An absolutely compelling article appeared today by Australian Tony Parkinson in The Age entitled Why appeasement is always wrong.
As the link requires registration, I’ll post the beginning. But you owe it to yourselves to read the rest.
More than 100 schoolchildren in southern Russia are seized at gunpoint on the first day back from summer holidays. Teachers and parents die trying to protect them.
Eleven Nepalese workers in Iraq are lined up and shot in cold blood. A 12th is beheaded, purely for show.
Sixteen bus passengers in southern Israel are blasted to death by suicide bombers. Explosions at a Moscow subway station kill 10 workers. Another 90 lives are lost when terrorists force two Russian passenger jets from the skies.
In almost any other time in modern history, a week of atrocities such as this would have stunned the world.
Yet, today, as the third anniversary of September 11 approaches, it is no longer a shock to see Islamist extremists carrying out these depraved assaults. Many thousands of innocent civilians have already died. Sadly, there will probably be many thousands more.
But maybe, just maybe, the excruciating horror of watching seven-year-olds monstered by fanatics with bombs strapped to their bodies will prompt more people in free societies to grapple with the true awfulness of this phenomenon – and to confront the reality that muddling through with the old verities of international diplomacy is no answer to the threat.
Don’t hold your breath; it’s the old “I’m all right, Jack” syndrome.
Well, it’s good to see someone’s at least being consistent. A long letter appeared today in the London (UK) Evening Standard comparing the Chechen jihadists to the Palestinians and arguing that both deserved the sympathy and support of the British people, despite their “unfortunate” use of children’s lives to make their point. Unfortunately, the Evening Standard -http://www.eveningstandard.co.uk – does not seem to have the letters page online. : (
Those are the letters that I refer to as “artichokes”… the ones papers publish not because they make good points, but because they make their authors look ridiculous.
Or at least I hope that’s why the Standard published it.
I wish the letter was on line – it didn’t look that way to me. It was well written, took up most of the letters page space, and the author claimed a university affiliation (although there was no position mentioned, so I would guess the guy wasn’t a professor).
It wouldn’t surprise me if this was a widely held position here. The British press has been absolutely consistent in not mentioning the connection between islamic terrorism and Chechnya, and refers to the chechen “rebels” with the same sort of sympathy usually granted to Palistinians. Neither Israel nor Russia gets much sympathy, although this letter was the most blatant expression of that I’ve seen…
From the BBC comments page, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3624494.stm The majority of the comments there are either expressions of sadness at events or anger at the terrorists. One is by a Muslim man denouncing the terrorists. A few others stand out, though…
“This was an atrocity and I strongly agree that they shouldn’t use children. But, in all the news I have heard and seen over the last 24 hours, why does no one talk about all the thousands of Chechens who have suffered, died and lost family, children and friends? Why does no one mention their struggle to survive?
Moya, Sheerness, UK”
“My prayers are with all those who have suffered as a result of this devastating deed. The Chechen quest for independence and the current violence has its roots in history, and like the Basques, they will do what they can achieve their aims. There are always two sides to any story. But what a bloody, violent story we as a human race are writing.
Christine Price, Stevensville, Maryland, USA”
…and I guarantee you we will see more of this in the days to come. Rather than terrorism against Russia raising understanding of Israel, I think we are seeing kneejerk condemnation of Israel spread to cover Russia, too. Sigh.
I can’t stand the terror.
Sari? are you dead? I miss you. Come back please.