dr. aron: in an answer to the chairman's questions, putin is there to show that russia does not abandon its allies. >> in complete contrast to what people are claiming about us. [laughter] dr. aron: make your own conclusion. >> i'm just saying. dr. aron: that point does not escape putin. you notice almost coincidentally iraq is now cooperating with intelligence, and what secrets are our iraqi allies going to give russia? a headline today. putin is there to show that russia does not abandon its .llies on a strategic level, it's for putin to retain a geopolitical asset. russia is back in the middle east after saddam through the soviet union out. russia is back. it's an extremely important domestic political imperative for him to show that whatever economic difficulties they have, russia is a great power again, whether it's in ukraine, the middle east, and god knows what is going to be next. me, is how putin calculates it. so long that the regime he supports is in power, that is putin's strategic

all right, dr. aron, dr. katz basically called into question whether assad is actually as anti-isis as we have been led to believe. could you give us your can you give us your assessment? >> i was concentrating largely of the militancy inside russia from the north caucasus. intuitively, gangsters usually find a common language. stalin did with hitler, for example. i would not be surprised if that's the case. .f they come to blows first, they take care of the pro-western liberals. again, that may not just apply to the free syrian army, but historically i would think that .s probably quite accurate as somebody who has been putin and hisn -- ideology and his goals, i agree, his plans with regard to assad are secondary. the most important thing is the implementation of the putin doctrine, which is the recovery of geopolitical assets lost by the soviet union in the fall of the soviet state. he wants to establish the presence of russia in the middle east as the dominant outside player. the second thing, let's not f

dr. aron, dr. katz basically called into question whether assad is actually as -- anti-isis as we have been led to believe. could you give us your assessment? i am sure mark went deep into that. i was concentrating largely on the spread of fundamentalism and militancy inside russia from the north caucuses. intuitively, gangsters , aslly find common language stalin did with hitler, for example. so i would not be surprised if that is the case. in any case, they do come to blows, but first they take care progress of liberals. again, that may not apply directly to the free syrian army, but historically, i would think that is probably quite accurate. as somebody who has been studying vladimir putin and his ideology and his goals, i agree that even regardless of what putin's plans are with respect -- two bashar se al-assad per se, i think they are secondary. i think the most important thing to putin in syria is what i call the implementation of the putin doctrine, which is the recovery of geopolitical as

all right, dr. aron, dr. katz, just basically called into question whether assad is actually as anti-isil as we have been led to believe. could you give us your assessment of that, please? >> i'm sure mark looked deep into that. i was concentrating largely on the spread of fundamentalism, militancy inside russia from the north caucasus. but intuitively, you know, gangsters usually find common language. stalin did with hitler, for example. so i would not be surprised if that's the case, and in any case they do come to blows up first they take care of the pro-western liberals. and again, you know, that may not just apply directly to the free syrian army, but historically i would think that that's probably quite accurate. as somebody who's been dealing, studying putin and his ideology and his goals, i agree that, even regardless of what his plans are with respect to assad per se, i think they are secondary. i think the most important thing to putin in syria is what i call the implementation of the putin doctrine

as dr. aroned out, the latest estimates eight when a hundred russian nationals are in isis -- estimates 2400 russian nationals are in sis. we should not discount al qaeda, which has its own unit from russia and the republics of central asia. that unit counts about 1500. imagine what would happen if all these individuals came home, whether because isil prevails or because isil was defeated but these individuals were not apprehended or eliminated. i should note that both isil and al qaeda have maintained ties with insurgents and terrorist networks in the north. this summer saw isis establish a province in the north caucuses. the emirate caucuses, the umbrella terrorist organization operating in the north caucuses has had long-standing ties

dr. aron, you may proceed. >> mr. ranking member, members of the committee, on the morning of july 19, 2012, gunshots and car bombs explosion woke up the capital of russia's largest autonomous republic at home of its largest muslim ethnicity, the chargers. [inaudible] -- in charge of education in islamic studies. the bomb went off under the core of the chief. he was badly injured. others were killed. appointed only a year before both men were moderate clerics determined -- as the encroachment of fundamentalism, and to strengthen the traditional moderate which is one of the five major branches sunni islam. lest anyone miss the terrorist point, cars under the banners of global jihad is raised through downtown shortly after the attack. i think the july 19 attack in retrospect could be viewed as a watershed. two decades after the first chechnya war, the russian jihad may be reaching a tipping point at which the center of gravity of militant islamic fundamentalists is shifting from north caucasus to the more urban in dense