Hope for Chechnya? (Scan).(limited autonomy proposed)

Chechnya: nearly a decade of terror, death, and misery, suffered and inflicted. Dealt with pitilessly by the Russians, 20 percent of their population killed, yet more displaced, agonized Chechens gained worldwide sympathy for their fight for independence (though not assistance), which continued even when Chechens resorted to questionable means of resistance. That sympathy came to an abrupt halt last year when Chechen terrorists took 700 people hostage in a Moscow theater, prepared, if deemed necessary, to kill and die themselves. Independence for the torn and wretched Chechnya seems the embodiment of a lost cause.

But maybe it doesn't have to be. Ilyas Akhmadov, the minister of foreign affairs of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, believes he has a solution. His plan? He's asking for conditional independence, ie., the Chechens will have some babysitters who will determine when and if their unruly charge is ready to go it alone. While Russian troops and government agencies will have to clear the field right away, Chechnya will remain under the watchful eye of an international administration that will oversee economic reconstruction, democratization, demilitarization of the Chechen civilians, sorely needed environmental cleanup, and a civilian police force to keep the bad elements in check. The designated international watchdog is--conservatives hold your noses--the United Nations. This way no party has to feel left out: The Russians have a permanent seat on the Security Council and will have their say, as will the "international community," ...