The Russian authorities are confused about how to respond to spontaneous public actions. A protest of Islamic activists in front of the French embassy in Moscow, on Thursday (October 29) was allowed, but another one, on Friday, was forcefully dispersed (Kommersant, October 30). The fiercest excoriation of the hard stance taken by Macron in the wake of the wave of Islamist-motivated violence came from Ramzan Kadyrov, who finds it necessary to justify his brutal rule over Chechnya with staunch defenses of Islamic values (Republic.ru, October 28). The Kremlin implored the country’s regional leaders not to interfere in foreign policymaking, which is the prerogative of the president (RBC, October 28). But Kadyrov dared to reject this reprimand and demanded an apology from maverick Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who found it convenient to elaborate on the disapproval expressed by the Kremlin (Moscow Echo, October 30). Despite Kadyrov’s embrace of the Islamic cause, the resistance against his dictatorial rule continues, and in a recent “special operation” in Grozny, three police officers were killed while storming a hideout of suspected terrorists (Kavkazsky Uzel, October 13; see EDM, October 26).

What complicates Putin’s position yet further is the forceful and emotionally charged attack on Macron’s defense of democratic values by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who seeks to claim the leadership role for the cause of political Islam (Russiancouncil.ru, October 25). Disagreements between Moscow and Ankara over the Syrian and Libyan conflicts remain barely manageable, and Putin still cannot find a convincing response to Turkey’s massive support for Azerbaijan in the latter’s already-five-week-long war with Armenia over Karabakh (The Insider, October 23). In a recent phone conversation with Putin, Erdoğan announced that he had drawn a “red line” for Russia in the Caucasus, thus undercutting Moscow’s support for Yerevan and rendering the ongoing Russian diplomatic maneuvers ineffectual (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, October 28). Russia tried to counter by delivering an airstrike against a pro-Turkish militia camp in Syria’s Idlib province, but Erdoğan raised the stakes further by threatening a new offensive in Syria (Kommersant, October 29). Putin could have chosen to try to condemn Turkey’s alleged backing of terrorists and extremists of various sorts, from al-Qaeda offshoots to the Muslim Brotherhood; but he is reluctant to confront his increasingly difficult “strategic partner” (Carnegie.ru, October 30).

Russian nationalists who used to rally around Putin’s flag planted in annexed Crimea are now upset with his failure to cut Erdoğan down to size. However, their anti-Islamic fervor threatens to destabilize the Kremlin leader’s broader regime-entrenching course (Svobodnaya Pressa, October 30). A major challenge to this course keeps growing in Belarus, where embattled President Alyaksandr Lukashenka is now promising to treat the peaceful mass protests as a “terrorist threat” (Newsru.com, October 27). Putin may not be quite ready to subscribe to this definition and may disapprove of Lukashenka’s pledge to “take no prisoners”; but the Russian president has committed to supporting the fellow-autocrat who has relied on brutal violence to prolong his reign (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, October 28). Police power, among other methods, already gained Belarus’s leader nearly three months of extra time since the falsified elections in early August. But the unexpected resilience of Belarusian society in rejecting Lukashenka and withstanding his regime’s violent attacks signify the inevitable near end of this rule by repression (Rosbalt, October 30).

Lukashenka may act as a cornered despot, but Putin is more aware of the grim legacy of state terror in Russia, where October 30 is annually marked to remember the victims of political repressions (Rossiiskaya Gazeta, October 30). The traditional action of reading randomly selected names of people who were executed or perished in Joseph Stalin’s GULAG was organized virtually this year, but it reached millions of Russians via online social networks, which remain uncensored despite many efforts to establish state control (October29.ru, October 29). Tragic family stories thus gain traction with the new generations who have grown up knowing only Putin as the irreplaceable leader and are now experiencing the maturing of his corrupt autocracy (Znak.com, October 30). Putin yearns to ensure the stability of his illiberal regime by branding opposition activists as “extremists,” expecting that selective punishments will suffice to dishearten mass support for these “radicals.” But as some observers note, the ugly shadow of Stalinism grows deeper under his power vertical (Riddle, October 27).

The radicalization of Islamist-indoctrinated youth is a much lesser concern for Putin than the deepening disappointment in his self-serving rule among the increasingly propaganda-resistant populace. He may even find glee in Macron’s troubles and seek to benefit from France’s problems with the Muslim world. Yet his own inability to restrain the arrogant Kadyrov or to confront the ambitious Erdoğan may undercut his residual support even deeper than his courtiers dare to assess. The multiple escalating tensions caused by the unrelenting COVID-19 pandemic is certainly apparent in many societies; but in Russia, it is aggravated by the crisis of a long-underfunded health care system and the failure in leadership caused by the protracted self-isolation of the presumably omnipotent guarantor of stability. Belarus is a striking example of the determination in society to stay the course of peaceful resistance to a regime’s attempts to terrorize it into submission. In Russia, however, the accumulated discontent is so combustible that even an utterly senseless, random terrorist attack could become a trigger for a sequence of violent explosions of anger—a recurrent feature of Russia’s tragic history.

Source: https://jamestown.org/program/new-wave-of-islamic-extremism-adds-to-putins-troubles/

The post New Wave of Islamic Extremism Adds to Putin’s Troubles first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Named by media as Khamzat Asimov, he was on a French watch list of people who could pose a threat to national security, the sources said.

Police shot dead the attacker in the busy Opéra district after he killed a man and injured four other people.

The Islamic State (IS) group said it was behind the attack.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted (in French): “France has once again paid in blood, but will not give an inch to the enemies of freedom.”

Later on Sunday, a judicial source said that a friend of the suspect had been detained for questioning in the eastern city of Strasbourg.

France has been on high alert following a series of attacks. More than 230 people have been killed by IS-inspired jihadists in the past three years.

What do we know about the attacker?

The suspect was not carrying any identification papers and has not yet been officially named.

Sources told French media the man had no criminal record and his parents had been held for questioning. He is believed to be a French citizen who was naturalised in 2010.

The man had been categorised as “fiche S”, the sources said.

This flags people considered to be a possible threat to national security and allows for surveillance without being a cause for arrest.

It includes those suspected of Islamist radicalisation but is wide-ranging and covers such groups as political extremists, gangsters and even football hooligans.

In 2015, then Prime Minister Manuel Valls said there were 20,000 names on the list, about half related to Islamist radicalisation.

This would be the first time an assailant of Chechen origin has carried out a terrorist attack in France.

France is home to some 30,000 people of Chechen origin.

Who are the victims?

Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said the man who died was a 29-year-old passer-by but gave no further details.

The four who were injured have also not yet been named. AFP news agency, citing sources, said a 34-year-old man and a 54-year-old woman were seriously hurt, while a 26-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man were slightly wounded.

One of the injured was a Chinese citizen, Chinese media have reported.

Mr Collomb said none had life-threatening injuries.

How did the events unfold?

The attacker began stabbing passers-by at about 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT).

Eyewitnesses described him as a young man with brown hair and a beard, dressed in black tracksuit trousers.

He shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) during the attack, witnesses said.

The man tried to enter several bars and restaurants but was blocked by people inside.

Police first tried to stop the assailant with a Taser before shooting him dead, nine minutes after he began the attack.

Jonathan, a waiter at a local restaurant, told AFP: “I saw him with a knife in his hand. He looked crazy.”

Image copyrightAFP

He said a woman, stabbed by the attacker, had run into into the restaurant bleeding. The assailant tried to follow her inside but was fended off and finally fled.

Two of the wounded in the attack are in a serious condition but do not have life-threatening injuries.

IS said it was behind the attack in a brief statement posted on its news outlet.

How are IS and Chechnya linked?

Chechnya is a republic in the North Caucasus region of southern Russia.

The republic declared independence in 1991 but three years later Russian troops were sent in to quash the movement, sparking a decade-long conflict.

• Chechnya – boiling point for conflict

Jihadist groups, including those aligned with IS, have long operated in the region.

The brothers behind the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, had Chechen links and Turkish authorities said a Chechen jihadist was the suspected organiser of an attack on Istanbul airport in 2016 that killed 45 people.

The jihadist, Akhmed Chatayev, a member of IS, was killed in a clash with special forces in the Georgian capital Tbilisi in 2017.

IS has actively recruited fighters in Chechnya, sending hundreds to conflicts in Syria and elsewhere.

A report from the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford in 2016 spoke of the fear that the fighters would return to carry out terrorist attacks at home.

Strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, who was nominated for the Chechen presidency by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2007 and is now firmly in control, has tried to halt IS recruitment but human rights activists say his measures have been brutal and have often helped radicalization.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44098615

The post Paris knife attack: Suspect ‘French citizen born in Russia’s Chechnya’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.