Dagestan Russian where the father lives has been a scene of low-level Islamic insurgency since 1990s

[snagglepuss]

It is also where the most autocrious slow beheading of 6 Russian conscripts by a Chechen rebel group which was filmed.


http://robertlindsay.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/no-mercy-for-russians-six-russian-conscripts-video/




According to International Crisis Group, the militant Islamist organization Shariat Jamaat is responsible for much of the violence. Much of the tension is rooted in an internal Islamic conflict between traditional Sufi groups advocating secular government and more recently introduced Salafist teachers preaching the implementation of Sharia law in Dagestan.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagestan

[leveymg]

1. It's also ground-zero for some of the most intense covert operations in the Post Cold War era.

Including a still burgeoning nuclear weapons materials trade and intrigue over oil pipelines. Osama bin laden and US intelligence both worked there for a while together.