Russia is on deck to play hard ball with terrorism. From the Associated Press:

Putin Threatens Preventive Terror Actions

MOSCOW (AP) - President Vladimir Putin said Friday the Kremlin was preparing to take preventive action against terrorists, even as a Chechen rebel leader purportedly claimed responsibility for a series of attacks that killed hundreds of people and threatened further violence.

Putin's comments were the highest-level warning yet that Russia could take some sort of pre-emptive action against terror groups in the wake of this month's deadly school hostage-taking in Beslan. Lower-level officials have threatened anti-terror strikes abroad, and it was not immediately clear whether Putin was referring to actions only at home or outside Russia's borders.

"Now in Russia, we are seriously preparing to act preventively against terrorists," Putin said, according to the Interfax news agency. It quoted him as saying that the steps would be "in strict accordance with the law and norms of the constitution, relying on international law."</a>

As talking heads have already said, the old World War II Big Three of the United States, Great Britain, and Russia is slowly coming back together. This is a Good Thing, and I look forward to seeing headlines soon about a Russian crackdown on Al Qaeda-supported Chechan terrorists.

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