The basis of a civil nation is common goals, common values, trust in the government, and the understanding that the government serves us. The main task of the people [now] is to avoid military service, taxes, and the authorities in general. Under such conditions, it is impossible to form a civil political nation. 1In 2004, before the grotesque tragedy of the Beslan school hostage massacre had materialized, Shireen Hunter offered the following trenchant commentary on the highly complex and fluid situation of religion and national identity in Russia, particularly regarding Russia's multi-religious and multinational character:The challenge for Russia, a multiethnic and multireligious entity, is how to ensure that the reassertion of Russianness and the affirmation of the Russian culture and identity will not be at the expense of other major ethnic and cultural groups, notably the Muslims. Failure to reconcile the competing claims of its diverse people for self-determination within a broad and all-encompassing civic Russian identity, encompassing loyalty to the Russian state after a period of reawakening and reassertion of ethnic, cultural, and religious peculiarities and efforts to achieve greater selfdetermination, could presage continuous interethnic strife and the strengthening of nondemocratic forces. Such a development could set back Russia's development and modernization-economic, social, and political-and possibly endanger Russia's stability. 2