The Beslan bombing, September 2000

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Russia Ready to Launch Pre-emptive Strikes Against Terror Worldwide
Radio Havana Cuba, 8 September 2004. Russia's top general says that Moscow is ready to attack terrorist bases anywhere in the world, as security services put a ten million dollar bounty on two Checen rebels blamed for last week's school siege.
Russia retreats into repression
By Ignacio Ramonet, Le Monde diplomatique, October 2004. Russia can now see the world in terms of pre-Beslan and post-Beslan. Like the Bush administration, Russia's government is now declaring a war and talking about the need for a strong state. This means sweeping and largely anti-democratic changes to Russia's political system, increased resources for the armed forces and increased powers to deploy them in pre-emptive strikes.
Demise of Democracy
By Fred Weir, In These Times, 18 October 2004. Russia's democratic window, never pried open very wide following the Soviet Union's demise, is slamming shut. Putin [says he] wants to create an American-style two party system, which would increase stability in a huge and volatile country like Russia. The public culture of fear and suspicion that marked the last century's Stalinist experiment in central state-building also is creeping back.
Russian Politics after Beslan: something brewing down below
By Misha Steklov, In Defence of Marxism, 3 November 2004. In the aftermath of Beslan President Putin has used the pretext of the fight against terrorism to abolish the direct election of national deputies and regional governors. President Putins disdain for the caricature of bourgeois democracy he inherited from Yeltsin. The underlying crisis in legitimacy of the elite as a whole is disguised by Putins high popularity ratings.