|
More ethnic fallout from Beslan
A sequel of sorts to a thread from yesterday.Warning: this article suffers from end-stage Eurasianet Syndrome, complete with linked Rall cartoon, multiple paragraphs of fluff, and a standard call for "nuance" by Putin. But Eurasianet -- bless their pointed heads -- excel at providing local information that few other English-speaking outlets bother to cover. Despite their rampant Ameriphobia, this one strength warrants their continued survival in my Bookmarks list. Case in point: North Ossetians are convinced that the Ingush constituted the bulk of the [Beslan] attackers, a North Ossetian government official told the Russky Kuryer newspaper. "Basically no one in the republic is talking about the Chechens," the newspaper quoted the official as saying. According to Sergei Arutyunov, the head of the Caucasus Department at the Moscow-based Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, "the conflict in the Prigorodny region could resume and this could lead to a huge amount of bloodshed." The Beslan tragedy is also stoking antagonism between Russia and Georgia ... Some hawkish political analysts are urging Russia to get tough with Georgia. One Kremlin-connected observer, Gleb Pavlovsky, who heads the Effective Policy Foundation, told the Russky Zhurnal website; those who planned a terrorist act in Beslan wouldn't have chosen North Ossetia as a target if Saakashvili hadn't "unfrozen the Ossetian issue." In sharp contrast, a significant number of experts are urging the Kremlin to seek an accommodation with Tbilisi on the South Ossetia issue.
For the record, I'm of the latter opinion. Putin needs to take the Transcaucasus out of the equation, and the easiest way is to make nice with Georgia by cutting the strings on Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The alternative is putting Georgia on the side of the Muslims. The North Caucasus is going to explode. I sincerely hope that my armchair analysis is dead wrong, but I don't think Russia can dodge the bullet this time. I didn't feel this way about Basayev's lunatic charge into Dagestan back in '99, nor the Theater raid in '02, nor the attack in Nazran back in June. Beslan really was the magic bullet. Can Russian territorial unity survive this? Posted by: Another Dan 2004-09-08 |
|
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=42673 |