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28 January 2011 By Markaz Kavkaz The Western press continues to comment on recent
events in Moscow in connection with the bombing at the
airport Domodedovo. "A few are even voicing the previously unthinkable
suggestion that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin should
resign, since he is the leader most closely associated
with setting policy during the decade-long cycle of
terrorism and brutal security countermeasures in the
seething north Caucasus", says the newspaper's
correspondent Fred Weir. "We should urgently change our agenda, and insist
that Putin and [Interior Minister Rashid] Nurgaliev
come before the Duma [parliament] to explain
themselves. The authorities have failed in the
struggle against terrorism, they can not guarantee
national security, so why shouldn't we be discussing
the resignation of Putin's government?", says Vladimir
Ulas, a Duma deputy with the Communist Party. "Experts say Russian authorities failed to heed the
alarms set off by terror attacks in Russia's heartland
over the past couple of years", the newspaper notes.
Many critics say that Putin is the man who should
be held to account for Russia's perennial
vulnerability to sabotage attacks. "Putin came to power under the slogan of struggling
against terrorism", says Boris Nemtsov, a former
deputy prime minister who is now co-leader of the
Solidarnost (Solidarity) anti-Kremlin opposition
coalition. "Over the 11 years that he's been in power
one can say that the struggle against terrorism has
failed. Terrorist acts - including nearly daily
violence in the north Caucasus - have grown in number
by six times, to 780 last year," he says. Igor Korotchenko, a former high-ranking security
officer, told, referring to the North Caucasus: "Right now, instead of systematic measures, we send
the money to prop up the local elites. It's not
working. We see mass unemployment and poverty against
the backdrop of palaces for local elite. This is a
reliable recruiting tool for the terrorists". An explosion at Moscow airport Domodedovo may be a
double-edged sword, says in its next issues the
Italian Corriere della Sera. It is to be recalled in this connection that during
the highest sympathy for the "Chechen separatists"
from Europe, Russia has twice invaded Chechnya,
killing more than 255,000 civilians, including 42
thousand children under 11 years old, and expelling
some 400,000 Chechens from their homeland. "Nests of these thugs, whatever they are called,
must be eliminated", threatens Medvedev. The Time in turn noted that this time, after
another bomb attack, the leadership of Russian
security services are silent and hide from prying
eyes. The failure of the police and authorities to
explain themselves shows not just a lack of
accountability but an outright disdain for the Russian
public, says Andrei Soldatov, an expert on the Russian
security services. "Our system is built in such a way that the
security chiefs are above reproach and do not need to
answer to anyone", Soldatov said in an interview with
Russian journalists. As an example, Soldatov points to the fact that
when Medvedev finally met with the FSB on Tuesday, in
an unprecedented move, he went to them to give his
assessment of the attack. The FSB did not go to him.
The newspaper Le Nouvel Observateur draws attention
to the fact that the opposition press in Russia with
one voice accuses authorities of failing to provide
security in the country. A part of the public opinion
calls for the resignation of the head of security
services. The main target was the police which are
constantly accused of corruption. Organizations that are fighting with Russia in the
North Caucasus are definitely Islamist, but no need to
assume that the problem of terrorism in Russia is
similar to the problem of al-Qaeda, writes in turn the
British The Times in its editorial. The recent explosion at Moscow airport Domodedovo
shaken "the pact signed by Putin with the people",
wrote the German weekly Stern Katja Gloger. The power
can no longer guarantee stability and security to the
people. "The presentation should demonstrate determination,
but rather exposed the helplessness against the
backdrop of terrible images taken after the attack at
Domodedovo" the author writes. "Again bloodbath and dead bodies in the heart of
Russia - and again, possibly, the Caucasian trace. The
causes are known - the article says. - It is necessary
to improve the quality of life of people in the
Caucasus, president Medvedev is not tired of
repeating. And so, as part of the modernization of the
region, billions will be spent ... to creation of ski
resorts in the inaccessible mountains of the
Caucasus", the journalist is amazed. The bombing at Domodedovo is a shock for Russia
also from the standpoint that undermines the "social
contract" signed by the power with the people. As for stability, then the last two years vividly
demonstrated how disastrous the economic stability of
the country is, which power is based only on energy
exports. And what about security? Today more than ever
people are realizing: security exists only for those
who hides behind bodyguards traveled in armored
limousines and who have "reserve airfields" in London,
the journalist points out. |