Category Archives: Russia

Abu Osama al-Masri Behind the Russian Plane Bomb?

Posted on by

Here is a link to several interviews with terrorism experts that offer clues of what is going on in Egypt and the Sinai with regard to symptoms of Islamic State and the Muslim Brotherhood having some collaboration which could give rise to the notion of new alliances and mission objectives against Egypt, the West and a new balance of power.

Frankly nothing can be ruled out, which is to say loyalty and relationships change often but the bottom line objective does not.

Revealed: Jihadi leader suspected of blowing up Russian jet is a former rag merchant who pledged allegiance to ISIS after Egypt’s crackdown on Islamists

  • Abu Osama al-Masri, 42, is leader of Islamic State affiliate Sinai Province
  • Studied at historic Egyptian Islamic centre that supports the government
  • He fled to Syria after President Morsi was toppled in military coup in 2013
  • Returned to Sinai and embraced ISIS’s goal of creating a Muslim caliphate

The Islamic State mastermind suspected of blowing up the Russian holiday jet is a former clothes importer who sought revenge for Egypt’s bloody crackdown on Islamists after the 2013 coup.

Secretive Egyptian cleric Abu Osama al-Masri, 42, has been named by Western intelligence chiefs as the prime suspect behind the attack on Metrojet Flight 9268 which killed 224 people.

He is leader of Sinai Province – formerly known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis – which swore allegiance to ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi last year and has targeted Egyptian soldiers and police since the military toppled President Mohamed Mursi after mass protests two years ago.

A picture of one of the crashed Airbus A321’s doors show it bearing ‘pockmarks’ on the inside, which could be evidence of shrapnel from a bomb that has gone off inside the plane

The secretive 42-year-old former clothes importer studied at Al-Azhar, a 1,000-year old Egyptian centre for Islamic learning that supports the government, said the officials.

But like others who learned in a centre known for its moderation, he was radicalised and took up arms in Sinai before heading to Syria with about 20 followers when security forces clamped down on Islamists after Mursi’s departure, sources said.

There, he and the other fighters gained experience that would prove useful upon their eventual return to the Sinai, when they were approached by Islamic State and embraced its goal of creating a caliphate across the Muslim world.

It seems they were mesmerised by Islamic State’s mysterious Iraqi leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, said the officials.

Islamic State sent arms and cash by boat from Iraq to neighbouring Libya, where militants have thrived in the chaos that followed the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, said another intelligence official.

A porous border then enabled Baghdadi’s supporters to travel to Sinai, on the other side of Egypt, to deliver the goods to Islamist militant comrades, the officials added.

‘Other militants taught them how to evade capture and they learned how to shoot accurately and assemble bombs,’ said one of the intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.

‘They became experts.’

Dangerous: A militant with Ansar Bayt al-Maqdisi, later renamed Wilayat Sinai shoots down an Egyptian military helicopter in the Sinai in January 2014

If solid evidence emerges it attacked the aircraft, that would instantly propel the group and Masri to the top of the jihadi ladder, with one of the deadliest attacks since Al Qaeda flew planes into the World Trade Center in New York in 2001.

If a bomb knocked Airbus A321 out of the sky, that would challenge Egypt’s assertions that it had brought under control militants who have carried out high-profile attacks on senior government officials and Western targets.

Security experts and investigators have said the plane is unlikely to have been struck from the outside and Sinai militants are not believed to have any missiles capable of striking a jet at 30,000 feet.

Sinai Province is partly the product of Egypt’s efforts to eliminate militancy, which has threatened the most populous Arab country for decades, according to the intelligence sources.

The three officials, who closely follow the Sinai-based insurgency, say many of its fighters fled to Syria after Mursi was removed and then army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi unleashed security forces on Islamists, both moderate and radical.

Will McCants, director of the Center for Middle East Policy at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, said that not a lot is known about the working relationship between the Islamic State’s Sinai affiliate and the movement’s central leadership.

But the Egyptian group – like other affiliates – appears to enjoy considerable autonomy.

The state security crackdown launched against the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists has gained the Islamic State’s Sinai branch significant local support, allowing its fighters to hide and operate among ordinary people, he said.

Egypt security forces have been fighting militants for years in concerted counter-terror efforts. They face frequent bombings of police stations and attacks on military bases. Officials suspect the group have inside army informants given the accuracy and timings of attacks

During Mursi’s time, security officials allege, militants from Al Qaeda, including some who had travelled from as far away as Afghanistan, had a free hand in Sinai.

They included about 4,000 fighters who would form the core of Sinai Province, which was called Ansar Beyt al-Maqdis before declaring its support for Islamic State last year, said the officials.

The crackdown on Islamists by Sisi – now president – led to many militants being killed, jailed or fleeing for countries like Syria and Libya.

Sinai Province now consists of only hundreds of militants scattered into groups of 5-7 men, which have few links to reduce the chances of capture, said the officials.

‘They are very secretive,’ one of the intelligence officials said. ‘Each cell doesn’t know about other cells.’

Another said: ‘It’s a small number of militants but it takes just one person to carry out a suicide bombing.’

Last year, security officials said Masri and a few other leaders had been killed.

He later appeared in a video that purported to prove he is alive and reaffirmed his loyalty to Baghdadi.

Masri could be seen kneeling beside weapons he said were seized from 30 Egyptian soldiers killed in an attack.

A military armoured personnel carrier burned in the background.

A tribal leader in the Sinai told Reuters he had recently noticed pro-Islamic State militants driving around in new Toyota Land Cruisers. Some had Apple computers.

‘It seems they are getting more and more ambitious,’ he said.

United States Ranks #3 in Refugee Destinations

Posted on by

From the UN: The current refugee crisis arising from civil upheaval in the Middle East and Africa has caused over 4.1 million people to flee Syria alone since 2011. While the majority of asylum seekers in the region initially flee to neighboring countries (more than a quarter of the population resident in Lebanon is Syrian) most aspire to establish refugee status in Europe.

Despite the European Union’s Dublin Treaty, which states that an asylum seeker must apply for asylum in their country of first entry into the union, many are moving north to places that promise higher economic chances. At the top of their list: Germany, which expects to receive 1.5 million asylum seekers in 2015. This recent influx has resulted in diverse reactions in the European political and social spheres. Photographs of fences erected around Hungary and Austria’s border to Slovenia, and Hungarian camerawoman tripping a man fleeing with his son evidence the exclusionary sentiment present on the continent, supported by growing right wing movements.

And yet some countries and politicians have insisted that they can and will accommodate large numbers of refugees.

What makes a country a ‘good’ country for refugee resettlement, fairly assuming their burden in the global community? Here are four countries on three continents that both quantitatively and qualitatively stand out.

With as many refugees arriving in Europe last month than all of last year, this question of where they can and should resettle is all the more urgent.

1)   Germany. The huge migration of refugees seeking asylum in Germany in autumn of 2015 has dominated the news for months. Many believe that this sudden influx arose from rumors spread through co-nationals living in Germany that refugees would encounter both physical and economic security, if they made it to this EU leader. Angela Merkel made headlines with her strong position in favor of processing the huge numbers of refugees. “If Europe fails on the question of refugees, then it won’t be the Europe we wished for.” German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizere characterized the influx as “challenging but not overwhelming.” Germany now expects 1.5 million asylum applications this year alone, the highest in Europe. Last year, Germany accepted 40,000 applications, granting asylum to more individuals than any other European country.

2)   Sweden. It is important to discern between countries that process and temporarily provide residence to, and those that actually recognize large numbers of asylum seekers (the above case of Germany does both). When considering the total accepted asylum applications in relation to the overall country population, Sweden tops the charts. Sweden has historically accepted refugees from across the globe, beginning with those fleeing authoritarian rule in Chile during the 1970s. In 2013, the Swedish Migration Board granted Syrian refugees permanent residence in Sweden. In Sweden, the rights granted to refugees on account of this permanent status—immediate capacity to work, choosing place of residence and family reunification—are notable and vital for quality of life.

3)   The United States. Influenced by its political and military position regarding conflict in Syria, the U.S. has not favorably made the news on the current refugee crisis, offering to resettle only approximately 10,000 Syrian refugees. Yet looking holistically at its system reveals a sunnier picture of U.S. refugee policy. The United States permanently resettles more refugees than any other country in the world, historically taking half of all applications received via the UN Refugee Agency. Last year, this amounted to about 70,000 refugees worldwide who, for the most part, were living in limbo in the country to which they fled.  The USA may not be a viable option for Syrian refugees, but large numbers of refugees from elsewhere are routinely resettled in the USA.

4)   Brazil. Comprehensively evaluating policies though a survey rating refugees’ actual access to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, as well as national human rights legislation, the World Refugee Survey 2013 grades countries based on refoulement/physical protection; detention/access to courts; freedom of movement and residence; and right to earn a livelihood. The only country reciving an “A” grade in all categories is Brazil. Additionally, the reciprocal entry policy between Brazil and numerous African countries allows asylum seekers to circumvent dangerous routes and smuggling often used by those attempting to reach the United States or Europe. Brazil, whose little known refugee system may not excel quantitatively (although asylum requests have exploded from a mere 560 in 2010 to 12,000 in 2014), excels qualitatively in its refugee resettlement policies.

Meanwhile, who is among those refugees?

Al Qaeda Terror Boss Discovered On Migrant Boat, Authorities ‘Tried To Hide News’

A convicted terrorist has been caught trying to smuggle himself into Europe by posing as an asylum seeker, in a stark event proving correct those who warned of terrorists taking advantage of the European Union’s lax border controls.

BreitbartLondon: Ben Nasr Mehdi, a Tunisian who was first arrested in Italy in 2007 and sentenced to seven years imprisonment for plotting terror attacks with an Islamic State-linked group, was caught trying to re-enter the country last month.

Authorities discovered him among 200 migrants who were rescued at sea and taken to the island of Lampedusa. Although he gave a false name, migration officers identified him through finger print records, the Independent reports.

German channel n-tv claims the Italian government initially tried to hide the story to avoid “panic” and “scare tactics”. The news did not emerge until several days after Mehdi had been detained last week.

Mehdi was then interrogated for several days before being deported back to Tunisia, where he was handed over to local police.

The revelation will likely add to fears that Islamist terrorists are using the migrant crisis as a means to enter Europe.

In April, UKIP leader Nigel Farage told the European Parliament that terrorists would try to exploit the crisis. He told MEPs: “When ISIS say they want to flood our continent with half a million Islamic extremists they mean it, and there is nothing in [the Common European Asylum Policy] that will stop them.

“I fear we face a direct threat to our civilisation if we allow large numbers of people from that war torn region into Europe.”

The following month, Italian authorities arrested Abdel Majid Touil, a Moroccan accused of being involved in a terror attack on the Bardo museum in Tunisia. He had smuggled himself into Italy on a migrant boat in February.

Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano has until now insisted there is no evidence that Islamist terrorists are smuggling themselves into the country among the thousands of migrants, but his ministry has admitted that Ben Nasr Mehdi is exceptionally dangerous.

When police arrested him in 2007, they found explosive detonators, poisons and guerrilla warfare manuals. Prosecutors said he had been part of a group that was setting up militant cells that had recruited potential suicide bombers.

Authorities intercepted phone calls in which he indicated he had supplied instructions and contacts to terrorists in Damascus, thus marking him out as a senior operative.

European leaders are becoming increasingly worried about the potential terror threat from the migrant crisis. Last month, German Interior Minister Thomas de Mazière said his country had become a “focus of international terrorism” thanks to migration. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has also expressed similar fears.

Operation Trident Juncture 2015 vs. Russian Aggression

Posted on by

Around 36,000 troops from more than 30 nations (27 NATO Allies plus partners).

• More than 230 units, more than 140 aircraft and more than 60 ships.

• More than 12 international organizations, governmental organizations and NGOs will participate, including the European Union, theOSCE, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the African Union.

 

ArmyTimes: ZARAGOZA, Spain – Explosions, smoke and dozens upon dozens of military vehicles gradually filled a valley here on Wednesday afternoon for the latest show of force for Exercise Trident Juncture 2015.

Hundreds of military leaders, dignitaries and media watched as NATO troops maneuvered through the San Gregorio Military Training Area and, later, as hundreds of paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division dropped from the sky.

Despite the huge audience, leaders noticed one invitee was a no-show: Russia.

Trident Juncture 2015 — the largest NATO exercise in Europe since 2002 — is in large part a response to Russia’s recent aggression against Ukraine. More here.

NATO chief sounds alarm over Russian buildup

DailyStar; TROIA, Portugal: NATO’s secretary-general sounded the alarm Thursday over the buildup of Russian military forces from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean and called on the U.S.-led alliance to come up with a response.

Jens Stoltenberg said the Russians have concentrated military forces in Kaliningrad, the Black Sea and the eastern Mediterranean, where they are assisting beleaguered Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Speaking at a news conference during NATO war games in Troia, south of Lisbon, Stoltenberg experts believe the buildup of Russian military might could lead to Moscow’s ability to limit the access of the United States and its allies to certain regions.

“We have to be sure that we are able to overcome these capabilities, so we can reinforce, so we can move and we can deploy forces if needed,” Stoltenberg said.

The NATO chief said the challenge of Russia’s new capabilities in the field of what defense specialists call “anti-access/area denial” has become “the question on our agenda.”

Leaders and representatives of nine Eastern European NATO member nations meeting in the Romanian capital of Bucharest Wednesday called for an increased alliance presence in Europe in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, and threats from the ISIS group.

Until now, NATO has been cool to such requests, citing an agreement it concluded with Russia in 1997, when relations with Moscow were friendlier. Under the accord, NATO said it would refrain from any “additional permanent stationing of substantial combat forces.”

Though the alliance opened small liaison offices in capitals of its Eastern European members this year and has rotated military units in and out of countries that feel most at risk from Russia, it appears to have carefully avoided anything that might be construed by the Kremlin as the stationing of permanent reinforcements.

Stoltenberg’s comments Thursday hinted that NATO and its member nations might be rethinking their approach. “The important thing is that we have military presence,” the secretary-general said.

“To some extent,” he said, “it is artificial to distinguish between occasional military presence and other kinds that are more persistent.”

Earlier in the day, NATO put its naval and special forces capabilities on display at this naval base south of Lisbon, and also showcased the ability of armed forces from its 28 member nations to work together.

As Stoltenberg and other VIP guests looked on, British and Spanish marines riding landing craft stormed a beach. Portuguese marines fast-roped from a helicopter onto the bow of a ship, simulating the retaking of a vessel seized by terrorists or pirates. The Portuguese were reinforced by units from Polish special forces, who also checked for the presence of chemical, biological or nuclear hazards.

For the past three weeks, more than 36,000 personnel from NATO allies and partner nations have been taking part in exercises across a broad swath of Europe stretching from Portugal to Italy. The war games, code-named Trident Juncture, are being held to hone NATO’s ability to respond to a range of new security threats, including a more assertive Russia and Muslim terrorist groups active in the Middle East and North Africa.

March, 2015, ISIS Posted Job Openings for Bomb-makers

Posted on by

 

ISIS posts job ad for press officers, teachers and bomb makers

 

NYPost: ISIS is hiring.

A job advertisement has surfaced online aimed at supporters of the Islamic State who do not wish to fight on the front lines.

Omar Hussain, a British jihadist who fled the UK to join the Islamic State in Syria, has posted 10 positions that the terrorist organization is looking to fill.

Writing on behalf of the group under the name Abu Sa’eed Al-Britani, the devout ISIS member explains that while not wanting to be a soldier is a “sign of weak faith,” there is still much work to be done even if you’re afraid to kill or wage jihad, the Independent reports.

Number one on the list of available occupations is press officer, needed for the so-called ISIS “media center.” This “internal media” position would provide support from the masses as Western news outlets continue to release loads of “negative propaganda” against the group, Al-Britani said.

Another post that he said needed to be filled is the role of schoolteacher. This person would ultimately be in charge of instructing the “next generation … the correct Islamic teachings.”

“Imagine the reward in nurturing a child upon tawheed (oneness with God) and jihad (holy struggle)!” Al-Britani said. “All his efforts and deeds he does due to you teaching him will earn you huge rewards. And many of these children are the sons and daughters of Mujahedeen and martyrs.”

ISIS Forum Features Manual On How To Build Bombs, Blow Up Planes

A guide with detailed instructions about how to make bombs and sneak them past airport security is featured on a prominent forum

A manual explaining how to build bombs and slip them past airport security was posted on a main ISIS forum several months before the recent downing of a Russian passenger plane.

“Any security system, be it human or mechanical, has weak points that can be breached as long as you know their details and mechanisms,” said the guide, which Vocativ discovered using our deep web technology.

The manual was originally published in Al-Qaeda’s “Inspire” English-language magazine in December, then posted to the ISIS forum, in Arabic, in March. A forum administrator deliberately made the guide the lead post in a forum section dedicated to technical know-how for jihadists seeking to commit acts of violence. It remains unclear, however, if the manual was placed in the section’s top spot before or after the Metrojet plane came down over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Saturday.

But as of Thursday, the guide was prominently positioned on the ISIS forum, and discussion about the manual was active — showing just how easy it is for ISIS-affiliated jihadists to access information about building and using homemade explosives to blow up an aircraft.

The guide is thorough, listing what is says are every measure and action needed to blow up a plane. It details how to make homemade explosives using acetone, potassium chlorate and other chemicals. It explains how to carry a bomb successfully through airport security, including past metal detectors, scent detectors and frisking and screening machines. It gives specifics about the “best” place to put a bomb on plane.

It also includes information about American, British and French airlines, and offers final instructions for jihadists after they board a plane with a bomb. “Relax, do not become tense,” it says. “At this stage you have achieved a great success even if the plane is not blown up.”

ISIS has insisted for days that it is responsible for taking down the Metrojet flight flying over the Sinai, killing all 224 people on board. It has not provided details on how it might have carried out such a devastating operation.

U.S. and British officials have said the aircraft may have been downed by an explosive device. On Thursday, Britain said there was a “significant possibility” that ISIS’ branch in Egypt was behind a suspected bomb attack, Reuters reported.

Shake Your Head at This DoJ Case, Netcracker

Posted on by

Ever wonder where the NSA was on this? Ever wonder where the background check was for Netcracker as a bona fide government contractor? More fleecing that several people in the decision chain approved this.

USDOJ: Netcracker Technology Corp. and Computer Sciences Corp. Agree to Settle Civil False Claims Act Allegations  (The spin in this statement is in full testimony of how things operate in the Federal government, meanwhile the risk, well frankly the treasonous decision is epic.

 

Pentagon Farmed Out Its Coding to Russia

 
By Patrick Malone, Center for Public Integrity

The Pentagon was tipped off in 2011 by a longtime Army contractor that Russian computer programmers were helping to write computer software for sensitive U.S. military communications systems, setting in motion a four-year federal investigation that ended this week with a multimillion-dollar fine against two firms involved in the work.

The contractor, John C. Kingsley, said in court documents filed in the case that he discovered the Russians’ role after he was appointed to run one of the firms in 2010. He said the software they wrote had made it possible for the Pentagon’s communications systems to be infected with viruses.

Greed drove the contractor to employ the Russian programmers, he said in his March 2011 complaint, which was sealed until late last week. He said they worked for one-third the rate that American programmers with the requisite security clearances could command. His accusations were denied by the firms that did the programming work.

“On at least one occasion, numerous viruses were loaded onto the DISA [Defense Information Systems Agency] network as a result of code written by the Russian programmers and installed on servers in the DISA secure system,” Kingsley said in his complaint, filed under the federal False Claims Act in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on March 18, 2011.

Asked to confirm that the Russians’ involvement in the software work led to the presence of viruses in the U.S. military’s communications systems, Alana Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Defense Information Systems Agency, declined to answer on the grounds that doing so could compromise the agency’s “national security posture.”

“It’s something that we take very seriously,” Johnson said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “The Department of Defense’s posture on cybersecurity ultimately affects national security.”

Kingsley first told a Defense Information Systems Agency official on Jan. 10, 2011, that Russians had been doing computer programming for Massachusetts-based NetCracker Technology Corporation under a federal contract, through an arrangement that corporate officials referred to as its “Back Office,” he said in his complaint. He said the work had been done in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia.

The DISA official confirmed that the practice of outsourcing the work to employees in Russia violated both the company’s contract and federal regulations that mandate only U.S. citizens with approved security clearances work on classified systems, Kingsley’s complaint said.

On Monday, NetCracker and the much larger Virginia-based Computer Sciences Corporation—which had subcontracted the work—agreed to pay a combined $12.75 million in civil penalties to close a four-year-long Justice Department investigation into the security breach. They each denied Kingsley’s accusations in settlement documents filed with the court.

The agency’s inspector general, Col. Bill Eger, who had investigated Kingsley’s allegations, said the case was a good example of how his office combats fraud. In a separate statement released Monday, Channing D. Phillips, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said that “in addition to holding these two companies accountable for their contracting obligations, this settlement shows that the U.S. Attorney’s Office will take appropriate measures necessary to ensure the integrity of government communications systems.”

The $22 million contract the companies were working on dates from 2008, when the Pentagon first asked Computer Sciences Corporation to fortify and administer the computer networks of the Defense Information Systems Agency. The agency supports battlefield operations by running communication systems that enable soldiers, officers, and coalition partners to communicate in secret.

Computer Sciences Corporation collected a total of $1.5 billion from the Pentagon in fiscal year 2014, according to the Federal Procurement Data System. The work at the heart of this case was part of a $613 million contract between the Defense Information Systems Agency and the corporation. Netcracker, which has done direct work for the Air Force and the General Services Administration, worked as a subcontractor on the deal.

In his complaint, Kingsley asserted that Computer Sciences Corporation executives knew about Netcracker’s work in Russia. But a corporation spokeswoman, in a written statement, denied it. “[Computer Sciences Corporation] believes it is as much a victim of NetCracker’s conduct as is our [Defense Information Systems Agency] customer and agreed to settle this case because the litigation costs outweigh those of the settlement,” Heather Williams wrote. “Security is of the utmost importance” to the corporation, she wrote.

Kingsley also said in his whistleblower complaint that when he questioned NetCracker’s general counsel about the propriety of the arrangement, the counsel assured him nothing was wrong. When he asked the company’s board of directors for permission to discuss the Russians’ participation with the Defense Information Systems Agency, his “requests were rebuffed,” he said in the complaint.

The next day, in an email to the board of directors at NetCracker Government Services, the company’s general counsel characterized Kingsley’s conversation with the government official as an “unscheduled, one-on-one meeting” that ended with a “vitriolic rampage” and left the Defense Information Systems Agency officer with the impression that Kingsley was a “lunatic,” according to Kingsley’s complaint. Kingsley said in his complaint that this description of the meeting was incorrect and intended to hurt Kingsley’s reputation with the company’s other board members.

Joanna Larivee, a spokeswoman for Netcracker, responded with a written statement that it “has cooperated fully with the Department of Justice throughout its review of this matter and explicitly denies liability for any wrongdoing. We have always taken responsible steps to ensure that best practices are deployed when managing client information and that NetCracker is compliant with the terms of our contracts. We have decided that it is in the best interest of all stakeholders to settle the matter.”

Of the total fines, NetCracker agreed to pay $11.4 million while the Computer Sciences Corporation agreed to pay $1.35 million. Under the False Claims Act, Kingsley’s share of the settlement is $2.3 million, according to the Justice Department.

Kingsley did not respond to a phone message left at his home in Fairfax, Virginia, on Tuesday. His lawyer, Paul Schleifman, said Kingsley spoke up about the Back Office in Russia because he was worried that it could harm national security. “[Kingsley] believes that his obligation is to the United States first,” Schleifman said, “not to his pocket.”

The settlement agreement leaves the door open for the Justice Department to pursue criminal charges based on Kingsley’s allegations. A Justice Department spokeswoman did not respond before deadline when asked whether any such charges are expected.