Russia's Dagestan Region Is On The Verge Of All Out Civil War

Anarchy In Dagestan: Islamists Gain Upper Hand In Russian Republic -- Spiegel Online

Nowhere in Russia is the situation so explosive as in the autonomous republic of Dagestan. An ongoing Islamist insurgency has plunged the corruption-plagued region into near civil war. Some high-ranking Russian officials believe it will take years to defeat the extremists, if it can be done at all.

An old man is trudging home through the narrow, dusty streets of Gubden, carrying a last memento of his murdered son in the pocket of his trousers. The photo of his eldest son, which the man has stored on his mobile phone, shows a gaping hole next to his left eye. "They killed him when he could no longer defend himself," says the man, whose name is Magomedshapi Vagabov.

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My Comment: My relatives in Russia who understand COIN and and have had experience in fighting insurgencies (Afghanistan, Chechnya) tell me that this low intensity war is getting worse, and that Russian security forces are not even close to having a handle it on it. I suspect that they are probably right, and Spiegel is onto this story with this revealing post.