"Omar the Chechen," a top-ranking ISIS commander apparently killed in a US air-strike in Syria, is said to have been trained by the Pentagon when he fought the Russians in Georgia.
In a claim convenient to Russian war propaganda, a group of Tatars calling themselves the Crimean Jamaat reportedly pledged loyalty to Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's Syrian franchise.
Over the past two months, the ISIS international franchise has made gains from West Africa to the Indian subcontinent, with militants in several countries proclaiming for the "caliphate."
The Russian policy establishment is hypothesizing an ISIS hand in the bloody attack by Chechen insurgents in Grozny—and implying that the West is in turn behind ISIS.
With the open encouragement of Putin, separatists in eastern Ukraine are reviving the concept of "Novorossiya" (New Russia)—a dangerous precedent for revanchist claims.
With the Winter Olympics underway in Sochi, Russian special forces troops have killed several suspected militants in a series of raids in Dagestan, just across the Caucasus.
The European Court for Human Rights ruled that Russia must pay $2.6 million, to the families of 36 Chechen men who disappeared between 2000 and 2006.
In the wake of the Volgograd terror blasts, Putin is preparing a new offensive against Chechen insurgents seeking to rebuild the 19th century "Caucasus Emirate."
Glenn Greenwald called out the New York Times for putting the word "terrorism" in "scare quotes" after a Damascus blast—but does exactly that regarding the Boston blasts!
Voices on the left seek to play down jihadist involvement in the Chechen struggle, while the neocon right plays it up—ironically in line with Moscow's propaganda.
The Kavkaz Center, voice of the Chechen mujahedeen, issued a statement suggesting that the suspects in the Boston attacks were framed in a plot to discredit their struggle.
The Internet conspiranoia crowd, led by the indefatigable Alex Jones, have jumped on the Boston attack in record time, even faster than they did with the Newtown massacre.
