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Radical Islam Behind Bombings in Volgograd
(Wall Street Journal) Ilan Berman - In April 2009, Vladimir Putin publicly declared his government's struggle against radical Islam a mission accomplished. Yet Islamic militants have staged a savage comeback. Spearheading the violence has been the Caucasus Emirate, a ruthless terrorist group which seeks "the liberation of the Caucasus" as a prelude to the creation of a regional caliphate in Central Asia. Extreme fundamentalism is also on the rise in Russia's heartland, such as Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, both majority-Muslim republics near the Ural Mountains. Motorcades bearing the black banners of jihad are now a regular occurrence on the streets of cities in those regions. The recent bombings in Volgograd have focused world attention on the looming security challenge to the winter Olympics that begin on Feb. 7 in Sochi, 400 miles from Volgograd. Over the summer, Doku Umarov, the emir of the Caucasus Emirate, publicly vowed to attack what he has termed the "satanic" games. The writer is vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council.