Dmitry Shlapentokh: Kadyrov Makes Unlikely Overtures to Israel
[Dmitry Shlapentokh, PhD, is associate professor of history, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Indiana University South Bend. He is author of East Against West: The First Encounter - The Life of Themistocles, 2005.]
...Despite the official stance, an Islamist insurgency continues to rage in the North Caucasus region, particularly in Dagestan, Ingushetia and neighboring Chechnya, site of two separatist wars with Moscow since the mid-1990s.
An indication of this was an unlikely visit that [Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov recently made to Israel, while several high-positioned representatives of the North Caucasian elite visited Israel or engaged in personal contacts with the Israelis.
There could be several reasons for these visits. Israel is home to a substantial number of Jewish and non-Jewish residents from the Caucasus and the visitors could be providing their ethnic and cultural kin the opportunity for business deals. The trips could also have been for recreational purposes or for medical treatment in Israel.
For some, such as Kadyrov, there are other reasons. He has become increasingly assertive, behaving as if he were, indeed, a fully independent ruler. He has visited countries as diverse as Saudi Arabia and Jordan and patronizing the Israelis provided him with a good opportunity to demonstrate that he is, in fact, his own man, although not in name, and he can engage in foreign policy without having to defer to Moscow.
There is another twist. Kadyrov, despite his dedication to Islam, is foremost a Chechen nationalist who sees the jihadis who emerged as a major force in 2007 in the Caucasus as his and his country's mortal enemy. In this sense, he is a natural ally of Israel, which now faces a new form of anti-Semitism....
Read entire article at Asia Times
...Despite the official stance, an Islamist insurgency continues to rage in the North Caucasus region, particularly in Dagestan, Ingushetia and neighboring Chechnya, site of two separatist wars with Moscow since the mid-1990s.
An indication of this was an unlikely visit that [Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov recently made to Israel, while several high-positioned representatives of the North Caucasian elite visited Israel or engaged in personal contacts with the Israelis.
There could be several reasons for these visits. Israel is home to a substantial number of Jewish and non-Jewish residents from the Caucasus and the visitors could be providing their ethnic and cultural kin the opportunity for business deals. The trips could also have been for recreational purposes or for medical treatment in Israel.
For some, such as Kadyrov, there are other reasons. He has become increasingly assertive, behaving as if he were, indeed, a fully independent ruler. He has visited countries as diverse as Saudi Arabia and Jordan and patronizing the Israelis provided him with a good opportunity to demonstrate that he is, in fact, his own man, although not in name, and he can engage in foreign policy without having to defer to Moscow.
There is another twist. Kadyrov, despite his dedication to Islam, is foremost a Chechen nationalist who sees the jihadis who emerged as a major force in 2007 in the Caucasus as his and his country's mortal enemy. In this sense, he is a natural ally of Israel, which now faces a new form of anti-Semitism....