UK expert on Chechneya weighs in
Thanks to Raf at FreeRadicals Dr Cerwyn Moore has written a short commentary on the Moscow bombings: http://icsr.info/blog/Dr-Cerwyn-Moor...oscow-Bombings
He concludes:
Quote:
The recent attacks in Moscow clearly result from recent federal successes in the low-intensity conflict which has beset the region since 2007. Whilst federal authorities have repeatedly claimed major successes, indicating that the insurgency was all but defeated, wide-scale poverty in the region, corruption and hard-line policies by Kremlin – repeated in recent days in statements by Vladimir Putin (which are, incidentally, eerily reminiscent of statements he made prior to the outbreak of the second Russo-Chechen War) - appointed strongmen, and apparatchiks have helped to radicalise a generation of new fighters willing to undertake ‘smertniki’ operations or suicide attacks.
Whose hand was behind the bombings?
A political context commentary:
Quote:
The attacks, carried out by two female suicide bombers with apparent ties to radical Muslim groups, have highlighted the danger of the Islamist extremism that is a common threat for Russia and the West today but they have also been a troubling reminder of the threat Russians face from their own government.
Link:http://www.realclearpolitics.com/art...gs_105081.html
The Black Widows of Dagestan: Media Hype and Genuine Harm
A curious article:
Quote:
On April 9 2010, after explosions in the Moscow metro killed 39 people, rumours were circulated of 1,000 ‘black widows’ who had been recruited by the militants. When the press published the names of 22, Tanya Lokshina of Human Rights Watch found that she knew some of these dangerous women : a seamstress whose real crime was being a human rights worker, a pious young mother whose husband had been tortured in the ‘6th Department’.
Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russ...d-genuine-harm
Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bourbon
U.S. Designates Chechen Militant Umarov As A 'Terrorist', RFE/RL, 24 June 2010.
Quote:
The United States has designated Russia's most-wanted militant leader as a terrorist.
The State Department on June 23 said the listing, approved by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, would block the assets of Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov and sanction individuals or companies doing business with him.
The announcement -- seen as another sign of improving ties between Washington and Moscow – comes ahead of talks between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, in Washington today.
Bargaining chip?
Moscow bombing: Carnage at Russia's Domodedovo airport 24.01
24 January 2011 Last updated at 17:06 GMT
Moscow bombing: Carnage at Russia's Domodedovo airport
Quote:
Moscow's Domodedovo airport has been rocked by a bomb explosion that an airport spokesman says has killed 35 people.
More than 100 people were injured - 20 of them critically - by the blast, which reports suggest was the work of a suicide bomber.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12268662
sympathetic or just pathetic
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kaur
Hey Kaur,
We just finished clearing up the Tallinn airport following a bomb threat this evening. One wonders however, if some sort of sick solidarity now exists in Estonia. At least our pathetic threat mongers fortunately remain with little more than empty words and worthless deeds.
The death toll now according to ETV is at 35 and growing with a purported trail of evidence leading directly to the Northern Caucasus region.
Stay Safe, Stan
Why a terrorist mastermind is sending chills down spines
Opens with:
Quote:
a photograph of the man suspected of masterminding the deadliest attack on an airport anywhere in the world has nonetheless shocked the nation.
Staring out from the front pages of their newspapers this weekend is not the usual dark-skinned, heavily-bearded Islamist terrorist they have come to expect and fear but an ethnic Russian who looks like millions of Russians' brothers, sons or husbands.
Ends:
Quote:
Sergei Arutyunov, an expert at Russia’s Academy of Sciences, said poverty was driving people to convert and that southern Russia was a fertile recruiting ground. People are frustrated and are therefore looking for alternative ideologies,” he said. “Our civilisation is in crisis.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...wn-spines.html