Over the past five weeks, Turkey’s role in facilitating the trafficking of illicit Islamic State crude has been exposed for the world to see. Ankara’s move to shoot down a Russian Su-24 near the Syrian border prompted a media blitz from Moscow, which has variously accused the Erdogan government of being complicit in a business that nets Bakr al-Baghdadi between $500 million and $1 billion per year in revenue.
Although ISIS releases nearly 40 pieces of propaganda each and every day via the group’s sprawling network of production units located in at least a dozen countries, one person you don’t hear from very often is TIME magazine’s runner-up for “person of the year”, Bakr al-Baghdadi.
When last we checked in on the battle for Ramadi, Iraqi forces had all but liberated the city, which fell to ISIS in May after what Defense Secretary Ash Carter says was a remarkable display of cowardice by the US-trained Iraqi regulars.
The city, some 60 miles west of Baghdad, is key both strategically and psychologically. It’s the veritable “heartland” of Iraq’s Sunni community and its liberation is seen as a kind of rehearsal for a planned operation in Mosul which fell to ISIS 18 months ago.
For those who have followed the meteoric - and completely implausible - rise of Islamic State, it’s easy to become desensitized to the group’s apparent brutality.
Submitted by Mac Slavo via SHTFPlan.com,
The White House, which is running a blatantly unconstitutional regime, is now attempting to vet potential successors to the Oval Office, and yet again take out opposition leaders.
First, Obama said that Assad lost all legitimacy, and should step down, and partnered with al Qaeda and ISIS to back up his opinions.