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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 4-Apr-2017
4-Apr-17 World View -- St. Petersburg, Russia, train explosion may be blowback from Syria military intervention

Web Log - April, 2017

4-Apr-17 World View -- St. Petersburg, Russia, train explosion may be blowback from Syria military intervention

Explosion in St. Petersburg subway kills 11, injures dozens

by John J. Xenakis

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Explosion in St. Petersburg subway kills 11, injures dozens
Suspicion falls on blowback from Russia's military intervention into Syria

Explosion in St. Petersburg subway kills 11, injures dozens

Vladimir Putin lays flowers in memory of those killed in Monday's terror attack (Tass)

Vladimir Putin lays flowers in memory of those killed in Monday's terror attack (Tass)

St. Petersburg, Russia, has declared three days of mourning, starting from Tuesday, after a bomb exploded on Monday afternoon on a train full of passengers traveling between two stations, killing 11 and injuring dozens. Later, a much larger unexploded bomb was found in a metro station.

Russia's president Vladimir Putin was in the city when the blast occurred, meeting with Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko, though it's not known whether the attack was timed for Monday because the two leaders were present. Putin laid flowers at a makeshift shrine in memory of those who had been killed.

Two million people use the St. Petersburg metro every day. The entire metro system has been put into lockdown, and the people are said to be in fear of further violence. Tass (Russia) and Sky News and BBC

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Russia's mass arrest of St. Petersburg Muslims raises specter of blowback (15-Feb-2013)

Suspicion falls on blowback from Russia's military intervention into Syria

No one has yet taken credit for the St. Petersburg terror attacks, but many believe that the most likely perpetrators are either the so-called Islamic State (IS or ISIS or ISIL or Daesh) or else Chechen terrorists from the Caucasian Emirate formed after Russia's war in Chechnya in the 1990s. In either case, the attack was most likely blowback from Russia's military intervention in Syria.

Russia is a Christian country, and its Christian soldiers have already fought against Sunni Muslim fighters in Afghanistan in the 1980s and in Chechnya in the 1990s. In the 2010s, Christian Russia is allied with Shia Muslim Iran, an arch-enemy of Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia. Russia is fighting on the side of Syria's Shia/Alawite president Bashar al-Assad, who is a war criminal dropping barrel bombs and chemical weapons on innocent Sunni Muslim women and children in schools, markets, and even Palestinian refugee camps.

This isn't rocket science. Many analysts have said that there would be blowback. I've been saying so for years, and I've repeatedly criticized the stupidity of Vladimir Putin for going down that path, because blowback has always been certain. You'd have to be crazy to think otherwise. In fact, ISIS has been putting out videos threatening revenge against Russia for invading Syria.

There have been other Sunni jihadist attacks on Russia. In October 2015, ISIS was responsible for bringing down a Russian airliner departing Egypt for St. Petersburg. In 2013, Islamists blew up a train station and a bus near Volgograd. Moscow's airport was attacked in 2011, and its subway system in 2004. Last year, Russia's ambassador to Turkey was killed in Ankara in revenge for Russia's intervention in Syria.

But now, things could be getting worse. ISIS is under attack and is being driven out of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. Russian security officials have pointed out that there are over 7,000 Islamist fighters from Russia and other former Soviet countries fighting in Syria, and with ISIS possibly close to defeat, some of those fighters will be free to return to their home countries.

It's not certain that Islamist terrorists were responsible for Monday's attacks. Other hypotheses include Ukrainian terrorists, and even anti-government criminals in Russia. But even if one of those hypotheses turns out to be true, the global fury of Sunni Muslims against Christian Russia is real, and will be felt.

As I've been writing for years, Generational Dynamics predicts that the approaching Clash of Civilizations world war will pit China, Pakistan and the Sunni Muslim countries against the US, India, Russia and Iran. In the Mideast, Generational Dynamics predicts a full-scale Mideast war, pitting Jews against Arabs, Sunnis against Shias, and various ethnic groups against each other. Monday's terror attack in St. Petersburg moves the world further along that trend line. Telegraph (London) and Arab News and Sky News

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(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 4-Apr-17 World View -- St. Petersburg, Russia, train explosion may be blowback from Syria military intervention thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (4-Apr-2017) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 4-Apr-2017 4-Apr-17 World View -- St. Petersburg, Russia, train explosion may be blowback from Syria military intervention

Explosion in St. Petersburg subway kills 11, injures dozens

Suspicion falls on blowback from Russia's military intervention into Syria

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 4-Apr-2017
4-Apr-17 World View -- St. Petersburg, Russia, train explosion may be blowback from Syria military intervention