Russia’s reaction to their own “9\/11 tragedy” is going to be interesting to watch. More specifically, I’m curious to see the U.S. reaction to their response. Putin is already making changes to his government to more solidly establish his party in control. He is very likely to follow that with restrictions on personal freedoms, human rights violations, and I’ll be very surprised if there isn’t a military response as well.<\/p>\n
This approach to responding to terrorism isn’t substantively different from the approach this country took two years ago. The difference is that all the pretense and rhetoric will be removed. Russia’s history and political\/social structure is such that the goals can be accomplished in a much more in-your-face sort of way.<\/p>\n
I have a suspicion that there will be popular U.S. backlash or even outrage against Russia for the actions it is likely to take. It will ring of Stalinism and fear of a resurgent Russian threat will likely make us nervous. <\/p>\n
And then maybe we’ll have a bit more empathy for how most of the rest of the world feels about us. Or maybe not…<\/p>\n