Some quick background reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurgency_in_the_North_Caucasus============================================
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5409248,00.htmlMoscow bombings underline the grim situation in the North Caucasus
People walk across the Moskva River
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Monday's attack killed at least 38 people and disrupted subway travel in Moscow
Russian security officials have linked Monday's two terrorist bombings in Moscow to the North Caucasus, and analysts in Russia are far from convinced the region has stabilized, as Moscow had claimed.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the two Moscow subway suicide bombings carried out on Monday morning, which killed at least 38 people and injured more than 60, but Russian government officials have blamed rebels in the Caucasus region.
Islamist separatists from Chechnya are believed to have been behind two deadly attacks in the Moscow subway six years ago, and Chechen rebels claimed responsibility for a fatal bombing on a Moscow-St. Petersburg train late last year.
The North Caucasus has been a thorn in Russia's side since the break-up of the Soviet Union.
In the beginning of 2010, the Kremlin decided to incorporate six of the seven North Caucasus republics into a single North Caucasus Federal District. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev named Alexander Khloponin as his federal representative in the region, as well as vice-premier of the Russian Federation.
portraits of people killed in Beslan massacreBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The Beslan massacre was one of Russia's worst terrorist attacks
The new "chief of the Caucasus" was meant to stabilize the region and improve its economy. But the post lacks the powers necessary to accomplish that, said Russian expert on international relations Sergei Markedonov, adding that Moscow has taken a completely false approach to the problem.
"No investor will come into a region where people are kidnapped, where both sides exercise violence and where corruption has reached violent levels," he said.
'Fear, betrayal, immorality and corruption'
The political situation in Chechnya is also far from stable, according to Svetlana Gannushkina from the Russian human rights organization Memorial.
The Russian government last year declared the situation in Chechnya to be "normalized." But the transfer of power to current Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has not even come close to accomplishing that goal, and the situation continues to be out of the government's control, Gannushkina said.
"It saddens me to hear officials speak of stability in connection with Chechnya and Kadyrov, when there is no stability in Chechnya," she said. "Only fear, betrayal, immorality and corruption rule there."
Svetlana GannushkinaBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Gannushkina says Russia lacks a policy toward North Caucasus
The region has also seen a growing radical Islamist movement, culminating in the 2004 Beslan hostage crisis, in which more than 330 people were killed, said Alexander Rahr, Russia expert with the German Council on Foreign Relations.
"I believe that that the Islamist terrorists could possibly be supporting themselves with structures like al-Qaida, because someone has to supply the weapons and the necessary logistical support," he told German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.
Little hope for peace
Political expert Viktor Mizin from the Institute of Strategic Assessment in Moscow believes the conflict in the Caucasus could last much longer, and that "only when Russia changes its attitude will we be able to see how the Caucasus can be governed."
Mizin said he expected that, after a period of time, Khloponin will leave his current position and be given a high-ranking post in the Kremlin, after which Moscow will once again break up the North Caucasus Federal District.
Svetlana Gannushkina also sees little chance of peace in the North Caucasus.
"Russia does not even have a North Caucasus policy," she said. Certain measures are being taken "with the goal of salvaging the empire at any price, and even in some cases rebuilding it."
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Now, with all of that consumed, I stand with Lew. I usually do. The violence is wrong.
Secession Is the Key to Peace
