[Larry381]

I remember reading Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago years ago where he relates the extreme hatred of Russia and fierce independence of Chechens in Stalin's gulags. They were fanatic ememies of Stalin and Communism and many of them were banished to Siberian labor camps were they died or were murdered by the hundreds of thousands by Stalin's NKVD.
When the German's invaded the Soviet Union and their troops reached Chechen territory one of the first things they did was allow open religious freedom in the region which resulted in many Chechen men enlisting under the Nazi banner so they could even the score with their Russian tormentors. Germany captured many millions of prisioners during their campaign in Russia and always found a stream of ready recruits in the camps among the Chechens and the Ukraininians. What is taking place in Chechnya today is no doubt a tragedy of major proportons but the Chechens lost much international support and good will when they allied their cause with radical Islam-but for this many of us would no doubt be avid supporters of their cause.

[jimtorr]

It is not the Chechens alignment with radical Islam that I abhor, but their terrorist strategy. They have a history in the past ten years of killing large numbers of people in apartment buildings, hospitals and theaters. It is because of this that I encourage the Russians to crush them.

[Stavka2]

If they were murdered by the hundreds of thousands then there wouldn't be to many of them left, since as a population max, there were less then one million Chechins. Love how rediculous numbers keep getting tossed around, like Stalin butchering 80 to 120 million Russians...which would have been more then half the population...yes he killed millions but some perspective, please.