Russian battle near Chechnya... terrorism?
A battle yesterday apparently killed the long sought-after Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev, according to mosnews.com. It hasn't been officially confirmed.
A predictable comment from a Russian official:
"Obviously, this is an act of terrorism," State Duma Security Committee member Arkady Baskayev told Interfax. "This is a premeditated action, the same as it was in Beslan."
Even beyond the terrorist/freedom fighter debate, one also can't avoid bringing up the terrorist/insurrectionist/insurgent/separatist debate as well. No one called the Viet Cong "terrorists," but the Russians know how important the "t" word is to international community, particularly the United States. Granted, some of the Chechens have committed some ghastly crimes, but perhaps we shouldn't call every militant act "terrorism."
The points it scores with U.S. leadership apparently makes it worthwhile.
Maybe it is all just semantics.
UPDATE: If you're visiting from Bidisha Banerjee's link on Slate, thanks, and here's a more current and in-depth post about the "terrorist" term and its usage in the media in relation to Chechen fighters.
A predictable comment from a Russian official:
"Obviously, this is an act of terrorism," State Duma Security Committee member Arkady Baskayev told Interfax. "This is a premeditated action, the same as it was in Beslan."
Even beyond the terrorist/freedom fighter debate, one also can't avoid bringing up the terrorist/insurrectionist/insurgent/separatist debate as well. No one called the Viet Cong "terrorists," but the Russians know how important the "t" word is to international community, particularly the United States. Granted, some of the Chechens have committed some ghastly crimes, but perhaps we shouldn't call every militant act "terrorism."
The points it scores with U.S. leadership apparently makes it worthwhile.
Maybe it is all just semantics.
UPDATE: If you're visiting from Bidisha Banerjee's link on Slate, thanks, and here's a more current and in-depth post about the "terrorist" term and its usage in the media in relation to Chechen fighters.
posted by bp at
12:16 PM
1 Comments:
We should remember that this is Russia we are talking about. It has not been that long ago they were the "evil empire" that we were soooo afraid of. Just because they use trendy words to describe their internal troublemakers should not make us want to suddenly support them.
Of course, it was an islamic resistance...in afganistan...that was crucial in bringing down the soviet union. The united states supported these afgan rebels, and now we are the ones fighting there. Of course, Saddam was once our ally.
And so it goes. Didn't Mr. Eichmann say at his trial something to the effect that you think you are better because you kill civilians at 30000 feet?
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chamblee54, at 10:12 PM
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