By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 26 January 2019
An article posted on the website of IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation on 14 July 2006 told of a massive funeral ceremony in Istanbul for Shamil Basayev, an al-Qaeda-linked Chechen jihadist. The original article has been removed, though a cached version is currently available. To avoid this being lost, the article is reproduced below. Before that is a brief outline of the context. Continue readingTag Archives: Carlos the Jackal
The Russian Relationship with Israel: A History
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 12 December 2018
Essay: “Zionism is Making Us Stupid”: The Russian Relationship with Israel from the Soviets to Putin Continue reading
The Assad Regime Admits to Manipulating the Islamic State
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on January 6, 2017
From the beginning of the uprising in Syria in 2011, there have been accusations that Bashar al-Assad’s regime was in a de facto partnership with the Islamic State (IS) against the mainstream opposition. These accusations have a considerable basis in fact: during the entirety of the Anglo-American occupation of Iraq, Assad collaborated with IS jihadists in the destabilization of Iraq, killing thousands of Iraqi civilians and hundreds of American and British troops. Once the Syrian uprising was underway, the regime undertook various measures to bolster extremists in the insurgency. Assad and IS worked in tandem to leave Syria as a binary choice between themselves: Assad was sure this would rehabilitate him in the eyes of the world and transform his criminal regime into a partner of the international community in suppressing a terrorist insurgency, and IS wanted to rally Sunnis to its banner. The Secretary of the Syrian Parliament has now come forward to underline this. Continue reading
Donald Trump is Wrong (Again): Saddam Hussein Supported Terrorism
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on July 6, 2016
Last night Donald Trump unburdened himself of the view that Saddam Hussein was an efficient anti-terrorist operator. It is a statement Trump has made before, and it is one of such staggering ignorance—yet one which has such wide sympathy—that it seemed worth examining the multiple ways in which it was wrong. Continue reading