Charlie LeDuff does something the entire U.S. mainstream media are afraid to do, confront the primary and visible advocate for ISIS in the United States !!

(Via IJR) On an episode of “The Americans,” host Charlie LeDuff and his crew went to track down America’s ISIS pinup boy, Ahmad Jibril.

Born and raised in Dearborn, Michigan, Jibril has become one of the most popular online preachers for those looking to join, or who are currently fighting for, the terrorist organization. (read more)

(Via New York Times) Two women living in Queens have been charged with planning to build a bomb that they wanted to detonate in the United States.

The women, Noelle Velentzas, 28, and Asia Siddiqui, 31, who until recently were roommates, were named in a complaint unsealed on Thursday in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, and were expected to appear in court on Thursday afternoon.

Ms. Velentzas and Ms. Siddiqui, who are American citizens, appeared to be interested in jihad, according to the complaint, which said that they had been communicating with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and had been viewing violent videos made by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. (more…)

It should be noted Al-Shabaab -which is also known as AQNA (al-Qaeda in North Africa)- has previously been conclusively identified as maintaining training bases in Mexico (Report from 2011).  It is the same group responsible for the Kenya Mall attacks and has threatened the Mall of America. 

GARISSA, Kenya — Al-Shabaab gunmen rampaged through a university in northeastern Kenya at dawn Thursday, killing 147 people in the group’s deadliest attack in the East African country. Four militants were slain by security forces to end the siege just after dusk.

The masked attackers armed with AK-47s singled out non-Muslim students at Garissa University College and then gunned them down without mercy, survivors said. Others ran for their lives with bullets whistling through the air.

The gunmen had strapped themselves with explosives, Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery said. When Kenyan officers shot at the four, the attackers exploded “like bombs” and shrapnel from the explosions injured officers, he said. (more…)

From Lausanne: At 1:37AM, Secretary Kerry ends meeting with French and German Foreign Ministers; resumes US-EU talks with Iran.

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) April 1, 2015

…US Secretary of State John Kerry postponed his departure from the talks for a second time and will remain through Thursday morning, the State Department said

Switzerland – French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is leaving the marathon negotiations that have gone into overtime led by the United States between world powers and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear technology activities.

A French official told France 24 today (Wednesday, April 1) that Fabius was leaving the talks and would return from France when it was “useful.”

Speaking at a joint news conference with Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, French President Francois Hollande said it would be better to have no deal than a bad deal – the same opinion expressed last month by Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu while speaking to the U.S. Congress. (more…)

Yesterday the commander of the Basij militia of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards stated “erasing Israel off the map” is “nonnegotiable.” Militia chief Mohammad Reza Naqdi also threatened Saudi Arabia, saying the offensive it is leading in Yemen “will have a fate like the fate of Saddam Hussein.”

Against the backdrop of these latest threats, and with President Obama and Secretary Kerry willing to allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responds:

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program have been extended until Wednesday, the State Department said Tuesday.

Iran nuke talks to continue tomorrow. "We've made enough progress in the last days to merit staying until Wednesday," says @marieharf

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) March 31, 2015

"There are several difficult issues still remaining," says Harf in announcing extension of tonight's Iran nuke talks deadline.

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) March 31, 2015

A few hours before the self-imposed midnight Tuesday deadline ran out, State Department acting Spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters, ‎”We’ve made enough progress in the last days to merit staying until Wednesday. There are several difficult issues still remaining.” (more…)

Hillary Clinton said the construct of her secret communication network was specifically because she only wanted to carry one device – obviously she lied right out of the gate.

The Associated Press has gained a total of FOUR emails from a FOIA request regarding correspondence between Hillary Clinton and her personal aide Huma Abedin search term “drone strikes”.

The emails show the Clinton led U.S. State Department focused an inordinate amount of time and energy discussing articles written by the media. It would appear at least a substantive portion of time in/around the State Dept was spent reviewing what reporters were writing about U.S. foreign policy outcomes.

One of the emails (Sept 18th 2011 – last in the pdf below) shows Hillary answering a question about floral arrangements amid a chain email discussing Pakistan’s efforts to battle the Taliban. Ms. Abedin responds curiously. (more…)

Al Nusra is a front for, and has openly aligned with, al-Qaeda in Syria – which is essentially ISIS.

It is not a secret that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has tried to deliver the maximum benefit to ISIS (in Northern Syria) in direct opposition to the Kurds who are trying to formulate their own independent nation of Kurdistan. Erdogan views Kurdistan as a proxy for Irans’ growing sphere of influence.

Erdogan opposes Iran for many ideological reasons, but arguably most of all because he sees Iran’s growing influence as a threat to his own political ambitions to lead a new Ottoman Empire.

In my opinion Erdogan views his envisioned construct as most possible with a constituency of: ISIS, The Muslim Brotherhood, Al Nusra (al-Qaeda) and various other segments of Sunni Islam including the Palestinian Authority, vis-à-vis Hamas. Erdogan, like Obama, has more grand aspirations than his own territory – all of his prior behavior aligns with this perspective.

So it comes as no surprise to see Turkey’s Erdogan take the opportunity provided by the distractions of both Yemen and Iraq, to act against one of Iran’s benefactors in Syria, namely Assad. (more…)

INDIA – A Bangladeshi blogger was hacked to death in Dhaka on Monday, the second such attack on a critic of religious fundamentalism in the mainly Muslim country in less than two months.

Three knife-wielding attackers set upon 27-year-old Washiqur Rahman near his home on Monday morning, weeks after the murder of an American atheist blogger in Dhaka triggered international outrage.

Police said they had arrested two suspects at the scene and retrieved three knives, but a third escaped.  Deputy commissioner Wahidul Islam said Rahman had been “brutally hacked to death”.

“They hacked him in his head and neck with big knives and once he fell on the ground they then hacked his body,” he said. (more…)