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I think it's important to remember that while the chechen militants have committed acts of terror any connection between them and al queda is dubious at best (i'm sure al queda would be perfectly willing to give them money -- this does not make them part of the organization, it makes them poor desperate people who will take any support they can get). the chechens want to be an independent state, i suspect that if russia granted their independence (as they have done with numerous other eastern bloc countries, i fail to see why the're holding out on this except out of sheer stubbornness) that the terrorism would cease. one might call this "negotiating with terrorists" or you could call it "negotiating with the non terrorist nonmilitant regular joes in chechnya." (of which there are thousands, i would guess many manymore then their are militant fighters)
i think it's pretty hard to choose a side here -- the russians have brutally murdered thousands of chechens, now the chechens are brutally murdering thousands of russians. I don't see how perpetuating this cycle (we attack you, you attack us, some of our people die, some of your people die) is likely to result in anything other then europe's own personal palestine. Maybe it's time for a more diplomatic solution.
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