Recent Appearances...

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Hello !
Recent Appearances...

Osama bin Laden	Osama bin Laden	International Islamic Front	Terror Networks				20020820
	Osama bin Laden	Fath-e-Islam	Afghanistan				20020830
	Osama bin Laden	Al-Qaeda Ansarullah	Terror Networks				20030125
	Osama bin Laden	al-Qaeda	Afghanistan/South Asia	Saudi	At Large	Supremo	20050607
	Osama bin Laden	al-Qaeda					20010913

Africa Horn

Sudan's descent into chaos sets stage for al-Qaida to make a return to historic stronghold

2024-05-13

[AFRICANEWS] "Sudan
Sudan

...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
's moment has come; chaos is our chance to sow the seeds of jihad," warned Abu Hudhaifa al-Sudani, a high-ranking al-Qaeda leader, in an October 2022 manifesto.

His words may have seemed premature at the time, but a year of brutal civil war has now plunged Sudan into the kind of chaos in which terrorist groups thrive. The risk of al-Qaeda gaining ground in Sudan is now very real and imperils, I believe, not only the country itself but also regional — and potentially global — security.

In April 2023, fighting broke out in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, creating a power vacuum that Lions of Islam are eager to fill.

At the same time, the Rapid Support Forces — a group that developed under and was once allied to Sudan's al-Qaeda-harboring former president Omar al-Bashir
...Former President-for-Life of Sudan He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself head cheese. He fell out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Hee was overthrown by popular consent in 2019. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it...>
— has been solidifying its grip in strategic areas such as Darfur and southern Khartoum.

Indeed, both the paramilitary group and the armed forces have been accused of recruiting Islamist fighters, fueling fears that the civil war will — regardless of the victor — prove a toehold for bully boy groups.

As a defense policy researcher and counterterrorism expert, I'm concerned that Sudan risks becoming an al-Qaeda stronghold — and a potential base for orchestrating attacks on the U.S. and its allies. A potential Rapid Support Forces takeover in Sudan could mirror pre-9/11 Afghanistan, where Taliban
...Arabic for students...
control facilitated al-Qaeda's rise.

Al-Qaeda members, seeking opportunities to achieve what they couldn't in the Middle East, are already heeding calls to head to Sudan.

DECADES OF TURMOIL AND EXTREMISM
Sudan's civil strife predates the current fighting by decades. It ignited in 1989 when al-Bashir seized power, aligning the nation with radical Islamist ideologies. He imposed Sharia law and in 1991 sheltered al-Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden
...... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse......
. Under al-Bashir's regime, bin Laden established training camps and expanded al-Qaeda's financial network, laying the groundwork for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Facing international sanctions over its support of terrorism, Sudan expelled bin Laden in 1996.

But al-Bashir's sponsorship of the Janjaweed militia group, the architects of the 2003 Darfur genocide, further solidified his alignment with Islamist bully boys. Under scrutiny, al-Bashir rebranded the Janjaweed as the Rapid Support Forces in 2013, appointing ex-Janjaweed member Mohammed Hamdan "Hemeti" Dagalo as its leader and retaining their brutal tactics.

The 2021 coup, orchestrated by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of the Sudanese Armed Forces and Hemeti of the Rapid Support Forces, soon devolved into a power struggle between the two men, igniting Sudan's current conflict.

Today, with Hemeti at the helm, the paramilitary group continues its oppressive campaign in West Darfur, engaging in alleged ethnic cleansing against the Indigenous Masalit people.

Meanwhile,
...back at the barn, Bossy's udder had begun to ache...
a prison attack in April 2023, which the Sudanese army blamed on Rapid Support Forces rebels, facilitated the escape of al-Bashir's allies, though the former president remains hospitalized under guard.

SUDAN AT THE HEART OF JIHAD
With conflicts in the Middle Eastand Eastern Europe, the West might be overlooking the crisis in Sudan and the potential it holds for al-Qaeda, a group that has long harbored ambitions of returning to Sudan.

Despite his expulsion, bin Laden continued to emphasize Sudan's importance in his plans for global jihad. This was evident in his 2006 audiotape and diary entries in which he referred to Sudan as a pivotal operational base.

A 2023 publication by key al-Qaeda figure Ibrahim al-Qussi titled "Fragments from al-Qaeda's History" revealed that bin Laden directed an investment of US$12 million solely for jihad in Sudan, highlighting the region's ongoing relevance to al-Qaeda's objectives.

Sudan's appeal to Lions of Islam extends beyond its connections to bin Laden. Strategically bridging North and sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan is a key location for Islamist Lions of Islam aiming to expand their influence across the region.

After the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban's return to power, al-Qaeda reestablished a presence in the country, reopening training camps and madrassas.

Well before that, however, al-Qaeda had long since evolved from a centralized organization in Afghanistan into a decentralized network with global affiliates — from the Arabian Peninsula to the Indian subcontinent all the way to sub-Saharan Africa and the Sahel.

HISTORIC TIES, NEW AMBITIONS
Recent developments highlight al-Qaeda's increased focus on Sudan and are driven by detailed expansion plans of Sudanese al-Qaeda leader Abu Hudhaifa al-Sudani. A former bin Laden associate with a notorious background in Afghanistan and Iraq, al-Sudani issued a renewed call for jihad.

Following the onset of civil war in Sudan, al-Sudani's 2022 manifesto, "Now the fighting has come: War messages to the Mujahideen in Sudan," not only prescribes a military strategy of targeted strikes and guerrilla warfare across Sudan but also a vision for jihad extending from Dongola in the country's north to Darfur in its south, with Khartoum as the command center.

Al-Qaeda further articulated its threat in a message on the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 attacks on the U.S., promising, "It is only a matter of time before the next strike eclipses the horrors of 9/11."

This declaration, combined with the group's escalating presence in conflict zones such as Niger and Libya, actively positions them to target U.S. interests worldwide. Indeed, a 2022 United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
report indicated that al-Qaeda was planning high-profile attacks, possibly at sea.

What an bully boy takeover would mean

Al-Qaeda's potential in resource-rich Sudan should not be underestimated. Historically, the group's operations from resource-limited Afghanistan were devastating; in Sudan, with its abundance of oil, gold and fertile land, their capabilities could be significantly magnified.

Sudan provides a lucrative base for whoever holds power. Forging links with both sides of the civil war would no doubt be of huge financial benefit to al-Qaeda should either side prevail, in the same way al-Bashir's rule was a generation earlier.

And Sudan's Red Sea access makes it potentially an even greater threat than Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

Gaining a Sudanese stronghold could empower al-Qaeda affiliates across Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
, Somalia and the Sahel region
... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas...
, exacerbating regional conflicts and threatening crucial Red Sea trade routes. Interestingly, a United Nations July 2022 report revealed that al-Qaeda's Yemen branch had been boosting its maritime capabilities.

The resurgence of al-Qaeda capabilities in the region could lead to increased piracy, militarized blockades and unregulated arms flow, escalating regional tensions and causing broader geopolitical unrest.

But as the United States redirects resources and attention to wars in Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
and the Middle East and countering China, Sudan has seemingly slipped down its priority list. Complicating matters further, U.S. responses are tangled in the conflicting interests of its Gulf allies supporting various factions in Sudan's civil war.

Link

Economy

IMF revises down growth forecast for MENA region to 2.7% from 3.4% on Gaza war, Red Sea trade disruptions

2024-04-19

[IsraelTimes] The International Monetary Fund says Middle East economies will grow at a slower pace this year than it previously projected as the war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, attacks on Red Sea shipping and lower oil output add to existing challenges of high debt and borrowing costs.

The IMF revises down its 2024 growth forecast for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to 2.7% from 3.4% in its October regional outlook. That would be an improvement from 1.9% growth in 2023.

The downward revision was driven by conflicts in Sudan, the West Bank and Gaza, as well as oil production cuts by Gulf countries weighing on activity.

"Assuming these factors ease in 2025, growth is forecast to strengthen to 4.2%," the IMF says.

"Uncertainty in high and medium-term growth is forecast to remain below pre-pandemic historical averages."

Within MENA, oil exporters are seen faring better, with the IMF projecting 2.9% growth this year, up 1 percentage point from last year.

"The voluntary oil production cuts — most notably by Saudi Arabia

...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century...
— are expected to continue to put a temporary damper on growth this year," the IMF says, adding that "higher-than-projected oil production will boost growth" for other, non-Gulf hydrocarbon producers.

Link

Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

'Simple contract' and its consequences. Ukraine could have joined NATO in 1954

2024-04-12

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Andrey Zvorykin

[REGNUM] In April, officials at the Brussels headquarters of the North Atlantic Alliance have many reasons for corporate events and mutual congratulations. One after another follows the anniversary of the founding of NATO's European Command and the return of France to the military structure of the bloc, the fifteenth anniversary of the fourth expansion to the east (with the admission of Croatia and Albania to the alliance). But the main, “semicircular” date in Brussels and NATO capitals from Washington to Skopje was celebrated at the beginning of the month. 75 years ago, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, marking the beginning of what current NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called “the strongest, most resilient and most successful” military bloc in history.

The treaty for which the organization is named was signed on April 4, 1949, in the giant neoclassical hall of Washington's Departmental Auditorium on Constitution Avenue (now the building bears the name of billionaire Andrew Mellon ) in front of a large crowd of elite guests and in the presence of President Harry Truman.

Conspiracy theorists like to point out the symbolic significance of the site of the Atlantic Pact. When the building was laid in 1932, the cornerstone was presented to then-President Herbert Hoover by the Masters of the Masonic Lodge. But in fact, if the 1949 treaty symbolized anything, it was another milestone in the unfolding Cold War.

The pact of 12 Atlantic powers became a logical continuation of Winston Churchill’s Fulton speech about the Iron Curtain from the Baltic to the Adriatic, the refusal to include the USSR and Eastern Europe in the “Marshall Plan”, the thermonuclear and hydrogen race, plans for war with the USSR (the American “Totality” and the British “Unthinkable” plan "), the first Berlin crisis and the first proxy clash between the Western and Soviet blocs - the Greek Civil War.

The document was signed by Secretary of State Dean Acheson (soon to be one of the “fathers” of the Korean War) and eleven of his colleagues - the foreign ministers of Canada and a dozen Western European states, from pacifist Iceland without an army to semi-fascist Portugal.

The main allies of the United States in the recent anti-Hitler coalition were represented by politicians with a positive “background”: an opponent of the Munich agreement, a man from Churchill’s team, Ernest Bevin, and the chief of French diplomacy, Robert Schumann - who, however, managed to vote for the dictatorial powers of Marshal Philippe Petain, but miraculously avoided being sent to Dachau for connections with the Resistance.

Truman, presenting the text of the treaty, poured out peace-loving rhetoric: “This treaty is a simple document. The nations that signed it undertake to comply with the peace-loving principles of the UN and maintain friendly relations.”

But, as Joseph Stalin noted a little later (responding to the head of the British Foreign Office on the pages of Pravda ), if “the North Atlantic Pact is a defensive pact” and is directed against aggression, then “why didn’t the initiators of this pact invite the Soviet Union to take part in this pact?”

So adorably disingenuous.

The rhetorical question of the Soviet Secretary General was essentially answered by the first Secretary General of NATO, Baron Hastings Lionel Ismay (this British representative headed the alliance until 1957): the goal of the bloc is “to prevent the USSR from entering Europe, to ensure an American presence in it and to contain Germany.”

The “containment” of the Germans, we note, was expressed in the admission of West Germany to the alliance in 1955. This was already the second expansion to the East after the inclusion of Greece and Turkey bordering the USSR (in 1952).

Moreover, a year after Stalin’s death, in March 1954, the Soviet government sent an unexpected note to the United States, Great Britain and France with a request... for the admission of the Soviet Union to NATO.

Still disingenuous. And still aggressive.

This application, submitted on behalf of three UN members - the USSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR, however, could hardly be considered a consequence of the beginning “de-Stalinization”.

At the beginning of 1949, the head of the Soviet Foreign Ministry, Andrei Vyshinsky, through the leadership of the British Communist Party, sent a proposal to the cabinet of Labor member Clement Attlee to discuss Moscow’s participation in NATO’s predecessor, the Western European Union. London's expected refusal gave Stalin a reason to call the Atlantic blocs a “undermining of the UN.”

It seems that the same Vyshinsky (or rather Nikita Khrushchev and Vyacheslav Molotov ) pursued the same goal in 1954. The USSR's gesture demonstrated to the whole world that behind the talk and construction of a security architecture, a military machine is actually being built, in which there is only room for supporters of redividing the world according to their vision.

The point of no return was the inclusion of Germany in the alliance - which crossed out the provision of the Potsdam Treaty on a non-aligned post-war Germany. Already in response to this, the Warsaw Pact Organization was created, and the bipolar split of the world finally took shape.

Formally, the first military action of the alliance was Operation Maritime Monitor in 1992 - the deployment of a NATO naval group led by the American aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt to the Adriatic to enforce the blockade of Yugoslavia.

But in fact, the participation of the European allies and Canada in the Korean War (formally a military action of the UN), and the support that Britain, France, Germany and Italy provided to the United States during the Vietnam War - all this was due, among other things, to obligations under the alliance.

What an attempt to bring the country out of strict subordination to the alliance (theoretically, this is possible thanks to Article 13 of the North Atlantic Treaty) may turn out to be can be clearly seen in France. Charles de Gaulle, who had long sought the same powers that the United States and Great Britain had, became disillusioned and in 1966 announced the withdrawal of the Fifth Republic from the military organization of the alliance, retaining membership only in the political structures of NATO.

De Gaulle lost his post two years later - after ultra-left protests (ironically, many of the leaders of “Red May 1968” would later become systemic Atlanticist politicians and ideologists), and France began to drift back to the alliance. In 1995, Socialist President François Mitterrand returned the country to participation in the development of NATO military plans. In 1997, Gaullist Jacques Chirac made an attempt to bring France back into the military organization of the alliance - but could not agree with Bill Clinton on the division of powers on the southern flank of NATO.

And in 1999, France already fully participated in the aggression against Yugoslavia unleashed by the same Clinton : NATO planes that attacked the defenseless European country took off from both the American aircraft carrier Enterprise and the French Foch.

“Without any resolution of the UN Security Council, they directly began military operations, a war, in fact, in the center of Europe,” noted Russian President Vladimir Putin on the 25th anniversary of the NATO strike on Yugoslavia.

Only in 2009, another Gaullist, Nicolas Sarkozy, de jure approved the return of France to NATO military structures. But to join the “action”, which claimed the lives of 2.5 thousand peaceful Serbs and Montenegrins, no formal decision was required.

Just like Romania - which, without waiting for formal inclusion in the alliance, provided its territory for NATO attacks on Yugoslavia.

Such a development would hardly have been possible if it had not been for the end of the Cold War on Western terms. Let us recall that in 1990, an agreement was concluded between representatives of the USSR, the USA and the Federal Republic of Germany (without the participation of representatives of the GDR) on the unification of Germany under the leadership of the Federal Republic of Germany - that is, in fact, on the annexation of the GDR by West Germany.

Led by Mikhail Gorbachev, the USSR pledged to withdraw troops from East Germany in exchange for a verbal promise from NATO representatives not to expand the alliance’s borders further to the east.

For a long time, the leadership of the alliance completely denied the fact of oral agreements with the head of the USSR. Only in 2018 were documents declassified that contained information that there was an agreement. “We deceived him,” as the theorist of Western geopolitics Zbigniew Brzezinski said about Gorbachev.

As a result, first in 1990, the NATO border moved east to the Oder-Neisse line, the former border of the GDR. And then the alliance began to pick up the legacy of the Warsaw Pact dissolved in July 1991.

To all Russia’s attempts (its applications to join NATO were rejected in 1993 and 2000) to come to an agreement on security issues, the alliance responds with hysterical cries about Russian aggression (exactly repeating NATO’s rhetoric towards the USSR).

In 1999, after the required transition procedures, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic joined NATO, and in 2004 seven more countries, including three former Soviet republics - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The Kaliningrad region became an enclave surrounded by NATO countries; the border of the alliance with Russia ran along the Narva River, 130 km from St. Petersburg.

Throughout the 90s, zeros and tens, the alliance “digested” the Balkans. In 1995, NATO countries carried out the “Considerate Force” action - aerial bombing of the Bosnian Serbs (152 civilians were killed, 273 were injured). Four years later, the above-mentioned aggression against Yugoslavia followed - Operation Allied Force.

Let us add that during this “action to protect Kosovo Albanians,” which had no military-strategic significance, NATO used prohibited weapons, including shells with depleted uranium.

At the same time, the alliance absorbed the loyal republics of the former Yugoslavia - in 2004, the process of admitting Slovenia ended, in 2009, Croatia was included in NATO (along with Albania, a former neighbor and mortal enemy of Yugoslavia), in 2017, the “master” of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, for his accommodation were rewarded with the inclusion of the republic in the alliance. And finally, in 2020, North Macedonia was admitted to NATO.

Now almost all fragments of dismembered Yugoslavia have the opportunity, as junior partners, to participate in actions to introduce democracy in third world countries. Three such actions can be distinguished since the beginning of the century.

Firstly, this is the Afghan campaign. If we do not count the assistance of NATO countries to the “freedom fighters” - the Mujahideen during the war of 1979–1989 (thanks to which the military-political career of Osama bin Laden was successfully launched ), then October 2001 should be considered the starting point.

During the American Operation Enduring Freedom (2001–2021) and the “work” of NATO members of the International Security Assistance Force, 46,300 civilians were killed. The production of methamphetamine in democratized Afghanistan increased 10-fold in 2017–2021 alone, and by 2018 the share of the Afghan “product” in the global heroin market was 92%.

The ending of the American and NATO operation in Afghanistan is well known. The world will long remember people falling from great heights, trying to cling to taking off planes and service dogs, who were several positions higher on the American evacuation lists than even the British allies.

If NATO entered Afghanistan under the guise of a UN Security Council resolution (adopted, however, only two months after the invasion), then the Americans and their alliance colleagues began the war in Iraq of 2003–2011 without any regard for international law.

Iraq’s “punishment” for the mythical development of weapons of mass destruction (remember Secretary of State Colin Powell ’s test tube that became a meme ) turned into a humanitarian disaster. According to a report from the Iraqi Ministry of Health to WHO alone, up to 203 thousand civilians died during the first stage of “democratization” (2003–2006). According to the non-governmental project Iraq Body Count, by 2011, 1 million 620 thousand people were killed, died from wounds and diseases caused by the war, of which 72% were civilians.

After the bombing, more than 750 hospitals, 3,970 clinics and 5,700 educational institutions were destroyed.

If not all NATO partners took part in the aggression against Iraq (Britain, Turkey, Italy distinguished themselves, including the “newcomer” Poland), then the intervention in Libya of March - October 2011 was already a joint action of the majority of the alliance members. Except perhaps for Germany, which allowed itself to abstain. One of the main initiators of the aggression was Nicolas Sarkozy, who returned France to the NATO military structure.

The Ministry of Health of the then-not-yet-destroyed Libyan Jamahiriya managed to report 700 civilians who died in March–May 2011 after attacks on Tripoli, Benghazi and other cities. If we believe the latest estimates from Iranian sources, up to 40 thousand Libyans became victims of the NATO intervention.

The main thing is that NATO’s assistance to the Libyan “democratic opposition” in “liberation from the tyranny of Muammar Gaddafi ” led to the complete destruction of Libyan statehood and two civil wars (2011–2014 and 2014–2020), which also claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, in particular 14, 2 thousand people during the last conflict. One of the most stable and socially prosperous countries of the former third world has turned into another “failed state” and a supplier of migrants to Europe.

From February 2022 to the present day, the Kiev regime has been the next object of NATO’s special care.

The alliance is close to the geopolitical goal identified at the end of the Cold War. With the admission of former “neutrals” - Finland and Sweden - to NATO, an anti-Russian sanitary cordon has practically been built from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea, the links of which are intended to be post-Soviet countries from Estonia to Moldova and Ukraine. The plans were disrupted first by the failure of the pro-Western “color revolution” in Belarus in 2020, and then by the beginning of the Northern Military District.

Today, NATO continues its aggressive policy, sponsoring the Ukrainian regime with weapons that are used to attack peaceful Russian cities.

Residents of Belgorod, as well as residents of Belgrade, are unlikely to agree with the compliment that Jens Stoltenberg gave on the 75th anniversary: “We are doing something right! We helped spread peace, democracy and prosperity throughout Europe."

Link

Iraq

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi: notorious terrorist or American agent?

2024-04-09

[Cradle] Ranked second only to Osama bin Laden, the US's most notorious declared enemy during the so-called War on Terror was Jordanian jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).

But a closer examination of Zarqawi's life and his impact on events in Iraq shows that he was likely a product and tool of US intelligence.
If I was really, really smart I'd get fiftyother former intelligence professionals together and we'd all write a leter (I could help with the spelig) to state that this is utter bull droppings.
Neoconservative strategists within the administration of George W. Bush utilized Zarqawi as a pawn to justify the illegal US invasion of Iraq in 2003 to the American public.
Wasn't the sequence first invasion then Zark?
Moreover, he was instrumental in fomenting internal discord within Iraqi resistance groups opposing the US occupation, ultimately instigating a sectarian civil war between Iraq's Sunni and Shia communities.

Skipping down a bit.

Then, in January 2004, the key pillar of the Bush administration's justification for war unraveled. David Kay, the weapons inspector tasked with finding Iraq's WMDs, publicly declared, "I don't think they exist," after nine months of searching.
See? It wasn't that hard to prove a negative, was it?
That would be the late David Kay.

Link

-Obits-

AQAP announces the death of its emir Khalid Batarfi

2024-03-11

[Twitter]

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) announces the death of its emir Khalid Batarfi. pic.twitter.com/yvzlcAiWg2
— FJ (@Natsecjeff) March 10, 2024

Le Monde adds:

Batarfi had appointed his successor back in February 2020, following the death of his predecessor, Qassim al-Rimi, in a US dronezap or Yemen.

Al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
has announced the death of its leader Khalid Batarfi and named a successor, SITE Intelligence Group reported Sunday, March 10. The monitoring service said Batarfi's body was shown in footage released by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000...
(AQAP) in a burial shroud and wrapped in a flag bearing the jihadist group's name.

"God took his soul while he patiently sought his reward and stood firm, immigrated, garrisoned, and waged jihad," SITE quoted an AQAP veteran as saying of Batarfi in the nearly 15-minute video. There were no immediate details of the time or cause of Batarfi's death. He was believed to be in his 40s.

The United States considers al-Qaeda's Yemen branch the most dangerous faction of the global jihadist network, and the State Department designated Batarfi in 2018 a "global terrorist". SITE said the group had named its new chief Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki, who last appeared in a video released in February 2023 urging Sunni rustics to join AQAP.

The Sunni bad boy group thrived in the chaos of years of war since 2014 between Yemen's Saudi-backed government and Iran-backed Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s. AQAP has carried out operations in Yemen against both the Huthis and government forces.

It has also carried out sporadic attacks abroad, including on the offices of the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo
...Pix/Hebdo2.pngA lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
in 2015 and a 2019 mass shooting at a US naval base in Florida, in which a Saudi Air Force officer killed three American sailors.

Update from the Times of Israel at 2:15 p.m. ET:

Khalid al-Batarfi had a $5 million bounty on his head from the US government over leading the group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula over years that saw him imprisoned, freed in a jailbreak, and governing forces in Yemen amid that country’s grinding war.

Though believed to be weakened in recent years due to infighting and suspected US drone strikes killing its leaders, the group known by the acronym AQAP has long been considered the most dangerous branch of the extremist group still operating after the killing of founder Osama bin Laden.

Al-Qaeda released a video showing al-Batarfi wrapped in a white funeral shroud and al-Qaeda’s black-and-white flag. Terrorists offered no details on the cause of his death and there was no clear sign of trauma visible on his face. Al-Batarfi was believed to be in his early 40s.

In the announcement, the group said Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki would take over as its leader. The US has a $6 million bounty on him, saying al-Awlaki “has publicly called for attacks against the United States and its allies.”

Why is the new guy worth 20% more than the dead one was?

Estimates provided to the UN put AQAP’s total forces as numbering between 3,000 and 4,000 active fighters and passive members. The group raises money by robbing banks and money exchange shops,

…how very tawdry and commonplace…

as well as smuggling weapons, counterfeiting currencies, and ransom operations, according to the UN.

…smuggling weapons and ransom operations being the usual occupations of Yemeni lads when they’re feeling feisty. Currency counterfeiting is a bit more technical than they usually get up to, but every group contains at least a few eager to learn and better themselves…

Under al-Batarfi, AQAP fell further under the influence of al-Qaeda fighter Saif al-Adel, now believed to lead the terror group after the killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri in a US drone strike in Afghanistan in 2022. That came as Yemen has been locked in a war between the Houthi rebels, who hold the capital, Sanaa, and a Saudi-led coalition backing the country’s exiled government based in Aden.

“Since 2020, Saif al-Adel has been able to convince al-Batarfi of his strategic approach, focused on confronting Western states and their allies in Yemen — the Saudi-led coalition, the Aden-based government, the United Arab Emirates and its allies — rather than confronting the Iranian-backed Houthi movement,” a 2023 report by the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies said.

Al-Adel is believed to be in Iran, part of a longtime al-Qaeda presence in the Islamic Republic. That’s long been denied by Tehran but backed up by documents seized in the 2011 US raid in Pakistan that killed bin Laden, who orchestrated the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US.

Good to know.

Al-Batarfi’s ties to al-Adel had strained relations in AQAP, experts say. However, it has seen the terrorists become armed with bomb-carrying drones — something the Houthis now use to target shipping in the Red Sea amid the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Very interesting — a hint that not only is Iran sheltering Al Qaeda’s top leaders, but supplying at least one of its key franchises as well.

AQAP “developed unmanned aerial systems capabilities, establishing a specialized drone unit, with operational training from the Houthis,” a UN report from January says.

That goes well beyond hinting. And the Houthis would only help their enemy on direct orders from Tehran.

“It prioritizes liberating its prisoners to replenish ranks; in September, the Houthis released several AQAP members and explosives experts.”

The Shiite Zaydi Houthis have previously denied working with AQAP, a Sunni extremist group. However, AQAP targeting of the Houthis has dropped in recent years while the terrorists continue to attack Saudi-led coalition forces.

Me and my brother against my cousin. Me and my cousin against the outside world.

Yemen’s history and tribal structure long has seen alliances rapidly shift, something its late strongman President Ali Abdullah Saleh referred to as “dancing on the heads of snakes.”

Al-Batarfi, born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, traveled to Afghanistan in 1999 and fought alongside the Taliban during the US-led invasion. He joined AQAP in 2010 and led forces in taking over Yemen’s Abyan province, according to the US.

In 2015, he was freed after an AQAP raid that saw the terrorists capture Mukalla, the capital of Yemen’s largest province, Hadramawt, amid the chaos of the war. A photo at the time showed al-Awlaki with a Kalashnikov rifle, posing inside a government palace there.

AQAP was later pushed out of Mukalla but has continued attacks and been the target of a US drone strike campaign since the administration of then-president George W. Bush.

In 2020, there had been claims that al-Bartafi had been detained, which later were denied. In 2021, he appeared in a video by the terror group and referred to the January 6 riot at the US Capitol as “only the tip of the iceberg of what will come to them, God willing.”

Link

-Great Cultural Revolution

The rise of barbaric progressivism

2024-02-20

[BenjaminKerstein] Shortly before he died in the late 1930s, Sigmund Freud, by then a refugee from Nazism, wrote, "We live in very remarkable times. We find with astonishment that progress has concluded an alliance with barbarism." He was referring to the rise of fascism and communism, and their combination of the most modern forms of science, technology, economic theory, and even aesthetics with the most horrific and savage forms of violence and sadism.

Freud was a man of the Enlightenment—perhaps the last man of the Enlightenment—and equated modernity with progress and civilization. Thus, to witness the degradation of modernity as it comingled with the kind of animalistic brutality that he saw as belonging to earlier and less enlightened stages of human history was shocking to him, as it was to many.

...Today, the most fervent believers in the power of progress in the United States are the members and supporters of the eponymous progressive movement. It is a bit difficult to fully define this movement, as it is easily confused with other movements of the left like socialism, communism, and even anarchism. It is possible, however, to say that its view of progress is the polar opposite of Freud’s. By and large, it holds that 1) Humanity can be made better and even perfected. 2) The history of humanity is the history of inexorable progress toward that perfection. 3) It is the duty of the individual and society to be on "the right side" of that history—that is, on the side of progress. 4) Humanity’s ultimate state of perfection will take the form of a blessed society in which suffering, poverty, and oppression have been overcome. 5) Anything that opposes or retards progress is a form of metaphysical evil.

All of these sound like fairly "civilized" goals. Moreover, the movement itself has always been one of the elite upper-middle class and its intelligentsia, meaning that, by all rights, progressives ought to be the most "civilized" people in the world. Yet large factions of today’s progressive movement are showing clear signs that Freud was quite correct in his diagnosis of progress and its discontents.

...The progressives’ turn to violence first appeared in the one institution over which progressivism exercises near-absolute rule—academia. Recent years have seen the emergence of a kind of progressive dictatorship of the professoriate, a totalitarian regime that denies its subjects the right not only to believe but even to hear ideas that might cast doubt on progressivism’s rectitude. For some time, this was accomplished by administrative corruption and quiet censorship. Today, however, it is largely accomplished by mob violence. The professoriate’s shock troops shout down and assault speakers; disrupt events; attack opposing activists; engage in intimidation, harassment, and psychological abuse; and aggressively "deplatform" anyone with whom they disagree. Thus, while freedom of thought and speech are not outright forbidden in the academy, they have become impossible to exercise, much as Islamic religious laws against depictions of Muhammad have been imposed on Western societies through the threat of terrorism.
There is an interesting point that most outside Academia don't grasp. There is an inverse proportionality between an academic's professional competence as scholar or scientist in their field of research and their level of political activism.
...Particularly disturbing is that a large number of progressives—perhaps a majority—have adopted two of the most egregious ideologies they purport to oppose: antisemitism and racism. It has often been said that all totalitarian ideologies eventually end in the Elders of Zion, and the examples of Hitler and Stalin appear to bear this out. Indeed, as it has become more totalitarian, progressivism has also become more antisemitic. It tends to couch this antisemitism in the language of anti-Zionism and criticism of Israel, but its rhetoric is so vitriolic and hateful, its violence against Jews and Zionists so intense, and its support for the most horrendous antisemitic atrocities so open and palpable, that no other conclusions can be drawn.
If the fact that "African-Americans" are less successful than whites (let alone these @$%&*#$ asians) proves structural racism, then the fact that Jews are sucessful proves that "that the Jews are a corrupt, evil, and omnipotent plutocracy."
...This antisemitism is intimately connected to the issue of race. It is, in fact, difficult to overstate the extent to which progressivism is now defined by racial politics and the idea of racial hierarchy. In effect, progressivism sees the world as a pyramid with Jews and "white people" at the top, and everyone else in a descending progression downward, with people of color and Palestinians at the bottom. Unlike in the past, however, today’s progressivism no longer wants to do away with this hierarchy, it simply wants to reverse it. It adopts the admonition of the Gospel of Matthew that "the last shall be first, and the first last."

...All of these pathologies seem to have coalesced around what critics call the "Red-Green Alliance," a term that refers to a political axis composed of progressives and Islamic radicals. This seemingly bizarre phenomenon, which the philosopher John Gray calls "Islamo-Leninism," has been developing for a long time, but it emerged in full during the ugly mob events that followed the October 7, 2023 massacre committed in southern Israel by the terrorist group Hamas. In a well-coordinated and well-funded attempt to prevent Israeli retaliation, celebrate the massacre, and express solidarity with the genocidal organization, thousands took to the streets of major cities in the US and Europe shouting antisemitic slogans and calling for Israel’s destruction. These mobs were composed almost entirely of progressive activists and radical Muslims. The same was true of those who harassed, intimidated, and physically attacked Jewish students in the streets and on college campuses. Anyone wearing recognizably Jewish clothing and symbols, or was simply known to be Jewish, became a target. In one case, a Muslim academic beat a Jewish man to death with a megaphone. The wave of racism and violence so shocked the American Jewish community that a protest march held in Washington, DC drew 300,000 people.

The sight of radical feminists marching side by side with those to whom patriarchy is a sacrament, LGBT people standing shoulder to shoulder with those who would gladly murder them in another context, socialists expressing solidarity with advocates of genocidal theocracy, and alleged human rights activists embracing supporters of religious apartheid and terrorism was incomprehensible to many, but it was not unprecedented. In the 1960s, for example, the radical left strongly supported Algeria’s terrorist FLN, which was influenced by political Islam to a far greater degree than many then and now have been prepared to acknowledge. In the 1979 Iranian revolution, leftists of all stripes helped Islamic radicals overthrow the Shah, only to have the theocrats slaughter them as soon as they had the power to do so. After 9/11, leftist sympathy for Osama bin Laden was not universal, but it was considerable and sparked a notable backlash. Today, progressives stand with, work with, and actively defend Islamic radicals in almost all aspects of life, especially political activism and most of all in anti-Israel incitement and violence.
Because these people are not really progressives - they're Nihilists. Secretly knowing themselves to be inferior, they want to become superior by exterminating anyone who's better than they are.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Netanyahu to Wall Street Journal: War against Hamas going ‘better than expected’

2024-01-29

[IsraelTimes] Prime minister tells US newspaper that ’most Israelis’ share his views regarding the future of Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
following war, says Israel will need to maintain ’security control’ over enclave

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview published Friday in The Wall Street Journal that Israel’s war efforts against Hamas
Hamas

...a regional Iranian catspaw,...
are going "better than expected."

"It took the US and its allies nine months to defeat radical forces in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
," he said, referring to the 2016-2017 war against the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
in Iraq. "Mosul is smaller than Gaza and did not have the massive terror underground infrastructure."

Speaking to a contributing columnist to the paper, Netanyahu added that despite what it might look like from the outside, he believes he represents the views held by the majority of Israelis when it comes to the day after the war in Gaza, and the future of the Paleostinians.

"Some in the United States believe that the obstacle to peace with the Paleostinians is me," he said in the interview. "They don’t realize that I reflect the view of most Israelis." Regarding a future two-state solution, Netanyahu said that any future agreement would require Israel to retain "overall security control" of all areas west of the Jordan River — including the Gaza Strip.

While calling October 7 the worst day in Israeli history, during which Hamas massacred close to 1,200 people in Israel and took another 253 hostage, the prime minister did not say anything to the news outlet regarding his responsibility for not preventing the attack, an issue he has dodged since the beginning of the war.

Netanyahu did express concern over the growing sentiment against Israel in Western public opinion, specifically mentioning the December congressional hearings of three prominent university presidents, in which they refused to condemn genocidal calls against Jews, and a recent poll showing that 20 percent of US adults between the ages of 18-29 hold positive views of the late Osama bin Laden
...... who doesn't live anywhere anymore......
"America is the vanguard of freedom and the guarantor of liberty in this century," he said. "If a younger generation emerges in America that supports the head-choppers, it is a problem for civilization."

When asked about the South African case against Israel in the International Court of Justice, Netanyahu said that "what South Africa did was shameful. South Africa is basically aligning itself, in the name of opposing genocide, with the genocidal murderers of Hamas. The only difference between what Hamas did and the Nazis did is capability, not intent."

Netanyahu repeated this sentiment in a presser on Saturday night, calling the allegations of genocide against Israel "ridiculous" and saying that they prove "that many in the world have not learned a thing from the Holocaust."

Netanyahu also told The Wall Street Journal that his actions and close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
prevented Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
from building "a second Hezbollah base" in Syria. However,
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster...
the premier conveyed disquietude over the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s warming relations with Russia: "Iran has become the chief arms supplier to Russia, and we’re obviously concerned about Russian reciprocation," he said.

Link

Southeast Asia

Malaysian defendants in Bali bombings to serve about 5 more years

2024-01-28

[BenarNews] A U.S. military judge ruled Friday that two Malaysians linked to the 2002 Bali bombings are to serve about five more years in prison in addition to the two decades they have been detained. The announcement at the military court in Guantanamo Bay came shortly after a panel of military officers recommended 23-year sentences for the pair, who last week pleaded guilty to supporting roles in Indonesia’s worst-ever terror attack that left 202 people dead. The lighter punishment reflects terms of a plea deal struck late last year, details of which were revealed in Judge Wesley Braun’s announcement Friday.

The five-member panel deliberated for about two hours after hearing final statements, .

On Friday night, it remained unclear whether Mohammed Farik Bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep would complete their sentences at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba or elsewhere. chief prosecutor Col. George C. Kraehe did not immediately respond to a question about this from BenarNews.

The two defendants and the relatives of their victims showed no emotion as the panel issued its recommendation inside the nondescript building that houses the military court, or moments later when the judge handed down his ruling.

The two men have been incarcerated at Guantanamo since they were flown here 17 years ago from a CIA black site overseas, and it was only in August 2021 that they finally got their first day in court here.

Bin Lep and bin Amin made statements on Thursday that their hearts had changed during more than 20 years in jug — first in Thailand following their 2003 arrests, then at a CIA black site before arriving at the base in Cuba in 2006.

The two wore Islamic garb earlier in the week but appeared in court on Friday in blazers and button-down shirts. Their sentences take effect from last week, when Braun, a U.S. Air Force officer, accepted their guilty pleas.

Delivering the prosecution’s closing arguments Friday, Kraehe said he spoke for the victims’ families — those watching in the hearing room and thousands of others who could not attend.

Addressing the defendants’ claims that they were tortured under the American government’s Rendition, Detention and Interrogation (RDI) policy, Kraehe said that occurred years ago. They have been treated humanely at Guantanamo, he said, telling the panel members that they were not tasked with judging the RDI policy.

"Our task is to give the victims justice," he said. "The accused are not the victims here."

Kraehe told of how bin Amin and bin Lep had "heeded the late Osama bin Laden
the late <span class=Inverse>Osama bin Laden</span>

the late <span class=Inverse>Osama bin Laden</span>

...... who doesn't live anywhere anymore......
’s call" in the 1990s. They headed to Afghanistan in 2000, trained to participate in ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful jihad and swore an oath to bin Laden after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

"This is what they wanted, what they trained for," Kraehe said.

During that time, the pair met Indonesian Encep Nurjaman (also known as Hambali

...real name Riduan Isamuddin, close personal friend of Osama bin Laden, one of the founders of Jemaah Islamiyah and the planner of the 2002 Bali bombings. He was captured with the help of a mid-Eastern intel service, shipped to Guantanamo to rot but he'll likely be released eventually because that was a long time ago and we were all so much younger then...
), the suspected main planner of the 2002 Bali bombings. Their cases were separated in 2023, with Hambali’s lawyer saying that his client did not expect to be given a similar plea deal.

Last week, bin Amin and bin Lep pleaded guilty to murder, conspiracy and three other charges.

Christine Funk, the lead attorney for bin Amin, said the worst thing he ever did was take money in December 2002 — two months after the Oct. 12 bombings — to hide conspirators. That conspiracy led to the pleas on murder and four other charges.

"You become responsible for everyone’s actions," she said.

She acknowledged the victims’ suffering while pleading her case for bin Amin.

"Because we believe the pain of the victims can co-exist with the rights of the defendant," she told the panel.

Funk, who wears a headscarf in court in deference to her Moslem client, discussed the torture he claims he was subjected to following his arrest in Thailand and during his time at the CIA black site. She used a few of his sketches presented in court on Thursday to show torture, including waterboarding.

She also released details from a report by expert Hawthorne Smith, who has worked with survivors of torture and human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
abuses for nearly three decades. He found bin Amin suffered from complex PTSD.

"[H]e indicates that Mr. bin Amin has endured symptoms of re-experiencing, such as trauma-related nightmares, sometimes three to four times a week; insomnia and other sleep disturbances; and intrusive thoughts," Funk said.

She spoke about bin Amin’s effort to change and the possibility that he be rehabilitated.

Bin Lep attorney Brian Bouffard told the court that his client did provide support to bombing conspirators and has taken responsibility for his actions.

"He is not here to call himself a victim," Bouffard said, adding bin Lep is not asking for mercy,

He said bin Lep offered prayers as he listened to the survivors’ testimony on Wednesday while adding that those efforts changed nothing in terms of the crime.

Bouffard also said that bin Lep had moved past the torture he suffered while in jug and has cooperated with Sherlocks.

Brig. Gen. Jackie Thompson, chief counsel for the Military Commissions Defense Council, expressed hope that guilty pleas and subsequent sentencings of bin Amin and bin Lep would bring closure to the victims and their families. Thompson, who watched the proceedings from the hearing room at the rear of the court, delivered a statement to BenarNews where he noted that the 20-year delay in bringing the men to justice was "extremely distressing and frustrated the desire of everyone for accountability and justice."

Thompson, who is in charge of the military’s defense attorneys, noted that 30 prisoners remain detained at the Guantanamo Bay prison, including 16 who have been cleared for release or transfer.

"The time for repatriating or transferring the cleared men is now," he said in the statement.

"A country that respects the rule of law can and should do better than this."

More can be read about the trial in this Benar News article from a few days ago.

Link

Home Front: WoT

NJ man Karem Nasr inspired by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack busted allegedly trying to join Islamist terror group in Kenya: ‘Prepared to kill’

2023-12-30

[NYPost] A New Jersey man who prosecutors say was "devoted ... to waging ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful jihad against America" and galvanized by Hamas
Hamas

...always the voice of sweet reason...
’ Oct. 7 attack against Israel, was busted in Kenya earlier this month while en route to join Somalia-based Islamist terror group al-Shabaab
... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all ofwhich have enough problems without them...
, authorities said Friday.

Karrem Nasr, 23, of Lawrenceville, faces up to 20 years in prison after Manhattan federal prosecutors charged him with a single count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

"Nasr, a citizen of this country, traveled from Egypt to Kenya bent on joining and training with al-Shabaab [sic] so that he could execute his jihadist mission of death and destruction," US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said Friday.

"Nasr was prepared to kill and be killed to support the jihadist cause, and in his own words, he described America as ’evil’ and the ’head of the snake,'" he added.

Nasr had moved to Egypt in July to study Arabic and became "particularly motivated to become a jihadi" after Hamas killed more than 1,200 people — including at least 33 Americans — in its October assault on southern Israel, FBI special agent Bilal Morgan wrote in court documents.

"In recent public social media posts, Nasr warned that ’Jihad’ was ’coming soon to a US location near you,’ posting airplane, bomb, and fire emojis," Morgan wrote. "Nasr expressed his intent to join al-Shabaab [sic] to receive military training and engage in jihad; that he was prepared to kill and be killed; and that he specifically aspired to be a martyr for the jihadi cause."

Nasr planned to meet members of al-Shabaab, which has links to Al Qaeda, during his Kenya trip after engaging with an FBI source posing as a controller for terrorist organizations last month.

"After the Oct. 7 events, I felt that something has changed [for] the better, I mean," Nasr reportedly told the source. "I felt that pride and dignity came back to the Moslems."

Nasr further referenced the recent online spread of the late Osama bin Laden
...... who is now sometimes referred to as Mister Bones......
’s 2002 "Letter to America," which garnered attention among TikTok users who claimed they had never heard of Al Qaeda’s complaints about the conflict between Israel and Paleostinians.

"I do not know if you follow the news in the West, but there are a lot of people now in America, not Moslems, just reading the letter from Sheikh [Osama] bin Laden ..." Nasr told the source, according to court documents. "And there are a lot of people, because of this letter, [who] have completely changed their opinion on him, and they finally understand how evil America is."

Nasr reportedly offered to "write for any group that he joined" because he "could write well and knew how to translate," adding that he also "wanted to train to ’shoot’ with any [terror] group he joined," Morgan wrote.

The defendant originally planned to meet the jihadists in Kenya in January, but Nasr told the source he accelerated his plans after learning his mother was visiting from the US in mid-December and wanted to take him "back to America to continue my education and work."

“But Mo-o-o-om — all the kewl kids are joining jihad nowadays! You’re embarrassing me in front of my friends!”

"Parents nowadays have no interest in religion and they do not want their children to be mujahideen," he told the source, noting that his mother did not know of his intentions to join al-Shabaab. "They want their children to see life, be doctors, engineers and make a lot of money."

Nasr was ultimately arrested by Kenyan authorities after his arrival in Nairobi Dec. 14, Sherlocks said.

Update from the Times of Israel at 2:30p.m. ET:

He said he had been thinking about joining a jihadist group “for a long time” but was not able to until Oct. 7, referring to the attack as “Flood the Aqsa,” a reference to Hamas’ term for the invasion: “Operation al-Aqsa Flood.”

Nasr was born in the United States to an Egyptian family and moved to Egypt to study Arabic in July. He contacted the FBI source using an encrypted messaging app on Nov. 14, expressing his desire to join al-Shabaab for military training.

US citizen Karrem Nasr is arrested on terrorism charges after 'trying to join Somalia's al Shabaab and threatening to bomb America in support of Hamas' https://t.co/2cXx3UVe1O pic.twitter.com/cG9RaC9gVk
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) December 30, 2023

Link

Home Front: WoT

Overview of the US Special Collection Service (F6)

2023-12-11

[GreyDynamics] 1.0 INTRODUCTION
The United States Special Collection Service (SCS), codenamed F6, is a joint NSA-CIA program that is referred to as the “mission impossible force.” The SCS’s existence is denied by the U.S. government, but its activities and capabilities have been revealed over the years. Edward Snowden’s leaks and individuals with inside knowledge have shed some light on the highly secretive unit.
"F6"... a rather humorous moniker.
The mission of the SCS is in signals intelligence (SIGINT). More specifically, they focus on “placing super-high-tech bugs in unbelievably hard-to-reach places” [source].

2.0 HISTORY
The SCS was founded in 1978 as a way for the NSA and CIA to cooperate on highly sensitive and important intelligence collection operations.

The creation of the Special Collection Service allowed for a much more efficient and coordinated approach to targets. Prior to its creation, there was increased competition between the NSA’s eavesdropping specialists and the CIA’s bugging specialists [source]. Before the SCS, the CIA and NSA would duplicate efforts and not coordinate effectively. Cooperation between the two agencies allowed them to combine their areas of expertise into one highly capable unit.

The SCS’ value in the Cold War was significant. In the Cold War, the SCS installed listening devices on pigeons perched atop of the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Since the 1990s, the SCS has become increasingly daring and widespread. In the late 1990s, the SCS was one of the first units to set up operations in the Middle East. In 1999, the SCS was listening in on al-Qaeda training camps. Around the turn of the century, SCS operations were prevalent across Iraq and only increased with the U.S. invasion [source].

3.0 ORGANISATION
The Special Collection Service is organised to maximise the cooperation between experts in the field and SIGINT experts. To maintain strong cooperation, the leadership of the SCS alternates between the Director of the CIA and NSA. In order to accomplish synergy between the agencies, four units comprise the organisation: the Field Operations Office, Field Engineering Office, Mission Support Office, and Installation and Logistics Office.
Snipped sections:
3.1 Covert HQ
3.2 Worldwide Operations
4.0 Equipment
4.1 Innovative Technology
4.2 Operations Enabled by Technology
5.0 Notable Operations
5.1 Berlin Station

5.2 OPERATION NEPTUNE SPEAR
Operation Neptune Spear was the 2011 U.S. operation to kill or capture Osama bin Laden in his compound in Pakistan. The Navy’s SEAL Team 6 and CIA Ground Branch received much of the attention, but the SCS played a critical role in the mission’s success.

The service’s signal interception capabilities allowed them to follow the trail of bin Laden’s courier to a compound outside of the city. They did this by closely monitoring his phone calls and listening for keywords while they tracked his location. [source].

As the intelligence community narrowed in on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, SCS operatives set up an operation in a safe house down the road from the target building. From this post, the operatives were able to measure vibrations and other signals to determine the number of individuals within the compound’s walls. This allowed them to determine there was one individual who never travelled outside of the home, a piece of evidence used to suggest it was in fact bin Laden’s compound [source].

6.0 SUMMARY
The United States Special Collection Service is at the tip of the spear for U.S. intelligence collection. The organisation offers the U.S. significant insight into potential threats and allows them to respond to them.

The SCS has operated in a grey area, at times violating laws and agreements of countries around the world, even allies. Despite this, the value provided by the organisation to the U.S. national security apparatus is enormous.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Saudi journalist blasts Hamas leaders for living in luxury, sending people to die

2023-12-04

[WND] A new diatribe from a Saudi journalist has excoriated the leaders of Hamas for living in luxury while sending their people to die.

The blast from journalist Musa'ad Al-Thobaiti explains that's what Islamic leaders appeared to be fond of doing.

It's a report from the Middle East Media Research Institute

...MEMRI, for short...

that explained the writings are from Al-Thobaiti in the Saudi daily Okaz.

The punishing article was headlined, "They Hide in Their Tunnels and Sell Out Their People For a Paltry Price."

The author "condemned the fighters of the Hamas military wing, who hide in tunnels in Gaza, as well as Hamas' leaders abroad, who stay in luxury hotels, saying that they all forsake their people instead of fighting Israel."

He pointed out that they "resemble numerous other leaders of terrorist organizations, such as al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden and the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, who hid in tunnels or in fortified houses with the members of their family while leaving their supporters alone in the fray."

He charged that "the Islamic nation" is being "deceived by 'a gang of cowards and traders in blood' who sell their people illusions and bring them nothing but death and destruction."

Link

Home Front: WoT

Christmas elf Calls to ‘Annihilate' Zionist ‘Dogs,' Accuses Israel of Fabricating Videos Like a ‘Hollywood Studio'

2023-11-24

Isn't that kinda like the hot dog vendor "hate speech"?

Where's the arrest?
[Breitbart] Zionist “dogs” should be “annihilated,” according to an Islamic cleric in California who accused Israel of evildoing and fabricating videos “like a Hollywood studio,” as he expressed his longing for “the day that I get to listen to the last gasping breath of them hanging from the rope that Allah gave them to hang themselves.”

In a sermon delivered Friday at the Middle Ground Muslim Center in Upland, California, Imam Marc Manley lashed out at the “Zionists,” whom he accused of knowingly perpetrating “evil.”

“Do you think for one minute that these Zionists don’t know that what they are doing is evil? Of course they do,” he said. “It’s part of their whole national anthem to remind everybody on the face of the earth of how their parents and grandparents were slaughtered in death camps in Poland and in Germany.”

“Of course, they know it’s evil,” he added.

Noting the recent trend of young Americans exploring Islam, Manley stated that “every day people are taking their Shahada [profession of faith] because of the evil that the Zionists are doing to our brothers and sisters in Palestine and Gaza.”

“People are becoming Muslim because of it. Even the people who aren’t becoming Muslim are seeing the light,” he added.

Calling Israel “desperate” as a result, he accused the Jewish state of “literally” fabricating videos “like a Hollywood studio.”

“They are constantly fabricating videos and getting caught, fabricating and getting caught,” he stated.

The matter comes as more and more sermons and lectures containing radical rhetoric from Islamic leaders in America and the West come to light.

In October, a Colorado imam live-streamed a lecture for children that included a Quranic tale of Allah turning Jews into monkeys, as well as claims that Jews are predominantly deceptive and persistently “tricking us to trust them,” and it is ill-advised to “trust” or “do business” with them.

It also comes as more and more Western youth are reportedly turning to the Quran, often adopting radicalized views in the process.

Earlier in November, young TikTokers began promoting al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his propaganda, as his “Letter to America” justifying the September 11 attacks went viral on the Chinese-owned social platform, with videos on the topic garnering millions of views.

During the public debate on the Israel-Hamas war, a new generation of those mostly born after September 11, 2001, or too young to recall the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil in U.S. history, were seen defending bin Laden for his opposition to America and its support for Israel.

Link

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