i think elena is right to insist that the panic and chauvinism has been orchestrated. i'd even go so far as to suggest extreme caution when assuming that all, and perhaps even any, of the bombs in moscow were laid by separatists. it's election time in russia is all; and i'm not surprised that zuganov found the tide of chauvinism so irresistable. (for those who haven't already seen it, http://members.aol.com/ISWoR/english/index.html also, the samara strike committee page at http://www.samara.ru/~stachkom/ )
the US etc support Yeltsin and Putin's neo-tsarist defense of the realm, which is why many many people will die without anyone here knowing anything about it at all, and why there will be little if any accurate information about the conflict, its history, the character of the militants' politics and aspirations and why separatism is regarded as a appropriate response. Putin said he would wipe out the bandits, "If we find them sitting on the toilet, we will wipe them out there as well."
dreaming that this is the soviet union seems to be little more than an excuse to flex the western civilisation muscle.
Angela _________