The uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, said that the bombings had nothing to do with religion, that that charge is a fraud, he said, because he knew the family and the boys as children (i.e. he knew them to have been raised as secularists). Someone, he said, ‘radicalized them.’
Well, duh. Of course, Chechnya is not religious. It was part of the USSR. Nobody practiced any religion in the USSR. Since its collapse, it became fashionable among the very rich, the very uneducated, and the very nationalistic to fake some sort of religious allegiance but these attempts are always quite ridiculous. The idea of the fundamentalist Muslim Chechnya is promoted by Russian neo-Nazis,
So whenever you hear of a religious person with a Soviet heritage, it’s a good time to laugh.
Clarissa's Blog 
Thank you for providing rational commentary on this situation. There are also barely any Chechen people in the United States due to Putin’s policies against Chechnya, so the people as a whole don’t pose much of a threat anyway. The fear mongering needs to stop. Both the left and right feel like they were correct in some ways when either way it doesn’t help the victims.
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People should just recognize that they had no idea who caused this. I freely recognize that my first instinct that it was street crime turned out to be wrong.
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In a weird way almost everybody was right – the bombers were both Muslim and Caucasian (as someone said Chechens are as caucasian as they come).
But, if stereotypes are true, then Chechens are very much overrepresented in the area of organized crime as well so you might be right too.
My main observation (that I’ve kept quiet about so far) is that it has to be one of the more bizarrely stupid acts of terrorism ever. Not much damage, no clear statement, no real…. plan of action before, during or after. The whole thing seems like the kind of random lashing out that characterizes a particular combination of unfocused anger and stupidity and whcih there’s no real defense from (beyond not letting Chechens into your country at all).
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One commenter said that:
” It is true that traditionally:
“Most ex-Soviet Muslims are secular and many don’t believe in God or think religion is important.”
But if you remember back in the 80s Reagan administration did all it could to radicalize the Muslim religious elements in Soviet Union (along with the Arabs and Pakistanis) to help the fight against the god-less Communist in Afghanistan. The Chechens were a significant component of the Mujahedin that were financed by the oil money with arms and training by our government.
The policies worked in destroying Soviet Union. Except that we are still experiencing the after shocks of those policies. Things have been lot worst in southern Russian, Afghanistan and Pakistan. As Thomas Friedman observed we are living in a flat world, in that world no matter how much we try we just can’t isolate ourselves from it. ”
Is it true about Reagan and religious radicalization?
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“The policies worked in destroying Soviet Union.”
– Reagan had nothing whatsoever to do with the dissolution of the USSR. Today, the government of Russia is making every effort and pouring insane amounts of money into promoting Russian Orthodox Church. Still, only 2% of the population actually practice. What, in your opinion, could Reagan have possibly done from behind the iron Curtain to promote religion in the USSR? The whole idea is bizarre.
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And they are Caucasians, a term which has completely differnet connotations in Russia and the USA.
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http://glavred.info/mir/mat-bostonskih-terroristov-uveryaet-chto-fbr-pyat-let-kontrolirovalo-ee-syna-248426.html
Мать бостонских террористов уверяет, что ФБР пять лет контролировало ее сына
“Они следили за каждым его шагом, а сегодня они заявляют, что это теракт. В ФБР боялись моего старшего сына, потому что он был лидером, мог повести за собой и много говорил об исламе. Однажды они официально позвонили мне и заявили, что он – умница, они не сомневаются в его порядочности. В то же время они говорили, что он получает информацию на экстремистских сайтах, и они его очень боятся. Именно поэтому я думаю, что их подставили”, – сказала Царнаева.
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She is his mother, what else can she say? Mothers of convicted serial killers keep repeating “My boy is a good boy.”
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