The Documentary
I love the documentary film. It's always the fail-safe option for me when the 120 movie channels I get are all playing 15-year-old Patrick Swayze movies like "Road House" and "Point Break." Last night, the Sundance Channel came through for me. First up was a hour-long doc about this building on the lower East Side of New York that has essentially become a artist and squatter residence over the last 20 years. It was sort of irritating watching a bunch of super young leftists protest and talk about their squatter's rights. Excuse me, you don't own this building, so you have no rights. But I watched anyway. I actually like this sort of reality television --- you know, the kind with real people who aren't trying to become celebrities. Next up was a doc called "Disbelief" which was much more up my alley.
Disbelief focuses on the 1999 bombing of a Moscow apartment building that Russian President blamed on the Chechens. For the uninitiated, the Chechens are Russia's answer to Osam Bin Laden and Co., a Muslim region that wants to break away from the Russian federation. They do use terrorism. But as this documentary explains, the Chechen's connection to this bombing was tenuous at best. Putin's approval rating went through the roof after the apartment bombing --- he vowed to crack down on the Chechens and did, sending tanks and troops after them. What was really disturbing is that police officers found a huge bomb in another apartment complex a few months after the Moscow bombing in another Russian city. The cops shut down the building and neutralized the bomb before it exploded. And a telephone operator intercepted a call that the bomb planters made after the bomb was found as they were trying to exit the city. The call was traced to a building occupied by the Russian secret service agency --- the one Putin headed before he became the president of Russia. Secret Service officials claimed that the bomb was fake and part of a "training exercise." What? Why would you place a fake bomb in a building where people lived? The police said the bomb was no fake. I'm not sure who's telling the truth. But one thing is for certain --- politicians can benefit greatly by scaring the hell out of their constituency. If you have to have portray yourself as the protector against the bogeyman to win support, be suspicious of that person. Sound familiar?
Disbelief focuses on the 1999 bombing of a Moscow apartment building that Russian President blamed on the Chechens. For the uninitiated, the Chechens are Russia's answer to Osam Bin Laden and Co., a Muslim region that wants to break away from the Russian federation. They do use terrorism. But as this documentary explains, the Chechen's connection to this bombing was tenuous at best. Putin's approval rating went through the roof after the apartment bombing --- he vowed to crack down on the Chechens and did, sending tanks and troops after them. What was really disturbing is that police officers found a huge bomb in another apartment complex a few months after the Moscow bombing in another Russian city. The cops shut down the building and neutralized the bomb before it exploded. And a telephone operator intercepted a call that the bomb planters made after the bomb was found as they were trying to exit the city. The call was traced to a building occupied by the Russian secret service agency --- the one Putin headed before he became the president of Russia. Secret Service officials claimed that the bomb was fake and part of a "training exercise." What? Why would you place a fake bomb in a building where people lived? The police said the bomb was no fake. I'm not sure who's telling the truth. But one thing is for certain --- politicians can benefit greatly by scaring the hell out of their constituency. If you have to have portray yourself as the protector against the bogeyman to win support, be suspicious of that person. Sound familiar?
posted by john clarke at 7:49 AM
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