Hi. As an Australian, I am sure that I know a lot less about Chechnya than you do. But as someone that has read a lot about the first Chechen war and has spoken to several people who actually participated in the war, I believe I know a little bit about some of the things that went on.
My understanding of the reason for the war is that there is no singular reason, but a number of reasons. The most mentioned reasons seem to be along the lines of returning constitutional law to a republic that had fallen into lawlessness, ramapant widespread corruption and medieval style savagery (ie. between the various tribes that lived in the mountains).
This is contrary to the western media view (which I personally regard as ignorant propaganda) that lawlessness only came to the region after the fighting commenced.
Moreover, the need to stop the crumbling of the Soviet Union by keeping Chechnya a part of it (by whatever means) is another often mentioned reason, as is the belief that Chechnya is an important strategic location in terms of oil, proximity to other strategic places, and so on.
As an outsider it would be arrogant of me to think I know the answer. I really do not know the answer, but I would be very interested to know. The first Chechen war fascinates me. And don't worry, I am quite sure that the Chechen's were not the good ones at all.
Although the corrupt, propaganda machine of the western media has never said it, my interviews with several people who were involved in that war really do indicate that Islamic extremism was rampant throughout Chechnya even before fighting began in the first war.
Sorry my post was so long. That's all I will write for now, but I would be very interested to read what you know about this subject.
Cheers.
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