Via Tacitus and Michael D of Kos, two planes have disappeared from radar nearly simultaneously in separate incidents in Russia today. No comment save the obvious: there’s an odor of al Qaeda in the air (we’ll know soon enough).
Oh, and it feels good to write “via Tacitus and … Kos”; there was a time, before Kos’s political gig, when the sites cross-seeded themselves quite nicely. Ahh well. All things must pass.
As of 6:05pm CDT none of the Russian online news sites have anything (either in English or Russian). Of course.
Interfax.ru (in Russian) has essentially the same info as the Reuters story.
Tass-online.ru has a quote from Putin in the crawl but no new info.
And a bomb in Moscow, apparently
Why al-Qaeda? They have no current beef with Russia. The Chechens would be at the top of the list.
Why al-Qaeda? They have no current beef with Russia. The Chechens would be at the top of the list.
Al Queda has a beef with everyone; however, given the upcoming Chechen election, your point is well taken.
AQ is possible, and even likely, due to the nature of the (supposed) attack. Simultaneous major events characterized by total and immediate slaughter of all victims followed by a long period of no public credit-taking is a hallmark of their operations — think the east Africa embassy attacks, think 9/11, think 3/11. This is consistent with that.
Contrast with the typical Chechen terror op — the Dagestani incursions, the seizure of the Nord-Ost theater — which is usually a political showpiece involving hostages.
As for AQ’s beef with Russia — they’ve got a beef with anyone fighting Muslims for any cause. And there have been AQ liaisons and even a cadre of fighters with the Chechens for several years now.