Again! We Piss Our Pants

The Chechens who captured the theater are the only participants of the drama who do not speak much. They prefer real actions to what the Russian state yields. I have a moral right to say so, because I experienced two similar and at the same time different terrorist acts: in Budennovsk and Kizlyar. Within the last 24 hours, so many people have said so much, it seems to be absolutely senseless to add anything. Though, despite such lavish talking and appearances of the same faces who occupy TV screens for any reason – whether it is a terrorist act in the center of Moscow or something about the neighbour’s cat – some important things have not been pronounced yet. Why?

The reason is probably the same reason why it is becoming more and more dangerous to live in Russia, despite so many smart heads. Deeds, which are the only criterion of truth, were replaced by virtual effects. To talk well is better than to act well. One thing is really bad: the war, which, in contrast to economics, politics, and culture, demands quick action and quick results.

The Chechens who captured theater are the only participants of the drama who do not speak. They prefer real actions. I have a moral right to say so, because I have experienced two similar and at the same time different terrorist acts: in Budennovsk and Kizlyar.

In principle, all the three cases of mass hostage-taking are curiously connected. They obviously show the development of the process that is called “Chechen terrorism” and seriously differs from Palestinian, Bask, or Irish terrorism.

In Budennovsk, the capture of the hospital was just a byproduct of another planned action: the attack of helicopter regiment based not far from the city. The capture of the hospital, as is described in manuals on terrorist activity, was an admissible mean of a wrecker fight, because these people do not follow any Geneva Conventions.

So, however Basaev demanded to stop the war in Chechnya; he and his people might be satisfied just with their personal escape. In this case, negotiations should be carried out and sick hostages could be replaced by deputies and journalists.

It is no wonder that, having received buses, enough “status” hostages, and having talked to the prime-minister by telephone, Basaev decided not to wait for the end of the war and left the city of Budennovsk. Federal authorities made a serious mistake by letting the Basaev go: in open steppe, far from settlements, where there were no mined cars and people belted with bombs, an operation should have been carried out to capture the terrorists. Of course, there would have been victims, though their number would have been incomparable with what happened later.

No, I do not want to say that years of this diversionary and terrorist war have not taught our military anything. If in the city of Budennovsk and Pervomaiskoye settlement, we could see a formal disorder and noncompetence of military of different levels, now, in the centre of Moscow, we can see a well organized encirclement already in several hours after the start of the terrorist act. We can see a concentration of military units, while preparations of the anti-terrorist units remain off screen, which is a plus. We can also expect that within the 24 hours, a functional command center was created.

However, already by the beginning of the work day of October 23, Moscovites could see shops and bistros belonging to Caucasian people being closed. Of course, it would be politically incorrect to suspect the street sellers of being supporters of terrorists supporters. In the Moscow diaspora, there were some rumours, and Caucasian people living in Moscow, well aware of what the Moscow police and authorities think about them, are very sensitive to different trends.

It should be said that today’s Russian citizens, as well as Soviet citizens, are ready to share information they possess with competent bodies. And some “signals” likely arrived in the bodies, though in the whole mix of useless information, they seem just have been lost. The same probably happened with reports the US special services received about September 11 attack.

It would be absurd to blame the special services for having not registered the armed terrorist group moving from Chechnya to Moscow.

Russians are tired of the second Chechen war, which has lasted for two years, and voices calling for a end to the war are being heard more frequently. Russian society is starting to listen to these voices. While the society starts to listen to these voices. The war will most likely affect the president’s ratings.

However, anti-Chechen moods in Russia have again become stronger, while Putin, having said his sacramental “I was right,” can continue the battle for Caucasus even for 100 years. The West, which persistently calls Chechens “rebels,” now has to admit they are 100-percent terrorists, and not only some of them, the Chechen scum, all of them – thanks to Udugov, who turned out to be not a Goebbels, but a provincial PR-manager.

The Chechens do not hasten to die. They are deeply concerned with their security and they are very nervous.

It looks like the situation could bring some surprises. For example, it could be already now stated, that the president turned out to be not resolute enough to reject negotiations with the terrorists. However, something of the kind could have been expected from him. The president probably decided to escape from the deadlock Chechen situation and to sign new agreements (like the Khasavyurt agreement), so he will allow to Chechens to get away with this. Though, in this case, the rest of Putin’s presidential term, Boris Berezovsky will prove the terrorists in fact were FSB officers who earlier blasted houses in Guryanov Street and Kashirskoye Highway.

There is one more variant. The drama in the theatre turns into a serial, which the whole country attentively watches, like the show behind the glass, sympathizing with participants (all the sympathies will be taken into account later), and then everything is annihilated. The Chechen war turns into a people’s war, into a patriotic war, because our fatherland is TV set. Anatoly Baranov PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Vera Solovieva