I agree with your opening comment. Reading Dan's post on Chechnya, I was wondering how the old USSR seemed to have total control of that situation. Maybe there were some problems and they controlled the news that came out of Chechnya.

It is puzzling and frightening to think that perhaps only a totalitarian government is capable of giving us the security that we desire.

Your comments on the "us vs. them" thing has me baffled. If the violence between Hindus and Muslims is not a Muslim or Hindu thing and "RACE" riots are not a black/white thing, then prithee, what are they?

It is often "us versus them", in sports, politics and many human endeavors. We are a competitive species. Unfortunately, this bleeds over into religious and racial issues which have no real quantitative value. In other words there is no good way to keep score.

If you are saying that this should not be about "us and them", I agree. However, in the real world it is exactly that.