Who Is to Blame for the Tsarnaevs' Attack?

“To what extent are we responsible for their actions?” is the main topic of Russian discussions of the Tsarnaev brothers, who committed a monstrous terrorist act in Boston.

They don’t debate the reaction of American police forces — apparently, they did a good job; one terrorist was caught alive and is giving testimony. They don’t debate whether the Americans organized the terrorist attack themselves by brainwashing the Tsarnaevs or whether the terrorists acted alone.

By the way, it’s good that Russian conspiracists, who always see American footprints in every terrorist attack, this time did not insist on clearly absurd theories. This whole story will bring more problems than benefits. The main topic in Russia today is: Can we consider our country responsible for the Tsarnaevs’ actions, one of whom was an American citizen and one of whom had just gotten his precious green card?

Of course, they have been living in the U.S. for a long time, and while fond of their Chechen roots, they still thought in and spoke English. Of course, the older Tsarnaev recently spent half a year in Russia, but his local connections are still waiting to be determined. Nobody is blaming Chechnya for the Tsarnaevs, but they did leave their homeland for a reason. That’s our responsibility, and we share it with the entire world.

The idea of radical Islam raised its head when Russia and the West discredited the idea of the Enlightenment. We did a lot to bury internationalism while cave xenophobia lifted its head. After destroying Soviet national policy we didn’t offer anything in its place. One St. Petersburg analyst wisely remarked: For the West, the USSR appeared to be the civilized and well-controlled “universal evil.” After the Soviet Union collapsed, the West was left face-to-face with the devil. Indeed, the West is guilty of supporting many destructive tendencies, but we are even guiltier. We still didn’t realize that any religious fundamentalism — whether Islamic or Orthodox — leads to darkness. We still didn’t realize that any kind of nationalism involves war and violence. The Tsarnaev brothers are the direct consequence of the fall of the Soviet Union and the Caucasian wars, and the road where Russia finds itself today leads further into the dark cave. It’s hard, but it has to be said out loud.

Also it has to be said out loud that Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s half-year journey in Russia raises serious questions, mainly because Russia today is not able to tell what’s going on within its own borders. It has its names that are forbidden to criticize and its places that are forbidden to control. If we don’t change anything, these questions will remain. If we don’t answer them, the U.S. will have to.

It’s arguable whether Andrey Kuraev was right or wrong picking on Islam. It’s undeniable, however, that when in modern society religions start to play the same role as they did in the Middle Ages, society falls into the Middle Ages. Until we acknowledge this, the Dark Ages will spread as far as they can reach.