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Why did those who gassed the hostages ge Written by Radio 'Svoboda', on 14-10-2011 15:35 Peter Weill: It is hard to remember a more blasphemous award than this. Something similar might be lost in the impenetrable depths of Soviet history, way back in Stalin’s time, though it was lost not because it was impenetrable or ancient, but because it was a deathly secret, just like the classified presidential decrees of these new awards. History, as we know, does not tolerate the subjunctive tense: it is not known whether or not they saved hundreds of lives by storming Dubrovka, as the Russian authorities maintain, especially when one considers eyewitness testimony that the terrorists had ample time to blow up the building, but did not. The ‘why’ is unknown, and will never be known, as is customary in Russian history, but what is known is that 130 hostages were killed at the hands of their own government. The authorities not only sacrificed them, but now they are not even shy about giving out awards for this sacrifice.    There is no subjunctive tense in the history, and so there is, alas, no sense in discussing what might have happened had there been negotiations instead of an assault. But we can, and need to, talk about the reaction of Russian society to the tragedy. Until now it seemed that it – society - was at a stage where it did not consider a country great for taking the best possible care of its citizens, but for killing as many foreigners as possible. Now the murder of its own people is considered a virtue.