Terrorism in Russia

It isn't clear what motivated the killers in San Bernardino yesterday. Terrorism is certainly a leading candidate given what little we know about them. President Obama was quick to repeat his call for stricter gun control measures, saying these incidents don't happen with such frequency in other countries. If it was terrorism the President is clearly wrong. It is worse in Russia, much worse. Walter Laqueur, a prominent historian who has written extensively about Russia, says 50-60 people are killed every month in terrorist attacks in the province of Dagestan alone. Attacks are far from unusual in other parts of Russia. In 1999 somebody bombed residential buildings in Moscow, Buynaksk, and Volgodonsk. In 2002 130 people were killed in a botched rescue attempt of hostages held in a Moscow theater. And who can forget the 330 people, mostly school children, killed in 2004 in another botched rescue attempt in Beslan. In comparison such incidents are rare in the United States. There are twenty million Muslims in Russia and the number is growing while the population of ethnic Russians is in decline. Mr. Laqueur doesn't think Muslims will be a majority anytime soon but with a steady influx of firebrand preachers, many of them trained in Saudi Arabia, the prospect is unsettling. The strategy of Mutual Assured Destruction which kept the Cold War cold might not work with a deranged fanatic in charge of Russia's nuclear stock pile. Even a sizable discontented minority has the potential to destabilize the country if the central government begins to lose its grip. With economic conditions deteriorating that could happen. Muslims aren't new to Russia. Islam came to the Tatars centuries ago. But the terrorism really only dates to the breakup of the Soviet Union. The wars in Chechnya were initially about separatism but the brutality exhibited on both sides spawned an ethnic hatred that will likely prove lasting. It has gotten new vigor with the example of first the Taliban, then Al Qaeda and now the Islamic State. By now the suicide bombings and mass shootings have taken on a life of their own. If we aren't careful it could happen here. The San Bernardino shooters included an American born Muslim and his Saudi wife. The Boston Marathon bombers were Americans. The Ft. Hood assassin was an Army psychiatrist. But with a population of more than three million American Muslims, terrorism isn't wide spread, not yet. And of all the countries with large and growing Muslim minorities we probably have the best chance at keeping it that way. American Muslims are well integrated. In a 2011 Pew Research Center poll 82% of Muslims surveyed said they are content with their lives. Their income levels are about that of the general population. They express positive feelings about the country. They consider themselves American. The Muslims I know want no part of Radical Islam. (They hate that phrase.)