Well, I would rather agree if this were, say, 1995. The Chechens were well within their rights to fight for independence from Russia in the 1994-1996 war. Let us remember, though, that in 1996 that war concluded with Chechnya achieving de facto independence. For three years, Moscow's writ held no authority in Chechnya. By the end of that three years, most NGO's and even news agencies did not send people in, as the place had become so lawless that it was the kidnapping capital of the world. Non-Chechens were kidnapped right and left by various bandits operating in Chechnya, and they even made occasional raids outside of Chechnya.
Even that might not have been Russia's business, but then, in the summer of 1998, ~1500 Muslim fighters from Chechnya, under the command of Shamil Basayev and the late Arab warlord known only as Khattab invaded Russia. That's right, they invaded Russia. They planned for the people of Dagestan (another Russian province) to rise up and join them in a great jihad. The people of Dagestan demured, and the Russians kicked the Chechnyans out. Then, they came back again a few months later, and this time the Russians chased them all the way back into Chechnya. In the process, they also worked to eliminate the strangle-hold that the Wahabbis had been acquiring over Chechnya.
Now, while most Chechnyans were not happy to see the return of the Russians, they had no desire to live under the Wahabbis who had set up shop there. The Wahabbis have since been reduced to a few fanatics hold up in the Panshki Gorge (Shevardnaze really, really needs to clean that place out; otherwise given the circumstances, I've a funny feeling that our own State Department will look the other way if Russians go over the border this time).
Come-on, folks! This is Russia! Remember ten years ago??!!
And what has happened in that ten years? Well, the Soviet Union is gone, with some of its former states wobbling towards democracy, some miredin authoritarianism, and some stuck under Stalinist dictators. But in Russia itself, we have seen in the last few years alone that Putin has pushed through the Duma things like the right to own land, vastly reduced taxes, and the right to trial by jury in criminal trials. Yes, the Russian press is not quite as free as it was about five years ago, but that will pass. On the whole, in addition to the above reforms, Putin has also been working to make sure that his country is friendly to economic growth while also trying to reign in the worst of the criminal businessmen who made Russia such a crappy investment climate in the 90's. Yes, Russia is still bumbling along in her road to being a democracy with a rule of law, and is not quite there yet, but in no way is she the entity against which our fathers and grandfathers stood watch.
The chechen warlords are up to their eyebrows in money from Bin Laden and the Saudis. They had as much independence as they could get under the law and still wanted to invade and kill.
Btw, the death toll is now being reported as 90 and a new report is that one of the women in the raid was the widow of Arbi Barayev. Doesn't say if she was one of the two who survived the rescue.
And finally, HOW INTERESTING, Lenta.ru is reporting that the hostages say the terrorists called Turkey and spoke with someone named Shamil. They think it is Basayev of course. WHO ELSE LIVES IN TURKEY???
As exactly what the Palestinians will do to Israel if they are ever give a "State".
They do not want peace, they want to cover the world with Islam.
Thanks for translating this for us Marmema, his asking forgiveness is heartwrenching.
Agreed. Russia has such potential; it was terrible seeing, even while we stood watch against her for so long, what could have been such a great nation held captive and wracked by communism.