[BLOG] Some links on the Tsarnaev brothers, terrorism at the Boston Marathon, and related issues

[rfmcdonald]

In light of the very active online discussion related to the Boston Marathon bombing, the identities of the apparent perpetrators, and the way that all this is embedded

• Anatoly Karlin has culled some interesting quotes from the Twitter account of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger of the two brothers alleged to have been involved and the only survivor.


• Bag News Notes' Michael Shaw engages in interesting analysis of the photographic evidence used to identify the Tsarnaev brothers as suspects, arguing that the evidence about timing they provide suggest that there wasn't much advance planning. Not that this will prevent the growth of a panopticon society, might.


• Daniel Drezner argues that the capture of the surviving brother yesterday created a sense of closure.


• Eastern Approaches analyses the Tsarnaev brothers in the context of their war-torn homeland and American anomie both, arguing that it's their experiences growing up in America that are more directly relevant. "Beslan meets Columbine" is as good a summary as any.


• In the first of two interesting posts at Registan, Casey Michel places the Tsarnaev family's migration to Central Asia in the context of Stalin's deportation of the Chechens to the reegion. Some links remain, notwithstanding the return of most Chechens to their homeland after de-Stalinization.


• The second Registan post, by Matthew Kupfer, tries to provide some context to various claims about the family, arguing (among other things) that the family's skepticism about their sons' responsibility can be traced to the difficult history of the Chechens with an oppressive and occasionally genocidal state.


• Torontoist quotes Maret Tsarnayev, aunt of the Tsarnayev brothers, resident of Etobicoke, discovered by the Toronto Sun as to her disbelief that her nephews could have been involved in the attacks. (The comments, most posted after she stated her disbelief in their guilt, are as hostile as you'd expect.


• Window on Eurasia notes a Russian commentator, one Sergey Markov who argues that the Boston Marathon bombing will make Western countries less hostile to Russian policy in the North Caucasus. This, I think, seems probable.