation. People should always have the right to independence and liberty, and both those targeted by the Holocaust and the Chechens were denied of this right. With the Holocaust, Jews were put into concentration camps that had routine cleanup operations, and in Chechnya, the Russian secret police go right to the detainees house, to take them away without a proper explanation. Overall, these two events relate because the human rights were completely ignored in both.
The case of Chechnya completely denies the principle of humanism, that all individuals matter. Putin has made land and power more important than human lives. Russia classifies all Chechens as terrorists and rebels, when it is only a specific group of people. They detain thousands of people without having any evidence against them. It is interesting that humanism is even brought up here because it is the thing the Russia keeps denying Chechens of. They just want to be an independent country, not a republic, but Russia absolutely refuses. Russia will do anything, including violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to keep Chechnya a republic. Russia will not take into consideration any individual opinions or criticizing. They kill anyone who has a radical idea. For example, Russia has killed 13 opinionated journalists since 2000. This goes without mentioning, but if all individuals matter, then why is Russia detaining, torturing, raping, threatening, and killing them by the masses?
This event makes me seriously doubt putting trust in the leaders of this world. Similar to the war criminals on trial at Nuremburg, I cannot conceive why they do not disobey Putin. I understand the fear of being killed, but why cant the take a stand together? Do they take pleasure in torturing people? If they all gained up on Putin, they could stop the violence. I feel that the victims have done there fair share of crime too, but the Russians aren’t punishing the right people, or in the morally right way. They randomly choose people to detain, so those victims definitely do not deserve it. They especially do not deserve what goes on after they are detained, torture, rape, worried family members. Then, on top of that, the only way to get out of a crime they did not commit is to give the Russians money or valuables.
I definitely feel sorrow for the victims of this event. What saddens me even more, is that it is still going on. Nothing has been resolved. I wish that the world could find strong evidence against Putin, but he continues to hide it. One day though, he is going to forget to cover up his footprints, and he will be punished. Putin can send his men to kill anyone, even those innocent journalists, or the former Russian spy, and get away with it. There is no justification for the actions of Russia. They should have a meeting with Chechen leaders to discuss both sides of the story, and why the Chechens deserve independence.
Yes, the United Nations needs to keep the peace. If leaders of huge sovereign countries like Russia cant obey something so basic as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, then someone has to take charge. Actually, I think that the U.N. needs to interfere more in Chechnya. They have not really been doing anything about it, except for an investigation in 2000. It is key for the U.N. to step in as a whole, so Russia cannot target one particular country. If the U.S. stepped in, we would be risking starting another Cold War. This way, many countries can interfere together without fear of being attacked. Russia cannot target all of those countries at once. As long as all that the UN is doing is keeping the peace, without any personal involvement, it is completely acceptable and wanted.
It would be okay for the U.N. to step into the sovereignty of the U.S. as long as we were in a time of need. If we were having such issues with ruling ourselves that we were breaking the Declaration of Human Rights constantly, and our own citizens were suffering, the U.N. would be welcome to help. The U.N. obviously cannot have control over every sovereign country, it would not be fair. However, peacekeeping efforts are important and necessary for the well being of the world.
-Christina
This relates to the Holocaust because in both, people were treated like subhumans. The Holocaust singled out different people within the nation, while the case of Chechnya singled out a whole nation. People should always have the right to independence and liberty, and both those targeted by the Holocaust and the Chechens were denied of this right. With the Holocaust, Jews were put into concentration camps that had routine cleanup operations, and in Chechnya, the Russian secret police go right to the detainees house, to take them away without a proper explanation. Overall, these two events relate because the human rights were completely ignored in both.
The case of Chechnya completely denies the principle of humanism, that all individuals matter. Putin has made land and power more important than human lives. Russia classifies all Chechens as terrorists and rebels, when it is only a specific group of people. They detain thousands of people without having any evidence against them. It is interesting that humanism is even brought up here because it is the thing the Russia keeps denying Chechens of. They just want to be an independent country, not a republic, but Russia absolutely refuses. Russia will do anything, including violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to keep Chechnya a republic. Russia will not take into consideration any individual opinions or criticizing. They kill anyone who has a radical idea. For example, Russia has killed 13 opinionated journalists since 2000. This goes without mentioning, but if all individuals matter, then why is Russia detaining, torturing, raping, threatening, and killing them by the masses?
This event makes me seriously doubt putting trust in the leaders of this world. Similar to the war criminals on trial at Nuremburg, I cannot conceive why they do not disobey Putin. I understand the fear of being killed, but why cant the take a stand together? Do they take pleasure in torturing people? If they all gained up on Putin, they could stop the violence. I feel that the victims have done there fair share of crime too, but the Russians aren’t punishing the right people, or in the morally right way. They randomly choose people to detain, so those victims definitely do not deserve it. They especially do not deserve what goes on after they are detained, torture, rape, worried family members. Then, on top of that, the only way to get out of a crime they did not commit is to give the Russians money or valuables.
I definitely feel sorrow for the victims of this event. What saddens me even more, is that it is still going on. Nothing has been resolved. I wish that the world could find strong evidence against Putin, but he continues to hide it. One day though, he is going to forget to cover up his footprints, and he will be punished. Putin can send his men to kill anyone, even those innocent journalists, or the former Russian spy, and get away with it. There is no justification for the actions of Russia. They should have a meeting with Chechen leaders to discuss both sides of the story, and why the Chechens deserve independence.
Yes, the United Nations needs to keep the peace. If leaders of huge sovereign countries like Russia cant obey something so basic as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, then someone has to take charge. Actually, I think that the U.N. needs to interfere more in Chechnya. They have not really been doing anything about it, except for an investigation in 2000. It is key for the U.N. to step in as a whole, so Russia cannot target one particular country. If the U.S. stepped in, we would be risking starting another Cold War. This way, many countries can interfere together without fear of being attacked. Russia cannot target all of those countries at once. As long as all that the UN is doing is keeping the peace, without any personal involvement, it is completely acceptable and wanted.
It would be okay for the U.N. to step into the sovereignty of the U.S. as long as we were in a time of need. If we were having such issues with ruling ourselves that we were breaking the Declaration of Human Rights constantly, and our own citizens were suffering, the U.N. would be welcome to help. The U.N. obviously cannot have control over every sovereign country, it would not be fair. However, peacekeeping efforts are important and necessary for the well being of the world.
-Christina
Li Ying's 5 paragraph Reflection
Li Ying Lu
Period 3
6/8/07
Reflection for the Russia and the case of Chechnya Blog
Before starting this blog with my other group members for part of the history final, I didn’t even know about the case of Chechnya, or rather I didn’t even know what it was. Like Lauren said in the introduction of our blog, “Many people are oblivious to the many wars around us.” I really agree with that statement because I guess, like most other schools in the United States, we are taught about the 2 World Wars, the Civil War, the Revolutionary and etc., but few people have heard of the cases of human rights that we have been discussing recently in class. Also, not a lot of people know that there are human rights issues all over the world that are happening recently through the 1900s. I do not understand how every person on this planet is human but they can treat each other as less superior or unwilling to grant a country’s independence and shed blood. I think that this is a good way to help us get ready for the essay on the history final.
Countries go to war for many reasons but mainly for independence from another country. Chechnya was one of them. It is a small federal subject of Russia but it has not gained independence yet although they do have their own president and an unofficial capital. In some ways, I thought that this war is a little bit like our current war and others among history. During this war leaders used terrorist attacks on Russian cities and civilians. The war that we are fighting with Iraq right now also the result of terrorist attacks on 9/11. Chechnya leaders also used guerilla tactics much like people did in other wars such as Charles De Gaulle. He led the Free French movement against the Vichy regime. I feel that most wars are similar in tactics/strategies but I think that it is wrong to use guerilla or terrorist attacks on any nation in order to gain independence. Many innocent people were killed during the First and Second Chechen Wars and also including the Moscow theater siege and the Beslan School siege.
This was basically a research project. I liked the idea of doing a blog because I also keep a blog and xanga online and post daily. I thought it was really cool posting information to a blog that is linked to the school’s website so that anyone who accesses it can see the human rights situations that our history classes have been working on. Also, anyone is free to comment so we can know about their own opinions and ideas, even the posters on the blog themselves. I thought that Russia and the Case of Chechnya was a completely random “topic” because I mostly heard of the other topics but not this one. The research part was OK, but the group project is really nice because it is definitely easier for 5 people to do one final project than for one person to do one final project. One difficult thing was that people had trouble posting the things onto the blog. Also this project was done online and similar to a website and I really like it.
Yesterday when I was posting on the blog, another group had posted their pictures and I thought it was interesting that President Bush was very strong allies with the Russian president Putin. I thought that the United States and Russia were probably still on edges about World War 2 and the Cold War so I was surprised that the 2 leaders of the 2 different countries were allies with each other. I thought that our country supported the idea of independence because we had wars over it to free ourselves from Great Britain a very long time ago and help another country gain its independence instead of helping a country that kind of turned its back on us.
One thing that has been bothering me while doing this project was seeing Andrea’s post on the blog just now. Like every war, civilians are the innocent people that are caught in the crossfire when the leaders of the country made the decisions. There was a picture that was drawn by a refugee’s child during the war in Chechnya. It is shocking to say that the human rights of life ,equality and government were denied from the Chechnya people. In conlcusion, I thought this project was fun but it was a little disturbing to find out more is happening in the real world that we do not know about.
Period 3
6/8/07
Reflection for the Russia and the case of Chechnya Blog
Before starting this blog with my other group members for part of the history final, I didn’t even know about the case of Chechnya, or rather I didn’t even know what it was. Like Lauren said in the introduction of our blog, “Many people are oblivious to the many wars around us.” I really agree with that statement because I guess, like most other schools in the United States, we are taught about the 2 World Wars, the Civil War, the Revolutionary and etc., but few people have heard of the cases of human rights that we have been discussing recently in class. Also, not a lot of people know that there are human rights issues all over the world that are happening recently through the 1900s. I do not understand how every person on this planet is human but they can treat each other as less superior or unwilling to grant a country’s independence and shed blood. I think that this is a good way to help us get ready for the essay on the history final.
Countries go to war for many reasons but mainly for independence from another country. Chechnya was one of them. It is a small federal subject of Russia but it has not gained independence yet although they do have their own president and an unofficial capital. In some ways, I thought that this war is a little bit like our current war and others among history. During this war leaders used terrorist attacks on Russian cities and civilians. The war that we are fighting with Iraq right now also the result of terrorist attacks on 9/11. Chechnya leaders also used guerilla tactics much like people did in other wars such as Charles De Gaulle. He led the Free French movement against the Vichy regime. I feel that most wars are similar in tactics/strategies but I think that it is wrong to use guerilla or terrorist attacks on any nation in order to gain independence. Many innocent people were killed during the First and Second Chechen Wars and also including the Moscow theater siege and the Beslan School siege.
This was basically a research project. I liked the idea of doing a blog because I also keep a blog and xanga online and post daily. I thought it was really cool posting information to a blog that is linked to the school’s website so that anyone who accesses it can see the human rights situations that our history classes have been working on. Also, anyone is free to comment so we can know about their own opinions and ideas, even the posters on the blog themselves. I thought that Russia and the Case of Chechnya was a completely random “topic” because I mostly heard of the other topics but not this one. The research part was OK, but the group project is really nice because it is definitely easier for 5 people to do one final project than for one person to do one final project. One difficult thing was that people had trouble posting the things onto the blog. Also this project was done online and similar to a website and I really like it.
Yesterday when I was posting on the blog, another group had posted their pictures and I thought it was interesting that President Bush was very strong allies with the Russian president Putin. I thought that the United States and Russia were probably still on edges about World War 2 and the Cold War so I was surprised that the 2 leaders of the 2 different countries were allies with each other. I thought that our country supported the idea of independence because we had wars over it to free ourselves from Great Britain a very long time ago and help another country gain its independence instead of helping a country that kind of turned its back on us.
One thing that has been bothering me while doing this project was seeing Andrea’s post on the blog just now. Like every war, civilians are the innocent people that are caught in the crossfire when the leaders of the country made the decisions. There was a picture that was drawn by a refugee’s child during the war in Chechnya. It is shocking to say that the human rights of life ,equality and government were denied from the Chechnya people. In conlcusion, I thought this project was fun but it was a little disturbing to find out more is happening in the real world that we do not know about.
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