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| Caucasus |
| Europress trying to shoot the Russian wounded... |
| 2002-10-31 |
| Source: ChechenPress.info The main subject discussed in the British press on Monday was tragic consequences of the raid on theatre in Moscow. It should be noted that all newspapers without exclusion draw the readers attention to the fact that the operation resulted in heavy losses not through the terrorists or special forces but unknown gas that poisoned at least 155 people, according to the latest data. Notice they folded their own dead into the number... The most pessimistic picture is that of the Guardian's, according to which 150 hostages died as a result of the hostage releasing storm, and all of them except two people fell victims of the gas, which, the authorities of Russia stubbornly refuse to name. The situation is aggravated with the fact that people are not allowed to see their relatives in the hospital. Their people also seem to have become "hostages." The Russians are probably still not completely sure that none of the people in hospital are snuffies mingling with their intended victims... According to the newspaper, owing to the results of the operation military triumph has gradually turned into a political catastrophe. The Independent notes that people are discontent with the decision of their President and require of him to explain why he refused to negotiate and gave an order to storm the building with application of chemical weapon. Thought there was nothing to negotiate? The offer was "get out of Chechnya or we kill the hostages." They didn't, they did, so the Russers stormed the building. It's a pretty well established principle of criminal law that if you undertake a felonious action and somebody gets killed as a result, you're the one responsible, even though it might have been from a stray bullet from the other side. The idea is that if you hadn't been an ass in the first place, there wouldn't have been a dangerous situation to kill the innocent bystander. The Times officially declares that it is Russia's internal affair how to settle the problem. Moreover, the newspaper refers to the official position of Downing Street, according to which, the Moscow crisis, as well as the war in Chechnya, is an internal affair of Russia, and the tactics of the Russian authorities should not be discussed. At the same time, British government does not hurry to admit direct links of the Chechen terrorists with Bin Laden. They're indirect only. All the links meet in Soddy Arabia. There's a certain interchange of personnel between the al-Qaeda gunnies and the Chechens, and the funding is all from the same trough. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |