That system has since mostly broken down. Official corruption, mass poverty, abuses committed by security forces, and widespread male unemployment all play a part in radicalizing young Dagestanis and propelling them into the growing Islamist revolt – a breeding ground for terrorism that has become a painful subject of interest in the US in the wake of the Boston bombings.
Experts say the Kremlin is declaring war on the old ethnic clan system, and Amirov’s arrest is probably the beginning of a much wider campaign to restore political control over the republic.
“It looks like Amirov’s arrest is the beginning of a large-scale effort to cleanse the political landscape in Dagestan,” says Alexei Vlasov, director of the Center for Political Studies of the Post-Soviet Space at Moscow State University. “It’s a demonstrative step from Moscow and the Dagestani leadership that things are going to be changed.”
“The alternative would be to leave things as they are, in which the elite is too fragmented and every little clan leader goes his own way. Yes, perhaps there’s probably going to some tough measures…. Dagestan is the weakest link in the entire northern Caucasus, not so much because of the Islamist extremists but mainly because its local authorities are so hopelessly ineffective. So, the Kremlin’s message in arresting Amirov is that changes are coming. All local officials will sit up and take notice, because if Amirov can be arrested, no one is safe. There is no turning back, the Kremlin is going to have to go all the way with this,” he adds.
Article Appeared @http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2013/0603/An-Olympic-crackdown-Dagestan-s-mayor-snatched-in-Russian-military-raid?nav=87-frontpage-entryLeadStory