Western governments are now emphasizing it is highly probable that ISIS affiliated Egyptians working as baggage handlers may have planted the bomb that caused the mid-air explosion of Russian flight 9268.
UK has suspended all flights from Egypt for the time being.
Why are both western governments jumping the gun of the Russian investigations on the matter? Is it out of a noble desire to help the Russians?
Or, is it to tell the public not to venture into Egypt anytime soon to hurt the country’s tourism industry?
We suspect this is one of the goals all along. After all, the Egyptian government has formally joined Russia, along with Iran and Iraq, for its fight against terrorists.
Or, is it to tell the Russians to go easy with ISIS militants in Syria?
At the very least, the straightforward blame on ISIS is suspect considering that other geopolitical players in the region were obviously involved, and the fact that all ISIS cadres are mere dispensable pawns.
Philip Hammond: halting flights will have an immense impact on Egyptian economy – video
The UK foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, speaks to reporters to confirm Britain is warning against all but essential travel to and from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The decision is due to the government’s belief the downing of an Airbus over the Sinai peninsula could have been caused by an explosive device. Hammond says although the change will have an impact on the economy of Egypt, the safety of British nationals must come first
continue watching
ISIS Bomb May Have Downed Russian Jet, U.S. Officials Say – NBC News
by M. Alex Johnson, Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube
There’s significant evidence that a bomb brought down Russia’s Metrojet Flight 9268 over the Sinai Peninsula last weekend, U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday, saying U.S. investigators are focusing on ISIS operatives or sympathizers as the likely bombers.
Questions have swirled over whether foul play or terrorism may have downed the Metrojet-operated Airbus A321 since it crashed in Egypt on Saturday, killing all 224 people aboard. ISIS’s media office in Sinai released an audio message Wednesday reiterating its claim of responsibility. Neither Wednesday’s claim nor an earlier one immediately after the crash said how ISIS is supposed to have brought down the plane.
A U.S. official told NBC News he expects Russia to retaliate “heavily and militarily” if the theory is borne out.
U.S. officials stressed that while they believe it’s “likely” that a bomb was on the plane, it’s still too early to conclude that for certain. They told NBC News that mechanical failure remains a possibility.
Related: Investigators Examine Metrojet Black Boxes
NBC News’ terrorism intelligence partner, Flashpoint Global, said “it is unlikely that [ISIS] has the ability to have targeted and downed the airliner,” noting that the group continues to release publicity about the incident without providing any video of its actually targeting the airliner.
But NBC News national security analyst Kevin Baron, executive editor of national security analytics company Defense One, said that if ISIS was able to plant a bomb on the plane, “it’s a real game-changer for the region.”
State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday: “We need to advise U.S. workers not to go to the Sinai.” No U.S. commercial flights operate over Sinai, aviation officials told NBC News.
A U.S. official said investigators are looking at the possibility that an explosive device was planted aboard the plane by ground crews, baggage handlers or other ground staff at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport before takeoff. Passengers and the flight crew weren’t significantly suspected after intelligence scrub of the passenger manifest and the crew showed no one with suspected ties to any terrorist group, officials said.
Three top officials at the airport, including the head of security, were fired Wednesday after investigators uncovered numerous lax security procedures, officials told NBC News.
The comments track with statements Wednesday by British officials.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said after an emergency cabinet meeting Wednesday night that a review of “all the information we have available from a range of sources” led to the conclusion that “there is a significant possibility that the crash was caused by an explosive device onboard the aircraft.”
Prime Minister David Cameron issued a delay on U.K.-bound flights from Sharm el-Sheikh, saying he wanted U.K. aviation experts to assess security there.
Related: Satellite Shows Heat Flash When Russian Metrojet Plane Crashed, But No Missile
British investigators haven’t been among the teams investigating the crash, but Egypt’s Aviation Ministry said data from the crashed plane’s data recorder had been “extracted and validated.”
nbcnews.com
Bomb by Islamic State likely caused Russian plane crash: security sources
By Mark Hosenball, William James and Ahmed Mohamed Hassan
NEW YORK/LONDON/CAIRO Evidence now suggests that a bomb planted by the Islamic State militant group is the likely cause of last weekend’s crash of a Russian airliner over Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, U.S. and European security sources said on Wednesday.
Islamic State, which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria and is battling the Egyptian army in the Sinai Peninsula, said again on Wednesday it brought down the airplane, adding it would eventually tell the world how it carried out the attack.
The Airbus A321 (AIR.PA) crashed on Saturday in the Sinai Peninsula shortly after taking off from the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on its way to the Russian city of St Petersburg, killing all 224 people on board.
The U.S. and European security sources stressed they had reached no final conclusions about the crash.
Britain on Wednesday cited the likely possibility of an explosive device as the cause of the crash, but made no mention of any group that may have been responsible.
“We have concluded that there is a significant possibility that the crash was caused by an explosive device on board the aircraft,” Britain’s foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, said after a meeting of the government’s crisis response committee chaired by Prime Minister David Cameron.
Hammond’s remarks came as Britain prepares to host a visit by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi this week.
Egypt, a close ally of the United States and the most populous Arab country, dismissed a similar claim of responsibility for the crash by Islamic State on Saturday.
“It is believed to be an explosion but what kind is not clear. There is an examination of the sand at the crash site to try and determine if it was a bomb,” said an Egyptian source who is close to the team investigating the black boxes.
“There are forensic investigations underway at the crash site. That will help determine the cause, to see if traces of explosives are found.”
Sisi has described Islamist militancy as an existential threat to the Arab world and the West and has repeatedly called for greater international efforts to combat the militants.
Hammond said Britain is “advising against all but essential travel by air through Sharm el-Sheikh airport. That means that there will be no UK passenger flights out to Sharm el-Sheikh from now.”
Remarks earlier on Wednesday by Britain’s Cameron, who was due to hold talks in London with Sisi on Thursday, of concerns “the plane may well have been brought down by an explosive device” drew criticism from Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.
He told CNN he was “somewhat surprised” by the British statement.
“This is a matter for the investigation to clarify and we should not prejudge or take any measures that might have implications,” Shoukry said. “Implication also that the fact that a very large number of Egyptians who rely heavily on the tourist industry.”
Britain said it was working with airlines and Egyptian authorities to put in place additional security and screening measures to allow Britons in Sharm el-Sheikh to get home, but that would take time and there would be no flights returning from the resort on Thursday.
“SOMETHING STOWED” ON BOARD
A Russian aviation official said the investigation was looking into the possibility of an object stowed on board causing the disaster.
“There are two versions now under consideration: something stowed inside (the plane) and a technical fault. But the airplane could not just break apart in the air – there should be some action. A rocket is unlikely as there are no signs of that,” the Russian official said.
Security experts and investigators have said the plane is unlikely to have been struck from the outside and Sinai-based militants are not believed to possess the technology to shoot down a jet from a cruising altitude above 30,000 feet.
Any evidence that a bomb knocked the plane out of the sky would deal a heavy blow to tourism in Egypt, a pillar of the economy that is struggling to recover after years of political turmoil, and would also undermine Sisi’s assertions that Cairo has brought under control Sinai Province’s insurgency.
Sinai Province has killed hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police since Sisi, as army chief, toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.
Sisi was elected president last year on promises he would stabilise Egypt and rebuild its shattered economy. Critics say his tough crackdown on Islamists will only create more radicals in Egypt, which has fought militants for decades.
REVENGE FOR RUSSIAN AIRSTRIKES?
Investigators have extracted and validated the contents of the flight data recorder, one of two so-called black boxes recovered from the Russian plane, Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry said.
The ministry said the second black box, which contains the cockpit voice recorder, was partially damaged and much work was required to extract data from it.
Sinai Province has said it had brought down the airliner “in response to Russian air strikes that killed hundreds of Muslims on Syrian land.”
In an audio message posted on a Twitter account used by the group, Islamic State’s Egyptian affiliate insisted on Wednesday it was behind the crash. The claim could not immediately be authenticated.
“We, with God’s grace, are the ones who brought it down, and we are not obliged to disclose the mechanism of its demise,” the speaker said.
Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, launched air raids against opposition groups in Syria including Islamic State on Sept. 30. The hardline group has called for war against both Russia and the United States in response to their air strikes in Syria.
Late on Wednesday the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) directed all Irish airlines on Wednesday not to fly to or from the Sinai Peninsula until further notice. The Russian-operated plane was registered in Ireland and the IAA is taking part in the official investigation into the crash.
(Additional reporting by Glen Stolyarov and Alexander Winning in Moscow, Tim Hepher and John Irish in Paris, Warren Strobel, Doina Chiacu and Susan Heavey in Washington, Lin Noueihed in Cairo; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Alison Williams, Gareth Jones and Leslie Adler)
reuters.com
But, is Putin really letting up the fight against the Khazarian Mafia?
Certainly, not yet.
Putin signs law allowing retaliatory sequestration of foreign property in Russia
Russia’s president has signed legislation enabling countermeasures in the case of the wrongful arrest of Russian state property abroad. The law, based on reciprocity, curtails the jurisdictional immunity of the country in question if not agreed otherwise.
The document was published on Russia’s official legal information website and therefore has come into effect.
According to the new law, the jurisdictional immunities of a foreign state and its property could be limited on the territory of Russia on the principle of mutuality, in the case that the jurisdictional immunity of Russia has been found to be suffering limitations on the sovereign territory of that country.
The provisions of the law would not be applied if Russia and the other country have reached an agreement to act differently.
The judicial immunity of a foreign entity that has filed a legal action, entered legal argument or has taken any other substantive action in a Russian court will be considered revoked.
The revoking of a foreign country’s judicial immunity in any given legal argument is irrevocable and will be applied to all stages of judicial examinations.
rt.com
Units of Russia’s Eastern Military District Hold Electronic Warfare Drills
11:15 05.11.2015 (updated 11:19 05.11.2015)
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the ministry, some 100 military personnel “deployed up to 10 EW centers and stations” in the training area, including brand-new Borisoglebsk 2 electronic warfare systems, which is capable of suppressing mobile satellite communication and radio navigation systems.
Compared to the previous generation of this system, the Borisoglebsk 2 has a wider range of radio surveillance and suppression, higher-speed frequency scanning and greater precision in locating sources of radio wave emissions.
sputniknews.com
Meanwhile, a major diplomatic standoff is now brewing between UK and Egypt for the former’s unilateral announcement of ISIS involvement in the ill fated crash of Russian fllight 9268…
A diplomatic row has broken out between Cairo and London after the UK Government barred all British flights into and out of Sharm el-Sheikh airport over security concerns at the airport and intelligence that ISIL planted a bomb on the Russian aircraft that crashed on October 31.
I cannot listen to these English twats with their misinformation like this pompous wanker the UK secretary Hammond, as a UK Citizen myself why do we have to tolerate these hand picked gutless wonders, as the prime minister is a certified Pig Bonker who’s next mission is to get a blow job from a live Sow, we all know that the contribution from Britain and America is 99 percent bullshit, if people want to protest, they should all get together to protest against the BBC, because everybody in the UK pays a licence for it, so they need to hear the truth and not what they want us to hear, if they do not tell you a direct lie, then they do not tell you all the truth either, if there is a god somewhere I thank him for the Internet, because since the end of the last war we have had propaganda, lies and endless bullshit from the USA, and we don’t need it because we already have enough British Bullshit, also I might add although we might get a lot of repetition throughout the day RT that’s Russia Today’s channel is worth a watch, and crosstalk with peter Lavelle is pretty good sometimes but I think that RT should make it a little longer when the subject matter or a certain guest require it, and at this moment I think that the Russians may know more about the airliner than they are letting on, but if it turns out to be an Israeli jet fighter, then ISRAEL could be long overdue for a serious thumping.
I would have thought that getting a blow job from a live sow was very dangerous & should not be recommended.
well max, David Cameron and a few of his pals got up to a lot worse, and it’s all over the internet or it was 3 months ago, apparently he put his carrot inside a dead pigs mouth, and these are the vomits that were elected into office or should I say selected, because they are nearly all rigged like the Scottish referendum for independence, I think that many moons have passed since government ministers had respect for the public at large, these days they are not the public servants that they are supposed to be, they only serve a masonic agenda.