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In response to "Solidarity Can Fight Terror, Secrecy Can't," an editorial on July 11.
Editor,
Your editorial missed the mark when
it stated that British authorities -- unlike their Russian counterparts
in similar situation -- acted with "openness and sensitivity" in
response to the terrorist attack on July 7.
How would people have reacted if Russians acted the way their British colleagues did? Imagine the Moscow metro closed down over a day, imagine mobile phones not working, imagine people having to walk home for six hours because the authorities did not think of providing them with any means of transportation whatsoever.
Also imagine Moscow authorities not informing the public of the scale of the tragedy for a day or so. Russian emergency and security officials rarely get the praise they deserve, even when it is more than due. All they get is criticism and unfavorable comparison with their foreign colleagues. In reality, many foreign emergency response teams could learn a thing or two from them, and not always the other way around.
The way the Moscow authorities handled the metro bombing last year, does not even come close to the way the bombings were handled in London. In Moscow, the two stations affected were closed off for several hours, but the rest of the metro was working normally and City Hall provided buses for people around Paveletskaya. Did anyone say anything good about it? London authorities do the exact opposite and are portrayed as super-professional. Am I missing something here?
Ferdinando Cefalu, Sicilyhttp://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/07/28/009.html