Russia hit by Terrorist Attacks

Russia hit by Terrorist Attacks: Gulf Petrodollars, Syria and Caucasus Islamists

Ramazan Khalidov and Lee Jay Walker

http://moderntokyotimes.com

The Russian Federation is once more in the spotlight because of Sunni Islamist terrorism. In recent days two terrorist attacks highlight many factors related to the intrigues of major Western and Gulf powers alongside Turkey. This is based on the destabilization policies of the above in Syria and in other nations. It is abundantly clear that Sunni Islamist terrorists from Chechnya, Dagestan, and in other parts of the Russian Federation, have gone to Syria to kill Syrians who are loyal to the government of this nation. These Islamists are also intent on killing Alawites, Christians and Shia Muslims based on sectarianism. Also, just like in the Russian Federation and Syria, the same Sunni Islamists hate mainstream Sunni Muslim leaders who support the mosaic in both nations therefore Sunni Muslim clerics are also being killed by the same Takfiri mindsets.

In many nations that are hit by terrorism and sectarianism it is clear that the linkage with Gulf petrodollars, militant Islamist organizations in the West, the murky role of covert operatives from several nations, media manipulation, geopolitical ambitions, Islamist charities being a front for obtaining funds – and other factors – all come into play. Of course, nations including China, Egypt, Kashmir (India), Iraq, Libya, Mali, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, and other nations, will have different underlying causes. However, the external element is a reality in all the above even if the combination of factors is very different. Therefore, the same also applies to the Russian Federation because in the past it was abundantly clear that Georgia and Turkey, two nations with good relations with Western powers, were conduits for Chechen terrorists based on terrorist havens, Islamist funding and other factors.

Indeed, the role of NATO Turkey being a conduit for international Sunni jihadists, militant Takfiris, a source of military hardware, covert operatives, and so forth, against Syria is also a modern reality. At the same time, vast numbers of jihadists from the Caucasus region are entering Syria via NATO Turkey. Therefore, the knock on effect for the Russian Federation is abundantly obvious even if internal issues also exist. Given this reality, then the words of Doku Umarov appear to indicate this because he states that the Riyad-us-Saliheen Brigade is now “replenished with the best among the best of the Mujahideen and if the Russians do not understand that the war will come to their streets, that the war will come to their homes, so it is worse for them.” 

Umarov also issued a warning in July that the Winter Olympics in Sochi would be targeted. He stated: “We, as the Mujahedeen, must not allow this to happen by any means possible.”

Therefore, the two recent terrorist attacks in the Russian Federation would appear to be based on Umarov and other Sunni Islamist terrorist forces. The BBC reports about the latest attacks by stating “At least 14 people have been killed in a suicide bombing on a trolleybus in the Russian city of Volgograd, investigators say.”

“The blast comes a day after 17 people died in another suicide attack at the central station in the city.”

The barbarity of the latest terrorist attacks is all too common because of jihadists in this part of the world. After all, Caucasus Islamists butchered vast numbers of children in Beslan after taking them hostages in 2004. Yes, the so-called jihadists who are waging a holy war kidnapped over 700 children in this barbaric attack. In other words, Caucasus Islamists think nothing about kidnapping children, killing children based on their planned operations, beheading captured individuals, blowing people up on buses, suicide attacks,  – and other brutal realities. At the same time, they hope to cleanse Orthodox Christians throughout the Caucasus region based on fear and to crush mainstream Sunni Islam.

Returning to Syria, the Kavkaz Center, a propaganda vehicle for Chechen and Caucasus Islamists, stated in August about this nation that “Troops of the Northern Directorate of the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham began a decisive attack on the positions of Assadites, anchored on the territory of an important strategic facility – airport Minnag near Aleppo.”

Kavkaz continued by reporting that “Recently, Emir of the Army of Emigrants of Supporters, Omar al-Chechen, was appointed to the post of the commander of the Northern Directorate of the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham. Most forces of the Mujahideen in northern Syria came under his command.”

This angle was also mentioned by The Jamestown Foundation because it was stated that “The Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar (Army of Emigrants and Helpers) brigade is made up of Chechens and North Caucasians, but, unsurprisingly, the group also contains a large number of local Arabs, so the total number of people in the brigade could be 1,500. An ethnic Chechen from Georgia, Abu Umar Shishani (a.k.a. Umar Gorgashvili), is the leader of this group. In the past, Gorgashvili fought in Chechnya and served in the Georgian special forces during the 2008 war with Russia (www.rosbalt.ru/main/2013/08/20/1166093.html). Since last summer, Gorgashvili has been elevated to the position of the commander of the northern sector of the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (http://shamcenter.info/news/92/134/obraschenie-komanduyuschego-severnym-napravleniem-islamskogo-gosudarstva-iraka-i-shama-amira-umara-ash-shishani/d,detail-de/). There are also other well-known Chechen commanders, such as Emir Muslim (Muslim Margoshvili), Emir Seifullah (Ruslan Machaliashvili), Emir Salakhdin and Emir Abu-Musaaba (Musa). Emir Seifullah was expelled from Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar for embezzlement and erroneous interpretation of Islamic values during a time of jihad and his actions during jihad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU6K1mq38jw).”

No individual of credibility would deny that Afghanistan, Chechnya, Dagestan, Iraq, Libya, and other parts of the world, don’t have genuine internal issues to various different degrees. Yet, without the intrigues of powerful Western and Gulf powers alongside Pakistan then al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and other sinister forces throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, would never had existed in the first place – or if they did exist – then the level would have been massively reduced. However, enormous funding was given to various Islamist movements in this period.  The other vital component was enormous spending on spreading Salafi Islamic mindsets and other militant Islamist thought patterns.

The conflict in Iraq that overthrew Saddam Hussein unleashed a vacuum and tragically this became filled by international jihadists, militant sectarian forces and various affiliates of al-Qaeda.  In Libya major NATO and Gulf powers worked hand-in-hand with various jihadist groups and an array of different militias. Once Gaddafi was butchered then another vacuum emerged whereby Mali became destabilized. Also, Libya now became a powerful element in the destabilization of Syria based on exporting military hardware, North African jihadists, linking covert operatives from various nations and being a direct link with the sinister intrigues of NATO Turkey. Therefore, just like in Afghanistan in the 1980s and recent events in Iraq, Libya, and Syria; it is abundantly clear that Gulf and Western intrigues are an enormous boost for various al-Qaeda affiliates and an array of Sunni Islamist militant groups. Likewise, Salafi indoctrination and militant versions of Islam emanating from the Gulf region, then start to usurp traditional Sunni Islam by spreading an alien message based on Gulf petrodollars.

In another article about the Caucasus and Syria by Modern Tokyo Times it was stated “The collective intrigues of America, France, Georgia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, towards Syria – and their respective policies in the North Caucasus region – should alarm the Russian Federation because the same intrigues are aimed at Moscow. Kadyrov stated that secret agencies were actively involved in recruiting Caucasus terrorists and mercenaries. Therefore, the growing influence of this group does give credence towards a powerful enacted outside force and clearly Georgia and Turkey provide a natural geopolitical reality to the linkage between the Russian Federation and Syria.”

Also, Modern Tokyo Times stated the need for the Russian Federation to take action in Syria because like Umarov states, the jihadists have been “replenished with the best among the best of the Mujahideen.”  Clearly, much of this replenishing is down to new Caucasus Islamists going to Syria and obtaining training and finding a bloodlust based on sectarianism. Therefore, Modern Tokyo Times commented “The growing menace of Chechen and Caucasus Islamists and the role of Salafi indoctrination in Syria should lead to the Russian Federation taking action. This applies to sending covert operatives to take out leading Islamist terrorists by working with the Syrian armed forces; providing major intelligence to the government of Syria; increasing military hardware of greater sophistication which suits the nature of the conflict; and by providing greater economic assistance. Also, political leaders in Moscow must raise this question seriously with Turkey because clearly this nation is a conduit of major terrorist and military ratlines which are anti-Syrian government. Similarly, the petrodollars of the Gulf are spreading the dangerous Salafi ideology and this fact needs to be raised.”

Special agencies including the CIA, MI6, and ISI, were all involved in funding Sunni Islamic jihadists in the 1980s and early 1990s in order to overthrow the government of Afghanistan. The chaos engulfing Libya and Mali, and creating powerful ripples in Tunisia, was ignited by the intrigues of major Gulf and Western powers. Of course, internal realities already existed in the Caucasus region just like they existed in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Yet, once outside meddling happens, just like in modern day Syria; then many intended or unintended convulsions happen because of the vacuums being created by Gulf and Western powers alongside Turkey. Either way, Umarov is making it clear that the jihadist movement in the Caucasus region is now “replenished.” This replenishing is based on outside meddling in Syria, Gulf petrodollars and the intrigues of covert agencies who collectively utilize chaos and mayhem. Therefore, elites in Moscow need to take defensive measures in order to preserve regional stability and to protect nation states. After all, Gulf and Western intrigues are based on creating failed states and this can visibly be seen in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. The same forces are also intent on creating a failed state in Syria based on several different geopolitical ambitions and this policy is also endangering the Russian Federation.

Obviously, prior to outside meddling in Syria it is clear that Iraq and the Caucasus region in the Russian Federation were already blighted by terrorism. However, the conflict in Chechnya and Iraq were both being contained despite knock-on-effects causing mayhem in Dagestan and other parts of the Caucasus region in relation to Chechnya. Yet, since outside meddling in Syria then the crisis in Iraq is once more spreading a fresh cycle of sectarianism. Also, al-Qaeda affiliates have been boosted by the intrigues of Gulf and Western powers in Syria. Similarly, Umarov and Islamist forces are now gaining from a fresh wave of jihadists throughout parts of the Russian Federation and Central Asia based on the destabilization of Syria.

http://www.jamestown.org/ The Jamestown Foundation 

Hundreds of North Caucasians Have Joined the Ranks of Syria’s Rebels

http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2013/08/07/18145.shtml

http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2013/08/06/18143.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25546477

http://www.moderntokyotimes.com/2013/04/02/russia-should-send-covert-operatives-to-syria-chechen-caucasus-angle-and-iran/

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