TERROR UPDATE. The Chechens are on the move. As their presidential election approaches, the Chechens are taking the battle to the Russians through terrorism. On May 9, more than twenty people, including Chechen president, Akhmad Kadyrov, were killed in a bombing. In June, they attacked police facilities in Ingushetia and killed more than 90 people.

Last week, two air liners carrying 90 people were shot down. Investigation is pending, but a Muslim group has taken credit and trace evidence of explosives has been found on both planes.

Then a suicide bomber killed 10 people in Moscow.

Now, terrorists have invaded a school and taken the children hostage. This is about as low as it gets. The attackers wore suicide bomb vests. They killed at least two people during the takeover, including a father who tried to intervene. Nine other people were injured. It is also reported that an attacker was killed, so maybe the father had some success.

The terrorists threaten to kill 50 children for every terrorist killed by security forces. They threaten to kill 20 children for every terrorist wounded. They also warned they would blow up the school if police tried to storm it. They are making the children stand at the windows.
“In essence, war has been declared on us, where the enemy is unseen and there is no front,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said. We understand, Mr. Ivanov, and our hearts go out to you. Our prayer is that you get the children back safe and sound somehow.

No one is safe from terrorism. It is hard to fight. At whom do you strike? If a Saudi commits terrorism, can you retaliate against Saudi Arabia? The individual terrorist has to have money and support from somewhere. Can you retaliate against the supporters?

France has now learned even they are not safe. The Islamic Army In Iraq has kidnapped two French journalists. The French are stunned, as they stayed out of the war. However, there is that head scarf deal. The kidnappers in Iraq have said France has 48 hours to revoke the ban on headscarves in French schools. The French are understandably nervous, as these same members of the Religion of Peace executed Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni.

One guy that really does not get it is French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, who said “I call for their release in the name of the principles of humanity and respect for human beings that are at the very heart of the message of Islam and Muslim religious practice.” He obviously is reading a different message of Islam than the Chechens and those attacked the World Trade Center.
France has sent diplomats to Iraq and Egypt. They are looking for a diplomatic solution, trying to find someone they can bribe or coerce into putting pressure on the kidnappers. In other words, they are looking for someone to whom they can surrender. If that is not successful, what will they do? Will they let the hostages be killed and complain about it? Will they revoke the headscarf ban? Will they strike back?

France may yet be forced to decide if it will join the West in resistance to the Muslim invasion or surrender and let the new Saladins take over. The fence they straddle is becoming more difficult to stay on.