March 24, 2024

How the Mighty Have Fallen

I can't feel sympathy and I am not sorry

“It has been said that terror is the principle of despotic government. Does your government therefore resemble despotism?” Maximilien Robespierre

Less then 48 hours ago four gunmen entered the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, Russia, on the western edge of Moscow, opened fire at the crowd, followed by multiple slashing attack, multiple incendiary devices setting the venue on fire, etc. resulting in at least 137 people dead and hundreds injured. Almost immediately in the aftermath of the gruesome terrorist attack, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed the responsibility for the attack. United States, allegedly warned Russia through through the established bilateral channels1 and issues a security alert to all US citizens in and around Moscow. We know that there definitely was a a private warning as even Russian state TASS reported it.

Russia’s response historically, but even more so under Putin, has been to respond to any attack, whether real or imagined with an overwhelming show of brutal force. However, due to the was in Ukraine and the fact that ISIS is largely dispersed across multiple continents and countries, a traditional response is simply not an option for Putin. Under any other circumstances, Putin would happily take ISIS at their word and unleash a campaign of ruthless if not outright inhuman aggression against any and every Central Asian republic, regardless of their response. Instead, FSB released a statement announcing arrest of 11 suspects, including four who allegedly were directly involved in the shooting. This early, short statement already clearly established the narrative that Moscow will take, the suspects were supposedly apprehended trying to reach Ukrainian border. The Operation Blame Ukraine was underway.

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According to the Russian source, Putin was informed and kept up-to-date from the first minute of the attack:

Of course, as everyone knows,

Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, said it best: “Putin lied about the 1999 apartment building bombings, 2000 Kursk submarine disaster, 2004 Beslan school siege, murders of Politkovskaya in 2006, Magnitsky in 2009, Nemtsov in 2015, and many other critics, Russian soldiers occupying Crimea, the downing of MH17, and plans to invade Ukraine, to name a few lies on a very, very long list. Putin is a pathological liar. Including now that he is desperately attempting to link Ukraine or other Western nations to the mass shooting near Moscow, despite the fact that there is no evidence to support such claims. Do not let Putin and his henchmen dupe you. Their only goal is to motivate more Russians to die in their senseless and criminal war against Ukraine, as well as to instill even more hatred for other nations, not just Ukrainians, but the entire West.2”

From this point on Saturday morning, every possible means of weaponizing the narrative tracing the Crocus City attack to Ukraine and the CIA was unleashed, attempting to fuel “anti-Ukrainian hysteria in Russian society.” Margarita Simonyan, the editor in chief of Kremlin-run RT news started the circus off by stating that it’s not ISIS, rather it’s “ethnic slur for Ukrainians” and that the fact that the West issues warnings before any suspects were caught, proves that “acronyms” other than ISIS were involved.

While I’ve spent countless hours enjoying the surreal and completely absurd nonsense from Simonyan over the years, she felt rather flat this time, Vlad Vasil’ev, quickly escalating the rhetoric by asking whether it’s the right time to bring back death penalty:

Waking up and reading the news on Saturday morning, was, well interesting - from how confused ISIS fighters around the world must have been to find out they’ve been working for CIA to “I didn’t pay attention to Islamic State’s activity for the last half decade so they no longer exist” takes. Similarly, I’ve seen more than a few articles genuinely questioning the underlying reasons for ISIS to attack Putin. The latter, I believe is lack of knowledge and understanding of what has been taking place in Africa and specifically in the Sahel region for the past couple of decades. ISIS has a very significant presence in Sahel and PMC Wagner units now under direct control of Putin are surely not on the list of their friends. Moreover, I saw an interesting take, sadly, I did not bookmark it, that discussed how the choice of the venue for the attack, demonstrates that target was not Putin and Russian state but rather Putin-aligned oligarchs. Unless or until we know the truth behind Prigozhin’s attempted coup and his eventual assassination, it is virtually impossible to even guess the movites, connections and relationships involved.

The call to smear Ukraine at all costs was quickly picked up by the far-right grifters on Twitter and other social media writing threads citing "evidence" from other grifters on substack or 4chan whose posts are simply wild speculation supported by grainy screenshots from other grifters. Like a human centipede, but they're doing it to themselves and being showered with engagement for it.

It’s the same usual dynamic of the educated "contrarian" becoming radicalized and falling for every vile and stupid conspiracy until they are aligned with the worst of humanity, closing themselves off from reality and calling it enlightenment.

It’s not just the Trumpian orbit either, here’s a prominent Indian analyst and a former head of India’s external intelligence agency casually spreading conspiracy theories about the Moscow attack.

Never mind that ISIS released a second, lengthier statement, which was followed by the release of bodycam footage of the attack that depicted gunmen recording themselves as they pursue people through the lobby of the Crocus City Hall, firing at them at close range; the footage also shows one of the gunman stabbing a body lying on the floor with a knife several times.

Even the video, which is entirely too gruesome to share a direct link to here, was false questioned. For example, this post by a pro-Kremlin influencer, viewed over a million times, falsely claims ISIS doesn't blur the faces of its members in messages, casting doubt on the authenticity of the released video.

Meanwhile, Russian intelligence service have been busy with their investigation of the Ukrainian plot. KGB and by extension FSB has a long history of successful intelligence and counterintelligence operations. There’s even been an exposed attempt by FSB to recruit former ISIS fighters and embed them into the pro-Ukrainian Chechen and Crimean Tatar military units. However, as good as KGB/FSB and, lesser known but significantly more dangerous, FSO have been, whoever is in charge of Russian security services - it simply can’t be Patrushev screwing up left and right like this - has seriously shaken the underlying foundations to the point of such sloppy work3, that OSINT experts needed no more than couple of hours to debunk each and every lie and falsehood:

First, there were almost immediate reports of a white minibus at the Crocus City Hall with Ukrainian license plates.

Even though multiple people were quick to point out that neither the old Ukrainian plates, nor the new ones include a hyphen that is clearly visible. Ironically, Belorussian plates happen to include such a punctuation mark. Similarly, the white Renault Symbol believed to have been used by the terrorists was intercepted in the Bryansk region, just a few tens of kilometers from the Ukrainian border, with four Tajikistan citizens aboard:

• Makhmadrasul Nasridinov, 37 years old

• Rivozhidin Ismonov, 51 years old

• Shokhinjonn Safolzoda, 21 years old

• Rustam Nazarov, 29 years old

Why anyone, even if they were Ukrainian operatives, would choose the Ukrainian border where the risk of being captured or killed by Russian troops is greatly increased over crossing into Belorussia? Bryansk, where the suspects were arrested, is closer to Belorussia than Ukraine.

Tajik Foreign Affairs Minister denied the report of Tajikistan citizens’ involvement, citing that at least two of the four named in Russian report were in Tajikistan at the time of the attack.

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Another suspect was identified as Rustam Azhiev, a Ukrainian citizen and a member of Ukrainian Armed Forces, except, the person shown in pictures and videos was anyone by Rustam Azhiev:

While the reports from eyewitnesses who survived the attack started to recount the horrific details, to avoid the appearance of weakness, critical to Putin personally and to the regime in the moment such as this, Russia unleashed a massive propagandistic campaign of laying the blame on Ukraine and more importantly to clearly demonstrate the perceived strength of the regime. Now it’s not that Putin and his clique royally screwed the putch, no, it is in face a global conspiracy involving CIA, NATO, the USA making Ukraine somehow align with ISIS, and so “the Kiev regime and his patrons are going to pay for this.” This is why we are flooded images purportedly showing Faridun Shamsutdin being electrocuted in his genitals in detention.

The casual release of such imagery by law enforcement, coupled with the earlier released depiction of cutting of an ear and forcing the suspect eat it, shows very clearly the stereotypical response of a bully glorifying the torture of the suspects, including the gruesome and emasculating electrocution of the genitals, an FSB favorite.

Don’t think twice about it, they are PROUD to release these videos and photos. The soldier did not only cut off the ear of one of the suspects, he then proudly auctions the knife.

A member of the Nazi group "Rusich" won the bidding at $100,000(!!).

Tell me, how are they different than ISIS??

Not even Orwell fathomed such a degree of doublethink as Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russian Foreign Ministry, who said that, “over the decades, the political elites of the United States have learnt how skillfully divert attention from high-profile crimes and all sorts of staging. Therefore, until the investigation into the terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall is completed, any phrase from Washington justifying Kiev should be considered as evidence.”

As Russia “investigates” the terrorist attack, it also unleashes a barrage of missiles, rockets and drones all over Ukraine, like a bully, who’s been hurt and now lashes out, almost aimlessly, wanting for nothing but to cause pain and damage…

Meanwhile, US citizens are mourning the death of nazis…

What’s worse that this past century?
Dazed with sadness, anxiety,
it touches the darkest sore
and cannot heal.

Winter’s sun still shines in the West,
the city roofs bright in its rays.
Here a white house aims upward its crosses,
ravens crying out, ravens flying in.

Anna Akhmatova