There’s a terrorist attack that is being reported in Moscow, Russia,
At least 40 dead. The early report I see is shooting at a concert hall. Several gunmen had explosives and automatic weapons.
My only thought and concern is whether Moscow will use this for PR purposes.
Really? That’s your only thought?
I’m sort of horrified by the human tragedy.
Russian officials jumped to the conclusion that it was Ukraine. Dimitri Medvedev called for Ukrainian genocide. All credible sources seem to point to ISIS including their social media.
The US government is reporting Russia was warned a month ago about a possible attack on public gatherings. The warning might not have been specific.
IS has claimed responsibility, and US authorities see no reason to doubt it
So Islamic State thought that the best way to intimidate or punish the Russian state was to kill ordinary Russian citizens.
That’s unusually incoherent even for a terrorist group.
Really? To me it seems like SOP.
What is it you think terrorist groups do?
Sounds like standard operating procedure for them to me. They don’t fight fair. That’s kind of the whole point.
ETA: @Chad_Sudan 3 posts up and I’ve been ninja’ed. Twice. D’oh. 
Nope IMO. I’ll suggest that’s bog standard logic for a terrorist group.
In fact it’s almost the very definition of “terrorist”: someone who targets random civilians precisely because they are easy to target, and their goal is sowing fear in the general public to (they hope) enlist that general public in altering the regime’s behavior in ways that advance the terrorist’s agenda.
Yanno, all these bombs would stop going off in e.g. Belfast if the UK just left all us Irish folks alone.
Assuming this really was IS (and we seem to have no reason to doubt that) if they had instead attacked Russian military or government infrastructure they’d properly be labeled “guerrillas”, “irregulars”, or maybe even “non-state actors” in the bloodless prose favored by US DoD & DoS.
Not “terrorists”.
The purpose of terrorism isn’t to “intimidate or punish”; it is to terrorize the populace and evoke a disproportionate response from authorities that garners sympathy for their cause. It generally works pretty well; see September 11, 2001 attacks or the recent October 7 fracas that has much of the world finally in sympathy (if not effective action) with the plight of Palastinisns.
While I’m sure Putin will use this as a pretext for more horrific war-making on Ukraine, this is almost certainly an Islamic State-associated attack. Russia (and the Soviet Union) is a multi-ethnic empire that has always had ethnic strife and violent resistance within its borders, which has been increasing as their military and internal security services have been focused on insurgencies and attacks on logistical and supply faculties supporting the invasion of Ukraine. And it would not be at all a surprise if intelligence about the impending attack were known and permitted as a kind of ‘false flag’ operation to rile up public support for Putin, particularly coming days after his farcical ‘election’ and the public outcry over how nonsensical it is to pretend that Russia has any democratic institutions.
Stranger
Seems to have now up to 133 deaths.
FSB claims 4 Tadjiks citizens have been arrested in Bryansk, while fleeing towards Ukraine.
Despite IS having claimed responsibility of the attack , Putin had not recognized that in his morning speech, instead accusing Ukraine of offering sanctuary to terrorists et promoting unity of Russia and retaliation on the enemy.
The U.S. ought to respond to this terror attack on Russia by giving Ukraine even more weapons as a message. “We will keep arming Ukraine as a response to every attack Russia falsely blames on Ukraine.”
That’s nice; meanwhile, Republicans in Congress continue to stall on sending basic munitions and materiel to Ukraine that the US already previously committed to contributing. So, maybe we could just get on that first, eh?
Stranger
Putin thinks he tough on terrorists but still the Kremlin cannot put the Russian people first in any tragedy.
Understood. And my only point was that in a state that couldn’t care less about ordinary people’s fears or their deaths, a terrorist act sowing fear among the public is even less likely to alter the regime’s behavior than it might be in the West.
The mastery/devilry of this plan was to wait till the show was about to start so the outside lobbies would be free to walk through and whatever security was at the door - even if they had some kind of sidearms - were not at all prepared to take on six or whatever guys with AK-47’s.
Russia has the ОМОН who were basically riot police when I lived in St. Petersburg the first half of the last decade. The more protests (generally at the Field of Mars or in front of the mall Gostiny Dvor) the more ОМОН you’d see. They’ve become a militia since then.
Yet what is Russia - what is the world - going to do to stop this kind of plan of attack? Paramilitary guarding the entryways for entire performances?
And while I reckon firefighters were held at bay to do anything this concert hall was gutted by fire. Now over half my life has been “the new normal” since 9-11 and what are you going to do when guys with AK’s and likely thermite grenades are on a mission?
What? Thoughts and prayers aren’t enough anymore?
Horrible tragedy for the families. I hope counseling is available to them.
Are we sure Russian Spetsnaz didn’t go in with guns blazing?
Their history of dealing with hostage takers isn’t great for the hostages.
Putin is so unpredictable. I think He’ll make sure the suspects confess on tv and implicate Ukraine in some way. Hard to predict where or how he’ll strike ISIS.
Sure? No. It’s too early to be sure.
But this event is already the subject of conspiracy theories, most, or all, false.
Has anyone mentioned the Trump connections? If not, see this:
Crocus City Hall: The Trump-linked venue that’s now the scene of a deadly IS attack
Trump will talk about this a lot.
Logically, you might think that low-information voters will not like the idea of a presidential candidate vaguely adjacent to terrorism or, if by some unlikely chance your hypothesis is correct, a planned from the start as a burning of the Reichstag type of event. But, and maybe I am thinking emotionally, I think Trump will use it with a bit of success as part of his campaign to create sympathy while putting himself at the center of attention.
I think this really is an attack by extreme Islamists having grievances against Russia. But authoritarian personalities, in both Russia and the U.S., will twist it to their purposes.
Ah. Sorry to miss your point. With which I fully agree.