Latest Articles about Terrorism

Is Kabardino-Balkaria Following the Path of Dagestan?
The tragedy in Boston reminded the world about the simmering conflict in the North Caucasus, which has not been resolved because the West largely ignored the region. The outside world pretended Russia’s claims that the North Caucasus had turned almost into a paradise that could... MORE

Georgian Prime Minister Accuses Previous Government of Collusion with Terrorists
In four consecutive statements to the international press and local media, as well as to a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) conference, Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has pilloried the country’s previous government for allegedly colluding with North Caucasus terrorists (Civil Georgia, April 29; Rustavi-2... MORE

Hot Issue – A Profile of Mahmud Mansur Nidal: The Alleged Dagestani Connection to Boston Bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev
In connection with the tragic events in Boston, some Western journalists have started pursuing sensational angles to the story concerning the purported ties between the alleged elder Boston Marathon bomber, Tamerlan Tsnarnaev, and a Dagestani militant who went by the name of Mahmud Mansur Nidal... MORE

Why Tamerlan Tsarnaev Is Outside of Chechen Mentality
Why did Tamerlan Tsarnaev—one of the alleged April 15 Boston Marathon bombers who died in a shoot-out with police on April 18—not demand an end to the bloodshed in Dagestan, but was instead interested in what happened in Afghanistan and Iraq? The casualties in Dagestan... MORE

The Uphill Job of Mending Fences with the Kremlin
Speaking to reporters after last week’s (April 25) lengthy, televised, national question-and-answer (Q & A) session, President Vladimir Putin declared he “was optimistic this tragedy [the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing] will facilitate greater security cooperation, benefiting both America and Russia” (Interfax, April 25). This... MORE

Experts Warn Moscow’s North Caucasus Policies Exacerbate Regional Instability
Emil Pain, the well-known Russian expert on ethnic conflict and former Russian government official, has warned that the conflict in the North Caucasus is escalating. According to the Kavkazsky Uzel (Caucasian Knot) website, the number of casualties in the North Caucasus dropped to 199 in... MORE

Russian Security Services Offer Surprising Revelations About Boston Bombings
On April 27, the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta published an article on the dead Boston bomber suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, based on information it received from the Russian security services. It cited officers of the Dagestani Center for Combating Extremism who said they became aware of... MORE

The IMU Expansion in Afghanistan’s Takhar Province: Jumping Off Point to Central Asia?
While Helmand and other provinces in southern Afghanistan are the center of the Taliban insurgency and receive most media attention in the West, northern Afghanistan’s Takhar province has also come under increasing Taliban and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) influence since 2010 (taand.com, April 14).... MORE

Parts of Boston Bombers’ Radicalization Narrative Remain Murky
Since the start of the second Chechen war in the fall of 1999, the Chechen armed resistance has evolved, with poorly educated people from the villages gradually replaced by young people with higher education. This is a kind of protest reaction by youth against the... MORE

Is the Boston Attack a Ripple Effect of the Conflict in the North Caucasus?
The focus of the media on the suspected Boston bombers, the Tsarnaev brothers is fully justified, but understanding the wider context of the crime may be just as helpful (https://www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/223152/). Whatever the brothers’ personal experience was, if it is confirmed in the end that they... MORE