Taylor and Kurt discuss Chechen Blues, a Russian novel about the First Chechen War, and its glimpse into the politics, psychology, and military and underlying ethnic conflicts of post-Soviet Russia.
Notes:
0:00 - Introduction to the context of post-Soviet Russia
7:33 - The book’s political themes
12:25 - Outside Grozny on New Year’s Eve, 1995
24:58 - Dzhokhar Dudayev
29:06 - The assault on Grozny
35:52 - Jews, Trads, Reds, and Hitler’s bankers
53:13 - Russians vs Jews
1:02:13 - Postscript on the Chechen wars
1:07:37 - Final thoughts
Get your copy of Chechen Blues on our website
Listen to our previous episode on The Sixty-Year Caucasian War with Peter Nimitz
Get previous cohost Shawn Bell’s book Post-
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