WSWS on Pearl

[Brad DeLong]

>This is clearly a personal tragedy and a unique act of savage, racist
>murder.  But (and an economist of all people ought to be able to recognise
>this dual character) it is at the same time, an event which is part of a
>wider pattern, and a predictable outcome of a previous policy choice on the
>part of the CIA (to recruit journalists).
>
>
>dd

The antecedent of "this" is unclear. Does "this" refer to "people 
make you say that you are a Jew and your mother is a Jew, and then 
cut off your head"?