The Terrorists Within

Two developments in domestic terrorism in two separate countries - Russia and the United States - show how unhinged everything is apparently becoming . . ..

In Moscow, two female suicide bombers blew themselves up in the city's subway system in two separate stations, killing 37 people. Meanwhile, in Michigan, a religious militia planning to kill law enforcement officers and incite a rebellion against the government was uncovered and arrested. Although lives were saved in the latter instance, there are many more right-wing extremist groups active in the country to consider.

The Russian "black widow" bombers, as they're called, were women hoping to bring the conflict in the Caucasus region on Russia's southwestern frontier. Guerrillas in the autonomous republic of Chechnya had been fighting for independence from Russia, and a smaller separatist movement also exists in nearby Dagestan. People in these mostly Islamic regions are spurred by anti-Russian nationalism, and they have periodically resorted to bringing their fight to Moscow. The Russian government's attempt to control the local governments directly in these areas has led to a sense of fear and distrust. In the Chechen republic, the installation of a pro-Russian president has led to human rights abuses that have only enraged the insurgents and encouraged jihad more than an outright fight for independence. The violence in the region has only gotten more protracted, and Vladimir Putin's heavy-handed measures to put down the Chechen insurgency have led to anarchy and alliances with organized crime. Kidnappings, violent deaths and suicide attacks have been going on in the Caucasus long before the Moscow bombings, and many believe Putin's strategy has been exposed as unworkable.

Meanwhile, the Hutaree group is the tip of the iceberg in a growing sense of dread among extremist groups who, seeing the economy failing and sensing that the government is against them, are more likely to act out. The Hutaree planned to start a war against the "Antichrist," and even though they were disrupted, this is a negligible upward blip in an otherwise alarmingly growing trend. These people talked about killing policemen and then killing the mourners at their funerals.

Note that they came from Michigan, a state known for private militias and a sense of hopelessness amid the state's continuously deteriorating industrial base. Michigan is nowhere nearly as bad off as the Caucasus region, but the unease over the economy there is still potent - and volatile.

The war against international terror commandos may yet be won, but fight against internal forces - in Russia, in the U.S., anywhere - may be just beginning anew.