UPDATE: I started this in the afternoon prior to the impressive capture of the second suspect. It's not possible to overstate how great the work the Boston police department and the FBI has been. Then of course there's the first responders and all the people of the Boston community and the U.S. I think for the most part we have handled this well as a nation and it's almost stunning how quick our law enforcement officials have gotten a handle on this. Still what I started to write about-we know little of the motivations of the two young killers, remains true.
It should be admitted that we still know very little about the actual motivation of these two suspects-assuming as seems likely they are in fact the culprits-in reality it's safe to assume they are.
However, the motivation is murky.
"Chechens have been locked for nearly two decades in a bitter, violent conflict against the Russian government. But why would two Chechen refugees harbor such anger toward the United States that they’d want to carry out a terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon?"
"The answer is far from obvious, since the U.S. and Russia are often at odds on a wide variety of issues and the American officials regularly denounce the Russian Federation for engaging in human rights abuses, including in Chechnya."
"It’s not clear whether the Boston suspects were part of any group. However, experts say some parts of the Chechen resistance have become radicalized during the long-running conflict, with elements at the fringe taking their conflict global and even linking up with Al Qaeda.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/chechnya-boston-marathon-bombing-90329.html?hp=t3_3
It should be admitted that we still know very little about the actual motivation of these two suspects-assuming as seems likely they are in fact the culprits-in reality it's safe to assume they are.
However, the motivation is murky.
"Chechens have been locked for nearly two decades in a bitter, violent conflict against the Russian government. But why would two Chechen refugees harbor such anger toward the United States that they’d want to carry out a terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon?"
"The answer is far from obvious, since the U.S. and Russia are often at odds on a wide variety of issues and the American officials regularly denounce the Russian Federation for engaging in human rights abuses, including in Chechnya."
"It’s not clear whether the Boston suspects were part of any group. However, experts say some parts of the Chechen resistance have become radicalized during the long-running conflict, with elements at the fringe taking their conflict global and even linking up with Al Qaeda.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/chechnya-boston-marathon-bombing-90329.html?hp=t3_3
If anything the motivation may be more straightforward than "transference." Maybe it's go get our attention-as the U.S. has basically agreed to not speak of Chechnya as a condition for good relations with Russia.
Earlier I wrote about the idea that this case has underscored the point that we shouldn't rush to judgment. After all, the conservative assumption prior to us learning about who the suspects were is that this was the work of al Qaeda-which represents in this imagination all kinds of things: Muslim, Arab, foreign, not American.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/04/in-boston-marathon-bombings-we-learn.html
On the other hand the liberal idea was that maybe it was the work of domestic terrorists-ie, a Right wing hate group or survivalist militia. What it turns out to be is kind of a little bit of both and a lot of none of the above.
It might seem that the Right was correct. These suspects are ethnic Chechens. Chechnya is a majority Muslim country that has a few very vocal and dangerous terrorist groups, including an al Qaeda outfit that killed 50 and injured 100 in Russia a few years ago. I see that a number of Right wing commentators have been crowing in the aftermath of this revelation of the ethnicity of the young men.
However, this claim of See?! We told you so! is quite facile. The Chechen President probably overstated his point in saying that since the suspects have been in this country for a long time-left Chechnya when they were small-clearly it's not his country's fault but 'those who raised them.'
Yet there is something to this. These boys weren't really "Chechen" in appearance, or "culturally" to use an admittedly problematic idea. Most of the kids that knew them were shocked-they weren't weirdos chanting "Allah is Great" all day. They seemed like normal Generation Y American kids. A friend called him a "normal pothead."
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-pot-90350.html?hp=r1
We really don't know why they did it or if they worked alone or with someone else or some other (terrorist) organization. Again, at this point I think my theory makes as much sense as anything I've heard: maybe they had a lot of feeling for their home country and were dismayed by it's mistreatment at the hands of Russia. They were frustrated by the lack of interest America had in their nation's plight and did this as a protest but even more as a bid for attention.
At this point they question is whether or not the second younger suspect-he's only 19 will make it. He's in "serious" condition-which is maybe a little better than "critical" condition.
You can argue whether it's better that he lives or dies. If he lives then we have a much better chance of learning what really happened. On the other hand those who want a sense that justice is done might argue if he dies there's no grey area. If he lives he could be up for the death penalty-though it's unclear. Massachusetts law doesn't allow the death penalty, however, the federal government might ask for it. If so it's not clear who will prevail though there is a precedent of the federal government getting a death penalty ruling in Massachusetts.
I saw Alan Dershowitz interviewed on CNN tonight. If this kid has any change of ever spending a day out of prison he might want to get his number. The one issue already being made is that he wasn't read his Miranda rights. I'm as civil libertarian as the next guy but letting this guy back on the streets over Miranda? That'll be the day. Still if anyone could make the case Dershowitz is the man.
Overall, as the President says it's been a tough week but we're still standing:
"All in all, this has been a tough week," he said, "but we've seen the character of our country once more. And as president, I am confident that we have the courage and the resilience and spirit to overcome these challenges and to go forward as one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-all-in-all-this-has-been-tough
Earlier I wrote about the idea that this case has underscored the point that we shouldn't rush to judgment. After all, the conservative assumption prior to us learning about who the suspects were is that this was the work of al Qaeda-which represents in this imagination all kinds of things: Muslim, Arab, foreign, not American.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/04/in-boston-marathon-bombings-we-learn.html
On the other hand the liberal idea was that maybe it was the work of domestic terrorists-ie, a Right wing hate group or survivalist militia. What it turns out to be is kind of a little bit of both and a lot of none of the above.
It might seem that the Right was correct. These suspects are ethnic Chechens. Chechnya is a majority Muslim country that has a few very vocal and dangerous terrorist groups, including an al Qaeda outfit that killed 50 and injured 100 in Russia a few years ago. I see that a number of Right wing commentators have been crowing in the aftermath of this revelation of the ethnicity of the young men.
However, this claim of See?! We told you so! is quite facile. The Chechen President probably overstated his point in saying that since the suspects have been in this country for a long time-left Chechnya when they were small-clearly it's not his country's fault but 'those who raised them.'
Yet there is something to this. These boys weren't really "Chechen" in appearance, or "culturally" to use an admittedly problematic idea. Most of the kids that knew them were shocked-they weren't weirdos chanting "Allah is Great" all day. They seemed like normal Generation Y American kids. A friend called him a "normal pothead."
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-pot-90350.html?hp=r1
We really don't know why they did it or if they worked alone or with someone else or some other (terrorist) organization. Again, at this point I think my theory makes as much sense as anything I've heard: maybe they had a lot of feeling for their home country and were dismayed by it's mistreatment at the hands of Russia. They were frustrated by the lack of interest America had in their nation's plight and did this as a protest but even more as a bid for attention.
At this point they question is whether or not the second younger suspect-he's only 19 will make it. He's in "serious" condition-which is maybe a little better than "critical" condition.
You can argue whether it's better that he lives or dies. If he lives then we have a much better chance of learning what really happened. On the other hand those who want a sense that justice is done might argue if he dies there's no grey area. If he lives he could be up for the death penalty-though it's unclear. Massachusetts law doesn't allow the death penalty, however, the federal government might ask for it. If so it's not clear who will prevail though there is a precedent of the federal government getting a death penalty ruling in Massachusetts.
I saw Alan Dershowitz interviewed on CNN tonight. If this kid has any change of ever spending a day out of prison he might want to get his number. The one issue already being made is that he wasn't read his Miranda rights. I'm as civil libertarian as the next guy but letting this guy back on the streets over Miranda? That'll be the day. Still if anyone could make the case Dershowitz is the man.
Overall, as the President says it's been a tough week but we're still standing:
"All in all, this has been a tough week," he said, "but we've seen the character of our country once more. And as president, I am confident that we have the courage and the resilience and spirit to overcome these challenges and to go forward as one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-all-in-all-this-has-been-tough
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