A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya (vuoden 2007 painos)

It is still amazing to me that the modern world finds it so easy to let a 'conflict' like this go on for years without forcing a solution that involves punishing all those who perpetrated war crimes against non-combatants and prisoners. The fact that the author was herself a victim of this genocidal war by the time I bought this book just adds more weight to this real life drama that, for all I know, is still going on right now. Politskovskaya does her best to remain objective and to provide a broad, fair perspective, but when the organized police force cannot protect its people from the military, and from rogue bands of strong-arms who extort money and resources and kill civilians for fun, it is hard to see the 'Russian' side as having much of a good side. I was struck by how the people Polistskaya interviewed seemed to consider the days of secret arrests by the KGB and quiet disappearances of neighbors to be the 'good old days', compared to the current situation.
This is a very heavy read, but well worth it if you want to know what is going on in the world, outside the stories the media reports about. ( )

Con amplio conocimiento de primera mano sobre una guerra tan terrible se tiene material para escribir un magnifico libro que llame la atencion sobre los problemas en esa parte del mundo.
Por desgracia la autora lo echa a perder exagerando ciertos sucesos y dando relevancia a testimonios que si bien son emotivos no aportan mas que un reguero de lagrimas. ( )