Putin’s iron fist is a tragic failure

THE images of children being carried naked and covered in blood from Middle School 1 in Beslan, beamed live on the main TV networks in Russia, are traumatising the nation.

Russians had become used to terrorist attacks as they entrusted their president, Vladimir Putin, with a carte blanche in his military response. But it is the nature of this particular attack - the focus on tiny babies in one of the poorest parts of the country - that makes this different. This truly is Russia’s 9/11.

But after the shock, after the anger and the grieving for those who have died, what then? The immediate response is despondency and despair. Putin’s iron fist has got nowhere.