Massacre In Ossetia: How did it come to this?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The cycle of violence that began ten years ago in Chechnya has metamophosed into the nihilism that took possibly 500 lives in this week's hostage killings in Russia.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/how_did_it_come_to_this\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Massacre In Ossetia: How did it come to this?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The cycle of violence that began ten years ago in Chechnya has metamophosed into the nihilism that took possibly 500 lives in this week's hostage killings in Russia.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/how_did_it_come_to_this\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"altmuslim\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2004-09-06T04:33:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/school_massacre.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shahed Amanullah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shahed Amanullah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/how_did_it_come_to_this\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/how_did_it_come_to_this\/\",\"name\":\"Massacre In Ossetia: How did it come to this?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2004-09-06T04:33:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2004-09-06T04:33:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/0e0efbb645cc461c721083358f82f945\"},\"description\":\"The cycle of violence that began ten years ago in Chechnya has metamophosed into the nihilism that took possibly 500 lives in this week's hostage killings in Russia.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/how_did_it_come_to_this\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/how_did_it_come_to_this\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/how_did_it_come_to_this\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Massacre In Ossetia: How did it come to this?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\",\"name\":\"altmuslim\",\"description\":\"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/0e0efbb645cc461c721083358f82f945\",\"name\":\"Shahed Amanullah\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c9ebfb8c37dbc2e9865b291bbaeff08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c9ebfb8c37dbc2e9865b291bbaeff08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Shahed Amanullah\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/author\/shahedamanullah\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Massacre In Ossetia: How did it come to this?","description":"The cycle of violence that began ten years ago in Chechnya has metamophosed into the nihilism that took possibly 500 lives in this week's hostage killings in Russia.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/how_did_it_come_to_this\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Massacre In Ossetia: How did it come to this?","og_description":"The cycle of violence that began ten years ago in Chechnya has metamophosed into the nihilism that took possibly 500 lives in this week's hostage killings in Russia.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/how_did_it_come_to_this\/","og_site_name":"altmuslim","article_published_time":"2004-09-06T04:33:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/school_massacre.jpg"}],"author":"Shahed Amanullah","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Shahed Amanullah","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/how_did_it_come_to_this\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/how_did_it_come_to_this\/","name":"Massacre In Ossetia: How did it come to this?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website"},"datePublished":"2004-09-06T04:33:00+00:00","dateModified":"2004-09-06T04:33:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/0e0efbb645cc461c721083358f82f945"},"description":"The cycle of violence that began ten years ago in Chechnya has metamophosed into the nihilism that took possibly 500 lives in this week's hostage killings in Russia.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/how_did_it_come_to_this\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/how_did_it_come_to_this\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/how_did_it_come_to_this\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Massacre In Ossetia: How did it come to this?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/","name":"altmuslim","description":"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/0e0efbb645cc461c721083358f82f945","name":"Shahed Amanullah","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c9ebfb8c37dbc2e9865b291bbaeff08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c9ebfb8c37dbc2e9865b291bbaeff08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Shahed Amanullah"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/author\/shahedamanullah\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/530"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Crying for justice<\/div>\n

<\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Veteran watchers of the conflict in Chechnya, with its scorched-earth attacks by Russia and subsequent terrorist attacks<\/a> throughout Russia, were probably not surprised at the outcome of this week\u2019s hostage killings<\/a> in Beslan, Russia, where over 300 are confirmed dead<\/a> (many of them school children) and 200 are still unaccounted for. Each time that Chechen separatists and Russian security forces make a move, they manage to up the ante<\/a> in a war that sees no hope of ending anytime soon. The end result: a spiraling conflict that leaves nobody innocent and leaves many innocent dead. As for the massacre itself, it appears to have been a well-planned attempt<\/a> to hold nearly 1,000 schoolchildren and teachers hostage (a new level of depravity even for this conflict) in exchange for a Russian withdrawal from Chechnya. This follows a pattern of attacks that date from the mid 1990\u2019s, when Chechen separatist leader Shamil Basayev seized a Russian hospital to \u201cmake Russians suffer the way Chechens had suffered\u201d (166 hostages died in that attack; Basayev escaped). And like so many times before, Russian authorities played down<\/a> the incident, then responded with overwhelming force that accelerated the death (much like the Moscow theater siege<\/a> in late 2002 which claimed over 200 lives when Russian troops used poison gas to subdue the kidnappers). Putin, whose power base is mainly a factor of his tough stand regarding Chechnya, is finding a Russian public increasingly uneasy<\/a> about his Chechnya plan, especially since he once famously declared two years ago that the Chechen war was over, only to see attacks such as bombings and plane hijackings continue unabated<\/a>. (Sound familiar?) While Putin\u2019s government is coming clean<\/a> (a little bit, anyway) about their miscalculations<\/a> in the wake of the attack \u2013 some feel that Russian troops opened fire too soon and may have contributed to the death toll \u2013 the most likely reaction will be an \u201c all out war<\/a>\u201d on the restive territory, with an even more deadly response<\/a> (if one can imagine it) from its brutalized citizenry.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"