Mayhem in Moscow

摘要

Sorrow and condemnation are the right responses to the deaths of innocent people at the hands of terrorists, whether in London and New York or in Madrid and Moscow. This week's terrorist bombings on the Moscow metro killed at least 39 peo-rnple and injured many more.rnFor all its problems, the Russian capital held together. There was no panic, medical help was swift and the work of the emergency services was better co-ordinated than in the past. Moscow, which has lived through a theatre siege in 2002 and several previous bombings, including two in the metro in 2004, has learned to cope (see page 31). Muscovites took the attack in their stride, and even the authorities responded more humanely. President Dmitry Medvedev observed a minute's silence and he visited one of the bombed metro stations to lay flowers. In a country where leaders have a habit of disappearing from view at times of disaster, this counted for something.