I've been reading through this thread, and it's just getting way too deep for my pea-brain. I don't know enough European history to follow the arguments, but I have just one thing to add... Last Sep 11, when our country was dealt a devastating blow, we got a glimpse of who are friends really are. In life, that's how it happens... Who is there when you are down? The Brits were there... The Japanese were there... The Russians were there... Western Europe seemed mostly there, but there were plenty in those countries engaging in moral equivalency.
But when I saw the cheering and dancing in the "muslim street" across the entire muslim world on CNN, that's when I and the rest of America received a big education on who is our friend, and who is our enemy. I'll never forget the muslims giddy celebration of usama's terrorism. And I'll never forget the deafening silence of the American muslim population. (And I remember the laughing reaction of the Chinese press corps when they were watching the airplanes collide into the trade centers.)
The people in the muslim countries hate us. Therefore, they are the enemy. Apparently, they are now Russia/US's common enemy. Why did Bush do a quick turnaround on Russia/Chechnya? Perhaps he saw it the same way I did. Sep 11 had a profound and lasting effect on my view of the world.
Russian soldiers slapping around the terrorist sympathizers in Chechnya? It doesn't even show up on my radar scope of important things to worry about in this world.