I raised an eyebrow the moment I saw all the fancy up close and personal action shots of the police and security literally moments after the incident was reported. Like it was a show.
Anyhow...
Quote:UPDATE: Kenyan interior ministry tweets that authorities are in control of Westgate mall As the dreadful Nairobi Mall attack/siege enters its third night with at least 69 dead, the Kenyan foreign minister has clarified one point:
From neighboring Somalia, spokesman Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage for al-Shabab the militant group that claimed responsibility for the attack said in an audio file posted on a website that the hostage takers had been ordered to "take punitive action against the hostages" if force was used to try to rescue them.
...
Al-Shabab said on a Twitter feed, an account that unlike some others appears to be genuine, that the attackers had lots of ammunition. The feed said that Kenya's government would be responsible for any loss of hostages' lives.
And from The Globe and Mail:
Kenyan security forces were in the final stages of flushing out Islamist extremist terrorists from a besieged shopping mall, the Vice-President said late Monday, two days after the upscale mall was seized by members of a Somali group linked to al-Qaeda.
I would note that Somalia - who are presented as being responsible for this atrocity - are one of the 7 nations to be taken out in 5 years, as revealed by General Wesley Clark back in 2001.
Obviously this doesn't mean that is the case here, but it's still one of those things worth putting into the mix.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Here's a strange twist. Is the Daily Mail story true? Are it's "sources" reliable? If the answer to both is yes, then we need to ask what an off-duty SAS soldier was doing in the Westgate Mall with a handgun? Is it Regiment orders that off-duty soldiers on foreign soil remain armed? Might be. But if so, a convenient twist don't you think? More likely he was on duty, working under cover. Which raises even more questions...
Quote:SAS hero of the mall massacre: Off-duty soldier with a handgun saved 100 lives as terrorists ran amok Was having coffee at Westgate mall when it was attacked on Saturday Returned to building a dozen times, despite intense gunfire Sources said the soldier was with the Special Air Service, or SAS Man, who can't be named for security reasons, was pictured with victims Up to three American teenagers and one British person among terrorists By PAUL BENTLEY and DAVID WILLIAMS PUBLISHED: 22:59, 23 September 2013 | UPDATED: 08:18, 24 September 2013 [ATTACH=CONFIG]5308[/ATTACH] An off-duty member of the SAS emerged as a hero of the Nairobi siege yesterday, after he was credited with saving up to 100 lives. The soldier was having coffee at the Westgate mall when it was attacked by Islamists on Saturday. With a gun tucked into his waistband, he was pictured helping two women from the complex.
He is said to have returned to the building on a dozen occasions, despite intense gunfire. A friend in Nairobi said: What he did was so heroic. He was having coffee with friends when it happened. He went back in 12 times and saved 100 people. Imagine going back in when you knew what was going on inside.' Sources said the soldier was with the Special Air Service, or SAS. He cannot be named for security reasons. The British Special Forces regularly train and operate out of Kenya, and have been involved in tracking UK citizens involved with hardline Islamists in Somalia and Yemen. Former members work with both the UK and Kenyan governments and security firms across East Africa. Today, Kenya said its security forces were in control of the mall and police were doing a final sweep of shops after rescuing the last hostages. An overnight silence outside the large, upmarket Westgate mall was broken at daybreak with a loud burst of gunfire from inside, suggesting the complex had not yet been fully secured. A lone military chopper circled above. 'Our forces are combing the mall floor by floor looking for anyone left behind. We believe all hostages have been released,' the Ministry of Interior said on Twitter early on Tuesday, adding his forces were 'in control 'of the building. Late last night it had remained unclear how many gunmen and hostages remained inside, hours after a series of loud explosions and gunfire reverberated through part of the complex, and plumes of black smoke began billowing from the roof. One report said it had been caused by terrorists setting mattresses alight in a supermarket to create a distraction, but security officials said the explosions heard at lunchtime were Kenyan forces blasting their way in. They can hide but they can't run... all ways out are sealed,' one official said. Kenya's foreign minister Amina Mohamed said up to three Americans and one British person were among those who attacked the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi.
He told PBS' 'NewsHour' program that the Americans were 18 to 19 years old, of Somali or Arab origin and lived 'in Minnesota and one other place' in the U.S. The revelation would support information posted onto Twitter, which suggested the terror cell which carried out the attack was 15-strong and contained many nationalities, including citizens of the United States. The attacker from Britain was a woman who has 'done this many times before,' Mohamed said which lends weight to speculation that the so-called 'White Widow', Samantha Lewhwaite may have taken part in the raid. The massacre began on Saturday shortly before midday local time. Witnesses told how terrorists with faces hidden by Islamic scarves stormed the building, tossing grenades and spraying shoppers with AK-47s. Yesterday pictures emerged online that appeared to show the moment gunmen entered the shopping centre, pointing their weapons at terrified civilians. The killers, who were dressed in Western clothes, ordered all Muslims to leave, before carrying out rudimentary tests to see if hostages could recite the Koran and name the mother of the Prophet Mohammed. One security officer said the mall had been turned into an abattoir' within half an hour, as gunmen went on the rampage. Militants have reportedly burned their victims' faces and removed their hands in an attempt to conceal their identities; the bodies were piled against the main door to slow the progress of rescue teams. Yesterday reports emerged online that an injured woman trapped inside had been sexually abused at gunpoint in front of young hostages. It is believed that she has been shot in the shoulder, while her child has been killed. Details of the incident were posted hundreds of times on Facebook. The woman is said to have been able to speak several times with her husband, who is outside the shopping centre but last night he had heard nothing from her for several hours. Another witness, Kamille Kaur, was with several dozen children for a cookery competition on the mall's second floor when the attack began. Her son, 12, and daughter, 8, were injured as gunmen opened fire. She said adults were like animals, climbing over the children to get out'. A Twitter account representing Al Shabaab, the group claiming responsibility for the attack, said it was carried out by terrorists from seven nations, including Britain, the US and Canada. The group has recently split into two factions following bloody infighting.
Those not involved in the Nairobi attack are said to be spreading false information, raising questions over the veracity of initial reports that Londoners Ahmed Nasir Shirdoon, 24, and Liban Adam, 23, are among the gunmen. Kenya's Chief of Defence Forces, General Julius Karangi, said fighters from several countries had participated in the attack, but would not specify which ones. We have an idea who they are, their nationality and even the number,' he said, adding that the militants were clearly a multinational collection from all over the world'. We have also have an idea that this is not a local event,' he said. We are fighting global terrorism here and we have sufficient [intelligence] to suggest that.' At least three of the terrorists were killed, he added, after Kenyan forces moved into the five-storey complex, which was filled with some 1,200 people when it was stormed by three heavily armed groups on Saturday. Kenyans were last night bracing themselves for further terror attacks after it was claimed dozens more militants from the organisation had bribed their way into the country. A spokesman for Al Shabaab said all Britons in Kenya are legitimate' targets because the UK has supported the African country's military intervention in neighbouring Somalia. Yesterday David Cameron returned early from Balmoral, where he had been staying with the Queen, to chair an emergency Cobra meeting with Cabinet colleagues including Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Chancellor George Osborne and Defence Secretary Philip Hammond.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Updated Tuesday, September 24th 2013 at 22:19 GMT +3
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[TD]Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko[/TD]
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[/TABLE] By MOSES NJAGIH NAIROBI; KENYA : Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko sensationally told the Senate that security organs and intelligence officers were aware of an impending attack on key areas in Nairobi, including the Westgate Mall. Sonko claimed that he had helped two women of either Asian or Arabic origin to offer information to police on Al-Shabaab militiamen who were targeting sections of Nairobi. He gave the revelations as the Senate took time off its business to discuss the terror attack on the mall. He said the women had approached him three months ago with information to the effect that the gang, which had rented a house in Parklands and Westlands, were planning a major attack. "They mentioned Westgate Mall, Village Market, Parliament and the Kenyatta International Conference Centre as their targets," claimed Sonko. The Motion was moved by Leader of Majority Kithure Kindiki, who termed the attack a national disaster. Attacking members of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), Sonko told the House that after getting the information from the two women, he assisted them to record their statements with the police and the intelligence officers for further investigations. Shock many He said the two women were initially living with the gang in the rented houses but had escaped after being showed the items that the suspects were preparing for the attack. Though the Senator declined to give the exact details that the two women gave the police, he said that he was ready to record a statement to that effect. "I know I will shock many people here. These people have remained in this area planning the attack for about three months and despite the investigators getting that information they could not quell the attack," said Sonko. The senators faulted the country's intelligence services even as they hailed the security organs over the manner in which they had handled the attack. "Instead of the intelligence officers keeping busy tapping our mobile phones, NIS should be employing that vigour towards arresting crime," said Minority Deputy Whip Janet Ong'era. Baringo Senator Gideon Moi hailed Kenyans over their strong spirit during the tragedy.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
I raised an eyebrow the moment I saw all the fancy up close and personal action shots of the police and security literally moments after the incident was reported. Like it was a show.
Anyhow...
Yes, saw a comment on how handy it was to have photographers standing by too.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
Somalia's al Shabaab militia, responsible for the Westgate mall siege in Nairobi, is being partly financed by the illegal ivory trade, a wildlife group said Thursday. The trade could be supplying up to 40% of the Islamist group's funds.
Somalia's al Shabaab militia, which carried out a deadly attack on Nairobi's Westgate mall, is partly funded by the poaching trade, wildlife activists said Thursday.
"Over the last 18 months, we've been investigating the involvement of al Shabaab in trafficking ivory through Kenya," Andrea Crosta, executive director of the Elephant Action League told Agence France-Presse.
The trade "could be supplying up to 40 percent of the funds needed to keep them in business," Crosta said, though she specified that al Shabaab are not involved in the actual killing of elephants or rhinos.
The Islamist group has been the centre of attention after claiming responsibility for a four-day siegeat the Westgate Mall in Nairobi which left scores people dead by the time it ended Tuesday.
The Elephant Action League added that there has been evidence of ties between the poaching trade and militant groups like Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army or Darfur's Janjaweed, cited in a UN report published in May.
Activists hope that emphasizing the links between groups that commit violence and the illicit trade may encourage governments to crack down on the practice.
"We're asking the international community to start considering all the ivory (and rhino horn) trade's stakeholders, ivory consumers, ivory shops and even governments, de-facto accessories to manslaughter, human exploitation and even terrorism," Crosta said. Illegal ivory trade driven by Asia and Middle East
According to sources within al Shabaab, one to three tons of ivory pass through the ports in southern Somalia every month, sold for an estimated $200 per kilo.
Al Shabaab's ability to profit off the trade was undermined when it lost control of southern ports in Kismayo and Merca, but the group still controls other hubs.
The illegal ivory trade, worth roughly between $7 billion and $10 billion (5.37 and 7.67 billion euros) a year, is mostly driven by demand in Asia (particularly China and Thailand) and the Middle East, where elephant tusks and rhino horns are used in traditional medicine and to make ornaments.
Ivory trade has been banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) since 1990.
But animal rights groups estimate that poachers in Africa kill between 25,000 and 35,000 elephants annually.
(FRANCE 24 with wires) http://www.france24.com/en/20130927-poaching-funds-somalia-al-shabaab-activists-kenya-elephants-westgate-nairobi?ns_campaign=editorial
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
OK. Everyone open up their textbooks to Chapter 11, entitled Hegelian Fundamentals'. In paragraph one we find, Suitable Problem, Reaction, Solution Narratives. I know we've covered this before, but as you've figured out by now, this blunt technique is still a heavily favoured operational plan for the real global engineers of terror…
The latest epic terror siege and fire fight has taken place in Nairobi, Kenya this week, with scores shot dead, taken hostage, and speculation as to who did it, and most importantly who planned it. Western media is currently profiling various "terror masterminds" possibly behind this latest horrible attack. Indeed, it was senseless, and it was horrific. But who did it and why, is where your focus should really be.
The narrative is already set by US mainstream media: "Africa's 9/11″, or "Africa's 7/7″. You know it's time to put on your fire suit when you read this type of rhetoric gushing out of an orifice of the US mainstream press:
"As on 9/11, terrorists are waging a war on our modern, democratic way of life. Today, we are all Kenyans."
"The Nairobi shopping mall attack is heartbreaking. The stories could so easily be American stories."
And what could possibly tug at the heart-strings of the American subconsciousness than the center of culture - the shopping mall? Moreover, what could possibly provide an international distraction to US President Barack Obama epic fail in getting his war on in Syria, than a giant terror event in his own Vaterland in Kenya?
Problem: senseless and random acts of terror, breaking out here, there and now in Africa. Reaction: public outrage and fear, scrambling of state military assets. Wall to wall global media coverage. Solution: "The world must act"… in Somalia, that is. Allocation of more money towards military budgets, and an increased military presence in Africa.
In our latest updated textbook version, the Hegelian Dialectic passage is in Chapter 11, because, for all intents and shady purposes, the War on Terror narrative in now bankrupt. In the coming days and weeks, more details will emerge and more connections will demonstrate that whoever perpetrated this seemingly random attack will most likely be found to be connected directly, or indirectly to western intelligence black-ops and covert counter-terrorism operations. This was the case with al Qaeda from its early days as a CIA managed fighting front in Afghanistan, to the FBI's informant management of Tamerlan Tsarnaev in Boston, and to the CIA's running of guns and special forces trainers to help manage radical Islamic fighters in Libya and Syria.
YES, YES: That's al Shabab in the corner, hijacking your religion… flying the same flag which is flown by US/UK/FRENCH/SAUDI/QATARI "freedom fighters" in Syria.
Regarding this latest cut-out terror confab menace from the "terror hot-bad" in Somalia, al Shabab, the dots will eventually connect themselves, because al Shabab is not a weed it is a plant which has been cultivated by western spook masters. It was designed to spread throughout East Africa.
Below, and Destroyer's Tony Cartalucci explains the background to al Shabab's role in the Project for a New African Century…
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Kenyan Bloodbath: Reaping the "Benefits" of US AFRICOM Collaboration
. NATO's North African terror tidal wave predictably sweeps into Kenya
Tony Cartalucci
[URL="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/kenyan-bloodbath-reaping-benefits-of-us.html"]Land Destroyer [/URL] At face value, and how the Western media is attempting to portray it, the Westgate Mall siege in Kenya's capital city of Nairobi appears to be yet another senseless terrorist attack by the "religious fanatics" of Al Qaeda's Somalia franchise, Al Shabaab. Already, both Kenyan and Western politicians, as well as editorials across the Western media, are attempting to use the attack as a pretext to launch a military campaign against neighboring Somalia, while fueling anti-Muslim sentiment across profoundly ignorant audiences in the West.
As on 9/11, terrorists are waging a war on our modern, democratic way of life. Today, we are all Kenyans.
The op-ed continues by stating:
Just as important: The fight is not just a Kenyan, or African, fight. Somalia could be the new Afghanistan. A lawless, fundamentalist Somalia could incubate a Somali Osama bin Laden and new attacks on the USA, just as Afghanistan protected and nurtured bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
And:
"After the Nairobi attack, the message should be "We Are All Kenyans." Not just in our sympathy. But also in going all out to prevent another terrorist attack."
"Leaving Somalia to al-Shabab is not an option."
Kenya: Proxy for US Aggression in Africa
What the USA Today op-ed fails to mention, even as it alludes to impending military intervention in Somalia, is that Kenya has already participated in military operations against its northern neighbor, including a full-scale military invasion complete with US and French military support in 2011. In the UK Independent's October 2011 article, "Somali invasion backed by West, says Kenya," it was reported that:
Kenya has confirmed that Western allies have joined its war on Islamic militants al-Shabaab despite denials from the US and France that they are involved in fighting in southern Somalia. Foreign military forces have carried out air strikes and a naval bombardment close to the militant stronghold of Kismayo, a Kenyan army spokesman said yesterday.
"There are certainly other actors in this theatre carrying out other attacks," said Kenya's Major Emmanuel Chirchir.
The Kenyan invasion has already caused a major rift between Somalia's interim prime minister and president, who yesterday condemned the presence of foreign troops inside his country.
While the US attempted to deny any role in the invasion, it has admittedly carried out periodic airstrikes and drone strikes across Somalia, as reported by the BBC's 2012 article, "Somalia air strike kills foreign al-Shabab militants':"
The US military, which has a base in neighbouring Djibouti, has previously carried out drone strikes in Somalia.
It has also launched air strikes against alleged al-Qaeda militants in the country.
Before using Kenya as a proxy for US aggression in Africa, and amidst two decades of unilateral, covert military operations, the US had backed two Ethiopian invasions into Somalia. The first US-backed invasion, under then US President George Bush, was carried out in 2006. USA Today reported in its 2007 article, "U.S. support key to Ethiopia's invasion," that:
The United States has quietly poured weapons and military advisers into Ethiopia, whose recent invasion of Somalia opened a new front in the Bush administration's war on terrorism.
The second US-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, under US President Barack Obama, was carried out in 2011 coordinated with Kenya's 2011 US-French-backed extraterritorial adventure into Somali territory. The UK Independent's December 2011 article, "UN-backed invasion of Somalia spirals into chaos," reported that:
Kenya's invasion of Somalia, hailed by the West and the UN Security Council, was meant to deliver a knockout blow to the militant Islamist group al-Shabaab. Instead it has pulled Somalia's regional rival Ethiopia back into the country, stirred up the warlords and rekindled popular support for fundamentalists whose willingness to let Somalis starve rather than receive foreign aid had left them widely hated.
It was in fact this US-backed military invasion that served as the alleged motivation of the Al Shabaab terrorists who attacked Kenya's Westgate Mall this week.
The Same Terrorists the US is Arming in Syria are Killing Civilians in Kenya
Image: (click image to enlarge) Truly NATO's intervention in Libya has been a resounding success. Not only has the West managed to revive the terrorist LIFG organization Qaddafi had been fighting successfully for decades, but now "international institutions" have a casus belli spreading across the whole of North Africa, into the Middle East and beyond as NATO weapons and Western cash enable LIFG fighters to battle as far as Syria in the east and Mali to the west. The wave of terror unleashed and the predictable "pretexts" it will provide, has now swept into Kenya.
There have also been reports during the past few years of a handful of Libyans who have traveled to Algeria to train with al-Qa`ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), although these reports are unconfirmed. AQIM has sought to capitalize on the situation in Libya
"Crucially, still in 2007, then al-Qaeda's number two, Zawahiri, officially announced the merger between the LIFG and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb (AQIM). So, for all practical purposes, since then, LIFG/AQIM have been one and the same and Belhaj was/is its emir. "
"Belhaj," referring to Hakim Abdul Belhaj, leader of LIFG in Libya, led with NATO support, arms, funding, and diplomatic recognition, the overthrowing of Muammar Qaddafi and has now plunged the nation into racist genocidal infighting. This intervention has also seen the rebellion's epicenter of Benghazi peeling off from Tripolias a semi-autonomous "Terror-Emirate." Belhaj's latest campaign has shifted to Syria where he was admittedly on the Turkish-Syrian border pledging weapons, money, and fighters to the so-called "Free Syrian Army," again, under the auspices of NATO support.
The torrent of militants and weapons flowing from Libya into Syria to support Western-backed regime change against the Syrian government has been extensively documented over the last 2+ years.
Abdulhakim Belhadj, head of the Tripoli Military Council and the former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, "met with Free Syrian Army leaders in Istanbul and on the border with Turkey," said a military official working with Mr Belhadj. "Mustafa Abdul Jalil (the interim Libyan president) sent him there."
Syrian rebels held secret talks with Libya's new authorities on Friday, aiming to secure weapons and money for their insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, The Daily Telegraph has learned. At the meeting, which was held in Istanbul and included Turkish officials, the Syrians requested "assistance" from the Libyan representatives and were offered arms, and potentially volunteers.
"There is something being planned to send weapons and even Libyan fighters to Syria," said a Libyan source, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There is a military intervention on the way. Within a few weeks you will see."
Later that month, some 600 Libyan terrorists would be reported to have entered Syria to begin combat operations and as recently as last month, CNN, whose Ivan Watson accompanied terrorists over the Turkish-Syrian border and into Aleppo, revealed that indeed foreign fighters were amongst the militants, particularly Libyans. It was admitted that:
Meanwhile, residents of the village where the Syrian Falcons were headquartered said there were fighters of several North African nationalities also serving with the brigade's ranks.
A volunteer Libyan fighter has also told CNN he intends to travel from Turkey to Syria within days to add a "platoon" of Libyan fighters to armed movement.
On Wednesday, CNN's crew met a Libyan fighter who had crossed into Syria from Turkey with four other Libyans. The fighter wore full camouflage and was carrying a Kalashnikov rifle. He said more Libyan fighters were on the way.
The foreign fighters, some of them are clearly drawn because they see this as … a jihad. So this is a magnet for jihadists who see this as a fight for Sunni Muslims.
Al Shabaab Al Qaeda's Somali franchise is also directly linked to AQIM and the myriad of other Al Qaeda extremist subsidiaries, including Libya's LIFG, and the more recently christened Al Nusra front in Syria. The BBC in its 2012 report titled, "Africa's Islamist militants co-ordinate efforts'," stated:
Three of Africa's largest militant Islamist groups are trying to co-ordinate their efforts, the head of the US Africa Command has warned.
Gen Carter Ham said in particular North African al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was probably sharing explosives and funds with Nigeria's Boko Haram.
Speaking in Washington, he said the separatist movement in northern Mali had provided AQIM with a "safe haven".
Somalia's al-Shabab was the other "most dangerous" group, he said.
This cooperation between AQIM, Boko Haram, and Al Shabaab has been clearly bolstered by the immense influx of NATO-provided cash and weapons flowing into Libya first to overthrow the Libyan government, then to be shipped to Syria to overthrow the government there. NATO's assistance in expanding Al Qaeda's operational capacity in North Africa can only be helping terrorists like those behind the Kenya Westgate Mall siege carry out cross-border operations of this scale.
Despite attempts by the West to provide other explanations as to where Al Qaeda is receiving its funds, manpower, and arsenal to carry out global campaigns, it is clear that it is a product of state-sponsorship states like the US, UK, France, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Qatar, Turkey, Jordan, and others.
Indeed, Al Shabaab's attack in Kenya is abhorrent, unjustifiable terrorism however, what Kenyans and the world as a whole must remember, is who armed them, who continuously props them up, provides them entire nations (Libya) as safe havens, and swells their ranks and armories with billions in cash and thousands of tons of weaponry at a time in war zones like Syria.
Al Shabaab's continued existence, along with its counterparts AQIM across Northern Africa, LIFG in Libya, Boko Haram in Nigeria, and Al Nusra in Syria, is due entirely to both covert and overt Western military and financial backing. The blood of Kenya's innocent are on the hands of those within the Kenyan government willfully serving as a proxy for US aggression across Africa, and those across the West using Al Qaeda as a geopolitical tool to achieve their global objectives.
Al Qaeda: The Perfect Pretext to Invade, The Perfect Mercenary Army to Covertly Wage War
Al Qaeda, for the West, serves as the ultimate geopolitical tool. It can be used as a pretext to invade, as well as a nearly inexhaustible mercenary army to carry out ruthless terrorist campaigns and even full-scale war as seen in Syria and Libya, to achieve Western objectives. Additionally, the omnipresent, nebulous nature of Al Qaeda serves as justification to strip away the rights and liberties of people at home, across Western civilization perpetuating a climate of fear within which the seeds of very profitable war can be sown and continuously reaped.
How profitable? A Harvard's Kennedy School research paper titled, "The Financial Legacy of Iraq and Afghanistan," places the total expenditures of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars alone somewhere between 4-6 trillion dollars. That isn't 4-6 trillion dollars that went into a black hole. That is 4-6 trillion dollars that went to the Fortune 500 corporations that engineered and sold these conflicts to the American public in the first place.
The fact that more people are discuss twerking than Syria is not necessarily bad news. They share, as Floating Sheep notes, "little in common apart from recent media attention": One is a pop culture phenomenon (both more fun and more accessible to a wider swath of the population) and one is a tragic, complicated news event halfway around the world (critically important, but not very fun particularly on a platform many use for recreation).
It continued by claiming:
Of course, even if you polled all 300 million Americans on their relative interest in twerking and Syria, twerking would probably win and that's okay, too. There are many justifiable reasons why an individual or a population wouldn't care about foreign news things like a lack of education and limited access to computers or newspapers.
It is this " lack of education" that the Washington Post's editorial board and the special interests that steer it, claim is "okay too," that allows these special interests to continue to use Al Qaeda both as the ultimate villain and to swell the ranks of its inexhaustible global "freedom fighters."
The aforementioned USA Today editorial seeking to exploit the latest tragedy in Kenya also warned:
The Nairobi shopping mall attack is heartbreaking. The stories could so easily be American stories.
For the real interests driving and solely benefiting from Al Qaeda's campaign of global terror, should they decide these stories need to be "American," they will be, unless we rectify the "lack of education" these special interests have carefully cultivated and reassuringly claim is "okay." http://21stcenturywire.com/2013/09/24/ke...n-somolia/
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
It is being reported on the news today, that the Kenyan government had prior warning of the attacks, including the day and week the attack would take place. The presence of an armed SAS soldier, as reported earlier in the week in the British press, suggests this may well be true.
Is the the strategy of tension now moving back to the place it originated in, with the brutal British involvement in "counter gangs" during the Mau Mau uprising of the 1950s?
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Quote:MI5 was informed of plan to attack shopping centre FOUR years ago after British terror suspect was arrested in Kenya
Kenya had been warned of an Al Shabaab attack in late September British citizen arrested four years ago questioned about similar attack Bilal Berjawi accused of planning to blow up Israeli-owned supermarket The Westgate Mall, where at least 67 people died, is Israeli-owned
By BARBARA JONES and IAN GALLAGHER PUBLISHED: 00:48, 29 September 2013 | UPDATED: 10:20, 29 September 2013 A commander of the terrorist group behind the Nairobi attack was questioned by MI5 over plans to blow up a Kenyan shopping centre four years ago.
Bilal Berjawi, then a British citizen, was arrested in Kenya by counter-terrorism officers who claimed to be working on instructions from MI5.
Berjawi, who also went by the name Abu Omar, was questioned again on his return to Britain by the Security Service. At the time, he was a secret member of Al Shabaab, but MI5 and the Kenyans accused him of being a member of Al Qaeda.
According to his account, he was held in Nairobi for four days by Kenyan officers who were fed questions by MI5. They accused him of planning to blow up an Israeli-owned supermarket in an attack sanctioned by Osama bin Laden.
The Westgate Mall, which includes a large supermarket, is Israeli-owned. Berjawi's account, if true, suggests a failure of intelligence by MI5 and the Kenyan authorities. Security at the mall in the days leading up to the attack was lax, even despite the Kenyan authorities receiving more recent warnings of an imminent attack from the UN. Berjawi's account was given to Cageprisoners, a British charity which campaigns against alleged mistreatment of terror suspects.
Berjawi, who is of Lebanese origin, went to Somalia and joined Al Shabaab in 2006. He returned to the UK a year later to raise funds for the terrorists. He stayed at his family's council house in North Kensington, West London, before leaving for Kenya, where he was detained. He told Cageprisoners the Kenyans accused him of being an Al Qaeda suicide bomber who had trained in Afghanistan. He was told: You were planning to attack a supermarket… an Israeli supermarket.' After four days, he was allowed to return to the UK, where he was met and questioned by MI5. 'He returned to Somalia in 2009 and rose to become a senior figure in the group Al Qaeda in East Africa, a radical part of Al Shabaab. He was suspected of crossing into Uganda in 2010 where he took part in the Al Shabaab attacks at two bars as fans watched the World Cup final. The blasts killed 74. He was stripped of his British citizenship and, according to Al Shabaab, was killed in January last year by a US drone missile. Last night, MI5 would not say whether it knew of an attack on Westgate Mall four years ago, but a security source said: There is often terrorist chatter about targets for spectacular attacks and over the years the same targets pop up.'
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
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At face value, and how the Western media is attempting to portray it, the Westgate Mall siege in Kenya's capital city of Nairobi appears to be yet another senseless terrorist attack by the "religious fanatics" of Al Qaeda's Somalia franchise, Al Shabaab. Already, both Kenyan and Western politicians, as well as editorials across the Western media, are attempting to use the attack as a pretext to launch a military campaign against neighboring Somalia, while fueling anti-Muslim sentiment across profoundly ignorant audiences in the West.![[Image: LIFGSpringBoarding_1.jpg]](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iVTKs44p_9o/T33pA9tdFhI/AAAAAAAABUg/fhU-2AsH8bc/s1600/LIFGSpringBoarding_1.jpg)