In the last five days, the people of Beslan, Russia have been burying their dead. So many died in last week’s massacre at Middle School Number One that the local cemetery wasn’t big enough to hold them.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is blaming the attacks on foreign terrorists, people far removed from the Chechen war for which he now accepts responsibility. And while his government posts bounties on two Chechen leaders, his generals are vowing to strike foreign terrorists around the globe.
But eyewitnesses say the hostage-takers weren’t foreigners, but local people. And while the question of who was behind the killings remains cloudy, it’s becoming clear that the Chechen conflict may no longer be contained, and that Russia may now be in its own terrorist war of permanent and frightening proportions.
Guests:
Fiona Hill of the Brookings Institution
Scott Peterson of the Christian Science Monitor
Anne Applenaum, Washington Post columnist
Masha Lipman of the Carnegie Moscow Center.