On March 22 when a group of terrorists stormed Crocus City Hall on the outskirt of Moscow and systematically and in cold blood massacred innocent Russians and then devastated adjacent shopping mall through arson attacks, Western nations and their corporate media cartels began outrageous propaganda clearly with the nefarious agenda of diverting attention from the plotters and saving the perpetrators of this heinous crime. As of March 26, 144 were reported as killed and over 180 as injured. As always in such cases, many more will have to struggle with severe psychological trauma, which is known as Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Let us not forget those children who have been orphaned or women been widowed through this gruesome massacre. Russian authorities are diligently working on this case and trying to know the main plotters and funders of this act of terror. In this case, let us remember the 2015 Paris attacks that too took place at a concert venue killing at least 130 and injuring over 350. As expected, the French authorities responded with an immediate countrywide state of emergency, massive security searches and a “dramatic escalation of French military intervention in the Syrian Civil War” as well as an equally “dramatic increase in domestic security spending”. There was a great wave of international solidarity not only with victims and their families but also with the French nation. No one had shown the nastiness of putting the blame on the French authorities accusing them of masterminding this gruesome terrorist massacre. It happens whenever there is terrorist attack anywhere in the world.
Unfortunately, things turned out totally different following the Crocus City Hall massacre. While the Russian security services and authorities got to work in a manner fundamentally similar to the French response in 2015 (capturing 11 suspects, four of them “immediate” shooters who’d mass-murdered innocents at a concert, on the run towards the Ukrainian border), a disturbingly large number of Western politicians and media figures responded with a combination of happiness, generally transparently concealed but at times stunningly open, with hypocritical equivocating, and, last but not least, with insane conspiracy theories. In other words, with anything but genuine compassion and respect.
A bar named ‘Ofenziva’ (Offensive) in Kyiv, Ukraine introduced a new item to its controversial menu mocking the massacre. According to the latest report, the death toll stands at 144, though search for victims is still ongoing and the death toll is expected to grow even further.
The Ukrainian bar advertises itself as “the first meme-military art bar” in Kyiv in an allusion to online meme warfare. It serves as a platform for various performers, most of whom exhibit ultra-nationalist views.
Shortly after the attack, Ofenziva rolled out a new set dubbed ‘Crocus City’, composed of several fried snacks. The menu item on the bar’s website is accompanied by a photo of the concert hall on fire in the aftermath of the attack.
A German ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter) with over 30,000 followers expressed pleasure by posting a picture of the Crocus Hall and the adjacent mall in flames with comment – “May it burn, may all of Moscow burn”. This post resembled the notion of the Nazi Reich. Although the post was later removed, the used did not apologize for such act of extreme cruelty.
Michael Roth, an extremely vocal member of the German parliament and chair of its Foreign Policy Committee proceeded to demonize Russia as a “terror state”, caricaturing its war in Ukraine as a campaign of terror.
German politician Roderich Kiesewetter, who belongs to Angela Markel’s party has openly fantasized about the possibility of a “false flag operation” by Moscow.
Unfortunate fact is – in Germany, baseless accusations and vile speculations are bipartisan when it is the case of Russia.
Igor Sushko, an infamous purveyor of deep-frosted neo-Cold War hype with over 300,000 followers jumped into spreading disinformation by stating, “Putin’s false flag terror attack at the Crocus City Hall”.
A Latvia-based website named ‘Meduza’ also joined the ‘false flag’ chorus.
Another ‘X’ user named Oliver Carroll jumped to portray the Crocus City Hall massacre with the Berlin Reichstag Fire of 1933 and the Kirov murder of 1934.
Immediately after the Crocus Hall massacre, Ukraine issued a statement claiming it does not have any hand behind it. Almost immediately, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby asserted to the press that “there is no indication” that Ukraine was involved in the shooting.
Meanwhile, Islamic State (ISIS) published a statement through a social media platform claiming responsibility hours after the massacre. Surprisingly it issued another statement accompanied by what appeared to be bodycam footage of the attack.
In my opinion, such behavior of ISIS is suspicious enough especially when the Russian Security Service (FSB) stated that four suspects were having contacts in Ukraine and were arrested near Ukrainian border. According to media reports, new evidence suggested the March 22 massacre to be more complicated than what Team Biden has been saying.
Charles Ortel, analyst and investigative journalist with the Wall Street Journal told Russian media outlet Sputnik, “The Biden Administration has scant credibility left whether in official statements or in off-the-record communications, particularly when it comes to matters outside America’s nominal ‘borders’. The real question is what shadowy actors acquired the resources and training to perpetrate these vile acts and who are the ultimate paymasters, masterminds and ‘beneficiaries’.”
Although Washington has been persistently saying the perpetrators belonged to Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), Charles Ortel said, there are two reasons why international commentators reacted to Team Biden’s assertion with disbelief. He said, “Joe Biden, the Biden family, the Clinton family, John McCain, Lindsey Graham and George Soros (directly or indirectly) apparently have deep, unexplained ties to oligarchs and individuals inside Ukraine who have funneled money into and outside Ukraine, for which there has never been an honest and rigorous accounting”.
There were also reports that US military choppers were detected evacuating ISIS commanders amid the Syrian Armed Forces’ advance. On another occasion, Pentagon- and CIA-backed Syrian insurgents were seen clashing with each other on the plains between the besieged city of Aleppo and the Turkish border.
“Use of Islamist proxies by elements allied to the US and the UK (among others) is, sadly, an old play carried out by muddy thinkers who foolishly believe ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend'”, Ortel said.
“Before Timber Sycamore, one must remember how the West funneled money to radical Islamists fighting the Soviet Union prior to September 11, 2001, and that the West provided arms, money and other resources to Saddam Hussein to fight Iran. Then, vaunted (and patently undeserved) Nobel Peace laureate Barack Obama spent eight long years upending national governments in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere to the profound detriment of American interests, in my opinion”, Charles Ortel continued.
