Jeff Weintraub has a superb piece on the meaning of terrorism up at Normblog. Here's his conclusion:
None of [the] criticism of the Beslan atrocity, and of the kind of terrorism it exemplifies, in any way justifies or excuses the fact that Russia has been fighting an incredibly brutal, destructive, and often appalling war in Chechnya, marked by extensive atrocities (on both sides!), massive civilian deaths, and pervasive violations of the laws of war, including murder, rape and kidnapping of civilians by Russian troops and security services. However, the opposite is also true. Nothing about the Russian war in Chechnya in any way justifies or excuses this kind of terrorist massacre, which ought to be unreservedly condemned whatever one thinks about the Chechen war.
But read the whole thing.
ADDENDUM: Princeton University Press is currently displaying a sample chapter from Michael Ignatieff's The Lesser Evil: Politics in an Age of Terror. I intend to blog about this important book soon. In the meantime, read it yourselves, if you haven't done so already.