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Posted on 09/03/2004 2:21:29 AM PDT by Former Military Chick
Thank you, I did not think it was over, but, the Moscow Times might have a different spin. Hell they best have one hell of a spin. I find their response of this event boarding on criminal. In this day there is just no excuse for sloppy work. I could go but why get my blood pressure up.
FWIW, I'm just going to jump in here with a somewhat relevant story.
Last night I had a troubling conversation with my sister. I said, "are you going to watch the speech tonight?"
To make a long story short, she hadn't watched anything, hadn't taken the time to listen either to the RNC or the DNC. She said, "It's all just a bunch of posturing."
In an effort to persuade her that the results of this election matter, I said, "have you heard about what's going on in Russia?"
She had no clue.
And get this--when I told her that the terrorists were Chechen separatists, she said, "Oh, but they are oppressed," as if whatever perceived injustice these murders feel makes it okay to kill innocent children.
I shook my head. I couldn't continue the conversation.
Cynicism and laziness. Willful ignorance. That's what we're facing here.
What a contrast with the faith, the belief in America and her ideals, in the idea that we can make a positive difference in the world, that I saw last night at the RNC.
My initial reaction - "great!". Have they killed him?
CNN-Asia is now referring to these as 'Chechen Terrorists.'
You know I am uncertain how you could even go on trying. I applaude your dedication to enlighten your sister.
Does she vote anyway, not caring about the guys or does she do last minute homework and then votes.
Lead them to water, can't make them drink.
Uh, it looks to be a bit late for that, the captured terrorist has been carried off......in all directions. Soros could always send a team from Human Rats Watch to investigate. Whether they would come back is not my concern.
Try this Fox news story.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,131345,00.html
11 uses of the word "militant". No use of the word "terrorist". The byline at the bottom says "The Associated Press contributed to this report." so it's probably just copied and pasted from the wires, but still, I would have hoped for better from Fox.
Moscow Times
September 3, 2004
Pg. 3
Leadership Is Paralyzed In Face Of Terror: Press
By Valeria Korchagina, Staff Writer
The country's entire population has been taken hostage and its leaders cannot do anything about it, Russian newspapers concluded Thursday in their coverage of the recent terrorist attacks.
"We need to change the way law enforcement and the security services operate," Izvestia managing editor Georgy Bovt wrote in a front-page commentary titled "The Moment of Truth for Putin's Presidency."
"Throwing money at the problem won't help," he said. "These agencies must be held publicly accountable for their performance."
Bovt said that unless hostage-takers at a school in North Ossetia miraculously release everyone, President Vladimir Putin is facing a lose-lose situation: to strike a deal to free the hostages, which would show that the authorities are weak, or storm the school and risk the lives of hundreds of people.
While devoting extensive coverage to the details of the unfolding hostage drama, many newspapers questioned the nation's ability to counter terrorism.
Gazeta, which dedicated nearly its entire issue to the recent terror attacks, called for Russia to adopt the tactics of Israeli special services -- "hunting down" and "destroying" all people linked to terrorism.
"145 Million Hostages" read a headline in Russky Kuryer, which wrote that no one is safe in Russia any more.
The newspaper said the authorities can do nothing to protect citizens because they lack a clear and workable strategy to counter terrorism.
A number of newspapers polled politicians about what should be done to stop terrorism, but none was able to provide any particularly helpful advice.
Vitaly Tretykov, a former Nezavisimaya Gazeta editor who now writes a column for Rossiiskaya Gazeta, expressed concern over the public's general ignorance about terrorism and reluctance to personalize the recent events.
"There is a feeling that if Russian media did not cover the terrorist attack in such detail, no one but the relatives would care," he said.
Tretykov suggested that Russia look to France, where large protests spilled into the streets this week after two French journalists were taken hostage in Iraq. That hostage-taking has unified a nation divided over a controversial law banning Muslim headscarves in schools.
"Russian society appears to have fully accepted the inevitability of terrorism and the fact that 100 or 200 people must be sacrificed once every three months," Tretykov said.
"Indeed, there is no panic. But there is also no readiness to stop the growing evil."
Bovt cautioned that even though there are signs of indifference, "this doesn't mean that a huge wave of protest isn't building up that sooner or later will spill out to the street, first as pogroms against people from the Caucasus and then as anti-government protests."
"No presidential job approval numbers will stem that tide," he added, referring to Putin's consistently high ratings.
I agree. I appreciate your research and posting it on the thread. Just ran across another story in the EB having to do with the situation in Russia.
Los Angeles Times
September 3, 2004
Pair Of Russian Reporters Believe They Were Waylaid
The journalists, who have criticized Putin's policy, were en route to cover the school hostage crisis. One is missing and the other is in a hospital.
By David Holley, Times Staff Writer
MOSCOW — Two prominent Russian journalists known for their criticism of President Vladimir V. Putin's Chechnya policies were hindered from reaching the scene of the school hostage crisis in the city of Beslan, raising questions about whether authorities were trying to keep them away, the journalists and some of their colleagues said Thursday.
Andrei Babitsky, a reporter with U.S.-funded Radio Liberty, was prevented from boarding a flight to the region Thursday and later was charged with "hooliganism," said Andrei Trukhan, the station's deputy news editor. Babitsky's whereabouts late Thursday were unclear, he said.
Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist with Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, said in a telephone interview from a hospital in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don that she became seriously ill on a flight to the area Wednesday and that her doctors said it appeared she had been poisoned.
Babitsky, reached by cellphone at a police station Thursday afternoon, said he was initially told that a dog trained to sniff explosives had reacted to his checked baggage.
Although no explosives were found, he was delayed an hour, he said.
Then, Babitsky said, he was accosted by two men who bumped into him aggressively and demanded that he buy them beer.
Police took all three to the airport police station, he said.
When the two men "finally realized they may have some problems with the police, they told me privately that they are simple parking attendants and that the airport security chief came up to them this morning, showed my photo and asked them to find me and pick a fight with me," he said.
Politkovskaya said she felt fine Wednesday until after she accepted a cup of tea from a flight attendant on the trip to Rostov-on-Don.
"Immediately after I drank that tea I began feeling dizzy and soon passed out altogether," she said. "I would come back to my senses and pass out again several times for the remainder of the flight. I finally came to in an intensive therapy ward in the Rostov infectious-diseases hospital.
"I am feeling slightly better but very, very weak," she said. "The results of my samples are not ready yet, but doctors here say it must be some kind of poisoning. How horrible."
Politkovskaya stopped short of placing blame for her illness, but she said it was "clear that the authorities don't want journalists, especially independent journalists, to cover the hostage crisis in Beslan."
Dmitry Muratov, editor in chief at Novaya Gazeta, said he believed that authorities didn't want the two reporters "to get to the scene and relate to the public the political demands of the hostage-takers, among which the most important one is to withdraw troops from Chechnya."
"The authorities in Moscow had full access to lists of passengers boarding this or that flight, and they acted swiftly," he said. "I am sure Anna was poisoned. I don't think they wanted to kill. They must have wanted just to incapacitate her."
However, at the peak of her illness, he said, Politkovskaya's heartbeat was very weak and her blood pressure very low.
"So that was a very close call," he said.
Politkovskaya is known for reporting that is sympathetic to the people of Chechnya — where rebels are battling for independence from Russia — and critical of fighters on both sides.
In October 2002, she had been scheduled to be in Los Angeles to receive an award from the International Women's Media Foundation but left for home suddenly to try to mediate a hostage crisis at a Moscow theater. She spent five hours in the theater in an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the standoff, which ended with dozens of rebels and hostages killed.
Politkovskaya has previously been arrested in Chechnya by security forces and accused of entering the republic without proper credentials and not registering with the military. Babitsky also has encountered trouble with authorities in relation to his Chechnya reporting.
Trukhan, the Radio Liberty editor, said late Thursday that in the station's last contact with Babitsky, the reporter said a court hearing had been set for today and that the police were letting him go.
"We are beginning to get a little worried now, because since then we couldn't get in touch with him on his cellphone," Trukhan said.
Times staff writer Sergei L. Loiko contributed to this report.
Oh, dear. Last night I heard that men were lining up to replace themselves with the women and children. What a tragedy this all is.
It seems the more I read the angrier I become. Not a good sign.
Here is yet another article from an overseas paper on the subject.
I was so mad I had to change the topic. I've tried before to persuade her to at least inform herself, but she prefers to live in a bubble. I suppose there are a lot of people who do, sadly.
"Does she vote anyway, not caring about the guys or does she do last minute homework and then votes."
She lives in Madison WI and voted for Gore and will probably vote for Kerry. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll be too lazy to take the time to vote, though. :)
I swear, this morning, thinking about it, I felt like calling her and saying she doesn't deserve to vote if she can't take the time to at least watch the conventions!
no slam to you FMC...I just tire easily of self-important 'journalists'...From what I have seen this has been covered very extensively by news people on the scene. Including the terrs demands.
ping to #292 article
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Thanks for posting these articles.
What a horrible tragedy.
I wish CNN would stop talking about the freaking Atkins diet and provide an update on this. Jeesh....
Fair enough. We had been chatting a great deal on the subject and I know I did not everything and still don't but feel more informed. Yes, they make themselves self important. All reporters do that I think that was required their sophomore year.
But, I did post for folks to read, that did not have the extensive background on this event then others. But, your criticism is well put and I will remember that next. :)
The wife and I have been following this situation since it started. She wants to go kick some terr butt right now...lol. Fortunately she is 'otherwise' occupied.
Over 1,000 beds await Beslan victims in Vladikavkaz
Interfax. Friday, Sep. 3, 2004, 4:21 PM Moscow Time
MOSCOW. Sept 3 (Interfax) - As many as 1,025 beds have been made available in Vladikavkaz hospitals for victims of the Beslan terror attack, an official in the North Ossetian Health Ministry told Interfax on Friday.
There are a total of 128 wounded in the city's hospitals, 70 of them in the ambulance center, eight in the North Ossetian republic's hospital and 50 in the children's hospital, he said.
The medics have been preparing to provide services for the victims since the start of today's developments in the Beslan school, the official said. He expected gunshot and fragment wounds among the victims.
Lev Dzugayev, head of the information analysis division in the republic's presidential office, told Interfax earlier that over 200 wounded had been taken to Beslan hospitals
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