Free Republic

Russia: Ethnic Tensions Heat Up in Ossetia By Nabi Abdullaev Staff Writer Police and troops were out in full force Tuesday in North Ossetia and Ingushetia as the Beslan hostage tragedy inflamed old hatred between regional ethnic groups and raised the threat of war. "All this was done by the Ingush and Chechens," Zalina Budayeva, 48, said Tuesday at a memorial in the burnt-out Beslan school gymnasium where more than 300 of some 1,000 hostages died. "In general, Ossetians are good people, Christians, and they are friends of the Russians," Budayeva said. "The Ingush are taught to murder Ossetians since...

<p>The Balkan province of Kosovo has recently suffered the worst flare-up of violence since it was freed from Serb oppression in 1999 by U.S.-led military intervention. The outburst left 28 people dead, scores of houses burned and thousands of people displaced from their homes. Its intensity reflected the bitter reality of Kosovo, where an overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian majority and a dwindling Serb minority show no sign of being willing to live together.</p>