GREENVILLE, N.C. (U-WIRE) — While the Western world has enjoyed a considerable amount of peace in the last few decades, the Eastern part of the world always seems to be torn by war. It appears as if stability and peace in this world is not possible. Whether it’s the Middle East, Russia or Southeast Asia, some injustice is always taking place. The current war in Chechnya seems to be one of the best examples of injustice and cruelty in the post-world war era.
The Russian government claims that Chechnya belongs to it, while Chechens claim otherwise, and they want to keep their freedom and independence. The motivation for war is coming from a political point of view. If Putin can win the war and wipe out as many Chechens as possible, he will not only become more popular, but he can also seal his victory for re-election. Thus, the war is purely political and unnecessary.
Human rights groups have continued to condemn Russia’s actions in Chechnya from the beginning. Amnesty, a London-based human rights organization, has called again and again for an international investigation into many allegations of torture, murder, rape and brutality committed by the Russian army.
While Russia had promised to provide safe routes out of Chechnya for the innocent civilians, they have put snipers at these locations and have killed most people trying to leave. The people of Chechnya had no choice but to stay in their homes, and at the same time they were told that if they did not leave, they would be killed by the air raids.
It seems when other countries commit mass atrocities, they do not go unnoticed. China has been condemned worldwide for its brutal oppression, and it would appear that some sort of action was taken when Yugoslavia committed mass murder and torture in Kosovo. When Iraq invaded Kuwait, the world took notice, and to this day Iraq cannot sell its oil and still has other pending sanctions. However, no action is taken when Russia attacks another independent and peaceful country. The World Bank continues to make large loans to Russia while aid from the United States has not decreased at all.
No sanctions have been put on Russia, and Russian leaders are welcomed into other countries with open arms and much hospitality. Russia has been given clearance to do as it wishes without any consequences, even if that means committing genocide.
Today, Russian camp guards are torturing, beating and raping Chechens at filtration camps inside Chechnya. This is similar to what Hitler conducted during his reign of terror.
According to the executive director of the Europe and Central Asia Division Human Rights Watch, “(What is) happening in these filtration camps is unspeakable. The Russians must not get away with committing these abuses.”
But it seems they are the only ones condemning the Russians. The world needs to come together against this type of cruelty.
If this is allowed to happen today, it will continue to happen to different groups of people. We cannot sit back and watch.
We need to send a clear and strong message that we will not tolerate this. Everyone involved — from the leaders down to the last soldier responsible — needs to be punished severely, otherwise this is not likely to stop any time soon. The guilty cannot be allowed to continue to live as if nothing happened. However, it seems that no matter what, the only time foreign intervention takes place is when those intervening countries have some type of interest in doing so. For now, the world just continues to sit and watch — as if this could never happen to them.

Faisal Lodhi’s column originally appeared in the June 16 edition of the East Carolinian at East Carolina University.