Russia’s top security agency, the Federal Security Service, says there are dead and wounded in a Moscow concert hall that is ablaze amid a shooting by several gunmen.
Russia is one of the primary actors in the Syrian civil war that originally spawned ISIS. This isn't a "but actually the US" thing, Russia has been balls deep in this shitshow from the start.
Of course, putin is not above killing russians if it benefits him. But russia has plenty of natural sources of potential extremist violence. As climate change and resource scarcity pile increasing pressure on individual humans and whole societies, events like this become more common.
Sometimes, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it might just be a duck.
Let's at least wait to see what putin does in response before we jump up and down shouting about putin's 1999 apartment bombings.
The largest attacks committed by ISIS recently (that aren't in Africa/Afghanistan, where ISIS is actively operating) have been: Pakistan, Iran, Russia.
Not exactly the US' friends. Meanwhile, Israel, which is literally committing a genocide against a Muslim population and desecrating the third holiest site in Islam, remains almost untouched. In fact, ISIS apologized when they accidentally attacked Israel in the Golan Heights.
This is a ridiculous accusation. The West had warned Russia and Russia chose to brush off the warning. ISIS has claimed responsibility. Face it, Putin is just trying to spread conspiracy theories to cover up his failure as a leader.
In what way has Russia chosen to brush off the warning? Meanwhile, any proxy group can claim responsibility, the fact that you treat that as some sort of evidence says volumes. One of your regime's top ghouls went on TV and promised to conduct acts of terrorism in Russia. Now we're seeing acts of terrorism being conducted in Russia. These are the facts of the situation.
The fact that internet trolls are now trying to paint this as a conspiracy theory is just the repeat of the Nord Stream nonsense. Your regime is famous for doing precisely these sorts of attacks buddy.
So why would ISIS attack Russia? What is their motive? It's easy to "claim responsibility." It's an entirely different story to use a great deal of resources to actually plan and carry out a terrorist attack of this scale. And for what reason? To provoke another world powe?? I call bullshit.
It's a prudent move in the wake of one attack to avoid presenting any obvious targets. Besides, it's not like the Russian government needs an excuse to shut down non-controlled opposition rallies.
This doesn't seem to have the trappings of a false-flag operation, or that of Kyiv, so perhaps this is an honest-to-goodness sign of revolution against that gay clown Putin? hopefully!
The best way to tell if it's a false flag operation is to see how much this event will be spread in the Russian media.
They've lost tons of equipment and had bombings deep in Russian territory, mostly affecting their oil production which could be perceived locally as Russian military inferiority.
So when this starts being on blast for every channel and frequency - you can be sure it's a false flag.
If they bury this like any other Russian military failing, then it's probably real.
Edit: ISIS claims responsibility, but Russia is still trying to blame Ukraine, which is kind of a false flag?
So when this starts being on blast for every channel and frequency - you can be sure it's a false flag.
Maybe, maybe not.
Regardless of who is actually responsible, and regardless of who claims responsibility, it could be used as propaganda against pretty much anyone the Kremlin is grumpy about.
Navalney supporters or Ukraine are some pretty obvious potential scapegoats.
Nevermind the Reichstag, remember that the FSB and likely Putin were behind the bombing of four apartment blocks in Russia in 1999 that killed over 300 people. It got blamed on the Chechens and was used to justify the invasion of Chechnya.
This wouldn't even be the bloodiest false flag Putin has done in his career.
Why shoot up a public concert hall if your enemy is Putin and not the general public.
Why do any extremists - or russia, the US or israel for that matter - target violence towards civilians?
Maybe they believe the cause is worth it, the tactical calculus still comes out in their favour, or they just hate all russians? General destabilization? Forcing the state to devote more resources to protecting soft civilian infrastructure. Making people feel unsafe. Inspiring similar atrocities. The logic of tactically deploying murder isn't always clear to an outsider, especially before we have a firm idea who did this.
I strongly doubt this is an "honest-to-goodness sign of revolution". Shooting concert-goers is obviously not that. But I don't think it's logically sound to rule out an anti-putin motivation just because civilians were killed.
Because a couple dudes with small arms can't be effective by attacking the Russian military or police forces head-on. Instead they choose to attack soft targets and maximize the social disruption and impact by terrorizing citizens.
I would normally say it seems like a convenient false flag if they could pin it on Ukraine or something, but it sounds like several sources have confirmed ISIS is claiming responsibility.
What a sudden shift this has caused in the corners of lemmy. To the contrary of the common narrative, rhose who are in a disparaging tone called westoids and libs are condemning the attack and supporting the victims while grad has a long thread with conspiracy theories.