Marc David Miller |
Oct 25th, 2002 09:28 PM |
Mary Anne, we live in a world that has changed greatly in the last 14 months. I never thought I would see fighter planes circling Manhattan, ready to shoot down stray civilian aircraft; last week people were stooped behind their cars in the DC area for fear of being the victim of a sniper. There is no absolutely safe place in the world, but as far as safety as an American in Moscow, I don't think there is any more risk there than other world cities. Western Europe had many terrorist incidents in the 1970s and 1980s, but people still visited its major cities, mostly without incident. Without taking foolish chances we shouldn't let the fear mongers take over our lives.<BR><BR>I don't feel that being an American in Russia makes one any more at risk than being a native. The theater where the hostage incident took place is visited by relatively few Westerners (as opposed to the Bolshoi; I saw the musical in July of this year), and most terrorist incidents in Russia previous to this were not aimed at places frequented by Westerners. <BR><BR>This summer one American diplomat told me that the consulates throughout Russia were covered with flowers and other tokens of respect after September 11; truly the United States and Russia share more today than ever before.<BR><BR>Incidentally between 6-7 AM on Saturday morning the terrorists allegedly started to execute hostages; shortly after the Russian militia stormed in, and fortunately freed most of the hostages. Any bloodshed is tragic, but this nightmare is now over.
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