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World>Terrorism & Security
posted September 8, 2004, updated 12:20 p.m.

Putin's response

Will the Beslan massacre unify - or divide - the West in the global war on terrorism?

by Jim Bencivenga | csmonitor.com

Russia has just experienced its own 9/11.

The massacre of school children by Islamic terrorists in the North Osettian town of Beslan horrified the civilized world.

Now, similar to the aftermath of the attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, the world watches to see what Russia will do. A series of questions have come to the fore in the European, North American, and Russian press:

•In the short term, how will Russia strike back against those forces that sent adults to slaughter children?

•Will the incident spark a wider war in the Caucasus region as the terrorists seem to have intended?

•Longer term, how will Western democracies come to Russia's assistance, and as important, what aid will Russia accept?

•What internal changes must Russia make if it is to bring about its own security as well as constructively engage in the global war on terror?


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The world recognizes that the recent attacks in Russia are part of a normalization of terrorism as a war tactic. The Swiss newspaper Le Temps connects Beslan to the global war on terror:

We must be mindful of the fact that terrorism is in the process of becoming a normal weapon of war, and large gatherings of people will from now on be potential targets.

China's People's Daily Online makes the same point:

From the Iraqi beheading of hostages, to repeated plane crashes, to explosion and to stretching terrorism's hands to schoolchildren, all these show that terrorist forces restart their attacks in ways that cannot be prevented and display ...[such tactics] growth with more cruel-hearted ways.

Russian President Vladimir Putin clearly links Beslan to Chechen terrorists who planned these atrocities with Al Qaeda and other Islamist fanatics. He " is not fanciful," in this connection writes the Washington Post in an editorial.

Chechens play an inordinately important role in this loose network, especially in recruiting and spreading its ideological and physical poisons in Europe, according to French counterterrorism experts and other Europeans.

But in any response to the Beslan attack, the Post calls on Putin

...to give the Russian nation the sense of being involved in a bigger and more noble task than merely taking revenge on murdering Chechens and indulging ancient fears of national collapse. His administration must work to change the behavior of peaceful Chechens - and of citizens throughout Russia - by giving them more responsibility and liberty, not less.

For his part, Putin made it clear that "No one has a moral right to tell us to negotiate with those who had killed our children." Pravda quotes him as saying, "We will not negotiate with child-killers." Putin sees the 10-year war in Chechnya, "which appears now to have affected neighboring North Ossetia," reports the New York Times, as a war for territorial integrity in the remnants of the Soviet Union, which broke into pieces 13 years ago.

'There are Muslims along the Volga, in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan,' he said. 'Chechnya isn't Iraq. It's not far away. It's a vital part of our territory. This is all about Russia's territorial integrity. ...Just imagine that people who shoot children in the back came to power anywhere on our planet. Just ask yourself that, and you will have no more questions about our policy in Chechnya.'

Putin said the Chechen cause is aimed at undermining all of southern Russia and majority-Muslim regions of the country, reports the Associated Press. In its first official response, Russia offered a $10 million reward on Wednesday for information to help it hunt down Chechen rebel leaders Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov, whom it accuses of being behind last week's deadly school siege, reports Reuters. It is viewed as a measured step, singling out individuals, not a race or nation, as Putin has vowed to prevent the hostage crisis from sparking a new conflict in the Caucasus, reports The Christian Science Monitor. But it is undeniable that "this event is reopening a violent history between Ossetia and its Muslim neighbors of Chechnya and Ingushetia." Russia agreed to an offer from Israel to provide counter-terror advisers and better intelligence coordination, reports the New York Post. In the larger context, Putin admits that terrorism can't easily be defeated and that it's an international threat, not a regional problem, reports the New York Post. To that end, Russia yesterday agreed with NATO officials to boost cooperation on fighting terrorism. Specific details will be spelled out at a meeting scheduled for later this month reports Reuters. The Moscow Times called on the government to form an independent commission to conduct a public and comprehensive review of what went wrong at Beslan, along the lines of the 9/11 commission in the United States. Citing Putin's call for an "organized and united civil society" to confront the terrorist threat, the Times editorialized that a public review would help to "engage the society that Putin has so successfully sidelined over the past four years." Putin has ruled out a public inquiry, however, even by "a parliament that he has brought to heel", states the Times. He called instead for an internal investigation.

Yet a [public] investigation is needed to help prevent other cities and towns from experiencing the horror of Beslan. This would be the best tribute to the people killed in the school and the commandos who gave their lives to save as many as they could.