Happy Friday! A couple of weeks ago, Kabardino-Balkaria was back in the news for all the wrong reasons, after two unidentified men attacked police officers in Nalchik. The incident left one attacker dead, another wounded and in detention, and one civilian and one police officer injured. The head of Kabarbino-Balkaria, Kazbek Kokov, vowed that there would be "no mercy" for those who "violate the constitutional order." The incident is the latest reminder of the persistent instability that...
16 days ago • 3 min read
Happy Thursday! I’m dropping into your inbox for a second time this week, which I hope you don’t mind! Adam Kadyrov, the son of Chechen leader Ramzan, just got married in a lavish three-day ceremony, so I thought I’d mark the occasion with some reflection on the Kadyrovs’ strategic use of marriage. With that in mind, here’s what you can expect in this issue: Adam Kadyrov takes centre stage Male-ordered bride Marriage as political strategy Interpreting network consolidation in Chechnya Click...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Greetings! Is the world treating you well this week? I hope your work is inspiring and you’re managing to find time away from the office too! I delivered a big project last week — alas, one of the many interesting things I work on that I’m not at liberty to share publicly — and have had the luxury of a few days to catch up on things. These windows never last long, but I try to make the most of them while they’re here! In this week’s newsletter, I want to flesh out some ideas about the Chechen...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
Happy Friday! I hope your week has been filled with joy. It’s muggy where I am, which probably means — since my part of the world ain’t exactly renowned for its climate — it’s hot where you are too. Dr Mark prescribes lots of ice cream. Frankly, no matter what the weather! I’m someone who likes a big project. Or seven. I’m also someone who feels a little lost without one. Publishing my book therefore left a bit of a vacuum: I need something big to work towards, something that inspires and...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Hello and welcome back! Today, I want to wrap up my mini-series on ‘how to start an insurgency.’ This week, the focus is oriented towards how small groups can take advantage of state weakness and, over time, coalesce into a more sustained form of resistance. There will be some overlap with the dynamics already discussed in the series, but the macro processes are very different. And this time — no points for guessing! — it will be Dagestan that takes centre stage. As such, this week, I’ll look...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Happy Friday! Today, I'm continuing my mini-series on 'how to start an insurgency,' looking at lessons and mistakes from the North Caucasus' recent past. The theme this week is the radicalisation of movements – and it's Kabardino-Balkaria that provides our case study. With that in mind, here's what you can expect this week: The transformation from an overt to covert movement What happens when you cut off peaceful avenues of protest The lessons Russia refuses to learn View this post in your...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Welcome back! I hope this week has been a festival of joy for you. Or, at the very least, a small gathering of joy. If not, why not?! For my part, after a couple of slightly more relaxed weeks, I’m back on the metaphorical treadmill, working hard on client projects. And, in my spare time, I’ve been thinking a lot about Chechen state-building — as you do. More will follow on that in due course… This week, however, I want to continue my mini-series on ‘how to start an insurgency’, asking how...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
Happy Friday! Whenever terrorist attacks occur, people want to know what they mean. Often, when the North Caucasus is involved, they want to know whether a particular event heralds a return to full-blown insurgency or something else that threatens Russia’s control over the region. Such questions are frustratingly hard to answer, even for someone who has spent as long studying the region as I have (see my earlier post about the folly of prediction). But one thing we can do is look back on...
2 months ago • 4 min read
Happy Friday! This week is book launch week: The Caucasus Emirate: Ideology, identity, and insurgency in Russia’s North Caucasus hit the shelves on Tuesday! To mark the end of a very long journey to publication, today I've got one last post exploring some of the key ideas of the book (which you can buy here!). Then, next week, I should be kicking off a mini-series on how to start an insurgency, drawing lessons from Russia's past. With that in mind, here's what you can expect this week:...
2 months ago • 4 min read