Islam Under Scrutiny by Ex-Muslims

Russia: A Future Radical Muslim Superpower?

Frontpage Interview's guest today is Ilshat Alsayef, one of the founding members of Muslims Against Sharia. He was born in of the Asian republics of the former Soviet Union. A military officer for most of his adult life, Mr. Alsayef started his military career as a Second Lieutenant during the Soviet-Afghan war and retired as a Lieutenant-Colonel after the First Chechen War.
 

FP: Ilshat Alsayef, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

Alsayef: Thank you very much for having me here.
 

FP: Tell us about the state of radicalization of Muslims in Russia and other ex-Soviet republics.

Alsayef: There were two waves of radicalization of the ex-Soviet Muslims. The first wave started after the break-up of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. After the fall of communism, former Soviet Asian republics, now independent countries (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) as well as autonomous regions of Russia (Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia), experienced a resurgence of religious freedom.

Not being able to freely practice their religion for a few generations, some of the local Muslims went overboard. Salafi groups like Hizb-ut-Tahrir, and later al Qaeda, became popular among newly-minted religious zealots. While the conflicts in Asian countries were mostly religious vs. secular, the Chechen conflict also had the independence element.

The second wave of radicalization started at the turn of the century. Some people claim that it was a result of the American War on Terror, which many Muslims interpret as the American War on Islam, but in reality the reason is skyrocketing oil revenues of Wahhabi states.

Centuries-old local mosques are being replaced by modern, Wahhabi-built mosques. Old imams who survived the communists are being replaced by Wahhabi clerics. This is not only true for predominantly Muslim countries like Tajikistan, but also for autonomous regions inside of Russia like Bashkiria and Tatarstan, where most people consider themselves more Russian than Muslim. You can see similar developments in former Yugoslavia, where moderate imams with little financial backing are being replaced by radicals with virtually unlimited financing.

If current demographic trends hold, Muslims in Russia may become a majority by the mid-century. And if current radicalization trends hold, Russia may become a war theatre comparable to Chechnya or Lebanon, but on a much larger scale.
 

FP: Expand for us a bit please on the demographic trends in Russia. Muslims may be the majority in Russia by mid-century? What will this mean?

Alsayef: The native Russian population is on the decline. About a year ago, the government started to provide a special subsidy for a second child; 250,000 rubles, which is about two average yearly salaries. Attracted by the economic opportunities, there is a steady stream of Muslims from the former Soviet republics and predominantly Muslim parts of the Russian Caucasus. Those Muslims tend to have much larger families than native Russian Muslims. Small Muslim communities of Moscow and St. Petersburg that comprised less 1% of the population 20 years ago have increased more than ten-fold.

The new generation of Muslims is more religious. Unfortunately, since most of the mosques are either completely or partially funded by the Wahhabis, the new generation is also more radical. 20 years ago, Russian Muslims were completely assimilated, both culturally and linguistically. The new generation tends to create its own communities. Those "enclaves" are easier radicalized.

If the trends of isolation and radicalization continue along with current demographic trends and rising oil prices, it is quite possible that by mid-century Russia will become a radical Muslim superpower.
 

FP: How can the current radicalization trend be stopped? The key is to stop skyrocketing oil revenues for Wahhabi states, yes? But how?

Alsayef: I could never understand why America spends a quarter of a trillion dollars a year on Persian Gulf oil while not using its own oil resources. Especially when some of this money goes to finance radical Islam worldwide (including in America itself) and the American economy suffers from high fuels prices.

Luckily, Russia does not have oil dependency. The long-term solution to stop the flow of petro-dollars to the Wahhabis is to create a non-petroleum energy solution. It will probably not happen in our lifetime, but it doesn't mean that it shouldn't be worked on today. The short-term solution is to combat radical Islam inside every democratic country. One part is to enact legislation to criminalize the spread of radical Islam. It is not an easy task, especially in America where Freedom of Speech is the cornerstone of the Constitution. However, some of the speech could be criminalized, i.e., a death threat to an individual. Advocating Sharia is a death threat to Democratic society. If you can protect an individual, you should be able to protect the society as a whole.

The other needed step is to empower moderate Muslims to combat Islamism in the public square. Unfortunately, neither the Russian nor the American government seems to distinguish between moderate Muslims and 'soft' Jihadis. In fact, Putin went so far as to condemn the publication of Prophet Mohammed cartoons.

While Russia is empowering Iran, America is empowering Saudi Arabia, which is even worse. On top of that, America is legitimizing 'soft' Jihadis and advance of Sharia by putting them in charge of government and academic programs and inviting them to major political events.
 

FP: Where exactly does Russia stand in the War on Terror? There is, for instance, much evidence that the Putin regime is in league with Islamists on many levels. (Click here to see Pavel Stroilov interview.)

Alsayef: I wouldn't call this evidence. When someone portrays that "FSB blew up four apartment blocks in Russia, and then were caught red-handed attempting to blow-up the fifth" as a fact, the rest of his "facts" must be taken with a grain of salt.

Did the FSB have the ability to blow up four buildings in Moscow? Absolutely. Would the FSB blow up those buildings? I find it highly improbable. Could the FSB get caught red-handed attempting to blow-up the fifth building? Absolutely not. Who would they get caught by? The cops? The cops can't touch them. By the FSB itself? Not bloody likely.

The "fact" that the FSB blew up those buildings is as much of a fact as the "fact" that the CIA blew up the Twin Towers. It is nothing more than a conspiracy theory, and Mr. Stroilov should know better than present it as a fact. The claim that "The Putin-Medvedev regime is doomed" shows that Mr. Stroilov seems to prefer wishful thinking to reality. Barring an act of God, Putin will rule Russia for a long time, no matter what title he comes up with, president, prime minister, or Tzar.
 

FP: Well, the connection between the FSB and the blow up of four buildings in Moscow appears to me to be pretty solid in terms of what I have studied, and the Twin Towers conspiracy theory analogy doesn???t match in anyway. But we???ll leave this for another forum. Pavel Stroilov is welcome to contribute to our pages on this issue if he wishes.

Let???s get to Putin and the tie to Islamists.

Alsayef: In terms of the tie between Putin to the Islamists, first, and pretty much the only one, is Bushehr. Everybody knows that the Iranian nuclear program, euphemistically speaking, goes beyond energy. The Russians know that. The Americans know that. Even the IAEA knows that. What the Russians don't seem to understand, or maybe simply don't care about, is that an Iranian-made nuke could be detonated in Moscow just as easily as it could be detonated in Washington.

Since I'm not privy to the Russian-Iranian nuclear deal, I might not be aware of some safeguards. For example, the Russians might control the weaponized nuclear material production and would be able to match the bomb signature to the reactor. However it is unlikely for Iranians to use a nuclear weapon without plausible deniability, therefore it probably will be given to a third party. This third party most likely would be a radical Islamic group that might ignore the wishes of its masters and detonate the bomb anywhere.

Second is Syria. Syria is a Muslim country and it has a fascist regime, but it is secular. However, Syria-Iranian proxy Hizballah is an Islamist group and weapons sold to Syria have been known to turn up in Hizballah arsenal.

Third is Venezuela. Again, Venezuela's government is hardly Islamist, but Chavez offered Venezuelan passports to radical Muslims who want to go to the United States. As for al-Zawahiri, being the FSB secret agent, that's just another unsubstantiated and highly improbable rumor.
 

FP: Russia???s stance on the War on Terror?

Alsayef: If the terror is within Russian borders, Russia is very forcefully against it. The famous Putin's phrase about the terrorists is "budem mochit' v sortire" which roughly translates into "we'll whack them in the toilet." But if the terror is outside of Russia and it ties up American resources, then we have a different story. After all, Putin still sees America as Russia???s main rival; the fact that the feelings are not mutual, is somewhat of an insult to him.Russia doesn't mind that much. However, the biggest threat to Russia is not America, it is radicalizing Muslim population within its own borders as well as in Russia's former satellites. Putin is focusing on America while overlooking a growing Islamist threat at home. As the last decades show, radicalization of Muslims always translates into bloodshed, but Putin's government seems to think that it is immune.
 

FP: Ilshat Alsayef, thank you for joining Frontpage Interview.

Alsayef: Thank you Jamie.

 

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Name: vbv
Date: Thursday October 09, 2008
Time: 20:34:36 -0700

Comment

Poor Russians:- You see their History. First they had to contend with the cruel Czars and his courtiers, serfdom and harsh living; then came communism making everyone submit to its ideology except those in the echelons of political power, it was universal serfdom for the rest of the population where food was rationed, ice cream was a luxury, the communist commissaires were the new gods ,etc. After the fall of communism, the erstwhile Soviet Union was having some relief from all the oppressions. It will be the saddest day for them to be swamped by another totalitarian mafia-like ideology reducing them to serfdom and zombiedom by the cult of Islam! This is worse than other regimes they had till now, worse than Stalinist atrocities, coupled with the dark ignorance and superstition of Islam - that too the so-called science of Islam (which is laughable ,to say the least!).


Name: ha ha ha .....
Date: Thursday October 09, 2008
Time: 21:42:56 -0700

Comment

Still I suspect that uranium-enrichment program of the Iranian under Ahmadinejad will be the starting of nuclear weapons. They may say it is for peaceful purposes only, for electricity mainly, but once they have the technology, they will make nuclear weapons for the Moslem countries and Moslem terrorist. And the rest of the world will suffer from it. We should always keep in mind, that Moslem is 100% identical with hypocrisy. They say that everything, even newly found technology was mentioned in Quran. So, let them do the uranium enrichment according to their Quran, ha ha ha .....


Name: ISLAM AND MUSLIM THREAT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY.
Date: Thursday October 09, 2008
Time: 21:51:13 -0700

Comment

One of the reasons Islam is growing is the high price of oil and the West is buying oil from the Islamic Arabs. These monies go to build mosques and spread the virus of Islam terrorism. The West pressured Montenegro to recognise Kosovo. This sets a bad precedence. What if south Thailand, Kashmir, Mindanao in Philippines where Muslims=-majority wants to break off to form their own countries. Non-Muslims need to take the threat of Islam and certain Muslims seriously. Those in the West need to VOTE OUT THOSE GOVERNMENTS THAT SAY ISLAM IS "A RELIGION OF PEACE". Islam is a repressive ideology that benefits only a few Muslims. Serbia expels Montenegro ambassador http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/10/09/kosovo.ap/index.html


Name: When a person converts to mad islam he starts hating his own people
Date: Friday October 10, 2008
Time: 05:37:55 -0700

Comment

When a person converts to mad islam he starts hating his own people and country. Yes really this is what happened in india. They loose their rationality ,patriotism ,culture and even thier ancestral mother tongue. Every friday they are brain washed and hammered to mad ness with furious and hate speeches. Islam should be destroyed otherwise if will destroy entire humanity and rationality .It will bring humans to barbarians and all our science and wisdom will be lost since people loose scientifc thought and quest of truth. Russia should wake up fast.


Name: Russia should not meet the fate of india
Date: Friday October 10, 2008
Time: 05:50:00 -0700

Comment

Russia should not meet the fate of india. Kahsmir, chechainya, Xinxiang, Serbia partition are all problems and terrorism created and inspired by islam.


Name: Dick Nowak
Date: Friday October 10, 2008
Time: 06:38:03 -0700

Comment

I think the government of USA and several other countries should assemble a team of scientists to design nuclear power stations so that we no longer need any oil from countries such as Iran and Saudi. I think car, bike, train, plane manufacturers should produce products that run on alternate energy sources so that we no longer need oil from Iran and Saudi.


Name: history is trying to repeat it self
Date: Friday October 10, 2008
Time: 10:21:17 -0700

Comment

If Russia doesn't wake up, it will be the USSR all over again, but 10x's worse. They would be praying for it go back to the USSR's ways. The world that doesn't follow this cult needs to wake up and give the world hope again. We ALL need it.


Name: What Oil Crisis?
Date: Friday October 10, 2008
Time: 12:58:04 -0700

Comment

The Oil Crisis is over, yet, the New Oil Crisis has started! Peak Oil is over but now Peak Demand is over as well. From now the world is saving oil, replacing oil and developing more and more alternatives. Next generation cars will save 10-20%, less cars sold, less waste of oil. In total this will amount to around 1/3 less oil consumption annually, oversupply and falling oil prices. This is what I call the New Oil Crisis and it will happen soon in the arab and muslim world.


Name: agnostic
Date: Friday October 10, 2008
Time: 15:04:25 -0700

Comment

Beg to differ. Putin's handling of Chechenya is a showcase of Russia's 300 year historical prowess in dealing in its war with muslims, radical or otherwise. Russia doesn't fear nuclear Iran ...because Russia knows Iran knows that Russia would be merciless after any nuclear attack on it. And that applies to any muslim country including the muslims living in Russia who are today's the main target of violence thus saving the Jews some breathing space. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov signed a decree to rename the central street of the Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. The document renames Grozny???s Victory Avenue (Prospekt Pobedy) to Vladimir Putin???s Avenue. ???It is impossible to overestimate Vladimir Putin???s role in the fate of relations between the peoples of Russia and Chechnya. Vladimir Putin has virtually saved the republic. The forces of the international terrorism from 51 countries of the world were defeated here, on the Chechen land, and Russia???s integrity was preserved owing to his support and understanding. As a token of our thankfulness, the Victory Avenue will now bear the name of the national leader, Vladimir Putin,??? the press service of the Chechen president quoted Ramzan Kadyrov as saying. ???As a Chechen national and as a Muslim, I herewith declare that I am ready, if necessary, to die for Vladimir Putin. We have come to this day, with peace in Chechnya, owing to this man,??? the Chechen president added. But not so the dispirited West; it would rather be killed, than kill, as America and Britain have already demonstrated. One permits radical islam to flourish in its Continent, the other created a safe haven for terrorists thrown out of their islamic paradise. Britain is proud it allowed sharia law by the backdoor on its indigenous citizens. War against Terrorism? Crap, it will take China and Russia to rid earth of muslims who refuse to cease being that - muslims. America and Britain are the lapdogs of muslims, radical or otherwise.


Name: Do you know why there no comments here from islamists recently
Date: Saturday October 11, 2008
Time: 05:07:53 -0700

Comment

Do you know why there no comments here from islamists recently? The so called islamists from india under pig master Zakir are trained as IM bombers. They might now have been traced through special security web tracking mechanism by police and IIT experts. Coward islamists now ran away and mute now .Thats why we are not having comments from islamists recently.


Name: Best guess
Date: Sunday October 12, 2008
Time: 11:47:47 -0700

Comment

Islamists probably after spending sometime in this website are finally seeing the light.


 
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