Free Republic

The word ‘terror’ in Latin means ‘fear’ and ‘horror’. The word ‘terrorism’ is derived from it, and must be understood as a means of inducing fear. Mass murder does not always strike fear into everyone. The elimination of six million Jews did not. Neither did the destruction of two million Africans in Darfur, nor the deportation of hundreds of thousands from the Caucasus. These acts struck fear into no one other than the doomed. All that reigned was indifference. Terrorism, however, scares everyone, and while I of course condemn terrorism, I believe it is time to figure out why fear...

An exact copy of the U.S. President - Dr. Zaur Akhmedov - works as a pediatrician and dreams of meeting Barack. Zaur Akhmedov is a pediatrician in the small town of Engels near Saratov, and everyone calls him ‘Doctor Obama’. The fact is, he is very similar to the 44th U.S. president, Barack Obama. When Zaur Akhmedov calmly walks around without bodyguards, strangers who run into him cannot recover until they realize that he is not the real Barack Obama wandering the streets of Engels, but an almost exact copy. Children are no longer surprised, and they enjoy sticking their...

EXCLUSIVE Thursday, February 3rd, 2011 16:22 Life News has learned the name of the Domodedovo bomber Investigators were only able to identify the suicide bomber from fingerprints and a DNA analysis of his remains. Official representative of the Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin neither confirms nor denies the information. 36 human lives are on Magomed Yevloyev’s conscience. He was a student from Ingushetia who came under the influence of recruiters of the North Caucasus criminal underground. A hand and a scorched head are all that remain of the 20-year resident of the village of Ali-Yurt after he blew himself up in...

24-year-old Zeynap Suyunova, arrested in Volgograd and suspected of involvement in an explosion at a Moscow shooting club on December 31st, confessed to security services that her accomplices were planning two terrorist attacks in the capital - one of them at the airport, reports Life News. There is no official confirmation of this information. A day earlier the National Antiterrorism Committee would only state that interrogation of suspects in the shooting club blast had prevented of two terrorist attacks in Dagestan. According to the official version, the planned New Year’s Eve bombing in the capital and the attack on Domodedovo...

In spite of regularly occurring acts of terrorism around the world, a normal person cannot get used to these cruel acts of violence against entirely innocent persons, people whose only ‘guilt’ is that they are have a different nationality, religion, or political view. Each terrorist attack that results in human casualties is therefore perceived by the vast majority of people around the world as a personal tragedy, regardless of the country where the crime takes place, especially since the victims of such attacks are increasingly citizens of different countries. The bombing at Domodedovo airport on January 24th, and the resulting...

During yesterday’s news conference, Vladimir Putin made a statement that is unprecedented in its inadequacy, and forces me - as the citizen of a belligerent country - to take an unprecedented step. What follows is almost the entire text of an article I published about seven years ago, a few days after a terrorist bombing in Moscow. It quite lucidly describes the nature of the enemy that had thrown down the gauntlet in challenge to Russia back then. An adequate understanding of its nature is absolutely necessary for the political and military leader of our nation, which is what Mr....

The leader of the United Civil Front, Garry Kasparov, held a meeting at the U.S. Congress on introducing visa sanctions against senior Russian officials responsible for violations of civil rights and freedoms, and complicity in corruption. According to the Vladimir Bukovsky press center, the topic of personal sanctions was discussed in a meeting of Kasparov with U.S. Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman and Congressman James McGovern. The negotiations also involved a member of the Federal Political Council from the Solidarity party, Vladimir Kara-Murza. In November 2010, a proposal to ban entry into the U.S. of officials involved in violations...

Putting the phrase ‘airport bombing’ into my search engine yielded some unexpected results. I read it and could not believe my eyes. Could this really be? Hundreds of thousands of citizens in various cities across the country are participating in protests against the terrorists who organized the bombing of the airport. In the capital at least a million inhabitants are demonstrating under the banner: “For peace, for life, for freedom - against terrorism!” The demonstration is supported by more than 500 political parties and public organizations, and was started by the nation’s leading labor unions. Taking part in it are...

‘MK’ was in the terrorists’ lair to find out why the New Year’s Eve attack failed A terrorist attack on Moscow had been planned since the beginning of November, security service sources told ‘MK’. A blast was planned for the night of December 31st-January 1st, at the scene of the most popular New Year’s Eve celebrations, but the blast took place early, within a few hours of the festive midnight. According to one theory it was by shear luck: Spam – A Happy New Year greeting from the phone company - was sent to the suicide bomber’s cell phone. The...

Though it has not yet been officially announced, there is no longer any doubt that Barack Obama will run for a second term. The team from his first campaign has moved to Chicago, where it will set up his re-election committee. In March the president must submit a formal application to the Federal Election Commission, and his advisers are full of enthusiasm: their boss’s ratings have moved upward with confidence. According to the Rasmussen poling service, for the first time since last year Obama’s positive rating has reached 50 percent. Intrade, an exchange for political predictions, gave odds in favor...

"In justifying Budanov, we automatically recognize Chechnya as an independent state" An unpublished interview with Attorney Markelov We are printing a hitherto unknown interview with Stanislav Markelov, taken after he had returned from Chechnya in the early part of June 2002. Back then 'Stas' had become an attorney for the Kungayevs, the Chechen family accusing Colonel Budanov of abducting, raping, and murdering their daughter, 18 year-old Elsa Kungayeva. This is the first time that this interview, taken six and a half years ago, has been published. At the invitation of human rights groups 'Memorial', 'Civic Assistance', and others, in the...

Aircraft number 61-2664 was built in 1961 at Boeing's sprawling Seattle works in Washington state. A variant of the commerical 707 airliner, the aircraft was first fitted out to perform the tasks of weather reconnaissance for Military Airlift Command. She performed these tasks for almost a decade. In 1972, WC-135 number 61-2664 was refitted to serve as a strategic reconnaissance platform. Dozens of other C-135s had been converted to comically long-nosed RC-135s over the decades, but 61-2664 was to join a specially small fraternity: Cobra Ball. Two RC-135 S-models were produced, both stationed at Eielson AFB, Alaska. Their highly...

For MT Yury Yudin hugging Lyudmila Dubinina as he prepares to leave the group due to illness in late January 1959. The ski expedition's leader, Igor Dyatlov, is watching. Nine experienced cross-country skiers hurriedly left their tent on a Urals slope in the middle of the night, casting aside skis, food and their warm coats. Clad in their sleepwear, the young people dashed headlong down a snowy slope toward a thick forest, where they stood no chance of surviving bitter temperatures of around minus 30 degrees Celsius. Baffled investigators said the group died as a result of "a compelling...

A book on 'Nord-Ost' has been published. One of the authors is Karagandan Svetlana Gubareva Every page of this book is a valuable document. In it are the affidavits of the former hostages who lived through that nightmare at the theatrical center on Dubrovka. There are also the autopsies and legal resolutions about the criminal case, papers that until recently were hightly classified. The authors of this book believe that everyone has a right to know the truth about 'Nord-Ost'. That is, all those who wish to know the truth. "AFTER A TERRORIST ATTACK PEOPLE ARE ON THEIR OWN""I wished...

"Grandfathers Frost", we await you! In just two days Noviy Vestnik will round up its 'Be a Grandfather Frost!' campaign. This Saturday, December 23rd, correspondents from NV will visit the orphans at the Home for Handicapped Children, and bring the presents that our readers readied for them. In our first winter issue we invited all who wished to take part to become magicians out of a fairy tale, and make the wishes of these orphans come true.More than fifty children wrote Grandfather Frost, and any adult who wishes can participate by preparing a gift.Two weeks after the campaign began, our...

Part 1 "Forgive us, we remember you..." Published December 14th, 2006 by Vera Vasileva  Journalism in our country remains one of the most dangerous of professions. In Russia, more than 200 journalists have been killed during the last 15 years. Everyone, regardless of their ideological leaning, was shaken by the recent murder of Anna Politkovskaya. The practice of contract killings to silence objectionable voices has made more and more members of the media fear to write the truth. At Moscow's Novopushinsky Square, from 2-3 pm on December 17th, 2006, there will be a memorial rally in honor of these...

Pledges to the "Grandfather Frost" campaign continue Exactly one week ago the newspaper 'Noviy Vestnik' declared the start of a New Year's charity drive. We proposed that all those who wished to feel like a real Grandfather Frost could do so by making the wishes of orphans at the Home for Handicapped Children come true. The results of the first week of the campaign has been stunning. We must admit, we did not expect such success. Our editorial staff has been visited by a dozen Grandfather Frosts. The Bogatyr food company brought in a large gift. Reader Irina Reznikova...

Anna Politkovskaya, the famous journalist and political commentator from Novaya Gazeta was killed in Moscow. This was reported by Novaya Gazeta's chief editor Dmitri Muratov to the radio station Echo of Moscow. The murder occurred around 5 in the evening on Lesnaya Street, where Politkovskaya lived. An unknown man in dark clothing shot her with a pistol. A police source reported to Interfax that a neighbor of the journalist found her body in the elevator. Police also found a discarded Makarov pistol and four empty cartridges. Politkovskaya's home is now cordoned off by the police, reported ITAR-TASS. The police are...

How much does a nuclear blast cost in California? What is the value of 'pi' in Indiana? Is it possible to kill Scotsmen in north England? May Mongolian women bare their bosoms in public? The answers to these questions are not as obvious as they may seem. They are regulated not by common sense, but by actual legislation. Asia and Africa The laws of Asian countries appear absurd at first glance, but in reality they make sense. For example, in accordance with Mongolian law, women are obligated to walk with their bosom exposed. This law was appropriate in the...

On Wednesday a bill before the parliament that would remove detention centers from the FSB passed its first reading. Voting for the bill were 357 members of parliament, while 56 voted against, and 1 abstained. As was reported by a Grani.ru correspondent at the parliament, changes would be made to Article 13 of the law concerning the Federal Security Service, and in Articles 7 & 8 of the law concerning detaining suspects and those accused of committing crimes. Mikhail Grishankov, first deputy chairman of the parliament's security committee, explained that "the given legislation was introduced to provide additional guaranties of...