Grim's Hall

Chechens in the Economist:

This is a story on the attempt at a political solution to the ongoing war between the Chechens and the Russian state. Anyone who's been reading or writing bios on al Qaeda terrorists knows that Chechnya has been the lead recruiting cause for AQ for a decade or so, as well as the place where many of AQ's worst have cut their teeth. A political solution that works in Chechnya would be wonderful news for all of us. This is all the truer because of the genuine horror of the Chechen plight. The brutality of the Russians is astonishing. Al Qaeda has put us in the position of having to court the Russians, and turn a blind eye to the Chechens, in order to carry out a successful war on terror. Damn them for it. By rights, we'd have been backing the Chechens all along.