Paul
Goble
Staunton, March 30 – A serious
consequence of a crisis like the ongoing one in Ukraine is that it absorbs so
much media space that little or none is left for other events and developments,
creating a situation that may benefit some and harm others even when no overt
falsification of the news is involved.
When not covering a story serves the
interests of government officials who control much of the media, this problem
is even more dangerous because it allows them to argue often quite successfully
that if there are no reports of any problems, then there aren’t any problems
and officials deserve credit for that.
That is exactly what is happening in
the North Caucasus now. After receiving intense coverage because of the Sochi Olympics, Musa Musayev, a Daghestani
journalist says, in the last month, the security situation there “has fallen
out of the information space” and “the appearance of stability has been created”
(vestikavkaza.ru/articles/Dagestan-Zatishe-mnimoe-ili-realnoe-1.html).
“The reality however is very
different,” Musayev says. The Russian
force structures have launched numerous special operations, “but the media aren’t
reporting them.” Part of this reflects the attention being given to Ukraine,
but part of it is the result of “unwritten instructions” that the authorities
have given journalists.
As far as one can judge, Musayev
says, there has been an improvement in the security situation but not nearly as
great a one as the media reports suggest. The bands of militants appear to be
smaller in size, but they are still attracting “not only local residents but
young peoplefrom other regions of Russia
and even from abroad.”
A more important shift, judging from
arrest and casualty reports, he continues, is that the militant groups have “ceased
to be the unquestioned masters of the forest and mountain fastnesses” but have
chosen to shift their operations “primarily to population points.” That may
reflect greater control of the countryside by the siloviki, but it also suggests
the militants have more support among the population than the Russian
authorities say.
Last week, the independent
Kavka-Uzel.ru news agency reported its own statistics on 5291 casualties (killed
and wounded) in the conflicts in the North Caucasus over the last five years.
Several of its findings are striking, none more so than the fact that half of
these losses were in Daghestan (kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/239836/).
Overall casualties, at least those being reported,
have fallen among siloviki, militants and the civilian population, but last
year, after two years of declines, the number of civilian losses “again rose.”
Each side in this conflict can be counted on to put its own interpretation on
what is happening.
But one development in the conflict
in the region is sufficiently disturbing that it deserves broader attention and
condemnation even if there are disagreements on statistics. It is being reported in local websites and
media that the siloviki are now setting fires in highlight Daghestan in an
effort to deny the militants cover and force them into open fields where they
can be fought.
At least five such fires have been
set so far, and despite the statements of some officials that these are the
result of bad fire security, local residents and experts are nearly unanimous
that there is no other plausible explanation for the timing, size and location
of the fires except siloviki involvement (kavpolit.com/articles/protiv_kogo_gorjat_lesa_dagestana-2305/).
Bulat Magomedov, a Daghestani
historian, says that such a military strategy is nothing new. It was used in the
Middle Ages, and it was applied in the North Caucasus by General Yermolov in
the 19th century. He notes, however, that in the past and again
possibly now such actions simply increase the readiness of the militants to
fight and the support they get from the population.
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