Hostage to Fear

As 350 Russian children continue to be held hostage by some 40 Chechen and Ingush guerrillas in the southern province of North Ossetia, the entire Russian nation is held captive to fear. Pravda reports each update on the situation, which has not at all improved.

Parts of the story sound like lurid old Russian folktales - "Terrorists tried to lure children with chocolates" - while other aspects bring the Columbine massacres immediately to mind. Americans have been submitting letters of support to Pravda, a half dozen of which are printed in a front-page story. IR encourages readers to do so as well by emailing Pravda.