[DanaC]

"The only hope that Chechnya has, is to back off, and basically concede defeat, as painful as that will be for them. They have to accept that they belong to Russia, and forget about their independence. I know that Dana and Jag will say that I would feel very differently if I had been subjected to the same treatment as the Chechens, but they have to draw a line, and say "no more, we give up". The alternative is more of what they have been receiving, and eventually leading to Bruce's solution. They have to realise that they cannot win - ever - and that their only hope is surrender. Otherwise, they have no future."

Someone raised earlier the idea that if governments give in to Terrorist pressure then the terrorists have their methodology proven effective and this leads to other people who consider their cause serious enough taking up terrorism as a proven effective method.....By the same token, if people who are oppresed or occupied simply accept defeat without resistance then violent occupation is proven effective and countries which have a vested interest in maintaining their control over another people are more likely to ignore the cries and pleas of those they oppress. After all they know that if they can only hold on to that land and it's people long enough, no matter howmuch they brutalise them the world will not support their calls for independance or freedom and eventually the disputed territory is theirs. This just encourages the most agressive and violent occupations to continue. After all, why give in to the demands of the oppressed when time will give them both the oppressor both victory and worldwide acceptance for their actions.

I find it interesting that the world community is prepared to take action against a weak oppressor nation but not against a strong oppressor nation. What has been happening in Chechnya for the past few years is not wholly dissimilar to the goings on in and around Kosovo a few years ago. Serbia was not the great bear though. Therefore Serbia faced international condemnation and action. When the great Bear roars and mauls the Chechens the world is less willing to act or even condemn too vocally. Right now there is talk of sending in troops or imposing sanctions against the Sudanese government over it's complicity/inaction against the janjaweed militia in the Darfur region. This is well and good and about time, but nobody seeks to impose sanctions against Russia for it's crimes against the Chechen people. If Russia was a small, third rate state the international community might have been more vocal in it's condemnation of her acts. Instead we save our ager and vitriol for states who are weak enough for us to dominate and allow horrors to be committed unchecked by the strong.

And now here we all sit in condemnation of the Chechen rebels and their actions whilst no sympathy can be found for their suffering. Suffering which the world has been deaf to for as long as they have been tormented.

The world didnt listen when they screamed so now they will make sure the world listens whilst they shout.

Unless the world community starts taking this on board then the war on terror will remain as unwinnable as a war against mist