Kazakhstan has experienced a rise in militant activity carried out by Salafist groups on its territory and periphery since late 2011. The Salafists’ rejection of secularism and other types of Islam and their call for a return to the ways of the Salaf, or pious... MORE

Two recent events seem to have shaken the Haqqani Network to its core—the death of Badruddin Haqqani and the group’s designation as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” (FTO) by the United States. According to a Pakistani journalist based in the Tribal Areas, the death of Badruddin... MORE

On September 6, the Memorial human rights organization unveiled an extensive overview of the human rights situation in Dagestan. At the Moscow International Book Fair, Memorial presented a book titled “The New Course of Magomedov?” which was compiled from extensive data collected by activists in... MORE

On August 24, in the ethnic republic of Mordavia, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the recently re-instituted “Council for Inter-Ethnic Relations.” The Council, which Putin had dissolved in 2001, was re-established in June 2012. The timing and location of the first meeting symbolically celebrated... MORE

On August 25, Prime Minister Norovyn Altankhuyag chaired the first full cabinet meeting since Mongolia’s sixth parliamentary election, which was held on June 28 (Mongolian Government Press, August 26). Because his Democratic Party could not obtain the 39 parliamentary seats necessary to form its own... MORE

On September 5, President Vladimir Putin met in Moscow with a delegation from Karachaevo-Cherkessia, headed by the republican governor, Rashid Temrezov. Besides the top republican official, a teacher, a farmer, a businessman and a scholar took part in the meeting. This type of meeting with... MORE

China seems to call out for dramatization. In part this may be the result of its tumultuous history from the First Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion through to the Cultural Revolution and the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. In part it is a... MORE

On August 28, one of the most respected spiritual leaders of Dagestan of the past century, Said Atsaev, was murdered in the village of Chirkei, located 25 kilometers northwest of the city of Buinaksk. Better known as Sufi Sheikh Said Efendi Chirkeisky, Atsaev was a... MORE

During the mass public protest demonstrations in Moscow that began last December, one of the most popular public slogans has been “Putin—vor [thief]!” This catchphrase unites opposition forces that in most cases have little else in common: pro-Western liberals, Marxist leftists and pro-Nazi nationalists—the three... MORE

In August, Circassian activists in Kabardino-Balkaria announced that the republic had filled its quota of Circassian refugees coming from Syria. The leader of the Peryt civic organization, Akhmed Stash, told a reporter from the Kavkazsky Uzel (Caucasian Knot) website that refugees arriving from Syria were... MORE