Since 1932 the British Monarch has given a Christmas Day broadcast.
Initially this started out as a radio address. However in 1957 it also became a television broadcast. Traditionally the broadcast is recorded in early December in order to allow the tapes to be shipped out so the broadcast can be made to all the Monarch's subject's across the Commonwealth.
Although that tradition continues the Monarchy have progressed to using more modern forms of communication. As a result if you're so inclined you can watch the 2017 broadcast here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l73NdleGeXw
It finds the current Monarch - Queen Elizabeth II - in something of a playful mood.
It began with her announcing that on this day 60 years ago a very important presenter made a very important broadcast.
It then cut to archive footage of Queen Elizabeth making the first televised Christmas Day broadcast.
Although it went unspoken you could almost hear the Queen saying in a silly voice; "And that important person is me b*tches!"
The main theme of the broadcast is; "Home." This is a solid Christmas theme.
Christmas is of course a holiday that sees people to return to their homes to spend the holiday with their families. The tradition began in the Bible with Joseph and Mary being forced to return to Joseph's ancestral home in Judea where Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ.
However it is also the title of the 2015 animated movie; "Home" featuring Rihanna. She voices a human girl; "Gratuity - Tip - Tucci" who befriends an alien of the "Boov" species named; "Oh." He is voiced by Jim Parsons who is probably most famous as; "Sheldon Cooper" from the US TV show; "The Big Bang Theory."
So in short it is Rihanna and Sheldon going on an adventure together.
This movie was broadcast on UK terrestrial television for the first time by the BBC the previous day. December 24th 2017 (24/12/17).
The Queen then went on to say how she marvelled that how 60 years on from the first televised broadcast many people would be watching the 2017 broadcast on tablets, smartphones and other handheld devices.
Aimed at children and clearly put together in a rush following Rihanna's 2013 Diamonds World Tour (DWT) Home is not overburdened with plot.
However the main story involves Oh using the handheld devices that all the Boov have to accidentally send their location to their enemies. There is then a race to recall the email/sms message before the Boov's enemy receives it. This forms the basis for lots of jokes about computers, cellphones, passwords etc.
Having established that main theme the Queen then went through the big events of the year. In such a way as to turn them into references to Rihanna.
The big event of 2017 in the UK was the terror attack on the Manchester Evening News Arena (MENA) in the British city of Manchester on May 22nd (22/5/17). That was carried out by Qatar as part of an ongoing feud it was having with Saudi Arabia over Rihanna's relationship with the Saudi national Hassan Jameel.
Although it happened in May the MENA bombing is actually a very Christmas story. In the UK as elsewhere it is a tradition that children get given gifts by Father Christmas or Santa Claus.
This involves them writing a letter to Santa in late-November telling him what gifts they would like. There is then an excited wait to see if Santa will bring them what they've asked for. To add to the excitement there are these advent calenders where children countdown the days from the start of December up until Christmas Day.
Many of those who went to the Ariana Grande concert at the MENA would have been given their tickets by Santa. So for them the excited wait from November to Christmas Day would have been followed by another excited wait between Santa bringing them their tickets and the concert taking place.
When the day of the concert finally arrived they were blown up. In a particularly cruel terror attack.
In the broadcast the Queen made specific reference to how those injured had simply gone to see their favourite singer. With that singer going unnamed you could have assumed it was a reference to Rihanna.
In almost the same breath the Queen went on to mention the June 3rd (3/6/17) terror attack in the London Bridge area of London. Again carried out by Qatar this occurred the day before a charity concert for the victims of the MENA bombing as punishment for that concert.
Next the Queen spoke about the hurricanes that ravaged the Commonwealth islands in the Caribbean. Rihanna is of course from the Commonwealth Caribbean island of Barbados which became the main aid distribution hub in response to the hurricanes.
Finally the Queen mentioned the UK Labour Party's arson attack on the Grenfell Tower apartment building in London on June 14th (14/6/17). However the Queen merely described this as; "Appalling."
Grenfell Tower of course was sadly not the UK Labour Party's first large scale arson attack. During the August 2011 riots they burned down large sections of the London borough of Croydon. The hope was they could build masses of rental housing so one of their financial backers could profit from plans to build a shopping mall in the area.
Through the song; "Run This Town" Rihanna along with Jay Z and Kanye West were blamed for the 2011 August riots. So I was 'married' off to Rihanna at the 2012 Para-Olympic Closing Ceremony. Where Rihanna and Jay Z performed "Run This Town" surrounded by just so much fire.
Unfortunately between the Queen's Christmas Day broadcast being recorded and it being, well, broadcast Britain received something of a fright.
On or around December 21st (21/12/17) Russia began sailing the Admiral Gorshkov warship through international waters between the UK and continental Europe. This is a standard navigation route for ships travelling between the Baltic Sea, the Atlantic Ocean and beyond.
However Britain panicked and dispatched the HMS Argus warship to shadow the Admiral Gorshkov as it made its journey.
The reason for this overreaction is that Britain has a dirty little secret planned for Russia.
With Christmas being a time for families to gather at home for the holiday it is a tradition that UK television networks debut their big new shows on New Year's Day.
The BBC's big New Year offering is; "McMafia." This is based on the non-fiction book by British Russian journalist Misha Glenny; "McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld" which examines organised crime and corruption in modern Russia.
The BBC's big New Year offering in 2017 was; "Sherlock." This was simultaneously broadcast within Russia.
The opening episode actually inspired the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to conduct twin terror attacks in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Samarra. The Russian broadcaster then leaked the final episode on the Internet a day early. I could not comment on whether that was done to troll people about the claims of "Russian Hacking!" which continue to be so fashionable in the US.
McMafia is set to be broadcast over 8 weeks which means it will reach its finale around the time of Russia's 2018 election in March. If it is to be broadcast in Russia it seems to be laying the groundwork for Alexey Navalney to stage a big, beautiful colour revolution. Similar to the one the UK attempted in Iran in 2009.
Worried that Russia had uncovered its plot Britain does what it always does when it's in panic, confused or just bored. It went on a killing spree.
On December 23rd (23/12/17) - the day HMS Argus began shadowing the Admiral Gorshkov - they set fire to part of London Zoo.
This reportedly killed an Aardvark named Misha - as in Misha Glenny - and several Meerkats. In the UK there is a long-running and much loved advertising campaign to the "Compare the Market" insurance broker that features Russian Meerkats.
Sadly I'm only about 60% joking when I say the deaths of the London Zoo Meerkats have been faked so they can be smuggled into Russia to lead the March 2018 revolution.
The following day (24/12/17) Britain murdered a Russian national - Iuliana Tudo - in the Finsbury Park area of London. A traditionally very Jewish part of London from a Russian perspective Finsbury Park is famous for being close to Highgate Cemetery - burial place of Karl Marx.
Ms Tudo whose body was discovered yesterday (28/12/17) worked at The World's End Pub in Camden. This seems to be a reference to the 2013 movie; "The World's End." Camden is a very trendy and media focused area of London.
In between Ms Tudo's murder and the discovery of her body Rihanna's cousin - Tavon Alleyne - was killed in a targeted shooting in Barbados on December 26th (26/12/17). He was returning from a party he'd attended with Rihanna.
This puts me in something of a difficult position. Despite our supposed marriage I know nothing more about this incident then what has been publicly reported. I am though close enough where I can cause upset and distress to the family.
In a situation like this you would first look to see whether the killing was the result of a robbery gone wrong.
You would then look for a possible financial motive. As Rihanna's cousin I suspect Tavon Alleyne had more spending money then an average 21 year old Bajan man. That extra money tends to attract unsavoury elements such as drug dealers and gamblers.
Fame and wealth also have a way for attracting jealously. Particularly if they're used to attract other people's wives and girlfriends.
Once those motives have been excluded you are left with the possibility that the UK carried the killing to send Rihanna a message.
For the past two weeks there has been intense discussion over how best to kill Rihanna's rumoured boyfriend Hassan Jameel. After all he is considered a high level supporter of ISIL and partly responsible for the murder of 22 British citizens in Manchester.
The question of whether it would be legally permissible to also kill Rihanna is more complicated. It really relates to the extent of her support for Jameel - the two are not married - and by extension her support for ISIL. Within the war against ISIL a certain amount of collateral damage is considered permissible. Even of people who have no such direct relationship to ISIL.
You would think that forcing Rihanna to attend the funeral of a loved one would really drive that point home to her.
After all I would have liked to have spent Remembrance Sunday (12/11/17) listing all those British citizens killed after volunteering to fight ISIL. Instead I spent the time trying to keep that list as short as possible.
18:25 on 29/12/17 (UK date).
Friday, 29 December 2017
Friday, 22 December 2017
Tis the Season to Spread Good Cheer.
Monday December 25th (25/12/17) will mark Christmas Day in the Gregorian calender.
For Christians this is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ who they consider to be the son of God. Muslims may also choose to mark the day as a celebration of the birth of Jesus - one of God's messengers.
Regardless of religion many people choose to mark the day by gathering together with family and loved ones. Together they eat a big meal, exchange gifts and the often watch a lot of television and movies.
For children the most important figure in this celebration is Santa Claus or Father Christmas. He is the jolly old man who breaks into their homes over Christmas Eve night and delivers them lots of presents.
For adults and particularly parents the even more important figures in the story are Santa's Little Helpers.
Although everyone enjoys the day and the short holiday after the day Christmas involves so much work that everyone dreams of magic little elves that come in and do the work for them.
As you may have noticed this week I have largely been preoccupied with all that extra work. What I would like to have been doing today is providing you with a quick update on the current fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and associated groups. Then move onto something more festive.
Unfortunately I am still stuck dealing with the fallout from the popstar Rihanna's decision to date a senior ISIL supporter. A Saudi by the name of Hassan Jameel.
You can read more about that in Monday's (18/12/17) post; https://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/every-con-leaves-its-mark.html
As I was writing that post there was a security incident at Royal Air Force (RAF) base Mildenhall in the British county of Suffolk. This military base is also used by the United States Air Force (USAF).
Apparently a man drove his vehicle through checkpoints onto the base and came within metres/yards of US V-22 Osprey aircraft before shots were fired and his Volvo estate car came to a halt. The man was arrested uninjured and detained under the Mental Health Act.
RAF Mildenhall had been the focus of a threat from Islamist terrorism back in May 2016. ISIL supporters Junead Khan and Shazib Khan were jailed for plotting to attack either that base or the nearby RAF Lakenhall.
Junead Khan had worked as a delivery driver for a pharmaceutical company. He may well have delivered products made by Israel's Teva or Barry Sherman's Apotex.
In discussing Rihanna's relationship with Hassan Jameel Germany referenced the US TV Show; "The Unit." This featured the actor John Hamm just before he became famous for his role in the US TV show; "Mad Men."
In The Unit John Hamm's character was an anti-war protester who was always demonstrating and trying to gain entry to the base. Although I will need to check the record I think he bonded with the wife of one of the unit members during a shooting incident at or near the base.
The fact that the incident at RAF Mildenhall resulted in a man being detained under the Mental Health Act really underlined John Hamm's role in The Unit. He is of course probably the world's most famous Mad Man.
The primary objective of Rihanna's 2013 Diamonds World Tour (DWT) was to force her into psychotic breakdown/mental health emergency while in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). As a result mental health issues have a been a constant theme in her story.
In the immediate aftermath of the RAF Mildenhall incident there was lots of discussion over whether it was a terrorist incident or not. That reflected the discussion over whether Hassan Jameel and by extension Rihanna are terrorists or not.
The RAF Mildenhall incident forced the US to announce that it did not consider the incident and by extension Hassan Jameel to be terrorist related. That was done both to make the US look like fools and to justify the UK's hosting of the Rihanna/Jameel relationship.
While the RAF Mildenhall incident was underway the US seemed to be realising its error in its own special way. A train derailed and crashed in the Du Pont Circle area of Portland in the US state of Washington.
When a plan or a person is starting to fall apart it is common to say that; "It is going off the rails." If it goes really badly it may be described as; "A Train Wreck." Amy Schumer's 2015 movie; "Trainwreck" was all about a woman's personal life becoming a disaster.
Obviously in the wake of Monday' (18/12/17) train wreck there has been lots of discussion about what caused things to go off the rails. The main explanation offered so far is that the train was moving quicker than the track could cope with.
This explanation rather confirms Britain's theory. The US is trying to flip the Rihanna/Jameel relationship so information about Saudi Arabia will flow to the US via Rihanna. They're obviously upset that the UK was so quick on the uptake about this they were able to put in place a plan to piggyback on the flow of information.
The Du Pont Circle derailment also seems similar to the plot of the 2010 movie; "Unstoppable." This revolves efforts to stop a runaway train before it derails and flies off the tracks. Again I'll need to check the record but I think in the movie they're particularly concerned about a bend in the track by a (Portland) cement factory.
Rihanna's 2013 Diamonds World Tour (DWT) was preceded by her mini "777 Tour" in late 2012.
This saw Rihanna, her entourage and specially selected music journalists packed aboard a Boeing 777. They all travelled together as Rihanna performed 7 concerts in 7 countries over 7 days.
This gruelling schedule left all involved overtired and angry. The journalists were particularly unhappy about being crammed into economy class and then being forced to wait on the tarmac for hours in London, UK because Rihanna and her entourage couldn't be bothered to get out of their beds in luxury hotels.
By the end of the 777 Tour all the journalists involved, the publications they worked for, all their friends and all the publications they worked for were pretty much ready to kill Rihanna. It took a major charm offensive from people like me to stop them taking their revenge on Rihanna's 2013 "Unapologetic" album and the DWT it supported.
In the movie Unstoppable the runaway train is designated by the callsign; "777." As a result it features lots of dialogue such as; "777 Must Be Stopped!" and; "If 777 isn't stopped it will be a disaster!"
Watching the movie right before the start of Rihanna's 777 Tour I found it to be a comedy classic. They should probably have shown it on the plane.
America's Washington state is home to State Attorney General Bob Ferguson. He rose to prominence early in 2017 by leading the opposition to US President Trump's restrictions on immigration. As with all others who followed AG Ferguson's objections have recently been ruled invalid by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).
On December 11th (11/12/17) a Bangladeshi immigration tried and failed to carry out an Islamist terror attack in New York City, New York, US.
Supporters of AG Ferguson and opponents of President Trump leapt on this as evidence that Trump's so-called Muslim Ban was racist and did nothing to improve America's security. As with so much in their lives in doing this they really didn't think it through.
If Trump was trying to impose a Muslim ban you would think that he would start with Muslim majority nations. The fact that The People's Republic of Bangladesh and its near neighbour The Islamic Republic of Pakistan are not affected by the ban are actually evidence that Trump's immigration restrictions are not a Muslim ban.
Also if AG Ferguson and others had not acted unlawfully in attempting to block President Trump's immigration restrictions they would have gone into effect when they were announced in early 2017. By now they would have been refined so nations who've made changes would be removed from the ban while nations who are now providing cause for concern would be included.
On Tuesday (19/12/17) the US' neighbour to the south Mexico joined the discussion with a tour bus crash that killed 8 US citizens.
To my shame Latin American continues to represent something of a black hole in my knowledge. However I do know that the bus was being operated as an excursion by the Royal Caribbean cruise line.
Although she's often mistaken for an American Rihanna is actually from the Caribbean island of Barbados. This is part of the UK Commonwealth making it part of the, well, Royal Caribbean.
I've also just learnt that the state where the crash occurred is named after Andres Quintana Roo - a key figure in Mexico's 1821 War of Independence. Of all the Mexican states it is also the one which sounds the most like; "Quinta Brigada."
Spanish for; "15th Brigade" the term Quinta Brigada is often used to refer to the International Brigades who fought for anti-Fascist Republican forces during Spain's 1936-1939 Civil War.
There has been a renewed interest in this oft forgotten period of history due to the anti-ISIL Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD) forming their own, much smaller International Brigade. Apparently under the leadership of commander Wayne Rooney.
Several US citizens have fought for and died for the SDF's International Brigade. Rihanna is currently lining up on the opposing side to those volunteers.
Also on Tuesday (19/12/17) raids were carried out a several addresses in the UK to prevent an Islamist terror plot. Although its not been confirmed it is believed that the raids disrupted an advanced plot to bomb shoppers at Christmas markets in London tomorrow (23/12/17).
Sadly rather than being part of the Rihanna/Jameel discussion I think this was genuine. Rihanna's associates are actively plotting to kill British citizens. If they British security services find out about those plots they are under an obligation to stop them.
On Thursday (21/12/17) Australia joined in the discussion. A man deliberately drove a Suzuki 4x4 into pedestrians outside Flinders Street Railway station in the city of Melbourne. This injured 19 people.
The city of Melbourne has a special place in Rihanna's 2013 Diamonds World Tour.
Throughout the tour one of the key issues was when Rihanna would leave one country and travel to another. Different nations had different political themes and different threat profiles.
For example the UAE had the maximum threat profile. So much so that Israel actually delayed a municipal election in Tel Aviv so they could get Rihanna into the country immediately after she'd visited the UAE.
The intention was that if the worst should happen Tel Aviv could function as something of an aid station. It would allow Rihanna to be assessed and treatment options and medical evacuations decided upon. Even using private jets medically evacuating some in a psychological crisis across continents is extremely complicated.
Rather than being driven by any political motive this was simply Israel showing the humanity it seems unable to extend to Palestinians.
As always seems to be the case Rihanna was extremely hostile to those trying to help her. This meant that she often tried to keep her movements from one country to another secret.
Following her concerts in China on September 13th (13/9/13) and September 14th (14/9/13) Rihanna even made a completely unscheduled trip to Thailand. That resulted in such a backlash Thailand conducted a coup to overthrow the government that agreed to it.
After her concerts in Australia and New Zealand Rihanna was supposed to head to South Africa. The last stop before the UAE this occurred at the most tense time of the tour. However Rihanna didn't go straight to South Africa. Instead she holed up in a hotel right on the shoreline in Sydney Harbour.
At the time Sydney Harbour was being used to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Australian Navy. This meant that Sydney Harbour was filled with 20 warships from 17 nations all showing off their big guns and noisy aircraft. Hardly a restful place for Rihanna particularly as her fanbase; "The Navy" didn't exactly measure up.
So Melbourne suggested it was time for Rihanna to leave Australia. They did this by letting a Kangaroo loose at Melbourne Airport.
As with the RAF Mildenhall incident the Melbourne incident raised the question of whether Hassan Jameel and by extension Rihanna are considered a terrorists. Actually using a Toyota 4x4 like the ones Hassan Jameel has supplied to ISIL would have been too obvious. It also raised the question of mental health issues.
The driver of the vehicle in Melbourne was quickly identified as an immigrant from Afghanistan with a long history of mental health problems and drug addiction. Rather than ruling out terrorism this means that he very firmly fits the profile of a suicide attacker. Particularly one in his native Afghanistan where ISIL are on the rise.
Far from the heroic image they like to project suicide bombers are often mentally retarded, mentally ill, terminally ill or owe massive debts to drug dealers. They either don't understand they're about to blow themselves up or do it in return for money for their families.
Alongside the driver police in Melbourne also arrested a second Muslim man at the scene. He was filming the attack while in possession of a three large knives.
Again this is classic Islamist terrorist behaviour.
I don't think any terrorist group has embraced propaganda quite like ISIL. However even before ISIL is was extremely common for terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan to film their attacks. They would then release the footage on the Internet.
This practice actually formed the basis for a major plot point in the 2007 movie; "The Kingdom." An attack on a compound housing American oil workers in Saudi Arabia was filmed by a terrorist mastermind in a nearby apartment building who then put the footage on the Internet.
If the American oil workers in the movie could learn to hold their bats properly they could well be celebrating a traditional Australian Christmas.
You can watch the first four minutes of The Kingdom here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKppKRnM7cU
The events at Flinders Street were accompanied by an explosion of gas used to power forklift trucks at the Bayside Shopping Centre in the Frankston area of the city. Sometimes known as; "Melbourne Market" this was in reference to the arrests made in the UK on Tuesday (19/12/17).
Rihanna has now returned to the US from the UK. However it's not so much her location that's the issue as the company she keeps.
17:20 on 22/12/17 (UK date).
For Christians this is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ who they consider to be the son of God. Muslims may also choose to mark the day as a celebration of the birth of Jesus - one of God's messengers.
Regardless of religion many people choose to mark the day by gathering together with family and loved ones. Together they eat a big meal, exchange gifts and the often watch a lot of television and movies.
For children the most important figure in this celebration is Santa Claus or Father Christmas. He is the jolly old man who breaks into their homes over Christmas Eve night and delivers them lots of presents.
For adults and particularly parents the even more important figures in the story are Santa's Little Helpers.
Although everyone enjoys the day and the short holiday after the day Christmas involves so much work that everyone dreams of magic little elves that come in and do the work for them.
As you may have noticed this week I have largely been preoccupied with all that extra work. What I would like to have been doing today is providing you with a quick update on the current fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and associated groups. Then move onto something more festive.
Unfortunately I am still stuck dealing with the fallout from the popstar Rihanna's decision to date a senior ISIL supporter. A Saudi by the name of Hassan Jameel.
You can read more about that in Monday's (18/12/17) post; https://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/every-con-leaves-its-mark.html
As I was writing that post there was a security incident at Royal Air Force (RAF) base Mildenhall in the British county of Suffolk. This military base is also used by the United States Air Force (USAF).
Apparently a man drove his vehicle through checkpoints onto the base and came within metres/yards of US V-22 Osprey aircraft before shots were fired and his Volvo estate car came to a halt. The man was arrested uninjured and detained under the Mental Health Act.
RAF Mildenhall had been the focus of a threat from Islamist terrorism back in May 2016. ISIL supporters Junead Khan and Shazib Khan were jailed for plotting to attack either that base or the nearby RAF Lakenhall.
Junead Khan had worked as a delivery driver for a pharmaceutical company. He may well have delivered products made by Israel's Teva or Barry Sherman's Apotex.
In discussing Rihanna's relationship with Hassan Jameel Germany referenced the US TV Show; "The Unit." This featured the actor John Hamm just before he became famous for his role in the US TV show; "Mad Men."
In The Unit John Hamm's character was an anti-war protester who was always demonstrating and trying to gain entry to the base. Although I will need to check the record I think he bonded with the wife of one of the unit members during a shooting incident at or near the base.
The fact that the incident at RAF Mildenhall resulted in a man being detained under the Mental Health Act really underlined John Hamm's role in The Unit. He is of course probably the world's most famous Mad Man.
The primary objective of Rihanna's 2013 Diamonds World Tour (DWT) was to force her into psychotic breakdown/mental health emergency while in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). As a result mental health issues have a been a constant theme in her story.
In the immediate aftermath of the RAF Mildenhall incident there was lots of discussion over whether it was a terrorist incident or not. That reflected the discussion over whether Hassan Jameel and by extension Rihanna are terrorists or not.
The RAF Mildenhall incident forced the US to announce that it did not consider the incident and by extension Hassan Jameel to be terrorist related. That was done both to make the US look like fools and to justify the UK's hosting of the Rihanna/Jameel relationship.
While the RAF Mildenhall incident was underway the US seemed to be realising its error in its own special way. A train derailed and crashed in the Du Pont Circle area of Portland in the US state of Washington.
When a plan or a person is starting to fall apart it is common to say that; "It is going off the rails." If it goes really badly it may be described as; "A Train Wreck." Amy Schumer's 2015 movie; "Trainwreck" was all about a woman's personal life becoming a disaster.
Obviously in the wake of Monday' (18/12/17) train wreck there has been lots of discussion about what caused things to go off the rails. The main explanation offered so far is that the train was moving quicker than the track could cope with.
This explanation rather confirms Britain's theory. The US is trying to flip the Rihanna/Jameel relationship so information about Saudi Arabia will flow to the US via Rihanna. They're obviously upset that the UK was so quick on the uptake about this they were able to put in place a plan to piggyback on the flow of information.
The Du Pont Circle derailment also seems similar to the plot of the 2010 movie; "Unstoppable." This revolves efforts to stop a runaway train before it derails and flies off the tracks. Again I'll need to check the record but I think in the movie they're particularly concerned about a bend in the track by a (Portland) cement factory.
Rihanna's 2013 Diamonds World Tour (DWT) was preceded by her mini "777 Tour" in late 2012.
This saw Rihanna, her entourage and specially selected music journalists packed aboard a Boeing 777. They all travelled together as Rihanna performed 7 concerts in 7 countries over 7 days.
This gruelling schedule left all involved overtired and angry. The journalists were particularly unhappy about being crammed into economy class and then being forced to wait on the tarmac for hours in London, UK because Rihanna and her entourage couldn't be bothered to get out of their beds in luxury hotels.
By the end of the 777 Tour all the journalists involved, the publications they worked for, all their friends and all the publications they worked for were pretty much ready to kill Rihanna. It took a major charm offensive from people like me to stop them taking their revenge on Rihanna's 2013 "Unapologetic" album and the DWT it supported.
In the movie Unstoppable the runaway train is designated by the callsign; "777." As a result it features lots of dialogue such as; "777 Must Be Stopped!" and; "If 777 isn't stopped it will be a disaster!"
Watching the movie right before the start of Rihanna's 777 Tour I found it to be a comedy classic. They should probably have shown it on the plane.
America's Washington state is home to State Attorney General Bob Ferguson. He rose to prominence early in 2017 by leading the opposition to US President Trump's restrictions on immigration. As with all others who followed AG Ferguson's objections have recently been ruled invalid by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).
On December 11th (11/12/17) a Bangladeshi immigration tried and failed to carry out an Islamist terror attack in New York City, New York, US.
Supporters of AG Ferguson and opponents of President Trump leapt on this as evidence that Trump's so-called Muslim Ban was racist and did nothing to improve America's security. As with so much in their lives in doing this they really didn't think it through.
If Trump was trying to impose a Muslim ban you would think that he would start with Muslim majority nations. The fact that The People's Republic of Bangladesh and its near neighbour The Islamic Republic of Pakistan are not affected by the ban are actually evidence that Trump's immigration restrictions are not a Muslim ban.
Also if AG Ferguson and others had not acted unlawfully in attempting to block President Trump's immigration restrictions they would have gone into effect when they were announced in early 2017. By now they would have been refined so nations who've made changes would be removed from the ban while nations who are now providing cause for concern would be included.
On Tuesday (19/12/17) the US' neighbour to the south Mexico joined the discussion with a tour bus crash that killed 8 US citizens.
To my shame Latin American continues to represent something of a black hole in my knowledge. However I do know that the bus was being operated as an excursion by the Royal Caribbean cruise line.
Although she's often mistaken for an American Rihanna is actually from the Caribbean island of Barbados. This is part of the UK Commonwealth making it part of the, well, Royal Caribbean.
I've also just learnt that the state where the crash occurred is named after Andres Quintana Roo - a key figure in Mexico's 1821 War of Independence. Of all the Mexican states it is also the one which sounds the most like; "Quinta Brigada."
Spanish for; "15th Brigade" the term Quinta Brigada is often used to refer to the International Brigades who fought for anti-Fascist Republican forces during Spain's 1936-1939 Civil War.
There has been a renewed interest in this oft forgotten period of history due to the anti-ISIL Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD) forming their own, much smaller International Brigade. Apparently under the leadership of commander Wayne Rooney.
Several US citizens have fought for and died for the SDF's International Brigade. Rihanna is currently lining up on the opposing side to those volunteers.
Also on Tuesday (19/12/17) raids were carried out a several addresses in the UK to prevent an Islamist terror plot. Although its not been confirmed it is believed that the raids disrupted an advanced plot to bomb shoppers at Christmas markets in London tomorrow (23/12/17).
Sadly rather than being part of the Rihanna/Jameel discussion I think this was genuine. Rihanna's associates are actively plotting to kill British citizens. If they British security services find out about those plots they are under an obligation to stop them.
On Thursday (21/12/17) Australia joined in the discussion. A man deliberately drove a Suzuki 4x4 into pedestrians outside Flinders Street Railway station in the city of Melbourne. This injured 19 people.
The city of Melbourne has a special place in Rihanna's 2013 Diamonds World Tour.
Throughout the tour one of the key issues was when Rihanna would leave one country and travel to another. Different nations had different political themes and different threat profiles.
For example the UAE had the maximum threat profile. So much so that Israel actually delayed a municipal election in Tel Aviv so they could get Rihanna into the country immediately after she'd visited the UAE.
The intention was that if the worst should happen Tel Aviv could function as something of an aid station. It would allow Rihanna to be assessed and treatment options and medical evacuations decided upon. Even using private jets medically evacuating some in a psychological crisis across continents is extremely complicated.
Rather than being driven by any political motive this was simply Israel showing the humanity it seems unable to extend to Palestinians.
As always seems to be the case Rihanna was extremely hostile to those trying to help her. This meant that she often tried to keep her movements from one country to another secret.
Following her concerts in China on September 13th (13/9/13) and September 14th (14/9/13) Rihanna even made a completely unscheduled trip to Thailand. That resulted in such a backlash Thailand conducted a coup to overthrow the government that agreed to it.
After her concerts in Australia and New Zealand Rihanna was supposed to head to South Africa. The last stop before the UAE this occurred at the most tense time of the tour. However Rihanna didn't go straight to South Africa. Instead she holed up in a hotel right on the shoreline in Sydney Harbour.
At the time Sydney Harbour was being used to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Australian Navy. This meant that Sydney Harbour was filled with 20 warships from 17 nations all showing off their big guns and noisy aircraft. Hardly a restful place for Rihanna particularly as her fanbase; "The Navy" didn't exactly measure up.
So Melbourne suggested it was time for Rihanna to leave Australia. They did this by letting a Kangaroo loose at Melbourne Airport.
As with the RAF Mildenhall incident the Melbourne incident raised the question of whether Hassan Jameel and by extension Rihanna are considered a terrorists. Actually using a Toyota 4x4 like the ones Hassan Jameel has supplied to ISIL would have been too obvious. It also raised the question of mental health issues.
The driver of the vehicle in Melbourne was quickly identified as an immigrant from Afghanistan with a long history of mental health problems and drug addiction. Rather than ruling out terrorism this means that he very firmly fits the profile of a suicide attacker. Particularly one in his native Afghanistan where ISIL are on the rise.
Far from the heroic image they like to project suicide bombers are often mentally retarded, mentally ill, terminally ill or owe massive debts to drug dealers. They either don't understand they're about to blow themselves up or do it in return for money for their families.
Alongside the driver police in Melbourne also arrested a second Muslim man at the scene. He was filming the attack while in possession of a three large knives.
Again this is classic Islamist terrorist behaviour.
I don't think any terrorist group has embraced propaganda quite like ISIL. However even before ISIL is was extremely common for terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan to film their attacks. They would then release the footage on the Internet.
This practice actually formed the basis for a major plot point in the 2007 movie; "The Kingdom." An attack on a compound housing American oil workers in Saudi Arabia was filmed by a terrorist mastermind in a nearby apartment building who then put the footage on the Internet.
If the American oil workers in the movie could learn to hold their bats properly they could well be celebrating a traditional Australian Christmas.
You can watch the first four minutes of The Kingdom here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKppKRnM7cU
The events at Flinders Street were accompanied by an explosion of gas used to power forklift trucks at the Bayside Shopping Centre in the Frankston area of the city. Sometimes known as; "Melbourne Market" this was in reference to the arrests made in the UK on Tuesday (19/12/17).
Rihanna has now returned to the US from the UK. However it's not so much her location that's the issue as the company she keeps.
17:20 on 22/12/17 (UK date).
Monday, 18 December 2017
Every Con Leaves It's Mark.
On June 27th (27/6/17) it was revealed that the US popstar Rihanna has a new man in her life.
He has since been identified as Hassan Jameel a 29 year old native of
Saudi Arabia.
Hassan Jameel and his family made their money by being the sole importer of Toyota motor vehicles into Saudi Arabia. Since 2015 he has been under investigation by the US Treasury Department's Terrorism Financing Unit for then supplying those Toyota vehicles to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
This US investigation has led to Hassan Jameel recently developing an unhealthy interest in British supermodel Naomi Campbell. He was in a similar relationship to the one he is currently in with Rihanna with Naomi Campbell back in 2015/16.
Hassan Jameel's interest in Naomi Campbell stems from the testimony she gave against Liberian warlord Charles Taylor in his trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Charles Taylor's conviction at that trial set the legal precedent that if you provide any form of material support - such as Toyota motor vehicles - to people engaging in war crimes and crimes against humanity then you are responsible for those crimes.
Naomi Campbell's involvement in that trial was triggered by Nelson Mandela. He introduced the two and in an effort to bed the supermodel Charles Taylor gave Naomi Campbell illegal, so-called; "Blood Diamonds." Mandela then took those blood diamonds off Naomi Campbell and stored them in a safe place until they could be used to prove Charles Taylor's involvement in child slavery.
Naomi Campbell does not have a reputation for being particularly intelligent. Nor does she have a reputation for being in any way empathetic to the suffering of others. Therefore there have long lingered questions over whether Naomi Campbell ever knew she was being used by Mandela in an effort to make Charles Taylor pay for his crimes.
Apparently ending apartheid and peacefully transitioning South Africa to an inclusive democracy was just Nelson Mandela getting warmed up.
In 2010 Rihanna along with Jay-Z and Kanye West released a song called; "Run This Town." Relying on some pretty specious reasoning this song was blamed both for the mass rioting that gripped Britain in August 2011 and the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt in January 2011.
Within the Middle-East, North Africa (MENA) by far the most corrupt, violent and repressive regimes are the Monarchies of the Gulf Region - nations such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Obviously they were very afraid of this notion that Arab people could rise up, overthrow corrupt regimes and peacefully transition to an inclusive democracy.
So in 2013 the US dispatched Rihanna on her Diamonds World Tour (DWT).
The highlight of this tour was supposed to be Rihanna being forced into some sort of psychotic breakdown/mental health emergency while in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on October 19th 2013 (19/10/13). As the least crazy of a bad bunch the UAE was chosen to represent all of the Gulf Monarchies.
This was supposed to served as a symbolic apology for any American involvement - real or imagined - in the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions.
The infighting that doing this to Rihanna would trigger was supposed to prevent the 19th Conference of Parties (COP19) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) progressing in its work to draw up a global agreement to combat climate change. Drawing their power entirely from a global dependence on fossil fuels the Gulf Monarchies are obviously very opposed to that.
In December 2015 the US and the Gulf Monarchies did achieve their objective of permanently blocking global action to combat climate change through the Paris Agreement adopted at COP21. However their effort to humiliate Rihanna in the UAE was a complete failure.
As with the World's roughly 1.7bn Muslims the Gulf Monarchies are not a unified bloc that all think and act the same. Instead even amongst these close allies there have long existed tensions over certain issues.
The main area of tension is between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The main cause of this tension is Saudi Arabia's opposition to Iran versus Qatar's relative support. There is also tensions between the two over Qatar's support for the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group.
Through the Muslim Brotherhood Qatar is closely allied to Turkey under President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
On July 16th 2016 (16/7/16) Erdogan hit a problem. Sections of the Turkish military rose up against him and his efforts to turn Turkey into an Islamist dictatorship.
The US took the curious step of warning Erdogan about this rising in order to help him survive. This warning included getting Rihanna to release the song; "Sledgehammer." Within Turkey is a sort of shorthand for the military rising up against Erdogan.
This prompted Saudi Arabia to dispatch Hassan Jameel to take ownership of Rihanna as a trophy. And in the process prevent her from undertaking any more work in support of Erdogan, Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood.
This escalated the feud between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It boiled over on May 22nd (22/5/17) with Qatar bombing the Manchester Evening News Arena (MENA) in the British city of Manchester murdering 22 and wounding over 500.
The bombing specifically targeted a concert by US popstar Ariana Grande performed as part of her Dangerous Woman Tour (DWT). A clear reference to Rihanna's 2013 DWT.
The MENA bombing drove the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Qatar from feud to the complete breaking off relations between the two. Saudi Arabia backed by the UAE imposed broad sanctions against Qatar. Turkey then stepped in to support Qatar.
The UAE made a point of showing its opposition to Qatar by supporting Ariana Grande in holding a benefit concert for the bombing victims on June 4th (4/6/17) at the Emirates cricket ground in Manchester. The night before the concert Qatar carried out another attack in the London Bridge area of London, UK. One of the attackers wore a shirt with; "EMIRATES" emblazoned across the front.
When Saudi Arabia's operation against Rihanna was revealed a number of intelligence agencies - predominately in the European Union (EU) - pointed out to Rihanna that she really needed to sort her life out.
From Rihanna's perspective the most important of these hints was the fate of the movie "Valerian" in which she had a role. Upon its worldwide release in July 2017 Valerian absolutely bombed at the box office.
It bombed so hard that Hassan Jameel was forced to ask Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to lift a ban on cinemas that had been in place in Saudi Arabia since the 1980's. So there would at least be some people prepared to go and see Rihanna's next movie.
I understand though that Hassan Jameel is desperately trying to sell Rihanna a different version of that story. Veterans of Rihanna's relationship with Chris Brown will know that she always finds a way to convince herself that she can change them.
Upon receiving all these warnings Rihanna concluded that the problem wasn't the relationship with Hassan Jameel but the fact people knew about it. So certainly since October 2017 she has been attempting to continue the relationship but in secret.
On or around December 7th (7/12/17) photographs emerged of Rihanna wearing what appeared to be an engagement ring. This obviously triggered speculation that she intended to marry Hassan Jameel.
The only possible explanation for this behaviour is that the Americans are attempting to flip the relationship. Rather than having information about the US flowing from Rihanna to Saudi Arabia via Hassan Jameel they are trying to get information about Saudi Arabia flowing to the US via Rihanna.
I say it's the only possible explanation. It's the only sensible explanation. The alternative is that Rihanna has now spent so long alone trapped in a hopeless life she's decided on suicide as the only way out.
Either way Germany has been leading the line in again reminding Rihanna that she really needs to sort her life out.
In the final days of the battle to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIL a 17 year old German girl name Linda Wenzel. Aged just 15 this white German schoolgirl ran away from home to convert to 'Islam,' join ISIL and marry an ISIL fighter. This has obviously been a big story within Germany.
Last week the ISIL fighter Wenzel had married was executed by the Iraqi government for his role in ISIL's crimes. There is a strong possibility that Wenzel herself will also be executed for her role in ISIL's crimes.
The execution was marked by an in-depth interview with Wenzel by a German newspaper. It almost goes without saying that in this interview Wenzel expressed regret for her actions and a desire not to be executed.
This served as a timely reminder that people are being hung for doing exactly what Rihanna is doing. And those people deserve to be hung.
By taking on the role of an ISIL bride Rihanna appears to be attempting to humanise them. The intention being to support a campaign to stop them being executed so they can continue with their crimes both in Iraq and beyond.
That makes any of Rihanna's work terrorist propaganda. Something that media companies are forbidden by law from distributing.
On Thursday (14/12/17) Germany noted that Rihanna appears to be well aware of both her actions and the threat to her life.
Prior to their involvement with each other both Rihanna and Hassan Jameel both regularly used to take private jets. Rihanna however has now altered her behaviour by taking scheduled commercial passenger aircraft.
Surrounding yourself with innocent civilians to act as human shields is standard pratice of both ISIL fighters and ISIL brides.
Germany did this by referencing an episode of the US TV show; "The Unit" which centres around a secretive US Special Operations Forces (SOF) unit.
In the episode the CIA have an agent who they've used for various black operations. Although the nature of these operations is never specified it's likely the arming of terror groups. The agent goes rogue so they kill him by making it look like his private jet crashes.
In the episode reference is made to the fact one of the unit did their training with 75th Ranger Regiment based at Fort Benning close to the city of Columbus, Georgia. This is perhaps not as famous as the city of Atlanta, Georgia.
In the TV show the unit is led by a Colonel Ryan. The spokesman for the US-led coalition Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR) is a Colonel Ryan.
Once you know those two details the challenge is not to do the joke. Every time he appears.
Germany's position on the issue seems to have been backed by the rest of the EU. They've made clear their opposition to the use of blood diamonds by warlords such as Charles Taylor.
Amid the heat of the Brexit negotiations Britain has taken a markedly different position on the Rihanna issue to Germany and the wider EU.
Britain seems convinced that the US is trying to flip the relationship so information about Saudi Arabia flows to America via Rihanna. Obviously the majority of this information will relate to the MENA region.
So Britain is trying to piggy-back on that flow of information. That involves hosting Rihanna and Hassan Jameel's relationship in London. They then exert pressure on the couple in the hope that something juicy gets squeezed out.
This began on Friday (15/12/17) with the deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman in Toronto in the British Commonwealth Realm of Canada. They were amongst some of the richest people in Canada.
The Shermans were killed by hanging. That references the fact that we are at the point where Rihanna has to come up with an explanation as to why she should escape execution by hanging like all the other ISIL brides.
The Shermans were Jewish and big supporters of liberal Jewish causes within Canada and beyond. Barry Sherman made his money by setting up the generic drug manufacturer Apotex. In setting up the company in 1967 he fell out with many members of his family triggering a heated and long lasting feud.
At the intersection between Jews and generic drug manufacturers you rapidly get to the company Teva. This Israeli company was founded in Tel Aviv but has recently moved its headquarters to Jerusalem. It appears to be on the brink of collapse.
On December 6th (6/12/17) US President Donald Trump announced that he was moving the US Embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He then suspended his decision.
Any increase in Israel's hold over Jerusalem is extremely controversial. The city was captured by Israel in the 1967 war triggering a heated and long lasting feud.
It is Britain's belief that the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia including the Rihanna/Jameel relationship is being used to shape America's entire defence strategy.
This includes the current civil war in Ukraine. That war of course was started by the US as compensation for the US providing Russia with intelligence to thwart Saudi Arabian terror attacks on the 2014 Winter Olympics held in Sochi, Russia.
It is rumoured that the US will follow Canada's example by providing lethal weapons to the Nazi side in Ukraine's civil war. If the 1940's taught us anything it's that arming Ukrainian Nazis is a really bad idea.
By Saturday (16/12/17) Britain itself was coming under intense pressure. Both for hosting the Rihanna/Jameel relationship and for murdering two Jews in Toronto.
So on Sunday (17/12/17) Britain woke up to news of a road accident in the city of Birmingham. This killed six.
It conceded the point that it would be extremely easy for the UK to eliminate Hassan Jameel while he is in the UK. If you don't realise how easy Google the term; "Cash for Crash."
It then went on to try and justify Britain's failure to take appropriate action against a senior ISIL supporter was due to it trying to gather information about complex issues over a wide area. The scene of the crash was described as complex and spread over a wide area.
To distract from that though the crashed vehicles came to rest beneath and underpass/bridge.
This invoked memories of the March 30th 1979 (30/3/79) assassination of Conservative Party MP Airey Neave by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). Neave's car was blown up as it exited an underground car park beneath the UK Parliament building.
The INLA are/were formally allied with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). In his efforts to support ISIL and their associates Erdogan frequently claims that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD) are part of the PKK. So there are plenty of places you can go with that reference.
Really though it was reference to the the March 22nd (22/3/17) Westminster Bridge terror attack.
Prior to the attack the UK had been boasting about its expertise in terrorism and security matters at the Brexit negotiations. Following the botched evacuation of Prime Minister Theresa May from the Parliament building on March 22nd (22/3/17) they suddenly stopped boasting.
With talk of royal weddings in the air the crash beneath the underpass/bridge could also bee seen as reference to the August 31st 1997 (31/8/97) death of Princess Diana in Paris, France. I think one of the wilder conspiracy theories was that she was assassinated for dating the nominally Muslim Dodi Fayed.
At around 16:30 on 18/12/17 (UK date) I'm going to need to take a little break to order my thoughts.
Edited at around 17:20 on 18/12/17 (UK date) to add;
By Sunday (17/12/17) morning Britain's attempts to explore complex issues across a wide area were already underway. On Saturday (16/12/17) a low level British diplomat had been found murdered in Beirut, Lebanon.
Although I was drowned out by Britain's November tantrum I was planning on commenting on Lebanon's extremely complex politics.
The very simplified version though is that the Shia Muslim political party Hezbollah always win enough votes to either govern outright of form part of a coalition government. The Saudis then support another faction to block Hezbollah from taking power. This leaves Lebanon without a government for extremely long periods of time.
In December 2016 Saudi Arabia failed to block the formation of a Lebanese government leading to Saad Hairi becoming Prime Minister - Lebanon's first in two years.
By November 4th (4/11/17) Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had come to regret this decision. So he had Hairi kidnapped and forced him to resign. Hairi has since returned to Lebanon and withdrawn his resignation.
The British woman murdered on Saturday (16/12/17) was named Rebecca Dyke. The word; "dyke" is a slang-term meaning; "Lesbian." With my lesbian mothers and my lesbian 'wife' this is a topic I'm not totally unfamiliar with.
In fact thinking about it the only woman I've dated who didn't identify as either lesbian or bisexual was named Rebecca. As part of an intense smear campaign against me Britain told everyone that I'd raped Rebecca and left her pregnant.
They kept telling people that for more than two years. Apparently British intelligence are the only people who don't know human pregnancies last for 9 months.
So you would think the rape and murder of a woman named Rebecca Dyke would give Britain a bit on an in to Lebanon's complex politics.
By Sunday (17/12/17) these discussions over whether to kill Hassan Jameel over his role as ISIL's quartermaster and Rihanna over her role as an ISIL bride were clearly making Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman nervous.
So the Saudis blew up a wedding in Yemen. In order to confirm that is what was being discussed. They murdered 10 women.
Today (18/12/17) Britain continued its efforts to explore complex issues over a wide area by releasing the results of an investigation of the circumstances the murder of Bijan Ebrahimi in July 2013.
A refugee from Iran Ebrahimi was murdered in the Bristol area of the UK after wrongly been accused of being a sex offender. The investigation found the police and government agencies essentially allowed his death to happen out of institutional racism towards Iranians.
I have not spoken to my lesbian wife in more than a decade now. However the last time I heard from her she was living in the Bristol area.
As I've said I think President Trump's Jerusalem decision was motivated by nothing more than a desire to shore up his Evangelical Christian base in the face of increasing domestic pressure.
However the main cause of that domestic pressure is the Mueller investigation. Through Erdogan that is being driven by the Muslim Brotherhood.
By using Jerusalem as a way to portray himself as the leader of the Muslim world and call for the sanctions on Qatar to be scrapped in the name of defending Jerusalem Erdogan is the big winner from the decision.
As part of their effort to profit from the Jerusalem decision Erdogan, Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood have been putting around a story to smear Saudi Arabia. The story claims that Mohammed bin Salman ordered Trump to give Jerusalem to Israel to ensure Israeli support for the war Saudi Arabia wants against Iran.
If you were foolish enough to believe that story you would think the Rihanna/Jameel link was a key factor in driving America's apparently institutional racism towards Iranians.
While Europe was discussing the best way to kill Hassan Jameel the US was doing itself no favours. On Thursday (14/12/17) their Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley gave a big news conference in which she claimed to present evidence that Iran had supplied a missile fired from Yemen into Saudi Arabia on November 4th (4/11/17).
The reason why Yemen is so strategically important is that it controls the supply route into East Africa. This includes an Iranian weapons smuggling routes to the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza. Before Saudi involvement in 2011 Yemen had good relations with Iran. Including the legitimate supply of weapons such as missile.
So I have absolutely no doubt that the Saudis would be able to obtain an Iranian made missile. November 4th (4/11/17) would certainly be a good time to fire it at themselves. It was the conflict in Yemen that left them too distracted to block the formation of a government in Lebanon.
To give you an idea of how much of a threat to Rihanna's life the relationship with Hassan Jameel represents five days of discussion about the relationship have resulted in a death toll of 23.
If you were to represent that in the foundations of Rihanna's Fenty cosmetics line you would go with shade 230.
Worryingly on Saturday (16/12/17) - just before the death toll spiked - one of Rihanna's staff took to Twitter to promote exactly that shade 230. It seems as if she ordered the extra killings herself.
The death toll may even be higher then 23. On Sunday (17/12/17) ISIL attacked a Methodist Christian Church in Pakistan killing at least 9.
However much of the Christian world is preparing for Christmas. This is the busiest shopping period of the year so many retailers are competing for that business with lavish TV advertising campaigns.
The British retailer Tesco has run a commercial featuring Muslims celebrating Christmas. This has prompted some discussion about whether Muslim do or can even celebrate Christmas. Drawing massive attention to the Tesco brand in the process.
As I think I've mentioned my brother's girlfriend is at least culturally Muslim having been born in Pakistan. A few years back she celebrated a distinctly non-religious Christmas with my lesbian mothers. Funnily enough the topic of Muslims attitudes towards Christmas did come up in conversation.
Last Christmas during the start of the Astana Process on Syria I described my mothers as both being Catholic. That's not quite true. One of them is a Methodist although not a practising one.
So the attack in Pakistan seems like another ISIL threat to me and my family. A sort of follow up to the failed December 11th (11/12/17) in New York City, US.
However with Rihanna now being so close to senior figures within ISIL it's hard to make the distinction. No matter what happens at Loch Lomand.
Overnight the discussion has gone truly global and the death toll has risen.
Kim Jong-hyun of the South Korean pop group Shinee was found dead at an apartment in Seoul, Republic of Korea (RoK/South). South Korea is of course hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics. At 28 Kim was roughly the same age as Hassan Jameel.
So it seems as the song goes; There are many ways to kill a man. With bayonet, axe or sword.
Also while I've not had a chance to look at it properly events at RAF Mildenhall at least suggest that UK & US intelligence are currently engaged in a frantic competition over who's the most stupid.
18:30 on 18/12/17 (UK date).
Hassan Jameel and his family made their money by being the sole importer of Toyota motor vehicles into Saudi Arabia. Since 2015 he has been under investigation by the US Treasury Department's Terrorism Financing Unit for then supplying those Toyota vehicles to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
This US investigation has led to Hassan Jameel recently developing an unhealthy interest in British supermodel Naomi Campbell. He was in a similar relationship to the one he is currently in with Rihanna with Naomi Campbell back in 2015/16.
Hassan Jameel's interest in Naomi Campbell stems from the testimony she gave against Liberian warlord Charles Taylor in his trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Charles Taylor's conviction at that trial set the legal precedent that if you provide any form of material support - such as Toyota motor vehicles - to people engaging in war crimes and crimes against humanity then you are responsible for those crimes.
Naomi Campbell's involvement in that trial was triggered by Nelson Mandela. He introduced the two and in an effort to bed the supermodel Charles Taylor gave Naomi Campbell illegal, so-called; "Blood Diamonds." Mandela then took those blood diamonds off Naomi Campbell and stored them in a safe place until they could be used to prove Charles Taylor's involvement in child slavery.
Naomi Campbell does not have a reputation for being particularly intelligent. Nor does she have a reputation for being in any way empathetic to the suffering of others. Therefore there have long lingered questions over whether Naomi Campbell ever knew she was being used by Mandela in an effort to make Charles Taylor pay for his crimes.
Apparently ending apartheid and peacefully transitioning South Africa to an inclusive democracy was just Nelson Mandela getting warmed up.
In 2010 Rihanna along with Jay-Z and Kanye West released a song called; "Run This Town." Relying on some pretty specious reasoning this song was blamed both for the mass rioting that gripped Britain in August 2011 and the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt in January 2011.
Within the Middle-East, North Africa (MENA) by far the most corrupt, violent and repressive regimes are the Monarchies of the Gulf Region - nations such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Obviously they were very afraid of this notion that Arab people could rise up, overthrow corrupt regimes and peacefully transition to an inclusive democracy.
So in 2013 the US dispatched Rihanna on her Diamonds World Tour (DWT).
The highlight of this tour was supposed to be Rihanna being forced into some sort of psychotic breakdown/mental health emergency while in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on October 19th 2013 (19/10/13). As the least crazy of a bad bunch the UAE was chosen to represent all of the Gulf Monarchies.
This was supposed to served as a symbolic apology for any American involvement - real or imagined - in the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions.
The infighting that doing this to Rihanna would trigger was supposed to prevent the 19th Conference of Parties (COP19) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) progressing in its work to draw up a global agreement to combat climate change. Drawing their power entirely from a global dependence on fossil fuels the Gulf Monarchies are obviously very opposed to that.
In December 2015 the US and the Gulf Monarchies did achieve their objective of permanently blocking global action to combat climate change through the Paris Agreement adopted at COP21. However their effort to humiliate Rihanna in the UAE was a complete failure.
As with the World's roughly 1.7bn Muslims the Gulf Monarchies are not a unified bloc that all think and act the same. Instead even amongst these close allies there have long existed tensions over certain issues.
The main area of tension is between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The main cause of this tension is Saudi Arabia's opposition to Iran versus Qatar's relative support. There is also tensions between the two over Qatar's support for the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group.
Through the Muslim Brotherhood Qatar is closely allied to Turkey under President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
On July 16th 2016 (16/7/16) Erdogan hit a problem. Sections of the Turkish military rose up against him and his efforts to turn Turkey into an Islamist dictatorship.
The US took the curious step of warning Erdogan about this rising in order to help him survive. This warning included getting Rihanna to release the song; "Sledgehammer." Within Turkey is a sort of shorthand for the military rising up against Erdogan.
This prompted Saudi Arabia to dispatch Hassan Jameel to take ownership of Rihanna as a trophy. And in the process prevent her from undertaking any more work in support of Erdogan, Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood.
This escalated the feud between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It boiled over on May 22nd (22/5/17) with Qatar bombing the Manchester Evening News Arena (MENA) in the British city of Manchester murdering 22 and wounding over 500.
The bombing specifically targeted a concert by US popstar Ariana Grande performed as part of her Dangerous Woman Tour (DWT). A clear reference to Rihanna's 2013 DWT.
The MENA bombing drove the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Qatar from feud to the complete breaking off relations between the two. Saudi Arabia backed by the UAE imposed broad sanctions against Qatar. Turkey then stepped in to support Qatar.
The UAE made a point of showing its opposition to Qatar by supporting Ariana Grande in holding a benefit concert for the bombing victims on June 4th (4/6/17) at the Emirates cricket ground in Manchester. The night before the concert Qatar carried out another attack in the London Bridge area of London, UK. One of the attackers wore a shirt with; "EMIRATES" emblazoned across the front.
When Saudi Arabia's operation against Rihanna was revealed a number of intelligence agencies - predominately in the European Union (EU) - pointed out to Rihanna that she really needed to sort her life out.
From Rihanna's perspective the most important of these hints was the fate of the movie "Valerian" in which she had a role. Upon its worldwide release in July 2017 Valerian absolutely bombed at the box office.
It bombed so hard that Hassan Jameel was forced to ask Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to lift a ban on cinemas that had been in place in Saudi Arabia since the 1980's. So there would at least be some people prepared to go and see Rihanna's next movie.
I understand though that Hassan Jameel is desperately trying to sell Rihanna a different version of that story. Veterans of Rihanna's relationship with Chris Brown will know that she always finds a way to convince herself that she can change them.
Upon receiving all these warnings Rihanna concluded that the problem wasn't the relationship with Hassan Jameel but the fact people knew about it. So certainly since October 2017 she has been attempting to continue the relationship but in secret.
On or around December 7th (7/12/17) photographs emerged of Rihanna wearing what appeared to be an engagement ring. This obviously triggered speculation that she intended to marry Hassan Jameel.
The only possible explanation for this behaviour is that the Americans are attempting to flip the relationship. Rather than having information about the US flowing from Rihanna to Saudi Arabia via Hassan Jameel they are trying to get information about Saudi Arabia flowing to the US via Rihanna.
I say it's the only possible explanation. It's the only sensible explanation. The alternative is that Rihanna has now spent so long alone trapped in a hopeless life she's decided on suicide as the only way out.
Either way Germany has been leading the line in again reminding Rihanna that she really needs to sort her life out.
In the final days of the battle to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIL a 17 year old German girl name Linda Wenzel. Aged just 15 this white German schoolgirl ran away from home to convert to 'Islam,' join ISIL and marry an ISIL fighter. This has obviously been a big story within Germany.
Last week the ISIL fighter Wenzel had married was executed by the Iraqi government for his role in ISIL's crimes. There is a strong possibility that Wenzel herself will also be executed for her role in ISIL's crimes.
The execution was marked by an in-depth interview with Wenzel by a German newspaper. It almost goes without saying that in this interview Wenzel expressed regret for her actions and a desire not to be executed.
This served as a timely reminder that people are being hung for doing exactly what Rihanna is doing. And those people deserve to be hung.
By taking on the role of an ISIL bride Rihanna appears to be attempting to humanise them. The intention being to support a campaign to stop them being executed so they can continue with their crimes both in Iraq and beyond.
That makes any of Rihanna's work terrorist propaganda. Something that media companies are forbidden by law from distributing.
On Thursday (14/12/17) Germany noted that Rihanna appears to be well aware of both her actions and the threat to her life.
Prior to their involvement with each other both Rihanna and Hassan Jameel both regularly used to take private jets. Rihanna however has now altered her behaviour by taking scheduled commercial passenger aircraft.
Surrounding yourself with innocent civilians to act as human shields is standard pratice of both ISIL fighters and ISIL brides.
Germany did this by referencing an episode of the US TV show; "The Unit" which centres around a secretive US Special Operations Forces (SOF) unit.
In the episode the CIA have an agent who they've used for various black operations. Although the nature of these operations is never specified it's likely the arming of terror groups. The agent goes rogue so they kill him by making it look like his private jet crashes.
In the episode reference is made to the fact one of the unit did their training with 75th Ranger Regiment based at Fort Benning close to the city of Columbus, Georgia. This is perhaps not as famous as the city of Atlanta, Georgia.
In the TV show the unit is led by a Colonel Ryan. The spokesman for the US-led coalition Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR) is a Colonel Ryan.
Once you know those two details the challenge is not to do the joke. Every time he appears.
Germany's position on the issue seems to have been backed by the rest of the EU. They've made clear their opposition to the use of blood diamonds by warlords such as Charles Taylor.
Amid the heat of the Brexit negotiations Britain has taken a markedly different position on the Rihanna issue to Germany and the wider EU.
Britain seems convinced that the US is trying to flip the relationship so information about Saudi Arabia flows to America via Rihanna. Obviously the majority of this information will relate to the MENA region.
So Britain is trying to piggy-back on that flow of information. That involves hosting Rihanna and Hassan Jameel's relationship in London. They then exert pressure on the couple in the hope that something juicy gets squeezed out.
This began on Friday (15/12/17) with the deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman in Toronto in the British Commonwealth Realm of Canada. They were amongst some of the richest people in Canada.
The Shermans were killed by hanging. That references the fact that we are at the point where Rihanna has to come up with an explanation as to why she should escape execution by hanging like all the other ISIL brides.
The Shermans were Jewish and big supporters of liberal Jewish causes within Canada and beyond. Barry Sherman made his money by setting up the generic drug manufacturer Apotex. In setting up the company in 1967 he fell out with many members of his family triggering a heated and long lasting feud.
At the intersection between Jews and generic drug manufacturers you rapidly get to the company Teva. This Israeli company was founded in Tel Aviv but has recently moved its headquarters to Jerusalem. It appears to be on the brink of collapse.
On December 6th (6/12/17) US President Donald Trump announced that he was moving the US Embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He then suspended his decision.
Any increase in Israel's hold over Jerusalem is extremely controversial. The city was captured by Israel in the 1967 war triggering a heated and long lasting feud.
It is Britain's belief that the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia including the Rihanna/Jameel relationship is being used to shape America's entire defence strategy.
This includes the current civil war in Ukraine. That war of course was started by the US as compensation for the US providing Russia with intelligence to thwart Saudi Arabian terror attacks on the 2014 Winter Olympics held in Sochi, Russia.
It is rumoured that the US will follow Canada's example by providing lethal weapons to the Nazi side in Ukraine's civil war. If the 1940's taught us anything it's that arming Ukrainian Nazis is a really bad idea.
By Saturday (16/12/17) Britain itself was coming under intense pressure. Both for hosting the Rihanna/Jameel relationship and for murdering two Jews in Toronto.
So on Sunday (17/12/17) Britain woke up to news of a road accident in the city of Birmingham. This killed six.
It conceded the point that it would be extremely easy for the UK to eliminate Hassan Jameel while he is in the UK. If you don't realise how easy Google the term; "Cash for Crash."
It then went on to try and justify Britain's failure to take appropriate action against a senior ISIL supporter was due to it trying to gather information about complex issues over a wide area. The scene of the crash was described as complex and spread over a wide area.
To distract from that though the crashed vehicles came to rest beneath and underpass/bridge.
This invoked memories of the March 30th 1979 (30/3/79) assassination of Conservative Party MP Airey Neave by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). Neave's car was blown up as it exited an underground car park beneath the UK Parliament building.
The INLA are/were formally allied with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). In his efforts to support ISIL and their associates Erdogan frequently claims that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD) are part of the PKK. So there are plenty of places you can go with that reference.
Really though it was reference to the the March 22nd (22/3/17) Westminster Bridge terror attack.
Prior to the attack the UK had been boasting about its expertise in terrorism and security matters at the Brexit negotiations. Following the botched evacuation of Prime Minister Theresa May from the Parliament building on March 22nd (22/3/17) they suddenly stopped boasting.
With talk of royal weddings in the air the crash beneath the underpass/bridge could also bee seen as reference to the August 31st 1997 (31/8/97) death of Princess Diana in Paris, France. I think one of the wilder conspiracy theories was that she was assassinated for dating the nominally Muslim Dodi Fayed.
At around 16:30 on 18/12/17 (UK date) I'm going to need to take a little break to order my thoughts.
Edited at around 17:20 on 18/12/17 (UK date) to add;
By Sunday (17/12/17) morning Britain's attempts to explore complex issues across a wide area were already underway. On Saturday (16/12/17) a low level British diplomat had been found murdered in Beirut, Lebanon.
Although I was drowned out by Britain's November tantrum I was planning on commenting on Lebanon's extremely complex politics.
The very simplified version though is that the Shia Muslim political party Hezbollah always win enough votes to either govern outright of form part of a coalition government. The Saudis then support another faction to block Hezbollah from taking power. This leaves Lebanon without a government for extremely long periods of time.
In December 2016 Saudi Arabia failed to block the formation of a Lebanese government leading to Saad Hairi becoming Prime Minister - Lebanon's first in two years.
By November 4th (4/11/17) Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had come to regret this decision. So he had Hairi kidnapped and forced him to resign. Hairi has since returned to Lebanon and withdrawn his resignation.
The British woman murdered on Saturday (16/12/17) was named Rebecca Dyke. The word; "dyke" is a slang-term meaning; "Lesbian." With my lesbian mothers and my lesbian 'wife' this is a topic I'm not totally unfamiliar with.
In fact thinking about it the only woman I've dated who didn't identify as either lesbian or bisexual was named Rebecca. As part of an intense smear campaign against me Britain told everyone that I'd raped Rebecca and left her pregnant.
They kept telling people that for more than two years. Apparently British intelligence are the only people who don't know human pregnancies last for 9 months.
So you would think the rape and murder of a woman named Rebecca Dyke would give Britain a bit on an in to Lebanon's complex politics.
By Sunday (17/12/17) these discussions over whether to kill Hassan Jameel over his role as ISIL's quartermaster and Rihanna over her role as an ISIL bride were clearly making Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman nervous.
So the Saudis blew up a wedding in Yemen. In order to confirm that is what was being discussed. They murdered 10 women.
Today (18/12/17) Britain continued its efforts to explore complex issues over a wide area by releasing the results of an investigation of the circumstances the murder of Bijan Ebrahimi in July 2013.
A refugee from Iran Ebrahimi was murdered in the Bristol area of the UK after wrongly been accused of being a sex offender. The investigation found the police and government agencies essentially allowed his death to happen out of institutional racism towards Iranians.
I have not spoken to my lesbian wife in more than a decade now. However the last time I heard from her she was living in the Bristol area.
As I've said I think President Trump's Jerusalem decision was motivated by nothing more than a desire to shore up his Evangelical Christian base in the face of increasing domestic pressure.
However the main cause of that domestic pressure is the Mueller investigation. Through Erdogan that is being driven by the Muslim Brotherhood.
By using Jerusalem as a way to portray himself as the leader of the Muslim world and call for the sanctions on Qatar to be scrapped in the name of defending Jerusalem Erdogan is the big winner from the decision.
As part of their effort to profit from the Jerusalem decision Erdogan, Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood have been putting around a story to smear Saudi Arabia. The story claims that Mohammed bin Salman ordered Trump to give Jerusalem to Israel to ensure Israeli support for the war Saudi Arabia wants against Iran.
If you were foolish enough to believe that story you would think the Rihanna/Jameel link was a key factor in driving America's apparently institutional racism towards Iranians.
While Europe was discussing the best way to kill Hassan Jameel the US was doing itself no favours. On Thursday (14/12/17) their Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley gave a big news conference in which she claimed to present evidence that Iran had supplied a missile fired from Yemen into Saudi Arabia on November 4th (4/11/17).
The reason why Yemen is so strategically important is that it controls the supply route into East Africa. This includes an Iranian weapons smuggling routes to the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza. Before Saudi involvement in 2011 Yemen had good relations with Iran. Including the legitimate supply of weapons such as missile.
So I have absolutely no doubt that the Saudis would be able to obtain an Iranian made missile. November 4th (4/11/17) would certainly be a good time to fire it at themselves. It was the conflict in Yemen that left them too distracted to block the formation of a government in Lebanon.
To give you an idea of how much of a threat to Rihanna's life the relationship with Hassan Jameel represents five days of discussion about the relationship have resulted in a death toll of 23.
If you were to represent that in the foundations of Rihanna's Fenty cosmetics line you would go with shade 230.
Worryingly on Saturday (16/12/17) - just before the death toll spiked - one of Rihanna's staff took to Twitter to promote exactly that shade 230. It seems as if she ordered the extra killings herself.
The death toll may even be higher then 23. On Sunday (17/12/17) ISIL attacked a Methodist Christian Church in Pakistan killing at least 9.
However much of the Christian world is preparing for Christmas. This is the busiest shopping period of the year so many retailers are competing for that business with lavish TV advertising campaigns.
The British retailer Tesco has run a commercial featuring Muslims celebrating Christmas. This has prompted some discussion about whether Muslim do or can even celebrate Christmas. Drawing massive attention to the Tesco brand in the process.
As I think I've mentioned my brother's girlfriend is at least culturally Muslim having been born in Pakistan. A few years back she celebrated a distinctly non-religious Christmas with my lesbian mothers. Funnily enough the topic of Muslims attitudes towards Christmas did come up in conversation.
Last Christmas during the start of the Astana Process on Syria I described my mothers as both being Catholic. That's not quite true. One of them is a Methodist although not a practising one.
So the attack in Pakistan seems like another ISIL threat to me and my family. A sort of follow up to the failed December 11th (11/12/17) in New York City, US.
However with Rihanna now being so close to senior figures within ISIL it's hard to make the distinction. No matter what happens at Loch Lomand.
Overnight the discussion has gone truly global and the death toll has risen.
Kim Jong-hyun of the South Korean pop group Shinee was found dead at an apartment in Seoul, Republic of Korea (RoK/South). South Korea is of course hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics. At 28 Kim was roughly the same age as Hassan Jameel.
So it seems as the song goes; There are many ways to kill a man. With bayonet, axe or sword.
Also while I've not had a chance to look at it properly events at RAF Mildenhall at least suggest that UK & US intelligence are currently engaged in a frantic competition over who's the most stupid.
18:30 on 18/12/17 (UK date).
Friday, 15 December 2017
Operation Featherweight: Month 42, Week 1, Day 6.
In the summer of 2014 the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were at their most powerful.
They controlled large swathes of both Iraq and Syria. They'd declared themselves to be an Islamist Caliphate. Their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to be it's Caliph and the Syrian city of Raqqa to be its capital.
Now in the winter of 2017 ISIL have been reduced to just a few scattered positions in Syria. Mainly around the Euphrates River basin.
Within this area anti-ISIL operations have been conducted by the Syrians themselves. They are supported by longtime allies Russia, Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Since May 2017 the Syrians have been conducting operations to liberate the centre of Syria from ISIL. Both in the north and the south of the country.
To the north the Syrians liberated the town of Dalhah on July 30th (30/7/17). Dalhah sits on the southern banks of the Euphrates around 25km (15 miles) south-east of Raqqa.
Meanwhile the Syrians were advancing west-to-east across the south of the country from the capital Damascus. By June 9th (9/6/17) they succeeded in reaching the Iraqi border at al-Tanf. This is located around 280km (170 miles) east of Damascus and 160km (95 miles) north-west of the Iraqi town of Rutba.
From al-Tanf the Syrians have advanced towards Palmyra around 180km (110 miles) to the north-west almost in the exact centre of Syria. Palmyra was liberated from ISIL by the Syrians in March 2017.
This established the al-Tanf - Palmyra Line.
On August 8th (8/8/17) Syrian forces from Dalhah and Palmyra converged on the town of as-Suknah. This around 130km (75 miles) south of Raqqa, 65km (40 miles) north-east of Palmyra.
The Syrian convergence on as-Suknah marked the liberation of the last ISIL held town in Homs Province. It also established the Dalhah - Suknah Line.
From as-Suknah the Syrians objective has been to advance on the city of Deir-ez-Zour. This straddles the Euphrates around 120km (70 miles) south-east of Raqqa and around 120km (70 miles) north-east of as-Suknah.
On September 5th (5/9/17) the Syrians reached Deir-ez-Zour City. In doing so they established the Suknah - Deir-ez-Zour Line.
On September 24th (24/9/17) the Syrians liberated Madan. This sits around 55km (30 miles) south-east of Raqqa and around 65km (40 miles) north-west of Deir-ez-Zour City.
The liberation of Madan marked the complete liberation of the area between the Euphrates River and the Dalhah-Suknah Line and the Suknah - Deir-ez-Zour Line.
While the Syrians were doing this ISIL launched an offensive of their own.
Launched on September 28th (28/9/17) this was designated; "Abu Muhammad al-Adani Offensive." It was intended to break Syrian lines both between Deir-ez-Zour and as-Suknah and between as-Suknah and Palmyra.
On September 29th (29/9/17) the Syrians launched an offensive of their own to counter the al-Adani offensive.
By October 6th (6/10/17) they had pushed ISIL all the way back to the outskirts of Mayadin. This sits on the Euphrates around 60km (35 miles) south-east of Deir-ez-Zour.
On October 14th (14/10/17) the Syrians liberated Mayadin. In doing so they created the Suknah-Mayadin Line.
On November 3rd (3/11/17) the Syrians fully liberated Deir-ez-Zour City. The exception being a small presence of around 250 ISIL fighters on Hawijat Kati Island. This sits in the Euphrates north of the H7 Highway bridge.
On November 18th (18/11/17) the Syrians fully liberated Hawijat Kati Island.
The liberation of the cities of Mayadin and Deir-ez-Zour left ISIL in control of just one main population centre in the Euphrates River basin. This is the town of Abu Kamal/Al-Bukamal. It sits around 8km (5 miles) from Syria's border with Iraq.
While they were liberating Mayadin and Deir-ez-Zour the Syrians were also conducting an operation to advance upon and then liberate Abu Kamal.
The first phase of this operation saw them advance from the Tanf - Palmyra Line and the Suknah - Mayadin Line on the T-2 Airbase. Located around 70km (40 miles) west of the town itself the T-2 Airbase is seen as the military gateway to liberating Abu Kamal.
On October 26th (26/10/17) the Syrians liberated the T-2 Airbase. On November 5th (5/11/17) the Syrians reached the Syria/Iraq border from the T-2 Airbase.
On November 8th (8/11/17) the Syrians launched an operation to liberate Abu Kamal itself. Attacking from the south and the west.
Initially it appeared as though ISIL had fled Abu Kamal in panic. This allowed the Syrians to declare victory in the town on the same day their operation had begun.
However ISIL were then able to regroup outside Abu Kamal and launch a counter-offensive. Combined with ISIL sleeper cells hiding in the town this allowed ISIL to regain somewhere in the region of 50-75% of Abu Kamal by November 12th (12/11/17).
While fighting was ongoing in Abu Kamal further Syrian forces were advancing along the southern bank of the Euphrates from Mayadin to Abu Kamal. On November 13th (13/11/17) were able to join the battle for Abu Kamal.
Having been embarrassed by a premature announcement of the liberation of Abu Kamal only for it to fall back into ISIL's hands the Syrians have been wary of declare Abu Kamal liberated for a second. In fact I don't think they've yet to declare the town liberated.
However from November 19th (19/11/17) onwards it has become clear that fighting in Abu Kamal has ceased.
Since then the Syrians have focused on clearing ISIL from the area between Tanf - Palmyra Line and the Suknah - Mayadin Line. Particularly the smaller towns and villages in on the southern bank of the Euphrates between Mayadin and Abu Kamal.
On November 28th (28/11/17) they liberated the town of Quarayya. This sits around 10km (6 miles) south-east of Mayadin and around 50km (30 miles) north-west of Abu Kamal.
Also on November 28th (28/11/17) the Syrians liberated the town of Asharah. This sits around 15km (10 miles) south-east of Mayadin and around 45km (30 miles) north-west of Abu Kamal.
Initially ISIL immediately attempted to re-capture both Quarayya and Asharah. However these counter-offensives were successfully repelled. As was an attempted attack on as-Suknah.
On December 2nd (2/12/17) the Syrians liberated the towns of Safsafa and Salihiyah along with the villages surrounding them such as Wadi al-Warod and Ajrama.
Salihiyah sits around 35km (20 miles) north-west of Abu Kamal and around 45km (25 miles) south-east of Mayadin. Safsafa sits directly north-west of Salihiyah around 40km (25 miles) north-west of Abu Kamal and around 40km (25 miles) south-east of Mayadin.
Interestingly on December 2nd (2/12/17) the Syrians also claim to have liberated al-Jadlah. This sits around 50km (30 miles) north-west of Abu Kamal and around 30km (20 miles) south-east of Mayadin.
Crucially al-Jadlah sits on the northern bank of the Euphrates which is generally considered to be the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD) area of operations.
Jadlah also sits area traditionally controlled by the Sheitat Tribe who have long been loyal to the Syrian government. The presence of Syrian forces within that tribal area will likely disrupt the SDF's efforts to gain permission to the area.
On December 5th (5/12/17) the Syrians liberated Qataa, Jalaa, Ramadi and Buqan. These all sit in an roughly 65kmsq (40 milesq) area.
Qataa is to the north of the area around 55km (35 miles) south-east of Mayadin and around 30km (15 miles) north-west of Abu Kamal. Buqan is to the south of the area around 10km (6 miles) north-west of Abu Kamal and around 65km (40 miles) south-east of Mayadin.
The liberation of the Qataa to Buqan area allowed to Syrians to declare that its territory was fully liberated from ISIL. This claim was repeated by Russia on December 11th (11/12/17) when they announced the start of a phased withdrawal of their forces from Syria.
This claim is certainly lacking in credibility. Although ISIL may have been almost entirely eradicated from the Syrians area of operations in the Euphrates basin they still maintain a sizable presence in other areas of Syria.
Most notably in the northern Hama Province where it borders Idlib Province. Here ISIL are operating alongside the Al Qaeda led Army of Conquest/Jaish al-Fatah coalition against the Syrians. The Army of Conquest are being protected by Turkish forces within the area of Idlib Province designated; "The Sudetenland."
ISIL also control the Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian Refugees. This sits within the Syrian capital Damascus, just south of the al-Midan district of the city.
In Syria's southern Daraa Province ISIL are allied with the Army of Khalid Ibrahim al-Walid/Jaish Khalid Ibn al-Walid group. They operate within the Yarmouk River basin close to the Golan Heights United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) zone.
As if to prove how premature the Russian and Syrian announcement was ISIL responded with multiple offensives against Syrian forces.
On December 12th (12/12/17) ISIL launched an attack against Salihiyah which the Syrians had liberated on December 2nd (2/12/17). ISIL's notoriously unreliable media claimed that the entire town had been recaptured. However the Syrians claimed the attack had been quickly repelled with the loss of just 7 of their soldiers.
On December 13th (13/12/17) ISIL forces in the Yarmouk Refugee camp launched a surprise attack against Syrian forces in the capital Damascus.
ISIL succeeded in capturing roughly a city block in the Tadamon district of Damascus which sits directly north-east of the Yarmouk Refugee camp. However the Syrians were able to liberate the area the following day.
The fact that ISIL is able to mount attacks - albeit shortlived - within the Syrian capital serves to underline that the announcement of a Russian withdrawal owes little to the military situation within Syria.
Instead it owes more to the Presidential election Russia will be holding on March 18th 2018 (18/3/18) and the 2018 World Cup Russia will be hosting from the opening game on June 14th (14/6/17).
17:55 on 15/12/17 (UK date).
They controlled large swathes of both Iraq and Syria. They'd declared themselves to be an Islamist Caliphate. Their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to be it's Caliph and the Syrian city of Raqqa to be its capital.
Now in the winter of 2017 ISIL have been reduced to just a few scattered positions in Syria. Mainly around the Euphrates River basin.
Within this area anti-ISIL operations have been conducted by the Syrians themselves. They are supported by longtime allies Russia, Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Since May 2017 the Syrians have been conducting operations to liberate the centre of Syria from ISIL. Both in the north and the south of the country.
To the north the Syrians liberated the town of Dalhah on July 30th (30/7/17). Dalhah sits on the southern banks of the Euphrates around 25km (15 miles) south-east of Raqqa.
Meanwhile the Syrians were advancing west-to-east across the south of the country from the capital Damascus. By June 9th (9/6/17) they succeeded in reaching the Iraqi border at al-Tanf. This is located around 280km (170 miles) east of Damascus and 160km (95 miles) north-west of the Iraqi town of Rutba.
From al-Tanf the Syrians have advanced towards Palmyra around 180km (110 miles) to the north-west almost in the exact centre of Syria. Palmyra was liberated from ISIL by the Syrians in March 2017.
This established the al-Tanf - Palmyra Line.
On August 8th (8/8/17) Syrian forces from Dalhah and Palmyra converged on the town of as-Suknah. This around 130km (75 miles) south of Raqqa, 65km (40 miles) north-east of Palmyra.
The Syrian convergence on as-Suknah marked the liberation of the last ISIL held town in Homs Province. It also established the Dalhah - Suknah Line.
From as-Suknah the Syrians objective has been to advance on the city of Deir-ez-Zour. This straddles the Euphrates around 120km (70 miles) south-east of Raqqa and around 120km (70 miles) north-east of as-Suknah.
On September 5th (5/9/17) the Syrians reached Deir-ez-Zour City. In doing so they established the Suknah - Deir-ez-Zour Line.
On September 24th (24/9/17) the Syrians liberated Madan. This sits around 55km (30 miles) south-east of Raqqa and around 65km (40 miles) north-west of Deir-ez-Zour City.
The liberation of Madan marked the complete liberation of the area between the Euphrates River and the Dalhah-Suknah Line and the Suknah - Deir-ez-Zour Line.
While the Syrians were doing this ISIL launched an offensive of their own.
Launched on September 28th (28/9/17) this was designated; "Abu Muhammad al-Adani Offensive." It was intended to break Syrian lines both between Deir-ez-Zour and as-Suknah and between as-Suknah and Palmyra.
On September 29th (29/9/17) the Syrians launched an offensive of their own to counter the al-Adani offensive.
By October 6th (6/10/17) they had pushed ISIL all the way back to the outskirts of Mayadin. This sits on the Euphrates around 60km (35 miles) south-east of Deir-ez-Zour.
On October 14th (14/10/17) the Syrians liberated Mayadin. In doing so they created the Suknah-Mayadin Line.
On November 3rd (3/11/17) the Syrians fully liberated Deir-ez-Zour City. The exception being a small presence of around 250 ISIL fighters on Hawijat Kati Island. This sits in the Euphrates north of the H7 Highway bridge.
On November 18th (18/11/17) the Syrians fully liberated Hawijat Kati Island.
The liberation of the cities of Mayadin and Deir-ez-Zour left ISIL in control of just one main population centre in the Euphrates River basin. This is the town of Abu Kamal/Al-Bukamal. It sits around 8km (5 miles) from Syria's border with Iraq.
While they were liberating Mayadin and Deir-ez-Zour the Syrians were also conducting an operation to advance upon and then liberate Abu Kamal.
The first phase of this operation saw them advance from the Tanf - Palmyra Line and the Suknah - Mayadin Line on the T-2 Airbase. Located around 70km (40 miles) west of the town itself the T-2 Airbase is seen as the military gateway to liberating Abu Kamal.
On October 26th (26/10/17) the Syrians liberated the T-2 Airbase. On November 5th (5/11/17) the Syrians reached the Syria/Iraq border from the T-2 Airbase.
On November 8th (8/11/17) the Syrians launched an operation to liberate Abu Kamal itself. Attacking from the south and the west.
Initially it appeared as though ISIL had fled Abu Kamal in panic. This allowed the Syrians to declare victory in the town on the same day their operation had begun.
However ISIL were then able to regroup outside Abu Kamal and launch a counter-offensive. Combined with ISIL sleeper cells hiding in the town this allowed ISIL to regain somewhere in the region of 50-75% of Abu Kamal by November 12th (12/11/17).
While fighting was ongoing in Abu Kamal further Syrian forces were advancing along the southern bank of the Euphrates from Mayadin to Abu Kamal. On November 13th (13/11/17) were able to join the battle for Abu Kamal.
Having been embarrassed by a premature announcement of the liberation of Abu Kamal only for it to fall back into ISIL's hands the Syrians have been wary of declare Abu Kamal liberated for a second. In fact I don't think they've yet to declare the town liberated.
However from November 19th (19/11/17) onwards it has become clear that fighting in Abu Kamal has ceased.
Since then the Syrians have focused on clearing ISIL from the area between Tanf - Palmyra Line and the Suknah - Mayadin Line. Particularly the smaller towns and villages in on the southern bank of the Euphrates between Mayadin and Abu Kamal.
On November 28th (28/11/17) they liberated the town of Quarayya. This sits around 10km (6 miles) south-east of Mayadin and around 50km (30 miles) north-west of Abu Kamal.
Also on November 28th (28/11/17) the Syrians liberated the town of Asharah. This sits around 15km (10 miles) south-east of Mayadin and around 45km (30 miles) north-west of Abu Kamal.
Initially ISIL immediately attempted to re-capture both Quarayya and Asharah. However these counter-offensives were successfully repelled. As was an attempted attack on as-Suknah.
On December 2nd (2/12/17) the Syrians liberated the towns of Safsafa and Salihiyah along with the villages surrounding them such as Wadi al-Warod and Ajrama.
Salihiyah sits around 35km (20 miles) north-west of Abu Kamal and around 45km (25 miles) south-east of Mayadin. Safsafa sits directly north-west of Salihiyah around 40km (25 miles) north-west of Abu Kamal and around 40km (25 miles) south-east of Mayadin.
Interestingly on December 2nd (2/12/17) the Syrians also claim to have liberated al-Jadlah. This sits around 50km (30 miles) north-west of Abu Kamal and around 30km (20 miles) south-east of Mayadin.
Crucially al-Jadlah sits on the northern bank of the Euphrates which is generally considered to be the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD) area of operations.
Jadlah also sits area traditionally controlled by the Sheitat Tribe who have long been loyal to the Syrian government. The presence of Syrian forces within that tribal area will likely disrupt the SDF's efforts to gain permission to the area.
On December 5th (5/12/17) the Syrians liberated Qataa, Jalaa, Ramadi and Buqan. These all sit in an roughly 65kmsq (40 milesq) area.
Qataa is to the north of the area around 55km (35 miles) south-east of Mayadin and around 30km (15 miles) north-west of Abu Kamal. Buqan is to the south of the area around 10km (6 miles) north-west of Abu Kamal and around 65km (40 miles) south-east of Mayadin.
The liberation of the Qataa to Buqan area allowed to Syrians to declare that its territory was fully liberated from ISIL. This claim was repeated by Russia on December 11th (11/12/17) when they announced the start of a phased withdrawal of their forces from Syria.
This claim is certainly lacking in credibility. Although ISIL may have been almost entirely eradicated from the Syrians area of operations in the Euphrates basin they still maintain a sizable presence in other areas of Syria.
Most notably in the northern Hama Province where it borders Idlib Province. Here ISIL are operating alongside the Al Qaeda led Army of Conquest/Jaish al-Fatah coalition against the Syrians. The Army of Conquest are being protected by Turkish forces within the area of Idlib Province designated; "The Sudetenland."
ISIL also control the Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian Refugees. This sits within the Syrian capital Damascus, just south of the al-Midan district of the city.
In Syria's southern Daraa Province ISIL are allied with the Army of Khalid Ibrahim al-Walid/Jaish Khalid Ibn al-Walid group. They operate within the Yarmouk River basin close to the Golan Heights United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) zone.
As if to prove how premature the Russian and Syrian announcement was ISIL responded with multiple offensives against Syrian forces.
On December 12th (12/12/17) ISIL launched an attack against Salihiyah which the Syrians had liberated on December 2nd (2/12/17). ISIL's notoriously unreliable media claimed that the entire town had been recaptured. However the Syrians claimed the attack had been quickly repelled with the loss of just 7 of their soldiers.
On December 13th (13/12/17) ISIL forces in the Yarmouk Refugee camp launched a surprise attack against Syrian forces in the capital Damascus.
ISIL succeeded in capturing roughly a city block in the Tadamon district of Damascus which sits directly north-east of the Yarmouk Refugee camp. However the Syrians were able to liberate the area the following day.
The fact that ISIL is able to mount attacks - albeit shortlived - within the Syrian capital serves to underline that the announcement of a Russian withdrawal owes little to the military situation within Syria.
Instead it owes more to the Presidential election Russia will be holding on March 18th 2018 (18/3/18) and the 2018 World Cup Russia will be hosting from the opening game on June 14th (14/6/17).
17:55 on 15/12/17 (UK date).
Thursday, 14 December 2017
Some Generic New York Pun. Pt.2
This should be read as a continuation of Part 1; https://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/some-generic-new-york-pun.html
The seventh round of meetings was of course not the only significant diplomatic event during Britain's recent outburst. There was also the Brexit negotiations and the COP23 Summit.
Heading into the Brexit negotiations Britain thought its expertise in terrorism and security matters would be an asset. Then the March 22nd (22/3/17) Westminster Bridge terror attack happened.
If you are trying to assassinate a protected person such as a Prime Minister or President you are faced with the problem that they are often guarded by multiple layers of security inside a secure building.
To try and get around this problem you might attempt to beat the bushes by staging a diversionary attack on the building. This will often trigger the protected person being evacuated from the building forcing them out in to the open for a short period where they can be picked off by a sniper.
There are entire breeds of gun dogs dedicated to this way of thinking.
When Khalid Masood crashed his vehicle into the gates of the UK Parliament building sure enough it triggered the evacuation of the Prime Minister Theresa May from the building. This was a shambles.
Prime Minister May's police bodyguards evacuated her from the building into an open courtyard/carpark. They then stood around for ages as they tried to work out which vehicle they were supposed to be putting her into and who had the car keys. Just from watching TV even I know there should have been a driver with the vehicle at all times.
Funnily enough after that Britain stopped trying to use its supposed expertise in terrorism and security matters as an asset within Brexit negotiations.
On December 5th (5/12/17) the head of Britain's internal security service MI5 informed Parliament that they had thwarted an Islamist plot to assassinate Prime Minister May. Two men would appear at Westminster Magistrates Court charged with the plot the following day.
As it turns out only one man appeared in Court over the plot. Naa'imur Zakariyah Rahman, a 20 year old immigrant from Bangladesh. The alleged New York City pipebomber Akayed Ullah is also an immigrant from Bangladesh.
Bangladeshi Muslims tend to practice a very extreme form of Salafi Sunni Islam. Throughout 2015 and 2016 the country saw a huge increase in Islamist violence. For the most part this took the form of small scale, seemingly isolated murders and attempted murders of bloggers, gay-rights activists and others the Bangladeshi Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan accused of insulting Islam.
On July 1st 2016 (1/7/16) there was a large-scale terror attack in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. Six attackers stormed a restaurant and held its customers and staff hostage. During the course of a 12 hour siege 20 of the hostages were murdered before the attackers were killed and 13 hostages were released.
That attack very closely mirrored my movements of that day. Almost down to the minute despite the time difference. As such there was always a suspicion that it was intended as a threat to me.
The question though is how were ISIL fighters in Bangladesh able to track my plans and movements so closely? There has always been a strong suspicion that it was the result of a flow of information between the US government of Democrat Barack Obama and ISIL.
More recently Bangladesh has come to play a key role in Erdogan's attempts to muscle in on discussions regarding the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK/North) nuclear weapons program.
Using Bangladesh's pool of extremist Muslims Erdogan has formed an Islamist terror group calling themselves the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). They have crossed the border into Bangladesh's neighbour Myanmar/Burma to conduct attacks against the Burmese security forces in the name of the nation's Muslim Rohingya minority.
As they were intended to do the ARSA's attacks have prompted a backlash by the Burmese security forces. Amid some pretty wild accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide this backlash has prompted tens of thousands of Rohingya to cross the border into Bangladesh. This makes the Bangladeshi city of Cox's Bazaar pretty much ground zero for Erdogan's efforts.
Then of course there is the British Labour Party's attempts to overthrow the government of Prime Minister May by burning down the Grenfell Tower apartment block in London on June 14th (14/6/17).
This fire spread in part due to insulation cladding fitted to the building to meet the UK's obligations under the UNFCCC. As a result it was a big talking point of the sidelines of the COP23 Summit.
During the course of COP23 London police confirmed that not only did they failure to investigate this arson attack they artificially inflated the deathtoll. In making that admission they still attempted to inflate the actual deathtoll of 70 to 71 by including an unborn child. A death which does not count under UK law.
The general consensus from COP 23 was that nations will not embarrass the UK by releasing evidence they hold detailing the Labour Party's arson conspiracy. However generally they can think of no reason why Britain would want to continue keeping that a secret.
Many of those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire are recent immigrants from Morocco. In an attempt to bring down the government the Labour Party have seized on this by accusing the Public Inquiry of racism. They insist it should include more representatives of people who understand Moroccan culture.
Through a November 20th (20/11/17) stampede which killed 15 Morocco has described the Labour supporter Grenfell survivors as the type of people who will trample anyone to death for a free handout. I think perhaps Labour want less Moroccan cultural understanding in the Public Inquiry.
In the Grenfell Tower plot to 'assassinate' Prime Minister May one of the key suspects would of course be Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. The other would be Labour's London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
On December 6th (6/12/17) Jeremy Corbyn was in Westminster. Sadiq Khan however was overseas in Bangladesh's neighbour India. Which probably explains why only one suspect rather than the promised two turned up in Westminster Magistrates Court.
Then of course there have been the Germans. The Germans have also been extremely noisy in the period following Britain's outburst.
As I mentioned I recently went to visit my mothers. Between November 29th (29/11/17) and December 1st (1/12/17).
Compared to a mega city like London where my mothers live is relatively rural. So I used the opportunity of the visit to buy some cross-country running shoes. These are essentially normal running shoes that are better able to deal with rain, mud, snow and ice.
There are plenty of shops that sell this sort of thing where my mothers live but comparatively few where I live.
As I was acquiring this shoebox sized package one of the shops I visit was right by the town square which was hosting a German-style Christmas Market.
So on December 1st (1/12/17) a non-functioning parcel bomb type IED was discovered at a Christmas Market in the German city of Potsdam. Rather than terrorism this has been blamed on a blackmail plot against the courier company DHL. Rather like the April 11th 2017 (11/4/17) bombing of the Borussia Dortmund team bus was blamed on a stockmarket scam.
The Potsdam parcel bomb did not detonate because it was lacking an ignition device. While visiting my mothers I also brought a cigarette lighter. My existing cigarette ignition device had failed.
The train I used to visit my mothers had Wi-Fi Internet service. I tend not to use it though because I actually prefer a couple of hours away from the noise of the Internet. However on my return journey I forgot to switch off the Wi-Fi on my tablet so it tried and failed to connect to the train's system.
On December 5th (5/12/16) - the day after the big failure in the Brexit negotiations - a passenger train crashed into a goods train close to the German city of Dusseldorf. An economist would describe this as a collision between human capital and physical capital. A reference to the role that the free movement of people will play in a post-Brexit trade deal.
One of the main stories coming out of the immediate aftermath of the crash was rescuers inability to make contact with trapped passengers. Rather like how my tablet was unable to make contact with the train's Wi-Fi despite its best efforts.
In her retirement one of my mothers has decided to take up knitting. Over the course of the last year it's sort of become a running joke that she is going to knit me a sweater. Particularly while she's trying to 'discreetly' measure me while were out in public restaurants.
Last week my mother finally finished knitting this sweater. So she posted it to me. Unfortunately she didn't tell me she was posting it to me meaning I missed the deliver and spent much of the next week trying to arrange a re-delivery.
This led to some speculation in my house and beyond about what the mystery package could be. After all normally when I receive an unsolicited package without a return address the first thing I do is check it's not ticking.
On December 10th (10/12/17) the German city of Berlin helpfully suggested the package could contain some 200 rounds of ammunition for a Walther PPK handgun.
Sadly the little details of my life are just not that interesting. They do though give Germany opportunity to take a position of power in Brexit negotiations by pretending they don't know what's going on when in truth they do.
Germany is considered one of the most powerful nations within the European Union (EU). However they are currently weakened by a political crisis of their own.
The September 24th 2017 (24/9/17) General Election left the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party of incumbent Chancellor (Head of Government) Angela Merkel not only unable to govern as a single party but also apparently unable to form a coalition government. Germany seems set for fresh elections in 2018.
Germany's neighbour Austria seems to have suggested it might be time for Ms Merkel to drop all the anti-Trump nonsense. For politicians it seems to be the quickest route to unemployment.
Well in nations that can still legitimately claim to be democracies.
17:35 on 14/12/17 (UK date).
The seventh round of meetings was of course not the only significant diplomatic event during Britain's recent outburst. There was also the Brexit negotiations and the COP23 Summit.
Heading into the Brexit negotiations Britain thought its expertise in terrorism and security matters would be an asset. Then the March 22nd (22/3/17) Westminster Bridge terror attack happened.
If you are trying to assassinate a protected person such as a Prime Minister or President you are faced with the problem that they are often guarded by multiple layers of security inside a secure building.
To try and get around this problem you might attempt to beat the bushes by staging a diversionary attack on the building. This will often trigger the protected person being evacuated from the building forcing them out in to the open for a short period where they can be picked off by a sniper.
There are entire breeds of gun dogs dedicated to this way of thinking.
When Khalid Masood crashed his vehicle into the gates of the UK Parliament building sure enough it triggered the evacuation of the Prime Minister Theresa May from the building. This was a shambles.
Prime Minister May's police bodyguards evacuated her from the building into an open courtyard/carpark. They then stood around for ages as they tried to work out which vehicle they were supposed to be putting her into and who had the car keys. Just from watching TV even I know there should have been a driver with the vehicle at all times.
Funnily enough after that Britain stopped trying to use its supposed expertise in terrorism and security matters as an asset within Brexit negotiations.
On December 5th (5/12/17) the head of Britain's internal security service MI5 informed Parliament that they had thwarted an Islamist plot to assassinate Prime Minister May. Two men would appear at Westminster Magistrates Court charged with the plot the following day.
As it turns out only one man appeared in Court over the plot. Naa'imur Zakariyah Rahman, a 20 year old immigrant from Bangladesh. The alleged New York City pipebomber Akayed Ullah is also an immigrant from Bangladesh.
Bangladeshi Muslims tend to practice a very extreme form of Salafi Sunni Islam. Throughout 2015 and 2016 the country saw a huge increase in Islamist violence. For the most part this took the form of small scale, seemingly isolated murders and attempted murders of bloggers, gay-rights activists and others the Bangladeshi Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan accused of insulting Islam.
On July 1st 2016 (1/7/16) there was a large-scale terror attack in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. Six attackers stormed a restaurant and held its customers and staff hostage. During the course of a 12 hour siege 20 of the hostages were murdered before the attackers were killed and 13 hostages were released.
That attack very closely mirrored my movements of that day. Almost down to the minute despite the time difference. As such there was always a suspicion that it was intended as a threat to me.
The question though is how were ISIL fighters in Bangladesh able to track my plans and movements so closely? There has always been a strong suspicion that it was the result of a flow of information between the US government of Democrat Barack Obama and ISIL.
More recently Bangladesh has come to play a key role in Erdogan's attempts to muscle in on discussions regarding the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK/North) nuclear weapons program.
Using Bangladesh's pool of extremist Muslims Erdogan has formed an Islamist terror group calling themselves the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). They have crossed the border into Bangladesh's neighbour Myanmar/Burma to conduct attacks against the Burmese security forces in the name of the nation's Muslim Rohingya minority.
As they were intended to do the ARSA's attacks have prompted a backlash by the Burmese security forces. Amid some pretty wild accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide this backlash has prompted tens of thousands of Rohingya to cross the border into Bangladesh. This makes the Bangladeshi city of Cox's Bazaar pretty much ground zero for Erdogan's efforts.
Then of course there is the British Labour Party's attempts to overthrow the government of Prime Minister May by burning down the Grenfell Tower apartment block in London on June 14th (14/6/17).
This fire spread in part due to insulation cladding fitted to the building to meet the UK's obligations under the UNFCCC. As a result it was a big talking point of the sidelines of the COP23 Summit.
During the course of COP23 London police confirmed that not only did they failure to investigate this arson attack they artificially inflated the deathtoll. In making that admission they still attempted to inflate the actual deathtoll of 70 to 71 by including an unborn child. A death which does not count under UK law.
The general consensus from COP 23 was that nations will not embarrass the UK by releasing evidence they hold detailing the Labour Party's arson conspiracy. However generally they can think of no reason why Britain would want to continue keeping that a secret.
Many of those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire are recent immigrants from Morocco. In an attempt to bring down the government the Labour Party have seized on this by accusing the Public Inquiry of racism. They insist it should include more representatives of people who understand Moroccan culture.
Through a November 20th (20/11/17) stampede which killed 15 Morocco has described the Labour supporter Grenfell survivors as the type of people who will trample anyone to death for a free handout. I think perhaps Labour want less Moroccan cultural understanding in the Public Inquiry.
In the Grenfell Tower plot to 'assassinate' Prime Minister May one of the key suspects would of course be Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. The other would be Labour's London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
On December 6th (6/12/17) Jeremy Corbyn was in Westminster. Sadiq Khan however was overseas in Bangladesh's neighbour India. Which probably explains why only one suspect rather than the promised two turned up in Westminster Magistrates Court.
Then of course there have been the Germans. The Germans have also been extremely noisy in the period following Britain's outburst.
As I mentioned I recently went to visit my mothers. Between November 29th (29/11/17) and December 1st (1/12/17).
Compared to a mega city like London where my mothers live is relatively rural. So I used the opportunity of the visit to buy some cross-country running shoes. These are essentially normal running shoes that are better able to deal with rain, mud, snow and ice.
There are plenty of shops that sell this sort of thing where my mothers live but comparatively few where I live.
As I was acquiring this shoebox sized package one of the shops I visit was right by the town square which was hosting a German-style Christmas Market.
So on December 1st (1/12/17) a non-functioning parcel bomb type IED was discovered at a Christmas Market in the German city of Potsdam. Rather than terrorism this has been blamed on a blackmail plot against the courier company DHL. Rather like the April 11th 2017 (11/4/17) bombing of the Borussia Dortmund team bus was blamed on a stockmarket scam.
The Potsdam parcel bomb did not detonate because it was lacking an ignition device. While visiting my mothers I also brought a cigarette lighter. My existing cigarette ignition device had failed.
The train I used to visit my mothers had Wi-Fi Internet service. I tend not to use it though because I actually prefer a couple of hours away from the noise of the Internet. However on my return journey I forgot to switch off the Wi-Fi on my tablet so it tried and failed to connect to the train's system.
On December 5th (5/12/16) - the day after the big failure in the Brexit negotiations - a passenger train crashed into a goods train close to the German city of Dusseldorf. An economist would describe this as a collision between human capital and physical capital. A reference to the role that the free movement of people will play in a post-Brexit trade deal.
One of the main stories coming out of the immediate aftermath of the crash was rescuers inability to make contact with trapped passengers. Rather like how my tablet was unable to make contact with the train's Wi-Fi despite its best efforts.
In her retirement one of my mothers has decided to take up knitting. Over the course of the last year it's sort of become a running joke that she is going to knit me a sweater. Particularly while she's trying to 'discreetly' measure me while were out in public restaurants.
Last week my mother finally finished knitting this sweater. So she posted it to me. Unfortunately she didn't tell me she was posting it to me meaning I missed the deliver and spent much of the next week trying to arrange a re-delivery.
This led to some speculation in my house and beyond about what the mystery package could be. After all normally when I receive an unsolicited package without a return address the first thing I do is check it's not ticking.
On December 10th (10/12/17) the German city of Berlin helpfully suggested the package could contain some 200 rounds of ammunition for a Walther PPK handgun.
Sadly the little details of my life are just not that interesting. They do though give Germany opportunity to take a position of power in Brexit negotiations by pretending they don't know what's going on when in truth they do.
Germany is considered one of the most powerful nations within the European Union (EU). However they are currently weakened by a political crisis of their own.
The September 24th 2017 (24/9/17) General Election left the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party of incumbent Chancellor (Head of Government) Angela Merkel not only unable to govern as a single party but also apparently unable to form a coalition government. Germany seems set for fresh elections in 2018.
Germany's neighbour Austria seems to have suggested it might be time for Ms Merkel to drop all the anti-Trump nonsense. For politicians it seems to be the quickest route to unemployment.
Well in nations that can still legitimately claim to be democracies.
17:35 on 14/12/17 (UK date).
Wednesday, 13 December 2017
Some Generic New York Pun.
On Monday (11/12/17) an Islamist terrorist detonated a pipebomb type Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on the Underground Rail (Metro) system in New York City, New York, US.
Specifically the device was detonated during the morning commuter rushhour on a packed pedestrian walkway linking Times Square state to the Port Authority Bus Terminal station. We can discuss Americans misuse of the term; "Subway" at a later date.
Fortunately the explosive in the pipebomb caught fire rather than exploding. As a result there were no deaths and the most serious injury was to the alleged bomber Akayed Ullah who was taken into custody alive.
This spectacle of an IED producing a fireball rather than a blast on an Underground Rail system invokes memories of a similar incident in London, UK on September 15th (15/9/17). Here a similar but much larger IED caught fire on a train at the Parson's Green Underground Rail station. Again this caused no deaths or injuries of note.
The Parson's Green incident occurred during the sixth round of meetings in the Astana Process on Syria. As Britain is not a party to the Astana Process the Parson's Green incident was Britain attempting to force its way into the meeting.
Specifically Britain wanted to raise its objections to the main topic on the agenda at that sixth round of Astana meetings. Plans to allow Turkey to annex an area of north-eastern Syria that has been designated; "The Sudetenland." The purpose being to allow Turkey to protect the Al Qaeda Islamist terror group from Syrian forces. Something which is very much not in Britain's interest.
The seventh round of meetings in the Astana Process occurred on October 30th (30/10/17) and October 31st (31/10/17).
This marked the start of several very busy diplomatic weeks for the UK. Alongside the Astana meetings which it is still not a party to there was also key meetings on Britain's exit from the European Union (EU) and the 23rd Conference of Parties (COP23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
On November 12th (12/11/17) a pipebomb type IED was discovered and safely defused at a war memorial in Omagh, Northern Ireland. This invoked memories of the August 15th 1998 (15/8/98) Omagh bombing in which 29 civilians were killed and more than 300 wounded in a carbomb attack on a packed shopping street. That was the most deadly False Flag terror attack ever carried out in the UK.
Through things like the 1998 Omagh bombing False Flag attacks have something of a bad reputation. One that is often perpetuated by conspiracy theorists. However False Flag attacks are normally carried out by intelligence agencies to protect their sources of information in order to save civilian lives.
The Parson's Green incident also touched on this topic. In December 1987 the extremely militant animal rights group the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) firebombed a department store in the Harrow area of north London. The device itself had been placed by Bob Lambert - a police officer working undercover within the ALF on behalf of the Metropolitan Police's Special Branch which has recently been absorbed into Counter-Terrorism Command.
Particularly the Metropolitan Police's use of undercover officers has been a controversial issue within Britain of late. However the innocent explanation of Bob Lambert's actions is that if he had refused to plant the Harrow device he would have been excluded from the ALF costing the police a valuable source of intelligence on the group. The ALF would then have simply got someone else to plant the device.
Another famous - in certain circles - British example of this type of False Flag attack is the February 18th 1996 (18/2/96) bombing of a passenger bus in the Aldwych area of London. As with the 1998 Omagh bombing this was blamed on the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA).
Due to the way the PIRA used to operate it was rare that one of their bombmakers would ever meet the person tasked with planting their bombs. Somewhere between the bombmaker and the bomb planter the timer on the Aldwych bomb was switched from a 24 clock to a 12 clock.
As a result the Aldwych bomb exploded 12 hours before it was supposed to. Rather than doing extensive property damage and potentially killing civilians it merely killed the PIRA member tasked with planting it and destroyed an old bus that was just weeks away from retirement.
No doubt the member of the British intelligence service who made that switch had their deep cover within PIRA preserved. That was important because the Aldwych bomb occurred as part of a large PIRA bombing campaign. This began with the massive February 9th (9/2/96) bombing in the Canary Wharf area of London and included the massive June 15th (15/6/96) bombing in the city of Manchester.
The Omagh pipebomb discovery was followed on November 13th (13/11/17) by the BBC World Service News expose; "Raqqa's Dirty Secret." This alleged that a number of fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had been allowed to flee the Syrian city of Raqqa for Turkey.
Combined Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan took these twin events as reference to the Garvaghy Road area of Syria. This roughly 100km (60 mile) wide stretch of Syria's border with Turkey was created in August 2016 when Erdogan sent regular Turkish forces to illegally invade and occupy it.
Garvaghy Road was initially created to allow Erdogan to continue supplying ISIL to the south-east of the area and Al Qaeda to the south-west of the area. However with both ISIL and Al Qaeda having suffered significant defeats since then Garvaghy Road has emerged as an escape route through which their fighters can flee via Turkey.
In the past few days Syria's Garvaghy Road has emerged as a very clear threat to victory against ISIL and Al Qaeda.
On Sunday (10/12/17) it was confirmed that a large number of French and Algerians who had fought for ISIL in Syria and Iraq have now emerged in Afghanistan where they are bolstering the ranks of ISIL's self-styled; "Khorasan Province." This along with other evidence has led Russia to warn that Afghanistan is emerging as ISIL's next main stronghold.
On Monday (11/12/17) the African Union warned that as many as 6,000 ISIL fighters could return to the continent. That risks spreading violence across nations such as Somalia, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger where US Special Operations Forces (SOF's) were recently killed.
Despite a growing awareness of the threat posed by Garvaghy Road its existence was consolidated by the US on December 6th (6/12/17). US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital before immediately suspending his announcement.
Like Syria's Garvaghy Road and the Sudetenland Jerusalem is occupied territory. By saying that Israel can claim Jerusalem as its territory the US is equally saying that Turkey can claim Garvaghy Road and the Sudetenland as it's territory.
Initially the New York City pipebomber declare that he had carried out the attack in response to the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. However given the time it takes to assemble the components for and then assemble a pipebomb this is highly unlikely to be true. Further investigation has linked Ullah to ISIL all the way back to 2014.
The big winner from Trump's announcement has be Erdogan. Aside from the apparent recognition of Garvaghy Road and the Sudetenland as Turkish territory Erdogan has long used the issue of Jerusalem to mobilise his supporters in an effort to portray him as the leader of the Muslim world.
The most recent example of this occurred in July 2017. Erdogan backed Palestinians to conduct a terrorist attack at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem killing two Israeli police officers. This attack occurred on the morning of July 14th (14/7/17) and led to the Mosque being closed for the very important Muslim Friday midday prayers.
Erdogan then leapt on the temporary closure which he'd created as evidence that Israel was going to permanently exclude Muslims from the Mount of God's Holy House site. This lead to weeks of tension.
Erdogan's Turkey, Qatar, ISIL and Al Qaeda are all linked through the Muslim Brotherhood organisation who were founded in Egypt in 1928. In 1987 the Muslim Brotherhood went on to form the Palestinian group Hamas.
Over the course of the past year Hamas have broken off their ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. This has prompted Erdogan to try and replace Hamas with a more obedient group.
Within Palestine itself Hamas' main rival is the Islamic Jihad group. Their military wing is the al-Quds or Jerusalem Brigade. Within Egypt which Hamas relies on for its supply routes their main rival are ISIL's Sinai Province. They are formed out of the group Ansar Bait al-Maqdis (ABM) or Defenders of the Holy House by which they mean the Mount of God's Holy House in Jerusalem.
By making Jerusalem the issue Erdogan has been well placed to boost support for both Islamic Jihad and ISIL's Sinai Province at the expense of Hamas.
In May 2017 a massive split emerged between the Gulf Nations. On one side you have Saudi Arabia and on the other you have Qatar backed by Turkey. The main issue behind the split is Iran but a close second is Qatar and Turkey's support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
Today (13/12/17) Erdogan is hosting an emergency meeting of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Turkey. The main call is Islamic Unity for al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Erdogan is clearly hoping this call for Islamic Unity leads to the split with Saudi Arabia being brought to an end with Saudi Arabia backing down over Qatar and Erdogan's support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
Trump's Jerusalem announcement was immediately followed on December 7th (7/12/17) by a US call for Saudi Arabia to end its blockade on Yemen. This is something that has been going on since 2015. However it is only since the split with Qatar and Turkey that people have suddenly been concerned by it.
So despite Erdogan's public protests it does look very much as if behind the scenes Erdogan has instructed the US to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital so he can profit from the backlash.
Through things like the Robert Mueller Special Counsel investigation it is clear that there are a number of US officials operating in what in Turkey would be called; "The Deep State" who wish to oust Trump as US President. Particularly in the US State Department these are the people Trump has to rely on to advise him on issues such as Jerusalem.
In response to this deep opposition Trump has become interested in shoring up his support base. A large part of that support base are Evangelical Christians. They wish to see Jerusalem recognised as Israel's capital in order to fulfil almost a Biblical fairystory.
In order to appeal to Evangelical Christians during the campaign Trump appointed the Evangelical Christian Mike Pence to be his running mate. Now Pence is Vice President if the attempts to oust Trump were to succeed then Pence would automatically become President. This prospect has led to many Republicans failing to oppose things like the Mueller investigation as robustly as they should.
Trump's relationship with the Evangelical Christians has been called into sharp focus by yesterday (12/12/17) special Senate election in Alabama.
In this race Trump initially backed Luther Strange in the Republican primary. However Strange lost to Roy Moore because Moore is an Evangelical Christian and a lot of Republican voters in Alabama are also Evangelical Christians.
The Alabama Senate race has become the sole focus on the entire national Democrat Party campaign. Their main strategy has been a smear campaign accusing Roy Moore of sexual impropriety - particularly against pubescent girls.
Moore's main accuser has been a woman by the name of Deborah Wesson Gibson. She is a high level employee of the Democrat Party having worked as a sign language interpreter both for Hillary Clinton and former Vice President Joe Biden. Her main piece of evidence has been an inscription she claims Moore wrote in her High School yearbook.
Ever since Wesson Gibson produced this yearbook people have been asking for it to be forensically examined by an expert to certify it as authentic. Wesson Gibson has repeatedly refused.
On - I think - Thursday (7/12/17) Wesson Gibson was forced to admit why she wouldn't allow the yearbook to be verified. She confirmed that in part at least the inscription had been written not by Moore but by her herself. As a result no forensic examiner could certify it as genuine.
However the US news media does have this problem. They seem to view their role as not to report facts but to make up lies to ensure that Democrats seize power.
As a result Wesson Gibson's claims are widely being treated as fact making Moore an absolutely toxic candidate. This has led to Trump not lending his support to Moore angering some in his Evangelical base.
A terror attack occurring just before an election race the Democrat Party see as key should sadly come as no surprise to the people of New York City.
On November 7th (7/11/17) there was the gubernatorial election in the state of Virginia. This was proceeded by the Halloween (31/10/17) terror attack on New York City's westside in which eight people were killed.
Apart from being a powerplay during the seventh round of meetings in the Astana Process this was intended to help the Democrats win the Virginia election. The hope was that it would be viewed as Trump ordering a False Flag attack and killing US citizens in the hope of furthering his racist agenda.
The key issue in the Virginia race were the events on August 12th (12/8/17) in Charlottesville. Following a; "Unite the Rally" a counter-protester named Heather Hyer was killed in a vehicle collision. This was used by the Democrats to accuse Trump and the Republicans of racism.
On December 1st (1/12/17) - curiously after the November 7th (7/11/17) election - an independent report into those events released its findings. It found that the Democrat run State and City failed to properly protect the public. In short it found that the Democrats created the conditions which led to Heather Hyer's death.
The main claim supporting the Mueller investigation is that it is needed to protect the US election process from foreign interference.
A foreign nation conducting a terror attack killing eight people to influence a US election is exactly the type of foreign interference Mueller should concern himself. As would the Democrats themselves killing a US citizen in an effort to create a martyr to help themselves win an election.
Monday's (11/12/17) pipebomb in New York City was in a similar vain. Through the would be bomber's likely false statements there was a clear effort to link the attack to Trump's Jerusalem statement.
Many Democrat supporters on social media were quick to point out that Ullah was from Bangladesh - a nation not on Trump's travel ban. Evidence in their eyes at least that Trump's ban was motivated by racism rather than security.
It was publicly announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were overseeing security at yesterday's (12/12/17) vote in Alabama. In itself this sounds like a Federal body interfering to swing the result of the vote in the Democrats favour.
Alabama was scene of Martin Luther King's famous Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights March in 1965. As a result race has always been a significant factor in local politics. The Democrats tried to cash in on this by standing a candidate Doug Jones who had previously prosecuted members of the racist Ku Klux Klan.
The DHS announcing it is overseeing security is to effectively accuse Roy Moore and the Republicans of racism and trying to suppress the black vote. The short of declaration that motivates black voters to go out and vote for the Democrat candidate.
The DHS also let it be known they were concerned with cybersecurity. The implication being to guard against Russian hackers. Again this sees the DHS side with the Democrats main narrative which has included the release of video showing Roy Moore use basic Russian phrases.
It has emerged that during the 2016 Presidential election outgoing President Barack Obama abused his power by getting the FBI to monitor and intervene on social media. Their mission was to remove negative comments and stories about Democrats and in particular his designated successor Hillary Clinton.
In doing this Obama seems to have been inspired by the Republic of Korea (RoK) National Intelligence Service (NIS) spy agency.
What a lot of people forget about the RoK is that it was run as a brutal military dictatorship under Park Chung-hee between 1963 and 1979. It is a good pub quiz question; "In which decade did South Korea become a UN member?" - it is a lot later than you would think.
In the 2012 the NIS invoked the tactics of the military dictatorship to ensure Park Chung-hee's daughter Park Geun-hye was became President. This effort involved them monitoring social media to place positive stories and comments about Ms Park and remove negative ones about her.
At the time of the 2016 US Presidential election there was mass protests against Park Geun-hye that eventually saw her impeached in a scandal that saw many South Koreans fearful their nation was moving away from democracy towards military dictatorship.
Doug Jones has provisionally been declared the winner in Alabama with 49.9% of the vote to Roy Moore's 48.4%.
The involvement of the DHS seems intended then to promote a discussion about election rigging by the Democrat Party and the dark state US democracy seems to find itself in at the moment.
It is likely then that Moore will seek a recount. The apparent rush by Alabama officials to declare the result as valid does not say much about their integrity.
17:40 on 13/12/17 (UK date).
Specifically the device was detonated during the morning commuter rushhour on a packed pedestrian walkway linking Times Square state to the Port Authority Bus Terminal station. We can discuss Americans misuse of the term; "Subway" at a later date.
Fortunately the explosive in the pipebomb caught fire rather than exploding. As a result there were no deaths and the most serious injury was to the alleged bomber Akayed Ullah who was taken into custody alive.
This spectacle of an IED producing a fireball rather than a blast on an Underground Rail system invokes memories of a similar incident in London, UK on September 15th (15/9/17). Here a similar but much larger IED caught fire on a train at the Parson's Green Underground Rail station. Again this caused no deaths or injuries of note.
The Parson's Green incident occurred during the sixth round of meetings in the Astana Process on Syria. As Britain is not a party to the Astana Process the Parson's Green incident was Britain attempting to force its way into the meeting.
Specifically Britain wanted to raise its objections to the main topic on the agenda at that sixth round of Astana meetings. Plans to allow Turkey to annex an area of north-eastern Syria that has been designated; "The Sudetenland." The purpose being to allow Turkey to protect the Al Qaeda Islamist terror group from Syrian forces. Something which is very much not in Britain's interest.
The seventh round of meetings in the Astana Process occurred on October 30th (30/10/17) and October 31st (31/10/17).
This marked the start of several very busy diplomatic weeks for the UK. Alongside the Astana meetings which it is still not a party to there was also key meetings on Britain's exit from the European Union (EU) and the 23rd Conference of Parties (COP23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
On November 12th (12/11/17) a pipebomb type IED was discovered and safely defused at a war memorial in Omagh, Northern Ireland. This invoked memories of the August 15th 1998 (15/8/98) Omagh bombing in which 29 civilians were killed and more than 300 wounded in a carbomb attack on a packed shopping street. That was the most deadly False Flag terror attack ever carried out in the UK.
Through things like the 1998 Omagh bombing False Flag attacks have something of a bad reputation. One that is often perpetuated by conspiracy theorists. However False Flag attacks are normally carried out by intelligence agencies to protect their sources of information in order to save civilian lives.
The Parson's Green incident also touched on this topic. In December 1987 the extremely militant animal rights group the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) firebombed a department store in the Harrow area of north London. The device itself had been placed by Bob Lambert - a police officer working undercover within the ALF on behalf of the Metropolitan Police's Special Branch which has recently been absorbed into Counter-Terrorism Command.
Particularly the Metropolitan Police's use of undercover officers has been a controversial issue within Britain of late. However the innocent explanation of Bob Lambert's actions is that if he had refused to plant the Harrow device he would have been excluded from the ALF costing the police a valuable source of intelligence on the group. The ALF would then have simply got someone else to plant the device.
Another famous - in certain circles - British example of this type of False Flag attack is the February 18th 1996 (18/2/96) bombing of a passenger bus in the Aldwych area of London. As with the 1998 Omagh bombing this was blamed on the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA).
Due to the way the PIRA used to operate it was rare that one of their bombmakers would ever meet the person tasked with planting their bombs. Somewhere between the bombmaker and the bomb planter the timer on the Aldwych bomb was switched from a 24 clock to a 12 clock.
As a result the Aldwych bomb exploded 12 hours before it was supposed to. Rather than doing extensive property damage and potentially killing civilians it merely killed the PIRA member tasked with planting it and destroyed an old bus that was just weeks away from retirement.
No doubt the member of the British intelligence service who made that switch had their deep cover within PIRA preserved. That was important because the Aldwych bomb occurred as part of a large PIRA bombing campaign. This began with the massive February 9th (9/2/96) bombing in the Canary Wharf area of London and included the massive June 15th (15/6/96) bombing in the city of Manchester.
The Omagh pipebomb discovery was followed on November 13th (13/11/17) by the BBC World Service News expose; "Raqqa's Dirty Secret." This alleged that a number of fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had been allowed to flee the Syrian city of Raqqa for Turkey.
Combined Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan took these twin events as reference to the Garvaghy Road area of Syria. This roughly 100km (60 mile) wide stretch of Syria's border with Turkey was created in August 2016 when Erdogan sent regular Turkish forces to illegally invade and occupy it.
Garvaghy Road was initially created to allow Erdogan to continue supplying ISIL to the south-east of the area and Al Qaeda to the south-west of the area. However with both ISIL and Al Qaeda having suffered significant defeats since then Garvaghy Road has emerged as an escape route through which their fighters can flee via Turkey.
In the past few days Syria's Garvaghy Road has emerged as a very clear threat to victory against ISIL and Al Qaeda.
On Sunday (10/12/17) it was confirmed that a large number of French and Algerians who had fought for ISIL in Syria and Iraq have now emerged in Afghanistan where they are bolstering the ranks of ISIL's self-styled; "Khorasan Province." This along with other evidence has led Russia to warn that Afghanistan is emerging as ISIL's next main stronghold.
On Monday (11/12/17) the African Union warned that as many as 6,000 ISIL fighters could return to the continent. That risks spreading violence across nations such as Somalia, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger where US Special Operations Forces (SOF's) were recently killed.
Despite a growing awareness of the threat posed by Garvaghy Road its existence was consolidated by the US on December 6th (6/12/17). US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital before immediately suspending his announcement.
Like Syria's Garvaghy Road and the Sudetenland Jerusalem is occupied territory. By saying that Israel can claim Jerusalem as its territory the US is equally saying that Turkey can claim Garvaghy Road and the Sudetenland as it's territory.
Initially the New York City pipebomber declare that he had carried out the attack in response to the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. However given the time it takes to assemble the components for and then assemble a pipebomb this is highly unlikely to be true. Further investigation has linked Ullah to ISIL all the way back to 2014.
The big winner from Trump's announcement has be Erdogan. Aside from the apparent recognition of Garvaghy Road and the Sudetenland as Turkish territory Erdogan has long used the issue of Jerusalem to mobilise his supporters in an effort to portray him as the leader of the Muslim world.
The most recent example of this occurred in July 2017. Erdogan backed Palestinians to conduct a terrorist attack at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem killing two Israeli police officers. This attack occurred on the morning of July 14th (14/7/17) and led to the Mosque being closed for the very important Muslim Friday midday prayers.
Erdogan then leapt on the temporary closure which he'd created as evidence that Israel was going to permanently exclude Muslims from the Mount of God's Holy House site. This lead to weeks of tension.
Erdogan's Turkey, Qatar, ISIL and Al Qaeda are all linked through the Muslim Brotherhood organisation who were founded in Egypt in 1928. In 1987 the Muslim Brotherhood went on to form the Palestinian group Hamas.
Over the course of the past year Hamas have broken off their ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. This has prompted Erdogan to try and replace Hamas with a more obedient group.
Within Palestine itself Hamas' main rival is the Islamic Jihad group. Their military wing is the al-Quds or Jerusalem Brigade. Within Egypt which Hamas relies on for its supply routes their main rival are ISIL's Sinai Province. They are formed out of the group Ansar Bait al-Maqdis (ABM) or Defenders of the Holy House by which they mean the Mount of God's Holy House in Jerusalem.
By making Jerusalem the issue Erdogan has been well placed to boost support for both Islamic Jihad and ISIL's Sinai Province at the expense of Hamas.
In May 2017 a massive split emerged between the Gulf Nations. On one side you have Saudi Arabia and on the other you have Qatar backed by Turkey. The main issue behind the split is Iran but a close second is Qatar and Turkey's support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
Today (13/12/17) Erdogan is hosting an emergency meeting of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Turkey. The main call is Islamic Unity for al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Erdogan is clearly hoping this call for Islamic Unity leads to the split with Saudi Arabia being brought to an end with Saudi Arabia backing down over Qatar and Erdogan's support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
Trump's Jerusalem announcement was immediately followed on December 7th (7/12/17) by a US call for Saudi Arabia to end its blockade on Yemen. This is something that has been going on since 2015. However it is only since the split with Qatar and Turkey that people have suddenly been concerned by it.
So despite Erdogan's public protests it does look very much as if behind the scenes Erdogan has instructed the US to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital so he can profit from the backlash.
Through things like the Robert Mueller Special Counsel investigation it is clear that there are a number of US officials operating in what in Turkey would be called; "The Deep State" who wish to oust Trump as US President. Particularly in the US State Department these are the people Trump has to rely on to advise him on issues such as Jerusalem.
In response to this deep opposition Trump has become interested in shoring up his support base. A large part of that support base are Evangelical Christians. They wish to see Jerusalem recognised as Israel's capital in order to fulfil almost a Biblical fairystory.
In order to appeal to Evangelical Christians during the campaign Trump appointed the Evangelical Christian Mike Pence to be his running mate. Now Pence is Vice President if the attempts to oust Trump were to succeed then Pence would automatically become President. This prospect has led to many Republicans failing to oppose things like the Mueller investigation as robustly as they should.
Trump's relationship with the Evangelical Christians has been called into sharp focus by yesterday (12/12/17) special Senate election in Alabama.
In this race Trump initially backed Luther Strange in the Republican primary. However Strange lost to Roy Moore because Moore is an Evangelical Christian and a lot of Republican voters in Alabama are also Evangelical Christians.
The Alabama Senate race has become the sole focus on the entire national Democrat Party campaign. Their main strategy has been a smear campaign accusing Roy Moore of sexual impropriety - particularly against pubescent girls.
Moore's main accuser has been a woman by the name of Deborah Wesson Gibson. She is a high level employee of the Democrat Party having worked as a sign language interpreter both for Hillary Clinton and former Vice President Joe Biden. Her main piece of evidence has been an inscription she claims Moore wrote in her High School yearbook.
Ever since Wesson Gibson produced this yearbook people have been asking for it to be forensically examined by an expert to certify it as authentic. Wesson Gibson has repeatedly refused.
On - I think - Thursday (7/12/17) Wesson Gibson was forced to admit why she wouldn't allow the yearbook to be verified. She confirmed that in part at least the inscription had been written not by Moore but by her herself. As a result no forensic examiner could certify it as genuine.
However the US news media does have this problem. They seem to view their role as not to report facts but to make up lies to ensure that Democrats seize power.
As a result Wesson Gibson's claims are widely being treated as fact making Moore an absolutely toxic candidate. This has led to Trump not lending his support to Moore angering some in his Evangelical base.
A terror attack occurring just before an election race the Democrat Party see as key should sadly come as no surprise to the people of New York City.
On November 7th (7/11/17) there was the gubernatorial election in the state of Virginia. This was proceeded by the Halloween (31/10/17) terror attack on New York City's westside in which eight people were killed.
Apart from being a powerplay during the seventh round of meetings in the Astana Process this was intended to help the Democrats win the Virginia election. The hope was that it would be viewed as Trump ordering a False Flag attack and killing US citizens in the hope of furthering his racist agenda.
The key issue in the Virginia race were the events on August 12th (12/8/17) in Charlottesville. Following a; "Unite the Rally" a counter-protester named Heather Hyer was killed in a vehicle collision. This was used by the Democrats to accuse Trump and the Republicans of racism.
On December 1st (1/12/17) - curiously after the November 7th (7/11/17) election - an independent report into those events released its findings. It found that the Democrat run State and City failed to properly protect the public. In short it found that the Democrats created the conditions which led to Heather Hyer's death.
The main claim supporting the Mueller investigation is that it is needed to protect the US election process from foreign interference.
A foreign nation conducting a terror attack killing eight people to influence a US election is exactly the type of foreign interference Mueller should concern himself. As would the Democrats themselves killing a US citizen in an effort to create a martyr to help themselves win an election.
Monday's (11/12/17) pipebomb in New York City was in a similar vain. Through the would be bomber's likely false statements there was a clear effort to link the attack to Trump's Jerusalem statement.
Many Democrat supporters on social media were quick to point out that Ullah was from Bangladesh - a nation not on Trump's travel ban. Evidence in their eyes at least that Trump's ban was motivated by racism rather than security.
It was publicly announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were overseeing security at yesterday's (12/12/17) vote in Alabama. In itself this sounds like a Federal body interfering to swing the result of the vote in the Democrats favour.
Alabama was scene of Martin Luther King's famous Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights March in 1965. As a result race has always been a significant factor in local politics. The Democrats tried to cash in on this by standing a candidate Doug Jones who had previously prosecuted members of the racist Ku Klux Klan.
The DHS announcing it is overseeing security is to effectively accuse Roy Moore and the Republicans of racism and trying to suppress the black vote. The short of declaration that motivates black voters to go out and vote for the Democrat candidate.
The DHS also let it be known they were concerned with cybersecurity. The implication being to guard against Russian hackers. Again this sees the DHS side with the Democrats main narrative which has included the release of video showing Roy Moore use basic Russian phrases.
It has emerged that during the 2016 Presidential election outgoing President Barack Obama abused his power by getting the FBI to monitor and intervene on social media. Their mission was to remove negative comments and stories about Democrats and in particular his designated successor Hillary Clinton.
In doing this Obama seems to have been inspired by the Republic of Korea (RoK) National Intelligence Service (NIS) spy agency.
What a lot of people forget about the RoK is that it was run as a brutal military dictatorship under Park Chung-hee between 1963 and 1979. It is a good pub quiz question; "In which decade did South Korea become a UN member?" - it is a lot later than you would think.
In the 2012 the NIS invoked the tactics of the military dictatorship to ensure Park Chung-hee's daughter Park Geun-hye was became President. This effort involved them monitoring social media to place positive stories and comments about Ms Park and remove negative ones about her.
At the time of the 2016 US Presidential election there was mass protests against Park Geun-hye that eventually saw her impeached in a scandal that saw many South Koreans fearful their nation was moving away from democracy towards military dictatorship.
Doug Jones has provisionally been declared the winner in Alabama with 49.9% of the vote to Roy Moore's 48.4%.
The involvement of the DHS seems intended then to promote a discussion about election rigging by the Democrat Party and the dark state US democracy seems to find itself in at the moment.
It is likely then that Moore will seek a recount. The apparent rush by Alabama officials to declare the result as valid does not say much about their integrity.
17:40 on 13/12/17 (UK date).
Monday, 11 December 2017
Operation Featherweight: Month 42, Week 1, Day 2.
In the summer of 2014 the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were at their most powerful.
They controlled large swathes of both Iraq and Syria. They'd declared themselves to be an Islamist Caliphate. Their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to be it's Caliph and the Syrian city of Raqqa to be its capital.
Now in the winter of 2017 ISIL have been reduced to just a few scattered positions in Syria. Mainly around the Euphrates River basin.
Within this area anti-ISIL operations have been conducted by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD). This is a coalition formed by the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in October 2015.
Alongside the YPG the SDF is made up of Assyrian/Syriac Christian, Turkmen and Arab Muslim forces. The Arab element which makes up around 50% of the SDF is comprised of both elements of the long defunct Free Syrian Army and local tribes indigenous to north-eastern Syria.
The SDF is supported by the US-led coalition; Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR) both with air power and Special Operations Forces (SOF's). The SDF also contains a small International Brigade made up of foreign volunteers.
Although they have been supported by Arab fragments of the FSA since the Battle of Kobane in winter 2014 prior to the formation of the SDF the YPG had driven ISIL from the entire Syria/Turkey border from the Euphrates River in the west to Syria's border with Iraq. This was completed in July 2015 with the liberation of Tal Abyad - a border town around 45km (25 miles) east of the Euphrates.
In August 2015 the YPG drove ISIL from the city of Hasakah. This sits around 60km (35 miles) west of the Syria/Iraq border and around 75km (45 miles) south of Syria's border with Turkey.
The liberations of Tal Abyad and Hasakah put the SDF in control of a vast area of north-eastern Syria from the Euphrates to Syria's borders with Turkey and Iraq. For operational reasons this area which cuts across parts of several of Syria's provinces has been designated; "Shangri-La."
In November 2016 the SDF launched an operation codenamed; "Wrath of Euphrates." It's ultimate objective was to liberate the city of Raqqa.
However before that could be achieved the SDF had to advance on Raqqa from their positions close to the Syria/Turkey border. This was done in three phases;
The first phase saw the SDF advance south from positions around 70km (45 miles) north of Raqqa. This was completed in late November 2016 with the SDF taking up positions around 25km (15 miles) north of Raqqa having liberated around 600kmsq (360 milesq).
The second phase saw the SDF advance south along the eastern bank of the Euphrates River effectively from where it enters Syria from Turkey. This was completed in January 2017 with the SDF taking up positions at Lake Assad around 55km (30 miles) west of Raqqa. In the process the SDF liberated around 3,200kmsq (1.920 milesq).
The third phase saw the SDF advance to take up positions east of Raqqa. This was completed in March 2017 with the SDF taking up positions at Karamah around 30km (20 miles) east of Raqqa. In the process the SDF liberated around 1000kmsq (600 milesq).
On March 23rd (23/3/17) the SDF launched an operation to liberate the town of Tabqa. This sits on the southern banks of the Euphrates around 50km (30 miles) west of Raqqa. The adjoining Tabqa Dam forms Lake Assad out of the river.
On May 5th (5/11/17) the SDF completed the liberation of the town of Tabqa and took control of the Tabqa Dam.
On June 6th (6/6/17) the SDF launched an operation to liberate the city of Raqqa itself. After of 133 days on intense urban fighting Raqqa was fully liberated on October 19th (19/10/17).
While the Wrath of Euphrates operation was still under way the SDF launched a second operation on September 9th (9/11/17). This was codenamed; "Cizre Storm."
The only area of Syria north-east of the Euphrates River which does not fall under SDF control as part of Shangri-La is a roughly 1500kmsq (860 milesq) area stretching across the Khobar River.
Roughly in the shape of a triangle this has as its tip the point where the Euphrates River enters Iraq. It's base is an imaginary line stretching between the towns of Madan and al-Shadaddi.
Madan sits on the Euphrates River roughly 70km (40 miles) south-east of Raqqa and 110km (70 miles) north-west of Mayadin. Al-Shadaddi sits on the Khobar River roughly 150km (90 miles) east of Raqqa and roughly 130km (75 miles) north of Mayadin.
The objective of the Cizre Storm operation is to advance from the Madan-Shadaddi Line, across the Khobar River to where the Euphrates River enters Iraq. This will liberate the area from ISIL and properly establish Shangri-La with the Euphrates River as its southern boundary.
Initially the Cizre Storm operation made dramatic progress. After just four days it arrived at the Industrial Zone on the outskirts of Deir-ez-Zour City on September 13th (13/9/17).
The capital of Deir-ez-Zour Province Deir-ez-Zour City is located on the Euphrates River. Roughly 65km (40 miles) south-east of Madan and 50km (30 miles) north-west of Mayadin.
The SDF's progress was achieved by establishing a roughly 3km (1.8 mile) wide and 55km (30 mile) deep corridor from the Madan-Shadaddi Line to the Industrial Zone. Unfortunately the operation then stalled for a full seven days.
On September 20th (20/9/17) the Cizre Storm operation received fresh impetus. The SDF established three axis breaking off from the Industrial Zone corridor to the Khobar River.
Constantly referring to these as; "The First Axis," "The Second Axis" etc gets tedious. So I designated them; "Aisling," "Niamh" and "Siobhan."
The first axis; "Aisling" advanced south-east from the Industrial Zone along the banks of the Euphrates in the general direction of the town of al-Zuwaymiyah. This sits on the junction where the Khobar River meets the Euphrates River roughly 8km (5 miles) from the Industrial Zone.
The second axis; "Niamh" advanced east from the Industrial Zone corridor towards the town of as-Suwar. This sits on the banks of the Khobar River roughly 9km (5 miles) from the Industrial Zone. It is connected to the Industrial Zone by the H7 Damascus to Qamishli Highway.
The third axis; "Siobhan" advanced south from Shadaddi towards the town of Markadah. This sits on the banks of the Khobar River roughly 45km (30 miles) south of Shadaddi and roughly 35km (20 miles) north of as-Suwar.
On September 26th (26/9/17) the Niamh axis reached and liberated as-Suwar. It then advanced north towards Markadah. On October 15th (15/10/17) the Niamh and Siobhan axis united just south of Markadah. They went on to liberate the town on October 20th (20/10/17).
Having united the Niamh and Siobhan axis went on to liberate both the east and west banks of the Khobar from Suwar to the Euphrates River. This was completed on November 6th (6/11/17).
While I have yet to have it confirmed it is my understanding that the combined Niamh and Siobhan axis have now succeeded in liberating both banks of the Khobar River between Suwar and Shadaddi to the north. They have also been making significant progress securing the area between the Khobar and the Madan - Shadaddi Line.
On or around October 10th (10/10/17) the Aisling axis reached and liberated al-Zuwaymiyah completing its advance towards the Khobar River.
While fighting to liberate Raqqa and undertaking the Cizre Storm operation the SDF were also advancing along the northern bank of the Euphrates from Karamah to Deir-ez-Zour City. This sits around 120km (70 miles) south-east of Raqqa along the Euphrates.
On October 14th (14/10/17) the SDF liberated an area known as Husayniyah area. This sits around 4km (2 miles) north-west of the Deir-ez-Zour Industrial Zone.
As a result its liberation secured SDF control of the northern banks of the Euphrates between Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zour. It also linked the Wrath of Euphrates operation with the Aisling axis of the Cizre Storm operation.
On October 20th (20/10/17) that Aisling axis crossed the Khobar River quickly liberating the villages of al-Mashiqa, al-Lawziyah and Shuhayl.
On October 22nd (22/10/17) the Aisling axis had fully liberated the Omar Oil & Gas Field. Being some 160kmsq (95 milesq) in area the liberation of the Omar Oil & Gas Field now puts the SDF's Aisling axis just 40km (25 miles) from Syria's border with Iraq.
On November 5th (5/11/17) the Aisling axis liberated the Sarhit, Shudayha, Younes, Galban and Shaitat Oil & Gas Fields. These small fields sit in an area just beyond the main Omar Oil & Gas Field.
Having raced across the Khobar the Aisling axis then concentrated on securing the area along the banks of the Euphrates between the Deir-ez-Zour Industrial Zone and the Omar Oil & Gas Field.
On November 12th (12/11/17) the SDF's Aisling axis fully liberated Busayrah. This sits almost on a island directly where the Khobar and Euphrates Rivers meet.
On November 17th (17/11/17) the SDF's Aisling axis fully liberated the town of Diban. This sits around 20km (12 miles) south-east of Busayrah on the northern bank of the Euphrates.
On December 1st (1/12/17) the Aisling axis liberated the town of Abu Hamman. This sits around 25km (15 miles) south-east of Diban also on the northern bank of the Euphrates.
Since then the SDF have been battling to liberate the areas around Darnaj and Suwaydan Jazirah. Both of these towns sit on the northern bank of the Euphrates between Diban and Abu Hamman. Darnaj sits around 12km (7 miles) south-east of Diban while Suwaydan sits around 15km (9 miles) south-east of Diban.
The liberation of Abu Hamman is particularly noteworthy. It sits at the northern boundary of an area traditionally controlled by the Sheitat Tribe. Although the area is thought to continue to be under ISIL occupation the Sheitat tribe have traditionally remained loyal to the Syrian government.
The SDF are currently in the process of negotiating with the Sheitat tribe permission to enter the area to establish it no longer contains and ISIL presence. Aside from the tribe's loyalty to the Syrian government a major sticking point seems to be the restrictions such as checkpoints and civilian evacuations the SDF have imposed as part of their operations.
The Sheitat tribe along with other civilian residents of Shangri-La need to understand that these restrictions are necessary. Often for the protection of the civilian residents.
On November 5th (5/11/17) ISIL conducted Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) attack against a camp for Internally Displaced People (IDP's) located between the Jafra and al-Isba Oil & Gas Fields. It killed at least 100 civilians.
On November 17th (17/11/17) ISIL conducted another VBIED attack against the same IDP camp. On this occasion at least 20 civilians were killed.
One of the main ways that the SDF can guard against attacks of this kind is by establishing checkpoints in and around the area. Although these checkpoints seriously disrupt the movements of local residents they are designed to disrupt the movements of ISIL fighters so they can be stopped before they can carry out their attacks.
As for the SDF delaying civilians returning to their homes this is also being done to protect those civilians. It is a widespread tactic of ISIL to lay large amounts of IED's and booby traps in areas under their control. Added to that you have the problem of unexploded munitions that were used to liberate those areas from ISIL.
Clearly those vast amounts of explosives takes a substantial amount of time. Until that task is complete the affected areas remain extremely dangerous. Not just for civilians.
On the day that Raqqa's liberation was announced on October 19th (19/10/17) ISIL booby traps exploded just a few metres/yards away from where the liberation ceremony was taking place. Amid those killed in the explosion was Jac Holmes a 24 year old from Bournemouth, UK who was serving as part of the SDF's International Brigade.
Just on November 25th (25/11/17) more ISIL booby traps exploded in Raqqa killing the members of the SDF who were trying to defuse them. This included another British volunteer serving as part of the SDF's International Brigade. Oliver Hall aged 24 from Portsmouth.
For the SDF's part they do need to make sure the restrictions they impose are lifted as soon as it is safe to do so.
Liberating Abu Hamman and working to liberate the areas between it and Diban has not been the only task the SDF's Aisling axis has been undertaking.
On November 22nd (22/11/17) the Aisling axis launched an advance from the Omar Oil & Gas Field to the Syria/Iraq border. On November 25th (25/11/17) the Aisling axis reached the Syria/Iraq border at al-Bukamal/Abu Kamal - around 125km (75 miles) south-east of Deir-ez-Zour City.
While there is still work to be done backclearing the recently liberated area this marks the completion of the Cizre Storm operation.
The SDF's Shangri-La area now fully encompasses the area to the north-east of the Euphrates River and establishes that river as its southern boundary.
Across that border the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) along with the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga have also been making substantial progress against ISIL.
In April 2015 the ISF liberated the city of Tikrit. This sits in the centre of Iraq around 175km (105 miles) north of the capital Baghdad.
In February 2016 the ISF liberated the city of Ramadi. This western Iraqi city sits around 100km (60 miles) west of Baghdad.
In June 2016 the ISF liberated the city of Fallujah. This also sits in western Iraq around 50km (30 miles) west of Baghdad and 50km (30 miles) east of Ramadi.
In July 2017 the ISF liberated the city of Mosul. This sits in northern Iraq around 400km (240 miles) north of Baghdad and around 130km (80 miles) south of Iraq's border with Turkey.
Although CJTFOIR apparently didn't see the need a key part of liberating Mosul was liberating the vast area surrounding Mosul. This was completed in late August 2017 with the liberation of Tal Afar. A town around 80km (50 miles) west of Mosul.
The bulk of the work of liberating the area around Mosul was done by the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) militia element of the ISF. In early June 2017 they liberated the village of Tal Sufq which sits on the Iraq/Syria border. In reaching Tal Sufq the PMF liberated some 28,000kmsq (16,800milesq) of territory.
In early October 2017 the ISF liberated the Hawija Triangle area. This sits between Mosul and Tikrit.
On October 25th (25/10/17) the ISF launched an operation to liberate the Al-Qaim area. The last population centre under ISIL's control in Iraq this sits in the very west of Iraq's western Anbar Province on the Euphrates River around 15km (9 miles) from the Syrian town of Abu Kamal.
On November 3rd (3/11/17) the ISF with support from Syrian forces liberated Al-Qaim. Since then the ISF have been advancing north to fully liberate the desert area between Al-Qaim and Tal Sufq from ISIL.
This was completed on Saturday (9/12/17) allowing the Iraq government to declare that Iraq has been fully liberated from ISIL.
Despite the complete liberation of Iraq a number of security incidents have continued within the country;
On December 1st (1/12/17) twin car bombings struck in the al-Madin and Alwa districts of Baghdad. Together these bombs killed one person and wounded 10.
On December 5th (5/12/17) a similar car bomb was discovered and safely defused close to Baghdad International Airport.
On December 9th (9/12/17) a car bomb struck in Tikrit killing one person and injuring two others.
Also on Saturday (9/12/17) several mortars/rockets were fired into civilian areas of Tuz Khurmatu. This sits between Tikrit and Mosul. Two people were killed and 10 injured amid significant damage to civilian property.
On May 22nd 2017 (22/5/17) a suicide bomber struck the Manchester Evening News Arena (MENA) in Manchester, UK killing 22 people. On June 36d (3/6/17) a marauding run-over and knife attack killed 8 in the British capital London. On September 15th (15/9/17) there was a failed bomb attack on London's Underground Rail (Metro) network.
On October 31st (31/10/17) a run-over attack killed eight and wounded 11 in New York City, US. As I was sitting down to write this there were reports of a failed bomb attack on New York City's Underground Rail (Metro) system.
My point is that even in nations where ISIL have not held territory it impossible to completely guarantee that ISIL won't be able to launch attacks. Therefore it is equally impossible to guarantee that ISIL will not be able to conduct attacks in Iraq just days after the nation has been liberated.
The liberation of Iraq means that we have gone from a position where large numbers of ISIL fighters were able to control areas where the government had no control. We are now in a position where a small number of ISIL fighters are being forced to hide in areas where the government has full control.
As a result the threat from ISIL to Iraq should slowly start to fade as their ability to conduct attacks is gradually eroded.
Iraq's security of course continues to be threatened by its neighbour to the north, Turkey. On December 6th (6/12/17) Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent military jets to target a camp close to Makmour which is just to the south-east of Mosul.
The camp targeted was a camp for Kurdish refugees who had fled to Iraq and the threat of ISIL to escape Erdogan's persecution of them in Turkey's Kurdish region. Erdogan's airstrikes killed at least three people and destroyed two buildings used to house refugees.
The complete liberation of Iraq and the completion of the Cizre Storm operation's main goal was marked on Saturday (9/12/17) by an agreement between the SDF and the ISF.
The two will now co-operate with each other to ensure that ISIL do not return to the border area between Iraq and Syria's Shangri-La area.
17:55 on 11/12/17 (UK date).
They controlled large swathes of both Iraq and Syria. They'd declared themselves to be an Islamist Caliphate. Their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to be it's Caliph and the Syrian city of Raqqa to be its capital.
Now in the winter of 2017 ISIL have been reduced to just a few scattered positions in Syria. Mainly around the Euphrates River basin.
Within this area anti-ISIL operations have been conducted by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD). This is a coalition formed by the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in October 2015.
Alongside the YPG the SDF is made up of Assyrian/Syriac Christian, Turkmen and Arab Muslim forces. The Arab element which makes up around 50% of the SDF is comprised of both elements of the long defunct Free Syrian Army and local tribes indigenous to north-eastern Syria.
The SDF is supported by the US-led coalition; Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR) both with air power and Special Operations Forces (SOF's). The SDF also contains a small International Brigade made up of foreign volunteers.
Although they have been supported by Arab fragments of the FSA since the Battle of Kobane in winter 2014 prior to the formation of the SDF the YPG had driven ISIL from the entire Syria/Turkey border from the Euphrates River in the west to Syria's border with Iraq. This was completed in July 2015 with the liberation of Tal Abyad - a border town around 45km (25 miles) east of the Euphrates.
In August 2015 the YPG drove ISIL from the city of Hasakah. This sits around 60km (35 miles) west of the Syria/Iraq border and around 75km (45 miles) south of Syria's border with Turkey.
The liberations of Tal Abyad and Hasakah put the SDF in control of a vast area of north-eastern Syria from the Euphrates to Syria's borders with Turkey and Iraq. For operational reasons this area which cuts across parts of several of Syria's provinces has been designated; "Shangri-La."
In November 2016 the SDF launched an operation codenamed; "Wrath of Euphrates." It's ultimate objective was to liberate the city of Raqqa.
However before that could be achieved the SDF had to advance on Raqqa from their positions close to the Syria/Turkey border. This was done in three phases;
The first phase saw the SDF advance south from positions around 70km (45 miles) north of Raqqa. This was completed in late November 2016 with the SDF taking up positions around 25km (15 miles) north of Raqqa having liberated around 600kmsq (360 milesq).
The second phase saw the SDF advance south along the eastern bank of the Euphrates River effectively from where it enters Syria from Turkey. This was completed in January 2017 with the SDF taking up positions at Lake Assad around 55km (30 miles) west of Raqqa. In the process the SDF liberated around 3,200kmsq (1.920 milesq).
The third phase saw the SDF advance to take up positions east of Raqqa. This was completed in March 2017 with the SDF taking up positions at Karamah around 30km (20 miles) east of Raqqa. In the process the SDF liberated around 1000kmsq (600 milesq).
On March 23rd (23/3/17) the SDF launched an operation to liberate the town of Tabqa. This sits on the southern banks of the Euphrates around 50km (30 miles) west of Raqqa. The adjoining Tabqa Dam forms Lake Assad out of the river.
On May 5th (5/11/17) the SDF completed the liberation of the town of Tabqa and took control of the Tabqa Dam.
On June 6th (6/6/17) the SDF launched an operation to liberate the city of Raqqa itself. After of 133 days on intense urban fighting Raqqa was fully liberated on October 19th (19/10/17).
While the Wrath of Euphrates operation was still under way the SDF launched a second operation on September 9th (9/11/17). This was codenamed; "Cizre Storm."
The only area of Syria north-east of the Euphrates River which does not fall under SDF control as part of Shangri-La is a roughly 1500kmsq (860 milesq) area stretching across the Khobar River.
Roughly in the shape of a triangle this has as its tip the point where the Euphrates River enters Iraq. It's base is an imaginary line stretching between the towns of Madan and al-Shadaddi.
Madan sits on the Euphrates River roughly 70km (40 miles) south-east of Raqqa and 110km (70 miles) north-west of Mayadin. Al-Shadaddi sits on the Khobar River roughly 150km (90 miles) east of Raqqa and roughly 130km (75 miles) north of Mayadin.
The objective of the Cizre Storm operation is to advance from the Madan-Shadaddi Line, across the Khobar River to where the Euphrates River enters Iraq. This will liberate the area from ISIL and properly establish Shangri-La with the Euphrates River as its southern boundary.
Initially the Cizre Storm operation made dramatic progress. After just four days it arrived at the Industrial Zone on the outskirts of Deir-ez-Zour City on September 13th (13/9/17).
The capital of Deir-ez-Zour Province Deir-ez-Zour City is located on the Euphrates River. Roughly 65km (40 miles) south-east of Madan and 50km (30 miles) north-west of Mayadin.
The SDF's progress was achieved by establishing a roughly 3km (1.8 mile) wide and 55km (30 mile) deep corridor from the Madan-Shadaddi Line to the Industrial Zone. Unfortunately the operation then stalled for a full seven days.
On September 20th (20/9/17) the Cizre Storm operation received fresh impetus. The SDF established three axis breaking off from the Industrial Zone corridor to the Khobar River.
Constantly referring to these as; "The First Axis," "The Second Axis" etc gets tedious. So I designated them; "Aisling," "Niamh" and "Siobhan."
The first axis; "Aisling" advanced south-east from the Industrial Zone along the banks of the Euphrates in the general direction of the town of al-Zuwaymiyah. This sits on the junction where the Khobar River meets the Euphrates River roughly 8km (5 miles) from the Industrial Zone.
The second axis; "Niamh" advanced east from the Industrial Zone corridor towards the town of as-Suwar. This sits on the banks of the Khobar River roughly 9km (5 miles) from the Industrial Zone. It is connected to the Industrial Zone by the H7 Damascus to Qamishli Highway.
The third axis; "Siobhan" advanced south from Shadaddi towards the town of Markadah. This sits on the banks of the Khobar River roughly 45km (30 miles) south of Shadaddi and roughly 35km (20 miles) north of as-Suwar.
On September 26th (26/9/17) the Niamh axis reached and liberated as-Suwar. It then advanced north towards Markadah. On October 15th (15/10/17) the Niamh and Siobhan axis united just south of Markadah. They went on to liberate the town on October 20th (20/10/17).
Having united the Niamh and Siobhan axis went on to liberate both the east and west banks of the Khobar from Suwar to the Euphrates River. This was completed on November 6th (6/11/17).
While I have yet to have it confirmed it is my understanding that the combined Niamh and Siobhan axis have now succeeded in liberating both banks of the Khobar River between Suwar and Shadaddi to the north. They have also been making significant progress securing the area between the Khobar and the Madan - Shadaddi Line.
On or around October 10th (10/10/17) the Aisling axis reached and liberated al-Zuwaymiyah completing its advance towards the Khobar River.
While fighting to liberate Raqqa and undertaking the Cizre Storm operation the SDF were also advancing along the northern bank of the Euphrates from Karamah to Deir-ez-Zour City. This sits around 120km (70 miles) south-east of Raqqa along the Euphrates.
On October 14th (14/10/17) the SDF liberated an area known as Husayniyah area. This sits around 4km (2 miles) north-west of the Deir-ez-Zour Industrial Zone.
As a result its liberation secured SDF control of the northern banks of the Euphrates between Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zour. It also linked the Wrath of Euphrates operation with the Aisling axis of the Cizre Storm operation.
On October 20th (20/10/17) that Aisling axis crossed the Khobar River quickly liberating the villages of al-Mashiqa, al-Lawziyah and Shuhayl.
On October 22nd (22/10/17) the Aisling axis had fully liberated the Omar Oil & Gas Field. Being some 160kmsq (95 milesq) in area the liberation of the Omar Oil & Gas Field now puts the SDF's Aisling axis just 40km (25 miles) from Syria's border with Iraq.
On November 5th (5/11/17) the Aisling axis liberated the Sarhit, Shudayha, Younes, Galban and Shaitat Oil & Gas Fields. These small fields sit in an area just beyond the main Omar Oil & Gas Field.
Having raced across the Khobar the Aisling axis then concentrated on securing the area along the banks of the Euphrates between the Deir-ez-Zour Industrial Zone and the Omar Oil & Gas Field.
On November 12th (12/11/17) the SDF's Aisling axis fully liberated Busayrah. This sits almost on a island directly where the Khobar and Euphrates Rivers meet.
On November 17th (17/11/17) the SDF's Aisling axis fully liberated the town of Diban. This sits around 20km (12 miles) south-east of Busayrah on the northern bank of the Euphrates.
On December 1st (1/12/17) the Aisling axis liberated the town of Abu Hamman. This sits around 25km (15 miles) south-east of Diban also on the northern bank of the Euphrates.
Since then the SDF have been battling to liberate the areas around Darnaj and Suwaydan Jazirah. Both of these towns sit on the northern bank of the Euphrates between Diban and Abu Hamman. Darnaj sits around 12km (7 miles) south-east of Diban while Suwaydan sits around 15km (9 miles) south-east of Diban.
The liberation of Abu Hamman is particularly noteworthy. It sits at the northern boundary of an area traditionally controlled by the Sheitat Tribe. Although the area is thought to continue to be under ISIL occupation the Sheitat tribe have traditionally remained loyal to the Syrian government.
The SDF are currently in the process of negotiating with the Sheitat tribe permission to enter the area to establish it no longer contains and ISIL presence. Aside from the tribe's loyalty to the Syrian government a major sticking point seems to be the restrictions such as checkpoints and civilian evacuations the SDF have imposed as part of their operations.
The Sheitat tribe along with other civilian residents of Shangri-La need to understand that these restrictions are necessary. Often for the protection of the civilian residents.
On November 5th (5/11/17) ISIL conducted Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) attack against a camp for Internally Displaced People (IDP's) located between the Jafra and al-Isba Oil & Gas Fields. It killed at least 100 civilians.
On November 17th (17/11/17) ISIL conducted another VBIED attack against the same IDP camp. On this occasion at least 20 civilians were killed.
One of the main ways that the SDF can guard against attacks of this kind is by establishing checkpoints in and around the area. Although these checkpoints seriously disrupt the movements of local residents they are designed to disrupt the movements of ISIL fighters so they can be stopped before they can carry out their attacks.
As for the SDF delaying civilians returning to their homes this is also being done to protect those civilians. It is a widespread tactic of ISIL to lay large amounts of IED's and booby traps in areas under their control. Added to that you have the problem of unexploded munitions that were used to liberate those areas from ISIL.
Clearly those vast amounts of explosives takes a substantial amount of time. Until that task is complete the affected areas remain extremely dangerous. Not just for civilians.
On the day that Raqqa's liberation was announced on October 19th (19/10/17) ISIL booby traps exploded just a few metres/yards away from where the liberation ceremony was taking place. Amid those killed in the explosion was Jac Holmes a 24 year old from Bournemouth, UK who was serving as part of the SDF's International Brigade.
Just on November 25th (25/11/17) more ISIL booby traps exploded in Raqqa killing the members of the SDF who were trying to defuse them. This included another British volunteer serving as part of the SDF's International Brigade. Oliver Hall aged 24 from Portsmouth.
For the SDF's part they do need to make sure the restrictions they impose are lifted as soon as it is safe to do so.
Liberating Abu Hamman and working to liberate the areas between it and Diban has not been the only task the SDF's Aisling axis has been undertaking.
On November 22nd (22/11/17) the Aisling axis launched an advance from the Omar Oil & Gas Field to the Syria/Iraq border. On November 25th (25/11/17) the Aisling axis reached the Syria/Iraq border at al-Bukamal/Abu Kamal - around 125km (75 miles) south-east of Deir-ez-Zour City.
While there is still work to be done backclearing the recently liberated area this marks the completion of the Cizre Storm operation.
The SDF's Shangri-La area now fully encompasses the area to the north-east of the Euphrates River and establishes that river as its southern boundary.
Across that border the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) along with the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga have also been making substantial progress against ISIL.
In April 2015 the ISF liberated the city of Tikrit. This sits in the centre of Iraq around 175km (105 miles) north of the capital Baghdad.
In February 2016 the ISF liberated the city of Ramadi. This western Iraqi city sits around 100km (60 miles) west of Baghdad.
In June 2016 the ISF liberated the city of Fallujah. This also sits in western Iraq around 50km (30 miles) west of Baghdad and 50km (30 miles) east of Ramadi.
In July 2017 the ISF liberated the city of Mosul. This sits in northern Iraq around 400km (240 miles) north of Baghdad and around 130km (80 miles) south of Iraq's border with Turkey.
Although CJTFOIR apparently didn't see the need a key part of liberating Mosul was liberating the vast area surrounding Mosul. This was completed in late August 2017 with the liberation of Tal Afar. A town around 80km (50 miles) west of Mosul.
The bulk of the work of liberating the area around Mosul was done by the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) militia element of the ISF. In early June 2017 they liberated the village of Tal Sufq which sits on the Iraq/Syria border. In reaching Tal Sufq the PMF liberated some 28,000kmsq (16,800milesq) of territory.
In early October 2017 the ISF liberated the Hawija Triangle area. This sits between Mosul and Tikrit.
On October 25th (25/10/17) the ISF launched an operation to liberate the Al-Qaim area. The last population centre under ISIL's control in Iraq this sits in the very west of Iraq's western Anbar Province on the Euphrates River around 15km (9 miles) from the Syrian town of Abu Kamal.
On November 3rd (3/11/17) the ISF with support from Syrian forces liberated Al-Qaim. Since then the ISF have been advancing north to fully liberate the desert area between Al-Qaim and Tal Sufq from ISIL.
This was completed on Saturday (9/12/17) allowing the Iraq government to declare that Iraq has been fully liberated from ISIL.
Despite the complete liberation of Iraq a number of security incidents have continued within the country;
On December 1st (1/12/17) twin car bombings struck in the al-Madin and Alwa districts of Baghdad. Together these bombs killed one person and wounded 10.
On December 5th (5/12/17) a similar car bomb was discovered and safely defused close to Baghdad International Airport.
On December 9th (9/12/17) a car bomb struck in Tikrit killing one person and injuring two others.
Also on Saturday (9/12/17) several mortars/rockets were fired into civilian areas of Tuz Khurmatu. This sits between Tikrit and Mosul. Two people were killed and 10 injured amid significant damage to civilian property.
On May 22nd 2017 (22/5/17) a suicide bomber struck the Manchester Evening News Arena (MENA) in Manchester, UK killing 22 people. On June 36d (3/6/17) a marauding run-over and knife attack killed 8 in the British capital London. On September 15th (15/9/17) there was a failed bomb attack on London's Underground Rail (Metro) network.
On October 31st (31/10/17) a run-over attack killed eight and wounded 11 in New York City, US. As I was sitting down to write this there were reports of a failed bomb attack on New York City's Underground Rail (Metro) system.
My point is that even in nations where ISIL have not held territory it impossible to completely guarantee that ISIL won't be able to launch attacks. Therefore it is equally impossible to guarantee that ISIL will not be able to conduct attacks in Iraq just days after the nation has been liberated.
The liberation of Iraq means that we have gone from a position where large numbers of ISIL fighters were able to control areas where the government had no control. We are now in a position where a small number of ISIL fighters are being forced to hide in areas where the government has full control.
As a result the threat from ISIL to Iraq should slowly start to fade as their ability to conduct attacks is gradually eroded.
Iraq's security of course continues to be threatened by its neighbour to the north, Turkey. On December 6th (6/12/17) Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent military jets to target a camp close to Makmour which is just to the south-east of Mosul.
The camp targeted was a camp for Kurdish refugees who had fled to Iraq and the threat of ISIL to escape Erdogan's persecution of them in Turkey's Kurdish region. Erdogan's airstrikes killed at least three people and destroyed two buildings used to house refugees.
The complete liberation of Iraq and the completion of the Cizre Storm operation's main goal was marked on Saturday (9/12/17) by an agreement between the SDF and the ISF.
The two will now co-operate with each other to ensure that ISIL do not return to the border area between Iraq and Syria's Shangri-La area.
17:55 on 11/12/17 (UK date).
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