Dave Weigel recounts in Slate the captions on a photo essay featuring the older terrorist brothers Tamerlan Tsarnaev:
Tamerlan, who studies at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston and wants to become an engineer, took the semester off from school to train for the competition.
Tamerlan fled Chechnya with his family because of the conflict in the early 90s, and lived for years in Kazakhstan before getting to the United States as a refugee.
Originally from Chechnya, but living in the United States since five years, Tamerlan says: "I don't have a single American friend, I don't understand them."
If he wins enough fights... Tamerlan says he could be selected for the US Olympic team and be naturalized American. Unless his native Chechnya becomes independent, Tamerlan says he would rather compete for the United States than for Russia.
Tamerlan says he doesn't drink or smoke anymore: "God said no alcohol." A muslim, he says: "There are no values anymore," and worries that "people can't control themselves."
It's funny how the refugee system works. It's almost as if foreigners who are really good at getting their neighbors to hate them seem to wind up as refugees in America more than foreigners who are good at getting along with their neighbors.
I'd say that that's ironic, except that irony is racist.
I'd say that that's ironic, except that irony is racist.
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17 comments:
Perhaps not such a good idea to let in dudes with names like Tamerlane, Temujin/Chengiz,Atilla and other names popular with Turkic types.
Im pretty sure immigration doesnt roll out the red carpet for Germanic individuals carrying names like Adolf and Hitler.
Surely that isnt too much to ask.
Anyway these guys are Turkic Chechnyan "Caucasian" .So will this make David Sirota happy?
Great coverage of the unfolding evil bomber story.
TV news has to fill hours and thus they speculate about speculations but your blog encapsulates what we know now.
About the Chechnya bad ass Muslims, the book "One Soldier's War" by Arkady Babchenko has a story about one unfortunate Russian soldier who went missing in Chechnya. They found him later, strangled with his own intestines. I don't know if that is a signature move by Chechnyan Muslims or they just don't have much rope, but I found it a particularly gruesome way to die.
My fellow Americans, do we have the guts to do what it takes?
Chechen bomber's Amazon wish list:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html?ie=UTF8&type=wishlist&id=1PNVMAW2D4CT1
"Ramp to failure".
I'm listening to NPR: Announcers are anxious to know the motives of the bombers. Ha ha. Also, several times, "we don't know if they are Muslim". Ha ha. Just let us know what is rattling around in your head.
I can't wait for puns about Djokar the Joker to begin.
Meanwhile, this article has info from Nexis about Djokar's voter registration, but omits his party affiliation.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/what-we-know-about-boston-marathon-bomb-suspect-dzhokhar-tsa
Hm.
As Chechens, they probably qualified as refugees because they were oppressed by those nasty Russians. The fact that the Chechens are the most violently terroristic of all Muslim ethnicities is irrelevant. Current U.S. foreign policy has never been about punishing Muslims for 9-11 and other terror acts, and you are a fool if you think otherwise. The U.S. has two main foreign policy goals - (1) protect Israel, and (2) neutralize Russia and China. The fact that Chechnya is a constant thorn in Russia's side is helpful with goal #2. The fact that Chechens qualify for refugee status is a benefit that Chechens get for indirectly helping with goal #2
@Van Nostrand
Actually, Turks and Central Asians who are named after Turkic heroes tend to be more secular - they choose nationalist heroes for names instead of Islamic names because they identify more with their secular Turkic heritage than with Islam.
Its like how the pro-Shah Iranians used to name their kids after Darius and Cyrus, for before that how anti-clerical Italians named their kids after Roman heroes instead of saints.
Obviously that didn't work out this time, but by and large its a pretty accurate metric for family background, at least for Central Asians.
@el supremo
You are right on all counts.
However violent revolutionaries are not restricted to those professing religious beliefs.
Armenians,Greeks,Azeris,Chechnyans,Tamils,Kurds,Basques for eg all have secular nationalist agendas (ok vendettas)
However in this case chechens have been islamized a great deal over the past 15 years.One indicator is that they refer to their struggle against Russians as a jihad.
THe early PLO never did so against Israel for instance(they composed heavily of Christians and Marxist Muslims).In the first Gulf war, Saddam went easy on the jihad talk against America as he too was secular Arab nationalist.
Ditto for the Marxist PKK Kurds against secular Turkey.
Point is -there are other things to look out for when admitting immigrants besides alarmingly fervent religiosity.
I love the use of "since" as the French use "depuis," for that extra "ESL" touch:
"Originally from Chechnya, but living in the United States since five years"
I thought Chechens were Turkic, too, but it turns out that they're not. As for the "Joker," way ahead of you:
Tamerlane and the Joker
Tarantino must be giddy about that silent D.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/4/19/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-profile-classmates/?page=single
http://hbdchick.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/those-clannish-chechens/
The klan done it!
new (in)flux clan
The real irony is that Boston has given so much money and support to the IRA to kill with terrorist bombs.
Is Dave Weigel related to Teri Weigel?
"Perhaps not such a good idea to let in dudes with names like Tamerlane, Temujin/Chengiz,Atilla and other names popular with Turkic types."
You mean like Sulejamn Talovic, the Bosnian refugee (named after Suleiman the Magnificent) who shot up Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City?
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