Politkovskaya was a humanitarian who was covering the horrors of Russian-Chechen war and the suffering of ordinary Chechens caught in this war. Her humanitarian concerns were clearly not balanced with the understanding of the danger Islamic Imperialism posed to Russia and the rest of the world. She covered extensively the abuses committed by Russian and local pro-Russian Chechen forces during the war, but she did not balance it with understanding that Chechens are just the pawns in the war of Civilizations--Kremlin authocrats vs. North Caucasus Jihadists.
Her unbalanced humanitarianism led her to unsound political positions, like supporting negotiations with Chechen "moderates" like Maskhadov although it's now clear to me and should be clear to others that the so called "moderate" Islamists is nothing but a game of deception waged by the worldwide Jihadists to split the front against them and advance their agenda.
Nevertheless, she certainly did not deserve to be murdered and her murder is an ugly political crime that I fear will be unresolved with current leadership at the helm.