The quicksand is getting deeper. The slaughter of innocents by Chechen terrorists, in the obscure Russian town of Beslan, underlined that.

The death toll in this latest act of mass carnage by Islamic militants may well rise to over 400. In an age when the capacity to feel shock has been compromised by the gory promiscuity of the violence with which we are surrounded every day, the scenes relayed live on TV, nevertheless, were still staggering in their barbarism.
The surprising theme, which has emerged in the aftermath of the taking, and the subsequent mass murder, of the hostages is the extent to which the region has become a powder-keg, primed to explode. Reading about North Ossetia, where Beslan is, I was struck by just how little we know in Ireland of the provinces of Russia, and how sparse the coverage has been of what may yet emerge as a major battle-ground in the conflict between radical Islam and the major world powers – of which Russia remains one.
It is one of the questions of the age. How do we relate to the genuine demands of Muslims, for example in Chechnya, when some of them at least are prepared to prosecute their campaign to have those demands met with such immoral and anti-human force? How do we relate to their genuine demands when the ideology by which they live represents such a retrogressive and discriminatory influence, impinging on the rights of Christians, of women, of gays – and indeed of individuals generally?
We are living in a time when finding the right answers to these questions, and others like them, is harder than ever. We are living in a time when the moral landscape has become a quagmire, a time when the maps have indeed already been burned. We are living in a time when, all around us, the evidence of man’s inhumanity to man is growing by the hour.
There is nothing new under the sun, we know that – people have ever been capable of doing terrible things. But the purpose of the great European project, of which Ireland belatedly became a part, was to eliminate the basis of conflict between nationalities in Europe by consigning nationalism to its proper place – not at the heart but at the fringe of things. The European project, established in the wake of the atrocities of World War II, was a kind of marker for others, an example of how races and religions that had once been implacable enemies might co-exist peacefully in the long term.
This is one of the greatest achievements ever of political leadership, and it is still working. But all around us, that dream is being mocked by forces that threaten to plunge us back into the pit from which we dragged ourselves, almost sixty years ago. In terms of establishing a new global equilibrium, the challenges facing us now are enormous. Whether or not we have the resources to meet them remains to be seen…

On a lesser scale – but scarcely less importantly for those directly affected – the same is true in relation to another worrying news story of the past week. A report by Dr.Niall McElwee, carried out on behalf of the Regional Drugs Task Force and the Midlands Health Board, states that there are between 80 and 300 heroin users in Athlone and a slightly smaller number in Portlaoise. The report suggests also that girls of 15 have been seen using heroin in the midlands area. Many of the users are prostitutes who come to Dublin to sell sex and go back to their midlands homes at the weekend.
What is most frightening is this. A heroin problem has existed in Dublin for over 30 years. According to almost everyone working in the field of support and prevention, it is now at its worst ever. Official policy, in other words, has been an unmitigated disaster, failing dismally to have any positive impact – and there is currently no evidence of light at the end of that tunnel.
There is no reason either to believe that those same policies will be any more effective in dealing with the emergence of users in small towns all over Ireland. We are faced therefore with the likelihood that the problem will escalate, and that heroin will become an all-Ireland phenomenon.
Surely there is need for a radical rethink now? Surely it is time for those with responsibility for shaping drugs policy to take a different approach? Because if they simply carry on with the same failed policies, then they must accept a share of the responsibility if and when worsening situation becomes a crisis.
As I said, the quicksand is deepening.