In people's impression, the Caucasus is synonymous with large mountains and a rugged mountain system. In geopolitics, the Caucasus is a huge isthmus from east to west. Caucasus refers to the area between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea of the former Soviet Union, with a total area of about 440,000 square kilometers. There are two east-west mountains in the South Caucasus, namely the Great Caucasus in the north and the Little Caucasus in the south. The north of the Great Caucasus Mountains is called "North Caucasus", which now refers to the Russian Caucasus, covering an area of about 250,000 square kilometers. The area from the south of the Great Caucasus Mountain to the south of the Little Caucasus Mountain is called "Transcaucasia" or "South Caucasus", which refers to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, with an area of about 6.5438+0.9 million square kilometers.
Caucasus is located at the junction of Eurasia and belongs to what Mackinder called "the heart of Eurasia". The total population of this area is less than 30 million, and there are more than 50 independent nationalities. According to the language community, there are only a few hundred small ethnic groups and several million large ethnic groups. Due to the complex terrain, many ethnic groups are close at hand, but the language is completely unreasonable. It is said that the ancient Romans employed more than 80 translators to do business here, so the Caucasus was once called "the mountain of language" in history. At the same time, there are many religious forces in this region, such as Islam, Orthodox Church, Armenian Gregorian Religion and Judaism, which are intertwined. Due to this special human and geographical situation, the Caucasus has always been the land contested by neighboring countries and nations, and it is often the intersection and end zone controlled by some big countries, so its strategic position is very important.
Historically, Assyrian Empire, Persian Empire, Macedonian King Alexander, Roman Empire, Arabian Empire, Mongolian Empire and Ottoman Empire all got their hands on the Caucasus and brought it into the imperial territory, but they all met with fierce resistance and became the distinctive features of Caucasian politics. The Caucasus has always been famous for its rebellious residents and unconquerable areas. In the eyes of Russian literary elites of past dynasties, the Caucasus is "the king of Thailand who does not succumb to violence and power", while in the eyes of strategists, the Caucasus is a "collision place" where various forces gather, various interests are intertwined and various conflicts are intertwined.
Caucasus: "powder keg"
17 and 18 centuries, the Caucasus was constantly in war, with internal ethnic struggles and external struggles among Persia, the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire. After more than two centuries of bloodshed, the Russian Empire finally took control of the fate of the Caucasus in the second half of the19th century, but resistance movements occurred from time to time in the Caucasus. Even during the Soviet era, the situation in the Caucasus was not very stable. Before and after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, ethnic and religious contradictions in the Caucasus region intensified, and conflicts continued, full of gunpowder.
In the North Caucasus, at first, armed conflicts broke out between North Ossetia and Ingushetia due to territorial disputes. Then, in June19911,dudayev declared Chechnya an "independent sovereign state". In order to safeguard national unity, Russia launched the first Chechen war in 1994. 1In August 1999, Chechnya illegally invaded Dagestan, and Russia once again raised the anti-terrorism banner. In June 5438+10, Russia launched the second Chechen war, which destroyed the "old nest" of Chechen terrorists. In order to retaliate, Chechen gangsters have carried out a series of bloody terrorist activities in various parts of Russia in recent years.
In the South Caucasus, Azerbaijan and Armenia are also fighting for the ownership of the Nagorno Karabakh region. The Nagorno Karabakh region is located in Azerbaijan. More than 80% of the residents are ethnic Armenians, but it is under the administrative jurisdiction of Azerbaijan. Since the establishment of Nagorno-Karabakh, Christians in Armenia have complained that Azerbaijanis who believe in Islam discriminate against them, so Armenians in Albania have been seeking integration into Armenia. From 65438 to 0989, the Nagorno-Karabakh region declared independence, which led to the sudden intensification of the conflict between the two ethnic groups, resulting in a large number of casualties.
Abkhazia, located in the Black Sea, was once an autonomous Republic of Georgia, but it wanted to use the disintegration of the Soviet Union to establish its own country and has been arguing with the Georgian government. South Ossetia, located in the south of North Ossetia, was once an autonomous prefecture of Georgia. 1992 65438+ 10, the state demanded the establishment of an independent republic, which was merged with North Ossetia by referendum, which triggered an armed conflict between Georgia and Austria. As a result, after the "Caucasus Five-Day War" ended on August 8, 2008, Komatsu's recklessness completely lost these two places which were fairly unified in form!
It is worth noting that Russia can be found in these three "hot issues" in Transcaucasia. Many international experts believe that the instability in Transcaucasia is caused by the "historical burden" left by the former Soviet Union, but the protracted conflicts in Transcaucasia are directly related to Russia's "ambiguous attitude", and Russia is using these problems as one of its effective levers to control this region. Don't you know that this is also a "double-edged sword" for Russia, because the Transcaucasian region can't achieve final reconciliation and stability, so the North Caucasus region connected with it can't really settle down.
Caucasus: Russia's "Soft Threat"
The North Caucasus and Transcaucasia are "as close as lips and teeth". With the Baltic countries joining NATO, American military forces have entered Central Asia. Once Transcaucasia becomes NATO's sphere of influence, Russia will be semi-surrounded by NATO. In order to intervene in the affairs of the North Caucasus, western countries have always adhered to double standards on the issue of counter-terrorism: verbally supporting Russia's anti-terrorism actions in Chechnya, but secretly providing convenience and even political asylum for Chechen terrorists. The Russian Communist Youth League Pravda once wrote that the idea of Westerners is to let Russia leave the North Caucasus.
In order to keep its "southern barrier" and ensure that the south gate does not directly face NATO's "dark muzzle", Russia is constantly adjusting its relations with the three Transcaucasian countries and strengthening its military presence in the Caucasus. At present, the North Caucasus Military Region has become the military region with the largest number of Russian troops and the strongest combat effectiveness. In view of the military activities of the United States and NATO on the Russian-Georgian border, the Russian army has strengthened its preventive measures. Under the resolute opposition of Russia, NATO has indicated that it will not send early warning aircraft to Georgia for the time being, and has not set a specific timetable for Georgia and Azerbaijan to join NATO.
In fact, terrorists are trying to drag Russia into a new "Caucasus War". The ultimate goal of a series of actions planned by terrorists is to drag the North Caucasus back into the quagmire of large-scale armed conflict, and at the same time to expand the geographical scope of the conflict and internationalize it.