Per Cod

SCHOOL 1, BESLAN, NORTH OSSETIA

School 1, Beslan, North Ossetia
Despair and grief at the graves of the dead: Beslan, North Ossetia
Photograph: Associated PressWhat we’ve seen the last few days is the tip of the iceberg; the brutality of this war makes it the dirtiest of them all. Make no mistake about it, each and every Chechnyan in that school was there because he or she had lost their family and needed Russian blood to still their thirst.

Unbelievable as the violence is to us, it makes absolute sense to those whose heart and soul is blackened by grief from losing family, and poisoned by words of man’s perverted Gods.

This is the reality in which
my brother fought and died
pray your God will halt the evil
where it is today
for when it is loose
it will bring us down
and no man shall be spared.
Sometimes I believe,
nay, know it to be true
mankind will soon be gone
lest we halt the growing sea,
the sea called Armageddon

156 children and 182 adults confirmed dead, another 200 missing

9th and 10th grade students
shot and tossed out the window
12 year old girls raped and murdered
parents killed in front of their children
children in front of their parents
kids beaten with rifle butts
stabbed in their arms and hands with bayonets
– to make them shut up

This is not a new Evil we face
it is centuries old
in a world where human life holds no worth
it is but the last in a line
of hideous acts
glorious Caucasus, prosperous Caucasus
forever in the middle
in the way of someone’s dream and master plan
be it the Mongols or Tartars
Osman the 1st or the Czar
Josef Stalin or Adolf Hitler
Sjamil Basajev[•] or Vladimir Putin
the result was always the same;
destruction of a nation
decimation of a people
humiliation, fear and despair
glorious Caucasus, prosperous Caucasus
where each senseless death
is promptly followed suit
by a hundred desperate cries
demanding someone else’s blood