Expansion into Syria and break with al-Qaeda[edit]
Al-Baghdadi remained leader of the ISI until its formal expansion into Syria in 2013 when, in a statement on 8 April 2013, he announced the formation of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)—alternatively translated from the Arabic as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).[53] When announcing the formation of ISIL, al-Baghdadi stated that the Syrian Civil War jihadist faction, Jabhat al-Nusra—also known as al-Nusra Front—had been an extension of the ISI in Syria and was now to be merged with ISIL.[53][54] The leader of Jabhat al-Nusra, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, disputed this merging of the two groups and appealed to al-Qaeda emirAyman al-Zawahiri, who issued a statement that ISIL should be abolished and that al-Baghdadi should confine his group's activities to Iraq.[55] Al-Baghdadi, however, dismissed al-Zawahiri's ruling and took control of a reported 80% of Jabhat al-Nusra's foreign fighters.[56] In January 2014, ISIL expelled Jabhat al-Nusra from the Syrian city ofAr-Raqqah, and in the same month clashes between the two in Syria's Deir ez-Zor Governorate killed hundreds of fighters and displaced tens of thousands of civilians.[57] In February 2014, al-Qaeda disavowed any relations with ISIL.[58] According to several Western sources, al-Baghdadi and ISIL have received private financing from citizens in Saudi Arabia and Qatar and enlisted fighters through recruitment drives in Saudi Arabia in particular.[59][60][61][62] Declaration of a Caliphate[edit]
On 29 June 2014, ISIL announced the establishment of a worldwide caliphate. Al-Baghdadi was named its caliph, to be known as "Caliph Ibrahim", and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was renamed the Islamic State (IS).[8][63] There has been much debate, especially across the Muslim world, about the legitimacy of these moves. The declaration of a caliphate has been heavily criticized by Middle Eastern governments, other jihadist groups,[64] and Sunni Muslim theologians and historians. Qatar-based TV broadcaster and theologian Yusuf al-Qaradawi stated: "[The] declaration issued by the Islamic State is void under sharia and has dangerous consequences for the Sunnis in Iraq and for the revolt in Syria," adding that the title of caliph can "only be given by the entire Muslim nation", not by a single group.[65] As a caliph, al-Baghdadi is required to hold to each dictate of the sunnah, whose precedence is set and recorded in the sahihhadiths. According to tradition, if a caliph fails to meet any of these obligations at any period, he is legally required to abdicate his position and the community has to appoint a new caliph, theoretically selected from throughout the caliphdom as being the most religiously and spiritually pious individual among them.[66] Due to the widespread rejection of his caliphhood, al-Baghdadi's status as caliph has been compared to that of other caliphs whose caliphship has been questioned.[67] In an audio-taped message, al-Baghdadi announced that ISIL would march on "Rome"—generally interpreted to mean the West—in its quest to establish an Islamic State from the Middle East across Europe. He said that he would conquer both Rome and Spain in this endeavor[68][69] and urged Muslims across the world to immigrate to the new Islamic State.[68] On 5 July 2014, a video was released apparently showing al-Baghdadi making a speech at the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, northern Iraq. A representative of the Iraqi government denied that the video was of al-Baghdadi, calling it a "farce".[65] However, both the BBC[70] and the Associated Press[71] quoted unnamed Iraqi officials as saying that the man in the video was believed to be al-Baghdadi. In the video, al-Baghdadi declared himself the world leader of Muslims and called on Muslims everywhere to support him.[72] On 8 July 2014, ISIL launched its online magazine Dabiq. The title appears to have been selected for its eschatological connections with the Islamic version of the End times, orMalahim.[73] According to a report in October 2014, after suffering serious injuries, al-Baghdadi fled ISIL's capital city Ar-Raqqah due to the intense bombing campaign launched by Coalition forces, and sought refuge in the Iraqi city of Mosul, the largest city under ISIL control.[74] On 5 November 2014, al-Baghdadi sent a message to al-Qaeda Emir Ayman al-Zawahiri requesting him to swear allegiance to him as caliph, in return for a position in the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The source of this information was a senior Taliban intelligence officer. Al-Zawahiri did not reply, and instead reassured the Taliban of his loyalty to Mullah Omar.[75] On 7 November 2014, there were unconfirmed reports of al-Baghdadi's death after an airstrike in Mosul,[76] while other reports said that he was only wounded.[77][78] On 13 November 2014, ISIL released an audio-taped message, claiming it to be in the voice of al-Baghdadi. In the 17-minute recording, released via social media, the speaker said that ISIL fighters would never cease fighting "even if only one soldier remains". The speaker urged supporters of the Islamic State to "erupt volcanoes of jihad" across the world. He called for attacks to be mounted in Saudi Arabia—describing Saudi leaders as "the head of the snake" and said that the US-led military campaign in Syria and Iraq was failing. He also said that ISIL would keep on marching and would "break the borders" of Jordan and Lebanon and "free Palestine".[79] Al-Baghdadi also claimed in 2014 that Islamic jihadists would never hesitate to eliminate Israel just because it has the United States support.[80] On 20 January 2015, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that al-Baghdadi had been wounded in an airstrike in Al-Qa'im, an Iraqi border town held by ISIL, and as a result, withdrew to Syria.[81] On 8 February 2015, after Jordan had conducted 56 airstrikes, which had reportedly killed 7,000 ISIL militants from 5–7 February, Abu Bakr al-Bagdadi was said to have fled from Ar-Raqqah to Mosul, out of fear for his life.[82][83] However, after a Peshmerga source informed the US-led Coalition that al-Baghdadi was in Mosul, Coalition warplanes continuously bombed the locations where ISIL leaders were known to meet for 2 hours.[83] On 14 August 2015, it was reported that he allegedly claimed, as his wife, American hostage Kayla Mueller and raped her repeatedly.[84] Mueller was later alleged to have been killed in an airstrike by anti-ISIL forces in February 2015.[15] However, other reports cite that Mueller was murdered by ISIL.[85] Sectarianism and theocracy[edit]
Through his forename, al-Baghdadi is rumored to be styling himself after the first caliph, Abu Bakr, who led the "Rightly Guided" or Rashidun. According to Sunni tradition, Abu Bakr replaced Muhammad as prayer leader when he was suffering from illnesses.[86] Another feature of the original Rashidun was what some historians dub as the first SunnistShiist discord during the Battle of Siffin. Some publishers have drawn a correlation between those ancient events and modern Salafizing and caliphizing[87] aims under al-Baghdadi's rule.[88][89] Due to the relatively stationary nature of ISIL control, the elevation of religious clergy who engage in theocratization,[90] and the group's scripture-themed legal system, some analysts have declared al-Baghdadi a theocrat and ISIL a theocracy.[91] Other indications of the decline of secularism are the evisceration of secular institutions and its replacement with strict sharia law, and the gradual caliphization and Sunnification of regions under the group's control.[92] In July 2015, al-Baghdadi was described by a reporter as exhibiting a kinder and gentler side after he banned videos showing slaughter and execution.[93]
Chico Please read and comprehend because this is exactly how ISIS came into power - This is from a reputable CNN source.. This all happened under the Obama Administration and is directly related to Iraq and Syria...
Man They are the same religion as saddam. They only came into existence because mawlaki treated them so unfairly. I wish obama would have been more white so he wouldn't get all the blame he gets. Guess what if saddam is still there we are not fighting isis. why because he kept these mutts in check
Three years ago (Isis) did not exist; now it controls vast swaths of Syria and Iraq. Showing off its handiwork daily via Twitter and YouTube, Isis has repeatedly demonstrated that it is much more than a transnational terrorist organisation – rather, it is an entity with sophisticated command, control, propaganda and logistical capabilities, and one that has proven its ability to take and hold strategically critical territory at the heart of the Middle East.
As world leaders grapple with how to respond to this unprecedented crisis, they must first understand how Isis came to exist.
Principally, Isis is the product of a genocide that continued unabated as the world stood back and watched. It is the illegitimate child born of pure hate and pure fear – the result of 200,000 murdered Syrians and of millions more displaced and divorced from their hopes and dreams. Isis's rise is also a reminder of how Bashar al-Assad's Machiavellian embrace of al-Qaida would come back to haunt him.
Facing Assad's army and intelligence services, Lebanon's Hezbollah, Iraq's Shia Islamist militias and their grand patron, Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Syria's initially peaceful protesters quickly became disenchanted, disillusioned and disenfranchised – and then radicalised and violently militant.
The Shia Islamist axis used chemical weapons, artillery and barrel bombs to preserve its crescent of influence. Syria's Sunni Arab revolutionaries in turn sought international assistance, and when the world refused, they embraced a pact with the devil, al-Qaida.
With its fiercely loyal army of transnational jihadis, al-Qaida once again gained a foothold in the heart of the Middle East. Fuelled by the hate and fear engendered by images of dismembered children or women suffering from the effects of chemical weapons, disaffected youth from around the world rushed to Syria, fuelling an ever more violent race to the bottom.
Next door in Iraq, an emboldened Nouri al-Maliki waged his own sectarian campaign to consolidate power, betraying promises to his political partners to share it around. Within days of being welcomed at the White House and praised by Barack Obama for his leadership, Maliki returned to Baghdad to mastermind.
Supported by Iran and armed with US-made Humvees, M-16s, and M1A1 tanks, Maliki's forces closed in on Hashimi, only to see him flee to Kurdistan. Dozens of his guards were imprisoned on terrorism charges. At least one of them died under interrogation.
Another Christmas purge followed a year later, when a second prominent Sunni rival, the finance minister Rafea al-Essawi, found his home surrounded by Maliki's US-made tanks. He fled to the sanctuary of his tribe in Iraq's Anbar province, and was eliminated from Iraqi politics.
Facing mass unrest, Iraq's Sunni Arab provincial councils voted for semi-autonomous rule like that of the neighbouring Kurdistan region. Maliki blocked the implementation of a referendum through bureaucratic ploys, in contravention of Iraq's constitution.
Demonstrations of civil disobedience erupted across the Sunni provinces, as millions of Iraqis once again saw that they had no stake in Iraq's success – only its failure. Claiming intelligence that al-Qaida had penetrated the protest camps, Maliki crushed them with lethal force. Several dozen were killed during an Iraqi military raid in Hawija in April 2013, further inflaming what were already spiking sectarian tensions.
Despite pleas from the highest levels in Washington, Maliki's government did virtually nothing to halt the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' flights to resupply the Assad regime with thousands of tons of military hardware and ammunition. Meanwhile, a Shia Islamist ally of Maliki privately conceded to me last year that senior officials in the Iraqi government were turning a blind eye – or even actively supporting – the dispatch of thousands of Shia fighters to participate in the spiralling Shia-Sunni holy war in Syria.
These militias – the Badr Corps, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, the Promised Day Brigades, among others – were warmly embraced by Maliki. Indeed, Badr's commander is none other than Iraq's incumbent transport minister, Hadi al-Ameri.
Ironically, al-Qaida's wholesale introduction into Iraq came at the hands of Assad's regime. From 2005 until the end of the American occupation of Iraq, Assad's military intelligence services and their Iranian backers sought to defeat the US forces by training, financing and arming al-Qaida operatives inside Syria and dispatching them across the border to foment chaos and destruction.
General David Petraeus and other senior American officials warned Assad that he was igniting a fire that would eventually burn his house down, but Damascus did nothing to stop the flow of fighters, culminating in a crippling blow to Maliki's government the day Iraq's foreign and finance ministries were bombed. Maliki publicly condemned his future ally in Damascus for the attack.
And so, Syria's unravelling spilled into Iraq, and vice versa. Powerful regional tribes such as the Shammar and Anezah, faced with countless dead and persecuted members in both countries, banded together with former Iraqi and Syrian military officers, embracing Isis jihadis as their frontline shock troops. Cash poured in from sympathetic donors around the region.
Iraq's four Sunni Arab provinces fell within days, entire Iraqi army divisions evaporated, and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of advanced American military equipment was seized by Isis and its allies. Fuelled by what was increasingly a regional Sunni-Shia proxy war, Iraq and Syria had become incubators for transnational jihad and religious hate.
As world leaders now consider a military campaign to confront Isis, they should remember the lessons of America's costly and largely fruitless engagements in Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam. They should understand that no amount of foreign military power can ever make up for the misrule of corrupt, failed governments like those in Damascus, Baghdad, Kabul or Saigon. Unless they want a regional holy war, leaders should especially discount the advice of some who are now calling for an alliance with Assad's genocidal regime – perhaps the single greatest root cause of Isis's rise.
Instead, they should embrace the lessons of Iraq's Sunni tribal awakening, that only Syrian and Iraqi Sunnis can defeat radical militant Sunni entities like Isis. Likewise, they should understand that only the mullahs in Tehran can help quell radical militant Shia entities like Lebanon's Hezbollah, Assad's intelligence operatives or Iraq's militias.
• Ali Khedery is chairman and chief executive of Dragoman Partners, a strategic consultancy. He served as special assistant to five American ambassadors in Iraq and as senior adviser to three heads of US Central Command from 2003-10. He was the longest continuously serving American official in Iraq.
Man They are the same religion as saddam. They only came into existence because mawlaki treated them so unfairly. I wish obama would have been more white so he wouldn't get all the blame he gets. Guess what if saddam is still there we are not fighting isis. why because he kept these mutts in check
I probably paid more in taxes in last 10 years than you made. I was self employed and was paying both ends of social security. My taxes with everything was 50%
I probably paid more in taxes in last 10 years than you made. I was self employed and was paying both ends of social security. My taxes with everything was 50%
To brag about your income like that is not very progressive of you.
Try spending more time volunteering at charities and repent.
Man They are the same religion as saddam. They only came into existence because mawlaki treated them so unfairly. I wish obama would have been more white so he wouldn't get all the blame he gets. Guess what if saddam is still there we are not fighting isis. why because he kept these mutts in check
Give it up with these guys. A meme said so, so it must be true.
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chico2663 gave rkelly110 6 Betpoint(s) for this post.
To brag about your income like that is not very progressive of you.
Try spending more time volunteering at charities and repent.
gonzo i did give a lot to charity. sponsoring families at thanksgiving and christmas. Paying for kids to play sports in ohio. But sorry to hit a nerve. During the riots in cinti I got caught in the middle of it and had customers kids tell the outsiders to leave me alone or else.
Man They are the same religion as saddam. They only came into existence because mawlaki treated them so unfairly. I wish obama would have been more white so he wouldn't get all the blame he gets. Guess what if saddam is still there we are not fighting isis. why because he kept these mutts in check
And who between Trump and Hillary would make an assertion similar to this?
gonzo i did give a lot to charity. sponsoring families at thanksgiving and christmas. Paying for kids to play sports in ohio. But sorry to hit a nerve. During the riots in cinti I got caught in the middle of it and had customers kids tell the outsiders to leave me alone or else.
I'm an entrepreneur and professional gambler. I'm not bothered if other people are doing well, nothing wrong with the creation of wealth, good luck to you.
You could have done without making that edit and adding the last sentence, makes you a little pathetic to be honest.
And who between Trump and Hillary would make an assertion similar to this?
Hey if trump wins god bless. my energy stocks will go up. But paul ryan says that trump will do away with social security by calling it an entitlement. Entitlement is something that is not paid for by my taxes. If they put back 2.7 trillion they borrowed from it we would not be having this discussions. I always got stuck paying my end and the companies end. So I was used to paying 15,000 every year for social security. Now that I am in my twilight years than it would piss me off if they did away with it. They say put it in the stock market. Little known fact is why jeb bush was run out of fla office. He put teachers pension in the stock market and lost 80 % of it. For this lehman brothers gave him a 1 million dollar a year job
I'm an entrepreneur and professional gambler. I'm not bothered if other people are doing well, nothing wrong with the creation of wealth, good luck to you.
You could have done without making that edit and adding the last sentence, makes you a little pathetic to be honest.
the editing was to let you know about the riots. Showing that if you treat people fairly they always remember.Also why would I care what a person who can't or chooses not to support this web site. Broke deek can't afford 100
the editing was to let you know about the riots. Showing that if you treat people fairly they always remember.Also why would I care what a person who can't or chooses not to support this web site. Broke deek can't afford 100
Because you made an edit to your post trying to appeal to what you consider conservative thought, unfortunately for you I'm not a milquetoast cuck looking for common ground, I don't care.
You're a joke.
And most people are cowards who won't return your goodwill should it be inconvenient for them. I have a hard time believing your entrepreneurial success if you haven't learnt this simple lesson.
Because you made an edit to your post trying to appeal to what you consider conservative thought, unfortunately for you I'm not a milquetoast cuck looking for common ground, I don't care.
You're a joke.
And most people are cowards who won't return your goodwill should it be inconvenient for them. I have a hard time believing your entrepreneurial success if you haven't learnt this simple lesson.
Because you made an edit to your post trying to appeal to what you consider conservative thought, unfortunately for you I'm not a milquetoast cuck looking for common ground, I don't care.
You're a joke.
And most people are cowards who won't return your goodwill should it be inconvenient for them. I have a hard time believing your entrepreneurial success if you haven't learnt this simple lesson.
You mean this is the first time you have seen Chico telling everyone how he saved people's lives and then complaining about the Social Security taxes he paid??? Where have you been??? He's the best, just ask him.
Because you made an edit to your post trying to appeal to what you consider conservative thought, unfortunately for you I'm not a milquetoast cuck looking for common ground, I don't care.
You're a joke.
And most people are cowards who won't return your goodwill should it be inconvenient for them. I have a hard time believing your entrepreneurial success if you haven't learnt this simple lesson.
When is telling the truth appealing to anything.I don't really feel the need to impress anyone. But then i'm not a millennial wanting my participation trophy. Someone that is lecturing me about being a gambler and entrep. but won't spend 100that is tax deductible. NOW THAT IS RICH!
Because you made an edit to your post trying to appeal to what you consider conservative thought, unfortunately for you I'm not a milquetoast cuck looking for common ground, I don't care.
You're a joke.
And most people are cowards who won't return your goodwill should it be inconvenient for them. I have a hard time believing your entrepreneurial success if you haven't learnt this simple lesson.
I think we all need to give Chico a free pass, he's a stroke victim and it appears he has a very short memory and gets confused very easily.. His temper flares as well due to his current condition...
Chico good luck with getting those neurons firing on all cylinders again pal.. I mean that.... At 60 years of age I don't know how in the hell you suffered a stroke already.. My guess is you were over weight.. Lay off the pizza's and sugars bud and get out and exercise daily (cardio) and you'll rebound like a champ.....
I think we all need to give Chico a free pass, he's a stroke victim and it appears he has a very short memory and gets confused very easily.. His temper flares as well due to his current condition...
Chico good luck with getting those neurons firing on all cylinders again pal.. I mean that.... At 60 years of age I don't know how in the hell you suffered a stroke already.. My guess is you were over weight.. Lay off the pizza's and sugars bud and get out and exercise daily (cardio) and you'll rebound like a champ.....
Free pass? If he lost 3/4 of his brain, he'd still be smarter than 1/2 of you here. (me included)
I think we all need to give Chico a free pass, he's a stroke victim and it appears he has a very short memory and gets confused very easily.. His temper flares as well due to his current condition...
Chico good luck with getting those neurons firing on all cylinders again pal.. I mean that.... At 60 years of age I don't know how in the hell you suffered a stroke already.. My guess is you were over weight.. Lay off the pizza's and sugars bud and get out and exercise daily (cardio) and you'll rebound like a champ.....
wasn't weight. It was stress of the job.If your a lawyer than you can understand stress of the job, But thanks for the support.Maggie I hope i get their because I make 4000 a month at age 65. See the more you make then the more they take. I would rather have had that extra money in my pocket during my track days. But now that I reach my twilight years it would seem to be a blessing. Funny how all these people that are trump supporters some how believe it is everyone else fault they are in the predicament they are in. Funny how people who didn't live over their means and didn't need the fancy house or car aren't crying.. It is the people that had to have the bling
Imagine the uproar talk-radio show hosts Laura Ingraham, Alex Jones and Rush Limbaugh would be whipping up now, if Hillary Clinton’s chief campaign manager had been for years a trusted adviser to Ukraine’s Viktor Yanukovych, as Donald Trump's Paul Manafort was. The Vladimir Putin satrap leveraged his Donbas mobster background to defeat, with Kremlin backing, the pro-democracy Orange Revolution and went on to build a kleptocracy underpinned by Russia’s security services, which is believed to have trained the Ukrainian snipers who slaughtered more than 50 Maidan protesters in 2014.
Imagine, too, that it was the Democrat’s presumptive White House nominee who considered appointing as her running mate a retired three-star general and former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency who last December bizarrely — and certainly ill-advisedly — chose to be a feted guest at a 10th anniversary gala in Moscow for Russia Today, the virulently anti-American Kremlin propaganda outlet and cheerleader for the Crimea land-grab of Crimea and Putin’s bombing of U.S.-supported Syrian rebels. What on earth would the talk-radio hosts be saying, if another one of Clinton’s main foreign-policy advisers, like Trump's Carter Page, was a onetime consigliere for Gazprom, the vast Kremlin-run natural-gas monopoly that Putin has used as a major tool in geopolitical energy politics in Europe rewarding countries favorably disposed to Moscow like Silvio Berlusconi’s Italy, punishing and threatening obdurate ones? That’s the same Gazprom that in 2001 mounted a hostile takeover of the last remaining independent Russian television network, NTV — a takeover characterized by Mikhail Gorbachev as a Putin-directed campaign to establish Kremlin monopoly control of the country's broadcasters. Throw in as another foreign policy adviser, say, a former State Department aide sitting on the board of Russia’s Alfa Bank, which was accused of violating the UN sanctions regime against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Add a few other elements into the mix. Say Hillary Clinton had for years relentlessly been pursuing multi-million-dollar business deals with the Russians and had courted the country’s oligarchs and the super-wealthy, whose fortunes depend on Putin and the siloviki (Russia’s military-security establishment members} who police the country’s crony capitalism. It isn’t hard to guess the scale of the hue-and-cry the talk-show hosts would have raised if Hillary Clinton after all of this announced, as Trump did last week, that she wouldn’t necessarily defend the Baltic states from Russian aggression and live up to America’s NATO collective-defense commitments, the ultimate raison d’être of the bedrock Western alliance. Trump’s claims last week — both to the New York Times and in his convention speech — that NATO is obsolete must have been music to the ears to a Kremlin that has done everything it can to weaken Atlanticist ties, disrupt Western alliances and set allies to squabbling. For many Central European politicians Trump’s comments amounted to a Neville Chamberlain moment. And their mood wasn’t helped by supporting comments from Newt Gingrich, once in favor of NATO enlargement, who dismissed Estonia as basically a suburb of former KGB agent Putin’s home town, St. Petersburg. Central European allies worry about the machinations of Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, who has also been in business with two highly controversial and Kremlin-connected oligarchs, Russia’s Oleg Deripaska and Ukraine’s Dmytro Firtash, a conduit for Gazprom funding of Yanukovych. And they see a parallel to what has been happening in Europe to what is unfolding with this year’s U.S. election cycle. In Soviet times, Moscow Gold flowed exclusively to far-left parties and nuclear-disarmament groups — part of a KGB “active measures” campaign to sponsor pro-Communist front organizations. Now the Kremlin and the KGB’s successor agencies have adapted. Money flows now also to populist far-right parties, an investment in the disruption of Western politics and a weakening of European solidarity. The Kremlin didn’t create the angst over immigration and popular anger at post-2008 austerity but it is fanning the fury — as can be seen with the output from Russia Today and other Kremlin-directed media outlets. France’s National Front, whose leader, Marine Le Pen, expresses deep admiration for Putin, has received multi-million euro loans from the First Czech Russian Bank, which enjoys cosy Kremlin ties. That money will help fund her presidential bid later this year. There have been rumors of other money flows to Europe’s far-right politicians but the opaque financial arrangements of many of the new breed of populist parties makes it hard to prove. Some of the hedge-fund and offshore financiers backing the populist parties also have Russian ties and following the money where they are concerned is even more challenging. The Budapest-based think tank Political Capital was among the first to note that the Kremlin was clearly courting and assisting far-right parties and personalties in western Europe as well as those in countries Russian politicians like to term the “near abroad”, the former Soviet Union’s satellite states. Among the aims, the think tank suspects is to keep Europe dependent on Russian natural gas, a useful economic weapon to wield, especially during harsh winters, against the Europeans when needs be. But influence-peddling and mischief-making has become more sophisticated and now consists not only of funding far-right parties as well as far-left ones or honey-trapping, and subsequently blackmailing, a transgressing politician or two. And it has gone beyond just using longterm sleeper agents, like Anna Chapman, to infiltrate strategic sectors, whether it be U.S. government Beltway sub-contractors, Microsoft or marketing agencies in New York. As the Economist’s Edward Lucas, the first Western reporter to focus in earnest on Russia’s hybrid and myriad subversion techniques designed for a globalized, free market world the Kremlin has discovered the West above all likes cash —and that influence, if not loyalty, can be bought, that politics and policy can be shaped and tweaked even more effectively by a company directorship here; a business deal there. The indelicacy of recruitment — except when it comes to penetrating Western intelligence agencies — is not needed; politics, business and intelligence objectives can be enmeshed subversively to guide and mold. In his book “Deception: Spies, Lies and How Russia Dupes the West”, Lucas painstakingly lays out the modus operandi of Russia’s new masters fusing “organized crime, big business, conventional diplomacy — and intelligence…using not only old tools against us, but also new ones of which their Soviet-era predecessors could only have dreamed.” I have seen that myself in a small way encapsulated in the rise and activities of one senior operational Russian foreign espionage officer, who after his tour of duty under diplomatic cover had concluded in Washington D.C., has cropped up in ‘diplomatic’, government and business roles, effortlessly crossing back and forth between the three in what for his bosses is one complex playing field. After leaving Washington, he has been among other things: a senior diplomat in Minsk, an ‘adviser’ to a Kremlin-appointed regional governor at a time Putin had a big push on to curtail the semi-independence of regional government, and then an energy company executive. He traveled at one time regularly to Kyiv. Is Russia playing in the U.S. like it has been in Europe? Russian investment has been a major target of the Trump organization. The Republican nominee’s son, Donald Jr, told a 2008 real estate conference, “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets.” According to the website of eTurboNews, a trade publication, he added: “We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.” Investors have included Alexander Mashkevich, a Kazakh who in 2011 was investigated by Turkish prosecutors for organizing a sex party on a luxurious yacht involving underage girls. Mashkevich denied any wrongdoing. He was also at the heart of one of the longest-running cases in Belgian history involving allegations of money-laundering. The case was eventually settled after he and two associates agreed to pay an undisclosed fine in return for the dropping of the case. Another investor is former Soviet official Tevik Arif, who has been investigated off-and-on for organized-crime links. Has the Russian money and Moscow ties had consequences and does it shape candidate Trump’s foreign-policy thinking or that of the advice he receives from his aides? It is certainly a question that would be asked — and rightly so — of Hillary Clinton, if the shoe was on the other foot. Saudi donations to the Clinton Global Initiative have come under scrutiny, as well they should. Other pressing questions present themselves. Has the U.S. election cycle been targeted by the Russians for ‘active measures? The hacking in mid-June of Democrat National Committee computers and the stealing of opposition research on Donald Trump by, according to some experts, Russian intelligence-linked groups is a clear sign for some analysts such as Anders Aslund of the Atlantic Council that Putin is engaged in “active measures in [the] U.S. presidential campaign.” The whole swirl bears a chilling resemblance to TV fictions such as The Last Panthers, a dark series that explores a money-making conspiracy involving murderous Central European gangsters and intelligence services, rapacious Western European property developers and venal global ‘banksters’ with politicians turning a blind eye — if not financially profiting — from the scheming. In the final episode British actor John Hurt, playing a once loyal former MI6 officer who betrays country and friends for cold hard cash, says in a gravelly, world-weary voice: “We used to think the barbarians lived in a land far, far away, and we ignored them. And then the barbarians were at the gates. And we were scared, but we ignored them again. And now we are all barbarians, aren’t we? “ We need to know exactly who the barbarians are in the real-life political drama playing out. Dettmer is an international journalist and broadcaster with Voice of America. He has reported from Europe, Latin America, Africa, the Indian sub-continent and Russia and has covered U.S. politics.
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chico2663 gave rkelly110 6 Betpoint(s) for this post.
If you say so Rkelly...
