Russia 'kills 8 ISIS militants' in Caucasus raid

[KoKo]

Eight militants who recently became part of Islamic State (ISIL) terrorist organization were killed by Russian security forces in Ingushetia.
© Sputnik/ Evgeny Biyatov
Suspected ISIL Recruiters Detained Near Moscow
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia’s security forces killed eight suspected Islamic State (ISIL) militants in the north Caucasus region of Ingushetia, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee announced Sunday.

"According to security forces information, the neutralized militants recently swore allegiance and became part of the Islamic State international terrorist organization," the committee said.

A suspected mastermind of the December 2014 attacks on the Chechen capital city of Grozny, Adam Tagilov, was identified among those killed.

The counter-terrorism agency said it found ready-to-use improvised explosive devices and over 2,000 rounds during the raid.
North Caucasus Terrorist Leaders Killed in Special Operation in Dagestan
The Federal Security Service (FSB) said in April the North Caucasus extremist group, dubbed "Imarat Kavkaz," had allied itself with the ISIL. Subsequent media reports and video footage appeared to corroborate the FSB.

Imarat Kavkaz is a militant Islamist organization pursuing the creation of an independent caliphate in Russia's Muslim-dominated North Caucasus.

The FSB estimates up to 1,700 militants from Russia may be fighting within ISIL ranks in Syria and Iraq, where the extremist group has captured vast territories in the past year.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/russia/20150802/1025321722.html#ixzz3hm1lSb9K

[uhnope]

1. Is OK when Russia do

[KoKo]

2. ahhh....haaaa....

's

[independentpiney]

3. So you support ISIS attacks in Russia

Disgusting, but not a surprise.

[uhnope]

4. wow--accusations of supporting ISIS. A new low for the Putinistas on DU

But what else can be expected from a -- let's say -- volunteer defender of Putin that mocks anyone who posts about the fascist, homophobic regime in Russia

[independentpiney]

6. Straight to crying Putinista ,eh ? Again not surprised coming from you.

I find your jingoism surpassed only by your ignorance. For example, your ignorance in thinking that Ukraine and other Eastern European countries or cultures are less homophobic. I don't believe I've ever mocked you or anyone else on this board, and challenge you to produce a link . Although you seem to have no problem trying to mock anyone who disagrees with your armchair warrior, John Bircher level russo phobia with your juvenile whine of 'Putinsita'.

[uhnope]

7. it figures that in your world anyone who opposes Putin must be a Bircher

So why don't you tell us how you really feel about the homophobic anti-democracy that Putin has set up?

[independentpiney]

8. Say's the boy who cries Putinista. And where's those links to where I've mocked you?

Can't find any and so you throw out a silly straw man instead.

[uhnope]

9. what's the matter? What's so hard about saying what you think

of Putin? Come on. Try.

[independentpiney]

10. I think you conflate Putin and Russia

As a liberal and anti-authoritarian I find Putin's domestic policies that get western press exposure reprehensible. I wouldn't want to live in Putin's Russia anymore than I'd have wanted to live under the Soviets or the Tzar's or whoever succeeds Putin. Russia has always had authoritarian governments and most Russians even if not ok with it, get on with their lives in spite of it. That's unlikely to change post-Putin, liberal democracy just isn't in the cards. Specifically regarding the gay propaganda law I think it was a bone to the Orthodox church and reflects the gay = pedophile ignorance and homophobia you'll still find throughout Russia and Eastern Europe. Ukraine would have a similar law on the books, it was passed by the Rada but not signed off on, were it not for negative impact on Western European aid. And the overall environment for lgbt people is no safer in Ukraine than it is in Russia. What small amount of additional legal protections might be on the books in Ukraine are worthless when the cops look the other way and no one will prosecute. It's a Slavic cultural problem, not a Putin or exclusively Russian problem. Some of your posts give the impression you think Ukraine moved away from Russia in part in protest of anti- lgbt discrimination.

Unlike you, I can understand that like any nation Russia has legitimate defensive concerns. which in their case based on long history includes wanting a buffer of at the least neutral states between themselves and potentially hostile rival powers.Eastward expansion of NATO into the former Warsaw pact was unnecessary in my opinion and from a Russian perspective clearly provocative.
Crimea, I think it should have returned to Russia as an autonomous region when the USSR dissolved. Sevastopol is too strategically important to Russia to have been left with a newly independent former soviet state it had only been attached to for strictly administrative purposes in the 1950s. Crimea had never been Ukrainian historically and is not culturally, and would never had been made a part of Ukraine if the dissolution of the USSR had seemed even remotely possible. That Russia took it back when Ukraine started turning hostile shouldn't have surprised or outraged anyone. And I would bet deep in the halls of power it didn't. Any Russian president would have taken the same action based on vital national interest.

Nato expansion along with encouragement from western neocons and warhawks have emboldened Ukraine and to a lesser extent some other former Soviet bloc countries politicians to poke the bear, causing a cycle of escalation. Everyone draws their line in the sand that cant' be crossed without provoking a military response, and considering this is happening on Russia's doorstep and in their long standing sphere of influence, I think theirs must be getting pretty close.

Serious question, where is your line in the sand? Where do you start WWIII? Donetsk, a Baltic incursion? What if it had been provoked, like Serbia did to Austro-Hungary in 1914?

[uhnope]

11. Thank you for your thoughtful reply

At least we agree on the essentially fascist nature of what Putin is doing in Russia.

I don't conflate Putin and Russia--I have Russian friends and tend to like the Russians I meet more than average. I think it's very sad what is happening to Russia, and how it's resulting in the usual brain drain (and drain of people who really care about freedom and can find a way to leave). I think that some people who accuse me of that conflation are the ones who are doing the conflating--they have a defensive and sympathetic outlook toward Russia, and react accordingly to negative news about Putin.

You have a blind spot and are less than objective on several other points. It's appalling to accuse Ukraine of "poking the bear" and "being hostile" for their internal politics and their internal actions that ousted an obvious Russian puppet from their government. It's appalling because Russia waged war on, invaded and occupied Ukraine over it. I can't believe any reasonable "liberal" person would minimize that. You show extreme bias by saying that whole region is basically Russia. I think if this were 1968 you'd be rationalizing the Russian/Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia by say Prague "poked the bear" and that it's all part of the Slavic world.

I agree that NATO expansion was questionable, but Putin has sure made it look like a good idea, retroactively. I also believe that the reset button that Obama offered Putin was a sincere offer, and Putin is the one who rejected joining the world community and chose instead to use conflict as a tool in internal Russian politics as part of being an insular, corrupt, authoritarian strongman.

One thing that I do believe it that the US and the West wanted Russia to become a normal, more democratic trading partner and does not have designs on destroying Russia or any such nonsense.

We also agree that the whole region has issues with homophobia, but it's also a stretch to compare a homophobic law proposal that did not pass in Ukraine with the coercive use of homophobic laws by Putin's government in Russia.

In the end, it is a bit amusing that you think I am slamming all of Russia when I slam Putin, but you are the one who writes "Russia has always had authoritarian governments...That's unlikely to change post-Putin, liberal democracy just isn't in the cards." That's a harsher assessment of Russia than any I've ever offered, but I would have to agree with you again. The question is how extreme and aggressive will the authoritarianism get under Putin, and will he continue with the clearly fascist "New Russia" ideas of invading sovereign countries on Russia's borders.