The CIA-Duh blowback, 'er, pushback:
"Russian city hit by 2 bombings in 2 days; 26 die in blasts 6 weeks ahead of Winter Games" by Steven Lee Myers | New York Times, December 30, 2013
MOSCOW — A deadly suicide bombing at a crowded railroad station in southern Russia on Sunday, followed by a blast in a trolley bus on Monday in the same city, raised the specter of a new wave of terrorism just six weeks before the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
President Vladimir Putin’s government has worked to protect the Olympics with some of the most extensive security measures ever imposed for the Games. But the Volgograd bombings underscored the threat Russia faces from a radical Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus that has periodically spilled into the heartland, with deadly results, including several recent attacks.
Islamist insurgency = covert western intelligence operation, although I understand there are a lot of Saudi foot soldiers behind this one.
Security has become a paramount concern at all major international sporting events, especially in the wake of the bombings at the Boston Marathon in April, but never before has an Olympic host country experienced terrorist violence on this scale soon before the games. And would-be attackers may have more targets in mind than the Russian state.
And now the staged and scripted crisis drill fraud that was the Boston Marathon bombings is exposed for its ultimate agenda-pushing value!
Current and former US law enforcement and intelligence officials said Sunday that they were more concerned about security in Russia during the Sochi Games than they have been about any Olympics since Athens in 2004.
The telegraphing of the false flag has begun!
Russian officials attributed the explosion Sunday to a bomb packed with shrapnel, possibly carried in a bag or backpack.
Oh, nice touch.
It was detonated in the main railroad station in Volgograd, a city 550 miles south of Moscow and 400 miles northeast of Sochi. The bomb blew out windows and left a horrific scene of carnage at its main entrance. At least 16 people were killed, and nearly three dozen others were wounded, some of them critically, meaning the death toll could still rise.
All the more indicating an intelligence agency false flag.
On Monday morning a second blast struck a trolley bus in the city, killing at least 10 people, according to preliminary reports. Photographs posted by Russian media showed that the force of the blast tore open the bus and shattered windows nearby. At least 10 others were wounded in what officials immediately described as another suicide bombing.
The Sunday blast, captured on a surveillance video camera from across the central plaza in front of the station, occurred near the station’s metal detectors, which have become common at most Russian transportation hubs. That raised the possibility that an attack deeper inside the station or aboard a train had been averted.
Vladimir I. Markin, a spokesman for the main national criminal investigation agency in Russia, called the bombing an act of terror, though the exact motivation, target, and perpetrator were not immediately clear.
Within hours of the attack, the authorities blamed a suicide bomber, and cited the gruesome discovery of the severed head of a woman, which they said could aid in identifying her as the suspect. Officials later said they had found a grenade and a pistol, and suggested that the attack might have been carried out by a man and a woman working together.
The attack was the second suicide bombing in Volgograd in recent months. In October, a woman identified as Naida Asiyalova detonated a vest of explosives aboard a bus in the city, killing herself and six others.
In that case, the authorities said she was linked by marriage to an explosives expert working with an Islamist group in Dagestan, a republic in southern Russia where the police have struggled to suppress a Muslim separatist insurgency. A month later, the authorities announced that they had killed her husband and four others in a raid. But the attack Sunday indicated that the threat was far from extinguished.
We all can see where this is leading.
It was not clear why suicide bombers have chosen targets in Volgograd, a city of 1 million that was formerly called Stalingrad, the site of one of the crucial battles of World War II. It is the nearest major Russian city to the Caucasus, and its proximity may play a role.
I think it is clear as crystal.
Putin vowed Sunday to redouble security at Russia’s railway stations and airports, which are especially busy around the New Year’s holiday.
With security so tight at the site of the Games, experts have warned that insurgents who want to disrupt the Olympics might turn instead to “softer” targets elsewhere.
We have SEEN THIS SCRIPT before!
One reason US law enforcement and intelligence officials are concerned about Sochi is that the United States has more of an arms-length relationship with Russia than with most Olympic host countries. The United States provided extensive resources to the Greek government in 2004, but the Russians have stronger capabilities and almost always refuse American offers of help.
I would, too! Why would you want intelligence infiltrators from AmeriKa in on security plans?
Also see: Greek police detail security threats during Olympic games
Over 700 of them!
Current and former US officials said they had confidence in the Russians’ ability to protect Sochi and Olympic venues.
“But it is a large country, and these groups can get a lot of bang for their buck if they are able to do something in the country, wherever it is, during the Olympics,” said one senior law enforcement official.
Another complicating factor is that the United States does not direct a significant portion of its intelligence capabilities toward groups that mount attacks in Russia, because US officials see terrorists in countries like Pakistan and Yemen posing a greater threat to US interests.
And because the U.S. and its allies are FUNDING and DIRECTING those groups!
And even though the Boston Marathon bombers had ties to Dagestan, officials don’t believe the attack was plotted with the help of groups there.
--more--"
And how very interesting that the mysterious almost mythical insurgent leader, Doku Umarov, has been totally wiped clean from the web version you got. A classic tell that Umarov is a CIA ASSET!
Or I just had to wait a day?
"Fear of terror grips Russia after bombings; Insurgency silent on twin attacks before Olympics" by Steven Lee Myers | New York Times, December 31, 2013
MOSCOW — Twin terrorist attacks in the city of Volgograd within 24 hours injected new urgency Monday into Russia’s long, ruthless effort to contain a diffuse Islamic insurgency on its southern border, one nominally led by a veteran, battle-scarred Chechen often called Russia’s Osama bin Laden.
Does my Mockingbird media call AmeriKa's mass-murdering war exercises built on lies ruthless?
And look, we got another bin Laden!
The influence of the insurgent, Doku Umarov, seemed increasingly marginal until he surfaced in a video in July, ordering his followers to do whatever was possible to attack Russia as it prepared to be the host of the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
PFFFFFFFFT!
Although no one has claimed responsibility for the Volgograd attacks, Umarov’s threats, largely ignored at the time, suddenly seemed ominous, chillingly citing Russia’s transportation networks as potential targets.
The HALLMARK of a COVERT WESTERN INTELLIGENCE OUTFIT!
On Monday morning, a suicide bomber gutted an electric trolley bus in Volgograd, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens more. The bomb exploded during the morning rush hour on a street only a little more than 1½ miles from the city’s main railroad station, where a similar attack Sunday killed at least 17.
The attacks, coming only six weeks before the opening of the Olympics 400 miles away, sowed panic across the country. They prompted false reports of other bombings in Volgograd and the brief evacuation of Red Square in Moscow after a woman left a package near St. Basil’s Cathedral.
Can't say as I blame the Russians one bit.
The attacks called into question Russia’s preparedness for an international sporting event that President Vladimir Putin and others intend to be a showcase of the country’s revival since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Yeah, it's ALL AGENDA ALL the TIME in my newspaper!
Putin, who has made no public remarks since the first attack, ordered the tightening of security across the country after holding a series of meetings with government and security officials, according to the Kremlin. He dispatched the director of the Federal Security Service, Alexander V. Bortnikov, to Volgograd to oversee the investigation and enhanced security measures.
“I think we will be able to solve these crimes, particularly because we have some clues,” Bortnikov said after arriving there, without elaborating on the evidence investigators were pursuing.
So do I.
He said that additional security had been deployed in public places, including the city’s transportation and energy facilities. At the same time, security officials in the city launched a security sweep that detained at least 12 people.
Vladimir I. Markin, a spokesman for the main national criminal investigation agency in Russia, the Investigative Committee, said a man carried out the second attack, detonating a bomb with more than eight pounds of explosives on Trolley Bus No. 15, which witnesses said was full of commuters.
The force of the blast tore the bus open, hurling bodies into the street and breaking windows in nearby five-story apartment buildings.
*********************
The president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, released a statement Monday condemning the attacks but expressing confidence that Russia would adequately secure the Sochi Games.
“I am certain that everything will be done to ensure the security of the athletes and all the participants of the Olympic Games,” he said.
So we are all being worked into another false lather regarding the "Al-CIA-Duh" terrorists?
Alexander D. Zhukov, the president of Russia’s Olympic Committee and the first deputy speaker of Parliament, said that all necessary security measures had been taken to protect athletes and visitors in Sochi.
His remarks did not address the threat outside of Sochi, however. With security already heavily tightened there, experts have warned that those who want to disrupt the Olympics might turn instead to “softer” targets elsewhere.
Russia steeled itself for more attacks, while residents in Volgograd expressed fear of taking any form of public transportation.
Agreed. Stay off the trains and buses.
--more--"
"Caucasus insurgents suspected in terror attacks in Russia" by Jim Heintz | Associated Press, December 31, 2013
MOSCOW — Although there has been no claim of responsibility for the two bombings in Volgograd that killed at least 31 people in less than 24 hours, suspicion quickly fell on Caucasus rebels who have tormented Russia with terrorist attacks for nearly two decades.
The insurgency has its roots in wars fought between separatist Chechen rebels and Russian forces, but it has spread throughout the North Caucasus region, which includes several mostly Muslim republics.
Most assaults have been within the Caucasus, but attackers have occasionally reached far outside the region, including Moscow.
This week’s blasts in Volgograd signaled that militants want to show their ability to strike outside their native region. Volgograd, which borders the North Caucasus region to the north, was also hit by an insurgent suicide bombing that killed six people in October.
Matthew Clements, an analyst at the military publisher Jane's, said Caucasus militants could be targeting major transportation hubs such as Volgograd to embarrass the Kremlin and discourage attendance at the Feb. 7-23 Olympics in Sochi, which is about 400 miles from Volgograd.
In Chechnya, the insurgency grew into a full-scale war between separatist fighters and Russian troops, which began in late 1994. Although the Russians inflicted enormous damage, the rebels fought them to a standstill. In the fall of 1996, the army withdrew.
The violence of the first war was largely confined to that small republic, but rebels ventured into other parts of Russia. In 1995, militants seized hostages at a hospital in the city of Budyonnovsk. At least 129 civilians were killed, many of them as Russian forces seized control of the hospital.
Honestly, I'm sick and tired of this one-sided slop and Jewish/CIA narrative of history.
When Russian forces pulled out, Chechnya became de facto independent and fell into lawlessness and near anarchy, becoming a breeding ground for fighters who increasingly took on a specifically Islamist ideology.
In 1999, fighters invaded neighboring Dagestan with the goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate.
Already got one.
They were repelled, but the invasion touched off the second war between Russian forces and rebels in Chechnya.
Terrorist attacks spread well beyond the region, including the 2002 seizure of a theater in Moscow while a musical was being performed. All 40 rebels and about 130 hostages died after Russian forces pumped narcotic gas into the theater to end the siege.
In 2004, insurgents seized a school in the town of Beslan. Some 380 people died in explosions and shooting as Russian forces tried to take control. A suicide bomber killed 37 people in January 2011 at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, the country’s busiest.
This all reeks of western intelligence, and the fact that they are cited by the paper is damn near proof.
As the insurgency expanded its operations, concentrating on Dagestan as the second Chechen war subsided, it became known as the Caucasus Emirate movement. Since 2007, its leader has been Doku Umarov, 49, a veteran of both Chechen wars and formerly the president of the self-proclaimed separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
I'm emphasizing the "has been."
The command structure of the insurgent movement is unclear. With adherents scattered across a large area, the movement may rely on local warlords whose influence is limited to a particular district, some analysts say.
The United Nations has declared Umarov and his group terrorists with links to Al Qaeda. Since 2011, the US State Department has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest, a bounty reserved for the world’s most-wanted criminals.
After the Domodedovo bombing, Umarov declared an end to attacks on civilians, but reversed that order in July, urging his men to “do their utmost to derail” the Sochi Olympics, which he described as “satanic dances on the bones of our ancestors.”
Under Kremlin-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya has quieted. A huge infusion of federal funds has turned parts of ruined Grozny, the capital, into a shiny display of new buildings. But Kadyrov is widely denounced for human rights abuses, including allegations of killing opponents. He has also imposed some Islamic restrictions on the region, including mandatory public headscarves for women.
Dagestan has become the epicenter of the violence, appearing to be effectively out of the central government’s control. Bombings and attacks on police there are near daily occurrence, as are police operations that corner suspected insurgents and almost always end in the rebels’ deaths.
Attacks also occur less frequently in the republics of Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkariya, and Karachayev-Cherkessiya.
In 2010, as concern about the rebellion grew in the run-up to the Sochi Olympics, Russia created a new administrative district encompassing the Caucasus republics to try to coordinate efforts to wipe out the insurgency. The district’s center is the city of Pyatigorsk, where a car bombing near a police station killed three people on Friday.
--more--"
Nothing about the CIA role in Chechnya, huh?
Six Zionist Companies Own 96% of the World's Media
Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed
Operation Mockingbird
Why Am I No Longer Reading the Newspaper?
Aaaaah!
"Security fears intensify over Sochi Olympics; Lawmaker calls cooperation weak" by Brian Knowlton | New York Times, January 20, 2014
WASHINGTON — In one of the sharpest expressions yet of American worries about possible terrorist threats to the Sochi Olympics, a key lawmaker in Congress said Sunday he was “very concerned” about security preparations there.
But in a separate interview Sunday, President Vladimir Putin of Russia said that the nation would “do whatever it takes” to protect the thousands of visitors arriving soon for the Winter Games. And Putin reiterated that Russia would welcome athletes and visitors of any sexual orientation, despite laws in his country that are hostile to gay men and lesbians.
The lawmaker, Representative Mike Rogers, Republican of Michigan and the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said US officials working with Russians ahead of the Games had “found a departure of cooperation that is very concerning.”
Listen to this shit! After they allegedly ignore Russian warnings regarding the Tsarnaevs.
In particular, Rogers said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” “they’re not giving us the full story about, what are the threat streams, who do we need to worry about, are those groups — the terrorist groups who have had some success — are they still plotting?”
OMG, Marathon!
Two suicide bombings in the central Russian city of Volgograd late last year claimed at least 34 lives, raising fears about the security of the Olympics in Sochi, which is about 400 miles to the southwest. Extremists affiliated with the militant leader Doku Umarov have vowed to disrupt the Olympics.
I saw somewhere that he is now dead!
The Russia militant group Vilayat Dagestan claimed responsibility for the Volgograd bombings in a statement posted Sunday, the Associated Press reported. The group also released a video showing two men stating they were behind the bombings and threatening to carry out more attacks.
With an estimated 15,000 Americans planning to travel to Sochi for the games, which run from Feb. 7 to 23, Rogers said his concerns would remain until Russian security services provided their “full cooperation.”
This is such crap.
The State Department has advised Americans who plan to attend the Olympics that they should keep vigilant about security because of potential terrorist threats, crime, and uncertain medical care.
What, there website a piece of shit like Obummer's?
Another key lawmaker, Representative Michael T. McCaul, a Texas Republican and chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, also expressed concerns about Sochi preparations, though he said he believed that “President Putin is taking this very seriously” and “taking all the precautions.”
But given the recent deadly attacks by regional terrorist groups and the threats of more to come, McCaul said, he believed that attacks somewhere in Russia during the Olympics were “likely.”
Well, there you go. False flag attack on the way.
With the Russians promising to surround Sochi with a “ring of steel,” McCaul said on ABC’s “This Week,” “I think it’s more likely that the attacks would probably happen outside the perimeter, more soft targets, transportation modes, if you will.”
McCaul said he would travel to Sochi on Monday to confer with security officials, in part to study their plans for evacuations in the event of any attack.
Related: Sunday Globe Special: McFaul Calling
Putin, in his taped interview, again sought to reassure foreign visitors that travel to Russia would be safe. “We will do whatever it takes” to ensure security, he told George Stephanopoulos of ABC-TV, who was broadcasting from Sochi.
The Russian president said that a full panoply of security measures was being brought to bear not just in Sochi, but also elsewhere in Russia, adding, “If necessary, all those tools will be activated.”
Putin said that if foreign athletes wanted to provide their own additional security, “there is nothing wrong with that,” so long as they coordinated with the Russian authorities.
Several officials from the FBI will be in Sochi to attend to the security of the US team.
UH-OH!
Putin said 40,000 police and special services officers have been deployed in Sochi to assist with security. Russia is spending at least $48 billion to stage the games, more than any previous host nation.
Sochi is west of the Caucasus mountains, which extend 745 miles across Chechnya. The Caucasus region has been the center of violence by Muslim extremists since the two separatist wars that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Putin had no comment about President Obama’s decision not to attend the games.
What?
Relations between the United States and Russia have been strained over many issues, including Russia’s granting temporary asylum to Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who is wanted by the US government for revealing state secrets.
Turns out Snowden was a Russian spy.
--more--"
Related: In Russia, Keating seeks help in Tsarnaev inquiry
This after they ignored Russian warnings regarding the cover story for that staged and scripted piece of crap. I guess Keating forgot all about FBI obstinance, obfuscation, and omissions as well as the total cooperation he was receiving from the Russians.
Honestly, folks, what slop served up by my Boston Globe. What absolute slop!
Related: In Russia, Keating seeks help in Tsarnaev inquiry
This after they ignored Russian warnings regarding the cover story for that staged and scripted piece of crap. I guess Keating forgot all about FBI obstinance, obfuscation, and omissions as well as the total cooperation he was receiving from the Russians.
Honestly, folks, what slop served up by my Boston Globe. What absolute slop!
"US offering security help for Olympics" by Julie Pace | Associated Press, December 31, 2013
HONOLULU — The White House says the United States would seek closer consultation with Russia on security preparations for the Winter Olympics after the two deadly attacks in Volgograd that sparked fears about the terrorism threat at the February Games.
“The US government has offered our full support to the Russian government in security preparations for the Sochi Olympic Games,” White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said Monday. “We would welcome the opportunity for closer cooperation for the safety of the athletes, spectators, and other participants.”
Officials say that while Russia will be responsible for overall security at the Games, US personnel will be in the country in what the Obama administration is calling “liaison roles.”
The effort will be headed by the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, which typically assists host nations during events where a large number of Americans will be present. Diplomatic security agents will work with Russian security and law enforcement officials.
While the United States and Russia had been in contact about security, the back-to-back attacks in the southern city of Volgograd have highlighted the terrorist threat Russia faces as it prepares to host the Winter Games in February.
At least 31 people were killed in the separate explosions at a railway station and on a bus in Volgograd, which lies about 400 miles away from the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
The State Department on Monday urged Americans planning to attend the Olympics to remain alert at all times.
“Major events such as the Olympic games are an opportunity for thieves or for other folks who want to cause mischief,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said. “Threats have been made against the Olympic games and acts of terrorism, including bombings, continue to occur in Russia.”
--more--"
Related: US issues travel alert for Sochi Olympics
Good thing Obummer ain't going:
"Body of Mandela returned to home province for burial" by Lydia Polgreen | New York Times, December 15, 2013
MTHATHA, South Africa — Thousands of mourners lined the streets here to bid a raucous, heartfelt farewell to Nelson Mandela, the former president whose body arrived in this city in his native Eastern Cape province Saturday ahead of a state funeral and burial Sunday....
President Jacob G. Zuma, who for much of the service sat between Mandela’s widow, Graça Machel, and his former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, was better received by the select audience than he was by the much larger crowd at a public memorial Tuesday, when he was booed.
He has come under increasing scrutiny for his leadership of the party amid allegations of corruption in connection with the $20 million renovation of his private home, paid for with government money....
The week of memorial events for Mandela has not been without missteps and embarrassing headlines. A man who stood a few feet from President Obama and other dignitaries at the stadium memorial in Soweto purporting to be a sign-language interpreter turned out not to be qualified for the job and was said to be suffering from serious mental illness.
Related:
"An array of confusion and security risks that typically would not be tolerated by the Secret Service in the United States. The situation showed just how the Secret Service often is at the mercy of foreign governments to make arrangements when the president is overseas, but once the president leaves the United States, the Secret Service isn’t always in control. Joe Hagin, a former deputy White House chief of staff for Bush, said that to some degree the Secret Service is at the mercy of a host government. “There’s a lot of diplomacy involved in one of these trips,” said Hagin, now a partner at Command Consulting Group in Washington. “The White House is very demanding. But there’s a fine line in what you can demand and what you can’t.”"
What absolute balderdash!
Also see: Mourning Mandela
Earlier Saturday, Desmond Tutu, former archbishop, said he had canceled plans to attend the funeral of Mandela, a fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, after learning his name was not on the list of accredited guests. But government officials said Tutu was invited and sought to clear up the misunderstanding.
Later, a spokesman for Tutu said he had changed his plans and would attend the funeral, taking a flight early Sunday morning.
Tutu has been critical of the ANC in recent years over issues such as government corruption, police brutality, and growing inequality.
--more--"
"Thousands gather for Nelson Mandela’s burial; Rituals of his clan observed in his home village" by Lydia Polgreen and John Eligon | New York Times, December 16, 2013
QUNU, South Africa — They gathered in the rolling green hills of the Eastern Cape on Sunday to return a son to his native soil: princes and presidents, chiefs and priests, celebrities and grandmothers, comrades and cellmates, here to bury Nelson Mandela....
The ceremony began in a cavernous dome housing thousands with choirs and television cameras, prayers, and memories.
The funeral — the final parting after celebrations and memorials that consumed the land since Mandela died Dec. 5 after months of illness and decline — left his country poised on the cusp of a post-Mandela era that seems certain to test the durability of his legacy.
About 5,000 people attended the state funeral, but millions more watched it on television.
The event knitted together the many strands of his life. In addition to the full pomp of state ceremonies, complete with goose-stepping soldiers, 21-gun salutes, and jet fighter formations, the service included Christian prayers — Mandela was a lifelong Methodist — and traditions and rituals of the AbaThembu clan into which he was born.
Indeed, long before he became a freedom fighter, a fugitive, the world’s most famous political prisoner, and then the embodiment of forgiveness and reconciliation, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a boy of the Thembu royal family....
And an agent of Israel? I don't know about that one. Must have been at the behest of the CIA (they are the ones who tipped off the apartheid police as to his whereabouts).
Mandela spoke often of his idyllic boyhood, spent play-fighting with sticks, herding cows, sliding over and over again down a huge, flat rock on a hillside with his friends “until our backsides were so sore we could hardly sit down,” as he said in his autobiography....
Though less visible than the military honors and Christian hymns that accompanied the funeral, Thembu rituals were a vital part of the proceedings....
Bringing a body home before burial is an important part of the tradition here. The family and elders need to talk to the body, as part of saying farewell before conveying it to its resting place. It is also important that the body spend time in the house, she added, “to connect with the spirits in the house.”
Nothing about interpreter scandal.
--more--"
"Fake signer at Mandela event accused in mob attack" Associated Press, December 17, 2013
JOHANNESBURG — Just when it seemed the scandal over the bogus sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s memorial had run its course, a cousin and three friends say he was part of a mob that accosted two men found with a stolen television and burned them to death by setting fire to tires placed around their necks.
Thamsanqa Jantjie never went to trial for the 2003 killings when other suspects did because authorities determined he was not mentally fit to stand trial, the four said Monday.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the fake signing fiasco, which has deeply embarrassed South Africa’s government and prompted a high-level investigation into how it happened....
Jantjie said he has schizophrenia, and hallucinated while gesturing incoherently just 3 feet away from President Obama and other world leaders at the memorial Tuesday. Signing experts said his arm and hand movements were mere gibberish.
Also see:
"President Obama got into the act this month when he took a well-publicized selfie with other world leaders in South Africa for Nelson Mandela’s memorial service."
And Michelle wasn't too happy about it.
The 2003 killings [were] carried out by a grisly method known as ‘‘necklacing.’’
--more--"
UPDATE: Officials tied to bogus Mandela interpreter quit
Related(?): Plane wing clips building at Johannesburg airport
Looks like the Russians are handling things okay:
"Putin breaks silence, condemns bombings; Security worries on rise ahead of Olympic Games" by Steven Lee Myers | New York Times, January 01, 2014
MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin on Tuesday broke two days of silence on the twin bombings in Volgograd, calling them “inhumane terrorist acts” and vowing that Russia would continue to fight terrorists until “their complete destruction.”
On a day when the death toll from the attacks climbed to 34, Putin made his remarks during a New Year’s message that Russian and, before them, Soviet leaders have traditionally given on the country’s most celebrated holiday.
The bombings have tempered official celebrations somewhat, especially in Volgograd, a city of 1 million in central Russia that has now endured three suicide bombings since October.
By Tuesday more than 5,000 extra interior troops had surged into the city, carrying out searches that resulted in dozens of detentions, though apparently not of anyone involved in the bombings.
The latest bombings — at Volgograd’s railroad station Sunday and aboard a trolley bus Monday — have heightened concerns about security here ahead of the Winter Olympics, which begin in less than six weeks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, 400 miles from Volgograd.
Experts have warned that they could be a prelude to a campaign of terror by followers of Russia’s most-wanted militant, Doku Umarov, who in July vowed to disrupt the Olympics.
In his address, Putin mentioned Sochi only in passing, citing the coming task of hosting the games “at the highest level.” On the issue of terrorism, he resorted to the kind of forceful, if less coarse, language that first propelled him to the office when in 1999, as prime minister under President Boris Yeltsin, he vowed to hunt down terrorists and, if necessary, “waste them in the outhouse.”
Fourteen years later, despite the end of the second war in Chechnya, Putin found himself vowing yet again to crush a threat that has spread across the North Caucasus.
He sounds like Obummer!
“Dear friends, we bow our heads to the victims of violent terrorist attacks,” Putin said, pledging aid to the victims and reconstruction of the damaged buildings. “I am sure we will continue the fight against terrorists harshly and consistently until their complete destruction.”
Putin delivered his remarks during a previously unannounced visit to Khabarovsk, the capital of the region in the Far East that suffered significant flooding in 2013 that has left thousands of people still living in temporary shelters.
Related: Hopeless in the Philippines
In referring to the challenges facing Russia, he included natural disasters like the flooding with the terrorist attacks in Volgograd. “In times of trial, Russia has always been united,” he said.
Putin initially recorded a holiday address that made no mention of the bombings. The video, which was prerecorded, showed him at the Kremlin. It appeared at midnight in Russia’s easternmost regions — Chukotka, Kamchatka, and Magadan — and promptly raised questions of whether he intended to continue to avoid the topic.
Not here it hasn't.
--more--"
The question raised from me is whether I'm going to continue to read this slop?
"Series of slayings puts Russia on edge" by Lynn Berry | Associated Press, January 10, 2014
MOSCOW — Six men are dead in a series of unexplained killings involving booby-trapped bombs in southern Russia, further heightening security fears ahead of next month’s Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Investigators were scrambling Thursday to find those responsible for the six bodies found Wednesday in four abandoned cars just north of Russia’s volatile Caucasus Mountains region, where an Islamist insurgency is simmering. Explosive devices had been placed near three of the cars, although only one of the bombs went off and no one was hurt. The victims had been shot, according to investigators.
Vladimir Markin, the spokesman for Russia’s main investigative agency, said in a statement that no motive had yet been found for the killings on the outskirts of Pyatigorsk, the center of a Russian administrative district created in 2010 to combat the insurgency. Pyatigorsk is less than 200 miles from Sochi, host site for the 2014 Olympics.
In an indication of Russia’s unease over security ahead of the Olympics, Markin said Federal Security Service officers had joined the investigation and classified it as a counterterrorist operation.
The shootings of local residents is more typical of criminal behavior, perhaps score-settling by organized gangs. But the use of explosives was suggestive of the kinds of terrorist attacks that take place nearly daily in the Caucasus.
Russia is still on edge following two suicide bombings in late December in Volgograd, which killed 34 people and wounded many more.
The continued reference to those tell you it was CIA-Duh.
--more--"
"5 terror suspects arrested in Russia" Associated Press, January 13, 2014
MOSCOW — Five terrorism suspects were detained Saturday in one of Russia’s North Caucasus provinces as the country’s security agencies were scrambling to uproot any potential threat to the Sochi Games.
The arrests in the city of Nalchik, located about 185 miles east of Sochi, come less than a month before the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
The National Anti-Terrorism Committee said the suspects belonged to an international terror group and were in possession of grenades, ammunition, and a self-made explosive device.
The agency did not name the group the suspects allegedly belonged to or give further details.
The arrests follow back-to-back suicide bombings in the city of Volgograd in southern Russia, which killed 34 and wounded 100 others, on Dec. 29-30.
No one has claimed responsibility for the Volgograd attacks, but Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov, who leads Islamist insurgents in the North Caucasus, urged his men to attack civilian targets in Russia and specifically target the Sochi Olympics.
Yeah, except he is dead.
Security fears were further heightened Thursday when police found four cars with the bullet-riddled bodies of six men near the city of Pyatigorsk, about 170 miles northeast of Sochi across the North Caucasus Mountains.
--more--"
"Chechen militant who targeted Olympics is dead, Kadyrov says" by Ilya Arkhipov | Bloomberg News, January 18, 2014
MOSCOW — Doku Umarov, a militant who claimed responsibility for attacks in Russia and threatened to target the Winter Olympics in Sochi, has been ‘‘eliminated’’ during an antiterror operation, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said.
‘‘We are 99.9 percent sure,’’ said Kadyrov, a former Chechen rebel who switched sides and was picked by President Vladimir Putin to run the region in 2007, according to comments posted on his website Friday. ‘‘That’s why all the talk about a threat to the Sochi Olympics is groundless.’’
Umarov, who proclaimed himself emir of an Islamic state in the North Caucasus, told supporters in July to attack next month’s Olympics. He has also said he was behind attacks including bombings in Moscow’s Domodedovo airport and subway. Chechnya, which fought two wars for independence from Russia in the 1990s, is about 270 miles east of Sochi.
Officials obtained a recorded conversation among insurgent leaders where they exchanged condolences over Umarov’s death and discussed candidates to replace him, Kadyrov said. Russian law-enforcement agencies were not able to confirm the claim, the Interfax news service reported.
More than 30 people died in two suicide bombings in the southern Russian city of Volgograd last month. Regional leaders in nearby Stavropol conducted a counterterrorism operation this month after six corpses were found in abandoned cars.
Some pro-militant websites have published reports confirming Umarov’s death, according to the Moscow-based news and research group Caucasian Knot.
Umarov’s death, if confirmed, is unlikely to ease the terrorist threat to the Sochi Olympics, said Gregory Shvedov, chief editor of Caucasian Knot.
It only does when AmeriKa kills them.
Militants fighting against Russia in the Caucasus Mountains near Sochi often leak false information about their leaders’ deaths to confuse their enemies, said Nikolai Kovalyov, a former director of the Federal Security Service, the main successor to the Soviet KGB.
I get the same thing from my newspaper.
‘‘I’m sure Kadyrov is fully in control of the situation and that he’s getting objective information,’’ Kovalyov said by phone. ‘‘In this case, I believe the information.’’
--more--"
"Militants’ tape ties suicide attacks, Olympics" by Vladimir Isachenkov | Associated Press, January 21, 2014
MOSCOW — Russia’s counterterrorism agency said Monday it is studying a video posted by an Islamic militant group that asserted responsibility for suicide bombings that killed 34 people last month and that threatened to strike the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Security analysts say the Russians are right in taking the threat seriously.
The video was posted online Sunday by a militant group in Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim republic in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus. The Olympic host city of Sochi lies only 300 miles west of Dagestan.
Two Russian-speaking men featured in the video are identified as members of Ansar al-Sunna, the name of a Jihadist group operating in Iraq.
They are -- literally -- reaching for this agenda push!
Related: Occupation Iraq: Divide and Conquer
Sunna means SAUDI!
It was unclear whether the men in the video had received funding or training from that group or only adopted its name.
There was no confirmation the two men were the suicide bombers who struck the southern Russian city of Volgograd last month as the video says….
Scores of people were also injured by the bombings of a train station and a bus.
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said Monday it was studying the video and would have no immediate comment.
The video could not be viewed in Russia, where Internet providers cut access to it under a law that bans the ‘‘dissemination of extremist materials.’’
It was released by the Vilayat Dagestan, one of the units that make up the so-called Caucasus Emirate, an umbrella group for the rebels seeking to establish an independent Islamic state in the North Caucasus.
Doku Umarov, a Chechen warlord who leads the emirate, had ordered a halt to attacks on civilian targets in 2012.
But he rescinded that order in July, urging his followers to strike the Sochi Olympics, which he denounced as ‘‘satanic dances on the bones of our ancestors.’’ The games run from Feb. 7 to 23.
The Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya said last week that Umarov was dead, but the assertion could not be verified….
Oh, another CIA ghost to be resurrected when needed!
--more--"
Related: SOCHI 2014 AND THE ‘LOST ISLAMIC BOMB LADY’
"The United States is invading and bombing Muslim countries all over the globe. Russia is making deals with Muslim countries, such as the recent deal to trade manufactured goods for oil with Iran. So the idea that any coming terror attacks at Sochi are the work of Muslims, as opposed to US and Israeli operatives creating a false-flag attack with which to frame Muslims, is a non-starter. Muslims see Russia and China as the best hope to stop the US and Israel from conquering the Muslim nations to seize control of their natural resources and force them to abandon traditional Islamic banking models for private central banks issuing all of the currency as a loan at interest.
Razmena Ibragimova is blamed for the Volgograd attack, which we are told was a suicide bombing. If that is true, then she cannot be alive, let alone wanted by the Russian authorities. IN fact the Russian media reports that prime suspicion for the Volograd bombings is with the Chechen rebels, who are aided by the CIA." -- whatreallyhappened
Some are still not happy though:
"Pulling the plug on Putin" January 01, 2014
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to flex his muscle on the global scene has much to do with his country’s status as the world’s largest energy exporter, producing more oil than any other nation and the second-most natural gas after the United States. Europe relies on Gazprom, the Russian state-owned energy giant, for about 25 percent of its gas. Putin has leveraged that power repeatedly by cutting off gas supplies to get his way on both economic and political issues, including impasses with the European Union and the United States over Syria, Iran, and, most recently, Ukraine.
Putin may want to prepare for a more competitive energy market in the future. The International Energy Agency predicts that the United States could surpass Russia in oil production by 2015. British Foreign Secretary William Hague was in Azerbaijan on Dec. 17 to finalize a $45 billion deal that will expand the number of gas pipelines into Europe; a new alternative route is expected to supply up to one-fifth of the EU’s needs by the end of the decade. The Jerusalem Post reports that Hungary is exploring its own deal to tap into Israel’s newfound natural gas in order to become an energy distribution hub for central Europe.
Azerbaijan’s dictatorial regime has its own abysmal human rights record for Europe to consider. And Gazprom has claimed its own stake in Israel’s future energy distribution, ensuring Moscow at least some say in where Israel’s gas flows. Still, any move to reduce dependence on Russian energy will reduce a bit of Putin’s swagger. That, in turn, will help restore balance in world diplomacy.
Oooooooooh!
All of a sudden my pre$$ coverage and the whole damn demonization campaign makes PERFECT $EN$E!
--more--"
Related: "He invoked the 1936 games that took place under Adolf Hitler and his fellow Nazis."
What a$$hole said that?
Also see: Russia will allow protests at Olympic Games
I don't think that will help a$$uage certain interests.
"Putin says gay ‘propaganda’ law doesn’t discriminate" Associated Press, January 18, 2014
SOCHI, Russia — President Vladimir Putin sought Friday to reassure gay visitors to the Sochi Games that they are welcome in Russia despite a law banning gay “propaganda” to minors.
Responding to a question from an Olympics volunteer during a visit in the Black Sea resort city, Putin said gays face no discrimination in Russia and could feel “at ease.” But he emphasized that because of the new Russian law, they cannot express views on gay rights issues to anyone underage.
Putin appeared to lump homosexuality and pedophilia together….
Putin's prejudiced -- or just a person with some sense of decency.
Putin and other politicians have defended the June propaganda law as a protection of child rights, but critics believe that the law discriminates against sexual minorities. The law specifically refers only to ‘‘propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations.”
“We aren’t banning anything, we aren’t rounding up anyone, we have no criminal punishment for such relations unlike many other countries,” he said. “One can feel relaxed and at ease, but please leave the children in peace.”
In the wake of the international outcry against the bill, Russian authorities put limits on the right to protest during the Sochi games.
That's lie if you believe the link above!
--more--"
"Putin again attempts to reassure gay athletes" by Lynn Berry | Associated Press, January 20, 2014
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered new assurances to gay athletes and fans attending the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics next month. Yet he defended Russia’s antigay law, linked gays with pedophiles, and said Russia needs to ‘‘cleanse’’ itself of homosexuality if it wants to increase its birth rate.
Putin’s comments in an interview broadcast Sunday with Russian and foreign television stations showed the wide gulf between the perception of homosexuality in Russia versus the West.
A Russian law passed last year banning ‘‘propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations’’ among minors has caused an international outcry.
Related: GLAD to Defend Murderer
That caused an outcry here.
Putin refused to answer a question from the BBC on whether he believes that people are born gay or become gay. The Russian law, however, suggests that information about homosexuality can influence a child’s sexual orientation.
It can; children are very open to suggestion from adults they like and respect, which is why so many perverts gravitate towards teaching.
The law has contributed to growing animosity toward gays in Russian society, with rights activists reporting a rise in harassment and abuse.
International worries about how gays will be treated in Sochi have been met with assurances from Russian officials and Olympics organizers that there will be no discrimination, and Putin reiterated that stance….
Everybody bending over backwards for that crowd.
Putin declared in the TV interview [that] the law was aimed at banning propaganda of homosexuality and pedophilia, suggesting that gays are more likely to abuse children.
Making another favorite argument against homosexuality, Putin noted with pride that Russia saw more births than deaths last year for the first time in two decades.
Well…. SIGH!
Population growth is vital for Russia’s development and ‘‘anything that gets in the way of that we should clean up,’’ he said, using a word usually reserved for military operations.
The law on propaganda has been used to justify barring gay pride rallies on the grounds that children might see them. This has raised the question of how athletes and fans would be treated for any gay-rights protests during the Olympics.
When asked about this by the ABC-TV network, Putin said protests against the law itself would not be considered propaganda.
Putin then hit back, accusing the United States of double standards in its criticism of Russia, pointing to laws that remain on the books in some US states classifying gay sex as a crime. The US Supreme Court, however, ruled in 2003 that such laws were unconstitutional.
Homosexuality was a crime in the entire former Soviet Union, which collapsed in 1991. It was decriminalized in Russia in 1993.
The Sochi Winter Olympics run Feb. 7-23.
So EXPECT a FALSE FLAG ATTACK any time in between!
--more--"
Time to skate away from this post:
‘Ice queen’ is an icon from bygone days
The ice rink becomes the runway for female figure skaters
Temporary rink for US figure skaters is built to perfection
U.S. warships deploy for Sochi Olympics
Looks like the FALSE FLAG ATTACK on the Olympics is a GO!
