Libanesische Verhältnisse

Colleen Winthrop hat vor einigen Tagen über die folgende Begebenheit gebloggt und ich denke, obwohl nur eine weltgeschichtliche Marginalie, ist sie vielleicht auch für ein deutsches Publikum von Interesse. Und selbst wenn die Geschichte nicht stimmen sollte, so ist sie doch nett zu lesen.
Also: Vor vielen, vielen Jahren tobte in einem Staat namens Libanon ein grausamer Bürgerkrieg, in dem auch dort lebende Ausländer entführt und getötet worden sind. Als dieses Schicksal auch sowjetische Diplomaten traf, ging das KGB im Jahr 1985 ganz eigene Wege. Unappetitlich, aber effektiv - und damit ein Zeugnis guter Geheimdienstarbeit:

"[...]

In the turbulent world of Beirut in the 1980's, kidnapping of foreigners was a national sport. Normally, it was American, British or French who were the main targets. However, in October of 1985 three or four Russian diplomats were kidnapped. One of them, Arkady Katkov, was murdered and his body dumped.
The Russians went into immediate overdrive. Calling in old favors and putting pressure where needed they discovered the identity of the kidnappers and who led the group.
A brother of the leader was thus kidnapped by the Russians as were several others. What happened next is subject to variation and speculation. Different stories came out of Beirut, that body parts were sent to the kidnappers. The body parts were said to be fingers and genitals.
Nothing official ever came out as hard news except that the remaining Russian hostages were freed very quickly.
While the other nationalities had to endure years of captivity, the speed of the release and the fact that no other Russians were ever again kidnapped in Beirut shows that the Russian actions were extremely effective.

[...]"