Dec. 26, 2013-Jan. 1, 2014, Current Events Lesson Plan
Current Event:
On December 29 and 30, Volgograd, Russia, was attacked by two suicide bombings. The two suicide bombings killed at least 30 people and seriously injured many more. The twin attacks raise the specter that militant groups may be ramping up violence to mar the 2014 winter Olympic Games in the resort city of Sochi in February. Volgograd is about 435 miles (700 kilometers) northeast of Sochi. The Olympics venue is close to Russia’s volatile north Caucasus region. Experts on the domestic situation in Russia have pointed out that it was highly risky to stage the games so near to the troubled republics of Chechnya and Dagestan. A leader of the Islamist insurgency in the two Caucasus republics, Doku Umarov, has called on his supporters to use “maximum force” to disrupt the “satanic” Olympic Games. Islamic separatists have carried out many terrorist attacks in their attempt to establish Islamic states in the Caucasus region. The experts also suggest that the terrorists chose Volgograd for a reason. The city is of huge symbolic importance to most Russians–Volgograd (then the Soviet city of Stalingrad) was the scene of one of the most strategically important battles of World War II (1939-1945).
Objective:
Russia is the world’s largest country in area. Russia was the most important republic in the Soviet Union until the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991. After the breakup, Russia set up new political, legal, and economic systems. In 1991, the government of Chechnya, a region in southwestern Russia, demanded independence. Russia sent troops against the separatist forces, and serious fighting resulted. In 1997, the Russian president and the Chechen leader signed a peace treaty. Two years later, Islamic militants who wanted to unite Chechnya and the neighboring republic of Dagestan seized several towns in Dagestan. Russia invaded Chechnya to oppose the rebellion. Russian attacks heavily damaged Chechnya’s cities and killed many civilians. Many nations protested Russia’s handling of the conflict. Russian forces gained control of Chechnya’s main cities by mid-2000, but the rebellion continued. The rebels retreated to mountain bases and launched surprise attacks on Russian forces. Chechen terrorists conducted bomb attacks in Moscow and southwest Russia, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians. In 2002, Chechen terrorists seized a theater in Moscow and held about 700 audience members, actors, and theater personnel as hostages. A chemical weapon that the Russian security forces used when they stormed the theater killed over 100 hostages. In 2004, Chechen terrorists seized a school in Beslan, a town in southwest Russia, and held over 1,000 hostages, many of them children. Russian security forces stormed the school after a bomb exploded. The resulting chaos left over 300 hostages dead and hundreds more injured. The Behind the Headlines news stories and related World Book articles explore Russia and terrorism.
Words to know:
Discussion Topics:
1. Ask your students what they know about Russia. (Students might say that Moscow is the country’s capital and largest city; most Russians live in the western part of the country, the east is sparsely inhabited; Russia is known for its long and bitter winters.)
2. Ask your students to debate, “Today, terrorism is the greatest threat to world security.”
3. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to create a timeline of the history of terrorism. (Students may wish to use the “History of terrorism” section of World Book’s Terrorism article for help.)