Braving Beslan

It has been five years since the terrorist incident at Beslan school in Russia. There is an excellant piece on the BBC following the children who survived the incident in which 334 hostages were killed, 186 of which were children, hundreds more were wounded. Beslan is in the North Oseetia-Alania region, relevant now to the brief war with Georgia earlier.

What I find most remarkable is how each child had become so much older so quickly. Watching death ended their childhood. 12 year olds were discussing what death, terrorism, the government and mortality mean to them now in a way that would be difficult to many adults unaccostumed to violence. Some of them could even understand why the terrorists had done what they had done, although not excuse it. Knowing that the Russian army had killed many Chechen children suggested that the anger they felt must be reciprocated by the terrorists who had committed the act.

Five years on and only one man has been convicted, and despite numerous botched intelligence warnings and a widely critized use of military force and crisis handling, no government official has faced any consequences. However, the children have largely absorbed all of this better than the adults. They remain as ambitious about life as ever. One small boy said point blank that he would fix this as President, it was not a matter of if but when.

The Quiet American

I was delighted last night to see the release of the journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling. This was as close to a win-win situation that we could have hoped for. At least, their release was secured with no downside, other than to have graced North Korea with a visit by a high level official. It is not at all clear who initiated this negotiation (from what I am hearing it was the North Korean's idea), however it is clear that the preparation for this meeting has been going on for months.

Importantly though, they have been going on quietly.

This whole incident surprised the media, who it seems are still trying to get to terms with the sudden good news. The usual suspects are trying to tarnish the reputation of anything that this administration is responsible for. However, this situation was handled in much the same way as the American shipping captain taken hostage by the Somali pirates. Quiet, behind the scenes diplomacy, with an appropriate amount of force when necessary. It is too difficult at this point to say who deserves the most credit, but to a large extent it doesn't matter. It was handled brilliantly. I could get used to this quiet form of foreign policy.

Much better than just bombing people.