Uyghurs "between hammer and anvil"

 

The Uyghurs endure their plight on fertile grounds and under dangerous conditions. Two interrelated events in the post-Soviet era changed the status of "terrorists" from a local problem into a global one: the violent power takeover by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 1996 and the subsequent attacks on New York and Washington in 2001. If the Taliban were then swiftly ousted from power in Afghanistan, transnational "Islamic" terrorism maintained Afghanistan as their home base up to this day. From a global "subterranean" source of conflict the so-called Islamic terror has grown into an international movement with specific territorial organizations. This is where the Uyghurs enter the scene, for with or without good reason the Chinese government is taking the risk that Xinjiang could become the next home base on that list since both peaceful Uyghur citizens and the few "militant" splinter groups unfortunately share the same ethnic origins.

http://www.timesca.com/index.php/news/26-opinion-head/16658-uyghur-minorities-in-central-asia-an-ethnic-group-between-hammer-and-anvil