[Agrarian]

There was never any reason to feel pity for the Chechnyan militants. Clinton's people had their own obscure reasons for wanting to go to war in the Balkans to help Muslims and to support the Chechnyan Muslims. Didn't understand it then, don't understand it now. The only good thing is that after 9/11, America understands what the Serbs and the Russians have always known -- being nice to aggressive Muslims is not the answer...

[A Jovial Cad]

I agree. My response to the post in question was more a rhetorical "slap on the back" or "right on" than anything else: I've NEVER sympathized with the Chechen's, though I must confess I haven't really paid the whole mess there that much attention until now. I do know that after 9/11 President Bush called Premier Putin to discuss the War On Terror and Putin basically said something to the effect that Russia was "already on the case" (not an actual quote, just something to that effect) in Chechnya.
As to the deal in the Balkans, I offer a different response: I have painstakingly avoided any commentary on the Serbian/Balkans/Clinton Kosovo policy for precisely two reasons:
1. I don't know enough about the entire issue to offer an honest, coherent, opinion.
2. I have seen enough flame-laden threads about the Balkans matter at FR that I'm not sure *I want* to know enough to come down on one side or the other concerning what, to me, is not a too terribly important region of the world vis-a-vi the WOT.
That said, I wholeheartedly endorse this observation: *being nice to aggressive Muslims is not the answer...*
I agree 100% with that statement.

[FITZ]

There was never any reason to feel pity for the Chechnyan militants.

"Chechan militants" doesn't explain what the 10 Arabs were doing there --- half the killed "militants" end up being Arabs. Maybe Chechans are like Black Muslims --- recruited by the Arabs to be used when Arabs decide the time is right.