In one pivotal scene in David Lean’s 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia, Thomas. E. Lawrence asks the British general in Cairo, Sir Edmund Allenby, to provide the Arab revolt with artillery. The general’s political advisor says that if he gives the Arabs artillery, he will... MORE

Moscow has been expanding the size and capabilities of its Caspian Flotilla. Most directly, this has implications for the Caspian littoral states and their development of oil and natural gas from the Caspian seabed. But it also impacts Ukraine and its coastline because the Russian... MORE

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, issued an executive order, on September 6, creating a “republican state commission on resolving issues related to the definition (clarification) of the boundaries of the Chechen Republic” (Apchr.ru, September 7). Just weeks earlier, the Ingush civil society organization Opora... MORE

Since the Russian state moved into non-Russian areas, it has generally been able to play Cossack units against the local non-Russians in order to strengthen its own position. It did that in the Middle Volga, in Siberia and the Russian Far East, as well as... MORE

The hopes of China and some Central Asian countries for the construction of a new canal between the Caspian and the Black Sea have sparked serious ethnic and environmental opposition even before the first spade of ground is turned. The project has its roots in... MORE

On August 10, 2015, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department implemented an executive order sanctioning three Russian citizens involved in terrorist activities. Among the individuals mentioned on the sanctions list was North Caucasian militant Abu-Jihad, one of the key Russian-speaking... MORE

Tomorrow (August 3), a remarkable event is slated to occur: For the first time ever, regularly scheduled civil aviation flights will begin between Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan in the Middle Volga, and Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan in the North Caucasus. That development is... MORE

Every six months, the Russian government conscripts a new cohort of soldiers for its armed services. For the last five years, since the military draft was renewed across the North Caucasus, the enlistment quotas for republics there have been raised and lowered erratically. This has... MORE

Moscow is relocating the home base of its Caspian Flotilla from Astrakhan to a new port facility in Kaspiysk, Dagestan (see EDM, June 4), an action scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. This move is taking on a more menacing aspect... MORE

The Muslim Spiritual Center of Ingushetia (Dukhovniy Tsentr Musulman Respubliki Ingushetii, or the Muftiate) excommunicated the head of the Republic of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, on May 27, during a meeting between the clergy and elders from all over the republic. In other words, the spiritual... MORE