First, a little geography lesson: The southern most extent of modern Russia runs along the crest of the Caucasus Mountains running roughly east-west from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea. Beyond this south-western border are the newly formed nations of Georgia and Azerbaijan, formally part of the USSR. The area on both sides of this mountain range and hemmed in between the two seas is known as The Caucasus.
On the north side of the border is a chain of about a dozen tiny Russian Republics, the best known being Chechnya. Take a look at this map and you can see them there clustered up in the lower left hand corner of Russia. What these republics have in common is a large population of Muslims. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, this area of the world has become a religious fault line where large numbers of Muslims live with, or next to, non-Muslims. This area has since been host to savage internal battles for independence from Russia.
Chechnya is a tiny place. A mountainous landlocked nation of only 19,300 square km., about the size of Connecticut. It has 1.3 million or less people, which is about the population of Maine. Yet, it has become a massive headache for Russia, having fought there for years on end with no progress being seen. It is often compared to America's experience in Vietnam.
Despite the enormous cost, Russia has not given in to Chechnyian separatist demands for independence. The reasons are many. Russian doesn’t believe that their problems will end there. If Chechnya secedes, then the other republics will follow. The militant separatists will implement a harsh Taliban like Islamic government on Russian's doorstep. Moscow will loose control of the oil rich Caspian basin and the land needed to pipe the oil out of there.
Next door to Chechnya is another republic named Dagestan. It is larger than Chechnya, about the size of Maryland, with 2.6 million people (Arkansas has 2.6 million). Never heard of it? You will. It is rapidly becoming the new battleground between Russia and militant Islamic separatist. The never-ending war in Chechnya has spilled over to the other republics.
Yesterday, Russian troops had a 4 hour shoot-out with the leader of a violent Islamic militant group in Dagestan. I mention this because I think that republic is about to explode in violence. The Chechnyian militants have been trying to expand their war against Russian to all of the Muslim republics in southern Russia. They have been helped by Islamic militant volunteers from the Middle East, and funded with Saudi petrol-dollars. They want to open a new front on their war with the west. This is going to be one of the fronts. Like in Chechnya, Russia is going to take the brunt of it.
Here are some educational links:
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