–LIQUOR SHOPS TARGETED

The torching of four Grozny liquor shops in one night testifies to the influence of Islamic extremism among the rebel guerrillas, suggested the website Newsru.com on August 26. According to the website’s report, all the alcoholic merchandise in every one of the shops was completely destroyed in what was clearly an act of arson. “The shops sold imported wines and cognacs at quite high prices, and by the very fact of their existence violated the rules which used to govern Chechnya [i.e., before the second war]…when Sharia law-enforcement units punished anyone who sold alcohol.”

–AS THE ELECTION APPROACHES