From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 11/1/2005 2:05 AM
DER SPIEGEL 43/2005 - October 27, 2005
URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,382031,00.html

The Caucasus Battlefield
 
A Breeding Ground of Radicalism in Southern Russia

A Four Part Series by Walter Mayr

The town of Nalchik in the Caucasus region has long been a vacation resort. Since the middle of October, however, it has hosted a war. But it's not alone in the region. The town is just the latest addition to a long list of hot spots in the region including Grozny, Beslan and Dagestan. It has become a breeding ground of terror.

A television image of a Russian soldier standing next to a dead body on the sreets of Nalchik.
AFP / NTV
A television image of a Russian soldier standing next to a dead body on the sreets of Nalchik.
The city of Nalchik in the Caucasus has been a resort city since 1928. It boasts 80 degree Celsius (176 degree Fahrenheit) hot springs, fresh mountain air, boulevards perfect for afternoon strolls, and outdoor restaurants that serve tender, grilled lamb. The snow-covered double peak of Mt. Elbrus, the tallest mountain in Europe, presents a dramatic and majestic backdrop to the city.

Russians, of course, have long known about Nalchik, the capital of the Republic of Kabardino-Balkariya. And for the past two weeks, so too has the rest of the world. But for all the wrong reasons. The walls of buildings along Lenin Boulevard are now perforated by missile fire. Staff at the city's three hospitals tend to the wounded, and the morgue in the Dubki neighborhood is filled to capacity.

At 9 a.m. on Oct. 13, in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Muslim rebels armed with grenade launchers and machine guns, declared war on the Russian state in Nalchik. Some 150 to 200 rebel fighters fanned out across the city to storm the bastions of law and order -- the offices of the local Russian intelligence and counterterrorism units, three police stations and the headquarters of OMON, an elite Russian security force.

The Caucasus Battlefield

Caucasus Chaos Part II: Islamist Theocracy in the Shadow of Mt. Elbrus
Caucasus Chaos Part III: A Normal Day of Death in Grozny
Caucasus Chaos Part IV: Spinning out of Control in Dagestan


The result, say the authorities, was more than 100 dead -- at least three-quarters of them terrorists. They believe that, unlike earlier attacks, this one was not committed by Arab mercenaries. The attackers wore "shiny boots and snow-white socks," say eyewitnesses. The press has reported that they were locals who have turned to armed Jihad -- workers who "leave their homes in the morning, their grenade launchers in hand, then return to their wives -- or mothers -- the same evening."

According to unofficial sources, many of the Nalchik attackers were only 16 or 17 years old. In other words, the armed conflict against the Russian central government in the northern Caucasus region may now have been joined by the next generation of fighters. When the Soviet Union collapsed and the call for independence from Moscow began spreading from Chechnya's mountains to the neighboring republics, today's fighters had just been born.

Religion as the opiate of the people

Their complaints against Russia, however, are fresh. "The Russian state does its best to incite the Muslims here against it," says Ruslan Nachushev. A large, powerful man, Nachushev has a nuanced understanding of societies extremes -- a sense he developed both as a KGB officer in the Soviet era and now as Director of the Islamic Institute in Nalchik.

In Kabardino-Balkariya, Nachushev says, mosques have been closed, pregnant women wearing the Hijab beaten by militias and suspects tortured during interrogations. The authorities have also used humiliation as a tactic, goading Muslims with sentences like "Allah, here we are." According to Nachushev, the government doesn't care about what this means to the proud Muslims in the Caucasus. He says that instead of using experts to fight fundamentalism on Russian soil, the authorities prefer to use former drug enforcement agents. "They probably think this is the most effective approach, since, after all, religion is the opiate of the people," say Nachushev, bitterly.



 
He himself is the most prominent individual on the interior ministry's black list of 430 suspected religious extremists from Kabardino-Balkariya. Nachushev's method of dealing with his classification as a dangerous fundamentalist is to light up a cigarette, raise a glass and, smiling ironically, push a slip of paper with his e-mail address across the table. It translates as "Elbrus Illegal Terror Commando," he says.

Not everyone is amused. Nachushev's deputy at the Islamic Institute and regional Muslim leader Emir Musa Mukoshev has already gone into hiding. He has done so despite the fact that the so-called "Jamaat of Kabardino-Balkariya -- an organization led by Mukoshev boasting some 10,000 well-organized supporters throughout the republic -- describes itself as the home of moderate orthodox Muslims.

Under no circumstances do Mukoshev and his followers want to be confused with the "Yarmuk" fundamentalist underground organization. Yarmuk, which has been around since 2001 and which claim to be part of the Caucasus Front announced in May of this year -- declared responsibility for the Oct. 13 attacks. Russian President Vladimir Putin has called Yarmuk a "wasp's nest of Wahhabism." According to Nachushev, though, the rigid faith of the Wahhabites, spread by fanatic Arabs, finds little support in the northern Caucasus region.

Ahead to Part II

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan