Russia: Dagestan: Terrorist bombing in security-vital republic threatens entirety of Russian Federation

Dagestan, the Russian Federation's largest republic in the North Caucusus (a huge region), had
experienced a brutal massacre in 1999, largely unknown until the video of the hideous event came to public l+t only last April. "This video, dated 1999 and filmed in Dagestan, shows the brutal execution of six Russian conscripts at the hands of Chechen rebels lead by Salautdin Temirbulatov." We've provided the link for readers who want to view the worst, altho with the warnings about the vid's graphic presentation of extreme violence, no one at refWr+t has yet viewed it. In any case, the leading republic for corruption, Dagestan, has experienced yet another act of extreme political violence:

This time, a suicide bomber rammed a car loaded with explosives into the gate of the military unit of the 136th Motor Rifle Brigade, which is deployed in Buinaksk. In this Dagestani town, 41 km away from the capital Makhachkala, terrorist attacks and acts of sabotage happen all too often. However, the latest incident is especially prominent in the chain of tragic events in Dagestan.

The target of the suicide bomber was the military unit of the Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, which makes up the 58th Army. This army was formed in 1995 especially for action in the Greater Caucasus. It participated in two Chechen campaigns, in operations in other North Caucasus republics and also in the five-day war with Georgia. Today it is Russia's main strike force in the country's most volatile region, a region that also has an unstable border with Georgia. The recent incident in Buinaksk has put this area back in the spotlight.

Additionally, Brown informs us that "Dagestan shares borders with Georgia and Azerbaijan, and Makhachkala is one of Russia's few year-round ice-free ports, so the republic is of vital importance for Russian national security."

Brown seeks to go behind the appearances, the news-reported but unanalyzed thread of violence woven into the warp and woof of Dagestani society, its diffuse causes. He shoud be heeded by the Dagestani expatriates who've made their fortunes elsewhere in the Russian Federation, but it shoud be heeded by the Russian gov itself in regard especially to its military project in the North Caucusus. But as in most such cases, the hoped-for heeding is doubtful.

-- Politicarp