Beslan ...

by Cliopatria

The tragedy at Beslan is unspeakable. In the shock of first reaction, silence may be the only possible response. But what if our silence is attacked as indifference or lack of compassion? Second reactions are outraged cries to the terrorists, acknowledging the injustices done to them, but insisting that there are constructive means of redress. A mother offers a recipe to comfort us in our grief. A historian offers a chapter from Dostoevsky about the unspeakable grief of a father and a mother who must bury their child.

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Arnold Shcherban - 9/8/2004

Islamic terrorists never attacked Soviets on their own territory, despite Afghanistan's war, though their sucide-bombers did have means to infiltrate into Russian territory, at the least the territory of its Asian republics. Chechen "freedom fighters" never fought Soviet authorities for "independence" from the USSR, especially by killing civilians, including women and kids.
I'm against totalitarian regime in all its forms and
disguises, but having a choice between Putin, oligarchs and the havoc of terrorism on one side, and Soviet communists of 70s-80s, I would vote for the latter.
The same could be said about former Jugoslavian provinces, independent states today, over the last 10-15 years.

Ralph E. Luker - 9/7/2004

Right. I agree that it makes bad policy.

Jonathan Dresner - 9/7/2004

Ralph,

That's why I made the distinction (according to Ephraim Simon, that's my word, by the way) "if the victim is 'the Russian people'"....

Frankly, I think Putin is doing a less subtle version of what Bush has done: seize upon a legitimate, if partially self-inflicted, and somewhat inflated, fear to rally the citizenry in support of people and programs that they would not otherwise support.

That doesn't change the fact that there were almost 3000 victims three years ago, or 400+ victims last week, and all their families, in both cases, have legitimate cause for grief and my sympathies are with them (as long as they don't turn around and lash out at other innocents, as some in Beslan have been talking about doing).

But when the broader national community takes on their grief as a collective experience, and makes policy out of it, then I think it's entirely fair to question whether that broader polity bears some collective responsibility.

Ralph E. Luker - 9/7/2004

On that very point, Jonathan, I like what Brandon writes at Siris.

Jonathan Dresner - 9/6/2004

I don't want to be blamed for blaming the victim, but if the victim is "the Russian people", then their failure to find a satisfactory resolution to Chechnya is something that must be addressed.

Yes, the terrorists picked a horrific way to get attention and wreak vengeance, attacking innocents. But to address our rebukes and constructive criticisms to the terrorists alone is to ignore the context.

A "War on Terrorism" without an equally vigorous effort to make states more responsible and just is a sisyphean labor.