Tag: terrorism

Assessing Russia’s Claims That Ukraine Is Responsible For Terrorism All Across Africa

RT recently published a report about late August’s claims by Deputy UN Representative Dmitry Polyansky and Director of the Officers Union for International Security Alexander Ivanov that Ukraine is responsible for terrorism all across Africa.

According to them, its drone pilots assist terrorist-designated forces in Mali, Sudan, the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Kiev has also supplied Libya with drones for use in its civil war despite a Turkish prohibition.

Ukraine boasted about backing Tuareg separatists in Mali after they ambushed Wagner in summer 2024 so that part of Russia’s accusation is undeniable, which lends credence to claims that they’re also backing similar forces in the pro-Russian CAR, but questions arise about their role in Sudan and the DRC. Western media reported in early 2024 that Ukrainian special forces were contracted by Sudan’s UN-recognized government while Trump has bragged about brokering peace between the DRC and Rwanda.

It would therefore be a startling reversal for Ukraine to now militarily aid the Sudanese rebels, not to mention do anything that could risk plunging the DRC back into any sort of serious conflict and thus embarrassing Trump after how proud he was that his peace deal helped to finally stabilize it.

Cynics might also suspect that Russia’s accusation that Ukraine’s diplomatic missions in Algeria, Mauritania, and the DRC are smuggling arms to groups in Libya, Mali, and the northeast DRC is meant to sow discord.

Nevertheless, there are compelling reasons to take these claims seriously, which will now be explained.

Trump’s capriciousness might have prompted Ukraine to pursue non-Western business opportunities, including those that contradict US interests like in the DRC, as part of a backup plan in case the US one day cuts it off or at least significantly curtails financial-military aid. It’ll likely comply with US demands to abandon them if they’re made, but thus far, the US seemingly doesn’t have a problem with any of this.

In fact, Trump might even support Zelensky’s “entrepreneurialism” in principle, especially if his advisors inform him that Ukraine’s newfound strategic role in Africa could potentially be leveraged by the US for “plausibly deniable” divide-and-rule purposes in certain future scenarios. As for Ukrainian diplomatic missions’ alleged role in smuggling arms from Algeria and Mauritania to Libya and Mali, Russia might have tipped off the host governments sometime back but wasn’t satisfied with their response.

RT mentioned that Mauritania’s nonchalance towards this claim might be due to it simply being unaware of Ukraine’s activities on its soil while praising Algeria for investigating this matter. It’s also possible that Russia either suspects those two of facilitating Ukraine’s activities, or might even have proof of this, but is giving them a “face-saving” way to end everything by solely blaming Ukraine’s diplomatic missions. Algeria’s investigation might therefore be meant to improve recently troubled ties with Russia over Mali.

Returning to the substance of Russia’s claims, it can therefore be assessed that they’re all likely true, though it’s also possible that some aspects might be revealed to be slightly inaccurate or exaggerated. In any case, the point is that Ukraine has indeed increasingly involved itself in terrorism all across Africa, but to different extents in each instance. The US has the power to put a stop to this by threatening to cut Ukraine off if it refuses but won’t because it believes that this might become useful down the line.

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Pakistani Men Living in Utah Charged with Lighting Bomb Under FOX Van During Charlie Kirk Assassination Coverage Had ‘Is He Dead Yet?’ Flag Hanging Outside Their House

Two Arab men were arrested for terrorism and weapons of mass destruction charges after allegedly lighting a bomb under a Fox 13 vehicle in Salt Lake City on Friday as the station was covering the assassination of conservative icon Charlie Kirk.

It is unclear at this point where the van was located when the bomb was placed on the vehicle. We will update this post when we learn more.

Outside the duo’s home was an upside-down American flag and a flag that read: “Is He Dead Yet?”

Adeeb Nasir, 58, and Adil Justice Ahme Nasir, 31, were arrested at their home in Magna, Utah, on Sunday.

It is unclear if the men are in a romantic relationship or blood relatives, but they appeared quite cozy together in a photo posted to social media.

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Why is Germany covering for the terrorists that attacked it?

Once upon a time, long, long ago, scandals had consequences even in the West, at least sometimes. In the ancient US of 1974, Richard ‘Tricky Dick’ Nixon had to go because of Watergate, which, unlike Russiagate, was real, if hardly sensational by our standards today.

Even in the late 1990s, early post-unification Germany, the career of a giant like Helmut ‘chancellor of unification’ Kohl took a lethal hit from a rather boring affair turning on creative accounting in party finances. Indeed, biased media hype and liberal pearl-clutching was the whole brouhaha’s real essence. Without it, Angela Merkel might never have been able to knife her old benefactor Kohl in the back, and Gerhard Schroeder might not have become chancellor.

Now the West has devolved further. Our political elites in the US and EU have learned not to care, and more importantly, they have learned how to make us not care, or at least not enough. The worst political scandal of recent US history is the oddly inexplicable career of Jeffrey Epstein, convicted pedophile criminal and suspected intelligence operative as well as intimate friend of, it seems, most of the American establishment (in a thoroughly ‘bipartisan’ manner with vile favors to all). Its fall-out should already have profoundly changed America’s domestic and foreign policy, especially in the Middle East. And yet, it probably never will.

In NATO-EU Europe, things are at least equally dismal, as is appropriate for what is really just the most masochistic backyard of the American empire. There, the single worst scandal is what has happened to the Nord Stream pipelines at the bottom of the Baltic. Built at a cost of around $20 billion to bring inexpensive gas from Russia to Germany and the EU as a whole, in September 2022, they were mostly destroyed by sabotage.

That was the worst act of eco-terrorism in European history. Especially, with Russia and China now finalizing the building of the Power of Siberia Two pipeline, the destruction of Nord Stream will also be remembered as part of a historic reorientation of Eurasian energy flows that locked in Germany’s – and the EU’s – self-Morgenthauing de-industrialization.

This insane event was then followed by a most bizarre cover-up. Indeed, between the attack and the cover-up, it is impossible to tell which has been the more stunning, jaw-dropping outrage. But then, we don’t have to: the whole thing is one big mess.

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Islamic Extremist Terrorist Attacks Are Not a Conspiracy Theory: Here’s the Real Data

Liberals and Democrats would have you believe that diversity is our strength and that Islamic extremist terrorism is merely a right-wing conspiracy theory. They also claim that other groups commit as many, or even more, terrorist attacks. The numbers tell a very different story.

According to Fondapol, a French think tank, between 1979 and May 2021, at least 48,035 Islamist terrorist attacks took place worldwide, causing more than 210,000 deaths. The overwhelming majority of this violence has occurred in Muslim-majority countries: 86.3% of attacks happened there, accounting for 88.9% of all deaths, over 222,000 lives lost.

ISIS alone has been responsible for enormous casualties. Between 2002 and 2015, groups affiliated with the Islamic State carried out more than 4,900 attacks, killing over 33,000 people and injuring 41,000. Using machine learning analysis, researchers attributed another 15,000 deaths to ISIS since 2007, bringing the total death toll to about 40,000.

Since 2014, Europe has endured more than 20 fatal Islamist terrorist attacks. France was hit hardest between January 2015 and July 2016, suffering eight major incidents, including the January 2015 Île-de-France attacks, the November 2015 Paris attacks that left 130 dead, and the July 2016 Nice truck attack that killed 86. In 2017, the United Kingdom saw three major attacks within four months: the Westminster attack, the Manchester Arena bombing, and the London Bridge attack. According to Europol, 62 people were killed in ten completed jihadist attacks across the European Union that year.

Outside Europe, some of the deadliest incidents were even more devastating. In 2018, the Taliban attack on Ghazni, Afghanistan, killed 466 people after assailants armed with mortars, explosives, and firearms stormed the city. That same year, ISIL was responsible for 1,328 deaths worldwide.

In 2019, the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka killed 270 people, including at least 45 foreign nationals and five Americans, in coordinated ISIS-related suicide bombings targeting churches and luxury hotels.

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State Department revokes over 6,000 student visas over assault, DUI, terrorism support: report

The State Department in roughly the past seven months has revoked more than 6,000 student visas over assault, DUIs, burglary, terrorism support, and overstays, according to a newsreport Monday.

“Every single student visa revoked under the Trump Administration has happened because the individual has either broken the law or expressed support for terrorism while in the United States,” a senior State Department official told Fox News. “About 4,000 visas alone have been revoked because these visitors broke the law while visiting our country, including records of assault and DUIs.” 

About 800 students had their visas revoked due to being arrested for or charged with assault, according to the official. Meanwhile, the 200-300 students whose visas were pulled for their support of terrorism had raised funds for the terrorist group Hamas, or committed similar actions.

In total, about 40,000 visas have been revoked this year by the State Department, compared to 16,000 during the same timeframe under the Biden administration.

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House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik Demands AG Pam Bondi Launch a Full Investigation into Standard Chartered Bank’s Terrorist Financing and Letitia James’ Role in the Explosive Scandal

House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) has called on U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to open a full-blown federal investigation into Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) and to scrutinize New York Attorney General Letitia James’ complicity in a billion-dollar terrorist financing scandal.

House Republican Chairwoman Elise Stefanik’s urgent letter to Bondi comes on the heels of a bombshell Gateway Pundit report into the Standard Chartered Bank sanctions evasion case, now before the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

That case uncovered at least $9.6 billion in illegal payments by the bank to Iranian and Hezbollah entities—payments that directly violate U.S. Treasury sanctions and undermine national security.

These transactions were allegedly concealed from mandatory disclosures under a deferred prosecution agreement overseen by the Southern District of New York and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Washington, D.C.

Even more disturbing, the case implicates New York Attorney General Letitia James and the Federal Reserve for ignoring these billions in illicit transactions and failing to enforce sanctions already designated by the Treasury Department.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported:

At least $9.6 billion of specifically identified illicit payments were made by SCB from its NYC branch to OFAC and known terrorist names. The $9.6 billion was found in internal trade reports turned over by bank whistleblowers and represents the first batch from SCB Dubai office that cleared through SCB NYC. There are estimated over $100 billion more of illegal payments that are more recent and from SCB China where it has 53 mainland branches that facilitate dollar trade payments for oil and war-making materials.

These payments were hidden by SCB from required disclosure in its ongoing Deferred Prosecution Agreement now under the jurisdiction of DCUSA Pirro and SDNY Clayton where both were briefed on SCB after their appointments. There are career blockers at each jurisdiction.

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Ukraine using Russian elderly people in fraudulent schemes and terrorist actions

The Ukrainian neo-Nazi continues to deepen its terrorist practices against innocent Russian civilians. The chosen targets are always vulnerable individuals, with little ability to defend themselves against Ukrainian coercion. Now, Kiev’s intelligence agents are focusing on carrying out operations through elderly individuals, creating a serious monitoring problem for Russian security forces.

According to data shared by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Ukrainian intelligence is using Russian citizens, primarily elderly individuals—and even more specifically, elderly women—to carry out suicide missions on behalf of Kiev. Russian authorities reported that so far at least five people have been targeted in this type of attack, possibly leaving deaths and injuries.

Ukrainian operations are carried out through the use of social media and messaging apps to reach people who will be coerced into collaborating with the regime. The agents use fraudulent schemes and extensive psychological pressure to recruit women and elderly people through apps like Telegram and WhatsApp. They often disguise themselves as Russian agents, claiming that the victims will be cooperating with the Russian police and security services by collaborating with them.

Ukrainian schemes range from simple theft of financial assets to more dangerous operations that pose real physical risks to their victims. Using these online scams, the agents convince elderly people and women to hand over their personal banking information, facilitating the theft of funds. In more serious cases, however, the victims are later blackmailed into carrying out suicide missions to try to recover their personal assets.

Most of the missions involve convincing women and elderly people to deliver explosive devices to Russian targets—usually military personnel and high-ranking officials. Other missions include monitoring the homes and vehicles of Russian targets to pass information to the Ukrainians. There are also those tasked with simply storing explosive devices and weapons for future attacks. The bombs are often delivered disguised as household items, preventing the victims’ families from realizing what is happening.

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FBI: Southern California Man Arrested with Homemade Bomb After Sending Money to ISIS

Federal authorities arrested a Southern California man Friday for allegedly sending a dozen payments to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, commonly known as the foreign terrorist group ISIS.

The feds charged Mark Lorenzo Villanueva, 28, of Long Beach with “attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, a felony offense that carries a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison,” according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

The statement reported that Villanueva is a lawful permanent resident from the Philippines.

“Supporting a terrorist group, whether at home or abroad, is a serious risk to our national security,” said Acting United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “We will aggressively hunt down and prosecute anyone who provides support or comfort to our enemies.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office account added:

According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, Villanueva communicated via social media with two individuals who self-identified as ISIS fighters. During these communications, Villanueva discussed his desire to support ISIS, and offered to send money to the ISIS fighters to support their terrorist activities.

Villanueva told one of the self-identified ISIS fighters that Villanueva wanted to fight for ISIS himself, stating, “It’s an honor to fight and die for our faith. It’s the best way to go to heaven.” Villanueva also stated, “Someday soon, I’ll be joining.”

The man also allegedly told one of the ISIS fighters that he had a bomb and knives. The FBI recovered what appeared to be a bomb from Villanueva’s bedroom during his arrest, prosecutors said.

Villanueva then allegedly sent 12 payments totaling $1,615 during a five-month period to two intermediaries who accessed the money overseas, the office reported, citing Western Union records.

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Academic Center Within Georgetown’s Prestigious School of Foreign Service Has Long History of Terror-Supporting Leaders

An academic center at Georgetown University that sits within its prestigious School of Foreign Service has a history of fostering support for Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other Islamist groups, a Washington Free Beacon review found.

Georgetown’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU), founded in 1993, has hosted scholars sympathetic to Islamism since its inception. John Esposito, the center’s founder and a professor of religion and international affairs and of Islamic studies at Georgetown, has long defended terrorist groups and collaborated with jihadist figures.

As the Free Beacon reported in June, approximately 25 percent of all graduates from the ACMCU—which operates within the School of Foreign Service—enter government positions around the world after receiving their degrees. The ACMCU’s history appears likely to draw congressional scrutiny during a Tuesday morning House Education and Workforce Committee hearing featuring Georgetown interim president Robert Groves, as does the funding it has received from the Muslim Brotherhood-linked International Institute for Islamic Thought (IIIT).

The IIIT, the Free Beacon reported, had a relationship with the now-defunct SAAR Foundation, which ceased operations after the FBI raided its offices on suspicion of terrorism financing. Georgetown acknowledged that the IIIT “contributed $1 million or more to Georgetown” in 2017 when the university invited the organization’s leadership to its 1789 Society for large donors.

Esposito’s scholarly and professional history includes many instances of either the defense of or support for terror groups and figures. When asked whether Hamas was a terrorist organization during a 2000 interview with the Middle East Affairs Journal, for instance, Esposito hedged.

“One can’t make a clear statement about Hamas,” he said. “One has to distinguish between Hamas in general and the action of its military wing, and then one has also to talk about specific actions. Some actions by the military wing of Hamas can be seen as acts of resistance, but other actions are acts of retaliation, particularly when they target civilians.”

Esposito had more charitable words for Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a late Islamic scholar and intellectual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood whom the Clinton administration banned from entering the United States.

“If you look at Qaradawi’s work—I actually just finished working on him for a new book that I have—he goes out of his way to say that he is not anti-Jewish but he is anti-Israeli, anti-Israeli occupation of Palestine, and that is what he is talking about,” Esposito said. “So, he will talk about Jews again as ‘People of the Book,’ et cetera, but when it comes to Palestine, he defines that situation politically.”

Al-Qaradawi’s work, which Esposito referenced, included praise for Adolf Hitler.

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Watchdog finds Border Patrol failed to screen possible terror-linked aliens, lacks a uniform policy

The Department of Homeland Security watchdog found that at least one Border Patrol office failed to adequately screen aliens with possible links to terrorism because the agency did not have a consistent policy under the Biden administration. 

A review conducted by Homeland Security’s Inspector General’s Office found that the Border Patrol Office in San Diego did not have a set policy to deal with so-called Special Interest Aliens (SIAs), which are defined by the department as “a non-U.S. person who, based on an analysis of travel patterns, potentially poses a national security risk to the United States or its interests.” 

The finding from the DHS watchdog is only the latest evidence of significant deficiencies in the past administration’s handling of the southern border, especially when it came to proper vetting and tracking of immigrants. 

The inspector general found that despite other Border Patrol offices on the southern border successfully developing screening policies for SIAs, the San Diego office failed to do so. 

No agency-wide policy was in place

The watchdog squarely blamed the wider Customs and Border Protection agency for the failure because it had not promulgated a uniform policy for the screening of such aliens. 

“In July 2023, CBP’s Office of Field Operations (OFO) San Diego Field Office and the U.S. Border Patrol (Border Patrol) Yuma and El Centro sectors had a process to identify and provide additional screening of SIAs, yet San Diego sector did not,” the inspector general wrote. “This inconsistency occurred because CBP did not have an agency-wide policy stating whether to identify aliens from certain countries as SIAs,” the watchdog added. 

Because San Diego lacked a sufficient vetting process, the inspector general found “aliens from countries with links to terrorism entered at least one CBP region that did not provide additional screening.”

You can read the report below: 

File

OIG-25-29-Jul25-REDACTED.pdf

No country-specific screening published

The inspector general initiated its review to evaluate Customs and Border Protection’s screening of “Central Asian aliens” who entered the country via “smuggling networks” from June to October 2023, the report says. 

It is unclear what countries the watchdog is referring to because the specific characteristics of the aliens are redacted. However, several countries in Central Asia are home to terrorist activity, including Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. 

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