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Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 August 2000 Issue No. 495 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 August 2000 Issue No. 495
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters From Moscow with might
By Shohdy NaguibLast week's blast in the pedestrian subway under Pushkin Square in the centre of Moscow came almost one year after a series of apartment bombings killed more than 300 people and ignited the second Chechen war, which is still nowhere near an end.
The devices used in all instances are virtually identical: ammonium nitrate with a splash of hexogen added as a detonator. "Ammonium nitrate is a fertiliser. It is easy to acquire and anybody with knowledge of explosives can make a bomb from it. Tracking down the perpetrator is therefore very difficult," says a senior explosives expert in Moscow.
The death toll of last week's explosion has reached 11, with three victims dying days later in hospital. Ten casualties have been identified thus far. Meanwhile, the media is repeatedly broadcasting footage of the dead and the wounded. A writer for the Russia's foremost on-line publication Russ.ru compared the impact of the subway blast on Russia with the effect an intravenous injection of some surrogate drug would have on junkie: pure delirium accompanied by violent convulsions and an overwhelming feeling of helplessness.
The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), Vladimir Zhirinovsky -- reportedly tipsy -- was the first to reach the site of the tragedy, calling for a massacre of Chechens all over Russia. No surprise there. As always, Zhirinovsky was speaking for many a Russian sharing similarly sanguine sentiments.
Characteristically, all of the explosions were anonymous. Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov has denied any connection with Tuesday's bombing.
The list of suspects in the minds of the public is much longer though. It also includes Russian President Vladimir Putin, Moscow's mayor Yuri Luzhkov, communists, fascists, the military, and the powerful business tycoons.
None of these suggestions sound queer to Russian ears. It has become increasingly clear to most people that every act of terror is linked in some way to the interests of financial groups, political parties and the secret services. Recalling the blasts by Czarist agents-provocateurs that rocked Russia a century ago, a prominent journalist writing for the on-line news service Vesti.ru has argued that the anonymity of terrorism is only a piece in the long chain of generic facelessness of decision-making in the modern world. Who ordered the wars in Afghanistan and in Chechnya?
According to French philosopher Jean Baudrillard, a third anonymity is added to the other two: the facelessness of the victim. Terrorists target people randomly to destabilise society. Here, the anonymity of the victims compounds the anonymity of the decision-makers. Since there is no one to blame for unleashing the war, all citizens share equal responsibility. Terrorism thereby becomes an extension of war.
The fighting in Chechnya has exposed Russian troops as being unable to deal with the separatists other than by carpet bombings and brutal cleansing which breeds even more resentment. Television reports show fatigue and apprehension on the faces of soldiers.
The recent suicide bombings have resulted in heavy losses among the federal forces. Not a day goes by without casualties on the Russian side. The strength of the rebel forces also seems to be dwindling. But as recent polls show, no one is expecting the war to end any time soon.
The same survey -- conducted just before the subway blast -- reveals that most Russians do not think the government can protect them from further reprisals. Meanwhile, President Putin is enjoying approval ratings comparable to those of the Soviet regime: a stunning 72 per cent. Though the accuracy of the estimate has been questioned, it is still no mean feat for a leader who has only served a full hundred days in office on 14 August.
The president's visits to non-Western countries and his struggle against both the Senate and influential business tycoons have boosted his image. According to former Prime Minister Anatoli Chubais, "Putin is now capable of winning any referendum, whatever the question might be -- including amendments to the constitution -- by a margin of close to 100 per cent. Prior to the poll, he can gaol a couple of tycoons just to be on the safe side. And that will win him even more support."
But in Chechnya, Putin's position is still shaky. On Thursday, Russia's Federal Security Services issued a statement accusing British military officers not only of training Chechen rebels in mine-laying and ambush techniques but also of supplying them with materiel and engaging in military espionage under the guise of the anti-mine charity HALO. The timing of the announcement could be connected with Monday's surrender to federal forces of the head of Chechnya's National Security Service, Lechi Khultygov, who was allegedly promised amnesty on condition of cooperating with authorities.
Finally, last week brought reports of an unknown lethal disease spreading among the mujahedin in the mountain villages under central government control. The federal army command, for one, has attributed the epidemic to the use of bacteriological arms by the rebels, but has failed to explain how the separatists obtained the weapons in the first place.
From now until September, Russians will try to enjoy the holidays -- as well as the seasonal break from quarrels in the Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament. Yet the unusually cold weather this summer might already be a portent of more bone-chilling developments in the autumn.
