Are we watching a New World Order take shape? How ISIS and Russia are about to change the globe | The Real Danger From ISIS Is The Distraction From Russia And China
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The battle with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is a game of thrones, with players using alliances, revenge and treachery in order to advance their interests. Three recent news headlines involving ISIL and Chechen resistance fighters illustrate not only the scale of the contest but also how marginal the U.S. has become to the adversaries.
First, in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, a suicide bomber reported to be a native of Grozny named Opti Mudarov, killed five and wounded 12 in an attack on a concert to celebrate Gronzny City Day and the birthday of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.
Second, in Kobane, the Kurdish city in northern Syria that is under siege by ISIL fighters, leading the attack is a Chechen, Abu Omar al-Shishani (birth name: Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili), who hails from the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia. He happens to be the commander who spearheaded the capture of Mosul, Iraq, in June.
Third, in Turkey, President Recip Erdogan demanded and received an apology from U.S. Vice President Joe Biden after Biden remarked that Erdogan had expressed regret for supporting the Islamists who crossed the border to join ISIL.
To connect these dots about ISIL and the Chechens is to begin to comprehend why ISIL is advancing its goals to conquer and hold territory despite U.S. airstrikes and the collective might of the U.S. and regional actors.
Grozny
The Grozny attack illustrated Russia’s risk in the war with ISIL. Even after defeating the Chechens in two civil wars in the 1990s, the Kremlin knows the Chechen threat has grown to become part of an outlaw state. The Emirate of the Caucasus is tied to all the major Islamist militants in the Middle East, such Al-Qaeda, Jabhat Al-Nusra (the Nusra Front) and ISIL.
The true reason the Kremlin maintains alliances with Iran and Syria is to bolster the wedge of Shia power in the region for fear of the Chechens and their Islamist militant allies sweeping all the way from the Persian Gulf into Central Asia.
Moscow will not relent in its alliance with Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria because its options are to fight the Chechens and ISIL in the Middle East or fight them in Russia. Militant veterans from Syria and Iraq are said to have started to infiltrate back into Russia, and the Kremlin is primed for trouble.
The Chechens have no home to return to and fight with a ferocity that is unmatched in the region.
Kobane
The Chechens are ISIL’s shock troops. Shishani’s Chechens lead the siege of Kobane because ISIL recognizes that their violence and zealotry are force multipliers. The Chechens defeated the Syrian army at Raqqa, cracked the Iraqi army at Mosul and are smashing the People’s Protection Unit, the Kurdish army in Kobane.
The Chechens have no home to return to and fight with a ferocity that is unmatched in the region. Shishani, who converted to Islam and whose mother was an ethnic Chechen, is celebrated in his home village for his exploits in Syria and Iraq. Dozens of young men from the region have followed him to ISIL, and the increasing popularity of ISIL worries both Georgian leaders and the Kremlin. Everyone is correctly frightened of the Chechens, especially the minorities whom ISIL is determined to destroy, starting with the Kurds.
There is little evidence that several hundred U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria have in any significant way constrained the Chechens. The U.S. is learning what the Russians already know: that the only way to defeat the Chechens is what was done in Grozny — city-leveling urban combat.
Ankara
As for Turkey’s place in the war, Biden spoke accurately when he acknowledged that the country has aided and abetted ISIL and Jabhat Al-Nusra. He was obliged to walk back his remarks anyway. His apology to Erdogan showed how marginal the U.S. is to the war on ISIL.
Erdogan supports ISIL and its kindred Jabhat Al-Nusra in order to weaken the Assad regime and its sponsor Tehran and to advance Turkey’s regional hegemony. This is Turkey versus Iran in a pure power clash.
Erdogan also supports ISIL because it is crushing the Kurds and making it easier for Turkey to deny them their longed-for statehood. At Kobane, while Turkey is claiming it will lend a hand, it is in fact standing back and letting the Chechens lead the fight against the People’s Protection Unit. The Kurds, enraged by the Turkish intrigue, have started deadly clashes with Turkish authorities in southeastern Turkey.
Finally, Erdogan is using his support for ISIL and Jabhat Al-Nusra as a way to promote Turkey’s superiority over Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states, especially Qatar, as intended leader of the Sunni world and to revive Ottoman dominance.
United front
The most significant recent regional development, however, is that the emir of the Caucasus, Ali Abu Mukhammad, is said to be one of the Islamist militant leaders who are mediating between Al-Qaeda and its offshoots ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusra, with the intention of creating a united front against the U.S. and its allies.
Especially confounding in all this is the adversaries’ use of Washington as leverage against one another. Ankara claims U.S. support in its war against Damascus and Tehran. Yet at the same time, Tehran recognizes that the U.S. needs its military might and diplomatic skills in the war against ISIL. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states need U.S. airpower to contain the advance of ISIL, while Riyadh is aware that the Obama administration is making major concessions to Tehran in order to rescue the failing regime in Iraq.
This game of thrones across the region is a war of attrition that will not end for decades. For the moment, the balance of power is moving back and forth between Turkey and Iran. The fall of Kobane would boost Turkey. A defeat of ISIL’s Chechen shock troops anywhere would lift Iran. In either case, the U.S. will remain a bit player.
Editor's note: A previous version of this article misidentified the current emir of the Caucasus. Doku Umarov was emir until his reported death under obscure circumstances in Sept. 2013.
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The wars with Chechnya were a sad page in Russian history. During both the First (1994-1996) and Second (1999-2000) Chechen Wars over 160,000 people lost their lives on both sides. This is compatible to the death toll of the conflict in Syria. However, the legacy of these wars lives on. The Boston Marathon bombing a year ago brought the spotlight to the internal problems Chechnya is facing. During the last year, there were at least two other cases of Chechen involvement – fighting as part of ISIS in Syria and participating in Russian aggression against Ukraine.
After the Second Chechen War the situation in Chechnya was very harsh for civilians. Old tribal structures (teips) were distorted and the social protections provided by them were thrown in disarray. The “freedom fighter” image prevalent in the West during the First Chechen War was gone due to major terrorist attacks in Moscow in 2002 and Beslan in 2004. There were only two sources of funding – collaboration with Russia or looking for external help.
This external help was available from Saudi-based Salafi millionaires. They initially built religious schools and mosques, but then started to supply weapons and resources to fund the guerrilla war against the Russian government and its representatives. Some Chechens in the 2000’s actually went to Iraq to fight US forces in the Iraq War and were knowned as experienced fighters.
The second group of Chechens have seen benefit in collaborating with Russians. Led by the Kadyrov family, first Akhmat and, after he was assassinated, his son Ramzan, they had consolidated their control over Chechnya. In return, Putin’s government had provided them with subsidies for “economic development”, that most people in Russia refer to as “tribute”.
To Kadyrov, the Salafi-funded Chechens are a useful lever to extract more tribute from Putin – but only up to a certain amount. If they become more powerful, Kadyrov will risk losing his power, incurring wrath of Putin for having Chechnya unstable or face assassination attempts. Therefore, he needs a pressure release valve to keep the Salafi fighters under control.
Conveniently for him, this was provided to him by the civil war in Syria. He could look the other way while Salafi Chechens were heading to Syria to fight for Al-Nusra and ISIS. This way the Chechens who perceived him to be Putin’s puppet could go and fight another Putin’s puppet – Bashar Assad. The same Saudi Salafi funders funded these two groups, thus facilitating the ease of transition. It is important to note that Saudi king has supported the FSA for the past year and is no friend of Chechens. A prominent ISIS commander, Abu Umar al-Shishani is from Chechnya, and was put in place as part of Asad’s plan to infiltrate ISIS.
Here is what Chechens fighting for ISIS do in Syria:
Since its inception ISIS was fully under the control of Assad. He had released the previously jailed criminals who fought in Iraq during the Iraq war. He has no problem allowing the enemies of Kadyrov and Putin to join it as well – figuring that it will be either him who will destroy them or FSA. The Saudi government had switched their support to FSA about a year ago. Such arrangement is doing Kadyrov a favor – he does not have to fight radical Salafis in Chechnya anymore, and if any will return to Chechnya from Syria he’ll have enough information to apprehend them.
However, sending others to fight in a distant land while staying home and living life of luxury, chilling with Depardieau and Liz Hurley, does not go well with Chechen culture. To that end, Kadyrov maintains his own military and paramilitary units numbering in the thousands. He also throws his support to Putin’s side with every military adventre, from Georgia in 2008 to Crimea in 2014. He personally went to Crimea, and pledged support and investments. It is highly possible that some of the “polite people” deployed in Crimea were in fact Chechens:
This photo of Chechen fighters was taken in early March, and is one of the last photos of Ukrainian flag in Sevastopol
However, Putin’s ambitions do not stop in Crimea. The sponsored terrorists in the Eastern Ukraine soon found themselves with low popular support facing Ukrainian Army and National Guard. The Russian special forces, responsible for shooting down Ukrainian helicopters on May 2nd, were withdrawn from the Donetsk region one week ago. Who will replace them?
Kadyrov is a student and an admirer of Putin. When Putin said that “there were no Russian forces in Crimea”, the peninsula was already paralyzed with troops covering their faces with no national insignia, speaking flawless Russian. A month and a half later, he reluctantly admitted Russian involvement. Similarly, Kadyrov has denied that there are any Chechen involvement in Eastern Ukraine. However, based on the reports of local Ukrainian commanders there are some Chechens alongside the terrorists in Donetsk. This confirms the information previously received by Geopoli sources in Slavyansk that the May 9th murder of a family and a local priest was conducted by Chechens. This is also consistent with the information about Chechens being tortured and forced to “volunteer” to go to Eastern Ukraine. The only ones who volunteer without torture are criminals and ex-military.
The connection between Ukraine and Syria is most clearly seen in Chechnya. Regardless of allegiance to Kadyrov, there is no choice for Chechens – Either they join ISIS or Donetsk terrorists. They share same reputation, same methods, and same desensitization to killing civilians. This helps Kadyrov protect himself from Salafi extremists and protect his reputation. And Kadyrov’s wealth and power come from Putin’s generous funding. What if the funding will one day run out?
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Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pose for a picture before their meeting at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Dushanbe September 12, 2014. Mikhail Klimentyev/RIA Novosti/Kremlin/Reuters
When Barack Obama goes to Congress to sell the nuclear deal thrashed out with Iran in Lausanne, Switzerland, he will likely replay his pitch that the agreement offers “a peaceful resolution that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.” To fiercely skeptical U.S. allies, such as Israel and Saudi Arabia, the White House will likely say that this is a breakthrough opportunity for Tehran to shed its rogue status after 30 years of hostility between the U.S. and Iran. The underlying logic is that Iran, once it falls under international scrutiny, will become a U.S. ally against Sunni Islamist extremism. Another remarkable element of the deal is that it seems to have been the result of a joint effort between Washington and Moscow who, for all their bitter differences over Ukraine, have momentarily come together to work for peace in the Middle East.
If only the Iranians—and their Russian allies—saw things that way.
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Instead, according to Iran’s Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, “Iran and Russia are able to confront the expansionist intervention and greed of the United States through cooperation, synergy and activating strategic potential capacities.” When his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, traveled to Tehran in January to sign a comprehensive agreement on military cooperation between the two countries, he spoke of “Russia and Iran’s joint struggle with the intervention of outside forces in the region”—read the U.S.—and predicted that “a powerful Russia and a powerful Iran [will] jointly promote international security and regional stability.”
During those talks Russia offered Iran its latest Antey-2500 anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense system—an upgraded version of the S-300 system that international pressure persuaded Russia not to sell to the Iranians in 2010.
“Iran promises to suspend its [nuclear] weapons program—but at the same time is negotiating to buy a missile defense system that will protect its nuclear facilities from U.S. or Israeli attacks?” asks one retired Western ambassador with detailed knowledge of the Iran nuclear talks, who requested anonymity. “You can see why many are finding it hard to believe that [Tehran] is negotiating in good faith.”
Other reasons to distrust Iran include its support for Houthi insurgents in Yemen, fomenting of unrest among Shiites in Bahrain, supplying arms and aid to Hamas and Hezbollah, controlling Shiite militias in Iraq and propping up Bashar Assad in Damascus—all of which suggest to skeptics that Tehran is seeking to establish itself as an enemy of the West, Israel and the Sunni world. And Moscow has been Tehran’s willing partner in at least part of that endeavor. Russia has been working closely with Iran to support Moscow’s only other Middle Eastern ally to survive the Arab Spring—the Assad regime in Syria. Over the past four years Russia has provided Assad with assault weapons, grenades, tank parts, fighter jets, attack helicopters, military advisers, anti-ship cruise missiles and long-range air defense missiles that have downed at least one NATO plane: a Turkish F-4 fighter in 2012.
Members of the Ukrainian armed forces drive a tank in the settlement of Luhanske, Donetsk region, March 27, 2015. Oleksandr Klymenko/Reuters Why has Russia spent so much money and diplomatic capital on interfering with a region so far from its borders? Because Russia, Iran and China represent the three world powers that are in different ways seeking to challenge the post–World War II, Western-led status quo, according to Walter Russell Mead of Bard College. “Russia wants to reassemble as much of the Soviet Union as it can.… Iran wishes to replace the current order in the Middle East, led by Saudi Arabia and dominated by Sunni Arab states, with one centered on Tehran,” argues Mead in an essay in Foreign Affairs magazine. “Leaders in all three countries also agree that U.S. power is the chief obstacle to achieving their revisionist goals.”
In other words, the main wellspring of Moscow’s interest in arming Iran and backing Assad is to use that leverage to extract concessions from Washington for its own empire-building closer to home. “Moscow looks at its role in the Iran talks not so much in its own terms but in how it can play into issues of more central interest to itself,” says Mark Galeotti, a professor of global affairs at New York University. “The West is forced to recognize Moscow's status as a global power; Iran can feel it has been a good ally; and other current or potential Russian allies can be reassured.”
But what makes Russia’s role in pushing for the lifting of U.N. sanctions on Iran somewhat counterintuitive is that in practical terms such an outcome will be very bad news for Russia’s economy. “Iran needs cash and will not agree to hold back as part of an OPEC [oil] supply–reduction deal,” says analyst Chris Weafer of Macro Advisory. “While a deal with Iran regarding its nuclear program will open up the country's energy sector for investment and eventually lead not only to a restoration of the 1 million barrels of daily output lost since sanctions were tightened against Tehran, but will also lead to a longer-term rise in both oil and gas output.”
Iran’s supply of natural gas is enormous—and the most obvious market is Europe, via Turkey’s well-developed pipeline network, that feeds directly into the Balkans. That, of course, is also the heartland of Gazprom’s consumer base. Income from Russia’s state-owned gas giant accounts for over 20 percent of that country’s budget.
Iran’s gas coming online will exacerbate the problems that have already taken Gazprom’s profits down some 30 percent over the past four years. Economic slowdown in Europe has meant falling energy consumption, the U.S. shale gas revolution has pushed down oil prices, and the spread of Liquefied Natural Gas technology is allowing gas from Qatar and the U.S. to reach Europe. More important still is the fear factor in the wake of Russia’s invasion of the Crimea in 2014 that has sent customers in former Soviet-bloc states such as the Baltics and Poland rushing for alternative energy sources.
Ukraine cut gas imports from Russia 44 percent to 14.5 billion cubic meters last year, according to its national pipeline operator, and it promises to reduce its dependence on Gazprom by 80 percent by the end of 2015. Iranian gas is now set to challenge Gazprom’s supplies to Turkey, one of Russia’s major energy markets, as well as Europe.
There is another factor in weighing Russia’s economic interests: Iran’s aggressive regional policies are fueling one growth industry in Russia—and that’s war. “I don't conceal it, and everyone understands this: The more conflicts there are, the more they buy weapons from us,” Sergei Chemezov, head of the Russian state arms industry conglomerate Rostec, told reporters in Tehran in January. “Volumes are continuing to grow despite sanctions. Mainly, it's Latin America and the Middle East.”
Being friends with Iran (and an Iran that will have more money to spend after sanctions are lifted) may be good for the Russian arms industry—last year Moscow sold more than $15 billion of military hardware around the world—as well as Russian companies rushing to build roads, pipelines and infrastructure. But those interests are dwarfed by the potential damage to Russia’s economy from falling oil prices and lost gas markets.
Russia’s veteran Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has been pushing long and hard for the lifting of sanctions on Iran. Why? One simple reason is habit: For most of the past two decades the U.S. has pushed for sanctions and, under a variety of administrations, Russia has felt the need to resist. But with a shift of policy in both Tehran and Washington toward rapprochement since 2012, Moscow has unexpectedly found itself on the same side as its archrival, the United States.
Russia’s behavior over the past year seems to show that geopolitics matter more to the Kremlin than economic self-interest. U.S. and European economic sanctions in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014—including an asset freeze on Chemezov and dozens of other Putin cronies—have put Russia’s economy into a tailspin, but that hasn’t made a difference to Putin’s support for rebels in Eastern Ukraine.
As the U.S.’s grand bargain with Iran enters its last and most painful stage, Moscow will certainly look to use any leverage in the Iran talks to forestall any expansion in the sanctions that really matter to Putin—those on Russia.
Fundamentally, Russia’s interest in the Middle East remains in “keeping the pot bubbling, but not boiling over…whether [ISIS] in Syria and Iraq, or the Yemen mess,” says Galeotti. “The more the Middle East is in chaos, the more the West—and Washington in particular—is focused on the region, and not on Ukraine or Eurasia in general.”
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With the Islamic State gaining ground in northern Iraq and now representing a common threat for Russia and the U.S., is it possible that Moscow and Washington will find a way to collaborate despite the lingering crisis in Ukraine? RD interviewed experts to find out.
A member loyal to ISIS waves its flag in Raqqa. Photo: Reuters
The new round of limited airstrikes carried out by the U.S. against the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) indicates that U.S. President Barack Obama is very concerned about the increasingly unstable situation in northern Iraq. Likewise, UK Prime Minister David Cameron makes no bones about his readiness and resolve to provide diplomatic and military aid to help prevent ISIS – which he called a "monstrous organization" - from expanding further.
Even though both Obama and Cameron are hesitant about putting boots on the ground and sending their troops, they may use “all the assets we have – our diplomacy, our political relationships, our aid, the military prowess and expertise we have to help others,” as Cameron told BBC1's Breakfast program on Monday.
Likewise, Russia is still trying to figure out what to do about the potential threat that ISIS and religious radicalism pose for the region. On July 22, Russia’s Foreign Ministry expressed concerns about ISISpersecuting and oppressing representatives of religious minorities, including Christians, forcing them to flee the country. It regarded “such aggressive and systematic actions” as “absolutely unacceptable and criminal.”
ISIS has become a sort of bogeyman for a reason. Its religious fanaticism, severe discipline and brutality can overshadow even Al-Qaeda’s. Its military advance and expanding turf in Iraq is become more obvious, even though its ambitions to establish a caliphate throughout the Middle East and Europe looks like an exaggeration and a surreal fantasy.
In July, Russia’s Foreign Ministry called all the world’s stakeholders to do “their utmost” to prevent the ethnic and religious hatred that may have very grave implications for the world. Yet this call seems to be futile. On one hand, there is the increasing confrontation between Russia and the West over Ukraine and lingering distrust toward the Kremlin, and on the other hand, skepticism about the true scale of the ISIS threat.
Indeed, naysayers would posit that the ISIS threat is highly exaggerated. Does ISIS really pose a threat to Russia and the U.S.? Can this Islamic organization really succeeded in expanding its influence globally? Should the world really take seriously the declarations from ISIS about their geopolitical ambitions and a global caliphate?
“ISIS is surely a major problem for Iraq, and its tactics and strategy are abhorrent, such as its use of crucifixions and its genocidal attacks on the small Yazidi minority,” reads CNN’s website. “But that doesn't mean it is a serious threat to the American homeland.”
Yet some experts admit that despite the looming threat from ISIS, so far it is not included in Russia’s international agenda. Jack Goldstone, political expert and professor at George Mason University, argues that Russia might not be interested in dealing with ISIS as much as NATO and the Persian Gulf countries are.
“While ISIS is both a threat to Russian interests and to Russian clients (Bashar Assad in Syria), Ukraine is far more important to Russia,” he said. “So I do not expect Russia to change its behavior. It will focus on Ukraine first, and the Middle East second."
Most importantly, the sanctions war between Russia and the West triggered by the Ukrainian crisis might put at stake Russian-American counter-terrorism cooperation.
“Putting Russian security chiefs on the EU sanctions list formalizes the end of anti-terrorist cooperation between Russia and the West,” wrote Carnegie Moscow Center’s Dmitri Trenin in his Facebook post on July 22.
Nevertheless, the looming threat of ISIS and international terrorism for Russia, the U.S., and Europe seems like it has the potential to bring them closer together and forget about (or at least ignore) their differences over Ukraine. Although such a scenario is unlikely (at least while ISIS doesn’t pose a more serious existential threat for all stakeholders), the question of how to minimize Russia-West confrontation over Ukraine to deal with ISIS together remains open.
Russia Direct interviewed experts to find out if ISIS poses a real threat for Washington and Moscow and if they can overcome their differences over Ukraine and find ways to collaborate despite the beginnings of a new Cold War?
Mark Kramer, Professor, Director of the Cold War Studies Program at Harvard's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies
Despite severe tensions over Ukraine, the United States and Russia still have important common interests, which they can pursue cooperatively. In particular, the two countries have a lot to gain by working together on some counter-terrorism issues, including efforts to neutralize the Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS).
Because of glaring blunders committed by the Obama administration in its dealings with Iraq, the brutal terrorists in the Islamic State were able to gain a foothold and spread their influence.
Obama's weak and indecisive response to the disaster in Syria has further strengthened the Islamic State and other radical Islamist terrorists who are using Syria as a training ground.
Russia has not made as many foolish blunders, but it has not done enough to try to combat the Islamic State. U.S.-Russian cooperation against the Islamic State might inspire other countries to do more, including counter-terrorism offensives that would take the fight to ISIS, seeking to destroy it.
U.S.-Russian cooperation [in the region] might prove difficult in some respects – the Russian authorities will want to solidify Bashar al-Assad's regime, whereas the United States has sought to replace Assad – but these problems are not so severe that they will stymie cooperation altogether.
Cooperation against the Islamic State might have the further important benefit of getting U.S. and Russian officials to begin to ease the confrontational stance they have taken against each other. Tensions will persist for a long while to come, but the shrill rhetoric of recent months has been needlessly antagonistic. Cooperation against radical Islamic terrorists might help to turn things around at least a bit.
Vitaly Naumkin, director of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), editor-in-chief of Vostok (ORIENS) journal, member of the Science Council at the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian Security Council
No doubt, putting Russian security chiefs on the EU sanctions list further complicates Russia – West counter-terrorist cooperation, but cannot completely destroy it given the size of the threat emanating from terrorism and religious extremism for both sides.
One example: According to Guido Steinberg from Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Chechen jihadist fighters in Syria “represent a domestic security problem for Europe and Turkey” because many of them come from the diaspora – Georgia, Turkey, and “dozens from Austria and France and rather fewer from Belgium, Scandinavia and Germany.”
What will be their agenda when they come back home and who are they going to fight against? Without meaningful cooperation, we’ll be not able to deter this threat. Another example: ISIS leaders declare that they will be killing Americans everywhere in the world.
Doesn’t the U.S. need cooperation with all partners including Russia to obstruct terrorists from inflicting damage to U.S. citizens inside and outside the U.S.? Russia, in turn, also needs international support in its struggle against terrorism and extremism.
I do believe that we can overcome our disagreements over the Ukrainian crisis however serious they are and at least preserve what is left from the cooperation between Russia and the West in the field of security, which is becoming more and more indispensable for them in this era of hyper-globalization.
This cooperation is indispensable but deep mistrust will prevent us from raising it to the level of collective efforts with other partners. Given this, our respective collaboration with such important regional partners as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel, Egypt and others will be confined to bilateral relationships.
In this realm it is extremely important not to allow us to revive the Cold-War-style zero-sum game in these relationships. I’m sure that at some point we’ll be working together against ISIS but on parallel independent tracks.
Volunteers from the Shi'ite Badr Organization have joined the Iraqi army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants from ISIS who have taken over Mosul and other northern provinces. Photo: Reuters
Robert Legvold, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science and the Harriman Institute, Columbia University
The prospect that the U.S. and Russia might cooperate in countering the threat of ISIS, potentially a major menace to both of them, is complete fantasy, one further consequence of the new Russia-West Cold War. True, even before the Ukrainian crisis, the divide in U.S. and Russian approaches to the civil war in Syria created a major obstacle to U.S.-Russian cooperation in dealing with any aspect of the Syrian war, and ISIS is, in part, a product of that war.
In any event, Russia is not central to either the principal theaters of the confrontation with ISIS or to the key actors engaged in the battle. The starting point is the regime in Baghdad. But here Russia is largely irrelevant to the course of events, while U.S. influence, although scarcely decisive, has a role to play. Russia also will have little effect on other portions of the battle ground. Kurdistan’s peshmerga [a Kurdish nationalist guerrilla organization – editor’s note], with U.S. air support, has had considerable success in liberating towns overrun by ISIS.
Their further success will depend on military supplies from France, the United States and other Western countries, not Russia. In this instance, the efforts of Iran produces a more effective de facto, albeit uncoordinated, partnership with the United States than anything that might be imagined between Russia and the United States.
Similarly Russia is largely irrelevant in determining whether the Sunni tribes fight, rather than collaborate with ISIS. That depends on events in Baghdad, and whether the Iraqi government provides incentives and then the wherewithal to enter the battle.
This is not to say that Russia matters not at all in the larger struggle against ISIS or that the lost possibility of U.S.-Russian cooperation in containing groups like ISIS is any less tragic. Even if the military campaign against ISIS’s forces in Iraq saves the country from this scourge, at best it will have squeezed these forces back into Syria.
Dealing with ISIS in Syria will pose ugly choices for the United States - choices that would be far easier and more successful were the United States and Russia addressing the problem together.
Similarly, while U.S.-Russian cooperation in dealing with the broader threat of catastrophic terrorism had weakened even before the Ukrainian crisis, if it now shatters completely as a consequence of the new Russia-West Cold War, the price either or both countries will pay down the road may be high, indeed.
Alexander Sotnichenko, Ph.D., is an associate professor at St. Petersburg State University's Department of International Relations
Although Dmitri Trenin has recently expressed his concerns over the decrease in Moscow-Washington anti-terrorism collaboration over the Ukrainian crisis, I would assume that the results of U.S.-Russia anti-terror collaboration that was launched after the 9/11 terror attack are highly exaggerated.
The only benefit Russia got from the U.S. and the EU is the abstention from criticism toward Russia’s anti-terror operation in Chechnya in 2001-2003. The West, in turn, benefited from the ongoing collaboration with Russia in Afghanistan. As a result of this cooperation, they failed to achieve peace in Afghanistan. The country itself turned into the world’s monopolist in producing heroin that is primarily coming to Russia, making it one of the leading countries using this drug.
Recently, the U.S. has done a great deal to spur the ideas of radical Islamists in the Middle East countries. First, this refers to the U.S. support of revolutions that overthrew the regimes of secular leaders Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi and Syria’s Bashar Assad. The current situation in Syria is the result of the Syrian civil war between the forces of official Damascus and radical Salafi rebels. After the rebels’ defeat, the tensions have been shifted to Iraq, where the ideas of Islamists found fertile soil.
Does instability in Iraq pose a threat to the U.S.? In reality, it doesn’t. The repeat of the 9/11 attacks is hardly likely to be expected because of the extensive upgrade of the American security system. The Shia-Sunni war brings a lot of harm to people in the Middle East and, more broadly, to Eurasia, with Washington fulfilling the role of arbitrator and – from to time – supporting its allies by conducting airstrikes and bombings.
Probably, the U.S. authorities play their own game in the Middle East without involving Russia in their campaign against terrorism in the region. So, I don’t think that current U.S.-Russia differences over Ukraine have seriously affected anti-terror collaboration because there has not been serious collaboration in this field in recent years. In these circumstances, Russia should rely on its own forces, given its proximity to the conflict zones and terror threat within its own borders.
Pavel Koshkin is Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Russia Direct and a contributing writer to Russia Beyond The Headlines (RBTH). He also contributed to a number of Russian and foreign media outlets, including Russia Profile, Kommersant and the Moscow bureau of the BBC.
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A new report from the Russian Federation Security Council (SCRF) on Federal Security Service (FSB) Director
Alexander Bortnikov
’s recent private visit with
US President Barack Obama
at the White House, in Washington D.C., grimly states that America’s leader has “privately advised” President Vladimir Putin that a global war is nearing… and he “may be powerless to stop it”.
Director Bortnikov, it is important to remember, is in some Kremlin circles believed to be the third most powerful person in Russia after President Putin, along with being known as the Federations top counter intelligence commander.
As an agent of the Committee for State Security (KGB) since 1975, Director Bortnikov, over the past 40 years,
ascended through the ranks of Russian intelligence
and from 2004-2008 was head of the FSB’s Economic Security Service and a Deputy Director of FSB, after which he became the Director on 12 May 2008.
Reports of Director Bortnikov's travels to meet President Obama a few weeks ago, it is interesting to note, did not emerge until the FSB
published a press release
announcing he was already in the United States. The release specifically mentioned that Director Bortnikov had been
invited by the US State Department and the White House.
Though Director Bortnikov cannot travel to EU countries or Canada because he is on their sanctions list, it is interesting to note,
he is notably absent from the US list
and “officially” he was in the United States for two days to attend the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism.
Director Bortnikov’s private White House visit with President Obama a few weeks ago, it should be further noted, follows a similar meeting h
eld this past May
between America’s leader and SCRF Secretary
Nikolai Patrushev
(known as the second most powerful person in Russia), who, likewise, has been a longtime KGB-FSB spy.
As to why President Obama has chosen over the past year to meet privately in the White House with the Federations top two spies this SCRF report doesn’t say, but it is understandable in the context of a similar crisis between Russia and the US that occurred in the early 1960’s when then President John F. Kennedy chose to use indirect backchannels with both
Cuba and Moscow
to defuse the
Cuban Missile Crisis
as he did not trust his own country’s warmongers in the Pentagon and Congress.
President Obama’s choice to meet with Director Bortnikov,
the “shadow CIA”
global intelligence organization
STRATFOR further reports
, is due to the FSB Director’s knowing the ins and outs of Russia's support for separatists and intelligence on US moves in the region.
Also, STRATFOR correctly reports, Director Bortnikov is an economist by trade and understands the pressure created by Western sanctions on Russia and has the comprehensive knowledge needed to discuss all these issues in Washington.
In other words…as the Western propaganda news media continues to
print
stories about
a possible coup d'état in Russia
against President Putin, the more likely truth is that one is currently underway in the United States.
To President Obama’s “warning” to Director Bortnikov, this SCRF report says, that he may be powerless to stop a global war was further accentuated last week when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) reported that Minister
Sergey Lavrov
had endured a nearly one-hour tirade from US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
Victoria Nuland
who, among other claims, “raged” that former Vice President
Richard “Dick” Cheney
was in charge of the United States, not President Barack Obama.
According to this report, a “highly agitated” Secretary Nuland contacted Minister Lavrov (last week) demanding that Russia immediately order Iran to return to US custody the 4 CIA agents arrested and detained for directing ISIS terror forces in Iraq.
Secretary Nuland, also, this report continues, “bluntly warned” Minister Lavrov that should Moscow ever again provide to France, or any other NATO nation, superior “electronic-technology”, and for the Russian air force to continue disabling US warships, she would further order the American military to “aggressively respond”.
Most astoundingly, though, of Secretary Nuland’s “rages”, this report says, was her reply to Minister Lavrov when asked by whose authority she was speaking, and to which she replied, “Cheney gives the orders here now, not Obama, and you assholes better get used to it!”
Important to note about Secretary Nuland, this report notes, is that she has long been one of the top tier operatives in the Bush-Clinton Criminal Syndicate working first in the Clinton administration where she was chief of staff to US Deputy Secretary of StateStrobe Talbott before moving on to serve as deputy director for former Soviet Union affairs.
Upon President George W. Bush taking office in 2001, this report continues, Secretary Nuland served as the principal deputy foreign policy adviser to Vice President Cheney and then as US ambassador to NATO, and when President Barack Obama took office in 2009, she returned to the US State Department run by Hillary Clinton and still holds the title of Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.With President Putin, and other top political and military officials, remaining today under the “protection” of the Ministry of Defense due to fears of a first-strike nuclear launch against the Federation this coming week, a horrific plot uncovered by the FSB, the SCRF in this report notes that communications to avert total war are currently ongoing, but the outcome is not certain due to no one in the Kremlin even knowing who is in charge of the United States anymore.
To the “vulgar-criminal” undiplomatic language employed by Secretary Nuland during her tirade with Minister Lavrov, this report says, is “nothing new” as the Federal Security Services (FSB) had
documented
in 2014 when they released her private telephonic exchange with the US ambassador to Ukraine in which while engineering the coup in that nation she stated:
“OK. He's now gotten both Serry and [UN Secretary General] Ban Ki-moon to agree that Serry could come in Monday or Tuesday. So that would be great, I think, to help glue this thing and to have the UN help glue it and, you know, Fuck the EU.”
Equally as disturbing to Secretary Nuland’s destruction of Ukraine, which STRATFOR (aka The Shadow CIA) head
George Friedman
recently called
“the most blatant coup in history”
, has been her “coordinated actions” with her former lover and current NATO commander General Philip Breedlove whose
continued
lies about Russian involvement in this conflict
has left Germany “stunned”
and led their government at the beginning of March to label his words as “
dangerous propaganda”
.
What appeared to be most concerning to Secretary Nuland, however, MoFA experts say, was Moscow allowing the French navy earlier last month to equip their nuclear attack submarine Saphir with one of Russia’s
revolutionary electronic warfare systems weapons
, and which allowed this submarine to
sink an entire US navy carrier group
, including the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, in war games conducted off the coast of Florida.
To how greatly feared by Secretary Nuland, and her Bush-Clinton criminal
masters
, this new Russian weapons system is, this report says, can be read, in part, as
related by top US defense experts
who stated last year after its first use:
“Russian Sukhoi Su -24 with the newest jamming complex paralyzed in the Black Sea the most modern American combat management system “Aegis” installed on the destroyer “USS Donald Cook”. Pavel Zolotarev, Deputy Director, Institute of USA and Canada, shares details about this version which is being actively discussed in the Russian media and by bloggers. US destroyer “Donald Cook” with cruise missiles “Tomahawk” entered the neutral waters of the Black Sea on April 10. The purpose was a demonstration of force and intimidation in connection with the position of Russia in Ukraine and Crimea. The appearance of American warships in these waters is in contradiction of the Montreux Convention about the nature and duration of stay in the Black Sea by the military ships of countries not washed by this sea.
In response, Russia sent an unarmed bomber Su- 24 to fly around the U.S. destroyer. However, experts say that this plane was equipped with the latest Russian electronic warfare complex. According to this version, “Aegis” spotted from afar the approaching aircraft, and sounded alarm. Everything went normally, American radars calculated the speed of the approaching target. And suddenly all the screens went blank. “Aegis” was not working any more, and the rockets could not get target information. Meanwhile, Su-24 flew over the deck of the destroyer, did battle turn and simulated missile attack on the target. Then it turned and repeated the maneuver. And did so 12 times. Apparently, all efforts to revive the “Aegis” and provide target information for the defence failed.”
To if the American people themselves are aware of who is actually running their government the (both) report (s) do not say; but with a shocking new reports
detailing
how these people are
58 times more likely to die at the hands of their own police forces than terrorists
, their
media blacking out the fact that one of their top allies in Libya has now become the ISIS commander there,
and an
astounding 33% of them now being jobless
, one can readily ask if these people even care anymore about anything.
Note: Other Conspiracy or Truth articles that have been posted by Hellasfrappe analyzing the crisis In Ukraine, Russian-EU relations, the revival of the Cold War, the mystery surrounding the Malaysian plane disappearance, the geopolitical events that are unfolding in the East Med and Europe as well as all the threats that were made from the Saudis to the Russians, etc -and how all these stories more or less tie into one another- include:
- Russia Issues Warning: “Most Dangerous Time In History Now At Hand”
- Top Russian Spy Boris Nemtsov Gunned Down In Moscow
- Within Hours of Charlie Hebdo Massacre French Police Commissioner "Suicided" After Attempting To Issue Murder Warrant
- Russian Forces Kill 8 CIA Agents In Massive Grozny Gun Battle
- Putin Orders Troops To Wartime Bunker; Warns “Global War Is Near”
- Ukraine Blitzkrieg - Putin Vows He Won’t Let Nazis Win
- Russian Navy Rushes To Australia Over Putin Assassination Fears
- Putin Issues Feared “Dead Hand” Order As Global War Nears
- Bloodstained CIA Hands All Over Malaysian Plane Destruction Reports Russia
- Germany Races To Stop US-Backed July Terror Attack
- Power Plays by Rothschilds, Rockellers leave Putin on the defensive
- Obama Order To Execute 175 Saudi Arabian Homosexuals
- Putin Responds After Obama Orders Atomic Bombs To Europe
- Moscow Astounded As Top Mob Boss Becomes Ukraine Leader
- Putin Orders Feared Alpha Troops To Ukraine, Declares “Red War”
- US Refuses To Take Back 13 Dead CIA Spies Killed In Ukraine
- Armageddon Warned Near As Russia Orders “All-Out War” On Petrodollar
- Ukraine “Rape-Murder” Squads Approved By Obama Horrifies Russia
- US Spy Drone Shot Down Over Northern Fleet Base Alarms Russia
- Furious Putin Orders “Project Double Eagle” To Destroy US, EU Economies
- Malaysia Flight 370 Pilot Confirmed As CIA “Asset” As Plane Exploded Over Indian Ocean
- Russia “Puzzled” Over Malaysia Airlines “Capture” By US Navy
- Obama In Shock After US Oil Giant Sides With Putin; Declares “No Ukraine War”
- Was Ukraine’s Gold Reserves Secretely Confiscated by the New York Federal Reserve?
- Putin In “Fury” After Saudis Brand Obama Regime Terrorist Organization
- Putin Orders Massive War Moves To Protect Iraq After Saudi Threats
- Putin Orders Largest Air Defense Drill In History As War Fears Accelerate
- Putin Orders Russian Troops And Ministries To Atomic Shelters Over NATO Threat Of War
- 800,000 Ukrainian Refugees Flood Into Russia As Nazi Forces Continue Eastern March
- Putin Sends Feared Shock Troops, Division Into Ukraine, Warns Obama Is “Unstable”
- Putin Orders Military Alert To Defend Ukraine Against Western-Backed Fascists
- Ukrainian Mob Call To “Kill All Jews” Horrifies Russia
- Russian Threat Of War Over Ukraine Stuns Obama
- US In “Shock And Turmoil” After Snowden Info Lets Russia Tap Top Obama Officials,
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· · · · · · · · ·
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Obama Meets With Top Russian Spy, Warns He Can't Stop ...
<a href="http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1847.htm" rel="nofollow">www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1847.htm</a>Mar 15, 2015 - A new report from the Federation Security Council (SCRF) on Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov's [photo 2nd left] ...-
More images for Bortnikov Obama meeting
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Conspiracy or Turth - Obama Meets With Top Russian Spy ...
Mar 17, 2015 - Reports of Director Bortnikov's travels to meet President Obama a few weeks ago, it is interesting to note, did not emerge until the FSB ... US invites a Russian fox into the chicken coop - Washington ...
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/.../3e9f9f86-b7b8-11e4-aa" rel="nofollow">www.washingtonpost.com/.../3e9f9f86-b7b8-11e4-aa</a>...The Washington PostLoading...Feb 19, 2015 - Obama should rescind Moscow's invitation to a Washington summit ... welcome tomeet with Bortnikov — it just shouldn't be in Washington or ...Vladimir Putin's top spy, Alexander Bortnikov, in D.C. for ...
<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/.../vladimir-putins-to" rel="nofollow">www.washingtontimes.com/.../vladimir-putins-to</a>...The Washington TimesLoading...Feb 18, 2015 - Alexander Bortnikov, the director of the Russian Federal Security Service, will ... at an event hosted by President Obama, Reuters reported Wednesday. ... U.S. for annual International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings.F.B.I. Chief Not Invited to Meeting on Countering Violent ...
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/.../fbi-chief-not-invited-to-" rel="nofollow">www.nytimes.com/.../fbi-chief-not-invited-to-</a>meeting...The New York TimesLoading...Feb 19, 2015 - The White House did not want a summit meeting to appear to be too focused ... But Mr. Comey's Russian counterpart — Aleksandr V. Bortnikov, the director ... And some Republicans said that President Obama's speech to the ...FSB Head To Attend Obama Antiextremism Summit
<a href="http://www.rferl.org/" rel="nofollow">www.rferl.org/</a>...bortnikov.../26856906...Radio Free Europe/Radio LibertyLoading...Feb 18, 2015 - The U.S. State Department has confirmed that Aleksandr Bortnikov, the ... theObama administration's antiextremism conference in Washington.Russian President Medvedev meets Director of Federal ...
<a href="https://newskatakamidotcom.wordpress.com/.../russian-president-medved" rel="nofollow">https://newskatakamidotcom.wordpress.com/.../russian-president-medved</a>...Aug 30, 2010 - President Dmitry Medvedev & Alexander Bortnikov Please also visit : WWW. ... NoObama meeting as Netanyahu heads to U.S. nuclear summit ...FSB director heads Russia's delegation at U.S. summit on ...
<a href="http://www.reuters.com/.../us-ukraine-crisis-russia-fsb-iduskbn0lm1r02" rel="nofollow">www.reuters.com/.../us-ukraine-crisis-russia-fsb-iduskbn0lm1r02</a>...ReutersLoading...Feb 18, 2015 - Director of the Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov attends a wreath laying... hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama, FSB said on Wednesday. ... for annual International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings.
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· · · · · ·
President Obama admits he ‘misunderestimated’ the rise of ISIS, as his predecessor might have said. The US and allied bombing campaign against ISIS enters its third week and the complications, always predictable, begin to emerge. I urge readers to keep a list of the gung-ho, pro-intervention voices, later to hold them to account. Always so easy to criticize President Obama for his caution but those doing so never had any coherent vision for even a middle term strategy. Simply because there isn’t one out there. Keep in mind, the consequences don’t stay in the Syria-Iraq or even Mideastern region. US distraction in quagmires allows our true rivals to press on with their macro plans, namely Russia and China.
As is detailed in this AP report, Syrian rebel groups already take umbrage at Obama for bombing extremist anti-Assadists, making Assad’s job easier.http://www.militarytimes.com/article/20140927/NEWS08/309270037/U-S-struggles-blunt-Syria-rebel-anger-strikes What a surprise! So hard to predict. Indeed, many rebels now accuse the US of co-ordinating with Assad. Meanwhile, even more predictably, the usual dogs of war in Western media bark for boots on the ground because mere airstrikes cannot really root out ISIS. What on earth do they envisage, these barkers – the US as permanent peace imposer in the entire region? Because that’s where it will go. One wonders about their real agenda. Whatever it is, founded on false premises, it will lead to wrong outcomes.
The incoherence of President Obama’s approach to the Mideast is no excuse for his confusion in handling Moscow or Beijing. But no amount of coherence toward the Mideast will make the Mideast cohere. That part is no measure of his ‘character’. Let’s try to kill the hydra of canards anew.
If he had kept troops in Iraq, all would be peaceful.
Does anyone really believe this? Our Sunni allies in the region, enraged by majority Shiite rule in Iraq, wanted majority Sunni rule in Syria. They offered Assad a deal to detach from Iran. He said no. They destabilized him. The war spilled into Iraq. With US troops there, a second war front and a second insurrection would have followed in Iraq. This time backed openly by our Gulf allies against us.
If he had supported the moderate FSA in Syria earlier, all would be different.
Really? Because US training of Afghan forces and Iraqi military worked so well? The FSA presents a much harder challenge even than those failures. You’ll see why when you begin to define what we mean by moderate Syrian rebels. Pro-democracy types? If so, the Gulf will have nothing to do with them because a moderate democratic triumph in Syria would blow back on their monarchies. Perhaps, we could want to define them as Sunni-Shiite bipartisan fighters against tyranny. How long will such a force stay unified do you think?
If Obama hadn’t cut military spending, none of this would have happened.
Begin by assuming that all the built-up forces of the military and law enforcement tend to like military spending. Remember all the money wasted in Iraq and Afghanistan, just thrown around unaccounted. How much did India spend on getting to Mars compared to US expenditure? At peak numbers, for several years, we spent $100 billion a year in Iraq and Afghanistan separately. Expenditure numbers don’t equate with US strength. Maximum outlays during the Bush years led to,, what? At best, the need for even more spending with no plan for doing the impossible – stabilizing the entire region. Meanwhile, as we say in our book “The Russia-China Axis: The New Cold War and America’s Crisis of Leadership” during that period our superpower rivals grew in strength. The real trick is to spend less more efficaciously.
Meanwhile, the strident warnings about our southern borders being infiltrated by terrorists is mostly noise, but true in a profounder way. Certainly no state without secure borders will exist very long. The real danger comes from America’s drift toward inchoate multi-culturalism which gives immigrants no incentive to assimilate. Indeed there will soon be no core culture to assimilate them and all the world’s ancient hatreds will be enacted here.
In sum, too much of the current debate about US policy at home and abroad focuses on red-herrings furnished by a strident confused media incentivized to think in headlines in order to attract more eyeballs and more advertizing. That is the media’s job, some might say, though I would argue that it’s time for the media to help the Republic survive rather than merely get rich. Whatever the media’s job, the President’s job is different. He has to think deeper and longer. So far Obama has been right to stay out of the Middle East. His resolve not to do anything stupid is weakening.
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· · ·
Published on Apr 5, 2015
The image of Islamic State has become a beacon for the radicalized youth; even girls travel to join the terrorist group, willingly becoming sex slaves. What drives young minds towards an organization considered too violent even for Al-Qaeda? We ask the man who was once a radical jihadist, turned undercover agent and expert on terrorism. Mubin Shaikh is on Sophie&Co.
Below is a transcript of Monday’s opening monologue. Scroll down for a free video highlight – andsign up now for TheBlaze TV to watch the full episode. Don’t miss The Root: Armies of Armageddon Thursday at 5pm ET for more on this topic.
Well, hello, America. I’m going to lay that out a little bit more clearly for you today. That was early this morning. Welcome to The Glenn Beck Program and to TheBlaze. This is the network that you are building.
Vladimir Putin literally vanished for nearly two weeks, but nobody seemed to care. The media was more interested in the political bickering over Hillary Clinton and the emails. You would think that the president of a major country going AWOL would be a bigger story. Imagine if our president didn’t show up. Okay, well, that’s a bad example. Hang on, let’s imagine that. Ooh…okay, imagine he didn’t show up. People would be interested, right?
American news would go all Jerry Springer, and that’s really what we’re doing now. We’re just playing left and right games. We’re playing the nonsense. I really hate being the guy that brings you this really bad news, but no one else is offering any meaningful perspective, so we don’t really have much of a choice.
All week, we’re going to be wargaming what I believe is coming, and I told you this a couple of weeks ago that I feel compelled to stand on these things and tell them to you until you really understand them, because you need to understand what the power players around the globe are actually saying and doing, their words and their actions. We’ll follow the logical trail to the logical outcome.
You may disagree with us, but it’s what I believe, and it all culminates on Thursday with The Root: The Armies of Armageddon, which traces the evolution of jihad and explains how and why ethnic Fascism and Islamic Fascism are rising and how they’re tied together.
[…]
Another chalkboard that I did in 2011 when GBTV first started and came on the air was this. I wanted to bring it back because, and I want to make this very, very clear, this is 2011 that I did this. Time and order may vary wildly. I still agree with that, but I want to show you where we are on this.
This is what I said would happen to the world to establish a new world order. The Arab Spring, war and revolution would spread. The caliphate would gather with Turkey at the center. I was one country off. It is Syria. Israel the focus of the hate, I think we can say that’s true. Pressure extends to Europe and America, that’s what’s happening now over in Europe.
European fall, the civil unrest, the default and then the collapse of the euro, the riots joined by Islamic protesters, and war and civil war, this is where I really want to focus today, but then I said that we’d get the American Spring. Again, I put these in consecutive order, but this is not obviously the time. Times will vary wildly.
Network framework completed, in other words, everything that this new government that we’re building would be completed by then. All of our pressure points would hit, our military would be stretched, our people would be stretched, our churches would be stretched, everything. Poverty push, we would be discouraging people from working. Economic hardship and eventually a collapse, riots and civil war, that we’re going to leave for another time. Hopefully that never happens, but so far all of this has happened and now this.
Civil unrest, we’re starting to see that. Default and collapse of the euro, we are starting to see that. It is now in negative gain. The treasury bills for Germany, they are now offering negative interest. Riots joined by the Islamic whoever, that would be, we’re seeing that right now. Then war, this pertains to Russia.
I want to show you on this map what I mean by that, and I’ll try to explain this a little bit better than I did in that clip this morning. Russia is playing for this part of the world between these two seas right here. They want their old territory back. They want all of this back and then some. They are trying to reestablish the third Roman Empire, and the third Roman Empire was centered here in Crimea. They have already taken that.
We have just done Operation Atlantic Resolve, which means unbeknownst to most of us because our media just doesn’t care to cover important things, Operation Atlantic Resolve, we have put troops and tanks and everything else here in this area, and we have drawn a line saying as NATO you are not crossing this.
Okay, so now Putin disappears, comes back more of a hardline, and that hardline wants to take the Ukraine which is right here across that line—Russia trying to reclaim the land that they believe is there. We’ve put up our defensive line, the Operation Atlantic Resolve, and the caliphate, the caliphate is pushing another way. Here is where the caliphate is, in Syria. I said that it would actually be in Turkey.
The reason why I said it would be in Turkey is because the other important iconic place in the world was in Turkey, Istanbul. That was another that used to be Constantinople. It was a very important religious, for Christians, religious center point. Most people think of Rome as the Christian empire, but it’s not. It is now.
It was here, here, and at the time when the Arab world was sweeping through the Middle East and coming up here, they were stopped in Paris. It was in the 1300s that the French pushed them back through Spain. So, if you think like somebody who was, you know, stuck in the 1300s, you would want these guys. This is a Rome to you. This is Rome to you. We have to start thinking like they think.
Now, what happened, Moscow is destabilizing Europe by funding the neo-Nazis, PEGIDA, the Golden Dawn. There’s Nazis here. There’s Nazis here. There’s Nazis here. There’s Nazis here, and all of that money is coming in from Moscow. This is a collision course with Putin and the West, and this is what you have to understand, what Putin is doing here is Putin is sending all of this money over to Europe because he’s saying the Christians have lost their way. The United States of America is not standing up our Christendom anymore. Who is really standing up?
Because in the caliphate and because we’ve destabilize the Middle East, all of this has been destabilized, and where are all of the refugees going? They’re all going up into Italy. Two hundred thousand refugees and illegal immigrants have come up into Europe just in what, the last quarter, 200,000. Can you imagine having a bunch of people from Tunisia or Libya or Egypt or Syria coming through your border, 200,000 of them?
That’s why you have the neo-Nazis starting to rise up, because just like our governments, their governments aren’t doing anything about it. They’re not stopping any of the illegal immigration. So, what’s going to happen, I believe, is they’re going to hit Paris, and that will excite all of the people to come up here and here and up through here. It will start to squeeze Europe.
When that happens, as I said, this line of NATO will fall back around here, and Moscow will push this way and this way. Then we’re going to be left with a question that we had in the 1940s, do we fight the Fascists and the Communists or do we side with the Communists to beat the Fascists? We decided we would band with the Communists. So, this time it will be, oh geez, Russia is a really bad guy again, the Fascist there. Do we side with the Fascist or do we side with ISIS? We will pick Russia.
Russia and ISIS are the two driving forces steering the globe closer to the edge of world war. Let me take you to Russia. Let me give you an update on what has happened with Putin. He finally reappeared this morning, and he joked about the gossip surrounding his disappearance, but he never disclosed what the actual reason for his ten-day escape was. So, why was he gone?
Well, let me show you a few things that have happened, because I don’t have the answer, but let me give you a few things that bother me. Before the disappearance, a Putin critic, we’ve shown you, got whacked. Now, this is the guy who was on our side. This is the only guy that if Putin was going to get whacked himself we would say, “Okay, whew!” but he got whacked in an obvious hit job. At the same time, you have the head of the military, Igor Girkin, saying that Putin is going to end up like Czar Nicholas or Milosevic if he doesn’t straighten up. Those ended in a coup and death.
Then Putin goes missing. Wild rumors began to circulate—he’s dealing with a love child, there’s a coup, he’s had a stroke, he’s dead. While he’s missing, and this is important to notice, the state media—remember that—the state media released a documentary where Putin said Russia was ready to go nuclear if need be. This was a message to the West. Then this morning Putin returned. He joked about being gone for a while, and the first thing he did was order a massive scale military drill over the polar cap.
Why would you do it over the polar cap? Because the polar cap allows you to come over into the NATO territory. So, let me put this into context of Operation Atlantic Resolve. In response to Russia’s recent aggression in the Ukraine, the U.S. Army launched a massive military convoy stretching over 1,000 miles through six European countries, forming the defensive line against Russia.
We warned in our special The Root: Red Storm Rising that this would end in one of two ways, either Putin would get more aggressive or Putin wouldn’t be aggressive enough, and extremists would grow impatient and seek a coup. So, the missing Putin, was this a warning to Putin to say “Do as we say” or was it just about a love child?
I will tell you up until I found out that he was gone for 11 days, I bought the love child thing. I thought okay, if he’s gone for three or four days, but the love child thing I have a hard time from the guy who I hunt bears and sharks in my underpants without a shirt with my bare hands. I just don’t see him fazed by his love for children for 10 or 11 days.
So, Russia continues to destabilize the region and itself. Here’s the problem, if men like Dugin and Girkin are publicly supporting a hostile military takeover, which they are, we are in for a very dark times. One of the possible candidates is Sergey Shoygu. He is the most hardline of the hardliner Fascists, and he possesses all three prerequisites needed to pull off a successful coup. He has access to lots of money. He controls the Russian state media, you know, the one that just released an old tape of Putin taking a hard line. He is also the head of the military.
If he takes over, it would make Putin look like Mother Teresa. Any Russian restraint would be snuffed out. Russia’s march to reclaim the third Roman Empire would be on big time. This is very scary stuff, especially if you understand what the caliphate is after. We can only cross our fingers and hope that it was the love child, which indeed it might have been, but let me give you the update now on ISIS.
I saw another story that made my blood run cold. A few weeks ago, I said on the air that France was in real danger. Watch.
VIDEO
Glenn: Because of what is happening, I believe London, France, Germany, Greece, I believe these things could be destroyed in what is coming and especially because remember who you’re fighting against. You’re fighting against Islamic extremists. The places that they will target will be places like the Cathedral of Notre Dame. You could go back to France in 15 years from now, and it might be free. It might not be. It might be free, but the Cathedral of Notre Dame may be gone.
Glenn: Because of what is happening, I believe London, France, Germany, Greece, I believe these things could be destroyed in what is coming and especially because remember who you’re fighting against. You’re fighting against Islamic extremists. The places that they will target will be places like the Cathedral of Notre Dame. You could go back to France in 15 years from now, and it might be free. It might not be. It might be free, but the Cathedral of Notre Dame may be gone.
So, this weekend when I saw this headline on TheBlaze, I froze: “ISIS Vows to Bomb White House, Big Ben, and the Eiffel Tower.” I thought for a while now that it was France, especially with the massive illegal immigration problem that it would take the center stage. I will tell you that I have an interview coming out with Tim Ferriss on his podcast that I did a week ago. I think it comes out in three or four weeks, and he asked me, “What do you see for Europe?” I told him in that interview maybe a week, two weeks ago, that it’s going to be France, and it’s going to be the Cathedral of Notre Dame.
He looked at me, and I felt a little awkward because it was strangely specific and out of the blue, but now that I see ISIS is all but declaring Paris their number-one target, I believe this is important for you to understand.
On a side note, the young kid who executed the so-called spy that ISIS caught, he’s from France, they believe. The kid couldn’t have been more than 11 or 12 years old. That’s how scary this is getting. I know people have mocked ISIS on Twitter for saying that they were going to conquer Rome, but I don’t believe they look at Rome the way you look at Rome. Maybe they do. Again, they are coming through Italy as well.
Can they do it? I don’t know. Will they try? Well, bin Laden in 1999 said that he was going to bomb the skyscrapers of New York. I would suggest that we take these people at their word. You have to think like a 13th century person and the Crusades to understand their words. Remember, ISIS keeps talking about fighting the armies of Rome. Back in the Crusades days, the caliphate was dominating, and it was France that pushed the Moors out of Spain and put a stop to it.
So, what does that have to do with the armies of Rome? Here’s where it gets interesting. Pope Clement V in the 13th century relocated the seat of the Catholic Church to Avignon, France. Most people don’t remember. Believe me, the Muslims do. It was Pope Clement who gave the order to send the Crusades out to the Levant, as in the L in ISIL.
So, to them they would be fighting the armies of Rome when they target France. Their symbolic target I don’t believe will be the Eiffel Tower. I think they will go for something sacred like the Cathedral at Notre Dame or maybe something in Avignon. I don’t know. They’ll hit what they can. After all, ISIS wants to conquer a small town in Dabiq just because they believe it will initiate the literal countdown to the apocalypse. These people are looking for religious symbolism.
The globe continues its march toward war. The media continues to fail to give us perspective, so we will stay on this.
DNR terrorists holding a DNR/ISIS flag seen in latest videos
In hybrid warfare, the Internet is used as a key tool to create a positive image of a military action or to distract the attention of the world from a military action elsewhere. However the nature of the Internet also enables people to create information trends through self-organizing. This is how famous memes are born. Often memes originate on internet anonymous message boards – which offer creative brainpower, testing ground and initial distribution network for memes. This special issue will examine a case of one such meme, created on a Russian message board “2ch.hk” – the “Islamic State of Donbass and Lugant” (ISDL).
The Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) split off from Al Nusra in 2013 as the Syrian Civil War progressed. Geopoli.info has extensively documented its origins, where its fighters come from,parties that benefit from its action, unholy alliances and Russian-speaking commanders. In June 2014, as ISIS was making gains in Iraq, getting widespread publicity we came across a video from Eastern Ukraine – introducing “Islamic state of Donbass and Lugant” (“Lugant” is made up of words “Lugansk” and “Levant”) in Eastern Ukraine. The first video was soon followed by more videos which combine footage of Syria and Ukraine wars or had slideshow of still pictures. All videos have nasheeds as a soundtrack, some traced to ISIS. Here is the most recent “ISDL” video:
Here are the main channels that post those videos:
1 – https://www.youtube.com/user/lkvcsw/videos – creator of “Islamic State of Donbass and Lugant”,
2 – https://www.youtube.com/user/abualhikki/videos – first use of ISIS nasheeds + Ukrainian pictures/footage,
3 – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCew4S3BPNyxQhbW9lBmIASQ/videos – actual videos of russian/chechen terrorists mimicking ISIS,
4 – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxMQfqWSwDcHNFY3uS6TgJw/videos
5 – https://www.youtube.com/user/Pizdofox/videos
6 – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPxmlhy7pOJEO3eATbL59rQ/videos
2 – https://www.youtube.com/user/abualhikki/videos – first use of ISIS nasheeds + Ukrainian pictures/footage,
3 – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCew4S3BPNyxQhbW9lBmIASQ/videos – actual videos of russian/chechen terrorists mimicking ISIS,
4 – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxMQfqWSwDcHNFY3uS6TgJw/videos
5 – https://www.youtube.com/user/Pizdofox/videos
6 – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPxmlhy7pOJEO3eATbL59rQ/videos
So where the idea for the ISIS franchise in Donbass came from?
In early 2014 users in the /wm (weapons and military) section of “2ch.hk” message board spent their time discussing the war in Syria as well as Euromaidan in Ukraine. By the end of February, however most of the discussions moved away from Syria and focused on Russian invasion of Crimea. In April the focus of discussion shifted again to the events in East Ukraine. Once ISIS began to gain media coverage, people familiar with situations in Syria and Ukraine began trying to make links between the two.
As first reports of Chechens in East Ukraine began to materialize an idea emerged to troll or provoke Ukrainians. Since a large number of Ukrainian internet users are fluent in Russian, the “coach wars” between two sides are often very heated and dynamic. 2ch.hk is no exception. First videos featuring Ukrainian footage and ISIS nasheeds began to appear around June 5th, while the “Islamic State of Donbass and Lugant” appeared on June 13th. Since then about twenty of these videos are available on Youtube channels above. Here is a sample comment under one of the videos:
However, soon a disturbing trend began to emerge. Some of the members of the message board went to terrorist-occupied regions of East Ukraine and joined different terrorist groups. In the early summer one participant of the message board (“Shtirlitz”) came from Germany to fight alongside Strelkov, and was interviewed by Russia Today about the experience. He also posted a number of what is called a ‘sup proof photo – a photo with a handwritten note with the date and channel address. Here is his latest:
There are also two other radicalized users who joined the fight on the side of terrorists – Kramatorsk-kun (-kun is a masculine suffix in Japanese, inspired by long-standing use of message boards for japanese anime discussions), serving in a Lynx group and Maska-kun, who is with quick-response group “Batman”. His way of doing proof photos is to write “2ch.hk/wm” on destroyed equipment:
The idea exchange between the collective mindset of a message board channel and terrorist fighters on the ground only furthers radicalization. A terrorist commander Motorola is known to use “Allahu Akbar” as his group’s battle cry (the last video shows some action footage of his group assault on Donetsk airport). Such actions results in a cycle, where the virtual world stimulates the physical world, and the actions in a physical world cause more radical ideas to appear in the virtual world. This is why “Islamic State of Donbass and Lugant” is not an actual organization, but rather a semi-virtual entity with no organization structure in a classical sense It is a dynamically changing collection of individual actions in both the virtual and the real world. It is intermingled with the hybrid war Russia is waging against Ukraine, and is used as a deception and technique in the information as well as for propaganda purposes. One other possible use for “ISDL” may be to create a more positive image of ISIS terrorists for the Russian audience – something that may need to be investigated further.
To contain the threat Ukraine and the western countries should focus on deradicalization through countering propaganda with accurate information, exposing fakes, exposing the techniques of opinion manipulation on social media and focus on creating their own memes to get through to Russian internet audience rather than responding to Russian ones. Also, it is important to recognize that message boards are an important contributing factor to creation and spread of radical ideas. In part this is because of anonymity they provide, but also because of the wide diversity of opinions and personalities engaged in quick communication. In containing these challenges during a hybrid war one must be pro-active rather than re-active. Responding with a meme that follows up on the initial one – such as rumors of FSA in Donetsk airport – may only give more credibility to the initial meme.
PS. A good overview of the /wm section of “2ch.hk” is given (in Russian) at http://lurkmore.to/Wm. Lurkmore is a wiki project that among other things monitors message board news and personalities very closely. Below is a screenshot of a discussion about the ISIS videos and /wm participants who went to Eastern Ukraine:
As the whole word celebrates the beginning of World Cup in Brazil, the attention is distracted away from Iraq, where Syrian-based ISIS, led by infamous Al Shishani had captured Mosul – second largest city – and is claiming to aadvance on Baghdad soon. Al Shishani – already called “The Ginger Jihadist of Mosul” – is a Chechen who was fighting against Russia during the 2008 war with Georgia. As was reported over social media today, Al Shishani might have been shot by a Kurdish sniper in Mosul:
What will the ISIS occupation of Northeren Iraq accomplish? This region would connect Syria and Iran via a land route, that will facilitate supply flow for Assad. It becomes especially clear from the map of recent ISIS gains:
However going through the North means having to fight through the territory controlled by Kurds. They are excellent fighters and if it is confirmed that they just assassinated Al Shishani the task of going through their territory becomes extremely difficult. This map shows the sectarian forces in the north of Iraq:
If ISIS achieves a land corridor between Syria and Iran this would simplify supply flow to Assad from Iran. ISIS, while opposing Shiites verbally helps them with their actions.
It is important to note that another country in the world that is very focused on creating “land corridors” now is Russia. After occupying Ukrainian territory of Crimea, Russia ran into difficulties with logistics needed to supply the almost two million population of the peninsula. There were concernsfollowing Russian occupation of Crimea that Russians will aim to establish a land corridor to Crimea, and maybe even to Transdnistria. However, after the fiasco in Odessa in early May the Transdnistrian option had to be abandoned. Putin then focused on destabilizing Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Geopoli.info had published multiple reports by Dmitry Tymchuk detailing what Russian-sponsored terrorists are doing in Eastern Ukraine. The end result is to connect Crimea to Russia via a land border.
There are also possibilities which are voiced by anonymous Geopoli sources in Europe as well asUkrainian blogs (in RU), that establishing a land corridor to Kaliningrad region through either Latvia or Lithuania may also be in Putin’s cards. In that case this would be a direct confrontation with NATO, which may escalate in a global war. However, where NATO will not be involved – such as Iraq – it becomes a norm to disregard the national borders for geopolitical goals of local power blocks.
Read the whole story
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» russia isis turkey - Google Search
07/04/15 14:40 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
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» Chechens lead way in ISIL war for dominance
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mikenova shared this story from Al Jazeera America. The battle with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is a game of thrones, with players using alliances, revenge and treachery in order to advance their interests. Three rece...
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mikenova shared this story from Al Jazeera America. The battle with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is a game of thrones, with players using alliances, revenge and treachery in order to advance their interests. Three rece...
» Special – Chechen connections in Syria and Ukraine
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mikenova shared this story from Geopoli.info. The wars with Chechnya were a sad page in Russian history. During both the First (1994-1996) and Second (1999-2000) Chechen Wars over 160,000 people lost their lives on both sides. This ...
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mikenova shared this story from Geopoli.info. The wars with Chechnya were a sad page in Russian history. During both the First (1994-1996) and Second (1999-2000) Chechen Wars over 160,000 people lost their lives on both sides. This ...
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mikenova shared this story from Russia Direct. With the Islamic State gaining ground in northern Iraq and now representing a common threat for Russia and the U.S., is it possible that Moscow and Washington will find a way to collaborate ...
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mikenova shared this story from Russia Direct. With the Islamic State gaining ground in northern Iraq and now representing a common threat for Russia and the U.S., is it possible that Moscow and Washington will find a way to collaborate ...
» Conspiracy or Turth - Obama Meets With Top Russian Spy, Warns He Can’t Stop War ~ HellasFrappe
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mikenova shared this story . President Obama admits he ‘misunderestimated’ the rise of ISIS, as his predecessor might have said. The US and allied bombing campaign against ISIS enters its third week and the complications, alw...
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mikenova shared this story . President Obama admits he ‘misunderestimated’ the rise of ISIS, as his predecessor might have said. The US and allied bombing campaign against ISIS enters its third week and the complications, alw...
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mikenova shared this story . Published on Apr 5, 2015 The image of Islamic State has become a beacon for the radicalized youth; even girls travel to join the terrorist group, willingly becoming sex slaves. What drives young minds towards...
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mikenova shared this story . Published on Apr 5, 2015 The image of Islamic State has become a beacon for the radicalized youth; even girls travel to join the terrorist group, willingly becoming sex slaves. What drives young minds towards...
» Are we watching a New World Order take shape? How ISIS and Russia are about to change the globe
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mikenova shared this story . Search Results In the news Israeli Arab MK: World ignoring ISIS massacre of Palestinians Haaretz - 1 day ago 'There is a moral double standard,' says Joint List's Ahmed Tibi of attacks on Yarmouk ...
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mikenova shared this story . Search Results In the news Israeli Arab MK: World ignoring ISIS massacre of Palestinians Haaretz - 1 day ago 'There is a moral double standard,' says Joint List's Ahmed Tibi of attacks on Yarmouk ...
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mikenova shared this story . Search Results Chinese Citizens And Oil Investment In Jeopardy In ISIS ... <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/" rel="nofollow">www.ibtimes.com/</a> chinese -citizens- oil -invest... Cached Internatio...
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» isis gru connection - Google Search
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mikenova shared this story . Search Results Putin's Russia. Do traces of KGB, FSB and GRU lead to ... en.delfi.lt › CENTRAL / EASTERN EUROPE Cached Delfi Loading... Jan 9, 2015 - ... ISIS If You Don't Know the History of Wahhabism ...
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» isis chechen connection - Google Search
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mikenova shared this story . Search Results Omar al-Shishani, Chechen in Syria, rising star in ISIS ... <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/.../Omar-al-Shishani-" rel="nofollow">www.csmonitor.com/.../Omar-al-Shishani-</a>... Ca...
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» Monitoring geopolitics in Syria and Ukraine
07/04/15 12:28 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Geopoli.info. DNR terrorists holding a DNR/ISIS flag seen in latest videos In hybrid warfare, the Internet is used as a key tool to create a positive image of a military action or to distract the attention...
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mikenova shared this story from Geopoli.info. DNR terrorists holding a DNR/ISIS flag seen in latest videos In hybrid warfare, the Internet is used as a key tool to create a positive image of a military action or to distract the attention...
» russia and isis working together - Google Search
07/04/15 12:20 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
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» russia and isis relations - Google Search
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» russia and isis - Google Search
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» isis and russia connection - Google Search
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» Power shift in Latin America — RT Op-Edge
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mikenova shared this story from RT - Daily news. Adrian Salbuchi is a political analyst, author, speaker and radio/TV commentator in Argentina. Published time: April 07, 2015 12:31 Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (Reuters/Carlos Gar...
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mikenova shared this story from RT - Daily news. Adrian Salbuchi is a political analyst, author, speaker and radio/TV commentator in Argentina. Published time: April 07, 2015 12:31 Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (Reuters/Carlos Gar...
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mikenova shared this story . Виктор Сорокин Завтра исполнится 4...
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mikenova shared this story from News | Mail Online. A memorial display of framed portraits of crew is at airline's Cologne base It includes killer pilot Andreas and his captain Patrick Sondheimer Mr Sondheimer frantically tried to break ...
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» 2015-04-06#Cyprus
06/04/15 23:12 from Mike Nova - Google+
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06/04/15 23:12 from Mike Nova - Google+
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mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. Вести-UA В Генштабе рассказали о новых обязанностях Яроша Вести-UA В Генштабе рассказали о новых обязанностях Яроша Дмитрий Ярош на новой должности советника главы Генштаба будет з...
06/04/15 20:46 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. Вести-UA В Генштабе рассказали о новых обязанностях Яроша Вести-UA В Генштабе рассказали о новых обязанностях Яроша Дмитрий Ярош на новой должности советника главы Генштаба будет з...
» Putin's Ukraine War Is About Founding a New Russian Empire - Newsweek
06/04/15 20:46 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Newsweek Putin's Ukraine War Is About Founding a New Russian Empire Newsweek Seen through this Russian lens, the concept of a Ukrainian state independent of Russia is at best a legend...
06/04/15 20:46 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Newsweek Putin's Ukraine War Is About Founding a New Russian Empire Newsweek Seen through this Russian lens, the concept of a Ukrainian state independent of Russia is at best a legend...
» Using Cash and Charm, Putin Targets Europe’s Weakest Links
06/04/15 20:38 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story . NICOSIA, Cyprus — When Cyprus seized hundreds of millions of dollars from bank depositors, many of them Russians, as part of an internationally brokered deal two years ago to rescue its collapsing finan...
06/04/15 20:38 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story . NICOSIA, Cyprus — When Cyprus seized hundreds of millions of dollars from bank depositors, many of them Russians, as part of an internationally brokered deal two years ago to rescue its collapsing finan...
» AP: Handful of holdout tribes dig in against gay marriage
06/04/15 20:29 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from AP Top Headlines At 6:45 p.m. EDT. Even if a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this spring makes same-sex marriage the law, it would leave pockets of the country where it isn't likely to be recognized any time soo...
06/04/15 20:29 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from AP Top Headlines At 6:45 p.m. EDT. Even if a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this spring makes same-sex marriage the law, it would leave pockets of the country where it isn't likely to be recognized any time soo...
» 2015-04-06#Pentagon
06/04/15 19:09 from Mike Nova - Google+
2015-04-06 #Pentagon » Pentagon chief heads east as US tries to maintain Asia focus 06/04/15 15:51 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks Are you a GENIUS? Find out with a few of the most fiendish brain-teasers ever Monday April 6 th , 2015 ...
06/04/15 19:09 from Mike Nova - Google+
2015-04-06 #Pentagon » Pentagon chief heads east as US tries to maintain Asia focus 06/04/15 15:51 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks Are you a GENIUS? Find out with a few of the most fiendish brain-teasers ever Monday April 6 th , 2015 ...
» isis and russia allies - Google Search
06/04/15 16:12 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story . Islamic State – ISIS Now Looking at an Alliance with Russia ... <a href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/.../islamic-state-" rel="nofollow">www.frontpagemag.com/.../islamic-state-</a> isis -now-...
06/04/15 16:12 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story . Islamic State – ISIS Now Looking at an Alliance with Russia ... <a href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/.../islamic-state-" rel="nofollow">www.frontpagemag.com/.../islamic-state-</a> isis -now-...
» Iraq – Russian-controlled ISIS to bridge Syria and Iran
06/04/15 16:11 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Geopoli.info. As the whole word celebrates the beginning of World Cup in Brazil, the attention is distracted away from Iraq, where Syrian-based ISIS, led by infamous Al Shishani had captured Mosu...
06/04/15 16:11 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Geopoli.info. As the whole word celebrates the beginning of World Cup in Brazil, the attention is distracted away from Iraq, where Syrian-based ISIS, led by infamous Al Shishani had captured Mosu...
» isis and russia - Google Search
06/04/15 16:09 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story . Search Results ISIS' Worst Nightmare: The U.S. and Russia Teaming Up on ... nationalinterest.org/.../ isis -worst-nightmare-the-us- r ... Cached The National Interest Loading... Feb 10, 2015 - Can the United ...
06/04/15 16:09 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story . Search Results ISIS' Worst Nightmare: The U.S. and Russia Teaming Up on ... nationalinterest.org/.../ isis -worst-nightmare-the-us- r ... Cached The National Interest Loading... Feb 10, 2015 - Can the United ...
» Are you a GENIUS? Find out with a few of the most fiendish brain-teasers ever
06/04/15 15:58 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from News | Mail Online. A book designed to discover clever people in the 1930s has been republished and is full of tricky questions and brain-teasers. The answers can be found at the bottom of the page.
06/04/15 15:58 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from News | Mail Online. A book designed to discover clever people in the 1930s has been republished and is full of tricky questions and brain-teasers. The answers can be found at the bottom of the page.
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