Michael Roberts
The information and interpretations present in this Thuppahi website by “A Observer in a Black Sea Resort” (see refs at end) have been challenged by several Academic friends of mine located in the West (A and B quoted below within this text). However, another friend located in USA …. a Sri Lankan as it happens …. has chipped in with a counterpunch (see C below); while another Sri Lankan has also added a note of significance.
I have no expertise on the scenario in Eastern Europe; but the suicidal commitment of the Islamic extremists led by Zahran Hashim et al when they launched the Easter Sunday assaults in Sri Lanka in 2019 — see some refrences below – point towards the force of Islamic martyrdom driving such assaults. In other contexts, that of the Japanese kamikaze during World War Two and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, I have conceptualized this motivating force as “sacrificial devotion” (see biblio items below and pursue them).
The (relative) absence of such devotion to cause revealed by the efforts taken by the Concert Hall attackers to flee (westwards towards Ukraine not towards Tajikistan on Russia’s southern border) suggests – I repeat ‘suggests’ –that they were hired guns.
Let the debate continue (without too much zealotry either way?).
THE CHALLENGES
A: From a British Academic, early April:
Michael, FSB and other Russian state organisations are putting massive resources into disinformation campaigns. The main expected benefit is not to persuade folks that their version is right, but to make people doubt all interpretations, including the true one.
ISIS-Khorasan are real. They immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The route through Europe that the FSB claims for these weapons makes no logistic sense whatsoever.
B: From An American Academic:
Michael, …………. .I agree with [A above]. ……
C: A Sri Lankan military man in retirement…. [in apparent counterpunch directed at A and B above?]
ISIS cadres are indoctrinated to seek martyrdom. They will unleash death and mayhem until killed. They don’t ‘hit nd run’!
D: A Pertinent Response to A above from a Retired Sri Lankan Academic with International Expertise:
Doesn’t [A] realise that the entire Western media has been carrying out massive disinformation campaigns against the Russian Federation calling the Ukraine conflict ‘Putin’s invasion,’ whereas the real motive is NATO expansion.
Similarly, Western governments and the media have been turning a blind eye to all the atrocities and genocide taking place in Gaza.
***********888
Observer in a Black Sea Town
* https://thuppahis.com/2024/04/02/britain-mi-6-behind-crocus-hall-attack-in-moscow/ …. 2 April 2024
Andrew Roth & Pjotr Sauer: “Islamic Jihadists Assault on Moscow Concert Hall,” 27 March 2024, https://thuppahis.com/2024/03/27/islamic-jihadists-assault-on-moscow-concert-hall/
Amarnath Amarasingam: “Jihad on Easter Sunday: The Killers and Their Pathways,” 30 May 2019, https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2019/05/30/jihad-on-easter-sunday-in-sri-lanka-the-killers-and-their-pathways/
Amarnath Amarasingam: “Terrorism on the Teardrop Island: Understanding the Easter 2019 Attacks in Sri Lanka,” Sentinal, May/June 2019, Volume 12, Issue 5 …. Combating Terrorism Center at West Point …..https://ctc.usma.edu/terrorism-teardrop-island-understanding-easter-2019-attacks-sri-lanka/….
Ohnuki-Tierney, 2002 Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms and Nationalisms: The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History, University of Chicago Press.
Roberts, Michael 2007a “Suicide Missions as Witnessing: Expansions, Contrasts,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, vol 30, pp 857-88.
Michael Roberts: “The Clash of Civilisations and Hate at the Heart of 21/4 in Sri Lanka,” 14 May 2019, https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2019/05/14/the-clash-of-civilisations-and-hate-at-the-heart-of-21-4-in-sri-lanka/#more-35621
Michael Roberts: “Kamikaze, Mujahid, Tamil Tiger: Sacrificial Devotion in Comparative Lens,” 12 November 2020, …………………… https://thuppahis.com/2020/11/12/kamikaze-mujahid-tamil-tiger-sacrificial-devotion-in-comparative-lens/
Jake Wallis Simons: “The Wahhabi Islamic Killers in Pictures,” 25 April 2019, https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2019/04/26/the-wahhabi-islamic-killers-in-sri-lanka-in-pictures/#more-35202
AND ….. SEE especially the report from two Sri Lanka Moor journalists …
April 28, 2019
The Emergence of Salafi Jihadists in the Kattankudy Locality in the Eastern Province
Ameen Izzadeen and Abdullah Shahnawaz from Kattankudy, in Sunday Times, 28 April 2019, where the title reads “Lightning, thunder and a blast: On the trail of terror leader”
