Thread by @kamilkazani

It might be more accurate to describe Daudov (Lord) as the commander-in-chief (вице-премьер по силовому блоку)

Regarding his rhetorics the level of religious observance in Chechnya is vastly exaggerated. I'd even say that being really observant is a sign of nonnocformity there

The large mosque in the centre of Grozny is nearly empty with exception of Friday and religious holidays. Theoretically everyone is supposed to pray five times a day. Very few do that in reality. You might think they pray at home, but majority doesn't. It's certainly an exception

I find that most discussions about Chechnya amount to savagery-porn. Like some paint Chechens as "evil savages". Some as "noble" ones. But that's all projections, because they're neither. Not that much of traditional society or culture survived through the 20th century

Not much of economy either. When visiting Chechnya I was surprised how little subsistence farming and animal husbandry I saw. Much less than in some neighbouring regions. I asked about it:

"Yeah, twenty years ago we had it. Now every house has the Wifi and TikTok instead"

If you think that Chechnya is an oasis of some uninterrupted tradition whether good or bad one, you are wrong. Traditional society was thoroughly uprooted. Tribal system for example. Now yeah everyone knows which clan they belong to and you are weird if you don't. But that's it

Clans (teips) do not serve as real structures that can be use for armed mobilisation as it was in the 19th c. Thinking that Chechen clans act this way and tribal leaders can call their men to war is like thinking the modern Highland chiefs in Scotland have this power. They don't

Chechnya is not a traditional tribal society anymore and Kadyrov's regime is *not* tribal. It's also not that religious. Btw Chechnya never was especially religious. Religion was imposed there from North Dagestan. Which indeed is the centre of Islamic knowledge. Like Khasavyurt

"Traditional religious tribal Islamist that are gonna kill us all" it's largely savagery porn aimed at Westerners. And Chechen authorities play this card, cuz it works. They're wise enough to understand that Western journalists don't need any information. They need confirmation

I think that pretty much every non Westerner with half a brain already figured out how to build a stable partnership with Western media:

1. Identify their preconceptions (that's easy, they don't even try to hide them)
2. Confirm them all

This is the way

Kadyrov is smart enough to understand this and he purposefully target the Western media space - both institutional media and the social media. In March re shared a post by a TV host Kandelaki in his Telegram channel:

"Ramzan confidently entered the social media space and realised it is the modern battlefield. Elon Musk and Pavel Durov are responding to Ramzan. We are in one step from Biden himself starting to publicly react to Kadyrov's Telegram - a unique case in political technologies"

Chechnya lives in the same social media space as the West. It's really important there. And Kadyrov is craving for attention. See example here. Attention in Russia is good. But attention in the West would be much better. Elon Musk reacting to him is a big victory for example

Interviewers of the Harvard Project were aware of the power asymmetry between them and their Soviets respondents. They guide for interviewing stated that respondents "may distort their answers in order to tell Americans what they think Americans want to hear". Well, ofc they will

What modern journalists don't seem to understand that the same power asymmetry exists between them and the Putin's satrap in North Caucasus. He lives in the same social media space as them and works hard to build his image there. He'll go at great lengths to achieve that. The end