"GFJ Commentary" introduces news analyses andopinions in Japan on the relations of Japan with therest of the world, but they do not represent the viewsof GFJ as an institution.

February 28, 2011Black joke in terrorism in Russia
By OOTOMI Akira
The Russian government was indeed quick. Soon after Moscow Domodedovo
Airport was bombed on January 29, footage of the incident has been broadcast
worldwide on TV. Needless to say, the footage was possible thanks to the video camera
set at the site accidentally. On the following day, the profiles of the criminal were
described as “three males from Chechen.”
In contrast to the case of the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya which has beenleft unresolved for more than four years and whose suspect has not yet been pinpointed
by the Russian government, we cannot help but sigh at the remarkable performance ofinvestigative sources of the Russian government this time. Even the case of bombing ofan apartment in Moscow 12 years ago still shows no signs of being unresolved. One
should not, however, be overconfident of the Russian government which should beaccused of a series of false announcement in the past.
In Japan on the other hand, an editorial entitled ”Terror in Russian Airport:
Struggles should be Made to Eliminate Hatred” which appeared in the January 26 issueof the Yomiuri Shimbun quite correctly pointed out “the dissatisfaction among Chechen
people towards unfair treatment from Russian government as the proper backgroundfor these terrorists attacks.”
In relation to the bombing, most Japanese newspapers including the January 25
issue of Tokyo Shimbun introduced a chart of “major cases of terrorism in Russia inrecent years.” The chart, however, has a defect in that it is the one that indicates “thenumber of Russian people killed by Chechen terrorists” and not vice versa. The numberof Russians that have been killed by Chechens does not exceed 1,000, whereas that ofChechen people dying from military attacks by Russian army exceeds 200,000, which isa whopping number. This chart, therefore, does not give a true picture of the situation.
It is not meant that to blame is the Russians on the ground that the simple
comparison of the number of victims shows that more Chechens have been killed thanRussians. The question is that the inability to grasp the nature of each incident against
the background of larger historical context is of grave concern.
It is not only in the case of Chechen issues that most Japanese mass media tend tocover stories from the standpoint of the Russians government and authorities
concerned. In Japan, mass media has been closely associated with the Japanesegovernment through such mechanisms as press clubs. As a consequence, even the factthat most of the hostages were killed by toxic substances released by Russia army inMoscow Theatre hostage crisis has been distorted in Japanese mass media. In anchronology in an newspaper described that Russian forces successfully released
hostages with 129 casualties. Is it suggesting that hostages were “released to heaven?”
This is nothing but black humor.
The casualties of 330 people in the Beslan school hostage crisis was the result of
the storm of the ground forces into the school under the direction of the Russian
government who refused to negotiate with the hostage takers. However, it is usuallyreported that the blame is on the Chechen side, which apparently lacks fairness iscoverage.
Though the above is only the case typical of Japan, from the global perspective
also the Chechen issues are far from being comprehended properly. Sometimes,
unfounded reports that Chechen militants are associated with Al‐Qaeda have been
seen.
During more than 15 years of military attacks by Russians, some of the Chechen
people have became the puppets of the Russian government and infringed humanrights of their fellow Chechens, which has made the whole picture rather complicated.
But the problem is that this series of conflicts has in the first place started with Russia’s
attempts to conquer the Caucasus with violence. To be more precise, in the context ofinternational politics with Russia as a primary actor, this war has persisted because of
the unjust violation of human rights of Chechen people and their autonomy. I sincerely
hope that the people all over the world would pay attention to this fact.
(This is the English translation of an article written by OOTOMI Akira, Editor in
Chief, Chechen News, which originally appeared on the BBS “Giron‐Hyakushutsu”
of GFJ on June 26, 2011.)