ISIL's Chechen leadership pushing pan-Turania by Wayne Madsen

ISIL's Chechen leadership pushing pan-Turania

by Wayne Madsen
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) Chechen military leadership has its own agenda apart from that of the takfiri jihadists who have joined ISIL's ranks to wage holy war on anyone who does not submit to the group's self-proclaimed caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Under John Brennan, the Central Intelligence Agency has made common cause with ISIL's "Chechen Legion," as it is known, to provide not only military muscle for ISIL against the Syrian government of President Bashar al Assad but also to assist the mercenary battalions of Ukrainian-Israeli oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky against the Russian-speaking separatist governments of Lugansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. 

The links between ISIL's Chechen Legion and Kolomoisky's Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion are clear. The leader of the Dudayev Battalion, Adam Osmayev, was arrested by Ukrainian special forces in Odessa in February 2012 for trying to assassinate Vladimir Putin. Osmayev traveled to Ukraine from the United Arab Emirates and through Turkey on a bogus passport supplied by the CIA. Osmayev, who graduated from an elite English boarding school in the Cotswolds, was part of the Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus army led by Chechen terrorist Doku Umarov, who is wanted by Russia for a series of deadly terrorist attacks in the country. Osmayev, who was jailed by the Ukrainian government for the attempted assassination of Putin, was released by the fascist-Zionist putschist regime in a deal said to be worked out between the Ukrainian SBU security service and the CIA. The quid pro quo was that Osmayev would rally Chechen exiles from Britain, Denmark, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar to fight against the Russian in eastern Ukraine and Assad in Syria.

The CIA's stations in Copenhagen, London, and Istanbul have been active in maintaining close liaison with the Chechen exile communities and their recruiting arms for battle in Ukraine, Syria, and Iraq.

Osmayev is now the number one suspect in hiring the contract assassins who killed Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in Moscow. The operation, which was known to Osmayev's CIA handlers, was to embarrass Putin and put further political pressure on him in the hopes that "regime change" would follow in Russia. With the evidence linking Nemtsov's assassination to Osmayev, Kiev, and the CIA, the plan has badly backfired on Langley. Even some congressional Republicans, including Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California, are now questioning whether it is wise for the Pentagon to arm a Ukrainian army rife with mercenaries and terrorist elements like Osmayev's Chechen Legion and Dudayev Battalion.

 
Osmayev after his capture in Odessa in 2012 [left]. Osmayev's laptop contained footage of Putin's motorcade in Moscow [right].Osmayev has stated that he wants to be the president of a future independent Chechnya. Herein lies the main reason why Osmayev and his Chechen Legion are receiving support from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. The Turks see the Chechen Legion as the vanguard for a future pan-Turanian empire encompassing not only Turkey but also Chechnya, Azerbaijan, the rest of the Caucasus, and stretching all the way to Chinese Turkestan. The Saudis and Qataris see the Chechens as a destabilization army that can help lead jihadist forces to overthrow the secular governments of the former Soviet republics of central Asia and open these countries up to Islamic regimes. In either case, Brennan has ordered the CIA to cooperate with the Chechen Legion and the Dudayev Battalion, whether they are found on the battlefields of the Donbass in eastern Ukraine or leading jihadist recruits in Syria and Iraq.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and other neo-conservatives inside the Obama administration tacitly support Saudi and Turkish assistance to ISIL to prevent Iran's armed forces from assisting the Iraqi Shi'a-dominated government from seizing Iraqi territory currently held by Iraq. The Iraqi government has discovered British aircraft delivering weapons to ISIL guerrillas in the country, the U.S. airdropping weapons to ISIL in Anbar province and Iraqi Kurdistan, and Israeli Defense Force commandos providing weapons to ISIL in western Iraq. Turkey and Israel have also directly provided ISIL weapons in Syria. Iran's armed forces, along with Iraqi forces, are currently battling ISIL for control of Tikrit, the birthplace of Saddam Hussein. Although the Obama administration claims it is supporting Baghdad against ISIL, the CIA is providing weapons and assistance to the group through the Chechen Legionnaires.

Recently, a leader of the Chechen militant cell in Istanbul, Kaim Saduev, died after eating some wild garlic sent from Chechnya. The TurkishHumanitarian Relief Foundation (İHH), the same group that sponsored theMavi Marmara aid flotilla to Gaza that was attacked by Israeli forces, claims that the Russian security service carried out the hit on Saduev just as it claimed that the Russians assassinated Medet Unlu, the honorary counsel in Ankara of the "Chechen Republic of Ichkeria," the self-proclaimed Chechen independent state, in May 2012. There is also evidence that the CIA has facilitated the recruitment in Istanbul of Uzbeks, Ingush, and Tatars for the Chechen Legion. At any rate, Istanbul has not only become a chief recruitment center for the Chechen Legion but it has also served as a way station for jihadist recruits on their way to join ISIL, Al Qaeda, Jabhat al-Nusra, Khorasan Group, and "Free Syrian Army" ranks in Syria and Iraq.

The Chechen Legion is also active in fomenting dissent in Russia's Dagestan republic, which neighbors Chechnya. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, accused of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombing along with his brother Dzokhar Tsarnaev (named after the first Chechen Republic president, Dzhokhar Dudayev for whom the Dudayev Battalion is also named), served as a liaison between CIA fronts like the Caucasus Fund of Georgia and Dagestan radical imam Abu Dudzhan, killed in a fight with Russian security in 2012. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with Boston police after the marathon bombing and his brother is currently on trial for the attack.

Chinese intelligence is also aware that Chechen Legionnaires have been meeting with exiled Uighurs from Chinese Turkestan in Istanbul and Ankara. The Chinese have worked with the Russians to identify the Chechen support networks for the Uighurs and the CIA's fingerprints on the operations.


A 1941 Turkish map of pan-Turania. The current Turkish government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan is supporting the Chechen Legion that currently directs ISIL's military operations in Syria and Iraq.

Although neo-Nazis from Sweden, Poland, and Germany have volunteered to fight for the Kiev regime as part of Kolomoisky's Azov Battalion, Spanish volunteers who have joined the Russian-speaking rebels in Donbass have been arrested by the Spanish authorities. The Spanish volunteers for the Donbass have made common cause with the Donbass separatists because the Chechen Legionnaires and their Turkish pan-Turanian interlocutors have targeted Spain's Andalusia province as a future part of a restored pan-Turkic state which will include lands formerly held by Muslim conquerors, including southern Spain. Greek volunteers have joined the Donbass forces for the same reason: the Chechens spearhead a force that intends to subjugate a large portion of Greece under a pan-Turkic Muslim state.

ISIL and Kiev are twin products of Brennan's CIA and, once again, Langley has shown its ability to work against the interests of the American people in far-flung parts of the world.

Russia, Chechnia and the Ukraine - the *choice* to keep hoping for the impossible - THE VINEYARD OF THE SAKER - A BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF THE VINEYARD

MONDAY, MAY 26, 2014

Russia, Chechnia and the Ukraine - the *choice* to keep hoping for the impossible

As you probably know, the two Russian journalists who worked for the LifeNews, Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko, were finally freed and brought back home via Grozny in Chechnia.  You might even have heard that the President of Chechnia, Ramzan Kadyrov, played a special role in their liberation.  I think that the importance of this event might be under-estimated by many observers and I want to briefly comment on that.

It all really began in Crimea where, before the operation of the Russian Polite Armed Men in Green (PAMG), when there were some very serious tensions between the various parties including the Muslim Tatars.  At that time, Ramzan Kadyrov for the first time made a statement from faraway Grozny saying that he will not tolerate any "abuses against the Chechen" minority in Crimea.  Since there are not all that many Chechens in Crimea and since soon thereafter PAMG solved the problem anyway, this statement was rapidly forgotten.  But think again, besides being a statement in support of the Chechens in Crimea, who was that statement directed against?  Clearly, the threatened party was not the pro-Russian one, but the pro-Ukrainian forces, including those Tatars (mainly linked to Turkey) who had been manipulated by the USA to take action against the pro-Russian population of Crimea.  It is now clear that what happened in this instance is that Kadyrov did openly say that which Putin could not (for obvious political reasons).  In the end, it was Putin who eventually engaged his PAMG, but it was Kadyrov who had made the threat.

This time again, Kadyrov got involved by issuing an amazing statement which most commentators overlooked.  Here is what he said about the two kidnapped reporters:

The Ukraine's leadership continues to use Fascist methods. We demand the immediate release of Sidyakin and Saychenko. If the folks in Kiev don't come back to their senses and do not let these journalists go back home, we will not stand by in silence and watch as mock them, for them to their knees and keep them with bags on their heads. We have the forces and the capabilities to influence those who are holding these journalists in captivity. I therefore advise them to free these journalists or otherwise we will have resort to some tough actions.

I don't know about you, but when I read that I went "wow!".  There is a Chechen President (who is also and-ex warlord) who is clearly giving the Ukies an ultimatum which they better not ignore.  They didn't.

During 4 days of secret negotiations a group of Chechen negotiators sent by Kadyrov flew to Kiev in his personal jet and had some very frank conversations with the right people in Kiev.  The Chechens probably used the typical mix of threats and bribes to prevail and, as a direct result of this operation, the two reporters were freed.

What is very interesting, is that there is mounting evidence that Putin was involved all along even though he never said a word about it.  First, it is well know that Putin is personally very close to Kadyrov and that a strong friendship binds these two men who have immense respect for each other.  But now we can also make sense of a comment made by Putin who declared that the kidnapped journalists were kept in a "zindan" (a prison hole in the ground), something which he apparently learned through Kadyrov's people in Kiev.  Finally, one has to know Kadrov's quasi obsession in stressing at every step that he is always acting exclusively with the full support of the Kremlin to completely exclude the possibility of a unilateral action on Kadyrov's side.

This time again, Kadyrov said that which Putin could not say.

It was also interesting for me to hear the testimony of the two reporters who told that they understood that something dramatic had changed in their condition when they heard a voice pick up the phone and say "salaam aleikum".  Soon thereafter their handcuffs were taken off and they were told "take off the hood off your heads, you are safe now, you are under the protection of the President of Chechnia".

Why do I consider this so important?

Because the image of Chechnia and the Chechens is radically changing in Russia.  The media openly calls Kadyrov a hero and Russian citizens rejoice when they hear the Islamic "salaam aleikum" because they know that they are now safe.  This is huge!  What a change from only 10 years ago.

Kadyrov in reality plays a role which is a much bigger one than "just" the President of Chechnia (and a hugely successful one at that!).  He is clearly Putin's "ally number 1", especially in security matters, and the two men clearly work closely together as a kind of "tag team".  This kind of special role does a lot to restore the pride of the Chechen people and it also does a lot to change the terrible image many Russians had of Chechens as a result of the horrors of the time when Chechnia was ruled by psychopathic Wahabis.  Instead of being "terrorist barbarians" the Chechens are now increasingly seen as tough and reliable allies of Russia and of the Russian President.

As for the Chechens, they are still feared, but this time outside Russia.  During the 08.08.08 war the Georgians ran as fast as they could as soon as they heard that the Chechen battalion had arrived.  Nowadays, the Ukraine is full of rumors that Chechens have arrived to support the Donetsk and Lugansk republics.  To my knowlege this has not happened (yet?) and apparently there is some confusion between a "Vostok battalion" (Eastern battalion) in the Ukraine and the Chechen "Vostok battalion" which saw action in 08.08.08.  The former is composed of local volunteers from the Donbass while the latter is now formally part of the 291st Motor-Rifle regiment of the 42nd Guard Motor-Rifle Division of the Russian armed forces.  But I would not put it past Kadyrov to send in Chechen special forces as "volunteers" into the Donbass if things get really ugly there. Of course,  the key thing would be to get Putin's go ahead for such a move.

I find that absolutely remarkable.  By 2000 Chechnia was in ruins, a huge amount of Chechens had been killed, Grozny was was completely destroyed and plans were made to abandon the city and build a new capital elsewhere.  Almost all western experts were unanimous in their conclusion that the guerrilla war and terrorism operations would never stop and that Chechnia would become a "constantly bleeding wound in the soft underbelly of Russia" or some equally stupid cliche.  Now, 14 years later, Grozny is a superb city, traditional Islam has completely replaced Wahabism, Chechen terrorists and warlords have all been eliminated one by one, Chechnia has a very low crime rate, French actor Gerard Depardieu has an apartment in downtown Grozny, Russians increasingly see Chechens as their toughest and most dependable allies and the enemies of Russia literally tremble in fear at the possibility that "the Chechens might come".  Who could have ever imagined that?!

Will that be enough to heal the wounds of the past?

I don't know for sure, but I fervently hope so.  For one thing I will always blame the regime of Eltsin and his Jewish oligarchs more than Dudaev and his Chechen followers for the first Chechen war.  True, what the Chechens did during and after that war was simply beyond barbaric and I fully supported the 2nd Chechen war in which Russia simply did what had to be done (and did so brilliantly).  So I believe that both sides share the guilt and the pain of what happened.  Still, Russia is so much bigger and more powerful that the Chechens who had no chance as soon as the Russian people supported the military action (which was not the case in the first Chechen war) and I believe that Akhmad Kadyrov had the wisdom to see that this war would end up in the quasi-total elimination of the Chechen people and that it had to be stopped.  I think that Putin also understood this and that he believed that such an outcome would also be a disaster for Russia.  So these two men did the unthinkable and stopped a war which was about to turn into a total war until one side would wipe out the other.  It is as easy for me to write these terrible words as it is for you to read them.  But think about it, we are truly talking about an unspeakable horror which almost happened.  And the murder of Akhmad Kadyrov could have made this outcome inevitable had it not been for his son Ramzan who replaced his father and did an absolutely brilliant job to make his dream come true: Chechnia today is both Islamic and free.  It has a huge degree of autonomy, but it also is the most faithful and strongest ally of the Russian President.  I would even say that Chechnia is the single most important factor of stability in the entire Caucasus region.

I am under no illusion about the possibility of a "Ukrainian Kadyrov" appearing on the world scene anytime soon.  But if such a miracle could happen in Chechnia, I want to at least hopethat it is possible in a future Ukraine, one freed from oligarchs and Nazis as much as Chechnia is now Wahabi-free.

Hope dies last and this is a hope I simply want to keep in my heart, no matter how naive it might seem to the "realists" out there.  I don't want to believe that a "Banderastan" can survive in what is a Christian holy land for which literally millions of people died to keep in Orthodox and free.  Right now the picture out of the Ukraine is a terrible one.  But Chechnia in 2000 was even worse.  So I will keep hoping.

The Saker