LOS ANGELES.–U.S. press says the ISIS-K Crocus City Hall concert attack killing 133, injuring cores more, was a supreme failure of 71-year-old President Vladimir Putin who just won reelection March 17. Whatever happens between Russia and the Ukraine War, an ISIS terrorist attack was not Putin’s fault, other than looking at how the wasteful Ukraine War diverts attention away from global security and the war on terror. Most Western and Eastern countries have been hit by terrorism over the last 25 years when Osama bin Laden shocked the world with Sept. 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 U.S. citizens and starting the global war on terror. Did the foreign press blame former President George W. Bush for not taking terrorism seriously? Or did the world rally behind the U.S. response to terrorism? Yet if you listen to the U.S. press, Putin should be embarrassed by the latest ISIS terror attack.
No questions that the Ukraine War has become a massive distraction from the normal global order, where the U.S. worked with its adversaries, including Russia and China, to deal with Islamic terrorism. Sept. 11 changed the global order forever with airports around the world forced to develop strict transportation security rules to assure passenger safety. For some bizarre reason, the U.S. press brings up Putin’s crackdown on the press, especially treatment Russian dissident Alexi Navalny. Navalny died in an Arctic Russian gulag Feb. 16, something the U.S. press brings up to denigrate Putin. President Joe Biden, 81, said Putin was responsible for Navalny’s death, without any facts at all. But what good does Biden do for U.S.-Russian relations blaming Putin for his death? Navalny decided to return to Russia in 2021, after recovering from Novichok poisoning in Germany.
Navalny had been fomenting revolution in Russia for years in a relentless campaign accusing Putin of rampant corruption. When he was allegedly poisoned by the FSB, forced to leave Russia for medical treatment in Germany, he was told not to return to Russia. Navalny defied all advice and was promptly arrested after returning to Moscow. Whatever Navalny’s motive, why should he be subject to U.S. foreign policy, unless he was a CIA operative? But Navalny has nothing to do with the latest ISIS terrorist attack in Moscow. Nor did once mercenary army leader Yevgeny Prigozhin have anything to do with the latest ISIS terrorist attack. U.S. press likes to bring up Navalny and Prigozhin because they challenged Putin’s authority but have nothing
to do with terrorism. When it comes to Navalny and Prigozhin, there were both fabricated as threats to Putin by the U.S. press.
U.S. press grossly exaggerates threats to Putin’s Kremlin government, all to drive world opinion against Putin. But, in so doing, they damage U.S.-Russian relations to the point today where Biden funds proxy war in Ukraine against the Kremlin. Western countries claim they gave Putin advance warning of the March 22 ISIS Crocus City Hall concert attack. Relations are so bad between the U.S. and Russia, that any intel would not have been taken seriously by Russian authorities. How can the Kremlin take White House warnings seriously when it prosecutes proxy war against the Russian Federation? Putin didn’t ignore U.S. warnings of a possible terror attack, the channels simply don’t exist while Biden funds his proxy war in Ukraine against the Kremlin. Yesterday’s ISIS attack should be a warning to the White House that it could happen in America.
Islamic terror attacks can happen anywhere on the planet especially with open border in the United States. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] have no clue of the millions of illegal aliens coming into the U.S. from the Mexican border. Whatever happened in Moscow could happen in the U.S. at anytime. Blaming Putin for his policy against dissidents, independent press or insurgent groups is a cheap shot by the U.S. press. Russian officials didn’t blame U.S. failures on Sept. 11 to treatment of dissidents or the press in the U.S. Terrorism can happen anywhere on the planet when least expected. Soft targets like sporting or concert venues are fair game for global terrorists. ISIS’s recent attack in Moscow should remind the U.S. and Russia to redouble efforts to defeat Islamic terrorism by developing better diplomatic relations and more global cooperation.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
