Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Prisoner of the Caucasus - Good Viewing/Reading Material About A Region In Eternal Conflict

I have the good luck of chatting and e-mailing with one of the readers of this blog, Olav. He always surprises me with his insight and with reading/viewing material about almost anything.

A few days ago, when I posted about the book on the Russo-Georgian war of 2008, he commented and linked to a conference about the conflicts in Abkhazia.

One of the best links Olav provided me was the one to a video entitled "Immortal Fortress", which is about the conflict in Chechnya. There is some great combat footage that is worth seeing. Neither Olav or me are making any political points with this video. Just see it as an insight into combat in so-called "low intensity conflicts".



The whole region is a continuous source of insurgency and counter-insurgency. Past month, I read this article in the print edition of Foreign Affairs, and I was amazed at the history of revolt that the region holds (see the "Mountains Beyond Mountains" section of the article).

Why am I interested in this region and its military history? Well, I'm interested in ANY type of military history. But these type of fights can be simulated in both ArmA2, LOMAC and DCS Black Shark!

Cheers,

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That was a fascinating video, thanks to you and your friend for providing it here. The Russians sure made a mess and stirred up the hornets nest in Chechnya. I was sympathetic to thier desire from freedom...for about a two years...now...sorry to say...if there was one nation that had to be nuked, I would choose Chechnya. That is saying something as I am of Armenian decent and I would choose it over Azerbaijan by a mile. Russia created this mess, they should just go in and finish the place and the west should keep their mouth shut and be happy they did what needed to be done.

Olav said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Olav said...

Thanks for the mention!! Appreciated :-)

Always on the lookout for deeper insight into the minds and machines that makes up these conflicts.

Here is a short part of a norwegian documentary named "Behind enemy lines" where the local taliban manages to use an old ZU-23 against the americans.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid69900095001?bctid=407524038001

The whole doc can be found on certain sites ;-)

Keep up the good work JC!

mobias said...

Man, I wish I knew what 'Anon's' reasons were for saying that? I'm intrigued now, having watched this video. Thanks for posting that JC, and Olav for providing that. I knew nothing about this situation -american media cares less about that area unless we send troops there, then maybe a 30 second spot on CNN. I did feel for Chechnya's cause-though i admit I don't know the back-story for the origins of the conflict without studying it a bit more. I could identify with Shamil's ideals...he was right-they are very similar to our own American Revolution... I will have to read further into this.

Olav said...

@mobias;

CNN did a few specials on the war in Chechnya, amongst others:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpo3ZUsM5WE

Political discussion aside, the clips from A. Nevzorovs "Hell" contains one of the most honest interviews on a battlefield. Im sure youll know what im talking about when you see this (2 parts):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IySnzvyQVNY