Topic: Caucasus
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Briefing
Chechnya: How a remote Russian republic became linked with terrorism
The main suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing are two brothers from Chechnya, a Russian republic that has been the scene of cyclical revolts and brutal crackdowns for the past 200 years.
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4 ways US and Iran can make nuclear talks work
The Moscow talks on Iran’s nuclear program ended in stalemate June 19, as both cynics and optimists anticipated. While low-level experts will meet in July, the next set of sanctions against Iran are scheduled to kick in within weeks, arguably restarting the whole negotiating process. The next time around, the parties should consider broadening their approach in these four ways.
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Election 101: How an Iowa GOP caucus works
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In Pictures: Rascally raccoons
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Photos of the Day: Photos of the day 03/22
All Content
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Terrorism & Security Attacks in Russia's Dagestan grab international attention after Boston
Dagestan and the rest of the Caucasus republics of Russia have been the site of a long-running Islamic insurgency against Moscow and its local allies. A bombing and separate shooting killed six today.
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Can cooperation on Boston bombings bridge US-Russia distrust? It will be hard. (+video)
Since the Boston bombings, Russia has shared intelligence and Putin and Obama have pledged to cooperate. But US-Russia distrust runs deep, experts caution.
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Did Boston Marathon bombing suspects’ mother push them toward jihad? (+video)
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva says her sons were framed by US authorities in the Boston Marathon bombing. But in recorded conversations, she discusses jihad with her son Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
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Boston Marathon bombing: Did US really miss chance to prevent it? (+video)
A Republicans senator is blaming the White House for failing to heed red flags on Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev. But others call that a rush to judgment.
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Briefing
Chechnya: How a remote Russian republic became linked with terrorism
The main suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing are two brothers from Chechnya, a Russian republic that has been the scene of cyclical revolts and brutal crackdowns for the past 200 years.
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The Monitor's View: Europe's ideals win a Serbia-Kosovo pact
An agreement approved Monday by Serbia and Kosovo will put an official end to 1990s genocidal conflict. It also serves as a model for ending other conflicts driven by ethnic, religious, and land disputes.
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Saakashvili's party seeks relevancy in the Georgia it created
Nearly a decade after Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement ushered in the Rose Revolution and reshaped Georgia, the party is once again on the outside looking in.
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Opinion: After Boston bombings: Beware Russia-US cooperation on counter-terrorism
After the Boston bombings, Russian President Putin and US President Obama announced closer cooperation on counter-terrorism. But Americans should have their eyes wide open about any counter-terrorism agreements with Russia.
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Was Boston Marathon bombing a US 'intelligence failure'? (+video)
House and Senate intelligence committees will ask that question of FBI officials during closed hearings Tuesday about the Boston Marathon bombing. They will want to know if any red flags popped up when Tamerlan Tsarnaev traveled to Russia in 2011-12.
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Did a foreign hand guide Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev?
US investigators are interested in a trip that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older brother suspected in the Boston bombing, took to the North Caucasus region of Russia in 2012. They want to know whether he had contact with foreign extremist groups.
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Opinion: Motive in Boston bombings: Look to tribal code of honor
The Tsarnaev brothers, suspects in the Boston bombings, are ethnic Chechens, stemming from a tribal society in which a code of honor and revenge plays a major role. As questions turn to motive, this code may be far more relevant than the brothers' views of Islam.
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US, Russia missed chances to intercept Tamerlan Tsarnaev
Russia warned the US about the future Boston Marathon bomber back in 2011. But when Mr. Tsarnaev returned to Russia the next year, authorities there apparently left him alone.
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Global News Blog Fundamentalism and the Chechens' fighting history
The ancestral home of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, has long been a land of fighters, but it took on the character of an Islamic jihad in the 1990s.
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Were motives of Boston bombing suspects embedded in Chechen heritage – or not?
The suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing were immigrants from a violent region of the Caucasus, but experts say disaffection with the US, rather than radical ideology, is the more likely motive.
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Chechen identity looms over Boston Marathon bombing suspects
If true that the two suspects were raised in Chechnya, its warrior tradition - which stresses male independence and defiance of authority - would likely have shaped their childhood.
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Boston Marathon bombing has Russia concerned about its own event security
Russia is set to host three major international sporting events in the next year, including the 2014 Olympics. The Boston explosions are highlighting the security challenges it faces.
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Circling the wagons? Putin urges 'drastic upgrade' to Russia's military
Experts say that Putin's message was meant to play well to Russian generals who have resented the dramatic reforms of recent years.
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TV drama? Putin rips Sochi official on air over Olympic cost overruns
Analysts say that the Russian president's angry tirade, followed by the official's firing, may be a bit of political theater meant to ease public concerns over the troubled Sochi Games preparations.
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Neanderthal species may have died out much earlier, according to study
If true, the study, casts doubt on the idea that modern humans and Neanderthals co-existed — and possibly even interbred — for millennia, because humans aren't believed to have settled in the region until 42,000 years ago.
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Jerusalem soccer fans reject new Muslim players
Fans of Jerusalem soccer team Beitar say two recently signed Chechen players who are Muslim have no place there. But outside the professional world, soccer is being used to bridge the divide.
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Deadly Zorb ride down Russian mountain sparks call for safety code (+video)
Zorb ride down Russian mountain veers off course and proves deadly for one man while injuring another. Zorb inventor calls for safety code for the adventure sport.
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Turkey sees promise in pivoting north
With its attempts to join the EU stalled and its leadership role in the Middle East marred by Syria's conflict, Turkey is turning its attention to a less tumultuous border – the Black Sea.
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Global News Blog Russia plans biggest war games since Soviet era
Some see the naval exercises scheduled later this month as cover for a massive evacuation of Russian citizens from war-torn Syria.
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Focus
Baltic nations offer ex-Soviet states a Western modelThe tiny states of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, having shed their Russian-dominated past and joined the EU and NATO, are looking to help their post-Soviet neighbors to do the same.
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Does Ivanishvili's win put Georgia back in Russia's orbit?
Though President Saakashvili tried to paint him as a Russian puppet before this week's election, experts say Ivanishvili's – and Georgia's – relationship with Russia remains complex.
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