there's so much going on, still. but i'm too tired to write and to try to make sense of all the info that's coming our way.
just one thing:
Putin, the president, hasn't yet made any address or statement. Nothing. Not a single fucking word.
It's almost 11 pm here now. In two hours it'll be 12 hours since the beginning of the hell.
Friday, September 03, 2004
NTV is still doing more or less live coverage. NTV is watched by a lot of people - but their signal doesn't reach as many places as that of the other two - Channel 1 (ORT) and RTR.
Channel 1 has another Soviet comedy on - when I switched over to them there was a scene involving a big black submarine being evacuated - very surreal, you know...
RTR has commercials - Twix, Pantene shampoo, etc. - and then a preview of a documentary about General Pugo - the only 1991 coup guy who committed a suicide after they got busted - very weird because i just mentioned 1991 here - and I've always felt almost sorry for this Pugo guy - if he hadn't killed himself, he'd be totally safe and comfortable now, maybe even still in politics - Mishah told me a few days ago that Pugo probably was the only person with conscience out of that evil bunch - i don't remember why we were talking about him... Still, it's weird that a state channel is planning to show something about the 1991 coup - what's happening today is so much worse but probably has the same significance, the same implications for Putin as 1991 had for Gorbachev. Or maybe not - it's highly unlikely anything will change now.
on NTV a shirtless boy of about 13 - cute cute cute - is telling (in Russian with an accent) how he was breaking the windows in the gym to make it easier to get out - his hand is bandaged, it could've been worse, he says, but the windows are plastic... two younger boys next to him are also trying to contribute some information, trying to be helpful... they do look shocked, in a childish way, without tears, just their eyes, huge and black... it's me who's beginning to cry, i wouldn't be able to be a journalist...
also, journalists seem to be getting in the way of the rescuers, all the time
4:10 - NTV live news is over. CNN is still on, a BBC reporter is wearing a helmet.
Channel 1 has another Soviet comedy on - when I switched over to them there was a scene involving a big black submarine being evacuated - very surreal, you know...
RTR has commercials - Twix, Pantene shampoo, etc. - and then a preview of a documentary about General Pugo - the only 1991 coup guy who committed a suicide after they got busted - very weird because i just mentioned 1991 here - and I've always felt almost sorry for this Pugo guy - if he hadn't killed himself, he'd be totally safe and comfortable now, maybe even still in politics - Mishah told me a few days ago that Pugo probably was the only person with conscience out of that evil bunch - i don't remember why we were talking about him... Still, it's weird that a state channel is planning to show something about the 1991 coup - what's happening today is so much worse but probably has the same significance, the same implications for Putin as 1991 had for Gorbachev. Or maybe not - it's highly unlikely anything will change now.
on NTV a shirtless boy of about 13 - cute cute cute - is telling (in Russian with an accent) how he was breaking the windows in the gym to make it easier to get out - his hand is bandaged, it could've been worse, he says, but the windows are plastic... two younger boys next to him are also trying to contribute some information, trying to be helpful... they do look shocked, in a childish way, without tears, just their eyes, huge and black... it's me who's beginning to cry, i wouldn't be able to be a journalist...
also, journalists seem to be getting in the way of the rescuers, all the time
4:10 - NTV live news is over. CNN is still on, a BBC reporter is wearing a helmet.
if i say here that i hate this fucking country, you'll misunderstand me
i mean it and i don't - i do mean it right now but later i'll be able to argue with myself - and counter-argue again - and on and on and on
putin has to go - but he won't
also, i don't have the slightest idea who could be an alternative to him
it'll also be quite disgusting to see the fat rich guys fighting for power after what's happened and people going out in the streets and being shot at - just to help some new fat ass onto the presidential throne
this whole note-taking thing is reminding me of august 1991 - when i was trying to listen to the bbc radio - which was still being jammed heavily - and i was taking notes and then i was giving reports to my mama and my aunt - they didn't have much on the tv then - compared to 1991, even channel 1 deserves a pulitzer now
i mean it and i don't - i do mean it right now but later i'll be able to argue with myself - and counter-argue again - and on and on and on
putin has to go - but he won't
also, i don't have the slightest idea who could be an alternative to him
it'll also be quite disgusting to see the fat rich guys fighting for power after what's happened and people going out in the streets and being shot at - just to help some new fat ass onto the presidential throne
this whole note-taking thing is reminding me of august 1991 - when i was trying to listen to the bbc radio - which was still being jammed heavily - and i was taking notes and then i was giving reports to my mama and my aunt - they didn't have much on the tv then - compared to 1991, even channel 1 deserves a pulitzer now
196 ambulances working in Beslan. The wounded are also taken to the Republic's capital, Vladikavkaz.
mortar fire for the past ten minutes somewhere around
a beautiful teenage boy, leaning on his mama, no shirt on, looks exhausted, the journalists were trying to ask him something
one of the explosions could have been the special forces trying to make some opening in the wall
internal affairs ministry is insisting they were not intending to storm the building and were not preparing for it
mortar fire for the past ten minutes somewhere around
a beautiful teenage boy, leaning on his mama, no shirt on, looks exhausted, the journalists were trying to ask him something
one of the explosions could have been the special forces trying to make some opening in the wall
internal affairs ministry is insisting they were not intending to storm the building and were not preparing for it
2:30 pm - russian channel 1 has finally decided to do some news... fucking idiots.
158 kids hospitalized, according to cnn, according to russian wire service.
if i were cnn, i'd rush someone to one of those hospitals to see what it's like there.
the cnn reporter is asking, in russian - has anyone been freed? - but the passer-by aren't replying to him.
then someone screams in russian, get out of the way...
seemingly quiet and calm, then "a very large explosion here" - coming from God knows where
it's been roughly an hour and a half since it all began
158 kids hospitalized, according to cnn, according to russian wire service.
if i were cnn, i'd rush someone to one of those hospitals to see what it's like there.
the cnn reporter is asking, in russian - has anyone been freed? - but the passer-by aren't replying to him.
then someone screams in russian, get out of the way...
seemingly quiet and calm, then "a very large explosion here" - coming from God knows where
it's been roughly an hour and a half since it all began
amazing how most channels are going on like nothing's happening - a documentary about elephants, cartoons... no one gives a shit. maybe they do but it's still quite amazing.
choppers again, more explosions, female terrorists that escaped have probably changed into nurses' uniform and a few terrorist guys have changed into what do you call it - jogging suits?
still total chaos. by and around the school, in the residential area.
choppers again, more explosions, female terrorists that escaped have probably changed into nurses' uniform and a few terrorist guys have changed into what do you call it - jogging suits?
still total chaos. by and around the school, in the residential area.
if the roof has collapsed over the gym where everyone was kept and considering the general mess of the situation - I have no idea how the hospitals in Beslan are going to cope with the wounded. They don't have the resources, I'm afraid. If they fucked it all up in Moscow two years ago, what can you expect in a poor neglected small town...
CNN is showing footage from RTR state channel - those guys finally woke up. Channel 1 (the main one, okay...) is showing a Latin American soap called Women in Love.
CNN is showing footage from RTR state channel - those guys finally woke up. Channel 1 (the main one, okay...) is showing a Latin American soap called Women in Love.
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