Terrorism in Russia (merged thread)
RFE/RL, 14 Jan 08: Russia: Court Charges Beslan Victims' Group With 'Extremism'
Quote:
....Why authorities might seek to shut down Voice of Beslan is obvious. Russian officials have shown little compunction about using the extremism legislation to crack down on their critics. What is less clear, however, is why the charges come from Ingushetia, rather than Moscow -- and more than two years after the text's publication.
Some see the case as a product of the ongoing tensions between North Ossetia's Christian population and the mainly Muslim Ingush following an interethnic conflict in 1992 that killed about 200 people and displaced tens of thousands.
But Marina Litvinovich, who runs
Truth of Beslan, an information website dedicated to the case, rejects this scenario. "I closely follow the activities of the Voice of Beslan committee," she says. "Its representatives never allowed themselves any comments against the Ingush people and never raised the question of the involvement of Ingush in the hostage taking."
Whatever the motive behind the extremism charges against Voice of Beslan, stoking regional tensions in the North Caucasus will not work to the Kremlin's benefit......
Russia’s Counterterrorism Policy: Variations on an Imperial Theme
Perspectives on Terrorism
Mariya Y. Omelicheva
For over a decade, Russia has struggled with persistent domestic insurgency and terrorism. The country has experienced a multitude of terrorist and militant attacks, and the turn of the century was marked by a series of high-profile terrorist incidents involving a large number of civilian casualties. In response to this threat, Russian authorities adopted extensive counterterrorism legislation, established and modified institutions responsible for combating terrorism, and streamlined the leadership and conduct of counterterrorist operations. According to recent statements by the present Kremlin administration, the terrorist problem in Russia has finally receded, and the war on separatism had been definitively won. Yet, the daily reports on the shoot-outs and clashes between insurgents and Russia’s security forces cast serious doubts on these official claims. Despite the signs of a slow normalization of life in Chechnya, the security situation remains tense there, and terrorist incidents and guerilla attacks have spread into the broader Southern region previously unaffected by terrorism.
Sitting here at ground zero
I would have to echo David's remarks.
In my skeptical opinion, contemporary Russia has yet to clearly defined terrorism. They seem to have no distinction between terrorism or other violent/political crimes.
Estonia believes that the current calm in Chechnya is largely due to the the skill of President Kadyrov and has little to do with Russian counterterrorism policy.
I tend to agree with that belief but willing to entertain more links :D
Human Rights and Terrorism
The death of another human rights activist has been reported; the link is to an article written by Amnesty International's General Secretary (contains a link to a report on the region): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/p...e-warning.html
davidbfpo
Chechnia historically a disloyal area for religious reasons
In the early 1980s when I was writing my paper for USAF Command and Staff College we were focused on the fact then that the Soviet High Command in any then Fulda Gap scenario was presumed to have major loyalty and difference in languages problems with troops out of the Chechen area of the then USSR who were a part of their attack force for their side of Fulda Gap.
The history of Russian problems in the Chechen area from 1922 forward speaks for itself. Long term problems with their Muslim population there, akin to the uncooperative and self seeking break away Pashtuns (a subset by no means all of the Pashtuns for sure) in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Terrorism in Russia (merged thread)
At least 37 people have been killed in a suicide bombing in Moscow that occurred this morning at 07:56 AM, according to BBC's Russian sources
Here is a link to the story,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8592190.stm
More on the twin attacks ...
Women suicide bombers 'kill 38' in Moscow Metro attacks
and
FSB Suspects North Caucasus Link In Deadly Moscow Bombings
and
Why have the Moscow bombers struck now
and
No Time to Count the Dead, Only to Save the Injured
However, as Robert Amsterdam points out;
Quote:
It is certainly not difficult to conceive that the double terrorist bombing committed on the Moscow metro this morning was orchestrated by militant Muslim groups from Chechnya, Dagestan, or Ingushetia (or another part of the North Caucasus). Further, it seems irrelevant to question it given the claims of responsibility (or at least applause) already posted on kavkazcenter.com.
Still, it is strange how the FSB reached the conclusion:
The chief of the FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, told President Dmitry Medvedev: "Body parts belonging to two female suicide bombers were found...and according to initial data, these persons are linked to the North Caucasus."
I am just curious how a body part displays its geographic point of origin ... was it a tattoo, physical typology, bomb technology, or article of clothing which is unique to the area? In an earlier report I had read (and cannot find now), Bortnikov talked about DNA testing of the body parts and amazingly fast test results ... which of course made me think about the FSB's proposal to fingerprint and DNA catalog the entire population of Chechnya.
This isn't to suggest the entertainment of crass conspiracy theories, but more an observation of the Kremlin's habits in terms of disaster management - provide as little official information as possible to the public. I recall the Madrid train bombings of 2004 which were initially pinned upon the separatist group ETA, but later revelations of Al-Qaeda carrying out the attacks cost the ruling party its election and resulted in the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq.
The Kremlin most likely jumped to the right and obvious conclusion, but there was still a jump.
Female suicide bombers - a clue?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
omarali50
This slate piece (
http://www.slate.com/id/2249122/) made me remember a more serious article about female members of jihadi terrorist cells, written by someone in Europe, cannot recall the title. It was about how they are trying to assert their "agency" and can become much more than the usual image of the submissive Muslim woman by joining these cells....does anyone know what article I am talking about?
Try following this link (which has appeared before on a thread n Suicide Bombing IIRC): http://www.iiss.org/conferences/coun...ope/?locale=en
Sounds like the work you seek is Dr Anne Speckhard of the Free University, Brussels; IIRC has her own website. Good luck.
Interesting point regarding the efficacy of suicide tactics
In an article written by Anne Speckhard she makes the following observation which, IMO, is usually ingnored when suicide bombing is discussed (usually in favour of the usual suspects like economic disenfranchisement, poverty, ignorance, self-destructive thanatos drives, et al)...
Quote:
Sucide terrorism is a tactic that is...In endless supply if the terror group's constituent population supports the use of this tactic.(p.5)
Link is broken for some reason; the article can be "googled" as Genesis of Suicide Terrorism in the Encyclopedia of Stress.
Stats: part of the background
Quote:
In the wake of coordinated suicide attacks on the Moscow subway system on March 29, 2010, START has compiled background information on terrorist activity related to this attack....(
at the end) These data were collected and compiled from the Global Terrorism Database (
www.start.umd.edu/gtd).
The GTD contains information on more than 80,000 terrorist incidents that have occurred around the world since 1970.
Link:http://www.start.umd.edu/start/annou...w%20subway.pdf