Category: International

Europe Doesn’t Want to Be Saved.

It hasn’t been a good week for Europe, and the news isn’t getting any better. In almost poetic fashion, the United Kingdom delivered itself into the clutches of the radical left on the Fourth of July, sweeping the socialist Labour Party into power.

Here’s how that’s going.

 

Keir Starmer is the new far-left prime minister, and oddly enough, his plan to release tens of thousands of criminals didn’t make it into the platform he ran on. Couple that with continued mass migration of Islamists, and you can guess how things are going to turn out long term. As bad as things have been in the United Kingdom over the last decade, the decline will accelerate.

Then there’s the French. After a surprise first round elevated the right-wing National Rally Party, the country’s far-left, from Emmanual Macron to the literal communists, colluded to win the second round. That included pushing hundreds of candidates to strategically drop out of their races to ensure the left wing held enough seats to form a coalition. French voters happily played along.

As in the UK, the results were predictable. Win or lose, there were going to be riots because that’s what European leftists do, with Palestinian flags marking the pro-migration messaging.

I wish I could say there’s hope for Western Europe, but the sad reality is that Europeans don’t want to be saved. These elections weren’t rigged. Voters chose this path, and now they are going to get the consequences good and hard.

By 2050, Muslims are projected to make up 14 percent of Europe’s population, but that’s not evenly distributed. Many Eastern European countries held the line with sane immigration policies, leading to the largest growth of Islamism occurring in Western Europe, including France and the United Kingdom. From there, it’s just a matter of time because Muslims nearly double the birth rate of native Europeans.

What is the solution? There is no solution. Europeans are more concerned with not being called bigots than preserving their freedoms and cultures. The welfare state will continue to grow, the economic malaise will deepen, and the downward slope toward Islamism will continue, not because of some nefarious force behind the scenes but because Europeans wanted this.

To that I say, I let it burn. You can only help those who want to be helped. The French, the Brits, and other surrounding nations do not want to be helped. They truly believe they can push forward with their left-wing ideals to form a better continent. They are mistaken, and eventually, they’ll figure that out. By then, it will have long been too late.

I will say this. When violence inevitably breaks out and Europeans once again look to the United States to bail them out, I have a feeling most Americans aren’t going to be interested. Can you blame them?

CFIUS Clears Sale of The Kinetic Group to CSG

Represents Final Regulatory Approval Required to Close the Transaction

Board of Directors Continues to Recommend Stockholders Vote in Favor of Merger Agreement Proposal at Special Meeting on July 2, 2024

ANOKA, Minn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Vista Outdoor Inc. (“Vista Outdoor,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”) (NYSE: VSTO) and Czechoslovak Group a.s. (“CSG”) announced today that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) has cleared CSG’s proposed acquisition of Vista Outdoor’s The Kinetic Group business (the “Transaction”). Vista Outdoor and CSG received written notice from CFIUS that CFIUS has concluded its review and investigation of the Transaction and has determined that there are no unresolved national security concerns. CFIUS clearance was the final regulatory approval required under the merger agreement with CSG for the closing of the Transaction.

Michael Callahan, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said “We are very pleased that CFIUS has carefully vetted the Transaction and, as we expected, determined that there are no unresolved national security concerns.”

CFIUS is an interagency committee of the U.S. government authorized to review certain transactions involving foreign investment in the United States to determine the effect of such transactions on U.S. national security.

“The CFIUS process involved a thorough review and investigation of the Transaction by numerous U.S. Government departments and agencies with a range of national security and other mandates,” Callahan said. “We believe the end result supports our view that CSG—which has deep expertise in supply chain excellence and ammunition manufacturing and strong support for NATO and allied nations—will be an excellent owner of The Kinetic Group. CSG is fully committed to supporting our American workforce, American hunters and domestic and allied military and law enforcement partners.”

The closing of the Transaction remains subject to receipt of the approval of Vista Outdoor’s stockholders and other customary closing conditions. The special meeting of Vista Outdoor stockholders to, among other things, consider and vote on a proposal to adopt the merger agreement with CSG is scheduled to be held virtually on July 2, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. Central Time.

The Board continues to recommend Vista Outdoor stockholders vote in favor of the proposal to adopt the merger agreement with CSG. Vista Outdoor is confident that the Transaction will maximize value for our stockholders by

  • Providing for a $2 billion purchase price, representing a $90 million increase from the original $1.91 billion purchase price,
  • Allowing stockholders to benefit directly from additional excess cash generated by the Company prior to closing,
  • Delivering $18.00 in cash consideration per share at closing, representing a $5.10 increase from the original cash consideration of $12.90 per share, and
  • Enabling stockholders to capture the long-term intrinsic value that is embedded in Revelyst’s business plan as a standalone public company……..

So the Democrat/Media Complex is aghast that the “Far Right” won so dramatically in the European elections. That “Far Right” is, in reality, just ordinary people, and let me tell you what it is that their votes rejected. They rejected the following:

1. The deliberate depopulation of Europe.
2. The deliberate destruction of centuries-old European culture in favor of Islam via unchecked migration of “refugees.”
3. The deliberate lowering of standards of living and life expectancy through the mandated use of inefficient energy sources in response to the “climate change” hoax.
4. Centralized control of all facets of life by unelected, unaccountable EU bureaucrats.
5. Deliberate reductions in the farming, production and consumption of traditional food stuffs in favor of, among other things, bugs.
6. Failure of law enforcement to protect citizens from urban violence.

Americans, do these issues sound familiar to you? Remember how Brexit was a harbinger of Trump? I suspect that is about to play out again in 2024.

Both European and American citizens have come to understand that for the first time in history their political leadership is deliberately seeking to lower their quality of life as a specific policy objective.

Change is coming.

C. Publius

IDF rescues 4 hostages alive in stunning operation in central Gaza

Hostages rescued in an IDF operation in the Gaza Strip on June 8: Shlomi Ziv (top left), Andrey Kozlov (top right), Almog Meir (bottom left), and Noa Argamani. (Courtesy)

Hostages rescued in an IDF operation in the Gaza Strip on June 8: Shlomi Ziv (top left), Andrey Kozlov (top right), Almog Meir (bottom left), and Noa Argamani. (Courtesy)

Four Israeli hostages were rescued alive by troops from Hamas captivity in a daring operation in the central Gaza Strip earlier today, the military announces.

The rescued hostages are named as Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv. All four had been abducted by Hamas terrorists on October 7 from the Supernova music festival near the southern community of Re’im.

Special forces had simultaneously raided two Hamas sites in central Gaza’s Nuseirat. At one location, Argamani was rescued, while Meir Jan, Kozlov, and Ziv were at the second location.

The rescued hostages are all in good condition, according to initial medical assessments. They were taken to Tel Hashomer Hospital for further evaluation.

Amid the operation, heavy airstrikes were carried out in the area against Hamas sites and in support of the ground troops. Hamas health authorities reported a “large number” of casualties.

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“The EPP is just beginning to see the perils of mass immigration”: An Interview with Geoffrey van Orden

This is about 1/2 way down the article and applies to the U.S. just as much as to European nations.

Where does the greatest challenge for the West lie: abroad, or in domestic policies of open borders and green pacts?

The West faces multiple challenges, both internal and external. Mass uncontrolled immigration of people from entirely different cultures and habits is sheer madness. While the genuinely persecuted are rightly offered sanctuary, and small numbers of other people with particular skills or resources can be integrated into our societies, we are demonstrably incapable of properly integrating very large numbers of strangers. The effect is unwelcome changes to our own systems and loss of national cohesion at a time when this is more necessary than ever.

The vulnerabilities and fractures in our society are exploited by external enemies. While we had imagined that conflict between European states was a thing of the past, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the invasion of Ukraine has provided a salutary shock. The West needs to rearm and demonstrate the solidarity and resilience of its alliances, particularly NATO. EU involvement, through its autonomous defence ambition, is a dangerous distraction from this.

Fetterman has turned out to be a less a demoncrap and more a thorn in the party’s side.

Fetterman: Biden’s Ceasefire Proposal Isn’t ‘Meaningful Peace’, Hamas Has to Be Destroyed

During an interview aired on Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) reacted to President Joe Biden’s ceasefire proposal by stating that there won’t “be any meaningful peace, so long as Hamas is able to operate.”

Host Bret Baier asked, [relevant exchange begins around 3:50] “Sen. Fetterman, while I have you, the President endorsed a ceasefire proposal today, … and essentially, it would stop going after Hamas, would release all the hostages, and be a permanent ceasefire. Your thoughts on that proposal?”

Fetterman answered, “I’ve been very clear, I’m going to follow Israel in this situation. I do believe that Hamas needs to be destroyed, and it needs to be followed to the end, until there is an absolute surrender and they are…either in exile or they’re brought to justice or they’re eliminated. One way or another, there’s not going to be any meaningful peace, so long as Hamas is able to operate. And if you look at all of the damage, the death, and all of that, that’s exactly what Hamas wants. They designed that to be that way. They really don’t care how many Palestinians actually die and their suffering. Actually, Israel cares about minimizing all of the civilian deaths and all of the kinds of damage.”

Pennsylvania Man Fined, but Spared Prison for Bringing Ammo to Turks and Caicos

The first American tourist to be sentenced for accidentally bringing ammunition to the Turks and Caicos Islands since a February ruling took effect that raised the penalty for the “crime” to a minimum of twelve years in prison was spared incarceration on Friday. Instead, Pennsylvanian Bryan Hagerich can leave the country once he pays a $6,700 fine.

Hagerich had faced a possible 12-year sentence, the country’s minimum for possessing guns or ammunition, under a strict law in place aimed at addressing rising crime and gang violence. However, the judge found exceptional circumstances and that the mandatory minimum of 12 years was unjust and disproportionate to the crime committed.

Hagerich has been stuck in the Turks and Caicos for more than 100 days; sharing a condo with several of the other tourists who are still awaiting trial and wondering when he’d get the chance to return home.

Hagerich had stray ammo from a previous hunting trip in one of the compartments of a large suitcase his family had loaded their belongings into for a family vacation.

“I never in a million years thought I’d be in Turks and Caicos for over 100 days for a simple mistake,” Hagerich said.

[Ryan] Watson had stray ammo, also left over from a hunting trip, in the lining of his carry-on bag. [Sharitta] Grier had stray bullets in the lining of her bag after she recently purchased a firearm for her own protection. She told Fox News Digital that her brother owns a store that she sometimes closes at night and wanted a firearm in case of an emergency.

The governors of Oklahoma, Virginia, and Pennsylvania wrote a letter to the Turks and Caicos governor asking for clemency on behalf of those detained, while a congressional delegation visited with officials in person earlier this week to lobby for their release. Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma was among the members of Congress who expressed frustration after the meeting, but that meeting may have more of an impact than he realized.

While Hagerich’s release is good news, there’s no guarantee that the other tourists trapped in the Turks and Caicos Islands will receive the same leniency. The Turks and Caicos Sun newspaper has been highly critical of the efforts to intervene in the cases, and I wouldn’t be surprised if today’s decision results in a bit of a backlash from locals.

Not to be overlooked in this burning and sensitive matter, was the April 23 press statement by the Attorney General which made it clear our system already tempered justice with for violations of this nature, in “exceptional circumstances”, but with a mandatory minimum prison sentence. The Court of Appeal upheld and strengthened this position by insisting the court had no jurisdiction to impose a non-custodial sentence.

This jurisdiction has also let it be known that the provisions of the Firearms Ordinance routinely apply to all, irrespective of status, origin and nationality.

We faithfully adhere to the Latin legal maxim “Fiat justitia ruat caelum”; Let justice prevail though the heavens may fall.”

In this case justice did prevail, at least to the extent that a simple mistake won’t result in more than a decade in prison. What justice would be served by sentencing Hagerich or any of the other defendants to 12 years or more behind bars when there’s no evidence that any of them intentionally took ammo to the “gun-free” islands? The ammo wasn’t even discovered until these tourists were about to leave the Turks and Caicos Islands, but instead of confiscating the ammo and putting them on the next plane out authorities have forced them to remain in the British protectorate until their cases are resolved.

Virginia resident Tyler Wenrich is scheduled to be sentenced next Tuesday, and I hope he too will be able to resolve his case with a hefty fine instead of being detained for more than a decade. Mistakes may have been made, but it would be an injustice to punish Wenrich with incarceration, especially now that his fellow detainee will soon be headed home.

 FPC, NRA File Briefs With Supreme Court Over Mexico Lawsuit

The case involving Mexico’s lawsuit against U.S. gun manufacturers and retailers for violence south of the border is beginning to see some action from pro-gun rights organizations.

On Wednesday, both the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) and the National Rifle Association (NRA) filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a review of lower court decisions regarding Mexico’s attempts to impose its gun-control preferences on Americans.

“Mexico’s frivolous lawsuit to impose its draconian disarmament policies is a bald attempt to wage war on peaceable Americans and our constitutionally protected rights,” FPC President Brandon Combs said in a release announcing filing of the brief. “As our brief makes clear, the Supreme Court should enforce the law, put an end to this radical anti-rights lawfare and protect the right to keep and bear arms.”

“Mexico’s attempt in this litigation to impose a foreign nation’s policy preferences on the American people through judicial fiat and exact a financial penalty that would cripple the American firearms ecosystem would be deeply troubling even if it stood alone,” the FPC brief stated. “It does not. To the contrary, this action is merely one of a phalanx of recent, abusive lawsuits brought by anti-Second-Amendment activists, organizations and governments.”

In the end, the brief requested that the Supreme Court grant a review and intervene in the important case to protect gunmakers and the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA). In an earlier ruling, the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the PLCAA does not bar Mexico’s lawsuit.

“The situation has accordingly become dire, and the time for this Court’s intervention is now,” the brief stated. “In the four-and-a-half years since this Court declined to review the Connecticut Supreme Court’s decision in Soto, the chief development has been the contrivance of ever more devious and extreme methods of evading the Act Congress passed to save the firearms community from abusive litigation. If the Court allows the lower-court’s treatment of the PLCAA to ‘percolate for another four-and-a-half years, there may be nothing left of the firearms marketplace to save.”

In the NRA brief, the organization stated: “Mexico has extinguished its constitutional arms right and now seeks to extinguish America’s. To that end, Mexico aims to destroy the American firearms industry financially.”

“This case exemplifies why PLCAA was enacted,” the brief continued. “Mexico seeks billions of dollars in damages and the imposition of extensive gun controls in America while relying on shoddy data and false allegations to exaggerate the impact of Petitioners’ firearms on Mexican homicides.”

The lawsuit is named Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos

 

‘Martyred’: Iranian Media Declare Raisi Dead; ‘No Sign’ of Life at Helicopter Crash Site

Search teams have reportedly located the site where a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, crashed on Sunday, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the state’s news agency.

There was “no sign’ of life, according to Iranian state television (via the Times of Israel).

IRAN – MAY 20: A screen grab captured from a video shows from Akinci Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, which participated in search and rescue operations for the helicopter carrying the Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his delegation in Iran on May 20, 2024. A Turkish Akinci unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) identified a source of heat early Monday suspected to be the wreckage of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and shared its coordinates with Iranian authorities. (Photo by Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images)

State-run media also declared that Raisi had died — or, rather, that he had been “martyred.”

The Times of Israel quoted Iran’s Mehr news agency:

“The president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi, had an accident while serving and performing his duty for the people of Iran and was martyred,” Iran’s Mehr agency says as other media outlets also reported the news.

Iranian Foreign Minister Amirabdollahian and other officials were also reported to have been on board when the helicopter went missing in a mountainous area of the country.

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Just Stop Oil Tries to Destroy Magna Carta

Older than Joe Biden and perhaps more brain-dead, too.

Two Just Stop Oil idiots took a hammer and chisel (it should have been a Hammer and Sickle!) to the protective glass case in which the Magna Carta was displayed. The attack took place at the British Library.

 

There are only four surviving copies of the Magna Carta. Four.

For those of you who don’t remember your civics lesson, the Magna Carta is the agreement between the nobles and the king of England that limited the king’s power and helped set Britain on the path to a parliamentary democracy. It was a small but crucial step in the evolution of our system of government.

Ironically enough, our word for such people is “vandals,” named after the group that helped bring down the Roman Empire, plunging Europe into the Dark Ages–which is exactly what these despicable people are trying to do again.

The glass case protecting the document appears damaged but not pierced. It likely has a nitrogen atmosphere within to protect it from decay.

The Just Stop Oil tactic of attacking priceless works of art and other artifacts is an attempt to duplicate the Taliban campaign to erase non-Muslim culture in Afghanistan. It is a tactic of cultural terrorists and, in my view, should be treated in exactly the same manner.

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BOOM: White House Blows Up as Israel Hits Iran

There’s an old joke about how the New York Times would announce the end of the world. “World to End Tomorrow; Women and Minorities Affected Most.” I’m here to tell you today that the real victims of Israel’s Thursday night airstrikes on Iran are in the Biden White House — and just two miles away in Washington’s exclusive Kalorama neighborhood.
I’ll get to that last part in a moment.

PJ Media’s own Paula Bolyard stayed up late last night to give you the up-to-the-minute coverage but, now that the dust has had a little while to settle, I’ve taken the zero-dark-thirty shift (Mountain Time) to serve up a little perspective with your morning coffee.

Please notice that Iran launched an unprecedentedly large drone and missile strike on Israel Saturday but everything they had either malfunctioned or was shot down. Israel seems to have hit Iran with impunity and, according to my friend and colleague Jennifer van Laar’s source, Israeli Air Force (IAF) warplanes simply did not show up on Iranian or Russian radar. Ponder for just a moment what that might have meant in the Russo-Ukraine War, had the West gotten serious from the start about arming Ukraine.

But I digress.

This one is a real stumper for the Biden administration. While there are no indications yet that the IAF hit any sites related to Iran’s mostly peaceful nuclear weapons program, it’s safe to say that the Obama-Biden Iran nuclear deal got “blowed up real good” last night.

Jen’s source also claims that the strike was “expected to be hypertargeted to eliminate IRN nuclear program and kill key personnel, eliminate known and suspected launch facilities” but nobody has admitted that’s what actually happened. “Iranian state press has reported that Tehran’s atomic facilities were left unharmed,” for whatever that’s worth.

Taking their cue from Barack Obama’s disastrous Middle East foreign policy, the White House has spent the last three years giving Tehran almost anything they wanted — relaxed sanctions, pallets of cash, treating Hamas with kid gloves, etc. — in exchange for pretending to do a somewhat better job of hiding their nuclear weapons program.

Whether or not Israel struck Iran’s nuclear sites, the IAF has proven that they can hit anything in Iran and there isn’t a damn thing Tehran can do to stop them. I’m not saying that Iran can’t strike back, because they surely will. Although I suspect that, after last night, Tehran might go back to using their proxies in Syria, Gaza, Yemen, etc instead of attacking Israel directly again. Whatever the case, the point remains that Iran’s air defenses cannot stop, hinder, or even see Israeli warplanes.

Biden’s Middle East foreign policy is in tatters, blown up along with whatever else Israel hit last night. Barack Obama, the architect of Biden’s Iran deals (and so much else), has failed this country — and the world — yet again, seven years after leaving office. The Arab-Israeli peace that Donald Trump’s team of SecState Mike Pompeo and Jared Kushner had worked so hard to create was tossed aside by Biden-Obama in 2021 in favor of making Iran the dominant regional power.

Now there’s no peace anywhere to be found. This is the inevitable result of making one of the world’s worst actors the cornerstone of your regional peace efforts.

Or maybe war was what they wanted all along.

‘You got a win. Take the win’: Joe Biden tells Netanyahu

Joe Biden reportedly warned Benjamin Netanyahu that the US will not participate in any Israeli counter-attacks against Iran.

The US president and his senior advisers are highly concerned that an Israeli response to Iran’s attack would lead to a regional war with catastrophic consequences, US officials told Axios.

On Saturday evening, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel, involving more than 300 drones and missiles. The attack came in retaliation to an airstrike in Syria on April 1 that killed seven of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.

Mr Biden said the US and Israel had shot down “nearly all” of the drones and missiles launched by Tehran overnight, aided also by Britain, France and Jordan. Israel said 99 per cent were intercepted without hitting their targets and that “very little damage” had been caused.

American forces intercepted 70 drones and at least three ballistic missiles, according to CNN, while Mr Biden also said that US support for Israel was “ironclad”.

“You got a win. Take the win,” Mr Biden reportedly told Mr Netanyahu, adding that the US will not participate in any offensive operations. Mr Netanyahu reportedly said that he understands the US’s position.

Iran has said the attacks “achieved all its objectives” and that it is not planning any further operations. It warned Israel against taking any “reckless” actions, and said it would not hesitate to retaliate with a “much stronger response”.

However, Israel has said the “campaign is not over yet”.

Lloyd Austin, the US secretary of defence, has asked that Israel notify the US ahead of any response against Iran.

World leaders have condemned Iran’s attack, with regional powers Saudi Arabia and Egypt calling for restraint. Leaders from the G7 will hold a video conference later on Sunday to discuss the Iranian strikes and coordinate a united diplomatic response.

THE DEEP MEANING OF “DON’T:”

Would that President Biden had not warned the Iranian regime not to attack Israel with his pitiful “don’t” yesterday. In Bidenspeak, “don’t” is an invitation. It something like the shout-out for contestants to “come on down” on The Price Is Right.

 

Q.E.D.

 

Israeli Air Strike Punches Senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander’s Ticket

On Monday, a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps was deleted from the rolls of the living by an Israeli air strike. The strike hit the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, killing Mohammad Reza Zahedi along with (reportedly) several Iranian diplomats.

An Israeli airstrike launched at the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria on Monday has killed Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, a Lebanese security source has told Reuters.

In 2010, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Zahedi, describing him as playing a key role in Iran’s support of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Reuters is reporting that its journalists at the scene in the Syrian capital saw smoke rising from the rubble of a building that was flattened in the airstrike. Israel has not confirmed its involvement.

“We do not comment on reports in the foreign media,” an Israeli military spokesperson told Reuters when asked about the matter.

One has to appreciate the wisdom of Israel not commenting on this at all; in taking out Zahedi, they determined to let a missile do their talking for them, and that would seem to be sufficient to make their point. Zahedi was not in Syria to play tiddlywinks; the Revolutionary Guard Corps commander was known to be a conduit to funnel Iranian weapons to Hezbollah and acted as a liaison between Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria. He was a guy who manifestly deserved to be removed from the game.

The U.S. Treasury said in 2010 that Zahedi “has also acted as a liaison to Hezbollah and Syrian intelligence services and is reportedly charged with guaranteeing weapons shipments to Hezbollah.”

 

This isn’t the first Iranian commander that Israel has un-alived in recent months.

Israel said in February that it killed a senior Hezbollah commander in a strike carried out in Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces had announced at the time that an overnight airstrike targeting a “Hezbollah military structure” in Nabatieh killed Ali Muhammad Aldbas, a senior commander of the Radwan forces. His deputy commander, Ibrahim Issa, and an additional terrorist were killed in the attack, according to the IDF.

It’s important to note that then the U.S. Treasury Department “sanctioned” Zahedi all the way back in 2010, it clearly seems to have had little to no effect on his actions. Israel’s sanction, delivered at several times the speed of sound, would appear to have been much more effective. The Israeli military has time and again proven their skill at making bad terrorists into good terrorists, and since the Oct 7th atrocities, they have picked up the pace.

US Embassy Warned Russia of Terrorist Attack and Putin Ignored It

Friday evening, Moscow time, four or five armed men strolled into the Crocus Concert Hall in northwest Moscow and opened fire on the crowd. Before departing the area they had killed at least 40 people and wounded over 100 more.

BACKGROUND: (UPDATED): Terror Attack in Moscow Concert Hall – Multiple Fatalities Reported

My colleague, Ward Clark, has some good observations; the only one I’d add is that at least two of the attackers had trouble managing magazine changes.

While Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Russian Security Council, hinted that Ukraine had been behind the attack and threatened to commit atrocities that the Russians have failed to commit so far should Ukraine be involved, ISIS quickly claimed responsibility.

This is not a huge shock. Russia has a counterinsurgency operation underway in two North Caucasus areas of the Russian Federation: Dagestan and Ingushetia. On March 3, a Russian commando operation (or what the Russians think of as a commando operation) killed six Islamic fighters in Ingushetia.

This insurgency and the fact that Moscow has the largest Muslim population of any European (to the extent that Russia is a European nation) capital nearly preordained a strike in the capital. This would not be the first time. In 2002, Chechens took over the Dubrovka Theater and when the Spetsnaz were finished, 132 hostages were killed and over 700 wounded, in addition to 40 Chechen fighters.

What makes the whole story more interesting is that on March 7, the US Embassy in Moscow issued a public warning that a terrorist attack on a concert venue was imminent.

The US warning was joined by similar warnings from multiple foreign embassies in Russia.

Reacting to that intelligence, the FSB rolled up an ISIS cell in a Moscow suburb.

On March 9, Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee (KNB) confirmed media reports that two Kazakh citizens had been killed by law enforcement in Russia.

Two days earlier, on March 7, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had stopped an Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) cell from carrying out a terrorist attack targeting a synagogue.

“On the territory of the Kaluga Region, a stop was put to the activity of Wilayat Khorasan, a cell of the Afghan branch of the international terrorist organization Islamic State, which is banned in Russia, whose members were planning to commit a terrorist act against one of the Jewish religious institutions in Moscow,” the FSB said in a statement to the state-run TASS news agency.

The Russian expat Telegram news channel Meduza points out that US warnings were not welcome.

Telegraph channel Meduza has highlighted that on March 19, Vladimir Putin dismissed alerts from U.S. diplomats regarding a potential terrorist attack on a densely populated venue in Moscow. The Russian leader denounced the American cautionary advice as “blackmail” from the West, aiming to “intimidate and destabilize our society”.

If this is true, it shows that there were persistent reports of an attack on a concert venue that did not end with the destruction of the ISIS cell on March 7 that were ignored by Russian authorities starting at the top. The fact that the concert attacked on Friday had no security, when it clearly met the description of the target in the warnings, shows that the threat was ignored.

Reports: Ongoing Terrorist Shootout at Moscow Concert Hall Leaves at Least 100 Casualties

A terrorist attack on the Crocus City concert hall and mall in Moscow, Russia, on Friday night that has reportedly not concluded at press time has left “over 100 casualties,” the Russian outlet RT reported.

Update 4:08PM ET: The Russian FSB security service announced it had documented at least 40 killed and over 100 injured in the attack.

The fire is so large that the Russian government has deployed a water-discharging helicopter to end it and has prepared two more to fly in, according to RIA Novosti.

Videos on social media shared by Russian news outlets – such as RT, Ria Novosti, Sputnik, and others – show panicked concertgoers attempting to hide under seats and the sound of gunfire. Reports indicated that one of the assailants detonated a grenade, causing the ongoing fire.

 

Amid crime surge, vendors in Bogota turn to hired guns

On the streets of a Bogota neighborhood where a businessman was killed for refusing to pay protection money, retired soldiers sporting weapons and camouflage gear keep a watchful eye on every movement.

Similar “self-defense” groups have sprung up all over Colombia’s capital, a city of some eight million people that has experienced a surge in robberies and killings since the beginning of the year.

As fear has risen in step with crime, residents and business owners are taking matters into their own hands in a country with low levels of trust in the authorities.

“We are taking care of security. There are armed people here, but within the law. We are not illegal, we are military pensioners and the traders are paying us,” one of the sentinels told AFP in Bogota’s 7 de Agosto neighborhood, a bustle of autoparts shops.

Wearing ski masks and military-style boots, the men refused to give their names. Some said they were paid by shop owners — several of whom confirmed to AFP they were relying on hired guns to protect their lives and possessions.

Other patrolling guards claimed they work with the “Gaula” — official law enforcement divisions created in the police and military to combat kidnapping and extortion — a still all-too prevalent crime in Colombia as in other countries with a presence of drug gangs.

But Gaula officials told AFP the non-uniformed sentries have nothing to do with them.

“Civilians have no place” in the fight against extortion, insisted Colonel Cristian Caballero, commander of the Military Gaula in Bogota.

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