The situation in Dagestan is chronically tense, and many analysts think that the civil war there continues. The conflict is accompanied by social Islamicization, as well as the growing influence of radical Islam and Salafi movements.
The spillover of Syria’s war into Lebanon and Iraq, combined with the widening involvement of Iran and Saudi Arabia, has spawned dire predictions of sectarian conflict engulfing the entire Middle East.
Today, the Russian leaders position themselves as defenders of Europe’s 19th century values which marked the continent’s heyday, against what they term as ultra-liberalism. The value gap between the EU and Russia has gained a new dimension.
Syria’s nearly three-year-old civil war has emboldened radical Salafis in Lebanon, creating an opening for Syrian jihadis to export their conflict.
Regional Shia support for the Assad regime is more geopolitical than religious in nature.
Political crisis, caused by the break between Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and religious leader Gülen, threatens the political future of Erdogan and the AKP party which has governed Turkey exclusively since 2002. It also undermines the image and central role of Turkey in the region.
Although religious differences and regional influences play a role, the rise of sectarianism in the Gulf is ultimately rooted in longstanding problems of governance and elite manipulation of Sunni-Shia identities.
The Somali terrorist group al-Shabab catapulted onto the international stage after its September attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi.
Two years after the Russian mass protests of 2011-2012, the democratic opposition has not been able to consolidate, while the Kremlin’s policy has become more repressive. Neither the society nor the authorities can definitively say whether such protests will be repeated.
It is time for Moscow to rethink its approach to Central Asia.