They will make their vacuous pronouncements even as the horror rains down on Grozny, without a trace of a blush, and then go home. Nor is the EU alone in its carefully calculated inaction. The recent Istanbul meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe made similar noises about the need for a political solution in Chechnya. But by failing to threaten consequences should Russia ignore its words, the OSCE guaranteed that the subsequent mediation efforts of its chairman would get nowhere. The US, meanwhile, has been stronger than most in its condemnation and weaker than any, given its relative strength, in taking active steps to force Russia to take heed.
Nobody wants to risk a military confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia over Chechnya.
Nobody wants to destabilise Russia's democratic process, as general and presidential elections loom. Nobody in the west seriously challenges Russia's right to secure its borders and control its own territory. And nobody underestimates the threat posed by a revived, anti-western nationalism, stoked by unscrupulous politicians and generals. Chechnya is not Kosovo, and Russia is not Serbia. Much as some might wish it, we cannot send in the smart bombers.