Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for today’s blasts but a lot of voices point to the Chechen “black widows”. The only one who has ever survived explained in 2004 how, after years struggling to survive the devastation brought by a decade of war by stealing and borrowing money, there was just one way she could pay her debts.

This is an article with some interesting information on the “zombiefication” and brainwashing these women face. The author sets the majority of them far from any religious fundamentalism and places them “somewhere between election and coercion”.

Chechenia’s deadly “black widows” by Viv Groskop

Photocomposition by Carme Riera, featuring original footage from the Nord-Ost siege and a painting by John Keane

EL PODER INDISSIMULAT DE PUTIN (catalan version)

El primer ministre rus, Vladimir Putin, continua governant Rússia i decidint en tots i cadascun dels aspectes del país. L’actual president, Dimitri Medvedev, no és més que el comodí que Putin va jugar fa dos anys al final de la seva partida com a president rus per assegurar-se la possibilitat de continuar dirigint des d’alguna sala amagada del Kremlin fins que pugui ser reelegit a les eleccions presidencials de l’any 2012. Els intents d’amagar els fils que lliguen Medvedev a les mans de Putin són insultantment mal disfressats. L’actual president s’omple la boca de promeses de modernitzar el país sobre una base democràtica, cedeix entrevistes a mitjans contraris al Kremlin i s’atreveix a rebre representants d’oenagés per assegurar-los facilitats en la seva feina. Mentrestant, Putin observa el seu ninot i assenteix a les seves paraules sabent que no són més que això: mots buits de capintenció. A la comunitat internacional li va molt bé fer veure que creu en aquest pretès canvi d’orientació del gegant rus perquè així elimina tot el sentiment de culpa que li genera la realitat: Rússia és un Estat autoritari i el seu poder és immens, neix i s’alimenta dels gasoductes i oleoductes que fa arribar com tentacles als països que necessiten l’energia que els proporcionen aquests vasos sanguinis per subsistir. Aquesta xarxa de poder manté en silenci al món sencer davant els crims que l’Estat comet contra els pocs que aixequen la veu i la situació no canviarà fins que es trobi la manera de deixar de dependre de l’energia russa.

But when it gets really interesting, I think is when we use that same system of symbols to communicate all the abstract and intangible things that we’re experiencing. What is frustration? Or what is anger? Or love? When I say “love,” the sound comes out of my mouth and it hits the other person’s ear, travels through this byzantine conduit in their brain through their memories of love or lack of love and they register what I’m saying and they understand. But how do I know they understand? Because words are inert. They’re just symbols. They’re dead, you know? And so much of our experience is intangible. So much of what we perceive cannot be expressed. It’s unspeakable. And yet, you know, when we communicate with one another and we feel that we have connected and we think that we’re understood, I think we have a feeling of almost spiritual communion. And that feeling might be transient, but I think it’s what we live for.”

From the film Waking Life (Richard Linklater, 2001)

Why so few? Why is world history and evolution not stories of progress but rather this endless and futile addition of zeroes. No greater values have developed. Hell, the Greeks 3,000 years ago were just as advanced as we are. So what are these barriers that keep people from reaching anywhere near their real potential? The answer to that can be found in another question, and that’s this: Which is the most universal human characteristic - fear or laziness?”

From the film Waking Life (Richard Linklater, 2001)

What’s the situation in Chechnya now?
It’s a peaceful country but just in terms of war because there isn’t one but I don’t think it’s really stable. The republics like Ingushetia or North Ossetia have a lot of problems with people being tortured or kidnapped. Chechnya as well but there it’s like a huge wave of this disaster.

The current president, Ramzan Kadyrov, appears to have a good image on some citizens.
He is the result of a friendship between Chechnya and the Kremlin, he does anything he wants with the country if he makes sure the citizens don’t bother the Kremlin. It’s true that he is constructing new buildings but there’s a lot of corruption. Some foundations give money for the reconstruction but a lot of people take advantage of it and don’t spend it on the good purpose. There are cases in which flats are given to people who paid some money to the public agency that is distributing them.

How do people react to this situation?
There are a lot of people who feels comfortable with this system because they just have to pay to get anything they want, they aren’t interested in living in a democratic country.

What about people who don’t have enough money?

We’re talking about people who get fifteen Euros a month. These people have so many problems that they aren’t really interested in wasting time asking for freedom.

A chechen woman stands outside her home in Chechnya / Eddy van Wessel

I suppose fear plays a big role in their decision as it’s known that critical voices tend to disappear.

If you don’t act in line with the government you can’t live there and if you have some relationship with a liberal view person you’ll have a lot of problems. You can’t go to the police because nobody will help you, it’s a lawless country.

How did people in Russia react to the murder of the lawyer and the journalism student?

There were some protests in Moscow and Chechnya but it’s not like here. There won’t be thousands of people protesting in the street. They think it’s not worth it.

What’s the situation of the media there?

There are a lot of journalists who leave their country because they can’t understand the way things are going on. Furthermore, they might get killed. There’re a lot of TV programs that used to criticize the government that have been closed and the rest can only be seen at 2 o’clock in the night.

We don’t get a lot of information coming from there. It seems like our media aren’t really interested in this issue.

I think that they aren’t interested in spreading out this kind of information about Russia because there’re so many economic and political interests. Chechnya was interesting some years ago with its’ two wars but what about now? You know, there’s “just” corruption, people disappearing and suffering… and that’s not interesting anymore.

Is it difficult for a foreign journalist to get to Chechnya?

You have to explain exactly why you want to go there, you need various permissions from the Russian government. There’re cases of journalists who had to pay around 6.000 Euros because they didn’t have the correct papers.

Do they feel presured when they’re in?

They’re controlled for sure but Russian journalists are under double pressure because they could be killed, while they can’t do so to the foreign ones if they have all the permits. They know that newspapers will have its’ own filters.

But, assuming that those filters won’t let critic visions about the Kremlin make it through, what about freelancers?
They probably won’t be allowed in and, if they’re, they’ll find it really difficult to work on proper conditions. Once the government invited international journalists to visit the country and what it did was to give away a great vision of the “reconstruction” of Chechnya and the way it was growing.

For years he hung his pictures without success, just when in a moment of lucidness he hung himself, the art market noticed him.

The photographer Simon Hoegsberg has been able to capture these fleeding moments in the course of 20 days at the railroad bridge on Warschauer Strasse in Berlin in the summer 2007. He’s merged 178 unknown people in a photograph that’s 100 meters long. Most of them didn’t notice that they were being photographed.

Visit his website to take a long look at this amazing project, presented in an original slideshow.

A man prays at the demonstration against the situation in Gaza. Barcelona, 10/1/09. (Carme Riera)

I encourage you to give it a chance. If you’re not sure about it, take a look at this explanation from Steve Yelvington’s blog, specially directed to journalists.

By the way, you can follow my updates on twitter here.

I decided to read the questions and answers since I was really interested in the explanations the Consulate would give to what’s happening in Gaza. I’ve selected some of the Q&As, you can find the rest here.

theresaway: International law criminalizes targeting civilians. Are Israeli leaders scared they will be charged with war crimes for killing so many civilians?

israelconsulate: Hamas is the real violator of international law according to Human Rights Watch: http://tinyurl.com/9osg3g

Now I’ll ask you to follow the link the Israel Consulate gave. The title says “Hamas: end military groups attacks against civilians”. Note the date: March 23, 2007. If you visit Human Rights Watch’s website you’ll find this article highlighted: “Israel/Hamas: Civilians must not be targeted”. Check the date now: December 30th, 2008. The Consulate was talking about “unreliable” information on Twitter and this is what the “official voice” had to say.

eastmad: If everyone in Gaza holds a bit of a Qassam, will you try to kill them all?
israelconsulate: As you can see on CNN a Hamas rocket brigade is pretty easy to spot. Unfortunately, they use civilians as human shields.

I suppose that by “human shields” they also mean the fact that Gaza is one of the most densely populated tracts of land in the world, with a separation of few centimeters between buildings. Those accidentally near to their targets might be included on the Consulate’s idea of “human shields”.

rafaelprince: Isn’t such a harsh, intense and merciless strike on Gaza a form of collective punishment? (4Geneva Conv, Art. 33)

israelconsulate: Israel targets Hamas installations, which are, unfortunately, located within civilian areas. Our war is with Hamas, not with Gaza civilians.

“Unfortunately”, I guess the dead civilians are “collateral damage”.

anotherpundit: What is your definition of “terrorism”?

israelconsulate: We have the same definition as the rest of the international community: targeting civilians.

didgeman: Will Israel finally do what needs to be done to end the terrorism once and for all or bow to world pressure?

israelconsulate: Our main goal is to protect citizens from missiles. We hope the international community will pressure Hamas, not Israel.

I think it’s quite obvious by now that the “we are not targeting civilians” justification doesn’t stand anymore. Quite a great example of what I’m defending comes from the last piece of news: a senior member of Hamas was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his home today with members of his family.

“Eye for an eye makes the world go blind.” (Mahatma Gandhi) I can’t think of a better quotation to end this post.