| Submit your comments on this article |
| Caucasus |
| Beslan terrorists may get their wish |
| 2004-09-07 |
| A little background: Wedged between Chechnya and North Ossetia is an even smaller territory called Ingushetia. Like the Chechens, the Ingush were accused of collaborating with the Nazis and were deported en masse to Central Asia and Siberia by Stalin in 1943. When the Ingush returned to their homeland, part of it (a patch of land called Prigorodny) had been transferred to neighboring North Ossetia. Ingush were allowed to settle in Prigorodny, but N. Ossetia retained sovereignty over the place. Fast forward to the Nineties and Soviet disunion. After an uprising in South Ossetia (part of neighboring Georgia), scores of thousands of Ossetian refugees fled into Russian North Ossetia. Most were settled in Ingush-majority Prigorodnya. The result, in October of '92, was a fast but fierce campaign of ethnic cleansing as most ethnic Ingush were expelled from N. Ossetia, especially Prigorodnye. I've been waiting for something like this since Beslan first unfolded... A mob of at least a thousand Ossetians enraged by the recent hostage drama in this south Russian republic gathered in the disputed Prigorodny region bordering the republic of Ingushetia Sunday, with plans to attack Ingush homes. Regional police managed to disperse the crowd and prevent an interracial conflict. Ingush and Chechens (close kin to each other) are both Muslim with a history of bad blood with Moscow. Ossetians (a Persian-descent people with no kin in their vicinity) have a Muslim minority, but most are Russian Orthodox Christians and remain faithful to Moscow. As you might expect, they loathed each other even before the Prigorodnye ethnic cleansing, which only made the hatred more intense. This is exactly what the Beslan butchers (at least some of whom were Ingush) wanted to accomplish. This is why they attacked a school specifically in North Ossetia instead of in Russia proper. A few reprisal attacks against Muslim ethnicities, and "fence-sitter" Muslims in the North Caucasus -- Kabardins, Cherkess, Karachays, and the dozen-odd Dagestani nationalities -- all get pushed off the fence and into the jihadi camp. Keep an eye open for incidents like this is days and weeks to come. They will determine whether the Beslan terrorists were evil geniuses, or merely evil. |
| Posted by:Another Dan |
| #8 Dead Muslims? Yawn........Its about time. |
| Posted by: whitecollar redneck 2004-09-07 11:54:14 PM |
| #7 Frank G - indeed it does. |
| Posted by: B 2004-09-07 12:21:43 PM |
| #6 killing the "right people" starts in Riyadh |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-09-07 11:48:56 AM |
| #5 interesting post, AD. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-09-07 11:47:55 AM |
| #4 I share your concern over the onset of pogroms. They will accomplish little as they inevitably kill innoncent grandmas and children. I hope it can be avoided. Send in the death squads, armed with intel and training, to kill the right people. It will accomplish far more in the long run. We must avoid the desire to punish a representative "they". It's always counterproductive and I agree it is probably just what the terrorists are hoping for. |
| Posted by: B 2004-09-07 11:35:26 AM |
| #3 Very good background data on this greater issue. |
| Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-09-07 10:59:45 AM |
| #2 Burn 'em. Let Kosovo be the last time I rallied against ethnic cleansing where Muslims were the target. |
| Posted by: Asedwich 2004-09-07 2:20:28 AM |
| #1 If they are "merely evil" the world should not worry too much. If they are the "evil geniuses" you speak of, watch for scorched earth or a very bright flash on the horizon. Either way, I have little pity. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-09-07 2:05:27 AM |