Russia: May 27, 2005

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Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for last weeks power outage in Moscow. Terrorism was not believed responsible, because the power failure came from some 1950s era equipment in a substation. The Soviet Union was infamous for not maintaining infrastructure, and the power outage was just another example. Much of this ancient infrastructure is being replaced, but there's so much of it that it will take over a decade to catch up. But in the meantime, it gives publicity hungry terrorists something to take advantage of.