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CIA's Global Mission: Countering Shared Threats
CIA’s Global Mission: Countering Shared Threats
Speaker:
John O. Brennan
Director, Central Intelligence Agency
Presider:
Charlie Rose
Host and Executive Editor, Charlie Rose; Coanchor, CBS This Morning, CBS News
Description
CIA Director John O. Brennan joins CBS News' Charlie Rose to discuss the agency's global mission and approach to emerging and persistent threats.
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AFP, Toulouse
Saturday, 14 March 2015
Saturday, 14 March 2015
A child who appears to execute an Arab Israeli in a video released this week by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group is said to have been recognized by classmates in France, an official said Friday.
The schools inspector in the Haute-Garonne district in southern France said students in the city of Toulouse believe they recognized the boy, who appears to be no more than 12.
“Concerning the formal identification of this person, I cannot tell you anything,” Jacques Caillaut told reporters. “Children from the Vauquelin College have recognized one of their classmates, but we must remain cautious.”
Shocked students had seen the video on Wednesday and counselling was put in place for them, he said.
According to the inspector, students at the Vauquelin secondary school would have known the boy when he was still in primary school in Toulouse.
“There is a child who has not been enrolled at the Vergers (primary) school since March 14, 2014, but I do not have any other details,” Caillaut said.
French officials Thursday launched a formal investigation into the video, which also features a French-speaking man.
According to sources close to the investigation, the man is probably Sabri Essid, who has close links to French jihadist gunman Mohamed Merah, the killer of three soldiers, three students and a teacher in southern France in 2012.
In the video, a youth identifying himself as 19-year-old Mohammed Said Ismail Musallam is shown kneeling in front of the boy. A man stands at his side.
Dressed in an orange jumpsuit that is standard in videos of ISIS executions, the man seen kneeling recounts how he was recruited by Israeli intelligence, a claim denied by his father.
The man standing nearby, speaking in French, issues threats against Jews in France, before the boy walks around in front of the hostage and shoots him in the forehead using a pistol.
The boy, who shouts “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest” in Arabic), then shoots the man four more times as he lies on the ground.
Sources familiar with the case have said the boy may be 31-year-old Essid’s stepson.
Known to intelligence services as a key figure in the radical Islamist community in the southern city of Toulouse, Essid is suspected to have left France for Syria last year.
Last Update: Saturday, 14 March 2015 KSA 08:41 - GMT 05:41
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(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. doesn’t want to see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government collapse and create a vacuum for Islamic State and other militants to take over, Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan said.
When asked whether he fears what might follow if Assad’s regime collapsed, Brennan called it “a legitimate concern.”
“What we don’t want to do is to allow those extremist elements” including Islamic State, Jabhat al-Nusra, and al-Qaeda elements within Syria to seize power from a collapsed regime, Brennan told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Friday. “The last thing we want to do is to allow them to march into Damascus.”
As President Barack Obama has done, Brennan dismissed the extremists’ claims to represent a purist form of Islam. “They are terrorists, they’re criminals,” he said in answer to a question. “Most -- many -- of them are psychopathic thugs, murderers who use a religious concept and masquerade and mask themselves in that religious construct.”
Brennan’s comments about the Syrian regime reflect the conflicting pressures on the Obama administration since the president said in 2011 that “Assad must go” for using violence to crush peaceful pro-democracy protests. The Syrian civil war enters its fifth year on Sunday, having claimed more than 210,000 Syrian lives.
The future governance of Syria “is not going to be resolved on the battlefield” and so needs a political solution, Brennan said. “We need to continue to support those elements within Syria that are dedicated to moving Assad and his ilk out, but there has to be some kind of political pathway to the future.”
Political Impasse
Multiple attempts to negotiate a political transition to end the conflict have failed. The Assad government and supporters such as Russia maintain that the fractured moderate opposition isn’t strong enough to defeat Islamic State and govern a country divided along religious and ethnic lines.
While Brennan spoke of the need to “bolster those forces within the Syrian opposition that are not extremists,” the Obama administration has been reluctant to provide moderate forces with lethal arms, in part out of fear that the weapons could end up in the wrong hands.
He also acknowledged, as other U.S. intelligence officials have, that terrorists and others are making effective use of technologies such as social media to plan operations, attract recruits and broadcast their messages across great distances.
“The overall threat of terrorism is greatly amplified by today’s interconnected world, where an incident in one corner of the globe can instantly spark a reaction thousands of miles away, and where a lone extremist can go online and learn how to carry out an attack without ever leaving home,” he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sangwon Yoon in New York at syoon32@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net Terry Atlas
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<a href="http://Antiwar.com" rel="nofollow">Antiwar.com</a> - Feb 20, 2015
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The Ocean Signal - Feb 20, 2015
Defendant Magomed Z., a Russian national from Chechnya accused of fighting with Islamic State, is led into court for the start of his trial in Krems, Austria, January 22, 2015. Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters. As many as 1,700 Russian citizens could be fighting for ...
 Up to 1700 Russians Fighting for ISIS, Says Head of Secret Service
Newsweek - Feb 20, 2015
Defendant Magomed Z., a Russian national from Chechnya accused of fighting with Islamic State, is led into court for the start of his trial in Krems, Austria, January 22, 2015. Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters. Filed Under: World, Russia, ISIS, Jihadists, Chechnya.
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World
Defendant Magomed Z., a Russian national from Chechnya accused of fighting with Islamic State, is led into court for the start of his trial in Krems, Austria, January 22, 2015. Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters
As many as 1,700 Russian citizens could be fighting for jihadist groups in Iraq, Russia’s head of federal security (FSB) has said during a U.S.-chaired summit against violent extremism in Washington DC, Russian news service RIA Novosti reported today.
“We need to invigorate our efforts to prevent these departures and alongside other countries we need to do all that is necessary not to allow terrorist threats or attacks once these citizens return,” Alexander Boratnikov, director of the FSB said.
“At present there are 1,700 Russian citizens in Iraq and this number has practically doubled since last year,” the security chief added, estimating that around 20,000 militants from 100 different countries have been recruited for groups in Iraq and Syria such as ISIS.
Boratnikov also highlighted that Russia had agreed to collaborate on the issue of Islamic extremism with the U.S. and nearly 70 other allied nations at the summit, focusing particularly on the issue of “youth radicalization”.
Boratnikov, who has personal sanctions placed on him by both the U.S. and Canada, was added to the entourage of the Russian delegation to the summit only two days before Thursday - the first day of the three-day event.
Russia has long-standing problems with jihadis internally, as an estimated 160,000 people have been reported killed during fighting between the Russian military and Islamist separatists in the predominantly Muslim region of Chechnya since the early 1990s.
Chechen terrorist attacks on the Russian civilian population have continued since, reaching a particularly violent phase between 2003 and 2004 when nearly 100 civilians were killed in two separate train bombings while hundreds were killed, including almost 200 schoolchildren, in the siege of a school in the town of Beslan.
Recently there have been reports that Chechen militants are fighting for ISIS as a group of ISIS militants vowed to “liberate Chechnya” from Russia in August, taking particular issue with Russian president Vladimir Putin’s support for Syrian president Bashar Assad, whom ISIS are also fighting. The group have even released Russian-language recruitment videos.
Two men were arrested in Berlin last month, under suspicion of recruiting Turkish and Russian nationals to fight in Syria.
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Islamic terrorism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Militant Islam. ... 3.3.1 Russia; 3.3.2 Turkey ..... Militant Islamic fundamentalist organisations portray their struggle in simply uncompromising ...European Protests Call For Rejection of Militant Islam and ...
<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/.../anti-" rel="nofollow">www.breitbart.com/.../anti-</a>islam-pro-europa-peace-protest-germ...BreitbartLoading...Dec 9, 2014 - I wonder at what point that the protesters will cotton on that the EU is the majoity reason for Islam and Russia (current position in the Ukraine).Russia's Ongoing Battle With Radical Islam - Forbes
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<a href="http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/75791.htm" rel="nofollow">www.pravoslavie.ru/english/75791.htm</a>Dec 11, 2014 - ... to oppose Sharia law, and to call for peace with Christian Russia, ... Protests Call For Rejection Of Militant Islam And Peace With Russia ...European Protests Call For Rejection of Militant Islam and ...
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Terrorism in Russia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to Threat of Islamic terrorism - [edit]. Further information: Islamic terrorism § Russia and Islamism · Islamic terrorism is considered a major threat to ...'Terror has no religion': MP urges ban on phrase 'Islamic ...
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- Published on Thursday, 22 January 2015 09:12
- Category: Articles and Commentary
- Written by Taras Kuzio
As France and Europe mourned and condemned the senseless terrorism in Paris, the European Parliament only a few days later, in a tough resolution on Ukraine, refused to describe the Russian-sponsored separatist enclaves in eastern Ukraine as “terrorist.” Why the double standards?
Promoting terrorism
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini’s proposal to the EU to return to business with Russia and not only ignore its state-backed terrorist campaign but even its hybrid war was rejected by member states. US Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey has declared that the threat of Russian aggression and terrorism in Europe are growing. After all, the arrest of five Russian citizens in France on January 20th on terrorism charges showed how futile it is to try and sanitise developments in one part of Europe and separate them from those in another.
Europe’s focus on Russia’s hybrid war has ignored Russia’s second front of promoting terrorism in Ukraine. While the hybrid war in the Donbas seems far away for most Ukrainians, the terrorist campaign, which is spreading and becoming more deadly as seen in explosions in Kharkiv, which injured 20 people, and Zaporizhzhya which derailed a train, are very much closer to home. On January 20th the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council introduced heightened security measures throughout the country because of the growing number of terrorist attacks.
Intelligence reports point to these terrorist attacks as not being the work of “lone wolves”, as in Boston, Ottawa, and Paris, but a well-coordinated campaign orchestrated by Moscow. Coordinating centres ‘Novaya Rus’ (New Russia) are training groups of 3-5 Ukrainian and Russian citizens in Russia (Belgorod, Tambov, Taganrog, and Rostov), Crimea and Moldova’s frozen conflict zone of Transnistria.
Training is provided by Russian military intelligence (GRU), which controls the “little green men” that led to the annexation of Crimea and capture of state buildings in Donetsk in the spring, and are known as such because of the absence of country insignia on their uniforms. The Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s domestic intelligence service that is tasked with operating not only in Russia but also throughout the former USSR, is also involved in providing intelligence and training.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and military intelligence have captured terrorist groups Svat, Dzygit, Staryy, Pryzrak, Kharkov Partyzany, Kulykove Pole, and Koban. Captured terrorists from the Svat group who were active in the Mariupol region have testified to attending training camps in Sevastopol where they were taught how to build bombs and undertake urban guerrilla warfare, reconnaissance, and intelligence operations behind enemy lines.
Russian weapons and explosives have been intercepted while being sent using private postal services. Roadblock checkpoints have also discovered explosives and weapons hidden in cars and trucks travelling to Kyiv from Eastern Ukraine. In one incident near Kyiv last month terrorists travelling in a car that was randomly checked threw hand grenades at traffic police.
The greatest concentration of terrorist attacks have taken place in four key areas – the capitol city of Kyiv, the two swing regions of Odesa and Kharkiv, where in the spring of 2014 pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian forces battled for control, and the port city of Mykolayiv which was temporarily occupied by separatists and is key to any Russian attempt at establishing a land bridge from Russia to Crimea. Security expert Oleksiy Melnyk from Kyiv’s Razumkov Centre believes these four cities are “where Russian-backed forces feel there’s still a possibility to destabilise the situation.”
In spring of 2014, Russia invested enormous resources in destabilising Kharkiv and Odesa, which after the failure of these operations have borne the brunt of terrorist attacks.
The battle for Ukraine
In May, the PBS Frontline documentary “The Battle for Ukraine” reported how pro-Russian vigilantes were trained and paid 40 US dollars per hour by Russian intelligence to beat up “Ukrainian fascists” (i.e. EuroMaidan supporters). Ultimately their plans were foiled by the mobilisation of Russian-speaking Ukrainian patriots and in Kharkiv patriotic football fans coined the well-known chant “Putin hhuilo!”, which translates as “Putin is a dickhead!”. Kharkiv-born Interior Minister Arsen Avakov assisted local patriots in defeating the pro-Russian Oplot (Bulwark) vigilantes who moved to Donetsk to form Donetsk People’s Republic Prime Minister Aleksandr Zakharchenko’s elite forces. Oplot was one of a number of separatist organisations sanctioned by the US government last month.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) believes that Oplot members now operating underground in Kharkiv have undertaken these terrorist attacks. In Kharkiv, terrorists have targeted the city’s prosecutor’s office, a military hospital, a furniture factory owned by a Euromaidan activist, and a rock pub called Stina (“Wall” in English) where EuroMaidan activists gathered. An underground explosives and printing factory in Kharkiv was closed down in October and a number of separatist organisations were banned. In an ongoing anti-terrorist operation in Kharkiv, members of the Iskhod terrorist organisation were captured.
In Odesa there has been calm since early May, when street battles between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian forces led to over fifty deaths, mainly of pro-separatist activists who died in the Trade Union building. But, since the Minsk peace accords the number of terrorist attacks have markedly risen, and after seven recent attacks Kyiv dispatched National Guard units to Odesa to assist the local police forces.
A group of five terrorists were detained in Odesa in September of last year who had been trained in Russia. A second detained terrorist group had planned to copy the violent seizure of state buildings undertaken in the Donbas in the spring. One terrorist accidentally blew himself up last month while planting a bomb at a military academy. Other terrorist targets have included Euromaidan civil society support groups who collect supplies for Ukraine’s military, shops owned by these activists, train lines, and freight cars transporting oil. On January 20th, three were shot in Odesa, including a volunteer who had been collecting supplies for the Ukrainian army.
Besides these four strategic targets, terrorist groups planning to commit acts of terror have been captured by Ukraine’s security forces throughout the country from Trans-Carpathia and Lviv in the West, to Zhitomir, Khmelnytskyy and Vynnytsya in Central Ukraine, and in the Kyiv metro and near Kyiv’s Borispil airport. In eastern and southern Ukraine, terrorist groups have been captured in Zaporizhzhya, Odessa, Kherson, Mylolayiv, and Dnipropetrovsk. Two terrorist attacks targeted the private home of the popular Mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyy, whose new Samopomych (Self Reliance) party came in third in the October 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary elections. Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Kernes survived an April assassination attempt by Oplot.
The Dnipropetrovsk region, led by Jewish-Ukrainian oligarch and Governor Igor Kolomoyskyy, is on the frontline of the Donbas conflict and is key to supplying Ukrainian army and National Guard units and treating wounded casualties. Last month the SBU detained a group backed by the Communist Party planning to launch a series of terrorist attacks in Dnipropetrovsk against banks and military bases. Pryvat Bank, owned by Kolomoyskyy and his business partners, has been nationalized in Crimea and has been extensively targeted by terrorists in Ukrainian cities.
Five goals of Russian-backed terrorists
Generally speaking, terrorist groups have been trained by Russia with five strategic goals.
First, blow up train lines (as in Zaporizhhya this week) and key government buildings, launch small-scale hit-and-run attacks on offices at military-industrial plants, bomb anniversaries of World War Two victory and Ukrainian Independence Day rallies, military recruiting centres and National Guard training facilities.
Second, destabilise and terrorise the population and provoke panic in the different regions, according to a SBU communiqué.
Third, collect intelligence on movements of Ukrainian armed forces and National Guard battalions. Terrorists mingle with the civilian population operating as spotters for separatist artillery and grad missile attacks against Ukrainian security forces. Terrorists have been captured with intelligence on key economic targets such as the Mariupol port, with the purpose of planning future terrorist attacks.
Fourth, establish underground print shops to publish pro-Russian separatist leaflets and newspapers propagating the ideology of “New Russia” as well as hostility to pro-European Ukrainians, who are collectively referred to as “fascists”.
Fifth, infiltrate Ukrainian National Guard battalions to collect intelligence about their locations, strengths and weaknesses, and military plans. Russian and separatist forces absolutely loathe volunteers fighting in the National Guard, and when they are captured they have been summarily executed.
Je suis Volnovakha
At the close of 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “New Russia” project was shelved after pro-Russian support failed to materialise in four
Russian-speaking regions of Eastern-Southern Ukraine while in two others, the swing regions of Kharkiv and Odesa, pro-Ukrainian forces eventually gained the upper hand. Russia controls only a third of Donbas territory and has been unable to dislodge Ukrainian forces from strategic installations such as the Donetsk airport. The current Russian-led offensive is, according to Zakharchenko, aimed at taking control of the whole of the Donbas. This will meet stiff resistance from pro-Ukrainian regions of northern, western and southern Donetsk and northern Luhansk, which have negative experience of separatist control from the Russian occupation of their regions in the spring and summer of 2014.
Russian-speaking regions of Eastern-Southern Ukraine while in two others, the swing regions of Kharkiv and Odesa, pro-Ukrainian forces eventually gained the upper hand. Russia controls only a third of Donbas territory and has been unable to dislodge Ukrainian forces from strategic installations such as the Donetsk airport. The current Russian-led offensive is, according to Zakharchenko, aimed at taking control of the whole of the Donbas. This will meet stiff resistance from pro-Ukrainian regions of northern, western and southern Donetsk and northern Luhansk, which have negative experience of separatist control from the Russian occupation of their regions in the spring and summer of 2014.
While the “New Russia” project has been shelved, President Putin’s hybrid war and terrorist campaign continue to operate together. Over the course of the winter months Russia is seeking to establish a more coherent and united separatist military force from a multitude of often warring groups, and towards this end has stationed up to 10,000 soldiers in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. Russian military equipment continues to cross into Ukraine, including inside so-called “humanitarian convoys,” according to the Moscow representative of the ICRC, and Ukrainians estimate there to be 8, 000 Russian troops in eastern Ukraine. In the last week, BBC news reports have shown Russian marines—clearly evident from their lapel badges—fighting in the Donetsk airport.
The Donbas conflict has killed 5,000 civilians and upwards of 10,000 Ukrainian, separatist, and Russian combatants. Officially no state of war exists between Ukraine and Russia as Kyiv is undertaking a so-called Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO), while Russia continues to deny it is intervening in Ukraine. Nevertheless, 80 per cent of Ukrainians believe their country is at war with Russia and only ten per cent believe relations between both countries are friendly. Meanwhile a high 85 per cent of Ukrainians believe relations with Russia are difficult and hostile and consider President Putin, who is personally blamed by Ukrainians for the stab-in-the-back annexation of Crimea and inflaming of the Donbas conflict, the most negatively-rated foreign leader. A recent Gallup poll found that only five per cent of Ukrainians approved of President Putin, including as low as even 12 per cent in Ukraine’s Eastern and Southern regions.
If the Donbas conflict returns to full-scale hostilities – as looks increasingly likely - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko may have little alternative but to introduce a state of emergency as a prelude to declaring Ukraine to be in a state of war with Russia. Donetsk Airport is already Europe’s first Stalingrad since Second World War.
The Ukrainian government has sent criminal claims to the ICC (International Criminal Court) and the European Court on Human Rights (ECHR), charging Russia with financing and supporting terrorism, annexing Crimea, and corporate raiding Ukrainian-owned businesses and state structures. Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has said that Ukraine is seeking compensation from Russia for its war of aggression and terrorism against Ukraine, and international recognition that Russia has violated the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, adopted by the UN in December 1999.
Russia has long become what the US State Department calls a “state sponsor of terrorism” according to Section 2656f(d) of Title 22 of the United States Code. The US State Department determines countries to have provided support for terrorism pursuant to three laws: section 6(j) of the Export Administration Act, section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act, and section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act.
Donbas separatist groups fit the definition of “international terrorism” and there are multiple sources that point to Russian training and military support for violent separatist and terrorist groups in Ukraine. Russia’s use of special forces in the spring to back the initial separatist campaign, Moscow’s extensive supply of high-tech weapons such as the BUK missile system that shot down the Malaysian civilian airliner, and training of separatist and terrorist groups classify Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Nevertheless, there is still a lack of political will at the highest levels of the EU and US to declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. Washington does not want to recognise the DNR and LNR as “terrorist states,” as Ukrainian President Poroshenko requested during his October visit to Washington DC, because to do so would lead to the next step of Russia replacing Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism alongside Iran, Sudan, and Syria. If the US defined Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, the EU would be obliged to follow suit and extensive tougher sanctions would follow.
After the murder of 11 civilians on a bus this week by Russian-backed and -supplied terrorists, it is time to also say “Je Suis Volnovakha!” A return to a Yalta-style divided Europe cannot be permitted, with human rights on only one side of the fence, and terrorism should be viewed as terrorism wherever it takes place.
Taras Kuzio is a research associate at the Centre for Political and Regional Studies, Canadian Institute for Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta and non-resident fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations, School of Advanced International Relations, Johns Hopkins University.
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Terrorism in Russia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Dec 5, 2014 - READ MORE: 9 militants, up to 10 police killed in shootout in Chechen capital RT: Machine guns, hand grenades and all sorts of ammunition ... Designate Russia as "State Sponsor of Terrorism" - We the ...
<a href="https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/" rel="nofollow">https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/</a>...russia...terrorism/XMjbTltMWhite HouseLoading...A description for this result is not available because of this site's robots.txt – learn more.Terrorist attacks up in Russia as Winter Olympics near ...
<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/.../" rel="nofollow">www.washingtontimes.com/.../</a>terrorist-attacks-rus...The Washington TimesLoading...Jan 30, 2014 - Russia has suffered a huge increase in terrorists attacks the past 10 years, says a new report that underscores the threat athletes and tourists ...Russia's Putin, Egypt's Sisi say committed to fighting terrorism
<a href="http://www.reuters.com/.../us-" rel="nofollow">www.reuters.com/.../us-</a>russia-egypt-syria-idUSKBN0LE1O0201...ReutersLoading...Feb 10, 2015 - CAIRO (Reuters) - United by a deep hostility toward Islamists, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Russia's Vladimir Putin said on ...
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New Cold War makes US, Russian cooperation against ISIS ...
Aug 28, 2014 - As a result of the strained U.S.-Russian relationship caused by the Ukrainian crisis, it now appears unlikely that the West will partner with ...Move Over, America: Russia Responds to ISIS By Sending ...
<a href="http://www.fool.com/.../move-over-america-" rel="nofollow">www.fool.com/.../move-over-america-</a>russia-responds-t...The Motley FoolLoading...Jul 5, 2014 - Russia sends Sukhoi Su-25 fighter planes to Iraq, while America ... The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, continues to prove that it's a ...Does Russia hold the key to the ISIS crisis? - Al Arabiya News
Aug 26, 2014 - The ISIS crisis is the most dangerous phenomenon in the midterm ... For Russia, Syria is still a sovereign country and any violation of its ...ISIS in Iraq stinks of CIA/NATO 'dirty war' op — RT Op-Edge
Jun 24, 2014 - ISIS, as in the ancient Egyptian cult of the goddess of fertility and magic. ... and Iraq “into a geopolitical struggle between the US and Russia.”.Iraq – Russian-controlled ISIS to bridge Syria and Iran ...
geopoli.info/?p=547Jun 12, 2014 - What will the ISIS occupation of Northeren Iraq accomplish? This region wouldconnect Syria and Iran via a land route, that will facilitate supply ...URGENT Video: ISIS personally threatens Russian ...
<a href="http://www.iraqinews.com/.../urgent-video-" rel="nofollow">www.iraqinews.com/.../urgent-video-</a>isis-personally-threatens-russian-pre...Sep 5, 2014 - Member of ISIS sitting in captured Russian Sukhoi fighter jet in Tabaqa Airport in Raqqa, Syria. (<a href="http://IraqiNews.com" rel="nofollow">IraqiNews.com</a>) The video which follows this ...ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Who is it good for? | Russell Chapman
<a href="https://russellchapman.wordpress.com/.../" rel="nofollow">https://russellchapman.wordpress.com/.../</a>isis-in-iraq-and-syria-who-is-it-...Jun 14, 2014 - When you dig under the surface of what ISIS is doing you will see it is of ... be aconnection, ISIS have to get their funding from somewhere and Saudi ... Iran and Russia are very close, Russia has been using a lot of its cash ...The Russian Roots of ISIS - The New American
<a href="http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/.../20321-the-" rel="nofollow">www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/.../20321-the-</a>russian-roots-of-isi...5 days ago - Despite reports of Russia and ISIS being at odds with one another, .... and aforementioned FSB connections to ISIS reported in this article, the ...Who is the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (“ISIS”)? Iraq and ...
<a href="http://www.africaresource.com/.../who-is-the-islamic-state-of-iraq-and-syria-" rel="nofollow">www.africaresource.com/.../who-is-the-islamic-state-of-iraq-and-syria-</a>isi...Jun 17, 2014 - Iraq and Africa, the terror connection…” ... “Putin confirmed Russia's complete support for the efforts of the Iraqi government to speedily liberate ...
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ISIS' Worst Nightmare: The U.S. and Russia Teaming Up on ...
Feb 10, 2015 - If these two superpowers join forces, ISIS will be in deep trouble. ... threat and retard the dangerous deterioration in Western-Russian relations.Does Russia hold the key to the ISIS crisis? - Al Arabiya News
Aug 26, 2014 - The ISIS crisis is the most dangerous phenomenon in the midterm ... If the point of no return were to be reached in the relations between the ...Why doesn't Russia join the anti-ISIS coalition? - Al Arabiya ...
Oct 6, 2014 - Furthermore as it seen from Russia, the situation with ISIS is ... as a trainee at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) in Paris.Russia will stand its ground despite ISIS threats - Al Arabiya ...
Sep 8, 2014 - For Russia, despite the danger of ISIS' impact on extremism in Russia, ... Relations(University) of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia) (honors ...New Cold War makes US, Russian cooperation against ISIS ...
Aug 28, 2014 - As a result of the strained U.S.-Russian relationship caused by the ... West will partner with Russia to intervene against ISIS either in Iraq or Syria.Between Crises: If and When Russia Fights ISIS - INSS
<a href="http://www.inss.org.il/index.aspx?id=4538&articleid=8045" rel="nofollow">www.inss.org.il/index.aspx?id=4538&articleid=8045</a>Nov 11, 2014 - The war against ISIS is Russia's current bargaining chip. ... demonstrate its influence in the region by establishing relations with countries that ...Russia's position in the struggle against ISIS
<a href="http://www.turkishweekly.net/.../-" rel="nofollow">www.turkishweekly.net/.../-</a>russia-s-position-in-the-struggle-against-isis.h...Nov 20, 2014 - Consequently, the topic of Ukraine surpassed Syria and Iraq on Russia's agenda when the negative effects of disintegrating relations with the ...What is Russia and China's stand on ISIS? - Quora
<a href="http://www.quora.com" rel="nofollow">www.quora.com</a> › ... › Foreign Policy › International RelationsQuoraLoading...Aug 25, 2014 - Russia is not as focused on ISIS situation as US is. ... International Relations ... Why is it that only Americans are alarmed by the rise of ISIS ?U.S. and Russia Can't Agree on Whether They Agreed to ...
<a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/.../u-s-and-" rel="nofollow">www.thedailybeast.com/.../u-s-and-</a>russia-can-t-agree-on-...The Daily BeastLoading...Oct 22, 2014 - Now he says they agreed to work together on ISIS—and Russia is ... trying to thaw U.S.-Russian relations, but the Kremlin just won't play ball.U.S and Russia Agree to Share Intelligence on Common ...
<a href="http://www.newsweek.com/us-and-" rel="nofollow">www.newsweek.com/us-and-</a>russia-agree-share-intelligence-common-en...Oct 15, 2014 - U.S and Russia to fight ISIS. World ... In recent years, as U.S.-Russian relations have deteriorated, intelligence cooperation has suffered.
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Does Russia hold the key to the ISIS crisis? - Al Arabiya News
Aug 26, 2014 - The ISIS crisis is the most dangerous phenomenon in the midterm ... we must abandon the quest for being the boss and work together.Can Russia and America Work Together to Crush the ...
Aug 22, 2014 - However, Russia has not irrevocably transformed itself from limited ... same side—possibly working together to diminish the capabilities of ISIS ... Turkey and Russia to work together in fighting Isis
<a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk" rel="nofollow">www.ibtimes.co.uk</a> › Society › PoliticsInternational Business TimesLoading...Dec 1, 2014 - Despite acknowledging their differences over the Syria conflict, Russia and Turkey have agreed to fight Islamic State (Isis) militants in Syria ...Secrets Obama , Isis, Russia And the UK all working ...
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkqq-7glELU" rel="nofollow">www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkqq-7glELU</a>Sep 23, 2014 - Uploaded by VEEKEN 7 7 7Secrets Obama , Isis, Russia And the UK all working together Illuminati ... World war 3 is here Russia is treaty bound to protect Assad and Syria!Will the ISIS threat help to reset US-Russia anti-terrorism ...
Aug 19, 2014 - In particular, the two countries have a lot to gain by working together on some counter-terrorism issues, including efforts to neutralize the Islamic ...U.S. and Russia Can't Agree on Whether They Agreed to ...
<a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/.../u-s-and-" rel="nofollow">www.thedailybeast.com/.../u-s-and-</a>russia-can-t-agree-on-...The Daily BeastLoading...Oct 22, 2014 - ... thaw U.S.-Russian relations, but the Kremlin just won't play ball. Now he says they agreed to work together on ISIS—and Russia is denying it.Russia blasts Obama for 'aggression' in Syria against ISIS ...
<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Iranian-Syrian-officials-slam-Obama-s-s" rel="nofollow">www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Iranian-Syrian-officials-slam-Obama-s-s</a>...Daily MailLoading...Sep 11, 2014 - Russia blasts Obama for planned 'act of aggression' against ISIS as Iran and ..... as a nation when the President and Congress work together.ISIS is a scenario to destroy Russia - English pravda.ru
english.pravda.ru › Russia › PoliticsPravdaLoading...Oct 8, 2014 - In fact, the United States wants to destroy Russia by the hands of ..... The United States and Russia should be working together and not against ...Despite Ukraine, US and Russia Cooperate on ISIS and Iran
<a href="http://www.usnews.com/.../despite-ukraine-us-and-" rel="nofollow">www.usnews.com/.../despite-ukraine-us-and-</a>r...U.S. News & World ReportLoading...Oct 15, 2014 - Best Frenemies: Despite Differences, the U.S. and Russia Need Each Other ... that the current global climate requires them to work together.Iran & America Work Together Against ISIS - American Free ...
americanfreepress.net/?p=21605Dec 21, 2014 - The White House has consistently rejected claims it is working closely with Iran to defeat ISIS, but as the Russian diplomatic source pointed out, ...
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ISIS' Worst Nightmare: The U.S. and Russia Teaming Up on ...
Feb 10, 2015 - Can the United States, European Union and Russia cooperate against the burgeoning common threat posed by the so-called Islamic State, ...Russia will stand its ground despite ISIS threats - Al Arabiya ...
Sep 8, 2014 - In the video, that was banned on YouTube in Russia but was still available on other platforms, ISIS fighters threatened Bashar al- Assad and ...Russia leads UN initiative to target ISIS financing - Al Arabiya
Feb 5, 2015 - Russia is leading a U.N. Security Council initiative to ratchet up pressure on countries to cut off the cash flow to Islamic State militants, Russia.
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UK defence cuts risk leaving America to tackle Russia and ISIS on its own
UK defence cuts risk leaving America to tackle the twin threat of Russia and ISIS on its own, ...
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Can Putin Turn the ISIS Mess to Russia's Advantage? - Slate
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Russia, Syria, Iran, China needed in global fight against ISIS
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Former world chess champion and Russian dissident Garry Kasparov tells Yahoo News [1] that Vladimir Putin is “the most dangerous man in the world,” and that he is playing poker on the world stage “while everyone else is playing chess.”
In an interview with Yahoo News and Finance Anchor Bianna Golodryga, Kasparov says the war against ISIS “can be won on the ground,” if the U.S. has the will to win, but that Putin is “a permanent threat” with a nuclear weapons arsenal who must be confronted as well.
Kasparov, who was born in the former USSR, is the chairman of the Human Rights Foundation [2]and has been fighting to bring democracy to Russia.
The implication of the Kasparov interview is that the problem of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, is a diversion from Russian aggression in Ukraine and Putin’s plans for further aggression. “America lacks a comprehensive strategy,” said Kasparov.
A peculiar fact about ISIS adds to the perception that it is a diversion. The Islamic State, by all accounts, is based in Syria, where the group could have concentrated on overthrowing the Russian-based regime of Bashar Assad. Instead, it moved into Iraq against the government in Baghdad and started beheading Americans. Yet, because Obama has refused to commit ground troops to finish off the terror group, the U.S. is being put in the position of seeking Russian and Iranian help against ISIS.
We have previously commented [3] on the fact that the Islamic State has a Russian-trained Islamist, Omar al-Shishani, as its chief of military operations. It is a safe assumption, as one analyst points out[4], that the Russian secret police agency FSB (former KGB) has infiltrated many of the cells and brigades of foreign fighters from Russia.
We hear all the time about how the Islamists supposedly hate the Russians. Yet, in this case, the Islamic State seemingly lets Assad off the hook and moves into Iraq, getting Obama’s sudden attention and a mass media frenzy over where this terrorist group came from and what Obama knew about it. Quickly, Obama mobilizes for military action, with Republicans in Congress voting for training and weapons for supposedly “vetted” Syrian rebels.
Today, the U.S. and its allies are conducting air strikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria that are already being criticized for killing civilians. Russia issues verbal protests on behalf of its client state in Syria, saying the U.S. is violating international law. But the end result is that Assad’s position is strengthened.
Now we are starting to hear that the U.S. will need the cooperation of the Iranian regime in order to make sure ISIS disappears as a problem.
At the Family Security Matters website, William Hawkins notes [5] that CNN recently featured several segments “advancing the argument that the United States should radically reorient its foreign policy in the Middle East so it could work with (rather than against) the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
For example, Hawkins notes, on his influential show “GPS,” that Fareed Zakaria devoted his opening remarks to “Why Iran is key to success against ISIS [6].”
Almost on cue, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zariff says [7], “If we agree to do something in Iraq, the other side of the negotiations should do something in return. All the sanctions that are related to Iran’s nuclear program should be lifted.”
At the same time, the Kennan Institute in Washington, D.C. has planned an event, “Russia and US : is a real partnership still possible? [8],” featuring former Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. The Russians are proposing cooperation with the U.S to defeat ISIS that includes Iran and Assad. The Kennan Institute is a division of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
“Could IS [Islamic State] Bring Russia and the U.S. Together?” is the title over an article [9] in the Moscow Times. There is “considerable potential for Russia and the U.S. to work together in the Middle East,” the author writes.
Ivanov surfaced as a co-author, with former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, of a 2013article [10] headlined, “On Syria and Iran, U.S. and Russia Can Work Together.” They wrote, “With a positive track record on Syria and Iran, our two countries will be in a much better position to reconcile their differences on issues such as missile defense, new steps in nuclear arms reductions, and other regional crises.”
The Brookings Institution reports that the op-ed stemmed from an October 4, 2013 discussion in Washington of the Albright-Ivanov Track II dialogue hosted by Brookings President Strobe Talbott. Itsaid [11], “The dialogue, launched in 2009, focuses on nuclear arms control issues but also touches on other key U.S.-Russia questions, and has produced several joint memoranda to senior U.S. and Russian leaders.”
Despite the invasion of Ukraine after these discussions began, it appears that the agenda of U.S.-Russian “cooperation” is still on track, as the Kennan Institute event makes clear. The host of this October 6 event is Jill Dougherty, the former CNN Foreign Affairs Correspondent who still appears regularly on the channel. Dougherty is in charge of the Kennan Institute’s project titled “Re-defining Russia: Vladimir Putin’s Ideology.”
The work being done by organizations such as the Wilson Center and Brookings in cooperation with the Russians is covered in the new book, Back from the Dead: The Return of the Evil Empire [12], under the heading of “infiltration through cooperation.” Former KGB officer Konstantin Preobrazhensky, who fled Putin’s Russia, talks about how Washington think tanks have been infiltrated by Russian agents who shun those who have inside knowledge of Putin’s KGB-dominated government and geopolitical strategy.
Not surprisingly, Ukraine is forgotten in all of this, just as another Lenin statue in the country—this one in the Ukrainian city of Kharkov (or Kharkiv)—has been toppled. This is why Kasparov says Putin is playing poker while the rest of the world is playing chess.
It looks like another Moscow victory in the making.
We are already hearing that regardless of the situation in Ukraine, U.S.-Russian cooperation in the Middle East will have to be maintained for the sake of world peace, and that more deals have to be made.
Then, when Ukraine is forgotten, just as the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 was forgotten before that, Moscow will make its next move. Perhaps the Baltic states. Perhaps Poland.
Analyst Paul Goble notes [13] that a Russian diplomat is now saying that Russia will do “everything possible” to defend its “compatriots” in the Baltic countries, the same kind of rhetoric that preceded the invasion of Ukraine.
It is significant that Ivanov, the former Russian official appearing at the Kennan Institute, is one of the leaders of the Global Zero movement [14] to somehow eliminate nuclear weapons. This has been one of Obama’s dreams since his student days at Columbia University. Obama defense secretary Chuck Hagel used to be a leader [15] of the group. As President, Obama has declared [16] it is “America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”
Interestingly, the U.S. chair of Global Zero is Ambassador Richard Burt, who has emerged as aforeign policy adviser [17] to Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), a likely 2016 Republican presidential candidate.
But before a true “global zero” in nuclear weapons can be achieved, a goal of “global zero” in the Middle East is certain to emerge on the agenda. That means that Iran will never agree, even on paper, to give up its nuclear weapons program as long as Israel maintains its own nuclear arsenal. Israel, of course, can’t afford to trust Iran or its sponsor Russia in any such deal. So, once again, Israel will be isolated and put under tremendous international pressure to sacrifice its military security.
Ironically, Ukraine is the country where global zero has actually been achieved. It gave up its Soviet nuclear weapons after the Kremlin promised in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum to respect its territorial integrity and sovereignty. President Clinton signed the document on behalf of the United States.
Madeleine Albright was then the Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations. She, too, signed [18] on behalf of the U.S. and later became the first female Secretary of State.
In 2012, her bio states [19], Albright was chosen by President Obama to receive the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, “in recognition of her contributions to international peace and democracy.”
Tell that to Ukraine.
“I think we were on our way to trying to figure out how to make Russia a responsible member of the international community,” Albright had said on CNN [20], after Russia seized Crimea.
It looks like she never figured it out. And Ukraine is now paying the price.
But none of this has to get in the way of business. Albright is currently chair [21] at the Albright Stonebridge Group, a so-called “premier strategic advisory and commercial diplomacy firm” whose Russia and Central Asia “team” includes [22] “former Russian government officials.” One of them,Yevgeny Zvedre [23], “advises clients on issues related to expanding market access in Russia…”
Business with Russia must go on.
Unless the U.S. gets serious about the Russian threat, Putin and the Ayatollah win, and the U.S., Israel and the Free World lose. Checkmate.
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