Your post 43 describes recent history as I understand it. I think I have said before that at the fall of the USSR I was inclined to be sympathetic to the Chechens, knowing nothing about them other than they were yet another nation subject to the Soviets, I saw them as being in a similar situation to the Estonians.
Had they confined their attacks to Russian military, I would have continued to sympathize with their desire for independence. But of course, that isn't what happened. They launched numerous attacks against civilian targets in the neighboring republics and in Moscow itself, and that soured me on them.
In the mid-nineties they achieved defacto independence, and promptly their territory began to fill with islamists, and they began to launch attacks on their neighbors, again, taking every opportunity to slaughter civilians. Thats when I knew that Chechen independence could not be allowed to stand.
I know that Russian troops are famous for blunt tactics that cause heavy collateral damage, but Chechens actually focus on soft targets, such as schools and hospitals. That puts them in the same league with the Palestians and their ilk. You don't give such people their own territory, they won't use it to build a country, they will only use it as safe haven to launch more attacks. And that is exactly what the Chechens did.
Consequently, I continue to be completely in sympathy with Estonian independence, but where the Chechens are concerned my sympathies lie with the Russians who must suffer with their depradations.
I don't apologize for US help to throw the Soviets out of Afghanistan, it was an important piece of a larger battle. But the Saudis who funded much of that war must be introduced to cold reality, which is that betraying a friend carries a price tag. I want to believe they will be faced soon with overthrow. And an invitation to liberate one country from Soviet occupation was not an invitation to conquer Central Asia in a post-Soviet world, and there is a price to be paid for that miscalculation too, I hope.
Foreign policy can't be operated on auto-pilot, you can never take your hands off the tiller. Policies that made sense when we were at war with the Soviets must be changed when the circumstance has changed. Russia is no longer our enemy, we are partnered with them at several levels, and if the Saudis don't get it, they must be dealt with.
I think we should be planning the breakup of the Saudi state, and once we are past the elections we should set the project into motion.
What I have been saying as often as possible here too. Thanks.
I am going to ping you next time I am trying to explain this on a thread. You do it better.