[wtc911]

Russia's public opinion mettle has been damaged in the past two decades by the failure and deaths in Afghanistan, the collapse of the Union and the seemingly endless and futile bleeding in Chechnya. Add the lack of financial support for troops both in service and out together with the dismal care for WIAs and the drug problems rampant in the Russian Army and you don't get a deep sense of capability or esprit de corps. The sense is much closer to 1971 America than 2004 America.

"Now that Putin is going to the UN and proving to the world that this is an international attack upon his country, he can pull out the big stick."-------------------------------------I don't know. If the useless UN decides that it is an international terror conspiracy that could get Chechnya off the hook in their eyes. Me, I'd like to see Russian Armor Divisions flatten that cesspool.

[Andy from Beaverton]

To be honest, I don't want Grozny or Chechnya flattened, but I do want all of the foreign fighters and radical Chechen Islamists killed. The rest can live in peace. Many of these people just want the fighting to end, they don't care who is in charge.