We have no idea what really happened. Only what people who are known to be the writers of the books on modern information warfare are saying about it.
So the filter one might use to look at the media and official reports on this might consist of a few historical constants and other recent events.
1. Russians and Americans have been using jihadi groups as proxy armies against each other’s interests for decades and decades now. Which makes sense. There is nothing a jihadi group likes more than to slaughter infidels and be paid by other infidels to do it. If memory serves, The Taliban itself is more or less a CIA creation to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and it worked well. Almost as well as when the US fought the Taliban for 20 years and then gave up and handed them trillions in weapons.
2. Turkey sometime in the past 15 years or so, shot down a Russian military asset, jet or heli, I don’t remember which, and the crew that wasn’t killed in the crash was killed by a Turkish proxy army called the Turkmen. Again, as memory serves. It’s all here on this site though. Sometime later, a Russian diplomat was murdered at an art show in somewhere in Turkey. He may have been a personal friend of Putin’s.
Sometime later, a Muslim terrorist attack took place at an airport in Ankara. Now this is kind of odd, since Turkey is now the home of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Erdogan is blessed by the Spiritual leader of the Brotherhood as the Kalif, or whatever the title is for the political leader of the Caliphate. So kinda weird that a jihad attack would take place at an airport within Turkey. Chechens to be precise, if memory serves.
The USA seems to be poised now for a classical war with Russia. I mean a war everyone would recognize as a war. One that gets ratings on TV. But the CIA has clearly been at war with Russia for a long time now. Information warfare is political warfare and IS war.
None of these things mean anything definitive in terms of what took place yesterday. But it opens the possibilities that it wasn’t whatever the US state department says it was. Especially if you factor in what they say about everything else. If John Kirby says its raining out, I would go to the window and check. As the saying goes, “No matter how cynical I get, I can’t keep up”. I would add to that, there is no way that any US Civil Servant could watch a David Copperfield show without thinking how they could weaponize that sort of mass deception.
The Daily Mail:
Islamic State tonight claimed responsibility for a suspected terror attack which killed at least 60 people at a packed concert venue on the outskirts of Moscow.
Around 100 people were also left fighting for their lives when gunmen in camouflage clothing opened fire with automatic weapons on people at a concert in the Crocus City Hall on Friday.
Three men named by the authorities and believed to be the killers are feared to be on the run tonight after slipping away from the bloodbath.
Kinda weird though. No suicide bombers and all the attackers are alive and got away. Not the Islamic State’s usual MO. Mind you in fairness, all the best suicide bombers are gone.
Russian YouTuber on the attack. No idea if the analysis is good, but its fascinating to hear that in Russia, guns are strictly illegal. He clearly finds a lot wrong with the narrative explanation though.
As Stephen Coughlin points out in his recent and excellent video on Marxism’s war on women, we seem to be at a place where no one knows what is true. But things are as true or not as the architects of all this need them to be for their real purpose.
Check back on this post now and again. If anything worthwhile appears I will add it to this post.
(Richard: While this may be an ISIS attack we don’t want to rush into judgement, however the idea of Obama and the Deep State starting a war with Russia to prevent Trump from winning the 2024 election would fit the description of a Black Swan event.)
CNN Admits Russian Concert Massacre ‘Very Embarassing’ For Dementia Joe, Citing Resurgence of ISIS
by Ben Kew Mar. 23, 2024 10:20 am54 Comments
A CNN National Security analyst has admitted that if the Islamic State (ISIS) really were behind the deadly terror attack in Moscow on Friday night then that would be “very embarassing” for Joe Biden.
More than 100 people have been confirmed dead following the attack at a Moscow concert hall on Friday evening in one of the deadliest attacks on Russia in decades. ISIS have claimed responsibility for the massacre.
According to CNN’s Peter Bergen, there are still questions as to whether ISIS really were behind the attack, although intelligence appears to indicate that they were:
Bergen added that the key issue for Biden is where the terrorists were trained, particularly if it was in the now Talbian-controlled country of Afghanistan:
Under the Trump administration, ISIS were completely obliterated by an aggressive and effective military campaign against targets in Afghanistan and across the Middle East. However, it appears they have managed to regroup in recent years, partially as a result of Joe Biden’s catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Their reported resurgence elevates the risk of terror attacks across the U.S. and Europe, which had become commonplace before Trump took office in 2016.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/03/cnn-admits-russian-concert-massacre-very-embarassing-dementia/
Here’s a recently released video from ISIS showing a few clips of the attack.
As noted, this is definitely not the typical Isis-style video. They don’t blur faces, they usually show the full attack.
One comment: The language is odd—it seems 100% Iranian, but contains nonsense—Like “we’re fighting for defending Allah’s honour”—which is nonsense that Muslims never say (since Allah doesn’t need us, it’s us who honour ourselves by serving Him).
A few interesting replies in the link.
Also, they don’t have the usual video ending, and no ISIS flag.
https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1771716059126497742?s=20
Vladimir Putin Speaks to Country Following Crocus City Hall Massacre – Says ISIS Terrorists Were Attempting to Flee to Ukraine
by Jim Hoft Mar. 23, 2024 9:00 am282 Comments
As reported earlier on Friday by Paul Seran, Terrorists attacked a major music venue located in Krasnogorsk, a city in the north-west of the Moscow region, on Friday afternoon. This occurred just days after the American embassy in Russia warned citizens of imminent attacks at mass events.
At least 115 Russians were slaughtered during the attack.
Sputnik reported:
current narrative posted by NYT…
The ISIS affiliate that American officials say was behind the deadly attack in Moscow is one of the last significant antagonists that the Taliban government faces in Afghanistan, and it has carried …
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/world/asia/isis-attack-russia.html
If you trust the slimes, personally their report makes the possibility of ISIS committing the attack more likely
The NYT is the FBI/CIA’s mouthpiece in print.
WaPo/Politico are the State Dept’s mouthpiece in print.
Russia detains 11 suspects in Moscow concert hall massacre that killed at least 133; ISIS claims responsibility
By Associated Press
Russian authorities arrested the four men suspected of carrying out the attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed at least 133 people and believe they were headed to Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said Saturday during an address to the nation.
Kyiv, meanwhile, strongly denied any involvement in Friday’s attack on the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, which the Islamic State group’s affiliate in Afghanistan claimed responsibility for in a statement posted on social media channels linked to the group. Kyiv accused Putin and other Russian politicians of falsely linking Ukraine to the assault in order to stoke fervor in Russia’s war in Ukraine, which recently entered its third year.
A U.S. intelligence official told The Associated Press that U.S. agencies had confirmed that IS was responsible for the assault and had previously warned Moscow that an attack could be imminen
https://nypost.com/2024/03/23/world-news/russia-detains-suspects-after-a-moscow-concert-hall-attack-leaves-at-least-93-dead/
Moscow concert hall attack: Why is ISIL targeting Russia?
Deadly attack in Moscow claimed by ISIL affiliate leaves more than 133 people dead and approximately 100 injured.
More than 133 people have been killed and more than 100 others were injured following a brazen attack on concertgoers at Moscow’s Crocus City Hall before a performance by a Soviet-era rock band on Friday.
Assailants dressed in camouflage uniforms opened fire and reportedly threw explosive devices inside the concert venue, which was left in flames with its roof collapsing after the deadly attack.
Eleven people had been detained, including four people directly involved in the armed assault, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported on Saturday.
ISIL’s Afghan branch – also known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, ISKP (ISIS-K) – has claimed responsibility for the attack and United States officials have confirmed the authenticity of that claim, according to the Reuters news agency.
Here is what we know about the group and their possible motive for the Moscow attack.
ISIL’s Afghanistan branch
The group remains one of the most active affiliates of ISIL and takes its title from an ancient caliphate in the region that once encompassed areas of Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Turkmenistan.
The group emerged from eastern Afghanistan in late 2014 and was made up of breakaway fighters of the Pakistan Taliban and local fighters who pledged allegiance to the late ISIL leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The group has since established a fearsome reputation for acts of brutality.
Murat Aslan, a military analyst and former Turkish army colonel, said ISIL’s Afghanistan affiliate is known for its “radical and tough methodologies”.
“I think their ideology inspires them in terms of selecting targets. First of all, Russia is in Syria and fighting against Daesh [ISIL] like the United States. That means they see such countries as hostile,” Aslan told Al Jazeera.
ISIS militants who surrendered to the Afghan government are presented to media in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan November 17, 2019.
“They are now in Moscow. Previously they were in Iran, and we will see much more attacks, maybe in other capitals,” he added.
Though its membership in Afghanistan is said to have declined since a peak in about 2018, its fighters still pose one of the greatest threats to the Taliban’s authority in Afghanistan.
Previous attacks by the group
ISKP fighters claimed responsibility for the 2021 attacks outside Kabul airport that left at least 175 civilians dead, killed 13 US soldiers, and many dozens injured.
The ISIL affiliate was previously blamed for carrying out a bloody attack on a maternity ward in Kabul in May 2020 that killed 24 people, including women and infants. In November that same year, the group carried out an attack on Kabul University, killing at least 22 teachers and students.
In September 2022, the group took responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing at the Russian embassy in Kabul.
Last year, Iran blamed the group for two separate attacks on a major shrine in southern Shiraz – the Shah Cheragh – which killed at least 14 people and injured more than 40.
The US claimed that it intercepted communications confirming that the group was preparing to carry out attacks before coordinated suicide bombings in Iran in January this year killed nearly 100 people in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman. ISKP claimed responsibility for the Kerman attacks.
Why is ISIL attacking Russia?
Defence and security analysts say the group has targeted its propaganda at Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent years over the alleged oppression of Muslims by Russia.
“Russian foreign policy has been one big red flag for ISIS [ISIL],” Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Washington-based Wilson Center told Al Jazeera. “The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Russian actions in Chechnya, Moscow’s close relationships with the Syrian and Iranian governments, and especially the military campaigns that Russia has waged against ISIS fighters in Syria and — through Wagner Group mercenaries – in parts of Africa.”
All of that has meant that Moscow has become a focus of ISKP’s “extensive propaganda war,” said Amira Jadoon, assistant professor at Clemson University in South Carolina and co-author of, The Islamic State in Afghanistan and Pakistan: Strategic Alliances and Rivalries.
“Russia’s engagement in the global fight against ISIS and its affiliates, especially through its military operations in Syria and its efforts to establish connections with the Afghan Taliban – ISIS-K’s rival – marks Russia as a key adversary for ISIS/ISIS-K,” Jadoon told Al Jazeera.
Should the Moscow attack be “definitely attributed” to ISKP, Jadoon said, the group hopes to win support and advance “its goal to evolve into a terrorist organisation with global influence” by demonstrating that it can launch attacks within Russian territory.
“ISK [ISKP] has consistently demonstrated its ambition to evolve into a formidable regional entity … By directing its aggression towards nations such as Iran and Russia, ISK not only confronts regional heavyweights but also underscores its political relevance and operational reach on the global stage,” Jadoon said.
Kabir Taneja, a fellow at the Strategic Studies Programme of the Observer Research Foundation – a think tank based in New Delhi, India – told Al Jazeera that Russia is seen by ISIL and its affiliates as “a crusading power against Muslims”.
“Russia has been a target for ISIS and not just ISKP from the beginning,” Taneja, author of the book, The ISIS Peril, said.
“ISKP attacked [the] Russian embassy in Kabul in 2022, and over the months, Russian security agencies have upped their efforts to clamp down on pro-ISIS ecosystems both in Russia and around its borders, specifically Central Asia and the Caucusus,” he said.
In early March, Russia’s Federal Security Service, better known as the FSB, said it had thwarted an ISIL plan to attack a Moscow synagogue.
“The most compelling current motivation for ISIS-K to attack Russia is the Taliban factor. The Taliban is a bitter rival of ISIS, and ISIS views Russia as a friend of the Taliban,” said Kugelman.
Moscow’s close relations with Israel are also anathema to ISIL’s ideology, Taneja said.
“So this friction is not new ideologically, but is so tactically,” he told Al Jazeera.
There’s another factor, too: Largely away from the world’s attention, the armed group has regrouped into a formidable force after setbacks in Syria and Iran.
“ISKP in Afghanistan has grown in strength significantly … and it’s not just ISKP, ISIS in its original regions of operations, Syria and Iraq, also sees [an] uptick in operational capabilities,” Taneja said. Today, he added, it is “ideologically powerful even if not politically, tactically or strategically … that powerful any more”.
That poses a challenge for a distracted world, he said.
“How to combat this is the big question at a time when big power competition and global geopolitical churn has put counterterrorism on the back burner,” Taneja added.
How has ISIL responded?
ISKP social media channels are “jubilant” following the attack on Moscow, said Abdul Basit, a senior associate fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore.
“They are celebrating the attack,” Basit told Al Jazeera, adding that supporters are “translating and recirculating the responsibility claim” issued by the ISIL-linked Amaq News Agency.
Basit said that ISIL’s method of operations involves amplifying a propaganda campaign in advance of large-scale attacks and this had been observed in recent anti-Russian messaging. Such attacks “add to the credibility” of armed groups, Basit explained, which then “increases the scope of their funding, recruitment and propaganda”.
More attacks are possible in Russia and elsewhere, he added, given the key role that ISIL recruits of Central Asian origin – particularly Tajiks – played when the group held territory in Syria. They have now returned to the Central Asia region and their intent to carry out attacks has now materialised in capability, Basit said.
Previous attacks in Russia
Moscow and other Russian cities have been the targets of previous attacks.
In 2002, Chechen fighters took more than 900 people hostage in a Moscow theatre, the Dubrovka, demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya and an end to Russia’s war on the region.
Russian special forces attacked the theatre to end the standoff and 130 people were killed, most suffocated by a gas used by security forces to leave the Chechen fighters unconscious.
The deadliest attack in Russia was the 2004 Beslan school siege which was carried out by members of a Chechen armed group seeking Chechnya’s independence from Russia. The siege killed 334 people, including 186 children.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/23/moscow-concert-hall-attack-why-is-isil-targeting
There’s no logical problem with a getaway plan. ISIS would often attack a target with men who were willing to retreat if it failed, even if that same attack was started with one or two suicide bombers.
The suicide bombers played the role of guided artillery on the battlefield. No such role was necessary in Moscow. A man can kill more trapped, unarmed civilians with an AK47 than a suicide vest.
They got caught only because they were driving at a very high speed, 137 km/hr. Easy to spot.
Most people making an escape from a crime don’t understand that driving fast draws attention.
Putin Vows Revenge For “Bloodbath” Moscow Attack, Points Finger At Help From Ukraine, As 11 ‘Terrorists’ Captured
Tyler Durden’s Photo
by Tyler Durden
Saturday, Mar 23, 2024 – 10:05 AM
The official death toll from Russian authorities in the wake of Friday’s terror attack on a Moscow concert hall has reached 133 killed, with some unofficial reports saying there could be as many as 140 or more. As the scene continues to be processed and investigated, and given some of the hospitalized are in critical condition, the death toll is likely to rise. Over 150 were wounded in the attack, which involved a group of well-equipped attackers sporadically shooting into crowds as they walked through the mall and into the concert hall. Three children are still in the hospital, with one in critical condition.
The mall and complex at the Crocus City Hall music venue appears to have burned for many hours through the night. Russia’s Investigative Committee later said more bodies were recovered from be smoldering building. Importantly, authorities on Saturday announced the capture of four suspected gunmen, also amid unconfirmed social media videos purporting to show some of the detained alleged gunmen.
Eleven people total have been detained connected with the terror attack which the Federal Security Service (FSB) has said includes “four terrorists who were directly involved in the terrorist attack on Crocus.” They are not Russian nationals, security services said.
After the Friday night rampage at the venue just outside Moscow, “the perpetrators tried to escape by car, fleeing towards the Russian-Ukrainian border,” the FSB said Saturday “The criminals intended to cross the Russia-Ukraine border and had relevant contacts on the Ukrainian side,” the FSB statement alleged.
The four alleged gunmen were detained “not far from the border with Ukraine”. This has raised suspicion in the Kremlin over Ukraine’s involvement, despite the widespread media reports in the West that it was ISIS-K. As we noted earlier, Russian media has not echoed the Western reports highlighting an ISIS-K statement of responsibility.
Instead, in addressing the crisis President Vladimir Putin has vowed to punish the perpetrators of the barbaric terrorist act while also charging that Ukraine prepared a “window” to help the terrorists escape.
At one point during the five-and-a-half minute video address, Putin said: “All perpetrators, organizers and customers of this crime will suffer fair and inevitable punishment. Whoever they are, whoever guides them. I repeat, we will identify and punish everyone who stands behind the terrorists, who prepared this atrocity, this attack on Russia, on our people.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-vows-revenge-bloodbath-moscow-attack-points-finger-help-ukraine-11-terrorists
Interrogation of the hospitalized shooter:
A commenter: “She asks him “How did you get in to the country? What did you write on the form? Coming here for business or pleasure ?” He replies “ I wrote for pleasure “ it appears like he is from Afghanistan.”
Video: https://x.com/runews/status/1771581890505396379?s=20
A possible scenario here: Three exhibits in the link. And let’s not forget Victoria Nuland visited Kyiv some two weeks before resigning and stated that Russia was in for many nasty surprises. And two days before the attack, Obama (aka Nuland) visited UK’s Sunak.
“…Talk about a Deep State-pinpointed target.
ISIS spin-off or banderistas – the sponsors remain the same. The clownish secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, was dumb enough to virtually, indirectly confirm they did it, saying on Ukrainian TV, “we will give them [Russians] this kind of fun more often.”
But it was up to Sergei Goncharov, a veteran of the elite Russia Alpha anti-terrorism unit, to get closer to unwrapping the enigma: he told Sputnik the most feasible mastermind is Kyrylo Budanov – the chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence at the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
The “spy chief” who happens to be the top CIA asset in Kiev…
https://t.co/zhykriujq7
Here, we have Zelensky yapping off today in sheer delight:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1771652859248927169
And Ukraine today went all out sending missiles at three Russian cities. Major attacks.
THEY REALLY WANT TO GET RID OF PUTIN.
No, your memory doesn’t serve and it is stupid assertion. “If memory serves, The Taliban itself is more or less a CIA creation to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and it worked well.” The US armed the armed the Mujahideen. The Taliban were organized by Mullah Mohammad Omar from Taliban, i.e. students, living in refugee camps in Pakistan during the in fighting between various warlords after the Soviets left.
Either way the point stands. The US armed jihadis to fight the Soviets. The proxy wars between Russia and the US using jihadis is a well established pattern and this was the case in Afghanistan. The Taliban, as you rightly assert, means students. While Al Qaeda, which means the base, have been funded by others for their relative purposes.
This is still among the best documents I have seen on some of this, and when we first translated it and tried to post it, it would disappear from EVERY platform we put it on within an hour, and usually sooner. No warning or explanation.
After teh election of Trump in 2016 it seemed to be allowed to remain online.
https://rumble.com/v4bk369-bulgarian-tv-news-report-on-obama-support-of-islamic-terror.html