Nalchik Raid- Russian Civil War in the Caucasus
Introduction
Last week, we see yet another violent manifestation of Russia as a deteriorating state in the Nalchik Raid; Nalchik is the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, about 870 miles south of Moscow. Unlike in Beslan or the Moscow Threatre, this time it was a large force of 300 fighters concentrating their attack police stations and other government and security related facilities
As I wrote on “Eurasia” earlier, the Southern front was Russia’s soft underbelly with a growing EU/NATO in the Western front and a raising East in the Eastern Front (see map below). Proponents of the “Clash of Civilizations” would say this is another case of Islam’s bloody borders. This are unfortunately more complicated.
As reported by WSJ, “officials in Nalchik said almost all the rebels were from Kabardino-Balkaria.” The attacks were on symbols and instruments of state authority: the “three police stations, the headquarters of the local FSB (the former KGB), the interior ministry building, the offices of the city’s prison guards, a military unit guarding the airport and a counter-terrorism centre.” (link.)
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