The world in 2022 may be hard to understand as there seems to be much more regress into dark ages than the kind of enlightenment progress Steve Pinker has been preaching. Putin’s continued war with Ukraine itself is hard to understand, fierce Chechen warriors fighting in Ukraine for Russia makes even less sense considering the centuries-long Russian - Chechen conflict. That is why it even makes sense - to some extent - why other Chechens want to fight Chechens on the Ukrainian side.
One simplistic explanation is that Chechens simply love fighting. Why should they do that? An evolutionary explanation is that Chechens have a high herder admixture. Nomadic pastoralists are renowned for their clannishness, high ingroup generosity and also for their frequent raiding and being merciless toward their enemies. Patorsalism may have been spread with haplogroup J1, which connects Chechens to Afroasiatic pastoralists.
Northwest Caucasians have very high levels of haplogroup J1 and have high levels of inbreeding (endogamy), clannishness and violence in Europe. Unfortunately, this is hardly a recipe for lasting peace.
In the bible (religious book of a Semitic semi-nomadic pastoralist people) it is farmer Cain (haplogroup J2) who killed his pastoralist brother Abel (J1).
However, it seems much more likely that Abel killed Cain (at least much more frequently than the other way round).
Vladimir Putin’s haplogroup is most likely not J1, however, he is a pastoralist type, i.e. has a lot of pastoralist genetic heritage. Famously, pastoralists often exhibit a strong cultural ethos of valour and physical prowess (91% of the SCCS populations have an ideology of “male toughness”), in some groups exemplified by special institutions for warriorhood, often embodied in age-set systems and associated gerontocratic institutions.
Chechens joining the war in Ukraine isn’t a good sign for anyone hoping this war will be over soon. Pastoralists and peace are hard to come by.
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