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Martin Seff
In my opinion terrorism remains a serious threat.
And the international cooperation against it, that was mobilized after September 11, should be continued.
But there are some other threats apart from terrorism
that are not yet recognized in Washington by any political party.
One is the dual policy of the US that wants to spread democracy too fast, especially in the Middle East.
And we see that this policy gives strategic victory to the extremist Islamist powers,
although in the sphere of terrorism they had a tactical defeat.
We see it in Egypt, Afghanistan, Iraq and even now in Syria,
where a previously stable government is destabilized and the doors are open not for democracy but for chaos.
There are powers that want to make use of this chaos.
The second problem is connected to the first one.
It is the breaking of communication of the US with other great powers.
I mean the worsening of the relations with China and Russia, these are the most important players.
When state secretary Clinton went to Moscow, it was clear
that Russia and the US cannot find a common position in the Syrian question.
I am afraid that if republicans and their candidate win the elections this November,
the situation will get only worse.
Alexei Mukhin, General Director, Center of Political Information
The solitude of the US is explainable.
It always acted as if it was alone in this multipolar world.
So there is no surprise when it is left not only without friends but also surrounded by enemies.
International terrorism is indeed a serious enemy.
But the problem is that the more the US cares about controlling, the bigger it becomes,
the US nourishes it that way.
The more the US will claim its interests across the world, the more painful places will appear,
hiding a threat bigger than international terrorism that will develop into acute wounds.
We can already observe it.
I think that the tragedy on September 11 was just the first swallow,
the first symptom of this disease that spread across the world.
And instead of curing it, George Bush wanted to amputate it.
As a result, he encountered severe resistance by the terrorist organizations, that became more diverse.
The brand of Al-Qaida is not fashionable anymore,
because this organization basically split into several smaller ones based on the network principle
and therefore more difficult to catch.
Thus the prospects of the struggle against terrorism are deplorable,
but on the other hand, the more threats, the more money you can spend on countering them.
It became a kind of a business.
It makes me think of a squirrel in a wheel, that is fed and grows and the faster it runs,
the faster the wheel moves.
I do not know how this situation will develop.
Yuri Nagirnyak, Deputy Head, Committee for Transport Security
Certain steps were taken in these 11 years, we were trying to find understanding, but did we succeed?
I think more likely not.
I believe that the problem is in the position of the US.
If we look 11 years back, we will see the reaction of the Russian president, who clearly supported the US.
He expressed full solidarity with the US, saying that any terror acts, regardless of place,
pose a hazard to the whole of humanity.
If we look at how the US reacted to the terror acts that took place in Russian
and other countries in the last 11 years, we will see that it was different.
Look at Syria, at how the US and the Western democracies react to the terror acts there.
Here the see the unfortunately wide-spread principle of double standards.
Whatever happens in our interest is not really a terror act.
I think this approach is dangerous.
I mean first of all the states that see terrorism as a current political problem at the very moment.
But they do not want to look in the future.
And the future is that if we do not change our approach to the problem,
humanity can soon face very serious threats.
There are several reasons.
First of all, there's technological development.
Terrorists who, because of their convictions or money, are ready to organize terror attacks,
are getting more possibilities to access the modern weapons of mass-destruction
that will be dangerous not only for certain local building and groups of people but for the entire countries.
The current technologies allow entire countries to be destroyed.
If some states continues to encourage or pretend to ignore terrorism,
we can soon face a situation where everybody will be the victim,
including the states that consciously or unconsciously encourage terrorism.