Friday, August 16, 2013

How Real Is The Terrorist Threat For The Sochi 2014 Olympics

Sochi 2014: The Terrorist Threat -- Andrew S. Bowen, National Interest

There’s been no shortage of political controversy surrounding the upcoming Sochi Winter Olympic Games. But the tensions are obscuring a potentially vitally important security issue: Could the Sochi 2014 Games become another Olympics where terrorists exploit it to propagate their political views?

In 1972, the Olympic spirit of peace and international cooperation was shattered with the murder of eleven Israeli athletes by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September. Aiming for the release of prisoners held in Israeli and German jails, Black September used the Munich games to call attention to the demands for a Palestinian state. Today the justified fear is that the Caucasus Emirate—Russia’s own Islamist terrorist organization seeking to create a caliphate throughout the North Caucasus and certain parts of Russia—will attack the Olympics to bolster its standing and visibility.

Read more ....

My Comment: Being one whose nationality is Russian .... I know that these threats are very real. And while I do expect security for the Olympics to to be very tight .... I am also expecting even more anti-counterinsurgency and counter-terrorism operations in the Caucasus starting at the end of this summer. In short .... the next few months are going to be "hot and dangerous" for Islamic militants in the Caucasus.

No comments: