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Putin Faces Major Crisis
说起反恐，人们首先会想到美国的911，因为其危害之大前所未有。然而，真正饱受恐怖主义之苦的却要数俄罗斯了。公共汽车爆炸案、莫斯科人质劫持事件、医院爆炸案、火车自杀爆炸案、莫斯科红场自杀爆炸案和莫斯科地铁爆炸案接连发生，哪一起案件不是触目惊心，牵动着俄国人的神经？而最近的别斯兰人质劫持事件更是把恐怖活动的黑手伸向了无辜的孩子……
Investigators said that the hostage-takers were highly trained and organised - laying mines in the school corridors and around the gym, and bringing with them sniffer dogs and gas masks. The size of their arsenal has led many to suspect that some of the explosives had been hidden in the school during the renovations over the summer.
During the siege the militants watched the events on television and used mobile phones to ring accomplices who told them what was happening around the building.
It emerged on September 6th that the shooting that brought the crisis to its bloody conclusion began when a bomb inside the gym went off ①by accident. Commandos then stormed the building and battled the militants as crying children - some naked and covered with blood - fled through explosions and gunfire.
调查人员说，人质劫持者受过严格训练，组织严密——在学校走廊里和体育馆附近都埋好了地雷，并带来了嗅探犬和防毒面具。他们的武器装备程度使很多人产生了怀疑，认为他们早在学校于暑季进行整修时就已藏好了一些爆炸物。
在围困过程中，武装分子通过电视了解事情的进展，并利用移动电话从同伙那里获得他们所在大楼的周边动态。
9月6日，有消息称，导致这一危机事件以伤亡告终的枪战是由体育馆内不甚引爆的炸弹引起的。突击队员随后迅速袭入大楼并与武装分子交火，其间，哭喊着的孩子们（有些孩子全身赤裸，身上血迹斑斑）纷纷在爆炸中和枪炮中逃离。
Russian prosecutors believe that Shamil Basayev, the most extreme Chechen commander, was responsible for the hostage-taking, which was carried out by 32 militants - 30 of whom were killed in the siege. But on September 7th the Russian defense minister, Sergei Ivanov, said "About half of the 32 terrorists have been identified and we have not identified anyone from Chechnya."
The comment was a clear effort to ②back up the Kremlin's claim that the attack was not a result of Russia's actions in Chechnya.
Mr Putin's words on September 6th followed a stream of funerals as the people of Beslan buried their children, relatives and friends, while others sought information on those still missing.
The president admitted that Russian soldiers had committed human rights violations in Chechnya but, like the torture by US soldiers in the prison of Abu Ghraib in Iraq, these were not sanctioned from the top, he said.
"In war there are ugly processes that have their own logic," he said. Striking the table with the side of his right hand, he said there was no connection between Russian policies in Chechnya and the events in Beslan.
"Just imagine that people who shoot children in the back came to power anywhere on our planet. Just ask yourself that, and you will have no more questions about our policy in Chechnya," Mr Putin said.
The president made it clear he sees the drive for Chechen independence as the spearhead of a strategy by Chechen Islamists, helped by foreign fundamentalists, to undermine the whole of southern Russia and even ③stir up trouble among Muslim communities in other parts of the country.
俄国检查官认为，沙米利·巴萨耶夫这个车臣最为极端的指挥官应该为这次由32名武装分子（其中30名在围困时被击毙）实施的人质劫持事件负责。9月7日，俄罗斯国防部长谢尔盖·伊万诺夫说：“32名恐怖分子中，大约有一半人的身份得到了确认，可我们尚未发现有人来自车臣。”
这一发言明显是在努力支持克里姆林宫的论调，即这一袭击事件并不是因俄罗斯在车臣采取军事行动而起。
在普京先生于9月6日发表了讲话之后，别斯兰人开始举行大规模的葬礼，埋葬自己的孩子、亲属和朋友，而此时还有些人在搜集关于失踪者的消息。
总统承认，俄军士兵在车臣有违反人权的行为，但他说，与美军士兵在伊拉克阿布格雷布监狱实施的虐囚行为一样，这些行为是没有得到上层批准的。
他说，“在战争中，有一些东西虽然丑恶，但它们是符合自己的逻辑的。”他右手拍着桌子说道，俄对车臣的政策和别斯兰事件之间没有联系。
“想象一下，那些在背后射杀儿童的人在我们星球的某个地方夺取了政权。你们自己想想这个问题，然后就不会再对我们的车臣政策有什么疑问了。”普京先生说。
这位总统清楚地表明，他把车臣的独立运动看作是车臣伊斯兰分子战略计划的一个触角，这个战略得到了外国原教旨主义者的协助，是为了削弱俄罗斯在南部的势力，甚至在该国其它地方的穆斯林社区内制造事端。
"There are Muslims along the Volga, in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. Chechnya isn't Iraq. It's not far away. It's a vital part of our territory. This is all about Russia's territorial integrity," he said.
Russia was interested in a political solution in Chechnya, he insisted. It would hold elections to a Chechen parliament shortly "and we will try to attract as many people as possible with different views to take part".
"We will strengthen law enforcement by staffing the police with Chechens, and gradually withdraw our troops to barracks, and leave as small a contingent as we feel necessary, just like the US does in California and Texas."
But anyway the crisis is the worst in Putin's presidency. It deals a massive blow to his credibility as a tough man with tough policies that can bring Russians security. It has cast new doubts on the effectiveness and professionalism of Russia's police and special forces. It has left Russians feeling more unsafe and defenseless than ever. And it has raised the spectre of unrest across the whole of the North Caucasus.
What can Putin do? He sees his first task as preventing the gunmen realising their aim of igniting the north Caucasus.
Although the shooting stopped, thousands of people were displaced and the underlying issues have not been resolved.
“在伏尔加河沿岸、鞑靼斯坦共和国和巴什科尔托斯坦共和国都有穆斯林教徒。车臣并非伊拉克。它并不遥远。它是我们国土的一个重要组成部分。这完全是一个关系到俄罗斯领土完整的问题。"他说。
他坚持说，俄罗斯愿意政治解决车臣问题。不久以后就会在车臣举行议会选举，“而我们也会争取使尽可能多的不同政见者参与进来”。
“我们会让车臣人来充实警察队伍以便加强执法力度，并逐渐把我们的部队撤回驻地，而且，就像美国在加利福尼亚州和德克萨斯州的做法一样，我们会驻守一支在我们看来是必要的小型分遣队。”
但无论如何，这次危机是普京总统任期中破坏性最大的。人们相信他这个政策强硬的铁汉可以给俄罗斯带来安全，但这次事件对此予以了重大打击。它使俄罗斯的警察和特种部队的效率和专业化程度受到了新的质疑。它使俄罗斯人前所未有地感到更加不安和身处险境。而且，它增加了北高加索地区的动荡程度。
普京能做什么呢？在他看来，其首要任务就是阻止武装分子实现他们搅乱北高加索局势的目的。
虽然枪战已经结束了，但数千人流离失所，而根本性的问题也还没有得到解决。
单词表：
grim-faced /Grimfeist/ adj.表情严肃的
academic /,2k9`demik/ n.学者；大学教师
catastrophe /k9`t2str9fi/ n.大灾难；大祸
siege /s1_/ n.包围；围困
militant /`milit9nt/ n.好战分子
mayhem /`meihem/ n.混乱
sniper /`snaip9/ n.狙击兵
vow /vau/ v.宣誓；立誓
hostage /`h4sti_/ n.人质
mine /main/ n.地雷
gym /_im/ n.体育馆
arsenal /`3sinl/ n.兵工厂
explosive /iks`pl9usiv/ n.爆炸物；炸药
renovation /,ren9u`veiH9n/ n.革新
naked /`neikid/ adj.裸体的
torture / `t5tH9/ n.折磨
sanction /`s2MkH9n/ v.批准；同意
spearhead /`spi9hed/ n.先头部队
undermine /,7nd9`main/ v.破坏
integrity /in`teGriti/ n.正直；诚实
barrack /`b2r9k/ n.兵舍；军营
contingent /k9n`tindE9nt/ n.分遣队
credibility /,kredi`biliti/ n.可信性
spectre / `spekt9/ n.缭绕心头的恐惧（或忧虑等）
unrest /`7n`rest/ n.不安的状态；动荡的局面
ignite /iG`nait/ v.点火；点燃
underlying /`7nd9`laiiM/ adj.根本的
① by accident偶然
② back up 支持
③ stir up 鼓动；煽动
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