1/2010 Ascribing Stance: Making Friends and Enemies in Imperial Contexts

Виртуальный джихад в XXI веке: на примере Имарата Кавказ

Александр Кныш

1/2010

Материал публикуется на английском (на английской части сайта)

SUMMARY:

Настоящая статья посвящена относительно недавней (2007 г.) декларации о создании исламистскими вооруженными формированиями (моджахедами) Имарата Кавказ. Создание Имарата Кавказ произошло в контексте джихада против России, который охватил несколько республик Северного Кавказа. Автор анализирует практические причины и идеологические составляющие, которые повлекли создание новой политической организации. Имарат Кавказ существует как виртуальная организация. Веб-сайт kavkazcentre.com является главным органом этой организации, а также инструментом для рекрутинга. Создание моджахедами Северного Кавказа Имарата стало важной вехой в эволюции антироссийского сопротивления в данном регионе и обозначало переход от разрозненных националистических движений, стремящихся к политическому отделению, к трансэтническому исламистскому движению, главная цель которого заключается в создании наднационального исламистского государства в регионе. Статья прослеживает конфликт между секулярно-ориентированными чеченскими националистами, главная задача которых заключалась в достижении независимости от России путем давления на российское руководство через европейские и международные организации, и исламистами, которые видят единственную возможность освобождения всего Северного Кавказа из-под власти “неверных” в антироссийском джихаде и утверждении шариата. Автор анализирует практики саморепрезентации и пропагандистские стратегии моджахедов, в частности их агрессивное использование Интернета для утверждения своего присутствия в виртуальном пространстве. Присутствие Имарата в виртуальном пространстве должно быть соотнесено со скудным физическим присутствием в регионе, где наблюдается преобладание военных сил и материальных ресурсов Российской Федерации и лояльных Кремлю местных военных формирований.

1.Michael Gilsenan. Recognizing Islam. Rev. ed. London and New York, 2000. P. 18.↩

2.Namely, an Islamic state ruled by a military commander (Arabic amir or emir); in what follows, both spellings of this word will be used.↩

3.RFE/RL Interviews Chechen Field Commander Umarov (by Andrei Babitsky) // http://www.rferl.org/atricleprintview/1060266.html.↩

4.The Official Version of Amir Dokka’s Statement of Declaration of the Caucasian Emirate // http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2007/11/22/9107.html.↩

5.Amir Emirata Kavkaz Dokku Umarov. My osvobodim Krasnodarskii krai, Astrakhan’ i Povolzhskie zemli // http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2010/03/08/71087.shtml.↩

6.The plural of the Arabic kafir (“unbeliever”; “infidel”); the Emirate’s spokesmen use the plurals kafirs and kuffar interchangeably.↩

7.Umarov uses the Arabic terms munafiqs and murtad(d)s.↩

8.Namely, the Russians.↩

9.Amir Emirata Kavkaz Dokku Umarov, http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2010/03/08/71087.shtml.↩

10.Ibid.↩

11.This phrase was later omitted from Umarov’s statement, but was preserved on some Web sites, such as Jihad Unspun: http://www.jihadunspun.com/intheatre_internal.php?article=109196.↩

12.Ibid.↩

13.Dokka Umarov: “A Great Deal of Purification of the Ranks of the Mujahideen Is Going On”. P. 6 at http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2008/06/15/9814.shtml.↩

14.http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Bswords%5D=8fd5893941d69d0be3f378576261ae3e&tx_ttnews%5Bany_of_the_words%5D=astemirov&tx_ttnews%5Bpointer%5D=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=4596&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=7&cHash=196c45ea6. As the author was revising this article for publication, it was announced that Astemirov was killed in a shootout with a local police unit on March 23, 2010. His death was confirmed by all rebel Web sites examined here; see, for instance, http://www.islamdin.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=696:2010-03-25-08-36-05&catid=2:kavkaz&Itemid=3#JOSC_TOP.↩

15.“Amir Saifullah o protsesse podgotovki k provozglasheniiu Kavkazskogo Emirata”. Pp. 16-17; http://kavkaz.tv/russ/content/2007/11/20/54479.html.↩

16.Movladi Udugov, “Voina id’iot za obraz zhizni…”. P. 2, http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2007/11/28/54654_print.html; for Udugov’s alleged role of mastermind of the Declaration see, for instance, Mairbek Vatchagaev. Zakaev’s Attempts to Persuade Dokka Umarov Are in Vain // Jamestown Foundation, North Caucasus Weekly. 2008. Vol. 9. No. 24. June 19 (available online at http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Bswords%5D=8fd5893941d69d0be3f378576261ae3e&tx_ttnews%5Bany_of_the_words%5D=astemirov&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=5007&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=7&cHash=5ad7a0e12e).↩

17.Dokka Umarov. A Great Deal of Purification.↩

18.See, for instance, Sheikh Salakh. Vse mudjahedy podderzhivaiut provozglashenie Imarata Kavkaz // http://www.kavkazcenter.com//russ/content/2008/09/25/61268.shtml; Amir Supian. Prezhde chem provozglasit’ Imarat Kavkaz, byli skazany bole vazhnye slova // http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2009/02/0763864.html.↩

19.Sheikh Salakh. Vse modzhahedy podderzhivaiut provozglashenie Imarata Kavkaz // http://www.kavkazcenter.com//russ/content/2008/09/25/61268.shtml.↩

20.Vatchagaev. Zakaev’s Attempts.↩

21.The secular-minded detractors of the Emirate have also mockingly called the leaders of the Emirate “green commissars” to underscore their Bolshevik-style intolerance and radicalism; see, for instance, http://www.meforum.org/1931/the-rise-of-the-chechen-emirate.↩

22.Mutsura(y)ev was ridiculed by a mujahid poet in a long poem titled “The Fallen Bard,” see http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2008/08/12/60137.shtml.↩

23.See, for instance, the article: Bill Roggio. Doku Umarov Declares Islamic Caucasus Emirate // The Long War Journal at http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2007/11/doku_umarov_declares.php and a series of publications on the Chechen separatist movement in the online edition of Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, http://www.cacianalyst.org.↩

24.Compare, for instance, Andrei Smirnov. The Caucasus Emirate: Not a New Idea // http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Bswords%5D=8fd5893941d69d0be3f378576261ae3e&tx_ttnews%5Bany_of_the_words%5D=emirate&tx_ttnews%5Bpointer%5D=7&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=4529&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=7&cHash=c86e4ac9db and Kevin Leahy. Umarov’s Caucasus Emirate: Zero-Sum Game or Capable of Compromise // http://www.cacianalyst.org/?q=node/4959.↩

25.Alongside Astemirov’s account of the events and deliberations leading up to the Declaration, see note 14 above.↩

26.In the aftermath of the “Declaration of the Caucasus Emirate,” Zakaev declared himself the prime minister of the Republic of Ichkeria that was abolished by Umarov’s decree.↩

27.Udugov. Voina. P. 3.↩

28.For an illuminating comparison between Uzun Hajj’s emirate and that of Dokku Umarov, see Mairbek Vatchagaev. Uzun Haji’s and Dokka Umarov’s Emirates: A Retrospective // Jamestown Foundation, North Caucasus Weekly. 2008. Vol. 9. No. 10. March 13 (available online at http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Bswords%5D=8fd5893941d69d0be3f378576261ae3e&tx_ttnews%5Bany_of_the_words%5D=uzun%20haji%27s&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=4785&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=7&cHash=b40b431a5c); for the history of the Islamic movements led by these three leaders, see my articles: “Ushurma, Mansur”; “Shamil”; and “al-Kabk (the Caucasus)”. Pt. 3 in the online edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition // http://www.brillonline.nl.↩

29.Udugov. Voina. P. 4; this idea is echoed by Astemirov who argues that “the [only] difference between the democrats [of the Republic of Ichkeria], who reside in Europe, and between today’s Kremlin’s stooges in Chechnya is that the former want to live under the wing of the West, whereas the latter under the wing of Russia”. See: Amir Saifulla o protsesse. P. 17.↩

30.Udugov. Voina. Pp. 5-7.↩

31.Ibid. P. 8.↩

32.Ibid. P. 11.↩

33.Ibid. P. 13.↩

34.Ibid. P. 14.↩

35.Ibid. Pp. 20-21.↩

36.Each “front” of the mujahideen movement has its own Web site, namely: http://www.İslamdin.com/ (Kabarda, Balkariia, Karachai); http://www.jamaatshariat.com/ru/ (Dagestan) and http://hunafa.com/ (Ingushetia). They usually replicate the postings of the kavkazcenter.com, while at the same time giving more attention to the events in their respective geographical areas.↩

37.Amir Seifulla. Pp. 1-2.↩

38.Ibid. P. 14.↩

39.Abdel Bari Atwan. The Secret History of al Qaeda. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 2006. P. 127.↩

40.Gary Bunt. iMuslims: Rewiring the House of Islam. Chapel Hill, 2009. P. 223.↩

41.Gary Bunt. Islam in the Digital Age: E-Jihad, Online Fatwas and Cyber Islamic Environments. London and Sterling, VA, 2003. P. 70.↩

42.Bunt. Islam. Pp. 67,70, 112-113, 138, 161, etc.↩

43.See, for instance, Umm Iklil. Pobeda ili rai // http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2009/02/01/63732.shtml; Amir Muhannad. Kavkaz podderzhivaet Gazu // http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2009/01/20/63503.shtml; Andrew McGregor. Distant Relations: Hamas and the Mujahideen of Chechnya // Jamestown Foundation. Vol. 7. No. 8 (http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=3166); Press Release of Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S). 2006. July 19 // http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/hamas_ch_e.htm; Khamas prizyvaet palestintsev brat’ primer s chechenskikh boevikov. 23.09.2004 // http://lenta.ru/terror/2004/09/23/propaganda/.↩

44.At some point, he served as Umarov’s chief of staff; see http://www.rosbalt.ru/2010/02/03/709444.html.↩

45.Thus, Kadyrov is routinely called “Kafyrov” – a damning pun on the Arabic word kafir, meaning “infidel.”↩

46.See, for instance: Rostekhnadzor kosvenno podtverdil, chto osennii pavodok mozhet unichtozhit’ SSh GES. 2009. August 30 // http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2009/08/30/67721.shtml; Na unichtozhennykh voennykh bazakh v Ulianovske nakhdilos’ khimicheskoe oruzhie? 2009. November 14 // http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2009/11/14/69144.shtml.↩

47.V Per’mi sgorel tsvet goroda. 2009. December 5 // http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2009/12/05/69533.shtml; Demograficheskaia katastrofa. 2010. January 4 // http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2010/01/04/69917.shtml.↩

48.Bunt. iMuslims. P. 8.↩

49.What follow are recurrent themes of kavkazcenter.com and its sister Web sites, which absolves the author from documenting every instance of their appearance.↩

50.Bunt. iMuslims. P. 199.↩

51.The correct transliteration of this Arabic word is murtadd, but the gemination of the final consonant of the Arabic stem is ignored in the transliteration system adopted by the Web site masters.↩

52.A Qur’anic term originally applied to the Prophet’s opponents in Medina, who adopted Islam outwardly out of expediency, while harboring deep-seated unbelief.↩

53.Novatorstvo islamskogo poeta. P. 3 and http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2008/09/03/60756.shtml.↩

54.Ibid. Pp. 2-3.↩

55.Ded Moroz i kadyrovskaia “troitsa” // http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2008/12/04/62601.html.↩

56.Amir Supian. Prezhde chem. P. 3.↩

57.In the sites’ chat rooms, Putin is routinely nicknamed “Pukin,” namely, “farter”; see, for example, http://www.jamaatshariat.com/ru/content/view/508/29/#comments.↩

58.Shamil Mansur. Padshii bard // http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2008/08/12/60137.shtml.↩

59.Namely, Mecca and Medina.↩

60.Amir Supian. Prezhde chem. P. 3.↩

61.Ded Moroz. P. 2.↩

62.For the essence of this teaching, see my article “Wahdat al-wujud” in: John Esposito (Ed.). Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World. Rev. ed. 6 vols. Oxford, 2009. Vol. 6.↩

63.For details, see my article: Contextualizing the Sufi-Salafi Conflict: From the Northern Caucasus to Hadramawt // Middle Eastern Studies. 2007. Vol. 43. No. 4. Pp. 503-530.↩

64.Shamil Mansur. V edinstve sila musul’man http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2009/02/24/64175.shtml.↩

65.Amin, russkii muslim. Oskal sufizma // http://www.islamdin.com/index.php?view=article&catid=36%3A2009-11-12-19-39-41&id=546%3A2009-10-27-21-15-16&option=com_content&Itemid=32/; see also ibid. Sufiiskaia schetina i moskovskaia svinina // http://www.islamdin.com/index.php?view=article&catid=36%3A2009-11-12-19-39-41&id=569%3A2009-11-19-19-28-58&option=com_content&Itemid=32/.↩

66.For some representative examples, see http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2008/09/25/61268.shtml (regarding Sheikh Salakh of Tevazanin), http://vip.lenta.ru/news/2004/09/27/qaracaevo (regarding Ramazan Borlakov of Karachaevo-Cherkessia and his religious school in the village of Uchkeken); another typical example is the late Musa (Artur) Mukozhev, a graduate of the Imam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; see Mairbek Vatchagaev. The Northern Caucasus Remains Combustible // Jamestown Foundation, North Caucasus Weekly. Vol. 1. No. 19. Special mention should be made of Said Buryatskiy (Sa‘id Abu Sa‘d al-Buryati), the Russian-Buriat convert to Islam who acted as the principal spokesman and ideologist of the Emirate until his death in March 2010. A fluent speaker of Arabic, he studied Islamic subjects in religious colleges of Yemen and Egypt: V Ingushetii ubit boevik Said Buriatskii // http://www.infpol.ru/newspaper/number.php?ELEMENT_ID=30498/.↩

67.Cf. Bunt. iMuslims. P. 15.↩

68.Interestingly, Astemirov leaves this Arabic word for “creed” or “profession of faith” without translation, which indicates that it is already familiar not only to the mujahideen but also to his potential listeners/readers outside the movement. However, he deems it necessary to explain the meaning of usul al-din. The fact that the explanation itself contains an Arabic religious term is quite telling.↩

69.Gilles Kepel. The War for Muslim Minds: Islam and the West. Trans. Pascale Ghazaleh. Cambridge, MA, 2004. P. 256.↩

70.Amir Imarata Kavkaz Dokku Umarov Usman. My osvobodim Krasnodarskii krai, Astrakhan’ i Povolzhskie zemli // http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2010/03/08/71087.shtml; Vakha Umarov. Na Kavkaze deistvuiut do 5 tysiach’ mudhahedov. 2010. January 26 // http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2010/01/26/70257.shtml.↩

71.Bunt. iMuslims. P. 196.↩

72.Ziki Papacharissi. Audiences as Media Producers: Content Analysis of 260 Blogs // Mark Tremayne (Ed.). Blogging, Citizenship, and the Future of Media. London and New York, 2007. P. 37; quoted in Bunt. iMuslims. P. 133.↩

73.Mohammed el-Nawawy and Sahar Khamis. Islam Dot Com: Contemporary Islamic Discourses in Cyberspeace. New York, 2009. P. 214.↩

74.Dale Eickelman. Muslim Ties that Bind // Göran Larsson (Ed.). Religious Communities on the Internet. Stockholm, 2006. P. 50; quoted in Bunt. iMuslims. P. 14.↩

75.El-Nawawy and Khamis. Islam Dot Com. P. 199.↩

76.Ibid. P. 212.↩

77.Ibid. P. 6.↩

78.Ibid. P. 216.↩

79.The other conflicts of that period were the Azeri-Armenian war for Nagorno-Karabakh, the war between Abkhazia and Georgia, and the armed conflict between the Ossetes and Ingush in North Ossetia.↩

80.Astemirov Takes Credit for Idea of Caucasian Emirate // http://www.kavkaz.org.uk/eng/content/2007/11/309148_print.html.↩

81.Amir Seifulla. Pp. 3-4.↩

82.For a perceptive if controversial analysis of this phenomenon, see Oliver Roy. Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Umma. New York, 2004.↩

83.El-Nawawy and Khamis. Islam Dot Com. P. 60.↩

84.Barry Wellman and Milena Gulia. Virtual Communities as Communities: Net Surfers Don’t Ride Alone // Marc Smith and Peter Kollock (Eds.). Communities in Cyberspace. London, 2003. P. 187.↩

85.This term was coined and widely used by Fawaz Gerges. Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global. 2nd ed. Cambridge, 2009. Pp. 119-150 et passim.↩

86.Manuel Castellis. The Rise of the Network Society. 2nd ed. Oxford, 2000. P. 3.↩

87.As demonstrated in Gilles Kepel. Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam. Cambridge, MA, 2002. Ch. 4, 7, 11, and 12 (in regard to Egypt and Algeria).↩

88.Mairbek Vatchagaev. Uzun Haji’s and Dokka Umarov’s Emirates: A Retrospective // North Caucasus Analysis. 2008. Vol. 9. No. 10. March 13. Jamestown Foundation (http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=4785); cf. Andrei Smirnov. The Caucasus Emirate: Not a New Idea // http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Bswords%5D=8fd5893941d69d0be3f378576261ae3e&tx_ttnews%5Bany_of_the_words%5D=emirate&tx_ttnews%5Bpointer%5D=7&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=4529&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=7&cHash=c86e4ac9db.↩

89.At that time (1920), the republics of the Northern Caucasus united into the Autonomous Mountain Soviet Socialist Republic (see my article “Kabk” in the 2nd edition of the: Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leiden, 1953-2004. Supplement Volume. P. 498); also available online at http://www.brillonline.nl.↩

90.Ibid.↩

91.See, for instance, Vatchgaev. Uzun Haji’s.↩

92.For the history of foreign mujadineen’s involvement in the jihad in the Northern Caucasus, see Cerwyn Moore and Paul Tumelty. Foreign Fighters and the Case of Chechnya: A Critical Assessment // Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. 2008. Vol. 31. No. 5. Pp. 412-433; Murad Batal al-Shishani. The Rise and Fall of Arab Fighters in Chechnya. A Jamestown Foundation publication in PDF format circulated via the Web; no date.↩

Ab Imperio

Ab Imperio

Виртуальный джихад в XXI веке: на примере Имарата Кавказ

Примечания