printOur good friend historian Nebojsa Malic writes on European Islam and its machinations. I’ve asked him for exclusive comment on The Brothers Tsarnaev and the Chechen connection. (Do consider a one-time contribution or a regular monthly contribution to Barely A Blog. The PayPal buttons are to your right.) Read more about Nebojsa and his work below.
Serbs and Russians evil; ‘Bosnians,’ ‘Kosovars’ and Chechens Good
By Nebojsa Malic
Now that the Boston bombers have been identified as Chechen brothers, the question of their motive will be the next topic of media dissembling. I fully expect a whole battery of excuses, justifications, rationalizations and misdirection to try and make this into anything but jihad.
What other motive would there be? Not anger at US interventionism, for sure.
Almost from the very beginning, the West has been sympathetic to the Chechen cause – carving out an independent, Islamic republic from the Russian Federation. After initial successes, the Chechen rebellion has been rather effectively suppressed by the Putin government, to Washington’s great frustration. Western volunteers – some veterans of the Bosnian jihad – also fought in Chechnya. Leaders of the Chechen rebellion have been granted asylum in the UK and entry to the US. One would think the jihadists would not bite the hand that feeds them – except for the whole history of doing precisely that, from 9/11 to Boston.
Far from fueling an “Islamophobic” hysteria, the the U.S. government and the media went out of their way to spin the attacks over the years as anything but jihad. When Major Nidal Malik Hasan shot up fellow soldiers at Ft. Hood, the top Army general said damaging “diversity” would be worse.
When a convert calling himself Muhajid Mohammed attacked a recruiting station in Arkansas in 2009, the media almost didn’t cover it (focusing on an abortion doctor instead), and when they did, the motive was “unknown.”
Similarly, when Bosnian-born Sulejman Talovic shot up Salt Lake City mall in 2007, the lead detective on the case forbade his subordinates to mention jihad. Motive unknown, again, while Talovic was given a jihadist funeral in Bosnia, at Salt Lakers’ expense. The only reason Arid Uka, an Albanian who fired on a bus transporting US soldiers at an airport in Germany in 2011, killed only a couple of them was because his weapon jammed.
In Talovic’s case, the media spun it as anguish over the “Serb genocide” in Bosnia (!). Stories about Uka never failed to mention that Albanians “love America”. No doubt the mainstream media will now dig up some Chechens who similarly profess love for the United States’ in support of their cause. No mention will be made of Chechen suicide bombers who attacked Domodedovo airport in 2011, or the Beslan school siege of 2004, which killed over 150 children.
The Narrative must be preserved at all costs: Serbs and Russians evil, “Bosnians”, “Kosovars” and Chechens good. Islam is a religion of peace. If America champions Islamic causes, the Muslims will be grateful and embrace democracy (Sen. Joe Lieberman claimed the Albanian terrorist KLA fought for “American values”, while Rep. Tom Lantos called on “jihadists of all color and hue” to take note of US support for independent “Kosova”).
The more reality flies in the face of the Narrative, the more denied it will be. This cannot go on forever, of course. To all the innocents murdered in “inexplicable” acts of terrorism, that’s hardly a consolation.
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Nebojsa Malic has been the Balkans columnist for Antiwar.com since 2000, and blogs at grayfalcon.blogspot.com. We are always thrilled when Nebojsa finds the time to offer exclusive commentary for Barely A Blog. (Click on “BAB’s A List” for Nebojsa’s articles archive.)