This hostage situation in Russia is really troubling, especially coming on the heels of the downing of two Tupolevs and a suicide bombing outside the Moscow Metro last week. It's exactly the kind of nightmare we expected in the US country three years ago: Chechan terrorists seem to be more competent and organized than their al Qaeda counterparts, and of course their "infiltration" of Russia is aided by geography. I'm worried though that this will push Russia further in the direction of police state -- and how the world will respond to that. It's significant that we have yet to hear about this from Bush or Kerry.
Because: the Chechan terrorist situation is an important mirror (touchstone?) for US policy. Obviously the parameters of the Russian response will be guided in part by US action over the past few years. But at the same time, our ability to protest in the face of a changing Russian civil rights picture (which we'll surely see -- just what's happened here, except in caricature) is somewhat degraded by our own behavior, eg Abu Ghraib and the show trials of Guantanamo.
Also, there is the question of whether or not the Chechans are freedom fighters. To some at least, their cause is worthy, while their methods are suspect. This distinction between the cause itself and the manner of resistance isn't acknowledged at all by current American policy -- neither with regard to terror generally or to the resistance in Iraq. So, these Chechans are most certainly a "terrorist organization of global reach." Can they be a conquered people, fighting to regain their homeland, at the same time? And does the current American answer to that question (ie no) make us in the very strictest sense imperialists?
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