The World According to Ben

13.05.24 - Could there be peace and what would peace look like?

#Israel

Hamas accepts a Qatari peace deal and Israel sends a delegation.

Could there be peace?

The peace treaty was put forward by Qatar and Egypt. The Egyptian backing is especially important due to the special relationship the Egyptian government has with Israel. To summarise Egyptian-Israeli relations, the vast majority of Egyptians oppose Israel (85%), yet there has been peace and co-operation for 46 years. This stability can be put down to the Camp David Accords, which effectively made Egypt and Israel strategic partners (held together by American hegemony).

Thus, I argue that this peace proposal isn’t just an act of rhetoric.  

So, what is the proposal?

It entails three 42-day phases.

1.      The first phase would have

a.      Negotiations through third parties to exchange captives and prisoners,

b.      the withdrawal of some Israeli troops from Gaza,

c.      An unhindered allowance of food, fuel and medical supplies into Gaza

d.      Allowing displaced peoples to return to their homes.

2.      In the second phase there would be

a.      A permanent halt to military activity in Gaza

3.      In the third phase there would be

a.      A post-war reconstruction effort

I do not think Israel will accept the terms as they currently stand as it does not give Israel any strategic political objectives. Yes, the freeing of the hostages would be a political victory, but a short term one. A long-term political victory would be the surrender of weaponry, the imprisonment of Palestinians political leaders, or even the outright annexation of Gazan or West Bank territory. Instead, this peace treaty would be a return to the pre-war status quo, which Israel would internally consider a failure.

Anyway, Israel has requested the 1.4 million internal refugees in Rafah to flee the city ahead of an incoming attack they are planning. Peace I fear is not on the horizon.

https://www.dohainstitute.org/en/Lists/ACRPS-PDFDocumentLibrary/Arab-Opinion-Index-2019-2020-Inbreef-English-Version.pdf

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/6/hamas-accepts-qatari-egyptian-proposal-for-gaza-ceasefire

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29.04.24 - What is the purpose of the Rwandan Asylum Plan?

#UK

Throughout the former British empire, illegal immigration is a political flashpoint.

In the United States, people shout Build the Wall,

In Australia, there are the boat people,

In South Africa, Operation Dudula,

And in Britain, the Rwandan Asylum plan.


This plan hopes to relocate Britain’s illegal immigrant population to the semi-successful central African country of Rwanda. Yet it has faced hurdle after hurdle to get to this point.

Here is a quick breakdown of the timeline.

·         April 2022 – The policy is proposed.

·         June 2022 – The European Court of Human Rights stops the first round of deportation.

·         November 2023 – Attempts to appeal the decision backfire, as it was deemed unlawful by the Supreme Court of the UK.

·         December 2023- the Safety of Rwanda Act is proposed in Parliament.

·         March 2024- the act spent a month going back and forth between the House of Commons and the house of lords due to disagreements over proposed amendments.

·         April 2024 – the Safety of Rwanda Act is formally ratified and receives royal assent.


The Safety of Rwanda Act is a legal declaration that Rwanda is a safe country. Thus, the previous decision by the European Courts of Human Rights has been declared void.

This Rwanda deportation agenda has been a flagship policy of Rishi Sunak’s government, and he has continued to push for it despite the plethora of challenges and consequences his party has faced because of it.

Never mind the internal Tory opposition to the legislation, the bill has also been criticized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as well as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The reason why is that Britain is superseding internationally agreed-upon human rights legislation.  

Legalistic jargon aside, why has Britain’s conservative party taken on this political agenda?

Well, it’s a deterrence policy aimed at discouraging illegal immigration into the United Kingdom, with the political focus being on those arriving illegally by crossing the channel.

Rishi says it's for their own safety, with 5 people drowning just this week, which the PM has called a tragedy. While I'm sure some believe that the Tory’s heart bleeds for the misfortunate, I would argue that the real reason is that his support base hates immigrants, and this is a good way to say he’s getting rid of immigrants, and thus earn votes for the coming election.

In total 92,000 immigrants illegally arrived in the UK by small boat between January 2018 and June 2023. They are most commonly an adult male, either from Iran, Albania, Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria. While it has been claimed that there are as many as two million illegal immigrants in the UK, this figure is undoubtedly smaller but also difficult to accurately measure, as such residents aren’t on the records.

 Whatever the actual figure is, any first or second-hand nasty experience with a foreigner, legal or illegal, real or imagined, is enough to convince many voters that there are too many illegal immigrants.

 I believe the Tory party is using illegal immigration as a political scapegoat, and a distraction from the fact that the conservative party in secret needs and wants immigrants to come to the UK to keep the economy going.  

‘Incoherence and inconsistency’: the inside story of the Rwanda deportation plan, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/05/incoherence-and-inconsistency-the-inside-story-of-the-rwanda-deportation-plan

Fact check: It is not known how many illegal immigrants are in the UK, Reuters https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN26L2EH/

Irregular migration to the UK, year ending June 2023, UK Gov https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/irregular-migration-to-the-uk-year-ending-june-2023/irregular-migration-to-the-uk-year-ending-june-2023#about

Migrants in the UK Labour Market: An Overview, The Migration Observatory https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/migrants-in-the-uk-labour-market-an-overview/

Migration statistics, House of Commons Library https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06077/

PM will fail on Rwanda Bill - Suella Braverman: BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-67646250.amp

Q&A: The UK’s policy to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, The Migration Observatory https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/commentaries/qa-the-uks-policy-to-send-asylum-seekers-to-rwanda/

Supreme Court rules Rwanda asylum policy unlawful, BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-67423745

UK-Rwanda asylum law: UN leaders warn of harmful consequences, UN OHCHR https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/04/uk-rwanda-asylum-law-un-leaders-warn-harmful-consequences

With Rwanda deportation bill, U.K. evades human rights norms it established, The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/18/rwanda-bill-migrants-deportation-uk/
Jeannie
Good article Ben - but you make out as if the migration problem in the Uk is a Tories conspiracy - the Uk is splitting at the seams - not sure what the solution to the problem is though
written on 2024-04-29 20:50:03
Kate Robertson
Hi Ben, immigration throughout is 80-90% single male. If they had not done brexit do you think their economy would be as dire? Yes I know I’ve not got anything to add but I thought I’d comment anyway.
written on 2024-04-30 06:29:44
Ben
Hi Kate. Yes I do believe so, but Brexit can be seen as accelerating an already existing decline.
written on 2024-04-30 08:23:10
jeannie
Ben, how about a new article and a mailing list. What do you think of this new action by Russia to lure Cubans into the Ukraine fighting?
written on 2024-05-06 11:55:41
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16.04.24 - Iran strikes Israel. What now?

#Iran #Israel

Israel has two paths it can take in response, strike back, or declare victory.  

Iran in coordination with its allies in Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen, launched in total 170 drones, 120 ballistic missiles and 30 cruise missiles at Israel. Israel’s missile defence systems intercepted 99% of these projectiles, and despite the barrage, only 2 Israeli military airports and one intelligence centre have been damaged. As well as this, zero casualties have been imposed. These facts may be why President Biden was able to convince Prime Minister Netanyahu not to launch an immediate counterstrike, with Biden stating “You got a win. Take the win”.

I told Prime Minister Netanyahu that Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks — sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel,

This is a surprisingly timid reaction from the US. It’s an unexpected move that breaks with previous US foreign policy decisions- imagine what the response would be if a Bush were still in office.

This is a demonstration of an American soft detachment from Israel and a declaration that the United States does not wish to help start an expansive & expensive war across the Middle East.

In other words, Iran successfully called Biden’s bluff, and now they are a regional power. It is highly doubtful this will be the last missile barrage. 

Without America’s support, I am unsure whether Israel will launch a retaliatory strike, but given this open hostility, they will need to prepare for an outright conflict against Hezbollah in Lebanon.


https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/14/iran-attacks-israel-with-over-300-drones-missiles-what-you-need-to-know

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/13/israeli-army-says-iran-has-launched-drones-at-israel

https://www.tasnimnews.com/fa/news/1403/01/26/3068021/%D8%B3%D8%B1%D9%84%D8%B4%DA%A9%D8%B1-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%88%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%87-%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%82-%D8%A8%D8%A7-%D9%85%D9%88%D9%81%D9%82%DB%8C%D8%AA-%DA%A9%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%B4%D8%AF

https://www.axios.com/2024/04/14/biden-netanyahu-iran-israel-us-wont-support

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09.04.24 - The UK Tories won’t just loose to Labour, they may even lose to the Nigel Farage Party, Reform UK.

#UK

The next UK election can occur no later than January 2025, but by then the Tories might be so unpopular, they might not even come second place.

Consider the 2019 UK election, almost 5 years ago now. It was Boris Johnson, leading with a “Get Brexit Done” marketing package, and Jeremy Corbyn, a greater Satan to all upper-class Englishmen. It was a resounding Tory victory, gaining a clear parliamentary majority, and 44% of the popular vote:

 2019 election Result

Conservative

 

44%

Labour

32%

Liberal Democrats

7%

SNP

4%

 

Consider this victory, with the latest polling from The Times (2-3 April)

Conservative

20%

Labour

43%

Liberal Democrats

8%

Reform UK

16%

Green

8%

 

Given that Reform UK was only polling at 9% at the beginning of the year, I’d say they have a serious possibility of gaining enough momentum to oust the Tories as the UK’s leading conservative party. Nigel Farage, the ideological founder of Reform UK, and its ancestor UKIP had this to say on the matter:

If reform closed down tomorrow the Tories will still only get 120 seats-they're done…

it's over, they've lied to us they're liars and charlatans. They didn't even believe in Brexit…

Boris didn't believe in Brexit and I've come to realize that sadly over this period of time. They're not worthy of our votes- they're going to lose anyway…  

I think there's a real chance that reform could win a very very significant number of seats...

What is the conservative party? I'm told it's a broad Church, well it's a broad church with no religion, it doesn't actually stand for anything so I would like to see this conservative party replaced.

You can watch the full interview by The Telegram here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPYqLlKDMTM&ab_channel=TheTelegraph


This Rightist infighting will continue until one of them consumes the other, until then, expect a Labour government.

https://ygo-assets-websites-editorial-emea.yougov.net/documents/TheTimes_VI_240403_W.pdf

hanlie
YOU MUST GO FOR jOUNALISM you seem very informed and interested BEN. from South Africa
written on 2024-05-01 18:12:57
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05.04.24 - Artificial Intelligence & War

#Isreal

We are no longer dealing with hypotheticals or science fiction, Artificial Intelligence is being utilised as a weapon of war to kill people with an apathetic level of oversight.

This week, Yuval Abraham, an Israeli citizen from +972 Magazine, in collaboration with Local Call, has put together a damning article that highlights the brutality and callousness of the IDF’s war against the Palestinian people.

Here are the highlights:

·         The artificial intelligence (AI) system known as Lavender is being used to automatically generate kill lists for the Israeli military.

·         The AI system marks all people suspected of being Palestinian militants and generates a list of bombing targets within Gaza.

·         This system was adopted during the early stages of the war, and 37,000 Palestinians were marked for death, with no process in place to double-check the machine's conclusions.

·         This system was adopted despite acknowledgments that at least 10% of the people placed on these target lists were placed in error by the machine.

·         This AI system was used in concurrence with other systems, such as Where’s Daddy? which was designed to signal to the IDF when their people entered their family residence.

·         Due to the expense of guided missiles, larger and more collateral-inducing dumb bombs are extensively used, with the outcome being that entire buildings and their inhabitants have been marked for death because a machine determined that an enemy operative was in the building.

·         The IDF has internally permitted up to 20 collateral kills per enemy combatant destroyed by these raids, and for enemy commanders, 100 civilian deaths are permitted.

Here is a list of statements from the IDF soldiers the journalist interviewed:

At 5 a.m., [the air force] would come and bomb all the houses that we had marked… We took out thousands of people. We didn’t go through them one by one — we put everything into automated systems, and as soon as one of [the marked individuals] was at home, he immediately became a target. We bombed him and his house…

It was very surprising for me that we were asked to bomb a house to kill a ground soldier, whose importance in the fighting was so low… I nicknamed those targets ‘garbage targets.’ Still, I found them more ethical than the targets that we bombed just for ‘deterrence’ — highrises that are evacuated and toppled just to cause destruction.

A human being had to [verify the target] for just a few seconds… At first, we did checks to ensure that the machine didn’t get confused. But at some point we relied on the automatic system, and we only checked that [the target] was a man — that was enough. It doesn’t take a long time to tell if someone has a male or a female voice.

if the [Hamas] target gave [his phone] to his son, his older brother, or just a random man. That person will be bombed in his house with his family. This happened often. These were most of the mistakes caused by Lavender,

Let’s say you calculate [that there is one] Hamas [operative] plus 10 [civilians in the house],… Usually, these 10 will be women and children. So absurdly, it turns out that most of the people you killed were women and children.

It was like that with all the junior targets… The only question was, is it possible to attack the building in terms of collateral damage? Because we usually carried out the attacks with dumb bombs, and that meant literally destroying the whole house on top of its occupants. But even if an attack is averted, you don’t care — you immediately move on to the next target. Because of the system, the targets never end. You have another 36,000 waiting.

At first we attacked almost without considering collateral damage… In practice, you didn’t really count people [in each house that is bombed], because you couldn’t really tell if they’re at home or not. After a week, restrictions on collateral damage began. The number dropped [from 15] to five, which made it really difficult for us to attack, because if the whole family was home, we couldn’t bomb it. Then they raised the number again.

In the bombing of the commander of the Shuja’iya Battalion, we knew that we would kill over 100 civilians… For me, psychologically, it was unusual. Over 100 civilians — it crosses some red line.

Sometimes [the target] was at home earlier, and then at night he went to sleep somewhere else, say underground, and you didn’t know about it,” one of the sources said. “There are times when you double-check the location, and there are times when you just say, ‘Okay, he was in the house in the last few hours, so you can just bomb.

They are using this new technology in Gaza because the Palestinians can be used as Guinea pigs by the IDF and the American military-industrial complex. This technology is a gross violation of the rules of engagement and helps explain why 33,000+ Gazans have been killed in this war so far,  the highest death toll of any 21st-century conflict to date.

Soon, AI will be utilised by all the military-industrial complexes of the world to generate these assassination-bombing lists. War truly lacks humanity.

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02.04.24 - The IDF has again bombed Syria, continuing to live up to its reputation

#Israel

Since its foundation Israel has routinely struck outside its borders to kill its enemies. To get some perspective on this latest strike, here is a brief list of Israeli air raids into Arab states:

·         8th September 1972 Wrath of God air raids against Palestinian refugee camps in Syria & Lebanon- up to 200 PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) killed.

·         7th June 1981 Operation Babylon, where the IDF bombed an Iraqi Nuclear research centre in Baghdad- 10 Iraqi and 1 French man killed.

·         1st October 1985 Operation Wooden Leg, where the IDF struck a PLO base in Tunisia, killing 67.

·         25th July 1993 Operation Accountability, where Israeli hammered southern Lebanon with munitions for a week, killing 159, and temporarily displacing 300,000.

·         6th September 2007 Operation Outside the Box, where Israel bombed a nuclear reactor in eastern Syria, killing 10.

·          31st January 2013 airstrike against a munitions convoy going across southern Syria, killing two.

This strike against Iran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria, has killed 7, including Iranian Brigadier General Zahedi. It is an outstanding event comparable in escalatory repercussions to the other air strikes mentioned above. However, at the same time, this event is hardly out of the ordinary. Since 2022, Israel has killed 95 in total during its 23 air strikes into Syria.

This operation looks to be an opportunistic move by the IDF, to kill a high-ranking enemy of Israel. It will lead to heightened tensions, and a “decisive response” from Iran. What this will be, we will likely see in the coming months.

Most (but not all) of these victims were military. However, this does not excuse Israel routine and blatant disregard of international law.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/1/several-killed-in-israeli-strike-on-iranian-consulate-in-damascus-reports

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-bombs-iran-embassy-syria-iranian-commanders-among-dead-2024-04-01/

https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/03/world/tunisia-s-leader-bitter-at-the-us.html

https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1996/Israel.htm

https://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-xpm-2013-jan-30-la-fg-israel-syria-20130131-story.html

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/10/israeli-attacks-on-syria-in-the-past-year-a-timeline

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/13/israel-strikes-syrias-west-coast-killing-soldiers-and-wounding-six

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68691102

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01.04.24 - Welcome to Ben's website

#launch

The World According to Ben has launched!
More updates to come very soon...
This is not a April Fools Joke
Jamie
Awesome!
written on 2024-04-29 19:21:18
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01.04.24 - Erdogan loses local elections to the party of Ataturk

#Turkey

While he remains president, Erdogan's hold on power in Turkey has been undermined by the Republican People's Party (or the CHP) victories in the ballot box. The Republican People's Party has for a century now stood for the secularisation and westernisation of the Turkish nation in an observably Hegelian manner.  

 

As has always been the case, this liberal political drive has been centred around its cities, and by no means do these local elections indicate a guaranteed return to power for the CHP. It is important to keep in mind that the last presidential election was won by Erdogan with a 5-point lead just last year. 

 

Will the Turkish left be able to ride this wave long enough to win the 2028 presidential elections? it is doubtful. To take Erdogan's words, this "is not an end for us but rather a turning point". I agree with him here, the Turkish right is far from defeated, rather, it is merely threatened, and now that it knows it is threatened, it will undoubtedly prepare for the next political encounter, whether that be with a renewed electoral strategy, or perhaps another coup it can counter. 

 

https://www.ft.com/content/0deeaad7-d98f-46a3-aac9-a4e18086e8b1

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31.03.24 - Kamala Harris is campaigning for the youth vote

#USA

The democratic party, a big tent party that relies on youth votes but is unwilling to prioritise them in policy.

 

With the presidential race well under way, and with the polls looking neck and neck, vice president Kamala Harris has made a scene this month campaigning on the issue of drugs.  She invited people who were convicted for marijuana related crimes into the Whitehouse to lead a discussion about drug reform. Such a move shouldn’t be read as a genuine attempt by her to fix the scars left by the War on Drugs, but instead as a strategic manoeuvre engineered by the Democratic party PR and campaigning team to get more young people voting for democrats.

 

Other issues that Kamala has put a spotlight on this month include:

·      the issue of abortion, with her visiting an abortion clinic in Minnesota on the 14th,

·      Gaza, calling for a ceasefire in speech in Alabama on the 4th

·      and school shootings, making a speech in Florida at a scene where one happened on the 23rd

 

All this has occurred because the democratic staffers must have done the math and realised for the democrats to win, they’ll need the youngsters to go out and vote for them. While I cannot speak for the zeitgeist of the older, more moderate majority, I can speak for my generation, who think of Kamala as a cop who laughs awkwardly when put under pressure. The exception to this is my liberal Indian friends, who seemed pleased by her because Kamala is half Indian.

 

If the democratic party wants to win the young over this election, they’ll need to do more than campaign, they’ll need to tangibly change their lives for the better through real policy decisions. However, rather than seeing progress on these young people issues, the Biden administration has over seen a retreat and stagnation on the issues of women’s right, gun rights, drug rights and now, Palestinian rights.

 

Yet, given the democrats rely even more on the swing voting moderates to win elections, taking any radical action on these issues will not happen, as doing so would cost them electability with the moderates.  

 

 

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/generic-ballot/

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/kamala-harris-pushes-envelope-biden-struggles-with-some-democrats-2024-03-29/

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29.03.24 - Philippines response to South China Sea Incident

#South-China-Sea

Yesterday, the President of the Philippines made a speech proclaiming that his nation “will not be cowed into silence, submission, or subservience”. This anti-colonial rhetoric is a diplomatic response to non-lethal attacks by the Chinese navy onto Philippines logistic vessels that were headed for a Pilipino military outpost in the disputed territory.

The reason for this dispute is a historical Republic of China’s claim over the South China sea, that the People’s Republic of China inherited after winning the civil war and has since started enforcing in earnest since 2013.

This conflict is unlikely to escalate beyond low stakes, low personal skirmishes that exist somewhere in the gap between international law and the realpolitik of might makes right. Or in other words, if the Philippines cannot maintain an outpost on an island, there right to that island’s territory ceases to de facto exist.

The president could be drawing attention to this for multiple reasons,

 1.He could be vying for greater US military assistance, in order to combat the actual internal threats the Philippines faces.

 2.The internal political situation of the Philippines should be accounted for, as he could be accused of being weak on foreign policy if he wasn’t diplomatically combative against China over these skirmishes.

Thus, I suggest that these anti-colonial remarks are not a signifier of any change to the ongoing dispute, rather an organic outburst of the Philippines interlocked political-military situation regarding the border disputes.

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25.03.24 - Armenian Fascist’s attack police station in Yerevan

#NagornoKarabakh

Three gunmen attacked a police station in Armenia’s capital today, with two of them wounding themselves with their own grenades. Reuters has reported that the group associated with the Gunman, Combat Brotherhood (ԱԶԱՏ ՀԱՅԱՍՏԱՆ/Martakan Yeghbayrutyun), has only 50 members, however from my own research the organisation appears to have a much larger support base, considering it has 8.5K followers on Facebook, and 2.41k subscribers on YouTube. Here is their official response to the incident (https://martakan.am/posts/GPVlx2VC8yLQ7G1iKJum). I call them fascists due to their spiritual-ethnonationalist manifesto which has all the tell tale signs of a fascist political project, espousing aims to cleanse the nation to be religiously and ethnically whole, fight internal and external enemies, lead a revolution etc etc.

This event can be read as an outburst of Armenia’s ongoing political instability that has been caused by the Nagorno-Karabakh war, which Armenia lost in 2023 following Azerbaijan’s drone and tank lead invasion of the disputed region.

Whether Armenian society will be able to psychologically come to terms with their defeat, remains an open question given todays news.

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24.03.24 - Russia has deadliest Terror attack since 1999

#russia

The Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISIL-K) is a militant Sunni group whose aims is to oust the status quo and usher in an age of Jihad and Caliphate. Khorasan is a large historic and geographic place that encompassed the northern section of the Persian empire (which encompasses much of contemporary Afghanistan). In July 2023 a UN report estimated ISIL-K was a “serious terrorist threat in Afghanistan and the wider region”, with the group having an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 members. This attack killed 135 in Moscow and presents a serious threat to the stability and moral well being of the Russian state and people. One can expect a response comparable to the response the Russian state had to the Chechen 1999 attacks in Moscow that killed 307.

It is important to mention that their remains’ debate on whether the 1999 attacks were an inside job. True or not though, it had the effect of considerably bolstering Vladimir’s Putin’s electoral success in the 2000 Presidential election and justified to many russians the emergency of a military emergency state. One can find a political comparison to how the Americans published laws like the Patriot Act following 911. Considering this latest attack, one can expect the Russian society to bolster its support for the Russian military-civilian state apparatus and Russia can be expected to respond to this attack by coordinating with its Central Asian allies to launch surgical strikes, assassinations and so on. 

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will likely take on some heat from Russia for not combating this group thoroughly enough within its borders of, however Russia doesn’t have the capacity to repeat past mistakes like 1979, or 2001…..

 

In an interesting rhetorical move, Putin has decided to impart blame for this attack onto the Ukrainians, this is nonsense but those who support Putin already will buy it.

 

I have my suspicions that the CIA is involved with this somehow, but until proof for things come up I will remain silent on such hunches, but when evidence comes up in 12 years I would appreciate the vindication.

Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015).

https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/4016440?ln=en&v=pdf#files

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This is a joint collaboration between Ben and Jamie.