Fw: Boris Kagarlitsky, Moscow Times
william becker
fbbecker at earthlink.net
Sat Sep 29 05:43:33 PDT 2001
Boris' logic makes perfect sense in the environment from which he comes.
Not having lived in a "free" Jeffersonian society but only under despotic
rulers, his propensity for conspiracy and intrigue are a natural result of
his life experience. He is a soviet sociologist. He is part of a crop of
human beings that have perceptions from the soil from which they were
nourished.
Of course, we all are crops of sorts with various perceptions......yet I put
my money on those of us who were and are nourished by our Constitution, rule
of law, and Bill of Rights.
Are we innocent ? No. Are we guilty? Yes. We are guilty of naivety,
materialism focus, and of falling asleep.
Are we a good and generous nation? Yes.
Does any nation or people deserve what happened to the citizens on the
airplanes and in the buildings that were destroyed? No.
There is the way we would like it to be and the way it is. Let's deal with
it as it is, and work towards making it the way we want it to be.
Bill Becker
----- Original Message -----
From: "Artur F. Silva" <artsilva at mail.eunet.pt>
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent: Friday, September 28, 2001 5:47 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Boris Kagarlitsky, Moscow Times
> [This position, from a Russian sociologist, worths reading. I don't know
> if it makes any sense or not; you will know better, I think - Artur]
>
>
> >"Bin Laden? Better Be Sure"
> > by
> >Boris Kagarlitsky, Moscow Times
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > The terrorist attack on New York has
> > already been compared to
> > Pearl Harbor and the loss of the Kursk
> > submarine. Mikhail
> > Gorbachev likened it to Chernobyl, which
> > is probably a very
> > accurate analogy in terms of the shock
> > and ignominy experienced
> > by the U.S. administration. In both
> > cases, we saw incompetence
> > and helplessness initially, followed by
> > desperate attempts at
> > official face-saving.
> >
> > There is, however, one analogy that does
> > not seem to have
> > occurred to anyone: the burning of the
> > Reichstag. The anti-Arab
> > and anti-Moslem hysteria that has
> > followed around the globe in
> > the wake of the catastrophe simply calls
> > out for comparison with
> > the events of the 1930s. The U.S.
> > authorities immediately started
> > the search for the guilty among Arabs,
> > Osama bin Laden cropped
> > up almost immediately as prime suspect
> > and alternative versions
> > have barely been entertained. In the
> > minutes immediately following
> > the explosions, it seems there was no
> > doubt whatsoever regarding
> > the "Arab" source of the attacks.
> > However, the more evidence
> > and arguments adduced in support of the
> > "Arab version," the
> > more shaky it seems to become. In a
> > television appearance
> > immediately after the explosions, the
> > well-known pundit
> > Vyacheslav Nikonov noted that the guilty
> > would undoubtedly be
> > found, and if not, they would be
> > "nominated," adding cynically: "It
> > would be in Russia's interest if the
> > Taliban and bin Laden were
> > nominated." To give him his due,
> > Alexander Gordon -- who
> > spoke on two TV programs -- pointed out
> > that it could be
> > far-right militia groups (such as those
> > behind the Oklahoma City
> > bombing) and not Islamic terrorists at
> > all. Analysts have
> > emphasized how easy it would be to carry
> > out each individual
> > element of the terrorist operation:
> > smuggling knives aboard a
> > plane, breaking into the cockpit, etc.
> >
> > However to coordinate all these actions
> > in different parts of the
> > country without making a single serious
> > blunder is devilishly hard.
> > The crime committed on Sept. 11 must
have
> > required enormous
> > efforts in management, control and
> > logistics. The strength of
> > Islamic terrorism is in the simplicity
of
> > organization and its
> > unpredictability. All groups operate
> > autonomously. Even the destruction of
> > command centers doesn't
> > have a major impact, insofar as every
one
> > of Allah's warriors is
> > capable of acting on his own. The
attacks
> > on New York and
> > Washington were very carefully
> > coordinated, the minutest details
> > were thoroughly thought through, and at
> > no stage were there
> > serious lapses. It would appear that the
> > operation was organized
> > and carried out by people who had free
> > passage around the
> > country and were considered to be above
> > suspicion. If they are
> > professionals, they did not acquire
their
> > experience in
> > underground terrorist groups. It cannot
> > be excluded that the
> > attacks were organized by forces within
> > the United States, and
> > this would have to be people with
> > considerable military
> > experience. Why is it that no seems even
> > to consider a conspiracy
> > by far-right groups as a possibility?
The
> > masterminds could easily
> > have covertly used people of Arab
> > nationality to carry out the
> > attacks. Whoever it is behind the
> > Washington and New York
> > attacks, in Russia and Israel they have
> > already played a role
> > comparable to the burning of the
> > Reichstag. Far-right politicians --
> > "upholders of the values of western
> > civilisation" -- have already
> > spoken out calling for revenge. Over and
> > over, one and the same
> > thing is repeated: "Moslems are subhuman
> > barbarians and you
> > cannot conduct negotiations with them.
> > They are not like us, and
> > thus our criteria of democracy and human
> > rights do not apply to
> > them." "No need to fear unpopular
> > measures," some say. "No
> > need to limit ourselves to democratic
> > conventions," others chime
> > in. At a minimum they are after: arrests
> > without warrants, mass
> > deportations and wide-scale searches.
> > Already reports are
> > coming from the United States of racist
> > attacks against Islamic
> > communities. It is clear that mass
> > repressions will lead to mass
> > resistance. That is how you make
enemies.
> > Do those who are
> > trying to scare us with the Moslem
threat
> > really not understand
> > that? They understand it full well. They
> > simply believe that a final
> > solution is possible -- if not globally,
> > then at least on a more
> > limited territory. As a maximum, they
are
> > baying for ethnic
> > cleansing and genocide.
> >
> >
> >
> > 26/09/2001 . 23:56
> >
> >Boris Kagarlitsky is a Moscow-based sociologist.
>
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