Posted on 10/13/2004 10:54:12 AM PDT by struwwelpeter
Original title:
"I'm not a wild animal, like those who came here to kill our children. I won't avenge myself against families or peoples, but I'm going to find those who made this happen," declared one of the residents of Beslan to Gazeta. During the terror act he lost lost his entire family.
The forty-day mourning period for the victims of the tragedy will end on October 12th, afterwards these Ossetian men, in accordance with the custom of their people, have the right to shave their beards, while the women - remove their black kerchiefs. Many Ossetians say that the organizers of the terror act should be punished, and they promise that if their government will not do this, then the people will go to the extreme. The situation is very serious: in order to understand that deeds follow words in these matters, it suffices to recall the story of Vladikavkaz native Vitaliy Kaloyev: he tracked down the air-traffic controller responsible for a crash, during which Kaloyev's family was killed. He found him in Switzerland and killed him. Not all the residents of Beslan and Vladikavkaz, who our correspondent managed to interview, assert that they intend to kindle the flames of international discord. Meanwhile, an informal organization has been formed in the republic, bearing the expressive name 'Ossetian Ku-Klux-Klan', setting itself the task of punishing corrupt officials and bribe takers.
Each day a man of middle years comes to the half-wrecked building that housed Beslan school number 1. He kneels before a kind of grave in the center of the gymnasium, consisting of a stack of wreaths and toys, and says only one word: Otomshchu (I will avenge). On the 3rd of September this man lost his entire family - his wife and children. When asked, whom he would take vengence upon, the man answers that he has his whole life before him to determine just who. "I'm not a wild animal, like those who came here to kill our children. I won't avenge myself against families or peoples, but I'm going to find those who made this happen. And if the government won't punish these people, then I will," he answers.
This man is far from the only one who thinks this way. The words 'I will avenge' are written in red paint, in giant letters, on one of the remaining walls of the Beslan school, and they express the sentiment of a lot of Ossetians (nearby, someone has glued up a sign with the words in English). It is now obvious to all why Vitaly Kaloyev avenged himself on the air-traffic controller whom he considered responsible for the death of his family. People now have their own reasons to understand what drove him to this. "Perhaps it is our people's misfortune that we've given up the law of blood vengeance, even though we are surrounded by neighbors for whom blood vengeance is immutable," speculated Zalina Dzandarova, a history teacher at the North Ossetian university. "Therefore, these same Ingush peoples perceive our behavior as weakness, because they simply cannot explain otherwise why no one oppresses them, even after Beslan."
Actually, the Ingush who disappeared from Vladikavkaz on the eve of September 1st now live in the city, experiencing no problems. "Who is going to bother them, tell me please?" asks van-taxi driver Akhsar in agitation. He drives the 'Vladikavkaz-Nazran' route. "They are like rats, they run off when danger threatens them. On the 30th and 31st, before the school was seized, by the way, they cleared out of here at the speed of sound, they packed the buses like herrings." Akhsar could not forgive himself, that on those days he did not report his suspicions to the police. "Us drivers, we discussed among ourselves how they were running away, just like back in 1992, but who could know that this nightmare would occur?" he worried.
The question about whom they should take vengeance against, and if it was necessary to attack the Ingush, is now being discussed by everyone in the republic, without exception. Practically all come to the conclussion that to start pogroms would be foolish. "It's obvious that they, who planned the attack, had counted on starting a quarrel, and that the federals would have to step in and pick on us as if we were the nationalist-aggressors, that is, fight the only people in the Caucasus that is devoted to Russia," said the head physician at one of Vladikavkaz hospitals. "So our brotherly neighbors are in complete safety, for now." The Ingush, meanwhile, do not fear pogroms. "We're not going anywhere," said a resident of the village of Balta. "No one will do anything to us. We're also sorry about the children, but they shouldn't have allowed the military in, as the Chechnyans warned them not to, if the Ossetians didn't want to be touched."
Nonetheless, the Beslan events have destroyed the brittle equilibrium which had been in place since the events of 1992, when the Ossetian-Ingush conflict was at its apogee. Now many physicians are refusing to accept patients from the neighboring republic into their hospitals, and people are agitated that Ingushi are attending institutes of higher learning in Vladikavkaz. "If they really sympathize with us, they could at least respect our grief and make it so we didn't have to listen to their language right now," said Beslan resident Ehl'mira Bigulova. Many Beslan residents think that no one but the Ingush could better determine the names of the terrorists, and only in this way could they prove that they do not sympathize with the terrorists.
After the 40 days have elapsed, after the dead hostages have been mourned in Beslan homes, the unavoidable question of taking vengeance on the guilty comes up. "They have rested," thinks one of the visiting journalists, who has been in Beslan since September 1st. "They'll probably do looking for Basayev, and maybe they'll catch him. If they were stuck on a glacier for a year, they wouldn't leave until they found a tunnel out, they would turn the whole world upside down for their children. And they will punish the guilty. Just like Vitaly Kaloyev did." Government officials in Beslan have also been added to the roles of the guilty. After the Beslan events, the 'Ossetian Ku-Klux-Klan' arose in Vladikavkaz, and its members say that they intend to punish bribe-takers and corrupt officials. "If you take bribes, you'll be run around the city in feathers, and all will show you the finger. It is even very useful," one of the members of the organization described their plans to Gazeta. "Our misfortunes are the result of corruption."
Actually, the Ingush who disappeared from Vladikavkaz on the eve of September 1st now live in the city, experiencing no problems. "Who is going to bother them, tell me please?" asks van-taxi driver Akhsar in agitation. He drives the 'Vladikavkaz-Nazran' route. "They are like rats, they run off when danger threatens them. On the 30th and 31st, before the school was seized, by the way, they cleared out of here at the speed of sound, they packed the buses like herrings." Akhsar could not forgive himself, that on those days he did not report his suspicions to the police. "Us drivers, we discussed among ourselves how they were running away, just like back in 1992, but who could know that this nightmare would occur?" he worried.
>>>
There's gonna be hell to pay. Vengeance is the Lord's. And, some people pose such a threat that they ALL JUST NEED KILLING - plant daisies and build a memorial - or just forget about them save for history books.
After the Beslan events, the 'Ossetian Ku-Klux-Klan' arose in Vladikavkaz, and its members say that they intend to punish bribe-takers and corrupt officials. "If you take bribes, you'll be run around the city in feathers, and all will show you the finger. It is even very useful," one of the members of the organization described their plans to Gazeta. "Our misfortunes are the result of corruption."
>>>
I abhor the KKK thing, but the rest works for me...
I agree. I know President Bush says we can count on our Muslim Americans to help against terroism in the US, but I think he is being wishful thinking. They will NOT help because the Koran says they can not betray another Muslim. Even if they disagree. Instead they are hiding them and helping them prepare for terrorism here, I'm sure of it! Even as we speak! I just hope American FBI and CIA are more effective then Russian KGB!
>>>
You have good reason for alarm...
And in the meantime we in the West have journoidiots who blame Putin for the catastrophe. And they like to call the Ossetians the Klu Klux Klan -- a nice way of trying to paint hte fight against the evil of slam as racist when it's NOT. God speed these Ossetians -- can we send them our guns?
Just waiting to hear about all the mass graves of poor muslims like they did in Kosovo.
Revenge is a dish best served cold...
All guilty!
MEGA DITTOS!"REVENGE"is a dish BEST SERVED HOT!!!!!!!!!!
"... This changed with the advent of Protestantism, which, as its name suggests, arose as a protest against Catholic beliefs and practices. A new explosion of sects occurred, and again they tended to be named after their founder, place of origin, or their distinctive belief, practice, or trait. (Lutherans are named after their founder, Anglicans are named after their country of origin, and Episcopalians and Presbyterians are named after their forms of government.) Before the Protestant Reformation, when sects split off from the Church it was normally over only one or two points, and the sects remained largely faithful to historic Christian belief and practice. However, the leaders of the Protestant sects largely took an approach that discarded everything and reformulated the Christian faith from scratch using Scripture alone. The result was that the new sects diverged more widely from historic Christian belief and practices than almost any that had appeared since the first two centuries (Gnosticism would be the exception).... To justify breaking away from what was, to almost everyone, the Christian Church, and to justify the social and political convulsions that followed, Protestant preachers had to paint the Catholic Church as something evil, repressive, and abominable — something that wasn’t a Christian Church at all. Only by believing this could one believe that one was not, in fact, leaving Christ’s Church. Thus anti-Catholicism experienced a rebirth. ...
[The History of Anti-Catholicism, By Jimmy Akin - Catholic Answers ]
Glad you posted that pic -- Unca Sam would say that of any schmoo who tried to compare reaction to Catholics to present-day reaction to slammics
It would probably be the same as this man, which is the same as I myself would be: to live only to locate and destroy every living creature associated with this cowardly, unspeakable deed - and when it is certain that the foul stain of all their existence has been wiped clean from this earth, to die.
I cannot begin to express how much I hurt for these poor people.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.