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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 - 30 August 2000 Issue No. 496 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 - 30 August 2000 Issue No. 496
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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 Bad tidings
By Abdel-Malek Khalil
Violence in Kashmir marred celebrations marking India's 53rd Independence Day -- which also happens to be Pakistan's -- this week. The violence in Kashmir today is explicable though not excusable. All the protagonists must share the blame, including India, which has much to celebrate. The sordid realities of violent implosion in Kashmir cannot be hoodwinked by the universally-acclaimed strength of India's democratic plurality. Things are seriously going wrong in Kashmir and something must be done about it. All 118 crew members aboard the sunken Russian nuclear submarine Kursk were declared dead by the Russian naval authorities. "Our worst fears are confirmed. All the compartments of the submarine are flooded with water. None of the crew are still alive," the head of Russia's Northern Fleet, Mikhail Motsak, said in a written statement broadcast on Russian television.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his "sorrow for those killed and condolences to the relatives and friends," and called on the government to offer all the assistance necessary to families of the crew. Putin visited grieving family members of the victims in Severomorsk on the Arctic Circle on Tuesday, and decreed Wednesday a day of national mourning with Russian flags lowered on all state buildings. Putin vigorously defended the work of the Russian salvage workers, stressing that poor weather conditions were to blame for the disaster.
Putin himself came under heavy fire for his political isolationism and Cold War mentality since he initially refused any kind of foreign technical support. The Russian government came under scathing criticism for the slow pace of their rescue operation. "The ex-superpower had displayed its impotence," ran one headline, while the Russian daily Vremya said that in opening the submarine's rear hatch, "Norwegian divers achieved in six hours what Russian rescue teams were unable to do in seven days."
Following a whole week of ill-fated efforts, the Russians admitted their failure to save the Kursk's crew, and finally allowed an Anglo-Norwegian team to start rescue operations. The foreign team entered the submarine within 30 hours, whereas the Russian navy had struggled for days to send mini-submarines and other submersibles to dock with the Kursk. Hindered by stormy weather and strong underwater currents in the Barents Sea, the Russians were unable to latch on to any of the escape hatches. The speed and efficiency of British and Norwegian rescue workers left Russians acutely embarrassed and fuelled further criticism of Putin.
Putin cut short a visit to the Black Sea resort of Yalta, Ukraine, to return to Moscow. In Yalta, Putin attended a summit of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose grouping of 12 former Soviet Union republics. Putin, as well as Ilya Klebanov, Russia's deputy prime minister who was handling the Kursk crisis, averted the blame, claiming that the submarine was struck by a foreign object.
The Communist Speaker of the Russian Parliament, the Duma, urged Putin to take the axe to the military's top brass. He asked that the Duma launch investigations into what exactly caused the downing of the Kursk and pinpoint those in the Russian navy who are to blame. "This is a national disgrace, and a national tragedy. It is symbolic of how low Russia has sunk," said a relative of one of the dead sailors.
