In a televised address to the nation, President Putin apologized for the fact that his security services “could not save all” the hostages. Nevertheless, for the second day the Kremlin has been accepting congratulations. No matter who it is who calls up the Kremlin leadership, everyone begins with the words: “Congratulations on a successful operation!”

It is well and good that none of these “congratulators” gets it into their head to call up and say these same words to the almost hundred relatives of hostages killed during the operation, or those who are running around trying to find their brothers in misery in area hospitals after they were poisoned by the “rescue” gas.

Tivadar Soros, coincidentally the father of one of the most successful international criminals of the last century, survived the Nazi occupation and once made this very fitting statement: “It’s amazing how easily people tolerate someone else’s suffering.” And so, there is absolutely nothing new in the fact that after the assault our neighbors have been sighing with relief: “A hundred dead is still better than a thousand.” It is understandable, after all, since our neighbors were so worried during those days, sitting in front of the TV. But now: “Thank God it’s over!”

And as far the representatives of the security services, who state “10% hostage mortality is the international norm,” this is not strange at all: the security services still want to have a job, and not end up in court.

But for those curious Kremlin and Kremlin-connected politicians who now argue in private meetings as to whether “a few” or “a lot” of hostages were killed during the assault, we propose a very simple means of figuring it all out.

Remember how a few members of parliament (the number seemed to be no more than two) proposed taking the places of hostages? To be fair, however, replacing every single innocent victim should not be these people, but someone who more than anyone else in the country benefits from the war in Chechnya. Can you guess the name of this man? That’s right: Vladimir Putin. After all, three years ago a war in Chechnya made him president, raising the meager popularity rating of this security functionary, who had been assigned as regent, to the dizzying heights of a leader.

So, for the purity of this experiment, on the Friday before the assault the Kremlin community should have just sent Vladimir Putin into the captured theater hall with the words: “Volodya, you love to ride the sleigh, so enjoy hauling it for once.” No matter how many hostages were killed in theatrical center, all of them — literally — paid with their lives for policies pursued by Putin in Chechnya.

And so, if he, our office hero Putin, took the place of all of these innocent people and had the courage to meet his “enemy” face to face, then today’s academic debates in high places about the “allowable proportion of victims” would at least take on some meaning. The discussion would sound something like this:
“Listen here, what did your security commandos do? Our president got his head blown off!”
“Well, you know, that’s well within international norms. After all, the head’s only 10% of the president’s body.”

Two days before the assault, a Russian TV crew interviewed a member of the Israeli Knesset, and inadvertently blurted: “Tell us, what would the Israeli government do if you faced such a situation?” The Jew’s eyes climbed up onto his forehead in astonishment: “What do you mean? We couldn’t ever have such a situation! For 50 armed commando to make it unhindered into a theater in the center of the capitol – that’s impossible! I can’t understand how your security services missed them!”

He “can’t understand” what we all understand. In the same way that three years have passed since the apartment bombings http://terror99.ru/ — that is, since the start of the war on terror — rather than guaranteeing the safety of citizens against terrorist attacks, cops in the capital are out in the streets, regularly demanding bribes from my journalism colleagues who “look like they are from the Caucasus.” My friend, a Jew and an employee of a foreign TV station, one night she was coming home from work and mistaken for an Azerbaijani during an “anti-Caucasian raid” being conducted by a drunken cop who demanded that she pay him off “with love” so that he would let her go.

Indeed, as Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Vasilyev quite frankly admitted to us the other day on television: “The law enforcement forces are not made out of rubber.” I understand very well, that these forces have very few effective counter-terrorism activities remaining at their disposal.

As for the president, after the terrorist attacks three years ago, and the on-going brutal military operations in Chechnya, there could be only one reason that he was not ready for new terrorist attacks in his own capital city: he was one hundred percent certain that there was no one left to commit such acts of terror.

After representatives of the security services on the eve of the assault called for denying journalists any information about events at the theater complex, and to “just let the professionals do their job” — it was, in a word, a completely bust. The security forces already did their job by allowing an armed group of militants into the theater complex. Later, they finished their work by killing “a minimum of hostages.” Or, according to our president, as he stated in his televised address, “by doing the impossible — saving the lives of hundreds and hundreds of people.”

In this whole story, however, there are some plusses. No, not for the dead, of course, but for others. Just like back in 1999, when the Putin the politician needed to thank those who blew up apartment buildings for helping him become president, once again the cards are being dealt in his favor. Now he has ever-stronger built up friendships in the U.S.-led international anti-terrorism club, and now the U.S. will certainly stop complaining about human rights violations in Chechnya for a long time.

Okay, it would seem to be perfect timing: he gets rid of those nagging international human rights advocates, he quickly “cleanses” Chechnya — and that is that. “No” to war, and “yes” to peace. But I am prepared to argue with Putin for at least the whole shekel: there is no peace in Chechnya, and he cannot do this even after everything that has happened, because it looks like Chechnya has been deliberately turned into a kind of giant government factory that produces no refuse. Sort of like the GULAG in Stalin’s day. At the same time, there is now no need to carry out any reforms in the army. This factory, of course, works poorly, but for now it is enough for life. Unless, of course, you count that ten per cent.

Grani.ru

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