Chechnya Invasion

In response to “Chechnya Invasion Puts Yeltsin in Harm’s Way,” news analysis, Dec. 12:

Chechnya became a part of Russia at the same time as California became a part of the United States: in the middle of the last century. Now, let’s imagine for a second that those guys who brandished foreign flags before the recent elections in California would prevail, and thenew governor declared California’s independence from the United States. As long as that would happen in violation of the U.S. Constitution, some federal presence in the state would be inevitable. Would you choose to call this presence an “invasion”?

Webster defines “invasion” as “a hostile entrance into the territory of another.” Neither United States nor any other country in the world has recognized the “independence” declared by Dzhokar M. Dudayev. So, whose territory has Russia invaded? Really, all cats are gray in the night.

VLADIMIR BOGORAD

Van Nuys