The sheer horror and scale of yesterday's tragedy in Beslan, where hundreds were killed and injured when heavily-armed kidnappers provoked an outright assault by surrounding Russian troops, has shocked the watching world and created a wave of sympathy for its innocent victims. A particular empathy is created by the fact that most of the victims were school children on their first day back at school. The scenes are appalling and will touch the heart of every parent. The images of the unfolding tragedy would move the hardest heart. This crime against humanity must be condemned unreservedly.
The tragedy has underlined the global nature of such violence and the need, through international co-operation, for a political and intelligence response as well as a military one. It will take time to establish precisely how the tragedy unfolded yesterday but it appears not to have been precipitated directly by the surrounding troops. This is important politically as well as personally for the victims and their relatives. It allows President Putin to blame the kidnappers for the appalling casualties and to underline his assertion that their ruthlessness is part of an internationally-organised Islamic terrorist network targeting Russia.
In fact, there is much to criticise in the troops' all-out use of force, notwithstanding the wanton and deadly attacks on Russian planes and civilians in Moscow over recent days. Moreover, Mr Putin is vulnerable to criticism for his handling of the Chechnyan crisis since he first came to power in 2000 on a hard-line programme to solve it by force. He has refused to deal with moderate guerrilla leaders. Instead he has relied on a cynical divide and rule policy to split those who oppose the Russian presence. He organised last Sunday's manipulated presidential election and allows forces to kill, kidnap and torture at will. As a result more Chechnyans are driven to support extreme movements, assert their Islamic identity and reinforce the warlord mafias whose drug dealing and black marketeering are widespread.
While Mr Putin may opt for a massive military response, a more alert and concerned world must press for fresh political initiatives to tackle the deep-rooted Chechnyan disaffection with Russian rule. The alternative is bleak if this is not attempted and if Russia's international partners continue to turn a blind eye to its security excesses and political failure in Chechnya. Repression will provoke further terrorist outrages, deeper instability in the Caucuses and a greater polarisation of religious and ethnic identities there. Such a scenario will inevitably affect other states in the region, so that the crisis becomes internationalised. That this has already happened has been obscured by opportunistic willingness to support Mr Putin come what may. As Jonathan Eyal writes in this newspaper today "the fight against terrorism must involve a judicious mixture of force and politics and must remain global".