After the tragedy that befell the Russian nation this weekend, many difficult questions face the shaken nation and its leader, Vladimir Putin. First, what exactly happened at Beslan and how was it able to occur? It seems that it is still very difficult to tell why the bombs were triggered when they were, whether there was a failed storming of the school or a misunderstanding between the hostage-takers on the government workers and police around the site.

Obviously, the hostage-takers put themselves in a position in which it made it more likely than not that they and the hostages, as well as government troops, would be injured or killed regardless of the outcome. Just like the theatre hostage situation in October 2002. It will be quite a while before the truth of what exactly happened during those final moments leading up to the mass death and explosions is uncovered, if it ever is. Putin admitted the weakness of the governmental and security structures within Russia, which are underfunded and fraught with corruption. But other than pointing out this widespread weakness, it would not be surprising if a bungled assault on the building or other details pointing towards fault on the Russian military's forces were covered up or fabricated. It has become increasingly obvious throughout the world the desperate condition of Russia's military, with the Kursk incident and reports of widespread hazing abuse, starvation, suicide, as wells as problems with hardcore drugs, AIDS and hepatitis.

Another question that must be answered is where does the administration go from here on the issue of Chechnya. The Kremlin, for it's part, really hasn't helped matters in the area with its tough-fisted policies. As has been known for a while now, many of the more militant splinter groups have increasingly turned to "foreign" aid (from al-Qaeda and other international funders of Islamist terrorist groups) for fighters and financial matters. The make-up of what nationalities or organizations participating in the Beslan siege is still unknown, but it is thought that it was a multinational force with foreign backing. Fighting governmental forces within the nation is one thing but being able to coordinate and fund huge hostage-taking situations is another and points at an influence from terrorist brethren elsewhere. Russia has had one of the worst two weeks of the past three or four years, with the death of so many at Beslan, the Moscow subway bomber, and the two downed aircraft just outside Moscow at the beginning of the week. This is not the mountain Chechen fighters of old, but a more hardline sect, willing to take the extra step down the path away from freedom fighter and into blatant terrorist, suicide belt and all. Giving full-fledged independence to Chechnya is most likely out of the question right now, and I doubt would achieve much else other than encouraging terrorist to believe their actions successful. But, unlike the elections the past week, the upcoming parliamentary elections need to be as fair as possible. For some reason, international observers decided not to oversee the Chechen presidential election, which many critics see as having been unfairly run and placed a Moscow-backed candidate in office there. Free and fair elections are the key. And it's the key policy for that should be set in place for the entire nation instead of continuing the subtle centralization of power that still exists with regional and local leaders all usually having very close ties to the national government in Moscow rather than independently running for the welfare of their oblast (province). With a Chechen government with Chechen interests in mind, there will be more to work with on the political front. Unfortunately, finding moderate Chechen candidates willing to work with Moscow might be difficult.