Free Republic

The 20th-anniversary summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, enshrined nothing less than a new geopolitical paradigm. Iran, now a full SCO member, was restored to its traditionally prominent Eurasian role, following the recent US$400 billion trade and development deal struck with China. Afghanistan was the main topic – with all players agreeing on the path ahead, as detailed in the Dushanbe Declaration. And all Eurasian integration paths are now converging, in unison, towards the new geopolitical – and geoeconomic – paradigm. Call it a multipolar development dynamic in synergy with China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The...

Chechen rebel leaders fear for their lives. They are now more cautious, and they plan to flee abroad, sources in the regional command center for the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus told RBC. This information was obtained from detained fighters. According to intelligence services, some warlords are waiting until federal troops complete the current stage of their counter-terrorist operation in the republic’s mountainous and forest area, and are preparing to flee outside Russia. Field commander Doka Umarov does not take part in rebel attacks now, for fear of being arrested. With a small group of militants, he migrates in...

Pockmarks from ball bearings used in the second suicide bomb scar a sidewalk at the Tushino airfield Monday. Graffiti on the wall reads: "We remember you!" and "Death to Chechnya." Several passers-by looking at the site of the second suicide bombing on Monday. President Vladimir Putin, speaking two days after suicide bombers killed 13 at a Moscow rock festival, said Monday that Russia will not give in to terrorism and promised to hunt down and destroy Chechen terrorist groups. "They must be plucked out of the basements and caves where they remain hiding and destroyed. Their main task is to...