[Kenco]

Originally Posted by chris ↗

Putin WANTS a war with NATO, like MWarren82 said, this may just be his excuse.

Putin does not want a war with NATO. He's constantly threatening to keep NATO on their heels and not eager to engage with Russia. Despite all the bluster, he knows Russia would get their ass handed to them.

[jlpbeta]

The parasitized human mind is real. And yours is a great example.

Originally Posted by Kenco ↗

A comment based on no supporting evidence. Look at mass shootings in the US. How many are perpetrated by US citizens (usually white males) and how many by immigrants... legal or illegal? I'm certainly not a fan of what's happening at our border, but risk of mass shootings isn't at the top of that list. Other then simple fear mongering, this idea has no useful purpose as being a credible threat based on any actual evidence.

[yayayayoyoyo]

Originally Posted by scoRch ↗

CNN - ISIS has claimed responsibility for an attack at a popular concert hall complex near Moscow Friday after assailants stormed the venue with guns and incendiary devices, killing at least 60 people and injuring 145.

ISIS? They still exist? I though they were completely defeated

not really "ISIS" so much as just "IS". and yeah they do still very much exist. remember that attack on kabul airport during the US withdrawal? that was the afghan branch of IS, IS-KP (khorasan province)

they also have a reasonably strong presence in west africa/sahel region.

[Kenco]

Originally Posted by Vincentsdream ↗

Honestly it's probably putin trying to create pretext for nuclear war.

That doesn't make any sense. What "pretext" would a global nuclear war need? He doesn't want that. He's made that clear with his bluster and rhetoric. If he wanted "pretext" he wouldn't threaten. He's push things so that the west attacked him and he's respond with tactical nukes. Or he'd just launch strategic nukes, and the world would end. Pretext is pointless. But he doesn't want that. He wants power. He loses all power once a nuclear weapon is launched. Either by the immediate end of the world, or by the massive response brought on by the US and NATO after a tactical launch, which would most likely end with someone in the Russian government putting a bullet in Putin's head to avoid again... them losing power.

[yayayayoyoyo]

Originally Posted by jlpbeta ↗

The parasitized human mind is real. And yours is a great example.

well he brought up a good point and so far you haven't provided anything other than fearmongering and namecalling so i'm not sure who's mind is supposed to be parasitized here

[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by yayayayoyoyo ↗

not really "ISIS" so much as just "IS". and yeah they do still very much exist. remember that attack on kabul airport during the US withdrawal? that was the afghan branch of IS, IS-KP (khorasan province)

they also have a reasonably strong presence in west africa/sahel region.

Indeed.

The Islamic State, particularly its Afghan branch known as ISIS-K, claimed responsibility for this act of violence through its Amaq agency on Telegram, according to US intelligence.

On January 28, 2024, masked assailants attacked a Roman Catholic church in Istanbul, killing one person. Shortly afterward, the Islamic State, through its official Amaq News Agency, claimed responsibility. Turkish police detained 47 people, most Central Asian nationals.

The incident shed light on the growing presence in Turkey of a Central Asian offshoot of the Islamic State group known as ISIS-K for Khorasan, once a large portion of the Persian Empire now divided among Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asian states.

The Jan. 28 assault was the group’s first successful attack in Turkey since Jan. 1, 2017, when jihadists invaded an Istanbul nightclub, killing 39 people and wounding nearly 80.

Since then, Turkish security forces have launched mass counter-operations against ISIS suspects in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. The operations appear to have deterred deadly terrorist attacks in large urban and border areas and to have depleted the militants’ financial resources.

With the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, ISIS-K suspended overseas activities to focus more on Afghanistan and try to undermine the Taliban, which resumed control over the country after the Americans left.

Between late 2022 and early 2023, ISIS-K militants attacked the Pakistani and Russian embassies in Kabul, hit a hotel in the Afghan capital where Chinese business representatives were staying, and carried out an explosion at an air force compound.

However, recent data suggests that ISIS-K activities in Afghanistan in 2023 almost came to a halt and the attacks that took place caused minimal damage. This suggests that the Taliban has successfully contained ISIS-K in Afghanistan and may explain why the organization has again switched its focus to Turkey.

Notably, ISIS-K has found it easier to utilize Turkey as a financial and transit hub due to the growing number of Afghan refugees crossing into the country through Iran in the last three years. Inhibited by Taliban monitoring of their financial flows, the radicals have seemingly found a new way of circumventing restrictions by using sleeper cells in Turkey and border areas with Syria to make transfers using traditional hawala exchanges.

The January attack in Istanbul raised questions about how these trained radicals infiltrated the country. Earlier, Turkish security forces successfully uncovered and detained a group of Central Asians, mostly from Tajikistan, for alleged ties to ISIS-K.

In December 2023, the Turkish police reportedly prevented a plot targeting churches and synagogues that appeared tied to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and might have been part of a broader plan.

Although ISIS-K failed to perpetrate deadly attacks in Turkey in 2023, its Tajik operatives carried out terror attacks in Iran, Germany, and Austria between January and December. ISIS-K also took responsibility for suicide bombings in Kerman, Iran, on Jan. 3, 2024, during a commemoration for Quds Force Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who was assassinated by a U.S. drone in 2020.

Notwithstanding frequent raids and arrests, ISIS-K reportedly continues strengthening its footprint in Turkey. Recently, one of the detained radicals revealed that the group’s point man in Turkey, a 45-year-old Kyrgyz national of Tajik origin, had planned attacks on the consulates of Sweden and the Netherlands in Istanbul.

For that purpose, ISIS-K facilitated the travel to Turkey of potential suicide bombers from Russia, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. However, due to the Turkish police’s intensive raids and crackdown against Islamist-linked individuals, the attacks against consulates were averted and the potential bombers might have gone to Europe instead.

Despite earlier reports that the organization faced a deep financial crisis in 2023, ISIS-K still managed to carry out coordinated attacks in Europe.

Turkey has long regarded Central Asian countries as strategic allies even as it has faced rising threats from Central Asian Islamist networks. The rising role of Central Asian nationals in such brutal terror attacks again highlights how common linguistic, religious, and cultural ties enable them to bypass security filters in Turkic-speaking countries.

Radicals can easily penetrate and proselytize among other Central Asian immigrants based in major Turkish cities, particularly Istanbul’s Basaksehir district, which has become a haven for Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Turkmen.

The recent attack and attempts to boost influence among Central Asian immigrant communities in Turkey also appear aimed at distracting Turkish authorities from their ongoing counterterrorism campaign and military presence in northern Syria and Iraq.

In a post on its official Telegram account in January, ISIS-K said it was behind a bombing attack that killed 84 people in Kerman, Iran, during a memorial procession for Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, a revered Iranian commander who was killed in an American drone strike in 2020.

ISIS-K, which has repeatedly threatened Iran over what it says is its polytheism and apostasy, has claimed responsibility for several previous attacks there.

And now the group has claimed responsibility for the attack in Moscow.

ISIS-K has been fixated on Russia for the past two years” and frequently criticizes President Vladimir V. Putin in its propaganda. ISIS-K accuses the Kremlin of having Muslim blood in its hands, referencing Moscow’s interventions in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria.
Guess we can throw all the other theories overboard now?

[kellyhound]

Security Forces arrested two ISIS militants who carried out the attack in Crocus City Hall in Moscow.

The militants were reportedly arrested in Bryansk Oblast, near the border with Ukraine/ Belarus.

A Makarov pistol (PM) and a 5.45mm mag were captured.

[RetireeGeorge]

To me this stinks of a false flag attack or one negotiated by Putin. It closes the discussion about the election. It makes him more of a domestic wartime leader and wins international sympathy. And Putin could have traded weapons with ISIS in exchange for a suicide attack. I don't even know that the attackers moved like previous ISIS attackers.
On the American side, this plays to Trump beautifully. An attack upon Christians in Russia - Trump's pal. Or the country with power over him. It helps Trump with the election, then a cut back on Ukraine support.

I have found conspiracy claims for false flag attacks in the USA ridiculous. But this looks very likely to be one to me.

[Lugia]

Death toll currently stands at 115.

[kellyhound]

Four suspected perpetrators of the deadly attack near Moscow on Friday that killed over 100 people, were heading towards Russia's border with Ukraine when they were apprehended early on Saturday, and had contacts on the Ukrainian side, said Interfax quoting the FSB security service.