Terrorists have killed a reported 140 and counting in a Russian concert hall attack. Can you say Gavrilo Princip?
It was Princip whose name lives in infamy among historians as having had a significant hand in starting World War I. As a teenager in June 1914, it was Princip who shot and eventually killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife during the couple’s state visit to Sarajevo.
This incident generally is considered to be the spark that ignited the powder keg of tensions across Europe and led to the so-called “Great War.”
The assassination was a series of tragi-comedy errors. Princip was among a team of would-be assassins stationed along the parade route. An earlier attempt by another member of the assassination team, using a grenade, failed, but Princip got his chance when the Archduke’s convertible missed a call to change parade routes, then conveniently stopped and stalled right in front of Princip.
Once, as a youth coasting through a history class, I didn’t do enough reading of the material ahead of a test and missed a question regarding Princip. The name now is imprinted on my brain,
Our current world leaders would do well to read up on the man. Seemingly minor incidents in the big picture can ignite major conflagrations.
And that leads us to the event in Russia. According to some reports, the U.S. knew something was up, having warned the Russians an ISIS attack was imminent, and ISIS has claimed responsibility.
But the Russians are casting an eye toward Ukraine as an abettor. Eleven people are said to have been detained, including four terrorists who participated directly in the attack.
They were caught, according to the Russians, while headed toward the Ukraine border and Russian president Vladimir Putin has come out and implicated Ukraine for being prepared to facilitate the terrorists’ escape.
Considering that Russia already is in a shooting war with Ukraine, the proxy for NATO as led by the United States, this might not seem like anything beyond a development in that confrontation.
But, as NATO members have continued to increase support for Ukraine, up to and including putting soldiers on the ground and escalating the amount and level of weaponry being provided, Putin has been clear that the Russians will not rule out using nuclear weapons to protect themselves.
This terrorist attack, if viewed correctly or incorrectly as a Ukraine production, only pushes us closer to Russia ratcheting up the action.
In a rare moment of apparent sanity, Ukraine spokesmen have denied being connected with the event.
Regardless, what this has done is heighten emotions and push us that much closer to one side or the other over-reacting.
Princip lived to see the fruit of his efforts, although he insisted World War I would have happened even without his contribution. He was spared a death sentence due to being a teenager, but died in April 1918 owing to the effects of his harsh prison conditions.
If this terrorist attack turns into a Princip moment, most of us probably won’t be around four years hence to view the carnage.
Sam Ross Jr's site 