| Bloody Moscow |
9 February 2004
|
Chechen Suicide Bomber Kills Muscovite Commuters
Eight-thirty Friday morning, headed toward the Paveletskaya station on the Moscow Metro (on the dark green line on the maps), many people were expecting a routine day. Change to the Circle Line to head to Park Kulturny or Kurskaya the other direction, or maybe stay on for the city center at Ploshchad Revolutsii. Not too cold today, running a little late, maybe do something fun at the week-end. A bright flash, a deafening sound, and 40 passengers are dead, another 100 wounded.
It wasn't really all that much different from that Tuesday morning in lower Manhattan or northern Virginia, that September 11. The time to institutionalize the fight against the Islamic radicals has passed (and the Chechne separatists are little else), and the world still has not done what needs doing. There is plenty of blame to be apportioned, and there have been distractions that require delicate diplomacy in resolving.
In 1949, there was a significant threat to the security of western Europe to which the concerned nations responded with the most effective military alliance that never needed to fight its war -- NATO. There were ups and downs in the alliance, and now, it is largely an organization in search of a mission. Some of the countries it was created to fight no longer exist, others are trying to join. It was a success. NATO took the resources at hand, integrated them, and served as a breakwater against which the tide of communist totalitarianism broke.
Where is the NATO for this war? Where are the joint exercises? Where are the troops from all over the world? True, some of this fight must be done in secret, and the world will never know of those efforts and those victories. Yet some of it will be, must be, fought live on television. From the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, to Paveletskaya station, more has to be done. Presidents Putin and Bush both face the voters soon. Both would enhance their prospects (although Mr. Putin has rigged his election well enough already) if a grand alliance were formed on their watches.
This war cannot be won with coalitions of the willing, amorphous, undefined and anonymous. Governments must take sides, and must keep their people free as well as secure. To do that, they need to act in unison. Whether the secularists like it or not, the front lines are at home. Times Square, Oxford Circus, Les Halles, Potsdamer Platz and Paveletskaya are all on the same line now; it would be best if the responsible governments are all in line as well.
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