[Riley]

Say whatever you want about the Russians- I remember reports of Russian soldiers blocking doorways with their bodies to absorb bullets so that a few more kids could make it out.

Assuming those reports were correct, that is the possibly the finest practical expression of the soldier's ethos, and the most direct, that I have ever heard of.

Credit where credit is due.

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

Still as heartbreaking as ever.

[Gapplega]

What a horrible crime.

[Alberta's Child]

One of the dirty little secrets about Chechnya is that the same so-called "neo-conservatives" who were so influential in foreign policy and military affairs during the Bush administration were also unapologetic supporters of the Chechen separatists.

That little inconvenient fact got quietly swept under the rug soon after the Beslan massacre.

[FredZarguna]

Note how the BBC account furiously avoids any description of the attackers, and the victims are described primarily in terms of their victimhood. To read the BBC story, you would think a roof simply fell on the kids in the school.

[Bigg Red]

He says he has tried to understand things from the attackers’ point of view.

^^
This is describing one of the child victims. Lordy!

[MarMema]

Fascinating, thanks.