Begin with eerie spy-movie music, red lighting and a silhouette
creeping along a darkened hallway. Gunshot. No, make that two.
Last week, in what felt like Cold War deja vu, newspapers
carried stories of dark Russian deeds.
Investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya was murdered in
broad daylight in October. Then, just last week, Alexander
Litvinenko, a former Russian spy, was poisoned while in London.
Both were avid critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s
policies, according to The New York Times.
So the tally for murdered Russian officials stands at two in two
months: a reporter and a spy.
In the middle of our own issues with the war on terrorism, the
mass killings in Africa and the unveiling of the PlayStation 3, did
we miss the slow relapse of Russia into a form of quasi-democratic,
half-communist and all-shady government?
Many of us have taken history or political science classes with
references to communist Russia dabbed onto textbooks or lecture
notes.
Apparently, long ago, something by the name of the Soviet Union
captured most of Eastern Europe, introduced it to Marxist ideals,
and then an iron curtain opened which made the Poles a great deal
happier.
“Because we have been taught so much about the Cold War,
anything negative I hear about Russia is not surprising. It’s
just Russia,” said Michael Luong, a fourth-year political
science student.
However much of a hot topic Russia may have been in the 1950s,
the Middle East is a more fashionable concern these days, leaving
Russia to fade in and out of memories.
But with two direct assassinations in the past two months, Putin
is now getting some attention. Even more than he did the time
Russian lawyers almost sued Warner Brothers because Dobby from
“Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” looked too
much like him.
A shocking and very public incident, Politkovskaya’s
murder secured no reaction from the Kremlin, the seat of the
Russian government, for days.
Finally, when Putin deigned to speak, he was quoted in the
Washington Post having said, “The level of
(Politkovskaya’s) influence on political life in Russia was
utterly insignificant.”
The case remains unresolved and largely uninvestigated to this
day.
Almost all of UCLA had a conniption when a student was stunned
with a Taser in Powell Library two weeks ago.
Now imagine a student being shot. We are just not used to
overbearing, lethal acts of authority hitting anywhere close to
home.
Even the aggression behind an electric hint (OK, maybe five in
six minutes) can jar us if that violence is not duly addressed.
We exist behind brick walls that protect us from a society that
is relatively sheltered in the first place.
The Taser incident may have jostled us awake for a moment to
question the safety of our campus, but hopefully, this will be
training for ensuring the safety of the global community that we
will step into in a few years.
Even though the government denies being a part of these
killings, a direct accusation from Litvinenko makes it difficult to
believe Putin’s brief and noncommittal statements.
The voice of American news states that polonium-210, the
substance that killed Litvinenko, is so rare and expensive that the
assassin would have needed access to top-notch laboratories and
even topper-notch funding to complete the job.
The Kremlin, in response to the hundreds of fingers pointing
directly at it, declared the accusations are “sheer
nonsense” because it hasn’t permanently damaged anyone
since 1959.
Forget a long nose, Pinocchio would die of chronic strokes and
seizures if he were to ever repeat that statement.
The New York Times also declares that 12 journalists have been
assassinated contract style ““ with hired, professional
killers ““ since the beginning of Putin’s reign.
But hey, that could be coincidence.
None of the cases has been resolved or even thoroughly
investigated, but then again, the Russian authorities have other,
more pressing matters on their hands.
Putin’s pathetic track record when it comes to human
rights violations and his steady denial of crimes committed by his
administration constantly attract attacks by foreign governments,
activists and anyone with a proper conscience.
A bloody chain connects Russia’s cover-ups, and there are
only so many disguises possible: Politkovskaya was murdered while
investigating the horrors in Chechnya, and Litvinenko was poisoned
while investigating Politkovskaya’s death.
How much can they chalk up to mere twists of fate?
I would probably not be able to write this if I were sitting in
Moscow instead of the study lounge of Rieber Terrace.
That is direct cause and effect ““ no coincidence, no
chance.
Send pictures of Putin’s head on Dobby’s body to
rjoshi@media,ucla.edu. Send general comments to
viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.