Today Paul Goble is blogging about the Russian strategy to discourage Islamic extremism from flourishing in its cities – which also appears to include a ban on the establishment of any new mosques.  The result of this idea, Goble notes, may be counter-productive:

The first policy, enacted under pressure from the Russian Orthodox
Church and Russian nationalists of almost all stripes, is a general
refusal on the part of the authorities to allow more mosques to open in
Russian cities (as opposed to in rural areas, where many have opened),
even though the number of Muslims in many urban areas has grown rapidly
since the end of the Soviet era.

In Moscow, for instance, the number of officially registered
mosques has increased only from four to five since Soviet times, while
the number of Muslims has risen from less than 100,000 to more than 2.5
million. The situation is similar in St. Petersburg, where the number
of registered mosques has gone from one to two, even though the number
of Muslims has increased from 15,000 to around 1 million.

As a result, by deferring to the church and nationalist sentiment,
the Russian government is effectively encouraging the formation of
unofficial Muslim groups, many of whose members are either more radical
to begin with or who become so as a result of the secrecy and sense of
official persecution they experience.

Last 5 posts by Robert Amsterdam

• A Party for Medvedev - March 19th, 2010
• Rosneft Looks East - March 19th, 2010
• Energy Blast - March 19, 2010 - March 19th, 2010
• Today in Russian Business - March 19, 2010 - March 19th, 2010
• RA's Daily Russian News Blast - March 19, 2010 - March 19th, 2010