by Oui
Tue Mar 26th, 2024 at 02:48:05 PM EST
Most acts of sabotage by Ukraine and SBU were supported by US/UK weapons and/or logistics support.
Possibility of talks between Zelenskyy and Putin came to a halt after Johnson's visit - UP sources | May 5, 2022 |
Following the arrival of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Kyiv, a possible meeting between Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin has become less likely.
The first is that Putin is a war criminal, he should be pressured, not negotiated with. And the second is that even if Ukraine is ready to sign some agreements on guarantees with Putin, they are not.
Johnson's position was that the collective West, which back in February had suggested Zelenskyy should surrender and flee, now felt that Putin was not really as powerful as they had previously imagined, and that here was a chance to "press him."
Three days after Johnson left for Britain, Putin went public and said talks with Ukraine "had turned into a dead end".
Three days later, Roman Abramovich arrived in Kyiv again, and President Zelenskyy officially stated that there could be two security agreements with Russia: one would concern Ukraine's coexistence with Russia, the other - only security guarantees, because not everyone "sees themselves at the same table with the Russian Federation."
Ukrainian negotiator In Minsk delegation is killed | TOI - 6 March 2022 |
Boris Johnson Kyiv visit blocks negotiations - twitter April 2022
Diplomacy Watch: Did Boris Johnson help stop a peace deal in Ukraine? | Responsible Statecraft |
A recent piece in Foreign Affairs revealed that Kyiv and Moscow may have had a tentative deal to end the war all the way back in April.
"Russian and Ukrainian negotiators appeared to have tentatively agreed on the outlines of a negotiated interim settlement," wrote Fiona Hill and Angela Stent. "Russia would withdraw to its position on February 23, when it controlled part of the Donbas region and all of Crimea, and in exchange, Ukraine would promise not to seek NATO membership and instead receive security guarantees from a number of countries."
The news highlights the impact of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's efforts to stop negotiations, as journalist Branko Marcetic noted on Twitter. The decision to scuttle the deal coincided with Johnson's April visit to Kyiv, during which he reportedly urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to break off talks with Russia for two key reasons: Putin cannot be negotiated with, and the West isn't ready for the war to end.
Veterans Al Qaeda jihadists from Khorasan are now replaced by ISIS - ISIL of Abu Al-Baghdadi in the Levant
From my diary @BooMan ...
Terror Group Al-Qaeda is now spelled K.h.o.r.a.s.a.n in Syria
Khorasan pledge splits al-Qaeda
By Radwan Mortada | al-Akhbar | April 23, 2014 | [cached]
The global jihad movement has split in two. Members of al-Qaeda will now have to choose between two different emirs. The so-called "Khorasan pledge" was the final nail in the coffin of the reconciliation between al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The rift no longer pertains to Syria only, but has spread to the other arenas of global jihad.
Nine al-Qaeda emirs from Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and Iran declared their allegiance to the new emir of the faithful, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi - the head of ISIS - in what is being termed as the "Khorasan pledge."
Signatories:
- Abu Ubaida Lebanese.
- Mohannad Abu Jordan.
- Abu Jarir northern (Abu Thaer).
- Abu al-Huda Sudanese.
- Abdul Aziz (brother of Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi).
- Abdullah Punjabi.
- Abu Younis Kurdish.
- Abu Aisha Cordovan.
- Abu Musab solidarity.
A copy of the statement to:
Al-Qaeda in Yemen, Al-Qaeda in Somalia, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Brothers in the Mujahideen Shura Council in the environs of Jerusalem, Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus; And to all whom it may concern: jihadist factions in Muslim countries.
A few days later, ISIS spokesperson Mohammed al-Adnani declared that "al-Qaeda deviated from the rightful course," indicating that "it is not a dispute about who to kill or who to give your allegiance. It is a question of religious practices being distorted and an approach veering off the right path."
This is a turning point in the clash - currently limited to the Syrian arena - between Baghdadi and Ayman al-Zawahiri, threatening to create an open conflict throughout jihadist movement. The anticipated split had been declared by ISIS advisor Abu Ali al-Anbari. "Either we eliminate them or they will eliminate us," he said in one of the reconciliation sessions, repeating the sentence three times.
Saudi and CIA Terror Army: The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) Declares "Global Caliphate" on Ramadan
The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), the terror army supported by Saudi Arabia, the CIA and trained by the Pentagon, has declared a caliphate in the Middle East. It has changed its name to the Islamic State, dispensing with Iraq, Sham and the Levant.
Khorasan Map includes Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kashmir, India and extensive part Western China (Xinjiang)
The announcement was made on the first day of Ramadan, the Muslim holy day. An ISIS spokesman said Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the leader of the declared caliphate reaching from Syria into Iraq.
The shadowy al-Baghdadi may actually be several people using the same nom de guerre, according to Lieutenant-General Sir Graeme Lamb, a former British special forces commander. He was reportedly held as a "civilian internee" at Camp Bucca in Iraq and released in December, 2004.
The spokesman, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, said all Muslims worldwide will be required to pay allegiance to al-Baghdadi. "The legality of all emirates, groups, states and organizations becomes null by the expansion of the caliph's authority and the arrival of its troops to their areas," explained al-Adnani. "Listen to your caliph and obey him. Support your state, which grows every day."
He characterized the establishment of the caliphate as "a new era of international jihad."
Earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria - how WHO continues to address health needs one year on 4 Feb 2024 |
One year ago, in the middle of winter, a series of devastating earthquakes hit both southern Türkiye and northern Syria, killing over 59 000 people -- over 53 500 in Türkiye and 5900 in Syria. Tens of thousands more people were injured and thousands of homes and public buildings, including hospitals, were damaged or destroyed. This was one of the biggest disasters in the region in recent times.
Containing Transnational Jihadists in Syria's North West - Idlib Directorate | Crisis Group - 7 March 2023 |
Members of Syria's top jihadist group the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) alliance, led by al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate, parade with their flags and those of the Taliban's declared "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" through the rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib. | Omar HajJ Kadour/AFP via Getty Images |
Western leaders worry that rebel-held Idlib in north-western Syria remains an operating base for transnational jihadists. Some U.S. officials describe it as the world's largest al-Qaeda safe haven; others suspect collusion between Hei'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the former al-Qaeda affiliate that rules Idlib, and the Islamic State (ISIS), particularly after the U.S. killing of ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi in an Idlib hideout in February 2022. In reality, HTS has forsworn transnational jihad, gone after ISIS and al-Qaeda cells, and subdued most other jihadists. ISIS endures in Idlib only because HTS lacks the capacity to quash it fully. To prevent ISIS from rebounding if conditions change, foreign powers should endorse Türkiye's efforts to preserve the 2020 ceasefire and provide more aid to the region. Opening communication channels with HTS could deepen knowledge of ISIS activities, and improve the humanitarian response to emergencies, like the 6 February 2023 earthquakes across the Turkish border.
HTS has suppressed rivals in Idlib primarily in pursuit of self-preservation and dominance in the province. Its priority is to forestall further regime offensives, which with Russian air support had been threatening its de facto rule. A ceasefire, negotiated in March 2020 between Russia and Türkiye, along with the insertion of Turkish troops, put a halt to those assaults, giving HTS space to move against groups that challenged its hegemony. It has dealt harshly with any that defy the ceasefire or its ban on operations abroad or against Turkish forces in Idlib. Freelance attacks on Russian or regime positions could bring retaliation from Damascus and Moscow, costing HTS its control of Idlib. Allowing jihadists to plan foreign operations from Idlib would hurt HTS's attempts to secure aid for the province and recast itself as a reliable negotiating partner. Such operations would strain its crucial, yet tenuous relations with Türkiye, the ceasefire's de facto guarantor, and could also trigger Western strikes and sanctions.
Additional reading ...
Scourge of Joint Alliance USA, KSA and Jihadists
