Michael Gove characteristically hits the nail on the head in the Times today when he points out that the terrorists responsible for the Beslan massacre were no more likely to be satisfied with Chechen independence than were the Nazis with the Sudetenland:

'When Russia did grant Chechnya greater autonomy in the 1990s, it was only to find that territory become a launchpad for fundamentalist groups intent on exporting slaughter well beyond their borders. In the circumstances, the Russians could no more accept the requirement to respect self-determination than you or I could accept the need to respect property rights when our neighbour’s house has become a crack den. When others abuse their freedom to threaten your safety, there is a need to act.'

So much for the claim that the massacre was the result of President Putin's brutal crackdown on the Chechen resistance. In that respect, there are obvious similarities with the Palestinians, who used the autonomy granted to them under the Oslo peace process to form themselves into an army of killers. The agenda, in other words, is not about national self-determination. It is about conquest.

This is why the EU's peremptory demand for Russia to provide an explanation for the tragedy was so disgusting. The Times leader puts it well:

'There is strong evidence that the techniques are inculcated in clandestine or even semi-clandestine centres all the way from Indonesia to northern Africa. Along this arc of violence, explosives training is available and thousands of madrasahs, traditionally centres of quiet religious study, indoctrinate students in the “politics” of the explosive belt. It was never convincing, and it is no longer remotely safe, for the Islamic world’s political and religious leaders to claim that these activities are marginal and alien to their societies and faith, and leave it at that...It does not help those Muslims brave enough to say candidly that terrorism now has dangerously deep roots in Islamic culture if EU ministers rush to “understand”, where they should without qualification condemn. Their apparent concern to mark a distance from Moscow and Washington is an irrelevance bordering on the irresponsible.'

As is so much comment, alas, surrounding this whole subject.

Posted by melanie at September 7, 2004