It's all Putin's fault
On Thursday there was this story: "France calls for political solution to Chechnya conflict". On Friday, this one: "Putin's policies fail the test, so schoolchildren suffer" with this twisted logic worthy of Noam Chomsky.

Regardless of how President Vladimir Putin and Russia's security services resolve this immediate, agonizing crisis, sooner or later they must face the larger failure of their Chechnya policies: Instead of containing extremism, they have bred terrorists.

Based on their surveys of Russians, Putin should "draw down this conflict," in other words, abandon the war in Chechen, cede victory to what even they describe as extremists. This was not written by fringe anti-war nutcase activists who you expect to make such purile suggestions. It was written by Sarah E. Mendelson is a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Theodore P. Gerber is associate professor of sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. You only have to visit the Center for Strategic and International Studies site to understand Sarah Mendelson.

Incredibly, the EU is demanding an explanation.

Speaking on behalf of the European Union, Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot spoke of a "deep human tragedy." But he added that the EU will seek clarification from the Russian authorities about the exact course of the storming of the school. In a joint statement, the EU member states deplore the fact that the crisis was not resolved in a peaceful manner, even if Moscow was facing a difficult dilemma.

Babies living three days without water, apparently, isn't sufficient justification for any action to oppose the terrorists.

To the politicized BBC, it's all Putin's fault. "Putin on the defensive" for labeling the Chechen terrorists as terrorists.

Certainly, the taking of children as hostages will have lost the Chechens rebels international sympathy. It will help Russia's arguments. One of the features of the war in Chechnya has been the lack of pressure on Russia, which has managed to link its own crisis to the wider American-led war against al-Qaeda. President Putin has made common cause with President Bush.

Who but the media and leftwing groups sympathize with the Chechens terrorist? Or the IRA terrorists? Or the Palestinan terrorists? Or FARC, the Columbian Marxist terrorists? Or Libyan terrorists? Or Syrian terrorists?