Chechen rebels

A Georgian collapse creates the necessary conditions for a dramatic shift in the regional balance of power that under a worst case scenario would probably be characterized by 1) a PKK destabilization of southeastern Turkey (see Mehmet Ali Birand, Posta Newspaper, Sept. 17 wherein Russian authorities warned Turkey not to assist Chechen rebels or risk the resumption of PKK attacks), which would then, 2) facilitate the development of an air and land corridor connecting the Russian forward deployment in the South Caucasus with northern Iraq, thereby 3) extending Russian influence further into the Persian Gulf and the Middle East. Such a future could disrupt or entirely cut off the East-West energy transit corridor concepts that have been promoted by the United States and which stretch from the central Asian states through the Caucasus via Turkey into Europe. 

Paradoxical as it may seem, one can use chemical weapons to spare lives, rather than extinguish them. The world watched in fascination when the Russians, in November 2002, chose to deploy a relatively non-lethal chemical weapon in a Moscow theater. Inside were a few dozen Chechen rebels, armed with grenades and automatic weapons, holding hostage almost a thousand innocent Russian civilians. The terrorists were prepared to destroy everyone in the building if the Russians did not meet their demands. Fanatical and desperate, they were not afraid to die along with their victims. 

The prospects of future terrorism remain highly probable as well. In fact, there may well be reason to believe that specific targeting of American children by al-Qaeda is a gruesome possibility. One recalls the attack on a school in Beslan, Russia, in 2004 by Chechen rebels, suspected to have been backed by al-Qaeda. That horrific event killed more than 150 children, seriously... 

In October 2002, the Russian military released a mystery gas to incapacitate Chechen rebels in a theater in Moscow. Hundreds of hostages suffering from sleeping gas poisoning were taken to local hospitals. According to physicians in Moscow, many patients exhibited the classic triad of symptoms... 

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