From Dagestan to Syria

At the following Business Insider article, titled “ISIS has claimed responsibility for an attack on Russian military barracks”, September 2015, you can read that ISIS made its first appearance in Dagestan in June 2015, but did not pull any terrorist attacks until September 2^nd 2015, when it claimed responsibility for the attack to a Russian military barrack. Many Russian soldiers were wounded and dead from this attack. Dagestan and Chechnya are two of the most problematic regions of Russia, because almost all of their populations are Sunni Muslims.

Map 1

http://www.almanartv.com.lb/english/edimg/2013/Europe/Russia/Russia_Dagestan.jpg

In September 2015 we learned about the deal for Nord Stream 2, between Gazprom and BASF (Germany), E.ON (Germany), ENGIE-ex GDF Suez (France), OMV (Austria), and Shell (England-Netherlands). This deal will increase the amount of Russian gas which can be transferred to Europe through Germany from 55 to 110 billion cubic meters per year. In September 2015 we learned that Turkey is freezing negotiations with Russia about the Turk Stream Pipeline, which would transfer Russian gas to Europe through Turkey. In September we learned that ISIS carried out its first attack in Dagestan, and it is widely believed that Turkey has significant influence over ISIS. In September 2015 we learned that the Russians significantly increase their military presence to Syria, in order to further support the Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad, who is one of Turkey’s main opponents, since in 2009 he blocked the Qatar-Turkey natural gas pipeline, in order to protect the Russian economic interests in Europe.

From Dagestan to Syria, and from Nord Stream 2 to Turk Stream, we are witnessing the same energy war between Turkey and Russia. The two great opponents of the Balkans, of the Black Sea, and of Central Asia. The Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire. The other two players of this story, the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, after their defeat in WW2, they prefer not to exercise their military influence, and they suffice themselves to their economic influence, scared of what might happen if they stretch their military muscles.

For more details about the energy war between Russia and Turkey see "Russia VS Turkey: The Geopolitics of the South & the Turk Stream Pipelines".

For the Business Insider article see

“ISIS has claimed responsibility for an attack on Russian military barracks”, του Σεπτεμβρίου 2015

http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-attacked-russian-military-barracks-2015-9