Countries react differently to terrorism. After the Sept. 11 attacks, Americans rallied behind their government of their own free will. After the Madrid train bombings last March, Spaniards ousted theirs. President Vladimir Putin took steps last week that seem to ensure that Russians will do neither. After modern Russia's worst terrorist act — the horrifying seizure of a school that ended with more than 330 hostages dead — Putin ordered an overhaul of the political system, stripping Russians of their right to elect their governors and district representatives in Parliament. Putin's response seemed like a non sequitur, since how the country conducts its elections on the regional level has little, if anything, to do with fighting the terrorism that war in Chechnya has spawned.
|