Thursday, May 2, 2013

Boston Echoes in Finland

From: Strategic Culture



What happened in Boston is still rather opaque, but new facts are being revealed. The terrorists from «Iranian branch» of Al Qaeda are on the wanted list in Canada for allegedly trying to do the same thing there. The Tsarnaev brothers have hit the pages of world media. The messages are coming in with reports on Chechen terrorists leaving traces in this or that country. (1) It’s impossible to predict how the events are going to unfold, especially in view of uninterrupted supplies of arms and money to terrorist international in Syria. Still, it’s not excluded that the attention will be shifted from the Middle East to the north-eastern Caucasus as a «hotbed» of instability slipping out of Russia’s control. 


Somehow, the fact of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s alleged involvement in a secret operation launched by the Central Intelligence Agency is undeservedly left out of focus. The Georgia-supported operation was aimed at destabilization of the Russia’s North Caucasus. The participation in the operation allegedly led to radicalization of Tsarnaev’s mindset, as well as the views held by other participants. The objective was making the North Caucasus separate from Russia and, subsequently, be included into the sphere of influence exerted by the US partners like Saudi Arabia and Qatar. (2)
The terrorist information network has branches in Western Europe, including Finland. There is information testifying to the fact that Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev received instructions from the Kavkaz Center listed by the United Nations Security Council as a mouthpiece of «Emarat Kavkaz», a terrorist organization led by Doku Umarov… For many years the Kavkaz Center has been connived with by Finish government (it had been located in Sweden before). It’s not only about the existence of an extremists outlet, which is included into the Uniform Domain Name registry, as well the websites and IP addresses, containing the information banned on the territory of Russia Federation (let’s note, it’s not banned in the United States or anywhere beyond Russia’s borders). Last year Mikael Storsjo, the website’ sponsor, who provides hosting and everything else needed to make it function, (3) was handed down a four-month suspended sentence by a Helsinki court for aiding Chechen terrorists to enter Finland illegally. The investigation proved his immediate complicity in illegal entry of 25 people coming to Finland from Turkey. The illegal immigrants included those who were on the Interpol’s wanted list for particularly dangerous crimes and involvement in terrorist activities. Islam Matsiev – living under pseudonym «Imran Tumsoev» or «Islam Tunsoev» – is the webmaster of Kavkaz Center. The man is known as the Beslan terrorist going around under the call name «the radio man of Basayev». (4)
The Kavkaz Center website is just a branch of larger extremist organization based in Helsinki…The mission is to coordinate activities of Chechen terrorists and plan terrorist acts. The Storsjo case made come into light the evidence testifying to the fact that the Finish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and United States State Department sponsored the site. The money was received in the form of grants allocated to support such human rights organizations as the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum (FINROSFORUM). It was used by the head of Kavkaz Center for business trips abroad during a number of years. Many accomplices of Umarov found jobs in the Storsjo’s office. Ms. Heidi Hautala, nowadays Minister for International Development and Tarja Kantola, the special adviser of the Finnish Foreign Minister, are close to the website. Some time ago they registered the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum to provide support to Doku Umarov and the Kavkaz Center. Later Storsjo told investigators the organization was created for the purpose of receiving the funds provided by US State Department. Another Finnish extremist supporting Storsjo is Antero Leitzinger who works as a researcher at the Finnish Migration Service, being responsible for political asylum applications from the Caucasus. Leitzinger has for years promoted «independent» Chechnya. Via Leitzinger's expert statements, the Finnish Migration Service has granted asylum for dozens of militants, including alleged members of «Battalion of Chechen Martyrs», now operating «Kavkaz Center» in Helsinki. In an article published in «Helsingin Sanomat» already in 1995, Leitzinger threatened the world with a terrorist revenge, if the West does not support independent Chechnya. «If indifference in the outside world continues, Chechens will inevitably resort to the fighting style of their ancestors, which does not meet international standards of clean warfare»,Leitzinger wrote. In 1995 he also published an extremist booklet titled «Chechens», in which he announces his association with Doku Umarov, who at that time, according to Leitzinger, was leading «Chechen Youth Movement of National Recovery». Since that, as a leading Finnish expert of North Caucasus, Leitzinger has contributed granting political asylum to vast majority of Chechen militants. (5)
The vigorous activities of separate activists and organizations aimed at fuelling inter-ethnical hostilities in the Caucasus for some time failed to attract attention of «fighters against terror». The Boston events change the situation shifting focus on the Kavkaz Center and its sponsors. A few days ago the Finish police asked Juha Molari to give it the documents related to Kavkaz Center illegal activities. Two years ago he sent to police 200 pages of information devoted to the subject. The document was lost and the very fact that the clergyman wanted the police to investigate the case was forgotten. Now some Finish pro-government media outlets call for closing the terrorist website. According to Juha Molari, the Finish politicians are scared by the fact the US media says the Boston terrorist had ties with Doku Umarov. Finland may join the list of the countries involved in providing support for international terrorist activities. Molari is emphasizing it’s not so much the terrorist act in Boston itself, but rather the articles published in the United States, that Finish politicians are afraid of. Not all of them, of course. On April 24 Mikael Storsjo was given an opportunity to address public on TV1, the national main state channel. 
There are different scenarios for the extremist nest in Helsinki. The closure of website show may be staged to make the Kavkaz Center appear on the territory of some other country as a result (for instance, the Baltic states are enthusiastic supporters of Western «Caucasian» projects (6)). That is the way to display «good will» towards Russia and add grandiloquent statements about getting united in front of terrorist threat. It will not stand in the way of efforts to use terrorism as an instrument of applicable geopolitics. 
The US Twitter getting filled with curses addressed to «Russians» responsible for the Boston terrorist act. At the very same time John Kerry is holding talks in Istanbul on extension of aid to terrorist gangs waging war against Syrian army and civilians. 
Fuelling international terrorism is ultimately becoming one of the «Western values», along with the destruction of Christian moral standards, encouraging same-sex marriages and the propaganda of homosexualism. The new norms of social and family life in the West are, to large extent, the business of Americans and Europeans themselves. It’s different, when it comes to flirting with the Caucasian «freedom fighters». 
The support of terrorist infrastructure in some Western countries has become a burning issue. Feet dragging will directly affect the dialogue between Moscow and its Western partners. According to a recent Interpol report, (7) ignoring the need to put under close scrutiny the activities of those, who harbor, train and arm terrorists may lead to big trouble. 
(1) The European countries, like Belgium and Germany, are mentioned more frequently. 
(2) The Ties That Bind Washington to Chechen Terrorists // http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2013/04/26/the-ties-that-bind-washington-to-chechen-terrorists.html. According to the reports submitted by Colonel Grigori Changuria, Main Counter-Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to Georgia’s Minister of Internal Affairs Irakli Gharibashvili, the Caucasian Fund and the Jamestown University held seminars for the young people of Caucasus, including Russians by origin, in the summer of 2012. Tamerlan Tsanaev participated in the event. Reference: Izvestia newspaper, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was Recruited by Georgian Fund:// http://izvestia.ru/news/549252
(3) The website is located in downtown Helsinki, Boulevardi, 2, in the Mikael Storsjц’s office.. 
(4) Boston terrorists were influenced and instructed by «Kavkaz Center», mouthpiece of terrorist Doku Umarov and his «Caucasus Emirate», operating in Helsinki, Finland // http://suomitanaan.blogspot.ru/2013/04/boston-terrorists-were-influenced-and.html
(5) Boston terrorists were influenced and instructed by «Kavkaz Center», mouthpiece of terrorist Doku Umarov and his «Caucasus Emirate», operating in Helsinki, Finland // http://suomitanaan.blogspot.ru/2013/04/boston-terrorists-were-influenced-and.html
(6) The website was functioning till 2004 on the territory of Lithuania (the year of Beslan terrorist act). 
(7) Te-sat 2013 – EU terrorism situation and trend report // https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/publications/europol_te-sat2013_lr.pdf

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