Free Republic

For centuries, the small Muslim country has been subject to a series of Russian occupations. Expect Vladimir Putin to use the marathon bombing to further rationalize Moscow's brutal rule. Breaking reports indicate that the alleged perpetrators of the horrific Boston Marathon terrorist attack were born in Chechnya. This Russian-occupied, landlocked Muslim nation of 1.3 million is the center of a Russian war that has taken the lives of more than 200,000 people over the last two decades. It is also one of the world's most poorly understood conflict zones. On social networking profiles, the Boston bombers reveal themselves as supporters...

SNIPPET: "In late June, a day or two after the start of the large-scale federal Russian military operation in Chechnya and Ingushetia, one of Dokka Umarov’s commanders – a man named Abdul-Malik – contacted the North Caucasus service of Radio Svoboda. He said that a large unit of Kadyrov’s police, together with Russian soldiers, were combing an area of mountain and forest in the vicinity of Shali. He added that a mujahedin detachment of 20 men had left the mountains and gone down to the plain. The task of each of these volunteers – each man had taken the decision...