World Threats

The name of Chechen terrorist Doku Umarov may soon become a household name. In The Third Jihad, former CIA intelligence officer Wayne Simmons warned that the 2004 school massacre in Beslan, Russia by Umarov’s Islamist terrorist group is “a perfect example of exactly what will take place in this country.” That prediction was fulfilled with the bombings in Boston.

The Boston bombers were 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his 19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar. Three other college-aged individuals were questioned during the manhunt for Dzhokhar. The brothers are originally from Chechnya but left in the early 1990s because of war with Russia. They and their family moved to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Dagestan before moving to the U.S.

Click here to read the rest of my article.

Hmmmm…. Boy, this sounds familiar. Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky has been found dead in his house in Britain. He died at 67 and the details of his death have not been released yet.

The circumstances of the 67-year-old’s death were unclear, though there were unconfirmed claims that the former power-broker of Russian politics had killed himself at the property in Ascot. Police said the death was being investigated as unexplained and the search for hazardous materials was a precautionary measure. Reports said his body was discovered in a bath.
Berezovsky’s death comes only months after he lost a high-profile and personally disastrous court case against fellow Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. He had accused the Chelsea football club owner of blackmail, breach of trust and breach of contract in relation to a Russian oil company.

Over the last few years the polling organization Gallup has been tracking the “happiness” of nations all over the world, and their just released survey results (and the following map that was created by the Washington Post’s Max Fisher) is quite telling…

Notice the concentration of the least emotional/unhappy nations in the world?

Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus and other ex-members of the former Soviet Union all rank very highly on the wrong end of Gallup’s survey, while Western Europe and the America’s are all content with life and generally happy people.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the soul crushing, godless Communism that was imposed on the Soviet bloc for more then four decades?

What say you?

Counts for something that at least Vladimir Putin is happy with yesterday’s results:

“Overall the Kremlin welcomes the news of Barack Obama’s victory in the elections,” Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Interfax news agency. “We express hope that the positive beginnings in bilateral relations and in international cooperation between Russian and the United States, in the interest of international security, will develop and improve.”

And Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev took a dig at Romney, who famously called Russia America’s “No. 1 geopolitical foe” during the campaign.

Great.

My newest interviewee for RadicalIslam.org is Pavel Stroilov, who fled to London with copies of about 50,000 Soviet-era documents. His thesis is that the Arab Spring is actually the collapse of the Middle East component of the Soviet Bloc. In our interview, he talks about how the Soviet Union sponsored Islamic terrorism and even promoted radical Islam as a means to an end.

Below is an excerpt:

Religion was brought into it at a rather late stage. From the scarce documents and witnesses that are available, it seems to be in the 1970s. It was then that the new head of the KGB, Yuri Andropov, came up with the idea of using Islam to broaden the base of anti-Western “liberation fronts.” Again, apparently this was not limited to Islam alone. Around the same period, the world saw similar ugly hybrids of religion with socialism mushrooming everywhere—for example, the Catholic “Liberation Theology” in Latin America. And again, the Muslim world has proven to be the most fertile soil for these evil seeds, so much so that the Islamic terrorism has long outlived its Marxist creators.

Click here to read the rest of my interview with Stroilov at RadicalIslam.org.

No one expected Russia to become a major campaign issue in 2008 when it went to war with Georgia, ripping away the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Now, there are signs that Russia is itching for a rematch that would finish off the pro-American Georgian regime led by Mikheil Saakashvili.

Russia recently announced that it seized 10 caches of arms on May 4 and 5 in Abkhazia which were to be used in dramatic terrorist attacks in Sochi, where the 2014 Winter Olympics are to take place. The stockpiles included: 10,000 rounds of ammunition; 15 kilograms of TNT; 50 grenade fuses; 39 hand grenades; 36 mortar shells; 29 grenade launchers; 15 landmines; 12 improvised explosive devices; 3 surface-to-air missiles; 2 anti-tank missiles; 2 assault rifles and a sniper rifle, mortar and flamethrower.

The Russian government says that the man responsible for the planned wave of attacks is Doku Umarov, a Chechen terrorist leader involved with Al-Qaeda. He ordered an end to attacks on Russian civilians earlier this year. Georgian intelligence helped Umarov’s terrorists smuggle the weapons through Georgian territory from Turkey, the Russians claim. Georgia dismisses the accusations as “absolutely absurd.” The accusation provides a clear rationale to remove Saakashvili from power.

This development comes while Russia is preparing for a possible strike on Iran. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin explained, “Iran is our neighbor. If Iran is involved in any military action, it’s a direct threat to our security.” Reportedly, Russia has drawn up plans to send forces to Armenia in such an event, which requires going through Georgia, toppling Saakashvili on the way.

Click here to read the rest of my FrontPage Magazine article.

Russia recently imparted a warning to the West, evidently having come to the conclusion that sanctions will “stifle” the Iranian economy. In remarks at a news conference, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Western nations should instead return to focusing their efforts on reviving talks with Iran.

Lavrov also cautioned the West against launching a military strike, insisting it “would pour fuel on the hidden smoldering fire of Sunni-Shi’ite confrontation.” In truth, the sectarian conflict has fueled friction between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and between Iran and Bahrain where Shi’ite populations have mounted uprisings against the Wahabi and Sunni regimes. Read the rest of this entry »

In what some are calling a strategic move to strengthen its alliance with Tehran, Arutz Sheva has reported that Moscow extended an invitation to Hezbollah to visit the Kremlin. The Hezbollah delegation arrived in Moscow on Wednesday.

During the visit, Hezbollah is expected to visit the Lower House of Parliament, the Council of Muslims in European Russia and the Foreign Ministry.   The notorious terrorist organization will also descend upon the Moscow university lecture circuit.

The delegation is headed by Hezbollah MP, Mohammad Raad, and while developments in Lebanon are expected to be discussed, a source from Lebanon’s The Daily Star has noted that bilateral ties and “issues of common interest” are also on the agenda.

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The Georgian Interior Ministry is accusing Russian intelligence of being behind an explosion near the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi last September, which Senator Mark Kirk warns “would constitute the most serious crisis in U.S.-Russian relations since the Cold War.” Russia was also tied to a dozen other bomb plots last year. Russia has not given up its goal of destabilizing and dominating the U.S. ally.

Georgia has charged Major Yevgeny Borisov, an officer in the Russian GRU military-intelligence service, of orchestrating at least a dozen bomb plots last year. This includes a September 22 explosion about 100 yards from the U.S. embassy. Senator Mark Kirk sounded persuaded by the evidence, saying “These are extraordinarily specific and detailed allegations by the government of Georgia.”

Georgia found that the bombing suspects would call a GRU operative named Mukhran Tskhadaia in Abkhazia after every detonation, who is the deputy to Borisov. The Russians seized Abkhazia from Georgia in 2008 and maintain a military presence there. The Georgian government also says it discovered that photographers for the Georgian president and foreign minister were found to be GRU spies.

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

The Russian defense ministry recently announced that “advanced weaponry” will receive priority in its defense modernization plans through 2020, the price tag for which is set at 22 trillion rubles ($730 billion).  Within this category is Russia’s nuclear deterrent, which First Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin said would take precedence.   This seems warranted, given the fact that the development of Russia’s next generation submarine-launched ballistic missile, the Bulava, has been beset by failures and setbacks.

Not only is there no alternative to the Bulava in the works, but the slow pace of the missile’s development has delayed the deployment of Russia’s latest class of ballistic missile submarine.  With the next test date pushed off until spring or summer 2011, it remains to be seen how much the deployment timetable for these weapons will slip.  The importance of Russia’s nuclear deterrent to that country’s strategic planning has increased in recent years as the size and efficacy of Russian conventional forces has declined.  The priority given to strategic weapons modernization is a yet another clear indication of this trend.

DEVELOPING: A purported suicide bomber exploded in Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, according to security personnel. The death toll has climbed from an earlier report of 23 to a new one of 31. In addition, at least 100 people have also been injured in the blast. The explosion took place in the baggage area of the airport about an hour ago.

Image Credit: AFP

CNN is seeking details on the Russian Investigative Committee report that terrorists are responsible for the explosion.

This comes at the time of a small uptick in violence in Dagestan and the surrounding areas. While this could be the work of Islamist Chechens, the role of al Qaeda cannot be ruled out. Domodedovo is the busiest airport in Moscow.

Russia has been conducting a race to build up its military, but no one seems to be noticing. While the economic recession is causing many European nations to slash and downsize their defensive capabilities, Russia has been extending its reach militarily.

Did any of you catch the article about Russia purchasing not one but two helicopter carriers from France? The Mistral-class carrier also doubles as an amphibious assault craft, carrying ground forces and materiel. The Baltic states and Georgia are raising diplomatic hell over it but it appears that France is savoring the deal, worth over $1.5 billion.

Mistral carrier

The Baltic states have long raised concerns, keenly aware of the comments of Russia’s naval chief, Adm. Vladimir S. Vysotsky, who last year bluntly evaluated the potential benefits the equipment could have offered during the five-day Georgian war in 2008: “Everything that we did in the space of 26 hours at the time, this ship will do within 40 minutes.”

Not only that, but Russia is on track to build two more for a total of four over the next several years. This would help Russia become a major sea power– which it has not been since 1991.

As if this is not enough, this year Russia expects to bring in the new KA-52 attack helicopter into its military. This helicopter is in some ways, one of the most advanced in the world. It has been in development since 1993 and is now ready to help Russia with its war plans. And the KA-52 is a doosy:

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There was a bombing in the Caucasus today, wounding 20 as a car bomb exploded near a cafe. Also happening today in Ossetia, a suicide bomber killed a police officer.

The explosion occurred just outside the cafe in downtown Pyatigorsk, a city in Russia’s North Caucasus, said Stanislav Belyayev, a spokesman for the Stavropol regional police. The wounded were cafe customers and passers-by, he said.