From now on you will know fear..
R. Kipling
Musing after the Moscow bombings.
Moscow is in mourning. The names of those who died in the metro bombings are published and their families are promised compensations. People donate blood, bring flowers, prepare for funerals. Russian government speaks tough, promises to 'scrape the terrorists from the bottom of the sewers' (for some strange reason Putin cannot rid of sewage in his references; he started his presidency by promising to 'wet the terrorists in the toilets' and now he still scrapes the sewers- MS). There are talks about special, accelerated way of prosecution, talks of special laws and issuing a Bio Id cards for all Russian citizens. Other countries, including the US express condolences and solidarity. We are all Russians now, said one OEN author in his article. Chechen separatists acknowledged their responsibility; the war on terror is afoot.
I sympathize. I am horrified. But I also remember. In the early 1970s I was a teenager and we lived in the city of Kiev, Ukraine. I remember that I was rather funny, optimistic boy who loved to play chess and walk around the city alone. I remember that I was not afraid and laughed a lot. That's when I saw Baby Yar, the place where Jews were massacred in the German- occupied city in 1941. It was a barren ravine at that time with a lonely stone in the middle.
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