The State Duma also addressed to those, who seized the hostages. Russian deputies urged them to show their discretion and release the innocent people, women and children, first and foremost. “No requirements can be achieved owing to illegal actions against Russian civilians and foreigners,” stressed the document. The deputies say that the dramatic events in Moscow must not either raise panic in the Russian society or provoke ethnic or religious hostility. This might lead to serious negative consequences in the field of international relations.
The latest information as of 1:34 p.m. Moscow time
Terrorists want Boris Nemtsov (the leader of the Union of Right Forces political movement) to be present at negotiations. Earlier, the terrorists asked for the presence of other politicians - Irina Khakamada and Grigory Yavlinksy. Yavlinsky is currently in the city of Tomsk, so the terrorists preferred to talk to Boris Nemtsov. RTR Russian Television network reported that the gunmen started showing aggression. They promised that they would shoot ten people every hour, if no one was going to meet their requirements. None of the hostages suffered yet, according to Interfax news agency.
MORE
Regarding use of the word "terrorist," note this post from Tres Producers from 5/9/02:
- Those Who Commit Terrorist Acts Are, By Definition, Terrorists
Reuters, which refuses to call even Osama bin Laden a "terrorist" (their quotes, not mine), is at it again. In their report on the horrific bomb blast today at a Victory Day parade in the Russian republic of Dagestan that killed at least 32 people, including 12 children, they give us these remarkable paragraphs [Reuters link no longer available]:
- President Vladimir Putin vowed to hunt down and punish the attackers, whom he described as "scum" who should be treated like Nazis.
He blamed the attack on "terrorists," the usual Kremlin term to describe separatist rebels in Chechnya, which neighbors the impoverished province of Dagestan where the attack took place.
The report ends with this gem:
- Bomb blasts have rocked Russian regions, mostly those close to Chechnya, since Moscow sent troops back into the secessionist province to bring it back to its fold. The authorities routinely blame the blasts on separatist guerrillas.
This sophistic refusal to call terrorists "terrorists" says nothing about "fairness" or "impartiality" and everything about a Chomsky-like perversion of language. You aren't taking sides on the merits of a matter to call a terrorist a terrorist. You can be even sympathetic to the cause in question and still call a terrorist act "terrorism." A remote-control nail bomb attack timed to kill as many children as possible at a public parade IS THE VERY ESSENCE OF TERRORISM. If the word "terrorism" has any meaning at all, it has to applied here. By dismissing and even mocking Putin's use of the word under these circumstances, Reuters has let it be known where their sympathies lie: with the Chechan TERRORISTS. You can't get much farther from neutrality than that.
Article comments
1 - John Tobin
You may want to include what the Russians are saying about this. Check out http://english.pravda.ru/
Moscow: Chechen terrorists take theatre
Chechen kamikaze squad take theatre with 1,000 hostages in Moscow
A group of between 20 and 30 kamikaze Chechen terrorists stormed a packed Moscow theatre tonight, threatening to blow the building up unless their demands are met. It is feared that due to the fact that their demands are unrealistic, they will prefer to become martyrs, rather than prisoners. ....
2 - Eric Olsen
Excellent John, thanks. You kind of figured the Russians wouldn't hesitate to characterize the situation as such.
3 - Tom
So do the Russkies continue to oppose us on Iraq, or do we team up and get to work on removing this blight once and for all? And when we're done with the filthy French, we can go after the Islamofacists
4 - Michael Levy
The headline over at The Guardian is "Muslim Peace Activists Detain Russian Theatergoers in Mass Protest"
Okay, I made that up. But it's almost believable.
5 - RC
Why such an increase in activity (Bali, Moscow, Phillippines) when it would appear such terrorist activity would bring more allies to our side? These nutjobs need a course in game theory or marketing or something.
One thing though. Were any of us calling the Chechens 'terrorists' prior to 9/11? Probably not. I think most American right/left-wingers thought the Moscow apartment bombings were some sort of Russian conspiracy to allow Putin to re-invade Chechnya.
Actually, considering this country's isolationist bent at the time, most of us probably didn't really care.
6 - pj
It does cause me to rethink my view of Russian's war in Chechnya, particularly the second war. If I were the Russians, I'd pump the theater full of carbon monoxide, which is odorless and invisible, then drag out the hostages and try to revive them with oxygen. The "mining" activity described in news reports might make that impossible though, because you'd have to move very quickly after everyone passed out to save the hostages.
7 - David Gillies
I certainly thought of the Chechen separatists as terrorists long before 9/11. As far as I'm concerned we should give Russia a free hand to deal with the problem in as brutal a fashion as they see fit.
8 - Thomas Dent
Does anyone here know any Chechen/Russian history? Does it make no difference at all that Russia/USSR has treated the people there like shit since the Russian invasion and conquest of the land a century and a half ago? In this case, as in the case of Ireland post potato famine, "root causes" demonstrably exist and have little to do with religious fanaticism.
If you have a little time to read history, try
http://www.newsbee.net/moscow/chhistory.html
in which you will find the elegant solution of Stalin to the "Islamic fundamentalists" of his day (i.e. Muslims who resisted his authority): deport the whole population hundreds of miles away. Compared to the Russian war in 1995, that was pretty humane.
9 - Eric Olsen
Everyone has legitimate grievances - what counts most is how you deal with them.