Russia will only overcome terrorism if it manages to build a new ideology that would help it address all external and internal challenges.

Analytical department of RIA RosBusinessConsulting

Russia is set to see further terrorist acts, analysts say. Russian security agencies don’t deny this. “We will fight against terrorism, but military methods are ineffective here. So, get ready for more casualties,” this seems to be the tone set by Russian security officials. Western media also predict a dreadful future for Russia.
According to their apparently biased position, the reason behind terror attacks is the protracted conflict in Chechnya, the desperation of Chechen people, the use of force to solve the Chechen problem, and rigged elections in Chechnya. Whether we agree or disagree with this opinion, it is clear that deadly terror attacks will continue.
Indeed, is it possible to prevent them? We can deploy effective security systems, like in Israel. But it is impossible to protect civilian aircraft against missile attacks. It is impossible to send special forces to guard every school and college. How to protect the metro? It is also impossible to send all people of Caucasian origin out of Moscow and other large
cities. If we expel Chechens as our enemies today, later will come the turn of Dagestanis and other Caucasian people, after that ­ Tatars and Bashkirs. What will remain of Russia? The country will collapse, and its regions will break away.
This is precisely what the terrorist attacks are aimed at, that is the goal of those who are behind them. They want Russia to withdraw from Chechnya, and after that ­ to cease to exist altogether. What is a gradually disintegrating Russia, a country shaken by explosions, where people fear to use public transportation services and to send their children to school? Nobody likes it, such country is uncomfortable and dangerous for its people to live in.
In order to change this situation, it is necessary to change the ideology of Russian society. People must realize that it is not normal that Russia is 42nd-44th in terms of GDP, 5-6th in terms of armed forces, and it is hardly included in the top ten most influential nations of the world. This must not be. Russia must remain at the center of world events, even if not as the richest country. What allowed Russia to survive and preserve its sovereignty, with its vast territory and a comparatively small population, is its ability to think in global terms and offer its own ideology, which would include, digest and adapt to different national and religious groups, including the most aggressive groups, some of which were hostile to Russia. The ability to offer an ideology of development to other peoples, without imposing it, is what allowed Russia to have more influence and weight in international affairs than the formal level of its economy and military power would imply.
Over the past fifteen years, Russia has not offered anything to the world, but it started thinking at the level of Lithuania and Belgium ­ countries that are worthy of respect, but that have played a smaller role in world history than Great Britain, the United States, China and Russia. Meanwhile, Moscow is evading questions about global development and a fair world system. Neither does it give assessment of terrorism. Terrorism is a weapon in a war for the redivision of the world, carried out by emancipating Islamic groups. Russia offers nothing to the world, to itself, to Chechens and to other nations in post-Soviet territories. Until there is a new ideology, Russia won’t be able to counteract terrorism.
Ideology should show the peoples of Russia that they have a common future. In addition, an ideology would help build a proper government system. Today, every official, from police officers to ministers, acts as he thinks proper, does and speaks what he likes, without looking at an external scale and system of values. As a result, the government cannot set goals, and the administration cannot solve concrete problems. The energy of separate people doesn’t unite, and goes nowhere. Moreover, without a clear ideology, even a war against terrorists can turn into a profitable business. Russian security services’ failure to capture rebel leaders Basayev and Maskhadov, their inability to prevent terrorist attacks feed rumors about “cooperation” between terrorists and some government officials.
According to such rumors, a terrorist act means reward for terrorist leaders from oil sheikhs and allocations for intelligence services to fight against terrorists. But the problem is the high price ­ thousands of lives of innocent Russians, who have to pay for the narrow-mindedness and greediness of the elite.

Analytical department of RIA RosBusinessConsulting