Vladimir Bukovsky and Yelena Bonner have an open letter to President Bush at FrontPage; they are in favor of wiping out Saddam, but they tear Putin a new one, calling him an oppressive dictator and asking what one could expect from an ex-KGB colonel. They also point out that Putin is going to take advantage of the world's distraction over the Iraq war to crush the Chechens once and for all--and I would add that I would not be surprised in the least. I fear that the US may give Putin a free hand with the Caucasians, figuring they can't stop him anyway, in exchange for an abstention on the Security Council. When all this UN shit started, that was probably the most predictable outcome--I've certainly been predicting it over the last months. We never should have gotten anywhere near the United Nations over either Afghanistan or Iraq, just like Britain didn't bother with the UN over Sierra Leone and France didn't bother with the UN over the Ivory Coast. And we should have taken out Saddam long ago, last fall at the very latest. We should already be on Stage Three, which will consist of subverting Iran, letting North Korea hoist itself with its own petard, and taking out Sudan or whoever else is next in line.