Have you

heard much about what's going on in Chechnya?

Didn't

think so.

TV isn't

doing much on that war, with the stated excuse that

extremists in the war zone are tending to kidnap TV

people. I've read that there is some validity to the

claim, though there are also ways to deal with the

problem and still cover the war, if someone really wanted

to.

Just to

bring you up to date, Chechnya is a small

country/province next to Russia proper that declared

itself independent after the fall of the U.S.S.R., but

Russia begged to differ. Russia pounded Chechnya

mercilessly a few years ago but didn't completely succeed

in pounding the idea of independence out of it.

Over the

last several months the Russians have redoubled their

efforts and are raining pure terror on the tiny region.

Having

learned the lessons of Vietna... er, Afghanistan, the

Russian military is limiting its own casualties by using

smart (and not-so-smart) bombs, heavy artillery and

missiles.

Let's face

it, even with the current administration in charge, the

U.S. has the most sophisticated weapons systems in the

history of the world, and we still haven't been able to

eliminate civilian casualties altogether. We pretty much

made a mess in Yugoslavia, for instance.

With much

less than our sophistication in weaponry, and even more

of a gap in training and organization, the Russians,

though they deny it, are killing and maiming civilians in

the tens of thousands, rendering hundreds of thousands

homeless.

The

situation is almost a mirror image of what was happening

in Yugoslavia, where the ruling president insisted that

neighboring Kosovo was not an independent country but

instead a province of Yugoslavia, and moved in to take

over.

Reports are

that about a third of Chechnya's population of around a

million are in flight. Many have escaped to neighboring

Ingushetia, but then many have risked death and injury

trying to get their friends and families out.

According

to the Red Cross, Russian planes attacked five clearly

marked Red Cross vehicles, killing two of their staff and

a couple dozen civilians. Yet no television cameras were

on hand to record their stories, as they did in Kosovo

when a similar incident happened.

But, as I

said above, the lack of coverage can be excused.

What can't

be excused, I think, is the lack of even a comment out of

the White House.

If our

actions in Kosovo were correct, then action in Chechnya

would be doubly so.

OK, we have

to face reality. We don't have enough people and

equipment in our military to take on Russia. And we've

been making great strides toward making the Russians, who

will always be a major power in the world, our friends.

Why mess it

up now? Right?

I don't

know. We haven't heard that explanation out of the White

House. We haven't heard any denouncements, either. We

haven't even heard about any phone calls to the Kremlin

urging our "friends" to show some restraint. No

speeches by our United Nations honcho. No call for

international aid for the refugees.

Nothing but

silence.

One has to wonder why, but so

far there's no answer coming from Washington.

Nothing but silence.

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