When Clinton, Rice and Power launched operation R2P in Benghazi Libya they specifically helped the Libyan “Rebels” to overthrown Kaddaffi.   This gave the al-Qaeda operatives, who made up the majority coalition of the “rebels”, immediate access to weapons warehouses and massive stockpiles of ManPads (Man Portable Air Defense Systems), otherwise known as surface to air missiles – the missiles were a specific manufacture coming originally from Russia.   20,000 such missiles immediately went missing.

This past weekend one of those missiles was used.

All five soldiers in the helicopter were killed, security officials said.

“This is what everyone has long assumed could happen, and it is a confirmation of those fears — that substantial and advanced weaponry came into the country in the aftermath of the Libyan war,” said Michael Wahid Hanna, an Egypt scholar at the Century Foundation in New York.

New York Times – Islamist militants shot down an Egyptian military helicopter in the Sinai Peninsula with a surface-to-air missile over the weekend, raising new alarms about the terrorist insurgency that developed there in response to the military takeover last summer.

(more…)

RUSSIA – A Chechen warlord who had urged his followers to attack the Olympic Games has been killed, it has been reported.

Doku Umarov, who threatened to attack the Games in Sochi, Russia, is dead according to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov who wrote the unverified claims on his Instagram account.

Kadyrov has made the claims a number of times in the past and no proof has been submitted to verify his death.  News of Umarov’s death came from intercepted communications between rebel leaders who were discussing his replacement, according to Kadyrov. (more…)

I keep wondering why we are not seeing this story in our U.S. broadcast media – the potential cinematography is prime for interest ?  ….In a scene that veered from primeval to apocalyptic, demonstrators used sticks to hit barrels and sheets of metal, creating a savage drumbeat as a backdrop, while billows of smoke rose from piles of burning car tires….

KIEV, Ukraine — With President Viktor F. Yanukovych and antigovernment demonstrators at an impasse here, a cease-fire disintegrated on Friday night as the Ukrainian capital convulsed in renewed violence and fire bombs lit up the night sky.

Civil unrest spread across the country earlier on Friday as protesters laid siege to government buildings in at least nine other cities — occupying some and thronging outside others. (more…)

(Via CNN) A video surfaces threatening the Winter Olympics. Russia’s President vows the Games will be safe. Some U.S. lawmakers warn that they won’t be.   One thing was clear as debate over the situation surged on Sunday: security is a top concern, less than three weeks away from the competition…

…As a transcript of his interview with half a dozen national and international broadcasters was posted on the Kremlin website Sunday, a video that surfaced online again highlighted the security situation. (more…)

( Hat Tip ctdar ) MOSCOW — A Chechen rebel warlord who has plagued the region for decades and most recently threatened to attack the Sochi Olympics is dead, Chechnya’s Kremlin-backed strongman said Thursday, but he offered no proof and his claim couldn’t be verified.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on his Instagram that Doku Umarov, who urged his fighters to strike the Games, had died — a claim he has made repeatedly in the past. The information about Umarov’s death came from intercepted communications between other rebel leaders who were discussing his replacement, he said, but he didn’t make clear when the conversation took place or how it was heard. (more…)

Readers will know by now how often we have spotlighted a historical similarity between the former polish Solidarity Movement, and the ruse behind the current U.S. body politic as narrated by the media.    So it’s a little ironic to see Solidarity Leader Lech Walesa speak openly about how diminished the U.S. influence is.
(via WeaselZippers) The Nobel Peace Prize-winning former president of Poland, Lech Walesa, says President Obama has failed to reclaim America’s role as a world leader.

“When he was elected… there was great hope,” Walesa said. “…. we were hoping Obama would reclaim moral leadership for America,” adding: “That failed.”
“…. in terms of politics and morality, America no longer leads the world,” he said. “…America did not regain its leadership status. We were just lucky there were no big conflicts in the world,” saying the world has relied on a strong America to maintain the balance of power around the globe.
“… It’s a dangerous situation so we are awaiting a president who will understand that,” he said. (link)

The market place trolly was about 2 miles away from the Train Station bombing.
VOLOGRAD RUSSIA – A suicide bombing in the Russian city of Volgograd has killed at least 10 passengers on a trolley bus. The explosion comes a day after a terrorist attack in the city which killed 17 people and injured scores of others.

Правоохранители считают, что новый теракт в Волгограде схож по почерку с 2 предыдущими (ФОТО) http://t.co/PhKqSptxyM pic.twitter.com/NNoZIoFuwX

— RT_russian (@RT_russian) December 30, 2013

At least 15 people were injured by the blast on Monday morning. A  one-year-old baby is reported to be among the victims.
The explosion was set off by a suicide bomber, spokesman for the  Russian Investigative Committee, Vladimir Markin, confirmed. (more…)

Details beginning to come out behind this horrific terrorist attack in Russia.  Volgograd is a city of around 1 million people, about 690 km  northeast of Sochi and close to Russia’s volatile region of North  Caucasus. The city saw a terrorist attack just in October, when a   suicide  bomber blew herself up in a bus, killing six people and  injuring more than 30 others.

#Волгоград теракт вокзал добровольцы помогают скорой http://t.co/VfE2sJgCbp

— Кобликов Александр (@Koblikov34) December 29, 2013

•The power of the explosion at Volgograd’s station was equivalent  to at least 10 kg TNT, according to Vladimir Markin [Health Ministry].  The explosive device  was stuffed with pieces of scrap metal. The Committee said that  an undetonated F-1 grenade was also found at the scene.
•The female was initially identified as Oksana Aslanova, a close  friend of Naida Asiyalova – also known as ‘Amaturahman’ – who was  behind the October Volgograd attack. Aslanova is said to have  been married twice to two militants, both eliminated earlier.
A few hours later, more evidence emerged suggesting that a man  could have also been involved in the attack. The version, which  was also picked up by investigators, came after a male finger  with a pin from a grenade was found at the scene. (more…)

Venezuela, in a squeeze for hard currency, devalued its currency for foreigners another 44%, following an initial devaluation of 32% by Chavez in February.  The move is seen as a necessity to keep Venezuela from defaulting on sovereign debt when reliance on excessively high levels of public spending has been the tool of Chavez and his successor, Maduro, to maintain their grip on power.  It is the 6th such major devaluation in a decade.
The move is essentially a bookkeeping sleight-of-hand – it allows the Venezuelan central bank to balance its books by “earning” more Bolivars for its oil export sales, at a time when overall sales volume has decreased dramatically.

According to CBS, several hundred thousand Ukrainians occupied a central square in the capital earlier Sunday, denouncing President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to turn away from Europe and align this former Soviet republic with Russia.