And likewise I find it hard to believe that someone is willing to deny the existence of Chechen islamic sponsored terrorism just because they're killing innocent Russian men, women, and children.
Perhaps you should study the Gen. Lebed brokered peace agreement with the Chechens after the first Chechen campaign - the Chechens got everything they wanted minus complete independence. But, Basaev and his terrorist buddies rendered the peace agreement null and void with attacks in Russia proper. Their attacks targeted innocent men, women and children. I remember it well because I was in Moscow and a girl I knew and her mom died in the apartment bombings on Kashirskoe Shosse - all because Basaev's puppet strings were being pulled by Khattab - a Jordanian terrorist and an Al Qaeda thug (now dead). Russia's war on Chechnya is a war against terrorism. You probably don't know any Chechens, do you? There are peaceful Chechens and they want to live in the Russian Federation and want to be left in peace. They want the Chechen terrorists wiped out, but with all of the Islamic sponsorship of terrorism they will never get it. Also, a word about Chechen thugs in Moscow - they are the strongest mafia group and enslave thousands of poor Russian women in prostitution, engage in contract killing (including the murder of Pavel Klebanov- an American), engage in revenge slayings, steal money from the poor, and assist the Chechen terrorists when they strike Moscow. Would you allow this in Poland?
What would you do if ethnic Germans in Poland decided they wanted Poles out of Gdansk (Danzig) or Olsztyn (Allenstein)? What if they resorted to terrorism and struck Warsaw in attempt to reach this goal? After all, by using your reasoning in condemnation of the Russians, the ethnic Germans living in those regions surely have the right to emulate the Chechens...
What would you do if an ethnic minority (in this case Germans) enslaved Polish girls from villages by forcing them into prostitution in Warsaw? Would you look the other way if they chained them to a heater in a dank basement in Warsaw and had them gang-raped to force them to submit to prostitution? After all, that's a modus operandi for Chechens in Moscow.. But, once again, since the victims are Russian, I guess it's not a big deal.
"minus complete independence."
And that's the problem
"But, Basaev and his terrorist buddies rendered the peace agreement null"
Basaev is a terrorist, but he was not a representative of Chechen governement. And about al-Khattab: I am all too happy that the Russians had killed that motherfucker.
"There are peaceful Chechens and they want to live in the Russian Federation"
Oh God Almighty!!! Peaceful Chechens who want to live in Russian Federation??? Of course it is better to be a slave than to be a corpse.
The second war is somehow justified. I do belive, however, that if there was no I war, Dudajew would be president and there is a chance nothing that had happened wouldn't have happend.
"What would you do if an ethnic minority (in this case Germans) enslaved Polish girls"
The Germans have their own state. They don't have to kidnap Polish girls.
"since the victims are Russian, I guess it's not a big deal."
You guess so? I don't.