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Russia does not have a right to commit atrocities against civilians and carpet bomb its own cities. I was in Grozny last month and cannot imagine that a aimilar case in recent times when a government has so ruthlessly destroyed one of its own cities.

That the rebels are Muslim is not in doubt, nor is there any question that they are now in fealty to Islamic extremists from elsewhere and that they have committed unspeakably barbaric acts -- but let us not forget Russia's own war crimes there. The convenient Chechen war was entirely responsible for bringing Putin to power (as prime minister, he had a popularity rating of just two percent before he launched his little adventure).

Likewise there is no doubt at all that Kadyrov is a little thug and that Putin continues to play with fire. The Russian president is very adept at political pragmatism, at crushing democracy, at assuming no responsibility whatsoever for his more odious policies (he let's his rubber stamp Duma do that), and at pursuing a morally defunt foreign policy. But, like all dictators, he lacks long-term vision and that is what will bite him in the end.

I was in Grozny last month and cannot imagine that a aimilar case in recent times when a government has so ruthlessly destroyed one of its own cities.

I guess you would have preferred that Russian boys die in nice little body waves against dug in Islamics, right? Funny, seems we don't do that in Iraq. If they're dug in, we level the buildings, same as the Israelies and anyone else who worries about their own troops.

The fact that during the seige, there were several hours a day that cease fires occured and buses were waiting for civilians and that 250,000 Chechens moved NORTH to the Federals not south our any other direction escaped you? How about the fact that 200,000 Chechens live in Moscow?

Likewise there is no doubt at all that Kadyrov is a little thug and that Putin continues to play with fire. The Russian president is very adept at political pragmatism, at crushing democracy, at assuming no responsibility whatsoever for his more odious policies (he let's his rubber stamp Duma do that), and at pursuing a morally defunt foreign policy.

While I highly disagree with several issues of his foreign policy, particularly most anything with Iran and most with Syria, we are far from angels. Or might I remind you that we are forcing Israel to walk down the Road Map to National Suicide, arming Islamic Pakistan (which continues to build nukes for Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and continues to attack India), supporting the KLA, giving Saudi Arabia a pass on support of terrorism abroad and its own nuclear policies (Saudi Arabia told the UN to shove it up its arse last year when they wanted to inspect the Saudi nuke labs). We continue to keep open borders with Mexico and give a pass to their mass corruption and drug trafficing. As we also continue and have actually accelerated the giving away of America to China and the mass construction of their industry and thus their military. We have even cut our support for Taiwan on several occassions not to piss of China.

Putin is no angel and far from it, but holding him to a standard higher then our own actions is hypocritical.

I was in Grozny last month

What did you do there?

Russia does not have a right to commit atrocities against civilians and carpet bomb its own cities. I was in Grozny last month and cannot imagine that a aimilar case in recent times when a government has so ruthlessly destroyed one of its own cities.

With respect, I seriously doubt you have ever served in the military, and especially not combat otherwise you would grasp the issues involved on both sides. In WWII the allies carpet bombed the cities in Germany, and the US firebombed Japanese cities. Let me add Germany bombed London. In each of these cases the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians resulted. You want to fight a war with the Queens Rules, which will not work. The Russians were more than fair in allowing civilians the opportunity to escape the area. The only options left were to either surrender the area to the Chechen terrorists, or to take the city with all means as quickly as possible.

The convenient Chechen war was entirely responsible for bringing Putin to power (as prime minister, he had a popularity rating of just two percent before he launched his little adventure).

Yes, yes, I have heard how the FSB was responsible for blowing up the apartment building to give Putin an excuse to gain power and fight the war. Take a look at the time line for the bombings at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Apartment_Bombings, and you will note there were several bombings before Ryazan. I am also familiar with Boris Berezovsky's movie "Mr. Hexogen," which is his attempt to blame Putin and the FSB using Ryazan as an attempt to gain power. I served as an explosive expert on a Special Forces A-Team, and I spotted a major flaw in Berezovsky's theory immediately. The 3 bags or powder marked "sugar" tested originally for the explosive hexogen. Subsequent tests showed it was not hexogen, but we do not need to take the FSB's word for the denial. The problem is while hexogen can be in powder form, in its pure form it is a crystalline SOLID. http://www.answers.com/topic/cyclotrimethylene-trinitramine It may be used in a powdered form for rockets or another application, but you would never see the any police or military units using it in a powdered form. Furthermore, Hexogen is used as a PLASTIC explosive. The powdered scenario is nonsense.