Grozny, Chechnya (CNN) -- It has been ten years since my last visit to Chechnya. I knew the place had changed. I didn't realize how much. For a decade, Chechnya was the most violent, hopeless, war-torn corner of Russia. Russia's impoverished, conscript army had been locked in an ugly struggle with Chechen insurgents that left the region's capital, Grozny, a smoking ruin. Much of the civilian population was either homeless or had fled. Meanwhile, even the most courageous reporters and human rights activists thought twice about sneaking into the republic. By the end of the 1990s, Chechen gangs made a lucrative business out of kidnapping and ransom. The kidnappers became quite adept at chopping off hostage body parts on camera, to provide gruesome video incentive for swift payment.
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Chechnya has seen construction surge in formerly war-torn areas
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Chechan president was rebel fighter
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Activist: critics of president have ended up dead
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Neighboring Russian regions have grown more violent
The cliché that Chechnya is "skating on thin ice," springs to mind -- especially after I notice that one of the @placeholder men, teetering comically on the ice, is skating with a pistol strapped to his belt.